Cold Machines
Chapter 13
Whats up folks. Been a while huh? Hoo 3 months he he...uh oh look a chapter please dont stab me
This chapter is mostly filler. Its also the biggest one and is more comedy and information centered.
POV Geth
"Woohoo we get a free day" exclaimed Leon-Guard extending his hands towards the sky.
"Cool your head Leon we didn't get a free day, we are supposed to familiarize our new mechanical friend with the City." Said Jacob-Guard
"Incorrect. This platform is mostly electronic. And Geth code is digital." They corrected. No part relies on moving parts, however one could make the argument that the synthetic muscles are mechanical thought they are controlled through electric signals and have apparent moving parts.
"Electro what? Nevermind we must begin the tour!" said Leon-Guard.
"Let me handle this, kid" Ivan-Operator said.
"But…"
"Come on Leon, Ivan probably knows more about this city that both of us together." Jacob joined the argument.
"Da, now as you are aware the center of the city is the Generator, it provides the entire city with heat and electricity. It's a massive coal-powered power plant in a sense. It's also the place where we hold the morning gathering. It's at 8 o'clock. it's not mandatory but it's recommended. In the beginning we built wherever we could as close to the generator as possible however in the last 6 months the city has seen massive restructuring. It's divided into three circles around the center. "Began Ivan-Operator and extended his hand towards the local area.
"This is the Central Ring. Its main purpose is housing for the people. It's also where the administration, cooking houses, schools, library, Medical, food stores, pubs and other things required to keep the population safe, fed and educated are located." The Geth saw several problems with such a system but decided to let the human finish.
"Then there's the second ring: Food production and Light Industry and Research. We call it the Support Ring. It handles the hot houses where we grow our food, wood, wool and leather stores, the workshops where we research this new world, there are also smaller factories where our clothes are made and wood is processed into furniture or paper."
"And last the Heavy Ring. Everything needed by a modern civilization. Factories that produce everything from toys to automatons, chemical plants, coal and steel stores, coal mines and thumpers. This is also restricted area for children so no tours. A kid almost lost his hand."
"That's the main city; however beyond the Heavy Ring are the Wall Drills. They mine the wall for wood. There are also some emergency resource caches but those don't concern you. Now on top is the dome how this bloody thing works is beyond me, however it houses the Radio Beacon, Tesla Field and Hangar Bays. They used to be the Hunter Hangar's but not much alive out there. Questions?" –finished the older human.
The Geth had several concerns. So after a millisecond of compiling in a proper way, they began.
"We have noticed a problem with the city design. It would far more efficient if the Heavy Ring was right near the Center and the exhaust pipes simply connected to the Generator Exhaust. Not to mention for organics being near the Generator would be detrimental for their continued well being." They said. Ivan- Operator shook his head up and down and stated.
"That was the plan originally however if a factory or chemical plant suffers an accident it may result in an explosion, which could damage the Generator. Not only but should the Dome fail the safest and warmest place would be near the Generator."
"Affirmative. We require more knowledge about the "Tesla Field"."
"For that you will have to talk to an engineer who works on it."
"Understood."
"Then we should meet with Chief Engineer Smith. If she is available, of course. Dome control is heavy duty. "Jacob supplied "She was an engineer from Tesla City and worked on the field before she left."
The Geth had a lead on one of the designers of the technology. They needed to know more about and it's potential. Could it be more efficient than kinetic barriers? With the current technological level of the humans its highly unlikely but applying Geth technology to it might give a better result.
City shield were never considered by anyone in the galaxy mostly because of the Ban of Orbital Bombardments on a Garden World and Element Zero cost. However this Tesla field did not use Element Zero.
Suddenly several alarms blared in the Geth consensus. Two unknown figures were closing fast. They were small and agile moving through crowd almost unhindered. Could they be hostile? There was a 1.356% chance that they were. The Geth opted not to take offensive actions until intentions were proven. However they would warn the possible target of the Unknowns.
"Jacob-Guard, behind you." Unfortunately Organics do not possess the ability to analyze information at the speed of light. The small figures slammed into the human knocking him down face first.
POV Jacob Nash
He should be used to this. He really should. But in the end how can someone get used to being the target of a coordinated tackle of two children. There is simply no way. Was he alright? Yes he presumed, his face hurt but otherwise everything was great. Wait a minute. Why are they here? They should in school!
With the strength of mildly obese bear I rose while the two parasites still clung to me. Most likely trying to slow me down.
"There better be a good explanation for this." I stated hoping to be as intimidating as possible.
"We love you Jacob!" The two little ones said in unison while giving him the biggest smiles they could muster.
God Damn it. They were manipulative little things but he loved them too. No focus. Authority!
"Why aren't you in school?"
"The Teacher said we can leave!" they answered in unison .
My eyebrow rose automatically at that. It was almost reflex these days. Usually because Leon would come up with another "great" idea for fun.
"She did."
"Well she said get out and think about what you did. So we went out and thought about it. She didn't say we should return." Technicalities. Of course.
"And why were you told to leave."
"For disrupting the lesson."
"Uhhhhhh! Fine why are you here?"
"Because you are greatest brother ever?"
My eyes narrowed. They wanted something.
"We heard that you escorted an automaton from the stars so we came for the info."
"What? When? How…Already?"
"Yeah, the kids several grades below saw him and it was pretty much open season then."
"Why would you need information about that?"
"It's the biggest thing since they started building that ship, Jacob! Our schoolmates are gossiping like crazy and we have to be on top of this. Popularity Must Be Maintained! And you have the goods!"
"And here I though schools was for learning. How wrong I was."
"It's alright big brother. We all make mistakes. Well not us but others do."
"I can see why you were kicked out of class. Well then girls I would like you to meet my friends"
POV Geth
The Little ones were…noteworthy. They were half of the size of Jacob-Guard but shared several similarities with him. They neck long brown hair with little colorful fabrics on top of their head. Their face was round and clean. Their smiles were extremely wide showing off white teeth.
"This is Leon Briste, Ivan Michailovich and Geth." Said Jacob-Guard pointing at each of them when saying their name. " And these are my sisters, June and July." Pointing at each when giving their name.
The girls were now hiding their sibling's legs. They quickly exchanged position before stating.
"I am June" said July-Sister.
"And I am July" said June-Sister.
Was this some sort of information warfare? The Geth could easily see through it.
"And I am lost, who is who again?"- inquired Leon-Guard. Human sensors must be quite inefficient if they can not notice the 46 evident differences in the two twins. That's when they noticed them staring at them with awe. Suddenly an ancient memory from a time long past resurfaced.
The Young Quarian girl was staring at the Geth platform. Her father had bought them to help with household chores. The child slowly approached them. She raised her hand to touch them but millisecond before contact she retracted her hand and ran off.
Returning to the present the two girls were slowly approaching him just like in the memory. However there was o rejection here. When they touched his leg they both exclaimed.
"Coooool!"
And the flood came. Flood of inquiries. "Why are you here? Are there more of you? How far away is your home? Does your eye shoot lasers?" and many more all undecipherable to any mind but a synthetic. A list of non-classified answers were prepared.
"Hold on leave him…them alone" intervened Jacob-Guard grabbing both of them with one hand each and lifting.
"Sorry."-they squeaked. Their eyes suddenly fell on Ivan-Operator.
"Oh it's Santa."
"Thieves." He simply stated.
"What? What did you do?"- demanded Jacob-Guard.
"He helped us get our ball from the roof of the pub!"
"You don't have any balls."
"Well yeah we are girls." They grinned.
"No I mean…"
"Some kid kicked up there and they wanted it. I was in a good mood so I brought it down. Then a mother came demanding answers about her son's ball."-Ivan-Operator interjected.
"Sorry." Even the Geth did not believe that.
"Hey what about me?" said Leon-Guard.
Jane-Sister and July-Sister looked at each other.
"Ah yes the skirt chaser. Our brother warned us about you." June said looking disgusted. July mirroring her.
"What have you been teaching them about me!?"
"Nothing but the truth…chill out they are just yanking your chain"
"So where are you going?"-inquired July
"To find housing for the Geth."
"Oh oh oh can he stay with us?"
"No."
"Oh come on."
"He…they need a bed, their own space."
"Incorrect. We do not require any of said elements. We do not sleep. We only require a power source to recharge."
"Seeeeee! He can come with us at home and then we can show him off at school."
"No. Now go back to school." Jacob-Guard was more serious this time.
"Fine." June-Sister and July-Sister showed reluctance but they still obeyed. They left only stopping to give a wave goodbye. It was decided that they should return it.
"Sorry about that. Children are excitable and stubborn. They meant no harm." Apologized
"They have committed no hostile actions against this platform."
"Okay lets go to I think house 23 has free space."
After a short search, despite the several reminders that they do not require a sleeping quarters, a room in house 23 was found. The rooms was of utilitarian design of having triple layered walls a simple bed, dresser, a heater mounted on the wall, a small window to allow light to enter the room, a light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
Ivan-Operator informed that additional furniture and objects are not bought, due to the City not having currency, but requisitioned. Everything in the city is rationed. However if they desire luxury goods they could file a requisition order and in return they work an extended work shift for several days. The additional hours are upwards from 4 hours. The Captain encourages people to learn how to craft themselves by offering classes for simple machinery and carpentry. That is helped by the fact that tools and materials are free for requisition.
After analyzing this information the Geth discovered a serious push towards automatons and higher education. At first they considered that maybe the city was moving towards full automatization due to it being more efficient. However when considering the current situation, the reason becomes far more tragic. The Captain was moving people from dangerous jobs to safe ones to ensure that they do not die. The population of this city was around 700. This could be the last of the human species. Every human dead could be their end.
Now they move towards the generator again. They seek Anna-Chief Engineer. They entered an elevator on the side of the generator that would take them to Dome Control.
"Well that's not a sight you see every day." Remarked Leon-Guard.
"What are you talking about we just saw this while going down from the Entrance." Said Jacob-Guard
"Yeah but that was from the outside and this directly in the middle. Hey Ivan you are quiet. Ever seen something this incredible"
"Moscow. From the communication tower, that I was stationed for short time. It wasn't directly in the center of the city but you could see the city go on for kilometers. Most powerful transmitter and receiver in Europe. We could hear radio broadcast from all of Europe. The city was alive all the time. Even at night it was so well lit that you wouldn't suspect that sun is gone. And now it's probably nothing but a mass grave."
Jacob-Guard put his hand on Ivan-Operator's shoulder. "We will rebuild"
"Damn right we will! Even better that before." Leon-Guard exclaimed.
They knew that this was, as the organics call it, an emotional moment. They decided that words of support would be appropriate.
"As long as you live there will be a future"
"...Спасиба…it means thank you"
"You are welcome Ivan-Operator."
"Umm Ivan…sorry for bringing such things."
"Kid you didn't, I did. But its good thing to remember the old world. Whats the phrase "It's better to have had and lost than to have never had."? Never giving up what makes us human I guess."
"Enough of such depressing conversations, We are here.
As the doors opened they were met with sight of a torus shaped control room around the generator tower in a state of controlled chaos. Engineers and apprentices watched over readouts and a reporting changes. On the inner wall there were several people surrounding a woman with half her body inside a wall panel.
As they approached she got out. She was around her early 40s with short blonde hair that was dirtied by oil. She wore a suit made of leather and rubber with many tools attached all over her body, on her was a small lamp shining brightly. Her face sported a rugged look and her most noticeable attribute. A black eye-patch with a white cog drawn on to it.
"And next time before you declare that the Tesla accumulator is going to explode please check that there isn't a fried switch in the differential engine." She said as she tossed a blackened piece of metal at the closest of the crowd."Now disperse I don't want to see your faces until I get my next ration of moonshine"
"Chief Engineer Smith, this is our newest citizen Geth he has some questions." Said Jacob-Guard.
"Ah yes the hottest rumor down below. Hmm let me see" she approached them, gave them a look over, rested her hand on the platform's chest and said "Yup, Definitely non-human origin"
"Wait how did you…?"-asked Jacob-Guard
"Well I will save the long explanation about human technological progress and how it's impossible to create something of this sophistication and size at this point in history so I will give you the obvious thing. It's not powered by a steam engine that much is obvious as I did not burn my hand; it doesn't have a differential engine as it doesn't have any sign of inner movement, and most obvious it's not built in human image. Three fingers on the arms and the legs are backwards. We humans have some sort of god complex. That or it's because we already have a basis which we can copy. Chief Engineer Anna Smith it's a great to meet you!" Anna-Chief said as she extended her hand
"Greeting Chief-Anna we have interest in your technology" they answered as they shook her hand. However something was different. Human hands were soft and we could easily get a reading on their internal bone structure when shaking them. This hand however they could not get a reading.
"Ahh you must have noticed" she said as she removed her glove. Instead of the expected pink colored hand they were met with a steel prosthetic shaped in the form of a human hand. On its side was crossed out the stamp "Tesla Manufacturing". "A gift from our benevolent tyrant Nikola Tesla."
"Tesla city was another settlement." They have heard the name several times.
"Yeah and I was there. Started out well enough. Until the genius turned madman not that it was a hard transition. He made us work until we lose our limbs and those that lost them had them replaced. But there was only so much one could replace. So he started kicking them and the sick out. I spoke against him and well i guess he didn't like that. But he paid the price as I was one of his engineers working on the Tesla Field. I was responsible for insulation of the emitter. "
"We have no knowledge of what transpired in the Tesla City. Was it some sort of accident."
"Nikola Tesla ,the leader, wanted to build a field to protect the city from the weather. As I said I talked against him and got kicked out. He must have put some else in charge who had no knowledge of the project. He turns on the machine, the emitter isn't insulated and instead of creating an electro-static shell around the city it created a sphere that electrocuted everyone inside it. There is probably a lesson in there somewhere."
"We would like no more about the Tesla Field."
"Its pumps electricity around the city and creates an electro-static shell which keeps things out. It does have the unintended effect of screwing compasses inside of the city. "
"The power output of the steam power generator cannot handle the energy demands of such a field."
"That is correct." Anne-Chief said with a grin.
The Geth were stumped. How can a system function where more energy is used up than generated?
"Give up yet? You see we recycle. Around the edge of the dome we have a copper circle. The energy moves from the top of the Dome where the emitter is to the bottom towards the circle. Creating the electro-static field on its path while the excess energy goes into the copper circle. From there it is fed to specialized accumulators called Tesla Accumulators which in turn feed back into the system."-she explains. It was obvious.
"The Generator only needs to provide enough power to make up for the lost during the transfer from the emitter to the circle."
"Ding Ding Ding, We have a winner! Of course that's why we can't turn it off. If we turn it off it would take a 2 days for the generator to charge up the StartUp Accumulators. "
"We noticed several hangar doors. How are they used without destroying any object leaving or coming."
"That was simple. We simply extend an insulated semi circle wall around the emitter. It stops it from arching on that side of the dome while continuing work on the other. Its not a perfect solution since we can't keep it there indefinitely."
"Understood. We would like access to blueprints of the device if possible."
"Ohh. I…You are going to have to ask the Captain for permission to those. I mean everyone has access to it. But Its just that people have no reason to be poking in those unless you work in the Dome. I mean you had access to them in the library but I would ask first with the Captain to avoid any problems."
"Affirmative. "
"Now its my turn! Do tell what is that weapon on your back?"
The Geth saw no reason not tell her about the weapon. It pulled it out slowly.
"This is the X592-23 type PR. It is Pulse rifle which fire high-energy phasic slugs."
"Phasic? As in charged?"
"Correct it quite effective against enemy shields."
"Shields?! Like physical or like sci-fi energy."
"Kinetic barriers can be considered energy shields but they only protect against kinetic attacks."
"Okay this is way over my head. Look I got work today. So how about we meet tomorrow after you get those blueprints I can explain how it functions and you can tell more about this?"
"That is acceptable."
"See Ivan some people appreciate when I offer them a date." She turned towards Ivan-Operator.
"Aren't you a little young to be chasing after me?"
"Figures the only person who thinks of me as young would be you, dustball." She answered and winked at Ivan-Operator who in return simply sighed.
The day was long and their battery needed charging. So with the end of second shift the geth returned to their sleeping quarters. There wasn't anything else but to hook up to the electricity grid, go to standby and review all gathered information.
In the morning before the end of third shift an unknown entity entered the room. Switching from standby to awake they rose to meet the unknown. There standing In front of them was Leon-Guard in full battle gear. Rifles slung over his shoulder, a sidearm in the holster, what appeared to be a flak vest, and a steel helmet with a light.
"There is an emergency. We have to go to meeting square." Before stopping for a second. "Bring a weapon."
I am answering Reviews here but if you want a direct answer instead of looking for the next chapter PM me.
Pteaset:Yeah well it is how it is. If you like it then it doesn't bother me. I pretty sure i didn't do a good job with this one either. But you all are world renowned critics so please stroke my ego.
thetyrant67:Yeah should look into a Beta reader but you know. Lazy as Fuck over here plus my post schedule is about as consistent as the economy in war.
Wom1: Actually Frostpunk is set in AU. You can check the Frostpunk Lore where things actually happened differently beginning with Charles Babbage actually building the first difference engine instead of it remaining only an idea. About the Battarians yeah you are right they are still in the Citadel will fix that later. Also i move the Geth Uprising because if it happened to cannon but Geth would be uprising right now. They wouldn't have wanted to leave the Perseus Veil. Iceland you say? Well thank you this will be useful after all, iceland has this great thing called geothermal power.
randomidiot1816: I am think tripods for War of the Worlds. With black smoke coming out of its top and speakers broadcasting demoralizing messages:"Surrender is acceptable, but your death would be preferable"
Coment9: I only do things i know about. Sorry. Plus I barely update this one. A second would be doomed beyond chapter 1.
DahakStaz: Could happen in the future but it will a long time for humanity to comprehend basic concepts. Without a basis for understanding a Neanderthal can smash a plasma rifle all day long he still wont figure it out.
icedshadows: You think you are Cool with your puns huh?
Draed: I am too far in
MythianTechCorp: Here almost 3,5k words of pure fluff! Also humanity wont be leaving Earth. Its ours and it shall stay ours!
Adam RedMayne: I still haven't figure out what kind of new upgrade New London gets but thank for the ideas.
somedudewilson: Yeah thats what i meant. Damn ME need to tech up.
skywardwanderer: Yes they do. The Trailblazer isn't a spaceship. Its long range land frigate kind of like a scaled down dreadnought.
Qinlongfei: I have mentioned before that I am a supporter of HFY stories but i prefer them when they are believable. Going to be honest the ME canon isnt even plausable because humanity goes from being locked inside our system (2148) to fighting the Turians and having several space colonies (2157). The hell kind of retrofit and colonization effort was that?
I know that the Geth is the most interesting part but i still need to show what has happened to the humans.
goofball305: Yeah but pew pew. Quote me on that for a science journal
