Previously on Farima: Part 1 - Project Maximus, Part 2 - Project Farima, Part 3 - Change of Plans

PART 4 - THE MAN WITH NO NATION

Ta-Seti Enduri typed expeditiously at his workstation that overlooked a massive factory down below - fully automated. The facility was three hundred and sixty feet in width and twice the length of a football field at seven hundred and twenty feet long. It was located in a flat, shrub-filled valley eighty miles south-east of Dallas, Texas with no sign of civilization for miles.   

Six screens, three on the bottom and three on top, were spread out in a semi-circle around him. Made of a translucent elastic composite material that was not just flexible, but also nigh unbreakable; Ta-Seti could see all of the important information he required on a daily basis. He had access to live news feeds and was constantly linked to the AugNet - a quantum internet that allowed for interactions in augmented reality and not just on screens as the 'old heads' once thought were cool. The AugNet provided for augmented social media that allowed its users to participate in dialogue's and discussions in augmented reality worlds in three dimensions. Ta-Seti was monitoring the AugNet closely on this day. 

 He clicked a video and instead of simply playing, a flash shot out of the computer screen and Ta-Seti watched as everything in a one hundred foot radius was transformed into the immediate area outside of the entrance to the Ark of Endonis through augmented reality technology. The translucency of the A.R. image could be shifted back and forth within a range so that he wouldn't see his factory at all if he didn't want to. This was A.R. technology through computers, different from the A.R. technology of New Manden that relied heavily on contact lenses and even bionic eye implants. 

Ta-Seti scoffed at the thought of New Manden's technology. Anger and hatred consumed his mind as he watched a reporter relay the news from earlier in the day. "We are being told from sources inside the Endonis Collective that they have not yet figured out the source of these recent attacks, but that they have a short list of potential threats that they are looking into. The death toll of the second bombing has now been increased to eight. I repeat, eight people are now dead as a result of the second explosion, not the first according to the spokesman for the Endonis Collective." 

Ta-Seti cut off the video and walked to the edge of the second floor platform that his workstation was located on. He placed his hands on the railing and gazed out into the sea of moving parts that was his android army. The factory was ran by androids for the purpose of building androids of all types. For fighting, for working or for testing...androids didn't argue and never got tired.   

They are the perfect tools to be used. The perfect weapons of war. Who cares about human evolution when the future is robotics and trans-organic life. Life beyond flesh and bones. Ta-Seti thought as he watched synthetic, life-like tissue being placed over top a nano-metallic android skull on a factory table on the first floor beneath him. You're not the only one working on cheating death Khalil Buhari and pretty soon New Manden will not be able to protect you from me. 

Ta-Seti turned a corner and began descending down a series of steps that led to the first floor. He stopped at the bottom  and marveled at the ever-expanding complex in front of him. To his left, massive self-flying airships were being constructed that could carry dozens at a time, and to his right stood a small battalion of heavily-armored Titans. Titans were so new, they had never actually been deployed yet. Standing over nine feet tall, the massive bipedal battle androids were designed to cause mass panic in any opposing force. To the casual observer they stood mighty like giants of old fables, but underneath they had a highly valuable metal alloy skeletal structure. Their skeletal structure and layered internal casing was made of a titanium-carbyne nano-layered composite material. It made a single Titan the most indestructible mobile war machine ever built. Titans carried high-velocity auto cannons with interchangeable weapons settings that weighed nearly four hundred pounds - impossible to lift by actual humans. 

However, directly in front of Ta-Seti stood his primary weapon of choice - his state-of-the-art class three Deep Cover Infiltrator androids. Many called them 'Trojans' as a nickname, he called them his equalizers. 

There was a metallic thickness to the air, the smell of burning metal and - something else. Ta-Seti didn't know what, but he felt like he could smell the very smoke smoldering at the Endonis Collective Business Complex. He wore a black visor that covered his eyes, his once beautiful eyes that were destroyed with half his face left disfigured after the infamous Battle of Charlotte. He could see within his visor that it was eleven at night...his expected guest was late. 

The moment that thought crossed his mind, one of his security androids came to him with a message. "Ta-Seti, your guest Marko Callistan has arrived."

"Finally. Let him in." Ta-Seti nodded at the android. 

Marko Callistan was one of the highest-ranking members of the plutarchy that ran the New American States. A collection of states that maintained their alliance with the old American system after the Battle of Charlotte and the signing of the detente with New Manden. His pockets were deep, some of the deepest in the world, and Ta-Seti knew he had something the plutarchy needed. Something of very high value. 

Marko walked in with his chin held high and his arms folded behind his back, barely noticing his surroundings. He was flanked by a squad of heavily-armored soldiers clad in red and white armor - the colors of the Knights of the White Rose. Marko wore a service dress uniform typically worn by the militaristic, plutocratic nobility of the N.A.S. The uniform consisted of a red dress shirt with gold trimmings and buttons with a gold collar. A golden rose was emblazoned on the right side of the shirt - one of many symbols of the Knights of the White Rose which served as the militant arm of the N.A.S. His pants were white, with a thick red line going down the side; he also wore boots that added two inches to his already six foot two frame. 

The emissary of the plutarchy spoke softly. "Nice to see you again Ta-Seti. I see the billions in funding have gone a long way. I'll never understand the appeal of being out in the middle of nowhere though. I told you that the capitol in Denver would be more suiting for you."

"Yes, and I told you that I like my solitude. There's no reason for me to have to constantly look over my shoulder way out here." In reality, Ta-Seti knew the hatred against people who looked like him was intense in Denver...the city that became the capitol of the N.A.S. after the loss of Washington D.C. to the damned socialist rebels.   

"You called me out here," Marko leaned against one of the work tables and motioned to his soldiers to relax from their aggressive stance, "so what can I do for the scientist revolutionizing the military of the New American States?"

"I assume you've been monitoring the AugNet today?"

"Of course Ta-Seti. Good work in Manden City."

Ta-Seti nodded. "It's just the beginning. I'm prepared to initiate the next phase of our plan. Everything here is just about ready to go." 

Marko turned his head to the side and folded his arms in front of his torso. "I've always wondered what motivates you and your hate for your people. I mean yes, the Battle of Charlotte - your injuries - certainly bad and painful I'm sure..."

"That traitorous bastard Khalil Mundari ruined everything. My family is gone, my friends are gone...my entire way of life was ruined. Oh by the way, they're not my people."

"Well I'm not your people either Ta-Seti and will never be. Your features alone make you impolite to be around in most cities in the N.A.S." 

"Let's cut the irrelevant talk Marko, you need something from me and I need something from you. I can be a mercenary scientist for the rest of my life for all I care. I don't need acceptance from the N.A.S. and definitely don't need it from the traitors of New Manden. I have an android army here that can topple entire governments...so protection is the least of my worries. If I'm going to crush the Endonis Collective for you...I need something more than money and protection that I already have."

Marko rolled his eyes. "What did you have in mind?"

"I want you to talk to the families of the plutarchy - all of the oligarchs. Tell them to make me Sector Chief." Ta-Seti spoke with a determination that went unnoticed. A Sector Chief was a title given to those who were essentially Governors in the old traditional sense before the Second Civil War. Once becoming a Sector Chief, the person and their families were inducted into the plutarchy and would become the beneficiary of billions in wealth by default. 

A loud series of laughs rang out inside the factory. Marko Callistan could barely keep a straight face as his soldiers broke all levels of decorum along with him. "A Sector Chief...you?!" Marko bent over in laughter. 

"I'd advise you not to mock me Marko. There are eleven sectors in total in the N.A.S. and from what I've heard and read...the plutarchy is finding it hard to keep Sector Chiefs onboard. You know it's kind of hard getting people to co-sign a military police state that starves half its population. I don't care how much money you throw at them." 

"And you wouldn't have a problem with that I'm assuming?" Marko Callistan still fought to depress the wide grin that stretched across half his face with teeth too white and clean for a man with a soul as black as hell itself.

"Not at all. They're not my people." Ta-Seti chuckled. "Why should I care what you do to those who hate me anyway?"

Marko, no longer amused, walked closer to Ta-Seti and looked down on him with the indignant demeanor of a planter looking down on his slave. "Let me make this perfectly clear to you, you're Black and we don't accept your kind in the plutarchy. We learned that lesson after the Second Civil War and the detente. If you want inclusion, go to our neighbors next door in the United States where your people are more welcomed...or...bite a bullet and go to New Manden." 

Ta-Seti stared at him in the eyes through his visor. "If I go, I'm taking my androids with me."

"You aren't that bold...or that stupid - "

Suddenly, the androids that were working stopped what they were doing and began walking over to the group with their sharp tools still in hand. The androids that were completed all of a sudden came online with their eyes glowing and pointed their weapons at Marko and the K.W.R. soldiers.   

"- And I didn't think you were stupid enough to come into my domain and threaten me. I can see your blond hair and blue eyes don't give you a higher I.Q. after all." Ta-Seti smiled with delight as the K.W.R. soldiers grew panicked as they pointed their weapons in all directions. The small group of soldiers quickly became surrounded on all sides. Hundreds of androids pointed weapons at them with snipers perched on the second floor above them. Drones descended from the cover of darkness from the ceiling above and hovered low enough to shoot the K.W.R. soldiers and Marko Callistan on sight. Such was life in the New American States for a black scientist without a place to truly call home.

"Boss Callistan...we're surrounded." One of the ranking Knights of the White Rose officers spoke up with his voice shaking. 

Marko cleared his throat and cracked his neck. "Point taken Ta-Seti. Let me talk to the Plutarchs and see what they say. I can't make any promise greater than that I'm afraid."

"That's all I wanted."

Marko turned to his soldiers and waved for them to begin to exit. He turned to leave and looked back at Ta-Seti. "By the way, how do you plan on getting to Khalil before he runs for protection after you spring the trap?"

"I have a spy very close to him on the inside. I've been grooming her for years for the day that's about to come. When we strike, you will surely know." Ta-Seti said "That's what I like to hear." Marko Callistan nodded and turned to exit in much haste.   

 

WORDS FROM THE AUTHOR:

"It has been a joy writing this series and it's only just beginning! I have a lot planned for this world and want to take everyone on Steemit along for the ride. There are many more chapters to come. This one was long because there was a lot I had to set up. With your support, I can continue to flesh out this cool new world set in a fictional nation in the Not-Too-Distant Future. 

Farima is an afro-futurist story you don't want to miss!