jabronixav

[jabronixav]

[jabronixav]

[jabronixav]

Naga from SMT series. I read that nagas bring rain, I found it so poetic.

[jabronixav]

Holo; Part 3

My eyes wandered a bit as silence returned to the car. I looked to the radio so see that it was in pieces: the display had a crack, effectively splitting it in half, but it had remained in the dashboard regardless. Moving down, I looked to the machete, bending forward to pick it up and place it on the seat beside me. Looking back out out the window, I noticed everything had gone dark. The sun had been beating down on the fields only seconds prior, but now everything was dark. The interior of the car was dark as well, except for the lights from the buttons on the dashboard and wheel. J was gone, and the driver was now cloaked in black. His skin was tan, and he had somewhat long, blonde hair, akin to that of a mullet. It wasn’t Quinn, I was sure of that.

We continued down the road at the same pace from when Quinn was driving. I sat in silence, almost hoping he didn’t notice me back here. I was experiencing a heavy dose of confusion, darting my head around the car quietly enough to not emit noise. My cover was blown as I looked into the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of the driver’s blue eyes.

“Comfy?” The driver asked as he looked back into the black road ahead. The only visible things out of the windshield were lights, aligning themselves with the sides of the road in a fashion similar to that of a runway at an airport. On his arms was the insignia of the Antler: a large, white ancient warbanner with a blue thread wrapped around the flag. I leaned back into the seat again, placing my hands onto my thighs. “Almost lost track of you, there.” He said to me. “Wouldn’t want to lose our greatest asset, now, would we?” He smiled after this remark. I stared into his eyes, even as he watched the road. “No, we wouldn’t.” He said, adjusting the mirror. The car then procedurally slowed down, and the man had eventually pulled the vehicle to a complete stop in this black void. I reached to open the door, successfully unlocking it, and pushing it open a bit. Moving my leg out, I expected to feel my feet hit something.

I was yanked back into the vehicle by my arm, turning to see Quinn’s face.

“Fuck’s the matter with you?” He yelled. I stared into his eyes, then to J in the passenger seat, then to the sunny, snowy fields outside. It was at this point that I had a heavy desire to be able to speak. I just wanted to explain myself to these two, tell them what just happened, and ask them questions. But I couldn’t. Any attempt to speak would be rendered useless, as my model does not have a vocal system. “Great. Not only do we have a wanted fuckin’ criminal, but an idiot at that.” Quinn was about to follow this up with another remark, but was interrupted by J.

“Cut him some slack. He’s an older model, maybe there’s corrupted data. He just dropped from orbit.” Quinn exhaled, wearing an aggravated expression from what I saw from the back seat. He pulled the car over again, causing us to stop in the side of a lonesome, snowy road. Once we stopped, he turned back to me.

“Turn around.” He said. “Now.” I obeyed, turning my head back. A moment passed, and all was black.

The next thing I heard was a crying baby, and a handful of murmurs over the low hum of engines. Kneeling beside me was J, with her same buckshot on her back. She removed her hand from the back of my head, looking at my body as I sat on a large container.

“Quinn unplugged you again. He was just agitated back there, and it’s only gotten worse.” J leaned back a bit, giving me a full view of a herd of people. Some were armed, most were not, and a select few were holding children or infants with them. They stood before a large, black gate, with armed individuals watching from catwalks above. I looked down to the ground level in front of the gate, and spotted Quinn, pleading to be let in through a slit in the door. I couldn’t hear what he said, so I stood up and advanced toward him.

“How long have you been here?” He asked through the slit. “Get whoever tells you what the fuck to do. I want to speak with someone with half a goddamned brain.” This was the angriest I’d ever seen Quinn. I know it’s only been a few hours, but it was a serious divide from the Quinn I’d seen earlier. He got close to the slit, peeking only his eyes through. I couldn’t make out his mumbling, but it didn’t seem to matter too much, as the conversation ended with him walking to the side and pointing at me. All at once, the guards above me aimed their weapons at the group of people behind me, and J and I were instructed to walk in. We complied.

Two figures walked in front of J and I, and in front of them were Quinn and Hagran. The two before us had rifles, standard issue for the time, with cheap modifications slapped on top. One had what looked to me like a flashlight, and the other had a rusty extender on the end of the barrel. I am no gun expert, but for their own sake, I hope it’s worth putting old stuff onto a new looking gun.

“The guy in the back. Looks like an android. That’s him.” Quinn said. Hagran stared at him with a blank expression.

“Well we’re all androids. Telling me he looks like one ain’t gonna help.” Quinn stopped him and manually turned his body to face mine. He extended his arm to me, presenting my body and figure to the four in front of us. Hagran stared at me and stopped.

“What’s your name, son?” I guess nobody told him I couldn’t speak. I traced an ‘x’ over my head, roughly around the vents where my mouth should be. He stared in confusion. “I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand.” Quinn, still impatient, interrupted his curiosity.

“Dude can’t speak, his model’s too old. But he’s the package. Take him so we can leave.” I now had J and a gunman to my left, a gunman to my right, and two significantly larger men in front of me. With little hesitation, Hagran waved his hands in a disapproving way.

“It’s not him.” I noticed Quinn grow more agitated at this comment. “You sure he came from the Antler?”

“Positive.”

“You saw it happen with your own eyes?”

“I watched a pod fall from the undercarriage. You want a full-length fuckin’ movie of it falling?”

Hagran looked around, darting his eyes around rapidly and scratching his neck. He was visibly troubled. “Listen.” He said “I was under the impression that all the models being used on the Antler were relatively new. This isn’t what I wanted.”

“But it is what we agreed on, Hagran. Give me the tickets.” I looked to J, but she refused to look back at me. She swallowed heavily, also looking distressed. Whatever tickets these two were after must have been very important in order for the two to want to sell an entire model for one. This was the first time I felt envious of everyone’s ability to talk, as I guarantee nobody was going to tell me what these tickets are for.

[jabronixav]

Holo; Part 2

Before we go any further with this story, I just wanted to take this time to explain everything that you don’t already know. I am writing this all to my memory disk, as this pod won’t reach the surface for a little while. I wouldn’t be doing this anywhere else, but this place just seemed safest. I am an android, but I don’t know my model, and I don’t have a special set of procedures which I will blindly follow through a program. In every way imaginable, I feel that I am a human, but there comes the problem: I am not. I don’t have skin, or a brain. I look less human than all other androids I’ve seen, yet process in a more human manner than any of them do. I only have a set of numbers to my name, yet for some reason I possess an independent thinking mind. So here comes the question I have been pondering since my reawakening: Why am I like this?

Alongside this pondering about my life, there’s the history of this world I gotta explain. Chances are, you’re a human reading this, which means there’s no way you could’ve lived to see all of what I’m about to say. For this, we need to start from the beginning:

Centuries ago, there was a catastrophic war that broke out, bringing a vast majority of the earth’s nations together to ensure the survival of mankind. The year was 2027, and the otherworldly life-force known as the Sacramentals would invade the planet. These beings were nearly identical to your average human being, with the only exception to the similarities being their physical ability. The average child was capable of leaping like a puma, sprinting like a cheetah, and pouncing like a tiger. They were fearsome beings on the field, and devoted entirely to battle from birth, thus earning them the alias of ‘Sacramental’.

Alongside this, their battle strategy and wit was hardly matched by a human. Some say their patience before combat was impeccable, allowing them to wait for entire decades before beginning their invasion on the planet earth. They had noticed a decline in governmental powers and militaries worldwide by 2025, and finally decided to begin their attack in ‘27. This invasion was known as the Great Collapse. In a matter of two weeks, nearly every nation on the planet fell to the knees of the Sacramentals. Major cities worldwide such as Shanghai, New York City, Tokyo, Dubai, and several others were used as herding grounds, and most of the population was wiped out. Survivors were treated like cattle in massive prisons, built around these cities. Many people claimed it was the beginning of the end. But, through some stroke of courage, anger, and a lot of luck, humanity fought back. Hidden research commenced from the scraps of what was left behind during the collapse, and humanity’s ‘Madagascar Project’ was completed.

Androids, all built with the DNA of a human. Many people donated their DNA to allow themselves to live on in a stronger, grander body, to allow themselves to rest peacefully, knowing their mind is still fighting to defend society. It only took months before nations were rebuilding themselves from the hands of humans and androids alike. They may have been made from pieces of steel, carbon, and plastic, but they thought like a human, and fought like one, too. These undercover communities soon made themselves clear, and in a long and arduous ten year war, the Sacramental forces that once plagued the earth with acts of enslavement and torture were repelled back from the planet. Since that day, the earth has greatly advanced technologically, but a steep decline in the population of the human race caused enough of a stir to spark a civil war on earth itself, placing androids against their creators. Before I was placed into a deep sleep, I had only heard news of the human race declining rapidly. I have no knowledge of where they stand today.

I heard a loud hiss, and after a moment of silence, smoke filled the pod. I kicked the door a few times, and successfully knocked the door off of its hinges after a third kick. A large fog of snow and wind coated my vision. For several moments I was completely blind aside from the interior of the pod, until I was met with the barrel of a gun.

“Freeze.” A voice said. “Not so hard to do in this weather.” She followed with. I sat back in the seat slowly as she leaned in. Her face was pale, and her brown hair was tied in a bun, dotted with white snowflakes. The only other feature I could identify were her green eyes. The rest of her face was covered with an orange scarf. I tilted my head slowly.

“You’re not Sacramental, I don’t think. Give me your hands, I’ll pull you out.” Like the idiot I was, I gave her my hands. It wasn’t even five seconds later that she placed magnetic cuffs on me. I couldn’t move my hands at all, and my arms became too heavy to move. She grabbed my armpit and pulled me into the snow before shouting under her scarf. “I got one, Quinn.” I looked up at her, sitting with my legs crossed and my arms laid out in front of me in the snow. From my view, the only thing I could see were her ankle-high black boots and the flare she had just popped. I had also gotten a better view of the gun, which appeared to be a type of pump-action shotgun, considerably aged and definitely used several times before. It was at this point that she caught me staring, and yanked my head down, and pulled the memory disk out from the back of my model’s neck.

The next immediate thought on my memory disk was of the mysterious lady from earlier, still donning that scarf, walking out from beside me as I sat in the pew of a church. It was the very front row, and the church had seen much better days. There were holes throughout its stone roof, with rays of light and some snowflakes falling through the cracks. I leaned back in the pew as I watched her walk up to the front, where an altar would normally be. There was no altar, however, only stacks of boxes, labeled with different calibers of ammunition. I had placed my hands on the pew before realizing that I could actually move them, and that I was no longer tied down. My sudden rise caused her to turn her head.

“I thought you’d have to undergo some long startup sequence.” It only took me a moment to realize she was poking fun of my model’s age. If I could sigh, you bet I would. “I want to apologize for earlier. You fell out in the open, and in a Sacramental pod, so I put two and two together-” She interrupted herself after pulling out a small, machete-like weapon from her back. “But I guess two plus two equals five. Here, you will need this.” I grabbed the machete before realizing it was made of the same material I am. It had a thick, black carbon blade and a silver handle. I was too busy inspecting this to realize the woman had run up to the back of the chancel. I looked to her, then back to the front door to see if anyone was coming. “Rectory’s our only way out.” She said before looking back to me as I watched the door. “We have a guy in the belltower, you won’t have to worry about anything, but only if we move now.” I began to jog over to her. My feet clanked the wooden floor below, and I awkwardly held the machete in my offhand.

The rectory was darker than the church itself. It was directly next to and below the main church building. The woman and I made our way slowly through the carpeted halls of this war torn building, peeking into every nearby open door and glancing at the crosses and paintings on the walls. Even I knew this building was ancient, people hardly ever used wood anymore.

“Stop for a moment.” The woman whispered very quietly, and the stomping of boots could be heard above. She peered over at my face. “Second Sacrament.” She said as she pointed upward. I nodded slowly before she peered back up. Dust fell from the ceiling as they wandered through, and after several more moments, the footsteps had ceased. We both stood in silence for a little while before we shared a nod to continue moving. She moved quickly up to a door and motioned her head with a beckoning tilt. I walked through the doorway and she shut it behind me, lowering a bar to block the door itself. A cellar door left rays of light to enter the fairly darkened room, and without hesitation, she knocked on it twice. Following this, the door creaked open, illuminating the room with a white glow.

“Up we go.” A deeper voice said as a gloved hand came down. This figure grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her up. After only a moment and some rustling, the hand returned back down. Glancing back at the barred door, I placed the machete into my other hand, and grabbed the arm with my free one. I was pulled up with the greatest of ease, and got a greater look at the figure. It was only for a moment, but I caught his hazel eyes. He had very dark skin and short, curly hair. He even had a bit of a beard growing.

“Quinn, where’s the truck?” The woman asked to the man, whose slim figure still towered over both of us in height. Without another word, he extended his long arm toward the snowy road beside us, and with two snaps of his fingers, a red light illuminated on his hand, followed by the roar of an engine not too far off from the street. Following the now visible headlights, the three of us walked toward the truck, trekking through the ankle-high snow beneath our feet.

The back seat of the truck was a heavy-duty truck with a cargo bed on the back, also known as a pickup truck. Although, this model seemed relatively new, newer than any I had ever seen. This made me wonder how long I had been asleep for. I had plenty of time to ponder this again, as the three of us sat quietly in the truck as Quinn drove through the snow. I hadn’t peered out the window since the beginning of the ride, and I had lost track of time after thinking about various miscellaneous topics. Not to mention, my inability to vocalize doesn’t exactly make me the most social individual in this vehicle. I didn’t even need to know anything about these two to know that.

“J, by the way.” The woman said before turning her head to look toward mine. “My name is J.” Quinn glanced back for a second.

“Dude can’t talk, telling him your name’s not gonna do much.” he said, chuckling a bit. The two exchanged words as I began to zone out again, sitting in the back seat of this truck with a machete by my feet and my hands on the cushions. I felt like a child, really, and J. and Quinn felt like my parents. It filled me with a feeling of nostalgia, for some reason. It was bittersweet, in a way. I never experienced this before, though, as I am an android, yet I felt intrigued by the parental fighting going on before me. Sliding to the right in the seat behind J, I peered out the tinted window. The snowstorm had cleared up, and the fields beside us were coated with white. The truck’s tired trekked through this terrain with ease, and the fields beside us passed quickly.

Quinn must’ve taken notice of my wandering eyes as he motioned the rear-view mirror to face me.

“New Normandy. Paris was Ground Zero for the Second Sacrament attack. We’re getting to Belgium before they do.” I nodded for a moment before peering back over to the fields. “But first we need to make a pit-stop, shouldn’t take long.” Ahead of us was a large house on the side of this snowy road, with a modern camp built around it. Seeing the wooden, aged house beside a camp of metallic crates and tents made me tilt my head a bit. All of this was modern to them, but a little too modern to me. Quinn pulled us very close to the house, turning the ignition and shutting off the engine. J turned and snapped a picture of me on a small widget attached to her wrist, and I just sat there, taking this all in.

“Be right back.” She said, opening up the car and shutting it behind her, walking toward the tents. A few people took notice of her and marched through the snow to her, meeting beside a small circle of chairs. She displayed her wrist to them, and one of them pointed to us in the car. She nodded her head, lowering her arm and patting one of the figures shoulders. Their faces were unrecognizable as they were cloaked in thick blankets and hoods except for one, heavyset man with a receding buzz cut. J returned to the car, pulling the door open after waving farewell to the congregation.

“Yeah, that’s definitely who they’re after.” J said. This caused Quinn to look back at me with a flat, concerned expression. “Son of a bitch.” He muttered.

“You didn’t really think a pod would fall from that ship and not cause a stir, did you?” J asked Quinn with a condescending tone. She leaned back in her chair, pulled her phone out, and opened up a map. It projected into the air before her. “We still got 200 miles or so, we’ll never make it in time.” Quinn began to pull out from the house, steering back onto the road and driving in the same direction we were going before we pulled in.

“Just-” He muttered before scratching his forehead. The engine’s roar took over as we sped up down the road. Quinn never finished that sentence.

[jabronixav]

Holo; Chapter 1

A loud snap was heard as a light illuminated a grey, carbon-plated body. It was shaped like a human, however, and shared many of a human’s qualities. It had no eyes, but mere holes where eyes should be, accompanied by lights in the holes. It had no mouth, but rather had a set of small, vent-like holes in the region above the chin. Laying on a bed, the body was surrounded by two men, one with a large, long coat, shrouded by the darkness around the operating table which was illuminated. On the other side of the bed was a man in a button-down shirt, with his sleeves rolled up and his tie slightly loosened. They both had faces which resembled humans, though, in that time, your average machine was indecipherable from a human in most cases. This android on the table was one such exception.

“This is what the inside of a body would appear as after the initial injection of the device.” spoke the man with the shirt and tie. “Holobyte is what we’ve decided to name it. Should be finished in a few months or so.” The man with the trench coat placed a gloved hand on his bald head, scratching for a moment, before exhaling heavily through his nose.

“What’s so special about this, then? We’ve already got a handful of military experiments back on earth that can rival this. You know for a fact that the Madagascar Project would decimate this, right?” The man loosened his tie a tad bit more and exhaled heavily through his agape mouth.

“We’re not finished just yet. Give it some time and I assure you it’ll be a worthwhile investment.” Before he could finish, the man with the trench coat left the room, slapping the wall panel in the hallway, shutting the door behind him. The only noise heard for the next few moments was the tapping of boots down the hall. The man with the tie turned away from the model on the table, pulling his tie off completely and unbuttoning his top button. “Son of a bitch.” He muttered to himself, before fiddling through some boxes beside the door, with his back to the table. At this moment, the model on the table sat up, and peered over to the man. In the same vein as the trench-coated man, he walked out, reading off some papers as he shut the door. Alone in the room laid a lone android model.

That model was me.

I stood up completely at this point, my head only spinning a little bit. I had been out of commission for a pretty long time I take it, and, due to this, I hadn’t been too used to my controls anymore. This was no major issue, however, as it only took a moment for me to get my bearings straight. I wandered around the room, semi-aimlessly, getting used to using my fingers again. After several minutes, I had decided I’d wandered around enough, and I was ready to leave this room. There was only one problem, though: I had no clue where I was. I placed my hand on the door panel to get into the hallway, with hopes of finding out where I was. Well, I can very easily say my desire was fulfilled extremely quickly.

In front of me was a massive window, revealing to me a black void of stars. Beside this window, too, was a massive planet, blocking the sun beyond it. I placed my carbon hand on the window, standing and inspecting the open void, as well as the planet beside this spacecraft. The wandering of my eyes was interrupted when I spotted a map beside the window, being projected onto the wall. This became the newest meal for my sensors to feast upon. I looked at the map up and down, and in a matter of seconds, I concluded my hypotheses on location: I was on a large cruiser called the S-17 ‘Antler’, and I was in the R&D Wing, Second Floor, third room on the left. The ship consisted of other wings, such as Medical, Administrative, and Engineering. But there was one that I kept peering over to every now and then: Reproductive. I was about to tap the icon beside the name of the wing, with hopes of receiving some kind of information, but I was interrupted by the door at the on of the hallway to my right being opened. Through the door came an armed figure, carrying what looked like a rifle, cloaked in black armor, covering his face and his body. The armor plating was thick, and the large leggings seemed to resemble an Edo-era Japanese aesthetic. They pulled up the weapon quickly and approached me slowly as my hand remained on the map.

“Place your hands up and do not move.” It spoke plainly. From its vocal tone, I could only assume that it was, in fact, an android. Its voice was not natural, it had a peculiar reverb to it, causing it to emit an tube-like effect. Regardless, I complied. “In compliance with local craft law, you are being detained. Do not speak or attempt escape.” He began to place his hand on my wrists, and another on his holster after placing his rifle onto his back. I couldn’t move my arms at all, and, luckily, I couldn’t exactly emit any noise from my model.

We began to walk down the hall of the first floor of the R&D Wing, passing by rooms of other android models and experiments. I looked into some of the rooms as I passed them, seeing a variety of human-like individuals. The more of them I saw, the less I believed that any were natural beings. I peered my head to the other direction now, looking back out the window, and slowing down for a bit. I was shoved by the guard for slowing my pace a bit, but continued to stare at what appeared to be a fleet of other ships. Their insignia was different than the one I had seen on the maps of this ship, and I only glanced at the wall again to see the Antler’s emblem before continuing to walk. I then began to count in my head, starting from zero.

Thirty-nine. It took thirty-nine seconds before an alarm was triggered in the ship. This guard was very consistent, however, and did not budge from his path behind me, nor did he speed up or slow down. The hall we were in was now the Security Wing, and doors were heard opening and closing repeatedly, and armed men and women alike were spotted flooding the rooms, all carrying heavy weaponry. To move a muscle here without permission would be suicide. Ahead of us was a large room, with an even larger concentration of soldiers. I walked into the crowd, and crouched a bit, pushing myself through and a bit off-course. I stood up and peered around a bit. Luckily for me, my model was almost the exact shade as the armor these soldiers were wearing.

Inside this large crowd were a variety of guards, all waiting for a single door to open, so that they may flood what I can only assume to be a hangar of sorts. I hugged the wall while the crowd dispersed into the room beyond the door, which had opened at last. I quickly kicked the panel beside it to shut the door, successfully escaping my captivity. Further down the hall were a set of smaller, round doors, as opposed to the cubic doors I had seen at the other areas of the facility. I began to walk fairly quickly over to them, looking around before placing my hands into the cracks of the doors. With all the force my model could muster, I pulled the doors open, sliding in through a small crack. A loud alarm was being emitted from this pod, too, and it emitted a red light into the small, dark capsule I had found myself inside. With little hesitation, I began to peruse the buttons on the panel beside the door. I read over them a variety of times, and stopped darting my view around after spotting “Ejection Procedure” in red letters. Without hesitation, I pushed the button, sitting back onto the cushioned seat in the pod.

[jabronixav]

Holo; Chapter 1

A loud snap was heard as a light illuminated a grey, carbon-plated body. It was shaped like a human, however, and shared many of a human’s qualities. It had no eyes, but mere holes where eyes should be, accompanied by lights in the holes. It had no mouth, but rather had a set of small, vent-like holes in the region above the chin. Laying on a bed, the body was surrounded by two men, one with a large, long coat, shrouded by the darkness around the operating table which was illuminated. On the other side of the bed was a man in a button-down shirt, with his sleeves rolled up and his tie slightly loosened. They both had faces which resembled humans, though, in that time, your average machine was indecipherable from a human in most cases. This android on the table was one such exception.

“This is what the inside of a body would appear as after the initial injection of the device.” spoke the man with the shirt and tie. “Holobyte is what we’ve decided to name it. Should be finished in a few months or so.” The man with the trench coat placed a gloved hand on his bald head, scratching for a moment, before exhaling heavily through his nose.

“What’s so special about this, then? We’ve already got a handful of military experiments back on earth that can rival this. You know for a fact that the Madagascar Project would decimate this, right?” The man loosened his tie a tad bit more and exhaled heavily through his agape mouth.

“We’re not finished just yet. Give it some time and I assure you it’ll be a worthwhile investment.” Before he could finish, the man with the trench coat left the room, slapping the wall panel in the hallway, shutting the door behind him. The only noise heard for the next few moments was the tapping of boots down the hall. The man with the tie turned away from the model on the table, pulling his tie off completely and unbuttoning his top button. “Son of a bitch.” He muttered to himself, before fiddling through some boxes beside the door, with his back to the table. At this moment, the model on the table sat up, and peered over to the man. In the same vein as the trench-coated man, he walked out, reading off some papers as he shut the door. Alone in the room laid a lone android model.

That model was me.

I stood up completely at this point, my head only spinning a little bit. I had been out of commission for a pretty long time I take it, and, due to this, I hadn’t been too used to my controls anymore. This was no major issue, however, as it only took a moment for me to get my bearings straight. I wandered around the room, semi-aimlessly, getting used to using my fingers again. After several minutes, I had decided I’d wandered around enough, and I was ready to leave this room. There was only one problem, though: I had no clue where I was. I placed my hand on the door panel to get into the hallway, with hopes of finding out where I was. Well, I can very easily say my desire was fulfilled extremely quickly.

In front of me was a massive window, revealing to me a black void of stars. Beside this window, too, was a massive planet, blocking the sun beyond it. I placed my carbon hand on the window, standing and inspecting the open void, as well as the planet beside this spacecraft. The wandering of my eyes was interrupted when I spotted a map beside the window, being projected onto the wall. This became the newest meal for my sensors to feast upon. I looked at the map up and down, and in a matter of seconds, I concluded my hypotheses on location: I was on a large cruiser called the S-17 ‘Antler’, and I was in the R&D Wing, Second Floor, third room on the left. The ship consisted of other wings, such as Medical, Administrative, and Engineering. But there was one that I kept peering over to every now and then: Reproductive. I was about to tap the icon beside the name of the wing, with hopes of receiving some kind of information, but I was interrupted by the door at the on of the hallway to my right being opened. Through the door came an armed figure, carrying what looked like a rifle, cloaked in black armor, covering his face and his body. The armor plating was thick, and the large leggings seemed to resemble an Edo-era Japanese aesthetic. They pulled up the weapon quickly and approached me slowly as my hand remained on the map.

“Place your hands up and do not move.” It spoke plainly. From its vocal tone, I could only assume that it was, in fact, an android. Its voice was not natural, it had a peculiar reverb to it, causing it to emit an tube-like effect. Regardless, I complied. “In compliance with local craft law, you are being detained. Do not speak or attempt escape.” He began to place his hand on my wrists, and another on his holster after placing his rifle onto his back. I couldn’t move my arms at all, and, luckily, I couldn’t exactly emit any noise from my model.

We began to walk down the hall of the first floor of the R&D Wing, passing by rooms of other android models and experiments. I looked into some of the rooms as I passed them, seeing a variety of human-like individuals. The more of them I saw, the less I believed that any were natural beings. I peered my head to the other direction now, looking back out the window, and slowing down for a bit. I was shoved by the guard for slowing my pace a bit, but continued to stare at what appeared to be a fleet of other ships. Their insignia was different than the one I had seen on the maps of this ship, and I only glanced at the wall again to see the Antler’s emblem before continuing to walk. I then began to count in my head, starting from zero.

Thirty-nine. It took thirty-nine seconds before an alarm was triggered in the ship. This guard was very consistent, however, and did not budge from his path behind me, nor did he speed up or slow down. The hall we were in was now the Security Wing, and doors were heard opening and closing repeatedly, and armed men and women alike were spotted flooding the rooms, all carrying heavy weaponry. To move a muscle here without permission would be suicide. Ahead of us was a large room, with an even larger concentration of soldiers. I walked into the crowd, and crouched a bit, pushing myself through and a bit off-course. I stood up and peered around a bit. Luckily for me, my model was almost the exact shade as the armor these soldiers were wearing.

Inside this large crowd were a variety of guards, all waiting for a single door to open, so that they may flood what I can only assume to be a hangar of sorts. I hugged the wall while the crowd dispersed into the room beyond the door, which had opened at last. I quickly kicked the panel beside it to shut the door, successfully escaping my captivity. Further down the hall were a set of smaller, round doors, as opposed to the cubic doors I had seen at the other areas of the facility. I began to walk fairly quickly over to them, looking around before placing my hands into the cracks of the doors. With all the force my model could muster, I pulled the doors open, sliding in through a small crack. A loud alarm was being emitted from this pod, too, and it emitted a red light into the small, dark capsule I had found myself inside. With little hesitation, I began to peruse the buttons on the panel beside the door. I read over them a variety of times, and stopped darting my view around after spotting “Ejection Procedure” in red letters. Without hesitation, I pushed the button, sitting back onto the cushioned seat in the pod.