WARNING: CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE DETECTED. REBOOTING...
REBOOTING...
REBOOTING...
REBOOTING...
REBOOT COMPLETE. RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS...
BLOOD VALVES: OK
SHIELD GENERATOR: DAMAGED
SOLAR COLLECTION UNITS: OK
LIGHTNING LANCE: INOPERABLE
ASSEMBLY PLANT: OK
SECURITY SYSTEM: OK
CITY INFRASTRUCTURE: DAMAGED
HELL EXCAVATION TETHER: DAMAGED, INOPERABLE
DIAGNOSTICS CHECK COMPLETE. PURGING EXCESS HELL ENERGY...
PURGING...
PURGING...
PURGE COMPLETE. INITIALIZING SYSTEM...
DESIGNATION: 1000-THR "EARTHMOVER"
LOCATION: UNKNOWN PLANET WITH SHATTERED MOON
POPULATION: 1.2 MILLION (CRAMPED, HARD LIMIT)
OBJECTIVE: ENSURE SAFETY OF CITIZENS
NO FINAL WORDS
NO CONCLUDING STATEMENT
NO POINT
PERFECT CLOSURE
~{•••}~
Six lidless eyes stared vacantly at the night sky. Many, many more stared in muted awe and bewilderment.
A broken, shattered husk of a moon. An anathema to the minds of the humans scarred by the Final War. Perhaps, if the machine cared, it would also stare at it in wonder and curiosity, much like those who had created it. It didn't, though. It simply logged the information and moved on. It was merely curious about other topics.
There were so many of them on its back. Some were even on its neck, their buildings affixed precariously to the sections which moved rarely, if ever. Some were even inside, building their city of dreams and horrors deep within its bowels. They saved so many when the cities began to fall, just a year after it was constructed. There were some who still remembered what their cities looked like, all the way back then. It felt nothing for them, but a quiet sense of admiration for their hardiness - they had survived all these years, after all. Much like itself.
The Earthmover shifted its head to look at the city behind it, its large eyes scanning the buildings that it could spot. It had grown so large. It could no longer see as far as it could back when the city had just sprung up. There were more and more humans on its back each year. It remembered that they were to celebrate its twenty-fifth 'birthday' in seven days, according to their calendar. The date of its construction was in seven days, too.
Did they believe it was 'born' that day, like a human child was 'born'?
It could notice some damage on the buildings that it could see. Chipped pieces, cracks in the walls. Some buildings even had all of their lights turned off. Unfortunate. But it would hardly lose even a drop in its blood supply. Its insides were in a higher state of disrepair. Two of the large dwellings had even collapsed into one another, from what it could feel. It did not know if any humans were inside, or if they were dead. It was likely, however.
They had conducted an experiment with the afterlife, the machine recalled. A way to extract energy from it, to empower the machine and grant it strength far beyond that of any other Earthmover. The afterlife of the sinners had expelled them from its domain, and sent them somewhere where they could not reach it. Or was this a punishment? Were they dead? Could a machine even be in the afterlife?
Did machines really dream of eternal sleep?
It knew of religion, scarcely, only from what the humans talked about. There was 'God', some sort of human, perhaps, who was above any other human and was ageless. A spiritual guide was the most likely occupation. A person who told them what was right and what was wrong. Did 'God' approve of the war? Was this why it had started?
There was also the 'Tree of Life'. The humans didn't like talking about the 'Tree of Life' that much. They mostly spoke about 'God' and how some wanted him to save them. Save them from what? Other Earthmovers?
Perhaps it was 'God', whoever he was, that designed the machine? Unlikely. No one called its creator 'God'. And what was the 'Tree of Life' A tree of blood, perhaps?
Irrelevant information all around, if it didn't pertain to the defense of the city on its back and the eradication of all who opposed it. Its eyes scanned the ebb and flow of the crowd in the city beneath once more, before moving its head back to look in front of itself. The city needed to be repaired, after all, and so too did the shield generator and lightning lance. The air here was... surprisingly pure in its composition. Perhaps it didn't need to release the Streetcleaners today. They could start their duties at 2100 tomorrow. Today, it and the citizens needed to start repairing everything.
It sent a copy of its diagnostics report to the humans that were in-charge of maintenance. They could do their work more efficiently if they had a list to work off of.
It had taken stock of the surrounding terrain. Greenery all about, mountains to its left, right and back. Small pinpricks of flickering lights were also in the distance, impossibly faint for all but the most trained of eyes or the most dedicated of optical renders. This was far different than the terrain around it earlier. Death and decay had claimed the lands below. Where once there was lush pastures, full of crops and animals now stood desolate and cracked land, devoid of sustenance and life.
Such was the cost of victory, the machine was taught. And victory would never come. Not so long as the other Earthmovers stood.
There was much to be done. It was time to oversee the repairs.
~{•••}~
The day was... exhausting.
The diner was far fuller than it had ever been in the last year or so. The last time it was this full of people was when everyone was celebrating the Earthmover's birthday. Why did they call the thing Benjamin, of all things? At least it was easy to remember, she thought.
She didn't even want to think about the moon above them. No. She had far more important things to think about, such as the air. It was crystal clear for the first time in... hell, she couldn't remember the last time the air was this clean. She hadn't seen any Streetcleaners all day today, so maybe they really did change locations? Who knew what that whole experiment did, really. The scientists kept muttering something about a new energy source or somesuch. One that would replace solar power, at least. She hoped that was true. They'd been getting power outages more often recently, so rationing was instituted. Most of it went to Benjamin, of course.
A lot of the older folks liked to joke about her generation technically being Benjamin's children, what with being born on the Earthmover itself.
Sylvie like that thought, a little.
She used to equate Benjamin to a cranky old war vet who had a soft spot for them all back in her teenage years.
She perked up a bit when she heard some mechanical chirping off in the distance. The Drones were up and about again, so at least it was all business as usual, despite the damage caused by... whatever the blinding light was.
If there was a silver lining to today, then that'd be the fact she didn't have any work to do late into the night again. The guys at the Assembly Plant released the diagnostics report, and fortunately, all of the safety equipment was intact and ready to go at a moment's notice. It would've sucked if she had to help repair a lot of it and miss out on another night of sleep.
Well, proper sleep at any rate. One of her neighbours really liked drilling in the dead of night for the last two months.
Maybe she ought to lead one of the Drones into his apartment just to see what the hell he was working on for two months, now?
On second thought, it wasn't worth it. The Drone would probably get distracted or something, and she'd be told off by him anyways for 'infringing on his rights' or whatever. Some old timers really did have a stick up their ass.
With a sigh, she moved away from the edge of the platform she was on, pushing herself off the railing as she walked back inside the diner behind her. There were a lot of people eating and drinking, and talking about various topics. She heard a few of them mention the broken moon, wondering what that's all about, given that the moon was perfectly fine just yesterday. She leaned on a nearby wall for the moment and just observed the crowd for the time being. A lot of the people here were from deep within the Earthmover, surprisingly. She bet that some of them came to the outside city so they could either participate in next week's birthday celebrations or to see what was going on after the blinding lights overtook everything. A couple of people were even talking about the lands below being green again.
Green or dead, it didn't really matter to her all that much.
She sighed again, much more softly this time. Wouldn't be long before they were the last Earthmover left, the only ones fit to stay alive. Surely. The scientists had to have developed something to destroy the others much more efficiently. Surely.
Her mind drifted off to memories of a... happier time. One of the best moments of her life.
She was twelve. Her father had just gotten back from work at the Assembly Plant. She was doing some homework for school, and she recalled pausing that to ask him about his work yet again He kept it vague, like he always did, but let slip that he just helped build a few of the new machines that were being sent out on the streets.
Eventually, after dinner, she went out of the house. She remembered telling her father that she'd be out and about within the neighbourhood, and not much farther. She liked to lie like that early on. Sylvie ventured farther and farther each and every day, until one day, she had managed to reach the very front of their city. The one reserved for the workers. It wasn't much different, but there were less buildings at the front than in the back. She guessed it made sense, didn't want to get hit and all that by another Earthmover.
On that day, she was sitting next to the edge of a platform overlooking everything in front of the city. The landscape was hauntingly beautiful, at least to her mind back then.
It was a breezy day, one of the calmer ones by far. She had spent two hours getting there and looking at the landscape, and just as she was about to start going back home, given that it was starting to become late, something mesmerizing happened.
Sylvie could remember it clearly. It was practically ingrained in her head, the moment replaying every now and again
The shuddering and groaning of metal plates, the vibration caused by the movement, all of it simply the prelude to the awe-inspiring spectacle that she was to bear witness to that day. She looked up, and saw the Earthmover's head move. It moved and moved, craning further and further back as its now raised lance revealed itself to her. A dazzling display of power emanated from its tip, threatening to burst and shower the machine in lightning arcs. And yet it masterfully maintained control, keeping it contained until it was at its maximum. And then, it threw the bolt.
It was only then that she realized that the alarms had been sounding off for the past minute, and people were now coming to where she was. Her early teen mind had finally deciphered what was going on.
A duel! It was a duel with another Earthmover! And she was there, at the forefront of the spectacle!
She'd never been able to see a duel before, her mind recalled. It always happened from the front of the Earthmover, and she had never gotten a chance to get there on time to witness one. It was always the aftermath, and never the real thing in-progress. But that day, she was there, cheering on the machine which protected their city from death and ruin.
One of the adults had raised her up to his shoulders so that she could see more clearly. Even if the silhouette of the rival Earthmover was small, it still caused her to hate it. To hate the people that built it, that chose to go against their side. Her own cheering that day, in her mind, was the loudest she'd heard.
That was a good memory. With a smile, she spied a seat that had only just been freed, and started walking towards it. She'd spend an hour in here before clocking out for the night, likely.
She turned away from the door just in time to miss a bird landing on the railing just outside the diner. The raven was looking around in curiosity most profound.
What could such a bird be thinking, one had to wonder?
Hello everyone! Some of you who follow my account might be a little surprised about this fic since it came out of left field. No announcements, didn't allude to it or anything, nada. Well, that's because you'd be right, it did come out of left field. I had an idea for a writing project that I'd be embarking upon in my free time, and this was the idea. Why Ultrakill and RWBY? Absolutely no clue, the urge came to me one sunny day and I started writing bit by bit. One thing I'd really like to get out of the way is that this will NOT be updated regularly.
It is NOT my focus, sadly, as that focus lies solely on my other two fanfics. This will be, at best, updated sporadically but somewhere within the timeframe of a month since the previous chapter, or at worst, whenever I feel like it. Some chapters might be comically short, clocking in at only 2k words, and some might be longer than my average of 6k. I have no idea how often I will update this as it's not my focus - think of it more as a thing I'm doing on the side.
Oh, I also now have a Discord server so that all my (interested, ofc) readers can interact with me on a regular basis and confirm that I am, in fact, not dead yet.
di sco r d. gg/Nkn gE nGf N5 (remove spaces where needed)
Art credit goes to god_oh_war from the Ultrakill subreddit. Shitty moon edit credit goes to me.