* * *

"And by creating a link between two systems, we can open a door, or, ah, a gateway that allows us to pass through.  But first, we have to find another system."  Welman Matrix looked down appreciatively at his daughter, Dot.  His speech sounded great on paper, but not so swell coming from him.

"Now, I know I have my critics, sprites and binomes who say that there are no other systems," Welman continued, "but just stop a cycle and process that statement.  Can you really believe that we are really alone?  That Mainframe is the only system in Cyberspace?  I think not."

He gestured to his invention, a large ring of metal and processing components.  "My machine will detect new systems and link to them.  It will prove that cyberspace is not an empty void, but a…uh…a wondrous place filled with inhabited systems and peoples and friends.  We are not alone."  Welman Matrix looked down.  "How was that?" he shrugged.

"Not bad." Dot replied.  "Drop the main light two points and a half" she requested into her earpiece.  A binome up in the rafters gave quick nod and went to work.  Dot returned to her dad, "Mmm, I think you need to spend more time on how we detect other systems."

Welman brightened and went off on a tangent.  "By casting a network of signals, or, uh, pings into the void.  These signals are programmed to lock onto energy bursts."  Welman pressed a red button on the stadium booth, and a series of light pings echoed off the walls of the Principle Office auditorium.  "Once we have a lock, we can open a gateway to the set source of energy."

Dot tilted her head and gave a sympathetic half smile, "Dad, I know that, but nobody else in the audience does."

Welman Matrix's face registered mild surprise, "Oh.  Right.  I see."  He was going to have to be careful not to go off into tangents over this technology, or he would lose his audience.

"Wanna try some questions?" suggested Dot.

Welman let out a quick sigh.  "Okay, I'm ready for anything" he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

Dot cleared her voice and asked, "Professor Matrix, if you've proven the existence of other systems, why do we physically have to visit them?"

Welman Matrix paused.  Leave it to Dot to pick out the hard questions to answer.  "Good question, good question", Welman stalled, "Um, excellent question."  He stumbled for an answer.  The technology had always clicked for Welman and he had always felt at ease discussing it, but when it came to the "Why?" questions, he could never manage to find the right words.  The reasons were so obvious and clear in his head, but they were almost impossible for him to explain.  Mrs. Matrix had always been good with words.  Dot took right after her too, in more than just her looks and smarts.  It was no wonder Dot had started out so well as a young businesswoman.

            "For proof.  That's why the gateway command has two functions: search and link", Dot answered for him. 

            "That's right!  Good answer!" Welman lit up at having found words for his answer, but just as quickly let his smile drop.  "You will be here for me, won't you?  Be by my side?  Just in case?" he asked.  Enzo and Dot had always been supportive of his work, but even as a respected scientist in the Mainframe's Twin Cities, he doubted that Mainframe's population was going to answer their questions for him too.

            Dot smiled back, "Of course, Dad."  This experiment had meant everything to Dad, and after all the minutes spent on theories, prototypes, and finally the building of the hardware to create such a gateway command, there was no way she could miss out on Dad's big moment.  Even the Diner, her first real committed business, was just going to have to wait.  "We'll be there".

* * *

            Enzo hummed along with his zipboard as he rode towards the construction site for the Diner.  It was so awesome finally being allowed to ride one.  For a long time he used to practice in the house, but after several broken house appliances Dad had insisted that he was old enough to ride one outside when he wanted.  Riding a zipboard was cool.  Even if there was nothing to see in Mainframe, anyway.

Dad's experiment was going to be a big success today—he just knew it.  Everybody in his family was somebody cool.  Dot had the Diner, Dad had his alphanumeric new experiment processing along.  Mom used to have a cool job too, before the accident…  He mused what he might end up doing in the future.  Probably not nearly anything as exciting as everybody else, he sighed, I'll probably be stuck doing nothing forever.

Enzo landed on a clear spot in the construction zone.  The Diner was just about finished.  Pixelacious! Enzo bubbled, As soon as Dad's portal is opened, maybe I can treat whoever comes from there to an energy shake!  He heard some arguing coming from behind.  Dot's new waiter, Cesil, was telling off a group of loiterers.  From what he had heard from Dot, the words 'customer service' were not in his vocabulary.

* * *

            Dixon drummed her fingers.  "One more virus for the deletion chamber" she noted indifferently.

            Bob gave her a sidelong look, "He can hear you."

"So?" she turned to Kilobyte, who was trying to free himself from his restraints.  "Hey, Kilobyte, ready for oblivion?" she jeered with mock cheeriness.

            Kilobyte ignored her and continued grappling with his restraints.  He could feel something big gathering momentum and growing larger in the core of his body.  An upgrade.  A big one.  A big one, which, would do him little good if he was deleted before it could take its effect.

            Bob couldn't understand why Dixon had to be so cruel.  It wasn't its fault that it was programmed that way.  "Do you have to be so callous?" he asked, frowning.

            Dixon rolled her eyes in contempt, more at Bob than the virus.  "It's a virus, cadet.  A dirty, no-use virus."

            "Look, you don't know his story, what made him this way, how--"

"A User made him this way", she interrupted impatiently, tapping buttons to activate the chamber, "A User programmed him to destroy, to infect, to corrupt.  Why a User does such a thing is beyond our capacity to understand.  So, there's no point trying."  These young cadets are all the same, but this one is even worse, Dixon groaned inwardly, The whole 'save the net' attitude…what a joke.  Mercy?  For a virus?  Never.

Bob looked back at Kilobyte who was becoming more frustrated towards his braced restraints.  Why would the User, the User who had brought them so much good, unleash creature so terrible?  It was so…pointless.  "I don't believe a User would knowingly release a virus on the net".  Kilobyte glanced at Bob.  Odd one, he thought, and returned to his thoughts to escape.

            "Wow, I forgot who I was talking to.  I suppose you've written a read me file on the psyche of Users."

            "Well, actually, I—"

            Dixie smiled sympathetically, "You're never going to pass the finals, kid."

            "What?"

            "Guardians are here to mend and defend, okay?  Not sit around, trying to work out how the User thinks and why viruses are introduced into systems," she answered imperiously.  "Sheesh, I'm just glad the prime guardian hasn't seen any of your works…" Dixon hid her smile.  It was nice seeing views that weren't degraded from knowing how things really were.  Bob was such a dork, such a loser, but his whole upbeat attitude was hard not to like.  It was going to be a shame to see him get hardened up by the real net.

            Kilobyte pushed hard against his restraints.  His upgrade was nanoseconds from happening, he could already feel the changes taking place.  But deletion was but a few button presses away…and his upgrade would be too little too late.  The guardians were still bickering in the background.  If their argument could stall the female guardian just a little longer, he would be free.

            Bob raised his eyebrows at this statement.  "I had a meeting with Turbo just last second.  He thought my ideas were radical", he said, and thought he heard a soft pinging noise in the backround.  Dixon was bound to be impressed by that.

            Eyes rolled up into his sockets, Kilobyte felt the upgrade was here.  First, he would receive his new internal powers, and then a new body, complete with external shielding and strength.  He was going to be bigger, faster, smarter, stronger, and far more lethal that before.  Wonderful.

            "Radical?" Dixon scoffed.  Try 'random', she thought to herself.  "He used the word radical and you think—"

            A roar came from Kilobyte, undergoing the first stage of his upgrade.  This new power was immense.  The restraints shattered with ease.  Kilobyte couldn't restrain a grin over his newfound strength.  He snapped his attention towards the two guardians.  He knew which one he wanted to delete first.

            "What the—?"  Dixon face was frozen with shock.  Oh FAQ, she thought, A viral upgrade!  "Glitch, patch me through to central," she commanded, "We have a 403 in progress!"

            Bob turned to her. "A 403? Viral upgrade?"  I can't let this happen, he thought, I've got to stop him long enough for Dixon to open the viral breakdown chamber!  He raced towards Kilobyte, wrist guards braced in front of him.

            "Bob!  No!"

            The virus snorted at this pathetic attempt.  He swatted Bob away and sent him crashing into the opposite wall of the room.  Bob felt his head swimming and thought he heard that funny pinging sound again.  Then blackness.

            Kilobyte grinned maliciously at the remaining guardian.  He would absorb the unconscious guardian's energy as soon as he was finished with this one.  Large quantities of energy were needed for him to complete his full upgrade.  Otherwise, he would be unable to finish his upgrade into a new body.  And this guardian was first on his list.

            Dixon stumbled backwards, desperately trying to put space between her self and the newly upgraded virus while her keytool was busy relaying the message.  "Upgrade skipping a generation: has the ability to fly, transfinite power reserves, infection capabilities—".  Kilobyte lunged for her.  She ran up along a wall, missing a handful of claws narrowly.  Pushing off the wall for leverage, she flipped, and landed on Kilobyte's back.  Securing her arm around his neck, Dixie aimed her keytool at the back of his head.  See how you like this, she shouted silently, and then commanded to her keytool, "Glitch, narrow beam!" 

A neon beam of light shot out and went straight through the virus's skull, and out directly between his eyes.  Nothing happened.  The virus was still processing.  Dixie realized too late this virus was energy absorbing as well.  Kilobyte grinned, grabbed her, and threw her to the ground.  He unsheathed his claws, and held them for moment above her, savoring her expression and the irony of the moment, now that she was the one about to be deleted, completely at his mercy.  Dixie's eyes widened at her approaching deletion, and she squeezed then shut tightly as Kilobyte struck, held her helpless in his claws, and tossed her aside, depleted of energy, onto the ground.

Sated with energy and revenge, Kilobyte turned to Bob.  The guardian was still unconscious, and without a keytool, stealing his energy for his full upgrade would be easy.  His intent was distracted by pinging sounds, which appeared to be growing louder.  He was startled to find himself suddenly trapped in some sort of a portal.  The massive amount of energy from the gateway was all Kilobyte needed to finish his upgrade, and his new physical viral form had taken place.

"I AM GIGBYTE!" he roared, and the portal vanished leaving the two unconscious guardians behind.

* * *

            Welman tapped his fingers anxiously.  The crowd was growing impatient, and Dot and Enzo were nowhere to be found.  He could understand Phong not being able to make it, what with him and the command.com so busy all the time, but what was taking Dot and Enzo?  A binome mother tried to hush a fussy baby near the back of the auditorium.  Oh well, I'll just have to start without them, he sighed, I'm sure they be here any nano, and the crowds getting restless.  Here goes nothing.  Shuffling his cue cards, Professor Matrix began.

* * *

            Well, the speech could have been a little better, but everyone seems genuinely impressed, Welman smiled.  The speech went okay, but Welman knew the real excitement would begin as soon as they locked onto a new system and he finally show everybody it was true, that there was life outside Mainframe.  They could learn so much about each other, just imagine all the new technologies and cultures…but, where was Enzo and Dot?  Didn't they want to be here to shake the newcomers hand?  Heh, they're probably stuck in traffic, what with everybody just rushing to see my new break though, he thought.  He looked at his scanners.  The pings should be detecting a system any second now.

            The pings echoed though cyberspace.  A large burst of energy, the Super Computer, resonated the strongest of all the systems, being the largest system in cyberspace.  They had a lock.

            Looking down at the scanner, Welman found the pings had located a system.  Professor Matrix could barely contain his excitement over the good news.  "System detected," he called, and the audience hummed with whispers of anticipation.  Welman's glee was only stifled by the absence of his children.  Maybe he could call them after the gateway was opened.  "Executing gateway command," he stated to the crowd, fingers racing across the controls.  Then, a flash of light.

* * *

            Gigabyte felt himself being pulled into the portal, then through it.  Now that he had acquired enough energy from the portal to set off his final phase of upgrade, and enough energy to leave him completely charged, he needed to get out of this thing.  He felt the portal stop, having linked to its destination, and he saw a room full of sprites and binomes crowded around him.  His function as a virus was a very simply one: destruction.  The total, utter destruction of everything.  The sight of sprites and binomes around him sent him into a fit of blinding rage.

"I HAVE BECOME GIGABYTE, DESTROYER OF SYSTEMS!" he bellowed, but soon found himself confined by the gateway.

            Welman saw the creature emerge inside the gateway, and had heard his proclamation.  This isn't supposed to be happening, he thought, This creature isn't friendly!  What went wrong?  His attempt to compile what had happened was interrupted by the short circuiting of his controls.  He disconnected the hardware from the gateway the instant before it could be short circuited too.  The portal had lost an enormous amount of energy from within, due to the energy Kilobyte absorbed to complete his upgrade and become Gigabyte.  This dip caused a flux to occur in the gateway.  The flux had proved to be too great for the gateway itself to sustain, and had caused everything else inside the gateway to tip, become completely unstable, and break apart.  Welman watched in horror as everything inside the gateway's hardware started to split apart—including the virus! 

Binomes and sprites racing for the doors never made it.  The separation of the gateway's contents was similar to that of splitting an atom.  Welman only had time to wonder How? before the explosion nullified the Priciple office, and receiving a booster from the second of the Twin Cities cores, nullified the rest of the city.

* * *

      The construction crew for Dot's Diner was adding the finishing touches to the new restaurant.  In a cycle or so, the restaurant would be ready for it's grand opening.  Many citizens were eager for the Diner to open, as Al's restaurant often left them in long lines when they came in, and indigestion when they came out.

Enzo fidgeted.  How long was Dot going to take on this?  He noticed the 'puppy' that had been following around for the past few cycles had managed to meander to the Diner.  He should probably tell Dot and Dad about him.  Maybe they would let him keep him.  I'll tell them after Dad's done showing off his new invention, Enzo decided, IF we ever GET to Dad's show.  His impatience got the better of him once again, and he said to Dot, "Sis, hurry up!  We're gunna be late!"

            Dot looked away from her new organizer to Enzo.  "Enzo, I'll be finished a lot quicker without you pestering me."

            "But Dad's experiment!"

            "We have plenty of time," she noted and checked her organizer, "it's only…" Dot read the time.  She had lost track of time!  They were microseconds behind schedule!  "Oh no!" she turned to the lead construction binome.  "Jimmie!  Take over!  We're late!  I'll be back ASAP." Dot shouted.  Jimmie smiled and gave a thumbs up.  Nothing got Dot bristled more than a late schedule on her part.

            Enzo was about to say, "I told you so!" when he felt the ground under his feet shake.  Both Enzo and Dot exchanged glances.  Other binomes were looking around with confusion too.  A flash of light suddenly illuminated the other city for a moment, then a massive explosion.  Dot lowered her shaded glasses and stared into glowering red swell of the explosion.  The ball of the expanding explosion seemed to grow impossibly large, like a smoldering giant balloon.  For an instant no one believed what they were seeing.  All those people, she thought, numb.  No, DAD!  Suddenly, everyone was blasted backwards by the shockwave.  The Diner's window's shattered, and construction equipment sent flying.  Dot found herself lying in a pile of broken glass next to Enzo, both of them cut and bruised, when it was all finished.

* * *

            Megabyte and Hexadecimal stood shoulder to shoulder, both facing opposite directions, in the middle of what remained of the Twin City.  The first thing Megabyte became aware of was, well, his own awareness.  He felt himself on a separate state of consciousness, no longer Kilobyte or Gigabyte, or half of Gigabyte.  He had become an entirely new, separate virus.  Looking to the side of him, he saw his 'twin', Hexadecimal, her mouth in an "O" of surprise.  Megabyte knew her name, and Hexadecimal's function the instant he saw her.  After all, she was part of something they both once were, and now she had become the reflection of everything he was not.  Hexadecimal surveyed the area and put on a happy face, "I…like it here!"

            Megabyte scanned the wreckage.  Nothing but smoking heaps of rubble.  Was this all that was left of the system?  This?  If so, then what?  Watching things burn may have suited Hex, but it wasn't enough for him.  How would he get out of here?  He stalked off, hoping to find something, anything, that would aid him.  Hexadecimal cackled hysterically at something off in the distance.  Megabyte grimaced.  His code would run cold before he sought company in her.  Sirens screamed somewhere ahead of him.  His attention snapped towards the new sound.  There was other life around!  Not all had been destroyed!  He thought of the irony of his relief over other life.  In his former existence as Gigabyte, destruction was all he craved.  Now, destruction seemed pointless, and a need to consume and control all around him rose up.

            Careful to keep himself concealed within the shadows, Megabyte headed towards the sound.  He slid around the corner of a building and saw…another system!  How could there be two systems next to each other?  No, he realized, two cities, one system.  Things were starting to look up.  The system wasn't terribly large, but it was more than enough to get him started.  A medical van rolled up nearby.  Several CPU policemen and a few doctors hopped out.  Megabyte smiled to himself.  What was left of this city was unstable, and he was sure the citizens of Mainframe would hardly gain suspicion of his existence is a few of their best disappeared in the line of duty.  Things were looking up indeed.

* * *

            Bob woke up to a throbbing in his head and shoulder.  Dazed, he got up and looked around, trying to assess what had happened.  Kilobyte!  Dixon!  He searched the room for both.  Kilobyte wasn't here, but he left the viral breakdown room in a wreck.  And sprawled on the ground, flickering in and out of existence, was Dixon.  Bob raced to her side and lifted her head up.  She had lost way too much energy.  "Dixon, hang on!" he cried.

            "It's too late for me, Cadet." She replied weakly.  Dixon could feel herself slipping away.  Glitch asked her if she wanted to download her energy into itself.  She said yes.  Goodbye Glitch.  Bye Bob.  Save the net for me, `k?  Her keytool started beeping.  Bob noticed Glitch was transferring the rest of her energy to itself.

            "Glitch, stop!" Bob cried, but the keytool paid no heed.  Dixon winced and faded out of existence.  Bob yelled in aguish over his lost partner.  She didn't deserve to be deleted like this.  What was he going to do now?  His grief was cut short by Glitch's levitation off the ground.  The keytool scanned for a guardian and turned promptly to Bob.  He was the obvious choice.  Glitch had heard Bob's belief in the good of all people, even viruses, and knew Bob would always use itself for the benefit and defense of others.  To mend and defend, the guardian code.

            The keytool floated towards Bob, and attached itself to his wrist guard.  I don't deserve you, Bob thought to Glitch, I was no help to Dixon when she needed me, what good am I now?  Glitch remained firm in its belief in Bob, and linked itself to him.  Bob hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, then said, "Glitch, system scan.  Track and lock on Kilobyte."

* * *

            Dot heard the car squeal as she slammed on the breaks.  There were med crews racing everywhere, but of little avail.  So far, there had been no survivors yet, and word had been that some of the rescue teams had gone missing.  Many were fearing that they had been nullified too, trying to save the lives of others.  Both of them had driven all over what was left of the Twin City, desperately looking for there father, but had come up with nothing except fears for the worst.  Worst of all, most of the remaining population in Mainframe had come to the conclusion that Professor Matrix's experiment had somehow went wrong and caused the destruction of the Twin City.

            Enzo looked up miserably at Dot, "Where's Dad?" he asked, not expecting any real answer, but hoping for comfort.

            "I…I don't know," she answered, trying not to let her fears eat away at her.  But the truth was becoming evidently clear, no matter how much she tried to deny it.  Welman Matrix, her father, was gone.  Dot tried to keep herself together.  She couldn't lose it now, not now, she needed to be strong, for Enzo.

            Bob emerged from the portal leading to the system Glitch had pointed out as the last place Kilobyte had been, and found himself surrounded by the bewildered stares of the locals.  He noticed several tears around the area and proceeded to mend them.  Having seen the devastation, he wondered what happened here.  Kilobyte?  No, this had to be something much bigger, to cause so much damage. 

            Dot wasn't sure if she believed her eyes.  Who was this stranger?  Could he know what might have happened?  She walked up to him.  "Who are you?" she asked.

            Bob paused at the question momentarily.  The sprite in front of him looked very pretty, but very sad.  What would he say?  "I'm so sorry.  I'm a cad—er, guardian.  I come from the net."

            Dot struggled against a sob.  The net?  The net was the whole reason this mess was started.  The reason her Dad was almost certainly dead.  "The net?" she cried, "You did this?"

            "No! I—"

            "Your fault!" she cried, and broke into sobs against his chest.  Dot didn't even know who he was, but she needed someone, anyone, to vent herself at.  She should have been there with Dad, like she promised she would.  She should have been nullified with everyone else.  If she hadn't been late…

* * *

            Turbo arrived right after, two guardians by his side to aid him.  He looked at Bob, and the young green sprite crying into his shoulder.  "You okay?" Turbo asked.

            Bob looked down at the sprite he had just met, and noticed a young green boy sitting on the ground by their feet, looking just as miserable as the older girl he was holding.  They must be brother and sister.  He smiled and said, "We're going to be."  Dot and Enzo both looked up at Bob, then at each other.  Dot smiled weakly at the stranger's words, then sat down next to Enzo and gave him a hug.  Turbo smiled at Bob's classic show of affection and pulled him aside.

            "We heard about what happened to Dixon.  I'm sorry Bob." Turbo said, his eyes downcast.  Dixon had been one of their best, true to her code until the end.  "We'll find and destroy the virus, if he hasn't been already," he added quietly to Bob.  Turbo sighed and looked up.  "We're also going to talk with the command.com of this system and get things cleared up.  Hopefully, this system will someday return to normal," he said, sparing a glance at Enzo and Dot.  Bob looked over his shoulder at them.

            "Yeah," he said.

* * *

            Phong stared down at the system reports, but his eyes refused to read.  He had had enough bad news for one day.  He placed the reports down and closed out the vidwindow.  Half of the system had been demolished.  Now all that remain was a fraction of that city, which had gained the nick name 'Lost Angles'.

Three fifths of the sprite population and one third of the binome population had been nullified.  Worst of all, the reason for such destruction had been a stroke of 'bad luck'.  The guardians had held a meeting at the Principle Office and had informed him that they had come to the conclusion that Welman Matrix's experiment had accidentally stumbled across a loose virus in the Super Computer and had brought him here.  What had happened after that no one was sure, except that something went wrong that had lead to the explosion of the core and, consequently, the nullification of the rest of the city.

The guardians had scanned for any traces of Kilobyte's code, and any traces of his upgraded form's code.  No matches for Kilobyte or his upgraded form were detected.  They also left Phong with several up-to-date read-me files on viruses, other systems, gateways and portals, and some other information they thought would be useful to this system.  Phong was about to leave the room and possibly plan out what to do next, after a quiet moment of thinking, when a vidwindow popped up with a message.

Phong double clicked on it to open the file, and strained himself to read.  Welman!  A message from Welman.  What could it be?  Phong's eye's scanned the writing.

Phong,

Sorry you couldn't make it to the show.  Give the command.com my thanks for lending me the Twin City's principle office.  I really think this thing's going to be a bang, despite what others say, and I downloaded you a copy of the portal.  I hope everybody will be available to this technology someday.  Thanks, old friend.

Sincerely,

Welman

Phong looked at the date.  Just a microsecond before the accident took place, when Welman started his speech.  The old sprite pushed his glasses up his nose.  He owed it to Welman.  Clicking on a contact link, Phong saw one of the tech boys jump from a pile of papers, startled.

"Yessir?"

"I'm downloading you a copy of Welman's portal hardware.  I want you to rebuild it."  Phong asked.

The techie gagged, "You want us to make another one of those things?!  After the damage it caused?"

"Only the hardware.  And…the portal did not destroy the system.  Just its misfortune of connecting to the wrong place at the wrong time."

"B-but, we can't even begin to make that!  I feel it is wrong to build something of such destruction!  Is the command.com demanding this?" the binome asked.

Phong blinked.  "Oh…um, yes, my son.  However, the command.com askes that only that the hard drive be built.  You need not build the portal, if you fear that."

"No…it's just that, what if it falls into the wrong hands?  What if we build another portal?  It's only a copy!  Completely unstable.  Look what happened last time, the guardians—"

"I believe guardians stated it was a accident.  Are you willing to waste a man's life—a man's death—because of the accident?  To let everything be in vain?  I understand your wariness.  It is justifiable, my son.  But even though the Twin City's destruction resulted in the meeting of a violent being, a virus, we did find friends who are able to help.  Please, process a copy, and place it under high level security in the archives."  Phong stared back at the uncertain binome.  He seemed reluctant and not entirely convinced, but he nodded his head yes and closed out.

"I'm sorry Welman," Phong lamented, "That things did not turn out as you dreamed."  Phong clicked on Welman's message and placed it in the 'save' file.  He doubted he would open it again.

((Thus, the portal hardware stolen in 'When Games Collide'))