Page 1 of Alliance
Prologue
Huajile, Taixi System
[Roz-02: Er Model, Xun Unit.]
[Serial Number: Sapra-EX-030104 confirmed.]
[Boot up sequence initiated.]
The sound of my progenitor’s voice woke me in a peaceful instant. Neither abrupt nor slow, but merely emerging from the limbo of nonexistence, a finely tuned statue now propelled into action by instruction.
My sight flared as it calibrated, and I blinked once to confirm my unit was receiving visual feedback. My throat contracted and my features spasmed as my communication systems performed their sequential start protocols. Slick pads of cartilage and synthetic oil softened the thud of my joints as millions of parumauxi tested the weight-bearing specifications of each of my bones. My vision jolted as my bodythunkedin a cascade from head to toe—not thepopof fluid compressed around the joints, but a bodily bass that signaled the awakening of hydraulics and clamps and nerve nets and cell filters.
Then heat rushed in a wave down my spine, branching out through every web of nerves in a flash of electricity that overloaded my brain with a unanimous answer to my progenitor’s instruction.
[Boot up sequence successful. All systems check.]
That’s when Time began. Thetick, tick, tickof an atomic clock nestled near the base of my skull, closest to the power supply my unit was connected to via a thick, heavy cable at the back of my neck. Only once thattick, tick, tickhad timed the firing of my heart and breath did I begin to interpret any sensory input.
A wall of infinite static loomed before me. Thousands of images built and built upon each other as each microsec clocked a point of data to thetick, tick, tickof Time, then smoothed out into a ribbon of continuous sight meant to be interpreted consecutively rather than concurrently. Warbles of sound tickling the diaphragms of my inner ears sharpened in focus. Speech—vocal and quantum—filtered in, the clack of a conveyor belt, the whir of robotic assembly arms.
The hum of my body.
The thud of my heart.
Tick, tick, tick.
“Wow,” a voice said. The person speaking stood directly in front of me, their features at exactly zero degrees to the horizon of my sight. Information streaming through my jack suggested it was a woman.[Retrieving identification…]Human.
My unit’s shell was her likeness.
Hello, originator. I–
My face froze on a small, inviting smile, breath hitched to speak.
[Warning: non-essential movement restricted during data insemination and charging.]
I tried to return my expression to a neutral position, but the override insisted I remain still. My originator pointed at my face and spoke over her shoulder. “Ha! Did you see that? It moved!”
A large shadow behind her clicked, glancing with[retrieving hues of the visible light spectrum…]red eyes further down the nursery factory line. “We shouldn’t dally, Ms Turner.”
“Oh come on, how often do you get to see yourself likethis?”
“Never.” Expressive analysis sidled into my mental ribbon of thoughts. The shadow’s flat tone and the rattle of his mouth parts suggested he was frustrated.
My originator leaned in, analysing my unit, her shell. Her eyes, so warm and big, set deep in her face with thick lashes. Her nose, pronounced with round nostrils. Her mouth, the bottom lip a lighter, shinier pink than the top. Her skin, a dusty hue akin to[retrieving reference…]raw jasper. All printed upon my unit’s frame and sewn into the intricate net of biological and cybernetic components that comprised her visage.
I swallowed involuntarily. She brushed her fingers over my shoulders, and they were cold… or wet? I could not sense the difference.
Couldshesense the difference?
Asking the question caused a sharp sensation in my temple and my vision shorted, dashing a nanosecond of data from the mental ribbon ticking to the beat of my atomic clock. When my senses recalibrated, another figure stood beside my originator, and the pain blurred into obscurity, falling off the edge of my allotted Living Memory. LMem prioritized the person beside my originator instead, a figure I was coded to recognize.
Sire. Master.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I see you’ve stumbled upon, ah yes, Roz-02,” He said, His black eyes as big as my fist. Like the shadow, He was too tall for me to see in focus without looking up, so I settled for staring at His chest.
Hello, Master. I–
