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Chapter 38
A Technical Tale
Cam had no trouble getting to the City of Technology thanks to Digit's uncanny ability to scan the terrain and effectively calculate and then navigate through the best shortcuts. The problem he now faced was getting in. The entire city was encased in what appeared to be glowing, green energy barrier.
He examined the barrier as best he could but could not figure out a way to get through. He tried phasing through but he ended up being thrown back by a shock from an electric current.
"Guess that wasn't such a great idea huh?"
Getting back on his feet he walked up to the barrier and folded his hands in frustration. But as he looked closer he noticed something peculiar about it. The barrier wasn't just an energy field; it seemed to be made up of digits that flowed continuously in horizontal and vertical patterns just like computer code.
"Hey Digit, is this what i think it is?"
Digit reared his head back and neighed to show he agreed
"Okay so if this is code then all I have to do is figure it out and that should help us find a way in but…."
He looked up at the barrier that stretched high into the sky and expanded for miles. He pushed his glasses back and strained his eyes to get a better look.
"Hold on a sec, the barrier has to have a power source and considering that they don't want any visitors it should be programmed to provide maximum strength while consuming minimum power. If the entire barrier is made up of original code then that would put way too much strain on the power source so…. It has to have a pattern. Yeah that's it Digit, I think I figured it out"
Digit turned his head to the side while Cam's face lit up with excitement
"All I have to do is find the recurring code pattern and that should do it"
He began searching for recurring patterns but he numbers were moving too fast for him to discern anything clearly.
"That's not gonna work. I seriously wish I had my computer"
Digit slowly trotted over and bent his head low enough to jerk Cam's hand upwards
"Huh?"
He looked down at his arm it was the one on which he wore his crystal
"You think the crystal's going to help"
Digit nodded
"Well okay then here goes"
He raised the crystal so that it now faced the barrier, a thin beam of green energy shot out of the crystal and expanded as it hit the barrier, just like a scanner. As his crystal scanned the code Cam could see the numbers coming together in his mind almost as if he were his own central processing unit. He put out his hand like he was using a keyboard and it worked. It was like he was using a virtual computer that only he could see. Within moments he had his answer and he directed it towards the barrier using the crystal. As soon as he did a hole appeared in the barrier, large enough for the two of them to fit through.
"Let's go"
As soon as they stepped through he turned around and fixed the hole
"Best not to give them another reason to hate us….Wow"
He had turned around and was now standing at the edge of one of the most magnificent cities he had ever seen. Geometrically precise structures, skyscrapers that literally touched the sky, glass domes and bridges and walkways that would have been considered architectural masterpieces back home, it even had flying cars but what stood out the most was that everything was black with green luminescent lines running all over them in various patterns.
He didn't have time to enjoy the view for long, having detected a disturbance in the barrier three robotic sentinels flew towards. They were bulky androids with black armor lined with green and wore the same symbol on their chests as he did. Instead of faces they a single large green eye and were armed with laser gauntlets.
"Halt" said the one in the middle as it raised its unarmed hand. The one on the left flew past him and went to examine the barrier while the one on the right stepped forward and scanned the two of them"
"Status: unidentified life form.
Advised action: quarantine"
"What? Hold on a sec…"
"Status: unregistered homo sapien
Advised action: Capture"
The third android had returned and the three of them began closing in on him. Cam fumbled in his pocket for a moment then pulled out the gold coin and held it up to them. They stopped and the one in the center scanned it.
"Pass key identified.
Sending information to supreme command.
Awaiting confirmation.
…..
Confirmation not received.
Apprehend"
"What?..."
Now he was really confused, the princess had assured him that it would get him through to whoever was in charge.
"Stop" he yelled while releasing a wave of green energy from his palm.
The three androids stopped and he heaved a sigh of relief, he had only just begun to master his ability to control technological components and wasn't quite sure if it would work on pieces as sophisticated as the androids.
"Okay you two back to your posts"
At his command two of the androids took off and were soon out of sight.
"Alright then you let's visit supreme command shall we"
He jumped on its back just as it took off the ground as was soon flying over the city, which looked even more magnificent from a birds-eye view. Before long they had landed at the base of a large domed structure.
"Thanks pal, off you go"
He stood there watching till the android was out of sight before walking up to the glass doors. The doors were locked and an employee card swipe and number lock pad was the only to get in but that wasn't a problem for him, he simply placed his hand on the pad and one green glow later he was walking in like he owned the place.
The first thing that struck him about the place was that everyone was wearing white and green jumpsuits under black lab coats which had a green triangle monogram on the right chest pocket. They also wore green gloves, heavy set black boots and either wore or carried with them green protective eye ware.
He weaved through the crowd and made his way to a reception desk where he was surprised to find the receptionist dressed exactly like everyone else.
"Uh…excuse me"
She looked up and her eyes narrowed as she took in his attire and reached for the phone
"Just a minute" he stopped her and held out the coin for her
"I don't want to intrude but I really need to speak with whoever's in charge it's really important"
She looked into his eyes and her expression softened, she could tell he was being sincere.
"Alright, just wait a minute"
She picked up the phone and dialed in a code.
"Hey, it's me is V in her office….okay thanks"
She looked around the room before waving over to someone to fill in for her as she led him down a long hallway.
"How did you get here anyway?" she asked as they began riding the elevator.
"Uh…I ran into some of your androids when I got through the barrier and let's just say I managed to convince one of them to give me a lift"
"How did you…never mind I don't want to know"
"That was easy"
"Whatever reason the princess has for sending you here can't be good, especially since she gave you that armor and to be honest I don't want to get mixed up in it unless I really have to"
"Fair enough" he shrugged
"We're here"
She led him down an empty hallway and then through a room full of giant vats filled thick, bubbling green liquid.
"What is that stuff?" he asked leaning over the railing of the bridge high over the room
"I'd be careful if I were you, you fall in and it would take…oh let's say five seconds for your entire body to disintegrate bones and all"
"And it's safe to keep stuff like that in here"
"Don't worry about it, it can't leak out of the vats besides no one's allowed up here"
"Then what are we doing here?"
"Look a lot of this is classified information. There are a lot of our own people who don't know…"
"Okay, okay I get it"
They walked down a couple of more hallways till they entered a large room with several control panels and a glass screen overlooking and even larger room cramped with several instruments.
"Where are we?"
"Boss's workshop"
"Workshop?"
"Come on"
She led him through another door and down a staircase into the workshop and carefully weaved through the large machines following the sounds of clicking and clanking. Then he saw it a green glow emanating from one of them and someone dressed in a black lab coat bent over it.
"Hey V you gotta sec?"
"…."
"V?"
"Just...a...sec...almost...got it...there"
The figure jumped back and pulled off their face guard revealing a young girl with blond, pixie cut hair and emerald green eyes.
"Who're you?" she asked bluntly but didn't wait for an answer, she walked right past him and began tying away on her laptop. He glanced over at the other girl who simply shrugged as if her friend's behavior was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Uh...hi I'm Cam and I came here because Princess Amerith sent me and..."
"I really would love to chat but as you can see I'm in the middle of something..."
"It's really important otherwise I wouldn't be here"
"Of course it is she wouldn't be bothered elsewise"
She strode past him and began tinkering with her machine before pushing a button and taking a step back. It remained still for a moment before vibrating violently as steam began to rise from the vents and a high frequency sound emanated from it.
"V is it...supposed to do that"
Before she could say or do anything the machine exploded and both girls ducked and raised their hands to shield themselves. However to their surprise they only heard the explosion but felt nothing especially considering their proximity they should have been thrown back or engulfed at least.
When they looked up they found themselves surrounded by a brick wall made up of green energy while a whole section of the workshop lay in shambles beyond it.
"What the..."
"Blimey!"
Both girls turned to stare at the stranger who stood with his arms folded not phased in the slightest by what had just happened.
"So...you have some time to talk now?"
"How...you...you did this but how?"
For the first time she took a good look at him registering the armor he wore while her eyes lingered on the symbol on his chest.
"You said Amerith sent you"
"That's right"
"Then that means...no it can't be...it's not possible...how?"
"Uh...V what's going on?"
" Chloe why don't you go back downstairs...take a break. I'll deal with this"
"You sure"
"Yeah"
"Do you mind?" she addressed Cam who had yet to put down his shield even though the smoke had already been cleared.
"Oh yeah"
He let down the shield and the two of them watched as she left the room
"Okay let's get the pleasantries over and done with. The name's Viveca and I already know who you are so out with it. What is going on?"
"Groudon"
"You're not kidding are you?"
"Afraid not"
"Fine. Come with me"
Once again he found himself walking down hallways as she led hi through what felt like an infinite maze.
"You sure took the news well"
"Yeah well as much as I don't want to believe you Amerith wouldn't joke about something like this, in fact I don't think she knows what a joke is"
"The two of you must be close"
"Past tense"
"What..."
"Were here" she cut him off as she pushed down a lever revealing a door hidden behind a wall
"You'll find what you're looking for in there just remember we may be the smartest amongst our friends but that doesn't mean we can solve everything on our own"
Before he could say anything she had already taken off, running down the hallway as fast as she could. Cam opened the door and stepped inside. The room was small and empty except for a single desk on which lay the scattered pieces of a block puzzle.
"This really isn't a time for games...but if I have to"
He got to work and for what seemed like hours stood hunched over the desk slowly piecing the puzzle together. It did not seem complicated at first but as he progressed further it got more and more complex. Several times he thought he had solved it but was stuck with the last piece and had to backtrack his steps. He was stuck once again with an almost complete puzzle with no place for the last piece when he came to the conclusion that this was one puzzle he could not solve. Viveca's parting words resonated in his head ans a small smile crept onto his face.
"I can't solve this" he said aloud
In response the puzzle piece in his hand began to glow and flew out of his hand before merging with the main puzzle which then began to glow before green lines extended from it and began ton spread across the room. He turned around to take a better look but he was no longer in the same room, instead he found himself in a large room with no doors and instead of the plain white walls the room he was in was black with green circuitry engraved into it.
A platform began to rise from the floor in front of him, on it was a glass case within which lay a small black rod with similar circuitry engraved into it. He recognized the symbol on the case and gently placed his hand on it then watched as it melted away. He reached for the rod but just as he was about to touch it he drew back as he tried to shield his eyes from a bright flash of light.
When he opened his eyes the platform was gone and he stood facing an older man with a dark complexion and piercing green eyes. He was dressed in a long green lab coat over a white and black jumpsuit. He seemed oddly familiar and Cam was certain he had at least seen a picture of him.
"Greetings young Knight"
"How...who...no...you...you..."
"No you are not seeing a ghost I am merely a memory left behind in this"
He raised the rod which he had been holding
"But that's..."
"Impossible? Logically yes but if there's one thing my time as knight has taught me is that magic does not always follow the rules of logic"
"That's one way of putting it"
"Come now we have little time to waste. If you are here that means that Aaron's prediction has indeed come to pass and the threat that Groudon poses is already upon us."
"Yes that's true but why are you here?"
"To test you"
"Test me?"
"Yes you have already have the intelligence, that is why the power chose you and you have proved that you can be humble as well. Now you must defeat me in battle and prove that you also have the skill to be a knight."
"What?"
Before Cam could prepare himself he clenched the rod in his fist which triggered two beams of green energy that shot out from either end turning it into a bo staff. He skillfully twirled it in his hand before launching an attack . However Cam was no stranger to fighting armed opponents and skillfully blocked it with his hands before aiming a kick to Ivan's mid-section forcing him back.
"Impressive"
"Yeah well you hang around a ninja master all your life, you tend to pick up a few tricks"
"I do not doubt that you have the skills to fight but do you really believe you can defeat me unarmed or is that you are yet to master your powers"
"I know plenty but then again so do you after all they were your powers first"
"Logical deduction"
Once again he twirled the bo around before launching into an attack. Cam flipped back and retaliated with a rotating kick of his own but was blocked easily. He tried again only to receive a hard blow to his side which sent him tumbling across the floor.
"Still think you can defeat me without your powers"
Cam slowly pushed himself onto his feet and eased himself into his fighting stance thankful that all his training had helped keep up his stamina.
"Yeah I think I can but right now I don't have time to play"
He attacked Ivan with two balls of green energy which were deflected easily and was once again forced to take a defensive stance as Ivan countered without missing a step.
"So...maybe this is going to be harder than I thought"
He jumped back just as Ivan was about to deliver a heavy blow and continued to dodge as he continued his attack without letting up. He dodged a particularly tricky attack and stumbled, loosing his balance he fell. Ivan lunged forward but this time Cam was ready.
"Digital Blast" he yelled creating a giant mass of energy that not only threw Ivan back it also temporarily blinded him. However because of the proximity between the two part of the attack rebounded upon him injuring him as well. Clutching his injured ribs he got to his feet and taking advantage of Ivan's temporary handicap he concentrated his energy into a single finger and traced the figure of a triangle in the air creating a solid digital triangle.
Ivan recovered from his setback and immediately launched into another attack. Using his abilities to calculate a precise angle Cam flung the triangle destablizing his grip forcing him to drop the staff. Cam winced in pain but when he looked up again preparing himself to take on an unarmed Ivan but found himself all alone.
"Well done young knight. You have proven that you possess not only the intelligence but the skill as well to wield the powers of technology. Use them wisely, protect Azelia, protect the universe."
As Ivan's voice faded away the staff rose into the air and transformed into a beam of light before entering his crystal. The moment it did so Cam was once again transported to the lone white room.
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