CHAPTER THREE
THE SUPERCOMPUTER
SUPERCOMPUTER
Doubts and fears shadowed Enzo and AndrAIa's thoughts; but as they stepped through the portal, those feelings were pushed to the back of their minds.
When met with the sight of the giant city, they stopped in their tracks and looked up, up, up, the most amazed they had ever been.
"Dude," Enzo breathed, uncharacteristically speechless.
The Supercomputer was a city full of different buildings. Golden spires rose, gleaming, into the pale blue sky. Other buildings were squatter, and closer to the ground, but they gave off the same glitter. All of them shone in the mid-afternoon sun.
"Where's the Guardian Academy, Enzo?" asked AndrAIa.
"What?" her friend asked, startled. For a short moment, he had forgotten their goal. But he remembered it as vividly as ever, and he said, "Uh . . . let's look for it." They began walking, Frisket trotting ahead of the two sprites warily.
They walked for milliseconds, looking around them; but all the buildings looked the same. Again, some doubts grew among them. What if they couldn't even find the Academy?
But the doubt was short-lived, because as they rounded the next corner, a large building suddenly loomed ahead. It seemed more majestic and imperious than the other skyscrapers. It was a melancholy gray color, with large windows lining every level. Beyond the building was a number of training courses.
Beside him, AndrAIa gasped. Frisket gave a low growl. The entire building seemed to radiate power.
Enzo stood still until all of his excitement caught up with him. "Alphanumeric!" he shouted. "It's even better than I imagined." Then, he slowly stepped forward to the large silver doors and knocked a few times. The knocks sounded like thunder when they echoed back.
A few nanos later, one door opened, and a woman sprite stood there. Her hair, black with red highlights, was cropped short, and she wore a dark gray Guardian uniform. The sleeves cut off at her elbows, showing that there were chrome streaks across her baby-blue skin; and her wrists bore bronze armbands and a keytool. Her beautiful mahogany eyes studied the three interestedly.
Enzo stepped forward and cleared his throat. "I'm . . . I am Enzo Matrix, a . . . um, cadet, version 1.0."
The Guardian smiled. "Well, I'm Chroma, the second-in-command here at the Academy. I also handle the registration of the new sprites. Come inside," she said, beckoning with her hand to the two children and the dog. They followed her inside, and she closed the door.
Chroma led them down a long hallway and into an office. The Guardian woman sat down at her desk and signaled for Enzo and AndrAIa to be seated.
"Now, let's start from the beginning," Chroma said. She held a file-folder. "First: where are you from?"
"Mainframe," Enzo answered.
"Birth system?"
"Yes."
"And your friend?" Chroma asked, typing Enzo's answers.
"Uh — AndrAIa's not from around here. She's . . . from another system, but I don't know the name," Enzo lied.
"Well, you can take that up with the Prime, when you meet with him," Chroma said. "Now, your ages, both of you?"
"1.0 and . . . um, about 0.9."
"And, any existing family members?"
"Just my sister Dot, in Mainframe," Enzo answered.
"I don't have a family," AndrAIa said somewhat sadly.
"I'm sorry," Chroma said in sympathy. She pressed a button on the file-folder, then said, "I'm sending the information to Turbo, so he can look it over before you meet with him."
"Turbo?" Enzo repeated. "Wasn't he the one who — "
Chroma cut him off mid-sentence. "Before you go, there's only one thing I'm wondering. Enzo, you said you were from system Mainframe — is that the one where the Web creature is supposed to be?"
Enzo nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"Then Turbo will be very eager to talk to you."
A green light flashed on her organizer. "Oh," Chroma said, "it's time for you to meet with Turbo. His office is down to the end of the hall, and right."
"So soon?" AndrAIa asked as they rose from their chairs.
"Time goes by quickly in the Supercomputer," Chroma informed them as they walked out of her office.
As the Guardian woman watched them go, a strange glint appeared in her eyes, and she watched the sprites and dog with the same hunger as a predator stalking its prey.
New energy, she thought maliciously to herself. Chroma closed the door.
"Come in," Prime Guardian Turbo called in response to the knocks on his office door. He had just received and read the file about the new visitors, sent by Chroma, and he knew who was at the door.
Sure enough, the door opened, and in stepped Enzo Matrix — Turbo already knew about him — a girl sprite that must have been AndrAIa, and a large red and yellow dog.
"Guardian Turbo?" Enzo asked uncertainly. When the Prime nodded, the boy's expression turned distrustful. "You sent that bomb to Mainframe!" Beside him, his dog's ears flattened, and he growled.
"It was needed in that situation, with the Web creature," Turbo replied. "Speaking of, how did you manage to escape the explosion? Mainframe should be in shambles now."
"Actually, Mainframe's still on-line," Enzo answered. Then, his voice growing angry, he continued, "But because of you, we got a portal to the Web, which Megabreath — Megabyte shot Bob into."
"He what?" Turbo asked, astonished. But he gestured for Enzo to go on.
The boy did. "Dot sent us" — he waved a hand at him, AndrAIa, and the dog — "here so I could train. Mouse converted the Web portal to go to the Net."
"Should've expected Mouse to do somethin' like that," Turbo laughed. But a small voice urged him. She's not going to be happy when she hears this.
Turbo pushed away the voice — for the time being — and held out a hand to Enzo. "Well, we're glad to have you at the Academy."
The sprite stared at Turbo's outstretched hand disdainfully. "I still don't trust you," he declared.
Turbo sighed. "Look, Enzo," he said seriously, "we don't even usually accept sprites under 1.2 hours to the Academy. Now, you could easily be sent home, for a couple o' reasons — or, I could pull a few strings and get you guys in, as long as you don't mention Mainframe to anyone. It's for both our safety." His words seemed odd.
"So, whaddaya say to our little deal?"
"All right," Enzo agreed grudgingly, and shook Turbo's hand.
"Good. Now, one more thing before you get situated. Come with me." Turbo led them through a door to a room where a box-like machine was.
"What's that for?" Enzo asked.
"It's somethin' Ah do fer every single pupil here. This machine downloads an extra bit o' Guardian protocol into the codes. For this procedure, Ah'll need yer icon."
Reluctantly, Enzo handed his icon to Turbo. The Prime Guardian turned so that his back was facing them, and he punched in a short, five-digit code. The machine whirred, and five nanoseconds later, Enzo's icon popped out.
Turbo handed the icon back to Enzo. He studied it for any difference, but all he saw was a faint green glow that quickly melted away.
"Ah'll need yer icon, too," Turbo told AndrAIa.
The game sprite held a hand over her icon protectively. "But I'm not doing any Guardian training."
"You'll still need it," Turbo said. "All the residents of the Academy do." He then took AndrAIa's icon and performed the same procedure; he even did it for the dog. "There. You're set. Enzo and AndrAIa, you're free to go look around with your dog."
At this, the dog growled again, warningly.
"What'd Ah say?" asked Turbo.
"You called him a dog,'" Enzo explained. "He doesn't like being called that. His name is Frisket."
"Oh. . . . All right — Enzo, AndrAIa, and Frisket, feel free to look around. Sooner or later, you'll need to find a home, too, either at the Academy or near it."
Before they started out the door, Glitch began making squeaking and whirring noises. Turbo's keytool, Copeland, beeped and flashed in reply.
"Glitch?" Turbo asked, looking between the keytools. To Enzo he said, "You've been very honored, Enzo. Keytools select their Guardians. Few are chosen, and I know Glitch wouldn't choose poorly."
"Glitch is broken," Enzo confessed. "It was when I got it. Megabyte," he added.
"Yeah. . . . Enzo, later on you should go get Glitch fixed. There's a sprite here at the Academy who can do that for ya, actually. When ya get some more uniforms, ask `im."
Enzo and AndrAIa thanked him, and they and Frisket walked out of the office and down the hallway. They began looking in doors, but all they found were empty rooms. There were several hallways branching off from the main one, and the sprites were at a loss of where to go.
A loud bell rang, and from one of the hallways came a large crowd of pupils. Enzo and AndrAIa let themselves get lost in the crowd, and followed them to their destination.
"Are you new here?" a voice asked. It belonged to a young sprite that looked about 1.2, with deep turquoise skin and light brown hair, and wearing a dark blue cadet uniform.
Enzo nodded. "I'm Enzo, and this is AndrAIa and Frisket," he said, introducing them.
"I'm Taaj," the sprite replied. "I enrolled here a few cycles ago. If you want, I can show you around later."
"Sure." They had reached a room, and AndrAIa asked, "What's this?"
"This is the cafeteria, but we also have meetings here, when the Prime talks to us." Taaj's pale gray eyes shone with admiration when he mentioned Turbo; the same admiration Enzo held for Bob.
Enzo felt that he mirrored Taaj's enthusiasm; except for the admiration of Turbo. Still, he counted himself lucky to be at the Academy at all, problems or no problems.
Inside the cafeteria, they all found seats. The assembled sprites waited, until presently a VidWindow appeared with the face of Turbo.
"Welcome, sprites," he began. "As you know, next second marks the definite beginning of your Guardian training. Guardians are the sworn protectors of the Net, and not ev'rabody can fulfill the training. But you all can. You will dedicate your time, knowledge, and especially your concentration, until you have deserved the title of Guardian." The fire in his voice was unmistakable. Then, Turbo spoke the exact same words that Bob had spoken when handing Enzo the Guardian protocol, seconds ago: "Do you accept?"
Enzo yelled, "Yes!" with all the others, moved by Turbo's speech. Next to him, AndrAIa and Taaj cheered as well.
He was going to become the best Guardian ever, Enzo thought. Then he could come back to Mainframe and show those viruses!
That second was somewhat a rest day, so the cadets were allowed to go almost anywhere on or near the Academy grounds.
True to his word, Taaj showed Enzo, AndrAIa, and Frisket around the Academy, taking them into every classroom and also showing them the upstairs living quarters.
"You know every place in this building," Enzo remarked. "How come?"
"Well, I've lived in the Supercomputer since I was initialized," Taaj answered. "Plus, my aunt's a teacher here."
"Pixelacious!" Enzo breathed. "This place makes Mainframe seem so small."
"I've always wanted to see a small system," Taaj said. "That's one reason I wanted to become a Guardian — so I could go anywhere in the Net."
"Maybe you could see Mainframe sometime," Enzo said. "We could probably make a portal to it, like the one we came in before — Wait! I forgot about the portal! Come on, you can see Mainframe now!" Enzo led the way out of the Academy and down the streets to where the portal was still glowing.
As they skidded to a stop at the spot, they saw the portal condense on itself, and disappear. A sprite stood before it, watching as the portal closed.
"Hey, wait!" Enzo shouted in dismay.
The sprite turned around. It was Chroma, and her face wore a look of cold contempt. But the expression was masked in a nanosecond.
"What happened to the portal?" Enzo asked.
"Something very unfortunate," Chroma replied. "Somehow it was closed from the inside — probably by one of those viruses in your system."
"But — can't you just access it again?"
Chroma turned toward the spot where the portal had been. Her keytool hummed for a couple of nanoseconds, but nothing happened. Finally she turned back to the expectant sprites.
"I can't access it," she said. "Somehow, Mainframe's location has been written off the Net."
"What?" they all asked at once; Frisket gave a questioning bark. "Megabyte," Enzo hissed angrily.
"I have to be returning to the Academy," Chroma said in a brisk, business-like manner. "And you all should think about it, too." Without another word, she pushed past them.
As she walked away, Chroma allowed herself a small smile. "Good work," she told her keytool, which was still warm after its two uses.
Chroma mused to herself, I've never heard before of this virus Megabyte, but I can certainly relate to him. He isn't the only one who wants to keep the sprites here — oh, not at all.
Enzo stared at the spot where the portal had been, dismayed and worried. Mainframe, gone!
"If we can't get back, where will we stay?" he asked.
"Well," Taaj spoke up, "I live in an apartment complex. Maybe you could find a place there." They hopped onto their zipboards, and Taaj led them to a cluster of apartment buildings. Enzo felt a twinge of homesickness as he thought that the apartments resembled the 8 Ball Arms back home.
Taaj led them upstairs to one of the uppermost floors until they reached Taaj's home. He opened the door and led them inside, calling, "Jiselle, I'm home! I brought some friends, too!"
"Wait, I'll be there in a nano," a female voice called. A few nanoseconds later, a young-looking sprite came from one of the rooms. Her skin was a deep mahogany color, and her pale blond hair was in a braid over one shoulder.
"Hello," she greeted Enzo and AndrAIa, smiling. "I'm Taaj's aunt."
The sprites introduced themselves, and Taaj told Jiselle their problem.
"Sure, your friends can stay," she said. "We've got an extra room." They followed her into the room, and Jiselle began setting up.
"Here," she said when she had finished. The sofa had been set up into a bed for them, and there was another small bed for Frisket.
Enzo and AndrAIa thanked Jiselle. "But we might have to stay for a while," Enzo warned. "We're far from home; and we probably won't ever get back to my sister and the others."
Taaj smiled sympathetically. "I know how that feels," he said. "It's just Jiselle and me here, ever since my parents were deleted."
Jiselle patted his shoulder. "Well," she announced after a moment of silence, "you kids look famished. Come with me and I'll make you all lunch." They obeyed, following her into the small kitchen.
As she began cooking, Jiselle told Enzo and AndrAIa, "You'll like it here. It's probably not the same as home, but — "
"It's one of the best," Taaj put in.
Enzo nodded, but he couldn't get anything out. His emotions were in a jumble. Part of him was trilling with joy at the fact that he was finally in the Supercomputer; but he missed home, and he knew that the next few hours would make it harder.
"Yeah," he finally said softly. AndrAIa sensed his discomfort and squeezed his hand reassuringly. Frisket gave a bark of comfort.