Disclaimer: Ok, you all know the stunt: I don't own anything here save for my twisted little mind, all right?

This is based on a wonderful mod HeX Coda by Stefan Gagne. Setting is his, characters (bar Justin) are his; words are my own, but they are cheap and you can have them. ;)

Noise OD

All eyes turned Justin's way as he stepped down into the smoky heat of Aether Slum. Several grumbles reached his ears through the maddening synthesized racket that, for some reason or other, was passed off as music.

Justin winced. Grumbles and growls were something he was long used to; Aether Slums noise, however, was another matter entirely. Not only did even a corroded automaton with a screw loose sound more pleasant – this repeating pattern of thud-thuds and beeps was somehow so annoyingly catchy! It was the kind of sound that stabs through the ears, drills through the cortex, bursts beneath the scalp and then just stays there buzzing forever and a day.

A parasite… And considering who composed it and why – How fitting.

Heavy, measured footsteps took Justin across the room and to the free Aether station. He had to put a conscious effort into avoiding to move to the sound of the overwhelming beat. Subtle and not-so-subtle murmurs accompanied his progress:

"A half-orc… Why do they allow… Look at the sword…Can he use.. Sheesh, he's one of them Coders… They let him… I ain't buying nothing from them…"

Huh… Guess I'm bad for advertisement.

Never mind. It's not like many are buying anything anyway… save for Melee Maidens maybe. So let them talk and grumble and insult. People… People will always be people. Prejudice is an eternal existential constant. Justin knew that well. Roam the Asylum long enough – won't take many steps before you learn that.

Chair groaned under his mass as he was logging on, but the sound passed unnoticed. As well as the ongoing mutters, the groans of the chair was suffocated in the incessant onslaught of Synthetic Obnoxious. Justin grunted a silent curse. He wasn't really a musical type, but he knew utter crap when he heard it. And what's worse, he knew he'd keep hearing it inside his head long after he leaves the Slum.

Parasite… Like its creator. But that's Cathedral for you – Big, bloated parasite, leeching its… well, yes, hosts. That was a proper term. And the biggest irony? They were actually willing hosts! Ah, go figure.

His eyes scanned the page briefly. Commercials, commercials and more commercials. "Improve your life – Today!" and all that. Sure, Justin grinned, provided you don't have a sporty pair of tusks… or talk in riddles… or come from the past.. or happen to think that open magic is a good thing.

Be the same; part of the herd. Don't stand out, blend with the crowd, be the golden middle… and then you'll be happy as a hazamat in a toxic puddle. Hey, then you can even start jiggling to the beat of this noise and actually enjoy it!

"In the news: Miss Nadia Sinclair is happy to announce that the new line of automatons testing phase is already showing incredibly good results and…"

Justin chuckled, drawing several cautious glances his direction. Hypocrisy… It was so disgusting it was actually amazing sometimes. Let the automatons develop themselves, let them learn, let them grow… Give them free will. And at the same time, make that very thing something bad and, caring about public welfare as you are, take it away from the good people of Asylum so that they won't have to bang their pretty, empty heads about it no more.

No more banging… so now you can put just about anything inside their heads, and all they'll do is nod, rattle and smile. Clever… Times and again, the Sinclairs proved themselves to be many things, but certainly no fools.

Free will… It was dangerous. Almost as dangerous as free magic. Just sacrifice your freedom of choice, your ability to think for yourself and don't worry – We'll do your thinking for you. We'll tell you what's nice and what isn't, we'll tuck you in in your beds at night, and, instead of singing you a song, play you some nice, melodious and completely free Aether Slum music for your pleasure only!

In hindsight, no wonder brainwashing goes so well. Threaten me with some of these sounds and even I will buy whatever you want.

"…And for your security only, we bring you the…" Justin switched to another page quickly. Security…

Security versus Free Will. Not such a tough choice, is it now? And we all know what the majority would choose. But then, Justin was not, in any way, in majority. Free will… It's what makes people lead their own lives. And that is a prospect most dread, really. Easier to have someone else choose for you. It's something that makes people think. And that's what the Cathedral found dangerous. If people would think more, maybe they'd stop buying? Maybe they'd be making choices? Maybe, they would even try making their own magic.

And where, then, would you be, Nadia? Where would The Cathedral be if suddenly, in every Aether Slum around people just begun rebelling against this… noise?

Click. A touch of a finger, and he logged out. Slowly, he drew himself up and suddenly, found some perverted pleasure in the gazes shot his way as he stretched his massive, burly form, flexed his shoulders and started across the room.

Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the big beast won't break your legs. It won't jump at you, crushing your mumbling jaws… it won't even start spitting at you or take that hideous machine and launch it through the window, busting it into thousand little pieces and shutting this beep-beeping horror down at last. Oh, but maybe some of you would even be grateful to me for it? Well, lads, I'm sorry, but if you want it to stop, you'll have to do it yourselves. This big beast is taking itself out that door and away from what it does not like. You – are free to do the same… maybe. At any rate, big beast bids you good day – these sounds may be too sophisticated for its primitive ears to appreciate.

& & & & &

The doors closed behind Justin and he stepped out on the street. Could he really raze the Aether Slum down? Of course he could. Could he get away with it? No. But he could just get away. One step out of the suburb and into the wild out there – that would be all it would take him to disappear from anyone's sight.

But he chose not to, and that was what having freedom of choice was all about. To know you can but to choose if you will.

Still, as his steps led him down the street, the thud-thud-beep-thud-beeep went along with him. Right there in his head, beneath the scalp and inside his ears, the Synthetic Monster carried its tune. In spite of himself, Justin found his legs moving to the beat.

No, he could walk away, but The Cathedral would follow; drilled into his cortex, it would keep buzzing and buzzing until it he gets so used to it not to even notice it's there. The noise, like parasite, and there was no fighting it… Or was it?

Justin stopped dead in his tracks. Maybe, he thought, there is a way to counter it after all. He picked up his pace as an idea begun forming in his head, pushing the beeps and the thuds away.

He had a vision, an image, forming right in front of his eyes. It would take some time to make it, he'd probably need a lots of Davyd's help for it, he might not even make it, but if you fail at first, try, try again…

Think I'll call it… Headphones!