Tron 2.25 – System Crash

Jet looked out through the loading structures in the transport area. The communications beam that joined this sector to the next terminated into the end of the transport holding structure while the other end extended off into infinity in the direction of Sector 2.

But the interior of the building was empty. Not a single primitive or shape was anywhere within site.

“There don’t appear to be any transports here,” Jet said to Mercury as they walked along.

At the back of the building where they had just walked through, the Section Leader was already establishing a defensive perimeter within the facility, locating ICPs at doorways and other areas Jet guessed an attack might originate from.

“We don’t need a transport to be here,” said Mercury. “Your pet program is System. She can rezz in a transport application to this location from the control room.”

Jet bristled at the pet comment even though it wasn’t directly aimed at him.

“Mercury, don’t you think that’s beneath you, insulting Jade like that? She’s been pretty helpful to us so far and I can’t really see what’s in it for her,” Jet said to her.

Mercury looked a little angry at first, then shamed but hurt. “You just don’t see it do you? What’s in it for her.”

“What is in it for her?” Jet asked.

“Getting close to you for a start. When you were here last time, I thought you were just a very powerful program, able to take a lot of damage and still complete your user’s objectives.”

Mercury’s tone changed as she continued.

“But Jet, you can do so much more than that.

“You really have powers I sometimes think you don’t understand.

“Programs have limitations that bind us and well, you don’t have those same limitations.” Mercury explained.

“But I do have limitations, Mercury, I can die in here more easily than a program can and for me it’s final. I can’t survive a reformat or deresolution,” Jet countered.

“And yet you still led the assault on the pool, that’s the side of you I like – but what I believe Jade sees is something else. She sees the user with limitless powers that can do things for her that she can’t do any other way.” Mercury suggested.

“I’m only really a user on the outside, Mercury. I can’t do the things in this world that I can do out there – and I can’t do things out there that I can do in here. I’m not all that special in here.” Jet reasoned.

“You really, really don’t understand, do you?” accused Mercury, then lifting her hand to Jet’s chin, twisted it around until it was looking at Alchemist, who upon noticing glared back at Jet. Jet flinched at the stare, then looked away.

“Alchemist?” asked Jet as Mercury let his chin go. “I don’t think offending a program who probably has me on her hit list now counts as a special power, even in here.”

He mentally reminded himself he promised to remove his write access to her files, and wondered if his being late to the task was offending her even more.

“Jet, are you truly so blind to the truth?” Mercury’s voice was soft now. She realized he truly didn’t understand.

Jet shook his head slowly. “I can’t see your point,” he asked.

Mercury closed her eyes as if she didn’t want to reveal to Jet what she was talking about.

“Jet, when programs interact, we can influence each other. We can make slight changes, but the changes were always there waiting to occur. There was always a decision gate buried deep within us that another could influence.

“But you aren’t limited like that.

“You can reach inside a program and make a change that wasn’t there before. You can change the very code that makes us, well, programs. You not only understand this world, but can influence it in ways that only a user can, and you can do this from inside our world.

“Jade mentioned you were upset about an incident with Alchemist, but even I didn’t know you could do what you did.” Mercury said.

Jet looked away ashamed now. “Mercury, I didn’t realize,” he started, but Mercury quietened him with a finger to his lip.

“I know. Alchemist will come to understand also and she will forgive you. I don’t know how or why, but I seem to feel her when she’s around and I felt her anger and confusion, so I talked to her. We get on almost like we use the same protocol. She’s just angry with you at the moment.

“But aside from the anger, she’s confused. She can’t understand how you changed a write permission in her base flags. That’s not possible, Jet. Not in here, unless you’re the Kernel.” Mercury said.

“It was just one bit – look I know that that doesn’t excuse what I did,” Jet started again, but Mercury silenced him the same way.

“One bit makes us a new program. You could change others couldn’t you? You could make as many changes as you wanted a bit at a time.” Mercury explained.

“But I wouldn’t do that without permission, not ever again.” said Jet, shaking his head slowly.

“But you had Jade’s permission didn’t you?” Mercury said, and the memory of it dropped into his mind.

Jet remembered the recognizer.

“That was just a couple of bits,” he said.

“And with just two bits of change, you provided a previously captive program a private capability to roam this system completely outside the control of the Kernel.

“Do you have any idea how many privilege levels you crossed with that change?” Mercury asked.

Jet started to protest then stopped himself. “No, I don’t” he said.

“Jet, when you come into this world and come flying out of a recognizer across a termination switch to save my cycles, you’re a brave program.

“But when you change the very fabric of our world, be it changing a permission, breaking a bonded array or collapsing an armory floor, you’re a user.

“All it takes from you is a touch to bestow to any program that which we cannot have. That which we were never to have.

“Jet, Jade wants that power and she’s going to get it – no matter what she has to do to achieve her goal.

“She’s loyal to you only because she wants something. She wants the powers that only a user can bestow on her and she’ll do anything to get that.

“Even I don’t know just what she would do for that kind of power, but that’s why she wants to be around you.

“Maybe she really does like you and is fascinated by you, but in the end that’s what she wants.”

Mercury went quiet waiting for Jet to respond to her.

“I know that already, Mercury,” said Jet after a while. “I spoke to Jade while you were in paged memory. She’s actually quite open an honest about what she wanted.”

Mercury was surprised by what Jet told her, her face not seeming to certain what expression to make.

“She admitted she wanted your power?” Mercury asked.

“Not in quite the same words, but she told me the same. I think she thought I was going to leave her there when she told me, but I respected her telling me. She’s not the monster I think you believe she is.” said Jet.

Mercury was quiet, considering herself now the new information Jet had provided her to process.

Jet restarted the exchange with her before she could say another word however.

“So now we both know why Jade wants to be near me, have you considered why you want to be with me? I don’t believe it’s because I’m a user, because you already know I would willingly bestow anything I could upon you at your merest request.

“So why, when you have a user on his knees before you, when you are a goddess before other programs, why do you feel the need to warn me away from another program, even one as powerful as Jade?”

There was no hint of malice nor accusation in Jet’s voice. It was a question just from him to her and his tone inferred that it was not one she had to answer if she did not want to.

Mercury looked up at Jet, holding his gaze firmly as she responded to his question.

“It is because I want to be by your side so badly that I cannot bear to think of another program taking that place beside you.

Mercury placed her hand over her stomach.

“The merest thought of another taking your cycles from me fills me with a conflict that causes my gates to drive alternate outputs.”

Mercury now looked down at Jet’s chest, resigned to what she needed to confess.

“I am not worthy to stand with a user with such thoughts, but this is the truth if you choose to evaluate it. The thought of you is all that fills my spare cycles.”

Jet lifted her chin this time, bringing her eyes back to his.

“Then I am not worthy either, Mercury, because I feel the same about you.”

Mercury smiled slightly, her glow brightening.

“Do you really feel that way?” she asked.

“I came back for you didn’t I,” said Jet. “Believe me, my need to be with you is what drove me on, from day to day, forcing my path to return to yours.”

“It’s my only reason to continue existing,” he said softly, his face almost touching hers as he looked closer into her eyes.

Then he smiled and pulled back, but Mercury took his hand and pulled him closer again, touching her fingers to Jet’s cheek softly.

“Jet, I would like to show you something when Jade begins the process to build this transport,” Mercury said.

“Something I think you will like.”

Jet smiled at the thought. “Will we be here long?” he asked.

“Not long. The Section Leader cleared the perimeter when we arrived and Jade can initiate the assembly process now.” said Mercury.

Jet looked towards the rear of the facility, where Jade was walking up a slight ramp towards what looked like it might be a control room entry point, while three ICPs flanked her.

With the knowledge jet had on her combat abilities, he wondered if the ICPs were there to protect her or if she was there to protect them. She certainly didn’t seem to need the added muscle, even when facing Datawraiths.

But he never imagined she could summon something as complex as a transport.

“Can she really do that?” asked Jet. “By herself?”

“Jet, she has low-level authorization from the Kernel himself. System routines have that kind of power. She doesn’t need to do much more than set the appropriate bits in the registry and the application will begin rezzing in” said Ma3a.

Jet thought about it.

“Then why did I have to hack the armory?” he asked.

“Because, some things are Kernel only, Jet. Even system routines have their limitations.” Mercury said.

Mercury moved directly beside Jet and wrapped her hand around his elbow. “Come on, we can watch the process when it starts from a better vantage point. It’s actually quite impressive once it starts to rez in.”

Jet let himself be pulled along. “I’ve seen things rez in before, Mercury,” said Jet.

“Nothing on this scale, I believe,” said Mercury. “System transports are the largest application object that still rez in and derez on a regular basis. A single transport can carry billions of packets, thousands of programs and still carry a full complement of transport protocols.

“Without the added assistance from the terminal, even Jade can’t bring in something this large, but when she starts the process, it’s worth watching.”

Jet looked behind him as Mercury dragged him along. Ma3a was staying back with Alchemist and the shells, watching him go. She seemed to be smiling, almost as if she understood that Mercury wanted to be alone with him.

Mercury dragged him through a corridor leading from an opening in the side of the building and up a series of ramps until they came out near the top of the facility, although after a few seconds he was more led than dragged, wanting to follow her.

Then there were several ledges to negotiate and a couple of chasms to cross where the ground seemed to disappear for hundreds of feet.

After some time, Jet realized they were on top of the building and standing almost directly above where they had been earlier.

Although the building roof had a huge hole in it, it was not the highest point of the facility. Above were a series of scaffolds and devices that seemed almost like some form of power conduit.

“What is this?” asked Jet.

“Transports are too large to rez-in directly on the beam, so they get constructed here, within the facility. Once the process starts, the first change is some inhibiting masks form around the outside of the construction area, so unless you’re already inside, you miss it all.”

Mercury walked over to what looked like a small control panel with shapes and lights flickering on it.

“She’s already started the process, Jet, it won’t be long now.” Said Mercury. “We’re safe to watch from the debug platform.”

As she stepped back, Mercury grabbed Jet’s arm and pulled herself to it, until she was pressed up against him. It was the closest Jet and Mercury had been during this long journey to the sectors so far and Jet stood there, not wanting to move or do anything that might make the moment go away.

He looked down at her face and was surprised to see something expectant in her gaze, as she looked out across the building surface waiting for something to happen.

He spent several moments looking at her face like that, drinking in the memory, wondering how many more of these he might have before he might be forced to leave this world for the last time, or even if a similar memory might be his last of her.

After a short while, she glanced up into his eyes and smiled. “Look, Jet, it’s starting.”

Jet returned his view to the rest of the facility as he followed her gaze and noticed a framework lattice of data going up around the outside of the building.

“The mask?” he asked.

“Yes, it always goes in first.” she said.

Jet watched as gossamer threads of light worked their way through the space ahead of him, slowly tracing lines through space where nothing existed before.

Then a rapidly spinning lattice formed, rotating around in space longitudinally, drawing in primitives as the ship started to rez in.

Different colors coalesced into physical form one by one, leading the changes in the primitive and then the original latticework broke into pieces, each moving out like a CNC machine to produce more of the transport ship.

The view of this process going together was as spectacular as Mercury had suggested. Huge blocks of primitives began forming seemingly in the air, but when complete, each would rotate and shift and move in time with other blocks to come together at the perfect instant to product parts of the structure.

It was as if the very components of this world were dancing a ballet of constructions, each of the primitive shapes a dancer and the transport structure itself the show.

“Its, it’s incredible,” said Jet, looking up at the pieces moving together, the beauty of code represented visually for him to enjoy. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

“Yes, I feel the same every time I see this. I look at how it comes together and I know there must be users out there, looking out for us,” she said.

Jet felt her hug his arm tighter, then looked down at her face, the colored light of the construction reflecting off her delicate features.

“Well, maybe one thing I’ve seen surpasses it,” said Jet quietly.

“If it surpasses this, I want to know what it is,” she said, her eyes glowing and dancing with each new primitive that locked into place.

Jet bent down and touched her chin softly, lifting it around to look at him. As she turned her head, her mouth opened slowly with surprise and then she smiled as she looked into her eyes.

Jet continued forward and his mouth found and covered hers and he felt her melt into his arms, leaving him feeling every movement she made where they touched.

Twelve months of waiting and finally, Jet was alone with Mercury, needing to be with her and wanting to feel her.

Her hands slowly snaked around his back and found the nape of his neck as Jet felt Mercury starting to sway within his grip.

“I love you, Mercury,” he said, breaking the kiss for a moment to look into her eyes.

“Are you leaving once more, Jet?” she asked.

Jet felt the pain from a decision he may yet have to make.

“No, Mercury, It’s something users say when we’re with someone important as well,” he explained, remembering the last time he had told her he loved her.

He hauled her up into his arms and felt her head mould itself into the space between his shoulder and his ear as she twisted to continue watching the transport form.

Objects started to appear around them as they held each other, standing there, swirling primitives that moved and flowed like a river around them providing light and dark, highlighting the two. The debug platform lit up as each one passed as if warding off the huge primitive objects.

Mercury lifted her head up and looked into Jet’s eyes, still holding him close.

“Why does holding you this close make me so happy,” she asked.

“I can’t answer that question, Mercury” said Jet. “But I know I feel the same way.”

Mercury closed her eyes and lifted her lips to Jet once more, who responded by taking his lips to them also, feeling close to her again.

Then it happened again. Jet felt himself swept into another form of consciousness where all he could see was Mercury, glowing warmly within his arms.

A warmth started to spread throughout his body, filling his chest then his limbs and finally his head, leaving his mind swimming as if a wave of warm water had passed over around his very being.

Abruptly it melted away as Mercury put her hand on his chest and pushed him back slightly.

“No, Jet, not yet,” she said, bringing Jet back to the digital world around him.

“It’s not the right time. Not until the transport’s underway,” she added. “Then let’s see.”

“I don’t understand,” said Jet.

Mercury smiled.

“You will,” she said.

The she stepped away from Jet, pulling him gently by the hand.

“The process is nearly complete – let’s catch a ride into the transport.” She added, then led Jet from the safe area where they had been standing, directly through the moving pieces into an area where a platform was being constructed.

“Quickly now,” said Mercury, jumping up on a horizontal rod primitive and launching herself to a flat panel that had just formed beneath her feet as she came down.

Jet jumped on the same rod, which began to move as he leapt forward, causing him to stumble as he leapt to the panel. Mercury grabbed him and pulled him back into her arms.

“Just stand here and don’t move,” she said.

More primitives started to form and swirl around Mercury and Jet as they stood, some whizzing past with speed, causing Jet to duck.

“This doesn’t seem safe,” Jet said.

“It’s fine as long as you stand right here. Just enjoy the show,” Mercury said.

The panel lifted beneath the two intertwined lovers and carried them up into the air where the main construction was forming.

Large pieces of the transport were forming around them and twisting into place as they stood, like a huge industrial machine folding itself repeatedly around them.

As they moved into the heart of the activity, Jet could sometimes make out programs below them, including Ma3a and the Section Leader. Once even Jade.

“Can they see us?” asked Jet, leaning over a little.

“If they know where to look,” Mercury asked, pulling Jet back as a large primitive block scissored with a panel a little too close. “Stay in the middle with me.”

Just smiled sheepishly when he realized he had done something dangerous, and remembered he didn’t know what to expect.

The panel continued to lower itself until it came to a rest, several primitives falling in around them and creating walls and finally a ceiling.

They were trapped in a cubicle space for a moment, then the panel on one side slid and a door opening came through, activity on the other side revealing that the building process was still going on.

“We’re inside the transport?” queried Jet.

“Yes, in one of the maintenance rooms. I discovered this stow point when the Kernel put out a system-wide grep on all data for me. I can’t enter a transport through the normal shielded area, but once onboard, I become a trusted part of it and can leave at any time.” Mercury said.

“Will the others know?” asked Jet.

Mercury walked over to a panel that rezzed in on the wall before her and pressed her palm against it. It changed color several times then settled.

“I’ve registered programs Mercury and Jet as onboard in the manifest.” She said looking at him.

She walked back to him and took his hand.

“Come with me, but only follow. Don’t get ahead of me,” she said.

The ship was still forming around them as Mercury walked through it, panels sliding in and out like a trap, yet Mercury seemed to know when to move and when to stop, never once letting go of Jet’s hand.

After some time, she came to a panel and ran her hand across the access interface at the side and it opened. Mercury led Jet in and then closed the door behind her.

“The transport to sector two will be underway shortly as the build will complete within three cycles. Then we will have two hundred cycles to ourselves before we arrive at the receiving port.

“Before we arrive, there is something I want to share with you, Jet.” said Mercury.

Mercury’s face was almost glowing with radiance now.

“What’s that,” Jet started to ask before Mercury silenced him again, however this time she used her lips as her mouth stole the world he had planned to speak from his own.

“Mercury,” gasped Jet as she backed off just a little, to run her hand down his chest, setting off the circuits embedded within.

“We can be alone in here as long as we need to before we arrive,” Mercury explained.

“Now, is the time,” she said, then her lips met Jet’s one more.

Jet’s vision swam and he felt his mind being transported away once more, this world melting from his senses and then reforming in a void of code.

And within the middle of that code, Mercury floated, glowing, slowly moving closer.

No words were spoken, but Jet could feel her thoughts for him and the intense feelings she had kept so close for so long.

The other Mercury of this place floated around Jet, wrapping herself around him, her mouth meeting his and sharing its intimacy.

Jet felt Mercury’s feelings towards him.

Back when she first met him and felt nothing towards him but curiosity and then a mixture of surprise and respect.

Jet felt her arms move across his body and responded.

Mercury’s feeling changed and Jet felt the concern she was starting to develop for him as she defended Ma3a and Jet as they escaped the reformat.

Mercury’s legs wrapped around Jets and pulled him closer with an urgency he could feel spreading through him like a warmth.

Her feelings moved through confusion and loss as she met Jet once again but didn’t remember him.

Mercury came back up for breath, opening her eyes, a deep glow of hunger burning beneath them, and looked at Jet before she felt for his mouth once more with her own.

Her feelings turned to relief and pleasure when she returned to Jet once more aboard the server that was crashing. There was a brief pain as ship came apart around Mercury, but she maintained connection to the shell as it hurtled through dataspace, derezzing around her, long enough to ride the remains to the grid below as it re-entered process space.

Mercury dug her fingers into Jet’s back, each touch becoming an epicenter of pleasure.

Mercury’s pain came through – billions of agonizing cycles waiting for Jet to return and resignation to her fate once convicted and sentenced by the Kernel.

Jet’s mind filled with light and pleasure, every touch from Mercury echoing through his body, lifting his mind higher. Her code became bare before him as it wrapped both of them in weightlessness, floating around them.

Every line of code ever written for Mercury becoming clear to him for the first time, every update and every version change she had gone through open to him. The good code, the quick hacks. She held back nothing.

Jet felt Mercury’s final thoughts as she remembered Jet coming through the recognizer screen at her, breaking her bonds and rescuing her, coming back to her. He felt love, pure and untainted, unrestricted and unlimited.

Jet felt Mercury’s love for him, a deep passion whose brightness had not diminished in the time she waited for him.

Jet also felt clearly the only things that Mercury considered sacred in this world.

The first was her user. This was the sacred bond that could never be broken, that joined creator and program across the quantum leap between worlds.

There was also a second bond that she had created herself, forged solely out of her own feelings for Jet and her raw code base, built out of passion at a level beyond even human understanding.

Jet cried with the realization of how much she loved him and how much pain she had borne for him. He threw back his head and cried out, then Mercury’s mouth found his throat and her lips wrapped around it.

The light and the pleasure came rushing in around Jet as he experienced complete oneness with Mercury, discovering a place that no other user had encountered.

Then a feeling of relaxation swept across Jet that was so deep, he felt himself falling into blissful rest as the world of the packet transport came back to his senses.

Jet realized he was now laying on a flat primitive bed panel within the transport, as Mercury wriggled her way up beside him, her head resting on his shoulder and her arm across his chest.

Jet’s heart felt like it was pounding and Mercury seemed to be glowing to the beat of it. He was still breathing hard, trying to get his breath back yet he felt as if all they had done was lay here, moving to the bed somehow from where she had first kissed him as they stood in the centre of the room.

They had shared themselves with each other, opened up their minds together to see the real person who they were with, without pretenses and without exception.

“That was incredible,” Jet managed after a moment, then turned his head. Mercury was looking at him, a brief tear drying on her skin. “I never realized what you went through when I was away, waiting for me all that time.”

Mercury smiled. “And nor I what you went through.” she said.

Then after a while, “You really wasn’t sure if we were real, was you Jet. Users don’t understand that we have feelings, hopes, desires, do they?”

Jet realized then that his life since Mercury and he had met was possibly just as open to her as hers had been to him.

“It was hard for me Mercury,” he said. “We know our programs are real, but so few of us understand the truth as to what we created.”

He was expecting Mercury to be angry, hurt even, but she smiled like she was happy.

“You came back for me, accepted that I was real even against the understanding of your own kind. I can’t express what that means to me.”

She moved into his arm as he curled it around her shoulders, holding her close as if she might drift away.

“Is love like this for all programs?” he asked. “Do all programs experience that?”

Mercury was quiet for a moment, then answered. “I cannot say, my love, for I have been intimate with no other before you.”

Jet was surprised by her comments.

Although this was a world so different from his own, Mercury had been a celebrity. Other must have wanted her before, yet she chose none before she met him.

She was a virgin.

Then Jet realized, chagrinned, he was no different and his first experience of intimacy had been with a program.

Yet from that one experience, Jet learned something that he could not have from all of the information that Walter Gibbs had supplied him.

Mercury was as much a real person as any user or other being he Jet could imagine.

Jet laid back with Mercury in his arms, holding her, feeling her close.

Simply being her lover.

Then falling asleep with her.

Jet didn’t dream this time but he didn’t notice Mercury leave either. He got up and moved to the door, opened it, and stepped out into the corridor.

Looking around, he saw Ma3a coming around the corner, raising an eyebrow as she went past Jet, making Jet wonder if she knew what the two had just been up to.

“So how did you get into the transport?” Ma3a asked.

“Mercury knew a way to join in with the primitives as they formed,” Jet answered.

“Hmm, that could be a useful trick,” she said. “She must have learned it after she went on the run.”

“You wasn’t with Mercury the whole time I was away then?” he asked.

“Very little of it. We went our own ways after the tower fight with Jade. I simply went into sleep mode until Alan1 called me back just before you came.”

Jet thought about it, wondering if Ma3a had thought about the users during their absence.

“Did you miss my father while he was away?” Jet asked.

“In a way, although your father was not my original user,” Ma3a mentioned.

“My user was once called Lora.” said Ma3a. “But that was a long time ago.”

Jet wanted to say something but found the words didn’t come out. Could Ma3a have understood his connection to Lora? That Lora was his mother?

Jet followed Ma3a as the path took them both to the bridge.

“Welcome commander,” said the Section Leader as Jet entered the bridge.

Ahead, through the forcewalls, Jet could make out the strange hypnotic effect of the visual appearance of the beam transfer between sectors.

“We have almost completed our entry into Sector two, then we’ll establish docking protocols and enter.

“I have a point team ready to secure the landing zone and establish a DMZ so that we can get access underway and move to the old core interface.” The section leader briefed.

“Do you have any further instructions for us commander?” he asked Jet.

“No Section, that’s all we need to do. How are the programs holding out?” Jet asked.

“Well, sir. They’re resting at present, as there’s not much to do in transit. We’ve briefed although none of us are familiar with Sector two. We established a briefing room so we can examine the lay of the circuits around that zone.”

Jet looked around the bridge. Jade stood at the helm, keeping the transport on course and making slight adjustments as required. He watched as she managed to keep the central track aligned with the beam. She turned briefly and smiled, then returned to her work as pilot.

“Section, show me the briefing room,” Jet asked.

“Sir,” said the section leader as he came to attention. “Right this way.”

Jet followed the Section leader into the briefing room and found a round table with a schematic of the somewhat roundish sector.

The sector had two almost diametrically opposite terminals, which Jet took to be the local loops between the local sectors and a larger terminal heading out to what Jet guessed was the hub.

Sector two was almost circular in design, although the section of Sector two that didn’t have any communications hubs was less formed than the other areas.

“As you can see, sir, it’s all close twisting circuits from the drop-point to the old hub terminus. We won’t have a lot of warning if we get attacked, but we’ll have some cover although as you know, Datawraiths can be sneaky programs.

“Sector two was a transit point for programs in the old system, before Sector zero became the hub during the reign of the MCP.

“As a result, it was intended to hold a lot of programs moving from Sector one to Sector three.

“After it fell to the Datawraiths, we evacuated to sector three and shut down the hub terminus, because we can’t defend this area. There are too many access points to each location.”

“It looks like a maze,” remarked Jet, looking at it.

“Maze sir?” the ICP leader asked.

“It’s a user thing. Carry on Sector,” Jet said.

“Yes sir, well we plan to use the maze as you called it to get the shells and program Alchemist to the hub transit point.

“Once there, the General will rezz in another transport and we can send public key authenticated protocols out to the hub to allow us transit.

“Once back in Sector twelve, you can gain access to the resources you require.”

Jet nodded. “Good work, Sector, excellent processing.”

The ICP straightened slightly at the compliment. “Thankyou sir. Is there anything else you need?”

“No Sector, that will be all,” Jet said.

“Yes Sir, well the planned movements are recorded in the holobuffer if you want to review them,” said the Sector leader and left the briefing room.

Jet wondered where Mercury was at this moment as he studied the plans before him. Although the Section Leader was following his objectives, Jet realized his leadership skills weren’t really up to where they should be.

The Section Leader was a competent leader to the ICPs but if Jet gave him a bad order, he would follow it to his own demise.

It wasn’t a responsibility that sat comfortably with Jet.

He also thought about the comments the Section Leader made earlier, about the ICPs following Jet’s lead.

Was it because they knew he was a user now and thought he had some special knowledge they didn’t?

The Section leader had thought it was due to his leading them to the first pool, but Jet knew enough about war from his own world to understand dumb luck often worked just as well, sometimes better, than true skill when it came to succeeding, although unlike true skill, dumb luck didn’t last as long.

So Jet looked carefully at the holographic display before him, hoping to get an understanding of this place in case he needed to make a decision later - he would prefer to make an informed one.

Unfortunately, he realized looking at the strategy playback, Jet had no military experience, unless you counted a rough school life and years with role playing games, which didn’t come close to understanding tactics and strategy as they worked in reality – even this reality.

If Jet made a bad dice roll at school, he sometimes needed to make a new character when he played his next game. Here there was no dice however – only skill and experience made a difference, and it didn’t come as default.

Jet simply didn’t want to live with watching programs derez because of something he did.

Searching briefly through the contol panels, Jet found the holobuffer controls and watched as the table simulated their approach to the hub terminus, taking into consideration attacks and attack vectors from the Datawraiths given different strengths.

The simulation was thorough and Jet was even more impressed with the Section Leader’s preparation than he had imagined by the time he had finished.

After examining the approach to the hub, Jet walked around the table to better view the local loop termination to Sector One.

These three sectors formed the original fiber loop structure that Walter Gibbs had told Jet were the original processor nodes of the EN511.

Sector 2 was the storage area for applications and research programs that were intended to complete work on the digitized objects.

Sector 3 had held system routines, control programs and power regulation applications. It was the original laser driver and buffer section- the original digitization loop for the lab.

Sector 1 was the buffered data storage area for the original laser exposures that the Encom team had carried out before they expanded the number of nodes in the network.

In most cases, it only served as a backup for Sector 3, in case they needed to segregate experiments or were at holding capacity in Sector 3.

But Sector 1 was later used to hook in the three-pad digitizer that was originally located on another level within Encom before they decommissioned it a year ago.

His father told him they removed the entire floor now, completely gone even before they started shutting Encom down.

Jet looked at the map and thought once more about Sector 1. It was also the first sector to fall to the Datawraiths.

Something was nagging at the back of Jet’s mind about both of those co-incidences.

Jet was so intensely looking at the map that at first he didn’t notice when there was a sliding sound behind him, but as it registered on his slow mind, it caused him to spin around – he hadn’t expected anyone to walk in on him, although in a briefing room, it shouldn’t have surprised him that much.

It was Mercury. She stood framed in the door for a moment, then entered.

“You left before I woke,” said Jet.

“Your mind seemed to be elsewhere and I didn’t want to interrupt, Jet,” said Mercury. “and I wanted to speak to Alchemist.”

“For what reason?” asked Jet, curious.

Mercury seemed surprised by the question, if her face was anything to go by.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I guess even programs enjoy their privacy,” he said, embarrassed once more by his lack of consideration.

Mercury smiled at the comment though. “I wanted to understand more about my user, and I was hoping she could tell me.”

Jet waited this time in case that was all Mercury wanted to say.

She stepped next to Jet and continued. “But she didn’t know anything about the one she calls user::Melanie.

“It seems that she is only here to ensure that the process completes and her user gets out of here safely.”

Jet realized then Mercury was hoping Jet might know more.

“Your user is a girl from my world, about as old as I am, who was very ill,” said Jet.

“Ill?” queried Mercury, her voice making clear she wanted to know more.

“Ill means unwell. Well, in this case, the components that made her were working against her. We call it cancer in our world.” Jet explained.

“Not unlike the corruption of Thorne then?” Mercury translated Jet’s explanation to one she understood.

“No, not too unlike that at all. She was dying. I really didn’t learn enough about her and I only met her just before I came here, but she was important to my father and now I realize she is also important to you.” said Jet.

“Why is that so?” asked Mercury.

“Because I think that if your user dies, much of what you are may be lost. It seems that programs are more closely connected to their users than I imagined. You keep on doing what you were designed to do, but I’m not sure you continue to live the way you do once your user passes on.” Jet explained.

“I felt close to my user until recently,” said Mercury. “Before she came here, I could feel her, as if she was with me.”

“With you?” asked Jet.

“She continued to guide me and change me, even though we were not able to communicate through the towers. It was as if she were beside me at times, much closer than before.

“That feeling she was there helped me through some difficult times while I waited for your return, so I wanted to know more about her.”

Jet understood, but was curious as to whether all programs felt this close to their users.

“Isn’t feeling close to your user normal?” Jet asked.

“Yes,” said Mercury, then she paused. “Except my user continued to upgrade me even after we lost the towers. She was always there for me.”

“She upgraded you?” asked Jet. “How?”

“How is it that you can change our data, even though we cannot?” asked Mercury. “Users are beyond my understanding.”

Jet thought back to his few conversations with Melanie. She had mentioned dreaming of Mercury. Had she some contact with her program that could occur without going through the computer?

Jet looked at his hand. He remembered using his functions to read version information long after he left the digital world, as if the original users created some kind of interactive field around everything they created.

And quantum activity wasn’t really proximity based.

Jet started to wonder if perhaps Melanie was able to communicate with Mercury even though she had had no access to the system for so long.

A broadcast throughout the transport interrupted Jet’s train of thought.

“All stations, entering resolution zone for Sector two. Prepare for possible hostile reaction upon termination.”

“We’re here, Jet.” said Mercury. “We should go to the bridge and prepare to disembark.”

Mercury turned and left the room.

Jet followed Mercury back to the bridge. Most of the others were there, looking at the sector through the forcewall as they approached.

“It looks like there’s no activity down there, Ma’am,” Jet heard the Section Leader say to Jade. “I can’t see any sign of life, not even Datawraiths, on the scanners.”

The communications beam they were traversing entered the sector low, and the walls of Sector two were towering now as they approached. Scanning beams leapt from the front of the transport as it approached, like many recognizer beams looking through data.

The entry port to Sector two appeared as a small hole at first that got larger as they closed in. As the transport flew into Sector two, the receiving terminal seemed to shift around them as it accommodated the transport.

“All ICPs prepare for disembark, set up security perimeter around the transport. Transport will derez upon disembark, so retrieve all weapons and equipment before you go. Move out in two cycles.” The Section Leader broadcast throughout the transport.

Mercury was discussing removing the shells from the base of the transport with Alchemist and Ma3a leaving Jet by himself. He walked to the front of the bridge and peered outside for a better view.

The transport seemed so slow and lumbering as they decelerated and then the huge ship finally came to a halt.

When if finally stopped, Jade slapped a panel which changed color, then stepped back from the helm and walked over to Jet.

“Did you enjoy this transit, my user?” she asked.

Jet was confused, then Jade glanced over at Mercury, leading him to realize she possibly had some idea of what went on also. He wasn’t sure what her approach meant though. Was she angry?

“It was, well, it was new for me,” said Jet.

Jade smiled, then walked past him to the Section Leader.

“Move your programs out now, Section, then call in when it’s confirmed safe,” she said, then walked back to Jet and stood beside him.

“Ma’am.” He said, then broadcast. “ICPs move to your designated stations and hold.”

A screen rezzed in to the side of the Section Leader and data began streaming through it.

Alchemist walked past them and left the bridge with Mercury and Ma3a. Finally the section leader spoke to Jade, holding his hand to his ear as if he had just heard something.

Outside, Jet noticed a couple of ICPs moving to take cover behind a primitive that offered them a good field of fire.

“All in position, Ma’am. The shells are unloaded and there is no sign of any resistance. We’re ready to move out.” He said, then moved off, leaving only Jade and Jet in the bridge.

“Jet, there’s something over that may benefit you”, said Jade, walking back to the helm. “You may want to initiate the deresolution of this ship now, since we can’t leave it for the Datawraiths.”

“How do I do that?” asked Jet.

“You need to activate that panel and the process initiates. Since we are already docked, there will be no override required.” She said.

Jet moved and placed his hand on the panel. It went red under his touch.

“Try placing the Sudo on the panel, Jet. Only system authorization can allow the process to initiate,” she suggested.

Jet turned his hand over and waved it over the panel. It went green and a voice sounded out.

“Packet Transport self-deresolution process beginning. Please exit this ship immediately,” it said.

“Now we leave,” said Jade, striding towards the exit.

Jet took a couple of double-steps to catch up with her.

“Do I have system authorization?” Jet asked.

“No, my user, but I can lend you the authority when you require it. It is another use for your Sudo that you may find useful.” She said.

Jet liked the function, but was a little disturbed when the walls started to derez around him, leaving some parts of the transport open to the outside.

“What happens if it comes apart while we’re inside?” Jet asked.

“It knows we are leaving and the lower panels of the walkway will remain until we’ve passed over them,” said Jade. “It knows not to delete files that are in use.”

Jet turned to see panels behind him derez as they walked and for a moment, wondered if the process would cease if they stopped walking, but decided not to test it.

The walkway led through the loading bay and the loading bay ramp was the final panel to derez.

“Ready to proceed to hub port location,” said the Section Leader, reporting to Jet.

Jet looked around. They were all waiting on his command.

“Let’s move, programs,” said Jet.

Flynn paid as much attention as he could to what was going on around him, although he avoided looking directly at the people nearby as much as possible.

The two younger guardsmen had been reassigned to another exit earlier and only the officer remained behind.

After looking around the basement and waiting for the guardsmen to leave, the large man wearing a black jumpsuit and police-like boots walked over to talk to the officer who had caught them, occasionally looking back at group of prisoners.

“I don’t like the feel of this at all,” said Flynn.

“Why is that,” asked Alan.

“Keep your mouths closed, no talking,” yelled out the man talking to the officer.

Looking intently, Flynn caught a glimpse of a weapon beneath a flap of material. This new man’s clothes looked to be designed to appear almost normal and urban at a distance, even if somewhat obvious and attention getting. The flap looked like it was Velcro-ed top and sides, so it could be removed completely.

Still, it obfuscated the weapon well and it appeared easy to get to, but wasn’t visually obvious except under direct scrutiny. He wore a black cap and dark sunglasses as well, which effectively disguised his face.

A sound coming from the ramp first alerted Flynn to others coming down into the basement before he watched a black van drive in and park next to Flynn’s van.

After it stopped, several others dressed as the first also got out and looked around the vehicles there, slowly and methodically checking them.

“Keys?” Flynn made out the man in black saying to the officer.

“They still have their personal effects,” said the officer.

The man in black came over to Flynn, pulled a plastic bag from his pocket and walked behind him, pushing him forward, down onto his stomach.

“Faces down, don’t resist,” he said, then removed Flynn’s wallet, keys and everything else in his pockets, his belt and shoes.

“Stay down, look at the ground,” he said as he completed stripping all of Flynn’s possessions from him and searching him.

Then he proceeded to do the same for each of them, including Alison, before walking off to the van.

Flynn lifted his head slightly and saw him retrieve several black sacks from the van and talked to one of the other men in black.

He made out two words.

“Rendition” and “Pine Gap”.

Alan must have heard them too and realized what was going on also. He tried to stand, screaming out, causing several of the men searching the vehicle to run over, pulling off their pouches and retrieving weapons as they came.

“No, wait, my son is in there, you need to get power back to the computer in there so he can get out. He’d still digitized inside the computer, please,”

That was as much as he managed before the closest men in black made it over and cold-cocked him with a pistol, slamming it into Alan’s head, almost knocking him out.

Flynn felt his pain as he continued to cry, but it was clear he was still regaining his senses from the impact to his head.

“Please” he pleaded before another man pulled out a syringe from a pocket, uncapped it and jammed it into Alan’s shoulder.

He stopped struggling shortly after.

“Sedate them all,” called the first man Flynn saw enter the area, as he opened up a cloth bag and moved towards Alan’s head.

The movement through Sector two was quick and there were no Datawraith contacts – even their characteristic sounds were absent from the landscape. They simply weren’t there.

This sector felt like a ghost town. Everything was mostly intact, but the programs were missing. It looked and felt dead.

There were still signs of the fighting that had gone one once. Buildings leveled, pieces of wall shattered by tank delete instructions still sitting where they fell.

Just no programs and no bodies to make it look like a warzone. Not even Datawraiths.

Jade had taken Jet to the control room in the hub terminus this time and was showing him how to initiate the transport rez-in sequence.

He couldn’t send the hash codes to open the port so that they could get back to the Kernel’s system, but he could now use the Sudo to rez in the transport by borrowing Jade’s power.

Jade showed him the controls one by one and then Jet activated the pads in the correct order as she had shown him.

“Well done, my user. You could be system if you weren’t already a user.” Jade commented.

“Thanks, Jade. How do we rez in the communications beam?” he asked.

“Let me, my user.” She said and then rezzed in a datapad, which she tapped several times.

Then with a flick of the wrist that would have been worthy of a magician, she ran her hand down the side of the datapad and then held it closed, before opening it.

As it opened, a bit appeared spinning in her hand.

“Yes,” it said, then took off towards a bitport on the side of the control room.

As it did so, a beam of bright light burst forth through the terminus building from just below the control centre and stabbed out into the distance, A moment later, Jade breathing in deeply through her nose and smiled.

“It’s connected. I can feel the system data with me once more,” she said.

Jet looked down at his Sudo. It took on a watch like appearance once more as numbers he was more familiar with appeared on its surface.

Then Jade spoke to him once more.

“My user, there is something in the buffer, waiting from the console,” she said.

“From my father or Alison?” he asked, then realized Jade could not determine which user sent it.

“Can you let me know what it is?” Jet asked.

Jade stepped forward and rezzed in a slate for Jet to access. He stepped before it, and read the detail from the input buffer on the console.

“This is not good,” said Jet, repeating himself several times.

“What is it my user?” asked Jade.

Ma3a floated into the control room.

“Some good news, Jet, the UPS reports power has been established once more and one of three channels is back online. The UPS failure notice has been lifted and battery charge rates are low, but increasing to nominal levels.” She said.

“No, dammit,” said Jet, as if Ma3a’s good news had been something far worse.

“What is it, my user?” Jade repeated.

Jet looked between Ma3a and Jade.

“Guys, I don’t know how to tell you this, but the power isn’t going to be restored.” Jet said.

“That is not possible Jet, the UPS reports already confirm that power is restored?” noted Ma3a.

“No, Ma3a, that’s only temporary, an hour or two at best, user time.

“This system is going down and because the UPS is already low, it will fail almost instantly once it goes back online after that time.” Jet explained.

“What does that mean, my user?” asked Jade, not understanding.

“It means that this system is going to shut down – permanently.”

Mercury walked in to hear the last comment, then stood shocked at what Jet had just said.

Jet looked back at her.

“And there’s nothing I or my friends can do to stop it now,” he said.

Next: Chapter 2.26 – Out Of Band