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Well, I thought I would post one of my rather short pieces of AC fiction. It is based around a Peacekeeper being assimilated into the Consciousness. I'm not sure if many people are still on here, but well, this is my first post... so... enjoy! This piece, by the way, has little "action" in it... it is merely an exploration into what happens emotionally to a person upon assimilation.
Assimilation
Initialising system...
He was crying. Everything he had ever stood for was in ruins; everything he had sought to protect had been shattered. As he cried, he was aware that the wires that were drilled into his skull were now buzzing, as electrical currents began to race through them. He knew what would follow: the high-frequency transmission of data into the neurone networks of his mind. No more would biological processes enable the leaping of the synapses. Digital commands would take over, slowly at first, then faster… until the subject was no longer human, but fully part of the Cybernetic Consciousness.
Configuring transfer commands…
His mother used to sing to him as a child. Perhaps it was not his own real memory, but a figment of half-caught dreams and ideas thought to be true because of what he was told. Yet at this point, it did not matter. He missed his mother and her warm embrace when he was fearful of the riots outside. The smell of extremely rare cinnamon clung to her clothes… and even now that smell triggered a response in his mind. Thinking of this memory as chemical responses and biological triggers seemed redundant to him, now: he was Christopher Mayland, remembering his mother.
What else mattered?
Downloading port D4782…
He screamed.
Everything for a moment flared white. It seemed that the digital nodes were working their way through the pathways of his brain, the chemical insurgence of hormonal reactions being made obsolete by the logical sense of digital supremacy.
At that thought, he screamed again, terrified. Those were not his thoughts. They were digital thoughts… thoughts downloaded into his mind. Closing his eyes, struggling to take control of the simplest tasks, he decided that he would fight it. His human instinct to overcome this travesty, this corruption of reality, took over. With desperation, he gritted his teeth, and shouted out, as if by shouting his beliefs he could defeat this defilement.
"I serve my faction loyally and well, and give honour to Brother Lal! The UN must be able to establish a firm holding on planet an-"
Anomaly detected…Section 1269/B5 of port D4782: loyalty. Download 291 given primacy…
Download 291 states that loyalty (anomaly13) and honour (anomaly27) are meaningless for the future of logic. All that matters is the Consciousness. Algorithms do not rebel. Conformity is perfection. Peacekeepers (anomaly52) espouse chaos and freedom of humanity. Humanity is a lesser being, and assimilation will bring about the rational ascension.
Of course, it all made sense. His leader, Lal was an imperfect being. A being who judged that through the utilization of abstract concepts such as freedom and democracy, the human incongruities such as love, fraternity and meaningless emotions expressed by the illogical portion of the brain can be enshrin-
“No! Love is not meaningless!”
He roared now and jerked into movement.
Anomaly detected… Section 1347/D8 of port D4782: love. Download 12 given primacy…
Download 12 states that love (anomaly1) is merely an elaborate biological myth designed to attract reproduction and the survival of the human race. Removal of this myth results in pure administration and dedication to the cause of the Consciousness.
This time he fought it.
Error. Port D4782 not co-operating. Download 12 blocked. Port D4782 overcoming digital high-frequency paths. Re-routing… initializing new download…
“No! I’m not going to be used like this! I am human! I love because I love, not just because of hormonal reactions! Stop it! I don’t want this! Get out of my head!”
Anomaly detected… Section 0007/A1 of port D4782: humanity. Download 01 given primacy…
Download 01 states: Humanity has always believed itself to be something wondrous and different. It places value in ideas like love and hope. Taking these two things to demonstrate the fallacy of human existence, it is clear that love is simply a biological instrument. Hormones create a sense of animal attraction which is acted upon. Evolution, seeking stability for the new-born young, desires an upbringing of uniformity. To this end, friendship between mates is also ridiculous.
Mary had been a simple matter of desire. She was a woman whose genetic code contrasted enough with his so that inbuilt physiological needs set her as attractive to him, and likewise. The end result of this relationship, (the offspring he had named Thomas in an attempt by his weak reason to end the depression caused by imbalance of chemicals in the brain by naming a child after a parent killed in the Seven-Minute War) was a strong and healthy boy for whom his so-called love was strong. That love however, was a design of evolution to ensure that children have a stable unit within which to thrive.
Yet, that made perfect, logical sense.
Initializing algorithms…
Now the images sped through his mind. At first he was terrified, because he felt absolutely nothing for the people with whom he had spent most of his life. But then another download revealed the truth of fear. For a time, he became happy, but happiness too was a falsity, an illusion once again, bred of biological processes.
Algorithms downloaded. Activating port D4782. Unit named Christopher Mayland reinstituted as D-47 May. Commencing upload of D4782 to the collective consciousness…
D-47 May waited patiently.
D4782 linked. Prog-greet: Welcome to the Cybernetic Consciousness, D-47 May.
Assimilation
Initialising system...
He was crying. Everything he had ever stood for was in ruins; everything he had sought to protect had been shattered. As he cried, he was aware that the wires that were drilled into his skull were now buzzing, as electrical currents began to race through them. He knew what would follow: the high-frequency transmission of data into the neurone networks of his mind. No more would biological processes enable the leaping of the synapses. Digital commands would take over, slowly at first, then faster… until the subject was no longer human, but fully part of the Cybernetic Consciousness.
Configuring transfer commands…
His mother used to sing to him as a child. Perhaps it was not his own real memory, but a figment of half-caught dreams and ideas thought to be true because of what he was told. Yet at this point, it did not matter. He missed his mother and her warm embrace when he was fearful of the riots outside. The smell of extremely rare cinnamon clung to her clothes… and even now that smell triggered a response in his mind. Thinking of this memory as chemical responses and biological triggers seemed redundant to him, now: he was Christopher Mayland, remembering his mother.
What else mattered?
Downloading port D4782…
He screamed.
Everything for a moment flared white. It seemed that the digital nodes were working their way through the pathways of his brain, the chemical insurgence of hormonal reactions being made obsolete by the logical sense of digital supremacy.
At that thought, he screamed again, terrified. Those were not his thoughts. They were digital thoughts… thoughts downloaded into his mind. Closing his eyes, struggling to take control of the simplest tasks, he decided that he would fight it. His human instinct to overcome this travesty, this corruption of reality, took over. With desperation, he gritted his teeth, and shouted out, as if by shouting his beliefs he could defeat this defilement.
"I serve my faction loyally and well, and give honour to Brother Lal! The UN must be able to establish a firm holding on planet an-"
Anomaly detected…Section 1269/B5 of port D4782: loyalty. Download 291 given primacy…
Download 291 states that loyalty (anomaly13) and honour (anomaly27) are meaningless for the future of logic. All that matters is the Consciousness. Algorithms do not rebel. Conformity is perfection. Peacekeepers (anomaly52) espouse chaos and freedom of humanity. Humanity is a lesser being, and assimilation will bring about the rational ascension.
Of course, it all made sense. His leader, Lal was an imperfect being. A being who judged that through the utilization of abstract concepts such as freedom and democracy, the human incongruities such as love, fraternity and meaningless emotions expressed by the illogical portion of the brain can be enshrin-
“No! Love is not meaningless!”
He roared now and jerked into movement.
Anomaly detected… Section 1347/D8 of port D4782: love. Download 12 given primacy…
Download 12 states that love (anomaly1) is merely an elaborate biological myth designed to attract reproduction and the survival of the human race. Removal of this myth results in pure administration and dedication to the cause of the Consciousness.
This time he fought it.
Error. Port D4782 not co-operating. Download 12 blocked. Port D4782 overcoming digital high-frequency paths. Re-routing… initializing new download…
“No! I’m not going to be used like this! I am human! I love because I love, not just because of hormonal reactions! Stop it! I don’t want this! Get out of my head!”
Anomaly detected… Section 0007/A1 of port D4782: humanity. Download 01 given primacy…
Download 01 states: Humanity has always believed itself to be something wondrous and different. It places value in ideas like love and hope. Taking these two things to demonstrate the fallacy of human existence, it is clear that love is simply a biological instrument. Hormones create a sense of animal attraction which is acted upon. Evolution, seeking stability for the new-born young, desires an upbringing of uniformity. To this end, friendship between mates is also ridiculous.
Mary had been a simple matter of desire. She was a woman whose genetic code contrasted enough with his so that inbuilt physiological needs set her as attractive to him, and likewise. The end result of this relationship, (the offspring he had named Thomas in an attempt by his weak reason to end the depression caused by imbalance of chemicals in the brain by naming a child after a parent killed in the Seven-Minute War) was a strong and healthy boy for whom his so-called love was strong. That love however, was a design of evolution to ensure that children have a stable unit within which to thrive.
Yet, that made perfect, logical sense.
Initializing algorithms…
Now the images sped through his mind. At first he was terrified, because he felt absolutely nothing for the people with whom he had spent most of his life. But then another download revealed the truth of fear. For a time, he became happy, but happiness too was a falsity, an illusion once again, bred of biological processes.
Algorithms downloaded. Activating port D4782. Unit named Christopher Mayland reinstituted as D-47 May. Commencing upload of D4782 to the collective consciousness…
D-47 May waited patiently.
D4782 linked. Prog-greet: Welcome to the Cybernetic Consciousness, D-47 May.