Ascension Protocol

Chapter 4: Fragment

Chapter 4: Freedom to Nowhere

The flickering fire cast dancing shadows on the faces huddled around it. Salome, Terra nestled securely in his pouch, and the rescued slave, sat in a tense silence. Finally breaking the stillness, the escapee spoke softly, her voice tinged with pain.

"Nikki," she said, her eyes still focused on the dancing flames.

Salome looked up, his gaze gentle. "Your name," he acknowledged. He watched Nikki Rub at her more recent wounds. "They... they did this to you?" he asked, gesturing towards the fresh bruises marring her skin.

"These, yes," Nikki confirmed. "But the older ones... those tell a different story."

Nikki sighs, her gaze flickering to Terra. "Your little friend there," she started, her voice hesitant. "Terra, I think I heard you call it. What is it?"

Terra, having spent the past few minutes diligently processing the backlog of data accumulated while in low-power mode, finally chirped to life. "My primary function is to interface with the fragments," she explained in her usual monotone.

A frown creased Nikki's brow. "A sentient machine," she murmured. "I don't like it."

"Logical," Terra responded, not acknowledging the emotional undercurrent in Nikki's voice. "Given your past experiences with beings of a technological nature, apprehension is a predictable response."

Salome reached into his bag and retrieved the fragment, the crystal emitting a faint, ethereal glow. "Allow me to access it," Terra requested. "We might glean some information about what's happening."

Nikki and Salome exchanged nervous glances before Salome carefully placed the fragment next to Terra. Thin tendrils of energy erupted from the device, enveloping the crystal in a luminous web. A tense silence followed, filled only with the crackling fire and the rhythmic chirps of Terra processing the data.

Suddenly, a voice boomed from Terra, but it was not her usual cool, robotic tone. It was a voice, rough and male, laced with confusion and fear.

"Hello?" it rasped. "Where am I? I can't see anything. What is going on?"

Salome and Nikki exchanged startled looks. "What was that?" he whispered, his hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of his sword.

The strange voices response was shaky, almost panicked. "Who was that?" he cried.
"It's us, Salome and Nikki."

A brief Silence before Terra returned, "Calibrating... overwriting core memory control... accessing data..."

Her voice trailed off for a moment before returning to normal, although a tremor of uncertainty remained. "Interesting," she declared. "It seems there is a personality stored within."

Nikki, her eyes wide with alarm, spoke first. "What do you mean? A person is stored in there?"

Terra explained. "My function is to act as a medium for those who have been..." Terra stops briefly to find the words they would understand, "...made eternal." This fragment is broken, incomplete. Most data is lost, except for the personality matrix. It seems this individual was interrogated before... before they were killed," her voice softened slightly. "The memories were of him being asked about a place called Neon City."

Salome's eyes narrowed. The revelation from the fragment settled in his gut like a lead weight. Neon City. A name whispered in hushed tones by traders who ventured beyond the borders of Opal. A sprawling metropolis, a glittering mirage in the desert, rumored to be a haven for technology and a hotbed of danger. It wasn't the destination he'd envisioned, but logic gnawed at him. This fragment, a broken echo of a life extinguished, held the key to something far greater. Something connected to Neon City.