Sleepwalker

Pinnacle

August 30, 2715
Dreamworld: Pinnacle

  When the light died down, Ace was first surprised by how small the Pinnacle really was. The center of the diamond was hollowed out and replaced by one single room. Holoscreens several generations old lined the slanted walls, but what immediately caught everyone attention was the occupied stasis pod in the center of the Pinnacle. 

   The Sleepwalkers' heads swiveled back and forth, comparing the pod's occupant to the android beside them. It was like staring at the same person looking in a mirror. The two boys could have been identical twins if the comatose stranger in the white bodysuit had white hair instead of black. Wires protruded out of his wrists, head, and back and held him suspended in green cryo-fluid. 

   "Who is that?" Cho asked. Ace's eyes hardened, and he unlatched her arm from his.

   "My first objective--Drake Tolmafin. I guess you could say he's the original me."

      "How do we get him out?"

  Ace stepped up to the nearest holoscreen and pressed his palm against it. All at once, Drake's biodata and current condition flooded his system. Max had been right about the deterioration. Drake only had a few weeks left if he remained here. 

   His--no--their dad could save him though. Tom could do anything.

   Getting him out however, would automatically trigger Ace's second objective. Humanity would be ejected from the program, and Dreamworld would collapse. The two were more intertwined than Ace expected. The original Embassy had literally tied Drake's life with Dreamworld's existence.

   Diego, Phoenix, be ready to catch him. I'm letting him out. As soon as you have him, everyone, get back on the Launch. I don't know how much time we'll have before the evacuation and shut down." 

   "You're really doing this?" Diego asked, "Sending all of us out of Dreamworld into a dimension we've never even heard of?"

   Ace gave him a long look and turned back to the screen solemnly. "Dreamworld and Drake's existence are deeply connected. To pull one away will cause the collapse of the other. But now both are dying anyway, unless I get everyone out. You'll be fine. You guys are survivors, and you'll be the few that has any idea about what's going to happen when everyone arrives in the real world. People are going to need your help."

    "You keep saying you, not we," Amber noticed, "You are going to help us, right?"

   "My mission will be complete. I don't know what I'll do after this."

   "You can do whatever you want to do then," Cho answered surely. Ace merely nodded, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him as he set the sequence in its proper order. 

   "Opening cryostasis pod now. Remember, as soon as you have him, go."

   The fluid drained into the grated floor of the pod, and the dozens of wires attached to Drake's body slithered out of his skin and up into the ceiling. At the same time the last tube disappeared up into the ceiling, the glass cylinder shifted into the floor, and the Garcia boys caught Drake's body before he could crash.

    The Sleepwalkers ran to the Launch as the Pinnacle shook and trembled, causing the stores of old equipment to spark. 

    "Ace! What are you doing? Come on!"

   Ace remained at his station, one hand typing frantically while the other began to actually sink into the screen. The Launch glowed orange, and down below, the three Rings began to descend into each other. Strangely though, Ace's face lost its typical hard, focused edge, and something akin to contentment replaced his normal expression.

   The glow surrounding the five teens grew brighter, and Ace looked up in time to meet Cho's eyes. The smile he gave her made her heart crack.

   "Ace, why aren't you coming?"

   "Humanity is being sent back to the real world," he explained. The lights overhead flickered on and off, but his silver eyes maintained their sterling glow. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of connected to Dreamworld's structural code."

   The teens motioned to go grab him, but he shook his head. "Don't worry about me, guys. Anything is possible. Who knows who you'll meet on the other side. Just take care of Drake and Dad for me, will ya?"

   He pressed a button, and the Sleepwalkers disappeared in a pixelated orange light before they could reply.

   He didn't want to hear their goodbyes or their pleading for him to at least try to go with them. No matter how much he looked it or how much he pretended to be, he wasn't human. But that didn't mean he wanted his last memories to be the distraught faces of his first and only friends. As he stiffly pulled his arm out of the screen, he became all too aware of how much time he had left.

    If his data was correct, people tended to remember key moments of their life before death. He didn't know how accurate that was, but he liked the idea. One of his eyes turned blue, and he projected all of his favorite moments from his life. 

Seeing his maker for the first time.

Meeting the Sleepwalkers.

    His legs gave out as weakness suddenly flooded over him, but he kept the slideshow running. 

Battling Rerek.

Saving Cho.

Amber mothering her team and forcing them to get some sleep.

   Ace smiled, even as he was forced to support his weight with his arms as he projected image after image on the floor, unable to lift his head. Something massive collapsed below the Pinnacle, but he didn't care.

Meeting Keiko.

Diego and Phoenix bickering one moment and cheering together the next. 

The feeling of flight.

Cho's laugh.

   Ace rested his head on the floor, tilting so that he could watch the memories playing out on the wall beside him. It was becoming difficult to keep his eyes open.

Meeting Max.

Telling the truth about what he was.

Fixing Blanc.

Amber hugging him.

   He struggled to keep the images going, but the last one seemed frozen to the wall. 

Cho with her arm looped around his, and all of the Sleepwalkers smiling at him as they prepared to follow him without obligation.

    Ace's eyes closed. 

Mission_Complete.

Dreamworld crashed.