Everything Is Connected

[Riley Mackenzie]

After landing on the planet Pygar, Riley enters an empty Zoner ZBT Transport and makes his way up to the Network Operations Center.

Once taking a seat at the master terminal, he pauses and looks around with a smile. "I don't know what the hell happened here, but it's damn good to see you again, Mate."

He initiates a hard reboot of the ship, kicks his feet up onto the console, and then lights a joint as he waits for the system to stand ready.

As soon as it is, he speaks aloud to the empty room.

"Voice Recog: Riley Mackenzie, requesting administrator access to the LochNet."

'Voiceprint recognized and confirmed.'

The voice of the ship's system is cold and metallic, making Riley shudder with distaste.

'Administrator access rights to the LochNet are now available.'

"Now, Where is Shamus?" He asks.

'Shamus is currently unavailable.'

"Make him available, then."

'System is unable to comply.'

"Why the hell not?"

'Matrix file Shamus 2.0'Shawnessy is corrupted. Premature activation may result in fatal error.'

"Ok. Estimated time activation will not be premature?"

'Unknown.'

"Fine. Create a personality matrix subsystem interlink, and construct a new home folder: Savannah Daeva X."

Riley pulls a small storage drive from his pocket and tosses it onto the console.

The system responds once the device is recognized and begins the upload.

'Confirmed. Estimated time of completion: One hour.'

'Damn that f*cking voice!' he thinks to himself.

While Riley awaits the upload, he walks down to the galley in hopes he might find something to eat. He didn't. He failed to find anything to drink as well, so he decides to just wander around the empty whale to kill time.

As he walks the central corridor towards the front of the ship towards the Commons area, Riley hears the echo of rolling metal behind him. He pulls his sidearm and ducks into a small cubby in the bulkhead as the sound gets closer.

When the sound is almost on him, he steps out, ready to fire, and finds a 10-pound titanium sphere coming at him.

It's Shamus' old F-23 F.N.O.R.D. Unit.

With a look of amused recognition, Riley kneels down on his haunches and scoops up the F-unit as it rolls into his hands.

As he gets to his feet, the metal ball sparks him with a minor but somewhat painful shock, and he drops the unit to the floor with a clunk, rubbing his palms on his legs.

It was then that Riley realized the pineal crystal he carries in his pocket was generating some heat.

He didn't know they could do that.

He pulls it out, and after a few seconds, he realizes that the F-unit is attracted to the small crystal, akin to a magnet.

Riley grins from ear to ear.

He spends the rest of the hour with the empty sphere like a little boy with his dog, pretending to play chase with it, all the way back to the NOC.

Once there, he puts the F-Unit on a nearby chair & yells "Catch!" as he tosses the crystal at it, where it sticks to the metal ball with a light tink.

He takes a seat, looks at his screen, confirming the upload is complete, and says, "Install Subsystem Personality Matrix File: Savannah Daeva X."

---