Grasshopper Knight
Hit play on this track and read on...
(Above Art by Alexis Ziritt)
Grasshopper knew his place in the world.
He was a creation of his queen, the one known to most as "Cyber Mama".
He was a creation of his queen, the one known to most as "Cyber Mama".
His life was one of joyous servitude, doing the bidding of Her with aplomb.
Only the joy seemed to be fading with each passing day of his current assignment.
CyMa had placed Grasshopper strategically within Fred Food's Knights of the Slice group as a gift, a helper they could utilize however the food conglomerate saw fit. Being constantly short-staffed, the KOTS accepted the gift, but surely they must realize all information Grasshopper soaked up was being communicated back to CyMa.
Only the joy seemed to be fading with each passing day of his current assignment.
CyMa had placed Grasshopper strategically within Fred Food's Knights of the Slice group as a gift, a helper they could utilize however the food conglomerate saw fit. Being constantly short-staffed, the KOTS accepted the gift, but surely they must realize all information Grasshopper soaked up was being communicated back to CyMa.
"Keeping your enemies close," Grasshopper muttered under his breath to himself.
There was a warm wind picking up across the platform he was standing on, the waves rustling far below. By all accounts, being stationed on Sub City during the winter was a reprieve most people would kill for. But the distance from his queen was too far. Each day her aura faded a little bit from his memory.
Today's activity was a mundane one- the engineers of Sub City had retro-fitted and rebuilt a captured Device Ninja, and now it would be switched on and tested. Essentially this was babysitting an empty trojan-horse. Grasshopper bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself awake, the urge to close his eyes and picture Her coming on strong.
With a press of a button, the Device Ninja started to hum to life. Grasshopper had already protested giving the damn thing its sword-- but was quickly shot down by the technicians in the same way a monkey wrench would be castigated for slipping out of a mechanics hand. He knew he was just a tool. Let them make dumb, lethal mistakes. Their argument, that they needed pics of it fully operational for their social media channels, made them almost deserve what bad things could happen.
Then a slight buzzing in Grasshopper's brain snapped him to attention. Something was wrong!
Today's activity was a mundane one- the engineers of Sub City had retro-fitted and rebuilt a captured Device Ninja, and now it would be switched on and tested. Essentially this was babysitting an empty trojan-horse. Grasshopper bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself awake, the urge to close his eyes and picture Her coming on strong.
With a press of a button, the Device Ninja started to hum to life. Grasshopper had already protested giving the damn thing its sword-- but was quickly shot down by the technicians in the same way a monkey wrench would be castigated for slipping out of a mechanics hand. He knew he was just a tool. Let them make dumb, lethal mistakes. Their argument, that they needed pics of it fully operational for their social media channels, made them almost deserve what bad things could happen.
Then a slight buzzing in Grasshopper's brain snapped him to attention. Something was wrong!
A deeper hum whirred to life and the Device Ninja struck an Ochs pose. His sword began to crackle with dark energy.
Grasshopper threw himself towards the cyborg.
As time slowed down to a treacle's pace, his thoughts were only with Her, his queen. He was doing this for Her. This was his purpose, fulfilled.
The explosion was so enormous, it actually erupted silently. The concussive force blew everything off the platform, save for Grasshopper. His body had likely absorbed the bulk of the blast, keeping the platform from instant eradication.
He was fully conscious as his body burned. Pain receptors were rarely granted to bugmen, so he simply sat propped on one elbow and enacted the protocol. Depressing the hidden button in his right glove, Grasshopper engaged the transmission of his consciousness back to the vector, so he could be reborn again.
He smiled and though of seeing Her again. Grasshopper had served his purpose. He would be rewarded.
It took a minute or two of watching his body burn up for him to realize the consciousness code did not reach the vector. His internal com-mind only glared an error message: Transmission Intercepted.
Someone had hijacked his signal. His shot for rebirth was gone.
The flames ate away the rest of Grasshopper and he ceased to exist.