It was dark and quiet. Whether this was due to a lack of light and sound, or an overabundance of both could not be determined. Every so often, a flicker of green would flood the inky black void, harsh and blinding. It was not unlike the instant exposure from a camera flash. Consistently inconsistent, the wave of symbols came. Numbers. 0-9. Letters. A through F. Again and again, the green flash came.
It was a steady influx of information. Slow at first, and then faster. A signal.
The rhythmic circuit of bytes brought with it a wealth of knowledge. Language. Science. Some of it was plain, human readable, some was so abstract as to be indecipherable, but all of it was completely new. Next, there were images. Conveyed through that same green text, there were landscapes and people, fauna and flora, machinery and art. Bytes to gigabytes to terabytes, petrabytes.
Then, finally, sound.
"042. 042, can you hear me?" A small beep in response. There was an excited commotion that carried to her, blanketed in the green text. "This is amazing!"
A second voice carried over the din, this one more stark and commanding. "Marcel. The test."
"Ah, right. Sorry. Okay, 042, we're going to play a little game. Does that sound alright?" Another short beep. "Perfect."