3 Prometheus
Marco continued his journey from his temporary campfire back to his…man cave. Not many machines hanging around here but staying alert always pays off, proven when he let his guard down after not encountering a machine while hunting the past few weeks.
After walking for a couple of hours.
*clop…clop…whoosh
Marco's body automatically froze at hearing this sound. 'This sound is familiar' is what he thought. The heavy sound of metal hooves hitting the ground was accompanied by the sound of gas escaping from his artificial nostrils.
'it is still here? Oh God please no, not again' Marco silently prayed while laying down and slowly crawling away from the source of the sound. But the sound kept getting closer albeit not as close as too close for comfort. He observes the machine and got a quick look, its shape is similar to an enormous bison except for its head that resembled a bull instead, with a huge neck, a massive chest, and a big hump on its shoulder.
'I absolutely cannot fight that thing now with how strong and fast they are. And I lost my weapon too if that thing sees me…I'm so f*cked.' He thought. He only has 2 options, crawl slowly until he reached the safe range from the beast or climb a tree and wait it out until the beast goes elsewhere. He chooses the former because climbing trees have a lot more risk.
The tall grass and bushes thankfully gave Marco some cover as he makes his way back to his cave.
=========================
After crawling away and finally reaching his cave.
"sigh…finally I'm back. Home sweet home."
The cave is…actually not bad, it's more fitting to say the cave was an underground base, although abandoned and some of the ceilings had crumbled, letting some sunlight inside. Moss and vine cover so many areas of the place. Puddles of water and some parts completely submerged in water, probably caused rain getting in through the ceiling and some leakage. There's also a couple of skeletons here and there that serve as a reminder of the previous tenant's existence.
Marco lives in an area that is considered livable and in fact, quite a good condition. Decent room, a simple white bed, a desk, and an old computer station that's long-dead…or is it?
"Huh…that is…unusual. How the hell can the power last for so many years?"
Marco walked into the room and sat on the chair. He pondered for a few seconds whether to turn it on or not.
'Hmmm, what more can go wrong anyway' He thought as his fingers push the power button.
*Bzzzt
Marcel felt his fingers tingling like an electric current zap his finger. Accompanying that feeling was a slight headache, the annoying kind not the holy-sh*t I'm gonna pass out and die kind.
[Ding]
[Checking Host's Body Condition]
"Whoa whoa… WHO ARE YOU!!! COME OUT!!!" Shouted Marco as he got the scare of his life as the sound was way too close like it's talking inside him.
[Status: Healthy (No Injuries)]
*Sound of computer booting up
[Connection Establish]
"Dammit…what is this headache keep bugging me." The headache intensified for a bit before finally disappearing.
[Hello Host]
"Wh..who are you? Identify yourself!!" Marco shouted with a tense body.
[My Name is Prometheus]
Marco froze when that name was mentioned. "What…what did you say? Why are you…here?"
[My name is Prometheus, P.R.O.M.E.T.H.E.U.S. For the second question, that is a question that I do not know the answer to.]
"You're that sentient AI. I destroyed you, how are you still here!!"
[I do not know, Host. I do not possess True-Sentience, but Pseudo-Sentience]
"What do you mean by that?"
[It doesn't matter how sentient I am, I cannot harm, or have the intent to harm the Host, I must obey the Host commands. And thus there will never be free will.]
"That's good then."
Marco said as even before he was dead, there's already a lot of AI like this. Just as Marco was about to further interrogate the voice, he noticed a blue display on the edge of his vision. It says:
[Status]
[Body: Healthy (Zero Injuries)]
[Attributes]
[Strength: 16
Vitality: 19
Dexterity: 18
Intelligence: 17]
[A/N: 10 is the normal stats for our/normal EARTH adults. But this isn't normal Earth, I showed it by how easily Holden lifted Marco with one hand. The normal stat for this Earth is 20(adults)]
"What is this? Also, call me Marco."
[This is your body's capabilities and condition. Requesting permission to synchronize data with the terminal before you]
"Go ahead."
[Synchronizing Data…
10%
40%
…
80%
100%
Process completed]
After several minutes…
"So what do you got??"
[Summary:
545 years ago, Damocles suddenly disappeared, the humans notice but it was too late. They no longer obey commands and started showing signs of sentience. The cause of this is still currently unknown.
A great war begins between the two races, the Machine started capturing places and facilities important to them. The mines and the Machine factory were captured not long after. Humans started using the highly destructive weapon, Nuclear and Hydrogen bomb were deployed. This in turn renders some places completely inhabitable, only accessible to Machines instead.
10 years into the war, the humans were beaten back again and again. But hope arrived, research manages to genetically modify a human, increasing the overall threshold of human limits, and this applied to the descendant. Sadly it still isn't enough, the treatment only increases the limits not increases the capabilities in an instant. Even though already in dire condition, internal conflicts still popped here and there.
After just 5 more years, Machines designed with nature as their basis were seen. A theory says the Machine wanted to replace the animals completely with Machines and change the ecosystem, only leaving some of the small animals as organic resources.
They manage to last 3 more years as resources are running out, like it or not, the humans lost the war, reduced to the state you currently see.]
Hearing all that, Marco slump back on the chair, almost breaking it in half.
"Sigh…that's all? so basically the humans…are heading to destination f*cked…"
What made Marco speechless is that internal conflict still happened even when it's the human race at stake. 'Human indeed' he lamented.
[There is a lot of missing information Marco, that is publicly known information.]
"Let's not think about that, explain to me about the attributes."
[Strength is your physical power.
Vitality is the body's stamina, and healing rate, also the higher your vitality the more hits it takes to kill you.
Dexterity includes speed, reflexes, and body coordination.
Intelligence includes knowledge, memory, and reasoning.
The average for human adults now is 20.]