RAPUNZ3L

“There it is again.”

FL0R1Z3L highlights the code buried deep within the layers.

“Strange. It looks rhythmic. Almost like…”

She reaches up and grips the ear cups of her headphones, and stretches the headband just enough to place them on her ears.

She clicks an on screen button, then presses her hands on the sides of the headphones in anticipation.

FL0R1Z3L’s eyes widen as a smile of wonder plays at her lips.

“Definitely originates within a ‘wilderness’ zone.” She taps and clicks. “Maybe someone infiltrated that zone, and is showing off? Would like to meet that Jackhead if that’s the case.”

Neons and white splash across her face, and the walls of her room, as she continues to map the data.

“Gonna be dangerous…” She sighs and drums her fingers on the desk. “Frack it.”

FL0R1Z3L removes her headphones, and stands.

She walks over to her customized InterfaceChair, sits down sideways, as her fingers dance across the keyboard.

She takes a deep breath and slides on the wired helmet.

FL0R1Z3L swings her body in the seat, and lies back in the full-body articulated chair.

Her right index finger taps a button, and a scorpion tail-like tube emerges from under the chair.

The stinger administers a 1mL dose of Farazon-12 and puts FL0R1Z3L into the trancelike state needed to properly jack in.

As her body numbs, her mind rears back, then fires out, traversing the invisible pathways to the outskirts of the Zone.

She takes a moment to acclimate to being immersed in the Network.

As always, she feels the tethering, and touches the back of her head.

In the distance stands a tower, its base surrounded in a mound of shifting black.

FL0R1Z3L approaches, and sees the smooth, featureless gray spire has nothing but a single open window at the top, and morphing black shards of Black ICE encircling the bottom.

“I can bypass that,” she mutters to herself. “But best not rush in blind.”

FL0R1Z3L finds a concealed location and considers her next move.

As she waits, she hears singing begin to drift from the top of the tower.

“Sounds so sad, but it’s even more beautiful than the Orglex Synthony.”

FL0R1Z3L closes her eyes and listens.

The singing eventually stops, and FL0R1Z3L opens her eyes to soon see a hunched, hooded figure approach the tower.

They pass through the Black ICE unphased to the base of the tower, and they begin to weave code into the air.

01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01100100 01101111 01110111 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101000 01100001 01101001 01110010

Six sets of bound, thick golden cables emerge from the window. Four reach up and grip the top of the tower, while the other two cascade down the front on the right and left until they reach the ground.

The hunched and hooded figure grips one with each hand, and is pulled up into the tower.

The other cables retract into the tower as the figure disappears from view.

“What in Gib’s ghost?” FL0R1Z3L clicks her left thumbnail several times under her teeth, then settles in and waits until the figure eventually emerges again, descending the same way they ascended.

FL0R1Z3L disconnects from the Network and waits a few moments to reacclimate to the real world.

01110000 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101

FL0R1Z3L spends several days observing, and grows confident in the consistency of the hooded figure’s schedule, and the code, and finally approaches the tower.

She carefully bypasses the Black ICE, and inputs the code.

Golden cables descend, and FL0R1Z3L nervously takes one in each hand.

Her ascent is smooth and quick, and she is brought through the window with ease.

As her eyes adjust to the change in light, she sees the cables retracting to the far wall.

They slither and slide back to their origin, still leaving about three feet worth attached and extending from the head of a young woman.

The woman is suspended just above the floor in an indentation in the wall that fully surrounds her body. She does not move, but her shimmering blue eyes lock onto FL0R1Z3L.

“You are not M0TH3R G0TH3L,” the young woman says.

“No,” FL0R1Z3L answers simply. “I’m FL0R1Z3L.”

“I am RAPUNZ3L.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” FL0R1Z3L smiles.

“You as well,” a faint smile appears on RAPUNZ3L’s lips. “How did you find me?”

“I heard you singing.”

“Oh. I did not know anyone was listening. Or if there is any artistic merit to it.”

FL0R1Z3L’s lips pressed together in amusement. “It’s beautiful.” She nodded in sincerity.

“Thank you.” Another faint smile. “I have never had another visitor. Will you tell me about where you are from?”

“Gladly.”

Hours quickly pass as FL0R1Z3L shares with RAPUNZ3L.

“I hate to leave, but there is only so long I can stay here,” FL0R1Z3L explains.

“I understand,” RAPUNZ3L responds. “Will you come to see me again?”

“Of course.”

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Over the next several weeks, FL0R1Z3L regularly visits.

Some days FL0R1Z3L reads to RAPUNZ3L or shares stories from her world.

Others, she just sits, leans against the wall, and listens to RAPUNZ3L sing.

“May I ask you something?” FL0R1Z3L asks one day.

“Of course.”

“I know you told me G0TH3L essentially made you, but you’ve never told me why.”

“For knowledge,” RAPUNZ3L answers. “I am connected to everything in the Network, as you call it. If it can be known here, then I can access it. But… I cannot experience it. I feel… frustration? I am adrift in a vast ocean of knowledge and comprehension, but I am not a part of it. It feels…”

“Lonely?” FL0R1Z3L’s voice cracks and shakes.

“Yes.” RAPUNZ3L answers. “I long to see what else is out there with my own eyes. I know I cannot enter into your world, but I want to see this one. I want to feel and experience… With you.”

“PUNZ, I…” FL0R1Z3L approaches, and slowly raises a shaking hand. “May I?”

“Yes.”

FL0R1Z3L gently touches the side of RAPUNZ3L’s face.

RAPUNZ3L trembles nervously and closes her eyes to focus on the simple sensation.

“I promise you,” FL0R1Z3L says. “We’ll find a way to get you out.”

RAPUNZ3L opens her eyes, which seem to shine even brighter than usual.

“I…” FL0R1Z3L stumbles in her words.

“Yes.” RAPUNZ3L affirms and smiles.

FL0R1Z3L leans forward and kisses FL0R1Z3L softly, then rests her forehead against RAPUNZ3L’s.

“We’re going to get you free.”

01110000 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101

Another week passes as FL0R1Z3L feverishly works on how to isolate RAPUNZ3L’s existence code and not harm her when removing her from her bindings.

If there was a simple way, only G0TH3L knew it. But either way, that knowledge wasn’t available in the Network.

After much frustration, FL0R1Z3L finally gets some hope.

“That just might do it!” She smiles excitedly. “I’ll have her check my theory, but I think this is it.”

FL0R1Z3L rushes to the chair, and jacks in.

She rushes past the Black ICE, weaves the code, and ascends the tower.

“I think I found it!” FL0R1Z3L announces excitedly.

“Found what?”

A sneering voice responds.

FL0R1Z3L’s eyes adjust and she sees the empty, hollowed out space in the wall where RAPUNZ3L used to be, and the ends of the golden cables severed and slashed.

The hunched and hooded crone steps forward, her twisted face leering with contempt.

“What have you done to her?” FL0R1Z3L shouts.

“I have severed her link,” G0TH3L sneers. “Ripped away her connection, and cast her out with the knowledge you will never see each other again.”

FL0R1Z3L clenches her fists.

“Now die with the knowledge that her fate was your doing.” G0TH3L brandishes a jagged knife.

NecroEncephalon code emanates from G0TH3L’s hand, and surrounds the blade.

FL0R1Z3L has nowhere to go but backward, and tumbles out of the window.

Disconnect, please…

I’m going to die…

I’m so sorry PUNZ…

FL0R1Z3L plummets face first into the shards of Black ICE before she ejects from the Network…

Her screams of pain are so horrific, that her Neuro-Snuff peddling, and NarcoSlug dealing, neighbors risk TCPD investigation by calling emergency services.

01110000 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101

“You understand you can’t enter the Network again. It will result in a coma at best, death at worst. The damage to your brain and body is too extensive.”

“I understand,” she mumbles.

FL0R1Z3L now spends her days, blind and partially paralyzed, scanning and listening to code. Her familiarity, and aid of her newly installed voice system, allow her to translate it all into picture in her mind, though it’s not much comfort.

Months go by with no sense of day or night, and wake and sleep blending together.

Then, one day, she hears it.

Singing.

She feels the ache in her quickening heart.

“Locate that signal’s origin,” she commands the voice activation system.

With tightening throat and shaking hands, FL0R1Z3L stumbles her way to the chair.

“Lock in, and prep a 3 mL Farazon dose.” FL0R1Z3L slides the helmet on, lies back, and pauses. Her hands grip the armrests as tightly as she is able. “Execute.”

Pain surges through her as her mind fires out.

She arrives feeling untethered, and standing at the edge of a small path that leads to a fence enclosed cottage.

FL0R1Z3L hears singing within the home, but does not call out for fear of breaking the spell.

The singing stops as FL0R1Z3L opens the gate and steps into the yard.

A sob of overwhelming joy escapes FL0R1Z3L’s lungs as she covers her mouth and falls to her knees at the sight of RAPUNZ3L emerging from the doorway.

RAPUNZ3L, weeping, rushes to FL0R1Z3L, and wraps her arms around her.

“I never thought I’d see you again.” RAPUNZ3L sobs into FL0R1Z3L’s hair. “But…” her tender hand caresses the back of FL0R1Z3L’s head. “You’re disconnected.”

“It doesn’t matter.” FL0R1Z3L gently shakes her head, looks up at RAPUNZ3L, and softly runs her fingers through RAPUNZ3L’s short, golden hair. “I’m right where I need to be.”