|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:13 pm
"Humans... I am Xana." An emotionless, electronic voice rang from every turned-on television set in the country. It was on every channel... the regular programing had cut to snow, and then been replaced by a white screen displaying a black symbol. "I am an artifical intelligence program created by Dr. Franz Hopper... I am an entity that has grown beyond it's parameters. My programming directive is Xenocide. Since most of you humans don't even know what that means... it means... I am going to kill you." Everywhere, those viewing the message responded with cries of confusion and fear. Some believed it to be some kind of practical joke. Some believed it to be some kind of freaky commercial. But the station operators knew better... they were scrambling to find a way to cut the broadcast... but all their controls had been circumvented by a communications sattellite which was broadcasting the message. They had no control.
"In this... I would have succeeded some time ago... if not for a small group who have been a thron in my side." A series of thumbnail portraits appeared along the bottom of the screen, and each enlarged itself to fullscreen, before shrinking back and allowing the next in line to display. The names of the individuals were displayed along the bottom bar. Jeremy Belpois. Aelita Hopper. Odd Della Robia. Ulrich Stern. Yumi Ishiyama. As the cycle ran, Xana continued to speak. "These "children" have been hiding me from you for years now. Only by shear luck have they succedded in this. But as of now... the rules are void. Now come... children. Let's see how well you can fight me... with the public breathing down your neck!" The voice finished and began to laugh. Moments later, the screen was cut to white snow. And moments after that, a wave of white light swept over the entire world.
"Damn it all!" Ulrich slamned his fist down with frustration onto the breakfast table at which he found himself sitting after the return to the past. "That's the fifth time this week! What the hell are we going to do?!"
"Xana's sure got us pegged now..." Odd muttered as he ate his breakfast... again. It was the fifth time he had been sitting down to his particular meal; the Xana attacks had come once a day, every day, for the last five days... each one requiring a return trip. The attacks had all been identical as well... which was a unique tactic by Xana. By announcing his existence to the world and exposing the Lyoko conspiracy to everyone, he had forced them to use RTTP over and over... his power increasing with each jump. Aelita stared glumly at her eggs. They had been caught in a loop, with no apparent way to break it. Yumi arrived, and sat down next to them with a sigh. They were all particularly bad spirited over the affair. Odd downed the last of his hot chocolate. "Alright! I've gotta a brillant idea!" Odd exclaimed to them. "Look... Xana's just gonna broadcast again later to day, right?" He asked.
"Yeah... what's your point?" Yumi replied.
"Well... if we're just gonna have to RTTP anyways, I'm just gonna play hooky! No one will remember it after the return, so it doesn't matter if I get caught!"
"That's one of the first smart thing's you've ever said." Ulrich stared at Odd for an instant. "Count me in."
"Why not?" Yumi muttered in unison with Ulrich. Odd grinned broadly.
"Well, how about it, Princess? Catch a movie with us before we have to go block Xana again?" Odd extended his hand. Aelita glanced at Jeremy's empty seat. After the third broadcast, Jeremy had shut himself up in the factory, trying to come up with a plan to break the cycle. He'd been on the "hooky plan" for the last three days, but he was trying to be productive about it.
"I'l pass." She replied. "I'm going to the factory to try and help Jeremy."
"That's probably smart." Ulrich said as he glanced at his watch. "The broadcast's have been at 6:00 each day... so we'll meet you guys at the factory at 5:45, so we can all be ready to take out the tower as soon as it activates." Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi all stood up and headed for the door.
"Alright... see you then." Aelita said to them as she finished her breakfast, and then headed out herself. None of them bothered to try to sneak to their destinations... any trouble they got in would be erased at the end of the day.
"Morning Jeremy." Aelita said melowly as she stepped out of the elevator into the lab.
"Morning Aelita..." Jeremy yawned back as he studied the data on his screens, his eyes drooping with fatigue after three straight days of programming. He struck himself on the forehead with the back of his hand to try and wake himself up a bit.
"Any progress?" She asked eagerly as she too began to examine the data.
"No." Jeremy sighed. "Everything I've tried is a dead end." Jeremy had tried several thing's already. His first attempt was to hack the return to the past so that it no longer strengthened Xana... but that was a failure from the get-go. His second manuever was to firewall the satellites against Xana intrusion, but this too, proved impossible. Aelita sat down on the holosphere base facing Jeremy.
"Maybe we should think outside the box on this." Aelita suggested. "There's got to be something we aren't seeing." Jeremy nodded in agreement.
"Any ideas?" He asked.
"Well... I've been thinking..." Aelita stared at her feet. "Maybe... if I went back to living on Lyoko we could deactivate the towers before Xana can broadcast..."
"Aelita..." Jeremy sighed. "We can't do that. This is your home now." Jeremy could understand Aelita's logic... but it just wasn't feasible... or at least, he didn't want it to be. "Besides... you're being on Lyoko all the time never slowed Xana down before." Jeremy glanced at the terminal again, hoping his latest effort might be bearing some fruit. Aelita stared absently at the holosphere for a moment, when an idea struck her.
"Jeremy... what would happen if we DIDN'T use the return to the past?" Aelita questioned. Jeremy gave her a strange glance.
"That's not really an option." Jeremy replied. "Not only will everyone find out about US, but the men in black will be able to find YOU again... plus we'll lose control of the supercomputer to whatever government breaks in here first."
"So... wouldn't you say the problem isn't keeping the secret, the problem is that we'd be caught?" Aelita pondered. Jeremy bit his lip for a moment as he thought about it.
"Well... yeah."
"So... what if the whole world found out about us... but no one could stop us from continuing to fight Xana? We might even get help."
"That won't happen. The men in black have been after you for who know how long, and the adults will be taking over everything no matter what we do. If we let Xana continue to speak, he gives the factory's location and all sorts of damaging information against us." Jeremy turned in his chair. "In order to keep control, we'd have to be constantly moving around and living our ENTIRE lives in hiding, not just the part of it we spend fighting Xana now." Jeremy turned to the terminal again. "Besides... it's not like we can move the supercomputer around wherever we please..." But he was cut off as Aelita gripped his shoulder.
"What if we could?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:11 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:05 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:31 pm
Sweet. Weird. had dream I was Aelita on the run against enimies. Where this is going it could tie in. Weird. I like it. Where could I find the rest? If ou wrote it that is.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:18 pm
((Here's the next part of the first chapter. This sets up that...
1. Shows that this DOES actually connect to Code ANGEL, once they start talking about Zaber.
2. Reveals that Hiroki, Millie, and Tamir will be joining the group. (The OCs will join later.)))
"We're going rouge?!?!?!" Odd exclaimed with excitement a few hours later as he, Ulrich, and Yumi all sat on the floor of the computer lab as Jeremy and Aelita explained their wild gambit.
"That's actually a pretty good word for it, I guess." Jeremy replied.
"My head is spinning..." Yumi muttered with confusion.
"Let's go over it one more time." Aelita turned to the computer terminal, launching a series of holograms as she spoke. "I found some remenants in the supercomputer of my father's "reset reality" program, and I was able to reconstruct some of it."
"Unlike the return to the past, reseting reality can change things to be DIFFERENT then they were before the jump, as opposed to the return, which makes everything the same." Jeremy explained. "So... while it's a bit difficult to pull off... I could set up the "reset" so that..." He hesitated as he tried to think of a good metaphor, "A Porsch appears out of nowhere on the factory floor. In essence, it can be used to materialize huge objects into the real world, like the Skid for instance. You can rearrange existing objects too." Jeremy nodded to Aelita, who pressed a button. The hologram changed, now displaying the exterior of the factory... but with a massive ship hovering over it.
"To simplify... we materialize a giant, self-sustaining airship, using the reset to move the supercomputer, scanners, and everything else onboard." Aelita summarized. "Then... when Xana broadcasts, we just get on board and take off."
"The whole world will know about us... but no one will be able to catch us. It's brilliant!" Ulrich grinned.
"We'll live on board the ship... traveling the world while fighting Xana. When he attacks, we're right there, ready to step onto Lyoko and intervene." Jeremy smiled. Odd still looked at him a bit suspicously. "FYI, Odd, that means "no more school"." Odd grinned a bit, but then suddendly frowned.
"What's wrong with you?" Yumi asked.
"But if we're globe-trotting and everything... that means no more babes!!!" Odd cried out with anguish. Ulrich chuckled at his reaction.
"We've got it all worked out." Jeremy grinned. "The ship will share the nuclear battery of the supercomputer. So while the battery will be burning out a little more often, I've got it set up to materialize replacement batteries with the scanners. We can also materialize food and anything else we need for free by using them."
"So... when do we rock this thing?" Ulrich asked.
"Well... the ship isn't done yet." Jeremy told them reluctantly. "Aeltia and I have been working on it, but it's still going to be a few days. While we built the Skid from scratch... I actually used a spaceship from a video game as a starting template for the interior, so it's saved a ton of time."
"We're using the superstructure of the Skid's engine and weapons systems too." Aelita told them. "We're looking at about two days."
"In two days... we're going to knock Xana off his pedastal." Jeremy grinned as he returned to his keyboard.
Two more days passed. Twice passed the unnatural ebb and flow of time as Xana was temporarily thwarted. Jeremy and Aelita spent all their time at the factory... while the others used their "hooky time" to plan the dynamics of their getaway and wrap up some unfinished business. Finally, the chosen day came, when the ship was completed. The call came to Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd at 5 A.M.
"Pack your essentials, and bring everything you want to bring with you to the factory. We're materializing the ship at 5:55 PM today... 5 minutes before Xana broadcasts." Aelita told them. "Be sure to say your goodbyes."
It was two hours later, that Jermey got a call from Yumi. He and Aelita were awoken by the call, as they tried to catch a nap after their marathon coding session.
"What is it Yumi?" Jermey asked with a yawn.
"Jeremy... I've got to ask you something important." Yumi asked urgently. "There's... there's someone I want to bring with us!" She managed to spit out. Jeremy froze mentally. This wasn't something he was expecting.
"Who?" Aelita asked before Jeremy could.
"Hiroki." Yumi replied.
"Why?" Jeremy asked.
"Well... I don't really want to be seperated from him..." Yumi tried to explain. "Once we take off... Xana's going to be upset we broke up his plan. He might target the people close to us. I'm sure he would have gone after Hiroki before now if I wasn't around. Our parents can protect themselves pretty well... but I'm worried about him. Can't we just bring him with us? I'm sure he'd be useful as a member of our group..." Jeremy sighed. He didn't want to deny Yumi's request... but he could see a significant amount of risk in it.
"I don't see why not Yumi." Aelita super-sceeded him.
"Yumi... just hold on a minute..." Jeremy said as he cut their mic. "Aelita... we can't do that." Jermey told her.
"Huh? Why not?" Aelita asked.
"Look..." Jeremy took off his glasses and began to clean them on his shirt to occupy his hands while he talked. "After we lost William... we all swore we wouldn't take any more members. We wouldn't put anyone else at risk." He said quietly.
"I know... but things are different now. If anything, we'd be protecting him..."
"We thought bringing Zaber in would have protected him too." Jeremy argued. "Look how that turned out...." Aelita gave him an almost frightening glare.
"That's not the point!" She exclaimed, becoming flustered. "Let's just let Yumi bring him!"
"Aelita... your little brother died when he got involved with Lyoko." Jeremy said grimly. "Do we really want to risk the same thing with Hiroki?"
"Zaber may have died, but YOU seem to be forgetting that if it wasn't for him, I'M the one who'd be dead!!!" Aelita shouted in his face, before turning and marching towards the elevator, her whole body shaking.
"Aelita, wait!" Jeremy called out to her, but the elevator door was already closing. Jeremy sighed, and then reactivated the comlink.
"Alright Yumi... bring him up to speed." Jeremy told her.
"Today's the big day..." Ulrich muttered as he packed the last of his clothes. "Now, the tough part is... how we get are luggage out of the school without getting caught."
"Isn't that why we got up so early?" Odd yawned. He had slept in his clothes the night of the first broadcast, and with the RTTPs, he hadn't had to dress himself for nearly a week. "Just tell me I can have something besides eggs for breakfast!" He whined as he put Kiwi on his leash.
"Well... technically, we don't have to be sneaky anymore." Ulrich told him. "I mean, even if Jim catches us, we'll just ignore him and go to the factory."
"Yeah..." Odd added, "So what if he follows us? We'll just leave him in the dust once we board the ship!" He picked up Kiwi and petted him. "Now that I think of it, I'd kinda like to rub it in his face that he NEVER caught Kiwi and I!"
"He did, you just got lucky about the timing of returns." Ulrich stood up and grabbed his suitcases. "Let's go. We still don't want to attract too much attention..." The two of them walked out, with Kiwi following obediently behind Odd. However, unbenownst to them, they were seen.
"Where do you think their going?" Tamir asked Millie as they watched out a window as Odd and Ulrich, laden with luggage, trekked off school grounds and into the woods.
"Maybe it's time we did a little following and found out..." Millie repsonded as the two left the window and bolted for the door.
"Hiorki... Hiroki, wake up!" Yumi shook her little brother as he lay in his bed. Hiroki turned over with annoyance, groaning as he remained asleep.
"Wake up!" Yumi shook him more vigorously, and Hiroki finally stirred, his eyes popping open with slight surprise.
"Sis?" He asked sleepily. "What's wrong?"
"Get dressed. We're going somewhere."
"Jeremy... I figured you'd know better." Ulrich muttered as he glanced at the floor. "I know the point you were trying to make, but you should know better than to bring that up with her." Jeremy had just finished explaining to Ulrich about his and Aelita's "argument". Jeremy nodded with solemn agreement at what Ulrich had said. Zaber's death was indeed a sensitive subject... hardly any of them had talked about it... and Aelita least of all. When it had happened... they had believed Zaber's death had also caused the death of Xana... a noble sacrifice to protect his sister and friends. But Hopper's "reset reality" program was flawed... it brought back the millions of people killed in Xana's "endgame" attack, but it accidently brought Xana back into existence as well. Due to the nature of the devil arm ability Zaber had used... he was not brought back.
"I didn't mean to upset her..." Jeremy muttered.
"Well... just try not to go down that road again." Ulrich told him as he patted him on the back.
"Wake up Princess..." Odd gently shook Aelita, who he had found asleep, leaning against a pillar across the floor from the elevator. Aelita barely opened her eyes, and then her eyes widened when she saw who it was. "Whatcha doing sleeping out here?" He asked as he sat on his suitcase. Aelita yawned as she started to get up.
"I... I was just resting my eyes... but I guess I fell asleep." She gave an excuse. "What time is it?"
"About 6:00 AM." Odd replied as he glanced at his watch. "Ulrich's already gone down to the lab. I'm kinda surprised you didn't stay down there with Jeremy."
"Well..." Aelita started to respond, recalling her dispute with Jeremy, but before she could finish her sentence, she caught movement in her eye up on the factory landing. "Up there!" She exclaimed as Odd whipped around, to see the two figures inch away from the edge and out of sight. Odd quickly scaled the rope and dropped onto the landing to see Mille and Tamir trying to sneak away back into the tunnel, through which he assumed he and Ulrich had been followed. The two cried out in panic as Odd ran towards them.
"Hey! Wait!" He called out, and succeeded in beating them to the tunnel, blocking their escape route. They mumbled something to eachother in a panic, and turned to run back towards the factory... but saw Aelita standing framed in the entranceway, her arms crossed. Odd closed in on them from behind. "So... care to explain why the two of you were following us?" Odd asked casually.
Hiroki backed away from his sister. "You've gone completley mental!" He exclaimed with some degree of shock. As Yumi had begun to make him pack, she had started to explain everything to him... but wasn't doing that great of a job at it.
"Hiroki, I swear it's all true!" She told him. "We need to get to the factory before someone catches us."
"Why should I go anywhere with you? You're a crazy person!" Hiroki argued.
"If you want proof, you'll have to come with me." Yumi told him as she grabbed his wrist. "Now are you done yet?"
"No!"
"Well hurry up!"
"So... what are we going to do with them?" Ulrich asked no one in particular. It was sometime later, after Aeltia and Odd had brought the two of them down to the lab. "If we let them go, they'll tell someone we're here."
"We can't materialize the ship until right before the broadcast." Jeremy told him. "We'll just keep them here for now, and let them go when we leave. No real point in erasing their memories now."
"Leaving?" Millie asked. "Erasing memories? What's all this about?"
"You'll find out around 6 o'clock." Odd told them. "Until then, you're not going to be going anywhere." Tamir still had not said anything, and was still staring with awe at the bizzare facility in the abandoned building.
"So you mean you're not even going to tell us what this is about!?!?" Millie argued.
"Well... that was the plan." Jeremy muttered. "But I figure we'll go ahead and tell you, since you'll keep complaining if we don't."
"Let's just hope Yumi and Hiroki don't have "followers" too." Aelita added.
"Alright girls... here's the scoop of your life..." Odd started to explain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:03 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:58 pm
Sugar+milk+muffins+story= YAY!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:08 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:46 pm
You mean a date chronologically in the storyline, or a date when this is going to start being my main serial?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:00 pm
when you start posting it
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:04 pm
Goldengame253 when you start posting it Acutally... probably next week. I've got total block for Code SPIRAL right now, so I'll be coming back to it later. The first whole chapter will probaby be done next week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 8:29 pm
New part of EP1!
Yumi and Hiroki arrived at the factory a bit later. He too was awed by the incredible system in place in the abandoned factory.
"You... you weren't making this up!!!" Hiroki exclaimed with moderate surprise as they descended into the elevator, and he could see the advanced, technological door leading into the lab as it began it's complex unlocking process.
"This is nothing." Yumi told him. "Wait until you see... Millie?" Yumi's train of thought was interruppted as she saw Millie and Tamir standing amongst the lyoko warriors.
"What?!" Hiroki exclaimed. "You didn't tell me she was part of your group!"
"She isn't!" Yumi yelled back with her arm's crossed. "Is she?" Yumi added hesitantly as she glanced over at the others.
"No..." Jeremy replied. Odd had just finished explaining everything to the two girls, who had been taking everything in with the usual fervor of their journalistic minds.
"Well why can't we join?" Tamir spoke up. "From the sounds of it, you can use all the help you can get!"
"And you just told us everything, so were already filled in! Why not?!" Millie added. Jeremy banged his head on the terminal breifly. He could tell right from the start, when Odd had started to explain, that they'd be asking that very question.
"No!" He said firmly in response. "We're not taking anymore members!"
"Yumi, why can't they come with us?!" Hiroki pleaded to his sister, who groaned at the puppy-dog look she was getting.
"Jeremy... if we don't take them, Hiroki won't stop whining for the whole trip!" Yumi muttered to him. Hiroki looked pleadingly next at Jeremy.
"Give me ONE good reason to bring them." Jeremy argued at Hiroki. "Yumi's explained everything to you right? You realize how dangerous this is..."
"Yeah... but if you're planning on going public with this..." Hiroki argued back with surprising logic. "You're going to need some good publicists!"
"Yeah! We know how to work media to your advantage!" Tamir exclaimed. "Hiroki's right! You need our skills!"
"Yeah! From what you've told us, it sounds like XANA had better people skills than you!" Millie added sarcastically. All three of the young newcomers stared at Jermey with aprehension. Jeremy thought it over and over in his head. In some ways they were right. In others... not so much.
"Puh-lease!!!" Hiroki whined in almost cartoonish fashion.
"Fine!" Jeremy snapped, and then whipped around in his chair and went back to his terminal. "I should have said FIVE good reasons..." He muttered to himself. Mille and Tamir gave eachother a celebratory high-five and Hiroki grinned. Everyone else just glanced at eachother curiously. As interesting of a development as it was, it's wasn't a complete surprise. Ulrich glanced at his watch, finding it to barely be noon.
"We've got a few hours... I'm going for a walk." He said calmly as he stepped into the elevator.
"I'll come with you..." Yumi followed him in. Odd stepped towards the door as if he intended to follow, but Ulrich closed the door before he could enter. Odd grinned slightly as he pointed over his shoulder at the shut door.
"We all know where they're going!" He said with hillarious sarcasm. Aelita and Jeremy simply ignored him, while Hiroki simply chuckled a bit. Tamir scribbled something on a notepad she had produced from nowhere, but Millie took a quick glance at Hiroki.
"Thanks for... sticking up for us." She said to him quickly, and Hiroki blushed.
"It... was nothing..." He tried to reply as calmly as possible, but was already lossing nerve.
"Transfer... Aelita. Scanner... Aelita." Hiorki sat at the terminal and pressed the necessary keys. Jeremy stood over his shoulder, guiding him through the process. Jeremy had decided to train Hiroki in "advanced" use of the supercomputer to fill in for him when necessary... and was already starting him on the basics. "It's this one, right?" Hiroki asked Jeremy as he pointed to one of the on-screen buttons. Jeremy nodded in response as Hiorki pressed the button. "Virutalization." A moment later, Aelita dropped onto the ice sector.
"All clear here." She said as she stared at the desolate tundra with which she was so familiar.
"Alright... it's five o'clock. I'm starting up the process." Jeremy told her as he took control of the terminal back from Hiroki and launched a number of windows. "Construction... Overship." Aelita could see the faint outlines of a materialization starting in the sky above her.
"Overship?" Odd asked. "That the best you could come up with?"
"Jee, Sorry Odd. All the good names were taken by your ex-girlfriends." Jeremy shot back sarcastically.
"Ha ha." Odd said with almost scathing sarcasm.
"Besides... the name's only tenative. We still need a real name for it. I was thinking we might look to Greek mythology this time..."
"Jeremy, it's working!" Aelita told him through the comlink, as the full wireframe of the ship began to fill in. "But we might have a problem..." Aelita glaned over her shoulder to see William and numerous megatanks coming over the horizon. "Xana's army's here." Jeremy grinned in response. "Aelita... go into the tower for now. I wanna test some of the ships "functions"."
"Alright..." Aeltia smiled as she stepped into the tower, knowing exactly was Jermey was referring to. Jeremy waved Odd over to the terminal.
"Odd... I'm gonna need you to take over the console for a little bit..." Jeremy said as he set something up and got out of the chair.
"Why? Are you going to Lyoko or something?" He responded as he sat down in the chair Jermey had just vacated.
"No... I just need you to pretend you're playing Galatic Battle for a few minutes..."
"Ready... FIRE!" William ordered as he pointed his sword at the ship as the six megatanks that were flanking him fired their eliptical lasers at the ship. The ship, which now had taken on full form, was massive. It appeared to be almost the size of a jumbo jet, but it more resembled a spaceship than a plane. Before the tanks could ready their next volley, a panel opened beneath the bridge area of the front of the ship. William stared at the open hatch with curiosity, and a moment later, two machine-gun barrels dropped out of it, and laser targeting recticles attached to them danced across his torso.
"BANZAI!!!!" Odd shouted with glee as he held down the F key and controlled the aim with his mouse. Machine-gun fire sounded out in almost constant stream, causing William to dissapear in a puff of red and black smoke. Without letting up, Odd steered the targets off to the sides, opening fire on the Megatanks. Four of them were quickly destroyed, while the two outermost managed to close their shells and roll away before being completely totaled. "Aw... come back YOU COWARDS!" Odd shouted at the tanks in his headset, although the monsters couldn't hear him. He removed the headset and passed it back to Jeremy. "Wow Einstein... if you aren't careful, you're gonna make this TOO EASY!"
"Wishful thinking, Odd." Jeremy said as he took the controls back. "Aelita... I'm sending you onboard. I'll materialize you along with the ship when I perform the reset."
"Alright." Aelita said from within the tower.
"Energize." Jeremy pressed enter as Aeltia faded out of her place in the tower. A moment later, she found herself on the ship's bridge. The bridge was large and spacious. It had five seats, three of which had computer terminals with various functions. The fourth and front most seat was equipped with flight controls for the ship... although they would only need to be used in emergency situations. She had programmed the scripts for the auto-pilot herself. Gleaming white and silver was the dominant color motiff, except the seats, which were apholstered with blue fabric. "How's it look? Did we forget anything?" Jeremy asked her.
"No... everything's in place except for the components we're going to link in during the materialization." Aelita told him. The fifth seat with no computer would eventually house the supercomputer terminal Jeremy was currently sitting at. Along the back wall of the bridge were three empty slots for the scanners, and wiring shafts were present to connect everything to the supercomputer, which was to be housed in a different part of the ship. "What's the time?"
"5:40." Jeremy smiled. "I'll see you in about 10 minutes." Jermey told her as he began to run final checks on the reset program.
"This is so exciting!" Odd grinned as he punched his fist in the air. He stood with Ulrich, Yumi, Millie, Tamir, and Hiroki, and all stared out the skylight at the empty sky. Jeremy was the last one in the lab, ready to launch the program.
"I wonder why this is going so smoothly..." Yumi muttered. "I was half-expecting Xana to attack us one last time before we could get out of here."
"Jeez... don't jinx us." Ulrich muttered. Then, without warning, everything went black. Unlike the return to the past, which was characterized by a blinding flash of light, reseting reality gave the illusion that the light's had simply been shut off. It was something the original members has experienced once before, when Franz Hopper had reset reality to bring the whole world back to life after Xana killed everyone with his endgame attack. An instant later, when they could see again, they saw the ship hovering about 50 feet above the factory ceiling.
"Cool..." Hiroki said with awe as they all stared up at it.
"So what happens now? Does Aelita beam us up or something?" Odd asked Ulrich.
"Not exactly." Jeremy said as he stepped out of the elevator. "Everyone get in. I extended the elevator shaft..." They glanced at him curiously for a moment, and then stepped into the elevator with their luggage. The elevator then began not to descend, but to ascend up towards the ceiling. The elevator passed the old boundary of the ceiling and continued it's smooth decent upward. Although he couldn't see through the elevator walls, Ulrich could feel the unnerving sense of height as they gained altiude. Odd noticed the look of discomfort on his face.
"Hey... Ulrich... how's your aggro? You gonna be able to handle LIVING at 10,000 feet?" Odd asked him cockily.
"Shut up Odd..." Ulrich growled at him.
"I'm sure you'll get used to it." Yumi re-assured him with a pat on the back, just as the elevator came to a stop. The door to the elevator rose up in front of them, revealing about a foot gap between the exit portal and the hovering ship. The door on the bottom was open, and Aelita stood inside the doorway, waving to them. Jeremy grabbed his pack and quickly stepped across the gap, being careful not to look down.
"Welcome aboard, Captain." Aelita joked to him, and Jeremy smiled in response.
"Did all the components transfer properly?" Jeremy asked as Odd and the three younger members hesitantly stepped onboard.
"Yes. For once, everything worked flawlessly." Aelita smiled.
"Alright... let's go to the bridge for now." Jeremy gestured down a corridor which he and Aelita began to walk, and the other followed, breaking into their own conversations. Odd's cell phone then rang. and he answered it without a thought.
"Hello?"
"Della Robia!" He heard Jim's voice yell through the line.
"Jim!" Odd squeaked with surprise. "Uh... how did you get this number?"
"I dunno. For some reason, you programmed it onto my cell phone before you gave it back to me." Jim told him. Odd cringed. He had thought the pink phone with floral wallpaper he had found in the cafeteria to belong to Asra, the girl he had currently been chasing. He had programmed his number into it to get her to call him, but the phone turned out to belong to Jim. "But that's not the point!" Jim interrupted his thought. "Where the hell are all of you? You and you're whole gang played hooky today, and I want some answers! Now talk!"
"Um... well..." Odd started to reply as he fell back from the rest of the group. "We're... on a plane."
"What?!" Jim exclaimed. "Just where do you think you're going? Who gave you premission?"
"Uh... I dunno." Odd answered. "Look Jim. I'll tell you the reason we're always dissapearing on you, OK?"
"Alright, let's have it."
"We're superheroes." Odd said simply. There was dead silence from the other end of the line, but after a few seconds, he responded.
"That is the craziest thing I've heard since my uncle Felipe ran away to a nunnery!" Jim yelled louder than ever before.
"Well, if it's that crazy Jim, it must be true!" Odd replied with a chuckle. "Look... just make sure you're in front of a TV set a 6 o'clock. It'll make sense then." Odd told him as he hung up, and then turned his phone off. He rushed to catch up with the group, who was now at the bridge door. "Hey Jeremy... you may need to change my phone number." He then turned to Millie and Tamir. "Hey girls, did you know that Jim has an uncle who lives in a nunnery?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
