[Episode 105154] [Episode 105154]Group Two had recovered seven.
They were, as communications with Ranma's group had determined his to be, human girls of mid to late teenage years. Young and pretty, and most likely the guys in the Resistance would have felt the ages-old biological conflict caused by the desire not to harm such. Which would result in fatal hesitation as the young and pretty girls had been reprogrammed to be remorseless killing machines.
They had language skills, they had information about the world about them. They had knowledge of personal care and appearance, and indications were that this information had not been touched simply because of that hesitation many males would have in killing an attractive member of their own species - especially if it had been a long time since they'd seen such.
They also had weapons skills, demolitions knowledge, and no regard for their own lives if they could accomplish their mission.
Of personal knowledge - they had none. No names, no knowledge of growing up, no knowledge of friends or of family, no feelings of connection with anyone at all.
They were given names quickly, as referring to them by numbers would only help dehumanize them and that was not the aim of the Resistance. The seven virtues of bushido became their new names: Jin, Makoto, Chugi, Meiyo, Yu, Rei, and Gi.
They were also reprogrammed in the most basic manner, switching allegiance to the Machine for allegiance to the Resistance.
Of their pasts, the Resistance had no clue - some suspected a cloning technique had been used to actually create them though there were reasons to discount it. Minor physical changes and their minds being erased and reprogrammed seemed to be all of it, several had what appeared to be old scars and imperfections that seemed to indicate a real person. Investigation would have to wait, survival was more of a priority.
Professor Natsume lit a cigarette and sat in the overhang where he could listen for any sign that the machines doing their work had encountered a problem.
Overcoming the unfinished programming was fairly easy. Removing the implanted self-destructs had been trickier and the cause for his seeking out the time for a quick smoke. The little nook had 99.9% silent fans that whisked the trail of smoke into chemical scrubbers before the air moved out from the compound - it wouldn't do for a chemical detection system to find his lab by following the trail after all.
That and the implications of the Machine's newest plan. That gave him the shakes right there. They had survived nuclear attacks on cities, they had survived Terminator and Hunter-Killer drones, they had survived against mobile tanks and heard of other areas fighting unique operatives of the Machine. China, for example, was facing the OGRE. OGRE being a self-aware tank over a mile long, with missile batteries and armor plating that was truly ludicrous in its thickness.
Martial artists and other uniquely talented individuals, such as Nuku Nuku, had allowed the survivor groups to not only survive but fight back against the Machine. One of the Machine's few weakpoints had been that it seemed to be unable to understand magic or chi-based techniques and hadn't made preparations for either. If that had changed, and the Machine was trying to mind control humans in case they had some talents in that regard, things could get dicey.
As it was, he'd done what he could to make sure that the altered humans would be loyal to something other than a Machine that sought to ensure its own survival by wiping out any competition to its own use of resources.
These girls were not likely martial artists. While in good shape, most did not have the required muscle tone or the tightness around the knuckles. Two might have been martial artists but it was doubtful, to Kyousuke at least, that they had been in the class of either Saotome.
An experiment perhaps?
The Professor blew a smoke ring, nodding to himself. Group two had seven, his group had rescued nine. Likely a cross section of humanity hunted down and captured while the remainder of their family had been slaughtered by the mechanized troops.
Since he had no information to guide him in recovery, he had to come up with new names for these nine just as group two had done. Referring to them by numbers (Ichiko, Sanko, Shinko, and so on) didn't have any appeal and might reinforce their self-image as machines. So something more personal. Groups of nine. Planets maybe?
Stubbing out his cigarette, he went back into the room and looked over the currently zombified nine. Each lay on a cot, leads to their access ports snaking off to a central set of computers that was now completing a search and replace function. Names.
Working at the keyboard, the Professor quickly set up the nine as:
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(Posted Wed, 16 Jun 2004 10:07)
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