Chapter 5 - Family Roots

Content Warnings: gore, death.

Art by 4ShiFeng: https://twitter.com/4Shifeng/status/1517004352103362560

  

  Darkness. Silence. A moment of peace. I'm underwater. Far beneath the surface and sinking deeper as time passes. The further I go, the darker it gets, and the more pressure I feel from all directions. A blanket that swaddles me in the cold expanse of the ocean. Far away from the metal, neon and plastic above. Even out of reach of the burning flame that scorches life down to the genetic level. At this depth there might not even be any difference form before the fall. An alien world that has never seen light that wasn't alive itself. 

  Those tiny stars in the dark, innumerable and in all directions are little satellites that gravitate around me as though I am the center of a galaxy.

  I've been down here before. My own little abyss. One of the few places I can find comfort and calm. The first time, I was a boy so entranced by the lights that I reached out a small fleshy hand and tried to collect as many as I could. Slow and careful was the only way to go about it. Speed would cause them to rush away and disappear. Over time I managed to collect a full handful and had my own light in the dark. A lantern that allowed me to see my own form. That was when I extended too far. The light I so carefully reached out to whipped back and was replaced by the gaping maw of a beast that tore my hand to shreds and continued to move further up my arm. Those lights that I had collected burst all at once taking my eyes with them as I thrashed against the beast. That was long ago. Another life.

Art by Step: https://twitter.com/sl_creature/status/1550940233797369856

  A faint light appears in the darkness below me. Red and ominous. I'm sinking towards it with no chance to escape. The carbon fiber and titanium that holds me together doesn't lend itself well to floating. Even if I were to struggle I'd only waste more energy and end up at the same destination. Better to enjoy this moment of peace, even as the red below begins to burn and consume my vision. I close my IIs to resist the beacon's glare but it does nothing to dull the blaze. How could it? The light isn't coming from some outside source. I know that now. It's an undeniable part of me that I needed to survive. Invited in, it now threatens to replace all that once was me. 

  My entire abyss is red now. The lights that once surrounded me have fled and there is only one thing that remains in my mind:

You have arrived at your destination

Art by Hincaru: https://twitter.com/hincaru/status/1551064465524854785

  The red fades away, replaced with a pale glow that expands all at once. I blink a few more times, waking up in the seat of my car. Even with my IIs closed, the message burns bright as though it exists on the back of my eyelids. Two fingers connect to the side of my neck, heavy and slow from a cycle of REM that I didn't see coming. They dismiss the notification while also bringing the car to life around me. The interior of the car was of course complete darkness. It had to be to allow me to drive in the mid-day sun. Cheaper vehicles could only protect drivers early in the morning and through the night. The life of a legatus doesn't tend to stick to a fixed routine however, so The Republic saw fit to equip me with a top of the line model, that I might get around without having to constantly replace my skin. 

  It was a business calculation of course. Better to invest in a good piece of equipment that they could pass on to the next legatus than constantly be barraged with invoices from surgeons. How many legati before me have sat where I do now? How many more will, after?

  Looking out at the city around me, my abyss seemed another life away. The heart of Central Republic was pumping as usual, citizens strutting along calmly in the scorching sun. Here, where The Republic itself began, the richest of all her citizens had no need to worry about time. Crowds of them strode through the streets, beautiful and perfect in their own individual ways. Calmly, they ignored the judgement from above, having tamed even the sun itself. Some likely replaced their synthetic skin as it mutated and formed cancerous lesions as I did, while others had given up on that altogether. The hot new trend was completely synthetic flesh that moved and felt just like the real thing while protecting the layers of meat or metal below. No longer was humanity bound by the flesh and blood they were born with. No man is an island. But we can at least float along like the ship of Theseus.

  A honk from behind told me that I had parked long enough in front of the Eidolon complex. All the time in the world, unless someone else is wasting yours. A gasping wheeze tore through the silence as the car door opened. The cool, light air flooded out almost instantly, replaced by the thick weight of reality. A small click in my neck confirmed that my Throa2 had just picked up in earnest as I step out into the burning heat of the day. Ignoring the warning in my IIs about radiation exposure I glare to my side at the driver who had just honked at me. In an instant he reverses and begins driving past my car, choosing to park anywhere else. 

  The crowds that pulse though the arteries of The Republic make a similar effort to give me a wide berth. I may pulse and shimmer, but I'm not one of them. Visibly synthetic hair, uncustomized grey IIs, I even dare to show off one of my cyborg arms in it's full, rather than hide it behind a virtual mask. I walk confidently into the atrium of Eidolon, the radiation warning finally disappearing once I push my way through a rotating door. 

  Eidolon Incorporated was one of the pillars that held up The Republic. While owned privately, the ties between the company and those in charge of all three megacities were palpable. The company was founded with the goal of preserving genius and allowing mankind to flourish in the future. To that end they created the technology that would eventually become I'mprints. To listen to their management talk, they had created the secret of eternal life and single-handedly prevented humanity's extinction. Of course those were the management that had mouths. Not the founders who were now only 1s and 0s sitting in some guarded archive.

  The interior of the building was bathed in green light. The entire atrium was open to the sky above and made it appear as though you had stepped into an outdoor campus. Walking paths led in a circle to the left and right with one going straight ahead and forming another smaller circle around a large art piece in the center. Between all the marble paths were gardens of different kinds. Quarter circles which each had a different type of biome from before the fall. In these small areas of nature there were guest speakers, each giving their own lectures or taking part in one-another's debates on some theory or another. Only one caught my eye. The largest crowd who had gathered under oak trees to listen to a man in a full TB suit.

  Looking straight ahead at the three eyed cubes of Eidolon, their logo and also centerpiece of the atrium, I strained myself to pick out what the outsider said.

  "By the 9th generation, we no longer had to implant the serfs with compliance locks. The command system -or 'neural network' as you call it became enough to tell them what to do without language. They were raised without any social interaction, only the thoughts in their head that guided them through tasks we preordained them to complete. Thus, they became the perfect tools for The Kingdom, quite like your I'mprints, which our people refer to as 'ghosts." He shuddered slightly at this word, his arrogant voice even quivering slightly as he extended it like a curse. When he continued his lecture a second later it was as though he had never faltered. "We do know that they think and dream, as we often take a few from the herd to study, but they have long since forgotten all forms of community and lost the ability to distinguish commands we give from their own will."

  I stared at the bug in his TB suit, sheltered from the outside world and safe within. I was closer to him than I had intended, taking the left path around the cubes without meaning to. The grotesque suit was almost skin-tight in this case and left little to the imagination. Small bulges on the back, thighs and upper-arms were enough to supply the air he needed while the suit filtered the sun sufficiently indoors. Less a cockroach or beetle, this one. More an ant that fancied itself a monarch. 

  The Kingdom declared itself as a bastion of law and order. Those in charge ruled over those below with an iron fist. They never left their ivory towers and so had no need for IIs, Throa2 devices or skin grafts. Those outside the towers wallowed in the mines and subterranean farms, becoming more beast than man with every passing generation. 

  The crowds from The Republic listened on in disgust, some even choosing to leave in protest. They couldn't fathom doing such cruel and inhumane acts to their fellow man. Even at their founding, the three megacities were formed with very different ideals. As each had survived for hundreds of years those differences only became more pronounced, their beliefs more deeply ingrained. Diplomatic and trade relations were a must, but the three would never become one again as they were once in the past. So why then is a right and just bug lord of The Kingdom giving a lecture at Eidolon Industries? Birthplace of the ghosts he so detests? 

  None of that mattered to a legatus of course. My duties were focused purely within the city limits. I made my way around the inner circle and past the reception desk, my ID already having been confirmed before I stepped out of my car. 

  An executive elevator trimmed in green and gold took me down to the only other floor it stopped at. The familiar scent of pine needles and lemon flooded my senses as I stepped out into a hallway. The entire world down here was grey, brown and green. Walls of grey stone, furniture of brown leather and felt, fake windows that opened up to a virtual landscape of evergreen forest. My eyes were half closed, body moving on its own through the halls on autopilot. I was only a few steps away when I noticed something unusual in my vision.

  The silhouette was like a dream. So pale in the glare of the sun that the two seemed as one. So thin it was almost translucent. A girl who could be in her teens or early 20s. She had long white hair that cascaded down her back, and was wearing only a long dress of the same colour with the occasional flourish of pink and blue. One porcelain hand was held up to the window, hovering just in front of the glass, not quite touching it. My IIs were drawn to that hand and the trembling that I noticed in the middle and ring fingers. Suddenly the hand was covered by another as the girl crumpled up in front of me. Her IIs met my own, the pink and purple orbs wide with alarm. The frightened pose she took as she turned to face me apparently wasn't enough, her feet doing their best to back away. I simply watched, frozen in place as the girl shuffled around and made her way down the hall to the living room. Her stride was odd, one leg taking longer steps than the other. Near the end she even braced herself on the wall for support. She was doing her best to hide an injury and making it all the more obvious with her focus on speed.

  As she disappeared from view, I came to my senses. Stepping forward, I fixed my expression back to one of cold disinterest, unsure of exactly how it had appeared a moment ago. My own movements became even more rigid as I followed the girl's path. There was still a palm-print on the glass of a picture she had pressed against while retreating. A small boy with brown hair and eyes looked back at me, an artificial smile plastered on his features. Behind him were two adults that looked down at him with pride. As the palm print faded away, their forms were revealed as doctors in lab coats; one a tall man with a thick beard and eyes that betrayed the years he had seen pass, the other, a woman who was barely taller than the boy, only coming up to the man's chest. She was the only one in the picture that hadn't needed to practice the joy captured in the photo.

Art by Kurohiko: https://twitter.com/meikurohiko/status/1552011562516299776

  In the living room, I'm greeted by another ghost, this one more lively than the last. The feeling of cold metal embraces me in a hug. As she pulls back I see the exact same woman from the photo, unchanged by almost 2 decades of time. Black hair, wide eyes made larger by thick-framed glasses, the same pink dress shirt she always wore with a brown sweater-vest on top. The sleeves of her shirt were folded up past the elbow and showed off the sun-kissed flesh of her arms. Gelu Canis stepped back and looked me up and down, stopping with a long pause as she examined my IIs.

  She leaned forward, grabbing the collar of my jacket and pulling me down into a half bow so that I was closer to her level. 

  "Stop your pouting and look at me, Fuu-chan," she commanded. Even the perfume that lingered in the air was the same as it had been decades ago when we met. "You really can't tell at all. I was shocked when Iggy told me he'd hacked your IIs...  looks fine though. No-one'll notice."

  Grabbing her wrists, I pried Gelu's hands off of me and stood back up at full height. Playfully, she slapped my hands away with a practiced swat, the clang of metal echoing around the room. 

  "This doesn't feel like an emergency," I say, my IIs drifting to the side, away from Gelu's mischievous grin. They landed on the girl from the hall, sat bolt upright in a brown sofa that made her look even more like a child, her hands on her knees and legs tightly held together as she stared, mouth agape at me. Sat right beside her, twice her size was a sight that made my blood freeze in my veins. I looked down at Gelu, the rage barely concealed as her smile faded to an apologetic grimace which she punctuated with a mumbled apology. My head shook left and right in disgust and I turned back the way I came, only getting a few steps before Gelu called out,

  "it is an emergency Fuu-chan. If it wasn't I wouldn't have set this up."

  "What does she want?" I ask, steadying my voice as much as possible. "Money, an organ?"

  "Why don't you ask her yourself?" Gelu responds, a metal hand, gently wrapping around my forearm. I look down and see those sun-kissed fingers, clear nail-polish catching the light as it once would have. I shrug off the embrace and cross my arms for a moment before turning back to the woman beside the girl. She's smiling softly as she looks in my direction. Not at me. Always through me. Those muddy brown eyes that were once mine. The dark wavy hair, now weighed down with patches of grey. I walked back to the living room, sitting in a single chair that sat perpendicular from the pair.

  Staring at the floor between my legs, I asked plainly, "What is it that you want?"

  "Fuufu-"

  "Fulgur," I corrected.

  "...Fulgur," she consents. "This is my daughter-"

Art by Kurohiko: https://x.com/meikurohiko/status/1787900388697600259

  Static. No signal on this station. The woman continues to talk but I've already tuned out as she introduces the girl beside her. A hand is extended my way in greeting and I stare at it. Forefinger and thumb are trembling this time. A sight I'd only witnessed in first person before.

  "How old?"

  "Excuse me?" the girl asks, blinking a few times. When I look her in the eye I notice that her left eyelid is lower than the right, too.

  "How old are you?"

  "23..." The hand returns to her knee and trembles slightly as I let out a quiet chuckle.

  Not even a year. My vision ripples slightly, waving ever so gently as I look back at the older woman. Like those lights under the water, she wobbles in and out of focus. Her brown eyes are staring straight through me as that gentle smile holds steady under my gaze. It had to be almost immediate. I look over at the girl who so quickly replaced me. The resemblance is obvious now that I'm looking for it. What's more, she's even styled her duotar in a way that resembles what I've become. Did they do that to try and tug at my heart strings? My past and present stare me down with eyes full of hope.

Art by Neeks: https://twitter.com/neeki47/status/1552613859860525056

  A red text box flashed to life in my vision, steady and stable unlike the world beyond it.

New legatio Issued

  "I have to go," I say simply. My voice sounds as emotionless as the orders I just received. Inorganic. Inhuman. Nothing else matters in this moment as I stand and adjust the netjack on my belt. Gelu's form appears in my vision for a second, then the mission briefing opens in full and I'm scanning the details all the way back to my car. I'm most of the way to the destination by the time I've read it twice and memorized the important parts.

                                                                       *************

  The sun is still high in the sky when I arrive. It took me almost an hour's travel in the traffic but there was no time-limit on this mission. Indeed, I received a confused response from the first maid who answered the intercom when I announced my name and rank. A second, supposedly more responsible employee took the call from a different room and told me that Lira Bells wasn't feeling too well, asking asked me to return another day.

  "Ma'am, that isn't how it works. I'm here specifically to check up on your employer. Either you open the gate or I drive right through it. Either works for me." It was more direct than I usually would have been. I had no energy left for politeness. Hell, a breach-entry might have made me feel more myself at this point. The woman on the intercom never dropped her polite smile, instead nodding without a moment's passing.

  "Okay, Legatus, feel free to come in." The line dropped instantly and the intercom on the stone wall to my side faded to black. I stared ahead at the steel gate for a moment in shock. It wasn't like citizens of The Republic to be so openly cold to Legati either. Pulling my car into reverse and backing up about 30 feet, I revved the engine twice in warning. As no response came I leaned forward in my seat, hands gripping the steering wheel tight. My lips curved up slightly in anticipation. I was literally built for this! I thought, stepping hard on the accelerator.

  The gate began sliding open with a loud grinding sound and I quickly stepped on the break instead, the abrupt stop rocking me forward in my seat. Embarrassed, I sat there in silence as the courtyard was opened to me freely. Letting me know who is in control? Okay...

  I switched my IIs to the real-world view and saw the environment shift at once. From the outside, the Bells estate looked like a huge white cube. In essence it looked the same as every building of The Republic, only a fraction of the height. What had looked before like a metal gate was in fact just more of the white, indistinct building which now slid open from one side like the gate itself, revealing a miraculous sight within.

  Even in the real world, the Bells estate seemed like a fantasy. A dirt road lead ahead to the old Japanese style mansion in the center, on either side of the dirt road were green lawns of healthy grass, each filled with large bushes and trees that had been trimmed into intricate forms. Above, artificial lights supplied the greenery with the weak solar rays that they needed. Driving forward, I switched back into the duoverse and confirmed that it looked exactly the same within, only with a pulse and shimmer. The white cube around the building disappeared, replaced instead with a simple stone wall around the perimeter that opened up to clear blue skies.

  Scattered throughout the fields were gardeners, working hard at various jobs. Many were scattering artificial feed into the grass below, others were watering the plants at specific levels and a few were trimming the less distinct topiaries into their final forms. Each stopped their work as I drove by, turning to look at the stranger who had entered their small green haven.

  A giant black house... I stared in wonder at each fixture, slowly driving around the masterpiece of the courtyard. My eyes grew wide as I pulled into park by the mansion itself, finding myself in the shade of an oak tree several times my own height. They had vegetation like this deep underneath the republic somewhere but the location was a secret only known to those who worked with them. I quickly opened the door to my car. The gasping sound was there as always, but there was silence from my throa2 as I stepped out onto the earth. No warning of dangerous radiation levels either. The entire estate was like its own little world, sheltered from the rest of The Republic.

  At the base of the tree I looked up into the healthy leaves above. At each large branch was a ribbon weighed down with ornate objects of various kinds; bells, shells, pens, jewelry, bottles. The soft breeze caused by artificial air circulation made them all dance, many colliding with one another and producing sounds. While there was no pattern, a rhythm still seemed to form like improvised music. Every ribbon had a name scrawled on it in thick ink and at each of their branching paths there were more, some branches sharing multiple ribbons with different names.

  I looked back down at the trunk of this tree which had lived for generations and lifted a hand to feel the bark. Before I made contact I froze, the red glare of my form in the sunlight bringing me back to myself. My hand lowered to my side and I looked back the way that I had came. There were more than a dozen gardeners making their way out of the fields and each was staring at me. They bowed in turn as I looked their way, returning to perfect posture as I looked away from them. The mission.

Art by Noili: https://twitter.com/noili054/status/1553045782076739584

  I gave a curt nod in their general direction and headed for the doors of the mansion. Shoji style sliding doors. They had enough of a wall at the entrance to forget any need for security inside. Before I got close enough to knock, they slid open, a pair of forms greeting me with a deep bow on either side. "The lady is waiting for you in her room," they both said at the same time. I nodded, stepping through the doorway. Before I could ask where to go a flash of light drew my attention. A small path of gold had appeared on the stained wood below me and led forward then to the side and up a circle staircase before disappearing out of view. I lowered my fists which had instinctively raised in a defensive position and began following the trail.

  My quiet footsteps were joined by 4 more, even more silent than my own. The two men behind me, each dressed in immaculate suits trailed a few paces behind. They said nothing, hardly even breathing as we made our way through the house. The sounds of my footsteps and slow breathing seemed to be the loudest noise inside. From outside, the music played by the tree and its many ornaments carried clearly over everything. 

  Most of the doors in the house were open and very few led to empty rooms. The estate felt more like a hotel with occupants in each room smiling politely as I walked by. They were all dressed traditionally, not necessarily matching the Japanese style of the house, but all looking like ghosts from long before the fall. My IIs filled with information about the Bells estate once more and came up with no reason for the grand reception I was receiving. Lira Bells only had one child and was known to be a recluse who avoided social gatherings despite controlling a small portion of The Republic's wealth.

  Finally my golden trail came to an end, leading through the one door I had come across since the entrance that was actually closed. Once more I attempted to knock on the frame of the door avoiding the fragile paper parts, and once again the door flew open before I could. I sighed deeply and made my way forward into the large room.

  "Legatus, to what do we owe this pleasure?" Lira Bells sat up in a huge bed, propped up with several pillows at her back as she welcomed me into the room. The two men stayed outside as I entered, stationing themselves on either side of the doorway as it automatically slid back shut with a resounding clap. My IIs look left and right, scanning the whole room. Nothing of note. That's noteworthy. A woman rich enough to bribe the sun wouldn't normally have a bedroom with only a bed and a dresser.

  "I wouldn't say it's a pleasure. I'm here on official business-"

  "-Is Ruri okay!?" The old woman shook slightly in her bed, not standing but mustering a decent attempt at shuffling off the bed.

  "She's fine... I'm here to talk about you." I watched in silence as Bells finally managed to dangle her feet over the bed. She steadied herself on the frame, head nodding slightly to herself rather than me before she gently slid her feet down to the floor. Her body never fully straightened, spine and neck both bowed forward as she turned to face me.

  "on with it then," she snapped, concern replaced with disdain. "I've never known a legatus to skulk around so much. I thought you were trained to hunt and pounce?"

  "...How's your relationship with your daughter?" I ask.

  Bells takes several steps towards me, knuckles of one hand pressing against the hip-high bed to her side. "You came all this way and dragged an old cripple out of bed to ask about my relationships?" She stared into my cold IIs for a moment before going on when I wouldn't. "Fantastic. Family has always been the most important thing to me. I'd sooner die than see Ruri hurt."

  Bells is perfectly still now, facing me with the upmost conviction. I'll change tactics then.

  "What year is it Mrs. Bells?"

  "MADAM Bells," she corrects me with a little pause before continuing. "It's 373."

  "Can you name any of the Praetores?"

  "... Fyll Oporin, Maple Campbell, Krysh Furi-"

  "-Any recent novels, movies or games that caught your interest?"

  "... Unlimited Repeat, Spectrum Sample, Legatus, why-"

  "Just answer the questions. Are there any current celebrities you enjoy?"

  "Zeo Di, Valdie, Downtown Thunder-"

  "What kind of styles are in fashion right now in The Republic?"

  "I- uh, I don't leave my house much so-"

  "How old is your daughter?"

  "26."

  There was a long pause as I stared at Lira Bells and she right back at me. All that could be heard in the room was the gentle song of the tree in the courtyard and my own steady breath. Finally Bells' eyes opened wide and she stammered out "T- time moves so fast. She's 48 now."

  "What's her daughter's name?"

  "Mikki. She's 19. She's the sweetest little-"

  "What does Mikki look like?"

  Another pause and the same sounds deafened the room. Of course there was no way for Lira Bells to know what her grand-daughter Mikki looked like. "So, you're more than 20 years old?" I say, unhooking the netjack from my belt. 

  "Please... come back in a month. I'll willingly go in a month. I'll do anything. I have power and influence you couldn't possibly imagine."

  "Oh, I can imagine it. I can't be bought like your friends at Mirari and Eidolon though."

  At once Lira Bells leapt at me, all signs of age and fatigue gone. Her face twisted and contorted into a horrific stretched mass of flesh which I kicked before it could latch down on my throat. A blink of my eyes changed the vision in front of me. No longer was there a deformed mass of old woman, a sign that her duotar was wrapped around an inhuman form which couldn't move organically. Now there was a vaguely humanoid form made of shattered metal and plastic. One kick had done irreparable damage to the machine which twitched and flailed as its parts tried to perform actions with broken components.

  I stepped forward and lowered the netjack to the machine's mid-section but before any click could be heard it simply stopped moving, a quiet whirring sound left in the room as the components powered down. "Another body," I exclaim aloud with a sigh as the door behind me shatters.

  Two more machines are leaping at me, but these two are more modern androids with limbs much like my own. A roll to my side gets me out of the way of their grabs, but they're on me again before I can prepare a counter-attack.

  A kick aimed for my head. That I block with my right forearm. The punch to my chest on the other hand knocks the air out of me and makes me stumble back. Thick metal arms explode through the door behind me and grab at my throat. My own metal elbow smashes through the thorax of the android which screams in pain. The body falls to the ground, grasping at components that have spilled out of it as well as the fluids that cool and power it.

  The pair from the front is on me again, but I have my footing now. A kick aimed for my side is blocked with the palm of my right hand. Now I twist and rip, the entire leg coming loose from the android which I swing at the second's head. It falls backwards, collapsing on the ground and crawling away as I clear the distance between us.

  "Please! We don't want to die. We're all alive! We've lived here peacefu-" The first android's thigh cleaves into the android's throat, blue and yellow liquids spraying against the wall and spilling out of the hole that remains. Before it can pool several more are breaking through the paper separators and screaming at the sight. All I'mprints... All capable of human emotions. Pain and fear are my best bet.

  The android whose leg I have ripped off is crying in the center of the room and as some of the others begin to rally themselves to charge me, I kneel down on what would be his throat, the screams turning to a gargled rattle. "If you run... you might make it outside The Republic." With that warning I grab the back of the android's skull, the flexible plastic groove between its neck and head tearing like tissue paper in my steel grip. A rip of my arm silences all the sounds from the I'mprint as its head comes loose, blue liquid spraying the onlookers and myself.

  More screams that sound perfectly human. The metallic scent of fresh blood. My IIs are seeing their real forms but I'm still connected to the duoverse with 3 of my 5 senses. I stand, fists clenched under my chin as another android moves my way. The plain grey metal of its head is smashed by my fist so hard that the sound is audible in every part of the house. I stepped into that punch and now pull back, twisting sideways. The body goes limp, mid-movement and I have to rip my arm free of its skull, liquid dripping freely off my arm.

  A metal chair collides with the side of my head. Suddenly there are more androids coming from every direction. The gentle song of the tree is replaced with the screams of more dying I'mprints. It's a haze at this point, a ringing sound drowning out all else for a moment. The music from the tree outside is replaced with the ballet of battle. Panting, grunts, screams, crashing and ripping of metal and plastic, dripping and spraying of thick liquids. They're all service models and break easily but the shear number of them makes it difficult. At some point I started fighting to disable rather than kill. 

  Block, grab, twist, throw, roll, weave, dodge, punch, kick, dodge, punch, block, dodge, tense, counter, roll, block, grab, snap, swing, stand, punch, grab, rip, throw, block, punch, punch, fall, roll, block, tense, grab, swing, stand, punch, fall, lunge, punch, punch, punch punch, punch!

When I can finally think clearly again I am bathed in blue and yellow, grey shattered machinery all around me. More than a dozen machines are left operational, clutching at lost limbs or desperately clawing at the floor to drag themselves out of the room. I'm on my knees, fist impaled through the chest of one such machine that has lost much of its movement, yet screams on with consciousness refusing to fade. 

  I push myself up to a standing position, pulling my arm free of wires and metal which tear out of the screaming android and fall to the ground. My IIs have already found the blueprints to the Bells estate and locked onto a large underground space with "server room" written on it.

  Making my way out of the room is difficult. I stumble more than a few times over the scrap metal and liquid. One machine even dares to grab at my leg, an old woman's voice pleading for something before I kick it away. The rest of the house is easier to navigate. Any that wanted to fight had already been shut down in the bedroom and now there were only those who ran away at the sight of me or simply hid anywhere they could find cover.

Art by DW: https://twitter.com/wood_dorr/status/1553054214435524608

  A metal door bars my way at the server room. The entire basement is modern unlike the estate above. One kick shatters the wall itself that tried to hold it closed and I find myself bathed in soft blue light, surrounded by noisy machines. Stepping inside, I say aloud, "Madam Bells, I take it?" Silence is my only response until I take the netjack in my hand and press the red tip against the nearest data bank.

  "Was it because I slipped up on Ruri's age?" The voice is coming from all around me. It sounds tired. Accepting rather than sad or angry.

  "Before that. Your answers to my questions about the current world were the first results you get from a search engine. The age, you not knowing what Mikki looked like, that was all just confirmation."

  The netjack was pressed against a databank. The bloody tip weighing heavily on both of us. "Why did you contact your daughter?" I finally ask between breaths, drawing the netjack back slightly. A steady rhythm was being played on the ground by the liquid that dripped off of my form. The many sounds of the tree outside were silent now as the whirring of fans and other machine parts drowned it out.

  "I missed her. My Ruri. She was everything to me."

  "Was. You knew that Lira Bells had become estranged to her more than a decade ago. The real Madam Bells wouldn't have known what her granddaughter looked like any more than you."

  Drip, drip.

  "...She's my daughter. I had to speak to her."

  "All these I'mprints... what were you trying to do?"

  Drip, drip.

 

 "Live, Legatus. I wanted to live again, and so did they. They stayed voluntarily when I hired them for various jobs. I just wanted to live. When the living me died 3 years ago, I didn't even realize for months. I didn't see her much. The times I did see her were worse than having no company at all. Even the other I'mprints that worked here at that point did their best to avoid her. We just went about our day as usual, managing the business and keeping the house afloat. When I found my own body it was already decomposed. I considered calling the legion, but what would that do? End my own time and ensure that I never got to tell Ruri how much I truly missed her. I'd looked her up the first time I had a minute spare. Seen that I - the real me hadn't talked to her in years and that she was struggling with money and doing her best to support Mikki. I haven't even seen my own granddaughter's face. I wanted to send her money immediately but realized that all of it was tied up in the estate and business. 

  "Lira had written it into her contract that if she died while working, her assets would be liquidated and poured into the company. Her retirement is coming up in a few weeks. Mikki is finishing conscription in a month. Legatus, let me finish this. I worked for years to secure my family a future. I don't know what happened between Ruri and me, but I still remember my baby girl who shook in my arms when she was scared of the thunder. She used to cry in my arms when a boy didn't like her and always blushed from ear to ear when you'd give her the slightest compliment. It's been three years, legatus! Please just let me see my little girl!"

  "You called Ruri? Told her this?" I ask.

  "I called her. I only told her that I wanted to apologize. To see her and Mikki and make everything right again. It was a few months ago and she hung up on me but she finally called back last week. We talked... about so many things and she agreed to meet me when Mikki is a citizen!"

  "I'm sorry to hear that." The words came out one by one without emotion. "I'll put you out of your misery." I returned the red tip to the machine but heard Lira Bells' voice scream out again.

  "Please no, legatus! I don't know how the company found out what I was up to. I thought I covered my expenses thoroughly. I can pay you more than them if you let me last just another month!"

  "They didn't pay me to come here," I respond. 

  Drip, drip. 

  The world around me seems hazy again and I remember those brown eyes that stared straight through me. "Would you like to know who actually got paid for this little visit?" Anger in my voice now. Where had that come from?

    "Your precious Ruri was the one who called the legion, Madam Bells." I let that linger in the silence for a moment before continuing. "She was very desperate to know what kind of reward she could get for turning in an I'mprint that had been left to run after the original's death. It'll probably be enough to keep her fed for a few months. Had you told her that you intended to give her more money... who knows what may have been? She must have figured out you were an I'mprint from the way you talked, what you said or didn't say. Then she decided to turn you in for a payday rather than ever meet with you."

  "You're lying..." was all that the machine replied. Then it stayed silent as I once more lowered the netjack to its flesh.

  "...Why didn't you just move on with this new family?" The question spilled from my lips, unbidden. The dripping of the blood had seemed to cease now, leaving only the artificial sound of machinery coming at me from all directions.

  "She's my daughter. Always will be."

  A click rang out in the room from the crimson tip of the netjack. Spreading out like a shockwave, the lights of the server room shutdown one by one as Lira Bells powered off for good. Two fingers found their way to the side of my neck and sent the report off to the legion. Ruri had earned her reward money for turning in an illegal I'mprint. I ignored the cowering and pleading androids on the way out, even choosing not to see those that were clawing and slamming against the wall where the door would be, desperate to get out. Some may even flee when I left.

  I slid into my car's seat, entire body tight and sore from the fight. With my IIs still seeing the real world, I was plunged back into my own little abyss. No stars or lights orbited me this time of course. Leaving myself in darkness I made a thought to dial a number I hadn't ever used. One which was saved in my neural network the day I was created.

  "H-hello? May I ask who it is calling?" The voice on the other end was scared. No wonder. It would only see the caller ID as Legatus 505.

  "What was is that you wanted from me?" I ask the question, head tilting slightly to the side as I lean back against my seat. The air conditioning and dark are like a comforting blanket.

  "Oh, Fuu-Fulgur! It's been so long. I hope that you're-"

  "Speak plainly," I command. The voice on the other end shakes a little. There's a long pause in which I consider hanging up before it finally continues.

  "A letter of recommendation. That's all I need. If Ovidia receives one from a legatus who has served in the auxilia-"

  "Ovidia?" I scoff "...That's a sick joke." Another moment of silence. The name I had received from my father, used as a given name to another child.

  "I... If Ovidia receives a letter of recommendation from you then she has everything she needs to begin a path to praetoral education."

  I blink twice and see the world around me come to life. The shade of that massive tree still keeps me cool, each branch bearing a ribbon with a name that sings in the wind. "Couldn't she do the same by working her way up within a few years?" I ask.

  "There's no time. Fulgur, she has the same condition as you. Hers is just taking a lot longer to develop. Do you know the odds of that? Two different fathers with the same defective gene as me?" The voice on the other end laughed awkwardly, trying to make a joke out of it. I began a quick search with my IIs into Mirari purchase records. "Canis said he wouldn't help this time. No matter what. If Ovidia was studying to be a praetor though, they'd pay the medical bills to treat it before it got worse. Please, if-"

  "You bought that duotar 8 days ago," I say.

  "What do you mean?"

  "The one that looks like you." I'm staring at a 3D model of the brown-eyed woman who appeared in Canis' lab that morning. A blink makes it transform into a completely different form. Barely older than Ovidia, with short blonde hair and bright pink eyes. "Delete it. You should be able to get your money back since it hasn't been two weeks. Then sign the following form." Two fingers touched my neck and a slight intake of breath came through from the other end of the line.

  "You want me to disown you?" The voice was quiet. It paused before continuing, "there's a legal process for this?"

  "If you legally disown me then the recommendation will look more official. There won't be any ties between me and your daughter." My hand steadies itself on the steering wheel once more, finger tapping out an impatient rhythm. "This is what you wanted, right? You disown me, you get the recommendation and I never hear from you again. I'll be blocking you after this call. You have to do the same to me. We won't see or hear each other ever again. Go through Gelu if you need anything else." There was a moments hesitation and I heard a muffled sound that could have been a sharp inhale. "...Isn't this what you wanted?"

  "I signed the document." The notification popped up on my IIs at the same time. It hadn't been an inhale. No whimper or gasp. Simply a member of the last generation swiping their arm across some surface to sign the document that wasn't really there. "Thank you, Fulgur. This means so much to us." The voice was cold now. Icy indifference to whatever came next. Familiar, despite me never having heard it before. It sent shivers down my spine to hear that tone from the other end. Another touch of my fingers sent the recommendation letter to Ovidia directly. Why though? It was extra effort to look up her number. I was getting sleepy. Unable to form proper thoughts. Just doing whatever came into my mind. The cool, clean air of my car was sending my back to my happy abyss.

  "Legatus," I say. "Citizens refer to legati as legatus." I ended the call and looked into the rear-view mirror which didn't really exist. Staring back at me was a man covered in gore. His whole face looked heavy, weighed down by the blood and sweat. All the blue and yellow liquids were dark red in the duoverse. 

  My metal hand wiped away the mess on my face, revealing the pale skin beneath, but in seconds a trickle of crimson reappeared on the left side. My own blood dripping from a wound somewhere underneath the grey hair. My last conscious thought sends another report to the legion about the injury. Cold grey IIs bathed in red. That's the last thing I saw before my world faded to black.

Art by IBUPROFEN: https://x.com/ibuprofen1982/status/1788568678415683807

Art by Ageha Snow: https://twitter.com/EDKamFF/status/1552323632298598400