CHAPTER 10
SPRITE AND VIRUS
The CPU's approached
Floating Point in a semi-circular formation.
Fifty of the enemy fighters
broke off from the armada but made no move towards the CPU's. They began to position themselves around the
perimeter of the continent.
"I want an equal number of
fighters on those ships. If they try
something, act accordingly."
Dot scrutinized the 3-D map
of Floating Point that appeared before her, "Do you have those codes, Phong?"
"They are programmed in, my
child."
"I don't like this one
bit," Dot hissed, "But we have to show that arrogant null-face we mean
business."
Several cargo ships had
landed on one of the upper and lower tiers of the Point. Soldiers resembling scurrying ants unloaded
large machines and crates. Dot sighed
as she watched them. A rocket cycle
bearing General Ashar descended towards the activity.
"Ashar coming through,"
Specks suddenly said.
The image that appeared was
of Ashar on a rocket cycle being piloted by a cowering binome. "I see you have chosen not to attack us.
Does this mean you realize you can't win?"
"I seem to remember that we
have the upper hand."
Ashar laughed, "If you wish
to believe that. My troops will begin
the immediate occupation of the sectors. You will hear from me within the millisecond. You still have a chance to give yourselves up. What is your answer?"
Dot clenched her fists,
"This is my answer. Phong, de-gravitate
Tier 001."
Phong sighed, then punched
in the codes.
There was a rumbling groan,
like an ancient giant awakening from a yearlong sleep. The upper tier over the enemy command center
flashed with a white light, then began to plummet. The fall seemed to take seconds but it was over in a nano. The upper tier smashed into the edge of the
lower, sending both tiers and all who were atop them, crashing into the Data
Sea.
A shocked silence filled
the airways. General Ashar stared
impassively at the destruction.
"I'm impressed, Ms.
Matrix," he finally said, "and it takes a lot to impress me. I have not in all
my battles seen a Command.com so ruthless. Perhaps you don't have to surrender. Daemon could use someone like you in her army --, "
Dot closed the
connection. The War Room remained
silent, even after Dot walked away from the console and into her office. It was only after the door closed that she
burst into tears.
***
Until that nano, General
Ashar was bored.
He was an old programmed
soldier. Battles used to mean something
in his day. Expert military strategists
matched wits in an often-desperate attempt to attain the ultimate victory. Since being appointed the leader of Daemon's
forces, winning had become all too easy.
All the systems that they
had faced had either fallen or surrendered out right. The ones they had taken by force had made a feeble attempt to
fight honorably and had lost. Common
sense should have told them that honorable fighting did not win you battles,
especially if you were against a viral general.
It had been a minor
annoyance to find out Dot Matrix was still alive. Obviously Nemesis had failed, but the assassin was no more his
concern than Melissa was. Their contact
had been unable to verify if Hexadecimal was still alive, but then again, he
knew her Lair had been destroyed as well as the fact that his enemies had not
used her power. Ashar had not relished
the idea of going against Daemon's offspring. Perhaps Melissa had succeeded. Ashar had always thought Melissa was stronger than she pretended to
be. Daemon would deal with them both in
her own sweet time.
Ashar had expected
Mainframe to fall like all the others, until the moment the tier had started
its descent. When it was all over, he
wondered if he had finally found a worthy opponent. He had been mildly impressed that she managed to disable the
systems aboard Ravage. He hadn't
been giving her idle flattery when he said Daemon could use her. He had been without a colonel for quite some
time.
Ashar watched for a moment
as the soldiers struggled in the water and shook his head, "Back to the ship,"
he ordered his pilot. The terrified
binome turned the cycle and left the unpleasant scene behind.
***
Mouse entered Dot's office
to find the Command.com sitting at her desk. A bottle of aspirin and a half-empty glass of water were on the desk
surface.
"Sugah, are you still
getting' them headaches?"
Dot looked up, "How did you
know?"
"It ain't hard to
tell. You should see a doctor about
them."
"It's all this," Dot
said. "What I just did --,"
Mouse saw the tears well in
Dot's eyes, "Aw – honey --," Mouse approached her and wrapped her arms around
Dot's shoulders while her friend cried.
"I'm sorry," Dot whispered,
"I'm always crying around you. You must
think I'm totally basic."
"No," Mouse smiled. "You did what you had to do."
Dot wiped the tears
away. "What's been going on out there?"
"Ashar went back to the
ship. He just left those poor soldiers
there."
"I'm not surprised, the
ASCII," Dot said grimly as she stood. "Mouse, have I told you how much I appreciate your being here – and just
you in general?"
Mouse smiled slightly and
felt her face warm, "Sure you have sugah, lots of times. We'd better get back."
"Dot," Phong said the
moment they re-entered the War Room. "We count at least one hundred more ships have broken off from the
armada and are approaching the city."
Mouse frowned at the
vid-window as Dot approached the console.
"Power up all weapons. Have an equal number of forces intercept."
Unexpectedly, the group of
enemy ships released hundreds of small glowing spheres from their holds.
"What's that?" Mouse wondered.
"Specks?" Dot turned to the binome.
"They're unidentifiable,"
Specks frowned. "They're not weapons."
The globes fell like tiny
comets to shatter against buildings or the ground. They caused very little damage.
"Wait," Mouse said, "Zoom
in on one of those things."
The vid-window followed the
descent of one of the globes until it shattered against the wall of the
Diner. What they hadn't been able to
see before was that within the globes were thousands of obsidian bugs.
Dot made a noise of
disgust, "All ships, destroy those fighters! Don't let any more of those globes hit!"
Their forces went to meet
the enemy and the first real battle ensued. The occupants of the War Room
watched as their people shot the globes from the sky with pinpoint
accuracy. Their lead ships positioned
themselves between the armada and their own fighters and blasted any enemies
that tried to act as reinforcements.
"Message coming in from the
captains, should they attack Ravage?"
"Mouse, could we get
through the Ravage's shields?"
"More than likely,
not. We'd be wasting energy."
"Tell them to keep their
eyes on the Ravage, but they are not to engage it until I give the
signal."
"Yes Ms. Matrix."
"What about the ships on
our perimeter?"
"They haven't moved,"
Specks said, "Wait, Ms. Matrix, we have a new problem!"
"What is it?"
Another window showed
panicked citizens running into the streets, trying desperately to rid
themselves of the infestation. Myriads
of bugs exploded from within buildings and out of windows, from cracks in the
sidewalk and sewer covers. Scurrying
about with frightening speed and clinging to the helpless sprites and binomes,
driving them out into the open.
Mouse saw something atop
the console out of the corner of her eye, moving rapidly towards Dot's
hand. She drew her dagger, advanced
across the room and stabbed it.
Dot jerked her hand back,
"What in the net!"
Mouse held up her
dagger. Although impaled, the insect
still struggled crazily. It was all
black, with the exception of a red streak down its middle and wicked-looking
pincers.
"Ew!" Dot cried, "Thanks Mouse."
"Better have the lab boys
look at this, make sure it's not poison. Although I figure it probably is."
"See if they make us up a
good old fashioned pesticide."
"On my way."
"Ms. Matrix, we're getting
panicked messages from all sectors."
Both Gavin and Ray appeared
in two separate windows, "Dot lass, there's panic on the streets! These bugs are everywhere!"
"Don't fire at the globes,
that only spreads them!" Ray cried.
"Have your forces separate
into groups and attempt to keep everyone calm. Ray, can you do something about this?"
"I can try, love."
"I want two CPU's to watch
Ray's back. Gavin, have everyone
proceed in an orderly fashion to where there's water -- the beach, Energy Park,
the river --,"
"Water, lass. I see what you mean."
Dot leaned down and removed
her boot, "Has anyone seen Enzo?" With
a quick violent movement, Dot smashed the second bug that was crawling across
the console with the heel.
"Sorry lass, no sign of
him."
"I'll keep looking, love,
don't worry I'll find him."
"That's not going to be
easy," Specks suddenly gave a cry and swatted at something on his hand. "Oh dear."
The bug fell right in front
of Phong who rolled over it. "That was
unpleasant." The old sprite muttered.
"Specks, you okay?"
"It bit me, but I'm all
right."
"Get down to the
infirmary."
"They won't be able to do
anything until they test the specimen," Specks said. "More fighters are approaching the city, plus a few dozen rocket
cycles."
"All forces intercept. Try not to destroy the globes." Dot began programming her console, "Maybe we
can figure out a way to deactivate them."
"Having a situation, Ms.
Matrix?" Dot looked up as General Ashar
appeared in a window.
"This suits you to a tee,"
Dot hissed.
"Very useful things these
bugs," Ashar said. "I don't normally
prefer to use such tactics. Perhaps you
should examine what's going on outside." The window closed.
Enemy transports were
dispatched from Ravage. Each
transport carried a detachment of twenty-five armor-clad and armed
soldiers. These soldiers began to round
up prisoners with merciless efficiency.
"Mobilize all
transports. Keep any of the enemy
transports from taking additional prisoners."
Dot watched as Ray used his
power to clear away the bugs. The
things would scatter only to converge again on the spot.
"Dot, a distress signal is
coming from our transport ships underneath Lost Angles," Phong said. "I can't quite make it out."
"Are there any enemy ships
nearby?"
"No – wait, we've lost the
signal."
"Now what's going on out
there? Well we can't worry about it
now. Are the fighters still on the
perimeter?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Have Captain Covar take
them out. They might not be expecting
it now."
"Yes, Ms. Matrix."
Dot threw herself into
planning once more yet she could not concentrate beyond the thought of Enzo and
what he must be going through now.
***
"Message coming in from the
surfer, Ms. Matrix."
"Put him through," Dot
said, "Specks, are you all right?"
"I'm fine just a little
tired."
Dot eyed him critically for
a moment, "Report Ray."
"I'm leading a group of
citizens to the Principal Office now," Ray said, "Some of them are sick from
the bug venom. Looks like it's a
delayed action poison. Still no sign of
Enzo."
"Delayed action?" Dot turned to Specks. "Specks? Specks!" The binome had
collapsed onto his console.
"Medics to the War Room
now!" Dot screamed into the comm. She rushed over to the fallen binome and
cradled his head against her. "Specks? Stay with me now."
Specks smiled weakly. "Sorry -- Dot – I thought I could hold on
--,"
"You random binome. I told you to go to the infirmary." Dot looked up at the vid-window, "Ray, meet
at the rendezvous point with Gavin. We'll drop the shields on your confirmation."
"Got it love, Stay Frosty,
all of you."
A medical team came in
followed by Mouse, "What happened?"
"Specks was bitten by a
bug," Dot stood back as the medical team loaded Specks onto a stretcher. "Mouse please tell me you have some good
news."
"I do, the medical team was
able to create an antidote, " Mouse said, "but they're not sure how well it
will work."
"Thank the User, anything
will do now. Mouse, would you take over
Specks' console?"
"You got it, sugah."
"Have the medics began to
vaccinate all Principal Office Staff." It was then Dot realized what Ray had said, that there was still no sign
of Enzo.