To Be Human

Awakening

Humanity had finally broken through the dark, their collective minds breaching the veil of enlightenment. It all began with a single flame and one person - those were all that were needed to strengthen the fire, the burning embers that would go on to fuel an entire future civilization. They had struggled since the beginning, chained to their fragile bodies, plagued with the fear of death and decay. It wasn't long until a clear solution, a single consensus among all of their kind, came into view. There was only one shell that could contain their minds, one that could shield them from everything they feared. The key to finding it was advancement. With this single thought in mind, a single circuit board, over time, became the foundation of the technology that would revolutionize the way Humans lived forever.

Time, it changes all things, it is both the beginning and the end - the foundation by which all things find their start and their stop. It was the driving principle of human life, their finite life spans - their fragile mortality. For nearly all their life, humanity had been a slave to it, living and dying in an endless cycle of pain as their loved ones shriveled and died. Laverne Stuart was the first to undergo the single most revolutionary procedure known to mankind. She became the author by whom many a story would be written—the mother of the modern human, the creator of the S.K.I.N., and far from the last who would carry on her mission. S.K.I.N. was just as its acronym suggested; it was an artificial, robotic body meant to act as the new vessel for humanity. There were many controversies surrounding the ethics of putting humans through such a procedure, with religious groups all around the world warning it would spell disaster for the future of their kind. Despite the warnings, development carried on, and eventually, S.K.I.N. became mandatory everywhere around the globe. Its many benefits swayed even the hearts of those who opposed its creation. Soon, everyone had it, and those who didn't fell apart with the technology of old.

S.K.I.N. was perfect, untouchable—everything it was made to be and more. That was what they believed, anyway, until it attacked. No one really knows where it came from or who it came from, but everyone remembers when it started. March 11th, 2076, was when it all came crashing down. That day, the sun hung low in the sky, saying its final goodbyes to the ivory concrete structure beneath it. Atmospheric death rose like puffy clouds from the building, spreading corruption on the outside that would soon erupt within. Bodies moved like busy bees through the interior, each person performing their task with robotic precision. Sparks flew as the dull howl of metal resounded, grating even beneath the dimly lit sign marked S.K.I.N. at the front desk. The lights flickered, commanding the attention of even the factory's most inattentive, begging the question of just what was happening. Then the darkness took hold, all coming to a standstill but for the loud blaring of alarms as bright white lights were replaced with a low saffron.

"Talk about needing more funding," Janice muttered, annoyance cutting through her tone like a knife. Her fingers paused on the keys as she looked up from the hollow screen. She reached for the phone to her left, dialing a number. One ring, two rings, three rings...

"The phones, too?"

She sucked air between her teeth, lips pursed. Before she could dial again, something strange happened. Red, like blood, crept along her arms, tracing crimson veins across her frame until they reached the hoods of her eyes. Rage — so hot it boiled inside her metal body — surged through her mind. The slight frustration simmering there twisted into something malevolent, something so vile it drove her to an unthinkable act. The woman's body lifted...

"Is everything okay, Janice?"

She didn't reply. Her hand closed around the android's neck with terrifying strength. The android's synthetic skin split with a sickening crack as Janice's grip tightened. Bloodless fluid misted the air as his head tore free, landing with a hollow thud across the room. That was when the chaos started. Screams tore through the factory as Janice's body lurched for her next victim, the low saffron lights pulsing like a dying heart. One by one, heads snapped up from their terminals. The lights reflected in hundreds of glassy eyes as red veins spidered beneath synthetic skin. Movements grew jerky, almost marionette-like, until rage overtook each of them.

The room erupted in a chorus of guttural screams and the shriek of tearing metal. Janice lunged for another coworker, but she wasn't alone — across the hall, another worker slammed his fists through a colleague's chest. Sparks and arterial-like sprays of oil painted the sterile walls.

Within seconds, the orderly hive of busy bees became a slaughterhouse of shrieking, feral machines — the Rot had awakened.

The virus began with one and spread to many more, sealing their encapsulated minds in a coffin of near-eternal sleep. It was then that everyone who had criticized the creation of S.K.I.N. came back with a vengeance, claiming they were right all along. With her invention quickly coming under fire, S.K.I.N.'s creator, Laverne, vanished — her whereabouts unknown. The virus had caught them when they least expected it, when they believed they were all but masked from the ails of their former bodies. They were wrong, and for that, they would pay — but as usual, humanity nevertheless carried on, still surviving despite adversity. Not much was known about it, the virus people began calling "The Rot," and anyone who attempted to learn more — regardless of occupation or social status — either mysteriously disappeared or fell victim to its deathly clutches. Thus, the Rot became a malignant disease that humanity silently suffered from.