Prelude - Part Two
Eloise dreamed, though she didn't know it.
Her body ran; the steady pace on the treadmill at an even rate as the readout clicked over to the 30th mile, her speed steady at 42mph. A thin sheen of sweat covered her lithe body, but her impassive face showed no sign of fatigue, or anything else. She ran just like the impassive machine she had become. Implacable, tireless, emotionless.
Inside her mind, she dreamed.
The images that flitted through her mind seemed to have no source, and they bothered her not in the slightest. Fleeting images of another time, another place. Two faces kept reappearing, a man and a woman, their expressions of terror burned in to her unconcious as plantlife became animate around them; the forces of the Devoured Earth moving in for the kill.
The images shifted and blurred. Hazy images of a fire and flashing lights, and in the distance, a massive cloud of smoke, black as the night sky, boiled in to the blue sky.
"We're picking up activity on the alpha, beta and theta waves again." The technician's voice sounded mildly irritated as he studied the readouts before him. To one side, Eloise continued to run on the treadmill, a spiders-web of fibre-optic cables running from the back of her head and in to the various machines crowded either side of her.
Brent, the scientist in charge of project Black Out, looked up from his terminal and frowned. "Same pattern as before?"
"Yeah, looks like some residual memories surfacing again." The technician definitely sounded like he didn't want to be there. Unsurprising considering his duty shift was due to end shortly.
Bent sighed. "Alright, looks like we're going to have to run that full wipe after all. Damned delays." He stood up and walked over to the tech. "How are her readings otherwise?"
The tech checked his display. "Everything else is looking nominal. Speed steady at 42mph, 30.65 miles covered with no sign of fatigue chemicals in her musclature. Dark matter to energy conversion rate holding at a steady 5%, more than enough to keep her going like this for ever."
"Alright, end the exercise program for now and get her cleaned up, then shut her down for the night. We'll start the wipe first thing in the morning."
"Yes sir." The tech rapped out some quick instructions on the terminal, and Eloise slowed her pace, coming to a halt in just a few short seconds. Then reached behind her head, she disconnected the mass of cables from her implant and stood down from the machine.
She wasn't even out of breath.
Standing up, the tech motioned to her. "This way, time to get you cleaned up and put to bed for the night. You'll like that, won't you?" He laughed unpleasantly. "Yeah, sure you would. Come on."
He headed towards the shower facilities at the far side of the lab and Eloise followed, her face impassive as the tech rubbed his hands. He always loved this part of the job.
An hour later, the lab was silent, the lighting dimmed to twilight. In the centre of the lab, a plexiglass cylinder containing a half reclined bed had been lowered from the ceiling, and sealed inside; strapped to the table and surrounded by security monitoring devices, Eloise slept; and dreamed.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Prelude - Part Three
Brent was not a happy man.
"What do you mean, he wants the personality matrix in by tonight!? ****** it, Parks. I've told you twice already, she's not ready for that matrix yet! We've already had to wipe her twice because of those damned Seer network implants screwing with her programming. We need at LEAST another week, maybe two, before she's ready!"
The voice on the other end of the phone line wasn't having any of it. "This is coming straight from the top, Brent. Praetor Berry has had enough of your fool delays. He's seen the reports, and as far as he's concerned, she's ready for full deployment, you hear? He wants her on the streets and becoming a media darling as fast as possible, it's the best cover we've got for her real mission, and you know it. TPN are already primed with a full cover story for her, but they won't hold it forever. Get it done."
Brent let out a sigh of annoyance, and with a muffled curse, slammed the receiver down.
Behind him, a large plate glass window looked out in to a training arena. Inside, Eloise was busy.
Nine modified Clockwork drones, specially reprogrammed and outfitted with a large range of weaponry, were following their programming and attacking the lone, black suited figure.
Brent smiled as he watched her graceful movements, and for the first time, almost wished there was a mind in there that was capable of understanding what he'd given her.
It had been difficult work, of course. First procuring her from the state orphanage under the pretext of anomolous genetic scans; then faking the accident and her "death". After that, the years of painful experimentation had finally borne fruit. All on Berry's orders, of course.
Lifting a coffee mug to his lips, Brent watched her as she dodged under the lunging arm of a Builder class Clockwork, and there was a metallic shriek as she grabbed its wrist, using the leverage to literally run UP its torso and rip the appendage free as she somersaulted away. Nodding to himself, pleased that the improvements he'd made to her had worked out so well, Brent keyed his console and input a command.
Override safety protocols. Initiate final stage simultaneous attack.
The response was immediate. All 8 remaining clockwork suddenly stopped their randomly spaced attacks and in unison, raised both forearms; targetting Eloise directly. Multiple weapons systems folded out from the units appendages, and on several of the large models, chest units opened to reveal particle cannons.
Eloise dropped the arm she'd just torn from the Builder unit and assessed the situation. An instant later, the battle computer that her brain had been trained to be, completed its analysis of the situation and she spoke three short words.
"Initate Black Out."
A low rumble ran through the training arena, even making it through the reinforced walls an to Brents desk, making his coffee cup rattle as the power built up within Eloise. Five seconds later, just as the Clockwork units opened fire, a huge blast of dark energy erupted from the slim figure and obliterated them.
The force of the blast shook the underground complex several floors away, and the viewport Brent was using, 12 inches of specially reinforced plexiglass composite, shattered like ice. Brent threw himself away from the exploding shards in alarm, an almost girlish scream torn from his throat.
When the smoke from explosion cleared, Brent scrambled out from under his desk and peered carefully through the ruined viewport. Inside, just rising from one knee to impassively scan the twisted remains of her Clockwork adversary, Eloise spoke again.
"Mission objective complete. Black Out standing by."
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Prelude - Part Four
"Black Out! Black Out! Over here! Tom West, TPN! Can you tell us what happened?"
Black Out smiled as the reporters swarmed across the precinct foyer, like ants swarming over spilled honey. "It was nothing, really! I was just lucky to be near the incident when it happened." Her voice was soft, with the hint of a cultured British accent only partially masked by a more common Praetorian one.
"Oh come now, Black Out! What you did took much more than luck! It took courage to face down a dozen Resistance criminals like that!"
She shrugged and a faint blush crept over her cheeks. "I just did what I had to do to save innocent children from being hurt. I'm sure everyone here would have done the same if they'd had to, Tom."
Some distance away, in a laboratory complex far beneath the Underground, a bank of TV monitors showed the reporters swarmed around Black Out, each reporter vying for a word. One of the screens, though, showed a different angle; the view seen from Black Out's own eyes.
Brent, the man responsible for Project Black Out, was pleased. The installation of the AI matrix in to her cerebral processing unit had been a complete success, with the artificial personality taking over her body as if born to it.
He tapped a pen against his teeth as he watched her playing the media like a professional. The social interaction subroutines were working better than he could ever have hoped; if he didn't know better, he'd have sworn she was a real live human instead of a weapon.
Setting his pen down, he reached out for his console and tapped a single button which glowed a dim blue. Above it, the word "Recall" was incribed.
On screen, Black Out began to make her excuses to the media, extracting herself from their clutches so as to leave them begging for more, and took to the skies. Brent watched as a panoramic vista of the cityscape appeared on the screen, and smiled softly.
A beeping tone began to sound, coming from the communications system in his desk, and he tapped another control. "Brent."
A deep voice sounded over the speaker system, a familiar voice. "This is Parks. I just saw the interview on TPN."
Brent nodded, the smile on his lips growing. "The personality matrix seems to be working well, you were right.. She is ready."
The voice at the other end sounded mildly amused. "As I told you. Praetor Berry is pleased with the results so far, and wants the maximum media exposure possible. She's to be inducted in to the Top Dogs at the earliest opportunity."
Brent raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think it best we take this slow? There could be unforseen problems with stability of the matrix."
"Enough time has been spent on this project, Brent. Thirteen years so far, and only now are we starting to see results. The Praetor isn't the most patient of men."
Nodding again, Brent let out a barely audible sigh. "Of course, though this IS the first time an AI has ever successfully been implanted in to an organic brain, however many implants she's received."
He tapped out a series of instructions on his keyboard, and tracking data appeared overlaid on Black Out's visual feed, "She's on the way back to central now. As soon as she's arrived, I'll run a full system diagnostic and assuming there are no problems from this final test, she should be good to go fully autonomous from tomorrow morning."
"Excellent. I'll expect your call as soon as she's ready." The line clicked as the caller disconnected.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Day One
Reese was annoyed, as usual. It was bad enough with all the new recruits to the Powers Division lately, without having one of them literally forced on him, but the order to induct this Black Out in to the Top Dogs had come from Praetor White himself.
He didn't have any choice in the matter, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
So he'd decided to sent her down in to the Underground, supposedly after some Resistance goons who'd sparked off a protest recently, but he'd sent her in to one of the area's most heavily populated by Ghouls.
She was probably lunch around about now.
**********
Several miles away, and almost a quarter of a mile beneath Imperial City, Black Out was far from being anyone's lunch. In fact, as she rested her black booted foot on the pile of charred Ghoul corpses, she was actually having her own lunch.
She slid a thin tube, about 8 centimeters long and 2 in diameter, from a compartment in her belt and popped the cap, then shook 4 blue capsules from it before resealing it. High protein food capsules. Tossing them in to her mouth, she gave her head a single jerk and swallowed them dry.
Here, away from the camera's and reporters, the artificial intelligence in her mind could dispense with its social subroutines and concentrate on the task at hand; embarassing Reese and proving to Praetor White that Black Out was the best one for the job. Once she was past that hurdle, once White trusted her enough to give her access to the Powers Division's personal files, then her REAL job could begin.
An image flitted briefly through her mind; a frozen scene of a cityscape burning and strange, gigantic forms lurching down the street. Her brow furrowed for a moment as her systems analysed the image, running it through the historical database she'd been supplied with, before identifying it as London, England; the scene of a Devoured Earth attack some 22 years previously.
Back in the underground facility in Nutropolis, the indentification of the image triggered an alert message to crawl across Brent's situation monitor terminal, and he scowled angrily. Jabbing several keys in rapid succession, he waiting impatiently before the response flicked across his screen.
Cortical wipe sequence initiated. Black Out system in standby mode. Emergency defense field active. 30 seconds for sequence completion.
Black Out straightened up as a glittering shield bubble popped in to existence around her. It wasn't a perfect shield, but it would more than suffice to protect her whilst the remote command was executed.
Her eyelids snapped shut as the erasure sequence began, and unbidden by any concious thought, a solitary tear trickled slowly down her cheek.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
((Decided to expand this to a series of stories with their own thread. ))
Prelude - Part One
A lab somewhere in Nutropolis
"Praetor Berry wants her ready by tonight, understand?"
The technician nodded to his superior as he attached the electrodes to the young, black clad woman on the table. "Today's tests seem to have gone well, but we'll know more after the download."
"Her dark matter conversion rates are stable?"
"From initial readings, she seems to be getting a thirty two percent matter to energy conversion rate. Way above the Praetor's design specification and it seems to be increasing the more time she spends in the field. We'll know more once the download is complete."
"Very well." The scientist checked his watch before heading towards the door. "I have a meeting, but I expect the download to be finished and the subject ready for re-deployment within two hours. The Praetor wants the target eliminated before the press conference."
Nodding, the technician finished slipping the electrodes to the woman's temples, brushing her short black hair to one side to do so. On the table, the woman's attractive feature's remained impassive, her eyes open but blank.
Once his superior had left, he Leant down and murmered softly in to her ear. "It's a bloody crime, what they've done to you, Eloise. But we'll find a way to get you out of here, I promise."
The woman's face remained impassive, as if there was nothing there to respond to the technician's concern.
Sighing, he stepped away from the table and approached a bank of computers and activated the download sequence. As he did, a frown appeared on the subjects face, quickly changing to an expression of pain though not a sound escaped her lips.
Worriedly, the technician monitored the readouts and swore softly. "Your conversion rate's up to forty one percent, Eloise. If this carries on, the build up of residual dark matter in your system's going to kill you... I've got to shut this down... I've got to."
Casting another look at the subject, the technician sat down at a terminal facing away from her and began to type rapidly at the keyboard. "I've almost got the override program finished, just a few more days and I'll be able to reset the nanites, program them to undo what Berry's done to you..."
As the technician worked, the subject on the table blinked and a hand slowly lifted to her temples, disconnecting the sensors. Slowly, silently, she sat up and turned to look at him. He carried on working, unaware that she was awake.
"I wish we'd found out about this sooner... We could have gotten you out of here before Berry starting using you... What they've done, taking away your humanity, turning you in to a killing machine and making you murder people trying to escape the powers division. It makes me sick."
As he rambled on, Eloise rose silently from the table and edged slowly towards him, mild curiosity showing on her face.
"It's disgusting, what they get away with... Just taking you from the orphanage like that, experimenting on you all these years just because you'd never gotten sick, trying to find out why. They have no right!"
Eloise silently stepped up behind him, her bare feet inaudible on the painted cement floor, and her eyes began to glow with a dark, forbidding energy.
Finally, sensing something wasn't quite right, the tech looked behind him and gasped. "You're awake! You shouldn't be awake, Eloise!"
She stared at him silently, and after a moment, a small smile appeared on her lips and she raised a hand to stroke his cheek gently. He smiled in return and raised his own hand to hers, nuzzling her soft palm. "I want to get you out of here... I... I want us to be together..."
The smile on her face broadened, and a soft whisper passed her lips. "Traitor..."
Dark energy suddenly erupted from her eyes and the hand against the technicians face. Alarms erupted in the room as sensors registered a massive power surge, and the technician screamed.
A moment later, his charred remains crumpled to the floor; his body little more than blasted charcoal. Eloise stared down as his corpse slowly crumbled to dust, just as sucurity forces burst in to the room. "Target designated Seven Baker, terminated. Black Out standing by."
There was no humanity in her voice.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.