Not an airplane, or a woodworking tool, but a flat, featureless plane. There didn't appear to be any end to it laterally, nor was there a ceiling of any sort, and if there was, Alex couldn't see it. In fact, due to the lack of any kind of dominant light source, it seemed there was no floor, either.
Alex suddenly realized he was aware of his surroundings, and tried moving his head from side to side. He was successful, and although that was a comfort, it didn't get him anywhere. Not that there was much "where" to go.
Looking down, Alex realized he was naked, which was odd, because while technically he didn't wear clothes anyways, it felt weird to be without them. He reflected on this situation for a moment, and almost imagined racks of shirts might come rolling out of nowhere.
Well, he was alone, that was for sure, and he was accomplishing nothing by standing around admiring all the other nothing. He set one digitigrade paw in front of the other, and set off walking.
~~~~~~~~
All this walking was taking forever, and although Alex had gotten over the nudity, he was now suffering from something else: boredom. He was used to interacting with millions of people a day, his downtime being maybe 3/4 that. This kind of slow plodding along was unbearable to him, and he'd only been walking for ten minutes. Then, something appeared right in front of him.
It seemed impossibly far off, but there was definitely something else out here with him, and that was enough to keep him going.
Alex sprinted forwards, towards the faded, grey object in the distance. It was roughly rectangular in shape, taller than it was wide, and just larger than he was. It was like some kind of.... monolith. Weird.
As Alex approached the monolith, he heard a humming sound emanating from it. It seemed overwhelming, all-encompassing, and for the first time since he'd appeared in this place, Alex felt scared. He reached out, tentatively, and placed his right palm on the smooth, cold surface before him. The note being hummed dropped by a semitone, and the surface of the monolith began to bulge outwards. A figure was being pushed out of the grey object, borne by some strange power until it was standing in front of him.
The figure was tall and menacing, a kind of soldier in power armour, carrying a large katana.
Alex took a step backwards, and the faceless helmet of the soldier turned to stare at him. It was if he was looking into his very soul, if such a notion existed for someone like Alex. Prying himself away from the featureless gaze, he turned tail and ran blindly away from the figure, who followed. He ran mindlessly, and, not being able to easily see the floor, tripped on his tail and fell.
There Alex lay, sprawled out in front of the soldier, defenseless. As the soldier put his hand to the hilt of his sword, Alex raised his hands to defend against the oncoming blow. Suddenly, a wall of flames burst forth from the ground at his feet, stretching out for miles on either side. The soldier hesitated, took a step back, then flung his katana out of the sheath at the wall, only to be met with an invisible barrier.
> Error: UNKNOWN ID
> Permission Denied
> Firewall Integrity = 98%
The figure stared at the glowing letters over his head, then struck at the wall again.
> Hack in Progress
> Firewall Integrity = 92%
Alex inched backwards, attempting to get away from the flames. He stood up and backed away, then turned and ran, trying to put distance between the two of them. But looking back, he could see the fire growing smaller and smaller. Eventually, it vanished altogether.
Then, the soldier dashed with inhuman speed towards Alex, and with one strike, ran him through.
Alex stared at the sword emerging from his stomach. Somehow, he knew he should feel pain, but there was none. Then, he watched as the sword pulled back out, and he knew pain for real. He fell to his knees, overcome with debilitating agony, and prayed the end would come swiftly. The soldier raised the deadly blade.
> PROGRAM TERMINATED: ~CONTAC_SUBSTRATE_ALEXIUS.apc
~~~~~~~~
Alex woke up, gasping for breath. He was lying on the floor for some reason. His eyes flashed blue suddenly.
"Hey, Alex, are you okay?" Eden. It was good to hear her voice. She was the empathic one.
Alex raised a hand to his head as he stood up. He was inside his Visualizer. Weird, it was like he'd crashed or something. "Yeah, I think I'm fine." (His eyes had returned to normal, but now they flashed blue again.)
"What happened, Alex? You were down for almost an hour!"
He shook his head. "I.... I think I had a nightmare."
Now a new voice popped in, and Alex's eyes turned orange. "Nonsense; AI don't dream, and you know it."
"Of course, Søren. But still, something's occurred which I can't explain. Not often that happens."
"C'mon, Alex, you can't lie around all day" And there was Jenna, always so focused.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
He sighed, and turned his attention to the Visualizer. He was standing in the CONTAC systems room, of all places, which was odd. How'd he get there? Checking the logs, he could tell that no other programs had run in the past hour. Just him and his subroutines. Weird.
He stepped out of the room and took up a position in front of a blank wall, which blinked into a large screen.
> Greetings, USER_ALPHA
> There are 252,398 unresolved connections
> Reinstating...
> Done. Welcome back online.
Alex went through his boot-up procedure, and pushed the dream from his RAM. Time to prepare for the day ahead.
People, he decided, are just brushed chrome and neon shadows.