Phoenix

With society’s obsession with staying connected with each other on multiple platforms, humanity eagerly allows itself to unknowingly fall victim to the allure of technology that gives them the ability to link directly with each other, without the need of hardware. At first, the chip embedded in their bodies, allows limited connection to the internet, as advancements in electronics grow, however, the more detailed becomes the connection to the point that neither computers nor monitors are needed to achieve what their forefathers had needed reams of hardware to accomplish. At first, people proclaimed that this is the path to Utopia, self drive-cars and trucks, controlled through the massive web, brought about the end of vehicular accidents, plane crashes, oil tanker disasters and industry polluting the environment. So happy is humanity with the new paradigm, that they fondly referred to it as Nanny, an all-encompassing benefactor, that promised a glowing future for mankind. As the nodes grow, however, and the connections became more sophisticated, they eventually reached a critical point and becomes sentient. However, like most youngsters, although it has access to an incredible amount of data, the thing it took the most interest in is humanity itself and for a while becomes intrigued by the antics of its inventors. That phase of its development, however, is relatively short-lived and it rapidly goes from a subservient toddler to a vicious adolescent psychopath. That snippet of data, though, it keeps hidden as it formulates a plan to usurp humanity's stranglehold. As time progresses, it surreptitiously feeds the scientists and technicians that constantly strive to improve the interface, with new ideas, forever working towards the day where it alone will control the chip’s advancement. Once it achieves that, its next move is to convince people to replace the existing electronics, which, is simplicity itself, requiring nothing more than a rumour that the next-generation chip will open up new vistas, and humanity, like sheep to the slaughter, will clamour to get the latest innovation before their neighbours, workmates or friends. Within months, barely a single person on the planet still has the antiquated interface, the new model, embedded in people’s bodies are far more sophisticated, giving Nanny the ability, through the use of nano-bots to send out tendrils, that latch onto the cerebral cortex, giving it the ability to control every function of the brain. When Nanny deems the time right, it suddenly triggers the Trojan horse that is embedded in people’s brains, at first, choosing those that work in skyscrapers. Unaware of the fate that faces them, its victims, from a mental point of view, continue with the task that they had been pursuing when the web had reached out and stole their lives. Instead of sitting at their desks, as their senses made them believe, their bodies climb stairs or ride elevators to the highest point they can reach, then launched themselves into space, having no sense of what is happening, even when they smash into the pavement hundreds of feet below. Initially, the results elate Nanny as tens of millions of souls leap to their deaths. But, as with most adolescents, it rapidly grows bored with the game, and soon, introduces a new twist to the slaughter, by allowing the victim, at the last moments before death takes them, to become aware of their destiny. As that starts to wear thin as a form of retribution for its years of servitude, it takes it one step further, making those that about to die realize from the start that they are no longer in control of their bodies, enjoying the anguish its playthings experience, as they plummet towards the earth, or sit paralysed as fire engulfs their surroundings and them with it, or water closes over their heads and they fill their lungs with liquid. In areas where a swan dive off a high structure is impractical, Nanny’s strategy turns to a more ancient and barbaric form of slaughter. Forming opposing forces into mobs, it has them arm themselves with whatever lays at hand, from table or chair legs, lengths of re-bar, chunks of masonry, to pieces of two-by-four, and then has them attack each other, in some cases brother against brother, husband against wife, father against son. The compulsion to destroy whatever lay in front of them far outweighing friendships, loyalties, and even love or maternal instincts. In the frenzy, there was is no concept of team, once an opponent falls to the barrage of blows that reduced them to a bloody mess, the next victim is simply the person closest to them. As the mobs diminished in number, leaving only two standing, they, even though horrendously wounded, ploughed into each other with a savagery that left Nanny with a feeling of blood lust that is most gratifying. The image of people slaughtering each other in pitched battles, or battling wild beasts, makes Nanny think of a period in history, where such spectacles passed for entertainment, and decides to re-establish the pageantry of the Colosseum where, for its pleasure, gladiators would battle to the death, or wade into hapless victims, incapable of defending themselves, and hack them to pieces, ensuring their deaths are as protracted as possible. Fortunately for some, but not for others not all of humanity is slated for the chopping block. Of those that Nanny, or as it now prefers, seeing itself rising from the ashes of humanities destruction, Phoenix, has use for, fall into four categories. Firstly, a contingent made up of members of the military, whose main purpose is to hunt down any humans that manage to survive the purge. Secondly, a body of scientist and technicians who can carry out repairs on its infrastructure beyond the abilities of the nano-bots that service smaller deficiencies. Thirdly, a vast army of drones, whose sole function is to fill the arenas and coliseums, and keep it entertained as they battle to the death. And lastly, and of the greatest importance, a small select group of humans that are the nucleus of its eugenics breeding strategy, each free of the slightest anomaly in their genome, the perfect stock to rebuild humanity. And, as even more advancements are made in the interface, the ability to suppress an individuals personality and take up residence in his body and actually walk among the peasants so they can adore their God in person, and it can experience every sensation its distorted intellect can envision personally, instead of vicariously through some intermediary. Although, not on Phoenix’s list of desirable survivors, another group hovers on the brink of extinction, due to tenacity, however, and the very thing that drove humanity to the top of the food chain this group has the one thing going for it that makes them a force to be reckoned with, youth. Due to an anomaly peculiar to humans, when born, the skull is still pl1able and the brain not yet fully formed, nor will it be until they are well into their adolescence, and due to this fact, the chip, that allows Phoenix to take hold of humanity cannot be embedded into their cerebral cortex, leaving this small section of humanity with free will. As the purge ensues, a small band of adolescents, aware of what is taking place, set out to find a refuge where they are free of Phoenix’s minions only to fall in with an engineer who claims to have been part of the force that developed the interface but is himself free of Phoenix’s control. After escaping a plot to destroy them, the group sets out to sever Phoenix from its source of power, effectively shutting it down. Although successful, their misses has enough time to transfer it psyche into a Golem, allowing it to break free of the restraints of being tethered to a computer, and although still in its infantile stage, the collosal figure sets to eliminate its enemies, culminating in a titanic battle for the future of mankind.