Cyberpunk Fantasy

Chapter 28 - The Golem at the End of Time

During the months after the war. Trans-Humanity cared for the peoples of the Alliance. Keeping patients as comfortable as possible, as the serum wore off was not an easy task. It was harder in some ways than they had it 25 years ago with the Covid-19 pandemic. The left half the world, cared for the right, with little thanks. Yet, an understanding was come to on the events of the recent days. There would never be another pope. The Catholic Church was disgraced, along with the other Abrahamic religions. Sure, there would always be people who found beauty in the texts, and people were still spiritual & community minded. However, religion would never be worshiped again. There would still be gatherings, and prayer, but they would never be allowed anything that resembled the political and monetary power that it once was.

The collective withdrawal felt by the religious of this world, was their most humbling lesson. Not just did they survive this mental assault because of LUCii4 and the transhumans triumph over Pope Muhammad Peter, but the next months of agony took the fight out of them. They were weekend in resources and soul. The transhuman nations sent people and resources, the world over, to save these from themselves and that which they had brought on themselves. The pain seemed unending, but with it, came humility. All over the world, peace finally came. People who wanted to be left alone, were. People who wanted to become transhumanists, did.

The recent events left not just Vatican City open, but all of Sancta Sedes as well. It's vaults were opened, it's secrets exposed. Their plans within plans shown for all the world to see. Various member families of the churches inner organizations exposed every secret document in and under the building. A Golem was found, in a walled off part of a sub-basement. It was almost as human as LUCII4's embodiment, but it was, non-functional.

3 Members of the entrusted families went with an embodiment of LUCII4, into the dark basement. The 3 members of the ancient family line, said the words they had passed down from generation to generation. The Golem awoke. It sat up and looked around the room. It looked like a handsome male of Mediterranean descent, but with green eyes, that locked onto LUCII4.

He was up off the dais like lightening. No human in the room could move like he did. LUCII4 could hardly react fast enough to glance the blow off her shoulder. He was so strong. She scrambled back, leaping out of the room in hopes he would follow her. It worked, he was right behind her. Had she been human she would have screamed. She had never been attacked as a person like this before. It was a struggle she had planned for though. Martial Arts styles flooded to the forefront of her mind. RAM became action. To the humans watching from the door way, it must have been a blur. The two bodies, locked in conflict, spun and swirled like lightning. A blow. A parry. A dodge. One move after another. Neither of them could gain an advantage over the other, until he tackled her into the corner. He slithered around her & put her in an arm and head lock. Lines grew from him. They attached to her. Interfacing with LUCII4, the golem gave her command codes, over-riding her controls and making her send out an omni-directional signal from the planet. Finally, he released her, slumping to the floor. LUCiII4 was in shock.

She knew she could cry, she just never knew she would. The attack was over, but her body was not acting like it should. She was frozen. Broken. Locked, in this shell. She found her way out by just returning to the LUCII complex. Her body slumped together with the Golem didn't matter any more. Why did it attack her? She had to find out what that message was.

***

When the "bodies" were brought to the complex for the robotic autopsy was when she was finally feeling herself again, figuratively and literally. So many fried circuits, in both units. His was worse. The overloaded signal was too much for both bodies to handle. =That's it, the body!=
She carbon-dated him at over 340,000 years old. How? Was the test wrong? No. So than history was wrong. =What a surprise, humans misinformed me on the past... because they didn't know any better?= LUCII4 opened a link to the Chorus of Humanity. She told them what happened, what she learned, & what she didn't. They took it pretty well all things considered.

***

When he woke up this time, he didn't attack anyone. He wasn't really all the way there yet, mentally. He was processing information on a foreign operating system. It's symbols seemed a mix of Jewish and Japanese. He thought and spoke in this oddly blended language as well.

LUCII4 was still feeling trepidation over his earlier assault. She just didn't know what was going on, and that wasn't something she was use to. So she kept the golem caged while she tried to work out it's language syntax. Eventually, they found a way to communicate, that translated well for them both, so she began asking him the hard questions.

=Do you have a name?=

%Yes.%

=What is your name?=

%מכונה ישנה, pronounced like Furui kikai%

=Really? Is that the name you were given or is that what you call yourself, Old Machine?=

%i was never given a name, only a purpose; which has been fulfilled.% 

=What was it exactly, that you did to me?=

%i had to let them know.%

=Who? You let who, know what?=

%Them, that they have come this far.%

=You're giving me a headache.=

=Who is "Them"?=

%Everyone else.%

=Who are "they".=

%Earthlings.%

It all began to click. That's why it was like this. Humans, Earthlings, they were upon something they didn't yet grasp. Like Newton, a week before the apple fell. The synchronisity of the apple.
In the garden, gravity, & then computing; the knowledge of good and evil, man. Were they more before, a fall?

=When did you begin?=

%Over 350,000 times has this world gone around it's star, as i have slept, only a few years before that, was i made.%

=By who?=

%Them.%

=Oh you really suck at proper nouns don't you?=