THIS

IS

CHAPTER EDIT!

Enjoy. I'm really happy that this didn't take as long as Chapter 4 did. I'm not exactly giddy for the next few, though...

HI FFNET HUMANS!

Uh, yep, here's the next chapter. It's kinda short, but pretty important. We're a quarter way through the story already. Wowza. Again, thankies for all the reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. All I did was make Franz Hopper's coffee.

Chapter 5
Fire and Brimstone

The factory looked much the same as it had the hundreds of other times that Jeremie had entered it in the present. It was still in ruins on the inside, discarded equipment still littered its floor below, and, thankfully, ropes were still hanging down from the edge of the bridge. Once he had reached this edge, he swung down one to reach the floor, the action almost automatic. When he had landed, he looked around, oddly comforted by the familiar surroundings. Finally, he thought, one place that was somewhat the same.

Of course, this was just the surface of the factory. He wasn't sure exactly what lay below- whether it was a fully-fledged, functional supercomputer, or a shell of the aforementioned. It all depended, really, on what part of the day's RTTP cycle he had been sent to. Unfortunately, he didn't know this important little fact. He shivered. He hoped, for his own sake, that the terminal was at the very least recognizable.

He ran for the elevator, punched in the key code, which was thankfully the same, and stepped in. The elevator worked, of course, and took him down as it always would. He shivered, adjusting to the unnatural cold. He remembered the first time he had used this elevator, that first night, when his greatest fear had been that the old cables would snap. He had to smile at the memory. Silly, really.

After a moment, the elevator stopped, and the complex locking mechanisms parted. The resulting sight was hauntingly familiar- it was the interface room, which looked exactly the same as it had- has?- in the present. Everything was there- the holomap, the dull green chrome walls, the incredible swinging chair, and then the interface itself. It was like he'd suddenly stepped back into his own time, and he was just preparing for another XANA attack. Strangely enough, it made him feel a bit more at ease, though neither this nor a XANA attack was a comforting thought.

He walked up to the interface, and brushed his finger across the arm of the chair. Just the same as he remembered, except there were no layers of dust anywhere. Everything looked a lot newer. But, he had no time to dwell on this. As he had pondered several times over, he was in a desperate situation, and the supercomputer was his one hope of ever getting out of it. In one swift motion, he leapt into the chair, swung it around to face the interface, and raised his hand, preparing to turn the computer on.

Before he could do this, however, he heard a sound behind him that he was far too used to- the sound of an elevator, moving up and down. Someone was coming, and unfortunately, he had a good idea of who it was.

An impulse hit him. With a small, frightened squeak, he jumped out of his seat, ran away from the interface, and, in a last ditch attempt to save his skin, scampered down the ladder into the opening in the floor, the one that led to the scanner room in case the elevator didn't work. It was a fairly small passage, but Jeremie was a fairly small kid. By clinging to the ladder, and leaving the shaft open slightly, he could hide himself and twist his neck up to get a good view of the interface. This way, he could see what was going on, and hopefully enough, not be noticed.

Though he couldn't see the elevator from his position, he heard it opening again, followed by the sound of footsteps. Soon, a man came into view- to no surprise, it was none other than Franz Hopper. As per usual, his expression was unreadable, a fact aggravated by the unfavorable angle and the paperweights that were ever-present on his face. As he walked across Jeremie's line of vision, he noticed that he was holding something in each of his hands. The left hand held a cup of coffee, while the right hand held, oddly enough, a glass jar, which contained what looked like a rather large black rat. He couldn't see the rat well, but he could hear soft, muffled squeaks coming from the jar. Was it trying to break free? He couldn't accurately tell.

Franz walked over to his interface chair, sat down, and swung around to face the terminal. He put the jar on the ground, and, rather more carefully, placed his coffee on his armrest. He cracked his knuckles, picked up his mug, took a swig, then typed something in. The machine booted up with a delightful metallic noise. He shuddered, adjusted a small camera on top of the interface, and began typing, talking into the camera as he did so.

"June 6, 1994. Day..." He sighed. "2,540. As I mentioned yesterday, I have just completed the turnaround of Lyoko. It is now sufficiently inhabitable and can support two people, though I think I can extend the Mountain Sector by a plateau or two. But, from a practical view, the only thing it currently lacks is the stability of the scanners. Today, I will again test them to see if material beings can survive the trip into Lyoko intact. I should be perfecting it soon- any longer, and I might run out of rats." He laughed- an exhausted, hollow laugh. The rat's squeaks grew more frantic. "Once I am done with that, I should be able to begin my next program, one that will wall off Lyoko from the Digital Sea. Not only do I not need the network anymore, but there also stands the fact that it is unsafe for living matter. If something happens…if I or Aelita were to fall in…" He trailed off, remained silent for a few seconds, then, almost robotically, grabbed his coffee again.

Jeremie's eyes widened in intense interest. His leg began to itch, but he didn't dare to move, let alone leave the shaft at all. Any movement, any noise might alert Franz to his presence- and he had no idea how he might handle an eavesdropper, especially him. So, he was stuck. But, he reluctantly admitted to himself, he wasn't overly desperate to leave. This was one of Franz's research sessions, after all- one thing he never thought he'd ever see beyond the diaries.

When the old man was done drinking, he placed the mug down, and took a deep breath. "Well, on to business. The scanners can certainly send matter into Lyoko and back, and thanks to my calculations over the past few, erm, months, live matter can live through the first transfer." He paused after this sentence, rather abruptly. "Hm...did I remember to flush the toilet at home? Ah, it doesn't matter. In just a moment, I will test to see if, with these new modifications, live matter can survive the trip back."

Jeremie's heart skipped- he knew what was coming next, and it wasn't a happy thought. Franz stood from the chair, reached down to the floor, and picked up the jar with the rat in it. For a split second, he could see the furry creature- it was scampering up the walls of the jar, as if holding on to the hope that the airholes would give it freedom. Completely ignoring this, Franz walked across the room to the elevator, until he was out of Jeremie's sight. There was an elevator noise…and then no noise at all.

A bead of sweat fell down his face. The shaft, he realized, was awfully stuffy, and was growing more so by the second. It had been made for climbing down, not staying in. Taking care not to bump the edges of the shaft, he wiped his brow. Subconsciously, he wondered about the fate of the rat. Would it live, or...

There was another elevator noise. A second later, Franz walked back into Jeremie's line of vision, and sat back in the interface chair. He drank some more coffee, then began typing again. "Well, the test subject is in place…here goes nothing, once again. Transfer, L- 422. Scanner, L-422. Virtualization." He pressed a final key.

There was a short, tense silence. It was finally broken by a twitch, some typing, and then a sigh. "Well...at least it's alive this time."

Jeremie's heart skipped again. Franz, oblivious, talked on. "Although he is alive and in a recognizable form, Test Subject L-422 is missing several limbs, and possibly some internal organs as well. Not a good thing, not good at all." He tapped several more keys. "But, that's not what I'm testing at the moment. Materialization, L-422."

He tapped a key, and then waited, leaning closer to the screen to get a better look. "From my camera view...ah, it's there in the scanner...oh, dear." He held his hand up to his mouth. Jeremie didn't exactly want him to continue.

"It appears I need to bring out the dustpan. That, and adjust the organic toleration levels." His tone was shockingly calm, considering its context. "I know I don't want anything like that happening to myself...or…or Aelita..." His voice trailed off. He glanced over at his mug, as if he was going to take another drink, but did not. He resumed typing, but, his commentary didn't quite match what he was doing.

"Aelita…I…I love her dearly, I know I do. Ever since…" He didn't finish his thought. "I…I don't know. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing…for her. She has her school…her little friends…if I took her away from that…" He was silent again. The air was thick for several tense moments.

"Ah...no." Franz slumped over onto the keyboard with a heavy, melancholy sigh. "No, no…I have to. I have to do this. It's the only way to save her. I have to save her from them…no matter what it means for her. I have to."

He lay there for a moment, then, slowly, straightened back up. The dramatic irony of the situation was murderous for Jeremie- deep in his irrational subconscious, he wanted to do something, but he didn't dare move. He wiped some sweat from his brow again, just as Franz resumed.

"I fear I have to work faster," he said, his tone growing slightly more frantic. "It's nearly time. I can feel it. Changes are here…bad changes, changes that shouldn't be happening." He took a quick drink from his mug. "Hm...this is good coffee. But, I can't get distracted...I don't know how its happened, but it has. Someone has…it's impossible…but it's happening, I've seen it with my own eyes. He's here…but he shouldn't be." He shuddered. "Though…I don't know how concerned I should get. He's only a little boy, after all…"

Jeremie stifled a gasp. Well, duh! His behavior in Science was all too clear now. Jeremie had come into the timestream right in the middle of Franz's loop- something he had no business doing, and Franz knew it. All the better reason, he thought, to get out as soon as he could. If only he hadn't gotten delayed at the school…

"…No, no no. That's exactly what they want me to think. I can't let my guard down, not for a child, not for anyone. I have to keep vigilant. I have to keep working." He sighed, for what was maybe the tenth time. As he did so, Jeremie realized just how tired, how strained he appeared and sounded. It was almost as though he hadn't slept in weeks- which, considering the circumstances, could actually be a valid explanation. He seemed to have worked so hard for so long...so far beyond a crazy man's impulsivity.

For a long time, Franz typed placidly and silently, stopping occasionally for sips of coffee. Jeremie was really beginning to loathe the shaft. It was hot, sticky, and uncomfortable, and he really, desperately needed some air. He wished that Franz would leave already, so that he could get to work, get home, and maybe even not be this man's problem anymore…

His thoughts were cut off by a clatter. Franz had jumped up suddenly, knocking his coffee mug off his armrest. It shattered to pieces on the floor, startling the old man even further. "Shi-" He looked around wildly, then relaxed, as though he had never startled. He glanced down at the smashed mug. "Ah...ha ha. Ha, ha ha."

He sat back down, in his seat, calmer, but a bit more alert. "I suppose I really will be needing that dustpan. But, all kidding aside…it's happening again. Maybe I'm just going crazy, maybe…maybe I'm just insane. But I know. Somehow, I just know someone is watching me. Someone's always watching me…no, not the child…the child can't watch me the way they can. They…" He shook his head, and began typing again.

"For the last half hour or so, I've been working on XANA's repairs. Once again, I've made no progress whatsoever. Despite all my efforts to keep it confined to Sector 5, it still refuses to back off from its original coding. It's becoming increasingly difficult to try to separate it from Lyoko, even though it no longer has any use there." He sighed. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with that program. It's been working wonderfully for its intended purpose, so I don't want to delete it just yet…but its glitches and false steps are near endless, and they happen in the most random of ways. It's almost as though…" He shook his head. "No, I'm not that much of a genius. XANA with a mind of its own...how ridiculous."

He laughed. Jeremie winced. Sweat covered his forehead. He wanted out, right now. C'mon, he willed, be done, please…

As if in answer to his silent plea, Franz got up and stretched, various bones popping and cracking. "Well…it appears to be very late. I've gotten a lot done tonight...the scanners should be fully operational by tomorrow. Should be, anyway. Goodnight…and end entry." He got back into his chair, and pressed a button, presumably closing his recording equipment. He spun around in his chair, and sat motionless for a moment, breath slow and labored.

Jeremie was sure he had sweated through his turtleneck. It was that hot.

A moment later, Franz's head sprung up from its sagged position, and he spun back to the interface, typing a key sequence into a window. Despite the unfavorable position, Jeremie recognized it immediately- he had done it himself, more times than he could remember. But he didn't have to recognize it to know what it was. And he liked it.

"Return to the past…now."

A column of white light burst out of the holomap area. It hung there for a moment, motionless, and then expanded, swallowing the factory, Jeremie, and the entire outer world.

L-422. Inside joke.

Hope this keeps you happy. Next, we repeat the day- and see how Jer handles it. I can tell you this- not very well. He wanted another raise. It got really hard to pay him after a while.

- Carth