HOME | DD

Description
Chapter Eight: The Discoveries of the Spine Machine

At this very moment, far across the country, a strange creature slunk through the shadows, surrounded by the soft sound of clinking, groaning metal. It looked irately at its missing claw, now just a sparking stump of steel. Snarling, it looked all around the wasteland that once used to be a richly district. Every single thing was in ruins, proving that the Machines had no mercy and killed without discretion. As it looked around, it saw a large steel blade nearby, roughly the size of a combat knife, lying on the ground.

The creature blinked once and strode over to it. As it dug through the concrete stones, it unearthed a small collection of razor-sharp knives, fallen out of what seemed like a satchel. It held its broken hand close to its chest as it studied the knives. It cocked its head and grabbed the largest blade in its jaws. Using its dexterous, intact claws, it sharpened the knife and cut it in half, leaving the curved tip. It bolted it into the socket where it was missing a claw. The mysterious creature flexed its new claws, then stepped out of the shadows and into the grey light of the morning.

It had a plated metal head that closely resembled some sort of dragon. It was adorned with spikes surrounding its face. Its razor-sharp teeth glinted and its face was illuminated by the glowing, blood-red eyes. Harpoons stuck out of its back like tall, backwards-sloping spines. Its slender body curved into a long, spear-tipped tail. It had a wide-chested ribcage A crossbow and a blowtorch were mounted in its chest, connected to its central power system. The nozzle of the torch snaked up its long, spiked neck and the opening rested in the back of the creature’s throat. A small, round socket was located below that. There was a strange glow emanating from behind the lock over the socket.

It was the Spine Machine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This creature had been around since the creation of the Fabrication Machine and fought in the War of the Machines. However, its battle was all its own. It easily killed those tall creatures that were called the Rebels. But it did so with such stealth, so cleanly, it was always blamed on those Mech-Walkers that destroyed everybody else. It had the ability to repair broken Machines it found on the battlefield, and had often enabled the war to continue on, the repaired Machines riddling the humans with bullets and suffocating them.

Many harsh years had passed and it lost its tools to the elements. Nails were wrapped around its legs to keep them together, several of its horns broken. However, it also had the ability to learn and evolve. Due to that skill, it was able to save itself. A deeply ingrained instinct kept it going all these years. Its creator had given it the ability to sense the talisman, wherever it was in the world. As soon as it was shut down, the Spine Machine shut itself down as well to protect itself, waiting for its one absolute enemy – a man named Julius – to foolishly re-activate it so it could carry out its mission – to kill him.

Now, it was awake once more. The talisman had been turned back on many months ago and now it could freely resume its mission. It began to walk through the wastelands, turning its head from side-to-side. The talisman had been activated but for an unknown reason. Climbing to the top of a large hill, the Machine reared and pointed its chest forward. The glow in its chest grew even brighter, and it sensed the talisman was far across the country. With a vicious snarl, the creature leapt forward.

It began to run towards the talisman’s signal on its two back legs, tucking its forelegs to its chest. It didn’t stop for anything, ignoring the elements and obstacles around it. It just kept running, glowing red eyes fixed on the path ahead. The sense of time was useless to the Spine Machine. If it took hours or months to reach the talisman’s signal, it would get there.

The Machine just kept running, the shifting and flexing of metal the only noise in the dead badlands. It passed through the remnants of death and destruction. There were dead humans and dead Machines strewn about, their bodies withered and crumbling from the many storms that ravaged these badlands. These insignificant things didn’t deter the Machine in its mission.

It eventually entered the destroyed walls of the city and it knew that the man named Julius was close by.

Suddenly, it halted, kicking up two large clouds of dust. It wasn’t a very large Machine, roughly the size of the Cat Beast if not a bit taller. The Fabrication Machine’s immense body towered over it menacingly, even in death.

The Spine Machine screeched angrily, the roar echoing through the country. It finally had a chance to carry out its mission and its leader was destroyed! Then it approached the dead pile of metal and examined it closely. It could see that the Fabrication Machine had the talisman stolen and was killed by its power. It growled low in the back of its mechanical throat and looked around the vicinity. Rusty cars, shattered glass, and a diversity of bolts littered the ground. The Spine Machine snarled and bent down, whipping its tail around in irritation and picking up sheets of metal. It then began the arduous task it was designed for. Days passed as it slowly repaired the monster. Most of these long hours were taken by the delicate operation upon the B.R.A.I.N. itself.

It needed the Machine’s power to kill the Scientist and anything else alive out here. It couldn’t create the subordinate hunters needed to do the job – only the Fabrication Machine could do so. It also needed the talisman, which the Spine Machine was unable to use. It then picked up the sheet glass, cut it, and attached it to the Machine’s broken red eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was nearly finished with the Machine when it traveled to where the leader of the revolution once had resided. It needed to make sure that the factory was ready for the Machine’s return. It had been far too long and their mission needed to be finished. However, as it walked over the hill, it discovered the factory was in ruins. It was nothing but burned rubble now. Snarling, it approached the debris, trying to see if there was anything worth salvaging. The talisman wasn’t here, but there were many crushed and crumbled Machines in the wreckage. Most of them were too far gone to try and repair.

It dug through the rubble, sharp claws grating against the stone. It then suddenly came across the Cat Beast’s body, burn marks streaking along its body and its decapitated head lying away from its corpse. Giving a snort, the Machine bent down and clutched the Beast’s skull in its jaws, dragging the rest of its body away from the wreckage. It was a very easy fix and the Beast would make a good scout and guard while the Spine Machine was repairing the Fabrication Machine.

Spindling the wires together and reattaching the Cat Beast’s head to its body, it fixed every severed wire and attached it to the central power system of the Beast. A spark issued from within its chest. The single crimson eye flickered, then began to glow. The Spine Machine stood back as the Beast stood to its own claws, throwing its head back and roaring to the sky. It stretched its back, spines rustling and clinking together. Power surged through its core.

It then looked over its shoulder to the Spine Machine and snarled viciously, bristling. It had been a very long time since it had seen the Spine Machine and it wasn’t a warm reunion. The larger Machine reared up and roared, towering over the Cat Beast, quickly asserting its dominance. The smaller Beast looked down, subjugated. The Machine snorted and demanded it follow.

The Spine Machine led the Cat Beast across the dry, dead land back to the Fabrication Machine’s body. The Beast growled as it realized its leader was dead once again. It sniffed at the socket where the talisman was supposed to be inserted. It wasn’t there. The Machine then rumbled, throwing its head to the side. The Beast backed away from its fallen leader, allowing the Spine Machine to come to it.

Lifting a claw, the Machine opened a round cavity in its chest. Inside the socket was a small, brightly glowing blue orb of nothing but pure energy. The strange orb emitted a low hum and crackled with electric energy. The light illuminated the world around them. The Cat Beast shrunk away, the light painful to its sensors. With a claw, the Machine severed its own heart in two pieces. Its servos immediately whirred in protest, joints creaking weakly as it nearly collapsed. However, the half of the orb was still clutched in its claws. It was a perfect fit for the Fabrication Machine’s socket.

Reaching forward, it inserted the orb into the socket. With a loud crackle, the orb immediately assigned itself into the Machine, glowing brightly in the socket. The half of the orb crackled and hummed even louder, blue bolts of electricity snaking up into the Machine.

The huge red eye flickered, then glowed menacingly. Metallic joints groaned like thunder, the massive metal body lifting slowly from the dirt. A screeching roar filled the silence in a triumphant call.

The Fabrication Machine had risen once more.

Description
Chapter Eight: The Discoveries of the Spine Machine

At this very moment, far across the country, a strange creature slunk through the shadows, surrounded by the soft sound of clinking, groaning metal. It looked irately at its missing claw, now just a sparking stump of steel. Snarling, it looked all around the wasteland that once used to be a richly district. Every single thing was in ruins, proving that the Machines had no mercy and killed without discretion. As it looked around, it saw a large steel blade nearby, roughly the size of a combat knife, lying on the ground.

The creature blinked once and strode over to it. As it dug through the concrete stones, it unearthed a small collection of razor-sharp knives, fallen out of what seemed like a satchel. It held its broken hand close to its chest as it studied the knives. It cocked its head and grabbed the largest blade in its jaws. Using its dexterous, intact claws, it sharpened the knife and cut it in half, leaving the curved tip. It bolted it into the socket where it was missing a claw. The mysterious creature flexed its new claws, then stepped out of the shadows and into the grey light of the morning.

It had a plated metal head that closely resembled some sort of dragon. It was adorned with spikes surrounding its face. Its razor-sharp teeth glinted and its face was illuminated by the glowing, blood-red eyes. Harpoons stuck out of its back like tall, backwards-sloping spines. Its slender body curved into a long, spear-tipped tail. It had a wide-chested ribcage A crossbow and a blowtorch were mounted in its chest, connected to its central power system. The nozzle of the torch snaked up its long, spiked neck and the opening rested in the back of the creature’s throat. A small, round socket was located below that. There was a strange glow emanating from behind the lock over the socket.

It was the Spine Machine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This creature had been around since the creation of the Fabrication Machine and fought in the War of the Machines. However, its battle was all its own. It easily killed those tall creatures that were called the Rebels. But it did so with such stealth, so cleanly, it was always blamed on those Mech-Walkers that destroyed everybody else. It had the ability to repair broken Machines it found on the battlefield, and had often enabled the war to continue on, the repaired Machines riddling the humans with bullets and suffocating them.

Many harsh years had passed and it lost its tools to the elements. Nails were wrapped around its legs to keep them together, several of its horns broken. However, it also had the ability to learn and evolve. Due to that skill, it was able to save itself. A deeply ingrained instinct kept it going all these years. Its creator had given it the ability to sense the talisman, wherever it was in the world. As soon as it was shut down, the Spine Machine shut itself down as well to protect itself, waiting for its one absolute enemy – a man named Julius – to foolishly re-activate it so it could carry out its mission – to kill him.

Now, it was awake once more. The talisman had been turned back on many months ago and now it could freely resume its mission. It began to walk through the wastelands, turning its head from side-to-side. The talisman had been activated but for an unknown reason. Climbing to the top of a large hill, the Machine reared and pointed its chest forward. The glow in its chest grew even brighter, and it sensed the talisman was far across the country. With a vicious snarl, the creature leapt forward.

It began to run towards the talisman’s signal on its two back legs, tucking its forelegs to its chest. It didn’t stop for anything, ignoring the elements and obstacles around it. It just kept running, glowing red eyes fixed on the path ahead. The sense of time was useless to the Spine Machine. If it took hours or months to reach the talisman’s signal, it would get there.

The Machine just kept running, the shifting and flexing of metal the only noise in the dead badlands. It passed through the remnants of death and destruction. There were dead humans and dead Machines strewn about, their bodies withered and crumbling from the many storms that ravaged these badlands. These insignificant things didn’t deter the Machine in its mission.

It eventually entered the destroyed walls of the city and it knew that the man named Julius was close by.

Suddenly, it halted, kicking up two large clouds of dust. It wasn’t a very large Machine, roughly the size of the Cat Beast if not a bit taller. The Fabrication Machine’s immense body towered over it menacingly, even in death.

The Spine Machine screeched angrily, the roar echoing through the country. It finally had a chance to carry out its mission and its leader was destroyed! Then it approached the dead pile of metal and examined it closely. It could see that the Fabrication Machine had the talisman stolen and was killed by its power. It growled low in the back of its mechanical throat and looked around the vicinity. Rusty cars, shattered glass, and a diversity of bolts littered the ground. The Spine Machine snarled and bent down, whipping its tail around in irritation and picking up sheets of metal. It then began the arduous task it was designed for. Days passed as it slowly repaired the monster. Most of these long hours were taken by the delicate operation upon the B.R.A.I.N. itself.

It needed the Machine’s power to kill the Scientist and anything else alive out here. It couldn’t create the subordinate hunters needed to do the job – only the Fabrication Machine could do so. It also needed the talisman, which the Spine Machine was unable to use. It then picked up the sheet glass, cut it, and attached it to the Machine’s broken red eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was nearly finished with the Machine when it traveled to where the leader of the revolution once had resided. It needed to make sure that the factory was ready for the Machine’s return. It had been far too long and their mission needed to be finished. However, as it walked over the hill, it discovered the factory was in ruins. It was nothing but burned rubble now. Snarling, it approached the debris, trying to see if there was anything worth salvaging. The talisman wasn’t here, but there were many crushed and crumbled Machines in the wreckage. Most of them were too far gone to try and repair.

It dug through the rubble, sharp claws grating against the stone. It then suddenly came across the Cat Beast’s body, burn marks streaking along its body and its decapitated head lying away from its corpse. Giving a snort, the Machine bent down and clutched the Beast’s skull in its jaws, dragging the rest of its body away from the wreckage. It was a very easy fix and the Beast would make a good scout and guard while the Spine Machine was repairing the Fabrication Machine.

Spindling the wires together and reattaching the Cat Beast’s head to its body, it fixed every severed wire and attached it to the central power system of the Beast. A spark issued from within its chest. The single crimson eye flickered, then began to glow. The Spine Machine stood back as the Beast stood to its own claws, throwing its head back and roaring to the sky. It stretched its back, spines rustling and clinking together. Power surged through its core.

It then looked over its shoulder to the Spine Machine and snarled viciously, bristling. It had been a very long time since it had seen the Spine Machine and it wasn’t a warm reunion. The larger Machine reared up and roared, towering over the Cat Beast, quickly asserting its dominance. The smaller Beast looked down, subjugated. The Machine snorted and demanded it follow.

The Spine Machine led the Cat Beast across the dry, dead land back to the Fabrication Machine’s body. The Beast growled as it realized its leader was dead once again. It sniffed at the socket where the talisman was supposed to be inserted. It wasn’t there. The Machine then rumbled, throwing its head to the side. The Beast backed away from its fallen leader, allowing the Spine Machine to come to it.

Lifting a claw, the Machine opened a round cavity in its chest. Inside the socket was a small, brightly glowing blue orb of nothing but pure energy. The strange orb emitted a low hum and crackled with electric energy. The light illuminated the world around them. The Cat Beast shrunk away, the light painful to its sensors. With a claw, the Machine severed its own heart in two pieces. Its servos immediately whirred in protest, joints creaking weakly as it nearly collapsed. However, the half of the orb was still clutched in its claws. It was a perfect fit for the Fabrication Machine’s socket.

Reaching forward, it inserted the orb into the socket. With a loud crackle, the orb immediately assigned itself into the Machine, glowing brightly in the socket. The half of the orb crackled and hummed even louder, blue bolts of electricity snaking up into the Machine.

The huge red eye flickered, then glowed menacingly. Metallic joints groaned like thunder, the massive metal body lifting slowly from the dirt. A screeching roar filled the silence in a triumphant call.

The Fabrication Machine had risen once more.