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 most sincere form of
flattery?
Many thanks to Balto & Shades of Cyberia Cafe
(http://members.tripod.com/cyberiacafe/) whose Lain script translations I
am surreptitiously pirating.
This fic is archived at http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~joanna/prose.html
C&C not only welcome, but encouraged.
Synthesis
---------
09
Neo opened his eyes.
Even after years spent in the real world, the act of awakening still
felt like a dream. Every time he dove into the Matrix, it was as though
he was going home. The real world was very much like a nightmarish
Wonderland where all the people he knew looked like pale shadows of
themselves. Intellectually he knew he belonged here, but emotionally, he
was still very much a prisoner of the Matrix.
It only made him hate it that much more.
Trinity was there, waiting for him. Her clear, blue eyes were the
first thing he saw.
"Was that who I think it was?" she asked, helping to unclip him from
the chair.
"Yes," he said shortly. They held each other close for a moment,
silent in their understanding.
The moment was brief. The war still went on.
Neo stepped from the chair and came up behind the Operator.
"Connect to Zion!" he said urgently. He was a little startled to find
that his Operator wasn't Tank. She was a tiny oriental woman, also
Zion-born. She had replaced Tank a few months ago when he had finally
decided to retire. It wasn't that he was old. But he claimed that the
injuries Cypher had caused him had never healed properly and were giving
him more and more trouble as the years passed. Neo and Trinity privately
suspected that it was the loss of Dozer that Tank had never recovered
from, and Morpheus' death had just driven that reality home. Tank had
left the Nebuchadnezzar to take a technical post in Zion itself. They had
picked up the woman, Core, when they had dropped Tank off for the last
time.
Even after several months, it still startled Neo that it wasn't Tank
sitting there.
"Connection established," Core said.
"Open database," Neo dictated, pacing. "Begin search. Subject:
Lain."
"This could take a while," Core warned him.
"I know. Leave it to run in the background. Let me know when it
finishes."
She nodded once.
"Come on, Neo. Let's get something to eat." Trinity hugged him from
behind. "You coming, Core?"
"Later. I have some things to finish up," she smiled.
Out in the corridor, Neo stopped short.
"I don't trust her," he said.
"Core seems all right," Trinity answered evenly.
"Not Core -- the bitch in the Matrix. I don't like it that she's still
running loose in there. God only knows what kind of AI's she's spawning
this time."
"I don't know. She was dormant for a long, long time. I think the
AI's have been mostly upgrading and evolving themselves." Trinity said
thoughtfully.
"But she's active now, and we don't know what she's up to."
"What did she tell you?"
"She asked me if I had ever heard of 'Lain of the Wired'."
"Lain of the Wired. I wonder what she meant," Trinity asked with some
puzzlement.
"I don't know," Neo replied.
"The Wired sounds like the Matrix. Maybe it's a part of it..." Trinity
mused.
"Then Lain would be someone in the Matrix?" Neo asked. "Maybe the Oracle
would know."
"The Oracle still exists in the Matrix. Maybe it wouldn't be such a
good idea to draw her into this now. Our enemy is as much a goddess in
there as you are a god."
"Maybe we should try to get the Oracle out..." Neo suggested. "She's
not safe in the Matrix any more."
"I don't think she was ever safe. We could ask her next time we're
there, though."
Trinity continued along the corridor. After a few moments, Neo
followed. He caught up to her just outside the mess hall.
"Why would she mention this Lain?" Neo asked.
"I don't know."
He thought hard, one hand on the vault-like door, blocking Trinity's
way. She stared at him hard.
"Unless Lain is a weapon... an AI."
"In which case we have nothing to worry about," Trinity shrugged.
"You are invincible in the Matrix." She yanked on the door. Neo stepped
back to let her pass, then went inside after her.
"Still, I think something big is going on," Neo said thoughtfully,
pulling the door shut behind him.
Lain sneezed.
She peered through the doorway of her classroom. There was a crowd of
girls surrounding her three friends, and everyone seemed to be talking at
once. She heard one of the girls ask if Reika had been scared, but her
reply was lost in the excited murmur of voices.
"Lain!" Juri stretched on her tiptoes and waved her hand maniacally.
"Did you get in trouble last night?" Juri looked like she was enjoying
herself tremendously. Lain shook her head to indicate she did not. "Me
neither!" Juri called out.
"It wouldn't have been our fault if she had," she heard Reika's
not-so-quiet remark. Lain made her way to her desk. Alice moved to try
and join her, but she was suddenly bombarded with questions from girls on
all sides. She smiled apologetically at Lain. Lain smiled back.
She thought back to the grey hours of the morning, when she had
awakened from a nightmare where the boy from the club embraced her and
dragged her down into the Wired. "I live here now," he'd whispered. His
blood ran down her back, was smeared on her arms and face. She'd fought
his embrace. "Come here soon," he admonished. Chisa rose up to meet him,
and she'd almost given in then, as they both dragged her to her Navi.
When she looked into Chisa's face, she saw an old woman, withered and
terrifying.
"Join us," Chisa said.
"Why did you do this?" the boy asked, shoving his bloody hands in her
face.
Lain started up. The lesson had started. Her paper seemed to be
covered in large, sloppy spirals which her hand continued to draw even as
she awoke from her daydream. The movements, if anything, became more
frantic until the paper and the ink upon it seemed no more substantial
than smoke. The teacher droned on.
"Although use of the Navi as an all-purpose information terminal is
widespread, real leaps in the paradigm of the Wired are very much limited
by machine performance."
Then, very clearly, she heard a voice coming from the little vortex she
was creating as her pen stirred the unreality of the paper.
"Psyche can enhance Navi performance," the voice said. Lain stared
into the vortex. The boy's face appeared in it. She stumbled out of her
desk, falling backwards to the floor. She jumped up, expecting that
everyone was staring at the scene she was making.
The classroom was empty.
Alice poked her head through the door.
"Coming, Lain?" she asked. Lain stuffed her books into her pack and
joined her friends out in the hall. She couldn't believe class was over
already.
The four girls walked to their lockers in silence.
"Last night was very strange..." Alice finally said. "I know that we
saw someone die... *people* die... but it all feels unreal somehow."
"It almost feels as if we watched it on TV or dreamed it, or something,"
Juri agreed. "We probably shouldn't think too much about it."
Lain opened her locker and put some of her textbooks away. Her eye was
drawn to a large envelope sitting on top of her shoes. She picked it up,
puzzled. She didn't remember leaving anything like it in her locker.
"I think it's very strange that we can't take this seriously," Alice
said thoughtfully. "It was such a terrible thing, and we're already
forgetting about it. That shouldn't be happening, right Lain?" Lain
nodded in an abstracted manner, still examining the outside of the
envelope. There was no name written on it, not even her own.
"What is that?" Alice asked. "Is it a love letter?" she teased Lain,
her eyes suddenly bright.
"I don't think so," Lain said. "I don't know."
"You shouldn't hide these things from your friends," Reika pushed
forward and snatched the envelope from Lain's hands.
"What does it say?" Juri strained to look over her taller friend's
shoulder. Reika tore the envelope open and put her hand inside.
"There's nothing in there!" she said, disappointed.
"Stop it! You're picking on poor Lain again!" Alice frowned. Reika
handed the envelope to Juri, who looked inside to assure herself that no
juicy notes were hiding on the bottom.
"What's this?" she asked as she drew out a small object. The girls
examined it.
"It looks like a microchip," Alice turned it over gently. She handed
it to Lain. "Do you know what this is?"
"No," Lain took it and examined it with some confusion. "I've never
seen anything like this." She thought for a moment. "I think I know who
might be able to identify it," she added.
"Who cares?" Reika stretched. "It's boooring. Let's hurry up and get
lunch -- I'm starving."
Lain closed her locker. The other girls were already moving down the
hallway. Alice turned back, waiting.
"Hurry up, Lain!" she said.
Lain looked down at the chip in her hand.
"Psyche." Something whispered, quiet but distinct.
"Psyche," Lain repeated. She put the chip in her pocket and ran to
catch up with Alice.
Takuya came home late, and fired up the Navi. He looked it over fondly
as he ran through the diagnostics. It was starting to look a little like
a Frankenputer, with its exposed innards and mismatched peripherals. He
worked on it every chance he could -- when he wasn't busy using it. Its
cooling fans were beginning to sound strange. He would have to replace
them soon.
But they would be good enough for tonight.
He logged in eagerly, slipped his goggles on -- he hardly needed them
any more, but they helped -- and dove into the shifting colours of the
Wired.
It was his community, his world, a place he knew better than the street
he lived on. His contacts here were enormous. He knew nearly everyone,
heard nearly everything that transpired in the Wired. His memory was
almost photograhic. Sometimes he just sat there all night, letting the
information flow through his brain.
He opened himself up to the bitstream.
"I can't believe my voicemail was tapped!"
"I love kissing. Even by myself, it makes me happy."
"Since the incident with the kid and the Accela, no one will sell to us
now. The suppliers are running scared. There's no place to get it any
more."
"He claimed that Psyche was designed by the Knights. I don't think any
such group exists."
"How does it feel -- to die, I mean. Is it good?" "Yes, very much so."
"Someone is here, in my room! She looks so strange -- she is watching
me. I can't move! If anyone is listening... please help!"
"I have a photo of you screwing that slut. If you don't want your boss
to see it, I suggest..."
Lives. Conversations, distilled for his pleasure. He swam out of the
current and switched modes. He was suddenly sitting -- floating? -- in a
great, dark hall which curved up and around and below him, like a giant
sphere. Small, curved screens lined the walls. Each showed a different
'location' in the Wired.
The conversations suddenly had a visual context.
"Well, my fine Knights... What are you up to this day?" he chuckled to
himself.
Onscreen, a man in a grey suit stood on a balcony, watching a glorious
sunset. Takuya couldn't see his face -- he was little more than a
silhouette against the brilliant colours of the sky and sea.
"Tell me again about the kids, Professor," his bland, even voice was
clearly audible even through the babble of voices on Takuya's other
channels.
"You can't start up that experiment again," a querulous voice answered.
Takuya's 'camera' panned out to include the Professor. He was an old man
in a lab coat, reclining on a comfortable deck chair. He seemed agitated.
"We already have," the suited man waved negligently. "We have your
data -- but you are obviously dying. We need your experiences before your
mind becomes inaccessible to us."
"I will not help you," the old man said, more tired than defiant.
The suited man covered the distance between them in three strides,
grabbing the Professor's collar and lifting him bodily from the chair.
"As you said, I am dying," the Professor lifted his arms.
The suited man paused. He looked directly at Takuya.
"Intruder detected. Initiating shutdown," he intoned.
Takuya's screen went blank.
"Fascist bastard," Takuya swore. He thought about the situation for a
moment. He called up his pet search utility. It looked like a small,
furry, cat-like creature. "Search parameters: professor, kids,
experiment. Begin search." The utility generated copies of itself and
each cat-clone vanished into the Wired on a different search vector.
Takuya imagined an expanding sphere of cats, centered on his location,
moving through the Wired like a shock wave.
There was nothing to do now but wait for them. And watch the Wired.
"I waited for you such a long time! Why didn't you come?"
"The Knights can't really be classified as a group. It is more like a
religion -- the God of the Wired."
"Just tell me straight to my face if you love him. If you can do that,
I swear I'll give up on you. You'll never have to hear from me again.
But if you don't..."
"I'm not lying! *Someone* was following me!"
"Search initiated: Lain. Who is Lain of the Wired?"
"What are you afraid of? There is nothing to fear."
"I told you something interesting would happen if we went to Cyberia! I
told you!"
Takuya leaned closer to the screen. The little girl -- he'd never seen
her before but one of the boys in the image looked very familiar. His
mind supplied the information -- he was a potential Knight recruit. He
looked uncertain and shaken. He sat on top of a small mountain of cubes,
each of them as tall as a child. The girl danced below the mountain, on
the 'floor' of the room. Takuya guessed he was monitoring their regular
hangout.
"We were almost killed," the other boy said with a note of reproach in
his voice.
"No way!" the girl said defiantly. "We weren't even on the dance floor
where all the shooting was going on. The guy couldn't see us at all."
"We still could've been killed."
"It was just like TV," the girl dismissed his concerns. "I'll bet Taro
wasn't worried. It's just you that's the 'fraidy cat, Masayuki." She
looked up towards Taro's perch. Takuya, his 'camera' much closer to Taro
than the girl was, could see that Taro did indeed look worried. He was
mumbling to himself. Takuya turned down the volume on his other screens.
"Why didn't they warn me?" Taro said to himself. "Was it a test? Or
didn't they know? That guy was definitely on Accela."
"Taro, you agree with me, right?" the girl called out from below.
"Did Lain know what was going on? I thought I saw her there -- right
at the very end," Taro continued talking to himself, ignoring the
exaggerated gestures the girl was making to get his attention.
"Earth to Taroooo! Yooohooo!" she waved her arms at him.
"Myu-myu!" he finally said, exasperated. "Can't you leave me alone for
a little while? I'm trying to figure something out!"
"Fine!" Myu-myu stuck her tongue out at him and went to sulk at the
foot of the mountain of cubes.
"Curious that this Lain seems to be on everyone's mind," Takuya said to
himself. He wondered if she was a Knight. He wondered who it was that
was looking for her.
It looked like more digging was in order. That was all right, though.
Takuya loved information.
"You're late," Agent Adams said as Agent Jones jumped into a convenient
mind. The street was almost empty. "Where were you?"
"Doing some research," Agent Jones adjusted his implant code. "It took
more time than expected. Let's go."
They got into the featureless black car
"We could have just jumped there," Agent Jones pointed out.
"Agent White didn't want us to," Adams shrugged. He parked the car
with a precision only an artificial being could manage.
"Now what?"
"We watch."
An hour later, a girl came out of the house. She looked suspiciously
at the car as she walked towards it. The two Agents followed her progress
through the car window. She slowed as she passed by, then bolted.
"That was her?" Agent Jones asked.
"Yes."
"Should we follow her?"
"I think I know where she's going," Adams said, starting the car.
"Who was that?" Iwakura Satomi asked, setting a tray with a pair of
teacups in front of her husband. She blushed a little as she caught that
thought. *Husband.* Well, maybe not yet, but sometime in the future...
He took a teacup and sipped thoughtfully at the tea.
"Tachibana," he said colourlessly.
"Bastards," Satomi swore, inwardly pleased. It didn't look as though
this project was going to be ending soon, not with so many different
people and factions interfering with it.
"Satomi! Remember your role, please," Iwakura Eichi chided gently.
She walked around the sofa and sat down next to him, cuddling up.
"I sorry," she said pleasantly. "I keep forgetting."
They shared a long kiss.
"Are they both gone?" Satomi asked.
"Yes. Mika won't be back until late and Lain just left."
"What did Lain want to talk to you about?"
"She got her hands on a Psyche processor," Eichi looked down, turning
the teacup over and over in his hands. His glasses glinted.
"Psyche... How dangerous. Do you think she got it from the Knights?"
"Perhaps." He took a long gulp of tea. "I have faith in Lain. She can
get through anything the Knights throw at her."
"Did you tell her what it was?" Satomi asked.
"No. She must find these answers for herself."
Satomi cuddled up to Eichi.
"I've heard that Tachibana has their own plans for Lain," she said
cautiously.
"I'm not surprised. There are whispers in the Matrix that they have
contacted the Mother. They have chosen to oppose the Knights."
"So have we," Satomi pointed out.
"But they don't know that," Eichi smiled. "Now -- while the children
are away..."
He set the cup down on the tray and leaned close to Satomi, who wrapped
her arms around him. In a moment, they were oblivious to the outside
world.
=-=
AUTHOR'S NOTES - Sorry this one took so long! I seem to have been infected
with the Kiki virus (for all the Sluggy fans out there). I am slowly getting
better, and Synthesis 10 should be out late next week. Thanks for
understanding.
--
Joanne Wojtysiak
joanna@cs.ualberta.ca
"This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence."
- Vyvyan, "The Young Ones"