With an unhealthy screech the train pulled out of the station, a sense of
terrible foreboding arriving in its wake. Something had gone wrong. Most
likely they'd be intercepted en-route to the Oracle, or perhaps on the way
back. Her bone-white, slender hand withdrew a tiny mobile phone from an
inner pocket of her golden coat. The rest of her pristine clothes were all
leather, all the same warm honey colour. The throng of disembarked morning
commuters had begun to dissipate as she hit the first number on speed-dial
and awaited the soft voice of her lifeline.
"Operator." His southern, Cajun accent was unmistakable, but far from
overbearing.
"Good Morning, Mr. Wizard."
"And to you, ma cherie. I've some bad news." "Tell me."
"Our intrepid explorers have been intercepted on the way home from Delphi. I was just about to call you."
"Perhaps we'll go lend them a hand?"
"No. We've all been ordered out of Wonderland. I think something terrible has happened, Jocasta. The box is just down the hall to your left. Be quick." The line went dead with a click, and she slipped the phone back into her coat, spinning around with notable grace as she did so. Her footsteps echoed through the near-empty station, a dull contrast to the shrill ringing of the public phone on the wall. Coming to a halt in front of it, she began to lift the handset, just as the entire box was ripped off the wall from the rear. It crashed down on her, brining part of the concrete wall behind it along for the ride. She lay there, stunned, as he stepped through the gaping hole where the phone had been, and she could see the men's bathroom on the other side. The black suit was as pristine as ever, tie knot a perfect double-Windsor aligned dead centre of his chest. With a supreme gesture of distaste, he brushed dust from the crumbling wall off of his shoulder. "Good Morning, Miss Au." The voice was emotionless and dead, as was his gaze from behind the sunglasses.
"The split second before I pick up the phone? That's terribly cliché."
"Some matters are beyond even our control, Miss Au." He reached into his suit. She responded quickly, throwing off the debris with her knees and sweeping her freed legs in a semi-circle. The wrecked phone box hit him square in the centre of his body, and sent him stumbling, her kick sending him to the ground. Still moving, she spun her legs up and backwards, flipping back up and onto her feet. Without pause, she leapt off the train platform and into the subway tunnel. Behind her came the familiar, modem- like screeching of an Agent taking over, and then the explosive cracks of fifty caliber rounds leaving the chamber. Even in the darkness she could feel them scream by and smell the burnt cordite. Heavy thumps as they too left the platform and began running. Still running faster than most Olympic athletes, she withdrew her phone from her coat and dialed. They didn't bother with any subtle code this time. "Another exit please, Carbine." "Oui. Keep running, there's a maintenance exit about five hundred meters further down. You'll come up on corner of 1st and Remond. Head west, the nearest exit is in a theatre two blocks down. Move fast Jocasta, they're on the train coming from the other direction." The line went dead. She threw the phone out behind her, pulling the pistol from the holster strapped to the hollow of her back. Four hundred meters. Two hundred. She could hear the train coming, and the tunnel was already becoming illuminated from its lights. A hundred. Close enough to make out the pristine suit at the controls. She rolled through the doorway just as the train screamed by. So predictable. Sighing, she rose and quickly scaled the ladder and banged the man-hole cover out of place, scrambling out onto the street. She traveled the further two blocks without accident, and jacked out of the Matrix.
---|=-
"That was easily the worst training program I've ever had the misfortune to take part in, Carbine. Who the hell coded that piece of crap?" Her fingers found his face and felt stubble. Erebus was working him too hard. They were all being worked too hard, and it was beginning to take its toll. Junior programmers having to code training programs was just one side effect.
"Forget it, it doesn't matter." She sighed, and he helped guide her to her feet, placing her right hand on the thin wire they'd set up around the ship especially for her. He turned back to his sprawling array of monitors and keyboards for a brief moment, powering all but one of them down, then did the same with the lights. He took her free hand and they began making their way to their cabin, footsteps ringing through the silent hovercraft. "It's not his fault we're so busy, you know." A sigh.
"I know, Carbine. But I need someone tangible to blame."
"I can understand that. Although I don't think it's particularly fair." She didn't reply, so he decided it was time for a subject change, and lowered his voice.
"I haven't been totally without spare time, you know." He couldn't make out her reaction clearly in the poor light, but she tilted her head slightly, intrigued. "I've managed to indulge in a rather egotistical creation. Carbine, version 1 is ready for beta testing. Indistinguishable from the original. If you're interested." She stopped walking, and he hoped. He prayed. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she spoke.
"No. I'm sorry."
Damnit.
"Why, Jocasta? Are you afraid of what you'll see? Do I feel so hideous?" He couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice. She turned to face him, but not to look at him, a sad smile on her face. "I'm just not ready. I'm sorry." She placed her hand behind his head, felt his thick long hair. Felt more smooth hair, and no metal plug. He returned her embrace and they kissed. He couldn't understand, but he was willing to wait some more. She opened her eyes. They were so beautiful and unique, a luscious emerald green that was so rare in someone of oriental descent. The irony that they were so beautiful and yet so useless here was not lost on him, and every time that thought hit him, he had to fight back tears.
They turned and started walking again. His hand in her left, the cold guiding wire in her right.
"Good Morning, Mr. Wizard."
"And to you, ma cherie. I've some bad news." "Tell me."
"Our intrepid explorers have been intercepted on the way home from Delphi. I was just about to call you."
"Perhaps we'll go lend them a hand?"
"No. We've all been ordered out of Wonderland. I think something terrible has happened, Jocasta. The box is just down the hall to your left. Be quick." The line went dead with a click, and she slipped the phone back into her coat, spinning around with notable grace as she did so. Her footsteps echoed through the near-empty station, a dull contrast to the shrill ringing of the public phone on the wall. Coming to a halt in front of it, she began to lift the handset, just as the entire box was ripped off the wall from the rear. It crashed down on her, brining part of the concrete wall behind it along for the ride. She lay there, stunned, as he stepped through the gaping hole where the phone had been, and she could see the men's bathroom on the other side. The black suit was as pristine as ever, tie knot a perfect double-Windsor aligned dead centre of his chest. With a supreme gesture of distaste, he brushed dust from the crumbling wall off of his shoulder. "Good Morning, Miss Au." The voice was emotionless and dead, as was his gaze from behind the sunglasses.
"The split second before I pick up the phone? That's terribly cliché."
"Some matters are beyond even our control, Miss Au." He reached into his suit. She responded quickly, throwing off the debris with her knees and sweeping her freed legs in a semi-circle. The wrecked phone box hit him square in the centre of his body, and sent him stumbling, her kick sending him to the ground. Still moving, she spun her legs up and backwards, flipping back up and onto her feet. Without pause, she leapt off the train platform and into the subway tunnel. Behind her came the familiar, modem- like screeching of an Agent taking over, and then the explosive cracks of fifty caliber rounds leaving the chamber. Even in the darkness she could feel them scream by and smell the burnt cordite. Heavy thumps as they too left the platform and began running. Still running faster than most Olympic athletes, she withdrew her phone from her coat and dialed. They didn't bother with any subtle code this time. "Another exit please, Carbine." "Oui. Keep running, there's a maintenance exit about five hundred meters further down. You'll come up on corner of 1st and Remond. Head west, the nearest exit is in a theatre two blocks down. Move fast Jocasta, they're on the train coming from the other direction." The line went dead. She threw the phone out behind her, pulling the pistol from the holster strapped to the hollow of her back. Four hundred meters. Two hundred. She could hear the train coming, and the tunnel was already becoming illuminated from its lights. A hundred. Close enough to make out the pristine suit at the controls. She rolled through the doorway just as the train screamed by. So predictable. Sighing, she rose and quickly scaled the ladder and banged the man-hole cover out of place, scrambling out onto the street. She traveled the further two blocks without accident, and jacked out of the Matrix.
---|=-
"That was easily the worst training program I've ever had the misfortune to take part in, Carbine. Who the hell coded that piece of crap?" Her fingers found his face and felt stubble. Erebus was working him too hard. They were all being worked too hard, and it was beginning to take its toll. Junior programmers having to code training programs was just one side effect.
"Forget it, it doesn't matter." She sighed, and he helped guide her to her feet, placing her right hand on the thin wire they'd set up around the ship especially for her. He turned back to his sprawling array of monitors and keyboards for a brief moment, powering all but one of them down, then did the same with the lights. He took her free hand and they began making their way to their cabin, footsteps ringing through the silent hovercraft. "It's not his fault we're so busy, you know." A sigh.
"I know, Carbine. But I need someone tangible to blame."
"I can understand that. Although I don't think it's particularly fair." She didn't reply, so he decided it was time for a subject change, and lowered his voice.
"I haven't been totally without spare time, you know." He couldn't make out her reaction clearly in the poor light, but she tilted her head slightly, intrigued. "I've managed to indulge in a rather egotistical creation. Carbine, version 1 is ready for beta testing. Indistinguishable from the original. If you're interested." She stopped walking, and he hoped. He prayed. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she spoke.
"No. I'm sorry."
Damnit.
"Why, Jocasta? Are you afraid of what you'll see? Do I feel so hideous?" He couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice. She turned to face him, but not to look at him, a sad smile on her face. "I'm just not ready. I'm sorry." She placed her hand behind his head, felt his thick long hair. Felt more smooth hair, and no metal plug. He returned her embrace and they kissed. He couldn't understand, but he was willing to wait some more. She opened her eyes. They were so beautiful and unique, a luscious emerald green that was so rare in someone of oriental descent. The irony that they were so beautiful and yet so useless here was not lost on him, and every time that thought hit him, he had to fight back tears.
They turned and started walking again. His hand in her left, the cold guiding wire in her right.