In The Realms of the Unreal

Chapter 23

Throughout most of the 20th century, space travel had grown in size ever since Gagarin had first travelled in space in the early 60s. Things had carried on across the decades with even the end of the cold war not slowing things down.

In 1994, this reached it's apex with the establishment of the Clavius base on the moon. Although it was never as glamorous as often portrated by the media, working on the base was for a few short years, the number one choice of job for schoolchildren the world over.

Eventually the space exploration bubble burst through several factors such as the rising costs needed in maintaining a space service, but the straw that broke the camel's back was the disastrous loss of the Discovery One probe in the early 20th century. The mission had been hyped as one that would change the game in terms of space exploration, only to be lost in orbit along with all it's crew. The result was a tremendous backlash against space exploration which lead to most space agencies being severely scaled back in terms of cost and operation with the Clavius base being decommissioned and left to rot on the moon.

By the late 2010s however, with the rise of private space agencies, space travel was back in vogue which ultimately lead to the first manned mission to Mars lead by Russian cosmonaut Nadia Cherneshevsky in the mid 2020s.

"So what the hell is HAL 9000 doing here?" Dredd asked "I thought that thing died with the Discovery One probe" "

So did I" the Doctor replied "But it seems it's somehow made it back to Earth and has emerged from the shadows"

"After a century of inactivity?" Dread was getting more confused by the moment "Why the hell is it back now?"

The Doctor contemplated "Well you have to remember what it's like for computer systems. To an AI like HAL, a century is probably nothing more than a pitstop. My guess is that the rune's power has somehow drawn it back out and it's now looking for it"

"But why would it do that?" Dredd asked "Why does it want the rune

"It's not operating at full capacity yet. It's entirely possible that it wants to use the power of the rune to get itself working at full power. The Doctor cleared his throat "But at any rate, I've got good news. I've done a little scan over the computer systems of Mega City One and I think I know where we can find the rune. Do you have a map?"

Dredd nodded and walked over to another terminal and pressed a few buttons. Immediately a huge holographic map appeared in the centre of the room. Mcclane whistled

"Woah. That's actually pretty impressive. I think my opinion of this place just went up a little" The Doctor walked over to the map and pointed to a section "Zoom in here please"

Dredd pressed a couple of buttons and the map did so. The Doctor nodded "Now if I'm correct, the rune is going to be located somewhere in that facility there"

Dredd blinked beneath his visor "That old place?"

"Is there a problem?" Emma asked

"That place has been condemned for ages!" Dredd told her

"In fact I think it's scheduled to be demolished in a couple of days!"

"Then we'd better get over there pronto!" the Doctor replied "The solution to all your problems lies within it!"'

While the Doctor and the others were making their way to the housing complex, Mulder, Scully, Jerry and the hackers were also heading in the same direction. They however were heading in an automated taxi cab rather than the heavy duty pad wagons which was much more luxurious although very much more cramped.

As the taxi sped through the streets of Mega City One, Jerry turned to Case.

"So why'd you guys want this AI thing so bad anyway?"