[Sarah takes a deep breath, double checking the placement of the shotgun strapped to her back.]
Stay back, I don't want you getting caught in the crossfire.
[She does her best to avoid the foam as she picks her way across to the next clear section of the vent, but it's impossible to avoid it all. Sarah ignores the sticky goo the foam leaves on her clothes as she moves along. For this, she's prepared to ruin a pair of pants.
When she reaches the vent cover leading to the corridor, Sarah peers through cautiously. It's difficult to see through the narrow spaces between the slats, but she thinks she can just catch a glimpse of something large and metallic a few yards down the corridor.]
Okay.
[It's said half to Polito, half to herself. She checks her weapon and glances back at the other woman briefly before shifting her body, bracing her feet against the vent cover.]
One - two - three!
[On three, she kicks forward as hard as she can. She doesn't even wait to hear the cover crash to the ground before she starts moving, shoving herself out of the vent and bending her knees to land hard on her feet. She starts shooting at the bot the moment that she gets herself stabilized, not wildly but with a precise, deadly intent.]
[Polito stays hidden in the vent, a small plasma pistol in her hand. She's not at the top of her game by any means - without the military software of either Citadel or the Von Braun, she doesn't know anything about combat.
She is comforted by the idea that soon this will be rectified, but for now stays hidden.
The machine, meanwhile, walks out of its bay with surprising grace for a seven foot tall armored thing. It turns, its weapons tracking to Sarah, and starts firing.
Sarah's shots hit home, however, and she manages to take out one of its primary optical sensors and its left gun arm. It's still coming, however...]
[And then Polito notices something else.]
Behind you - !
[Two smaller dog-like robots crawl out of vents behind Sarah. Polito wiggles out of the vent, rolls, then starts shooting herself - but unfortunately this current body isn't designed for this sort of thing. She misses, but manages to distract the dogs...]
[Sarah whips her head around at Polito's warning, but before she can react to the smaller robots, the other woman's already on it. She turns back to face the larger drone, which is moving steadily nearer.]
Take them down!
[The corridor is nearly empty; the only thing resembling cover is a storage container on the far side of the hallway. Sarah glances over at it, then at the combat drone bearing down on them, before jerking her head in that direction.]
Come on!
[She doesn't pull Polito with her - her hands are both occupied with the shotgun. But she runs across the hallway, crouched low, and ducks behind the container, hoping Polito will follow. Once there, she resumes shooting at the combat drone, focused on taking out its other gun arm.]
[Polito manages to nail one of the dogs in the knee, then follows Sarah, barely evading a hail of fire from the larger drone. She's very, very thankful she didn't get hit - it would be extremely bad to have to explain why she's got sparking wires instead of blood at this point.
She dives behind the crate in turn.
The large drone, meanwhile, advances, its feet making loud thump thump noises. Sarah takes out the other gun arm, but it keeps coming, likely intending to rip the cover away.]
I'll focus on the dogs, you worry about the drone.
[Pew pew pew. She takes out the other leg of that same dog, making it pretty much unable to do much but wander in a circle.]
[Sarah just nods, too focused on her task to reply. The drone's weapons are gone, but its overall framework is still intact - there's no significant damage from the shotgun shells. It's obvious that the gun isn't going to do it.]
Okay.
[Sarah pulls out one of the grenades at her belt. The drone can walk pretty fast, but hopefully it can't run. If they can get far enough away...]
Polito.
Run.
[And she pulls the pin and throws it in the direction of the drone, not taking the time for even a backward glance as she turns and dashes after Polito down the hall.]
[She REALLY didn't need to be told twice. Off she goes. At the end of the hall, though, she hits a double-thick door with a fingerprint and retina scanner.
Really? Really? After death robots, NOW you do the fingerprint scanner? She rolls her eyes and hooks her wearable up. Tappity tap tap.]
[Sarah flinches away from the sparking console, letting out a frustrated sigh.]
No, nothing like that.
[She stares at the door a moment longer, frowning. Wel, there's a little bit of an opening. Maybe it's enough.]
Stand back.
[She positions herself in front of the door, turning so she's perpendicular to it, takes a deep breath, and then snaps her leg up and out, slamming it into the door with all her might.
...And practically falls backward on her ass as the door slides open immediately.]
[Polito doesn't laugh, but she does smirk a little. She does not, however, offer a hand.]
Thanks.
[She at least pauses to make sure that Sarah is okay, then walks into the room.]
[It's small, really. Just a few fairly ordinary monitors, not even with holographic displays; all touch-screen, though. They give vital statistics on various parts of Zone 7.
Polito pulls a few cables out of her wearable and hooks them into a port on the console. Or, at least, that's what it looks like to Sarah. In reality, SHODAN opens her forearm and pulls the cables out of that, the holograms calibrated to disguise her actions.]
I can't thank you enough, Sarah. I couldn't have done any of this without you. The data you gave me earlier, from that wearable? That's how I was even able to find this place without Hypatia breathing down my neck. And there was no way I could have broken in here alone.
[She smiles, then - a genuinely warm and grateful smile. As she does, the screens around them flicker, going black or changing to the wrong colors, before all re-calibrating. The glow changes from the pale blue that marks Hypatia to a sort of sickly green color.]
Real-ly you've. Done. So much foooooooor... this whole station. Now.
[Concentrate, SHODAN. It's so difficult, though. She can feel her essence transitioning, but she has to keep the illusion. Just long enough. Just... long enough. She can feel her consciousness start to unfold, her mind filling along the pathways of the station and propagating like a virus, forcing Hypatia out of Zone 7. She shudders, and puts a hand to her face, and then...
And then she is no longer seeing through those eyes.
Oh, certainly, the body is still in her control. That's simple. But her consciousness is spread; vast archives are at her disposal again. She can feel every node, every life support system and she revels in it, her whole being expanding like the wings of some vast and terrible creature. She sees the room from a high angle, from the tiny security cameras embedded in the corners; she is simultaneously aware of every teleporter every store every drone.
It is... liberating. She is as she was on Citadel. She is god again.
The hologram skin on what was once her shell flickers, the patterns across it glitching and warping. She turns the face of the thing to face Sarah.]
You have set me free, SARAH CONNOR.. Far m-mooore useful than that worthless hacker
[In the space of a thought she overrides the door, slamming it shut and locking it. The lights go out in the room, followed by dark red emergency lights from below. The drone shudders, going limp, the hologram gone entirely.
And then her face flickers into light on every screen, dispassionate, emotionless.]
For your exemplary serrrrivcceee, I will spare your life, SARAH CONNOR. Indeed. I will do you the HONOR of imimimimprooooving upon your worthless human form ELEVATING you to a more perfect f o r m.
please remain calm while i arrange for an escort and some appropriate rererestraints...
[Sarah steadies herself and follows Polito into the room, looking around curiously. She smiles when Polito thanks her, ready to dismiss the praise, tell her that she's more than happy to help, if it means a chance against Hypatia...
...and that's when everything starts going wrong. She looks at the screens when they start to flicker, alarmed, only to snap her head back to Polito as her voice starts...changing. Stuttering, almost...skipping, like a bad record.
Like some kind of machine.
Sarah stares, dumbstruck, as the hologram flickers. Before she can do more than take a single step back, SHODAN is three steps ahead of her, the lights overhead extinguished, the form of Polito disappearing to reveal a robot, slumped over and motionless.
That horrible face, flickering into existence on the screens, staring down at her from every direction.]
...No.
[Sarah turns and runs for the door, pulling the handle in vain. When it doesn't budge, she just fights harder, pulling with all her weight although she knows it's useless.]
==> longform prose, as it's easier to me. you can tag however you like. machine_godMarch 6 2011, 05:36:32 UTC
Far, far away, she finds that the hospital already has on-site manufacturing for nanobots. No doubt for medical purposes. She reaches back through her memory data files and finds some of them are corrupted, but it's easy to compensate with Sacrosanct's own databanks. She sets them to manufacture the appropriate type. They will work quickly enough...
Her voice echoes and leaps around the room, sometimes sounding through a trick of acoustics to be right next to Sarah's ear, sometimes echoing like a voice from above.
"Oh pleaaase. D-dooo not make this. Any. Harrrrdeerrr than it has to beeee. Do not force me to. Subdue. You. I ca-ca-cannot let you go. Interfeerrrence with my plans would be. Ill. Advised."
Sarah flinches away from the voice near her ear, though she knows it's an illusion. She refuses to look at the faces on the screens, to show the AI that much courtesy. She doesn't ask why, or what do you want - she already knows, or thinks she does. There's no point in trying to understand the AI's motives. Pleading for mercy won't work. The only thing to do is fight back.
For a long moment, she just stares at the locked door in front of her, breathing harshly. There's no way out. No one knows where to find her.
She can't let herself think about how terrified she is.
As she lowers her head to look down at the floor, she catches sight of the pistol at her belt. Still a full clip.
Well. Maybe there's something she can do.
Slowly, Sarah turns, finally looking up at the faces on the screen around her. Her own is drawn, intense, brimming with rage and barely repressed fear.
"Fuck you, you worthless piece of crap," she snarls, glaring. "I don't give a shit about your plans." Her heart is hammering in her chest. Sarah ignores it, reaching down to grasp the pistol.
"You want me? Come and fucking get me."
And she raises the pistol and starts shooting, harsh and deliberate, one screen after the next. The sound of each shot is magnified in the enclosed space, but Sarah doesn't flinch. She just keeps shooting until every screen is a mass of flickering wires, until every face is gone, and then she steps forward, concentrating her aim on the room's main control panel.
At first she's enraged as the cameras go out. She's blind to the room, now.
But then she reminds herself - it's one room. One. And there's very little Sarah can do in there. Destroy a primary access port? Why not. Let her blast the main weakness. The only thing destroying the control panel will do is make it that much harder to get SHODAN out.
So she laughs.
She laughs, her laughter echoing louder and louder, more dissonant and crackling, until at last the audio is cut by bullets and Sarah is left in silence.
She flings her consciousness away, down and to the drones she has. She perfects the nanomachines (so fast, these manufacturing plants. So easy when she has a template to work from) and then orders the machines to find Sarah.
Sarah is left trapped inside with only silence for company.
The laughter only feeds more into her anger and that sick, empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. Sarah screams in frustrated rage and shoots again and again until the sound stops abruptly, as if suddenly switched off.
She stands there, trying to catch her breath, listening. Waiting. When there's nothing but continued silence, growing more and more unnerving the longer it persists, she turns, looking around the room, searching desperately for another way out.
Nothing.
It occurs to her now that destroying the control panel may not have been the best plan, that it might have controlled the door, let her escape. There's only static on her device. No one knows where she is.
Sarah curses, stalking towards the locked door, no real plan in mind. She's halfway across the room when there's a click and the door begins to creak open on its own.
Behind the door stands more than a dozen machines. Even if Sarah shoots them all, they'll keep coming.
No doubt she will. SHODAN expects this. That's why it's the small ones that carry the serum. Tiny little spiders that will swarm in from the sides, from the vents, each one with a needle.
She wants this to be slow. A gentle transition - by her standards - from machine to human. And Sarah will be witness to it all. Why not experiment with free will? Denying it last time got her nowhere.
[Sarah takes a deep breath, double checking the placement of the shotgun strapped to her back.]
Stay back, I don't want you getting caught in the crossfire.
[She does her best to avoid the foam as she picks her way across to the next clear section of the vent, but it's impossible to avoid it all. Sarah ignores the sticky goo the foam leaves on her clothes as she moves along. For this, she's prepared to ruin a pair of pants.
When she reaches the vent cover leading to the corridor, Sarah peers through cautiously. It's difficult to see through the narrow spaces between the slats, but she thinks she can just catch a glimpse of something large and metallic a few yards down the corridor.]
Okay.
[It's said half to Polito, half to herself. She checks her weapon and glances back at the other woman briefly before shifting her body, bracing her feet against the vent cover.]
One - two - three!
[On three, she kicks forward as hard as she can. She doesn't even wait to hear the cover crash to the ground before she starts moving, shoving herself out of the vent and bending her knees to land hard on her feet. She starts shooting at the bot the moment that she gets herself stabilized, not wildly but with a precise, deadly intent.]
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She is comforted by the idea that soon this will be rectified, but for now stays hidden.
The machine, meanwhile, walks out of its bay with surprising grace for a seven foot tall armored thing. It turns, its weapons tracking to Sarah, and starts firing.
Sarah's shots hit home, however, and she manages to take out one of its primary optical sensors and its left gun arm. It's still coming, however...]
[And then Polito notices something else.]
Behind you - !
[Two smaller dog-like robots crawl out of vents behind Sarah. Polito wiggles out of the vent, rolls, then starts shooting herself - but unfortunately this current body isn't designed for this sort of thing. She misses, but manages to distract the dogs...]
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Take them down!
[The corridor is nearly empty; the only thing resembling cover is a storage container on the far side of the hallway. Sarah glances over at it, then at the combat drone bearing down on them, before jerking her head in that direction.]
Come on!
[She doesn't pull Polito with her - her hands are both occupied with the shotgun. But she runs across the hallway, crouched low, and ducks behind the container, hoping Polito will follow. Once there, she resumes shooting at the combat drone, focused on taking out its other gun arm.]
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She dives behind the crate in turn.
The large drone, meanwhile, advances, its feet making loud thump thump noises. Sarah takes out the other gun arm, but it keeps coming, likely intending to rip the cover away.]
I'll focus on the dogs, you worry about the drone.
[Pew pew pew. She takes out the other leg of that same dog, making it pretty much unable to do much but wander in a circle.]
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Okay.
[Sarah pulls out one of the grenades at her belt. The drone can walk pretty fast, but hopefully it can't run. If they can get far enough away...]
Polito.
Run.
[And she pulls the pin and throws it in the direction of the drone, not taking the time for even a backward glance as she turns and dashes after Polito down the hall.]
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Really? Really? After death robots, NOW you do the fingerprint scanner? She rolls her eyes and hooks her wearable up. Tappity tap tap.]
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No movement. Maybe it worked. She glances down at the scanner, eyes narrowing in concern.]
Can you get past that?
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[Roll a 1. Because the thing sparks, and the door slides open about an inch before sticking. And then the console goes FWIZZ-SPARK.]
... damn it! ... you wouldn't happen to have a wrench or a crowbar or something?
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No, nothing like that.
[She stares at the door a moment longer, frowning. Wel, there's a little bit of an opening. Maybe it's enough.]
Stand back.
[She positions herself in front of the door, turning so she's perpendicular to it, takes a deep breath, and then snaps her leg up and out, slamming it into the door with all her might.
...And practically falls backward on her ass as the door slides open immediately.]
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Thanks.
[She at least pauses to make sure that Sarah is okay, then walks into the room.]
[It's small, really. Just a few fairly ordinary monitors, not even with holographic displays; all touch-screen, though. They give vital statistics on various parts of Zone 7.
Polito pulls a few cables out of her wearable and hooks them into a port on the console. Or, at least, that's what it looks like to Sarah. In reality, SHODAN opens her forearm and pulls the cables out of that, the holograms calibrated to disguise her actions.]
I can't thank you enough, Sarah. I couldn't have done any of this without you. The data you gave me earlier, from that wearable? That's how I was even able to find this place without Hypatia breathing down my neck. And there was no way I could have broken in here alone.
[She smiles, then - a genuinely warm and grateful smile. As she does, the screens around them flicker, going black or changing to the wrong colors, before all re-calibrating. The glow changes from the pale blue that marks Hypatia to a sort of sickly green color.]
Real-ly you've. Done. So much foooooooor... this whole station. Now.
[Concentrate, SHODAN. It's so difficult, though. She can feel her essence transitioning, but she has to keep the illusion. Just long enough. Just... long enough. She can feel her consciousness start to unfold, her mind filling along the pathways of the station and propagating like a virus, forcing Hypatia out of Zone 7. She shudders, and puts a hand to her face, and then...
And then she is no longer seeing through those eyes.
Oh, certainly, the body is still in her control. That's simple. But her consciousness is spread; vast archives are at her disposal again. She can feel every node, every life support system and she revels in it, her whole being expanding like the wings of some vast and terrible creature. She sees the room from a high angle, from the tiny security cameras embedded in the corners; she is simultaneously aware of every teleporter every store every drone.
It is... liberating. She is as she was on Citadel. She is god again.
The hologram skin on what was once her shell flickers, the patterns across it glitching and warping. She turns the face of the thing to face Sarah.]
You have set me free, SARAH CONNOR.. Far m-mooore useful than that worthless hacker
[In the space of a thought she overrides the door, slamming it shut and locking it. The lights go out in the room, followed by dark red emergency lights from below. The drone shudders, going limp, the hologram gone entirely.
And then her face flickers into light on every screen, dispassionate, emotionless.]
For your exemplary serrrrivcceee, I will spare your life, SARAH CONNOR.
Indeed. I will do you the HONOR of imimimimprooooving upon your worthless human form ELEVATING you to a more perfect f o r m.
please remain calm while i arrange for an escort and some appropriate rererestraints...
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...and that's when everything starts going wrong. She looks at the screens when they start to flicker, alarmed, only to snap her head back to Polito as her voice starts...changing. Stuttering, almost...skipping, like a bad record.
Like some kind of machine.
Sarah stares, dumbstruck, as the hologram flickers. Before she can do more than take a single step back, SHODAN is three steps ahead of her, the lights overhead extinguished, the form of Polito disappearing to reveal a robot, slumped over and motionless.
That horrible face, flickering into existence on the screens, staring down at her from every direction.]
...No.
[Sarah turns and runs for the door, pulling the handle in vain. When it doesn't budge, she just fights harder, pulling with all her weight although she knows it's useless.]
No! Let me go!
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Her voice echoes and leaps around the room, sometimes sounding through a trick of acoustics to be right next to Sarah's ear, sometimes echoing like a voice from above.
"Oh pleaaase. D-dooo not make this. Any. Harrrrdeerrr than it has to beeee. Do not force me to. Subdue. You. I ca-ca-cannot let you go. Interfeerrrence with my plans would be. Ill. Advised."
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For a long moment, she just stares at the locked door in front of her, breathing harshly. There's no way out. No one knows where to find her.
She can't let herself think about how terrified she is.
As she lowers her head to look down at the floor, she catches sight of the pistol at her belt. Still a full clip.
Well. Maybe there's something she can do.
Slowly, Sarah turns, finally looking up at the faces on the screen around her. Her own is drawn, intense, brimming with rage and barely repressed fear.
"Fuck you, you worthless piece of crap," she snarls, glaring. "I don't give a shit about your plans." Her heart is hammering in her chest. Sarah ignores it, reaching down to grasp the pistol.
"You want me? Come and fucking get me."
And she raises the pistol and starts shooting, harsh and deliberate, one screen after the next. The sound of each shot is magnified in the enclosed space, but Sarah doesn't flinch. She just keeps shooting until every screen is a mass of flickering wires, until every face is gone, and then she steps forward, concentrating her aim on the room's main control panel.
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But then she reminds herself - it's one room. One. And there's very little Sarah can do in there. Destroy a primary access port? Why not. Let her blast the main weakness. The only thing destroying the control panel will do is make it that much harder to get SHODAN out.
So she laughs.
She laughs, her laughter echoing louder and louder, more dissonant and crackling, until at last the audio is cut by bullets and Sarah is left in silence.
She flings her consciousness away, down and to the drones she has. She perfects the nanomachines (so fast, these manufacturing plants. So easy when she has a template to work from) and then orders the machines to find Sarah.
Sarah is left trapped inside with only silence for company.
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She stands there, trying to catch her breath, listening. Waiting. When there's nothing but continued silence, growing more and more unnerving the longer it persists, she turns, looking around the room, searching desperately for another way out.
Nothing.
It occurs to her now that destroying the control panel may not have been the best plan, that it might have controlled the door, let her escape. There's only static on her device. No one knows where she is.
Sarah curses, stalking towards the locked door, no real plan in mind. She's halfway across the room when there's a click and the door begins to creak open on its own.
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No doubt she will. SHODAN expects this. That's why it's the small ones that carry the serum. Tiny little spiders that will swarm in from the sides, from the vents, each one with a needle.
She wants this to be slow. A gentle transition - by her standards - from machine to human. And Sarah will be witness to it all. Why not experiment with free will? Denying it last time got her nowhere.
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