Neo Static: What May Be, What Might Be, What It Is III

Even though this might be the end of everything Ruffo was having the time of her life. She had never felt more alive than right now, her thoughts were crystal clear and her actions were smoother than silk on satin. She realized that this feeling had been building up inside of her since they discovered Max in the chamber.

"What the hell are you smilin at?" Anderson asked. Anderson had dispatched three of the creatures that used to be good friends only moments ago and now they were lying at her feet twitching like bugs on a hot windowsill.

"I really don't know," Ruffo confessed. "At first I was filled with dread and then a few moments ago I got this feeling inside that something good will come of all this."

"Well," Anderson stated. "I hope whatever the hell it is you're feeling is coming soon... or we're all Ul'ran drones."

Neo Static: What May Be, What Might Be, What It Is II

Munson and Hyllensen stood there looking at the screen; it only had five minutes until the whole compound was purged. It was better to go out in a blaze of glory than to become a servant of the Ul'ran infestation in their minds.

"See you on the other side," Munson said to Hyllensen.

"We're not there yet," Hyllensen replied. He had learned from history to never count your chickens before they hatched.

"What do you mean?" Munson questioned.

Hyllensen pointed to the screen showing Max hovering off the floor as a bright light began to emanate from him. "There's still him."

"What the hell is he going to do?" Munson wanted to know.

"Well," Hyllensen stated. "It could be beneficial.... or detrimental. Either way we're screwed."

Neo Static: What May Be, What Might Be, What It Is I

You heard the lady, Max. Time to clock in.

Neo Static: Verisimilitude Man VII

Max didn't know exactly what was going on but he knew there was trouble; he didn't need to know the sound of the klaxon which brought him back into this moment in time, after swimming about into an eternity of thoughts in a matter of a fraction of a microsecond. He was here, there and everywhere; watching a brontosaurus eating a branch, an old woman crossing the street in 1933 New York City, an alien woman dancing to weird music in a (what he thought might be) field under three moons.

Is this how Maggie sees the world?

"Yes," she answered his thoughts.

"This is the Metaplex?"

"Yes," she answered.

"By the gods," he stated. "It's full of possibililites."

"And then some," she said. Then she added, "Time to clock in, sweetie. You have a job to do."

Neo Static: Verisimilitude Man VI

Ruffo ran through the mess with guns blazing; she managed to retrieve another weapon and now she was in full Valkyrie mode. A warrior woman in a mad dance and display of angelic beauty in the middle of a hellish nightmare. Arms moving about like a conductor in the middle of a symphony as bullets flew about hitting targets and clearing a path.

She led a half-dozen survivors of the mess into the corridor before slamming the door shut. Two of the men moved a huge vending machine to block the entrance. It wouldn't last but it would do for now.

"What are we to do now?" someone asked her.

"Like the song says," she answered while catching her breath, "'How long you wanna live anyway?'"

Neo Static: Verisimilitude Man V

The klaxon sounded. A sound that no one wanted to hear echoing throughout the base camp. Which meant an infection managed to find a way into the base camp.

"We have a breach," someone shouted.

"Oh my god, no," someone else said.

General Munson grabbed for his rebreather and slapped on his anti-biotic pin. He looked at Hyllensen and he saw his eyes widen in horror. "We've lost," his voice sounded with a tone of dejection.

Hyllensen knew that it was only a matter of time before the base was totally infected and he reached over and put his thumb print on a glass panel. "General!" he barked. "We have to do this."

Munson strolled over to the console and looked at Hyllensen and then nodded. "Activate Zero Day." 

Munson and Hyllensen put their palms on the screen and the computer began to scan.

Neo Static: Versimilitude Man IV

Ruffo's first instinct was to slap an anti-biotic pin into her neck and then grab her re-breather and put it on. She watched as Ksen's skin began to peel away like a banana, being replaced by pulsating reptilian scales.

"CODE OMEGA NOW!" she barked. "RED! RED! RED!"

Ksen flopped on the ground, twitching as spores began to sprout out from the wounds in his body. He was a time bomb waiting to go off. A bio-mechanical device that had gone through all the scanners and fooled them all.

For those who didn't inject the pin in time the spores were claiming them as their own.

Soon, very soon, there would be a dozen new Ul'ran inside the base. This was not good, Ruffo thought. She picked up her revolver and prepared to do the dance once again.

Neo Static: Verisimilitude Man III

We've got it.

Max sensed something was happening elsewhere in the compound as he floated one meter from the floor. He could feel the floor, the walls, the fluorescent lights as they cackled with energy. He could see the patterns about him, mathematical figures dancing on streams of energy. Like strings thrown at Mardi Gras.

We've got it.

His mind was opening up, synapses unlocking memories of then, now and what-if's as if they were real. Imagination rewriting realities that his mind thought and yet he was still zeroed in on this one. They need me. They need Max.

Apollo 8 you are go.

There were billions upon billions of threads entangled together, strung together and woven by fates. How could one thread of reality make a difference when the others didn't know that it existed? Because you're here, that's what matters. All life, all threads, all possibilities matter.

We've got it.

Neo Static: Versimilitiude Man II

The Ul'ran scientist glanced up from the holo-ball. The image in the ball was of Ksen shaking as if he was having a seizure. The Ul'ran scientist looked over at the Commander and made a loud clicking sound that reverberated throughout the chamber. This made everyone stop what they where doing.

"ajfodfoel afjsdfjlfj popeke, afjdkjr" it said.

"aekeme" replied the Commander as it approached, waiting for the signal.

In the holo-ball Ksen flopped over onto the floor and said "Iiiek!"

"Iiek! koel lsloie. leloeksk oejeje" the Commander bellowed and then began to laugh, or what facsimile of laughter the species had.

Neo Static: Verisimilitude Man I

Ksen sat there clicking his tongue which was annoying Ruffo at the moment. Ksen's beer was untouched though Ruffo could of sworn that he had brought it up to his lips a few times throughout the evening.

Ksen's fingers were beginning to tap on the table, like a man impatiently waiting for someone.

"What's bugging you?" she finally blurted out to him; she knew it was the alcohol in her that made her do that.

"Huh?" Ksen said as he snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, nothing... nothing."

"Something's eating at you," Ruffo said as she leaned forward. "What is it?"

Ksen smiled and blinked his eyes at her; Ruffo thought she could see a film in them and then it dawned on her and her eyes widened in unbelievable shock.

Neo Static: Enmity Terrene VII

Max hovered a few inches off the ground; he was sitting in a lotus position. His arms resting on his knees and his finger and thumb making a circle. Hyllensen thought he was just resting at first, trying to calm himself. Which was in part true. As Max did begin to feel calm he heard a very familiar female voice whisper in his ear.

This transmission is coming to you.

In all his years Max had never felt more alive than at that moment; he seemed more in sync with the reality around him. He rose higher off the ground as static electricity began to build around him. Lifting the hairs on his head, he could feel the hairs on his arms embrace the charge.

Maggie whispered into his other ear.

This transmission is coming to you.

So this is what it feels to ascend, he thought. He now understood what Dekker had wanted in that movie about merging with a machine. He was having his V'ger moment.

Maggie whispered again. 

We've got it.

Neo Static: Enmity Terrene VI

Ruffo took a sip of the whiskey before her. A toast was raised for those who had fallen today, all good soldiers who had paid the price.

"Ul'ran don't like to stick around when one of them gets hurt," Bobcat said. He had plopped down on the empty chair across from her. "That's a good thing, or else there could have been a lot more to raise a glass to."

"You got that right," Ksen said. "Those bastards are going to pay this time around."

"Easy, Ksen," Ruffo said. "You might just blow a gasket there."

Ksen let out a chuckle; he knew what she meant.

Neo Static: Enmity Terene V

"What did he say?" Hyllensen asked. He pushed Grumm aside and flipped up the speaker. "Are we recording?"

Grumm, his lab assistant, nodded his balding head yes. Hyllensen glanced at the monitor showing Max's face, whose eyes were open and serene.

Hyllensen pressed rewind until he heard the backwards blip-blip and then pressed play. He turned up the volume. The lab became quiet enough that you could hear a pin drop, waiting for what this strange fellow had to say.

"This transmission is coming to you."