From: EXE101@psuvm.psu.edu
Subject: Michael Conner
Date: 13 Feb 92 22:22:12 GMT




     This is my first post of a story on the Net. In this story I
am trying out a concept I had some time ago. Some of the terms my
be cliches but I promise the concept behind the cyber is quite
original. There could be anywhere from three to six more parts.
When you read to the end you'll see why.
     Please send any comments or criticism to me so that I can
get a feel for how my writing it.




The Ascent of Michael Conner


     The curtains were drawn, letting only the slimmest plane of
noon light cut into the dusty interior air.  Littered on the
floor, a weeks worth of clothes and pizza boxes filled the room
with the scent of mold and decaying cheese. A lumpy blanket on
the floor began to stir and a groan escaped from beneath.
     Michael rolled from the blanket and into a sitting position
the light from the window shone brightly on his face causing him
to squint his eyes. His face was lined and worn, too little sleep
and poor food the last week were beginning to take it's toll. For
all purposes he had the visage of a drug user.
     "Pam warm up the deck," he said to the air. The personal
access manager responded, in the corner of the room a sleek black
computer hummed to life.
     "CyberDeck up.", said a soft feminine voice from some
undiscernible source.
     Michael stood and walked over to comfortable looking
recliner near the deck. Clearing off the accumulated clothes he
sat heavily.
     In his left hand he pick up a cord with a probe attached to
the CyberDeck. The probe on the end was a two inch diameter ring
with 15 one inch pins arrayed around it's diameter. With his
right hand Michael reached back and dilated the jack at the base
of his spine.
     "If you monitor any serious health problems while I'm in cut
the connection", he told Pam.
     "Acknowledged," came the reply.
     With a practiced grace he slid the probe into the jack and
then there was nothing. He hated this part. It was the sudden
cutting off of the world as the CyberDeck took control of his
sensory input. Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, Taste all of it
suddenly severed from entering his brain from the outside.
     The time it lasted was variable but with no reference he
couldn't be sure. The Techs said it was only the tiniest fraction
of a second but try and tell that to anyone who had ever linked.
He had heard of one guy who had gone in and never come out.
Strangest case, his girlfriend had found the still alive body
after three days and called the meds. They had unhooked him from
his deck but he never awakened. His body was still alive last
Michael had heard.
     He could hear the sound of rushing wind now. Then there was
a sudden burst of light. The Net was spread before him in all
dimensions. What he saw and felt was no longer the "real" world
but sensory data from the cyberdeck. Great geometrical shapes
floated in cyber space. All imaginable colors could be seen.
Golden pyramids, Purple tetrahedrons, Great blue spheres and
others floated in the light blue background.
     His icon he had fashioned for himself resembled the one had
left, but not worn and haggard. Now it was a silver creation cut
from the finest metal. When his defensive programs activated he
was surround by a diffuse yellow light. These programs would
protect his data lattice from destructive viruses.
     Tuning in audio he could hear the rush of the wind again
along with faint beeps and whistles from off in the distance.
Next he activated his olfactory input. The sweet smell of the sea
,out of place in this virtual world, filled his nose. The soft
caress of blowing wind was next to come on line. It's buoyant
hands holding him in space. Most Netters felt the use anything
but sight and sound distracting, but Michael craved it. Very few
netters went as deep as Michael. Every bit of sensory input to
his brain was coming from the deck. Every bit of conscious
response from his brain to his body was redirected to this avatar
he had created for him self. For all practical purposes Michael's
reality was what he and the cyber environment created for him.
The body he had left behind was now simply a life support system
for his brain keeping him alive. It was this reality that many
where afraid of, but Michael craved it.
     Willing himself to move he rushed at the speed of thought to
an enormous ebony and crimson sphere. This was the object of his
search. The great LPS data bank. He had been commissioned by some
unknown patronage to crack into the LPS and obtain certain
information. He had been working relentlessly the past week in
his attempts, but up until now he was struck out. Of course that
was up until now.
     Swirling patterns could been seen roaming across it's
surface. Defending Offensive Guardians, or dogs he liked to call
them. These were the programs that where preventing him from
entering the sphere. He had set one off with a doppelganer
earlier in the week and had watched as the dogs attacked and
dispersed the doppelganer's data matrix.
     The distinctive smell of burning carbon and brimstone
assaulted his nostrils. With an inward smile he remembered how he
had thought that the sphere look as if it were burning and images
of flames had come to his mind. The PAM dutiful as ever had
overlaid the appropriate responses and stimulated his nose. Now
it was time to get to work.
     Activate Macro, Swarm
     At that command a swarm of tiny data viruses detached
themselves from his aura. He had given them the appearance of
metallic locusts, sliver like himself.
     Swarm, strike
     This command sent the locusts streaking off in all
directions around the curve of the sphere.
     Activate Ghost in the Machine
     Michael's silver form began to diffuse and expand. What he
had learned in the past week was that the dogs seemed to have
poor multitasking controls. An attack on any part of the sphere
resulted in a lessening of coverage in other areas. This was what
his pet locusts was accomplishing, a diverse and blatant attack
on as many parts of the defense network as possible. The attack
had the feel of a slash&burn attack, where to cracker attacks
head long at a systems. They usually burst in steal what they
required and then exit before they can be identified. Yes it was
a limiting sort of attack but effective when required. The
locusts could probably get into 60% of the systems of the net and
hopefully the owners would think it was a desperate attempt at
corporate espionage.
     The lessening of coverage left small gaps in the defense. He
had tested this too with small probe packets of data. They had
been successful in getting in and getting out. The problem was
that something with the information density of an avatar was too
large slip into the gaps. Ghost in the Machine took care of this
task. Michael was diffusing his data lattice. To his knowledge no
one had tried this sort of thing before. But then again it was
risky. With the diffused pattern came the chance that the pattern
could be torn asunder. It would probably give him a terrible
headache but one of those parts could be identified and traced to
Michael. But that was only if one where noticed.
     On cue the swarm struck and immediately the swirling
subsided, acting quickly Michael reached for the Sphere. The deck
adjusted for his request and he felt the smooth surface of the
sphere. It was cool now that the dogs had converged on his
locusts. But they would not be absent long. Michael pushed
himself into the sphere.
     It was working, his first tendrils of data were slowing
entering. Moving faster he pushed even further and was completely
enveloped.
     He scanned the interior in amazement. The sphere had it's
own facade supplied from the owners. The facade they had chosen
resembled something akin to a cyber hell. Distorted geometric
shapes floated in a black background. The shapes where all colors
of flames. Deep angry reds, wavy yellows, and hot blues. The
smell was something that Michael would never had overlaid
himself. The smell of decay and rotting flesh assaulted him. The
owners of this place had overlaid that smell. What kind of mess
had he gotten himself into?
     He felt a bit frightened and yet a cool curiosity at the
complexity of the facade. The inside, while bizarre, was very
intriguing.
     A look behind him reveled that the dogs had finished
destroying his locusts and had taken up their usual positions.
Michael could sense no sort of alarm and decided to proceed
slowly.
     He saw darting forms shooting around in the crimson light.
They moved with the speed of data packets but they shifted
direction and moved too erratically. One shot towards him and
before he could react it shot straight through him. His Ghost
program had done it's job and made him transparent to any sort of
defenders.
     His info filters were adjusting to the new environment. They
were categorizing and attempting to identify the various data
packets in the sphere.
     One group caught his attention. They where deemed
unidentifiable by his sensors a very rare occurrence. They had
the look of writhing shapes, vaguely human in form. But it had to
be his imagination. He ordered a 3-d interpolations and look at
it from a different angle.
     His fear became full blown now. Bodies he thought. The
shapes were bodies. They contorted as if in pain. His audio had
been input and what could only be cries of pain could be heard.
     It must be the facade he thought. But it was so lifelike, it
had detail and reality texture beyond anything he had ever seen.
He had no idea what he was into but Michael had a definite urge
to leave and quickly, but curiosity overcame his fear. He moved
over to one of the shapes. He was right it was a human form. The
body was naked and hairless but the "flesh" seemed to have
melted, merging one arm to the chest and the legs together. A
very complex icon one made by someone really good. The face now
turned towards him and the eyes looked back.
     "Save me please. Make the pain stop", it pleaded.
     Cold realization came to him. This was an avatar. This was
an actual human data lattice and it was somehow being restrained
and tortured. But how? True you could be prevented from entering
places but to unlink all it took was the appropriate mental
command. And the thought of someone actually being able to
inflict pain was unheard of. All sensory input could be modified
by the user easily and cut off completely if required.
     The free arm of the body was reaching for him now. Mental
panic overtook Michael. I've got to get out of here. If this has
been done then it can probably be done to me.
     Activate Sever
     He cued the mental command for immediate and ungraceful data
severance. But nothing happened. He should be in his smelly
apartment feeling tired again but nothing was happening.
     His proximity alarm sounded and he turned to it's source.
What he saw was something straight out of hell. A shiny black
form, larger than the one that had passed through him, was
approaching him. On it's head were wicked curved horns. It's
forehead was ridged and a protruding brow sat over gleaming red
eyes. The fiendish mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth, his
mouth belched flames and the smell of decayed flesh. The thick
solid body was powerfully built and equipped with claws. An
incredibly complete icon created by a master.
     Indecision now overcame Michael. Should he reintegrate and
fight or hope The Ghost could protect him. His decision was made
for him before he could react. The demon reached him and latched
on with strong claws.
     All of Michael's defenses flared at once pummeling the demon
with white flames. It was thrown back. But soon joined by six
others. Michael tried to run but they easily caught him and with
a concerted effort they all secured him as his defenses futilely
lashed white flames at them.
     They had him now, and Michael fearing for the integrity of
his lattice, canceled The Ghost. The feeling of solidifying
began, but was stopped. The demons each grasping a different part
of his lattice where fighting it's reintegration and obviously
enjoying the struggle. Now they pulled harder as they were joined
by others of their ilk. Michael could feel the dispersion
growing. He was beginning to have trouble thinking straight. The
disintegration of his lattice was worsening. Pain was growing
inside. Pain he willed to stop but the PAM refused to responded.
He had no control now over his lattice. This was unbelievable.
The demons were only pulling apart a projection of his mind like
the light from a slide projector. But yet the act of destroying
it was affecting his consciousness.
     With a mighty wrench the demons pulled harder. Michael
screamed. Obviously it went out on the auditory band because the
demons began to laugh. One last pull and their task was
completed.
     Michael's consciousness was torn to pieces. His data lattice
shattered into six sections shooting off in different directions.
Silver wisps of his shape whirling in space. Each was in turn
attacked and absorbed by a amber sphere.
     Finished the demons soon began to wander off in different
directions. Tormenting floating bodies as they went. Cries of
pain echoed upon deaf ears.

     ***