Chapter Fifty-Five:

Success

"Chaud?"

"Hm?"

"You're all official and stuff, you can tie a tie, right?"

"Yeah. Need some help?"

Sean unknotted his checkered blue tie for the tenth time that evening. "Please. I'm useless with these things."

Prom was midway through. Things had begun to get a little hectic, prompting Sean to suggest a breather in the lobby of the hotel prom was being held at. There were a few others milling around, getting drinks and recuperating from dancing.

"Sean, where did you even get that thing?" Nami asked, looking over the tie.

"I think it was Dad's," Sean said, letting Chaud take over. "Or Mamoru's. I can't remember. It's old, though."

"That wasn't Mo's," Nami said, appraising it thoughtfully. "I think that one must have been Dad's."

"Hold still, Sean," Chaud mumbled, trying to get it right. It was harder tying it on someone else, having gotten so used to tying it on himself.

"Sorry. I don't know how I can tie it and have it come undone so much."

"It's quite an accomplishment." Chaud evened out the knot. "There. Better?"

Sean examined his newly tied tie. "Better than anything I could do. Thanks, man."

They sat down on a bench outside. "Sooo. What do you think, Sean?" Nami asked. "Was this worth it?"

"GOD, yes. I missed you crazy kids," Sean laughed. "And the dance isn't bad, either."

"You two thirsty? I'll go grab some drinks," Chaud offered.

"Hey, why not. Thanks."

"Thank you, Chaud." Nami and Sean fell into conversation as Chaud sought out the drinks table. Easily spotted, really, since there was quite a few people hanging around it. Avoiding a pair he recognized as Dex and Lan, Chaud snagged a pair of water bottles and made his way back. To his surprise, Sean was there, alone.

"Where did…?" Chaud frowned. "Did Nami go somewhere?"

"Yeah, girl named Maylu ran over and dragged her back on the dance floor," Sean explained dully.

"Oh… kay."

"I wanted to talk to you, though," Sean said, accepting the offered bottle of water. "Thanks."

"Yeah. What's on your mind?"

"You remember when Raize got arrested, don't you?" Sean asked. "That whole DarkChip thing?"

"Course. What about it? He hasn't… he's not in trouble again, is he?" Chaud asked hesitantly.

"No. Not that we know of, at least," Sean said. "It's about my research, really."

"Research?"

"Nami told you I'm in chip development, right?" Sean asked, rooting through his backpack. "I've been doing a sort of thesis on DarkChips and I wanted to have you take a look at it."

"All right, sure. What for?"

"I think I've found a link between the kind of DarkChip Raize had, and that medical drama that happened with Nami and that Alliance member," Sean said. "It took me a bit to figure it out, but I wanted to see what you think."

"Sean, I'm not a scientist or a doctor, I can't really give you an educated opinion," Chaud said.

"I know. But I don't want to take it to Mamoru, he'd flip out if he thought I was researching the Alliance instead of doing my homework."

"...Are you?"

"Of course not! Will you just hear me out?" Sean asked, holding out a small folder. "If my theory is sound, it might go to SciLab."

"Wow. All right, let's hear it."

Sean pulled out a small DarkChip model. "From what I know of DarkChips, they infect the user program and… well, screw with the coding, to avoid getting overly technical," he explained. "And from what I know of the one that landed Nami in the hospital, it was made with the same material, and had similar code in it. You follow?"

"Yeah."

"So all chips are made of metal, yeah? And metal can be magnetized, even in small amounts," Sean continued. "That's how they work, they interact with the user program and you get the results. But DarkChips have never worked on humans before, and that's why SciLab is so tripped about what happened to Nami."

"Right. I remember, the Alliance pretty much turned everything on its ear with that little stunt."

"But what I think I've managed to work out is something similar to crossfusion. The human body has its own natural magnetic field, even if it's very weak. My theory is that the murder-DarkChip Nami got hit with had been coded to react with that sort of magnetic field, rather than a computer program."

Chaud frowned. "That… I guess that makes sense in theory, but what I don't quite understand is how the chip would do anything."

"Right. And that's kind of where I've hit my proverbial stumbling block," Sean sighed, slumping back in his chair, holding up the DarkChip model. "While I guess it's possible that a chip could be made to interact with a natural magnetic field instead of a manufactured and regulated one, I think it would not only take an enormous amount of research and experimentation to get it to work with one specific person, but also need a very different kind of code than what we're used to."

"Because humans aren't like computers."

"Yes and no." Sean sat back up, brow furrowed. "Yes, humans aren't like computers in that we don't all work the same way. Hence individuality and thought and philosophy. No, in that the brain is essentially the basest form of a computer. All it gets is data, and our, our consciousness, I guess you'd call it, our consciousness gets the results."

"Interesting."

"I'm heading to SciLab tomorrow afternoon, to see if I can get a look at the DarkChips they have there versus the one Raize had versus the Alliance chip," Sean said. "It should be interesting to compare the three, if I've got all my facts straight."

"You sure they'll let you?"

"Can't know for sure until I ask, right?"

"So… do you think it's possible that the Alliance has some kind of super-technology that we don't understand?" Chaud asked.

"With them, it's hard to tell sometimes. But yeah, I guess it's possible. And that's kind of why I'm worried we haven't seen them in a while. God himself might have to take a guess on what they're up to."

Chaud flipped through the papers in the folder, all outlining Sean's theory in advanced, exhaustive detail. "I think the official story is that they're back where they came from. Wherever that is."

"So… your boss isn't worried?" Sean asked. "Not to sound paranoid, but… they did try to kill my family."

"We haven't had anything to be worried about yet," Chaud said simply. "There's nothing to work with. That doesn't mean the threat is completely gone, but it's not present, either."

"Yeah… I guess you're right."

"Blessed be, Sean, you're turning out to be just like Mamoru and Ailee!" Nami had come back, slightly flushed from whatever dancing Maylu had subjected her to.

"But I just—"

"Sean, this is prom. Homework and prom do not belong in the same room, much less the same sentence. Put that away!"

Sean sighed. "Fiiine. Just asking Chaud's opinion on—"

"Later! Come on, Sean, you may get a second chance at this night, but Chaud and I likely won't!"

And with that, Nami grabbed them both and led them back inside to the dance.


3:26 AM

Johnny was puzzled, he could tell. Patch hovered by the doorway, not wanting to upset him, but with important cargo it was hard to keep still.

"Johnny? It's Patch."

"What?" Johnny snapped, brusque as ever. He didn't even turn to look at Patch, instead remaining fixated on the article he was reading.

"I got 'em."

Patch tossed the folder down on the table, its neatly organized contents fanning out. "Wasn't hard. This is just the paper copy, though. Kid didn't have the data file on him."

"Smart move. He really is paranoid." Johnny tore his gaze from the newspaper. "Anything useful?"

"SciLab would have a field day. It's not that the kid is particularly smart or anything, it's just that he knows what the important questions are," Patch explained. "And once SciLab gets close to the right track, they'll keep on it."

"Right." Johnny leafed through the research, mildly interested. "Good job."

"You all right? You seem bothered," Patch said. "Which is weird."

"I know. You can read Choina's language, right?" Johnny asked rhetorically, pointing out the article he'd been perusing. It detailed the sudden, puzzling death of a man in Choina's capital square. He had somehow inexplicably dropped stone dead in the middle of the square after complaining of a loud ringing in his ear.

"People die every day, Johnny. What's so special about this guy?" Patch asked, apprehensive.

"Deton got deactivated."

Patch looked up at Johnny, shocked. "…What?"

"Same time. This guy died during the lunch rush in Choina, and Deton went offline at the same damn time."

"So… what do you think is going on?" Patch asked. "You think the guy just had a heart attack or something?"

"If it was a heart attack or a stroke or anything, he would have lived," Johnny said. "Double IDs can live through pretty much anything, so long as they don't lose motor function and their nervous system."

"Then how did he die?"

"I dunno." Johnny grabbed the article and the folder of DarkChip research and pinned them both up on the wall for further examination.

"Chalk this one up to coincidence. Deton was created twenty years ago, it was probably about time anyway," Patch suggested. "Maybe it was a core malfunction."

"If it was a core malfunction, Darque woulda gone first," Johnny said. "There is no such thing as coincidence."

"Setup?"

"Maybe."

"Murder?"

"I doubt it. This guy, he was nobody. Just like the rest of our double IDs, I bet. No one had any reason to murder him, and if it was murder, there would have been evidence."

Patch sighed. "Are you sure Deton's offline?"

"Yeah. Rage 'n I confirmed it earlier."

"Well…"

There was a loss for words. Getting into jail was one thing, but going offline was entirely different. Once you went offline, there was no coming back. At least in prison, you can break back out.

"This is just one loss," Johnny decided tenaciously. "The first loss, and not our fault. We can let it go."

"Deton—"

"—doesn't matter anymore," Johnny finished decisively. "Good work getting the research."

"…Yeah."

Patch left, bothered. An Alliance member offline, after twenty years.

Maybe their victims weren't the only ones who needed paranoia.