Tule watched Jonah’s face pale. He turned his portable so Tule could see it.
“MAXIMUM SECURITY WING: Do Not Enter Unless Proper Precautions for the Listed Conditions have been Implemented.
Please Connect with Door Terminal for Listed Conditions.
Remember! A Safe WorkPlace is a Happy WorkPlace!"
“I do not feel happy.” That interrupted Jonah’s train of thought. Was that a joke?
Jonah chuckled to encourage Tule’s attempt.
“No, me neither.” Jonah plugged in his portable to the Door Terminal. Much lesser than a regular Terminal and well below a Fabrication Terminal, a Door Terminal wasn’t able to host an SI-shell. The only thing an SI shell could be used for on a Door Terminal was to connect and transmit Authority and Authorization, but that was it.
It couldn’t host an SI nor could it ambiently gather materials or even take Nano from a MagnoTube. That meant no Leveling. Worse still, the screen of this lesser Terminal was shattered. That was extremely difficult to do. He had never seen a broken Terminal screen before. He peered behind the broken screen. A plate of some sort of metal was there. He continued tapping onto his Terminal.
Dammit. Authorization is completely inaccessible. Locked tight.
He tried an Authority swap but the smoke that started to come from his portable cut off that attempt.
“Use the Disk.”
Jonah looked to Tule then pulled the AI disk out of his pocket.
He had been avoiding connecting his portable to it. Here though, the only screen they had was his portable.
He plugged the Disk into the slot next to the broken screen.
A flash of code ran down his portable before turning into lines of text that scrolled across his screen.
CELL BLOCK B - PRISONER STORAGE: CAPACITY: 8/45 OCCUPANCY
SECURITY PROTOCOLS: SUBVERTED
Cryo-Systems: 97% Failure or Imminent Failure Rate
Primary Detection Systems:
Camera System: Offline
Mic System: Offline
Auxilary Detection Systems:
Biological Scanner: Online
Simple and Complex LifeForms Detected.
Simple LifeForms: 59872130981238… ERROR.
Current Detection Process: Cancelled.
Complex LifeForms: 3
Checking Prisoner Archive…
Processing Non-Essential Information…
Jonah wanted to see more. “Show non-essential!”
Denied. Pertinent Information Displayed:
CELL B13: UNCONTROLLABLE TEST SUBJECT: NANO-VARIANT THREAT CLASS B1+
Do Not Enter If Proper Precautions for the Listed Conditions is Unavailable.
-Biological Shaping.
-Extreme Regeneration.
-Dispersed Neural Core.
CELL B15: UNCONTROLLED TEST SUBJECT: NANO-VARIANT THREAT CLASS UNCLASSIFIABLE
Do Not Enter If Proper Precautions for the Listed Conditions is Unavailable.
Multi-Affinity User!
-Life Affinity
-Minor Spatial Affinity
"Can promote the generation and recovery of Life." No documents or data regarding the effects of Minor Spacial Affinity.
CELL B1-2: UNCONTROLLED TEST SUBJECT: NANO-VARIANT THREAT CLASS B3-A7+ PSY-USER
-Strong PSY Abilities
…Active Skill Modification List Corrupted. Individual PSY-USER Abilities Unavailable.
Displaying partial list of documented Psy abilities.
Mind Warp
Mind Spike
Brain Pop
Force Push
Force Wall
Crush
Predictive Ablation
Mind Sense
Remember! A Safe Workplace is a Happy Workplace!
“So does that Psy User have all of those abilities?”
Unknown. Data Stream Corrupted. Partial List is of PSY abilities observed and recorded by any BioPrison Personnel.
“What do you think?” Jonah looked uncertainly to Tule. “If this is what the AI considers to be ‘pertinent’ then we might be in trouble. There is also the unknown Psy user.”
Tule was looking behind them. “I don’t think we have a choice. Beside that, I do not believe our advantages will grow the longer we delay. I assume they are already aware of our intrusion.”
Jonah ran his anti-life energy through the inside of his goggles before strapping them on.
“As they say, no time like the present.” Jonah continued, “Let’s just open this door and we’ll see…” He stopped and slide his goggles back up to his forehead.
Access Door Control? Yes> No>
“What’s wrong?” Tule had turned away from the door and lowered his Toothpick. He was looking on with mild concern.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Jonah tried clicking on a few things, to no avail.
“I didn’t open this screen, I think the AI is listening.”
“So?” Tule had a flustered look on his face, “It has helped us this far.”
“That is true…” Jonah gingerly tapped "Yes>".
Place palm on HandPad to Access Door Control Menu...
“What now?” Tule, patient as he was with Jonah’s antics, was starting to tire of them.
“I… I have to put my hand on the Pad.” Uller’s recent attempt swam to the surface of his mind.
“So?” Tule repeated as he put his own hand firmly on the Pad.
Nothing happened.
“It has to be me… or Jack, maybe even Leanne I suppose.”
Jonah turned his portable to Tule.
ERROR… Unable to Grant Door Authority or Security Personnel Authorization Levels to Non-Base Human Organism.
Base DNA compromised…
Not primarily Human? Tule turned away, he didn’t need to read anymore. Jonah silently read the rest of it.
Security Auxilia Registered. Limited Permissions Granted. No Permissions in BioPrison Available.
“Well, either we are going to cook more mushrooms or you need to put your hand on the Pad.”
Jonah turned towards him then moved to unplug his portable, “I’m sure there are several delectable specimens here-”
Tule caught Jonah’s hand mid-movement. “Jonah.”
Tule’s hand felt rock-hard, clammy-cold, and had ridges running along his palm and fingers.
Jonah looked up into Tule’s eyes and saw a flash of cold malice, alien in its intensity and expression. He yanked his hand away from Tule’s grip. Or at least, he tried.
“Apologies, if there was another way…”
“What are you apologizing fo-”
Jonah sputtered as Tule’s implacable grip pulled him toward the Pad and roughly slammed his palm onto its surface.
Jonah’s face paled as he looked towards his portable.
“It. It… well at least the AI seems friendly.”
“You are too cautious Jonah, it has its place, but will kill you surely as fast as undue recklessness.”
Jonah fired back, “You ever seen anyone in the Labs at my age? No. You haven’t. I think my risk assessment capabilities are just fine. Sometimes caution is warranted!”
He turned back to his portable.
Welcome Security Personnel. Enter Name.
Jonah looked down at the formatted list, “JONAH” was already highlighted. He sighed and clicked it and tapped “CONFIRM>”
Jonah screamed and Tule watched as he struggled to free his hand from the Pad. The confirmation from the AI about his genetic base no longer being close to Human had already shaken him. He didn’t want to be near it if this is what it would do to a normal Human. His gut pinged and flipped upside down. He involuntarily took a couple steps backwards until he felt soft mushrooms touch his back.
Jonah was on his knees, soft trails of smoke drifted off of him into the air. He dragged his dropped portable onto his lap.
SPORIFIC Purification Complete, Security Personnel Jonah.
Door Controls may now be Accessed.
Jonah rose to his feed and looked to Tule, “I see you, CAUTIOUSLY decided to relocate yourself!”
Tule looked around to where he was standing, “Ah, erm, yes well. As you wisely said, ‘Sometimes caution is warranted’.”
Jonah scowled but didn’t say anything. He looked at his portable.
Security Team 3C: Personnel #3 Registered.
He looked back towards Tule, “Get ready, I’m going to open it.”
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Yuma and the others entered a wide loading dock. She scanned her prodigious Senses over the scene. Machines with arms to lift crates, some stuck halfway through their operations. Metal boxes, crates, the room was filled with detritus. The odd thing was it didn't look uniformly old. Some models of the robots looks newer, cleaner lines, more delicate machinery and wiring than others.
In front of them was a near copy of the Cryo-Core Door. It was larger by more than a quarter and was striped with two horizontal lines of alternating black and yellow. The center, where the two halves met, had a lip of red-colored metal.
It kind of looked like a sideways mouth. Yuma thought to herself. It’s also the way out of here.
She looked back the way they had came. She grew up here.
My family lives… lived here.
She didn’t know if Tule was her brother or not. Maybe. But she did believe Jack after seeing the AI disk he carried around. That he had one and knew nothing about the Labs was enough for her. That they'd managed to kill the Cryo-Core SI was more than enough.
Now? Find Jack. Get to the Bridge.
“Impressive, is it not?”
Yuma started, lost in her thoughts.
“Ah, yes. Yeah, it is.”
She was about to ask about opening it but saw the Monitors and Guard Teams already approaching the Door Terminal.
“Tell me what you see.”
Grateful for the shift Yuma flared and lightly tensed her eyes. Details around the Door came into clearer view.
“Clan Head!” A Monitor tripping over his robes in his haste to run back towards them. The other Clan Members were scattering away from the Door and the Terminal itself.
His face was pale, “The Door. The automatic defenses are still powered, they are on!”
As if his words transformed themselves into reality, a small, relative to the Door, dome glowing with red light filled the room with a room-filling, horizontal red laser. It scanned from the base of the door to the ceiling of the opposite side. Yuma swore it hitched when scanning her.
“Cover! Units 1 and 2 spread right, 2 provide cover. 3 and 4 take left, 4 covering! Protect your Monitors and get them back to the Door Terminal!”
The Clan Head wasted no time. It didn’t take a genius to guess that a Door that was controlled by an insane SI for countless cycles was unlikely to be friendly. As if responding to his words alongside the frame of the Door several turrets popped out. The Door itself opened several small portcullises that a bevy of small, almost hobbled together robots rolled, walked, and ran out of.
It happened in an instant and the room erupted into laser fire. Thankfully, there were no exotic energies at play. The turrets' either fired hard ammunition or beams that were red, standard laser stuff. Standard, but still deadly.
Yuma took off to the side of the room, she decided to trail the side of the room, bouncing between cover. As she raced past the halfway point, it seemed that her idea had merit.
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Leanne had her back to the door’s HandPad as she watched Jack turn the distant corner with a twisted scowl on his face. When they met eyes over the long distance it turned into an overly-bright, dead-eyed smile. The small crustaceans were crawling over him en masse.
Shitshitshit. She hoped this was going to work.
Jack walked a measured pace towards her. That wasn’t good either, she needed speed and chaos to pull this off. She had already calculated it. Her usual methods of "measured" and "informed" would be losing propositions at this point.
“Ah! It’s so nice being Separate of all this disgusting shit around here!” Jack’s eyes picked up intensity. His feet still dragged in slow measured steps.
She checked the mushroom for teeth before smashing a group of them with her foot. She spit onto the mashed pile and looked back up to Jack with a wide, exaggerated grin on her face. “Ah it feels so good to be Separate these shitty little things.”
Jack’s smile looked strained, the small crustaceans started flowing off of his body in what looked like fear. She didn’t have time to study a mushroom crab’s emotional state.
“All these stupid looking mushrooms think they are the same. What? They are 'One'? So dumb. SO DUMB! I bet an idiot like you loves being connected to these shitty things.”
She mashed another grouping. Jack’s feet swung faster now. Still not fast enough.
"Can you imagine being connected to this shit? My average shit is more impressive than a fucking mushroom. It’s embarrassing, can you imagine being connected with something lower than a turd?”
She laughed loud and harsh as she picked up a small crustacean and smashed it in her hand.
“Little one!” Jack roared and was at full sprint, the smile still on his face but their was no joy in his eyes, only malice.
As he sprinted Leanne started shooting at Jack, she watched mushrooms sprout from the wounds. She tried aiming for the head, but his reflexively-raised Gauntlet deflected those.
He charged the last of the distance to her, hand outstretched to wring her neck but he hitched for a second as he crossed the divide between mushroom and bare metal.
Leanne threw herself under him and pulled. She grabbed his now slower moving arm and pulled at it with a burst of energy.
Jack's hand rested on the HandPad. Time seemed to slow as a soft chime sounded from the HandPad out before the door slid smoothly open. The room was a smallish box, but bare, except for a Terminal sitting idle across the door, against the opposite wall.
Jack pulled his leg back to kick her but Leanne dove into the room and used the momentum of Jack’s kick to throw her deep in the room.
Shit. And he still cracked a rib.
Blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth. “Come on you little bitch, come get me.” She fired more shots at Jack’s face and neck as she taunted him. He shrugged and took them in his shoulder. The mushrooms grew upwards from his shoulder wounds to block further shots at his head.
Jack hesitated. He wasn’t sure why. He wanted to go in the room but… He watched as Leanne positioned herself across from him and started stomping down on one of the small bags she carried.
“Oops, look what was in here, I guess I forgot about them. There might have been… Hmm, I don’t know, 20 or so in the bag?”
She upturned the bag and mashed bits of the little spore-crabs fell out. A few managed to escape the crushing slaughter and were weakly trying to crawl away from her on cracked limbs.
Leanne held Jack’s glare as she smiled and viciously stomped on them one by one. At the last one, she paused.
“I wonder, if you’re ‘One’, do you feel it when I crush these shitty little things?” She slowly pressed her foot down until a small keening sound emitted from beneath her foot followed by a wet crack and a small plume of spores shooting briefly out from beneath her boot.
A scream ripped from Jack’s throat. That answered her question.
He charged and she fired until she hit her back on the Terminal’s screen.
Leanne wasn’t sure how she was supposed to do the same magic trick twice. Surely he wouldn’t fall for it again.
Jack charged her and she continued to fire, ready to move and reveal the Terminal’s HandPad.
Miraculously, Jack’s foot slipped on the slimey entrails of the spore-crabs and the momentum carried him forward. She threw herself out of the way and watched as Jack’s stretched out his hands to catch himself and his hand placed itself directly onto the HandPad.
“What are the…” Odds is what she was going to say. Her distracted finish to her roll away exacerbated the pain. She tried to stand and jammed the end of her severed toes into the ground. Her pain limiter finally gave out. All she managed was a harsh scream that tore her vocal cords apart before her brain responded and shut everything off.
The room had closed the external door as Jack touched the HandPad. The last thing she remembered seeing was the room harshly lit in a jagged white glow.