I have some...unfortunate news to report. But report I shall, all the same. Some of you here helped me, and I feel you deserve to see what your aid has brought me.

I have found and apprehended Chiraben.

The two of us battled again last week near Osaka, Japan. The battle was epic. It was like something out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, complete with the bamboo forest. A carpet of green was under our bare feet. We glowered at each other, sizing each other up while maneuvering through wrist-thick stalks that touched the sky, both of us moving at cheetah-speed. It seemed somehow appropriate for our final battle to happen here, on a field where centuries before, honorable men of the sword had come to resolve their differences. We had a chance to exchange some brief words while we fought, clashing and drawing away, screaming insults, threats and veiled information at each other as we plotted tactics in our head. He tried to unnerve me, telling me that he had raped Jenny before he killed her.

The claim was obviously a pathetic fabrication, but this tells me something important; and that is that he somehow got intelligence on me. He wouldn't have known enough to make that comment or how it might potentially have affected me if he didn't know who I was and why I was following him. Someone is supplying him with dangerous information because they want me dead. One guess as to who that might be.

I digress. At the speed both of us can move, I can't imagine that the fight and the conversation it encompassed lasted longer than ten seconds. When all was said and done, I had taken one of Chirabens hands. He managed to stabbed me. I suffered a punctured lung. It is with great regret that I report that we both retreated at nearly the same time. I had little choice. If I did not receive medical attention immediately, I may very well have died. Chiraben was at half combat-effectiveness because of his missing hand, and though I wanted to finish him off, I knew it would have to wait for another day. I fled to the home of an ally of mine to be healed. Apparently, Chiraben has yet to find a way to get his hand back.

But that is certainly not the end. Yesterday, I finally achieved victory, as shallow and empty as it was. I finally apprehended Chiraben in a squalid fishing village in western Peru. Untainted by Project Utopia's "reform", this is a place where children still die of malnutrition and the water is still brown. Here, living like a pauper and sewing a torn fishing net, I finally found Chiraben. Only there is no more Chiraben. Not as far as Miguel Espinosa is concerned, anyway.

And who the hell is Miguel Espinosa? He's a Hispanic man in his late 20's with a thin moustache, greasy black hair and the build of a bodyguard. He's a pretty jovial, albeit slightly reclusive fellow who likes salted Herring more than anything else in the world He isn't terribly bright. He lives in a shack made out of discarded bits of wood, with a dirt floor and a bed of straw and old cloth to sleep on.

Up until a few days ago, he also had glowing green eyes that tended to bulge a bit. Of course, Miguel Espinosa didn't exist a week ago. Before then, he was a nova named Chiraben.

Miguel Espinosa doesn't know who I am and he's never heard of data corruption encountered... But he did hear about the unfortunate death of "that nice girl" Jennifer Landers, and he really likes those nice Project Utopia people who worked so hard to clean up Mexico. He looks forward to the day they come to Peru, so he can meet Ricardo Montoya-Bernal.

Miguel Espinosa and Chiraben share physical characteristics, fingerprints and genetic code. They have the same scars. They're the same age. They both have flat feet and they both are missing their left hand. The only notable differences between Miguel Espinosa and Chiraben is that, for starters, Miguel Espinosa isn't a nova.

Miguel Espinosa does not have bulging green eyes. He doesn't have claws that could tear through steel. He isn't powerful enough to lift a dumptruck. He doesn't have a node at all.

He does, however, have a big fucking scar on his forehead where the Pineal Gland and M-R Nodes both happen to be.

The other notable difference is that Miguel and Chiraben have different thoughts, different memories and different pasts. When Miguel tells me he isn't Chiraben and that he's never murdered anybody, he is telling the truth, because to his knowledge, he isn't Chiraben and he hasn't murdered anyone. His past is a mnemonic fog. All any of us can gleam are very generic flashes of memory, flickers at best. They could have easily been manufactured. Enough memories for a simple baseline fisherman with no cares, but not enough to stand up under scrutiny.

This man is Chiraben. Someone has lobotomized his node, erased his memory and given him a new one. The questions, then, are why -- and who.

I'm reasonably sure that whoever did this to Chiraben, it's the same person or people who ordered Jennifer dead. data corruption encountered..., if I may be so bold as to quote the common parlance. I'm willing to be that his superiors wanted me to disappear and gave Chiraben the resources and intel to do it. When he failed to kill me, they marked him as a liability.

So why, then? Why go to all the trouble when they could just kill him? In the nova age, dead men sometimes can tell tales, and I'd wager that they didn't want a corpse around to release any "sensitive" information. This in mind, I'd guess that either through force or through deceit, they erased his memory (and did a very good job, I add), implanted false ones and (this is the part I know Chiraben wouldn't have willingly signed on for) lobotomized his node.

From there, they dropped him in a cultural backwater and washed their hands of the matter. Why let him live, then? Excellent question.

If he lives, they have done their job so thoroughly that there is no possibility he could damage them in any conceivable way. If I come gunning for him, as I am sure they assumed I would, the problem will take care of itself. His living serves their purposes in that if I had come storming in like the warth of god and slaughtered him, his body would have been tossed into a coummunal grave or burned, thus eliminating any evidence without so much as a coroner's certificate.

As I started this off saying, what a hollow victory. At last, I have the executioner by the tail. Long have I battled and far have I traveled in seeking retribution, and now all I find is a simpering, idiot monkey no more guilty of crime than a child. Miguel Espinosa happens to be borderline retarded.

This isn't what I wanted. I wanted a fair fight. I wanted a battle of honor. I wanted to earn justice. And instead, it is handed to me. I know this has got to be a very special, fond farewell fuck-you from data corruption encountered.... They've got my bio. They knew this would kill me.

Something given has no value. Chiraben has been given to me, and now I don't want him. This is sickening irony. I bet those motherfuckers are laughing their sick fucking asses off, right now as I type.

Chiraben has been taken into custody. I'm still debating what I want to do with Miguel Espinosa. Currently, he is at one of our strongholds, alive and unharmed, though very much confused. He is no longer a priority, however.

If someone did indeed erase Chirabens memories, they would have had to do so only through viewing those memories themself. Erasing a mind is not like erasing a hard drive. Which means that somewhere out there, there is a person who knows everything Chiraben knew.

My goal now is to find this person, whoever they are, and to find the people who comprise data corruption encountered....

What happens then, I'm sure you can guess.

I'm declaring war on data corruption encountered....

There will be a reckoning.

--Avenger

Welcome to the party.

I'd like to see him if you would allow it.

That can be...arranged, Apep. If you consider it important to you. I will comply, but there are conditions:

1. You and I will meet at a location chosen by myself.
2. You will be purposely stricken of your baseline senses so as to keep the location of Chiraben secret.
3. You can visit him and even talk with him or touch him. I don't mean to threaten -- this is not a threat, merely a warning -- but if you attempt to free him or harm him in any way, action will be taken against you.
4. I would ask, as a favor, that you do not tamper with his mind in any way, if such was your intent. This quandary is difficult enough without him getting him memories back or his brain being nullified.
5. When you are done, I'll take you anywhere in the world you like. I would ask that you keep this meeting as quiet as possible.

On a personal note, judging from what I know of your past, I can guess why you might want to visit Miguel. But if you feel so inclined, humor me. What is it you want to meet him?

--Avenger

------------------
"Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired."

avengingcrusader@hotmail.com

Avenger, check two things out for me.
One, check for his bone marrow for signs of potassium fulminate residue. It shouldn't be there, but if it is, check his bicipetal lobe for signs if pathway realignment. If the pathways haven't been completely realigned, you have a serious problem. Hell, we all have a serious problem.

I will agree with your conditions. I have no desire to free him or hurt him. For once he is free(even if you have him locked up) and I think he's been hurt worse than anything I could ever do to him. I don't have the means to tamper with his mind. So you have no worries there.

I just need to see him. Personal reasons like you figured, I guess I just need to close that book is all.

Thank you for allowing me this. I will make it up to you in info when we meet.

Jager,
What exactly are you trying to say?

Avenger,

data corruption encountered...did the same thing to another assassin my friends and I tracked down a year or so ago. We found him dying in the desert, without any memory of his former life or his victims. I wonder at this treatment. Could data corruption encountered... have a pyschological warfare division who believe in this method of dealing with "past date" killers?

I prefer a straight one on one fight to the finish also. I am a great believer in justice and find this approach disheartening. I believe that this is what is intended. Call me Avenger and I'll lend what assistance I can to your cause. If you need a secure place to stay or hold people let me just say that I know of places that are "out of this world" that you can use.

Apep,
Let's just say that I am praying that somethings remained locked away in the past, where they belong. With any luck, Avenger will tell me that I am way off base, everything checks out as normal, and then everything will be okay.
You, of all people, should be aware of my background.

Ranger,
Were did you bury the body? Just curious.

Body? He's still very much alive and well and working as a bag packer in Wal Mart. I thought it a fitting end for one of the most vicious men I have ever met. Besides, someone might come after him and them I'll have them.

Jager --

Potassium Fulminate? No...why? I'm well aware that Potassium Fulminate is a rather volatile, even explosive chemical, but why would there be residue of it in his bone marrow?

Regardless, no, there wasn't.

As for his Bidipetal lobe...well...why don't you tell me exactly what you're getting at with all this. Quid pro quo, Jager. You're not telling me something.

Anything you have to say has probably come too late, but I'd like to know what this is all about nonetheless.

Too late? Ah. I'll expand on that later.

--Avenger

------------------
Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired.

avengingcrusader@hotmail.com

Could this be missing the import of this?
God has shown you a way to clense yourself of Lucifer's demonic touch.
Rejoice true children of God, as indeed I am. There is perhaps another way that does not entail lethal force.

I will donate a free scalpel to any who wish to come back into the light.

As for data corruption encountered... I too wish to see them stopped. They have no respect for life. While I have no problem with the extermination of you taint afflicted satanic pawns, they methods involve the random deaths of innocents and this cannot be condoned. They must be stopped.
God gave us minds with which to deal with one another. Such violence is unacceptable.

We are not evil creatures or animals.

You are though.

Avenger
I knew of a nova who could only operate in the body of another nova and would die without a host. P-F was used in the process of forceably removing "her" from the host if she had been in it too long. That and removing the node, of course.

Did you find anything unusual in the bone marrow or reproductive tissues? Another process may have been invented.

Also, with the proper harmonic frequency, the subject can spontaneously combust. Not a pretty site and nearly untraceable.

I am sorry if this is way off base, but that was someone I couldn't help but feeling paranoid about.

It is with no amount of mirth that I can now report that this chapter of my hunt has come to a close. The matter of Miguel Espinosa -- Chiraben -- is laid to rest in my mind, though were it that my mind could finally rest. No, not today, and not a goodly many days to come, I'll wager. When I sleep, should ever I feel the need again, it will be restless. The events of the last several hours will plague me for all my days.

Even with my cognizant reflexes as they are (and I can think faster than Jager runs), it took me a full forty-six hours to sift through every detail, every memory, ever facent of Miguel's mind. As simple as the false memories he was seeded with were, they were legion, and I felt it prudent to take the time to examine each and every one for any hint of tampering, sloppiness or recall of what was once Chiraben. What I found, I am sad to report, was far more horrible.

Though I did not find what I think you feared I would, Jager, I did find something of interest. In the interest of the dissemation of information, I shall tell you all what I found.

It was floating around in Miguel's subconscious. Which is a pretty horrible place, I might add. As cheerful a guy as Miguel is, it's obvious that inside he's a powder keg of rage, which I think fits Chiraben well. Miguel's subsconscious is an amorphous, Escher-like wasteland where people, animals and plants are dead or dying, your worst nightmares spring out at you from within every darkened shadow and the intangible quasi-reality melts like hot wax when you try to reach to it. Over this is a thinly-veiled layer of what could be described as kindness and virtue, though it is superficial -- topical -- at best, like putting a Lovecraftian demon into a rabbit costume. If what this represents is any indication, it seems to me that Miguel was programmed to self-destruct one day, though not the way Jager thinks. If I had never got to him, there would have invariably come a time that his inner self would have emerged again. He would have done some more horrible things. All that was needed was for that varnish of decency to be stripped off by the most meaningless sleight.

I suppose you can erase a mans memories and replace them with knew ones, but you can't change his nature. Will a man, if given the memories of someone his complete opposite, become as his new past would dictate? Or are we in fact more than the accumulation of our memories? It is as true here as it is true of anything; the whole is more than the sum of its parts. The whole of Chiraben is that of a monster, and nothing will change that forever.

It was here, as I was wandering around inside Chiraben's psyche, that I began to find myself strangely drawn to a massive, black obelisk in the distance. In the overcast, lightning-lit sky above, with thunder rolling in my ears, I muled on towards this seeming bastion of stability in a world where everything was temporal. After trudging through a dreamscape best left described by Dante, I came to a sheer, black plate of obsidian. It was monstrous in size, like a two-story building. On it was carved the message that follows.

It was for me.

"Even now, I curse the day, and yet I think few quite within the compass of my curse wherein I did not do some notorious evil as kill a man, or else devise his death; ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it; accuse some innocent, and foreswear myself; set deadly enmity between two friends; make poor mens' cattle break their necks; set fire on barns and haystacks in the night and bid the owners quench them with their tears. Oft, have I digged up dead men from their graves and set them upright at their dear friends' door even when their sorrows almost was forgot. And on their skins, as on the bark of trees, have I carved with my knife in Roman letters, 'Let not thy sorrow die, though I am dead'!

But I have done a thousand dreadful things as willingly as one would kill a fly -- and nothing grieves me so heartily indeed but that I cannot do ten thousand more.

And why should wrath be mute and fury dumb? I am no babe, I, that with these base prayers I should repent the evil I have done. Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did would I perform if I might have my will.

If one good deed in all my life I did, I do repent it from my very soul."

The lines are from 'Titus Andronicus', but this was no less than Chiraben channeling the Bard himself, a message left for me to find in the darkest recesses of his psyche, a special farewell, a demonic giggle from one who cheated me out of my revenge. He knew what I would do.

I don't think Miguel even saw it coming.

--Avenger

------------------
Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired.

avengingcrusader@hotmail.com

We are not the sum of our memories.

You are absolutely correct Apep. I above all others should know this.

Avenger, Chiraben is dead, and he laughs from the grave. Laugh back for he is no more, your actions have saved the world a great deal of pain. Don't let ghostly gloating spoil your victory. You may not have fired the mental shot that wiped his existance but you stopped Chiraben as surely as if you had shot him dead. He gloats to sour your victory and ease his defeat, laugh and he loses one more time.

Apep, I'm sorry. I had hoped that you may not chance across what I had written here, though there was little doubt that you would. My anger got the better of me, though the truth is that I would have killed him even if I had time to think better of it. I am sorry. I did not mean to eavesdrop, but when I lead you to Miguel's cell and closed you in with him, I stayed outside. Initially, I just wanted to make sure you didn't hurt him. But as I listened, I could hear the pain and misery in your voice. You've had your heart broken. I'm sorry to say that I can empathize. I'm sorry I heard you cry.

You needn't pay me back for this. You don't owe me anything. Should you ever have information I require, I would hope you would share with me because we now know each others' faces. I will do anything I can to help you with your endeavors in the future, you've only to ask.

I would ask, though; what I found in Chiraben's mind...did this sound like him? Chiraben always struck me as uneducated and crass. Hardly the sort to quote Shakespeare. Perhaps I'm wrong.

And Gargoyle, I appreciate your encouragement, and you are right, but it comes as little consolation to me. Thank you, though, thank you for lifting me up at this moment. It is sorely needed.

Unfortunately, I know why Chiraben laughs. And it is because he is a tiny cog in a vast, oily machine. I have done little more than destroy the knife the killer committed the crime with.

There is still much to do.

--Avenger

------------------
Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired.

avengingcrusader@hotmail.com

Avenger, I don't ever remember him mentioning Shakespear,but there are many holes in my memory. You're right, he was crass and uneducated, but there was a lot more to him than the front he put up. He could have, I just don't know.

I may have some info for you, but I need help accessing it. I'm not sure if my memories were erased completely or if they were just locked away. I get flashes of stuff so there may be hope. I haven't met any telepaths that were skilled enough to help me so maybe you know someone? If nothing else, I will at least contact you about what I do remember.

You didn't have to apologize, but thanks anyways.

[This message has been edited by Apep (edited 09-12-2001).]

As long as it wasn't the Tempest.

The...'Tempest', Jager?

------------------
Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired.

avengingcrusader@hotmail.com

The play "The Tempest". Was the quote from that play, specifically from the role of Caliban?

No, Jager, the lines were from the play 'Titus Andronicus', one of the Bards' earlier works, and one that is renowned for it's poor quality. The character in question was 'Aaron the Moor', a Shakespearean villain if ever there was.

Just curious, why do you ask? I can hear you thinking, Jager. Don't leave me in the dark.

--Avenger

------------------
Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired.

avengingcrusader@hotmail.com

I am looking for the MO of someone I remember, but who may not be active anymore. I really nasty person how liked destroying lives and specialized in long-term possession and corruption. The is the first evidence that might indicate that this individual may be active. Those who 'know' me, know what I am talking about.

Sadly, the technique is clever and the possiblility that another could adopt it is clearly evident.

Well met all,

First of all, let me say Avenger that I am sorry if your quest did not end how you wished it to. However, do not feel as though you have accomplished nothing. You may have destroyed (or forced the destruction) of a mere "cog" but machines such as this require allt heir parts to function smoothly. Your actions may ahve forced a replacement but they have also given you and any who wish to share the info with the oppurtunity to start damaging our biggest opressor directly. That is of great value in itself. Though our mutual philosophical ideas already encourage co-operation, I freely offer whatever assistance I can give to you. Likewise Jager, if you wish to investigate this matter you mentioned, I am at your disposal. We have worked well before.

This incident is troubling but not entirely unexpected or surprising. The technology has existed for over fifty years to alter personality on the deepest level. Through use of drugs, hypnosis, and psychological methods some people have been completely erased and remade into different people. It has been rare but possible. Like most other things, it is inevitable that some nova or another would decide to improve the process or create an entirely new and more effective one. What must be done here is establishing among the nova community that such things are not acceptable, perhaps even to the point of finding the one(s) responsible and punishing them. *sigh* Truly disturbing however. In any event, my offer of aid extends to all my nova brothers and sisters. (After investigation to assure mutual safety and honesty, naturally) take care my friends, and watch your backs.

Hydra

Hydra, I am not sure this is the type of person that we want to go looking for. At the very least, I would like to meet up with a highly qualified 'tepe' that you trust before embarking on that road. I don't know anyone tough enough to be of any help.

My own rather unique ability might be the way forward on that one. I can, quiet literally "remember you wholesale". Its a lot safer than attempted telepathy, you don't even need to go near them mentally.

I probably shouldn't be going out on a limb like this, spreading information about a fellow Terat who values his privacy...but what the hell. It would do Maede some good if more people knew he existed.

A pal of mind, Maede, can do much the same thing, Gargoyle. But for him it's a curse. He has incredible Telepathy, but unfortunately, coming in proximity of another person causes him to "absorb" that persons entire life. Even after a casual meeting, he knows your entire life. And because of his intelligence, probably better than you know yourself. It can't be controlled, though, which is why he chooses to meet with so few people.

What I'm getting at, Gargoyle, is be careful. You don't want to end up like Maede. Trust me.

-- Avenger

------------------
Don't try to run, you son of a bitch. You'll just die tired.

avengingcrusader@hotmail.com

Avenger, I however would be fascinated at meeting Maede. While I am in constant contact with my various selves it is really more like I am talking to myself. I would love the opportunity to get to know them as they were as individuals. It would give me great insight to various drives and desires that are difficult for me to identify because they are both part, yet not part of my own personality.

Do you think he would be able to handle such a case? I don't try to inflate my own importance, I am sure that my small mental peculiarities are the merest trifle when compared with others. However, I do have access to information, resources and a few number of unique devices of my own creation. Perhaps he might be willing to rent out his services in the name of good mental health?

James, think about what you are saying. You are one of the brightest beings on this planet. Do you really want the sum total of your existance rattling around someone elses head? The scope of the memories alone are frightening.

I'm not sure I would wish to inflict my life upon any poor soul but I am near out of options. Could you possibly relay my situation to him? I'm sure some sort of payment could be agreed upon.

My power is not really telepthy Averger, I just funnel IQ and memory out of the subject reducing them to a vegetable in three seconds flat. I don't retain it for very long unless I make a big effort and I do have to touch them to create the link so I don't have your friends problems. I also don't get the emotional baggage of the person so its more like watching TV than a mental attack...actually its kinda fun sometimes...I'll let you think on that one

Apep, are you sure you want to know?

Personally, I am missing four hours of my life, but a friend died to protect that information and I am not sure I want to know what it was. Sometimes we should leave the ghosts of the past at rest.

Four hours is one thing nearly twenty years is another. It's almost like I didn't even exist before just a few years ago. Yes, I want to know.

Apep, I may be of some help. While I don't have telepathic abilities that can pull the memories from your skull, traditional forms of psychotherapy (hypnotic regression, etc.) might be able to help. I am quite skilled in those areas and can access the skill of masters in the field if need be. If you are willing to commit the time, I would be more than happy to help you.

Your right, Apep. My situation does not prepare me to understand yours. The problem is, who do you trust with your past?

I guess I am just worried about you, Daughter of the Serpant and Friend of the Night. Whoever you decide to go with, be it Gargoyle, Adept, or Avenger's friend, Maede, I would like to be there with you. I have a feeling that no matter what turns up, you might need a friend.

Daughter of the Serpent, Jager? What exactly does that make me, then?