Resolute

by LucidTech

Chapter Three

There is a term called ‘Shock’. A tricky tricky term. It’s used for a lot of things but all of them have the same basic idea instilled within them. ‘Shock’ is going from one state to another so quickly you don’t have time to adjust, and so you don’t adjust at all, often times causing a strange paralysis. For instance, receiving a grievous wound during a battle. Should the wound go unchecked the owner of it may find themselves suddenly on the ground, wondering where all the blood came from. It also relates to moving from hot to cold suddenly and, albeit rarely, finding that the world now has talking magical horses in the higher echelons of the food chain.

Such was it with Jack. He’d awoken from his eternity of slumber to find that nothing was how it should have been. The entirety of reality had changed in the span of what to him was a mere instant. The first thought that’d he had was of course that it was a simple dream, certainly a strange one of course, but simple by and large. However as the world became more and more to real to him his mind came to the conclusion that perhaps it wasn’t a dream after all.

As he had lain in the sleeping bag this is what his mind had been coping with. The idea that maybe he wasn’t mad or delusional, that there really were talking magical ponies, and that he would simply have to take it in stride. However, as taking it in stride often is, it proved to be a lot easier said than done. And, under the pressure of this idea and under the uncertainty of his body he was forced to a mental event, triggering the tears that came out in the purpose of sadness and closure.

Celestia, of course, proved herself worthy of the title of princess in anyway she could and she assisted the human in putting together the shattered thoughts that flitted about the edge of his mind. No matter how much help she gave him though, there is simply no easy way to relearn the fabric of existence, no matter how understanding and kind the teacher is. But they had plenty of time, the two of them. And, with this in mind, she’d left him to chat with the other members of the group while she investigated the metal room they’d found him in.

Her careful steps echoed on the shining metal with purpose, and her gait was steady and fair. However, beneath her familiar veneer of certainty, and beneath her mask of absolution there was no understanding, or recollection. Only confusion. And despite her best spells and examinations there were no answers she could find. It was after hours of useless progress, naught to show for it but brief moments of glimmering hope, that Jack arrived in the room, a cup of hot cocoa in each of his hands.

A simple blanket covered his upper torso, obscuring all but his shirt sleeves from view. But his lower half went unadorned, for reasons Celestia now understood. He approached her with a somber look on his face and handed her one of the cups that he’d brought. As she took it from him gratefully, Jack took a sip of his own and moved towards one of the three metal walls of the room. He placed his free hand against it and sighed.

Celestia approached carefully alongside him, levitating her cup in front of herself but declining to drink from it quite yet. “There’s no magic in these walls Jack. I don’t think they hold answers for you, they most certainly didn’t hold any for me.”

Jack leaned his head against the wall as well, slightly above his spread palm. “I hope you’re right Celestia.” Celestia raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her drink. Jack waved at her to back away from the wall, and she obliged. Jack took a deep breath and stood up straight again, looking at the wall with steely eyes. His hand rested against the metal still, and a moment later he spoke again. “Hardware Engineer Jack signing in.”

Celestia’s gazed moved away from the wall to Jack in confusion, but a bright light drew her eyes back once again. Lights swirled together underneath Jack’s palm, and a small orb spun to the side of it, growing slightly, then shrinking away. Celestia was in awe of the lights, but Jack only took a sip of his cocoa as he waited.

“Biometrics recognized.” Said a strange voice, the words sounded almost corrupted, like nails on a chalk board. “Welcome back Jack.”

“Computer, can you run a scan for life forms?”

“Such a scan can be done, but the results can only be shared with a doctor or nurse hired at this building. Would you like to know what you may access?”

“No, Computer. What’s your energy looking like?”

“Nuclear core is unstable but not critical, would you like me to open the path to the core to prevent further meltdown?”

Jack glanced at Celestia, who was in awe of the conversation going on between the person she saw and the one she did not. In the back of her mind was the silly distracting thought that she hadn’t been in awe like this in at least one thousand years.

“Supposing that all doctors and nurses were fired, out of commission, or dead, computer. Would I have access to a scan for life forms?”

“Under protocol 7-C you would. Would you like me to scan for all recent activity by approved employees?”

“Go for it.” Jack took a sip of his hot cocoa and looked at Celestia, raising his eyebrows as if in fake surprise. Celestia’s awe fell away for a moment, realizing this was the most alive that Jack had seemed since he’d woken up. “Computers right?” Jack said, swallowing his cocoa. “Protocols and protections.”

Celestia admitted to herself that she had no idea what he was talking about but was unable to ask as the sharp voice came back.

“Last contact with approved employee was 99999999999999999 error overflow error overflow. Employee is presumed dead. Clearance level S given to Head Hardware Engineer, Jack Jones. Proceed with life form scan?”

Jack’s amicable facial features feel away to sadness and he nodded. “Yes Computer.” Jack seemed to collapse onto the floor at that, only barely managing to catch himself with his free hand. Some hot cocoa sloshed over the edge of the cup and onto the ground, but Jack didn’t seem to notice.

“Damn.” He muttered, gazing through the floor with glazed over eyes. “I really hoped they were exaggerating when they said this room was indestructible. Don’t know why in the hell they gave it to me to recover in.”

“Jack?” Celestia asked with a worried look on her face. “Is something the matter?” Jack remained silent unwilling to answer her, prompting another question to be asked. “What is this place?”

This one Jack answered, albeit with bowed head and a voice of despair. “It used to be a hospital. I helped design the machinery and computers for it.”

“Used to be? Computers?”

“Query resolved, answers displayed on wall screen.” Came the voice, Jack glanced at it briefly before letting another sigh leave his lungs. Celestia glanced at the results as well. There seemed to be a layout of a building, but most of the walls were in flashing red. All but one room, with walls in green. In the green room were two dots, Celestia moved closer to get a better look and saw one of the dots move to closer to a green wall as she did so. She also noticed that no where else in the layout were any dots to be found.

It didn’t take her too long to figure out what she was seeing. Her eyes widened in realization. “Jack.” She said, breathing the word as she didn’t have the strength to speak it. “I’m so sorry.”

“Used to be a hospital.” He said again, standing from his spot. “Now it’s a crypt.” Celestia looked on in silence as he placed his hand on the wall again. “Computer. Shut down all unnecessary functions, repair core via inactivity where possible.”

“Understood. Shutting down.” The wall went black, and Jack let his forehead lean against it once more.

Silence reigned for several moments before a voice called down the rocky hallway behind them. “You guys okay down there?!”

“Fine.” Celestia offered quickly. “I’ll be back in a moment.” Her voice seemed to carry itself without any added volume, and it wasn’t too long before she heard a set of echoing hoofsteps moving away from the entryway to the main cave. “Jack…” She offered emptily, he didn’t make a motion to respond. “Take your time, okay?”

He nodded slightly, and Celestia turned away, heading up the rocky passage. She wished she knew what to say. She knew what it was like to lose someone, but she had no idea what it was like to lose everything. She wondered, not for the first time, if they shouldn’t have woken Jack up. Not out of their own well-being. But only for his own sake.

Author's Note:

Ugh, I'm so out of practice.

Comments

[The_Machinist]

Out for nearly a year and you give us this short chapter. Hope you can put in some more next time.

[Revan]

Hmm...

This is intriguing.

Tracking...

[LucidTech]

6347949

It would probably help if I knew where the hell I was going with this. Oh well, we'll see how things go I guess.

[FallenFromGlory]

Wow. I thought this story had died. I put it in my read it later list when the last chapter came out, and now it's on the front page again. Well, time to re-read so I know what the hell is going on.

[hs0003]

6347972 well he's an engineer so he solves problems, and the orbit of the celestial bodies are all out of wack so he could fix those.

[Blaze rod]

Holy crap. Even if the computer was calculating the last login in hours, it makes it minimum of 10 000 000 000 000
(10 trillion) years of stasis.
How the fuck has a planet lasted that long!?

[Mr Evergreen]

6348192
Magic

[ChibiChabot]

Damn! Well this answered a few questions. Thanks for the update!

[rikusorasephiroth]

YEAH!

[Nightmare Wolf]

I hope that this isn't Earth. I'm tired of the "humanity is dead, and earth is ruled by ponies now... and sun changed place with it for some reason" trope. Why it can never be some lost, extra solar colony? Or shelter build by castaways, that couldn't contact anyone from beyond the planet due to some interference field?

[Stormy Sunrise]

6348192 the computer could simply miscalculate, its happened before.

[SkylordF]

LucidTech it has been a while since I've read one of you fics and you don't disappoint

[LucidTech]

6567656

If this is a trick to get me to write more chapters, I hope you know its only sorta working.

[SkylordF]

6567779 its not a trick im serious.

[Sketchy Markks]

:D It's been forever since I found a fic worthy of commenting on. This is awesome. Faving.

[starship55]

"Take it slow Jack". Very wise words. A very intriguing story so far. I hope you will continue to update. So many stories have been incomplete, for so long.

[Zanec]

Note to self.

P.S - One of your weakest.

[hyperiumon]

Great start but oof story has been dead for what ? 19 years. If only I saw where it went