*****************************************************************************************************************************
Disclaimer: *Sigh* I do not own any of the characters/concepts/names mentioned in this fanfic. Well perhaps the ones I thought of, but otherwise none.
Right. Chapter 3's done. Much better than chapter 2, sorry about that one.
*****************************************************************************************************************************
Suffering… cold… silence. All these things she felt. Memories and images flashed
through her mind, each inspiring for the briefest moment a thousand feelings,
happiness, sadness, love, realisation, then disappearing, out of reach where they could
never be touched, and every time were accompanied by terrible, blinding pain and
confusion.
What are these things…? I know what they are… no… I don't. Where am I? What is
this place? I fell from the Ziggurat and… Ziggurat? What…? Aaaahhh! I'm
burning! Help me! Kenichi! Ungh… It stopped… Kenichi… Who is…? What…?
"Who am I…?" she seemed to have spoken the words, without even knowing she had,
and yet they screamed from her mouth, jarring her very mind.
Kenichi… that word… It makes me feel something…
And so her torment continued. The word her only constant. Always making her feel
something, its name on the tip of her tongue, yet ever unknown.
"Tima?" the sound tore around her like a hurricane, then silence.
* * * * *
"What the-?" Kenichi exclaimed.
Aki stood on the tips of her feet trying to see the screen.
"What is it Kenichi? A problem?" she asked.
"Sort of. I sent the call into the system, and then I was disconnected,"
"How odd… Nothing else?"
"Nothing. No errors, just a 'Disconnected' report,"
"Well, the network is unstable right now. The Ziggurat's mainframe collapse started
some kind of storm."
Kenichi sighed, "At this rate I'm going to have to try and use the throne."
"Kenichi, we'll find something else, the throne's too dangerous. What if it tries to
integrate you like it did Tima?"
"… Maybe we should just send another probe. This time I'll record everything it
sends back, perhaps then if it gets disconnected again we can find out why."
* * * * *
She didn't know how long it had been, just that she was in tremendous pain. A short
time ago the images had started to make some degree of sense. She could recall parts
of memories, all followed by a great, inexplicable sadness. A boy grasping her hand
and yelling that 'Tima' word. That same boy kneeling before her and saying "Say I
am…". A young man looking coldly at her over a short metal tube with a handle. A
man with a beak like nose gripping her shoulders and telling her she was
'superhuman'.
'Kenichi' was beginning to mean something too. Each time she thought of the word
she longed for someone. All she wanted to do was find that someone and curl up in
their arms, be shielded from all these things that were hurting her.
Again "Tima?" screamed around her, and again was shortly followed by silence.
* * * * *
"There again! The probe just disappeared!" Kenichi tapped in a command and the
screen filled with text.
"Well?" Aki was still standing on her toes.
Kenichi read out the list, "66:78:56: Location 'Tima' location request sent, 66:78:60:
Data received, 66:78:62: Data received, 66:78:63: Warning: stack overflow,
disconnected from remote host."
"What's that mean Kenichi?"
"Well, the first data burst contained an encoded response, the second was just a mass
of corrupt information. It crashed my connection. A shockwave."
Aki stepped back and looked at Kenichi, "What's in the encrypted one?"
"Let's see… Ahah. Simple algorithm… 'Who…' WHAT THE-!?"
"What's wrong Kenichi?"
Kenichi had turned suddenly pale, "Wh-Wh-Who…am… I…?"
"Weren't those Tima's last words?"
"Yes…"
"Then we've found her!"
Kenichi turned and looked Aki in the eye, "No. This is some kind of malfunction. A
pulse she's generating without knowing it. The worst thing is these data shockwaves
are tearing up the network, and if they keep up Tima will destroy it along with
herself."
"How long do we have?"
Kenichi lowered his eyes, "A week at most…"
* * * * *
The pain still continued, each time she started to become used to it a whiplash would
run through her, jarring her into further torment. Her whole body seemed to be on
fire, if it weren't for the image of the strange boy who had called her Tima, she would
probably have given up and slipped away a long time ago. But he was there, and she
felt she had to be with him. She had put the Kenichi word to the boy now. She new it
was his arms she wanted to shield her, but she didn't know why.
"Who am I…?" once again the words ripped from between her lips like a desolate
scream.
Slowly she was becoming able to feel her body again, but could not move more than a
little. She seemed to be under constraint, and whenever she tried to move she would
be held in place at her wrists by something rough and itchy.
Kenichi… please… whoever you are… please help me…
* * * * *
"I guess that's it then Aki." Kenichi turned off his terminal.
"Yes. Every time we send a probe into find her, it just disappears. How are we going
to fix the throne?" Aki was fiddling with a piece of cable.
"I'm not sure. I can't disconnect the integration systems; too much of the throne is
run by them."
"What about an attack of some sort? Some kind of virus?"
"If I damage the security protocols protecting integration so that I could reprogram it,
I might not be able to repair them… If that happened the throne's protection would go
down and if even a bad package was received I'd be disconnected. I don't know what
that would do to me."
"Perhaps you could defend yourself?"
"Maybe…"
* * * * *
She could see now, although there wasn't very much to look at, especially with the
haze left by each stab of pain. From what she could see, she was suspended in the air,
with no sign of any floor. She was tied at the wrists and ankles to a large wooden disc
with a metal design tracing out the cross shape her restraints held her in. Her wrists
and ankles were red and sore from rubbing against the ropes.
Where… am I? What is this?
"Kenichi…"
Why do I call for him… wait… I remember! Kenichi! He could save me!
"Kenichi! Kenichi!"
Where is he? He was always here…
As Tima began to realise Kenichi wasn't there to protect her, she began to panic.
Before when he was imprisoned, Emny had distracted her from that fact, but now
Kenichi wasn't there to keep her safe, and she so needed him.
Another torrent of pain ripped through her, this time leaving her gasping for air when
it had passed.
They… They are getting worse…
As the pain receded, leaving only the old burning, Tima began to cry. Her eyes
became blurred as she hung from her restraints.
"Kenichi…" Tima sobbed, "Kenichi… please Kenichi where are you? Kenichi don't
leave me here alone…"
Still there was nothing but the cold and her tears. Tima was terrified, like a lost child.
All she wanted was for Kenichi to hold her, look after her.
* * * * *
"Kenichi…?" Aki walked into the little room that served as Kenichi's study,
workroom and bedroom.
Kenichi switched off his terminal and walked over to Aki, "What is it Aki?"
"I want to ask you something."
"Of course. Here sit down." Kenichi sat on the edge of his bed.
Aki jumped up beside him, "Why do you want so much to save Tima?"
"Huh? Well… I'm not sure. I guess I just want her safe."
"Like a sister?"
"Er… not exactly. I just…"
"Oh. You're in love with her."
At this Kenichi blushed heavily, "No! I'm not…! I mean I…"
I'm not in love with Tima… am I? Surely I cant be…
"What's wrong Kenichi?"
"Nothing Aki. I don't know why I'm looking for Tima. I just want to know she's
okay I guess."
* * * * *
"There! It's ready. This virus should attack the security systems and I'll be able to
get at the integration protocols."
Kenichi punched in a number of commands and the 'bomb' was on its way.
"How long until we know?" Aki was in the chair at the terminal as Kenichi moved
back and forth between it and the throne.
"An hour or so. I'm just worried about how well those defensive programs I wrote
will work. They're supposed to interface with me and obey my commands, but it's a
quick job. I don't even know if they'll be able to connect to what's left of the security
systems."
"How do they work?"
"I'm not really sure myself. The throne visualises data… so I suppose the defence
programs will either come out as a weapon or some sort of guardian."
* * * * *
Tima had cried herself into silence. Every now and then she would murmur
"Kenichi…" and a tear would fall, but otherwise there was nothing but silence.
Was she dying? Had the pain finally won? Perhaps she should just give up…
No. She wanted to see Kenichi. Tima couldn't understand why but she had to see
him.
Again "Who am I…?" screamed from her mouth, forcing it so wide it felt as if her
jaw would break.
"Kenichi… please…"
* * * * *
"Got it!" Kenichi exclaimed as a small octahedron ceased flitting about and fell to the
ground.
Aki's voice resounded across the field, "Good shot Kenichi, upgrading to level three."
The octahedron faded away. "It'll take me a little while to reset the system. Check
the defence programs in the meantime."
Kenichi sat down on the grass and turned the slightly oversized sidearm over in his
hands. It was hard to believe none of this was real, and that outside this simulation,
the gun he held was nothing but a string of words and numbers. The weapon had a
simple handle and trigger arrangement, a box with a screen on top displaying a stream
of data, and a short, thick sided barrel. The information displayed on the screen was
the encryption algorithm which, when fired at a target temporarily paralysed it while
it interpreted the data.
Kenichi pressed a button just below the screen calling up a status report.
So far so good… Hm… Slight problem with the algorithm rotation, nothing to bad…
"It's ready Kenichi. Engaging."
A spike covered ball materialised a hundred metres from Kenichi, then flew straight at
him. Diving out of the way Kenichi swung round and pulled the gun's trigger. The
barrel glowed for a moment, then with a snap a ball of light the size of a ping-pong
ball flew towards his assailant, missing by less than an inch.
Aki's voice called down sounding a little worried, "Kenichi are you okay? I didn't
think the virus would be so vicious. Remember, it's a live one. Should I disengage
it?"
Kenichi ducked as the flailing virus went for his head.
"No it's okay Aki, I can handle it."
Again the virus flew at Kenichi. This time however he was ready and fired three
shots into it's front. Immediately the virus froze in the air, then fell to the ground.
"Phew…" Kenichi wiped his brow.
"You got it Kenichi! That's the tests over, the programs are fine!" Aki was jubilantly
calling. "I'll just bring you back."
"Finally I can go and look for her…"
"Um… Kenichi?" Aki sounded confused.
"Yes?"
"Is anything strange happening at your end? I can't disengage the program."
"No nothing."
"Strange… Kenichi something's happening! The virus is doing something to the
system, it's changing. I think it's going to try and attack again."
Spinning around Kenichi saw the virus was changing. Instead of being a simple ball
it was beginning to resemble a stubby headless humanoid, with square, jointless tubes
in place of arms.
Immediately Kenichi fired at the virus, but the attack simply dispersed across the
virus' carapace.
"Aki my weapon's not working, what's wrong?!"
"The virus taken control of most of the terminal's resources. It's got enough power
available to it to decipher the algorithm instantly, and can now predict its
interpretation. The defence programs just became invalid!" Aki's voice was
panicked.
The virus walked toward Kenichi whirring viciously. Its arms now glowed at their
tips in a similar way to Kenichi's gun.
"Aki can't you do something?! It's going to fire!"
"I'm trying to re-encrypt the algorithm but it'll probably just decipher it again."
With a familiar snap two blasts of white energy rocketed toward Kenichi. He dived to
the right, but not fast enough as the second blast slammed into his chest throwing him
backwards.
"Kenichi! Kenichi are you alright?" Aki asked.
"Ow… I'm okay. Looks like the secondary defence programs blocked the hit. But
they're gone, it seems they couldn't decipher the attack's code and crashed."
Kenichi snapped off a shot at the maddened virus but once again the attack simply
faded over its body.
"Aki, just clear the data and send it something invalid!"
"What?"
"A bad command, a corrupt package, how should I know?!"
Again the virus's weapons fired on Kenichi, this time barely missing him.
"What about an unsolvable problem?"
"Perfect! Load it into the weapon!" Kenichi yelled ducking a swipe from the virus.
"Encrypting… done! I've reconfigured your stunner to fire the code. But Kenichi,
this'll delete the virus completely…"
"I'm not one for mindless destruction either but we've no choice."
Kenichi jumped out of the way of the virus' attack, angled the weapon, and pulled the
trigger.
With a loud bang a beam of light tore from the stunner's barrel striking the virus' rear.
Moments later the virus stopped attacking and began to writhe uncontrollably as bolts
of energy flickered around it. In a second the virus appeared to dissolve and fade
away, accompanied by a slightly anticlimactic hiss.
"Ahhhh…" Kenichi collapsed. As he lay on the grass panting he looked at the
stunners display. Between the carrier and execution codes was a short arithmetical
problem to be sent to the virus' tiny emotive protocols: 'Joy + Sadness = ?'.
*****************************************************************************************************************************
Hope you enjoyed it! R&R would be really good. Please help me out and tell me where I'm going wrong! Or just compliment if you can, that'd be great!
Disclaimer: *Sigh* I do not own any of the characters/concepts/names mentioned in this fanfic. Well perhaps the ones I thought of, but otherwise none.
Right. Chapter 3's done. Much better than chapter 2, sorry about that one.
*****************************************************************************************************************************
Suffering… cold… silence. All these things she felt. Memories and images flashed
through her mind, each inspiring for the briefest moment a thousand feelings,
happiness, sadness, love, realisation, then disappearing, out of reach where they could
never be touched, and every time were accompanied by terrible, blinding pain and
confusion.
What are these things…? I know what they are… no… I don't. Where am I? What is
this place? I fell from the Ziggurat and… Ziggurat? What…? Aaaahhh! I'm
burning! Help me! Kenichi! Ungh… It stopped… Kenichi… Who is…? What…?
"Who am I…?" she seemed to have spoken the words, without even knowing she had,
and yet they screamed from her mouth, jarring her very mind.
Kenichi… that word… It makes me feel something…
And so her torment continued. The word her only constant. Always making her feel
something, its name on the tip of her tongue, yet ever unknown.
"Tima?" the sound tore around her like a hurricane, then silence.
* * * * *
"What the-?" Kenichi exclaimed.
Aki stood on the tips of her feet trying to see the screen.
"What is it Kenichi? A problem?" she asked.
"Sort of. I sent the call into the system, and then I was disconnected,"
"How odd… Nothing else?"
"Nothing. No errors, just a 'Disconnected' report,"
"Well, the network is unstable right now. The Ziggurat's mainframe collapse started
some kind of storm."
Kenichi sighed, "At this rate I'm going to have to try and use the throne."
"Kenichi, we'll find something else, the throne's too dangerous. What if it tries to
integrate you like it did Tima?"
"… Maybe we should just send another probe. This time I'll record everything it
sends back, perhaps then if it gets disconnected again we can find out why."
* * * * *
She didn't know how long it had been, just that she was in tremendous pain. A short
time ago the images had started to make some degree of sense. She could recall parts
of memories, all followed by a great, inexplicable sadness. A boy grasping her hand
and yelling that 'Tima' word. That same boy kneeling before her and saying "Say I
am…". A young man looking coldly at her over a short metal tube with a handle. A
man with a beak like nose gripping her shoulders and telling her she was
'superhuman'.
'Kenichi' was beginning to mean something too. Each time she thought of the word
she longed for someone. All she wanted to do was find that someone and curl up in
their arms, be shielded from all these things that were hurting her.
Again "Tima?" screamed around her, and again was shortly followed by silence.
* * * * *
"There again! The probe just disappeared!" Kenichi tapped in a command and the
screen filled with text.
"Well?" Aki was still standing on her toes.
Kenichi read out the list, "66:78:56: Location 'Tima' location request sent, 66:78:60:
Data received, 66:78:62: Data received, 66:78:63: Warning: stack overflow,
disconnected from remote host."
"What's that mean Kenichi?"
"Well, the first data burst contained an encoded response, the second was just a mass
of corrupt information. It crashed my connection. A shockwave."
Aki stepped back and looked at Kenichi, "What's in the encrypted one?"
"Let's see… Ahah. Simple algorithm… 'Who…' WHAT THE-!?"
"What's wrong Kenichi?"
Kenichi had turned suddenly pale, "Wh-Wh-Who…am… I…?"
"Weren't those Tima's last words?"
"Yes…"
"Then we've found her!"
Kenichi turned and looked Aki in the eye, "No. This is some kind of malfunction. A
pulse she's generating without knowing it. The worst thing is these data shockwaves
are tearing up the network, and if they keep up Tima will destroy it along with
herself."
"How long do we have?"
Kenichi lowered his eyes, "A week at most…"
* * * * *
The pain still continued, each time she started to become used to it a whiplash would
run through her, jarring her into further torment. Her whole body seemed to be on
fire, if it weren't for the image of the strange boy who had called her Tima, she would
probably have given up and slipped away a long time ago. But he was there, and she
felt she had to be with him. She had put the Kenichi word to the boy now. She new it
was his arms she wanted to shield her, but she didn't know why.
"Who am I…?" once again the words ripped from between her lips like a desolate
scream.
Slowly she was becoming able to feel her body again, but could not move more than a
little. She seemed to be under constraint, and whenever she tried to move she would
be held in place at her wrists by something rough and itchy.
Kenichi… please… whoever you are… please help me…
* * * * *
"I guess that's it then Aki." Kenichi turned off his terminal.
"Yes. Every time we send a probe into find her, it just disappears. How are we going
to fix the throne?" Aki was fiddling with a piece of cable.
"I'm not sure. I can't disconnect the integration systems; too much of the throne is
run by them."
"What about an attack of some sort? Some kind of virus?"
"If I damage the security protocols protecting integration so that I could reprogram it,
I might not be able to repair them… If that happened the throne's protection would go
down and if even a bad package was received I'd be disconnected. I don't know what
that would do to me."
"Perhaps you could defend yourself?"
"Maybe…"
* * * * *
She could see now, although there wasn't very much to look at, especially with the
haze left by each stab of pain. From what she could see, she was suspended in the air,
with no sign of any floor. She was tied at the wrists and ankles to a large wooden disc
with a metal design tracing out the cross shape her restraints held her in. Her wrists
and ankles were red and sore from rubbing against the ropes.
Where… am I? What is this?
"Kenichi…"
Why do I call for him… wait… I remember! Kenichi! He could save me!
"Kenichi! Kenichi!"
Where is he? He was always here…
As Tima began to realise Kenichi wasn't there to protect her, she began to panic.
Before when he was imprisoned, Emny had distracted her from that fact, but now
Kenichi wasn't there to keep her safe, and she so needed him.
Another torrent of pain ripped through her, this time leaving her gasping for air when
it had passed.
They… They are getting worse…
As the pain receded, leaving only the old burning, Tima began to cry. Her eyes
became blurred as she hung from her restraints.
"Kenichi…" Tima sobbed, "Kenichi… please Kenichi where are you? Kenichi don't
leave me here alone…"
Still there was nothing but the cold and her tears. Tima was terrified, like a lost child.
All she wanted was for Kenichi to hold her, look after her.
* * * * *
"Kenichi…?" Aki walked into the little room that served as Kenichi's study,
workroom and bedroom.
Kenichi switched off his terminal and walked over to Aki, "What is it Aki?"
"I want to ask you something."
"Of course. Here sit down." Kenichi sat on the edge of his bed.
Aki jumped up beside him, "Why do you want so much to save Tima?"
"Huh? Well… I'm not sure. I guess I just want her safe."
"Like a sister?"
"Er… not exactly. I just…"
"Oh. You're in love with her."
At this Kenichi blushed heavily, "No! I'm not…! I mean I…"
I'm not in love with Tima… am I? Surely I cant be…
"What's wrong Kenichi?"
"Nothing Aki. I don't know why I'm looking for Tima. I just want to know she's
okay I guess."
* * * * *
"There! It's ready. This virus should attack the security systems and I'll be able to
get at the integration protocols."
Kenichi punched in a number of commands and the 'bomb' was on its way.
"How long until we know?" Aki was in the chair at the terminal as Kenichi moved
back and forth between it and the throne.
"An hour or so. I'm just worried about how well those defensive programs I wrote
will work. They're supposed to interface with me and obey my commands, but it's a
quick job. I don't even know if they'll be able to connect to what's left of the security
systems."
"How do they work?"
"I'm not really sure myself. The throne visualises data… so I suppose the defence
programs will either come out as a weapon or some sort of guardian."
* * * * *
Tima had cried herself into silence. Every now and then she would murmur
"Kenichi…" and a tear would fall, but otherwise there was nothing but silence.
Was she dying? Had the pain finally won? Perhaps she should just give up…
No. She wanted to see Kenichi. Tima couldn't understand why but she had to see
him.
Again "Who am I…?" screamed from her mouth, forcing it so wide it felt as if her
jaw would break.
"Kenichi… please…"
* * * * *
"Got it!" Kenichi exclaimed as a small octahedron ceased flitting about and fell to the
ground.
Aki's voice resounded across the field, "Good shot Kenichi, upgrading to level three."
The octahedron faded away. "It'll take me a little while to reset the system. Check
the defence programs in the meantime."
Kenichi sat down on the grass and turned the slightly oversized sidearm over in his
hands. It was hard to believe none of this was real, and that outside this simulation,
the gun he held was nothing but a string of words and numbers. The weapon had a
simple handle and trigger arrangement, a box with a screen on top displaying a stream
of data, and a short, thick sided barrel. The information displayed on the screen was
the encryption algorithm which, when fired at a target temporarily paralysed it while
it interpreted the data.
Kenichi pressed a button just below the screen calling up a status report.
So far so good… Hm… Slight problem with the algorithm rotation, nothing to bad…
"It's ready Kenichi. Engaging."
A spike covered ball materialised a hundred metres from Kenichi, then flew straight at
him. Diving out of the way Kenichi swung round and pulled the gun's trigger. The
barrel glowed for a moment, then with a snap a ball of light the size of a ping-pong
ball flew towards his assailant, missing by less than an inch.
Aki's voice called down sounding a little worried, "Kenichi are you okay? I didn't
think the virus would be so vicious. Remember, it's a live one. Should I disengage
it?"
Kenichi ducked as the flailing virus went for his head.
"No it's okay Aki, I can handle it."
Again the virus flew at Kenichi. This time however he was ready and fired three
shots into it's front. Immediately the virus froze in the air, then fell to the ground.
"Phew…" Kenichi wiped his brow.
"You got it Kenichi! That's the tests over, the programs are fine!" Aki was jubilantly
calling. "I'll just bring you back."
"Finally I can go and look for her…"
"Um… Kenichi?" Aki sounded confused.
"Yes?"
"Is anything strange happening at your end? I can't disengage the program."
"No nothing."
"Strange… Kenichi something's happening! The virus is doing something to the
system, it's changing. I think it's going to try and attack again."
Spinning around Kenichi saw the virus was changing. Instead of being a simple ball
it was beginning to resemble a stubby headless humanoid, with square, jointless tubes
in place of arms.
Immediately Kenichi fired at the virus, but the attack simply dispersed across the
virus' carapace.
"Aki my weapon's not working, what's wrong?!"
"The virus taken control of most of the terminal's resources. It's got enough power
available to it to decipher the algorithm instantly, and can now predict its
interpretation. The defence programs just became invalid!" Aki's voice was
panicked.
The virus walked toward Kenichi whirring viciously. Its arms now glowed at their
tips in a similar way to Kenichi's gun.
"Aki can't you do something?! It's going to fire!"
"I'm trying to re-encrypt the algorithm but it'll probably just decipher it again."
With a familiar snap two blasts of white energy rocketed toward Kenichi. He dived to
the right, but not fast enough as the second blast slammed into his chest throwing him
backwards.
"Kenichi! Kenichi are you alright?" Aki asked.
"Ow… I'm okay. Looks like the secondary defence programs blocked the hit. But
they're gone, it seems they couldn't decipher the attack's code and crashed."
Kenichi snapped off a shot at the maddened virus but once again the attack simply
faded over its body.
"Aki, just clear the data and send it something invalid!"
"What?"
"A bad command, a corrupt package, how should I know?!"
Again the virus's weapons fired on Kenichi, this time barely missing him.
"What about an unsolvable problem?"
"Perfect! Load it into the weapon!" Kenichi yelled ducking a swipe from the virus.
"Encrypting… done! I've reconfigured your stunner to fire the code. But Kenichi,
this'll delete the virus completely…"
"I'm not one for mindless destruction either but we've no choice."
Kenichi jumped out of the way of the virus' attack, angled the weapon, and pulled the
trigger.
With a loud bang a beam of light tore from the stunner's barrel striking the virus' rear.
Moments later the virus stopped attacking and began to writhe uncontrollably as bolts
of energy flickered around it. In a second the virus appeared to dissolve and fade
away, accompanied by a slightly anticlimactic hiss.
"Ahhhh…" Kenichi collapsed. As he lay on the grass panting he looked at the
stunners display. Between the carrier and execution codes was a short arithmetical
problem to be sent to the virus' tiny emotive protocols: 'Joy + Sadness = ?'.
*****************************************************************************************************************************
Hope you enjoyed it! R&R would be really good. Please help me out and tell me where I'm going wrong! Or just compliment if you can, that'd be great!