“How do you open this monstrosity?” James asked timidly. He felt as a dwarf, while standing in front of the magnificent door.

“It seems you have to insert huge amounts of biological data.” Emily responded.

“What do you mean?” Scratching his head, he put his thumb behind his belt, which held an Alternate Current gun on the right side and a casual on the left.

“You have to insert your data.”

“It is still not clear to me.”

“You put your data into the keyhole.”

“I don’t understand. Please, don’t talk that way.”

“Masturbate into the keyhole.”

“What?”

“You have grip your weapon and polish until it becomes filled with fluid. Then you insert the projectile into the keyhole.”

“Why do I have to do that? I did not came all the way down here from the domes to fap into a fucking hole.”

“It was less than an hour, remember? You didn’t even have to do anything. I organized everything, even the underground’s tickets that brought you here. The bots even made a tunnel just to get you in.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you need me to help?”

“Would you?” he replied with doubt.

“I was told to do everything to support you, even if Charles couldn’t come in.”

“This is one in a lifetime chance…” he thought. “You always call Charles Pa.”

“I tend to, but this is much more stressful than I thought it to be, plus you are getting on my nerves.”

“What are you anxious about? You do not even have to get in the Vault. You are to help me with this and leave through the tunnel. No big deal.”

“If we get caught, especially when you do your duty, many problems would appear. You should start as soon as possible.”

“Help me with it. I am stressful, too. My hands might shake…”

“Is that a bad thing? You could relieve yourself, if you start massaging the customer.”

“I think I told my opinion about it.”

“Do you need me to escort you to the toilet as well?”

“I still have a choice to say no, you know.”

“Take it out.” Being annoyed, she took a rubber glove out of her pocket, and pulled it on her hand.

“Is this your first?”

“Don’t talk to me.” Her cold glance ripped right through his confused eyes. Not to mention, both of them blushed and were embarrassed. She started playing with joystick.

“Hmmh.”

“Don’t do that.”

“I can’t help it.”

“Just shut up.”

“Hmm. You are doing it right, don’t worry.”

“That is disgusting.”

At that moment, James couldn’t hold back. The white fluid spread like heresy, sticking to the surface of the gloves, the floor and even on the door. Emily took off the glove and put the key into the lock. James was shimmering in the background…

“Why did you do that?” asked James curiously, feeling slight embarrassment and pride.

“I have no other choice but to help you.”

“What?”

“I am the assurance. You must get into the Vault, or I’ll be punished.”

“Get punished?”

“Oh, are you a parrot now?”

“Who would punish you?”

“You don’t have to know the details. I’ll be going, the door is to open. If it did not open, leave. I’ll be waiting for ten minutes or so.” She withdrew to the entrance of the tunnel and disappeared.

The display above the keyhole started to evaluate the DNA, then sent back the message ‘Access granted’. The sturdy door started to move, causing immense amounts of noise pollution, but it didn’t take five seconds to open. James stepped in, and pushed a button, on which ’Close’ was written.

Advancing into the heart of the Vault, he saw a gigantic archive full of books and servers, which could be accessed without any passwords or access cards. Many levels were present, most of which were rectangular shaped rooms. The lowest level held the main interface and the Tectonic Discharger.

“Why does Charles want me to destroy this?” he wondered while approaching an interface on a server. He started to navigate through its library.

“So I have access to every hub from here? That is strange. He told me to destroy everything, but I do not see anything malevolent in these archives. Is it because of the Paragon? Is it because of the ill-intentioned power-mongers, who want to conquer the world? Jeez, Charles might just want to protect his own standing. Nobody, except me can get into the Vault, right? Then why did he search for me? Is this why he was wandering in enemy territory?” he sent a message to the science hub, but since only one way notifications were available to use, he couldn’t communicate with anybody.

“I have been waiting for you.” Announced a hoarse, mysterious male voice through the speakers.

“Who’s that?”

“Come to Blackheart. The lowest level. I am waiting.”

“Well, this is getting interesting, and a bit alarming. This is an abandoned place, a graveyard and the hub of knowledge, and a random guy awaits me? This thing had not been opened who knows since. Should I give him a chance?” He searched for an elevator, which could be found at the back of the room. When he stepped in, he pushed the last button on the panel to get to the lowest level. Some music started to play, but the speakers were faulty, so he did not really listen to it. The door opened after a while. As he entered the immense area, a huge structure and some equipment he never saw before introduced themselves.

“Come closer. Come to the monitor.” The device, he approached, was a huge glass rectangle on the wall, called the renderer, and used an in between of holograms and 3D technology. Under that, there was a huge metal surface, which read gestures by the holograms it projected, which could take the form of a keyboard or a chart. A face appeared, which was old, had grey beard and was bald. Slim glasses were lingering on his pesky nose, and his brown eyes were efficiently hiding behind it. Behind the glass, not the nose.

“This is just a recording.”

“Great, nice to meet you too.”

“Do you know why you could get into the Vault? You are not chosen to intrude, you are made to. You are the perfect human, whose DNA was all planned by me.”

“Thank you for doing me…”

“Before you do anything else, I need to say that the machine, you might see in the middle of the room, must be destroyed.”

“That is why I am here…”

“It is not as easy as you think. This thing cannot explode, cannot be overloaded, cannot be salvaged, cannot be demolished without the proper tools. There are some pliers in the vicinity of the machine.”

“So what can I do? Jack off onto the tool so that the thing opens itself?”

“You have to get into the Tectonic Discharger and cut the wiring. There is a slight hole in the right ventricle, from which the control panel can be reached.”

He took up the pliers from the ground. “The proper tools are pliers? What a distinguished equipment…”

“Remember, the perfect human is not just perfect on the outside. I have engineered you to be better in every way, but you could only be male since some genes were linked to the Y chromosome. Less nutrients, more resilience, higher intelligence, beautiful eyes are all a quality you possess.”

“What is next? Am I going to grow another penis? Or a pussy?”

“So if you would approach the small hole on the side…” James got in the hole. He saw a motion sensor and waved so that the video continued playing.

“You should search for a panel with the text ’Kontrollieren’ and open it.”

“I haven’t seen that word before, it means control, I guess.”

“Opening the panel, you can see several wires with labels. It should start with Übergang, Flüssigkeitteuerung, Energievervaltung, Sicherheitbeobachtung, Kernbeschleunigerleitung: Änderung. If you cut the wrong one, the machine might start again. Cut the Sicherheit and the Leitung, respectively.”

But the hatch did not open. Being angry, he fired two shots on the lock, on account of ’It’s a fucking piece of shit.’ One of the bullets ricocheted, but did not hit James. That loosened the hatch and then he cut the wires. Some noises could be heard from the upper part of the machine.

“You should now relocate to the left atrium, and stop the circulation. There is a pathway through the hole.”

“You should have just made a button that destroyed its circuits…”

“There are steppes embedded in the walls, you should use these and get in to the right atrium. Then there is an entrance to the left atrium, you have to crawl through.” He spent more than twenty minutes to get from one place to another, followed by clinging and clanking all the way through. He saw another motion sensor and he waved into its ultrasonic field.

“There is a button panel, and a closed cavity on under them. Cut all the wires in it, except the blue ones. Then push the buttons with the labels ‘1; 21; 3; 23’ respectively”

He cut every non-blue item, and pushed the buttons. The mechanical sound of the machine changed to electronic noises.

“Now you just have shatter the Energie Vervaltung.”

“Didn’t you say that it’s indestructible?”

“The machine uses the core of the Earth and its magnetic field to induce electricity. Imagine a Faraday disk generator, in which not the coil but the magnets are moving. This is the way I can put it without going into the details. The machine also converts seismic waves and obtains heat from geothermal energy as well. We tried to accelerate the Earth’s core to move the magnetic field faster, we drilled a tube into it. You have to rupture the tube. The structure will lose its balance then and collapses under its own weight and the pressure inside. You have to insert something into the tube.”

“I will not put my dick in it.”

“There is a titanium rod on the deck beside the interface.” He crawled out of the hole. Glancing at the piece of metal, he walked over to the four-legged plastic furniture and removed the item. He scouted the area, and found where he has to put the rod in. He inserted it, which caused the metal structure to shimmer and tremble. Giving out a low-pitched noise, the machine lost its balance, turned over, and shattered. Some cracks appeared on the tube and the metal covering the left atrium. The face on the display shifted to a robot’s, which started into its lonely monologue.

“I do not know whether you succeeded or not, but I hope you hear this message. I might have made the perfect person according to my perspective, but I realized that it would not make them any better at all. You might be genetically pure, but that will not make you the best. It can only be derived from your thoughts, emotions and actions. Your time in this world is limited, do not waste it away, like I did. Getting what you want easily or be privileged makes you weak, useless and unable to go against the malevolence of the world…” the interface suddenly shut off.

James heard some screech of digital voice from behind. “What the fu…?” A metal hand grabbed his leg and pulled him over. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. Another hand gripped his left and pushed it to the ground.

“You… imperfect… human, how dare you intrude… the house of gods?”

“Not that I wanted to.” He draw the AC gun out of his belt and shot at the main body of the murderous persona. The electricity destroyed its circuits. It collapsed shaking.

“What was that about? Where did this buffoon come from? There is some liquid on the floor, which might lead me where this came from. Naah, I’ll go the opposite direction. I do not want to die here.” He stepped towards a door on the other side. “I hope I wouldn’t encounter another crazy junk.” He heard the echo of some metal colliding with the floor. He readied his guns.

“I am sorry, I hope he did not cause any inconvenience.”

“Not at all. He just wanted to try out his new fancy moves, that’s all. Would you like to pet me like he did as well?”

“I am Leon, you might know me. I see that the Tectonic Discharger in not active anymore.”

“I doubt it will be. Why would I know you?”

“I was the guy talking on the interface.”

“I thought you were more, let’s say, organic…”

“I have uploaded my mind into this metal vessel, or rather the previous me did. The others did not really want to hear me out, because I designed the machine that caused the Cataclysm. There was an error in the procedure, so their personalities decayed accordingly.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I want you to get rid of them. Entering the vault, you activated the Awakening function of their incubator.”

“Absolutely, of course not. I’ll just leave the moment I have an opportunity.”

“They might destroy the world.”

“Who could probably do that? The world outside of this Vault is huge and terrifying. Even if you are a god, it is impossible to destroy the people if they work together.”

“Are you a coward?”

“I believe that I shouldn’t die for something unreasonable.”

“Kill them, please. They are suffering.”

“No, I have no reason to.”

“I’ll help you use the knowledge I developed through the years.”

“Why would I care?”

“It’s Human Cellular Electronics. I helped to integrate human cells with artificial cell organelles that manufacture nano-machines and such. It is much more rigid, can be changed easily and is able to produce electricity out of heat and movement and use ATP for the rest of its needs. It would be a semi-organic setup without cutting off body parts and restructuring the human homeostasis.”

“So you intend to use that on me?”

“No, I want to help you learn it.”

“Really?”

“You have to get into an HCE Incubator. It would integrate these organelles into many of your cells, which will divide and increase the amount of the modified cells. Your immune system would probably attack these cells, but there is a procedure that conceals the organelles which avoid detection by creating substances that deceive one’s self-defence. It takes time…”

“Well, good for you.”

“Hmm…”

“So why did you…”

“Become a robot? I did not want to. The others were afraid of death by starvation and dehydration. My colleagues could not believe that the world came into and end, which did not happen, since we were alive. They did not want to become the evil villains who destroyed Earth, so they made a plan to upload themselves into a metal body, realizing that we were trapped here. I was secluded, and was only given my basic needs, because I was the project manager. If I did not upload myself as well, they told me that they would torture me. They wanted to use me as a scapegoat and punish me in front of the world. By the time they finished the basic structure of their bodies, the whole world went mad and ripped itself apart rather than working together to solve the problems. People just stole and defied the law. Nobody wanted to do anything against it. Nobody did anything against misfortune or damage, just went to ensure their own survival, rather than others’. Everything went wrong because everyone overreacted the whole situation and gave in to the irresistible panic and useless instincts. This is why the Old World fell.”

“You tend to speak out of context.”

“I am a robot. I do not have several functions that a mortal brain possesses.”

“How did your kind colleagues become so bloodthirsty?”

“There were some misinterpretation in the program that converted their personalities to software codes. I am still partly human, the processors I have are organic, their’s are not. Robots can hardly understand human emotions, they have their own.”

“LEEEEOOON. Are you chatting with the visitor? How many times did we tell you to stay in your fooocking playroom.” Another malicious machine appeared out of nowhere. “Oh, is this your engineered miracle? This rat? We are way better…” the robot started to run towards James with the intent of murder, faster than any human could. His unholstered gun was faster, its projectile hit its chest. It fell over lifeless, or James thought so.

“We will punish you for your insolence…” three other appeared from the shadows.

“How many colleagues do you have?” asked James while he retreated to a close facility and barricaded its entrance.

“Roughly twenty. You have killed two of them.” He answered from behind the door. “More are coming.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Not at all.”

“Fine. Do you have acid or explosive materials in this faculty?” The belligerent entities started to strike the door with their full power.

“I think you might find some nitro-glycerine in one of the crates at the back of the room.”

“Something just came to me. Why can’t you just destroy them? They do not seem to be violent towards you.”

“I wanted to be sure that I would not attack anyone, even if the uploading would go wrong, so I programmed my software to be unable to hurt anything willingly.” The door gave in, and seventeen bloodthirsty bot rushed in. James was standing next to the door when it was opened and hid behind its remnant. He left his shirt on a pile of nitro, and the machines jumped on it without a second thought, taking the bait. Finding some matches previously, he lit the fuse he arranged, and fled. But something grabbed his left shoulder and pulled him back.

“You cannot flee from us.”

“You should leave me alone. I think this counts as sexual harassment.” The bot whacked a metal plate into James’ shoulder, detaching the half of his arm. Then the robot removed the illicit limb.

“Insole….” The nitro blew up, destroying the ill-intentioned beings, even the one, who tore James’ left arm out. The aforementioned limb flew two or three meters and slapped Leon’s metal face with a partial force of the explosion. Most of the concrete fled the crime scene, whether be bigger or smaller pieces, most of them found their way to James, burying him under a rubble of constraint and compulsion.

The recently detached limb’s place ached horribly and shed his blood, several of his ribs were broken. He tried to stay conscious. “Could have been better. I did not want to die in this shithole… Did I do this right? Does it matter? It is my fault I die...” he fainted from the pain and the loss of blood.