AD Data Node (8 Adelaide Street, Library Entrance)

You arrive at the AD data node and see the tiny metal balls swarming around the giant pillars that support the Library tower. They’re lining the panel edges, perfectly spaced out, like rivets. The edge of the roof panelling starts above your head and stretches to the end of the block. Sharp clean lines are everywhere.

If you step back, you can look up and see how the outer panelling of the Square Library is extending outwards, leaving gaps between the flattened squares as though it’s expanding along its seams.

The ball bearings attached to the pillars begin to vibrate and a clear hum fills the air.

At the same time a glowing blue sphere appears in the air right above your head and starts to pulse.

“Hello!” it chirps. “I am your personalised Brisbane Nexus Simulation Emergency Guidance Bot. Please stand by while I reconfigure the Emergency Repair Systems. Brisbane apologises for the inconvenience. I will be activating Emergency Repair Systems in 3…2…[static].”

The walls around you seem to sharpen, colours fading, leaving only sharp geometric outlines.

You hear a sound from the corner of Adelaide and George Street and look up. There’s a building there, all lines of metal and glass. The metal edges thicken and shimmer. They start to vibrate and you hear a deep voice, drowning out the traffic sounds.

This voice is different to 3-Dom. It’s more profound, like it’s more at home in this part of the Simulation.

“Welcome traveller. I am the Metricon, here to re-establish ordered architecture. System calibration indicates that my opposite, Dominique-3, has escaped the Library archives. I have ended my voluntary containment in order to correct this mistake. ”

The Emergency Guidance Bot flickers red for a second. “Excuse me, Metricon, you are interfering in Nexus guidance program repairs. Please return to your…uhm…voluntary archive containment and–”

“No!” thunders Metricon. “3-Dom architecture is fundamentally incompatible with Metricon architecture and needs to be eradicated.”

A blocky face appears on the corner of the building, in the reflections of the glass windows. It’s looking directly at you.

“Come with me. Help me stop 3-Dom from turning this city into…butterflies and flowers or whatever it feels like today.”

Everything shifts slightly, like the city itself is holding its breath. Metricon is gone.

The Emergency Guidance Bot next to you glows a brilliant blue and the tiny balls on the Library pillars detach and cascade down. “This is a slight problem. Please hold. I’m sending the Emergency Repair System to Burnett lane to try sealing off Metricon and 3-Dom’s expansion into the city.

“We’ll have to work together to stabilise the Simulation and get you back to the real world. You’ll need to take the camera attachment of your Digital Assistant Phone and capture images of Metricon and 3-Dom architecture. Upload them to your preferred social media platform with the tag #streetreads14 and then either #metricon or #3dom. Once I get the main guidance program back online we can scan through the photographic data and restore the city to its proper state.”

Do you:

Burnett Lane: Chase the Emergency Repair System to the Albert Street end of Burnett Lane next to the black tiled wall and help with the system wide containment. Metricon seems too confident; you don’t trust it at all.

Or

GS Data Node:  Meet Metricon at the GS Data Node (bin) on 275 George Street to help it stop 3-Dom’s crazy scheme. After all, if the city is turned into butterflies and flowers you might never get out.