Reunion: Chapter 2
Nene stepped off the Bases' transport. She stood there and watched it disappear around the next block. She sighed heavily, and turned to face her apartment complex. She had a studio apartment even though her budget would have allowed a much better place. She figured she didn't need very much space, and it was easy to heat and cool a small one. She unlocked the door, and let herself in. The place was trashed, with coke cans, computer parts, and chip crumbs all over the floor. Right in the middle of it all, there was a mattress covered with tangled up sheets. Around the mattress nine computers of different sorts sat waiting for Nene's commands. She threw her laptop bag on the floor and flopped down on her bed.
The phone line wasn't secure, she'd have to route through all of the barriers in place. The information she wanted to get out was certainly not suppose to get out. Luckily this was too difficult of a task for a systems specialist like herself, hell she had designed half of the security barriers. She began working at it right away, so she could contact the others as soon as possible.
SPOW 2040 Charlie Ortega
Jeffery Gilkes
Steve Wingo
Michelle Kerr
Tony Degroot
Xenophon Jackson
Rodney Peyton
Russell Butz
Ray Massimo
Deceased Gordon Detsoi
Nene Romanova
Avella Moya
SPOW 2041 Kenneth Sitar
Neil Domonkos
Khieng Kho
Johnathan Anstet
Randy Phillips
Jack Hanon
Derek Street
Natalia Friesl
Standley Byars
Kevin Lauer
Deceased Kimberly Waldron
Micheal Itamura
SPOW 2042 Nigel Kirkland
Ernest Jaffa
Maki scrolled down this horrifying list, and as he read his eyes widened and his chest shrank. As soon as he had seen the information he was flushed out of the government files. He had hacked into the U.S. Military main frame on suspicion that Nigel may have been 'kid napped' due to his knowledge. He never thought he would run across Nene's name. He pulled out the plug on the system, hoping that would stop them from tracing his IP address. It probably wouldn't, but it didn't really matter, seeing as how Sylia had been acting lately.
"No... " Maki said out loud. He felt unable to breath, and could hardly make himself get up from the chair he was in. He somehow managed to stammer into Sylia's bedroom, and he flick the light switch on.
Sylia had been trying to fall asleep, and the sudden flash of light made her eyes burn. She sat up in bed and tried to focus on Maki. As his image became clear, she could tell right away the something was wrong.
"Maki! What is it? What's wrong?" She pleaded for an answer.
"Nene... " He whispered.
"What? Did you say Nene? What happened?!"
"Nene is dead, and Nigel is a Secret Prisoner of the US government!" Maki suddenly blurted it all out, "I hacked in, I found a record of them both!"
"Prisoner? Maki, are you sure?" Sylia swung her legs over the side of the bed., ready to get up.
"Yes, Sylia. It's true..." Maki started to feel depressed again. It hurt so much to think Nene was dead, he had tried so hard to help her through the Galatea incident. It just wasn't fair!
Sylia began to put on day clothes, as Maki stood in the door deeply lost in thought. After she was ready to go she turned to him again.
"Where was he being kept Maki?" She asked evenly.
"I....I don't know" He replied.
"There had to be something Maki, just think, try to remember..." She walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"It was a N S A L A file, in a list of files that all had different letters next to them, that's all that was there. I'm sorry, does that help?"
"Yes, Maki, that's good." Sylia smiled. She had a chance at finding Nigel. She patted him on the shoulder for reassurance, then made her way past him. She flipped on the light switch in the kitchen and picked up the phone.
Linda clicked aimlessly on the monkey. Sure enough, it said she won. She would just have to fill out this spammer form, and then she'd get a gift certificate to buy something or other. She clicked on the X in the upper right corner of the window to get rid of it. She sighed. The internet had lost so much of it's appeal ever since she had become a Knight Saber. She had nothing to follow on the internet anymore. All she had left to do was check her e-mail, over and over again.
*ba-bing* An instant message popped up right before she had disconnected for the night.
AgentRomanova: Hi! It's a Nene gram!
AgentRomanova: Though.... not as spify as it used to be huh?
GreenKSLinna: Nene! Hey! How are you?
AgentRomanova: Not so good, I have really bad news : (
GreenKSLinna: Oh?
AgentRomanova: u know, those things we used to fight?
GreenKSLinna: Boomers?
AgentRomanova: SHHHH!
GreenKSLinna: What?
AgentRomanova: I...
AgentRomanova: I ran accross a file today, top secret, u know...
AgentRomanova: It said they were going to recreate the technology Linna!
GreenKSLinna: Your joking, right?
AgentRomanova: No
GreenKSLinna: After what happened? Why?
AgentRomanova: I can't say much more, I think it would be best if u could
meet me here in Los Angelas. Can u?
GreenKSLinna: I don't know Nene, what could I do?
AgentRomanova: We have to do something!
Linna stared blankly at the screen for a moment. She so wished for that lifestyle back, but would hate to see the horrors of boomers hurting people again. It was what they had worked so hard to stop, could she just let it all start again? No. She couldn't. She wouldn't let it start again.
AgentRomanova: u there?
GreenKSLinna: Yes, I'm here.
AgentRomanova: So....?
GreenKSLinna: Okay, I'm in. I'll book a flight tonight.
AgentRomanova: LAX
GreenKSLinna: I know
AgentRomanova: ok I'm gonna call Priss now.
AgentRomanova: c u soon, bye-bye
GreenKSLinna: Wait, Priss?
AgentRomanova has signed off
"Wait..." Linna said it out loud after she knew there would be no answer. She spun the chair to face away from the computer, "Priss..."
If Priss was coming, which Linna was rather sure she wouldn't, then they'd have to talk. She would see first hand that Priss didn't give a damn about her. This scared her right down to the bone. Again she questioned if she could go through with all this...
"Hello" Leon answered the ringing phone in his tired drunken state.
"Leon?" Nene asked, unsure if she had dialed the right numbers.
"Yeah Leon here, who's thish?"
"Leon-poo?"
"Hey! Don't call me that!" Leon sat up straight, suddenly feeling a whole lot more sober.
"Why not poo-head?" Nene grinned into the phone.
"Have you not grown up at all!?" Leon exclaimed into the phone.
"Of course I have silly! Where's Priss?"
"Ah, I'm sorry Nene, she's not in..." Leon found himself unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck. He did feel guilty for Priss not being there. And Nene had called, ironically what their fight had been about.
"Where is she?!" Nene pleaded desperately.
"I don't know, but she's not here." Leon stated, "Did you want to leave a message, or a call back number?"
"No. I need to talk to her now.... is there a number I could reach her at?"
"We're a little tight on cash right now, this is our only phone... She can call you back as soon as she get in, ya know?"
"No. No that won't work. Just, just let her know that I called I guess." Nene said sadly.
"Alright, I'll let her know..." Leon replied.
*click*
Leon hung up the phone. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so bad. Nene had sounded like she really needed to talk to Priss, and Priss so needed to talk to Nene. If only he hadn't pissed her off, everything would be going smoothly. He sank down into the couch and groaned, only to hear the door open. Now she was back, if only he had kept Nene on the line thirty seconds longer. He groaned again.
"Drink too much?" Priss asked and she turned on the light, blinding him temporarily. He groaned yet again. She scoffed at him, then turned the light back off.
"Nene called." He said matter-of-factly.
"What?
"She sounded pretty desperate to talk to you, but wouldn't leave a call back number..."
"What did she want?" Priss said calmly, even though her head was rushing ahead of herself. After all, why would Nene call unless there was something happening?
"She wouldn't say."
"Then star sixty-nine her damn it!" Priss blurted out, suddenly loosing her cool again. She grabbed the phone and dialed in the numbers. "Damn." She cursed, and threw the phone to the ground.
"I didn't think that would work, she didn't seem to think you could call her back..." He noted out loud, watching Priss pace. She wasn't acknowledging him at all, then she suddenly tossed all of the papers on the coffee table onto the floor. Everything 'important' had been stored there for over a year, it was a huge pile of miscelanous junk really. "What are you doing now?"
"Just shut up Leon" Priss growled as she fumbled through every piece of paper on the floor. She found the one she was looking for, it was a ripped piece only slightly smaller than her hand. She picked it up and stared at it for a moment. It was a phone number, a phone number she had never used. Calling Linna seemed kinda weird to her back when she found it, and now. Now it just seemed cold, since it was because Nene had called. She flipped it between her fingers for a few rotations then crumpled it up.
Linna held the phone against her ear with her shoulder while she listened to the ending regulations of the flight plan she has chosen. Her hands both busy shoving her favorite outfits into a small suitcase, she hung up the phone finally and considered what else she might need. She picked up that photo of Priss one more time, knowing she wouldn't dare bring it with her. If Priss was there, and found it for some reason she might get the wrong idea completely. She put it back in the drawer she always kept it in. There wasn't much left for her to do, so she zipped up her suitcase. The phone rang, she ignored it. It rang again, and since her mother hadn't picked it up she grabbed it.
"Hello?" She said.
"Is Linna in?" Priss asked, unsure if she was talking to Linna or not.
"Priss?" Linna recognized her voice right away.
"Yeah, hey, have you heard from Nene?"
"It's horrible, isn't it? Are you going?" Linna assumed Priss had already talked to Nene.
"What's going on?" Priss was now even more concerned, "I missed Nene's call, but I had a gut feeling it was important."
"It's the Americans Priss. They're re-creating Boomer technology...." Linna repeated what she had heard from Nene.
"What? Those Idiots! Do they have a death wish!?" Priss snarled into the phone.
"I don't know..." Linna sighed, "I'm on the next flight to L.A., I have to try to stop it before it's too late."
"Damn right, before they create another Galatea. I'll meet you there, as soon as I can." Priss replied.
"Um, okay. I'll see you then...."
To be Continued.....
Nene stepped off the Bases' transport. She stood there and watched it disappear around the next block. She sighed heavily, and turned to face her apartment complex. She had a studio apartment even though her budget would have allowed a much better place. She figured she didn't need very much space, and it was easy to heat and cool a small one. She unlocked the door, and let herself in. The place was trashed, with coke cans, computer parts, and chip crumbs all over the floor. Right in the middle of it all, there was a mattress covered with tangled up sheets. Around the mattress nine computers of different sorts sat waiting for Nene's commands. She threw her laptop bag on the floor and flopped down on her bed.
The phone line wasn't secure, she'd have to route through all of the barriers in place. The information she wanted to get out was certainly not suppose to get out. Luckily this was too difficult of a task for a systems specialist like herself, hell she had designed half of the security barriers. She began working at it right away, so she could contact the others as soon as possible.
SPOW 2040 Charlie Ortega
Jeffery Gilkes
Steve Wingo
Michelle Kerr
Tony Degroot
Xenophon Jackson
Rodney Peyton
Russell Butz
Ray Massimo
Deceased Gordon Detsoi
Nene Romanova
Avella Moya
SPOW 2041 Kenneth Sitar
Neil Domonkos
Khieng Kho
Johnathan Anstet
Randy Phillips
Jack Hanon
Derek Street
Natalia Friesl
Standley Byars
Kevin Lauer
Deceased Kimberly Waldron
Micheal Itamura
SPOW 2042 Nigel Kirkland
Ernest Jaffa
Maki scrolled down this horrifying list, and as he read his eyes widened and his chest shrank. As soon as he had seen the information he was flushed out of the government files. He had hacked into the U.S. Military main frame on suspicion that Nigel may have been 'kid napped' due to his knowledge. He never thought he would run across Nene's name. He pulled out the plug on the system, hoping that would stop them from tracing his IP address. It probably wouldn't, but it didn't really matter, seeing as how Sylia had been acting lately.
"No... " Maki said out loud. He felt unable to breath, and could hardly make himself get up from the chair he was in. He somehow managed to stammer into Sylia's bedroom, and he flick the light switch on.
Sylia had been trying to fall asleep, and the sudden flash of light made her eyes burn. She sat up in bed and tried to focus on Maki. As his image became clear, she could tell right away the something was wrong.
"Maki! What is it? What's wrong?" She pleaded for an answer.
"Nene... " He whispered.
"What? Did you say Nene? What happened?!"
"Nene is dead, and Nigel is a Secret Prisoner of the US government!" Maki suddenly blurted it all out, "I hacked in, I found a record of them both!"
"Prisoner? Maki, are you sure?" Sylia swung her legs over the side of the bed., ready to get up.
"Yes, Sylia. It's true..." Maki started to feel depressed again. It hurt so much to think Nene was dead, he had tried so hard to help her through the Galatea incident. It just wasn't fair!
Sylia began to put on day clothes, as Maki stood in the door deeply lost in thought. After she was ready to go she turned to him again.
"Where was he being kept Maki?" She asked evenly.
"I....I don't know" He replied.
"There had to be something Maki, just think, try to remember..." She walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"It was a N S A L A file, in a list of files that all had different letters next to them, that's all that was there. I'm sorry, does that help?"
"Yes, Maki, that's good." Sylia smiled. She had a chance at finding Nigel. She patted him on the shoulder for reassurance, then made her way past him. She flipped on the light switch in the kitchen and picked up the phone.
Linda clicked aimlessly on the monkey. Sure enough, it said she won. She would just have to fill out this spammer form, and then she'd get a gift certificate to buy something or other. She clicked on the X in the upper right corner of the window to get rid of it. She sighed. The internet had lost so much of it's appeal ever since she had become a Knight Saber. She had nothing to follow on the internet anymore. All she had left to do was check her e-mail, over and over again.
*ba-bing* An instant message popped up right before she had disconnected for the night.
AgentRomanova: Hi! It's a Nene gram!
AgentRomanova: Though.... not as spify as it used to be huh?
GreenKSLinna: Nene! Hey! How are you?
AgentRomanova: Not so good, I have really bad news : (
GreenKSLinna: Oh?
AgentRomanova: u know, those things we used to fight?
GreenKSLinna: Boomers?
AgentRomanova: SHHHH!
GreenKSLinna: What?
AgentRomanova: I...
AgentRomanova: I ran accross a file today, top secret, u know...
AgentRomanova: It said they were going to recreate the technology Linna!
GreenKSLinna: Your joking, right?
AgentRomanova: No
GreenKSLinna: After what happened? Why?
AgentRomanova: I can't say much more, I think it would be best if u could
meet me here in Los Angelas. Can u?
GreenKSLinna: I don't know Nene, what could I do?
AgentRomanova: We have to do something!
Linna stared blankly at the screen for a moment. She so wished for that lifestyle back, but would hate to see the horrors of boomers hurting people again. It was what they had worked so hard to stop, could she just let it all start again? No. She couldn't. She wouldn't let it start again.
AgentRomanova: u there?
GreenKSLinna: Yes, I'm here.
AgentRomanova: So....?
GreenKSLinna: Okay, I'm in. I'll book a flight tonight.
AgentRomanova: LAX
GreenKSLinna: I know
AgentRomanova: ok I'm gonna call Priss now.
AgentRomanova: c u soon, bye-bye
GreenKSLinna: Wait, Priss?
AgentRomanova has signed off
"Wait..." Linna said it out loud after she knew there would be no answer. She spun the chair to face away from the computer, "Priss..."
If Priss was coming, which Linna was rather sure she wouldn't, then they'd have to talk. She would see first hand that Priss didn't give a damn about her. This scared her right down to the bone. Again she questioned if she could go through with all this...
"Hello" Leon answered the ringing phone in his tired drunken state.
"Leon?" Nene asked, unsure if she had dialed the right numbers.
"Yeah Leon here, who's thish?"
"Leon-poo?"
"Hey! Don't call me that!" Leon sat up straight, suddenly feeling a whole lot more sober.
"Why not poo-head?" Nene grinned into the phone.
"Have you not grown up at all!?" Leon exclaimed into the phone.
"Of course I have silly! Where's Priss?"
"Ah, I'm sorry Nene, she's not in..." Leon found himself unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck. He did feel guilty for Priss not being there. And Nene had called, ironically what their fight had been about.
"Where is she?!" Nene pleaded desperately.
"I don't know, but she's not here." Leon stated, "Did you want to leave a message, or a call back number?"
"No. I need to talk to her now.... is there a number I could reach her at?"
"We're a little tight on cash right now, this is our only phone... She can call you back as soon as she get in, ya know?"
"No. No that won't work. Just, just let her know that I called I guess." Nene said sadly.
"Alright, I'll let her know..." Leon replied.
*click*
Leon hung up the phone. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so bad. Nene had sounded like she really needed to talk to Priss, and Priss so needed to talk to Nene. If only he hadn't pissed her off, everything would be going smoothly. He sank down into the couch and groaned, only to hear the door open. Now she was back, if only he had kept Nene on the line thirty seconds longer. He groaned again.
"Drink too much?" Priss asked and she turned on the light, blinding him temporarily. He groaned yet again. She scoffed at him, then turned the light back off.
"Nene called." He said matter-of-factly.
"What?
"She sounded pretty desperate to talk to you, but wouldn't leave a call back number..."
"What did she want?" Priss said calmly, even though her head was rushing ahead of herself. After all, why would Nene call unless there was something happening?
"She wouldn't say."
"Then star sixty-nine her damn it!" Priss blurted out, suddenly loosing her cool again. She grabbed the phone and dialed in the numbers. "Damn." She cursed, and threw the phone to the ground.
"I didn't think that would work, she didn't seem to think you could call her back..." He noted out loud, watching Priss pace. She wasn't acknowledging him at all, then she suddenly tossed all of the papers on the coffee table onto the floor. Everything 'important' had been stored there for over a year, it was a huge pile of miscelanous junk really. "What are you doing now?"
"Just shut up Leon" Priss growled as she fumbled through every piece of paper on the floor. She found the one she was looking for, it was a ripped piece only slightly smaller than her hand. She picked it up and stared at it for a moment. It was a phone number, a phone number she had never used. Calling Linna seemed kinda weird to her back when she found it, and now. Now it just seemed cold, since it was because Nene had called. She flipped it between her fingers for a few rotations then crumpled it up.
Linna held the phone against her ear with her shoulder while she listened to the ending regulations of the flight plan she has chosen. Her hands both busy shoving her favorite outfits into a small suitcase, she hung up the phone finally and considered what else she might need. She picked up that photo of Priss one more time, knowing she wouldn't dare bring it with her. If Priss was there, and found it for some reason she might get the wrong idea completely. She put it back in the drawer she always kept it in. There wasn't much left for her to do, so she zipped up her suitcase. The phone rang, she ignored it. It rang again, and since her mother hadn't picked it up she grabbed it.
"Hello?" She said.
"Is Linna in?" Priss asked, unsure if she was talking to Linna or not.
"Priss?" Linna recognized her voice right away.
"Yeah, hey, have you heard from Nene?"
"It's horrible, isn't it? Are you going?" Linna assumed Priss had already talked to Nene.
"What's going on?" Priss was now even more concerned, "I missed Nene's call, but I had a gut feeling it was important."
"It's the Americans Priss. They're re-creating Boomer technology...." Linna repeated what she had heard from Nene.
"What? Those Idiots! Do they have a death wish!?" Priss snarled into the phone.
"I don't know..." Linna sighed, "I'm on the next flight to L.A., I have to try to stop it before it's too late."
"Damn right, before they create another Galatea. I'll meet you there, as soon as I can." Priss replied.
"Um, okay. I'll see you then...."
To be Continued.....