CHAPTER 2, Just for you!. So, i know that this first 2 chapters are quite short, but it's just because is a whole introduction: chapter 3 and 4 (still to be translated) will be more longer and explained. Please review.

P.S: Edward nickname is "Ed", so i'll call him like this in most of the dialogues.

P.P.S: The strange title of this chapter is areference to a level of Thief: The Dark Project, called "Down to the Bonehoard"

If he had said it around, certainly no one would have believed him; after all, according to the people, what Jacket had discovered when he went through that door was science fiction, it could never have existed except in movies.

Well, sorry for the last-minute ultra-sceptics, but science fiction was physically before his eyes.

The torch illuminated what, going logically, was the real supercomputer: a dusty steel rectangle, equipped with a power button, whose red paint had now peeled off for a while, and a large LED. From the back of the computer, a series of cables about the size of a leg started to connect to two other devices: one was a large monitor with an integrated keyboard, attached to the lower edge, and a comfortable chair included; the other was the furthest away in the room, and was a large copper-colored steel cylinder, inclined 30° above the ground: it was a human-sized scanner, according to the PDF.

And again, according to the file information, the supercomputer located in Paris was much larger and more powerful, so that the monitor station, supercomputer and scanners each had a dedicated room. But in the end, size wasn't the thing that mattered to Jacket at the moment; the very existence of a supercomputer, which was so close to his home, was already enough of a discovery of the century.

In some ways, he no longer needed gifts on holidays.

Jacket, taking all the time to observe, approached the supercomputer's start button: he was still in time to give up and return home, like ordinary mortals.

But by then he was in it up to his neck.

Jacket said, "It's time to do the bullshit", and then he firmly pressed the button.

At that moment, the glow from the supercomputer's LED forced him to retreat, with his sight clouded and his eyes tearing. It took a couple of minutes to regain a clear view, and then to see how the room was now completely illuminated; on the other hand, the torch, prey to an epiphany, had decided to snuff it.

"Oh well, it was a cheap one anyway. Literally."

From the monitor station you could see the screen illuminated, showing a loading bar that, once completed, led to the desktop screen of the supercomputer's operating system; the screen reads:

"HOPPIX OS BETA 0.5"

The writing, like the entire interface, was a pink-purplish neon color. Very 80's.

"My compliments to the programmer fo AESTETHIC"

The OS interface was a mixture of graphical windows that could be managed by mouse and keyboard commands. And now it was time to hang around the system files.

Luckily, the commands were the conventional ones used in the most common OSs, because it only took him 10 minutes to explore the whole file system, finding something very interesting: a folder called "Diary 1.0"; inside there were a series of video recordings that Jacket, to listen to them all, took an abundant hour.

Waldo Schaeffer, the scientist in charge of the Carthage Project, explained in the video diary, time by time, his progress in the most ambitious project in the supermercomputer: a simulation of a virtual world that could be entered through scanners, which would "virtualize" the subject within the simulation. The purpose of this was to test the theories about virtual simulation and, above all, the power of the quantum supercomputer.

In simple words for the uninitiated: a huge video game with not too structured gameplay.

At that stage the project was still funded by a few individuals, many affiliates of a terrorist organization called "The Green Phoenix", so the virtual world was not extremely huge or complex.

The diary continued, reaching a turning point: the abandonment of the Italian detachment of the project, in favor of the Parisian supercomputer, better from all points of view, obtained thanks to the substantial government funds. Despite this, various data were copied on the Italian supercomputer and the possibility of connecting to the French computer through an expedition into the prototype virtual world, called "Xanadu" (which seemed to mean "paradise") was implemented.

However, the whole thing reaches an unexpected twist: in the last videos of the diary, Professor Schaeffer explained how he believed that the Carthage Project would be used for humanitarian purposes; unfortunately the NATO governments intended to use the project against the USSR in the Cold War.

"When governments will use their projects for genuine humanitarian purposes, at the very least we will have colonized new planets. Which I doubt will happen shortly." Jacket said in a mocking tone. Even if he was alone in that room.

Waldo Shaeffer then revealed how his wife Anthea had been kidnapped, and that he and his daughter Aelita were in grave danger. After changing his name to Franz Hopper, becoming a teacher at Kadick College, he made an extreme decision: first of all to create an artificial intelligence to protect the supercomputer from the hands of the government, called XANA. And then virtualize himself and his daughter on the new virtual world: Lyoko.

The diary ended here.

A virtual world accessible from a scanner: Jacket HAVED, and WANTED, to try and get into it.

But there was a problem: who would control the computer, make him virtualize, explore and then return it to the real world? The idea of being trapped inside a PC as father and daughter was not appealing to him.

He needed someone who would try to get into the scanner and be virtualized. Someone who could convince him without paying him any more money ("I'm anything but a rich boredom").

"Maybe I know a suitable person...".

Edward was devastated.

Today was his last day at the historical fencing gym: for the farewell, they had organized a local tournament among the members of the association; Ed loved fencing and tournaments made of duels with long swords, but today the opponents were very skilled. He would soon move to Paris, as his parents had found a well-paid job there. So as a result Ed felt as if his body had abandoned him to walk around.

He entered his room, airy, spacious and softly colored, and threw himself on the bed; he needed at least half an hour's rest before dinner.

And by that time he was already thinking about his departure. He would miss so many things about the boot-shaped peninsula: the food, his Eternal City, his relatives and friends.

And among his friends, especially that crazy daredevil of Jacket.

He never understood how that Anglo-Scottish boy could be so indifferent to the rules of life.

So Edward, in a way, was the antithesis of Jacket: always courteous, kind, respectful of the rules and common ethics, as well as politically correct: Ok, sometimes the laws are unfair and some people are bigots, but in general all these rules are necessary and useful for social coexistence, so Edward always follows them.

And it seems to be true that talking about the devil the horns come out, because at that moment his phone was ringing. Listlessly he took it to look at the number: it was just Jacket.

As education would have it, you answer the calls.

Ed: "Hello... hi Jacket. Listen, I just got back from the gym, I'm tired and dead and in two weeks I'm leaving for Paris..."

Jacket: "Two weeks? Perfect, then surely a couple of these days you're free. Look, I absolutely need you."

Ed: "...Do you need me? You don't want to put me in the middle of your risky, ingenious ways. Like that time you asked me to put a flash drive with a virus in the teacher's computer, just because he was maybe a little over the top when he put a bad grade on your test... you know that if he found out we'd both get in trouble, right?"

Jacket: "What? No, no bullshit like that. I've discovered something very big, or rather epochal, and I need your help. You'll see what it is about on the spot".

Ed: "...Can't you just tell me now what it is?"

Jacket: "If I told you now, without letting you see it, you wouldn't believe me. Let's do this, if it turns out that I told you a colossal bullshit, we'll go to the usual place and this time It will be my treat, all right?"

Ed: "...Your treat ?"

Jacket: "...I promise..." He said by raising the middle finger; it will never happen anyway.

Jacket: "So, here's the place and the time..." Then he described to him the place and time of the meeting.

"See ya the day after tomorrow, bye!"

Ed: "Wait, I haven't given an answer yet... hey?..."

He had hung up. As usual.

Now Ed could not miss the appointment: By now he was too curious.