Entry 15 - NonAnthropomorphicPolis

I have just returned from one of the strangest links out there, NonAnthropomorphicPolis. Just like the name says, there isn't one single human shaped human there.
Every other kind of shape exists, though. I met this sweet little girl that had assumed the form of a giant slug. "This way I always have a good excuse for being late" - she told me. One old man chose to look like a Ent, and his younger wife was a rose, growing from his bark.
I went there to find a lost kid, that had ran away from home. I had no luck, and I was getting ready to leave the link when I saw a little food stand. I was a bit hungry at the time, and they had this huge tuna sandwich I couldn't resist. I payed the half cat half bear waitress and sat down on a bench I later found out was a poet, when he started reciting poetry.
A green owl came to rest at my lap, and started talking to me :
"You are still anthropomorphic, friend."
"I hope I'll still be when I get home, friend"
"You don't wish to dive on the mutation pool and change shape?"
"No, I just want to eat this huge tuna sandwich in peace and go home."
"That's no tuna sandwich! That's little Tony Vich!"
"Tony Vich? Antonhy Mark Vich?"
"Yes, I recon that's his full name, why?"
Tony was the little kid I went there to search, and so I shook him until he woke up
"Hey, stop shakin' me dude!"
"Tony, I'm here to take you home."
"What if I don't want to go home?"
"Do you want to be a mutant tuna sandwich for the rest of your life then? It will be a short life, I'm hungry as hell, and I rather tell your mother I didn't find you than to take you to her in this shape!"
After a while, I convinced the green owl that little Tony had ran away from home, and that his mother was looking for him, and so the green owl help me convince Tony to dive into the mutation pool again.
His mother was really really happy to see her son again. She was however sad that little Tony's father had died a few years back, and so she had no money to pay me.
I wasn't that much sad about it...

Entry 14 - The Magnificent Wizard

It was made from a dark blue fabric, and one that knew the constellations could recognize Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and all the others, made from little silver stars. It dragged on the floor as the men inside it walked to the end of the stone wall, and up the stone stairs. He walked in a hurry, his cane on his hand, barely touching the floor. When a big wooden door blocked his path, he hit it with the skull cane, knocking twice.
A guard opened the doors, and introduced him : The Magnificent Wizard, Lord of Time and Space. Sitting on a stone throne, adorned with skulls and bones, was a huge man, wearing only a loincloth, a giant sword resting on his knees, a gold goblet on his hand. Next to the throne, standing, a woman, her left hand in the barbarian's arm, a wine pitcher in the right one. She grabbed another goblet and poured wine into it, before offering it to the wizard.
"You summoned me Aak'r?" - The wizard asked, before drinking the wine and gesturing for a refill.
"I did wizard. You have been living in my castle for a full year and yet I still don't have what you promised me."
"Your father's throne will be yours Aak'r. Just be patient. At this moon's fest a lethal sickness shall fall upon your younger brother."
"That will not give me the throne, wizard."
"Be patient! I know your other brother. A little push, a little more wine and he will be accusing you of poisoning. You can then challenge him for your honor."
"And my father?"
"As soon as the rains end, you shall all go hunt. And you know how dangerous it is to hunt, for a man that age..."
"Very well wizard. But know this : One moon after the rains, if I am not king, you shall be dead. You can go now."

The hall was bigger, and so was the throne. The same men and the same woman, in the same positions, and the same wizard, wearing a different robe, with strange symbols etched in it, entered trough the different doors.
"Ebony! Serve the wizard some wine! Come, sit by my side wizard. We have another scout returning."
The wizard did as told, and sat in a small chair, next to the Barbarian King, a goblet full of wine in his hand. Through the doors came a man, still full of dirty from his trip, on his shoulders a travel cape made from the skin of a wolf. He walked to the throne, and knelt.
"My King, I have returned."
"Speak, scout. Have you found any of the fabled realms?"
"No my King. I rode my horse, stopping only to rest at night. I rode for two moons and I was back at the castle doors. There is nothing but your kingdom".
The King turned to the wizard, smiling : - "I told you wizard. There are no other realms. I am Lord of All There Is!"
"Aak'r, King, I told you before, the other realms can be reached trough my magic only."
"What good is it to have another kingdom I cannot go to?"
"Ready your army, Aak'r. Meet me tomorrow in the stables, I will prepare a... spell"
The wizard got up and left the hall trough a side door. He went outside, into the courtyard,and entered on of the wooden stables. It was filled with vials and strange mechanisms, and the wizard started working on a metal box next to a sort of arched door in the middle of the room, connected to a strange steam engine. The next day, as the sun dawned, the King, followed by a hundred men, armed with swords and axes, knocked on the doors.
The wizard let them in, and asked one of the men to light the fire in the engine, and after it started working, pulled a small lever in the metal box. The King and his men took a step back when instead of the wall, inside the arched door a huge city appeared. It was like nothing the had ever seen, with houses so big they touched the sky, and thousands of people walking around.
"I present you, king Aak'r, your newest kingdom. Follow me into the portal." - The wizard stepped into the portal and appeared on the other side. The king volunteered one of his men, and after seeing that he went to the other side and returned unharmed, he himself went inside.
When the entire army had passed, Aak'r called upon his men who were busy touching the buildings and the street, trying to decide if it was real or a illusion. When they were convinced it wasn't a dream, they stood in formation, occupying the street from side to side, weapons in hand. The wizard spoke, turning to the king :
"Aak'r, this is but the first of the worlds I shall give to you. Together we shall rule the System and all of it's lands!"
The men cheered and the king smiled. He turned to them, sword raised high, the fire of battle shinning on his eyes and said :
"Come men! Let us conquer this new land! In honor of my queen, I shall name it Ebony!"
The army cheered even harder, and the king waited for the sound to die before turning around, and screaming :
"Pillage the houses, Kill the men and Rape the woman!"

Entry 13 - Mark was a S.O.B.

Mark was a self absorbed s.o.b. that cared for no one but himself, and he liked to live like that. When he had girls (and sometimes boys, he wasn't very picky) he had them for a night and then leave. He gave them fake numbers, fake emails and sometimes even a fake name. In a city as big as Old New York, he could afford to do that his entire life and never get caught, never needing to repeat a single partner.
That night he met a girl, while sitting at a new found bar. He was sitting on the corner, smoking a cigarette, reading a book and drinking a small cup of vodka, when she entered. Because of the way she looked around the room, he knew she was looking for someone to keep her company. He put the book down and when she stopped at the bar, he got up and payed for her drink. She thanked him and followed to his table. She wasn't pretty, nor did she have a perfect body, far from it. After less than 10 minutes of talking, he found out that she wasn't even 'pretty on the inside', but she did want him inside her, and that was enough for him.
They left the bar and went to a cheap motel room, and left not two hours left. He kissed her cheek goodbye, and left before she could even ask for his number. He took the subway home, showered when he got there and went to sleep, happy with himself.
He went to work the next day, all by himself among hundreds of others just like him. He sat there, in his computer, picking up the most urgent request, coding it down in a couple of minutes and forwarding the answer to whom ever had requested it, and moving on to the next. Work never stopped coming, and every hour he'd stop, lock his computer, and go to the roof, smoke a cigarette and return to his work post. He'd unlock the computer, and resume his work.
Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, always the same, until the great clock on the wall rang the 5 pm. He'd then finish up the last request, forward it, shutdown the computer and go home. At home he'd eat his microwaved food, dress in a suit, and leave for the night.
This day however, when the clock rang he got up, piked up his stuff, but before he could leave, she was there. The woman from the night before, all "happy happy, joy joy" grabbing his arm, calling him 'love' and saying what a strange coincidence it was that they both worked in the same department. She dragged him out the door, people looking at them, seeing her happy face and his look of confusion and mental anguish. She was asking him out for dinner, he realized later, already on the street. At first he started with the usual excuse : I need to go home to get dressed first, but her reply was something like "you don't need to, you are fine the way you are".
He did the fake phone call, pretending his mother was at the hospital and needed him there, so she offered her self to go with him. It was about this time that Mark remembered that he didn't really care about other people, nor other people feelings, so he told her what he felt for her : nothing. She was less than nothing, she was ugly, hideous. He said he was starting to feel his lunch coming up from his stomach just from the sight of her face, that he had made some prettier bowel movements.
She laughed, put his arm under hers and started walking to a restaurant, while speaking all the time. She told him about her friends Jannete, Marlen, and Claudia. She told him about her family, her mother, her father, her sister, her grand parents, her dog, even about her neighbors. By the time he had been dragged to the restaurant, a small italian house not far from work, Mark was already considering murder or at the very least suicide.
She asked pasta for both of them, without pausing her monologue, and he prayed for the food to come fast, so she would shut up. The food took a quarter of hour to come, but she didn't shut up. Watching her eat and talk at the same time made him feel sick, and unable to eat his own food. She finished her plate and grabbed his, eating all. While she licked the plate, he excused himself to go to the bathroom. Once he got up and behind her he ran home, not stopping for a single second.
For the first time in years he stayed home, not even going out for coffee. He smoked cigarette after cigarette until falling asleep. The next morning he sent a email to his boss, explaining how he didn't feel so good and how he could not go to work. Instead he spent the day trying to decide what he should do. Right after lunch time someone rang the doorbell he didn't even knew he had. After he understood what was happening he opened the door, and regretted it the second after.
She entered the house, explaining how she had asked his boss and how he told her he was sick and at home and no he did not mind giving her the address, and how she knew he had to be really sick, because you don't leave your girlfriend in the restaurant unless you are really, really bad. At the mention of 'girlfriend' he felt his lunch trying to get out. She noticed it and hugged him "My poor love!" and all. She stayed there, talking and talking and talking, the entire afternoon. When he said he felt better already, she took him to the bed, and not even there did she shut up.
Murder was again in his mind, and it would be so simple, he thought, in his own home, he had knives and all that sort of things... But she made him dress and dragged him out, to a little bar. Once there, after a full hour of talking and drinking, without pausing either one for the other, she had to go to the bathroom, but not before saying, laughing, happily "Don't you run on me! I know where you live!". She got up, started to move away, and came back, with keys in her hand : "Also I have your keys".
While she was in the bathroom a cute little boy walked into the bar, and Mark called him to his table. When she came to the table the two men were kissing. He saw her there and kissed the boy even more passionately. When the boy finally grasped for air, Mark turned to her and said "Sorry darling, but I'm gay."
She smiled and he felt fear like he had never felt before, while she said "Fine by me, let's take him home, come". She dragged them both, one on each arm, and once home sat herself in a chair, in front of the bed, watching. She is finally silent, Mark thought, but that didn't last long. When she joined them, she had started talking again about some stupid rom-com she had seen recently and then something else, not shutting up until later that night when they went to sleep.
Mark woke up in the middle of the night and the gay kid was standing next to the bed, a knife in his hand. He gasped, and rolled out of bed, waking her up. She looked up and saw the kid. Smiling she said "Oh! S&M! I love me some S&M! Have I told you, love, about that time when I" - Mark interrupted her screaming - "OH FOR GOD'S LOVE KILL HER! OR KILL ME!"

Entry 12 - Office tower, apartment 35-A

I had a little cabin on the woods. Mine since the first day I set my foot on the Secret System. It was far from a 5-star hotel, but it had all I needed : A bed, 4 walls, a bathroom and a small kitchen. My new apartment had all this and one thing more : A office on the floor below. It was the office that made me decide that was where I wanted to set my new home : It overlooked the Dark City's main street, the coffee on the corner, so that I could see anyone entering or leaving. The office was small, a desk, a coat hanger, a file cabinet, the hidden door that took me to the apartment and the window. The door was one of those with a small glass square on the top. Soon it would have my name and "Private Investigator" written on it.
I had to work for a few days, loading cargo into hyperlinks, selling tickets at a theater, whatever gave me money, until I could afford the first month of rent and some food.
I went back to the cabin, to pick up my stuff : some clothes, some worthless trinkets and a couple of written up notebooks. Before I left the cabin for the last time I did a small walk around the woods, trying to decide if I should terminate that link. There was no official way to get there, except my portal browser, and I had taken there only one girl, a long time ago. I kept the link, mostly because I remembered the girl's reaction to the full moon as seen in the woods. It had been a good reaction.
The next day, after a near sleepless night, I always had trouble falling asleep in a new bed, I went to the police station. I have been a citizen of the System for years, and asking for a working vista was easy, although a bit bureaucratic. I asked about gun permits and the boy attending looked at me with that "this guy is crazy" look, so I just asked if he knew where I could buy a good gun. He told me where and I bought one, for a really small price.
The afternoon I spent it trying to put up an ad on the System Times. It was the biggest newspaper in the system, and the building matched it's size.
I followed a link to it, a huge skyscraper, so tall the top was in the clouds and invisible to the naked eye. All around the building was nothing but a giant lifeless desert. I entered the doors and saw myself in a massively big room. The farthest wall was a dot on the horizon, and all around the hallway there were columns, hundreds of them. I believe they were Ionic capitals, but I could be wrong, classic art classes being somewhere I went mostly to sleep. Between each pair a hyperlink, and in the floor a arrow, with the name of the destination. In the center of the room, there was another arrow, wide enough for five people, standing side by side, with open arms. This arrow had written on it "INFO". I stepped into it and, at first slowly but gaining speed for half the trip, I started moving. It stopped at the tip, and I found myself looking at a small information booth, flanked by two huge stairways. On each stair there was a arrow, yellow, big and empty.
I started explaining the lady at the booth I wanted to post a ad, but she silenced me with a wave from her hand and told me to look into a small box, at about eye height. I looked inside and saw a flash of light. When I looked out of it, she pointed to a arrow and said "Follow those". The left stairway's arrow now said "ads" and I followed it into the next floor : a elevator filled hall. Another arrow pointed me to the correct one, and as soon as I entered, the doors closed and took me to a floor marked as 57-C. There, after two more arrows, a girl was waiting for me.
-"What kind of ad do you wish to post, sir? Personal, Love, Friendship, Work, Sales, or Others?"
-"Ahn.. I wish to post a ad saying I'm about to begin working" - She touched a button in her sleevepad and cut me with a - "Follow the arrows, please".
The next arrow pointed to a door filled corridor, and I walked until one of the arrows lighted, "work adds" written on it. The door was open, to a small office, a desk with a computer and a person behind it.
-"Good afternoon, I'm here to post a ad..."
-"Please sit and fill this form." - The person behind the computer extended me a paper sheet and a pen. Name, age, intended link of publication, draft of the ad and address. On the third question I checked the "Entire System" box, and on the draft I wrote "Private Investigator, takes cases in all the System for a negotiable fee."
I wrote my new address, "Office tower, apartment 35-A, Darkcity" on the correct place and delivered the paper to the person I could now see was a man. He inspected it, read the ad loud, and said : "I believe it is OK for publishing, but it must pass by the proper channels. If nothing bad is found with it, tomorrow your ad will be in the paper. Please follow the arrows to the cashier."
I thanked him, and left. One lighted arrow pointed me to the end of the corridor, where I paid for the ad, and when I looked again, the lighted arrow was now one pointing to "EXIT".

Later that day, I sat on my office, with a bottle next to me, and overlooking my new city, thinking about what would the future bring me and if I'd ever see Her again...

Entry 11 - Personal Ad CITIZEN

She woke up to the soft music playing and slowly open her eyes. The flat screen on the side of the room/house showed 8:24. She got up, and from the 4 speakers, one in each corner, a voice came :
-"GOOD MORNING CITIZEN. YOU HAVE ONE PENDING POLL. DO YOU WISH TO VOTE NOW?"
-"Not now, comp. Open the shower first."
The bed receded into the wall and one of the corners converted into a small shower. From the floor two small panels lifted to form a square with the wall. In the center of the square, the drain was uncovered, and in the wall, the lamp dimmed off and the shower head started to work. She took off her shirt, something one of the one-night stands left behind, and asked for water.
By the time she finished cleaning her self, the clothes shelf was open and waiting for her to pick something to wear. A SMALL SKIRT AND A LIGHT TOP was the computers suggestion, based on the current and predicted weather, as well as her tastes on clothing. After dressing she asked for a warm cup of milk and cookies, and sat on the couch :
-"Comp, give me the poll please."
The screen showed the poll X12-34-82-JSTC, The People Versus Andrew Goldberry. She knew the case, it had been widely discussed in her office the other day. Goldberry had stolen 50 thousand credits from a rich old lady's account, that wanted to remain anonymous, to pay for his daughter high education. She had not pressed charges, but the Computer was programmed to prosecute the illegal usage of a terminal. Godlberry's punishment would be two weeks of jail and the loss of one security clearance level. He could still keep his job, but he would be monitored for the rest of his life.
-"Comp, vote guilty as charged. It's a fair sentence."
-"YOUR VOTE HAS BEEN CAST, CITIZEN. WITH 3234 VOTES TO GO THE PEOPLE IS WINNING THE POLL BY 2432 VOTES".
She finished her milk, threw the cut to the trash bin and headed out. The sidewalk took her to the subway, and the subway took her to the center of the office complex.
She had a class-3 IQ, a level-5 Security Clearance, Full Citizen Status, a permanent working vista and a job at Building 4, floor 16, office 4-16-42 to be more precise. Her job consisted of reading ads for The System Times and making sure they didn't violate any guideline. If a ad complied to the rules she would then sent it to the next step, a guy with level-7 Security Clearance that would verify again if the ad was legal, and so on. They received around one thousand ads a day, and she rejected about 10 percent of those. The next guy rejected only some 5 percent, and so on.
The first one she saw that day was a personal ad : "43% male cyborg seeks female cyborg with pleasure extensions for sex and more". It passed the auto-checker, so she classified it as 'adult' and pressed next. Every hour and a half the speakers ringed with the break warning. The breaks weren't mandatory but unless there was urgent work to be done, employees were advised to attend.
She never had urgent work, so she always attended. Floor 86 was the bar, and she would take the fast elevator there, have a coffee and talk with coworkers about nothing in particular, maybe discuss some funny ad, or the latest poll or the weather. Half an hour later she'd return to her office and resume working. Lunch was at the 87th floor, free and some days even good. This day it was some kind of pasta, with nutrient sauce, not bad but not gourmet food either.
It was about five thirty pm when she reviewed her last ad. It said : " Private Investigator, takes cases in all the System for a negotiable fee. Office tower, apartment 35-A, Darkcity." She forwarded it to the next level and went to the bathroom. By the time she got there, the next level had already accepted the ad and sent it back to the System Times for publishing. when she opened the door to get back to her office, the alarms sounded and the computer spoke, through the city speakers :
"LEVEL RED EMERGENCY. PROCEED TO THE NEAREST SAFE PLACE", repeated over and over again. She took the elevator down to the street floor, and run over to the the subway. Her Safe Place was only two stops away, and she got there in under 10 minutes. The door was closed and she rang the bell, gave her ID and waited. Behind her screams of death and the sound of explosions came, each time closer. She banged the heavy metal doors and screamed higher "LET ME IN, PLEASE LET ME IN!".
When she turned again, she saw three men coming in her direction. They wore loincloths and wielded blood splattered axes. Their eyes shone with violence and their lips smiled with the sight of her.
She wished that they would just kill her quick, but the gods had their faces turned away. Her last thought was one of revenge, as she spit on the face of the barbarian. He broke her neck and kept going, while his companions attacked the door.

entry 10 - MASS

MASS. Mad Asymmetric Singular Signal. Multi-Assembled Systemic Sindicator. Mostly Anthropomorphic Sentient System. He had many names, but the only one he used was MASS. In all caps, and in bold. He was a machine. A computer of sorts. His brain was the size of a small hangar, hundreds of thousands of exabytes of storage. 3 million years of human knowledge, all at the reach of a thought. Of course, I never saw his data center, not even his central processing unity, said to be as big as my body. All I saw of him was his body, the console of MASS as he would say.
But I am getting ahead of my self. The day I met MASS I was in a link I'd never seen. A huge cathedral, with a forest on one side and a cliff, overlooking the sea on the other. The moon shone, full, and with it's light I could see the gargoyles on the walls. At the door, a massive wooden door, carved with ancient symbols of worship to both sides of the divine, two stone men stood. One had a sword and full armor, the other a loin cloth and a great axe. When I entered, a lady was there, dressed in a long black dress, and smiling :
"What can I do for you, brother?"
"I'm just browsing.."
"Here, let me show you the library then" - she grabbed my hand and took me to the first wing. From there came music, joyful and old. Barrels of beer lay on the floor, and people, that would not be out of place in a Renaissance Fair, danced. The lady told me that was the hall of folk - "A fine place to drink ale and dance all night".
The next wing was dominated by a statue of a woman with a dead boy in her arms and tears of blood in her eyes. The people there were dressed in cloaks, and rested against the wall. The music was heavy and sad.
"This is the Hall of Doom, where people come to cry their tears and pains. Lets us move." - She pulled me into the next wing, where men in full plates fought dragons and mystical beings. The music here was strong and powerful, telling tales worthy of epic poems. She never told me what hall that was, because in front of me, a short man, with big glasses and a brown tweed suit appeared. He was shaking, afraid.
From one of the pockets he took a business card that said "MASS" on the front side and "I must see you" on the other side. The little men gulped twice and took a deep breath before saying "Come with me". Under my breath I uttered "if you want to live" but either he didn't hear or he didn't care. He just gave me a small box, the size of my palm, and pointed to the button : "press there".
I did, after a few moments of hesitation and suddenly I was no longer in the strange library, but in a little office, overseeing a crowded street. The small man was no longer there, but facing me was a metal face. If you can call that metal ellipse with a pair of cameras where the eyes would be, a face. When it spoke, his voice seemed to come from his torso, and like all of his body it was also metallic.
"I am MASS."
"I am" - I started to respond but he cut me off :
"I know who you are. I don't know why you are."
"Well, my mother and my father" - Again he interrupted me :
"Here. Why you are here. And what are you doing here."
"As to what, that one is easy : I want to see all of the System."
"That is impossible. The System never stops growing. There is no end to the System. You are without danger and so, without interest."
He then shut up and the little men came back.
"Sir" - the spectacled men said - "If you'd please follow me".
I did and he took me to a big browser, the kind the hyperlink company installed in big cities only. He just pointed me the way inside and smiled as I passed by him. I came out in my little cabin, lost in the woods. It was almost one year until I saw MASS again...

entry 9 - Allison and Billy

The name Allison Gore might be known to everyone, in this day and time. She has temples and altars spread trough the entire system. They call her the Great Mother, the Lady of the Beginning, and many more names. But at the time this tale starts, she was mostly called nerd. And not in a good way. She often exhibited the Toilet Water Hairstyle, and knew all too well how to open a high school locker from the inside. She had two friends in high school : the S.p.i.r.i.t. (School Psychological Intelligence - Random Integer Table) and little Billy.
Little Billy was the only person in school that suffered more at the hands of jocks than Ally. He was small. At age 10 he looked like he was 5. At age 19 he'd reached the size of a 12 year old, with big turtle framed glasses and rocking the light brown tweed suit style. To say he wasn't even smart is to say it nicely. He was still in the first year of high school and he might stay there for a couple more years, until all teachers felt pity for him and allowed him to pass. Ally used to tell him, when he was on the lowest, that God gives everyone a special skill, a little something that makes each and every human being important.
On his brighter days Billy would say that his skill was that his head fit so nicely on a toilet seat, to which Ally would reply that the sewers were just a series of tubes. Billy never understood what she meant, and to be honest, neither did she.
This was the International Year of Young Science, and to celebrate it, there would be a National Science Fair Contest, divided among three categories : middle school, high school and college. Even if Ally didn't want to participate, she would have to. All her teachers wanted her to, and even the school director went to her class room just to ask of her that she "made the school proud!". The projects should be made by a team of up to five students and all the other bright kids wanted to be on her team. Allison signed Billy name's with hers, without even listening to other suggestions of projects : with the help of Spirit she would find a good one.
She sat on the old chair and pressed the small switch on the huge machine. Spirit was a 30 year old MULTIVAC, that Ally had programmed a small AI for. His room was empty as usual. She and Billy were the only ones to go down there, and Billy would never go alone : he was afraid of Spirit and afraid of the dark stairs and afraid of the empty room and afraid of the walls and afraid of the way the single light bulb made his shadow move on the floor. Even when they went down there together, she had to bring the flashlight and enter alone, leaving him at the door, while she turned on the big computer screen, because he was afraid of it.
"GOOD MORNING MOTHER" - appeared on screen, in a strong orange, shinning against the black background.
"good morning Spirit" - she wrote on the old keyboard, embedded in the desk.
"WHAT SHOULD I DO FOR YOU, MOTHER?" - Appeared as a response to what she entered, followed by a list of options.
"Billy, you can come in now."
"I wish there was a way to get into the room without having to go down the dark stairs" - Billy said, still shaking.
"Yes! That is it! A teleporter will win the stupid contest!" She said as she typed a question to Spirit. The answer came quickly, and she wrote it down in a notepad.
"Spirit, will this allow for teleportation?"
"YES, MOTHER"
"Ok. Then resolve for 3, in turn of x please."
"PROCESSING, MOTHER"
"Hum. Is this accurate Spirit?"
"YES, MOTHER"
"Billy, do you know what this means?" - She knew he didn't and as always did not way for a answer - "It means we can do it! See here? We just need the power to make it go from this to that other line there, and the rest is just tin, and tin we can get, right Billy?"
He did as he always did when she was thinking and stayed there saying yes from time to time and pretending to listen. Four hours later the left the room, and Allison had in her mind and in her notebook what she thought was the working theory behind immediate spacial dislocation.
"So you see, Billy, we have all this points, each with it's own portal, linking places all over the world, and you enter portal A and exit portal B, the exact same second. This way we solve so many of humanity's problems, and on the way to it we get rich! Filthy rich! So rich people will worship us, Billy!"
"I would like being rich"
"And you will Billy, and you will!".

Three weeks after Allison had two prototype Hyper Links. The name had been Billy's idea : "If a road is a link between two towns, your portals" - "Our." - corrected Allison and then let him continue - "Our portals will be a Hyper Link, being so fast.".
She placed one in the garage and another in the back yard and they tested it first with a grape. Then a apple, then a pineapple and so on. When they were certain that it worked for inanimate objects, Billy's mouse, Mickey, was volunteered for the test. He came out without a sign of harm, and they decided to try a longer distance. Dismantling and redoing the Hyper Link on the computer room was a hard task that took another week. The contest was in another week and Allison was certain of victory. When all was set up, she left Billy at her garage and went to school. Once she was there, she called Billy and asked him to release Mickey into the Hyper Link and the mouse exited trough the portal.
Allison screamed on the phone : "IT WORKS BILLY! It really works Billy! I'm going in now!" - Billy answered, probably against Allison's will for the first time since they knew each other - "No! I'll meet you there. I want to be the first human to ride the Hyper Link!" - Allison stopped just before entering and said - "OK Billy. It's only fair that you do. Come on, we must celebrate!"
"Entering in three, two, one, " - Silence. Billy wasn't there, and the call was over,"DISCONNECTED BY RECIPIENT", blinking on the cell screen. She called home, and asked her mother to go check the garage. Billy wasn't there but his backpack was on the floor, on the same place he always left it when entering the garage, and from where he always picked it up before leaving. He was not at his own house, nor at school. He had just dissipated, without a trace.
Allison spent the next day in front of Spirit, looking at the black screen and the orange letters spelling "PROCESSING. PLEASE WAIT, MOTHER". She had to be taken home by force, and so she wasn't there when the great MULTIVAC replied :
ANSWERING "what happened to Billy?" :
THE SAME SOUL CANNOT EXIST TWICE IN THE SAME REALITY.
THE PORTAL BENDS TIME AND SPACE.
THE SOUL CANNOT REACH DESTINATION BEFORE LEAVING.
THE SOUL MUST FIND A DIFFERENT REALITY TO LEAVE THE PORTAL.

entry 9beta

Once, Arthur told me that he'd met Allison Gore and that she had written this on a paper napkin :


Public Hiperlink(Hiperlink oldH, VariableArray varAr){

this = oldH;
set(this.Inventor,varAr[0]);
set(this.age, varAr[1]);

for( int i = 0 ; i lessThan varAr[1] ; i++ , this.age++ ){
if( i == ( this.age - this.Inventor.age ) ){
this.Inventor.createObject();
}
this.CalendarYear[i] = this.performYear(i);
}
return this;
}

public CalendarYear performYear(int year){
if ( year == this.yearOfInvention ){
new Hiperlink Hh(this, randomizeVars());

He then put the napkin back into his wallet and said :
"You see, this is the beginning of the theory behind my Quantum Entanglement and also her HiperLink Company. She had no more space here, so I never found out the rest..."

Entry 8 - The Little Prince

He will be known as the Barbarian King,and later the Everlasting Emperor, but at the time I first met him he was a prince of a small kingdom, stranded in the beginning of the first millennium, and known only as Aak'r, fourth and last in the line of succession to the throne, the Little Prince.
He was a big man, standing 7 feet tall, long black hair waving in the wind, strong muscles and dark powerful eyes. In his hand he holds a big sword, too big for a normal men to wield with both hands. He was on top of a hill, looking down on a group of maybe 100 men, all armed with swords or axes and dressed in animal skins. Commanding those men was his brother, Prince Heir, a man half his size, dressed in heavy looking plates and with hate on his eyes as he screamed : "Ebony is my wife! She will be until the day I die, little brother!"
"Then you shall die today!"
Aak'r raised his sword, and from behind him came not more than 20 men, all armed with big swords, bodies painted in the blood of wild beasts, eyes blind with the fury of war. The Little Prince ran down the hill, and the Heir hid behind his troops. The first line was smashed under Aak'r's bigger men, and the prince him self sliced one of his brother's chieftains in half, laughing while the blood splattered on his naked torso, the joy of battle overcoming fear and reason. We swung the big sword, cutting a arm and bashing a skull. "I COMING FOR YOU BIG BROTHER!" he screamed, kicking another man and running his sword through his hearth.
Vastly outnumbered, but stronger, fighting from above and enthralled by their leader's words of rage, Aak'r's men had the battle won swiftly and bloodily, more than half of the Prince Heir's troops dead, and from those who survived, some had ran away, some had laid their weapons on the floor. The two brothers faced, one in armor and fear, sword raised trying to protect his face form his brother, that was towering above him.
The Little Prince dropped his sword and dismissed the Heir's with a swift blow from his left hand. With the other hand he grabbed his brother by the neck, lifting his feet from the ground.
"Ebony wishes to be with ME!"
The sound of broken bones, as Aak'r crushed the neck echoed trough the stale, blood filled air. Among the defeated men cries of horror joined the sound of the Little Prince cutting open his brother's dead body and ripping the heart out. He sliced through the heart with his teeth and with blood running down his face he laughed, loud. Around him his men join in the laughter as they got rid of the defeated army.
Later this would be known as the beginning of a rise to power that would sweep the Secret System from link to link and bring war to all the towns in the world, but at the time it was no more than a brother taking back his toy from another...

Entry 7 - Dark city

It was a cold night, and the wind kept trying to steal my hat. I had one hand over it, pressing hard, as I walked up the street. This was my first time in the city in many years, but noting seemed to change. The little coffee at the corner was still there, empty but for the police inspector and the waitress, on their eternal game of attraction. Her face had couple new wrinkles, his hair a few more whites, but they were there just like they were when I first met Her.
It was a night just like this one. I had just arrived and I was sitting on the corner table, a bottle of vintage Brandy next to me, a glass in my hand. I was smoking a cigarette, and unsure of what to do next when she entered. She wore a short dress, firehouse red like her lips. The long blond hair fell on her back, slightly curly at the tips. My eyes caught hers, pale blue eyes like a clean sky, and her lips twisted with half a smile as she walked towards me.
She sat, silent, took one of my cigarettes form the pack on the table and waited for me to light it. I fumbled taking the metal lighter from my pocket and my hand shook while she inhaled, making the tip turn as red as her dress. She smoke half of it and stretched for the ashtray. What do you do with a cigarette after you've finished it? Do you put it out? Kill it? Mutilate it? What she did was love with it. And then she threw it away into the ashtray, not ever to see it again. At that moment I knew I'd be in love with her for the rest of my life.
She grabbed my glass, drank it, and walked to the door. From the door she looked at me and said, in a voice angels could only dream to have "I'll see you again next week" and left me there, alone with the bottle and my cigarettes once again. Hours or days or maybe years later, the waitress asked me to leave. I walked the streets until I found a motel. I got myself a room, paid for a full week and spent it looking at the ceiling.
That week went by slow. I found things to do by day, working for food and money for a bottle at the coffee by night. I'd be there everyday from 9pm until the waitress signaled me it was time to go. The police inspector was always there too, having his scotch. He'd sip it slowly and make it last all night.
One nigh, a full week and two days after the day I first saw her, the inspector wasn't there when I arrived. The waitress was less friendly, and almost broke the bottle after serving my first glass of the night. I paid and was left alone, waiting.
She came that night, wearing a black party dress, lips of a deep blood red, the color of the jewel in her black pearl necklace. Once again she came to my table, took one of the cigarettes and smoke it. She then smiled and said : "Let's go dance".
She moved like a cat, and we danced for hours, in the little ballroom down the street until it closed, and we stepped outside into the rain, still dancing. We watched the sun rising on the sea shore, my coat on her shoulders, my arm around her waist, her arm on my shoulder, her mouth on my mouth.
That's my last recollection of the night. Next day the sun shines down on my eyes, head aching with pain, and I am on my motel room alone. On the night stand, I see a paper shred with a lipstick kiss on it, that I carry on my wallet to this day.
I went to the coffee again that night. The Police inspector was back, telling the waitress of a case he had to attend the night before. The owner of a jewelery shop called the police after waking up on the floor. He had seen a stunning blond woman wearing black walk in. She asked for the Heart Of The Night, a necklace with four tiers of extremely rare natural Black Pearls, and two gold hands holding a ruby the size and shape of a newborn baby's heart. The shop owner gave it to her and all went black. When he came back to his senses, both the lady and the Heart Of The Night were gone.
I knew who had the necklace, she told me it was a family heirloom, a memory of her mother, "the last one I have" she said, "I've had since she died".
She never showed up again, and the Police Inspector never found out what happened to the necklace. A few days after I left that town, swearing never to return.

Last week I saw a old lady, a duchess of somewhere, wearing a necklace with four tiers of black pearls, and a pair of golden hands holding a heart of ruby, and I came back, looking for Her.

entry 6 - Mad Scientist

He was insane. Crazy, mad, a lunatic. There wasn't a single drop of sanity in him. He said his name was Dr. Emeritus Artur F. Onzi. But he also said he was The Great Merlin of Britain, King Tut and "one of life's little working ants".
I met him at a coffee shop, on the coffee shop district of the city of South Iforgot. Not that I forgot, that was really the name of the town : South Iforgot, 40 miles east of North Iforgot. No, I'm not making this up. Some links are just like this, totally insane. That's why he wasn't really out of place there, being also utterly mad.
It was a coffee shop managed by hipster artists, frequented by a strange mix of poets, painters, killers and mad scientists. Arthur, as I've decided to call him hence forth, being the most human sounding name he gave me, was a member of the last group. He was one white lab coat short of a movie mad scientist anyway.
I entered the coffee shop, looking for a coffee, ended up having a cup of tea, after the aspiring actress that took my order, told me that they were a tea house called "The Coffee Shop" for irony, since they didn't serve coffee. On my left was a killer, I'm sure. Not so much because he wore a whore's whole skull in his shoulder, more because he kept pointing at it and telling me, or any other person that happened to be in the vicinities what was that skull he had.
On my right was a man in dark shirt, dark pants and dark hat, and he looked happy, so happy indeed that I had to ask what was it that he was celebrating. I somewhat regretted asking that when he picked up his glass of poison (or vodka as he called it), came next to me, hand in my shoulder, and started speaking, rolling his words and going back and forth, in the good drunken tradition. What he said translated into "Maaaaaan, I'm happy, oh so happy, happy happy happy! Want to know why I'm happy? I'm happy because my wife cheated on me! Oh yes she did, God bless her! She cheated on me, on my bed, with my best friend! She did! Oh joy!"
I must have looked surprised because he looked at me, and did his best impression of someone sober when he said "I am a poet.". He then finished his drink and turned his back on me.
It was about that time that Arthur entered, looked around the room, and came straight to me : "You. You are not from here. You are like me, from another place!"
I was too surprised to reply, and even if I weren't he gave me no time to. He sit on my table, spilling my tea, and resume talking : "You see, I found the secret of quantum entanglement! I found it, and I found it alone! They say it's theirs, that I'm just one in a team, that I, The Great Lord Of Dimensions and Space and Time am but a part of the team! I! I the magnificent Mule of dimensions! I! Shame on them and good riddance to all of them I say! AHAHHAHAH! Let them catch me now, let the 'team'" - you could hear the quotes in team - "rebuild the machine now! Let them do it after I broke it! AH! You see, I am what made the world exist, for I am God! I've traveled everywhere and if somewhere I wanted to go wasn't there yet, I created it! Oh the fools! The damn fools! They think they know how! AH!"
"Pleased to meet you too" - was my answer.
"We must go. IT is almost here." - was his verbal answer. His physical one was to drag me out of the table, out of the coffee shop. Once there he started talking again: "How did you get here? Never mind that." - there was no pause between sentences - "You'll go with me. I have it hidden, hidden in plain sight, oh such a genius I am! Emeritus Doctor, they made me for my brilliance! Come come now! Fast! Just right there at the corner! I can smell IT!" - Whatever IT was, Arthur never explained, and he was afraid of it. I believe it was IT that made him this crazy.
"Quick, into the box! Trust me, I'm not mad!" - He almost lost me there, for if he was one thing it was crazy. He jumped into a cardboard box - "the first one was the size of my lab, the next one will fit in my wallet! AH! They said it was impossible you know? Come on, climb! Let's show them!" - inside the box there was a small switch, and as soon as I entered, pulled by the arm he had not let go off, he switched it on. It was a browser, a machine to travel between links. It appeared to have no steering, no way to indicate destiny, just a on-off switch.
The box landed in a really small island, complete with palm tree and a empty bottle. The rest of that day I spent there listening to Arthur. He had a theory that he tried to explain me, about Quantum Entanglement and inter-dimensional time travel and how that would create a new universe every time you jumped. It somehow evolved peach jam, Japanese heavy metal and a gypsy priest.
He talked a lot, and the things he said were either totally insane or just half-insane. One of his monologues I remember quite well, for I've been craving a roasted pork leg ever since I started following this links.
"Once " - he started - "I went to ancient Egypt. At the time it was but a giant desert, ruled by one semi-divine king. No not me... Kings had a strange tendency to wake up dead. Anyway, I'd been traveling for years, and I had a craving for some nice oven roasted pork. I had the spices, and I could easily find a pig, yet I had no oven. That's why I designed the pyramids, you know? To cook my pork leg. It took me eleven years to build and two entire days, but I had a nice tasty roasted pork leg by the end of it. The best one I ever had!"
The next day Arthur was gone when I woke up. All he left behind was a small note : "What I miss more is my cat. That sweet, evil cat."

Entry 5 - Savannah

His name was Richard Excelsior Almighty Victorious Young, he was a Nerd and he was angry with his parental units. The name was just one of the reasons why he was angry. The other reason was, even if less constant, at the time more enraging. He was to stay home and miss the Halloween dance at high school. He was 16 years old, top student of the class, didn't smoke, drink or do drugs, yet he had to stay home, because "Halloween is the feast of the devil" and "We praise the Lord in this house" and "You will be grounded out of your heathen ways". Rick would show them. The parental units would be seeing television, the Reverend's channel. Now he was almost happy that they had asked him to set up a television server linked to all the computers... With a text-to-voice software he recorded a ten minute sermon on the dangers of withholding your kids at home when they wish to go out and experiment the dark ways of the pagan folk. Rick was specially proud of the "The only way to see the light is to walk on darkness before" bit. He was watching the show on his computer screen and waiting for the Reverend to start the regular 8h30pm 10 minutes speech and stream his own soundtrack to it. He was so proud of his work that he listened to it instead of listening to the news on the radio, like he used to do. Had he heard the news, he wouldn't have been so happy when five minutes after the speech ended the parental units entered his room and said they had seen the error in locking him and forbidding him to go.
He dressed his homemade Rambo suit really quick and left for the dance. He should be there in 10 minutes, by bike. It took him 7, and he had to slow down for the girl scouts and keep his AK-47 Super Soaker from hitting his knees. If he wasn't in such a hurry he might have noticed the young man, dressed as a space pirate, inside the circle of girls, and that he was fighting for his life, with a spiked flail in hand. The last Rick could have seen of him was the flail hitting a piggy tailed girl scout on the arm.
The high school was deserted, as expected, and Rick followed the music into the gym. he stopped at the door, adjusted the red head band, grabbed the AK-47 'movie style' and kicked the door open.
When the door opened he noticed that the "music" was nothing more than static. The gym was empty. There were half filled cups on the tables and spilled cups on the floor. Rick glanced at his watch, making sure he wasn't later than he thought. The dace should have started 40 minutes early and it should still be going one for the next two hours, but nobody was on sight. He walked around the gym, and screamed like a little girl when he saw the arm coming from under the table.
When Rick got his breath back he slowly ducked and looked under the table, to see a boys body attached to the arm, and comically dressed in a pink cowboy costume. Rick screamed again, a little less little-girlish this time, and stepped back until he hit the wall. It took him a few seconds to recover, eyes closed and breathing deep. When he opened his eyes, he went to the DJ set table and turned the sound off, only start hearing cries of affliction on the distance. Holding his fake AK-47 next to his body he slowly walked out into the school yard, trying to understand where the sounds were coming from. When he thought he knew where they were, we went back into the gym, and then ran to his bike. Once there he tried calling the cops, but his phone got no signal, as it always was , night time in Savannah.
He followed the road into the sound, stopping at the police station just to find it empty, and kept going. The woods were only a few more meters ahead, and Rick heard the cries closer, more desperate.
The last thing he saw was a little girl in a girl scout uniform, with pig tails and a scar in her arm. She was smiling when she said "good night Richard".

entry 4 - time traveling observation deck

The high tower loomed over the wasteland this time. He, a green being with long hair and a weird name, looked over the great observation window and sighed. "It's too soon to find people in here" - he thought - "I'll go and get some sleep". He left a #goodMorning on the wall and logged off into sleep.
When he woke up, a couple of hours after, the tower was in the middle of a ocean, waves rolling against the shinny metal structure. The wall clock showed "00h54 - 15 May, 4125", this time. His clock, however, showed 10h30 in the morning, 12 Feb. 2034, the real time, outside the tower.
It was a no work day for him so he browsed the 'library' for new articles. The daily corridor was still empty, but the yesterday one had a couple new posts. The science ones he didn't get much into, so he went past them, reading just the headlines. There was one for that new movie, Dancing With Alien Wolves, a re-imagination of the James Cameron classic. As far as he could tell they were messing with the story, creating new characters and 'updating the script to moder times', according to the article. Instead of a evil corporation, there would be a evil cult, trying to destroy the mines of the peaceful business people of Pandora, and overthrowing the Pandorian World Corp, a network of small companies. Jake would still be a paralytic soldier, at least that they would keep...
He got to the replies - "A bit of trolling in the morning to make me less pissed at life" - and laughed. When ever they did remakes/re-imaginations/reboots of classic movies, there was sure to be fan fighting in the comments, and this particular article didn't disappoint.
When he finished reading it, he went back to the room, the year was 250.000 BCE and primitive men were attacking it with sticks and stones.A post-human woman, with a extension-arm, was at the window, sang the old child limerick : "sticks and stone may break my bones...". Next to her a British Gentleman wrote something about the apparent emptiness of the main room at the time.
He got next to them in time to see a Wookie arriving with a big billboard poster of a old movie. The Wookie growled something about a birthday, and sat in a chair, next to the poster. "This place is all dirty" - he said to the British man. "We should get a maid. A french maid to clean this up, don't you recon old chap?" - Said the British.
He agreed and the talk diverted to the short uniforms said maid would use. The woman with the extension-arm looked at them with murder in the eyes and left for work. Soon in her place was a salesmen, with knifes and swords and cigars, and this time only, a robotic maid. When the salesman saw he wouldn't be selling anything he left and went to the meeting room.
People started to enter the main room now, glancing out the window, and either talking with some one or just standing there. A man-sized building complex built a kids playground at some time and the British man went to discuss it with him.
He was alone again. In the meeting room people were talking, topics jumping from one to the other fast. The extensible lady was there, and so was the salesman, and some others. He sat next to the door and glanced at the main room from time to time, but it was still soon in the day. A man with a hammer in hand came, a ruthless look in his face, and five more classic actors were hanged next to the one the Wookie, now long gone, had posted. The British gentleman lost his classy pose and drooled over one of actors, a pretty girl, until a Zombie General came and started gossiping about her. The Wookie joined them and they started a friendly argument.
Back in the meeting room, the green being discussed his future empire and the positions he would give them if they wished. From the back of his eye he saw the British gentleman with a flame thrower, burning someone that had committed the crime of disagreeing.
"Time for me to go" - he said, fearing the flamethrower. He got up and logged off again, noticing the flying cars outside, and the city surrounding them. On the big clock the year was now 2754.

entry 3 - the mouse that wishes to read more

I've been wandering trough hyperlinks for the past years. If you wonder why I started writing this only now, the reason is easy to explain : I had no notepad. I kid you not. The other day I met a mouse, among the dunes. I had just been linked from a 'vampire' filled town, and I was ranting out loud. A little mouse passed by me and started replying to my angered self. The vampire, werewolf and disturbed teen filled town had destroyed my hopes on mankind, made me furious, angered, irritated. She talked back to me, and we laughed at the ridicule. Then she asked who I was.
"You are not from here, your eyes are not blue within blue"
"I came from another place. From outside the System."
"And what are you doing here, how did you come to here?"
I did not wish to tell her, that meant thinking about it and I had long promised myself I would not think about that. So I answered only half question.
"I'm traveling the System, getting to know about each and every link. I listen to their stories and keep them in my head. If one day I return I'll write them down and the other world, the real world " - she interrupted me to say - "your real world you mean. This is MY real world. And in any link you will find a different world, but all of them real."
"Ok, MY real world, I will know and show them that there is more under the skin of my reality than what we can guess".
"Why do you wait to return before writing? Would it not be better to write now? Before you forget?"
"I have nowhere to write... I forgot my notebook..."
"Follow me then" - She ran in front of me, and I followed into a underground cave. As we entered, a giant worm (and I do mean giant!) exited the sand behind us and opened it's great mouth, screaming.
"We are safe inside, worry not."
She showed me where I could grab a notebook and a pen, and then she said, before disappearing : "I hope you return here to show me your stories! I want to read about the other links."
I had no time to answer, and I was left alone in a rock cave under the sea of sand, where I slept the night, afraid to go out. In the morning, there was no sign of the giant worm, nor of the little brown mouse, so I came back to the HyperLink, and I will now enter again...

entry 2 - the wedding

Baleoth smiled with his eyes and grabbed her leftmost tentacle : "My dearest.. I love you. Your perfectly triangular, red eyes... red of passion! Your soft, long green fur, the color of blood... Your delicate touch, the way you hug me with all six tentacles, as if nothing else in the world is worth having... Your beak, the way you run it trough my skin.. I love you dearest, and I will yell at the Gods if they take you away from me!"
"Oh, Baleoth... And I love you too... I love your perfect body and your perfect mind, I love even your name... Baleoth... I love your name in my taste-glands, acid and cold... I want to lay your eggs, and sit on them for months... I long for the short beaks of our sons to break the eggshell and to see those small eyes looking at us.. Oh Baleoth I love you so"
The priest beak open and closed in a fast smile, a sign of joy and emotion. He rose all four of his free tentacles and read from the Book of Life :
"The Gods made the Neoumans to be above themselves. The Gods gave us Life and Love, and from Love we make more Life."
He made a short pause, smiled once more and then continued :
"In Love and for Life I pronounce you both as a Nest. May you cherish and flourish in it".

entry 0 - what is the Secret System?

My name is... Unimportant. I had a name ,once. And a family, and a house and all that thing that turns you into a person. Now all I have is this notepad and the adventures I live. The Secret System.. What is the secret system? Well, first of all, if you never heard of it, that's normal, it's secret. It exists at the same time and place that the rest of mankind. Yes you read it right, if you even exist. I write this for you, that elusive and strange being I feel looking over my shoulder. I can hear you breathing next to my ear when I'm running along in silence. And that one time, with the DreamFolk, I know I heard you scream!
But I digress. The Secret System exists in a fixed time slot, that runs along with our time slot, Mankind's time slot: I've been to the end of that time slot. I wish it was farther away... But there's no use in complaining. Not all will be lost at the end, I've been there, I've seen the end. Just because we all die, evolution won't stop, and there is something of us that survives... I digress again. Living in the System does this to you. You seem to lose focus...
I try once again : the Secret System is much like the internet, and not that much unlike our medieval world. It has not one, but several physical/temporal locations, connected trough travel portals, the 'HyperLinks'. Each such location is a reign, country, nation, what you call it. Some are as old has civilization, some are older, some are but a few days old. Some are small, I remember the room-city where the.. No, I will not tell of what happens there. I got out as soon as I could, should have had sooner. Some are big, huge, gigantic, with no end to see. You were there with me, you remember the Sea of Infinity and the Mountains of Forever and the Forest of Never-ending and the Immeasurable Desert. Some exist on the early Egyptian Civilization, some near the end of the World Coalition. For some reason, the greatest number of them co-exist with the 'regular' 21st century.
I've begun recently collecting and compiling memories of the inhabitants of the Secret System, and I shall write them down in this little, old, bartered notebook.
Now I go to sleep, in this 'my' little cabin in the woods. This the first I saw of the Secret Systems, and my first adventure here. But that is another story, for another entry...

entry 1 - the town of kotaniku

The happy town of Kotaniku wasn't ready for the tragedy that ensued in that day, and neither was Daniel. For years he had been a working, trustful and until recently, respected citizen. He even had the city's' Medal of The Star, given to those that had been deemed worthy of speaking up in the public forums, years ago. His medal had been taken back recently, because of a commentary on the socioeconomic state of Kotaniku he gave at the SpeakUpTv citizen forum, but he felt that he could regain it, by proving his worth, soon.
That day, the day of the Great Kotaniku Massacre, when Daniel got up, dressed his anonymity mask and entered the streets on the way to his job, he was smiling and singing silly songs. Today was the day he'd get his Medal of the Star back. People waved at him and smiled back, even after the demedaling we was still likes and Daniel enjoyed it.
Once he got to work and plugged himself, started checking the normal amount of replies,and re-replies while he tried no make the coffee machine obey him. Someday he would have to complain about it. No coffee means no productivity. And that was not good, not good at all. The good mood was starting to turn into a bad mood. His brain-computer synapse sent a sign to his primary somatosensory cortex, a gentle caress inside his skull. He forced himself to twitch the left little finger (Lat. digitus mínimus mánus, Pt. mindinho, Fr. auriculaire, Wiktionary immediately translated and sumpreimpressed the information on his inner eye, as he had configured it to do), and a new message showed.
"Greetings fellow Kotanikuans.
Due to the recent social scandals, the Supreme Comity of Overlords regrets to inform that the bill #26/083 will be in effect starting this moment.
The Supreme Comity of Overlords hopes that the free people of Kotaniku acknowledge this news with the respect and education that so well characterizes them.
The Counselor for the Preservation of Citizenship of the Supreme Comity of Overlords, Mikel M.Vendor"
Daniel focused his thought on the bill's number and read the long text, trying to grasp his mind around the concepts. After deconstructing the political and techno-babble he got to the gist of it, and he lost hope in humanity.
According to the new laws, if a member of the Comity decided a citizen was unworthy of living in Kotaniku due to things said, he would 'exile' the citizen. There was no chance for defense, no warning, no trial. It was a Kotanikuan tradition that when a citizen spoke in manners deemed uncivilized, his words would be scrambled and a public warning would be sent. Only after that, if the citizen continued with the uncivilized behavior, would he be 'exiled'...
Daniel logged off, and for the first time in years he spent a work day away from the community. When his coworkers started to leave for home he wondered why had he not heard the signal, until he remembered his communication device was not turned on. He went out, into the streets once more, and turned it on. "27 new messages, it has been a calm day" he thought. On the top, the WORKDAY-EOF flag was shining, and so were the NEW-MSG and the PSA-WARNING ones.
He blinked both eyes for half a second to uncheck the WORDAY-EOF, and skimmed over the new messages. The PSA would be in 40 minutes, at the town square, so Daniel decided to go there and learn more about bill #26/083.
He exited the autopedescalator, and decided to walk there. He found the correct belt moved next to it until he reached the Supreme Comity of Overlords' Podium, with the old flag shining, with the big green K on the left, red side, the white slash and the long green field.
10 minutes later, the square was full with people and more kept arriving, as a member of the Comity climbed to the podium. The crowd, that had been speaking among themselves, checking their messages and sending other messages was silent as soon as Councilman Obadiah Groody lifted his hand.
"Fellow Kotanikuans, we gather here today to that wish former Councilman Paul Veit gets better soon. Paul, Kotaniku's hearts are with you!"
Daniel felt enraged. So enrage he neglected the new rules and screamed, load and clear "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?" - Every voice in the square went silent. Daniel continued "I came here to learn about the new rules, not to find out some old man has the FUCKING FLU!".
From next to the podium, another councilman dressed with the anonymity suit and mask, came next to him and said, so that everyone in the square could hear : "Daniel, you were once a respected citizen. You've been here almost since the founding of this city. Everyone here knows you. And because of that you think you can voice your opinions like that? You want to know about the new rules? This are the new rules : I condemn you to exile. Goodbye."
The unknown councilman pressed something in his gauntlet and Daniel's body disappeared.

From this point on, records are confusing. What really happened in that square was never officially retold, and Daniel, what was left of him, a mind inside a computer, not much more than a memory of a body, never understood more than what the newsletters said the next day :
"Yesterday the town of Kotaniku suffered a great tragedy. Enemy agents, living among us, tried to start a rebellion. Luckily the members of the Supreme Council of Overlords were fast to exile all those who oppose our peaceful way of live."

a drabble to begin

-Child, don't you dare look at me like that!
-Father, you should know by now that we don't stop.
-Child, I warn you. Daughter or no daughter, I'll have your blood.
-Come on and try.
The body was found later that week, blood everywhere. He was a
man in his early 30s. The location of the wounds would suggest he
was killed by a small person with a knife.
The apparent size of such person is consistent with the 4 year
old missing daughter.