Press the Green Button
Chapter 2
"This is the machine," Enzan said gravely, gesturing at the metal-and-glass contraption. It was clunky-looking and unfinished.
Netto regarded it with interest. "And you say that this thing can convert a human body into Navi data?"
Enzan nodded. "It's meant to be only temporary, of course. The other side of the department is attempting to design solid holograms to do the opposite; draw Navis into the real world. This device..." he nodded at the machine, "does not create Navis in the same manner that Rockman was created years ago. It is very real--but still untested and therefore dangerous, and isn't meant to be used for long amounts of time.
"How it works," he continued, "is a complicated process--which no doubt you would need years of university physics studies to even begin to comprehend. Sorry, Hikari. To put it in layman's terms, the body is converted by the field inside that glass case, and the data is sent to that computer terminal. It's inside the terminal where the actual creation of the Navi is--the data of the human, because it is so vast, remains in the terminal while an avatar that functions like a Navi is created at a certain point within the Net. Your father's avatar--rather, his 'Navi form'--was supposed to meet with Emdee. However--" he took a deep breath "--there was a transfer problem, and Emdee was unable to track the data. It's uncertain whether or not he is in the Net or whether the transfer was even successful."
"But Papa--I mean, the data is in there, right?" Netto pointed at the computer, somehow unwilling to admit that his father actually was now mere data. "You said it was too big to carry all at once."
"That's right. Your Rockman Navi was a state-of-the-art design, actual AI--but this machine must deal with many years of memories that the person may need to access. The Hikari-hakase Navi stays connected to the main data through links, yes, but without the Navi form there is no way to communicate with his consciousness. He feels nothing within the PC--only what the Navi feels; what the Navi touches."
"Netto-kun, plug me in," Rockman interrupted loudly. "I'm going to look for him."
"The Net is a big place," Enzan warned. "Because of the interrupted transfer, if he's even in there, he may be difficult to find--he might not be able to remember who you are, or even who he himself is."
"Then it's up to me to look for him," Rockman declared, even as Netto was plugging him into the terminal.
Once Rockman had landed on his feet and was running at top speed through the city, Netto looked up and caught Enzan square in the eye. "What can I do?"
"Nothing," Enzan replied, breaking away his gaze. "I've already sent Blues to search--and I knew you would send your Rockman in as well. Better that you have the facts if you're going to rush headlong into this."
You'd almost think he trusted me, Netto thought sardonically. Even so, he was glad that Enzan had brought him here and explained. The machine his father had been working on--what an invention! As Navis became more and more customized, such devices seemed even more full of potential.
For Rock... As his twin has once been human himself, Netto knew that he occasionally regretted not being able to physically touch the people he cared for. Something like this would be a dream come true. And who knows, if AI really takes off, other Navis like Rock will appear...who think and act for themselves. This could mean a lot for their Operators.
Netto blinked away his reverie and stared at Enzan. "Thanks. I appreciate it."
"Good. Show me how much by staying out of trouble--this is a job for the Net Agents, not for kids, no matter what you did against the World Three. I only brought you here because I knew you'd find out soon enough anyway."
"Yeah, I got it." The young Netbattler clutched his PET tighter in his right hand and gripped the console with his left.
"In that case, I'm going to keep trying to clean up this mess." Enzan strode from the room without another word, leaving Netto alone.
"I'll stay here and wait," the brunette finally said to himself, leaning in to peer at the monitor. "I could get a visual here, right, Rock?"
"Yeah," his twin replied, and momentarily a video window appeared on the screen. Brown eyes followed the lithe figure across the screen, where he was inspecting Net message boards. "I wonder where Blues is...but maybe there'll be something on the boards."
Netto had moved to place his PET in the nearest charger, noting another with a black design occupying the single slot. Papa's... "Hey, where do you think Emdee went?"
"I can send an email if you'd like," Rock answered tightly. He was running again, this time through an Internet area Netto wasn't familiar with.
"Okay. Just ask where he is and if he's found any clues that could help us." Netto was eyeing another charger, this one empty. "And...wait, Rock...did Papa have a partner on this project?"
"Papa usually works alone," Rockman replied, confused. "But...this isn't his usual office, either. There's two of everything in here. Maybe there was someone else?"
Netto gazed slowly around the room, his eyes noting a definite pattern in the objects around him. "You might be right...two lockers, two chairs, and two PCs. We'd better ask Emdee."
"I'm on it."
---
Internet Area 7
"Ugh." Hikari Yuuichirou was expecting to wake up to feel--what? Pain? Dizziness? Anything but the sudden emptiness he was currently experiencing in every limb. He knew that he lay flat on his back, but his body's usual mass did not weigh heavily against the floor.
Experiment. And...data conversion... Grudgingly he sat up, trying not to pitch forward with his change in weight. "We...did it? This is amazing!"
But although he glanced around him, there was no one around for as far as he could see. Just the twisted pathways of the Net, and not even a familiar area. "Emdee?"
Instinctively he reached for the pocket of his lab coat, where he usually kept the PET--but, of course, he had left it in the PC connector. Shit. Where am I...? Where's Emdee?
Yuuichirou tried to quash the sinking feeling in his virtual stomach. He was alone, and there was no way to contact anyone from here. I have to get away from here. He had to find someone he knew, or at least someplace familiar.
Before anyone else found him.
The scientist gathered his wits, choosing a direction in which to run. I wish I could access the directional system! But I don't know how to interface with the Net...this could be bad. He proceeded forward cautiously, testing the unfamiliar "gravity" that weighed his lightened body down; until he was sure he could move untroubled. He then began to run along the blue path on which he stood. This will lead me somewhere...hopefully to a familiar Area! If only I could find Emdee...
Deep inside the avatar program, the 'recall' feature lay unheeded. Yuuichirou ran on.
---
Lab Area 2
"...and he says Cossack-hakase instructed an immediate shutdown so as not to damage the data," Rockman finished between gasps.
"Where can we find this Cossack guy?"
"Hang on." Rockman paused for a long moment as Netto sat, jittery, at the computer console. The human boy watched his Navi link into different bookmarks on the pop-up screen. "Emdee doesn't know. Sorry, Netto-kun."
The young Netbattler drummed his fingers impatiently. "I can't stand doing nothing."
"We're not doing nothing," Rockman answered, his voice distracted. "I'm looking for Papa."
"I'm not doing anything."
"Feel free to join me," the Navi said loftily.
The silence which followed this statement was familiar enough to Rockman that he immediately stopped and glared up at the PET screen overhead. "It was a joke. Don't even think about it."
"But Rock," Netto protested, "I want to help! Plus, Enzan told us exactly how this thing worked, and if Papa was designing it..."
"The thing is, it didn't work," he replied firmly. "That's the reason WHY Papa is lost, if you remember."
"A 'transfer problem' doesn't mean the experiment was unsuccessful," Netto argued.
"No."
"You can't stop me."
"I sure as hell can," the Navi shot back, anger filtering into his voice. "I can contact Blues a lot faster than you can turn that thing on."
"You wouldn't."
"I would."
"Fine," Netto conceded grumpily, sitting back down. "You'd just better find him, you hear?"
"I will," Rockman promised.
---
"This is strange." Enzan re-read the error report again, tapping his fingers on the desk. "Surely a Navi as advanced as Hikari's Emdee could maintain such a simple connection. All he was doing was transferring data. Even such a big file as the avatar program should still have been easy for him."
"The connection was broken abruptly. There aren't that many probable causes." Blues' expression was stony.
"It almost certainly had something to do with the PET's link to the mother computer. It had to have been severed somehow--it's too obvious."
"You suspect sabotage?"
"A human act or a faulty wire. It could only be one of the two, Enzan-sama."
"And only one human was in contact with that PET. Someone I cannot accuse."
Blues scowled. "Mahito Cossack's father's status will not protect him if he has endangered another human's life."
"It's not his status I'm worried about, Blues. What motive could he have possibly had for trying to kill Hikari-hakase? Surely he knew what the results of those actions would be." Enzan's face hardened. "We need a motive...and we need evidence."
---
Netto innocently toyed with the control panel, wondering how on earth his father had come up with such an invention. The principle of it, of course, was simple enough...get in glass box, hit "on" button, direct avatar to Internet, tadan. The problem being that he, Netto, would need assistance to operate it...assistance Rockman surely would not provide willingly. And since discovering that the Navi was his younger brother, Netto has been hesitant to ask anything of Rockman that he did not want to give.
Unless he was forced.
Netto inspected the machine with renewed interest. The glass case, Enzan had said, was what held the person's body before it became data. Of course, the person in the case could not turn it on...that, of course, had been why Bit Cossack had been at the scene of the accident. He found a large switch below a row of green status bars and grinned. That's it!
Netto's PET was still in the leather casing at his hip, where he had replaced it after transferring Rockman into the Science Lab's mother computer. He could still speak to Rockman through it, of course, just couldn't send him any battle chips while the Navi was disconnected from the personal terminal. The brown-haired Netbattler pulled out the PET's cord and wound it three times around the large lever, securing it, before backing quietly across the room. The cord barely reached the enormous coffin-like case.
Rockman, thankfully, had not noticed Netto's absence above the PC. The boy opened the casing and climbed in, lowering the lid almost to a close over him, propped open slightly by the cord leading to his PET. He brought his face close to the speaker and whispered, "Catch me, Rockman."
The Navi's worried voice came back to him. "What?"
Without a reply, Netto yanked on the cord, pulling the switch with it.
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-to be continued...
