1843
Ada felt the breath being pulled from her lungs as the room around her melted away, replaced by pitch darkness. She drew her hand back from where it had rested just moments before, atop the mechanism that powered the analytical engine, a machine engineered by her long time friend and mentor, one Charles Babbage.
A device set to alter the fate of humanity, or so Charles had always said. She herself had just submitted her own modest contribution to the product, a binary number system by which the machine was meant to run, arriving at Babbage's country estate to finally put their invention to the test.
Where she was now she could only guess but surely very far from where she'd been only moments before. She inched her foot forward into the darkness to test if she shared her new surroundings with anything or anyone else. But her hand fell through nothing but air.
"Charles?" she called into the void.
"Ada? Is that you?"
Ada felt a chill rush down her spine as a hand felt its way up her back, then onto shoulder. She whirled around feeling through the blackness until Charles's fingers closed around her own. Even though he couldn't have been more than an inch from her face, it was still impossible to make out his features in the space.
"A nasty shock. Any idea what happened?" he asked.
"I haven't the foggiest." Using Charles as an anchor, she extended her other hand back into the darkness. "Try and look for a wall, or something that will produce a light."
She did as recommended. Not sensing anything directly before her, Ada attempted to take a step forward, only to feel Charles pulling her back.
"Look there," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. She allowed herself to be guided until she noticed the faintest light glowing at the edge of her vision. Once she focused on it, she could see it wasn't just small, but was emitting from a distance. Like a lone candle in a room bathed with shadow.
She nudged Charles towards the glow before taking the lead as he again showed resistance. As they approached the source of the light, it seemed to grow in intensity until Ada could finally make out a kind of pedestal that seemed to sprout up from nothing in the middle of the abyss in which they stood.
She squinted. The blue glow that radiated from the top seemed almost hypnotic, begging for a hand to meet its pristine surface. Ada slid the tips of her fingers towards one side of its circumference. Charles's voice seemed to abruptly break the spell as he called out for her to stop.
She pulled her hand away as if from a hot kettle, but it was already too late. Whatever force which had weaved its seductive spell on her and already achieved its ends. The glow from the pedestal pulsed outwards, filling the room and flooding their senses with color. The light moved up the walls of their new space like the paint on an artist's brush, creating structures from nothing rather than illuminating what had been there all along.
To Ada, it looked like the parlor room of some grand old member of the peerage. Red curtains lined the wall underneath a domed ceiling at least a hundred feet high made of glass.
"Stay close to me Ada," said Charles, blocking her body with his arm. As much as she appreciated his attempt at chivalry, Ada was much too enraptured by their new surroundings to share in his caution.
She glanced up to where a massive picture frame was hanging from the wall. It had appeared directly above the pedestal and Ada had to take a step or two back before she was able to get a proper glimpse of it.
The surface within the frame was made of a glass that neither entirely resembled a window or a mirror. It seemed to absorb the light in the room rather than reflect or allow to pass through. Before Ada could hypothesize a purpose for the odd device, the glass surface began to fizz and buzz, stunning the pair as it slowly revealed the likeness of a woman.
"What ho there! How do you do?" Ada addressed the frame, although she didn't know what had convinced her it was capable of a response.
"Hello."
For a moment Ada stood frozen in shock, a million questions swimming through her head as the questions of where they were and how they'd gotten here bobbled up to the surface again. Only one logical answer presented itself, the analytical engine.
Although she still couldn't quite piece together how, she was convinced it had somehow transported them to this otherworldly place. Now they were in the presence of this odd female likeness who was neither human nor a machine as she'd never known one.
"Might I inquire who you are?" she finally asked.
"I am Motherboard."
2005
Ada had never traveled outside of continental Europe. Although she'd known friends fortunate enough to have toured the emancipated colonies, she suspected the site of Sensible Flats would have been a significant change in scenery even to them. Very different from her home country's rustic pasturelands, where a young girl could spend many a warm summer afternoon underneath the shade of an ancient oak with a copy of Jane Austin, this interpretation of the Americans seemed to be dry and flat.
She wondered who might have been responsible for its design. A fan of the motion pictures perhaps? The middle aged noblewoman shifted in her seat as a shooting pain ran through her lower abdomen. It had been years since she'd last left her estate, either in Cyberspace or on Earth. As much as she would have loved to travel, there always seemed to be more pressing matters that called her attention. Even on the present occasion, her excursion was not merely for pleasure. Although just a brief glimpse of the outside was enough to cause her to marvel at all she'd missed.
As the wheels of the carriage grinded to a halt, Ada peeked through the curtains to steal a glimpse of the town. A horse drawn cart trotted past, drawing her gaze towards a small infantry's worth of workers gathered by the town square, gulping from their canteens as they prepared for the day's exertion.
Beside them, propped up against a stack of wooden beams and surrounded by various tools of construction was the face of an enormous clock. Its surface was tessellated with slender golden triangles, each pointed towards one of the Roman numerals that sections its perimeter.
"A gift from the folk in Tick-Tockia," explained her driver in a dialect Ada had once heard described as a western drawl. "I've heard the good folk up at Control Central are lookin' to centralize the time system across all the sites in their orbit." He glanced back at Ada through the glass screen between the driver's and passengers' rows, a subtle ask for a confirmation on her part.
"Isn't it a grand sight?" Ada grinned, pulling back from the window to meet his gaze. "A testament to a more efficient, prosperous future for Cyberspace."
"Sure… sure… I just hope with all these advancements Motherboard doesn't forget about the fogies like us. It ain't always easy keeping up, you know?"
"I'm sure you're at the forefront of her consideration," she chimed.
"I hope you're right. It's a sorry thing, looking 'round and realizing the world's moved on past ya." He sighed before quickly adding. "Oh, pardon me. Just rambling now, ain't I? Just give me a second and I'll come 'round to help you out."
"There's no need." Ada hastily gathered her things and reached for the door. She had chosen to travel light with nothing more than a bundle of her letters and a small vial of medication prescribed by her physician.
Her driver opened the door for her just as she'd finished tucking her belongings back into the folds of her dress. She gave her hand to the elderly cyborg who assisted her down onto the dusty earth. Before Ada could make the beeline towards the clock she so desired, two feet planted themselves on the ground in front of her.
"I've just about had enough of your kind parading round there like you own the place," boomed the voice that came attached.
Standing before her was a stout woman with her hair in a bun and legs spread apart. Her face was made up of bold colors and angular lines that projected the image of a severe authoritarian. A slight protrusion in her lower lip accentuated her pout as she met eyes with Ada.
The woman went on, the soles of her boots clinking as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. "When I was handed the reins to this here town, I was told the Judge would be the final word. Yet everytime I think I've seen the last of Motherboard's assistants, that unchained green dog of yours gets loose on my site, bringing the rest of animal control with him."
A difficult creature to face indeed. The first of many obstacles no doubt. One she inferred, from the other's manner, made up half of the duo of matriarchs who lorded over the site. The Judge. Known by her Christian name only by those who dared to utter it.
"I'm afraid your custom of bombarding visitors with allegations that have little to do with them eludes me for the moment," she flashed a smile at the woman who was eyeing her with the expression of a dyspeptic bulldog. "Where I'm from we begin with names and titles."
"If you're lookin for that college boy of yours," the Judge yapped. "I wouldn't be surprised if that ol' cyber-cheat's got him holed up someplace."
"I'd respectfully refute that hypothesis. If he were responsible, we would have been disclosed to such by now. We have not."
An extended silence fell between the women. As Ada looked down at the impotent rage in her opponent's eyes, she wondered if she might have taken her little game too far.
"Judge Trudy!" called a voice in the distance.
Ada looked up to see a group of workers waving at them from the construction site of the clock. The one who'd let out the ejaculation was holding his hands up to either side of his mouth. It seemed the admin did have a more personable side. So much for Ada's boogeyman narrative.
"Tell your 'sis to lend us a hand over here," the borg in the distance cried. "We're sitting ducks for those dirthut rock munchers."
Trudy pushed past the Countess of Lovelace and rolled away in the direction of her construction constituents.
"Most charming," Ada chuckled at her driver, who had lingered through the conversation. It took her a moment longer to realize this was because she had yet to give the borg his payment.
After handing off the necessary dubloons, she turned back towards the clock face at the end of the street. Although Ada had played no direct part in its creation, she still felt a rush of pride at the sight of it. A symbol of how far Project: Cyberspace had come in just a brief century. A work of art. One which reflected the soul of its creator just as much as Cyberspace reflected Ada herself.
She found herself wishing for a better look, but knew now was not the time. With a small sigh, she picked up the sides of her dress and ducked into the local watering hole.
It was quite a spacious setting with five large tables and enough room left over for a dance floor. A flight of stairs snaked up to a second level. Although far from reaching maximum occupancy, the place was surprisingly busy considering the early hour.
All eyes turned to Ada as she passed the threshold into the cool interior. Perhaps not surprising since she looked radically different from just about everyone there. Aside from the Judge and her sister, it seemed most borgs on the site were masculine in nature. Most of them had prominent mechanical features, a screw to hold their jaw in place, antenna protruding from the side of their head and one, positioned behind the bar, with four extra arms and a stomach full of bubbling fluid.
Everything around her, including the borgs themselves, were slightly smaller than what she could have expected on Earth. There was scarcely an individual that came to past her nose.
"What ho, all. Rather jolly weather we've got." Her greeting was acknowledged with a few grunts before the patrons returned to their business. "Oh, come friends!" she cried, determined to get at least one of them to engage. "I'm new to your Earthly paradise— er, what I mean is, I'm here looking for an old friend of mine. Surname Marbles."
It had been a month since anyone had heard from the Control Central technician. And while it was true he would occasionally go off the radar to evade Hacker's detection, she and Marbles had always maintained close contact. In his last correspondence with her, he had gone on with much excitement about an apparent breakthrough he'd made searching for the cure to Motherboard's virus.
The discovery had come in the form of a notebook belonging to an old colleague. The unnamed borg had transcribed the biology of rare plant species encountered throughout Cyberspace. Among them was a special cactus only found in the far reaches of Sensible Flats.
"We told him not to go," said one of the patrons, adjusting how his hat sat over his eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's been picked up by the train."
"And what is this elusive train you speak of?"
"No borg's warranty is enough to cover a trip to the Badlands. It's crawling with those man-eating beasts."
Ada approached the borg and waved a hand in front of his face, stopping him from rambling on until she had the chance to catch up. "I'm afraid, the point hasn't quite clicked for me."
"He's talking about the Minotaurs," grunted another of the patrons. "You'll find their den through the desert, in the shadow of the Badlands. But you don't find allies in those creatures."
"Everyone in Sensible Flats knows they're in the Hacker's pocket," chimed a third stranger.
"How is this so?"
"I've seen 'em myself on that plot of land Hacker snagged during the last rush. They're the ones that brought over the supplies to build his house. A bunch of 'em housesit the place when he's not here."
A pitying smile traced Ada's lips as she nodded to let the borg know he'd been heard. The company Hacker chose to keep didn't really interest her at the moment. As she had mentioned to the Judge, Ada had her doubts the villainous borg had much to do with the current situation.
"I'm afraid we've rather gotten off the topic. You mentioned a train? I hadn't noticed any such locomotive as I arrived."
"That's because there isn't one. At least, not physically," the borg replied, causing Ada to purse her lips in intrigue.
She was about to prod further when cries from outside drew the crowd's attention. Several patrons rose from their seats, pressing their faces against the window to see what all the fuss was about.
Ada joined them with a patronizing smile, hoping to catch a glimpse of some dashing young outlaw. She had just stepped out onto the street just in time to witness a horse speed by with enough force to knock over a passing pedestrian. The animal had been pulling a canvas covered schooner which Ada suspected was loaded up with 'the goods'.
"Thief!"
The cry had come from the town square. As Ada stepped out onto the road and turned in that direction, she could see the Judge, followed by a second woman of similar aspect, both heaving loudly as they paused for breath.
"They've got our parts," hissed the Sheriff. Looking over her shoulder, Ada saw the construction site, the clock now lying flat on the ground, the wooden beams that had held it up, now chipped and strung about. Not missing a heartbeat, she snatched the reins of a horse that was tied outside the saloon and leapt aboard.
"Hold it!" The Judge attempted to grab the robotic animal, but was buried in a plume of dust as Ada sped after the hijacked schooner.
The Countess of Lovelace had practically grown up on horseback. To her a chase atop the back of a well bred steed was as natural as a breath of sweet spring air. Even as she felt her heart quicken a bit past the point of comfort, she proceeded after the thieves with a hardened determination.
Though they had gotten a considerable head start, the outlaws were not able to maintain the lead on her for long. Her mount, finding itself unburdened with the weight of an extra load, was able to catch up to the schooner just as the dirt path that led out of town gave way to the untamed wilds.
"I order you to desist!" Ada cried, but her voice was lost in the roar of the wind. Though even if she had been heard, it would likely take more than words to coax the mysterious marauders into surrender. What was needed here was shift action.
It so happened the animal she was on was different from her Earth horses in several key aspects. For one, it did not possess legs, and instead was propelled by a steam based combustion engine. This meant it was under no obligation to move in a forward direction. Rather it could go backwards, sideways or whichever angle suited the whims of its rider.
It was a crab-like gait that Ada maneuvered her mechanical mount into as she plowed its body into the rear end of the schooner. From her vantage point, she could see barrels full of mechanical parts and the darkened outline of a driver up front. The top of the figure's silhouette protruded into two curved and pointed shapes. Quite a lot like—horns.
Ada shifted into a side saddle position and dove headfirst through the opening in the canvas. Her knees banged up against the wooden floor of the cart as she landed, but the pain itself was negligible compared to the bout of vertigo that hit her in a wave.
She buried her face into the floorboards as the world around her continued to spin. She didn't know how long she was forced to lie, trying not to make a sound as her wretched body took its time recovering.
When she felt equal to raising her head again, she aimed her sights at the driver and began crawling towards where he sat. She would get close, and force his hands off the reins before he had time to react. But no sooner had she begun reaching for her target, did a blow to her head put her out like a candle.