Beyond the Metaverse

[Hiro Protagonist]

It was after about twenty minutes of travel with no visible progress Hiro decided (if he could summon anything he thought of) that walking was for chumps. Which explained why there was now a narrow blur motoring across the Nexus, kicking up clouds of holographic dirt. Perhaps it was too much, but Hiro was a programmer by nature, and it had always irked him when constructs and models lacked that little touch of real life that kept them from being too unrealistic. He'd gunned the motorbike several times to the redline, but the speedometer never budged above 80 mph. Another one of Omni's rules, perhaps. If so, the smiling omniscience was arbitrarily courteous. No breaking the sound barrier here.

"Post 32, this is Nexus Gate Alpha, come in. We have an approaching vehicle, possible Prime."

"We read you, NGA. Received and acknowledged, response team is on green standby."

The trooper lowered his goggles and turned to the two other white-armored soldiers sitting stiffly on some plastic crates. They were already standing up and reaching for their blaster rifles, leaning against the low wall of the barricade in front of the large portal to Coruscant.

"Look lively, men. Possible Prime approaching, and this one already went right for the vehicles. Let's hope he's not too thickheaded."
They both saluted and took up positions flanking their commander, rifles at their sides but at the ready. They didn't have to wait long before Hiro pulled to an easy stop in front of the barricade, bike turned sideways.

They stood about fifteen feet apart, neither side moving. The hacker flipped out the kickstand and leaned the bike to a resting position, while his brand-spankin'-new lenses took in the scene, noting the type and layering of their armor, the composition of their barricade, the make and year their blasters were produced, and all manner of interesting, though needless information. A small 3D model rotated in the corner of Hiro's view, marking these men as Stormtroopers of the Empire.

It was the commander who spoke first while Hiro was drinking in the info from his HUD. Almost in a bored tone of voice, he spoke as though he'd committed these words to heart, although he was by no means lackadaisical in his manner. The armed troopers next to him spoke to that. 

"Unknown-Prime-you-are-now-at-the-gate-to-Wondrous-Coruscant, envy-of-the-Omniverse-and-especially-those-dirt-eating-bastards-in-Camelot. If-you-would-like-to-enter-our-fine-verse-you-must-submit-to-a-search-and-registration-by-the-Empire-Peace-Division. If-this-is-agreeable-please-disarm-and-approach-the-barricade."

Hiro looked at the commander with a blank stare, although it wasn't immediately visible due to his lenses. He flipped them up to rest on his forehead, revealing his slightly rounded eyes. Stepping off the bike and reached down to his sword belt, unfastening the scabbard and holding it by the lengthy case.

"Wow...uh. You get a lot of visitors, huh?" He was ten feet away now as the commander nodded. 

"Yep."

"I mean, I read about the registration and what not, but uh....you guys really have it down to a T. Been doing this long?"

"....yep."

The commander looked down at Hiro's sword, and made a 'pulling apart' motion. Hiro obliged, revealing the shiny glass blade within. Both stormtroopers looked over their officer's shoulder at the blade, looked at each other, and nodded. They gestured towards the portal with the tips of their blasters, and Hiro closed his sword, looking at the portal. 

"So...I just go through, then? Guessing they'll do the registration inside..."

The commander looked at him one final time and opened his mouth before Hiro stepped through the swirling incandescence.

"......yep."