The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
The next morning was Sunday. Since there were no classes, Jeremie could spend the whole day figuring out what the memdiagobj was.
But first, he called a meeting of the gang. He also called Aelita's uncle, Desmond Hopper. Jeremie had promised him that he would include Desmond in anything that involved finding his brother.
They met at the factory late in the morning. When everybody arrived, Jeremie filled them in.
"I hope you don't make a habit of visiting my niece's bedroom in the middle of the night, young man," Desmond deadpanned. Jeremie blushed and Desmond smiled.
Recovering his composure, Jeremie then said, "we've got two avenues to explore, the memdiagobj and the Scyphozoa. I want to pursue the first avenue first; I don't think any of us are ready to confront the Scyphozoa again."
Aelita shuddered at the suggestion.
"Anyway," Jeremie continued, "Aelita and I are going to search the supercomputer. There's got to be some documentation on this memdiagobj somewhere, we'll find it then figure out what to do next."
"And what will I do in the meantime?" Sissi asked, "what do I do if he, he..."
Odd put his arm protectively around her.
"I don't know, Sissi," Jeremie replied, "we'll just have to keep an eye on you; that's about all we can do right now. I'm sure Odd can handle that, right Odd?"
"Yeah, Einstein," Odd said with no trace of humor.
"Odd, I know you're worried about Sissi, and we'll do everything we can for her. But it's going to take time, and Franz Hopper may not wait for us to figure his message out. What you can do is what Aelita did last night, try and communicate with him. I don't think he'll try anything again unless he needs to get a message to us. If he does, try the paper trick again. And try and talk him into leaving Sissi alone."
"What do Yumi and I need to do," Ulrich asked.
"Nothing, right now. But we may need to make an excursion into Lyoko to figure this thing out and I wanted you two on alert, just in case," Jeremie replied.
"Mr. Hopper, you had better brush up on the commands I've been showing you lately," Jeremie then said to the adult, "I've got a bad feeling that you may be driving the boat the next time we enter Lyoko."
Jeremie, Aelita, and Desmond spent the rest of the day scouring the supercomputer for any information about the memdiagobj. Jeremie quickly found a file with that name, but determined that it was a library file that other programs linked to in order to utilize the functions it contained. Desmond read over the notes that Jeremie gave him, hoping that the boy had missed a reference to this mysterious program somewhere in the writing. Aelita was at another terminal in the lab, doing her own searches.
"Jeremie, I think I found something," Aelita called out after a while.
Jeremie walked over to her and looked at her terminal screen. In one of the windows was a file listing, and one of the files was called memdiagobj.cpp.
"Ooo, source code! Open it up!" he said excitedly.
Aelita double-clicked on the icon representing the file, and got an error message, "Permission Denied."
"Give me the path to the file, I might be able to get at it," Jeremie said to her.
Aelita wrote the path to the directory down on a note pad and gave it to Jeremie. He went back to his console and started working.
Ten minutes later, he shouted, "Crap! The file is owned by the system administrator! I can't spoof my way into it!"
"I thought you were the system administrator, Jeremie," Desmond said.
"I wish," Jeremie replied, "I guess Franz Hopper did all his work as the admin, and didn't bother securing any other accounts on the system. Aelita, are you the administrator?"
"No," she replied from her terminal, "at least I don't think so."
She then started typing on her terminal. Five minutes later she said, "nope, I'm not."
Just then, a window popped up on Jeremie's terminal with Odd's picture in it. Jeremie clicked on the window and a phone's keypad appeared under the picture. Jeremie spoke into his microphone, "what's up, Odd."
On the other end, Odd replied, "Einstein, Sissi's possessed again! I tried talking him out of her, but he won't go! He's saying he has to see Aelita."
"Odd," Jeremie said, keeping his voice calm and level, "I want you to ask Franz to give you the administrator's password for the supercomputer. Tell him we need it for the memdiagobj."
"Okay." There was silence on the other end as Odd relayed the message to Franz.
After a moment, Odd was back, "he says, 'Aelita first.'"
Jeremie thought a moment, "Odd, tell him no."
"What!"
"You heard me, tell him no."
"Are you crazy!" Odd shouted over the connection.
"Odd, listen to me," Jeremie replied, "Franz Hopper is desperate, but we have two things that he doesn't. One is Aelita, and two is access to the off switch. Tell him we need that password to get the memdiagobj file. Tell him that he can see Aelita after he gives it to you. And tell him if he doesn't, I will go downstairs and power the computer off. Tell him, Odd."
Desmond and Aelita watched the conversation in shock. Desmond had only known Jeremie since the end of the last school year, and didn't think the boy would harm a fly. Aelita knew him a lot better, and knew he wouldn't harm a fly, but she had never seen him act as cold-blooded as just now.
Odd spoke again, "Jeremie, he gave me something. P, that is capital P, R lower case, one the number one, N upper case, C lower case, three the number three, four the number four. That's it."
"Wait, Odd," Jeremie said. He opened a new window, then started typing. After a moment, a smile crossed the genius' face.
"Bring Sissi over," Jeremie said, "we got in."
Jeremie ended the call and immediately changed the administrator's password.
"Jeremie," Aelita said, "would you have shut the computer down if he didn't give it to you?"
"Of course not," he replied, "but he didn't know that."
Jeremie copied the memdiagobj.cpp file onto a disk, so he could look at it in his room. The transfer had just completed when Odd and Sissi arrived.
When Sissi got off the elevator and saw Jeremie, she got a frightened look on her face.
Jeremie typed at his terminal, then spoke, "Mr. Hopper, I understand how you feel. You've been locked up for so long and now you have an avenue to see and feel again, you just want to keep doing just that. But you are depriving the owner of that body the very things that you are craving. You cannot continue to do that. I want you to leave Sissi and don't do this again. We are working as hard as we can to rescue you. You will just have to trust us."
Jeremie hit a key on his keyboard and the speakers started playing backwards gibberish. Sissi stood there and listened. After the noise stopped, Sissi began speaking.
Jeremie in the meantime had typed more commands at the keyboard, and was now holding the microphone of his headset out towards Sissi. When she stopped, Jeremie again hit a key on his keyboard. The speakers began their playback.
"No one can understand how I feel! I haven't seen anything, heard anything, felt anything for years! Even now, I'm not sure if you are real or just another delusion! But if you are real, you have to get me out! Ask the Scyphozoa! It is the interface to the memdiagobj! Ask the Scyphozoa!"
Aelita had now come around to where Sissi was standing. When she saw her, Sissi ran over and grabbed her in a fierce hug. Aelita could feel her father crying through Sissi's eyes as she returned his/her hug.
Sissi looked up, said something, then kissed Aelita. After she broke the kiss, Sissi collapsed. Aelita caught the girl before she hit the floor.
"That was just disturbing on so many levels," Odd said.
Sissi was alone in the blackness again. The last thing she remembered was talking to Odd as they were walking back to the dorms from the factory. Then He came and yanked existence out from under her, shoved her into the blackness and took over. Sissi didn't think she could take this again.
Sissi?
Sissi thought the madness had started; she was hearing things now.
Sissi, it's all right. You are not going mad, yet.
Who's there? she thought-shouted, help me!
It's Trickster, and I'm here to help you through this trial.
Trickster? Sissi thought back, who's that? Can you get me out of here?
Mr. Coyote, remember? Those of us who love you are with you, and will not leave your side.
When the voice said that, Sissi felt a warmth all around her, like a loving hug or a cuddle.
Mr. Coyote continued, I am not in a position to force Franz Hopper out of your mind, but I can ease your suffering. Look Through My Eyes.
Suddenly, she could see again.
She seemed to be floating a short distance away from Odd and her body. Her body was writing something down on a pad of paper that Odd had carried with him. Odd was frantically dialing his cell phone while she was writing. Just as Odd connected his call, she gave him the pad.
Odd told the voice on the other end what she had written. He then turned and said something about an 'administrator password.' Her body then took the paper and quickly wrote something. Odd relayed the message over the phone.
"What! Are you crazy!" shouted at the phone. After a moment to compose himself, he told her, "Jeremie says the password first, then Aelita. And if you don't, he's going to shut down the supercomputer."
Her body shrieked at that. She quickly grabbed the paper and wrote something down. Odd relayed what she had written to Jeremie. Then, visibly relieved, he ended the phone call.
"C'mon, we're going back to the factory," he said, "we're going to Aelita." They began walking back.
Hmm, I didn't think Jeremie had it in him, Mr. Coyote thought.
Would he really do it? Turn the computer off? she thought.
No, he wouldn't, but it was an excellent bluff. Unfortunately, he can't use it any more. The next time Franz Hopper will call him on it, and Jeremie will either have to back down or do it. Elizabeth, you need to tell Jeremie not to turn off the computer.
Why? And I liked it when you were calling me Sissi, she thought to the Coyote.
Because, Elizabeth, if the computer gets turned off while Hopper is possessing your body, he'll be trapped in it. And you will be trapped in your own mind, forever cut off. Be very worried when I call you 'Sissi,' Elizabeth. That name is reassuring and comforting to you. If I use it, then you need to be comforted and reassured, and that means you are in grave peril.
During the exchange, Sissi/Mr. Coyote had been following Sissi's body and Odd. They leaped down to the factory floor where the elevator was, then leaped through the walls and floors and ceilings to the computer lab where Jeremie, Aelita and Mr. Hopper were. The arrived just as Odd and company did.
They watched and listened as Jeremie spoke to Franz Hopper, and Franz replied. Then Sissi's body ran over to Aelita, hugged her close for a moment, said something, then kissed her.
Time to go, Elizabeth. Tell Jeremie what I told you.
Sissi was plunged back into darkness for a moment. She then opened her eyes and saw Aelita's face uncomfortably close to hers.
"Okay, okay, I'm back!" Sissi said, getting her feet under her and untangling herself from Aelita, "and this doesn't mean we're going to be taking long warm showers together, missy!"
Aelita let go of her, laughing. "It's good to have you back, roommate."
"Jeremie," Sissi then said, "I have a message for you, from Mr. Coyote."
Jeremie looked levelly at the girl. Odd had told Jeremie about the coyote, that it was some kind of Teacher for Sissi and him. But the coyote had never taken an interest in any one else up to now.
"What did he say, Sissi?"
"He said whatever you do, don't turn the computer off! If you did while Aelita's dad is in me, he'll be trapped there, and I will too."
"Great. That's good to know though, Sissi," Jeremie replied.
"Mr Coyote also said that threatening Mr. Hopper with that won't work the next time. You'll have your bluff called."
"I figured that," Jeremie replied.
"Jeremie, you're not buying her cock-eyed story about a coyote, are you?" Ulrich said.
"After what we went through last summer, you're not?" Jeremie replied.