Sleepwalker

Uncovered

August 30, 2715
Dreamworld: Ring 2

M.A.X. Hallaway (or just "Max," as he preferred) was not having a good night, or well, early morning. The small clock in his bionic eye told him it was just a little past three in the morning. He should be asleep, recharging his mechanical half, but he was so close to finally reaching a breakthrough in analyzing the early stages of Dreamworld's defensive system.

The Zones and their flawlessly designed plans came from the Pinnacle and were constantly being rewritten. What Max didn't understand was how. The large diamond hovering several miles above them stood unmanned, and not even the highest members of the Embassy could be up there longer than an hour or two at most. The program fascinated him, and he desperately wanted to know how such an advanced defense system could manipulate its own code. What kind of program had the first designers created that was so ahead of its own time that it rivaled modern technology? And how could ever recreate it?

After being the first successful subject of Dr. Zaman's bio-mech fusion project, Master Analyst X had the unlimited time and funding to uncover the secrets of the Ancient Designers. Unfortunately, it appeared that the secrets of Dreamworld's greatest mystery would have to wait. Pale, freckled fingers glided over his holo-pad as he accepted the incoming report from a low-level Enforcer.

Error. Error. Malfunctioning code present. Glitch detected.

Well, there could be worse distractions, he supposed. Max quickly connected his holo-screen to the Enforcer's field of vision, and the young scientist could feel his bionic eye zoom in on the new data.

It felt as if he had been dunked underwater as the screen rippled in and out of focus. He tried to adjust the settings to get a clear picture, but it seemed that the Enforcer was standing directly in front of the malfunctioning code.

"Okay, Scrappy," a young voice spoke through the mic, "Tell me what you really see."

UnknownPresence_Detected.

Max watched in muted surprise as something took over complete control of the bot. He placed his one mechanical hand to the screen and jerked it back in shock when emotion surged through the code. Just what had the Enforcer stumbled upon?

Pure, unaltered code--he was sure of it. And yet, it felt so very alive he didn't know what to think.

Max could only stare openmouthed. For just a brief moment, the warped code cleared and faded back again into a swirling mess. Then everything went black.

Enforcer327_Offline.

He needed to know what caused it. He typed with renewed vigor, scanning through the video and related data and freezing each image frame by frame.

"There!" he exclaimed, jumping slightly. His excitement quickly morphed into confusion, and he ran a hand through his shock of red hair as he stared up at the screen.

The glowing blue eyes of a teenage boy stared back.