It would be the last time I walked the intricate mazes of G-Prime for some time. I had offlined the manufacturing of my war machines earlier – this was just a farewell, of sorts. Mind, it was only a few octals of drones I was leaving behind, along with my two remaining 'volunteers'. I was curious as to how they had managed to retain their viral code through a system restart, a viral scan, and infection by a supervirus. That level of devotion impressed me greatly. In the case of Sergeant Smiley, it also scared me a bit.

I looked over the ranks of drones, and then turned to my new 'lieutenant'. Herr Doktor was a great loss, in that he was the only binome I could trust to follow orders as given. Admittedly, he was rather too – enthusiastic – about his work sometimes…but reliable. His deformed binome experiment was more of an unknown quantity. However, there was absolutely no way I was leaving Sergeant Smiley in charge of Mainframe operations.

            "Do you understand?" I asked for the third time.

The binome scratched his head with his upper arm. "I tAke CAre oF tHe PLaCe WhILe ThE MaSTer iS awAy?"

I hesitated, deciphering that. I hazarded an "Indeed.", then added a "Don't fail me." for good measure.

            I surveyed the rest of them now, giving them their final orders. "Don't let yourselves be found. Keep one step ahead of the CPUs, and stay frosty." I got a few blank looks with that last phrase, and mentally winced. "Just go," I finally growled. A familiar chime rang, and I looked up.

//WARNING : INCOMING GAME\\

            I had jumped on my zipboard and was ascending as fast as I could by the time the voice had finished intoning the words. The interruption was unexpected but not unwelcome – I felt a little thrill of anticipation. I needed to be there now – it was in my code.
            Games held a certain appeal for me now that they hadn't before. The challenge of outwitting the User was a distraction from the challenge of outwitting the rest of Mainframe, and though I had been worried my lack of experience in games would show through, Matrix was happily oblivious. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him – yet. His fishwife/girlfriend/whatever hadn't been accompanying us lately, which was good – she was sharper than him. Not that that was hard, mind.

            I made it with nanos to spare. This was the first game since Bob's…unfortunate accident, and I intended to prove that I was better than him. Even at being him, ironically enough.

            ***

"Watery tart? Watery tart?! " 
"I said I was sorry, AndrAIa! It was in the game script!"
 I edged away from the two of them. It had been a rather odd roleplaying game we had won – it had made very little sense, even after rebooting. I hadn't been in the scene that Matrix and AndrAIa were arguing over, but I got the general picture.

"Don't you two need to get that game code sampler back to the Principal Office?" I asked. Predictably, they ignored me.

"I'll show you repression!"

"I wasn't talking about you! And I didn't mean it!"

Finally, I decided that someone needed to be responsible here, even if it was me, and I took the oblong machine to the P.O. myself, leaving the two bickering lovebirds where they were. They seemed to enjoy arguing as much as they enjoyed the inevitable making up afterwards. I didn't quite understand their relationship, but then relationships were rather a new field to me. I knew how to deal with minions, erstwhile allies, enemies, and Hexadecimal, but friendship was far more complex. And love – love seemed completely random. Enjoyable, maybe, but still random. Chaotic. Unplanned.

I was in love, and I didn't have the slightest idea what to do about it. It didn't seem the sort of thing that could be fixed with a software patch, and I was staying as far away from the System Operator as possible in any case. Having him scan me when I returned from the Web had been nervewrenching enough. If anyone could put together the pieces, it would be Phong, who hated me with a passion. Certainly, there was that whole bit with his head in a jar and all, but I had asked him nicely to cooperate first. It still amazed me how people tried to cross me with impunity, and then blamed me when they suffered the inevitable consequences.

"Bob." Dot smiled at me, and I smiled back.

"I've got the codes from this 'Holy Grail' game – have you made any progress?" I ambled over to the null tanks. The Mouse-null was squirming around an enclosure with blocks and a bizarre wheel apparatus. Phong's idea, no doubt. Nibbles was in an adjoining tank, as was…Bob? "You found him, I see."

"Yeah." Dot said. The moment turned awkward. What must it be like for Dot, having to choose between two versions of the man she loved? I didn't know. A part of me enjoyed twisting her life around to my own ends, despite the occasional feelings of remorse. What else could I do? I needed her…it was in my code now. I was not self-destructive enough to reveal my charade while I still had no control over my powers, and by the time the spammed protocol warped me to that level of desperate honesty, there wouldn't be enough of me left to mourn.

"I…." Dot closed her mouth, then resolutely continued. "I'm so grateful that you are…are doing this for me. I know you two have had your…differences. Your code donation might make the difference for the other Bob." I had volunteered most of the free time I had before I transferred to the Supercomputer helping her with her project. Dot was focusing on it almost to the exclusion of everything else. Her experiments in restoring nulls seemed to be very close to a breakthrough.

I raised a hand to quiet her. "Anything I could do to help. If Glitch's codes can bring back Mouse and the other Bob –  I have to help. I just have to. It's part of who I am." Standard Bob incoherence. I was rather proud of myself, actually. It was the perfect excuse to spend time with her – and I did miss Bob. I wanted to prove to him, once and for all, who was the better of the two of us.

She smiled. "It's part of why I love you."

Did she just…

I blinked. "But…"