<strong>~*Alan introduces Mark*~</strong><br/><br/>Alan laughed. “Virtual reality. That would be something wouldn’t it? I don’t think we are too far off that, given how fast things are developing... but this...” He stood up. “Follow me, you need to see outside.”<br/><br/>Alan got up from the desk with a small amused smile. Walking across the room and to the door, Alan glanced back just long enough to check that he was being followed before heading out. There was a corridor beyond, lit from the floor like the room they had just left, leading to large double doors, not the lift they had come down outside The Grid.<br/><br/>Alan paused to be certain Mark was next to him before pushing the doors open. Outside a dark city came into view, lit by glowing lines and points of brightness. Above the sky was dark as night and filled with rumbling thunder clouds that flashed with electricity.<br/><br/>The street was clean and devoid of dirt, dist and rubbish. The buildings towered high above, skyscrapers instead of four story, run down constructions. It was empty of people aside from two lose groups of three male individuals, one off to the right and the other a little way to the left. They were dressed in what resembled black motorbike riding leathers, some with blue glowing bars and lines covering them, some with more greenish lines.<br/><br/>As the two of you enter the street, the six individuals look to you before going back to looking over the streets. One of the individuals lit with blue lines off to the right salutes with a fist to the centre of his chest before turning to look back up the road.<br/><br/>Alan returned the salute before saying to Mark, watching him closely, “Don’t worry about them, they work for us. They are Sentry Programs, assigned to guard this building and any Users - humans - that emerge from it. This is a quiet sector, that’s why we chose it but there is still a chance that a Corrupted, Rogue or Non-User friendly Program might sneak in this far.” Alan pointed up at the towering buildings around them. “There are more Sentries in the buildings around us and the streets further out so you are safe here.”<br/><br/>High above them, hidden from view, a lithe male Program with yellow circuitry observed the events unfolding and waited.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</strong></div><strong><br/>~*Brody hears a commotion*~</strong><br/><br/>While the room is the same size and shape, only the desk and chairs in the centre of the floor are the same. The computer terminal is now a blank table, the air vent you crawled in through is gone. The only light in the room is from the floor. Everything is clean, almost polished.<br/><br/>Distantly, the sound of an explosion can be heard from outside. Doors slam open somewhere close and there is the sound like of shattering glass then something bouncing off the walls beyond the door to the room. There is an electronic quality to the sounds, almost like they are being played through speakers.