Thankings to all reviewers. At last, I can see you now. Replies are at the end of the chapter. There may be some minor format problems hither.
Chapter 10: Lifestyle changes
Commander Locke, or a smattering of his minions, had somehow converted a metallic, disturbingly small cuboid into a metallic, disturbingly small office. It was a dark, dingy place, it felt, and faintly smelt like being stuck in the back of a toilet.
"Eric Drexler sir." Said an over-enthusiastic teenager who had shown me from the last two floors to Locke's office.
"Thank you, dismissed."
I stepped forward a few paces and watched as the door slammed shut behind me with a loud gong.
"Sit down please." Said Locke, without even looking up from a series of paper sheets that were strewn randomly on his desk. I remember thinking something about simple courtesy but I can't remember what. I guess it doesn't matter.
I took the seat that he had gestured at with one hand.
"How is it that you were un-plugged?" He was looking at me now. The look on his face suggested that he was going to rip me to shreds in a matter of moments.
"What?" I said light-heartedly, "no small talk?"
It probably wasn't the smartest choice of actions, but there was something about his seemingly unbreakable, calm military like professionalism that begged to be challenged.
He exhaled and turned his head to the side slightly. The look on his face reminded me suddenly of an old high school teacher. It was the same look he would use to show contempt for annoying students.
"We don't have time to piss about," he was almost hissing at me, thereby putting me on the edge of a hysterical laugh, "if your answers reveal anything that could be a threat to Zion then I have permission to have you shot right here."
"That's not very nice." I replied with a faked hurt look on my face.
If this had been any other situation, I would have wisely shut up. Something was different now however, I felt like my world had been ripped from me and nothing I did really mattered. I also felt that I'd grow out of this at some point, assuming I didn't get killed within the next few minutes.
Locke looked like he was resisting the urge to go for my throat with his teeth.
"I'm going to ask you once more, how did you manage to get un-plugged?"
Deciding that it was in my best interests, I told him everything.
*******************************************************************
After that pesky month of guilt had passed, I actually began to feel slightly good about what I'd done. That undoubtedly makes me a sick piece of shit but what can you do? Anyway, it's not like I started going out and decapitating people on sight. I realised that Manticore was right, that demon did deserve to die, and if we didn't decide who deserved to die, no one would.
Manticore had been acting strangely since we returned. He'd taken to sitting in his room for hours on en, preparing to make a great speech to those assembled in the bar, and then suddenly wandering off. This carried on for almost a week before Hydra was able to prise something out of him.
"He's thinking about going to war with the Demons." She said suddenly one night when all but Manticore were seated about the card table. It was an awkward thing; it hovered and would randomly alter its height. Whoever had designed this feature should have been beaten about the head with a barracuda.
Sorry, I'm drifting from the subject. Hydra had chosen to say this at what appeared to be a completely spontaneous time. I think that we were discussing the pros and cons of there being peace with the machines and humans when she said it.
Everyone glared at her for a while. Before Dragon finally said,
"What?"
"Manticore's thinking of going to war with the Demons."
It was hard to think of an intelligible and witty response to this statement. It also took a while for the words to sink in.
"Why?" Said Hawk after a few moments, "Well actually, I guess its obvious why but, why now?"
"He said that he didn't feel right sitting around here doing nothing to stop them when we have the power to do just that."
"Do we though?" I added, "There's five of us and hundreds of Demons, and not all of them are your average human."
"We wouldn't take them all on at once; we'd just strike when they attacked somewhere."
"Manticore and I stumbled across a Demon attack, how would we find out where they were attacking?"
"We'd need to obtain some tracking software, and we'd need some kind of output device…"
"Maybe we'd get our own comic book series." Dragon added suddenly. Me and Hawk laughed at this, Hydra seemed lost in thought.
Another silence passed through the room as we considered this. Truth to tell, I wasn't overly fond of the idea of killing anyone else, Demon or no. After thinking about it however, I decided that I could settle for knocking them out and waiting for the police to arrive like with the surviving three.
"This isn't a decision I can make for you." Manticore's raised voice from the far side of the room startled he shit out of me. I banished the feeling as best as I could before turning to face him.
"I do believe that it is the right thing to do however," he continued, "but this may very well get us all killed. So we vote. Who says fight? Who doesn't?"
Another silence passed through the room. The idea of risking our lives wasn't an overly appealing one, despite the worthy cause. To be honest, I found the situation about too comic bookesqe to take seriously. After I saw the situation for what it really was however, I agreed that it was the right thing to do.
"I say Fight." I said sounding more nervous then I had hoped to.
"So do I." Said Hawk moments after.
"And me." This one came from Hydra.
"This probably won't sink in properly until tomorrow at least," Dragon seemed determined to say fight in as elaborate a way as possible, "and when it does I'll probably kick myself; but yeah, I think we should fight."
"Glad you agree." A grin found its way onto Manticore's face.
I think we got back to our card game after that. It was too late in the day to do anything except make the aforementioned decision.
To be continued.
Right, now for replies.
Alex: It's always difficult to respond to conventional praise. All I can usually think of is something like 'Thanks for reviewing' which makes it seem like I'm doing a hatchet job reply wise.
Um, thanks for reviewing. (Sorry, it's all I can think of apart from the earlier stuff.)
Angel-Of-Lightness: If you have a heart problem you probably shouldn't stab yourself.
When I die, I'll be dead.
I tried to relieve constipation by firing a gun up my arse. Looking back, it wasn't the smartest thing to do.
You can donate your blood but you can't donate your limbs.
Thanks for reviewing. Get well soon, if you don't I'll spend 14 days throwing sunflower seeds at you.
Tai Wilson: Suck it did, I knew the new reviews were there but I couldn't see the bloody things. Oh well, glad you're enjoying it.
Agent Josie: Why is it now that I see the most snowmen? When all that's left is trace elements of ice. I hate ice. Anyway, thanks for reviewing. Readed and Revieweded, and stapled.
Chapter 10: Lifestyle changes
Commander Locke, or a smattering of his minions, had somehow converted a metallic, disturbingly small cuboid into a metallic, disturbingly small office. It was a dark, dingy place, it felt, and faintly smelt like being stuck in the back of a toilet.
"Eric Drexler sir." Said an over-enthusiastic teenager who had shown me from the last two floors to Locke's office.
"Thank you, dismissed."
I stepped forward a few paces and watched as the door slammed shut behind me with a loud gong.
"Sit down please." Said Locke, without even looking up from a series of paper sheets that were strewn randomly on his desk. I remember thinking something about simple courtesy but I can't remember what. I guess it doesn't matter.
I took the seat that he had gestured at with one hand.
"How is it that you were un-plugged?" He was looking at me now. The look on his face suggested that he was going to rip me to shreds in a matter of moments.
"What?" I said light-heartedly, "no small talk?"
It probably wasn't the smartest choice of actions, but there was something about his seemingly unbreakable, calm military like professionalism that begged to be challenged.
He exhaled and turned his head to the side slightly. The look on his face reminded me suddenly of an old high school teacher. It was the same look he would use to show contempt for annoying students.
"We don't have time to piss about," he was almost hissing at me, thereby putting me on the edge of a hysterical laugh, "if your answers reveal anything that could be a threat to Zion then I have permission to have you shot right here."
"That's not very nice." I replied with a faked hurt look on my face.
If this had been any other situation, I would have wisely shut up. Something was different now however, I felt like my world had been ripped from me and nothing I did really mattered. I also felt that I'd grow out of this at some point, assuming I didn't get killed within the next few minutes.
Locke looked like he was resisting the urge to go for my throat with his teeth.
"I'm going to ask you once more, how did you manage to get un-plugged?"
Deciding that it was in my best interests, I told him everything.
*******************************************************************
After that pesky month of guilt had passed, I actually began to feel slightly good about what I'd done. That undoubtedly makes me a sick piece of shit but what can you do? Anyway, it's not like I started going out and decapitating people on sight. I realised that Manticore was right, that demon did deserve to die, and if we didn't decide who deserved to die, no one would.
Manticore had been acting strangely since we returned. He'd taken to sitting in his room for hours on en, preparing to make a great speech to those assembled in the bar, and then suddenly wandering off. This carried on for almost a week before Hydra was able to prise something out of him.
"He's thinking about going to war with the Demons." She said suddenly one night when all but Manticore were seated about the card table. It was an awkward thing; it hovered and would randomly alter its height. Whoever had designed this feature should have been beaten about the head with a barracuda.
Sorry, I'm drifting from the subject. Hydra had chosen to say this at what appeared to be a completely spontaneous time. I think that we were discussing the pros and cons of there being peace with the machines and humans when she said it.
Everyone glared at her for a while. Before Dragon finally said,
"What?"
"Manticore's thinking of going to war with the Demons."
It was hard to think of an intelligible and witty response to this statement. It also took a while for the words to sink in.
"Why?" Said Hawk after a few moments, "Well actually, I guess its obvious why but, why now?"
"He said that he didn't feel right sitting around here doing nothing to stop them when we have the power to do just that."
"Do we though?" I added, "There's five of us and hundreds of Demons, and not all of them are your average human."
"We wouldn't take them all on at once; we'd just strike when they attacked somewhere."
"Manticore and I stumbled across a Demon attack, how would we find out where they were attacking?"
"We'd need to obtain some tracking software, and we'd need some kind of output device…"
"Maybe we'd get our own comic book series." Dragon added suddenly. Me and Hawk laughed at this, Hydra seemed lost in thought.
Another silence passed through the room as we considered this. Truth to tell, I wasn't overly fond of the idea of killing anyone else, Demon or no. After thinking about it however, I decided that I could settle for knocking them out and waiting for the police to arrive like with the surviving three.
"This isn't a decision I can make for you." Manticore's raised voice from the far side of the room startled he shit out of me. I banished the feeling as best as I could before turning to face him.
"I do believe that it is the right thing to do however," he continued, "but this may very well get us all killed. So we vote. Who says fight? Who doesn't?"
Another silence passed through the room. The idea of risking our lives wasn't an overly appealing one, despite the worthy cause. To be honest, I found the situation about too comic bookesqe to take seriously. After I saw the situation for what it really was however, I agreed that it was the right thing to do.
"I say Fight." I said sounding more nervous then I had hoped to.
"So do I." Said Hawk moments after.
"And me." This one came from Hydra.
"This probably won't sink in properly until tomorrow at least," Dragon seemed determined to say fight in as elaborate a way as possible, "and when it does I'll probably kick myself; but yeah, I think we should fight."
"Glad you agree." A grin found its way onto Manticore's face.
I think we got back to our card game after that. It was too late in the day to do anything except make the aforementioned decision.
To be continued.
Right, now for replies.
Alex: It's always difficult to respond to conventional praise. All I can usually think of is something like 'Thanks for reviewing' which makes it seem like I'm doing a hatchet job reply wise.
Um, thanks for reviewing. (Sorry, it's all I can think of apart from the earlier stuff.)
Angel-Of-Lightness: If you have a heart problem you probably shouldn't stab yourself.
When I die, I'll be dead.
I tried to relieve constipation by firing a gun up my arse. Looking back, it wasn't the smartest thing to do.
You can donate your blood but you can't donate your limbs.
Thanks for reviewing. Get well soon, if you don't I'll spend 14 days throwing sunflower seeds at you.
Tai Wilson: Suck it did, I knew the new reviews were there but I couldn't see the bloody things. Oh well, glad you're enjoying it.
Agent Josie: Why is it now that I see the most snowmen? When all that's left is trace elements of ice. I hate ice. Anyway, thanks for reviewing. Readed and Revieweded, and stapled.