Informational note
Drone: a machine that uses technology to imitate the form and movements of a living being, and that follows orders efficiently.
Automaton: the term given to robots, mechanical beings that possess artificial intelligence.
They are used in a wide variety of roles and environments considered too exhausting or too dangerous for human beings.
Cyborg: a cybernetic organism, a person made up of organic elements and cybernetic devices, generally with the aim of enhancing the capabilities of the organic part through the use of technology.
Android: a synthetic organism that, in addition to imitating human appearance, autonomously simulates some aspects of humanity, with its own feelings and free will.
(Picture something like the characters from Stellar Blade, NieR: Automata, Girls’ Frontline or Blame!: a metal exoskeleton with artificial muscles and synthetic skin.)
Future new AI race: name (classified).
Major bodily enhancements: super-speed, greater strength, greater processing capacity, and the ability to store their memories on a protected network, network name (classified), which allows them to “come back to life.” Samuel’s homeworld: Requiem.
Rubicon System: (classified).
Exoskeleton for the new AI race: built with the very latest technology available; the key to withstanding the forces of Chaos lies in its materials, which remain (classified).
Once we were back aboard the ship, we set off for a nearby world, the idea being to stay as close to the portal as possible.
We would spend an entire month there.
Part of the crew went down to kill some time and explore the world a bit; the patriarch and Marcus met up with an acquaintance of theirs, and I stayed aboard the ship.
After accepting my terrible new reality, I had an enormous amount to do and plan in view of what was coming.
The first thing was to get in touch with Aine and Deus so they could start searching, in secret, for signs of Chaos corruption through the population’s household devices and through the use of drones, as well as for any sign of rebellion among the artificial intelligences.
I wasn’t entirely clear on why the Men of Iron and a good portion of the AIs turned against humanity; the only thing I knew for certain was that, at some point in M23, the cybernetic rebellion would break out.
The exact causes remained a mystery even to me.
On the forums I used to read in my previous life, some claimed it was the work of the forces of Chaos corrupting the Men of Iron; others pointed to the so-called Void Dragon, imprisoned on Mars.
The most widely accepted theory, however, was much simpler and, deep down, more unsettling: that the AIs ended up believing themselves superior to humans, fed up with how much humans depended on them.
I ordered Aine to begin monitoring the population, and to speed up the refitting of all our ships to replace the warp drives with the new slipspace drives.
It was vitally important to keep humanity as far away from the Warp as possible.
For a moment, I even considered distributing the slipspace drive technology to the entire Federation. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
The idea crossed my mind and vanished almost as quickly: that drive was far too valuable a card to play now.
Its time would come.
But this wasn’t it.
Time skip
Time flies.
I spent all that time preparing for the journey to Earth, moving every piece I could in the short window I had.
To my good fortune, no trace of Chaos influence or rebellion was found in any AI.
Good news, no doubt about it.
Now we were heading for the Aeldari Webway portal, just as we had agreed.
As we approached, I got to gaze upon that craftworld once again.
For a moment, I wondered what I should do about this race, knowing what their fate would eventually unleash upon the entire galaxy.
I was tempted, very tempted, to provoke some kind of conflict that would lead to their extinction, and so prevent the future birth of the dark god Slaanesh.
But no.
Not for now.
At this moment they stood on equal footing with humanity, and a war like that, today, would be suicide.
The Aeldari handed us a device with the coordinates to Earth already marked, so we wouldn’t get lost in the labyrinthine tunnels of the Webway.
From the bridge we watched the ship slip into the portal, and once inside… I don’t have enough words to describe it.
It was as if we were passing through a tunnel made of pure light, one that shifted like the threads of a spiderweb in ever-changing colors, or like a tapestry woven on a galactic scale.
Mystical and beautiful in equal measure.
Everyone on the bridge watched the spectacle in genuine awe, and I have to admit it left me speechless too.
But at the same time my nerves were on edge, just thinking that the dark city of Commorragh, or the mythical Black Library, could be hidden somewhere in these very tunnels, who knew how far away.
As soon as the signal sounded, everyone stopped staring at the tunnel and began preparing for the exit, while I gave the orders needed to get everything ready.
A moment later, we emerged from the portal near one of Jupiter’s moons, and set course for Earth.
But what neither Samuel nor any member of the crew noticed was that, just before they left the portal, an entity had been silently watching the ship.
Its gaze settled on the bridge, and more specifically on the automaton standing beside the patriarch.
A smile spread across its face, so unnatural and macabre that it would have chilled the blood of anyone who witnessed it.
“Heh heh heh.
Very interesting.
So this is the one you saw in your visions.
Interesting.
Heh heh heh.”
Time skip
After two weeks of travel, we finally reached Earth, and it’s hard to describe what I was seeing compared to the desolate, dying image it would have in M41, under the Imperium.
An endless stream of ships came and went between the enormous space platforms in orbit, and as for the surface, the only thing I can say is that it was a sea of lights overflowing with life.
If Reach had seemed like an advanced world to me, Earth was in a completely different league, almost ridiculously so by comparison.
The ship approached a space elevator connected to one of the orbital platforms, finally docking in one of the hangars.
I gave myself a little shake, trying to rid myself of the nerves I’d been building up.
“Right.
Here we go.”
English isn’t my first language, so there may be some mistakes or inconsistencies along the way.
I hope you can understand, and thank you for your patience and support!