Wayne hurried across the training field to the HQ building. A Guardian carrying a heavy staff met him at the door. "Hey, Wayne. Long time no see."

Wayne stopped. "Davic? What are you doing here?"

Davic grinned. "Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to kick some viral ASCII," he said.

Wayne acknowledged that with a lift of his eyebrows, and started for the elevator. "So, where have you been?"

Davic fell into step beside Wayne and shrugged. "Here and there." Davic was a Net, rather than a System, Guardian. He ranged all over the Net, scouting new systems and checking up on small isolated Nodes, which were more prone to piracy and viral attack than larger, well-defended systems like the Supercomputer.

Wayne nodded toward the staff and observed, "I see Caen's still got claustrophobia."

"Would you like being cooped up in a little box all the time?" Davic twirled his keytool-staff in one hand. "I'm used to it. I kind of like being ready for action." He abruptly stepped away from Wayne and swung Caen in a wide arc toward Wayne's head.

Wayne turned and stood still, arms at his sides and eyes on Davic.

Caen stopped as though it'd hit a wall, a finger's width from Wayne's ear. Wayne, Davic, and Caen froze in a silent tableau for an instant, then Davic swung Caen away from Wayne and spun it from hand to hand behind his back. He struck a pose, then relaxed and grinned at Wayne again. "User, you're cool. You didn't even blink."

"I trust you," Wayne replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Are you coming up to the Office or are you going to stay here and wave Caen around?"

"I can do better than that," Davic said. He grabbed Wayne's arm and spun Caen into a blur in front of them. "Caen! Portal!"

The whirling staff beeped, then exploded into a Tear, which stabilized into a Portal an instant later. Davic gave Wayne another grin before yanking them both through the Portal.

Davic and Wayne landed squarely in the middle of the War Room, causing a tense moment of raised keytools before they were recognized. Turbo lowered his left arm, and said to Davic, "I was wondering when you'd get here."

Davic grinned easily as Caen reassembled itself and dropped into his outstretched hand. "Sorry I'm late. The traffic was murder."

The corners of Turbo's mouth lifted a fraction. "Come on. I'll give you the lowdown." He moved to one of the workstations at the rear of the room. He seated himself and started tapping commands into the control pad. "Wayne, have you got any idea of how this thing spreads?"

"We can't even separate it from normal code yet, Turbo." Wayne cleared a corner of the table behind Turbo's chair and sat, watching the workstation screen over Turbo's shoulder. "We've tried everything we can to isolate it, but all we get is nonsense." He shook his head. "I've seen some strange things, but I've never seen anything like this."

"Where did it come from?" Davic asked.

"That's the really interesting part," Turbo answered. He hit a few keys. "I had my boys go through that file of weird accidents. We're definitely not containing this thing with an IP 6 quarantine." A map appeared on the screen. Most of the nodes on the Net glowed red.

Davic's eyes widened. "You've got my circuit marked!" he said indignantly. "I haven't had any viral incidents."

"No, but you did report an uprising in Cato system," Turbo murmured.

"That?" Davic snorted. "That wasn't an uprising, that was a joke. A bunch of kids skipped school and marched around the Principle Office demanding purple doughnuts for lunch. I only reported it because I thought you guys could use a laugh."

"It's no joke," Wayne said. "Did you happen to notice what color their eyes were?"

Davic's brow furrowed. "A lot of them had reformatted their eyes green. Are you saying that wasn't some kids' fad?"

"Far from it," Wayne answered. "Green eyes are a sign of the infection."

Davic stared at him, then turned back to the screen. "This thing is everywhere, then?"

"Yeah," Turbo answered. "It's all over the Net. And look at this." A list of dates appeared on the screen. "The symptoms first showed up about two seconds ago."

"Daemon," Wayne murmured.

"You got it."

"Wait a nano," Davic protested. "I thought we beat Daemon."

"We didn't," Wayne commented thoughtfully. He watched the data scrolling past on the screen. "I think someone needs to pay a visit to Mainframe, Turbo."

"Right," Davic said, straightening. "Just give me the address, and I'm gone."

"You'll have to wait until I get a kit together, Davic," Wayne told him.

"Stand down, both of you," Turbo interrupted. "No one's going anywhere until we have some idea of what we plan to do when we get there."

"I'd like code samples," Wayne started.

"And I'll go along to watch his back," Davic added.

Turbo turned in his chair and leveled his eyes on them. "Does either of you have any idea what's been going on in Mainframe the last few seconds?"

"That's Bob's system, isn't it?" Davic asked.

Turbo nodded. "Yeah. And right now there's a Trojan Horse virus loose in Bob's system."

"Let me guess," Wayne said, "He refuses to delete it."

"You got it. And since the Command.com just happens to be his girlfriend, she's going along with it."

"That's a great way to get a system deleted," Davic commented.

"I want a scan of Bob's cadet," Wayne said suddenly. "I don't think it's any accident that this thing started right after he cured Daemon's infection."

"You think Bob's cadet is a virus?" Davic asked, puzzled.

"It's possible," Wayne answered. Turbo opened his mouth, but Wayne cut him off. "I think it's more likely that the carrier virus somehow contaminated the cure. Either way, I need a scan of that sprite."

"You'll have a tough time getting it," Turbo predicted. "The first time I met Matrix I had to put a restraining field on him to keep him from blowing me to bits."

"You're kidding," Davic said. "No cadet would attack the Prime Guardian."

"Nor do cadets carry weapons," Wayne added.

"This one does. He's got a chip on his shoulder and a gun that can punch through armor plate, and he's never seen the Academy."

"What's a sprite like that doing with a Guardian protocol?" Davic wondered aloud.

"That's a long story," Turbo answered. "Just be careful around him."

"So you're letting us go to Mainframe?" Wayne asked quietly.

Turbo looked up at them for a long moment, then rolled his eyes and shook his head before saying, "I must be coming down with the infection. Have my eyes turned green yet?"

Davic grinned. "Would we tell you if they had?"

Davic obligingly Portaled Wayne directly into the Ward's main supply room. Unfortunately, the Portal opened an arm's length away from a pair of interns, who knocked things over in their startled scramble. Wayne exited the Portal to find a stack of boxes toppling toward him. He crouched and tucked his head under his hands.

Several loud thumps and a whistle later, Wayne looked up. He was surrounded by shredded bits of what had been boxes of sterile gloves. Davic stood over Wayne with Caen leveled at Rudyard and Cass, who'd apparently knocked over the boxes and now cowered in the far corner. Caen was glowing all along its length, and a faint buzz emanated from beneath Davic's fingers.

"You know these kids, Wayne?" Davic demanded.

Wayne rose carefully, his eyes on Davic. "They're my interns. The Portal surprised them. It was only an accident."

"Could have fooled me," Davic said. He lowered Caen, and its glow faded.

"They couldn't have known we were coming," Wayne said reasonably. "We only made the decision to go a nano ago."

"Go? Go where?" Rudyard asked. He eyed Caen nervously.

"I'm going to get a scan of the sprite who gave us the cure for Daemon's infection," Wayne answered.

"But—" Rudyard started.

Wayne interrupted him. "I'm pretty sure there's a connection between the cure for Daemon's infection and the symptoms we're seeing now. I won't be gone long. Turbo knows where I'll be." He took a carryall off a shelf, and began loading it with assorted equipment. "The quarantine's lifted, and the second shift will be coming in soon." He pawed through a box of descramblers. "Have we got a portable analyzer anywhere?"

"Yes, Doctor," Rudyard answered automatically. He didn't move from the corner.

Wayne looked up. "Davic, stop scaring my kids and clean up that mess you made."

Davic scowled. "We've got to get going, Doc."

"Mainframe will still be there in ten nanos." Wayne waved Rudyard and Cass out of the corner. "Cass, do you know where the first-floor broom closet is?"

"Yes, Doctor. I'll be right back." Cass scurried out.

Davic settled himself against a shelf unit and watched Rudyard climb a ladder to reach the portable analyzer perched on a high shelf. "With any other system, I'd say you're right, Doc. But from what I've heard on the Net, Mainframe offlines at least once a decacycle."

Caen beeped, then closed in on itself until it was only a fat cylinder the length of Davic's forearm. It clicked insistently.

Davic nodded. "Sure, good buddy." He looked up at Wayne. "Is there a recharge unit around here? Making Tears really runs Caen's power down."

Wayne nodded. "If you go up to the lab on the fourth floor—" He stopped. Davic was already out the door.

Rudyard, still on the ladder, paused for a moment before climbing down, analyzer in hand. "Doctor Wayne?" he asked hesitantly. "Would he really have deleted us?"

"Probably not. You just startled him." Wayne accepted the analyzer and tucked it into his carryall.

"Is that another side effect of the Guardian protocol?" Rudyard watched Wayne's face.

Wayne stopped packing and sighed. "No. It's just that only sprites with unusually quick reflexes make it into the cadet training program in the first place. Without Guardian training…" He shrugged. "Well, who knows."

Cass returned with two brooms and a mop. The three of them had cleared the worst of the mess by the time Davic returned. Wayne bullied the Guardian into helping sweep up the last of the debris, then left several messages with his colleagues before leaving the Ward to return to the HQ building.

Davic swung and spun Caen as they walked. A group of cadets doing calisthenics on the training field watched the whirling keytool enviously.

"So, have you ever been to Mainframe before?" Davic asked.

"Once," Wayne answered shortly. "Go to level seven."

"So? What are we getting ourselves into?"

"I was infected, Davic." "We're already at level eight. We've never needed to pass three before this."

"Oh. Sorry." Davic stopped Caen's swinging with a crisp catch. "She sent you out-system, huh?"

"I was as close as she had to a hacker." "That is not good enough. Our Lady has a schedule to keep! I cannot accept failure."

"Hey." Davic nudged Wayne gently. "She used us all, Doc."

Wayne shook his head. "I know. It's just—"

"It's over, Doc," Davic said gravely. "Past and gone."

Wayne's eyes were haunted. "Maybe. Maybe not."