Kyle had a question...
That to him meant one thing. Internet search. He thought he would just spent five minutes looking, but he had spent the best part of the whole night now, just... reading every account of the sun transformation. Every conceivable change has happened to someone. It seemed there were creatures based on the animals of Earth, but more intriguingly the imagined, the surreal... the downright impossible.
sometimes a change looked to be associated with the environment. He read the police report of some kids turning into angels in a church, although it didn't get into the specifics of it. There were also a few other hints, such as what the digital fairies said... but then, computers were also ubiquitous in their society, shouldn't there be more digital fairies?
He connected to Emergence and found himself in a chat room. It was immediately obvious to the digital fairies inside that he was a human, given he had no avatar... he wondered how they would react to him? Would be like the reaction you would have to someone in the real world, if they had no body? Essentially... that is what he was, to them.
>Hello. :)
He waited for a response, and found he was very quietly put on the ignore list by about half of them. That was... actually more common to him in a chat room that it didn't affect him that much. But this was different.. these were people living inside a machine. Did they have a lot of bad experiences with humans? Maybe he shouldn't be so obvious about what he was thinking... they might get the wrong idea.
>I'm Ultimix. I want to learn about digital life
A few more put him on the ignore list... maybe he best just wait and see what they talked about? At this rate, none of them would talk to him!
He looked at the public box, and just waited... a few more user-names came and went. It looked like texting was not as common between digital fairies as he hoped... still they were communicating with each other if not to him. His hardware just didn't have the right presence to interact with them in this forum unless they wanted to talk to him. Finally he decided to just be honest...
>You guys... seem to have a lot of fun. I wish I could join you.
He managed to open a dialogue with a few of them at that point. Some told him what it was like, the other half said he was a crazy stupid human for wanting to live like them. So many of them wanted to come back to the real world. If he could swap places with one of them, if only for a little while, he would... but there was just no way to know how they lived without actually being there.
Kyle did another wonder around the internet... and it dawned on him just what an opportunity this could be. If he was serious.. Dead serious about this... why not do it right?
He had tons of avatars... each of them were cool, in their own way. If he became a digital life form, he could actually decide precisely what he looked like. What would a man do, if they could choose their appearance? It wouldn't be just luck... he could create it from scratch!
Smiling a little at this fantasy, he took a number of pictures from what in his mind, were the best of the best. The strongest, the smartest, the sheer manliest of all game avatars... solid snake from metal gear solid, the master chief of Halo. Morgan Freeman from Half life! Yes! He downloaded picture after picture. Commander Shepard from Mass Effect... Ryu from Street fighter... Oh God! Wouldn't that be just awesome!
At first he was humble with his thoughts... just a strong guy. Make someone tough, able to handle himself... but wait! Make him a bit taller too.... give him good hair... an Adonis among men.
actually forget all that.
Make himself a God!
He used a three dimensional program to create his ideal avatar... it would be strong, it would be tough. He based some of it on the aspects of Thor, the thunder god... his editor would be a digital hammer. It could physically punch through firewalls, and it would be able to fly across cyberspace with incredible speed. He touched it up a bit to make him handsome... which actually, didn't look that different from his own face, if he lost a couple more pounds.
This could be Ultimix... The Digital God! A super hero... who helped fight injustice, The bravest and most respected... who used his talents for Good against Evil... a programming and scientific genius, who's intellect was matched only by his wit and humour... adored by woman in general...
He smiled a bit, wishing it could be true...
he felt the taste of salt, as reality bit into him... could he really make this happen? He kept on adding more and more detail to it... a bit more toned muscle here, a little length there...
Yes! That was it... that was perfect! He saved the avatar onto his hard drive, and got himself a coffee from the kitchen.
So now that he had created the ideal avatar... could he really become him?
Dare he?
Part of him reminded him though... that there were only two common aspects to anyone who transformed in the sun..
It was generally life changing..
..and rarely what one expects...
Ken and Harry enjoyed their ice cream. It was almost time for them to head back home though.
"Well that was fun," Said Harry with an unintentionally cute smile.
Ken grinned. "Yeah it was. We should do this more often."
"I never did before," admitted Harry.
"Why not?" Ken asked curiously.
Harry had to think about that. "I... don't know. I guess I just tried to concentrate on school more."
The fox boy nodded. "I bet you get good grades?"
"Er... well I'm okay on that, I guess." She smiled again.
Ken thought it was certainly an.. interesting evening. Haru was fun to be around, even if she had a shell around her. She was slowly coming out of it, it was just a shame not many could see this shy girl for who she was. He was glad he could make her smile again... he still felt bad about what he had said before. Haru was a girl at the moment...
"Ken? In that Movie... everyone stayed as they were." The three eyed oriental girl said quietly.
The fox boy nodded. "Surprising isn't it?"
"If... a cure is found... what would you do?"
Ken shrugged. "I'm happy being a fox to be honest. It's fun."
"Really?" Haru asked curiously.
"Well, that's just me. I mean it is awkward sometimes, but a lot of people dig the foxes," he grinned. Some were afraid, some thought they were... cute... it was a strange mix.
Haru gave a little laugh. "Well it must be the tail.."
"Oh.. want to feel it?" Ken grinned.
Haru flushed. Actually she was just a little curious... but couldn't admit it. The three eyed girl had another question, but... lost the moment to ask it. She just.. couldn't.
"Ah sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you. Its... getting late anyway. I'll walk with you home," Smiled Ken.
"Um.. sure."
The nameless man could barely see anything now.
It was just light everywhere. He couldn't even feel the hand of that other girl he was tied with... but he could still feel something clasped onto his wrist. Why was he brought here? How was this safer?
He squinted in the light, vaguely making out a figure... a witch? It didn't make sense though, she was just a kid, yet they were the same size. Maybe she was a giant?
The witch-girl waved. "Dreaming again?" she smiled.
The nameless man looked unsure.
The strange witch looked at the nameless with a curious look. "Ah you'll get used to it. Actually I wanted to thank you. For helping me."
"Y-you're... welcome?" Why did his voice sound so strange? "What's.. happen' t' me?"
The witchgirl looked at him a bit sadly. "That's one of the problems with your transformation... you were the right person, but the wrong time."
"Huh? Wh're you?" She spoke as if his transformation had some kind of purpose?
"My name is May... and out there, we're friends."
"Why can't I go ou' 'here?" He asked.
"You are! You just.. can't remember." the witch girl explained. "Look... you know how when you're grown up, you forget the kids stuff? Well, that's what happened to you. Most adults remember at least a bit of what it was like to be a kid... you completely forgot."
The nameless man blinked. "Can... I reme'ber?" He coughed.. why was it harder to speak now?
"Of course you will! In fact... I think you are. You got to give yourself more time Jenny... stay here, in the light.. the bad ones can't reach you here. You were... just very lucky you believed enough that it hurt them..."
Jenny? Was that... her name? No it wasn't... it had to be the girl he was chained to. But.. where was she? it was too hard to see anything... She said she would be here... no matter what happened...
"Jenny?"
"Jenny sweetie," said Murriel coxing her. The poor girl had fallen asleep on the couch. "Why did you push her so much Tetra?"
"She was fine with it," the cat girl said. "She's got a lot of talent actually. It speaks volumes of her innocence."
"Really?" Asked Muriel.
"Of course! Only the pure of heart can use these powers. That's why they tend to be children," the catgirl explained.
"I still don't like it..." Said the police officer, as Jenny started to wake. "Hi honey... dinner's ready."
The little girl smiled shyly. "I fell 'sleep?" She asked.
"Yep! Sorry I didn't mean to push you," said Tetra.
Jenny got up quickly. It had been an intense session... but... why did she feel like she forgot something?
Tetra followed them, as Muriel put a bowl for the catgirl. "Er.. What's this?"
"cat food?" said Muriel.
Tetra looked annoyed. "I'm not a house cat! I'll have what you're having thank you."
Steve was in two minds on what to do. If she went shopping now, it would minimise the chance she would actually be caught and exposed to sunlight, a possible trigger to more 'flowering' or whatever it was she was doing. On the other hand, she was feeling quite tired, and her petal skirt was aching.. She had to pick something, though. it was clear her mother wouldn't let her do anything else. She would be taken shopping tomorrow regardless...
In the end the urge to deny pain, and work to avoid more exposure won over. It would be also less likely she would run into anyone she knew if she went now... all things in her favor.
"I- I'll go shopping with you mom," She said in the end, not particularly happy.
Her mother blinked in some surprise. She didn't think her daughter would agree to go straight away.
