A past that never is

We docked in Zion the following week and dropped of the whiny bitch. Roland went to make his report to Locke, just as I was coming down the ramp, Thaddeus, the captain of the Osiris caught my arm.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

“For a few days off? Definitely.” I replied.

“Locke didn’t tell you that you’ve been temporarily transferred to the Osiris, has he?” He asked.

“I’ve been what? I didn’t put in for a transfer.”

“Lockes idea. We have yet to be fitted with power cell for the chairs and Locke said you had just worked on the ones here.” Thaddeus explained.

“How many days you staying docked for?” I asked.

“We’re already late, we had to wait for you to come in.”

“What? Oh, that’s just great.” Fuck you, Locke. I thought.

“How long are you heading out for?”

“A week, no more. We’re going to extract someone from the Matrix, then bring them back here.” He said. I turned back to the ship and Mauser, who was coming down the ramp.

“Tell the captain what happened for me.” I said. Then I threaded my way through the busy dock after Thaddeus. After we got on board he introduced me around to the rest of his crew, before he requested clearance from control and we left Zion.

Six days later

“Okay, time for the first test run. Robbie, jack me in.” I said. The chair was actually disconnected from the main power, so we’d be sure if it worked properly or not. Then I was inside the Matrix; I took out my mobile phone.

“Operator.” Robbie’s voice answered.

“Okay, transfer it to the mains. Then switch back to this one, then back to mains, okay. After that it should do it automatically when it needs to.” I told him. There was no telltale sign that the power was being switched around.

“Okay, let’s leave it run for a while, make sure it’s good.” I said, and hung up the phone. Two hours later I pulled out my phone again time to bring this little experiment to an end. There was no answer; in fact there was only silence. I pulled the phone away from my ear; no it was working fine. What was wrong? I wondered. If something was wrong they would have pulled me out. Was there something wrong with the Matrix? I figured I’d try again in an hour, until then I’d have to be really careful. I didn’t want to get caught by agents and have no way out.

But in an hour the same thing happened, silence. I pulled the phone back and punched in the number of the Hammer. But this was different, every few weeks we changed the number.

“Shit!” I muttered. I had no idea what the numbers were that the other ships used.

A few hours later

I started walking; I had to find a computer, talk to someone on the outside, and find out what was going on. And I still had to keep my eyes open, this had only been a test run, if I had run into a problem in here I could have been pulled straight out. As such I had brought no weapons, I spotted an Internet café nearby and I quickly stepped inside. Then I sat at the private booth and started hacking, into the computer on the Hammer. I knew whoever was watching the Matrix at the time would see my message, but unless it was AK the chances of them understanding the message was unlikely.

<Operator, what’s going on?> Then I sat back to wait for a reply.

((Second Person POV))

Maggie stared at the monitor, then glanced over at the figure who was about to go down the ladder.

“AK, you better come look at this.” She said. He turned around and came back.

“What is it?” He asked. Then he to stared at the screen, and the symbols flashing downwards.

“Move.” He said to Maggie.

<Who are you?> He typed.

<Something’s wrong here, I keep ringing and no one answers me. What’s going on?>

<Who are you?> He typed in again.

((Shifters POV))

I stared at the screen, finally some answers. But AK knew better than to ask that question, whenever we had to communicate like this the person inside the Matrix never used their name, nor were they called by their name.

<You know I can’t tell you. To easy to track once they know who I am. I need to know what happened, no one answers me when I try to contact them.> I knew that he might not know who I was from just this information, but I couldn’t risk giving him anymore.

((Switch back and forth back and forth))

“Get the captain up here. He should see this.” He paused in his reading as the tone for an incoming transmission came in, just as the captain arrived.

“Put it through, AK.” Roland said, as he picked up a headset. The face of Niobe, captain of the Logos appeared on a monitor. She bowed her head to Roland.

“I have some bad news. Five hours ago we received a transmission from the Osiris, it was under attack by sentinels. It was destroyed, all hands presumed dead. I’m sorry, Roland.” She stated. Roland froze. Shifter, dead? She couldn’t be. He shook his head, a terrible feeling of dread taking over. An eerie calm settled over him.

“Thank you, Niobe.” He said. Putting the headset down, he turned away but then he saw the symbols flashing down on the screen.

“What’s going on?” He asked, in a dead voice. AK stared blindly back at him, he to could not believe that Shifter was dead.

“Some hacker talking to us.” He replied.

<Operator, answer me. What the fuck is going on?!>

<How do you know my name?> he typed, there was a long pause before the answer came back.

<I last saw you six days ago, before I was transferred to another ship.>

“What the hell...?” AK muttered, he turned his head quickly.

“Captain, I think it’s Shifter.” Roland turned a look of surprise on his face.

“What?”

“Look.” AK pointed at the monitor.

<I take it from your silence that you now know who I am, and that something has happened. What is it?> floated down. At the same time AK was trying to trace the origin of this hacker.

“Found them. But I’m not sure if it’s her or not, to much interference.”

<A few hours ago a god in Egypt died a group of octopus pulled him down and drowned him, nothing remains of his body.> This time the pause was so long, that the crew had arrived on deck.

<I don’t understand, if he drowned then how am I still alive? We were testing the new cells, but if the god has no body, then how can I still be alive?> AK glanced at Roland, who was now looking a little happier, although not by much. AK understood why.

“Okay, the Logos has already sent us the last known co-ordinates of the Osiris. We’re going to the surface; we have no more than two days at most to find her. I’m going to Jack in, make sure this is Shifter and not someone else.” He said. Then he sat in one of the chairs and AK plugged him in. as soon as he was in the Matrix he reached into his jacket pocket for his phone.

“Which way?” He asked. Then headed of in the direction AK gave him.

((Shifters POV))

What the hell was going on?

<The weapon of Thor is working to find you. We think we might know what happened to you, but it will be explained in person.>

After you find me? That’s really useful. I thought. I heard the door of the café creak open and I looked up, I didn’t want any unwanted surprises, such as agents. But the doorway was shadowed and I couldn’t see who it was, I moved away from the computer and moved around the opposite corner from which...whoever that was, coming from. As soon as I was past them I ran out the door. Only then did I realise that I had never gotten the newer number from AK.

((Second person POV))

Rolands phone rang, he answered it just as he came to the computer Shifter was...or rather had been using.

“Where’d she go, AK?”

“As soon as you entered in there she bolted. I’ve tracked her down and she’s not carrying any weapons, you’d better find her soon, captain.” AK responded. Then started giving instructions on where she was.

((Shifters POV))

Come on move it, I told myself. If that was an agent back there then I’d be dead, I didn’t stop to think about that, the ‘if it was an agent’ part. I just kept moving, straight down into a dead end. Shit! I heard footsteps behind me and I quickly ducked behind a huge dumpster. The footsteps got closer and closer, I waited until they were right next to me and I reached out with my left hand grabbing them by the throat and slamming them up against the wall, my right hand moving to smash them in the face. I pulled back mere millimetres from Rolands face.

“Jesus Christ! Are you trying to scare me to death? Shit I thought you were a fucking agent.” I released him.

“It’s good to see you as well.” He said. I shook my head and let him pull me to him for a kiss.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” I said.

“Now what happened?”

“Niobe just contacted us. The Logos received a transmission from the Osiris a few hours ago, apparently they were being chased by sentinels and they had to make an emergency drop here. They were destroyed. AK thinks that part of the main deck; the part you were on was separated from the rest of the ship. It’s the only logical explanation. Which means that we have just under two days to find you.”

“Less than a day actually.” I told him.

“What?”

“We were practising with a half dead power cell. If it last twenty hours I’ll be deadly surprised, literally speaking.” I joked lamely, he didn’t laugh.

“It’s not funny. What were you thinking using a cell that wasn’t fully powered.”

“That we were just testing the chairs to make sure they worked properly.” His phone rang.

“What is it, AK?” He asked. He nodded once.

“Ok. Got it.” He hung up and shoved the phone back in his pocket.

“We’re on the surface, I have to go back.”

“I’ll walk with you.”

“I’m not so sure if that’s a good idea. What if agents how up?” He asked.

“Actually I was thinking more along the lines of you giving me your guns before you go back.” I said.

“I’m not so sure you need them.” He rubbed his neck ruefully.

“Sorry about that.” I mumbled.

“I think I would have done the same thing if I were in your position.” We finally got to the phone, which was already ringing. He pulled me into a tight hug for a moment, before letting me go again and handing me the two pistols that he always carried.

“You know I mean it when I say good luck, right?” I told him. He nodded and kept his eyes on my until he had disappeared back to the Hammer. Great, I thought to myself, I’m going to die here.

((Second Person POV))

“Anything yet?” Roland asked. Mauser, who was at holographics, shook his head.

“Nothing, captain.” He said.

“Captain, we have a problem down here.” AK’s voice came over the speakers.

“Found something, I think it’s her, captain.” Mauser said. Roland grabbed the radio.

“What is it, AK?” He asked. There was a pause before AK answered.

“Shifters going into shock, captain. In the Matrix I mean.” Mauser had already fed the co-ordinates to Colt, who was flying the ship in that direction.

“How bad?” Roland asked AK.

“I don’t know. But she is in that alley, keeping herself hidden.” Came the response. Roland silently willed the ship to move faster, finally it set down. He was down the ramp immediately, followed closely by Maggie, Colt and Mauser.

“Somewhere around here, sir.” Mauser said. Maggie moved toward what looked like a pile of sheet metal and lifted up one edge of it.

“She’s here.” She called across to the others. They lifted the metal of Shifter, and then each of them grabbed a part of the chair and carried it up into the ship. AK quickly connected it back up to the mains. Now that they were in full lighting they could see why she had gone into the shock in the Matrix, she had two major wounds on her, a long, but not very deep cut ran from her left knee to her ankle and a wound bisected her from her right shoulder to the centre of her chest, the white gleam of bone could be seen clearly through the cut flesh.

“I’m done.” AK announced, as he went to plug Roland in. Next thing Roland knew he was standing by the same hard-line he had last exited through. He moved quickly in the direction of the alleyway, where he found Shifter curled up on the ground, unconscious. He scooped her up in his arms and ran back for the exit, the phone was ringing and he picked it up and pressed it to her ear. She disappeared back into her own body. When the phone rang again he was ready. He opened his eyes to the sound of hitched breathing, he looked over at the chair Shifter was in, blood leaked from both major wounds as she struggled to sit up but AK held her down in the chair, while Maggie plunged the syringe she held into one of the plugs in Shifters arm. Instantly Roland was at her side, his hand reaching for hers. It took a few moments for the anaesthesia to take effect, and Roland didn’t think that she knew where she was. Slowly her eyes closed and then he picked her up once again and followed Maggie down to the infirmary, where he laid her gently on one of the examination beds. Then Maggie told him to leave so that she could take care of Shifter.