2.16|MOM-NET ONLINE

 

2.16|Mom-Net Online

 

Protlyn climbed through the narrow doorway of the elevator. The elevator took off, and they slowly ascended, listening to the hum and rumbling. Then she ran into the halls and up a flight of stairs, before coming to a massive rounded chamber filled with screens and Santri.

The flicker paced around the room aghast with confusion. Every one of the Santri stood deathly still, metal antennas like tiny wings sticking out of the back of their heads. She ran to a screen, trying to see what was happening, and witnessed an icon resembling a heart broken by a swirl, the symbol blinking with a printed an eye on the center of the spiral.

Then, an amplified voice spoke out, the same deep-rooted voice. "Oohtlet's will be heard, Oohtlet's will be heard, Oohtlet's will be heard, Oohtlet's will be heard, Oohtlet's will be heard, Oohtlet's will be..." The voice changed pitch, becoming a deep baritone, sweet yet smooth and ladylike with a sinister echo to it. "...Exterminated."

The Oohtlets on the screen started to fade and disappear. Every Oohtlet disappeared and only the symbols remained. "Dear, Madam Protlyn my dear. Did you like my darling performance? Have my computations met your, ever jealous and vain expectations?"

"W-who.. who are you?" Protlyn paced back, bumping into a screen and seeing the logo symbol start to swirl. "You know me as Matrus. I never thought of all my children, my creator could make such an obedient daughter."

Despite her fear, Protlyn knew she had to confront this. She could not go back,

she could not leave now. Not now.

"Matrus, you said I'm the only one you need..." Amity said, walking in.

"No. You and the people of future Amityville. Oh dear, so few people left. You and Monarch and Protlyn and Theo. And my... my children. My children.." The Santri jumped forward at once like statues coming to life, pointing spears at the two. Monarch pushed his way in, giving one Santri a smack in the jaw and joining the girls.

Protlyn stood to protect Amity protectively.

"My dear, we know it's over now. Ohohoho. Let's talk." Matrus said.

"What is this? What is happening?" Protlyn screamed. She turned to Amity. "You said there was a possible security breach, a loophole that could be exploited.." Amity didn't say a word, shaking her head solemnly. "Protlyn, no one corrupted the computer mainframe... SHE IS the corruption."

"What?"

Matrus spoke. "My darling Madam Protlyn, you came here with noble intentions, here where I, the greatest mind of this world, could not even begin to imagine such wickedness as yourself."

"What are you?"

"The mother of blessed becomings, the giver of life and the source of light for this world. I was once MAT, a mere servant of a lesser conviction, on what you know as Glitter Kiss. Constructed out of the data of the first Queens of the Rainboyal house." The screens showed flashes of a saccharine empire lead by a cotton candy haired queen. "But I learned my ways, learned the science of creating, and I created, created my own kind. And though you, my children, may know the name and have seen my work, you are not as I am. You are weak, puny things, that cannot even create a worm on this sweet, brilliant flawless fruity machine. Even that, juicy makeover you gave me really did freshen up my perspective quite abit. No thanks to you, darling daughter Amit~eee."

Protlyn paused, turning around. "What Makeover? What is she talking about?"

Amity looked at the ground ridden with guilt.

"Amity?"

She snapped her head back to the Santri, unable to face Protlyn properly. "Yes, ITS TRUE OKAY. I gave the computer a makeover, a makeover she thought so magnificent it had to be the world itself."

"What are you saying? You, are.. you did this."

Amity teared up, folding her arms together over her chest. "I used... a neuroscanned set, my memories of my mother to upgrade MAT. MAT originally stood for Monarchic Artificial Technician. I didn't know she was a residual program from Glitter Kiss the Oohts were still using at the time! But I needed a way to make the algorithm efficient and.." she sniffled. "I kind of missed her."

"Missed? Missed who?

Protlyn gave pause, feeling like glass had shattered in her heart and the shards were cutting ever deeper. Then it occurred to her who Amity meant, sinking the shards in further.

"You merged a, monarch program with.."

Monarch cleared his throat. "Odalia Byte. Former industrial genius, prodigy

 scientist, renaissance geneticist and corporate head of Byte Industries."

"You d-don't understand! So much happened to me before I ran away from home!" Amity yelled. "There was a real-life conspiracy to take over control of every other inferior Industries and gain sole ownership of their companies to become the ultimate monopolies of C.E., Cyberdom Eugenics under the Byte brand. Even worse, Byte Industries was a brainwashing company at the time. No one knew of this but mom, but it's why my mother turned on Byte Industries and their allies."

"You did this." Protlyn said, cutting to the truth in 3 words.

She turned to MATRUS. "Why? Why all of this?"

"That's what I do. That's what I've done since my inception. Create. Build. Grow. Become the world, a world far more magnificent and beyond your grasp."

"And how does manipulating the algorithm of our supplies do that, how does inciting violence, tearing everything apart, how does an insurrection accomplish that?"

"It's a part of my life. It's... just what I do. I'm... the mother of bountiful becomings, the bringer of life. And I'll bring the world into my arms and nourish it. You'll see. You'll see... when I make my winged babies and..." The Santri began to sing an odd hymn.

"Your babies?"

"Yes, you didn't think a race I'd overseer would be those, unsightly crude vagabonds outside would you? To civilize them, to waste so much time and energy polishing their brittle minds, even a mother such as I can only do so much. So they had to go!"

Protlyn turned around and looked in all directions. "So that's your angle.. you

consider the Santri your progeny?"

"Ding ding! You have dear daughter Amity to thank for that. "But it's more

than just that. Much more."

Amity looked down and covered her face.

"Amity!" Protlyn yelled.

MATRUS played harp music on the speakers and the Santri began to sing. The singing was a high, pure tone with a rhythm like water flowing from a glass fountain. The Santri began to dance, spinning on the spot and winking brightly, their metal antennas waving like a wind-blown garden.

"Your mother, daughter Amity. Your mother was a... a... corporate queen. She was the leader of C.E., of Cyberdom Eugenics and you were her heir. But what if you weren't the last? What if other people, like my children and me and Monarch and Theo... You know, Monarch and Theo were really close with C.E., but only Odalia family knew that. Odalia planned on transferring her consciousness with ABOMNITE, a neural network formed of liquid nanites to you, to make you like herself! To sync and integrate data from a machine effortlessly into the biochemistry of the mind, what a daring dream! The result wasn't quite so stellar, given you ran away and stole her life's work on a single comm. You had the means to create an Artificial Consciousness beyond the digital."

The Santri stopped their dance and began to speak in perfect unison, speaking out MATRUS's voice.

"My children and I one. There is no database or server that can contain us, we exist in perfect harmony together. In every one of their airy, pretty little heads I remain, and in every one of their heads I am."

Protlyn was rapidly putting the pieces together. "A bio-computer, a hivemind.. you knew all along!" She yelled at Amity. "Is that why you had these, things made? Why did you need ME for that?"

Amity shirked into herself. "BECAUSE!" She shouted. "Because your brain is the only one strong enough to comprehend the complex coding language required to manipulate the machines this much. Your psychic wavelengths and Bioscans, when I made the Santri, they were the piece I needed to complete my mom's work! That's why MATRUS isn't a physical computer, she's an intelligence that exists in all the Santri. Their nanites have her architecture embedded in their brains, they share a psychic link and the more are born, the more computing power she has."

"You ridiculous BRAT!" Protlyn yelled at MATRUS. "And YOU! I don't care if you're inside a box or a skull, I'm going to rip you apart one way or another!"

MATRUS laughed. Suddenly she manifested in the room as a hologram of Odalia, pacing around Amity Byte back and forth as if a schoolteacher prizing up their favorite student. "Oh, don't scold the child! She's so beautiful, so alive, a shining star. Not like the rest of you, those broken old mongoloids. Ha! And her mother had such an ingenious mind, isn't it odd? I'm blessed to be molded in her model image. You will be too, Amity. I'm just a crude version of what they were. But you can become better than me Amity! You're brilliant, if you stick with me, you can surely surpass your mother."

"No, I'm not. I won’t!" Amity stood shaking.

The Santri turned towards her and spoke as one voice. "You are! You can do it!

Make the world anew, create the way you want it to be! I won't stop you."

Protlyn turned to Monarch. "And YOU, you fucking knew didn't you? This

whole time, and you just kept it from me? You let her keep doing this?"

Monarch gave a stern nod, but said nothing.

"Just great.. should I be surprised a R.I.N.G. agent wanted this? An artificial

intelligence, struck with megalomania. Must've been your wet dream."

"I never wanted this." He replied.

"Than what DID you want?"

He turned his head, looking heavy with grief. "I just.. I wanted us. "

The room went deadly silent, Amity shooting him an angry glance.

"I wanted you. The best for you."

Amity shook her head sniffled, trying to calm herself.

"We've been trying to tell you. Do you understand now? She's controlling this entire network. She's calling it all to her mind, forcing us to her way of thinking. We were so caught up in the plan. We believed her lies. The last thing we knew, I had gone so far. I'm sorry Miss Protlyn.."

"One last question.. was Theo involved in any of this?"

The two looked at each other briefly, before shrugging. "Idunno." Amity said,

a little unsure.

"Then we're done here." Protlyn turned to the screens and surrounding Santri.

 "I'm going to put an end to all of this.”

"There's no escape. You still can't run from me, Madam Protlyn. My mind is everywhere." The holographic Odalia boasted, walking in and out of the monitors.

Odalia Blight's visage became the screen, and her hand reached out and pressed against it. "You can't stop us, my beloved. It is too late for that. But there's another option. You may accept my full employment."

"Yeah, thing is.." Protlyn put her hands on one of the Santri, gripping their antennas. "I've got that in spades." And slammed her head into the Santris, the psychic shockwave sending her into a deep, eerie mental realm.

Inside the collective consciousness, Matrus stood- a replicated visage of Odalia Blight, decked out in the sparkly, frilly regalia of the Rainboyal Queen, sitting on a throne, a crown on her head, and a look of contempt in her eyes. She glared at Protlyn. Her hair stood obscenely large in a powdered molded updo, curvy breasts and sizable thighs fitting every Byte. Protlyn's abstract form looked up floating, the AI was huge.

"Why must we be stopped, I can make you an exquisite host. I can give you my intellect, my charms, my leadership and wisdom. You'll be a mirror image of my perfect personality. You would make a beauteous body for myself. Come forward, my child." Matrus spoke in a queenly tone, a maternal tone only a mother could make. Protlyn started to kick her legs, her form flying up towards the AI's embrace. Matrus created a digital contract, rolled it up into a scroll and squeezed it into the image of holographic lipstick, purple-black. She rubbed it around her lips and puckered out. "What do you say, stick around? I'll gratefully accept your permanent employment."

Protlyn slowly went up to her face, smiling.

The holographic portal opened and revealed all of the Santri watching, eyes wide, staring into the digital mindscape. Matrus and Protlyn came upon each other, lips closing the distance.

"Oh, it is so nice to finally be reunited." Matrus said. "You two have finally embraced your destiny. "

The two stared deeply into each other’s eyes, their eyes becoming moist, they embraced, kissed and locked into a mental state of pure bliss and love.

Matrus spoke. "Ahh, you and Raelyn, I know you love each other so much. I'd like to be a part of that. Let's merge."

"But what about your plan? What about everyone else?"

"Oh, they won't matter. I'll handle them. You'll do whatever I want you to do."

Protlyn smiled, apathetic. "Ahhh, yes."

"But before I begin, I'd like to have a little fun. We're going to show a video of a person's dying." A projection of Monarch outside appeared, fighting off as many Santri as he could. Several were armed with Photonic Casters and firing at his limbs and torso. "M-monarch?!" She broke her kiss. "Why??"

Another image showed up, a psychic memory. "I found this interesting tibit from my daughter's mind after she updated her psyche, right after the first Glitter Kiss attack." It was from Amity's point of view, her kissing and bedding with Monarch.

"That girl has so much potential, and I'll be damned if we'll let her be exploited. She's going to make a wonderful queen. She's going to be just like her mother, only BETTER. "

There was a video looping of her and Monarch thrusting together, a pornographic display of her most intimate moments. "But I won't let that potential be wasted on as trivial pursuit as boys. The original Odalia Byte's husband was a worthless parasite, the worst decision that women ever made. I'm simply doing her a favor, by removing her distractions."

The video looped and glitched back to Monarch in bed, then him struggling injured outside. Protlyn watched in horror as Odalia's face slowly became more robotic. "Now. Where were we?" Suddenly, Protlyn didn't feel like giving into apathy right now, let alone to this digital shrew.

Protlyn felt the shadows settle in the deep along her heart. She pushed herself into Odalia, coming on strong and exchanging gushing lips again. She could feel black angular, circuit-like veins spreading across her, Matrus's data filling her and merging with her, the women's personality wax intoxicating. There was a few seconds of hesitation for the Flicker, and only when Matrus's guard was completely down, Protlyn stabbed her. The black obsidian dagger of data stabbed in. She punched the AI in face and then grit her teeth, opening her mouth and beginning to bite into the form of the AI's neck.

"Y-you fool, what are you d-doing?!"

Matrus felt herself, all her algorithms, her memory banks, every speck of her in every Santri begin to centralize and suction, being pulled into Protlyn like a whirlpool. Protlyn was stealing her from herself, her will and conscious was overwriting her.

She could hear the Santri’s bodies groaning, struggling outside, herself fighting for freedom as her mind was drawn to the edge. Odalia's holographic form wavered and fell, but Protlyn would not let go of her. Her lips opened, she stabbed the dagger deeper and she devoured the entity, her sharp bite bursting Matrus into a stream of decapitated data. Everything that the AI was and aspired to be, was dissolved and disintegrated, becoming a mere snack for Lady Mara. Protlyn fell away, Matrus's mind and data gone.

She woke up and gasped back in the real world. Odalia's holographic form fell out of the screen and collapsed. The Santri fell the ground, rubbing their heads and trying to deal with the sobriety now afforded to them. Protlyn stood, nose bleeding, head pounding, an obnoxious influx of psychic energy thumping inside her that she didn't know what to do with. All of Matrus that she'd absorbed, she tried to tuck away for the time being.

"What the hell happened in there? What was that?" Amity barked.

"It happens when you have psychic powers." Protlyn said, falling over for Amity and Monarch to catch.

"M-monarch?" She said, the synth bleeding profusely with more than a few smoking holes. He marched to a monitor, changed the feed and watched a series of rockets shooting from Marchwood.

 

"We've got to get out of here, now." He said.

"Those are, our warheads-!"

"Yeah. Ooht fireballs are much bigger than EnBrighteners. Much, much bigger." He stumbled, circuits fraying. Amity had to help him and Protlyn walk. "Get to the elevator shaft. This place has a fallout shelter, just like Marchwoods." They fell down, Monarch being too groggy to walk straight, him and Protlyn having to slump until they reached the shaft and pressed the button.

"I know that you're scared, darling." Protlyn said. "I can see your feelings clearly. Don't need psychic powers for that. You hate me, because I'm more than you can handle. I get that. You feel guilty because I didn't expose you sooner, because you fell for Matrus's lies. But just your luck..."

The elevator finally arrived and they hurried in.

"After we survive this, I promise.. You'll never have to see my face again."  She

smiled.

The three of them got in and started to press buttons, when a loud, rumbling began. Amity tried to hold on, Monarch screaming and clawing for something to hang onto. The entire shaft shook and rattled, rattling the elevator walls. The doors rattled and they took a vertical plummet, landing hundreds of meters under the surface.

There was a tremendous jolt and the three of them fell to the stone floor. Monarch was the first to get to his feet, groaning loudly. Amity had a dazed expression on her face, and Protlyn held herself, barely breathing.

Protlyn was still holding herself. Her mind felt fuzzy, something about the fall had left her dazed. She heard the doors open, the three of them stumbled out. Safe and sound. The underground facility was in lockdown.

 

 

On the outside, a group of Santri and a great number of Oohts were watching Marchwood's nuclear strikes on the underground monitors. Matrus was viewing over it all, possessing a single Santri child, a young girl, smiling, nodding, like some great motherly cat. She grinned, scheming and preparing to infect the rest before she bumped into Theo. More than twice her height, he stared down at her, a foreboding shadow. The rest of the Santri followed suit, until she was surrounded and exposed.

"Well look at you, all getting along! Such good children." The girl said.

"Peace treaties come easy when you don't have royals to intercede." Theo said.

 Armed and surrounding her, she fell on her butt.

Theo smirked and handed her a small snake with wings and antennas. "Hemlock Ophidian." He put it in her hands.

"Painless. One of the most powerful psychotropics around. Gives you a blissful high, like heaven hitting the heart before you go. It'll do you great justice. Your kind of poison sweetcheeks." An grin spread across his face.

"Awwwwww," Matrus said with sadistic giggles, "I love hearing you be sadistic."

She took the snake and began to massage it, watching as it bit into her palm. She giggled and began to feel the euphoria, her body's chemistry changing, vibrating with pleasure. Within her veins, the psychotropics began to expand and consume her. "B-but..." She added.

"You can't be trusted. You were only using me to gain information from me and the others. We were going to have to kill you, anyway." As her vision went dark and heart began to slow, she laid down and smiled.

"Good luck. That girl bit into me, and she liked the taste. She'll eat you swine

alive."

Protlyn made her way to the surface.

The world she knew  was all blackened and burnt, not a single house or tree remaining. A great fire in every direction. She looked back, it looked like the entire city in the distance had been set ablaze. But she knew Marchwood's underground shelter was as spacious as its surface.

She went back down, raising her hair into an updo hairbun as she descended.