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originally posted in:The Black Garden
Edited by Hobbes92: 1/31/2014 6:48:00 PM
1

The Chronicles of Alec Blackwater Chapter XVIII Food for thought

A week later, after the meeting with the three Vanguard, Councilman Quenn, and Alecs’ team; at Whisk’s garage, the small crew is awaking to another day. Arial is sitting at the table in the hanger, ticking away on her small tablet device while Pheln was working on the Leviathan; Lyle was on the far end of the shop operating a lathe, modifying the barrel to Arial’s’ “Should have stayed in bed this morning” sniper rifle. Boris was asleep in his room, still getting over a hangover from downing too much booze the night before. Whisk was in the hanger working out, attempting to show off how much he could lift and bench to try and impress Arial (who could careless and rolled her eyes when he looked at her). Jk-Bx was, well, being Jk-Bx; he was wearing a small apron in the kitchen (also in the hanger area, where Arial sat at her table; the kitchen had a good view of the Leviathan from the other side of the hanger) making breakfast, playing techno, and doing a little bit of dancing in between flipping pancakes, turning bacon or eggs, pouring beverages (milk, juice, water, etc.), and changing out toast. Alec was in his room, sitting on the bed, going through the box that Spencer had given him the day that he’d awoke in his Exo body. The box contained pictures of Alec and his family, friends in the FOTC Corps, lost or exotic places that he and his wife Eleanor had visited, and a few old pictures from his childhood. The box also contained dog tags of a few dead comrades, his wedding band and Eleanor’s’ engagement ring, he also found his Bible that Spencer had given him. “You have a very elaborate past Alec,” Ithamar said, watching Alec go through the box. “Do you ever have any doubt about your God?” “No,” Alec responded. “Only doubts of myself being unable to perform or do what I need to do to protect what remains of His creations, what remains of this city.” “Why doubt yourself?” Ithamar inquired. “You have come this far and He has not let you down, has he not?” “No,” Alec admitted. “He has not, but I feel like I have let him down.” “You have protected your kind since you were young,” Ithamar continued. “You and your sister Jennifer as children, Eleanor and your children when you were older, Daniel in the FOTC Corps., the children that you encounter in the city that need help, fellow Guardians on the battlefield of today; you also help the weak and needy, stand up for justice and your faith above all, and you don’t let anyone or anything stand in your way. To be a Guardian, you must put others before yourself; you chose to sacrifice an ordinary life, not for an extraordinary life of action or glorification of yourself, but a life of serving your Savior over yourself in order to save the city in a way that most wouldn’t understand. You stand up to dictators, anarchy, evil, wickedness, immorality, and you promote peace over chaos.” “What do you promote?” Alec asked, being in deep thought of what Ithamar had just said. “I was not designed with the capacity to choose right from wrong,” Ithamar began. “Rather, learned it from a young girl…” “Julia,” Alec said, interrupting Ithamar. “How did she teach you that?” “Her way of teaching me was like riding a bike, when I fell down, she’d help pick me back up. Ithamar began. “She would often have me sit down at her little tea party table and help with her tea party; she had one every Sunday afternoon, precisely at 2:00 P.M. She always began with a prayer of thanksgiving and praise for what she had as her mother and father had taught her. As the tea party went on, she could tell that I was not used to such an occasion, seeing that didn’t know what she meant by asking me if I wanted tea or asking what kind of crackers I may like. For a five year old she was very bright and smart for her age; she understood that I was a machine, but couldn’t understand why I couldn’t decide for myself what to choose from her tea selection or snack trays. I was also curious of her prayer, why she had said it and what it meant; she first went and got her little Bible, and then began to explain to me why she did it and what it meant. To this very day, I still remember her apologizing to Mr. Fuzzy (her stuffed, light brown, teddy bear) for the interruption, but said it was of the utmost importance that she began teaching me right away of what she was doing and why it was important. I’ll go into greater detail some other time…” “I see,” Alec began. “Alecia liked to have tea parties, my young daughter, and I remember the conversations we would have with her own toys and stuffed animal friends. Quite…entertaining, is it not?” “In deed,” Ithamar conquered. “Perhaps we should venture out and see what everyone is up to; we can discuss our pasts’ later.” Alec agreed, putting the lid on the box and setting it on the bed; then proceeding out into the hallway, heading to the hanger (his scent detector informing him of the aroma of bacon and something burning). Jk-Bx was preparing plates and explaining what was on the menu for tomorrow when he caught Alec in his view. “That’s right folks,” Jk-Bx was informing the crew. “Tomorrow we're having mush or grits, French toast, sausage, grape fruits, and-Hey, Alec and Ithamar are here!” Alec waved in acknowledgment, wishing he still had the ability to eat and drink seeing the smorgasbord of food Jk-Bx had cooked up. Alec could only guess that Jk-Bx had purchased the food from someone who had connections in the black market, having this much food and quality (no powdered eggs and milk, but the real deal was rare in most cases). “These pancakes are amazing!” Exclaimed Arial. “Do I taste vanilla in them?” “Yup,” Jk-Bx said casually. “Real vanilla extract; very expensive.” “How could you afford all this?” Whisk asked? “Oh, I have my ways.” Jk-Bx remarked, walking over to the stove on his hands. “Alec, please sit, I have a surprise for you…” Alec sat down at the table and half expected Jk-Bx to pour him a bowl of nuts, bolts and screws with a side of motor oil. Instead, Jk-Bx had Alec opens his hand and he put a piece of bacon in it, instructing Alec to put it where his mouth would be. As he did so, Alecs brain was swept away by the aroma of the salty meat, for a moment, he thought he could really take a bite out of it, when suddenly he noticed the bacon was gone. “Uh, what just happened?” Alec asked, a bit confused by what had just occurred. “You just ‘ate’ that bacon.” Jk-Bx said, getting all excited. “Excuse me?” Arial said with a mouthful of egg and toast. Jk-Bx does a cartwheel as he positions himself in front of the table. “Here we go,” Jk-Bx began, grabbing a piece of bacon off of a plate. “Alecs brain and heart are inside of a solution we called ‘Solia’ or ‘blue’ solution, it is used to preserve and maintain the organs from decomposing, plus keep them functioning. One of the things that was developed during the Golden Age was a form of nan-nites. Nan-nites were small, almost microscopic, mechanical little insect like creatures that were given to us by the Traveler. They serve a variety of uses, from assisting in armor regeneration, medical purposes, disposing of waste, etc. In the developing of the Exo though, a type of nan-nite was made to break down food and transport it to the human organs to give them additional nutrients. The brain remembers things, but only things that the brains have recorded, unknown scents are kept recorded by the Exo’s computer. You see (Jk-Bx holds up his hand and what looks like a swarm of insets began to form above his palm) these little dudes will break down just about anything; metal, plastic, flesh, wood, concrete, rock, synthetic material, etc. (Jk-Bx places the piece of bacon into the swarm and everyone watched as it broke down in mere seconds.) Tada!” “Well,” Arial began to say. “You don’t see that every day. What do you think Alec?” “I think I need more bacon, ASAP,” Alec began. “Does this affect the ‘blue’ solution? What happens if my mind doesn’t get it regularly?” “Oh,” Jk-Bx began. “You can have it whenever you like actually, it only benefits you as you need it; your mind will only absorb so much. No, it doesn’t affect the ‘blue’ solution; unless you introduce some other kind of solution to it. Also, not everything you break down goes to your mind, it goes through a kind of filter so nothing deadly gets to your mind; you know, like toxic stuff?” “I think he has some air on his brain,” Whisk said, sipping his coffee. “You drink too much,” Ithamar remarked. “I’m getting a scent of whiskey in that coffee; a little early for Irish coffee isn’t it?” “Leave me alone,” Whisk said. “Why do you drink in the first place,” Ithamar continued. “According to Alec’s memory, Daniel wasn’t a heavy drinker, regardless what had happened in his past.” [b]Continued below[/b]

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  • Edited by Hobbes92: 1/31/2014 3:54:23 AM
    “Leave it alone,” Whisk remarked. “What would you know; you’re nothing more than a walking death factory with the remains of a has-been inside.” “Excuse me?” Arial asked. “Nothing, just the whiskey talking.” Whisk remarked. “What are you doing?” Alec asked Ithamar subconsciously. “Just testing him,” Ithamar remarked. “He better watch that temper.” “I’m thinking of going down to the orphanage and visiting Spencer,” Alec said aloud. “I’m going!” Jk-Bx rang out. “I’d ask for a lift but I think Boris is still recovering from his latest conquest of trying to rid the world of all its alcohol.” Alec said, getting up from the table and grabbing another piece of bacon. “Looks like we’ll walk it; that’s okay, needed to stretch my legs anyway. Let me know if Tarn gets word on the raid on the Cabal mine.” Alec and Jk-Bx left the shop and began their walk to the orphanage some ten blocks away. They walked down the broken and cracked sidewalks, looking at the old and decaying buildings that had seen better times. While on their journey, they have a brief conversation amongst themselves… “So,” Alec began to ask Jk-Bx. “How do you know how to cook?” “Call it one of my hobbies,” Jk-Bx responded. “Why were you pushing Whisks’ buttons for, Ithamar?” Jk-Bx inquired. “Yeah,” Alec agreeing in unison with Jk-Bx with wanting to know why. “I have never in my time heard of a man being turned into an Awoken,” Ithamar began. “He seems to drown a lot of his sorrows in alcohol, something Daniel never did, according to Alecs’ memory. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.” “That’s pretty far I can imagine,” Jk-Bx said jokingly. “You’re not convinced that Whisk is Daniel, are you?” Alec asked. “I can feel it…” “You are right,” Ithamar responded. “I don’t trust that Awoken spawn.” “Hmm,” Alec thought to himself. “Tell me something of your past Ithamar, something I haven’t seen in your own thoughts.” Ithamar was quiet for a moment, thinking of something he could say that may intrigue Alec. “Well,” Ithamar began. “I don’t remember everything yet, but I remember I was built on Mars, built by something left behind by the Traveler, the machine that built me; but most of my mind and the technical stuff that goes on inside it was designed and developed on Venus from technology that the Traveler had left there as well; one of the things on Venus was the Nervue device Jk-Bx described. Received a lot of training and education from the militaries of Earth from the time I had been activated; namely the U.S.M.C., British S.A.S., Germanys’ KSK, and Russian Spetsnaz. I have detailed files of methods of termination of human and alien life forms, medical procedures, engineering, demolitions/pyro techniques, construction/manufacturing, human history, piloting/driving, etc., etc... I served in an Exo division classified as one of three ‘Vanquisher’ units; units that specialize in the protection of the human race, very hostile to threats. The 308th Regiment was where I was placed for most of my time in my exercising and training stages, until I was transferred to the 107th Battalion for extended practices; ended up in the 232nd Brigade for final deployment, they were solely Exo units being trained and educated for military purposes. We were put into service after a strange event had occurred, a strange Darkness had appeared at an outpost, causing people to panic and doubt their leaders. There were also other new threats, namely the showing of the Fallen, Vex, and some Vex Tomb ship entering and causing some disturbances. We could hold them all off pretty easily then, but we always suspected that we hadn’t seen the last of The Darkness; something got left behind, some sort of disease, infecting the people’s minds, driving them mad and causing them to attack and fight each other…they were scary times to the humans, it was taken as a bad omen when the Traveler quickened it’s pace to Earth. Anyway, I had served in the Vanquisher unit Alpha for about thirty years when I was tasked by the some military advisors in the StarSide Echoes to protect one of their Peace Ambassadors, James Wess. Mr. Wess was a well to do business man at one time, but had been working for the SSE as a PA for some years; I’ll share his story someday, if it need be told. He had a daughter, Julia Wess, and she was my best friend…well, one of them. They gave me a new title then, (aside from Vanquisher Alpha-003 or Exo) Pinkerton Exo 377; if you know anything of the Pinkertons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they acted as private security, intervened in riots, and investigated workers (particularly in unions). Some of the colonies had acted up, rebelling and acting out of fear from the events that had unfolded at Outpost 237 and the occurrence of the three strange alien species that had appeared. The event at Outpost 237 was not the main event, but that was one of the first big incidents preceding the first sign of the Darkness. I acted as a body guard to Mr. Wess and his daughter and investigated individuals whom may be a threat to him. I hardly ever left his side, though he considered his daughter a major priority for protection. He went to and from the colonies attempting to settle riots, aid those in need of help by providing supplies or equipment, and acted as a negotiator for the StarSide Echoes and their friends or enemies. Davey could tell you more about my past than I right now…” “Who’s Davey?” Alec asked. “Ohhhhh,” Jk-Bx began to speak, irritated. “You know I don’t like that name.” “Oh, that’s right,” Ithamar began to say. “You don’t like the name they gave you, sorry, ‘Jk-Bx.’ More fitting actually…” “Exactly!” Jk-Bx said, swinging around a lamppost and landing on his head, balancing almost perfectly before getting up and continuing the walk with his friends. “Why is the FOTC building so elaborately built and well supplied while the people here live in poverty?” Ithamar asked, looking at a man asleep on a bench whose clothes were all raggedy and old. “Could not more resources be put into aiding the less fortunate?” “Probably,” Alec said. “I think so,” Jk-Bx replied. “I’m not sure why, to be honest. They have the funds to aid those not so fortunate at least a little bit. I mean, it’s hard times; resources are hard to come by around the city; some are more blessed than others while others suffer worse than others. We just have to make do with what we have; slowly, resources are getting more fluid by the day; just look at what I got for breakfast for today, trust me, times will be brighter in the future.” “Why did we not inform the FOTC or the head Elder Councilmen about me?” Ithamar asked. “Well,” Jk-Bx began. “They’ve reacted pretty strange in the past about these sorts of things; every time an Exo remembers or gains back anything that might reveal the past, they disappear…” “Hmm,” Ithamar hummed. “I wonder what they’re trying to hide…or perhaps forget.” “I’m not saying anything until the time is right,” Jk-Bx replied, hoping the subject would be dropped and it was. The rest of their walk to the orphanage was in silence mostly, only Jk-Bx had anything to say or express himself with. As they approached the entrance of the orphanage they are stopped by a beggar, asking them for any spare credits or anything they may spare. Alec didn’t have anything, but Jk-Bx procured something from thin air it seemed; the man was most grateful and walked away thanking the little robot. At the entrance, they are asked by an automated voice in an intercom box to confirm their identities; of course, Alec and Jk-Bx are admitted (Ithamar said nothing, letting Alec handle the talking for a while) within a few minutes. Walking through the front gate, they enter the court yard where some of the children are playing… “Jk-Bx!!” Exclaimed the children playing in the courtyard, excited to see Jk-Bx. The children swarm Jk-Bx and begin to hammer him with questions: Where had he been? What had he been doing? Was he going to cook anything? Did he bring more gnomes? Alec stood back and just watched, waiting for Spencer to appear any minute. Out of the crowd Salinya walked over towards Alec, the young girl that Spencer had brought with him to Whisks’ place a while ago, and stood next to him. She was carrying a doll of some sort; it looked like it was made from worn out cloth, yarn, and beads. She looked up at Alec and he looked down at her; he thought to himself of how much she looked like her mother (Joan). He knelt down to her level and lifted up his helmet (his artificial face being repaired by Whisks’ machine back at his shop to keep up appearances)… [b]Continued below[/b]

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