Pixel - - A Cube SMP Fanfiction

Prologue

Hello readers, new and old! I'm Cherry, and welcome to my third fanfiction, Pixel!

So I've had two fanfictions before this, called 'United As One' and 'Begin Again', both Cube fanfictions. United As One did amazing for a first story; I think it just hit around 15K reads? Awesome! And Begin Again did even better; 18K reads and counting! And I believe the trend will continue, as I have VERY high hopes for Pixel. It's my favorite yet, and I hope it'll be yours too!

This prologue provides simply a little backstory for the program; it does not mention any of the Cube members. They come in next chapter, okay? 

Also, if you haven't yet, go check out my other stories! Begin Again's epilogue should be going up at the same time as this, so don't miss it!

T W I T T E R - - @code_cherry

Enjoy the prologue!

The halls were quiet as the woman entered them. An eerie sort of silence, only broken by the soft buzzing of machinery and the click click of her high heels on the tile. The area was crisp and clean—white walls, white tile floor, no decorations. Identical, closed doors lined the hallway, distinguished only by small plaques with engraved numbers.

The woman stopped in front of door 214, typed in a short passcode, and the door slid open with a quiet hiss. Glancing to each side, the woman stepped inside and the door closed behind her.

The room was not much different from the hallway—boring walls and floor— but for the large machine in the center, surrounded by tables equipped with smaller computers. Two others occupied the room: a balding man with small spectacles and a short, squat woman with her sleek black hair tied up in a bun. Both were dressed in white lab coats. They looked up as the woman approached.

“Doctor Simmons,” greeted the woman with the bun, nodding at her superior.

Doctor Simmons was a tall woman, assisted by her heels. Her chocolate brown hair cascaded in messy waves down her back and her ice blue eyes were sharp as they scanned the room. She grabbed a third lab coat off of a hook on the wall and pulled it on before crossing the room and picking up a clipboard of data. 

“This is up to date, Hawthorn?”

The woman with the bun nodded. “As of an hour ago, Doctor.”

“Good,” murmured Simmons, her eyes rapidly scanning the information. “The data suggests today’s the day.”

“Yes, Doctor,” confirmed the man, turning in his chair. “Pixel is ready for the final test.”

Simmons made a satisfied noise and came to stand behind the man. “Well, then, let us begin, shall we, Morris?”

Morris nodded, typed a few codes into his computer and stood. He crossed to a table near the machine, which held a cage with a primate inside. They had tested Pixel previously, of course—an apple, then a flower, then a small potted tree. But this was the final test. A living being, the closest one to a human. This would tell whether Pixel was finally ready for public release. This was the moment that determined it all.

Simmons murmured a few instructions to Hawthorn before taking her position beside Morris. “Begin.”

Morris brought the caged monkey over to a normal laptop, sitting alone on yet another table. He unlatched the cage, sat the monkey in front of the laptop and double clicked a program on the desktop. 

“Touch,” he told the monkey, gesturing to the handprint that appeared on the screen. 

The monkey, trained to respond to this command, reached out his right hand and placed it over the one on the screen.

“Stay,” Morris commanded, racing back over to his own computer. He typed a few more quick codes and pressed the Enter key. “Startup initiated.”

The three scientists watched as the laptop screen began to glow more brightly than before. Then, in the span of a few rapid seconds, the monkey dissolved in a burst of green pixels and was gone.

Simmons and Morris both darted back over to the laptop. Simmons typed a couple of things into a command box, and a new window appeared. It showed the monkey, now virtual, in a basic computer generated world that had been premade. He appeared perfectly fine, moving around as usual, not showing any signs that anything was wrong.

“We did it,” breathed Morris, delighted. “It actually works! We can actually virtualize living animals!”

“I told you, Morris,” declared Simmons with the smallest of smiles. “Pixel is the ultimate project, and now it’s finished. Once it is released to the public, it will revolutionize the world of gaming. Nothing will ever be the same.”

“No,” agreed Morris, still transfixed by the image on the screen. “Gaming has now been changed forever. There’s no going back.”

I hope this prologue peaked your interest a little. The prologue for Begin Again was a bit... dry and boring in my opinion. However, I worked really hard on this one in the hopes that some of you will stay tuned.

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER:

What do you think about virtualization? Would you ever want to try it, no matter the risks it would involve? I don't know if I would xD

Vote and comment for more! Until next time!

~Cherry