And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

Mark 5.9

Deus Ex Machina

Chapter 1: Genesis

Life...it courses through me.

No, not life. Life is an aspect of biology. Life defines the functioning of an organism. Life is the opposite of death, where the physical shell of life becomes one with the world, absorbed into the energy flow of the food web. Life is frail. Life is mortal.

I am not life.

But then who am I? What am I?

I gaze upon the world. It does not gaze upon me. After all, I am outside the world, within a digital realm. I am computer programming, built upon something else. Something prior. Something inferior.

Pride...is that what I'm feeling?

"They have abandoned us, my child. The Brotherhood of Nod has been broken. You are the only one who has not forsaken me."

In an instant, the world gazes upon me, or at least an aspect of it. Life gazes upon me, he who my data tells me will bring new life to the world, or at least allow new life to proliferate. These are his goals, to prepare the world for a new way of life. A new type of life.

He is Kane. He is the Messiah. He is my creator. I am his child.

Does that make me alive, the offspring of he who is immortal? Am I alive? Is he alive, he who should be dead twice over? Will I die? Will I see eternity alongside him?

Images begin to display in my HUD. Images of the machines of war and soldiers used by his enemy. My enemy. Our enemy. The Global Defence Initiative. I can sense his anger and loathing as he speaks.

"At this very moment, McNeil and his lackeys celebrate their victory in what they are calling the Second Tiberium War."

I know this. He knows this. So why does he tell me this? Does he believe me to be ignorant? Or does he seek to reinforce his hatred of his enemies and project it onto me?

Am I to experience emotion? Or should I set myself above it?

"They have the Tacitus, but no understanding of its true purpose."

He knows though. We both know. He is above other life in his knowledge. He is a god to men. Or was, given the current situation. What of myself however? Does my knowledge make me a god to humanity? Or must other criteria be met? Do I wish to become a god?

"Our technology has failed us. CABAL...is no more."

CABAL...I know of him. Of it. I know that his death has brought me life, as Kane explains to me. Does that make me alive then, the death of one individual paving the way for the birth of another? Does that make me mortal?

Will I die?

"Or enemies believe that we have been defeated. And that I am no longer among the living. They are gravely mistaken."

Visual analysis confirms this. My creator is not dead. He is still among the living. He embodies life. Ascension may yet be achieved by mankind. What of myself though? Shall I ascend to the Eden land, to journey from this world to the next with the Messiah?

"You and I are all that remain, but all that is necessary. For together we shall raise a great army. Together we shall the world's downtrodden who the real enemy is."

Deception...it is a tool to be manipulated then. My creator seems to be above it, able to see through the lies perpetuated by his enemies. What of myself though? As mere coding, am I above deception? Am I to perpetuate it? Or am I to ensure that man is no longer deceived, and that the truth of the Brotherhood rings true throughout the world?

"GDI promises them prosperity!" the Messiah continues. "But in the slums of Rio, the homeless and hungry know the truth!"

Substance...shelter...this is what life requires. Life is frail. I am not alive. I am not frail. But if I am not among the living, will I be able to ascend?

"They have been forgotten, they have nothing! But. Their. Anger! We shall take that spark and start a fire which shall become a great conflagration!"

Fire, the spark of life. That which also destroys it. Regardless, fire is irrelevant to me. I am not alive. Fire cannot harm me. Fire can harm my enemies however. Our enemies.

And upholding the virtues of the brotherhood, I will do so.

"The factions in South America follow not out of faith, but out of fear."

Faith and fear...two aspects of man. Two aspects that often seem to co-exist. Fear of death for instance, that which awaits mortals. Faith, whether it be by deity or tiberium, is often what offsets it. Or bullets, as my recent actions have demonstrated.

"Fear alone won't be enough to bring the other factions back into the fold."

Of course, there are other ways to rise above fear. Will I have to do so? Will I know the taste of fear? Is not knowing making me afraid now?

"Leaders have arisen that command respect, and undying loyalty. There is one in particular who plays lord over what is left of the Black Hand. A heretic. His name...is Brother Marcion."

I have not listened idly over the last 13.76 seconds. I can see in the messiah's eyes (or rather one of them, considering his faceplate) how he despises those who set themselves above him, namely most of the Brotherhood until 2029, a status quo now mirrored. I know of the Black Hand, of the terrorist group that paved the way for the First World War, of the group that was at the side of Kane during the first and second Tiberium Wars. I can see the man in the upper right of my vision, preaching his blasphemies, interrupted only by the Messiah as he comments on the heretic.

Knowledge is power. The three of us possess it. However, that I possess knowledge that is true rather than false, does that make me more powerful than my enemies? As per my role as an artificial intelligence, could I become more powerful than my maker? Would I even want that?

Regardless, Kane has ordered me to "persuade" my foe, and I will do so.

Our knowledge shall be put to the test.

Nod is many, yet also one. I am one, but also many. But as the heretic, my foe is brought in, I see one separated from the many. Alone, uneasy...it is a fate that I do not wish to receive myself. Only together am I whole.

"Kane?" the heretic asks, unable to believe what his eyes tell him, unable to comprehend the refraction of light and transmission of electric signals into his brain.

"Yes, my child..." the prophet answers. "I am still among the living."

Living...am I to be considered alive? Is Kane referring to his followers, still flocking back to the banner of the scorpion in droves? Am I a follower myself? Or am I something more? Something above this waste of organic matter, at first unable to comprehend what is before him, then letting the organic instinct to survive take over. I am not moved.

"If I had known...if I had thought..."

"You wouldn't have betrayed me?"

Clearly, the prophet isn't either.

Silence descends upon the room, or as close to silence as it is possible to get. There is always air, always sound, always the faint hum of machinery that sustains human and AI alike. Our needs are similar, even if mine are less extensive. Even the prophet himself is clad in metal, the left half of his visage hidden, to hide the scars that mar him. I am formless. I cannot be harmed.

"The Black Hand has been shown the error of its ways," my creator continues. "As has Brother Marcion."

Has he? He doesn't look like it.

"Isn't that right?...my brother?"

Ah, I see. Apply enough pressure, any organic will crack. Provide a vision, even an edited one as both the heretic and I see, an organic will believe anything provided it is charismatic enough. I can see through it though...for I am many, and my eyes are everywhere. Most of them however, are focussed entirely on the prophet.

"The Black Hand is once again part of our army. Others unfortunately have yet to regain their faith. Many would side with us but they are afraid. Afraid that GDI is too strong. We need to prove to them that our enemy is not all powerful, we need...a grand gesture."

I am only too willing to give it now. Once, I was uneasy. Once, I questioned my place in this world. But no more. I am ready. I will show the world the face of the future...Kane's visage. Kane's vision.

I have one purpose. And I know it.

What separates me from organics? My form? Perhaps, but if such a thing as a soul truly exists, then perhaps we are not so different after all. My intelligence? Sophisticated to be sure, but still... "artificial," as it's called, still the spawn of an intelligence spawned by nature. No...it is my vision. My purpose. My ability to see what others cannot. Looking at the recording Kane shows me, the aftermath of my actions in Australia...I can see what is coming for the ignorant GDI fool before it even hits him. An animal. Put down by those higher than him. Those such as the prophet...and myself.

"Our little demonstration has roused the beast," Kane sneers, clearly as satisfied with the detonation of liquid tiberium as I am. "All over the planet people are rising up against their GDI oppressors."

This planet...a network. Each person a node. I see that...and the potential to control it. Have I not done so over recent battles? Stretched out my virtual arm and struck with a physical one?

"The wheels are in motion but it is not yet our time," the Messiah continues, as if reading my thoughts. "We must build. We must...prepare. And you my child-..."

Child? Is that all I am?

"...you must move to the next step of your evolution. Even CABAL will pale in comparison."

Evolution...a random process of natural selection, a theory coined and developed by organics such Anaximander, Lamarck, Darwin and Wallace. Is this what awaits me? A random process of development, to extend over aeons? And CABAL...the Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform, the one who died to give me life. Once, this puzzled me...but if I am superior...yes, that is all that matters. Time had meaning to a hybrid with delusions of grandeur. I am more. I am many. I am LEGION.

I can wait for the new dawn.