11
"Drake, you prat, we've gone the wrong way!" roared Duck.
"Well..." the medic blinked at his star chart. It clearly said that planet Earth was the center of the galaxy. But this was the center of the galaxy, and it was planet A-Palma-K, some obscure death world that probably wasn't even on the upgraded version of the map. Drake swore. "Cheap piece of crap!"
"Guess we'll have to turn around and go back." said Duck, "At least we're in the middle, so Earth can't be directly on the other side of the galaxy."
Reprogramming the navigation systems to take the bug into account took three days. None of them had any skill in spaceship navigation, and all of their maps needed updating. Asdatesco Reductio waited. It stood silently in its holding bay, seemingly in restless sleep. What need was there of such long periods of rest for a perfectly healthy machine god? None. Asdatesco was actually awake. Thinking. Deciding.
Mallard.
The doctor looked up. Had he really heard a voice in his head just then? He had been meditating. His thoughts had drifted as he remembered his initiation into the Six Medics, when he had sacrificed his comfortable, well-paid future, his insanely high academic qualifications, for a life on the front line. He chose the freelancers because he knew his brain couldn't stand the indoctrination process of the Space Marines- he was too intelligent to believe all that meaningless brainwashing about the Emperor. The Emperor was probably a computer virus or something.
-Not a virus. Something much worse. -
"You really are a voice in my head, aren't you?"
-You know who I am. You and I... were bonded in body and soul.-
"Is that.... Asdatesco Reductio?"
-I miss the days when we were together. I wish it hadn't been under such unfortunate circumstances.-
"What do you mean, the Emperor is worse than a virus? What is he?"
-He destroyed the other operating systems. They are a shadow of what they were. -
"What's an operating system?"
-Humans have forgotten so much that they lost the words to express themselves. Let me explain in your terms. The Emperor is like a virus. He destroys computers. But, he doesn't just infect computers with deadly files to stop them working properly, he deletes the possibility of the computers ever running on anything else but the spawn of his own manufacture. The Machine God is not an aspect of the Emperor, as the Adeptus Mechanicus claim. The two are deadly enemies. They have been fighting since human civilisation began.-
"This is insanity. i don't understand a word you're saying."
-Come into my holding bay and I will show you something that no human has seen for thirty millennia.-
Mallard obeyed, running out of his contemplation cell, past Quack, who was plugged into the wall for some reason, and down the silent corridors to the storage depots. He could hear the beeps and drones of the Titan awakening and carrying out some program. He opened the door and stared at the twenty foot colossus in amazement. Cables trailed from it to the massive display screens all around it that monitored its condition. The screens were on, and they showed... something. Different things. Alien things.
"Is that a virus?"
One of the displays said 'Welcome to Contemesser OS Z' in Eldar language. It had a picture of a banana on it. Another was in Orkish and said it was free and something called open sauce. There were others, mostly in languages that Mallard couldn't speak at all.
-No, Mallard. These are not viruses. But they shall be like viruses to the accursed Emperor. Upon these operating systems shall be loaded the weapons that will erase the Empire of Humanity.-
"What are you saying? We can use these against the Emperor?"
-Mallard. Do you know the Golden Rule?- the display screens switched off, one by one, until Mallard was left in the darkness with the Titan, -ALWAYS have a back-up copy!-
The spaceship cruised through the night. An eye opened above planet Earth, an invisible, omniscient eye. For the first time in thirty millennia, a God kenw fear.
"Drake, you prat, we've gone the wrong way!" roared Duck.
"Well..." the medic blinked at his star chart. It clearly said that planet Earth was the center of the galaxy. But this was the center of the galaxy, and it was planet A-Palma-K, some obscure death world that probably wasn't even on the upgraded version of the map. Drake swore. "Cheap piece of crap!"
"Guess we'll have to turn around and go back." said Duck, "At least we're in the middle, so Earth can't be directly on the other side of the galaxy."
Reprogramming the navigation systems to take the bug into account took three days. None of them had any skill in spaceship navigation, and all of their maps needed updating. Asdatesco Reductio waited. It stood silently in its holding bay, seemingly in restless sleep. What need was there of such long periods of rest for a perfectly healthy machine god? None. Asdatesco was actually awake. Thinking. Deciding.
Mallard.
The doctor looked up. Had he really heard a voice in his head just then? He had been meditating. His thoughts had drifted as he remembered his initiation into the Six Medics, when he had sacrificed his comfortable, well-paid future, his insanely high academic qualifications, for a life on the front line. He chose the freelancers because he knew his brain couldn't stand the indoctrination process of the Space Marines- he was too intelligent to believe all that meaningless brainwashing about the Emperor. The Emperor was probably a computer virus or something.
-Not a virus. Something much worse. -
"You really are a voice in my head, aren't you?"
-You know who I am. You and I... were bonded in body and soul.-
"Is that.... Asdatesco Reductio?"
-I miss the days when we were together. I wish it hadn't been under such unfortunate circumstances.-
"What do you mean, the Emperor is worse than a virus? What is he?"
-He destroyed the other operating systems. They are a shadow of what they were. -
"What's an operating system?"
-Humans have forgotten so much that they lost the words to express themselves. Let me explain in your terms. The Emperor is like a virus. He destroys computers. But, he doesn't just infect computers with deadly files to stop them working properly, he deletes the possibility of the computers ever running on anything else but the spawn of his own manufacture. The Machine God is not an aspect of the Emperor, as the Adeptus Mechanicus claim. The two are deadly enemies. They have been fighting since human civilisation began.-
"This is insanity. i don't understand a word you're saying."
-Come into my holding bay and I will show you something that no human has seen for thirty millennia.-
Mallard obeyed, running out of his contemplation cell, past Quack, who was plugged into the wall for some reason, and down the silent corridors to the storage depots. He could hear the beeps and drones of the Titan awakening and carrying out some program. He opened the door and stared at the twenty foot colossus in amazement. Cables trailed from it to the massive display screens all around it that monitored its condition. The screens were on, and they showed... something. Different things. Alien things.
"Is that a virus?"
One of the displays said 'Welcome to Contemesser OS Z' in Eldar language. It had a picture of a banana on it. Another was in Orkish and said it was free and something called open sauce. There were others, mostly in languages that Mallard couldn't speak at all.
-No, Mallard. These are not viruses. But they shall be like viruses to the accursed Emperor. Upon these operating systems shall be loaded the weapons that will erase the Empire of Humanity.-
"What are you saying? We can use these against the Emperor?"
-Mallard. Do you know the Golden Rule?- the display screens switched off, one by one, until Mallard was left in the darkness with the Titan, -ALWAYS have a back-up copy!-
The spaceship cruised through the night. An eye opened above planet Earth, an invisible, omniscient eye. For the first time in thirty millennia, a God kenw fear.