In the Roizen Hospital where Ryan’s body was still living in its comatose state, the medical equipment around it was going haywire. All of them kept blinking repeatedly, some generating beeping noises as a warning to the nearby medical staffs. Nurses began storming into the room, some revising the equipment’s status, others ensuring that Ryan was in no danger. Physically, his body seemed fine, so the cause had been of another matter. A doctor with stethoscope hanging on his necks, and his lab coat reaching till the pocket of his trousers came into the room.

Alicia, who had been worried since just now, talked to the doctor. “What’s happening, Doctor?”

But, the doctor ignored her and went directly to check on Ryan. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to answer Ryan’s mother, but Ryan had to come in first for priority, and so he went to do his job immediately. He placed the buds of his stethoscope in his ears, and then placed the other end atop Ryan’s chest. He clarified Ryan’s heartbeat as normal, and proceeded to the next steps on checking Ryan’s current status.

A nurse, clad in blue uniform for medical staffs of the hospital, stood between Alicia and the doctor.

“I’m sorry Madam, but we’ll have to ask you to leave the room for a moment. We need to ascertain the cause of the abnormality that’s causing this whole disruption, if you will,” said the nurse politely.

Heavy-heartedly, Alicia agreed to her, and decided to leave the room for a while, at least until Ryan’s condition stabilized. She stepped outside, and took a last glance at the nurses surrounding Ryan and the doctor before leaving the vicinity. Still, Alicia couldn’t possibly sit by the chairs out on the hallway whilst her son was fighting for his live, in here and out there. She wanted to help him somehow, as Ryan’s time was drastically decreasing by the second, and the survival chances would drop when that happened.

Alicia took out her smartphone from her bag hanging by the sides, and flicked the screen open. She pressed the Contacts, and scrolled down the long list of numbers in her book. She did so, until she arrived at one name. Program Equal. Her eyebrows stiffened when she saw the name, as if there was a hidden anger directed toward it. She didn’t want to actually this, to use this final card of hers in order to assist the survival of her son, but there was no choice. She had to do it, or else she risked the chances of being able to see her son alive and well again. She pressed the call icon, and took the phone by her left ear.

It rang constantly for a few seconds, until a click was heard on the other side of the call.

“Equal,” said Alicia.

“Is this call what I expect it to be?” asked the voice, considerably distorted on the other side.

“Yes,” answered Alicia.

“How is he?”

“Level 2. It’s only half a day, but it already progressed this fast. Something’s not right.”

“…I understand. I’ll try to find him with the best of my efforts, after all,”—a brief silence stretched the call—“it’s my fault that this happened.”

“True. And I expect you to repay that mistake with your actions.”

“I will.”

The voice had mentioned that it was his, or her fault that this incident happened on Ryan. The meaning behind these words were heavy, and was still encased in mystery. Was Ryan somehow a vital piece that triggered the explosion within the University? Or was it that his involvement in this incident was merely coincidental? None truly knows, as those who held the truth had decided to keep it a secret even now. Regardless, it was all a story saved for the future to Ryan, as he had better focus his attention on not ‘dying’ within the cyberspace.

The call was disconnected afterward. Alicia pressed the power button, the smartphone’s screen turned black, and tucked it back into her bag.

“Just hold on, Ryan. Help will come,” murmured Alicia to herself.

“Madam Alicia?” the nurse called, standing by the side of Ryan’s room.

“Yes?”

Alicia turned heels and headed toward Ryan’s room. There was new hope that would come for Ryan, even if that hope was the one that had put him in this situation in the first place.

On the other side of the world, within the cyberspace back to where Ryan was, he had been leaning against the walls. His body had lost its colours, and Ryan felt considerably weaker than he was. From what he estimated, level 2 of desynchronization state shouldn’t be this bad, nor should it had happened just now. It hasn’t been so much of even half a day since he awakened out of his body, whereas the time needed for a level 2 to happen was usually a day.

The severity of a Desynchronization state was listed in four different levels. In the first level, the body of the User simply turns transparent. In the second level, normally, Users would only experience a slight pain to their head and heart, and that their body would turn even more transparent and lose their colour, in contrast to how ravenous Ryan’s level 2 was. It was worth to mention that Level 2 of Desynchronization would only happen after twenty-four hours had passed since the user last returned to their body, in which Ryan’s took about twelve.

In the third level of Desynchronization, affected Users’ cyber bodies would begin turning into the colour of red, the sole colour used by no other but viruses, the villains of the Net and its destroyer. In this level, it would no longer be possible to use the CCL’s normal functions, including the vital ‘Conscious Recall’ to immediately return to one’s physical body. This stage would only occur after a maximum of 2 days had passed since an User’s last return to their body, and the only way to return would be manual transfer from the cyberspace, into an user’s CCL.

In the fourth stage, and also, the final stage of a Desynchronization state, it is a stage which if an User had entered, would never return to their original state anymore. The User would no longer retain their original forms, and instead reverts into the form of a red hexagon, the symbol of destruction within the Cyberspace. A Hexagon was basically a symbol of an A.I., in which red Hexagons were hostile A.I. capable of inflicting massive damage to a cyberspace’s mainframe.

Its true threat lies in its ability to think just like a supercomputer, henceforth making it a deadly weapon that no longer possess a human consciousness, which retains the power to override a cyberspace’s control and will, and at the same time was considerably hard to counterattack against. There had been several rare cases of humans going into this stage, and none had survived to live the tale.

The condition to enter this final stage was still surrounded in mystery. In the cases that some humans had indeed turned into hostile Hexagons, the hours varied from one to another when it came to the time they first enter Level three state until they turn into Level four. Without subjects to study on, researchers came to a dead end in the search for the ‘key’ that produced these cyber weapons of destruction, and the proper counter measure for it.

It was sad to be declared, but the only solution to win against these ‘weapons’ without suffering heavy losses… was to kill the physical body of what was once, the consciousness of the User. The CCL would then stop transmitting operation signals to the consciousness within the cyberspace, and execute one final line of command that get sent through to the said consciousness, no matter how weak the link was. A kill code that ultimately obliterate the entirety of its existence.

“If this continues at a steady rate... no. I can’t give up just yet,” said Ryan.

Ryan wasn’t going to go down like this, and there was still time for him to find his physical body. He just needed the will to do it. Who knows, his mother might be sitting by his side all day long, wishing for his return. He definitely couldn’t bear leaving her alone in this world, not when she had already lost his husband. Indeed, Ryan was the only child in this family, his father already left the world since he was the age of nine. Ever since then, his mother, Alicia had been taking care of him all alone, without the support of anyone else.

“That’s right… not yet.”

Ryan renewed his will to fight forward. Slowly, Ryan stood up by pressing against the floor, overloading the pain within his body with the concern for his mother’s wellbeing. There was a way to deal with the pain. The only way.

Ryan stamped his left hand on his chest. “Restore.”

The phantom Fahren AV emerged in front of him. It began by linking to Ryan through a series of lines made of light. He could feel the warmth in these light, and as soon as it connected to him, the pain soaring within his body was like being absorbed away. All the accumulated exhaustion had also melted into nothingness, leaving him feeling as perfect as he was previously. However, it still didn’t restore the colours to his body, leaving him in the condition of black and white. Noticeably as well, the Fahren AV phantom had also lost its colour, resembling that of a grey-coloured sphere than purple.

“I don’t know how long this will last, but I’ll make the best of it for sure,” said Ryan.

Being fully restored—even if it was just using his own energy—Ryan set out once again into the vast world of the Net. Of course, he walked out carefully, considering the fact that he had went crazy before under the eyes of the watchful cyber ‘Sun’. He took one step outside the door, nothing happened. He took a second one. Nothing happened. He walked a few steps in the hallway of the Net, and he was still alive. Ryan exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. If the ‘Sun’ of the Net decided that he was a threat, Ryan would be non-existent the moment he stepped inside.

The ‘Sun’ of the Net was basically Ryan’s abbreviation of the massive anti-virus floating in the sky of the cyberspace.

Regardless, with the risks of being deleted thrown out of the window, Ryan could now finally focus himself on finding the information he needed. But first, he had to see the ‘doors’ to each individual site, and review whether they’re relevant to his hunt for info or not. Such was because he didn’t want to end up inside some sketchy scam websites or anything of the sort that’s laden with viruses hiding behind advertisements, ready to jump on him and god knows to do what to him.

Door by door, Ryan passed, slowly slithering his way through the bustling network of other users.

The first door. How to make yourself thinner in one hour.

The second door. St*am Sales 80% Off!

The third door. 99gag

“If only they sorted the doors like they do with sites list in Yoogle Chrome,” murmured Ryan.

For several more dozen of doors and some more slithering, Ryan had finally found the door that he was looking for. In the form of transparent texts, a sign was written atop the door.

Explosion in the Institution of Roizen University. Accidental, or an Attack?

www.unisonnews.com

“This is the one,” said Ryan.

Ryan touched the door, and was immediately transferred to the said site. Within the site’s cyberspace, there were other users floating around the room, but not as many as it was outside in the hallway of the Net. In the centre of the cyberspace was gigantic spinning green diamond, resembling much like Emily’s cache data, but obviously, this one was a different type of data. In addition to appearing green, it also had a blue tip on both top and bottom, in which was connected directly to the ceiling and floor of the room through a dark blue cable on both side, appearing to pulse data in and out once in a while.

Suddenly, a program manifested in the form of a humanoid covered in light, and stood before Ryan. Ryan knew what exactly it was. It’s the ‘will’ of this site, the one that governed its control and guarded its integrity.

“You don’t seem to be the ‘same’ as the other users in this cyberspace. You have…”—it took a long look at Ryan from top to bottom—“…abilities. Are you… a threat?”

The ‘will’ of this site appeared different from others. It had the ability to converse naturally like a human does, and it perceived how Ryan was different from normal users almost instantly. Then, Ryan saw exactly what made the ‘will’ before him different from its normal counterpart. On its chest, there was a circle on it, and nestled within that circle was a purple Hexagon. This site’s will had been installed with an advanced anti-virus, one with the ability to act and think like an A.I.

As Ryan was in awe of the fact that he saw his first A.I. in front of him, the ‘Will’ continued talking.

“If you’re a threat… then I shall do my foremost best to erase you from this space,” threatened the ‘Will’. Anti-viruses began manifesting behind it, one, two, three, and it kept popping up until they reached a dozen.

Ryan snapped back to his mind. “No, of course not. I’m here only to read about the article on this space.”

“Is that… so? Still, you are… suspicious,” said the ‘Will’.

“Okay, how about this. You can, in some ways, restrict me to prevent me from using my abilities, and also supervise me personally. How about that?” negotiated Ryan.

“…True. You haven’t… done anything yet. I suppose I’ll take that advice and turn it into actions,” replied it.

The anti-viruses around the ‘Will’ surrounded Ryan, and linked with one another using a purple line. After that, a force barrier coloured in purple confined Ryan inside a limited size of space.

“Right now… your abilities will be disabled in that space. I’ll… remove it once you’re leaving from this place,” explained the ‘Will’.

“Okay,” said Ryan.

Ryan walked past the will, and proceeded to the centre of the room, where the gigantic diamond resided at. He couldn’t physically touch the diamond, but there was faint connection being materialized from him to the diamond. It gave him enough power to read the content of the data, but not actually to absorb it or overwrite it. It was probably the ‘Will’ assisting him to read the data, in which was still standing right behind his shoulder. Ryan decided to ignore the ‘Will’ for now, and move on to reading the data.

This data was created on 7th of June, 2031.

Title: Explosion in the Institution of Roizen University. Accidental, or an Attack?

On 6th of June, 2031, the city of Roizen was shocked by a huge explosion occurring from the Roizen University. The explosion occurred approximately on twelve o’clock in the afternoon as reported by witnesses that included the students of the University themselves and other nearby passer-by. It was said that the source of the explosion came from the Department of Information Computer Technology, in which was triggered by the supposedly-broken Air Conditioner Compressor within the building.

Forensic report says that the exact cause of the explosion was unknown but was triggered within a cyberspace of the Compressor as there were no definite signs of a physical bomb being planted nearby the Compressor. Current investigation efforts are being impended due to the fact that the Compressor’s Cyberspace was completely destroyed during the explosion, erasing any trace of possible causes.

No deaths were accounted for. Two victims were heavily injured during the explosion, with thirty-two others suffering mild burns and injuries for being in close proximity to the source of the explosion. The two suffering heavy injuries were immediately transferred to the ICU wards within Roizen Hospital, whilst others are admitted into normal wards with some being discharged today.

Investigations are still to decide whether this was accidental, or an attack from within the cyberspace.

And the article goes on.

Ryan slowly backed off from the diamond. He had a serious look on his face, his eyebrows stiffing downward, his smile perished away.

“It… wasn’t an accident,” whispered Ryan, a hint of anger in his voice.