It's been a while! Life has been catching up to me, but I hope to have the next chapter up sooner than before. Let me know what you think!
Ch. 15- The Factory
"Hang on, we're getting distracted," said Ulrich, holding up his hands.
"Ulrich's right, we got too caught up talking about money," said Sean.
"Yeah, does anyone know what time it is?" asked Yumi with a yawn.
"It's almost ten-thirty," said Odd, pulling out his phone to look at the time.
"We need to get going," said Yumi, walking back to the cars.
"What?" laughed Sean, "Is it your bedtime?"
"No," said Yumi turning on heel to face the group of guys again, "If my hack agent, Durand, was still around, he'd pretty much be micro-managing my life, and so I'd probably already be in bed. But now I want to just live my life on my own. So, screw it, let's stay out until two in the morning for all I care."
Ulrich had never seen this side of Yumi before. He knew that she was slightly a rebel, that's why she only wore mostly black throughout grade school. But this was something else entirely, why couldn't she have been this way when he proposed to her to take the next step in their "more than just good friends" kind of relationship that they had for, well what was now going on ten plus years.
"Let's get to the factory, do you know the way, Ulrich?" asked Seth, bringing Ulrich out of his thoughts.
"Umm…maybe?"
"Maybe?" asked Odd, "What do you mean?"
"Well the last time I went there, it was a really foggy day," said Ulrich, a little sheepishly, "I just know it's in a 'that way' kind of direction," he said pointing in the general direction of the factory.
"Well I could have told you that…" said Odd.
"Do you know how to get there?" asked Ulrich, standing over the petite blond with his full height.
"Guys, guys," said Sean, stepping between the two, "We're just in the same place here, so let's calm down and take things one at a time."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that if I got there once, I can get there again," said Ulrich.
"Why's that?" asked Seth.
"Just a feeling, c'mon guys…" said Ulrich, scratching his chin in thought and walking off towards their cars that were parked on the street.
Ulrich didn't have a lot to go off, but for some reason, with the painting, and the way that he was able to find it the other day, everything seemed to be pointing towards that factory. He walked towards the cars that were parked on the street like he was on autopilot. Before he knew it, he had pulled away from the curb before everyone else had even gotten into their own vehicles. It took him almost several blocks before he realized that Yumi was sitting next to him. He didn't even see her get in when he left. They didn't talk, but for some reason now, Yumi seemed interested in him again. Ulrich had no idea what was causing such polar reactions in the Asian woman. But he didn't really care, he was on a mission. But all this did was seem to intrigue Yumi more.
Ulrich twisted and turned on the streets of Sceaux towards Boulogne-Billancourt where he was a little surer to find the factory. Finally, Ulrich saw it after the third dead end; that bridge that he thought crossed the Seine but instead, it led to the factory. Yumi sat up in her seat when she saw it in the distance, but she still stayed silent. Ulrich pulled up to the wooden barrier that barred entry to the factory that said that the factory was soon to be demolished. The group reconvened right outside the barrier and looked at the building. It had certainly seen better days, but Ulrich could tell that everyone was looking at it with a youthful vision.
With the fog gone, Ulrich could see the little cover that went over their secret tunnel from the sewer and he could remember coming to this factory often.
But why…?
What drew him, Yumi, Odd, and the twins together to come here so often? Was it something having to do with Jeremy? Ulrich could see a small, blue, beat-up coupe that was parked up the block, right next to a pink Mercedes-Benz. Was Jeremy here? And that pink car, there could only be one person who that could belong to if Jeremy was here. But…could it be? Ulrich pulled out the picture that he and Odd were working on. He saw where the twins were, next to the two figures of girls that apparently no one knew anymore. The twin's faces had been erased because of the constant jumps back in time. Yumi was next to Jeremy, and then there was Ulrich there next to Odd. But could it be…? On the other side of Jeremy? Was that…Aelita?! He couldn't be sure yet, but he knew there was one way to get to the bottom of this. Ulrich folded up the picture, shoved it back into his pocket, and vaulted over the barrier.
"Whoa! Where are you going?! It says it's condemned!" shouted Seth.
"I think I know who is behind this all!" shouted Ulrich as he ran down the bridge.
"What?!" shouted Yumi, and she too clambered over wall to join Ulrich.
But Odd was quicker, he quickly jumped over too and ran to catch up to Ulrich. The twins looked at each other and shrugged and leapt over too. Even though shorter, Odd quickly overtook Ulrich, and he squeezed into the gap in the planks that were blocking the entrance. Then, as if by instinct, Odd grabbed one of the ropes that was tied to the beam up above and slid down to the floor below. Yumi also caught up with Ulrich and he helped her into the factory. The twins quickly jogged to join the rest of them. Yumi stood at the rope, ready to jump when she looked back at Ulrich,
"Don't tell me you're scared…" she said. It was like a flashback from the past. She then leapt to the floor below.
Ulrich grabbed the rope that Yumi just swung from and used it to lower himself to the ground. The twins looked at the ropes, shrugged them away and then jumped off the platform above, Yumi gasped as it looked like they were about to hurt themselves, or even kill themselves. But instead, the two blondes rolled to break their impacts and then stood up near the others.
"You could have killed yourselves!" chided Yumi, hitting Seth in the chest.
"Geez, calm down Yumi! You'd think that this was the first time you'd ever seen someone do parkour," said Seth, massaging his chest.
"Just…don't ever do that when I'm around, you're going to give me a heart attack!"
"She'll make an excellent mom, won't she Ulrich?" joked Sean, Ulrich's face turned bright red, as did Yumi's.
"C'mon, I'm joking!" laughed Sean, "You both should see your faces!"
"Not funny man…" muttered Ulrich, but the twins just laughed it off.
"So, where do we go from here?" asked Odd, looking down a dizzyingly high elevator shaft. The svelte blonde pushed the button, but nothing. It was like the elevator was busted. But then the button buzzed, like it wasn't going to allow the car to move. Odd leaned over the shaft again to look.
"Um, not that way…" said Ulrich, pulling on Odd's shirt to get him from leaning over the open industrial elevator shaft.
Sean leaned over to Seth and whispered something, the two of them were doubled over in snickers and giggles as they looked at Yumi, and then the brunette and then back at the Asian. Seth hummed a little song, and then Ulrich realized it was the wedding march song.
"But, hey!" exclaimed Odd, keeping Ulrich from giving the twins a piece of his mind, "There's a ladder here!"
"I say no more ladders tonight…" said Ulrich, remembering what happened with the ladder to the sewers just earlier that night.
"I agree," said Yumi, "My arms are killing me…"
"Well then how do we get down there?" asked Odd, "That's obviously where Einstein is…" he said, pulling out his phone flashlight and shining it down the shaft to see the elevator car, locked into place just a few stories beneath them.
"There has to be another way down there, the elevator would probably only be used for ease of access, there has to be other ways to the basement, even old buildings like this would have had other ways," said Seth, looking around the open atrium.
"And you know this…how?" asked Ulrich.
"Look guys, when it comes to little niche topics, I know my fair share. So, don't be surprised when I can whip out the little useless trivia that I've picked up from working as a film director," said Seth.
"Seriously, the guy should go on some sort of trivia game show, he'd make a killing!" said Sean.
"Want to make a be- "started Seth.
"No, I do not want to make any bets with you on that…" interjected Sean. Seth looked crushed.
"Hey guys, the floor starts to slope down this way!" said Yumi, walking a fair pace away from the group.
"That could mean that either it leads to some sort of lower level …" said Seth, and the Asian woman took another step forward, with a renewed sense of accomplishment.
"Or that the floor is breaking in that area." Yumi yelped and jumped back to where everyone else was. Ulrich also noticed that she hid a little behind him and almost looked like she wanted to cling to his arm. Seth laughed.
"You couldn't have led with that?!" asked Yumi.
"Well, you can never be sure, but to be safe, why don't you let me go first?" suggested Seth.
"Yeah, great idea…" said Yumi.
The five of them walked down the slope into a long corridor, there wasn't much here except piles of dirt, crumbled bricks, and occasional graffiti on the walls. As they got further into the factory, the walls changed color from a light green to a dark red. In the next room, there was a lot of factory equipment, ancient robot arms, and a dilapidated conveyor belt system.
"Dude!" exclaimed Seth, "This place looks awesome! We could have so much fun in a place like this!"
"Yeah, if you like picking metal out of your feet," said Yumi as she gingerly kicked a pile of loose metals and bolts with her toe, "Hope your vaccines are up to date...who knows what you could get from all of this?"
"Nah, these shoes are made to be puncture resistant!" said Seth, showing off the split-toed shoes that he wore. The twins started to vault and slide and jump around the factory floor, immediately getting their white shirts covered in all sorts of dirt and grime.
"Whatever…" muttered Yumi.
"Hey, guys!" shouted Ulrich to the twins, "Aren't we supposed to be finding a way down to the supercomputer?"
"Spoil-sport…" chuckled Sean, he wiped a big mechanical grease stain down the front of his shirt, staining the shirt beyond recognition.
"That's never going to come out…" said Yumi, like some sort of gloat.
"Eh, I've got plenty of shirts," said Sean, "Plus, if I really wanted to, my dry cleaner is really good about getting just about everything out of clothes."
Yumi just sighed and rubbed her temples with her hand. Ulrich chuckled a little, "C'mon Yumes, at least they're having fun. And boys will be boys, now won't they?"
Sean walked away humming that wedding march under his breath again, but Ulrich heard him. Ulrich scowled, but he wasn't going to let the twins get to him.
"I don't see any kind of door to a basement or anything down here," said Odd, poking around the walls and the floors.
"I don't really see anything here…" said Seth, examining the room.
Ulrich agreed with them, this room seemed like a dead end, until he heard a whistling sound like wind through an open window pane, and felt a breeze coming from behind a pile of scrap metal. He tried to look behind the pile to see where it was coming from. Through the cracks, Ulrich saw a door.
"Hey! There's something back here!" said the brunette, getting everyone's attention.
Everyone rushed to Ulrich's position. The twins looked behind the metal and then looked to each other and pushed the pile of metal and other scraps away from the door, toppling most of it over onto the floor with a mighty crash.
"Well, I'm sure that everyone knows we're here now," said Seth, rubbing some metal dust and rust onto his shirt.
"I think everyone in Paris knows we're here now…" groaned Yumi.
The guys all helped to pry the door open since it was stuck in its frame, but when the door was finally open, all they could see was the end of the little island that the factory was built on, and the rippling waters of the Seine.
"We must have missed something…" said Odd, looking around the factory floor again.
"No, we checked everything!" said Seth, "But wait! Look!"
Seth pointed out into the darkness, and it took a lot of squinting, but then everyone saw it, a small shack, and in the dim light of Odd's phone flashlight that he pulled out, they saw "Basement Storage Access" on a sign attached to the door.
"That has to be it!" said Yumi, stepping out of the door and up to the small, metal hut.
"Well does anyone have a set of bolt cutters?" asked Ulrich when he saw a long metal door bar that went from edge to edge of the door and was fastened with a huge metal padlock. The thing still looked sturdy, even though it was starting to show signs of wear and rust.
"Hang on!" shouted Odd, "I got this! I saw this on a cartoon the other day!"
The blonde went up to the lock and spat in both hands and then held out his hands like he was trying to pass energy from his hands to the lock, and with all seriousness, he said, "Open sesame!" the lock didn't budge.
"Well I've done all I can do!" said Odd, joining the rest of the group.
"Did you seriously think that was going to work?!" yelled Yumi.
"Well, it was worth a shot!" countered Odd.
"Let us take a crack at it…" said Sean, pulling out a small leather pouch.
Sean bent down so he could look at the lock, and then pulled a few small metal rods out of the pouch that Ulrich soon realized were lock-picking tools.
"Aren't those illegal here?" asked Ulrich.
"Nah, you have to show intent to commit a crime," said Sean, inserting the pieces into the lock.
"Well, isn't this intent?" asked Yumi, "You seem pretty intent on breaking in here…"
"Yeah, but only a police officer could act on that. Secondly, is this really a crime, I don't think the rats are going to press charges at all. Plus, are you guys seriously going to tell on me when I'm about to get us in here?" asked Sean.
"Well…no…but…" said Ulrich.
"Then shush…you're ruining my concentration," said Sean.
"You're putting much tension on the cylinder, let up a bit…" said Seth, trying to help.
Sean sighed, "Do you want to do this?"
"Gladly…" said Seth taking the tools from his brother.
"Fifteen seconds?" queried Seth.
"Pfft…you wish…more like forty-five…" said Sean.
"Usual wager?" asked Seth.
"You're on…" said Sean, "Go…!" he said, looking at his watch.
Seth inserted the tools into the lock and began wiggling them around, Ulrich had no idea how the twins knew how to do all these things; parkour, lock-picking, and so on.
"Is there anything that they can't do?!" he wondered to himself.
Fifteen seconds later, the lock popped open, and Seth stood up, handed the tools back to his twin, and then smiled wide as he held out his other hand, empty, like he was expecting something. Sean sighed, pulled out his wallet, and handed another £20 over.
"Seriously…!" huffed Sean, "Every dang time! How does he know?!"
"You think you'd learn, Es-ee," said Seth, putting the note into his pants pocket.
With the door open, the group gathered around to see what was in the shed. It looked like a simple storage shed, but what drew everyone's attention was the large trapdoor in the middle of the floor. Ulrich gestured to Odd while the twins were still bickering and motioned to him like he wanted his help in lifting the door. The two of them lifted it up, and it stopped at the end of its hinges, propped up slightly by the concrete lip that surrounded it, so that it sat open at about a 45° angle. Then Ulrich leaned down to see what was underneath. The opening slanted down slightly, like a slide.
"What's this?" asked Odd, straightening up.
"Probably the place where the factory workers rolled large drums down into the basement. Probably things like oil, paint, and other things that came in big, steel containers," said Sean, "Look, these rings here are where they could tie ropes or cables so you can pull the containers back up the ramp."
"Is there anything that you guys don't know or can't do?!" asked Ulrich, in an air of desperation.
"Juggling…" said Sean in all seriousness.
"Moon-walking…" echoed Seth, in equal tone.
"Wow, guys, I was joking…" said Ulrich.
"We weren't…" said the twins in unison.
"How do you guys do that?" asked Yumi.
"Do what?" asked the twins, at the same time again.
"OK, that's just creepy, stop that…getting some serious Shining vibes from you two right now…" said Yumi.
"Come play with us, Yumi…Come play with us…" said the twins in a creepy monotone.
"AHHH! STOP IT!" screamed Yumi, putting up her hands to cover her face.
The twins laughed, hysterically, obviously this wasn't the first time that they had done something like this.
"Seriously guys, not funny!" fumed Yumi.
"Trust us, being identical twins has had its perks in life, people think that we practice this when there aren't any people around," said Sean.
"…But we really don't," finished Seth.
"We just have that kind of…" said Sean.
"Connection," said the twins in unison.
"Well, it's still creepy as all get out…" said Yumi, coming out from behind her hands to scold the twins again.
"OK, we won't do that again, sorry Yumi," apologized Sean.
"Thank you," sighed Yumi.
"You ready to get to the bottom of this?" asked Sean, immediately getting distracted.
Without even checking, Sean vaulted into the opening and slid down the ramp, Seth followed. Ulrich gulped, unsure about what he was getting himself into, since it was dark past the opening of the trapdoor. Ulrich didn't hear the twins anymore, and it seemed like they were sliding for a while. What was going on with them?
"So…uh…ladies first?" offered Odd, breaking the silence.
"Uh…no!" said Yumi, obviously offended.
Ulrich was kind of glad that Odd said something because it made him look better when Ulrich vaulted over the edge and slid down the ramp. The twins were at the bottom to help him up when he got to the bottom. Ulrich dusted himself off, and then looked up. They were in the guts of the factory now, it was a combination storage room, and boiler room. The boiler was still kicking, but it looked like someone had started it recently. There were some footprints in the thick dust and debris that covered the floor that went to and from the boiler itself. Sean held up a finger to his mouth to point further down the room towards a small square where some faint green light was coming from an opening.
Odd came stumbling down the ramp next, and landed in a heap at their feet, "OW!" he grunted.
All the other guys held up fingers and hushed Odd to keep him from making any further sound.
"What?" mouthed Odd, then the others pointed towards the light.
Yumi came last, and Ulrich stepped forward to help her so that she didn't tumble over or get hurt. She came sliding into his chest, and Yumi gasped a little as she felt Ulrich put his arms out so that she didn't fall to either side. She curled up into a ball, placing her arms in front of her face, and then gasped lightly. She peeked out to see Ulrich looking down on her. Yumi's face flushed, and she hid again. She backed away slowly from Ulrich and mumbled a small, "Thanks…"
"You're welcome," he whispered back.
"Guys…" said Seth, motioning again to the light.
Now that they were quiet, they could hear some voices coming from that direction. Sean motioned for them to get low and walk quietly Odd suddenly got very serious and got down on his belly and started army crawling on the floor. But that made more noise than just tip-toeing. Ulrich looked back at him and with a steely look, mouthed, "Really?" Odd chuckled and got up of the floor and dusted himself off. Yumi rolled her eyes and then kept walking, only to see the twins vaulting, rolling, and climbing over the pipes and other debris in the room. Odd looked back with a grin, and then squatted low to the ground and snuck away. Ulrich and Yumi just sighed and watched as grown men acted like kids again. The two of them just walked slowly as to avoid making too much noise. The thick dust helped to mask a lot of sounds. The twins and Odd huddled around the opening, Yumi and Ulrich leaned so that they could see as well. There was a large beam that blocked their view, making it impossible for anyone to see who was below.
"No, I think we should start with the return to the past protocols," whispered a hushed voice. Was that…Jeremy?
"Jeremy…" said a female voice, and that cleared that up, "This thing is falling apart, I don't think that it will be able to handle another return today without any more problems, let alone replicate the one that got us here."
"Princess?" whispered Odd, as he leaned even further to see into the lab.
"Aelita?" asked Yumi, also leaning in.
In fact, all of the group leaned in to look. Ulrich's mind felt like it went through a shredder.
"Who's the girl with the pink hair...?" That was his voice. He was standing with Jeremy in this same room, but it seemed like it was happening forever ago, when they were both kids.
"That's Maya, a form of artificial intelligence who lives on Lyoko. I don't know what she's there for yet..." said Jeremy.
"Don't mess with me, you programmed her, right?" Ulrich's voice again.
"No! I woke up the moment that Jeremy restarted the supercomputer. I don't know who I am, my memory has been erased." Was that...Aelita?Who was this Maya person?
Everyone else seemed to be going through the same kind of things that Ulrich was, Odd looked like he had brain freeze, Yumi was massaging her temples and groaning, and the twins were both zonked out, lying on the ground.
"Guys…" hissed Ulrich, "You OK?"
There was a mechanical sound down below, and then Ulrich heard Jeremy say, "What was that?! Is there anyone there!?"
Ulrich and the rest of the group looked at each other as they all began to recover from whatever was happening to them. Ulrich looked at their faces and then realized that, they all were figuring that the gig was up, so Ulrich shrugged, and then edged out onto the metal platform, and stuck his head over the edge to see into the whole of the lab. He immediately regretted that as his vertigo kicked in for almost the umpteenth time that night. However, the lab looked like it had sustained some sort of blast inside it. The walls were dented, wires hung loose around the main hub. The holographic display in the center flickered and blinked. The place had certainly seen better days.
"Stern!" exclaimed Jeremy.
Aelita looked like she was now experiencing the same thing that had just happened to the rest of the group moments ago. She screamed, and held her head.
"Aelita!" shouted Jeremy and Ulrich at the same time. Jeremy tried to help, but Aelita waved him off. Jeremy looked concerned, but stood waiting to see what happened next.
Ulrich saw a ladder next to the metal platform, and climbed down to the floor to see what was going on. Odd and Yumi also stuck their heads over the edge to see where Ulrich went, and Aelita just seemed to lose it. She collapsed to her knees, and Jeremy rushed to her side but then looked up and saw Yumi and Odd as well, and he too collapsed onto the ground. The rest of the group climbed down to the lab floor as Jeremy and Aelita groaned and grimaced and held their heads as memories came back to them.
"What is going on?" asked Ulrich, rubbing his head to try and relieve his headache.
"I don't know…" said Sean, with a groan.
"It's- it's the…" stuttered Jeremy, holding his head, "It's the computer!" he gasped, pointing at the huge hanging monitor in the middle of the room.
"How can a computer cause headaches and memory flashes?" asked Yumi.
"It's not the computer itself, it's what it does…" explained Aelita, trying to stand up. She put a hand on the chair in front of the computer and pulled herself up. Ulrich noticed that she had changed from her professional clothes from earlier and was now wearing a thin, pink turtleneck, a pair of blue jeans, and a darker magenta fleece jacket that zipped up the front.
"What are you talking about?" asked Odd.
"How did you all find this place?" asked Jeremy, straightening up.
"I asked my question first," asserted Odd.
"First answer mine, and then I'll answer yours," said Jeremy.
Ulrich noticed that he was wearing the same thing that he was wearing to work a couple days ago. He had on a blue sweater, and underneath, a collared shirt and a maroon tie that was loose around his neck, he was also wearing some khakis and a pair of fashionable loafers. Everything he was wearing looked disheveled, and Ulrich noticed a bit of stubble growing on his face. Had he been living down here?
"We've been following our memories," said Seth, "Or at least what's left of them."
Jeremy scowled, "That's what I was afraid of, I wanted to keep you all out of this, this time. But the supercomputer just doesn't let go, does it?"
"Wait, the supercomputer is the reason we're here?" asked Odd.
"Yeah, what did you expect from a quantum computer?" asked Jeremy, "This is all my fault."
There was a lot of shouting, and the whole lab erupted in shouts and commotion as everyone except Aelita launched forward to bombard Jeremy with questions.