Planet Ignis | Ch. 7

...end of my life nears, the truth that speaks the most to me is the seventh: ‘Once the fire is out, what is forged remains.’

It is no accident that this is the truth most recited in terminations. These words will be in my heart as I die. I think that out of all the truths, this is the one that strengthens motivation the most. I feel, however, that we can make this truth more relatable if we slightly change the wording. I propose the seventh truth to be henceforth ‘Once my fire is out, what I forged remains.’ Putting it in the first person should make it even more meaningful. Additionally, I would suggest changing this truth from seventh to ninth place because of the following reasons...

From “A Proposal for the Review of the Nine Truths” by Trother, the Wise

The class would be starting by now. Nevertheless, Trother needed to be here to see this. He had sent one of his batteries to tell the children the rules for the chess games today. It had been just a few weeks since he had enjoyed Sylar and Sywel’s company. They had chosen to terminate together, as couples often did.

When asked where they wanted to terminate, Sywel had told Sylar that she wanted to give her last flames to the Hearth. Their twins were in the Nexus, and she felt that this way, she could feel closest to them in her final moments. Sylar had agreed.

Both stood holding the bars that transmitted the electricity and heat from their bodies into the batteries of the Hearth of the tribe. In front of them stood Trother. Sylar had asked Trother to perform their termination rites.

“Sylar, the giant! Sywel, the gentle! We of the Fahrenheit salute you.”

“A flame spread is never dead,” chanted the couple. Trother focused his attention on the two of them but made sure that those to the side, watching over the ceremony, could hear him.

“This is your last step in a life of service. As others have been burnt and spent, so have you for the ones to follow. Truth!”

“I burn my warmth for the greater heat!”

“Sywel, speak your truth.”

“Once my fire is out, what I forged remains.”

“What have you forged, Sywel, the gentle?”

“My children. My love. My tribe.” Sywel said, smiling.

Trother nodded. He was fighting the tears that tried to break out of his eyes.

‘Sylar, speak your truth.”

“Fiercer the fire of love in my heart, then in my fist.”

Unusual. Most people chose to recite the ninth truth in their termination.

“What have you loved, Sylar, the giant?”

“My wife. My children. My friends. My tribe.” He nodded to Trother and added, “My teacher.” Trother couldn’t stop a tear from rolling down his face. He had taught both these children. He had seen them falling in love. He had now to see them die.

“May you forge and love once more. We thank you for your flames.”

Trother bowed, as did all others in attendance. Trother then took his place with the others to watch the termination of their friends and brothers.

*

Elsewhere on the planet, deep underground, a council meeting in the Hollows had ended sometime earlier. The throne room had been vacated, leaving the usual two permanent residents behind. One was the king of the Hollows, who had just fallen asleep inside the metal-insulator globe. Connected to the globe by a multitude of wires was a drone. It looked like a serpent. This was the exploration drone that served as the mainframe of this settlement, the Mendeleev drone. The blue king snored while Mendeleev blinked its lights away, coordinating the delicate balance that allowed the colony to stay afloat. It would have been just another peaceful evening if it were not for the third occupant.

Stepping out from the shadows, a heavy figure made it undetected to the throne. Its cloaking systems shielded it from being noticed by Mendeleev. A human would have had a better chance at seeing it, but the poor lighting and the large shadows helped it pass the watchful mutated eyes of the humans inhabiting this place. The figure stopped close to the throne and pierced the blue king’s heart in one decisive swift movement before he could even react or move. The king of the Hollows only had time to open his eyes before his figure began solidifying.

Now that the greatest threat to him had been neutralized, nothing in this place could harm it. To save time, he turned off its cloaking device. With all stealth systems disabled, the Raptor waited for Mendeleev to detect it. The lights in the snake drone started to blink in erratic red and orange flashes furiously. It had picked up the death of the guardian of the tribe and was sending an alarm to everyone in the Hollows.

The Raptor waited to ensure the alarm had resounded for long enough. As soon as it was sure that it did, it drew closer to the drone, opened the doors of its chest, and drew out a cable plugging it into the snake drone. It was two AI cores against one this time, and the Raptor drones had hacking protocols designed to break the defenses of other computers to shreds. It didn’t take more than a few seconds to isolate the drone from the Nexus system keeping the children alive in the Womb and disabling its self-destruct programming. The Raptor had a use for all the juicy computing power this drone had.

It also cut the communication protocols but left the alarm system on. He wanted the humans to know that the children were in danger.

Satisfied with the success of its infiltration and sure of its full control of the battlefield, the Raptor took its stand by the throne room door. They would be here anytime now. After half a minute, a group of humans had already arrived.

“Identify yourself! Who are you? What did you do to our king?” screamed one of them.

The raptor lay silent.

“There are children in there. Babies. You’ve disabled their systems. You must let us get to them; otherwise, they won’t survive long.”

The raptor didn’t move.

“They’re just children! Get out of the way!”

They rushed ahead and tried to break through. They wanted to make it Mendeleev. Rebooting its system was the only hope they had to reactivate the incubators. Without it, they had, at best, a few minutes to live. The Raptor activated its force shields and assumed a battle stance, signaling its intent to stay its ground.

They clashed. These humans fought furiously. First, they tried to push through with their enhanced muscles but couldn’t overpower it. They then switched to shooting energy beams and flames, but the Raptor easily dispersed most of the energy before it harmed it.

“Get out of the way, you monster! They’re just babies. Let us save them.” The Raptor kept holding its ground and keeping them away from the snake drone. A distance away from the ongoing battle, more and more humans kept arriving, forming a crowd. Women cried desperately, urging the fighters to get to the drone and save their children. Hopeless fathers tried to comfort their wives and cried out screams of anger at the monster.

The enemy’s leader backed away, and the troops did the same. The Raptor could perfectly hear them discuss their strategy.

“It’s too strong. I can’t pierce those damn shields. Did anyone score a hit?” The other humans remained silent. “I guess that there’s no other choice then. We have to give it our all,” turning to the crowds of wailing parents and other tribesmen, the leader called them out. “Mendeleevs! Our king is dead, and soon our children will be too. We are not getting through. We’ll try something out and ask those willing to volunteer to step forward. We’re going to speak our truth.”

Fifty men decisively stepped forward.

“Don’t hold anything back,” encouraged the captain of the Golden Guard. Her body grew hotter, and the flames in her hand became increasingly bright. All other yellows and the fifty oranges who had stepped forward did the same.

Here it comes, computed the Raptor. It activated its shields to full power in anticipation of what was coming. The tunnels were set ablaze. A fire of yellow and orange hues and hints of white and blue created a river of flames rushing toward the drone. As the shields deflected the energy blast, the Raptor checked its nuclear reactor and saw the energy levels of his reserves come down by a fraction. It would take hours of such a level of attack to cause it any damage. The emission started to falter, but soon it spiked again.

As attackers were spent and turned into metal statues, others took their places, pouring out their lives in exchange for more energy for the attack. The attack became fiercer and more desperate as time went by. Then it started to decrease steadily, and then there was silence. All that was left of the battle were dozens of half-melted statues, an enlarged tunnel dripping melted metal, and the Raptor standing unscathed in the middle.

The Raptor turned on its engines and ran the entire tunnels looking for stragglers. He finished off the ones he found and determined the perimeter to be finally secured. It returned to the throne room and neared the Mendeleev drone again. It was time to become whole. It plugged the cable and started to devour the AI.

Ch. 8