Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 25 - Mind Loss
They were already in their exoskeletons, the one K-Rox chose, resembled a thirty metre long salamander. Its body was segmented in a series of wide, articulated metal panels, leading up to a triangular head set with eyes the colour of glowing coals, and terrible jaws.
K-Rox could feel that he had control of various legs and appendages, he had been standing on his hind two legs with his tail trailing behind him. Now he pitched forward and stood low on the floor, balanced on six metallic, armoured legs. The game used his empLink codes to create the feeling of total immersion, K-Rox slowly cycled through the various sensors and weapon systems. He flexed his new body, moving limbs in a synchronous silent ballet.
He looked over at his drop-partner stood twenty metres to his left, the skeleton he’d used resembled a kind of folding tank. K-Rox watched as his partner went through a similar systems check, pieces of the tank extending and unfolding, till it was twice its original ten metre length, and five metre height.
Another alarm sounded inside K-Rox’s head, though he now felt this sensation through a new, as-yet-unnamed body part. The salamander started going into an automatic launch pattern, he sensed his drop-partner’s tank doing the same thing. K-Rox became aware of tethers reaching out from the floor and securing him in place, at the same time the giant bay doors dropped silently open.
The planet that gave the game its name revealed itself below them filling the enveloping horizon, K-Rox barely had time to take in the view before he felt the tethers below him tighten and pull him back on invisible rails, less than half a second later he had been catapulted from the ship and was piercing his way through the planet’s atmosphere.
Via newly acquired senses, K-Rox felt them all around him, thousands of orange flames tore bright scars in the gun-metal grey skies of Krusher9. Each blazing smudge of fire signifying another terrifying mechanised exoskeleton, preparing to wreak havoc on the planet below.
As they fell, K-Rox attempted to get used to his new body, he realised he was curled into a ball, his flat, wide tail curled up enough to tuck his head underneath. Though it was only a head in name, for he no longer felt that his primary senses were stored there, instead he had an omnidirectional presence, ready to shoot off into whatever direction he needed to.
Just as he wondered why he wasn’t spinning, K-Rox became aware of a thin, triangular piece of material protruding from his back, it pointed towards the planet and seemed to be keeping him steady. As he let his awareness wash over the exoskeleton he came across two pairs of tiny engines going through a series of preprogramed burns.
K-Rox pondered for a moment at how strange it felt to have engines, they felt as natural a part of him as his hands, or at least how his original hands felt. He didn’t actually possess what would be considered as hands, more like claws and various grabbers and pincers.
He wondered how much control he had over the flight plan, he suspected that this part of the game played like an intro sequence, however it was worth a check.
He reflexively accessed all of his onboard data, it came in at a frightening rate, his mind felt like it had compartmentalised into a thousand pieces, with each tiny portion processing giga-streams of what seemed to be nonrelated data. All at once K-Rox was aware of how fast he was falling, the exact sequence of engine burns left and how much fuel each one was going to use, along with a history of the burns made since leaving orbit.
On top of that K-Rox was experiencing the surrounding landscape and atmosphere through around four dozen senses, he could tell what the ambient temperature was on the cliffs to the south of the forest he was descending towards.
He knew the varying air temperatures and the exact wind speed of the gentle south-westerly breeze that intertwined, and played an invisible dance as it blew its way along the meandering river.
He knew the exact content of the air around him for several kilometres, he felt his consciousness expanding further as a burst of thirty three miniature spy drones issued themselves from various tiny nascelles about his body.
He was aware of the microwave storm that he could see 387.9253 kilometres away was due to an epic battle happening between his comrades and the evil mechanical ones that would kill us and harvest our children . . .
K-Rox could feel his humanity slipping away, it simply was not possible to carry on having human thoughts, feelings, nothing he had know before felt relevant to anything he was experiencing now. He felt the tendrils of his former mind retracting back towards a primeval centre in his brain, K-Rox focused on the four thousand and eighty six signals that hung in the 4D space that was his electronic brain.
He sent a signal to them all and at that point let out a scream, had he a human face, it would have been twisted in gleeful and maniacal terror.
“COMRADES! FOR THE CAUSE WE FALL EITHER TO OUR DEATH, OR TO VICTORY!”
His human mind would not have been able to decipher the returning signal, his machine mind had no such problem in separating out each of the four thousand and eighty six voices' screamed replies.
“TO VICTORY!”
Previous Chapters
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 24 - The Immorality Of Krusher9
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 23 - Descent On Krusher9
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 22 - The Mars Problem
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 21 - Thought Patterns
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 20 - Reality Dysfunction
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 19 - The Lost Scream
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 18 - The empLink Story
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 17 - A Problem With Time
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 16 - Neither Here Nor There
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 15 - At The Edge Of Madness
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 14 - A Sense Of The Real
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 13 - The Search For Truth
Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 12 - Empires
Original artwork by @nekromarinist
Original words by Cryptogee
Today you are throwing your chapters out in no time! :)
The energy of this chapter feels very accelerating and accumulating.
The fact that K-Rox feels the engines to be a natural part of his exoskeleton body very much shows that Light energy is the essence of a physical density body.
"K-Rox felt his Humanity slipping away".
Very well expressed indeed. Who knows? Maybe he'll later don't want to return into his Human body, so enchanted he is by his clunky and cumbersome robot body ;)
Yeah, I felt that these 2 went together and so wanted them to be read immediately. I have another couple of chapters lined up, and I almost posted them as well! #Impatient :-)
Cg
Don't wear yourself out! :)
Oh boy, K-Rox goes to war. This has gotten quite interesting. I hope Krusher9 does not destroy him.
Or damage him irreparably, he has never known war . . .
Cg
Hmm... That is a scary thought. I thought he was a fighter.