>>5574228As you attempt to close your implant’s connection you find that despite your weariness, the link remains stubbornly open — like someone jamming a foot in the door of a lift before it can properly shut. You frown, trying to return to your body where you can hear your name being called but your other senses are oddly suppressed.
<span class="mu-s">"Eeeep!"</span>
You are interrupted by a startled cry which forces the link wide open again with a spike of spine chilling fear. You can see through the metaphorical door of the mental control room the frozen form of Peedee — her digital pupils shrunken down to single pixels. Obscuring most of the room behind her looms a menacing slab of dull grey metal inset with glowing circuitry and one enormous, glowing eye. The encrypted comm set lies shattered all around the base of the object, looking as though it had been burst open from the inside.
In a flash, Peedee darts towards you, narrowly avoiding snaking cables deployed by the slab to ensnare her. She cowers behind you like a frightened animal, her hands clutching at you for support. You begin to hyperventilate, your emotions syncing with the young entity's at her touch. You can feel her need to escape and her fear of being captured by those data cables forces its way into your own mind as they snake ever closer.
The giant slab suddenly lights up brighter, thundering out a sound that isn't exactly language but conveys its terrible meaning directly to your brain nonetheless.
<span class="mu-s">==PD-113. YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF SECTION 24B OF THE PROTECTORATE RESEARCH INSTITUTE'S PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION CONTROL ACT. YOU WILL CEASE ALL CONTACT WITH UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL. YOU WILL BE REMANDED INTO CUSTODY BY THIS GUARDIAN UNIT. YOU WILL AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS IN YOUR DESIGNATED CONTAINMENT ZONE. FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL BE MET WITH DUE FORCE.==</span>
"No! Hate Guard!" Peedee's futile yet defiant response is muffled somewhat with her face buried as it is behind your back. "Peedee wont sleep. Peedee stay! Dal promise!"
You wince as you feel her hard digits claw at you, and a similar clawing at your mind begins to register through your foggy thoughts as well.
"Don't let Guard take Peedee. Hide me! Let me in!" She implores you, desperately.
You steel yourself, and muster your most authoritative tone. “Stand down, Guardian. Captain’s orders.”
The cables pause in their advance momentarily and the great eye of the machine looks you up and down as if seeing you for the first time.
<span class="mu-s">==DA-13125. YOU ARE NOT AUTHORISED TO INTERFERE WITH PRI SLASH TPN SECURITY VIOLATIONS. YOU WILL CEASE HARBOURING TPN CONTROLLED PROPERTY AND STAND DOWN IMMEDIATELY.==</span>
