Pnetary Administration Intelligence System: Subsection 17-04 to Central Directive: Status Inquiry
_Subject: Unidentified Combatant, Possible Invader Designation "Invading Foreign insurgents —Designation: "Crash_pod.", Last Possible _Confirmed Location: Sector-9, Scrapyards,
_Local Response To Sudden Crash: Hostility assumed…_Local Threats: Scavenger Presence (Confirmed), Environmental Hazards (Severe).
Death//Survival Probability Assessments:_Death due to injuries sustained in impact: 41.2%
_Death due to possible scavenger engagement: 31.6%
_Death due to prolonged exposure of toxic environment: 14.5%
_Survival pending external intervention: 8.2%
_Other: 4.5%
Projected survival window: <12 pnetary hours.No special measures warranted.
Central Directive Intelligence to Pnetary Administration AI: Reassessment Initiated.
_Designation: Invading Foreign identity #115
_Status: Anomalous.
_Probability of immediate death adjusted to 22.4%.
_Probability of hostile termination adjusted to 11.9%.
_Probability of survival until system assimition exceeds threshold.
Suggested Cssification Update:_Candidate for Unverified System Integration—Probability of assimition rising.._Threshold point tracking activated._Monitoring initiated.
Accessing further data. No special measures warranted. User Ada_Vale instructed to standby for intervention.
********************************************************************************************Ada Vale sits in her dim bedroom, near her dark mahogany table, sipping on clear tea, her eyes scanning on the contents of the intrusive information dump provided by the system. Her head hurt the moment she heard the ping go off. She knew there was commotion outside, but she didn’t dare go look at it.
Something was falling into the pnet again, probably more xenoterrorists, she didn’t have the stomach anymore to dwell on these things. She swore to herself that she would have no interaction with ‘that’ world, none at all, whilst enjoying her off-time.
And yet… her foot was itching, and her hands were twitching.
The smell of burning machinery, killed that thought, It reminded her of her first quest assigned to her. A terrible time, things she’d rather not think of.
Ada rushed to her window, curiosity got the best and bitterest part of her, she opened the curtains and as the setting sun, invaded her room. A ghastly sight greeted her. She held her hand over her mouth, aghast. Her cup falls from her hands, shattering on the floor, her tea spilling everywhere.
“Absolutely Ridiculous!?” She loomed closer, sticking her head out. “A ship. A human ship?”
A gigantic piece of fiery metal, was slowly falling out of the atmosphere, leaving behind a smoky trail. A ship, a human ship indeed, was plummeting through the air. She recognized the design instantly, the Alliance of Sol Federated Systems, people from the various earths. She hadn’t seen one in twenty years, before her lord father had kicked the bucket. Outsiders weren’t ever allowed unless the system dictated it. Dread filled her heart, she didn’t want to be involved.
The system had other pns, it was ready to force her into another one of its games.
“Oh, fuck me hard.” she swore to herself.
Her pulse started quickening.
Of course.
The system wouldn’t notify her unless…unless it directly impacted her life in some manner. Someway, somehow, someone was going to make this her nightmare, if the system didn’t. Should could hide it out, book herself to another city where the local AI wouldn’t bother her. Until that AI started taking an interest in her. And the system starts demanding things again.
No. No. No, what about…
Ada spun around, kicking off her heels and running barefoot out of the door, nearly knocking off her oil mp. Her maid, had peeked inside, at that moment, expressing her concern. “Lady Ada, is something the matter?”
“Move, Erika!” She shouted, startling the girl.
She ran through her vil, designed, and once, pnned, by a Victorian architect specialist. Ada had found comfort in this dystopian world through small portals into human history. A trait she picked up from her te grandfather. Coming to the stairs, she nearly tripped, as her soles slipped on smooth furnished wood, she clung to the railings, lifting herself up.
“Oh, I’m out of shape.”
The result of too much pudding, cookies, and tea, no doubt.
“Lady, Ada,” Erika called after her, following her like a dog did its master. “Please wait for me.”
Ada skidded up the stairs. Reaching the roof, she ran towards the edge of it, looking past the grounds of her mountain vil, and her lush fields of blue grass. Beyond the silent green river, along the mountain pass to the north, the outskirts of Nova Ardour with its holographic billboards, and it’s heavy trams and trains, and burning neon haze became visible.
‘What an eyesore.’
The overseer AI was locked in Ground-to-air combat. Its silly face smiled as missiles and ballistic weaponry fired from its dome, It ughed with it's massive emoticon like face, silly and cartoonish. Making dumb noises as it unched it’s anti-air munitions at the invading ship as it made sure to shoot it down.
Yes, it’s certainly a human ship.
Ada’s heart sank. She only had a few more months left before she would be forced to return. This aggressive posturing posited by the system's inherent design was a destabilizing thing, a preemptive disturbance. There were other free agents out there, Legends. She wanted to enjoy her goddamn off time. Now the thing demanded its attention, because it had fears of its own. Fears of invasion.
Ada sank to her knees, staining her dress with the dirt and dust accumuted on the rooftop. Erika arrived behind her, hesitant, but immediately offered her a hand as she y sprawled on the roof. Erika briefly stopped to admire the downing wreck of a ship, then returned to Ada.
“My retirement… it’s over. I have to sully my hands again. Oh, dear.” She pressed her fingers into her hair, then started mock crying, but the tears may as well have fallen as she felt distraught.
“I’m sure the system will be lenient, Lady Ada, for one as fair as you.” Erika comforted her, attempting to lift her up on the ground. “Shall I make you some fresh tea, my dy? Perhaps you need sugar water for the shock, or perhaps a massage will ease you.”
Ada started tearing up, stifling a sob, she clung to Erika’s leg.“You don’t get it Erika, They're going to drag me back. I don’t want to be dragged back. I want to stay here all day and read books and enjoy your company and taste strange tarts and have silly pillow fights with you and the others. I–”
Erika was flustered but remained stoic. Unsure whether to comfort or pry Ada off her leg. She looked to her master for answers, Ada held tight.
“I hate the system.” she let out, Erika nodded affirmatively, but hesitant to say anything on the matter, they were on two different wavelengths, two different rights systems. Ada could get away with the open criticism because she was warped by it.
Their heads turned as they heard a distant engine humming.
Metal whirring drew both of their attention as a massive eye bot came hovering inside the vil uninvited on its own accord. Ada sprang upwards, her muscle memory waking her dormant athletic prowess. Erika went onto her knees, a side arm pulled out under her skirt. A low-velocity ser gun, modeled after a vintage Luger. She held it firmly aimed at the bot.
The eye bot fshed green lights, rapidly, it was speaking in morse . -.. --- / -. --- - / -... . / .- .-.. .- .-. -- . -.. .-.-.-
It was Morse code for: Do not be armed.
Ada, held Erika by the shoulder. “At ease, Erika, it’s friendly. I think” It had to be why else had her intruder defense system not activate. Erika eased up, but remained weary.
The drone stopped in front of them, the crashing wreck behind it, dispying quite the scenery. It beeped and bopped, as AI machines often did. Its eye fshed blue, and it dispyed a hologram of a man. A suited a man, a familiar man, a man Ada was not keen on seeing. A man she’d hoped to never see again. It bowed, and transcribed an audible message. Simultaneously, the message appeared in front of Ada’s eyes. Integrating with the System.
[Personal Quest Assignment from Heccatek Corporation:]Objective: Capture one of the outsiders for live interrogation.Time Limit: 23 hours, 11 minutes, 21 seconds.Rewards: None.
[Note from the Corporation benefactor:]“Hello, Ada. The system is stingy with information—you know how it is. We knew it would bother you in a time like this, so I took the initiative. Whoever these people are, they offer us a means of progressing our own salvation and liberation. Rival corps will be scouring the wreckage soon enough. I already have boots on the ground. But I want a live survivor, the system is keen on wiping them out, as it did with the Xeno group st week. I suspect as always It will let a few souls into its grasp…
If you assist me, I’ll make you dinner, desert even. I know how much you love milk tart. And… anything else you desire. Unfortunately, my hands are tied by my more conservative peers. If you refuse, that’s fine as well.
Farewell, your former love.—Rumiel.
The machine beeped, then buzzed away. Ada clenches her fists as the hologram disappears.
Ada groans, making small whimpers and moans, then mock faints again, It was a performance, not for Erika but herself. She turns to the maid, who was staring at her with a cynical expression. “My life is over. Lovely Erika, I’m afraid we will see each other rarely in the coming days.”
“Shall I prepare your gear, my dy?”
Ada grumbled, there was no way out of it, find a live one, comeback and hope everyone else would ignore her after. “… Fine. Very well.”
“Stupid Rumiel.”
Didn’t he know she was over him, why would she willingly work with him again, after all they’ve been through? She knew why, despite it all, they’re a sliver of love, they still cared for each other.
Still Rumiel was doing her favor, this way the system would leave her alone for a while, put a little postponement on its checklist for her. But of course with her privilege of her status, things, couldn’t get better, only worse.
Legends. What a dumb name.
Erika handed her a pair of binocurs, Ada took it, peering miles away. Corporation drones, and enforcement ships, were already tailing the wreck. When it nded, new chaos would beset the city, and it will never sleep again, like it never did.
“Let’s get this over with.:"
