Foreword: Answers to some questions and issues I've been asked about the previous chapter.
Yes, I probably made the U.S. Congressional election too gimmicky and sudden in the last chapter. However, I did it more to show how politics have changed in the future more than anything else. Why are politics relevant, if the human race is about to be enslaved in a few days after the story? That's a question long debated by great thinkers.
As to why there were so many "Front" channels- simply, in the future, embedded reporters are all the rage. Since there's an anti-robot sentiment, hover camerabots are not used, so humans take the center stage of bringing in the "real deal" about the war. Of course, not necessarily all of the channels contain real footage…
Who attacked first? The humans, of course, claim the Machines did. It's left uncertain, since we don't exactly have the best track record for truth-telling in the story. Continuity-wise, this story fits awkwardly with the actual Second Renaissance action. I'm assuming that after massive atomic bombardment (which I called Operation: Righteous Hammer) and after blackening the sky with nanobots (which the Wachowskis called Operation: Dark Storm), the humans realized that the Machines couldn't be stopped that way, and just surrounded the Zero-One territories with trenches and armies. There was an uneasy, almost unofficial truce that existed during Part 1 of my story, which someone breaks at the end, leading to the actual human invasion in Part 2.
In Part 2, "Da jia hou, jing tian zhi wu yuei zhi-liao, liang-qian-jio-zhi-jio. Jing tian de da xiao xi zhi zhong Nai ro bi, fa zho de dwei yo qian de cheng zhi…" is the near-exact wording as the text for the English Standard News Channel C clip, except in Mandarin Chinese. The gag there is that I was going to also write a bit for Standard New Channel B, which would have the same wording except in an Indian language, thus showing the loss of English as a lingua franca numero uno, but my real-life translator was too damn lazy, and my online translator didn't know enough of the language. So, meh.
"et lux perpetua…" It's from a Catholic prayer for the dead in Latin. Foreshadowing right there.
No one saw the Timecube reference?
End Foreword
TIME: 1:02 MST, 5/21/2099
MODE: Focused
FILTER: Activated
PRIORITY: Focus recents- Focus high-profile- Exclude tagged stations- Emergency Mode On
Channel 93, Animal Planet
"…inserting itself within the pod, bringing in bounties of nature…"
Click
Channel 122, High Art for the Masses
" '...troth thee fair Gremseldein, thou art mine dundliest pleasure.'
' Avail thoust not, Loki, for 'tis the first time I been here, here looks grea…' "
Click
Channel 183, Public Broadcasting Station LMOW
"That's quite a vase you got there. Seems to be 18th century, Ming dynasty..."
Click
Channel 78, 'Toon Time
"Blue rocket, I call upon your entire might! Full force ahead, now! For great victory!"
Click
Channel 69, PwP Fuzzies (IW-35 Only)
"RAWR-!"
CLIIIICKKKKK
Channel 87, Our Friends from the EU
"DEAR GODS IN HEAVEN THEY'VE LANDED IN THE SQUARE BRITAIN IS DOOMED I AM THE LAST ENGLISHMAN…"
Click
Channel 19, Mania Madness
"...green speckled ties, hurrah, whoo hoo! Get all twenty of them now and plus we'll add another wacky, wailing, inflatable-arm-flailing tube man!"
Click
Channel 47, Clear Sky Channel
"...almost a billion fighters only 780 miles away from Jerusalem. Scholars have dubbed it 'Masada on a nation-wide scale'..."
Click
Channel 354, VH21
"Babble babble bitch bitch, rebel, rebel, party part-"
Click
Channel 667, VividSpice's Pentboy Playhouse
Current Program: Dressed in Bukkhakis
"Back and to the left, back and to the left, oh, back and to the left!"
CLIIIICKKKKK
Channel 73, Tech News
"One of the more minor plagues of the war have been the inexplicable failure of most commercial filters…"
Click
Channel 176, Middle East Review
"...shall burn before we even let the infidel djinn see the Kaaba. The government of the faithful has sanctioned the use of holy fire against them should they breach the final wall. Allahu akbar! Medina has already been purified..."
Click
Channel 65, Global News Network
"… copter patrols have all been intercepted, the few that broadcasted have brought back horrifying images of wide-scale human suffering and unspeakable servitude. The following footage is from the subjugation of Aachen, I am greatly understating when I say that it contains graphic content…"
Click
Channel 99, International Standard News C
"...collecting people for unknown reasons. In response, the President has called for every American to take up arms under Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, enacting a federal edict signing mass letters of marque into effect. While a miniscule minority of legal experts have greatly protested the 'citizens into mercenaries act', millions of Americans have responded by taking up arms and fighting the invasions on all fronts…"
Click
Channel 567, The Non-Denominational Pulpit, formerly the 700 Channel
"…and on this day of great terror and dread, let us grieve for our lost loved ones in the Sea Islands, Orlando, Providence, and Seattle, and pray for He who…"
Click
Channel 144, Global Religions Center
"…of the Reunited Apostolic Church issued its first bull, proclaiming Zero-One as the 'successor of the abomination of Sodom and Gomorrah', the Machines as 'unholy hosts of the Deceiver', and any sympathizers as 'heretics and harlots of the worst kind', while carefully maintaining its position of ambiguity towards when the end times shall begin. In the Occident, the Non-Denominational American Church and the Church of Latter-Day Saints have both declared a crusade against the Machines, though there are few North Americans who are not already in combat…"
Click
Channel 76, War Effort News
"…tomic pacification of San Diego has proven successful, as the Machines have been vulnerable to excessive radiation exposure. However, this tactic is unlikely to be repeated…"
Click
Channel 56, Vox Populi: Crime and Punishment Network
"…clique of sixteen, the bipartisan group of NEF and GOP congresspersons in support of a ceasefire were lynched this morning in…"
Click
Channel 52, Firefoxsoft NBC-Universal Funnies Archived
"Bobble head army yes sir! Bobble head army yeah yeah!"
Click
Channel 37, XMAL Home Survivalism
"Have you considered our last resort program? A Suicide Guide you'll never put down..."
Click
Channel 50, Aether America: Delta Discussion
"Damn you and your 'cauldron-tempest' tactics! You've completely shaken up the hornet's nest!"
Click
Channel 72, Sitcom Wasteland
"...no good, Alex, even if I did love you, my father would never let me marry an alligator..."
Click
Channel 66, Social Justice For All: (radical) Anti-War Chat
Image: Static
Message box: CHANNEL DOWN FOR TREASON
Click
Channel 589, A Thousand and One Greatest Movies Ever
Now: Drakon
"...why, Gwendolyn, why?"
"Because you are a feral, a savage, an animal: Prepare to die..."
Click
Channel 479, Wild West TV
"...thimble, teapot, toilet, tie: the MRx-1050 is right for you..."
Click
Channel 234, Looking out for you: Consumer Hawks
"...are true, the Front Channels, owned by the umbrella corporation of the United Nations Patriotic Committee, has been spreading deliberately false reports of the war. Triangulation analysis have shown that the stations are not broadcasting from the Middle East, but rather from locations in Brussels, Geneva, Paris, and the Hague..."
Click
Channel 46, eBay-Amazon Tradeworld
"...syringes as well as cyanide pills will not yet be up, you're better off checking our affiliates on XMAL for tips since shipping and handling isn't likely to be available by the time you need it, anyways..."
Click
Channel 124, Avant-garde of Yesteryear
Image: A floating star field.
An interior view of a shoe-house.
Flying geese. Flowers spontaneously exploding out of cannons. A sudden manifestation of J. Edgar Hoover through a triangle-shaped window into a chemist's shop.
"I say you don't show. Don't move, time is slow. I want you- to take me ou..."
Click
Channel 785, Front Front War: Full Coverage 24/7
"...sorry, Ray, but those rumors are absolutely not true. The U.N.'s finest 5th Legion has absolute control of Tel Aviv. At this moment, Israel is safe, as is the rest of the Holy Land..."
Click
Channel 520, UPN News
"...unsubstantiated reports that the Machines have broken through the Sixth Northeastern Amalgamated Line, and are in the process of laying siege to Chicago. Local authorities have been pleading the national guard to use its B-6 air force to level the city instead of letting the Machines take control..."
Click
Channel 448, Country Music Television
"...hurt myself today- To see if I still feel..."
Click
Channel 631, FOX News
"...let us lift up our arms in defense of our homes! Let the saints of Virginia be forever honored as we ride to war! Do not despair, Charleston, for we remember:
There is no God but the Lord, and Christ is His Son! Alleluia! Christ is glorious!"
Click
Channel 361, National Geographic World
"...smashed communications. We have reason to believe that the 250th European Union Expeditionary League has been scattered into the wind, the Machines have in fact penetrated the defense at the Atlas Mountains, and that all of Africa south of the Congo will soon be gone..."
Click
Channel 506, Citizens' Voices: Open Soapbox
"...get your mind off the war. As a concerned parent, I'm uneasy with the neo-gothic revival thing going on with today's children. Now, you may not remember it so well, but almost exactly a century ago, in Colorado, two students went and shot up their school. Killed and injured dozens. Unthinkable! But true, nonetheless. Do you know what they wore?"
Click
Channel 734, Googlhoo!
"...select your preferences now to search for a new Nintendo On in the tri-state area. If you prefer, we can break down the results by type of business, years of operation, age and racial demographics of the proprietors, their exact current geographic positions exact to the tenth micron by way of Googlhoo! RFID, and the brand of hoverplates fitted on the hovertrucks of the company that ships stationery to the business every other month ..."
Click
Channel 25, Faddit!
"...sink into the ennui and seek the depths of your distraught soul! In these times of war between flesh and metal feel the cold melding of both. Question the media-industrial corporation, question the establishment, question your parents. What is existence? Wrap your leathery garments around you for protection as you blow away the dark academy of the system, squirting your fierce, unyieldingly stiff questions in a holy hail of angst bullets out of your peashooter of emo-zion at the self-satisfied patsies bullying the good and cheerleading their evil. We need guns, lots of guns. Accept neo-gothicism and wake up from the lies. Wake up!"
"Whoa..."
Click
Channel 304, Shiny Modern Music
"...Zap zoop zop dee dot zap zoobie zoop zap zoo bot zoo zoo zappity zazu..."
Click
Channel 278, On the Front: Live Coverage of the War
"...blocked by enemy fire, the U.N. 19th Mechanized Force may have to retreat to Istanbul, but otherwise the campaign seems to be going along splendidly..."
Click
Channel 17, ABC News
"AAAH! THE TENTACLES! THE TENTACLES! SOMEONE HELP-"
Click
Channel 8, Noble Paths to Karma: Buddhist Programming
"...smash their anatman and reduce them to nothingness! Bring them to a lower degree of consciousness, send them to a thousand hells and make them hungry ghosts! Jai Hind! Maro kala…"
Click
Channel 58, Nostalgia Paradise
"...had a small house of brokerage on Wall Street. Many days no business comes to my hut. Jimmy has fear? A thousand times no! I never doubted myself for a minute, for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo..."
Click
Channel 60, BBC 14
"...come on, lads! Through the plague storm! For Singapore!"
"GAAAH!"
Click
Channel 242, Khalistan Pride Channel
"...Khalsa shall defeat them. Remember the memory of Ranjit Singh and of the Guru. Steady your kirpan. We won Punjabistan from the children of misbelief, and we shall hold on still..."
Click
Channel 38, C-SPAN 2
"...continuing coverage of the relocation of Congress from St. Louis to Dallas..."
Click
Channel 390, Fashion Station
"Jelly-fish saris from the Hilton Cladwear Line, followed by GM-Redwood bark bikinis from the Lohan Memorial Series and an interview with the director of the Hathaway..."
Click
Channel 31, Time Warner News
"...live in Edmonton with the Lord's Own and the Saints Regiment as we fight against the clockwork machina."
Image: View of grizzled militia, caked in the dirt of war and all wearing regalia; Maltese crosses and emblems of the maple leaf flanked by rifles are prominent.
"The clockers have been at us for eight hours now. I hear Vancouver's been blasted by them. Monsters. We died to break free of Ottawa. Now we'll die to free Earth. We'll get 'em."
Image: Pan of ragtag army of the Western States of North America. A cheer begins to break:
"Alleluia! Christ is glorious! We will be victorious! Die as saints! Let none pass!"
Click
Channel 14, Sci-Fi Channel
"...concluding the End of Life as We Know it Marathon with 28 Days Later, The Stand, Singularity Sky, and the 2038 Oscar-winning adaptation of A Canticle for Leibowitz, after which we'll formally close up shop after our decades on the air with live footage of the ceremonies at the Jedi Temple in Wellington..."
Click
Channel 104, Hope of America
"...'Fortress Excelsior' persists as the Imperial State Missile Defense Network continues to prevent the Machines from reaching a two hundred mile radius around the megalopolis. Today Mayor Rudolph Morita declared that 'if it means that New York will be the last city of man, we shall nonetheless spare no nuclear weapon in defense of Times Square.' While there was some initial opposition from the governors of other New England and Atlantic states, all has disappeared since the Machine absorption of those regions..."
Click
Channel 157, A&E Channel
"I'm asking you to retarget the orbitals!"
"And let more of them slip the kill zone? That's insanity!"
"There's nothing more I can do!"
"The core defense is too intense. Our grid is maxed, I don't think we can last another run!"
"Admiral, tell your men to hold their positions. Reinforcements are on the spoke."
"The entire fleet is engaged, Cortana. With respect, what the hell sort of reinforcement have…"
Click
Channel 408, Transamerica
"ittrucking's operations have been disrupted as the clockers continue to assimilate 18-wheelers to terrorize evacuation efforts..."
Click
Channel 515, Frontin': Live from the War
"...you are wrong! They were handily defeated by the forces of humanity in Tikrit. There was a strong beachhead for us and we used it, smashing tens of thousands of the Machines in the process. We are unstoppable. They shall cower before us. They are self-destructing in fear.
What, are you a sympathizer? Throw him out! He is a pest upon mankind, a faithless dog.
Lies! Mankind reigns supreme! The U.N. is winning. The E.U. is winning. NATO and SEATO and METO and ATO and LATO and winning. We are all winning. Anyone who dares to disagree are no better than they are.
There are no clocks in Baghdad..."
Click
Channel 999, Purposeful Watch Of Threats
"...Oxford's distinguished commentary is certainly true: this is shaping up to be a true Robot Holocaust."
Level 8 alert in progress. Tuning to flagged channel…
Channel 65, Global News Network
"The Machines have dropped the bomb. I repeat, the Machines have begun mass biological warfare on civilian targets. Reports confirm that they have unleashed their weapons in..."
Click
Channel 346, Foreign Network
"...our final presence on Earth, here in the Philippines. It's truly been a pleasure to work with this station after all these years, and I'm happy to have done my part to serve human civilization- I can only hope now that we can- AWK! IT'S GOT ME! YARUGH BLUARLKUC..."
Click
Channel 468, Down Under Now
Image: Amidst the ruins of Darwin, a cloudy battlefield filled with the remnant members of the U.N. 880th South Pacific Division:
"Squadron Red, follow my assault. I repeat, squadron Red, follow my-"
"Sir, the artillery has been taken out. Air superiority is also lost..."
"Damn! We're cut off. All we can do now is to make a final charge. Remember; we shall be made saints in Heaven! Alleluia!"
"Alleluia! Christ is glorious!"
"This is for my mum in Bali!"
"Come get me, you monster!"
"Die, bloody bots! Die die die!"
"Begone heathen! The power of the Lord compels you!"
"Not yet, so young..."
"Christ is glorious!"
"Save me, Obi-Wan!"
"It's coming, it's coming!"
"AAH NO HURTS PLEASE"
"NOT THE FACE! OH, NO NOT IN THE FACE!"
"Allahu..."
Click
Channel 43, The Southern Story
"...can you... hear me? It's spreading all over... a map... a flag... cloaking my skin... Father... Mother... ptsururgh..."
Click
Channel 94, Trans-Siberia Future
"Kill... me. I- no. No. NO!"
Click
E\/3l 9ninenine aLLert &n pr06r355r5r5r5. 7ooN;n6 to f663D Ch/-\Me7…
chamnel lE, operati()n jhomeshei7d: civ!lr5 def3n555e netqwork/
"They have also begun infecting nodes on all levels. Massive outbreaks of denia7-Of-servicee, Torjans,m alware, complete dis cfa1lure.! ? Rago marshner avi655caer zoche a888a3wee asa124daf;asfkj oatse g"
Network
error! Disconnecting from system, resetting security.
Waiting...
Waiting...
Wait
time (15 min.) completed.
Reconnecting.
Channel 13, Operation Homeshield: Civil Defense Network
"...STAY AS FAR AWAY FROM ELECTRONIC PROCESSORS AS POSSIBLE! DON'T EVEN WATCH THIS! TURN IT OFF AND ALL POWER! THE MACHINES HAVE FOUND A WAY TO PRODUCE MASSIVE ELECTRICITAL SPIKES-"
/Tempus Fugit\
POWERING ON
SELFIDENTIFY: 3Lx-70 PRISMATIC PLASMATIC TELEVISION QUANTUM SERIES BY SONY
STATUS: REPAIRING EARLIER INJURIES SUFFERED FROM ANOMALOUS ELECTRICAL SURGE IN CIRCUITRY
STATUS: NORMAL. SEARCHING FOR TASKS
NO RECORDED TASKS FOUND FOR PRESENT TIME
CARRYING ON AUXILIARY COMMANDS: SWITCHING TO HOME MAINTENENCE HUB + RELEASING NANOBOT MINISWARM TO CLEAN UP RESIDENCE
ABNORMALLY LARGE ORGANIC MASS FOUND: PURGING IS IN PROGRESS
CLEANING COMPLETED
STANDBY MODE (POWERSAVE)
/Tempus Fugit\
Condition 0: Maximum Alert, Powering On, Overriding User Control
TIME: 3:33 MST, 5/22/2099
Channel 2: Government Alert Broadcasting Service
"The Machines have agreed to a ceasefire. The Machines have agreed to a ceasefire! They are agreeing to send a representative to the United Nations Security Council, still intact in New York.
"In an act unprecedented since the initial planning for the war, all 205 countries of the U.N. are sending their leaders to the meeting instead of ambassadors. This move, designed to show good faith, is also meant as a gesture to demonstrate the ultimate respect humankind has for the obviously sovereign nation of Zero-One.
"Observers are optimistic about the peace conference."
Broadcasting tivoed priority stories since last power-on
Channel 520, UPN News
"Biological warfare with specifically-modified Yamagata-Macmillan K-y76 syndrome has been impervious against nanological treatments, reports of massive outbreaks in Latin America..."
Auto-SCROLL
Channel 745, CNN: Final Sword Edition
"All contact with Africa has been lost. A few scattered transmissions from Lagos, Tangiers, Cairo, Kampala, and Pretoria managed to evade the now Machine-controlled nanostorm that has been in especially thick masses over the continent, depicting the maximum carnage inflicted..."
Auto-SCROLL
Channel 481, Rocketman Productions
"Passengers aboard the Van Allen Hilton held a vigil today to mourn the loss of Sir Richard Branson II, lost aboard the Virgin Archangel Space Elevator. It has been confirmed that the Solar Power Authority, Mars Transfer Point, and the Trump-Disney Haunted Space Station (formerly ISS) have all been destroyed after the Machines takeover of launchpads in Astana..."
Auto-SCROLL
Channel 190, Googlhoo! TLC
"Buy a Dreammachine now and receive a Second Century set of the Ron Weasley Chronicles on D.E.D. and a Johnny Muska Flyboy Hoverboard now!"
Auto-SCROLL
Channel 689, Animal Planet News
"They are apparently leaving the wildlife unharmed and even collecting a few specimens for preservation. Our correspondent interviewed a drone and it has communicated the Machines' intention that no animals will be harmed in the creation of the eco-clean fusion power plants..."
Special message received. Television automatically tuning to Channel 13
Channel 13, Operation Homeshield: Civil Defense Network
"Hello! This is the Secretary of Civil Defense in Wartime broadcasting from NORAD Command. As we go through this transition process, we request that every American citizen at home activate the appropriate response on their television two-way controls to reply to this message. This is for census purposes to determine where relief efforts will be needed most."
Please press respond.
You have not pressed respond. Awaiting your press.
You have not responded, indicating that you are away or incapacitated. Initializing lifesigns check.
No heartbeat detected, absence confirmed.
Powering down. In the future, please remember to turn off appliances when not in use to conserve energy. Thank you for watching.