Plot
Chapter: Failed experiment 🧪
Professor Machivarius looked back, when he heard the creaking gears of a small steam robot. As usual, his assistant put a cup of coffee on the worktable, nearly dropping a stack of blueprints on the floor.
- Watch your step! Heh... – the professor was sad to realize that only an old robot and a pet raccoon could watch the results of the most important work of his life in the excellently equipped lab. The huge discovery is about to be completed to let the main thing happen: airships, steam locomotives, self-propelled carts – they all will no longer be so slow! The world will shudder from the new speeds of the transport, and maybe not just it... The last important experiment is ahead.
The sign of the station flashed in the window featuring the date: 1891. It's been three years since progress reached their little town. The local moneybags now snobbishly park by their mansions in their cars gleaming chrome and puffing black exhaust. Of course, the new steam engine factory boiled their sleepy place, opening several thousand jobs. Now celebrities visit the city, because the airship parking lot magically appeared next to the factory.
Machivarius looked into the mirror: a haggard hermit looked backed at him, with dozens of brilliant inventions behind his back. Unfortunately, nobody knew about them. Envious people and thieves! The so-called "colleagues" are dust at his feet! Everyone he trusts is right here: Sam the raccoon and his first development back from school years – a robot that can only bring coffee and put a dirty cup in the sink. Ah, no! Both of his friends can something else – listen! Well, it's time to get back to work.
After a couple of years, his gamma emitter is almost ready. Sleepless nights are over. Shh! It's a secret... The professor nervously looked around. Oh, my! Just a few more hours, and nobody can beat him in intelligence on this planet! Indeed, his invention turned out to have many interesting properties. His colleagues would have paid a lot to take a look at the scientific calculations and participating in the final experiment. No! Don’t worry, it's time to get back to the tools.
Machivarius flipped a switch in the bunker. He had to move all the equipment down there for the final experiment. The waves he discovered were truly all-penetrating. Theoretically, he could simply take a “shower” of special particles in order to make a breakthrough and reach the divine level of intelligence! Well, everything is ready – the last look at the dashboard of the emitter installation... And now it's time.
Damned absentmindedness! He forgot to lock the bunker door! The raccoon, his pet, ran straight into his hands for crackers, which it always found hidden in his pocket... However, the sensitive equipment instantly detected to the "extra" passenger and caused a short circuit... Flash! The boiler hissed like an angry kettle, the wires sparkled and hummed, smoke poured out. Explosion!
Black ash was slowly falling on the recently shining dashboard... The blown-out windows covered everything around as a crunchy carpet...
What is that? What rustle is there in the corner of the destroyed lab? No way! Is it a fat raccoon, size of a 10-year-old kid? As reflected by the cunning expression of his eyes and the key to the bunker door in his paw, our friend Sam turned out to be not that simple at all.
Pompously waddling, the raccoon slowly left the bunker, gently locked the heavy door, and walked away from the house of his former master.
He was not very surprised when a dog pompously came out of the next doorway to meet him. Rottweiler was holding a large package in his paws, a luxurious pistol hanging down from it... Well, it looks like a lot will change in the town now... Probably not just in it.
Chapter: Argo the Immortal🔱
Click-click... The robot carefully got up from the floor, where he had been knocked over by the shock wave. Click-click... He examined himself leaning against the table. Coffee. Yes, master will want his coffee. Master? Is master alive? The robot walked down to the bunker entrance. He pulled at the locked door. It's good that he knows where another key is. Now the Robot has no master. No master? But what about coffee? Well, he now has lots of other stuff to do.
… 200 years passed…
The robot glanced at the calendar on the office wall: 2091. It has been 2 centuries since the explosion in his former master’s lab. The world has changed since then. There are no more human masters and their pets — now it’s his Technopolis, which gradually turned into a former town with the factory. And now it’s him – Argo the Immortal.
Trains carry fuel and parts to his factories, where he creates his own kind. Such robots are less intelligent but very executive. Metal is boiling in giant cauldrons to cast strong robot frames, and smoke over the roads between the factory buildings is evidence that all the coal delivered by steamships has been used.
He only made the assistant factory managers really smart to keep order while the Robot was busy with more important business. The master’s diaries were a good help in this. Indeed, Machivarius was a genius!
There are other cities, where intelligent animals have settled. All of them can confidently handle a wrench and prefer goggles to ordinary glasses to look at new perfect mechanisms.
Remember our friend Sam the raccoon? He was the ancestor of the most powerful dynasty of raccoons. There are other dynasties as well: sharks, rabbits, hamsters, hedgehogs, foxes… They are building the future now. What about people? They are gone. The radiation that made animals and one robot intelligent turned out to be fatal for humans.
The land is now divided into the protected territories ruled by the Argo the Immortal’s governors. Their task is to ensure the uninterrupted extraction of fuel and crystals to follow the order of the ruler.
Chapter: Rebels from the Baobab city 🌳
It could seem that everything is reasonably arranged now. Argo is confident that the world has become a much better place, but the rebels don’t agree. You can find a family ready to fight in every house in their Baobab city, where tall, armored trunks soar dozen meters into the sky. The war has been going on for 50 years now. The leaders of the Resistance lead the battles. Forward warbands are attacking plants, factories, and convoys like elusive shadows now.
The goal of the fights is to make the robots leave. Animals can no longer live where new factories are built, and the resources of their lands are gradually depleted. What happens tomorrow if Argo the Immortal doesn't get his fuel? The struggle for Flur crystals also generates fierce battles. Both robots and animals want to own Flur and feel its power.
Brave animals learn to hold a rifle in their paws and aim at the enemy from a young age. Everyone dreams to take part in the battle and prove they can beat the hated robots no worse than others!
It was decided: Argo should be destroyed. There will be no more factories, polluted air, scorched earth, oppressed communities, and occupied Flur deposits. Peace, freedom, and healthy new generations inspire the Resistance to new attacks and plans to invade Technopolis.
Chapter: Flur Crystal 💠
Something strange appeared on the day the professor lost control over the radiation. The Earth's deep interiors transformed into deposits of shining crystals. The planet got covered with cracks here and there, with magical, beautiful blue light shining from below.
The first animal settlements were founded around such deposits. For some unknown reason, all living things were drawn to these crystals. These crystals fascinated and captivated the minds. Over time, the crystal was given a light and elegant name, "Flur".
Flur quickly became the major currency and increased its value because of the few found deposits and its unique influence, which has not yet been fully examined. Solid perfect crystals were the most expensive; however fragments and dust were also used.
If someone remained near a crystal for a long time, Flur endowed him with great strength and dexterity and sharpened his mind. However, the effect of the crystal passed fast enough and was observed within a small range. Therefore, many animals started using the crystals in their ammunition and equipment to be stronger and more attentive on the battlefield.
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