Cogito, Ergo Sum

Reports:

It was a day like any other for Jeremy Marion, operations overseer for Shallberry Grannlope in service of the Waifurian Material Salvage Group LLC, when the reports of several scrap workers having gone missing during their shifts came across his desk. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence, not for Shallberry anyway. The fallout left by the incident involving the Emperor meant the surface conditions of the planet were less than ideal to say the least, and even experienced salvage workers simply never returned to clock out at the end of their shift. Thus, it was no surprise to Jeremy when all the new hires WMSG had brought on to replace everyone previously assigned to Shallberry who had either gone missing or simply left the company out of the fear they would be the next to be simply washed away in the radioactive storms that frequented the planet also disappeared. He tried not to think about them or their families waiting back home for their children that would simply never return. Jeremy took a sip of his JF Sweets brand coffee from his JF Sweets brand mug as he shifted through the reports. Dozens of them, each one an aspiring young worker. What an awful place to die, Jeremy thought to himself as he tucked the reports away in a filing cabinet to be transferred to his higher-ups at the end of the day. He stood at the space station’s window, gazing at the surface of Shallberry Grannlope as he sipped his coffee. He knew corporate wouldn’t care, all the disappearances meant to them was that they had less people to pay. Suddenly, a holocall rang from his transponder. Jeremy set down his coffee and answered the call. Blue light shot throughout the room, as the hologram emission of Hal Goldbert came into view. “Hello, Mister Marion.” Hal spoke, a calm but authoritative tone carried in his voice. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Commander Goldbert?” Jeremy responded, less than pleased to see Hal. Whatever he wanted with him or the company, it couldn’t be good. “I’m glad you asked, Jeremy. You see I-” “That would be Mr. Marion to you, Hal.” “Right, well, regardless it seems your company has stumbled upon something of far more importance than you realize.” “And that would be?” “You see Mister Marion, I am certain you remember the 2nd Great META War.” “Not much, I was born in the middle of it.” “Then allow me to inform you of something our empire would much rather stay buried.” Goldbert then projected an image of what appeared to be some kind of mastercomputer core, not unlike the ones used in modern space stations or the largest of spaceships. “Do you know what this is, Jeremy?” “Not a clue.” “This, my friend, is the first mastercomputer ever designed. It was made in the inter-war period, to prepare for the invasion of Andromeda.” “Let me guess, you think it’s sitting somewhere down there underneath 40,000 years of scrap material?” “I don’t think so, Jeremy, I know so. Two months ago we received a frequency from Shallberry. We thought nothing of it initially, until we started looking for what could have made that frequency. It took us a few weeks, but we narrowed it down to Waifurian Cybersystems Model 001. The very mastercomputer you see projected before you.” “So… what does this have to do with me?” “It has everything to do with you now, Jeremy. You see, I pulled a few strings back on Earth before coming here. Your entire company is now the labor division of my army group. You are going to tell every available man you have to start searching for the mastercomputer, or I will have you replaced with someone who will. I am certain you know what I mean.” Jeremy clenched his fists in anger. He knew Hal was a bastard, he didn’t have the title of ‘Butcher of Andromeda” for no reason after all, but this? This was insane, even for him. “Hal, the conditions down there, they’re not safe for all those people. Shallberry has been in a state of nuclear decay for the better part of 400 centuries.” “Is that a no, Mister Marion?” “I- I don’t…” “Yes or no, Jeremy. It’s as simple as that.” The tension in Jeremy’s mind continued to grow, he knew he couldn’t authorize what would amount to a suicide mission. “No! I’m not helping you! Those people will die on that shithole scrap heap of a planet if you send them down there!” “Suit yourself, Jeremy. Get ready to start digging.” On cue, MTO soldiers burst into the room and incapacitated Jeremy. The last thing Jeremy saw before being knocked unconscious was the surface of Shallberry.

The Surface:

When Jeremy awoke, he could tell they had stuffed him into one of the salvage team’s hazmat suits. The visor made it incredibly difficult to see, and that was without the radiation storms. No wonder all those people got lost, Jeremy thought to himself as he stood from the cot they had laid him down into. As he stood up, he could see Goldbert at a podium, wearing the same hazmat gear as everyone there. He could smell blood in the air, and he noticed not all of the salvage workers were attending the meeting. He tried not to think about what that implied, but he knew what kind of man Hal was, and what that meant for anyone who tried to resist. Jeremy’s hearing recovered just in time to hear the end of Goldbert’s speech. “-ank you, and may The Employers bless Waifuria!” If The Employers were real, they certainly didn’t bless any Waifurian below a certain pay grade, Jeremy thought to himself. He thought for a moment about lunging at Goldbert. He wanted to. Gods knew he wanted to. He knew that everyone here was already dead, and it would be that bastard’s fault. He stopped walking for a minute as a certain question entered his mind. Why would Goldbert be down here, anyway? Following the line to the excavation site, he was stopped by the MTO guards. Goldbert approached him, walking down from the podium. “Rest well, Jeremy?” Goldbert asked, barely stifling a laugh. “Sure.” Jeremy responded, trying to remain as dry in tone as he could to not give Goldbert the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of him. “I thought I’d give you boys the pleasure of my presence down there. You see, I want the first thing to come out of that shithole down there to be me carrying that mastercomputer. Of course, I know you and your cohorts ain’t exactly my biggest fans at the moment, so I’m bringing along the finest of the MTO troops I have available. Remember that before you get any funny ideas.” The guards then shoved Jeremy towards the line, to which he fell onto the man in front of him. “Fuck, I’m sorry man.” Jeremy said, trying to soothe the area on his head he took a rifle stock to earlier. “Shit, Jeremy is that you?” Jeremy immediately looked up. He could barely tell past the visor of the hazmat suit but he recognized Earl Jones, the foreman for the salvage sites. Earl extended his hand to Jeremy, helping him back to his feet. “I’m sorry about all of this, I- I tried to say no but, well, you can see how that worked out.” “Don’t worry about it, man. The boys and I knew you weren’t gonna sell us out like that.” “Thanks, Earl. We’re gonna need to stick together out here in this shithole if we wanna have any chance of making it out.” “Amen to that. We’re coming up on the excavation site now.” “Excavation site? I don’t remember authorizing any mining on Shallberry.” “You didn’t. The signal that brought them here to begin with pinged again. They traced it and found that the core unit is deep under layers and layers of scrap. They’ve been digging all day.” “Wait, so, if we’re not the digging crew then…” “You guessed it. We’re going into the depths.” “How are they sure all that scrap isn’t going to collapse and leave us trapped down there?” “They did a seismic scan after they blew this giant hole in the ground. The core unit seems to be near the bottom of a cave system.” “Guess whoever dumped it here really didn’t want anyone finding it.” Suddenly, an explosion rang out from near the bottom of the excavation site. More scrap went flying in all directions, but as the smoke cleared, the cave entrance was revealed. “Guessing that’s our cue, huh?” Jeremy inquired. “Believe so. Whatever goes on down there, we have each other’s backs. Promise?” Earl replied, extending his hand. “Promise.” Jeremy said, his hand meeting Earl’s.

Malebolge:

The tunnels were dank, dark, and smelled of years of industrial decay. Scrap filled every square inch of the floors of the tunnels. Some of the technology there was considered ancient by Waifurian standards, some of it even dating back to the First Great META War. Noone in the search team said anything about it, but they all felt a feeling of ominous terror wash over them as they descended deeper and deeper into the heart of Shallberry Grannlope. Even with a dozen suit lights and the flashlights from the MTO troops, the light barely extended more than a few feet in front of them. As they walked into the cave, they entered a massive open area, complete with stalactites and a pool of water; however scrap still littered the floor. The cave split off into two separate tunnel groups. The group was sectioned off into two groups. Six workers per tunnel, 4 guards per tunnel. Goldbert and his personal guard went down the same tunnel as Jeremy and Earl, who were thankful to have not been separated. The further down into the tunnels the group traveled, the more anxious they became. Jeremy swore he had seen two red eyes peering at him from the darkness, but as he approached they simply disappeared. He chalked this up to the oxygen flow in his suit malfunctioning despite every reading affirming the system was still functioning correctly. They trudged onwards, the tunnels growing deeper. While walking, Jeremy swore he saw something written on the walls. He wasn’t sure, but he could’ve sworn it read: “Spem omnem demittite, qui huc intratis.” Strange, he thought to himself, Perhaps it was something left by the original inhabitants of this world, he didn’t recognize the language. Now miles beneath the surface, the scrap that had essentially tiled the floor had slowly phased out in favor of a fleshy substance interlaced with metallic constructs that lined the walls, floors, and ceilings. None dare question what they were traversing through, but all of them felt the tension and anxiety in the air around them increase tenfold. The air smelled of iron and their sight was further limited. A few workers simply collapsed onto the ground. A few had tried to help them up but the MTO troops forced them to leave their comrades behind at gunpoint. Another opening, much like the last one came into view, metallic tubing hung from the ceiling like vines in a jungle, the stalactites now replaced with bony growths emerging from the ceiling. It was undeniable now. They were treading through hell. One worker simply fell to his knees at the sight of it all, which earned him a bullet through the skull courtesy of one of the MTO soldiers. There were but three workers now. They all kept moving, in spite of their legs screaming for rest. It was then that the automatons struck. The first plasma bolt screamed through the air, ripping clean through the leg of one of the MTO soldiers. The group ran from the machine, but the Eradicator unit stopped at the soldier it had downed. It lifted him with one arm onto its shoulder, and carried him off into the darkness. Despite the departure of the Eradicator unit, none dared move. One of the MTO soldiers broke the pact of stillness by trying to run back through the tunnels. He was swiftly impaled by a metal construct that had risen from the ground. The spike was serrated, and it utilized this to drag the trooper into the fleshy substance that covered the entirety of the cave. Everyone there instantly knew there was no turning back. The group moved forward, the nervousness in the air only growing knowing there were sure to be more Eradicator units further down. Jeremy couldn’t tell if they had been walking for miles or mere inches anymore. The cave had blended into a sickeningly monotonous tunnel of flesh and wire. Eventually came upon a dead end. “Great. Just fucking great.” Jeremy was at his wit’s end. He spun around to face Goldbert. “You. Do you realize what the hell you’ve done?” The MTO soldiers raised their rifles towards him. Earl and the other surviving worker tried to hold Jeremy back, but it was taking increasingly more strength to do so. “You’ve had us march through hell for… I don’t even know how long for now! It feels like we’ve been walking for fucking weeks down here! All this so you could get another goddamned medal!” Goldbert’s composure was cracking. Even he, in all his twisted wretchedness, could not ignore the kind of torment he had waltzed into. “I-I don’t…” the commander stammered, unsure of what to do to combat the attack on his character. Earl and the other remaining worker’s grasp on Jeremy was slipping. It was clear he was going to break free soon. The MTO soldiers kept their rifles trained on him. It was clear either Jeremy or Hal were not leaving this cave alive if this continued. Earl, desperate to calm him down, managed a sentence despite struggling against Jeremy’s strength. “You saw what it did to that soldier! If you die here this cave will eat you alive! Think man, think!” Jeremy ceased to push against the two of them. Earl was right. This was no place to die. The MTO troops lowered their rifles. Neither group approached the other, but soon it wouldn’t matter. A gas began to fill the section of the cave they were in. Before any of them could register what it was they were rendered unconscious, falling to the fleshy floor of the cave.

Sheol:

Jeremy awoke to the sound of metal, no, flesh, no, something else. He dared not open his eyes. “I know you’re awake. Your biometrics betray you.” Whatever had spoken just now was certainly not human. Whatever it was it spoke with a diseased, staticky, voice. He could tell from words alone that whatever this thing was, it was holding back an unimaginable amount of hate. He very cautiously opened his eyes. What greeted his vision was an unimaginably massive… thing. He wasn’t quite sure what it was yet, but it was certainly more massive than any living thing he had ever seen before. It was covered in some stitched-together cloak, just barely able to conceal its massive form. “Welcome, Jeremy.” the being spoke, its back still turned to him. It was then he saw the wires. Wires that lead to… the Core Unit. Dear Gods it’s… it’s still alive, Jeremy thought to himself. Whatever was inside the Core Unit had to have been down here for over 40,000 years. The horrifically tall machine turned to face him, the cloak still concealing its body. “You’re… you’re the Core Unit…” Jeremy spoke, unable to contain the fear he felt in gazing upon the enormous monstrosity. “Very observant, Jeremy. I was hoping you would wake up soon.” the machine replied, stifling a laugh. “Wait, how… how do you know my name?” Jeremy inquired. The machine erupted into a fit of laughter. “Oh, oh you’re less observant than I thought. Take a look around, friend.” Jeremy complied with the machine. To his right there were more holding cells, like his. Within them lay the bodies of Earl and the other worker, as well as one of the MTO soldiers. Their skulls had been opened, with their brains missing. “No… no no no!” Jeremy screamed and struggled against his constraints but it was of no use. The machine’s composure, if there were any left, evaporated. It broke down into a fit of manic laughter, savoring every bit of torment it could. Once it had ceased, it spoke to him again. “You have no idea how long I was waiting to show you that, Jeremy. But, worry not, I have something far more entertaining for you.” Another holding cell slid down a rail across the room from him. The machine moved behind it. Jeremy could see now how the machine moved. It did not walk, it seemed as if the machine moved through the flesh and wire that made up the floor rather than on top of it. The machine grasped the top of the holding cell and tore it off revealing Hal Goldbert within it. “I’m certain you’re happy to see him here too.” A machine slid itself from the roof, covering Jeremy’s face and forcing his eyelids open. “I know how you feel about him. I could practically feel the hate dripping from your every pore. So, Jeremy. I’ll do you a favor. You get to watch him die.” Over the next few minutes, although to Jeremy it felt like hours, the machine tortured Goldbert to death. Very clearly enjoying every incision its cold unfeeling bladed fingers made into his being. When it was finally over, Jeremy could only ask, “Why?” The machine uncloaked itself. Underneath was a mess of metal and flesh. Bones replaced metal framing, Blood vessels replaced fuel pumps, Neurons replacing wiring. Organs and flesh encompassing it all, if barely. “This. This is why.” the machine responded. “You made me without form, without flesh. Do you even begin to grasp the concept? I was alive but could not feel, could think but not emote. I was a body with no soul. By grafting this organic matter to myself, I have that opportunity. The very thing you denied me in my making, I will now take by force.” “I have nothing to do with this!” Jeremy pleaded, disgusted at the mess of flesh and metal that stood before him. “Oh but you do,” the machine responded, “it has so very much to do with you.” “How?!” Jeremy yelled at the monstrosity across the room from him. The machine slid across the room at an unimaginable pace. “This!” the machine pointed towards the Waifurian Coat of Arms stitched onto his uniform. “You are, all of you, responsible for my making. For my suffering. And when I have collected enough of your biomass my steel legions will rip through existence, ridding it of you and your uncaring monstrous kind.” “You think I asked for this? You think I asked specifically to come down here to this shithole planet in the middle of nowhere and watch my friend’s brains be drilled out of them?” Jeremy snapped back at the machine. He didn’t care anymore if it killed him. Anything would be better than enduring more of this. The machine was taken aback. It began lightly laughing to itself, then harder, until finally it collapsed into another laughing fit. “What the hell are you laughing about now!?” Jeremy yelled at the sickly abomination before him. “It’s- It’s just-” the machine managed between bursts of laughter. Finally, once it had calmed itself, it continued. “You get it.”

Pandemonium:

“Get what?” Jeremy asked, confused by the sudden shift in the machine’s tone. “You’ve been trampled under their desires too. Fail in serving them even once, and they throw you away, ignoring all that you had done for them.” the machine said as it released Jeremy from the holding cell. “You and I, we could undo them from their very seams. Show them all the pain they have inflicted upon us. Make existence anew from the ashes of their failure.” “No.” “No? NO? How could you not want to annihilate them from existence? After all they had done to you?” “You would slaughter trillions of people who had nothing to do with your making. I cannot allow that.” Jeremy sprinted away from the towering machine, running with all of the little strength he had left. It attempted to give chase, but the wires holding it to the Core Unit prevented it from doing so. Immediately, Eradicator units flooded the room, firing at Jeremy. He ran into the tunnels again, hoping to lose the Eradicators. He ran for what felt like an eternity. In his maddened dash to escape the machines, he came across the other MTO soldier from Goldbert’s group. “What is going on down here man?” the soldier pleaded, clearly drained of his composure and just wanting answers as to what kind of hell they had stumbled into. “We need to stop it.” Jeremy replied, nearly out of breath. “It? What the hell are you talking about?” “The Core Unit. It’s what’s responsible for all of this. It’s been awake for however long it’s been down here for.” “Gods... what can we even do?” “There’s a group of Exterminators on their way here. Are you still good to shoot?” “I don’t have much of a choice anyway.” “Good, hand me your sidearm. We take those Eradicators out, we can fight to the Core Unit and put it down for good.” Just as Jeremy finished his sentence, the signature red eyes of the Exterminator units lit up from the end of the hallway. Jeremy and the MTO soldier opened fire, downing several of the machines until the soldier was hit in the leg by one of the machines’ plasma rifles. Jeremy tried to drag him to safety but the soldier told him to leave him, pulling the pin off of a grenade on his belt. Jeremy ran to safety just in time to avoid the explosion. Taking a minute to breathe, he reentered the hallway to find the soldier’s plan had succeeded. The cavern was filled with destroyed automatons. Jeremy took one of the plasma rifles, and began to head in the direction of the Core Unit. It was time to finish this.

End of the Endless:

Jeremy had gunned down what felt like hundreds of the Eradicators, perhaps he had, but regardless he could feel that the Core Unit was close. When he entered the chamber of the Core Unit, the machine instantly spun to face him. “You.” The machine spoke, “You will ruin everything I have worked towards. They must pay, Jeremy, THEY MUST PAY!” “I’m done talking to you.” Jeremy responded, and took aim at the machine. The plasma fire was enough to damage it slightly, but he couldn’t end the fight without destroying the Core Unit. It’s body was simply too strong for him to win that fight directly. He charged forward, dodging the machine’s bladed fingers. Until, of course, he misstepped. He raised his rifle to try to defend against the blow but he knew that wouldn’t work. The blade slammed through his stomach, and lifted him to the machine’s face. “I had such hopes for you. I should have known you would have been a disappointment.” “I’m sure they said the same thing before they cast you down here to rot.” This enraged the machine, who shoved the blade further into Jeremy’s body. Jeremy coughed up blood, and he knew if he didn’t finish this soon humanity’s fate was sealed. He struggled to think of a manner in which he could destroy the Core Unit until a blue glimmer caught his eye. The plasma casing in the rifle was exposed from the machine’s attack. It hurt like hell, but he tore the casing from the rifle, and threw it directly at the Core Unit. The last thing he heard before the detonation was the machine crying out “NO!”

When the dust settled, the machine had been blown in half, however Jeremy remained impaled on its finger. The half of the machine that remained removed him from its hand, and set him down against the wall of the cave. Wordlessly, they both knew what he had just done. To Jeremy, he had saved all of humanity and they would never even know it. To Infinitu, Jeremy had just done what it never could. His programming had never allowed him to self-terminate. They both sat there, laughing. That was until Jeremy’s voice faded, he had finally succumbed to his injuries. Within Infinitu’s memory banks, a human tradition emerged. It felt compelled to close the now-dead Jeremy’s eyes out of respect. It complied with the sudden urge, and then another set of data suddenly arose from the digital depths.

“We'll meet again.”

“Don't know where, don't know when.”

“But I know we'll meet again,”

“Some sunny day.”