Glitched - Ch 0
The whole of human history has been defined by the inventions that have ushered in new eras of progress. Fire, the wheel, gun powder, electricity, the assembly line, the splitting of the atom... each of these sent the human race cascading down a new path, with a new drive.
None of those have changed humanity as a species. Man is still the same creature he was 30,000 years ago. He may wear different clothes, speak a different language, but basically, he is the same.
I will eliminate the frailties of the human body. If need be, I will equalize the whole of humanity under a single boot. We will become a colony of worthlessness, picking at the edges of ourselves and avoiding the inevitable. For this we deserve to die. I will create a new world, in my own image, under my own power, and bring forth the next stage of evolution for our unevolved species. I will engineer it myself. From this point on we will live in Eden. For that to happen, we must shed our frail bodies and our flawed society. You will not do this for yourselves, so I will do it for everyone. I will take the burden of Sin for starting a new world, in exchange for preserving and advancing our species.
-Stephen Glen Apex, May 31st, 2006
***
The world was red.
Red hair, red clothes, red hands. Red lips.
Some things were shades of red. Her socks for instance were pink, not red. They had been white, but the blood had turned them pink. Her knee high socks were not quite red, but close.
Sara blinked, a tear overcoming the tiny ridge of her lower eyelid. It slid down her cheek, washing a small, lonely trail down the blood caked on her face.
She sniffled and wiped at the tear, smearing it and some of the blood on her face with her arm. Black, angry veins pumped like serpents just below her skin. They stood out against her pale body, so much so that it would be the first thing one noticed about the young woman.
"I'm a monster."
She was a monster. She had not come to be such a thing by her own volition. Its mantel had been forced on her by her creators.
Her personality would not reveal the monster inside. Until that night, nor would her body. With the face and disposition of an angel, only the most suspicious and paranoid might have thought her to be other than what she appeared.
But all the same, she was a monster. She had been intended to be a monster, and in the end she was all too willing to allow herself to be turned into that monster. The tragedy lay in that she fit in her disguise as an angel more comfortably than as her true self, the demon.
She had just killed thirty people.
She had known those people, worked with those people. She had laughed with them. She was their hope, their aspirations. But from the start they had tampered with things they didn't quite understand. Things they only knew the potential of, potential they reached for with outstretched hands, leaving themselves vulnerable.
'Before they put that thing inside me, I was fine. The virus. After they put the virus inside me, I killed them.' Sara thought.
She stumbled as she walked. 'No, that's not it. I can't let myself off the hook. I just... I just..' she thought.
It would be easier to place the blame solely on them, but she had been a cooperative test subject. She had, either through complicity or inaction allowed what happened to happened. They died by her hand, and whether or not it was their arrogance that brought it on, she still had agency in what had occurred.
She had been built to kill, so what bothered her was not that in itself. No, it was the lack of control. She had not made the choice. She had merely been the tool of some other thing's purpose. That scared her more than anything else. Having power was one thing; sometimes it was a terrible thing. To have power and not hold control over it, for it to control you, that was truly frightening. Sara held herself to stave off the cold, her clothes in tatters and providing little comfort.
"If I had decided to do it... at least I would have had a reason. At least then I could pretend and justify it," she said.
The scientists had turned her off. They had split her chest open and put in something. They attached it to her heart, almost like a pace maker. They sewed her back up, and nothing felt different.
When the experiment began, they injected her with something. She didn't know what it was but they said it would start the thing they had put in her chest. Her heart beat faster and then it was like lava was pumping through her veins, burning ever part of her body. She struggled, screamed, and then she changed. One moment she was a tall, voluptuous, bright beautiful woman. The next she was a monster, a maddening mix of machinery and organs, all bursting from her, reaching out, grasping.
She tore the scientists apart. First the ones closest to her, then the ones who had run away. They were sealed in the room with her, unable to escape, just as she was now meant to be. They weren't merely in her way, she sought them out, under their desks, in their hiding holes. She found them and killed them.
If only they had learned. Sara lowered her head, knowing she was now just another in along line of failures. The two boys, both dead by their own hand. The girl was fine, but useless. Sara had been their best hope and she had proven yet again that the Underground had not found the secret to containing and controlling their creations.
The Underground. Sara thought of it and shuddered. She knew its purpose, and her purpose within it. She was a BioSuit, CompanionType 05A, an artificial creation of the Underground. One day, they would succeed in their experiments, and someone like her, an army of those like her, would be unleashed on the world. The Underground would take over, and remake the world as it saw fit.
Only hours before she would have gladly helped lead the charge. She thought that there was something special about herself. She knew the truth now; anything the Underground did would end up as a blood bath. If things had been different, that might not have mattered to her. Now...
She collapsed onto a patch of grass, less because her body gave out and more because she did not have the energy to lower herself down gracefully. She pulled herself up to a tree, breathing deeply, calming herself. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, smearing more blood across it. Very little of it was hers.
She would leave this city. NeoSeattle meant nothing to her. She would try and head north and see what she could find there. If should couldn't find peace there, she would keep moving until she did.
Sara braced herself against a tree. The maple tree supported her without complaint. She began back down the streets, the pavement wet beneath her bare feet. The moonless night did little to illuminate her way. All the same, she felt like she was walking the correct path.
She thought of her brother. He had not been activated, remaining a blank slate until tests had been finished on her. He was scheduled to be activated next week, September 6th. She imagined he would be shelved, left in cold storage while they passed on their failed line, moving onto the Type 06.
'I wonder if he'll ever have the chance to live?' she thought. In the end, she realized, it would probably be better for him if he did not.
Glitched.
None of those have changed humanity as a species. Man is still the same creature he was 30,000 years ago. He may wear different clothes, speak a different language, but basically, he is the same.
I will eliminate the frailties of the human body. If need be, I will equalize the whole of humanity under a single boot. We will become a colony of worthlessness, picking at the edges of ourselves and avoiding the inevitable. For this we deserve to die. I will create a new world, in my own image, under my own power, and bring forth the next stage of evolution for our unevolved species. I will engineer it myself. From this point on we will live in Eden. For that to happen, we must shed our frail bodies and our flawed society. You will not do this for yourselves, so I will do it for everyone. I will take the burden of Sin for starting a new world, in exchange for preserving and advancing our species.
-Stephen Glen Apex, May 31st, 2006
***
The world was red.
Red hair, red clothes, red hands. Red lips.
Some things were shades of red. Her socks for instance were pink, not red. They had been white, but the blood had turned them pink. Her knee high socks were not quite red, but close.
Sara blinked, a tear overcoming the tiny ridge of her lower eyelid. It slid down her cheek, washing a small, lonely trail down the blood caked on her face.
She sniffled and wiped at the tear, smearing it and some of the blood on her face with her arm. Black, angry veins pumped like serpents just below her skin. They stood out against her pale body, so much so that it would be the first thing one noticed about the young woman.
"I'm a monster."
She was a monster. She had not come to be such a thing by her own volition. Its mantel had been forced on her by her creators.
Her personality would not reveal the monster inside. Until that night, nor would her body. With the face and disposition of an angel, only the most suspicious and paranoid might have thought her to be other than what she appeared.
But all the same, she was a monster. She had been intended to be a monster, and in the end she was all too willing to allow herself to be turned into that monster. The tragedy lay in that she fit in her disguise as an angel more comfortably than as her true self, the demon.
She had just killed thirty people.
She had known those people, worked with those people. She had laughed with them. She was their hope, their aspirations. But from the start they had tampered with things they didn't quite understand. Things they only knew the potential of, potential they reached for with outstretched hands, leaving themselves vulnerable.
'Before they put that thing inside me, I was fine. The virus. After they put the virus inside me, I killed them.' Sara thought.
She stumbled as she walked. 'No, that's not it. I can't let myself off the hook. I just... I just..' she thought.
It would be easier to place the blame solely on them, but she had been a cooperative test subject. She had, either through complicity or inaction allowed what happened to happened. They died by her hand, and whether or not it was their arrogance that brought it on, she still had agency in what had occurred.
She had been built to kill, so what bothered her was not that in itself. No, it was the lack of control. She had not made the choice. She had merely been the tool of some other thing's purpose. That scared her more than anything else. Having power was one thing; sometimes it was a terrible thing. To have power and not hold control over it, for it to control you, that was truly frightening. Sara held herself to stave off the cold, her clothes in tatters and providing little comfort.
"If I had decided to do it... at least I would have had a reason. At least then I could pretend and justify it," she said.
The scientists had turned her off. They had split her chest open and put in something. They attached it to her heart, almost like a pace maker. They sewed her back up, and nothing felt different.
When the experiment began, they injected her with something. She didn't know what it was but they said it would start the thing they had put in her chest. Her heart beat faster and then it was like lava was pumping through her veins, burning ever part of her body. She struggled, screamed, and then she changed. One moment she was a tall, voluptuous, bright beautiful woman. The next she was a monster, a maddening mix of machinery and organs, all bursting from her, reaching out, grasping.
She tore the scientists apart. First the ones closest to her, then the ones who had run away. They were sealed in the room with her, unable to escape, just as she was now meant to be. They weren't merely in her way, she sought them out, under their desks, in their hiding holes. She found them and killed them.
If only they had learned. Sara lowered her head, knowing she was now just another in along line of failures. The two boys, both dead by their own hand. The girl was fine, but useless. Sara had been their best hope and she had proven yet again that the Underground had not found the secret to containing and controlling their creations.
The Underground. Sara thought of it and shuddered. She knew its purpose, and her purpose within it. She was a BioSuit, CompanionType 05A, an artificial creation of the Underground. One day, they would succeed in their experiments, and someone like her, an army of those like her, would be unleashed on the world. The Underground would take over, and remake the world as it saw fit.
Only hours before she would have gladly helped lead the charge. She thought that there was something special about herself. She knew the truth now; anything the Underground did would end up as a blood bath. If things had been different, that might not have mattered to her. Now...
She collapsed onto a patch of grass, less because her body gave out and more because she did not have the energy to lower herself down gracefully. She pulled herself up to a tree, breathing deeply, calming herself. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, smearing more blood across it. Very little of it was hers.
She would leave this city. NeoSeattle meant nothing to her. She would try and head north and see what she could find there. If should couldn't find peace there, she would keep moving until she did.
Sara braced herself against a tree. The maple tree supported her without complaint. She began back down the streets, the pavement wet beneath her bare feet. The moonless night did little to illuminate her way. All the same, she felt like she was walking the correct path.
She thought of her brother. He had not been activated, remaining a blank slate until tests had been finished on her. He was scheduled to be activated next week, September 6th. She imagined he would be shelved, left in cold storage while they passed on their failed line, moving onto the Type 06.
'I wonder if he'll ever have the chance to live?' she thought. In the end, she realized, it would probably be better for him if he did not.
Glitched.