CHAPTER 8: New Arrival

Cleaver was staring at Tom and Vivian from across the conference table. If her expression was any indication, she was extremely annoyed.

"Let me get this straight. You received a message from Dr. Sawyer while he was digitized implicating Martin MacDonald in the first attack on the Pentagon mainframe?"

Tom nodded innocently. "Yes," he said.

"And Dr. Sawyer is using a, what did you call it?"

"A quantum singularity," said Vivian. "It's a wormhole that counteracts the time difference between —"

"I get it," said Cleaver, cutting Vivian off. "Look, I won't pretend to know the ins and outs of this operation, but this story you're feeding me sounds like a load of crap. I mean, I've heard better press statements issued from the White House."

"We're telling you what we've learned," said Tom. "Kevin's the smartest man alive, and he's found a real way of communicating while he's in there. This is what he told us."

"Alright," said Cleaver. "So why didn't Sawyer tell this alleged intelligence to me personally instead of passing it through to you two?"

"Because he's trying to do the job you sent him to do!" Vivian half screamed.

"Viv, calm down," said Keller.

The enraged physicist glanced at Tom, took a few deep breaths, and recomposed herself but continued to fix Cleaver with a contemptuous stare.

"Listen," started Cleaver, "I'm not the only one you have to convince here. Just who else do you think I can sell this story to without some hard evidence?"

"We can't give you evidence in the direct sense of the term," said Tom. "Kevin might as well as be on Mars right now. All we have to go on is the information he's sending us."

"A few days ago you said to me that communication between physical reality and virtual reality was impossible," said Cleaver. "Now you're saying Sawyer is talking to you through a wormhole, or whatever the hell it is. Excuse me if I seem a little hard-pressed to believe you."

"What reason would we have to lie?" asked Vivian. "All Kevin has done since you and the Council marched in here last week has been following your orders. He's risking his life for this project, and you're making us sit here and debate whether or not we're telling you the truth or some story! God, you've got a lot of nerve."

"Whether or not your story is accurate isn't the issue," Cleaver said. "Martin MacDonald is one of the most powerful men in the world. Accusing him of an act of terrorism would be like accusing the President of high treason. His company has political pull with almost every industrialized nation on the planet. We're talking about some major stuff hitting the proverbial fan."

"Kevin said he has evidence to suggest MacDonald has access to a human interface platform similar to ours," said Tom.

"Now that just seems unlikely," said Cleaver.

"Maybe," said Vivian, "but there's a way to find out."

"What do you suggest?" asked Cleaver.

Almost a half-hour later, Keller, Thompson, and Cleaver were in the project control room. Vivian was using the computer core to hack into the mainframe of the California Department of Power and Utilities. Punching up the power demands of the Los Angeles area, she located the records specifically for the OmniCron Building. On a separate screen she opened a window showing the power usage of Project Virtual Man. It came as a shock only to Cleaver when she saw that the power spikes in demand for OmniCron matched almost perfectly with the power spikes for Virtual Man whenever Sawyer was sent through the machine.

"According to California Power, OmniCron has been recorded as having spikes in power demand identical in duration and overall wattage as ours," said Vivian.

"How can that be?" asked Cleaver. "You told me MacDonald has a different kind of interface platform. Instead of his entire body being transported into cyberspace only his mind is sent inside."

"True, but he would still have to have a computer as powerful as ours in order for his platform to work, and that's why the spikes are similar," Vivian said. "In order for a mind-computer interface to be successful you would have to have a computer that could interpret the complex operations of the brain and simultaneously translate them into regular computer code."

"And only a quantum computer could do that?" Cleaver said.

"Or a bio-computer," Tom interjected.

"Bio-computer?" Cleaver asked.

"Only a few have ever been built," Tom explained. "They were first theorized in 1994 as an alternative to silicon-based supercomputers. A bio-computer works like a cell through using DNA to store information. In a cell, genetic information is chemically stored on DNA molecules. The same principles could be used to store information in binary code. Bio-computers could be more powerful than supercomputers in terms of storage and could be hundreds of times smaller. The only drawback is speed. A bio-computer would take much more time coding information on organic molecules than a typical computer would on a silicone chip. That's why up until now they've been overlooked in favor of quantum computers."

"Okay, I get the picture," said Cleaver. "This is one indication that you're right. Maybe MacDonald does have an interface platform, but OmniCron's electric bills are still circumstantial at best. We need to get some hard evidence before we go to the council."

"How are we supposed to do that?" asked Tom.

"Let me worry about that," said Cleaver. "I have a friend at the NSA that may be able to help, but we're on very thin ice. We need to keep this to ourselves at least until I've had a chance to talk with my contact." Cleaver turned and headed for the door. "Get back in touch with Sawyer," said Cleaver. "Tell him I'm working on it."

When the door closed, both Vivian and Tom looked at each other, bewildered.

"Ever get the feeling you're in way over your head?" asked Tom.

"Yeah," responded Vivian cynically. "Like today."

Dot wanted to scream out loud. This was so unfair. It was like life was conspiring against her. Her memories harkened her back to after the restart, when she and Bob first kissed on the steps of the Principal Office. That moment was like a razor cutting into her. She recalled feeling lighter than air, Bob's rough hands slowly sliding up her back to pull her closer to him. Up until then, she never recalled feeling happier. Then Daemon came into the picture and wrecked her happiness.

Dot sighed. She wasn't being fair. Daemon was simply a catalyst, not the true cause of the rift that formed between her and Bob. In reality she had only herself to blame, but now it seemed the same thing was happening again. Pythias, a supervirus almost every bit as dangerous as Daemon, probably more so, was loose. User, when was this ever going to end? Hadn't they been through enough already?

Stop mulling over things you can't change, she thought to herself. Things could be worse.

And in truth they could. They had a chance, a good chance, of stopping this creature with Bob leading the endeavor. Dot smiled. He had changed so much. Just when she thought he couldn't surprise her, that she knew him fully, he comes back an indomitable leader. The last few seconds had seen the installation of Bob's new containment system and the new weapons systems. Sawyer's help had been nothing less than substantial. His skills as both an engineer and a programmer cut the job down to seconds instead of cycles.

While Dot's suspicions about Kevin still loomed, he was slowly winning her over more and more. Ever since his first appearance he had been nothing but sincere and cooperative. He showed no signs of being hostile. In fact, he was just the opposite. Why then was it so hard for her to trust him? Perhaps she was simply paranoid; she needed something to be wrong. Bob trusted him, and Enzo had taken an exceptional liking to him as well. Dot took one last look at the vidwindow and closed it. She was hungry and decided to go to the diner. In the past she would have instead eaten in her office. The food synthesizer she had installed was capable of making any meal she wanted. What she really wanted was to spend some time with Bob. Using her terminal, she typed a brief text message and sent it to Glitch then she stepped out of her office and into the War Room.

Specky was already prepared with a progress report.

"Commander," said the Binome, "we've just got the latest report in from Dr. Sawyer and Mouse. They've finished the upgrades to the sensor net. We're about to begin scanning for Pythias now."

Dot thought a moment. She really needed to be here. But it was just the sensor net, not really that significant.

"Let me know how it goes," said Dot. "I'll be at the diner having dinner. Carry on, everyone."

After the door closed behind her, Specky turned to see his own moderately stunned expression being mimicked by everyone else in the room.

"What just happened?" asked a security Binome.

"I think she's going to eat dinner," said Specky.

"Now?"

"Well, it is just a sensor upgrade," replied the tech.

"And she ignored it," said another security Binome.

"She just seems so... calm."

"Maybe she should have nervous breakdowns more often," said another.

"Okay," said Kevin as he placed the motherboard back into its slot. "That should do it."

The sensor array control center was a rectangular room deep within the bowels of the Principal Office. It housed the main circuits for the system's primary sensor array. The walls were inlaid with slots six inches long, four inches high, and one inch wide, which served as the receptacles for the numerous motherboards, and in the center of the room was a table, about mid-torso high, that served as an interface terminal.

Both Sawyer and Mouse had been modifying the internal circuitry of the sensor net to make Bob's upgrades compatible with the system's hardware. For the last day and a half they had been removing the motherboards and installing new pico-processing chips that Welman designed before the Twin City accident, but he never had them built. The increased processing power of the chips would be necessary for the enhancements, which were light-years beyond what Mainframe had.

"I'm showing a two-hundred percent increase in sensor range," said Mouse, "and a one-hundred fifty percent increase in acuity."

"That's amazing," said Kevin. "Bob's been a busy boy."

"Apparently," replied the hacker. "I've never seen upgrades this sophisticated."

"At least we'll be able to find Pythias now," said Kevin. "I still can't believe Martin is behind all of this."

"From what you said this user certainly seems capable of releasing a supervirus."

"That's not what I mean. Sure, Martin was a jerk, but he wasn't evil. At least, he wasn't when I knew him. People just didn't get him."

"And they got you?"

"I may have been a wiz-kid, but that doesn't mean I was maladjusted. Martin didn't like people. He thought they were a waste of time because most were beneath him."

"Sounds like a real charmer," Mouse said.

"He was known for his god-complex during college," said Kevin. "I think that's one reason Jessica left him."

Mouse eyed Sawyer sternly. "Level with me, Doc. This MacDonald guy, is he really as smart as you make him out to be?"

Kevin gave her a reassuring grin. "Not to boast, but I was always the better man."

The hacker grinned back. "Ya know, Doc, you ain't so bad."

"Does that mean you trust me?" asked Kevin.

"I wouldn't say that just yet, but you're on my good side."

"I take it it's better to be on your good side than bad?" said Kevin.

Mouse gave him a sly glance, picking up on his sarcastic overtone. "Take it from me: once you're on my bad side, you stay there."

"Ouch. Remind me never to tick you off, then."

"Don't worry. I'll let'cha know," she replied with a grin.

"So what do you think about all this, Mouse?" Kevin asked. "Users and viruses popping up all over the place?"

"Doesn't really matter what I think," she said. "You're here, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but you don't seem as high strung as everyone else around here. Why is that?"

"I've been with these people for a long time. We've been through viruses, wars, games, invasions. Spam, we've been through just about everything life can throw at us, and we've survived it all. This is just another one of those days."

"You don't sound worried," said Kevin.

"Hm. I've just gotten good at dealin' with junk, is all," Mouse said.

"You still haven't answered my question, though," Kevin said.

She looked at him with intense concentration, then sighed. "I'm not one to judge anybody, not even users. Before I came to Mainframe I was a completely different sprite. I wouldn't have given two bits about who got infected and who ended up deleted. All that changed, though. They're my family now, and I care about them. But you, Doc... you don't have to be here. You don't know any of us. You can leave any time you want, but you choose to stay. That tells me a lot."

Kevin smiled genuinely. Mouse's words comforted him. He soon realized why Dot seemed so upset when she left. She was like a lifeline. Mouse seemed to help things make sense and anchored those around her.

"But I'd be lyin' if I said this MacDonald didn't make me nervous," Mouse said.

"Why's that?" asked Kevin.

"For the first time in my life I don't feel like things are in my control. The thing about believing in a higher power is that when you meet that power face to face you suddenly realize the world is smaller than you thought. It's like all ya'll is fightin' your own personal war, and we're just innocent bystanders."

"That's a pretty accurate view," Kevin said.

"And normally we don't know about it. We just go about our lives and don't think twice about users and what makes them tick. Personally, I hadn't thought much about the user until you showed up. Now it turns out there's more than one and you can both come and go as you please. That's not something that's easy to swallow, even for me."

Kevin had not given much thought about how his presence might affect the religious beliefs of Mainframe's people, but it seemed he had made a significant impact. Already, everyday beliefs about the creators of the Internet were being questioned by those he interacted with. Kevin considered himself a realist, and he never hypothesized outlandishly. In this case, though, he could not help but ponder over the significance of a belief system of an entire civilization being thrown into question by a single encounter. From what he already gathered, there was no one universal view about the user.

Some believed in one user that presided over all the known systems while others believed in multiple users. Some even had a comparatively theological view, that there was an evil user who was responsible for the game cubes, and a benevolent user who maintained the systems by sending upgrades. In short, people didn't really know what to think about the users. Sawyer couldn't go as far to say that everyone in the Net was agnostic since the evidence of the user's existence was incontrovertible, but since nobody really knew anything about the user they just didn't think about it. Those beliefs were obsolete in the wake of his arrival in Mainframe. Now Kevin knew what Moses must have felt like when he spoke to the burning bush.

"Mouse," said Kevin, "I know people are uncomfortable when I'm around. It's only natural, but don't pretend. If it helps, just think of me as a guy. Your normal, everyday guy, because that's just what I am."

The hacker nodded. "Okay," she said. "We're ready to boot up the control systems."

Sawyer typed a few commands into the terminal and activated the new updated software. "The new upgrades are working," said Sawyer. "I'd normally recommend running a series of tests, but I don't think we have the time. Go ahead and calibrate them to scan for Pythias."

"I'm already way ahead of you, Doc," Mouse said. "Commencing Net-wide sensor sweep now." On the terminal was a 2-D representation of the Net. A wave of gold across the surface of the image showed that the sensor sweep was in fact touching every system. "Looks like the new sensors are going to work after all," said the hacker.

"I just thought of something. Martin is too smart for this. He would have thought of every way to avoid being linked with Pythias's activities."

"So even if we do find him, we still won't know where he came from," Mouse said.

"Exactly. Martin would make absolutely sure there were no trails that could lead the government back to his company. We may be down here for a while."

An alert sounded from the terminal and a red dot appeared on the left-most side of the Net. Geographically, the region the blip occupied was the west coast of the United States.

"Maybe not," Mouse said.

"It's Pythias," said Sawyer. "I don't understand. That's California. OmniCron is based in Los Angeles."

"Maybe MacDonald isn't as smart as you remember him to be. I'll get the War Room."

As Mouse turned to open a vidwindow to upstairs, Kevin studied the map and felt his stomach sink when the dot began to move along the network of lines that represented cyberspace. "Mouse," said Kevin, "I think I know why the sensors picked him up. Pythias is on the move."

"Did you get that, Specky?" asked Mouse through the vidwindow.

"Yes, ma'am. We have the target up here, too. Sensors have definitely identified it as Pythias."

"We've got another problem. According to these readings he's on a direct course to Mainframe!"

Mouse's face contorted into a frown. "Order battle stations," she said. "Get Dot back here, pronto!"

"Okay, how about a class A-2?" asked Bob.

"Easy. Proxy server," said Enzo.

Bob smiled. "Impressive. So you really have been studying all this time."

"Pretty much. I can't even remember the last time I was in a game."

"Surely you are exaggerating," said Cecil. "Besides, all that studying has made you far less annoying."

Enzo frowned as the snobby waiter turned and returned to polishing glasses. Bob and Enzo were waiting for Dot in a booth at the diner. Bob had received a text message from her asking if he wanted to have dinner. He was with Allison Green in Hugh Branch's lab where a holding chamber was still being worked on. Enzo had been running errands for him, and Bob asked if he would like to join him and Dot for something to eat. The boy accepted immediately, and they left Green in charge.

Things were almost ready. The containment unit was nearly finished. The CPUs were outfitted with new weapons. All that was left was to get the sensors online. Mouse and Sawyer were working on that and promised to have them working within the second. In the meantime, however, Bob found himself loaded with personal questions.

"So Bob," asked Enzo, "you and Dot... are you...?"

"We're working things out," he said.

"Yeah, and?"

"And, that's it."

"Oh, come on," said the kid. "Dot's been in therapy for cycles, and I haven't seen her this calm since before the restart. And there's a supervirus somewhere out there right now. I mean, it's seriously freaky."

"Things are different now, Enzo. Dot and I just needed some time apart. Things will be better from now on, I promise."

This made the boy smile. When Dot finally arrived he was the first to wave her over.

"Hi, boys," said Dot as she took a seat in Bob's booth.

For a moment she wasn't sure what to do. She had never been good at showing affection. She recalled only a few time throughout her life when she had allowed herself to indulge. Now that Bob was back, she wasn't sure what to do. Not to mention the fact that her little brother was sitting directly across from them.

"So, have you already ordered?" she asked.

"We were waiting for you," said Bob. "I don't think we had any chance of getting waited on by Cecil unless you were here."

"You know, Bob, you might get better service from him if you actually pronounced him name right," Dot said.

Enzo snickered. "Hey, you know, I'm not that hungry. I think I'll go find Frisket. I'll see you later."

Enzo slid out of the booth, making his way toward the exit. When Dot saw the boy rising into the air on a zip-board she relaxed a little and turned to Bob. She leaned closer and captured his bottom lip in a tantalizingly slow kiss. The pithiness of their contact drove Bob half mad with passionate desire, but the wicked grin on Dot's face told him that was her intention.

"Hi," she said.

He smiled. "Hi, yourself." He turned and raised his hand. "Cecil, two energy shakes, please."

The waiter glanced in their direction and decided that since Mademoiselle was present he would have to forego his usual habit of ignoring the contemptuous Guardian and went to prepare their orders.

"I was kind of surprised," Bob said. "Usually I'm the one making the dates."

Dot grinned. "I've decided to be a little more outgoing," she said.

Bob cocked an eyebrow. "You were always outgoing."

"You know what I mean." Cecil brought them their energy shakes. "Thank you, Cecil."

"My pleasure, Mademoiselle," replied the waiter.

Dot took a sip of her drink. "So," she asked. "What were you two talking about?"

"I was just quizzing Enzo," Bob replied. He took a long sip of shake.

Dot eyed Bob curiously. "Quizzing?"

"Yeah. He wanted to show me how much he's learned since I've been gone."

"Enzo? Learning? You've lost me."

"Ever since Matrix took over as Guardian, Enzo hasn't been allowed to play games, so he's spent almost every second since I left in the Read-Only Room. Didn't you know?"

"No," said Dot, a bit shamefully. "Actually, I didn't."

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Bob, there's something I need to tell you." Dot sat her shake down. "After you left I... I had a total meltdown. I couldn't do anything. I was irritable all the time, I couldn't sleep or eat. Eventually it got so bad I had to give command of the system over to AndrAIa. I locked myself in my apartment, away from my work, my loved ones, everything. The only one I saw on a regular basis was Phong, and that was because we started having therapy sessions. Occasionally I saw Enzo and Dad, but we rarely ever spoke. I know this sounds awful, but in all that time I never knew what was going on with him." She sighed. "I think he blames me for you leaving Mainframe."

"We both agreed that we needed some time apart. Enzo knows that," Bob comforted. "And I'm back now. As soon as all this is over things will get back to being normal again, I promise."

"That's just the thing, Bob," Dot said. "Ever since Megabyte shot you into the Web, nothing's been the same. It's been one bad turn after another." She caught herself and shied away. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Bob said. "You need to say what you feel more often." He tightened his hold around her shoulders. "I know things have been tense these last couple of minutes. We just have to ride these things out." He found her hand and laced his fingers with hers. She squeezed it appreciatively. "We can't change what's happened. All we can do is accept it, and make it through tomorrow as best we can. And we'll do it together."

She turned and looked at him. "Since when did you become a sage?"

"It's hard not to have Phong rub off on you," he said.

She smiled, then leaned forward again and kissed him. "Thanks."

"Just one of the many services I provide," he said with a nonchalant grin.

Glitch beeped, indicating an incoming call. Bob rolled his eyes and opened the channel. Kevin appeared on the enlarged circular screen.

"Bob, we've got trouble," he said.

"What is it, Kevin?" asked Bob.

"Mouse and I got the sensors working. They picked up Pythias just a few nanoseconds ago. He's headed this way."

"What!" Bob exclaimed.

"He'll be in the system any microsecond. Is Dot with you?"

Dot moved into Glitch's camera range. "I'm here, Kevin."

"We need you back here ASAP. Mouse has already put the CPUs on standby and Matrix and Green are ready to move."

"We're on our way," said Dot. "What's Pythias's ETA?"

There was no need for Sawyer to reply. A sound of thunder echoed through the city, and high in the sky a flash of light burst in the containment field. A hole formed in the air, and a streak of light raced out of it, its trajectory aimed at Floating Point. The object impacted and the sound of a great explosion resounded across the system accompanied by a flash of light.

"Um... right now," Kevin said.

Kelly Cleaver opened her cell phone and dialed a number she knew from memory. Beckett was probably not in her office, but in the slim chance she was...

"This is the National Security Agency switchboard. How can I direct your call?" came a male voice.

"This is Kelly Cleaver. Delta clearance: 174823. I need Deputy Director Louise Beckett immediately."

She was put on hold. Cleaver had a little time to think. The walls of the office she had been assigned at the project were soundproof, and it had a special cell phone amplifier which doubled as a scrambler. Things were about to get real touchy, and she didn't want anyone to know what she was planning.

"This is Beckett," came the female voice from the NSA.

"Director Beckett, this is Kelly Cleaver, the President's aide."

There was a momentary pause on the other end. "This is unexpected, Miss Cleaver. What can I do for you?"

"We have a situation concerning the security breach of the Pentagon's computer system."

"I thought that was already taken care of," replied Beckett.

"It was. We've had another breach, this time we've managed to get a lead on who the culprit is. We're dealing with a case of domestic terrorism."

"Then why are you calling me? The FBI handles domestic cases. The NSA doesn't operate within the U.S."

Cleaver almost laughed. "Really, Louise, that's a joke coming from you."

"I can't help you, Kelly. I'm sorry. Things down here are pretty tight."

"I need Jake Foley," Cleaver said. "You owe me, Lou. I helped keep him from being dissected when Warner wanted to lock him away like a lab rat. Now we have a genuine problem, and he's the only one equipped to handle it."

There was a sigh from Beckett. Cleaver knew she was thinking. "What is it that you need Jake to do?"

"Deep cover. I need him to infiltrate OmniCron and gather information. We think Martin MacDonald is behind the security breach and Daemon."

"That's a pretty big accusation," said Beckett. "How good is your intel?"

"From where I'm sitting, it's pretty good. Look, this needs to be a strictly black-on-black operation. Only we can know about this until we get some solid evidence on OmniCron's involvement, and that's going to take Jake Foley."

Another pause, this one longer.

Finally, Beckett said, "How fast can you get here?"

Cleaver smiled. "I'll be there in an hour."