Chapter 5: Welcome To The Machine
Dauphin jolted forward out of his chair. He felt his skin sticking to his shirt. He glanced over at Frey and Cross to see them both shoot up out of their chair, and with a rip, Cross' shirt tore on the chair.
Cross dusted himself off, "Have I been sweating that bad?" Cross mumbled.
"Stop worrying about the trivial shit and skip to the point" Frey said. Dauphin gave a nod to Echo. Echo opened her mouth then glanced down at the screens with the scrolling code again. "We have squids about 200 Meters from us, should take them about five minutes at this rate. They aren't traveling down the pipes, they are instead attempting to break through one of them. I've got a good place to hide, but it's going to take a while to get there. So that's the deal, and now we have to guard our asses."
"Don't you just love how she manages to stay completely and totally calm when she knows we're gonna die?" Bacchus laughed.
"If she freaked out about it, she wouldn't be an operator." Dauphin stated.
"Sparks freaks out a lot," Frey said.
"That's cause he's a moron" Echo mumbled.
"He beat you in hacking, how can he be a moron?" Dauphin laughed.
"Fine, he's a fucking idiot, too" Echo mumbled, "Now about those squids?"
"Shit, How long do we have now?" Dauphin asked.
"Four minutes, exactly."
"Can we use the EMP on them?"
"Yes, we could, but then we'd be like sitting ducks."
"So what's possible to do?"
"Run to where I said, then we EMP them. Then try to get into contact with one of the other ships." Echo nodded.
"Wonderful" Dauphin said as he went up to the front of the ship. He grabbed Jord's shoulder, "You have to take the wheel this time, get us moving."
The ship jolted forward harshly. The back engines kicked in with such force that Frey fell over. Cross was sitting in a corner scribbling something down on the floor.
The hum of the ship went on for a little bit. "Its quiet" Bacchus mumbled. "Yeah, Almost too quiet" Frey agreed. Dauphin rolled his eyes. Echo laughed.
But then their little joke triggered the event they didn't want.. The wall behind them fell down and a cloud of dust went ripping through the tunnels.
"LEFT HERE!" Echo shouted. The ship took a sharp left and Frey, Bacchus, and Dauphin were thrown against the side of the ship.
Dauphin glanced at Frey and nodded. Frey grunted something a took off towards the back of their ship. Bacchus looked at Dauphin, "What did you send him off to do?"
"Trust me on this, he'll keep them off our asses for a while. Go up and try to help Jord push more speed out of this thing." Dauphin smiled. Bacchus nodded and ran towards the front of the ship. Dauphin made a quick dash towards Echo. "How many?!" Dauphin asked.
Echo looked up, "Radar says Too many, in other words, I hope Frey gets what he's doing up soon."
And then explosions went of from the back. Squids were being ripped into pieces. Frey gripped onto a gun white knuckled as the robots came closer and closer after them. Their legs moved like rags. They had tons of eyes on their heads. Frey turned the gun upwards and laid a stream of bullets into one of them. One by one the legs tore off and the body flew into the wall and exploded, catching three others in its wake.
"RIGHT! NOW!" Echo screamed. The ship turned right and a bunch of the squids went down a different tube and it went silent. Frey wiped the sweat off his fore head. But then the wall exploded again and Frey gripped onto the gun. He laid bullets into the now clearing dust, causing explosions after explosion to shatter the air. A piece of metal hit the side of the ship. Sparks flew off of it and into the view of Jord.
"LEFT!!" Echo shouted. The ship leaned left and Frey ended up shooted a pole that was holding a huge pillar up. The pillar fell down and ripped into the army of squids chasing them.
"Are we there yet?" Dauphin asked.
"CLOSE!!" Echo shouted.
Dauphin covered his ears and nodded.
"JORD! LEFT HERE! THEN WE'LL COME UP ON A HUMONGOUS PILE OF METAL! I WANT YOU TO DRIVE THE SHIP INTO A GIANT GAPING HOLE! YOU'LL SEE IT!!"
Jord hammered and hard left and a humongous metal structure appeared. Poles, twisted frames, pillars, tubing, everything was in it. Jord saw a gigantic hole and drove into it. Dauphin ran over to the front of the ship. Frey ran up to the front too, everyone except Cross.
"Ready guys?! Stay silent!!" Dauphin shouted, and then pushed the button for the emp. A gigantic purple wave ran from the ship, and stuck everything within a mile. All the squids fell into the ground and the ship shut down. It was pitch black until red lights came on.
It was dead silent.
"GUYS!" Cross shouted.
"Great god, be quiet!" Frey shushed Cross.
"Guys, the riddle directs us towards the subway! Look!" Cross said. Everyone jumped over to the floor where the riddle was written down, and underneath it Cross had added Subway.
"Pass the E street, your in the middle" "I love this rhyme, now hear my riddle" "Belongs in a place I'm sure you know" "A place where people come and go" "Reach that place stop to follow" "A person that loves to swallow" "Arise from there, it'll come to use" "Get a driver, you'll need a boost" "After that, they show a way" "To all of you who runs away" "And the best I didn't tell, not yet" "I tell you, its the very best" "Six to twelve it gives you a start" "Solves this riddle I know from heart" "If you need a hint then here ya go" "Beginning letters of the last" "Of six to twelve to make it fast"
"Remember that?" Cross asked. "Look at the very last to lines, Beginning letts of the last. Last what? Last words. Because look, he wants lines six to twelve, and it shows up as SUBWAY. He wants us to go to the subway"
"Oh, that's great, so then, which train?" Frey asked.
"The E-Street one, very beginning line, It says. Pass the E Street. So you take the train, get off and you'll pass the E-Street itself."
"Which is right in the middle of where all the skyscrapers are" Jord mumbled.
"Got it" Cross smiled.
"You sure that's all?!" Dauphin asked.
"Look, The Prophets a fucking nutcase. I understand that much, but he's not a total idiot. He knows if Eizus corrupts the Matrix now, he's fucked. He made the riddle as simplistic as possible" Cross pointed out.
"Huh, no shit…." Dauphin smirked.
"Wow, I bet that hurt your ego" Frey laughed.
"Oh yes, I am traumatized. I need to go see a therapist" Dauphin mimicked Frey's voice with an extra high whiny shrill.
Dauphin sat down. Frey sat down too on the floor. Jord turned her chair around and Bacchus followed. Echo sat down on the seats they lied down on to enter the matrix itself, and Cross stayed crouched on the floor.
"Food anyone?" Dauphin asked.
Few of them nodded and Dauphin got up to leave the room. Frey looked around at everyone. "So, Jord. How Loch reacting to all this?"
"Hell if I know," She laughed. "But that Dopp kid is one hell of a smart ass. But he's also a bit of a firebrand. Once you guys took off I heard he kicked someone with a roundhouse right to the face!"
"Oh…whoa" Frey laughed.
Dauphin returned with a few cups of water and passed them out.
"Jesus, this has been one hell of a day" He mumbled.
"Yeah, and it's only gonna get more intense" Bacchus added.
Dauphin sat back down and leaned into one of the chairs, "So we have a few hours before this ship kicks back in?"
Echo nodded and placed her head in her hands, "Yeah, at least two hours."
"Well, screw it then. I'm gonna go to sleep".
"So much for downtime talk" Frey laughed.
"Whats there to talk about man? Once this ship charges up, we jack back into The Matrix and then continue. And as soon as we find someone else, we get into contact with them. Why? Too complex?" Dauphin asked.
"Yeah, fuck you too" Frey laughed again.
"I'm gonna get some sleep too" Bacchus got up.
"Yeah right" Cross mumbled and leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Frey looked around, " I have too much energy, I'll be up for a while".
Echo laughed to herself, "Well, talk to Jord. I'm not even bothering with anyone right now. I'm too tired."
Jord laughed too, "Haha, fuck that. I'm going to sleep."
"Oh, greeeat" Frey sighed.
Dauphin jolted forward out of his chair. He felt his skin sticking to his shirt. He glanced over at Frey and Cross to see them both shoot up out of their chair, and with a rip, Cross' shirt tore on the chair.
Cross dusted himself off, "Have I been sweating that bad?" Cross mumbled.
"Stop worrying about the trivial shit and skip to the point" Frey said. Dauphin gave a nod to Echo. Echo opened her mouth then glanced down at the screens with the scrolling code again. "We have squids about 200 Meters from us, should take them about five minutes at this rate. They aren't traveling down the pipes, they are instead attempting to break through one of them. I've got a good place to hide, but it's going to take a while to get there. So that's the deal, and now we have to guard our asses."
"Don't you just love how she manages to stay completely and totally calm when she knows we're gonna die?" Bacchus laughed.
"If she freaked out about it, she wouldn't be an operator." Dauphin stated.
"Sparks freaks out a lot," Frey said.
"That's cause he's a moron" Echo mumbled.
"He beat you in hacking, how can he be a moron?" Dauphin laughed.
"Fine, he's a fucking idiot, too" Echo mumbled, "Now about those squids?"
"Shit, How long do we have now?" Dauphin asked.
"Four minutes, exactly."
"Can we use the EMP on them?"
"Yes, we could, but then we'd be like sitting ducks."
"So what's possible to do?"
"Run to where I said, then we EMP them. Then try to get into contact with one of the other ships." Echo nodded.
"Wonderful" Dauphin said as he went up to the front of the ship. He grabbed Jord's shoulder, "You have to take the wheel this time, get us moving."
The ship jolted forward harshly. The back engines kicked in with such force that Frey fell over. Cross was sitting in a corner scribbling something down on the floor.
The hum of the ship went on for a little bit. "Its quiet" Bacchus mumbled. "Yeah, Almost too quiet" Frey agreed. Dauphin rolled his eyes. Echo laughed.
But then their little joke triggered the event they didn't want.. The wall behind them fell down and a cloud of dust went ripping through the tunnels.
"LEFT HERE!" Echo shouted. The ship took a sharp left and Frey, Bacchus, and Dauphin were thrown against the side of the ship.
Dauphin glanced at Frey and nodded. Frey grunted something a took off towards the back of their ship. Bacchus looked at Dauphin, "What did you send him off to do?"
"Trust me on this, he'll keep them off our asses for a while. Go up and try to help Jord push more speed out of this thing." Dauphin smiled. Bacchus nodded and ran towards the front of the ship. Dauphin made a quick dash towards Echo. "How many?!" Dauphin asked.
Echo looked up, "Radar says Too many, in other words, I hope Frey gets what he's doing up soon."
And then explosions went of from the back. Squids were being ripped into pieces. Frey gripped onto a gun white knuckled as the robots came closer and closer after them. Their legs moved like rags. They had tons of eyes on their heads. Frey turned the gun upwards and laid a stream of bullets into one of them. One by one the legs tore off and the body flew into the wall and exploded, catching three others in its wake.
"RIGHT! NOW!" Echo screamed. The ship turned right and a bunch of the squids went down a different tube and it went silent. Frey wiped the sweat off his fore head. But then the wall exploded again and Frey gripped onto the gun. He laid bullets into the now clearing dust, causing explosions after explosion to shatter the air. A piece of metal hit the side of the ship. Sparks flew off of it and into the view of Jord.
"LEFT!!" Echo shouted. The ship leaned left and Frey ended up shooted a pole that was holding a huge pillar up. The pillar fell down and ripped into the army of squids chasing them.
"Are we there yet?" Dauphin asked.
"CLOSE!!" Echo shouted.
Dauphin covered his ears and nodded.
"JORD! LEFT HERE! THEN WE'LL COME UP ON A HUMONGOUS PILE OF METAL! I WANT YOU TO DRIVE THE SHIP INTO A GIANT GAPING HOLE! YOU'LL SEE IT!!"
Jord hammered and hard left and a humongous metal structure appeared. Poles, twisted frames, pillars, tubing, everything was in it. Jord saw a gigantic hole and drove into it. Dauphin ran over to the front of the ship. Frey ran up to the front too, everyone except Cross.
"Ready guys?! Stay silent!!" Dauphin shouted, and then pushed the button for the emp. A gigantic purple wave ran from the ship, and stuck everything within a mile. All the squids fell into the ground and the ship shut down. It was pitch black until red lights came on.
It was dead silent.
"GUYS!" Cross shouted.
"Great god, be quiet!" Frey shushed Cross.
"Guys, the riddle directs us towards the subway! Look!" Cross said. Everyone jumped over to the floor where the riddle was written down, and underneath it Cross had added Subway.
"Pass the E street, your in the middle" "I love this rhyme, now hear my riddle" "Belongs in a place I'm sure you know" "A place where people come and go" "Reach that place stop to follow" "A person that loves to swallow" "Arise from there, it'll come to use" "Get a driver, you'll need a boost" "After that, they show a way" "To all of you who runs away" "And the best I didn't tell, not yet" "I tell you, its the very best" "Six to twelve it gives you a start" "Solves this riddle I know from heart" "If you need a hint then here ya go" "Beginning letters of the last" "Of six to twelve to make it fast"
"Remember that?" Cross asked. "Look at the very last to lines, Beginning letts of the last. Last what? Last words. Because look, he wants lines six to twelve, and it shows up as SUBWAY. He wants us to go to the subway"
"Oh, that's great, so then, which train?" Frey asked.
"The E-Street one, very beginning line, It says. Pass the E Street. So you take the train, get off and you'll pass the E-Street itself."
"Which is right in the middle of where all the skyscrapers are" Jord mumbled.
"Got it" Cross smiled.
"You sure that's all?!" Dauphin asked.
"Look, The Prophets a fucking nutcase. I understand that much, but he's not a total idiot. He knows if Eizus corrupts the Matrix now, he's fucked. He made the riddle as simplistic as possible" Cross pointed out.
"Huh, no shit…." Dauphin smirked.
"Wow, I bet that hurt your ego" Frey laughed.
"Oh yes, I am traumatized. I need to go see a therapist" Dauphin mimicked Frey's voice with an extra high whiny shrill.
Dauphin sat down. Frey sat down too on the floor. Jord turned her chair around and Bacchus followed. Echo sat down on the seats they lied down on to enter the matrix itself, and Cross stayed crouched on the floor.
"Food anyone?" Dauphin asked.
Few of them nodded and Dauphin got up to leave the room. Frey looked around at everyone. "So, Jord. How Loch reacting to all this?"
"Hell if I know," She laughed. "But that Dopp kid is one hell of a smart ass. But he's also a bit of a firebrand. Once you guys took off I heard he kicked someone with a roundhouse right to the face!"
"Oh…whoa" Frey laughed.
Dauphin returned with a few cups of water and passed them out.
"Jesus, this has been one hell of a day" He mumbled.
"Yeah, and it's only gonna get more intense" Bacchus added.
Dauphin sat back down and leaned into one of the chairs, "So we have a few hours before this ship kicks back in?"
Echo nodded and placed her head in her hands, "Yeah, at least two hours."
"Well, screw it then. I'm gonna go to sleep".
"So much for downtime talk" Frey laughed.
"Whats there to talk about man? Once this ship charges up, we jack back into The Matrix and then continue. And as soon as we find someone else, we get into contact with them. Why? Too complex?" Dauphin asked.
"Yeah, fuck you too" Frey laughed again.
"I'm gonna get some sleep too" Bacchus got up.
"Yeah right" Cross mumbled and leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Frey looked around, " I have too much energy, I'll be up for a while".
Echo laughed to herself, "Well, talk to Jord. I'm not even bothering with anyone right now. I'm too tired."
Jord laughed too, "Haha, fuck that. I'm going to sleep."
"Oh, greeeat" Frey sighed.