- Wolverfrog
- |
- Fabled Legendary Member
Well, here's Chapter One of Seed of Orion. Maybe not what you expected eh? Haha, enjoy reading it like I enjoyed writing it, and f you read please reply.
Chapter One : Strangers from ONI
Another drizzly day in Manchester, David thought as he climbed out of his car, locking it behind him. He took a step back and admired it with pride. It was an AMG 2510, very rare and known for it's reliability. Made and provided by the company he worked for, AMG Transport Dynamics.
A droplet of water ran down his back, and David swore at the tingling sensation. He turned his gaze from the car and quickly hurried into the building opposite him, holding his black, leather briefcase above his head as a makeshift umbrella.
The revolving doors of the building glided along the carpet as he walked through them, and instantly David was thrown into the warm reception area of his office. He straightened his tie hastily, and strode over to the receptionist, Kiara.
"Good morning Mr. Hendel!" She greeted with a warm smile, cheerful as always.
"Nothing good about it. Have you seen the rain out there?" He replied, brushing some of the water which lingered on the face of the brief case onto the carpet.
"Ah well, you're inside now. Now stop moaning and get up to the board room Dave, Mr. Smith is expecting you."
David grumbled as he walked to the elevator, annoyed that he had been robbed of his chance to do some early morning flirting. At thirty years old, Kiara was only a few years younger than him, and cut a striking and impressive figure. Perhaps one of these day he would ask her out for a Coffee. But for now he was content being single. The ache from his late wife had yet to fade.
The button pressed, the elevator came down instantly. David stepped inside, stretching his arms out behind him. He had a long way to the top, so listened to the news on the radio.
"Another Insurrectionist attack has been launched on Eradinus II." A women began in a crisp English accent. "Whilst the forces there were able to hold off the attack, concerns have been raised about the level of protection the UNSC is exercising in the outer colonies. Witnesses report..."
The radio cut off as the elevator reached the top floor, and before stepping out, David scowled to himself. Damn Innies, they were hampering humanities progress throughout the stars. It almost made him feel like rejoining the Corps. Almost. But David would never forget what the UNSC had done to him.
He'd quit the marines long ago, a short time after his wife had given birth to a son, and promptly died afterwards. He'd experienced the horror of losing a loved one, and simply couldn't bring himself to fight the rebels any more, they each had a family who loved them, cared for them, and grieved for them when the unstoppable forces of the UNSC mercilessly killed them.
Luckily for him, he had a friend who knew someone within AMG, so he wasn't put out onto the streets. He now owned a home on the outskirts of Manchester, away from the busy ports and traffic. The £25,000 annual salary he collected as lead marketing director in Manchester wasn't bad either.
It all came with a heavy price though, especially when he was called to board meeting such as these. He couldn't stand the board members, they were all stuck up snobs. Yet still, he had to put up with it for the sake of his job.
David walked across the Persian carpet lightly, and moved forward in the lobby of the top floor, the show room. He reached a terminal, and a hologram of a young women appeared. An AI.
"Good day Mr. Hendel." The Artificial Intelligence greeted warmly, a digital smile on her face.
David regarded the AI with a wary expression, he knew that everything he said was being monitored.
"Morning Rachel." He replied, taking care to use the name she had chosen for herself.
Rachel was a so called "Smart AI", although in AI terms smart and dumb meant different things. For example, even a dumb AI was smarter than the average human, capable of performing tasks far beyond the capabilities of the human mind.
Smart AIs were the next step up however. Each one was essentially a super computer in its own right processing wise, but they possessed something else too. A personality. They could love, hate, think freely, do what they wanted. Of course, they had some laws programmed into them, but mostly they were given a free reign.
Which was why, after around seven or so years of service, a Smart AI would learn to much, and eventually realise that however much it wished to, it would never truly be human. It then sunk into a deep state of melancholia, where it became depressed and looked upon the world with a dark view, then anger, where it would be aggressive towards its creators. The third stage was jealousy, where the AI in question would be envious of the people it served.
The final, theorised stage of rampancy was named meta stability. No examples of this occurring had ever been shown, AIs tended to shut down earlier than that. The theory though was that at this stage the AI would be like a true person, free to do whatever to wish. It was widely believed by many to be a ridiculous thought however, how could a machine ever become like a human in all but body? Preposterous.
"You seem tense Mr. Hendel. Would you like me to book you in for a treatment at the spa later?" Rachel asked, slightly concerned by the expression upon David's face.
"No no, I'm fine. Thanks for offering though. Am I okay to go in now?" He replied hastily, wiping a new sheet of sweat from his moist brow.
"I'll check."
Rachel's expressions seemed to go blank for a few seconds, presumably while she contacted the board room.
"Please, go right in." She spoke haughtily after a few moments. "And try not to mess up like last time Mr. Hendel."
David gave her a cold look before picking up his briefcase and walking down the corridor to the double doors which opened into the board room. He hesitated outside, taking a few, long, deep breaths, and entered.
Without looking at the penetrating gazes of the four people who made up the board executives, he quickly moved to the front of the room, and, opening his briefcase, drew out a small, wafer thin laptop.
After taking a second to plug it to the large Holo screen at the back of the room, David loaded up the presentation, hit the full screen key, and stood nervously. He couldn't believe that he, once a renowned Staff Sergeant in the corps, was getting anxious talking to a bunch of business men.
"Glad you could join us today Dave, we love hearing about how the marketing side of the business is doing."
That was Mr. William Smith speaking, head of the Manchester AMG branch. He was old, around sixty or seventy, but due to advancements in anti - ageing technology, he didn't look a day older than forty; with his black hair and smooth, tanned skin.
"Ahem, well, yes." David awkwardly said, trying not to get annoyed. He hated the way Smith called him Dave, it wasn't like they were pals who went out for a drink every night.
"The new ad for the Civilian hog is receiving mixed reception," He began, elaborating with his fingers as always, "The current war is unpopular to say the least; people don't like the idea of driving something advertised as a decommissioned Warthog; in my opinion, we should drop the war aspect from it and proceed to sell it as a Jeep, nothing more." David explained, bringing up a slide showing how profit had dropped since the new advertisement.