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Two figures creep along a darkened corridor. Coming across a sealed door, the smaller figure peels away and reaches out to the door plate. Fingers flashing across the panel, the buttons light up with accompanying tones. A few seconds later, the door slides silently to one side and the two figures step through into the room.
Inside the room, the dim lighting illuminates enough for Zach and Amanda to see their targets. The door slides closed as they ease away from it. Splitting up, they move to different areas, he to the chamber on one side, she to the console attached to it.
"So, you are gonna do this then?" Amanda asks Zach as she punches the controls on the console.
"Of course. We need to find out what Ms. Archibald isn't telling us."
"But surely I would be the better choice to go into the system and search the info out."
"Yes. But remember this," Zach opens the chamber and sits on the chair inside, "you are also the most qualified to get me out if anything goes wrong."
Together they attach the electrodes. With a grunt, Zach endures the searching probes biting into his skull. With a jerk he falls back, his body limp.
* * *
Looking around, Zach first notices a door floating in front of him. It looks like the door to an office. Steeling his courage in this unfamiliar atmosphere, he reaches out and opens the door.
For a moment, sensory data overwhelms him. He is achingly aware of the thunderous approach of a water droplet. The blink of a red light lances through him.
Amanda's fingers jerk across the console and sodden squalor resolves around Zach. Briefly, he wonders why anyone would create a place like this: the hallway he stands in seems to be made entirely of torn black rubber and grey wires, dangling and frayed. From deep in the morass, red LEDs blink on and off, suggesting that they may or may not be the eyes of rats. And everywhere liquid seeps, to congeal in rust-coloured puddles with surfaces like oil spills.
Zach determines that the hallway is lit by a source just out of sight. Rounding the corner, he is confronted by Bold Industries spelled out in neon, the 'd's spluttering and flashing erratically. Yet, he seems to be at a hub; corridors lead away in all directions, each suggesting multiple doors.
Zach picks a corridor at random. Several strides down, he picks a door at random. It has a plate which slides open to reveal the room's contents. The room is empty.
Methodically, Zach begins to check each room. All are bare, grey, and empty. As he is considering a new tactic, one room presents itself with a difference: someone has scrawled the word 'nobody' on the back wall. Craning his head at an angle, he makes out the words 'knows', 'the', and 'tr'.
Curious now, he examines the rest of the door. A ponderous bolt locks it from the outside. The door handle is accented with rust. As he works the bolt, he hears a rustling sound from inside. The smell of damp and mould wafts to him.
Zach opens the door to what can only be a cell. He appraises the figure hunched protectively over a pile of straw. Tired brown eyes regard him from behind a fringe of limp, reddish-brown hair.
"Hello?"
Dulcie tilts her head at his greeting and brushes hair out of her eyes.
"Hiya," she says, not moving.
[Another. Construct.]
"I'm..."
Dulcie jumps a little and interrupts, "Oh, it has its own internal logic. Once you understand that, you can do almost anything..." She trails off into awkward silence.
"Who are you? What is this place?"
"Oh, you mean...oh, I'm Dulcie, and this is a cell."
"So, it's going to be like this, is it?" Zach strides across the cell to get a better look at this Dulcie. She scrunches up against the wall, worried and a little offended. Zach stops and takes a step backwards. His hands come up in a gesture to show he is unarmed. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Oh I, that is, you might not want to let go of the door. You might get stuck too."
The door is shut. "Shit. Handle's gone. Don't worry, I'll try and get us out..." Zach puts his weight against the door. "I thought it wasn't supposed to hurt in here."
Dulcie smiles a little. "It's just like any other place. You choose how much you hurt."
"What?" Zach picks himself up off the floor and pauses, looking at Dulcie. "Ok. What are you?"
Blinking in confusion. "What do you mean, what am I? I told you my name was Dulcie."
"Yes, that is what you told me. Are you some kind of security program?"
Frowning. "I'm an astrogeophysicist, if that helps. Or, at least, I was until I quit my job."
"So you're real? On the outside like me?"
"Well, yes, I'm real. Outside this cell too."
"No, I mean outside the machine."
"Which machine? Outside Bold, do you mean? I came from The Windy City, Chicago, I think."
"You're in Chicago? That's a long way to project from. Do you realise we're in London?"
"Bold is in London?"
"Well, the part of Bold I'm in is. I'm sure they have branches all over the world."
"Right, well, that makes sense. I'd heard someone made London. I might be able to get us out of here. What does it look like outside of the cell?"
"I remember light, and a black hallway. It was a little eerie."
"Eerie in what way? If I could narrow it down to a particular movement, or a theme...."
"Well, it was all rubber, but broken. A little industrial. There were also wires."
"Are you sure about the wires?"
"Yes, and lights. Blinking red lights."
"Gods. That's not good."
"Why not?"
"Well, it means that we're probably in with a Neo-Gigerist, and that could mean all sorts of monsters. Chicago was decidedly unpopulated, by contrast."
"What? What are you talking about? I thought this was supposed to be all files and information. No one ever said anything about monsters." Zach leans against the door again.
"It's an interface. Someone decided long ago that it was too hard to remember how to manipulate files and data caches, so they changed it to a visual interface that people could relate to...on a more visceral level, I guess. It makes security much easier as well."
"Right." Zach rubs his shoulder. "So can you get us out of here?"
"Zach, you said you were called? What are you?"
"I'm... I'm... well, I suppose I'm owned at the moment. By Bold Industries."
"Oh, that makes sense. Welson was like that too." Squinting at him, "I guess I might be able to get us out of here."
"That is my first objective. Ack!" Zach's hands shoot up to hold his head.
She shuffles backwards, eyes wide. "What's wrong?"
"It's all right. Just a little shocked. My friend is trying to contact me." Zach looks around. "It's ok, Amanda, I can hear you. You're a little loud though."
"Your friend, is...okay." Dulcie looks down and begins rooting through her stained and wrinkled lab coat. Finding nothing, she begins sifting through the straw.
"What are you looking for?"
"Something to get us out of a here, a wire, the needle, that sort of thing."
"What?"
"Well, it is a sort of a haystack."
"No, sorry, I wasn't talking to you. It was Amanda. She says that she can get us an unlock procedure, whatever that is."
"Right. And this Amanda, she speaks to you, does she?"
"Yes, she's on the outside. I'm not sure how she is communicating but from what I gather she is a wiz on the computer." A flush creeps across Dulcie's face, and she bends down to continue sifting through the straw.
Zach tilts his head to one side and lowers his voice, "eh? Oh right!" He reaches into his pocket and retrieves a key. It is thin and seems to be made of bone. He offers this to Dulcie. "Is this any help?"
She laughs a soft, harsh sound. "There's a bolt on the outside, not a lock."
"Amanda says this will make the lock. I'm not sure what the hell she's going on about."
Stiffly. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Ok, she says to push this into the door." Zach moves over to the door and does so. It passes into the door making a hole. "What the...?" Dulcie pales and turns away from the door.
"Well, that did a lot of good, it won't turn!"
"You broke the logic."
"Hey, I was just doing what Amanda told me to do!" He looks around. "What? What do you mean you got the unlock procedure wrong? I noticed that. You are sending a logic code? What the...ouch! What the hell was that?" Zach tries to reach around to pull something out of his back but cannot reach. He dances around on the spot ineffectually.
"You broke the logic."
"Look, it wasn't me. Now can you help? Please? What the hell is stuck in my back?"
She looks up at Zach, pupils dilated, "You broke the logic."
"There is something in my back. Get it out!"
She tries to focus. "I..."
Zach falls to his knees, doubled over in pain. Dulcie reaches a shaking hand to him. The stump of a wire protrudes from the small of his back. Whispering, "oh, where did you get this?" she pulls at it hesitantly.
"Argh! Pull it out now!"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" She pulls at it frantically, whimpering in terror.
As the wire exits his back Zach falls forward to the floor. His breathing is laboured but he still manages to hiss, "so much for your fucking logic."
Dulcie looks at the blood-covered wire, and then at the wall. "There might be enough for the o and the u."
Zach pushes himself up so that he is on all fours, his head hanging. He breathes in and out for a few seconds then stands up, all sign of pain gone. The only reminders of what just happened are the wire in Dulcie's hands and the blood soaking the back of Zach's clothes. Dulcie stirs and shifts to her feet, contemplating the wire and the wall.
"So, what now? You got your wire."
Turning to him. "But the o....oh, maybe this could get the bolt undone?"
"You think?"
"Maybe, if you bent it a bit?"
Zach takes the wire from Dulcie's hands and looks at it for a bit. "Logic?" he says, and bends the wire in half. "Was that logical enough for you?"
"Sorry, I don't know what you mean. I'm sorry about your back."
"I'll live, it seems anyway." Zach hands the bent wire back.
"Here." She shuffles over to the door and attempts to use the wire to push at the bolt. Maybe if we could make a hook and catch the handle end of the bolt?"
"Ok, that seems 'logical'."
Stopping. "What do you mean? I mean, it is logical, I thought. Do you think there's something more logical?"
"I was being sarcastic. Now please, have a go. I'm gonna sit down." Zach makes good on his word.
Blushing again. "Oh well, let me just work on this a little." She unbends the wire and makes a crude hook out of one end. "Now, if I could just get the right leverage to pull on it...ah, hit my elbow! I hate that," smiling at him shyly, "don't you?"
Zach smiles. "Yeah, it's annoying."
"Hmm, I can't seem to, I mean I don't think I'm strong enough." Looking at him through her hair. "Do you feel well enough to have a go?"
"I suppose. What do I have to do?" Zach moves to reach around Dulcie.
She freezes at the nearness of him. "Oh, just...just pull at it, maybe that will move the bolt."
"Ok, I'll try." Zach pulls a little, the wire moves but not much. "Let me get a little more leverage."
"Sorry!" She darts away from him, to the back of the cell.
Zach puts his foot up against the wall. Grunting, he pulls again without result. "Maybe if we work together?" he says, turning to Dulcie.
Voice breaking. "What do you want me to do?"
"Well, if we both pull together, and combine our strength? I don't seem to be as strong in here as I am outside."
"You look...I mean, all right, how do you, or where should I stand?"
"Well, I'll hold the wire, you grab my arm and pull, ok?"
Swallowing. "All right."
Moving together, they pull at the wire. There is a creaking sound from the other side of the door and then the tension on the wire disappears and they find themselves falling backwards. Dulcie's head smacks against the cell wall as Zach lands on top of her. She lies still for a while, dazed. Zach groans as he crushes his injured back into Dulcie. He rolls off to one side.
"The door!" he cries.
Dulcie focuses on his back. "There's enough there to do the whole word, but it's drying."
"Bugger that!" Zach runs over to the re-closing door and dives. The door slams on his outstretched arm. Zach bites his lip to stop from crying out again. Dulcie lurches to her feet and grasps the edge of the door, pulling it off Zach's arm. She stands, swaying. Zach crawls out through the opening and looks up. "Er, I don't believe this is where I came in."
"I'm not sure I should...I mean I need to finish the wall." The door begins to pull closed.
Zach reaches out to stop the door. "I can wait, I need your help."
"No, I guess I should go. What's the word?" She pulls at her hair. "Geas? Is that right?"
"Geese? Is that part of the logic?"
"No, I mean, yes. I mean you helped me, so I'm bound to you, to help you. It's how it is."
"Ok, if you say so. But, you helped me as well."
Dulcie stumbles out of the cell, looking back in with a wistful face. "Have you ever seen anything so detailed? The moulding of the straw over time?"
"No. Now where are we? This is not the corridor I entered through."
"I can't remember how I got here."
"Well, that is going to be useful when you want to log out."
"What do you mean?
Jenna & Paul, 06/10/01
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