A large, muscular, green-skinned sprite with black hair was softly whistling while he walked through Floating Point Park. His name was Andrew, and he was heading for the twincity, where he had a date with his girlfriend Matty. He looked towards the Gilded Gate Bridge, the proud, golden bridge that formed the connection between Mainframe and her twincity. There were history files that read of times when there hadn't been a twincity, of times when the Gilded Gate Bridge'd been no more than a collection of horribly twisted iron pillars that connected the ancient Mainframe with a dangerous island, called Lost Angles.
Those same files spoke of a time when Mainframe had been inhabited by two Viruses, a Guardian who'd survived the Web and two sprites that had lived in the Games.
Andrew smiled when he thought of those files. They had been hardly readable when he tried to access them, and only his knowledge of languishes had helped him through the aged texts.
Most of the files had been written by sprite that'd been the Command.Com in those day, a sprite that signed files with Dot Matrix.
Andrew smiled again. It was almost impossible. The Matrix-family was hardly more then a legend, a myth thought up to keep the Mainframe residents happy with their lives. The times of Viruses were long gone, the Guardian directive had been closed down since and the Web hadn't been a treat since the Sprites were artificially modified with a Web-mode. Circumstances as described in the files were hardly imaginable.
Suddenly, the smile on Andrew's face froze. His eyes grew large, and his breathing quickened. With a scream, he fell on his knees. He grabbed his head, and let out another terrifying scream. Then he went limp and fell down on the gently waving grass of Floating Point Park.
Andrew carefully opened his eyes. He appeared to be in the medical sector of the Principal Office. He'd been there before, but it somehow looked different now. He frowned. His head felt fluffy, as if it'd been stuffed with cotton.
All of a sudden, a door in one of the walls in the room opened. Through it came two fairly unusual sprites. One had a large flexible neck and a Yin-Yang sign on his Icon. The other had similar features, but had a normal Icon and a female appearance. They both wore lab coats, and the female sprite held a clipboard. The two sprites headed towards him, not yet having noticed he was awake.
'Phong, I still do not understand what you mean about "coming from another dimension". Most of the time I understand you, but sorry, this time I don't.'
'I know Xera. But that doesn't matter, when we find time, I'll explain it to you.' The Sprite tilted his head. 'How about tonight?' he said with a wink.
The other Sprite gave him a gentle slap on the back of the head. 'No indecent proposals, Phong, or I'll break our engagement...'
Andrew sank back into a deep unconsciousness.
'Andrew? Andrew!' Andrew opened his eyes again. He was in a bed in the Principal Office medical sector. It looked like he remembered it again. Hovering above he saw the familiar face of his girlfriend Matty. 'Matty…' he groaned. He carefully sat up. 'HTML, I've got a headache.' Matty smiled forgiving and brushed his black hear out of his face. 'You've been out for quite some time. You really had me worried!'
Andrew frowned. 'What happened? I remember walking in Floating Point Park, when I got a terrible pain in my head. Then I saw all these weird things.' He paused for a nano. Then he looked at Matty, thoughtfully. 'Do you know any data sprites in Mainframe called Xera, or Phong?'
Matty looked at the ceiling, thinking. Then she shook her head. 'No, I don't think so. I do know a binome called Phong, I believe he was named after the Command.Com from the myth, you know, about the Matrix family?'
Andrew nodded. Then his eyes grew large. 'Do you think there are files left on how the Principal Office looked in the past?' Matty shrugged. 'I think so. But why this interest, Andrew, what happened?' Matty sat down at his bed, and threw her long aqua hair back.
'Do you want to tell me?' she asked gently. Andrew looked lost. 'I just don't know. Matty…. It's all so confusing!' Matty put her hand on Andrew's. 'If you don't want to tell me, I'm fine with it. Really. But you should get some rest now. Although the medical scans don't show anything, you must have caught something.'
Andrew gave her a tired nod. Matty stroked his face again, with a loving smile on her face. 'I have some things to do this afternoon, so I'll be back tomorrow. And I'll see to the Principal Office files, okay?' Andrew smiled thankfully. 'I'm really glad I have you, Matty. I love you very much.' 'Me too, Andy.'
Matty rose from his bed and, and he watched her walk to the door. Her back was bare, and he could see the faint scale pattern running down her back, over her tanned skin. Before she closed the door, Matty turned and smiled at him. 'Go back to sleep, Andrew. You need it…'
Andrew turned to his other side and sighed. Then, with a jerk, he opened his eyes. Again, he appeared to be in the medical sector of the Principal Office, but again it was different. He saw the differences very clearly now. The Icon-pictures weren't in 3D as they were in the Mainframe Principal Office he was in before, and the readout panels he saw here were definitely not as modern as the panels in the medical sector he knew.
He sat up and looked around. The room he was in now was bigger, and more sprites were in it. Again, he saw the two sprites he had seen before. Again, they were walking towards him.
'Xera, I tell you, something's infecting these Sprites. It's not just some random cold or anything. Although I haven't seen it before, I'm sure there's something unNetly about it.'
The female sprite looked worried. 'Phong, I want to believe you're right. But what could it be? We've no way of knowing what else it could be, besides, there's nothing that could enter Mainframe other than through an Upgrade or a Game. And we both know that's impossible!'
The sprite referred to as Phong shrugged. 'It is something not from Mainframe. Just trust me on that.' Xera gently took his hand. 'I do Phong. But just think, if it is something not from Mainframe, we're in for something. And it'll not be good!'
Andrew reached for his head. He was so dizzy… He lay down again. To close his eyes, just for a nano…
Andrew opened his eyes and looked into the face of one of the Mainframe doctors. In one hand he held a clipboard, in the other a syringe. 'Ah, our patient has woken up again.' Andrew put up a sick smile. 'Yeah.' 'You've been out quite some time, Andrew.' Andrew nodded. 'I thought so.' He paused for a moment. 'But I feel quite alright now.' The doctor smiled. 'You'll have to stay here this cycle. Since the scans don't show anything, you can go home first thing tomorrow. IF no strange things happen.'
Andrew smiled, though he felt a little strange in his head. Could there be a chance the doctor knew that he had had these strange…. What where they anyway? Visions? Flashbacks? It weren't exactly thing's he'd seen before, but somehow everything seemed, well, familiar. As if he knew everything and everyone he saw. He sighed. He laid down his head and while his thoughts drifted of, he fell asleep again.
A group of seven data-sprites and two binomes sat at a round table, in a large, light room. Two of the sprites where the ones Andrew had seen in the Medical sector of the Principal Office, the rest was new to him. There were three male sprites and two female, and the two binomes, who both were male.
They were all talking to each other, while they glanced in the direction of the door from time to time. Andrew caught pieces of the conversation, and it all seemed to concern the strange infection.
Then, all of a sudden, the door opened and two more sprites came in. The first was female, with large golden eyes, a faint blue tinted skin and straight golden hair. The other was male, and his resemblance to the female sprite was striking. The only difference was that the male sprite's hair was somewhat more wavy, and one of the locks on his brow was bright silver.
The two sprites seated themselves at the table with the others, who were all watching their every move. The two sprites looked at each other for a moment. Then the male sprite gave the female a little nod. She turned to the other sprites, and started to talk.
'My dear friends, my brother and I are pleased to see all the members of the Principal Office council, and some guests, at that, together here today, although the reasons for this unplanned meeting are rather unpleasant. I think you have all heard from the strange thing that seems to be infecting the residents of Mainframe and her twincity.'
All the sprites nodded.
'I want to thank our medical advisors Phong and Xera for bringing it to our attention.' She paused for a moment. 'Maybe they can explain some things here?' She gave Phong a questioning look. Phong smiled and gave her a nod.
'Thank you, Danae. Well, since three days, Sprites have been coming to the Medical Sector with symptoms we've never seen before.' 'They're weakened, and when we check their PID's, part of their code has often been affected.' Xera filled in. She looked around the table before continuing. 'We have little idea of what it could be, except that we suspect it to be not from Mainframe.'
Most of the sprites gave Xera a puzzled look. One of them spoke their every thought.
'How could it not be from Mainframe?'
Phong and Xera shrugged at the same time, when the male sprite took up the word.
'I think that question hits the very problem of this infection. We don't know what it's origin is, so we can do little about it.'
One of the female sprites at the table timidly raised her hand. The female sprite Phong had called Danae gave her a nod. 'Go ahead, Karina.' The sprite gave her a nervous smile.
'Since I work at in the lookup-section, I have access to the Principal Office scanners. Could it be an idea to scan Mainframe and the twincity for things that aren't registered?'
The male sprite nodded. 'That could very well work, Karina. Please try as soon as possible.'
All of a sudden, a vidwindow appeared at the centre of the table. There was a cream-skinned male sprite with burgundy hair on screen.
'Danae, Kyle, you've got a call….' The sprite fell silent. Danae gave him an impatient look. 'Who is it, Randy, we're in a PO-council meeting. We haven't really got time for this…'
The sprite on screen gave her a hurt look. 'I'm sorry, miss Command.Com, but it's someone I don't know. He's not from Mainframe OR the twincity. That's why I choose to bother you in a PO-council meeting.' He paused for a moment. 'You know that Danae, I'm working for you longer than today.' Danae gave him a nod. 'Fair enough. Put it on a vidwindow here, Randy. And thanks for noticing us.'
Randy rolled his eyes and closed the window. Immediately another vidwindow popped up, and on screen was a rather blocky sprite, with short yellow hair and a greenish skin.
'I'm the Super Computer's Prime Guardian, and speaking for the entire Guardian Directive, I want to welcome system Mainframe on the Net.' The sprite paused and looked around the table. 'Who's the Command.Com here?'
Both Danae and Kyle stood up. 'We are.' The sprite on screen looked surprised. 'A shared position? How unusual. But anyway, we noted Mainframe as a new system on the Net, and we always welcome a new system.'
Danae and Kyle looked at each other, and then gave the sprite a blank look.
'The Net?' Danae said.
'New system? What do you mean?' Kyle looked at the sprite, who sighed.
'Okay, look here. There are more systems on the Net then yours. Oh no, wait. The Net is a huge network of systems that are all linked to one another. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of systems very much like Mainframe, some bigger, some smaller. And the centre of all those systems is the Super Computer. That's where the Guardian Directive is located.'
Kyle nodded. 'So far, so good. What's the Guardian Directive, and who exactly are you?'
The sprite sighed again. 'The Guardian Directive is an institution that trains sprites to defend a system. A sprite fully trained by the Guardian Directive becomes a Guardian, that should be capable of defending a system from Viruses, Games and other threats.
I'm the Prime Guardian, the first to be trained and the first to have graduated. My name is Turbo.'
Danae and Kyle nodded doubtfully. 'Okay. But that new system thing, mister Turbo, we weren't connected to anything before.' Kyle looked at the Prime Guardian. Turbo shook his head.
'No, that's right. I reckon your User has chosen to link your system up with the Net.' Turbo inclined his head and sighed. 'Ah, the ways of the User are a mystery to us simple sprites. But since you are now connected to the Net, I must warn you for the things that can now enter your system through portals. Things like Viruses, and more dangerously, if you are also linked to the Web, Webcreatures. Because you are unaware of all these dangers, I'd like to offer you a Guardian. He can help you with defending your system.'
Danae gave Kyle a sideways glance. 'I don't think we need protection, Prime Guardian. We are doing very well right now. But thanks for the offer.' Turbo gave her a suspicious look.
'Whatever you wish, ma'am. But I would think it through before I'd make a definitive decision. But, as I said, It's your choice.'
Danae and Kyle inclined their head simultaneously. 'Thank you, Turbo, but I think we'll stay with this.'
Turbo shrugged. 'Whatever you want. I'll not take up any more of your time then. Maybe I'll hear again from you some time. In any case, we'll send you some info on Viruses. Watch them, folks. Farewell.'
The vidwindow closed and the sprites were left alone in the large, light room in the Principal Office.
Andrew opened his eyes. His breathing had quickened a little, but he didn't feel all too bad. It was more as if he'd had a dream. But he knew it wasn't, it was another of those flashbacks.
He looked at the clock that hung above the door of his room. It was late in the afternoon now. He laid back and thought about he flashbacks.
They seemed to be connected somehow. He frowned. The first was in the Medical Sector, and he had "met" those two sprites, Phong and Xera. He saw them again in the second flashback. They were worrying about something infecting sprites. Then, in the flashback he'd just had, he saw them again, but now they were with more sprites, apparently some sort of council that ran Mainframe. He'd also seen the Command.Com, the two Command.Com's to be exact. Kyle and Danae… Those names must be somewhere…. He'd search for it as soon as he got out of the hospital. If everything was alright, Matty was looking for the Principal Office blueprints right now. He sighed. He just had to know if these flashbacks were really visions from the past. He did dream a lot, but somehow this felt different. He'd never been able to remember his dreams so clearly. Even now, he could see that Danae sprite as clear as if she stood before him. And it all felt……. Well, familiar. Especially Phong felt as if he know him.
Andrew yawned. All these strange things made him do sleepy… He turned to his side and closed his eyes. He drifted peacefully into another "flashback"…
He was looking down on quite a peaceful scene. Three sprites were sitting in a sandpit, on a playground. One of them was quite young, maybe six or seven. She had green skin, black hair and large, violet eyes. His heart filled with love when he looked at this young sprite. 'Sis…'
When he turned to the other sprites, he felt a shock of recognition. Then, immediately after that, again a deep love, but also great pain, a deep loss. 'Mum… Dad…'
Andrew bit his tongue. His parents didn't even look like these sprites, and yet, he knew they were.
The two sprites were fairly young adults, one male and the other female. The male sprite was quite tall, not that broad but pretty muscular. He had green skin and black hair, much like the young sprite. The female sprite had a very fine face, golden skin and red hair. She was staring at the child, while she let some sand run through her fingers.
'We got a call from the PO-council this morning, James.' 'I know. Shane told me. I don't know exactly though. Dotty, don't put that in your mouth.'
The child looked up and gave him a dazzling smile. 'I won't Daddy, don't worry.' She walked towards her parents and climbed onto her mother's lap. The woman embraced her and hugged her close. 'I love you, Dotty.' The child flung her arms around her mother's neck and kissed her on the cheek. 'I love you too, Mummy.'
The man looked at them, smiling. He leaned back and rested his weight on his hands. 'Ferra, Dot, you're the two woman I love most in the entire Net.'
That was reason enough for Dot to jump of her mother's lap and fling her arms around her father. 'I love you, Daddy.' 'And if a User passed by and said he'd like you, you'd say you'd love him too.' Ferra teased her. Dot gave her an accusing look.
'Mum, you're teasing me.' she stated. Ferra smiled at her. 'So I do. And what are you gonna do about it?' Dot's face grew thoughtful. 'I think I need a plan for that…' James put her on the ground. 'Then build another sandcastle while thinking about it, okay?' Dot nodded and skipped of.
James' face grew serious again. 'What was the call about, Ferra?' His wife made a face. 'Something about a Virus. I didn't even know what a Virus was, so Danae had to explain that to me first. But apparently the PO-council has decided that we, being Mainframe's head-scientists and all, should try to mix up a chemical of some sort, which they can use to delete the Virus as soon as Karina gets a fix on it with the scanners.'
James nodded. 'Do they already know what the Virus is made up of?' Ferra shook her head. 'Nope. Them people from the Guardian Directive have pointed out a few possibilities, but we first have to see it, before we can do anything.' James nodded again. 'Well, let's hope that they find something quick, with a Virus in town things can only get worse. For all of us.'
Ferra smiled at him and lay her hands on her somewhat swollen stomach. 'You, me and the little sprite?' James rolled his eyes, but leaned over and kissed her.
Andrew sighed and turned to his other side. He didn't open his eyes, but yawned and drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.
He awoke at the sound of someone entering his room. It was the doctor again. 'It looks to me you're feeling a lot better. Andrew nodded. 'I do.'
The doctor opened a vidwindow and looked over the readings. 'Hmmm….' Andrew frowned. 'Something wrong, doc?' The doctor smiled at him 'No, you're fine as far as I can see. Your pulse quickened a couple of times during the night, but there's nothing extraordinary.'
The doctor gave him a comforting smile. 'You can go home this afternoon. If I were you, I'd try walking around the Med Sector this morning, so you're up and running by noon.'
Andrew nodded. 'Okay. Thanks for all the good care.' The doctor smile again. 'Hey, I'm getting paid for it.' Andrew laughed. 'Yeah, you're right.'
The doctor walked to the door. 'I'll come to see you this afternoon, and then you can go home. Take it easy this morning, Andrew.' Then he left the room.
Andrew spend his morning walking around the Med sector, as the doctor had advised him. He felt a little strange in his head, but he ascribed that to the fact he'd been in bed and either sleeping or out cold for about a day. When noon came and the doctor entered his room again, he felt much better. The doctor ran a few last tests, and then nodded.
'You can go home.' Andrew gave him a happy look. 'Thanks.' They shook hands, and then the doctor left. Andrew started packing the few things Matty had brought him the day before, and when he was done, he walked out the door, towards the Principal Office RAM-section, where he hoped to find Matty.
He walked past several sprites he knew, and he greeted them with a short wave or a few words. He could see that they were curious to hear what had happened, but he ignored their questioning looks. He really wanted to get to the RAM-section, to see if he could find anything that matched his "flashbacks".
He entered the RAM-section, and walked in the direction of the history files. There was someone else in the history section, reading intensively, so the sprite did not notice him. It took Andrew a while to recognise the sprite as Matty.
'Matty!' She turned, and when she saw Andrew, a happy smile appeared on her face. 'Andy! You're out of the Med sector!' She left the Vidwindow that showed some old file, ran towards him and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed him impulsively on the cheek, but he groaned. 'Matty, be careful…' Immediately, she let go and gave him a guilty look. 'Sorry.' He smiled. 'Just kidding, Matty, just kidding…' He put his arms around her and hugged her close. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips.
It took them some time to part, and then Andrew gave her a loving smile. Then he let her go again, and she pulled him towards the file she'd left when he came in. 'Come over here, I want you to see this.'
Andrew let his eyes drift over the text in the file, translating the ancient words as quick as he could. He nodded. 'Impressive. And you found this yourself?'
Matty smiled and gave him a gentle slap on the back of his head. 'Don't you ever underestimate me, Andrew.'
End part i…
Now I know this took a long time, and I must say that I haven't finished yet. These six pages are just a first part, and I'm afraid this story will get much longer… I'll keep working on it, and hope that one day it'll be finished.
Anyway, I hope you've notice some things, but in case you haven't, here are some thingies I build in:
* First the names: Andrew v. AndrAIa and Matty v. Matrix ( I wanted to call Matty Matry at first, but I didn't quite like the sound of that. So Matty it became.) And of course the shortening of Andrew's name to Andy. It's a bit different in spelling from Andi, but hey, you pronounce it the same…
* And of course, how Andrew and Matty look. I hope it was clear that Andrew had quite some resemblance to Matrix, and that Matty looked really like AndrAIa.
* Then, Andrew's first flashback (could I call it a flashback? It's not really something he encountered before, is it?) We meet Phong and Phong's gonna-be wife, Xera, in the Principal Office, even before Dot and Enzo were born.
* In the second flashback, we encounter Phong and Xera again (it is a few years later), again in the Principal Office, but now they're worrying about something that infects the sprites. They've never heard of a virus, since Mainframe's not that old yet and hadn't been connected to any other computers.
* Third flashback: Mainframe leaders, the Command.Com's (Danae and Kyle), and the PO-council (including Phong and Xera) get a call from the Guardian Directive, who'd noted them as a new system in the Net. They offer the help of a Guardian, but Danae declines. Last on the call Turbo warns them for Viruses.
* Fourth flashback: Andrew 'meets' Ferra and James, the parents of Dot and Enzo. Dot is born, and at the moment, Ferra's pregnant. Andrew comes across them when they talk about the Command.Com's having asked them to think up some sort of chemical that'd destroy the Virus. In the first instant he sees Ferra and James, he calls them "mum" and "dad", although only a nano later he realises that they can never be his parents. Strange, huh?
* While having the "flashbacks" Andrew goes into a weird sort of state in the normal world. The first time he's out cold, the other times his breathing and heartbeat quicken.
* When out of the Medical Sector, Andrew's so pre-occupied with the flashbacks, that he doesn't even recognise Matty when he sees her…
Indy