CHAPTER 2
During the excitement in the lab, Dr. Quest was going over some papers in his study when his cell phone rang.
As soon as he answered, Hadji shouted quickly, "Dr. Quest! Come to the lab right away! Jonny and Jessie are trapped in Questworld!"
"On my way." Dr. Quest responded.
As he walked quickly through the living room, Race observed something was amiss.
"What's wrong, Dr. Quest?"
"Trouble in Questworld." came the reply as the doctor continued out the door. Race, who had been watching the news, quickly got up and was soon following close behind.
The duo raced to the computer lab where Questworld had been set up, where Hadji filled them in.
"Jonny and Jessie were testing a game we just completed and, after making their way to a series of ruins, seem to have disappeared." he explained.
"Any idea what happened?" Race asked.
"Unfortunately not. However, Jessie seemed quite surprised at an apparent glitch that occurred shortly before I lost them. I did not see anything strange on the monitor screen before the disappearance, as much of our systems, short of those vital to Questworld's continued operation, had frozen."
Both men were puzzled at this. "I hesitate to say it was the work of a malicious hacker because of the complexity of this type of attack."
Hadji then remembered one more detail. "There is something else, Dr. Quest: I heard one of the AI creatures in the background. It sounded like he was speaking English."
With an inquisitive look, Dr. Quest responded, "What's so strange about that?"
"We programmed them for a random language of mostly gibberish generated by IRIS."
Dr. Quest brow wrinkled as he considered all the information his adopted son had provided. "Sounds like this was definitely no ordinary hacker. Is Questworld operational again?"
Hadji nodded. "As far as I can tell without logging on myself."
"Excellent. Race and I will be investigating those ruins. Perhaps we can find a clue to the disappearance."
Meanwhile, Race looked at Jessie and Jonny's bodies in the chairs, thinking of how much he would enjoy getting his hands on whoever stole their minds. "Ready when you are, Dr. Quest."
The men donned their earpieces and sat in the other two chairs as Hadji set everything up. "Questworld, log on. Subjects Benton Quest and Race Bannon. 3…2…1…going hot!"
The men were dropped into the same forest as Jonny and Jessie had been about 2 hours earlier. Immediately, they heard Hadji comment, "I disabled all AI enemies to make the investigation easier."
"Thanks, Hadji." Race told the young man.
After some walking, he and Dr. Quest arrived at the stone ruins and began scouring them for clues.
As the investigation was going on, Jonny and Jessie were imprisoned in the strange castle. "Any ideas, Jess?" Jonny asked hopefully.
Jessie shook her head. "Nothing. What about you?"
"Same here." Jonny answered, "Whoever put this together knew what they were doing. We're cut off from IRIS, can't log out of Questworld, and don't have anything we can use to get out of here."
"Ugh! I hate waiting around like this!" Jessie shouted in frustration.
"I know, Ace, but I think I've got an idea." Jonny smiled, "But first, we've got to meet the guy in charge so we can stop him from breaking into Questworld anymore. Then…"
The pair planned their strategy for an unknown amount of time as their fathers were searching for them.
On another network, Race had eventually worked his way to the area where Jessie had disappeared. After a few minutes, he found the same portion of the wall through which the "glitched" aliens walked.
Knowing this was probably related to the earlier incident, he shouted, "Dr. Quest! Over here!"
After his employer arrived at the location, Race said, "Doc, you might want to take a look at this."
Dr. Quest reached toward a section of the wall that rippled a little as his hand approached it and, after noting that he could pass through it, realized it was some kind of door. "Hadji, were there any hidden tunnels in this game?"
"No. We decided not to include any."
Dr. Quest nodded understandingly. "In that case, I believe we've found the source of the intrusion. Have IRIS check the security logs for any unusual connections."
"I started doing so immediately after I called you. The scan should be finished shortly."
In the castle, a guard tapped his weapon against the cell bars to wake up the two prisoners. Jonny and Jessie arose, shook off the remaining drowsiness, and walked toward the door.
"It is time for you to meet the master." the alien creature told them.
"At least now we can find out who's in charge." Jonny thought.
In Questworld, Race and Dr. Quest had finished examining the opening through which the aliens took Jonny and Jessie and were having Hadji scan it as IRIS finished checking the logs. Soon, the results of both operations were available.
As Hadji looked over the information, he said to himself, "This is not possible. I must tell Race and Dr. Quest."
"What do you say, Dr. Quest: should we just go on in?" Race asked impatiently.
Before Dr. Quest could respond, Hadji's voice came through loud and clear. "Dr. Quest, Race! I know who is responsible for Jonny and Jessie's disappearance!"
"Who is it?!" Dr. Quest asked quickly.
"You are not going to believe this…" Hadji began.
While this was happening, Jonny and Jessie were being escorted into what appeared to be a large throne room. Greeting them was a familiar, sinister voice.
"Jonny Quest and Jessie Bannon. What a pleasure it is to see you again."
"It can't be!" Jessie exclaimed.
A/N: Sorry to end this on a cliffhanger, but don't worry. The story will probably be wrapped up in the next chapter or 2.
