Machine Dreams

Machine Dreams
A Tale of the Radical War

Kael walked though the dim moonlit corridors of the metal hall. Often in the darkness of night he found the halls a place to think, a place where all the sounds he heard during the course of his restless attempts at sleep meshed into one.

The humanoid, a former member of the Zaiach race who had been all but wiped out at the hands of the Machine armies found it ironic the only place he could find solitude was in the halls of a Mechanized world, especially one that had once been his home world.

With the pale moonlight reflecting off his face, Kael continued to walk down the halls, making sure to avoid coming too close to the open edges that exposed the view of the Mechanized factories below. By some means Kael could ignore the fact ruthless Machines surrounded him if he wasn’t forced to see them.
Thankfully for the Zaiach, the Machines had spared the great metal halls that had once been part of the Zaiach grand Consulate. Kael appreciated his moments in these remaining halls, and he treasured them as much as he did the memories of his free past.

“Supporter Kael.” The voice came from behind the Zaiach and he recognized it almost as immediately as he turned to face who had said it. The Machine in front of him was in the image of a humanoid, a mangle of wires and metal, with a seemingly perfect faceplate complete with glass eyes and an unmoving mouth.

“Overlord… I was not aware I was needed for any further duties this evening.” Kael rarely explained his reasons for coming to the halls and for the most part the Machines ignored his decision to come to the ghostly section of the world.

The Machine known as Overlord walked towards the Zaiach, his face bobbing from side to side as though imitating a type of external pondering. “We attempted to contact you in your domicile but we were unsuccessful. We require your interpretation of a newly developing situation.”

It unnerved Kael every time he heard the single refer to itself as “we”, it was also a constant reminder that even though this Machine had not been around during the conquering of his home world that it was still every bit as responsible as the whole of the Machine complex.

Lowering his head Kael accompanied the humanoid Machine through the halls and into the main section of the city complex. Before the Zaiach was a sprawl of perfectly aligned metallic buildings, each with a purpose, each another cog in the Machine Empire.

Eventually the unlikely duo reached the massive dome that was their intended target. Kael knew the building from before and had often been here assisting the Machines in attempting to discern the motives behind organic thoughts.

While many-viewed Kael and his kind as traitors, Kael has a completely different view on the whole situation. Through uncontrollable circumstances Kael had watched his world destroyed, and he had watched as no assistance came for him. Kael watched as the great coalition of organics was formed, and he watched as they still never came to free his people. Kael knew no one would ever come for him, and more importantly he knew how to survive.

“What is my task Overlord?” Kael asked uneasily as the Machine approached the massive circular control panel in the center of the open dome. Pressing down on a button the Machine made a holographic image of a planet appear.

The Machine known as Overlord pointed at the holographic world and several small platforms that orbited the world in a steady fashion.

“These. These Supporter Kael are new devices that the organics have installed around several of their worlds, they are electromagnetic weaponry. As you may guess they are quite damaging to Mechanized forces.” Overlord gave no hint of emotion as his monotone voice explained the image before him.

Kael simply gazed over the image before him as he attempted to comprehend what he was seeing. Finally a dazzling display of a Machine scout ship getting disabled by one of the platforms drove the point home with Kael.

“They are continuing to improve their defenses I see…”

Deactivating the impressive display, Overlord turned his head over to Kael who seemed deep in thought. The blank Machine dropped his head down to his right shoulder, another no subtle attempt at imitating thought.

“Why do the organics not attack us? All of our current data suggests that they should be preparing to attack us.”

Kael could not help but let out a small smile as the Machine finished his sentence. After living so long amongst Machines Kael still couldn’t get over how oblivious they could be to the most obvious of organic thoughts.

“They’ve grown complacent Overlord… It’s been nearly eighty-years* since Skrava or Machine forces have engaged them. There is no reason for them to go on the offensive, not while they believe they can wait this war out within their well defended borders.”
The Machine man turned his head over to the other shoulder in a display that made Kael let out a small sigh. A few moments after the Machine turned and paced for a few seconds to emphasize his pretended thoughts.

“Would it not make sense for the organics to simply destroy their enemies before they become overwhelmed?”

“We are at the tip of a three-way war Overlord. If one side were to wipe the other out they would undoubtedly become weaker and susceptible to the remaining enemy force. Organics may not always think rationally, but they aren’t stupid.”

The mockery of a humanoid looked at Kael for a few seconds before responding in his continual monotone voice.

“We must compute this information further. Return to your domicile Supporter.”

With no more then a nod Kael left the Machine to his computations.

* * *

Alone in his quarters Kael tried to sleep. The sounds of Machine factories and overhead ships kept him awake. While he had given away whatever made him truly different from the vile Machines he still could not fully accept their company.

Twisting over in his plain white sheets Kael was suddenly blinded by a flooding light as the door opened. As sight returned to the Zaiach he saw the form of two massive enforcer Machines enter the room, behind them was Overlord.

“What’s going on…?”

Kael once again heard the monotone voice of the Machine Overlord.

“Your information has left us puzzled, further analysis is required.”

Before he could even speak Kael was knocked unconscious by the stinging energy web of the enforcer Machine.

* * *

When Kael awoke he was dead. The Zaiach no longer had a heart, lungs, eyes, and a body of any sorts. There was one thing Kael had however; the feelings and thoughts he had possessed were still there, except they were no longer his own.

Inside a paste of electro fluids and statically charged energy the brain of Kael floated softly. Attached to the floating piece of flesh were several cables, all of which were connected to the Machine complex. Instead of what were rightfully Kael’s emotions and thoughts, the Machines injected statistics and information into the floating brain.

As information returned from the small floating brain the Machines finally gained a deeper understanding of the Organic stance in the war. Kael on the other hand, no longer even had the chance to understand, for he was simply another tool for those he had once been able to call masters.