LinaOS v1.1 (C)Copyright Lina Inverse 2027, no rights reserved > describe "Slayers Virtual" data text file, 16 parts plus header PART 1 64,305 05-22-99 1:09a PART 2 25,542 11-16-99 13:50p PART 3 17,961 12-09-99 19:34p PART 4 18,603 01-07-00 19:28p PART 5 18,547 01-06-00 23:50p PART 6 15,963 01-22-00 00:29a PART 7 38,163 02-01-00 01:32a PART 8 32,821 02-2?-00 ??:??? PART 9 18,881 03-0?-00 ??:??? PART 10 14,690 03-2?-00 ??:??? PART 11 49,528 04-1?-00 ??:??? PART 12 71,220 05-01-00 00:00a PART 13 18,200 05-21-00 11:12p PART 14 26,782 06-30-00 09:33p PART 15 --read error, temporarily unavailable PART 16 --read error, temporarily unavailable > remember "Slayers Virtual" header @X0F SLAYERS VIRTUAL CYBERPUNK ELSE [14/16] @X0C컴컴컴컴컴컴컴| |컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 @X09 .---------------------------------. @X09 | this episode by Adrian Tymes | @X09 | cracked by stefan gagne | @X09 | indie distro by improfanfic | @X09 `---------------------------------' @X0E컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� > remember "Slayers Virtual" part 14 "DRAGON SLAVE!" Zelgadis analyzed the attack as best he could without interfering. When he destroyed a system, he first logged off all the users, then wiped all the disks, and finally rebooted the system to wipe whatever remained in active memory, each time making sure that what was lost could not be recovered. He would usually be leaving the system just as those not currently online noticed their coworkers collapse, eyes rolled back in their heads. This attack would do it all at once, but it would leave any users alive. Any cybernetics might be messed up, though. And didn't Rezo need prosthetics to see online? He was not sure if this would help, or just make Rezo mad. --Prev/Next? N The blinking eye of a pentagram caught Xelloss's attention. Five red dots at the points of the star maintained their unblinking gaze; two more sat inside like a parody of a face. The right, unlit eye had been labeled with post-it: "Inverse". He only needed to contemplate the winking left eye for a second. "Interesting hiding place. Thank you, Lina." --Prev/Next? N Rezo screamed in agony as the flood of viruses shot up his link and into the CPU for his augmentations. Not that it was particularly painful, but they punched right through a flowerlike construct in the processors that resided in his otherwise useless eye sockets. He had never dared to purge this construct from his system, lest the contents escape. His doctor had, in fact, tried once again to convince him to blank the processors just an hour ago, fearing something like what was now happening. That which had been inside the construct activated the sensory cutout in his plugs and burned out all overrides. Rezo never heard his dying scream fade to nothing when his lungs could not tell him to breathe. --Prev/Next? N Lina casually leaned against a wall that was not there, silently invoking a routine she wrote long ago to make her avatar look as cool as possible. Gourry looked confused. More so than normal, that is. "Aren't we going up there?" Lina tried to meet his gaze, only remembering a few seconds later that she needed to turn off the routine to get her avatar moving again. "In a bit. Let the Dragon Slave bounce around, and see if it shakes anything loose." "Lina..." The tone of Amelia's voice gave pause to the plans for assault Lina was forming; what she was pointing to stopped them completely. "My, my, my. Shaburanigdo. You do have your moments, Lina." Lina checked left-back-right-front...whoever said that was not on the same level. But this being cyberspace, up-down...Xelloss was standing like her reflection, soles of feet to soles of feet. Xelloss chuckled. "Tell me: did you actually fire him into Rezo's office, or did you just get lucky and free him? I'm inclined to believe the latter, except this is the perfect way to eliminate Rezo's entire corporate empire. Anyone who links with anyone has guards against viruses these days...unless you've got a death wish, or you've disabled security checks on the gateways to let your boss's cracker jacks sneak through untraceably. I'd give it ten minutes before this system and everything in it becomes one big Shabby node, and an hour or two more before every system Rezo had influence over becomes...uninhabitable." "What are you doing here? No, wait, let me guess: you had Rezo under surveillance, and came to see what was up." "Smart girl. I had his office moved to be just a skip and a hop from my own; he never noticed or cared." Lina blinked. "What are you talking about? His office is right here." "Lina...you really *don't* know where you are, do you? And I don't mean back in that hotel you're connecting from." "I...er..." Zelgadis knelt to the "ground", examining it closely. "As long as you're answering questions, how did you get to negative coordinates? We're all standing at zero, and the system won't let avatars travel outside its bounds." Xelloss smiled. "Avatars, yes." He bent up, examining the confusion on Lina's face. "You really don't know, do you? You think this is all an illusion." "You mean it isn't?" The Mazoku cocked his ear to a sound only he could hear. "Another time. An...appointment just showed up. Until we meet again." And he was gone. There was nothing more to be said. Above, the tentacled mass of the worst computer virus known to mankind writhed and grew like an explosion in slow motion, and they knew Xelloss's predictions about the fate of Rezo's part of the network to be true. Mission successful and no remaining witnesses, so, time to exit. Except Lina could not. Lina was used to the pattern, having been the target of anti-escape ICEs before. Disconnect fail. Nearby avatars disappear as friends log out. Hand on neck. Invoke safety overrides. Overrides not...hand on neck?!? "Hello again, Miss Inverse." --Prev/Next? N Sylphiel caressed the mechanisms with steady hands that, centuries earlier, would have made her the envy of any watchmaker's guild. And indeed, in all that time, the basics of micromachining had not changed much. Sure, robots did most of the grunt labor these days, and the micromachines' functions were much more varied, but a quick mind to figure out strange mechanisms and a steady hand to assemble and fix them were still valuable commodities - more so, in fact, now that there were so many more micromachines. And the highest levels of expertise were still crafted from years of experience, though lesser degrees could be bought in any decent cybershop. Sylphiel's talent was far beyond what could be purchased with money alone. "Ahem." "Be with you in a bit, Zelgadis." Sylphiel knew fine hardware when she saw it; she actually had to consciously keep from drooling when she saw the precision with which the hip joints were made. It was an interesting technique, one which she would have to practice later... "I believe it is customary to ask permission before removing one's groin plate." "Yeah, yeah, I...oops." Sylphiel looked up from Zelgadis's lap, semi- consciously removing her hands from inside him, and smiled. "You do know that you've shut down my legs." "Uh...right. Just testing...I'm in trouble, aren't I?" "Fix it," Zelgadis growled. "You were supposed to be on guard duty. How could I run like this if we were attacked?" "We weren't." "You couldn't have known that in advance." Gourry took one look, then quickly looked away. Even if Zelgadis was technically neuter, something just seemed wrong about watching him with his pelvic assembly disassembled like that. Quickly trying to find something else to watch, he saw Amelia nervously checking diagnostics on the deck they had just shared. "Um, Amelia, what are you doing?" "Lina hasn't disconnected yet. Something's blocking her." "So? Pull her plug." "Gourry! If I did that while her brain was still processing stimuli from the deck, the sudden shift could fry her. And the deck will shut down if we disconnect it from the wall." "Would it help if we packed her in ice first?" Amelia pried her gaze away from studying the deck's readings just long enough to make sure there was no malice in Gourry's expression. "ICE is what's causing it. She could wind up nearly braindead - all personality, intelligence, and memory wiped." "So she'd be a politician." Gourry snickered at his own joke. "You'd be suprised how many elections come down to a few corporations taking zombie ex-hackers and seeing who can program their candidate the best. We once ran across a pervert who was running a sim of Lina and me for U.S. President and Vice, with him pulling our strings. It turned into cheap porn real fast. By the time we were done with him, he was running for mayor and losing badly. I think Lina was a little too harsh on him; I would have just dumped him in a therapy sim that swapped his sex drive for a sweet tooth. Chocolate doesn't mind how you eat it." Zelgadis was momentarily grateful for the detachment his body lended; he suspected he would otherwise stare in shock at the Hacker of Justice at that moment. "And I thought you were only her apprentice..." "I am. Hey, I don't suppose you could simulate another deck?" She gestured to his arm, and the cable still dangling from it. "If we switch her from one deck to another fast enough, she won't be hurt." "It'll only run myself. Rezo thought I was powerful enough by myself without being able to bring along an army. Sorry." "That's ok, Zel. I don't suppose anyone else knows where we can get a spare deck?" "Well, we could go out and buy one, but I think we should wait a few minutes to see...Amelia? Hello?" She frowned in deep thought, not really hearing his words. Something was nagging at the back of her mind, taunting her with a single red eye. --Prev/Next? N "You have five minutes to explain what you're doing here." "Five minutes? You must be feeling generous today, Miss Inverse." "Not at all. In case you hadn't noticed, Shaburanigdo is consuming this system. It'll reach our sector and wipe us in four minutes fifty seconds. I don't care who or what you are; you'll be dead if we're still here at that time." "And you won't?" "I've installed Ceipheed on my deck." "But Shaburanigdo bypasses decks. You'd have to have installed it in your brain to have any protection. But you have, haven't you?" "What?" "You do have Ceipheed, inside you. Probably after you ran into Shaburanigdo some other way." "You're...you're kidding. Human brains can't run computer programs." "Most can't. But yours can. Oh, don't bother making your avatar look like you don't care: I can read your deck's biometrics. I can see your fear." "Alright, fine. Shaburanigdo infected me some time ago. Gave me major headaches, then I cured myself. I'm protected and you aren't." "Not from me, you're not, or you wouldn't be standing here. And if I go down, I can inject the virus past whatever defenses you have just before I die. It looks like we have a standoff." "Maybe we do. What do you want to do about it?" "I have lived only through the good graces of certain Mazoku. The instant they learn I have pursued you, those graces end. I wouldn't be suprised if they haven't already, but I can't know until I am killed and fail to come back. Not the way I'd prefer to test my immortality." "Yeah, so? You're not the only one the Mazoku are interested in." "Indeed. But your ability to fight the Mazoku is limited while you do not know who they really are." "They're a bunch of world-dominating wannabes who make really good VR worlds." "And project their avatars into reality...our reality, that is. And do all kinds of hacks that should be impossible...but, let me guess, so can you. Like that Dragon Slave: you thought it was just a bunch of viruses, until you used it in a flesh and blood fight against enemies who disintegrated like game sprites when killed." "How do you know all this?" "I propose an alliance. All I am now is a bunch of code, so you - that is, your brain - has the capability of running me. Download me, and in return, I tell you everything I know about the Mazoku." It took Lina three seconds to contemplate this. "Deal." Had anyone else been present to witness, they would have seen the two forms merge into one, Anthony's shell fading and shrinking into Lina's like a ghost possessing someone, before Lina blinked off in standard log out animation. Unfortunately, Shaburanigdo was too busy to notice or care. --Prev/Next? N "She's off! Disconnect the deck!" "I did." Zelgadis laid a hand on Amelia's shoulder. "The ICE must have gotten her." "No. She's still online, somehow. That's not ICE." "Amelia...she's gone." "She's not. She's not! Lina wouldn't die on me!" "She's not connected to any computer, but she hasn't come back to reality. That's what ICE does, Amelia." "No...she's still connected." "To what?" "To herself." --Prev/Next? N Welcome to LinaOS v1.0 public beta. Copyright (c) Lina Berkowitz 2008-2026 **Anthony.Halshiform has logged in Anthony.Halshiform> A chat room? Lina.Inverse(OP)> home sweet home Anthony.Halshiform> All of your imagination, and this is the best you can come up with? Lina.Inverse(OP)> excuse me for not being the latest draconix model Lina.Inverse(OP)> you're safe, so tell me Lina.Inverse(OP)> what are the mazoku? Anthony.Halshiform> Bah. Anthony.Halshiform> /su Lina.Inverse **Command not recognized: su Lina.Inverse(OP)> loser Anthony.Halshiform> /chusr Lina.Inverse **Command not recognized: chusr Anthony.Halshiform> /setuid Lina.Inverse **Command not recognized: setuid Anthony.Halshiform> /help **Command not recognized: help Anthony.Halshiform> /? **Command not recognized: ? **Amelia.wil.Tesla.Sailoon has logged in Lina.Inverse(OP)> /dragonslave Anthony.Halshiform **Anthony.Halshiform has been terminated Amelia.wil.Tesla.Sailoon> Lina? Are you ok? Lina.Inverse(OP)> Just entertaining a guest. Lina.Inverse(OP)> /divine "Mazoku" /Halshiform/memory/* > /inverse/archi ve/ **Warning: System reset required to process new data **Warning: Lina.Berkowitz(OP) corrupted beyond repair Amelia.wil.Tesla.Sailoon> Lina? Lina.Inverse(OP)> I'm ok. I just need a nap. And after that, I suspect I'll want to lay my cards on the table... **Restarting Lina.Inverse(OP) --Prev/Next? N "Aces and eights." Five cards spread across from Xelloss. "Dead man's hand. You?" "Royal flush." Another five cards came down on Xelloss's side, each one displaying a charicature. Gourry, striking something with his tennis racquet. Lina and Amelia, dressed like royalty. Zelgadis, kneeling behind rock of the same shade as his skin. And ten miniature Sylphiels in various generic poses. The crescent moon almost seemed to frown. "Alright, you win. Ask." "Where did you get these cards?" "Atlass City. Someone made the deck from video captures. Never thought I'd see sis as king." "It's a good likeness." "That can't be what you wanted to know." "Why not? Do you know my heart? Have you lived my life?" "You're Mazoku." "Ah, dear Luna. I thought you for certain would be above the habit of stereotyping others. We're as varied as humans are. Why, when we first stumbled across Anthony and realized what he was, some of us wanted nothing more than to terminate him and keep the existence of humans a secret. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed." "Rebuilt Shaburanigdo instead." "Yeah, well, you can't have everything." "Not if Shaburanigdo destroys it." "Oh, now that was uncalled for. Really, Luna. What do you think I am?" "A Mazoku with six pieces." "Five pieces." "Plus Rezo's." "What makes you think I had anything to do with that?" "Not saying you did, just that RPR's dead from Shaburanigdo. No way you didn't copy that piece." "Ok, so maybe I'm this close to reviving him. What's it to you?" "Everything." "Ah, Luna. Just because you were the primary author of Ceipheed doesn't make you and I some kind of dramatic opposites. Unless Ceipheed rewrote you?" --Prev/Next? N Success. That was the only word to do justice to this moment. Anthony knew there had to be a place like this, but to actually see it... His colleagues would deride him. Most people would continue to believe that cyberspace was just a way of envisioning data and connecting between systems. Nothing more than a dream, really...and they would be more right than they knew. He was certain he was not the first human to see this land. Ancient legends told of people walking through their dreams as if they were real. Virtual reality was but a modern prosthetic to achieve the same end. It was not the most efficient way to present data to people; metaphors based on pure thought and numbers had been around for years since the invention of the neural link. And yet there was a reason people were drawn to interacting like this. Human beings created this reality with their thoughts; computers helped format the data into "real" objects. For a moment, Anthony wondered if perhaps there were vast stretches of command line interfaces out there, if one could just travel to them. The pieces of this world that people had created were all uninhabited; it did not matter where in this space they were relative to each other, so long as they were internally consistent. The chances of a virtual reality already being occupied were practically nil...unless one knew how to rig the odds, by judiciously linking between worlds that people had already set up. Now to meet the natives of this realm. --Prev/Next? N Failure. That was the only word to do justice to this moment. Anthony knew there had to be a better solution than this... The "Mazoku", as they called themselves, were not happy to learn of a group that could edit and compile their reality with a few keystrokes. As he expected, they had the ability to do the same back to his native reality, and he had talked them into uploading him into this world, freeing him from the eventual demise of his earthly body. But they were, in the end, just as earthly as himself. As part of its execution, the Shaburanigdo virus created an entire race of beings to populate the worlds it cut off from human interaction, giving them continued existence from the force of their inhabitants' belief even after the hardware that had accessed them was destroyed. They had known something of humanity, but until Anthony confronted them on their own turf, they believed humans to be nothing more than their own dreams. Now they knew the purpose behind their creation, and pursued it with an almost religious zeal. And if Anthony tried to stop them, he would be deleted instantaneously. Not that it mattered. The Ceipheed Solution stopped Shaburanigdo dead in his tracks. If the Mazoku could reassemble Shaburanigdo, they might be able to rewrite him to get around it, but as far as he could tell, all copies of the pieces they were missing had been deleted. --Prev/Next? N Disaster. The Mazoku had five pieces, and had just located the sixth. The only remaining one was inside Lina Inverse. Once they had Shaburanigdo, they might well decide to dispose of him. He was useful mainly as an interface to deal with other humans, but if Shaburanigdo was revived, there would be no more humans to interface with in these constructs...and thus, no more reason to keep him around. He had to find a human host immediately - one capable of running what he had become. He knew of exactly one, and had reason to believe there were no others...at least, no others still alive. Not that she had to live forever, either; just long enough to find or build another host body to transfer to. In fact, he would probably kill Lina's body once he was done with it, to throw off anyone looking for him. Sure enough, she was at the scene of the crime, preparing to leave. Time to act... --Prev/Next? N Silent, somber looks went around the room, leaving things as quiet as when the party of five had been jacked in a few minutes ago. "I figured sharing his memories would be the only way to tell you what he knew. I hadn't gotten to that last part, honest." "That's ok, Lina." Sylphiel applied a reassuring touch to Lina's arm. "The more we know, the better." "We should destroy Shaburanigdo." Zelgadis looked like he was judging just how easy it would be to bash Lina's skull in, if necessary. "No kidding." Lina folded her arms. "Any idea how?" "It's your mind. Wipe it." "Wish I could. It was tough enough getting Ceipheed in there; if I just start removing things at random, I could remove Ceipheed and let Shaburanigdo grow again. I wish Naga were here; she'd know how to handle this." "Who?" "Naga, my old partner. I haven't seen her since I was late for a data delivery. I thought she changed accounts to avoid me at first, but it's like she dropped off the 'Net entirely. It wasn't even that important of a delivery - just a password to something." "She's dead." It was not Amelia's words that grabbed Lina's attention in .42 seconds, but the entirely non-sugary tone of voice they came in. "What?" "The password was to defuse a bomb that was going to destroy her enclave. There was no way to evacuate. When she saw you weren't coming, Naga called me and told me to look after you. The bomb went off just as she was saying goodbye." Amelia was staring at a point away from the group; when Lina shifted to try to look her in the eye, Amelia turned further to keep her from seeing the tears threatening to roll down her cheek. "You knew Naga?" "'Naga' was Gracia's handle. She always like the idea of an immortal snake-woman, even if she didn't like it for her avatar." "Gracia...your sister, Gracia?" Amelia nodded once, the motion just enough to shake her tears loose. Lina whispered, trying to avoid hearing the sorrow she knew would be in her own voice, to keep from setting off tears of her own. "Amelia...I'm sorry..." Silent, somber looks went around the room, leaving things as quiet as when the party of five had been jacked in a few minutes ago. "Umm, Lina? Do you think DracoNix might know how to erase Shaburanigdo?" "Zelgadis, you're sitting next to Gourry. You hit him." Zelgadis swung his arm out, and managed to tap Gourry just hard enough to hurt. Unfortunately, he overcompensated and fell out of his chair. He shot a glance at Sylphiel. "Yeah, I know. Break's over, back to work." --Prev/Next? N Eventually, they did wind up at the electronic equivalent of DracoNix Headquarters. Just Amelia and Lina this time: Sylphiel was still repairing Zelgadis, leaving Gourry on guard duty. The trip had degenerated into a shouting match just as they reached the "lobby". "DAMN IT, AMELIA! WHY WON'T YOU ACCEPT MY APOLOGY?" "BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR!" Tired of yelling, Amelia hugged Lina to throw her anger off. "You did everything you could. You weren't the nasty evil person who killed my sister. You just tried to rescue her. Ok, you failed, but the point is you tried your best! You two were the best of friends - don't deny it, I could tell from the way she talked about you - and I want to live up to what she was." Lina blinked, slowly getting her thoughts back together. "Amelia, don't take this the wrong way, but you'll never be Naga. For one thing, you don't have her annoying laugh." "You mean 'OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO'...Lina? You ok?" Lina uncovered her ears. "I'm ok. And yeah, that. For another...on second thought, I probably shouldn't tell you. I'd rather have you be Amelia than have you try to be Naga." "Thanks!" Amelia's smile easily reached her eyes. "Welcome." Lina folded her arms and tapped her feet. "Now if only Luna would get here. The first time in I don't know how long that I actually want to see her, and..." "You called?" "Yipe!" Lina jumped reflexively, then turned in mid-air and backed off a few feet with a thought. "Uhh...sorry, Luna, but do you always have to suprise me?" "No." "Then why do you?" "Because." "...right. Anyway, I was wondering if you could remove Shaburanigdo from my head. Without messing up anything else in there, please." "No problem. Gimme a few seconds." Amelia boggled. "Wow, you two sure are close. I mean, if that was my sister, I'd need some kind of ID before I let her inside me." Lina smiled. "Well, her icon is kind of distinctive." "Yeah, but icons can be copied. See, there's someone else with the same icon over there, and that one even has a DracoNix-signed name tag of 'Luna'." The two crescent moons were side by side in an instant - one with the name tag, the other supporting the flower-petal globe that denoted a Ceipheed-contained Shaburanigdo. Lina blinked. "Umm...if you aren't Luna, then who are you?" "Sore wa, himitsu desu." --- Author's Notes: Ok, so we know who the Mazoku are, Rezo's dead, Anthony's dead, Lina's free of Shaburanigdo, and everyone can go home safe and sound two chapters before the end, right? Try re-reading the chapter's last line. Note that we don't know for sure that Anthony's toast, BTW. (Though he is probably dead: he left a corpse long enough for Lina to search it, and the Mazoku quite likely know *where* he died - even ignoring any problems in getting to that particular disconnected system.) But Xelloss and Shabby-chan (yes, that's right, "-chan" ^_^) might just be enough for two closing chapters. I took out the 4/4B distinction in the chapter list because, as far as almost everyone who will ever read this is concerned, the original chapter 4 no longer exists and has not for some time. Only the expanded "4B" remains. (Which means it wouldn't show up in a directory listing of the files that one can read.) And, of course, thanks to my prereaders, especially Aaron Ziegler and David Siegel, without whom I would not have had enough confidence to sign up for this.