Davic skidded to a halt the junction of two corridors. "Which way?" he demanded of Caen.
Caen beeped, and tugged Davic to the left. Then it buzzed, and burst out in whistling racket as it dragged Davic back toward the right.
Bob jogged up behind Davic. "Is something wrong?"
"Caen just picked up the Doc's signal," Davic answered excitedly. "He's still processing! Come on, he's just around the bend."
Bob put his hand on Davic's arm. "Wait. It could be a trap."
"Bob, this whole place is a trap," Davic said impatiently. "Caen's verified the signature. You were right—it's too weak to pick up from a distance."
"That's what I'm worried about," Bob muttered darkly. "Megabyte could have heard that conversation and set this up for us." He scanned the ceiling and walls with his eyes. "You go first, and follow that signal. I'll watch your back."
Davic's eyes narrowed, and he nodded. He approached the right-hand hallway, and stopped just before the threshold. Caen beeped softly in its Guardian's left hand, and gave a gentle tug. Davic listened for an instant more, then followed his keytool's directive. Bob trailed a few steps behind, his expression alert.
There were two Web Riders waiting as the Saucy Mare II thundered out of her Portal and into the Web. The ship, half again the size of her predecessor, dwarfed her escorts.
Websong burst from the ship's speakers. The Web Riders circled the Saucy Mare II, then rode a distance away and turned back.
"Looks like they want you to hurry up, Captain," Mouse observed.
"Then let us oblige them, Madam," Captain Capacitor replied. "Mr. Andrews! Engines on full!"
"Aye-aye, sir!" the helmsman acknowledged.
"Keep an eye on your sensors, Gavin," Dot warned as the deck began to vibrate. She caught hold of the rail as the ship accelerated. "We're not sure what Megabyte may have left for us out here."
"Ray and the Web Riders have taken care of that, Dot," Mouse reminded her.
There was an electrical shriek from below decks, then a teeth-rattling boom.
A vidwindow popped open in front of Captain Capacitor. "Captain? We've got a problem."
"So I guessed, AndrAIa," the captain replied, straightening his hat. "Just what sort of problem is it?"
AndrAIa turned to look at a readout beside her. A golden chain fastened to the tip of her pointed ear flashed against the dark background of the black bandanna tied over her hair. "We just lost a power coupling on the secondary generator, Captain," she went on. She turned back to the vidwindow. "That freeware regulator shorted out, and the generator went from cold to full power in less than a nano."
"Freeware?" Dot repeated incredulously. She lifted an eyebrow. "What were you doing using that stuff? Freeware's worth exactly what you pay for it."
Captain Capacitor pretended he hadn't heard. "We must go into battle, fair lady," he told AndrAIa. "Our friends await our arrival."
The ship lurched, then started forward. A droning whine surged through the ship. Websong wailed across the decks.
"The primary generator can supply us with enough power for the engines, Captain, but we're going to have to use our reserves to run everything else," AndrAIa said, watching her screens. "Including the deck guns."
The Websong grew louder, and the ship's bow jerked to starboard.
"Captain!" a crewman called. "The Web Riders!"
Captain Capacitor turned to the sensor screens, which showed a pair of dots well in front of the ship. "Go to the bow cameras," he ordered. The scene on the screen shifted.
"Well, that's friendly," Mouse observed.
Their escorts had thrown lines around the ship's armored bowsprit, and harnessed their mounts to tow the massive ship.
"Captain!" Mr. Christopher cried from the bow. "We've just picked up the signature of a Portal opening behind us!""
"How far behind us, my lad?"
"Uh—" Mr. Christopher floundered. He glanced at his screens and suppressed a squeal. "Eep! Sir! Something came out of the Portal, and it's headed this way!" He was audibly rattling. "It's closing fast! It's carrying weapons! It came out of Mainframe!"
"Steady down, lad!" Captain Capacitor roared. "One ship is no match for the crew of the Saucy Mare."
"But it couldn't have come from Mainframe," Dot said, puzzled. "There aren't any Web-shielded ships in the system."
"Except for mine," Mouse put in. "And nobody could get my ship off the ground without my access codes."
"At the rate the blaggard is closing, my dear ladies, I'd say our questions will be answered soon enough," Captain Capacitor remarked. "Mr. Jimmy, kindly ready the deck guns."
A mumbling voice echoed along the empty corridors, along with irregular thumps.
Bob and Davic stopped, and stood absolutely still for a long moment, their faces and bodies tensely alert. Caen, held tight in Davic's left hand, turned slowly to point at the corridor wall a little ways ahead of Davic.
The thumps and the mumbling grew louder, and the patch of wall Caen indicated suddenly glowed bright red, then burst into hissing sparks. A shape stretched the glowing wall, then tore through it in a sudden burst of light.
Caen started beeping, and Glitch joined in as Davic and Bob stared at the shimmering form that crumpled to the floor, muttering.
"Wayne?" Bob asked unbelievingly.
"Doc?" Davic dropped to one knee, and gingerly reached out toward the flickering sprite.
Wayne glanced up sharply. "Guardians?" he asked. He pulled himself to a more or less sitting position, propped against the wall. "Help me. It's the infection." His eyes were wide, pleading, and purple.
"We know, Wayne. We're here to help," Bob reassured him.
"Hold on, Doc," Davic added, putting one hand on Wayne's shoulder. "We're gonna get you out of here."
"No." Wayne shook his head. He struggled to his feet, took a step away from the wall, then collapsed to his knees. "No," he panted. "I can't leave my city. It's—gonna crash." He looked up at Bob, then to Davic. "Help me. Help me save my city."
Davic half-turned and exchanged a look with Bob. Bob glanced at Wayne, then dropped his eyes to Wayne's icon and lifted an eyebrow. Davic nodded shortly, then turned back to Wayne. "We've got to get to the Principle Office, Wayne," he said. He slid his hand gently off Wayne's shoulder, reaching around the stricken sprite with one arm and lifting them both to their feet. As the two of them passed Bob, Davic opened the fingers of his right hand, and let Wayne's purloined icon fall into Bob's hand.
"Why don't you tell me what happened to your city, Wayne," Davic said in a friendly tone. Caen turned gently in its Guardian's free hand.
"A bug. Just a bug in the system," Wayne gasped. He was barely lifting his feet, his weight on Davic.
Bob fell into step behind them, and lifted his left arm. He put Wayne's sputtering blue icon on top of Glitch's screen.
"What kind of bug?" Davic asked.
Glitch whirred softly, and Wayne's icon glowed bright blue for an instant, then faded as the keytool clicked.
"Virus had left it there. Just waiting for the right time. It was only a matter of time," Wayne said. He dropped his head to Davic's shoulder.
"He's out," Davic said. "Did you help him along?"
Bob shook his head. "I didn't have to. He's dying, Davic." He took Wayne's icon off of Glitch.
"Tell me something I didn't know," Davic said grimly. "Is there anything we can do?"
Bob heaved a sigh and shook his head. "I don't think so. We—" He stopped as Glitch clicked. "What?" He lifted his arm and looked at his keytool.
Caen joined in, burbling.
Davic glanced at his keytool, then met Bob's eyes. "Caen's got the power for it."
"No," Bob said. "It could kill all three of you. You could be infected."
"If you've got a better idea, I'm listening," Davic answered, easing Wayne to the floor.
"I can call the Web Riders," Bob said. "They can keep an eye on him until Dot gets here."
"I guess they could watch him delete as well as you or I can," Davic agreed, settling down beside Wayne. He looked up at Bob. "Are you going to give me his icon or do I have to arm-wrestle you for it?"
"Let me do it, then," Bob said. "I—"
"—know this virus a lot better than I do, and you can talk to those Webheads out there without sending pixels to your grandmother," Davic finished. "Plus I'm bigger than you are, and Caen can prop me up longer than Glitch can hold your code together." He took his icon off and regarded it for a long moment. He closed his fingers around his icon and held out his other hand. "Give me his icon before I change my mind, city sprite."
Bob met Davic's eyes, then slowly laid Wayne's icon in Davic's open palm. "Have you done this before?"
"Not since the Academy," Davic answered. "Do me a favor and shut up." He addressed Caen. "Ready?"
Caen beeped, and lifted into the air, hanging motionless between Davic's open hands.
"Right," Davic murmured. "Go."
Caen clicked, then whirred. It delicately extended one end of itself until it just touched Davic's icon. Davic took a deep breath as his icon rose slowly upright, then began to spin. Caen's other end reached out. Davic grunted as Caen touched Wayne's flickering icon. Caen sparked, then abruptly glowed white as the icons at its ends began to close the distance between them, pushing Caen into an ever-shortening cylinder.
Bob closed his eyes and turned away as the glow flared to a sudden burst of light.
The light died away as quickly as it had come, and something clanked on the floor. Bob blinked, and turned back to Davic and Wayne.
Davic had both hands on the floor and his head down, gasping.
"How do you feel?" Bob asked tentatively.
"About the same way I felt the last time I had to file-share someone," Davic answered. "My head hurts, my ears are ringing, I'm seeing spots, and it's a good thing I haven't had anything to eat lately."
"Oh," Wayne groaned. He stirred, and put one hand to his head. "What happened?" He shaded his eyes with one hand and blinked at Bob.
"The infection made you burn out your processing algorithms, Wayne," Bob explained. "Davic's file sharing with you."
"Davic?" Wayne peered at the Net Guardian. "Do I know you?"
"Sure you do, Doc. Guardian 467 of Tuscarora Circuit."
"467?" Wayne shook his head. "That can't be right. There are only 233 Guardian protocols in existence."
Bob and Davic exchanged a glance.
"The infection must have corrupted your memory, Doc," Davic said slowly.
"Why are you calling me Doc?"
"Because you're a doctor. You mean you've forgotten that, too?"
Wayne stared. "What are you talking about? I'm Wayne MacHewlett, Guardian 147, of Paganini System."
"Warning," the address system blared. "This sector will be opened to the Web in five nanoseconds."
"Come on," Bob said. "We'll have to sort this out on the way to the hub."
"Steady, lads," Captain Capacitor cautioned. "Make sure you have a clear shot."
Their pursuer closed on the pirate ship. Hands tightened on deck gun grips.
"Saucy Mare, Saucy Mare, come in," Turbo's voice crackled on the ship's speakers. "This is Prime Guardian Turbo. Hold your fire, hold your fire. Calm down, Capacitor, I'm not here to arrest you."
"No Guardian would miss the chance to bring in the Crimson Binome," Captain Capacitor yelled back.
"I've got bigger fish to fry, Capacitor," Turbo answered. "The outstanding warrants on you can wait."
"There's a first time for everything, I guess," Mouse said.
"What is it you want, Guardian?" Captain Capacitor asked.
"The Mainframers told me I might find a couple of my friends out here. You know anything about that?"
"We're taking care of it, Turbo," Dot said firmly.
"Want some help?" Turbo offered.
"Would it stop you if I said no?"
"No."
"Then you may as well come along," Dot sighed.