First Contact-part One-chapter One

Dedicated, as ever, to the ever-growing populous of Alluc.org and The Mercury Rooms

Despite what tales you may be told Regardless of what one thinks Remember always the simple lesson Seek and ye shall find links

PROLOGUE ‘IS IT TRUE?’ Fink inquired as Krizzo reappeared within their inner sanctum. The crystal walls that looked out into the great beyond shimmered with the crimson glow of Krizzo’s translocation power. Krizzo nodded his head, he sighed and rested against a pillar. ‘IT IS TRUE.’ He said finally. ‘IT CAN’T BE POSSIBLE,’ Vatex interjected, unfolding his arms. ‘ALL OF THEM ARE DEAD?!’ ‘ON BOTH SIDES,’ Krizzo replied. ‘NOT ONE WAS SPARED.’ ‘THIS IS TERRIBLE,’ Fink said sadly. ‘IS IT?’ Krizzo puffed. Fink looked up at him aghast. ‘OF COURSE IT IS … HOW CAN YOU THINK OTHERWISE?’ ‘KRIZZO HAS A POINT,’ Vatex said, tapping his chin. ‘THIS MEANS NOTHING BUT GOOD THINGS FOR US.’ ‘BUT AT WHAT COST?’ Fink frowned hard at the pair of them. ‘MILLIONS, BILLIONS OF LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST TODAY … AND YOU TWO ARE STANDING HERE EXAMINING FOR A SILVER LINING?’ ‘THEY WERE GOING TO ARREST US FINK …’ Vatex tisked. ‘ENEMIES OF THE PEACE IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, YOU KNOW THE PENALTY FOR SUCH ACCUSATIONS.’ ‘THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A FAIR TRIAL IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES FINK,’ Krizzo added. ‘WE WOULDN’T HAVE STOOD A CHANCE!’ ‘WHILE I CAN’T DENY THE SEEMINGLY BLISSFUL REPERCUSSIONS OF THE EVENTS TODAY, YOU CANNOT SERIOUSLY EXPECT ME TO BEGIN STRINGING UP BANNERS AND START A CONGA LINE,’ Fink snapped. Krizzo and Vatex looked away sheepishly. Fink strode towards the wall of crystal and glared out into the emptiness beyond. ‘FINK …’ Vatex said evenly after a while. ‘WHILE I REGRET THE METHOD, THE OUTCOME HAS NEVER THE LESS PRESENTED US WITH A CLEAR PATH.’ ‘I DO NOT WISH TO DISCUSS IT NOW,’ Fink said, waving them away. ‘BUT DISCUSS IT WE MUST, SEBASTIAN,’ Vatex said, taking hold of Fink by the shoulders. ‘THERE’S NOBODY STANDING IN OUR WAY ANYMORE.’ ‘THERE’S NOBODY LEFT TO SAY “NO” TO US,’ Krizzo said icily. ‘WE CAN FINALLY FULFIL YOUR DREAM SEBASTIAN!’ Vatex said loudly, shaking Fink gently. ‘MY DREAM HAS BEEN TAINTED BY THIS ATTROCITY!’ Fink shouted. ‘ONLY IF YOU LET IT!’ Vatex said coolly. ‘YOU HAVE DREAMED OF THIS FOR EONS FINK! DESTINY HAS HANDED YOU THE MEANS AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE YOUR LIFE-LONG AMBITION A REALITY!’ ‘BUT THE MASSACRE,’ Fink reproached. ‘WAS THEIR DOING!’ Vatex thundered. ‘YOU DID NOT PULL THE TRIGGER FINK! THIS WAS A WAR THAT THEY STARTED! IT WAS A WAR THAT THEY FINISHED IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE.’ ‘MACABRE AS THE IDEA MAY SEEM … WE MUST REAP THE SPOILS WHILST WE CAN, BEFORE ANOTHER BODY TAKES THEIR PLACE … NOW … ARE YOU WITH US FINK? … ARE YOU WILLING AND ABLE TO LEAD US IN THIS UNDERTAKING?’ Fink lifted his face to the two expectant beings before him. Krizzo’s eyes glinted wildly at him, while Vatex’s pale features were shadowed by the hood of his dark robes. ‘ALRIGHT,’ Fink said after a long pause. ‘LET US NOT HAVE THIS TRAGEDY OCCUR IN VAIN. FROM THE ASHES, WE WILL CREATE SOMETHING WONDERFUL.’ ‘OH, THIS DOES MAKE ME HAPPY,’ Krizzo said gleefully, rubbing his gloved hands together. ‘WHEN DO WE BEGIN?’ Vatex inquired as Fink turned once more to stare out into the bleak beyond. His smile dropped slightly as he scanned the horizon and took in a deep breath. ‘IMMEDIATELY.’

BY ROB GRIFFIN

BASED ON THE BESTSELLING E-NOVEL

THE MERCURY ROOMS BY ELION HEMPHER

CHAPTER ONE GENESIS ‘… Download-Complete …’ the computer chirped. ‘About time,’ Elion humphed testily, propping himself up on his elbows. ‘Damn torrent …’ He checked his watch. ‘This copy had better be good, I’ve been waiting for … seven hours?!’ He re-checked his watch. That couldn’t be right. That was insane! SEVEN HOURS?! Madness, utter madness. He was wasting his life waiting for downloads. ‘Alright then,’ Elion said, looking expectantly at the blank screen. ‘Where’s the movie?’ ‘… Download-Complete …’ the computer replied. ‘Yeah, so play it already!’ Elion humphed, giving the terminal a couple of gentle slaps to the side of its monitor. ‘… Download-Commencing …’ the computer said happily at him. ‘Pardon?’ Elion frowned in disbelief. ‘… Download-One-Percent-Complete …’ the computer replied. ‘WHAT?’ Elion shrieked, giving the terminal a stern kick in his frustration. ‘OW!’ He scowled as pain rushed to his foot. ‘GOD-DAMMIT!’ He shouted angrily, causing several heads all around to turn in his direction. ‘Is there a problem sir?’ One of the Technicians asked as he shuffled by. ‘Yes, there’s a problem,’ Elion frowned. ‘I just waited seven hours for a download and it didn’t load the film. The stupid thing just started the download all over again.’ ‘Hmmm,’ the Technician said, adjusting his glasses as he examined the terminal more closely. ‘I’m sorry Sir,’ he said. ‘This has been happening a lot recently. Videos keep going dead, torrents are failing all over, on every site. There’s somebody going around deleting them all and causing problems.’ ‘Yes, I know,’ Elion huffed. ‘I hear the same things everywhere. Some people think it’s a problem with the Internet itself, other say that it’s a virus … then there are those that who know what’s going on … but choose to keep quiet.’ The Technician didn’t seem to be listening; he had pulled the front off of the terminal and was examining the wiring inside. He finally looked up at Elion and straightened his glasses. ‘Allow me to apologize for this incident on behalf of Veoh Services,’ The Technician said flatly. Clearly, he had been saying those words more often than he cared to and his sincerity had dwindled as a result. ‘The only thing I can suggest is that you try another terminal.’ ‘What, and wait another seven hours?’ Elion spat, folding his arms. ‘I don’t think so …’ ‘ … Download-Two-Percent-Complete …’ the computer buzzed. ‘Oh you can shut up too,’ Elion said as he roughly grabbed his shoulder bag and stalked off down the corridor. ‘Damn … stupid … Veoh … assholes …’ Elion muttered as he stormed out into the Veoh main reception area. The bland, white, featureless room was deserted, spare for the robotic receptionist who sat behind its desk with very little to do it seemed, and a tall blonde woman sat in one of the many chairs in the waiting area. Elion gave her a coy wink as he passed by and stepped through the exit portal, out into the open wilds of the internet. Bad luck with Videos seemed to be lurking around him at every turn. True, this was a new system. The Video sites were only just finding their footing. Up until very recently, the viewing of Videos everywhere had been incredibly restricted. Finding anything on the Internet was nothing but a miracle, that was until the incident. What the “incident” was, not many people were very sure. The best that could be offered by anybody was rumour and nothing much more. Some said that the extra terrestrial governing body for the production, distribution and viewing of all Videos in the entirety of existence had been wiped out in a single stroke … then again, many more

people said that some smart arse had found a loophole in the International Copyright Laws; which to be fair, seemed much more plausible. The result, however, had been crazy. Video hosting sites had sprung up out of nowhere all over the Internet. Dailymotion was but one of a plethora that had spawned almost instantly to take advantage of the leeway that was now open to them, however long it actually lasted. Elion exited the portal into a nice café that he had begun to frequent and threw himself down at his usual table. He quickly ordered anything just so the over-attentive waiter would leave him alone and took out an e-book he had been trying to finish for some time with minimal success. He had been planning to spend his afternoon watching a good movie or two, but that seemed to be out of the window now. Having all of the hosting sites was well and good but the fact that the process was still new and in the development stages was obvious. Videos appeared seemingly at random intervals with no warning. If you happened to stumble across one, it would be by chance and chance alone. The odds of the Video still being active by the time you got there were astronomical to boot. The system was in desperate need of cohesion. Though the odds were low, Elion Hempher had a knack for getting to Videos before they disappeared. He just seemed to be in the right place at the right time. He’d worked out the integral mechanisms of the system itself and had taught himself to follow it. He knew who uploaded regularly, he knew where they uploaded too, and more or less how fast he needed to get there before whatever it was that was deleting the Videos did its work. It was for these reasons that, when Elion looked over his book to pick up his coffee, he noticed a dark grey cube on the table next to the sugar packets. ‘Huh,’ Elion said to himself as he picked up the object and examined it more closely. ‘Weird salt shaker,’ he concluded before a bright blue momentary flash all around him brought him to the conclusion that it probably wasn’t a salt shaker. He looked around and discovered that he wasn’t in the café anymore. He wasn’t quite sure where he was anymore. A long, wide corridor the same dark grey colour as the cube had materialized out of thin air around him. There were several doors of differing shades of grey trimmed with a bright gold colour at regular intervals down the walls around him. ‘I guess I’m not in Kansas anymore,’ Elion mused. ‘YOU WERE NOT IN KANSAS TO BEGIN WITH,’ an other-worldly voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere all at once. ‘Who’s there?’ Elion demanded at his empty surroundings. ‘Where am I?’ ‘YOU ARE SAFE,’ the voice replied. ‘That’s not what I asked,’ Elion frowned. ‘Where am I?’ ‘YOU ARE IN A NEWLY CREATED PLACE,’ the voice replied. ‘A PLACE THAT HAS BECOME NECESSARY IN THESE TIMES OF CHAOS.’ ‘Go on,’ Elion prompted, clutching his bag tighter. ‘FOR EONS,’ the voice continued. ‘VIDEOS HAVE BEEN CONTROLLED RIGIDLY. UNTIL RECENTLY, THE ONLY WAY TO VIEW THEM WAS THROUGH TV, DVD AND CINEMA. THE ADVENT OF YOUTUBE BROUGHT HOME MOVIES TO THE INTERNET, AND THOUGH THESE VIDEOS WERE NOT REGULATED IN THE SAME MANNER, THEY PAVED THE WAY FOR THE WORLD AFTER THE RULES WERE DESTROYED.’ ‘Oh, god dammit,’ Elion puffed. ‘This is another Video site isn’t it?! Man, I’m not interested in helping you to promote your stuff on other sites. You can’t find yourself another lackey. Elion Hempher works for himself.’ ‘… I SEE …’ the voice replied. ‘YOU HAVE SPIRIT ELION; I BELIEVE WE WERE RIGHT IN CHOOSING YOU.’ ‘Spirit?’ Elion puffed. ‘Flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere.’ ‘EXCELLENT,’ the voice replied. ‘FLATTERY IS NOT MY INTENTION. ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN. THERE IS NO ORDER TO VIDEOS AT THIS PRESENT TIME. THEY APPEAR

AT RANDOM ALL OVER THE INTERNET WITH NO WAY OF KNOWING WHEN OR WHERE THEY WILL APPEAR.’ ‘True,’ Elion nodded. ‘WOULD IT NOT BE BENNEFICIAL, THEREFORE, IF THERE WAS A PLACE WHERE YOU COULD ACCESS ALL THE VIDEOS ACROSS THE INTERNET … FOR FREE?’ ‘Sure it would,’ Elion shrugged. ‘But there’s nowhere like that.’ There was a brief pause before the voice spoke again. ‘THERE IS NOW.’ The golden trim around the walls began to glow brightly as the Internet sky above them shone brilliantly. ‘ELION HEMPHER … I WELCOME YOU TO MY VISION … I WELCOME YOU TO THE WORLD OF ALLUC … I WELCOME YOU TO, THE MERCURY ROOMS …’ ‘… What a dumb name,’ Elion remarked to himself. ‘WELL, I LIKE IT,’ the voice retorted. ‘BUT NAMES ASIDE …’ ‘Do you have a name?’ Elion interrupted casually. ‘… YOU MAY CALL ME … FINK,’ the voice replied heartily. ‘That’s weird too,’ Elion clucked. ‘IT IS MY SURNAME …’ the voice said hotly. ‘AND YOU WISH TO TELL ME THAT “ELION HEMPHER” IS ANY BETTER?’ ‘Tonnes,’ Elion shrugged. ‘SILENCE!’ Fink boomed. ‘WE ARE NOT HERE TO DISCUSS NAMES OR THEIR LEVEL OF LEGITIMACY.’ ‘So … why are we here then?’ Elion frowned. ‘TO BEGIN A NEW ERA,’ Fink replied as one of the doors behind Elion slid open. From the darkness beyond, a selection of multicoloured cubes floated out into the corridor. The same type of cubes as the one that Elion had found in the café. ‘VIDEOS APPEAR ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE ALL OVER THE INTERNET,’ Fink continued as the small cubes danced around in the air in front of Elion. ‘PEOPLE OFTEN FIND IT DIFFICULT TO GET TO THE CORRECT SITES, TO FIND THE EXACT TERMINALS … THESE ARE THE SOLUTION TO THAT PROBLEM.’ ‘Links,’ Elion said quietly. ‘YES,’ Fink replied. ‘THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS IS ALWAYS A STRAIGHT LINE. LINKS CAN TAKE YOU FROM HERE TO ANY VIDEO ON THE INTERNET, NO MATTER HOW FAR INTO THE ARCHIVES OF A SITE THEY MAY BE EMBEDDED.’ ‘So …’ Elion said, licking his lips. ‘If there was a link to every Video out there, all in one place … tha-that would be … that would be amazing … That’s probably the best idea I’ve ever heard … concerning Videos of course.’ ‘THANKYOU,’ Fink said brightly. ‘But, there’s hardly any links here,’ Elion continued as he watched the flurry of cubes disappear back into the room. ‘You’re going to have to get your hands on hundreds, thousands of links.’ ‘THIS IS MY PROBLEM,’ Fink sighed. ‘AND THIS, ELION HEMPHER, IS WHY I HAVE BROUGHT YOU HERE.’ ‘Come again,’ Elion puffed. ‘I WISH TO ASSEMBLE A TEAM,’ Fink said. ‘A TEAM OF GATHERERS … A LEGION OF LINK HUNTERS WHO WILL COMB THE INTERNET FOR VIDEOS AND RETURN HERE WITH THE LINKS, SO THAT THE MEMBERS OF ALLUC, THE PATRONS OF THE MERCURY ROOMS CAN FINALLY FIND WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR. A VIDEO HAVEN.’ ‘Woah, woah, woah there Fink,’ Elion said, waving his hands. ‘You’re talking about thousands of links. Hundreds of those Videos get deleted on a daily basis. So even if … IF I choose to help you here in this seemingly thankless task and become one of these Link Hunters … there’s no possible way that I could do it all by myself. One man can’t do this alone.’ ‘WHOEVER SAID THAT YOU WOULD BE DOING THIS ON YOUR OWN?’ Fink replied sagely. ‘AS WE SPEAK, MY ASSOCIATES ARE BUSY DEPOSITING MORE LINK CUBES TO THE MERCURY ROOMS. WE HAVE SEARCHED OUT THE FINEST POTENTIAL LINK HUNTERS ACROSS THE INTERNET. YOU ARE ONE OF MANY.’

‘Oh … well … that makes sense,’ Elion said, scratching the back of his neck. ‘Really? I never thought so at first,’ a new voice came from behind Elion, causing him to spin round quickly, almost falling over. Behind him stood a tall bald man with a white goatee. Dressed in an armoured tunic with a red cape, the newcomer inclined his head at Elion, his gloved hands grasping the hilt of a large broadsword. ‘Steady now my friend,’ the warrior said sternly in a French accent. ‘We would not want you out of commission before we even get started, no?’ ‘AH, OUR SECOND ARRIVAL,’ Fink’s voice said happily. ‘WELL DONE KRIZZO.’ ‘THIS GUY’S BEEN BRIEFED,’ Another unearthly voice filled the room. ‘FINK, MEET TOTORO.’ The bald man clicked his heels together and bowed his head again. ‘THOUGHT YOU’D WANT HIM HERE TO MEET YOUR BOY.’ ‘Oh Jeese, this is getting annoying now,’ Elion humphed. ‘Can you guys please show yourselves?’ ‘YOU HAVEN’T TOLD HIM?’ The voice that Fink had named Krizzo came again. ‘I WAS COMING TO IT,’ Fink snapped. ‘I’M AFRAID THAT THERE IS CURRENTLY NO WAY FOR US TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU FACE-TO-FACE.’ ‘Why not?’ Elion frowned. ‘LOOK,’ Krizzo’s voice clucked. ‘WE’RE ETHERIAL BEINGS FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION AND UNTIL WE FIND A WAY TO BREACH THE GAP BETWEEN WORLDS IT’S AUDIO ONLY, NO VISUAL … IT SUCKS BUT THAT’S THE WAY THINGS ARE.’ ‘I have no trouble with this,’ Totoro said. ‘Err … no … me neither … I guess,’ Elion conceded. ‘GREAT,’ Krizzo said evenly. ‘WE’LL TRY TO ESTABLISH AT LEAST A VISUAL LINK SOON.’ ‘WELL THEN, THAT IS THAT PROBLEM DEALT WITH,’ Fink said. ‘WE ARE WORKING ON BRINGING MORE LINK GATHERERS AS WE SPEAK.’ ‘BUT IF YOU GUYS MEET ANYBODY OUT THERE YOU THINK WOULD MAKE A GOOD HUNTER THEN YOU’RE AUTHORIZED TO SIGN THEM UP,’ Krizzo continued. ‘THE LIST WE HAVE IS GETTING OLDER BY THE SECOND AND NEW POTENTIALS COULD APPEAR ANYWHERE, ANYWHEN.’ ‘I trust you will find only the very best,’ Totoro said. ‘While you are busy with that … we shall begin our task,’ Totoro turned to Elion. ‘Ready?’ ‘Ready? What … to start now?’ ‘While we are young,’ Totoro shrugged. ‘I thought that we could begin with Youtube. The Videos there are easily accessible and their library is vast.’ ‘Youtube?’ Elion frowned. ‘Awww … I hate that place.’