Being a mathematician that lives in the Nexus is an intriguing predicament. Math is universal. But, with an infinite place where an infinite amount of people interact, everything that can be thought of; is. It's incredibly difficult to get any meaningful work.
Scott Smith knows this firsthand. He found himself in the Nexus after working on a long and arduous theory wherein he proved that there is no such thing as a multiverse. Then on his building was swallowed into the nexus. Since he was the only person in that entire building that would work all night, he was the only one that was brought into the Nexus.
Scott seems to always be prooven wrong. Fate is out to get him. When he was fifteen, he was sure that girls would like him if he was on the football team. He worked hard and made the team, then he worked even harder and was instramental in winning a few games and still no girls showed any interest in him. Then, when he was alone, reading a book on the second theory of thermodynamics, Sidney Haley talked to him. A smack in the face of his theory.
*****
Chrissy Schilling was tired of the stupid theives and low-lifes that she was forced to interact with daily. As a Cop, she interacted with the scum of society and now, in the Nexus, she now interacts with the scum of every society daily.
Today's perp was an idiot who broke into USC Medical Center and was reading the confidential records. The dumb guy tripped the alarms and ended up taking three doctors hostage.
Now, Chrissy is on a horn trying to sweet talk the guy out of executing his hostages.
"Mr..." Chrissy looked for the idiots name, "Chaves, please release your hostages."
"No."
"No?"
"No."
Chrissy was annoyed by this perp's attitude, "Well, do you want to make any demands?"
"Nope."
"Nope?"
"Nope."
Chrissy turned around, visibly annoyed. "Look, I say we send in a
sharpshooter to take the fool out. Then, we call it a day and I get to go home."
The Maximum Police captain just stared at her.
"C'mon, we can set him up on... that building there and he'll have a great shot, it'll be good for everyone involved."
The Maximum Police captain seemed to consider this, but decided against it and went back to his cold stare.
Chrissy turned back to the Hospital building, "Okay, look, how about you let go of your hostages and we don't send in a tank after you!" she said, punctuating the last part loudly.
The man must have went to the window to look for the tank Chrissy mentioned and didn't find it so he returned to talk, "You don't have a tank!" he said.
"And you don't have a Jet, so what?"
"So... You can't send in something you don't have!"
"Sure I can, Maximum Cops have lots of resources."
"But, then you'd damage the Hospital."
"Do I look like I care?"
"....um... I don't know, I can't see you..."
"Yeah, well, I don't look like I care. That's because I don't care. So, just give it all up and I'll have a drink with ya, okay?"
"I can't."
"What do you mean, you can't?"
"I can't because I have to find the center of the universe... it's more important than beer."
Chrissy shot her captain a venomous look, it was one of *those* kinda cases.
"Look, " Chrissy said, "If you give up now, the whole division will help you find the center of the universe. We're good at that, we do it all the time."
"Really?"
"oh yeah, all the time."
"oh."
And with that he came out, he was rushed by twenty Maximum Cops and thrown on the ground. Where he was cuffed and thrown into the back of the paddy wagon in no time.
He didn't even have a gun. Idiot.
*****
Daniel Pilpe took another shot of Bacardi and then fell on the floor. The barkeep shook his head, every few days Dan, who he knows by name because he'd had to drive him home every time, comes in and drinks until he falls down.
Roger, the barkeep had to admire the boy's persistance and will. The hangovers must be terrible. Whatever he's drinking to forget must be pretty bad. Roger just wipes the bar and puts another shot in the place that Dan will sit when he manages to get back up. It happens every time and Roger has learned to live with it.
Today however, something strange happens; today, when Dan fell, he must have shook something loose. He gets up, looks around, pays for his drink and staggers away. He had a dedicated look, as if he saw something through the drunken haze that gave him purpose and meaning.
Roger, brought out the mop and wiped the place where Dan vomited on his way out. Then returned to the bar. It's nice when they leave on their own accord.
*****
Scott had a new theory that he was working on. It was a throw-away kind of thing. Now, he'd find the center of the Nexus. It was something that he thought up to occupy his time while he looked for a real job.
He began by going over the basic equations that he'd need to use and what possible experiments he can do. In truth, all that Scott expected to find is that the center of the Nexus is not findable simply because Nexus is infinite, infinity has no center.
So now, he was prepared to waste his time.
*****
"Yo, Rog' gimme a shot of JD... I just got done talkin' some idiot out of killing some doctors!"
"Good goind." Was Roger's answer.
Whenever Chrissy managed to come in to the old place, it was always something interesting. Now, she came in with the story of the hostage situation. She is a hostage negotiator. A damn good one.
The best part about Chrissy was that each of her stories was one hundred percent true. She didn't embellish them like the other patrons, when she said something happened a certain way, it happened that way.
"So, Rog' tell me, what do you think about the universe? Why on earth would some crazy fool be looking for the center of the universe among medical charts?"
"well, Chrissy... I think you said it best. He's a crazy fool."
"Yeah, well, I'm going home... gonna get to bed."
She finished the shot that up until now she was only nursing in one big gulp. One thing that most people that know Chrissy find interesting is that she can drink with the best guys. As a matter of fact, most guys leave her alone not cuz they know she's a cop but, because they've been beaten by her at drinking games as well as in brawls.
Then she walked out.
*****
Daniel Pilpe just realized why everything had happened. He still felt bad about the explosion... but, now he realized it wasn't his fault. It was a phenomenon he had just read about called "awakening".
It turns out that sometimes, people from certain realities, when in contact with a different reality's special laws... "awaken" which causes an explosive outpouring of energy.
Dan came from an earth where "magic" was nonexistant. Upon entering that portal he felt all that magical energy explode within him. He was a latent mage.
"...Rosa...ay porque rosa..." Was all he whispered into the night. Rosa, why rosa?
*****
The mathematician walked into the bar. Roger looked up from the corner of his bar that he had been wiping clean. The other patrons looked up at this newcomer. He was not bar material. He looked extremely out of place here.
He ploped down on the barstool closest to the door. His head was down and he mumbled something that sounded like "beer, please". He was sad and looked defeated. He looked like he hadn't shaven in weeks... his clothing was a mess. Roger was worried about dealing with a potental break-down.
"What's yer trouble?" Asked Roger as he brought the bottle. He was trying his best 'friendly bartender' act.
"Oh... my life makes no sense."
Roger was right, in his mind, he marked off another notch on his chart. He could always identify these cases before they even realized what they were. Roger, leaned closer, "No one's life makes sense, son."
"Yeah, maybe... but, mine is even worse than usual."
"How's that?"
"Well, I gave myself a task that I knew would never work... but, it worked..."
"Huh?"
"I attempted to map out the center of the Nexus."
"Why would ya want to do that?"
"I have nothing else..."
"Well, what happened?"
"I found that the Nexus has patterns that it operates under."
"What? I thought it was random."
"No," Scott frowned, "not random. It's a difficult pattern to find but, the pattern is there..."
"Wow. This'll be big, it'll change the way we think about everything!"
"Maybe..."
"What do ya mean, maybe? Kid, you've got something important here."
"No, I found something that can't be true..."
"Like what?"
Scott sighed and stared at his glass for a while then got up and began walking away. When he had nearly reached the door, he turned his head and whispered, "You don't want to know."
*****
Chrissy stared into the target.
Then she raised her pistol and fired six times. Each shot neatly pierced the skull. The bullets tore through the target and came out of the other side. The shooting range was completely empty except for Chrissy. She was the only one crazy enough to spend her Saturday mornings shooting at targets.
Chrissy liked it. She didn't like it when the range was crowded. When it was crowded, the noise of other people firing cut off the noise of her own weapon firing.
The recoil pushed her arms back but, she held firmly yet losely. She had a zen-like look of calm as she shot the gun. In her head however, everything was completely unzen-like. She thought of Mr. Chaves. Why would he look for the center of the universe in a hospital? It made no sense.
Ordinarily, she would take care of the situation and call it a day but, Mr. Chaves had committed suicide after he discovered that the department wasn't really going to help him comb medical records. She tried not to care, she didn't want to. Something about this wasn't right however.
Something was going on just outside of the reach of her vision... Something that she would try as hard as she could to find out.
In the distance, a new target had been brought up. A fly had landed on a corner and walked toward where the heart would be. Suddenly, there was a hole in the paper where the fly had once been.
Chrissy glared at the hole where the heart should be.
*****
Trying to sleep didn't help things.
Dan only dreamt of strangers. He dreamt of a life that he never had and experienced things that he'd never experienced before. He looked in a mirror and saw a face that he'd never seen before.
Then he woke up.
He rubbed his eyes and went back to reading the book he'd picked up at a mystic bookstore, _Spellcasting for dummies_.
It was the begining of a long night.
*****
If someone were to walk into the mathematics building of city college that now resides in Angel City, one would find all eight marker boards of the main lecture hall filled with strange writing. Every square inch of real estate those boards was covered with a sign, a number or some other mathematical symbol. The room stunk of the blue permanent marker that was used to write all of these equations.
In the center of the lecture hall, sitting on the aisle, biting his nails and staring at the boards is a young man. This man, named Scott Smith, has part of a puzzle. He knows this. As he stares at the board, he knows that there is a large chunk missing. Something that is unaccounted for. Something that Scott can't think of.
The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he gets the familiar feeling of being watched. Could someone have snuck into the building? Had someone made the jump into the nexus with him? His mind was racing with the possibilities of what was watching him... he felt it... so close to him, watching...
However, when he spun around, there was nothing there.
*****
For some reason, Chrissy always ended up getting the crazy ones. She was put on the hostage negotiations when the hostage taker was a loon and is always sent the crazy ones. She gets the cases that no one else even wants to deal with. She'd heard of another cop... one that actually asked for murders involving deformaties but, she'd never do that. Her problem was that she didn't really want to say 'no' to a case and also, deep down inside, she liked getting the crazies. On some levels, it intrigued her and on others, it pissed her off.
Right now, she was standing outside of a large classroom.
Inside the classroom, the boards were erased, washed, the chalk was destroyed and a mathematician lay on the ground. The killing was clinical in its neatness. The bullet was untraceable, there were no fingerprints to be found and the killer left no other marks of his presence.
Being neat in murder didn't make this a strange death though.
What made this murder strange was that over the clean, washed boards, someone, presumably the killer had painted the phrase, "God is in his heaven, all is right with the world".
The paint was still wet when they had arrived.
*****
Daniel Fell from a cliff.
He kept falling into the darkness of the pit. From the darkness, Dan saw tiny slivers of light at first that grew and eventually became large sqares about the size of Dan's body. The slivers first became images of circles, then faces, then clips of strange events. He saw a school. He saw a man kneeling.
Then came the blood.
Then the pit suddenly became a giant monster's mouth. The monster bit down on Daniel and swollowed him whole.
Then Dan woke up.
*****
Scott wandered the streets in a daze. The rain was pouring heavily on him, everything seemed like it was in black and white. Life had slowed to a crawl and sound had become a dull roar.
In the past month, Scott had went from an unknown mathematician barely tolerated by his collogues at City College to an unknown and unemployed mathematician barely tolerated by strangers to an unknown, unemployed and now obsessed mathematician.
In the back of his mind, he understood his situation. He gave himself an impossible task and discovered that the task isn't impossible at all. It's only natural that he would be swept up by it all.
There was more though. The patterns didn't make sense. They didn't follow any conventions, he could only tell it was a pattern because he knew it wasn't random. His head throbbed as he went over it all in his mind.
He wanted help.
He knew that he needed someone else to look at the problem from outside. It was a problem of perspective. How does a city look to an ant. An ant may see the city and think that it is infinite. but, some infinities are larger than others.
But, he knew that Nexus was infinite. It was infinite because it could not be measured. And yet, how could he know this other than because he can't measure it?
Frustration too a hold of him and Scott growled and punched the wall to the right of him. Scott never had much of a pain threshold; that's why he stopped playing football after high school. He groaned and held his fist in pain.
A little girl and her grandmother were staring at him quizzically. They looked at him as if he were from some other planet or something but, then again; he was.
He smiled at them.
*****
Chrissy was never good at questioning witnesses and taking statements. That was work for someone much more patient then she. She was annoyed at having to sit and listen to these people talk. Even if she really did want to listen.
They didn't tell her anything that she didn't expect to hear. From the look of the crime scene, she already knew that this guy was going to be difficult to catch. He was clean, he was surgical and left his scene's sterile.
He didn't make a sound, he didn't awaken any of the other squatters, no one saw a thing and no one knew why anyone would want to kill the mathematician.
The victim's name was Dorien Farrel. He arrived in the Nexus two years ago. He immediately became obsessed with circles or something like that. No one really understood his work. Anyway, he locked himself in here for a long time, working. When someone came in, they'd see all the boards and walls covered in circles and what-not. It was all quite crazy.
So, he locks himself in there for an extended work session and never gets out. In the morning, a fellow squatter decided to barge in because Dorien hadn't eaten in a long time. He finds a body.
It made no sense. Who would kill a crazy mathematician and why?
*****
Daniel awoke to the sound of The Decapitator's talk show. Or, more accurately, he awoke to the bloodcurdling scream of one of The Decapitator's guests. Apparently, the guest had decided to defy the god. Those who defy The Decapitator on his own show face dire consequences.
Dan stood up, stretched and scratched his back. He didn't sleep well. He hadn't since... that day. He yawned and his eyes scanned the room. Eventually, they centered and focused on a thick orange book that lay sprawled on the floor.
He stared at the book for a long time. It held the information that he needed. Yet, now he was having second thoughts on knowing that information. The power is too much. it's not right for a man to possess that kind of power.
With that, he picked up the book and threw it in the trash. He lingered over the trash for a long while. He thought of Rosa. He thought of that day. He thought of what he could do with that power. He thought of how he could help people. He thought about how important it was to take advantage of it.
Daniel shook he head as if trying to rid himself of those conflicting emotions. He felt the pull towards ol' Roger's bar. it was like a child pulling on a parent's shirt. But, he didn't want to go. He didn't want to fall into that hole again.
*****
To: Alt.Zero.Nexus
From: Scott Smith, Ph.D.
What does one do when trying to find the center of an infinite plane? Also, have there been any studies regarding the pattern of interfaces and their movements and origins? Specifically, why does an interface appear where it does and when it moves, where does the applied force necessary to make this portal move come from?
Also, if we take the third law of thermodynamics into account. Everything winds down, therefore nothing in the Nexus can be considered stable unless the Nexus is the lowest energy level possible.
What if things go into the Nexus when they wind down? How would this work? Wouldn't the Nexus need to be at absolute zero for this hypothesis to work?
I have more questions than answers. I need someone to help me verify my findings. I need someone to help me stay on the right path. If what I think is true. damnit, if what I think is possible. the whole way we look at everything may change. in fact, the whole universe will change.
- Scott Smith, Ph.D.
*****
"I need a list of all the mathematicians that frequent that list. alt.zero.nexus or whatever. I want transcripts on what goes on in that thing and I want to know who owns the list. How is it run and so on." While saying these words, Chrissy was pacing the whole station. The young and cheery eyed cadet looked upon her with what could be signed off as adoration. Then again, he looked at every Cop who seemed to know what they were doing with such an adoration that they either used him and spit him out or they ignored his existence.
The big break came with the death of Professor Nguyen. Nguyen was born into a rich family in Angel City. He had connections from before he even left the womb. The Professor could have just stayed home and slept all day but, he had drive, he had goals, he had foresight and for all those good qualities he was killed.
The murder had the same M.O. Everything was the same except for the person and surroundings. "God is in his heaven, All is right with the world" She hated that quote. She hated the whole idea. She hated everything that made this job difficult.
"You uh... Jeff... find out about that quote. Browning if I remember. I thought it was a happy poem."
*****
Daniel Pilpe dreamed of death.
He saw fragments of strings, all vibrating to a glorious celestial melody. The song brought him to a young asian man who scribbled furiously on the boards. The music seemed to cresendo magnificently as the scribblings became more frantic.
The man ran out of space on the boards and began writing on the walls. The music seemed to flow with each movement of the marker. Then he felt himself move toward the man. He crept up behind him and tapped him on the back.
The man turned around and Daniel heard himself say, "Listen."
The music became too loud, it overpowered every other noise. The music made everything unbearable. It was still melodic and perfect but, its volume drowned the world out. The volume was everything. The music ruled over all.
Blood.
Blood was all that was left.
*****
On the Internex, data travels at the speed of light. The Internex being a cross-reality phenomenon; sometimes, light travels faster than other times. Either way, the Internex is everywhere.
Once upon a time, the Internex was known as something else. In some technically advanced realities, it was called the Internet. In others, it was called the Web of God or even The Matrix. Most realities that were sufficiently advanced, had their own version of a global network that allowed data to travel to anywhere else in the world at the speed of light.
Scott was a fan of the Internet in his home reality. His loyalty and enjoyment of this data stream crossed over along with him into the realm called Nexus. He became a fan of the Internex. It became his eyes and ears in a world that had grown too strange to understand.
Infinity is big but, data is bigger.
So when he needed someone to talk to in this infinite city, the choice was simple. Use the Internex. This choice was more important than he thought. The nexus and the Internex have so much in common that one would be intrigued if one were to think about it.
Scott had thought about it.
He was intrigued.
Data can be classified as any bits and pieces of information used to make up something when slapped together. Buildings, streets, people. When combined, these make a city. Data isn't always sent in the right order or even to the correct place.
Interfaces are the pathways that bind the portion or whole reality to the Nexus. Interfaces allow the buildings, streets and people to become a static or dynamic part of the rest of the Nexus. Data on the Internex is transmitted via linkups, data transmition stations and whatever else exists in the reality in question.
Data can cross from host to host by traveling through these linkups to get to the next host. The linkups attempt to keep the requests for the data straight and also try to stop the data from changing en route.
Aren't there interfaces where people and items change to fit in with the rest of the world?
What are hosts then? Hosts are the reality that the data comes from. Hosts make the data that usually stays in that host. Sometimes however, it's taken somewhere else.
But, why?
*****
Chrissy looked over the list. Twelve members of the list. Two dead. One missing. She felt herself shiver. She'd never gotten this absorbed by a case. It was usually a quick and clean affair, not the frightful and strange thing that was happening now.
"That Irving guy from the list, he was found. Here's the place. Don't eat before you get there."
This was all the warning that she got before she arrived on the scene. Two cops were outside talking while one stood off to the side and wretched. On the floor was a pool of vomit, presumably the retching cop's. The cop had nothing else in him and was just dry heaving.
Correction Three dead.
She walked into the old, dirty house. The smell hit her instantly. She knew the smell, she was used to it. She recognized it instantly.
Once, when Chrissy was young, a boy showed her a squirrel with its skin torn off. The boy held it in his hands happily and pushed it towards her face. He wanted her to say "icky" and run away. He wanted her to cry. He wanted to show her something that she won't be forgetting.
Chrissy didn't run away and she didn't cry. She stood up and ran toward the boy. She beat him about the face until she was pulled off by a teacher. She made that boy bleed. She avenged the death of the squirrel. But it didn't bring back the squirrel.
The scene was similar to that.
*****
Daniel awoke in an old, abandoned car. Somehow, he slept in the back. The stench of old blood was covering the car and Dan's hands were covered in it.
Dan dreamed of an old house. He dreamed of death again. Blood was everywhere. It painted the walls and covered the floor. And through it all, he could read "God is in his heaven, All's right with the world."
He stood up and exited the abandoned vehicle, he stretched, looked around and vomited. He wished he knew some healing spells or something to get him fixed. His hands were covered in blood.
Sometimes, a realization comes to a person. It doesn't matter where they are or what they do. When that realization hits, that person is guided by a supreme force to fulfill that realization.
Dan had dreamed of blood again.
Today, he would turn himself in.
*****
Scott Tried not to be anxious. He tried to check his mail only once a day. He really did. Unfortunately however, he did feel anxious. He hoped that people would know what he's going through. He wanted someone to talk to. He needed someone. So he checked his mail.
{Three Messages}
{Message 1/3}
To: Scott Smith, Ph. D.
From: A friend
Poor, poor Scott. Sad, misled Scott. My heart goes out to you. If you value your sanity and indeed, your life; you would stop thinking about the things that you are thinking of. That path leads to madness. Life is too short to give in to these thoughts and end yourself here. Don't do this to yourself.
Continue? (Y/N)
»Y
{Message 2/3}
To: Scott Smith, Ph. D.
From: Adam
So, you search for the center. I too search for the center. Contact me. We will share our Data. There is much to discuss.
Continue? (Y/N)
»Y
{Message 3/3}
To: Scott Smith, Ph. D.
From: Eve
Your Life Is In Danger. Run.
Messages End. Quit? (Y/N)
»Y
*****
The Internex makes things that should be easy, difficult. Take making a list of the members of Alt.Zero.Nexus for instance. It seems to be an easy task to handle. However, it is actually quite a difficult task. Eventually, Chrissy and three other officers were forced to sift through the numerous posts to keep a list of which person posted when. Then, this list was cross referenced with the Whatis? databases. But, that was all in the past now. Now, Chrissy is on the phone attempting to contact all the members of Alt.Zero.Nexus in order to question them. Also, somewhere deep inside herself, Chrissy wanted to know just how thorough this killer is. She needed to know how many more mathematicians were dead.
So far, the search has managed to frighten Chrissy.
As she calls down the list that is ordered for oldest poster to newest poster, she keeps getting phones that ring and ring and yet no one seems to be home. No one is home. No one is home.
*****
"Officer, You have to arrest me."
Daniel Pilpe walked into the maximum cop station in a daze. He didn't know why he was here except the unshakable feeling that he is doing terrible things in his sleep. He felt that ever since he was awakened he was being pulled by something. He felt like ever since Rosa. ever since then, he felt something with him. Every second of his life thereafter, something was in him.
In the beginning, he drank to quiet the thing within him. He drank so that he wouldn't think of it. So that it would stay away from his conscious mind. But, he realized that night at Roger's, he felt something different. The thing within him was changing. he thought he could cope. He thought that he'd figure it all out. That maybe in some way he could do something about it. He thought wrong.
"You want me to arrest you?" said the pudgy police officer behind the desk.
"Yes. I need to be arrested."
"Why?"
"Because I believe that I may be doing horrible things in my sleep."
"Like?"
"I believe I am responsible for the - "
Before he finished his statement, A young woman with piercing eyes and purple hair came walking down the stairs. The woman carried a large folder marked, "Alt.Zero.Nexus" The woman entered the small reception room, looked at Dan, looked at the pudgy officer and then walked off to the window where she simply looked out at the streets.
The pudgy officer stared at Dan for a little while then looked over at the woman, then back at Dan. "She is pretty isn't she? Well, you ain't got no chance with her. Detective Schilling is the type that goes after sane men." He stressed the word 'sane' and then laughed at Dan.
"I am responsible for the deaths of several mathematicians."
The room became very quiet.
The pudgy officer wasn't laughing anymore, Chrissy turned around and was staring at Dan. Suddenly, everything was paused. For a second, Dan entertained the thought of just running away, never to return. The thought was only a second long because after the second ended, Daniel was lying on the floor.
He never even noticed the swift roundhouse kick to the temple.
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