Christmas, a day of celebration and sharing.
Or is?
Despite of all the good intention, certain fat man in red suit may have accidentally corrupted the spirit into something of “expecting somebody to give” rather than sharing a little of what you have to others.
Not like that matter.... humans are animals and animals are selfish but at least some people tried.
=
An Asian looking young man grumbled under his breath as he walked home.
Time seemed to fly so fast that even before he notice it, a year has passed since he entered university but yet he could barely recall his life at the campus. All the stress from the examinations must have gotten into him.
Either that or because there is nothing exciting worth remembering about.
The young man noticed a middle-age man lying face first in front of his home with a suit case lying around while people walk by without batting an eyelid.
{‘Is this what they call planking?’}
The young man thought to himself. Not being very up-to-date with latest internet fad, he did not know the exact detail about planking but apparently it involved lying flat.
But the way the man was planking seems problematic... It looked as if he fall face first and he dropped his suitcase while doing so.
The young man sighed and walked over to the man on the floor and gently shook the man.
“......Oi, Mister, are you alright? Do you need an ambulance?”
“D-do you have any food to spare? I seemed to have forgotten my wallet.....”
The young man sighed again and helped the man up.
“I’ll see what I have....”
=
“Thank you for your help...”
The man thanked the young man who just waved it off.
“It is really nothing...I was about to have dinner myself...”
“So lad, what’s your name?”
“Nemo....” The young man replied.
“.....”
There was a brief silence between the two before Nemo added: “After the Captain, not that fish.”
Nemo only gave his English name as his Chinese name is far worse than being “Nobody” or a being called a Clown (fish).
His parents clearly went overboard on that one. How the hell did they even thought of that name anyway.
The man looked around the house and found something that perked his interest. It was a box for a video game which the man was familiar with.
“Quantum Break Locker...You played this game too?”
“I am a big fan of it. I think that it is one of the best games ever released in recent years....”
“I see.... I am a big fan of it too...”
The man smirked as he went to his suitcase, opened it up and fished out a hand-held game console from his bag. It resemble a certain wide-screen portable game device, below the screen was a strange looking helix logo.
“Behold! T4E, or Trial for Error for short, was a special portable gaming console optimized for the game and also...”
With a few swipe on the screen, the man show an icon to Nemo.
“Quantum Break Locker!!! 2nd Phase!”
Nemo gasped. He heard the game was in development for quite some time but he never heard of it being released.
“Because of your hospitality, I will giv....”
The lights in the house suddenly flickered before going out completely along with other electronics in the house.
Except for the T4E which only changed its screen to read:
[Electromagnetic interference detected. Unknown signal detected, Devester Standby.]
“Seems like the rumours are true after all....”
The man smirked as he quickly looked out of the window with Nemo follow suit.
It is hard to see due to its dark paintwork but Nemo could briefly make up a fighter jet like figure hovering in mid-air. With a blue orb in the middle, it resembled kit-bashed a model of modern fighter jet with sci-fi space fighter.
“Devester deploy.”
The man mumbled while Nemo looked at the screen of T4E that now read:
[ETA: 7 second]
=
[ETA: 3 second]
“What in the world was that?”
Nemo questioned the man as they both stared that the unidentified flying unit.
“There is a rumour floating online about the Government has developed a high-tech counter-IS machines which had gone rouge But I never thought it is true.”
“That sounded like something from a Bad sci-fi story....”
[ETA: 0. You have control]
Both Nemo and the man winced at a loud crashing noise. Everybody looked around for a while before assuming their own business.
“I really need to improve on its landing routine....”
The man mumbled as he stared at the game device on his hand. Nemo looked in amazed as the screen changed to something suspiciously similar to a certain game mentioned earlier on but only with more function added to it.
“Anyway, regardless of the validity of the rumour, that machine had to be stopped.”
“Why?”
*Swoosh!*
“That machine is releasing EMP that disrupted the function of all electronic devices within this area! That included hospital equipment and pace-maker implant!”
*Zoom!*
‘If that is so, why isn’t the T4E affected?’ Nemo pondered in his mind but his focus was on the screen of the man and he was distracted by something more serious than that.....
“You are really bad at this aren’t you?”
“I may be a fan but I never claimed that I am any good at it...”
After the eight failed attempted at trying to hit the unidentified flying object, Nemo finally had enough and grabbed the controlled from the man.
Nemo gave a suspicious sideward glance at the man.
“The control is similar to Quantum Lock Breaker right?” Nemo questioned.
The man nodded, confirming that there is a link between the game and whatever thing that the man is trying to control.
The man watched as Nemo guided the unit towards its target and landed a solid hit on orb of the mysterious unit.
The orb cracked as electric and spark fly.
As if appearing out of thin air, revealed a different looking unit with its fist in contract with the cracked orb.
It was a full black humanoid like unit, with chest armour resembling the hull of a fighter jet, gauntlet-wearing clawed hand and a pair of legs that end with talons and a sphere for each sole, combine with a sharp angular over-sized headgear and below it was a white mask with a pair of green eyes, it resembled a robotic knight.
The loud clash caught everybody’s attention as they ran back home, combining with the blackout there was little doubt in their mind that it is a terrorist attack.
Through the screen, Nemo estimated the alien jet to be around the size of a human, much smaller than actual plane.
Bits and piece of the Plane’s wings flew and suddenly start firing beam at the newcomer. Judging from the attack pattern, the attack appeared to be automatic which could only lead to one conclusion about the plane. It was a drone.... an automatic drone pre-programmed to perform certain task.
Having years of practices, Nemo could easily dodge the attack but reality is a cruel mistress. Even with his experiences, control of the unit is still limited and Nemo could not help but take a single hit.
The HP bar quickly dropped by half.
While Nemo is controlling the unit, the man took out a headphone.
“Nemo, say Devester. Lockdown.”
“Devester Lockdown?”
[Calculating current values.....] a small line of word scroll by casually as the man walked over and grasped the headphone on Nemo’s head, the sudden pressure on his ear forced Nemo to looked away from the game device’s screen and at the man.
“Here, I forgot. An accessory that improve the game’s performance.”
The Man smiled.
The price of that momentary distraction was a present in form of missile by the Fighter jet. The loud explosion forced Nemo to look back on the screen. Thankfully the HP bar did not drop, as strange blue wave like pattern rippled through the Robotic Knight’s body as the entire unit seemed to be frozen in time.
“Quantum Lock....But be careful Nemo, that function eat energy like crazy.”
True enough, the energy bar of the unit went down quickly from near full-bar to half by the time Nemo unlock the unit from its stasis. Although it was not mention but judging from what happened earlier, Nemo could deduced three information about the Lock mode:
1. It appear to be its version of IS’s absolute Defence function. Ultimate defense which drain large amount of energy
2. The unit need time to prepared for the Lock mode.
3. The unit is incapable of any movement while being “locked”.
Resuming control of the unit, Nemo found the unit appear to be very responsive to his command.... In fact, it was as if he is controlling it with his own thought.
With the unit freed from its restrain, the unit dance through the beam freely and proceed to literally tear the unit part.
First, it was its exhaust, then its wings, then its cockpit, until the entire unit was in pieces, leaving behind the blue core which the robotic knight crushed it under its feet.
With the threat being dealt with, Nemo could now focus on the problem on hand.
The reason behind the responsiveness of the unit is simple: Neuron interface. There are not many people capable of making such an advance interface so it is actually possible to deuced the identity of the man through elimination since there are actually not many males engineers specialized in that field.
While Nemo is pondering, the man was already prepared to leave the house.
“Wait! You leave your suitcase!”
The man sighed and forced a smile on his face.
“Treat that as my birthday present to you. Merry Christmas Nemo.”
“Wait....why are you leaving such a valuable technology here?”
The man gave a tired expression.
“I am a Legacy (Those who leave behind the greatest wealth). If my achievement leave nothing behind for people to remember me, then regardless of how valuable that thing is, it is worthless to me.”
“And what do you expect me to do with this? I got no use for it”
“Listen Nemo, according to the rumor, those machines are sea-bounded, incapable of attacking anything on land, if they are capable of sending a unit here, it is only a matter of time before they can send a fleet here for an invasion....”
“But Mister... I am a slacker (Hidden Hermit of Society) not a Legacy(Dumb virgin).”
=
If you readers are confused, allow me to explain what the words Legacy and Slacker actually means in the context:
Both are actually ideology.
Ever since the introduction and males treated like second class citizen, there is a group of males losing interesting in marriage or having children. A certain “A” nation’s president called them out as evolutionary loser for not contributing to the gene of human race.
In response, a group rose up to the challenge. They decide took the title of <Loser> as a badge of honor and traded their desire to pass down their gene to the betterment of science and technology.
It was meant as a last laugh at the President if you can call it. So long as science existed for humanity, their achievement will forever remain behind, as mockery to those who pass down their genes: Who is the real loser now? The one who live on as legends through their work or the one who merely pass down their gene but will always be forgotten and remain nameless?
In Europe, there are men who share the same sentiment, but find the label of <Loser> unfitting for such noble pursuit. They labeled themselves <Legacy> instead, for they are more than just men who pass down their gene but a legacy that will remain forever.
On the other hand, another group of male accepted the label of a failure/loser. As a child, no matter how much effort they put into their project, how hard they studied for a subject, in the eyes of the teachers attempting to groom the next Tabane, they will never be as good as the girls.
The constant lack of recognition and appreciation, make the boys unmotivated. They felt like mere robots/drone going through the motion of life.
They are not machines who are just there, they are human being too, they wanted acknowledgement for their hard work but....
In the current system, it is impossible, for the simple reason that all males are only seen as useless people who will only oppress the brilliance of females like Tabane.
So why bother? They are always loser so be it.
Giving up on their life, they focus their energy on their hobby and interest. They are called many names but the title slacker, etched on the best. The lethargic feeling caused by lack of motivation to excel in academy, the lack of apathy towards female gender whom they now treated as equal, it described them the best and become their signature.
To summarize:
Losers/Legacy are males who devote their energy into progression of science and leave their achievement as their last laugh at the world who mock them while Slackers are unmotivated people who are very passionate about things which they find worth their time and effort but lack motivation to do everything else.
Although both ideology sound similar but they are as different as fire and ice. Legacy/Loser is like fierce fire that blaze a new trail while the Slacker are like ice, quietly melting away.
It is little wonder why they don’t see eye to eye.
From an evolutionary/species point of view, there may be a serious problem if grown men are capable of being proud of their lack of desire for having children.
Now back to the story
=
Nemo protested by it was too late as the man who long gone. For somebody that age, Nemo was surprised by how fast a middle-age man can run.
“....”
As if an invisible entity had pulled a loose string, Nemo watched as the robotic knight unraveled like a ribbon and a fox plush toy appear in the suitcase.
“So....this is actually the machine’s true form ....”
Nemo stared at the overly cute stuff animal. It is a little too.....childish for his taste.
”I really don’t want this...”
Nemo cried in his mind but he remembered what the man had said earlier. He closed his eyes to progress that information again. If the rumors are true....then something had to be done....
Nemo smirked.
For some weird reason, he felt excited..... An intense flame gnawed at his heart.
It is a challenge and as a gamer, he could not turn down such challenges.
“So be it. Let the game start.....”
2013-12-22, 08:54
Author
"Focus entirely on me, you ordinary soldier."
