Sigma sat atop the shuttle that cruised through the air. Blasting winds flowed around him but he felt almost nothing on his metallic skin. Alpha was next to him, looking at him with cold curiosity, her mechanical brain trying to process Sigma. It saddened Leif to think about what had happened to Allyson, how her memories were gone and every trace of her human side extinguished. But he saw in her face the old girl he loved and so he would try until his life was spent to rebuild her emotions.
Doctor Roth was transporting all of the computers and machinations from his cave in the mountains to wherever it was they were going. That was partially Sigma's responsibility. A small portion of the android's super-powered brain was scanning the ground below, looking for an area where they could be outside the range of any nation.
They were traversing one of the oceans at the moment, just off the coast of the Artisan Confederate. An island seemed like a good hiding place, and so that was what they were searching for. Many of the ones they passed over were a bit too large and had small habitations on them, or offshore naval bases nearby. And so the search continued.
"Why are we not flying?" Alpha asked the calculated question blankly, her expression unwavering.
"We're too fast for the ship. And we would attract attention."
"Understood. Our function is to perform stealth operations for the time being?"
"Yes," Sigma sighed. He didn't like the default mode Alpha was in, which had her constantly waiting for orders and trying to think about military strategies. "You don't have to worry about things Alpha. I will protect us from any danger. Besides, where we are going, we won't have to think anymore."
Alpha merely cocked her head to the side quizzically, though her face did not reveal any change in emotion. She eventually accepted the answer and stared straight ahead, her gaze seeming to pierce through the clouds that flew by.
"Roth I think we have one coming up on the right." Sigma's computer mind easily linked in with the shuttle's systems, letting him speak with the doctor easily. "I have no signs of human life, nor any electronic devices. Nothing within fifty miles of it. I'm redirecting the ship now." The wings titled in response as the shuttle began its curling descent towards the island the cyborg spoke of.
Sigma was correct in his analysis. This tiny bastion had not yet been touched by human hands, and was instead host to just a couple of different birds, as well as the usual fish swimming nearby. Then again, why would people ever want to occupy such a small place? The island was the only portion of an undersea mountain range that poked up on the surface, meaning there was no chain to turn into a development. No, this place was empty, and alone, and secluded. It was perfect.
The ship touched down on the edge of the forest, where the palm trees ended and the beach began. The foliage shook with their arrival before returning to a gentle swaying propelled by the ocean breeze. Sigma could feel the cool, salty air on his face. His robotic brain registered the salinity in the air, the temperature, the wind speeds and directions, and the climate of the area but that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to really understand what it was like to have this particular air touching against his skin.
Alpha's mind did similar calculations as she hopped off the top of the shuttle, dropping onto the ground and examining it closer. She was not expressing human thoughts in her mind; she had none left. Instead she was analyzing the soil content and topography of the surrounding area, as well as preparing defensive strategies in case of attack.
Roth was already hauling out the machinery from the interior of the ship, exposing the fragile devices to a mixture of sand and sea air. He had yet to ask Allyson for help or for anything really, seeming rather timid around her, fearful that she would remember what he had done to her and would suddenly lash out. Or perhaps he was just ashamed of his actions, and couldn't stand to see himself in her eyes.
Sigma came over to chip in anyways, without being requisitioned, knowing his superior strength could make the task so much faster. "Alpha," he said, glancing over at the android. He hated using that name but she didn't respond to Allyson...yet. "Would you be able to find a suitable place for habitation within the trees here? Close to fresh water if possible, though we can convert salt if we have to. It only has to be enough to accommodate the doctor here." Alpha nodded and took off into the forest to fulfill the orders.
"Thank you Sigma but I can survive on my own," Roth huffed as he tried to carry another large computer component. "As you saw, I did quite well in the mountains for quite some time."
"Living off mushrooms and moss and melting snow? I think we can give you a higher quality of life here."
"But why?" Roth sat on the beach beside some of his machines as Sigma started to take over the heavier lifting. "Look at me, look at what I did to my daughter. My daughter Sigma! Why see me live any longer?"
The cyborg shrugged as he worked. "Who knows? You still have use so long as Alpha is in her current state, and perhaps you will find a key to restoring her memory. Maybe I can see some form of empathy, can see why you would choose that option over the possibility of execution. Because you made that choice she is still, in one form or another, alive isn't she? And so I should be grateful for that."
"But you would have found a way to free her before her day of death no?" Roth dabbed at tears forming in his eyes as he thought about losing his little girl.
"I could only do so with the assistance of those who imprisoned her." Sigma thought back to his fresh memory of that one night in the prison. "It would all be part of a larger scheme, not because I have any sort of free power."
"Like you have now."
Leif looked down at his hand, at the purple armour that bent and curled to make his fingers, of the flexible components for joints, and the portion in his palm that could be opened to reveal one of his deadlier weapons. This was certainly not the kind of hand he or any other human had ever been born with. "Yes...like I have now."
Sigma raised his arm and pointed out towards the ocean. There was a now-familiar charge of heat and electricity that pulsed through his limb, surging down towards his palm. The hole opened up and a quick burst unleashed a flashing laser beam that shot out over the ocean, splitting the top layers of the water and sending out rippling waves either side before fading away in an instant.
The elderly doctor had ducked during this, covering his eyes and cowering from the might the android possessed. "Dear Ishiyama," he swore, crossing himself up and down with religious gestures of faith. "Is that what I created? Is that what we have brought into this world?"
"It is power Roth," Sigma answered. "I have learned you can't be afraid of it. You have to accept what you are given and use it to your advantage. I will use it for her Roth. I will do anything for her."
The pair continued pulling the computers and devices out of the ship, dragging them into the trees in the search for Alpha, who was busy boring a hole into rock to produce a cave for her father to live in. On this lonely little island they would make a new home for themselves, far away from the reach of the Enian Federation or the Artisan Confederate or the taint of the Emperor and the Jahari...
* * * * *
Runa was a very tiny town in the Artisan Confederate, close to the Eastern border with the Enian Federation. Due to its proximity to the rival nation, Runa was host to a myriad of nationalistic policies and festivals, celebrating their loyalty to the Federation and reminding them who was the greater nation, in case any Enians might come near.
Banners hung from every light post displaying the upcoming carnival dedicated to one of the former Artisan generals. Already the shopkeepers were setting up their festive displays and announcing specialty sales for the occasion. Runa was renowned for some of its stores, and people went to great lengths to make the trip out to the frontier town.
The village itself looked no different than most others that dotted the countryside of the Artisan Confederate. It was full of rounded, sleek buildings that were just a story or two high, with a couple special administrative facilities that towered up to eight stories, twisting with spectacular architectural designs. The streetlights curled and bent into decorative pieces, as fashionable as they were functional, and lit up the well-kept roads, appearing as if they had never even been driven on.
It was the duty of Major Rourke to survey and protect this little villa, and he did so with gusto. He had been guarding it for fourteen years now, with just a couple more left on the horizon. He stretched a little in the cockpit of his Goliath, an ageing wonder from years gone by. It had been a customized unit, state of the art when it first came out, complete with reptilian claws for fingers, a long, prehensile tail (barbed with a spike at the end), and a moulded dragon's head on top. Its bold red finish was fading these days though, but the people of Runa looked upon it as proudly as they viewed their national heroes.
The Major was far from a skilled pilot though. Just because he was on perimeter patrol didn't make him just another grunt. In fact, there had been a point roughly ten years ago when he had been asked to become a general, but he had kindly turned it down and opted to remain on duty in Runa.
It was a promise to his daughter that forced Rourke out of being a general. When he had first gone off to war, he had reassured her that he would live long enough to see his own grandchild born. At the time, it sounded like something quite far off in the future, since she was only fifteen. But, low and behold, ten years later he was attending her wedding to a wealthy bureaucrat, sending her off down the aisle.
Rourke smiled and wiped away a tear from his leathery, wrinkled face as he thought back to that wonderful day. Sure, his son-in-law hadn't been his favourite pick at first, but over time he had come to love him like his own, until he was proud to hand his daughter over to him in that one moment.
Eventually the time had finally come for the Major's grandchild to be born, just last year. It had been a little boy, round-faced, just like Rourke, with big blue eyes. That was the day Rourke had first thought about retirement as well, and how fifteen years of service meant he could leave the army permanently. Now he was just counting days until he reached the magic number and could walk away from the military.
Simultaneously, Rourke had been saving money for all these years as well, to build up a retirement plan. The goal was to settle down and purchase a storefront here in Runa, selling hand-crafted trinkets to the locals and tourists. Making sculptures out of tin and aluminum had been a hobby of the Major for many years, something he had always kept aside. At long last the elderly man would have the chance to fulfill his artistic dreams of owning his own craft store.
Rourke checked over the horizon again, looking up at the beautiful sun lazily drifting through the sky. This gap between countries was so gorgeous. It was such a shame it was a dead zone, and its value would probably never be appreciated. At least it was what Rourke had been allowed to stare at for all these years. Somebody appreciated the view.
There was a little rumble under the Artisan's feet, a tremor in the earth. There had been quite a few of these recently, meaning the local fault line was shifting again. A few years back it had done this, even snapping for a moment and sending out a minor earthquake. The only reason the Major even noticed these vibrations was because his Goliath picked up on them. He felt nothing in the cockpit, stabilized by the frame and mechanics of his warmachine.
Suddenly, the ground beneath Rourke cracked, splitting open and crumbling, swallowing the entire Goliath as it fell through into the depths. It crashed down into a hollowed out tunnel, one that was twice the size of the battlesuit. Rourke certainly felt the vibrations that time in his chair and he had to shake it off for a moment before bringing his Goliath up to its feet.
Rourke began to scope out the area, looking up at the hole he had come through. As he watched, some of the soil shifted and collapsed, half-sealing the exit. It wouldn't be too hard for a battlesuit to punch through the dirt, but Rourke was a bit curious of where this massive tunnel had come from. Perhaps it was from an old underground rail plan, abandoned before any metal could be put down. Or a plumbing system. Maybe it was a secret war route being built by the Enians.
"You're going to help me now," a voice hissed from behind Rourke. "Listen carefully." It was a guttural sound, coming from a rough, scratched throat that seemed to gurgle each word before spitting them out.
The Major slowly turned around, coming face to face with a skeletal grimace with loose flesh draped over top of it. He gasped at the sight, stumbling back a little at the oozing visage. The being was the same height and size as Rourke's Goliath, but its fusion of biological muscle and bone and flesh with metal looked so unnatural and blasphemous to the eyes.
"Listen. You must answer questions." Rourke watched the tongue fall out of the being's mouth, swinging from side to side as it watched and waited. The Artisan looked down to notice the mass on each of the creature's wrists, a growth of skin, bone, and steel with a slit at the front. Even in its twisted version, Rourke recognized them as weapon slots, holding blades within most likely that could spring out and slice apart any foe.
"What...what do you want from...from me?" Rourke tried to gulp down the fear in his stomach that was drying out his.mouth. It wasn't that he was unskilled or inept; far from it. This was just such a shockingly bizarre thing that it was disturbing his usual mentality in this sort of situation.
"Tell me where the one called Sigma is," the monster growled. One of the blades slid down slowly, fully visible to Rourke. He saw himself in their reflection, the light from the cracks up above bouncing off the metal sheen. Then he saw his daughter, and his grandson in them, cut down and lying bloody on the ground.
"I...I don't know who you're talking about. I've never heard of a Sigma."
"Tell me where Sigma is." The being advanced a step towards Rourke.
"Who is Sigma? I don't know a Sigma!" Rourke stumbled back a little but then tried to stand tall and confidently.
"Tell me where Syn is. Tell me where he is."
The Major's mind buzzed trying to figure out who these people.might be. "I don't know a Sigma or a Syn. I don't know them!" Rourke shouted, checking to see if he could leap out of this tunnel and away from this horror. He just wanted out of here.
"If you do not know them, then you are useless to the Mind." Rourke knew as the phrase was finished and echoed around the empty space that this monster was now an enemy, poised to strike and try to kill him. He would not die though; he was not that unskilled.
But the beast was too fast. In a flash the blades had slashed across Rourke's chest and then buried into the cockpit, shredding through the old man in an instant as he saw visions of his daughter in her wedding dress, holding her little boy. Rourke's death was violent, vicious, and sudden. His life was ended.
Ur'wrath stood over the body, watching the mechanical fluids seep out like blood. Why would the surface people strive so hard to replicate the human body in a machine? Wouldn't fusing the two make so much more sense? Ur'wrath was clearly more powerful than any of the machine-people that were built.
Let them wallow in their foolishness though. Ur'wrath was reminded by the Mind of his greater purpose and his goal. Sigma and Syn had to die and he would be their killer. For the survival of the Mind.
Ur'wrath moved down the tunnel, heading deeper into the earth, leaving behind the broken body of Rourke, now a corpse and a testament to the greatness of the Jahari.