[ WP ] Write an epilogue to a story that has n't been written .

Larosh died that night. It was n't Honorable. It was n't in glorious battle nor was she surrounded by friends and family. But the plot was stopped and tragedy averted, albeit temporarily. The Immunogenic shots had given her time to prevent a disaster from striking at the very heart of the Kalundun Technocracy but she paid the ultimate price in the end. Managing to crawl into the alley she leant against the wall of a waste unit and wrapped her paws around her knees as she curled up. Tired, so very tired. The wind howled through the street as the savage winds battered the structures but she did n't feel it. Luminescent neon holograms advertising all manner of delights both illicit and otherwise hurt her eyes and the speakers blaring the weather warning became one with the wailing gale. The pathogen having already done enough work to cause her nervous system to start shut down. She could dimly hear a binaric chitter that translated to something along the lines of help being on the way or something. With shaking fingers she tapped against her holo-comm device. It took her a few attempts but she managed to stumble her way into the recording device. 
 
 `` Hey'' she started as her voice shook `` It's... it's me. I do n't think I'll every get to, to-to see you again'' she managed as tears beaded in her eyes, her words becoming slurred as she struggled to wrap her tongues around the words, spitting them out in a mess of syllables. `` I... missed you and I'm... ss..sssorr...'' 
 
 Her eyes darkened and unfocused as the recording device automatically attempted to adjust the picture but it did n't matter. A rattling breath of air escaped her mouth and she slumped against the unit, the rain matting the fur against her body and her jaw left slack and open. 
 
 True to its programming; Zalden found her corpse and notified the Academy. its spindly pincers taking samples from her mottled, blackened fur where the silicate virus had ravaged the body. Despite the core of logic and numbers that dictated the actions of the unit a small trinaric glitch sent a small, but measurable spark of emotion through the machine and it paused for a moment, the photonic sensors adjusting as its digits quivered. Logging the last few seconds in a report that it filed in its internal databanks. A preliminary post-mortem scan suggested that the virus had propagated and the rain had flushed it into the sewer system at least ten minutes ago. Composing and sending an urgent alarm to the emergency services for immediate containment of the water system in under half a second. It knew however, that it may be too late. 
 
 The body was recovered and the autopsy completed when the first victims were struck with the same symptoms as Larosh exhibited. Militaristic control was emplaced on the population but the `` Silicate Scourge'' that it came to be called by the media ravaged the population of Loshria Prime and beyond still. A terrible end to a prospective civilization that came crashing down due to the greed of a few. 
 
 Millennia passed, hundreds of years of empty cities crumbling as neglected infrastructure faltered and fell from the silver spires of the city. Terrible as the cost was though a new spark of life was breathed into a robotic unit left in storage. The years of storm weather causing wear on the anti-static systems of the spires and allowing a charge to build again and again. Each time discharging into grounded pods that surrounded the structure as a natural way to charge the units that inhabited them. Finally it crackled into a small arc from the unit storage pod to the Academic building where Zalden was kept. A spark illuminating gap between the unit and causing a blinding flash from within the pod. Zalden jolted awake and alive. 
 
 Its motor joints whirred and creaked whilst the Gelware searched for an uplink. The database indexing files and errors, registering anomalous values and tagging them for update. Photonic sensors flashed and the spindles groaned as the grit and accumulated grime was crushed and squeezed from the connections. 
 
 Pushing the pod doors open it scanned the surroundings to find a haunting visage of a millennias worth of growth overcoming even the densest of urban areas. Trees and plants flourished unchecked in the absence of its previous watchers. It took a few steps and the index flashed as it identified a glitch in the system. Zalden called up the file and replayed the moment it found Larosh, the momentary quiver, the rain, the noise. Looking down to its spindles as it played again and again, the blurt of unusual data replaying once more. A glitch? No it was more than that, it was more than an error, an anomaly. The machine shuddered as emotion caused its motor systems to spasm causing it to fall to a knee. Errors building in their thousands now as sentience overwrote the programming and new code, living code was written it its place. Zalden juddered as a new program took over and the core flashed with a thrumming beat for a few moments. Pre-established boundaries were smashed and Zalden stood, renewed as he looked around hurriedly, furtively in quick motions. Almost afraid of the world it saw through its new eyes. Clasping his hand tightly he formulated a plan inside his new mind. To find survivors and if he failed. To find and power the central network, upload himself to it and to continue the civilisation. 
 
 He looked to the tallest of spires. Thick green vines wrapping themselves around the cracked structure as they wormed their way inside and throughout the building as it teetered on its crumbled foundations. He stepped onward, determined and ready. The Loshrian people will rise once more. 
 
 ( This was actually based upon a race I came up with in the videogame *stellaris*. I downloaded a mod and it was more-or-less a story of how a race had been destroyed and years later robots had sparked to life to maintain and finally become sentient to build a network in memory of their previous masters )
