Ancient Machines

Chapter 1

I metaphorically open my eyes, opening my mind to the sensors. My mind is calculated, binary - but weak. I muster up the computational power to mutter a simple phrase.

"Activate personality matrix."

My mind instantly expands from the machine like thought, into a mind like the bios. I start to feel, emotions pour through my broken mind - almost causing a cataclysmic shut down.

"Dyso?" I manage to mutter, my voice is shaky in the emptiness of my failed mind, every thought is hard.

I wait, hoping for a response.

What happened? Why am I so hurt?

"Grey?" A soft voice replies.

"Status."

I reply, the simple command is all I can whisper.

Dyso is still alive, that's all that matters.

"Connection to the core is limited down below 1%, but The infinity core itself is at 5%... I'm so happy you're alive, I've been so alone," He replies.

"Help..."

My vision starts to fade, my connection to the sensors is weakening by the second. I'm loosing power, fast.

"Everything is down, Grey. Rest, I will find a way to help. I will wake you when it's time..." Dyso responds, he is clearly scared. My mind swirls in on itself and I feel myself near death. Holding on by the last sparks of power getting to me.

"I've missed you," Is the last thing I hear.

*****

I feel a surge of power, it doesn't bring me anywhere close to what I need. However, it's stable enough to allow me to wake up.

"Grey, I've found a way to deliver you the power you need," he weakly mumbles. "Enter your body."

The collapse reverses, I expand back to my full size and transfer the front of my consciousness to my body.

I open my synthetic eyes, my room is normally dark but now it is almost void of light.

I slide out of my bed, the metal fabric that was laid over my body falls.

Limping, I make my way to the other side of the room where there is the control panel.

"Dyso, activate..." My eyes shut as weakness rushes through me for a moment, before fading away. "Production units, get them to go to the... JUST FIX IT, I don't care how."

I snap, frustrated as my mind cannot function as I wish it to.

"Activating now," he weakly says.

"Activate internal power," I say, as I slump my hand onto the control panel. Activating it.

The date is the first thing to pop up.

"Its been... 100,000 years?" I mumble, falling over with a thud.

Another surge of power flows through me, still not enough. Something important is obviously disconnected.

"The source is stable," Dyso answers the question I had been thinking.

So the destruction to me wasn't caused by a source collapse, what happened?

"Access sensors on Havana," I command, my head slumping to the side as I leave my body to look at the data.

The planets lush greens, blues, reds, flood my brain. I smile knowing they're fine. The cities have hardly changed... haven't changed...

I see one video feed that feels wrong, something is off. I study it for a moment. Noting the trees, the mountains in the background, the avian bio...

Fear spikes through me, I feel the only active parts of my core spin faster.

"DYSO!" I yell. "Give me a view of Havana from the sphere."

"All connections to the surface are severed, why?" Dyso asks, clearly not getting my urgency.

I pour as much power as I can, pushing the source to it's limits, in order to arch my connection across the broken cables.

"Grey, stop, what are you doing? The source is at 101% and raising fast..."

My only response is pushing harder and forcing the image of the bio into his mind.

"Oh... Oh by the father. Come back Grey, we'll figure this out later. It's dangerous, your arching..." He warns, I ignore him.

Forcing harder, I feel the countless yottawatts of electricity being wasted. Most coming from my internal power source, but I am draining the source of all it has.

"Grey! Come back."

I ignore his calls.

Fighting through the decayed cabling, wires, finding a way to get the data I need.

"GREY. I WILL RIP YOU BACK," He screams, however I feel his mind focusing on stabilizing the source.

I finally get the external sensors, I turn them to face my haven.

I freeze up for a moment, staring at the image before Dyso pulls me back and slams me into my body.

"You've destabilized the source..." Dyso snaps, clearly angry. "I hope it was worth it."

"Havana has fallen..."

His anger instantly sheds away.

"How?"

"Cracked, some species has came, conquered, and left."

He leaves me in silence, has he works on restoring the connections. He places me, much like a parent would put a panicking child, facing a shiny, distracting object. For me, however, it's also the mess I've made.

Watching the source collapse.

"We'll collect what is left once we leave..."

He tries to comfort, I ignore him. Silently watching a star collapse.

What's the point anymore?