The moment has finally arrived. After days of intensive practice, the team of Jason, Billy, Stave and Yachi are finally going to be planing through the Internet. It has been a whirlwind as they focused more and more upon tackling this new realm. Jobs were ignored, lost or slept through as the companions put in sleepless nights and restless days of preparation. Parents, siblings and friends all enquired in worried tones but could not be confided in, regardless of confidentiality, the explanation would only worry them more.
And now they are about to take the big step. Completing the final preparation, now second nature after weeks of repetition: selecting a modem port, checking the lines, clarifying a clear connection. Yachi is giving them advice on their meditation, their planing and what to expect. They have heard it all countless times before but listen intently, checking everything over in their minds.
Peta is re-checking all the equipment. Repeating to them the various signals and procedures they have established; what they mean, when they are to be used and what may follow them. All four of the planars stand at full attention, Yachi’s words of wisdom have petered off into silence.
‘Mustn’t get on the wrong side of this young lady.’ He thinks. ‘She’s so determined, such a worker. Just what we needed, she’s so passionate about these computers not to mention knowledgeable.’
Peta may be the group’s newest recruit but there is no question who is in charge. She has an air of authority that is now in full flight.
She is reminding them of one of the several discoveries they have made, Datatrails, one of the creatures travelling through the cyber-realm. They are everywhere, darting from place to place. From a distance they can be seen as a brief flash, their trail; similar to a comet, when Peta informed them they are data flowing along the net they’re christened data trails. Her technical knowledge has enabled Yachi to interpret a lot of what he has seen in his primary explorations such as the queues or chains of datatrails which surround many of the sites. Initially Yachi is quite wary of them but with Peta’s assistance they soon discover that they are only a minor hindrance like a wall or other physical object in the astral realm. Yachi can go with a queue, push through to the front or even go against them, with only a minor slowing effect.
The final preparations are now complete and they are all in their positions, ready to embark. None of the boys can sit still, even Yachi has a glint in his eye. Excitement and anticipation charge the atmosphere and everyone in the room as the planars begin to meditate.
Peta brings the modem and its ports up on screen, waiting for the planar’s arrival. She looks over at Yachi’s team, he is a constant source of amazement. Especially at his age, whatever that is? She’d long given up trying to guess. He is so eager to learn, full of vitality. Being old is supposedly days of lawn bowls, endless cups of teas and complaints about the modern world; back in the old days- you know the drill. She doesn’t want to seem ungrateful for all they have done and the life she has but they really do whinge a lot. Yet Yachi is constantly chatting with everyone and unlike most his age he can chat with you rather than only at you. He listens to all the complex jargon of IT and networks, routers and platforms and not only does he not switch off but he even remembers most of it. It is quite embarrassing really, given the difficulty she has comprehending his world. She hasn’t had this much fun since, hell since her parents first got a computer. HAH, remember that crappy old thing, the Commodore 64. How she loved it. Spending so many hours mastering all the games that her worried parents had confiscated them. But that only made things worse.
She got her first taste of programming. Changing screen colours, making music- well collections of beeps and squeaks and then booby-traps. Programs she installed that were set off by the commands of the next user. Even she had to admit she took it too far. Youthful exuberance and her first encounter with megalomania, it proved a heady mix. Her younger brother had run screaming from the study after she had manipulated the spelling program to speak to him:
‘…Matty, you better be listening. Don’t you dare get another wrong…’
‘Matty, I’m watching you. No cheating. I’ll always be watching you…’
He was particularly bratty at the time but didn’t really deserve weeks of nightmares. After a few sleepless nights with Matty her parents decided they didn’t really need to be part of the technical revolution. But by then it was too late.
She started doing odd-jobs around the street, the block, the suburb. Scrounging every cent she could. Her parents were wary but what could they do. She was being the perfect child. Showing initiative, setting goals and achieving them (learning the rewards of hard work so young they bragged to other parents) and after all computers were the way of the future, you wouldn’t do anything, be anyone, without them soon. So her parents sat back and gloated a little but mostly they watched uneasily as their headstrong little daughter made her presence felt in the home with a thoroughly deserved new toy, the Amiga 128. Barely a year later and it too was replaced, a cycle that continued to this day. Thankfully there were no more nightmares in the family although Peta’s interest or obsession continued to worry. Chatroom friends whom she’d never actually met but would get up at 3am for,
‘It’s only logical since most of the group are in Iceland’. God only knew what they’d think if they saw what she is doing now.
Meanwhile, Yachi is hovering above them in his astral form. While he waits for the others to join him he creates a psychic link with Peta for them all to use. He resists the urge to assist his pupils in their transition. As a group they have decided that he should conserve his energies in case a more urgent situation arises. As it turns out they aren’t far behind, Jason joins him now and, as always, Billy follows close as a shadow.
‘Stave is a bit slower’ Yachi muses. ‘Probably because he is so anxious and eager, there is certainly something ill at ease about him lately…’
He snaps to attention, returning to the task at hand. Scolding himself at such poor concentration in such a critical exercise, he extends the psychic link to the astral profiles of Billy and Jason. As he greets them he notices that Stave is now rising up to join them. Now they are ready for the next phase. They buddy up, Stave and Yachi together and, of course, the inseparable Jason and Billy. The psychic link established, their modem lines allotted, they share a final glance and proceed to their respective modem ports. They enter and are greeted by a mild buzz and occasional shiver across their astral form, a far cry from the jarring grind of their first entrance to the modem. The countless practice drills prove beneficial once more as they move easily, the resistance which once affected them so greatly now barely registers upon their profile. All the practice sessions, hour upon hour for the last week, so close yet so far, feeling the temptation, waiting for the proper time and, now, it is here.
They cross the portal, adapting to its powerful light and there it is once more. No less breath-taking than during their first view, in fact the building anticipation has made it even more spectacular. It is certainly no less daunting. As far as they can see tentacles are extending, disintegrating, buzzing and reforming. Flashes pass, another blip in a never-ending stream of traffic.
Yachi comes across the psychic link. ‘Remember stay upon the existing path… link, what shall we call these?'
Their minds tick over for a few moments. ‘How about, say, cyber spheres, yeah, cyber spheres' offers Billy.
‘I like it, cryptic, contemporary, rolls of the tongue well, cyberspheres.' Adds Jason.
‘Well, cyberspheres it is, then' agrees Yachi. 'Now, remember we must all stick together and keep communicating so if any problems arise we’ll all be alerted and can combat them together, are we ready?’
A quick glance reveals the answer. All the planars' auras are sparkling with excitement.
Yachi has actually been this far before. Testing what Peta can and can’t do with the planar’s modem links via her PC.
They soon discovered this allows Peta to perform some basic manipulati
ons upon the planar. Yachi or the other planars can direct her via psychic link so, if required, she can bring the planars directly home; this becomes their emergency evacuation. Other procedures are teleport, where Peta re-locates them to a new address anywhere within the web. She can also stop their current progress if she sees danger ahead, for she scouts the planar’s surrounds in the cyber-realm using other windows to better navigate their next move. A few other manoeuvres are also discovered but aren’t necessary since they can readily performed by the planar.
All these procedures have been refined over hours of simulations, drills and a bond of Peta’s computer knowledge and Yachi’s telepathy. They are now quite confident that they can handle any nasty surprises encountered in the group’s exploring. For any of Peta’s assistance to be possible the planars have to maintain a cybersphere rather than leap between the many different possibilities and travel through free space, an easily accessible alternative for any planar. Cyberspheres are narrow spherical pathways between websites through which the planars enter and travel the Internet. It seems, after much debate and study by Peta and Yachi that the energy of a single human planar is substantially more than other web traffic and parameters. This allows planars to jump between cyberspheres or possibly even make their own way through free space without the cybersphere as a guide. This has not yet been tested thoroughly and Peta and Yachi didn’t want the over-eager young lads to know about it just yet.
They have seen all this before, it is now time to go beyond, to finally enter the World Wide Web. The group have decided to stay together rather than pair off immediately. With that, they chose a pathway and take their first cautious steps within.
Yachi relays their movements to Peta requesting confirmation at her end.
'Yes, I have you all within the web now and it looks like you’re going straight to Yahoo, one of the biggest and busiest sites in the entire web! You should be arriving any second now'.
The cybersphere opens up into a broad plateau and the spacious surrounds of the net-hub that houses the Yahoo website. In all directions there are explosions of movement, connections, searches, data being made, discarded and investigated.
Clusters of cyberspheres pulsate like a gigantic squid’s legs, fluid and alive as each component deteriorates, elongates and renews.
Peta continues, ‘What you see is of the physical realm yet it is primarily energy rather than a genuine substance’.
‘As you know, the web is a very recent phenomena. It will be interesting to see how it develops, I think there are many changes to come.’ Yachi says as they continue their tour, ‘Being in such a dynamic medium is why I am so cautious’ he continues.
‘Wow! What does this do’ Stave exclaims, grabbing at a datatrail above him.
‘Stave, we are here to observe not to disrupt’ chides Yachi.
‘Aww, but…’ Stave trails off, releasing his captive.
Yachi now addresses the group ‘Now we will continue. Peta, will you bookmark this place for us so we can find it again later?’
‘No Probs’ she replies across the psychic link.
Yachi leads them through to another cybersphere. As they approach the next net-hub they catch glimpses of a beautiful woman pouting and posing. The images becoming more real and intense until she becomes their every thought, the sensation of her touch tantalizes their astral sense- all their senses. Her warmth, her smooth curves and yet there is no definable size or dimension, the image is everywhere, larger than life and yet it is only an image; without depth, lacking substance.
And then she is gone.
‘There are many distractions here and while I’m sure you could have stayed in such company forever. I’m afraid we’re here for a purpose’ Says Yachi.
The boys are still quite shocked as Yachi leads them on into another cybersphere and Peta continues.
‘You will see this when you enter many net-hubs, they are the interface for the user and can be an image as you just saw or a game like Doom or even chess. Other times it’s simply data whether it is a programming language or text like a newspaper or database. I wish I could be there now to see you all blush’ she teases.
‘Stave?…Stave?’
Yachi interrupts. But no answer came. As they moved along the corridor, Stave was otherwise occupied. He was several bodylengths behind them and had projected part of his profile out of the cybersphere. The wall now shimmered from him, reverberating past the companions, creating panic among the already edgy group. They turned to see Stave's aura brighten as he investigated the outside world. Yachi took stock of the situation first.
‘No Stavos!’ he boomed.
But it was too late, after a moment of hesitation; Stave disappeared out through the hole he created and into the unknown. Yachi starts exclaiming in what must be Chinese. After a quick exchange with Jas and Billy to stay on the path and await further instructions from himself or Peta he to was off after his pupil.
Stave burst through the tubular wall and into space, flying among the cyberspheres. Bumping past several of them with little discernible effect as he flew past.
‘It’s like the true astra out here with no restrictions from the computer network’ Stave thinks to himself as he explores this new scenario. ‘This freedom, this is the way it's meant to be' and his aura illuminated brightly. Movement was now open in all three dimensions, free and spacious without the inhibiting structures of the Internet.
Yachi vainly follows his pupil but Stave has already vanished among this great maze. The search seems pointless, however he still has the psychic link with Stave and he hones in on this. Concentrating his powers on this portal into Stave's mind, he could feel the confidence and pleasure of his protégé. He tries to focus in on this, to get an inkling of his whereabouts. But everything is moving so quickly, blurring as Stave flies by, that nothing is recognizable. Yachi notes the space and lack of resistance outside the cyberspheres and realises the setting is perfect for the impatient, young planar.
Across the psychic link, Billy and Jason update Peta of these recent developments, she tries to rectify the situation. Busily scouting the area and trying to reconnect Stave and his original modem port, however it keeps giving a connection lost message.
Stave is soaring along enjoying his newfound freedom when something catches his attention. He sees a strange metallic casing on a series of data-trails through a nearby cybersphere. It could have been security, or maybe they were the leaders of these web-robots? Stave went for a closer look. He follows, flying parallel to their cybersphere. Apprehensively he touches the cybersphere, he can enter them as easily as he can exit and so he projects through, this time back within. The Datatrails were just ahead. He draws near with ease. Now adjacent to the last in the assembly he projects his astral form toward the strange creature for maximum sensory exposure. At the touch he recoils. The datatrail continues on oblivious, Stave, his aura deepening red with rage gives pursuit as they exit the cybersphere and come to the spacious and busy surrounds of the net-hub. Determined now he backs up and runs into a datatrail at full speed, the collision dislodges it from the assembly. Stave picks it up, interrupting the path of those following. They soon jumble up in a rapidly expanding pile of destruction. In no time some new robots join Stave. They have a variety of different attachments and begin buzzing around the area creating a hive of activity. One new tentacle had an eyeball-like visual aid that was scouting around surveying the wreck. Others were like shovels and were sifting through the mess collecting various components from it.
Meanwhile, Stave had studied his find, which to his disappointment was jibberish, a pointless array of symbols, words and numbers, which meant nothing to him. He discarded it and turned his attention to the new arrivals. He approached and was inspected by two visual links, though one soon returned to the fray of the clean-up site. Stave considered his new company until he was prodded by it, he swats it away and it falls to the ground, destroyed it disintegrates to a fine powder.
Having told Peta all they could, Jas and Billy now waited while the others searched for Stave. Patience was not a strong point for either of them and they grew frustrated as what was a great adventure into the unknown quickly became a big fat bore.
‘If we stay in the cyberspheres, they can’t really be pissed at us’
‘We won’t go too far. Not like Stave!’
Thoughts ran through their heads. Then, with little more than a glance they were off.
Peta had given up hope of relocating Stave. From her end all she could see was the lost connection that she could not re-connect. She left Yachi to do what he could and returned to the others. She moved the screen into the window that was following the boys’ modem connection. It was not where she had left them. They were moving to another site, yet their progress seemed unnaturally slow. Perplexed, Peta moved into system properties to see if there was a problem with the PC. The screen came up with the system running close to full capacity and rising.
‘Oh, shit’ Peta sighed as she wondered what to do. Should she close Stave’s connection? Begin an Emergency Evacuation?
‘Situation Critical’ flashed upon the screen, whatever it was she had better hurry.
The boys followed a bend in the cybersphere and arrived at a new site. The place was in absolute disarray, pieces of datatrails littered the area with punctured cyberspheres lying prostrate among them. Strange new web creatures buzzed about chaotically through the mess. The boys soon found the source of all this, it was Stave. They could see him in the distance unleashing a flurry of blows. This had all barely registered when they felt a pull from behind and they found themselves dragged out of the site.
Stave was too absorbed in his wave of destruction to notice some of the peculiar changes to his setting. Like a rapidly approaching twilight his world was becoming dimmer. The remnants of his cord were disintegrating. Finally his attention was gained when his blows upon another hapless datatrail were diminishing in impact then it escaped his once vice-like grip. He gazed around becoming more and more bewildered as all the other warning signs dawned upon him.
His surroundings continued fading and Stave felt the other powers of his senses blacking out accompanied by the distinct sensation that he was falling; deeper, faster, irreversibly.
The other planars were flying out as the darkness encroached their world, their surroundings deteriorated and crumbled in the distance. Peta was guiding Jas and Billy home via the emergency evacuation, the cord which attached them back to her PC was recoiling, dragging them out of the internet as it collapsed around them, threatening at any second to crush them amongst the debris.
Yachi was also homing in on the escape route but of his own accord, he had also noticed that something was wrong here and having never really trusted this new realm he reluctantly shelved is hapless plans to find Stave and fled. He concentrated on optimizing speed, not daring to consider what was occurring behind him, let alone to Stave, all he knew was that there was only one way out and soon that opportunity would disappear.
‘The boy was not heeding my advice, it was time for him to make his own way, for better or for worse. But what a dangerous time he has chosen for such a move.' He lamented.
Stave had foregone any such luxury. His senses stirred meekly and he groggily tried to get his bearings. Everything was dark and his astral sense was a fraction of its former strength. But, still he could decipher, despite its uselessness, that there was still all the activity of the 'net nearby, maybe even right in front of him. Noises he couldn't quite hear, structures he couldn't quite make out. He realised it was cold here, very cold but not in the regular sense. There was an air of vacant nothingness; he shivered uncontrollably as the feeling intensified deeper and deeper to his core. It was accompanied by a fear, a deep foreboding sense of dread. Suddenly he knew that this place that he couldn’t fathom, that was overturning his every sense- was the last place he would ever know.
The others had returned to their physical bodies and immediately looked to Peta. She was desperately scurrying across keyboard, mouse and screen. Searching for the last planar. The connection was still there, He was still there. It flickers, their hearts race and it returns but notably dimmer.
They turn again to Peta, hunching over the computer screen, fingers a flurry of motion, however she wasn’t wearing the reassuring expression they required. In fact as the sweat seeped from her brow it crossed a pained look. The reason for this soon became apparent as the light dimmed, flickered and disappeared.
He was gone.