The girl looked, still not noticing my presence. I am the void itself, y-e-e... Even though I'm not hiding... She still somehow doesn't see me. In empathy, there's a mix of worry, confidence, and calm. Yeah, ideally, it all should have mutually annihilated, but... Apparently not meant to be.
Oh, there, I felt a wave of fear pass through her, releasing outward like an invisible energy wave. She managed to detect me! Hooray! Let's applaud her! That's sarcasm.
There she slowly turned her head toward her right shoulder again. Fear turned into horror when she noticed my silver segmented hand, illuminated by moonlight. Let's be honest, she saw the white triangle on the back of my palm and immediately realized who I was. Drones are smart, but also stupid at the same time, as sometimes happens with humans. Only I'm the exception. Ha-ha-ha. (Laughter full of narcissism).
Doll, not expecting my next, who-the-hell-knows-what actions, quickly shook off the hand from her shoulder, sharply turned, and aimed the Absolute Solver right at my face. I looked at the spinning hexagon with three arrows with indifference, as if it were nothing more than an ordinary snowdrift on the street.
This was the first time I slightly lowered my mask.
The world seemed to turn gray around me. My eyes filled with seriousness; all the playfulness and energy disappeared from them. My stance also changed. Arms crossed on my chest, in such a way that I could grab the sword at any moment and chop the threat into paste. My gaze met Doll's. I was no longer that loving uncle who loves to vanish and disappear at the most unexpected moments. I was a warrior, and Doll stood right in front of him.
"I give you three seconds to turn off the Absolute Solver. You don't want to feel the consequences of my irritation." My gaze became sharper and pierced right into Doll's eyes. I didn't start the countdown, but my words and gaze alone were enough for her to retreat. In fear. Her eyes turned into zeros that darted back and forth, just to avoid meeting mine.
"Excellent." I said dryly and, bypassing the red-eyed one, approached the edge of the building.
Looking at the dead city stretching below me, full of tilted skyscrapers and other various ruined structures, I began my short speech:
"I'm not your uncle, Doll. And not related at all. You can figure that out yourself. It's not that hard." I stretched the vowels as I said this. The cheerful mask was replaced by mocking coldness and irritation.
"For me, there's no point in contacting you at all, but you're forcing me to do it yourself, using the virus." I spoke slowly, savoring every word so it would definitely reach the little head of Yeva's daughter.
I felt a slight sharp pressure in the neck area. Doll, completely unafraid of the consequences, held a knife to me. I continued to gaze into the distance.
"What do you know about the Absolute Solver?! Answer!" she exclaimed, completely ignoring my threatening appearance. At that moment, I was in too calm a mood to kill anyone, and there wasn't enough irritation, so the red-eyed one got only a cruel sidelong glance from me, which diminished her ardor. I spoke:
"Nothing stops me from throwing you off this building. There are 60 floors here. I don't think you can fly or use claws." I looked down. There really were many floors, and falling would take long enough, with landing absolutely leading to a fatal outcome.
Doll also looked down. The zeros in her eyes grew even larger, and small bags appeared under them. She understood how this could end.
"I'm your enemy, Doll. I'm the one who is the will of the Absolute Solver from my very appearance in this world." The girl looked at me and gripped the knife tighter, waiting for the moment to attack.
"Don't even try. If you kill me, you'll summon the only being capable of using all the Absolute Solver's possibilities." I slowly turned to her. She stepped back a couple of paces.
"You'll summon... My sister. The supreme progenitor, capable of destroying planets. I don't take anyone's side; I'm on my own. It's your will to consider me an enemy, friend, or just a passerby. Farewell." With those words, I jumped off the edge of the tall building and began my rapid acceleration downward. My face once again wore the mask of an idiot with power, and I flew somewhere.
Though no... Not "somewhere"; I have a specific destination I want to visit right now. We all know what happened at the end of the third episode, and I just want to make sure if my sister kept her promise or not. Right now, that's all that interests me.
I calmly maneuvered between buildings, sometimes hooking onto protruding parts and making sharp turns. The air tousled my clothes, my hair; the sensations were impossibly pleasant.
One of the skyscrapers I simply flew straight through, without using the Cube's power. It's worth mentioning the features of my nanobots—their size doesn't exceed 8 picometers. For comparison, the size of a helium atom is approximately 31 picometers. Thanks to this, I can calmly pass between atoms of substances without touching their structure and all that. Convenient.
After a few minutes, I began a smooth descent. Doll teleported far away. To guarantee that the disassembly drones from our tower wouldn't attack her. Smart move, especially for a drone.
I slowly landed, raising a small wave of snow. Looking around and finding nothing worthwhile except falling snowflakes, I retracted my wings and sat on the roof of the nearest rusty car body. Inside, by the way, a skeleton still sat, unaware of its impending death. There was nothing worthwhile in the car itself for me.
And I sat like that... For fifteen minutes at least, running simulations at full power of my chip to maximize the efficiency of the nanobots. I became strong, but who said I don't want to become even stronger?
The idea came almost instantly—to turn me into... A swarm intelligence! Implant each nanobot with a small but powerful AI core that can make decisions at a speed impossible for me right now.
We're talking not even nanoseconds, but femtoseconds! Transmitting information from a nanobot to my chip takes some time, insignificant but still takes. And with the help of the swarm... Ho-ho-ho... The nanobots themselves will make decisions even before I understand the problem.
Following this idea came the next. Set up quantum entanglement, more precisely quantum coherence within my body so that information between nanites is transmitted faster than the speed of light. Instantly. Without delays. And then transmitted to me.
At such a level... I'll be able to create quantum chips out of thin air! And they'll be more powerful than my current one! And the decision-making speed will be simply insane!
From fifteen trillion qubits, jump to a hundred quadrillion!
I'll do it right now. The main thing is not to lose consciousness.
I selected one nanobot and immediately began trying to create an AI module on it, connected to its own quantum processor. Started small—a million qubits.
It went tough, especially with the chip; the AI module fit like a glove, but the chip just couldn't become that small. I activated my computational powers to the maximum. Immediately came the idea to create a full-sized quantum chip and shrink it using the Absolute Solver's power. Maybe that won't disrupt the fragile structure of the chip, and I'll get a super-small processor.
So I did. A minute later, a quantum chip with one and a half million qubits lay in my hand. I already tested it and was 100% sure it would work. But unfortunately, I didn't get to continue.
I felt at the edge of my empathy some source of emotions imitating joy, relief, and some worry. Looking toward the source, I saw a drone in a jacket, with light eyes and a completely ordinary appearance. He stopped and looked at the ground, as if he found something. And that was exactly it. He pulled out ski goggles from the snow, like Harry Potter's, and put them on, glowing with pleasure.
I exhaled. Tessa will arrive soon. A few moments later, I heard a loud sound of something falling. Looking up, I saw three rescue pods, two of which were burning up in the planet's atmosphere, while the third slowly descended, adjusting speed with thrusters.
The first two pods crashed into the ground and shattered into junk, which twitched with spider legs for a while longer. The drone standing at the epicenter survived by a miracle.
The third pod, using those same spider legs, hooked onto a building and used it to brake, softly landing on the ground.
Welcome to Copper-9, Tessa.
Anyway, I'll have to postpone my experiments and put on the disgusting mask of the cheerful-idiot-genius again. Can't say it any other way, or... Hard to do.
Transferring the chip to the domain, I jumped off the car roof and approached the only surviving rescue pod with a measured step. No doubt the others are now oil mush, nothing more.
The airlock slowly hissed open, releasing a cloud of steam. A moment later, a quick and slender figure emerged... No, not Tessa's, but J's, who immediately unfolded her wings and began scanning the surrounding space for dangers.
And her gaze fell on me.
"J! Wait for me..."
"Tessa! Don't come out!" She turned her head and shouted into the pod, interrupting what the only human on this planet wanted to say. No response from inside followed.
"You're dead! Period!" She raised her hand and quickly turned it into a machine gun, immediately showering me with a lead rain. If before, this could seriously spoil not only my mood but also my body's condition, now... The bullets just bounced off, piercing only my clothes.
This continued for about a minute, no less. After that, J ceased fire and opened one eye. She was met by the gaze of my absolutely indifferent digital zeros, without a drop of fear or damage.
Well, time to start acting.
"J~. Long time no see, right? I've started to miss you a bit." I had to put on a face of regret and sadness, with a bit of boredom. After this performance, she simply won't attack me. Logical reasoning will decide that, so she has nothing better than to just listen to me.
"Get your friend out of the pod. I want to meet her." I nodded toward the shuttle. Empathy flared with fear and excitement with anticipation. It wasn't J; it was Tessa, whom I was about to meet. Judging by empathy is hard, but... Maybe this Tessa is real, not a piece of flesh on legs.
J hesitated for a long time. Several minutes for sure, while I patiently stood nearby and just waited. In the end, she sighed, extended her hand into the pod, and helped Tessa climb out.
Changes were already noticeable—oxygen tanks on her back, which Cyn didn't have in the original. Second—she's not as agile. Third... I hear her... Breathing.
Releasing energy outward, I scanned Tessa with it, understanding more and more with each second—she's human.
And that meant...
That Cyn kept her promise! I don't understand what this really gives me. That Cyn obeys me? Or is the reason different? Unknown, at least for now.
Tessa jumped to the ground and shyly looked around, first at the ruined skyscrapers, then shifting her gaze from J to me and back. I smiled, genuinely this time.
"Long time no see, Tessa James Elliott." I said, crossing my arms on my chest. The girl focused her attention on me, apparently thinking through her answers or questions, depending on what was on her mind.
"Such a question... Does J still consider me a traitor to humanity, or what?" My naive question slightly surprised Tessa, considering how empathy jumped with emotions.
"Sorry, but I can't trust you." She answered. Her voice was a bit distorted due to the helmet, but easy to understand. Her emotional background was covered with suspicion and distrust toward my persona. Well, I'm patient, and proving that I'm me is possible.
"Why not? Should I repeat everything you said when you learned about the drone core's half-life?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I even dubbed your words 'Petrovsky Bend.'" I wouldn't be surprised if her face now took on an unreadable expression. How else to react to the fact that someone remembers an event from 20 years ago.
Tessa, as I expected, couldn't find a reaction to my words and just stared at me like the eighth wonder of the world, while J went crazy from the details I had.
"Mixed up, huh..." the disassembly drone said, looking at me with a completely different gaze. A gaze full of respect and something else, elusive to me, even with empathy.
I bet she's just surprised that I'm alive, nothing more.
"Ai?..." And that was already Tessa. I didn't get to answer as she ran up to me and hugged me, as if if she let me go, I'd disappear again, this time irrevocably. In a way, that's true...
"Ai!... You're alive! I m-missed you so much... Cyn, she... She... Waaah..." The girl just burst into tears, hanging in my embrace. I looked hopefully at J, but got a gaze full of envy in return. Apparently, Tessa didn't cry to her.
"What happened? After the celebration, I don't know anything that happened on Earth." I calmly explained, gently pushing the human away from me. J looked at me questioningly, and Tessa seemed not to notice my actions. I don't like tenderness, honestly.
"There... *sniff*... Everyone died... Only I *sniff* survived! Sh-she killed everyone except me!" She sat on the snow and covered her helmet with her knees, convulsing a bit.
Everyone except her... Well, Cyn clearly followed my words.
"I thought you... *sniff* died too! But... But..." She didn't finish, burying her face in her knees even harder.
I looked at the disassembly drone for help, but got only a confused gaze and shrugged shoulders in return. I translated that as "I can't do this. Your problem." In what sense, "Can't"?! Don't tell me all those arts lied to me? That J and Tessa are almost engaging in lesbian lex!
But okay. I've seen enough of this landmark—a human. And the conversation has bored me enough, though I got some insignificant amount of information.
I looked at J again and wrote on my display for her to watch Tessa, as I was leaving. But before going, I said:
"Don't worry, dear. I'll deal with Cyn... When the time comes, of course." With those words, I unfolded my wings and, under the shocked gaze of the human, headed into the distant distances...
Or more precisely, to the Research Institute. I forgot to do something there...
While I flew, many thoughts swirled in my head. If I upgrade my nanobots and quantum chip, then I'll be able to fight Cyn calmly and possibly even win. But there's always one BUT! Connection.
I didn't notice, when I didn't yet have my fancy core, that the white noise in my head was gradually disappearing. The radio stops catching interference. And now, I recreated this radio module in my head again, and heard... Nothing. No white noise, no passing signal. Only ether silence.
And as soon as I created some signal, it immediately disappeared without a trace. This planet is cut off from the entire universe, without the possibility of reconnection.
But still, how can I "call" my little sister? There's an option—repeat the planet's core collapse, only output energy 15 times more. But in that case, there are some problems; I don't have a vessel for Cyn to transfer into if I execute my plan...
Though...
Oh, my dear niece. Purple eyes, purple hair... She'll come right where I need her. Cabin Fever Syndrome Church, the pit to hell. In search of answers, she'll appear there, possibly not alone, but that's even better—the disassembly drones will serve as good transmitters.
She'll walk right into my trap. And then, Cyn will replace her. And only my preparation determines the possibility of implementing this plan... Heh...
First point—gain trust. So no one suspects me, ever.
The other points to think about later. Especially since I've flown to the R&D.
Making a sharp dive, I headed straight to the R&D entrance, almost vertically downward. Right before hitting the ground, I ordered the antigravs to brake. And in the next second, I smoothly landed on the institute's porch, raising a huge wave of snow that scattered all around.
As soon as I looked around, I felt curiosity from several drones from different sides. Forgot they could occupy these territories. They can't claim anything from me—too weak.
I calmly entered the R&D and smiled at the old, so familiar setting of the hall that greeted me with tiled floor and that semblance of a reception where I took chairs.
Walking through the entire room, deliberately clacking my heels loudly on my shoes, I went under the stairs and, passing a huge metal door—entered my old lab.
In the ceiling and part of the room, empty space still gaped from the quantum computer I stole. The cooling system pipes still lay uselessly on the floor, needed by no one. My early existence was reminded only by the corpse lying on the operating table. That it was a disassembly drone was reminded only by the arms and legs. Everything else was either destroyed or stained with oil so much that it was impossible to tell who it really was.
On the walls, splatters still remained from when I blew up L's head in my hands. Beautiful.
However, I came here not to admire the landmark. I came here for... My small unfinished work. Of course, I left ways to recreate my technologies and all that, but... I didn't leave resources and equipment. And since my machine is no longer needed, I can just leave it here and go.
Of course, there will be questions—"Why leave technologies if I'm alive?" And all that. The answer is simple—I'm not planning to stay in this world long; as soon as I execute all my plans—I'll open a portal and leave. And those who remain will study my teachings if they find them, of course.
Extending my hand forward, with one wish, I extracted from my domain that old thing—the machine I used day after day before. Now for me, it was nothing more than a piece of expensive scrap metal, though it was working. To not destroy this magnificence, I simply decided to leave it for the next generation, so they figure out how it works themselves.
Pushing it closer to the wall where the electrical grid connector was, I clapped my hands a couple times, dusting them off, and went to the surviving table.
Sitting on the chair, I pulled out the chip I created back on the street, with one and a half million qubits. If it works, it'll be progress in my development, not only physical but mental too. Considering I want to replace all nanobots in my body with new ones.
Activating the Absolute Solver, I grabbed the chip with it. Transmitting the command, I transformed the Absolute Solver into its other form called scale and instantly shrank the chip in my hand to incredibly small sizes.
Next came not only technique but also mind. Using other nanobots and their miniature arms (less than a picometer), I literally remade the structure of another nanobot that was lucky enough to have this chip land on it. When the rough part was done, I activated the Cube and began tuning the nanite so it could use this chip's power to the fullest.
A few moments later... I finished.
Changes appeared almost immediately. As if I acquired... A second mind! Only extremely small, fitting in an atom's nucleus. This was the newly created nanobot. It depended on my energy, so I had full control over it.
Gathering as much information as possible about the sensations when using it, and all flaws, I created several trillion simulations and sent the data for processing, aiming to get the possibility of using more powerful chips.
While that was happening, I went to wander aimlessly through the R&D, thinking through further plans. I won't have anything to do in the near future. Go AFK and wait for the start of the fourth episode? Or forcibly put myself to sleep to skip all this time? Both options sounded quite attractive, but it depended on chance and how lucky I am not to miss the camp events.
While I walked through the R&D and thought through plans, I also lifted objects with the Absolute Solver and placed them in their spots. Nightstands, tables, signs—all stayed in the corridor or flew each into its door. Other items, like paints, wallpapers, glues, and other construction excesses, smoothly levitated behind my back. Cleaning the R&D is sacred. Just need to find the warehouse and dump all this construction junk there.
In the end, cleaning the entire institute took me over an hour, often moving to the warehouse and dumping some items there, or destroying what was no longer needed... Accordingly, after that, patching holes in walls from loss of control over singularity.
I also repaired the whole building. Restored the wiring and replaced it with the best materials I could. Patched walls, returning reinforced concrete from dust state.
In short, my old residence shone like new. Everything was new; even the nuclear reactor under the floor I restored and started. Did everything by feng shui.
By this point, the processing results were probably ready, and I was eager to see them.
Descending back to the first floor, I went under the stairs again, into my gigantic laboratory.
Sitting on the chair, I received several data packets from my "Idea Generator" and immediately unpacked them, absorbing the information.
Without delving too deeply into the details of the results, I immediately moved on to the possibility of using this technology in my body. The answer was positive.
I just needed to change some connections in the nanite to get maximum efficiency of use.
All that remained was a small matter! Replace all the nanobots in my body with this... New version. I think it won't take much time, but... What will happen after the replacement is a big question. Maybe I'll fall into a coma again and chat with my "better" self.
Slightly tweaking the technical component of the nanobot, I left it on my palm and ordered the other nanobots... To reassemble themselves.
A logical question arises—how will this even work if they can't create the needed chip? I thought this through; I just needed to connect that idea generator I created a couple weeks ago to the entire nanobot system and let everything run its course.
The results appeared almost immediately. I began feeling more and more Minds occupying my mental space, connecting into something powerful, unified. With each second, my computational powers increased, and my understanding of reality grew. Even though only a small piece of the palm was ready, I could already see the problems of my past self.
With such power, I'll become truly... Invincible!
Yes, but as I understood, the body can't withstand such a quantity of computational powers, nor can my own chip. Each nanite has its own fifteen trillion qubits. And my chip is just in shock, so the last thing I saw was the table moving away from me.
۞⦰۞
And here I am again! Forest! Grass! Air! Human body! Everything as I love.
I couldn't even hide my smile; everything looked so real and beautiful. The grass swayed from a light breeze, leaves on trees rustled, the sunset created black, blurry shadows descending to the ground. The moon had already appeared in the sky.
Turning around, I met eyes with my old "friend," myself. Judging by his appearance, he was also enjoying the beauty of nature, inhaling and exhaling the evening forest air. Even in his eyes, there was no chronic irritation, only calm.
This even surprised me. No fight?
"There won't be. Don't want to spoil the atmosphere. You'll grow up and understand what I mean." He answered my mental question. Quite expected that he can read thoughts. It's a dream, after all.
"You still think this is a dream? I severely overestimated your intelligence." My copy smirked and created a plastic chair under his butt, sitting on it.
I rolled my eyes.
"My thoughts don't stray far from the laws of logic. I haven't seen magic yet to believe in it." I replied, creating exactly the same chair. It's my head; I can do what I want.
"The fact that you haven't seen magic doesn't mean it's not in you. And I strongly deny your statement that you can do whatever you want. There are many restrictions here." "Ai" said calmly, closing his eyes and tilting his head back.
"So it does exist, huh? Not surprising. I met a fucking god; not believing in magic after that is quite hard. I agree with you." My tired head said. I repeated my clone's actions and also tilted my head back.
"Listen, you gotta be kind to your schizophrenia... Let's be friends!" I raised my head and, with a wide, mocking smile, extended my hand to my copy.
"Hypocrite." He glanced at the hand sideways and closed his eyes again, ignoring my presence.
"Don't call me schizophrenia... You won't like the consequences..." I felt growing pressure. Had to raise my hands in a surrender gesture so I wouldn't accidentally get destroyed. And he can, judging by the pressure.
"Okay-okay, I won't. Don't understand who you are then. And, by the way, will you help me with exams? You'd make an excellent reference book!" Instead of answering my question, I got a cold, steel gaze from two black eyes, as if I was looking into a corpse's eyes, not a living (almost) being's. From such staring, honestly, I felt uneasy.
"You're forty-six years old. What the fuck exams?! Plus, you have a fucking quantum chip in your head!" He even jumped from the chair in indignation.
"Well, now I don't have it..."
"You know what. Get the fuck out of here." He appeared next to me and gave a juicy flick. So juicy that I tumbled out of my... Forest, and ended up on the lab floor. Arms spread out, head hurts, and questions about everything happening to me keep growing.
I got up from the floor. Immediately, I could feel the increased power and reaction speed. Since the nanobots now have their pseudo-mind, they'll react to threats first and adjust the body to tank the threat or let it pass by.
No need to even mention the insane computational powers that appeared at my disposal. Just standing in the lab and staring at an empty point, I solved several equations of insane complexity that were impossible even with fifteen trillion qubits. Now I am power itself... Hahahaha.
'Maybe... Get into biology?' I thought, looking at my fingers. A small wave passed over my hand, reminding me of my body's structure.
'Perhaps I'll create something stronger... Or... Something that complements the nanobots...' And then a crazy idea came to me: organic metal.
Organic metal is... Some part of metal that performs cell duties. It would work great if I had a biological body, but now, it didn't seem important. But still, I decided to try.
I might run into some... Problems. Some of which could lead to my death. It would seem, what can some cell do to me, an organism fully consisting of nanobots? But it can. If I create so-called "living steel" (working name for organic metal), nothing special will happen. But if I add it to my body...
Part of the nanites will simply die, perish, shut down.
My nanobots established perfect quantum connection between each other and with my main quantum chip module. Any change to this quantum coherence (aka perfectly identical waves) will lead to collapse in one part of the organism or the whole body. Simply put, I'll be left as silver sand.
That's just one variant. The second... Living steel will develop faster than me and quickly absorb, taking control of the body. "Gray goo" isn't canceled. My experiments can turn against me.
Also, don't forget about my own emotional state. Lately, I've become cold, logical, and insanely calm. With successful connection to living steel, my mind will stop perceiving itself as "mortal." I'll stop feeling emotions... In short, better not to do this...
But I'll try! Let there be some developments. Maybe I won't reach the cell itself, but developing a working theory is definitely worth it. So in the future, I can repeat what I came up with now.
There's also a possibility, but it's so ghostly. There's one transmigrator (isekai'd), also into a drone, who developed living steel and uses it like it's nothing.
But finding him is quite a task, so this plan goes to the farthest corner. I don't even know how universes are designated.
Approaching the table again, I sat and exhaled. These will be long, mentally straining days.
۞⦰۞
Time passed... I don't know how much. Maybe a week, maybe a month... Maybe just a day. Yes, strange to hear from someone who lived practically alone for twenty years, communicating only with his dangerous winged pet. But now, during this time, I just sat in one place and arranged atoms in order so they repeated a cell.
It wasn't working, at all.
What's this? My insane computational powers can't do something? I'm surprised myself. The number of qubits has become uncountable, considering how many nanobots are in my body, but even so, with the idea generator, I can't do anything.
Am I just lacking experience?
Possibly. I'm not against getting it, but... Nowhere to. People in this world didn't do what I'm doing now. They didn't have enough technology and crazy brains to invent living steel. Though no, maybe someone did, but left it just as theory.
I always have the option to find that isekai'd guy and ask for living steel from him. And not just that. He has [Time Seals] too, which allow accelerating to near-light speed, in exchange for huge energy consumption. But calculating such a number of nuances and energy flow around my body—I simply can't. He himself needed a clone's life and several hundred years under weaker versions of seals to create stronger ones. I have absolutely no ideas how to make them. And I don't need it much yet. I'll deal with it when I leave the world.
Lifting my ass from the chair, by old good tradition—I stretched. Nothing cracked, unfortunately, so scratching my back, I saved my developments in the domain, leaving only a copy here, and headed out of the R&D.
I can't check the time because... My OS was destroyed, if anyone forgot, and creating a new one is a pain. There was an attempt to do it, but the code just burned when I activated it. Can't describe it as anything but "some bullshit."
Already on the porch, looking at the falling snowflakes again and the cloudy sky, I unfolded my wings and, pushing off the field, gracefully took off, pushing the air around me.
Doing a few barrel rolls and loops, regaining control and habit, I headed back to the bunker. After all, it's the main origin place for many events in this world.
I didn't want to spend too much energy, so I immediately accelerated to three Machs and arrived in almost a minute. Then I flew into that very hole in the warehouse ceiling, which for some reason wasn't patched, and landed with a loud thud, making the floor shake a bit.
Retracting wings, I headed deeper into the bunker with a slow step. The chance someone would meet me is quite high. Not that often do I fly into the bunker without warning, like it's my pad and I live in it.
While thinking about this, running toward me was none other than... Khan. In his hand, he held some kind of knife-like thing, clearly intending to handle the threat himself. Unfortunately, there was no threat, and if there was, he probably wouldn't fight me.
Poor drone. Single father, all his colleagues died, now he manages the colony alone and clearly curses that centipede that ate his assistants.
"Where is everyone, Khan?" Without any preamble, I asked, looking into his eyes. Our eyes looked identical, so from others' side, it seemed we were brothers.
Khan blinked a couple times, looked at the corridor behind me, and said:
"They left for camp 98.7 about fifteen minutes ago." The white-eyed one answered, adjusting his mustache on his face. I exhaled. At least I made it to the fourth episode; I just thought I missed it, messing with my damn experiments. Now I was calm. Absolutely calm.
"Thank you." I thanked, opened wings, and just flew down the corridor. I need to catch the bus, at least. At most—overtake. Then I'll have time to get familiar with the situation, since I haven't been to this camp even in those twenty years.
۞⦰۞
It was a beautiful night. Almost all the bunker kids were currently riding to the camp with the strange name—98.7. But no one cared, as almost everyone was immersed in their thoughts. Anticipation and slight excitement hung in the air, reflecting the mood of the robo-teens.
And so, with several sharp jolts, the yellow school bus, like from the twenty-first century, stopped. Its headlights illuminated an old wooden sign, highlighting the camp's name. There was a blizzard outside.
When the doors opened, the kids began literally tumbling out of the bus to be the first to see the place no human foot had stepped in for two decades.
Evergreen trees swayed from the strong wind, sending sounds of shaking branches and mysterious howling around.
Uzi, among these teens, followed her classmates, waiting for the moment she could sneak away quietly and start answering her own questions. Soon, she and all classmates reached a small abandoned building, on whose roof the teacher was already, with an indifferent expression, setting up a lounge chair.
"... what's this excursion for?" Asked one of the teen drones, spreading arms apart. He really didn't like being here. He wore a simple hard hat and had ordinary pale blue eyes.
"Uzi's idea, ask her." The teacher answered, setting up his seating and smoothly sinking into it. It seemed he didn't give a damn about everything happening from a high bell tower.
"Who?" The blue-eyed drone didn't understand, trying to look around.
While the kids tried to figure out why the hell they came here, two predators flying toward them prepared to make an epic appearance, landing and creating a shock wave.
Which they did, of course.
Only a bright yellow flash was visible as two disassembly drone figures—female and male—crashed into the ground at full speed. A pile of snow shot into the air, almost completely blocking the view of the newcomers. Through all these interferences, only the threatening faces of the two disassembly drones could be seen.
"Welcome, campers! Let's sound off! One..." N exclaimed with insane positivity, waving a paper clipboard like helicopter blades. Unfortunately, the dog lover was interrupted in a particularly cruel way.
Another flash occurred, white this time, and another actor appeared in front of the two disassembly drones. His landing alone caused a local earthquake, not to mention the quite noticeable four wings behind his back.
His white eyes were visible through the slowly settling snow, which moved as if in slow motion.
As soon as the snow settled...
"STAND READY FOR MY ARRIVAL, WORMS! GET UP BEFORE I SEPARATE THESE NAIVE HEADS FROM BODIES!" It wasn't hard to guess. It was Ai, who also decided to participate in the "fun" and "engaging" activity called—stalking the kiddos. His pride didn't allow him to come without a plan, so he decided to act like a mix of Conquest and absolutely any Russian general. The effect was killer.
Without any doubt, the bunch of teens quickly lined up in a row, awaiting further orders from their now leader, who scared with his mere presence. Before, they would never believe they'd fear a worker drone more than a disassembly drone. Times have changed.
"Excellent. You know how to listen." The Voidling drawled with a kind smile; something completely bad ignited in his eyes.
"Since you're so good... RUN TEN... NO! TWENTY LAPS AROUND THESE BUILDINGS! DON'T DARE STOP!" When he finished speaking, the last student had already disappeared around the corner of the abandoned building. Ai was pleased with his work, so he turned to N and V, saying:
"That's how you work with youth, you pieces of tin. I'm saying right away, I'm doing this of my own will, so go execute your plans; honestly, I don't care about you." He waved his hand and appeared on the roof with one powerful jump. Glancing at the ignoring teacher, the drone simply lay on the roof, waiting for his dear vict... Students to finish the light jog.
POV Ai
Yeah. It was hard not to notice how V started trembling at the sight of my cheerful mug. At first, I didn't quite understand why. Understanding hit me only now; I promised her a continuation of tortures back at the gala but conveniently forgot. And she probably remembered everything and fearfully awaited what I'd do to her.
Psychological pressure is also a good torture... So let her think doom will come from my magnificent persona; worse for her. For me, I just don't want to dirty my hands.
About twenty minutes passed before the victims finished the small marathon. None looked tired; they're drones, after all. But they can be trained, physically and mentally. For example, the same archery (for some reason wooden) allows calibrating their vision accuracy. And if under my command... Heh-heh-heh...
"So, gentlemen drones!" I announced my presence. Everyone immediately froze and stopped their conversations, slowly raising heads toward me. I stood on the roof in a teapot pose, hands on lower back.
"Your task: take those bows." I pointed to a small basket with the aforementioned item and arrows.
"Line up in a queue and start shooting at the target." I pointed to the target standing among bushes, about fifty meters from the student bunch.
"Each miss will count as a mistake for ALL. So ALL will get a personal slap from me." While their zeros instead of eyes widened from realizing whose hands they fell into, I was already calculating the profit from such training. Each of my slaps will quietly rewrite them not only in terms of software but physically. For a moment, I'll take control of the nanobots inside their bodies responsible for regeneration and quietly restructure them.
After fixing my sister, I'll leave this world. As I said before. Now it seems the left technologies are simply not enough, so I decided to gift this world some good Warriors or scientists, as the slaps will also affect their knowledge base. Need to get them out of boiled shrimp state.
The students reluctantly fulfilled my wishes and began their training. I didn't specify exactly where to hit so I wouldn't give a slap, so after a few minutes, the target was almost fully studded with arrows.
Now it was the turn of the glasses girl with pigtails, Emily, I think. Drawing the string, she closed one eye and stuck out her tongue, aiming. A few seconds later, she released the string; the arrow sliced the air and... Missed. Well, time to hand out beatings!
Jumping off the roof, I waved my hand a couple times, supposedly checking its functionality. Only I did it so fast that loud sonic boom claps could be heard. The students' faces filled with horror.
"Why so? I'm 'kind' uncle Ai. I won't hurt you. If you don't give me a reason..." I approached one of them and delivered one elegant but powerful strike right to the nape. A loading symbol appeared on the drone's display, and some time later, he recovered, looking as if nothing happened.
"That wasn't so bad as it seemed before..." He said, turning his head left and right, doing a simple neck warm-up. The plot twist is he didn't know this exercise. This exercise was uploaded by me during the strike.
"You heard him! Line up! No pushing!
Over the next few minutes, I handed out slaps to all the unfortunates, quietly rewriting their code and restructuring the body. As soon as my slap-giving event ended, I returned to the roof, observing everything again.
After my small act of teaching by whip and whip, the students started hitting significantly closer to the center, and some individuals managed to split someone else's arrow.
But at some point, someone distracted a drone whose turn it was to shoot, and the arrow flew in a completely different direction, deviating by a couple dozen degrees. Some tree got a new branch.
With a collective sigh, the whole horde of students raised their eyes to me, awaiting punishment. And I was only glad. I was also glad that V was watching me train the kiddos and possibly even understood what I was doing, and that she was the only one who experienced something close to what I'm doing now. Only without physical changes.
I was just about to give a slap when a landing sound interrupted me. Turning, I met eyes with a worried N, who nervously fidgeted with his fingers and uncomfortably looked around. I exhaled.
"What happened?" I asked, barely holding back my disappointment. He wouldn't approach me for nothing?
"I... L-lost Uzi..." He admitted, lowering his head. I narrowed my eyes. And this is a fucking killing machine? Hello! You have thermal vision, super-accurate terrain and texture sensors! With them, it's so hard to find fucking tracks?! I was literally crying inside. Why give so many capabilities to someone who doesn't know how to use them. And he does know how to use them, just lacks search understanding. Though in the original, he did it much better. That's AU for you, fuck. I got a dumb one.
I slowly turned my head toward the forest and met display to display with the individual with purple eyes, who was clearly trying to make herself an invisible ninja.
Noticing my gaze, she faltered and came out of her hiding. Well, me? Decided to speed up the plot development process.
Picking up a stone lying on the snow, I tossed it a couple times and threw it right at Uzi with clockwork precision, aiming at the display. The reaction followed immediately. The purple power of the Absolute Solver grabbed the stone and began variously altering it, eventually turning the stone into a puddle of living flesh. Spreading over the snow.
While I examined this piece of meat from afar with vivisector interest, Uzi managed to babble something and escape into the forest. Why did I do this? Need to let Uzi feel how control over her body no longer belongs to her.
She'll need it. In the near future.
Turning back to the students, I demonstratively waved my hand again. They all flinched.
But again, something didn't let me carry out my will. V emerged from her hiding and began exchanging phrases with N... And bullets... That wasn't in the original. The conversation, whose object was Uzi, quickly escalated into a full shootout. I just rolled my eyes. Whatever the child amuses itself with, as long as it doesn't cry. Well, they'll make a few unnecessary holes in each other; it won't make them hot or cold.
No doubt after the shootout ends, everything will get back on canon tracks. I'd even bet if there was something to bet. Just need to wait until all this horror ends; don't want to interfere.
Under the noise of the total shootout, I teleported to the students. Twirling my hand, I began issuing blows to the head one after another, even more restructuring their body structure and brains. After this, probably, they'll all hit the target's center, which is what I need.
When I delivered the last blow, the shootout ended with what that small canon confrontation ended—mutual retreat. N and V stared at each other for a few more minutes until they looked at me. After a short staring contest with both representatives of the "Disassembly Drone" race, they both unfolded wings and flew in different directions, as if nothing happened. Only this time, I felt like I was screwed somewhere.
Turning to the students, with excessive positivity bursting from my act of a kind teacher, I exclaimed:
"Well, my dears! Let's go to the frozen lake! We'll make a campfire there with... Batteries!" I pulled my hands from behind my back and showed the drones a bunch of batteries I created literally a second before. But better they don't know that.
And... We headed to the frozen lake. I wasn't lying when I said that, and also... Such student placement is convenient for me. Because the maddened Uzi will eventually find them resting here and start total slaughter. Or try to start. I'll make her attempts to kill my students look pathetic and useless. But at the same time... I'll hold back. I'll need her still.
A few minutes later, we slowly walked onto the lake. While everyone else tried not to slip, I calmly walked forward, completely ignoring such a small hindrance as reduced friction. And yet, I wasn't in a hurry.
"Um... Teacher... Ai? Isn't it too early for a picnic? It's only midnight and all..." I heard a question from the drone whose head was always on fire in canon, Braiden. This question made me think a bit. And really, why did I schedule the picnic so early?... Yes, I didn't arrange the boat riding moment, but... Though?...
"Al-right! Do a 180-degree turn and go get boats! Now we'll train your body balance! You can thank Braiden later for reminding me of the time." The gazes of all classmates immediately drilled into the poor drone with a now not-burning head, who shrank from such a reaction and tried not to stand out, while digital sweat drops flowed on his display.
We approached the pile of boats stacked on each other on the shore. More precisely, I approached, as I turned my boots into skates and calmly rolled, performing impossible pirouettes along the way. Good to have absolute control over my body.
A minute later, the students approached too, quietly wondering where I got the skates. Company secret. Fuck them, not nanobot bodies.
"The conditions are simple. You need to take a boat, WITH ONE HAND, lift it over your head, and position it parallel to you, standing in a T-Pose." Explaining the basics, I looked at the drones. My eyes immediately caught the depressing picture of total incomprehension, where almost everyone scratched their nape, trying to process my task. Exhaling, I decided to show in practice.
Approaching one boat, I lifted it from the ground (it weighed several hundred kilograms), raised it over my head, and left it like that. Both bows of the boat pointed to my sides, not turning a degree. The hand I held this crap with was right in the middle, keeping the boat in neutral equilibrium.
Waiting until the students finally realize their stupidity and understand what I require, I turned and put the boat back. Turning back to face the students, I said:
"Dropping the boat on the ice will also be punished. Only I'll hit harder, and accordingly, more painfully." As proof of my words, I approached one of the trees, jumping over the boats before, and stroked its frozen bark. Stretching my hand again, I swung and hit the tree, giving it a solid slap. The genetically modified trunk couldn't withstand such tension and broke at the impact site. The tree falling on me I caught with my hand and, like nothing, threw it aside. Its trunk could be encircled by three people.
The students, seeing what could happen to their bodies from lack of desire to learn, immediately rushed to the pile of boats.
Here I decided to check not only their ability to maintain balance but also to listen and extract information. Not for nothing did I say "Dropping the boat on the ice." If they figure it out, they'll officially pass my test. Because standing on ice isn't necessary.
Watching the pathetic attempts of the students gave me pleasure right up to the moment when... Emily stood out again. I don't know about her school grades, but one thing I can say—she figured out the hidden subtext quite quickly.
The girl took a boat and lifted it over her head (everyone remembers that a worker drone (colonization) can lift up to 600 kilograms?). Taking a few steps, she left the frozen lake and ended up on snow, starting to walk in circles.
Other drones noticed her actions too and began slowly shifting toward her, sharing space on the snowy ground cover. A few minutes later, the whole crowd of students stood on the ground holding boats over their heads. I smiled. And they're not as bad as I thought earlier. Though okay, I added intelligence to them when giving blows, but didn't think this method would work so well.
I jumped off the tree branch I climbed after explaining and demonstrating consequences, and began clapping, though it sounded like two metal plates colliding. But still, it served its role.
"And you're good. Figured it out." I smiled and approached closer.
"If you hadn't figured it out, I'd make you walk on the lake for several hours. But I'm glad you turned out smarter than I initially expected." I turned and looked at the ice stretching to the horizon. Well, to the horizon, to the nearest mountains. Snapping my fingers, I continued.
"I'm promoting you from 'Worms' to 'Insects.' You can throw the boats." Behind my back immediately sounded a crash and someone's groans, which quickly stopped as soon as I turned my head slightly toward them.
"And now—please rest. I'm too lazy to think up something new for you. You're not worthy yet." I said and went in a completely random direction, waiting for the continuation of this quite stubborn plot. No matter how I break it—in 80 out of 100 cases, it returns to place. So... Waiting for the individual with leather wings and purple Absolute Solver on her face.
Some time later, I stood in the center of the frozen lake. Assuming a meditation pose, I redirected all powers of my body, more precisely nanobots with their chips, and powers of my own head to understanding and simulating physics.
Even without these powers, I managed to create a Generator that produces over twenty gigajoules of energy per second! That's much more than Stark's with his cold fusion reactor. And what if I connect all my powers to this? Right now, I'm answering this question, trying to "hack" physical laws using nothing but themselves.
In these few seconds of computations and simulations, several ideas came to me. First, as a proud Linux user, I need to get rid of everything unnecessary in my body. Useless systems, peripherals, and so on. One of these useless systems is... Wings. As strange as it sounds, four wings granting me flight are currently considered useless and... Outdated. Why? The answer is simple. I came up with my own antigravity method that won't require intermediaries to work.
I didn't even get to use these beautiful silver metal pieces much before coming up with something better and more efficient. And the energy consumption of my method was... Significantly lower, and it gave me quite high speed. Can't say exactly, but about twenty Machs for sure.
Don't forget what will perfectly dock with such flight speed—inertia. Unfortunately, if I fly at such speed, walls will become my best friends, though I can pass through them. And to solve the braking problem, I came up with... Zero inertia.
Simply put, nanobots perform many small displacements and instantly absorb kinetic energy. The colossal amount of heat released during instant stop is accordingly stored inside my body and slowly distributed either to attacking capabilities or to the domain. Full cooling time takes about ten seconds.
With such "brakes," my braking distance will equal zero. Since the stop will be instant and inevitable. Air resistance problems can be solved later, certainly after I apply the changes to myself.
Back to flight. With its help, I'll be able to farm even more aura (which I love to do), and also command gravity... Within my body. I'll be able to change the ultimate pressure gradient and create a local antigravity field that will be an anomaly among ordinary physics. Nanobots will induce an effect similar to gravity, without requirements for huge body mass.
I simply wouldn't have time to upgrade myself. It would seem, huge computational powers, think all you want. But no. I sat like that for several hours, trying to solve randomly created physical equations that didn't align with my future concepts of self-upgrades that I'll perform in another world.
Each such equation took several hundred million symbols, and the further I progressed, the more complex they became...
Exponentially...
By the first million symbols, it was already getting difficult for me. By the second, I could no longer solve them. I hadn't even reached the third million symbols. Apparently, even my current computational powers can't process something like that.
And I wasn't too lazy to calculate how much computational power I actually have. The results were... amusing.
I have approximately 10^54 nanobots in my body. Each such nanobot has 1.5 times 10^15 qubits.
Let's take the nanobots as variable M, and the qubits as variable N. Here's what we get...
The product of the number of qubits in each nanite and the number of nanobots will be Q. Therefore, Q = (10^54) times (1.5 times 10^15). This means Q equals 1.5 times 10^69 (following the property of exponents).
That is the number of qubits inside my body at the moment. I agree, the quantity is enormous, but I haven't yet calculated the most important part—the number of processable states. It grows exponentially depending on the quantum computer's power. I can denote it as S. In that case, S = 2^(1.5 times 10^69). And as I know, this is greater than the number of atoms in the visible and invisible universe! This number is so huge that I can't fit it into any file. And yet... it's not enough.
I can't solve those insane equations with millions—if not billions—of symbols. As strange as it sounds, my computational powers have a limit, and the closer it gets, the harder it is for me to think. For now, I won't apply the antigravity and zero-inertia changes to myself. There's a chance I'll lose consciousness again and miss the meeting with the maddened Uzi. So, for now, I'll have to remain a bit weak.
Speaking of Uzi. Speak of the devil... Yes. Timely. Definitely timely.
I shot out of my focused state and looked toward a small snowy hill. On its top stood threateningly one individual with purple eyes and hair, moving wings in time with her core's beat. The Absolute Solver sign stretched over her whole face... Said a lot.
I'd be calm if she wasn't now signing a death warrant for MY students. Though I haven't grown attached to them, there's certain faith in them. After all, I played teacher for several hours. And a teacher's duty is to protect students. So... I didn't hold back.
Unfolding four wings, I instantly exceeded six Machs and immediately appeared in front of the bunch of drones that managed to make a campfire and start roasting batteries while I sat in meditation pose.
Turning, I smiled threateningly and, using electromagnetism that I had to summon on pure will and energy, repelled the Absolute Solver attack that threatened to reduce Braiden's head to atom size. If the torch-drone died, I'd be very offended.
Looking at Uzi's twisted face, I mirrored her bloodthirsty smile and shouted:
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY STUDENTS, BITCH!" With such a battle cry, I rushed forward, delivering the first blow of this battle.
POV Third Person (Time for a fight!)
Ai didn't stand on ceremony. And with his battle cry, he appeared right in front of the unprepared drone girl. Cocking his fist, he ordered the nanobots to rearrange so it became perfectly rigid and heavy. As soon as that was done, the attack met Uzi's display. The screen shattered into smithereens, as did part of the head too; the girl flew back a hundred meters, collecting a dozen trees along the way. As soon as she slowed, the wings pierced the ground and forcibly braked her body, creating two long furrows.
This blow, like Uzi's short flight itself, scattered the snow around, leaving bare ground.
But the girl... She didn't care about that. Her face began rapidly regenerating, and a few seconds later, she stood like new, looking at Ai not with threat but with fear.
Weighing pros and cons, she pulled her wings from the ground and immediately took off, trying to escape the battlefield as fast as possible. Ai watched this with satisfaction and confusion.
Exhaling, he drew his sword and slowly walked in the approximate direction of the opponent's landing, calmly humming a song known only to him:
~I am the storm that is approaching~~Provoking black clouds in the isolation~
He knew roughly what could happen next. Uzi might meet V. A battle will ensue, and the second, in a fairly equal fight, will lose and end up nearly killed by her own tail. Since Ai saved the students and directly said they are HIS students, Uzi won't dare attack them, having seen his power; she's unlikely to return. For Ai, all this is a magnificent advantage he's not against using. Killing Uzi isn't in his plans.
"Intimidate her? Nah... She's already scared by my blow. Only N can return her to adequate state... Well, and me too. So, need to arrange their meeting, and possibly help." He thought, walking through the night forest. The sword in his hand cut through all obstacles like a hot knife through butter, as soon as it touched any kind of matter, be it organic or not.
A few minutes of night atmosphere and endless snow crunch underfoot later, he finally emerged into a clearing, greeted by the already expected picture. Uzi's total domination over V.
The little individual's leather wings, though... leather, could calmly deflect bullets. With the Absolute Solver, she threw back missiles and toyed with V's severed limbs like additional weapons, showering the poor light-haired girl with attacks. Her condition was much worse than in the original story. Just remember the severed limbs.
Ai decided to intervene.
"Ladies. You wouldn't tell me... Where's the toilet here?" He asked innocently, emerging from the forest's darkness, holding his weapon at ready. And the quote from the good old "Adventures of Shurik," Soviet times—was commonplace for him. Or... Commonplace for the mask he wore right now.
The battle froze. Both sides slowly turned heads toward the voice. In the four eyes of these two girls read horror and denial of reality.
One he tortured, forcing her to experience total overheating and fear for life for two hundred years.
The second was scared by his power. And it seemed to her that wasn't even all he could show.
They didn't answer his question, as they were too shocked.
"No toilet? Okay. Anyway, I wasn't looking for it." His light smile turned insane again, and eyes shrank to small dots.
A few moments later, he stood next to Uzi, whose eyes slowly widened. She was so scared that the Absolute Solver lost control over her body for a second.
Grabbing Uzi by the scruff, Ai spun and with tremendous force launched her into the stratosphere, at a speed exceeding sound as a concept. The clearing was covered with snow from the supersonic shock wave.
Already somewhere in the sky, one dumb disassembly drone named N, who just emerged from an old cabin with possible answers to questions about his memories, immediately noticed his beloved flying into the sky at tremendous speed. Without thinking long, he began pursuit after her, while Ai calmly stood on the ground and smiled, as V trembled in fear not far from him.
POV Ai
Some time later...
Anyway, I had to assemble V piece by piece, not someone else. You can't imagine the face she looked at me with when I suddenly began shoving her limbs where they should be. Regeneration quickly took over and almost instantly sewed the pieces in place. My task was only to hand them to the owner.
Seems after this small repair session, the disassembly drone stopped fearing me as much as before. Seems.
Still, don't forget I literally tortured her when she killed people dear to me. I said earlier I'd keep her in fear all this time while she lives in this world. I wasn't lying, what. Despite her attitude toward me softening a bit, when I left, she continued warily looking around, expecting my return with another perverted way of destroying someone's mind.
During the repair, we didn't say a word.
After all that, I headed back to the bus. Under the shocked gaze of... The driver? Cowboy? Unclear. I climbed onto the roof and sat next to him, waiting for the imminent dawn on this planet. The drone looked at me for a few more seconds and turned; after a while, he offered me a pack of cigarettes.
I never got into smoking. Not in my past life for sure. Though it was a bit unusual, but not into it. And now... I'm practically immortal, so sin not to try something new.
I pulled out a cigarette and shocked the driver once more. A flame ignited on my fingertip and lit the cigarette, which I immediately inhaled. I didn't even have to put on my cheerful mask again; the smile spread across my face as I savored the tastiest smoke in my life.
Soon the driver joined me, using his old-fashioned gasoline lighter with flint and plastic body.
We smoked like that for another seven or eight minutes. And after that, all students began gathering at the bus, looking at the blissed-out me and the old man with questions in their eyes. Questions I won't answer.
What was also surprising for this world, no one died today! I'm good; I saved everyone. Not that it was an act of heroism; I just don't like when someone harms my THINGS. I don't deny that students are nothing more than things to me, but I'm ready to kill for them.
The last came Uzi with N and V. The first looked at my towering figure with admiration, as if I hadn't beaten her half an hour earlier.
Five minutes later, we were already driving on snowy forest roads, while giant trees flew past us. I enjoyed this moment, enjoyed something in life.
As soon as we left the forest, I saluted the driver, unfolded wings, and took off, heading back to my favorite research institute. I hadn't yet made the aforementioned upgrades to myself. So, need to catch up on missed.