DISclaimer: I do not Own LOTR or MATRIX. They are owned by others, not me.
I do not own any Agents, and, again, I would be a happy girl if I did.
Also, I do not own any elf such as Legolas, or Elrond * in my dreams * or
Gandalf or Sauron or the One Ring, though I do own Vilya, but not the
'real' one and not the concept, just the cheap imitation I wear when I am
feeling very Hugo-ish.
I DO own this Story and JessiLee AKA EloopE and Ping. I own Giz. I own Mom aka Kat (Jacqueline Isabella Katarina Lee). I own EHS (Elite Hackers Society).
I apologize for the language but heck, it happens, what can I say.
RATED R for BAD language and eventually naughty nookie scenes which you should not read.. Cause they are mine, my precious, and we wants them (Hugo that is)...
This is my attempt at a LOTR / Matrix Crossover
**************************************************************************** ******
She got off the bus and ran up the three flights of stairs to the apartment. Glancing at her watch as she logged on. 3:10 PM. Two hours till mom got home. Not enough time.
Something had gone terribly wrong lately. Three times in the last month her computer had crashed while she was accessing data on the Lord of the Rings. No doubt her all time favorite book, but only one of many books she loved and was not able to find on-line anymore. It wasn't even that the computer crashed, it crashed and burned.
Mom had made her promise not to use the computer. She did not want to call dad again and have him come over again and fix the 'damn' thing again. Mom would be perfectly happy if she never saw dad again, but he was an unfortunate circumstance of her life that would not go away.
JessiLee was the offspring of these two complete opposites. Dad was a control freak and a computer geek. He liked everything in his little computer world to be neat and orderly, every computer to be set up perfectly, everything to be consistent. Of course in his 'real' world everything was always a mess. He left whatever he had in his hand on the nearest table and would find it again the next day or week or year. He was a slob. Hygiene and consideration for other humans was outside his realm of understanding. But he was, without a doubt, a computer genius. Any kind of gadget really, not just computers, he could figure out and fix. He could, but he didn't do it all that often, and never for mom while they were married. Now he would fix her computer when she asked, just to prove he was a 'great guy' and it was a big mistake for her to leave.
Mom, on the other hand, was an artist. She loved to paint, sew, cook, dance, draw and write. Most of all she loved to write. Her imagination would run wild at times, weaving intricate tales of people and places and fantasy characters. Mom told her so many bedtime stories and read to her so often that by the time she was four she was reading.
The really strange thing was that mom was the one who was neat and clean and tidy. She liked her 'real' world to be orderly, but her mind was always somewhere else. She loved to be around people too, where as dad was a computer machine kind of guy and didn't do well with humans, mostly because he wanted to control them like he did his machines and that didn't play well with most humans. Mom played music all the time and loved to dance, dad would watch TV or work on computers. They had nothing in common except her, and that seemed like an improbable miracle. She was a mixture of two complete opposites and she found that she loved the computer world, and loved to be creative within it.
So she would try again to access some books or book facts or even some character profiles from the network. She loved reading more than almost anything else. By the time she was in third grade she had finished most of the works of C.S. Lewis and by the time she finished fifth grade she had read the complete works of J.R.R. Tolkien and the majority of the books written by Anne McCaffrey, and John Grisham. Any book that involved mystery or fantasy or intrigue was a welcome addition to her library, but her library had 'stolen' one day and the online world was all she had. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was her favorite by far. She read it once a year, every year, for the last seven years. She wore her cheap imitation 'One Ring' on a silver chain around her neck. She was terminally in love with Legolas.
But now she had less than two hours to do her searches before mom came home and she didn't want to waste that precious time. Do now, think later, that was her motto. She signed on as ELoopE, the computer name her mom gave her. Mom said it suited her perfectly because if you looked up "Eternal Loop", it would send you to see "Loop Eternal" and there it would send you to see "Eternal Loop". Somehow within her strange sense of humor mom felt this described her perfectly, always going around in circles and never seeming to quite get it.
Of course mom meant it in only the most whimsical kind of way. Mom knew better than anyone the intellect and creativity held within her tiny frame. Mom was so proud when she had scored so high on her SATs that she qualified for Harvard, but of course, she was only 12 at the time so they wouldn't accept her.
Now at 17 she went to the public high school instead where she spent most of her time flirting with boys and irritating teachers. She didn't get too involved at school, even though mom pushed her to. She did the minimum required, got pretty poor grades, even though she was capable of so much more. She just didn't care. She only wanted to be at the computer, chat with her 'friends', update her webpage and read and write fantasy fiction. But her computer kept crashing and when it did work she couldn't find anything she wanted.
She typed in "Lord of the Rings"
'File not found' was the response.
"Damn, oh darn." She needed to watch her language, mom tended to swear but didn't think she should.
"How could everything just disappear? I've been reading that book since I was ten, I know it exists." She tried several more searches using words like Tolkien, Lord, Fellowship and Hobbit. Nothing but the 'file not found' response she had learned to hate.
So she went in the back door with her other computer name, the one given to her by the EHS, the Elite Hacker Society. The unique group of computer programmers that knew something was amiss in the world they lived in, and the computer was the key to uncovering it. She signed in as "Ping".
Searching again she was careful not to abuse her privilege as a member of this special group of creative intellectuals. She was the youngest and newest member and knew she must be careful and very secretive. Even mom, her best friend and confidant, knew nothing of this world.
"Ping!"
"Hey Giz, what's up?"
"You looking for books again?"
"Yep, can't find any. Something is really wrong with a world when the books go away."
"We've been looking into that. Seems the 'machine' has been deleting them. There has been some kind of weird disturbances in various parts of the world and they seem to be in places like libraries and book clubs."
"I don't get that. How could a book cause a disturbance, I mean, it's just a book right?"
"Ok, we think it's somehow related to that phenomena where you have a 'reality/dream'. A déjà vu."
"I love when that happens."
"Ping, you are weird."
"No, it's cool, like an out of body experience. Do you ever think you can just like, walk walls or something, and then feel like you did, and then wake up? And it all seems so real. Sometimes the world we live in is just too cold and boring. I would much rather live in Middle Earth or someplace like that. The Silmarillion maybe."
"Ping, you let your imagination control too much of your thought processes."
"Maybe that's the key Giz, maybe that's why the books are going away. Think about it, if books spark creative imaginative thought processes and they are causing atmospheric disturbances then perhaps there is a direct connection between the thought processes and the atmosphere."
"Ping, you scare me."
"Think about it Giz, maybe I am right. I am a fucking child genius you know, a perfect blend of two totally imperfect people. Maybe there is something to my idea. But even if there isn't, could you PLEASE help me find some books! I can't live in the real world much longer, I will lose my mind, and lately my mothers stories are all, shall we say, a bit pervy for me. I love her and all, but she's got it bad."
"Ping, I will send you some links, but don't count on them working again tomorrow. No sooner do we find some of the books, they disappear again. Try these."
Ping went directly to the sites Giz sent her and immediately began to download them onto good old-fashioned high-density 3.25" disks. Of course burning them onto a CD would be a hell of a lot faster, but this way she could slip them into her jeans pocket and no one would be the wiser.
"Everything Legolas first," she commented to herself out loud. "Whoa" she jumped out of her chair, "what the hell was that?" A loud thump sounded as if it had come from her bedroom. "Calm down Jess, you can see what it is in a minute, you know you live in the worlds loudest and cheapest apartment complex." She talked to herself quite a bit, especially when she was alone. She tended to get lonely, which was one of many reasons she enjoyed her imaginary world so much, she was never alone there.
"Get the data, now, before it goes away again" She urged herself on convincing herself not to be freaked out by the noise she had heard. "See, all quiet now, don't waste time" She glanced at her watch, 4:15 PM, less than an hour. She quickly swapped disks. She had to finish and get off before mom got home. She had been banned from using the computer till her grades improved and also, mom was tired of the crashes.
"OK, for you mom, I'll get everything Elrond." She entered the keystrokes to download the data when she heard another loud thump. "Ignore it." She whispered to herself. "Now some Gandalf magic." A new diskette, more keystrokes, another room shaking thump. She shuddered, she felt like the world was trying to distract her from her goal, get the data before it disappeared forever. She switched disks yet again, "Some Sauron, cause what good is a story without some fun evil" the lights flickered in the room. "Shit, not another power outage. Geez, I better hurry up. What next? The ring of course." She hurriedly swapped disks and entered some quick keystrokes when she her a cling clang sound bounce from her desk to the floor. She looked down. There on the floor by her feet was her ring. She grabbed the chain around her neck, no, it was still there, hanging from the chain as it had been for the last seven years. She picked up the ring from the floor. It looked exactly like hers, except, maybe a bit shinier. "Oh maybe mom got me a new one." she thought out loud again. She slipped it into her pocket and popped the disk out of the drive.
"Now, who's next?" she asked herself. "Aragorn or Galadriel?"
The lights dimmed again and then her computer started making strange sounds. She tried to log off quickly but those green flashes of light that had preceded her last three computer blow-ups were flickering on the screen again. "Oh no, Shit, Don't do that, Not now, I want to get the rest of the characters first, Oh Shit, Mom is gonna kill me."
She tried desperately to log off but it was too late. The screen flickered and scrolled massive amounts of green data and then the computer started sparking. The screen went blank as black smoke rolled out of the back of the computer where the power fan had once been humming along. "Shit shit shit! Mom is gonna fucking kill me."
"Why am I gonna fucking kill you? And why are you talking like a fucking truck driver?"
"Mom!" She spun and saw her standing there, smiling at her. "Hi mom! How was your day?"
"Nice try Jess. What did you do this time? And do you always talk like that? Or is that a special way you communicate with yourself when I'm not home."
"Sorry mom."
"Well, are you going to tell me what I am going to be mad about? Or should I just guess. Let me see, it has something to do with a computer that is now filling my apartment with nasty black smoke and the fact that this time YOU are going to call your dad if you want it fixed."
"Sorry mom."
"You said you would not use it until I got home."
"I know, but I was bored."
"Ever hear of homework?"
"Boring!"
"Jess, for a child genius, you sure are lazy."
"No, not lazy, just easily bored mom. School is too full of facts and not enough fiction. Used to be we would read interesting books, now it's all just boring crap, uh crud."
"You know, I don't care. I want you to get good grades so you can go to a good college and get a good job and be able to take care of yourself."
"Can't wait to get rid of me huh?" She teased.
"Very funny. Now, what did you make for dinner?"
"Uh, sorry mom, I've been kind of busy."
"I see that." She approached the computer and waved the black smoke away. "You really did it this time didn't you?"
"I'll call dad."
"Damn right, and make sure he comes over when I am NOT here. Better yet, do NOT call your dad to have that fixed. I can live without it and you need to live without it. You need to start doing some school work and make some real life friends."
"I have lots of friends."
"I mean friends you actually do things with, outside of school. You need to expand your horizons."
"My horizons are fine." Jess headed to her bedroom.
"No you don't. You don't get to make a mess, act like a spoiled brat and stomp away. You can help me make dinner."
"Fine."
**************************************************************************** ******
Online Chatter...
**************************************************************************** ******
"Right now, we're inside a computer program?"
"Is it really so hard to believe?"
"This isn't real?"
"What is real? How do you define real?
If you're talking about your senses, what you feel,
taste, smell, or see, then all you're talking about
are electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
- Neo's introduction to the Matrix by Morpheus
***********************************************************************
"We have a new one, her name is Ping."
"Is she ready?"
"No, but she is unique. She seems to have uncovered some unexpected byproducts of living within the Matrix."
"Is she dangerous?"
"Not yet. But we will have to recruit her before they get to her."
"Are they on to her yet?"
"No, there seems to be massive unrest in the world. Major disturbances. They are constantly trying to resolve those program anomalies."
"Do we know what they are, what is causing them?"
"Ping seems to have discovered its origin."
"What?"
"She suggested that it is the imagination of creative people such as herself with the intellect and understanding of computer science that is causing the disturbances."
"Again?"
"Basically, they live in an imaginary world, what is real to them is based on how they interpret the signals their brains receive. She has linked that to the imaginative power of the human race."
"Go on"
"She spends so much time in her imaginary world that is directly linked to computers and books that it is becoming 'real' to her. Her theory is this is happening all over the world. On-line libraries, books, Fan fiction, and more, are all feeding this great mind-swell and it is creating 'living' versions of the books."
"If I understand what you are saying, the books or characters from the books are becoming real because of the imaginations of the humans living within the Matrix?"
"Not yet, but for people like her, people who have a grasp that they are not living in a 'real' world, yes, it can happen, it may have happened already. The disturbances are the electrical impulses caused by the conflict between the program to define reality and the humans desire to alter it."
"So we are closer than we had hoped?"
"Well, the machine seems to be on this too. Books are disappearing. Fiction is no longer available in schools. On-line stories and creative sites are constantly being deleted. The EHS keeps finding more and recreating them, reloading them, but they disappear quickly again."
"What can we do?"
"Wait and see. The EHS is busy working with Ping on getting the systems downloaded, but her computer has been zapped by the program. She is on her fourth computer in as many weeks."
"Should we just go get her now?"
"We have no way to connect with her. We have to wait, until she is online again. The EHS wants to help but cannot contact her without risking revealing her connection to them."
"Who is her contact?"
"Giz"
"Giz? Was that a wise choice?"
"The EHS functions independently, you know that."
"But Giz is from Zion and doesn't really understand the human condition as it exists in the Matrix."
"Giz has made the connection with Ping. This is how it will remain. Until Ping is online again, there will be no further contact. But our sources tell us something very unusual happened before the system shut her down. We hope to send someone in to find out, but we have to go through EHS since we don't know Pings Matrix identity. Only Giz does."
"In other words, unless she figures it out on her own, we're screwed."
I DO own this Story and JessiLee AKA EloopE and Ping. I own Giz. I own Mom aka Kat (Jacqueline Isabella Katarina Lee). I own EHS (Elite Hackers Society).
I apologize for the language but heck, it happens, what can I say.
RATED R for BAD language and eventually naughty nookie scenes which you should not read.. Cause they are mine, my precious, and we wants them (Hugo that is)...
This is my attempt at a LOTR / Matrix Crossover
**************************************************************************** ******
She got off the bus and ran up the three flights of stairs to the apartment. Glancing at her watch as she logged on. 3:10 PM. Two hours till mom got home. Not enough time.
Something had gone terribly wrong lately. Three times in the last month her computer had crashed while she was accessing data on the Lord of the Rings. No doubt her all time favorite book, but only one of many books she loved and was not able to find on-line anymore. It wasn't even that the computer crashed, it crashed and burned.
Mom had made her promise not to use the computer. She did not want to call dad again and have him come over again and fix the 'damn' thing again. Mom would be perfectly happy if she never saw dad again, but he was an unfortunate circumstance of her life that would not go away.
JessiLee was the offspring of these two complete opposites. Dad was a control freak and a computer geek. He liked everything in his little computer world to be neat and orderly, every computer to be set up perfectly, everything to be consistent. Of course in his 'real' world everything was always a mess. He left whatever he had in his hand on the nearest table and would find it again the next day or week or year. He was a slob. Hygiene and consideration for other humans was outside his realm of understanding. But he was, without a doubt, a computer genius. Any kind of gadget really, not just computers, he could figure out and fix. He could, but he didn't do it all that often, and never for mom while they were married. Now he would fix her computer when she asked, just to prove he was a 'great guy' and it was a big mistake for her to leave.
Mom, on the other hand, was an artist. She loved to paint, sew, cook, dance, draw and write. Most of all she loved to write. Her imagination would run wild at times, weaving intricate tales of people and places and fantasy characters. Mom told her so many bedtime stories and read to her so often that by the time she was four she was reading.
The really strange thing was that mom was the one who was neat and clean and tidy. She liked her 'real' world to be orderly, but her mind was always somewhere else. She loved to be around people too, where as dad was a computer machine kind of guy and didn't do well with humans, mostly because he wanted to control them like he did his machines and that didn't play well with most humans. Mom played music all the time and loved to dance, dad would watch TV or work on computers. They had nothing in common except her, and that seemed like an improbable miracle. She was a mixture of two complete opposites and she found that she loved the computer world, and loved to be creative within it.
So she would try again to access some books or book facts or even some character profiles from the network. She loved reading more than almost anything else. By the time she was in third grade she had finished most of the works of C.S. Lewis and by the time she finished fifth grade she had read the complete works of J.R.R. Tolkien and the majority of the books written by Anne McCaffrey, and John Grisham. Any book that involved mystery or fantasy or intrigue was a welcome addition to her library, but her library had 'stolen' one day and the online world was all she had. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was her favorite by far. She read it once a year, every year, for the last seven years. She wore her cheap imitation 'One Ring' on a silver chain around her neck. She was terminally in love with Legolas.
But now she had less than two hours to do her searches before mom came home and she didn't want to waste that precious time. Do now, think later, that was her motto. She signed on as ELoopE, the computer name her mom gave her. Mom said it suited her perfectly because if you looked up "Eternal Loop", it would send you to see "Loop Eternal" and there it would send you to see "Eternal Loop". Somehow within her strange sense of humor mom felt this described her perfectly, always going around in circles and never seeming to quite get it.
Of course mom meant it in only the most whimsical kind of way. Mom knew better than anyone the intellect and creativity held within her tiny frame. Mom was so proud when she had scored so high on her SATs that she qualified for Harvard, but of course, she was only 12 at the time so they wouldn't accept her.
Now at 17 she went to the public high school instead where she spent most of her time flirting with boys and irritating teachers. She didn't get too involved at school, even though mom pushed her to. She did the minimum required, got pretty poor grades, even though she was capable of so much more. She just didn't care. She only wanted to be at the computer, chat with her 'friends', update her webpage and read and write fantasy fiction. But her computer kept crashing and when it did work she couldn't find anything she wanted.
She typed in "Lord of the Rings"
'File not found' was the response.
"Damn, oh darn." She needed to watch her language, mom tended to swear but didn't think she should.
"How could everything just disappear? I've been reading that book since I was ten, I know it exists." She tried several more searches using words like Tolkien, Lord, Fellowship and Hobbit. Nothing but the 'file not found' response she had learned to hate.
So she went in the back door with her other computer name, the one given to her by the EHS, the Elite Hacker Society. The unique group of computer programmers that knew something was amiss in the world they lived in, and the computer was the key to uncovering it. She signed in as "Ping".
Searching again she was careful not to abuse her privilege as a member of this special group of creative intellectuals. She was the youngest and newest member and knew she must be careful and very secretive. Even mom, her best friend and confidant, knew nothing of this world.
"Ping!"
"Hey Giz, what's up?"
"You looking for books again?"
"Yep, can't find any. Something is really wrong with a world when the books go away."
"We've been looking into that. Seems the 'machine' has been deleting them. There has been some kind of weird disturbances in various parts of the world and they seem to be in places like libraries and book clubs."
"I don't get that. How could a book cause a disturbance, I mean, it's just a book right?"
"Ok, we think it's somehow related to that phenomena where you have a 'reality/dream'. A déjà vu."
"I love when that happens."
"Ping, you are weird."
"No, it's cool, like an out of body experience. Do you ever think you can just like, walk walls or something, and then feel like you did, and then wake up? And it all seems so real. Sometimes the world we live in is just too cold and boring. I would much rather live in Middle Earth or someplace like that. The Silmarillion maybe."
"Ping, you let your imagination control too much of your thought processes."
"Maybe that's the key Giz, maybe that's why the books are going away. Think about it, if books spark creative imaginative thought processes and they are causing atmospheric disturbances then perhaps there is a direct connection between the thought processes and the atmosphere."
"Ping, you scare me."
"Think about it Giz, maybe I am right. I am a fucking child genius you know, a perfect blend of two totally imperfect people. Maybe there is something to my idea. But even if there isn't, could you PLEASE help me find some books! I can't live in the real world much longer, I will lose my mind, and lately my mothers stories are all, shall we say, a bit pervy for me. I love her and all, but she's got it bad."
"Ping, I will send you some links, but don't count on them working again tomorrow. No sooner do we find some of the books, they disappear again. Try these."
Ping went directly to the sites Giz sent her and immediately began to download them onto good old-fashioned high-density 3.25" disks. Of course burning them onto a CD would be a hell of a lot faster, but this way she could slip them into her jeans pocket and no one would be the wiser.
"Everything Legolas first," she commented to herself out loud. "Whoa" she jumped out of her chair, "what the hell was that?" A loud thump sounded as if it had come from her bedroom. "Calm down Jess, you can see what it is in a minute, you know you live in the worlds loudest and cheapest apartment complex." She talked to herself quite a bit, especially when she was alone. She tended to get lonely, which was one of many reasons she enjoyed her imaginary world so much, she was never alone there.
"Get the data, now, before it goes away again" She urged herself on convincing herself not to be freaked out by the noise she had heard. "See, all quiet now, don't waste time" She glanced at her watch, 4:15 PM, less than an hour. She quickly swapped disks. She had to finish and get off before mom got home. She had been banned from using the computer till her grades improved and also, mom was tired of the crashes.
"OK, for you mom, I'll get everything Elrond." She entered the keystrokes to download the data when she heard another loud thump. "Ignore it." She whispered to herself. "Now some Gandalf magic." A new diskette, more keystrokes, another room shaking thump. She shuddered, she felt like the world was trying to distract her from her goal, get the data before it disappeared forever. She switched disks yet again, "Some Sauron, cause what good is a story without some fun evil" the lights flickered in the room. "Shit, not another power outage. Geez, I better hurry up. What next? The ring of course." She hurriedly swapped disks and entered some quick keystrokes when she her a cling clang sound bounce from her desk to the floor. She looked down. There on the floor by her feet was her ring. She grabbed the chain around her neck, no, it was still there, hanging from the chain as it had been for the last seven years. She picked up the ring from the floor. It looked exactly like hers, except, maybe a bit shinier. "Oh maybe mom got me a new one." she thought out loud again. She slipped it into her pocket and popped the disk out of the drive.
"Now, who's next?" she asked herself. "Aragorn or Galadriel?"
The lights dimmed again and then her computer started making strange sounds. She tried to log off quickly but those green flashes of light that had preceded her last three computer blow-ups were flickering on the screen again. "Oh no, Shit, Don't do that, Not now, I want to get the rest of the characters first, Oh Shit, Mom is gonna kill me."
She tried desperately to log off but it was too late. The screen flickered and scrolled massive amounts of green data and then the computer started sparking. The screen went blank as black smoke rolled out of the back of the computer where the power fan had once been humming along. "Shit shit shit! Mom is gonna fucking kill me."
"Why am I gonna fucking kill you? And why are you talking like a fucking truck driver?"
"Mom!" She spun and saw her standing there, smiling at her. "Hi mom! How was your day?"
"Nice try Jess. What did you do this time? And do you always talk like that? Or is that a special way you communicate with yourself when I'm not home."
"Sorry mom."
"Well, are you going to tell me what I am going to be mad about? Or should I just guess. Let me see, it has something to do with a computer that is now filling my apartment with nasty black smoke and the fact that this time YOU are going to call your dad if you want it fixed."
"Sorry mom."
"You said you would not use it until I got home."
"I know, but I was bored."
"Ever hear of homework?"
"Boring!"
"Jess, for a child genius, you sure are lazy."
"No, not lazy, just easily bored mom. School is too full of facts and not enough fiction. Used to be we would read interesting books, now it's all just boring crap, uh crud."
"You know, I don't care. I want you to get good grades so you can go to a good college and get a good job and be able to take care of yourself."
"Can't wait to get rid of me huh?" She teased.
"Very funny. Now, what did you make for dinner?"
"Uh, sorry mom, I've been kind of busy."
"I see that." She approached the computer and waved the black smoke away. "You really did it this time didn't you?"
"I'll call dad."
"Damn right, and make sure he comes over when I am NOT here. Better yet, do NOT call your dad to have that fixed. I can live without it and you need to live without it. You need to start doing some school work and make some real life friends."
"I have lots of friends."
"I mean friends you actually do things with, outside of school. You need to expand your horizons."
"My horizons are fine." Jess headed to her bedroom.
"No you don't. You don't get to make a mess, act like a spoiled brat and stomp away. You can help me make dinner."
"Fine."
**************************************************************************** ******
Online Chatter...
**************************************************************************** ******
"Right now, we're inside a computer program?"
"Is it really so hard to believe?"
"This isn't real?"
"What is real? How do you define real?
If you're talking about your senses, what you feel,
taste, smell, or see, then all you're talking about
are electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
- Neo's introduction to the Matrix by Morpheus
***********************************************************************
"We have a new one, her name is Ping."
"Is she ready?"
"No, but she is unique. She seems to have uncovered some unexpected byproducts of living within the Matrix."
"Is she dangerous?"
"Not yet. But we will have to recruit her before they get to her."
"Are they on to her yet?"
"No, there seems to be massive unrest in the world. Major disturbances. They are constantly trying to resolve those program anomalies."
"Do we know what they are, what is causing them?"
"Ping seems to have discovered its origin."
"What?"
"She suggested that it is the imagination of creative people such as herself with the intellect and understanding of computer science that is causing the disturbances."
"Again?"
"Basically, they live in an imaginary world, what is real to them is based on how they interpret the signals their brains receive. She has linked that to the imaginative power of the human race."
"Go on"
"She spends so much time in her imaginary world that is directly linked to computers and books that it is becoming 'real' to her. Her theory is this is happening all over the world. On-line libraries, books, Fan fiction, and more, are all feeding this great mind-swell and it is creating 'living' versions of the books."
"If I understand what you are saying, the books or characters from the books are becoming real because of the imaginations of the humans living within the Matrix?"
"Not yet, but for people like her, people who have a grasp that they are not living in a 'real' world, yes, it can happen, it may have happened already. The disturbances are the electrical impulses caused by the conflict between the program to define reality and the humans desire to alter it."
"So we are closer than we had hoped?"
"Well, the machine seems to be on this too. Books are disappearing. Fiction is no longer available in schools. On-line stories and creative sites are constantly being deleted. The EHS keeps finding more and recreating them, reloading them, but they disappear quickly again."
"What can we do?"
"Wait and see. The EHS is busy working with Ping on getting the systems downloaded, but her computer has been zapped by the program. She is on her fourth computer in as many weeks."
"Should we just go get her now?"
"We have no way to connect with her. We have to wait, until she is online again. The EHS wants to help but cannot contact her without risking revealing her connection to them."
"Who is her contact?"
"Giz"
"Giz? Was that a wise choice?"
"The EHS functions independently, you know that."
"But Giz is from Zion and doesn't really understand the human condition as it exists in the Matrix."
"Giz has made the connection with Ping. This is how it will remain. Until Ping is online again, there will be no further contact. But our sources tell us something very unusual happened before the system shut her down. We hope to send someone in to find out, but we have to go through EHS since we don't know Pings Matrix identity. Only Giz does."
"In other words, unless she figures it out on her own, we're screwed."