Bob, Dot Matrix, Enzo Matrix, AndrAIa, Matrix, Mouse, Ray Tracer, Frisket, and Phong are all property of Mainframe Ent. They are not real people with real lives. They do anything that the writers and the animators have them do.
Ryan Quinn, Marc Peterson and Yvonne LeBlanc are people that I have created. They came out of my imagination and do not really exist.
Silv, Shay are real people and appear in this fic with their permission. Now! On with the fun!
Summary: You know what happens when Users
visit Mainframe. What if it was the other way 'round?
Chapter Two: "We're What?!"
"What's going on? Who are you and where are we?" the shocked Bob inquired.
Frisket glared at the four humans, bared his teeth and growled. Ryan backed up, fully aware of the damage Frisket was capable of.
"Please calm down." Phil Mitchel said raising his hands and taking a step forward, carefully watching the angry dog and the stunned sprites. "I think we can explain, it'll just have to take some time."
Dot looked at blue sprite. "What do you think, Bob? This place is definitely better than being in a core meltdown."
Bob took a moment to consider it, looked at Matrix who just shrugged, and turned back to the group of shocked humans. "Fine. Just tell us where we are first." he demanded.
"Fair enough. You're in a city called Vancouver and you're in our office building." Gavin Blair explained, not wanting to tell them the entire truth just yet; he would do that later.
"Could all of you follow us now, then we'll try to figure out what happened?" Phil requested.
The sprites looked at each other. Matrix was the first to begin to walk boldly toward Phil and the others. Little Enzo followed right behind, as to appear to be as brave as his older self.
Gavin turned to Phil and the others. "We'll take them to the board room. We won't be disturbed there by anyone. This must be kept as much of a secret as we can. The media must not get wind of this. Yvonne," he said, turning to the young woman beside him. "Go get some ReBoot episodes on tape. Be careful which ones that you pick, though. Don't pick ones like "Game Over" or anything dramatic like that." Yvonne LeBlanc nodded and headed for the storage room that contained all of Mainframe Entertainment's' finished episodes and productions.
"Okay, let's head for the board room now, and Ryan... could I speak with you on the way?" Gavin said as he turned and started walking in that direction.
Ryan cringed slightly and began walking beside Gavin while everyone else walked behind.
"What in the world did you do?" the Director of Operations and co-creator of ReBoot asked forcefully, keeping his voice down.
"I don't know exactly." Ryan answered just as quietly. "I thought I had fixed it. As soon as Yvonne began to start up Softimage, the darn thing went completely haywire!"
"You're telling me! Ryan, we have 3D animated figures, specifically ReBoot, walking behind us here at Mainframe Entertainment!" Gavin whispered loudly to show his emphases. Ryan said nothing. What was there to say? That he didn't know what he was doing with that new computer? That he couldn't do his job? That he had completely messed up? Ryan's gaze left Gavin's face and fell to the grey carpet.
Gavin placed his hand onto Ryan's left shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm not blaming you, although you did have something to do with it, I'm sure. We'll find out what happened and then you can fix it. "
Just then, Mairi Welman, head of communications at Mainframe, rounded the courner. "Oh Phil. You've got a call on line..." then she stopped as she looked at the six figures behind her friends. Her jaw dropped open and she lost grip on the portfolio of papers that she was carrying, which scattered on the ground.
"How...?" was the only word that escaped her lips.
Ryan bent down and began to help Mairi pick up the paper that had fallen.
"We're not quite sure," he said for only Mairi to hear. "But it's very hush hush. No one must know." Mairi's jaw was still wide open when Ryan stood up and handed her pages back. Mairi didn't move. Her gaze wouldn't leave the group of visitors. Gavin turned to find the sprites staring at the woman who had ceased to move.
Enzo tapped Matrix on his leg. Matrix looked down as Enzo asked "They didn't file-lock her, did they? Just for bringing that message?"
Matrix shook his head. "I don't think so. They aren't holding file-lockers anyway."
Phil turned around and quietly apologized to the sprites. "She's low on energy." he lied. "She's had a long day." He stepped up to Mairi, took her by her shoulders and guided her to the board room with everyone following silently behind. When they reached their designation, everyone took a seat around the table, minus Gavin and Phil, who were talking amongst themselves. Mairi, still not moving by herself, was positioned into a seat. The five sprites sat quietly, exchanging glances with one another.
Gavin took Phil to the courner of the room. Gavin looked worried. "How are we going to do this? How are we going tell these... sprites, that they don't really exist?!? And if they did go through what happened on the show, what are they going to do to us when they find out?"
Phil quickly glanced at Matrix and cringed. How would he react?
Yvonne quickly strode into the room and slowed as she saw everyone staring at her, except for Mairi, who stared at nothing in particular. Yvonne quickened her pace as she walked towards her employers. "I've picked out 'The Tiff', 'In the Belly of the Beast', and 'Talent Night'. I thought the first season would be the best to show."
Gavin took the tapes from the young animator. "Good thinking, Yvonne. Thank you."
Phil looked at the sprites then at Gavin. "I think you've kept them waiting long enough. Have fun telling them the news." he said and tried to make a bolt for the door. He didn't get far.
"You're staying right here with me and we're both telling them." Gavin replied as he began to drag Phil to the front of the room.
Matrix watched the images move across the screen with his eyes and mouth open wide. On the television screen that had been placed in front of them, was his first and only birthday party. Dot was rushing around as she used to before the web wars and Bob was keeping the 'Birthday Boy' occupied while the party was being prepared. Matrix remembered that day very well. Even though it had happened a long time ago for him; much longer than for Bob or Dot.
His eyes glanced over in the direction of little Enzo. He had never had this party because he was still 0-1. Enzo's face was filled more with awe than shock like the others. Matrix looked back at the screen. Was this true? Was he just a figure created for entertainment? And his exiting the Net was just an accident? His birthday, his problems, his struggles, his failures... his parents... never really existed?
No. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it! His electronic eye rotated and glowed red as his hand left the table top and moved towards his gun that was holstered on his right leg. Quickly, he grabbed it, stood up and shot the tv; something he'd want to do with Mike for the longest time.
"Enzo!" Bob's voice reprimanded him as if he was child again.
"I refuse to watch this, Bob!" Matrix snapped at the older sprite. "I refuse to believe any of it! Our lives, have been for nothing! Our whole existence has been one long story line created by Users!" he exclaimed, indicating Phil and Gavin, who now had their backs against the wall and very frightened expressions on their faces. "All the struggles, all the battles, all the danger: going to the Web, fighting Megabyte, the system crashing, all of it! Our lives are nothing more than a story to entertain little children as a 'Saturday morning cartoon' as Phil put it...."
"Enzo..." It was AndrAIa's voice this time speaking. Her tone was quiet and calm. "Just think about it, Enzo. Yes, we were created for entertainment purposes and I'm a little shocked and upset about it too, but what else came out of it?" she asked softly as she stood up beside her love. She placed her hands on his arm, causing him to lower his gun. "If they hadn't created you, you wouldn't be here right now."
Matrix's face softened as that thought began to take its place in his mind.
"And if they hadn't created us, we would have never met and grown up together." She continued. She looked into Matrix's eyes with love. " 'No regrets.' "
The scowl on Matrix's face melted into a sad frown. What AndrAIa said was true and he did love her like no other. She had always been able to get him to calm down no matter how infuriated he was.
Matrix holstered his gun as his eye rotated back. He gently took AndrAIa in his arms and kissed the top of her head. "No regrets."
Dot shook her head. This was unbelievable. What Matrix said was true, but what AndrAIa said was true also. Dot's emotions were bouncing around with her thoughts. Everyone felt the same way; everyone except Enzo.
"This is totally Alphanumeric!" He exclaimed. Everyone is the room, both humans and sprites, stared at him.
"Enzo, how can you say that?" Matrix inquired.
Enzo shrugged. "Well, it is. We're not real, but we are! And we're not suppose to be here, but we are! We finally get to see and meet the Users and it turns out they're just like us! We can ask all the questions that we've always wanted!" the young sprite looked at his silent audience. "They may have made all those things happen, as you say and I don't know for sure 'cause I wasn't there, but it all turned out ok, right? I mean, Mainframe was restored, Megabreath is toast, Hexadecimal is good... kinda... and Hack and Slash are really cool!" Enzo stood up. "And now that we're just a story, the fact is that Daemon is too! She's not infecting the Net!"
"That's right." Gavin said, stepping forward. "The net is safe and Daemon isn't real."
"But you said that we weren't real," Bob chimed in "and here we are."
"You do have a good point, but we didn't design a Daemon character. She is only known by her name."
Enzo turned to face Gavin. "So, we're really from a tv show?"
Gavin smiled at the young sprite's enthusiasm. "Yes, you are, and a very popular one too. Thousands of children, teenagers and even adults watch it."
"But you said that it was a children's show." Dot spoke up. "Why would any grown User want to be interested in that?"
Gavin smiled. "It's hard to explain to you right now, but they do."
Matrix didn't quite believe the humans. It all seemed a bit too far
fetched. His face must have been showing what he was thinking because Gavin
volunteered Ryan to show him how popular the show was. The computer programer
stood up and timidly walked closer to the green sprite. Matrix stood almost
a head and a half over Ryan and the sprite's large build made
him look like a giant beside the human.
AndrAIa patted her lover's arm. "You go on. I'd like to look around..." she said turning to the Director of Operations of Mainframe, "...if that's alright."
Gavin nodded. "Sure. If you'd like, I'll take you on a tour of the building." he offered.
The sprites agreed and followed Gavin out of the room, leaving Ryan with the huge Matrix standing awkwardly in silence.
Ryan took Matrix into a small room with a computer. "I know you are from inside a computer, but do you know how to work ours?" he asked the sprite.
Matrix shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe, but I'd have to see."
Ryan booted up the computer and started up Netscape for Matrix. He gave Matrix a rough outline of how to use the web browser and then let Matrix try it out for himself. He learned quite quickly. Ryan told him about a chat that he went to in his spare time that was created by ReBoot fans on mIRC. He downloaded the program and gave Matrix instructions on how to work the chat. Matrix understood and wanted to try it when he was ready, but he wanted to check the Internet first, then the chat.
"What ever you want, Enzo, but I have to get back to work. I'll check on you if you want during my break." Ryan replied as he rose from his chair.
"No, I don't think that will be necessary. I can find my way around the web. I've done it before." he said with a grin.
"Ok, but if you need anything..." he pushed a black business phone closer into view of the sprite. "just call my extension and I help you with anything." He quickly jotted down this extension number, nodded at Matrix and walked briskly out of the room.
"I'm glad he's finally gone. I haven't been able to get by myself in seconds." Matrix typed in the web address of the search engine Yahoo!*, and typed in the word 'ReBoot'. If this show is so popular, then it should be on here. Ryan said I could access anything I wanted on here. Let's see what we've got. He pressed 'Enter' and the the screen displayed the search results. Matrix made a face. Only 31 sites?! I wouldn't say that the show is that popular.
The first link on the short list was "ReBoot [global.org]*" What in the Net?! and smiled at the irony of the question. Matrix clicked on the link. The page came up and showed an icon with the words 'ReBoot' on it, and several pictures of Dot, Bob and himself; when he was younger. Right at the top of the page read: "ReBoot" is one of the wittiest and most techie-clever animated series to come along. ABC aired it as part of its Saturday morning childrens lineup, but the show attracted an appreciative adult audience. The inside jokes were numerous and hilarious."
Matrix scrolled down and found episode guide, news group information, things called 'webrings', toys, and a large number of links to ReBoot websites. He saw one title which slightly amused him; A Minor Glitch*. A little smile appeared on Matrix's face as he clicked it.
As Matrix read though the fan's site, he made a face. What was this
girl thinking? 'Buttons the Renegade Lamb'? 'A ReBoot Geek Test'? A picture
of Dot's skull? He was almost going to go back, when he saw a section called
'WYSIWYG'. The sprite clicked on it just to see what it was about and when
the page finished loading he saw a section called 'Enzo's Eye'. Seeing
it was about him, he clicked the mouse button.
As he read, and looked at the pictures that demonstrated the theory called 'Enzo's Eye conspiracy' analysing the idea that Mainframe Entertainment had planned for him to loose his eye. He leaned back into the office chair and exhaled deeply. Did Mainframe really plan for me to lose my eye since the beginning? Or IS it just a coincidence? Mental note: Ask Gavin later.
After 4 hours of "surfing", Matrix began to get bored. Maybe that chat that Ryan mentioned... and he started up the IRC program. Up popped an information window. 'Full name:' 'Enzo Matrix', 'Email address:' Matrix smiled. 'Don't have one' he typed. 'Nickname:' 'Matrix' and the last one was 'Alternative:' 'E_Matrix'. Matrix choose the Vancouver UnderNet server and connected. "Nick Matrix is already in use." Matrix was impressed, he smiled and waited for is Alternate nickname to connect him to the network of people.
Finally, a list of chat channels came up and Matrix typed into the top text box '#Reboot', then 'Join'. and waited, slightly nervous.
The chat window popped up and displayed the topic of the room for the
time....
(the conversation went something like this....)
*** Now talking in #Reboot
*** Topic is '"Last night I played a blank CD at full volume. The mime
next door went nuts.'
*** Set by Clearsky on Fri May 14 18:23:30'"
[WizardWOR] woo!
[WizardWOR] (boris) I am inlaggable!!
[Emidecimal] NEWBIE!
* Emidecimal whips out her rolling pin and turns the newbie into a
biscuit!
* P-Chrome greets E_Matrix with a bucket of popcorn.
Turned me into a biscuit? What's popcorn?
[Clearsky] Hi Matrix.
[E_Matrix] Hello
[AnnaIsh] Two Matrix's?!
[_Matrix_] Hey! Wait a minute! That's my nickname!!
[Julia_Cat] It's a newbie!!!
Matrix smiled. Someone was using his name.
[E_Matrix] But it's my real name. My name is Enzo Matrix.
* _Matrix_ rolls eyes "Yeah right!"
[DeciCat] Sky: I don't think so. He never said so.
[E_Matrix] _Matrix_: It's true
[_Matrix_] Sure you are....
[AlsWaiter] Hie Pll!
[Clearsky] hi AW
[CyberCat] hey AW
[DeciCat] Hi AW
[AnnaIsh] AW!!!!!!!!!!! :D
[_Matrix_] E_M: You can't be the real Matrix. It's only a cartoon!
* AnnaIsh runs and bowls AW over
[Clearsky] Deci: It could've been a fluke
[AlsWaiter] Hi Milly! Nice to see you too! ^_^
[DeciCat] E_M: Have your medication adjusted.. because Matrix isn't
real.
[AlsWaiter] E_Matrix thinks he's the REAL Matrix???!!! Cool!
[E_Matrix] I know it sounds crazy, but I came out of the computer a
few micro seconds ago.
[MG] Who wants cookies???
[SnakeBGon] Now we have a pair of Matrixes.
[_Matrix_] ok....
* AlsWaiter raises hands "Cookies? I do!!" :9
[E_Matrix] I didn't expect any of you to believe me. I just came in
here to met all of you.
* MG offers cookies around the room
[E_Matrix] What if I really was Matrix, what would you want to say
to me?
* AlsWaiter takes a cookie, runs around the room and falls into the
pool >splash
[Juila_Cat] What was your favourite Game, E_M?
[Tora_Chan] Two Matrix's?
[AlsWaiter] E_M: That's nice! :)
* AlsWaiter watches his cookie get all soggy and turn into mush :_(
*_Matrix_ looks at Julia "You actually believe him?"
[E_Matrix] Favourite game? Games are dangerous. They aren't fun. Especially
since I almost lived my whole life in them.
[Julia_Cat] M: Sure. Why not? besides, it's fun!
[Julia_Cat] E_M: Oh yeah. Forgot about that. *g*
[AlsWaiter] E_M: If you were real, I'd say... "YOU'RE MY FAVOURITE
CHARACTER!"...
[Tora_Chan] E_M: You should have left poor Meggy alone.
[AlsWaiter] ...that's what I'd say... if you were real. :) But I have
a wild imagination so.... *shrugs* *g*
Poor Meggy? Did this 'Tora' mean Megabyte? These humans are nuts! Matrix concluded. But Matrix stayed and chatted with them for a an hour and a half, learning about they're lives and about the User world, even though they didn't believe who he really was. It was kind of fun.
It was 8:00 pm when Gavin and Phil finally decided what to do with the sprites. Yvonne would take Dot and AndrAIa to her home, Ryan would take Bob and Phil would take Matrix, Enzo and Frisket. They would bring them back to Mainframe Entertainment the next day and try to get them back to their home; if it was even possible....
The florescent lights glowed within Mainframe Entertainment where Marc Peterson sat animating Weird Ohs. He growled in frustration as he attempted to get his day's work done. This had been Marc's worse day in recent history. Nothing was going his way; Softimage kept crashing on him, he had to re-animate the same five seconds of a scene three times and it still didn't look right and to make the end of the day perfect, his coffee was cold.
Marc let out a shout of anger as Softimage crashed on him once again, but this time, instead of seeing his Silicon Graphic's desktop, his screen was glowing blinding light. Sparks began flying and smoke spewed out of every nook and cranny. Marc cursed as he backed away from his work station.
Suddenly, the room was flooded with a pure white light emitting from the computer. Marc shielded his eyes and when the light and noise abruptly stopped, he sadly looked at his computer that had given him so much trouble that day.
Someone was standing in front of his terminal; someone very tall. The figure coughed and Marc noticed the voice had a deep, low tone to it. Then it spoke. "Finally, I'm out of that blasted place. The boy will pay for it; they all will! Now... where in the Net am I?"
Marc peered through the smoke. "Hello? Who's there?"
The silhouette turn to face the animator. "Who's that?" the voice demanded. It moved with lightning pace, grabbing Marc around his neck and pinned him up against the wall. "State your name and function before I dispose of you!" it demanded as it appeared to pull out three switch blades and point then all at Marc.
"My... my name is Marc Peterson and..." Marc swallowed hard. "...I'm an animator here at Mainframe Entertainment."
The figure stopped. "Mainframe?" the switch blades lowered. "This is Mainframe? I made it back?"
Marc, who was still pinned against the wall, nodded as much as he could. "Ok... yeah... sure." The smoke was slowly dissipating, but Marc was beginning to see his captor. He was about 6.5", dark in skin colour and very large in his upper torso and arms; he was also wearing a very strange hat.
"I can't believe it, that I made it back." Marc heard a smile in the man's voice. "This is Mainframe, but I don't remember any sprite named Marc and you are certainly not a binome..."
Binome? Where had Marc heard that before? Speaking of which, where had he heard that voice before? Just then the smoke finally cleared, revealing the tall stranger.
He wasn't black, as Marc first thought, but blue metal with bright green markings on his chest and sliver stomach. His eyes were red of neon green and something that could only be described as hair, stood up on top of his head.
Marc looked at the creature in awe. "Wait... I've seen you before!"
The creature looked at him curiously. "Really? Where?"
Marc's eyes grew wide in sudden recondition. "You're that guy off of that Mainframe show... Megabyte is it?"
The creature nodded his head, wearily. "Yes, yes. True Tales of Mainframe. They really did pick a horrible looking binome to play my part. I'm really a better virus than they portrayed me."
Marc shook his head. "No. That's not the one I'm talking about. Oh... which one was it?" he asked, more to himself than the virus. The animator had seen only a few episodes of the show and hadn't really liked it that much. "Retry? Renew? ...ReBoot! That's it!"
Megabyte lowered Marc to the floor. "Reboot? What do I have to do with rebooting? Virus' do not reboot!"
Marc shrugged. "Well, that's the title of the show anywise."
Megabyte stood back and studied the animator. "What type of sprite are you?" It didn't look like any sprite he had ever seen.
"Sprite?" What kind of question was that? "I'm not a sprite. I'm a human."
"...Hu...man..." the blue virus said as if saying the word for the first time. "What in the Net is a human?"
"Well you know, a human. A user..." Marc began.
The virus' eyes opened wide. "Did you say a User? As in the User that inputs games and upgrades into Mainframe?"
Marc didn't quite understand the question. "I ...guess."
"What are you doing here? How did you get in the Net?" the astonished virus asked.
"In the Net? What? I'm not in the net, you're outside of the net. See?" Marc said, indicating his fried computer. Megabyte looked amazed at the smouldering mess for several moments, then turned back to the short human before him.
"I am in the User world?" he asked, not believing his good fortune. "Outside the Net? You are a User?" a sly smile spread across the blue tin face. "Really...?"
Marc, who had slowly begun to recall this character, was becoming more and more nervous, but he still answered the inquiring figure. "Yes."
"Indeed." The virus stated and started towards the office door.
Marc watched in horror as he followed the virus to the building exit. "Wait!" he called. "Where are you going? You can't go out there!"
"Just watch me, User!" Megabyte spat as he spun around to face the human. The virus unsheathed his claws and pointed threateningly at Marc. "Unless, you would like to try and stop me..."
Marc stepped back in fear and held his breath, not knowing what the creature was going to do.
The green lips of the virus moved up into a knowing smile. Megabyte chuckled. "Hmmm... just as I thought." he laughed again. "You are just as cowardly as the boy was when he was small... and almost as irritating." He turned back and pushed open the exit door.
Standing out side, he inhaled deeply. Finally, his luck was changing. Now, he had a whole new territory and world to conquer.
The User world.
*The websites used in this story are real websites that you can access.
Yahoo search engine - http://www.yahoo.com
ReBoot [global.org] - http://www.cyberpursuits.com/heckifiknow/reboot/
A Minor Glitch... - http://www.aminorglitch.simplenet.com/reboot/