The Intense Singing Of An Internet Angel
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2023 3:21 am
It was surprisingly easy to guess the PIN to Tenshi's computer - it was just her birth year. Taro muttered something under his breath as the computer booted up, but his disappointment in his daughter's lack of cyber-security acumen was understandably dulled. Indeed, passwords were not of any concern once he and Eliza had gotten into the computer. She'd left practically everything logged-in, and whatever she didn't, the password saving-system of the browser handily delivered into their hands, and none of her audio files were protected in any way. Accessing her YouTube account, containing the channel "Meteorette" (last updated two weeks before the trip, now about four weeks ago) posed no issue, and neither did rescuing unfinished and acapalla voice recordings, or procuring the downloaded instrumentals.
No, the real challenge left Eliza and Taro staring at an audio editing UI like it was the control panel of an alien space ship. (And if you squinted you could probably paste it onto a board and have it be a prop on a sci-fi show?)
"Did she say anything about how she used this?" Eliza asked, as Taro furrowed his brow at the screen.
"Not really," he replied. "But it's just putting a voice recording over an instrumental, how hard can it be? I'll figure it out."
Eliza raised an eyebrow at him, shifting slightly in her chair. "If you say so, dear. But once you've done that," she raised the USB stick in her fingers, and gestured towards Taro with it. "We ought to think about preserving all this."
"Of course, of course," Taro's fingers twitched, as he placed his hand over the mouse. "This won't take too long."
---
It had now been seven weeks since the YouTube channel Meteorette had last uploaded a video.
Eliza's inbox, both professional and personal, were flooded with emails. She could guess much the same had been heaped upon her husband. The doorbell rang, the phone rang, their notifications on Facebook blew up, and whenever anyone in the hollowed-out house turned on the news, they'd see it again, as fresh as the first panicked announcement. In between it all, the couple's little memorial project had both consumed their waking minds, yet completely slipped out of their schedules.
At least, Eliza thought that was the case.
She opened the door to the bedroom, and was greeted by the hasty, subtle click of a closed laptop. She stared. Taro turned around in his chair and stared right back for a moment, before nodding and averting his eyes, pretending to be very engrossed in the curvy lamp in the corner of the room, next to their shared bed.
(To be fair, the lamp was quite the piece of glasswork - how do they blow the glass into all those loops? - and an anniversary gift from his parents at that.)
Eliza thought to open her mouth, ask what on earth Taro was looking at that she didn't want to see, but that seemed like a bad line of questioning, almost designed to lead nowhere but more questions, more suspicions. And by god, she didn't want more suspicions, not at this unholy hour. Rubbing her eyes, she shuffled to the bed and wrapped herself in a cocoon of blankets, smothering the thought from her mind.
Taro glanced over his shoulder, to the bed where Eliza lay, a few times. A few more times, just to be safe. He even checked over his other shoulder, just in case. Finally, he readjusted his earbuds, turned the volume just a touch lower, and shifted so that the blue light of the laptop would radiate away from Eliza, before opening it again. He hit play.
In his earbuds, came a familiar greeting. "Hello again, welcome to part 2 of our audio editing for beginners series..."
---
"Honey, I got it!"
Eliza almost spat out her coffee, and she swiveled in her chair, facing the door. "Got what?!"
Taro stood in the doorway, holding a mug of coffee of his own, wearing a dress shirt in terrible need of ironing. "I got it together! The recording! Come see!" he animatedly beckoned, heading over to Tenshi's room. With a sigh, Eliza got up and abandoned her emails, following Taro.
At this point, Meteorette had gone eight weeks without an upload, and was rapidly approaching its ninth. At some point, she brought some of Tenshi's recorded voice onto that USB stick, and onto her own computer. Namely, some of the happy, upbeat songs, that made up most of her discography. When Eliza listened to them, the horror of what had actually happened seemed very far away, like Tenshi was just at home, rehearsing in her room, loud enough for the whole house to hear.
In Tenshi's room, her computer was opened to that darn audio editing interface-thing that tormented Taro so. This time, he grinned, as he fiddled with a bit more, and hit a "play" button.
Eliza had almost forgotten that songs usually had instruments other than the voice. Even the gentle piano and ticking clock was a shock, but a familiar one, like an unexpected call from a relative. And then, Tenshi's voice radiated through the computer's speakers like the glow of dawn - Eliza's eyes widened.
"She was practicing that one," she spoke, unsure whether to be quiet or speak over the song. "Before the- the trip. For a long time."
"Does it sound complete?" Taro asked, a nervous quiver in his voice.
Eliza glanced at the play time. "...it's over eight minutes. I'd be pretty surprised if it wasn't complete."
"That's not what I meant." He patted the chair beside the one he took, and Eliza accepted the offer. She pulled the chair closer to the monitor, and leaned in.
"Let's see..."
---
Eliza settled into the chair in front of the keyboard, and Taro took her place in the other seat. She was not clueless to how YouTube worked, weaving through to upload the video she and Taro had finally put together after yet another week of work, unrelated work, and other distractions - the magazine she worked for had a small channel of their own, containing some supplementary content and clips, and Eliza had handled it a few times during her time with them, but it had largely fallen to the wayside now. Petered out without so much as a goodbye.
The same could not be allowed to happen to her daughter's channel - yes, everyone now knew exactly what happened. But the AT would not get the last word in Tenshi's story.
One final roadblock, though. Her fingers hovered over the keys when it came time to fill in the description box.
"Maybe we should introduce ourselves, first," Taro suggested. "Let everyone know it's not a ghost uploading, eh?"
Eliza snorted. "That is fair," she said, typing. "Maybe some background on this recording specifically - she was working on it prior to the trip..."
"It doesn't need to be very complicated," Taro noted. "Maybe just finish it with a 'rest in peace' sort of message."
Eliza's lips curled into a frown, as she continued typing. "I'll mention your hard work, too."
"Oh, no need." Taro waved his hand.
She typed, and typed, backpedalled, re-typed... and then paused, taking her hands off the keyboard.
The two of them stared for a moment, before glancing at each other. Taro nodded, and Eliza nodded.
---
Almost ten weeks after the last upload to Meteorette, the remaining subscribers were notified of a new video.
No, the real challenge left Eliza and Taro staring at an audio editing UI like it was the control panel of an alien space ship. (And if you squinted you could probably paste it onto a board and have it be a prop on a sci-fi show?)
"Did she say anything about how she used this?" Eliza asked, as Taro furrowed his brow at the screen.
"Not really," he replied. "But it's just putting a voice recording over an instrumental, how hard can it be? I'll figure it out."
Eliza raised an eyebrow at him, shifting slightly in her chair. "If you say so, dear. But once you've done that," she raised the USB stick in her fingers, and gestured towards Taro with it. "We ought to think about preserving all this."
"Of course, of course," Taro's fingers twitched, as he placed his hand over the mouse. "This won't take too long."
---
It had now been seven weeks since the YouTube channel Meteorette had last uploaded a video.
Eliza's inbox, both professional and personal, were flooded with emails. She could guess much the same had been heaped upon her husband. The doorbell rang, the phone rang, their notifications on Facebook blew up, and whenever anyone in the hollowed-out house turned on the news, they'd see it again, as fresh as the first panicked announcement. In between it all, the couple's little memorial project had both consumed their waking minds, yet completely slipped out of their schedules.
At least, Eliza thought that was the case.
She opened the door to the bedroom, and was greeted by the hasty, subtle click of a closed laptop. She stared. Taro turned around in his chair and stared right back for a moment, before nodding and averting his eyes, pretending to be very engrossed in the curvy lamp in the corner of the room, next to their shared bed.
(To be fair, the lamp was quite the piece of glasswork - how do they blow the glass into all those loops? - and an anniversary gift from his parents at that.)
Eliza thought to open her mouth, ask what on earth Taro was looking at that she didn't want to see, but that seemed like a bad line of questioning, almost designed to lead nowhere but more questions, more suspicions. And by god, she didn't want more suspicions, not at this unholy hour. Rubbing her eyes, she shuffled to the bed and wrapped herself in a cocoon of blankets, smothering the thought from her mind.
Taro glanced over his shoulder, to the bed where Eliza lay, a few times. A few more times, just to be safe. He even checked over his other shoulder, just in case. Finally, he readjusted his earbuds, turned the volume just a touch lower, and shifted so that the blue light of the laptop would radiate away from Eliza, before opening it again. He hit play.
In his earbuds, came a familiar greeting. "Hello again, welcome to part 2 of our audio editing for beginners series..."
---
"Honey, I got it!"
Eliza almost spat out her coffee, and she swiveled in her chair, facing the door. "Got what?!"
Taro stood in the doorway, holding a mug of coffee of his own, wearing a dress shirt in terrible need of ironing. "I got it together! The recording! Come see!" he animatedly beckoned, heading over to Tenshi's room. With a sigh, Eliza got up and abandoned her emails, following Taro.
At this point, Meteorette had gone eight weeks without an upload, and was rapidly approaching its ninth. At some point, she brought some of Tenshi's recorded voice onto that USB stick, and onto her own computer. Namely, some of the happy, upbeat songs, that made up most of her discography. When Eliza listened to them, the horror of what had actually happened seemed very far away, like Tenshi was just at home, rehearsing in her room, loud enough for the whole house to hear.
In Tenshi's room, her computer was opened to that darn audio editing interface-thing that tormented Taro so. This time, he grinned, as he fiddled with a bit more, and hit a "play" button.
Eliza had almost forgotten that songs usually had instruments other than the voice. Even the gentle piano and ticking clock was a shock, but a familiar one, like an unexpected call from a relative. And then, Tenshi's voice radiated through the computer's speakers like the glow of dawn - Eliza's eyes widened.
"She was practicing that one," she spoke, unsure whether to be quiet or speak over the song. "Before the- the trip. For a long time."
"Does it sound complete?" Taro asked, a nervous quiver in his voice.
Eliza glanced at the play time. "...it's over eight minutes. I'd be pretty surprised if it wasn't complete."
"That's not what I meant." He patted the chair beside the one he took, and Eliza accepted the offer. She pulled the chair closer to the monitor, and leaned in.
"Let's see..."
---
Eliza settled into the chair in front of the keyboard, and Taro took her place in the other seat. She was not clueless to how YouTube worked, weaving through to upload the video she and Taro had finally put together after yet another week of work, unrelated work, and other distractions - the magazine she worked for had a small channel of their own, containing some supplementary content and clips, and Eliza had handled it a few times during her time with them, but it had largely fallen to the wayside now. Petered out without so much as a goodbye.
The same could not be allowed to happen to her daughter's channel - yes, everyone now knew exactly what happened. But the AT would not get the last word in Tenshi's story.
One final roadblock, though. Her fingers hovered over the keys when it came time to fill in the description box.
"Maybe we should introduce ourselves, first," Taro suggested. "Let everyone know it's not a ghost uploading, eh?"
Eliza snorted. "That is fair," she said, typing. "Maybe some background on this recording specifically - she was working on it prior to the trip..."
"It doesn't need to be very complicated," Taro noted. "Maybe just finish it with a 'rest in peace' sort of message."
Eliza's lips curled into a frown, as she continued typing. "I'll mention your hard work, too."
"Oh, no need." Taro waved his hand.
She typed, and typed, backpedalled, re-typed... and then paused, taking her hands off the keyboard.
The two of them stared for a moment, before glancing at each other. Taro nodded, and Eliza nodded.
---
Almost ten weeks after the last upload to Meteorette, the remaining subscribers were notified of a new video.
Meteor - John Zeroness Cover by Meteorette
Meteorette
---
Hello, subscribers. Tenshi Fukushima-Yves, a student at JEM and aspiring singing star, ran this channel. This upload was made by her parents, after a few weeks of work and learning, so that you may listen to one of her last recorded cover songs.
Our daughter was our world, but her world was music. It would have been her wish for her voice, her music, to live on after her death. Thank you for taking the time to listen.