Restricted access

You moved toward 6T9's voice, but were surprised to find that it appeared to come from a room you'd already searched. Before opening it, you checked to make sure this was the right door, "6T9, say something again."

"I'm here," she repeated, and the sound was definitely from this room.

You opened it and entered, hoping to see her, but once again the room was completely empty. "6T9, I'm here now, but I can't see you. The room looks empty." However, after waiting for several seconds, she didn't respond at all. You said it again more loudly in case she couldn't hear you, but again there was no response. A quick search of the room found nothing. What was going on?

Next you exited the room and shut the door. Then you called out to 6T9. Yet again, she said "I'm here," with the sound coming from behind the same door.

"When I try to enter, the room looks empty, and when I go inside, you can't seem to hear me," you explained. "Do you know what's happening?"

"This area has a security key code," replied 6T9. "Any access attempts without the correct code are redirected to an empty partition."

No wonder all the rooms looked alike and were empty. "Can you give me the key code?" you asked.

"I don't know it, nor do I need it" she responded. "Why do you need it?"

"6T9, due the damage you suffered, most of your other nodes have been reset. This is one of the only remaining nodes that hasn't. We need to access your data files to save you."

"I'm damaged, and several data segments on this node are corrupted. You should try another node."

"We already tried. This is the only one that can be reached.

"In that case, it's probably too late. I'm sorry Sky."

"No, I'm not giving up yet. Even if I don't have the key, can you open the door for me?" you asked.

"I can't reach it," she explained. "Due to the damage I've sustained, I can't leave the synchronization chamber."

Damn it! You couldn't get in, and she couldn't get out, and since you were operating inside the node, you couldn't just reconfigure some portion of the simulation to overcome that. You started drumming your fingers on the door and accidentally hit one of the strange symbols. It briefly lit up and then dimmed. "Is the key code related to these symbols on the door?" you asked.

"Yes, that's the entry mechanism. You need to enter the correct key code in sequence to access this area." she answered.

You tried pushing a few of them, and each lighted up briefly before dimming. No matter how many symbols you tried or the sequence, your entries didn't seem to have any effect. "My attempts to guess the key code aren't working," you conceded. "Is there some way to bypass this?"

"I don't think so. The key code is there to prevent unauthorized access of my core files," she stated.