...More of Gina and the Bullet Boy Express!
eee-Yaaaaaaaaaayyy! ^_^
Oh... And a quick edit to fix the time, and a bit of Star Trek trivia. D'oh!
Quickly as I could, I ran out to buy a camera and a microphone. The quality didn't matter, I could always buy something better later. What mattered
most was that I give that poor girl some eyes and ears. As I raced to and from the Radioshack, all I could think about
was the eternity she must be spending in there, caught in a sensory depravation chamber at computer time.
I damn near took flight as I jumped off my bike and nearly killed myself on the landing,
scrambling into the Jetta and not really noticing how badly scraped myself up on the pavement. Hurriedly I ripped the
packaging open - Asuka was curled up into a corner of the screen. I nearly broke the USB hub I'd glued to the
dashboard as I jammed the microphone and camera plugs into it.
Asuka immediately perked her head up, seemingly startled.
"Hello?" I heard her say over the speakers.
"Is there somebody there?"
"Hey, I'm here," I said breathlessly.
"Can you hear me?"
"YES! I can hear you!" she cried out, a
desperate, yet relieved tone in her voice. "Who are you? Where are you and
where am I?"
"My name is Benjamin," I said, still catching my breath. "But the where's are going to be a little complex."
"What? Come on, just tell me! I've been here alone for so long now!"
"Okay then. Well, the simple version is that
you're inside my computer and I'm outside of it."
She was silent for a moment, during which her face went from despair to an odd mixture of
outrage and sorrow. "That is so sadistic for you to say."
My breath began to return to me and I began to reflect upon her character and how to best
needle her into the right direction.
"Look, milady, I just busted my ass to get you some ears to hear me with. Now excuse me while I fix your eyes." I pulled out the CD that had the camera's
software then pushed it into the stereo's CD slot, then gave the keyboard the three-fingered salute. Much to my
relief, the logon window appeared. Interestingly enough, Asuka was still there, and very startled when the window
appeared over her head.
"Mein GOTT en himmel! What the hell is
that?"
"It's my login prompt. I'm logging
into my computer so I can fix the camera."
"You're serious, aren't you?" she said as she watched me type my
username and password.
"Very," I replied as I hit the return key.
She then watched in wonder as her world around her suddenly began to assemble itself into my desktop.
"That was freaky," she said as she began to walk around the screen, watching as
I moved the cursor to double click the My Computer icon and go into the CD drive. "What is that thing?" she
asked, pointing at the picture on the desktop.
"Oh, that's from Star Trek," I said as I hunted around for the install
files. "It's a Romulan D'deridex class warbird."
"Star Trek? That old show?"
"In my world they made several new series and movies.
Here, it's the year 2007."
"In your world? I don't understand
it."
"It's going to be a lot to take in. Just
bear with me here." I finally got the installation program working and Asuka flinched as the new window appeared
'on top' of her. She then stepped around it, wearing an annoyed expression.
"This is going to take some getting used to."
"Yeah, I guess it will. Look at it this way,
though. I think you can interact with the computer - at first with just what you see on the desktop. But I think that with a bit of time and practice you can do things by just thinking about it.
Kinda like synchronizing with an Eva."
"Hey, how do you know about that?" she suddenly demanded, hands on hips and
glaring.
I sighed. "I guess the best way is to show
you. Wait a second, please." I started going through the folders until I
finally reached the one I was after.
"Neon Genesis Evangelion!?" she cried out incredulously as I double-clicked the
episode in which she premiered, then jumped it ahead to the scene on the flight deck of Over the
Rainbow. "Oh. My. God,"
she breathed. "Turn it off. Now."
I did as she asked. Right then the software
finished installing. With the awkward silence ensuing, I simply closed the installation program and started the
camera.
Asuka looked at the camera's window impassively.
"You look like shit."
I blinked then looked at my own image. A bloody
scuff decorated the right side of my jaw. Dirt and dried, crumpled bits of dead leaves were tangled in my
hair. I began to examine myself further and found that I'd been scuffed up pretty good.
"Now that you mention it, I feel like shit," I admitted.
"How the hell did you do that to yourself?"
"Like I said, I busted my ass to get you some eyes and ears."
"How did this all happen?" she suddenly asked.
I sighed again. "We have something very
remarkable on this world that… modifies anything you apply it to. But the thing is that it's like it has a mind of
its own, and one that's got ADHD at that. It's known by several names, but most people call it
Handwavium."
"Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?"
"Yes and no. The real joke is that it
actually does as the name suggests. This stuff just handwaves away all the conventional laws and does its own
thing. Fortunately, it can be influenced. That's how I modified my car and
the computer you're in."
"Where do I come in then?"
"Well, I've been doing a lot of work on a character study of you from the anime
that I just showed you. The following for Evangelion is a pretty big one, so there's lots of information available
on the Internet. What must have happened is that since the computer hadn't developed an AI yet it decided to use
you."
"Wait. You mean that I never really
existed!? That I don't right now!?"
"Well… Not in this world. I'm sure that there's a bunch of parallel universes out there that you do exist in.
And I think you are very real right now."
"I am not," she said sullenly.
"I'm just a bunch of ones and zeroes on a hard drive."
"The hell you are! You're Asuka
Langely-Sohryu, a beautiful, well educated young woman and an expert pilot. Have some self-confidence in yourself for
God's sake! You're better than this."
She gave me an astonished look. "I never
thought I would ever meet anyone worse than that idiot Shinji."
"I'd like to think of myself as an improvement."
Asuka snorted at that. "Oh yeah, you're
an improvement alright."
"Yeah, well, I gotta go and patch myself up.
Let me see if you can interact with the computer."
Asuka narrowed her eyes at me, then went over to the My Computer icon and thwacked it with
a vengeance and opened a window.
"Great! Just don't mess with the system
settings. I've got a collection of anime, manga, movies, and fanfiction in the My Documents folder, so you can keep
yourself entertained while I'm away. The Internet should work, too.
It's on a wireless connection and we should still be in range of the router."
"Internet. Joy. I'll just troll around on usenet."
"Hey, I didn't hear much about in when I watched you guys."
"Pervert."
"Cute. Anyhow, you might find that it's a
lot more interesting than you think. We have online content the likes of which you've probably never even thought
of. Here," I said as I opened the web browser. "Google is an
excellent search engine and you can probably find anything you want with it. You should try it out."
"And how the hell am I gonna type anything?"
"Hang on," I said as I jumped into the control panel and activated the on-screen
keyboard."
"So, the pervert is smart, too."
"Damn straight. And I'm only perverted in
a healthy way. I like to make a beautiful woman's toes curl, but I keep it to myself for the most part."
"…Pervert."
I rigged another computer inside the house. This
one was a much older laptop, but with a soak in a tank of handwavium it turned into a beastly little machine. It's
portability and wireless capability made it capable of keeping Asuka in touch with me no matter where I was in the house.
It also gave me access to my files, for which I was grateful.
I had warned Asuka not to watch Evangelion, but I knew that she wouldn't listen.
"That did not really happen," said Asuka, trying to reassure
herself. "I refuse to believe that was me. Well, pervert, do you got
anything to say about that shit?"
"I don't know what to say, Asuka, except that Hideaki Ano was very messed up when
he produced that mess."
"Don't call me that."
"What? Huh?"
"I can't stand that name anymore. I want
a different name. Besides, I don't want any perverted fanboys bothering me, so I want another name."
"Okay then, let me think. How about Regina
Langley?"
"Why?"
"Well, I've taken to calling this wonderful German engineered car Gina, and since
I fully intend to take Gina out into space, I figure that Langley will be a good last name for you to keep."
"Regina Langely," she said, tasting the name on her tongue. "It's
simple. The fanboys won't notice it. I like it."
"Okay then. Gina it is."
"Cool. So, when did you want to get into
space?"
I'd been thinking about that quite a bit.
"Well, I definitely need to lay in supplies, but what I really need to do is figure out what the hell you're using for fuel."
"What I'm using?"
"Well… The computer serves as an avionics
unit for the car, and since you can control the computer…"
"…I can control the car," she finished.
"Well, that's a lot better than just being stuck like this."
"That's the idea," I said with a smile.
"Now the only problem is going to be figuring out how the heck your flight controls work."
Asu- no, Gina looked thoughtful at that. "If
handwavium works the way you suggested, then it's probably handled it somehow."
"True. And then we need to worry about the
authorities. They've been getting pretty draconian about handwavium, which is why I haven't been
driving. When we blow this joint, we'll have to be sneaky about it, not to mention that we probably won't be
coming back."
"In that case, I'll start checking around for 'wave friendly people that can
get us fresh consumables. How's the micro thrusters coming along?"
"Shipment tracker says that they get here tomorrow.
I'll get them installed and waved ASAP."
"Cool. You sure we need that,
though?"
"Yeah, the wheel-thrusters will be great for maneuvering, but we need something to
give us some real forward momentum. Even the DeLorian from Back to the Future had aft thrusters, and a lot of the
material I used to get the flight capability came from that series of films."
"Good point. And we got a few suppliers once
we leave the atmosphere."
"How'd you do that?"
"Idiot pervert, I'm learning how to use my new abilities. It's like you said, just like synchronizing with the Eva."
"Awesome, way to go. That means we're
that much closer to getting out of here then."
"Benjamin?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do you want to leave so badly?"
I thought about that for a beat before replying, "Well, it isn't so much that I
want to leave as much as I want to explore. I've always wanted to go out into space and explore the planets, but
even if I joined the Air Force or the Navy just to become a pilot and get into NASA that way, we wouldn't be landing on the Moon or Mars until I'm too
old to fly."
"I see. The pervert's got an adventurous
streak."
"Damn straight!"
eee-Yaaaaaaaaaayyy! ^_^
Oh... And a quick edit to fix the time, and a bit of Star Trek trivia. D'oh!
Quickly as I could, I ran out to buy a camera and a microphone. The quality didn't matter, I could always buy something better later. What mattered
most was that I give that poor girl some eyes and ears. As I raced to and from the Radioshack, all I could think about
was the eternity she must be spending in there, caught in a sensory depravation chamber at computer time.
I damn near took flight as I jumped off my bike and nearly killed myself on the landing,
scrambling into the Jetta and not really noticing how badly scraped myself up on the pavement. Hurriedly I ripped the
packaging open - Asuka was curled up into a corner of the screen. I nearly broke the USB hub I'd glued to the
dashboard as I jammed the microphone and camera plugs into it.
Asuka immediately perked her head up, seemingly startled.
"Hello?" I heard her say over the speakers.
"Is there somebody there?"
"Hey, I'm here," I said breathlessly.
"Can you hear me?"
"YES! I can hear you!" she cried out, a
desperate, yet relieved tone in her voice. "Who are you? Where are you and
where am I?"
"My name is Benjamin," I said, still catching my breath. "But the where's are going to be a little complex."
"What? Come on, just tell me! I've been here alone for so long now!"
"Okay then. Well, the simple version is that
you're inside my computer and I'm outside of it."
She was silent for a moment, during which her face went from despair to an odd mixture of
outrage and sorrow. "That is so sadistic for you to say."
My breath began to return to me and I began to reflect upon her character and how to best
needle her into the right direction.
"Look, milady, I just busted my ass to get you some ears to hear me with. Now excuse me while I fix your eyes." I pulled out the CD that had the camera's
software then pushed it into the stereo's CD slot, then gave the keyboard the three-fingered salute. Much to my
relief, the logon window appeared. Interestingly enough, Asuka was still there, and very startled when the window
appeared over her head.
"Mein GOTT en himmel! What the hell is
that?"
"It's my login prompt. I'm logging
into my computer so I can fix the camera."
"You're serious, aren't you?" she said as she watched me type my
username and password.
"Very," I replied as I hit the return key.
She then watched in wonder as her world around her suddenly began to assemble itself into my desktop.
"That was freaky," she said as she began to walk around the screen, watching as
I moved the cursor to double click the My Computer icon and go into the CD drive. "What is that thing?" she
asked, pointing at the picture on the desktop.
"Oh, that's from Star Trek," I said as I hunted around for the install
files. "It's a Romulan D'deridex class warbird."
"Star Trek? That old show?"
"In my world they made several new series and movies.
Here, it's the year 2007."
"In your world? I don't understand
it."
"It's going to be a lot to take in. Just
bear with me here." I finally got the installation program working and Asuka flinched as the new window appeared
'on top' of her. She then stepped around it, wearing an annoyed expression.
"This is going to take some getting used to."
"Yeah, I guess it will. Look at it this way,
though. I think you can interact with the computer - at first with just what you see on the desktop. But I think that with a bit of time and practice you can do things by just thinking about it.
Kinda like synchronizing with an Eva."
"Hey, how do you know about that?" she suddenly demanded, hands on hips and
glaring.
I sighed. "I guess the best way is to show
you. Wait a second, please." I started going through the folders until I
finally reached the one I was after.
"Neon Genesis Evangelion!?" she cried out incredulously as I double-clicked the
episode in which she premiered, then jumped it ahead to the scene on the flight deck of Over the
Rainbow. "Oh. My. God,"
she breathed. "Turn it off. Now."
I did as she asked. Right then the software
finished installing. With the awkward silence ensuing, I simply closed the installation program and started the
camera.
Asuka looked at the camera's window impassively.
"You look like shit."
I blinked then looked at my own image. A bloody
scuff decorated the right side of my jaw. Dirt and dried, crumpled bits of dead leaves were tangled in my
hair. I began to examine myself further and found that I'd been scuffed up pretty good.
"Now that you mention it, I feel like shit," I admitted.
"How the hell did you do that to yourself?"
"Like I said, I busted my ass to get you some eyes and ears."
"How did this all happen?" she suddenly asked.
I sighed again. "We have something very
remarkable on this world that… modifies anything you apply it to. But the thing is that it's like it has a mind of
its own, and one that's got ADHD at that. It's known by several names, but most people call it
Handwavium."
"Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?"
"Yes and no. The real joke is that it
actually does as the name suggests. This stuff just handwaves away all the conventional laws and does its own
thing. Fortunately, it can be influenced. That's how I modified my car and
the computer you're in."
"Where do I come in then?"
"Well, I've been doing a lot of work on a character study of you from the anime
that I just showed you. The following for Evangelion is a pretty big one, so there's lots of information available
on the Internet. What must have happened is that since the computer hadn't developed an AI yet it decided to use
you."
"Wait. You mean that I never really
existed!? That I don't right now!?"
"Well… Not in this world. I'm sure that there's a bunch of parallel universes out there that you do exist in.
And I think you are very real right now."
"I am not," she said sullenly.
"I'm just a bunch of ones and zeroes on a hard drive."
"The hell you are! You're Asuka
Langely-Sohryu, a beautiful, well educated young woman and an expert pilot. Have some self-confidence in yourself for
God's sake! You're better than this."
She gave me an astonished look. "I never
thought I would ever meet anyone worse than that idiot Shinji."
"I'd like to think of myself as an improvement."
Asuka snorted at that. "Oh yeah, you're
an improvement alright."
"Yeah, well, I gotta go and patch myself up.
Let me see if you can interact with the computer."
Asuka narrowed her eyes at me, then went over to the My Computer icon and thwacked it with
a vengeance and opened a window.
"Great! Just don't mess with the system
settings. I've got a collection of anime, manga, movies, and fanfiction in the My Documents folder, so you can keep
yourself entertained while I'm away. The Internet should work, too.
It's on a wireless connection and we should still be in range of the router."
"Internet. Joy. I'll just troll around on usenet."
"Hey, I didn't hear much about in when I watched you guys."
"Pervert."
"Cute. Anyhow, you might find that it's a
lot more interesting than you think. We have online content the likes of which you've probably never even thought
of. Here," I said as I opened the web browser. "Google is an
excellent search engine and you can probably find anything you want with it. You should try it out."
"And how the hell am I gonna type anything?"
"Hang on," I said as I jumped into the control panel and activated the on-screen
keyboard."
"So, the pervert is smart, too."
"Damn straight. And I'm only perverted in
a healthy way. I like to make a beautiful woman's toes curl, but I keep it to myself for the most part."
"…Pervert."
I rigged another computer inside the house. This
one was a much older laptop, but with a soak in a tank of handwavium it turned into a beastly little machine. It's
portability and wireless capability made it capable of keeping Asuka in touch with me no matter where I was in the house.
It also gave me access to my files, for which I was grateful.
I had warned Asuka not to watch Evangelion, but I knew that she wouldn't listen.
"That did not really happen," said Asuka, trying to reassure
herself. "I refuse to believe that was me. Well, pervert, do you got
anything to say about that shit?"
"I don't know what to say, Asuka, except that Hideaki Ano was very messed up when
he produced that mess."
"Don't call me that."
"What? Huh?"
"I can't stand that name anymore. I want
a different name. Besides, I don't want any perverted fanboys bothering me, so I want another name."
"Okay then, let me think. How about Regina
Langley?"
"Why?"
"Well, I've taken to calling this wonderful German engineered car Gina, and since
I fully intend to take Gina out into space, I figure that Langley will be a good last name for you to keep."
"Regina Langely," she said, tasting the name on her tongue. "It's
simple. The fanboys won't notice it. I like it."
"Okay then. Gina it is."
"Cool. So, when did you want to get into
space?"
I'd been thinking about that quite a bit.
"Well, I definitely need to lay in supplies, but what I really need to do is figure out what the hell you're using for fuel."
"What I'm using?"
"Well… The computer serves as an avionics
unit for the car, and since you can control the computer…"
"…I can control the car," she finished.
"Well, that's a lot better than just being stuck like this."
"That's the idea," I said with a smile.
"Now the only problem is going to be figuring out how the heck your flight controls work."
Asu- no, Gina looked thoughtful at that. "If
handwavium works the way you suggested, then it's probably handled it somehow."
"True. And then we need to worry about the
authorities. They've been getting pretty draconian about handwavium, which is why I haven't been
driving. When we blow this joint, we'll have to be sneaky about it, not to mention that we probably won't be
coming back."
"In that case, I'll start checking around for 'wave friendly people that can
get us fresh consumables. How's the micro thrusters coming along?"
"Shipment tracker says that they get here tomorrow.
I'll get them installed and waved ASAP."
"Cool. You sure we need that,
though?"
"Yeah, the wheel-thrusters will be great for maneuvering, but we need something to
give us some real forward momentum. Even the DeLorian from Back to the Future had aft thrusters, and a lot of the
material I used to get the flight capability came from that series of films."
"Good point. And we got a few suppliers once
we leave the atmosphere."
"How'd you do that?"
"Idiot pervert, I'm learning how to use my new abilities. It's like you said, just like synchronizing with the Eva."
"Awesome, way to go. That means we're
that much closer to getting out of here then."
"Benjamin?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do you want to leave so badly?"
I thought about that for a beat before replying, "Well, it isn't so much that I
want to leave as much as I want to explore. I've always wanted to go out into space and explore the planets, but
even if I joined the Air Force or the Navy just to become a pilot and get into NASA that way, we wouldn't be landing on the Moon or Mars until I'm too
old to fly."
"I see. The pervert's got an adventurous
streak."
"Damn straight!"