The others, these "programs", they were prisoners here. She didn't belong here, but she was a prisoner too.
"Hi, Ami!"
Ami's eyes widened as this stranger came up to her, as she looked into the familiar face. She'd seen it often enough. In the mirror. "Who?"
The girl smiled at her. "I'm the Search Analysis Mercury Interface. You're my User."
"What?!" asked Ami. "You're -"
"The Mercury Computer," said SAMI. "Though you know I'm not exactly a computer in the modern era sense of such things. It's not like you can use me to surf the internet or put together a spreadsheet. I'm not even sentient, at least in most worlds."
"How?" asked Ami.
"It's the way these worlds work, I think," said SAMI, looking around her. Ami realized her movements weren't quite human - more birdlike in some respects. "Each world is like a stage or setting. Costume changes and your abilities may even alter from stage to stage. What is possible on one stage might not be so on the next. On this stage, for this portion of the play, I have sentience and the ability to directly interface with you by means of dialogue. Intriguing, isn't it?"
"Are the others here?" asked Ami.
"Scanning," said SAMI. "Negative. Unless they are in an area shielded from scanning, they are not on this particular stage at this time."
"Can you unlock this door?" asked Ami, pointing at the electron bars of the prison area.
SAMI smiled and cocked her head, again looking curiously birdlike. "It may take a few minutes to find the proper access code. Working."
Makoto fell a good long distance, eventually slamming into the ground with a complete lack of grace. That would have concerned her if it hadn't been for a few other things that had occurred along the way.
One being that when shimmering space had changed abruptly to blue sky - her clothes had changed. Suddenly she was wearing SPANDEX?! Okay, maybe it wasn't that different from her normal Senshi costume, but it was startling nonetheless.
Then, briefly, she'd flailed in midair before going through most of the branches of a tree and crashing down in this jungle.
"Did they hire you too?" asked a male voice.
Slowly Makoto raised her head. A middleaged Western guy, fairly big, in red spandex. "Huh, what?"
"Let me guess, you're a newbie," said the big guy.
"A wha? 'Newbie'?" asked Makoto.
"You're new to this," said the big guy, reaching down and lifting up a corner of her demi-cape.
"Yeah, that's definitely new," agreed Makoto.
"Came here accidently?" asked the big guy, guessing again.
"You could definitely say THAT," agreed Makoto.
"I know the feeling," said the big guy. "Okay. I'm on a job. Follow me and follow my lead. If they ask, you're my... protege."
"'Prota-jay'?" asked Makoto.
"Apprentice, you know. 'Passing the torch' - that kind of thing. So what's your handle?"
"Uhm, 'Sailor Jupiter'?" asked Makoto.
"Jupiter was a guy, wasn't he? Oh, don't worry, we'll come up with something else," said the big guy. "As for 'Sailor' - unless you're in the Navy that doesn't have much of a ring to it. Let's get going. I'm 'Mister Incredible'."
"Ah, right," said Makoto, accepting a hand up. She could feel the guy's strength in the way he tugged her effortlessly to his feet.
"Hmmmm, it might help the naming process if I knew your powers," said Mister Incredible.
"Ah, lightning I guess," said a hesitant Makoto.
"You're that new to it all?" asked Mister Incredible. "Wow. Well, let's see if we can't find that rampaging robot and deal with it."
"Okay," said Makoto, figuring out that this sounded like Senshi business. Sort of.
"Hmmm. What about 'Thundergirl'? No, that just makes you sound like you've got gas problems," said Mister Incredible, motioning her to follow him as he continued tracking. "Maybe 'Green Lightning' - that is a green outfit after all. Or 'Storm Lass'..."
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(Posted Wed, 03 May 2006 03:58)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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