Code Matriks
Episode 9: Incomprehensible
By B1ockh3d
Author's note: Hey! I know I'm a week late, and I'm afraid the next few chapters are going to be like that. School started back up for me, and balancing everything out has been tough. Also, I have some pretty big plans for the next three or four chapters, and I want to put my best effort into them, and good work takes some extra time. Just you wait!
Cooke and Markus sat in their room, completely quiet, refusing to address the choking-ly large elephant in the room.
"How's that EFX 1000 going?" Markus improvised.
"Good."
More silence.
"So... How long are we not going to talk about you-know-what?"
"As long as possible." Cooke laid back, "Or until we come up with an idea to make this... Make sense."
"How is someone who is our age a Ph.D and enrolling through a BA course?" Markus bluntly asked, "Much less, how is she credited to a top secret government project?"
"How is this project lost?" Cooke broke, "How did not one, not two, but three government agencies lose such an enormous project?"
"I think we should confront Shelda." Markus stood up, "She's obviously connected to all this, we need to get her in a corner and demand answers."
"Better yet... Why are they looking for it? If it's lost, how do they know it exists? If it is what they're looking for... Oh god, what else is lost out there the would leave a radiation trace?!"
"No, that's a stupid idea! She must be hiding for some reason, if we called her out that might ruin the illusion of... Of... Of what? That we don't know? Or whatever she's hiding from? Where was I going with this thought..."
"Who would've erased this project? This can't be some sort of clerical error, someone must have erased it from three databases with full intent to. But it doesn't beat good ol' fashion paper, much harder to erase when it's kept in a secure facility. That's probably how they still know about it..."
"But... Pink hair like Aelita? Connection to a government project? How long did she expect to stay hidden? Unless... Maybe that's her plan? She doesn't plan to stay hidden? Maybe she's trying to get our attention? She knows we'll figure it it out sooner rather than later... Who is she really?"
"Where are those documents now? What are on the other seven? What even is this project?"
Markus looked down at Cooke, who stared blankly back, "I think we have this completely under control."
"Totally."
Markus sat back down, and they resumed their silence session.
Cooke stroked his chin, "We need to connect this all somehow."
"Oh, what?" Markus scoffed, "The government papers listing her name isn't enough?!"
"We can't prove its the same Shelda Fercaow." Cooke shrugged.
"With a name like Shelda Fercaow, do you really think it's a common name?" Markus rubbed his temples, "She, like me, can't find her name on a cup in a gift shop. Guaranteed."
"Okay- we need something PHYSICAL to link her into this." Cooke clarified.
"What should we do? Go raid her room?"
"No, no. We can't even get into the female dorms at this time a night."
Markus checked the time, 8:31 P.M., "I think campus curfew is like eleven, actually."
Cooke rolled his eyes, "Maybe if we go to sleep, the answer will come to us."
"It's still quite early, man."
"Well, you do whatever you want, but today has left me EXHAUSTED." Cooke flopped into bed.
Cooke cracked open an eye at the dead of night, seeing Markus already went to be.
Man, ever since we blacked out our window it's impossible to tell when it's morning...
He lead his eye over to the only lit thing in the room, the alarm clock. Which read 3:13 A.M.
Ooo... Wonderful. First class is at ten tomorrow... I'm gonna get like thirteen hours of sleep...
He turned over, and tried to go to sleep.
3:13 A.M... Huh. 313. Page 313, paragraph 8...
Cooke turned back over, the clock now read 3:14 A.M.
Room 313 is our room too... Funny.
Cooke opened both of his eyes, still drowsy beyond mobility.
But... Wait... 313... 8... 31313131318... Shelda... Paper... Oh my god we are total morons!
Cooke shot up, fueled with adrenaline, and shook Markus, "Markus! Markus!"
He groaned, "Whhhat is it..."
"I found our connection!"
"I... Cool? What are you taaaalking about?"
"It's been in our face the whole time! The readers have probably been screaming at us!"
"Dude... You must still be tired..."
Cooke walked over to Markus' desk and unzipped his backpack, pilfering through it.
Markus reached over to a small wood plank acting as a desk attached to his bed and grabbed his glasses, "Okay... What's going on?"
"I need to see that paper right now, because I have a massive hunch."
Markus leaned down and turned on a lamp, "It's easier with light."
"Ahah... Thanks."
Markus groggily slumped out of the top bunk, right as Cooke pulled out the piece of mystery paper from his backpack.
"Behold! The thing that ties everything together!" Cooke presented, "This will tie in Shelda to the super computer, thus proving she's involved in this government project!"
"And what do we do with it?"
"It's some sort of computer code or encryption, right?" Cooke hinted, "We'll plug it into the computer and figure it out from there."
"...When we finish classes, alright?"
Cooke nodded in agreement.
"Actually... I got a... "Thing" running right now and that'll take time... Tomorrow then." Markus pulled himself back up into his bed, right as his laptop started beeping, "Ugh... What now...?"
Cooke opened his laptop, "...Oh, he stays quiet for a couple weeks, then comes back in the middle of the night!"
"Who?"
"Our man of the orange towers, JAER." Cooke leaned up next to Markus' bunk, "Let's go do cleanup before he gets more data."
Markus, quite obviously aggravated, got out of his bed, and went straight to the mini fridge, "Want a cold one?"
Cooke shook his head, and looked back at the clock, "Actually... Alright, yeah, hit me."
Markus slammed two energy drinks down, and popped them both open, "Don't chug it all at once."
"I've been having these strange ideas lately and by lately I mean like five minutes ago but I digress I'm thinking maybe I should've been an English Major but it's really only good if you want to be a teacher but I'm good at writing and stuff maybe I'll become a famous author- OOOOO! I CAN WRITE ALL ABOUT THIS ADVENTURE WE'RE HAVING!"
"Good lord, man..." Markus dragged Cooke along the path to the lab, "I always thought the mile-a-minute clichés were just a Hollywood thing, but apparently not."
"DUDE WHAT SHOULD I CALL MY BOOK?!"
"By any and all means, NOT "Code Matriks." People might mistake it for some weird fan fiction of the Wachowski brothers film- and DON'T WRITE A BOOK ABOUT AN ABANDONED GOVERNMENT PROJECT."
"Fun fact! They're now the Wachowski siblings because one of them went through sex reassignment surgery."
"Yes, Lana Wachowski." Markus sighed, "I told you not to chug the whole thing!"
"Time is money man we can't waste time sipping energy drinks like fifty year olds sipping wine in Napa Valley we'd be wasting money not that we're being paid to save the world to begin with but still evil doesn't wait to be slain!"
"God do I hope your metabolism resets after you get virtualized!"
They made it to the lab in record time, and quickly started up the procedure.
"Transferring... Scanner..." Markus punched the enter key, "Aaaand Virtualization!"
Cooke fell to the surface of the ice sector, "Alright... Alright... Caffeine effects don't carry over. I'm good."
"No surprise," Markus yawned, "You shouldn't feel exhaustion while in Matriks either."
Cooked scanned the area, "Ooookay, where to?"
"Head towards the plateau in front of you, and head northeast from your position."
"You see, those directions I understand."
"And I'll be sure to make it more clear in the future, but for right now, keep moving!"
Cooke ran across the plain of ice, and approached the area near the tower.
"Now, before I begin my assault, are there any monsters on screen?" Cooke flexed.
"Mmm... Yes. Two mecha wolves and four mecha birds."
"Okay, so it actually is an activated tower and not a ploy to draw me here."
Cooke side-stepped against an icy wall until he could see the top of the tower, glowing orange. The four mecha birds were firing at the tower, while the two mecha wolves stood guard.
"Isn't it strange how they attack towers they're activating?" Cooke shrugged.
"I don't know their thought process, but I do know we need to deactivate it." Markus gestured, "JAER has sixty-eight percent of the computer encryption downloaded total so far."
"And after this?"
"About seventy percent."
"Wonderful." Cooke exhaled slowly, "What do?"
"Do what do you." Markus laughed, "The birds are pretty preoccupied firing on the tower, and while I would recommend stopping them, that's why the wolves are there. To stop you from doing that."
"Sooo... Where does this leave us?"
"Kill as many birds as you can from above before the wolves getcha."
Cooke shrugged, and drew his sword, "I was kind of hoping for a more illustrious plan."
"Man, I don't know. I've never been in your shoes, I don't know what it's like out there. If you have a better plan, do it and not die at the very least."
"I'll do what I can." Cooke snuck over to a rock overlooking the back of the tower, and readied his sword, "Alright, let's drop in!"
Cooke jumped down, striking one bird and whipping the sword around and hitting another. He landed in front of one of the wolves, who lunged towards him and knocked him against the wall.
The wolf readied to fire a laser from its mouth, giving Cooke ample time to retract his sword and deflect the attack.
"Take it easy! You're already down to sixty life points!" Markus warned.
Cooke sprang up and cut the wolf down with a tactful lunge, "What's the download percentage at?!"
"Sixty-nine percent!"
Cooke ran around the tower with the other wolf chasing behind him, "Okay! And ideas to stop those birds and get this mecha wolf off my tail?!"
"Yes!"
Cooke circled the tower one more time, and the Overboard spawned in front of him, "Thanks!"
"No problem!"
He hopped on and climbed upwards, ditching the wolf and climbing upwards towards the birds.
He swung his sword outwards, grazing one of the birds. He veered left, following through with the swing and hitting the other.
Suddenly, the other bird and wolf waiting below left.
"Uhh... Why are they leaving?" He asked, "Enemies usually only leave when worse things are coming..."
"I... Don't see anything on screen." Markus shrugged, "Go deactivate the tower before worse things come and so I can fall upon my pillow before classes in like four hours."
"I hear ya." Cooke smirked.
He jumped off the Overboard and entered the tower without issue, along with deactivating it.
No issues whatsoever.
"I don't understand what JAER is doing." Cooke complained, "Attacking his own towers, and giving up as well?"
"Well, whatever he's up to, I don't think he's nearly as dangerous as XANA."
"He still has a way to go... Why do we assume our computer viruses are males?"
Markus shrugged, "Feels right."
Cooke slumped forward, "...My bed feels right, right about now."
The duo got back to their dorm, and went straight back to sleep.
Markus slid into his chair ten minutes before the class began, and something didn't feel right.
Perhaps it was an anticipated pop quiz? Maybe he was just now seeing all the early morning zombies called classmates? The lingering threat of a XANA attack always added a little more stress to their daily lives, perhaps they wer still adjusting. It was probably just because of the late night mission they had with JAER, who acted strangely and un-computerlike.
Or maybe it was the man in the black suit standing next to the entrance with a clear curly tube leading to his ear. That would scare some people, especially if they had their hands on classified government projects. Especially if it was a lost one, too.
Markus kept his cool, keeping his cool by taking a nap on his desk like all the other zombie-eyed students.
The teacher arrived five minutes late, and the man in the black suit didn't budge.
"Good morning class, sorry I was late. I was held up in a meeting." The teacher brushed off, "We have some visitors from the FBI here today, and don't be alarmed, they aren't looking for oregano."
The whole classes chuckled, except Markus. Now he knew he was here for a reason, and it wasn't for educating the Political Science students.
He quickly moved his flash drive containing the LyokOS software from his backpack and stuffed it into a zippered pants pocket. Better safe than sorry.
The class began as usual, and Markus kept getting the eerie feeling of being watched by the agent, but he kept his composure. Perhaps he's recruiting.
"Alright everybody, partner up with the person behind or in front of you." The professor requested, "We're going to do a warm-up exercise on basic conversation, talking in only past tense."
Markus looked forward, but saw the girl in front of him was already partnered up, meaning he could only pick the person behind him.
Shelda.
Man, it doesn't get more basic than talking to her.
He shallowly turned around, to an empty seat.
"Huh?" Shelda was gone?
A black teen pulled up next to him, "Heh, I don't have a partner either."
"Oh, well, I need one. I'm Markus."
"Damian."
Markus left the class, somewhat mystified by the unusual circumstances behind the reason the agent was there. But all will be solved soon, as he was stopped the the agent on the way out.
"Sir, can I ask you a few questions regarding one of your classmates?"
"Uhh... Sure?"
The agent took Markus out into the hallway, "I have a few questions regarding a miss Shelda Fercaow. Would you know anything about her?"
"Well... She sits behind me." Markus pondered, "She has nice pink hair, orange eyes... Really quiet. Keeps to herself. I think she's single too."
The agent wasn't impressed, "Thank you, but that isn't very helpful to our investigation."
"Investigation?" Markus fake laughed, "What could a quiet girl with pink hair possibly do to get investigated?"
"That's classified." The agent firmed, "Has she mentioned anything regarding government activities, including threats?"
Markus shook his head, "No."
"Has she been acting suspicious over the past fourteen days?"
"Nothing different about her since I first met her."
The agent looked down at his notebook, "How old would you say she is?"
"Oh, my age. About nineteen."
The agent looked back at his notebook, puzzled, "Interesting... Are you certain?"
"One hundred percent."
The agent stroked his chin for a solid thirty seconds, "...Okay, thank you for your time."
"Glad I could be of assistance." Markus quickly shuffled out of there.
"Wait, so, the government is looking for Shelda?" Cooke puzzled, "Why would they be looking for her? If it is a "lost project," how come the government seems to be pulling up behind us?"
"I don't know, man." Markus shrugged, "It's possible it's still lost, and all they know are the people involved. So they're tracking down the people to find it."
"So... Why her? There are three other names on that list, I'm sure they're easier to find too."
"Well, actually," Markus pulled out a tablet, "I was doing some research on those people. Two of them retired in remote places in Europe, and the other one is still working in a major lab institute."
"See? Easy to find."
"Two of them are in remote places. It's pretty clear they wanted to disappear."
"Well, now that's just ridiculous. Why would a wonky project scare them into obscurity?"
"Well, maybe we can ask the other guy." Markus chuckled, "He's in France, a few miles from Kadic."
"What are the odds of that?" Cooke laughed, "Talk about a major plot convenience!"
"Uh, sure. Whatever. Kraig Bangalter is the guy, and he's working at the Institut de France as a teacher teaching Quantum Mathematics." Markus pulled up his file on screen, "About seven miles from Kadic."
"Huh. So, what's our play?"
"Right now, nothing. We can't do anything- er, we SHOULDN'T do anything right now."
"Why not?" Cooke huffed, "The more we wait, the more data JAER takes! Who knows what he'll do once he finishes downloading it all!"
"We need to find him, first of all!" Markus reminded, "Just because we know where he works doesn't mean we know if he's there!"
"We can just wait around his office."
"And how to you propose we get to France?"
Cooke laughed, "With all the stuff we can do? Man! Why would we bother going to France? We'll hack into his computer and introduce ourselves! That's how!"
Markus pulled himself up to the super computer, and began Cooke's suggestion, "...It won't be that easy. It's an institution that takes their security seriously."
Cooke looked up at the screen, "Hmm... You can still get in though, right?"
Markus pushed up his glasses, "As long as I can locate and infiltrate their hidden servers, yeah."
Cooke snapped his fingers, "I have a better idea. Who is someone we know in France that is very keen in quantum physics and computer programming?"
"...Yeah, that'd be a lot easier." Markus closed his tablet, "I'll call Aelita later. Now, what petty thing should we focus on?"
"Well, where's Shelda?"
Cooke tore down the taped-up black curtain, and Markus hopped up on his desk with a pair of binoculars.
"Careful now, don't let any of the girls see you." Cooke advised.
"Yeah, yeah. I won't make the same mistake you made while watching the girl in 208." Markus heckled, pressing the eye pieces to his face.
"Her curtains were wide open! Anyone in the commons could've seen her practicing yoga!"
"Yeah, but none of them were holding binoculars pressed against glass like a creeper."
"Oi..."
Markus guided his eyes over to Shelda's window, "...Nothing but an empty room."
"Maybe she was taken into custody already?"
"Doubtful."
Cooke looked below at the commons, but didn't see any pink hair, "Shelda just gets weirder and weirder."
Markus jumped back on the ground and put away his binoculars, "Maybe that's the point. We're so busy concerned about her, we aren't focusing on other things."
"I dunno, I think she's more important than we might be estimating. We still have her codes to crack, codes she wrote by hand."
Markus' laptop started beeping.
"Oh gah- again?!"
Markus opened his laptop, "...No, actually. Good news. Or, bad, depending on the results."
"What did you do?"
"The "thing" I had running!" Markus shifted his laptop over, "Remember that strange port I found to encrypted areas of the computer?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I figured other sections of the computer must be other sectors, and other sectors means more towers." Markus lead.
"I'm following..."
"Well, I reverse engineered the program and rebuilt it to accommodate a tower scanner through the port."
"...Ohhh so you can see if there's any activity!"
"Exactly! And here are the results!"
The tower scan immediately picked up an activated tower.
"Well... One tower where I cannot go. I hope that's harmless."
Then, a second tower popped up as activated.
"This doesn't bode well..." Markus cringed.
And rightfully so. A third tower popped up, along with a fourth, a fifth, a sixth...
All of the encrypted sectors had all of their towers activated, a whopping 135 towers! All activated! And there was nothing they could do.
"Holy crap..." Markus buried his face in his palms, "There's about seven more sectors! JAER isn't trying to gain access to the encrypted sectors to increase his powers, he's trying to gain control of the ice sector to finish maxing his powers!"
"This... Isn't good." Cooke calmly shook his head, "Not good at all."
"We need another person!" Markus shoehorned.
Cooke threw his arms down, "No! We need to figure out how to clean the mess!"
"Which would be easier with another person! What if you can't go to Matriks?"
"No! And that's final!" Cooke ignored, "We can do it on our own!"