Title: Being Creative Takes It Out Of You
Author: WingedPanther73
Pairing(s)/Characters: Scientist
Rating: PG
Summary: My vision of how the process of creating the stitchpunks played out.
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: 9 and its characters is are the property of Focus Features and Universal Pictures International
Beta Reader: Sybil Rowan
The Brain, the machine fabricator, still knows me. Its creations won't touch me. That is no consolation when all of my friends, family, and co-workers are now dead. Everyone is dead, except me. I'll survive for a while, but I can't grow food. Everything's dead. I must make sure the Brain is destroyed, before I run out of resources.
While working on the Brain, I discovered a way to transfer the soul into a machine. I will need a new body if I am to survive long enough to stop the Brain. My food is getting low. There are fewer of its creations these days, but I'm afraid it will realize what I'm doing. I have to keep my windows unboarded, or it will get suspicious. I have to work on other things as I create my first doll. The terror is almost unbearable. I have to be in the open, but hide what I'm doing. The fear gnaws at me.
It was the strangest feeling, watching the talisman activate. I hadn't realized how little it would draw out of me, or how much. I felt all the fear, the terror, the caution drain out of me. As the light was sucked from me into 1, I felt myself regain calm and clarity. I recall the way 1 looked at me, first with terror, then shrewdly.
After I tried to explain my plan, he said only one thing, "You're crazy. I have to find a place that is safer. You'll attract too much attention." He ran off, after that. I have to be more careful with 2.
It's strange. I look at my plans for 1 and see the hastiness I had in them. The fear I had clouded my vision. The eye-lenses were so primitive, and the craftsmanship sloppy, that I cannot put faith in his ability to do what must be done. Quality craftsmanship is necessary for these puppets, these stitchpunks, to stop the Brain for good.
Craftsmanship, quality assembly, these will be key aspects to stopping the Brain for good.
I see now that I was obsessed. Craftsmanship is wonderful, but without knowledge, there will be no guidance. 2 is assembling pieces for other stitchpunks. That's good, that helps me.
I've started cataloging everything I can find about the Brain. They will need to know what has happened. They will have to know their enemy. They need to know what they were created for. 1 ran off before I could communicate this. 2 doesn't seem to care.
Stupid, so stupid! I stopped paying attention, and I got sloppy. When I activated the talisman, 3 and 4 were too close together. The sense of drain was incredible, jolting. They came to life at the same time, and I realized my error. They cannot speak. I never installed the voice-boxes for them. 2 had wandered off after crafting them, and I never checked to see if they were complete before I activated the talisman.
3 and 4 absorbed the contents of all my books and research within hours. Me, I have to refocus. My quest for knowledge blinded me. Craftsmanship is useless if there are basic oversights. Without focus, this will all be wasted. It's vital that I stay alert, maintain my focus.
5 keeps telling me I've lost focus. The talisman is so fascinating, though. I can see now, it is manipulating things that shouldn't be played with. I can't quit, though. I find myself contemplating what it has done to me, how it has changed me, and when I come to, there are sketches of it before me.
Usually, I come to when 5 screams in my ear. Usually, because one of the few remaining creations has wandered past. I can't get this talisman out of my mind. There's something unnatural about what's going on with me. It's changed me.
How did I give 6 pen nibs for fingers? He's taken my obsession from me. Probably just as well. 5 stopped by today to show me his injuries. The Brain does not show my stitchpunks the same deference it shows me. I must take it out. I must protect my stitchpunks.
I had 5 take 6 to the others. 6 took my obsession, but he can think of nothing else. I must protect him. I've crippled him. I must protect them. I must take out the brain.
7 took my knife and left. She left. I always heard men have a feminine side, but I just watched mine storm out. There needs to be more than pure aggression. 8 is much larger than the others.
I'm so tired. The water is poisoned. The only thing left to drink is booze. I never drank before. It helps me sleep. Why did I think such small stitchpunks would be able to do anything. They need a strong one.
8 is gone. I don't even recall using the talisman. I don't remember anything last night. The booze tastes horrible.
The talisman drains me. There's not much left. 9 is probably my last chance. I can feel how little is left. Fear, anger, aggression, passion. They're all gone. Somehow, all I have left is my purpose. I must see the Brain completely destroyed.
I don't know if the world will recover, but the Brain cannot exist if there is to be a chance. I will explain the situation to 9, through a recorded message. He can use it to destroy whatever soul a machine might have. He can finish what I was afraid to do. He can finish what I am no longer strong enough to do. The Brain will die.