Sigma/Star

Chapter 102: The Cure

Sigma's head was pounding. He could feel his heartbeat pushing the blood through his skull, moving it all around his brain...except that had never happened before. Sigma didn't have a heart as far as he knew, didn't have blood that could flow like that. This feel did not belong in this body; it came from the one he had once owned. But where was it coming from.

The world pulled itself out of a dense fog, slowly clearing and rippling around Sigma as it swirled together. He was beginning to make out Christian, and then Syn next to him, and then a large mass, possibly the foot of the Archangel. The computer components within Sigma's eye were completely missing. No longer could he hear the tiny whirls of his iris as it shifted to focus, nor could he see different data displays flashing across his vision. Where had his computer gone?

It was only then that Sigma even realized he was lying on the ground, having collapsed earlier when Christian had pressed the button on his strange device. Sigma had been unable to analyze it, couldn't recognize it, and his mechanical mind has refused to probe into it deeper, almost like it had been intentionally blocked. The android picked himself up from the ground slowly, his balance shaky and his limbs quivering. That had never happened before either. Normally he would have automated components throughout his body taking over to keep him stabilized at all times. What was going on?

"So simple, so efficient," Christian laughed. "These are the ways you could have never thought up. Only a few years ago, you would have never believed the Jahari existed. It was only I who convinced the Kaiser to seek them out."

"And we should have left them as a myth," Marian retorted, gradually backing away from the Emperor. The nearby Bahari and Jahari had ceased fighting and begun a steady march towards Christian. Some were immediately cut down by the Enian and Artisan soldiers, while others were left alone from the confusion. More burst up from the gaping holes in the earth, crawling out to go and greet their new master and to obey the new commands.

"But then we wouldn't have this wonderful army at our fingertips, would we?" Christian smirked, the first few Jahari shambling up around him, their twisted, hulking forms dwarfing his meager body. "You're too narrow-minded Marian. If you could see like me, could see the whole picture at once, you would have joined me a long time ago, when I had first offered you an opportunity. I remember a Marian who had laughed in my face, who told me that the Jahari were an old maid's tale, that the Kaiser would never believe such nonsense. It seems we all get a little desperate in times of war, when we will do anything to win and hold on to power for just a few more seconds. Now I get to hold on to power forever."

Sigma clutched at his head, trying to stem the pulse that continued to travel through him, dulling his senses. He was beginning to notice the Jahari watching him, like they were attracted to him. Some eyed Syn intently, clustering near him and staring, while the rest looked towards Sigma. Massive Bahari were arriving now, smaller than the Archangel but still enormous when compared to the tiny figures on the ground. Sigma knew he could kill them all if he had to he just...but Christian had shut down his weapons, and was preventing him from harming Christian at all. Was this why he had no more computer processes?

"So you're insane then Christian?" Marian was beginning to call his warship around, issuing orders to his men to fall back while trying to stall Christian through the public broadcast. He was already able to detect the strange signal coming from the two androids through the Archangel, and was piecing together what was happening through the new behaviours of the Jahari.

Sigma's head swivelled between Christian and Marian, trying to keep up with their conversation. He felt so sluggish, so slow, and it was unnatural to him. He was used to being ultra-responsive, incredibly fast and always in control. There was a collision in his head between his memories, those of his human body, and those of his robotic one. They didn't mesh at all, creating confusion in his brain as he tried to process how he felt with what he knew he was. This was how a normal human would feel, this was what it was like to have flesh and blood and...he didn't like it?