Man Has Steel (Part 1) (389 hits)
Category: Science & EnvironmentalRating: 1.68 on 10 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Leaving on a Jet Plane (View user info) at 2007-10-30 07:54:38 EDT
Everyone was always worried about the machines... movies catalogued the demise of man through the soulless and relentless destruction of our world through our own devices of deviance. Still, no one listened. No one heard. We built robots, and the laws and all the other shit, and still no one heard the screams in time, the future calling back to us, telling us to change our course. It wasn't the robots we should worry about...
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Sprinting through the undergrowth Jake looked over his shoulder, he had totally lost sight of Kai and Melina. It didn't matter, if they were alive then they knew where to go, and if not... well it didn't really matter then did it?
Diving through the mish-mash of scenery, he could barely recall where he was, until the Old Tower came into view, its head sticking about 25 feet out the ground. Vines curling up around it; encompassing everything that once was, into what now is.
It was a few miles before the grass was thin, and the concrete flowed, "Beautiful" he muttered to himself. He turned and looked over New Gaia, a place that used to be run by man, apparently called London; he could hardly believe that it was ever anything but a jungle of horticultural nightmares.
Jake was finding a lot of things hard to believe in lately.
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In late 21st century man started exploring space, together as one, and the idea of using weaponry against another human was all but wiped out. Of course there were still... occurrences, which from time to time could not be helped. However most hand held weaponry had been abandoned, and people were taught to love, rather than fear.
As time progressed mans understanding of all things mechanical progressed to a degree that would have made them an intergalactic threat, they had found away to stop nature. To reverse aging, to accelerate it, or to stop it, they had found immortality.
As the process went on, mother earth was raped, her naturalistic ways all but destroyed; constantly she gave the people a chance to restore her to former glory. Natural disasters, repairing the o-zone layer, generating more oxygen naturally, increasing the water cycles content by a further .25%. Nothing would deter the people of earth.
Nature cried out for help, it creaked and groaned under the sufferings of man. Nature was to take itself back.
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Jake surveyed the dense canopy he'd run from, shielding his eye from any enemy movement below. The concrete street he was stood on had a row of single story joined buildings, mostly dilapidated with the odd bit of metal and the odd bit of green. It was like Limbo, neither here nor there.
"Fucking Flora" he mumbled lighting a cigarette, an act of great insult to Nature, as he puffed on one of their brethren. The glow of his ember must have given him away to his pursuer, as an arrow like branch flew past the side of his head and splintering on the concrete. He dived into one of the nearest doorways. He was on his own for this, Mecha1 was too far away to call for help, but at least he was a safe(ish) distance from the New Gaia. It wasn't usual for them to come out this far, especially when the lack of soil makes them weak (and mortal)... very odd.
He took another drag and held his breath, resting his back against the crumbling building, he could hear the Florakan, gargling incoherently... laughing. Gently he pressed the cigarette into one of the cracks in the wall, smoke dripping out. He crept silently through the building, and out a back window and walking quietly down a back alley.
Turning down another side street, he looked round the corner to see the Floraken watching the smoke from the doorway. He pulled the Nano-Knife from his belt and crept from wall to wall along the street until he was right behind the Floraken. They almost looked human, they probably once were, but now... now they were pure nature. Pure hate and intolerance for man. The smell was as unbearable as the site, rotting garbage, decomposing bio-matter. At 6ft something, entirely dark green and looking as though made of vines, they weren't exactly subtle creatures in towns.
He stuck the blade in at the base of the neck, a quick stab, before pulling it out and making another slash just below the chest like area.
The Floraken fell to a knee, that looked more like a trunk, and clutching its side it span, and a vine like limb, wrapped around Jakes throat, and pulled him face to face with the abomination. He slashed the vine away, and as the tiny nano-bytes ate away the creatures nature, Jake couldn't help but notice the creature staring directly into his eye...
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London, Paris, Washington, Sydney, Berlin, Tokyo and Egypt. These were the first places that the Mega Flora were seen. Straight out the ground, vines, seeds and flowers sprung. The vines crept and covered all that they could, the seeds sprung forth Floraken and other such creatures, and the flowers blossomed into what can only be described as buildings.
At first the world stood in awe and scientists proposed hypothesis after hypothesis, nothing mattered. After a while TV stopped, most of the broadcasting posts were In the middle of the great cities. The vines crushed the metal as if it were plastic.
Refugees poured from all over the world to take one strong hold and start a resistance. The UK. An Island that was small enough to not be totally full of Flora, but still vast enough to conceal people. No natural Jungle to speak of, as the Flora in Brazil had taken total control of South America in Less than two days.
Man had to start again. There were only two things that hurt the Flora, Nano-Tech and pure metal. Controlled Potassium bullets would take down any Flora in your way.
Man has three main posts. Mecha1, which would be located just north of Leicester. This is the main offensive stronghold. Mecha2 would be Pembrokeshire in Wales, trading, and refugee distribution centres, and then Mecha3 in the Scottish Highlands. It's too cold for most Flora there, and the rugged terrain is a natural defence.
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Jake sat on the roof of one of the old buildings, watching and waiting. He had to wait a good two hours after killing the Floraken to make sure that not only was it dead, but that no one came and retrieved it.
He pulled out his nano-knife and brought it close to his face, the glow of the microscopic robots illuminated his unshaven face and his deep blue eye. The silver eye whirred furiously in his head, examining all aspects of his surroundings, a constant alarm system.
He brought the blade to his neck and slowly dragged the blade along the skin, nano-bytes pouring out, it stung for a second, but it would also eliminate any chances of any spores getting in his system.
The nano-bytes coursed his veins, and when they eventually wound up in his arm, they settled in with the resistance of his metallic structure. He was still human, but a good 45% machine too. He once would have been called a cyborg or an abomination, now he was salvation.
Nature had the sun, and man had steel.
It was just as he was pondering on that final thought as his eye picked up his two comrades, Kai and Melina, coming over the crest of the hill. He lit his cigarette and took a drag in their direction, he saw their embers return in kind.
"I thought you guys were fucked" Said Jake jumping off the house
"Well thanks for waiting" said Kai, his Metallic frame glowing in the moonlight. Kai was a cyborg of sort, his brain was human, he just had a metal vessel. Melina was a slight creature, cat like, born at the end of the gene splicing sagas, a cross between human, cat, lioness, puma, and cheetah. She was a badass cat basically.
"You were fine, weren't you pussy?" Jake said, looking at Melina.
"Don't call me that dude, you're one step away from being a permanent fucking wheelchair." She hissed.
Kai snorted a little as he giggled, "come on guys" he urged "we got to move"
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The gene splicing saga was a small break in mans quest for the mechanical when he embraced the biological.
People would pay a lot to have the muscle strength of guerrillas, the speed of cheetahs, the reflexes of a snake or the limbs of a spider.
Man embraced these cold fusions and marketed it, branded it and stuck it on a lunch box.
It wasn't until just before the invasion where man had begun splicing forna and flora together.
Abominations had been created, and it was these travesties of nature that some believed forced Gaias hand.
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"Mecha1..." said Kai
"been a while" whispered Melina
"Fucking home" said Jake.
User Reviews
Submitted by supadupapupa (user info) at 2007-10-31 03:59:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
it was a good story, but poor construction
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2007-10-30 19:58:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-30 07:56:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Didn't read.
+2 on good faith.
---bookmarked
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-10-30 14:36:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-10-30 14:36:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by FlakMonkey (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:27:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
very nice
~Brdn_Nkd
Submitted by triangle_man (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:06:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
read that
Submitted by zwerg (user info) at 2007-10-30 11:13:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2007-10-30 07:57:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
awesome.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-30 07:56:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Didn't read.
+2 on good faith.
Submitted by splitperson (user info) at 2007-10-30 07:55:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm so bumed I psoted this under my alter...