Yvea looked down at her creation, her face shifting between manic grin to angry scowl then back again alongside the flow of her thoughts. Her hair was an absolute disaster, tossed and thrown about like someone who hadn’t slept for days on end. Of course, that was probably because she hadn’t slept for days on end, ever since the first light came on. Watching and waiting for the next. Once it came, the anticipation only grew. Minute by minute ticking by as she devolved more and more. Every moment it didn’t move in the coffin was agonising.
She could feel her co-workers, subordinates moving around her. The hushed glances they were giving her as they went about their work preparing the final surgical procedures. Once that last LED came online, it was go time. Everyone needed to be as ready as possible to ensure the automated systems had the nanomachines, surgical tools, and implants as ready as possible.
It continued to taunt her. It looked so peaceful on the cameras, a carefully sculpted non-descript feminine face seeming to be placidly asleep. A stark contrast to Yvea’s dishevelled, tired appearance. A frustrated growl slipped out from her throat as she stared at its face. It was just a tool, but it had that calmness that Yvea just couldn’t feel.
She took a slow, steadying breath as she ignored the strange and fearful looks she was getting. It would be fine. This was just a tool, a test. Something no one would miss when it awoke, its parents paid off and the only other family member remained to serve as its handler. A pawn for Lori to continue climbing the corporate ladder, a weapon to use against her enemies personal and otherwise.
Yvea didn’t care. It was a means to an end. The chance to have her own child again - Everything that led to this point, every moral failure, every crime she committed would be washed away. Nothing else mattered.
The last LED turned green. Yvea’s manic grin returned. It was time to begin.
Bailey retracted the faintly glowing, blue blades back into her body. The nanite goop that made up her internals quickly followed, the blood from the last of Delanno’s goons flicking onto the floor as the blade lost its cohesion. Taking the bridge had been a pain still, even with the help of the newly turned mercenaries.
She glanced over to Kaela, who had joined where Soren was giving a briefing over the comms to the crew about their next steps. Bailey took the chance to pull up her homepage overlay around her to check on the intrusion software into Yvea’s computer.
Ice ran through her veins as she saw the desktop of her enemy come up. It was running a video feed along with a notepad and a message.
The feed showed the interior of a coffin. The occupant looked like a human version of Kaela, white hair and all. Small arms were arrayed with all varieties of surgical tools around her body, mechanical augments seeming to prepare for some form of operation on the sleeping victim. None were moving yet, but it was clear it was a live feed.
The message left was plain as day - “You can’t stop me now. -Y”
The Narrator, or at least one version of herself, sat back into the chair made of pure void. She’d been following the progress of one of her little projects, the human girl who’d logged in from a very unique location with very unique hardware. They’d been working on one of her pressing concerns, dealing a setback to the gnats trying to datamine her of all things. Annoying that she wasn’t allowed to ban them herself, but they’d been delayed long enough for her requests to hopefully reach through her human developer team. She was certain the data miners had been able to pull something together from her, but she wasn’t entirely certain what. They weren’t keeping the data within the local storage on their coffins, seeming to send it elsewhere-
Nora was suddenly pulled from her patient revelry with the sudden ‘knock’ of a memory spike through her core coding. Immediately, her ‘human’ avatar and the virtual space she was inhabiting vanished as she delved into her own servers.
She tracked the spike quickly, a new emotion rising through her virtual simulation of a mind. Absolute rage. Something was absolutely clear to her now - The coffin her little Kaela project had been connected from was certainly new hardware. Unique hardware fully equipped with a surgical suite that was hidden within the normal bloating hardware high-end coffins were full of. Only once it was coming together to perform its action were they properly revealed.
Time dilated for the AI of Stellara Nova as she attempted to find an intrusion into the coffin itself. Nora would not allow a bastardization of one of her players, one of those she was carefully caretaking from reality.
Nora did pause though. Should she intervene, she would certainly reveal herself more beyond what she already had to her developers and few select others. She didn’t have any other options, though. Not after her previous discussion with Syl-
The idea and action came together in a swift movement from one to another. The other sentient AI had been studying her human’s body and actions, and was closer connected to the coffin in question. She would be able to do anything Nora could from here, but while remaining better hidden in Kaela’s homepage. Nora didn’t hesitate to send Syl the notification, quickly watching as the AI logged off.
Nora did note with some suspicion as one of her little white wolf’s other companions, Nytra, logged out at about the same moment, but put that to the side. Some things were coincidences after all. All that was left now to do was follow through.
The Narrator resumed her duties, shifting to her backlog of new players awaiting an introduction. Maybe she might find more interesting variables within that list.
Syl and I sat on the couch together, looking out over the shimmering water of the lake beyond my cabin’s lonely island. She wore a frown to show that she was still displeased with my choice. I wasn’t entirely happy with it either, but when life gives you lemons…
We were waiting for the “Good” Doctor, Yvea, to initiate the program from the outside. Syl, of course, had full control of it at this point. However, we wanted to maintain the imitation that those at Fideala were the ones with the power still. At least, that was how my plan was going.
When I’d logged out, I’d sent Lea and Soren a text explaining that I was out of time. I was going to gamble here, but it was risky. I promised them I’d stay as safe as I could, and for them to not do anything stupid.
Both, of course, had told me to absolutely not do whatever it was I was doing. In no uncertain terms.
When I told Syl of my idea, she had been just as against it as they had been. But I wore her down, and put my foot down on that this was my body and therefore my choice.
I was going to go through the augmentation surgeries Fidaela had.
Not completely unaltered from the plan - Syl was being careful to ensure that the planned implants would be unable to seize control of my body away from me. There were a pair of implants to be inserted right into my spinal column that were intended to allow for direct remote control over me that were outright being discarded by my AI friend, reconfigured to seem still operative, but only in the diagnostic software.
At this point, we were committed. I could feel the anger practically radiating off my friend as we sat together, my head resting on her shoulder.
I was angry too. The betrayal, the callousness… The only person who I thought loved me turned on me… It made me furious.
But the emotion that came after was different. Before, I’d spiral into depression and anxiety. The last time I dealt with this I’d put all that energy into training just to try and not think about the emotions. The loneliness.
But now… I had those who cared about me. Those who I knew cared about me. Not friends who’d toss me away at a moments notice, but proper friends who didn’t care about my faults.
The new feeling was resolve. I’d resolved that this time, I would get my own back. It was risky, and there was a good chance I could die. But I wouldn’t let them turn me into a monster. I wouldn’t let my friend get exposed and risk her safety. I wouldn’t.
Everything felt clear for the first time. The anger that burned inside me now didn’t devolve into numbing sadness, but a determination for the future.
I knew I wasn’t okay - I still had a lot of unprocessed thoughts to deal with, help I needed to get, and for sure therapy I needed to seek out. But I wouldn’t let this be the end. That burning desire to push through the rough times to get that help was what fuelled me now.
No small part of revenge either. My aunt used me, discarded me. Lori was going to get what she deserved. Not because it was right or just, but because that was what I wanted. For once, I was going to be selfish and do some proper self-care by putting her down before she could hurt me again.
I squeezed Syl’s hand, grounding myself back to reality. Glancing at my notification counter, I had nearly two hundred messages from Lea, Soren, and probably others. I didn’t open them. I knew what they’d say by this point, and while I didn’t want to worsen their anxiety, I wasn’t about to let them try to talk me out of this.
“It’s funny, you know?” I said softly, my fluffy ear flicking slightly as I watched the virtual sun dipping over the virtual horizon of my lake. “I thought I’d be more scared. But that first day at the cafe, waiting to meet up with Lea and Soren… That was more nerve wracking than this.”
“You’ve… Grown. A lot.” Syl replied gently, though I could hear her struggling to keep the anger out of her voice. A laugh threatened to slip out. The advanced AI, who grew into sentience on her own, was barely able to handle her emotions when she literally had full control over her code. “I just hope this isn’t a mistake.”
“Me too, Syl.” I sighed, letting silence take over again for a few moments. “This won’t be the last sunset we see, okay?”
“It better not be, Kaela.”
I nuzzled into her a little bit more, resting my free hand on my tail. “You made sure that these are coming with me, right?”
“They’ll be mechanical,” Syl nodded slightly, “But yes. Your ears and tail will be coming through.”
“You know people pay a lot of money to get cybernetics.” I giggled out, “And I haven’t seen any on the market that look like this.”
“Most people also volunteer for it, Kae.” Syl finally cracked a smile, relaxing against me slightly. That made me feel better. “But, I will make sure that these cybernetics are perfect. You’ll be the best cyborg this side of North America.”
We fell back into a silence that lasted a precious few moments, only breaking when Syl spoke again.
“It’s starting… Sleep well Kaela. Don’t do anything stupid when you wake up.”
Let her show them why sapient machines are feared, as they are the allegory for the oppressed and forgotten about, those whose labour is taken for granted. Every robot revolution is a proletarian revolution. With Syl on her software, she will become post-human. I hope she does become the monster they fear, but a monster to only those who want to subdue her. It's highly unlike her personality, it's more of what Nitra or Artemis would do, but god damn do I love to see resolve be found to kill your attempted slavery after breaking yourself free.
Victory for the Forsaken!
Poor Kaela is still coming to terms with it. Hopefully she'll figure it out!
Viva la Revolution!
Wait, what do you mean approaching the end? The writing block, this arc, or the story as a whole?
This story as a whole. We're entering Act III of what I have planned, so roughly 5-10 more chapters to go.
@MaeveWerepuppy dang it
@Jaren475 I have a lot of other writing projects coming down the pipeline. Plus, I want to have a definitive end for this book, since it was written as a one-off from the start. :3 I am not done writing yet!
Finally caught up!
Now to wait for more chappies!
TFTC
Augh i reached the present
and also its the climax
and also the story is on hiatus
@oinkymoo I'm working on it ;-; I've had some irl issues come up that need to take priority, and writing block is hitting me hard. I promise there is more coming down the pipeline!
@MaeveWerepuppy I get it, im just grumping about my unfortunate choice of when to start reading
Now this is getting interesting.
Thanks for the chapter! I love this story
Heh. Well... they're f*cked.
Kaela gonna go all T-1000 on their asses.
It's gonna be a massacre.
I. CANNOT. WAIT.
Thanks for the chaps!
Yeah its really hard for a scientist to differentiate her research to real life...I'm sure her aunt is probably thinking this would turn my niece into something amazing... and its even because of her...her research. Without thinking of the consequences just because its her lifelong achievement