Code Matriks
Episode 1: The Discovery
By B1ockh3d
Author's Note: It has been too long. Not only from writing, but neglecting to write a fanfiction for my most favorite show ever! I hope there's someone out there that'll read this, and I'm not too late. I'm gonna aim for a new chapter every Monday, and if not every Monday, every other Monday! -B1ockh3d
KNOCK! KNOCK!
A young man knocked on the door of dorm room 313.
"Who is iiiit?" a scratchy voice answered.
"It's Remy. Look, I know you're sick, but the team needs the leg prototype you built." Remy requested.
"It's not done yet." The voice called back.
"We know, Chri-"
"Freshie, it's Cooke!" Cooke winced.
"Cooke," he emphasized, "We have statewide next week, we'll finish it today without you."
"Alright… I'll text Markus with the instructions…" Cooke reached over from his bed and unlatched the door, "It's in the case on my desk… Come and get it."
Remy came in, and saw Cooke covered by his blanket, surrounded by tissues, "Oh, man… do you need anything?"
"For you to get out of my dorm…" Cooke grouchily responded.
Remy grabbed the case off of Cooke's desk, and exited.
"Wait," Cooke reached out, "Tell Markus to grab some decongestants at the health center for me please…"
"Sure, will do." Remy promised.
A tall black man with curly hair and thick black rimmed glasses put his key into the door of room 313, and opened it.
"Hey man, I picked up your medicine." He threw the bag onto Cooke's bed.
"Thanks, Markus." Cooke uncovered himself, showing his pale white skin, wrecked ashy blond hair, and bloodshot eyes.
"Dude!" Markus gasped, "You're a wreck!"
"Thanks, captain obvious." Cooke sneered as he took a decongestant, "How's our team's robot coming along?"
"Excellent! We got your legs on it today, Sarah's finishing up the optic housing, and I have to finish the coding for the left arm, and we'll be good to go for next week."
"That's wonderful to hear." Cooke turned over.
"Hey," Markus sat down in a chair and wheeled over to Cooke, "We got visited by a government agent today."
"Not a suprise, they visit pretty regularly considering we go to Washington State University... In Washington."
"Yeah! But this guy was telling us about a new Congressional grant contest!" Markus pulled out a flyer, "Wanna hear what the winner gets?"
"Humor me."
"Winner gets ten thousand dollars AND a government lab space for a year!"
Cooke lifted his head, "Eh? You mean, we wouldn't have to sign up for time to use a communial lab?"
Markus smiled and nodded, "All to ourselves!"
Cooke sat up and grabbed the flyer from Markus, "How do we enter?"
"There's a showcase in about two weeks, we have to submit a video showing a working prototype of something amazing that we've made, and describe what we would do with the lab and grant, and hopefully get picked to come to the showcase."
"What were you thinking of submitting?"
Markus reached over to Cooke's desk, and picked up a small quadcopter, "This!"
"The mini-drone? C'mon, man."
"Not just the mini-drone, but the aluminum graphine super cell battery we're trying to produce that goes in it!" Markus pulled out the battery, "It almost works!"
"Yeah, except our current battery prototype only lasts five minutes, not two hours, like it's supposed to."
"But we have the research and math for it, we know it's possible!" Markus encouraged, "We just have to sell it!"
"Yeah, yeah... Yeah!" Cooke nodded, "When do we have to submit the video?"
Markus' smile turned into a frown, "Uh, in two days..."
Cooke buried his face into his pillow, "God, nooo... I look and feel like crap..."
Markus wheeled himself backward, "Yeah... What do we do? I really think we should enter."
Cooke let out a sigh, "...Write up a script, we're shooting the video tomorrow."
"What about you?"
Cooke reached for his phone, "I'm gonna text Sarah, ask for makeup help, and take some nyquil."
"Makeup?" Markus raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I ain't going on camera looking like this!" Cooke furiously shook his head.
They made a fantastic video, despite Cooke feeling like a wreck. It was submitted on time, and they waited anxiously for a reply. After a week, they went to their robot competition.
"Oh, no!" Markus cried out. The right arm of the robot popped off in the arena while holding the pool ball, which was the last one they needed to get into a tube and they would've gone to the semi-finals. But, it was too late. They couldn't pick up the ball with the other arm, because the detached arm was still holding it. They lost.
"Dangit!" Cooke yelled.
Sarah looked over, dejected, "Sorry guys..."
"No, don't feel bad," Markus reasssured, "We win as a team, we lose as a team. What happened was all of our faults."
The challenege ended, and the teams went out and retrieved their robots.
"WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY...DID NOT FINISH." The announcer boomed over the PA system.
Cooke looked over the robot, and its detached arm. "It... Looks like the sprocket screw came loose. Probably from the arm movement, rotating the screw."
"It's a darn shame." Markus replied.
Cooke nodded, "Welp, let's pack up our tools and go home."
Cooke and Markus flung their backpacks on their beds, and sat down.
"Well... That was a night." Markus broke the silence.
"Yeah..." Cooke sighed, "I can't believe I forgot to check the sprocket screws!"
"Don't beat yourself up over it, man." Markus soothed, "There's more competitions coming up. This is one of many."
Cooke shrugged, "It just really sucks. I felt like a rookie today."
"You're a sophmore, you're still technically a rookie." Markus teased, "Here, I know what'll make you feel better."
"Oh?"
"We got a letter in the mail today." Markus held up the envelope, "From the grant contest."
Cooke's eyes widened, "Open it!"
Markus grabbed a scrap metal shiv from his desk and used it as a letter opener, "Ahem, Dear Mr. Edwards and Mr. Cooke-"
"We regret to inform you..." Cooke pessimistically added.
"Uh, no." Markus' eyes widened, "Congratulations! Your innovative idea has been selected amongst 25 finalists for our Young Innovators Showcase, a showcase of 25 groups of future innovators in top colleges across the nation-"
"Blah blah blah THIS IS GREAT NEWS OH MY GOD!" Cooke sprang, "Even while fighting a cold we did it!"
"Yeah!" Markus thrusted the letter in the air, "We have a week to get ready!"
"Then lets not waste time!" Cooke pulled himself over to his desk, "I'll get to work on the infographics!"
"I'll finalize our proposal and make it pretty!" Markus booted up his computer.
The two worked throughout the night, finally falling asleep at 3 a.m.
Needless to say, the week ahead of them was a long and ruthless one.
Markus got into the drivers seat of his SUV, and Cooke got into the passengers seat.
Cooke inhaled deeply through his nose, and exhaled, "Ahhh... You smell that? That's the smell of our lives about to change forever."
"No," Markus shook his head, "That's the smell of the air freshener hanging from my rearview mirror."
"Smells like success to me!" Cooke strided.
Markus ignored Cooke's lame joke and put the car into drive, and began their two hour drive to the showcase.
They set up their station between a group that brought a robotic lizard that walked on water, and a group that brought a handheld water desalinator.
The competition was brutal. We all had five minute presentations in front of a review board, and we were up seventeenth.
A well dressed lady with bushy gray hair and round glasses came up to us, and looked at our project.
"Hello, ma'am. Are you enjoying the showcase?" Markus started. The lady looked up and smiled.
"Yes, quite." she answered in a very defined French accent, "I'm Suzanne Hertz, science teacher at Kadic Academy in France."
Markus and Cooke shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mademoiselle Hertz."
"You have an extraordinary innovation, this... Super cell battery. What can it be applied too?"
"Well!" Cooke began, "For tonight, we have a mini quadcopter. In theory, a battery this size should last up to two hours. But, if we take a laptop battery, we can decrease the size of the battery while maintaining the same battery life, or we can make a battery the same size and increase the battery life by almost ten times."
"Meaning?"
"Laptops that could last up to a week, no joke." Cooke nodded.
"Impressive."
"Oh, it gets better," Markus added, "Unlike most lithium ion batteries that take hours to charge, these aluminum celled batteries can charge fully in minutes, depending on the size of the battery."
"Very impressive!" she complimented, "Is it okay if I take pictures of your project?"
Markus and Cooke looked at each other awkwardly, "Uhm... We like you, and we trust you-"
"But we don't know your students." Markus shrugged, "It's currently not patented, there's several companies trying to come up with a battery like ours, and we're keeping our notes under lock and key until it's patented."
"Oh!" she shook her head, "My apologies! I understand you want to protect your invention. I merely wish to take a picture of the battery, and your infograpic on graphine, as I'd like to use them in a lesson."
Cooke and Markus thought about it, and Markus whispered to Cooke, "It's your idea, your choice."
Cooke turned to Ms. Hertz, "I don't see any issue with that."
"Thank you." she thanked, and took a few pictures, including us two in front of our project. "I'd love it if you could come teach a class on super conductors and super capacitors."
Markus bit his lower lip, "Maybe one day!"
She smiled, "Do take care."
After the afternoon of presentations, it was time to announce the winners.
"After careful review of all the presenters, we have come down with our final results." the MC began, "Our third place five thousand dollar winner is Gracie and George from BYU Idaho and their handheld water desalinater!"
A boy and a girl went up on stage, and shook hands with the MC.
"Our second place ten thousand dollar winner is Markus and Chri- uh... Chris, from Washington State University and their super cell battery!"
Cooke winced at his first name being called, but he was overjoyed to have won! Markus and Cooke approached the stage.
"We only got second though..." Cooke complained.
Markus nudged him, "Ten grand is ten grand, man."
They shook the MC's hand, and got in line with the other group.
"And the winner of ten thousand dollars and a lab space for a year, is Samuel and Evan from Georgia Institute of Technology and their deep diving miniature submarine." The MC announce, "Give all the winners a hearty round of applause!"
Everyone started clapping while the winners came up, but one of them looked a little squirrelly, and incredibly nervous. More so than any competitor they've seen here.
"Congratulations to all of the competitors here today, and keep on creating!"
"Well, it sucks we didn't win first." Markus sat down at their table with a plate of food.
"Yeah..." Cooke trailed, "...Did you notice one of the winners was acting suspiciously? Like, he was hiding something?"
"No." Markus shook his head, "You're probably imagining that, because you're jealous we didn't get the lab."
"Maybe." Cooke took a bite of chicken, "But, then again, like you said, ten grand is ten grand."
"Attention," the MC took the stage, "We have an important announcement to make."
Cooke and Markus put their food down.
"The winning team has rejected the prize, and withdrew their entree on the base of plagiarism."
Markus looked over at Cooke.
"This is about to get cliché, I just know it." Cooke dumbfoundedly looked at the stage.
"Our new winner is Markus and Chris, from Washington State University and their super cell battery!"
"How about that?" Cooke commented, as everyone applauded, "I was right!"
A well suited female government agent with neck-length curly brunette hair waited outside a small warehouse about half a mile away from their school to greet Markus and Cooke, "Welcome to your new lab, and congratulations. I'm Agent Juliet with the FBI."
"It's a pleasure." Markus smiled.
The door swung open, A well suited female government agent turned on the lights, to a room filled with overturned furniture and papers everywhere.
"This is your lab!" she displayed.
Markus and Cooke looked around in disbelief, "...This place looks like it's been ransacked."
"What was this place used for originally?" Markus asked.
Agent Juliet flipped through some papers on her clipboard, "It looks like... Declassified document storage."
"So, all the papers here are safe to look at?" Markus checked. She nodded.
"We have all the documents that were here in our databanks. You may dispose of them however you see fit." she informed.
Cooke leaned over to Markus' ear and whispered, "That's code for "this mess is our problem.""
"I know!" he whispered back through his teeth.
She flipped a table upright, and spread out a few documents. Another man stepped in and set down a bag next to it.
"What's all this?" Cooke asked.
"A few contracts." she clicked a pen open, "Each one you have to sign, or your space will not be approved."
"What are they?" Markus peered over at them.
"There are five. One for saying you will not produce weapons, one that says you will not make weapons of mass destruction, will not make devices that threaten the nation in any way, shape or form, will not associate with enemies of the United States, and most importantly, will not do anything that endangers the lives of any person or persons, and animals. You will both have to sign."
Cooke nodded, "I suppose that's all justifiable."
Markus nodded in agreement. They both signed all the papers, and the man with the bag brought out two stamps and stamped all the paperwork, then notarized them.
"Enjoy your new lab." The agent and the notary left the building.
Cooke and Markus stared in awe. The building was a perfect rectangle, about 100 feet by 50 feet, plus a bathroom and sizable storage closet in the corner. Big enough to do any kind of testing they wanted to.
"I guess..." Cooke chuckled a little bit, "I guess we clean up this dump."
"Let's do it."
After about two days of cleaning, the area was finally clear. They reused some of the crummy office tables, because it was that or use grant money to get better ones.
"Alright!" Markus clapped once to hear the echo, "All that's left is the storage closet!"
Cooke and Markus opened the closet, and a box full of papers flew out at them, they dodged it, and pulled out all the other ones.
"Awesome!" Cooke celebrated, "These are some pretty sturdy shelves, perfect for all the heavy stuff we're gonna put in here."
"Yeah, I suppose so." Markus began to shut the door, and something caught his eye, "Eh?"
"What is it?" Cooke looked questionably at him.
Markus opened the door, and they looked at the floor of the closet. They noticed a section of it wasn't a floor, but a trapdoor.
"Could it... Be a safe?" Cooke pondered.
Markus shook his head, "Naw, it has an RFID scanner." he pointed out a small gray panel in the corner, "This is government property, we need to tell them about this."
"Well- Hey now," Cooke grinned, "It wouldn't be harmless to open it, would it?"
"It might!" Markus warned, "We don't know what's down there! It could be the Roswell crash remains for all we know!"
Cooke put his ear up to it, and knocked on it. It was very metallic, and hollow. "Odds are, it's just a bunker for anyone who worked here. Wouldn't it be neat to have our own bunker?"
"Maybe, but, we don't even have a way to get in!" Markus reminded.
"Actually, yes, we do!"
"No we don't!"
"Yes we do!"
"No. We. Don't!"
"Yes. We. Do!"
"No we DON'T!"
"YES WE DO!" Cooke pulled out his phone, "Remember that app you made to prove RFID isn't a safe and secure way to lock doors in buildings? The one that detects the signal it's scanning for, then emulates it?"
Markus looked shocked, "No... You did NOT steal a copy of that program!"
"It's the only one I took from you!" Cooke admitted, "I only used it once to trick the soda machine into giving me a free Sprite!"
"For shame!"
"I was thirsty!"
Markus walked away and turned his back, "Since I can't stop you, I'm gonna look away and not witness anything!"
"Suit yourself!" Cooke placed his phone on top of the sensor, and not 15 seconds later, the door popped up slightly. "It's open!"
"That's great for you!" Markus gave a thumbs up, but didn't look.
Cooke grabbed his phone, and opened the trap door all the way. Inside was a narrow set of spiral stairs.
"Hey!" Cooke called, "There's a set of stairs!"
"I advise you don't go down them!"
"I'm gonna do it!" Cooke turned his phone into a flashlight, and descended down the stairs, "Bye!"
Markus tried to ignore it, but he didn't want his friend to get hurt. "...Dangit."
Markus ran over, and went down the stairs.
Markus reached the bottom, where Cooke was waiting.
"Decided to join?" Cooke dumbly smiled.
"Someone needs to pull you out of here when you get hurt!"
"Aw, my heart flutters."
"Let's just quickly look around, and get out of here." Markus looked down the dark hallway and saw light. Cooke nodded in agreement.
They went down the hall, and came to a room that looked like a massive command center.
"What the...?" Markus eyed the place. It was a large room, with a massive television monitor on a metal desk surrounded by several other smaller monitors, and a circular thing immediatly to the right of it. There was also an elevator-looking thing implanted in the wall.
"Is this... A video gaming rig?" Cooke awed.
"No, it's in a government building... I think... It's a super computer!" Markus panicked.
"Awesome!" Cooke cheered, "The government accidentally gave us access to their super computer!"
"We need to tell them right now." Markus backed away.
"I completely agree." Cooke crossed his arms, "But first, I've never seen a super computer. Have you?"
"No... Why?"
"Don't you want to see one?"
"No- well..." Markus trailed, "I guess... As long as we don't touch anything, we should be okay."
"Alright!" Cooke stepped into what he assumed was a small elevator, "Uh, we'll have to go one at a time. I don't think this was made ADA complient."
"Okay, just, send it up when you're off it." Markus asked. Cooke smiled, and nodded. "Now, go."
"Uh, problem."
"What is it?"
"There's no button. Maybe it's computer controlled?"
"I'm not touching that computer."
"C'mon man, it's just running the elevator. No harm in doing that much."
Markus sighed, and trudged over to the computer, "It's probably not even-"
The screens flickered on, as if they were in sleep mode.
"-on?"
"We don't have all day, hurry up." Cooke impatiently tapped the sides of the elevator.
"Alright, alright," Markus at down and pulled the keyboard up to himself.
He tapped away at it for a minute.
"Come ON man!"
"Hold on!" Markus smiled, "I think I got it!"
A window popped up showing Cooke in the elevator.
"Excellent!"
Markus cracked his knuckles, "Okay... Here... We... Go!"
He hit enter on the keyboard, and the elevator doors closed.
"See? Was that so hard?"
Suddenly, air started rushing past Cooke, and there was some sort of body scan on the screen of the computer.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Cooke cried out.
"I... I DON'T KNOW! I CAN'T STOP IT!"
50%... 60%...
"AHHHHHHHH-" Cooke's scream was cut off.
70%... 80%...
Markus couldn't do anything but watch the screen in horror.
90%... 100%
The elevator doors opened, and Cooke wasn't there.
Cooke appeared in a virtual world made of ice suspended in mid air, then fell down, "OW!"
He looked around, and there was lots of cartoonish looking ice. He looked at his hands, which were also virtual. He couldn't believe his eyes.
"MARKUS!" he screamed, "MAAAAAARKUUUUUUSSS!"
Markus heard something, coming out of the headset placed within arms reach, "Uh... Hello?"
"Markus!"
"Cooke!" Markus teared up, "You're alive!"
"I... I think so!" Cooke looked over the landscape, seeing a sea of ice, "You wouldn't believe what I'm seeing right now!"
"What are you seeing?"
"Ice! Like, virtual ice!" Cooke awed, "I think I'm in a video game!"
"You're right, I don't believe you in the slightest." Markus let out a single laugh. Then, a 3D holographic map popped up in the circular thing next to him, "Uh... I take that back..."
Cooke looked himself over, he was in a blue, white, and black leotard with a silver cogwheel in the center of his chest.
"What the... I look like an idiot."
"What do you look like?"
"An idiot." Cooke deadpanned, "It's hard to explain"
Cooke looked behind him, and saw a short sword protruding from a sheath on his back.
"Anything else?"
"I have a sword." Cooke drew it, and looked over it. It was no more than a foot and a half long, and it had ridges engraved into it, and a green light under his index finger on the sword.
"What's it look like?"
"Like awesomeness forged into a small sword."
Cooke tapped the light, and it turned red. The ridges on the sword then broke apart, and the sword blade fell apart, but all the segments were held together by a chain, "Woah... It's like, a sword that turns into a whip with knives all over it. Or one of those knives on the end of a chain in those kung-fu movies you like."
"Oh, that thing!" Markus remembered, "That's pretty awesome!"
Cooke retracted the whip back into a sword, and sheathed it, "So, uh, how do I get out of here?"
"I... Have no idea." Markus shook his head, dumbfounded.
"Well, tap away at that keyboard and find out!" Cooke demanded, "If there's a way to send me into this... Place... There's gotta be a way to get me out of it!"
"I'll figure it out, don't worry." Markus calmed, "This is why I majored in computer programming and you majored in mechanical engineering."
"I suppose it's chance you aren't here and I'm not there." Cooke replied.
"Please!" Markus laughed, "If you were here, you'd still be trying to figure out how to operate the elevator that's clearly not an elevator!"
"Oh, hush."
A screen popped up on Markus' screen, like a mini map. Showing a green dot and two red dots rapidly closing in.
"Uh... Huh." Markus scratched his head.
"Huh what?"
"There's, uh, two red dots coming near you, I think." Markus tapped away.
"Red... dots?" Cooke took out his sword, "Red dots aren't good, right?"
"I have no idea."
Cooke looked around. He had a wall behind him, and a straight path through some rocks in front of him.
"Where are these dots?"
"Right in front of you."
Cooke looked around at the rocks ahead of him cautiously, but saw nothing.
"Markus, are you sure of what those two red dots are? Because I'm not seeing anyt-"
PSHEW! PSHEW!
"I take that baaaaaack!" Cooke ran down the path, and two mechanical wolves came from behind the rocks and started chasing him, "WOLF! WOLF!"
"THERE'S WOLVES?!" Markus freaked, "KILL THEM!"
"EASIER SAID THAN DONE!"
PSHEW! PSHEW!
The mecha-wolves fired lasers from their mouths, and gained ground against Cooke.
"I THINK THOSE ARE HEALTH BARS ON MY SCREEN!" Markus screamed into the headset, "TAKE EM OUT!"
Cooke looked behind him, and saw the two wolves were side by side. He switched his sword into bladed whip mode, and swung at them
He hit them both first try, and they exploded in an orange implosion.
"Phew!" Markus relaxed, "The screen says you have 80 life points left.
"They didn't hit me though!"
"I didn't make the rules, you must've been hit." Markus deduced, "This is getting way too dangerous, we need to bring you back and shut this godawful thing down immediately."
"Any ideas?"
"Uh, go get yourself killed by a wolf?"
"That's a terrible idea! How do we know that won't kill me?! For realsies?!"
"We know nothing!" Markus slammed his fist down on the desk, "But what I do know is you're made of code, and if you die for real in the game, I can potentially recover your data."
"Potentially?" Cooke looked around in disgust, "I'm gonna need a little more reassurance than that!"
"Man, you're trapped in a virtual world! I'm still trying to wrap my head around that!" Markus barked, "Look, I can't make any promises right now. I don't know what I'm dealing with."
Cooke sighed, and kept on walking, "Just... Let me know if anything else pops up on your screen."
"I'll keep you posted." Markus acknowledged.
About half an hour later, Cooke started hearing shots being fired.
"Yo, Markus, are there any monsters on screen?" Cooke asked, "Because I hear something."
"No, try climbing something to get a better view?"
Cooke ran behind a large rock, and climbed on top of it. He could see a bunch of monsters attacking a large black monolith in an arena.
"Oh! I see activity now!" Markus chimed, "It looks like... Ten monsters in total.
Cooke saw a few mechanical wolves, a mechanical vulture circling the black towering thing, and a platoon of mechanical skeletons wielding laser rifles.
"This is something straight out of science fiction." Cooke rubbed his forehead.
"What's it like down there?"
"Like Disneyland let themselves go, it's insane."
"What are they doing?"
"They're all firing at a square black tower. I don't think that's good." Cooke deduced.
"Alright... I have the tower on my screen." Markus informed, "...Woah! Something's happening!"
The tower broke off small sections that stared floating, and emitting an orange glow.
"No kidding!" Cooke awed at this marvel. The monsters stopped firing, and surrounded the tower. "Now they're... Defending it?"
A warning popped up on Markus' screen, "Uhh... Data is being downloaded from this computer!"
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Uh... Yes! A very bad thing!"
"What do we do about it?"
"Uhm... Okay..." Markus calmed down, "...This tower has been "activated," yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Well, logic dictates that if it's activated, it can be deactivated, right?"
"Naturally."
"You have to go into the tower somehow, and deactivate the download."
"Okay, so, how do I enter it, and how do I deactivate it?"
"I... You got me. I don't know." Markus sighed, "Just, go down, kill the monsters, and we'll figure it out from there."
"I could hardly handle two, I don't know about ten!"
"If you have any better ideas, I'd love to hear em!"
Cooke groaned, and wielded his sword, "Alright, where should I go to attack?"
"Uhhh..." Markus looked over at the holographic map next to him, "...There's a slope you could slide down and surprise them."
Cooke looked over to his left, "...Yeah, I see it." He drew in a deep breath, and let it out, "...There's no actual air here. Why am I doing that?"
"Cooke!"
"Alright! Alright!" Cooke sprinted from behind the rock, and slid down the pathway.
Only to get immediatly pulverized, and devirtualized.
The doors to the tiny room closed, and open a moment later, with an exhausted Cooke sitting down with his back against the room.
Markus ran over, "You're alive!"
"Yeah, yeah..." He took a deep breath, "...Actual air!"
"You'll have time to catch your breath," Markus helped him up, "We have to shut this thing down pronto."
Cooke nodded rapidly, "Yeah... But, what about that download?"
"Don't worry about it, it stopped almost immediatly after you left." Markus assured, "And even if it does mean something, we're shutting it down anyways."
Cooke grabbed his head to orient himself, "Okay... Let's not waste time. Where is it?"
"I think we need to go downstairs even farther." Markus pointed to the spiral staircase.
The two walked over to the stairs, and pulled out a section of floor paneling, revealing a continuation of the spiral stairs.
They went downstairs, and came face to face with a ceiling high black tower with a blue light in the center, and the letters M.A.T.R.I.K.S. stenciled down the side.
"This must be it." Cooke admired, "I wonder what Matriks stands for."
"Doesn't matter to me." Markus approached a console in the center of the room, with a glowing blue flash drive sticking out of it. The console itself had a small LCD screen, a red and green button, and a USB port the flash drive is sticking out of.
"Would you like the honors?" Cooke offered.
"Nah, you're the one that nearly got killed today. You earned it." Markus presented the console.
"It'd be my pleasure." Cooke smiled, and pulled the flash drive out.
The LCD screen flashed "DO YOU WANT TO SHUT DOWN?" Cooke pressed the green button, assuming it means yes.
The tower shrank into itself, and sunk into the floor, and the hole it sank into closed up.
"Okay, that was pretty awesome." Cooke laughed in amusement.
Suddenly, red lights started flashing, and alarms started blaring, BRAAAANG! BRAAAANG! BRAAAANG!
"What's going on?!" Markus scrambled.
The two peered over over at the samll screen, which now read: "WARNING! BATTERIES 1-6 OVERHEATING! EXPLOSION IMMINENT!"
"TURN IT BACK ON!" Markus screamed.
Cooke put the flash drive back in, and pressed the green button. The alarms stopped, and the floor opened back up, spitting the computer tower back up and reactivating it. The screen now read: "M.A.T.R.I.K.S. ONLINE."
"Okay, we're only set back a little bit." Markus breathed, "We just need to pop out the batteries, see what the cooling issue is, and fix it. Easy peasy."
Cooke already approached the computer tower, and started inspecting it "Uhh... We're set back by a lot more than you think."
"What is it?" Markus asked. Cooke waved him over to the backside of the tower, where he saw a large panel, with a radioactivity warning, "Oh... NO!"
"The thing is nuclear powered!" Cooke grabbed his hair, "We can't shut it down, or it'll become a nuclear bomb!"
"The coolant is probably linked to the computer, and shuts down when the computer shuts down," Markus punched the wall, "Which explains why it was on when we got here."
"What do we do?" Cooke looked at Markus, worried.
"...Let's find out what we're dealing with first." Markus nodded, "I don't wanna hand it over to the government, because I'm afraid they might just shut it down."
"Alright... But you have until tomorrow." Cooke laid out, "I don't wana be picked up on charges of WMDs, so the sooner the better."
"Fair enough." Markus agreed, "I'll work through the night and hopefully have some results by breakfast."
"Pff!" Cooke laughed, "Have fun! I'm gonna head back to our dorm for the night. Call me if you need anything."
The two went their separate ways, Markus trying to figure out what the computer is, and Cooke trying to forget it.