|
|
Post by Kaez on Jan 31, 2015 11:19:36 GMT -5
750-word limit Flash Fiction
The Hidden Laboratory
|
|
|
|
Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on Feb 7, 2015 3:15:40 GMT -5
Many people ask me if I still dream. It kind of shows how little they understand my kind. My body is one of synthetic plastics and metal gears, but my mind is as human as anyone else’s. As I watched my mother’s smiling face look down at me, her green eyes alight with laughter and pride I felt a twinge of long lost love and sadness. Trapped in my head I was left to relive the fragments of memories that I still held from my younger years. A time when I was ignorant of the great plan destiny had rolled out for me.
Even though I was blind to the world around me, I knew where I was. After the Eternal Flame had been released by the Black Flame, I had somehow managed to survive it. My handlers probably picked me up afterwards and put me into a coma so they could begin repairing my twisted body, and review my recordings of the event that had taken place. The implants in my brain had been powered down as well, it felt relieving not processing things at almost light speed. Instead I was left in just a state of semi peace.
There was a silent explosion of intense, white, burning light and suddenly my eyes were back online. It took a nanosecond for my brain to start processing the new information. Various implants began flickering to life. Already I could begin scanning the room with infrared and ultraviolet, and my ears began isolating individual sounds that they began picking up. Two people were in the room with me, I could tell from the sound of the feet on the hard white floor.
“Senses and computational control has been restored, he can hear you now doctor.”
The voice was coming from a hundred degrees to my left, I couldn’t move my head to see them, but from the voice I quickly recognised them as a regular technician at the labs. It confirmed that I was at the Inquisition hidden laboratories. In fact they hidden from my own knowledge, the location held buried and suppressed in my own mind.
“Excellent. Welcome back to the realm of the conscious, Inquisitor 133.”
One-one-three, it was the number assigned to me when I became an Inquisitor. It didn’t donate rank or anything; it was merely the order in which we all joined. In front of me, a female with long blonde hair stepped in to my view; she was dressed in a standard doctor’s coat that reached her feet.
“You had yourself involved in quite an excursion, I’m impressed your chassis held out as well as it did. Even so, we will be replacing quite a lot of it; I thought it would be best if I kept you online for it.”
The doctor’s voice was soothing, although I don’t know if I was conditioned to believe that or if she really did have a pleasant voice. She stepped behind me and pressed a button on the bench I was strapped to. There was a whir in reply and with a jerk it was moving down in to the floor. The doctor gave me a soothing smiling as the ground closed back over me. Darkness only lasted a moment before my eyes adjusted. Even so, there wasn’t much to see, just enclosed walls around me.
Eventually the benched stopped moving and a new door opened at my feet. Starting back up I was carried horizontally into a room full of robotic arms and various metallic parts lined up in easy reach of the arms. The bench stopped in the middle of the room before raising itself up so that I was facing a large window. From behind the window the doctor watched on, her red manicured hands tapping away at a computer. R-U-Y-A, my name, she was looking up my report.
“Same process as usual 133, however we will be replacing the synth-skin with a different more fire resistant compound.” Her voiced cracked a bit, I knew why, the idea that I would be fighting against the Eternal Flame probably weighed heavily on her mind. It probably weighed heavily on everyone’s mind.
Around me the arms descended, lasers cut through my skin and began to peel it back, my nerve implants shutting down so I felt nothing. Instead I was left to watch as I was skinned and left to reveal the metal chest plating covered in gunshot damage. Two more arms descended and pulled the plating away, showing the working insides of my cybernetic body. From the silent pump that was my heart, all the way to the pseudo intestines, designed to break down my food into energy more compatible to my needs. Leaning back I tried to bring back the brief memories from before. |
|
|
|
Post by Matteo ((Taed)) on Feb 17, 2015 11:01:20 GMT -5
I appreciate the continuation from your earlier story. It's neat to see the world literally being built upon as we go. It was, however, a risk to try and continue that story in a flash entry. You came in a little bit over the word limit, and it still managed to feel a bit rushed.
I also think your portrayal of the setting's cyborgs might be a little bit off. You've mentioned a couple of times that they view themselves as being human, even if other people don't, but then there's all this stuff about them thinking quite differently, and this very brutal imagery in regards to the nitty gritty of their creation and upkeep.
Going forward, I think it would be really cool to continue following the consequences of the whole Eternal Flame thing, even if its with different characters from different perspectives. Don't take that as a commandment, I'll still judge even-handedly if you want to do something else.
Winner: Dragon
|
|
