Radical-9

Intermission VIII:

FEBRUARY 24^th, 2022

5:10 am

“So, what do you need me to do?” I ask, decidedly sure in my choice.

“First, I'm going to need the electricity to be working again. That's where you come in, you'll speed up the process quite a bit,” Jay says, looking at me.

“Okay, how will I do that?” I ask.

Jay takes the small device that was on the table and holds it out to me. I take it, seeing that it is just a flash drive.

“It's not a flash drive,” Jay begins. “At least, not in the sense that you might think. You see, this building runs off of a singular grid of circuits, the main generator is up on the fourth floor. All of the power from the first three floors runs off of the generator from the fourth floor. Everything above runs off of a sub-generator that runs power back down to the main one,” Jay explains. “This device is what is going to kick start that first generator into working again, the circuits must have broke when the people rioted here, and so this will act as those broken connections, I call it the Rabbit.”

“Why Rabbit?” I ask.

“It's past your time.”

“Okay, so I just plug it in, but where?”

“There should be a slot on the right hand side, we outfit our generators with custom inputs in case we needed backup power.”

“Question, how come I've never heard of something like this? A flash drive that can power an entire building, that seems like it'd be big news.”

“Simple, we didn't want you to know. What happened here is much more than just Elysium,” Jay says.

“I wouldn't have thought that a building like this was just for video games. It looks more like a lab for scientists,” I say.

“Yes, that's what it looks like, doesn't it?” Jay asks, looking down. “Well, I guess you could say that's because we are scientists.”

"Really?”

“Yeah, I'll explain more once we get that power on, okay?”

“I'll get right on it.”

I walk out of the laboratory and back into the hallway, my eyes have adjusted to the darkness. I swing a right back into the stairwell that I'd used to make it this far. Curious, I stop by the second floor, the plaque on the door says “Radica Labs.” I'm tempted, but I keep on moving up. The third floor says “Residential Hall” on the plaque. Were they so busy that they had to live here? I open the door slowly, a long narrow hallway stretches out in front of me, it forks off at the end left and right. Maybe even just learning some names will be of use, I think.

The doors pass me as I walk down, Mason Radica, Jay Rein, Jack Adata, Nathan Denning, David....Cress. I stop by the door, and open it up. There's a small bed to the right of me, red sheets cover the top neatly, undisturbed. There's a small dresser to my left, and other than that the room is completely bare. I step back out and head back to the stairwell. For a large enough building it really seems it was sort of a close-knit group of people working here, but for what?

I'm walking up to the fourth floor, my hand gripping the metal railing to my side, it is cold to the touch. I climb up the last few stairs, and I see the door that says, “Power and Storage – 1.” I open the door, inside looks like a room where a board meeting would be held in another time, it's a large would-be open room if it weren't for the large metal husks that had used to keep the building alive. In a sense, this room was the heart of Adata, the room that kept the blood flowing.

There are a few different machines, varying in different sizes and shapes, any one of them could technically be the generator. I assume the ones that aren't are used for storage, maybe even keeping backups of records? That would certainly help out. The one closest to me is almost cylindrical, it is much taller than I am. There are no buttons or anything on the outside, so I leave it be.

The machine right next to it sits on a desk, it is bulky and looks like it could weigh five times my weight for only being half my height. The front of the box on the table has all sorts of dials and switches it makes my head hurt. I look around to see if it has any place for the Rabbit on the right side, there are just as many inserts as there are buttons it seems, but I see one that looks like it will fit. I stick the Rabbit in, and nothing happens.

Is that it? Was it a trick? Maybe-

There is a low hum, the machine begins to stir. I walk slowly to the other end of the room.

I guess the only way to truly know is to check.

I flip one of the light switches and the lights flicker for a minute, and then finally turn on. Yes! It worked! I run back to the door and then down the stairs, back down to the Research and Development Lab, I see Jay inside with his back towards me. “You did it, that's great! We should have about an hour of energy with that.”

“Only an hour?” I ask, walking over towards him.

“It's a temporary power source, but what we can do is construct a stronger version, one that will give us all the time we need,” Jay explains.

“How will we do that? And why didn't you just make the stronger version first? Wouldn't that make more sense?”

Jay takes a small vial out of his coat, a bright green liquid rests on the inside. He takes one of the spare flash drives on the table and pries it open. “This compound is what will make it stronger, and it is also the reason why I couldn't do it before. It is a very...unstable compound, it's called Radical-9. If I had spilled any...well, the results wouldn't be pretty,” he says.

“So, what's like...it made of? And what does it do?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you what it was made of.”

“I probably wouldn't understand it all the same,” I say, realizing.

“The Radical-9 overwrites the storage function of the drive. It reroutes the energy used for storage and instead puts it into energy output, which is then used by the compound and amplified. Think of it like a super battery.”

He takes off the casing to the drive and sets it down on the table, grabbing a pair of tweezers beside him and begins taking apart bits and pieces from the circuitry. “You wouldn't happen to have a cotton swab on you, would you?” He asks.

I shake my head, and he looks around himself. He takes off his jacket and holds an arm of it in his hands. “It is paramount that I don't make contact with the compound, it's very diluted, but physical contact even in this state can be horrendous,” he explains. He dabs the arm of his jacket with the green liquid, preserving a large chunk inside of the vial as he closes it.

Jay then takes the exposed circuit of the flash drive and coats it from the liquid on the arm of his jacket, swabbing it down and then setting it carefully on the table. “Now, we have to wait for it to dry. Whatever you do don't touch it,” he says.

“Okay, so what's next?”

“Next...” he says, reaching for a monitor beside him, “...is our attempt at getting some visuals inside of Elysium.” He presses a button on the side of the monitor and it turns on. It seems to not be just a monitor, but also some sort of tablet, as he begins working on it at almost a breakneck speed. “I'm going to break into the server of Elysium, the local one, at least. If I attack it enough I can force a hole through for long enough to grab some footage,” he says.

“Is that how server hacking works?”

“Not in the slightest, but this isn't a normal server we're dealing with, I'm going to assume you're familiar with the helmets that bring the players into Elysium?” Jay says.

“Yeah, I'm familiar with it,” I say.

“They alter your brain, add in chemicals and change in what shouldn't be changed, it synchronizes your unconscious state to Jack's, that's how it works. Jack is the server.”

“That's crazy,” I say.

“Yes, it is. And because I don't know where he is, I can't physically interfere, so that leaves us with this method, attacking it from the inside. Once we can see what we're dealing with, I've got this...” He pulls out an Adatech helmet.

“You're not seriously thinking of going into that place?”

“If you're speaking of the dangers associated with putting on the helmet, then you don't have to worry, I've modified the helmet to remove the nasty emitters inside, there's no way for it to fry any brains now,” he explains.

“And you're going to go inside of the game?”

“It may come to that, yes.”

He sets the tablet down, on its display now is a scene of a town, it almost looks medieval. The view hovers over and pans across the tops of the several brick buildings.

“And this is the game, this is Elysium,” I say, staring into the town.

“Yes, these files seem to have been used for advertising purposes, camera shots of the different parts of the game, according to the folder they are in it seems it is split into several different floors,” Jay explains.

“How many floors are there?”

Jay scrolls to the next feed, it shows the same town from the first one, just at a base level view. The next shows another side of the town from the inside, he keeps scrolling through, “It seems there are three different views on what looks like...thirteen floors.”

“So we have thirty-nine different feeds to watch?”

“I guess you could narrow down the last few, If anybody's in there then the game would end pretty quickly, huh?”

“I guess so.”

I walk to the tablet and change the feed to the second floor, first feed. Stretching out below is a thick jungle, heavyset trees stand amongst each other in hordes.

“I'll let you surf through this a bit while I go replace the rabbit, it's just about ready,” he says, assembling the small device back together. He begins to walk away.

“Thank you,” I say.

“For...?” He looks back to me.

“For giving me a chance to help my brother.”

He nods and continues out of the lab. I look back to the tablet, changing the view to a ground level view. I see some people in hefty armor walking around, I don't recognize any of them. My eyes scan the area of the ground, looking for even a hint of his face. I flip to the third view of the jungle, there is a large group of people amongst themselves, Andy isn't among them. Maybe he'll be on a higher floor, he's good at these games, right?

I switch the feed to the sixth floor, first feed. It shows a huge tower in the sky, platforms decorate the side as balcony-like areas protrude into the air. The entire thing looks massive, and then I switch to the second feed, it seems to be inside of the tower. The floor is cracked and chipped in the back corner of the room, which rises higher than I can see into the darkness.

Some people in black robes with funky marking pass by, they're in a large group of about twenty people. They're all speaking as they walk by, I can't catch any of what they're saying, it is a collective hum. I scroll upwards through the feeds, stopping on the third floor, second feed. It seems to be another town, but that's not what catches my eye. I see a battle going on, there are a lot of what seem to be the same guy, how does that even work? There is a guy in big red armor and a girl with long black hair. In one of the copy's hands is Andy, he's got a tight grip on him. In a flash he ends up on top of the copy, kicking his foot into the copy's face.

“I'm going to assume you found something about your brother?” Jay asks, appearing at my side.

I nod and point to the tablet, “The one in black, that's Andrew.”

Jay bends in closer to look at the screen and then takes the tablet in his hands, “I don't think I'll be able to do much more from this thing here. If I keep attacking the server then he'll eventually catch notice of it, Jack, I mean.”

“What happens then?”

“He pulls the kill switch and kills everyone inside of that game,” he says.

I swallow hard, looking at the display, Andy is back attacking all of the large guys around him, alongside the girl with the black hair and guy with red armor. “I want to go in,” I say.

“What?”

“If we honestly want to stop this, save everyone, then you're better out here. Maybe I can go in and tell those three about this, maybe we can distract Jack long enough so you can get everyone out of there?” I ask. “Plus, if someone goes in there we'll need someone else on the outside, just in case this isn't a short trip.”

“And you'd be willing to trust me with that?” Jay asks.

I look at him, there's something so very...calming about him. I can't put my finger on it, but I just nod my head and say nothing.

“Well, alright then, I'll definitely get to work on some small stuff that he shouldn't notice, but I'll be keeping an eye on you from here,” he points to the tablet. He takes the helmet at his side and hands it to me. “It works wirelessly, no need to plug into any cords or cables, but there is the matter of the cord that attaches to your central nervous system. That is what brings you into Elysium, and I couldn't find a way to have it otherwise. I have, however, found a way to make it less intrusive, the worst you'll have when you take it off is a small scar at the nape of your neck,” he explains. “You won't have the nasty side effect of dying if you lose all of your health inside Elysium, but I'm sure Jack might find it suspicious if you keep dying and re-entering.”

“What about the others that have the normal helmets?” I ask.

“It might be a case by case basis, depending how it sticks inside them, I can't say for sure,” he says.

“Okay, can you promise to at least take another look at it?” I ask, taking the helmet in my hands.

“I can try.”

I nod as I slide the helmet over my face, the visor extends down across my vision and just before my lips.

“You might want to sit down, your body will become numb once it begins, and we don't want you cracking your skull on the way down,” he says, ushering me down.

I nod as I sit, the display of the helmet turns on as I see a Yes/No prompt. Here I come Andy.