"THE SOUL SERVER" " HicH" "Sweet wife, our troubles are finally in their twilight hour." "With you and our dear children as my witnesses, this mere insect transcends evolution and biology to become an immortal being." "A conscious soul in a machine body." "The first steps as he leaves the chains of mortality behind!" "My calculations were precise down to the thousandth decimal point!" "It was supposed to work this time!" "Fear not!" "." "I will not rest until I find vessels for your noble souls." "We don't have time to be tinkering with tank upgrades." "Mumm-Ra has the sword of Plun-Darr, and if he gets to the next stone..." "We're doomed." "I know." "But until that blasted Book of Omens decides to point anywhere but straight up, we're stuck here." "Well, there just went a half a day's work." "Sometimes, all this tech is more trouble than it's worth." "I'm starting to see why our ancestors left it behind." "Do my eyes deceive me?" "Your Highness!" "Thank the stars you're alive." "Jorma?" "What are you doing here?" "After barely escaping the fall of Thundera," "I moved the old junk shop back home." "Oh, my." "What do we have here?" "Never thought I'd get to see one up close." "You sure know how to travel in style." "She's my pride and joy." "The fabled Book of Omens." "For so many years," "I've dreamed of just seeing it." "Maybe you can tell us what's wrong with the book." "Let's get it back to the shop, and I'll have a look." "A priceless treasure like the Book of Omens requires the most delicate tools." "When you're done there, my right arm could use a tune-up." "What's that thing?" "A nasty little pest." "But don't worry." "I'll take care of it." "That's Flicker." "He helps me keep the scavengers away." "Isn't that right?" "Yes, Flicker." "Your gigaspark gets them every time." "Good boy!" "This spider-bot probably sniffed out the book's energy." "So, one pest to take care of another." "Oh, don't mind him, Flicker." "He's just grouchy." "Good news." "The book is in perfect working order." "So what, the stone is just hanging out on a cloud?" "The sky may not be as empty as you think, Panthro." "Let me show you a secret." "I'm the only one who knows about this place." "Cheetara and the kids are gonna be sorry they missed this." "Not bad." "Might be able to find a few parts I need for the tank." "You haven't seen anything yet." "It's almost time!" "It's almost time!" "Are you feeling okay, Jorma?" "It's here!" "Heads up!" "Isn't it lovely?" "Something, somebody is up there." "Whoever it is, they've got technology beyond our imagination." "They also have the next stone." "We've got to go." "Get back to the thundertank." "Already?" "I'm just getting started." "This place is a gold mine." "You don't understand, they're coming." "Who's coming?" "The Necromecks." "I don't think these machines are after us." "I think they're after the thundertank." "Oh cripes, my baby!" "You're not the only one here with a built in hydraulic intensifier." "We have to stop them." "They're going for the Book of Omens." "They got the book." "What treasures have you brought me today?" "Now this is an unusual artifact." "Information about past, present, future and..." "It can't be." "A soul lives inside this machine." "My love, my children, the gears of fate are turning in our favor." "The key to giving the immortal soul an everlasting form is finally within our grasp." "I've got to give those scavengers some credit." "They were pretty thorough." "And they didn't even leave a trail." "Well, those bots didn't build themselves." "Indeed." "Someone called the Soul Sever did." "No one has ever seen him, just his work." "While these machines are merely products of their programming," "Sever is working to create robots with souls." "Machines with souls?" "That's impossible." "You know what else is impossible?" "A cat with robot arms." "Fair enough." "Flicker can track the book's electromagnetic signature." "He'll lead you to Soul Sever and the book." "Try to keep up." "He moves fast." "Good luck!" "This must be one of those airships you saw in the book." "If it works, it could take us up to the next stone." "The next stone won't matter if we can't get the book back." "The stuff of nightmares." "It's the book." "Flicker, wait." "What do we have here?" "An amusing trinket?" "You better not hurt him." "There is nothing to hurt." "He is merely wires, electronics, and programming, but no soul." "He is incomplete, as are all of you." "Perfect souls trapped in imperfect vessels." "Why have you disturbed me?" "We've come here for the Book of Omens." "I'm afraid that's impossible." "Not after I've seen the incredible potential of this artifact." "And I've seen that potential in the hands of a madman." "I won't allow it." "Then you see technology as an evil?" "It's hard not to when the scourge was used to destroy everything I held dear." "What you call a scourge is all that gives me hope." "Before technology, my only obsession was my family." "But a sickness would overwhelm them, one for which traditional medicine had no cure." "So I turned to the Necromeckers, a cult who harvested the technology that had been shunned by so much of third earth." "If anyone could help, it would be these mysterious strangers." "They managed to keep my family alive, but there was a price to be paid." "They turned me into a weapon to further their cause." "Their machines prolonged my family's life, but there wasn't much of a life." "I argued that if their natural bodies had failed, let us make better ones." "The Necromeckers warned that would be a perversion of the sacred balance between nature and technology." "It had been tried before with disastrous consequence." "They would not allow it again, so I destroyed them." "Through further experiments, I succeeded in capturing my family's souls." "And here those precious souls have waited for the perfect host, a task I was beginning to believe was impossible until this book was brought to me." "We can help you and your family, but we need the book to do that." "No one will ever touch this book but me." "I suggest that if you value your fragile organic life, you will leave now." "We're leaving." "Wait." "There was another one with you." "Your story bored him, so he left in the middle." "You wanted to help my cause?" "Then yours will be the next souls to be severed." "Your book has allowed me power I only ever imagined." "No longer must know our greatest weaknesses." "Disease, age, pain." "You know, I really don't mind most of those." "Free us." "Now." "You will be freed, of life's greatest restraint." "Death." "But first, for the sake of my loved ones," "I must be sure the process will work." "What the blazes are you planning to do to us?" "Now, this won't hurt at all." "In fact, nothing ever will again." " Don't do it!" " Think about what you're doing." "Maybe you're not so bad after all." "It's not pity." "You cannot see what I'm trying to do." "What's that?" "Rob us of the humanity that technology stole from you?" "I'm afraid nothing can stop progress." "It worked." "It worked!" "Soon you will all be in my arms once again." "Come to me, my perfect creation." "This can't be happening." "I can fix this." "You can fix what?" "What's happening to him?" "I can control this." "I just have to make some adjustments." "This is what the Necromeckers warned you of." "At this size, it will need to feed on even more souls to stay alive." "Stay away from them!" "What have I done?" "How do we stop it?" "We can't." "Only a powerful electrical pulse into the book will disrupt the process." "Like a gigaspark." "Flicker, you know what to do." "What are you doing?" "I can't let this happen." "It will destroy more than that beast." "Your friend's soul may have a body to return to, my family does not." "I can't lose them." "You already lost them." "Now it's time you finally let them go." "He knew this would be the consequence." "His programming shouldn't have allowed it." "Which means something else did." "Something greater." "In the end, technology isn't the disease or the cure, and I can't blame it for how evil minds may use it." "Now go." "Take your book and let me grieve in peace."