Spirit of the Web

From: Unknown user
To: Burk@sumi.com
Subject: please
Hello mom and dad its me. i tried to contct u but i don't know what to do. i know you think i'm dead. Well actually i am. Wel, u know that already. U buried my body.
I tried to find a way to contact u, and couldnt u didnt see my reflection. This was the only way I could think of. Please hear me. I dont know what to do. im afraid to go. There was this brite light and I didnt want to follow it.
I miss you.
im scared.

From: Burk@sumi.com
To: Unknown user
Subject: Re: please
I don't know who you are, but this joke is absolutely not funny. Luckily, Mr. And Mrs. Burk have asked me (Mr. Burk's brother) to attend to their business during the mourning period, so I managed to intercept this message before it reached them.
You should be ashamed of yourself for toying with the feelings of bereaved people in this manner. I suppose you're some kind of hacker, since you managed to hide you're address. I suggest you do not repeat this vile act.
James Burk

From: Unknown user
To: Burk@sumi.com
Subject: please believe me
Hello uncle james its really me, roy. I know this sounds silly but it's the truth it's the only way I could think of to contact you I never been a ghost before.
I don't have a user name because I contact you from inside the computer. I cant explain it but that's the only way I could do it.
I miss mom and dad so much.
I don't now how to be a ghost school doesn't prepare you fro it.
Love roy.

From: Burk@sumi.com
To: Unknown user
Subject: Re: please believe me
This is to inform you that I've turned to the police in this matter. I do not intend to take lightly this kind of attempt at cruelty towards people who are suffering enough as it is. If you continue mailing us you will be caught and punished as you well deserve.
James Burk

Welcome to the IRC Unknown user.
/nick Ghost
Nickname Ghost already in use
/nick Spirit
Nickname spirit already in use
/nick deadend
Your nickname is now deadend
/join #ghosts
User deadend <unknown@unknown> has joined #ghosts
> hi
<Ghost^> but poltergeist was better
<Romi> hi deadend. Interesting nick.
<Spooky> says who???
> oh this # is dumb
User deadend has left #ghosts

/join #spirits
User deadend <unknown@unknown> has joined #spirits
> hi what's this # about?
<Bansheez> guess
<Bansheez> well it's kinda empty right now, the usual ppl are currently at school.
> this sucks.
User deadend <unknown@unknown> has left #spirits

/join #NonCorporeal
User deadend <unknown@unknown> has joined #NonCorporeal
> hi what's this # about?
<Am_I_Dead> he was here before, but he left. He was looking for ya.
<Dead_Am_I> shoot. Been looking for him for 2 days.
<Am_I_Dead> hello deadend. Well, guess...
User [buffy] has joined #NonCorporeal
<[buffy]> hi ppl anyone roleplaying?
* User [buffy] was kicked by GhostBot [come again when you're really NonCorporeal!]
*Am_I_Dead* a/s/l?
<Dead_Am_I> well, was kinda afraid he left for good
/msg Am_I_Dead don't nag me you moron, I'm really noncorporeal. I'm DEAD!
[Am_I_Dead Finger]
<Am_I_Dead> nah, he's been here for too long. He's stuck with us.
*Am_I_Dead* well, so you are. Don't be so touchy. All of us here are.
<Am_I_Dead> ppl: deadend is one of us.
/msg Am_I_Dead huh? And how would you know that by a Finger???
> what do you mean???
<Am_I_Dead> we're all dead here. Ghosts all of us - welcome to the club :)
> yeah right and I'm the queen of france.
<skully> welcome. Long time since someone new arrived.
<Dead_Am_I> hmmmm... I thought france wasn't a monarchy anymore.
*Am_I_Dead* of course I didn't get the info from the finger. But you learn a few tricks when you're here as long as I been. You can follow the finger command and get in touch with the entity it refers to - if there's one. In your case - there is :) so I know you're one of us.
> well france isn't a monarchy I guess but this roleplaying of yours is dumb
<Dead_Am_I> oh.. sorry to tell you, but this is no roleplaying. Unfortunately for us.
> why unfortunately?
<Dead_Am_I> well you don't really think any of us would have chosen it if we had our way with it?
<Am_I_Dead> yeah... me and D, for instance, we died in a motorcycle accident.
> D?
<Am_I_Dead> short for Dead_Am_I, naturally. She's my girlfriend. Or was, at least.
> um. I was wondering why the similar nicks.
<Dead_Am_I> oh I still am A! that is If you still want me!
<Am_I_Dead> well, it sounded a little silly to me, girlfriend ghost and boyfriend ghost...
<Dead_Am_I> oh, deadend, pay no attention to A... he's just playing games with me, the same game for 8 years..
<Am_I_Dead> that's right... I'm always fishing for compliments.
> 8 YEARS???
<Dead_Am_I> :(
<Dead_Am_I> yup, 8 years :(
> I never imagined ppl did this.
> was merely a wild attempt to find a way to communicate with my family. Didn't occur to me other people might do it too.
<Dead_Am_I> oh, sure. It occurred to us. Wish it hadn't.
<Am_I_Dead> yeah. Not many people would have thought of it 8 years ago. We just had to do this stupid thing.
*Dead_Am_I hugs Am_I_Dead as best she can "don't be so miserable, honey, we will get out of here yet!"
> what do you mean???
<Am_I_Dead> well, I got a theory about it, but I'm not sure you'll like it.
> please.
> I'm very interested.
<Dead_Am_I> A believes that we've become computer entities. Hah!
<Am_I_Dead> you make it sound so silly, D
<Dead_Am_I> because it is so!
> please ppl, would you please tell me what the argument is about?
<Am_I_Dead> well, I came up with this theory to explain something that happened to most of us here
<Am_I_Dead> mainly, that we can't leave.
<Dead_Am_I> :(
>excuse me?
<skully> yeah
<Dead_Am_I> you must be very special, deadend... skully spoke twice in the same day!
<Am_I_Dead> well, how to put it... I guess you already had the white light experience?
<Am_I_Dead> you know what I mean?
<Am_I_Dead> don't nag skully again, D. you know he takes it bad.
> yes. The tunnel... the white light.. it was here. I avoided it.
* Dead_Am_I offers skully a long stem rose @}-`-,----- "I'm sorry I didn't mean it!"
<Am_I_Dead> shame you did. We all avoided it at the time. Skully avoided it about 8 times!
<Am_I_Dead> anyway, that light is your portal to wherever you're supposed to go from here.
> 8 times? You mean it came that many times?
<Dead_Am_I> the problem is not that it came 8 times. Problem is it stopped coming!
<skully> yeah :(
<Am_I_Dead> you get only a limited number of tries, so to speak. To us (D and me) it came only twice. It came to us together, because we've been together ever since the accident.
> you mean to tell me you don't even know where you go to from here? 8 years and you don't know what happens next?
<Am_I_Dead> I believe that when we came in here, and avoided the light, we lost part of our existance.
<Am_I_Dead> no one knows what's beyond the light. No one ever returns from there...
<Am_I_Dead> anyway, what I mean to say is this.
> I don't get it.
<Dead_Am_I> I bet there's lots of chocolate fudge sundae!
<Am_I_Dead> when you were alive, did you spend a lot of time on the internet?
<Am_I_Dead> D, don't be silly. This is serious.
> well, quite some time.
> mom and dad wouldn't let me sit too long.
* Dead_Am_I sits in the corner and pouts.
<Am_I_Dead> well, think of it this way: when you were sitting at the computer, you were immersed in what you were doing, right?
* Am_I_Dead whispers something in D's ear.
> guess so
* Dead_Am_I giggles.
<Am_I_Dead> well, think of it this way. Now you have no body, right? Just as the # name implies
<Am_I_Dead> all you have is your soul or whatever you call it.
* Dead_Am_I forgives A and sits next to him, quietly.
<Am_I_Dead> and that currently is your entire existence, right?
> well, yeah
> I don't have my body sitting in front of the computer, so I have to interface directly with it. Yes. You might say so.
<Am_I_Dead> well, when you have a body, you have to sometimes leave the computer to eat, or drink, or whatever, right?
<Am_I_Dead> and not only that, your body gives you a center point. It gives you an anchor on your identity, your location, whatever.
> hmmmm...
> never thought of it that way.
> I think you have a point.
<Am_I_Dead> now, think of your current condition.
<Am_I_Dead> you've actually merged with the computer.
<Am_I_Dead> without noticing it, you are gradually becoming a virtual entity,
<Am_I_Dead> you're trying to communicate with your family, but gradually you become NOTHING but communication.
<Am_I_Dead> bit of information floating around in the internet. Very difficult to maintain your own identity that way.
<Am_I_Dead> deadend?
<Am_I_Dead> are you there?
<Dead_Am_I> I think he's got problems. Maybe he hasn't learned yet to control his connection.
<Am_I_Dead> you think so?
> I'm here, I'm here
> you merely shocked me. I had to think about it.
> what you're saying is that the longer I stay here the more virtual I become.
<Am_I_Dead> hey, I didn't mean to shock you.
<Am_I_Dead> It took me a long while to think about it, so It didn't come as a surprise.
<Am_I_Dead> yes. That's about it. That's why we're regretting so badly the fact that we decided to do this. We're stuck here.
<Dead_Am_I> and God only knows what will happen when the new millenium hits. If many computers crash, it might mean the end of us...
<skully> be optimistic, D. it might mean we'll all be free at last.
> this is terrible!
> how can you sit here and speak calmly like that about being trapped in a computer network as a virtual entity???
<Dead_Am_I> we had a long time to get used to the idea :(
<Am_I_Dead> actually, D and I don't need to have the words typed anymore... we've been here so long, we can easily communicate using raw data.
> but what will happen? Will you stay stuck here for all eternity??? Will _I_ stay stuck here for all eternity?
<Am_I_Dead> no one knows. We don't know if we're still under the surveillance of some higher being, or if we lost all our status as living beings. Perhaps we're no more than artificial intelligence now...
<Dead_Am_I> no, not artificial intelligence... we're bugs in the system... ;)
> so, what do you do about it?
*Am_I_Dead* I believe skully here has some sort of psychosis. He can't cope with the gradual decomposition of his personality.
<Dead_Am_I> what do we do? nothing. We kill time.
<Dead_Am_I> we still hope that all this is some sort of a test, and someday we'll be out of here.
> I wish I hadn't come here.
> you practically ruined my day...
> but I still didn't find a way to contact my family :(
<Dead_Am_I> yeah... A always does that to people
<Am_I_Dead> forget about them. There's no way they'd believe that their dead son is contacting them from beyond the grave through e-mail...
<Dead_Am_I> you don't need to contact them.
<Dead_Am_I> think about it. You won't do them any good - they have to go through the mourning process and eventually heal.
<Dead_Am_I> and you have your whole afterlife to live... how exactly do you think they'll help you?
<Am_I_Dead> yeah, except for moronic questions like "what's the afterlife like" and "is uncle bengie feeling ok" they won't really have any helpful contributions...
> but I miss them
> I miss them so...
<Dead_Am_I> I'm sorry deadend
<Dead_Am_I> but honestly, as much as you miss them and they miss you, it just won't do you any good to try and contact them. You just have to accept the facts of life.
<Dead_Am_I> er.. the facts of death, that is.
<Am_I_Dead> that's right. It will only frustrate you and probably hurt them.
> when I sent a message to my parents my uncle intercepted it.
> he called the police.
<Am_I_Dead> and what happened?
<Am_I_Dead> you see?
<Am_I_Dead> it won't do you any good.
<Dead_Am_I> accept it. You're dead. Live with it...
> but what will I do?? forever be stuck here? A virtual entity like you, until God know what? Maybe I'll become just a random set of digits, aimlessly floating online???
<Dead_Am_I> we don't know either, but we're at least trying to solve it.
<Am_I_Dead> we're learning. We're searching all sorts of religious and occult sites. Maybe we'll find something somewhere.
> yeah.. a banish spell that will send us to oblivion.
<Am_I_Dead> don't be so bitter about it. We're doing what everyone does, eventually - trying to find the meaning of our existence and the way to fulfill our destiny.
> destiny?
<Dead_Am_I> for tonight - it's the meaning of life!!!
<Am_I_Dead> yes. Destiny. There must be something of the sort. I mean, you see there's an afterlife, you saw the tunnel of light... there must be something beyond the obvious. Beyond the corporeal, the material, in this world.
> haven't thought of it that way.
> I wonder.
<Dead_Am_I> I hope you at least believe in ghosts..
> I d
<Dead_Am_I> I mean, it would be silly if you didn't, right?
<Am_I_Dead> deadend?
<Am_I_Dead> are you ok?
<Dead_Am_I> deadend??
> yes yes! It's the light! The tunnel! It's here again!
<Am_I_Dead> you think he's OK?
<Dead_Am_I> go for it deadend!
<Am_I_Dead> wow! Go into it! Don't miss your opportunity!
> but my mom... my dad...
<Am_I_Dead> you can do nothing about them. You don't want to become a non-entity.
<Dead_Am_I> go towards it! It might be your last chance!
<Dead_Am_I> don't get stuck here like we did!
> it's so beautiful! So wonderfully beautiful!
<Am_I_Dead> go for it, man! Don't miss your opportunity!
<Dead_Am_I> wish we could go with him...
* User deadend has left Irc [ERROR: USER OR SERVER DOES NOT EXIST]
<Am_I_Dead> he went :)
<Dead_Am_I> wish we could too :(
<Am_I_Dead> don't worry, honey. It'll happen some day yet...
<skully> anybody for a game of battleships?
<Dead_Am_I> <sigh> OK... you start.