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THE NEWCOMER
Path A1A1A1 by Jay
[Path A1A1A1. Sit tight.]
Sky turns to Cyberreyn with a palpable look of concern. "Sit tight. Me and Hitch will be with the captain. Flicker may need you at one of the gun batteries."
Cy nods.
"Good. Don't worry, we'll take care of this."
Sky hurries to the ladder, torn boots clunking along the deck. Hitch, the first officer and senior operator above Flicker, is just ahead of her, turning the creased bill of his orange cap from forward to back, to avoid hitting the rungs.
"What's the situation, Captain?" Hitch calls.
"Three Sentinels," Kan-chiang responds, bringing up the central holographic display. "Behind us... maybe three minutes... and closing."
"Any side entrances, pockets, places to shut down?" Sky, as second officer, jumps into the third seat of the cockpit.
"Uhh, I... think... so," Hitch turns to one of his display screens, punches a few keys, "Yes! The tunnel branches off up ahead... about... three or four minutes away."
"Damn!" Sky curses. "It's gonna be close."
"We can do it," the captain reassures her. Peering ahead down the spinning tunnel, Kan-chiang weighs his options. In three or so minutes, the junction will appear, as will the Sentinels. The gun batteries don't have a chance of deactivating the machines, but they may delay them. If he can delay the Sentinels, he may have additional time to shut down the hovercraft, and release the electro-magnetic pulse. Or he may not.
But he does have one card he didn't have before -- the digital human 'Nos,' the hovercraft 'Nosferatu' himself. Was this the time?
"Hitchhiker," he turns his brown eyes to his first officer. "Get Sky and Cyberreyn ready. I think it's time."
"Time for what?" Sky's emerald eyes widen in realization. "You mean... the Cockpit Construct? But we haven't completed all of the tests. There's still some glitches with 'Nos'--"
"I understand, Sky," the captain nods. "We have several paths before us. It is best to be prepared for as many as we can anticipate."
His words seem to both soothe and pierce her still skeptical soul.
Choose Path A1A1A1A to disagree, tests shows there's no time to prepare and load the construct.
Choose Path A1A1A1B to agree, but insist that Cyberreyn stay out, she's not ready.
Choose Path A1A1A1C to agree, and follow Hitch to the Operator station.
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