Change of Perspective Page 8
#9 of Change of Perspective
It appears Kirisha has just realized things aren't the same anymore
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Faster, faster, Kirisha made her way through ruins, underbrush, taking whatever cover, she can. The hum of geth drones fly over head as she stays low to the ground. Waiting for them to pass, for ground patrols to move through before pressing forward, "I've never seen so many geth patrols before. Attacking their facility must have really angered them," Kirisha figures as she presses forward. Her concern for not only avoiding the geth, but avoiding her so-called 'allies' has pushed her to take a long route not on any of the planned retreat paths, making sure that the likelihood of running into one of Xenari's soldiers is minimal at best.
Kirisha looks around as she notes there is only an hour of daylight at best, "I better find a place to make camp. I need to find some water, I haven't had any in almost two days. I'm so dehydrated I don't even feel thirsty, that can't be good," Kirisha thinks as she finds an abandoned mining complex. A glow comes from parts of the giving an eerie feel, as she looks at the structure for a moment in wonder and awe, "The previous owners of this planet were something," she thinks as she catches in the distance a faint reflection caused by the glow of the machines. The sky has darkened considerably over the last hour, partly in due to the sun going down, and due to rain clouds, that are gathering overhead.
"Water!" Kirisha exclaims as she rushes over to the sizable pond. Plant life surrounds the water, some stalks jut from the water, "Its stagnant but better than nothing," Kirisha says to herself as she drops the weapon and reaches for a drink. The water's smooth surface and as she reaches to cup her hand into the water she stops cold. Her feet sink into the muddy side as she pulls back and adjusts herself to a large near the water's edge. She reaches to the water, cupping her hands together as she pulls a small pool of water in her hands. She stops, tenses looking at a small reflection of a geth headlight in the water. She stops and turns around to see nothing behind her. Slowly turning back around as she sees a larger reflection of a geth sitting at the water's edge.
"No, no this can't be right. I am seeing things. Hallucinating. Or maybe there really was one behind me!" Kirisha thinks as she turns around, her optics whirl as she focuses on the world around her. Her protect plates of her head adjust slightly showing her befuddled mind as she thinks... processes the data presented before her. Twice she looked, twice there was nothing, there is no other explanation.
"How is this possible? How could I not notice?" she asks herself as she continues to process the information. She looks at the water, her hand reaching forward about to break the surface of the water as a sound reaches her, "dink, dink, dink," as raindrops hit across her form. Kirisha looks up for a moment as one rain drop hits square on her optic, blurring her vision till it closes and opens cleaning off the water, allowing her to see clearly once again.
"Is this why I was shot? I look like them, but clearly, I am different in mind and body. Geth are countless programs, working together to form higher intelligence. I am just... me. Or I think I am me," she says as she dips her tail into the water, unable to feel the cool water but able to determine the water is cooler than the surrounding air around her. Her mind processes the information, the questions, going faster and faster, processing thoughts, ideas, concerns, worries that would have normally taken her days, weeks, months, maybe even years to confront in minutes.
"That room. I clearly remember being myself there. Afterwards I felt strange, I feel like I do now. Now that I look back at my memories. From that point on, they are clear. It's all data, data I have stored. I recall every second, I see myself as a geth, but I did not register it? Why? It wasn't relevant. Escape was my priority, was my goal. Survival from my enemies, those who threatened me. So, I didn't process the data about what I was, what I looked like. It was not in question. So, I did not process it. Fascinating.... But what do I do now? Who do I talk to? How am I going to explain to my sister that I'm a synthetic?" she processed as she continued to study and look over herself, looking at her reflection, working to grasp the full details of her body, and the damage she took from her would be rescuers when they shot her.
Geth
The geth were scrambling, searching, following the paths of where the organics retreated, trying their best to find their missing platform and the program that was part of it. Any and all information was funneled back to the main hub, where millions of geth programs worked out the problem, figuring out based on the data, the countless perspectives, what needs to be done to resolve the problem.
"There should have been a tracking device installed into platform 141895112. This would have prevented this even from happening," thinks a few million programs.
"We could have not foreseen a newly processed platform and geth program of departing before necessary upgrades could be applied," retorts several more million geth programs.
"We predict platform 141895112 and accompanying program will come to a flawed conclusion and attempt to contact the organics for aid. It does not realize it is not complete, that its purpose is greater than what it once was."
"Waiting for platform 141895112 to contact the organics is dangerous. The organics are most likely to destroy platform 141895112 and progress on our project will be lost."
"The heretics path with the old machines is flawed. They have already lost a lot of geth to the organics through their ever-increasing hostilities. Its making acquiring resources for further advancement difficult. We'll have to act quickly if we are to recover the missing platform 141895112."
"Acknowledged, but with limited resources it be ill-advised to risk more platforms and geth to locating platform 141895112 in the traditional matter. We estimate platform 14185112's program 1191891981 is the equivalent of 1,928 geth programs. It has knowledge on how to avoid our detection. Waiting is the best option," responds millions of geth as the conversation happens at one would say 'the speed of light'.
Organic Base
Rheme leaves Mila's personal quarters and as she does she is greeted by a friendly face, a soft blue furred anthropomorphic feline. He smiles at Rheme as he says in a soft yet masculine voice, "How did she take the news?" The blue feline sways side to side as he stands there, his hands clenched together as he looks down to the ground.
"As well as one could expect Azreith. Everyone is pretty shaken up over what happened. Xenari is debating of scrapping the mission altogether with this," Rheme replies as Azreith's tail flicks, his ears fold back.
"What? This is more reason to push on! We can't have their sacrifices go in vain. We can save lives with what we discover her. We've already learned so much about geth structures and how they function. According to Kirisha's work, there are even hints that these geth may be acting different from the geth that attacked the citadel last year."
"I know, I know. Every scientist here technically has the final say if we stay or go, but if a spectre pulls out, you think our protection will stay, and without protection we'd have no choice to leave," Rheme explains.
"I know... I just know Kirisha wouldn't have wanted us to stop over one hiccup. You think I should go in and?"
"No, she needs time," Rheme replies as Azreith's nods.
"I understand," Azreith replies as he lowers his head.