The Kaban Project (Short Story)
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| Author | Graham McNeill |
| Publisher | Black Library |
| Series | Horus Heresy series |
| Collected in | Horus Heresy: Collected Visions Shadows of Treachery |
A short story written by Graham McNeill, The Kaban Project is set on Mars and focuses on the actions of a Mechanicum Adept during the initial stages of the Horus Heresy. It is notable in that it features renegade Mechanicum attempting to engineer a true Artificial Intelligence. Writing this story inspired the author to further explore the role of the Adeptus Mechanicus during the Heresy, and the ninth book in the Horus Heresy novel series, Mechanicum, by the same author, also features the Kaban Machine.
Contents
Cover Description
The Mechanicum priesthood guards its secrets carefully - few of its technological marvels and processes are fully understood by the Imperium, and many more could be deadly if allowed to fall into the wrong hands. However, in the forges of Lukas Chrom, something sinister has come into being. Rumours abound of forbidden lore and artificial sentience, and a name has been whispered in the dark corners of the Martian data network: 'Kaban'.[1]
Plot Summary
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The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | The Kaban Project (Short Story) |
Adept Third Class Pallas Ravachol interrupts his cerebral engineering of defective servitors to visit his current master Lukas Chrom's top secret project: the Kaban Machine.[2a] A month earlier, he stumbled upon the machine's sentience while updating the protocols of the servitors guarding its chamber, and ultimately informed Chrom. His master knew of the peculiarity, it being a commission from Horus Lupercal.[2b] Ravachol explains to the machine that its existence goes against the Emperor of Mankind's decree concerning Abominable Intelligences, but their discussion is interrupted by Chrom's Protectors, come to arrest the adept. When he refuses and the Protectors are about to execute him, the Kaban machine slaughters them for threatening its friend. Ravachol runs away, accompanied by four servitors he has reprogrammed.[2c]
He boards one of the many trains that criss-cross the surface of Mars[2d], hoping to find help in the Cydonia Mensae temple complex.[2e] Meanwhile, Chrom sends the assassin Remiare to eliminate Ravachol, and undermines the Kaban machine's trust in its friend.[2f] The runaway adept reaches the Basilica of the Blessed Binary[2g], while Remiare tracks him down to the complex.[2h] He confides in a priest, who sees the hand of discontents in the project and advises him to seek sanctuary in another adept's forge-temple[2i], and Ravachol heads towards the seat of his former master, Urtzi Malevolus.[2j] On his heels, Remiare tortures the priest to both collect information and indulge her cruelty.[2k]
Ravachol reaches Malevolus's forge-temple, only to be attacked by Remiare who dispatches three of his servitors. He narrowly manages to claim the right of sanctuary, thus forcing the assassin to fall back.[2l] He is welcomed by Malevolus, who shows him his latest magnum opus: a unique suit of Tactical Dreadnought armor, custom-made for the Warmaster.[2m] Understanding that his former master is one of the discontents, and seeing his last remaining servitor cut down by Remiare, Ravachol flees but comes face to face with the Kaban machine.[2n] It explains that Ravachol's loyalty to imperial law endangers its own existence, and annihilates him to protect itself, thus cementing its loyalty to Chrom.[2o]
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Sources
- 1: Black Library - "The Kaban Project" (saved archive page, dated 16 April 2017, last accessed 10 September 2024, original link: https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/quick-reads/the_kaban_project.html)
- 2: "The Kaban Project" (Short Story)
- 2a: "Two microns to the left."
- 2b: "How do you feel? Less than a month ago, he would have been ashamed to ask such a question."
- 2c: "How are you feeling? Ravachol knew he should not be here with the Kaban machine, but his curiosity would not let him forget the forbidden creation and, standing before its terrible lethality, he knew he had made the right decision to come once more."
- 2d: "Losing yourself on Mars was easy."
- 2e: "Mars… Ravachol knew that in ancient myth, Mars had been the father to the founders of the great Romanii empire, a centre of culture and technological innovation that was said to have spanned the globe."
- 2f: "Master Adept Chrom watched impassively as a crew of waste servitors cleaned the bloody remains of the Protectors from the Kaban machine's chamber."
- 2g: "The Basilica of the Blessed Algorithm was one of the mightiest structures on Mars, its immensity dwarfing even the greatest forge temples of the Mondus Gamma complex."
- 2h: "Remiare skimmed the surface of the transport tube, the gravitic-thrusters carrying her effortlessly along the interior of the metal tunnel."
- 2i: "After the monumental majesty of the basilica's exterior, the interior was something of a disappointment."
- 2j: "Leaving the temple, Ravachol felt a curious lightness upon him."
- 2k: "The Basilica of the Blessed Algorithm never closed its doors and none were forbidden the succour granted by the priests of the machine."
- 2l: "The forge temple of Urtzi Malevolus loomed from the darkness ahead like a dark volcano, its sloping sides black and glossy."
- 2m: "'It's quite a mess you have left behind,' said Master Adept Urtzi Malevolus, his voice muffled behind the dark bronze of his facemask."
- 2n: "Ravachol felt a surge of fear as he looked into the trio of glowing eyes beneath Malevolus's hood."
- 2o: "'Hello, Pallas,' said the Kaban machine."
