Finally, the last part.

Yes, this is the last part of Artificial, the story that has no place here on RPGClassics. But for those of you who might give a shit (and there are many who give many shits, just not about this story), then read on.

Artificial Chapter 5
Fall Asleep

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<p>My warmth has been swallowed by the cold.
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<p>I am being held now, in a small room that lies in an offshoot from the main tent. It is a medical room, and I lay strapped to a table. My captors hold no illusions on whether or not these straps can hold me. Their weapons never leave my head.
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<p>There were shouts, I think, sometime earlier. My hearing is muffled by my thoughts, moving too quickly for me to listen to anything else. I have discovered much about my self in these last few moments, but I don’t believe these discoveries will serve me now.
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<p>Shouts of protest. Only one voice above the rest. I feel strange. I feel stupid, ungainly. I feel betrayed not by those around me but by myself. To think that I would be accepted so easily, to be taken into their culture. This warmth is not for me, cannot be held by things of metal. My thoughts are sour in some way. Bitter. This is new.
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<p>I gladly sink into this cold stupor as it shields me, wraps me in a freezing layer. For once I am glad to delve into the machine part of me, the part which finds no terror in a situation, but only facts. Measurements. Precise and timed, no panic in these processes. My feelings fade. I feel harder somehow, stronger. Detached.
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<p>Sudden bright lights momentarily blind me as they are moved over my face. Dark heads with no faces bend in and out of view, quickly.
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<p>“That’s as tight as it will go. If this thing so much as twitches, light it up.”<br clear=left>

<p>“This is a bad idea. You can’t expect it to lie there and let you screw around with it.”
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<p>“We also have no way of disabling it short of destroying it, we’ve never seen anything like this. Marcus said they already shot it up with EMP. It hasn’t moved in two hours and this is the best chance we’ve got.”
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<p>Yes, the EMP blasts. In fact they had no effect, but I felt showing resistance could result in termination rather than being temporarily disabled.
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<p>“Hold that weapon steady. Okay, remember people, slow and easy. Try not to break this thing.”
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<p>I could tell them what little I know of my inner workings if they care to ask.
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<p>“Starting with right index finger, incision along the y axis.”
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<p>A sharp pain signals from my finger before it slowly dulls into nothing.
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<p>“Mark as some sort of unidentified alloy. Bluish in color. Some sort of ligament structure can be seen. Absolutely no similarities to any previous Terminator models except in basic skeletal formation. This is amazing stuff.”
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<p>Again the pain, this time all along my arm. The man’s next words are lost to me as the pain takes longer to cease, and my focus is diverted. The lights no longer blind me as my eyes have adjusted, but the white mask conceals the identity of my torturer.
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<p>Time blurs as more and more cuts are made on me. I reactivated my epidermal repair program earlier, the charade no longer necessary and I can already feel the skin knitting back to its former state. The feeling is a relief next to the sharp slice of the scapel. I feel slick all over now, and I realize that I am covered in blood. This does not deter the surgeon.
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<p>“Two inch x incision along the clavicle.”
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<p>A sudden ripping pain explodes through me as my skin is peeled off my face.
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<p>“Incredible. Completely realistic skull structure, including muscle formation and even inconsistencies of the cranium. Eyeballs appear to actually be organic.”
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<p>The pain is unbelievable. I wish I possessed the ability to shut down my nervous system on an area basis, but I can do nothing.
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<p>“Working around area of optical lobe now. The skull is one solid piece, no releases to be seen.”
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<p>It is almost a relief now to be skinless on my face, despite the terrible sensation still remaining around the bottom of my neck where the ripped skin still remains, screaming for its missing part. I feel a jolt around the top of my head and it is pushed f010rcefully int0 the table.
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<p>“Whatever this stuff is, I can’t cut it. I’m going through the optical openings.”
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<p>I can no lon0010ger see, but surpris1ngly there is no pain 1010as my eyeballs are plucked from their s0ckets.
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<p>“Jesus Christ. There’s an actual brain in here!”
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<p>D1sc0mfitting-
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<p>“Large cavity, no fluids but some sort of actual brain matter. Inserting a small light and probe-”
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<p>S0me s0rt of proceedure010-
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<p>H10eave1010n kno1010ws not wh10y we w101eep101010010101010110101010101011101101101010101010101010110111010101
<p>1011101001010101011 01010101011011111010101010100101001010100100101010010010101001010010010100100100100100100 101001010100100101010010100101010101010111001010100001101001000100101001010101010100100000111101 001001000110010001001010110001001011010111101001011001010010111110010100100000101010010100101001000101 0010100101010001010100100100010100101001010101010100101010010101- Read error
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sniff That’s so sad… great job, Caleb, especially the thoughts turning into numbers at the end was very effectual.

Awww ;_; poor guy. It’s sad, but nevertheless I’m glad you got around to finishing this, Caleb ^^ It’s a really interesting, cleverly written piece of work.

You know there are some things that bother me, and this is one of them… I can watch any ‘slasher’ horror film and be fine. Something like Robocop (gee dating myself), Terminator, or Aliens with the half/human machine concept bothers me to no end. I have yet to figure it out… But because of that, this seemed completely different to me than others I think, as far as the reaction one gets from the text.

The writing, the wording, all excellent… but is the fact that it creeped me out just as any of the other movies I mentioned. Which is a good thing, because you were able to paint a picture that well… Although, I especially loved the ending with the code was very poignant.

Nice. There should be more enjoyable short stories like this instead of just poorly written cool-saga-adventure that goes on for 74 pages per thread that sometimes involve the RPGC community.

Most of my reviewers at Fanfiction.net are still uncertain whether it’s done or not. I never did any author’s notes for this story.

Originally posted by Cless Alvein
Nice. There should be more enjoyable short stories like this instead of just poorly written cool-saga-adventure that goes on for 74 pages per thread that sometimes involve the RPGC community.

is deeply insulted

Still, this IS a great fic. It’s one of the few times that something’s REALLY creeped me out.

Nah, gallo, I didn’t have any specific story in mind. Yours was actually one of the few I read and kinda liked (a lot of parts were pretty funny and quirky) although I obviously didn’t read all of it, just a post or two. I was being vague and general for the very reason to not offend anyone :stuck_out_tongue:

Following my recent trend of being unable to stop myself, I wrote just a little, tiny bit to top it off. Mostly because you can no longer post author’s notes as chapters themselves on fanfiction.net. So I wrote this so I could do my author’s notes.

Artificial
Epilogue

[i]Sys.dat 124-535-57899

Log uploaded te1.1

Alpha encrypted. Analysis at 12346-356-456

12529848 48 303 8588 340038t 3840860h 59850030 3085u63 003uu4 346536 3235 2146 367843 574h 457836 849439 4367l5949 2352677h 37357378h 462117h 236787 29238 92 3028

29352 203285 20 2395 4563h 2357 3220 847829 4885 291877 4996h 4246 65787h 456743 4321j 4577h 3466 878 9866 98 9 7675 00977 69978h 68769 h970 070 0777 0707 66 55233045-Log repeat

Unit T-E1 memory dump complete. Unit T-E1 Log file complete. Unit T-E1 Triangulation complete. Unit T-E1 Log reads at 43263-45-2366-2477

Unit has been deactivated. Mainframe and backup systems intact. Core field intact. Magnetic holding intact. Exoskeleton intact. Power structure disabled. Epidermis disabled. Pending reactivation.

Command at 12652163-2626-278

Reactivate

Signal dismissed.

100% loss (0\100)

Remote reactivation failed.

Pending reactivation.

Log saved te1.1

Thank you for using Cyberdyne Systems. [/i]