The Eternity Fox [MAY2015]

When the first Shatter Machine was invented in 2718, it had a very simple purpose:
immortality.

Its design was relatively straightforward. An object was placed in the machine. Several trillions of blades would then "quantize" the object, that is, slice it on the x axis. A split second later, the blades would move and repeat the operation on the y axis. Then, they would do the same on the z axis.
The resulting "bits" of the object would be linearly analysed by the computer, memorized, and the information transmitted to the nearby 3-d printer. The 3-d printer would print a copy of the object - using durable materials such as metal and polymers. Finally, an exact copy of the original object was created in that fashion - an artificial copy several orders of magnitudes more durable than the original.
A copy that could exist forever.

Although the Astar's Project Escaping God had been successful at delaying death by mixing custom animal DNA into every human's genetic makeup, the project did not really defeat Death on the long term. Critical genetic errors would still occur after several hundreds of years, and Death would slowly creep in from every single cells of the body.

To rectify this "inconveniences" - yes, Death was an "inconvenience" to the Astar elite -, the Astar came with a nightmarish idea: test the Shatter Machine on a human.

I knew I was dying - my three different genetic makeups were conflicting, degenerating my cellular integrity, and dark patches of cancer had already started to spread all over my left arm -, and I didn't want them to pick some random folk; I couldn't bear the thought of them picking some poor guy with a family and a good life. So, I volunteered for the "test".

******

The waiting room was dull, with a window to the grey world outside. I could have walked away from there anytime - but then, the Astar would simply choose some other human. My conscience would not allow it. I gazed outside but the view was not even remarkable.

The operation room's door suddenly opened, and a technician gestured for me to get in. I obeyed. Needless to say, I felt like I was walking to my execution.

I was boiling inside, boiling with rage. All this was the fault of the Astar's laws - the only concern of the Astar was "might makes right", and it encouraged the "disposal" of the "meek" so that only the "physically superior" individuals were left to prosper. And since the Astar elite had a mighty military on its side, it went without saying that anyone below the elite was treated as nuisance at worst, or as tools at best.

The technician locked the steel door behind us. He asked me the standard questions, pen and notebook at the ready:
"So, for the record: your name is April Webschild; your three genetic makeups are Homo Sapiens Sapiens, Rhyacotriton Variegatus , and Vulpes Vulpes; and you average cellular structure is now at 75% total degeneracy. Is this right? "
I hid my burst of anger:
"Yes.Yes, it is. Now can we get this over with? I have a meeting with Death. "
"But you won't die - you neurones will be quantized and their activity will be transmitted to the copy of yourself. "
"Yeah, right. It's all good on paper, eh? But you don't know that for sure, do you? Otherwise you wouldn't need a test subject... "
"The machine is ready", the technician changed the topic.
I made my way to the machine's left bed (which was marked with the word "INPUT") and as my back touched it, I tried to convince myself that I was doing the right thing, but my near-extinct self hard a hard time believing that.
Then the machine was activated.

I was turned into a stream of bits and the information was stored in the computer. Then the original version was disposed of. But when it came the time to print the artificial copy onto the "OUTPUT" bed, an error occurred in the programming. The computer had quantum cores, and a random qubit had entangled with some unrelated process. The computer had already finished printing the artificial copy of myself bits by bits, but the computer had to correct itself, so it ran the programming a second time around just to make sure. And it overwrote the second copy right unto the first one, squeezing hard each doubled bits together so that they take the space of only one bit. Making the entire new body twice as dense as anything the Astar has ever printed.

The worst is... I was not unconscious during the overwrite. Pain reigned supreme all across my mind for an instant that seemed forever, but like a saviour cold darkness eventually invaded everything, like a tide erasing the shore.

******

When I awoke I could only see total darkness. Given my genetic makeup, I could usually see in the dark, but now, for some reasons, I had lost my night-vision ability. Panic started to kick in. I raised my hands and felt my face. My face still had is discreet fox-like traits - those same traits which I always tried so hard to hide. But then, how come I didn't have my vulpine vision ability, anymore? My whole skin also felt kind of numb. Then I realized that I underwent the Shatter Machine's process. I now was but a pale, artificial copy of my former self - a copy made of metal and polymers.
The realization froze my mind with utter horror.
But I didn't have the time to ponder further upon this.
There was a slim rectangle of light right beneath the door. And right at the center of this rectangle there were the shadows of two feet, just standing there. Then, like in a nightmare, the shadow of a head lowered itself, entering the rectangle of light, and emotionlessly stared right at me through the small opening.

Then, whoever it was, it went away. The bar of light was full once again.

I got out of the "OUTPUT" bed and slowly walked my way to the door, crossing the ocean of obscurity. I was halfway there when from the other side I heard a series of stumping, like a march. The bar of light was occulted by about a dozen feet. I bent down to get a better look. They were robot feet.
Someone had sent five robots marching to this door, and I doubted that the purpose of this march was to bring me a coffee.
I ran away from the door but it was too late. I heard five kinetic energy weapons fire simultaneously. The door was instantly riddled with holes, and I felt countless impacts on my back, the mere force sending me on the ground.
The weapons stopped. I was not dead. I cautiously inspected my back - I had suffered no damage. Then the realisation dawned upon me: My body's density was twice anything the Astar has ever printed - including projectiles.

I got back up and turned my head to take a look a the robots blocking the door. I had to get out of here.
"All right", I said. "My turn. "
I distributed a kick to the closemost machine and it toppled unto the ground. I used it as a step to jump in the air and, using gravity at my advantage, gain more velocity energy. My open hand slammed on the second robot as I landed on my feet, with all the force of my jump. The machine flied backward, colliding hard with the one behind it.
Two more to go. I straightened up and inspected my hands. No damage. I heard the fourth robot move. I lifted my head but my red-and-white hair was in front of my eyes, I could see nothing. The robot activated its automatic weapon and I stumbled backwards. I lifted my right hand and shielded myself. The projectiles smashed into my hand but their destructive capabilities were like that of tennis balls to a wall of concrete. I kept shielding myself from the rain of projectiles. The machine did not buldge. Neither did my determination. The weapon ran out of bullets. It hurled the empty weapon at me but I caught it in the air. I smiled. The robot swang at me, but I carefully eluded it. I eventually bumped against the OUTPUT platform. I rolled over it and landed at the other side. The robot crawled upon it. This is when I realized, it was on the OUTPUT platform. I hurried to the INPUT platform and placed the empty weapon there. Finally, I pushed "run". The weapon got 3-d printed right inside the robot on the OUTPUT, causing the robot to fail. Finally, the last robot placed itself between me and the doorknob.
I drove my hand right at the center of the machine, grabbed the doorknob right behind him, turned it, and drew my hand back out. The machine failed and I calmly walked out the operation room.

******

I knew the Astar would get a wind of my escape so when the afternoon came I took a walk amongst the crowd on this fine tuesday.
As I watched the crowd rush by, I couldn't help but feel alien to them. Sure, nowadays humans were only one-third human, the rest was a mixture of newt DNA (for immortality) and some other specie, the latter of which was different in each individuals (for sterility, since no reproduction is possible unless two individuals are of the same specie). All around I could see "humanity" - a cocktail of genetic dissonances, each individuals bearing his/her own deformities with a mixture of sadness and detachment. The legacy of Project Escaping God. But, they were still "human" by general definition; that is, they were organic living beings with the most human genetic material, whereas I was made of inorganic materials.
Meanwhile, the Astar elites were no doubt turning themselves into indestructible copies of their former selves, at this very moment, thanks to the damned success of my own passage through the Shatter Machine.
Suddenly my gloom was interrupted by a short tune resonating all across the street. Sounded like the 3 o'clock news.
A pleasant voice blared:
"Hello - I am Maat; and this is your 3 o'clock news. "
What'd tell you?
"Earlier this week Astar scientists have successfully created an improved version of the Alcubierre drives. Much faster and more lightweight than the old drives, the new drives have been fitted today on all ships of the Astar's military fleet around Alpha Tauri, with the hope that such improved ships will help to terraform further planets, and move people away from overpopulated areas and to new worlds. On a related topic: Given that Earth is the Astrian world which has expressed the greatest continuous opposition to the Astar's motions, the Sun has decided to address the issue. The elite have reached the decision to send four ships to Earth at 6 o'clock so to meet with its people, and discuss about alternatives for this planet's future. "
The tune played one last time to signal the end of the news. The chatter of the crowd cheered at the news.
I couldn't believe it. The Astar wanted to talk with the "insignificant" people of Earth? Something was definitively wrong.

At 6 pm, the four ships were spotted in space by one of the observatories here on Earth. I viewed the picture on my device. It was showing four Astrian warships with the new Alcubierre drives and with heavy planet-scale kinetic weapons.
I realised that 4 was the minimum number of ships required to equally cover the total surface of a target planet, with each ship at the vertices of a tetrahedron attack formation.
I lifted my head and yelled at the crowd:
"Duck! "
The crowd paused, and hundreds of faces simply turned to stare right at me.
"Why? " came the universal question.
"Because", I said, "there are four Astrian warships coming right at us. Now why would the Astarians send ships to 'discuss' with us, when all they have to do is give us a call? "
The hundreds of eyes blinked as the realization dawned upon the minds of all. Finally, they all suddenly ran in every directions for cover, yelling with fear.
I shrugged. At least they were running for cover instead of just standing there like sitting ducks.
Soon enough one of the warship slowly entered the atmosphere, and drew closer to the ground, until it hovered over the city.
"This is the voice of Amon, elite representative of the Astar", boomed a deep voice from the sky.
Everyone went silent. As for me I realized that the ship needed to be in our atmosphere to make itself heard - sound didn't travel in space. Amon continued:
"As promised, we granted you a meeting. This constitutes the start of the discussion: The Sun's decision is to oppose you Earthlings' continued existence, just like you have opposed every motions of the Astar for centuries. Note that the process will be completed in an hour. This concludes our discussion. "
The ship's speakers became silent, and the ship dived back up into the gloomy sky, like a whale into the dark sea.
The crowd suddenly bursted in cries of panic all at once, the cacophony utterly deafening me. If I were to live past this evening, I had to defeat those ships. But in order to do that I needed to get on board one of them.
I turned to an old woman who was walking slower than everyone else and I asked her:
"Do you have a penlight ma'am? "
She nodded and fumbled in her purse. With her wrinkled hands she put it in mine.
"Thanks", I said.
I knew a fair deal of Astrian binary alphabet so I aimed the penlight at the departing ship and signalled:
"Astar elite member still stranded on surface - take me with you"
The ship hesitated, and eventually it got back down to the surface. Its gate opened.
I felt a magnetic pull from the door. Of course, I thought. The elite now had metallic bodies. The magnetic field was there to check and make sure I wasn't just some organic human.
I reached the gate, gathered my courage, and crossed it.
The voice of Amon asked me:
"What is your name? "
I knew Astar elite members were named after Ancient Egyptian deities. I chose some random name:
"My name is Nephthys. I wish to ascend to the sky before the Process starts. "
"Good. You know where to go. "
I worked out that he meant "where to wait as me we destroy the Earth's surface". I cautiously made my way through the maze of mechanical and circuits devices. I reached a door locked from the inside - the navigation room. Where Amon was preparing for the destruction of the surface of my world. I grabbed my penlight and took its filter out. The penlight worked on positron annihilation, and since annihilation would give off gamma rays, a filter was needed to bring the frequency down to visible light. I placed the penlight in front of the door, aiming its gamma beam at some feet above the ground. Then I resumed my search for a way to stop Amon. I eventually ended up in the engine room, which was apparently remote-operated from the navigation room.
"Oops", I whispered to myself. "Wrong room - way off. "
The Alcubierre Drive engine was a complicated masterpiece of technology. I searched for the power source - if I could cut the power, I could cut the feed to the weapons currently aiming at my planet. But the power was hidden well. Though I did find the Alcubierre Drive's timer.
The timer was critical for the correct function of the drive. If ever the spacetime dilation rate in the front of the ship was to differ from that of the ship's aft, even by a fraction of a second, then the ship would tear apart during the operation of the drive; with the front part ending up light-years in front of the aft part, and every atoms in-between getting spread across the distance. The timer made sure this never happened.
To avoid quantum uncertainty fuzzing out the timing, the timer was made of solid, Newtonian gears. Maybe if I threw something in there, I could do some damage. I gazed at my hair. It was indestructible... I gnawed at it. After a minute I finally managed to cut off a lock of my red-and-white hair. I gazed at its colours for a second - these vulpine colours which were now fixed on me forever.
I threw the lock of hair into the gears, my frustration adding strength to my action. The lock landed between two gears, where it resisted being crushed because of its density. The gears jammed. Now Amon was stranded in the Solar System.

I went back to the navigation room and hid. Soon enough, Amon noticed that the timer was off. He opened his door to investigate. The penlight was shining right at him. His vision circuit got scrambled by the powerful rays. He walked groggily out of the room. I slipped in. I closed the door and sat at the controls for navigation.
I grabbed the manoeuvre joysticks and mentally calculated the position of the next Astrian ship. If I was located at the vertice of a tetrahedron, and if tetrahedrons were made of equilateral triangles, then it meant the next ship was at some 30 degrees down. I pivoted the ship accordingly. The enemy warship had already started firing at the surface of the Earth. I could see the gigantic clouds of smoke all over the world below, rolling in the thin atmosphere like twirls of mud in a pool of water. I aimed my trajectory at the ship and fired my thrusters. My enemy never saw it coming. My ship bumped my enemy's large cannons, screwing its aim and the weapons' mounting.
The two other ships noticed the rather non-Astrian move of my ship, so they surrounded me - one in front and one behind me. I was running out of ideas. Behind me, Amon unlocked the door, and entered the navigation room with rage:
"You are trapped, you fox-faced trickster. "
Amon unsheathed his gun. It had antimatter batteries. Antimatter - the one thing even I couldn't survive.
I looked at the controls. Nothing useful to defend myself.
Then I found the Alcubierre Drive's activation switch. I smiled to Amon:
"Actually, the female of the fox is a vixen. And the 'trickster' just trapped her hunter. "
I flicked the switch on, stood up, ran forward, and jumped out of the front window of the ship.

As I fell to Earth I saw the ship's Alcubierre Drive activate, its timer still jammed. The drive accelerated and accelerated. One split second later, the ship turned into a stream of dust, with the front and back ends of it flying into space at several times the speed of light. The thing is, the two ships which were surrounding me were unfortunately in the trajectory of the explosion, and there was no more traces of them.

The Earth was saved. It was ironic that she was the one bringing my end.

******

I landed feet-first into the desert. The velocity was so great that I got stuck into the sand up to the waist. I kept on forgetting I was indestructible.
I wriggled my way out of the ground, and brushed the sand off.
I did have a fairly good look at my landing point during my way down, so at least, I knew where I was. I sent a short, victorious glance at the Sun, and walked in the desert.

I was going home.

No one ever knew who had saved them. Nor did they know that someone was responsible for the survival of the human race. Mankind did not need a hero - although it did needed help once in a while. Most of all, Mankind needed to learn by its own mistakes.
Because, at the end, determination is the true super-power.

a reply to: swanne

A silent, dying martyr who ends up saving the world without thanks or even recognition. You have such a great imagination swanne, I just love your stories. Your writing is so easy to read and the prose just flows! That was wonderful, I'm so glad you found the time.

Stars and flag for you


B x

a reply to: beansidhe

Many thanks for the compliment! Though I doubt this story would have seen the day without your encouraging words - so actually it is I who owes you a thank.

I am glad you found the prose seamless... The prose was my main concern, for English is not my native language...

a reply to: swanne

That is FANTASTIC!

Bloody good effort! S+F!

I enjoyed your Super-Hero story, swanne. Well thought-out and exciting! A unique world and circumstance for the origin of your hero - very creative.

S&F

- AB

a reply to: TrueBrit

Thanks mate! I appreciate!

a reply to: AboveBoard

The story is a tie-in to another short story I wrote here, called "Escaping God".

I really wanted to insist on the corrupted-DNA thing here, because I got a hunch this could happen in a possible future.

In fact... it has already started.

Man-Beast Hybrids On The Way - Human DNA In Cow Egg

a reply to: swanne

Ah - I thought there was a very developed world behind your entry! You've worked with this theme/wold before?

Thanks for sharing the link...(shudder)...that's just wrong...

- AB

My favorite kind of hero, the oh well thanks for nothing, but it needed to be done type.

originally posted by: AboveBoard
You've worked with this theme/wold before?

Indeed. Project Escaping God was about the beginning of the inclusion of animal DNA into human populations - the reason why the character in the OP is one-third fox (scientific name: Vulpes vulpes).

Thanks for sharing the link...(shudder)...that's just wrong...

Talk about GMO...

I love the start. you really hook't me.

originally posted by: buddha
I love the start.

Um... Thanks, but what about the rest??

a reply to: ketsuko

Yeah, typical 00's kind of hero.

I would have like't to know why they wonted to kill him?
the invasion was to much to quick.
you could have made a lot longer story.

sorry I just did not like the way the second part came together.
you seemed to rush it.
Please Keep doing your stories.
and let us read them.

originally posted by: buddha
I would have like't to know why they wonted to kill him?

Well. First of all, April Webschild - the heroine - is a "her"; and secondly she was a guinea pig gone rogue who opposed the Astar.

the invasion was to much to quick.

The invasion was blasting the Earth from orbit... How long can that take?

you could have made a lot longer story.

Maybe... But in my defence, I was on a deadline

sorry I just did not like the way the second part came together.
you seemed to rush it.

Well, I certainly welcome this critique, for it is a constructive feedback.

Meanwhile please accept my sincere apologies for your dissatisfaction... I promise I'll try to do better next time...

I am NO dissatisfaction! it is a good story.
the deadline explains a lot.
I have read a great deal of sci-fi
mostly the old books.
you give a good story!
I just Try'd to give constructive criticism.
sorry I am not much good at it.
please dont be angry or upset by me.

originally posted by: buddha
I am NO dissatisfaction! it is a good story.

Hm. Okay

I have read a great deal of sci-fi

Anything I might have read?

I just Try'd to give constructive criticism.
sorry I am not much good at it.

Actually you are doing fine, it is I who misunderstood you. The feedback was actually very constructive - I will definitely keep that in mind next time I write a piece.

please dont be angry or upset by me.

It takes alot more than that to upset me - I was merely puzzled, nothing more.

BTW I forgot to check - did you write an entry for the contest?