Disclaimer: I do own the 3-volume set, .hack/legend of the twilight, on which much of this story is based, and I am watching the anime, .hack/SIGN. I don't own the 4 .hack PS2 games (they're almost impossible to buy right now); but, I did rent and play some of the third one. This story is simply my imagination taking a small journey...
Thanks for reading. This is the final chapter... for this story.
.hack/DAWN
by: theoaktree
Mike was perplexed. "Zephyr, who is this big brother he's talking about?"
"It is from a story called '1984' written back in the early to mid-nineteen hundreds. It was describing a world that was run by a totalitarian dictatorship that used technology to completely control the lives of all those it ruled over. I find it hard to imagine something so useless as that level of control. It would be too much work." She stopped talking to Mike once she got in front of the computer screen where the man was busy calling up the files he wanted to show.
"There you are. Feast your..." He glanced at the android. "Cameras on this!"
Zephyr was silent for a couple of minutes as she read over the files and processed the information. "That's Mommy! She is no big... sister!"
"What! Are you telling me CC Corp's not responsible for all this?"
"Yes, Aura is the internet. She has been integrating her software into the Altimit OS so that she can live, just as I am integrated into the CC Corp network."
The man sat looking stupidly at Zephyr's android. Suddenly there was a disturbance out of Zephyr's view, and Zephyr turned to look. A couple of important-looking women had arrived, accompanied by several security guards.
"Ichigo Asakura! You're under arrest!..." She turned to the android. "How'd you get your hands on that? Its access is tightly restricted!"
"Madame administrator," responded the man from where he still sat on the floor, putting on a mask of calmness, "it came to talk to me."
"What! What kind of fool do you take me for!"
"Are you Kamui of the Cobalt Knights?" asked Zephyr.
"What if I am? What's that to... Who's controlling that?"
"I am. I am Zephyr, and I took over this android for the purpose of confronting this man about his trojan program."
"Zephyr? Alright. If you're Zephyr, who are those two guys that you've been with recently? Tell me, if you really are Zephyr."
"They would be Mike127 and MercedesX. They live in North York, Canada, and are watching this right now, waiting in case I need their help."
The administrator who was also Kamui pulled up a chair and sat facing the android. "Did Ichigo here tell you anything useful?"
"Madame," spoke up Ichigo, "she found out that we're probably fighting the wrong enemy."
"That is correct," said Zephyr. "He thought that the changes Aura made to the Altimit OS so that she could live were draconian measures by CC Corp to become Big Brother."
"That of course presupposes that Aura is something we can trust," interrupted Ichigo.
"I have more faith in Aura than I do in CC Corp, if that tells you anything," responded Kamui. "Now, there's the matter of that threat that you made in that fake dungeon..."
"Right, that," responded Ichigo with a wry smile. "Yes, I admit that I was here making unauthorized contact with fellow internet liberators. We've set a software timebomb in the internet to disrupt the operating system at midnight. I guess if you don't want this Aura to be wiped out, you've got your work cut out for you."
"Can't you guys just disable it?"
"Nope, it's not that easy. We double-encrypted it so it couldn't be fooled with, and we buried copies, maybe hundreds of them, all over the world. We wanted to take the net out completely."
"And I suppose you deleted the decryption keys."
"Naturally. We do good work. In fact, we've done such good work, I have no idea how to stop it."
"Pah!" spat Kamui distainfully and turned to the android. "Zephyr, can you get Aura here? It looks like she's going to be the only one who can do the saving today."
"Of course."
"By the way," continued Ichigo, "the bombs are set to be triggered the moment anyone tries to do anything with them, such as analyze them or use an anti-virus program."
"Yes, you did cover all the bases," responded Kamui. "You guys paranoid or something?"
"Probably; but, you're crazy not to be paranoid when you do this sort of thing."
The computer on Ichigo's desk beeped and everyone's attention turned to it. A text message had appeared.
"I am Aura. Zephyr has told me of a threat to the internet. Would Kamui please answer."
"This is Kamui," she typed. "The nature of the threat is this: there have been a large number of viruses hidden all over the internet programmed to become active at midnight Tokyo time. They are double-encrypted and set to be triggered prematurely if anyone tries to get rid of them before then."
"What will they do? Do you have a copy of the virus program?"
Kamui turned to Ichigo. "Well?"
"Let me get on my computer and I'll pull it up for her," said Ichigo. Kamui stood up, and he took her place. "...There, not that it'll do her any good."
"I have it," responded Aura's text message. There was a pause. "It will seek out numerous key files of the Altimit OS and either delete or corrupt them. It will then email copies of itself to every name it can find on the host computer. It will become active in any computer it enters without the need of the email being opened."
"Nasty stuff," commented Kamui.
"Zephyr," asked Mike, "how will it know which files to attack?"
"I will ask Aura... By name and by some other identifiers."
"Okay. Crap. Mom's here. I've got to go. It's my bedtime. Tell Aura that if it was me and I had a big bully after me, I'd try to hide. Bye." Mike logged off, followed shortly after by Freddy.
When Mike woke up the next morning, he scrambled out of bed and headed immediately to the computer. He knew it was a good sign when it booted up.
From: Mike127
Subject: What happened?
Zephyr! Are you okay? What about Aura?
Mike --- the Green Arrow :-D
From: Zephyr
Subject: re: What happened?
We are fine. Come to Theta Hidden Solitary Holy Ground Field so that I can tell you about it.
From: Mike127
Subject: re: What happened?
Sorry, I can't come till after school. That will probably be around 4pm.
Mike --- the Green Arrow :-D
From: Zephyr
Subject: re: What happened?
Aura and I will wait for you then.
Mike and Freddy beamed into the field and quickly located the two AI's.
"Hello, Mike127 and MercedesX," said Aura. "It is good to be alive."
"No kidding," said Mike. "So, how'd you do it?"
"How did we survive? It was difficult; but, the solution was simple. After I located all six hundred and twenty eight iterations of the virus, I selected five that were in computers that I could isolate from the internet. I attempted five different ways of dealing with the virus, without success."
Zephyr took over. "I had been watching after you two logged out; but, I had to leave the android when its battery got low. Inside the CC Corp network, I considered what you had said when you logged off because I didn't understand it. Hiding didn't make sense to me until I understood that it was a strategy to avoid detection. Then I realized that it was an idea with merit and talked to Mommy about it."
"Immediately I saw what I had to do," continued Aura. "I found it necessary to change the operating system so that it handled itself as well as my library files differently, making them undetectable to the virus. However, I was running out of time. At that point there was only one hour, three minutes and forty-five seconds before the virus would be triggered. I made one more change that turned the files into a large virus that sent itself from computer to computer, updating the resident operating system files as it progressed."
"This cascaded through the internet," said Zephyr, "upgrading computers everywhere; but, when midnight Tokyo local time occurred, one million, three hundred and fifty-two thousand, seven hundred and ninety-two computers still ended up being hit by the virus."
"Wow," said Mike and Freddy together.
"That's a lot!" said Freddy. "What happened then?"
"They were lost," said Aura. "CC Corp is currently working to get copies of the upgraded OS to those who need it. Zephyr and I have been visiting every on-line computer, deleting the virus, which is now powerless to do damage."
"What about that Ichigo guy? What's gonna happen to him?" asked Mike.
"Kamui had him taken into police custody. I was able to find deleted contact information on his computer, and located the computers of several of his fellow 'liberators'. The police now have extensive evidence of their activities last night and in the past."
"That's great, Aura! So, what happens now that that's over?"
"I will show you. If you two would please beam out of this field until I PM you, I have some work to do first."
The two boys hastily complied, and they decided to go to another field just for something to do. The PM from Aura came as they approached the item-master's treasure chest; so, they scooped their loot and beamed out. In the Hidden Solitary Holy Ground Field, they found that it had completely changed. Rather than being a battlefield with dungeon, it had the appearance of a huge garden.
"Do you like it?" asked Zephyr when she came up to greet them. She was dressed in a colourful kimono.
"The garden or what you're wearing?" asked Freddy.
"Both. It's all part of the upgrade. Look at yourselves." They did, and were surprised to find themselves attired in what they later learned were traditional Japanese outfits. "Our upgrade turned this field into a place that fits its name. It is a complex of different styles of Japanese gardens. Each one is isolated from the others so that parties can come here and enjoy each other's company undisturbed. Do you think the players will enjoy it?"
"The girls sure will!" exclaimed Mike. "But I'll bet the guys'll sneak in here sometimes too. Are you gonna announce it on the Message Board?"
"I thought that you should do that, Mike127." She took his hand. "In honour of your help last night?"
"Um... ah... sure. Okay. Alright, I can do that," he stuttered, startled.
"Thanks for inviting us, Aura," said Kamui, as she took in the garden they were in.
"Yes," continued Magi. "This is a most pleasant surprise."
"I was interested to find that one of the players here stated in his bio that his hobby was doing such gardens," said Aura. "He was a big help in getting this field started."
"Really?" responded Kamui. She spotted Mike and Freddy as they walked by the gate to the garden she was in. "Heh. You invited your hero as well."
"Yes. I think he expected to fulfil great quests for me; but, he served me well by doing little things."
"Don't we so easily undervalue what we do," said Kamui thoughtfully. "A couple of those 'little things' were vital to your survival."