Disclaimer: Code Lyoko belongs to a bunch of people in France. Nice people who won't sue me if I write for it.
Un Monde Sans Danger
Chapter 3 - Animal Instinct
Tick. Tock.
It stewed, circling its consciousness over and over onto itself, like swirling mists caught in a small space... Only without any actual mist. Humans and their ilk could be so slow sometimes. Even when they work their fingers to the bone in their eagerness to get something accomplished.
Pff, bones.
But, it could wait. Its tendrils of self were stretched out, touching little points here and there, never enough to get noticed, but plenty to keep it more aware of everything than it could have been.
Than it should have been.
What it wanted to accomplish would take outside help. More than it could do on its own... Especially at this point in time.
But it had all the time in the world.
It could wait.
Tick. Tock.
-
December 15thAnother sleep-less night, spent down here in the lab. At least it wasn't lonely as well; Aelita was more than willing to talk. Especially since...
Well, she asked a lot about my own life, which startled me, although I suppose it shouldn't have. Her world is Lyoko and this room, it's natural for her to be curious about the rest of civilization.
Through her inquiries, she was taught about relationships between other humans, although admittedly explaining the concept of "love" was difficult. But it's that way with anyone, is it not?
She seemed interested in the fact that I have a pet. Through access to our World Wide Web, I was able to show her what "animals" were, and her curiosity grew. This only reminded me about a side project, the very same I mentioned in an earlier entry, to create other lifeforms specifically for Lyoko. Humans seem to do better when it is not just them in an area; as I hope to bring humans into this paradise someday, it seems logical that there should be something besides humans. I have already started sketches on the first of these 'animals', and I expect I'll be working on them tonight. Probably through the night, to at least get the base programming completed. Then I can sleep. Although...
(indeterminable sketches and scribbles take up the rest of the page)
-
Aelita leaned against one sandy boulder, folding her legs together in front of her. One hand played with a small pebble, as her eyes tracked its movement. Some part of her brain took measurements of the stone, gridding it, making a texture map of it, without really being told to. She rolled the pebble around in her hand, giving a little sound when it tumbled from her palm and into her lap. It was picked up, and the small grains of sand it left behind were brushed off the stretched cloth of her skirt. Standing, she enclosed her fist around the chipped piece of rock, looking for a long moment at the shape of her bunched fingers.
When the moment passed, she brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, passing over the point as easily as if it'd been a simple curve. Attention drifting back to the captive rock, Aelita uncurled her fingers, and looked at the orangeish-brown chunk sitting, as if waiting, in her open hand. Just it, and nothing more. Her eyes raised, followed by the rest of her head, as she cast her gaze out over the flat desert that surrounded her on all sides.
Just it and nothing more.
The pebble sailed through the air, a small dot moving through the afternoon sky, then a small dot bouncing in its own shadow on the hard ground. Aelita lowered her arm, staring at it long after it'd landed. Turning about, she climbed up over the boulder she'd been sitting at, staying crouched at the top for only a second before jumping down on the other side. A smile picked up as she started a run.
-
A boulder of ice trembled in its spot, before sliding an inch and coming to a stop. It shook again and moved another inch. Another. Soon it was sliding all the way across the path, a few thousand pixels at a time, the ground underneath becoming black and green framing before rebuilding itself into a slick icy ground. Aelita paused, watching the ice in the boulder's path of movement reformat itself. Fascinating. Though it lasted only a few seconds, she found herself staring down, as if waiting for it to do it again. Then, remembering what she was doing, she raised her head and began pushing the slightly conical rock again.
The frozen slab soon found itself teetering on the edge of cliff. Aelita glanced past it, inching herself to the sudden drop-off and looking down. Far, far below, the digital void waited, stretching out across what would've simply been empty space in the Polar region. Patting the rock, she gave it one final heave and watched it plummet until it hit the void with a sound that, to her, sounded like many mini-explosions of the "sh" sound, which then dissolved into ticking computer code and finally, silence. Boulder taken care of, Aelita backed away from the edge and turned, running towards the high ice plateau behind her, and the small cave entrance that the boulder had previously blocked.
Moving through the short tunnel behind the opening, she was soon taken to a great cave, hidden in the frigid mountain. Aelita took a step, walking for the ice-region tower in front of her. She was nearly there, when something unusual caused her to stop and turn around, something she'd never experienced before. She turned and searched behind her, but saw nothing. Shrugging, she started walking again. A twitch of her ears and she halted once more, going on her guard.
Yep, she was hearing something. A distinct buzzing sound. And it was coming closer.
-
January 3rdIt has taken me longer than I thought it would, but I have finally managed to program other lifeforms for Lyoko. So far only two are done, two that I have modeled after actual Earth animals. I have named one "Wasp", and the other "Crab", after the animals they resemble. And, using the Wasp's maneuverability to my advantage, I have taken the liberty of arming it. Though Lyoko is being built to be a paradise, it is innate human nature to fight and battle. So I have put a pair of weapons into the Wasp's system, to enable it to act much the same way as police do here on Earth. Let it not be said that I'm not covering my bases.
XANA is acting somewhat strangely. It is performing its duties just fine, for which I am glad for. But it also has a sector of itself protected, with a password no less. I've got half a mind to hack inside and see just what it is up to.
-
The chilling blue of the Polar region was little more than a blur, passing by faster than she could process, than she cared to process right now. She let out a little yelp, turning down a side path and continuing to run. High up behind her flew a chunky, multi-winged...creature of some sort, with gleaming pointed shafts at both ends, and little pinchers under what could have been its head. It turned as she did, swooping effortlessly around spires of ice that reached up on either side of the path below. A glowing light charged on its body; hearing the onset of the laser, Aelita gulped and reached out, grabbing a thin chunk of ice and swinging around just in time to miss three separate blasts. The rebuilding of the ground that had intrigued her earlier, frightened her now. She panted without really knowing what panting was, and continued running. Twisting about in the air, the buzzing thing followed her, readying its weapon to fire again.
Suddenly she found herself dropping, then sliding. The creature didn't hesitate for a moment before swooping, following her down the frozen incline. Aelita let out a shrill cry that seemed to get blown back behind her until the cave at the end of the path swallowed it, and her, whole. The fright caused by a sudden, small explosion outside was soon outdone by the panic she found of sliding without control. She clawed at the walls, the floor, anything that came close enough in the twists and turns of the tunnel, all in an effort to stop, all without doing any good. She shrieked, flying halfway up one side of the curving wall and down again. Looking ahead, she noticed a change in the light in the tunnel, and hoped that this horrific ride was coming to an end. Shooting out of the passage, a shriek sounded when she dropped again, this time with nothing immediately under her. Just her and air.
Then, it was all over. Aelita blinked, and raised her head, looking around. She kneeling on a stretch of ice, one knee pressed to the ground. Standing, she let out a mimicked sigh of relief when she realized one of her failsafe programs had kicked in, letting her land correctly. She turned, scanning the drop. 30 meters, from here to the sudden drop-off. As she walked, then ran from the spot, she vowed to never go down that tunnel again.
But what had been that...that thing? She could only guess that the explosion she'd heard was the creature impacting with the ice wall. She certainly hoped that's what it was, anyway.
Looking ahead of her, she smiled and began running for what she saw. Maybe the database, properly accessed through the tower, would have an answer.
-
January 5thAelita told me about her encounter with the Wasp. I suppose I have only myself to blame; checking into its program, I found a faulty line of coding. As I fixed it, I took that chance to streamline the Wasp, and the Crab as well, for that matter. Now they should both move easier throughout Lyoko.
More than an improved program came out of that instance, however. It gave me the perfect opportunity to test the restorative capabilities of the towers that I recently wrote in, as a way to get around the problem in Aelita's Synthesize. Through it, she was also able to restore all of her lifepoints that she lost while escaping my Wasp. I am ecstatic that it actually works!
(Later addition)
XANA won't let me in. It continuously thwarts all of my attempts to hack into its protected area. This is getting troublesome. And worrisome...
-
Well, wasn't this new. Aelita sat on a flat rock, carefully chosen for its height and cover, so she could watch something below while keeping out of their sight. And there she remained, attention riveted by these new creatures here in the desert.
They were like...she didn't know what they were like. She'd never seen anything like them before! Somewhat squashed discs on top of four legs that were spindly and knobby all at once, that tapered down to very fine points. It was a wonder they could walk on legs like that... Her eyes flicked, watching the two move about in front of a tower. One seemed to pace, while the other scratched at the dirt for...who knows what. Every now and again they faced each other, seeming to look at each other with all of their gleaming eyes. Then they'd turn away, and go back to their business. Aelita sat back, pondering what she was observing.
Crabs, they were called, according to the Lyoko-specific data base. Something put into this world to mimic real life on Earth. Did something that was truly alive walk aimlessly, or dig at a ground that could produce nothing fruitful? Aelita stood, glancing at them one final time before turning away and beginning to walk.
Something put here to mimic real life on Earth.
These new lifeforms mimicked real crabs.
Was she put here to mimic humans?
She wasn't human, in any case.
Stopping, she stared out at the part of the desert ahead of her. After a moment, she smiled lightly.
No, she wasn't human.
She was more.
-
January 16thSince their improvements, the Wasps and Crabs have been peaceful. Occasionally there would be spats among themselves, but I am not surprised. In fact, I'm pleased. That means the animalistic behavior patterns that I programmed in are working fine. I have also noticed that they are exhibiting herding tendencies, which is more of the program. Excellent.
What I wish was going so well, however, is XANA. Information I've collected has begun to vanish; I suspect it's gone into XANA's passworded area. For what end purpose, however, I have no idea. If this weren't such a sensitive project right now, I'd be able to enlist the help of my colleagues to discover what is going on. Until I am finished, however, I must do this on my own. I only hope it is due to some quirk in XANA's programming rather than actual 'planning'. I shall have to take greater care with what I manually feed to it...
On the other hand, Aelita is doing the best of all. She has shown the ability to think on her feet, and I have already mentioned the fact that she is learning. In fact, her curiosity seems to know no bounds. I have created a more extensive link to the 'Internet' for her to help satisfy that curiosity when I am unavailable, such as when I'm asleep.
However, as much as I am progressing with Aelita and the others, XANA continues to worry me. It's probably nothing - the data gathering certainly seems haphazard enough. As I said though, I shall watch it more closely from here on out.
-
Numbers churned on its internal screen as it stood straighter, looking up and down this green area, numerous eyes returning one image. One foot forward, then another, the Crab began walking down the path, its legs making mechanical clanking noises it could never hope to understand. Then, something was centered in the crosshairs in its vision. It backed up, posture clearly reading "surprise", if it even had such an emotion. A decidedly un-forest thing was standing there, looking up at it with two eyes as it looked down with three. Within seconds, the word "A.E.L.I.T.A." flashed on its screen as it continued to study this thing. Then, the object turned and ran away. It shifted, watching the other leave.
How unusual.
And somewhere beyond the Crab's consciousness, beyond Lyoko, there was something else...
How perfect...
Preview of Chapter 4
So, this was the other side. The wires of the computer room, clumped together, bundled against the ceiling and down, then back up again. The walls were paneled with metal, and whether the subtle curve was an illusion or not, he didn't care. Over there was a ladder to a higher floor, and over there...
The rig. And at the end of it, the computer.
He found it.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3! Hopefully I'll have the next one up a lot sooner. And thankfully, FF dot net wasn't as evil italicizing this one as it was the last. Chapter 2 would've been out half an hour earlier if it wasn't for that... Stick around, this thing's only gonna get more interesting, especially with the next two chapters. Read and review!