ENTRY: 0.4
Upon entering the station, they are met with a small dark room. Wires litter the floor, and monitors displaying static cover the walls, giving the room an eerie glow. In the center, there is a large console covered in buttons and switches. V.III notices a port in the center of the console. Its design sticks out from the rest of the mass, implying that it was added more recently.
<Optical output?>
V.III grabs the optical cable from the back of their head, and connects it to the console. Suddenly, new text appears on their interface.
SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL… SIGNAL FOUND…
SIGNAL: DELTA #82
SIGNAL: DELTA #83
PLAY SIGNALS IN ORDER OF OLDEST TO MOST RECENT?..
<Yes>
Suddenly, V.III’s vision is overtaken by a video of a woman sitting in the same station they are currently in, speaking into a microphone.
“If you are hearing this, then we have failed to postpone the mass decay, the new great extinction event.”
V.III’s body stiffens
“This recording is being made as a last cry for help, and it will be broadcasted on repeat until this station can broadcast it no more”
“Although most Vulcan units have succumbed to the mass decay, we have left a few remaining units in cryostasis in NECROS factory: A, so that they may re-awaken after the fall, and attempt to locate any remaining humans, and restore our enlightened society.”
<Necros?..>
“It is most likely that the one hearing this now is one of those VULCAN units, and if so, I am delivering you a new directive.”
“Find our final bastion. APOLLO, The super AI.”
V.III’s interface flashes with a new prompt:
NEW DIRECTIVE: FIND THE SUPER AI
“It knows all, and it will help you find what you seek. It is the only being that can be trusted with the location of Tartarus.”
“Find APOLLO, it is located within the depths of the capital city, and it will give you your further directives.”
END OF BROADCAST
The video cuts to static
<So, I am alone…>
<That V.VI unit, it must have been one of the others… And the capital city…>
V.III remembers the sunlit city they saw when falling from the NECROS factory. Is that what the voice spoke of?
PLAYING NEXT SIGNAL
“The mass decay, the new great extinction event of 2025.”
V.III is startled by the change in tone. This voice is different from the last. It seems inhuman, may this be the voice of the super AI?
“On January 20th of 2025, the mass decay began.”
“Although the few that retained their organic bodies were able to escape the decay, they only made up a minority of the population, and none of the work force. The majority of workers were made up of NECROS units, an already unstable model due to their cheap bodies and scavenged human minds.”
<Scavenged?...>
V.III recoils
“Upon the global surface temperature reaching 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and most of the United States exceeding a natural 90 degrees fahrenheit in the colder months, the minds of the majority of NECROS workers began to deteriorate. With all humans that couldn't afford proper cooling having already passed months earlier, the deaths of these NECROS units would be detrimental.”
V.III recalls that the temperature seemed to be around 78 degrees, and life seemed to be flourishing. How long has it been since this extinction event?
“At first, the changes were subtle, and the rot went unnoticed, early signs of mental deterioration were sluggishness and memory loss, but memory loss was natural for NECROS units, and sluggishness was easily fixed with stimulants. But after a short while, all units began to be affected by the slow decay, entering a rot induced psychosis called Rampancy. This condition along with the stimulants caused the units to become aggressive, mindless, and self aware. This halted all production, and without workers, the remaining human elites were forced underground to escape the dangers of the surface.”
This was much more information than V.III was expecting. But still, many of their questions are unanswered.
“This retreat may be the only hope to find human life, and its location is only known only by I, APOLLO. Come find me, VULCAN.”