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THE NEWCOMER
Path A1A1A1C1 by Jay
[Path A1A1A1C1. Cy gets into a chair.]
Cyberreyn pauses at her empty dentist-like chair, the chair in which she learned the first lessons of the origins and nature of the Matrix. "The Matrix," Captain Kan-chiang told her, "is the life you never lived, the dream you never dreamt, the prison you never knew was there..." But how was this moment, fighting for her life, any better?
"Cy!" Hitch exclaims, ready to plug her into the system.
"I know," she understands, and hops into the chair.
Sky quickly enters, her bright eyes flashing. "Are we ready?"
"Yes, commander!" both Hitch and Flicker reply in unison, as Sky hops into her own chair.
Sweeping her skepticism away, Sky looks over at Cyberreyn. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," she replies softly and seriously.
"OK, Flicker," Sky commands, "Load us up!"
Instantaneously, with eyes shut, the blackness behind their eyelids flashes white, then dissipates into the familiar setting of the humming 'Nosferatu' cockpit. Lieutenant Commander Sky sits in the right front seat, while Cyberreyn sits in the third cockpit position behind the first two. Inside the virtual cockpit, the central holographic display illuminates three ominous octopus-like Sentinels. Outside, the spinning tunnel continues to speed towards them as an identical real-time simulation of the tunnel in the real world.
"Damn!" the newcomer utters in disbelief, "It's an exact duplicate!"
"That's the point," the deep voice replies. The left front seat finally turns to reveal 'Nos,' the tall hairless human representation of the hovercraft 'Nosferatu.' "Welcome back, Cy."
"Nos?" the newcomer utters once more. The phrases 'Cockpit Construct,' 'Feedback Loop,' and 'Palindrome Program' splatters through her mind like rainstorm splashes into her blurry eyes. "Aren't YOU the hovercraft? And now you're riding INSIDE YOURSELF? This is f*cking freaky!"
"Enough with the chatter!" commands Sky. "We've got less than a minute before the junction and Sentinels appear. Cy, we must focus our minds on stabilizing this Construct! Got your headset on?"
Cy finds it and jams it on. "Got it!"
"Flick!" Sky continues. "Are we hooked up with the captain?"
"You're good to go!" Flick calls.
"We're ready, Captain! We see the tunnel!"
Kan-chiang gazes intensely down the wide-sweeping twists and turns of the sparsely-lit passageway.
"Good," he says, turning to his control panel. "OK, Nos, you have my instructions... I transfer cockpit controls to you..." -- he punches in the captain's-level authorization code-string activating the full two-mind Palindrome Program -- "Now!"
For an instant, the humming Cockpit Construct flickers in and out of silence and darkness.
"What was that?" Cyberreyn asks.
"Forget about it," Sky commands. "Focus on the Construct!"
Oblivious to the other two, Nos acknowledges, "Yes, Captain, program activated. Junction ahead: 42 seconds. Threat closing: 36 seconds."
"Shit!" Sky curses, willing away the feeling of oncoming nausea as best as she can.
"Adjusting vector to optimize trajectory," Nos continues. Outside, the lightning pattern of the hovercraft's repulsors flash brilliantly across the ancient tunnel walls. "Re-routing power from life support to repulsor systems." The hum of the trembling engines shriek louder. "Analyzing tunnel integrity."
"How're we doing, Nos?" the Captain yells into his headset, leaping down the ladder and scrambling down the hallways.
"Junction ahead: 33 seconds. Threat closing: 29 seconds."
"What's going on?" Cyberreyn calls out. "It's crushing my mind!"
Sky calls back, "Focus! You have to resist it! We have to hold the Construct together!"
"I'm trying!"
Nos continues. "Junction: 24 seconds. Threat: 23 seconds."
"Then try!" Sky commands.
Nos continues. "Tunnel fracture detected. Firing aft auto-cannons." Outside, the cockpit-controlled aft guns target and fire multiple piercing lasers at several overhead weak points in the passage structure. In seconds, massive shards of steel and concrete collapse behind the speeding hovercraft, stabbing one of the tentacled killing machines. The resulting explosion rocks the hovercraft.
"Aaaah!" Cyberreyn screams. The Constructs flickers several more times.
"Come on, Nos!" Sky commands, the shimmering power losses not helping her growing nausea.
Nos continues. "Junction: 15 seconds. Threat: 19 seconds."
"Yes!" Sky shouts. "Didya hear that, Cy?" No answer. "Cy?" The Construct shimmers in and out of blackness more rapidly. "Shit!"
"J-J-Junction: 9 seconds-- seconds-- seconds--" Nos stammers awkwardly. Another glitch.
"Noooo!" Sky screams, as the overwhelming compression of the Construct begins to drown her mind.
Suddenly, Nos and the Construct come back to life in their full intensity.
"What's the status, Nos?" Captain Kan-chiang commands, in the virtual seat once taken by Cyberreyn.
"Junction: 5 seconds. Threat: 13 seconds."
"Flicker, Hitch, prepare to unplug us and shut down on my mark!"
"Yes, Captain!"
"Junction reached," Nos confirms. "Selecting right tunnel. Initiating landing sequence."
"Unplug us now!"
Immediately, Kan-chiang and Sky open their eyes in the real world.
Nos continues over the headset, "Threat: 4 seconds..."
"Shut down main systems!" the captain commands Flicker, cutting power to the Construct, the repulsor engines, the Operator station displays, and the lights. "Ready the EMP!" he whispers.
The last few seconds pass. Outside, the two remaining Sentinels streak into view. One of them skims past the junction along the left major passageway. The other turns its ugly multi-eyed attention to the opening of the right minor passageway. The killing machine casts multiple tentacles along both sides of the opening, pulling itself towards it, peering into the darkness, searching for any unusual vibrations. It sets its artificial sights on a protruding mass lying ahead on the bottom of the tunnel floor...
Choose Path A1A1A1C1A for the Sentinel to investigate the mass further.
Choose Path A1A1A1C1B for the Sentinel to ignore the mass and continue its search.
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