Chapter 1: Magnum Opus

In this chapter we are introduced to our protagonist and his predecessor/father.

Chapter 1: Magnum Opus

"My left hand, and its memories, were the first parts replaced. At the time, such technology was in its infancy, and I was putting my life on the line for this surgery. Not that my life had meant anything to me. I remember the cold non-living flesh, like a dead weight on the end of my arm, being oddly alive and responsive. I remember moving the thing for the first time, just as I would any other hand, and clenching my fingers into a fist. How odd it felt to control something absolutely, but not be able to feel it.. Now when I looked at my hand it was with apathy, not disgust and betrayal. I wanted more. Attaching nerve endings was careful business, they told me, but their warnings went unheeded. I wanted it gone. I wanted everything gone.

 

Over the course of one hundred and sixty-two years I had replaced every living part of my body, save my brain, the object kept the both of us human. They began with my limbs, the very embodiment of life, of movement, and continued up from there. I didn’t want to feel anymore, feeling brought back memories I had worked so hard to eliminate. Every venture I had ever taken in life to snuff my memories was in vain. It seems I am doomed to try again and again, ever failing, and this is my final attempt. Your name is Isaac. By the time this message begins you should have regained all your comprehensive faculties and will be able to understand me perfectly. This is the best I can do for you, unfortunately, as I am already dead. There are, however, a few things I can give to you that will hopefully keep you off the path I followed. You have a great opportunity here, Isaac, to do with your life what I couldn’t do with mine. I wouldn’t want to force a lifestyle upon you, though, I want you to live your life as you see fit; as your creator that is all I wish of you. Once you awake, my friend Dhamion should have a couple more recordings for you, take them in stride. What I have done is something no one has ever done before and is strictly taboo in our society. These recordings will explain everything to you. Now prepare yourself, son, for the rush of knowledge and experience I am about to bestow upon you. Having never done this before, I will not speculate on the result, but I do imagine it will be painful. Be strong, Isaac."

 

As the voice disappeared, leaving Isaac alone in a void without sight or sound, the onslaught of knowledge breached his mind like a tidal wave and, like sand, absorbed it greedily. The knowledge came in no specific order, first came proper dinner table etiquette, elbows off the table, do not slurp your soup, then he learned how to properly clean a weapon, from pistol to sniper, he learned how to dismember and reassemble each with an assassin’s precision, then he learned how to breath, the contracting of the lung-like objects inside his chest that allowed his body to continue living and with it the knowledge that he didn’t have to breath if he didn’t want to but it was always better to appear completely human, because his kind were detested in the society they lived in. He understood all of this in a matter of seconds, centuries of knowledge burrowing into his mind, creating the sensation Isaac had recently learned of- pain.

 

Once every bit of knowledge had been implanted into Isaac’s tired brain, the experiences came rushing in. Not in the way the knowledge had, but gently and one at a time and seemingly in order. The first experience was of combat, he felt himself conjure a blade, hidden in his forarm extending now about three feet from elbow to blade tip, and use it to slit the throat of another man, unknown to Isaac but presumably an enemy. At this, the knowledge recently acquired told him was where a human's jugular and corotid artery were located and that by disabling either of these one can either kill or disable an opponent. The videos continued onward, from combat to stealth, knwoledge and experience working simultaneously to create a better understanding for Isaac, who began to notice that there were sometimes large gaps in these experiences, where one experience ended and another began where the video seemed to rip and continue from another point. Just as he came to this realization it all stopped. He found himself alone in his void again, left with nothing but the knowledge and experience of a previous life, expecting to be hit next with a rush of memory and emotion, the next logical step in this process, his mind told him. The rush of memory never came, only the brightest of lights as Isaac opened his eyes for the first time.

 

The room was linoleum green in color, the floor and ceiling both. The walls were eggshell white, giving the entire room an air of sickness, like vomiting. Isaac knew this, understood the sensation of vomiting, wanted to vomit himself and thought it odd that he could not. After all, from his understanding vomiting was an action underwent by humans. A man in a white coat entered the room; Isaac’s mind told him that he was a doctor, as the image of a man in a similar white coat appeared before him. "Steel, the procedure was a complete success, we have never met with these kinds of results before," the doctor said, patting Isaac on the back. As if remembering, Isaac grabbed him by the wrist and flipped him over onto the ground, his blade extending from his forearm and at his throat ready to kill, before the man had even had a chance to mutter a plea of suprise. Isaac, having no control over this action, resulting purely from experience, realized what he was doing and shied away from the doctor who smiled nervously at him in response, cringing and holding his back awkwardly as he sat up."I forgot for a moment," he whispered, panting heavily,"that you have been trained as a killer. I should probably be more careful from now on," he gasped, winking painfully but still managing a smile through the pain. "I am Dhamion, a friend of your late father; I was truly hoping the two of us might be friends."

Isaac, huddled in a corner, mind processing the situation, asked, "I am sorry about that, it was almost like I couldn't control myself, but you…you called me Steel. My name is Isaac."

 

"Oh beg my forgiveness young man, a simple slip of an aging mind," he said smiling, standing up slowly, each vertebrae in his back making a crackling noise as he did, " You see, Steel was a kind of nickname your father had grown quite fond of over the years, I couldn't even tell you his real name if I wanted to honestlybut I do think that your questions will better be answered by listening to these," he paused and pointed to a device next to his bed, his mind telling him that it was a computer, "on this device you will find three recordings your father had wanted you to listen to before departing from this place." Isaac looked at the man named Dhamion, curiously at first, but then convinced that he was no threat held out his hand. Dhamion grabbed his hand and lifted him off the ground and gave it a hardy shake, which Isaac determined to be much rougher than previous experience had told him handshakes normally were. "You should find your way back into bed, Isaac, you’ll need your rest for what comes tomorrow and I'm afraid I need to run some tests on you to amke sure that everything is in working order up there," he said tapping his head with his index finger. He moved behind Isaac, sending one more sympathetic smile his way, reassuring him, and then disapeared from his view.

 

Isaac, lying in bed contemplating the recordings, examined his left arm. He saw the synthetic skin that covered up the machinery beneath and reached out to touch it. When he did, he immediately drew his hand back, suprised by the intense cold welling beneath the skin and brought his hand up to touch his face, where he was surprised by the feeling of warmth radiating from it. Bringing his other hand up to his face, he covered it and brought both arms up above his head, running his fingers through his hair, relishing the warmth in the cold, empty room. He began to wonder about his humanity almost immediately, because of the cold flesh living in his limbs, his mind explaining that cold flesh was dead flesh and humans were creatures of warm and living flesh. Disturbed by this and seeking answers, he turned his head to the computer, and after pressing the button that signaled the beginning of the first recording, he closed his eyes and re-etnered the void he had become so familiar with.

 

"What I have done is separate my memories from my experiences and knowledge, but I am sure you have figured this out already. We are one and the same, yet two entirely separate beings. It is not something that can be easily explained, as you know, but I do consider you my son, even though I had inhabited your body before you. This first recording is here to inform you of how things became this way and why I chose this path. If you feel well enough, please continue on to the other two recordings as the information therein is more prominent to maintaining your life.

 

I was born on August 13, 2043 and died for the first time on May 25, 2074 at the age of 30. It is ironic, isn’t it, that I should have achieved immortality through committing suicide, but that is exactly what happened. As I soon discovered, the government had recently began what would be known as the "Cyborg Initiative," which allowed them to take anyone who had died or was dying, as long as they had agreed to be an organ donor, with mechanical parts replacing the ones destroyed. This went into effect roughly an hour before I shot myself in the head, and so, against my will, they repaired me. Shortly after this, the Initiative was deemed to be unconstitutional and was shut down, leaving only me and a select few as the result of this procedure. With my new life, a life I never asked for, I was contracted by the military; they would say that I did this freely but it did not happen exactly that way. At the time, this seemed like the easiest way to get myself killed, and so I took it. I found myself in a training program for the next decade, in which I mastered all the methods of killing that have now been passed onto you.

 

Then, in 2081, the military was beginning some experimental human augmentations and was looking for volunteers. I was taken along because of my past in the Cyborg Initiative, and was myself the only survivor of this incident, normal human bodies often rejecting the new parts and leaving them without limbs. The doctors never explained to me or perhaps they never knew why my body accepted these parts as if they had been there all along. I also didn't bother to ask so long as job got done, I wasn't one for specifics. Honestly, I was hoping the procedure would kill me, but it seemed that would be too easy. I left the military hospital with a new left hand, a hand that didn’t remind me of the years before I killed myself, years that I never wanted to see resurface again. It was about that time when the military decided to fund the rest of my operations, and over the next twenty years they forged me into the being you now are physically, except for a few modifications added as time went on and technology improved. That was when my military service began, and continued for the next one-hundred and two years. The experiences of these ventures should have come across and instilled themselves in you earlier, so I won’t bother discussing this much. I killed for the military, it kept my hands and mind busy for all those years. There was hardly a day I didn’t see combat, and that was the only reason I was able to stay alive for so long. Soon, even my new limbs couldn’t contain the memories of my past life. When the flare of combat couldn’t keep my memories at bay I knew I had to do something more drastic.

 

I refused to live with these memories, but couldn’t bring myself to commit suicide a second time for reasons even I don't understand. Perhaps it was fear that the government would find and revive me once more or something installed in me to prevent me from harming myself, but truely I had tried. And so I decided I would pull the plug on my existence in an entirely different way. Over the years I had befriended few, but the man I put my trust into is the man you see before you now, Dhamion. During my time in the military, he was the one who spent the most time with me, mostly patching up my armor and improving my combat specs, but also becoming my friend. So I approached him with this, and convinced him that was necessary. And here you are, Isaac. Dhamion wiped me from existence and gave you the tools you will need to survive in this world, my experiences."

 

Isaac, with a look of bewilderment, turned to face Dhamion who, startled by this, dropped his tools onto the floor, "Isaac you must hold still! What I am doing is very cautious work, a single mistake could prove catastrophic-"

 

"Answer me this, doctor, and then I'll lay back down and you can continue your work." After the doctor had nodded his head Isaac continued, "Why was it that my father killed himself the first time? What could have been so traumitizing that he resorted to such a thing?"

 

Dhamion didn't respond right away, merely looked into the icy blue of Isaac's eyes, but then as if snapping out of a trance responded, "Isaac, Steel had trusted me more than anyone else he had met in the last century. Trusted me with his life, in fact. I had asked him the same question, once, and had began to respond, but was struck almost immediately with a wave of pain unlike anything I have ever seen before. Reliving those memories literaly tortured and twisted his mind, " he stopped for a moment, clearing his throat, the lines on his face contorted into what Isaac understood was sadness," 'Back on earth'...was all he was able to muster."

 

"Isaac Steel...," Isaac was disturbed by the sincereity of this doctor, although unsure why he had come to this conclusion. His mind told him he was being honest while simulataneously telling him that most people will not be this way. He decided to trust in his creator then, lying back down and telling the doctor, "I will not disturb you again, Dhamion, I appreciate your honesty.

 

The old man smiled, "I can assure you that whatever happened to him was something he could never escape in this life, and so-"

 

"He created me?" Isaac finished the sentence for him.

 

"Yes," answered Dhamion frankly.

 

Isaac lay back in his bed and began the second recording, starving for answers.

Take these warnings and do what you will with them, but remember that they are extremely important. These two things I cannot absolve you of from my past life and I know it isn’t fair but it is the best I can do. While I have worked off my debt to the military I know they will come looking for you. The military doesn’t invest millions of dollars into something to see it walk away and begin a new life somewhere; no they will keep their claws into you. Whether you run from them or embrace them, is completely up to you but the time will come where that choice will have to be made and if you’re not the one to make it they will make it for you. When they do, I beg you do not mention Dhamion as being involved in your making, the man deserves more than that for being a good friend and helping me this way. Keep him safe, will you? I have made my enemies within the military and outside the military and grudges are sure to be sought out against you, but with the experience endowed upon you I don’t think that will be a problem. You’ll find that you are quite formidable.

 

You will also need to be on the lookout for those humans with a prejudice against our kind. Most people view robots, and you are not a robot Isaac, as slaves without a will of their own. Only recently has the government begun designing robots with the capability to make their own decisions on a human level and the technology is not well accepted by the masses quite yet. So remember to breathe, and don’t let anyone touch your flesh in public, or you may find yourself in a situation that will either land you in prison or in servitude to the military. People will not understand that you are, in fact, a living human being with a mechanized body. Don’t get too close to anyone. In the time I've lived people have always placed blame on someone, undeserving prejudice is one of humanities unfortunate qualities. This has recently fallen to the mechanized and fully-automated. Those who improve themselves with machinery and those who are machines."

Isaac kept his eyes closed as he began the third and final recording.

 

"Isaac, I am truly sorry for not being able to meet you, and treat you like a father truly should treat a son. Starting a life about two centuries into it is unfair to you, I know, but it is the only way you would ever come into being. It is selfish of me to say this, but you are my salvation, for the life that came before mine. I would ask that you never sway from the path of righteousness and that if you find something or someone worth fighting for that you fight for them until death, because life certainly loses its meaning once you’ve lost them. Once they’re gone and everything in life reminds you of them….of happiness lost…that even lingering memories attached to body parts incite pain…trust me it’s not something you want to live through. You protect what’s important to you, hear me? If you ignore everything else I have said up to this point, hear that. This is the best I can do for you. Dhamion will show you away soon, and bring you back to your home. He will be more than happy to answer your questions in my stead. I truly hope you do not come ot regret this life as I did, Isaac."

 

It was then that Isaac understood, or thought he understood, the actions of his father- a man he hadn’t and would never meet. He slowly raised his hand, as to not startle or distract Dhamion from his work, and he chimmed in, "Yes, Isaac?

 

A moment passed as Isaac ran his right hand along the length of this left arm, feeling the machine continue its endless work beneath his skin, breathing in the air he knew was chilled but couldn't feel it himself, and then releasing the same air back into the room, as if nothing had changed. "Nothing, friend," he whispered, closing his eyes.

Author's Note

I am sure many passages sound awkward/don't flow correctly and that my grammar may be a bit off from time to time. All critism will be greatly appreciated