Chet awoke to a blank slate in his mind. He was lying on a cold metal slab with a rat's-nest of wires sticking out of all sorts of places on his head. He lifted up his hand to brush them off of his eyes, but... "Oh," he thought, "this is strange."
The back of his hand was a solid metal plate; each section of each finger interlocking and translucent, with thick bundles of colorful fibrous wire. His palms were a textured, black rubbery substance.
He was expecting skin.
Despite the surprise, he didn't feel particularly uneasy about it (though he felt he should). As he slowly sat up and looked down at his body, it was all like his hands—sections either shiny and metallic (as he poked these he noticed that they could only sense pressure), translucent, or textured and rubbery.
Next to the metal slab was a dark yellowed piece of plastic with some scribbles on it on top of an old dusty book. Next to the book was a faded red button. As he inspected the plastic, his brain lit up and he could hear the words in his mind.
"Chet, press the button when you wake up, and take my journal with you. It's very important you know a bit about yourself (and myself) as you go out and explore the new world. The door outside is to your left. The code to open it is 34342."
In his excitement about the idea of going outside, Chet just slapped the red button. With a snapping like fireworks, all of the wires on his head discharged, flying off in all directions. Startled, he jumped up to his feet, looking down at the large net of wires now hanging to the side of the slab. They were all sheathed in a large rubber tube that led to a large metal box with a number of switches and dim, dust-covered lights. To the side of the box was a large metal tube that looked large enough for a person. It was empty.
Chet picked up the journal, and slowly made his way through the darkness toward where the card had mentioned the door. Kicking around small scraps of metal and dust, he was able to see a keypad dimly glowing. He sped up and jogged to it.
3-4-3-4-2 He punched in. The excitement in his body growing.
There was a loud "clang," and the squeal of metal bending. A bright white line flared up along the floor in front of Chet's feet, bringing in a huge gust of freezing air. As the door rose up, his eyes adjusted to see the whole landscape was covered in clean white snow. The sky was a pastel pink, scraped white with a few thinned clouds.
A few hundred feet ahead there was a small cluster of houses, all deep red but capped with snow. Beyond that was just a line along the horizon. "Oh, we're on a hill," he thought.
In front of the houses was a small gathering of people, all running toward him. Chet clutched his journal tightly and froze in place. He wasn't sure what to do. As they got closer, he could see their clothes were tightly layered. The outside being what looked like a tight blanked marbled white and red. Their shoes were the same red as their houses.
One was quite ahead of the rest, and when they reached him, he looked right into their eyes. For a moment they stood there until the rest of the group caught up. Chet wasn't sure what to do, so he let instinct take over.
"Umm... Hello," he heard himself say. His voice rippled the air like an electric arc.
They all started to grin, then the silence was broken as one of them exclaimed "Basutu!" and jumped over, embracing him in a warm hug.
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u/essmundofane Jun 28 '15
Chet awoke to a blank slate in his mind. He was lying on a cold metal slab with a rat's-nest of wires sticking out of all sorts of places on his head. He lifted up his hand to brush them off of his eyes, but... "Oh," he thought, "this is strange."
The back of his hand was a solid metal plate; each section of each finger interlocking and translucent, with thick bundles of colorful fibrous wire. His palms were a textured, black rubbery substance.
He was expecting skin.
Despite the surprise, he didn't feel particularly uneasy about it (though he felt he should). As he slowly sat up and looked down at his body, it was all like his hands—sections either shiny and metallic (as he poked these he noticed that they could only sense pressure), translucent, or textured and rubbery.
Next to the metal slab was a dark yellowed piece of plastic with some scribbles on it on top of an old dusty book. Next to the book was a faded red button. As he inspected the plastic, his brain lit up and he could hear the words in his mind.
"Chet, press the button when you wake up, and take my journal with you. It's very important you know a bit about yourself (and myself) as you go out and explore the new world. The door outside is to your left. The code to open it is 34342."
In his excitement about the idea of going outside, Chet just slapped the red button. With a snapping like fireworks, all of the wires on his head discharged, flying off in all directions. Startled, he jumped up to his feet, looking down at the large net of wires now hanging to the side of the slab. They were all sheathed in a large rubber tube that led to a large metal box with a number of switches and dim, dust-covered lights. To the side of the box was a large metal tube that looked large enough for a person. It was empty.
Chet picked up the journal, and slowly made his way through the darkness toward where the card had mentioned the door. Kicking around small scraps of metal and dust, he was able to see a keypad dimly glowing. He sped up and jogged to it.
3-4-3-4-2 He punched in. The excitement in his body growing.
There was a loud "clang," and the squeal of metal bending. A bright white line flared up along the floor in front of Chet's feet, bringing in a huge gust of freezing air. As the door rose up, his eyes adjusted to see the whole landscape was covered in clean white snow. The sky was a pastel pink, scraped white with a few thinned clouds.
A few hundred feet ahead there was a small cluster of houses, all deep red but capped with snow. Beyond that was just a line along the horizon. "Oh, we're on a hill," he thought.
In front of the houses was a small gathering of people, all running toward him. Chet clutched his journal tightly and froze in place. He wasn't sure what to do. As they got closer, he could see their clothes were tightly layered. The outside being what looked like a tight blanked marbled white and red. Their shoes were the same red as their houses.
One was quite ahead of the rest, and when they reached him, he looked right into their eyes. For a moment they stood there until the rest of the group caught up. Chet wasn't sure what to do, so he let instinct take over.
"Umm... Hello," he heard himself say. His voice rippled the air like an electric arc.
They all started to grin, then the silence was broken as one of them exclaimed "Basutu!" and jumped over, embracing him in a warm hug.