It was clear to Bob that something had to be done, and fast, but what he should do remained a mystery. He watched Dot be carried away, his heart following her. I've got to get rid of the first User. He looked backand forth quickly, and spotted something like a stable to his right. He sprinted to it and looked at the selection of horses. A black mare regarded him thoughtfully. Well, why not? He opened the door and led the mare out, and searched for the tack. A few nanos later, he returned holding an armfull of leather and dressed the mare. He hefted himself on to her back and squeezed gently with his heals. She took off at an immediate gallop, and he grasped at mane and rein alike to avoid falling off and losing his new ride.

Within the half-cycle, he had reached a huge building of stone. He marvelled at its height and size, his mouth hung open slightly.

"Now that's big." He commented to the two ears in front of him, which turned back as he spoke. He rode faster towards its entrance, determined to do something, anything, which might buy himself or Dot enough time to find each other. As he entered the castle gates, he heard two horses gallop off in the direction he had come from.


Dot let the man drag her through the corridors and up the stone steps of the castle towards what she hoped was User1, or Queen Mary, her half-sister. He led her to the end of a hall, where an unremarkable door was the only exit. She glanced back at him, but he continued to walk and drag her along until they were right in front of it.

"In there. Don't try to run off, I'm right at the end of the 'all." He said, and turned and left her. She faced the door. Well, nothing for it. She opened it.

The door opened into a large room, covered in a magnificent fresco of a woman holding a child with a glowing halo. Dot didn't particularly like the style of drawing herself, but had seen similar paintings all along the walls, and thought it must be the style of the era.

"Come here."

The voice startled Dot, and she jumped noticably. She looked forward and spotted a woman, older than herself by 2 hours or so. She seemed much older, somehow; her skin was wrinkled and hung off her face. She stood up, and Dot saw that she had been eating.

Dot remembered the command, and walked forward quickly. She kneeled down on one knee, and the woman grabbed her chin roughly and tilted her face upward. She examined Dot's face with the air of one performing an autopsy, and Dot fought to keep a frown off her face. This woman was supposed to be her sister?! Queen Mary almost threw Dot's chin backward, and Dot looked down again.

"I am your most humble servant." She said sincerely. User1 stalked off and sat down in a rpominet chair in the middle of the room. She fidgeted continually, repositioning herself on the chair and chewing her lip or fingernail in turn.

"You speak so truthfully!" She burst out at last. Dot jumped again; this woman was completely insane! "Such an actress, as always." She added venemously, eyeing Dot suspiciously. "You think you will prevail?! That you will be queen?! You are wrong!" She stood quickly and waddled across the room to a table. She picked up a sheet of parchament and waved it at her half-sister. "Your death warant! All I need do is sign it!"

Dot looked up into the User's eyes, Queen Mary's eyes, and pled silently with her for a moment. "Mary," She began hoping that the name would draw them closer and not only make her angry. "If...if you sign that paper, you'll be murdering your own sister!"

The User looked at her, hatred burning in her eyes. But she threw the paper down on to the table again and pointed to the door. "You may return to your house at Hattfield, but you must remain there under arrest until I see fit to release you." She ordered, her voice once again under control and imperious. "Go!"

Dot fled. As she reached the door, she turned and looked back at the User. Queen Mary paced back and forth, holding her head. As Dot finally turned to go, she doubled over and held her stomach in silent pain.

Dot closed the door quietly behind herself, and turned to leave. Her heart nearly burst when she turned straight into a pale, smiling face.

"Now that's sibling rivalry, dear!" Hexadecimal whispered, and Dot took as deep a breath as she could through her tightly-laced corset.

"Hex! What are you doing here?!"

Hex drew back. "What are you doing here?" She retorted, looking not the least insulted. "I'm playing just like you!"

Dot took a steadying breath. "Alright, then. Let's see if you can be helpful. Do you know where Bob is?"

Hex nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! I found him in the kitchens!"

Dot raised an eyebrow. "Kitchens? What was he doing there?"

"He says I'm not allowed to tell. You'll have to ask him."

"Then take me to him!" Dot hissed, and followed Hex's form down the dark hall.

When they reached the lighted area, Dot was surprised to see Hex's face was still a theater mask. It was somewhat a different shape, and she held it on a long, thin stick, but the resemblance was there. I wonder what happens if she has to lower it? she thought, but Hexadecimal was still moving, and so she followed.

As Dot followed the ex-virus down case after case of stairs, a face popped out from a doorway, looking startled. It smiled, however, when it saw Dot.

"Oh, Dot! I'm glad you're okay. I see you found Hex?" Bob glanced at the woman beside them, and Dot turned to give her a good look as well.

She was wearing a red dress with a very low square-neck, golden cord across the bust similar to her original clothing. Thin golden material made up the sleeves, which flared out at the elbow and tapered to points over the back of her hand, hiding her missing finger. The corset under her dress was laced too tightly, turning into a pushup bra and making her already less than modest dress worse. Her hand, too, was covered in rings. Instead of her usual headdress, she wore a comical hat with floppy points and bells at the end. Her mask smiled hugely.

"Oh, I'm glad we've all found each other!" she cried, clasping her hands as best she could while holding the mask. Bob nodded agreement, and looked back to Dot. "Sorry I didn't just follow you," he said, smiling lopsidedly. "But I had something to do. With any luck, I've just gotten rid of User 1 for us."

Dot glanced up into his eyes quickly. "Really? How?"

Bob glanced around quickly, then leaned in and whispered to the two women. "I found the kitchens. Just in time for her lunch.

Hexadecimal grinned predatorily. "Turns out she's horribly allergic to certain spices."

Dot glanced at Bob, and he nodded slightly.

Something behind the sprites caught Hex's eye, and she walked past them with a swish of red satin to examine it. Dot turned to Bob and cocked an eyebrow. "Spices, huh?"

"Uh, I didn't mean to lie directly, only I wasn't sure if she could keep her mouth shut. The word 'poison' stands out to people much more than 'spices' in general conversation they've overheard."

Dot nodded. "Good move," she agreed, and turned around in time to see Hexadecimal rush back over to them quickly.

"Look what I found!" she cried excitedly, waving a piece of parchament with a broken wax seal on the front. Bob took it and scanned over it quickly.

"It's a letter from the Pope to the Spanish Ambassadeur, who's visiting here. Talking about..." He paused and read more closely. "Talking about who is to come to the throne after Mary dies. I guess she was in a bad condition before I gave her that little push. Looks to me like France and Spain are both after the throne of England."

Dot blinked. "Uh, Spain? France? England? Bob, you may have game info, but I don't. Anything you feel like sharing would be appreciated."

Bob crinkled an eye. "Sorry. I forgot. This country here, the one we're in, is England. You're trying to come to the throne, to be the leader. Spain is another country with a king, and France is yet another country being ruled by Mary of Guise. They're all after your place as leader, and willing to kill you for it. Clear enough?"

"For the moment." Dot felt sick. Willing to kill me for it? Well, I'll just have to make sure they don't get to me. Another thought struck her. "Is the Pope, whoever he is, User 2?"

Bob concentrated briefly. "No. The ambassadeur he wrote to. He's User 2."

"Well, how do we get rid of him?"

Bob bit his lip. "Haven't got the slightest clue."

Hexadecimal, who had remained silent the entire time and listened, spoke up suddenly. The thrill of the game was evident in her voice, and reminded both sprites of her unstable state of mind. "That's easy! We'll just find him, and then we can kill him, and it'll all be over with quick as-"

Bob shook his head. 'It doesn't work that way, Hex. This is a game of politics, not action. If anyone of importance thinks we've been going around killing people, it won't be met with a lot of approval. We could be killed for it, and lose the game besides! See what I mean?"

Hex stared blankly for a few moments, then shrugged. "I supose I'll just have to trust you. This time."

Dot ground her teeth, then snapped at the other woman, "You bet you'll have to trust him! He's the only one who has any idea what he's doing, and if you go and mess things up like you have a tendancy to do, you just wait-"

"Dot, Hex, please let me think!" Bob said urgently, and Dot shut up, embarrassed by her outburst but still mad at Hexadecimal. Finally, she asked Bob, "Is there anyone else in the game besides the three of us?"

Bob concentrated again. "Uh, yeah, but I can't tell who it is or where they are. We just have to hope we'll run into them eventually." He opened his eyes and grinned.

Dot smiled, too, but hers was weary. "We're doing a lot of hoping, aren't we?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, but it's nothing new for me. Fly by the seat of your pants, right?"

"Right."

Hex looked from one to the other. "But we're not wearing pants!"



A/N: Yes, Hexadecimal has wormed her way into another of my fics. She wasn't in the original plot line, but it was just so much fun... And yes, I know she's dead. Bob's not Glitch Bob anymore, either, but S4 will be left out of this fic. Call it an alternate-reality fic if it'll make you feel any better about it. I guess it takes place in Kim McFarland's universe, where Hex never went white but did reboot and Dot never went flaky on Glitch Bob's ascii. And sorry for the chapter taking so long and being short. Haven't had a lot of time to write, what with finals and my web site's server deciding to try and charge me for my ftp uploading. The indignancy! If anybody's interested, my site should be moved to geocities within the month and my redirect address should be pointing there as well. It's not up yet, but start looking at http://www.geocities.com/binomebiscuits for my site after a bit.