Past Lives New Lives

by Dark Wish

Let's play a game

"Okay, remember we'll breach each room. One at a time," the riot squad held their position and breach each room and aiming guns at aiming every corner of the room. They repeat each process until the whole level was clear.

The squad leader called into his radio, "Level -1 is clear. Request for the hackers on the double. Do not pass level -1. That area is not explore yet."

The hackers went to the main computers and tried to hack into the mainframe. However the hackers were puzzled by the complexity of it's security.
"This is strange. Look at the codes. This is something we have never seen before," the hacker compare notes of the new codes and codes that have known for, "Must of these codes are not mentioned. The security really step up the game."

"Could you like reset the password or something?" asked the squad leader.

"This is not as simple as resetting the password. The security is so highly advanced that not even the government have this kind of protection. By judging by it's coding, I bet they are centuries above us."

"Obviously, they have mastered the ability to go to other universes. Maybe they are more than a millennium advance than we are."

"Yeah, hacking an Apple phone after a protection update is baby stuff compare to this. Like a baby trying to challenge a professor."

"How long do you think you can hack it into? The only thing we have is time."

"I don't know. I am an expert of hacking but this is insane. This can literally take generations just to understand the basic."

"Fucking god dammit!" he bashed his hand against the steel wall, "Say goodbye to our old lives."

"The only way we can get in is a password," the hacker signed and packed up her stuff, "But there could be more protection walls that could delete all the files if we input the wrong password too many times. It's better safe to leave it and find the password later. Maybe they kept it in the other levels."

"It took almost a whole day running away in heavy protection gears with guns just to clear one level. The lower levels have more rooms to breach. Give us a break."

"Don't need to complain. The only thing we have is time like what you just said," all the hackers left the room and returned back to the surface.

"Okay guys!" he clapped his hands to alert his squad, "Let have a quick check in each room again to find anything we miss and get back outside. It's going to be a long week for us."

Before they could head off, there was another call from his radio. "The guy from the jumbotron is back! Get back to the surface immediately! It is streaming in any of your electronic devices!"
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That same person appeared on the jumbotron and every social media devices, "Congratulations on discovering the hidden underground bunker. You are one step closer to the answer. By discovering the bunker and trying to hack the computer, you wanted answers."

There was a background music that was slow and sadistic, "Let's play a game," the person show a picture of a clean tall standing buildings. "If you complete an objective, mission or problem, you will be safe and may be awarded with a prize. If you fail than this will happen." The next picture showed the city was in ruined and monsters were attacking the city.

Everybody just stood there, watching what more hideous stuff will happen, "The first mission will only require three people; Justine Young, Terra Greene, and Aegeus Galatus." The three chosen people were frozen in place, "You are required to enter a cave in the mountain at the blizzard zone."
The screen now shown a map with a red flashing dot at the desired location, "You can only complete the task by nobody else entering in with you. You are only allowed others to be standing at least 50 meters away from the cave entrance. You aren't allowed to bring any firearms. Enter it before the end of tomorrow. Your time start now." A timer was replaced on the screen counting down.

"We dead," Justine sat down on her chair and put her whole face in her palm of her hand.

"Cheer up. Like she said, it is just a game. A sadistic game but still a game," Terra tried to cheer her up.

"Really. I know you find the bright side of everything but that just stretching it," Aegeus looked really unimpressed with her reasoning.

"Look buddy," Terra's behavior just flipped upside-down, "The party is ruined, people are scared, we got a underground computer that we cannot hack, and I am scare shitless. I have the right to look for something good in a shitty situation. Bloody stop kicking us when we are down and help us pack and search for a guide."

Aegeus leaned back away from her and nodded at her request. She look like she would beat the closest person to her if somebody just push her a little further.

"Good. For being a good listener you can find a guide for us," she dragged Justine out of the door, leaving Aegues with the other ministers.

Guido patted Aegeus's shoulder, "I will pray for you. I would make sure your death will not be in vain."

Aegeus stared at Guido with disbelief, "You believe that I will die!" Everybody around him nodded. "I just going to pack my stuff."
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Kevin and his friends were discussing about the new dilemma.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" asked Kevin, "We just released a deadly game in our lives now."

"Doesn't matter. Sooner or later somebody else would find the bunker like those people in the mountains," Daniel stared in the direction of the mountains where the first mission located, "The best we can do is to look after each other back."

"What happen if we were to separate? Teaming with random people?" Will asked as he was lying on the ground playing on his phone.

"Do the best as you can. We will support you as much as we can. If you find somebody trapped in a risky situation, don't attempt to save him or her." This cause Patrick to have a massive spit take. "Hey! I needed to clean that."

"You want us to leave the people to die when we could save them!" Patrick was all up in arms with the proposal, "Even though we don't know them but they are people who have lives!"

Before he could rant more, Daniel put both his hands on Patrick shoulders and stared directly into his eyes, "I know this is sound wrong but this is about survival. We don't have experts to save us and most part of the map spell danger to us. If we can't come back home, than we are the closest to a family. We are not risking your life for somebody else. It would devastate us. Don't be a hero. Be a survivor."

Patrick stared at the ground with no sign of movement until he looked up and nodded.

"Thank you. We have a long day and we needed some rest. I hope those people will be okay."
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Lyra's tent, after watching tonight's episode

Lyra was staring at the bulletin board with all the newspaper clipping about the humans, "Hidden underground bunker, young Starswirl the Bearded, random monsters appearing, drugs, caves, deadly games, creepy leader. What does it all mean?"

"Lyra?" Lyra jumped and stared at the intruder. It was Twilight Sparkle holding a cup of tea, "Sorry. I thought you wanted a cup of tea."

"Thanks," Lyra made a loud sip from the tea, "Yeah. I needed that."

"What do you have here?" Twilight walked up to the bulletin board, "I see you trying to solve the mystery just like them."

"Right. Me and the other human enthusiast and finding the answer. If we somehow answer the question and send it to them, it would solve most of the troubles. It's very hard to observe their culture if they kept hiding in their holes."

"Come up with any theory or conspiracy yet."

"After the human enthusiast meeting we came up with some theories," Lyra threw the sheets of theories on a small table she set up.

"The first theory is they were brought here to see how humans and us react to each other. If we won't harm them, the forcefield will come down and we will meet for the first time. Using drugs to see that there are us on the outside without meeting us will ease them in understanding about the new world"

"The second theory is that the drugs are transforming into us. Memories of being like us will trick their mind as if they were the natives all this time."

"The third theory is they are human sacrifice to the flying spaghetti monster."

"Really, Lyra? Flying spaghetti monster. This is just plain ridiculous even for you," Twilight pushed that theory away.

"One of the members were drunk at that night and we take every theory into consideration. The fourth theory is the shadowy figure is training them to fight against us. They have obviously have lethal weaponry that we can never imagine."

"The last one is reincarnation. Do you believe in reincarnation, Twilight?" Lyra was waiting for her answer.

"I am not sure. There are scientists, professors and philosophers trying to find a definitive answer but we still do not know how to determine it."

"What if they were people from our past have a second chance of living in the human bodies. The person who brought them here wanted to bring back the memory of their past lives. The hidden facility could be a drug lab to test how the drugs react to people's memory. Like you said earlier, that there was no record of Starswirl the Bearded finding humans or time travelling to the future. The best bet that one of them is the reincarnation Starswirl and manage to go back in time to see his spell still work."

Twilight just stood there with careful consideration, "It could work but we have to wait and see further. It's too early to confirm any theory. However if it is true, I could meet my idol, Starswirl the Bearded!"

"Yeah, you and famous sorcerers of the past. It's like a dream came true for you."
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The next day, Nearby the cave entrance

"This is the far I can go," the guide said through his thick mask, "Me and the crew have the trucks full of supplies if something bad happen. Most likely that the cave entrance will collapse so I recommended you to stay away as far as possible when we're going to dig you out of there."

"Thanks," Justine, Terra and Aegeus stumbled through the thick snow with large backpacks towered over their back.

When they reached to the cave entrance, they saw it was a small one that is as small as a room in a suburban house. There wasn't any tunnels or holes leading to other places. As soon as they got in, the entrance was blocked by the snow.

"Typical," Aegeus signed as he explored the room.

There was nothing in this room except for the walls, the ceiling, a rock and a first aid kit in the center. Terra opened the box and revealed three syringes with green solution already inside. Terra picked one up and closely examine the drug. It was not any drug she had seen before.

"Does anybody know what kind of drug this is?" the others shook their heads, "Great. New drugs that could be lethal. What fun. Does any of you know how to use syringes?"

"I know," Aegeus put the syringes back into the med-kit, "Taught medical training at army training and summer boot camp. Extremely important for saving your comrades and allies."

Everybody were organised to make tents and a campfire. He administered the drugs to the girls first before he did it himself, "If you have any sign of sickness or hallucination, please tell us." He sat on the rock as he check his pulse, "We'll take shift on staying awake duty. I will go first. You girls should sleep first."

The girls went to sleep as he called the people who were waiting on the outside. Thank god for good reception. "Hello, Reporting that we are still alive and breathing at the moment. Over."

"Hearing loud and clear. Are you guys alright? Over."

"Yeah, we all injected some drugs and show no sign effects yet. I hope this is not just a scare tactic. Can you help us escape? Over."

"No can do. The mission is still in effect and we can't get anywhere close. You have to be there for a while. Maybe until the drugs kick in. Over."

"Understand. I will contact you when we experience more unusual stuff. Over and out."

Aegeus sat on the rock while browsing the internet. After a hour of standing guard, the pictures on the phone became distorted and his fingers became numb and tingly. Crap. "First Report. Within a hour of waiting, experiencing distorted images and numb feeling in hand." As he walked toward one of the girl's camp, he started to hear voices. 'I claim this rock for Pegasopolis!', 'I planted my flag first!', 'Hey! You invaded our territory!'

"Second Report. Few minutes after the first report, experiencing voices. Quotes most likely from a general, commander or explorer," he heard a scream from Justine's tent, "Drug effect on Justine right now. Checking on her."

He rushed toward the tent and pulled open the flaps, "Justine, are you alright?" What he saw shock him. He was staring at a white unicorn with pink mane wearing a purple cloak and crown. He slapped himself to shake off the stupor and only found it was Justine clenching her head. Now I am imagining ponies. He pushed away his problems and made sure that Justine was okay. "Justine? Are you hurt?"

"I am not sure," Justine kept clenching her head, "I am hearing voices of some kind of leader arguing with others."

"Me too. Just stay awake and calm down while I check on Terra," Aegeus left Justine to check on Terra. She was sleeping peacefully but he need to wake her up to make sure if she was experiencing something funny.

"Wake up. Are you alright?" Aegeus shook her shoulder.

She groaned and shifted in her sleeping bag, "Is it my turn yet?" Terra opened her eyes and faced toward Aegeus. Her eyes went wide open and screamed as she shuffled to the back to the tent.

"Calm down. It's me, Aegeus," Terra stopped shuffling and rubbed her eyes.

She opened her eyes and signed with relief, "Oh god. I thought I was seeing a flying pony."

"Oh god. Me too. Is everybody experiencing voices and seeing ponies?" Aegeus recorded another finding on his phone.

"What do we do?" asked Terra, "Should we go back to sleep or stay awake?"

"I recommend that we stay awake for the time. We don't know what other side affects could happen to us."

As they were waiting for the mission to end, they surrounded the campfire while listening to loud music, talking and slapping themselves to stay awake. However, they are failing to do so as they discovered the side effect of the drug. It was drowsiness. No matter how much they tried to stay awake, they fell to the ground and slept like a log.
_____________________________________________________________

After 12 hours of waiting, the rescuers got the memo from the game maker that they were allowed to release them. The whole crew dug the snow to clear the entrance and found the three survivors sleeping next to the still burning campfire. The guide rushed toward them and shook Aegeus, "Wake up. Are you alright, sir?"

Aegeus's eye instantly went open and tackled the guide to the ground, "The Windigoes are coming! We're doomed and it's all your fault!"

The guide kicked him off and put the distance between each other, "What the hell is wrong is you?!"

Aegeus stood there for a second and stared at his hands with fear, "What the fuck is happening to me?"

"It's okay, sir. The drug was screwing your mind. Come on we get you and the girls back to the hospital and see any other effect."

"Yeah, you're right," he pulled out his phone, "This has all the recordings of the drug's effect. Give it to the ministries and they will find the purpose of the drug."

The trio were taken in the drugs while the doctors were checking their vitals. The doctors said that they are in fine condition except for the rapid heart beating and a fever. It was concluded that they were in a lot of stress and needed some time for rest.
__________________________________________________________

After hearing the recordings

"Same like the person who were drugged earlier," the ministers were sitting down while writing down all the key points.

"It's funny that the names they repeating sound like children's characters," Amia chuckled at it's ridiculous, "Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead, Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, Private Pansy. They all sound like little girl's toy names."

"What more ridiculous that during their sleep, they were acting like one of them. Does this drug make us act like different people?" asked Orbard, the Minister of Treasury, "I do not know many drugs but I don't believe there is a drug that can actually do this."

"There's not," said Ebele, the Minister of Health, "People change their personality when they are too depended on the drugs but there is no such thing as drugs with the main purpose is to change their personality."

"So we're dealing with an unknown chemical," Cortez, the Minister of Employment and Economy, slammed his fist on the table, "Damn it to hell. Why there is nothing going our way?"

"Doesn't matter," Abe, Minister of Industry, Innovation and Science, said nonchalantly, "We are all getting drug anyway. All we can do is to be prepare and get to the hospital quickly."

"You seem to be taking the situation easy," Cortez stared straight to his eyes with menace, "Why are you so calm about this? Do you think we should give up fighting back?"

"You mistook what I'm saying. I merely said that the person keep drugging us to find the answer. The less we fight, the sooner we get the answer. To answer your first question, I am not surprise at anything now. That person who brought us here have the power to transport us to different universes. So anything can be explained by advanced science. Maybe the computer will show us the basic understanding of us being here and how this place operate. The best we do is to play along."

"Even if it leads to our death," said Evgeni, the Minister of Culture.

"I can see losing battle when I see one. We fighting against a person who is centuries, maybe millenniums ahead of us, but they only give us our current weapons. Who is most likely to win, a man with a bow and arrow or an armored tank?" he looked around and find nobody else speak up, "We are the people with the bow and arrow and they are the people with the armored tank. It is wise not to anger them."
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Over the week, randomly chosen people were given a location and came back drugged. They all tell similar stories on how they were something else and the role they played in. Luckily the people only have to stay in the hospital for a day as the side effects weren't permanent. However they all have a nagging feeling in the back of their head as if somebody was warning them.

Daniel pulled up his phone and saw his destination to the drugs and his companions, "Shit, we are next." The companions are all his friends' names.