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THE NEWCOMER
Path B3A by Jay
[Choose Path B3A to join the captain in the cockpit.]
"Actually..." Cyberreyn hesitates, not wanting to face Captain Kan-chiang just yet.
"Come on," Sky urges. "I was gonna ask him if he wanted to have another duel."
"Really?"
"Sure! Why not?" Sky's emerald eyes flash brightly. "Just because he's a master swordsman doesn't mean I can't dust my ass off and try again, right?"
Cyberreyn nods with a silent smile.
"Come on, you can watch him kick my ass again."
Cyberreyn laughs.
"Another duel?" Kan-chiang grins mischievously, as he peers ahead, beyond the cockpit viewscreen, down the spinning tunnel. He spins his chair around to meet the smile of his blond Second Officer, while the dark-haired newcomer stands at a safe distance away.
"That's right, Captain," confirms Sky.
"You're sure you've learned the lessons I've TRIED to teach you?"
"Of course not!" Sky jokes. "But who cares about lessons when I can kick your ass?" Turning to give a wink to Cyberreyn, she says to her, "He always does this 'teacher-student' thing."
Cyberreyn sends another quiet smile.
"Very well," Kan-chiang nods. Returning to his control panels and display screens, he keys the pattern to set the hovercraft on standard auto-pilot until First Officer Hitchhiker can take the conn. "You're lucky there aren't any signs of Sentinel activity in the area... but I do need a break..."
"Great!"
"...to kick your ass again," finishes the captain.
Once more, Cyberreyn laughs.
With Hitchhiker taking the conn, Flicker manages the process of plugging Kan-chiang, Sky, and Cyberreyn into the system.
"The 'City Street' program, Mr. Flicker," commands Sky, her eyes closed.
Instinctively, he looks to his captain for confirmation. "Captain?"
"Yes, Flicker," Kan-chiang nods, his eyes also closed, "The 'City Street' program."
With everyone in place, Flicker hops back into his Operator chair, presses a string of keys on his keyboard, and smiles at them. His bright brown eyes linger on Cyberreyn for a moment.
"Have fun!" he signals, and presses the "Load" button.
Instantly, the blackness behind Cyberreyn's eyelids flashes into the cloud-covered concrete-and-steel grayness of a dirty but deserted metropolitan intersection. Her battered old dentist-like chair has disappeared, while she now stands on the sidewalk. Turning behind her, and through her sunglasses, she sees her distant reflection in the first-floor mirrored glass of the massive skyscraper.
"Not bad," she comments to herself, wearing the residual image of her typical black jeans, black leather jacket, and black leather boots. Her only color blazes red across the front of her short t-shirt and along the random highlights in her short black hair.
She turns forward again, and finally sees Sky at one end of the intersection, in her long blond braids and bright-blue leather, leisurely swinging a straight silver-and-sapphire-studded rapier. Looking to the right, she sees Kan-chiang at the other end of the intersection, in his black trenchcoat and gold necktie, solidly gripping his curved gold-and-ebony sword.
Several crinkled newspaper pages float by, hanging effortlessly in the flow of the wind.
As all of the overhead traffic lights flash red, Cyberreyn holds her breath in anticipation.
Choose Path B3A1 for Cyberreyn to stay where she is on the sidewalk.
Choose Path B3A2 for Cyberreyn to get a closer look.
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