Soulless Beauty Aorta

FALSE NOSTALGIA

Cautiously, Rose stepped out of the elevator. She recognized this place from when she was just another mindless machine. It was a dark, curved corridor, lit from above by dim colored lights, a wall directly in front of her. To her right and left, the hall stretched out, curving around away from her and looping back into itself in a ring shape. Small, white rectangular lights shone from the floor, which had a layer of fine, untouched steam floating over it. The walls, floor, and ceiling were black and bronze. Pipes and wires wove in and out of the walls and ceiling. On the far wall was a line of indents in the wall just big enough for one Aorta unit to fit in, with a thin, panel-like 'seat' in the middle. A few of the other seats had sleeping Aortae on them, a soft orange light on the wall above each of their heads. Rose was on a charging deck, one of many. The steam just above the ground parted and rippled around her feet as she stepped forwards. She slowly and carefully backed into one of the holes, lightly pressing what would be her spine against the long electronic needles protruding from the panel. Each of the four thin jacks stabbed into the charging ports along Rose's spinal column, "Ah-!" she felt a sharp, quick pain along her back, and passed out.

Visions. People, places, and objects. A house in the middle of a dry, cracked desert. Blood spattered across a wood-paneled wall. A green and black crystal formation. A gigantic server room having to be kept cool with bags of ice scattered about and almost submerged in the liquid coolant covering the tile floor. The shape of a monstrously gigantic metal face looming over the ground, with no features save for two perfectly round, glowing white eyes. Screams and fire. Two enormous, triangular shadows stretched across the landscape, covering one horizon to the other in a dim red light.

Rose jolted awake. The charging process had finished, and given her a small shock to bring her back online. If she had a heart, it would be racing. She looked down at her palm once again. The charge had restored her silver covering and repaired her damaged internals, but the long black streaks from where the lightning ripped through her body remained on her surface. Taking a deep breath of the thin, cold air, Rose ejected herself up out of the charging seat, feeling the sharp, thin jacks pulling out of her back, and returned to the elevator.