Chapter 2
Unintended Consequences

In the little town of Humboldt, South Dakota, beneath a weathered warehouse that served as a storage facility for used tractor parts, General Desmond Greenwaldt of the United States Army, currently assigned to the Cyberattack Response Group, was having a very bad day, indeed.

Everyone on his response team was telling him the same thing: A massive Intrusion Event was taking place. Computers world-wide were being accessed by an unknown attacker. Firewalls didn't seem to have any effect. Connections that were encrypted by the most sophisticated systems yet devised were being used as if they were common public lines.

"It's not possible, it's not possible," One of the junior members kept mumbling to himself.

To the technicians and specialists in the secure underground facility, this was the worst nightmare imaginable. The General didn't understand the technical details but he had a good grasp of the overall picture. Someone had the power to access and take over any computer that was connected to the Internet, no matter what security precautions were in place- and they were doing it on his watch. He had already sent the "Doomsday Signal", the shortwave radio encoded burst that told all critical government and military computers to physically isolate themselves. In most scenarios that the analysts had come up with, an attack such as current one was a prelude to a massive nuclear weapons launch, designed to cripple the United States' ability to track incoming missiles and respond to them. If the General had sent the signal in error, it would probably be the end of his career. If he was right- it might be the end of the world.

"Countermeasures?" he asked the Monitor Chief.

The Chief couldn't believe how calm the General sounded. He cleared his throat before speaking and tried to keep his voice from shaking. "Completely ineffective. The code they're using isn't like anything I've ever seen before."

"Tell me something good." Greenwaldt said through his teeth.

Surprisingly, the Chief could oblige. "Well- it looks like the code isn't actually damaging any systems. Normal traffic has been slowed down because of the volume but there are no crashes or outright hijackings that I can see- yet."

"Then what's the point of all this? What are they after?"

"There doesn't seem to be any pattern to the sites they're accessing." The Chief tapped his screen where a list of heavily hit systems were displayed. "Who'd want or need to break into YouTube or Amazon just to look at their data?"

The General was about to reply when a technician called out from a nearby terminal, "Chief! I think I've got a pattern!"

"Put it on the main display!"

"This is in reverse at five hundred times normal speed." The room went quiet as the time lapse graphic appeared on the monitor. It displayed the last few hours of suspect traffic that had built into the attack on a transparent globe of the Earth. The bright red lines withdrew from the web until only a single spot remained.

"An attack this sophisticated that didn't hide its source? I don't believe it," the Chief snorted.

But General Greenwaldt was already on the radio, giving the suspected location to a group of very unimaginative, very unsympathetic, and very heavily-armed men. "Yes, that's right Palo Alto, California- I even have an address for you."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was probably good that Greg didn't suspect the extent to which his little project had gotten out of hand. He was upset enough as it was.

"What's that?" he nearly shouted, pointing at a section of the Digital Dimension map. Renamon didn't reply. She couldn't tell where he was pointing and strongly suspected that the question wasn't directed at her, anyway.

The bit that had caught Greg's eye was a section floating above the main level and was half normal landscape and half gigantic gears and cogs. "That's from Season Three! Where Rika met Ryo. And that-" he zoomed in on a large grassy plain where a long shape was rushing along shining rails, "-that's a trailmon! I never programmed any of this!"

Greg scrolled the map at high speed and was relieved when he came to an edge. At least it had an edge. But that edge was growing outward. He brought up a visual window with a view of the edge. Terrain and plants were sprouting in a comfortingly familiar way. "Fractal generation," he mumbled to himself. Then he saw the first egg appear. It was bright blue with red zigzags across its surface.

It was just too much to take in. Greg felt himself calming down. He realized that things were completely beyond his control and, oddly enough, that was a comforting thought. If there was nothing he could do- he didn't have to do anything.

"Greg-san?" Renamon asked tentatively after several minutes of silence .

Greg took his eyes off the window where he had been watching a pod of gomamon playing in the surf. "Huh? What is it Renamon?"

"Are you angry with me?"

"What? No, of course not- I mean- you didn't make all this happen did you?

"No. I thought you had- until last night. But I did try to deceive you. And I sent the other digimon to hide from you after- after you-"

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that but-" a sudden thought struck him. "What do you think- I mean, what do you feel about all this?"

Renamon just looked at him for a moment, her big sapphire eyes slowly blinking once before she replied. "I'm excited by it. There is so much more of the world now. I can explore- see new things- meet strange digimon-"

"And kill them?" Greg quipped automatically.

Renamon blinked again, not understanding the joking reference. "Well, yes- if they are foolish enough to fight me."

Greg chuckled. "You know something, Rena? I'm excited, too! Figuring out what's happened here is probably going to be one of the best puzzles I've ever come across. If my set-up is capable of modeling all this," he waved his hand at the five monitors, meaning the now gigantic Digital Dimention, "I may have stumbled across a whole new paradigm for 3D simulation- not to mention AI." He leaned forward and tapped the screen right where it displayed Renamon's nose.

"I- I don't feel artificial." Renamon said quietly, her tail twitching nervously.

"You sure don't act like it, either." Greg admitted. "Ha! Maybe you can do all the research over there and I'll put your name as co-author on the papers I'm going to write. Under mine, of course!" Renamon didn't understand why Greg though that was funny but smiled anyway- happy that he was happy.

"Well- since I still don't have the slightest clue what's going on, I suppose some information-gathering is in order. Let's see how much influence I still have over the Digital World." He reached for the mouse and then stopped. "Renamon, is it alright if I try to make you digivolve?" Part of him was surprised that he was asking his own computer code permission to modify it- but he was already starting to think of Renamon as an autonomous entity.

"Yes, of course, Greg-san," Renamon replied.

"Um- just 'Greg' is fine- we're colleagues now, after all. And if there's anything you don't want to do- or want to do- please tell me. I won't be upset. In fact, I really want to know how you feel about anything that's going on."

"Renamon smiled. "Understood, Greg."

"Okay- here goes." Greg pulled a Blue Card icon from an inventory menu over to Renamon's image. Immediately, a digivolution vortex formed around her, and seconds later it faded away to reveal Kyuubimon, Renamon's champion form.

Kyuubimon leaped in tight circle and stretched herself. "I like this form! I feel powerful!"

"Try a special attack."

"What target?"

Greg thought about teleporting one of the distant digimon in to serve as a victim but they now seemed too much like real creatures to treat with such callous disregard. "Um- just aim for the communication globe."

Kyuubimon grinned ferociously and the blue ghost fire that tipped each of her nine tails flared brightly. "Fox Tail Inferno!" She shouted as she launched her attack.

The golden communication globe was the marker for Greg's presence in the Digital Dimension, so it looked to him as if the nine grinning fireballs were racing right at him. The effect was so realistic that he reflexively ducked as the attack hit.

He was lucky he did. A crackling burst of blue energy shot from the monitor and hit the processor rack behind him, spitting and hissing and throwing off a shower of sparks and the stink of ozone.

"Holy crap! Holy crap!" Greg shouted as he toppled over backwards.

"Greg?" came Kyuubimon's concerned voice from the monitor, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." Greg said as he rose to his feet, staring at the smoking metal shelf. "This is all impossible- but that- that was really impossible!"

"I- I didn't know! I'm so sorry Greg! I'm glad I didn't hit you!"

"Yeah, me too." He looked closer a the scorched rack. It was moving. Vibrating and twisting ever so slightly. "I really haven't the slightest clue about what's going on," he muttered to himself.

"We will find out together!" Kyuubimon said enrestly and Greg smiled at her understated confidence.

"Okay," he said, turning back to the monitors. The one from which the fireball had emerged seemed completely unaffected. "Let's see if I can change some of the terrain or at least guide its growth." He bent to pick up the overturned chair, and that's when the explosions began.

There was a heavy crash and a sharp bang from somewhere outside the room and a shout of fear from one of his roommates. A second later there was the sound of quick, heavy footfalls and something heavy being slammed against a wall. Another sharp bang, louder this time, and before Greg could react, the door to his computer room burst open. He caught a brief glimpse of a bulky, dark figure before there was an intense flash of light and a burst of sound that knocked him to the floor.

He was stunned- unable to think clearly but he could feel strong hands grabbing him and lifting him to his feet. A black bag was roughly pulled over his head and tightened around his neck. He began to struggle but he was still disoriented and weak and the hands holding him very, very strong. Something hard and cold pressed against his shoulder and stung him. What little consciousness he commanded began to fade.

The last thing he heard before he blacked out was Kyuubimon's enraged voice screaming, "Leave him alone! Leave him alone or I'll kill you!"