Chapter 14 – The Redstone Heart
Disclaimer: If you have not read Fred: Admin in Exile yet. I suggest you read that story first before reading this one.
(Minecraft: Story Mode and its characters belong to Telltale Games, not me.)
(FRED'S POV)
Fred slammed the wooden doors shut, panting.
"Harper and Jesse…?" Ivor asked.
Fred responded with a defeated look.
"Darn!" Petra exclaimed.
"Th-that's awful." Lukas added. "Look, I don't know if it helps at all, but I remember something from while I was… part of PAMA that I think was important. It was tall, glowing, red lights… It's like… It's like a fuzzy dream, and I can try to remember more if you want, but it's making my headache even worse!"
Fred did a double take. What did he mean by 'glowing red lights'? Could it be the…
No... It can't be, this was a completely different world. There is no way that thing could be a part of PAMA.
"It was so strange. Sharing other people's senses and thoughts and memories at the same time." Petra agreed.
Fred decided not to probe, saving their headache from getting worse, but he was really interested to see what Lukas meant by 'tall, glowing, red lights'.
"My suggestion; take it easy. You both have been through a terrible ordeal, and pushing you even further isn't going to be very usef-, helpful." Fred said, stopping himself from saying the word 'useful'.
"And I thought I had it bad when I was trapped in my own world." Cassie added. "But this? Being forced to do things against your will? Unthinkable!"
Fred could only nod in response. He helped Petra and Lukas up.
"Okay. PAMA might not be on our tail right now, but we're not out of the woods yet. Harper told me to find this… headset thing." Fred explained. "We just need to find whatever this thing is, before PAMA chips Harper and starts scanning her mind."
"What's so important about this Harper person?" Petra asked.
"She built PAMA, so that means she's the only one who knows how to deactivate that pile of scrap metal." Fred clarified.
"That's a pretty good reason to rescue somebody." Petra concluded.
"We're going to work with her to shut that thing down, save her people." Fred instructed. "And that should hopefully save Jesse too."
They walked on ahead to find a large room full of different redstone devices.
"Before Harper was taken, she gave me this." Fred said, pulling out a rose. "She told me to give it to someone or something named 'Harry'."
"And that would find this 'headset' thing?" Lukas questioned.
"That's just what she told me." Fred admitted.
"Fred, are you sure that Harper is still in her right mind?" Lukas asked. "She's been through the exact same situation that you and Cassie have, and I don't imagine she would have the same resources that you had to stay sane."
"True, I hadn't thought of that." Fred agreed. "Now that I think about it, she actually does seem a little bit… odd."
"Watch your tone, she is a genius and should be treated as such!" Ivor scolded. "Although even I have to admit this is a bit much."
"I guess we shouldn't judge her based on how weird the stuff in her place is." Lukas said.
"Especially when we need her help to save everyone who's been chipped by PAMA." Ivor agreed.
"Definitely."
"Right now, we need to focus on finding this headset thing." Fred reminded. "To start off with, let's see if we can figure out who this 'Harry' is and why he would want flowers."
Everyone went off in their own directions. Fred approached a painting on the left. It was of Harper with darker hair holding what appeared to be a Mini-PAMA. Seems all the stress from avoiding PAMA for who knows how long has given her grey hair.
"They look so happy." Fred commented out loud. He noticed a sign on the left of the portrait, which read 'Prototype: Autonomous Management Agent'. So that's what PAMA is an acronym for.
Next, Fred approached a construct with a mob head on it, very similar to the one outside. This one had a skeleton skull on top of it, and a block of packed ice inside the item frame. A jukebox with a button on it was attached to the greeter. Fred gave it a kick.
"Hello, Harper! It's Margaret, so good to see you! Hope you've been well." It greeted. "You've got to melt that ice around your heart and forgive yourself. You're not the one to blame!"
Fred left with a grimace and approached Ivor, who was standing nearby, standing by a desk. Fred's attention was caught by another greeter, who had a creeper head this time.
Fred raised his foot and kicked the button in.
"Hey, Harper! It is wonderful to see you! You've always been like a bright beacon, a torch, of hope to this world's citizens. Brighter than all the world's redstone! You made all our lives better."
Fred saw Ivor looking at the greeter strangely. In response, Fred just shrugged. Fred noted that this greeter did not mention a name, so he had no idea whether this was 'Harry' or not. Going out on a limb, he placed the flower into the empty item frame. Nothing happened. Either nothing was supposed to happen, or this was not Harry. Fred took the flower out of the item frame.
Fred approached Ivor.
"So, what do you think of the lab so far." Fred asked.
"I'm highly impressed." Ivor responded. "Although that painting does make me sad. Look how happy they used to look together."
Fred gave a nod to Ivor as he approached the desk he was standing at. A book lay open on the desk. Curious, Fred decided to see what the book was. When Fred closed the book and took a look at the cover, his heart almost skipped a beat.
Because there, clearly visible on the book's front cover, was the writing;
"THE REDSTONE HEART!"
"BY SOREN."
Fred almost fainted. That's why he was having so much trouble with his powers in this world. It was being used to power PAMA. He remembered Xara and Soren spending countless hours together working on that thing. When it was being used to power something big, it tended to interfere with Admin powers. Fred remembered Romeo complaining about that thing.
"Just perfect! First, Romeo's Command Block gets stolen by Soren, which was eventually used to spawn a Wither-Storm." Fred ranted. "AND NOW XARA'S REDSTONE HEART IS BEING USED TO POWER THAT PIECE OF SCRAP METAL!?"
"Woah, woah. Easy there." Ivor said, attempting to calm Fred down.
Harper was really lucky that she was taken by PAMA right now, because if she were here, Fred would be digging into her about how she got that thing, and who stole it first. One thing was certain, if Fred ever found out who stole this thing first, there would be hell to pay.
Fred gave a sigh, before shoving the book into his inventory. There was no way he was going to leave that here.
Turning around, Fred walked past Cassie and Lukas, gave them a nod before stopping by Petra, who was standing by herself in a corner at the opposite end of the room.
"Thanks for saving me and Lukas back there, Fred." Petra said. "I know with Lukas, me and Jesse chipped, it can't have been easy to get us both. I don't know what I would have done in your position."
"Petra, you and Lukas are two of our friends. Of course we were going to rescue you both. Just wish I was able to save Jesse as well." Fred explained.
"And I'm appreciative, believe me." Petra added. "I just really hope that we can get Jesse soon."
Fred nodded. Approaching a chest, Fred picked up a bunch of items. Some redstone dust, a few sticks, four sets of TNT and two more sets of buckets, to go with the one that Harper gave him earlier.
"Nice!"
Now, that greeter with the creeper head back there said something about a torch. Judging by the redstone dust and a stick, Fred assumed it was taking about a redstone torch. Well, since Fred really wanted to get to whatever this headset thing was, he did not want to waste time finding a crafting table. Waving his hand, he spawned a redstone torch and placed the redstone and stick back into the chest.
Approaching the creeper headed greeter, Fred kicked the button again to make sure the redstone torch was what it was requesting.
"Hey, Harper! It is wonderful to see you! You've always been like a bright beacon, a torch, of hope to this world's citizens. Bright than all the world's redstone. You made all our lives better."
Yep, that definitely seemed like a redstone torch. Grabbing the redstone torch out, Fred placed it in the slot.
A redstone circuit underneath Fred lit up, which seemed to lead to a glass floor clearing.
Fred looked around and saw a greeter with a zombie head at the entrance of the room. Assuming that this was 'Harry', Fred placed the flower in it. Another redstone circuit lit up. This time however, a pedestal raised out of the ground, with a headset device on it. Lukas, Cassie, Winslow, Ivor and Petra approached him.
"This must be Harper's headset." Fred pointed out.
"Do we even know what this is supposed to do?" Petra asked. "I know you feel pretty confident that Harper's one of the good guys now, but…"
"Whatever it is, hopefully it can be used to save Harper." Fred interrupted. "However, we need to make it quick, before PAMA learns how to build an exit portal. Not one hundred percent sure how, but we will."
Fred turned around, grabbed the headset and put it on. His vision immediately went black. He heard a bunch of noise and found his body locked in place. (Although he could still move parts of his body.)
After a few seconds, his vision started to fade back in.
"Well? What's going on, Fred? Is it working?" Ivor asked.
"Starting to see something." Fred responded.
"What are you seeing?" Ivor inquired.
Looking around, Fred saw that he was no longer in the lab. He was outside. Night had fallen.
"Is PAMA there?"
"This is going to sound crazy, but I'm a zombie." Fred said.
"Aw, you're too hard on yourself-" Ivor began.
"No, Ivor. I am literally a zombie. Like, I'm controlling one, from the inside." Fred explained. "It's like a special type of Mob-View or something."
"What a preposterous name. I love it." Ivor commented.
Fred started jumping up and down and doing dance moves. To anyone who might have been watching the Zombie that Fred was controlling, they would have seen a blue-eyed dancing zombie.
"Woah. This is super cool." Fred remarked.
"Remarkable. How is this possible." Ivor inquired. "I mean, I've always heard tales of what the Old Builders were capable of."
"You mean, what Soren and Xara were capable of." Fred corrected. "Harper only built PAMA and this headset. The power source for PAMA was built by Xara and Soren. They are the true geniuses. Anyway, this headset lets me control things that are hooked into PAMA."
"Unbelievable. THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS I WANT TO ASK HARPER!" Ivor shouted. "It really is a shame she was captured. That spider jockey had to haul Harper and Jesse all the way back to town."
"Don't forget, we cannot let PAMA win." Fred reminded. "I better get moving if I want to reach Harper in time."
"Let's hope she isn't too far away from this zombie you're controlling."
"They must be taking her to the place where the redstone chips are installed. So that's where I should go first." Fred said.
Fred went to spawn an Ender Pearl in his hand, to find that he was feeling it, but the Zombie was holding nothing. Dropping it, Fred realized that he had spawned it in his real hand, not the Zombie's hand. Trying again, Fred spawned the Ender Pearl again, this time in the Zombie's hand. This was going to take some getting used to, of course.
Looking up, Fred saw the place where they first entered town that morning, but for some reason, the stairway wasn't there anymore.
"That's odd. There was a stairway here this morning." Fred commented.
"You mean it's been removed?" Ivor questioned.
"Seems PAMA doesn't like visitors."
"Hmm, I would suggest building a tower up there, but that's not going to help you get back down once you've freed Harper and Jesse." Ivor said.
"You're right on that. But I believe I have another way." Fred explained. Taking the Ender Pearl he had spawned on the Zombie's hand, he threw it to the top of the mountain. He braced himself and found the zombie he was controlling teleport up to the top of the mountain.
That turned out to be a huge mistake, for once the purple particles of the teleportation faded, the view started glitching in and out.
"Ivor, the signal. It glitched out for a second." Fred exclaimed.
Before Ivor could respond, PAMA's voice interrupted.
"Interference Detected."
Unlike before, where the voice echoed around town, this voice sounded as though it was inside Fred's head.
"Crap." Fred panicked.
"Drone sequencing initiated." PAMA's voice continued. "Trace subroutine initiated."
Fred noticed that the zombies had come to life and were now moving out of their enclosures, in sync.
"Well, so much for sneaking in undetected." Fred sighed.
"Is that you, Freddy?" PAMA asked.
"Uh-oh."
Fred saw that the zombie he was controlling was now outlined in orange.
"Hello, Freddy." PAMA greeted. Fred scowled in response, he really wished PAMA wouldn't call him that.
"Yes, PAMA. Hello." Fred deadpanned.
"'PAMA?' No." Ivor panicked.
"Just what do you think you are doing, Freddy?" PAMA asked.
Fred saw that the mind-controlled mobs were now surrounding him.
"This is a rather silly thing to do, don't you think?"
Fred looked around, there had to be a way to escape.
"Once my Creator is made useful, all her knowledge will be mine. Yay."
"Well, scrap metal. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen." Fred responded.
"You are rather silly, aren't you Freddy? Ha. Ha." PAMA taunted.
All of the mobs grabbed the zombie Fred was controlling.
"I cannot allow your disruptive behavior to continue."
Fred felt himself being pulled from all directions by the mobs, but he did notice that they didn't seem to affect his powers right now. Time to show them that he meant business.
"My subroutine will soon isolate your location, and you will be removed."
Ignoring PAMA, Fred grabbed a zombie behind him and used it, plus his Admin strength to knock most of the mobs off the cliff. Knowing that the Zombie he was controlling would probably be very weak from being forced to do all that, Fred did the only option that he had and migrated to a Skeleton.
"Nice. I'm a skeleton now!" Fred commented.
Fred saw more mobs tackle the Zombie that Fred just left. Due to already being weak from Fred's strength, it was finished off quickly. Fred turned around and started jumping up the stairs leading to Crown Mesa.
"Fred? What exactly are you doing?" Cassie questioned, slightly startling Fred. He forgot that the others were there.
"Technology is so awesome!" Fred responded.
"And you look so awesome while using it, I assure you." Ivor retorted sarcastically.
PAMA's voice cut in again.
"Interference remains."
"Damn." Fred exclaimed under his breath. He started running up the stairs.
"Drone sequencing re-initiated."
"Trace subroutine re-initiated."
Another orange outline appeared around the skeleton that Fred was controlling. Wasting no time, he migrated back to a zombie ahead.
Just in time, too. Because Fred saw the mobs start pounding the skeleton to death. Giving a wince, Fred took off again.
"My creator. I am so glad you're here!" PAMA's voice said. Sure enough, in the distance, two Zombies were hauling Harper towards the chipping machine.
"No!" Harper screamed.
"Harper!" Fred called.
"Harper?" Ivor repeated.
Deciding to draw attention away from himself, Fred slowly walked up to the chipping machine, imitating a zombie walk when a skeleton looked at him.
"Please, you are my creator. Please join me so we may maximize usefulness." PAMA reasoned.
"Nothing doing, PAMA. I built you to help people, not use them!" Harper snarled. "Just stop this! Stop trying to make everything 'useful'"
"That is my job. That is why you made me." PAMA explained. "Once I download your knowledge, we may expand to other worlds together and make everything useful."
Once Fred saw that no mobs were paying attention to him, he picked up the pace.
"Interference remains."
Fred looked around and found himself staring at PAMA's green computer screen. It had a look of pure rage on it's face. Fred gave a smug look, even though no one could really see it on his 'zombie' face.
"No sign of Jesse." Fred observed.
"Drone sequencing re-initiated."
"Trace subroutine re-initiated."
"Termination sequence activated."
Fred saw Harper struggling with the zombies who were holding her with their vice-like grip.
"Harper doesn't have much time." Fred said as an orange outline formed around the zombie he was controlling. "And neither do I."
Everyone turned around and starting walking towards Fred.
"Game over, Freddy. Resistance is… not useful. Trace subroutine running."
"Over?" Fred snorted. "Oh please! I am but just getting started!"
Fred migrated to a Skeleton. Imitating a skeleton walk, Fred walked up toward the chipping platform. Looking behind, Fred saw that PAMA's face was now neutral.
Acting before PAMA picked up on his signal again, Fred migrated to another skeleton standing guard by the chipping platform. Turning around, he walked up the stairs.
Arriving at the top of the platform. Fred migrated to one of the zombies that was holding Harper.
"I'm never gonna sign off on this, PAMA!" Harper said. "So if you wanna know what's inside my head, you're gonna have to take it!"
Fred forced the zombie to release Harper. She gave a bewildered look.
PAMA's face switched back to a face of rage.
"Trace subroutine running."
"Drone sequencing active."
To prove to Harper that Fred was the one controlling the zombie, he decided to jump up and down.
"Wait a minute, Fred?" Harper questioned. Fred nodded. "You figured out how to use my transmigrational headset!"
The zombie that was holding PAMA looked up at Fred. An orange outline was forming around Fred. Fred kicked the zombie off the edge, trying hard not to use any Admin strength as to not injure this zombie. The outline disappeared.
"Trace subroutine running."
"Follow me." Fred instructed.
"Quick! Follow me!" Harper instructed, not knowing that Fred already said that.
"I just said that!" Fred mock-complained before following.
As they reached the bottom of the platform, Harper lead Fred away.
"Where do you plan to run?" PAMA asked. "The town is surrounded. Reinforcements will make sure that my Creator cannot leave."
Hundreds of chipped mobs were coming out of a side entrance.
"There's too many of them!" Harper observed.
Fred grabbed Harper and dragged her to cover.
"You can't play hide and seek forever, Freddy." PAMA pointed out. "It's a boring game, and I am too strong!"
"There!" Harper pointed. The door she was pointing to had loads of mobs and chipped citizens exiting it. "that door leads to PAMA's central core."
A firetruck red outline appeared around the zombie Fred was controlling. Yep, that meant trouble. Sure enough, a chipped citizen stopped and looked at Fred with it's red eyes. Fred was immediately reminded once again of Romeo's eyes.
A group of citizens approached him. For some reason, he couldn't seem to migrate any more.
"Fred, you and your friends. You're our only hope." Harper explained. A citizen grabbed her.
"Harper!" Fred exclaimed.
"You must remove the Redstone Heart! REMOVE THE REDSTONE HEART!" Harper instructed while being dragged away.
"Fred, what's going on?" Ivor asked.
"You can still save everyone." Harper continued. "I'm so tired of being dragged away while I'm trying to explain things!"
"I'll be back for you." Fred shouted back, knowing perfectly well that it was no use and Harper couldn't hear him.
"Interference Located."
Crap.
"Drone identified."
"Hide and seek is done, Freddy."
Fred felt his arms being grabbed.
"I think we can make that headset, useful." PAMA taunted. "Begin termination sequence."
Fred felt a searing hot pain sear through his head. It was as if he was being electrocuted. Fred grabbed the headset using his hand, used all the Admin Power he can muster to tear it off. He threw it on the ground and vaporized it using more powers. He'll have to apologize to Harper about that later.
"Fred? Are you okay?" Ivor asked.
Fred panted.
"I'm- I'm fine." Fred responded. "But we really don't have time."
"It sounded like you were talking to Harper, and PAMA?" Petra relayed.
"Precisely. PAMA found me, not good." Fred said. "But we have an even bigger problem. Harper is being chipped right now as we speak."
Four gasps were heard.
"We need to get back to the door I just saw and get inside PAMA's core." Fred continued.
"But, what about Harper? You said she was chipped. That'll mean that PAMA can escape this world." Cassie pointed out.
"Things aren't over yet, we still have time to end PAMA." Fred clarified.
"Without Harper?" Lukas asked.
"It seems we're sunk." Ivor said. "Harper's the only one who knows how to shut down that monstrosity."
"Ivor, PAMA's being powered by the Redstone Heart. Harper just said that if I pull it out, the whole thing will shut down." Fred pointed out.
Petra and Lukas froze.
"Whoa, that just brought back… a flash. Those red lights Lukas mentioned before?" Petra said. "There are three of them, redstone spires, and I think they have something to do with the heart. That's all I've got. Sorry."
"No, no. It's okay. I already know exactly how that thing works. But thanks anyway." Fred responded.
"But how are we supposed to destroy these spires, or whatever we're looking for?" Ivor asked.
"Remember? PAMA's weakness to water?" Fred pointed out. He grabbed the buckets he had before, filled them up and passed two of them to Ivor and Cassie, while he kept the third.
"Time to show PAMA what happens when he tries to mess with an Admin." Fred encouraged.
"Lead the way, Fred." Ivor said.
And the group of five, plus Winslow exited the lab.
Author's Notes: Oh boy, I wouldn't want to be the old builders when Fred hears them say that they are the Redstone Heart's 'proper owners.'
Not much else to say here.
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