From: wyang@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (William D. Yang)
Subject: The Sacrament
Date: 24 Aug 1993 16:38:22 GMT

The Sacrament

Copyright 1993 by William D. Yang.  All right reserved.
.  .  .

Four years.

It'd been an eternity since I'd been in Cyberspace.  As I my fingers
caressed the hardened case, I knew what I had to do.

Blind though I was, the chips still felt the same...  persona, master
control, utility storage...  Slots and clicks... optical connections
being made for the first time in four years.  Power checks ok...

It took six hours for the deck to be rebuilt.  A featureless world was
all around me: a blind world, where eyes burnt with tears like acid.
It was time to return to reality.

I held the leads in my hands, like I had so many years before.  My
fingers ran down the fiberoptic cord, checking the deck's connections
one final time before the final step was taken.

I took one last look through artificial eyes -- a featureless world: a
world in black and white.  Not because of a lack of technology --
because of the damage to my nerves.  Because of the acid.

I fed the lead into my datajack; like a man's hungry member plunging into
the depths of his lover, I felt the connection made good in my skull.

Color!  Green text against a black and white world...

>> INITIALIZATION OF SYSTEM COMPLETE

>> COPYING blackjester TO ONLINE MEMORY
>>>  blackjester - loaded

>> COPYING combat-bjstr TO ONLINE MEMORY
>>>  combat-bjstr  - loaded

>> COPYING stealth-bjstr TO ONLINE MEMORY
>>>  stealth-bjstr - loaded


The deck was ready.  My hand stretched across the deck for the first time
in four years.

cmd>... KEYBOARD COMMAND: GO - DETECTED

>> JACKING INTO SECTOR 313135.4841 - SEATTLE MAIN COMMUNICATIONS GRID.

My vision, though I am blind, blurred.  I was back in reality.  For the
first time in four years, I was back in the storm of information called the
Matrix...  The Black Jester was back online...  reborn.
.  .  .

--
The above post represents fully the opinions of William D. Yang only,
and does not necessarily reflect the views of any department or
segment of The Ohio State University.