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
---------
10
Myu-myu wished she could take the credit for convincing Taro and Masayuki to
go back to Cyberia. She had an unhappy suspicion, though, that in reality
that decision had had more to do with this Lain character Taro kept mumbling
about and less with her powers of persuasion than she would like. Being a
child -- and a particularly self-centered one at that -- she buried that
thought as deep as her subconscious would permit.
She hoped something interesting would happen soon. She had a sudden desire
to hit the Wired and play Phantoma for a while on Deathmatch. She *really*
wanted to separate Taro's head from his shoulders.
Who did he think he was, anyway?
"Are you all right?" Sync's pale face swam into view, undulating. Chisa
felt ill.
"Yeah." She tried to sit up, and made it on the second try. "What
happened?"
"I came by to see if you wanted some company, and you looked really sick. I
called Cray. I hope you don't mind," Sync said, her perpetual worried
expression looking even more worried than usual -- if that was possible.
"No," Chisa said. The last thing she remembered was sinking back into the
chair, unable to breathe. Lain had survived Cyberia. Everything was all
right.
Sync helped her to her feet.
"Are you sure you should be walking?" she asked Chisa.
"No," Chisa took a step. It seemed all right. She was halfway to the hatch
when Cat walked in, followed by Beta and Chiron.
"Lain, you have mail," the Navi said in a placid female voice. Lain
started. She had been staring at the Psyche processor in her hand, turning
it around and around idly.
The lights came on unexpectedly. Lain flinched.
"Lain?" her father's voice queried gently, "have you started using your
new Navi yet?"
Lain forced herself to turn around, to get up and face him.
"Is something wrong, Lain?" he asked.
She held out the chip, warm from the heat of her hand. She looked at her
father with mild accusation in her eyes.
"I don't know what this is," he said, tilting his head. His eyes were
invisible behind the glare of his eyeglasses.
*Is he lying to me?* Lain wondered, surprised at her rebellious thoughts.
"Papa. I believe that you do know," she heard herself say. This was all
so terribly wrong... Her Papa was silent.
"I told you I don't know," he said finally and left the room. Lain clutched
the chip to herself.
"So that's the way it's going to be," she whispered to herself. She threw
off her school uniform and climbed into her usual skirt and turtleneck. She
pushed down self-conscious thoughts about her friends' comments on her outfit.
She would find out about this processor. The face of the dead boy from
Cyberia flashed briefly in her mind. She would find out about it before it
did as much damage as Accela had.
"Come in. The Oracle is expecting you."
The handmaiden stepped away from the door, allowing the woman to enter.
"Wait here for a moment," she motioned towards a threadbare chair in the
waiting room and gracefully glided out into the kitchen. The beaded curtain
clicked as she passed through it.
The woman made herself comfortable. She understood the value of ritual.
*How I've changed,* she thought with some amusement. There had been a time
when she would never have sat down, not on what she thought of as official
business. She saw a ghost of herself, then, standing motionless at the door.
Expressionless. Cold eyes staring from behind mirrored glasses. The ghost
flickered and she almost tapped the side of her head in reflex. She grinned
at herself and looked around the room.
"You may see the Oracle now."
The handmaiden had returned and was looking at her expectantly. She got up,
and flipped her a salute before proceeding through the beaded curtain herself.
"You haven't been here in a while."
Lain glanced up blankly at the man holding her arm. Her gaze travelled down
to his hand. He let go.
"You look like a child tonight," he said. "It doesn't suit you."
He stepped back and disappeared in the fluid crowd. Lain wondered what he'd
meant. She'd been in Cyberia only last night.
Someone bumped her, bringing her back to reality. She looked around.
*What if they didn't come tonight?*
But there they were, all three of them, sitting at a dark little table
against the wall. The two boys were punching each other in a friendly manner.
The girl, angelic in her frilly dress, was drinking green tea from a pop can.
Her legs didn't quite touch the ground.
They didn't see her until Lain stood directly before their table. One of
the boys almost lost his balance and fell from his chair. He caught himself
just in time. The other boy leaned back and stared at her. The girl
continued to sip her tea through a straw.
"Do you know what this is?" Lain held out her hand to the confident boy.
The chip was nestled in her palm.
"Isn't that the Psyche processor?" the boy's eyebrows rose.
"Whaaat?" the girl grabbed Lain's hand and tugged it closer. She examined
the chip.
"Where did you manage to buy that?" the first boy, the clumsy one, asked.
"What does it do?" Lain asked, still maintaining eye contact with the second
boy. He began to laugh, then thought better of it.
"With the Psyche, you can access the Wired perfectly!" He said. "The
hardware becomes irrelevant. I could even do it with this," he tossed a
hand-held Navi unit much like Lain's own onto the table.
"How do I use it?" Lain curled her hand around the processor.
"Are you a moron or something?" the girl asked her rudely. Lain blinked.
"Don't be nasty, Myu-myu." The second boy said. The girl turned back to
her tea.
"Would you sell that to me?" the first boy asked. "I'd buy it off you --
you don't even know how to use it."
"Idiot. You could never afford that," the second boy said without malice.
He leaned forward. "What sort of Navi have you got?"
"I... think it's Tachibana. The delivery man said it was the latest model."
"Wow," Myu-myu said enviously. From the expressions on the boys' faces,
it was obvious they agreed.
"Wow," Myu-myu said enviously. From the expressions on the boys' faces,
it was obvious they agreed.
"Have you looked inside?" the second boy asked. Lain shook her head. The
three considered that for a moment.
"You're in Junior High, right?" The second boy asked. "Second or third
year?"
"Second," Lain answered.
"You should have your basic Navi layout right in your textbook, then. Look
here," he launched into a detailed explanation on connecting the Psyche to the
motherboard.
"Will that work?" Lain asked curiously. She had never thought of working on
her Navi herself. She would have liked to get her Papa's opinion before
trying it out... But no. Either he was being intentionally obtuse and might
sabotage her efforts, or he didn't know any more about it than she did. She
had as much of a chance of getting it right without his help as with it.
And if it was dangerous... She couldn't let anyone else take the risk.
She would have to do it on her own.
"Oh, sure. Definitely. It's easier than building models -- just watch out
for static electricity," the boy assured her.
"Thank you," Lain said gravely. She was in the process of walking away when
the second boy, the obvious leader of the group called out.
"Hey! Information isn't free you know -- not in the Wired and not in the
real world!"
"How much should we charge?" asked the first boy. The leader ignored him.
"You're Lain, aren't you," he said, more quietly now. "I saw you in the
Wired once."
"In the Wired?" Lain asked.
"You never said you saw her," Myu-myu sniffed.
"It took me a while to recognize you," the leader continued. "I know some
people have different personalities in the Wired, but you are something else.
It's like you're a different person."
"Really," Myu-myu said. She didn't sound very interested.
"You were here last night, weren't you. I thought I saw you," he said.
"What exactly are you up to, Lain?"
"I..." Lain's chest tightened as she thought about the blood, the dead boy's
face, so close to her own. Was it only yesterday? It felt as though it had
been in her mind for an entire lifetime. "What do you want from me?"
"Go on a date with me," the boy said with a trace of arrogance. "But not
like you are now. I want a date with the girl I saw in the Wired. The wild
Lain."
"WHAT?" Myu-myu pushed forward, her hands on the table. "Taro, what are you
talking about?"
Lain found herself becoming angry.
*Is this what it's all about,* she thought. *People die, and all this kid
wants is a wild girlfriend.* Some of that emotion must have shown in her
face, because Taro suddenly looked uncertain. He waved his hands defensively,
partly to ward off Myu-myu, partly at Lain.
"I'm just kidding! However you like is fine with me." The statement did
not seem to pacify Myu-myu any. "Let's go," he motioned to Myu-myu and the
other boy. The three of them got up, Myu-myu sticking her tongue out at Lain
as she jumped down from her chair. They left Cyberia single-file.
Lain followed behind them, but lost them out on the street. She wasn't
interested in stalking three kids anyway. Her anger had drained away, leaving
her tired.
She looked down at the Psyche processor. Perfect access to the Wired. So
that was it.
She would test it out. And then...?
*Don't worry, Chisa. I haven't forgotten you.*
=-=
AUTHOR'S NOTES - As you can probably tell, personal life has interfered
with my writing for the past few months. The chapters will be sporadic --
but at least they will be written. Thanks for bearing with me.
--
Joanne Wojtysiak
joanna@cs.ualberta.ca
"The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of
a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the
top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower."
-Robert Pirsig