Story 2
Otherworld Dot
Jo Ann called the Dot of anther universe about her wedding to Wild Card, the twin brother of her own universe's Bob.
"Oh?!! Wow!! Congratulations!!!!"
"Thank you," Jo Ann smiled, blushing a bit.
"When?"
"Just this past cycle (week). We've been on our honeymoon for that long, and have just returned."
"Oh wonderful!! I am SO pleased for you..."
"Thanks," Jo Ann said again. She showed Dot the rings. The wedding ring was a simple band of gold, but the engagement ring was a gold band set with a tiny prism blossom carved from a single prism blossom petal.
"Oh, Jo Ann!! That is so beautiful..."
"Thanks. Wild Card had it made especially for me, because I like prism blossoms."
"How is that handsome honey of yours?"
"Doing well. He is now Mainframe's 'official' bounty hunter. He gets a paycheck from the Super Computer, as well as bonues from catching wanted criminals."
"Neat!"
"I think the steady job is what made him feel like he could marry me now. Before, he wasn't earning anything because he had stopped bounty hunting."
Dot smiled warmly, "How chivilrous... I take it you're deliriously happy..."
"Very!" Jo Ann smiled and blushed again. Her mind still drifted to her wedding day and the cycle after.
Dot grinned, "I'm not going to ask too many personal questions...Where did you guys honeymoon?"
"The Super Computer, at the most expensive hotel in the system. our Dot paid for all the expenses."
"Nice...I wish I could have sent a gift..."
"Oh, no...you have so much to worry about. I couldn't have allowed you to burden yourself with anything on my account!" Jo Ann knew that this Dot had a war to fight. She would need all the resourses she could get.
Dot looked thoughtful, "listen; can we do a file transfer? I will send you two a copy of the poem I wrote for Matrix and Andraia's wedding...I think you'll like it...it's not much; but..."
"Sure," Jo Ann said. She would be sharing something from the Matrix and AndrAIa of the other Mainframe. A thing of love.
"Can we do a cross reality file transfer?"
"We can try," Jo Ann said.
"Okay; let me find it..."
"Guess what?" Jo Ann grinned.
"Here it is..." Dot found the file she wanted, "What, Jo Ann?"
"We have a new little AndrAIa! But it's not Matrix and AndrAIa's daughter!"
"Oh?" Dot looked puzzled.
"Yes. I went into AndrAIa's game. 'Treasure of Atlantis', and we met the organal AndrAIa. I asked her to give us another back-up copy of herself for little Enzo, and she did. We call the little AndrAIa, 'Andri'," Jo Ann smiled.
Dot smiled nostalgiacly. "I remember that game...first time I had a clue that Bob liked me as more than a friend..."
Jo Ann laughed. She remembered seeing that scene when she linked her Bob and Dot's minds to battle the returned Megabyte.
"What's so funny?" Dot asked.
"'Nice fins.' 'I heard that.''DOH!'" Jo Ann grinned, reciting the lines as she had heard them in Bob and Dot's mind.
Dot laughed loudly, her war-weary face suddenly seeming younger and more like the Dot from Jo Ann's universe.
"I...is...your...Bob back home, yet?" Jo Ann asked. She had forgotten in her own happiness that the Dot she was talking to had not seen her Bob in a very long time.
"No; he's still off with Turbo...Jo Ann, I am considering doing something quite terrible for Mainframe's sake...Do the ends justify the means?"
"That depends on what you are thinking of doing. What is it?" Jo Ann did not know if she wanted to hear the answer, but felt that she must.
"I am considering making the proverbial 'deal with the devil'..."
"M...m...megabyte?!?" Jo Ann was shocked.
"No; he's still in the web...but if I could contact him...hmmm...Jo Ann you've given me food for thought. No, the deal could be with the Taint..."
Jo Ann gulped. The Megabyte of her own Mainframe was already deleted, a team effort of her Dot and herself. Jo Ann remembered what she had read in a fan-fic before ever coming to Mainframe: "Don't make a deal with the devil; he'll only send you to Hell."
"If my soul is the price for Mainframe's freedom; so be it..." Dot told her.
"And how would Bob take this?" Jo Ann asked. She wished that Dot's Bob was there. Dot needed him.
The ghost of a smile drifted across Dot's face, "He'd say I was too self-sacrificing for my own damn good..."
"He'd be right, too," Jo Ann commented.
Dot smiled at her, "Maybe..."
Now, something strange happened. Jo Ann was so very worried about her friend, and she kept wishing that Dot's husband was with Dot, where he needed to be, that a strange miricale occurred. Jo Ann's portal power kicked in at that nano, going haywire, as it did sometimes. From out of the portal --which quickly closed-- came...Bob! He wore a wedding band, proof that he belonged to the Dot Jo Ann was talking to.
Dot started at the noise and her hand flew automatically to her gun; but she relaxed when she saw Bob.
"What are you--?"
"I don't know...I was there and now I'm here..." He pulled her close, sensing her weariness. She relaxed into his embrace, feeling safe once more.
"What...how?" Jo Ann was stunned.
Dot blushed, she had momentarily forgotten about the User Guardian she had been talking to. She led Bob to the vidwindow, "I thought you did it, Jo!"
"I may have, and not know it. My portal -forming powers are pretty much --random. I was so worried about you, Dot, and I thought you needed your Bob so much, that I must have accidently created a portal, bringing him, to you."
Dot smiled affectionatly at Jo Ann, "Thanks; but I'm a trouper, I can usually cope..."
"Yeah, but you needed your Bob. You really do," Jo Ann smiled.
"What's going on, Dot?" Bob asked.
"Oh...nothing...I was just...lonely..." Dot muttered.
"Do you know about Wild Card?" Jo Ann asked, smiling.
"Your bounty-hunter boyfriend who's my twin in your reality?" Bob asked, smiling. Dot had spoken of the User Guardian and considered her a friend. Any friend of Dot's was a friend of Bob's...except Chymera.
"Well," Jo Ann grinned, "we just got married!" She showed Bob her rings.
"Oh, congrats!!"
"Thanks," Jo Ann blushed.
Bob grinned, and then turned to Dot, "What's wrong, love?"
"Nothing." she said firmly.
"Dot," Jo Ann said slowly. "Tell him."
"Tell me what?"
"Nothing...everything's fine...!
"DOT!!!!"
"What?"
"Dot, you don't need to make that deal: Bob's there. You can come up with a new plan, now!" Jo Ann was desperate. She did not want to reveal Dot's plan, but she knew that Bob could offer a better solution, now that he was there.
"Bob is with the GC -- he is honour-bound to report to Turbo...this information can't get to Turbo!"
"Maybe Bob can help you come up with a better plan before he goes back. It's worth a try. And anything's better than your orginal plan."
"What plan?" Bob asked.
"Nothing for you to worry about, lover..."
Jo Ann was near panic now. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Dot, there has to be a better plan then making a deal with the Taint --or Megabyte!" As soon as she said it, Jo Ann's hands flew to cover her mouth. "I'm sorry, Dot," she whispered.
Dot's eyes narrowed in anger.
Tears formed in Jo Ann's eyes. She had not really meant to give away Dot's plan. But worry over Dot's plan and what the long-range result would be, had caused the User Guardian to blurt it out.
Bob looked shocked, "Dot?!"
"What?"
"She's kidding, right?"
"No, I'm afraid not, Bob," Jo Ann said. To Dot, she said, "Might as well tell him, now. We won't be able to hide the truth from him, if he is anything like the Bob here."
Dot frowned, "If he wasn't here I wouldn't have a problem."
"I'm sorry, Dot. I really am!" Jo Ann sobbed.
Dot half-smiled to comfort her and swung around and landed a punch to Bob's jaw, knocking him out cold.
"That solves the temporary problem..."
Jo Ann winced in sympathy for Bob. "Not for very long. If he is the same as my Bob, once he knows the truth of a situation, even a little of the truth, he'll be able to get all of the truth. It's happened here, before."
"He can normally get things out of me...thats why I can't let him this time; Turbo can't know!"
"That's not what I meant. The Bob here, once any of the truth is known to him, automatically gains the rest of it, even if unconcious. Your Bob probibly knows everything about your plan, now."
Dot sighed and stamped her foot; "I guess I will have to keep him sedated."
"Work with him on a new plan, Dot. I know that between the two of you, you can come up with something better. Really, you could. I don't want you to make any deals with any enemy. Remember what happened during the Web War."
Dot looked sad, "Its the only way...the Guardian loyalty is too much a part of him."
"Dot...do you honestly believe that you can trust the Taint...or Megabyte?"
"No," she admitted .
"The what's the point in trying to make a deal with them?"
"They have the power I need so despiratly..."
"And they would all double-cross you the first chance they got, too."
"Yeah; except if they got something valuable to them in return."
"Which would be?" Now Jo Ann was really worried.
"Nevermind, Jo Ann..." Jo had already let part of her plan slip out and Dot wasn't sure if Bob was really unconscious.
"Dot...what is it?" Then, a flash from Dot's mind to Jo Ann's told her the answer.
Dot shook her head, "Nevermind!"
"Dot, this isn't going to work...you'll lose everything! Bob...Kayne...Mainframe...your life! Nothing will be left!"
"If they go on without me -- it won't be in vain..." She sighed, "We all have to be deleted somehow; if I get to go down saving the system I'm happy..".
"But you won't save the system by doing this...You'll destroy it!"
"The User will restart...crashing the COMMAND.COM forces an automatic restart..."
"Not nessissarily..." Jo Ann remembered that one system --Icarus-- that had crashed, but was never restarted. "Suppose the User desides not to restart? It's too big a risk!"
Dot bit her lip; "Without the COMMAND.COM a restart has to occur!! The User risks destroying everything if..."
"How do you know the User won't simply get another computer...another system...if he desides that Mainframe is lost and unretrivable?"
That hadn't occured to Dot. She sighed and shuddered.
"I know about how some Users minds work Dot; or have you forgotten that I am a User?" Jo Ann smiled ironically at her friend.
A tear escaped and rolled down Dot's cheek.
"Please, Dot. For the sake of Mainframe, work out another plan with Bob. If your Turbo makes a fuss about Bob not being with the GC, call. I'll send my Turbo to talk to him."
"Your Turbo is nothing like my Turbo..."
But Jo Ann did not hear. She thought about what she had just told Dot. Send my Turbo to talk with her Turbo. That gave Jo Ann another idea.
"Dot. The Users have a saying: Two heads are better then one. Maybe you and your Bob could work something out with my Bob and Dot."
Dot frowned, "What?"
"I mean work out a plan with the Bob and Dot of this Mainframe. The four of you, together, could figure a way out of this mess that doesn't involve making deals with the enemy."
Dot started to snort derisively, but then an idea formed." Jo Ann... could you get me an audience with your Turbo...I have an idea..."
"Okay...." Jo Ann wondered what Dot was up to. "Pixal! Vid-window! I need to speak with Turbo!" The keytool obeyed, and openned a link to the Port Authority in the Super Computer.
"What do ya need, User Guardian One?" Turbo asked.
"I need for you to talk with a Dot from another universe. I'll let her explain." Jo Ann turned the window to face Dot.
Dot smiled at Turbo. She knew Jo Ann wouldn't react well to what she was planning.
"May Ah help ya?" Turbo drawled, wondering if this was his niece or some file clone of her.
"Turbo; the Turbo from my universe was killed recently. However he left a sealed file that only his program can run -- this contains some information that is vital to saving the SC from a virus...can you come to my universe and access this information in 'your' office?" She smiled warmly.
Turbo was a little stunned. He honestly did not know what to say. Finally, he said, "Ah wish Ah could, but Ah can't travel between differnent realities."
"I think I have found a way to make a portal..." Dot kept expecting Jo Ann to interupt, and part of her wished she would.
"How's that?" Turbo asked.
"Leave the schmantics to me...will you do it?"
"Well...Ah can't stay fer very long...Ah got tha Guardian Collective here to lead. But Sore...Ah'll come an' help ya'll," Turbo grinned.
Dot smiled gratefully, "Turbo you may have just saved Mainframe..."
"Alright...now, how are ya gonna git me ta yore Mainframe?"
Dot hacked at something on her keyboard and a reality tear opened in Turbo's office. "Stablise it and come through..."
"All right...Copeland! Key!" The keytool flew from Turbo's arm and attached itself to the tear. A shimmer ran through the tear, changing it into a silver orb. Turbo stepped through.
Dot ran to hug him, and pulled her gun. "I'm sorry, Turbo; I won't hurt you if you co-operate..."
"DOT!" Jo Ann cried in shock. She had never thought that Dot would do this. Her Dot had never done it...not to a friend, anyway.
"I'm sorry, Jo Ann...I won't hurt him unless he makes me..."
"But...WHY?!?" Jo Ann was worrieed for her Turbo. In her panic, she mentally called for her Bob to come to help.
BOB! Bring Matrix and the others! The Dot from the other universe has kiddnapped OUR Turbo!
On our way, Jo Ann! came Bob's reply.
"I can get the GC to surrender if they think I have Turbo...I am truely sorry..."
"Were is the Turbo from your Mainframe, Dot?" Tears welled up at Dot's betrayal.
"That Turbo is somewhere, planning to kill me... "
"What if the GC of your universe knows where their Turbo is. The trick wouldn't work!"
Dot half-smiled, "I am an excellent actress... "
"All the acting in the Net won't help you if they know where their Turbo is. And suppose the one that confronts you is your Turbo? The trick would be exposed, then, wouldn't it?" Behind Jo Ann, came Bob, Wild Card, Matrix, AndrAIa, Mouse, Ray, Dot, and little Enzo.
"If 'my' Turbo, as you call him, confronts me, I'll delete him!" Dot told her.
"You can't be Dot!" Matrix cried. "Dot would never do something like this!"
"I am...and I'm sorry; but Mainframe comes frist!"
"Well...you're not using our Turbo in your sceames!" Jo Ann cried. A strong flow of power surged through her veins. With all the strengh she could muster, Jo Ann pulled Turbo from the other universe back into her own.
"I don't know how you could be so...so...cold...so much like a virus," Jo Ann seathed.
Behind Dot, Bob stirred.
Bob, Jo Ann now communicated with the other dimentional Guardian. Are you alright?
Yeah...my head...
Dot had started to cry; "It would have worked!! I wouldn't have hurt your Turbo!!"
You can thank YOUR Dot for the headache...
"Would it have? Or would have you gotten our Turbo killed in the process? I never thought you would trick me...we were so honest with each other when we first met, and I became aware that you were from another universe. What happened to that honestly? And can I ever trust you again?"
"I am sorry, Jo Ann...but...I won't, I C*A*N*'T* letMainframe fall!!!" she started to weep hysterically, and Bob wrapped his arms around her.
"What about Bob?" Jo Ann asked. "Or have you forgotten the power to which you are married to?"
Dot could hardly speak, having finally broken down under the strain, she would weep until her guilt was purged.
"Bob," Jo Ann spoke ditectly to the other Bob, "can your powers do anything to save your Mainframe?" Jo Ann felt sorry for Dot, but was hurt by the lying and trickery that had just occurred.
"We have an invasion from the Taint coming, Jo Ann -- I doubt it... but I think I can help Dot..."
"Then please, do it! She needs you more then ever, now! I just wish I could give you your own User Guardian. That would be a very big help, wouldn't it?"
Bob decided to defragment whatever had snapped inside Dot. "It would help, yeah..."
"Maybe thar is a way, without sending Jo Ann thar, o' course," Turbo drawled.
"How?" the Dot from Jo Ann's universe asked.
"Cloned file. We could make a clone o' Jo Ann, an' send the clone ta this other universe. Tha clone won't have a keytool, but she should be able to do the other things that Jo Ann can do, " Turbo said.
Bob raised an eyebrow.
"It could work," agreed Jo Ann's Dot. "We could make her look different form Jo Ann, if you like, and she could have a different name. But she would be a User Guardian for that other Mainframe."
Bob finished defragmenting Dot and she looked shaken and guilty.
"Jo Ann... can you ever forgive me?" she begged.
"Yes," Jo Ann smiled. "War can do some crazy things to people. It can do it to Users, too, as well as Sprites. But no more crazy sceames and plots, okay? We're tring to find a way to give you your very own User Guardian, and I think Turbo has a good one."
Dot smiled, "I guess I forgot the old adage -- when you become obsessed with the enemy you become the enemy..."
"Yes. That is indeed true," the Dot of Jo Ann's universe smiled.
"Turbo; Jo...I am so sorry.
"As long as yer back ta yerr normal self, all is forgiven," Turbo smiled.
"Same, here," Jo Ann grinned. "You really had me worried, Dot!"
"I remember thinking 'this is wrong' but not caring..."
"Are you okay, now?" Jo Ann asked.
"I think so...I have recovered enough to feel guilty; which, I guess, is a good sign..."
"When we are ready ta create tha clone o' Jo Ann, ya can supervise what ta make her look like. We can change everything but tha gender. But she won't have a keytool," Turbo said.
"Just make her Jo...she'll understand when I get neurotic then." Dot laughed.
"Well, ya can give her a different hair color and different eye color, jest ta make her look different. I'll have her dressed in a normal uniform. That will also allow us ta tell tha difference between tha two," Turbo smiled.
"Sure; make her a blonde," Dot suggested.
"With blue eyes?"
"Why not!"
"Alright. We'll git ta work on her, and send her on ta ya. What name would you like ta give her? We can program her ta respond ta that name, instead of Jo Ann."
"Let Jo pick!!" Dot grinned.
"Why not...Naomi!" Jo Ann grinned.
Dot shrugged, "Whatever makes you happy!"
"See ya then! We got work ta do!" Turbo grinned.
"Thanks!"
Otherworld Dot
Jo Ann called the Dot of anther universe about her wedding to Wild Card, the twin brother of her own universe's Bob.
"Oh?!! Wow!! Congratulations!!!!"
"Thank you," Jo Ann smiled, blushing a bit.
"When?"
"Just this past cycle (week). We've been on our honeymoon for that long, and have just returned."
"Oh wonderful!! I am SO pleased for you..."
"Thanks," Jo Ann said again. She showed Dot the rings. The wedding ring was a simple band of gold, but the engagement ring was a gold band set with a tiny prism blossom carved from a single prism blossom petal.
"Oh, Jo Ann!! That is so beautiful..."
"Thanks. Wild Card had it made especially for me, because I like prism blossoms."
"How is that handsome honey of yours?"
"Doing well. He is now Mainframe's 'official' bounty hunter. He gets a paycheck from the Super Computer, as well as bonues from catching wanted criminals."
"Neat!"
"I think the steady job is what made him feel like he could marry me now. Before, he wasn't earning anything because he had stopped bounty hunting."
Dot smiled warmly, "How chivilrous... I take it you're deliriously happy..."
"Very!" Jo Ann smiled and blushed again. Her mind still drifted to her wedding day and the cycle after.
Dot grinned, "I'm not going to ask too many personal questions...Where did you guys honeymoon?"
"The Super Computer, at the most expensive hotel in the system. our Dot paid for all the expenses."
"Nice...I wish I could have sent a gift..."
"Oh, no...you have so much to worry about. I couldn't have allowed you to burden yourself with anything on my account!" Jo Ann knew that this Dot had a war to fight. She would need all the resourses she could get.
Dot looked thoughtful, "listen; can we do a file transfer? I will send you two a copy of the poem I wrote for Matrix and Andraia's wedding...I think you'll like it...it's not much; but..."
"Sure," Jo Ann said. She would be sharing something from the Matrix and AndrAIa of the other Mainframe. A thing of love.
"Can we do a cross reality file transfer?"
"We can try," Jo Ann said.
"Okay; let me find it..."
"Guess what?" Jo Ann grinned.
"Here it is..." Dot found the file she wanted, "What, Jo Ann?"
"We have a new little AndrAIa! But it's not Matrix and AndrAIa's daughter!"
"Oh?" Dot looked puzzled.
"Yes. I went into AndrAIa's game. 'Treasure of Atlantis', and we met the organal AndrAIa. I asked her to give us another back-up copy of herself for little Enzo, and she did. We call the little AndrAIa, 'Andri'," Jo Ann smiled.
Dot smiled nostalgiacly. "I remember that game...first time I had a clue that Bob liked me as more than a friend..."
Jo Ann laughed. She remembered seeing that scene when she linked her Bob and Dot's minds to battle the returned Megabyte.
"What's so funny?" Dot asked.
"'Nice fins.' 'I heard that.''DOH!'" Jo Ann grinned, reciting the lines as she had heard them in Bob and Dot's mind.
Dot laughed loudly, her war-weary face suddenly seeming younger and more like the Dot from Jo Ann's universe.
"I...is...your...Bob back home, yet?" Jo Ann asked. She had forgotten in her own happiness that the Dot she was talking to had not seen her Bob in a very long time.
"No; he's still off with Turbo...Jo Ann, I am considering doing something quite terrible for Mainframe's sake...Do the ends justify the means?"
"That depends on what you are thinking of doing. What is it?" Jo Ann did not know if she wanted to hear the answer, but felt that she must.
"I am considering making the proverbial 'deal with the devil'..."
"M...m...megabyte?!?" Jo Ann was shocked.
"No; he's still in the web...but if I could contact him...hmmm...Jo Ann you've given me food for thought. No, the deal could be with the Taint..."
Jo Ann gulped. The Megabyte of her own Mainframe was already deleted, a team effort of her Dot and herself. Jo Ann remembered what she had read in a fan-fic before ever coming to Mainframe: "Don't make a deal with the devil; he'll only send you to Hell."
"If my soul is the price for Mainframe's freedom; so be it..." Dot told her.
"And how would Bob take this?" Jo Ann asked. She wished that Dot's Bob was there. Dot needed him.
The ghost of a smile drifted across Dot's face, "He'd say I was too self-sacrificing for my own damn good..."
"He'd be right, too," Jo Ann commented.
Dot smiled at her, "Maybe..."
Now, something strange happened. Jo Ann was so very worried about her friend, and she kept wishing that Dot's husband was with Dot, where he needed to be, that a strange miricale occurred. Jo Ann's portal power kicked in at that nano, going haywire, as it did sometimes. From out of the portal --which quickly closed-- came...Bob! He wore a wedding band, proof that he belonged to the Dot Jo Ann was talking to.
Dot started at the noise and her hand flew automatically to her gun; but she relaxed when she saw Bob.
"What are you--?"
"I don't know...I was there and now I'm here..." He pulled her close, sensing her weariness. She relaxed into his embrace, feeling safe once more.
"What...how?" Jo Ann was stunned.
Dot blushed, she had momentarily forgotten about the User Guardian she had been talking to. She led Bob to the vidwindow, "I thought you did it, Jo!"
"I may have, and not know it. My portal -forming powers are pretty much --random. I was so worried about you, Dot, and I thought you needed your Bob so much, that I must have accidently created a portal, bringing him, to you."
Dot smiled affectionatly at Jo Ann, "Thanks; but I'm a trouper, I can usually cope..."
"Yeah, but you needed your Bob. You really do," Jo Ann smiled.
"What's going on, Dot?" Bob asked.
"Oh...nothing...I was just...lonely..." Dot muttered.
"Do you know about Wild Card?" Jo Ann asked, smiling.
"Your bounty-hunter boyfriend who's my twin in your reality?" Bob asked, smiling. Dot had spoken of the User Guardian and considered her a friend. Any friend of Dot's was a friend of Bob's...except Chymera.
"Well," Jo Ann grinned, "we just got married!" She showed Bob her rings.
"Oh, congrats!!"
"Thanks," Jo Ann blushed.
Bob grinned, and then turned to Dot, "What's wrong, love?"
"Nothing." she said firmly.
"Dot," Jo Ann said slowly. "Tell him."
"Tell me what?"
"Nothing...everything's fine...!
"DOT!!!!"
"What?"
"Dot, you don't need to make that deal: Bob's there. You can come up with a new plan, now!" Jo Ann was desperate. She did not want to reveal Dot's plan, but she knew that Bob could offer a better solution, now that he was there.
"Bob is with the GC -- he is honour-bound to report to Turbo...this information can't get to Turbo!"
"Maybe Bob can help you come up with a better plan before he goes back. It's worth a try. And anything's better than your orginal plan."
"What plan?" Bob asked.
"Nothing for you to worry about, lover..."
Jo Ann was near panic now. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Dot, there has to be a better plan then making a deal with the Taint --or Megabyte!" As soon as she said it, Jo Ann's hands flew to cover her mouth. "I'm sorry, Dot," she whispered.
Dot's eyes narrowed in anger.
Tears formed in Jo Ann's eyes. She had not really meant to give away Dot's plan. But worry over Dot's plan and what the long-range result would be, had caused the User Guardian to blurt it out.
Bob looked shocked, "Dot?!"
"What?"
"She's kidding, right?"
"No, I'm afraid not, Bob," Jo Ann said. To Dot, she said, "Might as well tell him, now. We won't be able to hide the truth from him, if he is anything like the Bob here."
Dot frowned, "If he wasn't here I wouldn't have a problem."
"I'm sorry, Dot. I really am!" Jo Ann sobbed.
Dot half-smiled to comfort her and swung around and landed a punch to Bob's jaw, knocking him out cold.
"That solves the temporary problem..."
Jo Ann winced in sympathy for Bob. "Not for very long. If he is the same as my Bob, once he knows the truth of a situation, even a little of the truth, he'll be able to get all of the truth. It's happened here, before."
"He can normally get things out of me...thats why I can't let him this time; Turbo can't know!"
"That's not what I meant. The Bob here, once any of the truth is known to him, automatically gains the rest of it, even if unconcious. Your Bob probibly knows everything about your plan, now."
Dot sighed and stamped her foot; "I guess I will have to keep him sedated."
"Work with him on a new plan, Dot. I know that between the two of you, you can come up with something better. Really, you could. I don't want you to make any deals with any enemy. Remember what happened during the Web War."
Dot looked sad, "Its the only way...the Guardian loyalty is too much a part of him."
"Dot...do you honestly believe that you can trust the Taint...or Megabyte?"
"No," she admitted .
"The what's the point in trying to make a deal with them?"
"They have the power I need so despiratly..."
"And they would all double-cross you the first chance they got, too."
"Yeah; except if they got something valuable to them in return."
"Which would be?" Now Jo Ann was really worried.
"Nevermind, Jo Ann..." Jo had already let part of her plan slip out and Dot wasn't sure if Bob was really unconscious.
"Dot...what is it?" Then, a flash from Dot's mind to Jo Ann's told her the answer.
Dot shook her head, "Nevermind!"
"Dot, this isn't going to work...you'll lose everything! Bob...Kayne...Mainframe...your life! Nothing will be left!"
"If they go on without me -- it won't be in vain..." She sighed, "We all have to be deleted somehow; if I get to go down saving the system I'm happy..".
"But you won't save the system by doing this...You'll destroy it!"
"The User will restart...crashing the COMMAND.COM forces an automatic restart..."
"Not nessissarily..." Jo Ann remembered that one system --Icarus-- that had crashed, but was never restarted. "Suppose the User desides not to restart? It's too big a risk!"
Dot bit her lip; "Without the COMMAND.COM a restart has to occur!! The User risks destroying everything if..."
"How do you know the User won't simply get another computer...another system...if he desides that Mainframe is lost and unretrivable?"
That hadn't occured to Dot. She sighed and shuddered.
"I know about how some Users minds work Dot; or have you forgotten that I am a User?" Jo Ann smiled ironically at her friend.
A tear escaped and rolled down Dot's cheek.
"Please, Dot. For the sake of Mainframe, work out another plan with Bob. If your Turbo makes a fuss about Bob not being with the GC, call. I'll send my Turbo to talk to him."
"Your Turbo is nothing like my Turbo..."
But Jo Ann did not hear. She thought about what she had just told Dot. Send my Turbo to talk with her Turbo. That gave Jo Ann another idea.
"Dot. The Users have a saying: Two heads are better then one. Maybe you and your Bob could work something out with my Bob and Dot."
Dot frowned, "What?"
"I mean work out a plan with the Bob and Dot of this Mainframe. The four of you, together, could figure a way out of this mess that doesn't involve making deals with the enemy."
Dot started to snort derisively, but then an idea formed." Jo Ann... could you get me an audience with your Turbo...I have an idea..."
"Okay...." Jo Ann wondered what Dot was up to. "Pixal! Vid-window! I need to speak with Turbo!" The keytool obeyed, and openned a link to the Port Authority in the Super Computer.
"What do ya need, User Guardian One?" Turbo asked.
"I need for you to talk with a Dot from another universe. I'll let her explain." Jo Ann turned the window to face Dot.
Dot smiled at Turbo. She knew Jo Ann wouldn't react well to what she was planning.
"May Ah help ya?" Turbo drawled, wondering if this was his niece or some file clone of her.
"Turbo; the Turbo from my universe was killed recently. However he left a sealed file that only his program can run -- this contains some information that is vital to saving the SC from a virus...can you come to my universe and access this information in 'your' office?" She smiled warmly.
Turbo was a little stunned. He honestly did not know what to say. Finally, he said, "Ah wish Ah could, but Ah can't travel between differnent realities."
"I think I have found a way to make a portal..." Dot kept expecting Jo Ann to interupt, and part of her wished she would.
"How's that?" Turbo asked.
"Leave the schmantics to me...will you do it?"
"Well...Ah can't stay fer very long...Ah got tha Guardian Collective here to lead. But Sore...Ah'll come an' help ya'll," Turbo grinned.
Dot smiled gratefully, "Turbo you may have just saved Mainframe..."
"Alright...now, how are ya gonna git me ta yore Mainframe?"
Dot hacked at something on her keyboard and a reality tear opened in Turbo's office. "Stablise it and come through..."
"All right...Copeland! Key!" The keytool flew from Turbo's arm and attached itself to the tear. A shimmer ran through the tear, changing it into a silver orb. Turbo stepped through.
Dot ran to hug him, and pulled her gun. "I'm sorry, Turbo; I won't hurt you if you co-operate..."
"DOT!" Jo Ann cried in shock. She had never thought that Dot would do this. Her Dot had never done it...not to a friend, anyway.
"I'm sorry, Jo Ann...I won't hurt him unless he makes me..."
"But...WHY?!?" Jo Ann was worrieed for her Turbo. In her panic, she mentally called for her Bob to come to help.
BOB! Bring Matrix and the others! The Dot from the other universe has kiddnapped OUR Turbo!
On our way, Jo Ann! came Bob's reply.
"I can get the GC to surrender if they think I have Turbo...I am truely sorry..."
"Were is the Turbo from your Mainframe, Dot?" Tears welled up at Dot's betrayal.
"That Turbo is somewhere, planning to kill me... "
"What if the GC of your universe knows where their Turbo is. The trick wouldn't work!"
Dot half-smiled, "I am an excellent actress... "
"All the acting in the Net won't help you if they know where their Turbo is. And suppose the one that confronts you is your Turbo? The trick would be exposed, then, wouldn't it?" Behind Jo Ann, came Bob, Wild Card, Matrix, AndrAIa, Mouse, Ray, Dot, and little Enzo.
"If 'my' Turbo, as you call him, confronts me, I'll delete him!" Dot told her.
"You can't be Dot!" Matrix cried. "Dot would never do something like this!"
"I am...and I'm sorry; but Mainframe comes frist!"
"Well...you're not using our Turbo in your sceames!" Jo Ann cried. A strong flow of power surged through her veins. With all the strengh she could muster, Jo Ann pulled Turbo from the other universe back into her own.
"I don't know how you could be so...so...cold...so much like a virus," Jo Ann seathed.
Behind Dot, Bob stirred.
Bob, Jo Ann now communicated with the other dimentional Guardian. Are you alright?
Yeah...my head...
Dot had started to cry; "It would have worked!! I wouldn't have hurt your Turbo!!"
You can thank YOUR Dot for the headache...
"Would it have? Or would have you gotten our Turbo killed in the process? I never thought you would trick me...we were so honest with each other when we first met, and I became aware that you were from another universe. What happened to that honestly? And can I ever trust you again?"
"I am sorry, Jo Ann...but...I won't, I C*A*N*'T* letMainframe fall!!!" she started to weep hysterically, and Bob wrapped his arms around her.
"What about Bob?" Jo Ann asked. "Or have you forgotten the power to which you are married to?"
Dot could hardly speak, having finally broken down under the strain, she would weep until her guilt was purged.
"Bob," Jo Ann spoke ditectly to the other Bob, "can your powers do anything to save your Mainframe?" Jo Ann felt sorry for Dot, but was hurt by the lying and trickery that had just occurred.
"We have an invasion from the Taint coming, Jo Ann -- I doubt it... but I think I can help Dot..."
"Then please, do it! She needs you more then ever, now! I just wish I could give you your own User Guardian. That would be a very big help, wouldn't it?"
Bob decided to defragment whatever had snapped inside Dot. "It would help, yeah..."
"Maybe thar is a way, without sending Jo Ann thar, o' course," Turbo drawled.
"How?" the Dot from Jo Ann's universe asked.
"Cloned file. We could make a clone o' Jo Ann, an' send the clone ta this other universe. Tha clone won't have a keytool, but she should be able to do the other things that Jo Ann can do, " Turbo said.
Bob raised an eyebrow.
"It could work," agreed Jo Ann's Dot. "We could make her look different form Jo Ann, if you like, and she could have a different name. But she would be a User Guardian for that other Mainframe."
Bob finished defragmenting Dot and she looked shaken and guilty.
"Jo Ann... can you ever forgive me?" she begged.
"Yes," Jo Ann smiled. "War can do some crazy things to people. It can do it to Users, too, as well as Sprites. But no more crazy sceames and plots, okay? We're tring to find a way to give you your very own User Guardian, and I think Turbo has a good one."
Dot smiled, "I guess I forgot the old adage -- when you become obsessed with the enemy you become the enemy..."
"Yes. That is indeed true," the Dot of Jo Ann's universe smiled.
"Turbo; Jo...I am so sorry.
"As long as yer back ta yerr normal self, all is forgiven," Turbo smiled.
"Same, here," Jo Ann grinned. "You really had me worried, Dot!"
"I remember thinking 'this is wrong' but not caring..."
"Are you okay, now?" Jo Ann asked.
"I think so...I have recovered enough to feel guilty; which, I guess, is a good sign..."
"When we are ready ta create tha clone o' Jo Ann, ya can supervise what ta make her look like. We can change everything but tha gender. But she won't have a keytool," Turbo said.
"Just make her Jo...she'll understand when I get neurotic then." Dot laughed.
"Well, ya can give her a different hair color and different eye color, jest ta make her look different. I'll have her dressed in a normal uniform. That will also allow us ta tell tha difference between tha two," Turbo smiled.
"Sure; make her a blonde," Dot suggested.
"With blue eyes?"
"Why not!"
"Alright. We'll git ta work on her, and send her on ta ya. What name would you like ta give her? We can program her ta respond ta that name, instead of Jo Ann."
"Let Jo pick!!" Dot grinned.
"Why not...Naomi!" Jo Ann grinned.
Dot shrugged, "Whatever makes you happy!"
"See ya then! We got work ta do!" Turbo grinned.
"Thanks!"