Aelita paced around the computer lab, "So we won't be able to hold meetings in your room anymore. Not that your room is the safest place if we are going to be hiding this little thing from Ulrich and Odd."
"So maybe this will work out better, we just can't let on that we are coming down here when we disappear in the afternoons." Jeremy paced back and forth, "The only thing I worry about is keeping in touch with Sarah, I should be able to keep the super computer functional enough to make calls through it until the day we extract the memory."
"Well the day you extract it we should probably head back to your sister before anything can happen to the memory." Aelita shrugged, "So it isn't like we will be out of contact reach for very long. We will just have to make it clear to her that video chats can only happen between sixteen hundred and eighteen hundred hours."
"Only problem is that there is a nine hour time difference. That would make it six in the morning till eight in the morning for Sarah. The base is in California." Jeremy counted on his fingers, "unless we sneak out of the dorms a couple nights a week and have a late night chat like I have been doing."
"If you still want to do that you can. I don't have to be in on the meetings." Aelita said as she had another idea.
"Sarah does want to check in with you though, even though you made her agree that the whole picture wouldn't be explained till we are back there, she wants to keep tabs on where we are in the project." Jeremy shrugged.
"So then we can have short meetings when we are down here while she has her morning cup of coffee or you can give her my instant messaging address and she and I can talk in my room." Aelita shrugged, "We are going to make this work."
"I think the meetings in the morning with you are going to have to do. I am not giving her your address because then you will never hear the end of it. Besides you know how my computer is so restricted, that is the only way the two of us can chat." Jeremy frowned.
"Enough discussion, let's get to work." Aelita said as she headed to the elevator, "We found the file location, we still haven't found out the extent of the modifications."
"Alright I will virtualize you. Say your goodbyes to Lyoko though, because I don't know if it will be safe to virtualize you once we start modifying the memory back to its original purpose." Jeremy nodded.
"Don't worry about me, Jeremy." Aelita laughed as she entered the elevator.
"Alright, I won't, but I will talk to you on the other side." Jeremy nodded as he brought up the virtualization files.
Once Aelita was virtualized she stood in the ice sector and turned in a circle, "Jeremy, something seems different out here."
"What do you mean? Can you give me a visual?" Jeremy asked.
"It's not anything that would show up on your screen. It is just a strange almost friendly aura that is surrounding me. The last few times that we have been here there has been no feeling at all and you know how it used to feel very hostile." Aelita mentioned as she started her run towards the control tower.
Aelita ran up to the tower but stopped just before running into the tower. She called out once again, "Jeremy, something is trying to block me from entering the tower. I can get my arms up to the wall however there is some sort of resistance."
"I am not reading anything strange on the screen however the Two Thousand's core seems to be active. I can pull you from Lyoko if you would like." Jeremy checked his screen and the readings.
"Not yet Jeremy, it doesn't seem to want to hurt me it just seems to be tapping into the energy of the tower but not in a bad way." Aelita called out as she pushed through the tower wall.
After about an hour of working Jeremy called out to her and reminded her that they had to be heading back. The story they were feeding Odd and Ulrich wouldn't stand up if they weren't back to the campus by dark. They would also have to figure something out once the weather became cooler but for now Ulrich and Odd believed that they were studying in a remote part of the park.
As Aelita left the tower to dematerialize herself she felt the pressure cling to her even more and it almost seemed to speak to her. For a moment she paused and tried to listen. And over the pressure she could hear Jeremy talking to her. It was very faint though but Aelita moved her way out of the pressure bubble and ignored it.
Aelita returned to Lyoko. Jeremy had decided that they had a few more days of her working inside the computer before they would have to disconnect from Lyoko. Their days were numbered at Kadic though and Jeremy felt that before the month was out they would be able to leave.
After classes got out on Saturday, Jeremy was going to take her and attempt to get a passport for her. He had been in contact with Billy who had managed to pull some strings and secure her identity so that it would stand up to a background check. To practice her conversation English they had started doing all their work in English and it still surprised her that Jeremy had known fluent English all along.
The last few days Aelita had noticed the pressure growing so much so that it was almost impossible to get into the tower now, although today was the worst. She realized that she would not be able to access the tower at all. Jeremy had wanted today to be the last day of Lyoko, the day in which they moved all the files, the day in which they could start reprogramming the core back to its original programmer's purpose.
Aelita sat in the middle of the pressure and stared at the tower. A voice came clearly through to her. "I have noticed that you seem to be trying to help me."
In a shaky voice she asked, "Are you the voice of the Two Thousand?"
"Yes, although you may call me KITT. Something about you seems familiar although you seem different at the same time. Where am I?"
"KITT, I am Aelita and I seem different because we are in the virtual world of Lyoko. It was one of my Father's last creations."
"Aelita you wouldn't happen to be the child of Dr. Waldo Schaeffer, would you?" the voice asked.
"Yes, that would be me, do we know each other?" Aelita asked as she kneeled on her knees.
"You do not remember me?" KITT asked.
"There are a lot of things I don't remember. I was frozen in time here in Lyoko for about twelve years. I have only been awake for about two years myself. My memory is just fragments of what it used to be."
"Why am I here in this Lyoko?" KITT asked her.
"I think my Father wanted to hide you where you couldn't be found. Even though we ran, Jeremy is taking a guess that we were still being chased by the men in the Black coats."
"Who is this Jeremy?" KITT asked her again.
"Jeremy Graiman," she asked in a confused tone, "You wouldn't remember him of course, he was born after everything happened. He is the youngest son of Professor Graiman."
"Where is your Father?" KITT asked.
"My Father gave up his life about a year ago. The reason why Jeremy and I are doing this is because Professor Graiman also died about eight months ago." Aelita said as she adjusted herself out of habit.
"Who authorized such a quest?" KITT asked.
"Sarah Graiman has been left in charge of everything. She is seeing that it gets done." Aelita frowned. "Will you trust me?"
"I will trust you on this. Someone is calling for you, is that Jeremy?" KITT inquired.
"Yes I do believe it is him. I won't be able to respond though so I might as well just re-join him out there. It seems that our work to collect all of your data files has worked." Aelita smiled before standing up and leaving the bubble.
Aelita raised her hand and created an energy orb before she jumped back into it and scattered her virtual body.
Upon regaining consciousness on the other side she walked back up to the computer lab. "I think we have done all the work possible in Lyoko."
"How can you be certain?" Jeremy turned to her.
"There is something else located in Lyoko I should know: I know that place inside out but for some reason I can't find the words to describe it." Aelita responded as she pressed a few buttons. "My next trip to Lyoko will be to send the information to the core memory. You said there was going to be some work on the physical part of the computer?"
"Yes and I am hoping that I will be able to keep the computer online so that I can access both parts at the same time." Jeremy said as he reached for some tools.
"You said by the end of this month you wanted to return home. We are almost halfway through October." Aelita frowned, "I didn't think it was going to take so long to find all the information."
"Relax Aelita; it will be all over soon." Jeremy smiled as he unscrewed a section of the upper computer base and started pulling wires to the side being careful not to dislodge anything.
"Are you seeing anything?" Aelita asked as she crossed her arms.
"Not yet, it is probably going to take a few days to actually locate where in the computer it is." Jeremy said as he set the panel back in place.
"In my Dad's journal, did he write any directions on where he placed it?" Aelita asked.
"You know just how vague your father was in all of that. Do you think he was going to openly write the location of a top secret item that is very far advanced for its age?" Jeremy asked, "If you want to attempt to decode the journal for that kind of information you can."
"So are we still on for Saturday?" Aelita asked randomly.
"Saturday…" Jeremy paused, "Yes, though there have been some slight changes in the approach. But yes we are still on. You and I are going to take the day off from working here."
Aelita smiled slightly, "after we get everything downloaded how much work do you think we are going to need to do to finish it off?"
"You have completing this on your mind. Don't you?"
"Of course I do, once it is completed back at FLAG I can be reunited with my mother." Aelita said softly.
"Well there is going to be a lot of work to sync the core back to the body. But before that I am going to have to run tests on it to make sure that we didn't accidentally download some of the XANA files and such. When this core was programmed it was done so with very specific set of codes and safety protocols. I need to make sure that none of them were damaged or removed."
"What kind of protocols?" Aelita inquired.
"Well Sarah seems to think this one has a similar protocol to the newer model that has been commissioned in the fact that it will do everything in its power to preserve human life." Jeremy nodded.
"So it isn't like XANA and won't try to kill me?" Aelita asked curiously.
"No, it can't do anything of the sort." Jeremy explained.
Aelita paced the length of the computer lab. "Jeremy, you said that by the end of the month you would be done!"
"Aelita, I know we are coming down to crunch time here." Jeremy mumbled from inside the computer.
"Crunch time should have happened last week, not on the thirtieth of October." Aelita scowled.
"So I miscalculated a few days." Jeremy pulled himself out of the hole in the panelling and went to the computer screen.
"Yes well, I have a legitimate excuse to wanting to leave Kadic with you." Aelita frowned as she looked at the screen.
"Well you will be happy to know that I have isolated the entire core and now all I have to do is download the files to the core." Jeremy smiled.
"Can I issue the download?" Aelita asked as she slid into the chair.
"I guess you can." Jeremy threw his hands up, "I just hope this works."
"I am prepared to go back inside Lyoko if this doesn't work and download the files manually." Aelita nodded as she pressed the enter key and entered her password into the computer.
An error message popped onto the screen and Jeremy cursed.
"Something is wrong with the code." Aelita frowned
"I want to run a few diagnostics before you jump inside Lyoko to do the download." Jeremy jumped into the seat while he downloaded some of the error information to his own laptop.