Arrival at Stratos Pelagia
Jackie stood at the open hatch of the transport. The doorway round and as tall as it was wide. Her eyes moved over the city before her, several moving pathways before her in varying colors extending out into it, and her eyes landed on a spire that dominated the skyline—a structure of sleek black metal at its base, rising into a five-tiered pagoda, each level adorned with sweeping eaves and subtle, pointed arches. The sunlight glinted off its smooth surfaces, while the top levels caught the breeze and cast dancing shadows across the lower terraces.
Sura moved to her side and followed her gaze. "That's where we are headed, the hydraulic maintenance and calibration labs." She stepped on to one of the colored paths before them and Jackie naturally followed suit. As she watched the hover craft spiraling door silently spiral shut BDJ's voice was a whisper in her mind, precise and calm.
"Green path for hydraulics. Check-in at the spire. Observe surroundings."
Jackie's eyes flicked from the hover transport to the green path under her feet and then up to the spire, scanning every detail. Other paths branched off in multiple directions, each colored differently, sliding people along to destinations unknown. Metallic reds, pale blues, soft golds—all moving in their own rhythm. She noted them but didn't dwell. Her priority was clear: the check-in.
Sura led the way but Jackie paid little attention to her, she was now a known anomaly. Jackie knew she was being observed but kept her mind clear and focused.
She had other things to occupy her thoughts.
The subtle rise and fall of the green path underfoot demanded concentration, even if it was automatic. Her cybernetic eyes began to track structural weaknesses, minor stress points along the edges of the path. Nothing was pressing yet, but her system noted everything.
As the spire grew closer, the pagoda's details became clearer. Arches with slight points at the top formed protective covers over portions of the walkways, shielding pedestrians from sunlight. Sleek vertical beams held embedded lights that pulsed faintly, keeping the path illuminated even as the shadows shifted across its levels. She could feel the island itself responding to her approach, the subtle hum of hovering plates beneath her feet syncing with her internal sensors.
It was a curious thing but it also felt so natural. Her systems adjusted and monitored and she remained aloof and wide eyed as the city spread out before her.
Finally, Jackie arrived at the base of the spire. A massive pair of glass-and-metal doors slid open silently at her approach. A subtle shimmer ran along their surfaces, a visible pulse that confirmed recognition. BDJ spoke again.
"Biosignature confirmed. Neural pulse recognized. Access granted."
The doors parted fully, revealing the check-in platform high above the island's central sectors. Below, she could see floating platforms, walkways, and more islands in the distance, each sporting its own unique architecture. One was sleek and white, almost minimalistic, while another had jagged, dark spires reminiscent of ancient castles. In the far distance, a few islands hovered, each struggling to maintain their own populations.
BDJ noted: "Observation: multiple inhabited islands. Population density varies. Overpopulation concentrated in the mountain cities in the vicinity, leading to mass expansion onto floating platforms. Note: Not all islands seem to be specifically for human population."
One small island was focused on and then its image was increased and enhanced. Writing typed into her vision with lines detailing structures and potential power sources.
"A research facility?" It was a whisper but still Sura stirred. Jackie berated herself. She needed to remember that she was now in the world of enhancements and she did not know what types of enhancements the cyborgs around her actually had. She could only see the Sura's cybernetic legs and the shining silver spikes along the center of her back, but she could not know what cybernetic or enhancements lay beneath.
Jackie's eyes traced the horizon, briefly distracted by the vastness. A subtle twinge at the back of her skull reminded her to refocus.
"Ocular data unobserved. Do you wish to display?" BDJ prompted.
'Yes,' it was purposely a thought, she did not want others to feel she talked to herself. Her display refreshed, overlaying annotations and key metrics onto her vision. Each island, each platform, each walkway—everything was logged, cross-referenced with historical data she didn't yet fully understand.
At the top of the spire, a cyborg awaited. Sleek black alloy plating reflected the sunlight.
BDJ whispered: "Red cyborg detected. Cognitive functions: superior. Observational parameters: high." Jackie noted it but made no reaction. She had to maintain her composure. She already knew that the color designation of cyborgs spoke of their mental capacity and not the color of their cybernetics.
As the thought crossed her mind she looked down at her own blue and silver hues with a questioning frown. Why was she blue and not a shade of silver? She didn't have money for any upgrades even now, her family was from an inner ring of Naya Kasol, they could not have upgraded her as she laid in recovery.
The cyborg stepped forward, her voice clear and mechanical. "Check-in, citizen. Provide ID verification."
Jackie nodded and moved forward, letting the spire's interface scan her bio-signature. She felt the subtle pulse of data against her ocular sensors, a wave of information flowing into her system: sector maps, traffic routes, structural integrity readings. The check-in confirmed her identity and access. It assigned her to the three central sectors she'd be checking, and maybe recalibrating: Central A, Central C-D, and Central B-3.
BDJ reminded her: "City pathways are silver. Please alter pathway accordingly."
Jackie's eyes flicked to a metallic gray sliding walkway descending into the city. She chose it and began her descent, Sura following silently behind, with no correction or question.
As she moved, Jackie's mind noted subtle stresses in the floating plates, minor vibrations, and the faint hum of the island's stabilization systems. It wasn't much, but BDJ highlighted the anomalies, and she absorbed the data without comment.
Above, the sky shimmered faintly. The other islands hovered, each a reminder of humanity's persistence—and its fragility. Jackie didn't dwell. She had sectors to explore, problems to solve, and a city to understand.
Lyra's brain ran through mounds of data within Stratos Pelagia's main frame. She had moved to a different cable but she was still in between the two hovering plates of the island.
Her ruby eyes sparkled as Tally led her through the data and helped her to process it all efficiently.
Her inner comm went off and she answered it without pausing her data run. The data streamed in reds, blues, and greens as she streaked through the server.
"Speak."
A deep sigh fluttered through the comm. "How many times do I need to ask you not to speak to me like a dog Lyra?"
Lyra smiled but didn't reply. Another sigh moved through her comm. "Command wants you to befriend the new blue diamond you saw today."
Not only did Lyra frown she slowed her data dive, she actually almost pulled out of the server altogether.
"Befriend!? I am a hacker I don't make friends."
"You used to be a hacker."
"Okay. I still don't make friends."
"…" There was another sigh. "Tally. Override code Alpha Omega 6."
Tally's assistance ended and Lyra was thrown from the server. Her ruby eyes went black, to white, to their normal red and she shook her head. She looked at the black clay that had suddenly gone dry and inert. The two pronged cable disengaged from Tally and Lyra's temple port at the same time.
Lyra turned Tally over in her hand. She felt a stinging and unbelievably great loss.
"I should have know better than to accept a gift from you guys."
"Tally is fine. With the right command code the u it will be fully restored and back to her last fully identified self."
"But you can use your code at any time."
"And it changes daily. If you don't make me use it, then it won't be used."
Lyra smirked as she heard the shrug in her handler's voice.
"I will try to befriend this blue diamond."
"That is all we ask. Tally. 6 override 6."
Instantly the black dried lump in Lyra's hand became moist and moved slightly.
"Are you okay Tally?"
"Yes. Do you need to process anything?"
"Back to her last identified self my ass."
"Calm down. Give her a few minutes. She will regain all of her personality and knowledge, including memory she deemed important enough to store."
Lyra waited. She lied. She did make friends. But she physically made them and Tally was one.
The resistance had essentially almost killed her best friend, and Lyra wasn't happy.