//------------------------------// // Chapter one // Story: Another life, another chance // by GrayOnBlue //------------------------------// Ever since I came into understanding my true self, I was in constant torment. No, it didn’t mean that I had some kind of somatic pain. It was mental pain, drilling deep inside my cerebral cortex. At least that what had to happen; otherwise, there’s no explanation about my state. When I looked around I saw… them. I saw those who I hated and feared. Like wild animals, ready to attack any minute. Ready to strike and hurt me, without warning or even reason why they do all that. Because they can. Because they are bored. Because… just because. Humans. Bane of the planet. Blight of the galaxy. Living insult to sapience. I didn’t want to have anything in common with them, but being one of them is… well, doesn’t help much. I got up from my mat that I used as a bed and walked to a mirror. From there, I could see a tired, extremely pale face with bags under the eyes. The catch is that my grandfather had very dark skin and I inherit a lot of genetic information from him. Well, at least my hair have the proper color -- so black that only a black hole could be darker. But it didn’t matter anymore. In fact, nothing mattered. Today was the last day on Earth. My last day. They said I lack certain neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, and it is making me feel the way I do. They call it depression. But I call it ‘life on the wrong planet’. Sure, I can take all those meds they prescripted, wasting a shitload of money in the process. But not only I didn’t have that much (my insurance didn’t cover shrinks, so my mother had to step in) -- I also knew it won’t help. I can’t feel happiness here, transmitters or not. And there was only one solution that will solve everything, once and for all. I was standing on the edge of a roof, looking down on the evening street. Did anyone see me from there? I doubted that. Did anyone pay attention to me when I passed by? No chance in hell. At least, that’s what I thought. Life was eager to prove me wrong. There was a small crowd, gathering near the building I stood on. And some of them were from the local police department. I chuckled at that. And then just made a step forward. My last step. ---------------------------------------------------- When you dream, your time perception is different. You don’t notice how much time have already flown around your head and how long you’ve been out. But what about death? Does it feel the same? I didn’t know. Until I tried to kill myself. First what I felt was pain -- excruciating pain, as if somebody tried to twist my bones out of the joints. It was too much. I screamed… or I tried to, because I didn’t even hear myself. Frankly, I didn’t notice anything because the second wave of pain paralyzed me, starting from my head. And just several seconds later everything went black again. ---------------------------------------------------- I opened my eyes, squinting then because of very bright light. If it wasn’t coming from a lamp, I’d have thought that I’m standing in front of the gates to heaven. Which was strange, because I heard that those guys above don’t like suiciders. There was also fatigue, so severe that felt like I haven’t slept in years. I had to apply titanic efforts were necessary to keep my eyes open. I tried to say something, but suddenly realized that I couldn’t. Couldn’t even control my mouth! “...planning to do the same with her spinal cord?” Who was saying this? I didn’t know. I couldn’t see because of this lamp. “Certainly. Her current state is just one of the reasons. We need to...” I fainted again, unable to fight that fatigue anymore. ---------------------------------------------------- Shadows. Lot of shadows around me. It was dark this time. They were talking with each other. Shadows of… people? Or… no, that was impossible. “Are you sure she will accept it?” “I am. All tests were positive. She’ll make it.” What are they talking about? I can’t see what they are discussing… this time because of darkness. “Bones too?” “Well...” I wanted to scream on the top of my lungs, wanted to ask what the hell is going on, what are they doing to me… but I couldn’t. “Another dose, please. Let’s start.” The world disappeared once again. ------------------------------------------------------- “Engineer Twilight? I think she’s waking up.” “Good. Let her some time to adjust. The transition was hard, especially considering her initial state.” I slowly opened my eyes. It was strange, but… I didn’t feel any pain or even discomfort. Instead I felt warm… warm and cozy. As if I was covered with a soft tartan blanket. “Where… am I?” I asked. And suddenly realized that it wasn’t my voice. In fact, I didn’t even use my mouth to speak! I only thought what I want to said and… that happened. “Shh… don’t worry, you’re safe now.” I turned my head and saw a strange creature. It reminded me a pony, but the general structure was different. It had big eyes, tiny snout and purple fur with violet mane with a pink strip in it. “What is going on? Who are you? What...” I looked down at my body which was a very big mistake. “What have you done to me?!” I pushed her away from me and hopped from the bed, looking at my body in utter horror. “Calm down, it’s okay.” Another creature said, going in my direction. “Stay away from me!” I yelled, going backwards until I pressed my back against a wall. It stopped, holding its hooves up. “What have you done to me?! ANSWER ME!” “Just saved your life, nothing else.” The purple one spoked out in a stern, yet compassionate voice. I was looking at her with wide eyes, scared shitless. And I had good reasons for it, because what used to be my body now looked like some kind of cyberpunk-obsessed fanatic dream: a metallic plate that covered it from my neck to the lowest ribs. Not only that, but it also had some sort of fabric… or something here and there. A sudden thought came into my mind and I quickly palpated my throat. So that’s why I couldn’t talk -- it was metal too! I looked at my legs and nearly fainted. At least my chest didn’t look like a freaking metal skeleton, unlike my legs. “You… you turned me into a fucking robot!” The purple one shook her head. “Cybernetic implants were necessary to save your life. You were at the brink of death when we found you.” I tried to laugh but it didn’t work. I couldn’t laugh so I just asked: “So, the likes of you are now roaming around human cities? The more you know...” It looked at me with concern. “No. In fact, it was you who ended up in another world, not the other way around. I do not know why the interdimensional device worked the way it did, but it… brought you here. I’ll use this word for convenience. In any event you ended up here right before the device suffered severe damage and stopped working. When we saw your state we understood that if we won’t take you to the urgent care hospital, you’re good as dead.” “But… why did you put all those iron scraps on me? And how did you know how to fix me, if I’m not even one of you?” The purple one raised her hoof. “First, it’s not iron. It is a biocompatible grade of titanium alloy reinforced with boron nitride nanotubes.” “...Wut?” “And second -- we ran several biological programs to decipher your DNA and gather other information about your structure. Since all the information procession was made by the Canterlot supercomputer center it didn’t take much time. Besides, we are both carbon-based life forms so it wasn’t too hard anyway. As for your throat, it was damaged so much that there was no way to restore it. So we were forced to replace with cybernetic implants that are able to synthesise voice.” I just sat on the floor where I was standing, accompanying it with the sound of falling railway carriage. “Titanium is quite resistant to impact force, especially with BNNT, but still try to be careful. How is your reactor?” Another creature asked me. Good thing I was sitting or I’d have fallen down right now. “Excuse me, what?! My reactor?!” “Well, yes. How do you think your synthetic muscles would function without power supply? Not to mention other systems.” Before I could add anything the purple one spoked out: “Don’t worry about safety. It is a typical nuclear fission reactor with the capacity of 31 MW. In addition to the advanced safety protocols controlled by artificial intelligence it also has cutting edge shielding made of composite material which includes hydrogenated boron nitride nanotubes among other ones; it performs extremely well in radiation shielding. And radioactive waste is collected in impervious containers that can be easily removed once you need to supply the reactor with another portion of uranium. You won’t need to do this in the next 720 hours, though, until the standard supply of 2.2 pounds will be used.” Awkward silence. I don’t know how much time it took me to process everything I heard, but they waited patiently. I noticed that much. I looked up at them and asked: “Where am I?”