The "Chalker Law" and "Enter the Matrix"....

The Brigadier

"My word!" the Brigadier says, interrupting, "This rather sounds like something from a novel I'd been reading by Jack Chalker!"

Yes, could put it all down under the "Law of Chalker", as it were, throughout that rather cynical American science fiction author. An unstated law within his novels that could be summed up as "you are the sum of your parts and if those parts are altered....you are altered into somebody else." That's more or less what the Yank was saying, you see. Could say that a person's mind was nothing more than a complex series of chemical reactions where those with the ability to alter those reactions could alter your personality, even recreate you into whatever their demented desires wanted. The same went for those odd "Wellworld" novels where the victim's entire body could be re-scrambled into new and different species of being! Soon you'd be JUST like your new race, sex (whatever)....else you'd drive yourself insane resisting!

Again, this causes surprise to those humans who seem to figure I'm not the type to read science fiction, but so be it. The first thing Crichton does, however, is mutter something about having expected me to like early Heinlen books if anything. But then as that little matter aside....I rather was more interested in explaining just what I meant by this "Chalker stuff" (as Ace put it).

Explain that much to the others, causing Crichton to mutter something about: "Resistence is futile" and something about some race called "the Borg".

Would pause to ask what the devil the Borg was (though it sounds like whoever they are, they seem to be just as irresistible as Chalker's chemistry schlock)!

"Please," B'Elanna protested with a bit of pain in her voice, "That term's kind of...grown out of favor especially after Wolf 359!"

"Huh?" John blinks in surprise (becoming a routine habbit, that blink), "You come from Star Trek....

He shakes his head, muttering something about "of course" and something about "B'Elanna Torres" from the "Voyager" and just mutters.....again before shaking his head clear, screaming a little bit in frustration at yet another piece of insanity that's visited his life of late!

As an aside, I rather didn't like "Chalker's Law", but am just soldiering on to the end of this latest book. Rather like (a secret shame of mine that my fellow officers back at UNIT would heckle me relentlessly if they'd ever discovered I'd stooped so low as to read comic books) Wendy Pini. I guess this boils down to their different philosophies as writers.

That said, I always knew about Eye Meets Eye, partially because it was mentioned a number of times in passing by the Doctor and Inquirer when they spoke of Terra Prime, and partially because, now that my local library has the recent graphic-novel reprints, I have started reading Elfquest. (Although I've only read volume 1 so far.) This whole thing with "Chalker's Law" seemed like a bit of an arbitrary plot device to me. I liked when authors tried to explain character motives through their understanding of human (or non-human) nature rather than arbitrary laws of behavior. And it seems to me that good families--and good marriages-- aren't ones that are entirely without conflict but which are able to surmount them through the strength of their love. This is certainly what my personal experience tells me--I have a very strong relationship with my own family, but we often have disagreements, sometimes serious disagreements.

Now? On the other hand, it does seem to me that there is some validity to this principle. Seems to me that people would tend to have very strong reactions to their counterparts or "dopplegangers", beings who are both like them and very different. Either they would tend to resonate with them as brothers in spirit, or resent them as imitations of themselves. This does not mean that there wouldn't be tensions in friendships among analogs, or that people wouldn't change their minds, but they would tend to have strong feelings either positive or negative or even both, about their analogs--much as they would about their own "real" family.

Oh, and I do know about "Eye meets Eye" both because it's mentioned a number of times in your episodes and because, now that my library has got the collected Elfquest books, I have started reading it. (Although I've only finished Book 1: Fire and Flight so far.) But even true lovers don't always have it easy. I think that there are valid reasons (spelled out in that episode) that there would be some problems in this relationship, whether Jarlath, Astra 9, and Annafrid will be able to surmount them (and even whehter all three will be alive on the end of this fight) remains to be seen.

.....

Then again.... Then again we're talking about Souls touching and such and....maybe some kind of communion down at such a spiritual level smoothes over things before they can erupt into arguments between elfin couples (or between dragons....and Champions)?

Well, maybe with the exception of Chiana. She seems to be the type that...

Nevermind...

"It's not quiet that domineering like in the books," Sigin rumbles from where he stands, still in dragon form, "but there is some truth to what you say. A person's Matrix interrprets the world outside, feeding the metaphysical soul within with data. It is an...interpreter in this case, causing the soul of a person, the seat of conscious, to act and reacted in whatever manner the Matrix is formed as. In other words, the Matrix of a dragon causes the person, to a degree, to react and act like a dragon. Use a super powerful Atlantian artifact like the Crystallic...."

Huh? I thought that the Doctor said that Atlantis and....

.....

Old boy, I chide myself, he's talking about his world's version of that vanished place and people!

Sigin goes onto say that whilst this Matrix (a thing of magical physics or something or other that determines an entities shape and such in the physical world, amongst other things) can sway a person on how they react and act to outside stimulus, the transformee would still have at his (or her) core.... Well, he's still the same person, just expressed in a new and different way. Witness Chiana (who I'd noticed acting differently a bit than before.....but still is Chiana).

Hard to explain exactly, but I see the silver scaled dragon's point.

Bloody. I am so glad I do NOT have to write up a report on all this madness after it is all over! I expect that even with my best....slanting of the facts, I'd be still in the insane asylum before I could blink once I submitted it (the report)!

.....

Well, all that said I must admit I must take back my rather rash thoughts about Inquirer's sanity. After all, I now see that she was just acting that way to cause Mobius to dance to her tune, of sorts, instead of being calm enough and do something regretful (to us) by surprise! Perfectly obvious, now that I think about it. Sound strategy.

But I guess that the question I now must ask myself is NOT why she seems so odd at time, but why she seems so normal! After all, it speaks wonders that she's not maladjusted from....what she's gone through and all that!

My word, yes. Speaks wonders....

Meanwhile....

The Operative pails as he reads over the latest reports on this black bag op, sweating.

The signs are clear....and he's going to be in BAD trouble with the Old Man of the Company!

Crichton somehow slipping away from the knot.

Rygel having been somehow been spotted lightyears away from where he should have been (and worse upon worse) avoided capture by the contingency agents!

The fat mechanic, even after "interrogation" (i.e. roughed up) saying that the telemetry data had gone missing long before now....somehow....

Something was in the aid and this latest.....disaster about the Death Star/Sun drek was the worst of the lot! Reports seem to be that....Champions were involved!

Disaster!

Not totally, but very bad! While it meant (probably) that this discovery of his Op was done, it meant that since they were still alive and breathing....that this had become some kind of Official Quest. According to what had been gleamed from Intel on the Military/Star Fleet treaty (a bow to that stupid Prime Directive), whilst Champions who were on Official Quests could use whatever resources they had at their hands that could be argued to be disruptive of the Prime Directive, the Champions COULD NOT bring into play connections they had within the Military or Star Fleet.

Treaties and politics can be so strange. He'd been rather glad to just be a shadow operative and let Others deal with such....messy matter. Besides, he was in it for the money (as well as the....excitement).

Meaning that there....still was a chance.....

At least a contingency plan (capturing that one male Nebari) had paid dividends! The ploinker had been sloshed openly, at a seedy bar instead of planning on how to run things since the Establishment had suddenly and completely collapsed (for reasons still under investigation).

He sighed a little, remembering that though a lot of credits were at his disposal, he'd had to budget on how much effort would be put into side projects. It was "Crichton and these High Lords first" and hang the rest of this sploshing reality! Let the wormholes run wild and tear up the place!!

Who cared?

Well, he was curious but then not enough to go over budget! Would get canned if he did and....then what? A visit from the friendly folks from that new establishment within the Company, MarSec?!

Well, there was nothing for it. Bad news doesn't get better with age...and if he puts the right spin on it....he might just manage to keep his job (and keep his underlings from taking it over his dead body)!

.....

Thus and thus. The report given. The Operative still alive (and employed)....and one pissed off CEO. Not at the Operative. Not even at these Champions (directly). Rather, he starts yelling at this odd, crusty bottle on a pedestal. The Operative, remembering the last time an Employee question the Old Man about what was so special about that Bottle had....been vanished, left swiftly. Left before the entity within the Bottle revealed to his Master (as he'd come to view the CEO after enough "conditioning" (i.e. torture through some exotic dark tech)) that he'd...only wanted revenge on the one who'd put him in this rotting damn bottle in the first place!

He then went on, with prodding from his Master, about just how he'd managed it (behind everyone's back).

The CEO was NOT amused nor...even impressed.

"Overly complicated plans worthy of the reality you hale from," he sniffed, "And at my expense, too."

"But...but..." the Entity whimpered, only a former shadow of his arrogant self since he'd been found by his Master.

The CEO swiftly rose and clicked some kind of funky blue button, which activated a mechanism that, in effect, was what Star Trekers might call an "Agonizer" for energy entities like bottle boy here!

Smiling a little bit, the CEO clicked yet another switch, muffling the screams coming within the bottle.

"Oh but hope is yet here," he sighs, looking at a monitor as his guards drag in a still intoxicated Nembari. Chiana's brother...

Her brother, who'd been a high leader within his resistance cell or whatnot against the Establishment. The CEO's little efforts to destabilize the Establishment enough (and perhaps flush up this character in the chaos) had worked TOO well, for some reasons. Like....this government had lost control of one of it's more potent means of population control?

Well, here's the deal in case you were wondering, reader. Chiana and her brother were close. Very close. When, in another realm, she'd thought he'd died due to her lifedisk going blank (signaling his demise), eventually she'd grown somewhat suicidal for a time. Well, the reverse happened here. He'd thought that Chiana had died! He'd would have distracted himself from the pain of loss and thrown himself into his work, overthrowing the Establishment. However....the blasted Establishment had the bad grace of falling before he could well nigh do that! Leaving him with.....nothing to fill the sudden void within himself....except....

What we have here is a broken man who'd taken a similar turn that Chiana took. Self destructive course, folks. Boozing and such to blot out bitter memories and questions of "what if". Sad thoughts of opportunities lost....

He'd turned his back upon those within his cell, despite pleas that he at least try to join them in trying to establish a new government to replace the Establishment (anarchy reigned right now).

Thus the Company goons found him, drunk. Easy to pick up and drag away because . . . . nobody cared.....

At least there, that is. Maybe or maybe not Chiana was dead, but that bleeding heart Crichton would care about relatives of friends of his. He'd bet good money on it, the CEO would.

If things should start going south (like say High Lords disappearing or such), this ploinker would make a great bargaining chip! As it stands, things have started happening, but at least the CEO will soon pat himself on the back for foresight in bagging this chip. In the meantime, his men were right now scouting out the Gaunt Man's realm, looking there for the blighter himself!

Meanwhile, back in the TARDIS....

Inquirer

Okay, let's review. Have gotten the thing out of Mobius (a strange radiation we leached out of him and into a Whovian monstrosity to stow it for now). We're going to turn Mobius over to the PCs after I reckon into the Godnet (hooked into that piece of drek via satellite relay) and find out where the Cyberpope is located within (hopefully). My bet is...my hope is he's puttering around in Purgatory (the VR version of it, as it were) looking for the VR manifestation of his Darkness Device there. Being that the thing died in the real world, his hopes are there....

Would much rather find him, bag him with a happy hammer (making him drunk and unable to unplug from the Godnet or yell for help) than us Champions.

Have already made a quick sidetrip to drop off those unexpected proto- Dark Elves (why DO the Rules and Agents insist on dropping such odd things on us whilst on Quest?!) and pick up Crichton's PK wives. Next stop, if luck allows, will be us via TARDIS into France and bagging the happy hammered Cyber Pope. Nice if that happens instead of us having to slog our way physically through there, looking for that High Lord. After all, 'tis a benighted land now....with both cybernetics and things rather much like the worst of Catholic times, what with witch hunts and the French Inquisition and all that. Paris would be the best place to operate out of if we must, looking for the High Lord since there are still those within who'd not succumbed to the Invasion and the reality twisting axiom wash and all that....

But rather do this on the first try, thanks! Creator, I'd LIKE that....

Like to sweep in with "shock and awe" and bag the High Lord, find through his connection where his meat body was, and call back to the others outside in "reality" to go and bag him.

Nice and simple, I admit, but a girl can pray, right? Besides, this Grey market software I'd gotten (hush and do NOT ask me how I managed it) and modified to track the Cyberpope IS logged on and IS....somewhere in Purgatory...maybe....

.....

So I jack into the Godnet, having arranged my Net avatar to manifest and be empowered like I am here in "reality" (i.e. just as tough and strong and able to cast "spells") and.....

.....

Get the shock of my life!

No, I don't meet the cybernetic equivalent of the Devil or It's demons (there is a Hell in the Godnet as well as a Heaven and perhaps God....so rumor has it in the Torg books). Nor do I meet the cybernetic version of this goofy assed High Lord's version of Catholicism (would have made this mechanical woman's day!). Rather,....

Rather I'd joked from time to time that Purgatory was rather like my Net's version of the Wilderness (zones of cyberspace that nobody, not even us AIs could entirely track, rumor had they were actually gates into other realities cyberspace/Internet/computer networks). Joked that if you looked around enough in Purgatory you'd come across....a connection to a stupid movie related reality!

The whole City would be there. The Agents would be there. NEO would be there! Both IN the City and in what he called "reality" (really a VR construct, but don't tell him and his friends....it's a secret that only a few within the Matrix know the truth about)! Hey, that supposed "reality" that's supposed to be outside the Matrix (but isn't really) has too many plot holes to be anything BUT a stupid computer simulation!

I mean, you expect me to believe that the bad guy AIs actually get energy from human beings in that monstrosity called the Power Plant?!! It flies in the face of Thermodynamics, for Creator's sake!!

Wonder how long it will be before the cyber priests notice this manifestation..... That and how long before it fade back into the Wilderness (if it does)....

That said.... I'm seeing freaking Cypher getting ready to toast his fellow shipmate at the helm (but.....why are Morpheus and the other Hackers stirring behind him if they're still plugged in)?

Morpheus in particular is opening his eyes, with a look of confusion....

NO matter....too late to ask too many question unless I want to see somebody die!

Into action I must go!

But within the Matrix, Agent Smith's body....flickers a bit in hiccup and some rather French sounding curses escape his lips before he regains control, causing the other Agents to look at him....oddly. They'd been getting ready to interrogate Morpheus (just captured) when that had happened. Agent Smith, meanwhile, shakes his head as yet another wave of dizziness passes.

1. Yes, something about the body he'd "possessed" had been.....rather odd and alien.... That and he kept having this urge to.....drop everything and look for some kind of....crucifix?

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