Story PROJECT GL-014: BOOM REBOOTED

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction' started by Alkanthe, Aug 26, 2015.

  1. Alkanthe

    Alkanthe Supernova

    I never have known how to write stories, but here, let me take one more crack at this: starting over right after the prologue.


    I onlined to the sounds of plasma bolt fire. Immediately I tried to leap out of my bunk and pull on my uniform, but when I tried to stand, my legs failed, dumping me to the dirt floor. This shocked me genuinely awake, and I raised myself up by my arms to discover that I was not at base on a colony world.

    Nor was I in the facility that had been my base for innumerable cycles.

    I was in an old, musty shed, stacked floor to ceiling with spare parts for automatons, rifles, and everything in between.

    Pushing my questions aside, I searched the shelves for an acceptable weapon. There was a functional-looking sidearm in sight, and I grabbed it. There were no uniforms, so I hastily pulled on the plain clothing I’d worn in the facility, which someone had sensibly left behind. I ripped it in my haste, and then was thankful there hadn’t been any uniforms. Fully dressed, I took a breath to steel myself, and then hurried for the door.

    Outside was a forest, and the shed, I realized, was camouflaged. It hadn’t had any windows. Flashes of metal shone through the trees at intervals, but not close enough for me to tell if they were Miniknog or otherwise. The shooting had stopped, but I still smelled the acrid scent of plasma and burnt leaves. I waited, not daring to respirate for fear I would be heard.

    I heard boots crunching on sticks and wet leaves, and saw then the uniforms of Miniknog soldiers. I’d never been captured before, and so it took me more than a second to realize what I should do - but then I stepped outside calmly, set down the sidearm I’d been clutching, and raised my hands.

    A soldier turned, gun raised, having seen me in his peripheral vision. He eyed me slowly, and I looked down at myself, realizing I no longer looked like an Apex. Whatever I was... was I one, anymore?

    And he fired.

    I had never even considered wishing to be dead before, but part of me wished that he had killed me there. That I hadn’t woken up again, two holes burned through my thin clothing into my chest plating, rejected by the Miniknog and left completely alone. That I hadn’t had the strength to force myself to get up again and see the shed completely collapsed in. There had been other buildings too. I couldn’t bring myself to investigate what they’d been. I only registered that my people had found me - and proceeded to shoot me right in the figurative heart.

    I didn’t even realize I was retracing the steps of the soldiers until I was already fully in the undergrowth. The Miniknog were never known for their subtlety in warfare. Of course, there were subliminal tactics and psychological attacks and infiltration, but most of us - most of them - were foot soldiers. Most of them didn’t even bother trying to cover up their tracks. And especially since Apex bodies were never designed for delicate operations, their soldiers’ tracks were very easy to follow. So, it was only a short time before I found their ship, set down in a somewhat overgrown clearing which had likely been used for such purposes before.

    Long before.

    I had to push down my thoughts of the facility again before I could continue.

    A soldier stood guard over the closest entrance to the ship. I couldn't tell whether he was the one who had shot me before or not, and it didn't much matter anyway. They would all react the same. He stood alert, from cycles of training I knew I had taken too. Training I knew - so if I made a move, I thought, I could predict what he'd do.

    Stupidly, impulsively, I picked up a rock and threw it in his direction. He immediately shouldered his gun and fired back, but I'd already hit the ground. I crawled on my elbows and knees away from the spot I'd landed, gritting my jaw and trying not to wince at the pain in my metal joints. I'd be caught for sure. I knew two other soldiers would join him, and begin searching the perimeter, starting from my starting point and moving off in opposite directions. I knew one soldier would come the same way as me, and soon catch up to me. I knew that whatever I did, I wouldn't be fast enough.

    But I didn't need to be.

    I heard a growl, not far off to my right, and immediately curled into a ball in hopes of protecting myself. But the creature, whatever it was, ignored me completely. I realized it could probably smell the Miniknog. I wanted to warn them - but before I could formulate a sentence the creature had pounced, leaping into the open field to catch the soldier that had come my way. I caught a glimpse of golden fur and what looked like gleaming bat wings.

    My hands and legs were shaking as I got to my feet once more. So much had happened - so much was happening - I felt like crying, if my metal form could even cry. But I kept my optics fixed on the door to the ship, and after what was either an eternity or no time at all, I'd made it to the entrance. I glanced back at the Miniknog one last time, to make sure they hadn't seen me, and then punched the “open” key and ducked inside.

    It was a small ship, built to hold only six or eight soldiers, though I remembered that sometimes we stretched that number to ten. The layout was the same as ever, a simple, straightforward plan. I could go anywhere I wanted. But where? Thinking of how the soldiers had fired on me and I'd fired back, I decided on the holding cells. Those would be manned by a guard as well, but I'd simply explain the matter, and he would let me in, I imagined.

    I hadn't expected the guard to have a companion. That, I realized, was because the holding cells were nearly all full. Not wanting to let that deter me, I stepped out into the corridor anyway, raising my hands. “Sir-rrrrrrrrrr--”

    “How the hell?” was the guard’s only response, as he shouldered his rifle and aimed at me again. “Thought I'd killed the bastard...”

    “Do- Don't kill me!” I quickly cut in. “My designation is GL-014, special... ex- experiment from Facility uh...” I didn't remember the name. If I'd ever known.

    The guard paused, thinking, then shrugged. “Contact the bridge,” he told his companion. “Tell them GL-014 is still functional... and that it made its way right to us.”

    And then he grabbed my wrist and dragged me rather roughly into the last open cell.
     
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  2. Alkanthe

    Alkanthe Supernova

    Do let me know if you have any comments or criticisms, it's been so long since I've written anything longer than a couple hundred words...

    Now that I was finally somewhere quiet, I found myself shaking again, my metal joints clicking. It had been a long time since I'd been in such a tense situation. A long time. How long? I wondered. Was I old now? I couldn't tell, but I felt old.

    Presently I heard a whisper from the adjoining cell. “Hey, you okay?” I recalled seeing Apex in the cells along the wall - rebels, I realized. Were they the ones who'd found me, or...?

    I grunted and scooted over closer, even though I could hear well enough from where I was. “Did you recover me from the... the facility.”

    “Mhm-- yeah. You functional?”

    I lifted an arm to check, then realized that - of course, I had to be. I'd made it all the way here by myself. Past several Miniknog, actually, which didn't make sense for one soldier. We were all supposed to be equal. And yet I'd gotten past them, without even a proper weapon. I was dangerous, I realized. Powerful and dangerous. And now, I was very glad I was in a holding cell. “More than. I... I got past the soldiers outside by myself... without a weapon.”

    A small chorus of muffled curses from behind the divider. The Apex rebel wasn't alone. I should have known. “Damn...” I assumed this was the same one who had been talking to me, but I wasn't sure. “But... why'd you turn yourself in then? You could've gotten to the bridge, and...”

    I could've gotten to the bridge and hijacked a Miniknog ship. I laughed nervously, maybe a little bit louder than I should have. “That... is exactly why.”

    One of the guards rapped forcefully on the wall outside the cells. “Quiet in there!” I quickly scrambled away from the cell divider. Just in time, as the guard marched in, inspecting the cells with careful efficiency. He paused at my cell, and looked a bit longer. I knew it was an invitation to tell him the rebels had been whispering things to me, trying to convince me to join them - but I didn't. Perhaps I felt some kind of twisted kindred with the people who had captured me, though I didn't even know them. Maybe I was just curious as to what they really wanted with me. In any case, there was no Miniknog-approved excuse for why I stayed silent.

    The rebel didn't speak to me any more, and soon enough the guard came to take me out of the holding cell. He secured my hands behind my back this time, before leading me out to the hallway. I glanced over to the other cells as he did. To my surprise, one of the rebels was tiny, practically a child, and two were not even Apex. They all looked so young. Too young. They would have to be retrained and reintroduced to society, I thought, they couldn't know any better. And then the tiniest one tilted her head and grinned at me.

    Right.

    Rather distracted by thinking about the rebels, I let the cell guard hand me off to another soldier, who hurried me down the corridors - I didn't know which way, I wasn't paying attention - to a meeting room. Seated at the head of the table was a scientist, obvious from her coat and glasses, with her golden hair tied back smoothly in a bushy ponytail. She gestured to the opposite end of the table, and the soldier sat me down in the seat there.

    The scientist cleared her throat, cracking her knuckles. “Experiment GL-014. So you survived.” What was a scientist doing on this ship? I wondered. Did she come to retrieve something from the facility? “Your test run has been an unprecedented success, though it was sadly ten cycles later than planned.” She looked into my optics, and suddenly I remembered her eyes were blue. “We thought you were dead.”

    “I- you-- you're-- Citizen--” Try as I might, I couldn't remember her name. But I knew I'd known her, and I should've known her name...

    “That’s Doctor, Deuxe Costan to you.”

    “Con- congratulations.” I offered my best approximation of a smile. The name didn’t sound familiar at all - I would’ve thought perhaps I’d mistaken her, but the way she looked at me - no, I knew I was right. “You changed your name?”

    She scowled. “No - the cycles have not been kind to you, I’m afraid. What do you remember of me?”

    Ten cycles later than planned. I didn’t remember the age I’d been... when I’d known her, but ten cycles was a long time. I swallowed mechanically. I remembered being with her, working together with her, though I didn’t remember why. Scraping the back of my mind for any clues, I looked her over, and over, until...

    “It’s all right. You don’t have to remember.” She started to get up from the table.

    “W- wait!” I raised a hand, immediately regretting my outburst and taking it back down so fast I smacked it on the edge of the table. But Deuxe only gave me a look. She knew I knew better, that it had only been too long since I’d been in civilized company. So, grateful for her leniency, I continued to speak.

    “I remember you. Deuxe - Dr. Costan - you were my partner. My mate.”

    “That’s correct.” She nodded, her expression unchanging. “But when you volunteered for the experiment, who was I to stand in the way of progress? Our union ended when you became Experiment GL-014. For now, you see, you aren’t the same Apex who was my partner. In fact, you aren’t an Apex at all.”

    I shivered involuntarily. Though I’d known I was no longer really one of the Apex, hearing it from someone else, especially one who spoke with such authority, still hit me hard. What would I do now? I wondered. Would I be simply decommissioned? Or was there still a place for... whatever I was?

    “You should be decommissioned,” Deuxe continued without emotion. “Your experiment was terminated ten cycles ago. Yet... you’re still functional, so... I think we might still use you. You’d be proud to serve Big Ape again, wouldn’t you?” She turned to look at me pointedly, and I nodded. Of course I would. She grinned, baring her teeth. “Then let’s run some tests on you and see what we can do.”
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2018
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  3. Alkanthe

    Alkanthe Supernova

    I do appreciate the readers I have on here, but I'm going to host this on Ao3 once I get my invite, which should be in just a couple days. Thanks to bubblewonderabyss from Tumblr for being my encouragement to finish this chapter!

    I passed the tests with very good scores. My only shortfalls were in obedience, and a few other things I ought to have memorized, but that must have slipped my mind. I wasn’t terribly deficient anywhere, though, and actually well outperformed the average in hearing and strength. Even my agility was passable, though my training had been neglected for nearly ten cycles. I was no longer Apex - I was better.

    Deuxe smiled at me, a hand on my shoulder plating as we walked down the hall together. “I will note this as an incredible success. Your resiliency is amazing - I wonder why we haven’t ventured into experiments such as these more. And you only the fourteenth attempt...” She sighed, gazing off into the distance, most likely brainstorming ideas and ways to use the results of my experiment. Then, abruptly, she turned back to face me. “The dirty rebels blew up your records. And stole you. One would think... but more likely they just took whatever was shiny and destroyed the rest. Idiots.”

    I kept looking ahead. Deuxe would often pace the halls like this, with me, I remembered. It helped her to think. But I was also thinking. “What about-- Dr. Costan?”

    “Yes?” She tilted her head.

    “What about... the other experiments? What happened to them?”

    Deuxe snapped her fingers. “Damn! You’re right. It’s interesting that you’re the only one who survived... unless... how good are you at lying?”

    “L- lying?” My optic sensors widened. Lying was taboo. More than that, it was... it was betrayal of every principle I knew.

    “Yes!” Deuxe bobbed her head, her ponytail flying. “Interrogating the rebels in the traditional way is so inefficient - it would be much quicker if we could convince them that we’re on their side and learn what they know about the facility... and... and everything! Except-- I hear they seemed sympathetic to you. You’d be more able to convince them than any of us. So... are you in?”

    I swallowed. “Of course.” I knew better than to disobey an authority, and I knew questions like that were asked for me to answer yes to. Following orders was the best and only way, and I was living proof of that.

    Even though I didn’t know how the hell to lie.

    Deuxe helped me craft a story - she said it was easy. I’d been captured by the Miniknog, and put through experiments that had scared me, and all I really wanted was someone to comfort me, and offer another way out. I was scared, and lonely after finding my mate and realizing she no longer was, and I just wanted to belong somewhere.

    I smiled and told Deuxe that I wasn’t scared or lonely at all. She grinned back and replied, “I can fix that if you have trouble pretending.”

    I couldn’t imagine pretending to feel something I didn’t feel. My brows furrowed. “I might need help.”

    Deuxe’s grin widened, and I thought it didn’t seem so friendly anymore. “You're not getting any help. Idiot. You're on your own. You're so useless you might as well join the rebels, they're just as helpless and stupid and broken as you.”

    At first my mouth opened wide and I thought, Didn't my test scores say I was useful? Then I thought she must be lying, but that was wrong, and she was grinning so brightly almost as if she enjoyed it. I stuttered a bit, then hid my face in my hands - was this what she really thought of me? Was the story so easy to construct because she saw it was true? I pressed my face into my hands, refusing to break down.

    Deuxe grabbed my wrists and pulled them away. “Look at you. What happened to the stoic soldier I used to know? Who was my mate?” She leaned uncomfortably close to me, her eyes thin. “You're nothing but a useless pile of scrap.” Then she laughed, and started marching toward the back of the ship, pulling me with her. This wasn't protocol at all. She hadn't asked anyone or gotten permission to use me like this - I was important, a unique specimen. But it was her ship, and she'd been put in charge for a reason - was she right? What was she doing? I didn't know.

    Deuxe took me down to the holding cells again. I wasn't really paying attention to anything around me, but I'd figured she would take me there. That was where a useless pile of scrap belonged, anyway, if not the incinerator. She pushed me into the same cell I'd been put in before, and activated the containment field. I walked to the back of the cell and curled up. Trying to figure Deuxe out was hard, and I was tired. I offlined my optics and tried to rest.

    It didn't last long. I heard whispering again, from the rebel who had talked to me before. The child. “Hey, are you okay? What happened?”

    I gave a robotic sigh. “No. I...” What had Deuxe said about me? “I was captured by the Miniknog, and the... experiments they put me through scared me, and I just want a way out.”

    Silence.

    “My... mate... I found my mate and she wasn't my mate anymore. ...I'm not an Apex anymore. My test scores said I'm better but... she thinks I'm worse.”

    I swallowed. Still no response.

    “Do-- do you believe me?”

    There was a hiss from beyond the wall, and a flurry of whispers. “Why the fuck...?” “What is he saying?” “Sshhh, let me talk!” Finally, the Apex I'd heard before cleared her throat and everyone else quieted. “Hey... mister, are you lying to me?”

    How could I respond to that? Obviously I was lying, for part of it, but the rest... “I...” I thought it was true. But I couldn't bring myself to say that. “I...”

    “Please tell me the truth. What you really think. What really happened.”

    Trying to stall, I clasped my hands together. “I'm... confused. I don't know what is the truth.” Which was also not a lie.

    “I know.” Her voice sounded older than she was now, and wiser. “It's hard to know what the truth is. I'm still figuring that out myself. But... did someone tell you to say this?”

    I had to make a decision now. Why couldn't I tell them about Deuxe? What was I afraid of? I was afraid that they'd take the ship and... kill her, and even me. Would they really be able to do that, though, with just a name?

    But on the other hand, what about Deuxe? I still cared about her, still wanted to be accepted by her and the Miniknog. Would she think me a traitor? Would she call me stupid? Would I be decommissioned?

    Finally, I sighed and unclasped my hands. “Yes. My- my mate. Dr. Costan.”
     
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  4. Alkanthe

    Alkanthe Supernova

    Well, it's been a while! I already forgot my password for Ao3... so here's another chapter.

    Ending isn't very good, but the next part should make up for that.

    “Dr. Costan.” The Apex rebel sounded like she felt the same as me toward Deuxe. Angry. Betrayed. “I was afraid she would do this.”

    “You knew...?” How could she have known Deuxe would try to make me lie to her?

    Another, deeper voice cut in. “People with less life experience are generally more susceptible to manipulation. You were a soldier before... yes?”

    “Yes,” I admitted. Some of the words he was using I didn't understand then, but that I knew.

    “Soldiers are trained to follow orders without question. Even if those orders are wrong, even if the commands are insane, because you must obey the Miniknog. Is it right to follow an order that you know will not succeed?”

    I swallowed mechanically. This rebel was smart, and persuasive, but I could not let him confuse me. “Yes.”

    “Is it efficient, then?” He kept pushing.

    “...No.”

    “Is not efficiency something to strive for?”

    “But if I don't obey, the... the efficiency gain is lost!” I protested. “People stop following orders, and it devolves into chaos.”

    “Not if they’re shown a better way.”

    “How can we be shown a better way when there is none?” I retorted almost without thinking, the pattern ingrained in my processor.

    The rebel sighed audibly. “True. When you’ve never seen a better way, how can you think there might be one? ...Look...” He trailed off, at a loss for how to proceed.

    “Any attempt to cloud our minds by showing us anti-Apex propaganda is strictly prohibited.”

    Another sigh. “And what is anti-Apex propaganda defined as? Isn’t it basically anything other races say or do?

    I had to think for a moment at that one. Well, I certainly would never have thought of it that way, but... “It... well... they’re all failing! Look at the Hylotl, the Florans...”

    “What about you?” the young rebel cut in. “You’re not an Apex anymore, right? Why do you have to follow their laws?”

    “I...” I reeled for a moment. That was something I’d never thought of before. But... “But the Apex way is still the best, and if I’m needed to follow that way, then I want to.”

    There was a cough from what I sensed to be the back corner of the other cell, and a new, relatively weaker voice spoke up. “So... that all makes enough sense to me, I guess. But mister... what’s your name?”

    “Experiment GL-014,” I answered promptly.

    “That’s a number, not a name...” they mused. “GL... how about Gil?” They continued before I could respond. “So Gil, I get what you’re saying, but I don’t get one thing. If you were sent here to trick us into accepting you as one of us... why’re you arguing with us now? Seems to me it’d be much easier just to give in after a little bit. No, what I think is that you... you have some questions yourself. That you don’t really want to do what this Dr. Costan says. And that’s why you’re really arguing, to find out if us rebels... really do make sense.”

    “You really shouldn’t talk so much,” a quieter, breathier voice admonished - not me, but the other speaker. That one was definitely alien.

    I shook my head, though I knew they couldn’t see me. “It’s alright.” If Deuxe truly did want me to lie to them, then she would surely have instructed the guards to ignore any talking... but then, was I sure she hadn’t been lying to me? Hell, I didn’t even remember if she had actually been my mate. If anything she said was real...

    But that was rebel thinking. I ran my hand through my nonexistent hair, scraping over my plating. I had to stop questioning and make up my mind. I knew I ought to do what Deuxe said, as she was my superior officer, but her order didn’t make sense. I was physically incapable of carrying it out.

    I guessed I might as well just rust in jail. She had said I was useless, and... well, here was the proof.

    And then the young rebel said something I realized I’d never heard anyone say before.

    “Gil... are you okay?”

    “Gil?” she asked again when I didn’t answer. (I didn’t know how to answer. How does one answer this sort of question, anyway?) “You in there?”

    I nodded. “Yes. I... am okay.”

    “You’re quiet.”

    As if that wasn’t obvious. She just wanted to talk to me. Why did she want to talk to me? “I have nothing to say.”

    She sighed. “I don’t believe that. Not after... what d’you think of what Kari said? About the questions, I mean. Do you have questions? About what Dr. Costan told you?”

    Well, it couldn’t hurt anything just to talk. And maybe, somehow, talking could piece things back into place. “I haven’t really known what my purpose was for cycles,” I mused, thinking out loud again. “Since I was... abandoned... and maybe longer.” It would take time to reintegrate... and I really should be reconditioned, anyway, before being thrust back into action. That was my problem. Ten cycles out of action, no wonder I was like this.

    I was baring my soul to a rebel I barely knew, because she’d asked one simple question I couldn’t answer. I barked a dry approximation of a laugh, and realized she was laughing too. “Yeah... it happens. You’ve been through a lot, Gil. Maybe you should just rest. We have time - pretty much all the time in the world.”

    And, really, we did.
     
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  5. Alkanthe

    Alkanthe Supernova

    Surprise!


    I slowly learned the names and stories of the rebels. Natalia, or Nat, was the young one. She was only sixteen. Apparently her parents had been executed by the Miniknog (no wonder she'd grown up to follow in their footsteps!) and she’d fled their control with the help of the deeper-voiced rebel - Jeremiah, or Miah. Kari was the oldest, and not even Apex, but a Human. I had to ask if they were male or female - the others kept referring to them as they - but the only answer I got was that they weren't either. I decided that it must be a Human thing. The last rebel was called Savage, and he was of a species I'd never heard of before. He was a Novakid.

    According to Miah, they had been searching for supplies in what they'd thought was an abandoned Miniknog research facility. Instead, it turned out, they'd found me, and brought me back up to the surface - to their camp, which was where I'd awoken. “Why?” I had to ask.

    “We couldn't just leave you there,” Nat answered, in that simple, emotional tone that always, defying logic or reason, moved me.

    “But I am Miniknog,” I said, “your enemy.”

    “If you are Miniknog, why are you in a cell block with rebels like us?”

    I sighed in exasperation, letting my head fall back against the wall with a dull metal clank. We had had this conversation so many times, and it always progressed the same way. Why are you with us? Because I was told to infiltrate you. But you aren't doing that. And that, I really had no answer to. I was beginning to think that I might indeed be one of them. Was this how it happened? The Miniknog simply declared you useless, and then you were no longer one of them? An outsider, an outcast, for no reason at all? I resolved to ask Dr. Costan whenever she returned. If she had really meant that I was worthless to the Miniknog.

    Whenever she returned.

    I kept mulling over what she had said, before she left me in the cell. She'd told me to ask about the facility, what the rebels knew about me and the... other GL experiments. So I did. They said they hadn't made it through the entire facility, nor could they gain access to the records (I found that odd, because shouldn't Dr. Costan have been able to, if they couldn't?), but I had been the only sentient they'd found. Nat went conspicuously silent, and Miah continued to explain: they'd seen what we now knew were other GLs, but none were alive. They were long dead - warped, rusted, cobwebbed messes of mixed fur and metal. Miah had thought I was dead, too, but Nat’s keen eye had told her I was different, so she had been the reason I'd been recovered, in the end.

    The way they talked about the facility, in past tense, made me suspicious. “Did something happen to the facility?” I had to ask, eventually.

    “We destroyed it,” Miah said shortly. “We couldn't allow anything like that to happen to any more Apex.”

    I looked down at my metallic hands and began to despise them. “Then I am the only GL left?”

    “I think so,” said Miah.

    Through all this, I was never able to see the faces of the rebels. I only knew them from the brief glances I'd stolen when I'd been led into and out of the cells. But I began to wonder - to actually let myself wonder! - who these people were that I was talking to. So I asked them.

    Nat had grey skin and very pale blonde hair. It was cut short, like a boy’s, I thought. She told me she wore a brightly colored jacket. “Green with red stripes,” she said, proud in her defiance of the steel blues and greys and whites of the Miniknog. “Except the red is more... in between red and pink. Don't know what to call it!” she admitted with a chuckle.

    Miah had dark brown skin and hair that was shaved so close to his head it was hardly visible at all. He told me he was the tallest of the group, and the most imposing. He’d lost a leg, he said, in his and Nat’s escape.

    Kari had brown skin too, but not as dark as Miah’s. They had long hair, tied back in braids they called dreadlocks. They said they were small compared to the others, but Nat was the smallest.

    Savage was the hardest to comprehend. He said his skin - or shell - glowed with an orange light. He had no facial features, but instead a brand made of metal, shaped like an upside-down V. But not to worry, he said, other than that, his shape was the same as mine. A head, trunk, two arms and two legs. He could easily wear even Apex clothes, he said, before Nat snorted. “No Apex is as thin as you!”

    Since they had all described themselves to me, I decided it would only be fair that I did the same. I write this down here, too, perhaps more carefully than I might have told them, so that you may know exactly what I am. For I am not quite Apex, but neither am I anything else. I am Gil - I am GL-014.

    My head is metal, made of flat planes bent together to give an approximation of a round, Apex head. The metal covering most of my body, including my head, is Miniknog white. My eyes - optics now - are a pure white, glowing slightly in the dark, set back into a dark, rectangular box allowing them to move around slightly. There is a slight protrusion under that box, meant to resemble a nose. My mouth is small and much less mobile than my eyes - it doesn't need to be. Behind the sliding section of my jaw is a simple voicebox.

    My neck and joints - elbows, knees - are breaks in the smooth plating, ribbed tubular joints so they can move. The tubes are a dark grey, also Miniknog standard. My chestplate is one large piece of metal, with two small bullet holes still remaining from when I was shot. My lower torso is flexible like my other joints, and almost completely unprotected. I must simply assume nothing vital is contained there. While my hands are almost as dextrous as an Apex’s, my feet are not. They are simple wedges meant only to support my weight, almost completely inflexible.

    There is more that I have discovered, but it approaches the highly technical. For now, I must put a close to this section, the introduction to my story. Tomorrow, I will tell you how I almost escaped the Miniknog.

    - Gil

     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2018
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