Lucidity

[ Initialising synchronization … ]

Gone was the robotic voice. Instead, MenMen was seeing the words through a pair of eyes inside her head. She felt like a whole new sense had awakened. Like a deep secret had been revealed to her, and she was now able to see anew.

[ Lucidity 53% ]

[ Rejection 50% ]

{ What does that mean? }

She thought, and the words appeared in her head, the same as the dot's words. Only, hers were a deep red, and contained within curly braces. And the dot's were a bright blue, contained within square braces.

[ Lucidity is a measure of how much of the information you are able to perceive. Rejection is a measure of how much you consciously reject the information. ]

{ So, the numbers? What were they? 53 and 50. Are they good? }

There was no answer. But it wasn't very difficult to perceive the meaning. 53% and 50% were as close as they could get to average. She didn't dwell.

{ What can you tell me? }

[ What would you like to know? ]

{ Can I ask anything? }

Again, silence was the answer. She nodded, more to herself. And wondered. What did she want to know? What was the most important question at this very moment?

{ The accident. What happened? }

[ Establishing connection … ]

The three dots were blinking, showing the progress. She waited patiently. While she did, she dug out everything she remembered about dark sites and access cards. She remembered reading a programmer's opinion about how powerful dark sites could be. Access cards by themselves were quite complex. Even among them, some were more complex compared to others. The complexity was a direct representation of ability – the more complex the access card, the more capable the dark site. Considering the black card, the dot and everything that happened, The Dark Blue Sky was clearly impossibly powerful. MenMen's immediate response wasn't fear but excitement.

[ Connection established … ]

[ Dual open channel available. Moderated channel recommended. Please confirm … ]

{ Explain the difference. }

[ Dual open channel is an entirely open communication channel with the server. Serves uninterrupted information. Moderated channel is a channel under the moderation of the local client, ensuring no overload. ]

{ When you say overload, you mean my brain could crash? }

[ The outcome is possible, considering the lucidity and rejection rates. ]

{ I'd like to try the dual open channel, before making a decision. Is that possible? }

[ Yes. Replication of dual open channel is possible through moderated channel, by reducing the moderation to the bare minimum. It can be the temporary choice. ]

{ Great. That's what I choose. Show me the accident. }

After a brief silence, there was an explosion of colour and sound inside her head, stunning her and sending her crashing onto the bed.

[ Pausing processes … ]

[ Re-evaluating stability … ]

The dot fell into a panic. It had almost rebooted when it froze, encountering an unexpected situation.

MenMen was seizing from the overload. It was too much for her. Like a woman, blind all her life, who suddenly gained sight and stared into the sun the first thing, the information erupted in MenMen's head. She couldn't handle it. She couldn't see the pictures playing, or hear the sounds. It all happened in an instant, but it felt so much longer. At the end, just as she was about to collapse, she heard something familiar. The low rumble. It was the single piece of coherence, and she clutched onto it desperately. And everything froze, like someone had hit pause. In that moment of stillness, she found understanding. The dot was showing her the accident. It was she who wasn't able to see. And that wasn't acceptable. She wanted to see. She had to see.

She calmed herself as best as she could, and expressed the command.

{ Again. }

There was a longer silence, before the blue letters appeared.

[ Initialising synchronization … ]

[ Lucidity 64% ]

[ Rejection 32% ]

The dot seemed confused, and disbelieving. MenMen pressed on.

{ Again. }

[ Replicating dual open channel … ]

{ Wait. }

MenMen interrupted the dot, as she gathered her thoughts into a coherent question.

{ A higher lucidity and a lower rejection means greater clarity. Am I right? }

[ Yes. ]

{ Alright. Synchronize again. }

There was an even longer silence. The dot seemed to be debating with itself. Finally, it caved in to MenMen's persuasion.

[ Initialising synchronization … ]

[ Lucidity 69% ]

[ Rejection 21% ]

Without allowing MenMen the opportunity to interrupt again, the dot showed the accident.

There was an explosion of colour and sound. It was painful, but MenMen didn't crash. The picture wasn't clear, and the sound was distorted. She was walking through the school grounds. She heard a low rumble, that she recognized as the car that crashed into her. And then, it went dark. She did see a little more though. The car hadn't come from behind, but from her left side. It came straight at her. She was lost too deep inside her head to notice then, but she saw now. She wasn't sure though. Was the car aiming for her? Could it be?

{ Show me again. A little slower, please. }

There was an explosion of colour and sound. It was a lot less painful, almost like a small needle stabbed her in her head. The picture wasn't perfect, but the noise in the picture was distracting at best. She could see with almost complete clarity. And the sound was as clear as it would have been if she had returned to the scene. She was walking through the school grounds. She could hear the crunch under her shoes. She could recognize the sound of the car's engine, getting louder as it came closer. The moment before impact, the sound of the car was deafening.

{ Pause. }

The scene paused. She turned to her left, toward the car. And immediately recognized the dark red sports car. Maue, from a grade up, was boasting about it to the whole school. It was all Maue and his two best friends, Shiv and Tuck, could talk about. For three whole months, they steered every conversation to the red sports car. What was the name? The answer appeared in her head. Mastiff. Like the dog. Was that the three of them in the car? She squinted looking harder, but couldn't make out the faces. The picture wasn't the best. If she couldn't see from so far away, she just had to go closer. And that was exactly what she did. She walked over, stood next to the car on the driver's side. Sure enough, Maue was behind the wheel. Tuck was next to him. Shiv was in the back. There was also someone else. A girl with blue streaks in her short black hair. Who was it? Nana. From her class. And Tuck's friend.

Why would the four of them want to crash the car into her? She thought hard, and remembered something she heard. Mitt, the same grade as Maue, was boasting about the new car he was getting custom made. Not a sports car, but a high end luxury car. Ghost. That was what the car was called. He said the car would be delivered in a week. When it arrived, it would overshadow Maue's Mastiff. Was that it?

She could hear Nana from the back of the car, from a minute ago.

"That's right," Nana was saying. "You get into an accident. The car is damaged. You ask for a new one. If you just crashed it, then yeah, you would get scolded. But, what if, someone deliberately caused the accident? What if an idiot with no clue jumped in front of the car? And there was nothing you could do. You crash into her. The car is damaged. You demand she pay for the repairs. Send her the bill. Sell the car. And get a new one, while promising your dad that you'll be a lot more careful around idiots in the future."

The three boys agreed readily to the plan. Just then, they saw the idiot, walking through the school grounds. Maue floored the accelerator, and ran toward the idiot.

MenMen returned to where she was. The car inches away from her. The four in the car grinning wide, their eyes gleaming with madness.

{ Play. }

The car crashed into her, lifting her off of her feet, over it's top, and to the ground behind. She felt the excruciating pain, but she didn't black out. Bearing the indescribable pain, she pushed toward the car that had gone some distance before breaking and coming to a stop after drawing a full circle with the smouldering tyres. The four inside had bruises on their faces, but showed no pain. There was only curiosity on their faces as they looked toward her collapsed on the ground. The car was damaged. There were cracks in the windshield, faint dents in the front bumper. Could those even be considered damages, under the circumstances? They got out of the car, groaning and stumbling. Studied the car, groaning louder in complaint. And then, as others gathered, they began hurling abuses at the fallen girl, the perpetrator. And, without the slightest hesitation, without expressing the smallest doubt, everyone joined them, cursing at the fallen girl. There were even a few who went over and kicked the girl, demanding she stop acting. It was just a little blood, they said. She didn't have to put up the act. No one was going to believe her. Especially when they could see how badly the car was damaged. Her envy was ugly, they said.

It was a while before the teachers arrived, and some time after arriving, one of them finally called for an ambulance.

{ End. }

MenMen was out of her head, and back in the hospital room. She was drenched in sweat, and breathing hard. Her hands were clenched. Her eyes were filled with pain and tears. But there was also a blindingly bright light in the depths. As she calmed herself, the dot synchronized again.

[ Lucidity 100% ]

[ Rejection 0% ]