Post by Gigachad on Dec 5, 2021 11:41:26 GMT
Free Confederacy of Lakarn-Invilis Corridor
Uq'eik silently walked across the halls of the government building,occasionally running into personnel which immediately stopped what they were doing and saluted him. While he would never admit to it,much less show it,he always had a soft spot for elaborate gestures of showing respect,it was a shame his alien peers rarely felt the same.
He eventually came upon a plain wooden door,hardly different from any other in the complex. After pushing it open,the lithorian found himself in the Prime Minister's office,the old man currently sitting at his desk and reviewing paperwork.
"Ah,welcome! Welcome! I take it you've returned from your trip? Where was it again? The Jade Empire?" He asked with a smile,putting down his glasses and outstretching a hand to his visitor.
The alien ignored that gesture,instead fixating on the bags below the Minister's eyes.
"And I take it you've been working your fingers to the bone. You look terrible"
"Yes well,I haven't been getting good sleep as of late. Not to mention all the work that needed to be done in your absence." He put his glasses back on,lifting up a pen and getting back to his duties.
"Come to think of it,I don't think I've ever actually seen you sleep or even rest for that matter. Do you just….not?" He added,still looking down at the documents.
"I'm busy enough as is,Minister. If I had to spend half of my days being unconscious things would just become impossible. Nevertheless…." The alien stammered,taking something out of his rose's sleeve and placing it on the desk.
The Prime Minister looked up mildly surprised,seeing a coffee cup sitting in front of him.
"I hear this helps with fatigue,it's latte"
"Call me picky but I'm more of a Frappuccino fan myself." He said,causing the alien's eyes to narrow ever so slightly,cursing itself for being sloppy.
"Nevertheless,I'm not gonna pass up good coffee at a time like this" The man continued,picking up the beverage and having his fill.
"On my way,I happened to catch wind of the operation's progress. We've hit 99% implant rate,I believe now is as good as time as ever to proceed"
The man looked up suddenly,staring at the alien for a few seconds before snapping back to his senses
"I…...I see. Then I'll have to make a few phone calls. Wait for me here" He got up,walking past Uq'eik and leaving the room.
The alien sneered as he was now alone in the room,discreetly walking over to a trash bin and taking out a small empty vial from his other sleeve,making sure to dispose of it immediately after before merely waiting.
Soon,the Minister returned,now adorning a thick fur coat over his regular attire
"The helicopters waiting on the roof" He said plainly,leaving the door open as he began making his way. The lithorian followed suit,accompanying the old man up the flights of stairs and eventually out onto the roof,a lone helicopter waiting for them with nothing but its control lights to illuminate the night.
Once off the ground,they traveled to a military base outside the limits of the administrative capital,landing on a helipad before a group of men escorted them inside the main facility. Once there,they took an elevator past a surprising numbers of subs levels until getting to the deepest one. They were greeted with a hub station for a vacuum train network,one constructed thanks to the generous investments of their lithorian benefactors. A half hour ride later and they arrived at a confidential facility in the planet's polar circle.
Uq'eik looked about as he was escorted through the strictly regulated corridors,passing by experimental laboratories and massive processing banks,eventually arriving in a chamber with a bed and complex machine at its center.
The doors to the room closed and engaged their hydraulic locks at the old man's request,leaving only Uq'eik,the Minister and a personnel there.
The scientist proceeded to set the Minister on the table and sedated him,all while the lithorian carefully surveyed the room,noticing a system maintenance panel and taking note of the various cameras in the room,trying to assess their field of vision. As the scientist placed a strange device on the Minister's head and hooked it up to a large processing bank,Uq'eiks horns began to vibrate,using his psionic prowess to discreetly emanate waves which disrupted the camera's functions. This gave him time to take out a small beetle like creature from his robe,which he promptly threw onto the panel,watching it bend a part of the metal cover before crawling in.
The thing promptly hooked up to it,working on actively editing the footage that the cameras were taking,ensuring the alien had no need to worry about them. With that out of the way,he began approaching the scientist.
"Let's see. Scan is 67% percent complete,no negative reactions as far as I can tell. Wait….what the-" was all he could mutter before the lithorian's talons wrapped around the back of his head and swiftly slammed him against the rim of the table,crushing his skull and offering him a quick death.
After wiping the blood from his hand,his gaze shifted to what had caught the man's attention. Grinning behind his face plates,the lithorian saw an MRI of the Minister's brain. It was morphed beyond what would be recognizable by human standards,a result of the countless micro organisms he had ingested. The old man's unexplainable charisma,which got him into office in the first place,was in fact the result of him having a latent psionic potential. Uq'eik figured that out as soon as he first locked eyes with him,which was why the biological agent he took was doped with aurastone,to enhance his potential and link him up to their hivemind.
The Prime Minister,at least in mind,was dead,having been long gone by the time they even stepped off the helicopter ride. Uq'eik now watched intently as the scanning and digital copying process continued. He knew full well that all of the old man's party members had already doubled their consciousness,all in a feeble attempt to achieve godhood,instead it would soon render them naught but slaves to a true diety.
Truth be told,a part of him was anxious. They knew digital consciousnesses could be connected to their hivemind,their secret project revealed that much,yet uploaded ones were still an enigma. Similarly,the man's altered sample should be enough to taint and corrupt all the others,giving them control over the whole fold of minds,yet that too was theoretical.
The creature was snapped out of its thoughts as the computer terminal signaled the end of the procedure. Cautiously,he turned over to the large server contraption linked to the old man's headset,approaching it. His hand clasped around an odd stick inserted into one of its ports,pulling it out and carefully scrutinizing it. He could feel it,the low thum of the mandala tugging at the psion field. He looked back at the Minister's unconscious yet living body,still knocked out from the sedatives. There was clearly a similarity,some semblance of his mind could be felt within the digital thing in his palm.
Convinced,he walked back to the computer,inserting the stick within. The screen went dark,a string of text soon appearing
Who am I
A flashing line appeared right below,indicating he may be able to type something out aswell. It seemed it was too inexperienced to talk psionically,perhaps it was best to communicate in this way for now.
Uq'eik thought for a moment,hand below his chin. He supposed it was only fair to give his new kinsman a name,afterall he could always just opt for a different if he wished,as lithorians often did.
Without time to waste,his hands fell upon the keyboard to address that question.
"Bucephalus"
What is my directive
It asked immediately.
"To carry out The Almighty's will"
Uq'eik,had no time to waste,he quickly took out the stick,taking it to the maintenance panel. He dug his boney digits into the metallic cover,ripping it away as if it were made of paper,the creature he brought was still there,its flesh growing and interfacing with the machinery. Without hesitation,he introduced the thing within one of its ports,effectively letting the AI loose inside the facility's network. A noise took his gaze back to the computer terminal,a new line of text had appeared.
What is this?
He was mildly surprised,the computer was supposed to be isolated from the network,being the place where the consciousness was meant to be carefully observed and ascertained by the Minister himself. It seemed as if the AI's constituents were psionically linked,free of actual electromagnetic signals. He walked back to the terminal,ready to type again.
"Give me the schematics of this place"
Seconds later,a map of the secret base appeared on screen,highlighting his current location and the designation of each part. His eyes briefly hovered over to 'Cryogenic Storage'
"Access the facility's camera feeds"
Understood
The room was filled with a few hundred cryo pods,the forms of people visible inside. The alien quickly recognized them as the rest of the Minister's political party,the ones who agreed with his plan. As he had heard,their bodies were to be kept until their "new selves" decided what to do with them. This prospect gave Uq'eik an idea,but for now he had more pressing matters.
Switching back to the map,he hovered the cursor over 'Carbon Monoxide Tanks'. Sure enough,massive chemical containers were visible with engineers and workers tending to them. These were no doubt a byproduct of the many chemical fuel generators that the base used to remain undetected to nuclear emission scanners. A crooked plan swept the lithorian's thought process,getting right back to typing.
"Those tanks,direct their contents into the ventilation system"
Acknowledged
The alien quickly switched back to the feeds,watching as the hallways were filled with invisible,odorless poison. One by one,personnel and soldiers began to fall to their knees,wheezing and coughing before they fell limp,never to wake up again. Uq'eik had no issues with such things,his bioengineered forms was capable of extended operation in vacuums afterall.
With the facility now vacated,he turned over to the Prime Minister. He could see his vitals dropping from the gas,but seeing as he was unconscious it was taking a longer time than for those outside. The creature began to feel remorse for this poor fool and his frozen colleagues,having tricked them so ruthlessly. He had already stolen their freedom,soon he would steal their country,yet in his alien perspective stealing their lives was the worst fate of all. He briefly contemplated an excuse,as his superiors were adamant about tying up loose ends. Uq'eik figured that they may still have use as agents and figureheads,and if his superiors would not have it then he could at the very least rest easy knowing he tried to preserve their lives.
Moving over to him,the lithorian grabbed an oxygen mask connected to a container and placed it on his face,watching as his condition stabilized. That should last him a few hours,more than enough to clear the air in the base once more.
There was still plenty to do,the ones in cryogenic sleep had to be revived and brought into the fold,he had to get out of the base and upload the AI into Lakarn's local information net and subsequently the microchips in most of the population,there were still loose ends to tie. And even then there was the matter of reforming the government structure and reshaping the economy back to something more capitalist than what was present under the emergency dictatorship. Regardless,Uq'eiks contacts would make sure of it came to pass. As of now,the Free Confederation of Lakarn was as good as a satellite state.
Uq'eik silently walked across the halls of the government building,occasionally running into personnel which immediately stopped what they were doing and saluted him. While he would never admit to it,much less show it,he always had a soft spot for elaborate gestures of showing respect,it was a shame his alien peers rarely felt the same.
He eventually came upon a plain wooden door,hardly different from any other in the complex. After pushing it open,the lithorian found himself in the Prime Minister's office,the old man currently sitting at his desk and reviewing paperwork.
"Ah,welcome! Welcome! I take it you've returned from your trip? Where was it again? The Jade Empire?" He asked with a smile,putting down his glasses and outstretching a hand to his visitor.
The alien ignored that gesture,instead fixating on the bags below the Minister's eyes.
"And I take it you've been working your fingers to the bone. You look terrible"
"Yes well,I haven't been getting good sleep as of late. Not to mention all the work that needed to be done in your absence." He put his glasses back on,lifting up a pen and getting back to his duties.
"Come to think of it,I don't think I've ever actually seen you sleep or even rest for that matter. Do you just….not?" He added,still looking down at the documents.
"I'm busy enough as is,Minister. If I had to spend half of my days being unconscious things would just become impossible. Nevertheless…." The alien stammered,taking something out of his rose's sleeve and placing it on the desk.
The Prime Minister looked up mildly surprised,seeing a coffee cup sitting in front of him.
"I hear this helps with fatigue,it's latte"
"Call me picky but I'm more of a Frappuccino fan myself." He said,causing the alien's eyes to narrow ever so slightly,cursing itself for being sloppy.
"Nevertheless,I'm not gonna pass up good coffee at a time like this" The man continued,picking up the beverage and having his fill.
"On my way,I happened to catch wind of the operation's progress. We've hit 99% implant rate,I believe now is as good as time as ever to proceed"
The man looked up suddenly,staring at the alien for a few seconds before snapping back to his senses
"I…...I see. Then I'll have to make a few phone calls. Wait for me here" He got up,walking past Uq'eik and leaving the room.
The alien sneered as he was now alone in the room,discreetly walking over to a trash bin and taking out a small empty vial from his other sleeve,making sure to dispose of it immediately after before merely waiting.
Soon,the Minister returned,now adorning a thick fur coat over his regular attire
"The helicopters waiting on the roof" He said plainly,leaving the door open as he began making his way. The lithorian followed suit,accompanying the old man up the flights of stairs and eventually out onto the roof,a lone helicopter waiting for them with nothing but its control lights to illuminate the night.
Once off the ground,they traveled to a military base outside the limits of the administrative capital,landing on a helipad before a group of men escorted them inside the main facility. Once there,they took an elevator past a surprising numbers of subs levels until getting to the deepest one. They were greeted with a hub station for a vacuum train network,one constructed thanks to the generous investments of their lithorian benefactors. A half hour ride later and they arrived at a confidential facility in the planet's polar circle.
Uq'eik looked about as he was escorted through the strictly regulated corridors,passing by experimental laboratories and massive processing banks,eventually arriving in a chamber with a bed and complex machine at its center.
The doors to the room closed and engaged their hydraulic locks at the old man's request,leaving only Uq'eik,the Minister and a personnel there.
The scientist proceeded to set the Minister on the table and sedated him,all while the lithorian carefully surveyed the room,noticing a system maintenance panel and taking note of the various cameras in the room,trying to assess their field of vision. As the scientist placed a strange device on the Minister's head and hooked it up to a large processing bank,Uq'eiks horns began to vibrate,using his psionic prowess to discreetly emanate waves which disrupted the camera's functions. This gave him time to take out a small beetle like creature from his robe,which he promptly threw onto the panel,watching it bend a part of the metal cover before crawling in.
The thing promptly hooked up to it,working on actively editing the footage that the cameras were taking,ensuring the alien had no need to worry about them. With that out of the way,he began approaching the scientist.
"Let's see. Scan is 67% percent complete,no negative reactions as far as I can tell. Wait….what the-" was all he could mutter before the lithorian's talons wrapped around the back of his head and swiftly slammed him against the rim of the table,crushing his skull and offering him a quick death.
After wiping the blood from his hand,his gaze shifted to what had caught the man's attention. Grinning behind his face plates,the lithorian saw an MRI of the Minister's brain. It was morphed beyond what would be recognizable by human standards,a result of the countless micro organisms he had ingested. The old man's unexplainable charisma,which got him into office in the first place,was in fact the result of him having a latent psionic potential. Uq'eik figured that out as soon as he first locked eyes with him,which was why the biological agent he took was doped with aurastone,to enhance his potential and link him up to their hivemind.
The Prime Minister,at least in mind,was dead,having been long gone by the time they even stepped off the helicopter ride. Uq'eik now watched intently as the scanning and digital copying process continued. He knew full well that all of the old man's party members had already doubled their consciousness,all in a feeble attempt to achieve godhood,instead it would soon render them naught but slaves to a true diety.
Truth be told,a part of him was anxious. They knew digital consciousnesses could be connected to their hivemind,their secret project revealed that much,yet uploaded ones were still an enigma. Similarly,the man's altered sample should be enough to taint and corrupt all the others,giving them control over the whole fold of minds,yet that too was theoretical.
The creature was snapped out of its thoughts as the computer terminal signaled the end of the procedure. Cautiously,he turned over to the large server contraption linked to the old man's headset,approaching it. His hand clasped around an odd stick inserted into one of its ports,pulling it out and carefully scrutinizing it. He could feel it,the low thum of the mandala tugging at the psion field. He looked back at the Minister's unconscious yet living body,still knocked out from the sedatives. There was clearly a similarity,some semblance of his mind could be felt within the digital thing in his palm.
Convinced,he walked back to the computer,inserting the stick within. The screen went dark,a string of text soon appearing
Who am I
A flashing line appeared right below,indicating he may be able to type something out aswell. It seemed it was too inexperienced to talk psionically,perhaps it was best to communicate in this way for now.
Uq'eik thought for a moment,hand below his chin. He supposed it was only fair to give his new kinsman a name,afterall he could always just opt for a different if he wished,as lithorians often did.
Without time to waste,his hands fell upon the keyboard to address that question.
"Bucephalus"
What is my directive
It asked immediately.
"To carry out The Almighty's will"
Uq'eik,had no time to waste,he quickly took out the stick,taking it to the maintenance panel. He dug his boney digits into the metallic cover,ripping it away as if it were made of paper,the creature he brought was still there,its flesh growing and interfacing with the machinery. Without hesitation,he introduced the thing within one of its ports,effectively letting the AI loose inside the facility's network. A noise took his gaze back to the computer terminal,a new line of text had appeared.
What is this?
He was mildly surprised,the computer was supposed to be isolated from the network,being the place where the consciousness was meant to be carefully observed and ascertained by the Minister himself. It seemed as if the AI's constituents were psionically linked,free of actual electromagnetic signals. He walked back to the terminal,ready to type again.
"Give me the schematics of this place"
Seconds later,a map of the secret base appeared on screen,highlighting his current location and the designation of each part. His eyes briefly hovered over to 'Cryogenic Storage'
"Access the facility's camera feeds"
Understood
The room was filled with a few hundred cryo pods,the forms of people visible inside. The alien quickly recognized them as the rest of the Minister's political party,the ones who agreed with his plan. As he had heard,their bodies were to be kept until their "new selves" decided what to do with them. This prospect gave Uq'eik an idea,but for now he had more pressing matters.
Switching back to the map,he hovered the cursor over 'Carbon Monoxide Tanks'. Sure enough,massive chemical containers were visible with engineers and workers tending to them. These were no doubt a byproduct of the many chemical fuel generators that the base used to remain undetected to nuclear emission scanners. A crooked plan swept the lithorian's thought process,getting right back to typing.
"Those tanks,direct their contents into the ventilation system"
Acknowledged
The alien quickly switched back to the feeds,watching as the hallways were filled with invisible,odorless poison. One by one,personnel and soldiers began to fall to their knees,wheezing and coughing before they fell limp,never to wake up again. Uq'eik had no issues with such things,his bioengineered forms was capable of extended operation in vacuums afterall.
With the facility now vacated,he turned over to the Prime Minister. He could see his vitals dropping from the gas,but seeing as he was unconscious it was taking a longer time than for those outside. The creature began to feel remorse for this poor fool and his frozen colleagues,having tricked them so ruthlessly. He had already stolen their freedom,soon he would steal their country,yet in his alien perspective stealing their lives was the worst fate of all. He briefly contemplated an excuse,as his superiors were adamant about tying up loose ends. Uq'eik figured that they may still have use as agents and figureheads,and if his superiors would not have it then he could at the very least rest easy knowing he tried to preserve their lives.
Moving over to him,the lithorian grabbed an oxygen mask connected to a container and placed it on his face,watching as his condition stabilized. That should last him a few hours,more than enough to clear the air in the base once more.
There was still plenty to do,the ones in cryogenic sleep had to be revived and brought into the fold,he had to get out of the base and upload the AI into Lakarn's local information net and subsequently the microchips in most of the population,there were still loose ends to tie. And even then there was the matter of reforming the government structure and reshaping the economy back to something more capitalist than what was present under the emergency dictatorship. Regardless,Uq'eiks contacts would make sure of it came to pass. As of now,the Free Confederation of Lakarn was as good as a satellite state.