Rebooting
Checking system integrity...done
Reloading Modules:
Power Distribution...done
Basic Life Support...done
Basic Body Sensors...done
Combat Assist...Failed - Module Missing
Basic Force Manipulation...done
Advanced Force Manipulation...Failed - Module Missing
...
She watched impatiently as the boot log scrolled by, looking for any abnormalities besides the missing modules. The process only lasted for 15 minutes but to her it seemed like an eternity.
After checking for any other problems, she immediately probed the capsule using the newly acquired admin commands.
Scanning for world stream abnormalities
Retrieving scan data...
Eureka! She had finally found the control source. Connected to the two hatches were two invisible streams that lead from what she believed was the world stream that the system mentioned. She was sure that the capsule worked somewhat like her system, hooking themselves onto that so called world stream to operate outside of the world’s governing laws.
However, she still doesn’t have any clue to how the world stream works or what its limits were, there were also no documentations she could find even as an admin.
With the support of the new admin power, she could finally use the system to its full potential, writing unrestricted code and assigning them to any priority node. But with the lack of documentations, she couldn’t risk going too far for fear of breaking something unrepairable.
Using the command line window, she coded a trigger that will cut off all stream input within the capsule when the system detects any sign of hatch activation.
With this, my life is completely secured. Breathing a sigh of relief, she spent the next few hours implementing various interruption and jamming functions . She wanted to have the upper hand so that when the situation arises, she could safely threw up the capsule while making it look like the capsule itself malfunctioned.
Warm gentle sunlight poured our from the spherical projection around her bed, trickling on her face and nudging her awake. So tired, having less than an hour of sleep, her eyes were baggy and her expression slacked.
“Good morning, Miss Ellowyn.” The door opened and entered the maid from yesterday.
“Morning”
“You don’t look very well at all. Did you have any trouble falling asleep?”
“You can say that again. I was just so fascinated with the things I learned on the internet.” And from terrorists.
“Ha ha, well I’m glad you liked the new computer. Let me prepare your breakfast. I’d like to advise you not to stay up so late however, since it really ruins your health.”
“Wait, could you hold off breakfast for a moment and call Mr Tom for me? I know its early but I really do need to talk to him.” She grimaced, not wanting to cover the capsule’s escape route with food, nor did she want to instill panic to the surrounding workers by revealing her hostage situation.
“I’m sorry but Mr. Tom has some scheduled meetings this morning. You can always tell me if you have any problems you know.” The maid smiled sweetly and sat next to Ellowyn.
“Its not a big deal, I just wanted to talk to him, thats all” She gave a stiff shrug.
“I can see your nervousness from a mile away.” The maid sighed. “But if you really insists, I’ll give a message to Mr.Tom alright?” She pulled out her phone and typed in the message.
“Thank you”
“No problem, you still have to eat your breakfast though.” She gave a mischievous smile. “It is your well being that I’m tasked with. I’ll get fired if you don’t eat you know.” Her eyes grew wide and her lips pouting, like a puppy.
She opened the food cart, revealing trays upon trays of food. “These are made by our world class chief, it’d be a waste for you not to try them”
Depleted of food since last night, Ellowyn stomach gave a loud grumble. She was tired, sleepy and hungry. She sighed, deciding that she really should just give in and eat her fill, and then taking a nap afterward to refresh herself before Tom was finished with his meetings.
“Is there a problem?” Tom was standing at the door.
“Good morning Mr Tom. Did you meeting end early?” The maid bowed.
“One of them did”
“But didn’t you say you had two?”
“If it is Ellowyn that needs me then a small meeting can wait.” He gave a soft smile.
Ellowyn returned him a faint smile.
“That is a rather important meeting I’d say. I think Ellowyn can wait a little right?” The maid tried to make Tom reconsider, but stopped upon seeing Ellowyn’s conflicted expression. “I’m sorry Miss Ellowyn, it was wrong of me for presuming that as a trivial thing. I’ll take my leave now.” She hurriedly left the room with the food cart.
Ellowyn bit her lip, not knowing what to say to start the conversation of dread.
“Its fine Ellowyn, just speak what is on your mind. You don’t have to worry about my meeting, they can wait.” He gave her another reassuring smile.
Her expression relaxed, but she still shook her head. “I’m not afraid about that right now, there is a more...pressing matter.”
Tom’s started to frown in worry as he observed Ellowyn’s hand caressing her stomach unconsciously.
“Is your stomach hurting?”
Realizing she was too nervous, she stopped the unconscious gesture. Memories of when she was yanked from her bed began replaying themselves. She shook her head to dispel the feeling of terror bubbling up within her. Its alright, lets just tell him and get this over with.
“Ellowyn?” Tom’s genuinely worried voice woke her from her daze.
She recomposed herself once more and started telling him about what happened.
[http://i.imgur.com/KL0JX0k.png]
She was astonished, not because Tom resolved the problem immediately for he didn’t, but because of his composure. She can see well the worry in his eyes and the trembling hands on his knees that he really was agitated. And yet he listened to her from the start to finish without yelling or even interrupting her to ask questions. She respected him deeply, he was not just a fatherly figure but a calm and rational one.
After she was finished, she looked up, expecting him to ask back or calling for his staff to take action but he did neither of that. He quietly stood up, open his arms and hugged her.
Closing her eyes, she could feel all her worries and pain melting away as she was embraced with the warmth of his compassion.
“Thank you, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for thinking first about our safety. I know you have just been here for a few days and yet, having been forced through so much hardship, I have no words that can express my gratitude”
She nodded meekly. “You are my only family, how could I ever say no?”
“First, lets confirm your safety and then I’ll have that thing out of you as fast as I can” He dialed his phone for the medical staff.
Two person in white medical suits arrived, carrying what looked like a price tag scanner. They had her lay on her back and pulled up her shirt, revealing her pale tummy as they gently pressed the scanner against it.
A hologram of her stomach projected itself before her, along with the clear view of the capsule sticking to its walls.
The staff did a few more checks before putting her on a stretcher and moving her to the medical facility. On her way out, she saw multiple security personnel entering her room. Probably to check for that vent.
Having been advised from moving or sitting up, she had to lay still on the bed while running a double check on the system to pass the time.
“I’ll have a talk with those people and resolve this quickly.” Tom patted her head. “Don’t worry alright?”
“I need to see the negotiation too.”
“Sorry but I can’t have you moving around and stressing needlessly.”
“Don’t forget it is my life you’re bargaining for.” Her determined stare seemed to bore a hole through him.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Alright, if that is what you wish then I’ll have the negotiation take place here” He held his hands up.
She sighed in relief, she only did so to prevent him from making potentially devastating mistakes. If push comes to shove, she’ll simply eject the capsule while making it look broken so they won’t suspect her.
Tom returned with one butler carrying a projector.
“You can see me and the negotiator, but they won’t see you, remember that.”
She nodded.
The projector came to life, portraying the image of a well dressed blond haired man in his twenties.
“Good morning Mr. Tom. I hope your daughter has explained everything to you?”
Tom nodded. “And I hope you stay to your end of the bargain. I never knew you’d result to these...actions. As I remembered, your policy doesn’t involve hostage taking.”
“Desperate times calls for desperate measures. And right now we have to make some exceptions.”
“Exceptions including taking a fifteen year old girl hostage?”
I’m eighteen! She wanted to retort, but remembering that she needed to keep quiet.
“She had made her choice. She could have refused and choose to leave instead and you know that.”
“So you’re telling me she should have left our family.” Tom balled his hand into a fist.
“Calm down now Mr Tom. I just want to push the negotiation forward.” The man’s tone was calm and yet mocking.
“The deals changed, for her life, you’d need to provide us with access to project HuB-12 and 100 canisters of high tech biomass.”
She could clearly see Tom gritting his teeth.
“How many lives are you planning to take as your so called experiments continues?”
Great. What she feared was happening. The villain using her as the bargain chip to extend his evil doings. She shook her head and refocused her mind, waiting for the right time to give her voice.
“And as I said before, I know how many lives I’m going to save.”
This is it. She cleared her throat. “Tom, listen to me!”
All attention focused on her.
“Who is that? The girl?”
“Tom, dad, you know I’d rather not have my life be traded for the death of who knows how many others. I’m not a goodie two shoes who is all pure and good, but I can’t live with myself either, knowing how many lives were lost in place of mine.” Her eyes were pleading, trying to make Tom understand that she’d rather die, in a fake way of course since the system would save her.
“You know that even if the bargain fail and the girl dies, we’d still brute force our way in and take what we need right? Girl, your so called ‘sacrifice’ would only result in more deaths.” The man was jeering.
“And if Tom gave in, then what? You could have just continue keeping me as your hostage or worse, attacking us nonetheless when our guards are down. People like you are impossible to negotiate with!” She yelled, hoping her frail lungs would be strong enough to carry the voice and its determination throughout the room.
“You’re a tough one, I have to admit.” He revealed a heinous smirk. His hand gestured something to the standby guard.
Stream activation detected, cutting off source
So it begins. She watched as the system cut off the otherworldly stream in contact with the capsule, hoping it was enough. It wasn’t.
“Argggg!” Pain, pure pain spread throughout her abdomen and all over her body.
Pain inducing substance detected, initializing emergency clean up
Everyone rushed to aid Ellowyn, but not before they got a warning.
“You may relocate her, but any attempt to remove the pain inducers will result in the capsule releasing its main poison, killing her on the spot. This is just a warning and you better hope its the only warning I have to give.” The man laughed.
Fuck you! She screamed in her mind and through her voice. The pain was so intense it shook her very being. She convulsed on the bed while the doctors hopelessly try to hold her in place.
Substance located, concealing and transporting through endocrine system
She breathed a sigh of relief as the pain subsided, but not before setting the system continue to give her instructions on how to act with the same levels of pain. You’ll pay for this. She silently cursed the man in her mind.
As her consciousness cleared, she reviewed the log to see why cutting the stream didn’t work. And to her blunder, she discovered once the system detected the signal to release the hatch, it was too late to cut it.
It seemed that she couldn’t play the waiting game anymore, another signal for the main poison’s release and the system may not be able to save her. She had to end it then.
Phase 1. Operating the console in her mind, she shut off the stream to the main poison hatch.
“Sir, we’ve lost connection with the capsule”
She could hear one of the man’s assistant frantically trying to reconnect.
Phase 2. She felt more pain as her battered stomach began working again, the system modified the very kind of acid released and softened the glue holding the capsule.
Phase 3. She set the system to activate a force just enough to push her off the bed, it was tricky finding the right angle with so many people holding her down. As she was falling, the system activated another small force to push the capsule from within her stomach up her esophagus.
When she landed on the ground, the capsule in her mouth was spitted out. Off you go, you little bugger!
She tried all she could to keep herself awake, but everything had taken too much of a toll on her body. She could her Tom’s worried yell before loosing consciousness.
[http://i.imgur.com/KL0JX0k.png]
She woke up to a familiar figure sitting beside her.
“Hi Bob”
“Glad you’re awake Ellowyn, I heard you had a tough day huh?” He gave a small chuckle.
“Where’s Tom?” She tried to sit up.
“Just lay down and rest for now, the doctor said they had cleaned your gut but you’re still too weak to move around.The capsule somehow malfunctioned and popped out of you. You’re probably the luckiest kid I’ve ever seen. Ha”
She pretended to nod absentmindedly. Looking around, she found herself back on her own bed.
“Did they secure the vent?”
“That they did, it was shameful of us to let you be attacked that way. But don’t worry, we’ve put extra measures so it won’t happen again. Would you excuse me for a bit?” He picked up his ringing phone and walked outside.
Shortly after he stepped out, the alarms blared and the walls glowed a deep yellow.
[http://i.imgur.com/KL0JX0k.png]
“Hey Tom, whatcha need?”
“Bob, move to Alice’s room asap, I’ve got multiple signatures heading there.”
“Shit, I’m on my way, what about Ellowyn?”
“I’ve send more guards there. You know how it goes.”
“Yeah yeah I know, Alice takes priority. Bob out.”
Shutting off the phone, Tom stared at his monitor that was showing two different infiltration alerts, one for each room. He cupped his hands on his face, as if praying.
“I’m sorry, Ellowyn.”
http%3a%2f%2fi65.tinypic.com%2f9hpfzm.png [http://i.imgur.com/acPHutG.png]
Sorry for the cliffhanger >.< I'll work on the next chapter tomorrow, its 3 am.
Gdoc link its probably riddled with typos and stuff because I'm so sleepy right now. Feel free to fix it T.T