S4-1
Our story begins

ACCESSING ARCHIVED DATA

It has been 182 years since humanity abandoned their home, planet Earth, in search of a new world to call their own.
It has been 165 years since humankind found a habitable planet, ID: Cyboria.
The planet is still fat with natural life, but it is populated by a race of humanoid machines known as the Synthoids.
It has been 167 years since the Human/Synthoid Civilization Act has been instated.

DEACTIVATING ARCHIVE ACCESS SYSTEM

It's the year 5782 on the planet Cyboria, where humans and Synthoids have been living harmoniously for a long time.

Local mailman R1k3r was making his weekly rounds, delivering packages to various townspeople, human and Synthoid alike. He eventually made his way to the Forsyth residence, home of the renowned biotech scientist, Dr. Zethen Forsyth, and his teenage son, Gale Forsyth. It was unfortunate what happened to the mother of the family, Jaunita Forsyth. She perished in eco-sector 3. She dehydrated at an alarming rate until she became a brittle husk in a suit, crumbling to dust and bones. In the defense of the Synthoids, they told her to stay close to their group so she wouldn't get lost.

Once R1k3r rang the doorbell, he waited patiently with the final package of the week. The door opened, revealing the man of the house. "Package for Dr. Zethen Forsyth."

"Thank you, R-1-K-3-R."

"It's pronounced 'Riker'." The Synthoid pointed out, handing the man his package.

"Right. Sorry."

"Not much of a social person these days, huh?"

"Not since my wife died. I guess the whole 'numbers-as-letters' name thing slipped my mind."

R1k3r shrugged. "No worries. How's your son doing?"

"He's alright. Gale should be getting home from school right about-" He was interrupted by the bus driving by, dropping off a young boy with a brown shirt, green jeans, and grey shoes. "...now."

"That was a coincidence. Huh. You have a good day, doctor."

"You too. Give the little ones a greeting from me when you get home."

Gale reached the door, greeting his father. "Hey, dad."

"Hello, son. How was school today?"

"It was... interesting. We had a substitute teacher in Mr. D0m3n1c's class."

"Mr. D0m3n1c? He NEVER misses a day of school!"

Zethen and Gale headed inside, and while Gale got started on his homework, Zethen turned on the TV and turned to the news channel, waiting for the commercial break to end.

The commercials ended pretty fast, and CLN came on. "Welcome back. I'm S78nf0rd L0ck377, and today on Cyboria Local News, we have a terrible newsflash. Local art teacher Mr. D0m3n1c 5n1d3r was found dead in the remains of his car. We now bring you to Qu18n8 F055, live at the crime scene."

The feed blinked to another Synthoid, overlooking what remained of a car, with its wheels crushed, the driver door missing, and the rest of the car top looking like it was pushed open from the outside. And Mr. D0m3n1c was in the pummeled driver seat, torn to scrap. "Thank you, S78nf0rd. This is Qu18n8 F055, reporting on the death of D0m3n1c 5n1d3r. There are massive tears in the side of the hood, and it looks as if something large grabbed his car off the road. Why anyone would want to kill D0m3n1c is unknown, but local camera footage reveals that a sort of grappling claw shot out of nowhere, pulling his car out of sight. The field team found no fingerprints, so we can rule out human involvement, meaning it was the work of another Synthoid. I'll try and plug into his black box so we'll see what killed him." With that, Qu18n8 pulled open the deceased Synthoid's cranium, then connected a cable to a device on the back of his processor, shifting the feed to the final minutes of his life.

D0m3n1c was driving his car to the school, only for something to grab his vehicle out of nowhere, pulling his car into a darkened area. He turned on the interior lights of his car, then unbuckled his seat belt. "What in the Origin Code is going on here?!" The door closest to him was violently torn out, quickly vanishing into the darkness.

D0m3n1c grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment just in front of the passenger seat, then shined it out into the black, illuminating what appeared to be a sort of tripod turret.

The machine then unfolded, its structure reconfiguring into a humanoid form, with the grappling claw now occupying the place of the right hand.

Without warning, something flew out from the mechanical humanoid's left shoulder, shattering the flashlight. The figure stomped to the car, forcefully tore open the top, then smashed the wheels as D0m3n1c tried to drive away.

With its right hand, the figure pulled him out the car, lifting him into the air, then started slamming him down into the vehicle over and over again. The humanoid then reconfigured its left arm into some sort of surgical grasping claw, driving it into D0m3n1c's chest. He could be heard screaming as his attacker damaged his internal components, then began severing the wires that acted as his veins. It slowly and painfully tore out D0m3n1c's Synthoid equivalent of a human heart, leaving him to die seconds later.

The last thing D0m3n1c ever saw was a glowing red symbol, resembling some sort of creature skull with six eyes and a lower jaw split along the middle.

The scene then returned to the Synthoid's lifeless remains. "I... I actually felt that. Local law enforcement is now on the lookout for any individual bearing that red mark. In the meantime, any and all Synthoids should be escorted by available police agents for their own safety. This is Qu18n8 F055, signing off."

The feed then returned to the news room and S78nf0rd L0ck377. "Thank you, Qu18n8. Residents are to remain on high alert and be aware of their surroundings. I'm S78nf0rd L0ck377, and this has been Cyboria Local News." Zethen turned off the TV, alarmed at the events that had transpired.

"D0m3n1c... is dead?"

Zethan turned back, seeing Gale having just finished his homework. "I... I'm afraid so."

TRANSLATING SYNTHOID NAMES

R1k3r W873rf8ll
Riker Waterfall

D0m3n1c 5n1d3r
Domenic Snider

S78nf0rd L0ck377
Stanford Lockett

Qu18n8 F055
Quiana Foss

DISPLAYING INFO ARCHIVE

Synthoids
Native to Cyboria, these humanoid machines possess no memory or record of their origin, nor their initial creation. Their beginning is unknown, even to them. Thorough analysis indicates that the Synthoids are comprised of a form of living metal and a synthetic organic compound to form the 'organs', but initial observations reveal that the compound is naturally grown into this form. The Synthoids originally communicated through a form of binary code, replacing 1s with beeps of a higher pitch and 0s with a lower pitch. Since their first encounter with humans, they have learned to speak fluent English. Following this, the Synthoids have agreed to coexist peacefully on Cyboria with humankind, as long as they promise not to harm the natural ecosystem. This agreement revealed that the Synthoids have been caring for the natural organic life of the planet of their own free will. The name of a Synthoid is comprised of numbers and letters, but the numbers take up the places of various letters.

Origin Code
Believed to be the Synthoid version of God.

Shift Cog
An extremely rare and fragile Synthoid biomechanical organ. Shift Cogs enable Synthoids to alter their mechanical bodily framework at will, allowing for a structural transmutation at a moment's notice. Like other Synthoid organs, Shift Cogs are protected by a spherical casing comprised of a hardened metallic material with the integrity of diamond and the weight of a simple quarter. Penetrating this casing is only possible with specialized surgical tools found in the hospitals on Cyboria.

Neuro-cortex
The processor, or 'brain', of a Synthoid, located in the cranium. Neuro-cortexes are found to be practically identical to the human brain, but compatibility tests are not currently authorized.

Synthoreactor
The 'stomach' of a Synthoid, located in the lower abdomen. Synthoreactors absorb nutrients from consumable goods, then compost the remaining waste into bioenergy. This Synthoid organ is believed to be a cross between a normal stomach and a miniature bioreactor.

Power Pump
The 'heart' of a Synthoid, located in the upper abdomen. Power Pumps are techno-organic organs that act as a Synthoid's battery, and is known to break down after around one century. Unaided, a Power Pump can last a Synthoid 3-to-5 days under normal circumstances, which means a Synthoid must 'ingest' organic consumables to maximize their lifespan.

Vocal Modulator
A Synthoid's voice box, located in the front of the base of the throat. Vocal Modulators enable Synthoids the ability to speak verbally. It is not currently known what happens if a Synthoid loses their Vocal Modulator, but scientists theorized that the Vocal Modulator was adapted by the Synthoids to enable more sophisticated verbal communication.

Plastubes
The 'veins' of a Synthoid, threaded throughout the entire body. Plastubes supply a liquid energy from the Synthoreactor to the Power-Pump, then to every other Synthoid organ. The energy used as a Synthoid's 'blood' will instantaneously evaporate into a teal mist when exposed to oxygen or carbon dioxide.

Photosynthetic Glands
The 'lungs' of a Synthoid, located between the Power Pump and the Synthoreactor. Photosynthetic Glands operate in opposite to human lungs, which means they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, much like plants. Biomechanical research has revealed specialized chloroplasts within the Photosynthetic Glands.

Human/Synthoid Civilization Act
A mutual agreement between the humans and Synthoids, allowing humanity to live on the planet in exchange for not harming the organic ecosystem of the planet. The humans who evacuated Earth unanimously agreed, wanting to prevent a repeat of Earth's fate.

Cyboria
An unusual planetoid divided into eight zones. Two zones occupy the planet's poles, taking the shape of a thriving metropolis in the north and a junkyard in the south, overseen by Detrashers. The remaining six zones each run between both poles, segmented equally around the planet, each containing a specific ecosystem.
The Synthoids refer to the six zones as 'eco-sectors'.
Eco-sector 1: A swampland ecosystem.
Eco-sector 2: A tropical forest ecosystem.
Eco-sector 3: A volcanic ecosystem.
Eco-sector 4: An oceanic ecosystem.
Eco-sector 5: A freezing, arctic ecosystem.
Eco-sector 6: A nocturnal ecosystem.

Detrashers
Large, non-sentient machines that gather junk in their internal compartments, then atomically deconstruct it, safely releasing their constituent atoms into the atmosphere. They are only ever seen in the junkyard, which is located at Cyboria's southern pole.

Cyber City
A thriving metropolis of humans and Synthoids, located in Cyboria's north pole. Unlike the junkyard, Cyber City is not surrounded in a hardened dome.

Well, this is my new story. Had a doozy of a time figuring out what category to put this under.

See you next time.