Luminary Institute

83: Life of an Automaton

A janky automaton folded itself together and whirred to life in the forest. It unfolded from a small, silver disk the size of a plate to a medium-sized dog-like creature. Its eyes lit up blue as it sniffed around and walked in a few slow circles. After a couple minutes, its blue eyes flashed and a red light on its stomach’s underside began to blink.

It slunk through the forest’s undergrowth, weaving and bobbing while trying to avoid any and all natural wildlife. At one point, cornered by a wolf, it let out a last resort jet of acid to scare it off before finishing the last of its forest leg and streaking across the wasteland. Running for half-an-hour, with breaks taken only to avoid the area’s natural wildlife, the automaton arrived at the edge of an ice-covered battlefield. After testing the ice with a few shaky steps, it paused, letting the computer in its body load for a second before spikes poked out from the bottom of its feet. 

Slow, but careful movements through the still frozen forest of monsters led it to the center of the battlefield where just a couple of bodies laid in rest. 

Navigating around the scavengers digging through the carcasses for the best pieces of meat, the automaton sniffed around until the red light on its stomach stopped blinking. Quiet clicks and clacks began ringing out from its interior as its body morphed into a disk once more. Once flat on the ground, it shifted into a different form, one with a slender drill and storage compartment. 

Buzzing to life with the faintest hiss, it disappeared into the ground before the nearby scavengers who had been piqued by the sound wandered over to investigate. Dirt flew into the air, rocks too ranging from the size of miniscule pebbles to eraser-like lumps. 

Deep underground, the drill followed a faint signal emanating from within the earth. Its spinning, though, came to a stop before it reached too deep into the earth. With the sound of metal hitting metal, the drill’s head bumped into the now-dull casing of a metallic orb.

The head of the drill opened up and enveloped the orb in a split-second action. The orb itself slid down the center of the drill and into the storage container sitting at the drill’s backend. A couple more clicks, whirrs, and spins later, the drill had morphed into one large cube. 

Heat began emanating from the cube’s surface, it glowed red hot and the sound of metal being crushed marked the orb’s quick destruction. Not to leave any traces behind though, the cube itself began melting away, half from heat and the rest from overflowing acid.

Seconds later, nothing remained in its space. The dirt and rocks caved in on themselves, creating a small dent unnoticeable from the ground’s surface as all the liquid traces of the cube flowed deeper into the ground. 

---

“Success. All traces eliminated,” A static-filled voice from a worn-out speaker spoke into a closed-off room. The rest of the room though, could not have more contrast to the dirty speaker. Shining, gleaming, unblemished, the room felt lifeless as metallic masks decorated the walls. In the center, a half-metal heart beat with the force of a drum while glowing an eerie faint red. 

A dark silhouetted figure rested in an egg-like chair. Wreathed in shadowy smoke, it reached out with slender fingers and tapped on the keyboard sitting beside it with slow clicks. Elsewhere in the hidden complex though, workers with masks rushed around in frantic motions to keep track of the tens of screens dotted through the complex. Around each screen huddled a team of three to four, some with computers, some with controllers, and others with packets upon packets of procedures.

“Is the southern lab still hidden?” 

“No abnormalities.” 

“Updates on the stimulator in the north?” 

“Destroyed, and relayed to the leader.” 

“Good.” 

“What’s the situation with the test leviathan?” 

“We’re about to stimulate it, the fighting with the naturally occuring leviathan rampage is in full swing. Because the fighting is over water, we are confident in the fact that it will sink into the ocean following its defeat.” 

“Hmm... approved. Proceed with caution.” 

---

Warships floated in the ocean, rocking in the waves as their cannons let loose barrage after barrage of ammunition towards towering, half-submerged leviathans. Most charges shot towards the leviathans though, did little more than a dent on the tough hide and armored plates covering each creature. 

The main fighting force, instead, consisted of hunting teams whizzing about above the ocean’s surface. Equipped with government-subsidized technology, they had braces around their heads to enhance their dynamic vision, trackers on their chests to ensure the warships didn’t hit them, and jet propulsion systems around their waist to keep them above water. 

Because they could release far more power in a short amount of time, hunters served an invaluable role in suppressing outbreaks. Roxanne, having been dragged out with her team to help suppress this particular leviathan outbreak in conjunction with a number of other teams, couldn’t help but take a break midair. She wiped a layer of sweat from her forehead as a sharp pain drilled into the area between her eyebrows. 

After popping a pill into her mouth, she let it dissolve under her tongue as her summons seemed to revitalize and rush back into the fight. 

As she rested, another wave of attacks came flying past her from the warships behind. Flying forward at breakneck speeds, some collided with the first few leviathans, but others flew further inward, hitting leviathans nearer to the center of the pack. 

One leviathan in particular though, began thrashing around in the middle of the pack. In pain, it agitated the others around it further. Noticing the quick chain reaction in aggression, Roxanne tilted her head to the side and pressed a button. “Get back, get back, let the government suppress the general movements with their cover fire. It’s dangerous right now.” 

The other team leaders issued orders along a similar vein, and before long, everyone had congregated towards the side together. 

“That’s not a normal reaction is it,” One of the leaders jetted over and asked Roxanne. “This is only my first time doing a leviathan suppression though, so I wanted to ask.” 

“No... it's definitely not normal...” Roxanne trailed off as other team leaders came over as well. 

“One of the government agents is in my ear saying that we should get in there and capitalize,” A team leader spoke up as she came to a stop beside Roxanne. She crossed her arms as a frown appeared on her face. “They’re saying it was a lucky shot from a warship, but I somehow doubt that.” 

“Yeah, everyone hold back for a moment, it’s a dangerous situation and your lives are the most important,” Roxanne brushed her hair back and held it with one hand. “They won’t believe us so there’s no point in considering an investigation, but we should adjust our tactics right now.”