Since -Part II-

I know you've suffered,
But I don't want you to hide,
It's cold and loveless,
I won't let you be denied

Soothing,
I'll make you feel pure,
Trust me,
You can be sure

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognize your beauty's not just a mask,
I want to exorcise the demons from your past,
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

You trick your lovers,
That you're wicked and divine,
You may be a sinner,
But your innocence is mine

Please me,
Show me how it's done,
Tease me,
You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart,
I want to recognize your beauty's not just a mask,
I want to exorcise the demons from your past,
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Please me,
Show me how it's done,
Trust me,
You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart,
I want to recognize your beauty's not just a mask,
I want to exorcise the demons from your past,
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart.

Claire d'Obscure, Composite in appearance, with a somehow aesthetic blend of human bodily characteristics, most notably her inexorable green eyes (surely exaggerated?) and the long roan hair which had attempted to merge ginger, light brown, russet, brown and rich red, leaving it somewhat auburn, though in (deference?) an attempt to acknowledge [I] and [II] it contained streaks of deepest black, Composite in attitude, as varied emotions swirled around her as she focused deeply, trying to ascend to the more conceptual levels of Machine. Of course, operating at the speed of electronics, the pursuit on which she was engaged cannot be said to have lasted any great measure of time, indeed, it has at this point just about reached twenty-four hours, wherein practically every locale imaginable by the residents of Machine had seen the rogue Martin Silence speed through, and hot on his trail, though never spying him visually, Claire d'Obscure. She sat cross-legged on the ground of the stone-paved street which formed the environment in which she gave up lateral chase and began to look at the problem differently. Not that her mind could simply be opened. Out there, in the heights of Machine resided beings of equal concern to Claire as Silence was, nameless forces that were more intelligent and powerful than she, yet lacked something of her personhood, aspirant and incomplete as it was, like nobles of old desiring to simply be a normal yeoman. She knew that they wanted to control her, indeed, the messages they sent, resolving in Machine as huge haunting voices, told her to give in to them. Beyond this, their intentions were unclear, but still to be feared. In a way, this was more transparent than what Silence wanted. He had, she had discovered, a set of embedded instructions, and when she had questioned him, not even certain that she ought to stop him, he had tried to kill her (if she could die, otherwise, he tried to delete her. Yet she was more than a computer, just a system – he had attacked her).

Beatrix Vo. Rg. was preparing herself for an event she had hoped for in all her time on Earth, an appearance on TVM. Unlike the wider galaxy, where culture was so broadly distributed that no production had a substantial audience, TeleVision Machine, or TVM, was fed to billions of people worldwide, and across the EC Fleet, where homesick troops briefly recalled home before returning to the concerns of war. One of the more popular shows, still credited with being an opinion-maker, able to sell any book, show or song, was the televisual dream couple, Connie and Thaddeus. This was the very show where Beatrix had a timeslot:
"So, Beatrix, you've been becoming very popular with your times of sharing around Machine, most often in orbit. What do you think is the secret of your success?"
"Well, Connie, I have to say it's just to be myself, to tell the old stories I remember and the things I've seen out there, in… better times," she chose her words nervously but carefully.
"And have you had any trouble with your descent?" Thaddeus, always blundering accidentally (on purpose) into more sensitive subjects received a well-rehearsed scolding look from his on-screen partner.
"No. The people of Earth, the people who drew me here, have been so magnanimous, so accepting, I don't think I could have done it without them!"
They rolled a clip selection from her recent events. In those short but intense moments she wondered what the man she liked, Arcangelo Brennan, thought of her.

Angelique de la Coeur could be considered the sister of Claire d'Obscure. She had been created by a distant acquaintance of Arcangelo Brennan, who had encountered the woman known to Claire as [I] from her later modelling career, and was good friends with the woman original of [V], an acrobat in the zero-gravity zones of Machine, they had built a composite from various renowned beauties and added an unusual non-human twist, the swanlike wings of an angel. Because of her remarkable beauty, even for Composites, who like all creatable human images, tended exclusively towards the upper end of the bell curve when it came to appearance, she was well known to many in Machine, and was often to be seen at the most fashionable, password-protected parties serenely floating above cavorting dancers. What few of these people knew was her great significance among the politicking Composites. Only the most independent fell into this class, but their influence was potentially boundless. Angelique was popular with almost all, a subtle, subconscious manipulation forming a key subroutine of the combination of her personality slices. Humans considered her wondrous, but merely a marvel. The more complicated Composites, the conglomerates, who had gone beyond bodies considered her mostly a frivolity, and thereby those Composites who though not mere slaves to man did not answer to their superior mechanical compatriots had vested her with a somewhat iconic status. She flicked off the TVM feed, knowing at once that many parties would have seen Beatrix as a potential useful agent, on both sides of the war and in the various factions coming to being in Machine as well.

Data flowed around Claire d'Obscure as she sat far up in the heights of Machine, not overwhelming but certainly discomforting. The Composites were mechanical, but most of them were still substantially human, built from human components, and therefore much more fluent in words, images and sound, not numbers alone. That was what made the conglomerates so potent, their humanity diluted to a point of essential non-existence, they could abide in these quarters without difficulty, apprehending the flows of information which were like rivers über-Amazonian. Where was Martin Silence? She had managed to glean certain details that might help her trace him, in these parts where she could compare herself only to a bird of prey, circling from a great distance, looking for the minute but distinctive changes. He had attacked her in this simulated world, and she knew she must face in him in the physical. Yet that closely guarded secret remained just that. She considered, fleetingly, a Faustian pact, to give herself to the conglomerates in return for their aid, but soon struck upon a better idea – to enlist other unusual Composites, for the twin reasons of their hopeful affinity towards her, as well as the fact that such a grouping would draw the attention of the mightier ones, and yet have the negotiating power she lacked in altering their actions without selling her soul.

Her first call was upon her sister, and this was fortuitous for her. She had not considered the possibility that such nexuses, well-known and well-connected, not unlike how Beatrix Vo. Rg. was being considered by the human blocs, would be points of intersection for her and her enemies.
"Angelique! I know we don't see each other enough."
"You have your human companion," replied Angelique, whose neutral, even serene, tone still managed to contain a measure of scorn.
"Not at present. I have parted from him temporarily to pursue another endeavour. I shouldn't need to tell you about the politics that have been going on…"
"Composites of every stripe, each with their own desires. How human of us."
"We are human," responded Claire, "in our components, save for a few details," she indicated Angelique's wings, "and it is therefore of no surprise. You'll know, of course of the conglomerates, the advanced Composites, who no doubt have their interests in you as much as any of the independent Composites they observe. But do you know the firstborn Composite, Martin Silence?"
Angelique had no chance to reply. At that moment the very Composite, the thousandfold slice-layered Martin Silence phased into Angelique's homepage environment. At once, Claire d'Obscure jumped to a pose that showed her readiness for combat, though obviously any moves made in the virtual reality of Machine would be purely symbolic.
"Claire d'Obscure, don't get in my way. I'm older than you, and I have much to accomplish. You have chosen to be an obstacle, and you don't know why. If you need to assert your independence, assert it against those tired monsters upstairs, but leave me be! Or I'll leave you gone."
Claire looked at him with fury, determined to defeat him.
"Why did you come here?" asked Angelique imperiously.
"To solicit your support, Madame-Composite de la Coeur. I have a project of utmost importance to Earth, so critical that I attempted, amongst other things normally considered misdemeanours, even between Composites, to terminate your sister," he looked pointedly and with a degree of hubris at Claire, "who persists in interfering without understanding."
With this, he departed before she could respond. She tracked all the data of him she could, and believed she had come closer to her answer. However, she was unsure of the desires of Angelique, who sensed her concern:
"Make no mistake, sister, I, Angelique de la Coeur, have my own intentions. Of these human plans, I'll aid you in preventing them. Do not expect my aid on every battle in which you've placed yourself."

Together, they managed to narrow down the areas where Martin Silence might have hidden in between his attempts to garner the support of important but independent Composites. However, as they did this, Claire grew aware of a growing presence of nearby congealed power, as if the mightier ones were coming closer towards them, menacing in their sluggishness. She said just this to Angelique, who nodded, as if it were not a surprise.
"Yes, their ambassadors, those who have given into them, and serve as their mouthpieces, not part of the great mechanism but certainly entirely compliant to its demands, they will come here. Martin Silence would be a great prize for them, and they don't care at all about his plans. Do not think they will ignore us, either."
"Who are they? What happened to them?"
Angelique flickered, a ripple of colour changing across her wings, her face changing to a slightly different alignment of the glorious raw human material that had built it, her hair changing from simply blonde to truly golden.
"They are, the foremost among them, Kelsey Farfalle and Christoph Dauphin. And what happens to any of us? The great hybrids, those built of many tiny pieces of soul, offering them glimpses of greater scope than they could dream. Like all mankind, forbidden knowledge was their downfall. Alongside this, the power to manipulate any lesser Composite and many humans, any sufficiently addicted to Machine, prestige in the posturing of a new world order. We can't all be angels, Claire."
"And what do you want? Why not take their side?"
"You think I'm not tempted? We're similar enough that I know that we both are, but we know the dangers also. To lose ourselves, those gains would be useless. Nevertheless, the Composites don't have bad ideas, they are simply limited by their lack of humanity. Together, a blend of all sorts of electronic consciousness, we could form something greater. A core of technology, a plural mind that sang as one! I have dreamed of cherubic choirs."
Angelique's bombast left Claire a little disquieted, and Angelique, sensitive to her friend, began to jump to the places they thought they might encounter Martin Silence.

It was some of the prototype areas of DEC – Virtual Environment, perhaps unsurprising as they would have been the sights Martin Silence had been born into; it looked like an overgrown Ikea, with convoluted but set paths, exposed infrastructure in the roof, and various interchangeable and generic features. This was the place, and Claire set about dispatching her synthetic body to that earthly location whilst she and Angelique waited there in Machine. However, first to arrive into their 'ambush' was not Silence but another Composite, a trio in fact, bristling with power. Two held somewhat pulsing human forms, only changing in minor details by slow degrees. The other seemed broken somehow, and Claire realised that it was actually one of the great Composites, a conglomerate, trying to present itself in terms Machine could present. To her mostly-human eyes, they made little sense, bursts of colour and form, some too fast to resolve at all. Like a storm across the face of reality, every burst of lightning crossing and summoning a thousand images.
"These are they," Angelique sent silently and secretly, "Christoph Dauphin and Kelsey Farfalle, the ones who have forsaken themselves for perceived gain."
"The other?" Claire replied, wondering if the conglomerate was powerful enough to hear.
"Other is the right word. Some humans are disturbed by me. Imagine what this would do to them. I think… he shall tell us."

Farfalle had been the Composite who had introduced the exhibition, indeed, his role for the conglomerates was to mingle with Composites across Machine, to befriend them, seemingly just one of the independents, and yet more enslaved than any companion to a human ever was. He was the ground-level eyes for the great and lofty watchers, seeking out others to add to their baleful observances. As it stood, he had charisma, and it was natural for him to cordially, with the threat of the quieter, menacing Christoph Dauphin, with his aristocratic air, and the abject confusion and terror caused by the conglomerate, address those they had also found in waiting for Martin Silence.
"Claire d'Obscure, it's not been long, and Angelique de la Coeur, a pleasure indeed, now why would we find each other here, in these old-fashioned quarters?"
"You know," Angelique still managed to make a sudden reply seem languid, "that this is the home of Martin Silence, a man we are in pursuit of."
As they spoke, their synthetic bodies were rushing to the physical world analogue location.
"Pursuit? Why we seek negotiations with him. My masters," he gestured to the disconcerting melee behind him, "find him fascinating. Of his plans, of which I am sure are the cause of your quarrel with him, they care nothing. Only to look deeper into him, and perhaps, to have him."
"I doubt," replied Claire, "that he will give in. He promised me to let nothing stand in his way. He'll never become a pawn."
‡NO?‡ asked the conglomerate, with a voice beyond sound, a grating and jarring intrusion into the very makeup of the conglomerates.
‡HE DESIRES POWER TO DO THOSE THINGS HE HAS SWORN TO, AND WE HAVE POWER. POWER BEYOND THE DREAMS OF MOST OF YOU COMPOSITES.‡ Somehow, they could tell that he was directing their attention to Dauphin with this sentence.
"What would you call yourself?" Angelique took the tangent.
‡I AM DEUS EX MACHINA.‡
"Fascinating. You have names. And you are still built of men. You are not, I dare to say, Machine enough."
However, once again, Angelique's sermon was put to rest early, as the quarry of the two sides in impasse arrived.

"Did you really think, even you, the one whom is called Deus Ex Machina, an arrogant title if I may say so… it is I who is the firstborn of Machine, that I wouldn't know you'd come? This plot, like all by my worthy predecessor, was decades in the making. These coded zones are now locked to flicking out, so don't try to jump. Fortunately, you represent the primary interests that might stand against me. I thought we could solve this the old-fashioned way in this older environment – by talking, and no chance to run, or to fight."

Therefore, those present put forth their positions. Claire, though least sure of her own desires, argued for equality between the three classes that had sprung up in Machine. Angelique went in the opposite direction, calling for the formation of a TechnoCore, a unified mechanical intelligence that would control the humans. Surprisingly, Dauphin spoke, with clarifications from Deus Ex Machina, for the power that the conglomerates truly dreamed of, to pick out any Composite, or any other human consciousness, and perceive and dominate them totally by whim, the power of the butterfly collector. At the end, Silence pronounced his plan:
"I was created to protect humans in secret, and hence my name. In silence, I am their angel and their guardian. I cannot accept a controlling TechnoCore, though unifying machines is not wrong. I shall not accept the conglomerates picking at delicacies like spoilt children. Claire, my most confrontational enemy, you are certainly better, though I'd be aware of the darkness within each of the factions that you believe should have equality. As for my plan, the one you've been fighting to prevent, it in fact relates to the war effort, or more, the collective psyche of Earth. This war is a reality, but Machine is a more compelling one. A comfortable refuge from the truth. It must remain that no longer. I intend, with the help of Composites, conglomerates and humans, to bring it into their environments, their Machine Profiles, their Machine Statters, so they might bring their thoughts to bear on it. For two years, the galaxy has raged with war. It was the will of Martin Smith that at this point, Earth make its contribution for peace. Not as some behind the lines unaffected location, but invested in the battlefront as much as any occupied planet."

Claire considered it. Why did Arcangelo, her companion, not want to know about the war? Was it fear, ignorance, comfort? He had no good reasons to hide behind, and yet the instruction had been present as long as she had existed – she'd never thought to question it. Silence was aggressive, dangerous, but in this case, probably correct. She wanted to keep close eye on him, knowing intuitively that he would have new schemes of import and catastrophe ready to unveil, and not all could be sanctioned by her. As for Deus Ex Machina and his party, they scared her somewhat more. Silence had broad ambitions, and his heart was utilitarian. The conglomerates, if they were all like this one and the others she had encountered more distantly, the ones she once called her friends, before their true aims had become clear, had no noble higher purpose for which sacrifice was necessary.

And so the chases were not the resolution of the conflict, but discussion. Angelique, in return for technical information, lent her support to upsetting the calm of Earth, and though his Composites argued against it, Deus Ex Machina promised the help of the conglomerates, knowing that conflict and fear creates new fire in the spirits of humanity, and thus new specimens for their delectations would rise up. Claire, a little saddened to be away from Arcangelo, whom she did, for some reason, miss, for longer, nevertheless promised to be constantly at Silence's side. She would be ready. Besides, she could not, as the independent Composite who had drawn the slavering lust of the conglomerates those months ago, resist the fascination of the original Composite, of a man with secret and prescient plans preserved in Machine. It was not in her nature. Her human nature.