Despite his best efforts, Lord Elect Vladimir Grosnok survived the battle. He and his elite guard had charged into the enemy lines once the forces were good in their advance. Even after he had his horse shot from underneath him, he got to his feet and pressed on. He had taken a fair number of bullets as well, his runic laminar armor and shield saving him from lethal damage even if he did feel them despite that. But eventually he was overcome as one cut through his leg and he stumbled. He limped forward, shooting blindly with a number of double barreled pistols before they were exhausted. When a few of their men came towards him he swung at them with the swords and managed to strike a couple of their limbs before he was eventually subdued.The next few weeks he spent being moved about bound and gagged, often in a cart, a railcar or on board a paddlesteamer. First with other warriors, then as a sideshow. Drive and General Smedth showed him off to freed slaves, then he eventually found himself paraded around Dalatyr as factory workers cheered the victorious Infrastructural Army and booed the deposed Tyrant. He tried to resist by biting at his guards and occasionally ranting at the Infrastructurals, but the most that ever got out of him was a boot to the ribs and a couple of old potatoes, cabbages and horse turds during the parade. He suspected that he was to be publicly executed as a sign of the Committee's power. This was, to his surprise, not the case. After that, he changed his mind about that. He would be thrown into a labor camp to mine coal somewhere. He saw the chimneys of infrastructural factories belching out smoke and thought that they wanted as much fuel as possible to keep them fed. This thought gave him some comfort, if was thrown into one of those Detentional Labor camps, he might be able to rally the warriors and have them break from their bondage. Strike down the guards, take their guns and lead an uprising. Raiding from the forests and hills giving the committee hell for what they had done.This was not the case.Instead after a brief train ride and some time in a cart Vladimir arrived at a complex outside of Dalatyr. A walled off facility with a number of sentries. Outside there was a pigsty. Inside were several buildings built around the wall, including one with a chimney as well as a central main one. It was a strange place, inside there were a few guards, but a fair number of men and women dressed in long white coats and thin gloves. A few of them, he latter saw, had stains on them, many of them were red. But that was just the beginning of it. The first thing that they did was they took him into a room covered completely in glazed tiles, there a white coated women ordered that his clothes be taken off. The guards then did just that, cutting off his garments with no sign of enjoyment and tossed them into a bucket. He was left, his arms and legs tied as they left him on the cold floor. Then a spay of hot soapy odd smelling water hit him. It was kept up for several minutes before it let up. Then the guards came in again and took him.They cut off his beard and put him before an vent that blasted him with hot air drying him off. Then they undid the cuffs and bindings, strapping him down to a padded bed on wheels and moving him about. They also did the indignity of hooking up a couple of things in some areas he definitely wished they would keep their goddamn hands away from. He was tightly restrained and moved through a hallway. They prodded him with needles a couple of times. It was not pleasant, though compared to what he had seen in his own interrogation rooms it was nothing. They did a few other things and some of them talked using jargon he had never heard before. The atmosphere had an smell to it that he could not describe, but others would say was chemical, mixed in with a couple more organic ones. And there was the sounds, among the sounds of conversation were a few moans and a couple of human noised which might have been words, rendered unintelligible by closed doors and factors relating to the mouth. He was taken to a room where he was parked. He heard some conversation and questions about scheduling which ended with a remark that they were open. He felt a sharp pain in his arm and a building pressure for a few seconds. His bed was parked and he saw a strange face.It was a member of the Committee, that was certain. It was unlike Drive's as there was some attempt to make it more human, unlike Supernova in that it fell short of an exact replication. It had a mouth that could move in a manner roughly similar to that to a man speaking, but not quite. Said movements were ultimately just window dressing to speech. Excellence In Execution Which Stems From Investing Considerable Attention To Detail Upon Each Individual Facet-57815 (Detail) found this face perfectly adequate. Several boxes were nearby. It wore a version of the long coat that the others did, but made out of a strange flexible material that had a shine to it. But strangest of all were that, in place of hands were a set of cones with doors on the end."Is there something you want to know or do you simply take joy in this? Still I am surprised that you are this hands on about it. Never figured it from all that nonsense you spew.""You are not the first to say that" Detail said, in a quiet tone "And you are quite incorrect. Did you feel that prick?""It's nothing to the one hovering above me right now.""Well that was anesthetic, it's purpose is to dull the senses and make sure you don't feel a thing. It will also put you into quite a deep sleep. Pain is not the objective here. It only gets in the way. The last thing we want is you to just drop dead.""Then what is, oh mighty metal man?""Maximizing Efficiency.""What are you rambling about, you tin shit?""To get into more detail, Lord Elect, this is where we make use of the deeply problematic of prisoners. Warriors who just don't know that they have been defeated. Those that get into fights and attack guards and stir up trouble instead of doing the jobs given to them. We could have them killed, but that just produces low quality pigfood. If they will not be productive as workers, we can find other uses for them.""What are you rambling about?" He said as his mind became fuzzy."Its a matter of improvement. Humans are able to do a very large number of things, but they have their weaknesses. Cold, Heat, Drowning, Sleep, breakdowns over time, sensitivities to certain chemicals, inability to heal damage of a certain type, energy inefficiency, limited endurance the list goes on. You are the products of a billion years of blind trial and error, with whatever half baked design functioning just well enough or being lucky to move on to the next generation in enough numbers becoming the new master template. We can do better, we can make considerable improvements on nature's sloppiness. We can create a better man. It just takes a little experimentation to figure out just how to do this.""How?"Detail's two cone shaped hands opened up, revealing a number of small metal arms. Most of them had unknown functions, some he understood. All looked vaguely sinister. "You are ultimately a machine. A extremely complex one, but a machine none the less. We are good with machines. And the thing about a machine is that, if need be, it can be partially rebuilt to function more effectively. If all goes smoothly, you will come out of this with improved strength and endurance. If not, you will give us data that will be useful next time. Either way, now you be of considerable help to Infrastructure." Vladimir was at this point drifting off, in spite of the fear was overtaking him.Previous- [link] Next- [link]