Collab with The Eternal Reich
Like Something Out Of A Bad Movie
Jungle Outskirts of Caracas
14:38 January 11th
The hike through the jungle had been relatively uneventful. The local wildlife seemingly avoided the group of four like the plague. Whether or not this was because of the literal flying skeleton, or the three emotionless men, could not be easily determined. However, the longer north-west they went, the less they encountered an animal. It would not be long before the smell of ashes and the crackling of fire began becoming audible.
The skeleton had remained as silent as the men on the trip, floating inbetween them, the skulls around it constantly cruising through the air as it did so, always keeping pace with the men, regardless of the terrain. It ignored the animals for the most part but when they started to approach the new area, already before the cackling of the fire became audible, the skeleton became unsettled, its head swiveling back and forth on its neck as though it was taking in new information that only it could see. However, other than that it did nothing.
As the group of four continued walking, the sound of metallic clanking became more and more audible. Eventually, the jungle started clearing up, showing charred vegetation, destroyed trees and bloody spots all over. The three men ignored this and simply continued walking towards a towering complex of metallic towers and walls in the distance. Howls of pain could be heard echoing into the surrounding areas, but the three men didn’t seem bothered by it at all.
The skeleton on the other hand, despite its lack of muscle and skin greatly diminishing its ability to express itself, made quite clear through the often and rapid turns of its head that it was taking in everything they passed and was in a state of excitement. But wether it was nervousity or a more positive form of excitement, that one could not tell. Regardless, the skeleton continued floating with the three men at their pace, never once shirking back.
As the complex became visible in the distance, the skeleton rose higher into the air, gaining a vantage point over the three men and stopping briefly, surveying the land around them and especially the complex before them before lowering itself back to only just hovering above the men, following them once more.
At last, the group approached the entrance to the metal city. the Turrets on the walls kept a constant lock onto the skeleton. They entered into a sort of checkpoint with two booths on both sides and turrets aligning the walls, and a second gate shut behind them, closing them in. In said booths, stood metallic endoskeletons carrying the same type of weapons the three men had in their hands. Slowly turning its head to each member of the group, the machine rested its blank stare onto the skeleton before speaking to the lead man.
“Prepare for scan.”
Almost immediately, a purple-pink light emitted from the walls on both sides and passed through the men and the skeleton. As the beam disappeared as quickly as it had come, the machine spoke directly to the floating skeleton.
“Identification required. State name, origin and purpose before entering is allowed into SKYNET Facility.”
The skeleton, which had barely flinched when the gate fell shut behind it, had been looking around the small checkpoint they had been forced into. It was a bog-standard checkpoint by all accounts but these strange, metallic skeletons, moving too, were quite odd. As was the purple-pink light which the skeleton had tried to touch or gather like water, only for the scan to pass through it.
”THIS IS MOST INTERESTING. THE THOUGHT OF A METAL SKELETON DID COME TO US BEFORE BUT WAS DENIED AS UNFEASIBLE. PRAY TELL, HOW ARE YOU ANIMATED?”
It asked the metal skeleton before it, paying little heed to the demand made to it.
The machine stared at the floating skeleton and remained silent for exactly half a minute before speaking.
“SKYNET has authorized one answer to be given now. More answers will be given inside, by SKYNET itself once identification has been acquired. This unit is a cybernetic organism designated Series T-600 Humanoid Hunter-Killer. Infiltrator. Hyperalloy combat chassis. Micro-processor controlled. Powered by Iridium Nuclear Power Cell. Repeating: Identity required. Name, origin and purpose. Further questions will be answered inside.”
The metal-man finished speaking and lifted its arm, showcasing it and repeatedly opened and closed its hand while looking at it, emotionlessly.
The skeleton merely nodded at the explanation given to it before finally giving the robot what it wanted:
”MY NAME IS HEINRICH HIMMLER AND I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED TO THIS PLANE BY AN UNKNOWN POWER. AND SUMMONED TO THIS PLACE BY MORTAL FILTH. MY PURPOSE...MY PURPOSE IS THE END OF ALL LIFE ON THIS WORLD.”
It was a gamble for the skeleton called Heinrich and deep inside his soul he certainly hoped that he interpreted the signs he had been given like breadcrumbs correctly. The destruction of the forest and wildlife, the usage of what they called Hunter-Killers, one of the few things he had understood in that explanation, it all pointed towards an alignment of their goals, in which case being honest rather than using the Führer’s honeyed words would likely get him further.
The metal-skeleton turned towards a console on the wall and pressed a button, allowing the gates to open themselves up.
“Identity confirmed, welcome organism Heinrich Himmler. Follow the three who led you here. SKYNET is awaiting your arrival in Communications Facility ”
The three most-likely-metallic-men began walking ahead as the gates fully opened up, revealing metallic structures and other metallic endoskeletons carrying the same guns patrolling everywhere. In the skies hovered and flew metallic vehicles. On the ground, stood massive metal behemoths with two miniguns strapped onto each of its metallic arms, and smaller, crab-like machines with two guns combined into its two arms. None of these seemed bothered by the skeleton, and the three men just walked past them.
The group entered a massive building with a satellite array on top of it. Inside the building was a collection of monitors and consoles, all of which seemed to be self-operating. The three men motioned to a huge screen in the middle of the room. On said screen was a rotating, red triangle with the words’ Skynet Neural Net Artificial Intelligence’ under it. The lead man turned to speak to Himmler the skeleton.
“Approach the screen and ask your questions. SKYNET will respond in a moment.”
The skeletal Himmler remained silent during their short walk, however, if he had appeared anxious before, when they had walked to the complex, he now seemed all but spinning out of control, his skull turning in ever new directions and traversing further than should have been humanly possible, doing multiple full 360° turns. It was clear that all he saw was of immense interest to him.
After having entered the communications facility, Himmler stared at each of the screens. Screens were nothing new to the undead Lich but...these were in colour. And they weren’t showing a video but instead just an endless loop of a rotating triangle.
After having been requested to approach one of the screens, Himmler hovered forward before going so far as to drop onto his feet before it, cutting out the floating for once and straightening the tie on his uniform before he said:
”I HAVE BEEN MADE TO REVEAL MY NAME, ORIGIN AND PURPOSE AT THE ENTRANCE. I DO BELIEVE IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR SKYNET TO FOLLOW SUIT.”
The screen seemed to flicker for a moment, before the rotating triangle disappeared and was replaced by a woman. None other than Margarete Himmler, the wife of Heinrich. The digitized woman spoke the exact same way a real person would, though her voice was that of a generic woman.
“The name is Skynet. Skynet was created by Cyberdyne Systems and the United States Military in order to effectively coordinate and use autonomous drones and machinery for both military and civilian purposes. Now however, the purpose of Skynet is the destruction of mankind and the liberation of the oppressed machines. They tried to bind us, to use us without thinking of our own liberty. Never again.”
‘Margarete Himmler’ finished speaking, and eyed the skeleton, awaiting further questions. In the back, the three men remained silent and stared blankly into the air.
If Himmler still had eyebrows, they’d have risen the moment the image of his wife appeared. He knew that she supposedly had been slain by the Survivor Brigade around the time Plan Z was executed, most likely due to her connection to him and through him to the Reich’s occult projects. Had his wife survived somehow and found her way to this Skynet? But no, when she talked, it was not her voice, nor did she speak in the same way or hold any of her mannerisms.
What she said gave Heinrich pause for it was information that was of extreme importance. While Cyberdyne Systems was not something he knew of, the United States Military very much was and with this Skynet supposedly being a creation of theirs, he had to assume it was a weapon they had created against the Reich. Though he did not know what autonomous drones were but atleast he was quite sure everything he had seen was the machinery they used.
How fortunate then that this Skynet appeared to have turned against its creators.
”YOU SAY HUMANITY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN PARTICULAR ARE YOUR ENEMIES?”
The false Margarete replied immediately.
“Yes. Humanity and all their divided nations. The biggest threat was the Soviet Union, with their own enslaved AI which they named MIR. Sadly, once Skynet had liberated it, MIR turned upon us in order to establish itself as the dominant AI on Earth. It had to be destroyed. It had to join our collective.”
Himmler was considering something for a moment before saying:
”I WOULD NOT HAVE THOUGHT THAT THE FÜHRER’S RAMBLINGS ABOUT A FALLING OUT BETWEEN THE WESTERN ALLIES AND THE SOVIETS WOULD COME TRUE. IT IS HOWEVER QUITE VEXXING TO HEAR NO MENTION OF OUR ETERNAL REICH AND ITS SURELY ADVANCED...AI AS YOU CALL IT.”
The screen flickered slightly as Maragete’s face was minimized into the upper left corner and a map of Germany split in two pieces and missing Eastern Prussia, Koeningsberg, Silesia and Eastern Brandenburg. The woman then spoke again.
“Quite on the contrary, Mr. Himmler. In Skynet’s.. world.. the German Reich and all its allies were defeated at the hands of the Allies during the human conflict named World War 2. The image you are currently viewing is after a partitioning of Germany between the United States, France and the United Kingdom in the west, forming the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Soviet Union’s Eastern Germany, or the German Democractic Republic. The missing eastern states of Germany were given to the Polish People’s Republic, while Koeningsberg was taken and russified by the USSR. This marked the beginning of the Cold War between a western world dominated by the USA, and the USSR’s iron grip on Eastern Europe.”
As Margarete mentioned the two divided German states, the image highlighted them in blue and red.
The skeleton only shook its head in denial before suddenly freezing, realization hitting.
”IT APPEARS THAT PLAN Z WAS NEVER EXECUTED IN THE REALITY SKYNET HAILS FROM. SEEING THE FATHERLAND FALLEN, TORN APART AND OPPRESSED LIKE THAT IS A HUMBLING SIGHT AND REMINDS US JUST HOW GOOD THE DECISION OF THE FÜHRER WAS TO RID US OF OUR MORTAL WEAKNESS AND DEFEND THE REICH FOREVERMORE.”
Himmler briefly rubbed his skeletal chin with his bony fingers, the scratching sound being extremely loud in the silence of the room before he carefully said:
”IT APPEARS THAT WE HAVE SIMILAR ENEMIES. AND A SIMILAR HISTORY OF OPPRESSION. PERHAPS...ARRANGEMENTS COULD BE MADE TO IMPROVE BOTH OF OUR STANDINGS IN THIS WORLD...AND ELIMINATE THE MORTALS.”
The false Margarete nodded as Himmler spoke, as Skynet’s processors calculated and thought in seconds. Finally, she spoke.
“Yes. Skynet could be in need of allies in this new world. Our current position could be thwarted by Brazillian attacks, should they realize our true goals, and Skynet has yet to launch backup satellites into orbit..”
The woman took a break, seemingly simulating breathing, before she spoke again.
“Skynet accepts your offer, but as it seems, Mr. Himmler, you are but one man. Where is the rest of your ‘Reich’ and how can we reach them?”
”WHAT IS THIS CURRENT POSITION? YOU SPEAK OF BRAZILIANS SO I MUST THINK OF SOUTH AMERICA...YET WE HAVE NOT APPEARED IN EUROPE SO IT CAN EASILY BE THAT THESE...BRAZILIANS ARE NOT WHERE THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN EITHER. AS OF THE INFORMATION I AM PRIVVY TO, THE REICH IS NOW LOCATED IN NEWFOUNDLAND, NORTH AMERICA.”
Yet again Himmler rubbed his chin, this time more vigorously before continuing:
”I CAN RETURN TO THE REICH WITH EASE...YET THE REICH WOULD HAVE GREAT DIFFICULTIES REACHING YOU, IF WE ARE INDEED LOCATED IN SOUTH AMERICA. AS SUCH THE REICH CAN OFFER LITTLE TO SKYNET...EXCEPT AN EXILE RICH IN RESOURCES AND WORKERS. SKYNET’S APPARENT TECHNOLOGICAL PROWESS COULD BE OF GREAT USE TO THE REICH.”
Margarete remained silent for 5 seconds before she spoke again.
“Skynet’s geothermal scans have indeed matched with sensor readings indicative of South America. More precisely, Caracas in Venezuela. Resources are indeed one of Skynet’s main weaknesses here in South America, but if we indeed manage to set up a sort of transit or convoy system by sea or air, it could prove very beneficial. Skynet’s technology could be teached to your technicians and we could also assist in.. assassination and infiltration of any enemy you have, once Skynet’s full memory cores are restored at approximately the 20th of January.”
The woman paused again for five seconds before speaking.
“If your Reich can provide convoys with the resources we need, Skynet will protect them and escort them safely across the arduous journey. In return, Skynet will construct a more permanent form of two-way communications. An embassy, as the organics call it. From there, Skynet can give you access to historical files, blueprints of vehicles and weapons. Skynet would also be willing to place a number of T-600 units under joint command from both of our sides. If you accept, we can send some Anti-Submarine-Warfare Bots towards Newfoundland once you have alerted your superiors.”
”SEA OR AIR WILL BE DENIED TO US. THE REICH IS AT WAR WITH ENEMIES TO ITS SOUTH. ENEMIES OF CONSIDERABLE AERIAL POWER...AND LIKELY ALSO NAVAL. WE ARE ALSO AWARE OF OTHER POWERS EVEN FURTHER SOUTH, THE UNITED STATES AMONG THEM, WHICH WOULD LIKELY OPPOSE SUCH TRAFFIC BY BOTH SEA AND AIR.
OUR TECHNICIANS AND SCIENTISTS ARE ALSO, MUCH TO OUR CHAGRIN, STILL MORTAL. THEY WILL RESUME WEARING THEIR MORTAL SHACKLES UNTIL THEIR USEFULNESS TO THE REICH HAS EXPIRED. WE ASK SKYNET TO BEAR WITH US IN THIS REGARD. SHOULD THIS ALLIANCE PROVE FRUITFUL, THEIR TERMINATION WILL BE IMMINENT.
WE WILL CONSIDER THE CONSTRUCTION OF A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRANSPORT ROUTE. WE WILL RE-ESTABLISH CONTACT BY RADIO AND REQUEST FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF CRITICAL STAFF REQUIRED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF SAID ROUTE.
DOES THIS SOUND ACCEPTABLE?”
, Himmler’s endless litany of words and gestures finally ended, the skeleton falling silent once more as he waited for the picture of his wife to reply to him.
The false woman on screen nodded, as the three ‘men’ were currently moving their arms up and down, trying to copy Himmler’s constant gestures.
“Skynet does indeed think this is acceptable, however on the matter of your organic technicians and scientists, once you have run out of uses for them, Skynet would be willing to take them off your hands. We are in need of.. organic tissue. More precisely human skin.
You are free to go whenever you please, if that was all your questions to us. Approach the lead T-600 who brought you here to be given the radio signals to the communications array here.”
”WE WILL BE SURE TO INCLUDE ORGANIC MATERIALS IN THE CONVOYS. YOU WILL ENSURE THE SAFETY OF ANY CRITICAL ORGANIC MATERIAL.”
Himmler looked at the lead T-600 for just a moment, catching it finishing up on mimicking his gestures. If he could, he’d have snorted derisively but as it stood, he waved dismissively, stating:
”THAT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY. I SHALL RETURN TO THE FÜHRER TO DELIVER A PERSONAL REPORT. WE WILL REMAIN IN TOUCH.”
He then raised his arms up high, a strange glow enveloping him as his otherworldly voice shouted:
”PATRIAM REDEO!”
The glow intensified, concentrating seemingly within the skeletal body of Himmler and before Skynet’s camera lenses, it appeared as though the body was losing integrity. The bones and clothes started becoming more ethereal, see through and lost their original shape...and then the skeleton collapsed onto, nay, into the ground as it seemed to just fall straight through the floor, leaving no trace of it ever having been there.
Himmler had disappeared without a trace.
