d*******2
发帖数: 3045 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 Joke 讨论区 】
发信人: Highly (高妹), 信区: Joke
标 题: Re: 【买提连载】Break Free 2: Filtration
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Mon Aug 29 01:58:33 2016, 美东)
Break Free 2: Filtration
---A MITBBS Fiction Series, by Fiona Rawsontile, Aug 29 2016
Chapter One: The List
“Not ming yan---ming yuan, YUAN!” Bamma said patiently, leaning over
towards his daughter’s computer.
“I hate learning Chinese!” Nasha pounded on the keyboard in frustration.
“Especially slang Chinese. Why do I have to do this?”
“Because one day you might need the protection …” Bamma said in a soft
voice, more to himself than to his daughter. His eyes stared at the air in
front of him, as if seeing something horrible drawing near. How could he
protect his family, if that day did come? And if he, the president of the
country, was unable to do so, what about his citizens?
“Dad, what does that mean by ‘As long as Postdoc Mentor’?”
Realizing the question, Bamma blushed. “That is … just … I don’t think
you should …”
“Mr. President.” Luckily his secretary entered the room, saving him from
further embarrassment. “Mr. Karter is here to see you.”
Bamma exhaled. “Keep working, sweetheart.” He left his daughter’s study
and headed to a conference room. This was not going to be a breezy meeting.
He knew it. In fact, he was glad that this mansion was not his permanent
home.
The Secretary of Defense was pacing in the room when Bamma entered. “Just
shut the whole thing off, sir.” Karter said through his teeth, his face the
color of pork liver. “Shut down any similar forum, Hua Ren, Wenxue City,
whatever!”
“There will be more,” Bamma said emotionlessly. “And they can all speak
English.”
“Well, give the Chinese free cables, free TVs, free food. Tie them with
Webchat, Pokemon. In the worst case, shut the Internet in the whole country
and stop all immigrations.”
Bamma waited for a long moment until Karter collected himself. “Do you have
the list?”
“That’s why I’m here.” Karter took out a piece of paper from an inner
pocket and handed it to Bamma. There were a few forum IDs written by hand.
That was why Bamma liked him---he didn’t use a flash drive; he didn’t
print it out from a computer document; stayed away from any computer or
electronics.
Bamma browsed through the list and frowned. “SpringRoll? Are you sure about
him?”
Karle took the paper back. “No, but there are reasons why each name’s here
.”
Bamma hesitated. “Well, don’t … don’t do anything without confirming
with me first.”
“We won’t.”
“How is the project going at the Austin Research Center?” Earlier this
year, the congress had sent 3 billion dollars to a bunch of neuroscientists
at the center. “Don’t tell me they are stuck with the preliminary data we
saw last year.”
“I’m afraid we’re wasting our money, sir. They are just watering.”
Watering … Bamma smiled bitterly. Since when had Chinese idioms become
popular among U.S. governors? “Have we figured out what a robot is?”
Karle shook his head. “But I know they are among us.”
“Tell those scientists, if a year from now they fail to come up with a
workable solution, this might be the last scientific research they’re ever
gonna perform.”
That wasn’t a threat. Bamma didn’t like threatening others. He was simply
predicting the future.
Chapter 2: The Old IDs
Yuhua27 was sitting in her cubicle located in a corner of the spacious
computer room. Since she talked to Boss a month ago, she hadn’t used her
special password once. She had been working hard, pouring all her talents
into the articles she wrote. Based on the improved manner Zuan was treating
her, Boss must have told him something. If she used the password again,
would she got arrested immediately, or were they actually fine with her
doing it?
While she was still deciding, her fingers typed spontaneously. Before she
realized it, she was logged in. Well, at least they hadn’t taken away her
privilege. The first thing she did was to check the responses to her posts.
Hmm, people seemed to like the quality of her articles. A few threats made
the frontpage, and there were long and fervent discussions beneath. She
smiled. She especially liked the styles and wits of two old IDs. Out of
curiosity, she pulled out the information of them. Aixiaoyu was created
twelve years ago as a female, highly experienced, a member of seven private
clubs. The last time she logged in was yesterday. The other …
Something weird caught her attention. The second ID, a neuroscience
professor, had logged out twenty minutes ago; his Online Status was shown as
Web Browsing. However, there was a large amount of data transmission
between the ID and the server. She clicked on the “Data Storage” button,
but was denied of entry. Maybe it was simply a program bug? She randomly
picked a dozen other IDs who had just logged out and checked their accounts.
The data flow only occurred for very old IDs.
She logged off and closed the browser. Don’t press your luck, she said to
herself. She stood up, grabbed her bag, and walked towards the exit. Upon
entering the hallway, she saw a woman wearing a skirt suit walk past her.
After a few seconds, a colorful cloth slipped off the women’s body and
dropped to the ground. It was a handkerchief, but the woman didn’t seem to
notice. Yuhua27 picked it up and called out, “You lost something, miss!”
The woman stopped walking and turned around. She had beautiful brown eyes,
but the gaze seemed to be penetrating Yuhua27. Her face could use a little
more warm colors.
“Zan,” she said as she took over the handkerchief. Then she walked away
without saying another word.
Zan? Yuhua27 was puzzled. Shouldn’t one say thanks in similar occasions?
Just then, she smelled something sweet, something soothing, like icing on a
cake. “Yuhua, my Yuhua …” a faint voice sounded in the distance.
The world swirled and blackened as she fell down, unconscious.
Chapter Three: The Doctor
“Oh, my goodness! She’s waking up!”
Yuhua attempted to open her eyes, but the light in the room was blazing.
“Call Dr. Zuan! Ask him to come immediately,” the woman’s voice said
again.
Yuhua had a rough sensation of somebody shaking her body, a body that was
numb, heavy, and unfamiliar. She opened her eyes and saw the chubby face of
a woman in her fifties. It took Yuhua a minute to recognize her mother.
“Yuhua, my baby! You’ve been unconscious for seven years. I thought I’d
lose you forever …” Her mother started sobbing.
“Mom, I’m … I’m home?” Seven years? She was not living and working in
that weird world, but was home all the time? Everything was just a dream? “
What happened to me?”
“Remember you were hit by a car? Oh, of course you don’t remember. They
said your chance of recovering was only ten percent, which was enough for me
to keep hoping. I got married two years later, but the guy left me. Now it
’s you and me again …”
Her mother kept filling her with all the details she had missed, but Yuhua
was unable to follow. It couldn’t be a dream. It was too long, too vivid,
and too … eerie. But how could she find out more about the nightmare? Or
maybe she should just forget about it and move on? She had been longing for
this day all the time, the day she became a free person again …
The door opened and entered a tall man wearing a white robe. The moment she
saw his face, her body froze, and her heart seemed to be grabbed by a hand
coming from Hell. The long and lean face, the sharp cheekbones---a face she
had been seeing almost every day in the past seven years.
“Dr. Zuan,” her mother called out. “She’s awake! Can you believe it?”
“I’ve told you that several times, Mrs. Lee.” Zuan smiled warmly to her
mother before he turned to look at Yuhua. “How do you feel, my girl?”
The word “my girl” sent Yuhua a shiver at the back. She grabbed her mother
’s hand tightly like a drowning person holding the last straw.
Zuan didn’t seem to notice her nervousness. He opened his medical case and
took out a stethoscope. When he pressed the diaphragm on her chest, she was
afraid it would turn into a blade and thrust into her heart. But it all went
normally. Zuan performed the routine check a doctor would have given to any
patient in her situation. After he gave a few instructions to her mother,
he stood up and said to Yuhua, “You’ll be completely fine in a few days,
Yuhua. But take enough rest. You are still weak.”
Seeing his back disappearing at the door, Yuhua became utterly lost. Maybe
she indeed imagined the whole thing. If Zuan came often to see her, although
she was supposed to be in coma, it was not unheard of that patients in such
a state can sometimes sense or even “see” the outer world.
“Alright, my dear daughter.” Her mother stood up. “I’ll get you some
food. What do you want?”
Yuhua’s gaze fell on her computer and an idea clicked. MITBBS! If she
checked on that website, she should be able to figure out a large part of
the story. And if she could find those familiar IDs, she could even talk to
them, like … ProfessorFish? She might even be able to talk to him face to
face. It wouldn’t be hard to track down a Chinese neuroscientist when she
knew the city.
“I’d like to travel, mom.” Her recovery didn’t need a few days. She knew
she could get up and walk in any minute.
“Okay, but where do you want to go?”
“Austin. Texas Austin.”
====
Link to Break Free 1: Incantation
http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/Joke/33669549.html | s*l
发帖数: 9421 | 2 高妹的大作要顶
【在 d*******2 的大作中提到】
: 【 以下文字转载自 Joke 讨论区 】
: 发信人: Highly (高妹), 信区: Joke
: 标 题: Re: 【买提连载】Break Free 2: Filtration
: 发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Mon Aug 29 01:58:33 2016, 美东)
: Break Free 2: Filtration
: ---A MITBBS Fiction Series, by Fiona Rawsontile, Aug 29 2016
:
: Chapter One: The List
: “Not ming yan---ming yuan, YUAN!” Bamma said patiently, leaning over
: towards his daughter’s computer.
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