[Central Control Systems Offline]

[Central Tower Sub-Systems Offline]

[Regional Power Systems Offline]

[Solar Sub-Systems Intermittent]

[…]

[Initializing Support & Repair Protocols]

[Printing]

[…]

[Complete]

—

A flood of vitawater sloshed into the drain as Jacob slid onto the warm tiled floor. The dull hum of the warm bio-printer filled the room. It was an inconsistent hum.

Jacob’s ear caught onto it, and despite his eyes slowly registering things like light, he knew he had to fix that. The next version of him probably depended on it.

The world slowly came into focus. A common side effect that he was used to.

“Alexa, status report,” Jacob asked.

Nothing.

“Alexa, status report!” Jacob demanded.

Nothing.

Jacob’s emotion shifted into anger. What the hell did the previous version of him do? Or did they let out one of the other five support techs?

The world focused, and Jacob stilled. The room was threadbare. What should have been several sets of bio-printers that were now missing? There should have been six bio-printers. Why was there only one?

“Alexa, status report. Priority One!” Jacob screamed out as he stood up. The warm air was suddenly a lot colder.

The room should have been a creamy white. Sterile and soft on the eyes. It was duller. A layer of dust and grime now filled the place. He could feel the additional layer on the bottom of his feet.

Jacob looked down and toed the murky green vitawater. It should be clear as regular water. It would turn green as it expired. Algae loved vitawater.

Jacob looked himself over. The chiseled physic was there. No abnormalities. He hopped and did a cartwheel. No issues. Wait, he didn’t have his identity codes tattooed onto his arms. Was this because of a malfunction, or something else?

He needed them for security reasons, and to tell him what body count he was on. If he was suddenly several bodies ahead, then he knew there were other serious issues. As if this wasn’t already a massive pile of shit.

Jacob nodded as he weighed his situation. He came out fine today. Probably a shortened lifespan of a physical body, but even if he died, his memory core copied fine. Or so he hoped.

Something to look into.

He walked over to the door and pressed on the touchpad. The system checked his biosignature and his internal systems. They matched, and the door opened.

Jacob frowned as he looked into the bare armory. No extra mass- cubes. No extra weapons. Nothing.

Oh wait, there was something. A broken door that had gotten pried open at some point.

Great.

The security door closed behind him. The seamless, wall looking, the triple-reinforced door only whispered as it moved. There were definite dings on this side. Someone either fought here, or they were looking for secret rooms. A failure since he could wake up.

Jacob sighed. This job was looking rougher and rougher by the minute.

He strode across what was once a secure door and into the secure hallway.

Here he saw stuff. Broken machinery and discarded spares. From the layers of dust and grime, he didn’t trust them. Most of these parts were biodegradable, which meant while we could use them, we would measure their reliability in days, not years.

Jacob smiled as he spied a black mass-cube. It was small. Just enough to create some clothes for him.

The weight was always surprising. The thing was a cubic centimeter but weighed a hundred grams. The darker the color, the denser the mass-cube.

Jacob concentrated on the cube and allowed his systems to connect. The cube twitched and vibrated as it took in the energy from the skin to metal contact.

Then it melted into him. A hundred grams of material wasn’t much, but it was enough to give him a skin suit. Just enough to keep him warm. Warm and clean his feet.

His eyes looked around for another mass-cube, but there was nothing.

Just a lot of randomly worn parts. The ones in ‘good’ condition he put to the side as he rummaged. No weapons. No mass-cubes.

Jacob wished he could frown further. This was not a pleasant environment to wake up in.

With a sigh, he walked out of the security area for engineer techs, and out into the base proper.

It was a combination of the apocalypse and the end of days. The base was in ruins.

Jacob quickly wished he could super-frown harder.

—

Outpost Ross was, in a word, devastated. They looted the entire complex. All equipment not locked down was missing or broken.

The power was still up, which was a plus, and he had found a stable matter-printer, with just enough mass to create essential goods. Multi-Armor that had synced with his system. Multi-Gun that would provide enough stopping power to kill one of anything.

Numbers would be an issue, as the Multi-Gun’s super attack melted the internals.

Jacob frowned as he spent the day moving around the base. No bodies. No recent signs of conflict. There was enough damage here that he knew several groups had stayed. Decayed goods and random bullet shells.

Nonstandard bullet shells. Most of them looked rough. A tool made, but not machine-made.

An additional issue then made itself known. His stomach growled.

Jacob sighed as he looked towards the entrance. One of the massive, multi-plated doors was missing. The other rusted into place. Did they steal the other door?

He had to go out and find food.

This body was ‘fine’ but far from perfect. His basic internal system was unresponsive. No AI, no uplink to Central, no mass-flesh present. The mass-flesh frightened him the most. He was squishy like this. Vulnerable.

He suspected that this was his original body… and gods, did he hope he was wrong. One death and that would be it.

The massive entrance greeted him as he passed out to the overgrown world. The parking lot was no longer here. Trees and flora replaced it. It had also covered the base, leaving the entrance half-buried in dirt and plant life.

Jacob looked up. No signals found. Either his internal systems had issues… or a lot more time had passed then he thought.

His stomach gurgled.

Jacob grimaced as his Multi-Gun adjusted itself on his right arm. The bracer looked non-violent, but it used gravity as its primary method of spatial entanglement. A very fancy way of saying gravity makes things go fast.

—

Sarsa sat with Darl, the village chief’s heir. It made sense to her as she was the caravan’s witch’s apprentice.

A dozen guards from both factions stood to the side. Usually, they would face each other, but the Rus Village and the Arcani Caravan were almost families. Their trading went back hundreds of years.

This was a time to catch up and trade news and gossip. To relax and enjoy the event.

“New rumors Sarsa, a wizard has appeared,” Darl said as he watched Rerbert, the butcher, hand over a flame knife. The heirloom relic had been performing poorly lately.

“Really? A wizard? You sure?” Sarsa replied as she stared into the man’s blue eyes. He nodded.

Vela took the knife and prayed to the Central Gods of the Forge. Acme bless this tool once more!

Vela dipped her tools into the sacred oils and then opened the knife handle. There she took out several magnifying lenses. Words appeared. The ancient texts guided her on how to replace the broken organs of the venerable relic.

“It always amazes me, what you Arcani can do,” Darl said offhandedly as he stared at Vela. The woman’s face was ordinary, but her body was very mature. It helped that she liked to lean forward as she worked.

“We spend decades in prayer and research, you know this,” Sarsa grumbled. They learned for decades and still, knowledge became lost. What she wouldn’t give to meet one of the ancient emperors. A Technocrat could teach them so much!

“Yeah, Yeah. Knowledge. Technocrat. Pray to Acme,” Darl teased as he leaned back. The lineup of people was finally slowing down.

The Caravan was happily doing their mystic mumbo-jumbo and the village would remain stable for at least another season. Just like it had for the last few centuries.

“How do you know it’s a wizard?” Sarsa asked as she watched her mother slowly move back and forth across the lines of their people. The Arcani were studious, but no one could know everything. That was why the elders sat behind them. The bar of genui. Where apprentices could gain knowledge and wisdom.

“The amount of predators has dropped. Two machine-beasts have also vanished,” Darl whispered. The Militia had confirmed this, but they left it as rumors to the people.

No need to bolster confidence. People would seek the ‘abandoned’ nests looking for treasure. If the machine-beasts returned…

“Wow, which ones?” Sansa whispered. If this was true, it was big news. Big.

“The Water Bird, and the Metal Tiger,” Darl whispered back.

Sansa stared at Darl. If the Metal Tiger had left… then the Caravan could visit more often! That apex predator was a bane for any Caravan. The Arcani used ancient weapons, and the Metal Tiger was still fearsome.

Its skin regenerated quickly and was thick enough to survive the wagon’s main cannons. Its speed was nearly as fast as the wagon’s maximum. Though it lacked ranged weapons, its flame fangs and flame claws melted metal. It was also much more effective in human flesh.

Sansa eyed the lead wagon, Wagon One, which still had deep scratched on the steelion exterior. It also melted the surrounding metal.

“Weapons up!” Greco yelled as a dozen guards lifted their weapons.

A deer rushed into their field, racing away from the forest.

The other people also raised their weapons. Though they were not the active militia, it didn’t mean they were untrained. Everyone learned how to fire a weapon. Everyone.

[Thump] [Thump] [Thump]

Something heavy was rushing after the deer.

A sleek, dull metal machine-beast dashed from the cover of trees. It was far away, but quickly approaching. The Metal Tiger!

Four powerful legs. The shining, ruby-red eyes. The sleek, fluid muscle fibers. Fluidic steelion plating flexed with its every move.

“Weapons down!” Greco yelled as he pointed his gun down to the earth. History had shown that so long as you didn’t engage, or it wasn’t hungry, the Metal Tiger would leave you alone. Probably.

The Metal Tiger quickly dashed up to the deer and easily snatched it up in hits jaws. It crushed the deer’s head. The sounds of crunching bones were loud.

The tiger dropped its prey and eyed them. Its head tilted as it stared at the odd fifty people present.

Greco and Tomas fingered their weapons. If it approached, they would fire.

The Metal Tiger bit back into the neck and started dragging away the corpse.

“Is… is it prancing?” Darl whispered over to his oldest, non-village friend.

“Yes. Yes, it is,” Sansa absently replied as she looked to her mother. The woman looked as shell-shocked as anyone here.

The Metal Tiger made it halfway to the forest when it dropped the deer once more. The people tensed.

The Metal Tiger settled down and stared into the forest. Its full attention was towards the path it had run from. The people waited.

A musical humming noise approached. It filled the glade with soothing music. Which only made the people tense harder.

A sphere appeared. Its bee-like wings fluttered.

The guards moved to the front. A battle was about to take place. The Water Bird and the Metal Tiger were mortal enemies.

They would use this moment to head into the wagons, and either fight or run into the village. The dense walls would keep them out. Probably.

The Water Bird fluttered over. Its dull exterior moved over the Metal Tiger, but the beast did not move.

Water appeared around Water Bird’s body. It was fluid and weaved around in an intricate pattern. Then it spat forward, dousing the Metal Tiger in freshwater.

It washed away the blood that drenched it. Then the Water Bird stopped the ‘attack’ and settled down on the Metal Tiger’s back.

The Metal Tiger returned its gaze to the forest. Everyone turned with it.

A man appeared.

He was tall. Wrapped in a flowing, forest green cape. A staff was in his hands, glowing crystal floating above his shoulder.

“Yu Gat it? Good Gurl!” the wizard shouted as he made his way to the fearsome machine-beasts.

The Metal Tiger purred as the wizard approached. Its ear perked up, and its tail swished. Its ruby red eyes faded to a mellow topaz.

“Shit!” Darl half-whispered, half growled out. “It’s a wizard!”

Sansa stared. Sansa registered. Sansa hungered.

Jacob smiled as he patted Rakh-Khan’s head. The renewed AI purred in satisfaction as it had registered the good girl protocols.

He couldn’t believe that the interactive zoobot was still functional. He remembered going to see her several times when Ross Base was still active.

Well, then again it had stolen a fair amount f mass-cubes to use on itself. He could see Jessica’s coding fingerprints all over its AI structure. She always had a soft spot for cats. Cats and haikus.

“Bee, mist me. 30 seconds,” Jacob ordered and the irrigation drone sprayed out a cool mist.

Rakh-Khan’s soft growls had Jacob looking over. A girl was approaching.

He gawked that there were people here. Humans were still around? Holy shit.

The Metal Tiger growled, but its eyes stayed topaz. It was in a good mood. Perfect.

She smoothed her simple robes and stood tall. This was a critical moment for her. For the Arcani. For Rus Village.

“Greetings unto Starbacks!” Sansa yelled. Her voice cracked as this stressed her to hell. Several people were yelling. Most likely to get her to return. She was too busy to hear them.

“How order we make!” She finished the ancient greeting. It was short and sweet. She smiled at her delivery.

We verified the text across time. The scholars of the Arcani were sure it was the greetings of the ancient Technocrats. As her dream was to meet one, she studied them and practice harder than most. Which was why her mom allowed her to approach.

The Wizard stared at her. No, the Technocrat stared at her.

She fidgeted as she wondered what was going to happen next.

Jacob stared. Did she just ask him for his Starbucks order?

“Hello,” Jacob greeted.

“Harlo?” she replied.

He nodded. From that greeting… It based them on English, but who knows how it had transformed over the years.

What he needed was a translation system. The AIs he had found, that still worked, were all in various stages of either stagnation or decay.

The floating crystal near his head was the best thing had found so far. Well, it was Jessica’s, but she had left it for one of the crew. She even had a farewell message from him.

It was an odd haiku, but cute.

Jacob stared at the transport vehicles. He pinged it. It pinged back.

He smiled as he connected, and its AI responded.

Gerti watched in shock as the Wagon One’s spirit turned on. No one had commanded it. Yet it responded.

She hustled over to the spirit screen. Its ancient texts were churning. She understood some of its secrets. It was speaking and transferring knowledge.

Gerti turned around, and she saw the crystal on the wizard’s shoulder. It was now pulsating.

No. Not a mere Wizard. A Technocrat.

He commanded the machine-beasts as if they were mere servants.

Then the data stopped. The Wagon’s spirit stilled.

The detached ear was still on Sansa, however. She listened in.

“Hello,” the Technocrat greeted. “I am Jacob. Who are you?”

“Hello!” Sansa replied. Finally, words she understood. “I am Sansa of the Arcani. We greet you, Wizard, and grand Technocrat!”

Jacob frowned for a moment, and Sansa froze. Did she mess up her greeting?

“I have woken from a long slumber, Sansa. Much time has passed, and many meanings have changed.”

Sansa relaxed. Great, she hadn’t doomed her people. At least not yet. He looked confused, however.

“What do you mean by a wizard?”

Now it was Sansa’s turn to be confused.