Even though I could begin to narrate the events in their current phase, I will allow myself to talk about the event that gave birth to everything 12 years ago.
A humble but loving dinner was taking place on the outskirts of the chaotic city of Savel-X7. It was Márturu and her adored family sharing some of those rare natural foods left on the planet. His parents served the juice with joy in each glass while his grandparents finished accompanying the breads with butter and a piece of goat cheese.
It had been a long time since the five of them had been afforded such a luxury, and enthusiasm overflowed from their faces as never before. As for the teenage Márturu, his clapping sounded as he signaled Cynthia, the virtual housekeeper, to play some jazz.
Grandpa Mich immediately indicated the opposite to Cynthia. He believed God should be thanked first before putting a tooth in the food.
He began by taking Márturu's hand to pray for the grace of family unity. Ironically, the tragedy of those present began right there.
A mini deoxygenating bomb went through one of the broken windows of the house, falling in the middle of the table. Márturu's father, Miz, wanted to remove it as soon as he saw it, but the effect of the artifact was fast and intense, and could not prevent the whole family from fainting.
However, still with minimal consciousness, Márturu managed to see how the Neo Forces sent his parents and grandmother to the Void, and his grandfather was encapsulated in the famous nanospace pills. The boy, meanwhile, was left with some injuries at his home, an old model z with integrated intelligence and virtual projection.
This was, so to speak, a sort of tomb for Márturu for an unknown time until his E-chip collapsed, and his natural impulse awakened him from the lethargy caused by the bomb.
Since then, he has been rebuilding his own body with as much technological junk as possible, including parts of his old house, both to enhance his senses and skills, and to deal with Savel-X7's threats.
* * *
Today is the year 2075, and the Earth looks as bleak as the future of humanity itself. Márturu, for his part, maintains a conviction in his gait that always attracts the attention of the few living beings around him.
Some admire him for not seeming to be dominated by the Neo system; others fear him for believing that he belongs to it.
From time to time, he encounters some Pursuers, but he has no trouble getting rid of them.
Márturu, in fact, has become a cyborg whose main virtues are interdimensional vision, an accelerator cannon in his arm and super-developed strength and reflexes.
Being a cyborg has made the road to his grandfather much shorter. In fact, right now he lies at the gates of the Helium Tower. It is one of the last three points of Savel-X7 where Mich is supposed to be.
Márturu lowers his electromagnetic frequency when he enters and examines the place as quickly as he can. This is, even if he lowers the emission of the elements by which he can be detected, there are supra sensors activating every so often.
The tour of the twelve floors has been a failure. Not a trace of his grandfather.
"Not so fast, Vrim."
"What are you thinking, Mr. Márturu?"
"Although the main treasure is not here, there is another one we can't ignore."
It is right after these words that from my single lens I see how Márturu activates interdimensional vision and shouts "Bingo!" As fast as his limbs can move, he heads to open the door leading to the top of the Helium Tower.
There we turn to see a Fanger. Bionic silver feline, menacing look, unpredictable leap and ferocious bite. I thought there were no more, but before us is one that can kill us soon.
"Quick, Virm, join me."
My operating system collapses with nerves but I heed Márturu. I try to locate the feline, but it was gone. It was simply out of sight.
"It's still here. It just has an INV-5 upgrade."
I could say I understood what Márturu said, but I still feel unresponsive.
Out of nowhere, in the air, I hear a frightening roar, as if tearing metal. Unlike me Márturu reacts and activates the cannon, unloading from his gun-arm to the Fanger.
The feline that until not long ago was invisible, now disintegrates before our eyes. Márturu, however, goes and pulls out of the Fanger's chest the INV-5 circuit that makes invisibility possible.
"The treasure I was looking for!" shouts Márturu to me.
Even as his intelligent assistant for years, I hadn't understood until now why he was so interested in the Helium Tower.
"The best thing will be to get to where Grandpa Mich is without them having any chance of detecting us," Márturu repeats several times.
Our route remains basically the same, but the confidence after each victory grows like the universe, second after second.
There is no one stopping the family reunion.
Only a couple of bridges separate us from the Neo Gallery. The one we are crossing now is the old Meinsh bridge from the early 20th century, and the other is the iconic DNA.
"And to think that both bridges used to be very well maintained. Only a shadow of their former selves remains."
"Márturu, less than 20km to get to the Neo Gallery. Aren't you excited?"
"Yes, almost there. That's why we should start camouflaging ourselves."
The DNA Bridge is presented to us as just that: a junction made in the shape of DNA that was meticulously designed with physical materials and digital information from the DNA of all the beings that have ever inhabited this world. It is perhaps the pinnacle of bridges on Earth.
We cross the DNA invisible and low in frequencies, but Great Generating Matrix, we are attacked!
A couple of electric shots hit Márturu's body, who falls, but quickly pulls himself together. He looks around and, as expected, floating ball robots accumulate above us.
Márturu activates the accelerator and finishes some of these monsters. But unlike the ones we know, these androids seem to regenerate.
"Virm, give me a reading on this!"
"They seem modified with reptilian genetic material. They look like they were made minutes ago."
"Shit, it's worse than I thought!"
The androids don't stop. They fire a lot of electrical shots, but... they don't go towards us anymore.
"They want to destroy the bridge," Márturu and I say in unison.
The engineering feat we admired until recently is now falling apart.
"I have no choice, Virm. We only live once. It's either this or falling into a river that will melt us in seconds."
Those words were enough for me to know what Márturu was about to do: activate the radial accelerator.
As best I could, I sought to stick to it so as not to disappear in the process. That's when I see Márturu begin to accelerate the light hydrogen stored in his chest. It is truly an immeasurable power that he has stored for an extreme moment like this.
In the blink of an eye my sight goes from a cloud of spherical robots to an intense bluish light that keeps expanding in all directions.
Several minutes later, I come to my senses and hear a strange noise. I fear the worst, but no, it is simply Márturu's unique laughter, seeing how his ultimate weapon worked perfectly. There was no longer any of the robots that almost disappeared us forever.
"Have you seen how it exterminated everything? I knew that so much studying physics would serve me someday!"
"I am proud, Mr. Márturu."
We finish crossing the bridge and the excitement is at its peak. After so much searching, fighting and sad revenge against thousands of Neo Forces, it looks like Márturu is finally going to rescue his grandfather. It's his only reason to stay alive, after learning 3 years ago that the Void had been destroyed with all his hostages inside, including his parents and grandmother.
"Look, Virm, we've arrived at the Neo Gallery."
"Your grandfather must still hold out hope."
From the outside, the Gallery building looks like a place abandoned years ago, but we suspect it's just a virtual facade.
Márturu activates interdimensional vision and confirms that the real Gallery could not be seen with the naked eye. Inside, it's simpler than we thought: a wide corridor with just a few gravity cameras, Neo weaponry and a Martian saucer.
"Mr. Márturu..."
"Yes, I know."
Out of an oval door in the far wall comes the head of the Neo forces. His appearance is that of a robotic skeleton with a medium boomerang-shaped disintegrator.
"I knew you would soon arrive, dear grandson."
These words imploded in me and brought Márturu to his knees, seeing that his grandfather Mich had all this time been the Neo boss himself.
"To rescue me you'll have to defeat me, but I see you've fallen without making my first attack. It's pathetic."
"Márturu, there's something wrong, it seems to me that this face we see doesn't match 100% with the database I have of your grandfather's face... Márturu, are you there?"
Neo boss seems to get irritated and makes a quick move to launch his boomerang which stops my frustrated communication with Márturu.
The weapon swings swiftly towards us and begins to form a circle around us. I feel the oxygen drop drastically and my system begins to fail. However, I suddenly lose all fear and I throw myself at the boomerang, managing not only to change its trajectory, but also to shoot it down.
Half of my robotic structure lies broken. And from the ground I see how that skeleton is heading towards me. I can't believe it. So much preparation with the best technology, and feelings have been the most lethal weapon.
This creature, which is Bom, is about to set foot on me. I don't...
A familiar sound!
"Márturu, is that you?"
"I don't know who the hell you are, but my grandfather Mich would never intend to kill me, let alone his old and adored assistant Virm."
Márturu pronounces these words with evident fury and soon shoots an immense amount of accelerated energy at Bom's head. Bom activates an absorbing shield, but soon realizes that he is incapable of absorbing so much energy at once. The shield falls apart and Bom's body begins to disfigure: from the false face, to the skeletal feet.
"Sorry, Virm, it's all my fault."
"Don't be blind, Mr. Márturu. Before you, there is still your mission on rescuing your grandfather from here."
My functions are becoming less and less accurate, but I manage to see how Márturu does a 360° crawl and stops in an instant. He dematerializes part of the roof of the Gallery and into his arms falls Grandpa Mich. asleep, but alive. Márturu cries with happiness and I sleep eternally in tranquility.
