Discord on Earth.
Discord on Earth.
The creature looked like a blend of about a dozen different animals. And it was enormous. Even high in the sky, it looked about the size of a ferry boat. It streched its limbs, lazily flapping above the city. It looked around, feigning suprise as it looked down at the urban forest. He (Patrick could just tell it was male) began laughing, slowly at first, but gradually becoming a hysterical roar. Doing a few loops, the creature began a slow decent, seeming to shrink to about human height. Still cackling, it landed about five or six blocks away from where Patrick sat. The sun, wich had set only moments ago, reversed course and began rising. In the south.
To say it took him a moment would be lying. He was stunned for a good five minutes. His body being on autopilot, it took a second for his hand to tell his arm to tell his brain to tell him that the fur the hand was petting was starting to feel like scales. As soon as Patrick understood this, he looked at Gary. Gary the iguana.
The shock of his cat (a warm blooded mammal) being replaced by a (scaly cold blooded) reptile was a bit too much for him. His head, fortunately, landed right on the unopened package. The force of his head slamming on it caused the thin paper to rip in several places, one such rip being right on the skin of his cheek. Through the tears, only blackness could be seen. But the place that touched Patrick's skin began changing. From it, what looked like the night sky began to spread across the cube. Once it covered the entire surface, the remaining paper dissolved, the mist-like particles quickly absorbed by the now green object. It began pulsing, a low hum emanating from it.
<active. begin preliminary system scan.>
<complete. inquiry: ?cause of activation? external scan...final result=skin contact. skin matches target. Directive 7. begin preparation.>
The pulsing ceased, along with the humming. There was a flash of red, and a slight pop.
<preparation phase complete. bodily functions ceased. heartbeat=none. respiration=none. target councinouss stored but inactive. inquiry: ?activate target councinouss? final result=negative. delay until fifth phase. continue Directive 7. begin invasive phase.>
Patrick's breathing had indeed stopped, along with his heartbeat. According to the general understanding of the concept, he was dead. The cube pulsed a sickly shade of yellow. The edges began wiggling, giving it the look of a solid cube of jell-o. It was no longer pulsing, just continuous yellow. A whirring began, and the cube started latching onto Patrick's skin, oozing over his face as a liquid. Once it was completely off the concrete rooftop, it stopped moving.
<complete contact. inquiry: ?full invasive integration / minimal requirements only? final result=full invasive. Directive 7 preset configurations. class 4 humanoid. proceed.>
The gel split into five distinct patches, one to each hand and foot, and the last to the head. Once each had stopped again, the yellow was replaced by metallic grey.
<integrate>
The covered skin was deeply sliced in a grid pattern. The lack of bloodflow ensured a lack of bleeding, as the cuts went to the bones. Under the now-metal plates, small hooks emerged, holding each piece in place. The metal liquified once again, this time flowing into and under the many incisions. A blue bar of light swept across the cut skin from underneath, leaving behind not a single scar as it healed Patrick's flesh.
<status=positive. begin phase 4. restart bodily functions+full expansive activation test.>
The completely dead body began breathing and heartbeating like it had never stopped. It did not move, however. The now-healed areas of skin started shifting. The veins in those areas turned fully grey, the change in color quickly spreading along each and every vein. The still unconscious body suddenly rolled over, sat in an upright position, and stood up.
<initiate expansive test.>
Patrick's skin erupted. The grid-cut pattern once again split the skin on his hands and wrists, legs and feet, neck and face. Even though his blood was flowing, not a single drop fell from him. In fact, the cuts weren't cuts. They were panels with 'skin' covering them. They raised up, showing small pneumatic arms raising and moving them.
From between the spaces emerged metal plating. Within a few seconds, the thin plates rotated and twisted together, each clicking into place with one another, forming what appeared to be armor. The plates spread to Patrick's hands, forming ferocious claws on the left hand, while the right was riddled with dozens of shifting bands, each able to move under or over one another, and most were blinking and spinning. The center of his palm had a glowing disc on it. His feet and legs were enveloped in metal boots, forming in the same manner as his hands did. The back of his calfs was connected by a jointed piston to his knees, and to a small support behind his heels.
As the skin on Patrick's neck and head split, plates formed around his neck and shoulders, also forming support pistons. The transformation that took place on his face, however, was very, very different.
Every square inch was covered in plates so small that together, it looked like his entire face had just changed color. Each plate then flipped, creating a wave across his face. The plates on the left side retreated to the right, covering his eye, ear, and part of his mouth. The metal sprouted small colored lights in some places, while others were connected via IV-like tubes. His still-closed eye was covered by a solid blue piece.
Overall, the entire process was done in ten seconds flat.
The plates began spinning and flipping, before descending back through the skin-grid. Like before, the skin simply lowered back into position, leaving no trace of the impossibility hiding beneath it.
<test complete. primary functions=positive. power intake set to constant collect. rest position.> Patrick's body laid down on the cement.
<phase 5 initiated. inquiry: ?transfer target conciseness? final result=negative. activate within internal interface.>
* * *
Patrick opened his eyes. He was no longer on the rooftop, that was for sure. To him, it looked like what he expected the inside of a cloud to look like.
"TARGET ACTIVE. INQUIRY TO TARGET: ACTIVATE INTERNAL INTERFACE?" The disembodied mechanical voice came from all around him, thoroughly scaring him. 'What the hell? Am I dead? Cause if i am, heaven is pretty weird...'
"RESPOND. ACTIVATE INTERNAL INTERFACE?"
Patrick decided to lay along. "Um, yes?"
"CONFIRMED. INTERFACE REQUIRES TARGET-SET DESIGNATION. ENTER DESIGNATION."
Patrick thought about this. 'Designation? That a name, right? Ok...it wants a name for this interface, whatever it is...' He thought of all the names he liked.
"...Tom."
"CONFIRMED. INTERFACE DESIGNATION IT SET AS 'TOM'. PROCEED." A few yards in front of Patrick, the white mist began swirling around and around, compressing into a shape. A human shape.
After several seconds, a young, Caucasian male stood in front of him, dressed like a city-bred would be. Walking over to a stunned Patrick, he stuck out his hand.
"Hey! I'm Tom! Thanks for creating me!"