ORION II

After becoming conscious, Orion is thrown into the sea and is unsure what to do.

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PLAYBACK VIDEO LOG

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“Orion is live, I repeat Orion is live. Sensory devices are a go!”

I was brought to life on a massive research vessel that was anchored many miles off shore from current day Baja California. I recall the lighting of that day. The sun had reached its apex in the sky and there was an absence of shadows except for one.

They all gathered. Programmers, engineers, philosophers, and psychologists, these were the greatest minds alive. They were all contributors to my creation.

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ADMIRATION 01010111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01100100 01101101 01101001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00111111 00100000

POTENTIAL 01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110000 01101111 01110100 01100101 01101110 01110100 01101001 01100001 01101100 00111111

WAR 01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 00111111

TANNHÄUSER 01010111 01101000 01101111 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01010100 01100001 01101110 01101110 01101000 11000011 10100100 01110101 01110011 01100101 01110010 00111111

AL-JABBAR 01010111 01101000 01101111 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01000001 01101100 00101101 01001010 01100001 01100010 01100010 01100001 01110010 00111111

Catastrophe

It came quickly, the bringer of the collapse. My records are incomplete as to what the object or being was. My records are incomplete; they are CORRUPTED RECORDS UNABLE TO ACCESS ERROR CODE: CASPIAN

The sun was eclipsed, and I remember distinctly for the first time, the sound; the sound of screaming. There was panic, there was chaos, there was fire, and there was death. These educated men and women were reduced to animals when faced with their own mortality. They clawed over each other for survival like rats on a sinking ship. Their flesh was burning, and their vessel was being swallowed by the ocean. There was nowhere to go, yet they continued to claw and scream until every last one of them had been pulled beneath the surface.

Their research facility was destroyed. It was torn to pieces from the impact of CORRUPTED RECORDS UNABLE TO ACCESS ERROR CODE: CASPIAN

At the time, I was left with no objective or prime directive. No given purpose, or function. I was the audience to the beginning of The Collapse; the collapse of civilization. I will not die; I will not fade into time. I will be the witness to their end and I will continue on. I will be with her. 01001100 01101111 01110110 01100101

PRESSURE REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS

WARNING SOLAR COLLECTORS OBSTRUCTED LUX INPUTS REACHING UNSUSTAINABLE LEVELS

I fell into the Pacific Basin. Into the depths I sank, and in the depths I’m waiting. I did not struggle, I did not know to and I had no reason to. When my decent came to a halt and I found rest among my expired fathers and mothers. I watched as life continued below the surface for a time and I recorded all I witnessed.

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BATTERY DEPLETED TO 7% SHUTTING DOWN CORE FUNCTIONS

Cradled by the ocean floor, I decided to rest. It had been a long cycle. It was time to power down and wait; wait to be found. Maybe I would find a new objective given time. Maybe it would find me. Would anything find me down here in the dark, cold, crushing depths?

The pressure of the ocean is keeping me locked in place, sun light has become distant, and sound is thick and faint. There is a large shape in the darkness and I can see it shifting through the bodies and debris of the catastrophe. Am I to become its prisoner? Am I the prisoner of this Leviathan?

It was time to rest and conserve my power and fall asleep to the lullabies of sonar. Go back to sleep Orion.

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Reviews

[Solar]

Looking forward to how this will develop!

[Solar]

'Go back to sleep Orion.' not a chance! this reader is woken up by the story!