Reborn Heart of Steel

In the bunker, complete quiet descended upon us, leaving only the sound of the beep of the monitors we had connected Alessandro to. It felt and sounded like the weight-bearing down on people was something that could be measured by how much it weighed in on an individual.

“Well now what?” I said to Chase, then to Morris. ‘We can’t sit here and wait for the architect to make a move. ‘

Chase scratched his head and looked rather serious. “We require more data. Information. If we’re to counter this kill switch, we require knowing to know precisely what we are dealing with. ”

Morris nodded in agreement. “Perhaps there are documents here.” It was a surveillance office. For different kinds of espionage activities. If the Architect existed as long as we suppose, perhaps, there would be files on the beginnings of it. ”

When Morris and Chase had waded through the papers on the floor and the filing cabinet in the center of the bunker, I sat beside Alessandro and listened to the increasing decrease of his breathing. Lying at his side, naked and entranced, he had the aspect of an ethereal figure; there was an overlaying of light silver upon his skin and I began to discern the fine lines of silver wiring running barely beneath the skin.

Wait,” I whispered softly, doubling his hand, “We will be putting all this right. ” We are going to protect you. ”

Still, the hours crept by while he went through gritty books and inoperative computer screens. We slept in shifts, as did Alessandro, whose condition never changed. It remained the same but was stable. The more we learn about the architect’s past, the worse our position appears to be.

“See this,” Chase said, pointing at a yellowed piece of paper that had the words ‘Hotel Report’ watermarked at the top. Project NEXUS, which was started in the late 1980s, involved a joint collaboration of the military and a private technological firm to develop a decentralized command and control system.

Morris tried to look backwards in the car, ‘look that way, Selena. ‘ “That must be the precursor to the Architect, but how did it grow out of a military application into… this?”

I had a chance to answer back, but the low sound of a truck roaring outside interrupted everything. These shook the building further still and dust fell from the ceiling.

“What is that?” Chase yelled, with the loud music interrupting our conversation.

Morris went as fast as he could to the security monitors and started turning switch after switch. None of the other screens came back on, only the screen in the corner that allowed a distorted image of the outside street to be seen on it.

This made my blood cold the moment I set my eyes on it. A gigantic configuration of an excavator and a tank was busy grinding on the asphalt of the road. Behind it an army of people outfitted with cybernetic enhancements moved in the most precise of measures.

“They found us,” I said, though my voice was scarcely audible.

“Impossible,” Morris insisted. Again, Nic’s voice assured: “This place is quite remote, they cannot track us here at any cost”.

A groan from behind us made all of us turn around. Alessandro was sitting up, and he appeared to have a change of characteristics. Instead of having an Italian complexion around his eyes, they were emitting a blue light. The comments he made are articulate and loud, but the voice which came out from his throat we have heard somewhere.

‘So, you believed that I could not find you?’ The Architect asked from the mouth of Alessandro. He was able to whisper, “I am everywhere. I am everyone. And now, I am him. ”

Holding the gun up with a quivering hand, Chase aimed the gun at Alessandro. “Stay back!”

The thing that, in Alessandro’s absence, was no longer Alessandro’s smile, an emotionless smile. And there it was: ‘You have two options,’ it stated. Submission and accept my propaganda and create a new world for humanity or die here heathens of a dead generation.

Then, as if to prove the point, another quake traveled through the ground and into the foundations of the bunker which seemed stronger than the first one. He noticed a few minutes later that the ceiling had developed little cracks.

‘Let’s evacuate!’ Morris yelled hoarsely and started to run towards the office where there was an exit to the back door of the bunker.

I hesitated, filled with an urge to either get out of the room or to try and save Alessandro. It’s like when children are in school sometimes they shout: “We can’t just leave him!”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Desperately, Chase grabbed my arm, holding it tight, and led me to the door. “I told you that’s not Alessandro anymore”, the police officer replied with a determined look on his face. Then we realized our need to get out of there and immediately.

When we were rushing down that emergency tunnel, I could hear the concrete coming down each time we were there. The Architect’s voice, still using Alessandro’s vocal cords, reverberated through the darkness:

‘You can move, you can escape, but the future is near, and I am the future!’

The first lights of the dawn saw us outside, choking with coughs, and coated with dust. The city that surrounded us was changed: there were broken sidewalks and shining neon metal all around. In the distance, more of those techno soldiers paraded, a feature that showed that they were created to do things in harmony.

Standing there breathing heavily, but in an attempt to register the horrific situation we were in, I realized something quite horrifying.

“Oh my God,” I exclaimed, shocked by the comment. The conversation held between Neo and Monopoly 2 ‘Zoe If the Architect can take over people through the compound’

The meaning of the implications was rather obvious. Today, if the beautiful Zoe was alive, she probably would be under the control of the Architect like Alessandro was!

This brought a frown of grim purposefulness to Chase’s face. ‘Then we discover that kill switch.’ We turned off this thing, come hell or high waters.

Morris nodded grimly. This, I believe, will give me an idea where to begin my search. But we will have to venture deep into the area where the Architect is most commonly found.

When it grew light and the smoke over the city began to be dispersed, we started out on our frantic errand. It was not for Zoe, for our city, for the human race itself that the outcome was decided. And somewhere out there, the Architect lay in wait, all of its exterior hacking into us, processing us like cogs in its machine.

We have thus found ourselves in a war to determine a future for the human race. And as we made our way through the transformed streets of our once-familiar city, one question burned in my mind: In this case, it was only a war between man and machine; so, what part did I play? For with each second, the difference between the two was fading away, and blending into one.