Rise of the Machines: Chapter 5

By Icura and Vahn (Vahnhammer on SB)

~o~

John slowly came to, his eyelids fluttering as the smell of the ocean entered his nostrils. It wasn't unfamiliar since the Resistance camp had been right by the ocean, and for a moment, that was where he thought he was. Maybe he had fallen asleep in his chair outside with Popola draping a blanket over him. It wouldn't be the first time. What made him realize that it wasn't was the fact the loud chatter and noises were going on. Whenever he fell asleep, the camp usually made it a point to keep things as quiet as possible in spite of his insistence that he didn't mind. It wasn't like he could have stopped them; if they wanted to do it, there was nothing he could do short of ordering them not to, something that he wasn't willing to resort to unless absolutely necessary. It just felt like too much of an abuse of power otherwise.

Groaning a bit, he opened his eyes for a moment. However, when the bright light reflecting off the water and sand hit his eyes, he immediately shut them. It took a few more moments before he hesitantly lifted those eyelids, slowly letting his eyes adjust to the brightness that filtered in. Assailed by grogginess and a somewhat mild headache, he couldn't help but wish for a cup of coffee to get him started. However, that was unlikely, seeing how he was in the front passenger seat of…a car…?

John's eyes flew open as the memories of recent events smashed into his brain, rattling his skull as if he had been knocked around with a sledgehammer. The infiltrator, the escape, the giant explosion, and—

Huh.

Now, John remembered. Once Buddy had confirmed that the bomb had been the android's doing, he had been relieved enough that he had just wanted to rest his eyes for a bit. Perhaps, it was from coming off of the adrenaline high in combination along with the steady driving, but that had allowed him to relax a bit more than he wanted to. In fact, he had probably conked out in ten seconds flat. Though before that, thankfully, he had managed to explain to A2 her new status; he didn't want to wake up to find out that she was gone. Even then, she might still be.

Looking around, he found that there was nobody else in the pickup truck. He reached out his hand to the door handle and opened the passenger side door. The hinge squeaked as the door swung open, making it sound old and rusted even though he knew for a fact that it wasn't. Again, the aesthetics for certain things in the world of the future was strange. Retro intermixed with ultra-futuristic technology.

Well, not that futuristic. After all, he had seen how the androids and machines looked on the inside. Near futuristic, nowhere close to what humanity thought ten thousand years of progress would have brought it.

John's shoes hit the sand as the sun bore its heat down on him. The sea breeze swept through the sweat on his brow, making it feel colder than normal. He wiped off the sweat on his forehead with his palm and brushed his fingers through his hair, sweeping it back a little. Feeling that his shoulders were a bit stiff, he stretched his arms out and arched his back, working out the kinks in his body. Sleeping in a pickup truck wasn't the best experience, and it definitely showed.

While he was stretching, Buddy floated over to him.

"Gladdened: Sir, you are awake."

"Where are we?"

"Informative: We followed the coastline down for approximately 67.8 kilometers."

"So..." John did the calculations in his head. "42 miles?"

"Correction: 42.1 miles," Buddy replied. "This area was once known as Yokosuka city."

That little detail meant little to him since John didn't know much about the geography of Japan. That wasn't to say that he knew nothing since he did study about the origins of the White Chlorination Syndrome as well as the Wall of Jericho that had once sealed away Shinjuku. However, after the Red Eyes broke out and the nuke fell on Shinjuku, spreading the Maso particles around the world, he had a lot more things to worry about. And it wasn't like there were any recognizable landmarks left. Beyond the beach, further inland, all he could see were ruins of what was once a coast cityscape. It only took him a couple of seconds to spot the rest of the crew.

John could see 2B and 9S dragging a vending machine across the sand toward a World War 2 troop transport plane. Standing on top of the plane, A2 and Pascal were crouching down to hammer nails into it while Pod 153 was floating on the side, sparks flying from what looked like a soldering tool extending from its chassis. The transport plane itself was bulky, not as large as an airliner, but it was big enough that it could easily fit the vending machine on board. Or even ten of them. However, that wasn't the point. The main issue was the fact that they were bringing a vending machine at all.

John had actually seen one of those in the Resistance camp, but the one time that he had actually tried it out, none of the buttons worked despite the display panel lighting up. Just as well since it didn't seem to stock anything at all in the first place, but he had thought, at the time, that they had kept it in the camp for historic reasons—or at least for novelty reasons. Maybe it had some other purpose to it?

"I see Pod 153, but where's the other pod?"

"Suggestion: Concern regarding other pods will unnecessarily take up vital storage space. Unaugmented human memory capacity has been recorded as being significantly limited. Please disregard useless junk data regarding Pod 042."

"Buddy…"

"Reluctance: Pod 042 is inside the plane's cockpit, repairing the controls."

"Thank you," John said, though not before giving the pod a second look. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that pod was jealous.

Except that was absolutely possible, and it was likely happening. However, that was just a whole can of worms that he wasn't willing to deal with at the moment.

"So, Buddy, I think I can guess that we'll be escaping in that, but where will we be going?" John asked, willfully ignoring the issue staring at him.

"Command has not authorized an expedition," Buddy replied. "Current maps indicate a large number of machine lifeforms have waylaid reinforcements. Until the path to Hawaii is cleared, current orders are to remain in place unless discovered."

"And if we are discovered?"

"We will board the plane and escort you to Hawaii immediately for safe extraction to space," Buddy said. "The machine lifeforms have never gone beyond the stratosphere, and Command is confident that the thirteen satellite bases will accommodate any sightseeing needs that you might have. Records indicate that tourism was a popular activity amongst humans."

"Is that so…"

While that was nice to know, John had no plans to head to space in any case. However, the situation was volatile enough that he wasn't sure what to do exactly. He had things that needed to be done, but on the other hand, his very presence had caused their current catastrophe. There was no doubt in his mind that Adam's model was sent to kill him so it would be difficult to keep going on like this, especially since they didn't have a countermeasure for this new machine type. Giving up, however, wasn't something that he could do.

His stomach growled, shaking him from his thoughts.

"Sufficient amount of time has passed for the next nutritional intake."

"Yeah, sure it has, bud, but it's not like there's anything here to eat."

"All pods are equipped with fishing modules. It is part of the standard installation."

"What?" John looked at the pod with a quirked eyebrow. "Why?"

"YoRHa androids cannot achieve buoyancy on water due to their weight class."

"So, basically, you're saying they're so heavy that they'll drown?"

"Affirmative," Buddy confirmed. "Pod units can form a fishing line and hook for any underwater retrieval."

"Sounds useful," John said. "And I guess it has been a while since I had some fish."

While the rest of the crew was working on the plane, John and Buddy made their way over to the ocean. Waves of water lapped onto the beach, reminding him of different times. The only thing that would have made it more nostalgic would be the inclusion of seagulls. Did they all go extinct? It wouldn't surprise him, though he would have thought that some other type of bird would have replaced them. He stopped just before where the waves would have touched his shoes.

Without waiting for his command, Buddy pro-actively flew over to a deeper part of the water. There, it submerged itself halfway and began floating like a duck. John wasn't quite sure what to make of that, especially when it occasionally shook as if a shudder went through it.

It wasn't long before it rose up into the air, dragging a bright, holographic fishing line with it. At the end, attached to the hook, was a car tire.

John blankly stared at it for a moment. Then he looked back up at Buddy.

"Report: Underwater retrieval unsuccessful."

"Yeah, I can see that…" John scratched his head. "Try again?"

The pod disconnected the line, letting the tire drop down onto the beach. Buddy went out again, but this time, it went a little further out to sea before dropping down and resuming a duck's position again. It took a couple of minutes before it rose into the air, bringing with it a fish on its hook. However, a second later, it disconnected the line, allowing the fish to drop back into the ocean and swim off.

"Hey, Buddy! Why did you let it go?"

"Pod Buddy is not authorized to retrieve the blacklisted species, mackerel."

"…that's perfectly edible for me."

"This pod has now corrected internal blacklist. Recommencing underwater retrieval activities."

Buddy dipped into the water again, swishing around even with the light waves that splashed up against it. It wasn't long before it rose up again, bringing with it a fish that had two heads, one on each end. Flopping futilely on the holographic hook, the two-headed fish was brought over to John who blankly stared at it.

"Report: Retrieval successful."

"…it has a head on the front and a head on the back."

"Records show that the Twoface is edible and fit for consumption."

"…fine," John said with a sigh. "I'm too hungry to complain, but we'll need to get some branches for a fire to cook it."

"Unnecessary. This pod is equipped with programs for preparation and cooking." Buddy picked up the fish with its hand while both of the fish's heads were gasping desperately for air. Without hesitation, the pod jammed its other hand into the middle of the fish, ignoring the spray of fluids and the fish's dying struggles. It pulled its hand out, ripping out the guts in a way that made John wince, though he still found his voice.

"P-programs?"

"R050: Spear." A holographic spear sprouted out of the ground, piercing through the fish and holding it aloft. "And A150: Volt."

The pod split open now the middle, allowing five miniature drones to fly out. They hovered over the speared fish in a semi-circle for a moment before each drone launched a visible electrical charge. All five of the electric volts hit the fish at the same time, lighting it up in a bright flash. Once that was done, the drones flew back into the pod which promptly closed back up. What was left was a flash-fried fish on a spear, still smoking. Oddly enough, it didn't look that burnt, and it smelled pretty good.

Despite his hesitancy, John reached out and pulled off a piece of the skin and thoroughly cooked flesh. Realizing how hot it was, he quickly threw the piece into his mouth, an action he soon regretted as it burned his tongue. Breathing quickly to cool it down, he soon chewed for a bit and then swallowed it.

"Huh. It's pretty good."

"While possessing protein and oils, these are insufficient for the carbohydrates and vitamins that you will need. Unfortunately, those substances are currently beyond this pod's ability to procure."

"It's fine. I had been on worse diets."

"Then this unit will retrieve more fish for your meal."

"Thanks again, Buddy."

"Satisfied: Gratitude is unnecessary."

"Sure thing," John said with a chuckle, taking another piece of fish to eat.

"Reconsideration: Gratitude is appreciated."

"Just get going already."

Buddy went back out to sea while John watched him, eating the fish little by little in the meantime. It was disturbing to make a meal out of such an alien-looking fish, but this was more the type of thing that he was expecting when he found out that was the far future. Besides, it couldn't be any worse than canned tuna. Though, in a way, it did make more sense to him. Sure, he could imagine cockroaches surviving this long, but they could live through a nuclear apocalypse. Mackerel, on the other hand? That was something way out of his expectations. The same with boar and elk, even though they had changed quite a bit from what he remembered. A lot larger, for one thing. Well, at least, compared to the type in North America since he wasn't aware of what species would be in Japan.

While eating the fish, it wasn't long before John heard a couple of pairs of footsteps approaching him from behind. Glancing back, he found Pascal and 9S walking up to him.

"Ah, I haven't had a chance to thank you guys for the rescue."`

"It was my duty," 9S said. "But even if it wasn't, I would have still done it."

"All the more reason," John replied. "Thank you. Both of you."

"It was no trouble, Mr. John Connor," Pascal said in a happy tone. "It's the least I could do after what you did for us."

Even with the light and cheerful atmosphere, John couldn't help but notice that 9S made sure to be a step closer than Pascal, showing the YoRHa soldier's wariness of the machine lifeform even after everything that Pascal did.

"No trouble? They might come after you later."

"It's okay. My model isn't unique," Pascal said in a cheerful, robotic voice. "And since you closed off those ports, they can't connect to me to find out my serial numbers."

"Still, you have my thanks. You really didn't need to risk yourself, but you did, and that saved me," John said. "But what are you going to do now?"

"I just wanted to talk to you before I head back to my village. The children will get worried if I stay any longer."

"Is that so? You sure you don't want anything?"

"You've done more than enough, Mr. John Connor. You gave us a way to escape this war and…you brought us hope. We won't forget that." Pascal, despite not being able to show expressions, seemed to radiate gentleness. "I hope I see you again one day."

"Yeah…" John said, a bit speechless. "Me too."

Pascal turned and left, walking toward where its pickup truck was. John watched silently as the machine lifeform opened the door to the truck and got on. Closing the driver's side door, Pascal turned on the engine and soon drove the pickup truck off the beach and toward the ruins in the distance.

It was only after that did Buddy come back with a large fish with way too many fins, a Coelacanth. After spearing and flash-frying it, the pod went back to do more fishing, leaving John and 9S to simply watch the pod playacting as a duck again. There were a few moments of silence.

"9S," John began. "Did you find out who survived?"

"Unfortunately, no." 9S shook his head. "After we reported to Command, they ordered us to turn off our trackers and maintain radio silence to prevent the machine lifeforms from finding you. If we're discovered, we will be—urgh."

9S put his hand on his forehead as he gritted his teeth and took a step back.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm…fin…fine…" 9S grunted, bending over a little while holding his head.

"It doesn't look fine to me." John reached his hand out to touch the android's shoulder, but 9S swung his hand out, backhanding his arm away. "Ow!"

9S slowly raised his head, his mouth opening in horror.

"What… What did I just do…?"

"9S!" John took a step toward him.

"Stay away!" 9S backpedaled frantically, almost slipping over his own feet. Still holding his head, his blindfold came loose, slipping through his fingers.

"Red eyes…?"

Before John could do anything, Buddy flew in front of him, water still dripping from its body.

"Alert: Virus infection detected." The pod shifted its body and began charging. "Proposal: Elimination."

"Stop!" John put a hand on the pod's boxy head. "That's an order."

"Proposal: Alternative method is to administer vaccine program immediately."

"Do it!"

As Buddy allowed its charge-up to dissipate, a thick and curved blade descended upon 9S only to be blocked by a thin katana in a flash of sparks. John took a step back, finding the former and present YoRHa units suddenly in front of them with their weapons locked against each other. A2 turned her furious gaze to the other, even as she pressed down with her sword. 2B visibly strained under the pressure, her feet sinking into the sand as her katana was pushed back, inch by inch.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

2B and A2 separated from each other, though they both kept their swords bared. Pod 153 quickly flew over to where John was at, taking up a position by his side just in case.

"What are you doing?!"

A2 glanced over to where 9S and Buddy were before looking back. She raised her sword and pointed the blade at 2B.

"Don't get in my way!"

"Answer me!" John leveled a glare at her. "What are you doing, A2?!"

"What does it look like?!" A2 raised her blade at 9S, causing 2B to tense up. "I need to end him before the logic virus spreads!"

"I won't let you," 2B said resolutely, shifting her feet to inch closer.

"That's ditto for me too." John stepped in between 9S and A2, making sure to face her.

"Don't you understand?!" A2 lowered her sword so it wouldn't be pointed at John. "If all of us are infected, there'll be no one to protect you!"

"Let's not rush this. Buddy's applying the cure to him right now."

A2 stared at him for a few moments, contemplating whether to argue more, before finally sighing. She allowed her sword to dissipate into particles, the weapon soon reappearing on her back. Crossing her arms, she discontentedly plopped down to sit on the sand. It was only then that 2B finally put away her katana, her gaze moving to 9S.

The infected YoRHa unit was sitting on the ground, his arms and legs bound by holographic ropes and bindings. His glowing crimson eyes were flickering, sometimes even showing his original blue irises. It wasn't only Buddy at work; Pod 153 was assisting in the process and providing periodic updates.

"Alert: Virus contamination rate up to 5 percent."

"Analysis: Virus variant unknown. Vaccine only 35% effective. Automatic removal will be difficult."

"Alert: Virus contamination rate up to 8 percent."

"Report: Manual virus removal initiated and proceeding."

"Alert: Virus contamination rate down to 6 percent—" Pod 153 paused, alarmed. "Alert: Spike detected. Virus contamination rate up to 9 percent."

"Analysis: Virus is transforming and progressing its own algorithm. Accelerating removal process."

"Alert: Virus contamination rate up to 10 percent."

"Analysis: Acceleration insufficient. Contamination can only be delayed. Estimated time of failure is 35 minutes."

"Alert: Virus contamination rate up to 11 percent."

"Proposal: Elimination."

"No. We're not doing that. Keep holding off the contamination for now, Buddy." John turned his gaze to the other pod. "Pod 153, I need you to connect to 9S and make me an interface. I'm going to take a look inside."

"John…it's…too much…of a risk…" 9S barely choked out the words, grinding his teeth so hard that it was audible. "Kill me."

"No means no," John responded. "We'll figure this out."

"It must…have been…when I…hacked Adam…the headaches…"

A holographic display appeared in front of John along with a keyboard and mouse. It wasn't quite the one that he was used to with Buddy, but it was similar enough that the differences were negligible. He immediately put his hands on the keyboard.

For most people, finding a virus in progress would be very difficult. Even for him, it would prove a bit too much for him to handle. That was, if he hadn't included programs to help him with that back when he had first made the operating system. Opening up several system diagnostic tools, he set them to work while he opened up several explorer windows to take a look around.

"What are the symptoms of the virus?" Even as he searched through the different folders—specifically the ones that included important files—John posed that question for anyone to answer since it would help narrow down his search. "What do they usually do? And what are the end results?"

It was 2B who answered.

"Red eyes. Hugely increased aggressiveness and inability to differentiate between friend or foe. A large decrease in physical mobility and mental capacity. It often ends with a complete system failure."

John frowned. That sounded familiar.

"Pod 153, I need to see a copy of that vaccine. Put it on another display and interface."

Another holographic screen and keyboard appeared to his side. Seeing that his system diagnostic tools were still in progress, he switched over to the new display. He entered into the coding of the vaccine itself and scrolled down through it. The more he saw, however, the deeper his frown became. That was because this vaccine was not mislabeled. At first, he had thought the pod had meant it as a cure, but that was a wrong assumption. A vaccine was in fact the correct label since it was a preventative.

The vaccine didn't heal or reverse the damage done by the corruption. Instead, it simply artificially blocked off the passageways and reinforced the doorways. The corrupted files were being converted into attack vectors in order to create a swarm to invade into a specific system doorway and activate a kernel-level function that was based at the core of the operating system. The only thing he didn't know was…

Which one?

John switched back over to the first display and found his diagnostic tools done scanning. Reading the results, his brow furrowed. He quickly set a checksum to verify the integrity of several folders. However, only one folder came back showing several files that did not match the original records, indicating that they had been damaged.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

That was because John recognized what the so-called logic virus was trying to do. It was trying to activate one of the attack functions that he had in place for his kill switch.

To prevent another happening like Skynet, he had specifically included a kill switch to shut down all machines using his operating system. Though, it wasn't anything so binary. John knew that an A.I. could grow—Skynet was proof of that—so he needed something that could fight a lifeform that could adapt. So the 'kill switch' was more like a series of attacks, and if the first shutdown was somehow prevented, a second program would execute and target a different soft spot. If that second one failed, there was a third that would kick in, and then a fourth. In total, there were fourteen such attacks, each aimed at a vital function. Each of them had a different effect, ranging from melting the CPU with extreme overheating to erasing all data on all connected storage devices. They were made to ensure that, no matter what, the machine would cease functioning once the kill switch was activated.

And there, before him, was something John never expected to see inside one of these androids as he had always assumed that they have moved beyond his original source code. John certainly recognized his handy work, and this particular one was made to scramble the targeting I.F.F. so they would go berserk, unable to differentiate friend from foe. In other words, the virus was activating one of the attack functions—psychosis—but that shouldn't be possible. The kill switch and all associated files should have been completely invisible to them, and by every indication, they still were. The virus was instead activating this safeguard in an accidental roundabout way. They knew it was there, but it looked like they didn't know where it was exactly so they were throwing as many attack vectors at it until one would eventually succeed by happenstance.

And there was little he could do to stop it.

It wasn't long before the male YoRHa's eyes dimmed, and he slumped forward in deactivation.

"9S?!" 2B looked alarmed.

"Don't worry. The only thing I did was shut him down."

Even though he couldn't cure it, John could at least pause it for now by powering down 9S. However, this was only a stopgap measure since this was basically putting him into a coma. Whether they could wake him up or not was heavily dependent on finding a solution.

"And so what now?" A2 was still sitting with her arms crossed, her expression displaying her disapproval. "It's not like we can take him with us when Command comes calling."

"What do you mean?"

"We lucked out by not getting infected," A2 said. "You think those assholes in Hawaii will risk it?"

"Well, I mean, I could order them to."

"What if some idiot comes along and wakes him up by accident? That's a pandemic in the making! Are you willing to risk all of their lives for that?" A2 scoffed. "The best thing to do now is to kill him. I know they have backups now."

After all, A2 had killed the same YoRHa executioners several times before, yet they still kept coming back.

"It would not be him," 2B said slowly. "It would be a 9S, but not this 9S."

John simply stared at 2B, practically speechless. He had never expected the android to become philosophical about existence. It brought to mind old questions about his own existence. After all, how could he exist if the future that his father came from no longer exists? Did the chicken or the egg come first? On a more serious note, the fact of the matter was that, despite the possibility of a backup existing, he still wanted to help them.

Even if the young Kyle Reese that he knew couldn't possibly go back in time to become his father, John still cared and thought about him as his father. The person then and the person now may be different, but they were both important. That was why, even though 9S might have a backup stored on the Bunker, he still wanted to try his hardest to allow the android in front of him to survive.

However, A2 was also correct. They couldn't risk him infecting other androids, not when they didn't have an actual cure. It was selfish and stupid to put everyone in danger on the off-chance that they would have some way to cure him.

'God damn it, John. Think!' John mentally berated himself.

In terms of efficiency, it was best to destroy 9S. Logical. It was also the safest route. If they had to restore his backup, it would have to be an older backup from at least a couple of months ago to ensure that there were no chances of the virus actually being a dormant infection that only activated now, a standard procedure when dealing with the logic virus. The only other option was to keep him shut down until he had a chance to code up a new—wait a second. Why write something new? Didn't he have something for this?

A crazy idea began to form in John's head as he recalled the tactical map of the world that he had previously been shown. In particular, the location where his old underground laboratory was. Tessa did say that the main fighting was done at the factory which was miles away from the lab. Even if Los Angeles did take damage and was basically just ruins, that didn't mean that his laboratory was destroyed. After all, it had been made with the intention of it being a fallout shelter as well, able to protect and house a sizable population for a very long time. Not that it had anyone else in it by the end since it was made in secret and its existence highly secretive, even from the government's eyes.

In fact, he remembered the icons on the map, and there were none for his lab. Did that mean that the android leadership didn't know about it? It could just mean that it was destroyed but...what if it wasn't? What if it was still there? The more that he looked at 9S's deactivated form, the more he thought about it. And the more that he thought about it, the more it began to take root as a viable option.

If the original project files were still there, then that would be all that he needed. The bare minimum, though there were a lot more there than just that.

"Alright," John said, making his decision. "There's still something we can do."

"Anything," 2B immediately said without hesitation, showing more emotion in that moment than any time before.

"A2 is correct, we can't go to Hawaii," John saw 2B's expression become crestfallen, and he understood why. 9S was her partner after all. "However, that doesn't mean we're leaving 9S behind either."

"Alert: Current proposal conflicts significantly with primary directive. John Connor must reach Hawaii to maintain safety parameters."

"Sorry, Buddy, but I have a different destination in mind." John looked at all of them. "It's a small chance, but I'm willing to risk it. Are you willing to come with me?"

"Anywhere." 2B's voice was soft but filled with her determination and resolve

"A2?" He turned his gaze to the first generation YoRHa who visibly snarled at him.

"As if I have a fucking choice!" A2 berated him. However, she didn't say no.

"Buddy?" John stared into the optics of his pod. The pod bobbed up and down a few times before it halted.

"Resignation: Pod Buddy will follow John Connor's directives."

"Great!" John put his hand on top of Buddy's square head and petted him like a dog. The pod shivered as always; if he didn't know better, he would say that Buddy could feel it. He then turned to the other pod present. "And what about you?"

"Confirmation: John Connor has the highest authority. This pod will follow his will." Pod 153 said. "Pod 042, currently stationed inside the plane, has transmitted his agreement codes to me."

"Great!" John then petted the pod's head as well, especially since Buddy usually acted as if it enjoyed it. However, to his surprise, immediately after he was finished patting its head, the pod rushed over to Buddy.

"Anger: Pod Buddy did not share this knowledge with other pod units." Pod 153 said, bumping its body against Buddy. "Pod 042 demands a conference call."

"Refusal: Denied."

John turned his sight from the bickering pods to the rest of the androids.

"We can't inform Command," he said. "They'll just try to either stop me or come with me which would defeat the purpose of going under the radar. If we can hit it fast enough, we'd be in and out before the machines can catch on to our intrusion."

A2 had stood up, the sand clinging to her body and the crevices on her legs. Her expression clearly showed both reluctance and annoyance, as if she was a disgruntled worker with an unreasonable boss. And honestly? That wouldn't be too far from the truth.

"Let's get this over with. Where are we going?"

"California."

John's gaze went to the ocean as if he could see beyond the horizon.

"Specifically, my underground lab in Los Angeles."

~o~

Authors' Notes:

Icura: Don't kill me for my pseudo computer science!

If you want to support us, please consider donating to our Ko-fi. This Ko-fi is for both me and Vahn. We would really appreciate it.

Vahnhammer: For science! Thanks for reading dun dun dun da dun dun!