Chapter Three-Realizations
Dot had won. Against all of the other kids who practically spent all of their time at the circuit racing track, Dot Matrix won. To be exact, she had kicked ASCII! Instead of begrudging her the victory and leaving her stranded there, everyone congratulated her with slaps on the back and excited hugs.
Now that the games were done and almost every place in Mainframe was closing for the night, the group piled into two small cars, all squashing together and practically hanging out the windows in order to fit. They drove around town like mad sprites, expressing their freedom in loud, long shouts of happiness. The cheerful daughter of Welman Matrix found herself rolling her eyes, then finally joining them in the cries. "We're out! Everyone hear that! No more school!"
When they had all settled down, the mutual decision was to go to Floating Point Park and hang out. The girls laid on the grass while the boys tossed around a jet ball. Ana Crom sighed dreamily and commented, "Finally, our lives begin. I can't wait until I'm married and rich."
"How are you going be rich? Don't you need a job before you're married?" Dot pointed out.
"Not if I marry a rich sprite," Ana concluded, "Maybe Mr. Mitchell. He's not that much older than me."
Everyone in the room wrinkled their noses in disgust. In turn, everyone had something to say about where they hoped to be even in the next few seconds. Most of their dreams were small, unlike Ms. Matrix who was most likely going to own half of Mainframe by the time they were all getting settled in jobs. As they discussed the future and the past, Dot glanced down at the tie around her wrist. Without a word to anyone, she began to dig a small hole in the ground.
"What are you doing, Dot?" Paq questioned with surprise.
She placed the tie in the hole and covered it with earth. "Oh, nothing," she said with a smile, "I thought I'd just leave something here to come back to. When I am a clever business woman, I want to remember this night when everything turned out alright; when we had all theses wishes. Pretty silly, huh."
Paq gave an expression that stated, "Yeah, silly, but very much something you would do." Artie called everyone over to where he had set his camera up on the hood of his car. They all swarmed around the bench and waited for the flash. The picture was taken and everyone was promised a copy of their first photo of the their life after Upgrade School.
Dot was having fun, but she couldn't help feeling a little left out. As all her companions reminisced and laughed over the past few cycles of their lives, she knew that she wasn't in any of these stories. It wasn't that she was regretting the way she had spent her time, Dot just suddenly wished she had a friend, a best friend. She'd even settle for a good friend. None of the sprites her age ever seemed to understand her or agree with her. It was like when she buried the tie. No one really saw why she did it. Then again, that wasn't what she really wanted either. To tell the truth, Dot didn't know what she wanted. She figured that was what compiling up was for, finding out what you want and searching for it.
******************
Bob stood before the Guardians trying not to reveal the satisfied smile on his face. Even though they were scolding him for not following orders, the cadet only heard the "you followed your instinct and won the game by keeping a cool head..." Then, when they were done talking, all of them left except Turbo.
The prime Guardian narrowed his eyes at the cadet and crossed his arms over his chest. "You did a good job today, Cadet. It's too bad your classmate had to figure out what you knew the hard way," he said.
"What? Who?" Bob asked with confusion.
"Carden was hurt in the game. Nothing serious, nothing the diagnostic programs can't fix. I just hope this won't make you too confident. No one can predict everything the User is going to do. Games are a serious matter."
Carden had been hurt! Bob glanced at his boots for a second and then back up at Turbo. "Sir?"
"What is it?" Turbo asked trying not to sound impatient.
"Why?" Turbo stared at him with confusion in his face. Bob clarified, "Why does the User send the games? What's the point?"
"Bob, no one can understand why and it doesn't do any good to wonder about it."
"But why not," Bob insisted, "We could try to study the User, figure out why this person or creature or being seems to get pleasure from the suffering of others. Why does he or she create viruses?"
"Cadet, you spend your energy worrying about stuff like that, you'll find that you won't have many people who are willing to help you." Turbo explained leaning his hands on the top of his desk. "Listen Bob, if you continue to ask questions about things we could never possibly understand, you will probably find that not a lot of friends are going to help you. So, just think about that before you theorizes with impossible goals. You're dismissed."
"But sir..." Bob didn't push it though. He exited the room and made a decision. Lack of allies or not, he would someday know why. It didn't have to be his top priority, of course, but it never hurt to think about reasons for the User's actions. Not that it wouldn't be nice to have someone listen to him. They didn't have to agree with him or help, but to just listen without stomping all over each idea the way Turbo and his classmates would. Bob wasn't sure of exactly what he would do when he had someone to talk to, but he never was one for planning ahead.
******************