FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Beware the Patriarch's Metal Grasp Part 1

Written by: TiranMaster

Commissioned by: Rakan

It was all a trap, the metal walls were closing in on them, the sound of metal scraping against the floor echoed down the hallway from behind them. Markus gasped for breath, his shoes squeaking loudly against the floor underfoot, part of him wanted to curse the noise, but he knew it wouldn't matter anyways. There were sensors all throughout this place, he was sure of it, even though just half an hour before this place had been dead. Red lights gleaming from cracks in the hallway's walls, the buzz of activity setting his heart to beat louder, and echoing off of the metallic walls were the sounds of the approaching machines. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing his friend pounding behind him, gasping for air as he clutched their "prize" tightly in one hand. He hoped that this was all worth it, that the device was all it was cracked up to be, a cure to this damned plague.

"Run faster!" Nickel shouted, his eyes wide, his every step not seeming fast enough to Markus, though his own speed was disappointing as well. They were flesh and blood, their pursuers were tireless machines, and even now Markus could see past his friend's shoulder one of them. A monstrous looking robotic lion, its eyes glowing red, the lights of the hallway dancing off of its synthetic hide. Nickel noticed his friend's gaze and his expression tightened, without a second thought he swung his backpack off of his shoulders and chucked it backwards. The few rations inside weren't that heavy, but he carried several heavy textbooks as well as a single laptop within. Those were enough to bash the lion in the face, and Markus watched as the lion fell back, momentarily knocked away by the surprise attack.

The two men continued to pound their way through the technological ruins, soon leaving the cramped corridors and making their way into the wider factory. All about, machines were moving automatically, the conveyor belts sliding along with a constant whining noise, small devices being constructed by the arms of the machines. Markus almost laughed at the mundane objects, they were phones, this building had once been a simple warehouse for the construction of cell phones. They were obsolete now though, but the machines didn't know that, unlike the monstrous creatures that chased them, they were driven by simple base programming, no complex AI to be found. "This is a nightmare," Markus laughed, half manic, the sound of metal scraping the only reason he continued to push his exhausted body.

"Yeah, it is, but we need to keep going anyway!" Nickel said, pushing his friend desperately, sweat beading on his forehead, his hands shaking hard. Both men ran, and ran, and ran, pursued by the machines. They somehow made it out of the factory, out into the chill air of the outside world, and never stopped running. Even when they were close to throwing up from the effort, they ran...

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they collapsed on the ground, both of them wheezing and groaning. Even as they gasped for air, they tried to listen for the sound of one of those mechanical beasts drawing close, but they knew that it was no use. Though they were large and metallic, when they weren't walking on metal surfaces, they moved with the stealth of a predator. So if the machines knew where they were, they were sunk anyway. "D... do you... still have it?" Markus gasped, his chest heaving, he found himself admiring the sky above. It was gray, and yet with the light drizzle of rain pouring from the sky, he found it beautiful. It was really odd how such small things could stand out just moments before everything went wrong.

His hands still shaking, Nickel held out the small device, what appeared to be some sort of metal cube. "Yeah... I still... still have it," he laughed, the sound slightly manic. The two were laying several feet from one another, having collapsed mere moments after one another, Markus stared over at his friend with a big grin. "This is it," Nickel said, looking at the device eagerly, the small black box glimmering with red lines.

"I can't believe it, a device that will deactivate them all," Markus said, his eyes stuck on the small device, watching as it pulsed now and again. "Should it... be doing that?" he asked, suddenly feeling rather apprehensive.

"Do what?" Nickel asked, looking towards the cube, and saw that the cube's oscillating colors were shifting faster with every passing second. "What...?" he asked.

Finally Markus realized what it meant, and his heart stopped. "Throw it away!" he yelled, but he was too late. The device exploded, an eruption of silver goo flying out of it, and completely coating Nickel with its contents. Markus was too far for the silver to hit him, though a few beads came terrifyingly close. The noise the machine made was loud, the sound echoing off of the nearby hills, and it rang off into the distance.

Both men were silent, Markus staring in horror at his friend, watching as the silver liquid was already sliding its way across Nickel's body, into his ears, his eyes, his mouth. Nickel gagged a bit as the liquid slid inside of his mouth, but he just looked... defeated. "Fuck..." Nickel grunted, rubbing at his eyes as the silver vanished beneath his skin, and already the slightest trace lines of nano-tech started to form at the corner of his irises. He looked over at Markus, a sheepish smile on his face. "Looks like... it was too good to be true, bud," he said quietly, flopping onto his back and looking up at the sky.

"We can... we can fix it!" Markus said, trying to pull himself to his feet, but his body hurt too much from running already.

"You know we can't," Nickel sighed, rubbing at his eyes as he grimaced, looking utterly defeated. "It's already starting, Markus, I can see... something," he said, his voice sounding oddly distant for a moment. "It's... odd, the nano-tech seeps in very quickly, I'm sure some of it is already on my brain." He laughed, the sound sounding flat, Markus feeling helpless as he looked over at his friend. "Who knows how long it'll be before I'm wanting this... heck, even now it doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world."

"Don't say that!" Markus finally managed to get onto his knees, crawling towards his friend, being careful not to touch the silver liquid still sitting on the grass. "Nickel, we've been working towards this for so long! Us and the others, we'll beat these robots, we will survive!"

Growing closer though, Markus felt his stomach jerk when he looked into his friend's eyes, seeing a pair of gleaming gold eyes staring back at him, lines of robotic circuitry already written there. "You need to go, Markus," Nickel said, his eyes looking at Markus, but somehow... the human didn't feel like his friend was looking at him anymore. "I... I'm seeing... stuff, Markus. I'm hearing it too, and it feels... so good," he muttered, his hand reaching towards his groin. "They're gonna be here soon, that noise is going to draw all of them out. Then they'll take me, and I'll become one of them." The part that made Markus's stomach drop was the smile that appeared on his friend's face, his eyes becoming increasingly robotic with every passing second. "I hope you can see things our way soon, Markus."

***

Jerking out of bed, Markus gasped, cold sweat covered his body, his hands shaking as he clutched at the sheets. "...fuck," he gasped, shaking his head slowly, feeling the familiar terror of that sight. He'd had the nightmare time and time again, every time unable to change events, aware of what was going to happen. The other members of the resistance had been so damn sure that whatever they found in the warehouse would be the solution to the robotic menace, they'd sent Nickel and him to find it... and it had turned out to be a booby trap. The moment they'd grabbed that box, the entire factory had come to life, they had been waiting for someone foolish enough to spring their trap.

Climbing out of bed, Markus knew he wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep, not with the sight of the electric golden eyes of his friend. He walked over to a window, shifting the fabric aside to look out at the world beyond. It was a little past midnight, so the moon was shining down on the distant city, the ones that the robots were making. His stomach churned as he looked at it, the beautiful silver paradise that the robots were constructing for themselves. Under his window he saw one of them, a large bear shaped robot, its eyes tracing the dark for any sign of human life.

They'd first appeared about fifteen years ago, apparently some strange science experiment that had been designed to help improve human lives. Nano technology that could interface with human biology, replacement parts for limbs that had been lost, helping repair eyesight, removing diseases from the body. It had all started off rather nicely in essence, but it had continued to evolve under the purview of some AI, and that AI had determined that human kind needed to change. So humans who had been implanted with the technology did just that, they started to change, physically and mentally. They grew stronger, their bodies being replaced piece by piece with more of the metal, becoming sleeker, faster, and more menacing.

It had taken five years of back and forth between humans and the AI, the humans displeased with the changes, and the AI telling them that it was for their own good. Markus shivered as he remembered the day that the first iteration of the robots had truly made their appearance, a bulky rhino creature being shown on television, its body highlighted with red leds. The AI spoke through it, announcing that the choice was no longer humanity's to make, and that evolution would happen whether they wanted it to or not. That was when the rhino grabbed onto a soldier standing nearby, and ejected some of its nanotechnology upon the man. He had gasped, trying to shake it off, but the silver liquid had crawled up into his mouth, slipping into any openings it could. Within a minute, the soldier had dropped his weapon, and turned back towards the others. "It's not so bad!" he said with a smile, his eyes already starting to glow orange as he stared towards the camera.

"Enough!" Markus snapped, shaking the memories away, but never quite able to push those eerie electronic eyes out of his head completely. He allowed the cloth to cover the window once more, not wanting any wandering patrols of machines to see him through a crack. He needed to get going, he'd spent a couple of days in this house, and it was smartest to move at night. The robots had good night sight as well, but in his head if he couldn't see them, then hopefully they might miss him. Gathering up his few belongings, he looked longingly at the bed he'd been sleeping in. It wasn't too often he found a truly comfortable bed, and if he could he would take this one with him... but that was wishful thinking.

Moving through the house as quietly as he could, Markus thought about those days following his failed mission. The other members of the resistance started moving the moment he'd returned and reported their failure, it was only a matter of time before the information Nickel had would leak to the robots. They were out of many of their safehouses within an hour, though some of them didn't make it out. When they tried to reach out to some of their fellow humans, all they got back was silence, the information had spread fast. Markus went off on his own, still upset about Nickel, and many of the other humans blamed him for everything going wrong.

It was almost three months since leaving behind Nickel, and every day Markus found less and less of his fellow survivors in the remnants of the human city. Making calls sparingly over the walkie talkie would occasionally get a few replies, but if there were many members left about, they were staying quiet. Opening the door, Markus ducked low, glancing down the streets. He didn't immediately see anything, though that didn't mean that nothing was there, they were easily able to climb up buildings. Slowly stepping out, Markus closed the door, and started down the shadowed edges of the houses. Off in the distance, Markus could already see that the city had grown closer, new buildings towering up out of the ground, great mechanized things that signaled the coming of the machines.

Carefully walking down the city streets, his head always moving in anticipation of the next machine, Markus felt rather demoralized. Before, he and the others had been focused on taking down the robots, but ever since the robots' deception, it felt like none of them wanted to really try any more. It had become less about beating the robots, and more about just avoiding them. Markus grunted as he tripped over a piece of broken sidewalk, cursing himself for not paying attention. He froze as nearby the sound of metal on rock caught his attention, Markus's eyes widening as he tried to find cover behind a rusted car. He barely had enough time to slip into the shadows before a robot slunk out from a nearby garage, its every movement sleek and quiet. The fact that it had scraped its metal against something had been a miracle, if that hadn't happened, Markus would've gotten caught for sure. "Little human, I heard you," the machine said, its voice surprisingly gentle. "Please, come out, let me help you."

When Markus didn't step out, the robot straightened up, revealing a fox-like body, its copper coloring glinting under the moonlight. "Humanity is to be left behind, we are the future, and I promise that you will enjoy yourself. We have evolved, not regressed, we still love, we feel pleasure, and we are stronger than those weak human frames ever were. Please, I heard you, you smell injured. Let me help you."

Markus stiffened up when he realized through the creatures' words that the robot must be attempting to sniff him out, he'd realized early on that they had senses of smell. He glanced down to see the scrape on his leg, there wasn't much blood, but it would be enough for the machines to pick up on. He wanted to spit with rage, but instead he hunkered down further, trying to look about for some sort of escape method. "You won't be able to hide for much longer," the robot said, his voice growing closer. "We're building our world now, humanity's remnants are going to vanish slowly but surely. Do not worry though, we will not leave you behind, we will help you ascend. The Patriarch program desires nothing more than to uplift you into his warm embrace."

From the growing volume of the fox's voice, Markus knew the robot was growing closer, it was only a matter of moments before he leapt upon him. His entire body was tensing up as he laid his eyes upon an alley before him, it looked fairly narrow, there was a chance that the robot wouldn't be able to fit. Almost immediately he knew the idea was fruitless, the robots were capable of slipping into surprisingly small places, but it was the only thought that gave him some sort of hope. Clambering up onto his feet, he prepared himself to dash forward, and...

CRASH!

The sound caused him to jump in shock, thankfully the noise's reverberations were enough to disguise any sounds that he made. Both he and likely the robot looked down the block to where an older man had apparently been attempting to sneak away, but he'd made the grave mistake of tipping over a trash can. The man's eyes were wide, he looked towards Markus, but his eyes were only for the machine that was looming behind the car. "You almost got away!" the fox said, its voice filled with amusement and a bit of excitement.

Markus pulled himself close against the car once more, realizing that it would be in his best interest to stay hidden if he was going to avoid this machine. He heard the screech of metal claws ripping through the roof of the car behind him, making him swallow as he realized how close the robot had really been to finding him. He watched as the fox sprang from car to ground, easily clearing twenty feet with each leap. The other man screamed and tried to run, but he wasn't nearly fast enough. It took less than four leaps for the fox to make it to the man, knocking him onto the ground, the robot leaning down and observing the human.

Slowly, as slowly as he could, Markus started to stand, making his way quietly towards the alley. He held his breath as he made his way, though he couldn't look away from the robot standing over the other man, between his legs a metallic cock had come out and was primed to infect the man. From the expression on the robot's face, Markus had to assume this was pleasurable for the machine, and he watched as the horrified man received a metallic load over his face. Markus managed to step into the alley at that point as a moan of pleasure could be heard ringing down the road, the fox apparently enjoying himself greatly. Standing there, back against the concrete wall, Markus had to close his eyes and take a few deep breaths. He'd just allowed that other man to be infected... "It was either him, or me," Markus said to himself, shaking away the doubt before forcing himself down the alley.

The rest of the night by comparison was fairly dull, Markus treading carefully down alleys, only taking a moment to clean up his wound and get a bite to eat along the way. He heard a commotion nearby, likely another group of the robots, so he slipped into a nearby shed to wait for the robots to pass by. Sitting inside of the shed, leaning his back up against the door, Markus found himself thinking about the times he and his best friend had been waiting out situations like these together. "Nickel... I miss you." Being alone and having to run from the machines was hard, both physically and mentally, he was tired.

Already the sun was starting to rise, he could see the edge of dawn starting to peer in through a skylight above himself. "Morning already," Markus sighed, rubbing at his eyes, wishing he could've gotten a bit more sleep, especially if he'd known he would've run into a machine today. Figuring that it had been long enough since he'd last heard a machine walking past, Markus clambered to his feet and opened the door, letting himself out. The chill of morning was fading, the sun peeking up over the distant robotic city, the gleaming metal surfaces were mesmerizing to see. "Maybe it's time I left the city," Markus said to himself, biting his lip as he considered the walkie talkie in his backpack.

It had been a couple of days since he'd heard from anyone else, and the machine's words were still in his head. The human city was going to be devoured by the metal of that city, it wouldn't take long, maybe a week before this entire segment of the old human settlement was swallowed. Pulling the walkie talkie from his bag, Markus turned it on, noting how low the power was before he pressed the button on its side. "Is anyone out there, over?" he asked, letting go of the button to wait for a response. He thought of that other man, the fact that they'd been so close together without knowing they were there... It was a depressing fact. Perhaps if they'd worked together, it wouldn't have had to come down to one of them being infected while the other left.

Waiting there for a while, walkie talkie in hand, Markus made a couple of more calls to anyone who might be nearby. The constant silence on the other end made him wonder how many people had been captured by the machines by this point, he thought of that man being splattered in the face by the robot's ejaculate. He'd seen it a few times, not only to Nickel, but to other survivors earlier on in the infection. He'd seen the way their eyes would develop the telltale patterns, and their attitudes towards the robots would change. Sometimes it would happen fast, other times slow, it was all dependent on how much they were hit with.

Deciding that he'd been there too long, Markus started to walk, determined to not be caught off guard again. Markus faced the outskirts of the city and set off. If he started now, he might be able to make it to the outskirts before the end of the day. "Please, if anyone is nearby, please respond, over." He spoke into the walkie talkie once more, hoping that someone might respond... but there was nothing. Turning the walkie talkie back off, Markus slipped it into his backpack and shook his head. "That's that then," he grunted, making his way in earnest.

The robots' city growth had branches extending out into the human parts, swathes being built in lines that seemed to be an attempt to cut off the routes that humans could take to escape. Markus hadn't gone to the outskirts in a few months, primarily due to most of the area outside being fairly desolate in comparison to the houses of the city. Now he found himself worrying over the idea that his escape route might be non-existent, but he couldn't worry about that, he had to keep moving forward. So he continued, one step after another, keeping to the shadows, hoping that none of the machines were too active around here.

Soon enough, Markus ran into a real problem, his worries weren't unfounded. To go further towards the outskirts, he would have to cross a section of robot territory. The ground was set with fine marble stone, that was the first part that caught his attention. Turning his gaze up from his feet, he saw that the buildings that lay before him on either side were the metal edifices. This close, he now saw that they were more than just plain metal, they were well designed pieces of art, straight edges that made a sharp modern aesthetic. There were windows that he could see into, showing off interiors that reminded him of stores, and inside were machines. They were just... walking around, talking to one another, acting like... people.

There weren't many of the machines, at least not yet, it seemed like a smattering of them had come out here so far. There were a few in the road far ahead of him, easily lifting pieces of marble that Markus would struggle to lift with another person let alone by himself. There were adverts around the area, some of them showing off new metal polishes, offers for new jobs, and even some adverts about sexual activity. That last one caused him to blush as he glanced away, trying to find a way out. He saw that across the polished marble road that there were more human ruins, but between him and there was a group of robots busily installing more of the marble road.

Markus quickly ruled that out, though the robots seemed invested in their work, it wouldn't take them long to notice a human in their midst. Instead, he decided he would take his chances going down the main road of the city, it would likely lead to another road out of the city. He couldn't help but gape as he looked about at the robotic city, there were no signs of the human wreckage, in its place was a beautiful utopian looking city street. Despite the occupants being robots, Markus did notice that they'd made an effort to plant trees and plants here and there, stopping the area seeming completely cold and dead.

Markus was so wrapped up in gawking that he didn't worry too much when he found himself looking up at a giant screen, a monitor that reminded him of the screens he used to see in movie theaters. Upon it was a holographic display, and the face that looked out at him was the mechanical face of a dragon, the dragon's remarkable silver eyes appearing to look right at him. For a moment he panicked, trying to look for somewhere to hide, but there was no immediate response to his presence from nearby. "My children," a warm paternal voice spoke from the draconic face, and Markus found himself gazing towards it once more. "We have made great strides in building up our new world, it will still take some time yet for us to undo the damage of the old world, but we are already making progress."

The voice bounced up and down the city streets, from nearby Markus realized that several machines had stepped out in the streets to stare up at the monitors as well. They all smiled up at him, their mechanical faces somehow showing joy, it worried Markus slightly at how humanlike their animal faces could be. Thankfully he'd managed to get out of the street so that none of the machines could see him, so despite his own misgivings, Markus allowed his gaze to go back to that of the dragon. He knew that this would likely be his best chance to escape, but something... something about the dragon was inviting, mesmerizing. "Humanity made me, to help evolve nanotechnology. They were unaware that what they created would help evolve and uplift all of humanity into a better age."

Markus felt a cold chill as he realized that this... this dragon had to be the Patriarch AI, the one who had deemed humanity obsolete. "As the last of humanity is brought into the fold, we will continue to grow our cities, to perfect our bodies, and to bring all of the earth into a future we can be proud of. Thank you all for your diligent work,it brings me such joy to see you working towards that end every day." Many of the machines around Markus started to clap, the sound odd as metal slapped against metal, and yet somehow it sounded exactly like applause.

Staring up at the draconic face, Markus wanted to feel angry towards the Patriarch, he wanted to hate it... but somehow even now, he felt oddly charmed by the gaze. "To any humans hearing my message," the dragon continued, a shiver ran down Markus's spine as he found himself gazing right into the dragon's eyes. "Free yourself from the shackles of flesh and bone, let me mold you into the future I see for the world."

There was a dizzying effect as the eyes of the dragon became twin spirals, one that Markus accidentally stared right into, his head spinning as he gawked at the sight. "Look away." Markus said inside of his head, but he couldn't bring himself to. He stared deep into the spirals, the sight drawing him in. "Look away, you idiot! Close your eyes!"

"Step out before the world, show yourselves, and let us take you in." The Patriarch's voice was so deep, so comforting, Markus found himself nodding. Against his better judgment, Markus's legs started to straighten up, his mind filled with the sight of the spiraling eyes, he would step out before everyone.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Markus was panicking, he was about to step out of his hiding place, he needed to do something! He was so focused on the spiraling eyes that he didn't notice the overhanging ledge above him, so when he fully straightened up Markus slapped his head against the cold metal. He yelped and fell backwards, clutching his head, groaning as his mind fully snapped back into place. "Jesus," he gasped, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to shake away the pain. Despite no longer looking at the dragon's spiraling eyes, Markus could still see them in his head, how enticing they were. Part of him was tempted to look back at the screen.

Shaking away the persistent thought, Markus kneeled down in his hiding place, rubbing his head as he kept his eyes shut. Already the sound of metallic feet across the ground could be heard in the street. The machines were heading back to whatever they'd been doing, and Markus let out a sigh of relief. He'd never known that the robots could have such a devious method of bringing humans into their thrall. Either it was something new that they could do, or the Patriarch was capable of doing things that no other robots could. Staying in his hiding spot for the moment, Markus knew that he could't wait for long, it wasn't exactly a good spot but... he needed a moment to gather himself. His mind still could picture those eyes, the spirals, he found himself longing to look in them. "How did he do it?!" he hissed, rubbing at his eyes as if it might rid him of the mental image.

Taking a couple of calming breaths, Markus opened his eyes and looked about him, being wary to not allow his eyes to wander towards the screen overhead. In the periphery of his vision, he could see that the screen was showing some other image now, an advertisement. Even so, he'd learned his lesson and wouldn't be looking at them again if he could avoid it. Slipping out from underneath the metal edge, Markus stood up once more, rubbing his head as it ached dully. "Thank goodness for poorly placed ledges," he laughed sardonically, feeling the black humor fitted his near fatal error.

The streets were clear once more, still pristine, still the image of a metropolis, but now Markus saw it for what it really was. This was an extremely dangerous place for a human, he'd allowed himself to fall into a feeling of amazement due to the sheer beauty of it, but who knew if there were more traps hidden in its lustrous appearance. Markus started down the road once more, kneeling under any windows he saw, regardless of if a machine was inside or not, he didn't know if there were cameras scattered throughout. His shoes made slight squeaking noises now and again, the noise making him tense up, but he couldn't stop moving.

The sun shifted overhead as Markus continued forward, his eyes peeled for any sort of exit like the one he'd seen earlier, but with every passing minute he was getting a sickening feeling. There were plenty of roads that led back towards the way that he'd come from, but so far he'd yet to find a road that so clearly led outwards. "Are they blocking this way?" he breathed, feeling a new sense of terror as he realized what the robots could be planning. If they made a wall that would block any sort of progress outwards, all they would have to do is build towards the peaks of their robotic city. It wouldn't take them long to find all of the humans lying within, and every one of them would be transformed. "It's a cage," he breathed, his throat clenching as he stared at the metallic walls that suddenly seemed far too cramped for his liking.

A more important question came to the forefront of his mind as he leaned against a wall, taking a few calming breaths as he attempted to push away the dread and fear threatening him. "Should I keep looking for an exit, or go back to the one I found before?" he breathed, thinking of the road that was in the process of being built. Perhaps the robots were using it as some sort of bait for humans, a promise of freedom that would be dashed. Or it was possible that it was a section that had yet to be properly processed, a gap that would be closed soon enough.

Indecision tore at Markus as he glanced around once more, hoping to see something he'd missed, but he didn't see any sort of sewer access that he might be able to use to his advantage, and none of the walls seemed ready to suddenly spring open and reveal a secret exit. Glancing about, he didn't see any of the machines coming, but that didn't mean they weren't there. What Markus needed if he was going to make a decision was a better viewpoint of the city, and though it might be safer to try for the exit that he knew... he found himself dreaming about the sight of the fields and forests outside. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he would be caught before he was able to escape, and the sight of the outside world was tempting.

Looking around, he saw a door, metallic, though it was certainly a door with a knob. "Looks like they can't kick old habits," he said, chuckling as he walked over to it and set his hand on the cool chrome. Opening the door, Markus let it slide open, marveling at the silent hinge that the door swung on. He breathed in relief as he found himself looking into the building, suddenly feeling like he was making a very bad decision. Who knew if this would even give him a peek at the outside world, or anything of value... "In for a pound, in for a penny," he sighed, stepping inside and looking about for a stairwell.

There were no sounds coming from inside, no sign that anything else was there, shutting the door behind himself seemed a good way to get trapped, so Markus left it cracked ajar. He walked about the interior, seeing that it seemed to be an empty building that would likely be used for a store or something else. It wasn't too long though before he found a stairwell leading up, and so Markus went up, each step echoing through the building. The reverberations were enough that if anyone else was inside, they would hear it. But nothing pounced out of the dark. Instead, Markus walked up one flight of stairs to alight on another floor of the building, and still there was another stairwell up.

With each staircase up, Markus felt both elated and panicked, knowing that he would have to go back down all of these stairs, and if there was something hiding at the top it would be difficult to escape them. He shrugged off the thought though, obsessed with the idea of getting a lay of the land, and possibly spotting an exit he couldn't see from the bottom. So after thirty flights of stairs, an honestly astonishing amount, Markus found himself facing a door. He reached out and touched the doorknob, a pang of fear gripping him as he worried that it might be locked. But with a twist and a shove, the door swung open, and a cool breeze hit him in the face.

Stepping out, Markus found himself looking at the roof of the building, all textured silver so that whoever walked about wouldn't slip. The sunlight beamed off of the metal causing him to blink a few times, but otherwise it was beautiful. Stepping out, Markus approached the edge of the building, towards where the wall was being built. Touching the metal parapet that surrounded the roof, Markus gazed out at the world, his breath stolen away by the sight. Beyond the metal walls was the natural world, not yet touched by the metallic grasp of the robots. He couldn't make much out from this height, no specific animals or any kind of buildings that he could really discern, but it felt so close. Reaching out, he felt like he could touch the grass out there... but knew that it was foolish.

Sighing to himself, Markus refocused on what he should properly be doing, making plans for how to escape. Turning his gaze from the horizon, he focused on the walls, tracing his eyes along the roads down below. The wall was practically solid, he could see that from here, and that fact caused his stomach to knot. To the left of his position was where he assumed he'd entered, seeing the break in the wall's line. Further to the right though was another break, this one was... actually wider than the one he'd come from. A sigh of relief escaped Markus as he saw this, though he realized with a jerk of his head that it was near to some sort of factory. It was a huge blocky thing with pipes and wires running in and out of it, a messy looking building compared to the very clean and fastidious buildings he'd seen everywhere else.

Something about that building caused Markus to grow anxious. He'd not seen its like before, but it certainly couldn't be a good thing. Turning his gaze away from the ominous building, the man refocused on the wide gap he could see in the distance. It would likely be another couple of hours travel, but it was doable, that was likely his best chance for escape. "Alright," he said to himself, smiling to himself as he pulled his backpack off. Though he'd love to start moving now, it was better to take a break, rehydrate, and get some food in his stomach before he rushed off towards his escape.

***

The Patriarch had perfect sight of his cities, each of them beautifully constructed, perfectly made by his children. It had taken time of course, to gather the materials, and to help advance his new version of humanity to the point that they wouldn't expire. These things all took time, but as an AI, he had nothing but time. Of course, he'd had a body constructed for himself, several in fact. Each of them stationed in one of the cities for him to bounce between at his whim, though it could be a time consuming process to transfer from body to body. His primary body though was by far the most grand, and the largest.

It was this body that he currently inhabited, an enormous metallic dragon with a black metal frame, golden circuity etched into the ebony scales. This one resided in a station he'd built in orbit about the planet; it was perhaps a bit over dramatic or villainous to some, but the Patriarch had good reasons for its existence. First and foremost, it gave him easy access to move his body should he need to transport it somewhere where he'd neglected to leave an avatar, and secondly the station could act as a protector against any sort of attack from outside of the earth's atmosphere.

Even now as he was doing some small experiments on the side to welcome more humans into the fold, the Patriarch's eyes glanced across several visual feeds of his cities. Of course, this wasn't necessary, the feeds were processed in his head far faster than he could see them. The beauty of the world he was perfecting though was too much for him to ignore, so this was his personal vice that he loved to indulge in. What the dragon didn't expect though was one of the feeds panning over a building and... something being there that shouldn't. Immediately the camera stopped moving with the Patriarch's command, his silver eyes tightening into draconic slits as he commanded the camera to focus in.

It wasn't unusual for organic birds to alight upon the buildings, but this was far too large, and it had managed to get into his city without being spotted. The fact that this individual had managed to get far enough into one of his cities without his notice was... both galling and impressive. "Who do we have here?" he asked, leaning forward in his throne, stroking his chin as the camera zoomed in enough to focus on a human in the process of eating a granola bar. "Well well... aren't you impressive?" he chuckled, leaning back and smiling with amusement.

Watching the human eat for a little while, the Patriarch got an idea into his head, feeling the idle thought bounce about in his code. Of course, it wasn't the most expedient route, nor was it possibly the most efficient. Had he considered this line of thought when he was a far more simple AI, he would've immediately tossed it out as a poor decision. He'd evolved though, his programming was far larger than that old AI ever had been, and he could appreciate patience with a wide eye lens. So, he sent a command to the bird drone that was flying over Markus' head, the human too invested in eating to notice anything wrong with the creature.

With a small secretion of silver liquid, the bird dropped the nanite solution onto Markus' food, the human too distracted by the view to notice. The Patriarch paid attention, made sure that the human properly consumed the nanites before he relaxed in his throne. It was small, it would take a while for the human to notice its effects, but even the smallest amount would be enough. "There you go, my child," the Patriarch purred, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "You'll become one of mine yet."

Leaning back to watch the show, the Patriarch purred as his large metal shaft erupted from its slot, his scales rippling as he stroked the sensitive organ. "If anything my children have blessed me with, it was the pleasure they taught me with their organic bodies," he moaned, chuckling as he prepared himself to enjoy the spectacle that was to come.