.hack/The.Rabbit.Hole.htm

Chapter 4

By Chad 'Graeystone' Harger

xxxxx

Alice dreamed as Aura did. Instead of the kind of dreams she was used to she dreamed of events of The World. She saw characters play the game. She saw the adventures and fun they had. When the players left the area the field began to fade. The data became like dots and changed into ones and zeros until there was nothing but blackness and white numbers. It frightened her. The ones and zeros came at her like a vengeful storm. Alice felt she was going to drown in a sea of numbers. The numbers slowed then stopped. In the dream Alice held her breath. The numbers began to grow until the darkness was gone. Alice started to see vague colors. The colors were blobs that took familiar shapes. The shapes turned back into the area she was watching.

"Interesting, isn't it?" asked a voice.

"W-who's there?" asked Alice. She was startled by the voice. It seemed so real.

A young looking Wavemaster appeared. "So you are the human," he said.

"What makes you say that?" asked Alice. She knew the others would not go around talking about her.

"You don't look like one of the characters in the game," said the Wavemaster. "Anyway I have been anticipating your arrival for a very long time."

"You make it sound like it was preordained," said Alice.

"Its better to say it was bound to happen," said the Wavemaster.

The Wavemaster came closer. Alice became cautious. Aura said dreaming in The World is different from the real world. Alice's concern is that if something happened to her in the dream it would affect her in reality.

"Do not be afraid," said the Wavemaster. "I will not harm you. I am here to help."

"You could've done that while I was awake," said Alice. "Now leave me alone."

The Wavemaster became angry. His staff started to glow. "You will come with me," he said. "There is no escaping what is to come!"

Alice was frozen with terror. He was going to kill her.

"Alice?" asked Aura.

"Aura, help me!" said Alice.

"You are in a dream. She cannot hear you," said the Wavemaster. "You will be mine!" His staff glowed then faded. The Wavemaster looked around. "You are fortunate that I am bound. We will meet again in Mac Anu." The Wavemaster vanished.

Aura kept calling Alice's name.

Alice woke up. Aura stood over her with concern. "Are you ok?" asked Aura.

"Just a nightmare," answered Alice.

Aura looked at Alice questionably. "I have heard of nightmares but never experienced one."

Alice found that hard to believe. All people have nightmares. "My dream started out normally enough, I think. I saw a field dissolve into ones and zeros."

"You saw how The World works. When a field is not active it is reduced to its most basic form. That of binary code," said Aura. "The World's complexity requires inactive objects to break down. This prevents too much wear and tear on the data."

Alice's mouth fell open. "Are you saying while I slept my body fell apart!" she yelled. "You could've warned me!"

"It remained whole," laughed Aura. "What happens only affects NPCs, a player's character data and inanimate objects. An independent intelligence like you or myself are not affected. Now tell me the rest of your dream."

"A wizard, a Wavemaster they're called in the game if I remember the manual correctly, appeared out of nowhere," said Alice. "He knew I was human. He said what happened to me was bound to happen. He wanted me for something and I don't like it."

"Dreams are one thing I cannot scan," said Aura. "What did the Wavemaster look like?"

"About forty with black hair. He wore clothes peppered with gray and white like stones," said Alice.

Aura closed her eyes and scanned The World and CC Corp's accounts. "There is no one that fits that description. Because you are human maybe your dreams will be even more different."

"I don't think so. I got the impression that everything I see would be real," said Alice.

"That is true," said Aura with concern.

Aura scanned Net Slum and the artificial intelligences who resided there were present and accounted for. Morganna was behaving herself. She sensed Aura and waved at her. Aura smiled and waved back. The Dot Hackers were incorrect. Morganna was improving. Aura felt it wrong in giving up on her own mother. She still did not know the cause of Morganna's insanity but Aura forgave her mother and gave her a second chance.

Aura then checked on any recent hacking attempts. The World is a fragile thing and malignant hackers could cause great damage. Aura did not care when players hacked their characters and stats. If they wanted to cheapen the experience it was no bytes of her skin. When they attempted to cause harm to The World, well, at the least Aura or CC Corp nailed them and kicked them off the servers for good. At the most they ended up experiencing Cubia up close and personal. When Cubia went after a dangerous hacker it not only destroyed the character but also the computer the hacker was using. There had not been any hacking attempts either. With the exception of Alice appearing in The World everything is quiet.

"After I 'eat' and finish my morning duties I will investigate further," said Aura.

"There's something the Wavemaster did. He tried to attack me then stopped. He said he was bound. Then he said I would meet him again in Mac Anu," said Alice. "I won't be going there."

"A good idea. Also be careful of any players you don't know," said Aura.

"Which is everyone I haven't met," said Alice. "Are they logged on?"

"There is no school today. Orca and Terajima are logged on. Balmung is also on but he is busy with something important and should not be disturbed right now," answered Aura. "Before you leave you should eat." A glowing orb appeared in her hand. "This data will be the equivalent of a breakfast."

Alice took the orb. It melted around her hand and was absorbed into her. Alice's body glowed golden for a few seconds "Wow," she said after her body stopped glowing. "I feel energized . . .and why am I thinking about this month's medical journals? I haven't read any of them yet."

"You will gain instant knowledge of the data and information you absorb. Because you want to be a doctor I asked Helba to gather that kind of information," said Aura. "You must never attempt this on your own. What could happen to me could happen to you if you absorb too much data at once."

"No worries there," said Alice.

"Orca is at Dun Lorieag. Hurry if you want to meet him," said Aura.

"Thanks, I'll see you later then," said Alice.

Alice went to leave when Aura stopped her. "Don't you think you should change?" asked Aura.

"Change? Oh yeah," said Alice. She was in her true form. She twisted the jewel and changed into Belias. "By the way, how do I get around The World?"

"Stand in a Chaos Gate and concentrate on the menus," said Aura. "For us it is a matter of thinking about the commands instead of pressing buttons. If for whatever reason you go to a field and want to leave it, think about gating out. You cannot gate out while inside a dungeon or while in battle. Once again I emphasize that you stay within the Root Towns or here."

What Alice asked and thought about next almost killed her. "What about logging out of the game?"

"Alice, no!" yelled Aura. She was too late and Alice began the process of logging out.

xxxxx

"Have you seen Terajima lately?" Orca asked Natsume.

"Yesterday," asked Natsume. "Is something going on?"

Orca hated to jerk around the other Dot Hackers. He practically owed them his life. The fewer people that knew about Alice the better and since Natsume did not mention Alice it showed that either they had not talked yet or that Natsume did know and chose not to talk about it. With no school today the servers were packed with players. "I'm just looking for her, that's all."

"Oh, I see," said Natsume with a cheerful smile. "Next time I see her I will tell her that you are interested in her."

Orca's eyes widened. "I'm not interested in Terajima like that! I just need to talk to her!"

"Sure you do," teased Natsume.

Orca could not believe this was the shy girl Kite told her about. Then again she did hang out with the likes of Marlo and Sanjuro from time to time so something was bound to rub off. "Something happened yesterday and in the middle of it all Terajima logged out on Balmung and I."

"She's been acting strange toward me also," admitted Natsume. "I think the reason why she bailed is because she's trying to become a solo player."

Orca could not believe it. Players did not attempt that unless they had a good reason to do so. The main reason was the challenge. More times than not players got in over their heads and in their frustration did not last very long. "It shouldn't be too hard for her. She's at a high level," said Orca.

"That's the other reason. She had her level knocked down to one," said Natsume. "I tried e-mailing her asking her why she's doing this."

"She's most likely at Mac Anu," said Orca. "Thanks Natsume." He left before Natsume got the chance to ask what is going on.

xxxxx

Balmung appeared in Hidden Forbidden Abyss on the Omega server. Like Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, this field had a double purpose. The other purpose was a meeting place for CC Corp administrators. Today Balmung came here to start a new yet strange part of his life. Balmung walked through the field and found who he was looking for. "Lios!" he yelled.

"Balmung, it's been a long time," said Lios. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going show."

"I'm on time," said Balmung.

"My watch says other wise," said Lios sternly.

It took Balmung a few seconds to realize Lios was picking on him. "Very funny pig head," said Balmung.

"I can't help it if your head is empty fly boy," said Lios. The system administrator got the satisfaction of seeing Balmung clench his jaws. Orca was the only one who called Balmung that without getting hurt. Lios was used to his nickname, more or less. His presence alone intimidated anyone into changing their mind about calling him pig head.

Balmung got over the insult. It was not the time for messing around. "Did I get the job?"

"Yes and I hope its still a good idea. Nobody has put one and one together yet," said Lios.

Balmung was relieved. As far as CC Corp was concerned, the player known as Balmung was going to work for CC Corp as a System Administrator and Special Event Coordinator. The other reason was clandestine in nature. Aura did not completely trust CC Corp and their word. When Aura's nature was revealed to the higher ups of the company, an agreement was reached in that CC Corp would keep Aura a secret and in turn Aura would keep The World running smoothly. Aura and Lios made a plan that one of the Dot Hackers would be hired to work for CC Corp and to make sure company did not try anything against Aura or the game. Balmung was more than qualified and willing to take the job.

"Now I can relax a little bit," said Balmung. He was stressed because of his concerns that CC Corp would not hire him. The only other person qualified is Mistral. She is working out of her home and raising her daughter so asking her to make such a sacrifice was something the Dot Hackers was not going to do. At the time the plan was made Aura did suggest Mistral. Balmung objected to the idea of tearing Mistral away from her daughter. Aura's reply was frightening to Balmung and most likely the others who heard her ask what the big deal was with Mistral and her daughter. It showed them that at the time Aura most certainly had a long way to go in her understanding of human nature.

"There's someone I want you to meet," said Lios. "She'll be along soon. I arranged our meeting early so we could talk freely."

Balmung decided to kill some time. "Now that you're retiring what're you going to do?"

"Forget I ever got into computers," said Lios. "When I was young I loved what I did. The past fifteen years though were not fun. Pluto Kiss and Deadly Flash were the worst. Having to use ALTIMIT OS and if there was one good thing that came out of what we went through was that ALTIMIT's monopoly was finally broken."

Balmung was surprised at Lios' opinion of ALTIMIT. True the OS had a lot of critics. Lios sounded like there was something more to it. "Why don't you like ALTIMIT?"

"Work there sometime and you'll understand. I did a stint before I was hired by CC Corp," said Lios. "Say what you will about CC Corp but at least we never made the hair on the back of people's necks stand up straight. There's something about that company that made me nervous. I could never figure out why but I got the impression that if a lot of the people there could mate with their computers, they'd do it in a heartbeat."

"I didn't think it was that bad," said Balmung. "I never bought into ALTIMIT's supposed invincibility. What happened a couple of years ago proved them wrong."

"My other guest is starting to log in," said Lios. "Better hold on tight because it might get a little bumpy when you meet her."

xxxxx

Everything faded away for Alice as she logged out. Then she saw it or rather a lot of it. Sounds and pictures came from nowhere. It assaulted her eyes and ears. There was so much that Alice thought her head was going to explode. She screamed but was drowned out by the sounds. Her eyes strained to the point bursting. She closed her eyes and put her hands over her ears in the hopes of blocking it all out.

Alice was yanked backwards. She hit something hard. "Alice? Alice, can you hear me?" asked Aura.

Alice was shaking. Aura held her gently. She opened her eyes and saw Aura. "W-what?" she asked. "S-so much! I-I c-can't."

Aura put a hand on Alice's forehead. Her hands glowed and Alice felt something being pulled out of her. She relaxed as the pressure in her head went away. "What happened to me?" asked Alice.

"You were exposed to the data and information in the Internet. When a player logs out of the game they are still connected to the Net," said Aura. "The coma victims were unable to log out not because of Morganna or the Bracelet. I prevented them from logging out in order to protect their minds from being exposed to the Internet. The character data would revert to binary. The mind however would be sent the Internet. In terms of relative distance the Internet is closer to The World than the real world."

"I-I thought you would protect me like you did the coma victims," said Alice.

"You are an anomaly unlike any other. Using the Bracelet on you and giving you the ability to change your form. I do not know what these things will do to you in the long run. Even though you do not feel it now the strain will affect you. Protecting you from logging out would cause an even greater strain because it would require your digital form to be compressed even further," admitted Aura. She turned to the door. "Helba is here. Let's go see what she wants."

The two walked outside and met Helba. "Aura, Alice. I have good news and bad news," she said. "The good news is that I've ordered all the replacement parts and should they be in by the end of the week." Helba looked at Alice. "Now for the bad news. I attempted to get some public information concerning you. There's no easy way to say this but you have been reported as missing. The police are currently looking for you."

xxxxx

Orca went to Mac Anu and waited somewhat impatiently by the Chaos Gate. People he knew and did not know waved at him. He tried to be cordial toward them. He was not in the mood at the moment.

He knew what was bothering him and he did not know what to do about it. He lost something in his heart after he came out of the coma. The loss was the reason why he wanted to quit the game. Orca felt whatever it was return for a brief moment when Alice appeared. Orca tried to grab hold of it but it slipped through his fingers.

"Maybe I'm just growing up," he muttered to himself. He smiled at the words. Graduation was a year away. He had plans on what he wanted to do. He talked to his parents about computer programming. In the real world he did have a vivid imagination and wanted to make video games.

A thought came to him and it was unpleasant. 'Or perhaps I'm still afraid,' he thought. Being hurt was his fear in the real world. In the game nothing could harm him or so he thought. Skeith blew that piece of idealism out of the water. In the real world he had an older sister who died in a car accident. He was two when it happened and his parents became overprotective. The over protectiveness gave Yosihiko a fear of being hurt and sick and having others seeing him like that.

Terajima snapped Orca out of his thoughts. She just returned from a dungeon and saw him standing there. "Orca, what're you doing here?" she asked with surprise. She did not expect any of the Dot Hackers to be here.

Orca did not answer. He grabbed Terajima's wrist. "We need to talk," he said angrily.

"I have to logout," she said.

"Do your parents need you or something?" asked Orca directly.

"I need to take a break," said Terajima. She had been playing solo since before dawn.

"You can take it after we talk," said Orca. Terajima saw the anger. At this point in the game's history there is no player killing or player verses player but that did not stop people from looking intimidating and threatening.

Orca led Terajima to the back alley. He cooled down before speaking. "What were you thinking by leaving us like that?" he asked.

"I did what I chose to," said Terajima. "You can't order me around."

"I don't care about that!" yelled Orca. "You left without saying anything! Its like you didn't care what happened to Alice!"

That angered Terajima. "Aura and Helba were there. You and Balmug had everything under control. I could not contribute anything else."

"How about giving Alice some support?" asked Orca. "She's a woman who is literally trapped in this place with no one to connect with. She can talk to you woman to woman."

"She can connect with you. You were both trapped in the game even though your situations were different," said Terajima.

Orca cringed as he remembered his own time trapped in the game. He leaned against the building for support. He felt a fugue state coming on. It happened every time he thought about his own entrapment. "No I can't," he said softly. "What happened to me was different."

For a second Terajima forgot about her solo player attitude. "Yosihiko, did something else happen to you?"

Calling him by his real name snapped him out of his fugue state. If anything it made him angrier. He did not have the strength at the moment to follow through with what he wanted to say. "I don't want to talk about it," he finally said. "And quit trying to change the subject. Let's get to the point. I know why you left. I wanted you to admit to it. I see that's not going to happen. It's fine by me if you want to be a solo player."

"Natsume," said Terajima in a huff.

"She's worried about you and so am I," said Orca "In your rush to be a loner you forgot one thing. You are a Dot Hacker and that carries responsibilities whether you like it or not. Even Marlo and Piros, with their attitudes, know enough to stop when they realize they're about to go too far. We all have a shared reputation and for everyone's sake you can't just pick and choose when you want to be a Dot Hacker when it pleases you and something else entirely the rest of the time."

"Are you saying I should leave the Dot Hackers?" asked Terajima. She did not even consider that when she made the decision to become a solo player.

"That's up to you. I'm not saying you should pick solo playing over being a Dot Hacker or the opposite. What I am saying is that if you want to be a player who doesn't give a damn about anyone else then you should leave the Dot Hackers," said Orca. "People think Balmung and I are the perfect team. We aren't. Like any other team or group we had our share of arguments. The truth is that the Descendents of Fianna almost didn't happen. There were other players I wanted to bring in. Balmung was against that idea and wanted to keep it between the two of us. He was right after a fashion. During Fragment there were plenty of teams and groups that started out ok but all of them broke up because certain players did not have the discipline and self-control to play with others and ended up ruining the overall reputation of the group. Balmung's reasoning was right at the time in that two player groups had the best chances of longevity."

"Solo players are in it for themselves," Terajima pointed out. "As you said they do not care about anyone else."

Orca rolled his eyes. "That's what people think. I've met my share of solo players. Some were decent others I wanted to PK on the spot and a few I did. The real reputation of a solo player is the one they bring with them and that is what truly defines them."

"I can be helpful toward people and still be solo player with a good reputation," said Terajima. "I need to see Alice so I can apologize."

Orca's stern expression softened. "That's a good start. Why do you want to be a solo player in the first place?" he asked.

"It's a private matter," said Terajima. "The only way I'll answer your question is if you answer mine."

"Never mind," said Orca quickly.

Terajima yawned. "Can I go now?"

"You can go. Just think about what I said. Oh, one last thing about being a solo player. I've never attempted it myself but I've heard that people give up rather quickly because the game is very difficult for single playing," said Orca. "Don't give up."

"I thought it was going to be cut and dry," said Terajima. "I have a lot to learn." She had a sudden idea. "You've been around since Fragment, right?"

Orca laughed and said, "I'm an old man."

"Then you must know something about Unknown," said Terajima.

"No," said Orca louder than he wanted and hoped Terajima did not catch that.

"Ok, just wanted to know. Finding Unknown is like trying to find a needle in a haystack from what I've heard. Its probably foolish but I think Unknown could give me a lot of advice on solo playing," said Terajima.

Terajima walked away and Orca was relieved she did press the issue of Unknown. It was years after the fact and it still embarrassed him and Balmung to no end. Orca decided to logout for a while. There were things he wanted to in the real world. Orca still thought about Unknown when he reached the Chaos Gate. Orca thought he was tired also as he thought of an idea that was plain crazy. Aura did not want to involve the other Dot Hackers however she did not say anything about other players. The problem would be trying to convince Balmung. "Nothing ventured, nothing gain," said Orca as he logged out.

xxxxx

"Balmung this is Kamui. She's going to be one of your co-workers," said Lios.

Balmung's mouth fell open a little bit. He thought Gardenia had the ice queen expression down pat. Kamui's expression made his fellow Dot Hacker look very cheerful. "Pleased to meet you," he said. "It will be interesting working with you."

"I doubt it," said Kamui.

Balmung resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 'Yep, she's a walking refrigerator', he thought to himself. "Since we're working special events I can't wait to see what we come up with."

"My duties will not be in system administrations or special events. I will be the head of a new department that deals with hackers and cheaters. It's called the Debugging Department. Our duties are to take care of the bugs in the game caused by software problems . . .or otherwise," said Kamui whose tone became even colder.

Balmung turned his gaze to Lios. His expression said it all. Balmung wondered what in the world was going on. "Upper management feels that system administrators have been lax in their duties on certain issues and formed a new department," explained Lios.

The translation was obvious. Upper management wanted something done with the cheaters and hackers. Those people Balmung did not care about except when they became belligerent and ruined the gaming experience for others. The unspoken words on the other hand were 'vagrant artificial intelligences'. Upper management did lump them in with the latter. Balmung sarcastically said, "How caring of them."

Kamui pointed her spear at Balmung. "I know of your reputation Balmung. You have a habit of sticking your nose into other people's business. I suggest for your sake you don't interfere with mine," said Kamui.

Balmung refused to be intimidated. He did recognize her weapon. "I thought your name was familiar. You have the Spear of Voltan. A special spear made for a Polearm strong enough to wield it. I thought CC employees were forbidden from winning special events."

"I won it before I was hired by CC Corp. They let me keep it," said Kamui. "Since I'm not on the clock do you want to see what it can do?"

Balmung smiled at her. "Lios, can you remove the PvP ban for this?" Lios nodded and waved his hand. "Let's rumble," Balmung said. He stretched his wings for dramatic affect. He floated a little beyond what he figured was the maximum reach of the spear. Balmung held his sword lazily in his hand. "I'm waiting," he said.

"Why don't you come down here and face me?" asked Kamui. "Or are you a coward?"

"Do you think I'm a newbie or something?" asked Balmung. "I'm of the Azure Sky not the Azure Ground." Balmung decided to indulge her anyway. He needed to know what she was capable of. He landed on the ground and got into his fighting stance. "Come on hotshot. You wanted this."

Kamui attacked Balmung. Being a Polearm she is faster than a Blademaster. Balmung knew that and was prepared. He kept his wings extended and moving. His plan was to give her a target she could not refuse. Sure enough she aimed where Balmung wanted her to and let her cut off part of his wings. His gamble paid off as Kamui's weapon sliced through Balmung's right wing. In the real world, he almost dropped his controller because of the violent feedback from the rumble pack. The spear is that powerful.

"I'm going to have some trophies," said Kamui. She tried to raise her spear. When she got it horizontal Balmung nimbly jumped onto the spear before Kamui raised it all the way up. If Crim could do it then so could he. The next thing Kamui knew was that Balmung had his sword underneath her chin and pressed against her throat. It would be an instant kill if he drove the sword into her neck. "Damn it!" she snapped.

"You shouldn't swear. It's not very ladylike. Of course you're not much of a lady, are you?" asked Balmung. Kamui sneered at him. She tried to speak and Balmung had a good idea what she is about to call him. "Don't even think about it," he growled. Kamui wisely closed her mouth. "I don't know what crawled into your USB and died and I don't care. If you ever interfere with my business, you'll wish you never heard of The World. Here's a little tip. Choose your fights carefully cause there are more powerful characters than myself in The World and you don't want to mess with them because they are less merciful than I am."

Balmung jumped off the spear. He did not turn his back to Kamui. He knew the moment he did she would attack. Kamui gripped her spear. "I work for the company. No one would dare mess with me."

"Some people don't care who you are in The World," said Balmung. "You play the tyrannical bully too much and that will make everyone angry."

"Are you going to let him get away with this?" Kamui asked Lios.

"I'm retiring soon," he answered. He put his big arms across his big chest. He puffed his chest out as much as he could. "I don't want any problems until then." Kamui swallowed and backed away. Lios was still her boss. "You haven't taken your new position and Balmung isn't officially on the clock yet. Don't ever forget you started the fight. Its not my fault that you lost."

Kamui swore at them. She walked away from them. Lios relaxed. "She has logged out," said Lios. "We can talk freely."

"And I thought I was a pain," said Balmung. "What's with her?"

Lios looked up at the sky. "Kamui's boyfriend used to be an administrator. He was one of the people under me who were put into a coma because of Morganna."

"Oh," said Balmung. "He came out of it though."

"He came out of it but he was different after that," said Lios. "He quit soon after the incident. He asked that I hire Kamui. None of us understood what happened to him. I think he experienced something that affected him in some way."

It was like Orca. "Yeah," said Balmung. "I wonder what happened. Her boyfriend wasn't the only one. Orca and Sieg both changed after they came out of their comas. Soon after they stopped their rivalry and evaded each other since. I just got an e-mail from Aura." Balmung read the e-mail. "Oh no," he groaned.

"What's the matter?" asked Lios.

"Do you really want to know?" replied Balmung.

Lios sighed and said, "I suppose it has to do with the data spike from the other day. It came out of nowhere and kicked a lot of players off."

Balmung wanted to tell Lios. If he did Lios would be obligated to tell his bosses and who knows how they would react. "Its best that you don't. Look at this way. One less headache you will have to put up with during your final days."

"Thanks!" laughed Lios. With a serious tone he added, "Could you deliver a message to Aura for me? Tell her I am sorry for what happened back then. I know I should see her personally but upper management has been watching me like a hawk lately. I figure they don't want me to tell the truth about The World after I retire."

"Sure thing," said Balmung. He smiled at Lios. "Helba might be there. Anything you want to tell her?"

Lios answered with a middle finger. "Make sure she gets the message!" He laughed then logged out.

To be continued . . .