- Detail Curtam -

'DETAIL CURTAM'

Virtual Reality has always fascinated Max Evano. His love for exploring things had expanded beyond limits during his teenage years. He tried playing with different games that made him live in different world. When he reached the age of 20, and was studying in college, his view to the world has gone even weirder. His taste of games has changed, but never his soul. He's now aknowledged with new technologies, new systems of simulation. He had watch hundreds of science fiction movies, and had read alot of novels and stories. But the most incredible invention that took his mind was virtual reality. A virtual game, for instanse, could take him into other world, and could show him other realities. Anything is good, but this world that he lives in. He would do what it takes for any reasonable change in his boring life, because he always expected from his life some new things and some different things to live with. Therefore, in order to fulfill his dream, virtual reality became his dream. He wanted to be some game designer or computer animater, but due to unfortunate reasons, he just entered the computer science major. Close enough he thought. But soon he got very interested in the computer world. While his years of stydying, he gave himself the time to go to computer exhibitions, game exhibitions and contests, and to any thing related to new technology.
One day, a new interesting exhibition called NAR 2000 has took a place in Beirut, where he was staying for the summer with his cousin, who lives there. The city has known many exhibitions like Tremium and others, but this one was strange. The idea of the exhibition was not new, a computer related issues and the latest technologies as it appears. But the rules are a bit wierd. To enter this exhibition you a teenager or a young adult, and you must be a male studying computer related. 'NAR' stands for New Age Reality. Max had to visit it for sure. So he went there with his cousin Naji, who was almost the same age as Max, and studyin buisness computer.
When he was there, he entered quickly with his cousin without any waiting. He took a turn among the stands and the sets of different computer firm and companies. Nothing really interested him, because he almost saw it all before. Until one company has captured his attention.
The 'DETAIL CURTAM' World
Virtaul Reality
U & I
Seemed a bit strange and has an atractive side. But Max was confused about it's strange name and decided to explore the company. Inside, there was two gentlemen. They almost had no facial expression with hard face, dressed in black suites and green ties. There were three small capital letters on the ties: IPA, Max noticed, but never figured out what they stand for. One of them starts to speak addressing Max.
- We welcome you, the interested one, in our company. You have the look of a man that is dreaming to live a dream. We made this dream a reality, a simulated reality, but what is the difference any way. [Looks at his co-worker and smiles]. Or a virtual reality as you may call it. We made it for you, and now we want to see your satisfication, so we invite you to try our project that we are showing, for testing, in here. Do you want to give it a try?.

Max was astonished. That was exactly what was running in his mind. He put his hands on his pokets and looked at his cousin and shaked hi head.
- Yeah, sure.
The other guy says:
- Ofcourse you have fill up some application. And I think you friend should wait outside til you finish. [ pointing to Naji.].
Naji : Yeah. OK. I'll go see something, I'll be here around half an hour, OK?
The two men look at eachothers then they say:
- Come with us Mr. Evano, this way.
Max was surprised, how did they know his last name? Ah! It's obvious that they read the name tag he's putting.
A question had alerted his mind. He looked at them and popped it out:
- I wanted to ask about the name, it sounds strange: DETAIL CURTAM?! detail? i understand... but what is CURTAM ?
- Well, you see... It's just a name, but i think they got it from the quote: "Curtain on who i am!"... Do not think about it. Not everything is existed or created is what it seems to look like. That is close to the Virtual World rules.
Max got a little confused. He filled up the application and started thinking about the man's talk. Somehow, it all made sense to him. Then, these thoughts got faded when they led him to a table and said:
- Lie down here Mr. Evano, you'll be in another world in just three seconds...
One of them grabbed a plug wire and wanted to connect it to Max.

Suddenly, a woman in dark maroon color suit with weird sunglasses with short hair, came in the room. Without any word, the men attacked her while she was running towards them. Seemed to have very high combat abilities, the woman was almost flying and kicking them all over their bodies, while they were surprisengly hitting her with some kung fu mastering! The scence was undescribable. Max stood without any moves still figuring out what is going on! After several minutes the men went down. The woman shouts:
- Max, get out, it's not safe, go hide!
- But ...
- Go now, you'll know later.
A man stood up with shaky legs, pulls a gun out from his suit jacket. Max saw this and let his legs race the wind. He looked back while he was running and saw the woman running too, but towards a bunch of people and got disappeared among them.
When Max got his breath back, he thought what those men doing with guns? Why did they fight? Why did she act like she was rescuing me from a dangerous thing? How did she entered and there were no females allowed? A lot of questions were rushing through his mind while he was returning home. He even forgot Naji there. He was frightened from all the events he gone through and not understanding any.
Max was home at last. And he remembered that he put some false information about his residence in that aplication, so was reliefed. But then thought about Naji and hoped that he'd come home safe. Thinking about the company's name, he logged into the internet. The company's name was strange and unique, therefore he entered the address www.detailcurtam.com then was pleased by the result. The site existed. It had this large heading:
'DETAIL CURTAM'
U & I
"not everything is what it looks like"
The site had nothing but the company's name beside the 'U & I' and this motto. It had no links. No info. Nothing. What kind of companies that has no inforamtion or background. And that line, that line ... it reminded him by that one and what he said! The green tie man's words were unforgettable. Does this all have a certain meaning or goal?
The phone suddenly rang... Naji was not home to answer. Max ignored it for the first time. It rang again. The computer screen went black, and green text appeared like somebody else was typing. 'Pick up, Max!'. Max pressed escape, tried to type, but no use! The phone rang again. With shaky hands, Max picked it up.
- Who is it?
. More important than 'who' is 'why'?
- why me?
. Yeaaass, you have potentials, Max. Not explored yet but they're are waiting.
- Wai .. waiting what? who is this?
. Waiting for you Max. You are your virtual self. And you are your real self. You are what you choose to be.
- What are you talking about?
. Just think about things in an opposite angle now, and soon the answers will appear in your own mind.
The call was ended. Max now has more questions than before. Think about things in opposite angle? Things aren't what they seem? what the...? DETAIL CURTAM ... something i'm sure has to do with this name! can't figure it out! curtain on who i am! he's bluffing i'm sure... there got to be something else. CURTAM ? CURTAM ? opposite angle? ofcourse? the name backwords ... MATRUC ? that doesn't sound with a meaning! what about the whole name? MATRUC LIATED?
hmm ? MATRUCLIATED? almost a word! Ah ! the 'U & I'! what if i switch them? MATRICLUATED.. hmm.. ah MATRICULATED seems more convincing.. MATRICULATED !! son of dogs! what do they mean?

i hope u like it ... u know.. my english isn't my prime lang. and i'm not so good with writing. but though i have many ideas .. i draw comics .. so i hope i can draw u some of my ideas or the continuation of this boring .. ahum .. lovely story :p :p

Oh its good, I'll say. The title's a very inventive anagram too, and this story is very original compared to the matrix we know. Keep it up psy its an excellent piece!
Oh and I luv yer avatar ;)

It's the new poster, right?

Anyway- right at the beginning you had me desperately trying to work this anagram out! lol! very imaginative psy :D

Hope to see more!

... hope u like it .. i put some hidden stuff in it ... wachoski's way :p
and yeah , my avar is the new poster .. although i don't like to put neo in an avatar but this one is cool ...

Ofcourse... this word in the dictionary meant:
ma·tric·u·late tr. & intr.v. ma·tric·u·lat·ed, ma·tric·u·lat·ing, ma·tric·u·lates
To admit or be admitted into a group, especially a college or university. ...
Max didn't understand ... what this have to do with all that happenned to him? Why those men wanted to hurt him ? Those 'green tie' men.. oh ! API ... the initials on the ties.. what do they meant? those API men looked and talked weird ... the woman ... who is she?.. Max was thinking again and drowning in his mind til the computer start running on by itself again.. this time it was shut off, how did it turn on?

Get out Max ... Get out

Max started typing:

. who is this? the man on the phone?
.. Yes.
. who r u?
.. Don't worry, we will meet soon.
. da girl was sent by u?
.. There is no time... Get out.. They're coming.
. wooo ? IPA men?
.. How did you know?
. wat is IPA anyways?
.. Information Program Agents.
. u're fast.. who r u ? and why should i believe u?
.. Knock Knock ...

The computer turned off while the door was knocked hardly! Max jumped out of his chair... who's this?, he thought, is someone playing a joke on him? maybe Naji was... he's not home, he's a computer nerd like him, and maybe he planned it up with some guys, he knew half the city.. KNOCK KNOCK.. Max reached for the door, looked through the hole... there were three tall men in suits with sunglass and earplug! Max backed away from the door and ran to the room again... There was a window... But he was on the third floor, he can't escape from it! He had to think quick... He heard a truck horning outside...
He looked, and found a truck fall of garbage. Hmm, why not? They do it in the movies! He jumped out of the window. The three men were already in.
- Target had escaped.
. They reached him before we did.
Then one of them put his leg on the edge. The truck was moving away. Suicidely, the man jumped and crashed down into a car behind the truck. Then he was trying to stand up.
Max saw this and was unbelievably astonished! How did he do it? He still like he didn't hit anything
The next scene was even more stranger! The two civilians in the car who were injured were shape shifting and murphing... They murphed into the two other men! Max was gazing with a wild openned mouth. The car started to follow the truck... the car is getting closer with the man standing on it. The features of the driver and the seater were getting more visible to Max.. God! It's them!!! How could this be?
While Max was lying on his stomach. Half covered with garbage, a hand reached his shoulder and he heard a voice:
- Get in the back...
The voice of the woman!! It was the woman! But this time, she's armed with two Uzi's... She began to shoot the car. The man on the car starts shooting by his gun. Max -covering his face and ears- almost had a heart attack. This was too much !!

You're doing really well with this psy- it's definitely inventive :D

:D

She's right, psy-a great style you have there. One that's based on more than a little homework; impressive! :)

u know ... the last part i wrote it right a way ... i didn't prepare ... i just let go to my imagination ... i'll try with another part .. and like always i hope u like it

Then Max took a peak to the man on the car, with trembling eye lids. The man was so fast moving, like he was dodging bullets... He was so fast, that Max never saw somebody move so fast til now. The woman was hitting nothing but air and some cars by the sideways. Then the other man in the car was half out and started shooting. The woman jumped a little jump backwards and took a protective cover and aimed her guns at the wheals of the car. Shooting at them, made the car loosing its balance, the car want into a wall of a shop and hit everything in its way, this gave the truck time to escape.

The truck then headed to an old garage in the back of the other neighborhood. The woman stood up and cought Max's hand and helped him to get up.
- I'm Cyma... Come on now, we must hurry.
. But..
The door from the driver's side was opened, and jumping out was a thin man with a strange goatbeard and sunglasses came out. The man was wearing a short jacket with an acient eastern pants. He was chewing a gum them smiled at Max.
-Com'on .. Let's go .. And put his arm around Max's nick and leads him to inside the garage. Cyma looked through the street and up, then followed them.
They reached a door that looked so rusty. The Man said:
- OK now .. let's see.. The key .. where is it? which pocket?
Cyma: . Hurry up. They are tracing up right now.
Max: * Who are they? How did he do those things? What's going on?
- They are agents. Agents of the system. Pleu sure knows how to make them angry. [Lauphing with pride]
. O' Please !
* Who is Pleu?
- That's me. [And he was openning the door.] Vois La
The door opens to a white shiny hallway with lot and lot of blue doors. Pleu shut the door behind him.
- The trace is cut off now.
They went to another door and openned it. And there was another surprise. A large room full of candles with nothing inside exept a phone and a black large man sitting on an armchair with lions on the sides. The blackman wears tiny sunglasses, a leather old coat and was bold.
- Welcome Kai Li.. Or you prefer your given birth name Max?
. How did you know my net-nick?
- I know a lot about you.
. It's time you explain everything to me.
- I will. But you have to know that you brought us here, as we had brought you here.

This is progressing along nicely, psy. Kind of like the Matrix, but not too much. What do the names mean?

those names are from old english and some from old latin ... check out dictionary.com :p :p ... but "Kai Li" i created it .. which is similar to the arabic khaiali - my formal language - which means imaginary or something not real.

Max or "Kai Li", as they reffered to him, was lost again... He hadnothing to do with any of these guys or those "agents". What system?. He didn't know more than two or three persons in this city, including hi cousin Naji.

- U say -what your name?!- that i brought u here? How?
The black man answers: . My name is Morpheus. As you already know, the name was for the greek god of sleep. And somehow i think there's a connection between, what you call, a dream world, and between the human mind. Only few and rare who woke up on the truth or knew the reality. You, Kai, as i used to be, you feel that there's something wrong. You feel it in your dreams, or in your dreamworld. And you feel it in your real world, as you've been told, but yet you know that is not what it is. You know that you got to find the relation, or the thing, .. the code, that something that makes you feel unreal in your real world, and somehow, in ironic way, almost real in your dreamworld.
Kai was listening but not quite getting Morpheus's purpose. But in a strange way, he felt like the man knew so much about him. And he was going to offer him a new kind of truth .And for his shock, this was true, but not ever like he suspected.
. ... You see Kai, your thoughts was almost neer the truth. The "real world" you were living is a fake world. It's nothing but another "dreamworld", while your "dreamworld" was atleast very neer from the truth.
- What truth? Those dreams i was having were true.
. Somehow yes. Your dreams about the suffering humanity was true Kai. And that's why we came for.
- It can't be. I always knew there's something wrong about this "world". There's another true. That's why I always wanted to escape from it. But .. But it can't be like this.. I thought it would be a place where humans are united. There were no wars... And ...
. The humans are united now. But unfortanetly there's a war. A great war. The battle of truth. The battle of existance and identity.

Awesome-a discussion that fits the image of Morpheus we know. you're doing great here psy...so you're Arabic? Interesting...Kai Li sounds Chinese as well. :)

hihi .. :D .. yes i'm Lebanese ... mideastern ... and i intended to do it as chinese coz i like their pick of names - short and with meaning... like in our arabic names, but we have names hard to pronounce :p

Very nice psy- a good Morpheus speech there. Very well done.

I looked up those names...but all it gave me was that Cyma was a greek word with a Latin derivative meaning 'wave', or something to do with architecture. And there was nothing at all for Pleu!

i took Cyma from the meaning of Maroon:
i took this paragraph:
...
often Maroon
A fugitive Black slave in the West Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A descendant of such a slave.
A person who is marooned, as on an island.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[From French marron, fugitive slave, from American Spanish cimarrón, wild, runaway, perhaps from cima, summit (from runaways' fleeing to the mountains), from Latin cma, sprout. See cyma.]

.. and that's why she dressed up a "dark maroon" colored jacket.


and as for Pleu : i chose fly in the dictionary:
and beneath it's meaning there's :
[Middle English flien, from Old English flogan. See pleu- in Indo-European Roots.]

Kai: - In my dreams, I saw torn places with nothing alive in the streets. I saw the sky was black. I saw an underground place where people live in fear. I saw monsters with red eyes. I never figured those dreams out. Even if they disturbed me after i wake up, but I then realise that they are just dreams. They can't be true. I hated this "dreamworld", and I hated my own world. That's why i loved everything perfect simulated in the virtual world. But I guess now ... now my dreams are real, as you say, and my real is fake.
. You didn't take long to accept the truth as it is. It's a very good sign.
- Good sign for what?
. That your mind always felt that this is all fake. And the truth will be shown. And now your mind is accepting my words because this is what it has been wating for, Kai. But ... The fact still that your mind is a prison. You are or your way to set it free.
- Yeah.. but why are you telling me all of this? Why not another human? Why "they" were after me?
. You see, Kai, this world you've been living in, as I told you, is a fake. In the real world, it's called "The Matrix". It's a ...
- Matriculated ..., Kai shouted, is this related? "DETAIL CURTAM" ... the ones who tried to do something with me? wha...
. Yeeeaas, I thought you'll figure it out. Well, if you allowed me to continue .. ehem ... "The Matrix" is a system, a computer generated dream world system, made for one purpose. To inslave our mind, while our boddies are consumed. The Matrix System has agents, the ones who chased us. They can morph into any body in the matrix, therefore all that is in the system not have been unplugged is still an enemy of us. There are other .. let me put it as "programs" .. in the system. The ones who wanted to plug you and take out the code are IPAs .. Information Program Agents.. Green Ties, higher rank than the ordinary agents, but made for one purpose, retrieve certain lost or secret information.
- Code?
. This system, like any system, has some anomalies, errors or conflicts. Some of these anomalies could produce a certain loss of information. That's what the IPA wanted to recover. You are one of the anomalies Kai. All the plugged brains are connected to the machine main frame, which generate every aspect in life, or even starts the program responsible for the dreams. Your brain was, in a certain way, connected to a different source. A file you must not have the ability or the code to access it, neither any of the humans. But there was an error rewriting to that file, which gave your brain the code, while you enter the dream program, or to put it in your words, when you sleep and beggin to dream, your brain enters easily to a very important and restricted data base. They are trying to recover that, to take that code out of your brain. And erase every attached memory concerns this. They can not kill you, I assume, and that's what I now believe. Because they would have killed you in many ways. Maybe to study your case. But the important two things are, they can not mess up with your chrysalis, where your body is reserved, and well guarded. And that we have you now before they did. All we need now is to figure that code out of your brain, and you must still plugged to do this. This code is very important to gain information about these machines and maybe about our true history the last two hundred years, and the probable history that we know, if it is changed.
- I'm lost again !! But what I figured out, that I'll stay here, in this fake world, plugged as you say. Why I can't see the real world?
. There are so many guards guarding your chrysalis. And we have to access your brain through the matrix while you are asleep. We don not know if this will work in the real world. We have to work quick. The machines are trying to build a firewall to that data base I am sure. But I think it will take long, it is so huge. Now these are some of Torwoada's crew.. You have met them, Cyma and Pleu. The best hackers in Zion. The captain of Toroada asked me to talk to you. But you will meet him soon. His name is Ushino.

Woah nice!...and I liked Morph's impatience at the center (lol)...and now your names are moving into the Japanese realm...some hints? :)

Wow, great work psy!
I was neglecting to read this for a long time but you've got a very interesting story going on here. And don't worry about your English, we can hardly tell it's not your mother tongue.

Beautiful explantion psy! Very nicely done- lots of detail, intricately written, with character personality and development. Very nice.

thanks guys ! i'll try to write more and hope u like my strange ideas and concept ... i wish i could put all of them in a story ... but there's no time :p ... after finishing this story i'll write another one called "spy"...
any suggestions to the current story ?

Life itself has gone virtual for Kai or as he was called before Max. Even himself he would not know which is his name! The name given to him, or the name he chose.
But now, after knowing the truth, he can't go back. All of his faked life, he wanted to live a life full of action. A life other than this. A "real virtual life".
He always asked himself these question since then: "What if DETAIL-CURTAM project had got his mind and retrieved the code, and the strange people from what they call Zion, the real world hadn't save him. What whould happened? Would he still had those dreams? Whould he still curious to find about virtuality and its mistery? ..."
Staying two days with "the rebels" had tought him alot about Zion and unity of humans. About the real world and the matrix. As much as he wanted to go for himself, he much he was banned to be unplugged. He had to stay MATRICULATED. For the matter of humankind he had to still being plugged. Perhaps someday he'll be free again. But what he know for now... Although his mind is not free, but his mind will help to free lots of humans, and help to destroy the very huge prison of humanity, the matrix.

..... To Be Matriculated .....