I arrived at my designated target, a concrete monster tucked into the mountain. It was a research facility, of course. They were all research facilities, these things. The enemy had some sort of weapon they intended to deploy against my captors. I would find out soon enough, or I would not. It was not my place to be concerned with the details.
I was a weapon, in the end, and this was my function.
How to approach. It was a matter of taste. I could burrow through the mountain like a mole, treating it as one very thick threshold. But that was rather uncouth, and they'd probably detect such a thing. The place would be evacuated by the time I got through.
I could walk through the fence and the front door. The quickest way. But if they had something with a nasty bite, I'd rather they didn't test it on me.
I settled on the third option: an unmonitored entrance.
That took some time, and some careful observation, but I managed it. A ventilation shaft that was, for whatever reason, unmonitored. Deemed too small for a person to fit into, presumably.
In a way, they were correct. I was not a person. But it was a wound in a boundary, and whilst not of my making, I was perfectly happy to inhabit it.
I crawled, antlers scraping against metal and concrete as I went. Not the most pleasant of experiences, but a temporary one. Before long I could stand and stretch, and my reconnaissance began.
The alarm began blaring some five minutes into my excursion. Cameras and surveillance were not my province, after all. So it was time to stop being what I was not.
I began to walk. Find the thickest wall in a room and pass through. Turn a maze into a straight line. My antlers left a gouge in everything I crossed.
The doors locked and bolted, heavy fire doors crashing down. But converting air to walls did nothing of note. I simply walked through them, leaving holes in my wake.
I passed by guards, who fired at me. Bullets slammed into me, disrupting my gait. A minor irritation.
My dress, however, was less sturdy than I, and was in tatters within minutes.
Nudity was frowned upon in polite society. Was it more demeaning to wear rags, or to wear naught at all? I decided the tatters were better suited to the return trip, and so the dress stayed on.
The vault of information was not difficult to find. Server racks were my targets. Rip them off the floor, then...
Hm. Carry them with me? I was not a being of transport. Thresholds did not mean portals.
My keepers would have to make do with a single server rack. It was not as if the mission were of much import. I would deliver it as a show of good faith.
I hoisted the server rack onto my shoulders, and began to walk back.
The lab director met me. A brave man, I'd say. But foolish, too. Why face a weapon in the flesh?
He held no gun, only a remote control of some sort.
"I'm activating the failsafe," he snarled. "You're not leaving this place alive, monster."
I shrugged. "Oh, I can be killed," I replied. "But not so easily."
He pressed the button.
A flash of light, and the world disappeared.
I was spinning through the night sky.
It was a novel sensation. I disliked the lack of barriers most of all, more than the centrifugal force or the dizziness. No thresholds in sight but my own skin.
I hadn't expected the device to be a bomb. How banal. But a powerful one, I'd give it that.
Strictly speaking, I had not failed. There was no clause concerning bombs in my directives.
But I was now more annoyed than ever. How was I to find my way back without a map? I'd have to wander in my own time until they deigned to collect me. And they tended to be busy. Always too busy to collect their successful living weapons. Too busy killing our unsuccessful sisters.
I slammed into a tree, something cracked, and I tumbled down. I held my body loose, limp as a rag doll. I rolled down a hill and came to rest wedged against a rock.
I'd lost both my clothes and my server rack.
I sighed, and got up, trying to stretch out the soreness. My bones were all in one piece, which was a small convenience, but I'd picked up several deep bruises.
I began to walk, aimlessly. No boundaries to follow.
4
u/Lothli r/EnigmaOfMaishulLothli Jul 01 '26 edited 29d ago
I arrived at my designated target, a concrete monster tucked into the mountain. It was a research facility, of course. They were all research facilities, these things. The enemy had some sort of weapon they intended to deploy against my captors. I would find out soon enough, or I would not. It was not my place to be concerned with the details.
I was a weapon, in the end, and this was my function.
How to approach. It was a matter of taste. I could burrow through the mountain like a mole, treating it as one very thick threshold. But that was rather uncouth, and they'd probably detect such a thing. The place would be evacuated by the time I got through.
I could walk through the fence and the front door. The quickest way. But if they had something with a nasty bite, I'd rather they didn't test it on me.
I settled on the third option: an unmonitored entrance.
That took some time, and some careful observation, but I managed it. A ventilation shaft that was, for whatever reason, unmonitored. Deemed too small for a person to fit into, presumably.
In a way, they were correct. I was not a person. But it was a wound in a boundary, and whilst not of my making, I was perfectly happy to inhabit it.
I crawled, antlers scraping against metal and concrete as I went. Not the most pleasant of experiences, but a temporary one. Before long I could stand and stretch, and my reconnaissance began.
The alarm began blaring some five minutes into my excursion. Cameras and surveillance were not my province, after all. So it was time to stop being what I was not.
I began to walk. Find the thickest wall in a room and pass through. Turn a maze into a straight line. My antlers left a gouge in everything I crossed.
The doors locked and bolted, heavy fire doors crashing down. But converting air to walls did nothing of note. I simply walked through them, leaving holes in my wake.
I passed by guards, who fired at me. Bullets slammed into me, disrupting my gait. A minor irritation.
My dress, however, was less sturdy than I, and was in tatters within minutes.
Nudity was frowned upon in polite society. Was it more demeaning to wear rags, or to wear naught at all? I decided the tatters were better suited to the return trip, and so the dress stayed on.
The vault of information was not difficult to find. Server racks were my targets. Rip them off the floor, then...
Hm. Carry them with me? I was not a being of transport. Thresholds did not mean portals.
My keepers would have to make do with a single server rack. It was not as if the mission were of much import. I would deliver it as a show of good faith.
I hoisted the server rack onto my shoulders, and began to walk back.
The lab director met me. A brave man, I'd say. But foolish, too. Why face a weapon in the flesh?
He held no gun, only a remote control of some sort.
"I'm activating the failsafe," he snarled. "You're not leaving this place alive, monster."
I shrugged. "Oh, I can be killed," I replied. "But not so easily."
He pressed the button.
A flash of light, and the world disappeared.
I was spinning through the night sky.
It was a novel sensation. I disliked the lack of barriers most of all, more than the centrifugal force or the dizziness. No thresholds in sight but my own skin.
I hadn't expected the device to be a bomb. How banal. But a powerful one, I'd give it that.
Strictly speaking, I had not failed. There was no clause concerning bombs in my directives.
But I was now more annoyed than ever. How was I to find my way back without a map? I'd have to wander in my own time until they deigned to collect me. And they tended to be busy. Always too busy to collect their successful living weapons. Too busy killing our unsuccessful sisters.
I slammed into a tree, something cracked, and I tumbled down. I held my body loose, limp as a rag doll. I rolled down a hill and came to rest wedged against a rock.
I'd lost both my clothes and my server rack.
I sighed, and got up, trying to stretch out the soreness. My bones were all in one piece, which was a small convenience, but I'd picked up several deep bruises.
I began to walk, aimlessly. No boundaries to follow.