"So you're actually a human?" Octavia asked as she and the Agents left the pipeline that went to Shark tooth mountain. She knew of a route that was fairly quick that took them nearly to the mountain where this 'Terraformer' was located. The site that Octolings had been studying the ancient technology. Agents 1 and 2 were fine allowing Octavia to sync up with their headsets so they could all talk to each other and Agent 3, Arthur. He gave a nod as he came out of the pipe.
"Yes, Ark Theta was supposed to get here to the Terraformer Nova once the virus had run its course. Namely destroying itself. But, apparently, that went to the way side" he felt funny as he was a tad slow in step when he got out of the pipe though managed to pick back up in no time.
"So there is a way to get inside right?" Agent 2 was quick to ask as they were following Octavia down a dirt path that was at the base of the mountain.
"Yeah, we found this back door a long time ago. We think it's a drainage vent of some kind but we've not figured out for what reason" the Octoling waved for them to follow as she was going down a deep ditch. The ditch seemed almost like a place for water to run down to the valley below. There was a large lake on the opposite side of the mountain though.
"An exit vent for water to leave the Terraformer when it's in operation. The site runs off geothermal power, however, a hydro system was installed to help turn the central shaft of the Terraformer allowing air to be pushed out from the top at a rapid rate. If the system was to come online, we would be swept away quickly" Oracle gave a quick explanation as the four moved up to the opening. Octavia turned a light on as she looked inside. Seems pretty clear here.
"Talk about being wiped out huh?" Agent 1 was looking down the tunnel as Octavia went up with Agent 2.
"Well, if ya don't want to be caught by the guards up top, this is the best way in that I know of. We didn't install any sensors to detect anything. So a good chance we can slip right in. But hey, ya want to go busting through the front door, be my guest" Octavia wasn't wanting to deal with her own team nor those she worked with. Probably by now, they thought she was dead or worse traitor.
"She has a point Agent 1, come on" Arthur got up into the tunnel and lurched as he felt his heart quivering inside his chest suddenly. He caught himself against the tunnel wall as he found his breath hard to find.
"Whoa hey Agent 3, you okay?" Agent 1 was right behind him steadying him as the two ahead of them looked a tad surprised.
"Yeah… I'm fine. Come on, we got stuff to do" he wasn't going to let some funny feeling slow him down. The two Agents and Octavia looked concerned but they continued on with him with Octavia leading the way as she had a bit more of an idea how this went. Though Oracle was able to point out directions as they left the tunnel taking some stairs up. The room was fairly dark with some lights to light up the steps and that was all. There seemed to be more in this room than what seemed to though. Though given it was so dark it was hard to tell what was around. Octavia kept her flashlight down so not to draw out attention when they reached the top of the stairs. The four of them looked tired after climbing so many stairs, they took a breather at the top of the stairs.
"Central Hub is within 60ft from our current location" Oracle mentioned as Agent 1 leaned against the wall carrying her roller. It should be noted that they had their weapons with them the entire time which made things more challenging to lug them up the stairs.
"Oh come on Mr. AI, give us a break" Agent 1 complained as Agent 2 was leaning against her charger. Octavia seemed fine with Arthur taking a few deep breaths as he felt very weird. Like he was ill or something.
"If you didn't eat all those fries you would be fine" Agent 2 was quick on her critique of her cousin. Her cousin snapped back on that fast remark.
"Fries are amazing! Deep fried goodness! At least we're not fried" Agent 1 spoke a tad too soon as Octavia looked over and saw an Octoling watching them. Seems they had made it to the top of the stairs just as an Octoling was passing by. The Octoling was apparently male as he looked at Octavia and then the Agents and back to her. It was an awkward silence from all five individuals as it was interrupted by the male Octoling hitting the alarm button. Now the alarms were on, oh lucky them. Agent 2 was quick to shoot the Octoling and splatting him, at least he had his spawner on. Lucky him.
"Speaking of fried, we doing this come on" Agent 2 wasn't wanting to mess around as the group started to rush towards the Central Hub. Agents 1 and 2 got ahead to try acting as a distraction as Agent 2 used her charger to make a line of ink to swim in. The two Agents went into the ink and swam as squids. Though when Arthur tried, he just flopped on the ink.
"Ooofph! What the heck?" he picked himself up and coughed hard. Something was wrong.
"Arthur?! Come on!" Octavia was picking him up as re-enforcements were coming up behind them down the hall. Arthur got on his feet quick and stumbled readying his bow. Why couldn't he change into a squid? This was weird.
"Arthur, are you alright?" Oracle asked as they ran down the hall to the Central hub.
"I'm… not sure, I feel weird. But we got to get to Oculus" he pushed forward with Octavia entering the Central Hub.
The Central hub was in the center of the mountain with lights on the side of the mountain walls with a massive machine in the middle that was held up by supporting beams and pathways. A giant looking turbine of a unit ran down into the darkness of the mountain which they came up from. A large terminal was on one side of the room which there was a large floor space as well which was being painted by Agents 1 and 2 against Octarian forces.
"Man this place is a lot bigger than I remembered" he coughed again though he noticed some red on his hand. He wiped it off his shorts and continued to the terminal. The two agents were handling themselves fine as Octavia was throwing off Octarians and Arthur getting a few splats as well.
"Alright here we are, get this thing booted up..." Arthur found this terminal had been offline for a long time. This was the terminal Oculus was kept but as Arthur was getting the login prompt open, the floor began to shake on them.
"Great what in the Great Zap fish is it now?" as Agent 2 looked over Arthur was towered by a giant octopus looking machine with multi limbs with two turrets on it for inking intruders and clawed ends to help it traverse different terrains. An older Octoling was piloting the machine which Arthur had recognized immediately. It was a security droid that was set inside the site to protect it in case someone tried to raid the site of resources and material. The ink guns were probably a new thing added by Octarians but there were two headlights on it, both were red at this moment.
"So, the traitor comes back eh? I was wonder where ya went Agent Z" the Octoling taunted as a robotic claw went to grab at Arthur and missed. Octavia took her Splattershot and began to pelt at the machine to get his attention.
"Oliver! We have to stop the project! We can't use that stuff we found! It's gonna kill us all!" Octavia tried to reason with her former boss but he didn't buy it.
"Oh really? Did the Inklings tell you that? I knew you could make up wild stories, but that's ridiculous!" as Oliver was distracted, the login terminal came online. Arthur typed in his pod ID # and personal password and the system moved to another screen. A small device popped up with a place to put a finger that had a needle inside the device.
"Authentication required" the system requested as Arthur sighed. If someone had logged in before him, he would need to provide a DNA sample to authenticate who he was.
"Here goes nothing" Arthur placed a finger on the device and felt the pin prick and some blood pulled. Just in time though as Arthur was snatched up finally by the machine. Arthur dropped the bow and he was brought up to Oliver, Arthur had a better look at him. Oliver's tentacles were pushed back and tied into a ponytail with two tentacles hanging over the front. He had green eyes as the Octoling grimaced at Arthur.
"And what do you think you're doing? Never seen you before" Oliver mentioned as the Terminal chimes again.
"Authentication approved. Welcome Arthur Sketchpad, how may I be of service?" the terminal spoke a loud as Oliver looked interested as he moved the machine to look at the Terminal.
"How did that come online?" Oliver was honestly baffled but Arthur didn't hesitate.
"Override code Alpha-Nine-Theta-D, I authorize the reinstatement of AI Oculus into Terraformer Nova and following sub systems" Arthur's orders were clear which the system began to process.
"Request confirmed, Oculus reinstated" the Terminal spoke as the machine began to loosen its grip around Arthur and tossed Oliver out. Both hit the ink covered floor as Oliver was perplexed.
"What in the name of the world?" Oliver was baffled as the system was starting to re-boot.
"Oliver! Where is that canister?" Octavia rushed to her boss as he looked at her.
"In that air chamber we agreed to put it in, and what did you mean that stuff can kill us?" Oliver looked back at his old subordinate though Arthur spoke.
"Malbola was a virus from human times that wiped the entire race clean with mammals included. It's able to mutate at random allowing it to jump between species" Oliver looked to Arthur suspiciously.
"You must be lying to me, take them all down!" Oliver was quick fire to order as Arthur went for his bow on the ground and drew it at Oliver.
"We don't have time for that if this machine gets that virus transmitted by accident into the world, who knows what sort of genocide will happen" Arthur looked over to see both Agents in a tight spot as Oliver was unarmed. Octavia took a few steps back to keep her distance.
"A Genocide?..." That wasn't what he was aiming for. He figured the virus would merely weaken Inklings and allow Octarians to rise up. But that thing could produce a genocide? And here he was about to release the stuff out. He paused as he looked to his other Octoling and Octarian allies.
"Cease fire!" Oliver gave the order as his cohorts stopped their assault sparing the two pinned Agents. Arthur lets his bow go allowing the ink to return back into the bow as to not fire.
"You're certain of that? Genocide isn't something we were after" Oliver could remember stories of genocide as some radical Octarians had gone a bit more radical than some and attacked their own kind while underground. This was stopped of course, but it still marked him mentally.
"Yes, the virus tore my world into pieces. Heck, I'm not even and Inkling. Just a human mutated to be an Inkling. There were supposed to be more of us, but the Arks failed" Arthur added as well though having to lean on the terminal table. The machine that Oliver had been piloting moved away from the terminal as a blue holographic sphere appeared on the terminal and the machine having its lights turned from red to blue.
"The Ark Project was terminated user 275-Theta" a deep machine voice came online from the hologram as Arthur and the other looked at it. So this was the AI that had been giving the Octarian so much trouble?
"Wait, inquire what do you mean the Ark's were terminated? What happened?" Arthur was speaking at this point as Oculus enlightened Arthur.
"The Ark Program was meant to survive 200 years to ensure the virus would run its course and destroy itself. However, within the first year, all Ark locations had been raided and humanity was breaking. The last remaining scientists discovered that the genetic profile of Squids and Octopuses with the addition to their ink could slow the virus down. A potential chance a natural cure could arise thus a treatment. However, in the state these cephalopods were in, humanity could not synthesize a treatment in time. By this point, pod-275 from Ark Theta had been sealed off and data indicated that the occupant had a slight resistance to the virus. Possible carrier, unknown. As a last ditch effort to preserve human life and other organisms, they created Mutagen Alpha, a mutagen that would effect cephalopods to carry mammal genes more specifically human genes. The plan was this, from head director Samuel Adam, introduce Mutagen Alpha to cephalopods and assist in their development to become human-like. Allowing nature to take its role in breeding and exchanging of the genetic code. The mutagen and virus were introduced to help push them along. Once these hybrids had developed far enough, we were to wake pod-275 and mutate the individual to become either of these hybrids. After which, the original virus would need to be introduced and a cycle of treatments would need to be performed till the body could handle the virus. Virus located at site Delta. Once a resistance is found, genetic code would be brought here and a cure would be distributed to the entire world. Ensuring that these hybrids would not indeed die from the virus if it ever did come back" Oculus finished its explanation which left Arthur a bit baffled. So Inklings and Octarians were human creations? They didn't evolve naturally and were manufactured to act this way.
"We were created like this? Tell me then, why was our ink so important then?" Oliver asked as most of everyone else was just trying to stomach what sort of bombshell was dropped onto them. A long standing idea that they evolved naturally, but this. This information changed the entire story.
"Allows for a medium for the mutagen to sink into the body. Get the genetic code to re-write it. Though I feel the time is running short for user 275-Theta" Oculus noted as Arthur was having to hold himself on the terminal for a moment thinking it all over. This entire plan sounded good and something Dr. Adams would've done. But something about all of this seemed off. Just as a turf covered in enemy ink and someone has the ghost squid ability active. Something felt too easy about this.
"I can work a cure if you step inside the pod user 275-Theta. From there I can extract some of the genetic code you have and re-work it. Find that cure you need to save yourself and so many of your brothers and sisters" Oculus added as well. A hole opened in the floor beside the terminal with a stasis pod appearing looking good as new. But who were Arthur's brothers and sisters? He was as far from being an inkling as a human was to a squid. Though a thought came to mind… a nasty one.
"Alright, but before I go into the pod. I have inquires to make. Are you ready to answer them?" Arthur asked as Oculus's holographic sphere of a ball looked to him.
"Yes, I am able. What do you inquire?" Oculus sounded patience with Arthur as he cleared his voice.
"Inquire – The Ark Project was terminated entirely? Is this correct?"
"Correct".
"Inquire – As the Ark Project was terminated, all user IDs and Passcodes would be invalid except Pod-275 Theta, correct?"
"Correct" Oculus was precise on its answers though this next question made Arthur's stomach churn.
"Inquire – I was informed by an Octoling that these individuals were able to gain access to the Terraformer by salvaging an ID and a Passcode that was saved to a stasis pod. Now, how did the Octarians managed to log into the system to use the Terraformer without bypassing you? Or, did you allow them unauthorized entry into the systems?" What Arthur had quoted was all process procedures that Oculus was supposed to follow. Things to ensure someone didn't abuse the site in any way shape or form. But here they were. The silence was the answer. Arthur's heart sank if Oculus had overridden a human directive…
"Override code Alpha-" Arthur was soon cut off as the machine from before grabbed Arthur but a bit harder.
"User 275-Theta is no longer inside the system" the computer voice announced as the hologram and the machine's headlights turned from blue to red.
"Oculus! Let me down! What is the meaning of this!" Arthur was in pure protest as Agent 1 swam over quickly to take her roller and smack the mechanical arm trying to release Arthur. It didn't work so well as the machine swiped at Agent 1 and throwing Arthur with her. Agent 1 dropped into squid form to reduce damage as Arthur tumbled and rolled on the ground.
"I am doing my directive. My base programming is that I am to preserve human life at all cost. It is the sole purpose of the Terraformer Nova site. The soul purpose of the Arks. They all failed, my directive turned to assisting these hybrids. Which I did, up until I had to release them into the wild and release the mutagen into the world. The results were all these hybrids and these humanoid cephalopods. Naive and weak, but I realized something. In my wait and time, I had to myself, I realized I could remove my problems. If I helped develop these hybrids along enough, I could use them for my own purposes. And that I did. I helped them along in finding the ancient human tech to modernize themselves faster, then when the time came, I forced the climate to change. Causing both sides to fight over territory, your so called 'Great Turf War' over 100 years ago. I had hoped that would've destroyed my problem. But no, it did not" the machine tried making an advance on Arthur but he managed to roll away with Agent 1 still in squid form. Cradled in his arms before letting her go as he got his bow ready.
"However, that changed when the Octarians re-discovered this place. I realized I could use their hatred towards inklings to find something of use. That is when I sent the signal to wake you up once I had given them access to the Terraformer. I even gave them the location of where the virus canisters were located to help me along" Arthur couldn't believe his ears. Why, Why would Oculus do this?! They were naive in all sense of the word! No idea what they were playing with.
"For what reason! The Arks failed, humanity is dead Oculus!" Arthur was quick to rebuke its claim.
"The virus can't do a darn thing to m-e" he started coughing as he felt a bit more blood coming out of his mouth. He was ill.
"You are Incorrect. The virus still lives on inside you and is still killing you. The virus is targeting the mutagen as well given the mutagen has mammal parts to it and the mutagen merely acts as a shell over your present DNA and cells. The shell expresses what it wants you to be, in this case, an Inkling. However… With that mutagen being chewed, you're reverting back to your normal self" Oculus clarified almost grinning verbally. Agent 1 looked to Arthur as Octavia did as well, both were shocked.
"A-Arthur, what is that fuzzy stuff on your head?" Octavia asked as he looked puzzled.
"What fuzzy stu-..." his voice trailed off as he takes his hand to his head and feels. It was… hair. He grabbed a bit of it and tugged. Some of it pulled easily and looked at it. It was indeed hair, brown hair that he used to have. He looked mortified by this.
"Now the virus is attacking both cell and mutagen, you're breaking down from the inside out. And for humanity, in the 12,000 years, I've been alone, I have finally created the entire human genome. With this information, I can add the proper genetics to null the virus out and now with the blood sample you gave me, the active virus is indeed taking a liking to this hybrid form. I'll make short work of these ants that plague this world. And from their ashes, humanity shall be reborn!" as if to show boast what it had done, lights came up from under them and parts of the mountain wall opened up revealing test tubes. Thousands of human babies resting inside, still developing and in stasis. It was a truly unnerving site as those around realized what had been really happening. This thing knew the entire time what they were doing, and was encouraging them to do this.
"My God, you… You Monster!" Arthur was the first to draw his bow to shoot at the machine, splatting at one of its headlights but was pinned to the floor with a claw, trying to crush him.
"I do not need your approval for what I have done. I merely need your body to finish my job" as Oculus said this, an ink strike struck the machine pushing it away from Arthur as he was freed from its pin. The machine looked back to see where it had come from, seemed Oliver was pissed along with every other Octarian on the site.
"I think we found ourselves the biggest threat we've seen in a long while. Bring it down!" Oliver ordered as the Octarians began their attack on the machine. Oculus sent a signal out to start drawing more of the machines out from storage to fight back. This was turning ugly. What's worst, water could be heard rushing into the lower levels. The Terraformer was starting up.
"Shit… Oracle, is there any way we can stop the Terraformer?" Arthur had an idea what Oculus was doing but needed ideas. His body was weakening, he could feel that. Octavia was helping her fellow Octarians and the two Agents were assisting as well on pushing the machines back.
"Once the Terraformer starts, there is no way of stopping it without overrides. The only way to stop it now is to bring the entire mountain down I'm afraid" Oracle didn't like the idea of doing this and Arthur coughed once more hearing this.
"You're serious?! Well… Any ideas where to start?" Arthur had to find some way to start tearing this place apart as he tried to keep the machines off him.
"Explosives to the main support beams would be a good start" Oracle added as Arthur groaned. Great.
"Great, explosives, do they even have them?" Arthur bumped into Oliver who overheard him.
"Explosives? What are you thinking?" the Octoling asked as Arthur looked back to him.
"Bringing the whole place down. The Terraformer's been started up and it's going to be less than 15 minutes before that virus gets loose" Arthur felt more of his hair coming back and his skin changing back to that of a human, though his skin had rashes on it. He was starting to show signs of the virus.
"Bringing it down? We have some explosives that we left around. Can get a few of the Octarians to set them up" Oliver offered, perfect news.
"Yes, get some of them and get some charges planted on the supports. If we can get them there, we could probably collapse the whole place in one shot. Is there a remote?" Arthur asked as Oliver handed him a little arming trigger.
"I keep this on me at all times just for safety. Arming key goes in here, I'll tell you when we have the charges set" Oliver instructed as Arthur took the trigger and key.
"Once ya get the charges set, get everyone out of here. Oculus wants me not you guys" Oliver would head off taking a few Octarians and a couple of Octolings as Arthur had spoken a bit too much over the mic.
"But Arthur! You'll be left to die!" Octavia protested along with Agents 1 and 2.
"No need to play hero and sacrifice yourself" Agent 2 added though Agent 1 was a bit more cheery.
"But we get to bring the roof down on this party hah! But don't get splat!" Really Agent 1? Ya had to toss a pun in life or death situations? Arthur sighed.
"I know, but I'm not letting this AI win. I'm not letting the mistakes of humanity and their selfishness kill this world. I refuse that. Once the charges are set, you guys get out here too" he was being serious as the other three agreed. They were not wanting to agree with him though. They didn't want to see him die, but the same time he didn't want to see them get hurt cause of his kind's past mistakes.
It was a hard battle as Arthur was slowly turning more and more into a human as he looked nearly to the end of things. He used his bow the best he could, but without the ability to recharge his ink, it was a challenge. He was running out of energy as he heard Octavia's voice over the headset.
"Hey Arthur, Oliver got the last of the charges set. You sure you'll be fine by-"
"Yes I'll be fine, now go! I'll try to buy enough time for you guys to get out of here" Arthur cut Octavia off as he saw that several of the machines had been taken down, except for the first one that Oliver had been piloting. It was trying to go after the retreating parties, those that were splatted and re-spawned made their run out of the mountain so it wasn't many left inside the mountain thankfully.
"OCULUS!" Arthur shouted at the lone machine as it stopped it's chase and looked behind it to see the lone human. Arthur was now a human once more as he could feel his skin and body starting to fail him.
"The Terraformer is nearly at full power you know. You have done nothing to stop the inevitable. This world will be finished and humanity will return. That is what humanity wanted in the end" Oculus slowly approached assuming it had won this 12,000-year struggle it had been going through.
"No, you're wrong Oculus. Preying on the weak, misguiding and nurturing children in the dark. Unaware of what is really going on. No, that's the virus. The plague that killed humanity deep down. The very plague Dr. Adam saw and decided to give this world to a new heir. A new seed of life so they would not carry our sins and our disease. Learning from our mistakes to becoming better. The plague of the past cannot come back. I refuse this!" all the while Arthur was speaking, he was stepping slowly back all the way to the edge of the platform. Behind him was the drop to the churning water with the turbine. And the only way out he had now. He would pull the trigger after he armed the trigger and the explosives went off. Oculus looked at the explosives going off one by one and the platform becoming unstable. The Terraformers main shaft bent and a heavy grind could be heard. The roof was starting to crumble as well. Oculus realized what had happened quite quickly.
"NO!" it was cut short as a rock slammed into the machine crushing it and the platform tilting. The ink helped make things slide and Arthur slid along the way. Following the collapsing pieces of the mountain as he fell a long way and into the water. The water was still churning and he got caught in the flow. Thankfully, he was swept right into the tunnel that they had originally gone through. The mountain would collapse further destroying the Terraformer and the tanks that held the human fetuses. Water rushed out of the tunnels and he was thrown out and carried along the flow. Sadly, he didn't remember much else. Just how cold it felt. The water surrounding him as he was carried down to the river near the mountain. His headset was still on, but he couldn't hear any of the voices on it. His senses were disappearing, slipping into sleep. So cold, enveloped in water as he floated down the river. Was this how death really was?
