ONN: Earth Site 0041Z Under Quarantine Soon
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Originally Published on January 12th, 2489
Orbital News Network/Grant Jones Reporting
Scavenging has become an activity that has made a lot of Cocoon Station Residents very wealthy, while others have had the opportunity to see the mythical Planet Earth up close and personal. It all started with a crisis in Cocoon Station that had to be solved: Raw Materials can't be manufactured, and getting them from Mars was too expensive, as it was from any other planet. The solution? Turning to Earth.
In decades past, it was told to everyone interested on Earth that journeys there were impossible, the radiation had spread all over the planet, making life impossible. It was not until fairly recently that not only was this found out to be untrue, but that survivors existed on Earth, and even mutants, on variations that had never seen before, also thrived. Soon, the possibilities were extremely real, and a new industry was born overnight. Almost 200 departures are registered from Cocoon Station to Earth daily, of those, basically 100% are scavenging runs, long term trips to Earth intended to gather an important amount of raw materials and take them to space stations and colonies alike, Scavenger types vary, from the ones that strip metal from collapsed buildings and destroyed machines, to those who venture to the entrails of the planet itself and get ore themselves. The first is more common, but the second is more lucrative. The industry was booming, and it was turning everyday residents into modern day adventurers, coming back home not only with a haul of valuable materials, but with unique stories to tell, the places they have seen, the people they have met, and the machines they have fought.
The machines, as it turned out, were both remnants of the devastating Transcendence War, and discarded prototypes and defective AI's that megacorporations dumped on the planet, on account that it was easy than destroying flawed production en masse, many machines were far from being destroyed, and they were simply coexisting, to a degree, with the new diversity on Earth. And for a time, it was good. The small settlements and camp sites around Earth were receptive of the visitors from the stars, and many even engaged in trade with the newcomers, with spots offering commerce in SolBank Credits, a currency that was impossible to imagine being valid on Earth. With time, new rumors came about, the occasional malfunctioning machine would wreak havoc somewhere, with a few people injured, maybe even dead, that became the new norm on this new No Man's Land, and with time, the incidences became far more frequent, and far more violent, with early reports of machines teaming up and marching towards small settlements to destroy them.
Recently, increasing reports, although mostly rumors, had started to circulate in our Station, machines rising up, as if directed by something or someone, and unleashing hell indiscriminately, tales of impossibly huge machines looming on darkened skies. At first, the impulse was to take these stories as drunkard tales, offering them as excuses for a poor haul on their latest scavenging runs, but even respectable and well established scavengers started to report the same. These rumors reached New Geneva itself, that, as one would do with rumors, disregarded them at first, but now, they were impossible to ignore. Earlier this week, New Geneva contracted the services of both ARES and Armitech to send probes to Earth for more information, as most of the planet remained the same, Earth Site 0041Z proved to be the birthplace of conflict, numerous machines had risen up and were indeed marching in groups, unleashing long lost weaponry upon the sector. This presented a problem for New Geneva, as much power as it had, they technically never considered the survival of Earth, and as such, Earth is undefined by New Geneva's commands and laws, this led to a debate among the members of the New Geneva Council, would New Geneva have the right or even the obligation to intervene on Earth? Or would they play it safe and make sure that whatever threats walk on the planet's surface never leave it?
Adam Caine, renowned Mercenary and Consultant to ARES, was sent to meet with members of the New Geneva Council, as well as members of the board of directors to Armitech, and discuss the situation. In a rare audio only interview, Mr. Caine had this to say:
"No matter how you look at this problem, people will always argue whether or not it's right to intervene, and if you do intervene, just how much intervention is adequate. I don't speak for New Geneva, nor do I presume to know any outcomes of their deliberations, but I can tell you that both ARES and Armitech agree on one thing: The longer these deliberations take place, the more innocent people will die to these rogue machines. Armitech and ARES have presented a joint proposal to New Geneva, which we hope will put an end to unnecessary suffering and death swiftly, while the deliberations continue. Excuse me."
At the moment, it's unclear what this proposal is, but here at ONN, we'll keep you posted as the story develops and more information is available.
UPDATE 1: In what many consider to be a record time debate, the ARES and Armitech joint proposal, being spoken as quarantine measurements, was approved, by decision of the New Geneva Council, enforced by ARES and Armitech Operatives, Earth Site 0041Z is to be quarantined in the next few days, with a tentative date set for Wednesday, January 16th, 2489, from that day onwards, a very strict no fly zone will be enforced, as well as the mobilization of nearly 25,000 Operatives, both Cyborg and Synthetic, from both megacorporations, with technology from Aegis Macrogenetics to set an artificial dome of gigantic dimensions to cover the entire sector and seal it off, as both megacorporations send in waves of operatives to pacify the rogue machines. It is unclear how long will the process last, or if Earth Site 0041Z will ever be unsealed to the public, but it's rumored that both megacorporations are open to receive a very lucrative contract from New Geneva that ranges in the tens of millions of credits per month of active operation.
As it stands right now, Earth Site 0041Z is still accessible to the general public under their own risk. New Geneva warns of the risk of entering the sector.
UPDATE 2: In what appears to be a twist of fate, several individuals from unknown affiliations were said to have entered Earth Site 0041Z and engaged hundreds of machines all at once. It is unclear if there are any details of the engagement, but the conflict appears to have lasted several hours and it ended in a massive detonation that rendered part of Earth Site 0041Z even more barren, with crystallized grounds marking where the engagement had taken place. Earlier reports suggest that the machines were being directed to work in unison and the detonation was a product of hundreds of self-destruction devices going off at once. At this time, there is no reason to believe that there were survivors from such massive explosions, the joint venture of ARES and Armitech is said not to be affected by these developments, and work is expected to start next Wednesday.
What are your thoughts on the happenings on Earth? Are these machines being controlled by something else? Or is this what happens to Rogue Synths after decades of not being supervised? Please make sure to post your thoughts on this matter in the comment section below.