Connections: Draxas and Notesurfer

[Notesurfer]

Draxas
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LOCATION: NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, USA
AFTER THE EVENTS OF CC:INTERMISSION
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Draxas piloted the borrowed hovercar past the wreckage of a large superhighway, and settled into a roadside parking spot on a vacant dead end street nearby. The street was nestled inbetween an abandoned warehouse and a chainlink fence separating a cemetary from the roadway. Every vertical surface of the warehouse was covered in spraypainted gang signs and crude pictures. The fence was topped with a coil of barbed wire, though the nearby gate had long since been removed from its hinges. Both sides of the street spoke volumes about what sort of neighborhood this was. I never did understand what was so appealing about this place, Draxas thought to himself, as he passed through the missing gate of the fence.

He walked along a narrow pathway between the graves, paved with cracked asphalt. The cemetary was even more poorly maintained than it was the last time he had seen it those many long years ago, before the accident that made him who he was today. But it was obvious someone continued the upkeep of this place as best as they could. The headstones remained standing, despite many being 100 years old or more. The place was remarkably free of the graffiti that covered nearly every other solid surface in this part of town, including nearly every vehicle he saw pass by. I hope someone tries that with the Institute's loaner, they'll get their just desserts. He had left a Laptop Sentry on the roof, just incase some punk decided to steal the radio. Not that he himself wasn't prepared for trouble. He slid his thumb across the hammer of one of the Falcon 2s holstered in his belt, disguised as a part of himself by the Skedar Disguise Unit he carried. As were his bionics, he didn't need the equivalent of a neon sign above his head screaming "I'm different, come mess with me!" Not that the folks in this area needed any excuse to mess with anyone.

Draxas's thoughts quickly shifted elsewhere, while his feet carried him automatically down the old, familiar cemetary paths. He thought back to only a few days ago, to his first arena battle. The experience had been exhilirating. He had fought against many warriors who were his equal in skill, and had the benefits of the powers of respawning to make sure he didn't pass from this dimension once again. It had been fantastic, and had inspired him to redouble his efforts to try to stabilize himself in this dimension permanently. But more importantly, he had found out just which dimension he was in. This was home, the place he had been torn out of years ago. He didn't know how, or why, he had returned here. It was apparently not the first time either. He seemed to have quite a history with Notesurfer, though he had almost no memory of any of it. In fact, until their meeting in the arena, he had thought he had first met Notesurfer on the Skedar Homeworld. What he had found out, had turned what he "knew" about his existence, squarely on its head.

But more important matters beckoned, before he delved back into the world of dimensional shifts and frantic combat. When he had returned to the CI, Draxas had immediately set upon the computer data libraries, much to the chagrin of Grimshaw and the other techs that worked there. What he had found had saddened him more than anything else that had happened here before. His research eventually turned up obituaries for most of his family, his parents included. They had been killed in a car crash only 2 years after he had been sent spiraling across dimensions. He took some solace in the fact that there was no way he could have been there for them. He had been trapped in a dimension resembling feudal Japan for almost 6 years after the accident. But he still grieved anew, like he had first done when he first realized he would never see anyone he knew again.

But here he was. During his reverie, his legs had automatically carried him to the grave of his grandparents, which he had visited many times before. The marble headstone still shone, and the inscription was still as clear as he remembered it. As he left a small pebble atop the headstone, he made a mental note to thank the caretaker, if he ever saw the man.

And then, right alongside them, was the headstone he had come to see. The inscription he needed to read for himself, to confirm their passing beyond his doubts, his denial. And there it was, in just as pristine condition as his grandparents:

MARTIN AND CHRISTINE ABRAXAS
1944-2005 1945-2005

LOVING PARENTS, WHOSE LIVES WERE
TRAGICALLY CUT SHORT.

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN...

At seeing this for himself, Draxas couldn't contain himself any longer. As he placed another small stone upon their headstone, the tears welled up in his one eye still capable of shedding them. He wept then, before the tombstone, for not knowing for so long, and for not being there for them at the end. He bowed his head in silent meditation, eyes closed, pondering the way his life could have gone.

Draxas was shocked out of his grief by a circular piece of steel jutting into the middle of his spine. It was the unmistakable feeling of having the barrel of a gun jabbed into your back. Draxas froze, and a voice behind him began to speak.

"I know how you found out to come here," stated the voice. It was a gruff and unmistakably male voice, but not one that he recognized. From the corner of his eye, Draxas could see a hand jutting out of the sleeve of a black trenchcoat. He slowly began to turn, to attempt to get a better look at his assailant, but the man said, "Stop right there, or I WILL kill you."

Draxas froze, with no better a view than he had before. He asked, "What do you want from me?"

"You are meddling in matters which are no concern of yours," replied the trenchcoated man. "I know that Notesurfer told you where you are, as it were."

"What of it?"

"You are to stop getting involved in Notesurfer's business. This is just a friendly warning. You have no knowledge nor understanding of the person you are dealing with, and we would like it to stay that way. Do not get involved with Notesurfer's past again, or I will have to pay you another visit. I assure you, if I do visit you again, it will not be as pleasant as this time is now. That is all. Remember my words well, because I will not tell you twice."

Draxas felt the gun barrel leave his back, though he heard no movement from behind him. Taking a chance, he dove to his left, rolled away, and came up into a crouch with Falcon 2s at the ready. No shots were fired at him, and when he got a look around after coming out of the roll, nobody was there. The cemetary was as empty as before. Draxas warily rose to his feet and reholstered his pistols, but only silence accompanied him as he returned to his hovercar.

That is not something I am accustomed to, thought Draxas, as he cautiosly walked back to the enterance to the graveyard. As an extra measure, he had activated his IR vision and the Bio-scan function on his R-Tracker, but both returned no result. That was a foolish move though, I am not one to take kindly to threats, or "friendly advice" as the case may be. I really must remember to ask Notesurfer about this the next time I see him...

[Notesurfer]

Please note, I did not write the above, Draxas did. Just in case it wasn't clear enough.

-=In a secret location on Earth=-
Draxas looked furtively around. He had wanted to relate his latest incident to Notesurfer as soon as possible, but it was getting somewhat dark, and the forest was giving him the most eerie feeling. Peering through the trees towards the end of the path he was treading on, he saw a faint light. Hoping desperately Notesurfer had something resembling a guest room, he continued onwards.

“Notesurfer? Notesurfer are you in there?” The voices coming from the inside of the cottage sounded like Notesurfer and Oasis, but there was yet another strange voice. He knocked, and the door opened.

“Draxas! What a pleasant surprise!” Notesurfer exclaimed, genuinely happy. “Come on in, it's great to see you.” Draxas stepped inside, ducking his head from the low doorway. Now recognizing the voice, he was not surprised to see that the TV was on, and it was playing a recently released movie. Oasis sat on the couch, his biosuit not anywhere to be seen. He waved, and a slithery speech emanated from his mouth.

“Greetings friend of my master.” He began. “It's cool to see you.” Draxas barely kept from chortling at the way Oasis said “cool.” Apparently he had picked up some new vocabulary from Notesurfer. Notesurfer began clearing a place on the couch, saying something about not having many visitors, and how Draxas could stay the night if he wanted. Draxas however, was somewhat distracted. Looking out the now dark window, he could swear he saw the figure of a man, cloaked, holding a gun up in the moonlight. Staring right at him. Draxas shook his head, Notesurfer was inviting him to sit down and have some chips. He tried to relax, and sat down, beginning some small talk with Notesurfer. Paranoia could wait, right now he needed to relax before he got down to business.

[Draxas]

After a quick bit of catching up, Draxas said to Notesurfer, "As you might have guessed, this isn't just a social call. There's something we need to discuss."

Notesurfer raised an eyebrow, and replied, "I had sorta guessed as much. What's up?"

Draxas glanced quickly out of the window before continuing, but the rapidly darkening sky obscured everything more than a few yards beyond the cabin in shadows. There was no sign of the figure from before. "I had an odd experience I want to relate to you. Maybe you can make some sense of this. You remember the time we met in the Villa, during the last arena?"

"Of course," replied Notesurfer. "Though I must say, I was hoping that maybe those memories would have been more enlightening, or even more complete."

"Well, they've been rather enlightening for me," said Draxas. "I acted on some things I learned there. I also discovered that someone apparently didn't appreciate the fact that you had looked through my memory like that."

Notesurfer was visibly surprised by this. "I have suspected for some time that someone was trying to stop me from learning my past. Looks like I was closer than I thought this time. Please, tell me everything."

Draxas related the tale, though he purposely left out the details behind the purpose of his visit to the cemetary. My business is my business... he thought.

Draxas was wrapping up the account of the incident, "...He said to me 'You are to stop getting involved in Notesurfer's business. This is just a friendly warning. You have no knowledge nor understanding of the person you are dealing with, and we would like it to stay that way. Do not get involved with Notesurfer's past again, or I will have to pay you another visit. I assure you, if I do visit you again, it will not be as pleasant as this time is now. That is all. Remember my words well, because I will not tell you twice.' and leaves. I turn around to put him in his place for dropping his guard, and he's gone. It was like he vanished."

"Huh," responded Notesurfer. "Well, there's no doubt in my mind now. SOMEONE is behind this, and I sure want to know why."

Draxas nodded. "I do too. I only learned about these things a few days ago, and I want to know how someone else could have found out so quickly. If I had to guess, I --"

Draxas was interrupted mid-sentence by a loud <SPRAK> from the window. All three jumped at the noise, and looked over to see a white, spidery series of cracks in the window, with a .223 round lodged in its center. All three fighters dove for less vulnerable positions, as a second sniper's round created another series of cracks in the glass.

Draxas moved across the floor in the prone position to where Notesurfer had taken cover behind a couch. Already Notesurfer had generated a pair of Falcon 2s. He grimaced as another round slammed another series of cracks into the window. "Good thing I didn't go for the cheap stuff with this place," he grumbled. "You ready for a fight?"

Draxas deployed his Ingalls from the hidden compartment in his forearm. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting trouble," he replied to Notesurfer. "Considering how easily they found me before, I have no doubt that either I was followed, or you were staked out beforehand."

Notesurfer nodded, and shouted, "Oasis, are you ready?"

The reply came from somewhere in the room Draxas could not see. "I am ready."

"Then let's give our party crashers the welcome they're due!"

Draxas grinned, and the three prepared to engage their mysterious assailant.

[Notesurfer]

After quickly whispering some plans, Draxas slowly crept forward. A temporary silence filled the room. Only the television continued on blissfully. However, the stillness was interrupted by a loud CRASH and the stalker jumped into the room. Draxas felt himself staring at the barrel of a gun before what had happened was even registering in his mind. This guy was fast. Way too fast. He heard four loud pings, and assumed that it was Notesurfer shooting at the man's trenchcoat. Great, he was bulletproof too. Taking advantage of the moment, Draxas fired his Ingall into the barrel of the sniper rifle. The man threw the gun aside and drew his black gloved arm inside his cape. Rolling out of the way, Draxas quickly dispatched the Ingalls and attached the Inferno pistol.

Notesurfer fired several times more then ducked behind the couch. It was no use, the intruder was bulletproof. And he was willing to bet his large feature-hiding hat was bulletproof too. Quickly he jumped up and aimed a kick at the man's face. But suddenly, and with infinite strength, the man was holding onto Notesurfer's foot. Notesurfer's facial expression changed from questioning innocence to raw terror. And then, equally suddenly, his foot was implanted in the wood floor of the cottage.

Draxas began to burn, taking a guess that the material of the assailant's cape was not fireproof. The plan worked even better than he could have hoped. When the man turned to face him Draxas aimed and fired at his hat. It burst into flames. Apparently they don't make bulletproof hats like they used to. Suddenly the man's green eyes looked slightly frightened. This look increased tenfold with Draxas burning his cape aswell. Suddenly there was a soundless explosion originating from the cape-bearer. The cape, and hat, dissolved into small pieces, which then dissolved into dust, coating the room in what looked like six months without cleaning. Notesurfer was not going to be happy. Underneath his cape the man wore white robes. Peculiar . . . A backswipe of the hand sent Draxas flying into a dark corner of the room. He felt small hands on his back, and realized that Oasis had caught him.

Notesurfer looked at the man cautiously, when suddenly the now-fireproof man's hand was on his forehead. He saw white, and then, nothing at all.

Notesurfer opened his eyes to a grassy plain, with white puffy clouds in the sky, and trees dotting the horizon. He looked to his left and saw a small brook. He looked to his right and saw a dark cave, with a bright white box in it. The box seemed to shine with unimagined brilliance, and yet the cave remained dark.

“It seems that you are not familiar even with the sight of the inside of your own mind. Excellent.” Notesurfer glanced up to see the intruder, still dressed in white robes. “I wish I could just remove the memories from your mind, but in order for me to do that, I must first dispatch your conscious mind.

“What?!?!?!” Notesurfer demanded.

“Surely you remember. But wait, you couldn't, you had your memory wiped didn't you? Silly boy, don't you know who I am?” Notesurfer shook his head, an angry look on his face. “I am he who wiped your memory in the first place. I am the guardian of a guardian. Ironic, isn't it.”

“How DARE you” Notesurfer whispered. “What makes you think I WANT to have my memories wiped?”

“I doesn't matter what you want boy, you are not one of the enlightened ones. We know what is best for you.” The man raised his hands, and a small black dot appeared in front of him, growing larger and larger into a black orb of darkness. “It is time for you to die. Or, at least, for you to THINK you're dead.”

Draxas saw the white glow at the intruder's fingertips and knew that he was inside Notesurfer's mind. A similar thing had happened while on the Skedar homeworld. He cursed and looked around for a weapon. The Inferno was no good against these white robes, he was sure they were fireproof. Glancing on the table he saw what looked like some sort of gun. Probably of Notesurfer's invention. He grabbed it, aimed at the base of the man's skull, and fired. A small dart hissed and quickly injected it's contents into the assailant. He fell to the floor.

Notesurfer shook his head. He was back in the real world, with the man in front of him, his eyes glazed over. Notesurfer leaned close and grabbed his neck.

“Who is behind this? Who are you? What is going on?” Notesurfer demanded.

“No . . .” the man gasped. “She would never allow . . . me . . . to tell . . . anything . . . beware Notesurfer . . . beware for your friend . . . for I had such friends once . . . beware . . .” with that another silent explosion seemed to occur. From the inside out the man seemed to dissolve, his dust spreading throughout the room. Now it looked worse than a twenty year old barnhouse.

Draxas stared at Notesurfer. He did not regret for a second what he had done. It was obvious from the fear frozen on Notesurfer's face that he had been in danger.

“Notesurfer . . .” Draxas began . . .

[Draxas]

OOC: Jeez, I was just going to actually. Not like you didn't back me into a confused corner or anything...

Draxas placed Notesurfer's weapon back on the table where he had found it. He had to admit, this was not the sort of threat he was used to dealing with...

"Notesurfer..." he began, "Do me the favor of explaining what the hell THAT was about?"

Notesurfer stood still, unanswering. The silence was getting uncomfortable. Oasis popped up onto a chair, and looked intently at his Master, saying nothing, simply waiting to see how this would unfold.

Draxas spoke up again. "Look, I know he was invading your mind. I've seen it happen before, remember?" Notesurfer remained silent once more, seeming to ponder.

"Look, we're in this together, right? If you don't tell me what's going on, I can't help you."

"Alright, enough," said Notesurfer quietly. Draxas waited and listened, intensely curious about the whole affair...

[Notesurfer]

“Sorry to be so blunt, but I needed to sort some things out. This man's failure at his mission has proved to be invaluable.” Notesurfer sat down in one of the wooden chairs next to the table, motioning to Draxas that he was free to do likewise. Draxas gently exercised this right.

“How so?” he responded.

“Well, when two minds are linked, Garrant taught me that you can pretend to be in one place in a person's mind, while really being in another. While the man's personification was in my mind, I was in fact combing the inner workings of his mind. Unfortunately, the only information I could get access to in time was this.” Notesurfer slid a recently generated piece of paper out from under his hand.

“Well, these are the co-ordinates of a planet!” Draxas exclaimed. “Are you saying that this is where our attacker was from?”

“I currently have no idea in what way that man is connected with that planet, however, I intend to find out.” Notesurfer said grimly. Draxas took this in stride. He had not expected Notesurfer to take this lying down.

“Will you need backup? I feel that I also have a bone to pick with this guy.”

“I would be honored if you would come.” Notesurfer said seriously. “And Draxas . . . there's something else.” And with this Notesurfer leaned across the circular table towards Draxas. “While I was inside his mind, he accidentally revealed something else to me. Inside the cold metal hallways of his subconcious I found a door labeled 'Damian Adraxas, Variable #1.' The barrier to that part of his mind was so protected I almost passed out just reading the sign. But when you shot him, I heard him scream inside his mind.” Draxas studied Notesurfer's intent face.

“What did he say?” he whispered.

“The Prime Variable has found the Guardian. Truly the end of the world is near.”

The rest of the evening was spent in silence as Notesurfer showed Draxas where he could sleep. Draxas promptly hit the hay, and was surprised to find that he was asleep almost instantly.

* * *

The sound of birds chirping awoke Draxas from his slumber. He felt more refreshed than ever before, and sat up on the bed. Sunlight filtered through the four-paned window on the eastern side of the room, revealing dancing dust motes. Opening the sliding closet, he found several black bathrobes. While they looked like ordinary bathrobes, they're material was softer than the finest silk, and Draxas found them to be most comforting. He walked out into the kitchen to find Notesurfer already awake, dressed in a similar robe and sash. He gestured towards the coffepot.

“There's razors in the bathroom.” Draxas walked through the now-cleaned room and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“I like this location.” he commented. “I can see why you chose it.” Notesurfer nodded and smiled.

* * *

After a cup of coffee and a shave, Draxas dressed in his combat uniform. Walking out to find Notesurfer and Oasis similarly dressed, he gestured that he had something to say.

“Notesurfer, about what you said last night . . . who is the Guardian?” Notesurfer shook his head.

“I'm not sure . . . the only other reference to the Guardian was when the man told me that he was a 'guardian of a guardian'. However, I do know that you are the one he called the Prime Variable . . .” Notesurfer looked up. “Regardless, I think that all of our questions will be answered when we get to Arimetheous.”

“Arimetheous?” Draxas questioned.

“The planet we are heading to.” Draxas nodded in realization. Holding out his hand, Notesurfer pressed a button on a somewhat complex remote, and the floor beneath Draxas descended. The small circle he was standing on dropped lower and lower, until he found himself in a large gleaming square underground room. He stepped off of his platform, and saw that Notesurfer and Oasis were already heading towards the Whiteshadow, standing in the middle of the room. Jogging to catch up, Draxas fell in behind the two, not questioning how the three of the were going to survive squeezed into that small of a ship. He was glad he did so.

Notesurfer stepped sideways to the pilot's chair, and gestured for Draxas to follow Oasis.

“I just have to set the ship on autopilot to Arimetheous and I'll be joining you.” Draxas shrugged and turned to follow Oasis through a door in the back. Stepping through, he found himself in a seemingly limitless white space. He looked sideways at the now-biosuit equipped skedar when it spoke.

“You may tell the build-in computer what you wish it to replicate, and it will do so. This feature was designed to make your trip more comfortable.”

“Is there any limit to what I can ask?” Draxas queried.

“The full limits of this physigraphic system have been equated to approximately two football fields in length and width, as well as approximately twenty two tons of mass.” Oasis replied. Draxas whistled in amazement.

“I see Notey packs all the latest gadgets eh?” he said jokingly. Suddenly becoming serious, he called to the computer. “Computer” he began.

“You have been watching too much Star Trek my friend.” rang a clear, cultured english voice. “You may address me as William.”

OOC: Go ahead Draxas, take it from here.

[Draxas]

"Hah. All right then, Billy, I'll keep that in mind." Draxas grinned snidely as he addressed the smartass computer, and then realized he was verbally sparring with a machine. Suffice to say, the computer was not the one that felt foolish.

"Anyway," continued Draxas, in a more serious bent, "I have to say I wasn't REALLY prepared for a fight when I arrived, though it looks like that's what I've gotten myself into. I'll need duplicates of all the gear I'm missing."

"You'll have to be a bit more specific than that," replied the computerized voice evenly.

"Riiiiiiight..." Draxas confirmed what he had with him. The Inferno Pistol is connected... Heavenshard, of course, PFT is here, Ingalls, Falcon 2s, and a knife...

"OK, here's what I'll need to start off: First, a pair of DMCs, with silencers. A Laptop gun would be good too. Four Combat Knives, dataDyne style. Five N-Bombs. Lots of clips for those guns, plus some for Falcon 2s as well... Oh, and a Data Uplink for good measure."

"Say please," replied the computer.

"What?"

"Say please."

"Are you kidding me? Since when do I get lectures on my manners from an overgrown PC?"

"Since now. You want your gear, you should be more polite to the one making it."

Draxas sighed. "Very well, William, could you please help me out with that equipment order?"

"Of course," replied the computer. Draxas could swear he could detect a hint of smugness in the digitized voice. He glanced over, and noticed Oasis chuckling to himself at the whole affair. Apparently the Skedar had picked up on his English rather well, despite his awkward speech before.

Several moments later, the requested equipment materialized, along with a small weapons rack to hold it all. Draxas geared up, and the rack faded out of existence once again.

"All right, let's see what else we can do, eh? There are a couple of odds and ends that I didn't ask for right away, because you may not be familiar with them. The first is a Wolfram P2K. It's a pist..." Before Draxas could even finish the description, the P2K had materialzed atop a small table, already equipped with the standard screw-in silencer. Several extra clips were lined up next to weapon. "Very nice," said Draxas, and slid the pistol and ammo into their usual places.

"Now, the other thing, a fair bit more exotic this time. Another pistol, this time called the Scifi Handgun. Know of it?"

"I don't have anything by that name on file, unless you want a toy raygun that shoots sparks out the end," replied the computer, "Might I add, that is THE stupidest name for a weapon I've ever heard, and I have quite an extensive database of weapons in my memory banks."

"Somehow I thought this might be a bit trickier. It's a largish pistol, about the size and shape of a Magsec 4. Similar look, too. It fires plasma energy shells in 3 round bursts. 30 round clip, and it uses the same power cells as a Phoenix or Mauler. The plasma bolts have the ability to reflect off of inorganic materials. What do you think?"

The computer remained silent for quite some time, before finally replying. "I could easily generate a burst firing plasma pistol to those specifications. However, I have no idea how I could replicate the properties of the plasma energy that you describe. Are you sure you're not making this up as you go along?"

"Positive. It doesn't matter, I can do without it." Draxas looked around at the white space surrounding them, and motioned to Oasis. "Any idea when Notesurfer's headed back here?"

Oasis gave an exaggerated shrug, which looked extremely odd coming from a Skedar frame. Draxas could only assume this was something else he had picked up from watching human mannerisms. "He did not say," was the reply.

"Well then, what to you say to a little training exercise to kill some time?" Oasis grinned, and nodded enthusiastically. "Good. William, do you have a file on the section of Chicago surrounding the G5 building?"

"Yes, I do. The area could easily be holographically replicated, if you are asking what I think you are."

"Very impressive," remarked Draxas, as the Chicago streets materialized around them. "Extremely lifelike. That's quite an impressive holographic program."

"Considering that I can create tangible objects, holograms are rather simple. Since I know where this is going already, how many opponents, and at what skill level, would you like?"

"Start us off with two PerfectSims, and we'll work our way up from there."

"Consider it done." Two men wearing NSA combat uniforms materialized in front of Draxas, each holding a K7 Avenger. "This will work like a standard training exercise, for the duration of the program all of your weapons will fire holographic 'paintball' bullets. If you're tagged, you're out, and will respawn elsewhere in the arena. The same will happen with the Sims. Please refrain from using melee weapons, we wouldn't want you two to accidentally hurt each other. Those blades of yours are still very real."

The Sims vanished once again, leaving Draxas and Oasis alone in front of the entrance to the G5 parking garage. "You may begin whenever you are ready," said the computer, and the two fighters set out...

[Notesurfer]

Draxas was sweating with exertion, as was his lizard-like partner. They had just completed their fourth round, doubling the sims in each encounter. Draxas had found that the system could support many more sims than he was used to, and was implementing to its fullest extent. Glancing down at Oasis he was vaugely impressed at how well he had handled it. He had developed his own unique fighting style, and Draxas commented on it.

“I like the way you fight, it's very efficient. How exactly do you train yourself?” Draxas almost kicked himself for the last part, obviously Oasis would practice whatever Notesurfer was practicing at the time.

“Actually I like to simulate many Earth environments, especially Las Vegas and the Carrington Institute's firing range.” Oasis replied, his tail flicking back and forth pleasurably with the thought. Almost as an afterthought, he pulled the corners of his mouth back in a painfully scary smile. Some human idiosyncrasies were not as well imitated as others. Draxas turned, and was about to ask William to start another match when Notesurfer walked in.

“William, could you switch to the first program? And then you can feel free to withdraw to the cockpit.” Notesurfer called out to the computer program, and Draxas was surprised to hear what he was sure was a barely audible sigh of relief. The surroundings shimmered, for a split second looking 2-d, and then re-formed into a night-time clearing in the center of some trees, with a crackling campfire in the center. Draxas thought he could hear the sound of systems powering down, and then an owl hooting. Turning his head he saw that there were three sleeping bags placed around the bright campfire, and looking above him he saw glittering stars, including familiar constellations. He sat down on top of a larger sleeping bag obviously intended for him, and turned to question Notesurfer.

“What's the deal with William? I know it sounds strange, but I could swear he's been expressing opinions and feelings during even this short period. Almost like he's restraining himself. Is he a sapient like Dr. Carroll?” Notesurfer returned from the red and white cooler he'd been rooting around in to hand Draxas a Coke, and Oasis a sprite, settling for Coke himself as well. Taking a sip from his drink, he answered.

“William's story is quite sad, and he dislikes talking about it. His body was destroyed in a freak accident, but his mind remained, and I have it on the ship at the moment. William is directly connected with the ship's computer, effectively allowing him to control every aspect of it.” Notesurfer's reply was interrupted by a fizzling noise and small squeals of delight, and both he and Draxas turned to find Oasis outside of his biosuit attempting to catch the foam spurting out of the obviously shaken-up soda. Wrestling with the can, he was so absorbed in his ecstasy he did not notice the two observers, who smiled at his antics. Draxas turned back to Notesurfer, but he had already retired to his sleeping bag. Probably a good idea, it was going to be a long day tomorrow. He un-equipped is newly acquired weapons and got comfortable, the heat from the fire seeping through and warming him immensely. He could see why Notesurfer had chosen this simulation. Gazing up at the stars, lulled by the gentle snores of his companions, Draxas slowly drifted off to sleep.

[Notesurfer]

“Good morning gentlemen. I trust that you had a good rest?” Williams voice aroused the three from sleep. “We have arrived at the desired destination and will be landing momentarily.” Notesurfer, Draxas, and Oasis crawled out of the sleeping bags, which promptly disappeared. The entrance to the cockpit opened up and Notesurfer and Oasis quickly went through the sliding silver doors. Draxas waited until they had gone through and then turned to address William.

“Listen, William, Notesurfer told me that your a human trapped in this machine, and I just wanted to say . . . I feel your pain.” Looking wistfully down at his bionic arm, Draxas continued. “I too was in an accident caused by humans that led to my being trapped with a machine in my body. So anyway William I was just-”

“Bill” The digitized human voice interrupted Draxas. “You can call me Bill. And I too have something to show you.” With this cryptic reply, the forest around Draxas faded into white space, and a table with a gun and ammo on it appeared. “I was bored last night and so I decided to experiment with plasma physics to see if I could replicate that Scifi Handgun. It appears the experiment is a success.” Draxas understood that this was the computer's way of apologizing for his snobbishness. He picked up the weapon. Smiling, he walked out of the doorway, joining Notesurfer as they landed on the planet that could possibly change all their lives. Arimethous . . .