Zach heard the sounds of gunfire behind him. ALICE was trying to shoot the copter down. Zach continued to make his way up the ladder. As he neared the half-way point, a bullet struck one side of the ladder. The rope was cut, leaving half a ladder connected to what may as well have been just a rope. Zach held on for his life, trying to reach the still whole top half.

Zach tried to climb the ladder, but it was alot harder while flying through the air. ALICE continued her chase. Slowly, Zach made his way up. The copter began making evasive maneuvers, which didn't put Zach in a good position. The trees below were dangerously close. Zach just kept trying to climb. It seemed they were loosing ALICE. Zach then heard from behind him: Weapon systems activating "Oh boy..."

The copter was coming up fast from the base of the cliff. From behind him, Zach heard the familiar side of helicopter blades. "Wait, there's two?!" Zach looked down the cliff. This copter definately wasn't ALICE. This one was painted bright pink. "Um... ok. That's a little weird." The pink copter rose up past Zach. He felt the sudden force of the helicopter beating down on him. He was knocked off his feet. Looking up, he saw that a ladder was being lowered from the pink copter. Behind him, he heard ALICE gaining. He grabbed the ladder dangling in front of him and began climbing. The pink helicopter began flying off with ALICE chasing, and Zach dangling below.

Zach was thinking of how he could get to California, when he heard a helicopter in the distance. "It couldn't be ALICE again, could it?" Zach got to his feet. "If she can redirect a train, I'm sure she could fly a helicopter after me..." A voice came over a loudspeaker: You can't escape, Zach. Zach began running from the river. He didn't know how far the copter was, but it sounded close. He looked back and saw it coming over the cliff. Zach didn't think he could outrun a helicopter, but he'd have to try. He continued running through the trees, but stopped abrubtly. "WHOA!" In front of him, there was another dropoff. "What?! Is it national put-cliffs-everywhere week?!" Zach had lost track of his turns and wasn't sure where the copter was. "Looks like I'm gonna have to jump... again." Zach decided to look down and see where he could land. To his surprise, another helicpoter was coming up towards him. "Oh boy..."

Zach swam towards the shore as fast he could. As soon as he got to the land, he got to his feet and broke into a run. An instant later, the train cars landed in the river behind him. Water shot into the air. Zach looked back. The cars had all fallen into the river behind him. He was safe for now. He sat down to rest. Zach reached in his pocket and pulled out his comm device. He shoke the water off. "So much for that idea..." Zach thought. "Guess I need to find another way to California..."

Zach fell through the air, over the drop-off. As he was falling, Zach looked down. To his relief, there was a river at the bottom of the chasm. Zach tried to aim himself in the dead center of the water. The wind was beating faster and faster on him, making it difficult to concentrate. But after a few seconds of free-fall, Zach hit the water, feet first. The water hit him pretty hard, but Zach maintained control. His feet touched the bottom of the river. He pushed up and reached the surface again. Zach began swimming toward the bank. Suddenly, there was a loud crash. Zach looked back up the cliff. Above him were several train cars falling off the edge.

Zach soon saw the other train approaching fast. Zach decided to jump. He looked out the door. It didn't seem to be good for jumping: if he cleared the gravel, he'd still have the cacti to worry about. Zach went to the the other side of the car. The door was closed, but Zach found the latch, easily enough. He pushed and pulled on it. The whistle was getting louder. He put all his weight on the latch, and it finally budged. Zach pulled open the door. There was a contrast between the two sides. On this half of the train, the ground went on for about five feet before suddenly dropping off. Zach looked behind him. The train was clearly visible. It would crash any second. Zach closed his eyes and jumped.

Zach began thinking out a plan. He usually had blueprints and 3-D maps before a mission. But Renaldo didn't think this was worth it. "Maybe if I ask real nice." Zach pulled out his comm device and switched it on. But instead of the usual classy start-up noise and logo, the screen remained blank. Zach stared at it for a while, until: Hello, Zach. "What?! You!" I know what you're attempting, Zach. I'm afraid I can't let you continue. The screen went blank. Zach wasn't sure what ALICE meant. But he found out soon enough. He saw a second set of tracks ahead that fed into the tracks his train was on. In the distance, he heard a train whistle.

Zach arrived at the train station late in the afternoon. It then occured to him that he didn't have enough money for a ticket. "Hmmm... I'll have to improvise." Zach walked out of the station and around to the tracks. "I'll just wait for a train and hop on," he thought. About half an hour later, Zach heard the next train leaving. He looked to his right, into the station, to confirm his thoughts. He got to his feet and prepared to jump. The engine creeped past. Next a few more cars. The train picked up speed. More and more cars began running by. Then Zach saw an open boxcar heading toward him. Zach began running along side the train. The boxcar caught up fairly quickly. Zach decided now was the best time. He grabbed hold of the train and lept inside. He rolled across the floor, stopping in the middle of the car. Zach got his bearings and stood up. Looking out the door, he saw the sun shining over the tops of the trees. He sat down by one of the walls. "Maybe I can relax for a bit."

"Hmm... Dr. Richard S. Wallace... the mastermind behind ALICE." Zach looked through one of the dozens of books he had found on artificial intelligence. "Hmm... ALICE... publications... chairman... robot eye... Maine... AHA! HERE IT IS!!!" "SHHHH!" "Oh, sorry. Here it is!!! San Francisco, California! I just need a ride..." Zach remembered how Renaldo thought he was crazy. "He'd never get me a jet for this... TO THE TRAIN STATION!!!" "SHHHH!"

"She won't do anythin unless she's told to..." Renaldo's words echoed through Zach's mind. "If she says she's going to take over the world... someone must have told her to. Simple as that. I just have to fond out who, and stop them. But how to find out?" Zach's first thought was checking the website which he originally found out about this plot. "No... they'd expect that..." Zach stood in deep thought for several minutes. ... ... "TO THE LIBRARY!"