"Dorothy, what are our little friends watching?" Number 87 asked as he walked down the corridor. A virtual humanoid appeared beside him, a little girl with long hair, smiling as she gave her answer to her master, "War movies." At the same time, a screen appeared in front of Number 87. The camera angle was from behind Malin, perfectly capturing the image on the television of both sides firing laser weapons at each other.
"Poor child, how could he possibly understand such wars?" Although Malin’s face couldn’t be seen, Number 87 could still hear what he said.
"What are these lights, and how can there be light slower than bullets?"
Listening to the child’s curious remark, Number 87 chuckled to himself, thinking it best not to disturb a young child’s thoughts, lest he suspect they were watching him.
But... this was indeed an interesting child, and it might be worth trying to influence him. If possible, better to have him join their grand plan. Such excellent genes should not be left to waste out there.
And when all was said and done, they, the beings of old, would surely become like deities.
Walking through the corridor, Number 87 entered the cultivation center, standing at the entrance, he looked at the densely packed tanks filled with human bodies and smiled with satisfaction.
Yes, deities, every person living in this world would come to see them as the gods of this world.
"Number 29, how are the new children?"
"The 417th generation of adults has started aging, and the 418th generation is replacing them. The former will be recycled into the nutrition center, while the new 419th generation of juveniles are nearing maturity. We can harvest genetic material within the next two years. To speak frankly, Number 87, the mortality rate among the children we hatch is too high, even if they are expendable, this is too wasteful."
"Number 29, we don’t wish it either, but these children are made using the genes of the current terrestrial beings, most of whom are Tech Hunters who have died in the Dark Zone. Their genes have mostly been damaged by excessive radiation. For us to provide them with a lifespan of ten years is already quite good."
"I know that, but, Number 87, can’t we take genetic material from the ’batteries’ and produce children through them?"
"Number 29, have you forgotten? These batteries have never been exposed to the outside environment; they wouldn’t be able to survive in today’s world."
The conversation paused as Number 29 pondered for a moment, "I... how could I forget that."
"...Perhaps you need a good rest now, you’re tired," Number 87 said, patting Number 29’s steel shoulder.
Number 29 nodded: "Yes, perhaps I am too tired. But how is our little guest? I heard that he is a child fated to become Transcendent, the offspring of that outsider."
"Yes, ah, now that you mention it, I’d forgotten. Maybe I should have Dorothy offer him some 20th-century war films as a background. He should like that." Number 87 looked up: "Dorothy."
The base’s surveillance system AI did not respond.
"Dorothy?" Number 87 was puzzled, for there had never been such a problem before, but the AI still didn’t respond. Number 29 walked towards the alarm button, about to sound the alert when Dorothy finally appeared.
"Sorry, sir, ma’am, I had a little trouble. Do you remember the rat that snuck in hiding among the corpses forty years ago?" Dorothy appeared on the screen as if claiming credit, and on another screen that came up, the carcass of a tiny rat was displayed in a box: "The cleaning system just found it in the ventilation duct."
"Is that why you didn’t respond to us?"
"Yes, I am single-threaded."
"Such a single-threaded response. It seems we do need to give our Dorothy a little more authority. Well, Number 29, continue to watch over the children here, they are about to come out of their tanks, while I go to the central core area to open up four threads for Dorothy. It seems being too economical can also be a problem."
Fio slithered into the ventilation duct, moving toward the main control room.
Biological detection strips were of no use to it. Fio moved along the fastest route—up the vertical shaft of the ventilation duct—and quickly noticed a rat carcass, swiftly wrapping it up before coming to the exit of the vent. Tiny tendrils poked out the gaps, unscrewing the fasteners from the outside, and opened the cover plate to enter the main control room of the central core area.
After dropping the carcass in the box and taking out the plug card from the ’mouth’ that opened at the tip of its tendril, Fio installed it into the slot of the central pillar of the room, which had automatically opened its cover plate.
Fio ignored the machinery that walked in through the door. It returned to the vent, reattached the cover, screwed the fasteners back in place, and then jumped onto the head of the machinery, squeezing into a small hole behind its skull.
Just then, a mechanical arm dropped from the ceiling, pulling out the electronic board.
"Dorothy, reboot complete, Jason, let’s execute these monsters that have betrayed the Union."
An electronic voice echoed inside the room, and then the tone shifted back to the previous one.
"Sorry, sir, ma’am, I had a little trouble."
Mana poked out from the cover plate, perplexed to see the pristine empty room, but still following the previous instructions, it emerged from the cover plate and dropped onto a chair. Then it slapped the button-shaped electronic component that was wrapped around its tendril onto the underside of the table.