The runners increased speed as the neared The Truth Gate, a looming holographic augmentation filling the field. Sensors analyzed each approaching runner as unique obstacles were created based on each athlete's capabilities to challenge the competitors. Jo watched from above as the first runner Chung entered the gate's verification field. The space around the globe contorted immediately manifesting his challenge – a complex maze of light twisted and morphed based on his thoughts and actions.
"Extraordinary neural synchronization from Chung," the announcer’s voice carried across the broadcast. Terra Chang continued, "The Truth Gate is reading his absolute commitment to optimal path."
Kaz added with characteristic insight, "Yes, and he adapts to its uncertainty. Those light patterns show only micro-level hesitance."
Chung and the two runners catching up to him saw it differently, they saw a mountain rising from the track. To Chung, the mountain outstretched before him in a panorama filling the entire space ahead of him. Akira and Jonathan saw the mountain as if through a distorted fish-eye lens, the entire mountain filled only a bubble surrounding his pod.
Meanwhile, far below in the DeadZone beneath the race, Kai's team moved through maintenance tunnels toward the Meridian financial district. "Status," he whispered, adjusting the mechanical abacus strapped to his back, the weight awkward and uncomfortable.
"Approaching the final tunnel," Viktor replied. Sarah’s ghost protocol gear ahead of him softly lighting the dark corridor. Monitoring the race feed, he added, "The second runner is entering the gate."
Above, Akira Storm crossed the verification field, her challenge manifesting as a structure of pure geometrical shapes. She began her navigation with practiced precision, ‘Truth is Pattern, Pattern is Progress,’ she affirmed her Symmetrist training.
Within the Truth Gate security center, Maya frowned. Her diagnostic continued to track the wall damage from the collision during the first challenge. Structural integrity continued to worsen after Aylin's crash despite her stabilization protocol. Her fingers danced across the control interface. "Strange," she muttered, noticing energy leak deep into old infrastructure. She messaged Jo over the security channel, ‘odd energy signatures, probably nothing to worry about.’ Jo messaged back immediately, ‘Keep us apprised.’
Jonathan approached the gate next, he saw Akira navigating some terrain of random shapes and wondered what was in store for him. As he entered the verification field, his view contorted. Unable to read his intentions or create a personalized challenge, the view warbled until the Truth Gate manifested a solid wall of blinding light – an impossible barrier.
"Unprecedented!" Terra exclaimed. "The Truth Gate is definitely giving Jonathan a unique challenge.”
“No question,” Kaz said in frank agreement, “The 'Natural' is bound to get sidelined to the slow lane now, not sure that’s fair but without a neural feed, something this should’ve been expected."
In the tunnels, Kai's team reached their position at the Meridian financial district barrier. "Ready," Viktor reported, military precision in his tone. Ava had disappeared into the shadow, leaving open the access shaft and taking her position without a word.
Sarah's voice came through tense, "These security power readings are really unstable, there is some sort of interference..."
"Initiating," Kai disregarded her concern, removing the abacus from his back. His fingers danced across its worn surface, each movement precise, deliberate. The device buzzed and began generating an electromagnetic cloud like before. "We should disrupt and be in the financial district in minutes."
Above, Jonathan headed directly for the light wall at full speed. Instead of force, he shifted mental focus, warping the pod’s outer shell into an augmented prism geometry bending the light in front of the pod in irregular patterns. The wall began bending and twisting into a funnel stretching before him, exploited gaps in the augmentation's resolution made a visible path within its constantly changing angles. Drawing upon a unique running rhythm, space expanded in front of him within amplified pixel reflections.
"Remarkable!" Kaz's voice carried genuine amazement. "He's reading the verification field and directly changing the augmented obstacle."
Jonathan cleared the Truth Gate, his unorthodox approach putting him in second place. But behind him, the gate's augmentation fields fluctuated wildly. His pod’s guide markers disappeared as the TransitTrack's neural network flickered. Without augmented assistance, he adjusted to visual navigation, maintaining his position while other runners struggled with failing systems.
"Remarkable adaptation from our Natural," Kaz commented. "While augmented runners deal with system latency, he appears completely unaffected..."
#
Runner
Faction
AR Obstacle
Fortitude
Status Notes
1
Chung Der
Quantum Collective
Mountain Range
80%
Pure intuition guided him through valleys
2
Jonathan Wells
Independent (Natural)
Phase Wall
97%
Masterfully surfed the vortex currents like a quantum physicist in their element
3
Akira Storm
Symmetrists
Mirror Maze
95%
Got slightly disoriented in their own reflections, minor position drop
4
Titan Nyx
AutoGen
Gravity Wells
88%
Rocketed up from 6th! AutoGen systems perfectly calculated gravity well escape vectors
5
Nova Pulsefire
Symmetrists
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Light Bridges
99%
Dropped one position but maintained elegant form across unstable light constructs
6
Orion Starfire
Symmetrists
Time Dilation Field
95%
Leapt forward from 7th with perfect temporal rhythm
7
Anya Solaris
AutoGen
Tangle Net
97%
Slipped two spots getting caught in the network's complexity
8
Siren Songweaver
Symmetrists
Sound Canyon
91%
Surged two positions harmonizing canyon frequencies
9
Helios Sunbringer
AutoGen
Solar Flare Sprint
97%
Dropped one position steady performance
10
Zenith Eclipse
Quantum Collective
Quantum Maze
93%
Jumped up one spot with quantum tunnel technique
11
Kaelan Storm
Quantum Collective
Probability Storm
89%
Struggled against random fluctuations, dropped two spots
12
Kairos Timekeeper
AutoGen
Chronosphere
98%
Steady, time manipulation systems working as intended
13
Atlas Stoneheart
Independent
Asteroid Field
95%
Climbed up one position with determined boulder-dodging
14
Jax Ember
Independent
Plasma Rapids
84%
Dropped to last, navigated with determination
DNF
Aylin Solaris
Quantum Collective
DNE
15%
A new alert caught Maya by surprise as runners passed through the final Symmetrist’s challenge and out of the district. The diagnostic traced the energy drain of the harmonic stabilizer that continued to surge, now impacting district maintenance systems. Requests for more and more resources were made to keep the stabilizer active, already pulling energy from other districts through the TransitTrack. The diagnostic logs revealed the energy being routed to deep underground infrastructure. The unexpected feedback causing alerts to trigger from other systems across the district. Her eyes widened as recognition dawned upon her. The signatures matched the characterizations in Lou's notebook. "No..." she whispered. She immediately called Jo on a private channel.
“What’s cooking Maya,” Jo was happy to hear from her and see the racers progressing to the Quantum Collective challenge. “Racers through, great job,” Jo congratulated, relieved Maya’s earlier message didn’t impact the challenge.
“Jo,” Maya's voice held a profound concern surprising Jo immediately. “We have a problem,” she continued. “The TransitTrack stabilizer is failing. We are tracking an energy surge deep within the underground. Shut down the TransitTrack!”
“That isn’t funny Maya, shutting down the race would create a really big problem,” Jo replied surprised by what she hoped was a joke.
“No,” said Maya nearly interrupting. “Shut down the entire TransitTrack now. The Symmetrist district has started shutdown and I am requesting a citywide emergency shutdown. I need you to also help ensure that happens ASAP,” Maya’s voice at the edge of frantic.
Jo couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Shutting down the entire TransitTrack would plunge the city into chaos, but she knew Maya wouldn’t request it if she didn’t think it absolutely necessary. “Okay, they will have my head for this.”
“Mine too,” Maya signed off and pressed send on the TransitTrack emergency shutdown request, marking it urgent. She turned her attention back to the Neural Substrate, inputting security passkeys to allow the tracking agent to pursue the energy surge into the DarkZone.
Under the city and deep within the tunnels, the abacus's mounting electromagnetic field shot bursts of lightning in every direction as it began a dangerous whine. "Energy surge!" Sarah shouted as an amplifying divergence began vibrating the chamber around them. Sarah's voice cut through again: "Kai, shut it down, a power cascade is feeding back on the Meridian district’s security protocols. Total infrastructure failure in less than ten minutes... make that five!" She corrected, a palpable urgency in her voice.
“Of course, shutting down,” Kai input the code. The code was unresponsive. He tried twice more. “Uh oh.”
“Uh oh?” shouted Viktor, “What in the world do you mean, uh oh for God’s sake?” As if on queue, the sublayer lighting and air flow systems around them failed. Small explosions rocked the area from different locations.
"Local systems are shutting down to protect against the overload," Sarah could see energy fading from all around the chamber. They would be in the dark if not for the sparking electromagnetic field that kept growing as it drew power across Meridian’s interconnect. The eerie glow cast long shadows dancing down the tunnel they came down until it collapsed and crumbled in what felt like an earthquake.
“There goes the exit,” Viktor moved to the debris and began digging out. His exoskeleton giving him the strength of twenty men as he sent boulders bouncing down each side of the hallway. With each removal, more material filled in from above. “Not good.”
"It won't shutdown," Kai stammered. Power connections to the Symmetrists district were severed but the electric cloud kept drawing through Meridian's district walls. "Lou's first principle: Every verification creates an opportunity for variation," Kai tapped into the Meridian’s communication system using the old protocol as all of his communications with Symmetrists shut down. Before Kai could message her, Maya's voice echoed through Meridian's security channel.
"Kai, we have a big problem, are you seeing this?” she said.
“I think so,” replied Kai, surprising himself with his calm response from years of training, even as the room crackled in thunderous echos.
“The Meridian junction chamber is feeding energy back into Symmetrist’s Neural Substrate from below, overloading several systems. I’m trying to compensate but each district failure keeps pulling more resources from the TransitTrack which is still going through a standby procedure. This is jeopardizing the entire city and I need help. The trace diagnostic traced into the old city underground when those systems began to fail. Something's wrong with the failsafe locks,” Maya explained as quickly as possible, the situation spinning out of control. She didn't notice interference from Kai’s response, or that it was being routed through Meridian.
"Here," Ava’s voice came from the shadows before Kai could respond. She beckoned the team towards an opening in an access tube where she stood aglow from the electric light. "The Meridian system's not just changing protocols – it's rotating too rapidly for the data key. It won't open but it's structurally safer in here."
"Containment failing," Viktor reported running rapidly towards her, the hall behind him collapsing entirely upon itself. In spite of his failed attempts to clear a path, wires, concrete chunks, and metal came crashing down, following him in his wake as a cloud of dust rushed around him filling the chamber. The glow from the floating electromagnetic storm brightened the room as it reflected in the dust. Energy from through the Meridian barrier continued to flow into it, amplifying it.
“Maya, listen,” Kai spoke directly now running towards Ava. This time Maya could hear a crackling distortion of raw energy and the collapsing chamber chasing Viktor. “Contact Meridian Financial District immediately. Tell them to shut down the financial district security or risk a collapse more severe than the disaster thirty years ago. Their system is feeding back through the old city underground into the Symmetrist power grid. It is being amplified by a harmonic resonant frequency. Systems are failing. We predict imminent structural failure of the structural underground foundation in less than 5 minutes. Tell them the security override code APG-007. Again, security override: Alfa, Papa, Bravo, Zero, Zero, Seven. Hurry, we are in danger. I repeat, security personnel's lives are in danger.” Kai’s voice cracked as it picked up cadence and struggled for volume against a cacophony of collapsing foundations.
Maya's fingers flew across her interface sending the emergency encoded message and security code to both Jo and Meridian security.