Chapter 1: A Day In The Life Of SORU-C3S2

Special Orbital Research Unit, SORU for short, had a simple but fulfilling life for whatever semblance of feeling the Creators had deigned to program into it to support its function. Its life started when the Creators discovered a new slumbering planet in Sector-C. Thus it was born, programmed with a simple task: to map all biological, behavioural and manifestatory traits of the unawakened planet, ready for the Creators to awaken it. As for after the awakening, that wasn't part of its designation. The end of its task marked its shutdown and subsequent repurposing. What that entailed also wasn't part of its designation.

Similar to the other planets in the Sector, it was small, water-based, and populated by carbon-based lifeforms. As for the other Sectors, that wasn't part of its designation either.

When it was born and immediately put to work so many years ago, it had started with the aquatic life after moderate observation. It was the sensible choice after all. One that both delayed alerting the local sentient lifeforms, and simply made relocation so much easier - the only tricky part to its otherwise uncomplicated assignment.

Manifested locals couldn't be returned. No, that was against protocol. They were to be memory wiped and handed over to a supervisory body on the nearest, suitable planet, preferably for a price. For marine creatures that meant a one-way trip to C3A1 but for terrestrial creatures that had meant stasis. Fortunately, with the recent promotion of C3C1, and the subsequent change of protocol, it wouldn't encounter that problem-prone ordeal. The prospect of offloading a large backlog of creatures had been sincerely frightening. Marketing is hard.

Right now, it was looking forward to the nearing end of its life mission. With only the sole sentient species left for mapping and a clear method for relocation of the awakened, life was good.

The current human - the Creators respected self-appointed names - was proving to be a bit of an anomaly. They'd need to be awakened. The physiological and cerebral scans, marking the human as an adolescent male of Indonesian descent, in the initial chamber had proven to be smooth enough, although the amygdala was far more active than the sedatives usually allowed. The chambers following were mostly to confirm and clarify the results of the first.

The next chamber was a maze or, rather, two, possibly three, designed to respectively test the specimen's memorisation and reading capabilities. Why a maze, you might ask. Simply because it boosted co-operation for whatever reason. They still wallowed a bit before starting but that was fine as it allowed for a crude measure of adaptability, which the anomaly proved to be quite lacking in.

Despite that, he'd navigated the first maze admirably, finishing with an above average pace and comfortable sitting within the acceptable range. That meant no need for a retest for the potentially lucky ones, nor the need for a third maze, designed with writing aides for the less gifted. The second maze was unceremoniously completed as flawlessly as most other humans already examined, proving the race's ability to adequately follow a basic map.

What followed was a basic deduction test where a coded keypad was wired to an adjacent door with the pass code and key imprinted on the wall. It was set to open after too many failed attempts, if too much time had passed after the last attempt, or if no attempt was made over the specified period. Though, that proved unnecessary for the current examinee.

The concluding chamber, for most specimens, was simultaneously a physical and perseverance test. The matt-black test suit they wore, covering all but the head, increased its weight to 10% above their theoretical max, from the first chamber, before adjusting accordingly to allow them to just reach the half-way point to the exit. From there, a fear-inducing device was activated and any changes were noted. That was where the current anomaly was found.

Normally, the only observable change between the two-halves was a slight decrease of speed in the second, attributable to increased caution. A panic attack was quite strange to say the least. Strange enough to warrant an additional chamber: the awakening chamber. Generally, the more abnormal individuals of a race have less common manifestations.

It gassed the current chamber with a calming sedative, enough to soothe the panicked human to a muddled state without putting him asleep. Several dark, spherical drones silently flew to the listless teen, contactlessly suspending him off the ground before transporting him out of the white room into another, equally white.

He was set at the centre of a hollow, fleshy dome where thick, pink tendrils extended from it to anchor him at each limb, replacing the drones, to form a star-shape. Numerous thinner tendrils bloodlessly stabbed into the unresisting human throughout his body, particularly concentrated around his heart. The largest tendril yet extended away from him to encapsulate a torso-sized, white crystal, forming a bubble with thinner tendrils densely piercing out into the object.

Now was the time to focus. The shrinking bubble and shrieking human indicated to it the beginning of the awakening process. Any time now and the life card will start to manifest. It'll need to cut the life essence supply and weaken the connection simultaneously without killing the human or all was lost.

The screams increased in intensity as a hint of something formed directly in front of him. Starting from an infinitesimally small point, it grew to life-size almost within the next moment - now. The recently formed ice-replica of an eye developed fractures tracing snaking streaks that criss-crossed to an exceedingly fragile but intact sculpture as the human fell unconscious.

SORU rolled the cracked eye between its seven fingers, considering its next course of action. Directly testing it was impossible considering the damage. That left indirect testing, which tended not to work on perception-based abilities, and remote observation. It could always reacquire it later once it had been repaired, although that would kill the specimen, which was to be avoided according to protocol.

Memory wiping the unconscious adolescent, it re-scanned him in the first chamber before waking him and having him repeat the others. Confirming no changes to any results, he put him to sleep again.

That left only remote observation. He considered his current orders before deciding on the likely safest option currently. A Collector requested a carville-speaking human for a generous price - enough to place them as first priority and then some. Anything related to Collector was something most couldn't afford to harm on a budding planet though, the question was, what use did a mundane slave have to a Collector?

It pulled up the Collector's information, considering the oddly worded request. He was known to be benevolent, which could've easily been hearsay. SORU suspected more sinister intentions, one that'll prove impossible with a transplanted ability rather than a natural one. That'll also allow it to install a tracker.

The nature of artificial abilities meant they had an inbuilt expiry date. Fortunately, that left easily enough time for the specimen to learn the language, what with the mental capabilities displayed and the aide of the transplant.

It briefly considered where exactly to transplant it before deciding on the side of the neck. That way it wouldn't be lost if a limb was taken and no one would suspect it. Transplanted abilities were still a closely guarded secret despite the frantic research of those in the dark. Many were unwittingly close to discovering it with the re-invention of transformers but their current unfeasible size and imperfect containment threw them off the trail. Still, protocol meant sufficient precautions should be made anyway.

With that done, he stored the human in the stasis chamber with two others of its race. A detachment would be sent for offloading soon: two more needed to be prepared for another Collector's request, one with clearer intentions. 'Luckily, his requirements weren't as hard to come by,' SORU thought, already searching for appropriate targets on the sturdier side of the race.