The Organ Donor (Bleeding Rose)

Coffee had never been my favorite drink, but at this moment it was all I could do to keep me up through these boring hours.  The new donor would be in soon and construction of the new Whiskey program could begin.

I took the first sip of my new cup of 'English toffee' flavored drink and spilled some of the contents on my hand when I pulled it back from mild burning pain.  After biting through the burn on my hand I decided to cool it down with some cold water.

"Hey Marcus, still awake are we?" Nicholas said as he trotted into the break room.  He reached for the same pot I did and took a large drink of scorching hot coffee.

"Hanging on by threads at the moment, just minutes till our organ donor arrives.  I'll be up and going like no other by then"  I took a seat and started stirring my cup, an annoying habit I wanted to break.

"I'm not sure if you know but I'll be in on the procedure today, Vincent couldn't make it" Nicholas said before taking in another large slurp of his hot drink.

"Well thats... unlike him, must be something big.  Have you read the report on the subject?" the look Nicholas gave turned down from a tired smile to a worried look of sorrow or maybe guilt, it was hard for me to tell.

"I did" he coughed.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"No, well... a bit" He didn't want to spit it out.  My prying expression that says 'you should know better by now' got to him.

"Think about it Marcus, all of the other Phonetics we've constructed to this point have been what we would expect to see.  Large battle hardened soldiers built to near Grinder specifications with all accessories unattached.  But this one is on the opposite side of the scale" I wasn't sure if it was me or the fatigue but listening to him was hard.  Outside of the break room we heard the doors slam open and people yelling to get out of the way.  We poked our heads out to see a gurney with a clear plastic bag with a body in it.  Our organ donor had arrived.  A feeling like a spring shooting through my spine said it was time to work.

"She looks so young" Nicholas said.

"Report said she was 21 at time of death"

"Did you see her though? she looked like she could be my daughter"

"You mean 'it' could be your daughter"

"Just because she's passed on doesn't mean she's any less human"

"You and me are scientists Nicholas, becoming attached to our work on such a small scale like that is what puts progress in a bottleneck.  She was an organ donor, now she's dead.  We bought her body and now its our property, we can do whatever we please with our purchased materials" Nicholas didn't look happy with me but as far as I was concerned it was the truth.  We left the break room and made our way to the operating room at a comfortable, slow pace.  As we made like sloths down the hall a large box met our stride ahead of us.

"Ah, good the projects here"

"The what?" Nicholas said.

"That there is Project Whiskey"

"It looks like a coffin to me, this whole project seems to be a huge risk"

"Every single piece of technology in that 'coffin' is all brand new materials, all of the tech in there has only ever been tested in computer simulations and other minor tests. I guess we could say Whiskey, when complete will be a prototype composed of prototypes down to the N'th degree.  Yes it is a risk, but the reward will be sweet. This is the fastest way to test these parts in an absolute non bias environment.  All of the successful testing will be transferred into Alfa when we start that project, but that'll be a while from now from what the estimated test times will take" Nicholas still looked sad.

"So Whiskey is just a prototype while Alfa will be the production model. What happens when the testing is over?"

"Whiskey's operating time is unknown so we'll take what we can get for its overall time in activation"

"Where is it going to get this 'non bias' testing?"

"Levan said that Whiskey, under a different name will join a naval mercenary group called the Bleeding Roses, where it'll become a member and be trained in multiple forms of combat" I said, a slight belt of pride in my voice.

"where 'she' will become a member"

"Nick, listen.  Once this operation is over 'she' will have a cybernetic percentage of 94 percent, 'she' will be a machine designed as a test platform for the metal and synthetics 'she' will use everyday. In order to further the success rate of the testing 'she' will be unaware of the fact that 'she' is almost a cyborg on a Tier 8 Grinder specification. Whiskey will be designed to operate and act as a total human, with no access for attachments. Even if Whiskey wanted to it couldn't operate a Grinder if it had the capability" we arrived at the operating room. The body and the replacement parts were all together now. We got cleaned up and prepped for the operation. The lead scientist wanted to review the operation once more before we started.

"Thank you for being here everyone.  Now I know its been a hell of a week BUT... if everything goes as planned today we'll be on cruise control for all the long testing we would have been doing to these parts.  Now, as of now the single parts of the actual body we need are the brain and the eyes, the rest will be going elsewhere to be used as... well I'm not sure BUT that doesn't matter.  The body has been scanned and recreated so we can develop project Whiskey to the body's exact specifications... while leaving room for... this and that BUT we will still be very very careful with what we need.  I hope you've done what you needed to because... the next 6 hours will be long BUT rewarding"

I didn't like how the head scientist spoke, it was annoying.  The 6 person team stepped into the room, the body lying there just eager to be taken apart.  I picked up a scalpel and slid it and my fingers up and down the leg, before getting nudged by Nicholas.  Behind us a projector PC spread out the details of our operation.  I was in a mild high at the moment, filled with pride that I was helping science to proceed forward.  The 6 hours ahead of us for the beginning of this test seemed more like a test of how long I could enjoy myself.

For science, I could do this forever.

Dreams are so strange

I'm really only posting this for the Author of Rhapsodizing moments.  She was talking about dreams and I had a strange one a while back. (and no I'm not writing this in my formal 'ly' free style)

I'm at work, I think we're busy.  I'm doing my job inspecting cars.  From out of nowhere these two girls I don't know start flirting with me. One of them is blonde and the other brunette, the blonde was really the one leaning into me with the flirting and such, I'm frustrated and afraid by this, they just wont leave me alone.  At one point I leave my side of the store, upon my return the blonde girl was bent over backwards smirking at me from just an inch or so away. I'm breathing heavily scared out of my wits.  The brunette is standing feet away on the other side of a car, watching.  Suddenly, I break.  Next thing I know we're French kissing, and she's still bent over backwards (think the spiderman movie).  we're Frenching like I could only dream of, an intense explosion of feelings.

and thats when I woke up.  I've done the best I can to determine what it means and I'm not particularly fond of explaining it.

If you dream a lot and want to know what things mean look it up online.  I go here to define all the crazy things I dream of.  Try it sometime, you might be surprised at what you find out.

"What was that twitch just now?"

So, I was at Village Inn this morning, patience withering.  My breakfast was still being cooked in the back, I hear my Dad chuckle as he reads his newspaper.

"this is for you, totally" He says to me as he folds his paper in a fashion to allow me to see what it was he snickered at.  I peer at the page, and view the above image first.  My spine tingled as if someone had trickled Sprite down my back, this feeling of awkwardness and sadness.  The flint in my mind that sparks my imagination and inspiration was struck with a slight amount of force.  I pulled the paper in closer and he released his grip.  I was fixated on the image, ideas flooding my mind of things I could write about, a sense of sorrow and disgust just dying to be spread further.

But this wasn't the image I was supposed to look at, the image that was intended for me was comical (hence his chuckle) but had little impact on me.

What do you feel when you look at this?

works in progress

here are some ideas that I've been working with and some images of the already established characters.

Highspool
Alignment: Autobot(ex member)
Weapons: Drill, Rivet gun

Stretch (pre-rebuild)
Alignment: Highspools gang  Autobot(off and on)
Weapons: extender arms, scatter guns

Tsundere (Female)
Alignment: Highspools gang
Weapons: Energon sickels, EMP shotgun

Boulevard
Alignment: Highspools gang
Weapons: Revolver collider, Energon dagger

Razorwreck
Alignment: Solo
Weapons: Energon Katana, Super collider

so whats his name? "Atocine"

So here is the first part of the adding characters to my transformers list.

Name: Atocine
Alignment: Decepticon
Waste management vehicle (front loader garbage truck)
weapons: Energon fork blades, twin heavy repeaters, energon axe.
body art: 'Decepticorp Autobot corpse collector'
Decepticon purple and black (with lots of rust)

Information retrieval, and multi-enemy combat.  havent got much for personality at the moment except that he is very OCD, if he drops his garbage in combat he'll prioritize putting it back, all embarrassed about it too.

when in vehicle form he can crush cars (or more preferably autobots) with his garbage crusher system, making him infamous for slow deaths.

In robot form he has an issue of oil spilling from his mouth, so it looks like he's drooling. it irritates him a lot.
(perhaps a victim of BP in current events? I'm just kidding)

now... the problem I have is... what do I name him? I dont have any good ideas.  nothing has had a good flow to me. I'll work on it, ideas are welcome (that also goes for other transformers too)

thats about it... till next time

Dreaming in Digital (Bleeding Rose)

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"

An Absolute Necessity

Are you a writer?

If so then this is a book you will NEED in order to write with a higher level of skill.  the first half of the book is like an autobiography by Steve about him growing up and becoming a writer.  and the second half is about improving your skill as a writer, if you want to be effective in any type of work relative to writing then its important you go out and get this and read it, then read it again after a while.  rinse and repeat.

this has taken such an impact on my style that I go back and read my old work and feel the urge to rip my guts out "what is this garbage?!" "wow I was terrible at this back then" its so bad I cant read it, if I did I would  end up redoing it all over again (and lets face it... thats a lot of work)

get this book if you are a writer of ANY sort, you can thank me later.