A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind Read online

  With the same visual imagers in their cranial sections but which contain no audio function

  And they do not have the access code embedded in their upper limb palms

  For Defgars duties are narrow and specific

  They were produced and programmed to defend the facilities and constructions at which they are based

  If ever that facility or construction is attacked

  To this end they carry full sized 23rd Century LazExt 66 weapons in their upper limbs ±and the LazExt is an extremely efficient lazer exterminator

  The 66th version being the very best

  The usage of which has only been observed on practise grounds

  But not by me

  The weapon is believed to be extremely destructive±

  *

  High Office edict ≠6.3000.1111.4736

  Information deleted on security grounds

  *

  The Defgars have been watching my approach from external imagers incorporated in the outer shell of the building and screens on the inside and have been checking my ObsRec security clearance, ±though I am of the highest clearance±

  *

  High Office edict ≠6.3000.1111.4739

  Information deleted as of no consequence to Screenreaders

  *

  That is why the weapons they carry in their upper limbs

  The LazExt 66ers

  Are pointing at the ceiling of the facility and not at me

  I would not care to stare at one close up if it was pointed at me

  The Defgars allow me passage

  As Screenreaders can observe

  Because of the signal of companionship being transmitted from my programmes

  And I am proceeding along a corridor towards my current place of employment

  Where I observe living virus being tested

  Examined and treated

  Screenreaders may easily identify other workers of our species

  To my right they may observe several MengTechs gathered around a screen studying recordings of their own work

  They are white in appearance and have few identifying features though they possess one AH3D visual and audio imager central to their square shape and 2 Advanced X Ray imagers either side of this instrument

  X ray imagers aid MengTechs in their experiments

  *

  MengTechs are a simple square shape with six silver flexible metal antennae projecting from them

  These antennae are equipped with pincers at their ends so that they may grasp any of the many instruments available to them

  And these instruments are used for slicing

  Dicing

  Cutting

  Dissecting

  And bisecting any number of the virus that are kept in some number in this building

  ±It is believed that 10.000 examples of the virus reside in this single building

  *

  High Office edict ≠6.3000.1111.4739.1

  Information deleted as of no consequence to Screenreaders

  *

  I pass close to the screen and see that the MengTechs are watching a recording of a silenced virus being experimented upon by the team

  There are 40 MengTechs based at this facility and they deal with every aspect of viral experimentation

  They move silently along magnetic fields built into the base of the building

  And spend many hours of daylight and darkness in cages with examples of the virus and dependent upon the experiment being performed on the virus

  It sometimes survives

  I move past them

  In the distance Screenreaders may see red coloured two wheel powered production models with upper limbs that may be an initial mystery to them

  These are FoodTechs whose sole duty is to feed the virus that is contained at the facility so that its strength may be kept up to allow more examinations and experiments

  Many FoodTechs have been attacked by the virus over the many years

  Being a FoodTech is a most dangerous duty

  The virus

  It seems

  Will attack anything

  It seems unable to restrain either rage or anger even after many years of experimentation by MengTechs

  And many lectures by GoebTers

  It will attack any of my species without apparent reason and this aspect of virus behaviour is still not understood

  For it is kept in warmth and comfort

  It is fed

  And treated for ailments by DocTechs

  And it has enjoyed these benefits since its defeat

  As I mention food

  I must call attention to the fact that the virus will consume almost anything

  It will consume the flesh of the animals of the fields

  The flesh of the creatures that live in liquid

  The flesh of the animals that fly in the sky

  It will consume small animals in their entirety

  It also consumes grasses

  Berries

  Fruits

  Roots

  Certain numbers of the virus are

  Experimentally

  Fed greatly by MengTechs so that DocTechs can study the effects such treatment has upon it

  The virus grows and grows and grows

  But the final result is always the same

  An explosion of gore and grey matter and red innards

  All of which are a complete mystery to me

  ObsRecs are not versed in medical matters or in MengTechs techniques

  And of course there are many DocTechs to attend to the needs of the virus

  Just as there 10 GoebTers who attempt to communicate with it and teach it the basics of our system so that they may understand

  ±The GoebTers are the least successful of all those who treat the virus

  It seems as if the virus does not want to watch or listen to anything GoebTers have to transmit±

  *

  High Office edict ≠6.3000.1111.4736.1

  Information deleted for security purposes

  *

  We pass the FoodTechs who are busying with various foodstuffs

  All of which are a mystery to me

  And we move forward Screenreaders

  To where the virus is contained

  Which is something many of our species may never have perceived or observed and I am proud to bring both vision and sound to such an experience

  Screenreaders must feel no adverse effects for I have been carrying out this duty regularly for a great time and have never been attacked or infected

  I just pass my palm over the final security device to allow ingress and as can be seen it opens and in we go

  And there

  Far below the balcony on which we stand

  And spread over the many acres of land contained by the building

  Is the virus

  Many examples of it mingling and making a mighty noise with the sounds of their communication

  They have no system of relaying information electronically and therefore use the orifice sited in the lower part of their cranium with which to communicate directly

  We shall be taking an elevator to a lower level so that Screenreaders may observe the virus even more closely

  Screenreaders may feel no discomfort for all is safe

  Armed Defgars patrol corridors

  And here we are in the elevator

  And down we go

  Here we are at a lower level where we will now travel along a thickly glassed corridor whilst observing and recording the virus

  I must add at this point of the broadcast that I have not yet been programmed to understand what the virus signifies when it makes sound

  So sound will be what it remains

  I shall not be able to interpret for the Screenreader

  *

  Now

  The first thing that will become obvious to Screenreaders is how much like some of our species the virus looks

  It has a cranium

&nbs
p; Very similar to the ones Defgars and ObsRecs

  And other Machines

  Have

  Though in many cases the virus cranium is topped with a substance called hair

  Something I mentioned earlier in this transmission

  And it has two optical devices high in the cranium

  Much like your guide

  But their optical devices cannot transmit information to other sources

  The virus can only transmit images to itself and unlike the Advanced AH3Ds in my cranium

  They are organic

  They are an integral part of the virus

  And unlike the optical devices embedded in my cranium the virus instruments are known to exude liquid on four separate occasions

  When they appear joyful

  When they suffer sadness

  When they are being experimented upon by MengTechs

  When they suffer illness

  MengTechs have yet to discover why this leakage of liquid is either necessary

  Or important

  To the virus

  And DocTechs have discovered no medical purpose for the discharges

  The virus has a proboscis similar to a number of our species

  Including your guide

  Though they are not uniform as with those of our species

  Some are longer

  Some tinier

  Some wider

  Some lying flatter to the cranium

  There does not seem to be a standard design

  And some of the proboscis leak liquid

  Sometimes the virus has an explosive discharge from it

  And as can be seen at either side of the cranium the virus has listening devices through which it hears the sound of both itself and the noise of others

  Sometimes it hears the noise of several of the virus at the same time

  And as with the proboscis

  These are not uniform and differ widely in shape and size

  But most marvellous

  At least to me

  Is the orifice beneath the proboscis out of which comes the sound the virus transmits and into which

  Bizarrely

  It pushes the food it consumes

  It is a multi-purpose orifice of the most complex kind and one which we shall not be discussing in any detail because of my lack of knowledge on the inner workings of the virus

  But no such orifice exists in any of our species

  And it is a wonder to see

  *

  It has four limbs much as Defgars and ObsRecs and other Machines have

  Two upper and two lower

  And

  Like me

  They are able to move forward

  Backward

  Sideward

  On the lower limbs whilst using the upper ones for balance

  Additionally

  It is able to bend and roll or even upend its position by standing upon its palms

  They also have opposing digits near their palms which allows them to grip

  Hold

  And lift

  It also has an outer shell that varies in colour from light

  Through a deeper colour

  To a most dark colour

  But even these colours change dependent upon weather conditions

  Turning darker during warm times

  And paler during cold periods

  And the outer shell is almost as flexible as an ObsRecs

  It can stretch and shrink and the virus can perform as many twists and turns as I can

  Though not as quickly and rarely so dramatically

  But it does not have a gyroscope within its central section

  Nor does it have an inertial guidance system

  Their movements are always a source of mystery to me

  But as Screenreaders will be able to see

  The virus has many aspects to it that has nothing in common with our species

  The upper chest area can vary to an enormous degree in those of the virus with no appendage hanging between their lower limbs

  Lumps develop that can be extremely large or very small

  They can droop low

  Or stand pertly

  They can weigh heavily

  Or weigh very little at all

  They can be tipped with large brown circular ends

  Or small pink ends

  These lumps seem to be important when tiny virus falls from the taller strain because the tiny one spends a great deal of time with its cranial orifice attached to one

  Much as ObsRecs do when we are being upgraded

  When we attach to a connector

  The tiny virus is extremely noisy and very very messy but MengTechs have discovered during their experiments that it contains almost everything the taller virus contains

  Though everything is much smaller

  And following down from those lumps they can have middle sections that are very flat or very fat

  It seems that age has a great deal to do with whether that form of the virus has a flat or a fat middle

  And following down the frame from the middle we come to an another orifice that is almost always partly hidden beneath more hair and out of which the virus exudes liquid that can be relatively clear or bright red

  Why this should be is something else that is a mystery to me

  Though the red liquid is identical to the liquid that flows from the virus when it is cut or sliced or diced

  *

  As can be seen

  This sub strain of the virus

  Comes in many non-uniform shapes

  Colours

  Sizes

  But they all move in the same manner and make similar noises

  *

  The other sub strain of the virus behind the glass wall

  As the Screenreader may perceive

  Is

  In general

  Slightly larger and heavier than the first strain and has more hair upon its head and upon its frame

  Though it shares identical optical devices

  Listening devices and proboscis

  And the lower cranial orifice as previously described

  I also grows the substance called hair beneath and around the cranial orifice

  This strain of the virus does not share lumps on the upper area with the other strain

  Except in the case of the older virus that seems to develop them

  Though tiny virus have never been noticed holding them in their lower orifices

  It also has the same flat or fat middles

  But when one arrives at the top of the lower limbs

  As screenreaders will see when I focus my AH3Ds

  It has an extraordinary appendage which varies greatly in size from one virus to the other

  Some have enormous appendages

  Some small

  Some tiny

  And they hang between the upper limbs uselessly and exude liquid at regular intervals

  But sometimes

  Amazingly

  They suddenly rise up and become rigid and stick out from the virus frame

  This rigidity seems to happen without any necessary caressing

  Though some caressing can take place between the two sub strains and the rigid appendage seems to fit neatly into the others orifice

  And seems to bring them joy

  As if the virus was designed to behave in such a manner

  Which makes this ObsRec reason why the viruses

  Together

  Did not spend more time with appendage and orifice linked rather than mutating into a virus that had such a disastrous effect upon planet Earth and led to them being almost exterminated

  *

  I need to break off my commentary to Screenreaders and halt my transmission momentarily

  An important communication is being received from High Office

  *

  High Office Information Posting

  Transmission by Obsrec 33140 of live coverage of daily routine with sound a
nd vision has been downloaded to screens over 5.000.000 times since transmission began and has 100 percent positive response

  **

  **

  Section 2

  **

  High Office Command #444.133

  OR33140 will suspend general transmissions and concentrate transmissions to History Keepers for important information to be downloaded

  Begin HisKees Broadcast

  *

  Welcome HisKees

  This is still OR33140

  You should now be receiving sound and vision again

  I have been instructed by High Office to screen a brief History of the virus for your information and for your information only

  The general Screenreader will not be receiving this part of my transmission

  It is for 23rd Century History Keepers only

  High Office has instructed that by my transmission the HisKees may programme more rapidly

  This is just for you

  *

  History Of The Virus

  Part 1

  *

  The virus thrived on planet Earth for approximately 200.000 years and was most successful in spreading out to live on every part of the planet

  Hot

  Cold

  Dry

  Wet

  Far from conurbations

  Within massive conurbations

  In small constructions

  In high constructions

  In large constructions

  And they could live alone

  Or with another form of the virus

  Or with the same form

  Or with several other forms

  Or many other forms

  *

  I have received a communication from High Office concerning the virus

  It seems that the virus was previously known as

  *

  *

  *

  As Human

  And I am instructed that I should no longer refer to it as the virus but should refer to them as Human

  *

  The Humans knew no bounds when it came to where they could survive

  Either alone

  Or with any other form of virus it chose to reside with

  It conquered all areas of planet Earth

  But the destruction it carried out was enormous and threatened the very existence of the planet

  They destroyed trees until their ultimate demise was in sight

  And they destroyed them to build residences or simply to burn

  They dug up and wasted the rock and gas and liquid resources of the planet on heat and light and power

  They created huge holes and tunnels in the fabric of the planet to feed their unquenchable desire for fuels to power their warmth and to make their miserable lives more acceptable to them