Chapter 27: The Fandom United
Earth-A
A Triangle News Service Exclusive
EMPEROR CAPTURES RESCUE RANGERS
TNS Breaks Story of Trans-Dimensional Feat
Tonight's session of the Pochacco & Keroppi Chat begins with the familiar ASCII header.
] The date is Friday, June 19. The time is 18:27 EDT.
] Login: Amnesia1983
] Password: ********************
] Welcome to the chat, Amnesia1983.
] MourningDove and 76 other members are already here.
] 4096-bit encryption has been engaged.
AnnaComnena: The character named QuiverwingQuack was the secret identity of the character Gosalyn Mallard from Darkwing Duck. The fan named QuiverwingQuack wrote several well-received works of fanfiction centered on Gosalyn, but was eventually ostracized from that fandom because her stories conflicted with the fanon established by the Quackerwitz brothers.
AnnaComnena: Welcome, Amnesia.
Amnesia1983: Hello, everyone.
] MyMelody is not in this chat.
TuxedoSam: Hi.
Wexler: Amnesia1983? Are you the chick that made this chat such a pain to use? I had to upgrade my software just to use it!
Tom: Thank you, Anna, for that report.
Wexler: And the user interface is awful. All the cool Japanese chats have video avatars and sound clips. We're just stuck with text!
] MourningDove is in this chat.
Tom: Oh, and good evening, Amnesia.
Amnesia1983 to MourningDove: Do you know where MM is?
Amnesia1983: Would you rather have a flashy interface and risk being caught by you-know-who?
Wexler: Oh, he's not so smart. He's just a cartoon, after all.
Amnesia1983: I'd like to see you say that to his face.
Amnesia1983 to MourningDove: Are you there?
AnnaComnena: I finished the tally, and it's official: there are more British than American fans of "P&K" on this board.
TuxedoSam: That's because most of the Americans from the first fandom are now "lunatics". Still, I am surprised - I thought the show never aired outside the U.S.
Tom: It didn't. I don't know about the others, but I've always been fascinated by American culture and being a citizen of the world's lone superpower does give one plenty of free time.
TuxedoSam: Oh sure, rub it in, why don't you. ;)
Wexler: Alright, you tell me: how much security is enough security to keep the "big bad wolf" from the door?
Amnesia1983: My local computer is set to a foreign keyboard, performs triple encryption on EACH keystroke, encrypts the message to be sent, sends it to a router that takes a virtual address and translates it into one for one of 16 proxy servers, encrypts that and sends it off to the proxy. The proxy then decrypts what it got and sends it onto another one selected from 16.
Amnesia1983: Repeat that another 7 times before it gets to the proxy server running the actual chat client, there the message and keystrokes from my computer are decrypted, mapped to a QWERTY keyboard and fed into the same software you use.
Amnesia1983: And you thought you had a hard time chatting without the wolf finding you.
Wexler: Whoa. Hardcore.
] You have received an invitation to a private chat room by MyMelody. Do you accept? Y
The new chat room resembled a text editor from a decade ago, with only one line of text displayed at a time.
MyMelody: MourningDove, what is this?
MourningDove: What is what?
Amnesia1983: Hello.
MyMelody: The file you sent me.
MourningDove: It's the mathematical proof I promised you.
Monkichi: Good evening.
MyMelody: Yes, but what is it?
MourningDove: It's mathematical proof that the probabilities in a Sum of Histories can't add up to more than a hundred percent.
MyMelody: But why did you sent it to me?
MourningDove: Because you told me that...hold on, when did you tell me? I could have sworn...I'm confused.
MyMelody: MourningDove, you're a dear and all, but you're also very strange. Now get back to the main chat.
MourningDove: Yes'm. Hello, Amnesia. And bye. ;)
MyMelody: Ah, welcome, Amnesia.
Amnesia1983: We should be safe to speak freely in this chat. So, who is Monkichi? I've been out of the loop the past week.
MyMelody: My father. He will be representing The Company.
Amnesia1983: Was he the one impressed with Nimnul's robot dog?
Monkichi: Well, it was a pretty good trick. Nice to meet you again, virtually speaking. I'm still not very confortable with this internet thing, so expect some mistakes every time I open my mouth. Or type.
Amnesia1983: That was no trick. I examined the software and hardware for that robot myself. Dual CPUs and self-modifying code.
Monkichi: Except self-modifying code of that complexity had never been accomplished in my time. Unless you've seen otherwise?
Amnesia1983: Err...not that I can remember, but I think it's clear that he's sitting on the border to creating artificial sentience.
Monkichi: It's not a border I'd like to see him cross. I've heard rumors that he's up to something in that field, something big. Yet one more reason why we need to act fast.
MyMelody: Honker will be busy with the crowd out there, but he'll be keeping an eye on this chat in case he is needed. He's told me that you've been informed about the KEEN, my version of Nimnul's Dimensional Viewer.
MyMelody: It turns out the Rangers got a hold of Nimnul's viewer after he left their world, and Tammy used it to contact me. Thanks to her, I think we have a way to defeat Nimnul.
Amnesia1983: So what's the plan, Fearless Leader?
MyMelody: War.
Amnesia1983: Fearless, indeed. I'm in. What's the plan?
MyMelody: Nimnul's control of Earth depends on the Moon, which he is just about to lose. Our job is to make sure that Nimnul does not interfere before the transfer of power is complete.
Monkichi: The Company has taken control of the Vostaach airfield and rigged it to explode at a moment's notice. We have contingency plans for any other space port Nimnul might choose to use.
MyMelody: "We", meaning Assistant Director Klaudaine and his cronies.
Monkichi: No, "we", meaning my hand-picked team. I'm coming out of retirement, starting today.
MyMelody: ...Dad, you didn't mention this before.
Monkichi: I didn't truly know how much this show meant to you before I finally went on the Internet and saw it with my own eyes. This is a level of organization to rival anything at The Company.
MyMelody: Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me.
MyMelody: Well, sorry to distract you all with that little family saga, but we still have a war to plan.
Amnesia1983: And what's the fandom's job in this plan? Distraction?
MyMelody: Distraction in the form of taking the Rangers out from right under Nimnul's nose and returning them to their own universe.
Amnesia1983: You're planning to just waltz into Gogol?
MyMelody: The fandom in the main chat is made up entirely of volunteers that have agreed to gather in front of Gogol and provide a distraction while I break in to get the Rangers. One of those fans is Thomas Grey, the Earl of Dorset, and he insists on paying for all of the plane tickets and bus fares. Those fans are even willing to be deported to the Moon if this whole plan fails, which is why it cannot fail. We must succeed, for the fans' sake as much as for the Rangers' sake. If you agree to join me, I'm sure together we can do this.
Amnesia1983: You're forgetting something. The bunker that contains the Dimensional Switcher is several hundred feet from the mansion. Once Nimnul knows what you're up to, he'll head straight there. I propose that I take control of the bunker at the same time as you get the Rescue Rangers. We will rely on Honker and the fans to keep the way between the mansion and the bunker open.
MyMelody: What about getting past Gogol's security?
Amnesia1983: Nimnul re-wrote the software from scratch after The Company disappeared, and he thought of nearly every angle.
MyMelody: So do we have a chance?
Amnesia1983: That depends. Are you still interested, Lain?
Lain: Yes, this sounds like fun. You can count on me to take care of security.
MyMelody: You brought Lain in here? And how come I can't see her in the list of members?
Amnesia1983: I couldn't exactly stop her - Lain goes wherever she wants to. She also only allows people to see what they want to see of her on the Wired, hence her invisibility.
MyMelody: Well, Lain, if you truly believe in our cause, then I welcome your help.
Lain: This Rescue Rangers program interests me, especially the strong feelings of loyalty it inspires in its fans. For such a small fandom, you have quite a large body of work. More importantly, I do not desire for any person to control humanity, even if the majority of them appear to welcome their chains.
MourningDove: But aren't you in just such a position?
Lain: Not by choice, Honker. I do not wish for power over others. I am ready to give up everything I hold dear to guarantee freedom for humanity, and expect to receive only oblivion in return.
MyMelody: I trust you, Lain. Is everything in the main chat arranged?
MourningDove: Yes.
MyMelody: Then in the words of our heroes and inspiration: Rescue Rangers, away!
