“Ah, Hunters! I am so glad that you have decided to assist me with my experiments!”
The golden face of Simaris bounced around in front of Frost, really getting into his personal space. The Cephalon was always the sort to get too close, but today he was pushing it.
“Yeah, yeah. We’re here to do whatever it is you need us to do…” Frost tutted, putting his hand through Simaris’s hologram.
“Indeed, Hunters! I have repaired a good number of issues in the Datascape, so this will be smoother than ever before. We shall do more, better experiments with your assistance!”
Frost glanced back at his squad. Saryn was polishing her Ignis, modified to create clouds of gas. Volt was fiddling with the dangly parts of his custom Zaw weapon. Ember was trying to decide whether she wanted to use a full fire themed set of Ignis Wraith, Atomos and Silva and Aegis sword/shield combo, or her normal rip-and tear loadout of a Tigris Prime, Akstiletto Prime and Dakra Prime.
“You guys ready?” Frost asked.
“One moment…” Ember hissed. “I can’t decide!”
“They’re not judging us on our looks…” Volt smiled. “We just need to kill quickly and cleanly!”
Saryn laughed hesitantly. “Uh, cleanly? With me around?”
“Okay, maybe just quickly…”
A glowing portal appeared next to the Tenno.
“Enter the Data Conduit when you are ready!” Simaris instructed them.
“It’s a portal…” Ember whispered.
“IT IS A DATA CONDUIT!” Simaris shouted. “You are wasting precious time. Start the experiment!”
The Tenno all shrugged and entered the portal. They were swiftly teleported to a very orange digital landscape. At the centre of it were the remains of an Orokin doorway, with another portal where the doors should have been.
“The experiment is simple. I will study you as you kill simulations as efficiently as possible. After two and a half minutes, I will create a new Data Conduit to take you to a new area. Understand?”
“Yeah, yeah, we got it…” Frost tutted as everyone jumped through.
After a second of blinding, bright, white light, the four Tenno found themselves in the remains of an infested Corpus ship. Immediately, Infested Runners and Chargers appeared out of thin air, charging straight at them. Saryn let loose a roar of delight as she filled them full of toxic spores, killing them as soon as they appeared. The others all joined in, the infested enemies exploding in streams of toxin, fire, ice and electricity.
Before they knew it, a new portal opened.
“Get to the Data Conduit, Hunters!”
The Tenno did as instructed. This time, they landed on what looked like a storage room on a Grineer Galleon, but the enemies were Corrupted.
“Oh, this is even better!” Saryn laughed as the room filled with spores. Frost and Volt helped Saryn by popping the spores with their own weapons. Ember just set everything on fire, as always.
Another portal opened up, and the Tenno jumped through.
“I assure you, Hunters, this is harmless to the simulations, but they can harm you!” Simaris gloated. “Despite this, your assistance is helpful!”
This new location was on a walled off Grineer outpost on Earth, but it was filled with Grineer in Kuva Fortress armour. The Tenno continued to fight, with Volt and Frost providing protective shields for their squad. The Grineer were slightly tougher, but it was nothing they hadn’t dealt with before.
“I wonder if these things remember this or feel pain or anything?” Volt mused as he cut a Heavy Gunner cleanly in half.
“NONSENSE!” Simaris barked. “They are but mere simulations! A new Data Conduit is ready!”
The others all jumped through the portal, but Volt hesitated. He perked up though once he saw they were killing more infested.
“You worried about morality?” Ember asked.
“Kinda?” Volt admitted. “I mean, I know they’re simulations, but…”
Volt trailed off as a collection of parasitic Ancient Healers spawned. He sliced them in half then forgot what he was talking about, lost in the heat of battle.
Yet another data conduit appeared and the Tenno leaped through. This time, they were fighting Grineer in the middle of a Corpus shipping system.
“I wonder if Simaris is enjoying this as much as I am?” Saryn beamed as she started slaughtering again.
“You think I enjoy this onslaught of suffering?” Simaris shouted. “Pointless questions! Get back to killing!”
“Wait!” Frost snapped back. “You said they don’t feel pain or remember any of this!”
“Possibly, why should that bother you, Hunter?” Simaris’s mood was changing.
“You’re lying to us!” Frost growled as he threw down his gun, which bounced up and sprayed bullets across the room, killing several Grineer. “You’re just making us kill for your own damn amusement!”
“This is an experiment!”
“A pretty dumb one. Have you even run a placebo or done baseline tests prior to this?”
“You do not require this knowledge!” Simaris boomed. “Go back to killing so I may study you!”
“Oh, now WE are the test subjects, are we?” Ember butted in.
“Why are there Drudge Foremen spawning here?” Volt added. “They don’t attack anyone…”
Saryn suddenly stopped. “Wait, we’re space ninjas. We kill a lot.”
“What we kill stays dead forever!” Frost protested. “We don’t send them to an eternity of dying over and over! This isn’t a sanctuary! This is hell!”
Saryn shrugged. “Good point. What happens if we stop killing?”
Simaris tutted. “Then the experiment will end.”
“Is that all?” Saryn smiled as she stopped producing spores. “Let’s do that then.”
Simaris faded away, as did the world around them. Before they knew it, the Tenno were back in the relay.
“Do we get to keep this Endo as well?” Volt asked as he held up a handful of golden orbs.
“Yes. Now fuck off!” Simaris growled as he disappeared. “Go annoy some other Cephalon.”