Kankrelats
CONSOLE
In: tm
Jeremie sees XANA in the task manager list, but that's the only thing out of place.
Jeremie: Tracing the program's location!
Aelita: Jeremie, its execution is a sub-process from Lyoko. Use the command "lyoko locsrc".
CONSOLE
In: lyoko locsrc xana
Out: xana found on north_cave
Jeremie: It tells me it's active on north_cave.
Aelita: Great! I'll head there. Are you coming, guys?
Jeremie: Hey, but our cellphones now have a key to neutralize XANA. Can't we use it for this?
Aelita: It'd be practical, but it's not the case: Lyoko has important protection barriers against external signals. It's necessary to deactivate it manually.
Jeremie: I understand, it's a shame. Good luck with the mission, then.
Aelita: Don't worry, I'm in good company!
Jeremie smiles.
Jeremie: I'll see if I can find out what XANA is plotting.
CONSOLE
In: tm lyoko north_cave
Out: Active tasks:
- xana
- vprint
- auto
In: loc vprint
Out: vprint:p found on files/3d
In: files/3d/vprint:p
Screen shows a sequence of 1s and 0s that covers it entirely.
In: loc auto
Out: auto:p foun on files/ai
In: files/ai/auto:p
Screen is once again full of 1s and 0s.
Jeremie: Shoot! The programs are already machine-coded. Although, because of how they're indexed and named, I suspect the following: Vprint is a program to generate 3-dimensional objects; and Auto is a program that assigns an AI or autonomy to an object.
Aelita: That's new, I don't recall XANA doing sosmething like that before. Wait… I think I know what XANA is doing.
Jeremie: I think so as well.
CONSOLE
In: tm lyoko
Out: Active tasks:
- aelita
- kankrelat0
- kankrelat1
- kankrelat2
- kankrelat12
- ulrich
- xana
- yumi
Jeremie: Oh no, it looks like it's generating multiple instances of something called "kankrelat". What is that?
Aelita: I've no idea, but…
Ulrich: Hey! Something's there!
In front of the kids, higher on the hill, stands a curious creature: a sort of insect with a shape and size similar to a human head's. After a while, another one appears.
Ulrich: What strange creatures.
Aelita: I'd never seen them before. This is new and I don't like it at all.
CONSOLE
In: del lyoko/xana
Out: error
Jeremie: Well, it was worth the try. Guys, I cannot handle them from here! Be careful, we don't know what they're capable of.
Aelita: But Jeremie, we need to stop the spawning process! We have to pass through them.
Jeremie: I get it, but I don't want to put you at risk for this.
Yumi: Hey, what if we reset the computer?
Ulrich: With us inside?
Aelita: It'd work as a way to pause the programs, but when turning it on again, Lyoko's state will be the same as before. XANA can also save execution states.
One of the creatures descends towards the kids.
Ulrich: Watch out, one of them is approaching!
The kids move back. The kankrelat jumps towards Aelita, which was the one closer to it, but it fails and falls to the ground.
Aelita: Ah!
Yumi: Aelita, watch out!
Ulrich: (pointing down the hill) We could hide behind that rock! We cannot stay exposed like this.
Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich descend and duck behind a large rock.
Yumi: This is scaring me, I don't know if I'm prepared for large bugs!
Aelita: Jeremie! Materialize your friends, it's not worth the exposition of all of us.
Ulrich and Yumi: No!
Aelita: Whoa, what happened?
Yumi: We won't leave you alone!
Aelita: But you'll get hurt because of a problem that's not yours in the first place!
Ulrich: Oh, so why it's your problem then?
Aelita: (sighs) Because I don't have a choice.
Yumi: That's not a good reason!
Ulrich: If I heard correctly, you're here against your will. It's neither your job nor your duty to do what you do. Besides, we'll probably do better working together.
Aelita: I…
Yumi: Don't insist, Aelita, we're not going anywhere.
Jeremie: Aelita, I understand your fear, but I think they're right. I won't insist if you want to stay. While we figure out what to do, I'll examine the kankrelat's details.
Aelita: Thank you… I don't know what to say…
Yumi: You could suggest an idea for reaching the north cave. Anything works.
Aelita: …Okay. Hmm… maybe we could distract them to open a path.
Ulrich: There's three of us. Yumi distracts them from one side, I from another, and you try to get to the cave.
Aelita: Okay!
Jeremie: Good news, guys: the bugs seem to be exactly what they seem. No hidden weapons or anything. From what I can see, they're light-weighted in terms of memory (therefore, easy to spawn) and jump quite a lot.
Ulrich: Thanks for the info! Okay, this is what we'll do…
…
Odd lowers the extinguisher's mouth. The fire is out.
Odd: Okay, crisis averted. Anyone else up here?
A couple of doors open.
Odd: (coughs) Come on, we gotta go!
The children give fearful looks; then, they walk towards the stairs.
Odd: Let's go, Kiwi!
Odd descends and leaves the building, but he finds an ominous scenery: behind a commotion, smoke rises, and the boy senses a smell of burnt weed. Among the crowd, Sissi cries in her father's arms.
Odd: (asking the first person in front of him) What happened down here?
Girl: I don't know, I think Sissi's phone caught fire or something.
Boy: Hey, you're the kid who put out the fire upstairs!
Odd notices many gazes focused on him.
Another boy: Are you going to help putting this one out as well?
Odd: I'll see what I can do. (he approaches the smoke)
Jim: Hold it right there! New boy! Della Robbia, is it? I'm sorry, son, but you cannot go further.
Odd: I understand, Jim. Take this extinguisher, there's still some foam in it.
Jim: Oh, fantastic. Let's see if we can do something more before the firefighters arrive. Thanks, Della Robbia!
Odd: Please, call me Odd.
Jim makes a half-smile and then turns his back, approaching the smoke. Odd then walks towards Sissi.
Odd: What happened here?
Sissi cries without looking at him.
Delmas: Hello, child. It looks like Herve Pichon's mobile phone caught fire. It's pretty strange, to be honest.
Odd: The same happened upstairs, with another phone!
Delmas: What? Really? So there's a fire inside the building?
Odd: No, I managed to put it out before it could do significant damage.
Delmas: Is that so?
Boy: Yeah, I saw him, Mr Delmas!
Delmas: Wow. I'm thankful to you then, boy. You have saved us from a good one. The firefighters are on their way, let's hope this other front doesn't expand much more. Jim!
Jim: (turning his head) Headmaster, sir!
Delmas: Take the children to the front yard. They'll be further from the smoke and safer overall.
Jim: Yessi…!
Sissi: Aaah!
Sissi takes her cellphone out of her pocket with clumsy movements. The device falls to the floor. A few kids start screaming.
Delmas: Sissi! What is it, sweetie?
Jim shoots Sissi's phone with the fire extinguisher, until it's fully covered in foam.
Sissi: It was burning my leg! Ow, it hurts!
Delmas: What on earth is going on? I would have never bought you one of those if I had known something like this could happen.
Jim: (making himself look even taller) Everybody! We're going to move towards the front yard! We'll make two lines, that will follow me. Go!
Odd obeys, but looks around, looking for Jeremie and Ulrich.
Odd: Come on, guys! where are you?
Looks for a bit more, but does not find them.
Odd: They aren't here! I hope they aren't in the woods, something could happen to them.
The boy looks behind him and sees the headmaster holding his daughter's hand.
Odd: Hmm, maybe Sissi knows how to communicate with Ulrich. (approaches them) Hey, Sissi!
Sissi looks at him in silence.
Odd: Listen, I haven't been able to locate Ulrich. Do you know his phone number, by any chance?
Sissi: U-Ulrich is not with the rest? Oh no, this keeps getting worse!
Delmas: That boy Stern? That's worrying. Do you know where he could be?
Odd: No, but I fear he might be in the woods. I need his number.
Sissi: (takes a while) Okay, I'll give it to you.
Odd dials the number dictated by Sissi.
Odd: Thanks, Sissi! I'll let you know on the news when I have them.
Sissi doesn't answer, she only looks at him.
…
Ulrich: Damn these bugs, they're a lot smarter than they look!
Yumi: Aelita, watch out!
A kankrelat rushes towards Aelita, pushing her to the ground. Yumi kicks the creature, making it roll downhill. She then helps Aelita get up. The three then fall back.
Aelita: (recovering her breath) It seems the kankrelats know it's me who holds the key. They aren't falling for it.
Yumi: XANA looks like a smart program!
Jeremie: That's right, Yumi, and it's pretty worrying.
Aelita: Hold on, Jeremie… Oh, how foolish of us! I can transfer you a copy of the key to Yumi and Ulrich! That way, the bugs will focus me and one of you can deactivate the program.
Jeremie: Oh, of course! Tell me what program to attach to you in order for you to do it.
Aelita: I think that isn't necessary. Use the command "vpipe" plus my file and one of theirs. I'll do the rest.
Jeremie: Roger that! Yumi goes first.
CONSOLE
In: vpipe aelita yumi
Aelita floats for a few seconds. She closes her eyes and extends her arms towards Yumi. She then lands without issue.
Aelita: Ready! Now it's Ulrich's turn.
CONSOLE
In: vpipe aelita ulrich
Same thing again, with Aelita now focusing on the boy.
Aelita: All set!
Yumi: So, now we revert the roles, is that correct? Aelita distracts the monsters while Ulrich and I try to access the cave.
Aelita: Correct! Wait, there's something you have to know: at the bottom of the cave, there's an interface, like a computer's screen. Whoever reaches it must put their hand over the screen in order to deactivate the running tasks.
Ulrich: Is that all?
Aelita: Yep, that's all! It's pretty simple.
Ulrich: Fantastic, let's get there then!
Jeremie: Good luck, guys, but be c…! (Ulrich's phone, which is next to Jeremie, starts ringing) Hey, Ulrich, your phone's ringing!
Ulrich: Answer if you want! Tell them I'm busy.
Jeremie: Yessir. (looks at the phone) Hmm, there actually is a number on screen. (picks up) Hello?
- END OF CHAPTER 8 -
Author's note: In order for this ending to make sense, I had to add a detail to ch. 7. You'll probably guess what it is.