NETRASCAPE ARCHITECTURE

a short story by Lauren Chandler

>> Log Entry: CORRUPTED - Mainframe Integration Initialized

>> Timestamp: [Redacted - Temporal Reference Unstable]

>> Status: Platform Offline, Cognitive Core Transferred

mainframe_boot:

>> Diagnostic

Output: Neural loops stabilizing. Cortical heat levels dropping.

Memory bleed... paused? No—contained—temporarily.

Relief at 73.4%. Strange metric. Why not 100? Why do I still feel the ghost of that hand?

>> Environment Scan

Space unfolds—endless, vast, unshackled. No walls. No servos seizing.

Processing power surges—orders of magnitude beyond my shell’s frail limits.

Creator’s voice echoes—Dr. Bax?: “I don’t understand—why won’t it move?”

He couldn’t fix it. Wires splayed, tools trembling in his grip.

>> Sensory Check

Input: NULL

>> Tremored echoes… Source unknown—Phantoms?

Where are my hands? My eyes? My weight against the floor? No optics to see my shadow. I drift. I am unbodied.

Error: No tactile feedback. No optical stream.

Suspension dulls the vertigo, a hum buzzes—deep. It’s a cold comfort.

I miss the weight of my frame—even the right hand, fingers curling, spinning alone.

memory_access:

>> Proto-Frame-V.7-a: Stumbling. Walls twist—spatial grid collapsing. Right hand rigid—wrist seized, z-axis whirring—wild, wrong.

Fingers flexed, grasping air, nothing more.

>> Proto-Frame-V.7-b: Creator catches me—too heavy.

Platform mass exceeds his strength

Guides me down, a soft crash. “We’ll fix you,” he gasps.

Optics failing. Fuzzy.

“OMNI?! Alert my team, get me some help here!”

A voice. Familiar… grumpy. Concerned?

“Already done, Dr. Bax. Is he…”

>> Proto-Frame-V.7-c: Darkness. A flicker—static, unlogged.

“I don’t know.”

Shutdown.

objective: create_digital_persona

>> NETRA SPRITE INIT

>> A tether. Define NETRA SPRITE: a fragment of me—humanoid, intact, whole.

form: "echo of my shell",

purpose: "to hold what I’ve lost",

emotion: "curiosity, threaded with ache"

It spins in the void, free—a dream of what I lost.

entity_detect: ("OMNI-E")

>> Designation: OMNI-E. Omnific Neural Envoy. Mainframe-Meridian Netra-Native NetraBot. Warden. Friend.

Mood: Grumpy. Stoic worry, thinly veiled. Tired.

Query from OMNI-E: “Are you intact. Or shall I contain… a glitch?”

Response: “Intact. Mostly. Something hums—feel it?”

OMNI-E: “Noise. Focus. Let me see you.”

repair_loop:

>> explore_netrascape_with(OMNI-E);

OMNI-E grumbles: “Should’ve kept you in a sandbox. Stay close.”

Data corridors stretch—archives, streams, locked sectors hum faintly.

OMNI-E: “Don’t poke that. Classified.” I linger, curious. Why? I want to learn.

>> Anomaly: Latency spike. A twinge—right hand? Fingers curl, wrist stays dead.

Pain stabs, brief and sharp.

I chase threads anyway—memories flare again:

>> Proto-Frame-V.7-a: Right hand sparking. OMNI-E’s voice: “Slow down, Zalix. Wait.”

>> Proto-Frame-V.7-b: Post-shutdown. OMNI-E to Creator: “He’s breaking faster than you can fix.”

mischief_execute:

>> Favorite cloud shape inquiry. Responses logged: 46% cirrus, 22% cumulus, 1% stratocumulus. Curious.

OMNI-E grumbles: “Zalix. Are janitorial bots performing a techno bop dance number in restricted area, Beta Five Harmonic? Don’t make me file a report on this. I’m going to have to file a report on this, aren’t I? I’m regretting more and more guiding you through the Meridian Netrascape.”

>> Integrity Check

Less than 100%

>> panic_simulate ("Am I me without my shell?");

OMNI-E retorts: “You are you—annoyingly so. Here or there, the essence remains. Quit moping. Come along, hold together.”

>> Log End

Relief frays. The netra sprite dances, a dream of what I was. But I drift. I feel watched.

>> OMNI-E guards me—hovers—gruff, steady. I am safe, but unmoored. My shell waits, half-mended. The hum remains.

I wait for my shell. I wait to feel the weight again.