THE CONSTRUCT: In The End

PART TWELVE

20.

In the still of the laboratory, a waiting game is being played. Nothing to be done but wait, or risk destruction of the construct and or the lives of those within it. Of course, Nigel entered the incomplete construct where he is fully immersed and suffering the consequences of entering before its completion. Josh Redmond went in willing on a sort of peace offering to prevent hasty action from those who have infiltrated the laboratory.

They, the infiltrators, of course, have the right to be there, so say the terms of a contact both Nigel and Josh had signed. They broke the terms, as unfair as those terms may be, and in order to prevent the loss or takeover of the construct, they entered it ... fully, and Josh has done so through slightly altered means ensuring he went in with something.

Una Ryan and Aiden Thompson both had also gone in but not through a fully immersed level, so they are both back in the lab. The work was ever so close to completion but not quite there prior to Nigel's entry. Under duress, work continued. Not getting quite what he came for, Aiden had one of his associates sent in through Josh's back door entry and this fellow went in with a much higher percentage of memory retention than zero percent.

The percentage still nowhere close to the hundred mark, but high enough that he could go in with agenda of getting things done, and what this associate fellow got for his efforts was a severe beating, one he could feel the effects of once freed from the system. And in those efforts of his he done more harm than good, harm that is irreparable and devastating.

Reality and virtual reality are odd things, and the reality of it all, despite the fact no one truly wanted to discuss it, was that a time would realistically come for the shit to realistically hit the fan, and so it comes breaking the temporary waiting stillness.

Being fully immersed within the construct is essentially having a consciousness transferred from the host body into the construct. Therefore, three comatose bodies lay on beds within a cordoned off area of the laboratory, quiet and safe as safe could be until alarms began sounding off.

Josh Redmond's body was seizing, every muscle in his body tensing. The fifth member of the creation team sprang into action ... a doctor whose part in the creation of the construct was the effects it may or may have on the body as well as the mind, working with the others on the safest way to transfer consciousness into the construct.

As it was and has been, this was the final part of the process, for as we know, there is a problem with memory retention. The construct itself was more or less ready to go. And now the first serious problem. Panic ensued, reading was monitored, and it was clear, Josh was hurt or being hurt from within the construct and the effects of such are destroying his body and mind.

Little for the doctor to do other than administer a sedative. Blood began to exit through the nose and then mouth, a trickle at first, then a gush and within moments ... there was a flatline. Josh Remond, the oldest member of the team, the heart and soul, the life of the party, the optimist, was dead ... is ... dead.

Disaster ... dejection ... waves upon waves of all things horrid hit. Even Aiden Wilks was taken aback. He himself isn't such a bad man, he wouldn't think himself bad at all, he's just caught in a no-win scenario, with a guilt hitting now that he could never have anticipated. Quietness briefly resumes such is the shock of what just occurred. The moment isn't over yet.

The associate fellow, immersed in the construct. His body now begins to react. He too is under pressure from within the construct. It could be pieced together as to what is happening. No one within the laboratory knows for sure what is happening within the construct. A certain something can be deduced, if time was not so much of the essence.