4.03: Chaos theory

[a1enzo]

Matrix can't decide whether he's terrified or really, really frustrated. He needs to talk to Dot rather urgently, but she's really busy - apparently several sprites have been very brave and/or stupid, although he's not clear on the details. He's been kicked out of the wardroom several times, and is now cooling his heels in the staff lounge. He's sat in every chair (and on the table, and under it), but none for more than a nanosecond.

Comments

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

Hex laughed and sat down on the table next to him.

"Look at me," she said, " I'm not the same person I was last cycle, and that wasn't the same person I was an hour ago."

She took a breath.
"People change," she went on, "Granted, they usually change a bit more gradually than I did. But Matrix has been changing for hours. He's not the same person he was."

She looked at him with kindness.

"You are not Matrix," she finished.

[a1enzo]

Hm. That makes sense. (Actually, it sounds like what Mary Lennox said that one time.) And he'd have to be blind to deny that Hex has changed an awful lot in a short time. Blind and deaf, come to think of it; she's a lot easier to talk to now.

"Okay. But I'm who he was, so I will be him!" That follows logically, right?

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

"You're talking to a former chaos virus, dear," She said," Trust me, it's not that linear."

[a1enzo]

He pushes himself up into a sitting position, cross-legged on the table. "What do you mean?"

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

Hex shifted a bit.

"Let's play make-believe for a nano," she said,"What do you suppose would have happened if I'd taken Bob to a different sector when we were driving off the Guardians?"

[a1enzo]

"Ummm..." He doesn't really follow.

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

She sighed. Kids. They take too long to download.

"Or," she said, "if the Game had happened to land somewhere else?"

[a1enzo]

"Oh!" Now he sees what she's getting at. "It wouldn't have landed on you."

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

Hex opened her eyes wider urging him to answer the question and follow the thought through.

"Which means...?" she asked.

[a1enzo]

He thinks. Well, the Game is when the nulls went away and she got reconfigured...

"You'd... still be covered in nulls?"

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

She leaned back in relief that the little sprite was intelligent.

"And I'd still be a virus, for the time being, at least," she explained, "I might have become a sprite, if someone found a way to disperse the nulls." She took a breath and continued, "Or they might not have, and the nulls might have drained all my energy away."

[a1enzo]

Hey, he's a bright kid... when he bothers to think.

His eyes widen. "Dude! That'd be awful!" It would, too. Maybe not when she was still totally nuts, but now that she's a sprite, she's... really nice, actually.

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

"Oh, thank you, dear," she said, "And that would mean more changes,"

She stopped and though a bit about Dot and Jelly Welly.

That's chaos," she continued, "You change one tiny little thing, and... "

She opened her arms wide above her head simulating an explosion.

[a1enzo]

Matrix... Enzo... speaks slowly, feeling his way through this thought.

"So... because different things are happening to me from what happened to the other me..." He trails off and tilts his head questioningly at Hex.

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

Hex looked at the boy.

"And more will," she said.

[a1enzo]

He nods, if a bit hesitantly. "I... think I get it..."

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

"It'll make more sense later," said Hex sliding off the table, "The older you get, the more complex the world turns out to be. That's chaos, too."

[a1enzo]

Matrix Enzo scoots forward and off the table as well. He nods, and smiles up at Hex. "Thanks."

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Do you feel better now?" asked Hex.

[a1enzo]

"Yeah..." Although this reminds him of why he was so anxious before. "Do you know if Dot's free yet? I really need to talk to her."

[red-cg-insanity.livejournal.com]

"Ooohhh," she said with a pained look, "She might be busy with your dad."

[a1enzo]

Enzo freezes. "What?!"