Hojo's Legacy Prologue 1
Ghosts From the Past
By Frank Verderosa
Buried deep beneath the ruins of Midgar, a rat move slowly through the pitch darkness of a sub basement in Shinra Headquarters. It moved easily through the darkness, having passed this way many times before in it’s daily routine. No sunlight could reach this room so deep beneath the earth, but the room was not totally dark. Amid the dark silouttes of the silent machinery that filled the room a single red light blinked slowly beneath a computer terminal. The rat took no notice, for to it the light, blinking with seeming infinite patience, was just part of the room.
But suddenly the rat sensed a change. It stood on it’s hind legs and sniffed the air. It could detect no threats, yet it was uneasy. To the rat, any change in the enviornment around it was a potential danger.
The light was no longer blinking, but glowed steadily.
The rat froze as it heard a soft sound. A faint hum as the fan inside the computer came to life. There was a beep, and the rat skittered across the room in fright. Moments later words flashed up on the screen, a screen that had been blank and lifeless since the fall of meteor.
"Timout Period Exceeded. No User Input."
The rat stopped for a moment by a narrow crack in the wall that served as it’s entrance and exit from the room, still unsure of itself.
Again words flashed across the sceen.
"Initiating Default Protocol Hojo One"
"Press any key within 10 seconds to cancel"
The rat sank back down onto all fours and paced nervously back and forth by the crack as the number on the screen dropped toward zero. It felt a strong desire to flee, but, unsure of the direction of the danger, did not know which way to run.
The countdown reached zero.
"Initializing program...."
An electrical inpulse sped from the machine. It tripped a circuit in a room hidden even deeper below ground. There was a moments pause, then, with a sharp whine, a line of generators hummed to life.
Up above the rat stood bewildered as the once silent room began to fill with sounds. Suddenly the overhead lights flashed on, bringing a blinding light to the room that had been shrouded in darkness for so long. The rat turned and ran through the crack in the wall as if it’s very life depended on it.
.