The first guard got to his feet and lunged his sword toward Lexan's stomach. Lexan jumped back to dodge knocking himself against someone. He turned around to see Remu fighting two more guards. It seemed though, as if this sub Node was not under alert just yet.
Lexan attacked the first guard for the last time. With a quick jab, the guard's armor gave in and the guard toppled. Holding his stomach, the guard turned on the alarm.
The people within the Mandala turned and scattered through the connections to the outside. The second guard attacked and aimed for Lexan's arm again. He did not succeed because Remu intervened. The guard received a strike right into his head. He fell down unconscious.
The two other guards that Remu fought were already down.
“Romul, can you do something about this alarm?” Remu asked.
And out of thin air, Romul answered, “I'm afraid I cannot. My hands are actually full up here. The security at this Sphere is pretty heavy and I just found out that the Police Droids are heading up here for your bodies.”
Remu frowned and headed for one of the tunnels. There was a terminal access right next to it, a bright intersection of hundreds of information lines. She opened up a menu and connected.
“Lexan, I'll need your help. Go connect to the other terminal.” Lexan did as he was asked and manned the second terminal, on the other side of the portal.
“We'll have to break through the security from here, I guess,” Remu started working the terminal.
Lexan connected to the terminal through his NCC, or the Aether version he owned in the Node DomeStem. A silver lined extended from Lexan's forearm and entered the terminal.
The screen turned on. Lexan looked over at Remu's screen and saw only darkness. Lexan punched in a few commands 'open', 'disengage lock', and such but nothing happened. The screen showed an identification prompt. He punched in the word 'Guard' and the prompt changed. It showed a series of options. Lexan chose the one to open the doors. The terminal asked for another identification. This time, it required the Guard's ID. Lexan walked up to the guard and jacked into his mind with another silver string leading from his NCC.
The world swirled around. Lexan found himself in a circular room full of computers, no need for hacking here. He walked up to the black screens and asked for the Guard's ID. Since that was a legitimate question, the ID flashed across the screens.
Lexan punched it into the portal terminal, partially disengaging himself from the Guard’s mind. The door terminal changed and asked for more identification. Normally, Lexan realized, the Guardian's DomeStem code would have bypassed all of these questions. He was manually over-riding it.
This time, the Terminal asked for the personal password of the guard. Lexan searched the guardian's mind but could only find a series of locks. The code itself was falling apart every second. The guardian was disappearing. None of the computer screens showed any useful information, but just to be sure, Lexan recorded the data inside his NCC. Stuck, Lexan waited. He unjacked from the sentry's mind and looked over at Remu who was handling the situation much the same.
“Get back into his mind,” She shouted, “and wait until the locks disappear, you should be able to get to the password then. Quickly.”
Lexan entered the Guardian's mind once more and saw that the code for the locks started disintegrating, the data being scrapped for other uses. He pushed strongly against them and started asking the code random questions. Unable to answer, the code disappeared even faster as it tried to search now non-existent data and functions within its structure, thus returning errors. It could not withstand the confusion and crashed. It resembled a test run of a very buggy software.
Lexan quickly transferred the password into the terminal. The screen flashed, and asked more questions.
“We don't have time for this,” Lexan yelled out at Remu. She nodded.
Romul answered, “More guards are heading your way.”
Remu threw a thin wafer at Lexan. He plugged it into his NCC. The terminal suddenly changed into a command line. Lexan typed in the previous commands he tried. The computer asked the earlier identification information but nothing more.
The door finally opened.
“Let's go,” Remu said and both of them jumped through the door into the next Sphere, “After this Mandala Node, we should be able to get all the data we need.” The sub Node hosted some more people, some from the sub Node they just exited from. The environment extended beyond that of the others. The tornadoes numbered in hundreds with ports to Mandala fractals everywhere on the planet.
“Alright, we knew it would come to this,” Romul said, “Okay, both of you, use the data you extracted from the guards to mask yourselves. With a guardian ID and password, you'll be able to slip right through. Just don't say anything stupid that would tip of the filters.”
There were hundreds of guardians standing by. Lexan touched his NCC and his whole avatar changed. His usual clothes became a part of the golden armor all guards wore. Remu followed suit, showing the same gold armor and the same underlying red clothing. They floated through the tornadoes toward the final portal that led to the Sphere of Masters and GrandMasters.
“You two, hurry up. A network-wide alert has been placed. The Police are one step behind you. I'm dragging your bodies out of the park right now. We might have to pull the plug on this operation, “ Remu said between heavy breaths.
“No, we're too close. No one has attempted this in years. If we stop now, they'll up the security and we won’t have another chance to do this,” said Remu.
“What is your business here?” A guardian appeared in front of them.
“We've been ordered to the Main Mandala Node,” Remu lied.
“Show me your orders,” The guardian answered.
“It's an emergency order because of the network-wide alert,” Lexan lied this time, Remu gave him a quick dirty look. The guardian's eyes widened and he called over a few more guardians.
Remu quickly drew her spear from nowhere and stabbed the guardian as quickly as she could. She grabbed Lexan and they ran. The tunnel stood only twenty meters away. Three more guards ran up to them but Lexan knocked them down quickly.
Behind them, the Police Droid programs appeared. A whole barrage of blue-clothed guardians swarmed out of the back portal, “Stay where you are,” one of the droids yelled out while the others surrounded the area. All of the red-gold guardians stopped in their tracks and stood at attention.
“Idiots,” Remu mouthed as they ran closer to the door. The Policed Droids managed to catch up to them, almost.
“Catch them before they port out. Close all the ports,” One of the droids shouted. The guardians by the doors pressed a few buttons and the closing sequence started. Lexan and Remu jumped into the hole. A couple droids launched after them.
The tunnel collapsed just as the two landed. The droids that flew after them were stuck in the door, halfway through. Lexan thrust his sword through their bodies. They disappeared. The code would show errors and corruption as the bridge between the Mandalas stopped incoming information from moving.
“Good, they can't get in here,” Remu said.
“Why not?” Lexan marveled.
“They have no jurisdiction,” She smiled and they walked into the next Mandala-Node when Romul got on the line.
“Hey, you two, hurry up. We have ten minutes max until the Police Droids get here.”
“Okay, we're on our way,” Remu replied and then turned to Lexan, “next time, let ME do the talking. There are no 'emergency orders' for Guardians.”
Lexan walked briskly behind Remu until they reached the end of the connecting tunnel.
“A maze,” Remu stood in front of the entrance. Her mouth gaped open at the spiraling Mandala-Node criss-crossed with security fractals, blocking off many of the pathways to the other portal which was, incidentally, completely obscured from view. The maze extended all around the two, in all dimensions.
�
�How are we going to get through it in time?” the boy asked but she cut him off by motioning to her wrist. Her NCC fell apart into hundreds of lightning bolt-like energy particls. The objects zoomed out into distance. Soon enough, a few returned with vital information.
“Here is our map,” she created a large screen in mid-air for both of them to see. The red lines lined the maze, a black dot showed where the probes encountered problems. Lexan quickly viewed the descriptions.
“We need to get to the center as fast as we can,” Remu started, “We can either go all the way around here,” she motioned and a white line followed her finger. The route encompassed the whole Node environment, “or we can go through here,” a green line followed her finger this time and crossed a single black dot.
“We have to take the short way, we don't have the time,” The boy responded, and the girl nodded in agreement.
The duo ran, following the green line, “Luckily, I expect to find this maze. If Romul had not told me about the rumors of it, I wouldn't have made this clever program,” Remu commented as they sped down the red, stone corridors which appeared as they moved. The distracting and confusing datasets and the inner workings of the Mandala disappeared.
“Romul?” Lexan asked the nothingness. And no one replied.
“We're probably too far in to contact him.”
The maze wound itself endlessly, and as Lexan saw, the two of them were about to encounter the black dot.
“Get ready,” the tall girl said to him. She took out her spear.
Before them, a tall man of stone appeared. Without asking, without speaking, he attacked. One of his hands turned into an enormous hammer, the other into a stony pick. The being ran toward them, his heavy thuds echoed throughout the whole maze.
Lexan took out his sword but realized how useless it was. He concentrated but could not imagine how he could overcome such a giant without a better weapon. Remu had the same hopeless look on her face. That's when they knew, they were in over their heads.
IV
Rocks shattered on the ground. The red stone walls were marked with deep scratches. A heavy grunt resounded in Lexan's ears. Black liquid pooled on the floor and dripped audibly, too loudly in the sudden silence. Another heavy grunt. Remu breathed fast and heavily. Her spear still in her hands, her eyes sharp on the stone warrior. Sweat poured out of her pores.
The giant's pick was stuck in the wall. He sustained his weight with the heavy hammer on the floor. He grunted once more. The knees under him buckled and his body lowered a few measures down.
Lexan stood ready, and victorious. His sword clutched tightly by his hands, its sharp blade in the giant. The stone material continued to crack and fall out. The boy's breathing slowed down, his eyes lost their fierceness. Dark liquid sprayed once more over Lexan before he freed his weapon.
“What the hell was that?” Remu screamed, still breathing loudly, gasping for air.
“Some security measure I think,” The boy answered as he kicked the rock being on the floor and walked past it.
“No, I meant you, what did you just do?” Her eyes were wide full of surprise.
Lexan stopped and thought, “I don't know. Somehow, I got a jolt of strength, and my body took a course of its own.”
Remu was about to ask another question, but Lexan pointed toward the center of the maze.
The brick walls turned into patterned metals with glowin lines of information.
“This is the center,” the girl said, her face brightened up, “We need to jack in soon as possible.”
Lexan nodded and his virtual NCC extended toward one of the line clusters inside the central room. They encountered no more barriers and downloaded all the information about the Cardinal Regions, and about Alary. The sword-armed boy also managed to obtain information about Bloo.
He was about to jack out and leave when Remu called him over, “There's a council meeting going on right now, they're about to end. Come over here.”
They jacked in and joined the meeting.
The counselors sat around a long table and talked. A counter on one of the walls showed how far behind Remu and Lexan were in the meeting. Ten minutes, Remu adjusted the settings to fast-forward and only show the important aspects of the meeting.
Thirteen members sat around the table, all of GrandMaster status. Most of their faces, and bodies were blacked out, except for GrandMaster Kosig, Korah, and Kena. Lexan raised an eyebrow at Remu, “They're blacked out for security. These thirteen have a special energy signature that the other recognize, but they do not know each other.”
“So why are Kosig, Korah, and Kena visible?”
“They're at the 'K' level, the public officials.” Remu read the side-notes to the Council.
The information relay stopped the fast-forward at a particular section where an unknown GrandMaster spoke, “The United Republics have given an order to mobilize a large defensive army against the Nethers.”
“That was expected,” another shadowed creature, “Even if the war does not come here, it gives the Congress a chance to impose absolute rule.”
“Yes, but this time around, in this cycle, we have a tri-cameral congress,” GrandMaster Kena answered, “How can we ascertain our power with a triumvirate in charge?”
“We have good relations with both the Man of Land, soon to become the Emperor of Peace, as well as the Main Converser, who will become the Emperor of Harmony,” The octid GrandMaster Korah mentioned.
“Yes, but the Upper-Man, the Emperor of Serenity if you wish, cannot stand the Aether community. He will try to blame us for the Nether invasion.”
“The Upper-Man has the most influence and power at the moment. He can persuade the others to join his cause.”
The conversation went on like this, full of doubts and opinions. Each argued their point. Another flash of conversation slowed down for the standing duo to see.
“The United Galactic Nations, how will we deal with them?”
“We do not have to, they are none of our concern.”
“It is possible for the Nethers to gain territory, permanently, if we do not stop them and drive them out completely, it can prove to be disastrous.”
“The UGN plan to send out a special commando, an isolated group of individuals fit for unusual tasks.”
“With their military power, they could significantly lower the casualties and collateral damage done by Nethers.”
“We cannot depend on their help, our Commandos are being organized for similar deployement.”
The conversation fast-forwarded again, the counselors discussed the individual powers of each Empire or State in terms of military abundance.
“The Outlaw Alliance will be completely destroyed.”
“It was doomed from the beginning, it has no structure at all, no government, nothing. Only few simple regulations.”
“What do you expect? They are a trader's confederation. Some of the systems that joined, simply joined to receive the benefits. They are large simply because of the simple rules and governing they provide, as well as their representation.”
“But now, they will reassemble into numerous and different nations, just as they were before.”
“That cannot be helped nor does it matter to our own stance. It might even be useful to us.”
The men fell silent, the conversation continued on and on, but neither Remu nor Lexan heard it. They, naturally, recorded the whole meeting to their NCCs to be viewed later.
The meeting took on a life again.
“Do we know anything about what the Nethers want?”
“No, we do not.”
“Are there any news about their structure?”
“We know that they have a superb new general that leads their special operations team. We need to be wary of him and his group of associates. His size of trained militia is growing.”
“We will discuss the details of this later,” GrandMaster Kosig said and the Council agree
d.
“Our Aether community, this school in fact, needs to create a counter-commando.”
“Yes, we have given this a substantial amount of thought,” said GM Kena, “the other schools are forming their own military. They wish to be protected in case the galactic empires fail.”
“They are right to fear, and they are right to create a military base of their own.”
“If we fall into chaos as we have times before, Aether schools become as much of haven as they will targets. If Nethers succeed to penetrate the United Republics' defenses, we are the only ones left to stop them.”
All members agreed.
“We, then, agree to convert our school's activities to be military-oriented with the intent of self-preservation and to help the war effort.”
All agreed once more.
The recording finally caught up to the live feed.
“I propose we move to the issue of the Cardinals,” an unknown GrandMaster spoke at which point GM Korah stopped him.
“But first, let's show our guests the exit,” the octid spoke and turned to the invisible figures of Remu and Lexan. Four or five shadowed figures sprang up from nowhere and they walked up to the duo.
Remu's eyes widened and she immediately jacked out of the network, Lexan did too but the shadow figures remained. The NCC identified them as GM Korah's anti-bodies.
When the couple disconnected and reappered in the central room of the maze, they saw that the shadow figures followed them.
Lexan quietly swore and the two ran but the anti-bodies could not be outrun that easily. Their shadows merged with the walls and accelerated toward the two escaping figures. The boy wielded his sword and tried to cut at the creatures but instead he managed to scratch the stone and nothing else.
“We need to get out, to our bodies,” Remu yelled as she ran. Lexan nodded but did not know what to do.
“We're Nodes away, and the police droids occupy that space, waiting for us!”
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