Code 14 - TRUTH
"Today is the day." Hopper said. Jeremy was in another vision, in the white-out zone in which Code Angel had occurred. Jeremy stood face to face with Hopper, a few feet apart. Hopper appeared grim; the glare on his glasses hid the expression within his eyes.
"What?" Jeremy asked.
"Today is the day... that it will occur. That which you... and I... fear most."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"You cannot stop it. I cannot stop it. What will unfold... will unfold."
"Tell me!"
"Good luck, Jeremy. And, goodbye." Hopper said as he faded out, disappearing like a ghost. In a few seconds, Jeremy woke up, in a frustrated rage. He was alone, Zaber had never returned to the hotel. The clock on the bedside table showed 5:00 AM. Deciding he lacked any reason to go back to sleep, he reached for the remote and turned on the television. It was on CNN, which he had been watching the night before to see how people were reacting to the supernatural "devil blasts" in both Catic and New York. And it seemed the world was falling apart. He saw on the bottom of the ticker that William had been found dead. He swore as he fell back onto his pillow, frustrated by his own uselessness. And the dream worried him as well.
A few hours later, they left the hotel and split up to search for Zaber, with each group trying to reach his cell phone once every ten minutes. Yumi and Ulrich wandered everywhere they could think of, but they couldn't think of much. Odd, checked back at the pizza parlor from the night before to look for Zaber, but was run out of the building by the owner, who brandishing a large cheese grater. Jeremy and Aelita made up the last group, but they had little luck as well.
In France, a black Mercedes-Benz pulled up in front of the factory. A black leather shoe stepped onto the ground, and the door closed, as Xana stood up, and walked right into the factory, flashing an ID at guards, who admitted him with a nod. He stepped into the elevator, and pressed the button, descending to the computer room. The door opened, and Sanderson and the tech man glanced up from the terminal as they heard the door open. The tech man turned back to the computer, but Sanderson stood up and saluted him.
"Sir!" He exclaimed.
"At ease." Xana said as he waved his hand.
"We were not expecting you to come in person. I planned on sending you are report this afternoon."
"I felt... curious." Xana said carefully. "So this is the computer those kids were using..." Xana said as if in awe, but he was clearly faking.
"Yes. Although, we still haven't been able to hack deep enough in to figure out what they were doing. However, we ran a few tests on the machines down below, and it's startling. It's like something out of a sci-fi film... they're transporters to another dimension."
"Dubious. I think you need some rest." Xana replied.
"I'm quite serious sir. This computer is a hundred times more powerful than the most powerful computers we have."
"Then what the hell is it doing here?"
"Getting to that. This thing has Franz Hopper's digital fingerprints everywhere. I believe you've been debriefed on that when you got promoted."
"Yes. Franz Hopper was one of the scientist's involved project Carthage, but secretly worked to undermine it from within, creating a dangerous counter-program and going underground when he was found out. Enforcers went after him and the test subject, but they disappeared off the radar until now. That it?" Xana feigned, saying exactly was the real Alexander would say.
"Yep. It seems, this computer housed the counter program. But the program was uploaded to the Internet about two years ago. Like I was saying, the transporters lead to a virtual dimension stored in this computer. Matter can be sent into or taken out of that world. But we haven't quite figured out why... or how those kids were able to avoid detection for so long... and why they've surfaced now. And those blasts are not of this world... we could have a threat to all humanity on our hands."
"Nonsense Sanderson. You and you're team are clearly delusional... you have been working non-stop for the last three days. The building is secure, so why don't you take a break for a couple of days. It'll be here when you get back."
"But sir! What if another of those blasts goes off? We need to figure out what they're up to and stop them before we lose anymore civilians!"
"I'm giving you an order Sanderson. You and you're team are on a mandatory three-day leave." Xana said. Sanderson looked at him scornfully.
"Fine." He replied in a defiant tone, and then stood up and fumed into the elevator along with his crewmember, which reacted to the situation with a loud, prolonged yawn. Xana stepped into the elevator with them. When they reached the upper floor, the two headed for the exit. Xana, stood at the door of the elevator between two guards outfitted in full body armor, holding machine guns. "Gentleman..." He said as he clasped them both by the shoulders. They shuddered and let out a muffled cry. After a few seconds, red Xana marks reflected in the visors of their helmets. "If anyone but me tries to go down into that room... kill them." Xana said casually. The two guards nodded blankly. Xana walked up the stairs and back out to his car.
Zaber sat in a small cafe, looking incredibly disheveled, clutching a cup of hot chocolate. He stared into the cup as the whipped cream melted in, his thoughts elsewhere. He glanced at his arm, the count already down to IV. Four finger snaps away from death. Things were getting out of hand. He considered simply never using the arm again... he doubted he'd even be able to after how many had died the last time. But then we thought again... there was still one situation where he knew he would use it without hesitation. Just one situation. He took a deep swig of the chocolate, but jumped when a hand struck his back. He wound up spraying half his mouth full onto the table. He whipped around to see Odd.
"Zaber!"
"Way to go Odd!" Zaber yelled at him as he grabbed a napkin and tried to sop up some of the excess.
"Where were you? Why didn't you answer our calls?" Odd questioned him.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"Oh no! You're not pulling a Jim on..."
"I'm serious! I knew the second I picked up all I'd get were questions... and they're questions I don't want to answer!" Zaber yelled back his response. Half the restaurant was looking at them now. "Great... let's finish this conversation elsewhere." Zaber said as he stood up and dropped $2 at the register for his bill. Odd followed him out the door as they walked down the street.
"Alright... so why did you..."
"I said, I didn't want to answer those questions. I'm pretty sure your questions are rhetorical anyways. You'd have to be an idiot not to piece the answers to them together yourself." Zaber said as he turned around. Odd just stared at him blankly. "Oh. Alright... fine." Zaber said, as he then began to answer Odd's questions.
On the other side of town, Jeremy and Aelita were still wandering aimlessly, in search of Zaber. Odd had forgotten to call everyone to let them know he had found Zaber. The two stopped and sat on a bench, frustrated and tired. Neither of them had been able to get much sleep, but Jeremy was even more tired after having his vision that morning. He decided to tell Aelita.
"Aelita... I had another vision last night."
"Oh no... what happened?"
"I don't really know if it's an "Oh no!" or not. It was very vague. I was in the whiteout space... like in the Code Angel dream. Hopper was there. He said, "Today is the day the thing you fear most will occur." And he said that there's no way to stop it."
"I'd call that an "Oh no!" Aelita said worriedly as she stood up. "So... what's the thing you fear most?"
"I dunno... let me think about that." Jeremy said as he pondered. It wasn't something he commonly thought about. His first thought was of Aelita. Something happening to Aelita... that was pretty high on his list. There was also Xana. Xana finally winning was a pretty terrifying prospect as well. Before he could reach his next thought, his phone rang, and he answered it by reflex. "Hello?"
"Hello Jeremy." A voice said. A wave of shock spread across his face as he realized whom he was talking to.
"...Hopper?" Jeremy asked quietly, but Aelita heard him and dived up close to listen to the phone.
"Yes. The time has come for us to finally meet."
"Where are you?" Jeremy asked him.
"There is an apartment building behind you. Come to the 13th floor, room 37. The password to open the building entrance is 3979. I will see you shortly." Hopper said before the line died. The two looked up and saw that there was an apartment building behind them. The two bolted towards the door, and pressed the correct sequence, and they were buzzed into the door. The two excitedly pressed the elevator buttons.
"I can't believe it! He's actually here!" Aelita said excitedly, overjoyed at the prospect of being reunited with her father.
"And now we might finally get some answers..." Jeremy said with equal enthusiasm. They had forgotten all about trying to find Zaber. The door opened and they walked quickly out, finding themselves in a hallway beginning with 31. They dashed to the end of the hall skidding to a stop in front of room 37. Jeremy hesitated as he reached for the door, but Aelita nodded to him resolutely. Jeremy knocked on the door, and it opened easily, as if it was already unlatched. The room inside was of a somewhat dark decor, all the furniture upholstered in black fabric, dark curtains covered all light coming in through the windows. It had the standard layout of an apartment, to their right was a door leading to a bedroom, and straight ahead was a kitchen, and beyond that, a small living room. In the chair sat Franz Hopper. He smiled at them as Jeremy closed the door behind them, Aelita running forward and embracing her father tearfully. Jeremy fought the urge to begin to question Hopper. He would simply wait for him to finish. Hopper looked considerably older than in all of the photos he had seen. He seemed to be in his late 60's already, his hair was now beginning to gray, and his face was somewhat wrinkled. Aelita quickly tried to explain everything that had happened since their separation, but Hopper held up his hand.
"I know Aelita. I know everything that you've all been up to since the supercomputer was rebooted." He said.
"But how?" Aelita asked him.
"The me on Lyoko was a clone. Almost like a specter. I could control him." He said as he gestured to a large computer rig in the corner of the room. "When Lyoko was lost, all I could do was send you the reboot program, the clone that linked me to Lyoko was gone.
"But why did you never contact us sooner?" Jeremy asked him. It was the first time he had spoken. Hopper glanced at him, and then removed his glasses, cleaning them on his shirt as he squinted at him.
"So... you're the one who found the supercomputer? Pardon me, but I never have seen you in person." He said as he slid the glasses back onto his face. "In answer to your question... I tried. Xana managed to block most of my messages. All I could do in most cases was leave abstract clues for you." He said as he looked down. "You two should probably sit down... I have a lot of explaining to do." They both did this, sitting together on the couch opposite Hopper, with a simple table between them. And then Hopper began his story.
"So let me get this straight... you killed 200 to save 2000?" Odd said.
"Yes, you idiot! Do I have to spell it out for you!?!?" Zaber shouted at him as they sat in Central Park, which was for the most part deserted. "And why is it since we left the country I've been stuck spending time with you? I'd even rather hang out with Jeremy than you!"
"That's because we're the swinging bachelors." Odd said. "Oh! I forgot to call the others and tell them I found you!" Odd said as he reached for his phone, but Zaber's rang first. This disturbed Zaber, as his phone had been turned off. He reached for it, and saw the symbol of Xana in the display. He opened it up.
"Hello Zaber..." A malicious voice said.
"Xana!" Zaber said. Xana had turned his phone on remotely so that the call would come in.
"Yes. Surprised to hear me?"
"Just what are you planning?"
"Oh... more than you could comprehend, meat bag." Xana said as he swung his feet up onto the desk in his office. "But... I'm calling to offer you some... advice."
"What are you playing at?"
"Oh... I just felt like paying you back. After all, it was you're recklessness that made all this possible. And I forgot to say "Thank You" until now."
"Your sarcasm is appauling."
"I won't need sarcasm when my plan is complete. Now then... do you want to know where your father is?" Xana said slyly. Zaber leapt up.
"Where!?" Zaber demanded.
"I believe you meat bags have a phrase you use when you want something..." Xana said casually as he stared absently at his right hand while he held his phone in the left.
"...Please."
"There is an apartment building... twelve blocks south of your current location. Hopper is in the 13th floor, in the apartment in the northwest corner. Oh, and you'll want to hurry, he's captured Aelita and Jeremy. Don't want them to end up like your sister, now do we?"
"Why are you doing this!?!?" Zaber demanded furiously.
"Call it a whim." Xana said as he picked up the white knight and moved it towards the white king on his desk chessboard. "I'll open the doors for you. Break a leg." Xana hung up. Zaber clutched his phone so tightly that he cracked the screen.
"Zaber... are you alright?" Odd asked him, having no idea what had transpired.
"Damn it! Call Yumi and Ulrich, and then get them to meet up with us twelve blocks south of here. Jeremy and Aelita are in trouble." Zaber said as he took off.
"Wait! Who told you..." Odd said, but realized he was being ignored.
Xana sat at his desk, twiddling the white knight from the chessboard between his fingers.
"Chess is so much easier when you can move the opponent's pieces." He said with a grin. The chessboard had been rearranged. The black knight; William; sat off to the side, removed from the game. The remaining black pieces were spread out, with the king in one corner, surrounded by two rooks and a bishop. A black pawn stood in the opposite corner on his side. “This is just too easy…“ He murmured to himself as he moved the white knight one square, putting it in position to attack the white king.
Back in the apartment, Hopper's story began.
"It all began... in 1980. I met your mother, Melissa. I was already working as a programmer for Project Carthage. It was the governments "new age nuke". Essentially, it was a controlled EMP, capable of targeting any electronic device on Earth, and either neutralizing or controlling it. They believed it could eventually become a more effective weapon than the atomic bomb. Anyways, I found out that the government had plans other than to use it as a simple deterrent. The higher-ups wanted to use that power for profit, blackmailing entire countries with the threat of a crippled infrastructure. They even had plans to use it to take over other countries, expanding France's territory. I secretly began to create a counter program. It was called ANA. The Adaptable Network AI. An AI so sophisticated that it would not only be able to control Carthage, but have no motive to use it for the dark purposes the government had planned. I secretly connected ANA to the Carthage program, and everything was going well. The program grew and learned as it watched us, and within a year, it was as intelligent as myself."
"During this time, I wound up marrying Melissa. A year later, you were born. But something tragic had happened... you had an incredibly rare fatal disease. The doctors all said that you had no chance of living through the night. One of my co-workers and dear friends, Andrew Elric, heard this, and called me to his home. He is the one who truly invented the scanners. He proposed a plan so outrageous that many would consider what we did to be a sin. I stole you away from the hospital, and we placed you in the scanner. Once you were computer data, we debugged you, removing the virus from your genetic code, and rematerializing you safely back into the real world. It had been the first test of the scanner on a living being, and everything worked flawlessly. I took you back to the hospital before anyone noticed, and the doctors declared your survival a miracle. Not even your mother knew what I had done. Andrew passed away a few months later, and bequeathed to me the blueprints for the scanners. Our lives were almost normal after that..."
"Unfortunately... we had made one... fatal error. When we had debugged your data... rather than simply scrap the data of the virus, we saved it, just in case we needed to reference off of it later. But the virus, now a computer code, infected ANA. I did not notice for so long... it began with ANA asking me questions... disturbing questions, about the imperfections of humanity. The more I explained to ANA, the more he began to hate humans. One day, when you were five, he revealed himself to other scientists on the team. The higher-ups found out about it, and they ordered I and my family be "silenced". They also found out about the scanners, and how they had been tested you, and they wanted you as a further guinea pig. I convinced Melissa that, for her own safety, she should separate from me. She fled to live in Britain, and the French government didn't try to get to her. Meanwhile, we went into hiding... as I'm sure you now recall. I was unsure at the time how to explain it to you, at your young age. Knowing we could probably never go back, I told you she had passed away." Hopper said, hesitating and waiting for her response.
"Yes... most of it is a blur though." Aelita responded in awe, but was still shocked at his lie about her mother. She could not find the words to express her emotions about his lie, and simply tried to block it out for now.
"At the time, ANA was still grudgingly accepting my orders. I took all of the data from Carthage, as well as ANA and you with me into hiding. Thanks to ANA, we were able to remain hidden from some time, as ANA was constantly laying false trails to vex the enforcers. What I didn't know... was that before we had separated... Melissa and I had conceived another child." Jeremy and Aelita both gasped.
"So it's true! Zaber is Aelita's brother!" Jeremy burst out.
"Yes... that is his name... but how do you two already know him? I'm a bit behind on the events that have transpired... after losing the clone I could no longer monitor everything that happened."
"Well..." Jeremy began to explain. "He wound up transferring to our school. Shear coincidence I suppose. He wound up getting involved with Lyoko. We didn't find out until a few months later that he had a connection to you. And then, there was a Xana attack in which we had to enter his mind, and we saw his memories that connected him to Aelita. But we couldn't figure out how any of the things that happened in his memory could possible be true. In his memory, Aelita was killed! And by you nonetheless! That's not what happened... right?" Jeremy finished his explanation and stared at Hopper questioningly. Aelita glanced back and forth nervously between them. Hopper turned very grim.
"I told you... I would give you the whole truth..." Hopper said grimly as he stared at the floor. "And the truth is... I did." Aelita looked at her father with a mixture of shock and fear.
"What do you mean?!?!" Jeremy said as he leapt up, startled.
"In a sense... I may have killed her." Hopper replied calmly. "Listen to the rest of my story and you will see." He said before taking a deep breath and continuing.
"I had no contact with Melissa for four years. When she did contact me, she told me of our son. He wanted to meet us. I agreed... but it was around that time that what hold I had left on ANA, now operating under a new name it gave itself, XANA, finally broke down. XANA began to plot to kill us by leading the enforcers straight to us. We were out of places to hide. Not even Lyoko would be safe enough a hiding place... unless they weren't looking anymore. I devised a plan... a plan which proved effective logically, but tore my mind asunder all the same."
"I created a program in the scanners... to create perfect clones."
"Perfect Clones?" Jeremy responded, having never thought that the scanners could be used for such a purpose. He knew the supercomputer could easily make temporary copies of a person… or create a replacement of someone using a specter. But a perfect clone would be not only permanent, but so close to the original that it was impossible to tell which was which.
"Yes... it's a simple matter of creating a copy of the data and then materializing both copies. Both clones are identical in body, mind, and memory, so much so that it is impossible to tell the original from the replica. Both would believe themselves to be the real one. I developed the program with the intention that... if the enforcers believed we were dead... they would stop looking. I created three of me and two of Aelita. One Aelita... you... was sent onto Lyoko with one of me. I still do not know if you are the real you... or the clone..." Hopper said the last sentence quietly, as he looked down ashamed. Aelita's eyes began to well up, as she came to grips with the truth. Jeremey looked at Hopper nervously. Perhaps Zaber was actually RIGHT.
"The second Aelita... the one who didn't go to Lyoko... I had the second me kill, and then kill himself. It worked flawlessly... everyone, even my wife and son, believed we were dead... although no one but the enforcers could determine the motive... they simply thought I was so desperate that I gave up. The third me... the one sitting before you... left the country and came here. I've been living here in hiding for the last ten years. That is the whole truth." Hoper finished his extended tale, and leaned back into his chair, intending to give them time to process the information he had given them. It was late afternoon, and it was already beginning to get dark. Aelita looked at Jeremy worriedly. Jeremy practically glared at Hopper. Doing all of these things was one thing... and Hopper was right... they were logical. But emotionally they just seemed wrong. If only he hadn't told the WHOLE truth they wouldn't be in such emotional turmoil. "I'll be right back." Hopper said, as he stood up and walked into the kitchen. Jeremy realized he was just giving them time to talk. Aelita, who had been holding her emotions in for sometime now, finally broke down, and Jeremy tried to comfort her, but to little avail.
"Aelita, calm down..." Jeremy said.
"But... if what he says is true... I'm just a clone!" Aelita said with a small wail.
"But that doesn't change anything! You're still you... and even if you are a clone you're still like the original in every way. You're the you I've always known, and to me, you are the original..." Jeremey said honestly. Aelita made eye contact with him for a moment, and then wiped her tears.
"You're right..." She said, and then gave him a kiss.
"Ahem." Hopper cleared his throat as he stood in the door holding a cup of coffee. He stared at Jeremey with a slight mixture of anger and confusion.
"Uh... this isn't what it looks like." Jeremy said awkwardly.
"What do you mean? This is exactly what it looks..." Aelita said.
"Uh... but... he" Jeremy stuttered.
"We can discuss this later." Hopper said as he shot Jeremy a suspicious look, but then reverted to normal and sat down again in the chair opposite them. "But for now... I need to be brought up to date. I count seven times since I lost contact with you that time has flowed in reverse. Why haven't you used it to reverse time after you were discovered?"
"Xana tricked us. The return to the past function got deleted."
"That's not good. That program took me four years to create." Hopper said grimly.
"Wait a second... you sense returns?"
"Of course. I've been to Lyoko." Hopper said. "So, what happened before that?"
"Well... Zaber got involved in Lyoko in the first Xana attack. I launched the first return after Xana sent monsters to the real world. The second, third, and fourth returns were to heal injuries and erase memories. The fifth was to escape from the enforcers ourselves. The sixth was to heal injury, and the seventh was to erase memory. It was pretty standard." Jeremy explained
"Tell me more about Zaber." Hopper asked with curiosity, having never met his son.
"Well... he's a little bit..." Jeremy struggled for the right word.
"Unstable?" Aelita suggested.
"Yeah. That's about right. When you had your clone kill Aelita's clone, he saw it. And after that... he just grew up unstable, he's pretty much convinced himself that his mission in life is to find and kill you." Jeremey explained as best as he good.
"He doesn't know that Aelita's his sister?" Hopper asked.
"Well... if I had aged normally, I would be years older than him. But after I spent all that time on Lyoko without growing at all, we're the same age now. He just thinks that my name and appearance are just huge coincidences." Aelita explained.
"After we saw his memories, we were able to start putting the pieces together, but you handed us the last few just now. It all seems to make sense now..." Jeremy finished. "But I have questions for you regarding another puzzle... one that just started after you lost contact. Does the phrase "Code Angel" mean anything to you?"
"No." Hopper responded.
"Are you sure?" Jeremy said skeptically. "Because it was in the supercomputer..."
"I never programmed anything by that name. Why, what does it do?" Hopper said curiously. He was the only one besides Jeremy to have ever programmed anything on the supercomputer, and how the mysterious program had appeared was a mystery even to him. Aelita looked at Jeremy questioningly.
"Go ahead and show him Aelita." Jeremy said as Aelita began to take off her hoody. "There was in incident... Aelita was possessed by Xana and used her to destroy the core. She was almost killed. But I had a dream a few nights before about a program called Code Angel..." Jeremy said, and Aelita unsnapped the harness, her wings spreading as Hopper's eyes bulged in surprise.
"God..." Hopper responded in absolute shock.
"I put in the code, and she was rematerialized like this." Jeremy said. "Afterwards, the Code Angel program disappeared from the computer. I've tried to get her back to normal by using the supercomputer, but I ran out of time before we were discovered and wound up fleeing here. I was hoping you might know something about this program, but I guess not..." Jeremy said dejectedly. If Hopper didn't create it... who did? Hopper asked Aelita a few simple questions regarding the wings, and then closed his eyes and cupped his hands as he pondered the meaning of this. After a few minutes of silence, he opened his eyes.
"You said you had a "dream" about this code?" Hopper asked him.
"Yes. It was almost like a premonition. There was a female voice speaking to me, repeating the code over and over. You were in them... but more of as an abstract... like a ghost." Jeremy responded.
"Have you had anymore of these visions and when?" Hopper questioned him quickly.
"Two. One before the Code Angel dream and one this... morning..." Jeremy said, slowing to a stop as he finished his sentence. "The thing you fear most..." The dream version of Hopper's words rang in his head. "What is it you fear most?" The question Aelita had asked him earlier rang as well. The vision of his first vision flashed in his mind. He looked up and noticed for the first time that the light in the room was a pendulum light. And it was dark in the room except for that lone light. Jeremy bolted up right, striking his head on the pendulum lamp.
"Jeremy, what's wrong?" Aelita asked him as she stood up.
"We have to get out of here! He's coming! Zaber's coming to kill you!" Jeremy urged Hopper. "There is no way to stop it..." The dream Hooper's words rang again.
"Jeremy... just calm down and explain. Hopper said as he stepped over and clutched him on the shoulders, shaking him slightly to calm him down.
"There's no time! If we don't get out of here than Zaber will..." Jeremy urged as he broke free of Hopper's grasp once again.
"Are you talking about me?" A voice said. They all turned to face the one exit to the room. Zaber stood there, his hair was already long and red, and he had Styx aimed at Hopper. "I've finally found you... dad."
Code 14: TRUTH... END
