The Lost

New Protocols

Annabeth woke strapped down to the metal exam table she was familiar with. She looked left and right and found The Curator. "Curator?" She said out loud.

"I am here, Annabeth." He said in a soft voice. She could tell that he was still in pain from what had happened.

She blinked a few times and moved her mouth and tried to swallow a few times to clear her throat. "How... how long have i been out?"

The Curator walked over to Annabeth's side. "You have been out cold for three days. We ran tests, and we had to fix your hand again. We have since reinforced the ligaments and the bones. I can't actually believe you punched that assailant in the helmet!" He laughed, and patted her bandaged hand.

She remembered what she had done. She remembered the attack, and the sense of foreboding she had had the moment before the attack happened. "How is the Elder?" She asked, staying still and looking at the ceiling and not moving. She could feel the cables connected at the back of her neck and behind her ear.

The Curator smiled kindly. "Bruises, superficial markings, no broken bones. He will be just fine. I think the adrenaline helped him a lot more than anything else." He tapped a few things on his data table, and watched as the data scrolled by, He was being very scrutinizing. "We removed the bodies from your spatial storage, but I fought for you to be able to keep their armor and weaponry. I lost on the armor, but they allowed you to keep the guns. I think you will find at least one of them interesting." He seemed to be mumbling as he ambled about and checked vitals, monitors, and cross referencing data on his tablet with what he was seeing on his other screens.

Annabeth looked at the Curator, feeling the tug of one of the cables. "Really?" She said and tried to move her hand to remove the cables from behind her ears, but they were strapped down to make sure she didn't fall off of the exam table.

The Curator heard the clink of the restraint from the table as she had tried to move her hand. "Just a bit longer, Annabeth. I have been authorized to change your settings while you are here in the facility, but the Elders have certain restrictions in place that require each change to be authorized by an official outside of this room."

Annabeth went still again.. New protocols. was she being given more trust? "What all are you allowed to change, Curator?" She asked, trying to inquire and know what was being done to her.

The Curator walked back to her side, and pulled up a chair. "I have been authorized to bring all of your sensors online, but i have to set restrictions on where they can be active, and where they can not be active. but only certain sensors. You won't be able to hear through walls within the facility for instance. but you will be able to use thermal vision. The most recent attack and how long it took your sensor to come back online completely was too long. These changes were actually asked to be taken care of by Elder Engrid. I guess you showed her the importance you have in regards to the safety of the council when you protected Elder Rich."

She blinked, surprised. This was not something she could have hoped for. the changes coming directly Elder Engrid, who she was sure had hated her. She blinked a few more times as she tried to process this information. "Does that mean.... Tim may get assigned to us?"

"I don't know much about that decision. Not much at all. In fact, I don't even know if the information has been reviewed or your request submitted. I only know my orders were to bring your sensors back online but with these specific restrictions in place." He patted her hand, and tapped a few things on his Data tablet, and a projection appeared over Annabeth that she was able to see.

"What are you showing me, Curator?" She asked as she looked at the hologram.

"Well, Annabeth, I wanted to let you see the news feed from what happened. To the right of the news feed is the Data from your components during the event as well. I am analyzing the data in conjunction to your sensors coming online to determine the priority of which sensors come online first, and how quickly. I thought you'd like to see the progress i've made. So you can see how much longer You will be in here." He said and tapped on his Tablet a few more times, and one of the lines on the right turned green. Then it turned yellow.

That was when she noticed the list was almost halfway completed, but more than half of the completed list was yellow. "Why are they yellow and green?" She asked as curiosity got the better of her.

Curator answered in a nearly monotone voice. "Those are the sensors that have not had a priority set in stone yet. Restrictions are locked, but priority needs to be established. That is the easiest of the things to do. I am focusing right now on the other parameters which take longer to encode. But the process seems to be getting easier as your system is anticipating what I am needed, and I find myself more of less approving the self made changes of the system." to prove this, three more sensors turned yellow in the projection.

"Very well, then. I shall go back to sleep. Would you wake me when I can go and shower?" She asked to The Curator.

"Most definitely, Anna. Get some more sleep. I'll play some music to help you to relax." She turned on Classical Orchesta, String Quartet, and resumed his work.