What Happened To The Twincity part ii

What Happened To The Twin City, part ii

A vidwindow appeared in Dot's bedroom. Dot and Enzo were still sitting there, with their arms around each other. Dot looked up when the vidwindow appeared. The city's executive secretary, an old sprite called Phong, was on screen. Dot had not met him very often before, maybe one or two times, but he always had a comforting way about him. At the moment, he was looking worried at the two young sprites, who sat trembling on the floor.
'Dot, I think you heard the explosion?' Dot sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. 'Yes Phong, we did. Has happened what I think happened?' Phong inclined his head. 'I am afraid so, my child.'
He looked at a screen at his left, and then looked back at Dot and Enzo. 'Would you two come to the Principal Office?' Dot nodded. 'Just give us a nano.'

At the very moment Dot wanted to knock on the door of Phong's Read Only Room, the door opened, and Phong was in the doorway. 'Ah, come in, children.' There were dozens of vidwindows open and active in the room. All showed CPU's, ambulances, all heading for or present in what was left of the twincity. Phong sighed. 'I have send out search- and rescue teams as soon as I could. I am afraid that there is not much we can save, though.'
Another vidwindow opened, showing one of the commanders that had gone out to the twincity. 'Sir! I'm sorry to say that there is not much left of our twincity.' Phong nodded mutely. 'Do you have any visuals yet?' The commander nodded, and his face was replaced by dark, horrible images. They still heard his voice. 'There is only a small part left, and there are huge clouds of steam rising from the energysea.' The images on the vidwindow changed, and they could now see a huge column of steam rising. Phong looked at it closely. 'It seems to me that the explosion was quite a hot one that has struck quite a crater. I think the energy streaming in immediately evaporated. That would explain the steam.' The commander re-appeared on the vidwindow. 'The explosion also did some strange things to the sector left, Phong. Here, I've some other visuals.' Again his face disappeared, and this time the vidwindow showed the arc that stood just off the base of the Gilded Gate Bridge. A CPU approached it from one side, flew into it, and disappeared. The view shifted, zooming in. Then it quickly spun around, showing the disappeared CPU heading straight at the camera. The commander appeared again.
'The entire thing seems distorted. One can go one way, and then all of a sudden be somewhere else completely.' Phong considered this. Then he nodded. 'Pull back from the sector, commander. Bring your men back to Mainframe, and make sure no-one can enter the disaster area.' The commander saluted crisply, and closed the vidwindow.

In the city, chaos ruled. Binomes were running though the city, hoping to find relatives and friends. Many were now, after the first moments of complete despair, and being stopped from entering what was left of the Twincity, heading for the Principal Office. Phong had decided to make a public announcement, to inform the citizens of what had happened, to comfort them and to ask their support. When he appeared on the public vidwindows, the binomes quieted down. The yelling, crying and screaming seized, and all of Mainframe hushed.

'Dear friends, citizens of Mainframe. No doubt you have all heard the explosion some nanos ago. Some of you might even have seen what has happened to our twincity. For those of you who haven't: a large explosion has deleted our twincity and all the sprites living there.'
Phong paused for just a nano.
'All that is left of our twincity is a small island at the other side of the Gilded Gate Bridge, which, from this moment on, is restricted area. It might be too dangerous to cross the bridge.
I would like all the citizens present in Mainframe to report to the Principal Office, so that we know who have survived the disaster. I would also like to ask you not to cause problems for the ones guarding the Gilded Gate Bridge. They act at my orders and are only doing their jobs.
Have faith, my friends. One cycle, all will be right again.'

Dot and Enzo were standing in Phong's Read Only Room, both looking kind of lost. Phong approached them, and put his hands on their shoulders. 'My children, I think we should go to see what is left of our twincity.' He paused for a nano and bowed his head. 'Although I think it is not much.'
The three of them set out in the direction of the Gilded Gate Bridge, the link between the two cities. A thin layer of black dust covered the entire city and fragments of the material the people from the twincity build their houses with.
Many sprites were on the streets, some talking to each other, some weeping with loss, other's seemingly too shocked to do anything. The corner of Dot's mouth started to tremble again, and tears appeared in her eyes. Enzo took her hand, and looked up to her, with a questioning look. 'Dot?' Dot sniffed. 'Yes Enzo?' 'Mum and Dad love us, don't they?' Dot nodded. She could not say anything; the lump in her throat was too big.

Within a few nanoseconds, Phong, Dot and Enzo reached the beginning of their side of the Gilded Gate Bridge. When they were allowed through the line of CPUs and binomes guarding the Gilded Gate, Dot felt tears coming up again, Enzo started to cry and Phong turned away his head.
The once proud bridge was awfully twisted and horribly corrupted. The surface was twisted into lugubrious shapes, loops and corkscrews like in a giant roller-coaster.
On the other end of the bridge lay only a small island. A small island was everything that was left of the once so proud twincity. Where the science labs, the sportssector and almost all of the systems livingquarters were, was only the energy sea, from which little clouds of steam were still rising. Energywaves gently lapped the shores of the island, which had been part of the LA sector. Only ruins were left of the living quarters that had been the highest buildings in the system.

Dot was fighting her tears while she spoke: 'I guess there is no chance Ferra and James have survived?' Phong turned his eyes to what was left of the twincity. 'I am afraid not, my child.' He paused. 'I would be surprised if anyone from the twincity has survived this blow.'
At that moment, Enzo elbowed Dot in her side.
'Dot, look! There!'
Dot looked in the direction Enzo's outstretched finger indicated. At the base of the bridge crawled something. Enzo did not hesitate, but ran towards the crawling figure. Dot and Phong quickly followed him.
Enzo had kneeled down beside the figure and was now stroking it. When Dot came closer, she could see the figure was an animal sprite. It was a dog, and although he was very dirty and apparently exhausted, he did not seem to be fatally injured. Now Enzo was stroking it, the dog softly snarled.
'Enzo....' Dot started.
'No, Dot, we have to take care of him! He's hurt!' Dot sighed.
'All right.' She turned to Phong.
'Could you contact the hospital, Phong?' The old sprite nodded.
'Of course.'
When he had contacted the veterinarian hospital, which was fortunately situated in Mainframe. Phong looked at the young woman sprite. He had done what she had asked, even without realising it. He shook his head. This sprite had exactly the same thing as her mother had had: she was a natural leader, and without thinking, she gave the right orders to the right sprites.

Soon the veterinarians arrived, and they took the dog with them on a stretcher-unit. Enzo gave his sister a begging look. Dot nodded. 'All right. You can go with him, but I want you to contact me as soon as possible.' Enzo happily nodded and stepped in the van, together with the two half sleeping binomes who had put the dog on a stretcher. They left the site, and Dot and Phong were left alone. Dot stood watching the bridge, it's golden shine gone, most of it replaced by a scorched black. Dot turned her head, and started to cry again. She felt Phong's hand on her shoulder, and began to cry even harder. Then she took a deep breath and sniffed one last time. With the tears still in her eyes, she looked at the old, wise sprite that was doing his best to try to comfort her. 'It was their fault, wasn't it?'

Dot was sitting in a chair in Phong's room in the Principal Office. She had calmed down a little and was now drinking a cup of tea. Her face was still sad, but she'd stopped crying. When Phong entered the room again, he had a blanket in his arms. He carefully draped it around the young sprite, and then sat down in a chair facing her. Dot gave him an empty, thankful look. Phong cleared his throat. 'Dot, I think it is only fair that you know what your parents have told me about the experiment.' Dot looked at him, her eyes incomprehensive.
'What do you mean?'
Phong cleared his throat again. 'Well, I think Ferra and James did not tell you that they knew how dangerous this experiment was.'
Dot hadn't taken her eyes of him, and now her eyes were filled with fear.
'Yes, my child, I am saying that your parents knew exactly that something could happen. I knew it, only we did not expect it to have such an impact.'
Dot's vision became misty as her eyes filled with tears again.
'They have killed themselves....' Dot's voice failed her.
'NO! Don't you ever say that!' Phong had swiftly risen from his chair, and shook Dot up by her shoulders. When he realised what he was doing, he quickly released her.
'No. Dot, Ferra and James died in an attempt to do something for the city. They knew what could happen, and still they chose to execute this experiment. There could have happened nothing, just as easily. And if it was anyone's fault, it should have been mine because I gave them permission to execute it. It wasn't their fault, Dot, and they did NOT kill themselves. Is that clear, my child?'
Dot nodded, with tears in her eyes. 'But why didn't they tell us?'
Phong bowed his head. He could not make an answer to that question.

The following morning, Dot woke in a room that was filled with bright sunlight. She opened her eyes, still not fully awake yet. Her head felt cloudy, and with her eyes half closed, she stepped out of bed. Only then she realised that she was not in her own room. It was much smaller, and the window was in an other place. Dot looked around, and saw that above the door was the picture of an icon, surrounded by the words "Principal Office". Phong must have entered her in one of the rooms in the Principal Office. She stretched the muscles in her neck and back. Then she tapped her icon, and was immediately dressed. Dot took a quick look at herself in the mirror, before she walked out the door.

Enzo was already sitting with Phong in Phong's Read Only Room. He was excitedly talking about the dog they found last night. Enzo had gone with him to the Veterinarian Hospital, and had watched, and helped, while the binomes washed, fed and treated him. To Enzo's delight, the dog snarled at everyone, except him. For a while, Dot sat listening to Enzo's story with only a half ear, when suddenly she heard one sentence very clear:
'They all say it is his fault.'
Dot sprang up. 'No, it's not! You know he was only doing it because he thought it was best! You know he wouldn't do anything to hurt our cities on purpose!'
Enzo jumped up, too. 'It is! He knew it could be dangerous! Phong told me. If it wasn't for Dad and his stupid experiment, the twincity, and the Labs and Robin, all my friends and everything would still exist!'
Enzo turned and ran out of the room. Dot fell back in her chair, shocked. She hadn't even thought about all the animalsprites in the sportssector, or the numerous workstations at the Labs. But her brother was right. All those were lost as well. A sudden feeling of hopelessness surged through her. She closed her eyes and gave a deep sigh.
'Oh Phong, how can I ever forget what he's done?'

Not long after, Phong decided to make another announcement. Although he had assigned sprites that night to continually inform the residents of Mainframe, he felt he should reassure them himself. So when noon came to the city, he sighed and opened the public vidwindows. Again, Mainframe hushed.

'Dear friends. For all of you who had not yet heard, cause of the explosion was an accident in the Science Labs, due to an experiment that I prescribed.'
The old sprite looked around the city with a strict look on his face. It was a warning for anyone who blamed James Matrix for the accident. An unNetly quiet descended upon the Mainframes.
'From this moment on, the disaster area will no longer be restricted. You must be warned, however, that reality in the LA-sector is severely distorted. Going there would not be wise, but I do not want to forbid you going there. If you decided to go, I can only warn you to take care.
Tomorrow, we will have an extensive service in the Assembly Hall in the Principal Office. After that, we will discuss what we must do to get our city processing again. Have faith, friends. We will get going again, and one day everything will be right again.'

Phong closed the windows and turned to Dot, who was sitting on top of his desk. 'I'm just worried about Enzo. Only the User knows what he is doing, and where!' Phong gave her a reassuring pat on her leg.
'Do not worry, my child. He will come back when he has worked things through.'

That night, Dot slept in her own apartment again. At least, she tried to. It was already in the middle of the night, and Enzo still hadn't returned. She had called Phong several times, but after the fifth time had had promised her he would call her as soon as he heard from Enzo.
Dot resolutely swung her legs over the rim of the bed, rose, tapped her Icon and left her apartment. She couldn't sleep anyway, so why not take a walk?

Enzo was sitting on a bench in Floating Point Park. At his feet was the dog they had found at the base of the Gilded Gate Bridge. He swung his legs to and fro, while he thoughtfully looked into the distance. He could not believe that his parents were gone. Already a whole cycle had gone by without them. Without the loving smile of his mother. Without the warm embrace of his father, and his dark, sparkling eyes.
Enzo rubbed his eyes and shivered. Nights were getting cold, and here he was, in the middle of the night, on a hard bench in a windy park. The dog, which, now he was cleaned up, was red and gold coloured, gave him a puzzled look. He made a questioning sound, put his front feet on the bench, next to Enzo, and softly wagged his tail. Enzo stroked his head.
'I know, Frisket. We should be home, with Dot, sleeping.' He sighed. 'Warm in bed.'
Frisket made a soft whimper and wagged his tail again. Then, all of a sudden, he turned his head and started to snarl. Enzo looked up, and saw a lost figure walking through the park. The figure was unmistakably a woman, a young woman, and for only a moment Enzo thought he saw his mother walking through the chilly park. Only when the young sprite walked underneath a lamppost, he saw his mistake. Despite the fact that the sprite had similar features in the dark, she did not have the gold and red colour his mother had. This sprite's skin was green, and her hair black.
It was his sister.

'DOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

Dot looked up when she heard her name. She was happily surprised when she saw her little brother running towards her. Following close behind was the dog they had found at the bridge the night before.
'Dot!'
Enzo now cried while he was running, and when he had reached Dot, he flung his arms around her and sobbed uncontrollably. Dot hugged him tight and kissed him on his head.
'Hush now. Enzo, it's all right. It's gonna be okay.'
'No...' Enzo turned up his nose and looked his sister in the eyes.
'How can it be okay when we have no parents?'
Dot gently stroked his head. 'We'll be all right. I'll take care of you, and together we'll pull through.'
Enzo still looked at her. Now his eyes were thoughtful, while he was processing what Dot had just said. Then he nodded, earnestly. 'You are right.' His eyelids nearly dropped.
'Dot, I am so tired...'
'Then go to sleep, Enzo. I'll take care of you.'
Dot lifted him up, and with his head on his sister's shoulder and his arms around her neck, Enzo peacefully fell asleep. For just a nano, Dot looked down on his face, smiling. Then she got her organiser from her pocket and contacted the Principal Office.
'Phong? I found him.'

A soft mumbling filled the Great Assembly Hall in the Principal Office. All the binomes that were left in Mainframe had come together for the extensive service Phong had announced the cycle before.
Binomes were dressed in black, and there was no sprite that hadn't had red rims around his or her eyes.
Dot and Enzo had a place near the centre of the hall. Phong had told then that morning, after he had received the results from the sprite report, that they were the only two Data sprites left in the city. All the others were binomes. Since most of the Data sprites had lived in the twincity, this was only a logic cause, but Dot and Enzo felt only more lost by it.
Now they sat quietly in the Assembly hall, tightly holding on to each other's hands. Dot wore a long black dress, and she had forced Enzo to wear black trousers and a shirt. Dot looked at her little brother, who was looking around. He had never been in the Assembly hall.
'Enzo.' Dot whispered.
Enzo looked up to her, and smiled. She saw the tears in his eyes, and gave a soft squeeze in his hand. For just a moment, they looked into each other's eyes. Then Phong appeared in the centre of the Assembly Hall, and they turned their attention to him.

'My dear friends.
We have gathered here today to have a service for our friends that have been deleted when the twincity exploded. Before anything else, I would like to read out an old Read-Me file that has been used before in situations like these:

"Living is embracing datasprites and binomes
Only to let go
To let them grow and blossom
In our memory." '

For a few nanos all was quiet in the Assembly Hall. Most of the binomes had tears in their eyes, and some were softly crying. Dot sniffed and gave Enzo's hand a small squeeze. Then Phong continued speaking:

'A friend of mine has advised me something, and, led by that advise, I have decided to place a monument for the deleted sprites. I do not know where yet, but I hope to get some suggestions from you. My dear friends, I would like to call for a few nanoseconds of quiet, for us all to remember the deleted ones.'

Again, everything grew quiet. Dot's thoughts went to the afternoon before the destruction of the twincity. She had been out swimming with her mother, and they had discussed her future. Ferra had always wanted her to get a better education and then to get a job in the Labs or so. She had not wanted that, she'd wanted to see something of the Net. At least, after her Diner had started to run properly.
But now it seemed she'd never come beyond Mainframe. With her parents gone, she'd have to take care of Enzo, make sure he got a proper education and that he want to a good school and all those things more. She sighed, and then her attention was again drawn by Phong, who started to speak again:

'Although grieve for our lost friends and loved ones is still fresh in our hearts, it is my opinion we should try to move on. Already a cycle has passed without the sprites that lived in the twincity, and we have survived it. Tears are important, but we must make sure that by the mourning for our lost friends, we are not lost ourselves. We must try to adept Mainframe to the needs of every day live, which means we have to build things in Mainframe that before lay in the twincity. With that I mean the things as new Labs, in time a new sportssector and most of all more livingquarters. To me, it seems best that we build these things inside the Principal Office, so that it will become the new centre of daily activities.
I hope you all support me on this and that you will help me to rebuilt Mainframe.
Go with faith, my friends. Some cycle, all will be right again, and the painful memories of the last cycle will have faded.'

The binomes got up, and slowly the Assembly Hall emptied. Dot and Enzo stayed seated until most sprites were gone, then slowly walked out of the building, towards Dot's Diner. Enzo reached for Dot's hand.
'Dot?'
'What is it?'
'I will never forget Mum and Dad.'
'Neither will I Enzo. Wherever I am, I will always remember them.'

THE END

Of course you all know that this is not really the end, but merely the beginning. From this point on, one cycle Megabyte and Hexadecimal will enter Mainframe, and of course Bob's going to show up some day. Maybe there'll be a day I'll write about that too. (As a matter of fact, I've already started to write about the cycle Megabyte in modemed into Mainframe)
For now, I think I haven't done a bad job on the twincity...
Indy, 3 December 1999

** May 16, 2001 **
I have thought some time about rewriting this, mainly because I do not like to re-write things once I have finished them. This story about the twincity however, screamed for a re-write because of the things that happened in my hometown a year ago.
I live in Enschede, the Netherlands, and a year ago, may 13 2000 to be exact, a fireworks-depot located in the centre of a neighbourhood exploded. The entire neighbourhood was either blasted away or destroyed, and in a mile radius houses were damaged. Over a thousand people were wounded, and 22 were killed. All in all, my view of the destruction of the twincity, especially the moments after, the information of the residents, the rescue teams, has changed quite a bit. That is why I decided to re-write, because I came to the conclusion that the real thing was pretty different from what I'd written.
Indy