A swept through Bishop's body. He remained numb, suspended in the opaque liquid which he had been in for the past 20 minutes, his arms outstretched to his sides and his legs, spread at ease. Bubbles escaped from his nostrils like balloons set free into the open skies while his eyes peered through the cylindrical glass chamber in which he was.

Although temporarily paralyzed, Bishop was still conscious of his environment. Completely paralyzing a person during a Data Run was risky and made the process complicated. Some degree of responsiveness was necessary to be sure of an accurate result from the test unlike a Total System Rendition(TSR) where all systems in a person's body were shut down except for the brain whose activities was kept at the barest minimum.

Floating at about 7 feet high, Bishop watched as the Human Analysts observed the surreal replication of his body, taking notes of their progress and imputing a new set of instructions into his body to boost his immunity. He noticed the group of Analysts around his replica give a satisfactory nod to each other, pointing at various parts of his body and going through the holographic display of his brain's activity before signaling to the chamber operator to end the session.

This was the part of the session he hated and as much as he wanted to leave the confines of the glass chamber already, he wished he didn't have to experience what happened next. From the corner of his eyes, he could only make out vague movements and as soon as the operator pulled the lever planted in the ground, just inches from the chamber, the opaque liquid in which he was suspended began to drain out.

Holes opened up in the floor of the chamber, drawing out the liquid content of the chamber calmly and then progressed vigorously like a mini-tsunami within seconds as the liquid was sucked out. Bishop's heart beat picked up pulse, his breathing becoming unstable. The raging liquid tossed him about in the chamber and a few seconds later, he felt his numb body drop from space to the solid white floor of the chamber which was now only an empty vacuum.

A flash of an unpleasant sensation washed over his body as his muscles retook form. He remained motionless for a while, waiting for the effects to reduce before regaining full control of his body. A long sigh escaped his lips; he picked his unclad self from the floor and moved towards the exit of the chamber. A section of its glass wall slid open for him to go through, exiting into the large room filled with sophisticated medical machines, several huge chambers similar to the one he had just exited, some of which were occupied by hybrid test models that were being observed.

"What was that?" Bishop asked, pulling a robe over himself.

"We're sorry about it," Doc. Jamal answered without looking in Bishop's direction, occupied with throwing holographic objects and images about on the interface being displayed on the machine in front of him.

"That's it, sorry?"

"We're trying out new electrolyte and you happen to be our first human subject," Doc. answered. "Apparently, it creates a perfect replica to work with but it looks like it has got a side effect."

"A severe one," Bishop added, trying to flex his muscle.

"We'll work on it," Doc. Jamal replied, reaching for the entrée on the right side of Bishop's neck to inspect. Bishop's sight went out of focus as Doc.'s hand came in contact with the still active entrée. It was a spherical mark with a distinct maze-like pattern that linked the brain to the outside world. Everyone had a peculiar pattern on their entrée so no two humans were ever the same. This had become a necessity for humans since the 4th evolution. The zest for knowledge had pushed the natural world to its extreme limits, depleting pretty much everything in the environment and in this altered world, humans depended on an extra support for their brains and so, the entrée was developed.

Bishop winced at the sensation of the muscle in his arms reforming. He looked over at the row of towering cylinders like the one he had just emerged from. It wasn't strange for him as a Porter to have to Data Run so often, it came with his job. He was one of the few people the company had placed a huge health allowance on considering the nature of their jobs.

As a Porter, he ran errands for the company, decrypting ciphers on 'synergists' with which brain Matrices operated on. This meant he was always exposed to hazardous environments which often affected his systems negatively.

"Do you know where your next job is?"

"I'll have to check with our supervisor. We have a meeting scheduled to hold in-" Bishop cursed under his breath when he noticed what time it was. Late, again. It was starting to be a habit for him, one he wasn't quite pleased with in the slightest but still, he couldn't help it. "I'm running late Doc."

"Idiot," Doc. Jamal said audibly enough to hear. Bishop disappeared into the changing room to get dressed. He emerged a few minutes later dressed in the company's official uniform.

"Are there any other things I should know?" Bishop asked, zipping up the suit to his throat. The large yellow logo of Tri Tech merged together across his chest as the suit fitted into his masculine figure finely.

"Not except you'd want a complete flush of your system," Doc. replied.

Doc. turned to him; his eyeballs had random green numeric figures running through them. He was one of the few people who lived on the Tech 7 Matrix in their brains. It allowed for a larger storage space for data and enhanced mental performance. Only two classes of people were often seen living with this Matrix; Professionals-since they needed to be at the top of their game- and the elites- they needed it to keep track of their many business schedules and trips as well as an up-to-date report on the stock market. There was also an added plug-in for elites called The Inventory which auctioned proposed business plans and ideas.

Bishop nodded and then left for the transit pod. He filled in his access codes on the interface projected a few inches from the doors of the pod causing it to begin transit out of the medical wing towards the training section.

This part of Tri Tech was often very busy with the reflow of people around the block. While some came in for simple practices like a Data Run to check their Matrix status for any malfunctions, others came in for more complex practices like the Total System Rendition (TSR) which was recommended for patients with severe system failures.

Somewhere on the medical wing, the mother of all researches in the world was being carried out, Synthesis. Synthesis was more like a complete rebirth, post-modern day cloning. Tri Tech was working on a project to revive people even after they'd passed away. The plan was to create a sort of template for storing bits of people's information. This information would be installed into the Afterlife Matrix where it would synthesize the complete lifestyle of such individual from the bits of information. It was going to be Tri Tech's edge over its rivals since the Afterlife Matrix would only work with people who had lived on one of Tri Tech's Matrices while alive and so far, progress seemed to be made appreciably.

Within a few minutes, the transit pod reached the training wing of Tri Tech's massive complex. Just like the medical wing, this part of the company was also devoid of actual walls; rather it had super thin strips of glass separating the various sections. Bishop navigated his way to the Porter unit's conference room where he was being awaited.

As soon as he walked into the room, the thin glass walls transited into an effervescent layer, acting as blinds.

"You're late again, Bishop," Professor Noah Alexaki started as Bishop made his way around the steel coated conference table to get seated. Surprisingly, there were just two other Porters present in the room.

"Had to Data Run," Bishop answered. "It was Doc's idea."

"Isn't that meant to be done after your assignment?" Tim asked with his eyebrow raised in skepticism. It was only normal that Bishop's excuse should be questioned since he was always coming up with new ones every time he arrived late.

"I know, but-" Bishop shrugged.

"Looks like someone's up for a promotion," Dorie teased, a smirk crossed her face. Asides being Bishop's secret crush, she was one of the negligible number of female Porters. This made her a more valuable asset to Tri Tech since it wasn't every day you ran into her kind.

"A promotion?" Tim scoffed, "he's probably being considered for a TSR."

"Let's get down to business gentlemen." Professor Alexaki turned to the holographic display hovering on the table, picked a few files and placed them on the transparent presentation screen. The files enlarged from their original miniature shape to reveal landscapes.

"Whaledug Island, Dale town and Bathfog ruins."

The Porters placed their palms over the interface in front of them which scanned it before granting them access. An overview of what they'd need to know came to live on the screen.

"Eureka?" Dorie asked.

"Yes. We're taking Synthesis to higher grounds," Professor Alexaki replied. "Eureka is-"

"-an organic gel found in the core of every human. It is a basic part of living and lately has been discovered to play a role as a synergist also. Having differing ranges, the most effective however is the Eureka Elgium," Bishop blurted, cutting off Professor Alexaki.

"And how would you know all that?" Professor Alexaki asked in disbelief, breaking the veil of silence that had covered the room as soon as Bishop finished talking.

"It's in the file," Bishop replied.

"But you're yet to gain access to the portal," Professor Alexaki said, gesturing at the yet to be unlocked interface in front of Bishop. He simply placed his palm over the interface to be scanned while he wondered how that was even possible. Needless to say, every other Porter had eyes on him.

"Well," Professor started in a note of amazement, "I'm sure we all listened to Bishop. Eureka Elgium is the future of the Synthesis and is vital for the activation of the Afterlife Matrix."

"There seems to be a problem," Tim paused, going through the information before him. "Elgium's core is encrypted with 57 ciphers of algorithm. That's almost 6 times the Badgeran synergist."

Tim had pulled the job on the Badgeran synergist on which the current Afterlife Matrix was being test run. His success had turned him into a super-star across all of Phase II.

"That's right Tim, we're skipping other substitutes for the big shot. The Elgium is found in Bathfog ruins while the two other allotropes of Eureka are found in Whaledug Island and Dale town."

Everyone went silent wondering how Tri Tech possibly expected anyone to crack 57 ciphers of algorithm. The Badgeran Matrix had been encrypted with 11 ciphers which although had been complex, it at least sounded feasible enough. Tim had proven it. 57 ciphers on the other hand was absolute absurdity.

"Everyone link up," Professor Alexaki instructed. They all pulled out the small rectangular reader and placed it over their entrée. The reader glowed to life, random letters and numbers rolled below the headshots of the three Porters on the presentation screen. The random letters and figures slowly stopped, placing Bishop as best fit for all three assignments.

"Bishop?" he exclaimed. "But I-"

"Your brain's operating on a BlueFire Matrix, it's the closest shot we have at decrypting this."

Bishop remained in awe and so were the other Porters. The Intel unit was hardly ever wrong with matching assignments to Porters.

"Still think it's not a promotion?" Dorie raised an eyebrow at Tim who, just like Bishop was trying to understand what was really going on. One time, Bishop's just an average Porter decrypting normal synergists used for powering advanced versions of medium scale Matrices and out of the blue, he's best match for what might as well be the biggest thing that's ever happened to mankind.

"It's just for a try," Professor Alexaki continued. "If you can't pull the job, we'll probably suspend Synthesis and move priority to engineering reapers to help decrypting ciphers."

"Or, I could give it a second go," Tim added with a hint of both jealousy and egotism.

They were briefed for the next hour that followed on the task ahead after which Dale town and Whaledug Island were assigned to Tim and Dorie.

"Hug a loved one tonight because tomorrow, you all set out into history's path," Professor Alexaki had said to them before leaving the room. His words rang in Bishop's ear; it only made his skin crawl in nervousness.