Post by Black Swan on Aug 8, 2008 10:19:03 GMT -5
The skyscraper stood there, a monument to what the city once was, but also proof of how easily it fell. Wind blew slow around and into the walls, and the cold attempted to leak into every available crack. No matter how hard it tried, though, it either couldn't get it, or was greeted by warmth that drove it away. The inside was not extremely warm, though it was enough to be able to not freeze to death. The warmth was important for only one kind of inhabitant; the ferrets. There were ferrets everywhere. All different colors, all different sizes, all of them Silvermitt ferrets.
In the center of a lounge area, on the 31st floor, stood a large, black column. It ran from the ceiling to the floor, and was nearly 10 feet across. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary about this, save for a few things. Firstly, it was set in the middle of the lounge, which wasn't too odd. Secondly, seen from the holes in the ceiling, wires and tubes of all kinds were connected to the column, or more importantly, inside the column. Thirdly, if there ever came a time for someone to aproach the column, they would be watched by numerous "cameras," and recieve warnings to back away. Put together, these all confermed one thing: there's something special about the column.
Indeed there was, and the only people who knew about it were dead, save for the person inside the column. Yes, a living being who lives, suspended in liquids, inside a large, round shell. That shell is hooked up to various tubes and wires insde the column. Those are the person's lifelines. The tubes relay nutrients, chemicals, and horemones to the shell, and remove wastes. The wires connect the shell to speakers, optical sensors, auditory sensors, and all of the skyscraper's functions, though not all of them work now. Unplugged from all of this, the shell is left with one optical sensor and one auditory sensor, with a keypad and a switch to the side on the top. The keypad, which uses only sounds, would have been used should XS-100-S ever go "rogue." The sounds are a code, which shuts down all of the person's brain activity. Put more baisically, it kills them. The switch, though, is the more feared one of the two.
Used only when placing a shell in a new body, the switch shuts off all sensors, leaving the person in the shell in total darkness, with no way to know what's going on around them. Seconds tick by like eternity, and there are some who come back to the world mentaly damaged. Most recover, and continue with their lives, though the memory of what happened continues to haunt them for many more years. Some don't recover, and either remain in therapy, or if too far gone, killed.
XS-100-S didn't have to worry about that, however. She'd only been sensory deprived when they hooked her up to the building, and it lasted only 735 seconds. She counted.
Behind the column sat a large, reddish-purple centaur girl. She had long, red hair that extended past her shoulders on her horse torso, and a tail of the same color. Her hooves were reddish-brown, and her eyes were violet. She was wearing a blue tube top. In front of her floated a holo of a chess board, and on the other side floated a small, grey sphere. The two were playing chess, and it was the sphere's turn. "So, Bou, which piece do you want to move?" The sphere floated over a knight. "And where do you want it?" It floated over a square. The girl decided to tease it. "Here?" She pointed to a square that would make it easy to capture the knight. The sphere turned into a red, burr-like shape, with longer prickles, as it replied "No!" In a computer voice, then turned back into the gray sphere. "Oh, alright. Here?" It was the square Bou had indicated before. This time, he turned into a green diamond, while responding "Yes!" in the same computer voice.
Ferrets sat all around, watching the game. One walked over to the girl, and tried, unsuccesfully, to put his paws on ther leg. He was one of the younger ones, and was still learning that the mysterious girl who sometimes sat and talked with them couldn't be touched.
The ferrets didn't know it, but she was only a hologram. Her real body was inside the shell in the column. The hologram was only usable on this floor, however. Any other floor would get just her voice, or if the was a computer hooked into the network, an image. Her name was XS-100-S, or Strawberry, or just Berry, and she was still alive, and still having fun.
(O.o OMGses! That's loooooonnnnnnnng!)
In the center of a lounge area, on the 31st floor, stood a large, black column. It ran from the ceiling to the floor, and was nearly 10 feet across. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary about this, save for a few things. Firstly, it was set in the middle of the lounge, which wasn't too odd. Secondly, seen from the holes in the ceiling, wires and tubes of all kinds were connected to the column, or more importantly, inside the column. Thirdly, if there ever came a time for someone to aproach the column, they would be watched by numerous "cameras," and recieve warnings to back away. Put together, these all confermed one thing: there's something special about the column.
Indeed there was, and the only people who knew about it were dead, save for the person inside the column. Yes, a living being who lives, suspended in liquids, inside a large, round shell. That shell is hooked up to various tubes and wires insde the column. Those are the person's lifelines. The tubes relay nutrients, chemicals, and horemones to the shell, and remove wastes. The wires connect the shell to speakers, optical sensors, auditory sensors, and all of the skyscraper's functions, though not all of them work now. Unplugged from all of this, the shell is left with one optical sensor and one auditory sensor, with a keypad and a switch to the side on the top. The keypad, which uses only sounds, would have been used should XS-100-S ever go "rogue." The sounds are a code, which shuts down all of the person's brain activity. Put more baisically, it kills them. The switch, though, is the more feared one of the two.
Used only when placing a shell in a new body, the switch shuts off all sensors, leaving the person in the shell in total darkness, with no way to know what's going on around them. Seconds tick by like eternity, and there are some who come back to the world mentaly damaged. Most recover, and continue with their lives, though the memory of what happened continues to haunt them for many more years. Some don't recover, and either remain in therapy, or if too far gone, killed.
XS-100-S didn't have to worry about that, however. She'd only been sensory deprived when they hooked her up to the building, and it lasted only 735 seconds. She counted.
Behind the column sat a large, reddish-purple centaur girl. She had long, red hair that extended past her shoulders on her horse torso, and a tail of the same color. Her hooves were reddish-brown, and her eyes were violet. She was wearing a blue tube top. In front of her floated a holo of a chess board, and on the other side floated a small, grey sphere. The two were playing chess, and it was the sphere's turn. "So, Bou, which piece do you want to move?" The sphere floated over a knight. "And where do you want it?" It floated over a square. The girl decided to tease it. "Here?" She pointed to a square that would make it easy to capture the knight. The sphere turned into a red, burr-like shape, with longer prickles, as it replied "No!" In a computer voice, then turned back into the gray sphere. "Oh, alright. Here?" It was the square Bou had indicated before. This time, he turned into a green diamond, while responding "Yes!" in the same computer voice.
Ferrets sat all around, watching the game. One walked over to the girl, and tried, unsuccesfully, to put his paws on ther leg. He was one of the younger ones, and was still learning that the mysterious girl who sometimes sat and talked with them couldn't be touched.
The ferrets didn't know it, but she was only a hologram. Her real body was inside the shell in the column. The hologram was only usable on this floor, however. Any other floor would get just her voice, or if the was a computer hooked into the network, an image. Her name was XS-100-S, or Strawberry, or just Berry, and she was still alive, and still having fun.
(O.o OMGses! That's loooooonnnnnnnng!)