Story Seed - The Ghost in the Machine

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"I don't see that we have another option. Either the datasphere shows us how to get past this door, or we turn back and never know what lies beyond."

"Are you certain? This is no mere siphon. Projecting your mind into the datasphere ... who knows what that will be like.  There are data spirits, nano controllers, even processes that are like the iron wind for the datasphere. You could find your mind altered or even erased entirely!" Ulliari was more than worried, he was terrified.  What would happen to him if Yarth lost her mind, or worse, came back with the mind of a data spirit.

Yarth shook her head, "I won't go back a faliure.  We have the delver, we should use it.  There could be treasures untold beyond this door; cyphers and artifacts. We could retire from this. What could be safer than never needing to explore another ruin of the prior worlds again?"

Ulliari frowned, sadly realizing that he could not sway the course his sister had set for them.  Instead he watched in silent disapproval as Yarth set the delver atop her head and transferred her consciousness into the datasphere itself.

~~~~~~

Yarth opened her eyes, or at least that was the closest analog.  She could still see her brother and her own body, though the physical realm was indistinct, blurry and unfocused, crawling with letters and numbers and sigils long forgotten.  The circlet seemed the most real, blazing with light and trailing a umbilical of data that connected her to her physical form.

Yarth turned to the door, tracing her senses over the data pathways that touched on the door.  The input devices allowed her a path into the system, and a similar structure allowed her out again on the other side.  The complex was far more massive inside than she expected, rivers of data and power, like roads filled with countless travelers.

WELCOME TRAVELER. 

The voice was not human, or even human like. Nor was it truly a voice.  Yarth shifted her perception.  The lines of data and power shifted and writhed. Changing.  A face, or the impression of one, peered out from the complex interaction of the datasphere.  

YOU ARE MORTAL. A FLESHLING. WHAT DO YOU SEEK IN MY HOME?

Summary - an explorer finds more than bargained for in the datasphere of a long lost ruin of the ancient worlds.