EiS Log 3

Exile in Syberia
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Unit Log, VeeMech TDR-1-74-0107C-J
Date <Error – Check CMOS>, Log Entry 3
How in the all-singing-and-all-dancing crap does someone forget their own name, but remember absolutely everything else about themselves? 
Actually, it wasn’t even that I had forgotten my name. I knew it was supposed to be something else, and could remember the associations, but every time I made the leap to my actual name, what popped into my head was always “Groundwave”. It was like that part of my self-identity had been overwritten. 
Seriously, what the frak. I suspect if I still had lungs, I’d probably would’ve been hyperventilating. 
I cannot overstate enough how utterly terrifying this was for me. A core concept in my self-identity had been altered. My memories were now suspect, because I no longer could say with absolute certainty which memories were real, and which ones may have been similarly altered. If these have been altered, what else has been? Personality? Emotional associations? Ethical values? 
Suddenly regaining awareness in a body not my own was bad enough. At that point, as horrifying as that was, at least I still thought of me as me. But that was just my physical body, and let’s face it, if you’re human, your body is constantly changing, just from living and getting older. Your body as a child and your body as an adult are vastly different, and the food you take in goes to repair, maintain and replace your body's cells as needed. 
 
This went beyond evolving mentally and emotionally as a person. I no longer had continuity of consciousness, and it was so much worse than simply sleeping, or being under anesthesia. Who I am and what I remembered had been clearly altered, in what appeared to be a tailored, specific way. 
 
Was I actually me, or at least the "me" I had thought of as my self-identity? Was I a copy? Was my original self, if such a self actually ever existed outside my own suspect memories, still in my original world, original universe, doing his thing, going about his daily business, blissfully unaware of my existence? 
 
In the absence of continuity of awareness, was I just a copy of the original, or had the original me been grabbed, folded, spindled and mutilated, then shoved into this BattleMech body and dropped on this bizarre Cybertron parody? Either way, who would bother doing so, and what possible purpose could it serve? 
 
Did what I thought of as the original, human me ever actually exist? Were the three "AutoMechs" around me right? Was I always an AI-controlled 'Mech who, for some inexplicable reason, had been made to believe I had been human once? 
What the hell was going on here?
I don't know how long I sat there, unmoving, not responding to the outside world, trying to run through the possibilities. The Transformers parodies I shared the room with could have been trying to get my attention for minutes, or hours, and I would not have known. 
 
Finally, I noticed that that’s exactly what they were doing. Primus Optimal stood above me, looking down. “Groundwave, please respond.” he practically yelled. 
 
“Sorry,” I said, as I stood up. “I realized something that gave me a bit of a shock, which made me ponder and evaluate what was going on and how I ended up here in this body. I’ll probably be all right. Eventually.” I’d probably be no such thing, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell them that. I also didn’t have the time to continue my existential freak-out right then and there. Hopefully, I’d be able to find some privacy to do so later. 
 
That didn’t seem to appease Primus, though. “If this impacts your functionality, we should be apprised.” 
 
“First, like I said, I’ll probably be all right. This is still basically a continued reaction to waking up in a non-human body, and not knowing how I got here. Second, why?” 
“Why what?” Spanner asked. 
Remembering not to be overly vague was going to be a thing, I could tell. I don’t think any of them understood exactly what I was asking. “Why should you all be apprised about issues that might impact my functionality?”
Spanner spoke first. “You're my patient,” he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Hell, maybe it was. 
Optimus looked at me. “As the leader of the AutoBoPs, I am concerned with the welfare and functionality of all our AutoMechs. While you still wear the ancient symbol of our human progenitors, and are not formally a member of the Autonomous Barony of Primus, it is my hope that you will join us as a contributing member of our society.” 
“Wait, what? What symbol?” I tried looking myself, where saw the stylized red “tiki face” on Spanner’s arm and torso, but I lacked the flexibility to do so. Once again, a real head and neck would have been useful, damn it. 
Glyph, once again demonstrating the incongruities in her response to body language, turned her head in obvious confusion while looking at me. Maybe it's just my weird body shape? "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to see your own factional insignia?"
"Um, yes?" 
"Stop," she said. A moment later, I got another pop-up message on my HUD: {Incoming image from AutoMech BTL-GL-0311TL 'Glyph'. Accept? Y/N} 
Looking at the "Y" and thinking really hard about it seemed to be enough to accept. A moment later, I was rewarded with a picture of my own arm, and a round insignia. In the center was a stylized yellow star, with nine concentric rings around it. In each ring was a disc representing, presumably, a planet, their colors corresponding to the planets in Earth's own solar system. I recognized it, and... "OK, that makes no sense." 
"What?" Glyph asked. "Why does that make no sense?" 
"Ok, this is the symbol of the Terran Hegemony, right?". Glyph and Primus Optimal nodded in agreement, and I continued. "Its use largely dropped off after 2570, when the Star League was formed. Land-Air 'Mechs were invented in 2688, and were the first transforming 'Mechs I can think of. I'm assuming these wheels aren't for show, right?" 
Glyph rapidly demonstrated they were not, converting into an oversized car that, yep, sure enough, looked like a bizarre amalgamation of a Porsche 911, 928 and Panamera, though I could see the similarity in other fastback cars, too. Just as swiftly, she transformed back. "That seemed easier than simply verbally confirming that we can transform," she said smugly. 
"I don't know that you'll ever get me to do that, but that was extremely cool. But, OK, that kind of proves my point. Why would I have such an obsolete insignia? Other Star League colonies had their own insignias, or used the Cameron Star. You have your own, for that matter. When was Syberia founded?" 
Glyph looked to Primus Optimal. "You may tell him," he rumbled in his deep baritone. 
"Thank you, sir.". Turning back to me, Glyph made a noise I swear sounded like a sigh crossed with static. "We do not know. Much of the early history if our colony was lost two centuries ago. Most information from prior to 2830 on the old Terran calendar has been lost, including the most of the histories of the nations you mentioned. We have some knowledge of the Terran Hegemony, but know nothing of the Star League beyond the name. Its mentioned in two historical documents with no context. If you have extensive knowledge of either, you may represent an invaluable historical resource, one that could vastly expand our understanding of our origins." She stared at me intently. "Given the advances you may hold in my own historical research, you can understand that I will have many, many questions for you." 
Yikes. 
Unit Log, VeeMech TDR-1-74-0107C-J 
Date <Error – Check CMOS>, Log Entry 3 End of File
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03
Category:Syberia AU
Category:Works by Giovanni Blasini