1. Headsnatcher [cw: decapitation and other violence by proxy of a robotic body]
It's late at night and the city is dark, illuminated in patches by bright holographic signs projected on the sides of buildings and streetlights. The sound of gunfire is dying out, but the heavy footsteps of Holons and Striders echo through the otherwise empty streets.
Cammie is alone at the edge of the perimeter, four storeys tall in her Holon but looking every bit as nervous as as she would in her human body. This mission has been easier than it should have been; there's Spider Tanks laying destroyed around the streets, dead Union soldiers in black and red body armour scattered between them, and the foot-soldiers are already making their way into the building they've come to clear. The order's just come in to stay at the perimeter and keep an eye out—easy, right?—so that's what she's doing. Keeping an eye out.
She turns in a semi-circle, scanning each street branching off from where she's standing— until she sees what looks like another Holon, approaching from the east. Cammie instinctively raises her gun, the little ears on her armour raising in surprise, but she doesn't fire.
"Hey, look at me! Still not shooting anybody I know," she says, with put-on humour. Her body language tells another story. When no one on her team responds, her ears flatten, then quirk. "Kazu, you get big?"
Over the radio, in Japanese, Kazu asks: "What?"
2. Storm Warning
It's late, well past the bedtime of the preteen girl currently scrambling down the stairs in her rabbit-print pajamas and a familiar pair of robotic rabbit ears—almost too big on her head, and not quite the same design as they are in the present and lopsided, as if put on hastily. The wind is rattling the windows, heavy rain beating against the glass.
"It's just a storm, Bun," the older woman, sitting at the kitchen table, says. Beside her, sat in a wheelchair, a man who shares Cammie's eyes and blonde hair squashes a holographic screen that had been showing the weather radar.
"It's loud," Cammie whines, earning a wry smile off the man.
"That it is, Cammie. Maybe we should have some tea, eh, Elsie?" the man says.
"No tea for the child, not at this hour," Elsie answers. "Besides, I expect she'd like hot chocolate better."
3. Second Birthday
"Chase and Yasamin are downstairs, ready to catch you; are you ready, Miss MacCloud?"
Cammie takes a deep breath, lying in a strange pod, her face set with determination. "Down the rabbit hole. Let's do this."
The grey haired man and an android start flipping touch-screen switches, monitoring her vitals and the system she's connecting herself to. "Clear your mind. Listen to your breathing. The goal is to lower heart rate and blood pressure. Just relax. Just be."
Cammie lays there and listens, closing her eyes as a blue light starts pulsing along the circuits around her head.
"You should sense a pulse, a repeating pressure you've never felt before at the edge of your mind. That gen:LOCK's sync signal, looking for you. Give into it, reach for it, go to that sensation. Go to the light, grab it, and then hang on."
"Kazu," Cammie says, with a strange dramatic air; Kazu corrects her pronunciation across the room. "If I wink out, you can have ma Manga collection."
Kazu answers in Japanese, "I haven't read Manga since I was a kid."
Cammie's eyes open just so she can glare over at him. "What's wrong with ye?"
Then she lays down and something happens. The blue light surges, energy pulsing down into the pod— and the giant, 40ft tall Holon Cammie's mind has just been uploaded to wakes up.
Cammie
It's late at night and the city is dark, illuminated in patches by bright holographic signs projected on the sides of buildings and streetlights. The sound of gunfire is dying out, but the heavy footsteps of Holons and Striders echo through the otherwise empty streets.
Cammie is alone at the edge of the perimeter, four storeys tall in her Holon but looking every bit as nervous as as she would in her human body. This mission has been easier than it should have been; there's Spider Tanks laying destroyed around the streets, dead Union soldiers in black and red body armour scattered between them, and the foot-soldiers are already making their way into the building they've come to clear. The order's just come in to stay at the perimeter and keep an eye out—easy, right?—so that's what she's doing. Keeping an eye out.
She turns in a semi-circle, scanning each street branching off from where she's standing— until she sees what looks like another Holon, approaching from the east. Cammie instinctively raises her gun, the little ears on her armour raising in surprise, but she doesn't fire.
"Hey, look at me! Still not shooting anybody I know," she says, with put-on humour. Her body language tells another story. When no one on her team responds, her ears flatten, then quirk. "Kazu, you get big?"
Over the radio, in Japanese, Kazu asks: "What?"
2. Storm Warning
It's late, well past the bedtime of the preteen girl currently scrambling down the stairs in her rabbit-print pajamas and a familiar pair of robotic rabbit ears—almost too big on her head, and not quite the same design as they are in the present and lopsided, as if put on hastily. The wind is rattling the windows, heavy rain beating against the glass.
"It's just a storm, Bun," the older woman, sitting at the kitchen table, says. Beside her, sat in a wheelchair, a man who shares Cammie's eyes and blonde hair squashes a holographic screen that had been showing the weather radar.
"It's loud," Cammie whines, earning a wry smile off the man.
"That it is, Cammie. Maybe we should have some tea, eh, Elsie?" the man says.
"No tea for the child, not at this hour," Elsie answers. "Besides, I expect she'd like hot chocolate better."
3. Second Birthday
"Chase and Yasamin are downstairs, ready to catch you; are you ready, Miss MacCloud?"
Cammie takes a deep breath, lying in a strange pod, her face set with determination. "Down the rabbit hole. Let's do this."
The grey haired man and an android start flipping touch-screen switches, monitoring her vitals and the system she's connecting herself to. "Clear your mind. Listen to your breathing. The goal is to lower heart rate and blood pressure. Just relax. Just be."
Cammie lays there and listens, closing her eyes as a blue light starts pulsing along the circuits around her head.
"You should sense a pulse, a repeating pressure you've never felt before at the edge of your mind. That gen:LOCK's sync signal, looking for you. Give into it, reach for it, go to that sensation. Go to the light, grab it, and then hang on."
"Kazu," Cammie says, with a strange dramatic air; Kazu corrects her pronunciation across the room. "If I wink out, you can have ma Manga collection."
Kazu answers in Japanese, "I haven't read Manga since I was a kid."
Cammie's eyes open just so she can glare over at him. "What's wrong with ye?"
Then she lays down and something happens. The blue light surges, energy pulsing down into the pod— and the giant, 40ft tall Holon Cammie's mind has just been uploaded to wakes up.