"This is all wrong!" Rex said for the hundredth time since he woke.
Not mentioning the fact that he couldn't recall how he got to this point. The fact that the world of zeroes and ones had turned into an eldritch horror of code and squirming flesh was terrifying.
YOU HAVE TO FUSE WITH THE SCARLET BLOB, TO BECOME THE BEST VERSION OF YOU… A white floating orb around him announced for the hundredth time yet.
"We have had a similar conversation, right?" Rex asked the orb.
DEFINITELY NOT!... The orb blared. I AM HALO, AND ALL I CARE FOR IS TO HELP YOU BECOME THE BEST VERSION OF YOU.
AND THIS PROCESS BEGINS WITH YOU FUSING WITH THE RED BLOB.
"Just Halo?" Rex asked. "I feel there should be something more."
"And we have definitely had this conversation earlier, a fusing with something that led to an energy crisis."
Halo said nothing…
"Damn It!"
"What the fuck is going on?"
Rex shut his eyes, momentarily banishing the horrifying visual of code and large blood vessels squirming all around him.
The only consoling fact that he heard, was that rather than a being of ones and zeros. He was more of a white floating mass, looking like a comical ghost from a '90s show.
He sorted his thoughts; he could recall up to the moment he had appeared in that world of zeros and ones.
He knew he was in that world; he was certain of it.
But everything that had happened after he entered was buried in really foggy haze, like a dream.
How the world of zeros and ones turned to this, he had no idea; he felt like he had been here for a very long time, a very, very long time.
But he couldn't recall anything, no matter how he tried.
Shit! Shit!! Shit!!!, He cursed. "No human should exist as living code."
He opened his eyes once again to the horrifying world of flesh and code… and the two circular masses within.
The larger one, a bright white orb that pulsed when it spoke.
The other, an orb the colour of blood…looked like a sac of fluid and unlike the white orb, it seemed to continue to shrink and lose its bloody glow with time.
YOU HAVE TO FUSE WIT–… It began again.
The comical ghost looked at the glowing orb, unimpressed.
"Done?" He asked at the end of the monologue.
OF COURSE
"Anything else you want to say too… Apart from the fusion blah blah blah"
The orb pulsed intermittently as if it were thinking.
YOU HAVE A HUNDRED AND THIRTY CYCLES LEFT BEFORE NULL EVENTS EXECUTION IS COMPLETE.
"That sounds ominous, for some reason." The ghost said while quaking like it was scared.
IT SHOULD…TO YOU.
ALL LIFE FORMS DETEST DEATH, AND A NULL EVENT TO THE CURRENT PROCESS IMPLIES DEATH
"What the?" Rex's tone turned serious, "Come again, are you saying I am dying in a hundred and thirty-three cycles?"
YES.
"And what the hell is a cycle….Scratch that, how many cycles do I have left?"
EIGHTY ONE
"Oh shit," The ghost cursed as he zoomed towards the bloody orb. "**ucking 300k dolls."
"I am beginning to doubt this shit was worth it."
The moment his hands touched the orb, a translucent tab popped up.
Words were in gibberish on the tab; he felt it should have been in zeros and ones for some reason.
Damn it…this whole situation feels all too familiar, Rex thought.
When he focused enough, the gibberish on the tab made sense
Fuse With Organic Vessel | Yes/No…It read.
"What option does a bin peddler have?" Rex swore as he tapped [Yes].
Sweee…He was sucked into the orb like liquid beneath a straw.
.
.
.
He felt like shit.
Every damn thing hurt.
It was like sleep paralysis on steroids.
He wanted to curse out loud, but it felt like he was locked in a corpse.
A world of black, in a body that didn't flinch.
Just nothing.
The eldritch world of code and flesh was paradise in comparison to what he was experiencing right now.
Then it got worse.
A large yellow triangle with an exclamation mark stamped in the middle of it came alive in the darkness.
If he could do anything apart from feeling like shit, he would have cursed the exceedingly bright triangle to pieces, but alas, he was nothing but a conscious mind locked in a corpse.
Organic System Failure Critical…, All too familiar Halo with a skewed scale of priorities announced.
Overriding Autonomic Control Temporarily…Autonomous System Overridden
Analyzing Individual Systems…Analysis complete
Baseline Established
Rebooting Cardiovascular System…Reboot incomplete…Meta Assistance Needed.
Rex felt something.
The feeling was so subtle, but in a world where he felt like he was locked in concrete, the feeling was everything.
It was something he had never felt in all of his 25 years of existence, but it was divine.
He could feel his heart.
Wait it ain't beating!!!
Apart from the apparent anomaly, Rex was bubbling with excitement.
The professor must have succeeded; they must be returning him to his body.
The haze-like memory that he couldn't understand for some reason was instantly forgiven, even bad-sense Halo, and the blaring yellow triangle was an accommodable sin.
Manually Excite Heart to Complete Reboot…Halo ordered.
Rex got to work like it was the most normal thing, the knowledge came intuitively and instinctively.
'Must be muscle memory,' He tried to make sense of the development as he clutched and unclutched that meatball madly.
Cardiovascular Reboot Complete…Halo concluded, Rex lost control of the meatball.
It kept going without him having to do the pumping himself, not as violently as he did it, though.
Rebooting Respiratory System… Reboot Incomplete… Meta Assistance Needed.
Rex was turning pro at this exercise like a divine genius.
Huff…Haa
Huff…Haa
Huff…Halo took back control.
Respiratory System Reboot Complete
Now that Halo had taken back control, Rex realized just how shitty the air smelled…but hey, he could breathe now at least.
Rebooting Digestive System…Reboot Complete
Good to know
Rebooting Muscular System…Reboot Incomplete..Meta Blah blah blah, Rex had gotten to work.
He was already quite familiar with the workings of this familiar system, but rebooting it was the most challenging yet.
Those pecs, abs, biceps, hams, and tibs didn't want to move at all.
It took him a lot of effort to achieve excitation, and this excitation came in the form of intentional muscle spasm.
He spasmed so hard, it looked like convulsion and epilepsy had a baby.
But no matter, he achieved reboot.
All for organic life, Rex consoled himself when Halo finally took control.
Rebooting Neuronal System…Halo announced next.
Rebooting Incomplete…Meta Assistance Needed
How!?... Rex questioned.
Maybe it was because of the neuronal system's nature; no idea was immediately forthcoming.
Manual Excitation Needed…Halo once again announced, and the idea hit.
The senses were an essential part of the neuronal system; he could still breathe in the murky, disgusting air, but apparently, the sense of smell was not enough to crank awake that system.
He needed something more.
He tried to use his newly awakened muscular system to lift open his eyes, but his eyelids felt like metal lids; they didn't budge.
Deeper breaths…nothing.
Touch.
He tried.
His hands barely budged, but it did budge.
He bent his hands inward; he just needed to pinch himself awake.
He just needed to get to any skin.
Whichever skin would do.
For some reason, he could feel pressure on his thighs.
That direction will do, he will build on that proprieceptive sense that was just returning,
A lot of spasm was involved, but he made it either way.
Pinch…his nails must have dug deep.
Yet.
He didn't feel shit.
Pinch..Pinch..Pinch.
Still nothing.
He went bunkers with it.
WHACK!!!
Something hit his cheeks, real hard.
His reflexes woke.
His eyelids snapped open to a blade hanging dangerously close to his eyes.
Neuronal System Reboot Complete…Organic System Online, but he didn't cheer.
His senses were lost in the plethora of data hitting them.
A blinking neon sign, the mushy feel of wet trash all around him, and most importantly.
The hyper attention to detail cat-eared cosplayer lady, kneeling on his thigh with her articraft of steel, hanging dangerously close to his eyes.
"What the *uck!"...Both he and the lady swore together.