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"The Net's Offspring" is the first chapter of Blame!, and the first chapter of Volume 1.

Synopsis[]

Maybe on Earth. Maybe in the Future.


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Blame! opens with a young man and child walking on a narrow bridge high above a great chasm. Bolts of lightning crash between the two massive structures that the bridge connects, and manta ray-like creatures float along the ceiling.

The two spot an individual approaching from up ahead. The young man quickly instructs the child to hide underneath the flooring of the bridge through an opening behind them. The approaching figure calls out to the young man, appearing to be a small man cloaked in rags. He says it has "been a long while" since he has seen another person, and asks the young man where he came from. Proceeding further, he claims that he thought he had seen the young man with another person from farther back. He passes it off as just being his imagination, but walks towards the opening in the floor where the child still hides.

As the rag man approaches the hatch, he begins to transform, however before he can find the child, the young man gets his attention. The rag man turns to find a gun pointed at him. In that instant, his body is revealed from under his ragged cloak, brandishing a bio-mechanized arm. Before the rag man can act, the young man fires his gun and is thrown backwards from its recoil. The shot splits the rag man in two and continues until it hits the wall at the end of the bridge and causes a large explosion. The young man heads over to the open floor panel and retrieves the child. The boy asks if the creature was after his genes, referring to the young man as Killy. The two continue toward the other side of the chasm.

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Some time later, two other bio-mechanized creatures approach the rag man's eviscerated body. The shorter of the two kneels down before him and extracts a small cable from the side of its head. It places the other end of the cable into the head of the rag man, and the two begin to communicate with each other through it. The rag man thanks the two for finding him quickly, however the creature only seems to be interested in what he's found. The rag man brings up a recording of the child from earlier, confirming that he carries pre-mutation genes. The creature asks about the young man the child was with, to which the rag man responds that he "would not scan". He then urges the other two to save his memory, but the creature quickly disconnects itself from him instead. The taller creature then tosses the top half of his body down the chasm.

As Killy and the young boy continue through large mechanical corridors, Killy brings them to a halt, drawing his weapon due to hearing something. A harpoon suddenly penetrates the child's leg, and he is dragged upwards into the hands of the taller creature. Killy is then ambushed by the shorter creature but quickly retaliates by firing his weapon. His shot misses and causes water to begin flooding the corridor. From above, the taller creature shoots at Killy, giving the shorter creature an opportunity to disarm him. As Killy attempts to escape down a hallway, the shorter creature fires a shot from Killy's gun, however due to the unexpectedly heavy recoil it misses. The explosion from the shot causes the hallway Killy is fleeing in to collapse, and Killy is sent falling down the chasm.

Wandering a flooded trench, Killy discovers a dilapidated vehicle, heavily damaged but still functional. He pulls out the corpse of its pilot before hacking into and restarting it.

Carrying the child in an organic bag, the two creatures are ascending a very long staircase when they are ambushed by Killy inside the vehicle. A gunfight erupts and Killy is successful in blasting apart the taller creature. The shorter creature, hiding on a beam below the staircase, brings down the vehicle with a shot through its body. Taking cover behind a collapsed statue, it searches for Killy, but is attacked from behind as Killy slashes off its arm and into its head with a sharp piece of metal. Still functioning but wobbly, it kicks Killy away and attempts to shoot him, but discovers that Killy has already retrieved his weapon. An instant later, its head is blasted.

Killy retrieves the cocoon carrying the young boy and rips it open, only to find that he is already dead.

Character Appearances[]

  • Killy
  • Young Boy
  • Unnamed Silicon Creature 1 (rag man)
  • Unnamed Silicon Creature 2 (shorter creature)
  • Unnamed Silicon Creature 3 (taller creature)

Notes & Trivia[]

To be Added


Blame! - Volumes and Chapters
Volume 1 The Net's OffspringMemories of EarthTechno NomadsEX-LOGThe AuthoritiesEscapeSilicon SoulsThe Builders
Volume 2 EX-LOG - Nest RuineThe CapitolThe CorporationNet SphereSafety Guard
Volume 3 The Great SurfElectrosilos FishermenPlantersAwakeningAssaultBasic LanguageMassacre
Volume 4 Backup CyberspaceLimit CancelHybridToha Heavy IndustriesElectronic KnightThe Eighth Cave
Volume 5 HackingScattered SpaceGravity FurnaceVersionCave 13Cease Fire
Volume 6 Sanakan and CiboVibrationCollapseDissolutionDisappearanceBeautiful LifeUnofficial Megastructure
Volume 7 Central NexusClass 1 Critical Effect WeaponCaptureAnti-Intrusion Electron SpaceThe Megastructure's Internal FissureSpecial Safeguards
Volume 8 Inside the MegastructureMultiple Dispersion Molecule MovementProvisional Connection CertificationRaidUrgeLevel 9Far-Off
Volume 9 Parallel Electricity Storage Tank ClusterThe CallerLacking EscapeThe CaptorAnother MeetingPeopleThe Observer
Volume 10 Unified Metal BeamsContinuumOrganicBurning SiliconRescue of the ReceptacleExterminator, First ClassRetrieved ConsciousnessThe Edge of the City
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