A/N: Come on, people!!! Review!!! Pleeeaaaaase? You're lucky you got the next chapter, you know. I was so tempted to leave you high and dry, but I'm not that cruel, and I AM that bored. Come on, dudes, someone review!!!!! Come on!!!!!!!
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Chapter 4: 6 underground
Surprisingly, the crew turned up to the ship on time the next day, and all sober. Some crews had a tradition of getting themselves roaring drunk just before they leave Zion, so they can remain intoxicated for as long as possible. Lewar tried to discourage this, because it was usually hard to operate a ship when you're pilot is off his face, but some occasionally Paradox or Reflex would come aboard a little tipsy.
Everything seemed business as usual as the restocked the ship, and touched it up with some bodywork. When everything seemed ready to go, the crew took a last look at Zion, and set off for the pipes north of Zion, to what Mace called "The Mystery of the Disappearing Squiddies".
After three days on the ship, things were back to normal. Paradox had a smart reply to every comment of Lewar's, and Reflex cheered them up with stories of things he'd seen that day while watching the code, although the absence on Turb0 was painfully obvious. Lewar had to do almost all the flying these days, and got few breaks. Mace could be seen sometimes in Turb0's old quarters, quietly weeping in front of the small plaque Lewar had put there in Turb0's memory.
Finally, Lewar got signals of mysteriously weak AI signals that tended to disappear about 20 seconds after appeared. There was also the slimmest glimmer of human craft, except it seemed to be tiny, and not giving off energy at all. It was about an hour away from where they were.
"Alright, crew, it's show time!" she said to them while they ate. "We're close. I want plenty of power in the EMP just in case, so we're gonna have to use minimal heat and light. Send Zion our currant position and status, and make sure all stray items won't go anywhere. Let's do this."
They worked hard, and everything was ready, although she had no idea what they were getting ready for. It could be anything. She carefully approached the massive clearing that was meant to be holding a few dozen AI, that came and went as they pleased. She noticed that the closer they got, the more vague the signals were. It made no sense.
Her curiosity was overpowering. She steered her small ship slowly into the massive opening.
She gasped in awe. They all did.
There were no sentinels. There was no AI at all. Instead, stood a massive diamond, bigger than half of Zion, taking in and broadcasting every signal in a 50 km radius within itself.
"Where are we?" she whispered.
"9040km south of Zion," answered Reflex at her side.
"No, what country did this use to be?"
Reflex checked some charts, and grinned.
"We're in South Africa, in the middle of what used to be a diamond mine,"
"God… it must've been here for decades, centuries, just growing with the pressure of the cold and the air…"
"If we get a sample of it," said Paradox slowly. "We might be able to somehow work out the date." She stared at him. The date had always been unknown, only counted from when they thought Zion was first built, 173 years ago. If the real year could be known, then the history of human kind could be a lot more accurate.
"Lets go get those gas masks then," she half suggested, half ordered, and they were happy to comply, grabbing any tool they could use, like hammers and chisels, and also weapons.
As the hatch opened, she realized that she had forgotten how cold it was. She hadn't gone outside for months, and the cold now sank into her skin, making moving hard. But after 15 minutes of trying to break a piece off a diamond, they didn't feel cold anymore. Reflex eventually lost his temper and shot at the massive stone, sending pieces flying, and accidentally finding the easiest way to get a large enough piece.
"Lets just get the largest pieces on board and get out of here!" Lewar called to the others, and they looked happy to comply. She suddenly had an odd thought, that what they were taking on board would be worth millions in the Matrix, and the massive stone they were looking at would be worth trillions. Not like that mattered when they were loaded in, as they could create whatever they wanted in the Construct, but she had never been rich….
She pushed the foolish thoughts out of her mind as she settled into the pilot's seat.
"Where to now, Cap'n?" asked Reflex
"Back to Zion. I know it wasn't a long trip at all, but we need to unload this and get the experts on it right away. If there's a chance we could know the date, we should get started right away. This could really make a difference to this world, even if it only means we can say we know what time it is."
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Paradox was in the Core, monitoring the Matrix for any unusual Agent activity. He was tired, but still excited over yesterday's discovery. They could really change something. He sat back in the chair, thinking about things (Lewar in particular) and smiled.
At first he thought he was just imagining it, but then realized that small beeping sounds in his head set were real, a distress signal from another ship.
"Shit!" he swore softly. He switched the mic on. "This is Paradox of the Shadow. Can you hear me?"
"Thank God!" came the voice on the bad connection. "We need help! We've lost engines, and just used the EMP to get rid of 2 sentinels, but now there are more coming. There isn't enough power in the EMP to take them out."
"How strong is their signal?" he asked urgently.
"As strong as usual. Why?" came the reply.
"Shit! Hang on a second, I'll get the captain." He moved down the hall to Lewar's door. "Lee, we've got another ship on the line!"
"Be there in a sec," came her sleeping reply.
"It's a distress call!"
She came out quickly and took the headphones.
"Where are you?" She paused as the voice on the other end answered. "That's 20 minutes away from us. How long until the Squiddies?" Another pause. "We're on our way." She gave the head set back to Paradox as she headed for the Bridge.
"'What ship is this?" he asked.
"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you. This is Tank of the Nebuchadnezzar," answered the voice.
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A/N: I AM EVIL!!! AND IT'S FUN!!!! I can see why so many other authors leave suspence, it's just so much fun! Stay tuned, next chapter should come in a week, maybe less.
