Tweet
short story: In the middle of war
In the middle of war
Something was wrong. A careful observer might notice that the cyborg students seemed slightly slower than usual. Not much, maybe only a half a second, but still. It was almost as if the Consciousness was preoccupied or worried about something. Everything appeared perfectly normal. The campus of Alpha Prime University of Sciences and Arts was like most other Cyborg Universities. Students roamed the paths leading to and away from classes. The cyborg students were easily recognizable with their cybernetic implants that connected them altogether and to the Consciousness in an invisible web. They could instantly access information about homework assignments, tests, and send messages to each other with just a thought. This put students from other factions at a great disadvantage. They had to study the old fashion way. And, the two groups did not mingle very much. Cyborgs saw themselves as superior, and the other students – derogatorily called Outsiders - were frankly a little scared at these cyborg “things”.
One of these “Outsiders” was Rick, born in 2370 at Drone Paradise, his parents scrapped all the credits they could find to send their son to a good school. They wanted him to have the education that would give him a chance in life. Rick was a smart kid, and they knew he could be somebody if given a helping hand. They missed him, now that he was away from home, but that was the price to pay. Rick had just left his pre-sentient algorithms class, which he found very interesting, and was now walking toward his history class on the Believer-Cult war of 2207. The class was a real bore, the professor always talked about how the other factions were inferior because they were not logical like the Wonderful Consciousness. It did not matter; he got to sit next to “Alicia”. Her real name was C-22J but he liked to call her Alicia. She was a cyborg, but she was nice to him, and she was so pretty. There she was.
“Hi Alicia”
“Rick (pause) hello, are you functioning properly?”
“Uh, Yeah, I’m doin’ fine. Thanks.”
The hologram of the professor appeared, and began the lecture:
“In the year 2206, tensions were already high between the Believers and the Cult of Planet. Both factions claimed to have a religious purpose on Planet. Cha Dawn believed he was Planet’s prophet. Miriam considered him to be a false prophet and desired to free his followers from what she viewed as a cult. There were many military skirmishes during the second half of 2206, because neither had any respect for the other. In early 2207, a Cult recon rover on an exploration mission found the Manifold Nexus. It was in neutral territory so the Cult sent a colony pod to claim it. Do you know what happened next?”
A cyborg student raised their hands to answer:
“The Believers got their first. They settled the area around the Nexus, with a new base called Shining City.”
“Correct. When the Cult expedition got to the Manifold Nexus, they found Shining City in the process of construction. Cha Dawn was furious. Two weeks later he dispatched an army composed of mindworms and impact rovers to seize Shining City. The Cult seized the base but Miriam pronounced vendetta and a 4-year war between those two factions began which only ended after Lal intervened.
Students, this is a prime example of the destructive nature of left brain thinking. Desires inevitably lead to conflict. Both the Believers and the Cult desired the same thing, so they fought and destroyed each other for 4 years. Desire is irrational. We cyborgs are superior to the other factions because we are rational and logical. We do not let emotions control our decisions like Cha Dawn did when he found out that the Believers got to the Nexus first…”
A loud explosion rocked the auditorium
ALERT … ALERT … ALPHA PRIME UNDER ATTACK … CLASS IS CANCELLED … PROCEED TO NEAREST NETWORK NODE FOR INSTRUCTION
“What exactly is going on, Alicia?”
Alicia linked with the main database through her MMI to find out more about the attack in progress.
“Alpha Prime is under surprise attack by unknown forces. Drop pods everywhere. Flechette defense has destroyed 20% of incoming forces but they are overwhelming us.”
“Come Alicia with me, I will get you to safety.”
“Negative. I must proceed to network node”
Rick could see the drop pods descending unto Alpha Prime. He could also see the flashes of tachyon bolts rising to meet the descending threat, from the cyborg air defenses. The explosions were deafening. Needlejets streaked in a few moments earlier and had begun to bombard the Cyborg base mercilessly. With all the chaos of battle, the cyborg soldiers seemed unaffected. They marched in perfect order, not even stopping when one fell never to rise again.
… I almost wish I were like them not knowing what fear is…
Then Rick saw Alicia fall to the ground. He ran toward her. She was wounded from a piece of metal that had blown off a building from one of the explosions. He picked her up. She was not dead, just hurt. He took her down into a basement where he liked to hang out between classes. He hoped it was a safe place. Then he heard a rumble. He carefully let Alicia down unto the couch and went to the window to see what it was. A cloaked rover materialized two blocks down the road and rumbled toward their position. Spartans.
… He should have known. Drop pods, needlejets, and now, cloaked rovers, all in perfect timing and coordination. Only the Spartans could pull off a military plan so well…
“Why are you shaking?” Asked Alicia.
“I am afraid.”
“What is fear?”
“It is an emotion that we humans have. When we are uncertain about what will happened to us.”
“ I am human”
“I did not mean it that way. But you are different. You are half machine. You don’t know what fear is or love or anything.”
“What is love?”
“Well, it is complicated. When a boy meets a nice girl, he will often do things for her, to impress her, because he likes her.”
Rick took her hand in his and held it tight.
…She would never understand, would she? She would never see what he felt for her. I guess I don’t want to be a cyborg after all. They sacrifice emotion in exchange for pure logic. Don’t they see that without feelings and emotions good and bad, we are not really human anymore?
At that moment, the door slammed open and a tall, strong man in a black uniform, with a shredder pistol in his hand, entered. Two men followed behind him. The Spartan soldiers grabbed Alicia and Rick and took them outside.
“Take this ‘borg to the punishment sphere. The kid’s with me.” The Spartan officer ordered. As Alicia was taken away, she turned to look one last time at Rick.
“Rick, are we … friends?”
Choked in tears, Rick whispered:
“Always.”
I would love to hear any comments.
------------------
No permanent enemies, no permanent friends.
Something was wrong. A careful observer might notice that the cyborg students seemed slightly slower than usual. Not much, maybe only a half a second, but still. It was almost as if the Consciousness was preoccupied or worried about something. Everything appeared perfectly normal. The campus of Alpha Prime University of Sciences and Arts was like most other Cyborg Universities. Students roamed the paths leading to and away from classes. The cyborg students were easily recognizable with their cybernetic implants that connected them altogether and to the Consciousness in an invisible web. They could instantly access information about homework assignments, tests, and send messages to each other with just a thought. This put students from other factions at a great disadvantage. They had to study the old fashion way. And, the two groups did not mingle very much. Cyborgs saw themselves as superior, and the other students – derogatorily called Outsiders - were frankly a little scared at these cyborg “things”.
One of these “Outsiders” was Rick, born in 2370 at Drone Paradise, his parents scrapped all the credits they could find to send their son to a good school. They wanted him to have the education that would give him a chance in life. Rick was a smart kid, and they knew he could be somebody if given a helping hand. They missed him, now that he was away from home, but that was the price to pay. Rick had just left his pre-sentient algorithms class, which he found very interesting, and was now walking toward his history class on the Believer-Cult war of 2207. The class was a real bore, the professor always talked about how the other factions were inferior because they were not logical like the Wonderful Consciousness. It did not matter; he got to sit next to “Alicia”. Her real name was C-22J but he liked to call her Alicia. She was a cyborg, but she was nice to him, and she was so pretty. There she was.
“Hi Alicia”
“Rick (pause) hello, are you functioning properly?”
“Uh, Yeah, I’m doin’ fine. Thanks.”
The hologram of the professor appeared, and began the lecture:
“In the year 2206, tensions were already high between the Believers and the Cult of Planet. Both factions claimed to have a religious purpose on Planet. Cha Dawn believed he was Planet’s prophet. Miriam considered him to be a false prophet and desired to free his followers from what she viewed as a cult. There were many military skirmishes during the second half of 2206, because neither had any respect for the other. In early 2207, a Cult recon rover on an exploration mission found the Manifold Nexus. It was in neutral territory so the Cult sent a colony pod to claim it. Do you know what happened next?”
A cyborg student raised their hands to answer:
“The Believers got their first. They settled the area around the Nexus, with a new base called Shining City.”
“Correct. When the Cult expedition got to the Manifold Nexus, they found Shining City in the process of construction. Cha Dawn was furious. Two weeks later he dispatched an army composed of mindworms and impact rovers to seize Shining City. The Cult seized the base but Miriam pronounced vendetta and a 4-year war between those two factions began which only ended after Lal intervened.
Students, this is a prime example of the destructive nature of left brain thinking. Desires inevitably lead to conflict. Both the Believers and the Cult desired the same thing, so they fought and destroyed each other for 4 years. Desire is irrational. We cyborgs are superior to the other factions because we are rational and logical. We do not let emotions control our decisions like Cha Dawn did when he found out that the Believers got to the Nexus first…”
A loud explosion rocked the auditorium
ALERT … ALERT … ALPHA PRIME UNDER ATTACK … CLASS IS CANCELLED … PROCEED TO NEAREST NETWORK NODE FOR INSTRUCTION
“What exactly is going on, Alicia?”
Alicia linked with the main database through her MMI to find out more about the attack in progress.
“Alpha Prime is under surprise attack by unknown forces. Drop pods everywhere. Flechette defense has destroyed 20% of incoming forces but they are overwhelming us.”
“Come Alicia with me, I will get you to safety.”
“Negative. I must proceed to network node”
Rick could see the drop pods descending unto Alpha Prime. He could also see the flashes of tachyon bolts rising to meet the descending threat, from the cyborg air defenses. The explosions were deafening. Needlejets streaked in a few moments earlier and had begun to bombard the Cyborg base mercilessly. With all the chaos of battle, the cyborg soldiers seemed unaffected. They marched in perfect order, not even stopping when one fell never to rise again.
… I almost wish I were like them not knowing what fear is…
Then Rick saw Alicia fall to the ground. He ran toward her. She was wounded from a piece of metal that had blown off a building from one of the explosions. He picked her up. She was not dead, just hurt. He took her down into a basement where he liked to hang out between classes. He hoped it was a safe place. Then he heard a rumble. He carefully let Alicia down unto the couch and went to the window to see what it was. A cloaked rover materialized two blocks down the road and rumbled toward their position. Spartans.
… He should have known. Drop pods, needlejets, and now, cloaked rovers, all in perfect timing and coordination. Only the Spartans could pull off a military plan so well…
“Why are you shaking?” Asked Alicia.
“I am afraid.”
“What is fear?”
“It is an emotion that we humans have. When we are uncertain about what will happened to us.”
“ I am human”
“I did not mean it that way. But you are different. You are half machine. You don’t know what fear is or love or anything.”
“What is love?”
“Well, it is complicated. When a boy meets a nice girl, he will often do things for her, to impress her, because he likes her.”
Rick took her hand in his and held it tight.
…She would never understand, would she? She would never see what he felt for her. I guess I don’t want to be a cyborg after all. They sacrifice emotion in exchange for pure logic. Don’t they see that without feelings and emotions good and bad, we are not really human anymore?
At that moment, the door slammed open and a tall, strong man in a black uniform, with a shredder pistol in his hand, entered. Two men followed behind him. The Spartan soldiers grabbed Alicia and Rick and took them outside.
“Take this ‘borg to the punishment sphere. The kid’s with me.” The Spartan officer ordered. As Alicia was taken away, she turned to look one last time at Rick.
“Rick, are we … friends?”
Choked in tears, Rick whispered:
“Always.”
I would love to hear any comments.
------------------
No permanent enemies, no permanent friends.
Comment