COMING HOME
CHAPTER VI
Time.
It had become a meaningless concept to Enzo. He was in bed – he was sweating, his head was burning. He hurt. He slept a lot, most of the time really. Only occasionally would he slip from fever dreams into full consciousness. In those moments he was never alone – there was always someone in his room, sitting by his bedside, reading or napping. Sometimes there was more than one sprite, and they would talk, always in low voices. When they saw his eyes flutter open they would always smile, but the smiles never hid the worry in their faces. There was always worry, no matter who the smile belonged to. Sometimes there was fear, as well.
This time there were voices, softly conversing voices. Comforting and familiar. Bob and Glitch-Bob. It might have been day or night, Enzo didn't know – there were no windows in his room. Only voices. He wanted to join his voice to them, to prove to himself that he was still processing, that he wasn't a ghost. But he had to work himself up to it, slowly…
"What will you tell her?"
"I don't know. I don't think I will tell her. I mean, she knows there are problems, but she's got enough on her mind already-"
"Tough to put one over on Dot."
"Tell me about it!"
"Well… I hope it works. Since you're the first guy who ever merged in the first place, I sincerely doubt it's ever been tried."
"Phong thinks we have a good chance."
"What… What-"
"Hey! Look who's up." Bob smiled. "Sorry we were talking so loud."
"It's OK. I was up anyways." Enzo coughed, his throat raw and burning. Glitch-Bob held a glass of data to his mouth and he choked down a sip. "Thanks."
"No charge."
"What were…you guys talking about?" He'd already forgotten most of what they said, he couldn't remember anything lately. It had sounded pretty scary…
"Nothing, Kiddo." Bob answered. "How you feeling?"
"Same." Enzo rasped. He lazily turned his head to look at Glitch-Bob. "You… You said…"
"You need to get your bitmap out of here soon. I still owe you two a beating at jetball, remember? This place sucks."
"Yeah!" Enzo giggled. It felt strange to laugh. "Maybe I'll never go home. Maybe-"
"I don't think so!" Glitch-Bob scowled. "You've got Matrix code in you. You'll beat this thing, no problem."
"Yeah, Enzo – no contest."
"I guess." The boy sighed. Seeing Glitch-Bob's face gave him the urge to talk, to share himself. "Bob… Thanks for what you said. When that game cube came."
"What?" A puzzled frown.
"You know. When Dot…"
"Enzo-"
"You wanted me to stay. You didn't think I should go…"
"Well – no, I didn't." The Guardian absently tousled Enzo's hair. "But Dot didn't want you to go either, you know. She was only doing what she needed to do to save you."
"Whatever." Enzo sighed again, closed his eyes. "Thanks for wanting me to stay." That was as much as had to give – he felt unconsciousness creeping up on him again.
"Don't blame her, Enzo. She's already done enough of that to last a lifetime…"
"Bob…"
"It'll be all right." Everything else was lost in a haze of weariness.
"He'll be all right, Pretty Lady – he's a strong one."
New voices. Dot and Ray. "I know. Thank you. And thanks for coming to see him."
"Nothing to it. I like the little bloke – he's got a lot of fire to him. And it'd not like I could be much help in there, y'know? With the big brains."
Enzo wanted to open his eyes, to talk to Ray, but it was too much effort. He concentrated on the sound of their voices, used it to keep him in the waking world for a few nanos, anyway. "I guess we're keeping your girlfriend pretty busy."
"Yeah." An easy chuckle. "She's a smart one, my Mouse. Between Phong and her they'll sort Enzo and Bob out, no worries."
"I hope so." A hand, Dot's hand, gently covering his own.
"Yeah." A nano of silence, awkward – even Enzo in his muddled state could sense it. "Listen, Dot – I've been wanting to tell you something… I think you might not be so glad to have me about after I tell you."
""What is it?"
"Well – Listen, there didn't seem any harm in it at the time or I'd never have-"
"Just tell me, Ray. You haven't got a malicious character in your code, I know that. Whatever it is-"
"It's just that, well… The nipper – a couple of cycles ago I was on a system survey and I saw him in G-Prime, just sort of sitting there. On the ground. So I surfed on down to see what was up and he was feeling sick – his head was hurting. I stayed with him and he seemed to get better after a few micros, seemed like it anyways. The thing is, he begged me not to tell you – said you'd never let him out of the diner again, some such. I know you think I'm a right bugger for not telling you-"
"Ray-"
"I'm sorry, Dot. I had no idea any of this was going on – I just thought he had a little bug or something, like kids get. It sounds daft now but I really didn't see the harm in it, I really didn't. I made him promise to be careful and tell you if it happened again, and I took him home. He begged me not to tell you, you know how kids are…"
"Did he make the face?"
A surprised chuckle. "Uh… Yeah. He did at that, Pretty Lady. And now he's in here and me with my stupid promises. If I'd told you-"
"Please, don't." His sister's voice was weary, kind. "My little brother can be a very persuasive sprite, Ray – believe me, I know. I don't think it'd have made any difference – I knew there was something wrong with him anyway. I took him to see Phong as it was-"
"Yeah – he told me."
"Of course, none of us knew about the… About the other thing. If we'd known that – who knows. I wouldn't have let him out of my sight, that's for sure."
"Yeah. I'm sorry, Pretty Lady. If anything happens to the little bloke-"
"Don't be sorry. And thank you for helping him – he gets himself into these situations, always needs someone to help him get out! It's just how Enzo is, Ray. I don't think for a nano you did anything wrong."
"Well… That's decent of you to say, Dot. Listen – I know he'll be fine. He's a tough kid and he's got the right sprites in his corner. He'll get through all this, no worries."
"I know." Enzo could hear the doubt in his sister's voice, even as his alertness began to flag.
"I'm gonna go – see if they need anything over in diagnostics. They're keeping late nights at the nano." Enzo felt a big grip clasp his free hand, Dot's palm still covering the other. "You get better, Mate. No excuses. I'll be back soon."
Be back soon. The words echoes in Enzo's processor as he slipped away to sleep.
The next time he woke it wasn't the dim half-waking fog he'd been used to, but rather something more defined, more recognizably awake. There'd been a dream, a vivid dream. Dot had been in the dream – strangely distant, why? She was running, that was why… Running away from him, even as he told here to stop. Begged her to stop, but she wouldn't. She ran through the diner, through the kitchen into their apartment. He followed, vainly calling out to her. When he was inside he couldn't see her and foundered about for a nano, confused. Then he heard it – the soft crying, coming from his bedroom. He followed the sound, found the door locked. With one easy shove he smashed it off its hinges, sent it tumbling into the bedroom. She was there, cowering in a corner, hugging her knees. Why? Why was she doing this? He called her name again, but she only whined more loudly and hid her face. He took a stride towards her, passing his dresser, the one with the small mirror on it, the one she'd bought him so he wouldn't forget to comb his hair before he left for school. He glanced over at it as he passed, and saw a flash of blue armor and golden claws. With a roar, his arm flew out and smashed the mirror into a million pieces…
The impact had jolted him awake, pushing him roughly through the muddled half-alert zone and into consciousness. He was panting, trying to draw air into his lungs. He was as awake as he could imagine being, every sense alert, almost painfully so. He snapped his eyes open, surveyed the room. It was just Dot this time, sitting at his bedside in an uncomfortable looking chair. His choked down a sob as his eyes met hers. "What's wrong, Enzo? Are you in pain?"
Enzo gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, amazed that they could still generate the tears that rolled down his cheeks. "Crash…"
"You were having a nightmare." Her voice was tremulous. "Are you all right?"
"Crash! Crash it all." He could feel the fire building inside him, the energy flowing though his body. He'd been weak for so long, so tired… User, it felt so good! "No! No…"
"Enzo, what's wrong? Talk to me."
"No, no, no! Please, no!" The power, the strength – it felt so good! No more pain, no more weakness… "No!"
"Enzo!"
He opened his eyes, stared at her, panting. She was half-standing from her chair, indecisive. There was fear in her eyes. "Dot…" He gritted his teeth as he felt the fire building behind his eyes, coming close to the surface….
"I'll go get… I'll go get Phong…"
"No!" the boy moaned, shut his eyes tight. "Stop, stop… Please… Not again, please!"
The bed sagged under him and there were hands around him, gingerly. "Enzo, please-"
"Dot…"
Suddenly, the grip was no longer gentle but tight, like a vice. "Hold me. Hold me, Enzo."
"Dot, no-"
"Hold me this nano!" There was authority, assuredness in her voice. "Grab me tight and hold on, Enzo. You hear me? Right this nano!" Enzo blindly shot his arms out, wrapped them around the solidity of his sister's frame. "Tighter than that, Enzo. Hold me tighter."
Enzo cried out as he felt the fire start to burn him, demanding to be released. He squeezed with his arms as tight as he could, and the arms surrounding him did the same. "Dot! I can't, I can't…"
"Just hold on tight." The voice was soft now, calm. "I'm right here Enzo. Can you feel me? I'm right here. Just hold on to me and everything will be all right, I promise."
"I… feel you." The fire was in him, through him, every drop of code suffused with it. Waves of pain shot down his arms, his fingertips, such terrible pain. He clenched his arms even tighter, impossibly tight, clamping down on the pain. "Oh, User…"
"Hold on tight. Don't you let go! Just hold on tight, that's it, keep holding on…"
"I'm… trying!" He could feel the sweat pouring off his face in rivulets, down his neck, his back, his chest. Was the fire beginning to recede – just a little? Was he imagining it?
"That's it. That's a good boy. You're doing great, Enzo. Just keep holding on, tight as you can. Can you do that?"
"Yes." He could – he could do it. The waves of pain, the burning – they were slowly ebbing, now just a sharp stabbing reminder of their apex nanos earlier. "Dot…"
"I'm right here."
The boy groaned, weariness rushing in to fill the empty places in his body. And there were many – the boy felt totally drained, a husk. His arms went limp and he would have fallen back to the bed if Dot's arms had done the same.
There were no dreams, this time – just a black emptiness devoid of any sense of feeling. When Enzo woke it was a shock to his system, unused to any sensory input whatsoever. Every muscle in his body ached, even to the very tips of his toes. He moaned softly and opened his eyes to see Dot, back in her chair at the side of his bed. Her face was weary, haggard – black circles of sleeplessness had formed under her eyes. She eyed him warily for a nano, then relaxed at the absence of any signs he was having another attack. Her hand crawled onto the bed, closed over his. "Enzo."
"How… How long was I…"
"Not too long this time. How are you feeling?"
"Bad." He met her eyes for a nano before lowering his gaze, feeling tears begin to trickle down his cheek.
"Phong gave you something for your fever – it'll help the pain, too-"
"It's not that!" he sighed. He swallowed a sob, his throat burning.
"Enzo… Everything will be all right-"
"No. No it won't." He was sure of it, sure as he'd ever been of anything. "Bet you wish I'd stayed in that game cube now, huh?"
"What? What in the net-"
"You do!" He was crying now, unable to stop himself. "You're scared of me. I know you are."
"Honey… Please don't-"
"Don't… Don't say you're not. I know you are. Matrix too."
"I'm scared for you!" Dot protested. "Enzo, I could never be scared of you…"
"No." The boy wanted to wipe his eyes but even lifting his arm to do it seemed like an impossible task. "You were right… About Hex. And she d-did something to me. Made me… Made me…"
"Stop this now. Just stop." She was on the bed, holding his head to her shoulder. "You're just being a silly boy now, that's all. Just silly. How could I ever be afraid of you? You're my angel, my little boy-"
"Stop. Please."
"No I won't. We don't know what Hex did to your icon but you're still my little brother – that's all. That's all there is to it."
The boy wiped his eyes on her shoulder. "You think I'm… Like her."
"No I don't. You're my little brother. My Enzo – nobody else. Stop this now, you can't upset yourself like this Sweetie. You just can't." Enzo, face buried in his sister's shoulder, heard the door open.
An accented voice. "Sugar, we think we've… Oh – s'cuse me, I didn't know-"
"Mouse." Dot sighed. Enzo wriggled free of her, fell back against his pillows and closed his eyes, catching a brief glimpse of Phong and both Bobs before he did. It was bad – very bad.
"My Child – perhaps you could join us? There are issues we need to discuss. I am sure Bob could stay with-"
"No!" Enzo rasped. "Tell me. Don't leave, please…"
"Child-"
"I want to know, Phong. Please… just tell me, OK?"
"Enzo, come on now. You're tired, you're barely awake – this isn't the right way to-"
"Make them, stay, Dot!" Enzo opened his eyes, pleading. "Make them tell me what's wrong. Please, Dot…"
"The face." Dot sighed. Her own face seemed to melt for a fraction of a nano, poised to break down in a wash of emotion. Just as quickly she was composed, calm. "Just tell us, Phong."
"Are you certain, Child?"
"No. But just do it."
"Very well." Phong wheeled into the room, positioning himself at the head of the bed. Mouse planted herself at Dot's shoulder, giving Enzo a brief, tired smile. Bob and Glitch-Bob hovered near the door. "If you insist. Mouse?"
The hacker took a deep breath, squeezed Dot's shoulder. "We been doin' double duty back there, I'll tell ya. And I think we must've run those PID scans through every piece of equipment in Mainframe, but I think we got it figured out. Some of it anyways."
"You… You know what she did?" Enzo whispered, a mixture of dread and anticipation leeching enough energy into his body to keep him alert.
"We think so, Honey. I'll try to keep it as basic as possible, no offense to y'all. We spent the last two cycles lookin' at your code every way, every angle, every side we could look. And we found squat. Couldn't figure it out…"
"We were looking in the wrong place." Phong added. "We were blindfolded in a dark room, looking for a black cat. And it was not there."
"Huh?"
Mouse sighed and shook her head. "It was Bob who thought of it, Sugar – Shorthair-Bob, that is. Figured out we were lookin' in the wrong place."
"Wrong… Place?" Dot frowned. "I don't understand."
"It's not in his code, Sugar. We were looking for a software upgrade – somethin' like what old' Bob did when he downloaded the Guardian protocols to Matrix. The pieces all seemed to fit – there was some sorta transmission of energy, we saw that – and his icon changed color. It made too damn much sense not to be right – but it weren't right. We underestimated the crazy old gal."
"I don't get it." Enzo protested. "Please just tell me what happened. What did she do to me?"
"Well, why she did it is anyone's guess, Pumpkin – but she didn't upgrade your code. She upgraded your hardware."
"What?" Dot protested. "But… How? How is that possible? She barely touched him – it was just a nano!"
"I still don't get it. My hardware?"
"It was the core energy, Child." Phong said grimly. "Remember that Hexadecimal used the core energy to restore her powers – in fact, she became far more powerful than at any time since her creation. She was able to absorb far more of the core energy than should have been possible – because of her trans-finite power limits."
"Crash!" Enzo moaned. "That sounds really bad."
"Well…" Mouse sighed. "The fact is, Sunshine, that Hex was so powerful that she was able to hard-wire changes right into your hardware – right on the processor itself."
"What kind of changes?" Dot asked in a low voice.
"We don't rightly know yet, Sugar – but Enzo's already given us some idea. He's not viral – we know that much. But he can absorb and channel far more energy than a normal sprite now. See, most sprites can only run so fast or else it'll overload their hardware – fry out the board, if ya like. Enzo is far beyond anything I've ever seen – his power levels are phenomenal."
"Me?"
"You already gave us a little taste of it, Honey – that little tantrum in the armory. Not only can your body absorb and channel all this energy, it can create it too – that's what 'trans-finite power limits' really means if ya toss out all the fancy talk."
"Oh, my User." Dot whispered "My little brother? You're telling me my little brother now has Hexadecimal's powers?" Enzo felt as if he were in a dream, a bizarre, terrible dream. But he couldn't seem to wake up.
"Not exactly, Child. He is not viral, for a start. He does not have all of Hex's powers – he is still a sprite, after all, and a child at that. How much of her abilities he has inherited we can only guess at. Perhaps in time-"
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Dot scowled. "I mean – there must be something!"
Mouse looked at Phong, shrugged. "Perhaps, Child, we should allow Enzo to rest now. We can discuss-"
"No!" Enzo half-shouted. "Tell me. It's really bad…"
"Calm yourself, Sugar." Mouse chided. "Your body don't know what the hell's hit it right now – you're a mess. You got to keep yourself calm, you hear me?"
"I will." Enzo whispered, closing his eyes again. "I just need to know what's gonna happen. Please tell me."
"Sugar… Here's the thing – Hex managed to do whatever she did to Enzo's hardware – right down to the microcircuit level. If it were a software upgrade we could treat it like an infection – try anti-virals, that sorta thing. Even a full code filtration if we had to. But none of that would work here – it's all hard-wired. We'd be puttin' ya through all that for nothin'."
"So there's nothing… Nothing you can do?" Dot whispered.
Phong bridged his spindly fingers and wheeled closer. "My children… We could attempt to repair Enzo's circuitry – to try and undo the changes that Hexadecimal has caused. It would be an intricate operation – extremely difficult, totally unprecedented – and with no guarantee of success."
"I don't recommend it, Sugar. It's risky – damn risky. I couldn't even do it in good conscience."
"Alternatively..." Phong continued. "Enzo could adapt to the new hardware as best he can. We can upgrade his software to help him deal with his additional power capabilities-"
"Do it."
"What's that, Honey?"
"Enzo-"
"Do it. The operation, whatever." Enzo was sure, he wanted to say it before he lost that certainty.
Mouse clasped his hand. "Like I said, Hon – I couldn't do it in good conscience. There's a damn good chance-"
"I don't care!" Enzo sneered. He felt a little stronger now that it was decided, and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I don't want to be like this. Do the operation, please."
"I cannot abide this, Child. Please think about what you are saying!"
"I am thinking about it! I'm not stupid…" He met Dot's eyes. "Please just do it."
"Enzo, no! Didn't you hear Phong? If they do this operation you could-"
"I don't care!" her brother repeated, wiping his eyes again. "Why did she do this? Why did she do this to me? I thought she liked me…" Dot gathered him in her arms once again, gingerly.
"There's something else." It was Glitch-Bob, standing apart from the others next to his clone. "Something else we think we've figured out."
"What? What is it?" Dot, her voice pleading.
The long-haired sprite and his clone moved to flank Phong at the foot of Enzo's bed. "It's pretty obvious that Enzo was going through some pretty serious side-effects – the weariness and the muscle aches and all that… That could all be explained easily enough by his body adjusting to the additional power. But when AndrAIa told us what happened in the armory today… Well, it just didn't make sense."
"I don't understand, Bob."
The Guardian stared at Enzo's small form, huddled in Dot's arms. "I know Hex didn't always have the best-developed sense of right and wrong. But she changed – I know she did, as much as I know anything. And she really cared about Enzo – and she knew that he cared about her there at the end, too. Hex and I have had our differences but… I mean, look at him! He's burning up with fever, his body is wrung out – this isn't right."
"Of course it isn't!"
"Let me finish, OK? Hex would not have done anything to Enzo that would cause him this kind of trouble – this much pain. No way. She gave him what she thought was a gift, and it never occurred to her that he wouldn't want to accept it."
"Bob – what exactly do you mean?"
"The reason Enzo is having these… Well, I don't know what to call them. Spells, if you like, and there have been others – Phong found two energy signatures in the post D-Day system logs that exactly match the one from the armory." They knew! Enzo wanted to talk, to tell them about the junkyard, G-Prime – but he couldn't. Lifting his head from Dot's shoulder would just be too much effort. "It's because he's resisting the energy, trying to keep it contained – and his body just doesn't have the capability to do that. And by not allowing himself to dissipate the energy he's overloading his systems – causing the fevers, the headaches, the muscle pain – his body just can't take it."
"So far I don't think he's done himself any permanent damage, Sugar – but he can't keep it up for much longer." Enzo sensed that he'd been silent for long enough, now, that they were talking like he wasn't in the room, the way grown-ups sometimes did.
"And," Bob sighed, "It's not really doing any good. By storing all this energy all Enzo's doing is causing it to manifest in violent episodes – and each one of those takes a terrible toll on him. He isn't Hex – he's not capable of those kinds of power outbursts. Not without serious consequences."
"It appears," Phong mused, "That Hexadecimal intended for Enzo to manifest his powers in less dramatic ways. This, his circuits could tolerate."
"Oh, Enzo!" Enzo felt a droplet of data fall on his head, then another. "Enzo… It'll be all right…"
"I think he might be asleep, Honey."
"No, he's not." Bob-Bob said softly, a hint of a smile in his voice.
There was silence in the room, and Enzo fuzzily realized the others were waiting for him to speak. For a change. The sense that he was having a bad dream was strong, overpowering. But he wasn't – this was all real, as unreal as it sounded. "I want the operation."
"Kiddo-" Glitch-Bob.
"I don't want to be like this. I don't want everyone to be afraid of me…"
"Enzo Honey, just-"
"Please just… Just do it." There were more tiny drips of data on his head, and he could feel Dot's body shaking against him. "I think I want to sleep now…"
"That's a good idea. Just sleep, Sweetie – everything will be all right, I promise." Enzo nodded, felt himself being slowly lowered into bed. There was a soft kiss on his burning forehead. "Everything will be fine – I promise." He heard the words, but they had a hollow sound. Words – not even words from Dot – could make things all right now. And he couldn't imagine they'd ever be all right again.
