[h1][color=gray]Elias Winzer[/color][/h1]
[hr]
The volunteers – all eleven of them – walked with Eli as he made his way down the stairs of the facility’s floors. Elevator wouldn’t hold all of them. Thankfully there were a series of automatic platforms for Miriam to descend upon.

“Like monkeys about to be shot into space.” Eli said aloud. Some chuckled, most didn’t. They clearly weren’t having any of his shit today. In truth, he wasn’t surprised how well they were taking this whole situation. Just as he expected when he was talking to Director Chelsing earlier on the comm. “You all must be very proud of yourselves.”

“What’s your name?” One of them asked aloud, “You never bothered telling us.”

[i][sub]Fuck.[/sub][/i]

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Eli responded, “Elias Winzer. I’ll be your Operator for the duration of this whole thing.” If someone were to make a Matrix joke right now, Eli would most likely have attempted to throttle them. But, thankfully, no such remark came up. So he continued, “Whenever something comes up and needs to be taken care of in [i]any[/i] of the Zones, I’ll put a notice up and see who wants to tackle it. We’ve got specialized sleeping pills stocked up for use in case it happens to be your home Zone. You’ll be a lot better off if you match up, after all.”

The group reached the bottom floor of the facility after a bit of walking. Level N, as the sign on the staircase signaled. They made their way through a corridor stacked with power equipment, half of which was too advanced to even look like it belonged there. Given this extraordinary circumstance, however, it was forgiven. At the end of the corridor, the two large doors slid open as the detection grid passed over Eli and the Zoners. They walked inside and beheld the massive machine before them. A rectangular room in shape, and where they stood was an elevated platform with a vast control console situated at the edge. Buttons, dials, readouts, everything. Three projectors over synthetic panes, each framed in one of the three colors of the Zones, displayed a colorized grid over a relatively incomplete three-dimensional map. Beyond the console, there were rows of reclined, padded chairs with neural uplink headgear hanging above them, stretching left and right. Just enough to fit all the Zoners in the facility, from the looks of it. And at the very back of the room, the main piece of all the system. A massive, cylindrical chamber housing a column of rotating stabilizer plates, and running down through the center, a vivid tri-colored spiral of an unknown energies.

The Nexus Projector.

“Pick a seat and get comfortable.” Eli called out, approaching the console and starting the machine up. The Zoners all descended from the platform and branched out, each of them selecting a relatively close location. Some of them were apprehensive. Others were damn near [i]ecstatic[/i]. But after a moment (coupled with Miriam being helped into her own chair), they were ready. Eli recorded all their positions on the button panel, following by setting up the neural comm.

With everyone in place, ready and waiting, Eli began the stasis initialization sequence. Once they were all nice and knocked out, he hit the central activation button.

And in they went.

[center][h1][b]…[/b][/h1][/center]

“Welcome to the Nexus.”

They heard Eli’s voice in their heads as they all slowly regained consciousness. They looked around, finding themselves scattered about in a gigantic, triangular prism, still in their human forms. The three walls around them were each a flowing stream of energy the color of their respective Zone, clouded entirely save for one clear location viewable within each. A tunnel entrance in Zone 1. A secluded grove in Zone 2. And circular chamber in Zone 3. The floor and ceiling, or lack thereof, were utter void.

“I’ve got channels open for all of you to talk through. Your chairs are also broadcasting live streams of your individual fields of vision, so I can see whatever you’re seeing. As you’ve figured by now, you’re all still human at the moment. That’ll change the moment you step through the red wall into Zone 1.  Go ahead and march on through.”

They did as told, and in one collective group, entered the red city.

[center][h1][b]…[/b][/h1][/center]

[h1][b]PROMPT 2[/b][/h1]

[indent]You and the rest of the inaugural team step through the red wall and, after a brief moment of darkness, emerge within a collapsed tunnel. Right outside is a wide, empty highway leading from the outskirts of the red city into its central concourse. You all take a minute to observe your Nexus forms, wondering how your powers have been affected. Those of you not from Zone 1 are, needless to say, intrigued by this new and unfamiliar land. Eli speaks to you through the neural comm once again.

[i]“Everything looks stable so far. For now, you can all go ahead and explore the Zone. I’ll be in touch if you need anything. And I’ll make an announcement if something comes up on the map. Which reminds me, the more you explore, the more I can fill this thing out. So get out there.”[/i]

You all do as he says and step foot out of the tunnel. As you gaze upon the mass of buildings in the distance, something catches the group’s eyes. An immensely tall figure stands on a nearby building’s rooftop, wrapped in a tattered black cloak and a large helmet that looks… not unlike a ram’s head. The moment you notice the figure, he rears back and lets out an echoing roar that sounds like a combination of a crazed man’s screams and a goat’s bleating. He turns away after he makes his presence known and leaps off the rooftop with a noticeable explosion at his feet, propelling him from rooftop to rooftop, explosive jump after explosive jump.

With that encounter out of the way, now you are free to explore the entirety of Zone 1.[/indent]