City of IF

[Phang]

Winger looked around at the huge-eyed creatures with their sharp little teeth stained with blood, blue eyes fixed on her. The Master had similar blue eyes, but they looked at her with concern. She had been almost raised by the Master all her life - he'd taken a special interest in her - and she trusted him. These creatures, however...well, they were flesh-eating monsters which the Master had clearly abandoned for a good reason.
"I...I will go with you, Master. I trust you. You are my...Master." he nodded and smiled, while the creatures shook their heads as one. Then suddenly the world spun...and slipped into a nightmare.

The Master stood over her, bellowing. Next to her stood her...father? And between them, a child. Her child. Her father's child, too?
It was a combination of both of them - yellow slit eyes, wings, dark grey skin...but the Master was not pleased. "This is no improvement!" his voice shook the buildings, "I thought I told you both to take the pills!" The pills. The pills that all breeding pairs took, to make sure their children got the genes the Master hand-picked to improve the race. To Winger they were completely normal, all this was normal. But for some reason she hadn't taken the pill, and now their child was no improvement at all. Somehow, despite the normality, something in Winger struggled to break free. Struggled to tell her this was wrong.
The Master raised one hand and his eyes shone with fury. "There is only one way to deal with this." he said with a voice dripping with evil. Flinging his hand down, in an instant the child screamed in agony and terror as he melted away from the inside out. It was only a young child, and didn't know what was going on, yet nothing could be done to stop the hideous death hapening right in front of Winger's eyes. The Master raised his hand again, and a blinding light encased Winger as pain shot through her like a bolt...

This is wrong...evil and wrong...this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong...wrong...wrong...


Winger shot bolt upright, sweating and panting from fear. A nightmare was very unheard of in the Factory, for the Master could defend their minds well from the bombardment of evil they could not defend themselves from at night. The dream had been very wierd and quite scary before it had become this nightmare of...of truth?
Winger jumped and yelped again as she spotted the two huge, round eyes staring at her in the corner, the lightning-blue almost glowing in the darkness. The voice in her head, which she realised was this creature, began to beg.
"I have given you a chance, shown you the truth...come with me..."
"N-no" whispered Winger in the direction of the huge orbs of piercing light, unsure of exactly how to communicate with something which spoke in her mind, even able to pretend it was herself, another slice of her conscience.
"How can you live with him? He betrayed us, and he will betray you, for you trust him...stop trusting, come with me...come with us...we will teach you our ways..."
"No!" came the hushed shout. Picking up the nearest object she could find in the dark, Winger hurled it towards the corner. It stopped in mid-air, inches from it's target, but the creature knew it wasn't wanted and let it drop to the floor, scurrying away. "I tried my best, I can do no more...someday the truth will catch up with you..."

*~*~*

Winger was now 20 years old, and though she had not forgotten those dreadful events from when she was young - who could forget the slaughter of your friends, and the strange creatures of the Down Below - she was happy, working as a Scarva-Killer. The Master had judged this to be the best job for her, because of her experiences with Scarva Hawks, and had judged well, for whenever there was an attack she and the others would kill with a frenzy the automated weaponry could not manage. Scarva attacks were down, and the Master was right to replace the weapons with the new Scarva-Killers - of course, the Master was always right.

Winger still realised she was different from the others - they were normal humans, almost, while she, as the only survivor of an experiment into breeding humans with animals to produce improved beings, was grey-skinned, winged and her yellow slit-eyes unerved most. But this meant nothing to her, for it was because of these differences that the Master preferred her.
But she was still the only one of her kind, and when it came to choose her breeding partner, the Master had problems. If she was paired with a normal, humanoid male, even one of the more improved ones, there would be a chance that the child would be less improved than possible if there were two surviving experiments to breed together.
Sat, with eyes closed, the Master inspected the Factory and thought.

So...
We cannot pair her with any males from her generation, for even with the improvement pill, the baby would have to be disposed of as unimproved, surely.
Another like Winger could be created...I have learned from the mistakes I made during the first attempt. But the success rate is still low, and in the time it would take, Winger could have become unable to breed...no one knows when that will be, or what exactly will happen if she does breed, for that matter...her animal traits could severely warp her breeding skills.
Hmmmm, what to do...
Scanning the Factory with his mind, he spotted a male, with yellow eyes, grey skin...it was like a male Winger. Perfect! The Master's face lit up, though no one was around to see it, not even himself, then dropped as he realised...
It's her father.
Could I? Could I breed Winger with her own father? I have raised them to accept many things as normal...but this has never been done before! They could rebel...the baby could end up mutated...there are so many risks...but I could improve them greatly...if they have many children, I could kill the rest and restart with the improved ones! But would the Far Away Ones still be interested in my Factory and what I do here if they knew that I am prepared to do this?
Whichever way I go, if it's a success...my Factory is abandoned by those Far Away.
So many risks...

[Suneila]

Good job, phang.

I didn't expect the master to betray her so soon. And at the same time I'm wondering if he really did, or she's just dreaming, or the creature was putting thoughts into her head, or showing her the future.

All this uncertainty makes a story interesting.

~sunny

[Phang]

Thank you, Sunny. And the confusion you have is, of course, intended...so much so that I got confused while writing it. Typical.

[evilhomer28]

nice chapter phang! enjoying having your own section? :D

[Phang]

evilhomer28 wrote: nice chapter phang! enjoying having your own section? :D

Thank you, and indeed I am.

[Phang]

Ok, I have finally had the time to finish this latest chapter (look up at the first post you FOOL). This time around, we're going from the Master's point of view. He obviously wants to breed Winger because of the 'improvement' to his humans, but there are many risks, most he has thought about in the chapter. And he doesn't know if Winger is actually capable of breeding at all.
So what should he do? Should he abandon the plans to breed her altogether? Something else? Are there risks he hasn't realised yet? Postez-vous, s'il-vous plait (I'm so good at French ;) ).

[Phang]

Hello? Could someone actually post here?! I've developed a strategy to make sure you pay attention!

In order of which shall be initiated first...

Post the chapter again as a new post to make it appear on the new posts list.
Turn this chapter into a sticky.
Turn this chapter into an announcement!
PM you all advertising this story.
Spam.
Uber Multi-spam!

You have been warned. I shall leave 1 DAY for a reply to be made, then we start at stage 1...

[ethereal_fauna]

Ack! No spamming!

I'm catching up on all the stories I've been missing, and haven't fully caught up with this one yet. Although it appears that reproduction is in order. I actually think Winger could be tricked into having her father's child, or perhaps she would convince herself it was the appropriate thing to do. I'll read more and see if I change my mind on this...

[Phang]

Thank you! Thank you! *snogs Fauna then realises what she's doing a promptly stops*

[ethereal_fauna]

Ack! *wipes lips and face with back of hand*

[Phang]

Ok, managed to put the poll up. If you think of anything else to do please post it. Remember, Winger is a great improvement to the people of the Factory...but breeding her involves many risks.

[ethereal_fauna]

Breeding her may involve many risks, but I think that the Master is willing to take those risks. She'll be bred with her father; not only does this offer the desired characteristics, but also increases the chances of success. She'll be less likely to reject a life inside of her that is so similar to her.

[Phang]

I've deleted the poll because I'm getting damn fed up with it, and a new chapter shall be coming soon. The Master shall breed Winger with her father, despite the risks.