New Earth, Eden Sector, Cyberspace
0530, September 2, 2050
In a certain command room, a bored operator who was playing with a stress ball noticed a breach alert on her holoscreen. Narrowing her eyebrows she started pulling up the exact coordinates of breach. She then pressed a button on the left side of her station which is only to be used if there is a security breach.
[Homebase to all sentries. We got a data fluctuation at grid ‘Zebra’. Possible security breach from ‘Surface’. Anyone within proximity please respond.]
A few minutes of silence had gone by and the operator at ‘Homebase’ received a reply from a westbound VTOL craft that appeared on her radar.
[Homebase. This is Eagle One, I read. Diverting original flight path to grid ‘Zebra’. Stand by for updates.]
The operator picked up the log book next to her which contained all scheduled traffic for the day. The westbound craft, designated as ‘Eagle One’ was returning from a scheduled game maintenance work.
[Acknowledged, Eagle One. Reassigning your status to “Responding”]
-POV change-
New Earth, Eden Sector, Cyberspace
'Grid Zebra'
0530, September 2, 2050
[Roger HQ, Eagle One is responding. Over and out]
After confirming the coordinates, the pilot out a heavy sigh knowing that today was not going to be a simple. Lately, it was problems stacking one after another. He had enough of the misfortune happening to him today, irritated he threw both of his arms in the air and silently screamed.
His yell echoed in the spacious cockpit. The holographic terrain map of 'Zebra' automatically appeared on his holocomputer, displaying a digital 3D render of the area. While looking at it, he noticed the anomaly is located in a very dense forest. His thoughts lingered what kind idiot from the surface world would even use this place as a insertion point? The pilot got up from his chair and proceeded towards the cargo bay. Right when the door to the bay opened, the ship's intercom suddenly sprung to life.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[T-minus 4 minutes till destination arrival. Pilot, Please switch your role to ‘Admin’ on your tablet. ]
"Jesus. That made me fucking jump."
The pilot quickly regained his posture after being startled by the voice coming from the intercom. The door slid open as the pilot walked on through into the cargohold.
[I will set the aircraft down near the fluctuation point. Please be careful]
The voice belonged to the pilot’s personal assistant EVA, a multi-role support AI. The pilot stretched out his body and picked up the tablet that was resting on the seat by the cargo bay door, putting his right hand on the screen. A green screen appeared indicating he was the owner. He went over to the weapon storage case filled with a variety of assault rifles and took out a Hera Arms CQR M4 Firestorm from it. Pulling up his inventory menu.
"Right, gotta need that trusty red dot sight."
Which he later attached on the M4, then proceeded to eject the drum magazine to briefly check whether if it was empty. He reinserted the magazine back into the M4 and pulled the cocking handle backwards, just in time for EVA final message over the intercom.
[Touch down, Opening cargo bay door…]
The pilot exited the aircraft with his gun drawn as he approached the fluctuation point expecting intruders. What he saw instead was a distorted plane with numbers phasing in and out of existence. The shape of it resembled a portal from an old game he used to play with his childhood friend. After looking around his surroundings and confirming there was no intruder, he took out his tablet to scan the anomaly. While his scan is still being processing, he reconnected back to “Homebase” to report his findings.
[Homebase, This is Eagle. I am at the fluctuation point. There is no sign of intruders however it would appear that some sort of glitch had appeared in our cyber system. I am attempting a bypass quick fix with my privilege as ‘Admin’ Stand by...]
After a few minutes had passed, the pilot got a reply from the operator.
[Acknowledged Eagle. Standing By for further updates.]
As soon as the pilot ended the transmission, the distorted piles of numbers started to clear up leaving behind a white translucent portal. Unable to see what was on the other side, the pilot drew his M4 Firestorm pointed at the portal and slowly made his approach. The muzzle break was the first that went through causing the portal to vibrate. The pilot, noticing the change in the portal behavior attempted to radio in however he was stopped when a sudden gust of wind hit him from behind causing him to glide straight into it. On the other side of the portal was an empty space, the pilot landed head first on the ground causing him to be knocked out. The only thing he last recalled before losing complete conscious was a voice that sounded like a woman pitying him.