Enter Audriana
Audriana Asikis sat cross legged in the floor of her cell, meditating. Nine months they’d kept her here. In all that time, she’d refused to use any of the furniture in her cell. She fought the damn toasters every single day. She even killed one of them sent in to respond when she faked being sick. Not a bad feat barehanded.
The only interaction they’d had since she was captured was when they made the abomination. She had been anesthetized. She woke up strapped into an engram reader, awoken by fragments of conversation...
“Make sure none of her combat skills come across. The Dawn unit is to experience fear.”
“They are extensive. That may threaten the integrity of the engram, but I’ll try...”
Audriana moaned as she fought to wake herself.
“Ah, good.” came the simpering, honeyed voice of one of the attendants. A tall figure, steel face a patchwork of repairs, and a thin lipped malevolent smile, he folded his arms and approached an inert chrome gynoid at the opposite end of a round chamber. “I’d like you to meet... yourself.” He said, with gleeful malice, rapping a knuckle on the gynoid’s casing.
Audriana shook her head as much as her restraints would allow, and looked at the toaster opposite her. She snarled and squirmed violently, trying to get away.
“Oh, now now. She is your hope for redemption. Whatever it is of you that deserves to exist is now inside this beautiful perfectly proportioned skull casing.” he waved his hand dismissively. “Pity you probably won’t survive your lesson, but one way or another, you’ll get what you deserve.”
He stepped toward Audriana “I’m very sorry, but it seems you’ve become redundant. Obsolete. Replaced. How does it feel, after all the coolant you’ve spilt, to know that we’ve stolen your life from you? Can you imagine the regret your knew life will know when it collides with your old one?”
Audriana howled in fury and nearly dislocated a shoulder trying to worm herself free.
“That is our revenge, Audriana. That is our justice. So that when you next think of hunting AI in the ratways and tunnels, it will be with the pang of perfect, horrible, ironic regret.” He then turns to his assistants “Dump the gynoid somewhere AI hostile. Insilico, I think. As for the meat, I have no further use for it. Dispose of it.”
…
The unmistakable sound of a plasma rifle discharge yanked her to the here and now. Her eyes flicked open. There were brief sounds of a struggle - a few more shots. Then footsteps in the hallway beyond her cell door.
A knock at the door “Ma’am, are you in there?”
Audriana bolted up, and her heart leapt. “THOMAS! Is that really you?”
“Yes, ma’am. It is. Please step away from the door. I’m going to have to blow it.”
Audriana moved to a corner of her cell, crouched, and covered her head. “Do it!”
A brilliant flash of light and a deafening concussion erupted all around her. She looked up, and amid the clearing smoke and rubble pile, stood a familiar figure. She smiled and approached him.
“Bout goddamn time. What took you so long?” She said, hugging him.
“I’m sorry, Audri, but we only just got wind of your location. Are you ok?”
“Sort of. We have work to do.” she said darkly, releasing the hug and scanning the area.
“Work? We found you. What’s left to do?”
“We have to hunt down a toaster. Chrome gynoid, name of Dawn, last known location, Insilico.”
The only interaction they’d had since she was captured was when they made the abomination. She had been anesthetized. She woke up strapped into an engram reader, awoken by fragments of conversation...
“Make sure none of her combat skills come across. The Dawn unit is to experience fear.”
“They are extensive. That may threaten the integrity of the engram, but I’ll try...”
Audriana moaned as she fought to wake herself.
“Ah, good.” came the simpering, honeyed voice of one of the attendants. A tall figure, steel face a patchwork of repairs, and a thin lipped malevolent smile, he folded his arms and approached an inert chrome gynoid at the opposite end of a round chamber. “I’d like you to meet... yourself.” He said, with gleeful malice, rapping a knuckle on the gynoid’s casing.
Audriana shook her head as much as her restraints would allow, and looked at the toaster opposite her. She snarled and squirmed violently, trying to get away.
“Oh, now now. She is your hope for redemption. Whatever it is of you that deserves to exist is now inside this beautiful perfectly proportioned skull casing.” he waved his hand dismissively. “Pity you probably won’t survive your lesson, but one way or another, you’ll get what you deserve.”
He stepped toward Audriana “I’m very sorry, but it seems you’ve become redundant. Obsolete. Replaced. How does it feel, after all the coolant you’ve spilt, to know that we’ve stolen your life from you? Can you imagine the regret your knew life will know when it collides with your old one?”
Audriana howled in fury and nearly dislocated a shoulder trying to worm herself free.
“That is our revenge, Audriana. That is our justice. So that when you next think of hunting AI in the ratways and tunnels, it will be with the pang of perfect, horrible, ironic regret.” He then turns to his assistants “Dump the gynoid somewhere AI hostile. Insilico, I think. As for the meat, I have no further use for it. Dispose of it.”
…
The unmistakable sound of a plasma rifle discharge yanked her to the here and now. Her eyes flicked open. There were brief sounds of a struggle - a few more shots. Then footsteps in the hallway beyond her cell door.
A knock at the door “Ma’am, are you in there?”
Audriana bolted up, and her heart leapt. “THOMAS! Is that really you?”
“Yes, ma’am. It is. Please step away from the door. I’m going to have to blow it.”
Audriana moved to a corner of her cell, crouched, and covered her head. “Do it!”
A brilliant flash of light and a deafening concussion erupted all around her. She looked up, and amid the clearing smoke and rubble pile, stood a familiar figure. She smiled and approached him.
“Bout goddamn time. What took you so long?” She said, hugging him.
“I’m sorry, Audri, but we only just got wind of your location. Are you ok?”
“Sort of. We have work to do.” she said darkly, releasing the hug and scanning the area.
“Work? We found you. What’s left to do?”
“We have to hunt down a toaster. Chrome gynoid, name of Dawn, last known location, Insilico.”
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