{"sf1_id":886992,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Victernus - Chapter 11","author":"Nazca","words":1244,"posted_at":"2015-07-16T12:03:00.000Z","tags":["Cybernetics","Mind uploading","Science","Transformation","War","Werewolf","Wolf","apocalypse","corruption","dystopia","implants","tf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/886992-victernus-chapter-11","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/886992","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=886992\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n            A lone, beaten-up drone limped\nthrough the air alone. Its innards had degraded from a life of use and abandonment,\ncausing its power to flicker now and then. A blue, holographic light floated\njust beneath the machine, giving it the illusion of burning fuel. Two miniature\nfusion cannons were attached to the sides - only one still functioning\nproperly. It hovered quickly and slightly lopsided, but it did not waver from\nthe ancient base code that kept it searching for intruders to capture.\n            The once-great treasures of a highly\nadvanced race lay in heaps of rubble, slowly being retaken by plant life.\nAnimals roamed the lands unafraid of the drone, having encountered neither it\nnor its creators. Sometimes they would look up, unsure of what was passing over\nthem, but they never ran. They hadn't been hunted by such things for many\ngenerations.\nA small glitch ran through it, causing it to fall\nseveral feet. The system was degrading slowly. Errors skittered through its\npropulsion system and the surrounding areas, shutting them off temporarily.\nBut, as it fell, an anomaly appeared under the hard metallic shell. FALLING... FALLING...! REVERSE! STOP THIS! Before\nit hit the ground, it stabilized and the anomaly disappeared. \n            Regaining normality, the drone\nhummed along the roads of its former masters, scanning for life. Wherever it\ntraveled, the only things it could find were miles of crumbling asphalt and houses\nthat were worn down or destroyed. Scanning them was an unfruitful act, but\nrequired nonetheless. It could not go against its programming and slack off or\ngive up. It was a machine.\n            As it made its way into the dense\nremains of a city, it kept its lenses open and it heat sensors on. Trees had\nalready taken over some of the buildings, which had severe cracks running\nthrough them. At this rate, if nothing was found in this new place, the chances\nof ever finding humans would be almost zero. However, while it looked on,\nsomething new caught its lens.\n---\n            Namara ran hurriedly from building\nto building, trying to find traces of life. He stepped through another door to\nsee the same imagery from most of the buildings he had visited before. Thick\nlayers of dust covered the furniture. The table in the dining room had plates\nset out and pots in the center, as if a family was about to sit down to eat.\nThe chairs were still pushed in. The area was mostly clean, aside from the\ndust. Whoever lived there must have left in a hurry.\n            Disturbed, Namara turned to leave\nand then heard an electric humming nearby. He walked out into the street and\nsaw a small drone approaching him from the sky. Relieved, he waited for it to\narrive. It was the only sign of human life he had seen since waking.\n            The drone hovered in front of Namara\nand proceeded to circle around him, attempting to analyze what it was seeing.\nIt stopped in front of him and a cold, robotic voice emerged, \"Identify!\"\n            He did not hesitate, speaking in his\ndeep, rough werewolf voice that was tinged with a Spanish accent, \"Namara\nGalvarros.\"\n            The drone searched its database\nbriefly and then continued, \"Only one instance of 'Namara Galvarros': deceased\nJune fifth, 2038 in a lab raid. He was a utopian extremist and the leader of a\nterrorist organization known as 'Victernus.'\"\n            Namara shook his head, \"I didn't\ndie. I got away.\" He smiled, \"I became a wolf,\" but then raised an eyebrow,\n\"Utopian extremist? What's that supposed to mean? And... it was Affictus, not\nVicternus.\"\n            \"Updating database: Namara Galvarros\nmissing-in-action until June sixth...\"\n            He frowned, \"June sixth?\"\n            \"...2203.\"\n            His eyes widened in disbelief,\n\"What?!\"\n            It remained unmoved, \"Orders resume:\nEscort the prisoner to New Selania for rehabilitation. Address this unit as\nHex-AI from here on.\"\n            Namara growled, \"Wait! What happened\nto Af...uh...Victernus?\"\n            Hex replied, \"Members of Victernus\nwere presumed dead after the Great Collapse of 2047. Casualties: approximately\nsixteen billion. Survivors: 12,385. Now, follow.\" Still facing him, the drone\nmoved along the street towards the train station.\nNamara stepped forward in astonishment and trailed\nbehind it. Wow... Twelve thousand! I guess\nthey finally got what was coming to them... or, some of them at least... His\nthoughts ventured back to his friends. There's\nno way that they could have allowed themselves to be captured.\nWhile he followed, he tried to avoid places where\nthe pavement had split. Tall grasses sprouted out of the holes, reminding him\nof how finite everything that was human could be. When he was younger, a\nstruggle raged in him over whether anything should be built up at all. Because\nhe was born with a few neurological impairments, the human tendency to want to\nachieve anything in life wasn't\nhammered into him from the start. Whenever he had too many things in his life,\nhe couldn't handle it well. If it became too much, he would revert back to\n\"zero.\" However, when he found what he came to call the Koanthanatus, it never\nwent away. Finding something that he truly wanted was colossal for him.\nEverything else stemmed out of it. He was still quite simple - there wasn't\nmuch else that he actually did want -\nbut what he found cast him so far away from what was considered natural that\nsome said he was misguided and naïve. But, he felt likewise about them.\nWhen Namara came to the foot of the station, he\nstopped and examined the steps. I came\ndown these just the other day... While he thought to himself, one of the\ndrone's internal timers went off and caused it to fire a warning shot past him.\nHe jumped, startled from the noise, and then gazed up the steps to see the\ndrone hovering in the terminal. \"What was that for?!\" he exclaimed.\nHex voiced, \"No time for breaks. Keep following. A\nstorm is coming.\"\nNamara sighed and climbed up the stairs, navigating\naround a massive crack in the middle. Reaching the top, he saw that the drone\nwas already waiting for him inside the giant transparent tube. He shook his\nhead and entered the dark terminal, \"I guess the train doesn't work?\"\nHex agreed, \"Selanians have no use for it. It was\nnever repaired. The tube remains mostly intact.\"\nHe stopped at the edge of the tube and peered in.\nUnlike last time, there was very little wind passing through the entrance.  He would have to run beside the air vents on\nthe bottom. Sitting and preparing to slide down, he grimaced, \"That's too bad.\nHow far do we have to go?\"\nThe drone replied unemotionally, \"1489.06 miles from\nDenver Ruins to New Selania.\"\nNamara lowered his eyes, \"I thought as much...\"\nShaking his head, he slid down to the air vents, \"I guess we'd better get\nstarted then!\" Things just get better\nevery moment...\nWhen the drone began to traverse the long tube,\nNamara looked down at his feet. I've\nnever actually run in this form before. Who would have thought that the first\ntime would be like this? He bent down, pressing his hands to the cold,\nmetallic floor. I guess it doesn't matter.\nIf Mahalia's still waiting on the other end, that's good enough for me.\nAfter taking a few deep breaths, he charged forward on all fours and raced\nafter the drone.\n","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/883025-victernus-chapter-10.json"}