The
Uprising
By Wriness Chikaya
Chapter 3 - Flying Daggers
"Rolled him up in a nice clean sheet and laid him out upon the bed, a bottle of whiskey at his feet and a gallon of porter at his head"
Bob slumped against Dot's apartment door. Pulling his hair back over his skull, he sighed in exasperation. Dot was sleeping, or tired. Or wouldn't open her apartment for anyone. He cried. Or he wanted to. Nothing made him more aware of his attachment to her than when she isolated herself, and he too felt isolated.
He trudged down the stairs and ordered himself an energy shake. The energy's warmth seeped out into his hand through the flimsy cup, and he stared into it intently, thinking.
A couple of binomes clattered in, clearly sloshed, and Bob silently rolled his eyes at them. The drugs, the intoxicants people would take, the things they would do to their bodies in the name of a kick made him shake his head. His Guardian protocols ensured that he would stay away from anything that would damage his body; as a Guardian he had to keep his physical form in top conditioning.
The binomes stumbled around the tiled diner floor for awhile and then took seats, not forgetting to harass Cecil and kick Frisket, who had been sleeping soundly under the table which Matrix and AndrAIa occupied. They looked distastefully at the group of about three or four binomes that had stumbled into the diner. Matrix groped under the table for Frisket's collar, and wrapped his large fist around it tightly.
Cecil hummed up to the table where the binomes sat and thunked their energy shakes down on the counter. Bob shuffled lower in his seat, determined to not be seen by the binomes. They chatted animatedly, slurring their words drunkenly. His ears pricked up at the sound of one name. Dot.
One voice was gravelly and drunker than the rest. "..I dunno.. really.. hey? Like her bein' a user and *hic* all. Like.. what.. what's to say that she's not gonna like.. y'know. Try to hurt us or summin'."
Another responded, almost as gravelly. "She's like.. threat to society or something. We'd .. do good. To .. you know..."
The third voice sounded sober. "Delete 'er?"
Bob's ears pricked up. He moved as to not make a sound, to hear them a little better.
"Yeah," the second one responded. A long slurping sound ensued. Bob leaned in closer. The teal vinyl seat squeaked. He squinted over the seat to try and get a glimpse of the binomes speaking. "I dunno. Maybe we could like.. pull ... you *sluuuurrrrrrrrrrp* know," the second voice slurred.
The first voice piped up again. "How r'we supposed to ... pull that off? Like... she's like.. Command.Com and stuff. She's ininvinidincible."
The third voice spoke again. "I think what you're talking about... is setting a trap."
"Yeah!" chorused the other two binomes drunkenly. Bob leaned in the tiniest bit closer.
Drunken cackling followed the chorus, followed by the metallic clunking of binome feet past Bob's table. He ducked under quickly in surprise as they walked past his table. He wished to stay hidden; had they seen him... he wasn't sure what they would have tried. But he knew it wouldn't have been beneficial to Dot's diner. That was one of the only pieces of stability in Dot's life at the moment. Bob remembered to see if he could identify any of the binomes, and peeked his head around just as the door swung shut. All he could see of the leader binome was a fabulous black afro.
"Cyrus.. " he hissed. Immediately, he bolted out the diner door just in time to see three binomes fly away on zipboards at such a speed as to not get a clear view of them. He muttered a curse under his breath as he hopped on his zipboard and buzzed off towards the Principal Office.
He folded up his zipboard and left it at the door, the zipboard making a clattering noise as it fell on the marble corridor. His boots made clicking noises as he walked around, trying to find Dot. "Dot?" he called, his cry echoing through the hallway. "Dot?"
A whispering noise was heard from the other end of the hallway, followed by a few high-pitched beeps. Muttered curses were heard. Bob continued in the direction of the cursing.
"Basic bloody irritating stinking panel!" Dot whapped the map panel hard with her fist.
Bob raised an eyebrow. "Dot? Everything alright?"
Dot just continued muttering dark things at the panel.
Bob, boots clunking on the marble floor, walked slowly over to where Dot was standing and passed a hand in front of her eyes. "You awake?"
Dot's eyelids fluttered and she woke from her angry reverie. "Wh-oh uh hi, Bob."
Bob raised the other eyebrow, then shrugged and shook off, remembering he had more important things to tell Dot. "I was in the diner today, Dot."
"How long did it take you to figure out I wasn't in my apartment?"
Bob blushed silently. "Awhile."
Dot smiled cynically.
"Dot.. they're after you.."
"I know," she muttered quietly, her fingers dancing across the smooth panel surface.
"I saw Cyrus. He was talking about going after you."
"I know."
"How could you possibly know that, Dot?"
"Because I saw him too," she said, her eyes showing no emotion in her reflection on the panel.
"You did?"
Dot nodded slowly. "He was talking to some CPU ops outside. They left with him to take a lunch break."
Bob gawked at Dot. "Those drunken binomes in the diner were CPUs?!"
Dot nodded slowly, eyes still glued to the panel.
"Dot, they were going to delete you," Bob whispered quietly, eyes darting from shoulder to shoulder, ever-mindful that prying ears could be easily found.
"I know," Dot whispered.
Bob just stared at her, open-mouthed. "And there isn't a thing you're going to do about it?"
"I'll be safe, Bob. I have a job to do."
Bob shook his head, dumbfounded at Dot's display.
"I'll be fine..." Dot repeated slowly, staring into Bob's eyes.
Bob appeared ready to argue, then steadied himself. "I'll leave you alone for now then. Please call," he answered in a half-sated voice.
Dot watched him whizz away on his zipboard and sighed. The big lunk worried about her so much. It was true, she had seen Cyrus leaving with some CPU ops, but she wasn't worried about it. She could hide herself at a moment's notice; even beyond the knowledge of Bob and the rest of Mainframe. All she had to do was tell Phong and he would cover for her. What else was there to worry about?
She inputted her code to lock up the system for the night. As she went to leave the Principal Office, she heard an old voice.
"Dot?"
Dot turned in the direction of Phong's voice and checked her organizer. She could spare some time for her mentor.
"Dot, help me with this command inventory please," Phong called.
Dot clacked into the command file room where Phong was waiting.
Where Phong didn't notice the binome huddled in the corner, clutching a gun.
"What do you need help with, Phong? I only have a few microseconds," Dot said.
The gunman was poised darkly behind one of the command cabinets, his gun poised on top of the cabinet itself, right at Dot's head level. "Stop moving..." he urged her silently.
"Just this cabinet here," Phong scuttled toward one near where the binome was standing, and to be safe, he scooted over a bit to avoid detection. Unfortunately, he misjudged the balancing of the box he was standing on, and felt the box topple.
And fall.
And fall.
His gun clattered down between the cabinets, firing one shot and one shot only.
That one shot was enough.
The binome grabbed the pistol and bolted out while Dot cried in hysteria over the shot Phong.
The old sprite's eyes faded to a dimness that Dot had only seen in the nearly-deleted, and Dot shook him gently. "Come on, Phong. You're going to be all right.. don't leave me, Phong.."
"Child.. it is time."
Dot cried, her tears pouring themselves down her cheeks and dripping off her chin. "No, Phong! I can't do this without you!"
"Yes you can, child. I would not have given this to you had I not thought you ready for it," the old sprite's eyelids fluttered, but stayed open.
"No, Phong. You're going to live, that.. that bullet was meant for ME!" Dot smoothed her hand over the elder Command.Com's forehead while she held back sobs.
"No, child," Phong gasped. "You must carry on. You -- are wise.." more gasps and rasps, he was clearly deleting by now. "You will be wiser.. far wiser .. than .. I .."
"Phong.." Dot sobbed quietly.
"Keep peace, my child." And with that, the old sprite breathed his last. And Dot's last tear fell, shattering into a thousand shards of ice on the tiled command room floor.
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