《Deck Of Life》1. A Day In The Life Of SORU-C3S2
Advertisement
A Day In The Life Of SORU-C3S2
Special Orbital Research Unit, SORU for short, had a simple but fulfilling life for whatever semblance of feeling the Creators had deigned to program into it to support its function. Its life started when the Creators discovered a new slumbering planet in Sector-C. Thus it was born, programmed with a simple task: to map all biological, behavioural and manifestatory traits of the unawakened planet, ready for the Creators to awaken it. As for after the awakening, that wasn't part of its designation. The end of its task marked its shutdown and subsequent repurposing. What that entailed also wasn't a part of its designation.
Similar to the other planets in the Sector, it was small, water-based, and populated by carbon-based lifeforms. As for the other Sectors, that wasn't part of its designation either.
When it was born and immediately put to work so many years ago, it had started with the aquatic life after moderate observation. It was the sensible choice after all. One that both delayed alerting the local sentient lifeforms, and simply made relocation so much easier - the only tricky part to its otherwise uncomplicated assignment.
Manifested locals couldn't be returned. No, that was against protocol. They were to be memory wiped and handed over to a supervisory body on the nearest, suitable planet, preferably for a price. People were disinclined to investigate when they felt that they were the ones profiting. For marine creatures, that meant a one-way trip to C3A1 but, for terrestrial creatures, that had meant stasis. Fortunately, with the recent promotion of C3C1, and the subsequent change of protocol, it wouldn't encounter that problem-prone ordeal. The prospect of offloading a large backlog of creatures had been sincerely frightening.
Marketing is hard.
Right now, it was looking forward to the nearing end of its life mission. With only the sole sentient species left for mapping and a clear method for relocation of the awakened, life was good.
The current human - the Creators respected self-appointed names - was proving to be a bit of an anomaly. They'd need to be awakened.
Advertisement
The physiological and cerebral scans, marking the human as an adolescent male of Indonesian descent, in the initial chamber had proven to be smooth enough, although the amygdala was far more active than the sedatives usually allowed. The chambers following were mostly to confirm and clarify the results of the first.
The next chamber was a maze or, rather, two, possibly three, designed to respectively test the specimen's memorisation and reading capabilities. Why a maze, you might ask. Simply because it boosted co-operation for whatever reason. They still floundered a bit before starting but that was fine as it allowed for a crude measure of adaptability, which the anomaly proved to be quite lacking in.
Despite that, he'd navigated the first maze admirably, finishing with an above average pace and comfortable sitting within the acceptable range. That meant no need for a retest for the potentially lucky ones, nor the need for a third maze, designed with writing aides for the less gifted. The second maze was unceremoniously completed as flawlessly as most other humans already examined, proving the race's ability to adequately follow a basic map.
What followed was a basic deduction test where a coded keypad was wired to an adjacent door with the pass code and key imprinted on the wall. It was set to open after too many failed attempts, if too much time had passed after the last attempt, or if no attempt was made over the specified period. Though, that proved unnecessary for the current examinee.
The concluding chamber, for most specimens, was simultaneously a physical and perseverance test. The matt-black test suit they wore, covering all but the head, increased its weight to 10% above their theoretical max, from the first chamber, before adjusting accordingly to allow them to just reach the half-way point to the exit. From there, a fear-inducing device was activated and any changes were noted. That was where the current anomaly was found.
Usually, the only observable change between the two-halves was a slight decrease of speed in the second, attributable to increased caution. A panic attack was strange to say the least for someone proven so adaptable. Trauma and adaptability didn’t often go hand-in-hand.
Advertisement
But, in some specimens they did. And what curious specimens they were. Adaptability often increased the survival rate of manifestations while trauma did the opposite. Those that had ample of both, their manifestations were… Interesting. Interesting enough for a potentially one-way trip to the awakening chamber.
It gassed the current chamber, the colourless mixture spreading quickly. The human’s eyes soon became absent, indicative of the sedatives success.
Several dark, spherical drones silently flew to the listless teen, contactlessly suspending him off the ground before transporting him out of the white room into another, equally white, room.
He was set at the centre of a hollow, fleshy dome where thick, pink tendrils extended from it to anchor him at each limb, replacing the drones, to form a star-shape. Numerous thinner tendrils bloodlessly stabbed into the unresisting human throughout his body, particularly concentrated around his heart. The largest of the tendrils extended away from him to encapsulate a torso-sized, white crystal, forming a bubble with thinner offshoots tendrils densely piercing into the object.
Now was the time to focus. The shrinking bubble and shrieking human marked the beginning of the awakening process. Any time now and the life card will start to manifest. It'll need to cut the life essence supply and weaken the connection simultaneously without killing the human or all was lost.
The screams intensified as a hint of something formed directly in front of him. Starting from an infinitesimally small point, it grew to life-size almost within the next moment - now.
The recently formed ice-replica of an eye developed fractures smaller and more numerous than capillaries. They traced snaking streaks that criss-crossed to form an exceedingly fragile but evidently intact sculpture as the human fell unconscious.
SORU rolled the cracked eye between its seven fingers, considering its next course of action. Directly testing it was impossible considering the damage. That left indirect testing, which tended not to work on perception-based abilities, and remote observation. It could always reacquire it later once it had been repaired, although that would kill the specimen, which was to be avoided according to protocol.
Memory wiping the unconscious adolescent, it re-scanned him in the first chamber before waking him and having him repeat the other chambers. Confirming no changes to any results, he put him to sleep again.
That left only remote observation. He considered his current order requests before deciding on the likely safest option. A Collector requested a carville-speaking human for a generous price - enough to place them as first priority and then some. Anything related to a Collector was something most couldn't afford to harm on a budding planet. That only left a single question, what use was a mundane slave to a collector.
It pulled up the Collector's information, considering the oddly worded request. He was known to be benevolent, which could've easily been hearsay. SORU suspected more sinister intentions, one that'll prove impossible with a transplanted ability rather than a natural one. That'll also allow it to install a tracker.
The nature of artificial abilities meant they had an inbuilt expiry date with a tendency to morph into an unspeakable monster if tampered with. Fortunately, that easily left enough time for the specimen to learn the language, what with the mental capabilities displayed and the aid of the transplant.
It briefly considered where exactly to transplant it before deciding on the side of the neck. That way it wouldn't be lost if a limb was taken and no one would suspect it. Transplanted abilities were still a closely guarded secret, although the details of which weren't in its designation. Regardless, protocol meant sufficient precautions should be made to deter discovery.
With that done, he stored the human in the stasis chamber with two others of his kind. A detachment would be sent for offloading soon: two more needed to be prepared for another Collector's request, one with clearer intentions.
Luckily, his requirements weren't as hard to come by, SORU thought, already searching for appropriate targets on the sturdier side of the species.
Advertisement
The Demon Lord's Seal
Five thousand years ago Derek Thorne's namesake helped to seal the Demon Lord. For five thousand years his clan has continued to maintain the tenets of their founder. They have maintained the ways of the Demon Warrior, using holy magic and their ancestor's techniques to defeat the Demons of the Hell's Gate Mountains. They are an ancient family and they have the hubris to match. When Derek leaves the mountains, he encounters a world where ninety percent of the population believes demons to be mere myth. The rest imagine the stories to be overhyped nonsense. Cut off from clan, what will Derek make of himself in this world?This story has been dropped.Edit: Thanks to Jean D. Racc for the alternate cover. Thanks to the readers for voting on it.
8 130Why is it always snakes (couldn't it have been something nice for a change)
I start working in a snake lab in a month so... I have to get a better handle of my fear of snakes in that time frame. How? Virtual Reality - nice, easy and simple - right? Not really, no. It got complicated.
8 144Mr. Brightside | Dream Daddy x Reader
[Completed | Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator x Reader]It wasn't that big of a deal since you were still in the same town. The move was to a cul-de-sac, where you see many different houses with different types of people.You knew that a change of perspective was going to benefit both you and your daughter, Amanda. ... but what you didn't know was that this perspective was more than just "better". - - - Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator ©️ Game Grumps.• Mainly one shots but imagines, scenarios, drabbles, multiple parts and more can be requested. • The reader is male unless stated otherwise.• This is an "x Reader". This means that each chapter will contain a character to be paired with the reader in a scenario. Started: July 31, 2017Completed: N/A
8 185[BHTT] Edit - Triều tư mộ noãn - Ngư Sương
Truyện edit theo sở thích cá nhân.Giữ nguyên văn phong QT.
8 79three idiots
frends
8 174Fully Demon
*Rin is a demon that lives in Gehenna and is the king of Darkness and Shadows*The exorcists are killing and being more brutal than normal towards demons and the Royal Family is sick of it and decides to take action all while the exorcist think it's a good idea to try out their new device that's supposed to open the Gehenna Gate. With this new device they want to try and capture a demon to pry out any information that they can, but instead of a regular demon- they unknowingly capture Satan's most powerful son. When Rin is brought to Assiah he come to find one odd looking human that intrigues him.Shiro's alive and everyone is already an exorcist. There's more of an explanation in the chapters, these changes will just will help the story go smother.~A Blue Exorcist fan fiction - Bon x Rin ~Fanfiction - I'll only take credit for the writing(Warning: Mild swearing included)!!BEING REWRITTEN!
8 93