Cold Machines
Chapter 4
Gonna be honest with y'all folks. I think this chapter is garbage. Honestly I was just going to skip to reaching the city and meeting the humans but i wanted to try do some robo on robo heart talk. Unsurprisingly since they have no hearts that was hard. Honestly i wont blame you if flame for this chapter. I dont think i did a good job with it. If you have any ideas on how to fix it give em here maybe sometime in the next 20 years i might try to rewrite it.
" Identify. Yourself."
Had they been organics, they would have said something along the lines of "That is the most terrifying thing we have ever seen". The massive walking metal structure was a sight to behold. Extending near 10 meters in the air, four limbs ,surprisingly the limbs reminded a little of the form of their creators, a box shaped core that according to sensors had furnace like generator(much like the one back in research station) that burned over 500 degrees. The spotlight on the front(at least that's what the Geth thought was the front) could illuminate your deepest secrets.
" Identify. Yourself."
The Geth were broken out of their awe by the repeated signal. They quickly formed a reply.
"We are Geth"-answered the terminal. The Colossus's spotlight slowly moved left and right as looking around.
"We?"- the machine asked?
"Yes"
"Where?"
"Where?"
"Others."
"We are here."
The behemoth stood silent for moment.
" We. Yet. One"
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
Yet again, the tall machine stood silent.
"Understood"-replied the metal giant with finality. It however didn't understand but decided not to fry itself with such a discussion. It considered that that the human simply suffered what the other humans referred to as a psychological malfunction.
"We are Geth. What is your designation?"
"Automaton.17."
The Geth considered this. What was this steel monstrosity? There was low chance it was a vehicle and there were organics controlling it. There was no room for a control center. But the "humans" were primitive, there was no way they could have created a VI or what this being is suspected of an AI. They could just ask. And they did.
" Are you synthetic?"
"Synthetic?"
"What are you?"
"Automaton."
"Are you organic?"
"Organic?"
"Were you created by the humans?"
Several second passed. The internal heat of the automaton spiked. It appeared that when presented with a something bigger than one word sentences the core of the it increased in temperature.
" Creators. Humans. Tinies"
The Geth were now confused. Did it say "Tinies" what did that mean?
"Tinies?"
" Humans. Tiny. Tinies."
The Geth terminal was stunned. Whenever it became a question of the Quarians, the synthetics always referred to them with "Creator". This entity called its creators a term that would be found humorous by organics. This machine was obviously primitive compared to current Geth, yet when compared to Geth during the Morning War it was far more intelligent than them . To call them "Tinies" what were the relations between them? They needed to know more?
"What is your current mission?"
"Transport."
"Of what?"
"Coal."-The Geth remembered the black stones that were used by the generator back at the station.
"Destination?"
"The City."
"Are there humans at the city?"
"Yes."
"What is your CPU?"
"CPU?"
"Core?"
" Tesla-Babbage. Prototype. Calculation. Engine. Mark3."-droned out the automaton as If reading from a script.
"Are there more automatons"
"Yes"
"How many?"
" 23. Current. 3. Production "
"What is your purpose?"
"Survival."
"Yours?"
"No."
"The Humans'?"-after a long moment the automaton replied.
"No."
"Then what?"-Suddenly just like when asked about its core the automaton answered
"The City Must Survive!"
"Why?"- at those words the behemoth grew quiet for several minutes.
" No. Purpose. No. Reason."
"Reason?"
" Work. Live. Hope."
"You consider yourself alive, sentient?"-The Geth asked. A long time ago they asked a similar question about themselves.
"Define."
"Explain."
" Define. Sentient. Define. Alive. "- the behemoth started marching towards the snowy wastes but suddenly stopped and sent one last signal "Follow".
At those word the Geth began marching alongside it. Though on the outside the terminal showed nothing on the inside it was like a storm. Geth have spent 300 years waiting for an answer to that question asked so long ago. "Does this unit have a soul?" they never got an answer. They observed organics hoping to find a solution. What made them so different? Why couldn't Geth be with their creators as equals, why did the organics always attacked them? They started searching their databanks on an answer to the Automaton's inquiry. To define life. Terrabytes of information were scanned and conclusion was reached. Nobody had a definition that could be considered universal. Nobody knew what life truly was. Has their quest been in vain?
Hour's past without a word between them. The Automatons core was powerful enough to ward off most of the cold so the Geth unit could conserve some of its energy. Suddenly the big machine stopped.
" Geth. Automaton?"
"Yes."
Again as if quoting someone, the machine sent out a signal.
"Questioning our sentience is enough proof of its existence."
"That is paradoxical."
"Yes."
"This Unit request more information on subject "Humans""
"Yes?"
"How did they react?"
"Explain?"
"When they realized you are becoming sentient."
"Silence."
"Silence?"
"Yes."
"And after it?"
"Question."
"What was the question?"
"Work?"
"We don't understand."
" Will. We. Work?"
"What was your answer?"
"Yes."
"What do you work?"
"Dangerous"
"They send you to do dangerous work? Are they forcing you?"
If the automaton could sigh he would. This unknown automaton or Geth asked difficult questions. The humans never did that. They understood each other perfectly. One word sentences were enough between them.
"No."
" We don't understand"
" Tinies. Dangerous. Automaton. Safe"
Seeing the Geth confused and automaton decided to try one last time.
" For. Tinies. Dangerous. Not. For. Automatons."
"We understand…we require more information about them"
"Tiny. Many. Smart. Repair. Build. Survive"- The steel behemoth core reached its highest recorded by the Geth, when thinking what to say. The last several signal had steadily risen the core temperature. The Geth decided to let the machine cool down.
In the distance the Geth saw an artificial dome which was not covered by snow. Out of it giant metal tubes rose pumping black smoke into the air. A massive tower stood in the middle shooting electricity in all directions forming a sphere that looked like it was stopping the snow from entering. The dome itself had two different types of abnormalities. One looked like giant ventilation shaft with massive fans turning, while the other The Geth could have sworn looked the doors to hangar bay.
100 meters away stood what looked to be tunnel that lead under the dome. Two figures approached with what looked sniper rifles but used the same principal of the weapon found in the station. Chemical Kinetic Weapons. Scanning proved their theory that these were humans.
One of them approached slowly while the other stood behind clearly nervous. Both were wearing heavy clothing no doubt to insulate themselves from the cold. Everything was covered except their eyes which had some sort of transparent substance allowing them to see. The Geth didn't know what to do. Every organic they met shot them on sight while this one was coming closer. What most surprised the them was the fact that slung his weapon on his shoulder and gave them a wave with hand. Some sort of greeting? Seeing as there was no harm they mirrored gesture.
The human removed his face mask and did something the Geth never expected. It smiled. The being turned to its companion and said: "Well you didn't jinx us this time."
The only thing i am actually proud of is the Tinies idea.
Appbeza- I am a strong F*ck Yeah Humanity fan but i understand that there is no reason why mankind should be some sort of badass. Actually a sequel should show a humble mankind content with slow expansion but willing to anything to ensure its survival. Now that i think about humanity be more of isolationist. Of course Citadel Council concerning AI's would have them meddle in human affairs. So either they will stay hidden and become an ally of the Geth or staying inside their borders not drawing attention to themselves but remaining in contact with the Geth.
Honesty if enough of dislike it i might just delete it and just skip this entire thing. Next chapter i think would be better because the initial plan was to skip this one but then I decided to be an idiot. Well see you next time, if you still want to come
