Coeus Solo 1

Indigo eyes blinked open as a new boy was ‘born.’ Cables ran off him making the mechanized man look more marionette than android. Slowly and surely the cables popped off him leaving trails of vapor as they swung away like long flexible cigarettes. The lights of the laboratory, his birthplace, were all dimmed as bright purple eyes illuminated the room. Slowly its head began to move, first looking side to side, then up and down. His feet, if you could even call them that, were pegs with tennis shoe-like cleats and two extendable velociraptor like claws on each foot for the sake of being able to pierce frozen earth. As more and more systems came online his body felt less and less alien as he tested each limb. All along the android's body he saw gaps and panels as if he were some metallic manshaped cabinet. As the cables left him the panels and gaps sealed in order to become waterproof. He examined his hands, jointed and dollish but nonetheless they were his.

“Where..? Who...?” His first words, and ones easily answered by a staff member. “Prototype Zero Zero One, for the sake of brevity though your ‘name’ is Coeus.” “Coeus?” “Yes. It's part of Greek mythos, the Titan god of intellect. Your siblings are named in Greek as well.” “Siblings?” “Yes. You are, for all intents and purposes, a walking gun. A very handsome gun, but a gun nonetheless. Your siblings then are also walking guns, or at least one of them is. The other one is outdated and not really.. well relevant.” “Kirijo units?” “Aah, your directive notes. Yes. Those two are Kirijo units. You'll know who they are.” Coeus stared down at his odd feet. “Hm? Something wrong?” “I am processing this information. My mission is to exceed them. How do I accomplish this?” The scientist adjusted his glasses. Coeus was built with stolen Kirijo plans and SDF funds. He was a military machine as much as he was the next step in artificial intelligence or some such nonsense. “Coeus, activate your personality drive.”

His eyes dimmed for a moment before coming back on. His face now seemed to have expression as he walked off the platform he had been put on for the final bits of testing. “How do you.. feel?” Feel? Coeus opened and closed his hands a few times, stomped his feet, hopped in place. His body was new, unused, untouched. “Everything is operating nominally, but feel? I dunno.. excited?” Coeus looked almost glad as the scientists made notes. “Excited. Why is that?” “Because I get to go outside soon! Can I feel things? Like wind and stuff?” “You should be able to on your face.” Coeus looked even more excited. “Not so fast though, you need to go through a few more tests.” The android audibly groaned. “Your personality, and most definitely your attitude, won't be necessary.” Coeus followed the scientist as he walked off. “What kind of tests?” “Weapon systems, propulsion, physical things.” “O-oh.”

Eventually the pair arrived at a firing range on site. “You will be shooting targets at various distances. Please make any corrections so you only hit bullseyes.” The boy raised his arm and aimed it at a target. A shot ripped through the air as the bullseye was made. This continued for a few minutes until he ran out of targets. “Weapons check out. Time for propulsion.” Coeus looked excited again as flames shot out from his ankles and the boy took off into the air. “... propulsion checks out. Coeus you may come back now.” Quickly the child returned to mother. “What next?” “You are to be shipped to the next testing facility.” “Shipped? You mean.. ” “Shutdown, boxed, and sent off.”

“And what if I don't want that?” “Want? You don't WANT anything. After all you are little more than a bundle of computer chips, cables, and some easily replaceable programming. Besides we can remotely shut you down should the need arise.” Coeus' thrusters retracted as he stared at the ground, very clearly dismayed at what he had just heard. “You look almost human when you do that.. Look. I'll see what I can do. Maybe we'll just have you fly yourself there..” Coeus still stared at the ground, his gaze moving to his clawed hoof-like feet. “I understand.” The scientist tentatively reached out and parted the ‘boy's’ shoulder. They had been warned about getting too attached to the prototype, that it would be the most human of any Kirijo type weapon. Its AI developed over the span of a year with a constant dialogue with scientists and psychologists as a personality was born in the computer. “J-just stop looking so down.” Coeus sighed before looking back up at the scientist. He was only doing his job just as Coeus was only doing as he was programmed and how his AI wanted him to respond.

“What happens when I go to the next facility?” The scientist had begun walking off leaving Coeus to follow after him with rather clunky steps made awkward by his square feet. “More tests, namely stress testing.” “I feel stressed enough right now.” The scientist couldn't help but smirk at the comment. “No no no, I mean physical stress. Breaking points, structural flaws.” “So they break me then put me back together?” “Essentially, yes.” “That doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy.” “Well luckily for you, you can't feel pain.” If it was meant to be reassuring it had failed. Coeus sighed and continued to follow after the scientist. “You make it sound like I'm just some doll and not a free thinking individual.” The scientist didn't say anything but it seemed obvious that was the connotation he was going for. “Well I guess it's a bit embarrassing to spend however much you guys did on a toy like me then.” Coeus grinned at that idea, much to the bemusement of the scientist.

Coeus resembled one of the older generations of Kirijo, specifically the era Labrys was a part of. Jointed limbs and hands unlike Aigis' smooth body. No he and the older generations shared that ‘flaw’. “Does the sheep count the sheep?” The scientist looked up at him and gently added. “I believe you mean ‘do androids dream of electric sheep’. Perhaps.” The scientist lead him back to the laboratory and instructed him to resume his place on the odd pedestal like platform he had awoken on. “Now just.. try to relax. When you wake up you'll be in the second training facility.” He didn't have a chance to react as his body went rigid and his vision cut out to nothing but blackness. The android was quickly moved and placed into a large secure container. It seemed there would be no choice in the matter as the container was loaded onto a small plane. It was large enough for only the pilot and the container, as if it were a heavily modified Cessna. Was this how Labrys felt before the Prix? Well that question could wait as smooth flying from Hokkaido turned disastrous.

What should have been 12:01 AM turned into the sickly green sky of the Dark Hour. Unfortunately no one reminded the pilot, or the laws of physics, about this sudden dimensional leap and plane quickly found itself coming down off Tatsumi Port Island. As the plane descended rapidly Coeus awoke from his preprogrammed slumber just as the plane hit the water. He couldn't feel what happened but the sounds around him were telling him something bad had happened. He needed to get out or end up as some rusty junk pile. He knew he was unable to float, that much was hard coded into his memory so rather tentatively he sealed every gap and every ventilation system on his body. His fists met the container as it flew open and left a nor sizable hole in the quickly sinking aircraft. Coeus didn't have knowledge of the Dark Hour and saw no pilot in the aircraft. ‘He must have got out.’ The android thought, unaware the coffin in the cockpit was the man transporting him.

His hooves met the sandy soil of the bottom of the hundred foot deep waters he had landed in, the plane being dragged out by the current to parts unknown. Slowly but surely the boy made his way inland through to the murky (red?) waters. It seemed like he had left planet earth and had entered some alien world as he came out of the water. The sky was a sickly emerald green and the moon looked entirely too close to Earth. Was it a simulation? He had run thousands of these in the past, but none quite so odd ad this. “Hello?!” He shouted, Hoping someone of something was around here, even if it was just the gods above that were his scientific handlers. As he rose from the sea like some genderbent Venus, the ports along his body opened up releasing a torrent of scalding air and evaporating whatever water remained on his sleek metallic frame. Eventually he neared what appeared to be a giant obelisk but soon revealed itself to be anything but. A tower. A giant black tower rose from the earth and seemed to ascend all the way to the aforementioned moon. [WARNING POWER CRITICAL. WARNING.] That was right. He wasn't supposed to be activated until he reached the next base, neither was he meant to walk a mile underwater and then ascend nearly ten stories. As he reached the grounds surrounding the tower his vision and went black and the mechanoid man halted in his track. He had shut down, perhaps for good.