[CHAPTER 1101]

"... I can't seem to get roll to go up. It goes down on me, no matter how I hit the controllers…"

James Lovell

E.A.R.T.H.

00110010 00110000 00110111 00110011

It was a short flight, though made longer by the lack of stimulation. Normally, James would have had headphones in listening to music on-route from Amsterdam to Jersey. Then again, James wouldn't normally be connected remotely via satellite up-link to a LEONOV mark-nine extravehicular machine. His new, robotic feline body was agile and completely unlike his awkward human self. James's lack of ears were one thing. Instead, there was just a strange awareness of microphones located either side of his sleek black head. It made earbuds impractical to say the least.

Then there was a jointed metallic tail hovering nimbly from his behind. It was clear that the LEONOV was not built with economy-class seats in mind. James stumbled as he practiced walking on his new paw-like three-toed feet. metallic feline body. The feline EVA robot wasn't exactly designed for Earth, let alone walking bipedally down the narrow aisle of an airplane. Walking on his hind-legs felt awkward as James stumbled back into his chair.

'Hi. This is your captain speaking.' Pinged overhead, just audible over the rumble of the engines. 'We're beginning our descent. If you could please return to your seats. We should arrive into Jersey Airport at one-seventeen. Weather is looking rainy with an air-temperature of seventeen degrees.'

The private airplane was a small six-seater twin-prop, slower than a jet but in-fitting with a ban on turbine engines long before he was born. James's new body was wider than an average human. So much so that he struggled to squeeze into a seat. A jointed metallic tail hovering nimbly from his behind made a seated position a strain for the cat-like machine. However, there was no feeling of pain in his mechanised frame, not even the sensation of air blasting through the air-conditioning nozzles.

The robotic body was bizarre.

When asking what he could do to help his brother's situation, James wasn't expecting the role reversal. Being outside of HORIZON awoke a strange agoraphobia almost simultaneously to an oppressive constriction that came from the LEONOV. It was like living inside a shell. New and improved senses came through in a confused array of sensations that felt completely alien. More so knowing that in reality, he was merely a parcel of electrons inside some quantum computing circuitry. The simulations in HORIZON were so perfect it was easy to forget such things. Now, every discomfort of his new form only seemed to remind him of the fact.

Jean lent over with a grin from the seat opposite.

It wasn't clear whether the smile was a friendly gesture, or he was mocking James as he wriggled into a more sensible position. The uploader had only seen the Frenchman through the eye of a webcam. He looked much larger in real life, with a habit of wearing striped clothes to fit the stereotype. As a mute, Jean was restricted to pointing at the window as the pair began their crossing of the English Channel. The Weald-Artois anticline was almost visible from the linear chalk ridges marked as hills below. Out of everything, it was the unsystematic geology inherently present in world below that drove home James's return to Earth.

James craned his neck. Motors buzzed as a gyro automatically stabilised the motion. The shifting focus of his binary lenses was not entirely unexpected, acting to zoom-in on the coastline of Brittany below. It was another strange benefit of the feline body that distracted the uploader long enough to forget about the empty seat next to him.

Harry Eisenhower hadn't made the flight.

Exactly why wasn't made clear to James. For a moment he studied the empty chair, rolling concerns around his head regarding the GOKIA chairman. Jean had used a text translator to explain something about questioning by some Britannica agency. Given that Harry had said explicitly that he'd be there to welcome the uploaded teenager, his absence was bugging. Jean, however, seemed unbothered by the fact. Being thrown into the real lives of these people made James realise just how little he knew about them all.

The landing was smooth. James knew that from the internalised readout from his motion-detecting self-stabilisation system. It was still confused why they were under the influence of gravity. In fact, the LEONOV was home to whole array of functions that seemed to hover there in the periphery of his awareness. Features obviously designed to help manufacturing in space neatly informed James's how to disassemble the very plane he alighted. His metal feet clunked against the tarmac of a miserable Jersey airstrip.

Rain cascading from the sky in curtains, splashing against his sleek titanium-alloy bodyplating. There was no sense of moisture hitting his body. Nothing like you'd expect with the feeling drizzle on skin. Only a bland internal readout telling the uploader that the air temperature was seventeen degrees, with a north-westerly wind. The screech of another plane taking-off behind started James as he turned to survey to bleak airport.

There was one thing for sure - the miraculous world of virtual reality rarely looked as bleak as this. Jersey airport in the rain was a stark reminder of what HORIZON sugar-coated.

Jean waved him towards a waiting Tesla. James trotted over to squeeze his frame into the four-by-four as gull wing doors closed crisply behind. What followed was a tedious car journey down the A2 to St Helier. Jean caught the uploader staring, James faking a longing look through the window opposite. Given the fixed expressionless robot he was inhabiting, it was unclear how much emotion came through the black faceplate. Fifteen minutes later and the car was stopped before barriers on the edge of a rather mundane industrial estate. Armed security checked the drivers credentials before they slipped through to park before a GOKIA building. Jean's wary glance as he stepped out of the car suggested such checks weren't usually routine.

Rain bounced off the taxi bonnet.

Yana was waiting for them under the shelter of the lobby entrance. A gravel path led up a bold glass exterior which would have been in fashion thirty years ago. The half-Czech programmer looked smaller than James imagined her. Then again, striding over as a six-foot robot made everything look a little smaller than he was used to. The computer programmer had her arms crossed, muddied purple Dr Martens sticking out under loose jeans. Ginger hair framed a tired face and hung loosely over a maroon jumper.

The LEONOV maneuvered smoothly over the gravel, giving James a cat-like stance which had been anthropomorphised in the polished titanium of the robot. Jean sauntered beside him.

'Hi James.' Yana spoke tiredly. He waved back awkwardly, the over-sized paws of the LEONOV waggling.

'Uh...Hi.' James's electronic voice weakly mimicked his own. All the intonations of his voice were somehow conserved, though they seemed shallow in comparison to the real thing. Well, not that he'd heard his real-real voice for some time.

'Where's Harry?' Yana snapped, apparently unconcerned with the highly-advanced EVA construction robot in front of her. 'Didn't he...'

Jean didn't exactly interrupt Yana, but his delicate signing made her trail-off as she interpreted the motions. Whatever she made of the explained situation wasn't exactly clear. After a short grumble, the female programmer shrugged and waved them inside. James tried to avoid eye-contact with security staring at him entering the lobby. At least he no longer had the capacity to sweat.

Yana lead them across a foyer decorated with beige carpet to a row of lifts. 'Do you want to go down and check over the...the…' she broke out into a huge sneeze. Wiping at her nose, the short programmer turned to Jean in an attempt to finish her sentence,

'Check over my logged patches. I've got a fix.' Any excitement that would normally have been in her voice was superimposed by a bone-weary tiredness and a heavy cold. Her announcement that she'd fixed whatever had caused the crash was disfigured by yet another sneeze. 'Wanna see?'

Jean nodded and practically shot off. He barely had time to wave a quick farewell as he caught a down-going elevator. The Frenchman had never bothered to hide his distaste for being dragged on the trip. Now there was nothing to hold him away from his precious computers. Yana smiled briefly at the site, pausing at the lifts before pressing a button to go up.

'Well...You glad to be back?' Yana asked, filling the silence of the wait. A handkerchief appeared from nowhere to cover a snuffle. James, embarrassed that he was staring, turned his lenses to scan the rest of the lobby. He wished he hadn't, given that nearly everyone was not-so-subtly watching the two of them.

'Back...up top you mean?' he had to ask for further clarification.

'Yep.' Yana shrugged, the elevator pinged, and they stepped inside. For a brief moment James was worried that he might be too heavy for the lift, before remembering his new body was designed to be flown into space. The LEONOV mark-nine weighed little as seventy kilograms. That didn't mean he didn't have to fit his gangly body inside.

'You've adapted to the LEO quickly.' The programmer commented dryly as James banged his feline metal head against the ceiling panel for the fourth time.

'Couldn't you have fixed the integration on this or something?' The uploader mumbled, 'Feels like I walking around in the shell of some weird cat-tank thingy.'

'Blame your brother.' Yana chuckled, the elevator cable buzzing as they started upwards, 'The movement dataset and immersion software was modeled around him.'

'He's been helping?'

'Yep.' Yana nodded, sneezed, then ducked out of the elevator when it pinged at their floor. The doors almost closed twice on James's metal feet before he managed to back out of the compartment.

'Willingly?' James reiterated. He had to physically tug his tail away from the lift as the door closed.

'He's enthusiastic.' Yana didn't wait up. She turned, pushing a mess of ginger curls out of her eyes before marching down one of the corridors. James fell in behind, still trying to question the programmer more about his sibling.

'Where is he anyways?' The uploader was starting to become frustrated with the woman. 'And how am I even supposed to help like this? I thought...I…'

In truth, James didn't know what he was thinking. Hearing that his brother had been somehow brainwashed by the bottling following the HORIZON crash was alarming. However, what truly frightened James was that nobody knew why. Baba had neatly informed him that the up-link Richard used to immerse into the Pokemon world worked in two directions. Whatever bug had caused the HORIZON glitch had overwritten his brother's mind with the characteristics of the Liepard he virtually played.

Yana didn't comment.

Given that the whole operation had been top secret and most likely illegal to start with, James had supposed that Harry Eisenhower had yet to seek professional medical treatment. When Yana pushed open an office door into a darkened staff room, the uploader found just how true the prediction was.

Small soft-backed chairs dotted the room alongside a couple of wooden tables. An empty coffee dispenser looked like it hadn't been used in weeks. Blinds had been pulled down to cover floor-to-ceiling windows opposite.

A loud hiss came from inside.

James had to did a double take. Partly because his vision shifted into a thermal imaging to locate the source of the sound. Yana switched the light on. Something scrambled, a chair toppled over, and there was a high pitched cry following the impact. Mumbling something under her breath, the programmer tried to push James inside the cramped space.

'Talk to him. See if it heEECHEW…' she sneezed loudly, rubbing at her nose. 'Any problems. Call.'

'Wait-!'

The door slammed shut.

Wow? Why was she being so rude? James wondered if everybody was different outside of HORIZON. Perhaps it was yet another aspect of the simulation sugar-coating reality to make it easier for the uploader. The thought was sickening. James sighed, rubbing his palm across his face only to have a large paw bounce off his slender feline head awkwardly. Great. Now he couldn't even face-palm when to wanted to.

'Lie…pard?' A small voice called from across the room. Before James could respond there was a hiss. 'Pppppppard…'

'Richard?' James called out, falling onto his front paws without meaning to. The robotic body of the LEONOV seemed much happier in the quadrupedal position, tail rising high in the air as he toed across the room.

'Rich?'

His older brother eyed him from his position curled-up under a chair. Richard looked rough, stumble covering hollowed cheeks framing his wild eyes. Of all things, the young man was wearing a purple fleece that seemed two sizes too big, faded green shorts fraying at the knees. Richard tilted his head in a hauntingly animalistic fashion as he studied the robotic beast before him.

'Lie?' The man asked. Such a squeaky, mewing sound seemed wrong coming out of his older brother's mouth. 'Liepard?'

'It's me, Rich. Your brother. James.'

Even to his own microphones, the LEONOV's mechanical voice was a weak representation of anything soothing. However, upon hearing his brothers name, Ricard's eyes dilated wide. He nosed forward from his rather painful-looking position curled up under the chair.

'Liiiiieparrrrd~?'

If it was possible to cry, James would have been doing so. Instead, emotion was limited to strange expressions through his oddly robotic body, tail drooping and shoulders falling in a clear sign of anguish. Why did something like this have to happen to Richard of all people? Sure, James had hoped that he might change...but for the better! Not into a Pokemon! It was heartbreaking to see the result of the bottling knowing that somehow, it was all his fault. Richard had attempted to make up for his troublesome past only to be damned to this strange existence for trying.

'Surely they had known something like this might happen?'

James didn't mean to say the angry thought out-loud. For some reason, the LEONOV thought-recognition software was picking up the internal thoughts. 'What can I even do…?' James mumbled sadly, 'I'm dead. You're brainwashed...and...and…'

He couldn't even find the words to describe how ridiculous everything had steadily become.

'Lie?'

'Yeah. I know right? Look at the two of us. At least you have nine lives now. Beats my meagre two. You always did want a pet cat...'

Richard seemed to contemplate that information for a while. He wrinkled his nose in thought, eyes flicking from the floor and the strange hybridised robot in front of him. Perhaps it was the feline character of the robot that made the body language of the LEONOV foreign yet understandable to the young man. Or perhaps it was the mention of his forgotten brother that stirred some deep memories inside. The bottling couldn't have removed everything surely?

The young man leant forward, sniffing at the air before the robot. Uncurling, he stretched out and waited before the LEONOV. A hand hung in the air like a paw, poised to strike in a wary fashion.

'Remember Richard. You're not Bagheera anymore.'

Almost instantly Richard's eyes widened, head dropping to the side as he stomped both his hands on the ground. In the blink of a camera shutter the mannerisms of the man had shifted from wary feline to playful puppy.

'Okayyy…' James, who until this point had been poised on all fours, dropped back into a seated position. His tail weaved in the air as he chewed over the unexpected reaction from his brother. 'Bagheera?'

The man who was once Richard nodded sharply. He lifted a hand, hovered for a moment, before booping James on the edge of his elongated head. The LEONOV flinched back in surprise. Was...was Richard trying to play with him? His brother's butt waggled as he tried the same motion again, purple fleece hanging around his sleeves.

'You know, I'm still not entirely convinced you're not just messing with me. Remember that? When you used to pretend you were dead just to make me run crying to mum and dad. I was only six! Hmm...How do I know you're not just pretending to be a Liepard?'

Richard stared back blanky. It was as if he was now listening intently but completely unaware of what James was saying. For all intents and purposes, his brother's situation was like having feline software bound to human hardware.

'Richard?' James tried again, getting no response, before testing. 'Bagheera…?'

The man perked up instantly, hands patting against the ground as his human body failed to accommodate the seated position of a Liepard without discomfort.

'So you think you're a Pokmeon now huh?'

Richard blinked.

'Right...how's this supposed to work. Uhhhg!' If James had any hair to pull out, he'd have been shredding his scalp. Instead, the uploader resorted to clutching his mechanical feline tail between his paws and mumbling profanities under his breath. When volunteering to help he was expecting something along the lines of moral support or...or anything that didn't involve being left with his deranged brother and no idea of where to even start.

Richard waited patiently for his brother to overcome yet another existential crises. The dim lighting and the cramped confinements of the small staff-room didn't help. Especially the beige colour-scheme which needed a rather prompt-modernisation to fix.

For a while James repeatedly tried different things to awake the brother he once knew. The young man seemed unbothered by the chatter, but pleased with the company in the dark staff-room. James rambled on about almost everything he could remember about his rough childhood, and more besides. Now and then his voice cracked and stopped completely, emotion destroying the thought-recognition software as he mourned the life he used to have. Static crackled through his speakers. It failed to portray anything of the heartbreak inside. For a long few hours James simply sat in silence, wondering why all of this had happened in the first place.

'Well. We're together again...though I guess it's me visiting you than the other way around.

He sighed. It wasn't the same when you lacked lungs.

'At least you're…' The electronic voice of the LEONOV trailed off, a light-bulb moment illuminating the circuitry inside his head. Or he imagined it was there where a brain would normally be.

James eyed the man before him curiously.

'Bagheera! Uh...speak?'

'Lie!' The man once known as Richard responded almost instantly. He perched, watching the LEONOV patiently for any form of positive response.

'English maybe?' James suggested drly, sad that the emotion couldn't be played across the fixed faceplate of the LEONOV.

Richard tilted his head, eyes to the floor as he mumbled something under his breath.

'Engleesssh?' He tried delicately, rolling the word around his mouth as if trying to identify its taste. 'Eeenglish?'

'Yes! Yes!' James congratulated. The praise only seemed to excite his older brother who began to bound on his hands, 'That's a great start! How about you reply in English. Can you do that?'

There was a long pause.

Richard appeared to consider the fact. He continued to pull a face, wiggling his jaw side to side as if uncomfortable with how the words felt in his throat. However, there was a twinkle in his eyes that suggested this new found language wasn't entirely satisfactory. There was still some knowledge of humanity buried somewhere, Jame's just had to recover it.

'Yessss.' The reply was matter of fact.

'Great. So why-'

The door swung open with such force that the hinges squealed. Bright white lights from the corridor suddenly bathed the darkened room. James froze, lenses automatically adjusting for the changing light levels. Richard, if he could still be called that, hissed loudly and jumped back in fright.

'James? RichardddchewWW-!?' Yana called, sneezing once more. Wiping at her red nose with a sleeve, she stepped inside and eyed the two with more tiredness than curiosity. 'Sorry. Something's wrong and I need to check. But you...uh, basically I'm looking after you? You'll have to come.'

It took a long time to acquaintance yourself with Yana's many quirks. Her favouritism of fewer words (or missing out entire phrases all together) was something that James struggled to understand. It was as if the genius computer programmer thought quicker than she could speak, choosing to skip out on the latter when convenient. Her speech became a dance as any loss of context was conveyed in a strange mime with both her hands and feet. Yet given Yana's illness, this was rather subdued.

'Go where?' The LEONOV responded, startling James at just how quickly his thoughts were translated into speech. Having the robot effectively reading his mind was unsettling. Given his present frustration with the programmer, James tried to blank some opinions he definitely didn't want to voice.

'Harry's house.' Yana replied bluntly, 'Quick quick. I'll drive.'

'I thought Harry's still in-'

'You coming or not?'

'Not without Richard.' If James could physically jut out anything resembling a chin, he would have. He was limited by the LEONOV to placing large paws on what could have been hips, focusing his lenses on the programmer.

For a few moments Yana returned the stare. However, four days with five hours sleep meant she was unable to even try to compete.

'Fine. Now.'

They all squeezed into Yana's small Toyota five minutes later. Within twenty minutes, they'd screeched to a stop at Pinvale crescent. James sat in the back seats with his knees against the front seat and Richard sprawled across his lap. It was good that they didn't crash, given that neither was wearing seatbelts. Such an outcome was a genuine possibility. Yana was often tipping seventy miles and hour hurtling down country lanes.

When they finally parked in front of a sleek scandinavian-inspired bungalow, James had to retract his paws from the warped door handle. Yana didn't even bother to open the door for him, sliding out and hot-footing it past a privet hedge up to the house.

For a moment James simply sat in the back and watched the afternoon autumn sunlight streaming across the quiet cul-de-sac.

'Well…I can't let curiosity get the better of me.'

A blackbird called in a tree outside. A real songbird, not a computer generated graphic to mimic the real thing. A fly battered against the window to reach real air outside. Being inside the LEONOV had left James feeling padded once more inside a mimic of reality. But now he focused on it all, it was difficult to miss the beautiful imperfections of reality. Although inside a robot he was seeing reality for what it really was. A woman out jogging passed the side of the car, too focused on her run to see the six-foot robot in the back.

'Hmm…'

A postman drove past the end of the road, window open despite the drizzle and the radio blaring.

For some strange reason, an aching where James's gut should have been suggested he was missing something important just sat in the car like this.

The door popped open and within a few seconds, James was striding towards the garden gate with Richard held fireman-style in his robotic arms. The LEONOV was still struggling to stay upright to sustain the continued bipedal gait. An oddly feline tail wavered in the air to maintain balance. Bouncing up and down, James's brother wiggled in strange grip.

'I bet you'd never imagined this would be happened ten years ago.' Once more, the uploaders internal dialogue was portrayed through the medium of his electronic voice. 'Stupid thing'

'Liiie~?'

'No not you.' James continued to mutter, trying to think blank thoughts. Such a task was made hauntingly difficult by a loud beeping emanating across the garden. It was so consistent in character that James wondered whether it was a mechanical fault with the LEONOV. However, Richard tensing in his arms suggested that the sound was indeed coming from outside. Stepping up the garden path, it became apparent that the blaring alarm was in fact from the bungalow itself. A loud ringing was matched by yellow spotlights which failed to do much in the afternoon drizzle.

James didn't stop to inspect the property with its sweeping glass and wood exterior. It was obvious that something was wrong when he reached the front door. The latter wasn't simply open, but was busted off the hinges. Alarms rang from inside.

'What the…?'

The uploader almost forgot he had his brother in his arms, squeezing through the door. Something inside the LEONOV naturally dampened the burglar alarm to a faint hiss, leaving James to naturally pick out the other sounds in the house. Yana could be heard breathing heavily from what looked like a kitchen space.

Richard rolled over, scrambling to pull out of the robotic paws constricting him.

'Whoa...Richard!?' James spluttered, almost dropping his brother. The huge strength and dexterity of the LEONOV helped set the bottled immerser back on his feet, though he slipped onto his hands and knees anyway. It was clear that Richard knew the layout of the house. He sniffed the air a few times before bounding down the corridor and upstairs. Floorboards creaked under his frantic scrambling.

Yana made a sputtering sound, 'Who's there!?'

'It's us.' James stuck his mechanical head on the door to find Yana stood on a chair fumbling inside a high cupboard. She wobbled, turning to look at the LEONOV across the small open-plan kitchen area.

'Harry got alerted. Somebodies...some…' Yana yelled over the alarm. She was obviously struggling to grind the spinning thoughts in her head into words. 'I don't understand!' The programmer ducked out of a cupboard. A second later and the intruder alarm stopped. The silence that was left behind was just as deafening as the blaring call. Yana didn't even seem to notice. With tear-filled eyes she surveyed the space, clearly looking for something. Running shaking hands across her cheeks, she puffed out a breath.

'That's better.'

'Have the police-?'

'Yes yes!' The programmer snapped, shooting James a dark look. The LEONOV filled the doorway as he squeezed inside. A large section of paint was rasped off as his tail followed behind, whipping around as James did circles of the apartment.

'There's...there's nothing left!'

'Huh? Oh uh…He doesn't have much stuff.'

James did a double take, once more regarding the spartan interior.

'Soooo he hasn't been robbed?'

'Nope.' Yana scanned a table, under a table, before moving across to the kitchen sink. 'Here!' She snatched a photo from the windowsill. Without even meaning to, the lenses of James's robotic body zoomed in on the carefully held frame. It showed a much younger-looking Harry happily smiling next to another figure.

'What! He's got a photo of...of Baba?'

'Long story.' There was no mirth to Yana's sigh, 'Yeah. Let's get...who's that!?' She spooked, whipping her head round to the doorway. 'Who's there!?'

The programmer was startled by a small 'Hello?' called from the front door. The voice was definitely female and with a strong northern accent. Or was it Scottish? James was absorbed by the developing drama and didn't even wait for instructions. He padded across the kitchen, metallic paws clicking against the tiles before poking his head around the door.

A teenager waited in the doorway, eyes shifting uncomfortably as she observed the interior of the small bungalow. It was clear she hadn't seen the smooth feline head of the LEONOV when she called again.

'Hello? Any-?'

Upon spotting James squeezing out into the corridor, the teenager had to do a double take. For a second the combination of an empty burgled house and a giant cat-robot waiting inside failed to compute. Her jaw dropped open.

James tried to think up something reassuring. To a passer-by, it might look very suspect to have a giant robot inside a raided home. Yana beat him to it however. The programmer had popped out behind the LEONOV, eyes narrowing on the new figure.

'Who are you? The police have been called.'

'Wait...Yana?' The teenager's eyes widened, 'That's right, right?' She tugged at a loose zipped-up hoodie and brushed a strand of fair hair from her eyes. Yana's eyes narrowed further. She took a step forward. On any other figure it might have been menacing. For the petite half-Czech programmer, it would have been a humorous gesture. At least, if you disregarded the sleek black six foot robot standing at her side.

Neither James nor Yana expected what the teenager said next. Nor did Richard for that matter, who was sliding down the stairs on his stomach to listen in on the strange human conversation with interest.

'I'm Eva...Baba sent me.'

There was a long pause.

'Riiiight…?' Yana dragged out the word, clearly not sold on the claim. 'Why?'

'She said you needed help.'

'And why would we need your help...uh, specifically?' The programmer bumbled, struggling to hold her failed attempt at a menacing facade.

'Because it's not the first time. I'm...uh, I'm Rikola. You know? From VR?'

There was a very long pause. Yana was still trying to remember who exactly Rikola was and why that name sounded familiar. For Richard, that name awoke another strange memory inside. His head twisted to the side as he inspected the female human with renewed interest. James however...James's heart stopped for a few moments. Or it would have done. The LEONOV froze, unable to comprehend the rush of emotions running through its user's mind-space.

'Ok, I need a moment to get my head around this…' the electronic voice of the LEONOV stuttered.

'You can talk?' Eva, or was it Rikola, piped back.

James nodded weakly.

'Well...I guess the squad is back together.'

'Uh…' The Scott was starting to get weirded out, wondering if she was in the right place. The instructions had said to meet Harry Eisenhower at his house in Pinvale. Baba didn't say anything about intruder alarms, Yana, and a bizarre robotic beast waiting behind a broken front door.

'It's me...James.' The uploader offered a metal paw. Eva stared at it for some time.

'You can't be serious? But you're...you're...'

'Dead?' James prompted,

Eva shook her from side to side, pointing at the young man behind still sliding down the stairs on his belly.

'Oh. uh…' The uploader struggled for words.

'You don't want to know.' Yana mumbled before shooing all three of them out the door, 'Best not be here when the police arrive.'

END

Well, this is the first chapter in a while that has come out on time! Things are starting to tie together now and the final chapters are planned out ready to write. There were no major jargon issues in this chapter that I spotted. The Weald-Artois anticline is a large fold (geological) structure that crosses the English Channel, seen in Jurassic limestones on the french mainland. The described characteristics of the LEONOV robot for James and Richard differ based upon one being immersed and the other uploaded into the computer system. There'll be more about that next chapter.

Once again, thanks for reading as always. This story has now topped over six-thousand views and has fast become my most popular story thus far, so thanks for your appreciation! Also a shout-out to BIOHAZARD 04 for the review. Last but by no means least, thanks to R'love for helping to Beta this chapter. The next installation should be out in a fortnight. Enjoy!