Raising Akira

((Posting this on my wife's account until I can resub.  For the record, this is open for others to contribute to the story if they wish.))

01/09 - 1442 hours.
HvCFT Scarlet Hotei - Mess Hall.

"Where did the Captain say we were en route to?" Corrine asked, from behind a crudely-fashioned tin cup.  Though the beverage inside wasn't anything she was used to from her life as a bluepill, it was warm and it was drinkable and that was all that mattered when the chill of the tunnels began to set in on days like today.

"...He didn't say.  He doesn't, much, anymore... just gives us the coordinates and tells us to take them." Ilea responded, staring down at a small PDA-like device while eating a spoonfull of goop.

Corrine nodded knowingly.

"It's kind of late to be sitting down to lunch, isn't it?" She asked.

"I couldn't sit down any earlier.  I had to cover Trinite at the helm... better to eat now, while I can." Ilea replied, before making some adjustments and putting away the PDA to focuse her full attention on the conversation she was having.  "With all of this secrecy, I have no idea what Phrack will have me doing when it's time for supper." She sighed.

Corrine didn't respond.  Instead, she moved up at sat on the bench across the table from Ilea; still holding her cup with both hands.

"I can't help but notice that we've been moving to broadcast depth less and less lately." Corrine noted.  "Why do you suppose that is?"

Ilea shrugged.  She didn't have any answers.

"You've known him as long as I have, Corrine.  Heh, you've worked around him longer than I have.  I have no idea what goes on in his head, or why he acts the way he does.  I've just learned from experience to nod my head and follow orders, just like everyone else on this ship." She replied.

"...Yeah, you've got a point.  He still doesn't let me know much, though." Corrine said, her tone somewhat dejected.  "There's only a few people I've ever met that really seem to understand him, and his contact with them has been non-existant for a long time now."

"Doesn't your shift start in about ten minutes?" Ilea asked.

"Yeah, I'm about to finish this and go on up to my post." Corrine said, motioning to the cup in her hand.

--

01/09 - 1518 hours.
HvCFT Scarlet Hotei - Operations Deck.

Illuminated green kanji and numerics fell down the black monitor like trails of condensation.  After all these years, she was so used to it that it didn't even look like code to her anymore.  It was a constant window into the Matrix, a world she'd never be able to enter... and part of her always regretted being freeborn because of that.

Corrine stretched her arms above her head, as she knew that the shift was going to be a long one... and cursed herself for not getting more sleep the night before.

The truth of the matter was that without anyone jacking in, she couldn't be more bored.  She absolutely hated it.  At least when peoples lives were in peril, there was always something to do and something to keep her entertained.  Still, part of her hated thinking that... she knew to be careful what she wished for.

Before she could complete her next thought, she was interruped by the familiar sound of the ship's proximity alarm.

"...*CENSORED* it." She muttered, before springing to action and putting her headset on.  "What's the situation?" She said into the microphone of her headset, as her body poised over the keyboard.

"Two sentinels are approaching fast.  They've already spotted us." Phrack's voice came through the headset from the bridge of the ship.

Corrine didn't respond aloud, but she was swearing in her head.  She didn't know how far away the sentinels were, but she knew that they couldn't blow the ship's EMP without first setting down and powering down all of the systems.  At the speed they were currently going, she doubted they could do it in time.

"Attention.  Two sentinels are rapidly approaching.  I need all hands on deck... man the aft turrets!" Phrack's voice came from the ship's intercom system.  Heavy feet could be heard slamming on the metal grating of the deck throughout the ship.  Things were about to get hairy.

--

01/10 - 1802 hours.
Old Zion.

"So the recent damage done to the ship was the result of a sentinel attack." Captain Irah noted aloud.  "And Phrack was present during this attack?" He asked.

"...No, I just said he was because I wanted to see your reaction." Corrine quipped back, the thin corners of her mouth twisted into a sarcastic smirk.  It was obvious to her that Irah was not amused by her demeanor, as he glared back at her from across the table.

"That was unnecessary.  If you're not going to cooperate with this investigation..."

"No, interrupting me was unnecessary.  Boarding the ship and rendering the crew unconscious was unnecessary.  Placing us in custody and dragging us back to this city for interrogation was unnecessary!" Corrine snarled.  "Now, if you want answers, you're going to shut up and listen.  I think I've earned the right to speak without interruption."

Silence ensued for a moment, as Captain Irah stared blankly at her from across the table.  When he finally blinked, he looked at the table while he rose from his chair without a word.

"Guards, see Corrine back to her holding cell.  I'll be noting her lack of cooperation in his investigation in her file... maybe spending the night in solitude will alter her demeanor." He said, before turning to leave.

Corrine was in shock, not knowing quite what to say as the two guards approached her.

"Hey!  Irah!" She finally blurted out, as she was pulled to her feet.

Irah turned to face her, the door open for him to leave.

"This isn't right, and you know it." She said, more seething than yelling.

Irah nodded and smiled a polite yet insincere smile.

"You're correct.  This isn't right." He said, before closing the door behind him.

01/11 - 0807 hours.
Old Zion.

The door to the interrogation room opened, giving the familiar sound of a bank vault opening.  Ilea was under restraint, and being led by two E Pluribus Neo soldiers who were on guard duty, as she entered the interrogation room where Captain Irah was already waiting.  He hadn't even looked up when she was led into the room.  Instead, he sat at the table with his hand across his brow as he read over various reports that were scattered across his end of the table.

The guards took her to the opposite end of the table, and motioned for Ilea to sit in the empty chair.  When she did, they moved to the other end of the room and stood without word.

"You are Ilea." Irah said, still without looking at her.

"Yes." She answered.

"Good."

Silence followed.  It became obvious to her that these were psychological tactics to make her uncomfortable during the length of the interrogation.  She was never a fan of psychology and had certainly never studied it... her job required her to be in the field.  But she knew there was nothing that these guys could throw at her that was worse than what she'd faced when jacked into the Matrix.

"You've been an operative for some time now, haven't you Ilea?" Irah finally asked her, as he looked at her and leaned back in his seat.

"Yes I have." She answered again.

"And you were a self-substantiation, weren't you?  Awakened when you witnessed a redpill battle with the Assassin?" He asked.

She nodded, quietly.

"That's fascinating.  He was a nasty character, that's for sure." Irah commented.

Part of her wondered why he was shooting the breeze with her, when it had nothing to do with what he wanted to talk to her about.  She was sitting alone in her cell the night before, when the guards had escorted Corrine down the hallway.  She'd watched through the porthole as they took her to her own cell, without a word, and locked her away.  She couldn't help but wonder how the interrogation had gone.

"Tell me about the sentinel attack on the Scarlet Hotei.  Where were you when the alarm sounded?  What happened during the dogfight?" He asked, finally getting to his point.

--

01/09 - 1527 hours.
HvCFT Scarlet Hotei - Aft Gun Bay.

Her small frame launched into the seat without hesitation, her skin illuminated by red flashing lights throughout the cabin.  She no sooner wrapped her fingers around the gun controls than she saw the two squids chasing the ship.  It was a sight that she'd never gotten used to, and the various glowing red optics were something that gave her nightmares.

She responded, handling the trigger with ease as she felt the vibration of the gun as it fired.  Ammunition exploded in the direction of the two metallic beasts, some making direct hits, while some ricocheted off of their chassis.

The velocity of the ship was increasing rapidly, and she could feel the engines humming louder than before.  They'd increased speed... something to be expected when running from these monsters.  Round after round of hot metal were shot in the direction of the pursuing threat.  She watched in fear and anticipation as they twisted and twirled through the tunnels in an attempt to evade the incoming fire.  Oh how she hated them.

"Captain, they're gaining!" Ilea yelled into the microphone of the headset.

"Buy us some time, Ilea.  We've got to put some space between them and us before we can do anything about them." His voice came from across the headset.

Easy for him to say.

She felt the ship jump, as it accelerated and ascended up another tunnel.  She braced herself, before reopening fire on the two squids that weren't expecting the sudden turn.  The incoming fire combined with the sudden change of course had provided the ship with a little gain, but it wouldn't for long... and since they were travelling vertically there wasn't much else that could be done.  She hoped that the ship would reach the end of the tunnel and level out again before the sentinels got close again.

--

01/09 - 1533 hours.
HvCFT Scarlet Hotei - Bridge.

Trinite's head was being pushed into the headrest of her seat, from the force at their acceleration up the tunnel.  Beside her, Phrack's knuckles were turning white from his strong grip on the throttle.

"Hold together, you pile of crap..." He snarled under his breathe.

Their surroundings flew past them with increasing speed, and the ship was shaking from the force of their incline and the overuse of the engines.

"I thought that device you installed on the ship was supposed to keep them off of us." Trinite said, as she pounded at various controls.

"...It was." Phrack answered from beside her.

"Well, it didn't." She retorted.

Phrack's eyes met hers for a brief instant before he turned to look back in the direction of the cockpit window.  He didn't have to say a word for her to know what he was thinking at that moment.  But before she could complete the next thought, her concentration was interrupted by a small alarm.  Simulatneously, the two of them glanced at the readout.

> WARNING!
> PAD 6 INSTABILITY.
> PAD 7 INSTABILITY.

"Great." Phrack mouthed, before slamming his fist onto the control for the intercom.  "Novaho!  What the hell is happening to my ship?!"

"We can't keep pushing it at this rate, the engines are straining." Novaho answered from across the intercom.  "You keep this up and we'll be lucky if we're just limping afterward."

"I can turn around and let you explain that to those two squids behind us." Phrack growled.

"We're losing speed." Trinite said, pointing to the display.

--

01/09 - 1539 hours.
HvCFT Scarlet Hotei - Aft Gun Bay.

The ship had somehow managed to stay ahead of the sentinels, but Ilea could feel the ship slowing... and they were beginning to gain on them again.

"I could use a little help!" She yelled.

"Coming!" The voice of Odj responded from behind her, as he ran into the Gun Bay and took a seat at the gun beside her.  "Sorry, was trying to fix a hose leak." He said, before he opened fire alongside Ilea.

The barrage of reinforced ballistic firepower barraded the sentinels, making it harder to evade.  She could see them jerking backward as they caught the shells being sent in their direction, forcing them to slow down.  Then they did the unexpected.  As the ship shot past an intersecting tunnel, the two sentinels jerked hard to the left and went down the tunnel... aborting their pursuit of the ship.

"...What the?" Ilea muttered under her breathe, as she let off of the guns.

"Crap.  Captain!" Odj yelled.

--

01/09 - 1542 hours.
HvCFT Scarlet Hotei - Bridge.

"We're about to level out." Phrack said to Trinite, as she tunnel ahead of them turned from a verticle incline to a horizontal stretch.  The ship stopped shaking, no longer bound by the gravity that slowed it down and strained its engines.

"We've got a problem!" Odj's voice came across the intercom.  "Both sentinels turned off at the last intersection."

Phrack already knew what point Odj was getting at.  It was about to make their situation a lot more difficult.

"Great.  There's another intersection up ahead." Phrack said, quietly.  Without saying a word, he extended the ship's landing gear and pulled back on the throttle in an attempt to slow the ship... but it wasn't going to slow down as fast as he'd like.

"What are you going to do?" Trinite asked from beside him, worried that she already knew.

The ship was still going at an uncomfortable speed as they continued to approach the intersecting tunnel.  He didn't like what he was about to do, but it was the only answer he had.

"Everyone hold the hell on!  Brace for impact!" Phrack yelled into the intercom.

The ship had slowed, but not enough, when they reached the intersection.  What Phrack and Odj had anticipated is exactly what happened; the two sentinels came from the intersecting tunnel and plowed directly into the side of the ship.  Their impact on the hull shook the ship, jarring the crew members inside.  Then the EMP blew, as the two sentinels latched onto the still-moving ship.

With a wave of electromagnetic pulse, all systems shut down on the ship and on both sentinels.  The ship's momentum continued to carry it forward as its attackers fell from the hull, limp... then crash-landed in the tunnel.  As the ship touched down, the landing gear was immediately torn from the bottom... grinding metal and the screams of the terrified crew members filled the Scarlet Hotei, as it slid through the tunnel uncontrollably.  One of the hoverpads was ripped from the ship and sent spinning into the air as it flung free from the wreckage.

Slowly, the ship came to a halt.  It was dead in the water.

01/09 - 1622 hours.
Uncharted Tunnel - Scarlet Hotei Crash Site.

"The struts are oblivion." Novaho said, as he walked the length of the ship.  "Hoverpads six and seven are offline, and hoverpad eight has been ripped off of the ship completely.  Communications were destroyed in the crash."

This wasn't what Phrack wanted to hear.

The tunnel was littered with various debris, making it almost impossible to tell what was useless junk and what was once a component of the downed E Pluribus Neo hovercraft that was lucky to still be as intact was it was.  None of it was helping Phrack's mood.

"Then there's the issue that the EMP was blown while the ship was still at full power." Novaho continued.  "Which is one of the first things you're taught not to do when you learn anything about operating or piloting aboard a hovercraft."

"...How long?" Phrack asked, tiring of the detailed explanation.

"I don't think you understand." Novaho replied, as he stared at him dumbfounded.  "See that back there?" He asked, pointing several hundred meters back at what looked like a large pile of debris.  "...That's hoverpad eight."

Without a word, Phrack turned to walk off.

"Hey!" Novaho yelled, getting Phrack's attention.  Frustrated, he turned around.  "...Look, man.  I'm not saying you were wrong, it's not like you had a lot of options.  But the effects of the EMP blast are what's going to be the big problem here.  We don't know what has been blown out completely, and what has just been temporarily disabled."

Phrack nodded and continued his walk, away from the conversation and toward the rear of the ship.  Nearby, the boarding ramp was open and the rest of the crew were waiting with various bruises, cuts and scrapes.

"We're going to need to run a full diagnostic on every component on this ship.  Find out what works and what doesn't, replace what you can replace." His eyes met the eyes of his crew, looking on.  "I'm not going to apologize for us still being alive, but I don't like the situation any more than the rest of you.  We're in an uncharted tunnel, and we're pretty deep from the surface.  We should have some protection for now, but we don't know how well-travelled this tunnel is.  I need everyone hard at work if we're going to try and get this bucket off the ground again."

Each person nodded, before going about their way.  Some went back onboard the ship, while others walked in the direction of Novaho to find out exactly what they needed to be working on.  Phrack went up the ramp, on his way to the ship's bridge.

--

01/11 - 0910 hours.
Old Zion.

"I'd like to warn you that my patience in this investigation is growing sorely limited." Irah stated.  "The outbursts Corrine made landed her another night in the brig.  I will not tolerate being lied to, any more than I will her behavior."

Ilea's eyes narrowed as she looked at the Captain in charge of the investigation.

"...I haven't lied.  You can ask anyone else on the ship and they'll verify the story." Ilea said, slightly offended that he'd assume she was fabricating the report she was giving him.  "Have your team look over the ship..."

"I have." He retorted.  "Several operatives have scoured over every inch of that ship since it was taken into custody.  There is obvious damage to several regions of the Scarlet Hotei, but nothing that would suggest that it was in the state that you're describing to me... except the missing hoverpad."

"You'd be amazed what our crew is capable of in a few hours, with the right motivation." She said, looking dead into Irah's eyes.

Coldly, Irah's face twisted into a smile as he gathered the various reports and papers from across the table into a single stack.  His eyes never left hers, he never blinked, and his smile was as sincere as a snake's.  He'd been through countless interrogations, countless times over... and the story he was being fed was beginning to stink at an exceeding and alarming rate.  It was time something was said.

"Ilea..." He called to her, from across the table.  His voice was firm, but soft... she thought at first that it was an attempt to reason with her.  "...it is impossible for someone to lie unless they think they know the truth.  Producing bull requires no such conviction." His smile never wained.

Ilea's face hardened at the words.

"A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it." Irah continued, as he placed the stack of paperwork on the corner of the table, and rose from his seat.  "When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false." He said, lording over her from across the table.  He paused only to nod to the guards... who followed his lead and left the room without a word.

The large metal door clanged once again as it closed behind them, but Irah's eyes never left Ilea's.  His stare was strong, and his face was a smile set in stone... slowly he approached her.

"For the bull artist, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says." He finished as he reached her side, and kneeled to eye-level of Ilea, who still sat in the chair.  "He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.  The fact of the matter, Ilea, is that you, your entire crew, and your pathetic excuse for a Captain are well known for producing an insurmountable level of bull... and I happen to have a very sensitive nose."