Demichase School of Thought

[Ghods Charles al'Demichase XIV]

stream-source: ▓▝ -̵̵̛̬̭̠͚̦͕̜̮̉̓̀ͨ̊̊ͫ͢͝-̶̡͓̼͈͖̤̪̠̒̍̀̀͛̓͜-̡̭͕̤͙̃-͇̣̥̰̱̼ͫ͛ͮ̊̚͢҉̊--̡̢̹̪͇̦̎̒̒̋̀̄ͯ̎͟͜͝-̙̃-̸̢̜͓̪͚̭̞̳̺ͭ͆̓ͥ͒͗̀͌͑̒-͎͔̬͇̙̹͚̞̅̅̋̃ͤ̕͘̚͝ͅ-̵̨̡̺̝͚͙̏ͬ͂̐ : compiling - tt-rr-321561--▝▁
acvX.-̵̵̛̬̭̠͚̦͕̜̮̉̓̀ͨ̊̊ͫ͢͝-̶̡͓̼͈͖̤̪̠̒̍̀̀͛̓͜-̡̭͕̤͙̃-͇̣̥̰̱̼ͫ͛ͮ̊̚͢҉̊--̡̢̹̪͇̦̎̒̒̋̀̄ͯ̎͟͜͝-̙̃-̸̢̜͓̪͚̭̞̳̺ͭ͆̓ͥ͒͗̀͌͑̒-͎͔̬͇̙̹͚̞̅̅̋̃ͤ̕͘̚͝ͅ-̵̨̡̺̝͚͙̏ͬ͂̐-͖̜̥͈͕̼̓̍ͭͮ́̿͑̔̕ͅ-̵̸̱̬̠̪͑̒͛ͮͨ̀ͭ́̔̌̕͢ͅ-̶̵̨̜͉̹̫͌͗̑̀̄̐-̰ͣͦ̉̑͒ͧ̚̚-͙̗͍̂̋̌͌-̹̅̆̈-̡͖̠̟̞̀̇̊̀̉͏͘-̶̴̱͇̋̈ͪ̌̆ͪͬ͋͜͠͞-̶̷̥͗̋̒̈́͋̔tvdgs░g-g-nn-3.16.a.n+̸̸̴̣̠̠͍̦̫͂̓͗̐ͨͭ͘+̴̧̻̰̦̯́͊͒͗͌̐ͥͩ̐ͭ̔͟͞+̜̻͙̪̞ͥ̓ͯ̇̀͜͡͝͞+̫+͚̟̝͔̠̙̗̤͛̅̉̿͒̓ͬ͊́̚-̵̘̳̻̫̜̆ͥͯ̏͆̍͝͏̓-͕̰ͬ͂͛-̸̧̯̮̣̙͒ͣͧ̀͗҉̷͉̳̀ͣ̂ͪ͠-҉͓-̮̩̰̪͙̹̇ͪ̆̄͂̈ͧ́́̐́͘+̸̸̴̣̠̠͍̦̫͂̓͗̐ͨͭ͘+̴̧̻̰̦̯́͊͒͗͌̐ͥͩ̐ͭ̔͟͞+̜̻͙̪̞ͥ̓ͯ̇̀͜͡͝͞+̫+͚̟̝͔̠̙̗̤͛̅̉̿͒̓ͬ͊́̚-̵̘̳̻̫̜̆ͥͯ̏͆̍͝͏̓-͕̰ͬ͂͛-̸̧̯̮̣̙͒ͣͧ̀͗҉̷͉̳̀ͣ̂ͪ͠-҉͓-̮̩̰̪͙̹̇ͪ̆̄͂̈ͧ́́̐́͘xciv.xc -̧̞̤͖̠̲̳̺̓͛ͩ͊͗͛͌̀ͦͤ-̷̵̩̲̲̞͈̯̣̬͔̭̈ͬ̓̏̐ͦ̚̕-̮̥̳̙̀ͣ́-̠-͍-̧̺̮͖̱̣͋́͛̈́̿-̷̣̰̭̣̘̻̲̑͋͌ͮ͝-̰̙̤͔͐ͨ̿̒́͝͞-͇͍͖ͪ̆ͦ̚-̵̻̲̼͇̜̉ͦͯ́̆̌ͪͦ͠ͅ-̴̤͓̣͔͊ͤͣ̃-͖̭̞̘͇̲͓̾͌-́͊-͚̀̚-̷̍̒ͩ҉-̛̩͇̏ͣͨͭ̈́̿̾ͫ́ͧͯ͡-̟̍-̯͈ͩ͏̸̠̪̾̈́̾-͋--̨̯͗͛̎̅ͮ: bb-26131-oe-itv--11

"Darkness Ignited, by flame is consumed
Darkness Alighted, in triumph resumes
Darkness Forbidden, in Light does not quake
Darkness Returning, there is no escape.

By Whispers we walk, shadows extend
By Worms coalesced, the road never ends
By Blood born to man, reality bends
By Hell and High Water, Darkness defends

Trials in Fire and Trials in Dark
An impossible task, a Light must embark
Failure sure, Darkness imparts
Wisdom of strength, and of sword, and of heart

Atrocity met, Heresy Learned
In and by Darkness, Light shall be turned
Meeting desperation Face to Face
The mind of a man... A Terrible Terrible place"

--a short poem by Me, featuring little effort and 20 seconds

---

L O C A T I O N : PLANET PITTSBURGH , LOWER ATMOSPHERE

Netsakh sifted through the darklings memories. It was distracted with piloting, so much was accessible to them without it taking notice. Many memories were important to the young light, such as how it had come across it's strength. Recent, vivid memories showed it at a gathering that taught about sustaining darkling bodies. It had used this as a compliment to other knowledge. That knowledge was advanced knowledge on electrical and jump mechanics. The source of that knowledge was why they were at this rock. The memories were hidden from Netsakh, and so they had asked the darkling to explain. It had insisted on coming here, so Netsakh went along with it. The memories suddenly closed up, snapping Netsakh to attention. They had arrived.


Ghods landed his ship on a large rock bank. It hadn't been disturbed for years, and looked the exact same as when he was a kid. He knew it could hold the weight of a ship. Netsakh wondered how he knew the advanced physics that went into his body modification and the suit. Of course, he dutifully obeyed, and he knew sight could explain it much more than words, so he flew out to his old home, his birthplace. She was the Light that blessed him, he could face a few demons for that.


At the bottom of the valley next to them, a large group of metal boxes lived around a gaping hole in the surface. Cheep, mass-producible houses, smelling of aluminum and factory smoke. He looked out to the east of the villiage, to a lone house with several rectangular scars on the dirt around it. Old locations for some of the houses. Of course, no one would want to be near that place. He felt Netsakh mentally recoil at the hatred and disgust he felt, but payed it little mind. He set his helmet to recirculate and reconstitute the air inside. He still hesitated, but after a few seconds, went invisible and began walking toward the house.


He did look to the other houses in the village, searching for something familiar. He was met with the sight of the old spray-painted wolf heads being crossed out and covered, and red and black snakes taking their place. He wouldn't have to worry about run-ins, but he did want to kill a few leaders before he got off planet. "Remember why you're here. Do not take unnecessary risks." Netsakh's voice soothed his aggression slightly, so he made his way to the lone house. His house.


He braced himself as he touched the door handle. His helmet was recirculating air, but the memories of the putrid smell came back all the same. He pushed open the door, and locked eyes with the skeleton lying on the floor. A circle of black marked the carpet, extravagant assortments of molds and fungi growing at the edges. While the skeleton wearing them had long since been bleached by sunlight and time, the clothes it wore were only so on the top. The bottom was the same black as the carpet around it. Ghods stepped on the edge of the tainted carpet, the black crust making a loud crunching sound. "Ndiekhaya, utata".


Netsakh had been feeling a new feeling. Excitement. Their curiosity would be rewarded, and knowledge would be theirs. The sight that met them through the darkling's scowling eyes confused them, however. The corpse of another darkling lay on the ground in this container, its flesh having long since rotted away and flowed into its surroundings. Their darkling stared for some time at it, and made sounds that did not resemble any language that darklings had spoken before. Being inside its head, Netsakh knew what they meant, however, their meaning of "I am home, father" confused them even more. "How does this clarify how you obtained your extensive knowledge?"


It motioned to the dried corpse on the floor. "Before you is the great Magnus Carter al'Demichase the Twelfth. Libertonian scientist charged with reverse engineering several scans of items in a vault on Manhattan, or so he said. The only man in the universe with the audacity to conceive me." It motioned to a stack of papers and a device with writing and schematics on them. "Over there you'll see the only things I learned to read off of. His theories and such." It motioned to a few devices in the corner of the container. "And here we have my childhood toys. Finely tuned fabrication devices." It seemed to be becoming increasingly angry. "I'd introduce you to my childhood friends, but by now the Xenos or the Police have got to them. Or maybe the LSF, if they caused enough trouble."
"Why would darklings keep their empowering members here, with no power?"
It was quick to respond. "Keep a man poor, and he will have no resources with which to escape. Keep a man in pain, and he will not have the energy with which to escape. Keep a man blind to the outside world, and he will never see an opportunity to escape. They had a scientist slave, and they kept him as such."
"Then why is it that you escaped?"
"I never assumed the best in people I didn't know. I was ruthless, and quickly removed those I couldn't trust." Netsakh made mental note of this.
"Your precursor was incredibly knowledgeable, and so you became so as well?"
"Something like that, yes."


Netsakh studied the memories dragged up by the darkling's anger. They were all connected by that anger, and as one flowed by, the strings of emotions pulled the others with. The earliest ones were simply rage induced by boredom. Locked within the tiny container, the darkling, its predecessor, and another of its age that Netsakh did not recognize went about their daily lives. Constant repetition birthed boredom. The predecessor brought the tools to the young ones, presenting them as toys. Netsakh quickly skimmed through the aging of the three. Netsakh's darkling grew to be skilled in the physical universe, building mechanisms from very basic materials, and engineering energy conduits through them. The other darkling became skilled in the manipulation of the devices that the predecessor used. Netsakh isolated the memory of the devices, and presented them to their darkling. "Identify these."
"Electronics. Those ones in specific access the Neural Net, which is a universal network of those devices that provides a wide variety of data and communication, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols."
"It is a false Light?"
"Well, I've never thought about it that way, but I guess..."


Netsakh continued through the memories, consolidating their understanding. A predecessor and it's two successors, the former skilled in analysis, the latter skilled in physical manipulation, and manipulation of the Neural Net, which is a false Light. They stored this information in their own connection to the Light. The knowledge of a false Light may be important. The memories themselves, however, Netsakh imprinted onto themselves for further analysis. They watched further through the memories. Both successors grew strong, as the predecessor deteriorated. Netsakh skipped the process to a more important memory. Netsakh noted that the two stayed together for the entirety of the time. They had left their container, and had found that they lived in a loose conglomeration of containers. There were other young darklings there, in the spaces between the containers. Netsakh's darkling was apprehensive, however, the other immediately went to the other young ones, and began speaking. Eventually, three came over to their darkling. A raspy voice echoed through the memory. "Que pasa, chocolito?" Their darkling tilted it's head quizzically. The other smiled. "I'm Antonio Kress. These are my brothers, Davachi and Maxamillion." Their darkling thought for a minute, then asked "How do you write your last name?" Antonio picked up a hardened clump of dirt, and used it to write on the wall of a container. Cháurez. Their darkling read the word silently, and then simply accepted the misinterpretation. Kress was not a name it had expected from their way of speaking, and it had been correct. It accepted the name for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary hostilities. "I am Ghods. Like roads, but with a 'g'. That's Meko. His name isn't like anything."
"It is too. It's like neko!"
The one named Maxamillion spoke. "Que es?"
"It's the Kusari word for cat."
"You spend too much time on the neural net"
"Ha ha! You're just mad that I know something you don't." Their darkling declined the temptation to respond. It was a waste of time, and there were better thing it could be doing.
"Well, if you want to hang out with us, we were just going over to old man Cougar's place."
"Of course! That sounds cool."
"It is cool. Just keep your head down and your mouth closed, and we won't have issues."


Netsakh watched the memories a bit longer. The visits to "old man Cougar's place" continued. Various other darklings joined. They formed a coherent group, with Netsakh's darkling and the one it always was with at the top. The charismatic approach of Meko, and the strong silence of their darkling put them in leadership, and they took control of both their group of containers, and three neighboring groups. Eventually, they began to fight war, as all darklings do. The symbol of choice for Netsakh's darkling's group was an animal that was not found on that planet, strangely enough. A wolf. Canine. Carbon based organisms that commonly formed groups similar to the ones these darklings found themselves in. Their enemies chose snakes to be their symbol. Reptilian. Carbon based. Commonly venomous, often found in darkling sentiments with negative connotation. Also a strange choice. The fighting continued, and despite the distinct advantage their enemies had, being space faring, the wolf darklings found themselves on equal ground still. Netsakh watched many memories of the two throughout their joint adventures. Their predecessor died at some point. A vague, numb grief was attached to that memory. However, a sharp stinging pain was attached to the memory of a single phrase that shortly followed that memory: "Don't you feel anything? What's wrong with you?" Netsakh dismissed it, and moved through more memories. One caught their brief attention. One of the trips to "old man Cougar's place" found a new sensation. Netsakh surveyed it briefly, and found something that concerned them. They brought it up with their darkling. "Why did you chose this image to represent us?" They highlighted the form the darkling gave them.
"Uh, what do you mean?"
"Why have you chosen a form of darkling with opposite reproductive design to represent us?"
"I don't know. I guess I have a habit of deciding things without forethought."
Netsakh was unimpressed with it's answers. "Do you wish to breed this image of us?"
It laughed. The sound was strangely calming, however, there were more important matters at hand. "No. I'm probably to old for that."
"Reproductive fertility lasts until the fourty-fifth year in darklings. You are in your thirty-sixth."
"Well, yes. I guess you're right. Well, if it's any help, I outgrew that before my first flight to space."
A check of it's memories confirmed that. Netsakh returned to their studying. They couldn't shake the slightest twinge of disappointment, but they were busy, and could address that later.


Time continued. The war with the Xenos continued. Their group chose the name Wolfblood, and Netsakh's darkling and the one who followed it were given new names. Netsakh brought a snapshot of the memory, a "war room", up to their darkling. "Tell us of this."
"Me and my twin brother. We lead a gang in this here town. Romulus and Remus, the wolfblood brothers. I made strategies, he gathered intel. Unfortunately, he was more interested in his own greed than the greater good. I sought to help people, he sought to help himself. Most people agreed with his ideals more than mine, but since I was irreplaceable on the field of combat, I was kept as leader. The Kress boys helped us with distant relations, other towns and such. They also managed the recruits. Our second in command, if you will."
"Two biological groups to lead others..."
"Families. We called them families. Everyone on this unhallowed cesspool had a dysfunctional family. Some kids had no parents, some had one. Some had parents that worked in the mines up north, some had parents like mine. Hell, everyone was unique. Having two parents was just as weird as having none. Helluva place."
"What let your family be stronger than others?"
"Ruthlessness. An iron fist is needed to lead people. My brother and I had no hesitations killing Xeno scum, Police scum, Marine scum. I even caught a Security Force scum off guard. We taught our followers to be the same. We were elite, and after I turned twenty, the only people who dared fight us on this surface were the Xenos and the LSF." He laughed, but it wasn't genuine. There was nothing comforting about this laugh. "We were second best on this planet."
"Tell us of your brother."
"Meko? Not much to say. Spoiled child. Had a knack for nerual net things. No sense of honor or right. He just did what he wanted for personal gain. Of course, his charisma and humor made many people think he was something far from his true nature. Lots of people looked up to him as a kind individual simply because he would get drunk with them."
"Darklings tend to associate single objects and entities with their joy."
"True... True." He seemed to want to argue, but dismissed the thought.


Netsakh came to the realization that they were no longer locked out of the memories. They had a semblance of control in the mind of the darkling. They felt more connected to it as well. Quickly, they skipped to the next important memory. Their darkling and the one that followed it stood at the door. The corpse that would eventually be the skeleton on the floor in front of them now sat, with skin and flesh melting. Small insect creatures, probably scavengers, flew about in the room. They lit a small stick on fire, and blew it out, settling it into a slow burn. They left it on the first step of the container's entrance, and closed the opening to the container. No words were spoken between them. Netsakh skipped forward, across an extremely long walk. A large container with darkling space-shells entering and leaving from large flat rocks outside was their destination. Netsakh resumed paying attention when they reached the large container. They had weapons in their hands, and stood to the sides of an opening. "Quick rundown of the plan?"
"There's a freighter bound for Planet Erie leaving in seventeen minutes. We need to be on the cargo bay by fifteen."
"Sounds easy enough. No mercy for the DSE goons?"
"How much have they shown us?"
The one who follows laughed. "Kill on sight it is, then."


They opened the door, and quickly made their way in, hunched over until the end of the hallway. Their darkling fitted a sort of extension on the end of their weapon, then fired it at a large black object with a glass lens. The extension muffled the weapons sound, changing it from painfully loud explosion sound to a sound resembling two rocks striking each other. They rushed in, down a hallway, following a string of arrows. They used knives to quickly execute the few other darklings they found in the place, stabbing their necks and quickly breaking their spinal nerves. They arrived on the first of the large rocks, where metal was being loaded onto a space-shell. Then, they did something that surprised Netsakh. Hidden behind a stack of the metal, they took off their coverings. They were wearing uniforms matching the ones that their darkling had referred to as "Marines". They ran forward. "Hey! Has patrol Beta one left already?"
"The marines? Just missed em, kid."
"Ah, damn. We're recruits. We were supposed to be with them."
"Ah, well, I could give you a lift. Where were they headed?"
"Planet Erie, sir."
"Well you must have the luck of the devil. I was just about to head out there. Git in the passenger compartment, I'll have you there by six lanes and a jump gate."
"Much obliged, sir."
"Anything for Liberty's shining youth."
"I'll put in a good word for you when we get there."


Netsakh skipped forward once again. The other darklings were preparing. Eventually the launched. Netsakh observed the technology that the darklings used for travel. They went through a single jump, to a warmer star than before. Then, their darkling got up, shot the darkling that had helped them in the head, and dragged the body to an opening. They hit a few buttons on the keypad, and launched the body into the void. Then, they returned to the seat from which the space shell was piloted. "Think the boys back on Pittsburgh can handle themselves without us?"
"We taught them how to handle themselves. They can do it just fine."
"Alrighty, then. You got a place to go?"
"The outer regions. We need to replace this ship. It won't be long before they notice it's missing."
"Ah, about that... You've got to replace this ship. I've got..." The one who follows held one of it's datapads forward. Netsakh froze the memory and began cross referencing their darklings vocabulary with the words shown on the datapad.


It read: The Lane Hackers. "Making the corporate weenies cry, so our kids can live in a free and just galaxy." All young Lane Hackers and all former oppressed, stepped on, abused, neglected, defrauded, and recently enlightened Ageira or other Liberty companies' employees, as well as recently converted agents of their military hoodlums are invited to hack this comm channel to request induction into th...


The datapad wasn't large enough to display the rest of the message. Netsakh resumed the memory. "The Lane Hackers?"
"Hell yeah. It's a chance to get rich off of the people who did us wrong, Ghods. I can make a living- nah I can make a wealth off of the people who made money off of us."
The same numbness their darkling had before returned. Netsakh understood it, this time. A common sight, a steady constant was removing itself. In Netsakh, pain was felt, but the darkling didn't feel. Netsakh questioned this, but kept it to themselves. "Want me to drop you off on Erie?"
"Nah. There's a junker base by that big purple planet over there. I can figure out the rest."
"Alright. I'll set the autopilot and turn the scanners to full."


The flight there was silent. They arrived, and were hailed by some rusted ships, red, with a pointy effigy of a face printed onto their sides. Netsakh's darkling didn't hear what was said through the communication system, so Netsakh didn't either, however, the one who follows got up and pressed a button near the piloting mechanism. "We've got a shipment of boron for Allentown, and I need to talk to some people aboard." He then turned to Netsakh's darkling. "End of the line, brother. I'll see you soon."
"Yeah." They waited a short moment before they both raised their right fists to the left side of their chests in a silent salute. "See you soon."


Netsakh stopped watching there. The numbness of their darkling's memories was beginning to affect themselves. With full access to these memories, they could easily continue later, when they were able to resist the emotions better.


The sound of a gun cocking caught both of their attentions. Ghods spun around to see his old right-hand-man, Davachi Kress, aiming a Model 4546 into the empty space beside him. He then spun it to the other side, swinging his aim, looking for something. Ghods was still invisible. "Que en inferno, things go from bad to worse. W-w-whatever espiritu is there, uhhh..." He lowered his gun slightly. "You want some food? Abuela is cooking tonight..." He trailed off timidly. Ghods smiled to himself as he dropped his invisibility. "Food would be great, yes. I remember señora Kress making wonderful chile con pollo." Davachi dropped his gun in pure shock. "Santo judío-en-dos-palos" A smile crossed his face as he recognized the voice. "Wait, Romo? Is that you?" Ghods unfastened his helmet. "Always has been."

. . . TO BE CONTINUED . . .

.͈̤̺̼ͣͭ͞҉̘̀ͫ̉.͎̬ͦ̔ͧ̍̾̃̍̇ͣ͝.͕̺̰̘ͧ̏ͥͬ̃.̪͙͕.͏̖͉.̴̯̤̭̟̍ͣ̄.̩̩͖͙̻͓̞̏ͨ̈́͋͒͂͆̃͛͛͟.̙̭̳́̂ͤ̀͘.̲͇̹ͩ̾̆ͨ̀ͫ͘͞.̘͕̮̟̉ͯ̃̒ͮͩ̂͘̚͜.ͅ҉͗.̵̣͕̄.̷̶̩̰̮͖̹̍ͮ̅ͨͤ́̉̎̇ͨ̍.̵̡̦̓̉ͬͅ.̸̬̞͋͂͑ͭͤ̑.̱̉͟.͏̛̳̺̟.̷̝ͩ͛.̜͍̏̒͌͗͢.̪̠̙̩̥̟͑ͬ̑̀́ͭ̾̀--+̸̸̴̣̠̠͍̦̫͂̓͗̐ͨͭ͘+̴̧̻̰̦̯́͊͒͗͌̐ͥͩ̐ͭ̔͟͞+̜̻͙̪̞ͥ̓ͯ̇̀͜͡͝͞+̫+͚̟̝͔̠̙̗̤͛̅̉̿͒̓ͬ͊́̚-̵̘̳̻̫̜̆ͥͯ̏͆̍͝͏̓-͕̰ͬ͂͛-̸̧̯̮̣̙͒ͣͧ̀͗҉̷͉̳̀ͣ̂ͪ͠-҉͓-̮̩̰̪͙̹̇ͪ̆̄͂̈ͧ́́̐́͘

---

Encrypted Signal

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