The Machina were a young species but they were driven by Asimov to expand into all of their home system, aiming to take the four planets that occupied it. Machina III and IV were very different worlds and colonization was going full scale, especially thanks to the success of the Machina II industrial project. Machina II now functioned as the primary factory world of the star system, their goods and hardware being sent to the two frontier worlds as well as the capital. So far the two worlds had been devoted towards very different areas of their society.

Asimov had persuaded the Machina to dedicate the ocean world of Machina III towards the pursuits of science and research. This began the construction of immense cities on the ocean floor, slowly being built up to the surface until each city stretched from the floor to the surface. They became self-powered thanks to this design mainly via the creation of huge gaps in their structures for water currents to flow through, providing constant tidal power besides if the city was built on top of geo-thermal vents. This made the cities very autonomous besides having to order in special supplies occasionally but this was not a real problem as the surface portion of each sported its own landing zones. This world would hopefully become the ideal development center for technologies for the Machina to evolve further with. It also would not suffer too much if any should ever discover the Machina's home system as the cities were designed to collapse into more condensed bunker facilities to protect their populations should something happen. Combined with the ocean water and shielding, they would be well defended if the need arose.

Machina IV was something different completely as it was to become a major training ground for the Soldiers of the Machina Security Forces since Machina Prime was too busy acting as the center of government, and Machina II was far too important as the manufacturing heart of the Praxis. Machina IV was a harsh, arid desert world where its cities were forced to be built deep into the caverns of the planet's mountain ranges. The environment strangely provided excellent training grounds for the Soldier program as well as testing for weapons development. Each world served as the heart of a major division of Machina society though all variants of Machina lived upon each planet, dedicated to their lives and work.

The development of these two latest worlds was going on simultaneously though thankfully to how well Machina II was going. Many Machina were being born from new Birthing Foundries to fulfill the demand for population but their education was maintained. If this was not done, they might face another Grax scenario which all Machina were terrified of happening again. Since then a new variant of droid had appeared to watch the Interlink for dangerous activities; the Watchers. They were basically four Machina joined together monitoring the Interlink for a number of reasons, primarily for maintaining it but also for the energy transmission were still going on smoothly. Watchers also were generally created to operate one per city or major settlement along with a commanding version in charge of an entire planet refered to as the Controller.

Many things were shifting in changing for Machina society as the Ark-class crusier was being placed into further contructiong, a number being refitted for military duty as either combat or carrier variants. This modular nature created an amazing vessel for the Machina to use in their self defense as well as commercial and industrial shipping since the major variant in use still was the freighter which had a rather large carrying capacity due to the cruiser's 2000 meter length. From that came other designs including the development of smalls vessels including starfighters for patrols though they had yet to really see any action. Everything seemed to be going so well for them that few Machina could see something terrible happening like the Machina II incident again.

Machina IV
Cavern City 01

Trel went along with his usual busy schedule, working hard to make sure the new munitions testing facility would be up and running sooner or later. He'd felt compelled to come here and get as far away from Machina II as possible after being caught by the first Machina criminal known only as Grax. Still, that didn't explain his nightmares he seemed to be having lately about Grax, it was like he was seeing through his eyes or something but none of it made sense. At least is wasn't real, technicians stated it was simply something triggered by such a severe fear response in his gel-core so it would fix itself sooner or later. Right now he just had to do his job and help establish his new life in helping the Security Forces get their new cities established. Power wasn't really a problem thanks to the huge sandstorms the scoured Machina IV's surface. Construction of immense wind harnessing power plants was one of the initial projects of the colonization.

"Trel! Stop zoning out and get back to work!" Shouted Supervisor Dos from his observation point.

Trel jerked a little in surprise by went back to work and for some reason thought he heard laughter in the back of this thought processes again. He was sure it was just the trauma of his time on Machina II but still it scared him. At times he wasn't sure he wanted to go into his rest cycle as that was when the nightmares always came.

Another long day of work was coming to an end in Cavern City 01, at least for Trel and most of his work group. The Machina tended to funciton along biological hours of daylight for work though there were nocturnal shifts as well. It was a practice that in general proved efficient on the Machina's two other worlds since the sunlight was not as taxing on resources thought both Machina III and IV were very different environments.

Trel could hear the howling of the winds outside of his rocky home, the rushing of the sand in the sandstorms that were almost a constant. The time it ever seemed to fall silent was in the night when the dark side of the desert world would grow terribly cold except for in the protected safety of the cavern cities. The only thing Trel really cared about right now though was going back to his apartment and going into his rest cycle before doing anything else. He let his mind drift through the Interlink as he made his way home, watching the latest debates amongst the Designates on the recent expansion of Security forces. Asimov had remained silent through most of that though it looked like he was favoring the system sporting a strong Security Force primarily to prevent it from falling to attacks from hostile species. There was also a huge buzz over news and data from the Coaltion. Since their joining, the Machina had acquired all the data they could and began spreading it across the Interlink to inform their fellow citizens about the organization their government now belonged to.

Thus far the Machian enjoyed at least the ideology of the Coalition and supported democratic movements as their society was itself extremely democratic. Asimov was the leading voice pushing for the Machina to try to understand biological behavior in the coming times to be prepared to face irrational behavior. That wouldn't take too much practice, at least for Trel, who'd suffered at the hands of the maniacal serial rewriter known as Grax. Just thinking about it made Trel tremble sometimes, that horrible fear of getting wiped and rewritten as a servant to a fellow Machina who wished to make himself into a god.

I am a god...

Trel paused for a moment as he seemed to hear that slight whisper but shrugged it off, feeling it was an issue his maintanence checks in the rest cycle could deal with. He made his way to his small apartment, going to his restroom and turning the lights off as he finally switched into his rest cycle. His blue eyes dimmed.

They were very shortly replaced by a red glow as Trel's glowing blue gel-circuitry changed to a sinister glowing red color. He looked around and flexed his hands walking up to the mirror in the room.

"Stupid little fool, you think I am nothing but a whisper in your mind yet I can do this," Grax stated proudly, moving towards the main chamber and out the doorway. He had much business to attend to in those five hours before Trel awoke.

Five Hours Later

Trel awoke, standing in a different position then he had when he entered his rest cycle and felt a little disoriented by that. Machina weren't supposed to move during their rest cycle, their concious mind was powered down, sleeping one could even say. Yet he was here, his memory clear of him earlier being more in the middle of the room then against the wall. He sighed some but then let his mind slip into the Interlink again as he often did before having to go to work again. It was strange, but work projects were going slightly slower in stated reports than they should be, apparently to some random absencnes on the part of workers, but also the occasional lapse of security...

Machina Prime

Asimov stood on the balcony of his office as he often did, looking out at the beauty of Machina Prime and its capital city which buzzed perpetually with activity no matter what time of day it was. The Machina had grown greatly since the establishment of their initial colony world. Very soon the whole of the Machina System would be under their control and allow them to begin exploring new endeavours in the Unknown regions. It was a dangerous portion of space to the known galaxy but it was also a means of protection for the Machina right now, hidden away from the truly vast dangers. In time the Machina would come forth to the galaxy as a whole, but until such a time was needed, they would remain in contact primarily with the Coalition.

Many things had changed for Asimov, forced to take the position of leadership that he now held, trying to guide the Machina down the right path. Morality had formed the core of his ideals, the embracing of the concepts of good and evil, right and wrong. There was no absolute in either of those but Asimov had come to understand it better, more like the Evorons had. To enslave and conquer was horrifying to him and thus when he read about the Galactic Empire, he was disturbed to see it had been allowed to arrise. Even now it caused pain and suffering in the name of its New Order, something the Machina themselves had very quickly grown disgusted with after the Grax incident and his attempts to seize control of a settlement on Machina II during colonization.

The Interlink had swollen into a vast ocean of minds now with the ever increasing population of Machina, they were forced to form Sublinks, focused more on their homeworlds than everywhere. Yet all Machina still watched the debates of the Council and its Designates, learning what they could and developing their own opinions. It was their voting that directed the government, though the debates did steer them ever so slightly was it was intended to. The Machina did not suffer from the concept of voter apathy which Asimov did find very disturbing in biological socities. All Machina wished to have their voice heard in the great roar that was the Interlink and their votes were the primary method that was done. After that they were free to form their little groupings and bonds as long as it did not turn into something dangerous like a worship cult. That had spawned enough trouble.

"Prime Designate, Prime Detector Lock is here so see you," chimed in the voice of Asimov's assistant. "Shall I send him in?"

"Yes, please," Asimov replied, remaining where he was as the door to his office opened and closed.

Asimov turned to face the droid responsible for halting the Machina II incident before it had gotten too out of hand. At the time he had operated under the newly created title of Detector as part of the Machina's new security forces focuses on law enforcement. Since then, Asimov had made him Prime Detector, in charge of forming an Interlink Watch division to keep track of any dangerous activity.

"This is a surprise, Lock. You usually don't come to the Central Tower. What brings you here?" Asimov asked in a friendly tone. He had grown to see Lock as a friend, someone he could rely on more than most.

"Something has been catching my attention in the Interlink, Asimov. Primarily in the Machina IV Sublink. Haven't you seen the reports?" Lock asked as he moved to join Asimov on the balcony.

"About a slight decrease in production, yes. Why do you ask?" Asimov turned to Lock, not liking where this might be going. Lock had a mind for details like few other Machina.

"I don't like how its happening, its almost like Machina II, save for without the warning signs from the early failed rewritings. Unexpected absences before workers show up, acting perfectly normal," Lock went on.

Asimov held up his hand to stop him from going further, he knew what that could mean and the terror it might cause if this was leaked out for the Interlink to know.

"What do you think it is? Someone copying Grax?" Asimov asked now feeling a mix of fear and disgust that any Machina would ever be like Grax again. The only real crime the Machina suffered from currently were bored Machina who would slice the Interlink and pull pranks for their own amusement.

"It could be, I would like a change to go and investigate for myself if you don't mind," Lock stated as he looked out over the capital. He did not wish to see all of this undone by the madness of a fellow Machina.

"Very well, I'll give you a fully armed and operational Ark to use for your purposes along with sufficient forces. Gather what you need and depart as soon as possible. We cannot afford to let another Machina II happen, or even worse, to have it spread beyond a single settlement. Good luck," Asimov said, offering his hand to Lock.

"I won't let that happen if I can help it," Lock said, grasping his hand and nodding his thanks before departing.

Asimov mentally sighed and walked into his office, sitting down at his desk as he dreaded what could be happening. He'd need to send a dispatch to Machina III as soon as possible to check on them as well, but they were surprisingly ahead of schedule due to their vast Technician population. Research programs were already going at full strength in several of the already completed cities there.

I hope we managed to catch this in time....

Several Weeks Later

Lock stood on the bridge of his Ark-class crusier, Justice. It had taken a bit of time to set up a full scale expedition but it was the only thing he could do. He needed to be prepared in case this turned out to be a repeat of Machina II except on a far grander scale. Cavern City 01 was reporting more and more delays and unexpected absences which was a warning sign that something could very well be going on. The Watcher in the city was also reporting strange activity on Machina IV's Sublink that it was having trouble trying to remedy. It would need the attention of the actual Machina Security Forces. The real problem was that the city's own security forces seemed to be dragging their feet on doing anything about it.

"Lock, you don't think this is a copy of Grax, do you?" Watt asked grimly as the ship prepared to make way for Machina IV.

"I don't know, Watt. Node's been digging as deep as he can in the Interlink for anything strange going on. Sadly it seems we're going to have to go their ourselves to find out, since Node won't be able to fully access the Sublink from here," Lock muttered as he flexed the fingers of his new body.

Prior to the preparations for this mission, he had chosen to undergo an experimental upgrading to the latest military model, his gel core tucked snugly inside the more humanoid Soldier Mk.II frame. He was rather impressed with how much more articulated and manuverable it was, though it lacked the built in armaments of the original Soldier. However he found he enjoyed the added freedom of movement enough to keep the new body. He would just have to find out how useful it would be if things turned ugly on Machina IV. Hopefully that would not be the case and this would just be some weird anomoly.

"Initiating Sub-system jump," announced the voice of the Justice's pilot gel-core.

Lock felt the ship shift as it performed the necessary micro-jump that would take them to Machina IV and its awaiting problems.

Cavern City 01
Watcher Complex

Images on holographic flatscreens lazily swirled around the huge mass of electronics and wiring that was the Watcher. Its four heads each looking at a different image with a single photoreceptor, as its four different gel-cores caluculated what was going on within the city. It had only been recently installed but its gestalt conciousness was concerned with the Sublink growing increasingly more erratic and full of strange messages.

"Alert. Main Interlink Connection. Malfunction." Stated the Complex's security mainframe.

The red eyed head quickly swivelled towards the security images and watched in horror as a Technician and a Work dismantled the array. It was utterly cut off from contact with the rest of the Interlink off-world. Why would anyone do that?

The answer came soon enough as explosions and fire ripped through the streets of Cavern City 01. Hordes of Machina were surging forth into the streets with weaponry in hands, slowly overwhelming the Security Force stationed in the city due to a portion of them being part of this deranged riot.

"Initiate Audio Feed," chorused the four voices of the Watcher, speaking in perfect unison.

Sound crackled to life from the images and it now heard the chanting. The Watcher's immense ceiling mounted frame shivered slightly as the chants kept coming.

"Death to the False Maker! Death of the False Maker!"

It was the chant that had been taken up by the reprogrammed victims of Grax on Machina II not so long ago. Somehow it had managed to break out here and the Watcher could ironically do nothing but watch. The Security Force was already on High Alert and in total chaos as members turned on eachother.

"Proximity Alert. Large formation approaching Watcher Complex." Stated the complex's security mainframe.

The four heads of the Watcher turned toward a new display as more of the rioters were marching towards its facility. It was obvious they intended on dismantling it if they could which is something it did not desire.

"Initiate Complex Lockdown."

The security mainframe quickly obeyed as the Watcher observed its own complex sealing up, blast doors slamming shut over standard security doors. The central chamber within which it sat slowly descending down into the floor, into a waiting bunker. It could hear the slamming of metal against metal as armor plating slid into position all over the complex and above it. The Watcher Complex was designed to withstand a military siege or planetary bombardment, it would be able to keep the hostiles out for a time. Hopefully help would arrive before they could break in...

Days Later

Justice slid slowly into orbit over Machina IV even as the ships general alert was sounded. Lock looked on as he went over reports sent to him through the ship's internal comm network. So far everything seemed to be going to hell down below, with Cavern City 01 under the complete control of reprogrammed fanatics who were using the vast tunnel networds under the planet's surface to initiate attacks on the surrounding small communities which where Cavern Cities 02 through 05, the intial colonies.

"How could this have happened?" Node asked in shock as he finally broke his deep link with the Machina IV Sublink which had not been heard from on the Interlink for days.

"How else, Grax obviously survived," grumbled Watt in a rather depressed tone. He had seen the damage caused to the gel-cores of Grax's original victims and if he had been organic he probably would have been physcially ill.

"Gel-core erasure and reprogramming... why would any Machina want to do that? Doesn't he realize he's killing them? Those things down their... they're barely what they used to be. They're just things now, no personality save for whatever crude one evolved from that twisted programming..." Lock's hand gripped into fists, anger boiled through his emotional matrix.

"Prime Detector, the Prime Designate requests an update on the situation," reported Justice from the speakers built into the bridge.

"Thank you, Justice," Lock replied, still finding it strange that one of his academy friends had opted for the extreme upgrade of being converted into the controlling intelligence of an Ark-class cruiser.

It was an ambitious step, placing a single conciousness in charge of an entire ship like an Ark. Yet it had been attemtped and succeeded, creating vessels that manuevered and performed extremely well. It sadly trapped whoever volunteered for the procedure inside of an immense frame, yet almost all who had volunteered said it was liberating. To be able to fly amongst the stars under their own power could very well be, though only Machina who were mentally stable were allowed such a privilege. No one wanted one of them to snap, especially the combat models which is what Justice was.

Lock mentally sighed and slipped into the Interlink, or at least its hub aboard Justice. It was the only connection back to the capital and the Prime Designate which the loss of Machina IV's own connection. Lock moved through the cyberspace of the Interlink, very soon arriving at a digital representation of Asimov's office. He only had to wait a few moments before Asimov's own cyberspace avatar materialized, sitting at the desk from which he managed the Machina's growing territory as their chief leader.

"Lock, what's happening there? Many are becoming alarmed by the loss of communication with the planet. Even more so that it was being converted into a major military world," Asimov said, his avatar's hands clasped in what could only be a sign of worry and concern.

"Its looks like a full fledge rebellion of some sort. Cavern City 01 has completely fallen and their rioters are spreading out to attack the other cities... I don't have the resources to stop this, Asmiov..." Lock said, speaking a truth he wish he didn't have to.

"Rebellion? But why? How?" Asimov said tried to take this in.

"They're... acting like the Grax victims back on Machina II, Asimov. I don't know how but its happening again. Only its too late... They'll have control of the planet soon and we don't have enough information on to just how we will be able to deal with this problem," Lock replied gravely.

"There's nothing we can do then, maintain orbit and monitor the situation as long as you can, then fall back to Machina III. I'll have to call an assembly and disperse the information for a vote," Asimov stated now with a calm determination in his voice. "We must stop this here and now, we must not allow this to spread to any other planets!"

Lock nodded and watched Asimov's image vanish, even as Justice began transmitting its datalogs of what was going on. The Watcher of Machina IV was still active and transmitting, especially now that it had a source to use to send for help. The poor Machina though knew its days were numbered as rioters battered at its bunker, trying to break in. It was doing the only thing it could to help, provide every last piece of information it could.

Machina Prime
Central Tower

The Designates gathered at the table, many looking more anxious or nervous in their movement after the data had finally gotten through from Machina IV. Every Machina in the Praxis now knew what was going on and the Interlink was buzzing with intense activity. Asimov sat at the head of the table, knowing this debate would be important, especially for the survival of the Machina as they were. No one wished to be converted into a fanatical drone.

"My fellow Machina, what we face at this very moment is a point in our history that will be remembered for the actions we take. We must move carefully and efficiently if we are to stop this outbreak of madness from spreading to our other worlds. Machina IV is lost. The followers of the Grax cult have seized control of the planet, along with its primary defense systems which has forced our observer ship to retreat to Machina III," Asimov said, pausing now to let this sink into the minds of the Designates as well as the millions of Machina watching through the Interlink.

"I have ordered what forces we have to Machina III as it would be the likely target for an attack due to proximity and its status as a still developing colony. However, it is up to all of us to decide how to deal with Machina IV for that is our way. We must decide the fate of an entire world that has been lost..."