This was not at all like what she had imagined the land of the humans to be like. The landscape was dotted with yellow and red cylindrical tents, and the place was filled with people, loud angry people, yelling, growling, snarling like a pack of rabid animals, she thought, these seemed no different than the lower life forms of this world, like wolves and hyenas, however, the animals had some reason for their rage. These people, even when they wore smiles seemed to want to excrete loud and obnoxious sounding noises.
She glanced up around her, people rudely shoved past, bumping her, and showing no remorse for having disrespected this body.
She was in a little pain, which was good, it meant everything was connecting properly, she then struggled to her feet, a little shaky, and walked over to one of the tents where people were screaming loudly and throwing balls at smaller effigies of themselves..
She was a little short for the desk so she stood on the tips of her feet, trying to get a better look at what exactly was going on. Unfortunately she was knocked over by a large man, who seemed eager to pass some green paper to the lankier man behind the desk, and had no regard for her personal well being.
She then determined that she hated this man.
The man shot a look at her before coughing up blood and falling, dead, on the ground.
Internal cardiac arrest.
She smiled as the people around began exuding different loud noises and running around more frantically.
She looked about her; she didn’t like these people, and decided that her mission was over.
Then someone grabbed her, and pulled her to the side
“Are you okay?” he nervously looked at her, examining her for injuries,
She nodded, and tried to leave, but he wouldn’t unhand her.
“you.. have no body heat” he smiled a little and picked her up, and began to walk away from the tents and confusion. She now began to struggle and tried making noises, even though the synch rate with her body wasn’t complete, and she wasn’t properly connected to all her motor nerves, she figured that this would’ve been a good time to use the aforementioned nerves,
A few guttural groans escaped her lips, but he seemed not to notice, or pay any attention.
Thus she was degraded to using physical force to free herself, for now she felt a little threatened. She began to kick and flail her arms, but he ignored it entirely, at this point, she began to think that the pain she felt from kicking him was worse than what he felt.
She tried speaking again
“grauhshghuuuuhhhhnhaand me” it was difficult, there was a lot that was still connecting, but her basic message was understood
“now.. why would I do something like that?” he glanced back at the girl he had slung over his shoulder, in much the same way one would hold a sack of potatoes.
“why are you doing thith?” she was alarmed, why was this one defective? Why were certain sounds not present in her speech, but in others? But luckily he seemed to overlook this minor speech inadequacy.
“why should I tell you?”
She thought about this, true, it wasn’t his duty to tell her his motives, it wasn’t really her business, however, she still felt the need to tell him that she had other things she needed to be doing
“You aren’t, it wath merely a fanthy of interetht, however, my prethenthe ith required eltherwhere.”
He dumped her into a metal box, on top of something synthetically soft, he then shut the box and entered in a different location, and caused the entire thing to rumble and begin to move.
At this point his entire demeanor changed,
“I know who you are, what you are, and your intentions”
“Where are we going?”
“A place where a more private conversation is better facilitated.”
The metal box, car, vehicle, the information flood process was now occurring, turned, and faced the tent-adorned establishment, a circus, and began to descend, her newly acquired knowledge of her surroundings now told her that his was not normal and shouldn’t be happening, also, little red flags began popping up in her brain, and she began to experience fear, she sighed and hoped that it would be overridden soon.
The sky now disappeared from view and the ground swallowed them, they were now traveling down a long stainless steel utilitarian corridor. Which ended in a small circular room, the opening through which they had entered dissolved into the walls.
The man, turned back to her, bearing a menacing stare
“Get out.”
She did as instructed, the car then melted into the floor, in the same manner as the opening.
He then tackled her to the ground, she grunted in pain, but this body was too weak to resist, and he grabbed her neck, then he brought her upright and shoved her against the wall, and pushed her into it, she let out a howl of pain as the steel liquefied and molded to her body, trapping her there.
He put his face very close to hers
“What do you intend to gain by coming here?” he growled viciously, revealing his blood-stained teeth
Her fear had been shut down just before she had entered this room, luckily, or else at this point she would’ve felt some.
The, she realized that the stream of data and any communication with Father had also been halted. Father? She felt the guards on her mind degrade a little, the guards were put on certain emotions to keep her from being overwhelmed by the sensations that a new body experienced and making a spectacle of herself. But now.. no communications…
No.. communications..
No communications!
She needed out!
Claustrophobia?
Is that what these people called it?
Isolation!
Lonliness!!
Father!!
She now felt the fear burst through the guards that had been placed on the body by Father!
“ARGHAAAAAAAAAA” a piercing screech filled the room, the boy reached out and placed his hand in the wall, which then reached out and took the role of a gag in her mouth. Stifling her cries.
The boy patiently waited until she was out of breath and reasons to scream, then the gag receded back into the wall
“You have 2 choices, go back to Father and report falsely….. one choice”
“How.. do you know about us?”
“That information is irrelevant to you, in your position”
“You will never make me falsify me report to Father, its simply impossible. We are trained and programmed to be infinitely loyal, lest our society would crumble, as it appears that the people on this planet have, they have fallen into corruption and ruin due to dishonesty and betrayal, we cannot risk letting them advance further, lest they spread their ideals to others”
She had just finished reading the fragmented logfiles that had been poured into her brain before communications had been cut.
He had been pacing while she spoke, but now he came up to her and roughly grabbed her neck.
“If that was true then how do you think that this planet has avoided destruction, when Covenant so frequently sweeps the Systems?”
“Impossible, we are untaintable, and immune to whatever crude methods you use to manipulate us”
“Those words have been burned into you, as they were in me once, and although my methods may be crude and painful on your end, the results are unrivaled. I understand why you are so misguided though, you see, I was part of Covenant, serving under Father once”
Her eyes widened, that must be impossible, she had always been taught that they were the dominant race, without imperfections, and that those with imperfections were spies from renegade planets, trying to overturn their society, they would be removed, cleansed and relocated elsewhere on Covenant. She was part of the Information Sisterhood, wherein, she would examine planets and deem them worthy of being part of Covenant, or filled with evil beings who would corrupt Father’s ideals, then, they would either be destroyed or saved, in accordance with her report. But this man.. must by lying, there was no such thing as an imperfect entity in Covenant, he must be a spy or a saboteur.
“you must remember me, I was the one who spoke at Fathers inauguration ceremony, Alteran Methador ring any bells?” he wryly looked back as he let go of her neck and returned to the middle of the room.
She began to feel the emotions of her body overwhealming her again, and she began to cry. She remembered the inauguration, Alteran, had spoken with such vigor and charisma, his adoration of Father was unrivaled, he was a prodigy and had been promoted to a high political position very fast at a young age.. and had been assassinated that night during the terrorist attack on Covenant, however that all happened when she was young, and.. here he was.. how.. why had this happened?
Her body cried more violently, he had been her Brother in the Covenant and now his name was being defiled by this cowardly.. beast.
He waited patiently for her body to calm down.
And then she spoke.
“you are not him!”
/you need proof I suppose, like the others, you’re all the same. Would you like me to recite my speech in this native language?//
He had addressed her in a human body while using her.. their language, this was undeniable proof that he was of her kind, even though he possessed abilities that she and no one else in Covenant aside from Father possessed, he had definitely been her brother in Covenant, sometime in the distant past...
“w-why did this happen? Why did you leave The Covenant? Why are you betraying your brothers and sisters in Covenant? Why are you betraying Father?”
“Would you like to hear the story of my assent into Legion?” he smiled at her cruelly, and the entire room began to descend.
She said nothing.
“I suppose I will tell you regardless, seeing as you don’t really have a choice in the matter. That night, after the inauguration speech, I accidentally stumbled into one of the forbidden chambers of the Temple, cries of despair and pain echoed throughout the corridors,
These people were the ones tried as enemies of Father’s ideals, saboteurs, spies, terrorists, and were taken off to the “cleansed” and relocated to start a new life, but the reality is, they are tortured, tested on, and ultimately killed. Father is not an Omniscient and benevolent being
he is a despicable power hungry, oppressive monster! So I staged my own assassination, using one of the poor souls from the torture chambers, he was happy to die for my cause, happy that he would be a martyr for the destruction of Covenant, and I came here, in this worlds time, 300 years ago, this planet will be my base, the one planet I will not let Covenant touch, and it’s dying, I know it, but, before they all kill themselves, I’ll make damn sure they take down covenant first, I’ve manipulated this planet, driven it to war, it was pathetically easy, they are naturally attracted to conflict, even in their entertainment they lust for evil, despicable beings are glorified for their perseverance and thought of not as the black hearted terrorists they are, but freedom fighters, their ideas are euphemistically embraced while the protagonists are downplayed, ignorant and undeveloped,
These are the beings I will use, I will push them through many more wars, their destructive technology will grow exponentially, they will destroy your kind! Join me! Now is your chance to realize the truth and become part of the solution to the menace that monitors the Systems and eradicates planets that are viewed as “vile” and “threatening”. Join Legion! Fight for what you know is RIGHT!”
The room began falling much faster now, then it took a sudden turn and began moving horizontally, she imagined they were very far away from where they had started
“NO!! I will never join your vile organization!”
“I know, my efforts are wasted on you, however, I don’t need to convince you, I was just hoping that maybe, you, like me would be able to see the truth, but… you pathetic sheep are all the same, worthless, mindless, puppets of Father, without him you scream, the separation scares you, independence is something you know nothing about, however, I will make you truly FREE!!”
The wall gagged her again and tightened its grip on her, while Alteran exited the room by phasing through the wall, she tried to regain contact with Father, she began to cry when her messages were returned null, she needed him, she WAS lost without him, Alteran must’ve known the feeling, how had Alteran coped? How had he been able to forcibly remove Father from his mind? She knew that was impossible.. then how.. how had Father not known about the false assassination? Surely the moment Alteran had thought of it, it would be heard by Father.. then Alteran returned, an odd instrument in his hands, he approached her, and the Gag receded once more.
“Father!! FATHER!! FATHER AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” she cried as he strapped the machine onto her face, it caused her body to calm down to the point of being entirely submissive to Alteran, the wall released her, and even though her mind cried out for freedom and for Father her body did not move, Alteran then put his palm over her heart, and some odd runes appeared on the back of his hand, then, his hand plunged into her chest she tried to scream, the pain was excruciating, but her body did nothing but stare blankly at Alteran, she then felt him grab her Essence, she cried in terror, HOW?!! How was he doing this? Only Father could access their Essence and transfer them between bodies? How did he have all this power?!! She then felt the nerves being forcibly unattached, as if they were all being ripped from her Essence, her mind was nothing but screams of pure agony, she had felt nothing this painful before, it was as if her skin was being peeled off her body, and her organs were being ripped out slowly, one at a time, then her vision dimmed and it was over. She had been removed from this body, her regular vision returned to her, after a while, and she saw Alteran’s black wings, stretching out behind him.
/Alteran.. how… how did you.. Where did you get all this power?!!/
Ateran smiled at her, and did not try to communicate as a human would, but used her own language once more.
/I am no longer the weak fool Alteran, that name died when I was “assassinated” I am Legion, I am Lucifer, I am Julia, I am Snowball, I am Anakin, I am Zaphod, I am Agent Smith, I am V. I am the freedom of the systems and I will not be destroyed, I have discarded my frivolous emotions and the need for companionship, I have sacrificed every iota of myself to the revolution, and have gained power through uncouth means, I will do whatever it takes to see this through, I will sink as low as my opponents, because no war is won cleanly, because this is for the greater good, I am the martyr for this ideology!//
He looked at her body slumped on the floor, he then he smiled devilishly as it rose to its feet.
/she will report back to Father, all your memories prior to you meeting me have been programmed into her, and she will live your life, with me as her master instead of Father. And when the Revolution happens these minions of mine will rise up and destroy Covenant from the inside out!//
The body smiled at her and she began to sob uncontrollably, knowing that she would never meet with Father again, her Essence was still adjusting to being ripped out of the body and was unable to move properly, she was unable to escape-!
Another rune appeared on Alteran’s hand and he grabbed her
/ I am no longer a distinguishable entity, I am an ideal, I am your demise,
And I am this revolution!!//
He then devoured her.