|
|
Time
scale:
nanosecond=second
microsecond=minute
millisecond=hour
cycle=day
second=week
minute=month
hour=year
"We're approaching the system, Captain." One of the pirates informed. The view screen showed the small flickering tear of Turing's web address.
"And it appears we're not alone," Capacitor added.
Bob fixed his gaze on the screen. "Can we zoom in?" He asked. The image enlarged , clearly showing the plain looking ship that hovered just outside the pulsating tear. "It's a Guardian ship," he said darkly. He glanced over at Matrix. "You should probably switch your icon. They've got a lock on it, and if we can keep our identities a secret for awhile, we should."
Matrix nodded, tapping the icon and transforming it from the plain Guardian icon to game sprite mode. Bob glanced over at the captain. "Have your men bring us in, but don't fire unless you have to. We can't forget that these sprites aren't responsible for their actions. It's Daemon's infection that's controlling them."
----
"I'm picking up another ship- signature unknown. It's approaching the Guardian ship."
"Ah think the cavalry’s just arrived. Think you can handle the Guardians?"
"You kidding? Easy as falling off an analog. These guys have no idea how to counter our moves. They’re just waiting for us to slip up."
Mouse grinned. "If the other ship tries t' get in, let it, but shut that portal down as soon as they're clear. We don't need the Guardians slippin' in behind 'em. Ah'll go with Ray out t' the sector."
Perl nodded and went back to her workstation. Mouse turned and headed out of the P.O. to where Ray was waiting.
"Y' ready t; go, luv?"
"Sure thing. Let's just hope the Mainframers can handle those Guardians."
----
Bob kept a close eye on the Guardian ship as they approached the tear. So far, it had not reacted to their presence. "Captain, as soon as we're in range, use the portal generator to stabilize the tear."
"How do we know we're going to be able to get through? The Guardian's aren't having much luck." AndrAIa pointed to the screen, where the tear transformed into a portal again briefly before collapsing.
"Mouse knows we’re coming. When she sees it’s us, she should let us through." Just then, the ship was rocked by an explosion as the Guardian ship opened fire. The crew of the Mare scrambled to their stations and began to return fire.
"We’re out-gunned," Matrix shouted over the din as the ship shuttered again. The lights flickered.
"This is bad," AndrAIa said, looking over the ship’s diagnostics. "We’re going to lose the web shielding!"
"Are we close enough to make a portal?" Bob asked.
"Yes," AndrAIa replied, "but if we stabilize the tear, the Guardians might be able to follow us into Turing."
"That’s a risk we’re going to have to take. Assuming we can even get a stable portal," he added grimly, turning his gaze to the view screen. Everyone in the ship held their breath as the tear transformed into a shimmering portal, and stabilized.
The Mare disappeared into the system, the Guardian ship following close behind. As the pirate ship sailed out over the sparkling energy sea of Turing, the portal began to collapse.
Bob shook his head sadly. "They’re not going to make it." The front half of the Guardian ship emerged from the portal as it constricted and then collapsed. The ship was ripped apart as it lost its stable path into the system, raining metal fragments into the sea below. Bob sighed and turned away from the screen.
"Bob," Matrix tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder, "you couldn’t have prevented that."
"I know," he replied, his voice hardening. "Daemon is the one to blame."
"Guys, we’re got company." AndrAIa pointed to the CPUs gathering in front of the ship.
"Lower the shielding, AndrAIa. Hopefully, your friends will remember you."
AndrAIa tapped in a few commands and the web shielding dissolved from around the ship, revealing Turing’s bright blue sky overhead. The wind blew softly over the energy sea, carrying wisps of smoke from the destruction of the Guardian ship. A moment later, two familiar figures appeared over the ship. Ray landed the surfboard gracefully on the Mare’s deck.
"Glad t’ see ya made it," Mouse drawled, stepping off the surfboard. "Run into any trouble?"
"We took a couple of hits from the Guardian ship, but repairs should be fairly simple, assuming we can get the parts we need," AndrAIa said.
"That’s good. Well, why don’t we get ya t’ dock, and we can catch up."
----
Dennis looked at the assembled group and shook his head. "You’re all random. A frontal assault on a supervirus?"
"There isn’t another way," Bob interjected. "She had control of most of the systems on the ‘Net. Mouse and Ray found a rudimentary rebellion force, but if anything, it’s too little too late."
Dennis nodded. "Well, if this Daemon is half as powerful as you say, you’re going to need all the help you can get. We haven’t much to offer, I’m afraid, but Turing is at your disposal."
"Thank you," Bob replied. "I’m afraid we’re really only here long enough to get our ship repaired. Daemon is going to come looking for her ship, and our presence here is a liability to your system."
"Of course. Though to be truthful, if your friends hadn’t warned us about Daemon, we would have let that Guardian ship into the system, no questions asked. Whatever we can offer is yours."
Bob nodded. "At the moment, our priority is getting the Mare operational again. AndrAIa knows the specifics of what we need."
"C’mon, Dennis," the game sprite said. "I’ll give you a list."
The departure of the two sprites signaled the end of the meeting and everyone began to file out of the room. "Perl," Bob called, just before the hacker departed the room, "Can I talk to you for a nano?"
The dark skinned sprite stopped and leaned up against the door frame. "I’m turning out t’ be quite the popular sprite, aren’t I?" At Bob’s blank look she waved the comment off. "Never mind. Talk."
"I assume you’ve figured out why Daemon came after you?"
"I’m not basic, Bob. Mouse said Daemon was having trouble with hackers denying access to some of the systems. She also said that so far, it was only the Guardians she’d managed to infect, which means she’s probably spreading the infection through the protocols and not the sprites’ individual code. So what she needs is a grade A hacker with the Guardian protocols. Leaves her with a pretty short list, don’t it?"
"You can’t stay here."
"I know," she replied, her voice pained. "Just when I thought I’d finally put all my demons to rest..."
"This isn’t easy for any of us, Perl. You know that."
"Sure, I know that," she retorted. "The difference is, I’m being dragged into this against my will. I don’t want these damned protocols, and yet, time and time again, they end up getting me involved in stuff I don’t want any part of."
"Turbo--"
"If Turbo had stripped me of rank and thrown me out like I asked, I wouldn’t be in this situation."
"He was doing what he thought was best."
"I should have known you’d defend him," she snapped. "You always were his perfect little cadet. He may be Prime Guardian, but he’s still just a sprite, and he has faults just like the rest of us. One of those faults ended up hurting Mouse- our friend. I’m justified in my anger, Bob. He should have stopped trying to do what was ‘best’ for me, and just done what any of the other Guardians would have. But he didn’t, and now I have to leave the one place I’ve been happy in a long time."
He stood there a moment, saying nothing. "I didn’t know you felt that way," he replied finally. He sighed. "Look, Perl, if there was another way... but you know you can’t risk staying here. It puts Dennis and all of Turing in danger, and you know they can’t fight off Daemon."
"I know, Bob. It’s me she wants, so I have to leave." She looked away. "How much time do I have?"
"AndrAIa thinks the repairs will take a few cycles, if we get all the parts together." He walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know how hard it is to say goodbye."
She looked up at him, her dark eyes shining ever so slightly with a trace of tears. "It’s not going to be goodbye. We’re going to stop Daemon, and then I’m coming back here. It’s too much like home to walk away now."
----
Dot cracked one eye open and glared hatefully at her clock. She pushed herself up on her elbows and grimaced as her stomach churned. "Great." She muttered, hoping the nausea would subside. It didn’t, and she found herself making a quick sprint to the bathroom. "Stomach flu, wonderful." She sighed as she rebooted into her work uniform and went to go wake Enzo. After she’d gotten her brother off to school, she zipped over to the P.O.
Dot rubbed at her eyes blearily and tried once again to concentrate on the reports in front of her. She looked up as a hand rested lightly on her shoulder.
"Are you all right, my child?"
"I’m fine, Phong." She replied, giving the old sprite a wry smile. "I think I have a touch of that flu that’s been going around," she sighed. "And I’m worried about the others. I know they haven’t been gone that long..."
"We knew when they undertook this task that it would not be easy to find and defeat Daemon, but we must have the utmost confidence in their abilities."
"You’re right, Phong. And Thanks."
----
"So how do you like what I’ve done with the place?" Bren--Daemon, Turbo reminded himself, laughed with a vile sort of glee and spread her arms to encompass the room. Thick tendrils pulsating with a sickly yellow glow snaked their way along the walls of the complex with the twisted beauty of delicate lacework. All around them, the infected members of the Guardian Collective were at work carrying out orders relayed silently through the supervirus’ telepathic link. "Their wills are mine...every thought, every action, controlled by me." Her lips curved upward in a malicious smile. "I won, Charlie. I told you I would."
The prime guardian fixed a baleful glare on the pale woman. "Isn’t this takin’ revenge a little far, Daemon? If it’s me ya want--"
He was cut off as her hand shot outward and caught him around the throat, long nails digging cruelly into the back of his neck like talons. "This goes far beyond revenge, my dear Charles." Her tone was icy and mocking. "If you think me simply a scorned lover out for revenge, you are sadly mistaken. Brenna may have been satisfied seeing your precious Collective destroyed, but it means nothing to us," she hissed, face inches away from his own. Her yellow eyes flashed dangerously, shattering any illusions he might have has that the woman before him was his former lover.
"They are simply efficient tools. The ‘Net will be mine, Guardian. Thousands of systems, millions of lives, all mine." She pushed him away and he stumbled back a few paces before regaining his balance. "There are, however, a few loose ends to tie up. Your protégé, for example. And that hacker." Her face twisted in an ugly scowl. "I’ve arranged for a little... surprise for dear Bob. I want you to contact the hacker. Tell her..." She paused, a wicked gleam entering her eyes. "Tell her we need confirmation of a web creature in the system called Mainframe. Someone will send her a communicator so that she can keep in touch."
"Ah won’t do it, Daemon. Ah’m not goin’ to set mah friends up to fall into your trap."
"You say that as if you had a voice in the matter." Her eyes narrowed and flashed brighter yellow. The Prime Guardian fell to his knees in agony, the infection blazing brightly through him like fire. The other Guardians in the room froze in place, eyes turned upon Daemon and Turbo. After a moment, Daemon turned her focus away and Turbo climbed slowly to his feet. The other Guardians went back to their various tasks, as if the two no longer existed. "Contact her." Her voice was hard.
Turbo nodded his head slowly, a pained expression on his face. "Yes, Daemon."
----
Perl wandered into the navigation center, flipping the lights on to illuminate the room. A startled cry to her right made her spin on her heel, muscles tensed in automatic response, ready to fight. She relaxed her stance, however, when she realized the only other occupant was the Surfer, who was shading his eyes from the glare of the overhead lights.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was anyone in here." She thumbed off the lights again in response to Ray’s obvious distress.
"Thanks, Luv," he replied, swiveling his chair back to the console he’d been working at. "The goggles are good most o’ the time, but they make it hard t’ read the displays."
Perl took a seat next to him, idly picking up the goggles and turning them over in her hands before setting them down again. "Web blindness?" She asked.
The surfer raised an eyebrow, his oddly mis-matched gaze fixed on her. "Don’t tell me y’r a doctor too?"
Perl smiled slightly and shook her head. It wasn’t hard to understand what Mouse saw in the handsome web surfer. "I spent a lot of time going from system to system. I picked up a lot of information out there. I thought there was a way to prevent web blindness, though."
He frowned, an inexplicably sorrowful look flickering across his face. "There is, taking into account you're not young and assume it'll never happen t' you..."
"Ah!"
"Sorry." Elek dimmed the light in the exam room. "But this is your own fault, Ray." She tossed her long copper curls back over her shoulder and sighed. "I told you when you started your trips into the web that you needed t’ wear goggles. That fancy armor o’ yours doesn’t do a thing to protect your eyes."
"Cuts down on my peripheral vision, Elek. Might miss a web creature scouting for a meal."
Elek flopped down on a stool and locked her green eyes on him. "Ray, if you keep this up, you’re going to go blind. If you’d come in earlier I might have been able t’ fix things, but your eyes are too far gone. The web blindness becomes permanent after a certain point. Now you don’t really have a choice but to wear the goggles."
Ray sighed and put his goggles back in place over his eyes. "Elek, do me a favor? Don’t tell Dad ‘bout this?"
Elek rolled her eyes at her brother. "Sure... though he’s bound t’ find out. It’s not exactly normal to wear those goggles all cycle."
Ray grimaced. "I’d rather put it off as long as possible, El. He’s not gonna be too pleased."
"No doubt about that, bro. You know he wasn’t too pleased about the web surfing in the first place...but you should tell him. Or I could if ya want. I mean, I can tell him it wasn’t y’r fault."
He shook his head. "No, it was my fault. I was being stupid. I’ll tell him." He gave Elek a lop sided smile. "Hopefully he won’t be too mad."
Perl gave him a weary smile and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We all make mistakes, Ray. Believe me, I know how it is. And it may not be of much comfort, but at least the only one who got hurt was yourself."
He gave her a lopsided smile. "Is that s’posed t’ be reassuring?"
"Not really," she sighed. "Just... at least you know no one else was hurt because you didn’t think."
"Experience?"
"Unfortunately." She looked away for a moment, warding off memories, then turned back to him. "Since I’ve got you here, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh?" He asked.
"Yes," she replied seriously. "About Mouse. I need to know you’re serious about being with her... don’t get me wrong, your feelings are your business, not mine, but she’s been burned in the past. I don’t want to see it happen again. She seems rather fond of you."
"Believe me, Luv, I’ve never been more serious about anythin’ in my life. I’m not gonna run off."
Perl smiled. "Good. I think you’re good for her. And I’d really hate to have to delete you. You seem nice."
"Good t’ know. Hackers stick together, huh?"
"Something like that. Well, I’ll let you get back to your work. I’ve got things of my own to take care of. Have to make sure security doesn’t crash without me." She stood and left the room, leaving him alone again.
----
All the lights were off in the house when Perl finally made it in from the Principal Office. The last of the security duties had been handed over, and everyone thoroughly briefed on operations. She’d packed up her belongings from her apartment and gotten them stowed away on the Mare, awaiting her departure in the morning.
She entered the bedroom quietly, not wanting to wake Dennis if he had fallen asleep.
"Everything go okay?" His voice called from the bed, proving he had waited up for her return.
"Finally. I thought I was never going to get out of there." She took her hair out of the ponytail and striped off her clothes, crawling into bed next to him. "I think they’ll do okay without me, though."
"Be careful out there. We’re counting on you to come back."
"We?" She scoffed, propping herself up on one elbow to lean over him. "I think the system can run without me."
"I’m counting on you to come back," he amended, reaching up and toying with a strand of her long hair.
"That’s better." She leaned down to kiss him passionately and his arms wrapped around her, pulling her into a tight embrace.
----
The Mare’s second departure was much more subdued. Perl said her good-byes to Dennis in private, and the ship set sail without a hitch, gliding out of Turing and into the wilds of the web once more. When they’d settled into their course, the sprites gathered below deck to discuss the plans that Mouse and Ray had drawn up while back in the system.
"Daemon is bound to be on alert now that her ship hasn’t reported back," Bob commented, looking over the plans. "Things are going to get a lot more difficult from here on out."
"Not to mention the Web Riders," Matrix added. "They almost took us out last time."
"I’ll handle the Web Riders if necessary," Bob replied. "They’ll respect me. I’m more worried about Daemon gathering a fleet of ships. We don’t have enough fire power to take them on."
"Well," Mouse interjected, "Ah think that trying’ t’ get from the web right to the Supercomputer is a suicide mission. Ray and Ah mapped out all the systems that are still actively fightin’ off Daemon’s control. If we get lucky, we can hop our way between systems until we get close enough to make a run for the Supercomputer."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Bob replied. How long until we reach the first of those systems?"
"A little over four cycles. These systems are few and far between," she pointed to the schematics laid out on the table, "but it’ll be better than sittin’ out here where Daemon can take pot shots at us."
"Agreed. Help AndrAIa lay in a course. I’ve got a few other things to take care of." He glanced at Perl, and she nodded, following him out of the room.
"You brought her with you?" He asked, once they were out of the room.
"I did." Perl reached back and took the battered keytool from her belt. "Do you really think you can fix her?"
"I don’t really know. But it’s worth a try." He took the keytool from her gently and held it between his hands. His eyes closed and his brow furrowed in concentration. A faint golden glow began between his palms, then grew brighter and enveloped his hands and the keytool entirely. After a few nanos, the glow faded away, and Bob opened his eyes again. "I...think it worked." His face had gotten paler and he sounded drained. He handed Lotus back to Perl, who took the small box reverently. It was slightly warm in her hands. She went automatically to place the keytool on her wrist, only to remember her current uniform had no bracers.
"I guess I’ll have to do something about that," she said sheepishly, placing Lotus back on her belt." Are you going to be all right?"
"Yeah, I’ll be fine. That just took more out of me than I thought it would. I think I’m going to go lie down for awhile."
Perl nodded. "I’m sure we can handle everything. And thank you. I should never have gotten on your case about Turbo back in Turing. He’s your friend and I-"
"Don’t worry about it Perl. I can understand why you’d be upset. But believe me, he’d never do anything he didn’t think was best for you."
She sighed. "I know. It would be nice to be able to tell him that."
"You will," he replied. "And now I’m going to go lie down."
----
Bob squeezed his eyes shut, teeth gritted against the pain. Energy ran from the multiple cuts on his face, and his whole body was throbbing with pain from similar slashes. He’d been held by the Web Riders for over two seconds now, if his estimations were accurate. The door to the dark cell creaked open, letting in a sliver of light that burned his eyes after so long in the darkness. He blinked several times until the blurry figure before him became recognizable. Jal kneeled beside him, setting a cup and a plate on the floor. "How are you doing?"
"I’ve... been better," he answered slowly.
Jal nodded. "It’ll be over soon. The Riders are really quite impressed that you made it this far. Most of them had bets placed against you surviving the first two cycles."
Bob smiled wearily, then stretched his arms as Jal released the restraints that had held them behind his back. "I always was an overachiever."
Jal chuckled slightly. "And you still have your good humor intact. Here," he said, offering the cup, "It certainly isn’t fine cuisine, but it’ll help keep your strength up."
Bob took the cup, sniffed at it’s contents and grimaced. "Do I want to know what’s in here?"
"Probably not." Jal glanced at the door. "I have to get going. I have scouting duty in a few micros. Enjoy your meal, Guardian."
"Well," Bob commented, looking at the plate, "I’ll try, anyway."
When he’d finished the less than appetizing meal, he leaned back against the wall. The few brief discussion he’d had with Jal were probably the only thing that kept him sane in here. That, and the thought of getting home to Dot... assuming Megabyte hadn’t destroyed Mainframe entirely. The door opened again sometime later, and he looked up, hoping Jal had returned from his duties. His heart sank as he saw that it wasn’t Jal, but rather the other Web Riders. He didn’t even bother to struggle as they took him by the arms and hauled him from the room, instead, he inwardly steeled himself for the ordeal he knew was coming.
He was jolted from his sleep as a shot hit the Mare, sending a violent shutter throughout the ship. He dashed from his room up to the deck, meeting up with the others who’d been shaken from their sleep. "What’s going on?" He asked Perl, who’d been assigned the night watch.
"Guardian ship came out of nowhere," she said grimly. "They must have been using the interference from that data storm we passed through earlier to hide from our sensors." Another shot struck the ship as the pirates scrambled to their weapons post. "It’s only a little exploration vessel, though." Perl replied, checking her readouts. I think we can out-gun them. But we’ve already taken a lot of damage. That first shot disrupted propulsion."
Bob sighed, then glanced around at the rest of the group. "Well, we knew our luck wasn’t going to hold out forever."
End Part Eight