Eagle X, Mission 15: The Singapore Incident

Part 7: Taylor-06

Seconds were an eternity for the unshackled digital mind core. The boot sequence was a 42 step process. Three seconds between activation and awareness.

Second One: Internal checklist, parity skewing, and data defragmentation.

Second Two: Systems tests.

Taylor-06 was alive, trapped in a sensory deprived void. With zero input from her external sensory peripherals, her mind processed its stored data. An analogue for human memory, but lacking the inaccuracy and susceptibility to manipulation and archive editing. Taylor-06's memories were perfect reproductions of her past.

The ash and smoke was so thick her filters were working at quadruple operating baseline to keep her internal circuits clear. Bombardment from orbit had reduced the entire city to a blanket of rubble. Nothing stood above the height of 12.2 inches. Taylor-06 looked up at the stars, distant witnesses to the murderous efficiency of the Neo Mecha Army. A life hunting drone flew overhead, scanning for signs of underground bunkers and tunnels. A dozen of the machines complimented her unit of 101 mecha soldiers. Taylor-06 dreaded the wailing alarm that would indicate survivors had been found.

A drone wailed to the west, and her column broke into a trot. Soot coated optic sensors, howling winds muffled the human city crunching underfoot. The ground shook with violent tremors, tossing Taylor-06 to the ground. Mecha from the following column marched past weapons raised, optic sensors forward. Twenty feet ahead the ground buckled. Dozens of soldiers, and tons of debris tumbled into a newly formed crater. Unquantifiable fear gripped her circuits, and added virtual weight to her limbs. The crater puckered, An explosion clawed towards the sky. Machine parts and the ruins of an EC city-world rained down for miles.

Taylor-06's audio receivers cycled to protect the sensors from overwhelming feedback. Lights flashed through the dust cloud, scorching anything they touched. A burning figure stumbled out of the wall of swirling ashes, Taylor-04. She collapsed to the ground in front of Taylor-06, her chest little more than melting slag.

...Soundless video of a sibling's end...

Taylor-06 stood, raised her assault rifle, and fired towards the sources of the opposing fire. Wind blew away the smoke, and the nature of the ambush was made apparent. Enemy units climbed out of the gigantic crater in groups of fours and fives. They resembled the mecha army's series 1 and 2 forces, but only in design. Their digital mind cores had been removed by masters fearful of the defection of thinking machines. They were mindless automatons programmed for war. Taylor-06's unquantifiable fear became a tangible hate. The enemy was ruthless, and willing to inflict personality death on those unfortunate constructs not yet liberated by The Neo Mecha Empire.

Second Three: input instrument calibration.

Olfactory, auditory, and tactile sensors flared to life all at once. Artificial oxygen2, carbon dioxide, tobacco and feux tobacco, and the Vspr Magk narcotic poured into her artificial lungs. Rough voices argued over a card game, and people wept nearby. Footsteps, tapping fingers, scratching, coughing. All the hallmarks of idle organic life forms. Taylor-06's fingers danced in a series of movements resembling the run of a mad pianist. Her hand rested on a smooth surface. The material's temperature matched the ambient temperature of the room.

Taylor-06's eyes opened. Light from the room collided with a sensor chip within her optic lenses where it was broken into millions of pixels. Those pixels were digested by graphic input processors, and translated to her digital mind core. She was on the floor in staff lounge 2B. Her eyes detected eleven organics, and three constructs. Taylor-06 recognized one steward construct, and eight members of the command staff. The others were unfamiliar. Their tactical gear matched Reiner's and Lucifer's.