Omake Chapter 1- E: Batou

[Bean Bandit]

Somewhere in the future, (though with events now proceeding as they were, these terms were somewhat subjective) a man entered his apartment.

This was no ordinary man. A sizable man in his own right, a large portion of his body was possessed of a strength of staggering proportions. Though he looked human, simply a big, blond man with a neat ponytail tied at the nape of his neck, a great deal of his body was artifical, enhanced to make him bigger, faster and stronger than any ordinary man.

Despite his mostly human looks, his large, weathered face was rather jarringly interrupted by a pair of opaque black lenses, fused directly to the flesh.

The apartment he entered was simple, and spartan, even for male tastes. Largely empty, with few pieces of furniture to break up the monotony, the only obvious expense was the high tech computer arrangement in the corner of the living room that he now faced through a short hall. Just beyond the desk, the entire far wall of the living room was transparent, looking out on the city. The computer itself sat atop a simple, clean desk, with a few pizza boxes and a small amount of garbage littered about in it. To his left was a closet, and just beyond that, an obvious corner that could not be seen beyond, and his right was a wall of the short hall, an open door set into the wall, leading into a kitchen of sorts.

It was to this man that the final spirit came, just as he closed the door behind himself, and with a sudden wrench, entered him, just as the apartment door was locked behind him...

[CyMage]

Sai stared at the computer setup.  "Whoah!  Someone definately has money to spare for a custom job like this.  I gotta see the specs on this."

Reflexively moving his right hand, he tried to make the cursor appear on his screen.  The small movement quickly became a larger one as the right hand came into view and was brought for a closer examination.  "WTF?"

Shifting his gaze downwards, Sai repeated his statement.  "WTF?  This has got to be another dream."  Pinching himself lightly proved otherwise.  "Ok, this is really, really weird."

Taking a few steps towards the window, he took a look outside.  "Where am I?  Who am I for that matter?"

[Bean Bandit]

A look out of the transparent wall that also served as a window provided a spectacular view of a city that seem to have been constructed entirely of lights. Glittering skyscrapers spotted the landscape nearby, and shorter and less elegant buildings filled up the spaces between them.

Admittedly, a fairly generic 'cityscape' look, though the skyscraper's architecure was more advanced looking than at present day.

Added to the peculiarly futuristic look to the helicopters that could be seen in the distance, the city itself took on a look pulled straight from the movie 'Blade Runner', crossed with a Godzilla movie.

Pulling back his focus slightly, Batou could see his own reflection in the window, his broad, strong looking jaw, weathered features and ash blond hair startlingly at odds with the lenses implanted where his eyes belonged...

[CyMage]

A 'blink'.  "Batou."  Another 'blink'.  "I'm Batou.  Batou from Section Nine.  Batou from Ghost in the Shell."

Turning back to the window, he looked at the computer setup.  "Maybe there is something there that will tell me what the hell is going on."

With that said, Sai strode towards the computer and pulled up a chair.

[Bean Bandit]

The computer itself was enough to give hardcore geeks orgasms of joy.

The units that comprised the web of equipment and attachments were all slim and compact, and there was room for still more attachments, as this one seemed new and somewhat uncustomized.  

The power was easily located and turned on, and the computer booted up with startling speed.

The raw processing power was roughly equal to a mainframe, and the response time was down to nanoseconds. However, the OS seemed fairly complicated....

[CyMage]

Searching for obvious interface devices besides the keyboard, Cy also took a look at the screen trying to find any similiarities to the popular OS of his time and space, Windows.

OOC: Mice/Trackball/Touchpad for the first part.  Icons or a 'Start' menu for the second part.

[Bean Bandit]

There were two immediately apparent interfaces in full view. The first seemed to be some kind of access port for a cable similar to the USB type, and the second was a seperate touchpad, similar to the 'mouse' access found on old style laptop computers.

The OS that activated had no apparent Icons as of yet, and seemed to be waiting for a password...or a different interface...

[CyMage]

Feeling the back of his neck and confirming that, yes, there were 4 ports there, he then patted himself down, searching for an interface cable.  "Never can find the right cable when one needs it."

[Bean Bandit]

A few second of searching bore fruit, as sewn into the lining of his jacket, Batou discovered several pockets, with all manner of miscellaneous items, from matches to tools. In one of the lower ones, he found a bound cable, of approximately the same type as the ports that he discovered in his neck...

[CyMage]

Uncoiling the cable and pluging one end reflexively into the back of his neck, he then pluged the other end into the computer.

[Bean Bandit]

Batou was hit by a slight wave of vertigo, as though he were falling, and suddenly he was floating on a brilliantly electric azure field, and a number of different icons floated, large as life in the field.

In fact, it was remiscient of a 3-D version of a common OS of the past...

[CyMage]

"Whoah!" quoth Sai.  "This is way too cool.  Something I always wanted.  Now let's see if I can find any info.  He begun looking over the icons, noting their shapes and any labels that might be on them.

[Bean Bandit]

An examination of the icons listed in the computer revealed a system directory, with a section for encrypted Section Nine files, another for personal records, and an enourmous subsection for music.

Aside from those, there were only OS and System files listed on the computer...

[CyMage]

Grinning at the music, he quickly headed that way first.  With a mental 'double click' he tried a random file.

[Bean Bandit]

Instantaneously, loud electric guitars began to play, and a small indicator popped up in his vision, informing Batou that he was listening to 'Magic Carpet Ride', by Steppenwolf...