Circuit's Awakening

Suddenly he had a hard rush as the data stream carried him out of his system and into one of the side alleys of the 'net. Tiny eddies of information flowed between individual systems as small tendrils flowed away into the distance, joining a brilliant river of data.

He felt the flow of information flow through his mind and felt his heart tear away from him. The cold chill of circuits stole the warmth from his mind and he fell again, losing himself against the endless datastream. His mind was tossed brutally against garish advertisements standing out against the black horizon. Gently glowing silhouettes surrounded the avenue of data, countless millions of points of Light coming and going as the other users online wandered the streams.

He allowed a gentle thought to guide him to his destination. He came to a hub where data flowed freely, but at its heart the flow of information was restricted. Distantly he triggered a menu to open, displaying a list of programs on his system that he could activate across the gulf between his system and his mind. He triggered a decoy program and pushed the false user toward the restricted area. There was a brilliant flash of energy and the hub went dark for a nearly imperceptible moment. Suddenly a white burst of light hit him and everything vanished in a flash of blinding pain.

The glare slowly faded as he found himself staring at the cold steel ceiling of his room. The neural interface felt like burning acid his skin. He reached up to the cord and ripped the leads from his flesh. A sudden warm wet feeling ran down either side of his face where the leads had torn his skin. He ran a finger along the trail of blood, looking at the dark red without any comprehension.

A distant voice came to him, "Behold the imperfection of flesh..."

A blue spark flashed through his mind and he saw his green room consumed in flames. Cold steel forms crawled into the corners of the vision, replacing the green life with grey death. Red circuits filled the steel maw. Suddenly two green points of light flashed into life, and he felt the steel grinning at him.

There was another blue flash. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the vision terminated, leaving him still staring at his bloody fingers. He stood up frantically, fighting a sudden pain in his leg. He struggled to the airlock controls, fighting through to the green room. He let the warm life of the plants flow into him, replacing the cold terror of the vision.