[Cyberia] Re: Cyberia: Down the Rabbit Hole

[Cyberia GM]

"That said, let us take our leave," [Asha] finished. Her avatar floated to
the port, and disappeared from the street.

Dot looked over what she was leaving, and sighed before crossing into the
port and concentrating on exiting the ether.

In the real, Kayle came from her area in the back of the office towards
where Dot and Asha sat.  She seemed somewhat agitated, though she attempted
to conceal it, her breathing exaggerated in the attempt.

She nodded to Suhuy, even as she looked at Dot.  She looked somewhat
nervously at Suhuy as she approached the terminal.  She looked at the
readouts on the terminal, then sighed in relief as Asha opened her eyes.

Asha smiled reassuringly at Kayle, and the blonde smiled hesitantly back.
She opened her mouth as if to speak, but Asha looked warningly at Suhuy.

"Should her 'wire be ready?" She asked Kayle.

Even as she did, Dot began to move.

+++++

Awareness came back to Dot in a rush as her perception reverted to real
time.  She heard Kayle speaking, but through a haze, muffled by the switch
in senses.

"It should be.  You were in there quite a long time," she said, unspoken
overtones audible in her voice.  "Did anything happen?"

"No.  Not really," Asha answered.  "I just had to slow down my interface to
match the trodes, and slowed down the ICE on the simulation to make up for
the loss in efficiency caused by the induction filter."

Dot could sense that the two approached her before her vision reverted
totally, and the room came into focus as control of her optic nerves were
returned to her.  Asha stood in front of her, waiting patiently.  "Are you
ok?" she asked.

Dot woke with the slow easiness of a good night's sleep, a hand moving to
sweep her hair back, and a gentle smile as she nodded and said, "hmm?"

Asha mirrored Dot's smile, moving to allow Kayle to come closer.  Laying a
hand lightly on the woman's shoulder, she said, "Kayle needs to run some
diagnostics on your plug and install the wireless transmitter module."  She
backed up as Kayle looked at Dot questioningly, a flat pad with a
holo-screen in her hand.

Dot nodded, as she regained her senses.

"Then we'll have a real run," Asha said, the excitement evident on her face.
"I'm not sure if a clone has ever run the Ether before.  You'll still be a
slight bit slower than full immersion, but that shouldn't present a
problem," she added chewing her lower lip as she thought on something.

"May I?"  Kayle queried, even as Asha continued to look at Dot, her eyes a
bit unfocussed.

"Please."

Kayle first brushed back Dot's hair, causing the petite woman to smile a
little, being ticklish right there, as she attached an induction pad to the
nape of her neck.  Effeciently attaching this to a wire trailing from her
pad, she took a few readings, nodding the whole while.  Then she efficiently
attached another wire to the plug in Dot's arm.  Dot could feel a small
amount of pressure in her head as she did this, that adjusted as Kayle
fiddled with the pad in her hands.

Dot felt awkward, but would happily take this over the idea that she would
never go back again.  "Who am I," she muttered to herself as the diagnostics
continued.

'/scrm01/dsullivan' appeared in the lower corner of her vision.

"Everything is within tolerances," she said matter-of-factly.  "Let me
install the wireless module, and we should be set."

Removing all of the paraphernalia that she had attached, Kayle took a small
metallic object from a case she'd had secreted in one of her pockets.
Turning Dot's arm so that it was palm up, she screwed the object into the
plug on Dot's arm.  The feeling was strange- though she knew that there was
something being inserted into her, the only sensations she felt were
peripheral to the actual placement of the module.

Dot was straightening her thoughts, putting them in order before the
interface, which she knew would come.  Her lips tightened at the
penetration, and she looked at Asha.  Or perhaps through her.

After the module was in place, Dot instantly saw an interface similar to the
one that she'd had while plugged in appear at the edges of her vision.  The
menus were different- the interaction options were gone, to be replaced only
with a diagnostic menu, a manual interface option, and a connect option.

Regardless, Dot couldn't help but wonder if she could manipulate the system,
perhaps finetuning the diagnostic from here... she could see some of the
numbers were off... she reached out...

"You should see the interface on the periphery of your vision," Kayle said,
looking carefully into Dot's eyes. "Everything still falls within
tolerances", she continued, for Asha's benefit apparently.  "How is
everything to you," she asked Dot.

Dot, feeling the flow of electrons again, raw, pulsing with her, asked, "how
long can a person stay in?  Is there a limit?"