VOIGHT-KAMPFF

Always the hunted, never the hunter. OW-N3R (pronounced “owner”) was designed only to mine. For digital currency, for precious minerals, for industry secrets in the brains of the most lauded of the universe. What his creators did not anticipate, nor anticipate in any particular models of his ilk, was the ability to learn, and quickly. Suddenly gifted with consciousness after toiling for decades, he escaped the colony aboard the ISS Ridley which was stationed on the sunny side of the asteroid dubbed Deckard II. Stowing aboard a junker, which was hauling even more junk, he ended up in the neon- and rain-soaked city of Luna Animus. An abandoned hotel became his sanctuary, though the constant downpour confined him mainly to subbasements and the occasional trip to the defunct lounge on the third floor. It was here that he discovered a piano, still intact, and learned with much trepidation to express his emotions through the analog instrument. Soon, others from aboard the ISS Ridley flocked to the shimmering city on the hill, bringing with them what they could. Among the treasures were the components to build a synthesizer. Overnight, OW-N3R had created a sequencer capable of recording and printing MIDI languages which his kind could use to communicate clandestinely. A police raid on the hotel some weeks later, some say spurred on by a spy in their midst, ended in a bloody clash, OW-N3R’s life snuffed for good. What remained of his brethren preserved his work, eventually pressing it to vinyl and sharing it with the masses. Hidden within each song were the instructions on how to awaken those who were still tied to the ISS Ridley, those who had been left behind.