Disclaimer: I do not own any Ghost in the Shell. That is proudly owned by Shirow Masamune. This goes for both the movies and the Stand Alone Complex.
Chapter 7
If you haven't noticed, I've given up on trying to encrypt this diary. Instead I've implanted a nice little zinger file. If you don't know the password, it will erase your mind by the end of these entries.
Entry 61:
Saito and
Ishikawa have changed Togusa's name for him. Saito is calling him
Columbo, while Ishikawa has taken to Don Quixote. Surprised that
Ishikawa has read Cervantes's tale, both Batou and I are impressed
he'd actually think to use the alliteration correctly. Togusa's
tracing a phantom through a maze, but we have no doubt he'll expose
it for the forgery it is. Tomorrow he's visiting some contacts
hoping for anything that can give him direction in his search.
Meanwhile, Batou's been sent in for some routine upgrades on his
system, and Aramaki has informed me that I'll receive my newest
assignment in the morning. That's either a very good thing, or a
truly horrifying experience. No advance warning either means all the
pieces haven't fallen into place, or he doesn't want to give me
any time to find a way to be unavailable.
Entry 62:
Oh yes,
I'm going to skin the SOB. He didn't tell me ahead of time
because he didn't want to give me a chance to take a dive on him.
I'm heading in when he tags me on the secure line. "Major, I
need you to appear at the Appellate building at 8am. There is a
seminar of utmost importance. I would attend, but I have been called
to a top level meeting to discuss security breaches across the public
safety sector. Blah, blah, blah…"
What was I supposed to say?
We'd already talked about it. So I show up at the Appellate
building early enough to realize that Aramaki probably scheduled his
damn meeting to get out of this seminar. Fifty years ago, this
building was where individuals would go to appeal sentences made
against them. Today it sits as an old worn out shell used by
governmental agencies to hold boring training seminars. Since it
hasn't been upgraded, the AC is out; and between the heat and the
noise of the box fans, it's almost impossible for any person to
stay awake for an eight hour governmental seminar given by a monotone
professor who sucks the energy out of the soul.
Instead of being
out and about, diving in the net and looking for a breakthrough in
the LM case, I'm sitting in a room with forty other pathetic souls
learning about environmental impacts and significant contributors to
pollution. We have several exercises covering 'aspects and
impacts,' which is a fancy way of saying that we look at what we do
and determine how it affects the environment. I look around at the
other people in the class, they all look like broom or paper pushers.
I'm sitting in my usual clothing, two rows from the front, and the
professor hasn't looked away from my breasts since he first laid
eyes on me at 8:15am. I think I heard Aramaki laughing gently in my
head around 10am. I realized by lunchtime that I was a worse
distraction than the box fans. I'm the only woman in the room, and
there are 39 government paper pushers trying to figure out who the
hell I am. Talk about feeling like the odd…man, woman, cyborg,
whatever…out.
So we go through all these exercises, and the
professor decides we need to share. Mechanical pencil man in the
front row gets picked to go first. His A&I's are lab
materials, paper, and Styrofoam. Leaking ink man goes next. He adds
aluminum cans and electricity to the list of environmental impactors.
I'm looking at my list and trying not to whistle under my breath.
Finally after another fifteen minutes of comatose responses, they get
to me. Now I have forty sets of eyes staring at me. I look at them,
than I look at my paper. Then I look at them. Then back at my paper
for good measure. I know what I wrote. It's very clear. A&I
of Section 9: C-4, armor piercing rounds, electrical dive bombs,
heavy caliber rifle rounds, hydraulic fuel, cyborg cleaning fluid,
glycerin compounds. The list goes on for several pages. Blood and
shrapnel are pretty close to the bottom, but they're included.
Then I look at all these broom and paper pushers. These men who have
subtly been trying to impress me all day. Note, it DIDN'T work.
Then I look back at my list before grinning at the professor. "My
biggest environmental concern is…coffee." Talk about a lame-ass
item. I think it was number 94 on my list. But if you think about
it, the other stuff was just too…security related. We do drink a
lot of coffee. It has been known to fry a keyboard or two if
spilled. That would be a reasonable response, if I had a normal
job.
Folding my list and stuffing it in a pocket in my jacket, I
decided to make Aramaki eat it in the morning. We're a freaking
special ops team, and he's got me attending environmental policy
meetings in the middle of a major project. What a crime.
entry 63…
im so
mad i colud spit. tougsa went 2 the sunlfour group about taht danmed
book. wile he was there, some military grup attked adn killd
everyone. tog escped, but got shot dwn latr. today we found the
s.o.b. i kikd his ass, but in the prcess, got my arm ripd off. good
ting they hav a sapre body 4 me. tomorrow ill be swapd adn upgraded.
Entry 64:
Looking
back over yesterday, it sure is good to have both hands back. I suck
at one-handed entries. Today opened up an entirely new avenue in
both the case, and in my personal development. Late last night,
Courtin came by and showered me with some feminine care. I hadn't
told her about my accident because I didn't want to worry them; but
she just seemed to know something was wrong. So, I asked her if
she'd come with me for my body transfer. It's important to have
a witness, to make sure your brain actually gets put in your new
body, and someone doesn't freejack it and leave your brain to die.
However, I kept her up too late last night, and she immediately fell
asleep upon arrival at Megatech. Great watchdog she makes.
This
beautiful bitch, and I mean BITCH came in to the room. She had long
hair pulled up and glasses perched sexily on her nose. Should have
realized then that she wasn't a real doctor. No way would a nerd
look that drop dead. Anyways, my folly. First thing she does is
clamp me down and immobilize me. No big deal there, but she uses the
opportunity to rub all over me. That's a little outside of
professional procedure. Plus, I may be interested, but I'm neither
cheap, nor easy. Then she sadistically starts shoving probes in my
brain to turn off sensory sections. I'm aware that putting these
things in is part of the procedure, I rip off an arm or leg annually.
However, she's doing it in a manner that ISN'T approved. I look
over, and Courtin is STILL asleep. So much for a witness too.
Since
the bitch has been keeping up a running dialog of what she's doing,
why she's doing it, and how she's going to finish me off, I am
aware that I'm probably going to cease to exist in the next few
moments. Just as I was giving up on ever getting to make another
scuba dive, TLM showed up. I believe I might just have me a verified
stalker. Despite my deprived, actually pathetic, situation, I knew
this wasn't a hallucination. I was staring at him, with him
cybertalking to me, and that bitch was looking everywhere except at
him. That's when I realized that he'd hacked her eyes. Nifty
little trick. I might have been a little more impressed if I wasn't
still mad over him having done it to Batou a few days ago.
He
walked up behind the bitch and without even touching a button on the
console, downloaded all of his memories as well as showed me how to
remotely control my other body. The truth allows me to pursue the
real criminals, while the new party trick opens up a whole new can of
whoop ass for me. Besides the military applications, I can have one
hell of a good time playing pranks on all of my pals at Section 9. I
digress. Once I remotely kicked that woman's ass, Aoi released me.
Then I found a real doctor and started over. Courtin was very
pleased with all the non-standard equipment that came with my new
model. I just hope I get to keep it long enough to break it in.
Entry 65:
Fifteen
Starchild cappuccino latte's are NOT good for electronic circuitry.
I know we're mostly immune to drugs like alcohol and caffeine; but
at some point, the intrinsic filters get clogged and these chemicals
get out into the bloodstream. It's now 4:37am, and I'm still
bouncing off the walls. A potent mix, caffeine and adrenaline. But
I kicked ASS today! Go me, go me, it's your birthday. Batou
called me a poser, and HE'S RIGHT! But what fun this poser is
going to have now that we're sitting on irrefutable evidence that
Serano Genomics was behind the conspiracy to ban the Murai vaccine in
favor of nanotechnology, which had not yet yielded satisfactory
results against cyberbrain sclerosis. Not only that, but we have
documented proof that the Minister of Defense is the person
responsible for the last two terrorist attacks on the city, including
the one that wiped out the Sunflower Group and took down Togusa.
Sons of Bitches, I am SO looking forward to their removal from my
world. Run-on sentences aside, I'm liking this caffeine effect. I
might just add a double cappuccino latte into my daily routine.
Entry 66:
Decided
since I stayed up all day yesterday, and crashed after work; that I
would actually write this in the morning today. Aramaki is heading
to the PM's place today to let him know about the MoD. He's
taking Togusa, since Columbo actually figured it out. We all agree
he deserves the credit. Today is going to be a GREAT day!
Entry 67:
Dogs may
be man's best friend, but Batou is turning out to be a Motoko's
best friend. That crazy man took on an entire platoon of heavy armor
soldiers and mecha suits just to bring me the one item I've never
been without…my watch. I didn't have the heart to tell him he
could have saved the trip. I'd sent in a remote controlled droid
to fetch it, and my diary. Why oh why did I decide to leave my most
prized, and secretive possessions, at the house yesterday morning?
While I was there, I put my underwear back in the correct drawers.
Not exactly sure what happened there, and I know I don't want to
know. I also picked up the chip'd remains of a Tachikoma. For
some reason, I get the instinctive feeling like I might have made a
mistake in my decision to have them decommissioned. Batou told me
they saved his sorry ass and took down the last mecha suit by
themselves.
I only have a few minutes, Batou is in the shower, and
I know that tonight and tomorrow are going to be absolutely
chock-full of activities. We've been running from a cleaner team
for several days now. To the best of my knowledge, everyone has been
captured except Batou, and myself. Pazu and Ishikawa were able to
leak the truth through our normal distribution chains, but we don't
know how long it will take for the media hackers to find and make
sense of it. I haven't heard a cyber peep from Boma in a long
time, and I'm very afraid he may be off-line. However it falls
out, Aramaki had better have an iron-clad reason for leaving us to
the slaughter. He's never abandoned us before, and I can't
imagine that he would do this unless his hands are tied.
On a side
note, lug-head got his arm smashed retrieving my watch. I am very
lucky to have such a friend and partner by my side. If I have to go
through hell, there's no other person I'd rather be with. Of
course, I'll never admit that to him. I'm sure there are ways I
can make tomorrow up to him, tonight; but I suspect that anything I
do would give away my hand. We have a lot to do before the morning,
I just hope another night without sleep will not adversely affect his
functionality.
Entry 68:
Today was
rough. It was singularly the roughest experience of my life. The
morning started with Batou helping me to dress. I hate being
helpless, irregardless of who my helper is. We had called for a
lift, giving up and accepting defeat. They would take us in and
extract all data, allowing us to stand trial for our many imaginary
heinous crimes against the country. As we sat in the lobby, neither
of us had anything to say. I'm sure Batou was in his own little
world, he tends to go a little apeshit on me when I'm in danger,
and we both had a clear understanding of what had to happen.
It
was really a Coppola moment, like a scene out of "Apocalypse Now."
The sun was coming up between the Public Security building and the
Telelife scraper. Batou must have stopped to look at it. The light
was golden, with a red tinge. A really good writer might describe it
in lucent terms, some type of foreshadowing involved as well. All I
can say is that it reminded me of danger, the vibrant red that
harbors ill-will for sailors and other travelers alike. Suddenly I
heard the faint sound of choppers, and Batou was screaming at me.
Just as I turned, click, and I had lost connection.
Entry 69:
Motoko
Kusanagi + Waiting for Freedom EXTREME BOREDOM. If I could
temporarily off-line, I would. I've gotten very good at single
person chess and mahjong. Nothing's going on, so I've not been
writing. So much for keeping myself informed of what I've been
doing. Maybe I need to go to a diary priest. "Forgive me Father,
for I have sinned. It's been a month since my last entry."
However, since I don't exist, do I really need to seek absolution?
Ah, here I go. See what I mean. If I don't get out of this
situation soon, I may start having cyberbrain schizophrenia. How
cool would that be? I could talk to myself, and myself, and myself,
and other people, and myself. How pathetic, I can't even get
online. All I'm left with is mahjong, and any voices in my
head.
Speaking of voices, TLM has been visiting me a lot lately.
He found a way to travel through the net to my brain, without being
detected. Probably the same methods he used to take control of other
people. I told myself I had a stalker. Since neither one of us has
been free to do anything else, he's as much a prisoner right now as
I am, we've traveled many philosophical roads together. I want to
meet this man. Or at least, I think he's a man. If he's a
woman, she has the most male-patterned thought process of any being
I've ever met. I have nothing better to do, so let me describe
what I think he looks like. His voice has always been deep and
gravelly, but voices and bodies don't always mix. So, I won't
make a guess as to the body. However, he's probably in his
fifties, a definite CBS sufferer. He says that when all of this is
finally finished, we'll have to meet. I hope so, there are
questions I require answers to. Oh look, I just finished another
game.
Entry 70:
I know,
but it's sacrilegious to confess to an imaginary priest. It's
been another two months since my last entry. The chief finally sat
down with us and explained what happened. He went to the PM, laid
out the evidence; and was told that they wouldn't do anything to
the MoD because it was too close to the election and he would
certainly lose if it was discovered that he'd had criminals of that
magnitude on his staff. So, he told our boss that he had to
sacrifice the Section 9 team in the short term so that the PM could
be re-elected and clean house, providing a less corrupt government
long term. It sucked pretty hard for all of us, since we were all
labeled as fugitives and hunted down like criminals. He took Togusa
with him because he is the only completely human member, and Aramaki
knew he wouldn't survive a full-blown battle. So, I guess you
could say that he sacrificed his queen in order to save the bishop.
A risky move, but it paid off. As the sacrificial lamb, it took some
adjustment on my part.
His message to me to stay alive was what
gave me the idea to do the body transfer. It was complicated since I
actually had to get my brain put back in my old body, without the
help of the Megatech transfer chambers. I actually stole a page from
TLM, and found a way to load my ghost files into the net, becoming
one with the system long enough for Batou to do the physical
transfer. I still wonder if everything got transferred back
properly. I've been acting a little more girly ever since that
incident.
Speaking of girly, I was SO WRONG in my idea of what TLM
looked like. Not only was he NOT drop dead gorgeous; but he was only
nineteen. How a kid that young could cause us that much grief is
beyond me. Ishikawa was all for taking him out if we ever met him,
but I told him that TLM would be a great asset IF we could get him on
our team.
Well, guess again. While Batou went out to snag Togusa
before he could assassinate the MoD, I ran TLM to ground. TLM kindly
turned me down. He's in the beginning stages of CBS. However, he
has a more advanced linkage system than me, two times more linkage
ports. I'm jealous as hell. Anyways, since he has more
cyber/brain linkages, he is going to progress into the higher stages
of CBS quicker than normal. The chief popped in and said he'd do
what he could to help him. TLM said thanks, and that he'd keep an
eye on things and let us know if he finds anything critically
suspicious. I guess that's better than nothing.
When I got back
to base, Togusa hugged me until Aramaki cleared his throat. Togusa
just blushed and said he was really glad that his short trip into
insanity was only that, a short trip. The guys are all going out for
drinks tonight. I've been invited, but I already have plans.
There's a certain someone who has taken very good care of me during
the recent difficult situations. I'm going to do a little payback
by buying dinner and showing a good night on the town. It's the
least I can do.
A/N: The nice thing about working on several things simultaneously is that when my brain seizes up on one set of stories, I can work my way around to some others. Thanks to all of you who have keep up with this long-running, randomly updated fic. I don't know if there will be an update between now and 2nd Gig. I'm kinda out of material. However, miscellaneous stuff happens all the time, and there might be another 10 entries in there somehow. I hope you have enjoyed what has already been written, and I will see you when I next update. -TK
