A.L.P.H.A
All Laughs Pause Here, Adym
Program III
All Laughs Pause Here, Adym
Program III
Hours upon hours had passed since the team had holed themselves in their apartment with their latest addition. They chose to call the young boy computer Alpha, since it was his program and thus he responded to it the best. Helena had wandered to the kitchen, when she began preparing a dinner for the group. Being the only one in the three that had both hands still made of flesh and muscle, she was the one that did the most delicate work. Alviin was able to help her with some of the tasks, but his metal limb, while it was closer to a hand than Zyzon's, was not was used to delicate procedures. Small items were the devil's spawn for him.
Soon, the soft smell of a stew began wafting through the air and the clattering of dish ware rang through the apartment as Helena took out four bowls and mug. She emerged from the adjoining room and wandered over to Zyzon first, who was sitting on a couch they had found on someone's lawn with the sign 'Free' on it. She gave him a bowl of stew and a mug, and he hooked his metal hand through the mug's handle, steadying it with his stump of an arm while he took a drink, then set it on the nearby coffee table and began lapping up bit by bit of his stew, with a warning glare to anyone who dared make a joke. They were used to this by now, and the jokes had long since stopped. They had only lasted a week, mostly cracked by Alviin. It was too hard for him to hold utensils, though every so often, when Helena had finished her own meal, she would feed Zyzon.
She went over to Alviin with the next bowl and mug and set it down between him and Alpha, giving the young man a look that told him to get off his computer and eat, now. The man was always entranced by his computer, and often would put off eating his meals for a hour or two, then he would complain about how his food was cold. Helena would get mad and give him a swift kick to his leg, then apologize when she realized it hurt more than she intended. Alviin looked at her now with an almost pleading look, as though begging her to let him work on Alpha a bit longer.
"I swear, Alviin, if I have to be your mother one more time-" Helena began, letting one hand rest on her hip and the other lean against the table.
"I'll eat, I'll eat!" Alviin replied quickly, knowing how annoyed Helena would get if she had to act like his mother. He always was the more childish of the group, and Helena was the most motherly. In secret, the two had both agreed that Zyzon would be the angsty teenager.
Alviin put his programs on hold for a while, then picked up his spoon and began shoveling the stew into his mouth. He ate as quickly as he could without setting off his gag reflex, wanting to get back to his computer duties. He hadn't gotten much out of Alpha. With the password, they had gotten access to many items that showed no real importance to the group, but there were many more places they needed to unlock, all with more passwords.
Helena turned to Alpha, hemming and hawing for a moment, unsure of how it would work out. The boy responded to questions, but so far the only action he had done was moving, and even then he needed some help. Alpha was skinny, but he had obviously been fed something, somehow. Alviin had, with some scans and a bit of unlocking of the Alpha Project, discovered trace amounts of food within his system and confirmed that no altering to his cells had happened that made it so they didn't need food energy to work.
"Alpha, can you eat this?" Helena said, pushing a bowl of stew closer to Alpha.
"Affirmative." Alpha responded, but made no action to eat it.
"No, I want you to eat this." Helena said, tapping on the bowl. Still no response from Alpha.
"Just force feed him!" Zyzon's voice from the other end of the room called out. "He's probably only ever been fed by a tube shoved down his throat."
Helena paused, hesitant to shovel food down the boy's throat. But she figured it was the best solution, and took a small spoonful. She opened Alpha's mouth and slowly poured the stew into his mouth. "Chew..." she said, slowly, adopting that motherly tone again. To her mild surprise, Alpha's jaw began moving, ever so slightly, slowly grinding the beef she had put into the stew. "Swallow..." Helena said, and after a moment, Alpha's neck moved, and his mouth was empty. The same process was repeated until all the stew was gone, along with the mug of milk. Helena collected everyone's empty dishes, placed them by the sink, and set to work on eating her own dinner.
Hours upon hours upon hours had passed since the team had holed themselves in their apartment with Alpha. Helena had curled up on the bed, her legs stashed under the bed so no one would trip over them. She had fallen fast asleep at ten o'clock, hidden under the sheets. Zyzon had changed out of his day clothes and into a pair of pajamas, as well as taking off his other hand, leaving the two of them on the coffee table. Alviin had taken a bit of time out of his computer time to strap weights to Zyzon's arms. Zyzon was still working out his biceps when Alviin showed his frustration.
"This is too damn hard!" Alviin yelled, pushing his chair away from the computer, fuming. Zyzon looked up at him in confusion. "There are too many passwords to guess, too many firewalls to break through. They have such top-notch security! It's! Too! Aggravating!" he yelled punching the nearest wall.
"Right hand only, please." Zyzon reminded, knowing full well that if he punched with his left hand, the metal could easily break through the thin wall. Even now, with just the flesh and bone hand, there were cracks running along the wall. They looked to be just cracks in the paint, but they couldn't take any chances. It was kind of the landlord to let them stay in the apartment with minimal rent, but he wasn't sure that kindness would extend to people who broke his walls.
Alviin mumbled a few inaudible profanities, then grabbed Alpha by the shoulders and shook him. "Don't you dare ever say 'access denied' to me again!" he yelled at the boy, who merely stared into nothing.
Zyzon couldn't help but chuckle, and returned to lifting the weights while Alviin huffed around in a fury. Alviin was starting to get tired now, and thus was getting far more cranky than he would if he was fully awake. Zyzon knew that it would only be a little while longer before he gave up for now and went to sleep. He would fume for a while and toss and turn for a bit, but wake up in a far greater mood, ready to unlock the mysteries that Alpha held.
"Will you shut up?!" Helena's voice rang out through the apartment, and the two men winced. Helena never liked it when she woke up, and death threats would soon follow. Alviin's lips were pressed together tightly, and he mumbled angrily under his breath. Still grumbling, he took Helena's barrette's out of his hair, letting the strands fall to cover his real eye. He placed the barrettes beside the computer and walked off into the kitchen, pulling out a cup of pudding. He ripped the plastic top off, grabbing a spoon and washing it off in the sink before stabbing it into the pudding and eating the chocolate flavoured treat.
He wandered back into the main living room, pausing by Zyzon when he raised his arms towards him. He rook the weights off Zyzon's arms, and the man shook his arms to get some kinks out.
"So now what?" Zyzon said, standing up.
"Like hell if I know..." Alviin muttered, then took another mouthful of pudding. Their eyes glanced over to Alpha, who still hadn't moved an inch. "Dammit, this is too hard. I knew that they would have a super-strong security system, but this is hardcore!"
"And all your techno mumbo jumbo isn't enough to hack into it?"
"Shut up!" Alviin hissed, resisting the urge to yell. He didn't want Helena pissed off at him again. "That's it, I'm going to bed. Alpha, logout."
"Password needed for logout." Alpha's monotone voice said.
"Who ever heard of a system that needed a password to logout of?" Zyzon said, scoffing.
"Great!" Alviin yelled, his temper reaching it's limits. "Just great! Fine then, stay like that! See if I give a damn!"
"ALVIIN!"
"Oh s**t."
Helena came out of the room, seated on a wheelchair. Her eyes were baggy, and it was obvious she was still tired, which explained why she sat in the wheelchair instead of attaching her legs. Her face was twisted up into complete and utter rage, her eyes staring directly at Alviin, who cowered behind the computer desk, his pudding forgotten. Zyzon chuckled nervously, standing behind Alpha while he watched Helena roll closer.
"H-Helena, please just stay calm-" Alviin began, but was interrupted before he could say anything more.
"It's one AM. Do you know what that means?" she asked, but continued before Alviin could retort. "It means I, along with many others in this complex, want to go to sleep. So shut up before I wring your scrawny, little neck!"
"Password accepted. Logging out."
Another silence passed among the crowd as Alpha, once more, began some password encoded process. Zyzon was the first to give a little laugh at how they, once again, stumbled upon the password, since Helena was still too angry and Alviin was still too scared. Soon, though, the laughter passed among the group, and they were holding their sides.
It was because of the laughter that they didn't notice exactly what was happening to Alpha. The computer screen he had been hooked up to closed the screens until it was the desktop picture of a dark skinned, red-haired man with the word 'b***h' typed underneath. The wire reeled back into his ear clip, and slowly, the binary code in Alpha's eyes disappeared. The blue colour became more apparent, and his eyelids slid closed. A groan escaped his lips, and Alpha fell backwards in his seat.
Zyzon was quick to react, and scooped the boy in his arms, supporting his torso while his legs were still on the cardboard box. Looks of confusion were passed around the group and Zyzon had to shift himself around before his arms gave way and Alpha's head hit the ground. His head was resting on Zyzon's lap when his eyelids opened again, revealing baby blue iris, dark pupils, and clear whites of the eyes, unmarred by floating ones and zeroes.
"Eehh?" Alpha's mouth opened and a voice emerged, similar to the monotonous tone from before but with feeling in it. Confusion, an innocent curiosity, and a bit of fear. "Where am I?"
