Six

Section 2

chaos had judged the time to visit Vector to be right nine days after they first came up with the plan to ‘sneak up on the ghost’. It had been an interesting week and a half. Allen was, of course, at work most of the time, which left chaos and Jin to their own devices. Jin spent most of the time coveting Allen’s library; it wasn’t even a fifth as big as Jin’s bookstore-cum-residence, but there were several volumes in it that Jin didn’t have. He was careful not to say anything, though, because he knew Allen would likely just give him the books and he didn’t want to impose. Part of him, the unreasonable book-lusting part, said that Allen was making a huge imposition on Jin’s time, so a couple books would be a fair trade, but Jin squashed the thought. Allen hadn’t asked them to spend so long trying to help, he’d just asked for help. It was chaos that had decided they needed to stay that long.

The real adventure had involved food and who was going to cook it. Allen’s larder was well stocked for a bachelor, so it wasn’t for want of food that caused trouble. It was the cooking, plain and simple. Jin could cook, he was quite competent at it, but liked his food spicy (or raw, but he decided against preparing sushi or bringing back sashimi; too much trouble.) Allen was a complete wimp when it came to spicy foods and swore that every time Jin cooked he was swallowing fire. It was hard to tell with chaos; judging his tastes based on what he cooked, chaos’ favorite flavor was ‘burnt beyond recognition’. chaos had many talents both secret and known, but cooking anything that a human could choke down was beyond him. There had been an early two-thirds majority vote to kick chaos out of the kitchen. Allen’s cooking ability was up in the air—not spicy enough for Jin, but not inedible most of the time. He just wasn’t used to cooking for more than himself, so he either over did it or didn’t make enough. So there was some in-fighting between Jin and Allen over who would cook and how much spice would go in the food. chaos happily stayed out of it since he’d been banished and any food that approached edible tasted good to him.

Otherwise, the stay hadn’t been bad—environmental bugs kept things clean, and there was no lack of things to keep them occupied. chaos spent a lot of time admiring the architecture and exploring the grounds and forest.

There was one incident that chaos chose not to mention to Allen or Jin; after about four days staying in one of Allen’s spacious guestrooms, something had woken chaos from a sound sleep. At first, he saw nothing unusual when he looked around the room, but then he noticed, just barely visible, a translucent figure wearing a long white night shirt. The shirt was as antique as everything else in the house and quite plain. chaos had to concentrate to see the figure clearly enough to identify it, but he wasn’t very surprised when it turned out to be Allen. Or an Allen ghost, rather. As soon as chaos made a move to indicate he was awake, the ghost vanished. It confirmed chaos’ suspicions that the ghost was both real and haunting Allen as well, though. He kept silent so as not to upset Allen or make Jin suspicious and force chaos to move his planned date up.

Nine days after their arrival, Jin and chaos went to visit Vector, and that was how they ended up having to endure a muttered tirade from their Vector chaperone on how much he hated Allen while they rode an elevator to the KOS-MOS research section.

* * *

When Jin and chaos first arrived at the Vector building, they were surprised at the size of it. They both knew that the Dämmerung was the real headquarters for Vector, but with this building along with several different facilities in several different directions around the city, it seemed that Fifth Jerusalem was possibly the largest of Vector’s planetary wings.

Fortunately, public transportation had seen fit to place a small station a few miles away from the beginning of Allen’s trail. The city was not within walking distance of his home; it was hardly in driving distance. Jin could understand why Allen stayed at his house, though. If he had been stationed anywhere near his own home when he had been in the military, he would have preferred to stay there and endure a maddeningly long commute himself.

It was quite easy signing in as visitors to First Division under authorization of Chief Ridgeley and the Director of First Division, although they couldn’t avoid the requirement of a guide if they wished to enter the area where KOS-MOS was still being developed. Their guide was none too pleased to be taking them in a large elevator up to the KOS-MOS development area; it seemed he had some serious issues with Chief Ridgeley and wouldn’t stop grumbling about it under his breath. He was trying to keep it to himself, but when he found out Jin and chaos were Allen’s guests, the first thing he said was that if he felt like losing his job, nothing would satisfy him more than to make Allen bleed as much as he claimed Allen had bled all over his apartment.

Just before they reached the floor of KOS-MOS’ research area, chaos ventured, "What exactly did Chief Ridgeley do that’s got you so angry at him?"

Their guide, a rather large, beefy man with close-cropped black hair, glared at chaos. "Other than breaking into my apartment, splattering so much blood over every inch of wall that it looked like a slaughterhouse, writing God knows what about Chief Uzuki on my computer. Then waking me up in the middle of the night six or seven times in the last month just to smile and bleed all over me, he hasn’t done a thing."

"Are you sure it was him?" Jin asked. "Could it have been someone else that broke into your apartment?"

"I know what he looks like. I know it was him. He’s been doing that to half of First Division, I hear. I don’t know where he finds the time. I’d like to—"

"Yes, we’ve heard what you’d like to do," chaos interrupted. "Thank you for answering."

"Whatever."

Just as the elevator doors opened, something tickled the back of chaos’ mind. He glanced around, but saw nothing. He knew there was something there, however. It didn’t feel like a Gnosis, and it wasn’t anything near as strong as Nephilim, but it was there. That it reminded him of such existences had him curious if it was of a similar nature. He, Jin, and their guide stepped out of the elevator, and chaos whispered to Jin, "We’re being watched."

Jin discretely glanced around the hallway but saw nothing. He felt nothing either, even after chaos had put him on alert. "Are you sure?"

The guide walked down the hallway, with the two in tow. "I am, I just can’t find it. It feels like it might be something from the imaginary-numbers realm."

"It would be useful to have MOMO here in that case," Jin said, patting down his kimono as if he were looking for something. "Ah, there they are." He pulled a pair of small, gold wire frame glasses out of a hidden pocket and slipped them on. "Not as good as many, but better than most."

"What are those for?" chaos asked.

"Mmm, they enhance a ‘gift’, so to speak, which I have fortunately been blessed with the merest sliver. I can very occasionally see imaginary-numbers existences, and these glasses simply make them easier for me to see. If there is an imaginary existence watching us, I’d like to have the best chance of seeing it, should it be hostile."

"Huh, I didn’t know anyone made glasses like that."

"Please allow a humble scholar and bookseller a few minor mysteries," Jin said with a tiny smile.

"Heh, sure," chaos said, knowing full well Jin had more than a few minor mysteries he hid.

The small group turned a corner, and just on the edge of his peripheral vision, chaos saw a glimmer of something that shouldn’t be there. Jin saw it as well and his hand instantly found the hilt of his katana. Their guide stopped in confusion; he had seen nothing and wondered why these two freaks were staring at a corner.

The glimmer didn’t move, nor did it resolve into any identifiable shape, but the feeling chaos had of being watched intensified to an almost unbearable level.

"I feel it now," Jin said quietly.

"That doesn’t surprise me," chaos answered. He approached the corner the glimmer was in. He opened his mouth to say something, but the moment he did, the glimmer shifted to a much farther corner so fast that both chaos and Jin had trouble following it. Yet it was still there, and the sense of being watched did not let up.

"Are you two done staring at the corner?" the guide asked, his voice full of irritation.

Jin gave the man a disapproving look, while chaos just shrugged and indicated for him to lead on.

Soon they entered the KOS-MOS research and development’s main room. KOS-MOS’ pod stood in the center of the room, while various Vector employees worked along the walls at various terminals. Togashi was working at one station, and Allen stood behind him, nearly shouting in an attempt to get Togashi’s attention. Jin and chaos looked on in something akin to wonder; it was hard to believe, but Allen had been right—some of the Vector employees simply could not see or hear him. Allen looked like he was ready to smack the back of Togashi’s head, and now he was shouting, but Togashi never so much as twitched. Some of the other Vector employees were openly glaring at Allen, their anger evident, while the others didn’t react at all.

chaos stood back, and kept Jin from continuing further into the room. "Look at Togashi—do you see anything different about him?" chaos asked.

Jin adjusted his glasses a bit, winced once, then looked at Togashi. "How unusual!" He did indeed see something different. Togashi appeared to be wearing a dark cloak that covered him from head to toe with a hood hanging low over his face. But it was certainly not a real cloak; it only gave the impression of a cloak, and a very difficult to see cloak at that. It was similar to the glimmer they had seen. A quick glance around the room confirmed that the Vector employees who weren’t reacting to Allen’s shouting also seemed to be wearing imaginary cloaks.

Then, just as Allen shouted Togashi’s name one more time, the cloak shifted and vanished.

Togashi winced visibly and turned around. "Sir, you don’t have to yell in my ear, I can hear you fine."

Allen looked positively dismal. He sighed heavily and said, "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. I just need you to run this simulation, see if it’ll be something we can use." He handed Togashi a disc, and Togashi took it.

As soon as Allen turned away, Togashi muttered something about too much stress and getting yelled at all the time. For his part, Allen looked like he was ready to tear his hair out. It was clear that he hadn’t missed the open contempt on many of the faces in the room. He turned to the three newcomers in the room, and raised his hands as if to say, ‘See? It’s as bad as I said.’

Jin took off his glasses and tucked them back in his kimono. "They give me a headache after a while," he said by way of explanation. chaos just nodded, then walked over to KOS-MOS’ pod.

"It would be nice if she didn’t have to sleep so much," he said.

Jin made a non-committal noise. He glanced at the corner where the glimmer was, even though he could no longer see it. "I wonder where Allen went? I thought he saw us."

"I don’t know." chaos looked around the room, but he couldn’t find Allen. He also couldn’t see the odd cloaks or the glimmer either. "That’s...strange..." he said quietly.

"What is?"

"I can’t see the thing that was watching us, or the shapes that were apparently masking the others, the thing that was on Togashi."

"Perhaps they all moved?"

chaos shook his head. "Maybe, but I still feel watched from there." He pointed toward the corner where the glimmer had last been seen.

Their guide muttered, "Come to your senses, I guess."

"What do you mean?" Jin asked, turning to him. The guide seemed surprised he’d been heard.

"I didn’t mean anything. Never mind."

chaos asked the guide, "Does Chief Ridgeley have an office or something, a place where we can wait for him or he may have gone to?"

The guide seemed suddenly amused. "Yeah, you want to go there?"

"Yes."

"Follow me then," the guide said, chuckling to himself.

The Vector guide deposited them in a little room off the side of the larger KOS-MOS development area. "I’ll just be outside. Maybe the new Chief will deign to grace you with his presence soon." Then he laughed and left the room.

For a few moments, Jin and chaos just stood there in the center of the room. There wasn’t much in the way of space and not much more than a single chair in the way of seating. At least that sense of being watched had diminished to a very faint tickle instead of the overbearing sense it had been before.

Then, chaos felt rather than heard a faint sound, just before his head suddenly whipped to the right. He rubbed his cheek—something had slapped him out of thin air?

"I’m sorry chaos, but I’ve been standing with you the entire time!" Allen said, deep frustration evident in his voice. "I didn’t want to slap you."

chaos stood bewildered for a moment, shocked that Allen would slap him. Then he realized why—it wasn’t something Allen could do to get the attention of his subordinates, but it was extremely effective. The cognitive dissonance of finding oneself slapped by nothing wasn’t something that could stand against rationality for long, and if Allen was there to do the slapping, then he became visible. It was like chaos’ brain had just masked out where Allen had been standing.

He rubbed his cheek again. "Don’t apologize; it worked very well. It really was like you weren’t there."

Jin added, "This explains why our very friendly guide was so amused; he knew you were there, did he not?"

Allen nodded. "I’m glad you can see me now too, Jin. I told you, it really is bad. I know you saw me shouting to get Togashi’s attention."

"We did," chaos said. "We saw something, like a cloak, covering him. As soon as it left, he could hear you. There’s also an imaginary-numbers existence watching the other room, and probably here, too, very closely."

"A...a cloak? And an imaginary existence? Like a Gnosis?" Allen sounded frightened by the idea.

Jin said, "Not like a Gnosis. But something not of our plane of existence, yes. The cloaks were the same type, although how they cause people to be blind and deaf to your existence, I don’t understand. Those cloaks must have come upon us, as well."

"Yeah...and quickly," chaos agreed. "I didn’t even notice it, but that must be why I couldn’t see the others or the watcher in the corner. Very peculiar." chaos stepped outside Allen’s small office for a moment, confirmed that he could see the watching glimmer again, then stepped back inside. "The watcher is still there."

"You haven’t come across the, the whatever that’s bothering everyone else, have you?" Allen asked.

"No," Jin said. "Nothing that even resembles a ghost."

"I don’t...think I have," chaos added. "I didn’t tell either of you, because I didn’t want to concern you, but I did see a ghost at your house Allen. I only woke up because I felt it watching me. It didn’t do anything, but left as soon as it knew I was there."

"There was a ghost in my house?!" Allen shouted. "Why didn’t you tell me? Was it...was it like in the pictures?"

"I already said why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you concerned. But yes, it was similar to some of the ghosts in the pictures. It looked like you, but it wasn’t doing anything except watching me." chaos cocked his head, then went out the door again. He studied the glimmer in the corner, bringing to bear as much of his imaginary-side power as he could in an attempt to see the glimmer more clearly. Then he looked at the employees—some still had the invisible cloaks. After studying those, he stepped back into the office. "I’m pretty certain it’s the same existence as the glimmer in the corner. I guess we didn’t surprise the ghosts...either that, or it’s usually here watching."

Allen wiped his face with both hands. "So...you’re saying that this ghost is haunting me, and Vector, and you, and several cities too?"

"Actually, I think I’m saying there might be three separate existences around. The cloaks appear to all originate from one source, although I couldn’t find it. They’re the same though. Related to the glimmer, which was, I’m certain, the ghost that woke me up a few nights ago. Whatever is breaking into peoples’ houses and pulling those horrible tricks, I suspect, is a different existence."

Allen went and sat on the one chair in the room, facing away from them, leaning his forehead into his hands. "Do you know if there’s anything you can do about them?"

Before Jin or chaos could answer, Allen moaned low and dropped his head to his desk. Jin moved quickly to his side, and after a quick examination, he said, "He’s unconscious."

chaos didn’t hear Jin, however. He was looking at the glimmer that had come into the room. It was a fierce light that soon became an almost solid duplicate of Allen. It was bright enough to burn his eyes, so he shielded them from the glare. He saw it had a small bowl and brush in its hands. Then it turned, faced the wall, and began to paint words. The stench of blood was thick in the air.

Jin smelled it and turned around. He couldn’t see the brightness as clearly, but it still hurt his eyes. They both watched as the ghost Allen continued its careful painting on the wall. When it was finished, it turned back, looked at them both, then vanished, leaving only bloody words on the wall.

Behind them, Allen stirred and grumbled out, "Oh God I have a headache. Ugh, what is that smell?"

When he didn’t get an answer, he shifted his chair to face Jin and chaos and the words on the wall. He read them out loud. "‘Stop me. Save me from myself...save everyone from me. I’m tearing myself apart and it has gone farther than I can handle. Stop me.’" Allen rubbed his head. "Who wrote that? One of the ghosts?"

chaos was thoughtful. He looked back at Allen. "I think you wrote it, Allen."

Allen was quiet for a long moment. "Me? I didn’t write it, how could I have written that? Aside from not keeping convenient fresh blood in this office, I certainly don’t remember writing that!"

Jin glanced at chaos then turned to Allen. "I think chaos is suggesting a causative relationship between your recent faint and the appearance of a ‘watching’ ghost that had your appearance. It was the watching ghost that wrote on the wall."

Allen looked confused. "I fainted?"

Jin nodded. "I don’t know why, but you did, just before the watching ghost came in. It may be a coincidence, but then, the watching ghost usually is only visible in pictures or to those few who can see such things. It was not only clearly visible and nearly solid, it was exceedingly bright."

"Its appearance was stronger than Nephilim’s has ever been, perhaps because it wanted our attention or didn’t know how strong it needed to be," chaos said. "Jin’s right, I suspect it was you, in some form. If it was it may have needed you unconscious to pull enough energy to manifest itself so strongly.

"That and it seems rather fixated on you. This one doesn’t act like it has read your book, but you said the other one had written things out of it. You’re the only one that knows everything written in your book."

Allen nodded slowly. "That’s what people have reported. But...it can’t be me. I can’t do things like that." He rubbed his head again, then crossed his arms over himself in a protective gesture. "I can’t do things like that." Without looking at Jin or chaos, he said, "If you did an Encephalon dive on me, would that help you find out if it’s really me doing these awful things?"

chaos tugged on his gloves. "It might."

"Would it help you figure out a way to stop it?"

"I don’t know."

Allen was silent for a long moment. In a sullen tone, he asked, "Would you be willing?"

chaos looked over at Jin, who nodded slightly. "Yes, if you’re willing."

"I am. I’ll set it up so you go to the simple location. You should be able to find whatever you need there. Do whatever you feel necessary to decide if I really am doing this to myself. At least then maybe we’ll have a starting point to stop it. Meet me in Second Division; I’ll go find Miyuki, she can run it. I’d just take you there myself, but you might lose track of me..." Allen trailed off, then walked out of the room as fast as he could while still walking, his head down.

"He’s quite reluctant," Jin observed as he walked out the office door.

"I would be, too," chaos said. "He did just give us permission to access everything; that’s a lot more than just letting us read a journal."

It didn’t take them long to reach Miyuki and Allen in Second Division’s Dive room. There were several fully equipped dive seats along with a number of accompanying terminals. Allen was sitting on the edge of an open seat while Miyuki was standing next to one of the computers, and as soon as she saw Jin and chaos, she waved to them and wore a warm smile. "How are you guys?"

"Fine, thank you," Jin said with a small bow.

"Good! Allen’s got the dive set up so that you’ll be going to a pretty simple place. Anyone could handle it, but I’m pretty good at this. If you have any problems, just let me know! You’ll be using dive seats, too, not glasses. So, in you go!" Miyuki sounded happy as ever.

As usual, her good cheer was infectious. chaos smiled and nodded, then started climbing in one of the seats. Jin pulled his katana and sheath from his obi and held it in his hands before following suit. When they were situated, they heard Allen tell Miyuki he was ready.

As always, the actual process of diving was quick.

The mechanics of the dive finished, Jin and chaos found themselves standing near the edge of a small lake. They were very close to the shore and the path along the side of the lake was rough and didn’t appear to be much used. It was a beautiful place, quiet, with lush greenery all about. The sky was not a color they could easily define, nor could they look at it for very long. It shone with a bright light, as if the sky were reflecting solar light all across an invisible surface. It rippled and waved, not all one color, but there wasn’t much chance for either of them to examine it: it shone too bright.

"I don’t think this is where Allen intended us to arrive," chaos observed.

"You’re probably right, unless he has rather warped definition of ‘simple’," Jin said. "I’d hate to see ‘complex’ if that’s the case."

chaos bent down and ran a hand through some grass at his feet. "It’s very orderly," he said. "Every blade seems to have a place. They want to stay that way, too." He stood and pointed to the ruffled grass, watching with Jin as the grass sprang back not in a random pattern but into a highly ordered one.

"Odd that changing the position of a few blades of grass would have this effect," Jin said, indicating a peculiar act the rest of the grass and soon the foliage around them took. It seemed that the reordering of the grass had caused a ripple effect, influencing much of the greenery and even some of the near shore to change positions slightly in order to accommodate the new order. The effect slowed and eventually stopped several feet from the first change in order.

"Yeah. I can see now...the rearrangement stopped when it met a point of previous order that fit. I think we should walk very carefully," chaos said.

"Indeed. What do you suppose we ought to be looking for?" Jin asked.

"I don’t know. If it really is Allen that is the cause of the haunting, I think we’ll find something."

The two walked along the narrow path, stepping as lightly as they could so as to avoid as much disturbance to the order of this particular Encephalon location. It was unavoidable that they disturbed it some, and in some places quite thoroughly. When Jin had to move a branch out of his way to continue forward it caused a large ripple effect, but they did the best they could. Soon, they saw a man fishing in the distance.

Sparing a startled glance at one another, chaos and Jin made their way toward the man, who turned out to bear a striking resemblance to Allen in his archaic swimsuit. He sat on a tree root that seemed to be perfectly suited to the purpose of being used as a seat. He had a small tackle box and a line out in the water.

"Join me, you two. I don’t get a lot of visitors, as I’m sure you can imagine." The man sounded like Allen as well, but his mannerisms were different enough that Jin and chaos couldn’t think of him as Allen. ‘Allen’ waved them over, and two rods appeared out of nowhere along with another tackle box.

chaos shrugged and moved over to ‘Allen’s side, smiling faintly at one of the rods—it was clearly made for him; the shaft was navy with yellow and white trim, and the reel bore a motif of six wings. He picked it up and started setting up the line. "I haven’t been fishing, not like this, in a long time."

Jin hesitated, shifting his feet. "Are you sure this is wise?"

"What harm could it do?" chaos answered. "Maybe we can find some answers."

"Don’t be so suspicious, Jin," ‘Allen’ said, motioning to Jin’s rod. It was a deep emerald with royal purple trim, and just above the reel, a silver and red dragon had somehow been embroidered into the heavily glazed thread. "Sit down, relax a little. I’d offer to take you fly fishing, but it’s kinda hard to chat that way."

"All right," Jin said, acquiescing. He picked up the rod ‘Allen’ had made him and also began threading the line through the eyelets.

"What sort of bait are we using?" chaos asked, poking through the tackle box in search of a swivel.

"Lures today. The fish seem to be hitting the gold spinners the most, so I’d suggest one of them, but you can use something else if you like."

chaos smiled. "I’ll take your word for it." He found a swivel and a small gold spinner with a treble hook on one end, then set about tying them to the line.

Jin decided to use a sinker and some floating bait instead. He didn’t really want to be fishing, and floating bait was as close to sitting back and doing nothing as one could get with fishing, which was mainly sitting back and doing nothing anyway. It hadn’t occurred to him until long after he sat down that the rock he sat upon had reshaped itself to be the perfect perch for fishing with bait. There was even a convenient notch to place his rod that would hold it securely should any fish decide to strike.

On the other hand, chaos seemed to be enjoying himself, casting out over and over, not being overly bothered when he caught weeds. After another cast, he asked, "You know our names, sir. What is yours?"

"I don’t have a name. Call me whatever you want," ‘Allen’ answered, reeling in his line.

chaos paused. "I don’t feel right giving you a name if you don’t already have one."

"You wouldn’t be giving me a name. You would just be putting a handle on me to make it easier on yourself. Although I suppose that might be part of the problem. Is it?"

"Yes," chaos said, nodding.

"I bet you’ve already done it anyway, so it can’t do any harm to say it out loud."

chaos shook his head. "I haven’t."

‘Allen’ chuckled. "That’s right. You’re the clear-eyed boy that can see past what the naked eye shows, the one that uses a word to describe himself instead of a name. What about you, Jin? Do you think you could come up with something to call me?"

Jin frowned a bit. "I suppose. You look like Allen to us, but you don’t act like him, nor are you him, at least not in the strictest sense, so calling you Allen would be inappropriate. A variation then: Al."

The man nodded. "Al it is then. Just for now, of course." Al cast out again. "So, what is it that brings chaos and Jin to a place like this? Just don’t bring too much ‘chaos’; too much work was put into making this as orderly as possible, you know."

"We had noticed that. It’s a very fine order, sir," Jin said. "As for why we came...we’re...looking for someone."

Al nodded slowly. "If you go down this path a ways, you’ll find a low building with many doors. You’ll probably find what you’re looking for past one of those doors. I know you weren’t looking for me, all I do is fish and maintain the order."

"How did this Encephalon become so ordered?" chaos asked. "It’s rather fascinating."

"Hmm, well, weren’t you informed? A genius at building Encephalon locations?"

"Oh, yes, Allen mentioned that. Do you know who built it?"

Al shrugged. "It became. It hasn’t changed much since then, not really."

"That’s even more intriguing. He must have built it himself without knowing it...what an unusual thing to do," chaos said.

"Yes, it is interesting. Why build a dive location in the Encephalon if it was never meant to be used?" Jin asked.

Al gave them both an odd look. "It’s used all the time. Just not in the way you think."

Before the two visitors could react, something yanked at chaos’ rod. Momentarily distracted, he started grinning like a fool and reeling in what was turning out to be one fighter of a fish. It took several minutes, but he finally managed to land the fish with the help of Al and a net. It was a good-sized trout, easily enough to feed two people. Al picked it up and used a tool to pull the hook out. "Good catch, chaos; it looked like you enjoyed it."

chaos shrugged a little. "I used to know some fishermen. I guess they got me hooked. So what shall we do with it?"

Al said, "Eat it? That’s what I generally do when I catch fish. It’s part of the order."

"Sure, I guess. It’s been a long time since I had fresh fish, even if it is out of a lake in the middle of Allen’s subconscious domain."

"Just as good as the real thing, I guarantee," Al said with pride.

"That was a rather...vivid way of putting it, chaos," Jin said, frowning. Then he shrugged it off and said, "I suppose it couldn’t hurt. It’s just a virtual fish."

"Of course it won’t hurt!" Al proclaimed, handing Jin a yanagiba hocho and producing out of seeming nowhere a small table to clean the fish.

Jin looked at Al as if he’d committed some act of madness while the man cleaned the fish. chaos glanced at Jin, then gave him a longer look. "What’s wrong?"

Jin held up the knife. "He just happens to have an extremely expensive, rare yanagiba hocho hiding on his person? I haven’t seen a sashimi knife this fine in my life."

"Maybe you worry too much. He seems to have a great deal of control in a place that is highly controlled. If he can make fishing rods out of ‘thin air’, I’m sure a sashimi knife would be just as easy."

"Yes, but how did he know I preferred my fish raw? Allen has never seen me eat sashimi. You must admit, it is uncanny."

"‘There are those who draw well, and those who run fast.’ Maybe it’s just something he can do." chaos looked thoughtful. "I think we’ll find out more when we get to the doors Al told us about."

At that, Al handed Jin a platter with half the cleaned trout on it, then handed chaos a pan with the other half. "Sorry I can’t get you any wasabi or soy sauce, Jin. C’mon chaos, let’s fry up this baby." Al turned away and began gathering some wood for a small fire. Jin raised his eyebrows at chaos, who smiled with a shrug. While Al and chaos built a fire and fried half the fish (there was some arguing about how chaos was trying to turn the fish into charcoal), Jin filleted his, and soon the three were enjoying a small meal of trout. Al picked a few slices off Jin’s platter and a little fried trout from chaos’ pan, but left the majority to his visitors.

While they ate, both chaos and Jin noticed what looked like waves run across the shore, the tree roots, branches, and foliage. It appeared as if a stiff breeze were washing upon a plane, except it was in everything they looked at, all things around them except for themselves, their food, and Al. The two fishing rods looked like they had bled away, washed away into the scenery, and now were fallen twigs or in the case of Jin’s, a tree sapling.

"Are we affecting your order too greatly, Al?" chaos asked, concerned.

Al shook his head. "Don’t worry about it. It’s to be expected. Everywhere you go, you leave a footprint, a memory, a wave. This is no different. The Encephalon will never forget you." He tossed an antique key ring to chaos. "You were invited, so no doors are closed to you. Just keep the chaos to a minimum. No offence intended."

Placing the key ring with its multitude of keys into his pocket, chaos said, "Of course not, none taken." chaos finished his fish and brushed his gloved hands together. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What did you mean when you said that this Encephalon is used all the time?"

Al started cleaning up chaos’ pan and stirring the fire. "I meant just that. It was built, and it’s used. Not for dives; this is the first time I’ve seen anyone come in from a dive. You remember when you first went into KOS-MOS’ subconscious domain, don’t you? The dive pulled in everyone, and reacted to your memories. Well, not yours chaos...that was noted and logged."

chaos narrowed his eyes slightly at that. Slowly, he said, "That’s true...although I wonder how you could have known that."

"To excel in a field, it is necessary to be very aware of all aspects of it; this of course includes how others react. Don’t worry about it—it was just noted that your memories didn’t react to the Encephalon dive. Back to the point, though...that dive pulled you all in even though you were not connected in any way except by proximity. So obviously you don’t need to use dive equipment to be involved in a dive. To bring your conscious selves into the Encephalon, though, someone has to be using equipment near you. But what about your unconscious, subconscious selves? Virtual, well, they’re virtual to you, for me, they’re real. Anyway, locations in the Encephalon are based in the U.M.N. and gaps in E.V.S. dives are filled in by the U.M.N. and by the diver’s memory. Well, that’s not totally accurate. We don’t need the network for Encephalon locations. Why, if an Encephalon location exists, shouldn’t it be used as a central hub for the sub- and unconscious self?"

Jin tapped a foot and held his chin. "Now that would explain some things...at least, how they are happening."

chaos nodded. "I see what you’re getting at. In a less technologically sophisticated age, it might be called something akin to astral traveling. He’s sending himself out without realizing it. So we know for certain how, but not why."

Al smiled. "Like I said, no doors are closed to you. Go find the rest of the answers you seek. I’ll be here if you need me." With that, Al sat back down, and started fishing again. It seemed as though the two visitors had been dismissed.

"We should get going then," chaos said, "We need to know why this is happening and if we can help stop it." Jin nodded. They walked by Al, passing behind him, and Al waved to them as they left.

It took some time to make their way around the shore to the house of doors Al had told them about. Fortunately, the shining sky gave off no significant amount of heat, and there was a slight breeze off the lake. It was fine weather for a hike. It was just a matter of time and legwork then, and that wasn’t something either man was unaccustomed to.

The house was at first difficult to spot. It was covered in ivy and nestled just far enough from the lakeshore so that it was not immediately visible. The house itself was very similar to Allen’s house, which was unsurprising. The growth of ivy and other vegetation around it was untamed, however, unlike Allen’s neatly manicured home. In some ways, the building had an air of belonging that was unsettling precisely because it seemed to be a natural outgrowth of the area around it.

Jin carefully stepped up to the ornate door on the front of the house. He gave it a thorough once over. "It appears to be locked...the lock is very old. I’m sure one of the keys Al gave you will unlock it."

chaos pulled the key ring out of his pocket and looked for a key that might fit the lock. He found one shortly and tried it in the keyhole. It turned easily. chaos put the keys away and opened the door. The door opened in onto a long hallway, and just as chaos was about to step inside, he saw a figure storming toward the door. The hallway was dark, so it was hard to see whom it might be until the figure stepped into a sliver of light let in by the open door.

Another ‘Allen’ stood there, a crossbow in both hands and aimed at chaos’ heart. But that was not the most striking thing about this Allen avatar. He was bleeding, copiously, from both wrists and his face was slashed. Through the white shirt he was wearing, it was clear he also had freely bleeding cuts on his chest. Blood started pooling at his bare feet, beneath the hem of his dark pants, suggesting even more injuries. Fury filled his lacerated face.

When chaos and Jin made no move and said no word, the avatar hitched up the crossbow slightly, readying it.

Slowly, chaos said, "We were invited. No doors are closed to us."

"Who told you that?" ‘Allen’ demanded, blood dripping down his chin from his mouth.

Jin said, "The one down the way. He was fishing."

‘Allen’s expression darkened. "Six of Day has no authority to invite you."

"Allen does," Jin said with utmost confidence. He wondered who ‘Six of Day’ was, though.

Their opponent lowered the crossbow. "Idiot. Fine, come, see." He stepped back a bit, and Jin entered without removing his shoes. He didn’t plan to leave them inside an Encephalon dive. chaos followed him in, wary. As soon as they were both inside, the door shut and the crossbow was held very near Jin’s chest. It was not a small bow, and like Allen’s, it had a rifle stock. Unlike Allen’s, it had a quiver attached with several physical bolts. A shot from this crossbow would not be clean.

"Just watch your step. I am Six of Night and I will not have anyone hurting this place." Six of Night smartly removed the crossbow to his shoulder, then stalked off toward a door a little way down the hall. Jin looked down at the floor; there were no bloody footprints there and where Six of Night had stood at the doorway there was no blood pool.

"That is an interesting effect," Jin observed.

chaos nodded. "I think we’ve found one of our culprits. He has the same marks on him as the body in the photograph. I’m curious how he managed to do that."

"During an E.V.S. dive, a person can bring back physical objects...I must assume that Six of Night is able to produce such things and take them out with him."

"I suppose he must. Still...how could he make such things? Wouldn’t it be a strain on Allen?" chaos adjusted his gloves. "Maybe it wouldn’t. This location is in the Encephalon; he has all the raw material he needs in a way. I’d be willing to bet the body they found, whatever physical remains were left of it, disappeared eventually. It was probably a physical manifestation of Six of Night."

"That is a somewhat frightening thought," Jin replied.

"Yeah. I don’t wonder why the watcher ghost would say things are out of control if one of these subconscious avatars can not only send itself out, but incarnate as well. That strikes me as a dangerous talent."

"Especially if there’s no conscious control over it," Jin added.

chaos nodded. "I wonder how long it has been happening...Allen claimed it had only started when he was promoted to Chief, but could he have been incarnating part of himself longer than that?"

"If he had, I suspect there would be more than just rumors. This one," Jin motioned toward the door Six of Night had left through, "could have easily started rumors of suicide just by becoming visible. There would be no need to incarnate."

"Yeah. Well...I don’t know about you, but I’d rather put off talking to him at length for a little while. He is dangerous, and angry, so...shall we see what else this house holds?"

Jin nodded. "We could try this door here." Not far down the hallway there was stood a door that appeared to have been carved to match the walls. Not so much that it was hidden, just that it didn’t stand out in any way and some effort had been made to cause the door to be less noticeable.

"All right," chaos said, and walked toward the door. He tried the plain knob, and found it didn’t turn. He got out the keys Al had given him, and found a plain key. Most of the keys were quite old fashioned and had decorations on them, but this one was simply a key. He used it, and the door unlocked with a click. chaos put the keys back in his pocket and opened the door.

Go on to Section 3