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121. Escaping Prison
🕑 Added 2024-01-03 21:08:23 +0000 UTC"Greetings, Magnus LeRoy, Cordell Lovecraft, and Eliza Drennek. I'm Liam Cram a Homo Deus, I'm known as the All-Father on Pandora. I have come to be the conqueror of this star system and bearer of knowledge on the greater expanse of the Milky Way.", after those words left Eric's mouth a long moment of silence followed where only the sound of heavy breathing and heartbeat could be heard in the room above.
It was broken by none other than the one in control of Eric's body as he puppeteered it around like the mindless meat puppet that it currently was.
"No words, not a single one? That's quite anticlimactic but I can understand. This is a lot to take in at once but time is of the essence and I cannot wait for everyone to come back to the world of the living.", the alien intelligence calling itself Liam said using Eric's mouth with this same unsettling tone of voice.
Then it lifted one hand, the fingers covered by malevolent black roots that spun around like tendrils they grew and grew until they shot outward grasping the drone that Cordell had been controlling, causing the prodigious scientist to let it go while his fascination only grew as he disconnected himself.
He knew very well that this 'Homo Deus' could play with technology if the current military state of the world and the Internet were any indication. Right now it could destroy every major and minor city of every country and nothing could stop it.
As for himself and his less organic bits, he was paranoid and the synthetic part of his brain worked in separate wavelengths and had many, many firewalls. However, it did little to suppress the growing mix of excitement and fear in his literal heart of steel as he held serious doubt that his method to stop being hacked would be of any help.
"What are you doing to my son!?", Eliza screamed and ran up to the holoscreen, her face both red with furry and ashen with dread, both cybernetically modified men had their eyes widened at that but couldn't do much to stop her as she continued to hurl threats and insults at what might very well be the actor to humanity demise.
"Nothing irreversible I promise Eliza, I can regrow bodies from fingers and reincarnate people even without their body. Eric Drennek is currently in a dream-induced coma while I borrow his body. Do not fret when I'm done he will be back to normal. Though I'm a patient and understanding man, I know it is hard but please do act rational, it is for the best of everyone.", it said, turning its entire focus on her, an ambivalent smile on the slowly disappearing face of her son, it seemed to have made her shut up or it was exhaustion with horror, likely both and more.
'If I didn't know who she was I might even feel pity but still what I'm doing is not morally commendable.', Liam thought with a slight frown on Pandora but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs and Eric was one of such eggs.
Though using the word breaking might be excessive, the Homo Deus didn't do any harm, at worst the young human would have minor trauma and depression. Nothing therapy and time in rehabilitation couldn't heal, the young man would be handsomely rewarded for his involuntary sacrifice. But it was understandable for a parent even if an abusive negligent rule would worry in some strange twisted way about their child's wellbeing.
Then the partially zombified body lifted another arm, then planted the pinky finger into the skull of her son making her cry even harder as the worst flashed before her eyes. The alien was opening the skull to the brain by a few centimeters and connecting the drone to the implants using those same root tendrils with the addition of living and flowing silver never seen until now. Luckily for Eliza, it was mostly hidden though what was a boon for one was a curve for another and Cordell very much wished to be able to see.
"Wouldn't it be wise to immediately disconnect this part of the facility and everything within?", Cordell asked his eyes locked into what the strange extraterrestrial parasite was doing, various ideas of what it was doing flowing in his mind and he had little doubt the creature wanted to escape, and was going to succeed in doing so without immediate action.
"No, it will only insignificantly slow him down while also risking antagonizing him to an unknown degree. And I doubt it would truly be of any help, he hacked the most secure system on the planet and the only reason it wasn't done here in parallel is that Uthopéa is isolated from the greater whole and every part of it follows this pattern.", Magnus said calmly, well as calm as one could be in such a situation even when being an individual such as him.
He wasn't going to fight, this was the alien that stopped his company on Pandora and now for all intent and purpose could destroy humanity on Earth. But it was within his calculation from the moment he learned of this alien.
Fictions did a very bad portrayal of a more advanced civilization and a technology gap of such degree couldn't be breached with hope, loyalty, and dreams without exceptional conditions which weren't here unlike on Pandora.
As such the oldest man alive decided he wasn't going to fight back against such a foe. Some individuals would say this an act of cowardice and the highest betrayal to humanity then those individuals could die for all he cared. Intellectually deficient people held no right to life or choice for that matter.
He couldn't even fight back if he wanted since he likely was hacked too, it didn't please him but he could accept reality and follow the most reasonable approach that would lead to the less casualty of both human and material nature. He was working to not get humanity to become a footnote of history.
"Wise decisions, like before Magnus, surrendering will always be the correct one in the face of overwhelming power while no alternative exists. Emotion should not blind a leader of his or her duty to his or her people and choosing their massacre for something as little as pride would be proof such a position was not one he or she deserved.", the creature of dark root said, its voice distorted into something deep and inhuman yet the voice of Eric could still be heard.
'Before?', both Cordell and Eliza caught on to that but only the former was in any state of mind to understand the implication, and what it meant was that this non-carbon-based lifeform had been in contact with the RDA anterior to this meeting.
Logic considering it said it was related to Pandora but the surrendering part was puzzling and opened another can of worms as to what was exactly happening trillions of kilometers away. It was likely that the entirety of the expedition sent was either partially dead, absorbed, or enslaved. Or worse.
"I would appreciate a meeting to be organized between my person and your kind's leaders. In flesh, blood, and bones, of course, I know that any other way will prove to be an arduous task to bring any result. Toothless and declawed you may be I know human and how you react, I could be considered as one until my Apotheosis.", the entity said rather casually as it finished the connection between the young man's brain it was controlling and the drone entering the system very easily.
Though what it-he said was enough to throw them for a loop, with everything else. It was too much all at once even for Magnus and so he focused on what he deemed important and the supposed humanity of this alien was of no importance here.
"My most sincere apology for my coming insolence All-Father.", the CEO of the RDA began his tone of respectful and quaint, "What is asked is not out of my power but only a very few would agree and this will be a lengthy and complicated process. I fear such a meeting will not be able to be done in a diplomatic setting in the foreseeable future."
"Verily but that's only if their consent is even required in the equation or their lives for that matter.", Cordell added with a loud mumble and the immediate focus he got from the body of ebony blackthorns caused him to almost leap away in instinctual fright.
"Great minds think alike.", Liam complimented ominously, something that was quite exceptional and deserved considering this human at least in Psionic and its various interactions was better than him before Ascension.
From what he garnered Cordell Lovecraft was one of the smartest humans in all of the species' recorded and unrecorded history. The lack of great morals was not of much importance for Liam as long as it could be reigned in later, the fact it was only out of necessity helped. He would be lenient but there was a limit.
And Magnus broke those limits by an exorbitant degree but for all his faults and the atrocities he had committed he was no fool either, and calling him otherwise out of biases would be lying. You don't live as long as he did and gain such power to be considered one of the most powerful men by being less than average, his wits were just not placed on hard science.
Maybe the man himself wasn't going to live beyond Earth's conquest but his experience could still be taken and used and Liam didn't think Magnus would care. He seemed past the point of caring and was more of a broken machine working toward a preset goal with not all that much enthusiasm.
This complement however would only hit later as for now something else grabbed the humans' attention. The heavily reinforced and isolated chamber below them had moved, alarms set to warn about this exact event not turning on.
The room held by magnetism shifted toward one of the lead-reinforced walls and the one that had was hidden within, then it connected as the wall shifted. The door opened to multiple highly secured smaller rooms that Eric's body simply walked through, each door opening with a flick of fingers one after another all the while the camera in their room followed him as he moved as if he owned the place.
There weren't any truer statements than this one.
From then on Liam advanced in the labyrinthine pure white corridors, the sound of metal clicking against stone muffled to a few meters by the soundproof nature of the corridor as he looked around with curious if critical eyes.
He followed a seemingly random path in the labyrinth of clear light and far too clean air avoiding SecOps guards with ease Magnus ordering them to not fire. But at some point, a confrontation became impossible to avoid and the sound of heavy assault rifle firing echoed.
A guard had panicked at the sudden appearance of what could only be described as a monster and fired his entire magazine.
Within the room, Eliza screamed at the sight of her son being shot in the head to only realize in confusion just like the guard who shot the body of Eric that all the bullets enough to go through tank armor had been deflected by a limb of black metallic roots covered in a silvery liquid.
His immediate reaction out of thousands of hours of both training and fieldwork was to take his small arm alas for him it was not to be. The thorny glowing figure had moved, one arm exploding outward into hundreds of roots and one thin one pierced through his helmet into his brain forcibly knocking him out.
"Oh my god! Did it kill him?", Eliza was horrified that her son was forced to kill.
"He, I'm not a mindless object. No, he will awaken, I did not kill him, only separated and overloaded some nerves in the basal forebrain.", Liam said and from the vital it was the truth, it was as if the guard brain had shut down without anything else or side effect.
That was rather simple for him, if somewhat delicate, each brain varied by individuals, and influencing the wrong neuron could prove fatal at worst or crippling at best if he botched things up. Even if either state wasn't the end for Liam.
Then he added, "I do not wish to bloody these innocent hands, could it be possible to order this guard to go away?"
"Yes, my apology All-Father.", Magnus said hastily, "Every SecOps within Biotech Aether, this is Magnus LeRoy informing you of a sudden change, an override of your schedule. I will not repeat myself, head back to your respective quarters with great care, and do not move under any circumstance scurry from them. Any failure to uphold my words will be severely admonished."
"Good.", Liam answered and entered an elevator that appeared out of thin air from the pure white walls. The following minutes were excruciatingly tense for Magnus, Eliza, and Cordell as what could be considered a deity moved freely, and not only did he do so but he advanced toward their location.
Ultimately the door opened and they made eye contact, ethereal silver irises behind pulsating roots gazed at them for the longest second in their life then Liam seemingly lost interest.
"Greetings again even if it remains far from being in person.", Liam said with an invisible smile.
"As I have said a meeting will be held between the most powerful figure of your time.", he pressed on before leaving a hand and in glad of bluish-white light a four-legged creature appeared, its body slick and body built for being extremely adapted.
'Is that teleportation? What does it use? Does it function based on this same alien substance? Very likely.', Cordell thought at the sight and only grew in interest as the four-legged creature was sucked inward indicating the likely use of wormholes in the displacement process. It was truly fascinating, but every bit equally terrifying.
The next instant the four-legged horse-sized metal creature reappeared but this time with someone and someone quite important. This someone was no other than the President of the New United States implant Michael Reynold whose usually composed self broke down as he screamed quite eloquently. At first, it was outrage with confusion in the President's voice but it soon turned to the highest level of terror.
"What the actual fuck!?"
Comments
Deathknight134
"what or doesn't wasn't pre" this sentence cut off at the end
