Chapter II:
Outsiders

The game cube lifted. Zara and Michael fell several feet to the ground. Zara landed on her feet with catlike agility, thanks to her Guardian reflexes. Michael landed upon his rear end, with all the grace of a rock.

"Ouch," he muttered as Zara pulled him to his feet.

Zara opened a vidwindow, connecting to the Medical Wing of the Principal Office. "Norton, please send a Medivac to the Desktop sector, District Nine. I think we may have some wounded."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied curtly, closing the vidwindow.

"Hey, I don't think I need medical attention," Michael said, rubbing his now slightly bruised bitmap.

She could barely restrain herself from clobbering him. "Not you, you basic ignoramus! I think at least one of the sprites we saw in the game was injured. Where are they, anyway?" She spotted the two sprites standing several hundred feet away, waiting expectantly. Zara started off toward them at a brisk walk.

Michael hurried after her. "Are sure we should even be talking to them?" His voice rose higher in pitch as he became more anxious. "What if they're dangerous? What if they're wanted for murder? What if-"

"Michael! You are being way too paranoid. I'm a Guardian. It's my duty to protect this system, but that doesn't mean I attack every stranger that shows up!"

Michael was silenced. He sulked for a little bit as he and Zara drew nearer to the outlanders. He broke his silence with a question.

"If the sector was empty when the games cube landed, where did they come from?"

He had his friend's attention. Zara peered at him inquisitively. Just when she thought she had him figured him out… "I never thought about that. You make a good point."

"I do? Then-"

"Don't push your luck."

As the Guardian and the merchant approached, Zara could see the male sprite was much larger that she; she estimated he had a least two feet on her. And he had the build of a tank. A pale scar ran across a yellow, almost mechanical-looking eye, contrasting with the other violet one.

His companion was a tall, lithe female, though she only came up to his neck. She had a exotic beauty about her, and Zara had to look twice when she thought she spied fins on the back of the woman's arms and legs. They both looked to be nearly the same age as Zara, twenty, or maybe a little younger. She noticed the male had a black and gold icon, while the female had a normal data sprite icon, white and black. The red and yellow dog standing protectively in front of them laid back its ears as she drew near.

Zara stopped in front of them, with Michael standing silent a little ways behind her. Planting her staff point down, she tried to look authoritative.

"This is System Compaq, and I am Zara Mavis, Guardian 538. State your names and formats."

The male spoke first. "I'm Matrix…" He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "No format." Matrix turned to the female who leaned on him for support.

"I'm AndrAIa." She extended her good arm and Zara shook it carefully, noting that the young woman had failed to give her format. AndrAIa motioned to the dog, which was eyeing the Guardian uncertainly. "And that's Frisket."

Before she could be warned, Zara bent down to pet Frisket on his head. The dog didn't attack immediately as expected, surprising both Matrix and AndrAIa. He instead wagged his tail, and licked the Guardian's hand. Seeing their puzzled expressions, Zara stood up, wiping the dog slobber on the pants of her uniform. "I guess I'm just a dog person," she said, smiling. She glanced up to the sky, shielding her eyes against the bright daylight, searching. "The Medivac should be arriving right about…now." A squarish, helicopter-like vehicle with a red cross on its side landed a little ways away from the four sprites.

Zara motioned for AndrAIa and Matrix to get in, but he paused, looking doubtfully at the Guardian. She sighed, "AndrAIa needs medical attention, and you probably do too. Go on, you'll both be fine. I'll meet you there."

The two climbed inside, followed by Frisket, growling at the paramedic attendants, and Zara slid the door closed. The Medivac pulled away.

Turning, she found Michael staring wistfully after the rapidly disappearing Medivac. "Michael?" she said, waving a hand in front of his face. "Compaq to Michael…" Frustrated, she brought her heavy boot down his foot.

"Ow!" Michael began hopping about frantically, clutching his foot. "What'd you do that for?!?"

Zara grinned mischievously, leaning on her staff. "Your processor seemed to be…elsewhere."

"Um…well…"

She straightened and decompressed her zipboard. "Maybe it would be a good idea if you focused your attentions on some other victim. Matrix looks like the jealous type…and I hope you noticed how much bigger he is than you."

He crossed his arms and glared at her. "And I think you should mind your own business." A beeping was emitting from the compressed organizer on his belt. He maximized it, and a barrage of frantic shouting discharged.

"Compton!" an angry and slightly static voice shouted. "You were supposed to be down here a CYCLE ago!! What in the Net have you been doing?!?"

"Oh, crap, I was on my way to the docks to pick up a shipment when I got caught in that game." Zara rolled her eyes as Michael decompressed his own zipboard and zipped off. "Catch you later, Zara!" he yelled over his shoulder.

"Michael! Watch-" She winced as Michael zipped smack into a tree.

"I'm all right!"

Smiling and shaking her head, she turned and headed for the Principal Office.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Is she going to be okay?"

The medic binome, Norton, looked up at the sprite that towered over him. "Uhhh…yes. Her broken arm will take a second to mend, though." He noticed a large cut on Matrix's arm that the paramedics had overlooked. "Would you like me to take a look at that?" he asked, gesturing to it.

"No, it's all-right," Matrix replied, gruffly.

Norton shrugged. "Fine. Your friend is in the next room." The binome led the way through a pair of swinging doors, into an examination room. AndrAIa was perched up on a metal table, waiting patiently while a sprite nurse finished putting the thick cast on her arm. She smiled warmly at Matrix as he walked in, closely followed by Frisket. The dog stopped outside the door, and plopped down, resuming guard duty. The nurse, terrified by the huge green warrior, quickly fled, along with Norton.

Sighing, AndrAIa hopped off the table and walked over to Matrix. She held up her cast for his inspection. "See? Perfectly fine. Doesn't hurt at all." She lowered her arm, and winced in pain. Matrix raised an eyebrow. 'Well, mostly it doesn't," she admitted.

She spied the cut on his arm, which was still slowly oozing blood. "Why didn't you let them fix that up?"

"It doesn't hurt."

AndrAIa experimentally jabbed his arm.

"Ouch!" Matrix exclaimed, pulling his arm back. "Okay, maybe I should get it looked at."

The game sprite glanced about the empty room. "Well, we can either wait for someone to come back or go looking for them. You still need to work on your people skills; you're still bad about scaring people off."

A small grin appeared on the renegade's face, the first of which AndrAIa hadn't seen for a long time. She smiled back, "But at least we're alone for the moment."

He pulled her closer and gently tipped her chin back for a kiss.

The swinging doors burst open as Zara strode through, carefully avoiding stepping on Frisket. Started, Matrix and AndrAIa quickly pulled apart.

Uh oh… "Uh, am I interrupting something?" Zara asked cautiously, preparing to flee. Matrix was scowling at her, and, to say the least, he looked angry.

"No, it's all right," said AndrAIa, stepping away from Matrix. She smiled warmly at the other woman.

Matrix sighed inwardly, trying hard not to glare at his lover. He could see that look of hers, the one she got when got friendly with the locals. It was the last thing they needed, since they would be moving on as soon as her arm was healed.

Zara decided it would be best to ignore the strange expression on the young man's face. As Matrix rubbed his well muscled arm, the Guardian caught site of the long cut, which was still bleeding sluggishly.

She moved closer, studying it for a moment. Matrix glowered at the pink-skinned sprite again, but she seemed unflustered. Zara turned and opened a spartan white cabinet behind her. "I'm surprised Norton didn't see to that," she said to Matrix as she began to rummage through the cabinet. "Damn this shortness," she muttered to herself as she climbed up on the counter to reach something in the back.

"Aha!" Zara hopped back down, holding bandages in one hand and a jar of salve in the other. "Now let me bind that up for you."

Matrix's bionic eye began to spin as his annoyance grew. He started to say something that would be undoubtedly unpleasant, but was stopped by a sharp poke in his ribs by AndrAIa. "Enzo, let her see to it," she said quietly, yet sternly, "You were sick for a whole second last time you ignored a cut and it got infected."

Zara watched this whole affair with great interest. They sure seem to be made for each other…

She stepped back to Matrix, evidently not alarmed, as most people were. He's even bigger up close… She unscrewed the top of the jar and gently rubbed some of the salve on his cut, trying not to hurt him. Zara was surprised her touch caused nothing to stir within her, no embarrassing blush to surge up her cheeks. I wonder why…he certainly doesn't lack in the looks department… After wiping off her hands, she gently placed a bandage on his arm and bound it in place. "There, all done," she said, replacing the jar back in the cabinet.

The young Guardian turned back to the two sprites. "Do you wanna get something to eat? I'll buy."

Matrix merely shrugged, allowing AndrAIa to speak for them both. "We'd love to." She looked down at her cast. "But I don't think I can fly a zipboard with this; it'll throw me totally off balance."

"Well, would you mind sharing a zipboard with Matrix?"

"Not at all."

"Okay then, I'll be right back." Zara jogged out the door and reappeared a few moments later, zipboard in hand. "Here you go," she said, tossing it to Matrix, who reached out and easily caught it. She looked back to the red and yellow dog, waiting patiently at the door, lazily wagging his tail. "I think Frisket will have to stay on the ground, as long as he doesn't bite anyone."

AndrAIa laughed. "I think he'll behave."

Zara then led them through the maze of corridors that made up the Principal Office and out into the bright afternoon air. She decompressed her zipboard, hopping on. Matrix set his own down, and got on, while AndrAIa stepped up carefully behind, wrapping her good arm around his waist. He smiled slightly as he felt the warmth of his lover's body against his own.