"TERMINAL"

Part I

Written by Orillion - This is my first attempt at a fanfic.


****************************************************************************************************************
My nickname is Force. My real name is not important. 
This is my story, my account of the events of the month of November, year 2011.
I'm terrified. I'm terrified that this document falls into the wrong hands.
But yet, I have to write it. I have to write it because, well, someone needs to know. I need someone to know.
*****************************************************************************************************************

==================
November 1st, 2011
==================

The sun was shining through the windows, lighting the usually dark room.
It was dark not only in the sense of having no light shine in it, but also because of the things that were stored there.
A dark past, and dark memories.
There were machines in the room. Big and menacing, these machines stood lined up near the walls, their power turned off.
There was also a desk. And on the desk there was a monitor, a keyboard, an HMT (Hand Movement Translator), and a computer.
The monitor was covered in a thick layer of dust, now clearly visible due to the sun shining it's light on it.
The HMT was laying next to the monitor, untouched for months. And the computer, the best one could afford one year ago, on 2010.
That desk was the center of this room's darkness. The center of the dark memories, the center of misery.

But today I face that darkness. Opening the windows was the first step.
I looked at the room, which was a basement, feeling fear mingling with excitment as I scanned it.
I started walking around the room, stopping to look at the machines which I have used so much, and were now useless.
The floor was cluttered with cables and discs, empty pizza boxes and empty cans were scattered on it.
I didn't mind living in filth at the time. But then again, I wasn't actually myself back then.

..."Back then" is what I call the darkest time of my life. The time where I was an outcast in school, with no friends to talk to,
to share my frustration with the world. I sat through the classes, and it all looked like a dream. The daily routine of getting up, 
walking to school, and having to cope with the endless lectures of my ignorant teachers, and the chatter and laughter of my ignorant 
classmates. I was angry. I was depressed. And I had nothing to lose. 
My refuge was the computer. My life were focused on it, and it was the only thing that helped me go through school everyday.
The only thing that kept me sane...
It was a whole new world, the internet, and it facsinated me. A world where you are anonymous, and everyone else are too.
A world where you are just like everyone, not diffrent. A world which gave me what I couldn't get in the real world.
Endless possibilities...Or so I thought.
And so I delved deeper. Every passing day I became more addicted, my goal to learn as much as I can.
Soon, when I had much knowledge, my goal changed. I wanted power. I wanted to use that knowledge I had achieved, use it
to rule over others. You must think I was insane reading this, but I wasn't. You CAN achive power on the net. 

I passed my days collection info, and learning more and more about this world which I was now hopelessly addicted to.
Yes, the net had control over me. It warped my brain, and I showed no resistance.
I was involved in many underground societies on the net, and my name was known in many diffrent circles. Because I had shared my knowledge,
and so hungrily craved for more, people respected me. I had respect, and I wanted more. I wasn't going to stop there.
I searched and searched for that one person, that ONE person...who could help me move on. Move on to the next level of knowledge,
to be with the ELITE.
I found him.

I started walking around the room again, taking in every detail of this place where I have spent so much of my time.
Sitting in the dark, huddled over the monitor, my mind and heart racing as one. 
"It all seems like a dream now", I thought, "just like the real life seemed to me back then".
I stopped pacing. There was one more thing I hadn't looked at in this room.
I stood there for a minute, my heart pounding. But I had to do it, now was not the time to be scared.
I turned around, and stared at the desk. I walked around it, slowly sweeping the dust off it as I moved.
I looked at the monitor...That thing which now forced me to wear glasses. The HMT...I remembered putting my palm in it, and feeling
it close around it. I remembered the relief I felt when it closed. "Back where I belong..." I thought to myself back then everytime I felt
the touch of cold metal on my hand. And finally, the computer. I heaved a deep sigh, gently touching the case.
I shuddered. The intensity of the experience was overwhelming. And as I was touching it, the memories came back...

ColdStory. He was the one I found. He was the one who helped me move on, to where I wanted so badly to go to, yet had no idea where it was.
That name...his name...I could never get it out of my brain. It stayed etched there, reminding me every time my meetings with him.
Reminding me everytime, that it was not he who was responsible. It was me. I could've said no.
ColdStory knew me. He knew who I was, and he knew I was looking for him. He praised me on finding him, and I merely claimed it was luck,
still in awe of the person I was chatting to. We talked for a while. We talked for days. We talked about everything, not only about the net,
sometimes the conversations would get to places out of it. I told him about myself, about my life, and about how miserable I was.
He understood me, said he was the same. He said we could be friends, and I believed him. While talking to him I forgot all about my will
for power, or knowledge. I finally had someone to talk to. Someone who understood. A real friend.
Little did I know back then...little did I know...

One day, I logged in to talk to him. He wasn't there, so I waited.
"CORE has logged in".
"CORE...?" I thought, "Who is he?"

"Hello force", the words appeared on the monitor.
I remember thinking what should I write. Should I write "Hello to you too", or "Who are you?"
I decided to use a combination of the two.
"Hello," I wrote, "Who are you?"
I waited...
"A friend" he answered.
I didn't know who he was, and I was getting scared. Thoughts were racing in my head, and I wondered how that person knew about
this place, ColdStory and mine's place. I thought maybe something has happened to him. I became alarmed as I thought about the possibilty
that this person, CORE, may be a federal agent.
I logged off.
I didn't dare coming back for two days, but I came to realize that I can no longer go through the days without talking to ColdStory.
So I logged back in, and found CORE again, waiting for me.
"You ran away from me," He wrote, "Good. You shouldn't trust me, you don't know anything about me"
"So are you going to tell me?" I wrote back, hands shaking.
"In time..." He wrote.
I didn't know how to reply to this. 
"Let's talk about you for now", he wrote after a while.
"Why should I tell you about myself?" I wrote, now feeling more confident, "Like you said, I don't know anything about you".
"Oh but I know alot about you, Force" he wrote quickly.
"Oh yeah?" I wrote, "How's that?"
"ColdStory told me" he replied quickly.
"He knows ColdStory...?" I thought to myself.
"I'm a friend of his", he wrote, before I had time to reply.
"Why didn't you tell me in the first place??" I wrote, now feeling slightly angry at this person who was playing with me.
"You need to ask the right question to get the right answers Force", He wrote, "And from what i've been hearing, you've been asking
all the wrong ones".
This took me by surprise. He knew I was looking for power, he knew I wanted to be an Elite.
..."Can you help me?" I wrote after a while, my mind set.
"Yes. I can show you the way..." he replied.
The green words were flashing on the screen, and I lost track of time as I stared at them, mesmerised.
It took some time for me to notice the words were gone. I wasn't in the same place anymore, and CORE wasn't there.
I looked up to see what is this place I was connected to.

"UPLINK public acces server" It said...

Uplink...that was when it all started. They wrote in their public access system that they maintain the largest list of
freelancer "agents" in the world. This is what I wanted, this is what I was looking for! I knew Uplink was the key,
the key to the power I wanted, and I registered. I was thrust into the world of elite hacking, and I never looked back.
System after system, one job after another, I became addicted to the power I had, the feeling of superiority I got when I completed a job.
I wasn't afraid of anything. I took every offer which was presented to me, quickly familirising myself with the tools Uplink provided for me.
But most of all, I was interested in the ranking. The ranking board had the top agents ranked in the top places, and I wanted to reach that list.
From there, I thought, it'll be easy. Uplink provided and I gladly took it, as I became hopelessly addicted to the adrenaline rush 
the fast-paced sound of the trace tracker gave me, letting me know i'm seconds away from being detected.
This was what I was meant for, I thought, This is power!
I slowly climbed my way up the ranking ladder, wanting so badly to be recognized for who I was, to be respected by others.
And as my rank became higher and higher, my addiction became more dangerous. When I got to "experienced", I stopped going to school.
Waste of time, I thought. The jobs became riskier and riskier, and it was necessary for me to constantly upgrade both my gateway's hardware
and software.

Then came the Revelation crisis in April.
I watched from the sidelines as the top agents chose sides in the conflict, using their skills either to help, or sabotage.
I followed the news eagerly. ColdStory was involved, I knew because we still talked.
He never told me who CORE was, or how he knew him. In fact, I never got round to asking him...
I didn't want the net to end, you should know that, as it was the only thing that was keeping me alive. 
I couldn't keep doing jobs, I was afraid I would miss something important in the news, and I constantly checked on FAITH's progress.
Feeling fearful when it fell behind ARC'S Revelation virus, and relieved when Arunmor seemes to be making more progress. 
My mood depended on it, which I guess shows just how much control the net had over me, and my life.
For some reason, even though I was worried about ARC's plans, I didn't get involved. 
I felt too inexperienced, still insignificant in this world of elite hacking. And I also had confidence in ColdStory,
and the other agents working for Arunmor.
And...I guess I just couldn't decide. ARC had the right idea, destruction.
"But not of the net", I thought. "Destroying this wonderful thing isn't what I wanted."
They claimed that the net was corrupted, but I knew then that it was the REAL world that was corrupted...and tainted.
"Maybe use the net to damage the real world..." I thought.
Yes, that was what I wanted, destruction in the real world. But I couldn't do it yet, and I had to be patient.
...Arunmor...I didn't like them, but I couldn't hate them either. After all, they were trying to save my world,
even if it was for personal gain.

And the crisis ended, just as I had hoped. Arumor's Faith triumphed over Revelation,
yet the virus managed to cause considerable damage before it dissapeared.
The net took some time to recover, and many were shocked about how fragile it could be.
After the crisis, people worked hard to recover what they had lost, and improved their security measures and defence systems.
I had to upgrade myself constantly, trying to keep up with the rapid progress of advanced security systems being introduced to the market
every passing day, and accepted by those who lost everything to Revelation, or were fearful of another crisis.

Many agents have died during the crisis, including the number one agent, the one who sent us the email which revealed ARC's true intentions.
And someone else died, someone I knew and cared for.
ColdStory.
Federal agents were closing in on him, to arrest him for working with ARC during the Revelation crisis.
But he killed himself. He killed himself before he was apprehended.
The story was all over the news, along with the list of agents who worked for ARC...
Serpent...Slogun...BlackBeard...
"Fools" I thought to myself, "I have no pity for them".
It was true, they chose their fate. Even ColdStory...
I couldn't decide if I would've been happier if he just went to jail, or maybe death is a better option.
I didn't know why ColdStory chose to work for ARC. The net was his life, much like my own.
"He must've been made to do it", I told myself, "Yeah, ARC threatened to kill him if he doesn't work for them, they had no problem 
killing the top agent..."
"Yes," I told myself, "There's no other way".

You can imagine how surprised I was then, when I received an email one month later, and saw that the sender's name...
It was ColdStory.

The memories started fading as I came back from them to the real world.
I would often sink into memories like this, during my days in Uplink, in school, and even now.
Probably staring at the monitor for such long periods of time, and being isolated from everyone else was the cause.
I noticed my hand was still resting on the computer's case, and I quickly removed it, shuddering.
The sun wasn't as bright as before then, and the room was lit with an orange light.
"Sunset..." I said quietly.
I turned away from the desk, bits and pieces of memories still clinging to my brain.
I went up the stone steps, hands in pockets, untill I reached the door at the top.
"Tommorrow I will start," I told myself. And I left the basement.

It was night, and I couldn't sleep. I was tossing and turning in bed, trying to calm myself. But I couldn't.
The memories weren't letting go, and the thought of what I had to do tommorrow loomed ahead, frightening and menacing.
Finally, after many hours, I sank into a troubled sleep.


===============
From: ColdStory
===============
Subject: Help
===============

"Force, it's me. How have you been, friend?
I know this is a shock, but I am alive. Yet I am not well Force, not well at all.
I don't have much time here, so i'll make this short:
They're hunting me force. I'm on the run. The news about my "demise" bought me some time,
but they caught on, and they're after me now.
They will not be able to trace this message though, I made sure of that.
I have friends who are helping me, but I need someone inside of Uplink, Force.

...And when I say inside I don't just mean a registered agent, Force, I need someone in the inner circle.

TERMINALs get certain rights, Force. They gain knowledge of Uplink's many hidden systems, They are allowed access to them.
They get "special" jobs,
jobs that no one seems to know what their nature is, only that they are on a completly diffrent plane,
compared to the rest of the jobs being offered to Uplink agents. The reason no one knows what these jobs are, 
Force, is that when one becomes a TERMINAL, they move him to a diffrent place, forcefuly if they have to.
And they cut him off from the rest of the hacker community, and from the outside world.
When one becomes a TERMINAL, Force, they become property of Uplink. Simple as that.
Please, do not ask me how I know all this, just know that it is true.

I need your help, Force. I need you to become a TERMINAL.
I need you...to infiltrate Uplink itself.
Do it for me, my friend, you will know the reasons in time.
Just know that there is something rotten deep inside of Uplink, and it goes deeper than I ever imagined.
I will contact you again when you are ready.
Be mindful of what's happening, Force, and be careful.

Your friend, ColdStory."



...My friend...


==================
November 2nd, 2011
==================

Part 2 coming soon!

Feedback, comments, viruses, links to free porn sites and silly pictures of vegetables in weird position
may be sent to robi9@bezeqint.net