"Born Again"
Part 1
Chapter 3
"Tactics of Mistake"
By Brian Welch bwelchz7@yahoo.com
Based on the manga Aa! Megami-sama
(Ah! My Goddess!/Oh My Goddess!)
The wonderful world of Aa! Megami-sama was created by
Fujishima Kosuke. Aa! Megami-sama/Oh My Goddess!
characters are copyright Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo, Studio
Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc.
-----
Yggdrasil Maintenance Facility
-----
Eric stared at his terminal, his hand hovering over
the
execute button. The solution had been simple enough
once it finally came to him. Minor instabilities in
the synchronization routine on the Nidhog side of the
system were corrupting shared data on the Yggdrasil
side. The worm which would patch the synchronization
routine was written and the Trojan horse to give him
root privileges on Nidhog was ready. All that was
needed was to deliver the Trojan horse where the
Nidhog
system would pick it up. Still, he hesitated. Skuld
said that hacking Nidhog was expressly forbidden.
What
would the demons do after they discovered their system
had been hacked? I don't want to start a war, Eric
thought. On the other hand, if I do nothing Yggdrasil
will eventually die. So, which will it be? Risk war
now, or lose Yggdrasil later? I guess, when I think
about it, that really isn't much of a decision. At
least the way I've done this I can safely take all the
blame for this if they need a scape goat.
Eric looked again at his hand. Urd's words came back
to him, 'Do you ever wonder where these ideas of yours
come from?' He bowed his head and whispered a prayer.
"Lord, whoever's out there, let this be the right
thing," as his hand came down on the execute button.
The explosion lit the entire maintenance facility.
"What the hell!?" Urd cursed as alarms went off.
"Eric!" Skuld turned to see energy coursing around the
young man, then it was gone and Eric was collapsing to
the floor.
"We've just been attacked!" Peorth shouted. "Check
the
firewall!"
"Firewall is intact," Ere reported after a moment.
"Nothing came through."
"So, where did the attack come from?" Peorth asked.
"Damned if I know," Urd grumbled. "I'm checking... oh
my god. Something from Yggdrasil just wrote to
Nidhog's
privileged program space. The automatic safeguards
activated."
"But who would..." Peorth asked.
"I think we both know the answer to that one." Urd
turned to where Skuld was leaning over a very still
Eric.
-----
"He's still unconscious?" a worried Skuld asked.
Belldandy breathed a sigh as she examined the quiet
form before her, then consulted the diagnostic sphere
in her hand. "Yes, Skuld, nothing has changed since
we
brought him here. He's still in a deep coma. I
wouldn't dare try to awaken him even if I knew how.
Without knowing what was done to him, anything we do
could make him worse."
"Even the healers couldn't do anything."
"Our healers don't have experience with mortals,
Skuld," Belldandy gently admonished. "They tried
their
best."
Skuld reached over to brush Eric's forehead above the
headband he still wore. "I wish I'd never made this
thing. The safeguards had direct access to him."
"That headband may be all that's keeping him alive.
Remember, when we tried to remove it after the
accident, it almost killed him. He may be drawing his
life support from Yggdrasil." She thought for another
minute. "His condition doesn't seem to be worsening,
so I think we should just leave him alone for now."
"All right," Skuld replied and took a seat. "At least
they let us bring him to our home instead of keeping
him at the medical facility."
"Eric would be happy that he has such a good friend,
Skuld." I wish I felt more confident about this,
Belldandy thought to herself as she left the room.
Skuld stayed by Eric's side for the rest of the day
until Urd, at Belldandy's request, came to relieve
her.
"Hey, kiddo, don't worry. There's not much we can do
about this, he'll either be OK or he won't," the
eldest
Norn counseled. "It was his own fault, after all."
"Don't talk like that!" Skuld cried. "I should have
paid more attention to what he was doing!"
"Hey, don't blame yourself. If there's one thing I
picked up from Donovan, it was that he liked to do
things his own way. He would have found a way to
execute that hack when you weren't there no matter how
closely you watched him. There was nothing you could
have done to stop this." Urd placed a comforting hand
on her sister's shoulder. "Go and take a walk outside,
or maybe go smash some bugs. It'll make you feel
better."
Skuld gave her big sister a wan smile and nodded,
placing her hand over Urd's. "Thanks." She stood and
turned to look at Eric. "He just seems to be
sleeping,
doesn't he? Kind of like that story Sleeping Beauty."
Urd raised an eyebrow.
When Skuld had left, Urd looked down at Eric. He
really did look like he was just taking a nap. "You
don't look nearly so cock-sure of yourself when you're
sleeping like this, Donovan," she addressed the quiet
form. "Not to mention you're a heck of a lot safer to
have around."
Urd thought about Skuld's comparison. Was the kid
developing a crush on this trouble-making mortal? She
certainly was protective enough. "The kid has a point,
though. You are kind of cute, in a puppy dog sort of
way."
-----
Three days later
-----
In the throne room of the Almighty, Belldandy remained
on one knee, her head bowed.
The Almighty stroked his chin contemplatively. "You
say the mortal remains unconscious?"
"Yes, Almighty One," Belldandy replied.
"You also say he has somehow become linked with
Yggdrasil during this time?"
"Yes, Almighty One, we believe that to be the case."
"The mortal has been in this state ever since the
accident?"
"Yes, Almighty One." I shouldn't have waited this
long
to come here. What if I'm too late? I should have
acted sooner!
The Almighty smiled encouragingly. "It is well you
came to me when you did, Belldandy," he reassured her.
"I believe time will be our ally in this matter. Give
the mortal a few more days to make a recovery. Return
to me in six days and we will discuss this further."
"Yes, Almighty One." The goddess left.
The Almighty sank back into his throne as his
countenance faded from wisdom to worry.
-----
Five days later
-----
Urd hummed a simple tune as she added ingredients to
her potion. Babysitting day after day was really
getting on her nerves, but as long as she had to pull
a
shift watching over this trouble making mortal, she
might as well enjoy it. It's been much too long since
I've been able to take a little free time to indulge
in
my hobbies, she thought.
She added another ingredient and watched the reaction.
Yes, this was going well. The next few steps,
however,
would be critical. This particular type of potion had
a tendency to become unstable in inexperienced hands,
but Urd was nothing if not experienced.
She glanced across the room at the diagnostic sphere
floating over Eric where Belldandy had left it. There
was no change, as usual. The current time showing on
the sphere caught her attention. "Ah, it's about time
for Skuld to take over baby-sitting. Better wrap this
up."
Eric struggled up through the blackness. It was like
swimming through molasses, a seemingly endless,
painful
process. Why is it taking me so long to wake up? he
wondered.
Finally, his eyes pulled halfway open. Where am I?
This isn't the Yggdrasil Maintenance facility. Why do
I feel so rotten? Everything hurts. His body hurt,
his head hurt, his eyes hurt, even his hair hurt. His
mouth felt like it was made of cotton and tasted like
someone had crammed a dirty sock into it. He closed
his eyes. Maybe he should go back to sleep, after
all,
and try this again later.
Urd heard the beep from the diagnostic sphere and
turned to look. "What!? Donovan is awake?" The
sphere
certainly said so. It didn't look like it to her, but
she'd better check to be sure.
Walking over to where Eric lay, Urd noticed he didn't
look any different, maybe even a little worse than he
had yesterday. She snatched the sphere out of the air
and shook it. It had obviously become defective.
"Even when you're comatose you cause trouble, Donovan.
Belldandy's diagnostics never fail like this. You
know, if you had any consideration for others you'd
just slip off into the next life and let us get on
with
ours."
Is someone talking to me? Eric wondered. I can't
understand what they're saying. Forcing himself back
to consciousness, he opened his eyes a bit. They
widened a little more as he recognized the angry
goddess standing over him.
"Ah... you're awake after all?" Nine days of
endlessly
boring shifts of baby-sitting, of watching Belldandy
and Skuld wringing their hearts out over this
worthless
excuse for a mortal came erupting to the surface.
"Wh... what happened? How did I get here?" Eric
slurred, struggling to get the words out past lips
reluctant to form them.
Urd leaned over him so her face was almost touching
his. "Do you have any idea of what you've put all of
us through for the past nine days? Do you realize how
much you've hurt my sisters, how much time I've wasted
baby-sitting you? Do you have any concept of the
utter
stupidity of your actions in Yggdrasil Maintenance?
We
and the demons are NOT allowed to touch each other's
systems! Do you realize how close you came to
starting
a war? You call yourself a COMPUTER EXPERT!?"
Urd became aware of strange noises coming from behind
her. Turning, she stared in horror at the runaway
reaction building among her chemicals.
"Uh-oh..."
*BOOM!*
The room filled with billows of acrid smoke. A quick
dispersion spell cleared the air, revealing a table of
wrecked lab equipment.
Urd was livid. "Look what you did!" Picking Eric up
by the front of his shirt, she began shaking him like
a
rat. "I have half a mind to wait until you recover,
and then send you into another coma myself!"
*Clink!*
The headband worked free of Eric's brow and dropped to
the floor.
"Oops..." Urd let go of Eric, who immediately
collapsed onto his bed, and picked up the device.
"What's all the yelling abou... Eric!" Skuld entered
the room and threw herself upon him. "You're awake!"
"Owww...!" Eric groaned. "Take it easy, Skuld, or
Urd
won't get her chance to finish me off." Man, how I
hurt. My voice seems to be working better, though.
Must have been the workout Urd gave me. Did she say
I've been unconscious for nine days?
Skuld whirled around, placing herself between her
oldest sister and the mortal. "Don't you dare lay a
finger on him, you bully!" she shouted.
"Yeah, well look what he did to my equipment! Oh, by
the way, here's your gizmo."
Skuld looked at the headband Urd handed her, and then
at Eric. With a scream of joy, she gave him another
life-threatening hug.
-----
Belldandy finished checking Eric's vital signs. "You
are still exhausted and very weak, Eric, but otherwise
in satisfactory condition. How do you feel?"
"As soon as Thor stops pounding on my head, I'll tell
you."
"Do you think you could drink something?" she asked,
beaming a smile down upon him.
"I think I could." Eric replied, basking under her
gaze. What a bedside manner! Maybe I should get
beaten up more often! Then his throbbing head
reminded
him that the price was perhaps a little high, after
all.
Eric took the amber liquid she offered. The taste was
appealing and almost immediately he found that his
headache was subsiding. "Thanks, Belldandy, I feel
much better. What was that drink?"
"I don't know," Belldandy replied. "I'll have to ask
Urd what she used."
"Urd!?" Eric winced as a twinge of pain stabbed him
between the eyes.
"Yes, she is very good with medicines and has had much
more experience with human physiology than anyone else
in Heaven."
"Oh." I would have expected poison.
"I'll go ask her now," Belldandy got up and left.
Eric gingerly placed a hand to his head. The pain was
almost gone. He took the opportunity to shift into a
more comfortable position then stared out over the
garden, enjoying the warmth of the sun or whatever
passed for sun here in Heaven, and watching the
comings
and goings of the insects (or whatever those flying
things were) and birds. It was very peaceful,
actually.
Of course, that couldn't last.
A shadow fell over Eric. "Hello, Donovan, how are
you?" Urd asked.
Eric flinched, winced again at another stab of pain
between his eyes, and looked up at the goddess.
"Oh, hi, Urd." Uh-oh.
"Here, I brought you some more to drink. Belldandy
says you responded well to the first dose." She held
out a glass.
"Uh," Eric hesitated, regarding the glass
suspiciously.
"This is the same stuff Belldandy gave me?"
"Of course it is. Look, Donovan," Urd purred, "when
I'm ready to do you in once and for all I'll take care
of it with my bare hands. Poison is for cowards."
Eric's eyes widened a bit. You know, I believe her.
"Thanks, I, ah, always appreciate the personal touch,"
he replied with what he hoped was a confident air
before taking a sip from the glass. "So, when did you
take over nurse duties from Belldandy?"
"I see you haven't lost your spirit, at least. I'm
not
here to nurse you, I'm here to interrogate you. We
have a lot of talking to do and I wouldn't want you to
run out of energy before I've pumped all the
information I want out of you. Now, why don't I pull
up a chair so we can be cozy?"
"Said the spider to the fly."
Urd just smiled.
"Might I guess the topic of interrogation?" Eric
asked.
"Let's skip the pleasantries and you tell me just what
you were trying to do when you created that fiasco."
Urd returned.
"I was trying to hack into Nidhog. You already know
that."
"Don't say it so glibly. Hacking each others systems
is strictly forbidden for gods and demons. It's one
of
our highest level crimes, and punishment is severe.
You're lucky you never got far enough for them to
notice. Now, what were you trying to do with the
hack?"
"Nidhog and Yggdrasil share data. There was a problem
with the synchronization between the two systems, so I
fixed it."
"That's what I finally figured out you'd tried to do.
You covered your tracks well, Donovan. Now, can you
tell me why it didn't work?"
"What!?"
"Your patch failed to fix the problem. The
synchronization errors are still occurring."
"How... that can't be! My hunches are always right!"
"Not this time."
"I don't understand..." Eric looked stunned.
"Neither do I. Honestly, I was hoping I was wrong.
We
need to find out what happened this time. What can
you
tell me about this intuition of yours?"
Eric began to explain. Neither of them noticed that
they were being watched.
-----
Belldandy kneeled, her head bowed.
"Almighty One, I am here as instructed."
"You have news concerning the mortal, Eric Donovan?"
"Yes, Almighty One, Eric regained consciousness
yesterday."
"What is his condition?"
"He is still weakened but recovering rapidly, Almighty
One."
"Is there anything else of significance to report?"
"No, Almighty One."
"Thank you, Belldandy. Report to me if there are any
further developments in his condition. You may return
to your duties."
"Yes, Almighty One."
-----
"Good morning, Eric," Belldandy said walking up to
where he sat in what was becoming his usual spot in
the
garden. "How do you feel today?"
"Better and better, thanks."
"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it out here so
much," Belldandy said, looking out over the garden.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm kind of surprised
myself. People come from all over the solar system to
see what I can see out my window, but I never
appreciated it like I do this. I'm not sure if it's
the change in scenery of if I've changed that much."
"Well, when you return to Earth you will get the
chance
to find out."
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"You look anxious, Eric. Are you still worried about
what happened when you tried to hack Nidhog?"
Eric flinched. Does she suspect that I'm thinking
about trying to hack Nidhog again? "I... I guess I
am.
I'm not used to being wrong on something like this,
especially something so important."
"Don't let this shake your confidence in yourself,
Eric. Life is full of little setbacks, but overcoming
them only serves to make us stronger."
"Thanks, Belldandy." Other people's lives may be full
of setbacks but not mine, not like this. "You and
Skuld don't need to stay with me all day, you know. I
promise to take it easy."
"Don't worry, Urd said she'd check in on you this
morning."
Urd!? "Oh, OK." I wonder what she wants this time?
She sure didn't seem very satisfied with what I told
her yesterday.
"Um, do you think it would be all right if I took a
walk around? I could sure use the exercise."
"Of course! It would be fine."
"Thanks."
After Belldandy left, Eric returned to his thoughts.
There's no way around it. The errors have to stop,
and
that means hacking Nidhog, regardless of the
consequences. But what if it doesn't work this time,
either? Is my intuition failing me? Could I even
tell
for sure if it was? 'Do you ever wonder where these
ideas of yours come from?' Urd's words kept mocking
him. "Gah! I can't stand this! I need to clear my
head." Eric looked around. No evidence of Urd. If I
want to get out of here for a walk, I'd better go now
before she shows up to pin me down again.
Eric rose and walked to the garden entrance. Well,
win
or lose, at least I can try to do the hack in a way
that won't let the other side pin the blame on anyone
in Heaven. I've never played the suffering martyr
before. This could be interesting, at least.
The architecture of heaven was absolutely
breathtaking.
Islands and jutting terraces populated by fanciful
buildings were scattered about and stacked in carefree
disregard to the law of gravity. Everywhere he looked
there was the green of great parks of grass and
forests
of trees. The sun shone brightly, the birds sang, and
the air smelled wonderful.
"Ah, just what I needed." Eric worked the kinks out
of
his body as he strolled across the grass. "Even that
Nidhog fiasco doesn't seem so bad any more. Looking
back on it, I should have had a program initiate the
hack, a program with high enough priority to evade the
safeguards. That would do it. It could still be
killed from the other side, though, unless I do
something to distract the attention of the demons.
Some kind of physical manifestation to keep them busy
while the hack goes in. Hehe, now that's going to be
fun to program. Something big and nasty..."
"You!" A voice cried from behind him.
Eric turned to see what looked like a very tall elf.
At least his ears were pointed and protruded from his
head in more or less standard elf fashion, if there
was
such a thing. The elf, or god, or whatever was a
little taller than Eric but lighter in build. The
symbol on his forehead which identified him as a deity
of some sort was a dot with an inverted crescent moon
over it, making almost a bulls eye effect. He was
dressed mainly in white with a red cape and carried
what looked like some sort of harp.
"You are the one who has conspired to steal Urd's
heart
away from me!" the elf/god accused.
"Excuse me?" Eric asked. This person is obviously
confused.
"You came here under false pretenses! You wish only
to
steal Urd's heart!"
"Now, hold on a minute," Eric spread his hands in a
gesture of innocence. "No offense, but you must have
me confused with someone else. Urd and I don't even
like..."
"Swine! Don't try to deny it, I saw you sitting
together in the garden!"
"Together in the garden? Oh, that! Let me
explain..."
"I will have none of your lies! When I think of her
serving you... aargh!!" The elf/god raised a fist,
his
face a study in hatred.
What's going on here? I won't stand a chance in a
fight with this guy! "Now, wait a minute! She was
_interrogating_ me! You're jumping to the wrong
conclusions, here."
"No! I have proof enough of your guilt!" the elf/god
cried, taking up his harp and striking a chord. "When
this song ends, so will you!" With that, the elf/god
began playing a strange song. A song about bugs. It
wasn't even a particularly good song about bugs.
That 'so will you' part didn't sound good, Eric
decided. How did a simple stroll turn so suddenly
into
a life-or-death situation!? Should I try to run, stop
him, or just scream for help?
A deep sense of foreboding and more than a little fear
settled over Eric. "Look, friend, I don't want any
trouble. Let's go ask Urd. She'll straighten this..."
he began, then felt something move inside of him.
"What was..."
"Aaah!" Eric doubled over as he felt more things, many
more things, moving inside of his body. "Hey, don't!
Aaah! What's happening!?" he screamed as he fell to
his knees. The pain was rapidly becoming incredible.
"No! Don't do this!" I feel like I'm being ripped
inside out! "Help..." he called weakly, then screamed
again and clutched his stomach tighter.
Stop the pain! Stop the pain! Eric's mind screamed,
but the spiky things in his gut continued squirming,
driven by that infernal melody, driven by that program
running in the depths of Yggdrasil...
...wait, a program!? That's the key! Suddenly,
through the haze of pain he could see, feel the
program
running in Yggdrasil.
I have to kill it somehow! Eric's mind screamed. Just
change this attribute here and it'd terminate. But
how
do I...
The squirming stopped. The bugs were gone. Eric
gulped air as relief swept over him. He realized that
he was lying on his side, curled into a fetal
position.
The elf/god, whoever he was, had apparently not
noticed
Eric's improved condition, as he was concentrating his
whole attention on the song. Slowly, slowly, Eric
uncurled and began to raise up on one elbow only to
feel something all too familiar moving around inside
him, again.
No, no, not again! This time, his mind reacted
instinctively, lashing out and aborting the new
routine. The churning inside him disappeared. Eric
gulped more air and managed to get up on his elbow
again. He coughed up blood. Oh, great, internal
injuries, he realized.
The elf/god seemed to at last became aware of what was
going on, as he redoubled his efforts in playing the
song, putting renewed emphasis into each note.
Eric felt something stirring more quickly than before,
and killed the program again. Damn, he must be
regenerating it! I have to hold out until someone
finds me!
He killed the program again, this time as soon as it
began to execute, even before he could feel anything.
Slowly, painfully, Eric rose to a kneeling position,
swaying a little as he straightened up. He killed the
hell-spawn program again.
The elf/god finished his song in a fury of twanging
and
wailing.
"Catchy tune, there... but the lyrics... could use a
little work," Eric gasped out. He decided that he
hated this guy.
"What kind of demon are you!?" the elf/god accused.
"One who appreciates... good music... which that
wasn't," Eric managed to get out between coughs. He
wanted very badly to choke the life out of this
person,
but he seriously doubted he could stand, much less
walk
the four or five steps required to get to the guy.
The elf/god repositioned his harp and struck a chord.
"It matters not," he said darkly, and began playing.
Here it comes again, or probably something worse.
Eric
began to steel himself.
That was when a figure dropped out of the sky to land
between them.
There was the smack of a fist hitting flesh, and the
elf/god was laid out flat on the ground.
Eric blinked in amazement as he recognized his savior.
"Troubadour, are you crazy!?" Urd screamed. "Do you
realize how much trouble you could get into by messing
with him?" her pointing finger indicated Eric.
"Urd! My love!" Troubadour, rising from his position
on
the ground, greeted the goddess.
"He's under the protection of the Almighty himself,
idiot! You could lose your license!"
"Oh, Urd, why have you shut me out of your heart?"
"What are you babbling about? Oh no, you didn't think
that..." Urd's body tensed for a split second before
she hit Troubadour again with a vicious right cross.
This time the impact carried him several feet, his
harp
flying even further.
Urd stalked over to the prone god. "Listen," she
hissed between clenched teeth. "If you ever mess with
someone I care for again, so help me I will fry you to
a cinder and then turn what's left into a rock!"
'someone I care for!?' Eric wondered.
"As for HIM," Urd pointed a finger at Eric, "how could
you even THINK such a thing? Are you COMPLETELY
delusional!?"
Ah, that clears up that little matter, Eric decided.
Urd now stalked over to Eric. "And you, what were you
doing wandering around all by yourself? You could
fall
off the edge of something or get into trouble any
number of ways. This place wasn't made for mortals,
you could get hurt!"
"Yeah... tell me... about it," Eric gasped before
coughing up more blood.
"What the..." Urd's eyes widened then she turned to
Troubadour. "Get out. Get out, now." Her voice, her
face expressed shock.
"Urd..." Troubadour pleaded.
"Do you realize you may have just destroyed everything
you ever dreamed about? You may have already lost
your
license, Troubadour. Leave now... please."
"I'm sorry," Troubadour leapt into the air and
disappeared into the distance.
"Wh... who was that?" Eric groaned while holding his
stomach. His breathing was ragged and he was shaking
uncontrollably. Great, I'm going into shock, he
realized.
"Never mind that, you need medical attention ASAP,"
Urd
said as she lifted him into her arms.
Eric winced at the shift in position.
Urd leapt into the sky. Eric noticed she didn't
bother
with wings as Belldandy had done.
Once the wave of agony from the sudden acceleration
had
subsided to merely excruciating levels, Eric looked at
the ground rapidly passing below them.
"Woooh..." He quickly looked back up as vertigo and
the
reawakened the agony in his stomach threatened to
overcome him. "You know," he gasped out as they
descended towards the home of the Norns, "this really
isn't... doing much for my... fragile male ego."
"How can you crack a joke at a time like this? Your
ego could use some paring down, boy," Urd growled.
Well, that attempt at humor certainly fell flat, Eric
groaned.
Urd landed and placed Eric in the reclining chair he
had spent so much time in lately.
"Hey, anybody home?" she called.
"Sure, what's the emer... Eric? Eric!" Skuld rushed
over to them. "What happened!?"
"No time to explain," Urd answered. "I'm going to
stabilize him, but we'd better get Belldandy here just
in case," she said with her eyes closed and hands over
Eric's stomach.
"I'm already gone!" Skuld answered, rushing over to a
small pond in the garden and disappearing.
A healing light from Urd's hands bathed Eric for a
moment. "Well, that should hold you for a bit," she
said. "I'm going inside for some medicine."
Eric nodded weakly.
In a moment she was back. "Here, drink this," she
offered.
Eric did, and the pain began subsiding. I guess she
can be gentle when she wants to, he decided, and she
probably saved my life back there. He settled himself
gingerly, trying unsuccessfully to find a comfortable
position. "Thanks for playing the cavalry, Urd, I
mean
it. You're right about not wandering around on my
own.
I really owe you one."
Urd looked at Eric for a moment, then turned away.
"It
was partly my fault you got into trouble."
"Oh?" Eric put two and two together. "So, he really
is an ex- boyfriend?"
"Yeah."
"If you don't mind my saying so, I think you were
right
to dump him."
"We were together a long time ago," and he was the one
who dumped me. Urd began playing absentmindedly with
one of her bracelets, the one she still wore, engraved
"To Urd from Troubadour".
"So, is he a god?"
"Yeah, of plum trees."
"Oh? I used to _like_ plum trees, too."
Urd stood with her head bowed for a few seconds, then
turned to Eric. "Are you OK?" she asked in an only
mildly irritated voice. She blinked a few times.
Were those tears in her eyes? Eric wondered. Nah,
must
be a reflection from the sun or something. "Yeah, I
think so," Eric replied, gently probing his abdomen.
"That guy was dangerous, that's for sure," he added,
then held his middle tighter from a mild spasm.
"Well, you're lucky I arrived when I did, before he
got
any further into that song. How did he hurt you so
much before I got there, anyway? He usually isn't
physically violent."
"Oh, yeah, you missed his first time through on that
song."
"What!? How much did you hear?"
"Like I said, he played the whole thing through.
After
he finished, he seemed really upset that I hadn't
reacted to it any stronger than I did."
"If you heard that song, you should have bugs bursting
out of you everywhere. As a mortal, you should be
dead."
"Ooh." Eric held his stomach again, the memories
still
fresh. "I don't think I needed... to know that."
"So, how did you survive?"
"I'm not exactly sure. I think I was able to cancel
the spell after it started ripping me..." Eric winced.
"Ouch, poor choice of words," he groaned, gripping his
stomach tighter.
"What do you mean, 'cancel the spell'?" Urd asked, but
Eric's reply was interrupted by the arrival of
Belldandy from a gazing ball and Skuld from the pond.
"How is Eric?" Belldandy asked.
"Well, a lot better than he should be," Urd replied.
"What!? I shouldn't have left him with you, Urd!"
Skuld shouted as she ran to Eric's side.
"You misunderstand," Urd replied. "He heard
Troubadour's little song. You know which one, right?"
"Oh, no!" Belldandy stiffened, a look of horror on her
face. "Not that song!" That particular song would
always be etched upon her memory from the time it had
been used on her Keiichi.
"I stopped the jerk, but not before he had sung it
once
through already. Donovan weathered the experience
remarkably well, though, I must say."
Skuld stared at Eric. "You should be dead!"
"Please," Eric winced. "Does everyone have to keep
saying that?"
"Well, I don't think we have to worry about Troubadour
bothering him again. I reminded him that by injuring
our Mr. Donovan, here, he had jeopardized his license.
He won't dare lift a finger against him now," Urd said
acidly.
Those old wounds still haven't healed, dear sister?
Belldandy's eyes filled with concern. You still mourn
that his love for you wasn't stronger than his desire
for advancement?
"How did you survive?" Skuld asked Eric.
"That's what I'd like to know," Urd said. "Donovan,
you said you 'cancelled' the spell?"
"Before we begin questions, Eric, hold still a
moment,"
Belldandy said.
A light similar to the one which had come from Urd
bathed Eric. "There," Belldandy said.
Eric stretched gingerly. "Thanks, that's much
better."
"You're welcome."
"Now, to get back on subject," Urd began.
"I wish I could tell you for sure," Eric said. "I can
tell you what I thought I was doing, but I haven't a
clue as to what actually happened."
"OK, then tell us what you think you did."
"I think that I somehow sensed the spell program
running within Yggdrasil and stopped it."
There was silence.
"You mean Troubadour's program?" Skuld asked.
"Yes."
"Can someone do that? Is it possible?" Belldandy
asked.
"No." Urd and Skuld replied in unison.
"Not someone else's program," Urd added.
"Ownership is locked by the system," Skuld explained.
"But, then, how did Eric do it?" Belldandy asked.
Skuld shrugged.
"You got me," Urd said.
A rock began floating in the air next to Eric.
"Donovan, see if you can cancel the levitation spell,"
Urd directed.
Eric concentrated but nothing came to him. "Sorry, I
can't feel it."
"Hmm." The rock settled back to the ground. "OK, I'm
going to place a spell on you, this time. Ready?"
"Sure," Eric replied, then found his arms moving in
circles on their own. The sensation was rather
frightening. As he tried to resist there was a
momentary glimpse of a program running on Yggdrasil,
his mind performed the necessary operation as if by
instinct, and Eric's arms dropped to his sides.
"Wow," Skuld said.
"That felt really weird," Eric said, shaking out his
arms.
"Well, it looks like you can indeed kill a program
running on Yggdrasil," Urd said. "Although how you're
doing it is beyond me at the moment. It may be that
you only respond to programs which affect you
directly,
though. We need to test this. Skuld, we'll need a
terminal and a routine to collect the data."
"I have an extra terminal in my room."
"Right, we'll do it here. Donovan is still a little
shaky, and I'd prefer we kept this under wraps for the
time being, at least."
Skuld was back in a flash. She set the terminal up on
the porch and began programming it for data capture.
Keiichi walked up while she was working. "What's
going
on?"
"Urd and Skuld are about to conduct an experiment,"
Belldandy beamed.
"Oh, that's nice... I think." Keiichi didn't see an
obvious test subject, and that made him a little
nervous.
"Sit here, Eric," Skuld directed once she had
finished.
"Now, you'll need to wear these." She brought out
several sensors and placed them at different points on
his body.
"What are all these for?"
"We need to get all the telemetry we can. Besides,
you
look more like a test subject wearing them."
"Oh?"
Keiichi turned to Belldandy. "They're going to test
Eric?"
"Yes," Belldandy replied. "Isn't it wonderful?
They're so excited."
"Well, this brings back memories." I'm not saying
what
kind. "Those two really get carried away."
"Yes, they love a challenge."
"At least this time I'm not the guinea pig."
Eric noticed Urd was now wearing a white lab coat with
something pink underneath. Not that he had time to
worry about it.
"Ready!" Urd cried.
"Switch on!" Skuld answered.
"I don't feel anything," Eric said.
"Of course you don't," Skuld answered. "These are
only
sensors to collect data. They don't input anything."
"Oh."
"Quiet, please," Urd announced.
"Magical Stimulus Test subject Eric Donovan," Urd
intoned in an official sounding voice. "Test
commencing."
"Test number one. Direct magical attack," Urd said.
"Attack?" Eric asked.
"Recorder engaged!" Skuld said.
"Lightning strike!" Urd cried.
"Waaaaah!" Eric screamed.
Nothing happened.
"Recorder stopped," Skuld said.
"Subject experienced no trauma," Urd said.
"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Eric replied, still
breathing hard. "I barely had time to stop that
thing."
"They're having so much fun," Belldandy said, beaming.
"Scary, isn't it?" Keiichi said.
"Test number two. Indirect magical attack," Urd
intoned.
"Hold up, let me catch my brea..."
"Recorder engaged!"
"Hey, wait a...!"
"Lightning strike!"
"Ouch!"
"Recorder stopped."
"Hey, what's the big idea!?"
"Subject experienced minor abrasions."
"I'm still an invalid, remember? You could have
killed
me!"
"With that puny bolt? Not a chance," Urd said,
walking
over to him. "Let nurse Urd take care of those boo-
boos, hmm?" The lab coat dissolved, leaving her in a
pink nurse's uniform.
"Hey, what's that in your hand?!" Eric asked,
beginning
to get out of his chair while keeping his eyes on the
large syringe Urd was carrying.
"Don't move!" Skuld ordered. "You'll dislodge my
sensors!"
"Oh, this?" Urd said. "This is just a stage prop.
You don't think we'd really use something as
antiquated
as a hypodermic in Heaven, do you?"
"Well, I..." Eric began, settling back into his seat,
his eyes still on the big needle.
"Here, hold this," Urd said, handing Eric a glass of
water with her other hand.
"What's this?"
"A glass of water. What does it look like?" Urd
produced something small and shiny which she dropped
into the glass.
*POOF!*
"Hey!" Eric yelled, holding the glass as far away as
possible as a small mushroom cloud erupted from it.
Somehow, he didn't drop the thing.
"There you go, now drink up," Urd said.
"What? You want me to DRINK this!?"
"Don't be such a wuss, Donovan."
"Eric is not a wuss!" Skuld said. "He's just wary of
your weird medicines, that's all."
"This one is a basic healing potion. Nothing unusual
about it at all."
"It blew up in my hand," Eric protested.
"That was just for theatrical effect. Presentation is
half of the fun, you know."
"Still, you can't blame him for not wanting to drink
something which just exploded," Skuld argued.
"Keiichi would have drained the glass by now."
"That's because Keiichi doesn't have the backbone to
stand up against you! Er, I mean _didn't_ have the
backbone... back on Earth," Skuld added with a
chagrined look Keiichi's way.
"Yeah, this is looking a lot like old times," Keiichi
said to Belldandy.
"OK, OK, I'll drink it," Eric said, taking a swallow
from the glass.
"There, you see?" Skuld said. "He's a brave guy after
all!"
"You just called Keiichi spineless for doing the same
thing," Urd said.
"This is different," Skuld said. "Eric had already
stood up to you."
"You know, you're being awfully protective of
Donovan,"
Urd smirked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Skuld looked at Eric
who was suddenly very busy draining the glass.
"Well, whatever, let's wrap up this experiment, shall
we?" Urd said.
"So, where were we? Oh, yes! Misdirected magical
attack," Urd spoke.
"Recorder engaged!" Skuld said.
"Lightning strike!" Urd cried.
*BOOM!*
Eric twitched.
"Recorder stopped!" Skuld said.
"Well, that wraps this up. Skuld, let's take a look
at
those results," Urd said.
"What about me?" Eric asked, holding up the wires to
the sensors covering his body.
"Oh, yeah, guess I forgot for a moment," Skuld hurried
over and removed the instrumentation. "Just wait here
and we'll have the results in a minute."
"How does it feel to be a guinea pig?" Keiichi asked,
walking over to Eric.
"Uh, frightening?"
"Don't worry, their methods are unconventional but
they
do know what they're doing."
"Thank you, Eric," Belldandy said.
"You're welcome!" Eric beamed back at Belldandy in
reflex. "Um, for what?"
"You've made my sisters very happy."
"Oh, well, I didn't really mind that much being a test
subject."
"I was talking more about your work on Yggdrasil."
"Oh? It's what you hired me for."
"Yes, but it's been many years since my sisters have
been able to do something they really enjoy, and
you've
made that possible."
They enjoy blowing up helpless guys? "Then you're
certainly welcome for that. I was glad to be of
service." ...I think.
"Bell, you want to come over and take a look at this?"
Urd asked.
"What did you find?" Belldandy asked.
"Yggdrasil issued a root level command to kill that
lightning spell."
"A kill command? Is there some kind of program
guarding Eric?"
"The command wasn't issued by a program," Skuld said.
"Then..." Belldandy said.
"It wasn't issued by a user account, either," Skuld
said.
"So that leaves us with the question of where that
kill
command came from," Urd said.
"This will require further testing," Skuld said,
stroking her chin.
Eric groaned.
-----
"So, everything came up negative," Urd said, leaning
back from the table.
"Zilch," Skuld said.
"What does that mean?" Belldandy asked.
"It means that no detectable force is issuing those
kill commands," Skuld said.
"So, either the force is undetectable by the system or
else the kills are issued spontaneously," Urd added.
"Either of which should be impossible," Skuld
finished.
"That's not the only strange thing, though," Urd said.
"Whatever it is only affects spells which either
target
Donovan directly or which include him in their area of
effect. It's that last part that really has me
spooked."
"What do you mean?" Belldandy asked.
"Look at it this way. Let's assume something happened
to connect Donovan with Yggdrasil when he was knocked
unconscious for all that time, something which now
gives him root level access to any program about to
influence him."
"Oh, that would be... unique," Belldandy said.
"Yeah, that's scary enough. What's scarier is his
ability to affect spells which will only include him
in
their area of influence. To do that this ability of
his has to scan every spell program running in the
entire system to determine if he will be affected by
it. That's a whole lot more involved than simply
waiting for a spell program to target him directly and
then giving him kill authority over it."
"I see, now."
"We're talking a major amount of processing power,
here," Skuld said. "That much processing power would
have to be detectable if it was running on the
system."
"So, do you think it's running on Nidhog, then?"
Belldandy asked.
Urd and Skuld looked at each other.
"Nidhog would have to be accessing Yggdrasil's
privileged space for that to happen," Skuld said.
"The safeguards would have kicked in," Urd added.
"That much traffic would be hard to keep undetected.
Still, we'd better recheck the logs to make sure."
Skuld began pulling up the logs.
Urd peered over her shoulder, scanning entries.
"Mmm," she said.
"Hmm," Skuld said.
"Well?" Belldandy asked.
"Nope, no activity crossing between Nidhog and
Yggdrasil," Urd said.
"We're back to unknown forces," Skuld said.
-----
End of Part 1, Chapter 3
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
What's the significance of the 9 days Eric was
unconscious? Odin pierced himself with his own spear
and hung on Yggdrasil for 9 days to gain understanding
of the world and become the Allfather. I used a
similar mechanism here for Eric, only substituting the
mental link for the spear.
I really enjoyed writing the "experiment" section of
this chapter. This fic has been way too serious so
far,
and it was a great opportunity to lighten things up a
bit. Given the way Urd and Skuld acted around the
Ultimate Destruction Program during Terrible Master
Urd, it would have been out of character for them not
to take a break from the angst when the opportunity
presented itself.
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