Press the Green Button

Chapter 4


Town Area 4

A vidwindow blinked to life in the air above Emdee's head, startling the blue Navi slightly with its 'incoming' sound. He halted, the folds of his synthesized white lab coat swishing around his knees at the sudden stop. Emdee activated the email message without a word, read the message without a change in expression, closed the window and immediately proceeded in the direction from whence he had come.

He was not a particularly emotional Navi, through no fault of his Operator's. Hikari Yuuichirou was an extremely experienced programmer and, in Emdee's humble opinion, a certifiable genius. He rarely saw the intelligence and quick wit he observed in his Operator in other humans. As a result, Emdee was fully capable of taking advantage of the vast personality options available to him, yet he chose to remain stoic and calm, as he had once been programmed at the beginning of the Network Era. Yuuichirou's attempts to "liven up" his personality had all resulted in Emdee absorbing the changes and proceeding as his original schema. Some might have seen this as a downfall, perhaps even a mark of failure on the great programmer's part, but it was not so. Emdee was merely advanced enough to behave of his own accord, and if he wished to be calm and collected, calm and collected he would be.

Yet now he was rattled. Yuuichirou missing, Cossack in charge, and young Ijuuin leading the investigation -- not that Emdee disliked the boy, but he really had not the knowledge to reverse the technical side of the problem -- it seemed as though their great achievement was simply crumbling.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a white lab coat disappearing into a bookmark.

"Yuuichirou-kun?" He ran to the link, following the lab coat into it. When he rematerialized, however, it was a bewildered Gamma who appeared beside him. "Oh…Gamma."

"Emdee." Gamma's yellow eyes were downcast. "Have you...had any luck in your search?"

"None," Emdee replied with a frown.

"Ah..."

"For a moment, I thought you were Yuuichirou-kun." He blinked slowly, his gaze focused off to the side. "I was mistaken. In any case, young Ijuuin-kun has recalled me back to the mother computer to ask me some questions. Will you be continuing to search?"

"No, I...Ijuuin-san asked me to return as well."

"Is something wrong?" Emdee's visored eyes were now focused directly on the other Navi. He had caught a nervous inflection in Gamma's voice, causing him to experience a tiny jolt of satisfaction. Emdee was excellent at concealing his personal thoughts and emotions...clearly Gamma was incapable of keeping to himself that something was bothering him. Most unsuitable for a scientist.

"It's Mahito-kun...I shouldn't even tell you this, but it might not be too late to save Hikari-hakase..."

---

Internet Area 5

The only change in expression to hint at Netto's shock was a slow, deliberate twitch of his right eye. "Okay...what?"

"Cossack-hakase," Rockman barely contained the anger in his voice, "has evidently decided that the machine is far too dangerous to go on as it is, and he is attempting to have it dismantled. Also, Enzan-kun wants to know where you are."

"Shit."

"My thoughts exactly."

"But they can't take apart the machine if there's a chance that Papa's alive," Netto argued.

"Don't tell that to me, tell it to them. The order for the search to be ended for now reached Blues just as he was recalling me anyway. So let's head back."

"No." Netto spun on his heel and marched off in the direction in which they'd been walking. "I'm not going anywhere until we find Papa. Anyway, Enzan probably just wants to yell at me."

Rockman followed at a jog, grabbing his twin's arm. "Enzan-kun doesn't even know where you are. And anyway, we're getting deeper into unknown areas here. It's dangerous!"

"Let go!" Netto growled, pulling his arm away. "If it's so dangerous, call us some help! I'm not leaving!"

"Netto-kun, we have to let them know you're in here! They can't take apart the machine and leave you stranded--!"

Netto broke into a run. "You tell them that, then!"

"Netto-kun!"

The brunette ran into the next Area warp and vanished, his fuming Navi two steps behind.

---

Internet Area 6

Netto ran headlong out of the warp, determined to get as far ahead of Rockman as he could, so his twin would have no excuse for not following him. Almost immediately, though, he ran directly into another Navi heading into the warp, and the impact sent them both sprawling.

Stars danced briefly in front of Netto's eyes. He shook his head to clear them, abruptly turning at the warp emitting another sound behind him. Rockman barely stopped in time to avoid tripping over the two avatars on the ground. "Papa!"

Yuuichirou lifted his head, eyes wide. "Rock? ...Netto?"

---

"You aren't going to get away with this." Enzan's hands were on his hips, his blue eyes like chips of ice.

Bit Cossack looked bewildered. "I'm only trying to prevent another tragedy from taking place, Ijuuin. How would you feel if it were your father who'd been killed in there?"

Enzan's mouth hardened into a line, unwilling to gratify the scientist with an answer to that question. "It isn't too late to save Hikari-hakase."

"Young people have so much hope." Cossack's expression was sad but his words sounded fake. "I'm afraid he really is gone. His consciousness was destroyed in the transfer. I can even show you--I can bring his body back, but he won't ever wake up."

"That is what you'd like everyone to believe, isn't it?"

"It's true." Cossack strode over to the darkened capsule and pressed a few buttons on the panel there. "His Frame is still here, still breathing--but no brain activity. Watch."

A body on a platform rose from the storage compartment below, the area where the human Frame was kept while its consciousness was in the Net. To both their surprise, however, it did not belong to Hikari Yuuichirou.

A slow grin spread across Enzan's face. "Well, well, well. Looks like someone's been using your machine. I guess that rules out the possibility of it being dismantled just yet."

Cossack began to sputter. "Who--who the hell is this kid? How did he get into the converter?" The scientist stabbed a green button and the platform slid down and to the side, and another platform bearing Yuuichirou's frame rose into the capsule. "He's gone in there since Hikari did! What kind of idiot--?"

"You'll be responsible for both their deaths if you're not careful," Enzan said icily. "Call off the request you just made to the Council."

Cossack turned on Enzan. "You shut up! It's not my fault if that kid or Hikari dies! They went into the converter voluntarily!"

Enzan's expression did not betray his thoughts. Instead, he simply said, "And if your fingerprints are found on the loose cord in the control panel?"

Cossack froze. "You arrogant little brat...how much do you know?"

"Enough to get Hikari-hakase out of there safely, if he's alive, and have you locked up for quite a while."

"That's a shame. I was hoping I could find some use for you, but it seems we must part ways after all." A gleam shone in the scientist's brown eyes.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?"

He removed a cylinder-shaped object from his pocket and advanced.

---

Lab Area 1

The Hikari family, unaware of the urgency of their situation, were busy having a spirited reunion as they walked back to the bookmark, as though they hadn't seen each other that morning at breakfast. The circumstances were extreme, of course, but that certainly wasn't dampening Netto's mood. He bounced between his brother (who was trying to compose a videomail to Blues) and his father (who was inspecting his oldest son with great interest as the natural Navi encoded the file). Neither of the other Hikaris were able to devote much of their attention to Netto, and he eventually grew sulky and calmed down, attempting a pretence of responsibility. "Now it's time for us to determine the cause of the accident."

"Yes, it was definitely rather strange. I know my calculations were correct," Yuuichirou replied.

"Plus, you'd think Cossack-hakase would have aborted the transfer once he knew something was wrong," said Rockman.

The trio reached the bookmark that led back to the Science Labs mother computer, but the link had gone black and dead. "That's weird," Netto observed. "It was working before."

Yuuichirou glanced at the blue-jumpsuited boy. "Can you reach Emdee?"

"No." Rockman frowned, bringing a control screen up in the air in front of him. "My last message went unanswered, my queries came back no-response."

"Strange."

"I hope nothing happened to him. What if he went into the Undernet?" Rockman was the most aware of this area's close proximity to the Net's underworld, as well as its ability to cut off connections with the upper Cyberworld. He looked worriedly at his father.

"I would hope he would have more sense."

Rockman thought it best not to mention Emdee's keen sense of loyalty and duty. If Netto was willing to run headlong into the Undernet (something Rock had talked him out of not ten minutes ago), Emdee would probably be on the fourth level by now. Fortunately, Yuuichirou was too distracted to consider the possibility for long, asserting that Emdee was far too logical to have assumed the worst and gone in unprepared.

Besides, that was nothing compared to the jolt that went through him when his videomail to Blues came back undelivered.

If we can't reach Enzan, we can't get out. Dread filled his stomach; along with a sense that all was not well back in the real world. No Emdee and no Blues? I could try to contact Roll, but if she were to get hurt...I get the feeling we're in a lot of trouble here...

"Rock? Is something wrong?" Netto looked at him worriedly. Rockman splayed his hands in front of him and grinned nonchalantly. "Nothing! Just thinking to myself!"

The brunette didn't look convinced. Rockman sighed--he wouldn't have been either. Netto was exceptionally good at reading his twin's emotions.

Blues...where are you?

---

"God DAMN it Blues! Where the hell are you?" Enzan yelled, lunging for his PET, just a split-second too late. Cossack laughed, enjoying watching the young Net Agent fish under the humongous machine for the device. "Blues!"

"Sorry, kid." Cossack sounded more apologetic than his countenance implied. "He's fried. Nothing you can do."

Enzan inspected the terminal, attempting to restart it by hitting it with the flat of his hand. "What did you do?" he hissed.

"Concentrated ion burst," the scientist replied airily. "You'll need to format it to get it going again. Plus, I've severed the Internet connection, just in case you brought friends."

"You coward. How many people are you going to kill before you get your way?"

Cossack's smile was manic, condescending. "Who said anything about killing? I'm just volunteering you for our lovely experiment. You'll probably survive as stray data."

"Not interested," Enzan replied grimly, tossing the ruined PET to the floor.

"Too bad." Cossack sprung with the reflexes of a cat, catching Enzan's wiry arms with his strong grip. He wrestled the yelling boy to the floor, holding him down until Enzan's struggles subsided. "Giving up? That's great, less work for me. Gamma, turn on the converter, would you? ...Gamma?"

"Did your plan of cutting off the Net involve locking your Navi out too?" Enzan sneered.

Cossack smiled toothily. "Too bad, he can get back in using a special upload. I don't need him anyway, I can take care of a brat like you by myself."

"You don't seem very appreciative of the guy who's keeping a secret that could get you arrested."

The scientist froze. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean," Enzan's smirk radiated confidence, "that maybe you should treat your Navi a little more nicely, seeing how he's the only witness to your crime. And was so kind as to provide me with a full confession, which is almost certainly in thirteen peoples' inboxes by now, just in case anything should happen to me."

"...I can just kill you here, then, so be it!" Bit growled, wrapping his hands around Enzan's neck. The boy began to struggle again, not anticipating the sudden attack, and choked in the scientist's grip.

"Mahito-kun, stop!" Gamma's voice blared from the mother computer's speaking, halting Cossack's movements for a split second. Enzan managed to draw a single laboured breath.

"You sold me out," Bit cried, his voice rising. "I can't believe you! Weren't you the one who wanted me to be like Father? I finally get somewhere and you sell me out to a bunch of kids?"

"Mahito-kun, you're killing the boy!" Gamma pleaded. "Please stop--I don't want to have to call the police--"

"Rest assured that I will," another voice said coldly. "Rise, Cossack, and leave him be. Your father wouldn't want this."

Bit glared angrily at the speaker from which Emdee's voice had issued, above which a video screen turned itself on. "And what would you know? You've gained just as much from my losses as Hikari!"

"When Yuuichirou-kun was Cossack-hakase's intern, I found him to be a kind, respectable man," Emdee said quietly. "Yuuichirou-kun studied under him from when I was created up until his death, and never once did I find any of the character flaws in him that I have observed in you. I have continued to evaluate you, but you have never become the kind of person he was."

"Shut up!" Bit screamed, lunging for the console. Enzan sat up and crawled into the corner, looking for something to protect himself with. Gamma looked taken aback at Emdee's cold words. "It's too late now, isn't it? Hikari's dead and it's my fault! So what? It's about time he stopped hogging all the glory! My father was the greatest scientist that ever lived, and he...he..."

"Your father was a great man," Emdee agreed. "He died too young. I was very sorry to see him pass."

"Don't talk like you have real feelings!" Bit yelled. "That was my father's...his..."

"His project," Blues supplied, looming over Gamma with his arms crossed. "Cossack-hakase never lived to see the experiments in Navi AI take root."

"He got all the credit," the scientist seethed. "For my father's work, he got all the credit! No one even remembered the Cossack name!"

"That's not true," Gamma protested. "All the important people remembered what your father did for Navi research. Everyone at Science Labs, they remember."

"Would you rather have seen his project die unfinished?" Enzan asked quietly.

"Shut up, you little brat! You don't know anything..." Bit's expression was unreadable, his eyes masked by chestnut bangs.

"You had a lot of potential…Bit…"

Cossack's head shot up and he levelled his gaze at Emdee. "Hikari."

The labcoated Navi sidestepped, allowing Yuuichirou's grim countenance to be seen behind him. "I knew your father as both a partner and a friend. He would have been unhappy to see you attacking a child to gain your ends."

His rage spent, Bit fell to the floor on his knees. "Hakase...I..."

"I should have recognized your ambitions," Yuuichirou continued, his expression solemn. "Instead I was too caught up in the experiment to even notice that the way I treated you had become a problem. I'm afraid I'm still too used to seeing you as the child who visited his father at the Labs. You are a scientist in your own right, and you deserved every measure of my respect. For both your father's sake and your own. I am sorry for that." The Hikari twins had come to stand protectively in front of their father on the screen, shielding him from the deranged intern.

"Choose, Cossack," Enzan said quietly. "Your next words may determine your future in this town."

The last vestiges of Bit's shock dissolved and he supported himself on his hands, staring at the tiled floor. "I...what have I done...?"

"Toasted your career, for one," Netto growled. His twin clapped a gloved hand over the brunette's mouth.

"Repair the converter," Yuuichirou said gently. "You and I will work this out. There's no need to involve the police on my side."

"And Ijuuin-kun...?" Emdee glanced pointedly at Enzan, whose neck was red with strangulation marks.

The young businessman shook his head. "I will trust Hikari-hakase's judgment. However, if you ever come near me again, I will have you arrested."

"I understand," Bit said gratefully. "I'll bring you back, Hakase, and we can talk...and...I'm sorry..."

The bespectacled scientist's eyes were wary, but a genuine smile graced his lips. "Me too."

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-to be concluded...