[CHAPTER 1100]

"... I wonder if they tried that in the simulator…?"

James Lovell

E.A.R.T.H.

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Scotland hadn't changed much when it left what was previously the United Kingdom. At least, not in aesthetics. The Scottish people had always thought of themselves as living in an independent sovereign state ever since 'Braveheart' was released in nineteen-ninety-five. It was almost a surprise when the people voted to rapidly join the new North Atlantic Alliance trading union, figure-headed by the scandinavian countries. Norway and Sweden were as close to Scotland as the furthest tip of Cornwall. Thankfully, Edinburgh had stayed the Scottish capital and remained the centre of wealth and civilisation for the hardy Scotts.

Eva often made an effort to explore the sprawling city centre.

Catching a tram down the bleak highstreets, the fifteen-year-old was often surprised at the wealth of independent shops, stalls, and small museums celebrating the likes of Scottish history. Arthur's Seat loomed behind the sprawling city along with the rugged hills of Holyrood Park. Eva enjoyed long walks. They tired her out and feeling of motion helped soften the hours she spent playing in VR. Eva had spent hours traipsing the pretty side streets before heading back to her apartment.

Turning the key in the door of her new flat still felt unreal to the teenager.

The move to Edinburgh had been unexpected, but nonetheless very much appreciated by Eva. It felt unreal, being whisked out of Inverness by a faceless benefactor and thrown into a sprawling apartment in the capital. Such generosity had initially left the teenager rather uncomfortable. However, nearly a month later and Eva was starting to forget about the suspicions this was some type of pampering before a scam. She'd seen it happen numerous times with slightly older adav's back up north. GOKIA had been a faceless company before all of this, but now their name was everywhere. On the bills paying rent, on invoices for her work-from-home job as a game tester, and even helping to pay for wireless internet on a monthly contract. Each was signed for by a mysterious Corey Sagan who, despite numerous efforts, was untraceable through the GOKIA employment files.

As soon as she got back in, Eva flicked on the kettle for a hot drink and waited for her computer to load. It took nearly half an hour. HORIZON ran through any system, but the newest SONY headset required a rather bulky personal computer to run. Eva perched on the sofa with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a misty summer morning view across the city. Edinbrugh castle was a proud site amongst the sweep of office blocks and hotels. For some reason, a small GOKIA outlet store was placed across the street opposite. She doubted it was a coincidence that she lived adjacent to the technology store.

'Why's this taking so long?' Eva rubbed at her nose. Since being hired under somewhat mysterious circumstances by the artificial intelligence that ran HORIZON, Eva's life had improved significantly. The sheer relief from being torn out of the dark world of an advertising avatar was indescribable. She had a future now. Money was no longer an issue, nor was food or sleep. Eva was no longer the skinny, spotty VR-slave she was before. It wasn't exactly a smooth transformation, but at least she looked like she was getting three square meals a day; even if one almost certainly consisted of pizza.

'Ugh! Come on…!' The young Scott groaned. A small dual screen on the SONY headset was blaring blue and yellow connection warnings. Eva glared at the lockout screen. Nothing like this had ever happened before!

Glass shattered outside.

Eva jumped, headset sliding onto the floor as she bounced off her sofa. There was another smash and then a loud chorus of laughter from somewhere outside. All at once, the years on instinct Eva had gained spent on the streets of Inverness came back to her. She poked her head around the sliding glass door to glance down over the balcony.

A small mob had gathered outside her apartment block on Albeny Street. Hooligans by the looks of it. At eleven o'clock in the morning it was a little too early to be out drinking, even in Edinburgh. A gang of half a dozen hooded individuals lingered by the technology shop. One lobbed a bottle at the GOKIA window, the glass smashing into a small cloud of drink and debris. Such deliberate vandalism was followed by a chorus of holloring. Before Eva even had to chance to question exactly what was going on, somebody a balcony below was yelling demands in a thick accent.

'Jesus.' Eva cursed to herself as another smashed bottle reverberated down the narrow street.

She pulled her only window shut in an effort to shut out the noise of chanting in the background. It didn't achieve much, given the stopping and banging around going on in the apartment upstairs. A light powder of dust sprinkled down from the ceiling.

What the hell? Normally the couple above were a quiet bunch that kept to themselves. However, whatever argument they were having was loud enough to percolate through the floorboards to Eva's flat below.

The teenager's softscreen buzzed in her pocket.

Amidst the developing madness, Eva was almost tempted to ignore the message. That was, until another buzzed through a moment later. The shouting upstairs could be heard getting louder and more aggressive. Something was down? Maybe her headset wasn't the only one having problems. Loading up her portable softscreen, Eva eyed the number of text messages that crowded the screen. Seven in total. All of them from a contact listed as BABA

'Emergen-?' Another crash outside interrupted the teenager. Hadn't she just closed the window? 'No shite sherlock.'

Eva fell back into her sofa and tried to block out the holloring from outside. It would only be a matter of time until the police arrive. Better wait this thing out instead of staring out of the window. With a small mob outside, it was better not to draw attention to yourself.

Apparently SMS messages weren't enough for the artificial intelligence. A moment later and Eva's softscreen began to buzz with an incoming call. BABA was listed across the screen in block capitals. With a grunt, the young woman picked up.

'What the hell's going on?' Baba wasn't given a chance to speak as Eva cut to the chase.

'Hello to you too kiddo.' The AI responded dryly before dropping into a more serious tone, 'HORIZON crashed.'

'Whaat!?'

'Didn't you notice? It's been down over an hour. There wa-'

Whatever the artificial intelligence had to say next was cut off by an ear-shattering ring. Eva jumped a foot, dropped her softscreen, and tried to make sense of why the fire alarm was blaring overhead. Although she couldn't smell smoke, the teenager didn't want to risk staying inside. The apparent correlation with the trashing of the GOKIA shop opposite lost on the teenager.

With shaking hands, Eva scooped up her softscreen. The call must have automatically ended as her home screen was visible behind a newly cracked screen.

'Ah fuck that.' Eva swore, frustrated at the fact that the brand new device was already broken.

A notification popped up an instant later with a rather specific statement. Eva could barely read it underneath the hairline fractures running across her phone.

'Airport. Four-thirty. What the-?'

It was then that her softscreen died.

Eva stared at the black screen as if expecting there to be some sudden miracle and a new message from the AI. The airport? Seriously? With the fire alarm blazing above, Eva didn't have the time to ponder over the message. She headed for the fire exit before truly considering the nature of her deal with the rather cryptic woman. A few other irritable inhabitants were jogging down the stairwell as Eva stepped out of her apartment. For a moment the HORIZON network failure and broken headset, not to mention the apparently unprovoked wreaking of the GOKIA outlet, were forgotten. So too was the SONY headset lying on her apartment floor.

Eva had yet to comprehend the meaning of the headset connection lost GIF playing over and over in cycles on the Dreamcatcher.

Things weren't looking so great either side of the divide either.

For James, this was made very clear when Baba finally stopped her incessant pacing and turned to him with a huff. For now, they sat in an abandoned Pokécentre lobby. Nobody manned the desk. Given that the whole HORIZON platform had crashed twenty-four hours previously, there were no players or NPCs to fill the void. The emptiness of the normally bustling and vibrant world was eerie.

Baba paused, before continuing to pace once more.

The AI had her arms crossed across her maroon cardigan with her otherwise perfect angelic face creased into a small frown. It wasn't a common look for Baba. To be fair, the expression was most likely a placeholder for the real computing going on behind as the artificial intelligence ran through millions of datasets all at once.

James knew he was most likely only sharing this time and location with a small fragment of Baba. Given that the AI's job role was huge in order to cover a global gaming network, he often wondered how much of the strange female persona he actually knew. Such questions had only recently become very important to him. Maybe this wasn't the same Baba he'd met all those weeks ago? Not the same strange woman who had introduced him to this new technological afterlife. Just how much of this computer world was constructed to constraint and control him? It was a truth James never knew he wanted to know.

Bagheera had been his brother all this time. Or somehow, his brother playing as the feline Pokémon in a way that was utterly convincing. The whole idea seemed preposterous. Richard had fallen out with their family years ago and had yet to apologise for what had happened. It would be a lie to say James wasn't bitter about the situation. His brother had scuppered any opportunity he once had to go to university, and stolen any dreams James had of becoming an academic geologist. However, he had never hated his brother for it. Richard was an idiot but he made the wrong mistakes for the right kind of reasons. Most of the time.

But of all the ways to make it up to him, why had Richard chosen to be his pet Liepard?

'Don't sweat it Kiddo.' Baba murmured, having once more returned to her pacing. She continued to stop and start like a car in endless traffic lights. 'I don't think it's a big deal.'

'Uhh…' James trailed off. He didn't know how to explain to Baba just how much of a big deal it really was. Richard was a dick. Not just because of his name, but by the way he treated others. James's older brother always put himself before anybody else. The change of heart was appreciated but very much unlike his older brother.

'It doesn't seem real.' The uploader muttered to himself, 'He...it's impossible!'

'He might have had a change of heart?' Baba suggested, still pacing. 'And I think the Liepard thingy was Harry's idea. Something to do with training for another feature of immersion.' She ran a hand through her hair, obviously still disgruntled with whatever was going on behind the scenes. For now, the AI paced from one end of the centre lobby to the next. A stray pamphlet advertising Pokémon breeding fluttered along the tiles.

For a long while they waited in the empty Pokécentre.

'Baba?'

The AI froze. Where before, James had been mellow and otherwise content to lounge on a lobby sofa lost in his thoughts, he now seemed entirely and undividedly lucid. The question aimed towards the angelic woman was focused at gaining her attention. Not the attention of the simple computerised sprite representing the intelligence, but the whole of her awareness.

'Yes?' Baba replied quietly, tilting her head as if seeing James for the first time, 'Is every-'

'This isn't real is it.'

There was no bitterness in James's voice. In fact, there was no expression whatsoever. The statement was a matter-of-fact acceptance of what now appeared obvious to the teenager.

'All of this is constructed right? And the Bagheera thing is just another...another…'

James wasn't the type to get emotional about anything. He just sighed and with a shrug of his shoulders, explained the dilemma frankly, 'This is constructed to keep me happy...right? How do I know that any of the players were real humans? All of it could have been fabricated? A dream that I'll never wake up from?'

Baba sagged,

'Dreams are only real as long as they last kiddo. But that's the same with everything right?'

It wasn't in her programming to skip forward and scoop the teenager into a hug. Baba did it anyway. The motherly gesture was a warm reminder of human comfort that suddenly felt so alien to James. The teenager froze at the sudden contact, before relaxing in her arms and returning the hug.

'Sorry.' He mumbled into her shoulder, 'It's just…'

'Don't worry about it.' She comforted,

'Do you think he's alright?' James pulled out of the hug and wiped at his nose. 'Richard I mean?'

The AI lifted an eyebrow

'So this is what all of this is about? You're worried about him!' James was already backtracking on his admittance but Baba gave him a light punch on the shoulder. 'I'm teasing you. Anyway, I guess you'll find out the answers soon enough.' Any dramatics in her tone was lost as a result a short giggle that followed, 'Oh, this is going to be interesting.'

James didn't truly understand what Baba was referring to until later.

For a certain Harry Eisenhower, later wasn't coming soon enough. The journey from the airport was taking forever! At that present moment, the businessman was watching raindrops trickle down the taxi window on route to Amsterdam. It was either that or face the hundreds of message on his softscreen, all demanding answers. GOKIA had yet to publicly release any explanation for the HORIZON crash. Twenty four hours later and the outcry was only getting worse. The global network consisting of billions of users was currently out of action with no indication of when it would be online again.

People were starting to get angry, vocal, and in some places fairly violent.

Raindrops raced each other down the windowsill as they sat in traffic approaching the city centre. Puffing out a sigh, Harry turned to the other occupant in the back of the electric vehicle.

'You know, you don't talk much.'

Jean looked up from his softscreen. The large Frenchman seemed to contemplate the incongruous remark with a tilt of his head. After a moment of comic delay, he stuck up his middle finger. The bitterness of the gesture only seemed to highlight how peeved the man was at being pulled out of troubleshooting the HORIZON crash.

Harry sniffed, but decided not to escalate the situation further. All Jean wanted to be on his laptop decoding the problem. Not sat in the car with his overweight boss on the other side of Britannica. The drive lasted for almost another hour until they finally reached their destination.

The taxi lifted another two inches away from the tarmac when Eisenhower squeezed out nearly an hour later. Rain splattered against his balder head. Rubbing at his face with a handkerchief, the man squinted through the downpour. The Amsterdam GOKIA branch building was a small walk from the carpark. To stop any protesters a number of police cars were also pulled up outside.

'Good to know somebody's keeping thing-' Harry began to comment towards Jean. The Frenchman slammed his car door and gave the businessman a flat stare, interrupting any attempt at making conversation. Harry shook his head and wandered off, leaving Jean to thank the taxi driver. He bowed his head under the rain and hot-footed it towards the main foyer.

Two armed policeman waited either side of the sliding doors.

'Uh, going to have to stop you there.' One spoke in a thick danish accent.

'Checks?' Harry guessed automatically, already sticking a pudgy hand into a pocket to pull out his ID. The guard shook his head and with a deliberate motion placed a hand on the chubby man's shoulder. It was a powerful gesture that stopped Harry in his tracks. Jean took a step forward as if to provide support was shot a dark look by the second policeman.

'Entry for eligible personnel only sorry.'

'I run this fucking company.' Harry spat, 'What the hell is that supposed to mean!?'

'I'm just doing my job sir. You've been detained under movement restrictions by Britannica security services.' The Dutch officer responded smoothly.

'Is this an arrest?' Harry smoldered, rolling his large shoulders in an attempt to free the grip of the policeman. He didn't budge however.

'No. Though you have been requested to come along for question at a time that's convi-'

'Then let's get this over a done with!' Harry stared out the officer. The armed policeman looked as old as the businessman and refused to back-down. After a few seconds deadlock, he removed his hand and waved towards the nearest police car. Mumbling profanities under his breath, Eisenhower followed begrudgingly. Jean fell in step but was waved off by the GOKIA chairman.

'It won't take long. Must be some misunderstanding somewhere. You mind seeing over the...uh, download?'

The mute nodded, though his eyes flicked between Harry and the guard now opening the back door of his police car. Jean could read the body language in the situation as easily as reading the emotion off a script. Whatever was happening was little short of an arrest. Jean signed that he'd be in contact. The motion was universal enough that Eisenhower got the message clearly

'Yeah yeah, just drop me a message. I'll meet you back in the lobby once this is over with.'

The Frenchman nodded.

He didn't stick around to watch Harry leave. In fact, he was rather glad to be removed from the man's company. Sighing to himself, he entered the lobby.

A rather smart woman was waiting to meet him. She introduced herself as the lead engineer at the testing facility, and took some convincing given that Harry had failed to materialise. It was even more difficult given Jean was restricted to typing out replied on his softscreen. She took his credential's easily enough however. After being signed in as a visitor, the programmer was led through into the heart of the building. The layout of the GOKIA branch was beyond confused. The lead engineer babbled the whole time, acting as some kind of tour guide. It was obvious that Jean's muteness made the technician uncomfortable.

After what felt like forever, she finally pushed open a pair of double doors to a small laboratory space. Jean was expecting the room to be bigger, though it had a very industrial feel. The Frenchman nodded to himself as he scanned the place. Another two clearly bored engineers were sat around desktop computers, spinning on wheeled chairs.

'So here we are. Seems you're an hour late, we ran the tests already and everything is ready for the download.'

Jean nodded, turning his attention to the centerpiece of the room. He waved his hand towards the machine.

'Ah yes. That's the mark-nine.'

A sleek black LEONOV waiting in the middle of the lab. The machine was oddly feline in character, with continuous 3D printed carbon body panels cover the electronics distributed over four stout limbs. There was a hidden tension to the robot, a lithe energy to the design. Twin lenses stared out from the narrow head, with a lengthy tail hovered above the concrete.

The two engineers jumped up to shake Jean's hand, before taking a moment to show off their creation. The LEONOV was an object of pride for them as they listed off the specs for the cat-like machine. It was a similar size as a large dog but as flexible as monkey. Jean couldn't help but be impressed by the machine. Even more so given that it was designed to work independently in space. Although, this specific robot would have a very different life.

'It'll be interesting to test this model in...uh, more...Terrestrial settings.' one of engineers mumbled, wheeling his chair back over to a computer monitor. 'Are you happy to start the process?'

Jean ambled over and leant on the desk next to the man. Rubbing at his eyes and he squinted at the data on the screen for a few moments. As a life-long programmer himself, the interface for the first ever HORIZON download was sleek yet practical. He hummed to himself, plucking the mouse out of the engineer's hands to scroll through the upcoming command list.

'Uhh...excuse me?' Jean waved him off, already leaning over to type the correct access codes into the mainframe.

'Oh...Yeah. Wow.' The engineer quickly realised that the Frenchman knew exactly what he was doing. 'It may take a few.'

Jean tilted his head to the side, reading through the already executing commands. There was a slight error in setting up the wireless internet connection with LEONOV robot. The programmer trundled through a few actions, naturally becoming consumed with the problem-solving aspect of his work. The three engineers were similarly enthralled by the speed at which the large programmer's nimble fingers worked their way through the coding.

Nobody was paying attention to the feline robot behind.

The LEONOV awoke suddenly, the dual-camera system which operated as eyes auto-focusing on the lab interior. His tail twitched as he became aware of the strange sensation of an extra appendage. The motors in his neck were near silent as he turned to study the black metal of his paws. It felt like he was placed on his hands and knees. Without even thinking about whether it was a good idea or not, the LEONOV pushed up onto his hind legs and balanced there.

'Ugh...hello?' James's voice felt like it was coming from his lips rather than his throat. He felt the vibration of the speaker placed in the head of the robot as if it was his own mouth. 'J...Jean?' James suddenly recognised the old Frenchman who was spun round to face the machine.

Stood on his back legs, James in control of the LEONOV was almost as tall as the Frenchman.

Jean waved awkwardly,

'Uhhh...Hi?' James responded, trying one his somewhat cumbersome paws at waving experimentally. After almost doing a roundhouse swing and knocking Jean senseless, James decided it was better to test that when he had more space.

'Where am I?' He asked in a rather electronic-sounding voice. Duel lenses surrounded his immediate environment and the three engineers staring at him with gaping mouths.

Jean grinned broadly, signing widely with his arms.

The gesture was obvious enough that James didn't need to translate.

Welcome to Earth

END

In terms of trivia, 'Braveheart' is a film about a 13th century warrior fighting for Scottish independence. It's a patriotic film and worked as a means to an end in EOrRRoR. Everything else is fairly explanatory, with a few shout-outs to the 2001 film 'Waking Life' for the James/Baba conversation. Arthur's Seat is an ancient volcano that you can walk up near Edinburgh.

This was late chapter that got pushed back to a monday, partly because I'd been on the road for the past week. Apologies for any typos, or obvious grammatical errors. This time I'd like to give a thanks to Mordaunt and BIOHAZARD 04 for your great reviews, and R'love of course for your help writing this chapter. Enjoy!