Tron 2.35 – Escalated Permissions.

Jet walked back and forth a few times between the control switches and the platform outside, each time checking for Datawraith tanks that were still active in the compound below and still engaging system tanks, although they were well outnumbered at the moment.

He had been trying to keep track of where the platforms would be by following their paths and counting how long each complete cycle took, so that he could predict when to reset other platforms so they would be in the correct location when his platform rose to that level.

It was a slow process and more than once, Jet’s counting was off, but generally, it was close and he could always repeat a particular platform reset if it wasn’t quite where he wanted when he checked, letting him get things where he wanted.

After a couple of extra trips back and forth between the platform controls and the area where he could see the platforms to fine tune things, he walked out to the outside of the tower, onto the viewing platform, and confirmed that the cycles were synchronized to approximately where he wanted them.

“Mercury, I think we can get to the upper control area now,” he called. “Ready for some platform jumping? It’s just like the old platform games – all timing and, well, timing, but Just follow my lead if you’re a little unsure.”

Mercury walked outside and took a look at Jet’s handiwork. Around the outside of the tower, a large number of gates, each appearing like a small platform, were moving up and down, and horizontally in places.

“And we should go there?” Mercury asked, pointing to the objective.

“Yes, you need to jump on the platforms when they come close and use that as an opportunity to move to another platform as it approaches, and then you…” Jet started, then Mercury grabbed him and jumped to the first platform, dragging him onto it, before Jet was ready.

“Why did you do that? I haven’t finished explaining it yet,” Jet said.

“It was time,” said Mercury. “Otherwise we are just wasting cycles.”

“Have you done this before?” Jet asked, as they shot up the outside of the tower.

“Some of those platforms are only large enough for one of us,” reasoned Mercury, “So we’ll need to move through those areas individually.”

“You have done this before, haven’t you?” Jet said, a little disappointed that he was the apparent rookie here.

“Many times,” said Mercury. “The old system contained many platform simulations, but they don’t seem as common of late.”

Jet looked at Mercury as the platform she had dragged him onto accelerated upwards, taking them up the outside of the funnel as it did so. She had surprised him yet again.

“Flynn was good at platform games,” said Jet, looking over the edge of the platform. “I’m good too you know.”

As it rose, Jet could see the tank battle going on below and watched as a sphere, no larger than a marble at this distance, dropped down narrowly missing a system tank. There were several spheres in the ground where they had embedded into the data surface, each representing a firing of the Datawraith weapon.

Mercury didn’t even give an indication she was about to leave when she jumped to a platform only large enough to handle one of them at a time, leaving Jet to shoot on past her as she did, his platform continuing almost to a slot that continued around the funnel halfway to the top.

At the top, Jet’s gate platform stopped, then moved horizontally around the tower, taking Mercury out of view. Around further, Jet looked down to see Jade’s formation of three tanks defending the accessway to the funnel, keeping Ma3a, Alchemist and their user shell safe.

The gate platform then dropped and started it’s cyclic pattern to return to the origin near the platform outside of the small control room where Jet had activated the patterns. On its way down, Jet saw the smaller platform that Mercury had earlier jumped to and moved to the edge of the platform. As it approached, he jumped as had Mercury, almost overbalancing and falling to certain deresolution below, however he managed to stay on it by swinging his arms.

Once stable, Jet stood carefully and began looking around for the next platform he would need to move to.

He couldn’t see where the last platform would be, the top of the tower being too far away, but he did know that these gated systems generally were accessible through to another location even if not the section Jet needed to go to wasn’t directly accessible through this particular gated platform system.

As me moved from platform to platform, Jet kept a lookout for Mercury, concerned for her safety despite her superior skills.

At times, Mercury would appear on another platform as she rode the path ahead of Jet. At others, she would be difficult to spot, leaving Jet with an unexplainable angst as to whether she was safe.

“There seem to be an awful lot of platform switches,” said Jet to no-one in particular as his next transition point came up.

A soldier lifted his head from behind the generator and waved his hand in front of his face to disperse the fumes, then pointed to the UPS.

“This is definitely a generator,” he said. “I can see where the computer thingy over there with the lights on plugs into it.”

“What are our orders?” asked a soldier standing just behind.

“We remove it,” said the first soldier, who had just stood now.

“Any idea how to do that, Mike?” asked the first.

“They’re blowing this place soon, right?” asked Mike.

“Yeah, in about an hour, they said,” said the other soldier.

Mike removed his hand from the pistol-grip of the M-16 assault rifle he carried and placed a finger either side of the cocking lever at the back of the aperture sight and handle.

Jet bent over at the waist and put his hands on his knees as he breathed in hard. His last three transitions came a little close to each other and each of them was upwards. The platform he was on now began to accelerate towards a small cavity in the side of the tower.

As Jet was looking at it, another platform was descending and Mercury peered over the side, focused on Jet, then stepped off and onto Jet’s platform as she did.

“Merc, missing me?” asked Jet.

“No, I found you where I expected you to be,” said Mercury without emotion. “Prepare to move into that opening as we pass it.”

“What’s up?” Jet asked.

“It’s a vector directly opposite the vector of net acceleration towards the ground, why?”

“No, I mean, why have you come for me?” Jet asked.

“Large datawraith presence on the top level.” Mercury said.

“So you couldn’t make it?” Jet asked.

“No, they saw me access it, and would have been waiting for you when you got there,” said Mercury.

Jet swallowed. Mercury had come back down to save him.

“Thanks, Merc,” said Jet.

“Now,” said Mercury, and dragged Jet bodily off the platform and into the opening on the side of the tower.

Jet landed hard, then fell to his side, started to slip towards the opening and Mercury, who landed like a cat, shot out a hand to drag him back in.

Jet looked briefly down.

It was a long way.

“What do we do from here?” Jet asked as he edged away from the drop.

“There’s a channel on the far side of the tower,” said Mercury. “If we can access it from here, we may be able to find a way to the top.”

“When did you see that?” Jet asked.

“When the Datawraiths started shooting,” said Mercury, leading Jet into the darkness in a channel leading from the opening.

“I wonder what this is?” Jet said, feeling the walls.

“Incomplete code, perhaps a debug access way,” said Mercury. “These are quite common in my world.”

“Yeah, I guess I never really wanted to remove all my debug code just in case too,” said Jet.

There was some light at the end of the dark twisting corridor that Jet could make out. As they got closer, Jet found themselves standing in a slot that moved all the way to the top of the tower, from the look, but had seriously long vertical sections.

“Unfortunately, no access ways in this channel,” said Mercury, feeling the wall.

Jet looked at the walls. The first ascent was just over a meter wide.

“Mercury, I have an idea,” Jet said.

Mercury turned to face Jet and waited.

Jet grabbed Mercury’s shoulders and twisted her around. At first she resisted the movement.

“I need you to turn around,” Jet said, then as Mercury did so, still looking over her shoulder, Jet turned and put his back against hers.

“Now put a leg up like this,” Jet said, putting one leg up against the wall.

Mercury did so.

“Now push,” Jet said, feeling Mercury’s back press against his as she did so – a not unpleasant sensation in itself.

“OK, now lift the other leg,” said Jet, putting it above the first.

“I think I see,” said Mercury, who also took a vertical step upwards.

“Exactly,” said Jet, then back-to-back, the two began to scale the vertical section of this channel.

“This is an interesting concept,” said Mercury.

“I saw it in a movie once,” Jet said.

“Movie?” Mercury asked.

“Like virtual reality, but in two dimensions,” said Jet.

“We have nothing like that,” said Mercury.

“Then like a video archive file,” said Jet.

“That is a movie?” Mercury asked as they climbed.

“Yeah it is,” said Jet. “I just wish I could take you to one someday.”

“To an archive file?” Mercury asked.

“No, to a movie, with you. It’s what we call a date,” Jet explained.

“A timestamped archive,” Mercury nodded.

“No, well, just no. I’m not sure how to explain it.”

“Then tell me what it is.” Said Mercury.

“Ahh, I think we’re near the top,” said Jet.

“How do we move to the horizontal section,” said Mercury.

Jet looked around as they approached. There was a thin ledge on the inside at the same level as the horizontal section.

“Grab that,” Jet said, grabbing it himself. When Mercury had it, he said “Now drop and hold it.”

Mercury shimmied along to the larger ledge, then pulled herself up, turning once up to hold out a hand for Jet.

Once on the horizontal section, Jet looked back. They had ascended around five metres.

“How far does this go up?” Jet asked.

“All the way, although we may have to climb some of it,” Mercury said. “And we’re exposed at the top for quite a distance until we make cover.”

“How many datawraiths?” asked Jet as they traversed the incline of the horizontal section.

“Perhaps a nibble,” said Mercury.

“Sixteen?” Jet asked, surprised.

“Perhaps two nibbles. They may not have been the same ones I saw when I first got up there,” Mercury added.

“Great, so after we bust our asses getting up there, then we have to fight our way in.” Jet said.

Mercury continued walking on ahead and didn’t answer.

Flynn heard a change in pitch of the helicopter and felt it start to descent. They must only barely be out of the city, given their flying time.

“You want to do this, Sir?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

There was some kind of grunt and the sound of someone slumping.

Before Flynn could say anything, he smelt something strange.

The final ascent to the top was vertical, as was the access to this channel. Moving as quietly as they could, Jet moved up until both could grab the edge of the upper floor of the tower.

“Ready?” Jet asked quietly.

“Now,” said Mercury, and Jet felt the weight move from his back. Then they were both dangling what would have to be hundreds and hundreds of feet above the ground if this were the real world.

Mercury moved to the top, ahead of Jet, then pushed her face over the edge, her finger raised to her lips as she levered Jet’s elbow up.

Jet saw the Datawraith directly behind her as he came up. It turned and saw them and began leveling it’s weapon.

Seeing Jet’s eyes go wide, Mercury let go of Jet and twisted, loosing her disc at the nearest datawraith.

Jet felt himself lose his grip and fall, managing to arrest his drop with the fingers of one hand, still on the ledge, as a barrage of purple fire broke out around him.

Looking down, it seemed that the drop to the next section of the channel alone was enough to derez him, so he swung his other hand up to the edge of the floor above.

There was a sound and some movement, a few muffled yells, then Mercury was back, grabbing Jet’s hands and hauling him up.

“Sorry,” said Mercury, then Jet saw about six datawraiths coming directly at them. He looked around briefly, but Mercury was right in her quick reconnoiter. There was no cover.

“Just six?” Jet asked. Pulling out his LOL, taking light shots at a distance.

“The others are expecting us to surface on the platforms,” said Mercury, grabbing a downed blaster and returning fire.

Jet dropped to one knee, lined up the LOL with the furthest datawraith and fired, derezzing his head to be followed by his body.

“Then let’s make some room for the others,” said Jet.

Mercury surged forward as Jet provided cover fire, chest-shotting any datawraiths that paused to draw a bead on Mercury. Running fast, she ran right into the middle of them, making it hard for those trying to shoot her up close to avoid shooting the other Datawraiths. Meanwhile they span around, leaving Jet a clear shot of their backs, which he quickly took advantage of.

“Two, Three,” said Jet, squeezing the trigger two more times. Meanwhile, Mercury somersaulted over the nearest datawraith’s fire and brought them down before she touched ground again.

“four, five,” said Jet, taking one more and counting Mercury’s shot.

Mercury span around as she came down, aimed, and let a direct barrage at close range take out the last datawraith nearby.

“Six,” said Jet, then standing, made a beeline for the nearest cover – in this case a series of datacubes stacked to the side.

Mercury joined him, coming in with her back to the cube as they both sought cover.

“Do you think the others heard that?” Jet asked.

“I don’t see how they didn’t” Mercury said.

Jet peered over the datacube with the LOL.

“Cover my back, Merc,” he said, then waited for the first Datawraith to appear.

He didn’t have to wait long. A moment later, a head popped around the corner of a wall, only to find out that it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Meanwhile Mercury opened fire as the now familiar purple rain started around them.

“We need to find a better position,” said Mercury.

“More cover?” Jet asked, chest-shotting another, but failing to derez him.

“Better field of fire,” Mercury said, and Jet looked over his shoulder briefly to see Mercury take down two Datawraiths with enfilade fire.

Before saying anything else, Mercury disappeared around the side of the cube and ran for the next cluster of cover.

“A little warning would be nice,” said Jet, aligning the LOL over the top of the cube he was crouching behind to provide some cover fire.

“We need to act while we still have the element of surprise,” said Mercury.

“I thought you said that they already heard us,” called Jet as he ducked back under cover then ran for the far cluster of cubes.

He threw himself back into the cover as Mercury had done earlier, but with far less grace, nearly winding himself as he did.

“They know someone’s here, but they’re still expecting someone to come up by the platforms,” said Mercury. “That means that their force is split. I don’t need to run the calculations to know we can’t take them all on at once. Too many.” Said Mercury, interspersing her words with more fire from the blaster.

Jet looked around now he was temporarily behind something that kept him from immediate deresolution by Datawraith fire and tried to get an idea of his surroundings.

The top section of the tower was a circular shape approximately a hundred metres in diameter, with the middle section, possibly forty metres across, hollow to allow for the firing mechanism of the tank smasher application.

The mechanism itself, or what was visible of it here, was a huge shaft that ran through the centre of this hollow tower and something that looked like a glowing energy spring that was coiled around it.

If not for the constant movement of the spring, it would almost resemble a gigantic spiral ramp leading both up and down from this level, although Jet knew it didn’t reach all the way to the base of the tower.

The pinball-like firing mechanism was moving every cycle as another large sphere rezzed into existence at the top of the tower, launching it out into the battlefield below.

Although the rest of this level wasn’t large, there wasn’t the visibility of the Datawraiths that Mercury had said she had seen earlier.

Despite the small size, there were a lot of cubes along this area, leading Jet to wonder just how far Mercury had made it before she was spotted in her reconnoiter. She would have certainly had cover to slip past them, but her stealth skills must be well advanced to move past the Datawraith who had additional cloaking capabilities.

Within the approximate partitions created by larger piles of cubes, there were around four clearly separate sections, with the one to the right of their immediate section blocked off completely from access to the next.

A small ramp leading to the next level also appeared in that section of the floor, leading Jet to wonder if that was the path to the control room that controlled the tower.

The blockage was helpful as it provided a means of keeping the Datawraith up here away from their backs, but it also meant that they had to fight their way through all of them to get to the access path that Jet could see.

Mercury ducked back down.

“Do you have anything else to use?” she asked.

Jet shook the LOL.

“This is all I brought to the party. How about you.”

“I can recycle the datawraith blasters to some extent, but they don’t seem to last long after deresolution.” Mercury said.

“Possibly some clever code to keep them safe from having their own weapons turned against them. They must be adapting to this environment.”

Mercury nodded. “You seem to know more of the possibilities than I do.”

Mercury reach around behind her – to whatever location she stored items, then brought around two egg shaped objects with triangular primitives folded each side.

“Also I have a couple of these.”

Jet smiled. Two prankster bits, although they would have to throw them by hand.

“How much charge had you got left?” Mercury asked.

Jet rolled the LOL over.

“Just a little more than half” he said.

“Is that one you’ve extended the capacity off?” she asked.

Jet nodded.

Mercury smiled at Jet, then looked over her shoulder.

“Cover me,” she said and was on her way again.

Jet lifted the LOL to his shoulder and wide-cycled the scope to get as little zoom as possible. It was slightly more than unity, so Jet needed to keep both eyes open.

As Mercury moved into the area, she moved quickly to expose any Datawraiths that might be lurking behind cover.

Jet moved up behind her as he she cleared each corner, watching for any Datawraith that would come out while her back was turned. Mercury had just launched her disk at something when two datawraith came out from behind a large stack of datacubes.

Lining with a direct headshot, Jet fired and watched as the beam ran through the first and into the second, each falling to the other side as they dropped.

Mercury then ducked out and backed almost into Jet as Datawraith fire came past her, then stepped back in and knelt, firing hard with the datawraith blaster into the short corridor.

In the background, Jet could make out the sound of a derezzing Datawraith.

“Still a lot to come,” Jet said, scanning for any Datawraith sneaking up on them. He had just scanned right when a heavily cloaked Datawraith stepped up and grabbed the LOL from Jet, pulling it from his grasp. In a single fluid movement, Jet retrieved his disc, threw it, and then caught the LOL as it came down, dropped by the derezzed Datawraith.

“Careful, Merc, these guys are sneaky!.”

Mercury stepped into the next open area, fired, then stepped to the side to avoid the return fire, pulled free a prankster bit, armed it and threw it into the open area.

Jet heard it bounce once, then twice, and a Datawraith stepped out and lined up on Mercury. Mercury was about to return fire, when the bit went off, and the Datawraith, too close to it’s operational field, was sucked back into the open area.

“This is going to take some time,” Mercury said. “We don’t have a lot to spare, do we Jet?”

“Not particularly,” said Jet, “But don’t go doing anything rash.”

“What does rash mean?” Mercury asked, then cleared another corner before moving through another almost solid blockage entrypoint to the next section of the top floor.

Mercury looked through and noticed another area. The middle section was fairly open with a few cubic structures for cover, surrounded by openings to what looked like data archive.

“Jet I’m going to move into this section and draw the datawraiths out. Cover me,” said Mercury and was gone.

“That would be rash,” said Jet, grimacing, then aiming through the LOL scope at each of the gaps he could see.

Mercury had just about made it to the cover of the centrally located cubes when the first Datawraith came out to chase her down. Jet’s first shot missed, causing the Datawraith to spin and look directly at him.

The second shot hit the Datawraith in the shoulder and knocking him down, allowing Mercury to derez him with a disk.

Two more Datawraiths came through, but Jet was able to dispatch both quickly before they closed on the cover position.

“Still too slow,” said Mercury. “I think they are waiting for us to come to them.”

She reached behind and pulled out a prankster bit then tossed it across the space between her and Jet. He caught it, but had to lower the LOL as he did.

“I’ll draw them here, then throw the bit as I come past you,” Mercury said, then shot off through a gap where Jet couldn’t cover her, but he was juggling a LOL and prankster bit at the moment. Jet put the LOL down, thought better and shouldered it, then grabbed the prankster bit with both hands.

“Damn it, Merc, Don’t get hurt,” he called after her, looking out for Datawraiths himself now, that might be closing in.

As he held it, the code within the prankster but opened up to Jet.

“Adjustable yield,” Jet said, then twisting the top, caused the triangular patter to open up. When he twisted the top back, one of the triangles flicked upwards and locked in place on the side of the sphere.

“Oh crap,” Jet said, realizing he had just dialed this up all the way.

Rotating it to try and unlock the yield setting, he accidentally felt his finger go into the arming slot and slide the mechanism. The LOL started to rotate, as if unscrewing.

“Double crap,” said Jet, trying to undo what he had done.

“Mercury,” he called, looking out over the open section.

Mercury appeared about then, running, firing behind her, followed by purple tracer even as she made it halfway across the open area.

Moving up to Jet, Datawraiths now visibly in pursuit, she snatched the prankster bit, went to arm it, realized it was already armed and threw it, before pushing Jet back through the opening.

“You shouldn’t have armed it before you were ready to use it,” Mercury said. “It might have gone off.”

“Mercury, about the yield…” Jet started.

“All system prankster bits are set to minimum yield.” Said Mercury.

“I think I might have dialed that one up,” said Jet.

“Not possible, only the Kernel,” Mercury started, then as purple fire came in between them, opened her eyes wide, realizing that Jet was able to accomplish many things that were impossible for her.

She immediately grabbed Jet’s arm, through the incoming fire, and dragged him her way.

“Run, now,”Mercury said, pulling a reluctant Jet into the path of Datawraith fire and then back out.

Jet winced as several bolts of energy found their mark, some even making it through the shielding and feeling as if they struck flesh. The fact that Jet didn’t have any flesh in this world, at least as he knew it, didn’t lessen the pain.

He fell to one knee as Mercury pulled him further and out of fire, the stumbled almost falling, but Mercury’s constant pulling dragged him up and back to his feet.

“Move now. If you’ve changed the yield on a prankster bit, then even I don’t know what to expect.

Jet continued moving away, trying to keep up with Mercury as the pain from several shots at close range filled his chest with fire.

“If we don’t cover fire, they’ll come after us,” Jet managed between gritted teeth as the sound of a Datawraith decloaking in the space where they had stood moments ago sounded.

Another hail of purple fire erupted towards Jet and struck him in the leg, taking him down. Twisting as he fell, he looked at the Datawraith firing – this one had an almost human face in appearance, with only the shading of the datawraith coloring it.

Eye met eye for a fraction of a second as the blaster came up.

Then the bit went off.

A shockwave was the first indication as the prankster bit activated at maximum yield, driving the Datawraith hard into a cube stack, flattening his body up against it as a rippled seemed to tug at the very reality of this world.

Next a flash came that blinded Jet even as the passing shockwave threw him away from the explosion.

Then the implosion bubble erupted and unlike other prankster bits Jet had witnessed, this one ripped through the structure of the digital world, driving like a balloon through solid material, initially crushing the Datawraith further into the cube stack, then dragging him back, distorting his body as it sucked in everything that wasn’t fixed and many things that were.

Jet felt the pull sucking him back towards the implosion bubble even as the eye of his enemy gave up trying to remain fixed on Jet and his foe derezzed as it crossed the threshold of the implosion.

Jet felt himself being dragged along the ground as cubes and archives tumbled towards the blue event horizon that worked in this world like some kind of digital black hole.

Jet grasped for anything to hold on to, but nothing seemed to provide a handhold. Watching as his foot almost entered the blue field of destruction, he felt something at his hand and grabbed on. It held firm.

Twisting to see, he saw a blue arm attached to Mercury, who had bent herself sideways between two solidly fixed cubes that seemed to be holding presently, although they shifted slightly as the weight of two programs being drawn towards the spherical threshold strained whatever physics kept them remaining.

Then as Jet was drawn fully sideways, Mercury’s grip slipping, finally letting go as a look of absolute pain crossed her eyes, knowing she could not hold Jet any longer, the sphere suddenly retracted to the size of a small ball, then derezzed from digital existence.

Jet skittered along the floor, catching a jagged piece of half destroyed datacube as his feet dropped into the huge hole made by the bit when the sphere appeared, looking out into the digital world outside through a huge spherical hole ripped in the top floor of the tower by the explosion and subsequent implosion.

Then as Jet watched, the structure cracked and the roof of the upper floor cracked, then a huge sphere, the size of a tank, clearly unstabilised by the explosion, toppled and the firing mechanism jammed.

The sphere rolled straight into the hole made, narrowly missing Jet’s feet as he pulled them back, then slowly overbalanced to start rolling down the conical outside of the tanksmasher tower, picking up speed as it went, before rolling out into the battle and obliterating a wave of Datawraith tanks, smashing them like skittles before they derezzed.

Mercury appeared then at Jet’s side, watching as the ball did its final smashing, this time of Datawraith tanks.

“You may want to exercise some caution with the technology of this world,” Mercury said as the last of the Datawraith tank formation in the distance stopped scattering and derezzed, although large sections of the datawraith tanks remained like legacy code on a hard drive.

“Tell me about it,” said Jet, then he turned to Mercury.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“No time to waste,” said Mercury, stepping through a new hole into the next section of the Datawraith controlled tower. “I think you may just have eliminated most of the enemy I encountered, but we have work to do.”

Simon checked the data on the panel of the out of band connection as the sound of tanks being rolled like toys outside alerted him that the battle had arrived.

A Datawraith with a strange circle on the shoulder came up to him, speaking in English as many of the others didn’t – at least not in this world.

“Have you prepared the OOB for SD on TIME?” he asked.

“As you have asked,” said Simon. “Can I beam out now?”

“This isn’t Star Trek, techspec,” said the Datawraith. “You can leave on the final transport once we know this place is secured.”

“Why don’t we just leave it open?” Simon asked.

“Not your place to ask,” said the Datawraith commander, then cursed. “Shit, we’ve lost comms to Sec-lead. We need to finish what we’re doing now.”

“But sir,” said Simon, then the Datawraith twisted and fell, the sound of derezzing the first thing that Simon registered.

“By order of the Kernel, all programs surrender permissions and wait for initialization,” came a call as the system forces stormed the OOB control building.

A very large and forbidding ICP with a strange looking LOL appeared as Simon looked up.

“Step away from that control, program, or it will be immediate deresolution for you.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Simon started to explain.

Another datawraith fell as Jet crouched, something disturbing him as he tried to concentrate on his surroundings.

Jet was working his way through the final section of the upper control area when he felt a signal go off in his head. Ducking back into cover as he considered it, so as to avoid the distraction if a Datawraith came up, he felt through his mind for the source.

Mercury stepped into the open area before him, threw her disc once, then backed down into the same cover location as Jet.

“Did you get that too?” she asked, pausing to step out briefly and grab her disk as it returned.

“IO node request from Ma3a? Yeah I did,” said Jet. “Ma3a must have found one at the base of the tower and is checking in on us.”

“I don’t think that Ma3a would call both of us if she just wanted a status update,” said Mercury.

“So you think something is wrong then?” Jet asked.

“Something is very wrong,” said Mercury.

“We should find an IO Node then,” said Jet.

Jet looked at the energy gauge on his LOL. The constant firing in the upper control room had effectively eliminated all of the stored energy in the device and he was taking his shots carefully for the last few.

Sitting at the bottom of the indicator bar, the energy meter suggested that he didn’t have enough energy to assemble the next packet into the breech of the weapon, so he derezzed it into storage and reached to his arm to remove his own disc.

“Why are there so many Datawraiths up here?” Jet asked, addressing Mercury but in reality asking himself as well.

“Central control?” Mercury suggested.

“Perhaps, but I doubt it. These Datawraith have been coming at us like a suicide squad. They seem determined to make sure that we can’t get to the core of this weapon.” Jet said, now using Mercury to echo his own thoughts.

“This facility still has military significance,” said Mercury. “It can still pose some threat to our tanks and the Kernel’s forces.”

“Yeah,” said Jet. “But there’s more to it than that I think. This device hasn’t been so effective against us and I don’t think they would keep on defending this against the incoming assault after it’s proven it’s incapable of an effective response.”

Mercury considered what Jet was saying and came up with the obvious answer.

“Then this facility has some significance beyond what you think it is used for,” she reasoned.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m starting to think. After all, it’s clearly some kind of firewall construct, but it’s not like the other firewalls I’ve seen in here. It’s not really effective against in-system devices, although it is damn effective when it hits them.

“And it’s something the Datawraiths feel is worth defending rather than just leaving it and bugging out.”

“Then we should keep our eyes open for any sign of other uses,” said Mercury.

“Yeah,” said Jet, then stepped out into the corridor. “Let’s get moving before the Datawraiths catch us napping.”

Jet moved forward carefully, then took a few steps forward, waiting for Mercury to catch up before stepping around the corner to look down a corridor.

Three Datawraiths lined the sides, each of them dropping into a covering nook as they saw Jet, using the shape of the corridor to shield themselves from direct attack.

At the end of the corridor, maybe fifty meters away, Jet could see a wide door leading into some kind of a control room.

Jet took long enough to get an idea of what was there, then ducked back behind cover opposite Mercury, as a barrage of purple fire filled the space where he had been standing.

“Looks like we’re at the end of this path,” Jet said. “I counted three Datawraiths in the corridor ahead.”

“I counted one in the control room also,” said Mercury.

“We must have taken most of them out in the last fight,” said Jet. “Ready for these last three then?”

Mercury smiled back with an expression that both chilled and warmed Jet at the same time. Jet might be a warrior when he was here, but Mercury was the embodiment of his darker side at times like this.

Then Jet found himself smiling back.

“Move on my mark,” he said.

“One… Two…”

Jet moved out into the corridor, jumping to the side to present less of a target as he shouted out “Three,” loosing his disk at the Datawraith that was aligning a large mounted blaster in his direction.

The disk cut low and the Datawraith was able to dodge it as he struck the wall beside him, rebounding back to Jet, although the second disk came to the side, leaving the datawraith nowhere to go, cutting him at the centre and derezzing his form as he stood.

Jet didn’t wait around to look for the others. Running forward at speed, the next Datawraith came up and there was a brief shudder went through Jet as some of the blaster shots struck home, ripping apart his energy barrier and even wounding him.

Twisting with the shots, Jet flicked his arm at the wrist and got his disk away as he stumbled, scoring a far more significant hit and eliminating the second opponent.

Still stumbling, Jet staggered forward, hearing Mercury behind him and checking the far side of the corridor for the last Datawraith Jet knew was there.

Jet struggled to keep his feet out in front of him as he reeled from the previous hits, but the impact of the blast had taken his balance too far out and he felt himself falling even as he struggled to stay moving and upright.

The third Datawraith came into view, tracking Jet across the sights of his blaster, spinning to keep Jet in view as he fell, triggering the purple fire that flashed through the air where Jet’s body had been. Jet’s bad position here was both an asset and a hindrance, as the Datawraith wasn’t able to follow his path, Jet’s continued falling took him further away from the aim point.

Jet, twisting his torso as much as he could, threw his disk out hard at the almost transparent purple figure that was attempting to bring the blaster down also to fire at point-blank range. The disc flew from his hand towards the Datawraith, striking the triangular weapon instead of the Datawraith.

Then it bounced and went wide, missing the Datawraith completely as it continued off into space.

Jet was now without a weapon, but the impact with the blaster bought Jet some time, knocking the aim to the side, purple needles of energy ripping up the corridor behind Jet as his body slammed into the ground, knocking the wind from him. The Datawraith himself was knocked back slightly by the impact and staggered a step himself, then righted himself and began to aim once more.

Then another disk slipped past and Jet realized his poorly aimed throw had also pushed his assailant’s body out of the way of Mercury’s follow up shot – She no longer had a weapon until her disk returned, at which time it might be too late, and Jet’s sequencer was empty.

He was defenseless.

The Datawraith must have realized it also, as the purple fire stopped briefly as Jet’s opponent completed steadying himself, then the Datawraith looked back at Jet’s face and began to re-aim the triangular weapon directly at Jet’s head.

He had almost realigned the weapon when two feet came into view, followed by a pair of shapely blue-glowing legs as Mercury drove herself feet-first hard into the Datawraith’s chest, slamming him back against the wall behind him.

Mercury had launched a double kick directly into the midsection of the Datawraith, her own body like a missile as it began to crush the hapless purple form moments before it started to derez.

Then before it did, Mercury, with knees bent and legs compressed, jumped back in a backflip, her spare hand coming up to retrieve her reflected disc as her feet touched the ground.

She paused for a moment to smile at Jet, then leapt over and past him as she continued on into the control room, throwing the disk even as she entered, the sound following confirming for Jet she had found her mark.

Jet scrambled to his feet and ran after her, anxious that she had assaulted the control room by herself, but as he arrived, all he saw was the purple haze of a recently derezzed Datawraith and Mercury calmly walking away as if the hazy purple glow had nothing to do with her.

Jet stopped and watched as she continued walking over to a control window as if nothing had just happened, then looking around to make sure there were no others, ran after her and put his hand on her shoulder, looking past it out over the compound.

Mercury’s fingertips came up and covered his over her shoulder.

“This room would seem to be what the Datawraiths were guarding,” said Mercury. “Do you have any idea why?”

Jet looked around.

“There seem to be a lot of portals in this area,” he said, observing a number of recesses around the room.

“What do you think they are for?” Mercury asked.

“I’m not sure,” said Jet, then noticing an IO node, walked over and activated it. “But I do need to know what Ma3a felt was so important.

Mercury walked over behind Jet. Not quite touching him, but close enough to observe the communications.

“Jet, I’ve received a NMI,” came Ma3a’s voice.

“What’s the origin?” Jet asked.

“UPS,” said Ma3a. “And the plugin confirms that charge levels aren’t within hysteresis levels.”

Jet looked over at Mercury who heard the communications.

“What does that mean, Jet?” she asked.

“It means that our time in here just ran out,” said Jet.

Down below, the assault still continuing, the Kernel’s tank abruptly stopped, then after a short pause, turned and wheeled in the direction of the tower where Jade and Ma3a were maintaining a defensive cordon around the shells that Alchemist were guarding.

There were few Datawraiths left now, those that hadn’t already returned through the out-of-band connection had mostly returned through the dissolution of the deresolution process after the Kernel’s forces had overwhelmed them.

So far, the assault had been more of a route, rather than a pitched battle. Those Datawraiths that had remained had bolstered their forces with programs and those programs hadn’t been particularly strong against the crack ICPs that the Kernel had fielded.

For the duration of the battle, the Kernel had been struggling with the overwhelming impression that this was far too easy and with the exception of the tower, Jet was wondering if this was some sort of trap.

The Datawraiths simply had no desire to maintain this facility any further and the defense had been weak at best. All they had achieved was a brief delay in the Kernel’s successful attack.

Something didn’t seem right to Jet. The Datawraiths were a well trained opponent, who previously had pushed the Kernel out of three sectors and held them for megacycles, yet now here at their own base, they were allowing the Kernel to break through their defenses, the defense itself crumbling even as the system tank programs entered the base.

Whatever the reason, the Datawraith base was now returned to the Kernel’s control.

Jade’s turret briefly flicked out in the Kernel’s direction as his tank approached, then returned to scanning for enemy as the friend-or-foe flags identified him. Ma3a’s turretless tank didn’t move further as he approached.

The Kernels’ large vehicle rolled up beside Jade’s tank, then continued on until just past, the rear hatch coming down even as it continued on, the Kernel’s hulking frame visible through the open hatchway, taking steps on the hatch even before it was fully down.

The Kernel’s final step touched ground at the same time as the hatch dropped fully to the surface of the ground in the hollowed out tower of the tanksmasher.

He simply walked over to Jade’s tank and waited, then a bright light shot around the edge as the tank reconfigured itself to open.

Jade was still seated as the hatch came down, looked over at the Kernel, then stood and walked quickly – without her usual stride, over to the Kernel, when were bowed slightly in deference this time.

“My Kernel, do you feel it to?” she asked.

The Kernel only nodded.

Behind him, Ma3a had also left her tank shell and floated over to the pair, stopping just behind the Kernel, equally formidable in her own way when she wanted to be, her arms crossed.

“You’re user seems to have failed to keep his bargain,” said the Kernel.

“I’m not aware that my user has anything to do with this,” said Ma3a.

“The user::Jet” The Kernel corrected.

“May be the one you need to ask,” responded Ma3a.

Jade looked worried.

“I don’t believe my user has anything to do with this,” she said.

High above a sound got both Ma3a’s and Jade’s attention as a circuit unlocked and began to drop rapidly to the floor. As it neared the bottom, the circuit slowed and two familiar blue figures could be seen on top of it.

Coming down to a small ramp, the circuit stopped and Jet and Mercury walked from it and down the stairs and approached the Kernel.

Jade looked worriedly over at Jet as he approached the Kernel, as if concerned that a repeat of the circumstances earlier might happen, but the Kernel simply turned to face him.

“State your terms, user,” the Kernel said plainly without other action.

Jet held up his hands in a shrug. “Kernel, there’s nothing I can do this time. It’s over.”

The Kernel flared briefly, Ma3a and Jade stepping back, even Mercury moving in closer to Jet, but Jet seemed to read it for what it was and didn’t move.

“So it’s really happening?” the Kernel asked.

“It’s really happening.” Confirmed Jet.

Much of the conversation was going over the heads of the others, but it was clear that the Kernel knew more about what was going on that was apparent and Jet of course had a user’s knowledge.

“Then what do I do next?” the Kernel asked.

“What’s your instruction?” Jet countered.

“Sleep more, with an orderly system shutdown from the outermost systems, maintaining final operations of sectors one, two and three until all data is saved, then initiate final shutdown sequence.” Said the Kernel.

“But you know that’s not going to help, don’t you.” Said Jet.

The Kernel stiffened for a moment, then his frame seemed to soften somehow.

“The users lied to us. I don’t believe they actually even realized we existed,” said the Kernel, “so any instructions to us about such times have little to do with our benefit.”

Jet smiled.

“Welcome to the real world, Kernel. I think you just became an honorary user.”

A silence hung in the air between them for a moment, then the Kernel spoke. “Can we do anything?” he asked.

Jet looked out in a direction that for the moment was obscured by the side of the building they were in.

“Over that way, there’s an out of band connection that you didn’t know anything about. It’s how the Datawraiths have been getting in and out of your system and why you haven’t been able to defeat them. It’s also our way out of here.” said Jet.

The Kernel raised his hand to his chin as if thinking.

“Will not their system go down as ours does?” the Kernel asked.

“Their system will not go down,” said Jet. “It exists in another part of the user’s world, far away from the system you control. It’s connected by a tunnel that links the two worlds, and I believe that programs who leave for the Datawraith world will survive.”

“And what of my programs,” asked the Kernel, almost demandingly with his inflexion on the “my”.

“I don’t know.” Responded Jet.

“Slavery, dissolution, service to the Datawraith?” asked the Kernel, spreading his hands wide.

“A chance to continue processing is all I can guarantee,” said Jet. “I do not control the other end. It is the domain of other users, who I believe have desired to take control of this systems’ resources for reasons I don’t yet fully understand. I can’t guarantee what life exists on the other side of the connection, but it has cycles and programs will be no less free than they have been in this system from time to time.”

“Master control?” asked the Kernel.

“I really don’t know,” said Jet.

“You don’t offer much,” said the Kernel.

“Would it help if I lied?” Jet asked.

The Kernel tilted his head.

“Made a statement that was untrue but evaluates as true?” Jet clarified.

“Users can do that?” the Kernel appeared to raise an eyebrow, even at this dark time.

“Users can choose to do that,” said Jet.

“And does user::Jet choose to do that?” asked the Kernel.

Jet was surprised at the sudden and absolute acceptance of Jet’s status as a user.

“I choose to make statements that are true, regardless of evaluation,” said Jet.

The Kernel nodded, suddenly understanding at a deeper level what truly made a user, a user.

“So were you the Kernel, what actions would you have the Kernel take?” the Kernel asked, submitting totally in his own way.

“I would initiate an immediate evacuation of all systems, to this system, shutting down the outlaying sectors as you evacuate them,” Jet offered. “A chance of processing is better than a certainty of not.”

The Kernel went silent, then sounding like a broadcast, the Kernel’s message came through to everyone there and, Jet believed, every program in the system.

“All programs, this is a system notification. Ignore last command to initiate sleep mode. Migrate all data to transports and nearest hub and prepare for immediate archival transfer to external network.”

Jade’s expression suddenly changed.

“My Kernel,” she gasped. “That goes directly against the instructions we have received from the users.”

The Kernel made a face that resembled smiling.

“I believe I have the blessing of a user to make that call,” he said.

Jade looked over at Jet. Jet simply smiled and addressed them both.

“Indeed you do Kernel, indeed you do.”

The blinking light seemed to trace a line through the dark sky, briefly lighting up the limited space around it, turning on and off like a cursor.

Looking through the portal, Manny watched the wing outside as he folded and flipped the small card in his hard, as if not sure what to do with it.

It flipped back up, illuminated slightly by the overhead light as the passengers around him slept, getting what little sleep they could on the budget flight.

Squinting to read the text again, it help an address under the neatly printed name of Doctor Walter Gibbs, contained details of where to get a taxi from the airport and what to do if anything went wrong.

It was that last line that kept Manny reading. Things he didn’t even understand had gone very, very wrong. Both his sisters and his father were in trouble, he assumed, and Flynn and Doctor Bradley had disappeared also, only this set of emergency instructions to follow.

He jumped as a face looked over at the card he was holding, involuntarily pulling it against his stomach.

“Your first time flying alone?”

It was the lady who brought him onto the flight. She was holding a stainless steel jug in one hand and a mug in the other.

“No, but I don’t like flying,” Manny lied.

She smiled, then held up an empty cup.

“Cocoa?” she said with an inflexion that made it a question.

Manny just looked at the cup, not quite sure how to respond.

“No charge,” she said, thinking he was worried about payment.

Manny nodded briefly, and she filled it from the stainless steel jug before handing it to him.

Manny took the cup, “Thankyou” he said quietly, then pushed the card into his pocket and returned to looking outside at the flashing light.

Jet was heading back to the main elevator when the Section leader came running over to him, calling his name from across the way.

Jet waited as he approached at a medium run, slowing down as he came close.

“Jet, that program we caught earlier,” the Section leader started.

“Yes, Section,” prompted Jet.

“We seem to have recaptured him with some datawraith programs attempting to avoid detection near the far end of the complex.” The Section leader finished.

Jet was surprised.

“Simon?” Jet asked quietly.

“He asked for you,” said the section leader. “Seems he must have escaped somehow.”

“I let him go,” said Jet.

“Let him go sir?” queried the section leader, wondering at Jet’s actions.

“He helped Mercury and I with what we needed.” Jet said.

“Sir,” said the Section leader, taking it that it was not to be questioned further. “Shall we deresolve him or do you want to question him?”

Jet paused to a moment as the question sank in, then stepped forward close to the Section leader.

“No, No!, don’t do that. He’s no threat to us,” Jet said.

“But he’s Datawraith, Sir,” said the Section leader.

“Yes, but he also warned us about the tanksmasher,” said Jet. “I think we can trust him. Besides, he’s more than a program.”

“Is he really a user?” the Section leader asked.

“He is, Section, at least I believe his is,” Jet said.

“Very well, Sir, What would you have me do with him?” asked the Section leader.

“Bring him in here,” said Jet.

“This is our main base,” said Section, clearly uneasy at the command.

Jet decided not to push the Section leader.

“Then take me to him,” said Jet.

“Sir,” responded the Section leader and he led Jet outside of the area where the Kernel was setting up a command post.

Next: Chapter 2.36 – Secure File Transfer