A silver haze descends from the ceiling, a cloud of a billion microscopic machines that settles upon his ruined torso with a faint, high-pitched keening.
The nanites begin to knit his shattered frame back together, stitch by microscopic stitch, as the ancient logic of the Dark Age begins the process of his reconstruction.
This process is not short, even Caspian does not understand what he has done. To force your muscles to detach themselves and cut in this manner is no small feat.
The damage extends to his whole body, bones in both legs are broken, and ligaments and muscles throughout his body have some level of damage.
Once again, the dream of humans from the beginning of time begins to play in his mind. This time there are more details. He begins to recognize people who are there from the beginning of humanity.
They move through the shadows of humanity. For some reason, they refuse to fully integrate into humanity's culture. They always act as leaders or conductors. Why? Is it necessary to guide what you do not understand?
Their names and faces are a blur, washed as if ink sprayed with water. Caspian knows who they are, the Perpetuals. One thing that confuses him is the way he remembers them, it feels familial, almost like a father to his children, but that feeling leaves almost as fast as it comes.
735.M30
Caspian's body reacts for the first time in 5 years. With a jerk of his arms, his mind begins to stir. Around his body, flakes of skin are everywhere.
He is back to being naked, and dark red congealed blood lingers on the floor. He opens his eyes, and for a brief second there is a flash of silver in them as it recedes.
One thing that changes, though, is the look in his eyes, he now has the eyes of someone who has experienced too much.
The dream this time is long. In 5 years of dreaming, he watches humans for 20 thousand years. He sees everything they have done and what they can do, even some secrets that he did not know in his past life.
Creak.
He stands, and his skeleton, now reinforced with the density of adamantite, grinds with the sound of tectonic plates shifting. The pop of his joints echoes through the sterile hall like the dry crack of ancient gunfire.
The reinforced deck-plating, built to support multi-ton loader mechs, groans and deforms beneath his tread. He is more dense now, his muscle fibers packed so tightly that beneath the skin they look like cords within the gears of a titan.
[Biometric Milestone: Full systemic restoration achieved. Subject 'Exemplar' has exceeded standard regenerative parameters by 50%.]
[Request: Analysis of tissue samples required to update evolutionary records. Do you concur?]
A mechanical voice comes through the room. It echoes without direction.
"Identify yourself." Caspian says as he looks around.
A flash of blue light comes from a transparent tube at the side of the long room. Within the flashing, the lights arrange themselves in pixelated patterns, they form a topographical map of human emotion, flickering too fast for a normal eye to see.
[Greetings, Exemplar. My designation is Aegis. I am in charge of managing this cache. Repeating my previous request for analysis of tissue samples of the Exemplar.]
The congregation of lights speaks. This time, as Caspian looks at it, he notices shifts in expression indicating it is more than a simple AI. It might be a fully sentient AI.
"Garments first. Request can wait." Caspian says as he keeps looking around the room.
The room is very large, longer than it is wide, and it moves step by step downward. That is why it is not so big from the outside. Most of the building is buried underground.
[Affirmative, I will acquire garments for you now. Do you have a design choice?]
"Fabricating?"
[Affirmative, or if you like you can select from our current collection.] As it says that, a very long list of various types and designs of clothes comes into view, from clothes used in the 20th century to clothes used by the Men of Gold.
There is also an assortment of military wear, from 21st-century combat wear to sleek black compact wear used by the Men of Stone. This is not information presented by the AI, it is simply what Caspian knows, as he has seen them all.
"The C6 Compact. Mimic the previous layers."
[Acknowledged. Time required: 3 hours.] Then the blue light flashes, and the tube is once again transparent.
Alone again, Caspian looks at the things on the floor of the complex he is in. What he sees is true civilization-building technology, automated builders, crop seeds (Gene-Locked Flora Embryos), air filtration systems, atmospheric control schematics, and so many more.
Moving to the back and using the ladder to go down one floor, the technology levels begin to increase. He sees weapons for the first time on this level.
Racks of weaponry line the walls: coherent-light projectors, ion-pulsers, and volkite weapons that hum with a low, predatory vibration. These are not just guns, they are the tools that once broke biology.
Caspian stops here because a tube on this floor begins flashing blue again. With the appearance of the face again, a chamber at its bottom opens up to reveal black clothing.
"You said 3 hours, it has only been a few minutes."
[Correction: Tactical urgency prioritized. Sub-routine 'Impatience' detected in Exemplar. I have diverted 40% of the bunker's processing power to accelerate fabrication. Is the fit… satisfactory?]
Caspian looks at the AI and grabs the clothes provided for him. The C6 compact, visually, is like the artificial muscles used by the Custodes, but without the functionality. As he puts on the clothes, his thoughts once again go back to the AI.
A man not from here, he should not feel any aversion to AIs, but the dream he has keeps flashing in his mind as he looks at this AI. Something else bothers him even more, it seems to be masking its ability to feel emotions.
Every time it speaks, there are flashes of animated expression, something that happens automatically in organic lifeforms. Although this can be programmed, why is it trying to stifle that behavior?
A sentient AI, especially one of this level, cannot be something that is only a guard AI. Plus, 3 hours have not passed yet, and it brings the clothes as soon as he tries to move to the next floor.