BYTE SEVEN: DATA MART
Bob and Dot had finally managed to get to sleep. And they'd had… interesting dreams.
Unfortunately, a few hours later it was time to get up. Bob had clambered out of the sleeping bag, yawned, removed his pyjamas clothing skin and prepared to head for the shower. Too late, he remembered his naked self was in Dot's room and she'd have woken up too.
"Ulp."
"I'm not looking," said Dot, her voice muffled from being under the covers. "Not looking, not looking-"
Bob made a run for the bathroom, passing the recently awakened Matrix on the way.
"…there was something I could have lived without seeing."
-
The family Matrix and Bob managed to make it through breakfast without any further incident, barring Friskett's many growls directed at Bob. Welman had to excuse himself early, as he was needed in the lab over the weekend. Again.
"So, what're you guys doing today?" asked Enzo.
"I need to go down the Data Mart," said Dot. "I'm running low on purple hair-dye and blank spreadsheets."
"Andi and I were
planning to go there too," said Matrix. "Hold off for half a millisecond and we
can join you."
Bob shrugged. "Eh, I don't have
anything else to do today. Suppose I could tag along, buy a wardrobe upgrade.
Tell the truth, the Data Mart's never really been my kind of scene."
"Ah, it's easy to pick up. Just mooch
around looking at stuff. It's more about the window shopping than the actual…
well, shopping."
"You're the type of shopper that glitches
up all my hypothetical cash inflow forecasts."
"Sorry sis." Pause. "Wait, how often
do you have to do that in class?"
"I do it for fun," she said. Then, as
she noticed the stares she was getting, she said "What?! Some of us like our
subjects!"
"You scare me."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Mainframe
Data Mart was a large and gaudy building that spanned through Levels 1-3 of
Baudway. It was a focal point by most of the younger Sprites in Mainframe, more
for social aspects than actual commerce. As the Matrixes, AndrAIa and Bob
landed, they could see a group of Binomes in hoodies leaving. They were talking
gangsta and trying to look threatening, an attempt ruined when Enzo hailed one
of them with "Hey, Toque! You get those action figures you were after then?"
"Uh… yeah. The Auto-ReBoot version of
the Grasshopper Entomologizer."
"Oh cool! That's the whole set you've
got know isn't it?"
"Yeah," said Toque, realising his street cred was plummeting here.
"Alphanumeric! C'ya at school!"
The group continued on into the Mart. AndrAIa quickly pulled Matrix off with her towards the Ani SUMMERS clothing store. A brief look at the sort of clothing skins available there caused both Bob and Dot to descend into coughing fits as they attempted to divert their minds from a scary visual place.
"So- off to Excel for spreadsheets!" cried Dot.
"Eh, I'll catch up later," said Bob. "I'm
not really into business stuff."
"Wanna join
me in browsing the toy store?" asked Enzo.
"Mmmmmmmm… yes. Yes I do."
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
This was not how he'd wanted to spend his weekend. He'd intended to go to the Data Mart to get away from his family. But he'd been made to take Hexadecimal with him, his father's snarl of "act like you're fragging family!" being the only reason given. Megabyte just figured that he wanted them out of the house so he could have Melissa come round.
Hexadecimal just walked along behind him, humming tunelessly and looking bored.
"Dear sister, how about we split up from
here? I have things of my own to do and you… I don't know, you can look at the
Paint store."
Hexadecimal's mask briefly turned
sad. "Oh, dear brother, are you trying to get away from me?" Smirk. "That's not
very brotherly of you, is it?"
"Perish the thought!" I wish you were dead.
Happy mask. "Tata!" And off she flew.
The virus shook his head and headed off to WMV. There were some Wagner CDs he wished to purchase.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Check it out! The new Scarab Entomologizer!"
Bob pulled a face. "I never can get into the
new guys. Show worked better when it was just the original five and the old mecha."
"You gotta
move with the times, Bob."
"Like hell I do." Bob suddenly caught sight
of Sally from the pirate's gang and called over at her. "Hey Sally- Radical ReBooting Entomologizers, better
with the original team or with the new ones?"
Sally gave the matter a bit of
thought and then said "The new crew, says I. That scurvy lot in the originals
were too perfect-"
"But that was the point! They were
archetypal characters!"
"Mayhap, matey,
but the new ones are more interesting. That Scarab one has a storyline that
really keelhauls ye with its drama!"
Bob sighed. "Philistines. I'm surrounded by philistines."
"I generally weigh anchor in front of Pantsu Heavy X, so's I do."
"Eh. Can't beat the classics is all I'll
say."
"I'll disagree with you on that,"
broke in Enzo. "In fact…"
So on, so on.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Success?" asked AndrAIa.
"They had a two-for-one offer on spreadsheets." Dot's grin was terrible to see. "Can't pass up a bargain like that!"
"Oh, I know! I managed to buy-" She paused
as she saw Dot blushing already. "Uh, how about I don't talk about what I
bought?"
"Thank you."
"So, er…
where'd you get those glasses from? All that shiny stuff on it mustn't have
come cheap."
"Actually, I sprinkled that on
myself. It works well to be economical. See these ripped tights? Self done.
It's much cheaper than downloading pre-ripped ones. And money saved on clothes
is money I can invest!"
"And money I'll spend on action figures!" said Bob, walking up with Enzo and waving bags of stuff.
"I thought you were after wardrobe
upgrades?"
"Ah. Well." Bob shifted
uncomfortably. "They had an original Waspinator toy in stock. I can't pass up
Waspinator."
"You and your toys. Anyway, who wants
lunch? Giga-Bite's?"
"That place freaks me out," said
Matrix. "Their mascot… a huge, hulking engine of destruction with massive
claws, and he's got a red nose and clown outfit on."
"It was set up when Viral Integration
began. Viruses wanted to prove they weren't threatening."
"I'd be less threatened if he wasn't
dressed in a clown outfit. It's like he's hiding something. Makes me go for my
gun."
"You don't have a gun," said Enzo.
"Yet."
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
After the lunch, they ran into Daemon and Phong. Or to put it more accurately, Daemon and Phong came at them with a rapidfire blaze of theology.
"There must be a higher purpose laid into the Programming behind the Net, something that Spritekind can decode and understand if they try! Why else would we have been made with such questing minds?"
"No, that implies inevitability and fatalism! That there is only one outcome! But clearly our choices do matter. No, we have been put on the Net to create a higher purpose, to expand our formats!"
"That is almost hubris-"
"Why? We are allowed to upgrade ourselves beyond how we were created, clearly the User wants us to do this…"
Bob raised his hand. "My head hurts."
"Oh, it's quite simple really," said Daemon.
"It is?"
"Feh. The User
exists and he's remote," said Dot dismissively. "Why bother trying to figure
him out?"
"I dunno. I
always thought it would be cool to try and contact
the User, see if he really does live outside the Net and what it's like…"
Daemon and Phong looked at each other.
"Hubris."
"That is correct."
"So," said AndrAIa,
"do we have a plan on what we're all going to do now at the Mart, or do we just
wander about aimlessly talking about random stuff?"
"Aimless and random works for me!"
said Bob.
And lo, there was much aimlessness and randomness.
Most of it was unremarkable- just a few friends, hanging out together and walking around, occasionally browsing shops but not really buying anything else. Normal stuff.
Until they found Hexadecimal.
-
She'd had a fine time on her own, browsing through all the art stuff, until she started to feel closed in. There were too many people around. Everywhere she looked, too many people. Too. Many.
So she froze. Panicked. Scared. Unsure of what to do. Gnawing feelings of helplessness and fear.
She had come very close to blasting people.
Instead, she crumpled up and curled in on herself in a fetal position. She was scared and surrounded and she kept wanting to lash out and there was no one she knew around.
"Hex?"
Bob. Good Bob, kind Bob, sexy Bob, god Bob.
"Are you alright?" Pause. "Are you hurt?" His voice was getting more urgent.
Bob could help. He could save her. He was shiny and armour encased. He helped. Yes.
"I want to go home," she muttered, her voice leaden.
Brief talking. Then good Bob, lovely Bob helped pick her up.
Someone else was with him. A threat?! Who?! Should she attack or-
Ah. Daemon. She remembered her. Came round her house with pamphlets. Had a yellow aura around her. Safe. Yes.
Hexadecimal relaxed, and her mask became one of blank neutrality.
-
Bob looked over at everyone and shrugged apologetically.
"I'll be back, I just need to take her home. You don't need to help, Daemon."
"Do not worry."
The two of them set off out of the Data Mart, him on Zip-Board and her on her own power, with Hexadecimal carried between them. Dot watched them and found she was tense.
"You OK sis?" asked Matrix.
"I'm fine. Really."
"You don't trust Hex."
She sighed. "No. But I can't tell Bob that. You know he's protective of her for some reason."
And
I know that's part of what I find attractive about him- his compassion, his
empathy, his willingness to stick up for others. But she scares me. I don't
think he's safe around her. Or anyone is. And it's not because she's a virus
because I know Daemon and Megabyte are no threat but… there's something about
Hex. Bob needs to be careful.
And I can't, won't, tell him this. Even if he feels the same way around
her, I can't see him ever stop being protective. It's just who he is.
Spam it, spam it, spam it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
And while all this happens, where was Mouse? Where was the bright, flirty, vivacious Sprite who would normally be out and about with her friends and Hacker mates?
At home. Passed out. GIGO infecting her Code. Heading towards deletion.
She was not the only Sprite suffering. Megabyte has other customers, other victims, and he's got his tracks well covered.
Things were getting worse in Mainframe High. This had escaped the attention of most people there, but things were getting tense. Something had to give.
And very soon, something would.
-
