Cold Machines
Chapter 6
Good morning, afternoon and evening people of the Web, It's BattleUnit3 with chapter 6 of the world renowned best seller Cold machines. hahahah sorry got to feed that ego, right? I realized that the Geth couldn't call themselves Geth because they didn't know which letters to use to make the sound Geth. Sorry thats why they say what they say. I apologize. Hope you like it. I have read your reviews and will answer them at the bottom. Also i hope i didn't make the Geth learning English too fast.
The situation was quite unusual for the synthetics. One of the humans was showing friendly attitude, something that Geth had never experienced. The other human was guarded holding the rifle close but not pointed towards them.
On closer inspection the closer human had pinkish skin color, brown short head fur and brown eyes, his chin was blocky with what would appear to be slight fur coating. The human started talking but that's when the problem appeared. Geth didn't know the language. They knew of written English, but they didn't have any idea of spoken English. It was also uncertain if the human even spoke English, many pre-spaceflight species develop many languages before one of them is imposed as standard. Did the humans have a standard language? The Geth hoped they do or else this would take a while.
Suddenly the door to the tunnel opened and another human came. This one was carrying a massive contraption on his back. It was a box with what would appear to be an antenna. Perhaps a primitive radio? On his hand there a keyboard much like an omnitool except it was physical and not holographic The Geth quickly pulled a memory of something similar they saw back at research station. It was called a typewriter.
The new human approached slowly eyeing the Geth platform suspiciously. The Geth took no offence. It was better than getting shot at and it perfectly understandable considering they walked up to their front door.
Ivan really hoped this would be resolved quickly. Outside guard duty was one of the most boring jobs one could have. It did give him time to write his book, though. Well it would if it wasn't for Leon pestering him. At least until he threatened him with a knife. He felt bad for the kid. Truly. He remembered back in his day when he had so much energy he would climb and jump from trees in the Royal garden. Ahh good times. But those days are gone buried under time and frost. He saw himself as the old dog. And Leon was the happy lucky new born. Jacob was good man. They respected each other; they rarely talked only for something important, much to his pleasure as he wasn't one for small talk, often when left in a room together they would both just busy themselves with their own things.
Now that he was outside he realized that the situation might be a little more complex than a late automaton as Leon said. Standing above average height was a weird person. The stance was neutral but Ivan's old eyes could see damages on its armor. On closer look he realized that entity was of mechanical nature.
"The hell?"- Ivan asked his colleagues
"It appears, 17 brought home a guest."- answered Jacob.
"Some sort of automaton."-added Leon.
Ivan eyed the unknown automaton. Automatons are big, bulky and slow. They have to be. Their size is because of the calculation engine and steam core. They weren't very intelligent, just enough to do a job or to realize when something goes wrong. Due to that they weren't fast or they might overload their engine. Slow and steady wins the race, right? But this one was different. Compared to the automatons it was small much like the humans, It was smaller than a steam core or calculation engine. Ivan doubted the weird automatons could be smart but a second look directly towards, what he would assume is the face, a giant flashlight, proved that theory wrong. It betrayed intelligence far beyond that of any automaton, maybe even most humans. He knew at that moment that whoever built it was no human.
"It's not one of ours, I don't see identification or flag. Maybe it's foreign? German or Russian maybe even French?"-speculated Jacob.
"It isn't French I can tell you that, if we had something like that we wouldn't be buying automatons from the British Empire, Ivan?"-said Leon.
"Not Russian or German, Britain was the leader in automation. Could be custom built?- answered Ivan, hiding his theory of the alien origin of the automaton. Was it even an automaton, could be an alien life form.
"Maybe 17 knows? Ask him?"-suggested Jacob. Ivan was kind of relieved that he didn't lug the communicator here for nothing.
The Humans were obviously discussing them. The terminal was recording the conversation and fed it to the omnitool. However without a point of reference it was complete gibberish. At the end of the conversation the newly arrived human started typing on his gauntlet keyboard. Suddenly a signal was sent out of the device on his back.
"Automaton. 17. Report."- the Automaton in mention quickly answered as if already expecting.
"Unknown. Foreign. Automaton. Discovered. Escort. City."
A weird sound came out of the radio backpack. A thin piece of paper was delivered from it. The radio operator ripped it and started speaking. The Geth quickly realized that he was reading out loud. Recording it and comparing it with the signal of the automaton gave them what they needed. A point of reference. The omnitool went into overdrive trying to translate. The more they talked the more information it had. Maybe they could use talk to them through the radio to get a better understanding about the language.
The human returned a message-"Communication. Established?"
The automaton responded- "Yes."
The human typed in an answer-" Good. Job. Return. Duty."
The automaton's signal was boosted for some reason. "Thank. You." And left towards the tunnel.
I chuckled as I was reading the response. Automatons loved to be praised for their work. It was understandable considering their life revolved around work. Something unhealthy for humans but completely normal for the machines.
"Soooo...what do we do, now?"-Leon spoke up.
"Well he said he had communicated. Can you try Ivan?"-suggested Jacob.
"Yeah, give me a second."- I said. Damn this thing is extremely uncomfortable to use with these big gloves. Hopefully I won't accidently declare war on it.
The Geth were considering of beginning first but a consensus later it was decided that a first contact should be initiated by the less advanced species. A signal was received.
"Hello."
Whatever the Geth were expecting, it wasn't a simple greetings. But after analyzing the situation they realized that it was the best option. A simple gesture of greeting implying nothing, but desire for dialog. No demands, no threats just an open invitation. Therefore the response should be something similar.
"Hello."-sent out the Geth.
If this was a situation between two people it would be considered two shy people trying to hold a conversation. Either the ridiculousness of what is happening got to Leon or his nervous finally gave out, but him laughing out loud was certainly not something Ivan and I expected.
The sheer uniqueness was overwhelming. We were alone since the beginning. Tesla city and Winterhome fell before we came. For six month we have been scouring the radio waves for signs of life. Nothing though due to the storm and weird weather patterns they said we wouldn't be able to reach anyone for some time. And now standing before was an automaton built by someone else. How many cities are there out there? The Empire built hundreds of generators and sent them north. It was impossible for them to be the last one. The Storm was beyond anything, yes, but they survived, someone must have survived it as well . And here it was proof of it. As if a burden fell from my shoulder.
Leon lost his mind and Jacob is stunned into silence. Typical youngsters. That's probably why he was here, to make sure these idiots don't get themselves killed. Sure it was surprising when a response came back from the short automaton, but it was to be expected, of course these boys are acting as if god himself revealed the secrets of the universe to them.
Better answer, don't want to be rude to our new friend.
"We. New. London. City. Guard."- was the signal I sent. It's always polite to identify yourself. A message came back fast.
"We. Automaton. Designation. Unavailable. Language. Barrier."- Weird they knew English but didn't know what to call themselves?
"You. Can. Speak?"- I sent out.
A new message came."Spoken. English. Unavailable. Provide. Sample." – A sample? Like what?
"Clarify. Sample."- was my answer.
"Speak. Alphabet."- well that was unexpected. Well here's hoping all those tutors actually did a good job. I said the alphabet out loud(Ha this old man still got it), shaking my companions out of their own worlds and drawing weird looks from my companions.
"What? He wanted the English alphabet."- I defended myself.
"Why?"- Leon asked still eyeing me like I have lost my mind. As if I was the one, that was laughing like a madman 15 seconds ago.
"I think it can speak but doesn't know English."- I answered him
"Yeah, and I am the Santa Claus here to give all of us coal for being such good boys."- skeptically said Leon. Couldn't blame him, honestly.
"I think you got It mixed up, bad boys get coal and good ones gifts."- put his 2 cents Jacob.
"These days coal is more valuable than anything."-answered back Leon.
"How times have changed."- I said more to myself than them with a hint of sadness. Their bickering reminded of my days as a young careless adult. Suddenly we were stopped by a mechanical voice.
"Hello. We are Geth."
Septon: Thank you for your review. You are right. The Turian Captain is nothing as he should be. I let some Turian bashing fics warp my mind. The personality would fit a batarian much more. I will try to fix it one day. Please forgive this sinful soul.
If had used the proper timeline the geth would have just rebelled and would nothing to do with anyone. So i just assume the Geth rebelled earlier. Since in the game 2187 they say that its been 300 years since the geth rebelled. And i think Frostpunk is around the year 1886. So i am asking you to just roll with it.
English isn't my first language, though i have studied it a lot, I literally had to search English Alphabet for this chapter before i decided it wasnt worth the effort ,so sorry for any errors that might happen. Usually Microsoft Word gets most of them.
Guests: The city follows order, sorry but its my personal preference i like the foreman ability too much. If i was to make other cities they would be from the other scenarios. If those are used up, i will think about New Dublin. That doesnt mean you should spam me with your home city with a prefix New. I want a city called Big Dick Michael Jackson but you dont see me making one...yet.
See you next time and remember! Praise the Generator!
