Chapter II
*****
Now you can see
Spring become autumn,
leaves become gold
falling from view.
Ever and always.
Always and ever.
No-one can promise a dream come true,
Time gave both darkness and dreams to you.
Once You Had Gold - Enya
*****
Morgan arose with first light. Time to get working.
"Conversion: Gargoyle.
Command: Invisibility."
Morgan winced at the pain that came with her commands. They always had hurt, but now she was used to the pain. She almost relished it.
Taking a flying leap, she soared up into the sky.
Now, where to?
Gliding silently toward Buadway, Morgan spotted a busy diner. Dot's Diner. Ah! Perhaps I can obtain some information here. Looks like a busy place.
She landed lightly on the roof of Dot's diner, careful not to make a sound, as not to alert the binomes and sprites gathered inside. It seemed to be an immensely popular place.
She spoke softly. "Command Pending: Transparency; Radius: 3 feet." Morgan tapped a point on the roof. A hole appeared, visible only to her.
Pulling a stethoscope out of storage, Morgan put it on and begin to listen in on the various conversations, looking for one in particular...
*****
"Moooom!," Kyle whined. "Can't I go into a game with Dad? Pleeaase?" Kyle was a child of about 6 hours. His skin was a greenish-blue, his eyes violet, and hair a green so dark it was almost black. He had just recently to begin to develop unique abilities inherited from his father.
"Kyle!" Dot frowned down at her son. "You're just too young and inexperienced. You're just not ready yet." She looked expectantly to her husband.
Kyle gazed at his father pleadingly.
"Uhhhhh... Welll..." Bob looked across the booth to his son, then to the woman sitting beside him. Dot cleared her throat.
"Kyle, she's right. You need to go through more training programs before you can enter a real game."
Standing up, the young sprite glared icily at his parents before stomping out of the diner, followed by his dog, Disk. "Kyle Sinclair!," Dot called after him, standing up. "You get back here right now!" She was ignored, of course, as the sprite zipped away, his faithful dog at his heels.
Dot sat down and sighed, resting her head in her hand. "He's so... so..."
"Hard-headed?," Bob put in.
"Yeah," Dot agreed. "It must come from your side the family," the Guardian quipped.
Dot playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Maybe he got it from you!"
Bob took her chin in his hand and kissed Dot softly. "Maybe it's for the better."
Dot kissed him back. "I just hope he doesn't run off and try to get into a game, User protect him."
"I'm sure he'll be all right." Bob slipped a warm, comforting arm around Dot's waist.. "Look, I'll go and talk to him, okay?"
"Thanks, Bob," Dot said as he got up from the table. He bent down and kissed her again.
"See you later."
"Bye." Dot held on onto Bob's hand for a moment longer. Then he was gone.
*****
Cursors! This is going to be harder than I thought.
Morgan didn't particularly like hurting, emotionally or physically, others than her intended target. Lately, she had been feeling more sympathetic for her victims and their family and friends. It affected her even more so because she didn't even know who her family was.
She had been adopted into the Guild of Assassins at an early age, but had no recollection of the first several hours of her life. Morgan had never probed her superiors in the matter. What would be the use of knowing? Her parents were long deleted; that's all she knew and cared to know. At least she thought so.
She terminated her transparency command and put away the stethoscope, then followed Bob as he zipped away, looking for Kyle.
*****
"It's not fair!"
Kyle kicked at a crumpled take-out carton as he moped around Old Man Pearson's dump. Disk whined, and the boy absently patted the red and yellow dog on his head as the two of them walked. "Everybody gets go into games. Dad, Uncle Matrix, Enzo... why can't I?!"
"Because we don't want you getting hurt."
The young sprite and his dog turned around as Bob hopped off his zipboard.
"Go away! I don't want to talk to you! Or Mom!" Kyle turned to stomp off again, but Bob's hand on his shoulder stopped Enzo. He turned around to face his father a second time.
"Dad, it's just not fair! I want to play the games. I could help you... I bet I'd be pretty good. Look at what I can do so far!" Eager to impress his father, Kyle began to form a small ball of energy between his hands. "Kyle!" His concentration broken, the energy dissipated. "You know you're not supposed to practice that just to show off," Bob chided his son. Kyle glare at the ground as they walked along.
"You may think you're ready," Bob told his son as they began walking back out of the dump. "But like Dot said, you're just not ready yet."
"Matrix wasn't ready!"
"Kyle, you *know* he had to take up that responsibility. He had no choice since there was no guardian. And look what happened."
"So, you're saying the same thing will happen to me? That I'll lose a game, just like him!? That I'm a screw-up?!"
Bob stopped in mid-stride and looked down at the figure sulking along beside him. "No! That's no what I meant! Maybe if En- Matrix had had enough experience, he might have been able to win the game. We don't want you to get caught in the same situation."
"Maybe... Hey, I got it! You can make me a cadet! Like you did the big guy! Or send me to the Super Computer. Like Matrix sent Ezno to the academy!"
"Look, with Matrix I did that as a precaution; there was the chance I wouldn't make it out alive." Bob knelt down so he was face to face with Kyle. "And Enzo... he wanted to be one, and he's already had plenty of experience."
"Come on, Dad! You can do that, right? Since you're still a Guardian, anyway."
*****
From her perch on a nearby building, Morgan let out a gasp. She quickly covered her mouth, fearful that they had heard her.
The dog's ears perked up, and Morgan could have sworn he looked right at her, even though she was still using the invisibility command.
A guardian! What will happen if I delete a guardian? This system could be defenseless! Ooohhh User, this keeps getting more complicated.
The two sprites appeared not to have heard her little outburst and they continued talking, though the dog laid its ears back and kept glancing in her direction.
*****
"Can you talk about it with Mom? Pleeeaaassse?," Kyle pleaded.
Bob knew he would never win an argument with his son. He sighed. "Oh, all right. I'll have a little talk with Dot."
The boy's face practically lit up as he ecstatically hugged Bob . "Pixelacious!" He excitedly jumped up and down. "Thanks a bunch, Dad!"
"You're welcome," Bob said as he tried to calm the smaller sprite down. "Now, lets get back to the diner. Mom's probably worried sick."
"Okay! Race you there!"
The two hopped on their zipboards and sped off in back to the diner, laughing out loud as they raced each other, unaware of the unknown figure stalking them.