Andrei blinked.
Unusual, but not unheard of, for someone in the retirement hive to blink out of sequence. Usually, the machines blinked for him—blinked for everyone--their networks of copper sinews and carbon fibre bones acting like one gigantic, interconnected nervous system, performing functions burned from the brains of the pilots in their care years ago. But occasionally, the pain and isolation, the memories of war and the regrets of centuries caught up with a pilot, and they blinked for themselves.
<<patient 2501 nonsequenced autonomic action detected. motion includes: levator palpebrae superioris. test for aponeurotic ptosis: negative. threat level of patient: increasing. recommend: increased monitoring.>>
Andrei had been an exceptional RAWtech pilot, during his decades of service. Picked from thousands of applicants from the Apophis sector, he showed remarkable abilities—not only could he slow down his metabolic systems and control them with an accuracy rarely before seen, he seemed to inspire heightened abilities in others. ‘Psychic charisma,’ the professors at the Academy had called it.
Andrei himself said that when he slowed his mind and body down, reduced his own functions to better merge with the function of his RAWtech chassis—CASIMIR 418, itself a legend in Academy circles—that he saw God.
No-one ever asked him which God he saw.
<<patient 2501 demonstrating heightened neural activity. dreaming? anomalous.>>
In order to become a RAWtech pilot, adepts at the Academy are taught meditative techniques, masquerading as religious service, that grant them control over their metabolic functions. Once these functions are mastered, pilots are introduced to their Remote Access Warfare pods, and are taught the real reason for their meditations.
RAWtech demands absolute precision, and the human brain only has a finite number of items it can process at any one time, analogous to CPU cycles. By staving off breathing, swallowing, talking and pumping blood around the body, pilots can better interpret and act upon the astonishing amounts of data being fed to them by their RAWtech at any given time. It’s supposedly like having two people inside one head, one of which is constantly asking for permission to kill.
The best of the best can indefinitely suspend their functions in a kind of state between life and death, giving themselves over entirely to their battlefield tasks. These pilots, known as Nightbringers, are feared and reviled even among the others of the Academy, and the presence of a Nightbringer on a mission means things are going to get very intense very quickly.
Around the Academy, and soon enough, in every RAWtech ops centre, the whispers begin.
Nightbringers are Death incarnate. And Andrei is their King. He is not to be trusted. Work with him, but don’t follow him.
<<patient 2501 is. 2501 is. is. 2501 is. 2501>>
We are the night.
This is the maxim Nightbringers live by. Trite, but accurate—they represent an unknowable darkness. Andrei fell in love with this idea quickly.
RAWtech pilots are afforded a certain status, if not respect, both within the Academy and without. People are impressed by the verification mark on a pilot’s social portfolio. For the most part, pilots have difficult early lives. The psychic capabilities and awkward personalities that make them capable and efficient mechanised killers aren’t aspects which make childhood easy—and Andrei’s exceptionally strong abilities made him a target, in his youth.
Civilians don’t know what this power is. They just know something is wrong. And that wrongness makes them hate.
Nightbringers, then, are to RAWtech pilots what those pilots are to civilians. Some Nightbringers find this hard to deal with, their life bouncing from rejection to rejection. Others grit their teeth and ignore their loneliness, knowing that the rewards in retirement are worth the hardship.
Andrei was different. Andrei loved the fear. Andrei fed on it. And as the years passed, Andrei became stronger, and learned how to hide his strength.
<<++RECORDS EXPUNGED. CONTACT YOUR ADMIN FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTION>>
Unusual, but not unheard of, for someone in the retirement hive to blink out of sequence. Usually, the machines blinked for him—blinked for everyone--their networks of copper sinews and carbon fibre bones acting like one gigantic, interconnected nervous system, performing functions burned from the brains of the pilots in their care years ago. But occasionally, the pain and isolation, the memories of war and the regrets of centuries caught up with a pilot, and they blinked for themselves.
<<patient 2501 nonsequenced autonomic action detected. motion includes: levator palpebrae superioris. test for aponeurotic ptosis: negative. threat level of patient: increasing. recommend: increased monitoring.>>
Andrei had been an exceptional RAWtech pilot, during his decades of service. Picked from thousands of applicants from the Apophis sector, he showed remarkable abilities—not only could he slow down his metabolic systems and control them with an accuracy rarely before seen, he seemed to inspire heightened abilities in others. ‘Psychic charisma,’ the professors at the Academy had called it.
Andrei himself said that when he slowed his mind and body down, reduced his own functions to better merge with the function of his RAWtech chassis—CASIMIR 418, itself a legend in Academy circles—that he saw God.
No-one ever asked him which God he saw.
<<patient 2501 demonstrating heightened neural activity. dreaming? anomalous.>>
In order to become a RAWtech pilot, adepts at the Academy are taught meditative techniques, masquerading as religious service, that grant them control over their metabolic functions. Once these functions are mastered, pilots are introduced to their Remote Access Warfare pods, and are taught the real reason for their meditations.
RAWtech demands absolute precision, and the human brain only has a finite number of items it can process at any one time, analogous to CPU cycles. By staving off breathing, swallowing, talking and pumping blood around the body, pilots can better interpret and act upon the astonishing amounts of data being fed to them by their RAWtech at any given time. It’s supposedly like having two people inside one head, one of which is constantly asking for permission to kill.
The best of the best can indefinitely suspend their functions in a kind of state between life and death, giving themselves over entirely to their battlefield tasks. These pilots, known as Nightbringers, are feared and reviled even among the others of the Academy, and the presence of a Nightbringer on a mission means things are going to get very intense very quickly.
Around the Academy, and soon enough, in every RAWtech ops centre, the whispers begin.
Nightbringers are Death incarnate. And Andrei is their King. He is not to be trusted. Work with him, but don’t follow him.
<<patient 2501 is. 2501 is. is. 2501 is. 2501>>
We are the night.
This is the maxim Nightbringers live by. Trite, but accurate—they represent an unknowable darkness. Andrei fell in love with this idea quickly.
RAWtech pilots are afforded a certain status, if not respect, both within the Academy and without. People are impressed by the verification mark on a pilot’s social portfolio. For the most part, pilots have difficult early lives. The psychic capabilities and awkward personalities that make them capable and efficient mechanised killers aren’t aspects which make childhood easy—and Andrei’s exceptionally strong abilities made him a target, in his youth.
Civilians don’t know what this power is. They just know something is wrong. And that wrongness makes them hate.
Nightbringers, then, are to RAWtech pilots what those pilots are to civilians. Some Nightbringers find this hard to deal with, their life bouncing from rejection to rejection. Others grit their teeth and ignore their loneliness, knowing that the rewards in retirement are worth the hardship.
Andrei was different. Andrei loved the fear. Andrei fed on it. And as the years passed, Andrei became stronger, and learned how to hide his strength.
<<++RECORDS EXPUNGED. CONTACT YOUR ADMIN FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTION>>
