Here I am, standing in a snow covered field. there was a ship lying on is side, a single object of any worth, everything else was just a barren wasteland. I could hear a voice in the back of my mind.
"tell us Dakka, what is it that you see right now?"
"I see a ship, an old tanker of some sort just sitting here like it had sunk decades ago, it makes me wonder if this was the bottom of a lake" their was chatter in the back of my head, voices talking to each other.
"what do you desire to do Dakka?" I was cold out in the field, I had little clothing and the frigid wind was killer.
"I want to go inside the ship" I proceeded to do so. the inside would be hard to walk around in but I'm confident that it wont be an issue. I stepped atop the deck, various colors of the rust spectrum had dominated the once light blue the crew walked upon. it was slicker than I thought, I had to time my movements to get to a door I saw just a few yards away.
I made it, out of breath and cold I managed to get the handle. I swung with the door and got a foot in the arch of the door. the delicate balance was hard to maintain but I managed to get in. I stumbled when I got in, it was like the gravity had shifted upright in the ship, but that wasnt all there was, the innards were clean, like they had been kept up this whole time. Walking around there wasnt a soul to see. as I got closer to the center I could hear music, a piano.
"whats going on?" the voices asked me.
"the inside, its so luxurious. no rust or anything of the sort, its a cruise ship of the most expensive kind" more chatter between the voices.
"what will you do?"
"I'm curious as to the music I hear, I'm investigating it" I held a hand out to the wall, the paint was a little rough as my hand slid across the black and gold accents. as I got closer the music became familiar. I stood staring at a door 'grand hall lvl 2' the piano was right behind this door. I grabbed the brass accent and opened the door with caution.
"honey I'm home" i saw who was at he piano and jerked from being startled. it was a floating representation of the cybernetics in my body. the wires that went to the exposed plugs on the surface of my skin shaped to resemble my arms, legs and torso. the many metal replacements was higher than I imagined. a yellow and red spine was glowing a deep purple through many of the over armored pieces. I looked at myself, the plugs and other exposed parts were all missing like how I was before that horrible surgery. the cyborg skeleton that was at the piano stopped. it turned to look at me, it didnt seem natural. all the metal work in the head was at the back.
a chill went down my spine, this didnt seem right, this was wrong. I looked around the room and found other metal bodies floating around. one was Breech, it was obvious from the heavy work in the arms, chest and head. the eyes were the same as Breech's, a complete blank but filled with experience that belonged to Breech and no one else.
there was another. just an arm. Ratchet was a total nut case. the level of work she's done to herself for a cybernetic arm was immense. there was another metal body in the room.
this body was an absolute work of art for a cyborg body, it looked like a real human replica down to the musculatory system. Such a beautiful piece but... also a cage. I think its a very nice looking cage for a soul to live in, alone and afraid. but the question was killing me, who is it? it couldn't be Delta, his body isnt so... fine and feminine. could it be MooK? or even Levan? those were the suspects i could think of, the frame was small enough it could be either of them.
the voices started to come up again, they started to fade away, the words turned to static and music. my metal self wasnt playing the piano though, in fact it and the other chassis were surrounding me, I felt threatened, the door behind me snapped shut and I couldnt do anything to break it open. a hand grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. the fist of the unknown body was about to strike me, everything around me went into a twist of tye-dye before reverting to wire frame. my psyco-analysis for grinder piloting was complete.
"do you want the good news or the bad news Dakka?"
"the bad news?"
"the bad news is... you get to go out and get shot at again"
"and the good?"
"you get the benefit of piloting a grinder to protect you. your evaluation went well" the analyst was fighting off Ratchet who looked eager to view the instrument cluster.
"are you guys able to see what i see when I'm in the machine?"
"no, why? did you see something strange, a glitch?" I wasnt sure how to explain what I saw at the end, I figured it was better to just keep to myself.
"the... sky... it looked a little too blue"
"Hmm... we'll have to look into the workings a little more, anyway your free to go" I had to get rid of this suit they made me wear. I stepped into the adjoined room and put my catsuit and coat back on.
Back at the combat carrier I made my way to Kata's room, I wanted to ask her if she knew something about that unknown body. I knocked.
"you can enter" muffled from the other side.
"Dakka, do you need something?"
"Kata, I wanted to ask you something, while I was in my analysis, I saw these floating representations of our cybernetic implants. Mine, Breech's, Ratchet's, and someone else's that i wasnt aware of. is there a Rose with an almost complete body replacement?" Kata didnt look happy to be asked this. she started darting her vision around her desk.
"dont start with the nervous ticks, just tell me what i want to know or tell me to get out"
"alright just cool down. now let me get this straight, you saw what your cybernetics look like along with some others that look like the other Roses. What I would like to know is how you know just how their represented within the body" Kata stood up and looked out the porthole behind her.
"unless what you see is what you want to think is what they look like..." Kata looked back at me.
"its too complicated to try to pinpoint. anyways" Kata pulled a tablet from her computer and tossed it to me. I scrolled through the information.
"wait... thats who owns it? of all the people to have a body... like that" I looked up at the ceiling.
"the percentage is so extreme its closer to a grinder classification than a cyborg"
"Dakka, this information is not to be discussed with anyone, I showed it to you because I trust you. we've been through a lot so I felt it was the right thing to do"
"Kata, this... this is incredible. I dont know what to say"
"dont say anything, not a thing"
