by deity
Now that he is back from another meeting of what's left of the astral guardians and in the physical realm Jason can't stop thinking how slow and futile the guardians are with everything cyber-realm. They are still arguing & talking rather than exploring, improving... doing. How can they ever hope to master this realm when they never enter it! They hadn't become astral guardians by staying in the physical realm and talking about the astra. Surely they realise that to understand what is happening in the cyber-realm they must spend a lot more time within it! Jason thinks back to a conversation he recently had with Peta about the dangers the guardians had recently encountered in the cyber-realm. Peta had plenty of ideas, as always, about how they could better use the computers that she knows so well to defend themselves in this new realm. The two of them had tried a few out, some were more successful than others. But one in particular seems to offer plenty of advantages to a planar. It requires a navigator such as Peta to open several internet browser sessions using the network connection of the planar. They can then use this with their astral form and send images or internet sessions of anything available on the web to a victim’s net-hub or cybersphere.
He and Peta had done some preliminary testing and the results were very promising, alongside Billy they had both left the meeting so that they can continue testing the idea but this time with two planars. The extra planar will be better at gauging the impacts and results. Though Peta has seen a little by having another web session with a distinct IP address play the 'victim' in their previous tests, this has limitations. They need a better understanding of how it appears to another planar and Billy will be that planar. If things go well this could be something all the planars could use when they next entered the cyber-realm, allowing them to create a diversion during an attack or cover an evasion, who knew. But if it tested out OK the idea had enormous potential.
Jason is currently waiting in the guardian's network room where the three of them will soon continue the testing. They wanted to involve Yachi but he was always so busy, Jason couldn't get a hold of him during the meeting, let alone before it. But there is no point waiting any longer, if they progress it further they will have even more to show him.
Jason is glad Peta is only involved on the computer side and not in the cyber-realm where she would often be in danger like Billy, Yachi or any of the others. While Jason doesn't want anything to happen to anyone he would hate to know Peta is regularly exposed to the danger and volatility of the cyber-realm like they are. Of course it's this danger that makes it so exciting; the creation of a new world simply can't be missed. All the risks mean care has to be taken; just not to the point where they miss this opportunity. Rather they have to learn how to protect themselves by using ideas like the one he is about to test with Billy and Peta. The testing had already uncovered some limitations such as it having no effect on data trails or other robots of the cyber-realm. Hopefully more testing would uncover greater understanding and the sooner they get started the sooner he and the rest of the planars can make use of it.
Who knows what may have happened to Achachak and the other guardians if they had access to this idea when they were recently attacked. They may have been able to protect themselves against the dangers they faced. With the excitement of the new realm and some overconfidence based on all their previous experience planing the astra, no-one considered the possible dangers here or the need to protect themselves. And there had been signs that the cyber-realm was unlike the rest of the astra. It exhibited the physical property, resistance, which none of the guardians with all their experience had felt elsewhere in the astra. Then there were the major difficulties almost all of them experienced when they first attempted to plane here. These warnings were obviously not given enough consideration.
Jason hears a rattle at the door as Peta returns to the network room after running a few errands.
'Hi honey. I'm back' she greets him.
'Hi babe, how'd you go?' Jason says before he embraces and kisses her.
'Good'. It's nearly all taken care of except for Claire's birthday present but I'll have more of a look at the Glebe markets on Saturday'
'Cool. Billy shouldn't be far away and I've got all the PCs and everything ready'
'Thank you!' she says with a big smile. 'Did you remember to reboot the routers and restart those services?' she asks as she unloads a few shopping bags beside a backpack she brought with her earlier.
'Of course'
They continue chatting, moving closer as they do, their fingers touch and hands clasp before another noise by the doorway grabs their attention and pulls their hands apart.
'Wow, this sounds awesome! What you were saying on the phone is for real right? Let's get started! Hi Peta, how are you?' Billy enters the network room at a million miles an hour. Jason and Peta's conversation remains on hold as Billy happily absorbs all of their attention. Jason has seen this many times before and he wonders if his friend will be able to relax enough to enter the astral realm in a few minutes. Peta is still a little stunned by Billy's intensity and the dramatic change of mood in the room as he leans over and pecks her cheek.
'Yes mate', Jason responds to his friend, 'it's for real, you'll see soon enough'
'Ready when you are! I've got a great idea for you buddy, can't wait to show you!'
'OK, settle down – you've still gotta enter the astra remember'
'Yeah, yeah OK.. it's pretty exciting though?'
'Mate, wait til you try it! This is gonna be sick fun. But it is serious too, we've gotta make sure we know how this works well enough so we can use it for real, if we encounter any danger'
'Sure, let's get cracking!'
'Are you ready to start, hon?' Jason asks Peta and Billy grins at his friend when he uses the intimate 'hon' for his new girlfriend.
'Sure just gimme a moment' Peta replies blushing slightly.
So the boys lie down and begin to meditate in preparation for entering the astra and then the cyber-realm while Peta sits at one of the computer terminals and readies the network. A few weeks ago Peta made the mistake of yelling out to the boys that she was almost ready, during a similar stage to where they currently are. This interrupted the boys’ meditative states and meant a delay of a few minutes to enter the astra and then be noticed on the computer network. She now knew it takes them about three to four minutes, apparently it had, even a few weeks ago, taken them up to ten minutes just to reach the astra, let alone the cyber-realm, only a month earlier. As they say 'Practice makes perfect'. She thinks as she waits for the computer to 'blip' announcing their arrival on the network. For unlike the remaining guardians the boys had been spending plenty of time in the cyber-realm and it showed. They are now much quicker to enter the astra and untroubled by datatrails and other web-robots, even firewalls within it.
Peta detects them on the network now, they are entering the cyber-realm. She opens several additional browser windows for the two new connections which represent the boys as well as a few for herself to scout the web as the planars move through it. Some of the additional windows are for the testing of the new idea, Jason would be explaining how it works to Billy now.
All their practice can be noted upon the boys' astral profile too. They blaze; similar to the natives of the cyber-realm but much more powerfully. Now more than energy forms, they are compressed capsules of life, a fusion of human and cybernetic. A thinking entity unleashed into the freedom of this powerful new world. They easily bustle through cyberspheres, net-hubs even firewalls. The nightmarish qualities of the cyber-realm's robots and dangers have kept the other guardians pondering, worrying and far from the newly discovered realm. But this apprehension, also felt by Jason and Billy has now been replaced with irreverence. Details of the world blur as they quickly move through the chaos that once hindered them; maddened them.
Now within the cyber-realm Jason demonstrates how to send the web images to Billy, he is starting with cats, a pet hate of Billy's. Dozens of images and videos bombard them as Jason directs the multitude
of responses in one of the browser sessions toward his friend.
'Very clever, mate' Billy responds across their psychic link, 'but be careful what you start'
'Well the demonstration has to be effective. And choosing the material is critical to this tool working for us.' Jason responds. 'See how the datatrails aren't really affected by this? Other than slowing them down a little if we generate a lot of extra traffic. We believe this is the case for other web-robots but need to investigate more for confirmation. The better you know or understand the target the better your choice of material and the greater the effect. Peta has set both of us up for this, can you feel the other browser windows? You need to direct part of your energy back to them. They will be back at the network room where we first enter the cyber-realm.'
'OK, I'm directing back there now' Billy responds. His aura becomes a little lighter.
'I can see, all of you is leaving this net-hub.' Jason observes. Billy's profile has become hazy and the fog-like apparition has partially drifted out a nearby cybersphere. 'I did a similar thing initially, while you need to direct some of your energy back it is only some, you must retain your focus here at our present location. It's kinda similar to the transition we make from a meditative physical state into the astra but there most of us transitions to the astra, while here we only want a small part of our energy to partition and become mobile. Does that make any sense? I found it helped to focus back to my meditative state, with all the action and excitement here it is easy to forget that we are actually meditating back in the physical realm.
With that in mind you need to...well, perform a similar transformation to entering the astra but only partially and then 'offshoot' back to our base while remaining here in the cyber-realm. It's difficult to explain but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it, you just need a bit of practice.'
'OK, I'll have another go' Billy replies his profile now fully intact back with Jason in the net-hub.
'Remember to start with the meditation and take your time.'
Jason waits while Billy makes another attempt. He considers confirming everything is ready with Peta but he knows it will be. He stays silent rather than risk disturbing Billy. He recalls how difficult this was the first time, even now after successfully accessing another web session and sending images and videos at the target several times it still takes him time and complete concentration. Billy's profile remains unchanged, Hopefully Billy is focused on his meditative state and ready to make this tricky separation Jason thinks. When they first attempted to enter the astra Yachi would direct them to focus on their breathing. But now that they have already left their physical selves this will be difficult and won't really help because their physical breathing is occurring sub-consciously. They need to engage into their conscious mind and thoughts here in the astra then split off a fragment of this to return to their base where it can direct another session through the cyber-realm and send distressing images to the chosen target.
At least that is the latest theory Peta and Jason have. And while it makes sense and describes what they have seen through their testing so far, like much they encounter in this strange new realm, they just don't know. If Yachi was here he could probably help them understand all of this better but he is off with the rest of the guardians, still talking about what happened last week and whether they would dare do something. Jason isn't even sure if Yachi would approve of what they are doing here.
Billy's profile changes, distracting Jason. The centre of Billy's form seems to bubble and gradually elongates. This newly formed blob is distinct from the limb-like shapes of his humanoid form, it continues to grow, wobbling now that it's larger before suddenly shrinking back toward Billy's profile. The wobbling becomes violent momentarily before it grows again becoming a larger, more distinct entity rather than an extension of Billy's astral form. Jason reminds himself to ask Billy what it looks like when he undergoes this change as a small fragment of Billy's consciousness completes the split from his astral profile and moves haphazardly toward a nearby cybersphere. Its course wavers across all points of the compass but it continues slowly onward, almost colliding with the net-hub wall as it enters the cybersphere. As the fragment disappears from the net-hub Jason's attention returns to the remainder of Billy's profile. It is no longer wobbling or bubbling though Billy's aura is distinctively blue. While he is clearly excited by his progress at this new task there are no other signs on his profile that part of him has been removed.
'Sweet! It looks like you've made the split and you're heading back for the other internet connection. Well done!'
Jason offers some brief encouragement to his friend. 'Keep it up, you're getting close now'.
'Peta you should see him soon' Jason updates Peta across the psychic link.
'OK, I'm ready to go' she replies.
From their previous testing they found that the navigator such as Peta could detect a briefly discernible increase of incoming traffic across the otherwise idle browser sessions they have established when the planar - Billy - engages one of these sessions. Once the planar starts directing this session through the cyber-realm the changes are much more obvious and easily gauged by the navigator.
'I think we might have initial contact' Peta observes.
Jason continues observing his friend's unaltered profile. There is simply no sign that part of him is returning to their home base to engage another web session. They have talked previously about the effects of injuries in the cyber-realm. While the possibilities could be as grave as those Achachak and Lai felt there are probably also others, less dramatic but as they spend more time in this strange new realm these are things they need to understand and probably monitor. They aren't sure if the physical element unique to this realm mean injuries here can manifest upon them physically. He and Billy have recognized that their profiles have changed here, taking on some of the characteristics that distinguish the cyber-realm from others, including some elements that border upon physical such as how the web-robots they move through now seem to be pushed aside a little as they pass, something that definitely wasn't happening when they began planing here.
Moving easily through data-trails and other web-robots as they now can is consistent with a non-physical profile and similar to how their astral profiles pass through walls, buildings and even people unhindered. But moving web-robots aside as they passed suggests a physical element developing within their profile as does the changes in their appearance here. Which opens up many questions about other effects of this development, such as the potential for physical injuries? Could these transfer across the borders of several realms to their physical bodies back in the physical realm?
Jason's thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a chocolate cake slowly materializing before him then a custard tart joins it. Jason sees, feels, almost tastes the images which are followed by various other sweets. He forgets his previous thoughts and is captivated by hunger pangs and his sweet tooth when he recalls what he is here for; Billy!
'Great work mate, these have worked really well! The images are clear and they engaged all my senses.'
'Awesome! So is it time to go to the bakery?'
'Tempting! But now you're ready we might do some more testing. First we wanna see that other web-robots aren't affected by these images and videos etc just like data-trails. So first we need to find some web-robots or guinea pigs'