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CC: Chapter 62
🕑 Added 2024-05-29 14:39:42 +0000 UTCThe mists of the Dao parted, and the world of snow melted away with it.
In its place, a chamber of chromium stretched out from XJ-V’s inert body, and her felt the distinct impression of something sharp being drilled into his head.
It took him a moment to understand that the implement of torture was not an object of pain but one meant for construction – it was a screwdriver.
His Creator was performing some adjustments.
“Knowledge Bank Check #12,” he heard his Creator say beside his ear. “Fact breakdown: The Dao.”
And XJ-V heard himself answer – lips moving mechanically to comply with the programming instilled in every wireframe and twinkling circuit mesh of his brain:
“A realm of infinite energy known as Qi, said to be the remains of the deities defeated by Yuwa, God of light and illumination. The Dao is a plane that can be inhabited for small periods by Cultivators trained to absorb and cultivate Qi through their Anima Cores, each ‘Dao-walk’ providing them with more chances to gain power and knowledge left behind by the Old Gods.”
He felt the screwdriver nick a particularly stubborn piece of circuitry, and his Creator withdrew, his pudgy nose covered in black oil and smears of Grey paint.
Like a feathered owl, contemplating his chick…
“Erase all instances of designation ‘Yuwa,” he said, donning a pearl-white lab-coat and heading for the door to the outside world. “When they see you, they’ll know we don’t need that old charlatan anymore.”
XJ-V felt his head stiffen on his Creator’s table, his eyes twitching to bring the vision of the old man into focus.
“Confirm wipe,” he asked.
“Memory wipe complete,” XJ-V answered obediently. Then, as the old bird began to twist the valve of his laboratory door. “Creator – my memory banks indicate that only those creatures born with a soul are able to enter the Dao.”
The scientist stopped in his tracks, pausing at the door.
“Yes, XJ-V,” he said. “That’s correct.”
“I have no historical data regarding this designation,” the Cog replied. “Requesting data transfer: ‘soul.’”
The XJ-V of the Dao saw what his old form could not have seen – could not have known. Before his eyes his Creator’s shoulders sagged, and he pushed open the door without looking back.
“Request denied,” he said.
…
The Dao’s energy blurred the room and XJ-V watched its walls of chrome bleed away, returning in the next moment that the strange force beyond space and time deigned to show his curious mind.
He was crouched beside an array of different machines, each one stranger than the last.
One of them, a four-legged critter composed of steel, jumped up on his lap and started licking at his cheek with a titanium tongue. A shiny collar glistened on its neck, inscribed with the letters ‘XJ-I’.
“Meet your oldest Brother,” his Creator told him from behind a glass wall at the end of the room. “XJ-V, XJ-I. XJ-I, well, you can’t quite understand the sentiment, but…it seems he likes you!”
The dog-machine continued licking at XJ-V’s cheek as he looked on, utterly befuddled. He then flexed a hand, his instincts telling him to perform an action that until this moment was utterly alien to him.
The metal dog flopped to the side, kicking its paws in the air and exposing its chrome belly.
When XJ-V began to scratch away at the shining surface of its stomach, it let out a satisfied bark.
“Fascinating,” he heard his Creator say. “No fear-response or destructive impulse generated upon contact with other lifeforms. It seems he recognizes his own kind. A marked improvement. Will commence humanoid trials and progress to human interaction with all due haste.”
XJ-V looked up at his Creator and, though the Cog trapped in the dream of the Dao could not see his face, he knew he was smiling in the moment.
“Qing said I was a fool for testing the waters with a dog-template. Hah!” his Creator cried. “But the science of man’s best friend is a law that has never been forgotten by the sands of time. Look at you – simulating happiness for the first time in you short life all because of your canine brother. Even Cog dogs have such an incredible knack for stimulating emotional growth. If XJ-I was built with the intention of being our Vessel…well…this would be a very different story, indeed.”
Well Arha, now we know why you enjoy my petting, XJ-V thought as the vision began to bleed into another. It looks like I had plenty of practice before we met…
…
[MEMORY CORE TRANSFER COMPLETE]
“Fighting styles,” his Creator barked. “Begin data breakdown.”
“Prancing Crane,” XJ-V answered. “Hawk’s Talon. Tiger’s Claw.”
“Demonstrate.”
XJ-V felt his limbs move unconsciously as he obeyed the command.
“Very good,” his Creator told him. “XJ-V, the world is not ready for you.”
The Cog felt himself swell with pride.
“Rest now. We’ve got a full day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“Creator?”
The scientist blinked up at his bowing warrior.
“This unit has a question.”
“This again?” his Creator sighed. “XJ-V, we have discussed this. I do not want to initiate shutdown mode, but if you won’t follow a simple instruction –“
“What is your name?”
The scientist stopped, his words completely cut by the simplicity of the notion that this thing of steel had just asked him something so base, so mundane.
“Hm,” he said. “Do you know something? Out of all of them, you are the one that just won’t stop surprising me.”
The Creator walked right up to his creation’s face and extended a hand.
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s try this. My name is Janus. Janus the Second of the House of…Greywall. What’s yours?”
“This unit is designated XJ-V,” the Cog replied, extending his hand and gripping his Creator’s with gumption, all the while flashing a smile that was all too human.
“No hesitation…” Janus said. “Remarkable…”
“If you do not mind me saying so,” XJ-V continued. “Your name is an unusual one. For a human.”
Janus the Second of the House of Greywall’s smile only grew to hear this from his machine.
“Your perception more than makes up for your lack of conversational tact,” he said. “Maybe one day…when you’re ready…”
Even from within the realm beyond earth, beyond memory and time, XJ-V could feel the warmth radiating from his Creator’s hands. He longed to reach out and feel that warmth in the present, but touched nothing but melting metal as the vision faded away to another.
…
The room that shone before XJ-V’s eyes now was barely recognizable from what it was before.
He was sitting upright, now, his hands clasped together beneath a table covered with a polka-dot cloth. Upon the walls of the normally drab laboratory were a series of banners bearing a stylized #1, similarly cluttered with color.
In front of him sat a luxuriously decorated cake, emblazoned with the initials of his name in grey icing: ‘XJV’.
Then an obnoxiously loud device was popped in front of his face, sending a flurry of confetti into his eyes.
“Happy birthday, XJ-V!”
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROTHER COG.”
“Woof!”
Three beings sat around the edges of the table. At the far end sat Janus, resplendent in an old suit and tie. Beside him, the dog, nosing a selection of nuts and bolts around on a plate. And to his left – another Cog. One that was clearly another prototype. Its form was naught more than a metal skeleton with blazing red eyes, and when it spoke, it spoke with an almost murderous cadence.
“A whole year of astounding and confounding me,” Janus said at the end of the table. “You’ve even managed to bond with XJ-II in a way your Brothers never could. Not that I blame them. His form is a touch more melodramatic than what I was initially going for. The old combat models were durable. They had their uses…but they aren’t a suitable vessel. I should’ve went back to the drawing board from the very beginning.”
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROTHER COG. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.”
“He knows, XJ-II. It’s okay.”
XJ-V watched in confusion as Janus scooped up a chunk of the cake emblazoned with his initials and began munching on it with glee.
“Data recall successful…” the Cog said. “Designation ‘birthday’: a celebration of the annual survival of a human being.”
“When you put it like that,” Janus said, stuffing his face with a mouthful of sponge. “It really does make them sound rather pathetic.”
“Why?’ XJ-V asked.
“Oh. Well, humans tend to enjoy the little things in life. I think that’s what makes them so interesting. They endure the toughest of conditions and traumas with only their odd little eccentricities to guide them. It’s fascinating to-“
“No,” XJ-V interrupted. “Why celebrate this unit’s birthday. This unit is not human.”
Janus coughed through his sponge-cake, both of the other Cog’s swiveling to look at him as though they too, in their own ways, demanded an answer.
“THIS UNIT DOES NOT RECALL HAVING A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED,” XJ-II roared.
“Woof woof!” XJ-I beeped by way of affirmation.
“Your Brother is different,” Janus told them. “This unit – XJ-V – he is the true vessel. Soon, he’ll have to live out there in the human world. He’ll have to meet humans, understand them, and appreciate all their strange little habits. All their…peculiarities. This may look like fun and games, but its really very serious training.”
XJ-V watched through the blinds of the Dao as Janus popped another handful of cake into his mouth, smiling at the taste of his own meal. Only now could the Cog understand two things – one, this man was far happier than he’d been when he first saw him in the grey mists of his memory.
And two - there was something odd about that cake. It seemed strangely…metallic?
Such concerns were not those shared by his former self, however. The Cog could feel desire burning in his breast, and so when his Creator deigned to speak again, he knew what the outcome would be before the Dao showed him.
“Birthday celebrations,” Janus said. “Are followed by an exchange of gifts. I’m afraid I can’t give you anything physically that would be more valuable to you than what I’ve already given. But I can give you knowledge. Ask me anything within the acceptable parameters of your programming, and I’ll answer you.”
The Cog felt something jump start in his gut – a flickering of light that even his Creator, by the widening of his eyes, did not realize was possible.
“Is there a soul within this unit?”
Janus narrowed his eyes, teeth flaring against the chrome surroundings.
“I thought I’d ironed that glitch out…”
Before either could say more, XJ-II’s head began to twitch uncontrollably.
“Brother?” XJ-V asked. “What-“
“SOUL. SOUL. SOUL…FAILURE!”
The hulking machine suddenly gave a lurch, his eyes blazing and buzzing like some alarm system was going off inside him.
XJ-V watched Janus practically throw himself at the machine before XJ-II began pounding his powerful fists on the table, XJ-I barking all the while.
“No!” Janus cried. “XJ-II: shut down. Initiate shut down!”
But the prototype did not comply. He continued bashing its limbs against the table, muttering the word that had sent him into his frenzy.
“FAILURE,” He bleeped, smashing its head into the table with such force that he split it in half and began to beat himself against the steel floor instead. “FAILURE. FAILURE. THIS UNIT IS A FAILURE. CANNOT CULTIVATE. CANNOT ENTER DAO. THIS UNIT WAS NOT THE ONE. THIS UNIT WAS NOT WHAT WAS NEEDED. FAIL. FAIL. FAIL. FAIL. FA-“
The lambent red eyes of the beast suddenly bleeped off, and he fell on the floor, inert.
XJ-V stared with abject horror at the image of Janus standing above his brother, a piece of sparking wires in his hand.
He had clawed them from the broken machine’s neck, with strength that went beyond that of a human…
“No more,” he said, throwing the shards of his creation away. “I don’t…I don’t know how you do it. But that question is not for you. It…it can’t be you that asks it.”
XJ-V shook his head. “Janus, why is this question forbidden to me? You have given this unit so much knowledge. Why do you deny me this?”
“Because,” the tired scientist replied. “It is a fools errand. It is a question that is not for you. Not for us…”
XJ-I had started to mewl beside his broken brother. The dog looked up at its master with sad chrome eyes.
“Enough,” Janus said, reaching for XJ-V’s shutdown switch. “It…it is just an error. I’ll fix it. I…I have to fix it.”
And the Cog watched as his world plunged into a darkness that was somehow deeper than he’d ever felt before.
