29 Alone

Sia has been afraid to question the device further. It would be just her luck to find out that she is slowly being killed by the device that has been keeping her alive. When she gets rescued she can have a doctor examine her and solve that problem. Maybe it will be something mundane like a tumor. That is something easily fixable with the current level of medical advancements in the past ten years; as of 2018 that is. With New Cinalia set back to the 20th century, the rest of the world must have caught up in the past 16 years.

So, she focuses on broadcasting her message and preparing herself. Coldstone doesn't have anywhere for a helicopter to safely land, so Sia is preparing to travel a bit to meet her rescuers. It should be any day now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gloomy darkness that laid at rest is kicked out of place by the dawn. A hand pulls on the shutters' string to reveal more of the colors. Violet clouds are parted out of the way by red and orange fingers. Pupils constrict as light shines into the room. The figure ambles over to every window to pull on the shutters and flood the room with sunshine.

The figure stands still and closes their eyes for a moment. The light caresses their skin and dust particles dance around their body as bright rays of light envelope them. It's a warm embrace by nature.

It opens its' eyes and tears well up, but it does not squint while looking at the dazzling view. The figure raises their hand to a pane of glass and drags a finger through the dirt on the window. After writing a few characters, its' arm drops to its' side and it takes a step back to shift its' balance as Sia wakes up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sia wakes up with the sun shining in her face. She blinks a few times.

'Why are we looking outside? Did you see something down there?'

NEGATIVE

She grabs the string to adjust the shutters and closes them.

'Well, I don't want anything seeing us. Why would you open so many of them?!'

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER DID NOT OPEN THE SHUTTERS TO OBSERVE THE ENVIRONMENT

She rushes over to the other window and adjusts them, so the room is dimly lit by the outside.

"Wait, then why were the shutters opened?"

INSUFFICIENT DATA

"Why didn't you just wake me up?"

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER DID NOT FIND IT PERTINENT TO AWAKEN SUBJECT 001

"If I'm asleep and you think my body needs to be moved…you should wake me up, okay?"

AFFIRMATIVE

"So, nothing was traveling around in the night?"

NO ORGANISMS WERE DETECTED

Sia sits at a table and puts a hand on her forehead. She rubs her palm across her forehead and over one eye then down her cheek. She repeats this motion and yawns. She runs both her hands into her hair and leans on her elbows. She groans.

"Whatever. Forget it."

Sia holds up her head and thinks about what is in store for today. Yesterday, she had rooted through some of the documents that had been left behind on some desks. It seems like they didn't have time to shred everything before they left.

She found sheets about some people that were going to be hired by ExplorerTech and their background checks. Also, she found documents that talked about a chemical mixture called P.D.U. She couldn't really figure out what the letters stood for because a lot of the document was blacked out with marker.

There isn't much else to do. She doesn't want to travel more of the building and stumble across any new insects or worse…people. She'd rather not know if any new insects are avoiding her…or tracking her. Sia just wants to bide her time. Today isn't scheduled as an eating day, so Sia decides to ignore her hunger and research some things.

Sia lays her head on her arms and closes her eyes.

"Let's just explore immersive mode."

~~~~~~~~~~~`````

The familiar white atmosphere comforts Sia. She looks down at her body. She is wearing her usual green jumpsuit and her feet are bare. She wiggles her toes on the white floor. The temperature here is perfect.

The doors on each side of the hallway are just as before. Sia walks down the wide hallway and looks for any doors she hasn't explored yet. It doesn't take long for her to spot a few new doors. It seems they have been randomly scattered among the doors she already explored.

Some of the doors have strange symbols on them, and others have familiar ones. For example, one door has a fish on it.

"Hmm, is this for fishing techniques?"

When she pushes the door open, it reveals a virtual ocean.

"Puter, what is this room for?"

THE CURRENT ROOM IS FOR THE STUDY OF MARINE LIFE

THE DIRECTORY HOLDS INFORMATION ON MORE THAN 3 MILLION SPECIES OF MARINE LIFE

"Why would I need this? I'm nowhere near the ocean."

Sia leaves the room to look at more doors. She finds another door that has the symbol of a cup with a stick in it.

"Huh."

She pushes on the door, and it reveals a green house. The room is humid and a fine sheen of sweat develops on Sia's skin. A short table with different materials sits at the entrance of the green house.

"Oh, a mortar and pestle," Sia lowers herself to sit on the floor beside the table and touches the different objects on the table.

The green house has many different types of plant life. Species native and foreign to New Cinalia.

"What is this room for?" She asks while examining a stone bowl.

THE CURRENT ROOM TEACHES MEDICAL HERBS AND PLANTS THAT CAN BE ACQUIRED AND PREPARED TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF SUBJECT 001

"That's useful."

Another door has a large spread hand on it. Sia pushes on the white door, but it doesn't open. She grabs the doorknob and turns it a few times. It doesn't budge.

'Is this one stuck?'

She pushes once more before looking up at the ceiling and asking, "Uh…can I get inside here?"

NEGATIVE

"Do I need a special level for this one?"

NEGATIVE

Sia feels a headache coming on, but she ignores it. There is a door with a hospital bed and scalpel on it. Pushing at that door results in the same struggles as before.

Sia rubs her forehead and leans against the locked door. She grimaces and knocks her head back against the door frame.

"I don't even want to know, but…"

She taps her palm against her forehead.

"Just tell me. Why can't I open the door?"

OCCUPIED

That was not what she expected to hear. She drops her hand and jumps away from the door. She stares at the bottom of the door to look for a shadow or signs of movement. The bottom of the door fits firmly into the wall. The white door looks identical to all the others, excluding the different symbols.

"WHAT?! Occupied?!"

AFFIRMATIVE

"What do you mean occupied?! This isn't a bathroom stall! This is a room inside my head! Occupied by what?!"

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER HAS BEEN GIVEN AN ADMINISTRATIVE COMMAND

DIVULGING THAT INFORMATION IS PROHIBITED

"What do you mean … aren't I the administrator?"

NEGATIVE

SUBJECT 001 HAS ACCESS TO THE SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER AS A USER

NOT AN ADMINISTRATOR

Pause

'What?!'

Sia kicks at the door and jiggles the doorknob. Nothing happens.

EXCESSIVE FORCE WILL NOT OPEN THE DOOR

ACCESS IS RESTRICTED

Sia walks away from the door. She leans against an empty wall and eyes the locked room.

'Have I been hacked? Wouldn't I notice by now?' Sia thinks while gripping her head, 'Just one day without revelations…just one day. That's all I ask.'

Her headache is starting to get worse. She thinks back to when she woke up looking out the window, and the scratches she had on her belly.

'Were all the side effects the hacker trying to take over? Has it been trying to kill me in my sleep?' She thinks to herself.

"If I'm not an administrator…how many administrators do you have?"

1

"Have I been hacked?"

TERM NOT APPLICABLE

"Is it someone who had access to you before me?"

AFFIRMATIVE

"Are they monitoring me right now?"

NEGATIVE

"Are they an employee of ExplorerTech?"

NEGATIVE

"What's the administrator's name, like my thing…what's their tag? Their …. Designation? What's their designation?"

ADMINISTRATOR 001 DESIGNATION: APEX

'Apex…like apex predator? Is this some kind of joke?' Sia thinks while overwhelmed by this new information.

'Who had access to ExplorerTech technology without being an employee?'

Sia puts her head between her knees and breathes slowly.

'Wasn't everyone in River City killed in the explosion? Maybe this is a technicality. You can't be an employee if the company no longer exists. Maybe it's a survivor?'

Sia holds her breath and focuses on her pulsing headache.

'Apex isn't a friendly name…They've probably been keeping tabs on me this entire time. But why make their self known now? Couldn't they have hidden their presence from me?"

Her headache eases a bit.

'Maybe they are a survivor and they…don't mean me any harm. Their designation is just a word. It could just be a funny username they chose. If they wanted me dead I would be dead.'

Sia releases her breath. She grips her knees and chuckles at herself.

'It's all a misunderstanding. I just need to get out of here and maybe we can clear it up together. This isn't my property. I'm happy to return it. I'm not a thief.'

"If Apex ever wants to talk, let them know I am open to it. I'm not a thief. Just let them know, I'm fine with returning you to them, "Sia announces to the device.

"I would have given you back if there was anyone to report back to. It was an accident."

AFFIRMATIVE

APEX SHALL BE NOTIFIED OF SUBJECCT 001'S MESSAGE IF CONTACT IS VIABLE

"Okay. Good."

Sia stands up and leaves immersive mode.

````````

She paces the room as she thinks of the new situation that has come to light.

"I've already said I'm open to communicate. We can be friends. There isn't any reason for us to be enemies. I just need to wait."

She sits on a dusty table and looks back at the closed shutters.

"If…"

She steps over to the shutters and opens the nearest one. It is still daylight, but the colors from the morning have vanished. Now it is just a blue sky and the unkept ExplorerTech grounds. Her eyes scrutinize the view as they glide across the dull scenery.

She opens the rest of the shutters in the room and sits back on a table to imagine what Apex must have been seeing.

"Nothing…I see nothing. Desolation. Why were you looking out the window?"

She lays back on the table with a huff. She unzips her jumpsuit and pulls her shirt up to touch her belly. There are no marks left behind from the time she woke up with blood on her stomach, but the blood had to have come from somewhere. If they punctured her skin, the device would heal it, but what if Apex commanded it to leave something behind. She rubs along her entire stomach.

No raised skin. There seems to be no blemishes upon her skin.

Sia rests her hand on her belly and puts an arm over her eyes. Light continues to stream into the room.

"I'll just continue waiting," she mutters to the empty room.

She spends the next two days asking questions and figuring out what new doors she can access. Most of them can be opened, but four of them are restricted. Only the one door is always announced to be occupied. Sia doesn't understand that.

APEX doesn't contact her. If she didn't know the other administrator existed, it would have been just like before. Besides the few restrictions, she doesn't notice any differences.

Sia chews slowly on the MRE meal she prepared. She sips at her water to get it all down. She only has one more meal left in her backpack.

She really hopes someone responds to her broadcasts soon.