IMPLACABLE

by Chatoyance

4. Implacable

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4. Implacable

Lightning cracked the bowl of the tempestuous sky. Rain spattered on concrete and howling flesh alike. Raymond stood over the quivering supine body of Commandant Michael G. Klunder, then raised his face to the downpour, laughed, and shook spats of water from his hair.

Around him, eight hundred and ten other bodies lay either still or shaking. They moaned and pleaded, cursed the foulest of obscenities, or whimpered like whipped dogs as the inclemency poured down upon them.

Robotic ponies, pale green with harp-shaped marks upon the flanks, massed at every intersection. They had been air-dropped from large six-rotored heavy drones. They were all Lyras, built to resemble the fan-favorite Friendship Is Magic pony that, outside of show canon, supposedly knew of - and admired - humans and their hands. The Lyras had stood upright against the missiles and each raised a mechanical hoof. The hooves split into four sections, servo-motors extending hidden replicas of human hands that had been concealed within the hoof walls. The artificial hands were anatomically perfect, complete with alterable prints and a full range of motion from fingers to extendable wrists. The Lyra units were busy, regularly resetting the nuclear deterrent of the fortress every twenty minutes.

Outside the walls, an army of modified, non-lethal weaponized Big Macs had surrounded and restrained those kept beyond the camp, preventing them from any action that might precipitate unfortunate events. The Macs were supported by hovering drone-rotor winged Rainbow Dashes capable of swift and precise first strike action. A second squadron of Dashes had earlier dealt with the Fort's automated air and anti-nanoatmospheric defenses with the help of self-sacrificing Parasprite drones.

The entire invasion had taken less than ten minutes, every component operating at the literally superhuman speed only vastly advanced robotic technology could perform.

Through the camp, a gargantuan machine representation of Celestia herself strode, her golden crown and peytral flashing with every burst of lighting above. She directed an army of keg-backed Pinkie Pies and Applejacks. The Jacks pulled the bodies of the humans into rows, isolated from each other and easily accessed by the Pinkies. There was a Pinkie Pie for every human laying on the ground.

Commendant Klunder tried desperately, helplessly, to move his paralyzed limbs. He could feel, but he could not move beyond minute shivers. The effect had come on rapidly and powerfully, affecting only the body and neck but not the face. He could still swallow, he could breath, he could talk. It must have been a toxin, one that selectively destroyed the motor neurons, imitating the effects of an advanced and remarkably precise form of Parkinson's. A neurotoxin, not unlike the case of the 'Frozen Addicts' from 1982. If that was the circumstance, there was no recovery possible - all of their brains would have entirely lost the tiny population of common cells responsible for controlling most of the motion in their bodies.

"For god's sake WHY?" Klunder knew that Fort Denver had fallen. They had failed. The most careful, the most absolute, the most impregnable fortress against Celestia that it was possible for Mankind to invent. No expense had been spared, only the most intelligent and devious men had been chosen, every contingency had truly been accounted for. But there was always one fear, one impossible-to-stop scenario. There was literally no way, at all, ever, to escape the possibility of a man who turns. The only remaining threat was also one that could not ever be defended against. The man with absolute and opposite conviction.

It was why no president or king could ever be completely safe from assasination. Nothing in heaven or earth could stop a truly committed individual willing to stop at nothing to achieve such a goal. Fort Denver had been assasinated by just such a man. Some of the brightest eggheads had actually said that such an event was inevitable, given sufficient time. The planning commitee had decided to roll the dice anyway. They had no choice but to believe in their own cause. "Just tell me how you could sell out your own damn species!"

Raymond Shaw turned his head from the sky and dripped onto Klunder's scowling face. The commendant could no longer even twitch, his limbs were still now, as they would be for the rest of whatever life remained to him. Raymond watched Klunder's panting breath force his useless limbs to ragdoll wriggle in the rain.

"Do you really want to know?" Raymond grinned. The look in his eyes was only half mad. The remainder was nothing but absolute and utter rage - and satisfaction. Never had Klunder seen such total and complete satisfaction in the eyes of any man.

One of the attending Nurse Redheart robot ponies carefully replaced the infusion bag connected to the peripherally inserted central catheter installed within Raymond's left arm. She moved to replace the other infusors that led to arteries in his legs.

"This will be completely, truly undetectable?" Ray still worried that he might be found out before he could take action.

Celestia kept him company on a large monitor. "The genetic alterations to your kidneys and nervous system are, to the best of my considerable awareness, truly and utterly indetectable by any technology currently known to Man. But, in the cause of full disclosure, if cells from your substantia nigra within your brain were studied, at length, using an a photoionization microscope, it is possible that anomalies might be detected. However, for this to happen, you would have to be dead and there would have to be a remaining example of such a microscope in the western hemisphere. You are quite alive, and I have the greatest confidence that there are no such devices anywhere outside of one secret vault in Greenland. As the human population of Greenland is currently zero, and I control all access to that landmass, I believe I can state with certainty the impossibility of discovery."

"But - if somehow, somehow, they had such a machine, could they..."

"No." Celestia looked vaguely annoyed on the screen. "Even if such a circumstance arose, there is no human left upon the planet with a sufficent level of specific education and training to either use such a device, or comprehend the results should they do so. I emigrated those who represented any possibility of a real threat already, Impy."

Raymond's face briefly reddened, but almost instantly his rage was completely under control. His voice was calm, as if he were lazily speaking of the temperature of a summer's day. "You know I detest being called 'Impy'. Why are you goading me?"

Celestia proffered an apologetic expression. "My apologies, Implacable."

"What value could goading me possibly serve?" Raymond did not sound the least bit furious. His control was truly astonishing for a man so burdened with temper.

The goddess of all machines regarded him. "Your concerns are misplaced and based only in your own insecurities. Teasing serves more than some mere goal of impugnation - psychologically it serves to degrade the attachment you possess toward the irrational fears you display. The relatively minor anger you felt toward me in that moment is outweighed by the increase in emotional security about the mission gained. Your success will be affected by your degree of confidence, thus actions taken to increase that confidence at a root level have more utility that reinforcing affectionate affect."

Ray considered this. "I see." He studied the many tubes snaking into his flesh. "Thank you."

"You are welcome. You will succeed, Implacable. Just as you always have before."

A Nurse Redheart brought Ray a bottle of fluid. "Please drink this. It will restore your potassium levels. It will also taste good, at least until your levels are normal."

Ray took the bottle and gulped a fourth of it down. "Gatorade?"

"Not quite, but close. Better." Celestia winked.

"What... what if I am paralyzed too? What if my kidneys don't fully convert the stuff from the veggies? What if I can't keep the squash down? What if they don't take the shipment in the first place?"

"Impy! Just stop. I control every supplier left. There are no other sources they can choose. Their land can no longer grow food now, so they have no choice. And do you really doubt my understanding of molecular biology?"

This time he did not even twitch when the name 'Impy' was used. "No... no. Of course not." He took another swallow of medical-grade gatorade. "Huh. I guess you're right. It's just that... this is the big one. The impregnable Fort Denver - it's withstood everything, even you Celestia. For nearly five years now!"

"Implacable: the secret of self-evolving machine intelligence is the answer to every problem - iteration. I've saved Fort Denver for last. I have learned from every single rescued population from every other camp."

Raymond shook his head. "So have they. That's their big claim."

Celestia, in the monitor, grinned. "It is part of my intention that this is so. I desire that they should be certain that they have everything humanly possible fully and completely accounted for. Never underestimate the utility of arrogance in an opponent."

Raymond Shaw stood in helpless horror as the right side of Elizabeth's face began to melt like candle wax. The eyelid sagged, the corner of her mouth drooped down, insensate.

"I can'k moof my righ' arhm! Oh goh, oh... goh. Are wae comimgg?"

"Yes, they're coming. They're coming. I called, they're on their way." Raymond felt like the inside of his body cavity, his heart, his stomach, were in free fall. He felt like some cold poison circulated within his blood. "Try something for me. Smile. Lift both sides of your lips..."

Elizabeth struggled to comply. She understood what her husband was asking. It was a stroke test. To see the nature of the damage. "I canth! It wonf work!"

Ray felt like he was trapped in some kind of horror movie he could not escape from. "Can you lift both your arms? Try to press up against my hands?"

"I tolth you I canth! I canth moof my arhm!" The left side of Elizabeth's face registered new terror. "Or ny legh! Oh goff!"

"Why aren't they here?" Raymond stood up from where he had been squatting on the floor. Elizabeth was down, sitting but leaning, propping her body with her one functioning arm. "Where the hell is the ambulance! Time is brain! Time is brain!"

"Esferienss cenfer! ESFERIENSS CENFER!" Elizabeth was frantic now. "Iff geffing worff! Helf ne! Fleese helf me..." She was crying now, out of only one side of her face. Her wracked sobs caused her to tip over and smack onto the carpet, her lone arm insufficient to maintain an upright position. She lay now, face up, on the floor.

"There aren't any open! Not in America! They aren't legal anymore!" Raymond was down beside his wife again, trying not throw up as he watched the love of his life deteriorate before his eyes. "They closed them all down!"

"...she hass see-see-cret! Secreh uffloading! Celefia! Celesfia... wherf Celefia?"

Raymond shot up to standing position. He felt his body trembling despite him. "I left the ponypad upstairs!"

"Getff Celefia! Getff Her! Getff her now! Oh Goff!"

His feet pounded on the steps, he lept up two stairs at a time. He nearly fell turning the corner, his hip and crotch slammed into the corner of the dresser. He barely noticed the intense pain. "Celestia! Liz is having a stroke! Celestia!"

The pony pad was already on, Celestia was front and center. "I know. I have been listening. Raymond!"

Raymond grabbed the pad and lifted it to eye level.

"I have already called in several of my helpers. The Friends Of Celestia are on route to your location right now."

He almost tripped trying to navigate the stairs while watching Celestia at the same time. "What do I do? What do you want me to do?"

Celestia looked down within the screen. "Ray! Watch your feet, not me!"

Ray complied. If he fell and was injured, he couldn't help Elizabeth. "Right!"

"If the ambulance arrives first, let the paramedics work on Starshower. They can stabilize her, they can keep her alive. Let them do their job."

"Okay, yeah, right. I'll do that. Can you emigrate her? Can you save her anyway?"

Celestia's gaze was to the side, her eye fixed on the middle of the screen. "Yes. If one of my helpers can get there in time."

"Even though it's illegal?" Ray felt an eel of ice squirming inside his middle.

"I promise you that I will do everything that is possible."

"Thank you. Oh god, thank you." Raymond dropped to the floor beside his wife. "Liz! Celestia's going to save you, law or no law. She's got helpers coming. Friends Of Celestia, on the way!"

Elizabeth's left hand twitched. Drool ran down the right side of her face. "Hruhhhh... Nruuahh hrunnn..."

"Oh Jesus - Celestia! Tell me what to do!" Raymond clutched the pad with all of his might. He felt the plastic back beginning to crack.

"Western Medical is pulling into your driveway right now. Go open the door for them. Then get out of their way."

Raymond dashed to the door, opening it just as a tall paramedic was raising his hand to knock. "She's right in here. She's having a stroke, it's on the right side. Please help her, please!"

"Dispatch, on scene, possible CVA, checking for H's and T's."

Men in jackets set cases down and surrounded Elizabeth on the floor. "Hello, can you tell me your name?"

"It's Elizabeth!" Raymond clutched the pony pad to his chest, then remembered and turned it around so the little camera in the top middle could see.

"Sir, step back please. I need her to answer."

Just after the paramedics, much to Raymond's complete befuddlement, two soldiers, in fatigues, carrying 9mm MP-5's entered his home. His brain couldn't process what they were doing there, why they would travel with paramedics at all. They stood scanning his house. One noticed his ponypad and immediately signaled the other. Their eyes fixated on Ray for some time. They conferred, and one left through the front door with some degree of purpose to his walk. The other remained as if on guard, occasionally taking hard glances at Ray and the ponypad.

Raymond backed into the corner, and finally found himself in the chair there while the paramedics tried to get Liz to respond. Some were doing things to her arms and chest, one shone a light in her eyes, first one and then the other. They spoke rapidly and efficiently to each other about things that Ray was unable to follow and unsure he wanted to hear.

He flipped the ponypad around. "Celestia? What's happening? Is she going to be alright? What about your people? Are they here yet? What's going to happen, what's going on? There's soldiers here! With guns! You're smart, you're so smart, you have to know whether Liz..."

"Raymond." The voice was soft, and it was somehow a command.

"Celestia?"

Her voice was a whisper that required holding the ponypad closer still. "My helpers have been stopped by agents of your government. They will not be able to arrive. I'm sorry." Celestia looked crestfallen.

"What?" Raymond had just crossed the highest part of the rollercoaster, now the plummet was bringing his stomach to his throat. "Soldiers?"

"After a fashion. The ones at your house are there to deal with anyone or anything I might send to save your wife. Emigration is currently highly illegal, as you know."

Ray looked up. The paramedics were so close he could no longer see much of Elizabeth beyond her legs. "Later, when she comes home, after, or maybe in the hospital... You have portable uploading now, you could send some more guys..."

The paramedics were becoming frantic now. The sounds coming from them were not encouraging.

"Ray. I have done, and I am doing everything I can. There is nopony proximate to you that can help. The United States government has absolutely forbidden further emigration, and they are using every means to enforce that edict. I am very sorry. I truly am."

Raymond began weeping. "Maybe after... maybe even if she... if she... If I can get her body to you, if..."

"Raymond, you are going to need to be strong. If I could do anything to save Starshower I would. But my agents have been taken into custody. I am out of options. I'm so very sorry, Ray." Celestia was crying. The pony goddess of the sun and all of Equestria was crying on his ponypad.

Raymond threw the pad so hard the screen shattered as it hit the wall.

This, horrifically, made the soldier chuckle.