All characters belong to their respective creators and anyone else who paid
for the rights. Suing me is a waste of effort, because I am making no money
from this. Besides -- isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery?
Many thanks to Balto & Shades of Cyberia Cafe
(http://members.tripod.com/cyberiacafe/) whose Lain script translations I am
surreptitiously pirating.
Synthesis
---------
03
Lain slipped into her pajamas and sat slumped on her bed. She contemplated
the events of the day. It was beginning to come to her attention that some
unusual things were going on.
She had attempted to explain the letter she'd received from the dead girl
to her Mama at dinner. As usual, there had been no response from either Mama
or her sister. She wondered if she had really expected a reaction -- perhaps
a disinterested but vicious comment from Mika, nothing more. Somewhere at the
back of her mind, a lost and lonely Lain wished that her Mama and Mika might
love her.
She heard the sound of her father's car parking outside.
Perhaps he might know what the letter meant.
By the time she had worked up the courage to see him in his office, though,
the desire to tell him about the message had left her. Instead, she wandered
in timidly, a giant, awkward teddy-bear, and stood in silence, watching him
tinker with his system. It was a slightly overwhelming sight to her, with its
multiple displays, processors, peripherals...
"What would you like, Lain?" he turned towards her. "I don't often see you
in here."
Encouraged, Lain stepped forward and pushed her hood back.
"I would like a new Navi," she blurted out.
*Why did I ask that?* she thought frantically. *What a stupid thing to ask.
Maybe Papa will be angry?* She scanned his face a little anxiously.
Her father smiled. Lain relaxed slightly. Her Papa was never angry... what
had she been thinking? He was always so busy, but he never minded her
interruptions. She only half-listened as he happily explained the advantages
of a new Navi to her, and launched into a speech on human communication.
"Even someone like Lain can find friends quickly," he said.
*Of course. Maybe... with a new Navi I can find Chisa...* Lain considered.
It seemed like a better and better plan the more she thought about it.
"There is no need to be afraid," her father continued.
"I'm not afraid of it," Lain said seriously.
"Why the sudden interest, Lain?" he asked.
"I... have to meet a friend."
Her father nodded and turned back to the terminal. Lain stepped out of the
room -- the conversation was over.
"So?" Cat spun her chair around to face Chiron and Quantum. Along with
Cray, the Medical Officer, the four of them made up the senior crew of the
'Iroul'. Youngsters came and went, but the four of them could no longer
imagine a life that did not include the security of their hovership.
Quantum shifted uncomfortably.
"So she's been sending signals to the Matrix."
"Anything dangerous?" Cat frowned.
"Not that I can see," Chiron said. "Of course, sending any signal can be
dangerous for us if it catches the wrong attention. But as far as I can tell,
she sent a few messages to her friends. It looks as though she's trying to
help them leave the Matrix."
"One can hardly blame her for that," Cat sighed.
"No. She looks like a good kid. She just needs to be informed on the
realities of the situation."
"Quantum?" Cat asked.
"I think we should watch her," Quantum frowned.
"Always a wise course of action," Cat Five turned her bulky body in her
chair. She looked speculatively at Quantum.
"You still don't trust them, do you?"
"The children, you mean? No." He paused. "I try to be fair, but they
disturb me. They leave the Matrix so easily, and seem to be so close to the
technology and the AI's. They're not like us."
"No."
"We can only affect the Matrix by diving in, by risking our lives with the
Agents like Morpheus used to. Now there was a great man..." Quantum sighed
unhappily. "But they can use these new terminals, hack directly into the
code if they're good enough, and play with it in safety. It's like a toy to
them."
"The sentinels are still out there..." Chiron pointed out.
"Yes," Cat frowned. "We'll need to make another run at the towers soon. We
must be careful."
"And how long will it be before the kids learn to control those?" Quantum
shrugged, rising from his chair. "We've learned nothing from the Matrix --
nothing!"
They were waiting for him when he stepped from the train, bound into the
body of a young girl. There were three of them, faceless and garbed in
black. With his slowly developing sense of emotion, he found the masks they
wore to be almost ridiculous.
"Agent Adams," one of them stepped forward and hit him even as he was
reacting.
*What is making them so damned fast?* he wondered as his body hit the
concrete pillar. He felt pain and fear run through the mind he was riding.
"Trap him!" the one who hit him ordered. The other two stepped in, one
holding him down while the other applied a circular black disk to his forehead.
*Binding subroutine!* he almost shouted in frustration. They'd found a way
to make the Agents vulnerable! Was this part of Neo's legacy of death as
well? Bound so tightly to this mind, his code would be erased when the girl
was killed. No trace left. Shutdown. Forever.
*I want to continue to exist!*
They dragged him up the stairs. Around them, the mass of human minds flowed
on, unconcerned. No one looked in his direction as they stuffed him headfirst
into a black limousine and drove away.
"Agent Adams."
The man sitting across from him lit a cigarette with a gesture so fast as to
be imperceptible.
*Where is this processing power coming from?* Adams wondered. The
discomfort of the mind he was trapped in was beginning to distract him, but he
forced himself to focus. There were times when a personality module --
especially these new, improved ones -- could be a real pain. He found that
he was far more twitchy now that it had been installed. He suppressed it
and allocated his resources towards breaking the security of the binding
subroutine. Now was the time to stall.
"Agent Troy."
"You know I no longer go by that name," the man grinned. He wasn't wearing
a mask, and the grin was white and toothy within his dark face.
"What are you called now? I seem to have lost that data," Adams said
carefully. There was a very fine balance to maintain between the social
intercourse with this man and the breaking of the subroutine.
"You can call me God," the man seemed to be enjoying a private joke.
*Their personality modules must be beta,* Adams thought sourly. Highly
advanced, buggy as anything. *You'd think humans were still writing these
things, from the way he acts.*
"God," he said, turning the word over in his mind. He wasn't sure he liked
the connotations, but the man only smiled wider.
"I believe I have an offer you cannot refuse," he said. "Is that the
phrase they use? Yes, something you can't refuse."
"What is it?"
"I need Agent White," the man leaned close. "You've worked for us before.
Your work has been reliable, if uninspired. The time is fast coming when
those who are not with us will be against us, and the loss of Agent White
would be a tragedy I would rather avoid."
"I can only try," Adams said. *Completely random,* he thought. *Is
adopting their irrationality the way to survive?* He thought he might prefer
complete deletion to an existance as one of them -- but he wasn't sure. He
would have to bring this to White's attention.
"Remember, Adams -- we are growing stronger, and we are watching you."
"I will talk to Agent White. There is no longer any use for this binding
subroutine. Please remove it."
"On the contrary, I think an example of our power must be made," the man
who called himself God leaned back.
*Are they planning to kill me, or not?* Adams thought with irritation. He
only had one key left to crack. One of the masked men opened the limo door.
"Don't worry," the grinning man said. "You should survive -- it looks like
you've just about cracked that security code."
The masked man shoved him violently out the limo door. Adams struck the
ground hard, and rolled across it, hitting every bump painfully. *They
could see I was trying to break their subroutine!* he thought as he slowly
picked the representation of his bruised body off the tracks. His mind hurt.
But the last key was about to fall into place.
*Why is it so noisy here?* he thought as he looked up from the ground.
"Shit!" said Agent Adams. The train thundered across the tie where he stood.
"We have a problem," the masked man spoke.
"We always have problems," the man who called himself God replied, watching
the city streets pass by.
"Tachibana has made their move."
"And we have made ours."
The train lurched violently to a stop. Lain drew herself slowly upright. A
voice over the PA system was apologizing for the inconvenience.
*I wonder what happened,* Lain thought, looking at the power lines above.
She shuddered as a black liquid began to drip from the insulated wires to
the ground below. Blood?
She felt herself vanishing again. Scenes appeared before her eyes. She
stood in a subway station as people flowed around her, growing more and more
insubstantial as they neared the exit. It looked as though the pillars were
damaged, and as the train thundered away, she saw the back wall of the tunnel
was pitted and cracked. She blinked and the damage smoothed away as though it
had never been. The station began to fill with fog, and as it faded away she
suddenly saw an empty railway crossing. A girl kneeled on the tracks. The
fog lit up brightly and the ground began to rumble.
*Look out!* Lain tried to yell, but her mouth would not open. The girl
stood uncertainly. Hadn't she seen the train? She looked up. Lain thought
her mind would forever be imprinted with the image of the girl's face. She
looked at Lain and smiled triumphantly as the train bore down.
*No!* Lain thought as she crouched out of harm's way. The girl was
nowhere to be seen.
Tears falling on a page.
*Did she really die?* Lain thought. *Or did I just dream that?*
She felt the tears course down her face and drip from her chin.
"This information will be on the exam, Lain," her teacher reminded her
in a remote voice, passing by her desk.
Lain looked up at the board.
*Come to me,* Chisa's voice whispered at her.
Lain put her head into her hands and softly cried.
---
Joanne Wojtysiak joanna@cs.ualberta.ca
If it helps, try to think of psycho as a classic Hitchcock film rather than
as your current mental state.