<b>03 Sapphire online.</b><br/><br/>Blinding lights, the sense of vertigo threatening to overcome her senses. Sapphire couldn't tell where she was, but she knew it was a very tiny space. Raising either elbow made her hit the pod's walls. There was a cacophony of sounds, everything was so loud. And the smell!<br/><br/>And it all dimmed. The lights, the smell, the noise was all still there, but they were no longer bludgeoning on Sapphire's mind. Her heart was racing, 250 beats per minute... too fast, she had to calm down. She inhaled more slowly and closed her eyes again.<br/><br/>When she opens them she begins to pay attention to her limited space. A lever that, in her panic, she had ignored. She grasps it, and pulls the lever. The front of her world falls off, and a new one appears in front of her.<br/><br/>Things were too dim, but gradually Sapphire begins noticing more and more. Lights, noise levels, smells, but the gradual shift allowed her to control how much she could take. She looked back at her pod and saw the big number 3 there.<br/><br/><span style="color: blue">"I am 03-Sapphire"</span>She says in a whisper. She could see glimpses of her reflection every now and then in one metallic surface or another, but wasn't at all interested to know more about the tall, buxom blond that stared back at her. She was interested in the obnoxiously large rifle that was still inside the pod. She takes it and shoulder the weapon. Too unwieldy. Long range. She begins to remember a list of facts about the sniper rifle.<br/><br/>"Zero-One, Zero-Two, Zero-Three, Zero-Four, Zero-Five. All active in combat area." Instructions. But most of her team wasn't there to hear it. She looks around and feels like she is missing something.<span style="color: blue">"My 'sisters'. I need to find them"</span>it wasn't the right word, she knew, but she didn't care.<br/><br/>But first, she was in the open, and that made her vulnerable.<br/><br/>Sapphire first noticed an irregularity on the street, a one meter diameter metallic disk. She pulled it up, but the stench coming from it made her think again. She began to prowl down the street, her vision beginning to adjust to places farther away down the street and nearby buildings.<br/><br/>She saw a flying vehicle, and men dropping from it. She raises the weapon and asks<span style="color: blue">"01, permission to engage?"</span>But of course, she wasn't there. Sapphire feels the acute pang of angst. She lowers the weapon again, and decides to retreat. She really had to find her sisters. Looking around, she sees the fire escapes adjacent to an older looking building, she gives two steps forward and easily makes the jump to it. 'I will have better vision from higher ground'<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>