The tunnel was the same type of shambles one gets used to in the Real. Steel, rusted metal, rubble and wires basically littered the cavernous tunnel but there was something more, something perhaps miraculous. If Barloke or anyone from The Red Code Army would have seen it, they would have recognized it immediately. Almost every exposed piece of metal was covered in a gelatinous matter in a thin layer. The matter itself was not the product of Machines or something that was built by Man, rather this was something that was created by the hands of Mother Nature herself. The sludge-like matter went about its slow way of existence as the trillions of micro organisms that made up its being began to feed of the metals and debris. Mother Nature is a patient woman and in a world that is completely unfit for any life, she still finds a way to exist.
"Let there be light" and the tunnel that was left undisturbed for centuries in the ruins that was once the great state of Texas began to fill with a glow that grew brighter by the second. The Forsaken flew in at top speed with the Unforgiven close behind. The energy from both ships and its wake rattled the walls of the unused tunnel. The plasma energy from the pads of both ships caressed the walls floors and ceilings as the ships charged by at top speed. Plasma energy passed over the sludge like creatures immediately turning them into a blackened crisp although not without protest. The organisms that made up the sludge moved quicker as if using the scant micro seconds to get away for the searing energy and in its efforts produced a sonic wave , low enough to escape detection by the human ear but soon the tunnel was filled with other things that could hear them.
The sentinels that were fast behind the Forsaken and the Unforgiven came in by the droves. Hundreds of them filled the tunnels in a desperate chase to catch up to the two hovercraft. Five of the sentinels stopped suddenly and turned to what their sensors picked up as the other sentinels rushed by. Immediately they went to the source of their interest. The sludge matter was partially blackened but there was enough of it left that was undamaged to be of use to the metallic creatures that soon surrounded it. Sentinels aren't exactly created for scientific study but they can detect anomalous matter and are equipped with a directive in case this sort of thing happened, to bring back all non-human life forms back to Machine City for study. The five sentinels, one by one collected the organic matter and soon the sludge like thing was in the bowels of the sentinels that raced back to Machine City... and already the damage was beginning. A creature whose primary diet consisted of metal was being taken to a city that was made of metal....Mother Nature, you see can be a vengeful b&*^h when she wants to be...
Barloke looked at the monitor briefly that showed the rear of the hovercraft and with a sigh confirmed it with what he saw on the sensors. With a quick snap he hit the comm button and talked to the ship ahead "Jazz, they still are behind us and catching up have your gunners shoot anything on the walls that looks like a junction bracket."
"Roger" came the reply "do you think these that these are the same ones that took out the Hill?"
Barloke grimaced at the brief thought of what happened a few days ago and said "I don't think it matters at this point, they caught up to us and we better put in some fancy moves if we are gonna get out of this jam." Looking at the sensors Barloke said "west junction coming up start shooting for it then floor it!"
Both ships came up to a set of intersecting tunnels, as soon as the Forsaken came upon it , it opened fire , shooting at every bracket and support beam that held up the tunnel. The tunnel itself began to shudder and the Unforgiven slowed down briefly and powered down quickly.
"Barloke!" shouted Jahzel from the comm "what the hell are you doing!?"
"Relax Jazz" said Barloke into the mouthpiece "just a little trick my old Captain taught me." The sentinels already crowded in on the solitary hovercraft in the collapsing tunnel, already descending to tear into it when Barloke jabbed at the EMP button. The pulse spread from the ship immediately rendering the sentinels powerless as they fell to the ground like dead monstrous insects. The pulse also served another purpose as it slammed into the walls of the already weakened tunnel. Chunks of the cavern began to collapse as Barloke powered up the Unforgiven and took off into the tunnel the Forsaken went through. The other sentinels that didn't get blasted by the EMP found themselves in a tunnel that was collapsing all around them. Many of them were struck by rock and metal, but not all of the tunnel collapsed and there were so many of them...
Barloke looked at the sensors again and cursed "how many of them could they be "he muttered and then spoke into the comm again "Jazz" he said "you are gonna come to a tunnel on your right, take that tunnel and pull up 90 degree angle, you should come to a negative conduit, grapple the wall and power down, just leave sensors on. They shouldn't be able to detect you." "Roger that" Jahzel replied and then "what about you?"
For the first time since seeing his home destroyed a few days ago Barloke smiled ruefully. "Well" he said "looks like I am gonna lead the parade away from you guys."
"But that's suicide!"
Barloke sighed once and said "No, it's just inevitable. Ok no argument we are coming up on it real soon be ready to receive a transmission from me."
"Transmission?"
Barloke didn't reply right away, instead he inserted a disk and pressed a button "Yeah" he finally said "it's gonna tell you where you have to go after I am gone." No answer to that right away but Jahzel found his voice and said "Bar...man, c'mon we can both still get out of this..."
Barloke listened to the young man and smiled again, this time it had a sadder tone to it as he said calmly "No Jazz we barely have enough power in either ship and they are not stopping. This is the only way to make sure we go on surviving; it was never about a person, an army or even a Seer. It is about an ideal and that is bigger than any of us." With a short chuckle he finished "besides, no one lives forever!"
Again the reply wasn't right away but then Jahzel answered "ok man" he said quietly "I will do as you ask..."
"Good" said Barloke as he stabbed the "send" button and then said "take that tunnel...NOW!"
The Forsaken pulled into the tunnel on the right and immediately veered up, racing at top speed until the mechanical apparatus ahead could be seen. The Forsaken quickly came to a stop and grappled the wall. No sooner than that all systems began to power down and all the crew could do was look at the sensor screen, watching the green blip that was the Unforgiven pull further away as it was trailed close by, by the multitude of red blips.
Barloke sighed again as he pushed the Unforgiven faster and faster, ignoring all the warning alarms that the ship was losing the last of its reserve power. Already he could hear the metal of the skin of the ship screech as sentinels began to pull away at it. The pads of the Unforgiven began to shorten out and power back on then shorten out for good. Barloke held tightly to the controls, trying get as much speed and momentum in his favor and at least wrest some control of the ship but he wasn't really thinking of the current situation. He thought of the first time he awakened to the Real, he remembered the faces of every single friend and enemy he made both in the Real and in the Matrix. Old conversations, old faces, old memories flashed in front of him as the ground of the tunnel met with the crippled ship. "Well" said Barloke quietly to himself in the lonely ship "it was fun..."
The Unforgiven hit the ground hard, hundreds of sentinels immediately covered the ship in a metallic swarm as the ship broke up, parts of it already catching on fire and illuminating the tunnel.
Jahzel and the crew of the Forsaken watched the sensor screen as the red dots overtook the green one. Soon the words "Target Lost" flashed and the crew was silent except for the quiet weeping of Avath. With a sigh Jahzel leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Barloke was his mentor, and his friend. The sacrifice this man made for their own safety was something he would never forget and his next words reflected that "it is what he wanted" he said slowly "he wanted us to survive to carry on the work he set out long ago..."
No one said anything in the darkened cockpit, no one really needed to, and in that it was the most fitting epitaph they could have done for their fallen teacher...
Special thanks to Barloke for the story
