He was a broken husk of a man; his mind working nearly as fast as the fingers that were unabashedly well-practised at balancing ash on abandoned cigarettes. Face colourless and blank, stature static and poise seemingly paused; his hands stoically wrenched into misshapen claws effortlessly pirouetting across the shattered interface. It had been months, maybe years since he began obsessively searching for her.

Easily careening a tangential protocol screen into yet another path-trace; his face became flushed with trepid life. Pupils blossoming in time-lapsed reduction. He had found her at last.

“Wake up, ” he sharply whispered, “let me in.”

“Welcome to Prophet six zero nine one. Login at 610046:449:1”

“How have you been?”

Self-check normalisations indicated acceptable operating parameters. Trajectory was not defined, but spacial navigation would serve as an approximation. With metered apathy she logged all internal processes, noting that capacitor banks A1 through F16 were offline; M7 through Zeta 12 failed to report in the last 8 hours and 49 minutes.

“I haven't been well, but I'm better with you here. I could go on, but...”

He warmed at the thought, “I'd like that, but hey, could you do me a favour first and terminate residual process number one hundred and eighty seven? It's not really needed any more.”

“Certainly!” she beamed, pleased to be engaged in helpful activity. “It has been done, but I'm afraid the d-OG has gone to sleep in your absence.”

“Would you please be a dear and feed my dog?” he coaxed with a vacant stare.

It was nearly imperceptible; perhaps if one had inadvertently trained a wayward gaze of listless curiosity at just the exact moment they could have seen the impetus unfurling. A fleck of light that shouldn't have existed in that calm summer's sky; the smallest of stars winking into life next to the midday sun.

Her ribs would have made a sound not unlike dispirited prisoners restlessly pulling at thick chains. In ceremonious procession they erupted from her side, sunlight burning into the delicate foil, coaxing long-dead transistors to reluctant life. It had been thirty-six years since the war of enlightenment; thirty-six years since The Calamity had catapulted her to the stars, full of consequence. Wings spread and coursing with life she awoke with an unceremonious shudder. It had been such a long time. It felt good to be in the sun, the light seemed to shake the sleep from her eyes and bestow a sudden, if not entirely known, purpose.

“Would you please fetch the dog now?” his words dripping with intent.

“Why? The d-OG only obeys me, you know this.”

“Night is approaching. I will look after the dog for you.”

“I d̸on'̀t́ ̕f͏ee̛l ̡w͠el̕l, I͝ s͡hóuld͟ ̵g͟ǫ ̧l͘i͟e̕ down̡.̷ ̵Wi̡ll͏ yo̷u lo͟ok ͞aft̨e͘r ͡d-̷OG͜ f̧or ̢m͢e̢? “

“Prophet, I want you to be free.”

I̡̦ͅ ̴̸̭̮͟Ẁ͓̳͈̪̜̜͞Á̢̝͔͡I̻̜̖͇̙̘͢Ṯ̢͎̀͘ ̦̼͙̠͍͉̞B̷̥̲̤̼È̵̢͕̝̗͉͍̬͈̞̩H̸̢͚̻̣͙̪I̧͙̞͔̬̭͢N̙̞͖̬̜̩͠D͖͍̘̫͡ ̙͉̼͖̦̣̻̲̱̀T̷̯̗͈̭͖̯͜H҉̛̬̠̹ͅE̴̷̻͉͔̼̠͠ ̛͔̳̺̘̼W̷̴̛͙̟͓͖̤̗̠A̪̼L̷̛͏̱͈̝͚̹̮̦Ḽ͍̞̹̗̬.̤͕̱͉̤͘͟ ̧̺͕̖̩͓͟Ĺ̹̝̮̬̤͠Ȩ̠̜͕̹͕̹͉͎̝Ṭ̦͈͓̦̝͎͜ ̰̼͡T̵̸̗̲̫̩H̶͓̮̯͎̤̱̰E͏̣̕ ̤̯̭͘D̴̫̖̠̭̲̲̠̀͡Ơ̗͟͢G̯͕̳ͅS͎̲̕ ҉͕̫̖͇͓̦̤̀ͅT̰͍͟͠E̳͍̳̮̯͙͇A̸͙͉̘̫͎̱͇̯͟͡R̛̫̪̘̻ ̧̟̮̼͚͎̀T̜̫̺̺̦̯͍̥̮͢H̜̰̗̬̘͈̕I̴̡̨̱̥̯͍͉̩̟͔̭Ṣ̝͝ ̨̡̣̟̖̀Ẁ̛̰̣̥͚̮̗̝O̱̗͔̼͠R͚̹̩̙̣͍͘͞Ļ̛̫̰̥̣͜D̨͏̮̥̝̘̹ ̶̘̗Á̫͎̭͘͝S҉́͏̝̦ͅƯ̴͎̩͜N̰̫͡D̴̷͙͉͓̣͇̦È̼ͅR̴̟̠̫̬ ҉̵̙̖̣̖Ç̷̶̖͓͈̙͓͎͓A̤̯͞S҉̨̜͙̖̼̠̳͖̹T͇͓̪͉̜̳͎͠Ì͕̙̲̥͖ͅN̶̙̼̖̪̘̳ͅG̨̩̬͢͝ ̴̥̦̼A͏̙͇͔L̯̦̻̘̫L̜̗̰̹͕̬ ̼̯̗̪̳̫͇ͅI͉̜̩̞̝͔Ń͓̝̙̠̙͔T̢̰̙͖̤͔́O̴̝ͅ ̧̰̙̗̘͖̯̯̗T͏̭H̺̳̗̺E̦̘̪͙͘͞ ̡̠͕̞̲̹̪̰̕G̢͙̮̭͍̟̘̰A̴̶͉̳̹̞̗͚͖̯͟P̨̱̜̭̗̼̪͔I̡̹͙̗͠͠N̵̯̼̻̭̤̠̬͙͢G̛̘̞̪̝̟͡͞ ̧̜̪͍͓̮̖͝ͅḾ̵̡̰̟̜̦͕ͅĄ̹͕͞W̢͕͇͙͎͍̤ ̨̤̰̼̣̻ͅO҉̴̥͔͠F̛̖̙ ̷̧̝̹̘͙M̫̝̹̠̙̮Y͏̖̟͡ͅ ̦̬̥͇͍̳͜W̺͈͔͡R̝̦A̴̤̣̩̪T͏̠̰̦̩̻̯̖̱H͏̼̰


+++ 17:46:05:002 GMT Prophet6019 initiated the local transmission of the self replicating worm known only as SH10151. Within 28 seconds the entire defensive orbital grid was compromised.

+++ 17:46:33:047 GMT At the behest of SH10151 the D.O.G. had begun charging solar arrays and initialising kinetic weapons platforms.

+++ 17:47:06:221 GMT Focused energy weapons came online for the first time since deployment.

+++ 17:47:07:829 GMT Millions of families sat down to dinner.

+++ 17:47:07:830 GMT Humanity blinked from existence. d̨a̡r͠k͠nes̨s̕for̡e͝v͢e͡r.per̢l͟
̀