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.
That afternoon, Jeremie contacted the Scyphozoa from his dorm room terminal. It relayed the last ten processes that locked Franz Hopper's memory location. Using his new access, he tried to figure out what program was constantly locking the memory. He was unsuccessful. By the time he did his queries, the process had been removed from the system.
Jeremie sat back in his chair and thought a moment.
"Scyphozoa, can you run an external command when you identify the process locking Franz Hopper's memory location?"
"Yes," came the reply, "what command do you want executed?"
Jeremie quickly typed something on his keyboard. "This command. substitute $procid with the process id locking the memory location."
"I will."
"Say, is there something else I can call you? 'Scyphozoa' is a mouthful, and I think we're going to be talking an awful lot for the next few days."
"You may rename this instance to whatever you desire," the Scyphozoa replied.
"Okay, from now on, I'll call you... Zoe, how about that?"
"Accepted. I will now respond to the alias 'Zoe'," said Zoe the Scyphozoa.
"I will contact you before I go to bed for the night, Zoe," Jeremie said, beginning to close down his active sessions on his computer.
"Until then," Zoe replied and disappeared.
Jeremie logged out and went to find Aelita. Today had been a trial for her, fruitful as the expedition was, and he wanted to spend a little time with her alone.
He walked to the Girl's Dorm Level and knocked on Aelita's door. He thought he heard someone crying inside, so he knocked again and asked, "Aelita, are you alright?"
From inside, she replied, "yes, it's alright, Jeremie. Come on in."
Jeremie opened the door and walked in. He was mildly shocked at what he saw.
Aelita and Sissi were sitting on Aelita's bed. Sissi had her arms around Aelita, alternately hugging her close and caressing her. All the while she was crying. The look on Aelita's face was a mixture of confusion, sadness, and embarrassment.
"I take it your father is paying a visit, or is there something you two would like to tell me," Jeremie deadpanned.
"He possessed her as soon as we got back to our room," Aelita replied, "we've been this way ever since. I know it's my father, and I know it's been so long since he's seen me or anything for that matter, but this is really starting to creep me out."
Jeremie sat down on the bed next to Sissi. "I can understand that. Has he said anything?"
"Not much, and it was still backwards."
Jeremie was silent for a moment, then he wrapped his arms around both girls, his girlfriend and his possessed friend. He held them and hugged them both for a while, then whispered in Sissi's ear, "sir, she is safe with my friends and me. We will never let anything or anyone harm her. I love her just as much, if not more, than you do, and I'll spend the rest of my life proving that to the both of you. Please, sir, leave Sissi. Your presence is causing her the same suffering that you felt. Do you really want that?"
Sissi turned from Aelita to Jeremie. The presence behind her eyes regarded the boy for a moment, then nodded Sissi's head. Sissi then collapsed into Jeremie's arms.
Aelita helped Jeremie to get Sissi into her bed. Jeremie took her shoes off and covered her with her blanket.
"We should leave her alone for a while," Aelita said.
"No, I want to make sure she's okay before we go," Jeremie replied.
Just as he finished saying that, Sissi opened her eyes.
"I'm alright guys," she said weakly, "Mr. Coyote helped me again, but this possession crap does take a lot out of you."
Jeremie and Aelita smiled at that remark. Aelita took Sissi's hand and squeezed it, saying, "are you going to be alright for a while? I'll have Odd come over if you want."
"I'll be okay, but having Odd with me would be nice," she replied.
As the couple started to leave, Sissi snatched Jeremie's hand, stopping him for a second, and said, "I know what she sees in you now, Casanova. You could melt a heart of ice with that voice."
Aelita and Jeremie were walking across the campus, heading for their spot in the park, when they noticed Mrs. Ishiyama walking in the gate.
"Hi, Mrs. Ishiyama!" the couple called out.
She waived back to them, stopped for a moment, then approached them.
"Aelita, Jeremie," she said in greeting, "I came here to see the principal about something that happened earlier this today. Seeing you now makes me believe that I would be talking to the wrong person about my concerns."
The couple got very odd looks on their faces.
Mrs. Ishiyama continued, "I called Yumi earlier to tell her to come home for the day. Imagine my surprise when a strange man answered her phone! He was polite, and told me he would relay my message to her, then hung up. Yumi did return home a few minutes later, seemingly none the worse for the wear."
"I know my daughter is involved in some strange things, Ulrich Stern aside, but my patience ends when strange men answer my daughter's phone. I will know now what is going on here, or you and your friends will wish they had never been born!"
Jeremie gulped, then said, "alright, come with us."
Jeremie led Aelita and Mrs. Ishiyama into the park, to the sewer access they use to get to the factory.
"We're going down here," he told Mrs. Ishiyama as he pulled up the sewer lid, "Aelita, go first, then you, ma'am, and I'll follow."
"This had better not be some kind of prank," Mrs. Ishiyama said as she descended into the sewer.
After pulling the sewer lid back over the opening, Jeremie joined them at the bottom. "This way," he said, pointing.
As they passed the skateboards and scooters they used to get to the factory, Jeremie said, "we keep those here, so we can get where we're going quickly. A lot of times when we come here, we're in a hurry."
They walked, crossing the streams that converged on the channel they were following, until they came to the end.
"We go up from here. I'll go first," Jeremie said as he started climbing.
They came out on the bridge between the city and the factory. Mrs. Ishiyama looked around.
"For some reason, I feel like I've been here before," she said.
"You have," Jeremie replied, "you just don't remember it."
Mrs. Ishiyama looked at Jeremie, "I may not remember it, but I have dreamt of this place. What is its significance to my daughter?"
"It's inside," Jeremie replied, "come with me."
They entered the factory, and Jeremie directed them to a stairway. When they reached the main level, Jeremie pointed to the ropes hanging above in front of the entrance.
"We use those to get down here quickly. Like I said in the sewer, a lot of times when we come here, we're in a hurry."
He called the elevator, and they all got in. He pushed the down button, and the elevator descended. When they got to the bottom, Jeremie did something to the elevator controls, and a panel opened. He entered something on a keypad that was revealed, and the elevator descended again. When it stopped next, they stood before a huge door, almost like a bank vault. The door opened, and they walked in.
"This is our secret, one we've kept for over three years now," Jeremie said, "your daughter, Ulrich, Odd Della Robbia, Aelita, myself, and Aelita's roommate Sissi Delmas have been fighting something that if someone doesn't stop, will probably destroy the world."
"That sounds like teenage melodramatics," Mrs. Ishiyama replied.
"I wish to God it was," Jeremie replied, "over three years ago, I was poking around on the 'Net, when I came across Aelita. She told me about a place called Lyoko, and a thing called XANA. XANA is a computer program that wanted out of its computer, and wants to destroy the world. We've been trying to stop if from succeeding, but last summer, it escaped."
"We haven't seen it or heard of it since and we're waiting for it to pop up again. In the meantime, another problem has reared up. Aelita's father, who we thought was dead, has been trying to contact us for the past few weeks. He's also been causing a certain amount of mischief doing so, much to the chagrin of Sissi Delmas."
"This all sounds like a bad children's cartoon," said Mrs. Ishiyama.
"Then you're really not going to believe this. Lyoko is a virtual world. It was created, and exists in the computer that is located here. Aelita's father, a man named Franz Hopper, built it years ago for some purpose. He created XANA, as some kind of assistant, but it gained self awareness and escaped. Until last summer, XANA could only affect a limited amount of things in our world. When it did, we would have to go to Lyoko and stop it."
"You said Lyoko existed in this computer," Mrs. Ishiyama said, "how then can you go there?"
"On the level below us are scanners. They can scan a body placed inside, convert it to a data stream, and store it in the computer. Once there, that body becomes part of Lyoko. In the case of people, they can move about and interact with the environment."
"I don't believe you."
"I don't blame you. Aelita, go to the console. Prepare to send Mrs. Ishiyama and myself to Lyoko. I think the Forest Region would be a good place to start."
Aelita looked at Jeremie and said, "do you want me to use the RTTP protocol?"
"No," he replied, "she deserves to know what Yumi's involved in. If what Yumi said was true, she half way knows already."
Aelita nodded and went to the console. Jeremie led Mrs. Ishiyama back to the elevator.
Mrs. Ishiyama stood still. "If you think I'm going to just follow you..."
"You wanted to know what Yumi does," Jeremie replied, "this is it. I know my story sounds lame, but this is the only way I can convince you. You won't come to any harm, I promise."
Warily, Mrs. Ishiyama joined him in the elevator.
They went down one level. When the door opened, a room of jumbled equipment was revealed, with three cylinders towards the middle. Two of the cylinders were open. Jeremie led Mrs. Ishiyama to one.
"Just step inside and wait. I'll see you on the other side."
The door closed and Mrs. Ishiyama was trapped inside. Fear started to rise within her. She thought that the blond boy had tricked her somehow and now she was in danger. No one knew where she was, and no one other than the boy and the girl would ever think to look here.
Mrs. Ishiyama then felt air starting to whoosh up from the floor. She was then lifted up as she heard Aelita's voice say, "Transfer Mrs. Ishiyama. Scanner, Mrs. Ishiyama. Virtualization."
Mrs. Ishiyama ceased to exist. Then, she returned to existence in a strange place. She felt strange. The world around her looked strange. Then, she fell.
It was a short drop, but she still sprawled on landing. She had just pulled herself into a sitting position when Jeremie materialized and dropped down beside her.
"Welcome to Lyoko, watch that first step," he said.
"This must be some kind of dream. You gave me some kind of drug in that cylinder," she told him.
He reached out and gave her a hard pinch on her arm.
"Ow! How dare you!"
"It's not a dream, is it?" Jeremie said.
"I will reserve judgment, for now," she replied as she rubbed her arm.
Jeremie led Mrs. Ishiyama around the forest. "This is called the Forest Region. It is one of four regions within Lyoko. Each one is a different ecosystem, so to speak."
"Where is the wildlife?" Mrs. Ishiyama asked.
"There is none, per se," Jeremie replied, "when XANA was trapped here, he would send monsters to try and stop us from stopping him. We haven't seen any monsters since he escaped, and I recently found out what we called monsters weren't really monsters at all, just creatures controlled by XANA. If I were to call one forth, it would obey me. In fact, I have already. That was part of the reason Yumi was here today."
"Who was the man that answered my daughter's phone, this XANA?"
"No, that was Desmond Hopper, Aelita's uncle. He was working the console while we were here today."
"And what was my daughter doing?"
"She was helping me find Aelita's father, Franz Hopper. He's been trapped in this computer somewhere for around twelve years now. He recently began contacting us to help him, and we've been trying to."
"I see. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't call the police and have you all arrested."
"You said it yourself, my story is far fetched. Do you think the police would believe you?"
"Not until I brought them here and... You probably wouldn't give them the grand tour you're giving me."
"No. When Aelita asked me if I wanted her to use the RTTP protocol, what she was asking was if I wanted her to initiate what we call a Return To The Past. One of the other capabilities of the computer is to somehow reverse time for certain objects identified to the computer. Right now, those objects are me, Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Sissi and Desmond Hopper. If we were to do a return to the past now, I would make sure that Yumi didn't go with us, so she would be able to take your phone call."
"There's another reason why you shouldn't call the cops," Jeremie continued, "I said earlier that XANA hasn't bothered us since the summer. It has bothered Yumi, though."
"When?"
"While she was in Japan. XANA somehow tracked her down there and tried to kill her. It was stopped, and is still trapped wherever it is for a time. But it will escape."
"One more thing, XANA has attacked your family in the past. You may not remember it but some giant crabs attacked your home. Ulrich managed to stop it, or at least slow it down before we returned to the past and erased it."
"I remember having a dream where that happened," Mrs. Ishiyama said. She thought for a moment, then said, "alright, you have convinced me. It is useless to fight karma anyway. What would you have me do?"
"Yumi told me you had a certain knowledge of what we do, now you have more. The only thing I can ask of you is to keep our secret. And know that we all love Yumi, and will do whatever we can to protect her, just as she would for any of us."
"I see. Can we go now? I don't want my husband getting worried."
After leaving Mrs. Ishiyama at the school gates, Jeremie and Aelita went to their spot.
"Do you think we can trust her?" Aelita asked.
"We'll know for sure if and when the police come and drag us away, I guess," Jeremie replied, "there's not much we can do 'til then, except..."
He pulled Aelita into his arms and kissed her.
That evening, when she got home, Mrs. Ishiyama had a long talk with Yumi. A diplomat would have called the conversation 'frank.' Anyone else would have called it a fight.
Mrs. Ishiyama fairly well blistered the paint in Yumi's bedroom with her accusations. Yumi said nothing in her defense. When her mother finished, Yumi said, "you're right, mother, I should have told you a long time ago. Even now, painful as it is, I'm relieved that you know. But if I had to do it over again, I would in a heartbeat. You said once I can't escape my karma. Well I've looked my karma in the face, and I have a small glimmer of an inkling of where it may take me, and it scares the living crap out of me. But I'll walk down that road, wherever it takes me, Ulrich and my friends. I love you, mommy, but I must."
"I know you will," her mother replied, "that's the worst part."
That night, before going to bed, Jeremie contacted Zoe.
"Give me the results," he said.
A window popped open, and the last ten processes that locked Franz Hopper's memory were displayed.
Jeremie noted the commands being executed, and tried to locate the files. They were no where to be found.
He sat back in his chair, exasperated. Phantom programs locking memory, Franz Hopper possessing Sissi to see Aelita, Mrs. Ishiyama protecting her daughter. Parents and Children. God help him and Aelita if that's what's entailed in raising a family...
Waitaminute, Jeremie thought, Parents and Children... Parents and Children... Parent processes and Children processes, that's it!
He quickly pulled up the process list again and looked closer.
On each line, the process id of the program being run was displayed as well as the process id of the program that initiated it, the parent process.
Checking each entry, Jeremie saw that each process at some point spawned another process that took the lock on Franz Hopper's memory location. The program that was run by the process must be rewritten each and every time, then deleted later. That's how it was being done!
"Zoe, can you hear me?" Jeremie called to the computer.
"Yes, standing by," was the reply from Zoe.
"Can you locate the memory region where the source code that these processes are running is stored?"
"Those locations are deleted," came the reply.
"But have they been reallocated yet?"
Zoe thought a moment, "unknown. It is possible that the locations are not reallocated and modified immediately after deletion. If that is the case, recovery is possible."
"Good! I want you to try and recover one of those memory regions. Try to get as much as you can. Once you do, stop further monitoring until I contact you in the morning."
"Understood. Sleep Well."