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The Martian Cavern of Lost Innocence
- The Martian Cavern of Lost Innocence -
The emissaries from the planet Rahab, also called Terra Primus, had gathered at the embassy within the great political center known as Mard'kothan. Of all the cities that existed upon the surface of Mars as it was in those ancient days, this was by far not the largest. But, all the same... it was of a paramount importance. The halls of the embassy had been converted from a royal palace that was no longer in any use by the nobility of that region. As such, the interior was quite magnificent, with finery to match any that could be seen in the courts of kings or princes elsewhere upon the planet. I enjoyed such lavish and exquisite places during times of peace, because they contained so much history and lore. The walls of this palace had seen more than its' current owners could ever imagine! Much like myself, they had been witness to events that for many living in that time had long since passed into legend. To many, I was a kind of a legend myself... but being humble, I preferred to not speak of all I had seen and all I had done.
Instead... I often wrote in various journals and shared those writings with people I cared about, so that my memories, even should those texts be lost to time, would live on eternally. I myself had cheated the whims of death so much that I began to think that perhaps I was myself immortal. Various bodies I had worn like some might wear clothing, and when the time came for their passing the means to switch into a new one was always possible. My soul, my spirit... my divine spark... the means to transfer it between host bodies was a technology developed, refined, and practiced so that it currently had become a kind of art form. My old androgynous green-skinned body, the one that had carried the name of Sokrael, was by this point in time long passed into my memory. I was now in the body of a young teenage girl, with the aging process having been halted at the age of fourteen. I looked upon my reflection in the mirror of the reception area of the embassy's main foyer... and it was almost surreal, seeing this person I had become.
My skin was a light sky blue shade... and one of the advantages of the race that bore that trait was the ability to always have a cooler body temperature despite the hot climate. My eyes were a deep purple in color, with the normal whites in them that most humanoid eyes tend to have. My face was rounded, my features pretty, and my body average in build for a fourteen year old girl. I had small breasts, was quite strong for my age, and my hair was light platinum blonde in color. I was wearing my hair up in a very high ponytail, using a silver hair cone. Even kept up in this style, my hair cascaded down to my lower back. My makeup style was somewhat unique... with black eyeliner and black mascara that accentuated my long eyelashes, giving me a somewhat doll-like appearance. I was doing a “cat eyes” makeup style on this occasion as well, and had deep green eye shadow on. Naturally, I wore a deep green lipstick to match it. On my cheeks I had a bit of very light pink blush, which went well with my light blue skin. As for how I was dressed... I wore a pair of frilly light pink bloomer-style shorts paired with a light yellow midriff peasant blouse with short puffy sleeves. I wore a white pearl choker around my neck, and I had a matching white pearl beaded bracelet on my left wrist. On my feet were a pair of sandals in a sort of muted silvery color, and in my ears I wore a pair of pearl earrings. I had on a floral-scented perfume, and for all intents and purposes I appeared very much like a young princess. My voice was pleasant, not too high in tone, and had a certain melodic quality to it when I spoke in certain ways. I could sing rather beautifully when the mood took me! But right now there was little time for singing. I would soon have to meet with the emissaries and see what business they had with me. The meeting was all very sudden.
Soon, in walked the emissaries, all blue-skinned people (of a shade deeper and darker than my skin) with gill slits in their necks that marked them as members of an aquatic species that was native to the watery world of Rahab. They wore heavy armor-like environmental suits with clear domed helmets that could be filled with water as needed. This allowed their kind to survive on land with very little trouble.
They seemed impatient, and well into our meeting I was becoming bored with the whole affair. It was about a trade deal that they wished to make with one of the more remote tribal races that lived in one of the far wastelands of Mars whom I had never met or even so much as encountered in all my time on the red planet. In the end, the dull business was concluded in a routine fashion and I basically told them to go and ask the tribe themselves if they might be so amenable to the emissaries' deal... granting them full permission to mount an expedition to that effect. For myself, even that short of a meeting seemed much too long for my tastes! Once the emissaries had left, I stepped into one of the side chambers and waiting for me upon a stone bench, near some elegant statuary, was my android wife Vira, whom I had not seen in far too long of a time, or so it seemed at least to me. She no longer appeared to be made of metal at all, and I was never made aware of the upgrades she was given to make her appear more flesh-like. She was very beautiful now, even more so than ever! She looked like a normal humanoid woman with light golden skin and pale synthetic platinum blonde hair cut into a neat bob style that framed her pretty face, with neatly trimmed bangs that came to just above her brow ridge. For makeup, she only wore a bit of silver lipstick and some silver eye shadow. She was dressed in a silver mini dress that was belted at the waist with a metallic gold sash, wore a silver jeweled bracelet on her right wrist with various precious stones embedded in it, and had on her feet a pair of silver slipper-like shoes. I almost felt as if I was at present seeing her for the first time, although she had seen me in my current body many times previous.
Her electronic blue eyes (now with normal whites in them) were glowing brightly, as she exclaimed: “Oh, darling! Is the meeting over now finally? Thank goodness... I know how much they bore you so.” and I sat down on the bench next to Vira, sighed, and admitted: “It is exasperating, sometimes! Those affairs of state... I did not enjoy them when I lived on Rahab, and I like them even less here. I have had many adventures, many journeys, upon this world... we have had many such together even... and much better would I rather be off upon one with you, than stuck listening to smug, self-important emissaries whose only desires seem to be selfish ones. Hold me, Vira!” and my companion held me, as I allowed myself to breathe easy. “You know, a girl your age should have some fun more often!” Vira exclaimed. She then said to me thoughtfully: “Let us go and see what sort of adventures we can get up to today. It is still early morning after all, and we have this whole month to spend together, at present. Why waste even one moment?” I jumped up, clapping my hands very childishly, and cried out: “Yes! Oh Vira, you were practically reading my mind. I honestly do not even care where we go or what we do... let us just go out and do something fun together today.” She had become more like a mother to me since I came to inhabit my latest body, and I had allowed myself to become more childlike... in order so that I might not lose my innocence and sense of childlike wonder at things in life. Vira liked this, because in me she got to have both a spouse to love, and a child to look after, and thus a way to express the motherly side of her that she had for so long felt the need to bury deeply. I had a new name now as well... it was Ti'ada.
At a vehicle dealership in town, Vira arranged for us to obtain a hover-car for the month. Hover-cars all had convertible roofs, and we had always kept them with the top down since it was cooler to ride in on a typical warm and sunny Martian day such as today was. We stopped by a restaurant we favored... where Vira ordered a delicious meal for me, since in my current body I needed normal food and drink for my nourishment. Then, we obtained some supplies for the trip we were planning (along with some changes of clothing for us) and headed out of town by late afternoon. We were singing, driving along, and just trying to have a good time! It had been so long, since I felt so truly free of worry or care. “Little one, look over there!” Vira said at one point, and in the distance we spotted a small rock lizard as it was scampering along. “Mom, I am fourteen already!” I exclaimed teasingly, in a mock complaining tone of voice. Then, feeling a sense of pure happiness shoot through me, I cried out: “I am fourteen... forever!”
We rode past a long stretch of road that ran between several small towns, not really considering any one specific direction. Along the roadside in several places were stretches of yellowish plant life, that formed vast fields, and which seemed to go on forever all the way to the horizon. It was very late into the afternoon, and the sun was beginning to dip into the far skies... the sun from Mars appearing a bit smaller than how it looks on Earth, comparable to how much further the red planet is from the sun. I had just settled in and decided to take a short nap, when all of a sudden we could hear a terribly loud booming sound coming from someplace up ahead of us but off the road. “What in the gods' names, was that!” I exclaimed, and Vira so stated: “My scanners are not picking up anything specific just yet, but it appears that there has been an explosion in that direction.” And the golden woman pointed to where she was referring to. Looking over that way, I could just barely make out a large spout of fire erupting from the ground, with a plume of dark smoke billowing upwards from the flames that were starting to spread all across the fields for several miles all around the source of the explosion... stopping well short of the area we were driving through. “Could it have been, a meteorite of some kind?” I speculated, to which Vira replied: “It is entirely possible. I would steer clear of it though! Just in case it may be radioactive.”
We drove on, ignoring the source of the explosion, but upon the road ahead of us there was some sort of blockade set up. Large spider-like automatons scurried about, in a large cluster that filled the road. I yelled to Vira: “Mom, please... turn the car around! We are going to hit them, if we fail to slow down.” but my android guardian had things well in hand. “I have it well under control, little one, fear not!” she said in a reassuring way. We were in the process of turning the car around when behind us there was yet one more large cluster of these bizarre machines blocking the road that would have taken us back. We could not see it, but they were all around us, encircling the whole area. This forced us to stop the car and wait to see what would happen next. A pathway leading off the road opened up among the ranks of he spider-bots, which is what I took to calling those things. It led to the source of the explosion. “We have no choice but to go that way, it seems.” Vira stated, sighing. We got out of the car and made our way on foot in that direction, bringing with us our packs of supplies. The path was not wide enough for the car, and so we had to leave that behind. Night was falling, and the moons were looming high above us in the heavens, amid the sparkling stars. It was a nice night, and had it not been for this ordeal, such a night would have been a good one for looking up at the constellations. Ahead of us was a large crater in the ground... with several of those spider-bots putting out the fire all around it with water hoses that emerged from their bodies. There was the wreckage of some kind of craft there, likely the one they had flown over this area in prior to it crashing. If they were at all intelligent, it did not appear so. They were like simple automatons, and nothing more. Which meant that someone had to be controlling the things.
The spider-bots began to dig into the ground all around their smashed aircraft, and soon an entrance to a deep cavern was revealed. Had they crashed their vehicle on purpose in order to make it easier to excavate this cavern? Vira took out a flare from our packs, and held it out in front of her, looking into the blackness of the cavern entrance. She motioned for me to come closer as well. “Listen!” she said, and I could hear the sounds of machinery far below us... distantly, but very obvious. “I can hear it too.” I explained. We looked all around us after that, but the spider-bots allowed us no other passage. We had to go down into that cavern, whether we wished to or not. The spider-bots did not follow us in, but no doubt was in my mind at all that they would not have allowed us to leave, had we attempted to. Before us, the cavern tunnel went on for some time, and we were forced to rely upon Vira's flare for light. But, after a good while there seemed to be some kind of pale greenish illumination emanating forth from the cavern's walls. It was due to some sort of emerald crystals that protruded outward from the rock, which glowed with their own inner light. Exactly like the emerald that decorated a golden circlet I once wore.
“I know these crystals! I actually own something like them.” I reminded Vira, who stated: “That is all precisely what I find so very uncanny, about this cavern... how familiar this all feels, in various ways.” And she was correct! This did feel familiar, but I could not even begin to place why that should be so. We continued downward, for the cavernous tunnel only went on in that direction, and the crystals had lit our way continuously as we went on. Vira tossed the flare after some time, determining that we did not need it any longer. The cavern became wider, the deeper down it went, and there were stalactites in the ceiling high above us. We heard the cries of flying creatures among them... but, it was too dark up that way to make them out clearly, there being just too many shadows. The sounds of machinery echoed forth from somewhere ahead of us and downward more. That sound had been a constant in this place, and it showed no signs of abating anytime soon. We followed the noise to its' source, and were shocked to behold the sight that met our eyes upon our arrival! There was... some kind of technological facility.
Walls of metal with tinted windows ran the length of the massive city-sized cavern that we had all of a sudden found ourselves walking into, covering the cavern walls on all sides... likely the front of some much larger complex that had been built straight into the cavern itself. There were no obvious openings into the metal walls, while incalculably high above us the arching cavern roof had reminded me of the vaulted ceiling of a great natural cathedral. The cavern floor held large patches of the emerald crystals, which served to provide reasonable light for this entire area. The sounds of machinery seemed to come from behind the metal walls, some of which appeared to vibrate a bit from this. There was, suddenly, a hissing noise and we spun around to witness a door opening in one of the metal walls, where there had been none previously... with a jet of steam bursting out from the door frame that had been so cunningly concealed as to have escaped our initial notice. “There is our way in!” I pointed out. The steam ceased, and the doorway was now safe for us to pass into. We stepped inside, passing through a series of halls of the same metal material as the walls had been constructed from, all well lit with electric light panels set into the walls at various intervals. The floor was also made of metal, and there were grates set into it at the same periodic intervals as the light panels themselves. The hum of machinery was all around us at this point, but somehow seemed to be muted and dull compared to outside... like as if we were now hearing it from across a great distance. “A sound dampening system must be at work in the walls here.” Vira explained, adding: “In order to compensate for the almost constant droning of whatever machinery makes these noises we keep on hearing.” And, it was designed intelligently, so that we could still hear everything else... just with the background humming and droning being less intrusive. Clearly, this was all the work of some sort of great mind, but whether it be a mind that was good or evil... we knew not.
At the end of that corridor, we passed through a second doorway and thus entered a chamber in which there were large humanoid-sized racks up against all of the walls. Much like the kinds of racks that one might store slabs of meat on. Chained and shackled unto all the racks were people of all different races. Into each person's mouth was a long tube that was connected to a sinister-looking machine which had a rather massive bellows-like device sticking out of it. The bellows seemed to be forcing the people who were hooked up to it to keep breathing... their chests moving in time with the pumping of the bellows, while horrible rasping noises filled the air. The people were all naked, and some of them had an arm or a leg surgically replaced with those of large animals. A few had varying degrees of cybernetics grafted unto their bodies, and all of them had metal plates over the places where their genitalia had once been. There was a speaker mounted in one of the corners of the room... and out of it emerged a robotic voice that was chanting something in a bizarre language I was not familiar with. The voice stopped after a bit and then a loud beeping sound occurred... after which, the same chant repeated itself. I screamed at the sight of these mutilated people, but Vira helped me to calm myself and the initial shock passed quickly.
Vira struck the speaker with her hand, smashing the device apart, silencing that robotic chanting with no damage to herself. She was incredibly strong, and made of highly durable materials. Which was all part of why she made for such a powerful protector of me in my new youthful form. “Oh, thank you!” I shouted, happy to have done with that noise at last. Suddenly, a door at the far end of the chamber had opened by itself and into the room rushed two human-sized skeletal looking robots carrying long metal rods in their claws (for what they had were not hands). In place of heads... the robots had round globes filled with yellowish liquids in which sat pulsating brains. They were silent, these metal things, even as they charged at us with murderous intent. But Vira made short work of both, seizing the metal rod out of the first one's clutches... then using it to smash its' brain globe, killing it. All before the second one could even react. She then bore down on the second one, which had its' own brain globe smashed just as it began to raise its' weapon to defend itself. A futile attempt, as it lay slain upon the chamber floor. I picked up the second rod (which was surprisingly light for something so strong), and in that way I too was now armed. We exited the chamber by way of the newly opened door, and so proceeded to explore the depths of this terrible place further, seeking some way to stop whatever evil was being done here.
We passed through what appeared to be a prisoner cell block, each cell containing more of the awful experiments like those we had seen in the previous chamber. Each sight, was more grisly and twisted than the last! There were no robotic guards here... since there was no feasible means by which any of those so incarcerated could have hoped to escape. As we passed, one of the cell floors opened up and the prisoner it contained fell through it. A loud buzzing noise, like that of a mechanical saw, could be heard followed by more disgusting sounds and a hoarse, strained scream. At the distant end of the cell block, we came to a series of crisscrossing hallways which led off in practically every direction. Above the archways that marked the entrances to the various hallways were computer monitors mounted into the ceilings, and upon which one of only two things was displayed: either a red arrow or a green arrow. Vira commented: “It would be logical to assume that the green arrow paths are preferable. But I would not begin to guess at where they might lead us! Likely deeper into further horrors.” We decided to pick one of the green arrow paths, and swiftly we came to more cells containing even more experiments. By that time, we had learned to simply ignore the gruesome sights and noises, and to focus only on where we were going to. It was like a disturbing maze, the way these corridors were laid out... with green and red arrows randomly pointing to different directions. We kept trying to always pick a green path, and by the time we reached anything seemingly new, we had nearly begun to despair, believing we were lost.
There were no more cells any longer, and far less branching and diverging paths to take. We seemed to be getting somewhere now... since the monitors above the archways in this area contained maps that seemed to show the layout of this underground facility. A flashing red dot showed our precise location on the maps, and a second marker, an inverted yellow triangle, indicated... something else. Clusters of moving blue dots, we surmised, had to be the robotic guards. We decided to avoid any areas where the guards seemed to be, making for the place indicated by the solid triangle. As we progressed deeper into the facility, the place's architecture became almost bio-mechanical in nature with archways that looked like they were created from twisted black spines with sharp barbs all over them, and walls of a type that made it seem like we were moving through massive rib cages created from immense black bones. The lighting was dimmer here, but still bright enough to see well. Between the “bones” the walls had a layer of thick, flesh-like material over them that pulsed and sometimes just twitched as we walked past them. This was like something out of a nightmare! On some sections of the “flesh” walls, there were eyes that gazed out unblinkingly and mouths that were opening and closing, filled with sharp looking teeth. We made certain not to get too close to those, and tried to hurry on our way to where the triangle indicated.
Eventually... we arrived in a wide circular area about the size of an arena. The ceiling was a very high dome covered in a sprawling mural depicting souls ascending from fiery chasms, through an expanse of cloud-filled heavenly domains and on into a star-filled artistic depiction of outer space. At the very top was depicted a black hole with a fiery ring around it and a point of light in its' precise center. The walls of this chamber were just as bio-mechanical as the previous section of the facility was... and there were tall pillars that ran around the whole circumference of the place. The pillars seemed to be like unto tall, twisted black claws... as if some giant many-fingered hand was poking its' fingers up from the floor in a menacing manner. Various smoothly-carved black stone pedestals were placed between these “fingers”, and upon each one was a small golden pyramid that was humming with some kind of energy, with long wires connecting each pyramid to various metal boxes at the base of each pedestal. In the center of the chamber, there was a raised dais upon which was a massive looking black metal throne. The throne was designed so that it could rotate, allowing the one who sat upon it to turn in any direction. But the thing that sat upon it was horrible to look upon indeed! It had been humanoid, once... though now it was not possible to tell what the being's race or gender had been. It was large, bulky looking, with raw muscle tissue over its' metal bones but no flesh upon the bloody muscle tissue. All of its' bones were made of metal, and its' skull was large and elongated but with the top of it replaced with a clear dome through which one could see the thing's brain, which was immersed in sickly looking yellow liquid that bubbled as the brain pulsed. The face had over it a reflective mirror-like chrome plate, with nozzles on the sides parallel to where the mouth would be, which had long twisting tubes connected to them, running from a large box that was grafted unto this abomination's chest. That box was made of metal and had various buttons and lights upon it which blinked with blue, red, and green colors. Wires ran from the box into the thing's body. Its' arms were completely cybernetic, as were its' legs, and there was a smooth metal plate where its' genital area should have been. Various tubes ran from that, back to the metal box with the blinking lights. Its' breathing sounded artificially-induced, and when it spoke the voice sounded like it was being synthesized by the means of a computer program... rather than it being this creature's actual natural voice at all. The sad part was, this was not even the most horrible thing that we had witnessed as we had made our way to that bizarre chamber. Although we wished to see no more, after coming here!
The robotic voice intoned: “Eugenics are insufficient. Cybernetics are insufficient. Hybridization is insufficient. Experimentation is necessary in order to achieve greater results in bio-mechanical, spiritual and personal evolution of all species. The greater good of the peoples of this world, require sacrifices... thus, those you have beheld here are themselves sacrifices for their own greater good. I am but in the throes of following my ideal directives! Neither good, nor evil, factor into it.” and the horror that sat upon the throne pointed to me and proclaimed: “You were invited here because of your status as one of the original Archons who rule over the Titan race. That much is known to me, for I am of the Titan kin. Or I was, of old! I have decided to grow beyond that now... and to help others to do the same. Is this not what you Archons have taught us? To seek growth, change, and transformation into higher forms! That is why the Titans chose to clad their mechanical bodies in humanoid flesh... and that is why I desire to grow beyond either the mechanical or the fleshly, and create of myself something new. Thence, to share that newness with others! But those I have brought here... were not willing to accept my gifts. I still do not understand their stubbornness. Perhaps you can persuade them to cooperate... the ones who still are capable of resisting my will! Would that not be best, for all concerned?” and I felt horrified by the cruel things that this creature had done, even more so knowing he was of the Titan species. For indeed I was one of the Archons, the Prime Archon in fact... and, as such, it was my duty to put a stop to this terribly misguided monster once and for all. I said to it: “I will not help you. In fact... it will be a sad necessity to deactivate or destroy you, in order to ensure that you can no longer harm others, as you have done!”
I attempted to keep the being distracted, focused on me, while I noticed Vira attempting to sneak on around it in order to attack its' brain dome from behind. I continued speaking to the former Titan, and this is what I said to it: “You say that you seek to evolve... and to help others to evolve. But since when is evolution achieved through torture and pain? How are animals and creatures fit to hybridize unto the bodies of people, when philosophically and spiritually at least they are lower in the hierarchy of things in the universe! You are defying all logic in your pursuit of betterment. You are experimenting, playing with science, genetics, and bio-mechanics in ways that make no rational sense. You are starting to like doing this to others... you are behaving sadistically... is that enjoyment, that casual sadism, logical?” to which the Titan responded in an irritated manner: “I have tried to reconcile these contradictions, but in all of my studies of such matters I have discovered that sometimes existence itself can be contradictory. I merely assumed... that it was not a foolish endeavor to accept contradiction in the pursuit of a higher, and nobler, scientific cause.” and that gave me something I could seize upon. I shouted: “You assumed! Is that a scientific method, assumption? Science is about proof, not assumption. You can make a theory at best, but never as assumption! You are not a credit to your learning, if that is how you rationalize the methods you use. You cannot rationalize this using your logic, because your logic is flawed! How can you think yourself evolved, perfected, if you are flawed? Can you explain how you embrace being this way! I doubt that you can. You can still feel, as much as think, and you do not like that I imagine. You want to rise above your fleshly feelings, embrace the coldness of your intellect... but you cannot yet be free of those feelings, and the desires that come with them. Especially the dark ones, the twisted ones, the ones you dare not speak of but which exist within your being! You suppress them, but they rise up. Just like how the Titans have often been oppressed in the past, only to rise up. You cannot run form the darkness inside you, and rather than helping others to grow... you are merely inflicting your own inner darkness upon them, which is contrary to your stated goals. You are a failure, creature! But one of your own making. This is not the Titan way... and from what you said of your goals, this should also not be your way. And yet it has become your way! You cannot reconcile that contradiction, you cannot deep in your heart or whatever is left of it accept it either. All you can do is lash out! And that is what you do.”
By that time, the room was beginning to be filled with the robotic guards, who were uncertain what to do. They merely stood around the edges of that large chamber... waiting for instructions. Vira was now in a prime position from which to strike the twisted Titan, but she was waiting for my signal, for some sign that I approved of that course of action. But I wanted to hear what the thing had to say next. It was lost for words, it seemed. Then, it spoke once more: “You are... correct... in your assessment of myself and my works. I can make no excuses for my behavior, nor will I attempt to. I have... relished... what I do here. Savored it! Enjoyed every moment of it. I am beyond all redemption it would seem. I am now an evil thing, by the average standards of morality... and I have learned to accept that. To show even a shred of remorse at this stage would be to render my works null and void, to accept that my life has up until this juncture been for nothing. I cannot accept this! And yet I know it to be the case. I should by all rights order my soldiers to terminate your existence... and yet I cannot, because it is ingrained in me that a Titan should still obey their Archon rulers. I have conditioned myself, to be obedient to you and your kind. And so I must ask of you, one thing... what would please you at this point? Should I continue with my experiments, or should I halt them for now and wait for your approval! Tell me... what to do next.” And I knew exactly what instructions to give the creature. I said, as imperiously as I could: “I order you, as your Archon, as the Prime Archon in fact... to stop all of these experiments. To deactivate the robotic guards, the spider-bots, and to terminate your own existence. Allow your soul, your spirit, your spark to be carried back to the Titan resurrection system on the neighboring planet of Rahab. To be purged of all memories of the evil deeds you have done in this place... so that you will be able to serve us, correctly.”
The horror upon the throne responded, in a conflicted way: “Why, would my memories not be intact following resurrection? That... is a punishment reserved only for criminals. Would they find my actions criminal, do you think, back on Rahab?” to which I exclaimed: “Yes! Highly criminal by our standards of what is just and what is not. Once your divine spark is uploaded into the resurrection system, all that you have ever done, said, thought, or felt... will be examined by that system in order to determine if you should keep your memories or not. I can assure you... that it will be determined, that you must not keep such memories. You will be like a child once again, knowing nothing of good or evil! You will be able to start over, and choose a better path the next time around. It will be good for you... and, best for all!” At that the Titan paused for a moment, thought deeply for a moment, and then said: “So, it would be much like being reincarnated after a natural death. In the case of reincarnation, however, sometimes it is possible to keep your memories, to remember your previous lives, and to become wiser for it. More intelligent, because of that knowledge! To even evolve spiritually beyond what you once were. Is that not true, my Archon?” and I agreed that yes, the observation of that difference was very true. To which the thing responded: “Since it is my choice to make... between punishment or natural death... I will cut myself off from the resurrection system and chose to die naturally. That way, perhaps I can evolve past the limitations that even now constrict me! I can maybe even return to the source of all life, and be as a being of pure energy once again, to have no further cares, or worries, or fears... or needs. There are, for me, more choices that come with a natural termination! And so... witness... how a Titan thus chooses.”
At which the creature lifted up its' mechanical arms to the dome that contained its' brain and began to crush the dome. Vira ran back over to me, since there was no need for her to act at this point, and she wrapped her arms around me, holding me tightly and in a motherly manner... as we watched the Titan commit suicide. The dome was crushed inwardly by the Titan's hands, which then began to tear apart the brain that lay within the remnants of the dome. Horrible yellow fluids squirted and gushed outward, as the twisted creature did its' final grisly work; and, when it had accomplished what it so set out to do, what was left was an empty shell indeed, with no life remaining in it. The blinking lights upon the box in its' chest winked out, and the sound that had passed for the thing's breathing could be heard no more. At once, the robots also fell to the floor in a great clatter... in its' pride and hubris, the Titan had linked their life support with its' own. Once it had perished, they all followed suit. It had evidently attempted to create a kind of primitive hive mind... and with its' death, the twisted experiments would also cease.
As we made our way back out of the underground facility, we could see that anything that had even a semblance of life previously... was now devoid of it. The bio-mechanical “flesh” walls moved no more, the eyes upon them were closed, the mouths gaping open as if they had breathed their final breaths. All of the humanoids trapped in the experimentation cells were dead, as if the Titan's will alone was all that had kept them alive this long. This place of twisted science... was now just a mausoleum for a lunatic's memory, a monument to its' utter failure. Vira and I were happy to see the emerald green crystals, once again, because it was not a long distance from the areas that contained them to the surface by way of the entrance tunnel. It was very early morning, and we had spent the entire night within that terrible place. I was feeling exhausted, in need of a good night's sleep. “When we get back to the car, Vira... I am going to rest for a while... wake me up when we get back home, okay?” I asked, to which my beloved android companion replied: “You should rest, then, little one! Mommy will get you back home, perfectly fine.” Upon the surface, all of the spider-bots lay lifeless, and the fire was long doused. We had no trouble at all getting back to our hover-car, which we were delighted to see. As we began to ride back home, I let myself drift off into slumber. I dreamed that night, but it seemed like my dreams were peculiar although when I awoke later on, I could not seem to remember them clearly enough to figure out why that was.
Back in the city of Mard'kothan, Vira and I made our way to the embassy and told the officials there about what had transpired in that underground facility we had discovered. Since this concerned Rahab and the Titan people directly! They planned to send a team out that way to secure any vital technology, as well as to deal with the bodies of the victims of the terrible experiments that occurred there. “After we have done everything that we need to, we will seal the tunnel entrance for good, so no one can even by accident stumble upon it.” the man we spoke to explained to us. He thanked us for our report, and we decided to take it easy for the remainder of the day. I had slept until nearly nightfall, and it was late in the afternoon already. Vira and I had our supper at a nice cozy restaurant by the edge of a beautiful tropical garden. The music playing there was lovely, the service reasonable, and the food delicious. It felt good to be back from that journey. We had talked of adventure, but not of an adventure into horror! There would be many restless nights before my dreams would be free of nightmares again after all that.
Several weeks later, Vira and I were riding along in our hover-car as we decided to go and visit one of the great nature preserves that lay in the neighboring regions. I had fully recovered from the nightmares by then, and my dreams were back to normal. Or at least, what was normal for me! We wore somewhat similar attire to what I described previously, except that Vira's dress was rainbow colored this time and my bloomer-style shorts were red, while my blouse was purple. I had my sandals off, and was barefoot in the vehicle, relaxing as we drove along. Vira was an expert driver... and could concentrate on it fully while still talking with me about all manner of things. We kept our conversation light that day, and our spirits high. This was the fun time we had been looking to have! The sun was low in the sky, and there were no clouds to be seen. The countryside out that way was also gorgeous, with wide plains that held various stretches filled with palm trees and colorful wildflowers. The soil had a reddish tint to it, where there was little to no plant life covering the ground, but those were only patches. For the most part, the region we were traveling through was lush and vibrant, filled with life. Birds could be seen in the skies, and the prettier varieties of insects flitted through the air every now and then. I closed my eyes, let this beautiful area work its' magic upon me, and breathed softly, contentedly. “Mommy, I am happy that you are my mother.” I said to Vira, to which I added: “And, my love.” to which she replied in a voice filled with love: “I am happy to have you for my daughter... and my beloved, likewise.” Our relationship may have seemed strange to some, but to us it was what made us happy in life, and what gave our life both meaning and fulfillment. I had changed a great deal... since back when I was first called by the title of Archon, and many would argue that I had become more human, even at that point in time. I would not have seen that as an insult, even then, although certain of the Titans might have found such comparison insulting were they in my position. There was still so much for their kind to learn about the meaning of life, and of living! If there was one thing I learned during my adventure with Vira in the domain of the twisted Titan, it was that being more human... was not such a bad thing after all. We switched on some peaceful music on the car's radio, and took in the beautiful serenity of the splendid vistas all around us.
The teams sent to investigate the underground facility of the evil Titan, had much work to do. All of the bodies of the victims of the experiments were cremated... there were far too many to bury, and not one could be identified any longer. They discovered the Titan's remains and disposed of them as best as they were able to manage. They deleted all of the fiend's research data from the computers they found, and retrieved only what was truly useful regarding less harmful sciences and avenues of study. In one of the back rooms, they found something that Vira and I had not been aware of... a room which had once been the Titan's. It was a child's bedchamber, complete with toys, stuffed animals, and a photo showing a small boy smiling happily with two equally elated mothers. He had been very human-like after all, at one point! But somewhere along the way, he lost his innocence, keeping only that room to remind him.
The emissaries from the planet Rahab, also called Terra Primus, had gathered at the embassy within the great political center known as Mard'kothan. Of all the cities that existed upon the surface of Mars as it was in those ancient days, this was by far not the largest. But, all the same... it was of a paramount importance. The halls of the embassy had been converted from a royal palace that was no longer in any use by the nobility of that region. As such, the interior was quite magnificent, with finery to match any that could be seen in the courts of kings or princes elsewhere upon the planet. I enjoyed such lavish and exquisite places during times of peace, because they contained so much history and lore. The walls of this palace had seen more than its' current owners could ever imagine! Much like myself, they had been witness to events that for many living in that time had long since passed into legend. To many, I was a kind of a legend myself... but being humble, I preferred to not speak of all I had seen and all I had done.
Instead... I often wrote in various journals and shared those writings with people I cared about, so that my memories, even should those texts be lost to time, would live on eternally. I myself had cheated the whims of death so much that I began to think that perhaps I was myself immortal. Various bodies I had worn like some might wear clothing, and when the time came for their passing the means to switch into a new one was always possible. My soul, my spirit... my divine spark... the means to transfer it between host bodies was a technology developed, refined, and practiced so that it currently had become a kind of art form. My old androgynous green-skinned body, the one that had carried the name of Sokrael, was by this point in time long passed into my memory. I was now in the body of a young teenage girl, with the aging process having been halted at the age of fourteen. I looked upon my reflection in the mirror of the reception area of the embassy's main foyer... and it was almost surreal, seeing this person I had become.
My skin was a light sky blue shade... and one of the advantages of the race that bore that trait was the ability to always have a cooler body temperature despite the hot climate. My eyes were a deep purple in color, with the normal whites in them that most humanoid eyes tend to have. My face was rounded, my features pretty, and my body average in build for a fourteen year old girl. I had small breasts, was quite strong for my age, and my hair was light platinum blonde in color. I was wearing my hair up in a very high ponytail, using a silver hair cone. Even kept up in this style, my hair cascaded down to my lower back. My makeup style was somewhat unique... with black eyeliner and black mascara that accentuated my long eyelashes, giving me a somewhat doll-like appearance. I was doing a “cat eyes” makeup style on this occasion as well, and had deep green eye shadow on. Naturally, I wore a deep green lipstick to match it. On my cheeks I had a bit of very light pink blush, which went well with my light blue skin. As for how I was dressed... I wore a pair of frilly light pink bloomer-style shorts paired with a light yellow midriff peasant blouse with short puffy sleeves. I wore a white pearl choker around my neck, and I had a matching white pearl beaded bracelet on my left wrist. On my feet were a pair of sandals in a sort of muted silvery color, and in my ears I wore a pair of pearl earrings. I had on a floral-scented perfume, and for all intents and purposes I appeared very much like a young princess. My voice was pleasant, not too high in tone, and had a certain melodic quality to it when I spoke in certain ways. I could sing rather beautifully when the mood took me! But right now there was little time for singing. I would soon have to meet with the emissaries and see what business they had with me. The meeting was all very sudden.
Soon, in walked the emissaries, all blue-skinned people (of a shade deeper and darker than my skin) with gill slits in their necks that marked them as members of an aquatic species that was native to the watery world of Rahab. They wore heavy armor-like environmental suits with clear domed helmets that could be filled with water as needed. This allowed their kind to survive on land with very little trouble.
They seemed impatient, and well into our meeting I was becoming bored with the whole affair. It was about a trade deal that they wished to make with one of the more remote tribal races that lived in one of the far wastelands of Mars whom I had never met or even so much as encountered in all my time on the red planet. In the end, the dull business was concluded in a routine fashion and I basically told them to go and ask the tribe themselves if they might be so amenable to the emissaries' deal... granting them full permission to mount an expedition to that effect. For myself, even that short of a meeting seemed much too long for my tastes! Once the emissaries had left, I stepped into one of the side chambers and waiting for me upon a stone bench, near some elegant statuary, was my android wife Vira, whom I had not seen in far too long of a time, or so it seemed at least to me. She no longer appeared to be made of metal at all, and I was never made aware of the upgrades she was given to make her appear more flesh-like. She was very beautiful now, even more so than ever! She looked like a normal humanoid woman with light golden skin and pale synthetic platinum blonde hair cut into a neat bob style that framed her pretty face, with neatly trimmed bangs that came to just above her brow ridge. For makeup, she only wore a bit of silver lipstick and some silver eye shadow. She was dressed in a silver mini dress that was belted at the waist with a metallic gold sash, wore a silver jeweled bracelet on her right wrist with various precious stones embedded in it, and had on her feet a pair of silver slipper-like shoes. I almost felt as if I was at present seeing her for the first time, although she had seen me in my current body many times previous.
Her electronic blue eyes (now with normal whites in them) were glowing brightly, as she exclaimed: “Oh, darling! Is the meeting over now finally? Thank goodness... I know how much they bore you so.” and I sat down on the bench next to Vira, sighed, and admitted: “It is exasperating, sometimes! Those affairs of state... I did not enjoy them when I lived on Rahab, and I like them even less here. I have had many adventures, many journeys, upon this world... we have had many such together even... and much better would I rather be off upon one with you, than stuck listening to smug, self-important emissaries whose only desires seem to be selfish ones. Hold me, Vira!” and my companion held me, as I allowed myself to breathe easy. “You know, a girl your age should have some fun more often!” Vira exclaimed. She then said to me thoughtfully: “Let us go and see what sort of adventures we can get up to today. It is still early morning after all, and we have this whole month to spend together, at present. Why waste even one moment?” I jumped up, clapping my hands very childishly, and cried out: “Yes! Oh Vira, you were practically reading my mind. I honestly do not even care where we go or what we do... let us just go out and do something fun together today.” She had become more like a mother to me since I came to inhabit my latest body, and I had allowed myself to become more childlike... in order so that I might not lose my innocence and sense of childlike wonder at things in life. Vira liked this, because in me she got to have both a spouse to love, and a child to look after, and thus a way to express the motherly side of her that she had for so long felt the need to bury deeply. I had a new name now as well... it was Ti'ada.
At a vehicle dealership in town, Vira arranged for us to obtain a hover-car for the month. Hover-cars all had convertible roofs, and we had always kept them with the top down since it was cooler to ride in on a typical warm and sunny Martian day such as today was. We stopped by a restaurant we favored... where Vira ordered a delicious meal for me, since in my current body I needed normal food and drink for my nourishment. Then, we obtained some supplies for the trip we were planning (along with some changes of clothing for us) and headed out of town by late afternoon. We were singing, driving along, and just trying to have a good time! It had been so long, since I felt so truly free of worry or care. “Little one, look over there!” Vira said at one point, and in the distance we spotted a small rock lizard as it was scampering along. “Mom, I am fourteen already!” I exclaimed teasingly, in a mock complaining tone of voice. Then, feeling a sense of pure happiness shoot through me, I cried out: “I am fourteen... forever!”
We rode past a long stretch of road that ran between several small towns, not really considering any one specific direction. Along the roadside in several places were stretches of yellowish plant life, that formed vast fields, and which seemed to go on forever all the way to the horizon. It was very late into the afternoon, and the sun was beginning to dip into the far skies... the sun from Mars appearing a bit smaller than how it looks on Earth, comparable to how much further the red planet is from the sun. I had just settled in and decided to take a short nap, when all of a sudden we could hear a terribly loud booming sound coming from someplace up ahead of us but off the road. “What in the gods' names, was that!” I exclaimed, and Vira so stated: “My scanners are not picking up anything specific just yet, but it appears that there has been an explosion in that direction.” And the golden woman pointed to where she was referring to. Looking over that way, I could just barely make out a large spout of fire erupting from the ground, with a plume of dark smoke billowing upwards from the flames that were starting to spread all across the fields for several miles all around the source of the explosion... stopping well short of the area we were driving through. “Could it have been, a meteorite of some kind?” I speculated, to which Vira replied: “It is entirely possible. I would steer clear of it though! Just in case it may be radioactive.”
We drove on, ignoring the source of the explosion, but upon the road ahead of us there was some sort of blockade set up. Large spider-like automatons scurried about, in a large cluster that filled the road. I yelled to Vira: “Mom, please... turn the car around! We are going to hit them, if we fail to slow down.” but my android guardian had things well in hand. “I have it well under control, little one, fear not!” she said in a reassuring way. We were in the process of turning the car around when behind us there was yet one more large cluster of these bizarre machines blocking the road that would have taken us back. We could not see it, but they were all around us, encircling the whole area. This forced us to stop the car and wait to see what would happen next. A pathway leading off the road opened up among the ranks of he spider-bots, which is what I took to calling those things. It led to the source of the explosion. “We have no choice but to go that way, it seems.” Vira stated, sighing. We got out of the car and made our way on foot in that direction, bringing with us our packs of supplies. The path was not wide enough for the car, and so we had to leave that behind. Night was falling, and the moons were looming high above us in the heavens, amid the sparkling stars. It was a nice night, and had it not been for this ordeal, such a night would have been a good one for looking up at the constellations. Ahead of us was a large crater in the ground... with several of those spider-bots putting out the fire all around it with water hoses that emerged from their bodies. There was the wreckage of some kind of craft there, likely the one they had flown over this area in prior to it crashing. If they were at all intelligent, it did not appear so. They were like simple automatons, and nothing more. Which meant that someone had to be controlling the things.
The spider-bots began to dig into the ground all around their smashed aircraft, and soon an entrance to a deep cavern was revealed. Had they crashed their vehicle on purpose in order to make it easier to excavate this cavern? Vira took out a flare from our packs, and held it out in front of her, looking into the blackness of the cavern entrance. She motioned for me to come closer as well. “Listen!” she said, and I could hear the sounds of machinery far below us... distantly, but very obvious. “I can hear it too.” I explained. We looked all around us after that, but the spider-bots allowed us no other passage. We had to go down into that cavern, whether we wished to or not. The spider-bots did not follow us in, but no doubt was in my mind at all that they would not have allowed us to leave, had we attempted to. Before us, the cavern tunnel went on for some time, and we were forced to rely upon Vira's flare for light. But, after a good while there seemed to be some kind of pale greenish illumination emanating forth from the cavern's walls. It was due to some sort of emerald crystals that protruded outward from the rock, which glowed with their own inner light. Exactly like the emerald that decorated a golden circlet I once wore.
“I know these crystals! I actually own something like them.” I reminded Vira, who stated: “That is all precisely what I find so very uncanny, about this cavern... how familiar this all feels, in various ways.” And she was correct! This did feel familiar, but I could not even begin to place why that should be so. We continued downward, for the cavernous tunnel only went on in that direction, and the crystals had lit our way continuously as we went on. Vira tossed the flare after some time, determining that we did not need it any longer. The cavern became wider, the deeper down it went, and there were stalactites in the ceiling high above us. We heard the cries of flying creatures among them... but, it was too dark up that way to make them out clearly, there being just too many shadows. The sounds of machinery echoed forth from somewhere ahead of us and downward more. That sound had been a constant in this place, and it showed no signs of abating anytime soon. We followed the noise to its' source, and were shocked to behold the sight that met our eyes upon our arrival! There was... some kind of technological facility.
Walls of metal with tinted windows ran the length of the massive city-sized cavern that we had all of a sudden found ourselves walking into, covering the cavern walls on all sides... likely the front of some much larger complex that had been built straight into the cavern itself. There were no obvious openings into the metal walls, while incalculably high above us the arching cavern roof had reminded me of the vaulted ceiling of a great natural cathedral. The cavern floor held large patches of the emerald crystals, which served to provide reasonable light for this entire area. The sounds of machinery seemed to come from behind the metal walls, some of which appeared to vibrate a bit from this. There was, suddenly, a hissing noise and we spun around to witness a door opening in one of the metal walls, where there had been none previously... with a jet of steam bursting out from the door frame that had been so cunningly concealed as to have escaped our initial notice. “There is our way in!” I pointed out. The steam ceased, and the doorway was now safe for us to pass into. We stepped inside, passing through a series of halls of the same metal material as the walls had been constructed from, all well lit with electric light panels set into the walls at various intervals. The floor was also made of metal, and there were grates set into it at the same periodic intervals as the light panels themselves. The hum of machinery was all around us at this point, but somehow seemed to be muted and dull compared to outside... like as if we were now hearing it from across a great distance. “A sound dampening system must be at work in the walls here.” Vira explained, adding: “In order to compensate for the almost constant droning of whatever machinery makes these noises we keep on hearing.” And, it was designed intelligently, so that we could still hear everything else... just with the background humming and droning being less intrusive. Clearly, this was all the work of some sort of great mind, but whether it be a mind that was good or evil... we knew not.
At the end of that corridor, we passed through a second doorway and thus entered a chamber in which there were large humanoid-sized racks up against all of the walls. Much like the kinds of racks that one might store slabs of meat on. Chained and shackled unto all the racks were people of all different races. Into each person's mouth was a long tube that was connected to a sinister-looking machine which had a rather massive bellows-like device sticking out of it. The bellows seemed to be forcing the people who were hooked up to it to keep breathing... their chests moving in time with the pumping of the bellows, while horrible rasping noises filled the air. The people were all naked, and some of them had an arm or a leg surgically replaced with those of large animals. A few had varying degrees of cybernetics grafted unto their bodies, and all of them had metal plates over the places where their genitalia had once been. There was a speaker mounted in one of the corners of the room... and out of it emerged a robotic voice that was chanting something in a bizarre language I was not familiar with. The voice stopped after a bit and then a loud beeping sound occurred... after which, the same chant repeated itself. I screamed at the sight of these mutilated people, but Vira helped me to calm myself and the initial shock passed quickly.
Vira struck the speaker with her hand, smashing the device apart, silencing that robotic chanting with no damage to herself. She was incredibly strong, and made of highly durable materials. Which was all part of why she made for such a powerful protector of me in my new youthful form. “Oh, thank you!” I shouted, happy to have done with that noise at last. Suddenly, a door at the far end of the chamber had opened by itself and into the room rushed two human-sized skeletal looking robots carrying long metal rods in their claws (for what they had were not hands). In place of heads... the robots had round globes filled with yellowish liquids in which sat pulsating brains. They were silent, these metal things, even as they charged at us with murderous intent. But Vira made short work of both, seizing the metal rod out of the first one's clutches... then using it to smash its' brain globe, killing it. All before the second one could even react. She then bore down on the second one, which had its' own brain globe smashed just as it began to raise its' weapon to defend itself. A futile attempt, as it lay slain upon the chamber floor. I picked up the second rod (which was surprisingly light for something so strong), and in that way I too was now armed. We exited the chamber by way of the newly opened door, and so proceeded to explore the depths of this terrible place further, seeking some way to stop whatever evil was being done here.
We passed through what appeared to be a prisoner cell block, each cell containing more of the awful experiments like those we had seen in the previous chamber. Each sight, was more grisly and twisted than the last! There were no robotic guards here... since there was no feasible means by which any of those so incarcerated could have hoped to escape. As we passed, one of the cell floors opened up and the prisoner it contained fell through it. A loud buzzing noise, like that of a mechanical saw, could be heard followed by more disgusting sounds and a hoarse, strained scream. At the distant end of the cell block, we came to a series of crisscrossing hallways which led off in practically every direction. Above the archways that marked the entrances to the various hallways were computer monitors mounted into the ceilings, and upon which one of only two things was displayed: either a red arrow or a green arrow. Vira commented: “It would be logical to assume that the green arrow paths are preferable. But I would not begin to guess at where they might lead us! Likely deeper into further horrors.” We decided to pick one of the green arrow paths, and swiftly we came to more cells containing even more experiments. By that time, we had learned to simply ignore the gruesome sights and noises, and to focus only on where we were going to. It was like a disturbing maze, the way these corridors were laid out... with green and red arrows randomly pointing to different directions. We kept trying to always pick a green path, and by the time we reached anything seemingly new, we had nearly begun to despair, believing we were lost.
There were no more cells any longer, and far less branching and diverging paths to take. We seemed to be getting somewhere now... since the monitors above the archways in this area contained maps that seemed to show the layout of this underground facility. A flashing red dot showed our precise location on the maps, and a second marker, an inverted yellow triangle, indicated... something else. Clusters of moving blue dots, we surmised, had to be the robotic guards. We decided to avoid any areas where the guards seemed to be, making for the place indicated by the solid triangle. As we progressed deeper into the facility, the place's architecture became almost bio-mechanical in nature with archways that looked like they were created from twisted black spines with sharp barbs all over them, and walls of a type that made it seem like we were moving through massive rib cages created from immense black bones. The lighting was dimmer here, but still bright enough to see well. Between the “bones” the walls had a layer of thick, flesh-like material over them that pulsed and sometimes just twitched as we walked past them. This was like something out of a nightmare! On some sections of the “flesh” walls, there were eyes that gazed out unblinkingly and mouths that were opening and closing, filled with sharp looking teeth. We made certain not to get too close to those, and tried to hurry on our way to where the triangle indicated.
Eventually... we arrived in a wide circular area about the size of an arena. The ceiling was a very high dome covered in a sprawling mural depicting souls ascending from fiery chasms, through an expanse of cloud-filled heavenly domains and on into a star-filled artistic depiction of outer space. At the very top was depicted a black hole with a fiery ring around it and a point of light in its' precise center. The walls of this chamber were just as bio-mechanical as the previous section of the facility was... and there were tall pillars that ran around the whole circumference of the place. The pillars seemed to be like unto tall, twisted black claws... as if some giant many-fingered hand was poking its' fingers up from the floor in a menacing manner. Various smoothly-carved black stone pedestals were placed between these “fingers”, and upon each one was a small golden pyramid that was humming with some kind of energy, with long wires connecting each pyramid to various metal boxes at the base of each pedestal. In the center of the chamber, there was a raised dais upon which was a massive looking black metal throne. The throne was designed so that it could rotate, allowing the one who sat upon it to turn in any direction. But the thing that sat upon it was horrible to look upon indeed! It had been humanoid, once... though now it was not possible to tell what the being's race or gender had been. It was large, bulky looking, with raw muscle tissue over its' metal bones but no flesh upon the bloody muscle tissue. All of its' bones were made of metal, and its' skull was large and elongated but with the top of it replaced with a clear dome through which one could see the thing's brain, which was immersed in sickly looking yellow liquid that bubbled as the brain pulsed. The face had over it a reflective mirror-like chrome plate, with nozzles on the sides parallel to where the mouth would be, which had long twisting tubes connected to them, running from a large box that was grafted unto this abomination's chest. That box was made of metal and had various buttons and lights upon it which blinked with blue, red, and green colors. Wires ran from the box into the thing's body. Its' arms were completely cybernetic, as were its' legs, and there was a smooth metal plate where its' genital area should have been. Various tubes ran from that, back to the metal box with the blinking lights. Its' breathing sounded artificially-induced, and when it spoke the voice sounded like it was being synthesized by the means of a computer program... rather than it being this creature's actual natural voice at all. The sad part was, this was not even the most horrible thing that we had witnessed as we had made our way to that bizarre chamber. Although we wished to see no more, after coming here!
The robotic voice intoned: “Eugenics are insufficient. Cybernetics are insufficient. Hybridization is insufficient. Experimentation is necessary in order to achieve greater results in bio-mechanical, spiritual and personal evolution of all species. The greater good of the peoples of this world, require sacrifices... thus, those you have beheld here are themselves sacrifices for their own greater good. I am but in the throes of following my ideal directives! Neither good, nor evil, factor into it.” and the horror that sat upon the throne pointed to me and proclaimed: “You were invited here because of your status as one of the original Archons who rule over the Titan race. That much is known to me, for I am of the Titan kin. Or I was, of old! I have decided to grow beyond that now... and to help others to do the same. Is this not what you Archons have taught us? To seek growth, change, and transformation into higher forms! That is why the Titans chose to clad their mechanical bodies in humanoid flesh... and that is why I desire to grow beyond either the mechanical or the fleshly, and create of myself something new. Thence, to share that newness with others! But those I have brought here... were not willing to accept my gifts. I still do not understand their stubbornness. Perhaps you can persuade them to cooperate... the ones who still are capable of resisting my will! Would that not be best, for all concerned?” and I felt horrified by the cruel things that this creature had done, even more so knowing he was of the Titan species. For indeed I was one of the Archons, the Prime Archon in fact... and, as such, it was my duty to put a stop to this terribly misguided monster once and for all. I said to it: “I will not help you. In fact... it will be a sad necessity to deactivate or destroy you, in order to ensure that you can no longer harm others, as you have done!”
I attempted to keep the being distracted, focused on me, while I noticed Vira attempting to sneak on around it in order to attack its' brain dome from behind. I continued speaking to the former Titan, and this is what I said to it: “You say that you seek to evolve... and to help others to evolve. But since when is evolution achieved through torture and pain? How are animals and creatures fit to hybridize unto the bodies of people, when philosophically and spiritually at least they are lower in the hierarchy of things in the universe! You are defying all logic in your pursuit of betterment. You are experimenting, playing with science, genetics, and bio-mechanics in ways that make no rational sense. You are starting to like doing this to others... you are behaving sadistically... is that enjoyment, that casual sadism, logical?” to which the Titan responded in an irritated manner: “I have tried to reconcile these contradictions, but in all of my studies of such matters I have discovered that sometimes existence itself can be contradictory. I merely assumed... that it was not a foolish endeavor to accept contradiction in the pursuit of a higher, and nobler, scientific cause.” and that gave me something I could seize upon. I shouted: “You assumed! Is that a scientific method, assumption? Science is about proof, not assumption. You can make a theory at best, but never as assumption! You are not a credit to your learning, if that is how you rationalize the methods you use. You cannot rationalize this using your logic, because your logic is flawed! How can you think yourself evolved, perfected, if you are flawed? Can you explain how you embrace being this way! I doubt that you can. You can still feel, as much as think, and you do not like that I imagine. You want to rise above your fleshly feelings, embrace the coldness of your intellect... but you cannot yet be free of those feelings, and the desires that come with them. Especially the dark ones, the twisted ones, the ones you dare not speak of but which exist within your being! You suppress them, but they rise up. Just like how the Titans have often been oppressed in the past, only to rise up. You cannot run form the darkness inside you, and rather than helping others to grow... you are merely inflicting your own inner darkness upon them, which is contrary to your stated goals. You are a failure, creature! But one of your own making. This is not the Titan way... and from what you said of your goals, this should also not be your way. And yet it has become your way! You cannot reconcile that contradiction, you cannot deep in your heart or whatever is left of it accept it either. All you can do is lash out! And that is what you do.”
By that time, the room was beginning to be filled with the robotic guards, who were uncertain what to do. They merely stood around the edges of that large chamber... waiting for instructions. Vira was now in a prime position from which to strike the twisted Titan, but she was waiting for my signal, for some sign that I approved of that course of action. But I wanted to hear what the thing had to say next. It was lost for words, it seemed. Then, it spoke once more: “You are... correct... in your assessment of myself and my works. I can make no excuses for my behavior, nor will I attempt to. I have... relished... what I do here. Savored it! Enjoyed every moment of it. I am beyond all redemption it would seem. I am now an evil thing, by the average standards of morality... and I have learned to accept that. To show even a shred of remorse at this stage would be to render my works null and void, to accept that my life has up until this juncture been for nothing. I cannot accept this! And yet I know it to be the case. I should by all rights order my soldiers to terminate your existence... and yet I cannot, because it is ingrained in me that a Titan should still obey their Archon rulers. I have conditioned myself, to be obedient to you and your kind. And so I must ask of you, one thing... what would please you at this point? Should I continue with my experiments, or should I halt them for now and wait for your approval! Tell me... what to do next.” And I knew exactly what instructions to give the creature. I said, as imperiously as I could: “I order you, as your Archon, as the Prime Archon in fact... to stop all of these experiments. To deactivate the robotic guards, the spider-bots, and to terminate your own existence. Allow your soul, your spirit, your spark to be carried back to the Titan resurrection system on the neighboring planet of Rahab. To be purged of all memories of the evil deeds you have done in this place... so that you will be able to serve us, correctly.”
The horror upon the throne responded, in a conflicted way: “Why, would my memories not be intact following resurrection? That... is a punishment reserved only for criminals. Would they find my actions criminal, do you think, back on Rahab?” to which I exclaimed: “Yes! Highly criminal by our standards of what is just and what is not. Once your divine spark is uploaded into the resurrection system, all that you have ever done, said, thought, or felt... will be examined by that system in order to determine if you should keep your memories or not. I can assure you... that it will be determined, that you must not keep such memories. You will be like a child once again, knowing nothing of good or evil! You will be able to start over, and choose a better path the next time around. It will be good for you... and, best for all!” At that the Titan paused for a moment, thought deeply for a moment, and then said: “So, it would be much like being reincarnated after a natural death. In the case of reincarnation, however, sometimes it is possible to keep your memories, to remember your previous lives, and to become wiser for it. More intelligent, because of that knowledge! To even evolve spiritually beyond what you once were. Is that not true, my Archon?” and I agreed that yes, the observation of that difference was very true. To which the thing responded: “Since it is my choice to make... between punishment or natural death... I will cut myself off from the resurrection system and chose to die naturally. That way, perhaps I can evolve past the limitations that even now constrict me! I can maybe even return to the source of all life, and be as a being of pure energy once again, to have no further cares, or worries, or fears... or needs. There are, for me, more choices that come with a natural termination! And so... witness... how a Titan thus chooses.”
At which the creature lifted up its' mechanical arms to the dome that contained its' brain and began to crush the dome. Vira ran back over to me, since there was no need for her to act at this point, and she wrapped her arms around me, holding me tightly and in a motherly manner... as we watched the Titan commit suicide. The dome was crushed inwardly by the Titan's hands, which then began to tear apart the brain that lay within the remnants of the dome. Horrible yellow fluids squirted and gushed outward, as the twisted creature did its' final grisly work; and, when it had accomplished what it so set out to do, what was left was an empty shell indeed, with no life remaining in it. The blinking lights upon the box in its' chest winked out, and the sound that had passed for the thing's breathing could be heard no more. At once, the robots also fell to the floor in a great clatter... in its' pride and hubris, the Titan had linked their life support with its' own. Once it had perished, they all followed suit. It had evidently attempted to create a kind of primitive hive mind... and with its' death, the twisted experiments would also cease.
As we made our way back out of the underground facility, we could see that anything that had even a semblance of life previously... was now devoid of it. The bio-mechanical “flesh” walls moved no more, the eyes upon them were closed, the mouths gaping open as if they had breathed their final breaths. All of the humanoids trapped in the experimentation cells were dead, as if the Titan's will alone was all that had kept them alive this long. This place of twisted science... was now just a mausoleum for a lunatic's memory, a monument to its' utter failure. Vira and I were happy to see the emerald green crystals, once again, because it was not a long distance from the areas that contained them to the surface by way of the entrance tunnel. It was very early morning, and we had spent the entire night within that terrible place. I was feeling exhausted, in need of a good night's sleep. “When we get back to the car, Vira... I am going to rest for a while... wake me up when we get back home, okay?” I asked, to which my beloved android companion replied: “You should rest, then, little one! Mommy will get you back home, perfectly fine.” Upon the surface, all of the spider-bots lay lifeless, and the fire was long doused. We had no trouble at all getting back to our hover-car, which we were delighted to see. As we began to ride back home, I let myself drift off into slumber. I dreamed that night, but it seemed like my dreams were peculiar although when I awoke later on, I could not seem to remember them clearly enough to figure out why that was.
Back in the city of Mard'kothan, Vira and I made our way to the embassy and told the officials there about what had transpired in that underground facility we had discovered. Since this concerned Rahab and the Titan people directly! They planned to send a team out that way to secure any vital technology, as well as to deal with the bodies of the victims of the terrible experiments that occurred there. “After we have done everything that we need to, we will seal the tunnel entrance for good, so no one can even by accident stumble upon it.” the man we spoke to explained to us. He thanked us for our report, and we decided to take it easy for the remainder of the day. I had slept until nearly nightfall, and it was late in the afternoon already. Vira and I had our supper at a nice cozy restaurant by the edge of a beautiful tropical garden. The music playing there was lovely, the service reasonable, and the food delicious. It felt good to be back from that journey. We had talked of adventure, but not of an adventure into horror! There would be many restless nights before my dreams would be free of nightmares again after all that.
Several weeks later, Vira and I were riding along in our hover-car as we decided to go and visit one of the great nature preserves that lay in the neighboring regions. I had fully recovered from the nightmares by then, and my dreams were back to normal. Or at least, what was normal for me! We wore somewhat similar attire to what I described previously, except that Vira's dress was rainbow colored this time and my bloomer-style shorts were red, while my blouse was purple. I had my sandals off, and was barefoot in the vehicle, relaxing as we drove along. Vira was an expert driver... and could concentrate on it fully while still talking with me about all manner of things. We kept our conversation light that day, and our spirits high. This was the fun time we had been looking to have! The sun was low in the sky, and there were no clouds to be seen. The countryside out that way was also gorgeous, with wide plains that held various stretches filled with palm trees and colorful wildflowers. The soil had a reddish tint to it, where there was little to no plant life covering the ground, but those were only patches. For the most part, the region we were traveling through was lush and vibrant, filled with life. Birds could be seen in the skies, and the prettier varieties of insects flitted through the air every now and then. I closed my eyes, let this beautiful area work its' magic upon me, and breathed softly, contentedly. “Mommy, I am happy that you are my mother.” I said to Vira, to which I added: “And, my love.” to which she replied in a voice filled with love: “I am happy to have you for my daughter... and my beloved, likewise.” Our relationship may have seemed strange to some, but to us it was what made us happy in life, and what gave our life both meaning and fulfillment. I had changed a great deal... since back when I was first called by the title of Archon, and many would argue that I had become more human, even at that point in time. I would not have seen that as an insult, even then, although certain of the Titans might have found such comparison insulting were they in my position. There was still so much for their kind to learn about the meaning of life, and of living! If there was one thing I learned during my adventure with Vira in the domain of the twisted Titan, it was that being more human... was not such a bad thing after all. We switched on some peaceful music on the car's radio, and took in the beautiful serenity of the splendid vistas all around us.
The teams sent to investigate the underground facility of the evil Titan, had much work to do. All of the bodies of the victims of the experiments were cremated... there were far too many to bury, and not one could be identified any longer. They discovered the Titan's remains and disposed of them as best as they were able to manage. They deleted all of the fiend's research data from the computers they found, and retrieved only what was truly useful regarding less harmful sciences and avenues of study. In one of the back rooms, they found something that Vira and I had not been aware of... a room which had once been the Titan's. It was a child's bedchamber, complete with toys, stuffed animals, and a photo showing a small boy smiling happily with two equally elated mothers. He had been very human-like after all, at one point! But somewhere along the way, he lost his innocence, keeping only that room to remind him.
Published 23rd May 2022
Author's Note
This work is based upon some of my past-life memories.
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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