CHAPTER 9: Casualty

The loading bay was flooded with the light of day as the launch doors opened. Allison Green slapped a fresh energy pack into the grip of her disruptor. The lab technicians just finished their work on the containment unit. It wouldn't be easy getting Pythias inside, so they would have to render him unconscious first. Hopefully Matrix would take care of that. The attack units were manned and ready to deploy at Dot's command.

"Nervous, Green?" came Matrix's voice. The maverick Guardian approached her from the side.

"Not nervous," she said. "I'm just anxious to even the score, that's all. But if Bob's idea doesn't work, I'll be nervous then."

Matrix regarded Green for a moment, then attempted to reassure her. "Don't worry. I'll soften him up for you."

"Please," Green said. "What kind of girl do you think I am?" She holstered her weapon then decompressed her zip-board and hopped on. "Before this second's over, I'm getting my hands dirty." With a self-confident smirk she added, "I'll try not to make you look bad."

Wow. I've been told, he thought to himself. An alarm sounded and everyone started their vehicles.

Phong's voice came over the intercom. "All security personnel: Deploy to Floating Point. I repeat, all units: Deploy to Floating Point."

"That's our cue," Matrix said to Green. "Let's do it."

Curiosity fragged the null, Enzo reminded himself. Ah, who cares? he countered. I'm smarter than a null anyway.

After seeing the meteorite-like phenomenon, Enzo immediately decided to investigate, knowing full well his sister and older brother would both forbid it. Well, what was a bored, adventure-hungry sprite of 1.0 supposed to do? As he approached the area, he made a few observational orbits around the impact sight. There was a crater in one of the islands three yards in diameter. There was definitely something moving down there as well.

Fueled by his curiosity, and with an obvious lack of caution, Enzo glided his zip-board down to the island.

The virus looked around and took stock of his surroundings. He was obviously in the system of Mainframe. He had been downloaded with a map of the city before leaving his haven. This was called Floating Point Park. Ahead of him, in the distance, was the dome-shaped building of the Principal Office. He must reach the system core in order to completely infect Mainframe, as his father instructed. The concept of infection bothered Pythias. If he infected the system then all its inhabitants would become part of his own consciousness. He recalled how Martin explained it.

"You will be able to access their thoughts and experiences simultaneously," he said. "You will be part of a collective instinct."

"I will have more than my own thoughts in my mind?" asked Pythias.

"You don't need to worry," his father said. "We designed you to process great amounts of data. This way you can gain experience and knowledge almost instantly."

Pythias did not know why, but the very thought of having other people's minds connected with his own through a data link was very disturbing. It made him nervous, but he had a mission to complete. As soon as he infected the system, he would be able to access the inhabitants' thoughts and locate Guardian 452.

Unexpectedly, he heard a voice from behind.

Clearing his throat, Enzo said, "State your name and function." He surprised himself with the authority he exhibited in his voice.

Pythias turned and Enzo's heart dropped several inches in his chest when he saw the virus in person for the first time.

Okay, so maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

As the virus approached him, Enzo was reminded of Daemon and of how the merciless virus had infected his home. Quickly, his fear was replaced by anger. He would be nullified before he just turned and ran with his tail tucked between his legs when this guy came in like he already owned the place.

I can already hear Dot preaching at me, but stalling him may mean the difference between being infected and stopping this creep before this whole thing becomes Daemon all over again.

"Identify yourself," Pythias said.

The boy swallowed hard, but answered as steadily as possible. "I am Enzo Matrix."

Too bad I don't still have that Guardian uniform format in my icon. I might have been able to pass as a threat.

"Take me to your Principal Office," demanded the supervirus.

"Why. So you can infect the core?"

"It is my intention to infect this system. You will assist me in completing my mission."

Keep him talking. Give Bob and Dot time to get here. "I won't help you! You can't infect my home."

Pythias cocked an eyebrow. This child was interesting. He was clearly afraid of him. His pulse and respiration indicated extreme anxiety, but the way he spoke, firmly and unwaveringly, with anger even, seemed to contradict his scans.

"You are only a boy," Pythias said. "You fear me, and yet you speak without fear."

"You don't scare me," Enzo lied. "I've dealt with your kind before." Where are Bob and Matrix? Enzo thought.

Here he was talking like a Guardian when this guy could infect him at a moment's notice. Surely they saw the virus enter the system. Where were they? He was not sure how much longer he could stall him. Pythias came closer. Enzo stayed still, his heart thundering in his chest.

"Your heart rate has increased with my proximity. Why do you fear me?"

Enzo blinked. "Whadda ya mean? You invade my home and want to infect the Principal Office. You want to delete us."

"I wish no harm on this place. I only wish to fulfill my creator's wishes."

"Well, if you don't want to delete us, what are you here to do?"

"I am to infect this system and assimilate all its knowledge, then seek out Guardian 452."

"Bob?"

Pythias asked, "You know him?"

"Yeah, I do. And as soon as he and my big brother get here, they're gonna kick the ad hoc outta you." Enzo felt a small part of him swell with pride at talking big to a hulking, intimidating supervirus. Dot would have screamed her head off at him for using such foul language.

"I seriously doubt that," said Pythias. "Since you obviously have superior knowledge about this system and its inhabitants, you will serve as my first test subject."

"Say what?" Enzo felt a cold sensation run down his spine and into his legs, which began to quiver.

"We will become telepathically linked after infection takes place. We will become one mind, and I will use your knowledge to complete my mission. You will not be harmed."

Enzo's eyes widened. "I don't think so."

Finally, he maneuvered his zip-board in an attempt to get away from Pythias. He didn't get far. He managed to get ten yards before an invisible force grabbed him and pulled him back to Pythias. It was like being in the grasp of a giant fist, although there were no apparent forces at work around him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" said the boy as he struggled against his telekinetic restraints.

"I do not know how I will be affected by infection. I need to know what will happen when I am joined with another." Pythias placed hands on Enzo's head. "You will not be harmed."

"No!" Enzo yelled. "Stop!"

Enzo felt warmth pass through him. Then a steel vice clamped around is lungs. He could not breathe, and his heart felt icy. He felt a cold sweat break out over his body.

"Stop! You're hurting me," cried Enzo.

Pythias stopped his infection and Enzo tipped off his zip-board. Pythias crouched over the boy. His body was beginning to fade in and out. Something was terribly wrong. He scanned him and found that his body was rejecting the code. It was killing him. All of his vital body functions were failing for some reason. If something was not done soon he would fragment and die.

A new emotion consumed Pythias now. The realization that the boy might die because of him filled him with terror. Pythias now knew guilt.

This wasn't supposed to happen, he thought. What is happening? What did I do wrong?

Using his telepathy, Pythias tried to stop the spread of viral code, but that didn't stop it. The code continued wreaking its unintended havoc upon the boy's body. Picking Enzo up and cradling him in his strong arms, Pythias used his telekinetic powers to lift them into the air and set off in the direction of the Principal Office.

He didn't get far. A squad of security vehicles intercepted him in midair. Leading them was a Guardian hovering on a zip-board with his Keytool aimed directly at him. Pythias instantly recognized him as the same sprite he encountered before in the Supercomputer. At that time he had identified himself as Guardian 452, the same Guardian Martin wanted him to find here in Mainframe.

"End of the line, pal," Bob said. Then he noticed Enzo, and his face contorted.

"What did you do to him?" he asked furiously.

"I needed to see what would happen," said Pythias. "I did not intend for him to suffer."

"Whatever you're doing, stop it!"

"I've tried. I cannot." Pythias was becoming alarmed. There was something strange happening. A telepathic link was forming between him and the boy. "Bob, you have to help him. He's dying!"

The Guardian was divided. He had to help Enzo even if it might be a trap. He glided over to the virus. "Give him to me."

Pythias handed Enzo over to Bob. Bob, in turn, placed him in one of the CPU patrol cars and told the pilots to take him to the Principal Office. The vehicle departed from the squad and raced at maximum speed to the P.O.

Pythias watched as they slowly shrank away into the distance.

"Now, Pythias," Bob said, "you're under arrest."

Pythias returned his attention to the enraged Guardian. "Bob, I... I didn't mean to."

The virus felt horrible inside. His emotions were in turmoil. The contemptuous look on Bob's face made the virus feel like the sole of a dirty boot. He did not know why he felt this way or where the simile came from but knew it to be accurate.

Bob began to approach the virus again. "Why have you come here?"

"I was told to infect this system and absorb its inhabitants' knowledge. Your knowledge is specifically important to my father."

"Why?" Bob asked.

"You have a way to reprogram viruses. That knowledge threatens my father's plans. I must have it."

"Then you know you don't have to do this," Bob said. "We can reprogram you, make you better."

"You speak of me like I were a disease," Pythias said.

For a nano, Bob didn't know what to say. "Let me put it to you this way," Bob said. "Either you come with us willingly, or we'll make you."

Pythias narrowed his eyes at the Guardian. "I don't want to fight you, Bob, but I will if I have to. I don't wish to harm anyone else. Let me leave."

"I can't do that," said Bob.

Part of him wanted to blast his way through the squad and flee Mainframe. Yet another part of him wanted to stay. Something made him want to trust Bob. A part of him knew he could be trusted, that he was an honorable man and only wished to do the right thing.

The boy's thought patterns are interfacing with my own. My judgment is being influenced by his memories. I have to get out of here!

Pythias was beginning to panic. "I have to leave, now!" He began to rise into the air, but simultaneous blasts from CPU units caused him to plummet to the ground. He hit the pavement with a mighty thud.

"Matrix," Bob said into Glitch, "Pythias is down. You and Green make sure he stays there."

Enzo was brought into the infirmary by a Binome med team. Dot was right beside him holding his hand, hot tears running down her face. The instant she heard the news, she left AndrAIa in command and rushed to the docking bay to meet him. Phong and Welman were already there, prepped and ready to receive the young sprite. Thoughts of terror and remorse and fear ran through their minds as Enzo's body was transferred from the anti-grav gurney to the operating table. The sensors in the bed relayed their information to the overhead indicator screen. The gages showed his energy signs were slowly dropping.

"His internal temperature is thirty-two degrees Celsius and rising," said Phong. "If we do not stop the virus code, he will fragment."

Oh, Enzo, thought Welman. If he had a normal face, there would be tears falling from the eyes. "We have to lower his temperature. Get me an IV of heuristic antiviral agent, now!"

One of the Binomes responded to the professor's order and started setting up the apparatus. Phong opened the boy's eyelids and shined a light into each. Instead of contracting irises, there were no pupils for the light to dilate; Enzo's irises had become a glassy white with no black of pupil anywhere. An alarm from the bed's sensors indicated that his code degradation was critical.

"What's happening?" Dot almost screamed.

"The virus code is killing him," said Welman with a quivering voice. "Phong, my son is dying. I... I don't know what to do."

"A transfusion from a compatible donor might buy us some time," said Phong.

"I'll do it," Dot said. "Get a transfusion unit over here on the double!"

Suddenly, the steady sound of a flat-line rang through their ears.

"DAD!" screamed Dot.

"His neural functions have terminated!" exclaimed the professor. "I need a synaptic stimulator before he —"

Welman didn't finish his sentence. Before he could help his son, Enzo's body became suffused with orange light.

Pythias felt the pain in his body ebb away with the command of his will. He tried to get back to his feet, but another particle beam hit him. This one came from yet another Guardian, a female. He also encountered her in the Supercomputer. She was leading another attack squad of CPU troops. There were two Binomes to a zip-board, and they were all armed with solid-state laser weapons. This was going to be difficult.

A shudder ran through the ground, the sound of clanging metal echoed off the buildings. Pythias turned and a metal fist slammed into his body. Air was forced from his lungs as he slammed into the ground twice, repeatedly rolling until he came to a stop. When he looked, Pythias saw Enzo's older brother in an exoskeleton suit marching towards him. It was becoming clearer, the link between him and the young child. He could discern the faces of people previously unfamiliar to him. This made what he did to Matrix feel all the more sweet.

Pythias projected a particle beam at Matrix. The clumsy exo-suit tipped over backwards and struck the pavement with a loud clash.

"How do you like that, you big jerk!" shouted Pythias.

A volley of laser fire reigned down upon Pythias. He erected a personal force field around his body. The lasers no longer harmed him. He began firing green blasts of psionicly controlled energy at the attacking forces. He hit a few CPU patrol cars, sending them spiraling out of control.

However, that wasn't the end of his strife. Another force field, projected from the far left, surrounded him. At first, he thought he could adapt his shield and walk through, but for some reason he remained trapped in his prison. He beat against the walls of the spherical bubble that confined him, and he tried blasting it with psionic energy blasts. Nothing worked. He was trapped.

Matrix disconnected from his exo-suit and Green landed near the imprisoned virus. Bob gently landed as well and helped Matrix out of the exo-skeleton. Soon, Ray and Kevin arrived as well.

"Is he contained?" asked Sawyer.

Bob smirked. "Oh, he's not getting out of that."

"What exactly is holding him in there?" asked Green. "He can walk right through shield grids."

"Not this one," said Bob. "Dot had me upgrade Glitch's containment field projectors with a quantum encryption algorithm."

"Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood quantum physicist, I assume?" asked Kevin.

"I adapted it from your shield modification from the last time you were here," said Bob. "Came in handy."

"Okay... so in short, he's not getting out," Matrix said.

"Unless he can alter the laws of physics," Kevin said, "he's not going anywhere."

"Get a hover-carrier over here and put him in a tractor beam. We'll take him to the containment unit and hold him there."

"What about the kid? Enzo?" asked Green. "I heard over the radio that he was infected."

For a moment, Matrix's face became angry, and Kevin recognized the man he met when he arrived in Mainframe for the first time. Bob also looked grim, but he turned back to Allison with a hopeful expression in his eyes.

"He's in the infirmary. Pythias infected him." He sighed. "You and Dr. Sawyer stay with Pythias and make sure he's secure in the containment chamber. Matrix and I are going to check on Enzo."

As Bob turned, Kevin reached out and grabbed the Guardian's arm. "Bob," he said. "If there's anything I can do, let me know."

Bob nodded, then he and Matrix decompressed their zip-boards and soared away to the Principal Office.

Everyone stood back as they witnessed the transformation. Dot continued to hold her brother's hand as she watched what was happening to him. When it was over, and the light from his body dissipated, everyone stared in awe at what took place.

"Dad," Dot began. "Is he..."

Professor Matrix scanned him. He was no longer fading in and out of existence. His color had returned to normal. "The scans say he's fine. All his functions are stable!"

"How is this possible?" asked Phong.

Enzo's eyes began to flutter. Slowly, he opened them and looked around at the people hovering over him.

He looked and smiled at his sister. "Hi, sis." At first he wasn't sure what was wrong. Everyone was staring at him. "What's the matter?"

"Enzo..." Dot began but she never finished. He noticed she had been crying.

"Have you been crying?" he asked. When he sat up, he noticed that, strangely, he was half a head higher than her. He also noticed something was wrong with his voice. "Whoa. What's up with this?"

"Son," Welman said. "How do you feel?"

"I feel fine," Enzo replied. "Other than this weird thing with my voice."

Dot looked to Phong. Phong looked to Welman. Welman looked back and forth from Enzo to Phong. Strangely, everyone was avoiding looking at him for some reason.

"What's going on? What happened?" Enzo asked.

"Perhaps you should see for yourself," Phong suggested.

The elderly sprite reached for a mirror on a nearby instrument table. He grabbed it and held it in front of Enzo's face. For a nano Enzo didn't know what he was seeing. Then his jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

The reflection staring back at him was not the face of a ten-hour-old boy. It was the face of a young man.