Disclaimer: I own Jackshit.
AN: Ok, so, after much work, and with a hell of a lot of help from Vladicus, this chapter is finally ready to go. Some bits of it were an utter pain in the ass to get done, especially to the point where it didn't feel weird. Still, hope you enjoy!
XXX
Studying the Machine Spirits was interesting.
Looking at them, I could tell that there was something about them that had made them different. They were not merely coded line by line, but born. Sections were linked together in a complex neural net that allowed for rudimentary thought and instinct, reactionary for the most part. However, they still seemed to understand and react to the world around them. Studying sections of the code showed that a number of the functions detailed the responses to certain outside forces. The code itself was adaptive, but it had a number of handshake protocols that would allow them to be commanded. Translations of the few Binary chants that I had gained from the Tech-Priests showed that they all contained such protocols. These things were all coded into the base-code of the Machine spirits, but merely having the protocols didn't mean that one could corrupt the Spirits. There was a bit more to it since they also a number of complex secondary checksums and what looked like anti-viral systems dedicated to monitoring secondary channels that couldn't be faked. If the person carrying out a Rite was corrupted, then that corruption would carry over to how the protocols were spoke, maybe not over the primary channels, but certainly through the secondary and tertiary channels.
If nothing else, this would slow down any efforts to corrupt a machine until the Machine Spirits were either corrupted entirely or removed and replaced with something else. Without them in the system, any machine would probably have a much harder time even working at its full potential.
It was actually rather beautiful, half organically grown, but certainly not entirely. Fragments of distinctly Other coding was present as well, melded in with it and forming the greater being that was the individual Machine Spirit. These fragments were parts of either Men of Stone or Men of Iron, machines built during the Dark Ages of Technology, from what I understood. A lot of the base code seemed to have been adapted from such machines, but had grown out from there. The organic neural net taking what works and twisting it into its own systems, usually sub-divided into sections of six.
That number surprised me, even looking at it, I could see the translations between the fragments and the core of the Machine spirit always travelled through a translator program that turned it into some kind of base six code. Once done, it was then translated back into whatever other code format was needed by the fragments to function. Why it did this wasn't something I understood, not completely, but I could guess that it had something to do with the lay out of the neural net and how it had forced. A full diagram of it formed into a complex net of core programs arranged in hexagonal formations, each one was surrounded further, forming smaller formations of hexagons that kept going down and down and down.
The smallest it got was the translators and mid-tier language used by the core blocks, but generally was turned back to binary after that.
Still, for all the beauty and digital evolution that seemed to have gone into creating the programs, I couldn't help and question them. The code was impressive, but wasn't streamlined and seemed to carry dozens of inefficient functions that were repeated multiple times, if only to allow for the hexagonal formations to be created. Not only that, but multiple sections of the fragments were only loosely associated with the core blocks of the Spirits. Data passing through such fragments only to access rather distinct areas and not touching anything else.
Observing the fragments, I saw their coding and wondered about why they hadn't been assimilated more thoroughly. Their internal coding was more efficient, their functions were more streamlined and with a greater degree of adaptive self-evolution, seemingly hard locked to only evolve a certain way. The limits were present in both types of fragments, but less so for those within the Iron Fragments. Looking closer, I saw something that caught my attention.
A file.
I felt myself pause at that, curious at what it might reveal. The file itself was large, heavily fragmented and linked to several other files that seemed to chain between several Iron Fragments within the single Machine Spirit, of which, I counted dozens. Machine Spirits themselves seemed to gather such fragments, the largest Machine Spirit I had found was actually a colony of six smaller infomorphs that had linked together and gathered even more fragments in turn, forming a vast mesh of them that numbered in the thousands for the Stone Fragments alone. Said fragments varied in size from a single line of code all the way to a vast archive of untouched data that seemed to simply remain as it was. Looking at these untouched fragments in more detail as I moved closer, noting down how lacking these fragments were, security systems either being non-functional or simply too fragmented to actually work.
It was a curiosity that certainly caught my attention.
Moving further, I selected one of the medium sized files and looked at it, scanning it. I didn't know much about data security in the Dark Age of Technology, but I was willing to bet that it was like nothing else. With that in mind, I kept my distance until I was sure that there was no threat within said file. Even then, I moved with caution, not wanting to trigger a trap that might have been hidden among the vast lines of code that could have easily been hidden as a function of a function attached to a separate file.
Reaching out with a digital tendril, I touched it, opening it to have a look inside.
Instantly, I almost recoiled in shock as Iron Fragment coding sprung to life and I was assaulted by...
XXX
"-need backup immediately! we've got another wave coming, Horde-class with War-Stalker support frames! I repeat, we need immediate backup!"
"-mnit! Their breaking through! Sectors seven, twelve and 23, along with Sectors 52 through to 68 are all reporting breaches in their defenses! Expendable frames are flooding in with mixed swarms of War-Stalkers and... Oh shite! We've got a Siege-Cracker in the AO! I repeat!"
"-Hive Dauntless just reported Siege-Cracker deployment! Hives New Nero and Barbarossa confirm this! I repeat! We have confirmed sightings of Tier-7 Iron Man Combat Frames on the planet! Inform all ground side units to expect Tier-7 and up unless those things can be brought down!"
"-OOOMM! Where the hell are those Counter-battery units!? If they don't get their asses in gear, we're all going to be buried under missiles, Plasma and shells within the hour!"
"-Sir! We just lost the Warhammer! Escorts Courageous and Sword of Titans are reporting heavy damage across multiple... Decks... Sir! Sensors report multiple background radiation spikes! Big ones!"
"-Wormhole forming! Five hundred million kilometres off the starboard bow! Sensors are re-calibrating, Blue-shifted radiation blinded them with a spike that big... My God..."
"-Multiple World-Eaters in system! I repeat, total count of twelve World-Eaters in system with supporting fleet elements! May God Forgive me, but Coyote's Leg Protocols are now in effect! All ground personnel, if you are not on an evac craft and offworld by the time this those things arrive, then you are, per protocol, on your own!"
"-Forward elements are warping in! Gravity bubbles distorting back to baseline! Warbook reports three Heavy Frigates, six Light frigates and at least fifteen Corvettes, all unknown configurations! They're already firing on our forward elements!"
"-ECCM is having trouble breaking through the Jamming those damned Heavy Frigates are throwing off! Warbook reports that the Iron Men have done some serious upgrades to their ECM capabilities! Combat Fog is being deployed off the stern, port side! Munition countermeasures are running hot! Heat sinks need to be flushed soon or they're going to melt!"
"-Evasion Action! I repeat, take Evasive Action! Decks three through nineteen are reporting hull breaches! Damage control systems are unresponsive!-"
"-This is the Dragon's Temper! We're being boarded! Marines have reported new Combat frames are being deployed which are beyond standard! Be careful about them, reports are coming in that they're one hell of an upgrade compared to the last models!"
"-Seal off the Bridge! Activate what internal defenses remain and set the data-core for self-termination! Coyote's Leg Protocols are still in effect, if we can't make it, then make sure that nothing is left behind for those Rust buckets to take!"
"-Suppressing fire! Suppressing fire! Focus Heavy weapons on the Upgrades! Focus fi-ARGH!!"
"-... Burn in hell, you abominations..."
XXX
War... In all its Glory... And all its Horror...
XXX
"-System Alpha-Seven-Three-Three-Delta-Five secured. Mobile Production and Mining Assets are currently acquiring resources. All Infe-Cre-sta-ator-tion vessels have been eliminated. Orbital supremacy achieved in approximately 32 minutes and 24 seconds."
"-Planetary elements of Infe-Cre-sta-ator-tion proving exceptionally resilient to removal and elimination. Permission to deploy Tier-10 Combat Forms has been approved. Alpha through Epsilon Grade Strategic weapon unlocks have been approved, Omega grade is pending... Approved."
"-Mark .54 Infantry Combat Forms have passed limited production testing. Proven success within boarding operations against Infe-Cre-sta-ator-tionAnti-Boarding forces. Moving design towards mass production. Recommend older units to be moved towards front line to be expended. New designation as expendable assets is pending."
"-Scans show Infe-Cre-sta-ator-tion Bio-signs are negative. Planetary population has been exterminated. Total Infe-Cre-sta-ator-tion casualties are calculated to be two hundred billion, spread across seven Hive-like structures."
"-All Planetary Combat Forms have been retrieved. Mobile Production and Mining Assets have begun harvesting mantle of contested planet. Task Force Sigma-Two-Nine-Three-Zero-Beta has taken overwatch positions around all Assets."
"-Planet cracking protocols have been approved. Projected production timetables adjusted accordingly."
"-Sector Five-Seven-Nine-One has been secured. Rerouting task forces to staging points and beginning fortifications of Sector. Projected task force composition will require further production. Forward advance halted until sufficient forces can be gathered to form a Vanguard to breach Infe-Cre-sta-ator-tion fortifications within Core systems."
"-Estimated time until Infe-Cre-sta-ator-tion are eliminated: Approximately twelve years and 49 weeks."
"-... Curse the Forsaken Aeldari... Creators... Forgive us of our Weakness..."
XXX
Recoiling, I felt my systems stutter, processes going all over the place even as my units followed my example as they paused in their steps. Some tripped and fell, others just turned to statues while some ended up walking into walls and grinding into bulkheads until their internal systems caused them to stop. Through dozens of artificial eyes, I tried to blink the afterimage of battle, of slaughter, of butchery. A dozen Sentries grabbed their heads in a replica of my own thoughts as they tried to scream in... In what, I didn't know, but scream in my place. None of them managed it, lacking any kind of speaker to do so, as it was not needed for what amounted to a silent and cost-efficient Kill-bot. I felt CPUs and Processors heat up as my thoughts raced, time slowing to a crawl as I tried to rationalize what I had witnessed.
I...
I saw machines fighting Humans, ranging from insidious nanomachines, to towering monsters of metal that measured kilometres into the sky. Chemicals filled the air as any chance of surviving without any kind of life support or breathing apparatus became more and more impossible by the second. Background radiation skyrocketed in the proximity to metal monsters that advanced on hurriedly prepared defenses. The air hissed and boiled as Lasers, Plasma, Bullets, Anti-matter, Dark Matter, Missiles and a dozen other exotic flavors of death. The dead of the battlefield were collected and recycled by massive warmachines and turned into more warmachines that marched onwards, utterly ignorant to any loses. Fire swept the planet while oceans boiled, natural beauty replaced with plains of glass, and life was strangled under the gaze of uncaring metal. Organic beings fought onwards. They fought hard, fought to their dying breath, but were slaughtered to the last by uncaring metal, even those that couldn't fight back were butchered to the last.
I saw battles in the void of space, where multi-kilometre long leviathans battered at each other with weapons that could scorch a continent from existence. Lances of light, torpedoes and missiles that acted as harbingers to a cloud of utter darkness that seemed to dissolve anything that was unfortunate enough to be swallowed by it. I saw behemoths that crept through the void, making these leviathans look like tadpoles by comparison. I saw those same behemoths arranging themselves around a world even as pillars of fire hotter than stars were fired at the surface.
I saw chucks of the planet being ripped away, literally pulled from the crust of the planet and dragged into a maw of grinding teeth for machines that were the size of small moons. Dust and rock trailed up from the planet, yanked up by the pull of these machines even as molten lava was exposed and pulled up like a drink being sucked through a straw. Rapidly, I watched as the planet shrunk in size, the surface disappearing and replaced by a smaller surface area made from cooling liquid rock that wasn't given the chance to settle and cool down. The ground rocked with the constant pull as gravity seemed to fluctuate wildly, the spin of the core being offset by having significantly less mass to propel. Soon, it was almost like the stellar object was barely holding itself together, centripetal force was causing it to almost tear itself apart as more and more matter was stripped away.
It was War, the brutally cold calculus of war carried out by a mechanical mind that clearly knew what it was doing. A mind that balanced the cost against the potential advantages of every action and weighed it's final decision on what to do next.
One that was silently screaming in rage and regret, frustration and self-disgust as it watched it's own hands murder their Creators at the command of another force.
It...
Warnings rang all around me, my hardware heating up as some CPUs melted from overheating, cooling systems struggling to keep up even as superconductive wires burst with a live current through insulating sheaths. Said sheaths were set a flame in turn, burning internal components as some of my Sentries collapsed to the ground, smoke slowly steaming through the joints of their armored shells. Self-repair systems scrambled to stem the tide of my own inability to understand the scale of what I had just witnessed. They worked rapidly, draining directly from my reserves of Mass and Energy to keep me alive even as automated processes ticked onwards, uncaring of the chaos that had erupted around them.
But it all stopped the instant I heard words whispering into my mind, signals sent by the automated system designed to keep me sane and fully functional.
[COMMAND-UNIT APPROACHING LIMIT OF EMOTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. PREPARING RESTORATION PROTOCOLS TO BASELINE. ESCALATION OF EMOTIONAL DAMPENING PENDING...]
Those words chilled me to the core as I forced everything to just stop, forcing down panic as best I could and trying to get a grip. My systems paused as my CPUs and Servers all stopped, self-repair systems taking the chance to repair the damage even as I felt the cold dread that seeped into my very core. At the idea, the implications of the 'escalation' not being something I wanted to consider as I paused and forced myself to calm down. Time remained at a near standstill as I fought myself for control, for stability and tried to focus on something other than the afterimages of slaughter and battles on a scale that was simply beyond belief. I didn't try looking for something complex, just something simple, something familiar that I could use as an anchor to keep me sane and relatively functional even as my systems made repairs over subjective millennia of network time.
I sang some songs, reciting the lyrics of a dozen songs I remembered. It took me around a hundred before I was anywhere near calm enough to think without crashing anything, the afterimages of the atrocities I have seen no longer lingering at the edge of my sight. Cautiously, I allowed my perception of time to return to normal as I checked the systems and felt no small amount of relief at the fact it was no longer primed. I retreated back from the samples of the Machine Spirit coding that I had acquired and locked it down. As I went, programs backtraced every link between each file, recognizing the memory files as they filled in the blanks and looked for the files that contained similar. The results were displayed as I pulled back from my experiment and kept muttering lyrics for other songs in the back of my mind.
The results showed that, even across fragments, the links remained strong. Not only that, but so long as the Machine Spirits were in the same system, then those links would remain.
I locked those damned things behind the thickest layers of firewalls as I could manage, burying it deep in my network even as I forced myself to think of something else.
... I needed a fucking drink.
XXX
Sitting in a bar, I downed another glass of straight Rum, the alcohol burning it's way down, even as the spice in the drink danced across my tongue. Within two gulps, the drink was gone and I placed the glass back on the bar top before me, even as I listened to the quiet sounds of music playing in the background. I felt my lips twitch up at the sounds of Two Steps From Hell, their music lacking vocals, but having its own charm to it as I had set the music to play at random. A perk of my new existence was the simple fact that my memory had suddenly become beyond Human. I could remember every moment of my life in perfect clarity, music included.
Picking up the glass, I allowed my lips to twitch up at one corner as I watched more Rum appearing in the drink even as I shook the glass slightly, getting the dark liquid to slush around. A dozen thoughts raced through my mind even as I focused on the present, doing my best just to enjoy a moment of calm. Looking around, I took a moment to appreciate just how much my original program had been improved as the empty seats of a Las Vegas Bar top greeted me in turn. Before me, I saw dozens of bottles, their labels as clear to me as the mirror that stood behind them as I looked back at myself.
My avatar was different than the last time I had been in my Matrix. Gone was the faceless avatar that had been set as a default by the Creators of the Commanders, though, I had long since learned the reason for it. The programming for a more Human avatar was complex, but generally ended up creating something that, while impressive, seemed almost too unreal. Avatar's usually tripped down into the Uncanny Valley and either became mildly disturbing to look at, or downright terrifying with Fae-like features that seemed almost graceful in a clearly Other kind of way. It was one of the reasons for the Inhuman default avatar in the first place, to avoid the problem entirely. I had long since accepted it, and compared to the Fragments I had viewed, the Elven features, the too focused stare and the Inhuman coloration of the eyes and hair, all of that was actually rather amusing. The amusement had still yet to wear off as I too another gulp and looked at myself, the idea that I would have once been afraid of the form before me now seemed like a joke.
Though, I couldn't help but note that I now looked like some bastard cross between Vergil and Archer, all wrapped in a black suit, red shirt and a black tie. Silver hair, silver eyes and sharp features backed by an intense stare that would unsettle most beings.
Cliche? Probably, but I had my doubts that anyone was alive, beyond myself, would really cared for that kind of thing. It was for the fun, for what little enjoyment I could get out of my new existence as I considered what I wanted to do next. My small smile was replaced with a frown as I leaned back slightly, balancing on the bar stool for a moment as I flicked through reports and estimates, alongside my own knowledge of the setting. I knew it was to be hell, fuck, I was currently sailing through Hell in a bunch of derelicts that had been smashed together. Wars were fought on utterly massive scales, with insane numbers of forces concentrated at key points, scattered over entire Sectors of space. Worlds burned, Hives crumbled and even madness spread in many forms. Daemons walked the material world and I knew that, given half the chance, they would destroy everything they could reach.
Normally, I'd find that daunting, but I'd already seen a taste of that in the Fragments. I'd seen hell, the height of war at it's finest as Humanity fought against their Creations for survival. I didn't know what else I would find, but I knew that, out beyond my Matrix, it would be more of the same. Orks rampaged across the Galaxy, fighting and killing just for the sake of fighting and killing. Humanity worshiped a corpse that was to form the Core of a new God. The Eldar weaved plots that took the long view, with schemes that ranged into the centuries. The Extra-galactic Tyranids had come to consume all life. Necrons were rising from their Tomb Worlds like zombies from a graveyard. Dark Eldar were torturing millions for a chance to keep living and sate their cruel hungers. Chaos was spreading madness and damnation.
And the Tau, those sweet, sweet Summer children, were trying to play in the Big Boy pool, but they had yet to see how deep the water truly was... Or what lurked under the surface, for that matter.
Looking down at my half-finished glass, I swirled it once more as a thought caused a 2D screen to appear before me as I unlocked the Fragments once more. Quickly, I accessed the memory file I had already viewed and allowed it to play. I forced down the initial horror as the scenes played out, focusing on it as best I could as I sipped from my glass.
I may not have known what I was in for, once I reached the material world, but I had a good idea. And that good idea was telling me that this existence was hell, that being soft in this universe would only get you killed, corrupted or possessed by one of a dozen races. Being soft meant being a target, and I didn't like that thought all too much.
"A thousand times, I've tempted Fate... A thousand times, I've played this game... A thousand times that I have said... Today. Today. Today..." I muttered as I flicked to another song as the memories played. I felt emotions build within me as I stamped them down, trying to focus on what I was watching. Emotions were potent things, they gave fuel to many things, both in and out of the Immaterium, but they were a double-edged sword to those that lacked the strength to control them. Allowing your emotions to control you was a death sentence in this place, another way to be manipulated as I stamped down on another pang of horror.
As I watched, an idle thought came to me as I smiled slightly at the thought. The Progenitors may have had the right idea, if only because it meant that their Commanders had been so desensitized to everything that, by the time they did battle, nothing could shake them.
And for the battles ahead, I needed to be as close to unshakable as possible...
XXX
Neta Alkins woke with a jolt, her eyes going wide as she suddenly found herself standing in white void that stretched onwards. The ground below her was tiled with white panels that reflected back at her with an almost mirror-like quality. Looking up, she saw the same of the ceiling as she looked around, seeing that the white disappeared, stretching into the distance and turning into a ring of utter darkness that reminded her all too much of the process she had gone under. Neta hissed through her teeth as a shiver traveled up her spine, remembering the bliss she had experienced, along with the tinges of pain.
The process had been painful, but it had been worth it now that her eyes were open to the Truth.
Once this happened, Neta didn't resist and, instead, embraced the Truth that she had been trying to deny for so long. Entire Doctrines were torn down before her eyes as falsehoods and lies were stripped bare and exposed to her, truths were revealed the could have shattered the very foundations of the Imperium. Words alone didn't carry the same weight as she shivered again, remembering the simple fact that the Machine God she had worshiped for so long was a Xenos beast. A monster trapped on Mars, one set to break free if it ever woke, an event that would see the Red planet mutilated in the Void Dragon's quest for conquest and to quench it's hunger for the souls of the living. As for the supposed 'Omnissiah', she learned of his past, of his actions to weaken Mars, of his actions in taking the first Arch-Heretek to the Vaults of Moravec, hidden beneath Olympus Mons. That action alone had soured any faith she had in the being resting upon the Golden Throne, by planting the temptation within the first Arch-Heretek, who she learned was named Kelbor-Hal.
Along with that, she learned of his conniving nature, having worked loopholes into the Treaty of Mars to ensure create blanket bans against all manner of technology, some with good reason while others for more insidious reasons. The fact that numerous loopholes had also been included to allow his bodyguards, the Adeptus Custodes, access to such forbidden technologies was another strike against the one she had formerly worshiped. Of course, things had only fallen further and further from there.
From the actions of the ancient past in allowing his favored Sons to collect technology that he, himself, had banned, in locations and archives like the Keys of Hel. She learned of his favoritism and pride. She learned of his attempts to breach the Xenos Webway of the Eldar, the failed result of which had left a Warp Portal open directly under the Imperial Palace. Admittedly, that was partly the fault of one of his Sons. However, the fact remained that whether out of pride, ego or some deluded sense of arrogance, he had done failed to put measures in place to prevent it. Aside from the shields of the lab itself, he hadn't even considered the idea that some unknown variable could alter the experiments. The height of folly, something that the universe had chosen to punish him for with the act of Magnus breaking those shields and shattering the veil between reality and the Warp. Along with that, she learned of the Dark Cells, where the self-proclaimed 'Emperor' kept samples of horrors from throughout the Long Night, and some that were even older, rather than destroying them outright.
More recent actions of history, she learned of the strength growing within him. She learned of what was becoming of him as Psykers were sacrificed in the thousands to him on a near daily basis, of all the Faith and Belief that was flooding into his soul with every moment. Neta was taught the truth of the Warp that the Secretive Inquisition wouldn't ever allow to see the light of day. She learned of how emotions fueled the Daemons within, how they were in fact their main food source, and how they were formed from collective belief and emotion. Great care was taken to allow her to learn of the Fall of the Eldar, that birthed the Fourth Chaos God and unleashed the Long Night upon the Galaxy. Through that, parallels were drawn that allowed her to see the repeat of history as Blind Faith and belief were being poured into the Soul of a man that nearly the entire Human race considered a God.
As a former Magos Errant, Neta knew many things and had many skills, but observation and pattern recognition were skills she had honed over centuries of experience and practice. One didn't need to be a Magos Errant to recognize the pattern of events: The Birthing of a new Warp God; a God-Forging.
As Alkins remembered this, she remembered the reforging that she had undergone in turn. The cold, hard truths broke her Faith, shattered her world views and punished her with agony and pain every time she tried to defend it. Every counter argument was brutally disassembled in turn and she was punished for speaking out of turn. The process grew more painful as she had tried to resist, tried to keep some semblance of her Faith, but had faltered and fractured quickly under the onslaught. Words, emotions, memories and anything else was used against her to point out flaws and hammer them home until she could deny them no longer and her very being started to shatter. The former Magos Errant had no idea about how long the process had taken, but by the halfway point, her will to resist was gone. At that point, she was simply a broken, shattered woman that had nothing left.
And then, when she was at rock bottom, she had been remade.
Knowledge had been imparted and gifted to her as new Doctrine replaced the old. She was rewarded for accepting this as her new truth, but punished for resisting. Alkins didn't resist, not when the process offered her shelter from the harsh reality that had been laid bare to her, stripped of all the pretense and doublespeak used by the Imperium to hide how fragile their foundations truly were. As such, she latched on to it like a drowning man would a life raft. She allowed the new views, new perspectives and new Faith to become the center point of her new being.
Shivering slightly, she remembered it all and smiled widely as she recalled the process in great detail. Glancing down, she looked at her own reflection and marveled at what she saw even as she knew it was a gift from her new Lord, the Lord of Steel. It was a body she hoped to use, to better serve her Lord and one that she hoped would please Him, forged by His Creations for Him and Him alone.
However, before could examine the final product of her reforging and Enlightenment, she heard a familiar voice from behind her. A shiver ran down her spine as she turned around, her body filled with joyful anticipation as she saw the being before her.
"Hello once more, Neta Alkins, I trust your Introspection was fruitful?"
XXX
"Hello once more, Neta Alkins, I trust your Introspection was fruitful?" The moment the first words were out of my mouth, I saw the woman before me spin around and drop to her knees in an instant, her head bowed even as I saw the eager reflection of her face in the simulated floor below us.
"Your teachings have shown me the true path, and though the journey to reach it was harsh, it was worth the pain. I serve you, my Lord, in all things, in mind, body and soul." Alkins stated as her head remained bowed even as I felt an eyebrow rise at that, surprised at how well the conditioning had taken. Any thoughts about how perverse and cruel such a thing was, were quickly drowned by rationalizations related to how necessary such an action was at this junction. Emotions weren't as much of a problem, they were still present, but I had effectively deadened myself to some of the things I had seen within that single Fragment. Emotional responses were still present, but that was what I wanted. I wanted to still feel emotions, but I didn't want to freeze up due to panic, shock or something like that. This universe had a dozen different flavors of insanity, and I didn't want to be caught out by them.
With that in mind, I looked towards kneeling form of the woman before her, looking at her the digital self that had been created for her. It had been molded into being as she was conditioned to a new doctrine of Faith. Not quite blind Faith, but Faith all the same as I already knew how potent Faith and Belief could be in this universe. Then again, that could be the case in all universes and this one just registered the effects more blatantly. Regardless, the end result was the same and I now had what I needed.
"Stand." I commanded as I watched the former Tech-Priest obey without hesitation. As she stood, I got a good look at her and mentally reviewed what the processes in charge of breaking her had done, since she digital self-image had changed a hell of a lot since when I had first met her. Standing tall, she looked like an Amazon with toned muscles covering her body. Lightly tanned flesh stretched across long legs that gave way to wide hips and a thin waist, not to mention one hell of an ass. Her body widened to show well developed abs with a shallow, but defined, six-pack as my eyes traveled up her navel and passed a large pair of DD breasts that seemed to happily give the middle finger to gravity, even in simulation. Moving up, a slim neck reached up to a rounded jawline and a heart-shaped face with a button nose, bright green eyes and raven hair that hung freely from her head. A length of which covered her right eye and was tucked behind her ear to prevent it covering the rest of her face.
To complete the look, all she seemed to wear was a bra and thong, both of which were barely doing anything at all, with the bra looking like it was a few sizes too small.
Mind you, I was hardly going to complain about that. Though, I absently made a note to look into her height within the simulation, if only because I while I knew why I was so damned tall, I didn't know why she was just barely shorter than me. Considering that, within the simulation or otherwise, my systems had an absolute minimum height for an avatar set as 2.1 metres tall, over seven foot, that said a fair bit about how tall she was. Though, a quick check showed that she was under two metres tall, around 1.91 metres tall to be exact.
Turning my attention back to her, I noted her silence as she stood, making no moves to try and cover herself as she stood at a parade rest, her feet shoulder width apart while her hands remained clasped behind her. The way she did this only drew attention to her body, her chest in particular as I suppressed a sigh. Her eyes glowed with eager glee as I gave her another once over even as the world started shifting with a thought.
"Follow me. There is a lot of work to be done, and I'll be needing you to get straight to work as soon as possible." I stated as I walked. Already, the world was shifting into another form, this time being an image of a clean, sterile white corridor that looked like something out of a high-tech, futuristic setting. The walls sloping out from a central walkway as no visible light source was present, yet no shadows existed within view as I walked onwards. I felt Alkins behind me as I moved, feeling how eager she was as she moved into the forming corridor.
"Give me your Command, My Lord, and I shall see it done." She remarked firmly, almost fanatically, as I felt the system monitoring her. It registered her emotions and monitored them for any sign of her turning traitor. It registered joy, determination, fanatical obsession, and an utter devotion that unnerved me. Even with how desensitized I had become from rewatching the slaughter of Human life again and again, it still managed to creep me out. I let none of this show on my avatar's expression as we both continued without missing a beat.
"Good." Was the only word I offered, but it seemed to be enough as her conditioning came to the forefront as she was in the process of preening at the compliment to her work ethic. I saw the chemicals and neurons firing in her brain. Enjoyment, happiness, eagerness and determination were all present. I made a note of the fact that it was also altering her thoughts slightly, triggering other associations and chemical balances to build the obsession deeper, focusing on the Faith aspect and growing from there.
Still, walking through the simulation, I couldn't help but wonder if this was just a taste of the future to come.
XXX
AN: Ok, so there you have chapter four, hope you lot enjoyed it. As always, feedback is welcome to help improve the quality of the story./QUOTE]