|
THE NEWCOMER
Path A1A1 by Jay
[Path A1A1. "Nice day."]
The tall figure looms above Cyberreyn, a silhouette in the warm sun. "My name is Nosferatu." He bends down to sit in the second beach recliner that she hadn't noticed before. "But Flicker likes to call me 'Nos'."
"Wait a sec! You mean 'Nos' ? This hovercraft -- the 'Nosferatu' ?"
"Of course," Nos replies, adjusting his reflective shades. "Didn't Flicker ever mention me?"
"No!! That son of a b--"
"Hey, Cy, no need to dis my designer." He leans back and enjoys the gloriously-virtual ocean view, the sunrays bouncing off his slick hairless scalp. "Flicker and Sky [refer to Path B3] spent a shitload of their time finding a way to connect my real-world hardware to the virtual-construct system. You know, as a way to alert the crew inside a running construct, should an external danger arise."
A little awed, Cyberreyn asks, "Are you A.I.?"
Arms folded behind his head, Nos turns to her, "Why don't you ask Flicker yourself?"
She looks down, the cell phone still activated in her hand. With a shrug, she says, "Why not?" And putting the phone to her ear, she adds, "Flicker, you still there?"
"Yeah-yeah, Cy, heard every word."
"Well, what's the deal?"
"Come on, Cy, do you think I'm that stupid? We don't want an A.I. hovercraft flying around, choosing what it wants to do, and taking us along with it, do we? Besides, even if we wanted to, we don't have the resources."
"I'll take your word for it, Flick." Her tone carries a slight edge of skepticism.
"You should," Nos replies. "He's telling the truth, such as it is. I may not 'think' or 'choose' as you do, but my number-crunching CPU can come pretty damn close."
Cyberreyn leans back. "OK, good enough for me." The hovering seagulls seem to sooth her disquieted soul. But then she asks, "Have you ever entered the Matrix, I mean, in your new human form?"
Nos seems to pause then replies, "No, not yet, and after a hundred years as a plain old hovercraft, I'm in no damn hurry."
Suddenly, Nos bolts upright. The ocean, the seagulls, even the wind stops in mid-motion. "Security alert! There are 3 Sentinels heading our way!"
[No choice here.] Continue with Path A1A1A for Nos to instruct Cy and Flicker to end the simulation.
|
|