The Cold Embrace
(Play: Adagio for Tron)
Valeria climbs up and over the security fence as she has done a hundred times the past two months. After jumping on the hard, cold ground, Valeria runs away from the fire fight behind her; the sounds of lasers and explosions add speed to her legs.
All Valeria wants is to do is bring peace and harmony to her quadrant, at least one area in the once great and united planet of Vetronora would have peace for the sake of future generations. But negotiations between the rebels and the Rangers is just a hoax, much like her relationship with her father, she sees this now as the Ranger's black Lynx cycles fly above and pass over Valeria, the most modern machines that exist on this planet and only her father could have approve use of them; that much use of power is typical of him.
Valeria looks back with tearful eyes as the Rangers, their presence in matching black and gray uniforms once welcoming to her, descend on the rebels like messengers of death distributing their brand of injustice.
The rebels, a playful people she calls brothers and sisters after they saved her life from one of her midnight runaways from home, are too scared to organize a retreat. The rebels are not really freedom fighters, just poor people pirating what they can to survive and not a danger. They are typical of the race, slender build but a little shorter than the average citizen. Their olive, hairless complexions are darker because of the additional exposure of the sun being.
But they are nothing to the Ranger's training, tactical armor, and advanced weaponry alone. But Valeria has seen the Ranger camps; they use performance inducing drugs, giving the great strength and endurance with the side effects of distinctive markings on their faces, necks, and red eyes.
Valeria watches as the Rangers get off their cycles and marches into the rebel's base, yelling "Resistance is futile" over the rebels' screams as they fire upon men, women, and children. There is to be no progress tonight, just Marshall Law. Valeria runs away into the darkness, tears being blown against the cold sandy wind.
Valeria escapes through the native habitat and aquatic ducts in her travel tube, eventually following into a nearby river. All throughout, she can't stop crying, for the most part for the loss of her second family. Only now does she understand the truth about her world. She clenches her fists in angry.
Upon stopping at the shore, Valeria exits her tube. She walks to and stands on top of a mountainous terrain spotted with various rocks. She can see the stream continue the south, where the region replete with toxic grasses and spotted with crystalline stones.
Valeria turns to the west and sees among the silver and ivory building, her parents' home in the political capital. She assumes that they still don't know she has left her room. Six heavens forbid should she ever interrupt their social party, where their richly-decorated clothing leaves very little to the imagination. The ostentatious bracelets prove to men who are the most of the superior. Her father, the general of the Rangers, must be best dressed, always.
The women, reduced to the breed machines, subtly bicker about to their status through fashion nails, piercings, or facial tattoos made from the planet's treasured materials from the geo-thermal mines that should be used for energy diamonds that could power poor communities.
Valeria doesn't want to go back to that world, she is better than that. She is better them.
(Play: Recognizer)
Valeria looks around as a green light shines around her. She nervously looks up to the shining two moons above her, but the light is brighter and too focused to be from the twin emerald stars. She sees twinkling lights surround her and screams as she disappears and reappears into a dark room with tall dark soldiers. Upon second look, she is not even sure they are men or machines; she is too cared and too confused.
She screams as one of them grabs her arm in a cold but firm grip, its strength too much as it drags her even as she drags her feet. In the mist of fear, the surrounding cold air hits her skin.
"Leave me alone! I want to go home!"
"Negative, your planet's defense parameter is too well organized. We will need access to security codes and strategies."
"Why are you doing this to me? I'm only an eight years old?"
The machine says, "We assimilated one of your teachers."
"What?"
"We find your calculating mind impressive. You're always looking to improve those around you. You're an equalizer — chaos becomes order. You will be assimilated."
"Why? No! I don't want…"
"Your want is irreverent. We wish only to improve ourselves. Your knowledge will be adapted to help service ours."
It then ignores her, as does the other machines that pass her by. She is convinced that they are machines, they are unmoved by what is happening to her. They have no expressions at all. They wear no jewelry or have any communication. But they move with purpose and direction, each with a purpose or role.
She sees that others are being hooked into a wall like sockets, going dormant, and their gray skin seem to fixing itself of any damages. Scared by this, she starts kicking and hitting its back.
She is taken back when the machine speaks in a dark voice. "Subject from species 125, noncompliant…biology noted."
"Who…who are you talking to?"
It touches her with a rod from its other hand and she is shocked, the pain goes throughout her entire body and she falls to ground numb as she is dragged on her back to the metal crated floor.
She is dragged into the chamber and sees other children from different plants, but they look they are changing into the machines. She struggles with what little energy she has as the machine picks her up. "No please, I don't want...to." She mutters weakly.
"Want is irreverent, you must comply." It puts her in the machine.
As it closes, the machine watches through the glass the door as a clear gel fills the chamber. Valeria panics as she is completely enclosed by it. But as fearful as she is, she hears unknown music play in her mind of cultures her people has ever heard. It calms her down as every math problem in her advanced class is solved with theories she doesn't fully understand but she could now teach a class on. Her heart rate slows and she knows exactly how many beats per second.
As her skin hardens, she suddenly hears a name get repeated again and again, Borg. She suddenly knows that she is in a Borg utilize Maturation Chambers that assimilates children into something called the collective.
"What is the Borg?" She asks mentally.
The answer is inputted into her head. She knows that the Borg manifest as cybernetic enhanced humanoid drones of multiple species, organized as an interconnected collective, the decisions of which are made by a hive mind, linked by subspace radio.
"What is assimilation?"
She now knows that it is the act injecting microscopic machines called nanoprobes that helps the Borg's ultimate goal in achieving perfection.
She feels them, the nanoprobes, changing her little body and her organs. Streaming into her bloodstream to latch on to individual cells. They are aging her body, changing it. Making it better or preparing for cybernetic implants which will either surgically implanted or constructed by the nanoprobes.
The nanoprobes will rewrite the cellular DNA, altering her biochemistry, and eventually form larger, more complicated structures and networks within her body such as electrical pathways, processing and data storage nodes, and ultimately prosthetic devices that spring forth from her changing gray skin.
She now knows that once they are done, she will be protected from many forms of disease and virus. That she will have knowledge of hundreds of thousands of years at tip of her tongue.
Then a sudden wave of knowledge hits her, she now knows of their plans. She is to be a focal point within the Borg collective consciousness and a unique drone within the collective.
She will have an obligation like no other. She will bring order to the chaos to the Borg Collective's overall intelligence; not a controller but the avatar of the entire Collective as an individual.
She knows that they are better than friends and family, we are Borg.
In accordance with the Borg pursuit of perfection, a blending of the organic and synthetic, very little of her original humanoid form remained over the years. Her face and upper torso are organic while the rest of her body, including her skull and spinal cord, are synthetic. She has become a work of art, an epitome of perfection. She owns no name, she is Borg, but a title seemed on fit right: Queen.
Retrofitting her own chambers within the Borg Unicomplex from which she oversees and control the Borg via command interface, the Queen uses the knowledge of her former life as Valeria and other planters to improve the Borg cube design and adding to their arsenal sphere ships and her personal diamond ship; where when her physical presence is not necessary, her organic part resides above a secure chamber.
If she desired to do so, she could stay there as long as she wants as the drones find and bring in the class of creatures deserving of the cold embrace of the collective. But not for this planet set before, she wants to be personally involved as they are flying towards species one-two-five.
(Play: The Game has changed)
She orders the squad the attack during night with an addition of five second generation cubes for mental warfare, with their improved warp speed they arrive from distant systems in a short time at an easy warp nine point four.
The planet's communication hails are only responded with a message of surrender; the Queen expects and desires nothing less from a ball of dirt lucky to exist by a fading sun giving its last centuries of light before its dies.
Volleys of red lasers from the planet's defenses are good enough to push the Borg back, but their weapons strength never change and the Queen has the Borg's subspace shielding adjust accordingly. The Queen's analyzes the planet's fleet of ships through various scans: eight hundred twenty-three meters long, warp six point seven, and dated shielding.
The Queen locates a series of weak spots and watch as the cubes rips through the ships one by one. The Queen then updates the remaining cubes with more responsive controls, with better engines, learn new tricks to navigation to quickly finish the remaining forces at a faster pace.
The Queen is suddenly uploaded with the ground team's lack of speed struggle with the Ranger's weapons. The Queen orders ore drones to teleport to the planet at key locations and adjusted weaponry and shielding.
After getting positive follow up reports and the environment deem safe for transport, the Queen decides to teleport with a four drone ground team into the political capital. Thanks to the state of the art Borg technology in the retina of her eyes, the Queen easily adjusts to the smoke and soot from the raging fires inside the fallen buildings.
Reports of the Borg ground squads show that they are scattered chasing the outer security outposts, making their black Lynx cycles useless with the increased Borg's numbers. The Queen is pleased with the Borg's exhibition, no desire for negotiation or reason, only assimilation. Exhibiting a rapid adaptability to any situation or threat, they follow her commands, sending her reports that their personal shields have become evolved twelve times from her directions.
"Suspects found, sector thirteen. Repeat, I have visual, quadrant four!" A nearby Ranger yells through his wrist communicator, before taking out two drones in front of the Queen. "New suspect, apparently female…"
Before the Ranger could finish his order, the Queen has already sent an order for his death, which a nearby drone behind the Ranger completed perfectly a laser blast to his chest, making his helmet fall off before Ranger falls to the ground.
As her drones march on, the Queen looks down at the Ranger and from her readings it's a former rebel from her former life, but his hair completely grown out with a sleeked silver black hair. The Queen watches as he is breathing hard, but his wounds in his chest means he only has ten point five seconds to live. The Queen bends down, holding his hand, and smiles.
"I didn't know any of your survived. We will find them and we will save them."
Based on his eyes and facial movement, the Queen knows he doesn't recognize her formal identity. The Queen still smiles until he dies, then she stands up and reorders the ground troops a list of the rebels and capture them for assimilation.
(Play: Rinzler)
The Queen's order is overwritten with a priority report of her initial request, capturing anyone that shares her DNA. She orders the drones to bring them to her. The drone does and the Queen sees the family of her former life walk to her, looking at her with disapproval and fear, except for their ten year old daughter.
"Based on your facial tattoos child, I came just in time."
The Queen watches as the young girl cowers behind her mother. The father leaps and tries to punch the Queen, but misses. "Leave her alone!"
The Queen sneers as she waves the drones back. "We are Borg, her biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own."
"No, no, no!" The father yells, throwing another punch and misses. He tries again, but she dodges easily. "You're a monster!" He swings and misses again. "You're a pure evil!"
She catches his fist and crushes his bones, smiling as he groans with pain. "What I am is the future." She twists his arm making him kneel in front of her, she still keeps the hold. "I bring order to chaos!"
"No!" He tries to break free, but she breaks the humanoid's arm in three places and smiles as he screams.
The Queen looks at the father with a sneer with the full strength of her cold eyes and then whispers. "Resistance is futile."
He looks at her and asks, "Valeria?" The Queen throws him to ground and walks to the daughter.
"No! Leave her alone…leave her alone!" The mother cries out, unable to fight off the Queen.
The daughter is unable to fight off the Queen's hold, the child is too small and fragile but the Queen plans to make her better.
"Leave alone!" The father pleads.
As the daughter reaches out for her parents and before the Queen requests for a teleport to her ship, the Queen looks at parents and says uncaringly, "Enjoy the cold embrace of oblivion."