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Untitled Story 7

A Praxely Tale

Authors Note:

Part 7. Woo. Read, comment, and enjoy. (Please?)

Standing in front of the large Oak door, Victor shook himself to force his attention to the there and then. He knocked, 3 times, a seconds' pause in between each knocks to let him know who it was.

Silence behind the door, then a noise. A noise like something shuffling on the other end of the door, swiftly followed by the sounds of many different bolts, locks, and latches being thrown and turned. Victor waited roughly a minute while his friend unlocked the heavy door, before it finally swung open to reveal, James.

He stood in front of Vic, a smile on his face. He stood tall and thin, slight muscle on his arms and chest, otherwise he was average in nearly any sense of the word.

Except intellect.

"Victor! It's been a while, friend. Here for your supply? Come in! Come in!"

Victor crossed the threshold of the door, and James swung it closed behind them, closing them in darkness.

As James busied himself with making things looks a bit more...presentable (as the room was a horrible mess with random garbage strewn around), a soft, sensual female voice filled the room,

"Hello Victor, I'm glad to see you're doing well? It's been approximately 7 months, 36 minutes, and 12 seconds since your last visit. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"

Victor waved a hand for the visual receptors installed around the room as he replied,

"No, thank you Rebecca. Everything is fine with me, but what about the both of you? James still hasn't gotten over his phobia, I see."

There was a small sigh, an entirely human emotion for the AI as she appeared in front of him, using optical cameras in the walls and ceilings to project her "body", an image made of light particles that was human sized. She was an attractive form, her slender body nicely curved in key areas, namely the hips and bust. Her breasts could easily fill out a D size cup. She dressed in an ancient warrior's outfit. Or perhaps more suited for hunting, her normally long flowing hair was done up in a ponytail, and she wore basic leather armor that hung slightly off her hips, making it look sort of like a skirt. Her boots went up her shins, but stopped just before the knees, leaving her legs exposed.

Yeah, James was lonely.

When they said James was average, they never had the ability to see his mind in action. He was a certifiable genius. Whatever he could think, he could most likely build as long as he had access to the materials. And so, he had built himself an AI (Artificial Intelligence) construct, lovingly named Rebecca. She had been his constant companion for many long years, keeping him company in those long times between actual interaction with others.

Unfortunately it seemed, insanity was the other side of the coin in that regard, as James was extremely paranoid about the world around him. He had been part of the military for a long while, before some top brass had realized his potential and put him on the defense council as his personal assistant. Often deferring to him in very important matters, and time and time James had proven himself of a superior intellect. His real job began when it was discovered that he had an interest in the Occult, that is to say,Werewolves, Vampires, Ghosts, things of that nature.

He was transferred to E.O.R.A.S (Emergency Occult Recon and Assault Squad), a branch so secret, it rated above"Top Secret". It was known to only the highest in command as "Black hole", a play on how nothing escapes the pull of a black hole, not even information.

That was how he and Weston had met. But that was a story for another time. Over time, James realized just how dangerous the world around him was, but instead of dealing with it like a normal person would, he shut in on himself, and chose to hide. But in time, he became Victor's best friend. They looked out for eachother, but sometimes Victor couldn't see his friend, for fear of exposing him. So they had to keep the meetings seperated by long periods of time.

Rebecca shook her head slowly.

"No, he has not. We have this conversation every once in a while, but he refuses to budge. He believes that something irrevocably sinister will happen to him if he were to go outside for 5 minutes. I do wish he'd get some sun, though. At least he keeps fit with his gym equipment. Still, it's a good thing you keep him company, I fear that I may not be enough to satisfy him sometimes. So make yourselves comfortable, I'll make the necessary arrangements for you."

Victor nodded his head in thanks as the holographic form disappeared. Rebecca was a "Smart" AI. James had 2 of the seperate constructs on hand, but he relied most heavily on Rebecca for everything. The other construct would be an "ai", an "automated intelligence". It was an extremely limited intelligence that did barely more than a military grade super computer, which was to say, still a Hell of a lot, but significantly less than a true AI like Rebecca.

James came back in with two drinks in his hands, one would be black coffee for him, and the other would be basic green tea. He handedthe tea to Victor, who took his gratefully, and they sat back on the only couch that wasn't covered in mountains of debris.

Well, debris wasn't a fair assumption to make. Papers were strewn everywhere, and while it may look messy to most, to James it was probably a very meticulous filing system. At least there was no real garbage lying around, James had the sense to keep himself clean and fit. Probably a product of his time in the military.

The visit was short, and to the point. Victor was on a tight schedule, and needed to get moving. He gingerly took the bag offered to him which was full of bags of the red liquid he unfortunately required to survive, and was out the door with a grateful wave, and he was off.

James stood in the doorway, watching his friend leave, before he shut the door and proceeded to lock every latch he could. Rebecca appeared behind him, her hand on her hips in a concerned posture.

"You need to get out of here, and help him. You know what's coming, and yet you choose to hide."

He shook his head quickly, as if to pretend like he didn't just hear her words.

"No, no no no, I can't. Too many dangers out there, I can't risk myself, or the intel I have. I must keep it all safe, Becca. Victor is strong, he can handle himself."

"That's cowardice. You were a soldier before, you survived through harrowing odds, and suddenly now you shut yourself away? If anything bad was going to happen to you, don't you think it would have, already? If not for me, then for your friend! You'll be condemning him to death, if you don't act."

"No no no, I was never in danger before because I wasn't in as deep as I am now! There's no way out..."

Rebecca could see through her optical sensors the pain on his face, so she decided to back off the subject. She dispersed her hologram.

"Fine. But think about it."

James had already thought about the coming doom. He'd thought about it for many, many years.

And he couldn't think of a way to stop it.