A Freak-World Side Story
by Muzzleruffels
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"Are we ready to go?"
"Not quite; The CTD's still treading it's way towards the event zone, which hasn't even been fully primed yet."
"Dammit; the CTD was supposed to get there a century ago! Is there any reason why it's taking so long?"
"For one, the CTD isn't the most environment-savvy chassis we have; it's durable, not endurable. Also, the zone it's traversing through isn't that friendly towards anything unfamiliar to it, and if I can recall this is the first time we've sent a CTD up there."
"Fair point; note me when it gets there."
"Yes sir."
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The walk up Mount Polythemus wasn't so much a walk as it was a climb; a tedious peril of no worry for Cassie the Test Dummy.
Dressed in an old-fashioned white tunic and belt, and matched with a iron sword and copper shield appropriate for the era, what traversed up the near-hostile terrain held an appearance no different from that of a well-fit, 24 year-old woman; and yet, such physical indicators were only considered vestigial to Cassies true purpose and design.
Yes, the Caucasian amazon with long, gold curls and steel-brown eyes was not truly any of these things, but all these attributes were merely cosmetic to the cold, hollowed blank that hid underneath. But one would not need to delve deeply to find this, for they only needed to glance at the symbol of Clubs labeled on her bare shoulder, inked in a bold, black.
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"Sir, the CTDs just made it up the mountain pass and are now in the event zone."
"Excellent! Start up the trigger program and prime the receptive gauges."
"Yes sir."
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At last, Cassie had made it up the mountain, and now stood 20 feet from the cave entrance that stood on its peak. A faint, orange glow could be seen from the cavernous maw of jagged earth, with what appeared to be two marble pillars propping the stone walls up, their worn features suggested neglect to the site.
Yet, as Cassie soon discovered, the place wasnt as abandoned as appearance suggested, for a woman no older than she stepped out from behind one of the pillars, weeping as doing so. Dressed in the same wears as Cassie, the young brunette tearfully said that her name was Olivia, and tried her best to sorrowfully speak her plight.
"Dear adventurer, please help me! My sister and I were traveling up the mountain to seek the Pool of Acesco, and we..we found it inside this cave. But then.a.horrible monster attacked us! My dear sister and I were separated, and I think..I think shes still in there!"
Although this woman was clearly consumed in an immense grief, Cassies face showed no sign of sympathy or remorse, her lips shut and still, as if cast in an immovable mask. Regardless, Olivia still spoke.
"You are armed; if you can slay the beast, the Pool is yours, just please save my dear sister!"
Without saying a word, the blonde-haired warrior stepped into the mouth of the cave, and made her way towards the crags inner chambers.
Olivia didnt watch, but instead slunk back behind the column of white, and stood still for a few moments; before the cable plugged into her back sent a jolt from the nearby wall, and thus she repeated the events of before, only without an audience to witness.
"Please, help me! My nameis Olivia, and I am in need of your help!"
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"Okay, make a note out of this: Install a shutdown sequence to the trigger animatronic after the subjects exited the event zone. We dont want the stupid thing looping to an empty space."
"Understood; The CTDs entering the main event zone now, sir. Shall I initiate the event model now, or should we wait until the CTDs triggered the event fully?"
"Nah, lets startup the model now; lets see how the CTD reacts to something out of the script."
"Yes sir."
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As one could guess from the front door, the Cave of Acesco was no hospitable place, for the most part.
The inner-walls were poorly carved out the dark-red stones of the mountains' true geography, and yet done with such expanse that this was no more a cave than it was a cavern, a great hall bathed in the orange-glow of the temple's only light source. And indeed this once was a temple, for around the massive firepit were the remains of white tables, now brittled and scattered as the same columns holding the entrance up.
Amongst these relics, however, were the things that truly sucked any possible delight from the scene.
As Cassie entered further in the massive hall, she could see them clearly: statues of all shapes and sizes, human and half-human creatures transformed into stone, their faces forever frozen into a mask of fright and horror.
Cassie could care less for such decorations, for her only objective was to find the trigger target, and perform as adequately as the test enscribed; so set on her mission was she, that she failed to differentiate the steps of her sandals, from the stealthy slithering slinking behind.
Past the well-endowed flames, was the only attribute of this place one could consider to be "devine": The Pool of Acesco, whose crystal-clear waters sunk into a smooth indention in the far back of the room, the glistening surface still, and undisturbed by the dust that lay around it.
At the foot of this pool stood one of the hall's many statues, only this one bore not the look of despair, but one of happiness and hope, and did so as it reached out for something no longer there; if Cassie could recall memories, she would have seen that this one seemed familiar.
"My young thing; what is it you think you're doing here?"
Cassie stopped dead in her tracks, and if she could change the expression on her face (and bear the sentience for such a significance), she would most certainly show fright for the sultry, smooth voice that hid behind her.
"Trying to steal from my pool? As many others have tried?"
Slowly, as proceeded by the caution protocols flaring up in her mind, Cassie turned to face her offensor; quickly, however, she was spun full-circle, and stared into two, golden slits, glowering with an emotion she was encapable of.
"AND FAILED?!?!"
Cassie, the CTD, was face to face with the deadly Gorgon, gazing straight-forward into the eyes of the equally beautiful Medusa.....
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"Aaaaaannnnddd nothing's happening. Why isn't the Flaw-Flag working?"
"The Medusa Unit's Flaw-Flag is functioning sir, but the CTD's not registering it."
"Damn! Make note for the next trial-run to send a Dummy that follows the Flaw-Flag registries, but for now we'll roll with this."
"Yes sir; initiating CTD's battle sequence."
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Unmoved by the snake-woman's petrifying glare, Cassie shuttered momentarily as her Battle Sequences began loading up, a sight that made the gorgon confused. This acted as the perfect opportunity for the Test Droid to swiftly grasp her sword, and attempt what should have benn the blow to end the battle before it began. Luckily though, Medusa caught second-glance to it and managed to duck aside, all be it came at the cost of one of her green dreadlocks, a substitute for the snakes she couldn't afford.
Upset for even such a minute loss, the creature's pale-green face reddended with inmeasurable fury, and teeth gritted towards Cassie. The four, extended canines that stood out amongst what seemed to be a set of flawless, white teeth were clear as day; and matched by the forked tongue that swiftly licked the air, Medusa made her anger known to the 'toy' that dared harmed her.
With a "Foolish mortal! You will pay for your insolence!", she slunk back amongst a nearby pile of rock, sliding away upon a massive, leathery-brown tail.
Cassie, with sword in one hand and the shield in another, followed suit with no regard to what trick may be hidden behind that mound of rubble. Surprisingly though, there was nothing there, and was instead rewarded with a taunting cackle from somewhere off in the chamber.
Save for the steady fire, the air of the cavern was grasped in an unsettling silence; only every now and then, could the faint shift of stone be heard, matched with the even fainter sound of a scaly vine scraping along the floor.
Yet Cassie was unamused by this teasing, and "thought" it best to leave behind her shelter of rock to pursue the target, only to be welcomed by the graze of a massive bolt against her right-shoulder. She swiftly ducked behind the mound, and just in time as Medusa prepped another shot with her golden bow.
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"Holy shit! I thought we had the arrowheads switched out with rubber ones; those things are lethal!"
"After the bluntness of the Archer's trial, you said you wanted something, as I quote from you, 'More eye-catching'."
"Yeah, they're eye-catching, but we're sure as hell not going to use them on tourists!"
"Indeed, sir."
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The bow strike had managed to tear a great deal of skin from her shoulder, and although the glinting steel underneath was fully exposed, it had failed to damage any of Cassie's armatures in that area; she was fine, but the next hit might not grant her such luck.
But Cassie had a shield for a reason, and even something as uncalculative as herself wouldn't take this opportunity to use it.
Seeing her prey crawling out from its hiding spot, the gorgon beast readied her bow and fired with a hint of glee in her eyes, which quickly turned to rage at the sight of her arrow bouncing off the copper circle pulled infront of her mark. Determined to try this tactic again, Medusa slid around the shield-cowering girl as swiftly as her lower body would allow, and no matter how many shots she could fire off, all failed to pierce her foe.
Dashing her bow aside, the now enfuriated snake queen hissed between her teeth, " Come on coward! Hiding won't save you from me; NOTHING CAN!", and with little care in the world lunged at the girl.
It's this abandonment of caution, that would prove to be the monstrous woman's doom.
As soon as the gorgon was upon her, Cassie spun a full half-turn from her target, keeping sure the back of her shield, for the reflection it provided, would give clear sight for the hand that landed the final blow. Swinging as she spun, the sword in her right hand for moments alone grew heavy and worn, before it became light again, and struck the ground as sharply as its edge, now hued a faint crimson.
The world all but stopped, and its occupants, one looming over the other, stood still and silent.
Stunned, the gorgon tried to speak, but found doing so an impossibility; as so was the power of motion. She could, however, look down at the girl who kneeled and held their back before her, and thought to herself how such a weak thing could possibly have done her harm.
Before another thought could reach her mind, her head lost sense of all balance from the body it belonged to, and met the red stone floor with a solid thud. Medusa..........was dead.
But none of that could be said for her body, who now commandless began flailing its being around, its bare neck squirting out a mixture of electrical sparks and crimson fluid.
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"Ooohh, Remind me to change the color of the hydraulic-fluid to something a little less.......realistic; same goes for the neck stump."
"Yes sir."
"Set up the CTD's final procedure through the event, and for gods' sake, send a kill code to the Gorgon unit before it breaks itself."
"Yes sir."
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Caring less for the showers of "blood" that now coated her, and the body that slowly died behind her, Cassie picked Medusa's head off the fluid-soaked floor, the color of which couldn't be differentiated from the soil of the cave.
She inspected the head for only a moment's glance, watching as the lips twitched minutely, and that accompanied with the frequent drop of red-dyed hydraulics out the neck every now and then; as long as even a trickle remained inside, the Medusa's skull would continue to function, albeit on a vestigial degree.
With her prize in hand, Cassie made her way towards the Pool, ignoring the headless body that, after so long finally slumped onto its own tail, which now ceased even the slightest quivers.
Now at the foot of the large pond, Cassie held the head above the Pool, and awaited for the voice within to give command.
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"Alright; initiate the 'Acesco' sequence."
"Yes sir; initiating Play-Sequence:Acesco"
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The deep-blue waters of the shallow pool began to illuminate, brightening with an immense, white glow that lurked underneath. Within, an angelic, albeit mighty voice spoke forth, thanking its champion for their efforts.
"Brave soul, you have vanquished the once mighty Gorgon, who long ago had entrapped me within the waters you stand before now. As reward, I offer you a gift: Drink from the waters of this pool, and you shall be gifted with riches beyond your wildest dreams."
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"Now this.........is where things get interesting. Open the CTD to all possible scenario-routes; lets see what when the little Dummy has to choose for itself."
"Yes sir."
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As tradition with any mythological being of immense power, there tended to be tricks twisted with 'simple' rewards; and the goddess Acesco's promise of riches was no different matter.
As the goddess told her, if Cassie drank from the pool herself, then she would be healed of all her ailments; quite possibly a guarantee of fixing up her shoulder. Looking over at the exposed metal, the corner of her eyes caught what may be their 'second' object of interest, kneeling over by the water with a smile on its face.
If she could give the water to Olivia's sister, then maybe she would be restored from her petrified state, and reunited with her weeping sister. Surely this was the statue, the similarities between it and the woman outside were uncanny.
Yet again, Cassie "contemplated" this while bearing that forever unchanging stare, and unsurprisingly it did not take long to make her choice. If the pool's water could heal both her and Olivia's sister, then that means.........
Without hesitation, Cassie dunked the disembodied head into the shallow waters, waiting however long enough it may take for the pool's magical properties to kick in. Seconds later, she pulled it out, and was welcomed to the sight of the Gorgon's fully reanimated skull, its mouth gaping as if for breathless air.
If the Pool could revitalize a wounded warrior and an old statue, than surely it could do the same for the dead, regardless of what state they were in.
Cassie held her chin high and raised her newfound prize, for with it, the power to freeze her foes in their tracks was now hers to do as she saw fit. Proud of her victory, she gazed into the eyes of the Gorgon, now renewed with life and vigor, and whose golden slits glowered with a malice only she seemed capable of.
It's a pity though, that Cassie stared for too long, for in the midst of her victory, the poisonous glare of Medusa overcame her, freezing her to the very spot in the very pose she now stood in; only this time, she had the luxury of remaining as she was, and not turning to stone.
But in her state, what's the difference?
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"Okay, now it decides to accept the Flaw-Flag, and just after it's won too. Shit. I have to admit though, pretty interesting that the CTD chose the third path; that's a first if I can recall."
"Sir, the CTD's failure to complete the event means that Trial Run 6 is over. Shall I send down a technicians team to clean up and prep for Trial 7?"
"Sure, only suit up yourself; your coming down with me."
"Yes sir."
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The Hall of Acesco wasn't as bad as Arnold thought it to be, as multiple visits to the place proved to him that this wasn't an entirely bad spot to spend some 'alone-time' in; or turn into a tourist attraction, as it was assigned to be four weeks ago.
When the park had plans to setup another attraction zone, many people at the time thought it a perfect opportunity to go for an 'old world' theme similar to that of the Ancient Japan site, albeit in a more European route. But before official construction could begin, a mock-site was built to test out the themes and dynamics of the new zone, with the top executives putting Arnold and his assistant Ivy in-charge. Who, as Arnold watched from a distance, was examining the cut marks on the base of Medusa's severed head, which once again was returned to a vegitated state of existence.
He watched as his partner, a Four with a personality a Class lower and a body even lower, eyed the main-spinal-attachment (the thing that truly held the head on its shoulders) with careful observation. Only when she realized she was being observed herself did she make her way towards Arnold, who although realized was caught, could care less; Ivy ignored it by doing what she called, 'idle chat'.
"The MSA appears to have worked this time; disconnected from the BAC almost a tenth of a second before the sword made it a quarter through the synthetic flesh."
Handling the head over to her partner, who was not wearing the protective gloves she had on, was welcomed to the sight of red-coloured hydraulic fluid on his hands. Regardless, she continued her assessment.
"Also R&D called, suggested that we change the neck flesh to something a little more expendable than silicone; perhaps liquid latex."
Handing the head off to a nearby worker, and making sure not to get anymore fluids on his suit, Arnold told his associate that latex would do for now, so long as it looked convincing.
"Oh and Ivy, tell them that the hydrolite water works fine for the machines, but maybe we'll need something that's actually drinkable for the humans here."
With her common-used "Yes sir", Ivy was off on the network to tell the R&D (located ten miles away) her partner's suggestions, yet left her body in a motionless state by doing so. Fortunately for her, Arnold would not ponder the sight of her kinky, albeit primitive frame, but instead of the glistening pool of hydrolite he spoke of earlier.
He thought the idea was impressive, the concept of using nanite-infused water to send codes and information fascinating to him; as he witnessed half an hour ago, the water alone overode the deactivation protocols on a severed head, allowing it to reactivate without any main command whatsoever.
It's a shame it wasn't consumable though, for humans anyway; but if these trials broke through as he hoped, maybe it can be used for alternative reasons elsewhere in the park.
"Mr. Arnold, we have the CTD prepped up if you still wanna see it."
Arnold turned his back from the pool and followed alongside the worker, looking over as they passed by the headless "corpse" of Medusa, now carried by four other men to a nearby trolley. But as soon as he faced forward again, he almost chuckled to himself, for the sight of the fully nude Cassie the Test Droid always reminded him of the deceipt this place was capable of.
Although sitting, she did so erect and straight, her 'eyes' tracking the two men that sat beside her; one holding her outfit, the other, holding her skin. The worker Arnold followed picked up the skin and handed it to him, who was unamused by how rough the gesture was; by Cassie being fully naked, it meant Cassie's true self was now comletely exposed.
"Soooooo, what am I looking for?"
The man unscrewing Cassie's back covering began to chat away, telling him something about the skin's unusual succeptance to the arrowhead, which was not as sharp as Arnold thought it to be; but he could care less, for as the man rambled, he couldn't help but look at the suit he now held.
It was a suit, truly, and one-piece designed to slip over the CTDs with the intent of accessing 'tissue damage' without spending too much of a budget; but come to think of it, the materials and textures were undoubtably no different from those used on the higher-end models, and nowhere was that more noticable than the face.
Unlike the rest of the suit, the face held its shape, acting as a hyper-realistic mask to the otherwise smooth and featureless curves of the dummy's heads; being just a mask though, it was incapable of any expression other than the blank stare androids are famous for. None of that stopped it from being cute though, with its flush, cream skin framed by golden locks of hair which (along with the vacant, brown eyes) were built into the suit, it all seemed nothing like the steel-plated BJD that sat down before him; and that blank head, with nothing but two circular cameras to break the surface, helped that sense of disbelief.
"Arnold, do you want this or not?"
His train of thought halted, Arnold looked down at the one-inch black cube held before him, the dummy's registry pack just pulled out by the worker from Cassie's back. It was the things' data retrieval system, from temperature readout to PSI measurements and sound pollution, the heavy-alloyed box was their main source of high-compressed on-field information; without it, all that happened today would be for naught.
Swiping the cube from the worker's hand while muttering an "I'll take that", Arnold exchanged it for the skinsuit, and before walking off gave the trio of men one final note of advice.
"One more thing: Apparently 'this' CTD had some issues accepting some Flaw-Flags earlier. I advise you either fix that, or scrap it entirely."
As rude as it seemed, all three workers acceptingly shrugged; they admitted that this model was kind of old, and that a new replacement may be necessary.
With the cube in-hand, Arnold walked out of the cavernous hall, and made his way towards the hovercraft that lay awaiting outside. On his way out he passed by a worker tweaking a few things with the Olivia animatronic, probably to fix the loop sequence as he hoped.
"Dear adventurer, please help me! My sister and I..."
Arnold sighed to himself, unable to believe that there would be five more of these trials; but, if it meant progress, regardless of its pace, than it was most certainly welcome.
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It's nothing grand or great, but it's a step back on my feet.
As usual, all comments are welcome.
It's good to be back, guys.
