I had a little bit of a hard time concentrating on my classes the next morning.

I don't want it to sound like I was bored with the Academy after one cycle – I definitely wasn't.  And I wanted so badly to be able to bear down and concentrate at will, whenever I needed – heck, Bob has been teaching me concentration exercises since I was 0.1.  But my processor still has a tendency to shoot off at breakneck speed whenever and wherever it wants – it's like a way for it to remind me I'm still a little kid whenever I get too confident in myself.

At first, my head still felt a little muzzy from all of the emotion I'd put myself through the night before, sorta like Matrix the cycle after one too many I/O shots.  Then, once I'd shaken that off a little, Bob and Dot started to creep into my head at a nano's notice.  I'd be sitting in class trying to concentrate, and then all of a sudden I'd see them – and they always looked happy and content, and I was never in the picture.  That wasn't easy to ignore right away – I'd have to actively try and push them out of there so I could get back to thinking about class.

That pretty much took me through my first two classes – which were game recognition and creative writing.  Yes, I know what you're thinking – but even now the Academy still made a commitment that they were gonna give the kids there a general education and not just a Guardian one.  Unfortunately.  What that meant was that we had to suffer through some classes like writing and algebra and COBOL programming to get to the good ones like fighting viruses and defending games and kicking bitmap generally.  The only good thing is that most of those classes were in hour one.

There – see?  I did it again!  My processor took me off in a totally different direction than I started out – I was supposed to be talking about my concentration on that second cycle of classes.  Anyways, by the end of my second class I was getting generally frustrated with myself and I was glad the third one was physical conditioning.  Getting out in the fresh air and running and jumping around sounded like a pretty good idea.

Right as we were doing our stretching exercises an idea started to form itself in my head.  I had lunch at the same time as yesterday.  If I went to the same mess at the same time and sat at the same table, maybe she'd be there again.  Maybe we could even make it a regular thing – have lunch together every cycle and talk about our classes and stuff.  That'd be so cool!

"Mister Matrix?  Am I disturbing you?"

I looked up and felt my face go red.  "What?"

Mr. Bernoulli was staring at me, and he didn't look happy.  All of a sudden I realized I was by myself.  "The rest of us are running laps, Mister Matrix – perhaps you can find time in your busy schedule to join us?"  A huge laugh went up from the rest of the group, who were already almost halfway down the field.

I bounced to my feet and stared hard at the ground, feeling my cheeks burning.  "Yes Sir!  Sorry, Sir!  I…  I was-"

"Perhaps you'll also find time to run an extra lap, Cadet – that would be three for you."

"Yes, Sir!"  I sprinted to catch up with the rest of the group, who were still chuckling.  I avoided making eye contact with anyone and just followed along behind the pack, but after I finished the first lap I was already starting to wish for that energy I'd had to spend catching up.  It really wasn't fair – I had to make a bunch of extra strides every time around that field because my legs were so much shorter than a lot of the other kids.  But they weren't about to slow down, so I had no choice but to keep up.  This part of the Academy wasn't going to be getting any easier for a while.  By the end of my second lap I was really sucking wind.

It got worse, though – I still had an extra lap to do because I'd gone basic at the beginning.  So not only did I have to run another circuit of that field – which was a pretty deleted big field – but I had to do it with everyone watching me and I felt every pair of eyes, believe me.  It was nasty.

There was no way I was gonna give up on that lap – absolutely no way, not with everyone watching.  I was tired and my chest was burning but I was determined not to give up in front of them.  Every step seemed to last a minute but I was getting there, little by little.  When I'd wound my way around again I was running by the others, who were sprawled out on the grass, watching me.  Most of them were laughing or heckling me or ignoring me altogether.  That's when I saw her.

She was in my phys ed class – I suppose I should've known it from yesterday, but it didn't occur to me until I saw her golden hair shining in the daylight.  She wasn't laughing – she saw me looking at her and smiled.  I shook the sweat out of my eyes and tried to smile back as best I could.  I kept eye contact with her as long as I could without it looking freaky, then I finally turned back to the world in front of me and realized I'd finished my penalty lap at last.  I put my hands on my knees and wheezed for all I was worth.

"Thank you very much for endorsing the program, Mister Matrix.  Now – everyone please follow me to the weight room, and I'll introduce you to some of the training equipment we have at our disposal.  And Mister Matrix – today, if you would?"  Another laugh from the crowd.  I was really beginning to dislike Mr. Bernoulli.

I looked for her as I panted for breath, following the other kids inside to the weight rooms, but she was lost in the jumble of gangly arms and legs and giggling faces.  Being around so many kids in such close quarters was definitely a little scary, and the thought of trying to keep up with the big guys on weight machines was even scarier.  It wasn't so bad on that first cycle, though – Mr. Bernoulli mostly just showed us the various training machines and how they worked.

The worst part was afterwards.  I was super-sweaty from all that sprinting and if my plan worked, I would be sitting next to the teal girl in a few millis.  That was not good.  If it'd been a light workout like yesterday that'd be OK, but…  There were showers near the weight rooms but they'd be packed with kids.  That was even worse.

So I did the only thing I could and made a dash for the boys' dorms, and hoped there'd be no one else in those showers when I got there.  I 'booted out of my clothes and set my icon down on the bench in the stall farthest from the door, and took the quickest, scariest shower of my life up till then.  I lucked out – no one else showed up and I managed to get dried and dressed and outside with more than half of my lunch break still left.

I ran to the great hall as fast as I dared without breaking into a sweat again, but it wouldn't have mattered – as soon as I saw her I started sweating anyways.  She was sitting by herself – there were a couple of other kids at the table but she didn't seem to be talking to them.  She was totally focused on her lunch, just like she'd been the cycle before.  I grabbed a tray and got some food – I hardly paid attention to what I was ordering – and started towards her table.

A funny thing happened then – I was walking towards her sorta sidelong, and my legs all of a sudden stopped working.  I stood there for a couple of nanos, just frozen, but I couldn't seem to get my feet to take another step.  The only part of me moving was my hands – I could tell they were shaking because I was sure I was gonna spill my energy shake.

I really, really hated myself at that nano.  I wanted so badly to go over there, to talk to her – but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I was absolutely frozen in terror.  I just kept thinking over and over how pathetic I was, and I don't know how long I stood there but I bet it wasn't as long as it seemed.  It couldn't have been.

I just about managed to convince myself to walk away – a small victory at best.  I looked down at my feet, cursed myself, and started to turn.  That's when I heard her voice.  "Hey!"

I looked up, astonished.  She'd glanced up from her tray and she was smiling at me.  "Hey." I managed to whisper, but I don't see how she could possibly have heard me.

She just smiled some more.  "Just get here?"  I nodded dumbly.  "C'mon, sit down."

"Uh…  Sure." I managed, and tried to return her smile.  I walked over towards her, slowly and deliberately 'cause I was honestly worried I'd trip over myself and fall on my face.  I set my tray down on the table and sat on the chair to her right.  "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Oh!  Um – asking to me uh, sit."

"Sure." She giggled.  She returned her attention to her lunch, which was about half-finished.  I looked down at mine and forgot for a nano what I was supposed to do with it.  When I finally remembered I was scared about how to eat it without looking like a slob or something, but I figured it would look even weirder if I didn't eat at all.  So even though my stomach felt like it had a squad of ABCs doing maneuvers in it I started eating.

As soon as my mouth was good and full she looked over at me and grinned.  "You were funny in Bernoulli's class today."

I looked back at her, realized my mouth was hanging open and full of food, and chewed and swallowed as best I could.  My throat felt like it was about as wide as my pinkie.  "Uh…  Thanks.  I guess…"

"What happened?"

I winced.  "I…  I dunno.  I get – distracted, I guess.  Sometimes.  I'm basic…"

"No!" she chuckled.  "It was funny, that's all.  You were cute!"

I turned about a thousand shades redder than Mouse's hair, I'm sure of it.  "Thanks."

"I'm Lisa, by the way."  I smiled, and she just stared at me for a few nanos.  Lisa.  Finally, she coughed.  "And you are…"

D'oh!  Could I be any stupider?  "Sorry!  I'm…  Enzo."

"Hey, Enzo."  She smiled sort of slyly at me and took another bite of her food.  She waited until my mouth was full again – I dunno if she was doing it on purpose, but she was good at it – and spoke again.  "Haven't you ever talked to a girl before?"

Was it that obvious?  I swallowed another bite of food that felt like a zip board going down my gullet.  "Sure!  L-lots of times."  I tried a smile.  "No.  Not really.  Sort of…"

"Why not?"

"Uh…  That's a really long story."

"Well – maybe later, then.  I'm sure we'll talk lots more." She grinned.  "Cutie."

"Oh!" I gasped.  She didn't seem like she was making fun of me…  "You…  Um – you're really cute too." I blurted out.

"Thanks.  That's very sweet."

"Uh – welcome…"

"How old are you, Enzo?"

"Er – 1.3.  How about you?"

"1.4.  I'll be 1.5 in 15 minutes."

"Oh, that's cool."  It didn't make a lot of difference what she said, I was just enjoying being next to her.  Still, it was nice knowing she wasn't 1.9 or something.

"How come you're here so young?"

I wiped my brow with my sleeve, hoping she wouldn't notice.  "My…  My friend Bob.  He made me a Guardian when I was 1.0, and I've kinda been waiting to come ever since.  He's sorta like my stepdad."

"Wow – that's really graphical!  So you're an old hand at all this huh?"

"No!" I said too loudly.  "I…  Bob is great and everything, but it's not the same.  Not like here."  I shrugged and smiled.  "I'm just trying to figure stuff out."

"Don't worry – I'm sure you will."  She grinned and held out her hand.  "It was nice to meet you, Enzo – I'll definitely see you around, OK?"

I stared at her hand for a nano, mustering the courage to touch it.  I finally did, and it was wonderful – smooth and soft and cool, not all clammy and sweaty like mine.  I finally looked up at her smiling face.  "Yeah.  I hope so."

She gently extracted her hand, which I'd neglected to return to her, and stood up.  "Gotta get to class.  Maybe I'll see you here tomorrow?"

"Yeah!"

"OK."  She giggled.  "Bye, Cutie."

"Uh…  Bye."  I stared after her and she waved at me as she dumped her tray.  I watched her all the way out of the mess hall and then, when she was gone, I spent the rest of my lunch break staring at my hand with a dumb smile on my face.

I admit I started out the rest of the day in a kind of fog.  I hadn't exactly been as smooth as Bob, but I'd managed to survive my lunch break without any major catastrophes.  Better still, I'd actually spoken a couple of coherent sentences to the teal girl, and I even knew her name now – Lisa.  It was a pixelacious name, too.  Of course, maybe she could have told me her name was Nullzilla and I would've liked it.

Fortunately things started to get really interesting that afternoon – we had a session with the game simulator and it was totally alphanumeric.  It wasn't exactly like being in a game, or even exactly like Bob described the one at the old Academy.  There was a sort of helmet thingie and a suit and gloves you put on, and a digital representation of yourself was on the visor on your helmet.  If you let yourself get into it a little bit you could almost forget it wasn't you up there, only a simulation.  I felt good using it, comfortable – the stuff Bob had taught me stayed with me and I felt for the first time like I really belonged here.  I was home.

Of course we had to take the helmets and stuff off and we were back in the real world, and I was back to being the littlest sprite around again.  But I had Lisa fighting for space in my processor now and that made a nice change from worrying about that, and feeling homesick.  I was still worried and homesick plenty that cycle – just not every waking nano.

I thought real hard about talking to Linux about the teal girl that night, but I decided against it.  On the one file I wanted us to be friends and friends talked to each other about stuff like that – but on the other hand I didn't want to seem like a dork.  Me and Lisa had barely talked and besides, Linux didn't seem like he was all that much of an expert on girls anyway, and we hadn't known each other that long.  Some stuff I was gonna have to figure out on my own.

So anyway, Linux probably thought I was pretty basic that night – I was definitely distracted.  Eventually we started talking about other stuff, though, like our classes and his Mom and Dot and I got into having that conversation with someone my own age.  He told me a dirty joke and I laughed, and we even had a belching contest, which was totally alphanumeric.  You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get someone in Mainframe interested in a belching contest.  I think they're all worried about Dot finding out and giving them the look.  AndrAIa's the king, though – she's the master belcher when she wants to be.

So all in all, it was a pretty good night – but then things got a little weird again.  We went to bed at lights out and I actually fell asleep pretty quick for a change, 'cause I was still pretty tired.  I have no idea what time it was – I never checked my internal clock – but sometime that night I had a dream.

I dream every night – I guess sprites always do, or so Dot says.  But this dream was different – it was about Lisa, and it wasn't a nice dream.  I mean – it was a nice dream, but it wasn't a nice dream, if you know what I mean.  It was the sort of dream Bob had told me about when we had our talk, back in Mainframe.

It totally freaked me out - I'd never had a dream like that before.  I'd had dreams about AndrAIa, but they were different.  Mostly they were just about her face, and how incredibly beautiful and nice and cool she is.  They were nice, and I always remembered them the next cycle for a while and they made me smile.  This was different.

I was pretty sure I'd cried out in my dream, and I looked over at Linux because I was terrified he'd woken up.  But he hadn't – he was still snoring softly like he usually did once he fell asleep.  That was something, at least.  But I lay awake for a long time afterwards before I could fall asleep again.  My processor was running in turbo mode and my body was tingling all over.  It was exciting, but it was scary, too.  It hadn't been a little kid's dream.  I felt like something had changed, for sure, and that was the exciting and scary part.

There was a big part of me that was angry at myself for thinking about Lisa like that.  It made me feel basic.  I was also worried about facing her the next cycle – would she know?  Would it show in my face?  At some level of my code I knew it really wasn't my fault – I couldn't help thinking she was beautiful.  I couldn't help thinking about her, period.  Bob had tried to warn me about this stuff as best he could, but now that it was actually happening it was still very weird to deal with.

I made a real conscious effort to bear down in class the next morning, and it was easier than I thought – I guess my processor was ready for a break from thinking about Lisa all the time.  I managed to get through my first two classes OK and I even got called on to demonstrate a problem in games identification, and I did fine.  Next was phys con, which was my only every-cycle class.  I started to mentally wander a little because lunch was next, and that meant seeing Lisa – but after the cycle before I wasn't gonna let myself be embarrassed by Mr. Bernoulli again.

I was working on one of the weight machines, this thing were you have a bar behind your head resting on your shoulders and you have to lift as much weight as you can.  It's supposed to strengthen the muscles in your shoulders and arms, and I guess I could sure use that.  I was scared the others would make fun of me because – obviously – I couldn't lift as much as the big kids.  Mr. Bernoulli set up the machine for me and I just concentrated on doing as many reps as possible, and that's when something cool happened.

"WARNING – INCOMING GAME

WARNING – INCOMING GAME"

It wasn't the first game since I'd been at the Academy, but this one was cool because I was on the game roster.  I was on call – this was my game!  And what was even better was that Ray was the teacher on call – I didn't have any classes with him for the first quarter so I hadn't seen as much of him as I wanted.  Plus, I'd never seen Ray in a game before.  "Mr. Bernoulli – that's me!  Can I-"

"Go, go!" he waved me out.  "You don't have to ask permission when you're on call.  Hurry up, now!"

I leaped up off the machine and headed outside.  The cube was coming down towards the town, at the edge of campus, and I hopped on my zip board and headed out that way.  I rebooted into my uniform and looked around – the others were converging on the cube, same as me.  It was an incredible feeling – I was at the Academy, in full uniform, heading for a game with my team.  Nothing could ever equal the emotion of going into games with Bob – but this was pretty alphanumeric.

We gathered under the descending cube and I recognized one face among the students – Quantum.  I felt a little knot in my stomach seeing him, and he chuckled when he saw me staring at him.  "You got training discs on that zip board, Sprout?"

"End file!" Ray said sharply.  "Sound off before we get started, left to right.  Go!"

"Cadet Matrix reporting, Sir!"

"Cadet Patch reporting, Sir!"  It was a red-haired girl about Linux' age, I guess – presumably another first-hour.

"Quantum."

"Calisto, Sir."  A guy about Quantum's age, taller and thinner.

"Right." Ray nodded.  The cube was on us, and the familiar feeling of energy dancing over my skin washed over me.  I opened my eyes and we were standing inside a gloomy-looking forest, thick with trees and moss.  Ray smiled at Patch.  "First game, Cadet?"

"Yes, Sir!"  She sounded a little nervous.

"No worries – just relax and pay attention."  Ray grinned at me.  "Not the first one for you, is it Lad?"

"No, Sir."

"Not by a long ways.  Right, Mates – Quantum and Calisto know, but I'll repeat it for you two – the number one rule around here is teamwork.  We work together and win the game quick as thieves, right?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Number two rule is – listen to me at all times.  We don't have arguments in games – when I give an order you follow it immediately.  That clear?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Good.  We don't have the luxury of a keytool so we have to rely on our wits.  Everyone – reboot!"

It was a fairly standard sword and sorcerer type game – something about tossing a ring into a volcano.  Nothing I hadn't been through with Bob and Matrix a dozen times before.  It was amazing, though – being in there with the other cadets totally changed the format.  We all had to look out for each other, and I noticed that Ray stayed out of the way as much as possible.  I guess he was trying to let us figure stuff out for ourselves, which was cool.  It was hard not to treat him like a friend, but I knew that in there, it was the wrong thing to do.

I didn't particularly like my character – I was short (naturally) and I had no shoes and hairy feet.  It'd be nice to reboot taller once in a while, but it was OK – I got to hold the ring, which was a really important job.  We ran a gamut of orcs and goblins and other foul-smelling creatures trying to kill us, but we managed all right.  Quantum had rebooted as a pixelacious warrior with a sword, and the stubble on his face was even thicker his real stubble – so he looked even older than usual.  He kicked ascii with that sword – I'd have hated to have to fight him.  That was a vaguely disturbing thought.

Calisto had 'booted as a warrior too, and Patch was a small creature like me with hairy feet.  Ray was a wizard of some kind – he wore a gray robe and had a full gray beard and mustache.  I giggled when I saw him, which I knew was pretty unprofessional but I couldn't help it.  "Something amusing, Cadet Matrix?"

I blushed, but he didn't seem mad – he was smiling.  "No, Sir.  Sorry Sir!"  It wasn't fair – none of them knew Ray like me – they didn't get how funny it was!  Oh, well.  Like I said, he mostly stayed out of the way – he provided light with his staff when we were in a cave, and read some runes when none of us could.  But mostly he wanted us to figure stuff out for ourselves – he was a little like Bob that way.

The only kinda bad thing was that as a little guy – even littler than usual – I didn't get a chance to do much except be the guy holding the ring.  That was important – but it felt like the others were looking after me, and I'd had more than enough of that in my life already.  So when the opportunity came for me to get into the action, I was desperate to take advantage of it.

I was carrying a small sword but I hadn't had a chance to use it yet.  It had some sort of magical powers – it glowed blue every time these evil guys would get close to us.  Unfortunately before they got too close Quantum and Calisto had an annoying habit of chopping them into a zillion little pieces.  But when the User finally showed up, he wasn't the sort of opponent a warrior can take out easily with brute force – he was a slimy, sneaky little guy who wanted to steal the ring from me.  I spotted him before anyone else did, hiding in some bushes waiting to get the jump on us.

I pretended I didn't see him, and I didn't tell anyone else he was there.  Then, just as we were walking past the bush where he was hiding, I whipped the sword out and skewered him good.  It was infinitely alphanumeric – unfortunately, he had multiple lives and the game just kept right on going.  The others were pretty impressed, though.

A few millis later we came across him again, hiding in some rocks.  I saw him and shouted out just at the last nano, as he was getting ready to jump on us.   Quantum was getting ready to dispatch him, but I shouted for him to stop.  "Why?" he growled.

"We don't know how many lives he has left – he might have twenty, for all we know.  Why not win the game the other way – by getting inside the volcano and destroying the ring?"

"So what?  Why not kill him anyway?  We can still keep marching…"

"Yeah – but he knows the way inside.  And it's guarded by like a billion orcs and stuff."

"What?" Calisto protested.  "How do you know?"

That was a little awkward – I was very nervous about looking cocky in front of the others, but I also wanted to show that I could help win the game, and do it quicker.  "Uh – I've played this one before.  With Bob…"

"He's lying!" Calisto laughed.  "Trying to show off."

"No!  It's the truth!"

Ray frowned at me.  "It's true, Mate?  You've played this game with the Guardian?"

"You know I wouldn't lie, Ra-…  Sir!"  I looked at him, pleading.

"OK…  We'll try it your way, Kiddo.  If you can get him to lead us inside, so be it."

"Pixelacious!"  I took my sword out and held it to the User's throat.  "You know the way – take us inside the mountain or I'll kill you.  Slowly.   And I'll enjoy it."

"Yesss!  Yesss!  Take you, I will!"  He was a creepy little guy – all slithery and slimy.  He smelled bad, too – but he really did know the way inside the volcano.  I knew exactly how this was gonna work – he'd pretend to be cooperating with us, and all the time he'd be looking for a way to trick us and steal the ring.  I wasn't gonna let that happen – I'd seen it before.

We ran into a few dangers along the way, but Quantum and Calisto dealt with them pretty easily while I kept an eye on the User.  Quantum stared at me sometimes, and I couldn't figure out of he was mad at me or not.  But he didn't say another word to me for the rest of the game.

At the heart of the game world there's this massive volcano, and that's where we'd been heading the whole time.  There was a tunnel that led inside the mountain, but like I'd told the others it was heavily guarded – all kinds of weird ugly creatures with scary-looking weapons were outside, and my sword was glowing as bright as you can imagine.  That's when the User decided he wasn't going any farther.

"Just tell him you'll kill him." Calisto sighed.  He sounded very exasperated.

"No farther.  Too many…  We all die, they take ring!  Yesss…" the little guy hissed.  Everything he said was a hiss.  He didn't care about us dying, obviously – or even himself.  What he didn't want was to lose control of the ring.

"We can fight our way through them." Quantum sneered.

"No.  All die."  The User pointed at me and Patch.  "Little Onesss, yesss…  Little onesss can sneak inside with Gollum.  Very quiet, very sssmall, yesss…"

Ray looked at me expectantly.  I nodded.  "Trust me."  When I was little it was the sort of thing I'd have been tempted to do on my own – just go off with the User and not even wait for permission.  But Bob had been training that out of me for hours, and we were supposed to be all about teamwork in the Academy.  So I wasn't going until Ray said so. 

"Right – Enzo and Patch, go with…  Him.  We'll watch your backs as best we can."

"Cool!  Thanks."

"This is basic!" Calisto scowled.

"Go on."  I pointed my sword at the User.  "Lead the way."

"Yess…"  The User cast a disdainful look at the others and started off through the rocks, away from the mass of soldiers at the main entrance.  "Sssecret places, Gollum knowsss sssecret placesss.  Very sssafe…"

Patch and I crouched a few paces behind him, keeping hidden as well as we could.  "Enzo…" Patch whispered.  "What if they catch us?  What if he rats us out?"

"He won't.  If we get caught, he loses the ring – and the whole point for him is to get the ring.  That's the trap he's in.  He'll get us inside."

"But – he's the User!  He can't win the game by helping us!"

"Oh, he'll try and kill us – once we're inside.  But I know what to watch for – I'll be expecting it."

"You…  You really have played this game before, huh?"

"Course!" I grinned.  "I wouldn't lie about something like that.  C'mon – he's getting too far ahead."

"Come! Come!"  The User hissed impatiently.  "Mussst hurry!  Many bad creaturesss about.  Very bad…  Mussst get insside the mountain sssoon!"  He led us to the side of the volcano, close enough to the tunnel entrance that we could see the glow from the torchlight.  There was a large boulder there, and the little creature shoved it aside with a mighty grunt.  He was stronger than he looked.  There was a little rip in the ground where the boulder had been.  "Ssside tunnel!  Leadsss inssside!  Come!"

"Wait!" I whispered.  "Patch first – go through and have your sword ready.  Then the User, me last."   I reached into my knapsack and pulled out a stone, which emitted a whitish glow, and handed it to Patch.  Yet another advantage of having been here before.  "Elvish – magic!  It'll be dark in there.  Go."

"Enzo-"

"Go on!  Trust me, please."  Patch looked at me worriedly, then slipped through the hole in the ground and disappeared.  I held the User back with my sword for a few nanos, then motioned him to follow.  Then I waited.

After a micro or two I knelt down by the hole and called softly.  "Patch?  You OK?"

"Yeah!  I'm inside.  I…  I've got him guarded."

"Be careful!"  I crawled into the hole after them, and after a few nanos of uncomfortable worming around on my tummy I was inside the mountain, in a dark passageway.  I could see the User and Patch in the white light of my stone, her sword at his slimy throat.  Off to our right there was another glow – this one a bloody red.  That was from the pit of fire where we had to destroy the ring.

"Sssafe!  Inssside, yesss?  Gollum hasss done well, Bagginsss!"

"Yeah – you did real good.  Now – lead us to the pit of fire."

"But Enzo-"

"Shhh!"  I motioned her to follow me, and we fell in a few steps behind the User, who led us down the tunnel towards the bloody glow.  As we walked the glow got brighter and brighter, the air got hotter and hotter, and the stink got worse.  We made a bunch of turns and went down a bunch of side passages and finally, the tunnel opened up into a broad cavern, bright red with the glow of the lava, and we could see dark shapes moving around inside.

The User took a look at us, his eyes glinting, and then in a flash he was gone – up the wall of the cavern.  "Enz-"

"Shhh!"  I hissed, and pulled Patch down behind a pile of rocks.  "He did that last time.  Don't worry."

"But – how do we get to the pit?  There's… things in there!"

"I know."  I smiled at her, remembering what it was like the first time I'd been in a game with Bob and Dot.  I slipped off my sword, glowing blue – too much glow - and set it down next to her.  "Don't worry – everything's gonna be OK.  Promise me something?"

"What?"

"No matter what happens, don't cry out – and don't come out of hiding.  If they see you, they'll delete you – and even if we win, you'll stay deleted!"

"But…  How will you-"

"Just promise, OK?  No matter what, you stay quiet and hide."

"I…  I guess so.  What're you going to do?" 

"Trust me.  I don't believe in the no-win scenario."  I smiled what I hoped was reassuringly, and slipped the ring on my finger.  I heard her gasp, but I have to give her credit – she didn't say anything when I disappeared.  I slipped into the cavern and started towards the pit of fire, trying to make as little noise as possible.

The creatures in there sensed me – they did as soon as I put the ring on.  But they couldn't see me, and if I destroyed the ring fast enough they wouldn't be able to find me in time.  I trotted on my tiptoes across the cavern until I was close enough to the edge of the pit that I could reach it with a good toss.  The creatures circled, coming a little bit closer, sniffing the air.  I reached for the ring.

"Enzo!"

I heard Patch scream, but I was already looking up, expecting it.  The User was flying across the cavern towards me in a leap that would've been impossible for any normal sprite.  His jaws were wide open and his teeth were glinting, and he was aiming for my hand.  At the last nano I spun and dove out the way and jerked the ring off my finger just as I heard him crash into the rocky floor.

The creatures saw me just as soon as I took the ring off, of course – and a roar echoed in the cavern.  I reared back and whipped the ring towards the pit, as hard as I could.  The User screamed and leapt after it, bouncing off the floor like he had springs in his legs.  He kept screaming as he followed it over the side of the pit and down, echoing in the cave.  "Precioussss!"

The creatures were descending on me, swords drawn, and I cowered back and covered my head.  I'd had to leave my sword, of course, but it wouldn't have done me much good.  Then I heard two of my favorite words…

"GAME OVER"

Patch came running towards me so fast I thought she was gonna tackle me for a nano.  She knelt next to me and put her hands on my shoulders.  "Enzo!  Are you OK?"

I almost said "Sure, Dot!" just out of habit, but I stopped myself.  I bounced to my feet.  "Pixelacious.  And you broke your promise!"

"Sorry!" she grinned.  "You were right – you had the whole thing figured out."

"Sometimes you get lucky."

"Cadets – everyone online and processing?"  The others were trotting up to us.

"Sure, Ray – no worries."  A little slip on my part, but I didn't catch it until after the fact. 

Ray didn't seem to mind.  "Looks like you had this one pegged, Enzo – but it sure wasn't any fun not seeing what you kids were up to in there!"

"Sorry!"

"Well – good job Mates, both of you.  All of you.  If you've got game experience use it, I always say - next best thing to having a keytool."

"Unbelievable." Quantum chuckled, shaking his head.

"Bet you enjoyed showing off in there, huh Sprout?" Calisto spat.

"I was just trying to win the game-"

Patch ventured in.  "Hey – leave him alone!  He-"

"Enough of that!" Ray barked, silencing the three of us.  "Teamwork, remember?  We got the job done, and everyone had a part in it, right?"  He looked around expectantly.  "Right?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"That's what I like to hear, Mates.  Now scat – back to class, all of ya.  Go!"  Quantum zipped off, still shaking his head, and Calisto slowly walked after him, staring daggers at me.  It made my skin crawl.  Ray patted me on the shoulder and headed off towards the staff apartments.

"Sorry I yelled out like that – I couldn't help it, when I saw the User jumping at you-"

"No biggie." I grinned, and we started off at a slow walk.  "You did great in there."

"I was basic.  But it was my first game, maybe I'll get better…"

"Sure.  But don't worry so much.  Games are pretty easy once you get the hang of them, and they're really fun."

"You've been in a lot of them, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess.  Bob's been taking me into games since I was-  Oof!"  I fell back on my bitmap, after a hard shove on the chest.  It was Calisto – I guess he doubled back after Ray was out of sight.

"Hey!" Patch shouted.

"Shut up."

I pushed myself to my feet, trying to settle my nerves.  "Just leave me alone, OK?"

"Trying to use your friend Bob to get you a little tail, huh?  Not enough he got you into the Academy?"

"Stop it!" I growled.

"Some of us had to work to get in here.  But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Hey – Enzo was great in that game!  He-"

"It's easy if you cheat."

"I didn't cheat."  I was scared and angry, but I was trying to control myself.  "Knowing how to play a game isn't cheating."

"They should never have let a soft-boy like you in here – it perverts the whole place!  If you weren't in with Guardian 452 they'd have laughed in your face."

"You don't know me!  You don't know how hard I worked to come here!"

"Save it, Infant.  It's gonna be fun watching you wash out the nano things get rough around here.  And they're gonna get plenty rough."

"I've had it plenty rough already!" I shouted, feeling angry tears welling up.  "Rougher than you!  I-"

"Infant.  Talk to me when they drop, all right?"

I didn't know exactly what he meant but I had a vague idea – and it didn't do too much for my mood.  "Hey!  Just shut up!"  I gave him a two-handed shove as hard as I could, but he barely budged.

"You want some?"  He pushed me on my bitmap again, and took a step towards me, raising his arm.

"Is there a problem here?"  Ray had appeared again, as if from nowhere.  I rolled onto my feet again.

"No problem, Sir." Calisto said softly.  He turned and took out his zip board.

"Did I say you were dismissed, Cadet?"

"No Sir.  Sorry Sir."

"Now I'll ask again – is there a problem here?"

Calisto and Patch and I all stared at each other in turn.  "No problem." I said softly.

"No, Sir." Patch agreed, hesitantly.

"There better not be.  Fighting is not allowed here, boys – do I make myself clear?  You want to fight, save it for Daemon.  I don't want to hear about any nonsense, Mates.  If I do, the consequences will be very severe.  Am I understood?"

"Understood, Sir."

"Yes, Sir.  Am I dismissed now, Sir?"

Ray looked Calisto up and down, a little distastefully, and sighed.  "Yeah.  Go.  But remember what I said, Lad – if I hear about any nonsense from you two your bitmap is toast."

"Yes, Sir."  Calisto turned and zipped off, leaving Ray, Patch and me alone at the edge of campus.  I realized I'd been holding my breath and exhaled deeply.

"Where'd you come from?  I thought you left!" Patch said wonderingly.

"You don't survive a life of web surfing by being basic, Cadet.  Keeping you nippers safe is my number one job, now."  He knelt in front of me.  "You OK, Enzo?  Nothing broken?"

"I'm fine."  I hastily wiped my cheeks and tried to smile.  I'd just been in my first real-life fight – sort of.  It hadn't exactly gone well – I didn't even wanna think what would've happened if Ray hadn't come back.  Calisto was a big kid – if he'd wanted to hurt me I'm not sure I could've stopped him.

"You sure?"

"Yeah.  Thanks…  Sir."

"That guy is a total null!"  Patch fumed.  "He's just pissed because Enzo won that game instead of him!"

"We all won that game, Lass.  And watch the language." Ray sighed.  "Enzo, I meant what I said – fighting isn't allowed in here.  It's a strictly zero tolerance."

"I don't want to fight anybody.  I just wanna be left alone." I said softly.

"I know."  He turned to Patch.  "Head on off to class now, Cadet – I need a nano with Matrix here.  And good job in that game – you'd never know it was your first one."

She glowed a little.  "Thank you, Sir.  Enzo, uh…  I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah.  See ya."  She grinned and zipped off.  One good thing seemed to have cone out of the cycle – I had another friend.  I was beginning to sense that having allies was important in a place like the Academy.

As soon as she was out of sight Ray turned back to me.  "You really all right, Mate?"

"Yeah – I'm fine.  He didn't hit me or anything."  There was a part of me that wanted to be a little boy and hug him and everything, but I wasn't about to do that.

"Good.  I know you didn't start anything with that kid, Enzo – I know you well enough to know you don't start trouble.  But you watch yourself – if he starts something with you you'll both get in the muck.  And I won't be able to keep you out."

"Ray, I…  I didn't do anything!  He-"

"I know Mate, I know.  But he might not just let this go – some guys aren't too keen on getting shown up by fellahs half their size.  And there's a lot of big guys here."

"But – I didn't show him up!  I just knew how to win that game – that's all!"

"Sure, Lad – and you did a helluva job in there, too.  But he didn't see it that way.  Just be careful – stand up for yourself if you have to but don't get into trouble you can avoid.  And I'll try and help you as much as I can, all right?"

"OK." I sighed.  It felt like the no-win scenario all over again for me.  "I'll try, Ray."

"Good lad."  He ruffled my hair.  "I know you, Enzo – you won't take recycle crap from anyone, and that's OK.  I'm not asking you to let yourself get pushed around – you never would anyways.  Do what you have to do and I'll do what I can."

"Thanks."  If guys the size of Calisto and Quantum were doing the pushing, I wasn't sure I was gonna have a choice.

"Good lad."  He straightened up and slapped me on the back.  "You really did a monster job in that game, Mate – you had it covered, no worries.  And you helped out Patch, too – good to know we've got a veteran like you in the midst.  We need all the experience we can get."

"I got lucky - Bob and I played that game before."

"Not luck, Mate – cool under pressure is what I call it."  He winked at me and gave me a playful shove.  "Get back to class, Kiddo – game ended millis ago, they'll miss you.  And let me know if you need me, right?  I'm here if you do."

"Thanks, Ray!"  I shot him a grateful smile and headed back for campus.  I could tell he was more worried about me than he was letting on – almost as worried as I was.

I checked my chronometer.  That game had been a long one – my lunch break was almost over.  I was still feeling a little shaken up and thought maybe that missing Lisa wasn't such a bad thing – but there was a part of me that was ticked off too.  Not to mention I was gonna have to skip lunch.

I zipped over to the mess at the great hall, grabbed a couple of energy bars and headed for our table.  Lisa was there – I could spot her hair from across the hall  - but she'd already just about cleaned off her tray.  I sat next to her and smiled apologetically.  "Um – hey."

"Hey yourself.  I thought you were gonna stand me up there for a micro."

"Sorry!  I…  I was in that game cube.  I was on call and everything, I couldn't help it-"

"That's OK – I'm just teasing you!  I saw you dash out of the weight room like your hair was on fire!" she laughed, and patted my hand.  It felt like a thousand pixels were dancing over it.

"Oh!  Heh – yeah!  Good one…"

"You OK?  You seem a little out of breath."

"Yeah – fine.  Thanks." I sighed. 

"You sure?  Nothing bad happened in the game?"  She patted my hand again, and left her hand on top of it for a nano.

I stared down at our hands for a nano, frozen, then I forced my gaze upwards.  "No – everything's perfect."

"Well – good!" she smiled quizzically.  "I haven't been in a game yet – I'm still a little nervous about it."

"You'll do great.  You'll be alphanumeric."

"I'll assume that's a good thing.  I wish I had your confidence!  But not all of us have been going into games since we were 1.0."

"Uh…  I just... It's no big deal, really!"  I was breathing hard again, I could hear myself.  "You'll be fine."

"You're really nice.  Thank you." She grinned.  "My break is over – but I wanted to hear about your long story from yesterday."

"Oh!  Sorry.  Mine is too, I guess."

"You better eat your energy bars then, huh?"

"I guess!  Yeah…"

She stood up, and I followed.  "Next time you can tell me.  Have fun in your classes today, OK?"

"Yeah!  Thanks, you too."

She grinned and waved.  "Bye, Cutie!"  I wasn't able to muster a response beyond a grunt, but I did manage to almost wave back.  She laughed a little bit and walked off, and I followed her with my eyes until I couldn't see anymore and stood for a while staring even after that.  Then I realized the mess was almost empty and I was late for class, shoveled both energy bars into my mouth at the same time and zipped off as fast as I could.

The rest of that cycle was pretty uneventful – as uneventful as anything could have seemed to me, under the circumstances.  Classes were mostly a process of feeling out at this stage – all of the first-hours were still a little nervous and trying to get their bearings.  I told Linux about the game during dinner, and he was suitably impressed – although I left out most of the details about what went down afterwards.

Linux and I headed down to the rec room after dinner and there were a few boys there, no one I really recognized.  I was a little jumpy being around other kids without any of the teachers around, especially after the game, but no one really bothered us.  We played a simulator for a while, then we sat down on the big couch they had and popped in a quicktime movie.  Linux and I pretty much had the same taste in movies, as it turned out – looks like Laser was right about us.  We put "Tommy Boy" in the drive and we were watching and laughing out asciis off for a while, no problem.

The movie was about half-over when I heard a familiar voice from behind me – Zip, the kid who'd been with Quantum that first dinner in the boys' mess.  "You wearing your diaper, Boy?  Some of us might want to sit on that couch later."

"Just ignore him." Linux whispered.  I felt my ears burning but I didn't look around.

I pretended to watch the movie for a few nanos, then I felt a hand shaking my shoulder.  "Hey!" Zip said.  "Didn't anyone tell you to answer when one of your betters asks you a question?"

"Leave me alone." I said softly.

"That's original.  I asked you if you were wearing your diaper.  Well?"

"I'm going." I said to Linux.  "See you later."  I stood up and headed for the door.

"Hey!  Leaving so soon?  Aren't you gonna tell us some stories about Guardian 452?  C'mon!"  I just kept walking, down the hall and onto the elevator and upstairs to my room.  I felt like a null for running away like that, but I was still in a no-win situation.  I thought about what Ray said, but I couldn't find any way to make it work in real life.  How was I supposed to stand up for myself without fighting – and getting in trouble?  Not to mention beat up, probably.

I lay back on the bed and I was trembling, scared and angry at the same time.  I just didn't understand why anyone would want to pick on me like that – I'd never done anything to them.  I was used to being the smallest, but the big sprites in my life had never treated me that way – not even Matrix, even at first.  Well, not much.  It was a fear that had been in the dark places of my mind since I'd thought about coming to the Academy – and now it was happening.  I flipped over and buried my face in my pillow.

After a little while Linux came into the room, but I didn't look up at him.  "Hey."

"Hey." I answered through the pillow. 

I heard my desk chair squeak on the floor.  "You OK?" 

"I guess.  What happened to the movie?"

"Tommy Boy" isn't any fun to watch by yourself."  He didn't say anything for a while, and I didn't either.  Finally he slapped me on the shoulder.  "That null will get tired of you soon.  He'll leave you alone."

"I hope."  I rolled over on my side and looked at Linux.  "Crash it all!  Why do people have to be so basic?  I never did anything to him!"

"You know how big kids are." He sighed.

I felt a knot in my stomach.  "Uh…  Well, actually I don't.  There really aren't any other kids in Mainframe, so…"

"Dude – really?  How come?"

I stared at him for a moment, wondering how much I should say.  I didn't want him to think I was a freak or something.  "Um – remember what I said about my Dad?  How I didn't like to talk about it?"

"Yeah?"

I sighed.  "Most of the little sprites deleted at the same time he did."  That was as much detail as he needed to know.  "There was an…accident.  Real bad.  And afterwards, I was the only little sprite left in Mainframe."

Linux' eyes got real big.  "Dude!  You're kidding!"

"No – that's what happened."

"Oh, man – that's terrible.  So, like – the whole time you were growing up you didn't have any friends or anything?"

"Just the binomes I went to school with.  But that's not the same, y'know?  So no friends.  Um - until now…"

He smiled.  "Yeah."

"Guess you think I'm pretty weird now, huh?"

"Naw.  That's totally basic, though – I can't even imagine growing up all by myself like that."

I smiled.  "I had my sister.  And when Bob got there, it was better.  They were really great to me, Dude – they did everything they could.  But I guess it's not the same as being around other kids."

"I guess not."  He grinned tentatively.  "So - That's why you were so nervous, huh?  When we met and everything.  And when we saw other kids in the mess or something...  I just figured you were shy."

"Yeah."  I closed my eyes.

"That's cool, Enzo – you're doin' really good.  I mean – I know it's gotta be really tough and everything, but you're doing great."

"Thanks.  But what about Zip and those guys?  What if they won't leave me alone?"

He looked away.  "I dunno.  Sometimes kids are jerks for no good reason, just to be jerks. Stay out of his way as much as possible."

"Won't be easy."  I pounded my fist down on the bed, hard.  "Crash it all – I really wanted to punch that guy's display out!  But I was scared too.  He's so much bigger than I am, Linux!"  I could have been talking about Zip or Calisto, it didn't even matter which.

"I know, Enzo.  Just be cool, OK?  Don't let those nulls get to you.  Sooner or later they'll get tired of you and leave you alone.  Then they'll probably come after me."

"I hope.  About the leaving alone part, I mean."  I wanted to believe him, but at that nano I really didn't.

"C'mon – we need some music or something, it's dead in here."  He went over to his footlocker and pulled out a disc player and a carrying case.  "I got a bunch of alpha-numeric discs – let's have some noise!  What do you like?"

"Uh…"  That 'weird' alarm was going off in my head again.  "We didn't have that much contact with the net 'cause of Megabyte and Daemon and everything, so I don't know that many bands.  What've you got?"

"All kinds of stuff.  Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Men Without Hats…  My big brothers showed me all kinds of cool bands when I was little.  Oh – this one's good!"  He popped a disc into his player and music filled the room, pretty loudly.

"Who's this?"

"Squeeze!  Ever heard of 'em?"

"No."

"'Cool for Cats'.  This absolutely rocks!" Linux grinned.

"High density." I grinned back.  He hopped onto his bed and we both lay back, listening to the music.

"Most of my friends back home think I'm a dork, listening to oldies music like this."

"I think its pixelacious."

"Yeah, me too!  Screw them!" We both laughed.  The music was pretty awesome – I was totally getting into the beat, and even the lyrics were good.  I wondered if Bob knew how to play this stuff on his guitar.  Soon enough I'd forgotten about Zip and Calisto and I was totally into the music.  We listened for a long time – right up until lights out.  And I even fell asleep pretty easy – the night ended on a definite high.  I had no idea that the next cycle was gonna be one of the worst of my life.