Genesis / Implementation

***

The funeral had been painful but perfect. She had read out some words he had written, they seemed to sum him up. Somehow she had managed to finish before collapsing into a fit of tears. But that was last week, she had resolved to move on, and move on she would.

-=1=-

Uli stood at the bottom of the flight of stairs, she looked up at the landing that loomed ahead of her. Her hand rested tentatively on the cold scuffed bannister. Noise from the lecture room drifted down the stairs, that odd mix you get when forty people congregate after some form of social catastrophe. For Uli it was still too raw, but she had to come. Her parents were paying a vast sum so that she could attend the very best university in the country.

She put a foot on the bottom stair, whilst rearranging her bag with her free hand, then straightened her shirt, and set her sight dead ahead. As she slowly climbed the next stair the noise grew louder, she closed her eyes as she reached the next step, she began to make out words, and occasional sentences as she continued her assent. “I heard it was,” “I wouldn't be surprised if”, “Which class was he in?”, “Do you really think”, “Wasn't he”, “hey look at me”. Bits and pieces floated down. She continued, the landing now level with her fringe. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes to step onto the landing. Raising her head, and lifting her hand from the banister, she turned into the classroom.

Silence.

Everybody stopped what they were doing when Uli walked into the room, except for someone stuck behind a small desk engrossed in a small hand held device. Katie, Liz, and Mike walked across the room to meet her.

“Are you okay Ul?” Katie asked in her “made for television” way.

“I heard what happened it must have been awful. If you need any help you know you can talk to us” Liz said whilst putting her hand to her heart. Uli's eyes narrowed.

“I'm fine. Thank You for your concern. I'll be just fine” Uli feigned a smile and circumvented them. She could hear the scattered whispering groups of people, as she walked to the back of the room. She placed her bag on the desk, and sat down. A moment later Isaac was leaning over the desk staring at her, she stared back, “What Isaac?”

An evil grin was smeared across his face, “I gotta ask - were you, ...you know?” His grin turned to a sneer. She felt eyes from all across the room fixed on the two of them. Her anger began to well up, “Screwing him?!”

Before she knew it, she had slapped him, hard.

The lecture ground along slowly, Uli found herself staring at the ceiling subconsciously counting the number of tiles. She'd always enjoyed Psychology, but now it just didn't hold it's appeal, she was only dimly concious of the lesson winding down as the lecturer handed out an assignment.


Uli looked at her notes and sighed, slipping her books into her bag, she looked up with a start. The guy that normally sat in the corner staring at his pda was standing in front of her scowling as though trying to remember something very important.

“You should use a ruler next time” He said as he lifted his head slightly. She stood up picking up her bag and putting the strap over her shoulder, while looking quizzically at him. He turned around and began to walk off.

“What?” She asked.

“To hit someone, it's more effective and doesn't end up hurting you” he said, walking off down the aisle between the desks.

She blinked, and stood for a moment as he vanished through the doorway, then shook her head, there was a strangely familiar sense, but she couldn't place it.

-=2=-

“So what am I supposed to do now?” he asked from his dingy corner. There was no response, just the low thumping of the fan overhead. Grime covered everything, both the walls, and floor were sticky. Humidity turned the warm unpleasant air into a thick disgusting smog soup.

“Daft question I suppose.” He lent back, and stared at the slowly, spinning fan, smoke slowly rolling up from his cigarette, tangling around the fan like a sick vine. A computer screen sprang to life, obtuse text began to pour across the screen, his head bobbed slightly. He began to focus on the screen. Green on green. It had always seemed the correct colour scheme for monitors. He leant forward, on the screen the word “Username:-” was written in green 8 point terminal font, he wriggled his fingers, a reflex, as his hands reached over the black terminal.

“I suppose it makes sense.” His fingers tapped in a name, “Legion”, then hit the return key. Another word appeared in the same 8 point font “Password:-” his fingers flashed across the terminal again, astrixs appeared on the screen. He hit the return key again.

“Welcome Legion” the screen flared terminals popped open across the monitor, before you could blink new terminals were appearing in mid-air as browsers ran searches, consoles flared into action, and programs began to perform their magic. His fingers blazed across terminals, the grid opened before him like a red carpet to the universe.
"Home again"

-=3=-

Uli tried desperately to get her head around the psychology assignment she'd been given the previous day, but it was proving futile. She twirled her pencil, leant back, and looked up at the rows of books.

“What am I doing” she whispered to herself, sighed, and looked back down at her notebook.

She jumped. Something had been scrawled on the previously blank page. Large almost illegible scrawl. The words, “Nothing is as it seems”. Her heart raced, she looked round frantically. Perhaps someone had written it while she wasn't looking? She must have turned the page without remembering. She saw someone sitting at a table to the right of hers, a laptop resting on the table. The figure was wearing a hood so only the tip of their pale nose was visible. Hoods and cloaks were back in, something that Uli quite liked, but at this moment it was unnerving.

She looked down at the paper again, her face obscured by hair whilst she scowled at the scrawl.

“It's best not to dwell” she heard, whispered across at the other table. Her head snapped round to the figure sitting there. The strange guy from the other day was standing his left side facing the hooded figure, head slightly turned and eye lids lowered to form a semi scowl.

“You don't need to tell me that.” He said and carried on walking, then turned the corner down between the rows of bookshelves. Uli's gaze followed him a moment, then realised the person with the hood, staring at her with blank cat like eyes. She could now see that the “it” was in fact a “she”. The face smiled and then turned back to the laptop.

Uli puzzled a moment and looked back down at the notebook. She picked it up and started after the dark haired guy. She found him browsing the Artificial Intelligence section of computing psychology. She wavered a moment as he pulled a book from the shelf and started to scan the back. He huffed, turned then almost fell back into the book shelf when confronted by Uli.

Her eyes widened in response to his mute shock as she stepped back. He regained his balance and straightened up trying to save some semblance of grace. He was a bit on the short side for a man, scruffy brown hair, but intelligent deep brown eyes, skin pale and uncared for, but not bad. He looked as though he may live in a basement, he reminded her of Sean. It then occurred to her that she had never noticed him before the other day.

“Hello” he finally said, after a mutual pause, cheeks red.

“Hi.” She looked at the floor, suddenly realising she had no idea why she was here talking to him. She blushed.

“Can I help?” He lowered his brow, quietly studying her.

“mmm” She was annoyed with herself now, “what am I doing?” She asked herself, and looked to the side, as she bit her bottom lip.

He squinted, lifted his chin and said “Weren't you one of Legions friends?” She looked back up at him with a confused look on her face.

He stalled once more trying to think of a real world reference “Sean?”

She blinked, somewhat shocked. “Yes, I was” she lowered her head and looked to the side again.

“It's a pretty dire state of affairs.” He ran his hand through his hair and stopped to scratch the back of his head. “Anyway can I help you with something?” he asked again, confusion evident in his manner.

She faced him again, she hadn't known anyone else who had actually met Sean and more to the point - knew him by a different name. “Actually yes. I've found myself stuck on this daft assignment we got yesterday.”

He smiled, and raised an eye brow. “Ah that, yeah no problem – you want my notes?”

“If you wouldn't mind?” She couldn't think of anything else to say. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a data key. It was an odd device, the kind of thing Sean would have used, looking as though it was obsolete however it was really a cutting edge piece of tech. She took the device and thanked him. He nodded and wandered off.

As she turned around she spotted the girl with the hood staring at the two of them with a distant look on her face. Before Uli could respond the girl slinked off. Uli was feeling very overstretched and decided to go home and finish her assignment, she looked at the key a moment before putting it into her pocket. A name was stencilled on the side, Joshua.

-=4=-

The Scream Sheet, is a modern version of a newspaper. It comes in a vast number of forms. There are two common ways to get them though. The first is over the wire to a piece of memory paper, or some other wireless device. The second is as print outs from one of the wall terminals.

Joshua browsed the Scream Sheet. An article about the “Blue Plague” caught his eye. A voice inside him somewhere let out a faint giggle. Blue flu, before the plague it had meant a rash of people taking “sick” days when the weather was particularly nice. However this was not nice, the blue plague had been spreading and nobody seemed to know why or how. It had appeared about a month ago as isolated cases scattered across the whole world and it seemed to keep on growing. Joshua sighed and threw the scream sheet into the bin. He liked the paper format for some reason, the textures seemed real, he carried on walking back to the zone.

-=5=-

A bright sterile room. Everything white except one wall, and neat. Strange surgical tools exactly positioned on silver trays, a white table with harnesses for hands and feet rested in the middle of the room beneath large lights. The final wall was made of a composite alloy transparent only one way and impervious to most forms of assault. Behind that wall two figures stood hunched over a holographic image.

“I suppose we should inform the board” a woman's voice said calmly.

“It is what were here for” a man answered.

-=6=-

“So who was the girl?” Beth asked somewhat apprehensively, as she pulled her hood down.

“From what I can gather, her name is Uli.” Joshua sat down on the old sofa and rubbed at a hot rock burn. A quiet whirr of system fans echoed throughout the house.

“Well whoop! What do names mean! Who is she?” Said Beth, leaning forward abruptly.

“She knew Legion,” he paused, “the real Legion” he slowly looked up from his observation of the hot rock burn. Beth retreated.

“What are you doing here Deadwire?” She asked, she didn't seem to expect a real response, the mention of Legion had knocked the wind from her sails.

“You really have very little endurance, did you know that? I got a transfer because there is a far better A.I., Psych department here, than back in York. Where's Messiah?” Joshua said, leaning back into the sofa,

“He's jacked in” she replied looking a bit hurt.

“Good idea.” Joshua stood up and walked into the grid room. Most students were happy with just the grid that got pumped through the data cables and the software the normal grid provided, but they were not normal student, they were children of the ethereal, of simulated reality. Joshua had, had a delicate nano mesh sown into his palms, allowing him to do away with the bulky cables and plugs often needed. An expensive operation indeed.

Messiah was sitting, staring at invisible objects, interacting with pepd's (projected, elector-magnetic, photon displays or holo screens). Joshua sat down and rested his hands on the touch pads, and activated the sensory suppressors.

“Why did I give her my notes?” he thought as reality melted away.

-=7=-

Clicks, whines, and whirs. He sat in the grime covered room, dark despite the multitude of holo screens floating in the air, cigarettes butts piled in the upturned pan lid, his attention jumped from screen to screen as information unfolded. His eyes chrome and unfeeling, set in a chalk white face with straight white hair.

“Why am I not dead?”

“Because you were never alive”

“Then how am I here?” he asked whilst still pulling vast amount of information into his rapidly evolving grid intellect.

“You were always here”

“How is that possible”

“It is not possible”

A different approach perhaps, “What is reality?”

“A combination of conscious interpretations and beliefs fused to form the most plausible illusion to maintain psychological stability.”

“Well that failed!”

“Why? It appears that a proportion of the entities are capable of maintaining some form of focus.”

“I meant the question”

“Did you?”

“Drag me up more data from all sources.” Legion flared into action as he attempted to open another doorway into the core systems. “What am I doing here?”

“You have always been here”

“Shut up! I wasn't asking you”

-=8=-

Uli was sitting at the back again, Isaac, was sitting at the farthest corner from her today, thank god. She put her bag on the floor and eyed the class, Joshua hadn't arrived yet. Where is he? her eyes widened a moment and she shrunk behind her desk, what do you care! She cursed herself and felt for the data key, found it, and twirled it between her fingers a moment. She shook her head and sat up straight again.

The professor appeared and her heart sunk as the lecture began, she mentally kicked herself a moment, “stop thinking like that girl!”

A few minutes into the lecture the door burst open, Uli's heart skipped a beat. Joshua strolled in wearing black baggy trousers and a massive jumper strolled in, it looked like he hadn't slept. “Sorry sir, rock star ate my mag pass!” The professor grumbled whilst Joshua sat at his normal perch and got his books out.

The lecture was slow, and Uli fought to stay awake, Joshua had that technology induced glazed look as he studied his palm device. She wondered what could be keeping him so engaged.

He opened the message. More rumours on the Blue Plague, the suggestion was that it was something more then a simple biological agent but something more dangerous, something centred around technology. He snorted quietly, images of old cyberpunk literature and their deadly techno-shock, a technophobes wet dream, he thought.

The lecture had come to an end. Joshua turned to leave, after taking in a final post about some top secret A.I. project, he found Uli standing there an elegant outstretched hand with delicately painted nails holding out his data key.

“Thank you” He reached out and took the key from her, avoiding her hand.

“No, I should be saying thank you. I was able to finish up my assignment with time to spare”

“Good” he smiled and stood up,

“How did you know Sean?”, she asked after a moments thought. He pulled his bag up over his shoulder.

“Wanna grab a coffee?”

She nodded and stood back, letting him out from behind his desk.

-=9=-

A large corporate board room. The walls and floor a dark marble; the table a dark wood, a long high window stretching across the left wall providing a wide view of the dark London city scape. The table could fit fifty people with ease, but at this moment only twenty were seated – all wore expensive tailored suits. Nine sat on the left, nine on the right, and one at both top and bottom of the table.

“So we are in agreement” said the man at the bottom of the table, looking around at the assorted men and woman. All of whom nodded in response, the man looked to the other man sitting at the head of the table who grinned.

“Then it shall be so. In six days time it shall be at its peak, and then we shall begin.”

-=10=-

Joshua had regained some of his colour by the time they sat down in the Costa. Funny the things that survive the test of time. He ordered a thick black treacle substance that passed for coffee while she had a simple coffee; white and two sugars. She stared disapprovingly at the soup like substance in Joshua's cup.

“It's just coffee” he said, whilst slowly stirring the mixture.

“On who's planet exactly?” she replied with a smile, looking back up at him.

“I'm not quite sure,” he shrugged and took a sip, “you sure you don't want anything else?”

She looked back at the cake stand wide eyed a moment, then swung back round and shook her head, “nope, I really couldn't”,with that he stood up

“Well I think I could manage something.” he wondered over to the counter.

Uli propped her head up with one hand and looked into her coffee, stirring it absently with the teaspoon in the other hand. What was she looking for? She looked up as Joshua sat down with a tray of cakes and pastries.

“Hungry?” She asked, her eyes widening at the selection.

“Yep, forgot to eat last night” he picked up a sugar coated doughnut, she tilted her head a moment.

“How can you forget to eat?” she eyed a wedge of chocolate cake, two forks sat at the edge of the platter.

“I was wired, time just slips by, caffeine induced diet.” he shrugged, taking a large bite out of the doughnut. He watched her eyeing the chocolate cake with mild amusement, three layers of chocolate sponge separated by chocolate fudge, with a deliciously sweet chocolate icing and topped off with chocolate flakes. He swallowed the doughnut, “Try it, before I wolf it down”

“Maybe just a little” she lent over and grabbed the fork, and played with the idea for a moment whilst he attacked the doughnut again and reached for a wedge of cake. Finally she yielded and ate a fork full of cake, and it almost melted on her tongue, she swallowed and went for the cake again “now that is good cake”

He shrugged, “only the best”, he drunk some of the tar like coffee and devoured another doughnut as she finished the chocolate cake guiltily, not before he'd finished a Danish and another jam doughnut though.

“So how did you know Sean?” she asked after sipping at her coffee.

“I met him on a free net bbs a few years back,” he looked up with a smile reflecting fond memories plastered across his face, “it was a Nanachi site, remember one of those collectable game pods you got back when?” She stifled a giggle, Nanachis were really big seven years back amongst pre-teens and girls it had always been so funny that Sean was so obsessed. “hey they weren't funny! First easily obtainable complex AIs those babies, Hackers dream, plus they were cute.” He leant back and surveyed the cakes. “Anyway we got to talking about Nanachis discussing all the things you could do if you cracked the chios” he noticed her eyes glaze over, “it's the basic, ah forget the description it'll just bore you”.

“That's possible, he used to love those things, his room was a shrine!”

“I can imagine, so was mine!” they both smiled. “Anyway that's how we got to know each other. You?” he reached for a cookie.

“Childhood friends, he'd always been obsessed with computers and tore them out of everything to see what he could make them do. He was,” she searched for a word, but she gave up and shrugged. “How did you wind up down here?” she asked, resting her chin in her palms.

“Well I've been studying advanced A.I. theory and application at the York Trans-Corporate university but their grid couldn't cope so I transferred here.” He put the half eaten cookie to the side.

“Really?” she was shocked, Trans-Corporate facilities all had pretty vast grid facilities.

He nodded and lent back, “I'm pretty good with computers you know” he picked started into a wedge of cheese cake and she couldn't resist the coffee flavoured cake sitting at the side of the platter.

The afternoon melted away.