Before

by Askani Blue

This takes place before the tearing

5. A new begining

5

Part fourteen:

Bob

"That's about everything," he said, packing away the last of his things. Over a dozen cycles had pasted since he had thrown away the little black box and now he was getting ready to leave the hospital. Bob had recovered quickly, after he decided to recover at all.

Everyone was convinced he'd lost his mind. It was just too bizarre. Unexpected was one thing, but for him to even consider going back to work… insanity. Only Turbo and Ezia didn't have a problem with it.

Ezia the Mighty had returned shortly after he had started to pull himself together. She had been a little confused, but, "We didn't call you the Unexpected for nothing." She was doing well and had a keytool of her own, called Bastion. She was sent back on another assignment quickly, though she'd wanted to stay till he got out of the hospital. But orders were orders.

Much to his disappointment, his mother hadn't come to see him, even when he had asked her to. Bob understood why, he wasn't angry, only disappointed. His mother didn't know what to do. A dead son she could deal with, that society had prepared her for. But a crippled one that would live? She didn't know what to do. What kind of life could he possibly be hoping for? Bob had sent her a message, audio only, to give her time to prepare herself.

Turbo had been furious when he came back after delivering his recording. He couldn't understand why she wouldn't come, he saw it as cruel and Bob couldn't make him understand.

Bob dropped the small suitcase on the chair by the door and looked the room over. The drapes were pulled back letting in the bright daylight and everything was cleaned up. He'd spent three dozen cycles closed up in here, only seeing Turbo and Ezia, the occasional doctor, and once or twice Wispt had come over. She was accepting Bob's outlook on all of this and Turbo and her were back on.

Walking over to the bed, Bob activated his uniform and picked up his skiff that was lying over the bed. He buttoned it in front of the mirror and looked himself over. He looked very odd. He would pass for mix if not for his gray trimmed uniform and skiff. The skiff looked wrong on him anyway now and he disliked the two slits in the back. He unbuttoned it and tossed it back down behind him and stood there. This was it; this was the way he would have to be for the rest of his life. A crippled azure prince that would never take the throne. Or did he have to be?

He could flatten his voice like a data sprite and didn't have the wings to identify him anymore. All he'd have to do was change his azure uniform for the standard one Turbo wore and no one would suspect. It would be easy. He had two choices he could either be Botdrovtianx, a wingless, mangled azure noble, or Bob, a mix with some scars (easily hidden scars at that).

He pulled off and adjusted his icon and rebooted, this time with a blue and yellow uniform. Looking at the mirror again he frowned. The different clothes were good, but one thing was left, the only thing that made him look like an azure.

Reaching back, he pulled out the metal clasp that held his hair back. His long, silver coils fell around his shoulders, down to his elbows. He went over to the table and pulled out a small pair of scissors and went back to the mirror. "One more loose end to tie up, or rather… cut off." Quickly he chopped his hair off to his ears and shook his head, getting used to the feeling. It felt so odd after having it long his whole life. It was lighter, a lot lighter. "This is going to take some getting used to," he said, trying to push it behind his ears.

He looked at himself one more time and then turned and walked out. On his way past he grabbed his skiff and then the suitcase, and just before leaving he tossed the skiff in the trash.

He walked out barely getting any looks at all. No one recognized him. Turbo was going to pick him up at the door, but not for a few milli-seconds. Bob had left early so that he could walk around for a little bit. Strolling through the hospitals garden he got none of the stares he usually got. Now he was no one special, no one to even elicit a second glance.

Once a small child, (from one of the lower sectors, by her accent) pointed at him and asked her mom if he was an azure sprite. The mother shook her head and told her no, "He's just a half-breed, only part azure, honey, and don't point." Bob laughed as they walked away, and was still amused when Turbo showed up.

Bob's mother rushed about handling the many duties of her position. She was too busy to think about her son and she liked it that way. She went from room to room with her assistants in tow; there was always so much to do.

One of her servants hurried up to her, "Madam, there's-"

She side stepped him and began walking down the stairs to the main entrance room, she was far too busy to deal with whatever was wrong. "Not now, I'm…" She stopped when she saw Turbo standing there, at the foot of the stairs.

Not only did he have the gall to come back here, but now he'd brought some other half-breed with him? They were talking softly, completely oblivious to her presence. The newcomer had his back to her and it was Turbo who saw her first. He looked up and motioned for his friend to do the same. "Turbo! How dare you-" She froze when the "half-breed" turned to see her and was her son. "Botdrovtianx? Is that you?" She was barely whispering. He said something to Turbo and he left as Bob walked up to greet her.

"Hello, mother." He spoke quietly as he approached, "How have you been?" She just stood there, unable to speak. Her hands were shaking. Bob stepped up and took them in his. "It's okay, I'm alright. Everything's going to be alright. I promise."

She pulled her hands from his and reached up tentatively to touch his face, tears forming. "What has happened to your hair?"

He smiled gently, "I cut it." He embraced her carefully, as she crumbled in his arms. She wept even through his reassurances that everything was fine.

After a while of crying, she finally got out, "Fine? How is this fine? What will become of you? You can't be Patriarch, you can't get a keytool, and you have no place so you can't marry. How can this be fine? What kind of life can you hope for?"

"A different one."

She shook her head at that. He was just rambling nonsense as far as she could see. "And what are you wearing? This is a spite's uniform, not an azure one, and why did you cut your hair?"

"Mother, I know I can never have life as an azure, not really. But as a mix… This way I can be somewhat normal. People will mistake me for one, they won't see me as a mutilated azure." He could see this was making no sense to her. "I can have a life, just not an azure life. I'll be happy. Look at me, do I look upset, do I look like I have nothing left? I can deal with not being Patriarch, and as for Riswfonidad, I really didn't want to marry her. I'd rather stay alone than be with her.

"I'll be okay. I promise." He spoke to her for a few milli-seconds, assuring her that he was happy… and sane. In the end she got that this was what he wanted and wished him well.

Bob left his childhood home and found Turbo waiting at the hover car. He jumped in and they shot off to the other side of the Azure sector, to the Guardian Collective Main.

Bob stepped out of the car onto the steps of the massive building. He had seen it a million times throughout his life, but this time it looked different. This time the many balconies and open doorways above were completely inaccessible and the upward sweeping architecture only served to remind him that he was grounded. Suddenly everything built by his winged race looked odd and unreachable. This time he saw it from a mix's point of view.

With Turbo close behind, he went up through the main doors to inform his superiors that he was not deleted and that he was going back to his duties, as Bob.

Part fifteen:

A new life

Time passed and Bob adjusted to his new station in life. He was somewhat accepted by the standard and mix Guardians, but he was always on the outside. Healed as well as he would ever be, he had about the same strengths and weaknesses of an average data sprite and if he kept his voice flattened everyone mistook him for one. He liked that. As soon as anyone found out who he really was, they'd start treating him differently. Like he was feeble or sickly, when actually he was just as able as they were. Sometimes he'd have bad spells, but more time passed the fewer he had.

He ended up with a keytool, very shortly after going back to work. Its name was Glitch and it had a quirky sense of humor, just like Bob. If everyone was surprised by Glitch, then they were stunned when he made first-class. He made it all the way up to being in charge of his own sector and could have gone farther, but he really wasn't interested in that.

Ezia was always out on some assignment or another. Her and Bastion were one of the best teams in the hunters and she quickly jumped up the ranks. Reaching near the top of them. Getting two ranks from their equivalent of Second Lieutenant.

Turbo on the other hand, surpassed them all and made omega-class by the time Bob reached first. Omega was right next to the Prime and her Lieutenants. He was there only until the vote for the new Prime came up. Then, to an unbelievable uproar from the azure nobility, he was made Prime, at the incredibly young age of 2.4. He did his job well, much to the surprise of his unhappy First Lieutenant.

Bob's life was rather uneventful for the most part. Occasionally he would run into Mouse and have a good time trying to catch her. And have an even better time once he did. At one point, she considered going litigate to stay with him, but that just wasn't in her. Beyond her and the rare fling he was pretty much alone. He'd known it'd be like this when he threw away the black box. So be it, he could live with having only a few friends for company. He'd known this was what his life would be like. But that didn't make it any better. He felt like a leper half the time and like the invisible sprite the other half. Loneliness was not something his format dealt with well.

One day a hacker other than Mouse wandered into his sector. Bad move. He perused him all through the sector and eventually out of it, when the hacker started portaling all over the place. The hacker maneuvered his ship through one portal only to make another one as soon as he got on the other side. Bob scanned the portal quickly each time, before jumping through. He'd learned his lesson on that one. They must have barreled through several dozen portals before Bob lost track of him.

"Cursors!" he shouted at the spot that the portal had been, throwing down his zip board.

He was wasted and so was Glitch, "Okay, where are we?" he asked his partner. Glitch showed the small systems stats and Bob shook his head. "Well, we're a long way from home aren't we, buddy." He saw a small boy standing back watching him, wide-eyed. Then he saw the boy wasn't alone, over a dozen binomes were watching him, too, with the same expression. "Hey, kiddo, mind telling me the name of this system?"

He jumped a little and then said, uncertainly, "This is Mainframe. Who are you?"

He smiled at the kid, "I'm Bob. And you would be?"

"Enzo. What-"

He was cut off by the shout of CPUs, "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, DON'T MOVE!" They had several guns trained on Bob.

Bob just looked at them like they'd lost they're main processor, Glitch clicked it's agreement at the ridiculousness of the situation. The CPU's took Glitch's noises as offensive got even more jumpy. "HOLD IT! JUST DROP THE WEAPON AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!"

"I am not going to drop my keytool and I am not an enemy. What's wrong with you sprites?"

"Enzo!" came a woman's shout from behind him. He turned to see a tall sprite that looked very much like the boy; green skin and dark hair. "Get away from him, now!" The kid was inside the circle of guns around Bob.

"Umm…" Enzo looked around him unsure of where to go. He looked at Bob questioningly.

"Go." Bob said motioning him away. "I'm not stopping you. If these dipswitches decide to fire at me, I sure don't want you getting caught in the middle of it."

He ran over to the woman, past him. She glared at Bob once she had the child with her. "Threatening a child…"

"Hey listen, lady, the only people threatening anyone is your random CPU's here. I'm just standing here."

Looking up at the woman, Enzo said nodding, "He didn't do anything."

"Neither did Megabyte, at first." This came from a new sprite, one that came up behind the woman. He was an old form, with gold skin and a roller ball for legs. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm Bob, Guardian first-class from the Super Computer. I came here in pursuit of a hacker that had been found in my sector. I followed him here, but lost him when he jumped through another portal." He crossed his arms in adding, "I was just trying to figure out where I was when these geniuses showed up."

"A Guardian… yes we have heard of your format from travelers passing through. You play in the games, yes?"

"Yes. That and a few other things. You've never seen one of us?"

"No, we have not been open to the net for very long." With a signal from the ancient sprite, the CPU's lowered their weapons. He rolled up to Bob. "I greatly apologize for our jumping to conclusions. Not long ago a pair of viruses walked into our system, claiming they were friends. I am Phong, assistant to the Command.Com."

Bob took his outstretched hand and shook it, "Two viruses? That's rare, unless they're working together."

"They don't work together." The woman added this.

"Huh? And your name is…?"

"Dot. You know with all the guns pointed at you, maybe you should have laid down your… whatever it is," she said, meaning Glitch.

It clicked angrily at that. Bob laughed, "I think Glitch would have taken offence at that, wouldn't you have?" it clicked again.

"Alphanumeric… It's alive." Enzo inched up to him and lightly touched it. Glitch clicked hello, but the kid couldn't understand it, and jumped.

"It's okay, it just said hello."

"Oh, hello."

"Now," Bob said turning back to the woman, "What were you saying about them not working together." She and Phong described the situation to him, with added commentary by Enzo.

The two viruses had come in together, but had parted ways. One was a female called Hexadecimal. She only caused the occasional trouble, a Chaotic. She lived on an uninhabited place called Lost Angles. The real problem was the other. He was called Megabyte and he was behaving in a normal Infector fashion, bent on conquering the entire system. He already had two of the six sectors of the tiny system. And was gaining power.

Bob listened to all of this and then began explaining what exactly his format was, when all too familiar words came in a new voice, "Warning, Incoming Game. Warning, Incoming Game."

"I'm off." Bob unfolded his zip board and took off towards the game. Once inside it wasn't much to beat, rather basic. When he exited to unbelieving cheers, he found out how unusual it was for one to be won.

He was invited to the principle office to contact his command and inform them he would be on his way back, tomorrow. Glitch was too tired to portal or even signal back. On the way, the kid jumped around him, asking a million questions. "What's the Super Computer?" "What did he do there?" "What was Glitch and what did it do?" "How dangerous was the hacker he was chasing?" "Did he have to chase hackers a lot?" "Did he ever see a virus?" "Did he ever have to fight one?"

At the last two questions Bob gave short non-committal answers. The kid didn't know, so Bob wasn't going to take offense. But Dot, his sister, saw his expression change and took it wrong. "Enzo, I think the Guardian has answered enough of your questions. He's tired."

"But-"

"No. That's enough."

Bob didn't want the kid to stop, just to not ask those questions. "It's okay, I don't mind. It was just-"

"You don't have to humor him." She spoke coldly to him and, "I'm sure you're very tired."

"Yes I am, but I don't-"

"See, Dot?" the kid piped in.

"I said no. Now why don't you go home, it's getting late."

"But-"

"Now."

"Ah, man. I never get to do anything," and he zipped off.

Bob hadn't wanted Enzo to go, he liked the kid. He reminded him of himself a little. It was nice to have someone act excited to be around him. Most of the time, sprites behaved like it was a chore. He liked his energy, and was sad to see him go. Bob was about to tell Dot that he had really meant what he said, when Phong pointed him towards the proper vid window.

They all left him in privacy in Phong's office to make his call. He sent it to his direct superior and said that he was in some small system, and would portal back in the morning. The azure didn't argue with him, she never did. She knew he was best friends with the Prime and was not to be questioned. 'And to think no one could see the point to making your buddy, Prime.' He thought to himself, smiling.

Dot offered to get him a byte to eat at a diner she owned. On the way she queried him herself. "So, you'll be heading back tomorrow, huh?"

"Yup, I've got a whole sector I'm in charge of. I can't be gone for long."

She nodded.

"But when I get back, I'll see to it that a Guardian is assigned here. You desperately need one. The only reason you don't already have one is…"

"Is because we haven't been on the net very long. I get it."

Bob was having a real problem talking to her. She wasn't very likable. The kid on the other hand…

"Bob!" as soon as they stepped into the diner, the boy leapt at him, tackling him. "I didn't think you'd come here. Did you call the Super Computer? Are you going back tomorrow?"

"Enzo!" Dot yelled at this.

"It's okay." Bob said setting the boy on the floor and straightened his cap. "Yup I called them, and I'm going back tomorrow." He could see Enzo's heart drop and added, "But I'll be sure they send another Guardian here. Don't worry."

"Okay." He brightened up a little at that. A little. "You want something to eat?"

They sat down and had a snack, while Enzo continued to drill him. The kid was wonderful; it was his uptight sister that Bob could do without. She was so bossy, half the time the just wanted to tell her to leave the poor kid alone, but Enzo was wonderful. Bob loved his playfulness and as Bob went up to his room for the night, he realized how lonely he had been lately. And how unhappy he was to be leaving. He liked the kid, and people here, for the most part, treated him like a normal sprite. He didn't want to leave, just to go back to being the leper first-classman. He liked it here.

The next morning Bob woke up and got dressed slowly, still thinking. He could stay if he wanted, Turbo would clear it. But did he want to? "Yeah, I do," he told his reflection. "'Bout the only thing here I don't like, other than the two viruses, is Enzo's older sister. She could get on my nerves fast. But that kid'll be so much fun. He's crazier than I was at that age." He sighed at himself, " Yeah, I do." He walked over to Glitch and picked it up from its charger.

He got through to Turbo in no time at all, and started to explain why he wasn't coming back and needed a transfer to a backwater system. "It's a girl, isn't it? Only a girl could get someone to do something as random as this."

"It's not the girl."

He grinned devilishly, "So there is a girl…"

Bob just shook his head, "Yes there's a girl, but trust me my feeling are far from sexual. They're more like homicidal."

"Then what?"

"They need a Guardian here."

"We can assign someone else to it."

"I want to stay, Turbo."

Far from willing to let him, Turbo sighed heavily, "You said there were two viruses there…"

"Turbo! I will not have this conversation with you! I can handle myself just fine. Sweet code, I'm a grown adult. You wouldn't be hesitating if I were anyone else."

He sat there a few nanos, thinking. Bob was right, he could handle himself. He hadn't had a bad spell in quite awhile and had proven himself as able as any normal sprite. And he really wanted it… "Okay. You can stay. We'll find someone to take your sector; I doubt it'll be hard. Just answer me one thing."

"What?"

"Why are you staying, really?"

He thought about this for a bit, then answered, "I dunno, I guess it's this one kid. He's a little maniac, runs around like a nut, and I'm sick of only having you to talk to."

Turbo laughed at that. "Okay, have fun. Just be careful."

Bob zipped to the principle office and told Phong that he'd be the Guardian to this system, if they wanted him. Phong said that he was welcome to stay and that he'd arrange for permanent housing for him immediately.

He then told the kid and his sister (because she was there at the time). And found a tear and portaled back to the Super Computer. Someone was already set in his old sector and Bob stayed just long enough to get his things and tell his mother he was leaving. She didn't argue with him, she'd long ago given up trying to make sense of him. All and all, he was back in Mainframe in less than half a cycle. By then Phong had an apartment ready and Bob moved into it with no trouble. He quickly settled into Mainframe and his new life.

Over the many, many cycles, he made new friends and met up with old ones. He played in many games and dealt with the two virals often, sometimes winning, sometimes loosing. He found his way to heaven following a hacker, was lost in hell, and managed to make it back to heaven in one piece. He got another set of scars to show for it and found love in the last place he'd expected it.

But that's another story, for another storyteller. Isn't it?

End Prog