Protector of Men Ch 85
"Where to?" Zandra asked as she and Shade departed from the bar. Kesia had already left them to look after Alias, and neither Zandra nor Shade wanted to watch the movie playing.
"Something to eat?" Shade asked as they walked into an elevator. Zandra agreed, and tried to ignore the obvious stares she was receiving from the people around her.
"It's her," she could hear them say, "It's the One." Luckily, there were only three in the elevator, and the one girl was pretty quiet on the way up.
She stared at Zandra for only a moment, and looked away embarrassed. She was tall, with long brown hair much like Alias'. She too wore Zion's regular clothing, but held in her arms a basket full of disks.
"Are you Zandra?" She finally squeaked. Shade looked to Zandra unbelievingly, but she merely nodded and smiled.
"I guess they made you come in too," she continued, "No exceptions, huh?"
"No…" Shade answered, "You got called in too?"
"Oh no," she answered, excited at the proposition of speaking, "I'm not in the fleet. I'm a construct programmer." She paused, then startled both Shade and Zandra by the sudden thrust of her arm towards Zandra.
"I'm Veritas," she said shakily, "By the way."
Zandra shook her hand reluctantly, but Veritas had a firm grip that was almost relieving.
"Those disks part of the job?" Shade asked.
"Oh," she laughed, "New uploads. Guy in green reversal, new take on the jump…" she thumbed through the stack of plastic as she named them.
Zandra nodded thoughtfully, but again Veritas' sudden energy startled them.
"If you had time," she said loudly, "I had a program I was hoping someone could try out…" – Zandra swiftly tried to figure out a way to get out of it – "But I'd be honored if you'd try it for me."
"Well-"
"It's safe," Veritas asserted, "It's supposed to be a relaxation construct for long-term fleet members – I mean you guys have to be stressed, right? – Well, I mean, I bet you're not," as she gestured towards Zandra, "But I bet stuff happens that's stressful, right?"
Zandra blinked twice from the rush of her speaking. She looked to Shade.
"What time do we have to be back at Libertas?" she asked him, trying to convey her unspoken message.
"Not for a while," he answered, totally missing it. He looked to Veritas. "I'm sure we'd enjoy that," he told her. Zandra looked at him for a second, but didn't linger in her expression. Though she was surprised, she didn't want to hurt Veritas' feelings. It looked like Veritas had enough of a time keeping herself from bouncing off the wall every time she spoke to someone.
"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself," Shade told her, "I'm Shade." Veritas shook his hand too, though she looked even more nervous to be touching him. "My stops real soon, so if you wanna just follow me, I'll lead you there."
Zandra and Shade looked at each other, then nodded. Perhaps this day would be interesting after all.
Her core was in a large room in Zion where multiple construct stations littered the floor. She plugged them both in delicately and pushed the little red button that immediately transported them into heaven. Or what they might have described it as.
It was a beach. Sand gritted between their toes, and the salty sea air ruffled their hair. The sand was white; the sea blue; the sky orange. The sun was waning, and a few clouds reflected the sky's varying palate of color. Tall grasses bent in the light wind.
Zandra sighed and sat down; Shade soon followed. Waves lapped up on the shore in front of them.
"Talk about relaxing," she breathed, leaning back on her elbows. Shade laughed quietly. A sailboat floated past in the distance.
"I think I could lie here forever," Shade said, completely laying down. Zandra would have followed, but a phone rang from a few feet off. Shade sat up as she went to find it in the hills of dune grass.
"What do you think?" Veritas asked once Zandra had picked up, "Appropriate?"
"Yeah, yeah" she answered, looking around again, "Very appropriate."
"Well if you can wait just a second, I have one more construct if you have time…"
"But-" Zandra started,
"It won't take long," Veritas assured, and hung up the phone. Zandra went back to Shade with phone in hand but before she could tell him what Veritas had said, everything went white.
"Aw, where'd the beach go?" Shade asked, pulling himself up from the void ground. Zandra's cellphone rang again.
"Veritas-"
"I'm sorry if I'm taking your time, but I think you'll like this."
Zandra was quiet for a moment.
"It's a self-reconstructing and subject-sensitive slate. So you should be able to manipulate the code yourself to create a unique setting."
"Meaning?"
"You should be able to create something by thinking about it."
Shade stood in front of Zandra, watching her. "What is it?" he asked as her brows creased in thought.
"Try it out," Veritas said, "Please?"
Zandra hung up the phone.
"What?" Shade asked again, moving closer, "What'd she say?"
"I guess the place detects your thoughts… she said it'll create anything you think of."
Shade waited a moment, then closed his eyes. He opened them a moment later, and a look of disappointment crossed his face.
"Aw."
"Didn't work?"
"No."
"I'll call her."
"Wait," Shade said, putting a hand on the phone, "Try."
She was reluctant to – mostly because she had the nagging feeling that Veritas really only wanted them to come to try out this construct… and see what Zandra could really do. Quickly she became worried that this was yet another unconvinced Zionite ready to take her down…
"Zandra," Shade said again, "Just try it. A chair."
She sighed inwardly and put down the phone. How typical. Shade continued to nag her, and she finally closed her eyes. "One try," she mimicked before starting to concentrate.
A chair? Yes, just a chair. A nice, leather chair with curly arms? Ah, Zandra broke off, this is pointless.
But in front of her she found Shade, gaping at said chair.
"Try something else," he said, still staring. Zandra waited for a moment reluctantly, but decided to go ahead anyway. As long as she kept it interesting, she wouldn't have to think.
A table, now. A long table with a glass top and rounded legs. Cherry wood with black inlay, and a centerpiece in the middle.
"Zandra, this is amazing," Shade said, bringing her back. She glanced upwards and saw the table stood there too, just next to her chair. The four of them were pockmarks against the whitewash of the construct: a chair, table, Shade, and her. Shade went and touched the furniture, just to make sure it was real.
"Imagine what we could do," he whispered, slowly looking back to her again. Slowly she was becoming more excited at the proposal of this new construct.
"What are you doing?"
Veritas whipped around instantly to see Kesia and Alias staring her down menacingly.
"Just trying out a new construct," she said, inching backwards, "They volunteered to do it!"
"Volunteer my ass," Alias said, pushing Veritas from her station. She scoured the code thoroughly for any sign of a struggle, but couldn't find any. Neither could Kesia, though something was certainly wrong with the construct.
"What is this?" She asked as Veritas inched forward again.
"It's a subject-sensitive slate."
"Bullshit," Alias retorted from behind, "No-one's been able to make one for months."
"Look," Veritas assured her, pointing to the screen in front of them, "It's there."
"What should I do?" She asked him. Ahead of them lay various objects - most obvious of them being a car and a motorcycle.
"Make a road," he answered with a grin, "Let's race."
She walked over to the motorcycle first, knowing it could be fun if done correctly… and she closed her eyes.
The next time she opened them, she was in a cross between Zion's mechanical grace and New York's bustling closeness. A road lay in front of them, suspended by roped high above their artificial ground. Zandra smiled.
Let the race begin.
A/N – yeah, this chap is a bit strange, but it's necessary. Ever wonder what could happen if you could manipulate OTHER parts of your mind when jacked in? Like instead of you just taking IN signals, the program could interpret signals from you and take them OUT? Hmmm…
Sorry for the long wait, but yeah. Can't write without my little writing nook, and it was gone for a few days. :(