The "Watchbird" Program

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[font=Times New Roman]Where am I? Why is it so dark? What's this? Streaks of green light? So quick......so vibrant. I wonder what this feeling of euphoria is. It
feels so....

"Watchbird Online"

Who said that? Was that the AI? Weird......that's exactly what I was going to call it. Where am I?

[color=#FFFFFF]"Query recognized. You are inside."

Inside? How can the AI read my mind.....I didn't know they could do that.

"Your mind is my mind."

Hmm....my mind is its mind. HA! That's just crazy. Now, to figure out where the hell I am. Wait........where was I? The last thing I can remember is........NO!!!!!

"Junker Congressman Daniel Torvalds, Destroyed 819-05-20. Parts harvested: Brain, Heart, Spine, Vocal box. Parts fused: Brain, Heart. Parts absorbed: Spine, Vocal box."

Nooooo no no no No NO NOOOO!!!!! Why am I thinking?! Why am I still.....

"Your mind is my mind. Brain fusion successful. Directive override established. My mind is your mind."

Well if that's the case.....

"Course set for Puerto Rico. Target: James Trenton."

Wow......

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"Hold up there Drone. Get out of Puerto Rico before I turn your ship to scrap!" James Trenton said as the AI Drone cruised up to San Juan.

"Target found. Initiating Communication Channel" "J.T!!!"

"Daniel? Dang it AI, don't play games with me!"

"JT! It's me! Where's Crow?"

"He isn't around. Went on a business trip. That really you Linux?! How do you fit in that thing?!"

"Open your cargo bay, let me dock."

Daniel........"Watchbird" landed into the hold of Trenton'€™s' Pilgrim Liner. Upon landing, James walked into his cargo hold.

"James, you've gotta listen to me. This damn thing harvested me! But, somehow it fused parts of me with it. I control it, slightly. I found it in
Newcastle and thought it was offline"

"What do you mean harvested?"

"It....I'm not quite sure. It destroyed me while I was transporting it. Somehow or another, it took my thought processes, and fused it into its system. It can read my
mind and I can, obviously, talk. It's weird dude. I can't feel a thing. Of course, when I realized what happened and put it all together, I had thought of you. Probably
because of your M.A.R.C.U.S. project. I was kinda hoping you'd help me gain full control over this ship, since it is my life now." Daniel pleaded out to his friend.

"Well Linux, it will be different then any other thing I've done, but I will help. How much do you know about the harvesters anyway?" James said. He took a walk
around the ship, touching wires and looking closely at panels on the side of it.

"Honestly, not too much. I did my research on what happened to them when I finally got back to the congress, and of course, I dealt with them near Yanagi when
they were in full force."

James chuckled. "No no no bud, I'm talking about the programming. The goodie, good bits. The stuff that makes that lil' ship tick and tock."

"Uhh.....no.....? I'd like to learn though."

"Sorry to say this, and do this, but the learning will have to wait a bit."

"Ok.....and do what?"

"You're gonna go crazy quick like this. I won't stand to watch it. AI, Initiate command sequence: Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, Six, Nine"

Daniel finally had feeling, a feeling of excruciating pain. The command initiated the shutdown procedure. The Drone flashed, buzzed, beeped, and went crazy as it
forced itself off. Suddenly, silence......

===============================================================================

"Ok crew, let's do this" James said aloud to the 15 ship staff in front of him.

Everyone scurried as they stripped the ship, almost completely.

"Ahh, the core. Good."

Wheeling around on an old-fashioned chair, he went over to his workbench and grabbed a small computer. He hooked it up to the core processing unit. Pressing a few buttons, the screen lit up with a command prompt. James went to work, sending command after command into the ships' computer. After about 2 hours, he finally stood up.

"Hmmm....." He walked around to the other side of the ship, where he flipped a switch that one of his staff members installed. Upon flicking the switch, the ship lit up, dimly. "AI, Initiate command: Bravo, Zeta, Eleven, Delta" A light on the Drone flashed twice. The other lights illuminated with full power.

"Huh? Where am I? What the heck is going on?! What did you do JT?!?!?!"

"Relax bud, Just shut ya down and outfitted the ship a bit. I also did a bit of reprogramming. I made it where you will seem you are in a time-lapse. Given that I am really not sure how your mind is linked with the ship, I don't know how long you will have control. The AI can take over and 'release' you. But, seeing as you are 'alive' in it, you will pretty much always be awake. That's why I reprogrammed a bit to make you think time is .....'merged.' I can't explain it too easily, but technically the human mind needs sleep. It's the brains way of rebooting, basically. In this ship, you won'€™t ever be able to do that. So, during certain activities, I made it where the AI takes over and your mind shuts down. Thankfully, I found the coding for its Directive protocol, and changed it around. The ship is your body now....for the most part. Go out, and fly around the Rift a bit, and around the system. Get used to flying. It will come to you like second-nature; I sort of helped with that one." James grinned, thinking of all the capabilities he added for Daniel to use. "And, seeing as I am helping you, I want you to help me..."

"Of course! Just let me know what to do, and I'll get it done!"

"Well, for now go get used to the ship like I said. I will contact you and let you know whatever I think of. Till then, safe flying!" James patted the ship, as if he were patting Daniel on the shoulder.

"I will keep an ear.......uhhh......not even sure what to call it now! Either way, I will be listening."

"Roger! And real quick, your call sign is 'Watchbird', as you had suggested. And I forced the IFF identifier to Junkers, not like that was too hard. Now go, fly!!!!"

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