.hack//SIGN Fan Fiction ❯ .hack//TELEOLOGY ❯ Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Washington Dulles International Airport// District of Columbia/United States of America

2804 Kilometres from CC. Corp American/Canadian Server

Sagan awoke to find he was being poked. He struggled to move his head upward in the cramped space where he had been sleeping, initially blurred vision cleared allowing Sagan a chance to see who had awakened him. The image of his mother's face came into focus. Sagan was still in the slightly dazed state most people go through when they wake up. "huh, what is it?"

His mother made a face between anger and disgust. "I said that you can't do this in public, people think it's odd." Sagan glanced about the lobby.

"We're the only one's here, it's not really in public if there's no one around."

"It's odd and you aren't doing it." Mom had spoken and woe unto thee who contradicted the gods. Sagan knew his opinion didn't matter and did not try to change the god's decision. "Okay, I love you Mom." Sagan resisted the urge to laugh, not that he found it funny, he just had trouble not laughing at such a blatant lie.

"I love you too honey." This time Sagan did laugh. He cut the cackling noise short but received a glaring reproach from his mother all the same.

"Sorry, I just remembered something funny, that's all." Sagan felt no guilt for the lie, the alternative was the descent of a torrent of castigation and reprimand. Still, even with the quick recovery, a punishment was in order.

"I don't care what you think is funny, you can't laugh in public, not unless someone has told a joke, if you don't shape up you'll never function in the real world." Sagan waited until it was safe and then rolled his eyes and mimicked his mother's rant by synchronizing the movements of his mouth with hers.

"Honestly, you are so ungrateful, you humiliate me like this wherever we go and I hardly say a thing. You don't even try to change, you are so selfish. I don't know why on earth I even kept you, I could have set you up for adoption." The complaining continued out of the airport and into the parking lot. "I don't even know why I'm talking you aren't listening, you only care about your problems why should how I feel matter at all? You really are scum, you know that." Sagan groaned, it was going to be a long night.

Mito/Ibaraki-ken/Japan

Bear awoke without opening his eyes. He paused to recollect where he was and the events of the last two days. His case of waking amnesia conquered once again Bear sat up. Instantly an electric current was run through his spine. Bear swore and moved to lie back down, another jolt. Where was it coming from? Then bear realized that despite the agony it was simply a cramp in his back, though definitely a very severe one seeing as it had him convinced he was sitting on a broken electrical wire or something of the sort.

Helba came out of the bathroom wearing notihng save a towel, Bear averted his eyes out of politeness. "You seem to have made yourself quite at home." Bear didn't mind Helba's company, or the fact that she had eaten what he had stockpiled for a three day weekend in one and a half days, it was simply that she had come in and managed to get him to share his hotel room without asking, Bear was greatly annoyed by people who obliged their own requests. On the whole, though, Helba wasn't so bad. Bear cringed as he got to his feet, but continued until he was standing fully upright. Helba, now clothed, chuckled at his agony, and received a glare. She apologized before turning the topic towards business.

"C.C. Corp has been blocking MacAnu so no one could see our memorial, or whatever you want to call it. I got some help from an old friend though that should let us reopen it, it's a loophole in the game he created that allows access to the system from any location. He named it object whiterabbit."

"Hmm, Jurassic Park fan?" Bear asked. (The security system designer for Jurassic Park had also named a similar object "whiterabbit")

Helba shrugged, "not really, he liked Nedry and Malcom but hated the plot."

"I see, so you're planning to use 'whiterabbit' to reopen Mac Anu without the consent of CC Corp." Bear synthesized, turning the conversation back towards topic.

Helba rolled her eyes. "Well what other conclusions could you draw from that?"

"That nerds are evil and will turn off security systems on dinosaurs while you are out on a tour." The joke was an attempt to recover from his prior irritation of Helba, it failed and she simply rolled her eyes again. Bear stepped outside the room, his shoes, being somewhat dirty, gave a light beige tint to the areas of the carpet where they stepped.

Helba, who remained inside, pulled out her laptop. A primitive machine the laptop only had the basic functions and a DSL connection. Her fingers twitched in movement across the keyboard like a spider going through a seizure. In several moments she had gone through C. C. Corp.'s multiple layers of security. It took some work to figure out the interface that allowed one to block or unblock areas, the layout was poor and often required one to retrace their steps to find the desired files. Nevertheless, Helba prevailed and Mac Anu reopened. After finishing with the system changes Helba indulged in a few minutes of regular playing, but grew bored quickly and chose to find something more entertaining to do, such as torturing Bear.

Below the second story balcony of the room Bear had rented, Tsukasa and Mimiru sat listening to the screams as two people in their fifties behaved like seven-year-olds on a playground, Mimiru rolled her eyes. "Why are they acting like that." Tsukasa smiled, "they're trying to age backwards."

"Huh?"

Tsukasa chuckled and shook his head, "never mind"

Washington Dulles International Airport/ District of Columbia/United States of America

Sagan was unfortunate in that his mother was an excellent driver. The roads were icy, and while his mother's affinity towards motor vehicles decreased the likelihood of an accident it also meant she could continue talking while she drove. However after years of weathering against his mother's criticism Sagan had learned to screen out the majority of it, like background noise in a forest. "did you even hear what I just said, you conceited little ingrate?"

"You said you didn't know what horrible crime against humanity you must have committed to wind up with a worthless piece of trash like me." Another of the few good things fate had given Sagan was that his mother was very predictable when she ranted.

Sagan sat in the back seat trying to convince himself that she was wrong, it wasn't difficult to do on the conscious level, but on the subconscious it was a losing battle. The concious and subconcious function entirely independent from one another, something that was becoming ever more obvious with the enforcement of political correctness. It was a world where whenever one made a generalazation they underwent a self-correction innerly reprimanding themselves. Repeating to themselves that there was nothing to gain in judgement but never making progress on their biases. Sagan stared blankly out the window watching the streetlights streak by like comets. Sagan's eyes slipped in and out of focus and his head bobbed around on his neck without control or restraint. His back and legs sagged as he dragged them out of his seat, he took off his shoes before entering the house so as to avoid launching his mother into further verbal abuse. Sagan could feel the veins in his cheek pulsing, with his impaired vision he bumped into a wall leaving a black smudge. His half-dead brain struggled along to make connections. I just hit the wall and left a mark… Mom doesn't like it when I leave marks, even when I leave tiny marks she yells… and I left a big mark. Therefore… therefore… ah that's it... Oh crap.

"Carl, you idiot! What the hell did you do to the wall?" the rest of the tirade was distorted by the shrieks and screams Sagan's mother produced simultaneously while yelling. Sagan covered his ears to block what resembled the sounds of a Laryngitic harpy being tortured with a branding iron. Sagan fled into the basement and slammed the door shut, locking it behind him. In his closet sized room towards the back Sagan kept an out of date computer, he turned it on and opened his IM account, hoping to find someone online. Loki was logged in but had put up his away message. Sagan sat and waited, Loki returned five minutes later. Sagan's muscles relaxed, he had been unaware that he had even tensed them until that point but with Loki there to relieve the stress he became more calm and focused more on himself than his surroundings. Quickly sending off a message Sagan greeted Loki. In another fifteen seconds Loki had replied asking "Hi, how are you?"

Sagan semi-dodged the question. "Meet me in MacAnu, reality sucks I need to get away for a while."

MacAnu/Root Town/ "The World" Scandinavian Server

Loki stood on an arced bridge traversing the calm-watered canals that were the staple of MacAnu. He used his scythe (his player character was a long-arm) to scratch the itch in the small of his back. A twin-blade walked up with unsteady strides, even from online one could tell he was tired. It hurt Loki to see Am0taku in such bad shape. As he got nearer Loki could hear him humming a verse from a song by Glen Campbell.

"Well I really don't mind the rain

And a smile can hide all the pain

But you're down when you're ridin' a train

That's takin' the long way…"

"and I dream of the things I'll do, with a subway token and a dollar tucked inside my shoe" said Loki, completing the part before the refrain. Am0taku broke eye contact upon realizing that Loki had heard him. He lowered his head and felt the edges of his jaws loosen. "sorry."

"It's fine, don't apologize, you're a good singer." Both knew that wasn't why he was apologizing, but nothing was said.

"So… why'd you want to meet here?" Loki asked.

"Eh, mother dearest is giving me hell about everything from leaving a bottle of coke out on the kitchen counter to who I keep company with."

"You falling in with a bad crowd?"

"Yeah…"

"What? Pothead gangsters or something?" Loki chuckled at his semi-joke.

"Nah, liberal democrats." Loki rocked with laughter, he hated Am0taku's parents but rather than letting rage bubble beneath the surface he just tried vent it out with his sense of humor. "Really, though, why can't you hang around democrats? Is your mom just narrow-minded or is there some other reason or what?"

Am0taku let out a sigh and closed his eyes while he spoke. "Mom's quite the evangelist. And most of the democrats where I live are of the Jewish faith or some small polytheistic religion, one or two are atheists."

"I see." The two sat against the wall of a nearby building. Neither spoke for topics of conversation were sparse and they were not the sort to force conversation, nor would they feign interest in a subject that bored them.

Without a conversation of their own running its course the conversations of others were easily audible. A heavy blade passed by muttering to himself in Norwegian.

"Det er ikke mulig… det lager ikke noen mening"

Am0taku turned his head towards Loki, "what was he saying?"

"Not sure, it was mainly gibberish, just something about it not making any sense or not being possible."

Am0taku blinked "what's 'it?'"

"That's what makes it gibberish"

"Oh."

Without warning Loki quickly moved his head so that it was looking directly forward, "I have an e-mail, excuse me." Loki got up as if about to walk away -a foolish idea as there is no tangible place people check their email- and stood motionless, his player character staring into space. After around five minutes he returned. Am0taku scratched his head. "You didn't log out, how did you check your mail?"

"Eh? Oh, I just borrowed a coworker's computer. Why don't we take a walk?"

"A walk?" Walks were uncharacteristic of Loki.

"There's just something I want to see."

Am0taku shrugged. "Okay…"

As Loki and Am0taku proceeded towards the center of MacAnuthe streets ecame more crowded. This, of course is natural as any city has a higher concentration of it's populous at the centre but the increase here was exceptionally large. Most kept silent with a look similar to what you might expect upon hearing an unstable dictatorship had obtained working nuclear weapons. Puzzled at what could cause such mutual concern, but not truly worried (it was after all only an online game.) Am0taku led the duo deeper into the city. At the center of the town stood something new to the field, it was a statue of a female wavemaster with long hair that stopped a few inches short of her waist. She carried her staff in her left hand. A look of hoplessness and fatigue was on her face, like she was fighting back tears.

"She looks sad…" Am0taku stated the obvious.

"She does indeeed," Loki nodded his head slowly.

Without speaking Am0taku logged out, leaving Loki to himself. Abandoned by his companion Loki followed suit. Removing his headset and placing down his controler Loki moved his hand towards the "power off" switch, but then thought better of it and chose to check his email and then shut down the computer properly. There was only one new email.

Thankyou for your assistance, it is appreciated.

Helba

Baldersen groaned, "bitch" he muttered.

Silver Spring/Maryland/U.S.A.

"Put the damn cord back in!" Sagan shouted as his sister danced triumphantly around the room pulling his computer behind by the electrical plug in the manner that one drags an uncooperative dog down the street. Upon hearing Sagan's demands she paused stuck her tongue out and continued, the chances of the ordeal ending without violence withered away.

Sagan closed his eyes, inhaled deeply and snarled. His sister cowered away from the computer. He opened his eyes again and they glowed with a souless ferocity. He gnashed his cannines like an angry beast. Sagan had perfected the art of imtidation long ago, it was a nessecity to survive in his household.He always caught hell from his mother later but sometimes it had to be done. Sagan expanded on his first success and took another deep breath in and reverberated the air against his throat into a growling sound and leapt forward. His sister fled upstairs and after a few hours of work he had set his computer up again. He laid back on his bed, sighed and took a nap.

He was awakened several hours later by the same sister, the youngest of three siblings. "I'm sorry I was mean. I got you some water." Sagan took the glass and smelled the contents. It was bleach. Sagan considered taking it for a moment but decided not to gamble with what was on the other side.

"I'm fine, thanks, but I appreciate the thought." Sagan smiled.

His sister masked her dissapointment. "I'll leave it here in case you change your mind."

Sagan waited until his sister had left and then poured the clear liquid down the sink of his bathroom.

Sagan moved to return to his room and lay on the bed, assorted lyrics from music forming a medley of slow sad tunes that lamented and wept out of self-pity. He considerd getting the bleach again but remembered that the Bible said that those who committed suicide would be damned to hell, not that he was religious just didn't completely eliminate the possibility that there was some truth held within the pages of the old book gathering dust in the attic.

When viewed with the eyes of a fundamentalist and interpereted with the brain of someone without prior faith it would become clear very quickly that, if there was a god, he definitely had ill will towards his "children." How if you were sinful and forgot to ask forgiveness for every minor offense you went to hell, how if you were good but did not prostrate yourself before the one true deity you went to hell, how if the world was cold and cruel and your prayers went unanswered and you took your own life to escape it all you went to hell. While the heretic was at it they may as well inquire how it was that it was rarely considered that when a parent left a open container of bleach in the reach of a two year old and then went off on their own bussiness with only an admonishment as measures of precaution it was called negligence, but when done by God called Genisis. Why God had a tendency to punish generally if he had the abillity to turn an individual person into a pilliar of salt. Why all of Egypt was punished for the cruelty of one man, how an two entire cities could be sinful, and so sinful as to have fire rain down from the sky at the will of the "forgiving" heavenly father. How an army faced with death for insubordination to their commander could be consumed by waves in pursuit of a people God had ignored completely for centuries. It seemed that the loving father had little pity for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sagan began to mutter as he thought, and the muttering stirred his mother who had been sleeping

Sagan paid no heed, he was engrossed in his quest for answers, answers as to why if one knew scripture from start to finish but didn't believe in god could not understand it when the Bible was supposed to spread God's teaching. Why would one teach an Oxford English course completely in French? And what of Lilith, who was cast from Eden for refusal to accept her role as that of subservience to Adam? Was the trust in love enough for God to assume all husbands would be loving? If so God was a damn fool. And then there was the question of modern miracles, The Prophicies of Fatima, why would God take away the innocence of children by showing them disturbing visions. Was it not Satan who took innocence from Adam and Eve?

Sagan's mother entered the room when it dawned on Sagan that perhaps he was being to harsh on God and Mary for the prophicies of Fatima*, after all, child abuse was not only an institution of the divine.

∑ Prophicies of Fatima in a nutshell: Thee juvinile deliquints one day go to a hill where the Vrgin Mary reveals to them three truths of the future. The children become very well behaved but start inflicting pain on themselves, tying a rope around their waist and running forward with the other end tethered to a pole.All three became monks or nuns.