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Layer 09; Protocol: On July 4, 1947, a strange craft crashed in the desert in New Mexico, America. What it was has yet to be proven. Conjecture has become fact and rumor has become history. Lain sits in her room, wearing her bear pjs. The door creaks and Lain looks over. A shadow appears in front of a bright light coming from her open door. The light fades out slightly and it is a gray alien. In 1984, a manila envelope arrived at the home of TV producer Jaime Shaders. The envelope, from an anonymous source, contained a roll of undeveloped film. The film contained what is called the MJ-12 document. Roscoe Hillenkoetter, head of the CIA at the time of the Roswell Incident was at the top of the list of 12 members. It stated that these men concluded a secret treaty with extraterrestrials as a special organization answerable only to the president. It is now accepted that President Truman's signature on the document was in fact copied carefully from another document. Named as a member of MJ-12 was Vannevar Bush, head of MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering. Lain is back on the WIRED, surrounded by anonymous users - comprised of static bodies. Only parts of their head can be seen. They chide her, saying she was too young when the WIRED first came about. But Lain is mad and they disappear. The MEMEX memory expansion concept unveiled by Vannevar Bush in 1945, was a system whereby information recorded on microfilm was projected onto a translucent screen. What he envisioned was the compression and rapid access of information. Even before the advent of computers, Bush had already created the basis for our current multimedia while he lead the Manhattan Project atom bomb experiments. Cyberia. JJ sees Lain and calls her over to his booth. He hands her a package, saying she dropped it last time she was here. Lain does not know what he is talking about but takes the package. She opens the package and a daughterboard falls out with the Knights symbol on the board. Conducting sensory deprivation experiments using Native American narcotics and isolation tanks to probe the human unconscious, John C. Lilly believed his experiments connected him to cosmic entities by way of a communication network. Lilly dubbed the beings that guided him E.C.C.O., Earth Coincidence Control Office. Afterwards, Lilly began work on communication with dolphins. Dolphins are creatures which are able to conduct wide-range networking in the water via ultrasonic waves. Lain sees the kids on the other side of the room. She approaches them, telling Taro he had promised her a date. Taro laughs and said it was with the wild Lain but she glares at him. He decides to go, even with Myu-Myu mad at him for doing so. Taro looks at Lain's modified NAVI system. He cannot believed how much she has modified it. Lain drops the daughterboard in front of him on the desk. He looks at it. Lain accuses him of being one of the Knights. Taro denies it but Lain turns the music from Cyberia on, saying it was him. Downstairs, Miho sits on Yasuo's lap and they hear the music. Yasuo says it will soon be over and Miho comments they should make the most of their remaining time. She leans over and kisses Yasuo. Mika sits in the hall beside the open doorway; her lips continue to move. She lifts her fingers in a telephone position, muttering a busy signal sound. Taro tries to get away but Lain will not let him. She turns off the music. He confesses he is not a formal member of the Knights but works with them. Lain shoves the chip into Taro's mouth, demanding to know what it is and what would happen if she put it on her motherboard? Will she die? Taro tells her it will overwrite memories. Taro says he wants to go since Myu-Myu will be jealous. Before he goes, he comes back and says Lain owes him a kiss - it is a date after all. He holds her head and plants one on her. Lain takes something out of her mouth and squishes it. Ted Nelson, who studied under the two cult pioneers Vannevar Bush and John C. Lilly, proposed a giant electronic library in satellites in stationary orbit which could be used at any terminal on Earth via radio or telephone lines. He called this concept that would make this database 'Xanadu.' The Mongolian utopia where all written cultures would never be lost. This was Xanadu. it was the concept of hypertext that would make it real and Ted Nelson's name would go down in history as its originator. Lain returns to the WIRED to find out about her past. But the men in black grab Lain and take her to her house. In front of her stands her family. Yasuo takes her and brings her to her room. She sees alternate-Lain sitting on her computer and she turns around to face her. She wants to know if she is her and alternate-Lain agrees. The only truth, God... but alternate-Lain agrees it is her. The Earth has its own specific electromagnetic waves. Between the ionosphere and the Earth's surface, there is a constant resonance at a frequency of 8Hz in the ELF band. This is called the Schuman Resonance. The extent of the effect on humans of these 'Earth Brain Waves' that the planet constantly gives off remains unknown. The Earth's human population is approaching that of the number of neurons in the brain. Douglas Rushkoff proposes that the consciousness of the Earth itself might be awakened when all humans on Earth become collectively networked. The network's evolution would follow a neural model and just as neurons within the human brain are connected by synapses, the Earth itself would become a neural network. Masami Eiri, Chief Researcher at Tachibana General Labs, further developed the hypothesis of a worldwide neural network. His hypothesis proposed a wireless network whereby all humanity would be plugged in at an unconscious level without the need for any device. Furthermore, he encoded the Schuman Resonance Factor and inserted it into the 7th-gen Wired Protocol on his own initative. Upon discovering this, Tachibana General Labs dismissed Eiri. One week later, Masami Eiri's body was found on the Yamanote train line. Lain stands alone in the deserted streets. Eiri stands before her. Layer 10; Love: Lain stands in the empty street of the WIRED with Masami Eiri in front of her. Eiri is dead but now, he floats in front of Lain as if he were real. They question each other and Eiri confirms he was dead. But, he can exist in the WIRED even in death. Now, he is omnipresent with no real body. Lain asks if he is God. Eiri gives her an answer saying that there are those that worship him, which are the Knights. The next morning, Lain walks into the classroom. The scene is quiet. As Lain watches her friends talk on the other side, she stops at the front of the classroom finding her desk gone. She stands there, looking at the empty space. The teacher comes in and begins handing on papers. When she gets to Lain, she passes the papers to the girl behind Lain, leaving her holding her hands up to receive the papers. Lain is not wanted in the real world. Lain leaves and returns to her house. But the house has changed, now all messy and the plants have died and wilted. She tries to clean up one room but she hears someone behind her - Yasuo. He informs her it is time for him to leave. Yasuo informs her he was an actor hired to portray her father. Although he was not required to say goodbye, he wanted to. He turns to leave but Lain asks him not to leave her alone. Yasuo responds that she is never alone when connected to the WIRED. Understanding who she is, Lain goes in the WIRED. Everybody comes to her but Lain only wants to know who the Knights are. Cyberia. The club is gone. The three kids sit in their table as Taro plays with his NAVI. Myu-Myu wants to leave and go back to her place, telling Masayuki he not need come. Suddenly, the WIRED news channel comes on. The identity of the Knights have been listed on the WIRED. The businessman sees the list. Gasping profusely, he quickly gathers up his belongings in a suitcase. However, the men in black come in. They restrain him, injecting a liquid into his neck. He slumps over on his desk. They leave and his secretary comes in to find him dead. Similarly, other Knights lay dead. The dirty fat man who laid on his stomach now lays dead. A boy calls his mother to play the game with him but she lays slumped over on the table. The WIRED news channel announces a mass suicide has taken place. Lain, now with wires connected to her, watches the news channel when the men in black come into her room. She asks them why they killed the Knights but the men just respond it was what their client wanted them to do. It was Lain, after all, who had published the names. As they turn to leave, the larger man stops, takes off his eye piece and confesses he loves Lain. The smaller man, snickers and they leave. The desolate streets in the WIRED. Lain stands in front of Eiri again. She asks him how he can be God if all his followers are dead. But Eiri announces he can remain in his position as long as there are believers left - and there is one left, Lain. He explains Lain is part of the WIRED, that he created her and she was born in the WIRED. Lain feels alone. She commands Eiri to go away and she is left alone in the street. |
