//------------------------------// // Technologic // Story: Planet of the ponies // by Weeeman //------------------------------// Chapter 10: Technologic. ((AN: Use a nadsat-english dictionary (google it) if you want to find the meaning of the weird words you will read later on.)) John laughed like a maniac for minutes, holding the small Statue of Liberty with his hand. When he stopped, Robert dared to speak. “Are you alright?” “No, I am not. I have lost my left arm, and now you are telling me that this cursed place is out Earth. What the hell happened?!” And so, Robert told him everything he heard from Celestia about humanity’s fate. He also told him his plan to bring humanity back, which was met with incredulity at first, until Robert told him that it was almost like their original mission. They decided to sleep, and John activated a series of motion sensors positioned in the cave’s entrance, which would activate a really strong alarm if anything bigger than a leaf crossed it. “If you wake up and you need to go to the toilet there is a can over there. Use it and do NOT forget to close it afterwards. If any of you shit on my floor, I will end you.” “Yes, sir,” Robert said. “We will wake up tomorrow with the sunrise and go to the Icarus,” he continued. “Can your pony magic raise something heavy as a house out of a lake?” “No, a team of powerful unicorns could, but I can’t do that alone.” “All of your answers about magic raise more questions,” said John, annoyed, “let’s just try to sleep.” Lyra woke up, her sensitive ears picking up something. It took her one full minute to recognize what she was hearing: John singing. With one half-opened eye she saw that John was awake, standing and facing a wall while singing with a distant voice which was almost a whisper. “The sun's in my heart And I'm ready for love Let the stormy clouds chase Everyone from the place Come on with the rain I've a smile on my face I walk down the lane With a happy refrain Singin', just singin' in the rain dancing in the rain I am happy again I am singing and dancing in the rain” He suddenly turned around, aiming at Robert with his pistol. His hand began shaking, and he stopped aiming at Robert’s head to put the arm’s muzzle on his own temple. Lyra didn’t dare to move, fearing that he would kill them all if he realized that she was watching him. She could hear faint, high-pitched buzzing noises coming from John. The closest thing she had ever heard was the buzzing she felt in her ears after hearing loud noises. The sounds stopped after awhile and John returned to his sleeping bag as if nothing had happened. For the next two hours, Lyra was too shocked and scared to sleep. The next morning, Twilight checked Robert’s location. The blood magic might be evil in nature, but its usefulness was undeniable. The spell she had cast on a magical correlated map and a needle made the needle’s tip always point at Robert’s actual location on said map. She noticed that he had just left the Everfree and was now crossing the Salty Desert. She had guessed that they were going to Robert’s landing zone, and now she was almost sure of it. At the same time, Celestia received a report from Luna’s stallions, detailing how another human had ambushed Lyra and Robert, only to join them later. The new human had apparently been left for dead by Robert, and had lost his left arm. They hadn’t dared to approach the human’s hideout, as it had filled the place with lethal traps, meant for both land and airborne opponents. “Great,” she muttered, “now there is two of them.” Robert woke up to the annoying sound of metal scraping against metal, and he saw John sharpening his knife. “You could have used something less irritating to wake me up.” “Huh” was all he said regarding that, “I’m going to check the traps, I’ll be back in ten minutes, then we have breakfast and we leave.” They left the cave, the reek of the rotting creatures welcoming them. Robert noticed Lyra reading “Scanning spells for dummies” and he joined her while John left towards the woods. When they were alone, Lyra spoke: “Robert, there is something wrong with John.”* “Yeah, good morning to you too... Lyra, I know he is a bit strict and maybe all the stress is making him act weird, but he is nice.” “No, really. Last night I woke up and I saw him...” She told him all the events she had witnessed, trying not to forget any detail and casting sideway glances to the treeline. “Well, that IS disturbing,” he said, his voice showing fear, “I will be alert from now on.” “That is all you are going to do?” she asked, “stay alert?” “Well, what do you want me to do?!” Robert angrily snapped, “he’s my superior and my friend, I can’t just get rid of him!” Lyra winced at Robert’s aggresiveness, but she didn’t falter. “At least try to make him drop his weapon, I won’t stand being around somepony who can just kill me in the blink of an eye and is clearly not mentally stable. Specially considering that we will be together for YEARS.” They both stared at each other, until Robert’s glare softened. “I won’t let anyone harm you. Not even him. I will do whatever I must to ensure your safety, even if it means fighting John.” “What do you say about fighting me?” they heard John say as he returned from the woods. ‘Quick thinking, quick thinking!’ Robert thought. “She was saying that you could beat me with both hands, but now I’m stronger. I was about to reply that I’m not fighting you to prove her point, I still remember how you wiped the floor with Matheus and me after that drinking contest.” John laughed when he heard that. “Oh, don’t remind me. It was a miracle that they didn’t replace us after that.” John’s smile disappeared, and a series of nervous tics affected his entire body for a few seconds. “John?” Robert asked, scared. John turned back to normal. “What happened?” he asked. “Your body began shaking and you zoned out for a few seconds.” “... I...” he trailed off, “I shouldn’t have tried eating those bugs. It must be their flesh affecting my mind.” “John, surely you understand that I can’t let you keep your weapon if you aren’t in full control of your body. Can you give it to me?” John considered it for a few seconds, until he gave Robert his pistol and his knife. “Yes... You are right... I am in no condition to lead. You are in charge until I recover my faculties, and I won’t carry weapons until them. Maybe we could take some of Nanami’s equipment from the Icarus to diagnose me.” John’s face showed his concern, but Robert couldn’t think of anything that he could do or say to cheer him up. “Let’s have breakfast, the sooner we leave the sooner we will be back,” Robert said. John nodded and the three of them ate the omelets Lyra had made. Robert wondered what kind of eggs she had used, but he decided not to ask, as he suspected that he wouldn’t like the answer. “Robert, I need your help with something before we leave,” John said, “I want to place some kind of defensive mechanism so nothing can trespass the cave while we are gone.” “Something on your mind?” “I have always had a weakness for sentry turrets. I know you can make one with a technoglove and a normal weapon, but I don’t know how you do it.” “Lyra, can you do the magical scan in the meanwhile?” asked Robert. “I guess so.” He gave her Discord’s fang. “This is the weirdest talisman I have ever seen,” she stated, and she began casting a spell. While Robert combined John’s technoglove with a light machine gun and an improvised tripod to form a rather formidable turret, the captain talked. “Are you sure this pony magic thing will work? I mean, I find it hard to picture you two swapping species and all that craziness.” “I know it sounds crazy, but I am pretty sure it will work. Have you considered taking my place and becoming a pony? If you are lucky you may recover your arm.” “And if we aren’t, she will have only one arm, or whatever disease I have will carry on and kill her. No thanks.” “...Well, this is finished. It’s not very stable, but I think it will do. I can’t believe we have really found an use for this heavy motherfucker,” he said pointing at the powerful weapon, “once we leave I will turn it on with my glove and it will use your glove to detect targets, aim and open fire. It will run out of ammo soon, but I think we will be back before that happens.” “I didn’t know you could use the glove as the turning base of the weapon like that. Good job, Robert.” When they came out of the cave, Lyra was already finished with the spell and waiting. “I think this artifact is safe,” she told them, “there are probably a lot of spells more I should perform before saying so, but I don’t know them.” “Take that book with you and do your magic whenever we make a stop,” suggested John. They left their base, carrying water and food for two days. Robert also had his rifle and John’s pistol, as well as his technoglove. They were also carrying a underwater respirator, a device that worked like a fish’s gills, extracting enough oxygen from water for a human to breathe. It was heavy and cumbersome, and its solar powered batteries only lasted for fifteen minutes of underwater breathing, but it would allow them to reach the Icarus and take everything they needed. They were halfway across the desert when John stopped. “Robert, give me my weapons, we are about to be attacked,” the firmness in John’s voice convinced Robert, who obeyed him and readied his own weapon. “What is that sound?” asked Lyra, who heard a faint buzzing. “It’s the sound of their wings,” explained John, “we must stay together to avoid attacking each other” he ordered as he turned around, trying to find the source of the noise. Suddenly, two black forms appeared from behind a dune fifty meters away from them. The creatures flew directly towards the humans and pony, but Robert killed one of them with his rifle. The other began moving in zigzag, not wanting to share the fate of its companion. However, John headshotted it when it was fifteen meters away. “Behind you!” shouted Lyra. Three more creatures were darting towards them, so fast that they forced Robert and John to jump sideways to avoid being impaled by them. Lyra fired a green projectile with her horn, but it was deflected by the bug’s carapace. The creatures began circling them, closing the distance little by little. Suddenly, John jumped towards the circle and tackled one of the creatures. He fell atop it and stabbed it in its blue eye with his knife before it could react. The remaining two creatures tried to attack him from behind, but Robert killed one with his rifle and John avoided the other’s lunge. The last creature, noticing that it was alone, turned into a black pegasus pony and shouted. “I surrender! I surre-”*BANG!* Lyra and Robert looked at John, whose arm was still raised after killing the creature, which had returned to its original form. As soon as the adrenaline rush died out, Lyra began throwing up. Robert helped her while John dislodged his knife from the creature’s skull. “Why did you kill the last one?” asked Robert, “they talk, so we could have interrogated it.” “It would have been dangerous. We don’t know what they can do, it may be able to contact its kind, or use its magic on us.” Robert helped Lyra until she emptied her stomach. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I’m fine, it’s just that... You killed them...” she muttered, trying to hold back her tears. Meanwhile, John was busy making sure that all of the creatures were dead. He was going to check the last one, the first one that Robert had killed, when it raised its head and fired a green beam towards John. The beam hit John’s chest, throwing him backwards. He tried to use his pistol, but the creature used telekinesis to disarm him. Robert couldn’t use his weapon, as John was between him and his target, so he ran towards them. John unsheathed his knife and threw it, hitting the creature’s chest. It used its remaining forces to cast a barrage of green beams, which John tried to avoid, unsuccessfully, by rolling on the floor. Finally, it died. “John! Are you alright?!” Robert shouted. John replied with a scream of pain. His clothes were tattered, and his body sported many ugly burns and green rays surrounded it until he got up with effort. He grunted in pain, holding his head with his hand. “My head! That veshch has messed up my rassoodock!” he exclaimed. Robert tried to support John, but he pushed him with his shoulder. “Don’t touch me!” While John tried to walk, Robert began hearing some noises coming from him. They were the kind of sounds that you could hear in a Hollywood movie when something with electronics is malfunctioning, and was something that Robert never expected to hear coming from a human’s body. Then John stood still, staring at Robert. “You are not my droog, you are odin of them. I am ittying to oobivat you!” he said as he pushed Robert, this time with all his might. When Robert hit the sand, he realized what was wrong with John. The weird behaviour, not dying due to blood loss after losing one arm, the weird sounds and, above all, the weird words. There was a simple explanation behind all of those mysteries, John was not a normal human. He fired his weapon against John’s head, but the bullet only made him stagger. He opened fire on his former leader, forcing him to face him instead of recovering any of his weapons. “Damn it, John!” cried Robert as he rose up, “you didn’t tell us you were a fucking trans!” John didn’t react to his words, and he continued advancing menacingly. Robert’s weapon didn’t have enough power to harm John’s vital organs, so he aimed at his legs. A few shots damaged the muscles and the tendons of John’s leg, making him fall and resort to a fast crawling. Robert circled John, picking his handgun and knife. Then he noticed that Lyra was closing the distance between them. “Stay away! John has gone crazy and is trying to kill us!” As if on cue, John rose up and sprinted towards Robert, who was too surprised to react in time. John tackled him and immediately he was sitting atop Robert and choking him with an iron grip. Fortunately, John couldn’t hold Robert’s arms down and he began cutting John’s hand with his own knife. After a few seconds John released Robert and tried to punch him in the face, but Robert stabbed him in the stomach with both hands. While John tried to extract the knife, Robert reached for his rifle, which had fallen next to him, and used its butt to hit John in the face, making him fall over. Robert distanced himself from John before coughing, feeling a soaring pain in his neck, and getting up again. He saw a green glow before his eyes and he jumped back, noticing that John’s knife was being held in the air by Lyra’s magic, who had stopped it mid air just before it hit him in the neck. The unicorn used her magic and the knife stabbed John’s hand, pinning it to the sand as he was reaching to his handgun. However, Lyra’s magic wasn’t strong enough to hold John down, as he managed to slowly raise his hand. Robert used his rifle and aimed at the pistol, breaking it before John could reach it. “My pooshka! Now I am bezoomny, you will snuff it for that!” shouted John. John freed his hand from the knife and ran towards Robert. A shot from the rifle blew one of his eyes, but that didn’t slow him down. With his only hand, John disarmed Robert with a swipe and punched him in the stomach. The pain made Robert bent down, and John gave him a powerful vertical elbow strike on the head, knocking him out. “John! Stop! We are your friends!” shouted Lyra with fear. “Shut up, cheena, you and I will have the old in-out in-out after I'm done with him, then you will snuff it, too,” he replied as he took Robert’s rifle. Lyra had learned from Robert the basics of how their weapons worked, so she tried the only thing that could save Robert: using her magic to clog the rifle. She focused all of her magical power in a thick barrier inside the barrel. When John pulled the trigger the rifle’s barrel splitted like kindling wood. He stood still and confused for a few seconds, giving Lyra time to levitate the knife again and stab John’s neck and slit his throat. A few droplets of blood fell from John’s gaping wound, and he fell to the floor. She ran towards Robert and woke him up. He moved with violence until he saw John’s laying form. “Is he dead?” he asked, dazed. “I just cut his throat, that kills people, right?” she asked with coldness. “Yes, but he is not people, give me the knife.” She did as she was told and he used the knife to open John’s abdomen. None of them noticed John’s neck healing at an unnatural rate meanwhile.They were welcomed by a disgusting mix of bodily fluids and the sight of repulsive organs with metallic implants. With a grimace, he inserted his arm in John’s entrails up to the elbow, pulling something out from beneath his heart. It was a small battery, which Robert threw as far as he could. John opened his eyes and tried to grab Robert, but he stopped mid-movement and dropped dead. “Now we are safe,” muttered Robert. “Wha- what did just happen?!” she asked, shocked. They both stared at John’s corpse, not daring to stop looking at him. “John is a transhuman, the apex of our technology. He has been genetically modified and has received cybernetic implants.” “...Equestrian, please?” “We use our technology to enhance his body and mind, then we add metallic things on him. Transhumans are more intelligent, stronger, and live more years before showing signs of aging. I... I just don’t know what went wrong, why would he go mad? I need to know.” “How?” “If we are lucky, he will tell us,” Robert said as he fumbled with his technoglove. After a few seconds, he released his breath, that he hadn't realized he had been holding. “This will be hard to explain, so I’ll just do it and later I will answer all your questions,” he told Lyra as he made some gestures with his glove. John’s mouth opened, and his voice came out of it, with the monotony that only an artificial voice could have. “Status report: Host: permanently deceased, missing left arm, cancerogenous mutations, abdomen slit open, partially closed wounds of hunting rifle on legs and torso, other minor injuries. System: missing main power supply, partial corruption of system data, damage on hardware, various subroutines reporting errors due to changes in Host’s body.” Robert changed to vocal mode. “Explain cancerogenous mutations.” “Cancerogenous mutations on the whole body. Changes in DNA of cells. Pure human genetic code unaffected. Mutations started upon leaving Icarus. Anomalous burst of mutations five minutes ago, seven seconds after suffering burns. Origin of mutations unknown.” “Explain partial corruption of system data.” “Corruption of biomaterial, leading to corruption of memory files. System unable to repair archives.” “That’s enough.” “Insufficient energy to restart system. Initiating self-destruction.” With no further warning, John’s body was caught in flames. Robert had to step back because of the heat. A few minutes later, only a black skeleton and charred electronic implants remained. Robert wiped away the dry tears he had shed. “We need to keep going.” Lyra treated Robert’s wounds and they took John’s weapons and provisions. Then they walked for hours in silence, as they were in no mood for talking. Finally, they reached the lake, a few hours before the sunset. “Here we are,” Robert said. “Robert, I... I want to know what happened.” It was hard, but Robert managed to explain the basics of what a transhuman was to Lyra. His knowledge on the field was very limited, so he couldn’t explain how John managed to heal so fast and how he could withstand being shot in the head. He guessed that the source of John’s madness was the magic, which had further altered the already mutated cells of his body, also damaging his electronic implants. “But, why would you send a transhuman to this mission?” “For all we know, John might have been able to live for hundreds of years. The bigwigs probably wanted someone who would keep everything under control for a long time, so they sent a transhuman powerful enough to stop any kind of uprising and to rule with a clear and focused mind for many years.” “If transhumans are better than normal humans, why did they send just him?” “Because creating transhumans was forbidden everywhere. If people could become transhumans, the ones who couldn’t pay the process would become second class citizens, and in a few decades there would be two species: the rich transhumans and the poor humans. I guess they didn’t dare to send a crew made of transhumans.” Lyra read on Robert’s face that he didn’t want to speak about John anymore, so she stopped asking. Then all the emotions and thoughts she had avoided while they walked surfaced, and she couldn’t hold it back. In a few seconds, both of them had become a hugging mass of fur, clothes, sweat, tears and sobbing. “Lyra, if you want to go back to Ponyville after all of this, I will understand.” “No, I’m fine. I just need some time to think.” “I’m going to the ship, then. Be careful, there may be more of those bugs around. I think I will be able to hear shooting, but you may find yourself alone.” “Don’t worry, I can handle this.”