Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2015 19:25:40 GMT -5
"Your people died because you hauled me away before they could listen to what I had to say. You already wasted time and you're compounding it now by keeping me like this!" He pulled at the restraints, having been the entire time testing them for some way to slip them but they were -far- too secure for his liking.
"Make up your mind, man! First you say I'm some kind of human-centric wrongdoer, now you say you don't want to tell me anything and don't trust me!" he complained. But the man was already leaving, as if he'd had his say and cleared a podium.
"Thank goodness someone in your family has an ounce of sense!" he said, gratefully helping with getting himself out of the restraints once one hand was free. "Now, let's see if we can save some people before everyone pays for the sins of your father. Jonah, I need you to tell me what the Ingenium project is, I need to know why the Daleks want them, whatever this project is. Because once they get it, they will not need your planet, nor any of you anymore. Come, hurry!"
|
|
|
|
Post by Jonah Caine on Nov 21, 2015 3:00:12 GMT -5
"Thank goodness someone in your family has an ounce of sense!" he said, gratefully helping with getting himself out of the restraints once one hand was free. "Now, let's see if we can save some people before everyone pays for the sins of your father. “
“He's a good man!” Jonah shot back angrily, unable to bear listening to criticism of his father from a stranger, no matter how much Malachi appeared to deserve it right now. “You have no right to judge him! You don't know him. He's a genius! Without him, Copernicus would never have regained health and prosperity after the Dust Fall. He's just...”
The boy's impassioned voice faltered and trailed away, as on the screen, the Daleks were shown hovering over the Praesidium, laser fire streaking across the tortured sky. When he spoke again, his tone had lost its edge and was flat and weary. “The Ingenium Project is just really important to him. Maybe... more important than anything else.”
Including me. The words he didn't say, the silent, anguished addendum, echoed insidiously inside his head.
“Jonah, I need you to tell me what the Ingenium project is, I need to know why the Daleks want them, whatever this project is. Because once they get it, they will not need your planet, nor any of you any more. Come, hurry!"
Again, he hesitated, almost swayed by the urgency in the old man's voice. It would be easy enough to tell him... to show him, even. The Ingenium labs were located right here, in the base of Galatea Tower, and Jonah was one of the few people who had full security access.
Easy enough – and yet, a decision from which there would be no return.
Malachi had drilled the need for secrecy regarding the Project into his son for as long as Jonah could remember. The Ingenium had to be protected from industrial espionage at all costs. Jonah knew his father would never forgive him if he revealed the schematics to a stranger – especially a stranger Malachi had ordered imprisoned. Even if his motives were the best ones in the world.
Nevertheless, before he could refuse, the decision was taken out of his hands.
On the viewscreen, with a final, powerful blast of energy, the Daleks breached the first titanium door.
Jonah watched, feeling like he'd been brutally punched in the stomach. As though his entire world and everything he knew was crumbling around him. Those doors were supposed to be impregnable. At least, that was what he had always believed.
Slowly, he turned his head back towards the old man.
“If I'm about to betray everything I've been taught since the cradle,” he said woodenly. “Not to mention destroying my life in the process... I'd like to know who I'm telling it all to. Who exactly are you?”
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2015 21:47:56 GMT -5
"A man good enough to let the citizens up there die, while he goes on about their sacrifice! I have -plenty- of right and none at all. Your choice..."
"A little paranoia goes a long way, too much however...and you may as well have none at all."
"Exactly? I can't tell you exactly...that's not important. The Warrior will do, call me that. I've been fighting Daleks a long, long time. They've taken to calling me a great many things, The Predator, the Great Scourge, the Living Death and the Dalek Killer."
|
|
|
|
Post by Jonah Caine on Nov 27, 2015 23:00:00 GMT -5
The man was old. And on Copernicus, only the young were venerated. Their world was so afraid for the future, so afraid that their people would die out and leave no-one to carry on their legacy, that the old were disregarded and considered to have no worth.
But Jonah could see the battles carved into the stranger's gaunt, weathered face. The boy knew little of conflict or war, because it had always been so peaceful on Copernicus. But the old man had a soldier's eyes, weary and bleak. There were images locked inside that steely gaze Jonah could never comprehend - the torture and hate the stranger had witnessed, the deaths of friends, the hard decisions he had been forced to make, the countless enemies he had killed, the dangerous missions he had gone on. The horrific gore, the madness of war; the deaths of the innocent, the piercing screams that could never now go unheard; it was all there in those wintry hazel depths.
The Warrior.
The Predator, the Great Scourge, the Living Death and the Dalek Killer.
That was who Jonah needed right now. That was who Copernicus needed, to rid her of the inhuman monsters who were systematically exterminating her people. They had all been wrong. The future wasn't in the hands of the young. It was in the hands of this one, single old man.
“Come on, then, Warrior...” Jonah said gruffly, a tone of respect in his voice for the first time. “This way. I'll show you the Ingenium. And then you'll understand.”
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2015 19:53:49 GMT -5
He could see an assessing look in the boy's eyes. Strange, but he supposed with a father who thought himself the king of the world this child might feel as a prince might in view of an old knight. If they even had those on this world. He walked up to the viewer and eyed it with a scowl.
"Good, let's hope that I understand before the Daleks do. I don't suppose you know what your father is up to at the moment? Besides something that is likely to get the rest of you killed..." he sighed as he followed the young man. "Pardon, I know it's your father but I've suffered enough fools to know that even if he does mean well, he doesn't know what he's dealing with - he didn't even believe in Daleks, still probably doesn't..."
|
|
|
|
Post by Jonah Caine on Dec 6, 2015 18:01:39 GMT -5
"Good, let's hope that I understand before the Daleks do. I don't suppose you know what your father is up to at the moment? Besides something that is likely to get the rest of you killed..." he sighed as he followed the young man. "Pardon, I know it's your father but I've suffered enough fools to know that even if he does mean well, he doesn't know what he's dealing with - he didn't even believe in Daleks, still probably doesn't..."
Inwardly, Jonah flinched at the Warrior's words, even if outwardly he made no sign. He had no precise knowledge of what his father was up to. But he knew it would be something catastrophic. Malachi Caine never did anything by halves, and his obsession knew no bounds. He would rather destroy the planet and everyone on it, before he allowed the Daleks to take the Ingenium.
Without reply, the boy led the way through the network of corridors, descending even deeper into the subterranean tunnels which honeycombed the gutrock on which Galatea Tower stood. Every time he came to an automated security checkpoint, he merely held his hand over the palm-scanner, and allowed it to read his DNA. Each time, a silky female voice would intone, “Access granted. Greetings, Jonah Caine...” and the heavily reinforced doors would slide open.
At last, they reached the entrance to the main laboratory. Jonah flicked his eyes towards the Warrior. “You'd better brace yourself. It's a bit unsettling, the first time you see it.”
This time, the access procedure was much more involved. Jonah had to undergo a full body scan, to ensure he was still alive and in one piece, a safeguard designed to prevent industrial spies hacking parts from his dead body and using them to trip the system. He also had to enter a complicated code into a keypad, which was changed on a weekly basis.
Once all this was done, the armoured doors parted and he stepped through on to a metal catwalk which looked down on to a vast, white chamber. Normally, this room would be bustling with activity, filled with a low hum of voices and electronic equipment. Today, it was eerily silent. Nobody worked on the Anamnesis, not even the technicians assigned to the Ingenium Project. They had all been up on the surface, attending the ceremony in the Praesidium. Most of them were probably dead, Jonah realised with an icy chill, slaughtered by the invading Daleks.
Even the security personnel were absent from their posts, the first time he had ever known that to happen. He could only assume they had been summoned up to the main doors, to mount a last-ditch defence of the Tower and the secrets it held.
He beckoned the Warrior forward. Down on the floor of the chamber, there were almost a thousand individual work stations. The work stations were comprised of a complex control console, containing all the equipment and tools and monitoring devices a tech would need; and a chair that looked remarkably like something which would be found in a dentist's office back on Earth. On each chair, there lay a still form, connected to the control console with multiple cables, twining around them like inanimate snakes. Each one was at a different stage of construction. Some were still little more than metal endoskeletons. Others had begun the delicate process of flesh-grafting, and looked disturbingly like hunks of raw, bloody meat. And still others were receiving the final cosmetic touches of skin and hair and facial features.
There was nothing as crass and pedestrian as an assembly line in this place. Each of the Ingenium was unique – from conception, to design, to final construction. Some were tall, some were short; some thin, some fat; some had pale skin, some had dark. Their characteristics were as varied as the humans they were replicating. But they all had something in common, as the Warrior would see at a glance.
They were all children.
Jonah made a sweeping gesture with his arm, inviting his companion to take in the staggering sight.
“Welcome to the Ingenium Project, old man.” His voice was bitter with underlying distaste for the entire thing. “Welcome to my father's vision of the future.”
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2015 21:44:34 GMT -5
As the pair of them walked along, the Warrior was at times inclined to touch the walls, look up to the ventilation systems and breathe in as if tasting the recycled air, eyeball the technology he saw and touch the security doors. "They'll cut through all this like so much soft cheese," he sighed. "If you -do- run into a Dalek and there's no way to get around it, aim for the eyestalk. Then run..." he counseled.
With narrowed eyes, he watched the scan as it took place, just as he'd watched each of the retina scans. There was something...but he couldn't put his finger on it yet. When the doors finally showed him the true extent of what Malachi had built his empire upon, he stood silent as a tomb with his hands gripping the safety rails until Jonah beckoned him onwards. It was like walking through a sea of the dead, dead children...only they were clearly androids of some kind. Hyper-realistic, but androids none the less.
He looked out across the valley of forms, some half finished, some looking as if they were sleeping and ready to sit up and run and play. "Your father's vision of the future," he intoned dryly, a hollow echo. "The Daleks next source of...what, exactly, the mutants are notoriously xenophobic, encased though they are in high level technology. Unless...they see them as a threat. Which, being Daleks is not surprising. Either they want to wipe them out or adapt some of this technology...tell me Jonah, about these Ingenium. Tell me everything..." he said, walking at a brisk rate towards an available console.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jonah Caine on Dec 27, 2015 1:25:19 GMT -5
Jonah followed along behind the Warrior as he approached the nearest console.
“What do you need to know?” he asked, giving a shrug. He hated coming into the lab area – hated it with a passion – and avoided it whenever he could. He always felt as if the eyes of the Ingenium were watching him as he passed, judging him, finding him wanting and condemning him, although he couldn't have said why. “History teaches us that the radiation from the Dustfall rendered almost the entire population of Copernicus infertile. The birthrate dropped off until, within a couple of decades, it was impossibly low. Society started to fall apart. There were riots. People were turning on each other, blaming the government. Violence was a daily occurrence. Then my father stepped in and offered them the fledgling Ingenium project as a solution. If they could not conceive children, then Galatea Inc would make children for them. And that's how it all began.”
He gestured around at the silent rows of cyborgs. “It seemed to work, for a little while at least. The children were so realistic, their parents were able to forget they weren't human. Particularly since my father used family DNA to grow the organic components he used to complete each Ingenium unit. Things gradually settled down. The Praesidium regained control over the planet, law and order was restored. It appeared that my father had found the ideal answer. He expanded the program, extended it to provide Ingenium to families where children had died from accident or illness. Perfect replacements, right down to their fingerprints, identical in personality. He said that the purpose of the Program was to provide solace to any who were grieving.”
Pausing briefly, Jonah looked down at the figure lying on the table attached to the console they were approaching. A little girl, about five years old, with a halo of blonde curls, porcelain skin and rosebud lips. She was almost perfect, with only diagnostic testing left to be finished, to iron out any programming glitches. Jonah couldn't help wondering about the parents who had been eagerly awaiting notification of her completion. Were they dead now, up there in the Praesidium Square? Tearing his eyes away from the inert, doll-like figure, he returned his gaze to the Warrior and doggedly continued his story.
“As time went on, and more and more of the Ingenium began to swell the population of Copernicus, people began to realise how hard it was to tell the difference between human and cyborg. They began to worry about just how many of the Ingenium were hidden among them. The faction known as 'Humans First' began to clamour in the Praesidium for a law to be passed, that all Ingenium must be publicly registered. The parents of the children refused, because they didn't want them to be discriminated against or targeted in any way. That's when dissension began to spread across the planet all over again. Some of the humans came to hate the Ingenium. Many of those that were openly known to be cyborgs were ambushed and destroyed in terrorist attacks. Things have been escalating more and more over recent months, to such a degree that the Council of Elders even considered not holding the Amanesis this year, because of the dangers inherent in a public gathering of that size.”
He shrugged again, spreading his hands wide. “You wanted me to tell you everything? Well, that's what you walked into, Warrior. A literal wasp's nest. That's why you were arrested. And that's why my father treated you the way he did.”
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2016 14:23:50 GMT -5
"Hm....your history is incomplete. The Dustfall was fallout, radioactive dust, that encompassed your planet. Thanks to the Daleks...a byproduct of the war, your planet and its people were a crossfire casualty. If your birthrate is so low, your population would age out and eventually perish." He raised an eyebrow at the construction of children then shook his head. "In less than a hundred years, this planet would then be nothing but androids...the Ingenium. A planet full of android children..."
"It didn't solve the infertility issue though...only masked it. If you're so advanced as to gather organic components and DNA then...did anyone continue attempting to find alternative birth methodology?"
"Ah, I see. Afraid of your own creations...an old quandry, for every society that comes to the brink of artificial intelligence..."
"The Daleks have likely decided not to outright destroy your world from orbit not because they cannot, but because they want your technology, they want to see if they can adapt it to suit their needs or if it is a threat, destroy every trace of it from existence. This war that is going on around you, that your planet has been the unwitting victim to already, is a war throughout time as well as space. What are a few wasps, when I have already fought dragons?" he asked, rhetorically.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jonah Caine on Jan 10, 2016 18:52:06 GMT -5
"In less than a hundred years, this planet would then be nothing but androids...the Ingenium. A planet full of android children..."
The Warrior had gone straight to the heart of the matter. The deep-seated fear that many of the humans on Copernicus already felt. That slowly but surely, they were being pushed aside, made irrelevant. The Ingenium were faster, stronger and more intelligent. They did not age. In the right circumstances, if their iridium energy cells were replaced as needed, they could conceivably live forever. Little by little, the humans were dying out, and the solution they had once greeted with such joy was lately doing nothing more than reminding them of the fact.
The fact that the Daleks had caused the Dustfall which had crippled and warped his society came as a nasty surprise to Jonah. Especially since, by wiping out so many Copernicans up on the surface today, they had come very close to finishing the job altogether.
"The Daleks have likely decided not to outright destroy your world from orbit not because they cannot, but because they want your technology, they want to see if they can adapt it to suit their needs or if it is a threat, destroy every trace of it from existence. This war that is going on around you, that your planet has been the unwitting victim to already, is a war throughout time as well as space. What are a few wasps, when I have already fought dragons?" he asked, rhetorically.
“If you know so much about fighting them, then tell me!” Jonah said fiercely. “How do we stop them? How do we save what's left of my planet? We...”
He broke off, as a low, powerful hum filled the room. Whirling around in shock, he saw that he and the Warrior were surrounded by movement. As one, the android children had all sat up, even the ones that were still little more than a metal endoskeleton, and were busy removing the cables and wires attached to their bodies and throwing them aside. The effect was creepy in the extreme, like a bunch of zombies suddenly coming to life in a morgue.
Jonah took a step backwards in dismay. His father's words from earlier were ringing in his ears...
“... As for the Ingenium, you shall see what they're capable of... and sooner than you think.”
“He's calling them!” he exclaimed hotly, spinning back to face the Warrior. There was a loud thump as hundreds of android feet hit the floor simultaneously. “From the main control room! That's what he meant when he said he had a plan! He intends the Ingenium to fight the Daleks!”
It was clearly Malachi's last resort, like something surreal out of a dystopian novel. An army of half-formed children, marching in perfect synchronisation towards the door, ready to die for a planet and a people that had already rejected them.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2016 22:47:44 GMT -5
He sighed as the young man started talking about how to stop the Daleks, sounding incredibly weary. He'd been trying, for -so many years- to do just that. Ever since he's made his fateful decision, so many -more- years and lives before. But he didn't get a chance to answer. All around them the androids popped up in eerie unison, driven by a central command. His face cut a frown as he stepped backwards out of the way of the one nearest them.
"This is a -very- bad idea. This is giving them just want they -want-, not only a prototype test but if they lose then they can take the scraps, study them! And, how are they to get out of here, if not through an open door. Oh, humanity...you are brilliant and idiotic by turns." He looked at Jonah and his eyes narrowed, then back at the retreating forms of the androids. "I don't know if we can stop it, but we can try to save some people, get them to my ship. I have an idea of where they might hide, because once they see -it- they -will- begin to shoot at me...but we have to get there first."
|
|
|
|
Post by Jonah Caine on Jan 14, 2016 17:47:54 GMT -5
Jonah stood back and watched the Ingenium march past him, a look of loathing on his face. These were the creatures who had taken nearly all of his father's time while he was growing up, leaving none left for him. Malachi had thought of little else, talked of little else, /dreamed/ of little else. Improving the Ingenium, making them more lifelike, making them more /human/. All the endless lectures he had given his son on how important the Ingenium were, how much good they could do, how Jonah would carry on his legacy after he was gone. And he had never once stopped to see how much Jonah hated them.
"This is a -very- bad idea. This is giving them just want they -want-, not only a prototype test but if they lose then they can take the scraps, study them!”
“The Ingenium were always a bad idea in the first place,” Jonah said shortly. “He said they would make things better. But now they've brought death and disaster on us all.”
If it wasn't for the Ingenium, the boy thought bitterly, none of this would have happened. All those people that had been killed up in the Square would still be alive. Malachi had been wrong from the very beginning. Cyborgs could never replace humans. They had no heart, no soul, no feelings, except what had been programmed into their electronic brains. They were nothing but things, the same way a comm unit was a thing, or a holovid screen.
“And, how are they to get out of here, if not through an open door. Oh, humanity...you are brilliant and idiotic by turns." [The Warrior] looked at Jonah and his eyes narrowed, then back at the retreating forms of the androids. "I don't know if we can stop it, but we can try to save some people, get them to my ship. I have an idea of where they might hide, because once they see -it- they -will- begin to shoot at me...but we have to get there first."
For a moment, Jonah vacillated, thinking of the promises of secrecy he had made. But the people to which he had made them could well be dead. And there would never be a greater threat to Copernicus than the one presented by the Daleks.
“There are tunnels. Old ones, that run beneath the Praesidium. Hardly anyone remembers that they're there. The members of 'Humans First' use them, to launch their guerilla attacks against the Ingenium. Their leader Sebastian found some old maps with all the details. Some of the passages lead under the walls to the outside. We could use them to lead the people safely to your ship.” Jonah made a noise of extreme frustration. “But first we have to get out of here. Galatea Tower is impregnable when its in lockdown. No way in and no way out, unless my father allows it.”
The last of the cyborg children filed past them, a teenage boy not much younger in appearance than Jonah himself, with dark hair and a narrow face. The right side of his body looked completely human, thin, pale-skinned and wiry. The left side, however, was pure cyborg, a gleaming metallic endoskeleton powered by whirring servos.
“We'll have to follow them,” Jonah said to the Warrior. “And try to slip out when he sends them to fight.”
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2016 23:40:40 GMT -5
He sighed, shaking his head. "Well, it's not strictly them, I do think we can place a good amount of blame on the Daleks themselves. If only your leader would have listened..." he lamented.
"Tunnels, yes! Good, we'll use those," he agreed. "But we'll still have to find a way to rescue anyone left in here, which we can do from my TARDIS." He sounded a bit brighter now, lively now.
"Just what I was thinking, quickly, hurry. Form up, form up," he said, waving him along before the door could close them in. "Something tells me that you'll have an easier time fitting in than I will but thankfully they don't seem to care much that I don't measure up," he said, stepping into place alongside the half-finished Ignenium. He cast a long enigmatic look at Jonah and then headed forward out of the assembly room.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jonah Caine on Jan 24, 2016 17:43:38 GMT -5
The Warrior was right. If anybody took the time to look closely, he would stand out immediately as an anomaly, the only adult marching in an army of children. Jonah himself would need to be careful. Even though he was in the correct age group, as Malachi's son, his face was well-known enough to provoke discovery. However, the Ingenium were many, and they were at the end of the line. Maybe, if they kept their heads down, and with a lot of luck, they could pass unnoticed.
Without any further hesitation, Jonah fell into step behind the dark-haired Ingenium boy, making sure his stride matched the rhythmic stamp of all the others. It was surprisingly easy. There was something almost hypnotic about it, something soothing and purposeful and natural. He supposed it was the allure of being part of a whole instead of a single, scared individual.
He felt the Warrior join the line behind him, and he stood as tall as he could, trying to shield the old man from any prying eyes. Galatea Tower was riddled with security cameras. He just hoped that in all the confusion, nobody was paying too much attention. There were two other laboratories, identical to the one they had just left. He assumed the partially-formed Ingenium in those rooms had also been summoned, and were also streaming towards a common marshalling point.
Making sure he moved his lips as little as possible, he whispered over his shoulder to the Warrior, “The lower levels are laid out like a giant wheel. They'll be heading towards the Axis. It's the central control room and briefing area.”
Sure enough, after marching for several minutes through the long, featureless corridors, they arrived in a vast circular chamber, already filled with lines and lines of Ingenium, rigidly organised into blocks that looked suspiciously like military platoons. They were all standing in the traditional “at ease” position, with their legs slightly apart and their hands behind their backs, their heads tilted towards the raised platform that dominated the middle of the room.
And that was where Malachi Caine stood, flanked by several other humans, standing ramrod straight, a general about to address his troops. Above him, there was an immense viewscreen, showing constantly-changing shots of the outside, sourced from the Praesidium CCTV networks. Every flicker showed a new scene of destruction and horror, as the Daleks moved through the city, mercilessly slaughtering anything that moved. But the footage also showed something else. Children, furtively emerging from the rubble, from hiding places in the shattered houses, from tunnels and underground shelters, like rats from their holes.
“He's summoned them all,” Jonah muttered in disbelief, as he and the Warrior took their places in one of the platoon formations. “He's calling the Ingenium on the outside to fight back as well!”
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 19:58:17 GMT -5
The Renegade made a nonfluent sound, letting him know that he'd heard him but not wanting to draw any attention to himself. Floor plans for places like this were almost always the same, so he was not really surprised to find it had been laid out like a wheel. It was efficient if predictable. As they came to the center of the level, there was Malachai looking nothing less than a dictator about to give his troops a pep talk before sending them out into the field to die for his cause.
"He's about to lose a war, he just doesn't know it yet."
|
|
