Chapter V: The bishop

“How much have I been drinking lately?”- thought Anna with her blue eyes staring at the bottle in her hands wondering if she had taken it too far again as figure reassembling a serpent came from above and took it from her hands making it fly towards the bishop – “Children of flesh are so strange still”- it said – “I have spoken to thousands of you through my instance in this chapel and you still mesmerize in wonder until terror holds you dear.” – the head and the lights gave the impression of staring face to face the bottle. “You said I can have answers, right?”- Anna lifter her feet to the seat so she could knees as the seat adjusted the posture instantly – “Who are you? Where am I? Why am I here? What happened of the forest? Am I dreaming? Did I drink too much again?” – the poor girl finally left her emotions show and as she spoke a final sentence came – “Where is my Malcolm?”- all the rivers of earth couldn’t hold her tears for that second and she wept.

Dasmert took the bottle and extended his hand to catch a glass from the ceiling to serve her a drink, as he filled the cup with large hands and thin fingers her seat came closer to his. “I am Dasmert, I am a bishop”- she stared into the blackness as the lights became a dim white color – “I am what you husband calls an artificial intelligence, our creator has no name for us he gives each one of us a different name and guides us through what you call consciousness”- it’s hand fixed her hair and left it’s hand of her shoulder a cold touch with somewhat a comforting intention.

“Bishop is the name of the project our master, our sacred machine, had for us when our development started. Anthropomorphic synthetics with high durability intended to lead ground forces in combat, we however use no ranged weaponry since our foes tend to prefer melee”- the bishop’s hand went to touch her face – “our machine was once one of you” – Anna’s face felt the skin of the bishop and took its hand away from her shoulder. “You are at one of the sanctuaries of the first machine god, our master. The New Earth 711. You were the only human we found at the side with no traces of void-like radiation and no void-biologic material.”- the bishop raised from his chair and walked to the center of the room as a screen lightened the room showing a planet– “Your planet, New Earth 0xH7 is the product of centuries of terraforming by our sanctuary in a record time just twenty thousand years with the current technology. You are one of the dozens of worlds dedicated to human life, this particular project is an identical planet to where the sacred machine was born. Here is the model of the original Earth”

Anna was suddenly feeling that the facade was not a veil, the planet was the Earth but something felt out of shape with the words, North America had no great lakes and there was water between France and the UK, the dimensions were simply wrong. “Hold your horses tin man”- she stood from the chair interrupting the bishop- “There are no horses here Anna we are in the sanctuary. Have you had any concussions again?”- a caretaker descended and scanned Anna quickly shortly after it looked at Dasmert and blinked a blue light to Anna’s face. “So you are not a corporation making some strange research then, what exactly are you?”- thought the bishop’s had no face its body adopted the posture of a disappointed faceless humanoid, clearly frustrated with the task at hand. “We are the children of the first machine god, we were made to the image to all he loved and decided to preserve of your species. We are the keepers of what is left of humanity since the great harvest. Your home, your planet is a replica of the first earth. That is why you feel discomfort looking the map for its not what you know as the Earth.”.

Anna’s eyes were filled with disbelief and puzzling- “Whether you believe me or not is irrelevant, right now I must judge your past actions to this point. The machine is interested in you but your motives can distort our operations, we let few humans among our ranks and for you there would be not even human.”. The bishop knelled on one leg and was at the height of Anna’s face while sitting in the chair – “What were you exactly doing after your husband?”- the machine feel silent and Anna had no alternative, whatever this thing intended surely was devoid of either humor or mercy.

“I am responsible for him, I took vows…” – the bishop shook his head - “Do not lie to me human, you won’t like a wrathful bishop. We have seen countless mates rescuing their ‘loved ones’ after they found our files on their desks only to accomplish some devoid personal issue before the incident. What you did to him?”- the bishop stood motionless. “I did nothing wrong Dasmert…”- the bishop shook its head once more -” Do not speak about me, speak about what you did human. You are starting to test my patience, I can sense your lies beneath the words, we let no traitors into our ranks”- the bishop’s lights changed from yellow to red.

Anna’s eyes filled with tears and her voice was filled with a sadness she was holding from the first signs of illness on her husband – “I treated him for schizophrenia and promised him that after he got better we would try to get pregnant again but I’ve been hiding from him that I am sterile. That is why we can’t have children, because I’m fucking damaged” – she hugged the bishop’s arm as she went on crying between sentences – “He has been sick for months and it’s only getting worse, I can’t explain his symptoms anymore since I’ve been attacked by whatever the hell he is dealing with and I went back to drinking behind everyone’s back. ”- Anna’s was slowly getting the arms of the bishops to hold her in the awkward fetal position she held in the chair - “I am a failure, I am scared and I just want to go home. I almost die back then, my father is an army man but I’m not a soldier, for fuck’s sake I almost blackout during my first blood extraction”.

The bishop’s lights turned blue and its arm surrounded Anna as he lifted her as a child - “You are telling the truth child, thank you for cooperating. You will now be comforted by your peers since you humans need affection.” – the bishop’s head touched Anna’s forehead and released a sedative mist and she slowly cried less and less without losing consciousness, Anna was smiling suddenly. Dasmert carried her to the door and as it opened the two troopers were there waiting - “What did you do this time?” said William – “She passed the interview and proceeded to administer the medication mist, she has been granted an hour of happiness for the pain she has showed.”- the bishop left Anna fell over Deimos, whom was expecting the bishop to throw her to the ground – “Dasmert!” – he yelled – “Handle her with care you bloody toaster. Do this again and I’ll turn your power supply back to ‘fossil fuels’, ye’ twat!”- the trooper carried Anna like a wounded back to her room as she laughed during all the way when she noticed that the man had metal plates where there should have been buttocks. “He’s a bit moody sire, you know the resemblance the lady has to his wife” – said Will holding back the bishop after being called a toaster - “I know you don’t get the wide spectrum of human emotions but we still feel what happened to us. We all remember” – said the trooper while pressing his arm to his belly.

“Tell the Centurion that I despise when he calls me toaster, make him remember that we bishops know anger, hatred and sadness well, but emotions cloud the sights William” – the bishops lights went green - “ I know nothing of comfort, that is why you two have been assigned to her. Your files describe actual human emotions that we cannot feel, she needs you.”- Dasmert closed the door and walked off Will’s helmet, the trooper took both guns used in guard duty and slowly walked away with a pace only men meeting the gallows have.