“Deva, got anything?”
-Too little data and no control group, no significant progress has been made. All data and visuals of lip reading and analysis on mouth movements saved.
“Tch, swap with Christia”
-Am I unreliable?
“Just let Christia take over the system”
-Okay
-Good evening, Master Furfu
“I thought I said not to call me by that name”
-Well I thought I should tease you to ease your stress a bit
Christia was the oldest of the three artificial intelligences, they are basically sisters. Also, she is the most ‘humanlike’.
“Knavnos, strange name”
Lifa was unable to stand up, all her energy was drained from the conversation.
‘I don’t know how much of what he said is true. WDA fights for humanity, that’s our purpose. To fight back, to eradicate the Yaju. I also fought, in order to avenge my brother. I made friends. I killed Yaju. I trained. I spent time with my friends. I killed Yaju. I believed that I was avenging my brother with each Yaju I killed. But, the Yaju are nothing but beasts sent to get vessels and train them? For whom? For what? Against what are we up for such a powerful species to need help? He easily took care of our strongest attack. But the best of their warriors were killed? What about this planet? Do our rights not matter? Yes Lifa, you made the right choice. They killed your brother. Don’t regret it’
Tssssh. A huge metal cube landed on the ground, blowing steam. One of the plates slid sideways.
-Valkyrie Lifael Igurdis, you have been summoned by Master Desiderius. Teehee, I guess you're in trouble?
She was afraid, she knew the amount of surveillance there is, energy detectors, wiretaps, cameras on the suits, spy satellites. She also knew that all this could be viewed by Desiderius. Even so, she was just a Valkyrie, as a Valkyrie, orders are absolute. Reluctantly she stepped in the box.
Instantly the opening closed, lights blinking on, and she felt the metal cube rise in the air.
“Is the connection to the sectors back?”
-All up and ready Master!
“Good, get visuals on every Valkyrie, both dead and alive”
Lifa underwent harsh questioning and examinations. It didn’t take long before she realised what exactly she brought upon herself.
Hidden from the public, WDA has many laboratoriums, illegal ones. Many of the Valkyries know of it, but not the exact scale and level of the experiments. Lifa also only joined the organisation recently. But even before that she paid a lot of attention to the news. There were many incidents where orphans vanished in large groups. The media didn’t pay it much attention, there was no one with the luxury to worry about them. Lifa also didn’t take it seriously until she noticed a pattern. Many times when people were reported missing, a few weeks or months later, the WDA announced technological breakthroughs.
At first, she thought it was just a coincidence. Only, when this repeated many times, did she reach a realisation. Esper awakening would never have been safe. Mass murders were done for this technology to be made.
Currently she was just being questioned. But from the overall attitude and questions. She knew they were planning on examining her. A so-called ‘Vessel’.
The moment the Yaju approached her and let her live was already when she was doomed. The moment when she refused to follow, her people would regard her as a different race entirely.
“Christia, report”
-A total of 6 Valkyries were approached by humanoid Yaju. 4 of them vanished with the Yaju. 2 returned. According to the 2 Valkyries, they are from a different dimension which is at war. They seek people with a special physical constitution called ‘Vessel’. Which is said to house the power of ‘Gods’. We are comparing the answers of both Valkyries right now.
“Gods… you say?”
-Yep. I know you don’t like the concepts of Gods but I assume that they are talking about beings that have a special ability of granting enhancements. Beings that are omnipotent do not exist.
“Anything else?”
-We verified their backgrounds. None have powerful backings and we can simply announce they died from the Yaju.
“Good. Prepare my laboratory”
-Yes, Master.
Lifa woke up, blinded by the bright light in front of her. It took a few seconds for her to see where she was. She was on an operation table, with her hands and feet restrained. She looked around, noticing another person a few meters left to her in the same situation. He looked around his mid twenties.
-You’re finally awake.
She jolted at the mechanized female voice.
-Don’t worry, Master will be here soon.
A mechanical arm appeared from one of the many panels on the ceiling, before Lifa even had the chance to speak, the arm injected something and made her faint.
When she woke up again she was in a cage, although ‘cage’ is too luxurious a word for it. It had the stench of blood and rotten skin. Grease hung all over the place, the cage being a little less than a cubic meter. Lifa had to hug her knees and sit in a fetal position, making herself take as little volume as possible so that she doesn’t touch the walls and ceiling. When she tried to call asleep, even the smallest movements caused ear deafening echoes, keeping her awake. Her breathing was amplified tens of times, as the air grew stale. It was a cold, metal box to put simply. Completely isolated. To make it worse, it was completely closed off, there were a few micrometer holes but it was still completely dark, unable to see one bit. This amplified her other senses many times.
It didn’t take long before her sanity was questioned. The damp air, lacking oxygen and causing it harder to breathe, the stench of who knows how many others before her dulling her thoughts, making her unable to focus too long on something else. Above all, the loud echoes were constantly driving her mad. Who knew how much time flew by as this continued.
The next time she regained consciousness, she noticed a wet feeling on her feet. Disgusted she tried to move as far away as possible, which wasn’t far. Soon, she started to feel hungry, incredibly so.
Perhaps weeks had passed. She did not know. She woke up, tried to cope with the hunger and thirst, and passed out from exhaustion. She did know that each time she woke up, the duration she stayed conscious was getting shorter and shorter. Who knows what they were doing while she was unconscious. At times, she woke up finding surgical scars, other times, she felt drugged.
“Haaaaaah, this is tiring me out”
-Anything new Master?
“I can’t find anything on what they mean with CE channels and CE core. Well, mana as they called it. Physical constitution was the same as every normal human, no resemblance to Espers at all. There was no sign of genetic mutations either”
-Knowing you, you have at least some idea with what is going on, correct?
“Hm, I am not sure. Either our machines aren’t advanced enough yet to detect what we are looking for or the so called Gods can conceal themselves abnormally well”
-Your guess?
“A fourth option of course, the CE channels perfectly overlap or are merged with existing blood veins, making them indistinguishable from each other while the CE core exists on a higher dimension”
-Third option?
“Is also a possibility, the ‘vessels’ haven’t developed these things yet, highly unlikely though”
-What will you do with the vessels?
“Do you need to ask?”
-Very well, I’ll make sure they will never be found again
Desiderius nodded in satisfaction.
While the higher ups know of his non public work, they did not forbid it as Desiderius could simply quit the organisation. He also had all the ability to hack the entire WDA network and mess up every piece of data. Desiderius puts efficiency above all, which is the reason for the inhumane treatment, efficient in space, resources and time. If he did not get what he wanted, don’t bother wasting time trying to argue, merely let them know what might happen. Back when he fired the main cannons at the Yaju, he did it to reduce the amount the quickest speed possible, the only reason he saved the Valkyries however, is so they do not lose their combatants which would mean a decrease in efficiency for future liberations.
Lifa woke up, but this time she felt a difference. It was still pitch black but someone was moving the cage. She panicked. From previous instances, they knew when she was awake or not, although she didn’t know how. But now they were still moving her despite knowing she was awake. She knew it could only be one of two things. Be killed or be experimented on while she is conscious. knowing Dr. Desiderius general way of dealing with things, it is the former.
She struggled, with her last remaining strength. Banging on the walls. Trying to push the ceiling off. She did all she could, but nothing changed. She was already lacking energy and water, she had gone as far as trying to eat the grease and grime, drink her own piss, even biting her own arm in desperation. The worst thing was, every once in a while, when they experimented on her, did surgeries etc, they cleaned her body. She had to experience getting covered in filth over and over. She’d rather be dirty continuously. Getting used to being clean while she was unconscious, then having to relive the experience of slowly being covered in the grease.
Powerless, she lay down. She wanted to cry, but her body wasn’t hydrated enough to produce tears.
All of a sudden they stopped. A small crash was heard. Moments later the cage shattered in billions of pieces.
In front of Lifael Igurdus stood a humanoid Yaju.
With her dried lips and mouth she barely managed to say one word.
“Knavnos?”
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