Re: DEATHGAME 9000 [S!3] Round One: Gamexus X99
05-15-2012, 01:59 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Jacquerel.
The crowd surged and raged around Eric, pushing him back and forth in an abortive attempt to tip him over, leading his passenger-ape to howl in panic and cling on for his life. Blunt objects and improvised weapons banged and scraped againt his armoured chassis, making a very impressive noise but causing little noticeable damage to the hulking machine apart from making him very distressed. In a fit of pique, one man at the back lit a rag inside a bottle and prepared to throw it... only to have it shot in his hands by a bored gunman on the upper floor of a nearby building. Watching a riot was one thing but The Boss was inside, and The Boss would be most upset if his business was interrupted by fire alarms and automatic sprinklers. The poor man shook his arm and screamed as flames raced down his arm and ignited his chest and face, dropping and rolling on the ground to put it out but to little effect.
Eric reached out an arm but had far too little reach to grab the man, and would never have been able to pick up someone so very damaged without causing further injury anyway. The machine was incapable of heartbreak but it caused him the mechanical equivalent of physical pain and anguish to be so close to a patient and yet be unable to act, the rioting ghosts effectively leaving him paralysed.
How could anyone be so fragile? His original masters had been more durable than this and he wasn't sure how these that had replaced them could possibly have survived this long with such thin hide. The crush of bodies surrounding him left him unable to reposition himself without crushing someone and he had to keep his arms raised high into the air to make sure he didn't knock anyone over, all he could do was watch as the flames spread and the man's cries became hoarse and his twitching slowed. None of the other citizens seemed to care enough even to piss on him, too busy either joining the riot or running away.
A couple of opportunists nearby used the distracting nature of the commotion to break into a nearby shop and were busily hauling electronics into their battered truck, while dotted around the street other people decided to take advantage of the sudden breakdown of sanity to settle old grudges. The only area of calm lay around the three fanciest buildings on the street; a betting shop, a casino/hotel and something that pretended to be a bar but hinted (in the least subtle of ways) that patrons could perhaps find more than a pint on sale within. A pair of goons in sharp suits leaned against the door of the hotel watching the fight through tinted shades, one of them sucking on an expensive-looking cigar. They'd been ordered to fetch the gang's new muscle but they knew the rhythms of the city well enough and there wasn't any point trying to wade into the crowd just yet.
Even with their lowered inhibitions, everyone knew that was protected ground. Nobody wants to anger The Family.
”Be advised that assaulting a medical construct is defined as a War Crime under the Talmar Concordants, in the event of continued interference This Unit is authorised to summon Peacekeepers to order your dispersion.”
This was the third time Eric had made his proclamation and it had about as much effect as the first, that being none. He wasn't joking about the Peacekeepers, terrifying machines far more deserving of the “warbot” description that The Incompetent had bestowed upon Eric than the walking hospital was himself, but for some reason they didn't seem to be returning his calls. Trapped by his own programming while attempting to fulfil it, there was only one more authority figure Eric could turn to.
”bloody- Did you just freeze me in mid-sentence?”
”That is correct.”
”For crying out loud... can you stop doing that? (This had been phrased as a question, rather than an order, Eric noted. Very convenient.) Because it is incredibly disorienting and it's bad enough that I'm stuck in here for the rest of my incredibly prolonged natural lifespan when all my friends are dead and civilisation has fallen apart without you being rude to me, thank you very much.
How long was it this time?”
”About forty-”
”Years? No, don't finish that please. I've decided I don't want to know after all. What's this junk you've picked up? You'd better not have been rescuing “animals” again, I tell you I am not sharing my space with a Beak Dog and it's colony of mites.
...Damn these things look weird.”
Eric's least wounded passenger had turned his attention from berating the voice in the sky (an action he mostly equated to talking to himself, the ambulance was merely a machine after all) to his new cell mates, who appeared to be some kind of large black worm (I bloody knew he was picking up animals again, you're not supposed to disobey my orders you malfunctioning piece of junk!) with five stubby tentacles for a face and some kind of flickering, ethereal primate. It seemed to shift in colour and appeared slightly transparent despite the fact that Eric had placed it into stasis almost as soon as it had arrived.
Wait hang on... the alien (medical records stated that his birth name was Gan) gestured one of his eight malleable, fleshy tentacles at the worm and another at the boy and put two and two together.
“Why the hell do you have a severed limb in storage? Have you been mutilating the wildlife or do you really expect me to sew some poor creature's leg back on for you when you finally catch it?
I've already told you once I'm a doctor not a veterinarian!”
”This creature displayed traits implying a higher form of intelligence. They are capable of communication and their social structure is not unlike your own, complete with constructed cities and governmental organisations.”
”Oh come on, you don't seriously expect me to believe that you've kept me under long enough that we've evolved a new form of sapient life and they've developed a post-industrial society now do you? That's just utterly ridiculous!”
”I have observed no data on the origin of this species, though I suspect their presence is linked to an external force.”
Eric knew of course that they weren't actually on the same planet any more and also almost exactly what said external force was, but this didn't seem quite as relevant a fact to him as the situation possibly called for. As far as he was aware he was just answering the questions he was asked. Nobody had asked him if he had been entered into an inter-dimensional battle to the death.
”An alien species? I... suppose that's possible. I mean we knew the bloody things existed we just never met any.
I can't operate on an alien either though so this is still up to you, go find an alien hospital that can deal with them and while you're at it you can let me out too.”
”This unit is under quarantine. I am not permitted to break quarantine until an area capable of dealing with the disease is located.”
”I haven't got the plague!”
”This unit is under quarantine. I am not permitted to break quarantine until an area capable of dealing with the disease is located.”
Gan sighed bitterly, it had taken him decades to accept his fate but he'd eventually realised that in his position he was essentially powerless and would just have to take what came his way. He and the two dying ladies floating silently somewhere behind him were either the last of his kind or nearly the last (who knows, maybe there were others out there in his position) and he was just going to live out his years trapped inside a robot ambulance while it ambled pointlessly around a planet that apparently already forgotten that he or his people had ever existed.
He'd told Eric to stop waking him up once the robot had informed him of the plant incursion into his city not because he found it uninteresting (though that seemed to be the impression his omnipotent caretaker had got) but because the thought that soon everything his kind had ever meant would be gone was very difficult to bear.
”I need you to examine the primate.”
”Oh yeah, I knew you wouldn't just wake me up for a chat. Why's that? I can't treat him you know, I know nothing about xenobiology.”
The dangling mask that Eric used for a face found itself unable to meet its master's eyes as it finished its request, “My findings were not conclusive, I need you to establish that my rules do not apply to them and order me to disregard them.”
”W-What? I mean, I thought you'd be overjoyed to have something to pointlessly cart around again, you seemed happy enough to do it for the creatures of the forest!”
In answer, he simply conjured up a screen displaying the scene outside. The mob was only getting angrier at their inability to make any kind of impact on their enemy and were rocking him with greater ferocity. This went entirely unfelt within the pocket dimension of course, it wasn't literally inside of him after all, but did make the view from the camera fairly jerky, nevertheless, it was still easy to tell what Eric's problem was.
”I... see.
Bit of a tricky one there you're right, although the video itself suggests I'm not going to be able to help much, doesn't it?”
”There is some leeway, the laws refer to “persons” but do not adequately define personhood. I require elaboration on whether that word applies to this species or specifically to you.”
”And if I don't give the order... we're both stuck here until they get bored or they find some way to break you?”
”Yes.”
This was not a decision that Gan was particularly comfortable with making. It was one of those piercing questions that a child asks, only for the parent to find that they don't actually know what the answer is. How on earth can anyone be expected to define personhood on such short notice?
But... he did sort of have a personal stake in the matter, did he not?
And, you know, they were technically trying to attack him.
And on top of that, weren't they on his planet?
What right had they to come and live atop the ashes of his ancestors?
From whom did they take permission?
He couldn't take his world back, but he could at least make some attempt to preserve its already fading memory!
The crowd staggered backwards as Eric juddered from making only the tiniest of balancing movements (to avoid stepping or falling on anyone) to wading straight on through the press of bodies. He didn't go out of his way to injure anyone but suddenly he no longer cared about going out of his way to not injure people, and as he was large, heavy and implacable some injuries were inevitable. It just wasn't possible for the crowd to back away fast enough, considering what their previous intent had been.
One man fell (pushed?) and received an elephantine foot pressing down on his spine for his fortune, backed by perhaps only a little less weight than a pachyderm could carry. The crunch was easily audible even over the people still squabbling in the background. One man threw up, most of the rest decided it probably just wasn't worth it (at least... not unless they could find some better weaponry).
It was a shame of course, and he would definitely have preferred to complete his task without such a waste of life had it been possible, but he was on a mission and they had been standing in the way and it wasn't as if they were actually people after all. That was what the words in his head said, and how could they be wrong?
Gomorrah had lost a couple of souls and the meat of a riot but this could hardly be said to be any kind of defeat. Eric was theoretically incapable of strong feelings, but a wellspring of hate and resentment was boiling from somewhere inside of him all the same. As Eric strode unburdened towards the Hotel entrance, the shadows at the edges of the alleyways began to lengthen. Cracks stretched and raked their talons across panes of freshly neglected glass, the shades of animals slunk to brighter avenues and even the faces of the people still spectating seemed to shift, becoming pinched and mean. Some reached for concealed weaponry that hadn't been there seconds before, just to feel its reassuring weight in their hands you understand.
The arrow he had been following had vanished completely, which would have been more disturbing if he hadn't just categorised him as unworthy of medical attention. Fortunately another one had popped up very conveniently close by, just on the other side of this building in fact. Another pair of animals seemed to be trying to attract his attention as he walked through the double doors but he paid them no heed. Their concerns were of no relevance to him.
”Hey! You can't just walk in 'dere!”
“I dunno, The Boss did want to see him...”
“Yeah, yeah but we didn't tell him that yet!”
“Well... you tell The Boss that he's coming and I'll get him to go the right way, then everyone's happy yeah?”
“If you say so.”
The crowd surged and raged around Eric, pushing him back and forth in an abortive attempt to tip him over, leading his passenger-ape to howl in panic and cling on for his life. Blunt objects and improvised weapons banged and scraped againt his armoured chassis, making a very impressive noise but causing little noticeable damage to the hulking machine apart from making him very distressed. In a fit of pique, one man at the back lit a rag inside a bottle and prepared to throw it... only to have it shot in his hands by a bored gunman on the upper floor of a nearby building. Watching a riot was one thing but The Boss was inside, and The Boss would be most upset if his business was interrupted by fire alarms and automatic sprinklers. The poor man shook his arm and screamed as flames raced down his arm and ignited his chest and face, dropping and rolling on the ground to put it out but to little effect.
Eric reached out an arm but had far too little reach to grab the man, and would never have been able to pick up someone so very damaged without causing further injury anyway. The machine was incapable of heartbreak but it caused him the mechanical equivalent of physical pain and anguish to be so close to a patient and yet be unable to act, the rioting ghosts effectively leaving him paralysed.
How could anyone be so fragile? His original masters had been more durable than this and he wasn't sure how these that had replaced them could possibly have survived this long with such thin hide. The crush of bodies surrounding him left him unable to reposition himself without crushing someone and he had to keep his arms raised high into the air to make sure he didn't knock anyone over, all he could do was watch as the flames spread and the man's cries became hoarse and his twitching slowed. None of the other citizens seemed to care enough even to piss on him, too busy either joining the riot or running away.
A couple of opportunists nearby used the distracting nature of the commotion to break into a nearby shop and were busily hauling electronics into their battered truck, while dotted around the street other people decided to take advantage of the sudden breakdown of sanity to settle old grudges. The only area of calm lay around the three fanciest buildings on the street; a betting shop, a casino/hotel and something that pretended to be a bar but hinted (in the least subtle of ways) that patrons could perhaps find more than a pint on sale within. A pair of goons in sharp suits leaned against the door of the hotel watching the fight through tinted shades, one of them sucking on an expensive-looking cigar. They'd been ordered to fetch the gang's new muscle but they knew the rhythms of the city well enough and there wasn't any point trying to wade into the crowd just yet.
Even with their lowered inhibitions, everyone knew that was protected ground. Nobody wants to anger The Family.
”Be advised that assaulting a medical construct is defined as a War Crime under the Talmar Concordants, in the event of continued interference This Unit is authorised to summon Peacekeepers to order your dispersion.”
This was the third time Eric had made his proclamation and it had about as much effect as the first, that being none. He wasn't joking about the Peacekeepers, terrifying machines far more deserving of the “warbot” description that The Incompetent had bestowed upon Eric than the walking hospital was himself, but for some reason they didn't seem to be returning his calls. Trapped by his own programming while attempting to fulfil it, there was only one more authority figure Eric could turn to.
”bloody- Did you just freeze me in mid-sentence?”
”That is correct.”
”For crying out loud... can you stop doing that? (This had been phrased as a question, rather than an order, Eric noted. Very convenient.) Because it is incredibly disorienting and it's bad enough that I'm stuck in here for the rest of my incredibly prolonged natural lifespan when all my friends are dead and civilisation has fallen apart without you being rude to me, thank you very much.
How long was it this time?”
”About forty-”
”Years? No, don't finish that please. I've decided I don't want to know after all. What's this junk you've picked up? You'd better not have been rescuing “animals” again, I tell you I am not sharing my space with a Beak Dog and it's colony of mites.
...Damn these things look weird.”
Eric's least wounded passenger had turned his attention from berating the voice in the sky (an action he mostly equated to talking to himself, the ambulance was merely a machine after all) to his new cell mates, who appeared to be some kind of large black worm (I bloody knew he was picking up animals again, you're not supposed to disobey my orders you malfunctioning piece of junk!) with five stubby tentacles for a face and some kind of flickering, ethereal primate. It seemed to shift in colour and appeared slightly transparent despite the fact that Eric had placed it into stasis almost as soon as it had arrived.
Wait hang on... the alien (medical records stated that his birth name was Gan) gestured one of his eight malleable, fleshy tentacles at the worm and another at the boy and put two and two together.
“Why the hell do you have a severed limb in storage? Have you been mutilating the wildlife or do you really expect me to sew some poor creature's leg back on for you when you finally catch it?
I've already told you once I'm a doctor not a veterinarian!”
”This creature displayed traits implying a higher form of intelligence. They are capable of communication and their social structure is not unlike your own, complete with constructed cities and governmental organisations.”
”Oh come on, you don't seriously expect me to believe that you've kept me under long enough that we've evolved a new form of sapient life and they've developed a post-industrial society now do you? That's just utterly ridiculous!”
”I have observed no data on the origin of this species, though I suspect their presence is linked to an external force.”
Eric knew of course that they weren't actually on the same planet any more and also almost exactly what said external force was, but this didn't seem quite as relevant a fact to him as the situation possibly called for. As far as he was aware he was just answering the questions he was asked. Nobody had asked him if he had been entered into an inter-dimensional battle to the death.
”An alien species? I... suppose that's possible. I mean we knew the bloody things existed we just never met any.
I can't operate on an alien either though so this is still up to you, go find an alien hospital that can deal with them and while you're at it you can let me out too.”
”This unit is under quarantine. I am not permitted to break quarantine until an area capable of dealing with the disease is located.”
”I haven't got the plague!”
”This unit is under quarantine. I am not permitted to break quarantine until an area capable of dealing with the disease is located.”
Gan sighed bitterly, it had taken him decades to accept his fate but he'd eventually realised that in his position he was essentially powerless and would just have to take what came his way. He and the two dying ladies floating silently somewhere behind him were either the last of his kind or nearly the last (who knows, maybe there were others out there in his position) and he was just going to live out his years trapped inside a robot ambulance while it ambled pointlessly around a planet that apparently already forgotten that he or his people had ever existed.
He'd told Eric to stop waking him up once the robot had informed him of the plant incursion into his city not because he found it uninteresting (though that seemed to be the impression his omnipotent caretaker had got) but because the thought that soon everything his kind had ever meant would be gone was very difficult to bear.
”I need you to examine the primate.”
”Oh yeah, I knew you wouldn't just wake me up for a chat. Why's that? I can't treat him you know, I know nothing about xenobiology.”
The dangling mask that Eric used for a face found itself unable to meet its master's eyes as it finished its request, “My findings were not conclusive, I need you to establish that my rules do not apply to them and order me to disregard them.”
”W-What? I mean, I thought you'd be overjoyed to have something to pointlessly cart around again, you seemed happy enough to do it for the creatures of the forest!”
In answer, he simply conjured up a screen displaying the scene outside. The mob was only getting angrier at their inability to make any kind of impact on their enemy and were rocking him with greater ferocity. This went entirely unfelt within the pocket dimension of course, it wasn't literally inside of him after all, but did make the view from the camera fairly jerky, nevertheless, it was still easy to tell what Eric's problem was.
”I... see.
Bit of a tricky one there you're right, although the video itself suggests I'm not going to be able to help much, doesn't it?”
”There is some leeway, the laws refer to “persons” but do not adequately define personhood. I require elaboration on whether that word applies to this species or specifically to you.”
”And if I don't give the order... we're both stuck here until they get bored or they find some way to break you?”
”Yes.”
This was not a decision that Gan was particularly comfortable with making. It was one of those piercing questions that a child asks, only for the parent to find that they don't actually know what the answer is. How on earth can anyone be expected to define personhood on such short notice?
But... he did sort of have a personal stake in the matter, did he not?
And, you know, they were technically trying to attack him.
And on top of that, weren't they on his planet?
What right had they to come and live atop the ashes of his ancestors?
From whom did they take permission?
He couldn't take his world back, but he could at least make some attempt to preserve its already fading memory!
The crowd staggered backwards as Eric juddered from making only the tiniest of balancing movements (to avoid stepping or falling on anyone) to wading straight on through the press of bodies. He didn't go out of his way to injure anyone but suddenly he no longer cared about going out of his way to not injure people, and as he was large, heavy and implacable some injuries were inevitable. It just wasn't possible for the crowd to back away fast enough, considering what their previous intent had been.
One man fell (pushed?) and received an elephantine foot pressing down on his spine for his fortune, backed by perhaps only a little less weight than a pachyderm could carry. The crunch was easily audible even over the people still squabbling in the background. One man threw up, most of the rest decided it probably just wasn't worth it (at least... not unless they could find some better weaponry).
It was a shame of course, and he would definitely have preferred to complete his task without such a waste of life had it been possible, but he was on a mission and they had been standing in the way and it wasn't as if they were actually people after all. That was what the words in his head said, and how could they be wrong?
Gomorrah had lost a couple of souls and the meat of a riot but this could hardly be said to be any kind of defeat. Eric was theoretically incapable of strong feelings, but a wellspring of hate and resentment was boiling from somewhere inside of him all the same. As Eric strode unburdened towards the Hotel entrance, the shadows at the edges of the alleyways began to lengthen. Cracks stretched and raked their talons across panes of freshly neglected glass, the shades of animals slunk to brighter avenues and even the faces of the people still spectating seemed to shift, becoming pinched and mean. Some reached for concealed weaponry that hadn't been there seconds before, just to feel its reassuring weight in their hands you understand.
The arrow he had been following had vanished completely, which would have been more disturbing if he hadn't just categorised him as unworthy of medical attention. Fortunately another one had popped up very conveniently close by, just on the other side of this building in fact. Another pair of animals seemed to be trying to attract his attention as he walked through the double doors but he paid them no heed. Their concerns were of no relevance to him.
”Hey! You can't just walk in 'dere!”
“I dunno, The Boss did want to see him...”
“Yeah, yeah but we didn't tell him that yet!”
“Well... you tell The Boss that he's coming and I'll get him to go the right way, then everyone's happy yeah?”
“If you say so.”