WAR FOR THE GRAIL - Part 1: World Of Origin

[Anna]

It's a quest thread, where people vote on the actions of the protagonist and I write the story, so it doesn't matter if you miss voting on a choice. I'll probably only update the thread every couple of days. We'll see.

[Anna]

Part 1 - World Of Origin

I look down at the planet, in awe of its beauty.

Akasha, the birthplace of the Universe. Centuries of scientific research, study and exploration had finally found this place, a planet that we had named Akasha. As far as we've been able to determine, it is not of this Universe. Or rather, it predates this Universe. From artifacts that had been recovered from that world, we learned that the inhabitants were aware of their Universe's death - a big crunch, in that universe, not heat death, like that predicted for our own. After only 20 billion years, the universe they inhabited had begun to collapse, back towards a singularity.

So they prepared, and used their advanced technology to create Akasha; A world that survived the death of the Universe, and caused the creation of a new one. They did not survive, but their world did, and their knowledge. Their power.

And now humanity is at war over it. Despite being ravaged by war for fifty years now, the planet is still beautiful, a shimmering gem of blue and purple lit by an orange sun. As a soldier for the Terran Allied Colonies, it's going to be my job to kill so my side can claim the world for themselves, claim that knowledge and surviving technology.

I hate that.

I hate that I'll need to kill so many people. But in the end, a greater number of people will be saved. So my crimes will be forgiven.

Right?

*********

It's another two hours before we land. I'm getting ready to disembark, changing out of my civvies and into my dress uniform, a stiff crimson suit with gold piping and intricate embroidery. I check my bag, but everything I need is already packed; my service pistol, a spare dress uniform, two combat uniforms and spare boots are all I have with me. I brought no personal belongings. Nothing of sentimental value. I had nothing like that to bring anyway.

I approach the door and the intercomm buzzes at me.

"Lieutenant Pupa. I'd like to speak with you before you leave the ship." Came the gruff voice of the Captain of the ship.

I'm startled by that. I'm not sure why he'd wish to speak with me personally - we interacted a few times on the journey here from Mars, but not often - but I reply in the affirmative anyway and prepare my things. Straightening my uniform, I step out of my quarters and into the nearest transport booth, directing it to take me to the Captain.

In five minutes I'm on the other side of the ship, six miles from my quarters - the Bellerophon is a massive vessel, most of its internal structure is taken up by its quantum tunnel drive, which allows it to travel at faster than light speeds vastly exceeding those of a smaller ship. The original journey to Akasha from Sol took thirty-six years. The Bellerophon had made it in fifteen days. It staggers me to think about just how much distance we had traveled in such a short time.

Brushing aside those distracting thoughts, I step into the Captain's ready room. The affable old man is leaning back in his chair, swirling a glass of whisky and raising it to his lips, taking a short sip as he gazes at me from beneath thick, bushy grey brows.

"Lieutenant Marion Etea Pupa." He greets me, his tone lacking its usual warmth, "Do you know why I called you here?"

I give a small shake of my head, standing at attention, "No, Captain, I'm afraid I do not."

He sighs, waving to a seat at his desk, "At ease, Lieutenant."

Claiming the seat, I lean back in it, studying the man before me, waiting for him to speak. He's a strong and commanding looking man, his features serious and yet seeming fatherly and trustworthy as well. It puts me at ease. He clears his throat and puts down his glass, raising a hand to stroke his fingers through his thick, bushy beard, "Damnable thing. Itches like hell, but it projects an image, you know? Being a commanding officer is all about image, Lieutenant. Looking the part. Acting the part."

I don't agree, but I nod anyway, and he laughs, "Well, maybe I'm just a biased old man with outdated views. But that's besides the point. I called you here, Lieutenant, because I wanted to ask you what you know about the TAC's Humanity Plus Project."

Those words make me tense up, and I look away, "I thought that part of my file was hidden under a lot of black bars."

"It is, I had to do a lot of digging. Called in a lot of favours. Put myself in debt to some people. But your file was, as you say, almost entirely classified, at nearly the highest level. And you were assigned to this mission directly by TAC High Command. So I want you to tell me what you know. If you'd like to." The old Captain says, laughing.

The 'Humanity Plus' Project. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl, and I need to restrain myself from raising my hands and rubbing my temples. I meet the Captain's eyes and force myself to maintain my composure.

"The Humanity Plus Project was a failure. They tried to create an artificial person with the psionic abilities of an Originator. It didn't work." I reply.

"Oh. I see. So you're a chimera? Part Originator?" He asks, an excited and fascinated expression on his face, but I correct him.

"No. Originators were silicon-based life-forms. Or at least, what passed for silicon in their universe. Their biology is completely incompatable with our own, and with this universe. The Humanity Plus Project used artificial means to try and create something close to a mixture of a biological human and an Originator, but, as I said, that was a failure. I am merely human."

I'm angry now. It always makes me angry to remember. Decades spent experimented on, altered, transformed into something not-quite-human. If I was ever truly human to begin with. There are so many gaps in my memory. I never could be sure if that was due to trauma, or if the people who had made me decided that I didn't need to remember certain things. The Captain nods his head slowly in understanding.

"Still. Not entirely human." The Captain says, pulling a copy of my unredacted file up on a holoscreen beside his desk and browsing through it, "Reaction speeds ten times that of the average human. Incredible intuitive abilities and tactical analysis. Above average intelligence, and most importantly for a soldier, zero empathy. If my reading of your file is correct."

"It's close enough."

I can't be bothered to correct him. It's not that I lack empathy. It's simply different for me. I am not human. I am a tool. It is unseemly for a tool to feel kinship with those who use it, or those it is used against. So I do not express my empathy. Such an emotion is useless. If I am to save people, then I must be willing to kill other people. There is no point in feeling pity, or guilt. I am merely doing what is necessary.

Still. Deep down, I wish I could stop it. I wish I could save everyone.

*********

My answers didn't satisfy the Captain, but in the end, they were the only answers I had to offer him, and he dismissed me, telling me to hurry up and disembark. We'd landed outside Taron City, the largest city on Akasha and ostensibly its capital, although our enemies would disagree. We are to cover the rest of the distance from the landing site to the city by v-train, and as I sit in my seat, another figure with Lieutenant bars on his shoulder-pads sits down next to me, sighing.

"Man, I can't believe you're here. How crazy is that?" A voice from my past catches me by surprise.

I look up sharply, disbelief and pleasure showing on my features before I can mask them, as my eyes meet that of the man seated next to me. Galahad smiles at me. He's taller than I remember him being. A well-built man appearing to be in his mid-twenties, he has short dark hair, the exact same shade as my own longer locks, and is the only person who has the same purple eyes that I do. My older brother, or the closest thing I'll ever have to one, and my only friend.

"How!?" I exclaim, grabbing his arm, and he laughs, raising a hand to ruffle my hair.

Other officers in the train car gave us odd looks, but I don't care. Galahad is the only person in my life who has ever treated me as someone worth valuing as a person. We were both alone until the Project put us together. A pair of rejects. Failures with no potential. He laughs and laughs, wrapping his arms around me and holding me in a strong embrace for a moment, before drawing back.

"I've been here on Akasha for five years. I saw your name on the passenger manifest when the Bellerophon arrived, and so I decided to come with the train to surprise you." He says with that stupid grin of his that features in so many of my fondest memories, "Damn, it's good to see you, Mari."

I smile at him hesitantly, raising a hand to run a finger over a deep, twisted scar that traces the right side of his jaw, "It's good to see you too, big brother." I whisper, "But you haven't been taking care of yourself."

"Ahh, well, you know what they say. War is hell. The Akashic Independance Movement attacked the outpost I was stationed at a year or two ago. You know how these things go." He brushes off my concern with his usual casual demeanor, as though it's not a big deal.

Who am I to argue with him. If he says it's not important, then it's not important. I lower my hand, and he opens his mouth to speak, but his words are lost in the explosion that hits our train car without warning. White and heat fills my vision, and I hear screams before I black out.







It's hot.

• a flash of memory. chest cut open. organs. glowing organs, flesh and wire intertwined. pain. ^p_ai_n

It's burning.

• Hands inside my body. Changing me. No. Not changing. Creating. I was being born. Birth is always bloody and painful.

My brain is burning.

• I'm going to die. This is what happens when you die. Or maybe I'm already dead?

No. I'm still alive.I hear Galahad yelling, but it's so distant and faint that I can't make out his words. Vision briefly returns, and I hear a mechanical roar, and see a giant dark-grey robot, inhuman and monsterous standing over the wreckage of the train we're standing in, silhuoetted by the sun behind its massive form. It swings down a massive axe-like sword to destroy what remains of the train, and I close my eyes, accepting my end without fighting. There's nothing I can do. My only regret is that I cannot save my brother and the others on the train.

The world shakes violently as the giant monster's weapon impacts.

• But
  
  • I'm
    
    • Not dead?

The sounds of people groaning in agony, distant screams and roaring electrical flames start to fill my ears as my senses begin to return to comprehensibility. My whole body feels bruised and I'm sure I've broken bones, but I'm still able to shakily push myself upright, opening my eyes to see Galahad. Standing in the center of the wrecked traincar, his right hand is upthrust, a vortex of purple light bursting from his arm as he screams, blocking the massive sword of the giant robot.

But that's impossible. We were failures. He and I. They said we were failures. We can't have Originator powers. I dismiss those thoughts. The impossible is impossible, therefor whatever is happening cannot be impossible, despite what I knew. I move towards him, and he looks towards me, "Stay away, Marion! Run!" He shouts at me to abandon him.

There's no way. There's absolutely no way I would abandon him. I feel a burning on my arm, and look down. Something heavy and mechanical is fused to right arm, metallic wiring bursting out from my flesh and curling around my arm and down over my hand, forming intricate swirling patterns. Clenching that fist, I approach Galahad as he starts to collapse under the force of the giant robot's sword, that vortex of power weakening as he falls to his knees, both arms thrust up into the air.

I...

• A) Save Galahad, no matter what. Nothing else matters.
  B) Have to save everyone.
  C) Can't do anything.
  D) T.r@a*c)e,o#n^?

[Siber]

Curiosity overwhelms me. D

[Droid]

D, then B.
Failing that...just D.

[-Desert-]

Most certainly D. Curiosity will kill me if I don't vote D.

[Lizzie]

Vote for D.

[Aralonia]

the answer is D

[Ristyo]

My answer Is D

[STARSTRUCK]

It's obviously D.

[Lukasmah]

D
keystrokes

[Anna]

I need to...

I need... to...

Static floods my vision. Time slows to a crawl, the static building until it blocks out my vision of Galahad and that giant robot completely.

T.r@a*c)e,o#n^

What? I don't understand. Pain floods my body and I try to scream, but I can't feel anything except the pain, cannot hear or see anything except for that static.

Tr.a*ce,o#n

What's happening to me?

Trace, on.

"Trace, on?" I ask, and in that moment...


*********


Immediately the static clears, my mind shoots to awareness, and I'm once again in reality, staring at Galahad on his knees, bending beneath the blow of a monstrous robot many times his own size. Despite what had happened, I had kept moving even while my mind had been clouded and only a split second has passed.

"TRACE, ON!" I yell it. I don't know why. It feels right.

ACTIVATION SEQUENCE CONFIRMED. PRIMARY ORIGINATOR CIRCUITS ONLINE.

My vision is overlaid with information. Code and schematics pour from my surroundings, pour into me faster than I can comprehend them, but I manage to focus on that robot, the information that this strange ability was giving me, and it floods my senses.



Pain violently assaults my body as I analyse the enemy's capabilities. I don't know why I'm bothering. It's a giant robot. But something tells me that my ability to see these things is important. Perhaps more importantly though, my arm is pulsating, purple sparks flickering and bursting across the areas that have been replaced with wire and metal.

It hurts. I'm not ready for this. My body tries to reject whatever this is. It's too soon.

ACTIVATION OF PRIMARY ORIGINATOR CIRCUITS PREMATURE. SYSTEMS MALFUNCTIONING. ENERGY OUTPUT AT 250%

That's concerning. My arm feels like it's going to explode. My arm looks like it's going to explode! But still, I...

• A) Save Galahad, no matter what. Nothing else matters.
  B) Have to save everyone.
  C) Can't do anything.

[Latooni]

A), stop goofing off and be useful.

[Aralonia]

^wordcharacters

[kittenpillar100]

I agree, who needs to save everyone else, lets save our magic pal then get out.

[Lukasmah]

A, he is more important to you than some random people.