The Restoration Protocol

15 || error.al1a5

"He just got done talking my ear off, kid. 'Sides, in case you weren't aware, House of Valentine ain't exactly a robot repair shop. I don't think there's anything he could do even if he wanted to. Which he wouldn't. And I wouldn't want him to." He sighs. "I'm already losing the 'I-told-you-so' war. For seven years strong. My pride's at stake here..."

Robot repair shop. Mariko blinks. He may have been being sarcastic, but it's an idea. She holds out her wrist to bring up the holo-map of Wynsmith. There has to be something nearby. Thinking about it twice, though, she wonders if that would be unwise — it wouldn't be the easiest task to convince a stranger to agree to a mum's-the-word request given their complicated circumstances. But what other choice would they have?

Money. Maybe we could bribe them for their silence.

In the midst of her fast-paced inner problem-solving efforts, Mariko starts to hover her finger over the blue marker indicating her current position on the map when something stops her. A sound. A beeping. Her PSO watch is beeping, but not the familiar beeping as when the Dream State System is alerting of an upcoming automatic log-off — because that is a feature, as she's learned via the device's manual. Should a certain length of time pass by in the game without the user performing a manual log-off, the system will pull you out itself to defer unsafe overindulgence.

But again, it isn't that. Rather, a conspicuous red exclamation mark has appeared in the top right corner of her holo-map. A notification of some kind, evidently, and as Mariko taps the icon, a new tab invents itself, dismissing the map entirely and ensuring her complete focus is on the message now typing itself across the screen, letter by letter.

***

[Automatic message sent from the Database. DO NOT REPLY.]

Hello, Traveler Mariko. This is [redacted] from the Paracosia Development Team.

[Intercepting...]

This is [redacted] from the Wynsmith Lab of Scientific Research. Thank you for your contribution to the Restoration Protocol.

[Intercepting...]

This is Claude, but you may know me as AL1A5's creator. Based on my records, it has been [insufficient variable] since AL1A5's last proper reboot. She may be fine, depending on how quickly she is able to recover the keys and take them to the Vault, but in the event that anything is to happen to her, please find Abe Sadat. His current location has been marked on your map.

***

Boey was standing next to her the whole time. Watching along with her as the words took form across the screen, equally as curious and puzzled by what he was reading. Not quite as much as Sebastian, however — everything looks backwards from his perspective. And he can't exactly swing around to stand behind the two of them with an unconscious android sleeping on him.

"...AL1A5..." Mariko whispers under her breath as she rereads the message.

"If you squint, it almost looks like it says 'Alias'."

"That's so crazy, Bo..."

It's suspicious. Just a little, anyway. Mariko slowly closes the tab to reopen her map, only to find a new marker flashing somewhere outside of Arumathia's outer city station. A bright yellow dot which, when Mariko taps it with her finger, displays simply. 'Abe Sadat.' It's just like unlocking a new quest in a video game. She shakes her head. No, it is a video game, she reminds herself, and suddenly those suspicions which flared up so briefly fade away into a surge of excitement. A new quest. It's a new quest.