Aria's watch station in the router was a circular tower with enormous windows and no interior walls. The design allowed the Guardian to monitor all the traffic in the router simply by glancing out her windows. It also had the happy side effect of creating a feeling of light and air in what was in truth very little space. Aria had added a dropped balcony to the rim of the tower room, and arranged potted plants both inside and outside for a feeling of openness. All visual illusions aside, however, the room was filled to capacity.
Bob, Dot, Captain Capacitor, Mr. Christopher, Davic, Wayne, Mouse, Turbo, one of the Web Riders, and Aria were all crowded into the tower room, sitting on the overstuffed circular sofa that ran around the edges of the room. Aria, declaring that she rarely entertained guests, had insisted on offering everyone refreshments and the use of her shower before discussing business.
The envoy from the Web Riders stretched what might have once been a hand past Mr. Christopher to grab the hor's doevre tray. He (she? It was impossible to tell what gender the Web Rider might once have been, and no one had yet worked up the courage to ask) burbled a phrase and popped a custard-filled pastry into his mouth.
"He says you're a wonderful cook," Bob translated.
Aria smiled at the Web Rider, ignoring the grotesque face. "Thank you, noble Rider. It is a delight to cook for someone who enjoys good food." Her eyes strayed to Turbo.
Turbo's cheeks turned faintly pink, and he shot Aria a dirty look. "Let's get started," he said gruffly. "Now, the Web Riders say we're stuck here for at least a couple of cycles, until the Web clears."
"Such a dreadful fate," Aria said archly.
"Now is not the time, Aria," Turbo answered, his tone even. "We've got two cycles to plan our next move, and that's what I plan to do." He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. "As I see it, we have two problems. One, we've got an epidemic in the Net. Two, there's a Trojan Horse virus loose in the Web."
Bob, who had been translating for the Web Rider in an undertone, spoke up. "There's something else, Turbo. We have to cure the Web Riders."
Turbo's brows lowered. "What?"
"Bob made a deal with Web-face and his buddies," Davic put in. "He promised them he'd give them the program Glitch used to repair his Web degradation."
Turbo turned to Bob, his face a study in control. "You promised to give away Guardian codes?"
"It's not part of the Guardian protocol, Turbo," Bob defended. "Glitch created it itself."
"Glitch is carrying part of your code, a significant amount of which is your Guardian protocol," Turbo growled. "You had no right to bargain with that."
"Would you rather Davic and I had taken on Megabyte alone?" Bob demanded. "You saw what we were up against, Turbo. We nearly lost Wayne and Matrix even with the Web Riders' help."
Glitch whirred and clicked, and Caen joined in.
"They have a point, my Prime," Aria said, smiling gently. "The program is Glitch's to keep or to give."
"But Guardian codes are strictly proprietary," Turbo said stubbornly. "If our codes become general knowledge, we lose our advantage against viruses."
"The Turbo I know would say we'll have to come up with new codes, then," Wayne put in quietly. He met his old friend's eyes. "He would have come after me with everything he could find, and to crashes with the regulations."
"Ya'll are making this a lot harder than it has to be," Mouse drawled. She lounged back on the sofa cushions. "Just let me see the program before you turn it over to the Web Riders, and I'll make sure there's no trace of our boy Bob or his precious protocol in it."
Turbo gave her a withering look. "And let you have access to our secrets? I don't think so."
"How do you know I don't already have them, sugar?" Mouse replied sweetly.
A vidwindow popped open, interrupting the commentary. "Guardian Aria!" a frightened one binome cried. "We've got a Game—oh, I'm sorry." The binome looked around at the sprites in the room. "I didn't know you had guests."
"It's no trouble, Joshua," Aria reassured him. "We—"
"Aria!" Another vidwindow popped open. "There's a Game dropping over the Principle Office!"
"Sounds like a networked Game," Davic said. Caen extended itself in his hands, leaving the two icons it supported in a small ring around its balance point.
"Let's do it," Bob said. He exchanged a few words with the Web Rider. "Aria, is it all right if he stays here?"
"Of course. Tell him to help himself to anything he likes in the kitchen."
Bob nodded. "We should get going. This system processes slower than Mainframe, but those Games are dropping."
"I'm coming with you," Wayne said hurriedly.
"No, you're not," Turbo contradicted.
"Perhaps you should discuss the matter on the way to the battle, lads," Captain Capacitor suggested. "Time and Games wait for no sprite."
"He's right, you know," Wayne grinned. He got up and started down the stairs winding through the floor of the room. "Race you." He disappeared down the stairs.
Turbo rose. "Did any of you happen to see what color his eyes were?"
"Purple. That wasn't the infection," Davic observed.
"That's what I was afraid of."
The four Guardians Portaled in right under the dropping Game. Davic glanced around at the deserted streets. "No sign of him," he noted.
"Wayne will be in the Game," Turbo said sourly. "He'll probably head for the other drop point, since it's closer and he's on a zipboard."
"Captain Capacitor really wasn't happy about that," Bob chuckled.
"Perhaps being the victim of a theft, however minor, will teach the captain the error of his ways," Aria said primly.
"He's already learned the error of his ways," Bob laughed. "He's discovered that it's much more profitable to trade honestly. He'd only go back to piracy if someone paid him to."
Wayne taxed his "borrowed" zipboard, his eyes on the purple cube dropping out of the softly pink sky above the LAN systems. He skimmed above the roofs of one city, then dropped dangerously close to the data sea that separated the systems from each other.
"Mind if I join you?" someone asked casually.
Wayne turned, and his eyebrows shot up. "What are you doing here?"
Mouse shrugged. "I downloaded ReBoot codes a long time ago, but I've never had a chance to try them out."
"So you've never been into a Game?" Wayne crouched a little lower on his zipboard, and winced as his back protested.
"No." Mouse kept pace with Wayne effortlessly. "But I figured you would show me the ropes."
Wayne's jaw tightened. "You might have been better off asking Turbo to do that. I'm not a Guardian anymore."
"Turbo's a little picky about the rules, in case you haven't noticed," Mouse replied. She looked at Wayne as the two of them skimmed above the glowing sea. "Why are you going into the Game, Sugar?"
"Being a Guardian isn't just a protocol," Wayne answered.
"Huh," Mouse murmured. "So you want to be a Guardian again?"
"I'm not sure what I want anymore," Wayne said moodily.
"So why go into a Game?" Mouse asked.
Wayne sighed. "I don't know. Maybe I didn't actually purge all of my Guardian code fifteen minutes ago. Maybe the Game compulsion is still there."
"Sounds like there's something still there, at least," Mouse agreed.
The Game landed, and the four Guardians looked around. They were standing in a lovely green glade, complete with gnarled oak trees, a babbling brook, and singing birds. There was even a slender white deer nibbling the grass at the edge of the forest.
Aria let out a small shriek of delight. Turbo groaned.
"I take it you two know this Game?" Davic asked.
"Know it?" Aria took a few light steps, and whirled like a dancer. Her skirts swished in the air, and she seemed to lift just slightly off the ground. "This is where it all began."
"This must be an upgraded version," Turbo observed coolly. "The scenery looks 16-bit."
"But it is still the Wilds," Aria almost sang. "My first home. And—" she spun across the grass and brushed Turbo's cheek with her fingertips, "—where I first met my Prime."
Bob and Davic exchanged a look. "Is either of you going to tell us what's going on, or should we leave you two here to reminisce while we deal with the User?" Davic asked.
"Users," Turbo corrected. "There are two groups of them." He searched the crystal-blue sky for a long moment, then continued. "This is Heroes' Legacy. Our objective is to either stop the Users from claiming the Heroes' Legacy, or to claim it ourselves."
"So we just have to find whatever this Hero thing is before the Users do," Davic concluded. "That doesn't sound too bad."
"It's not that simple," Turbo replied.
"I knew you would say that." Bob said wryly.
"What's the catch?" Davic asked.
"The Heroes' Legacy is not a thing to be found," Aria sang in a rich contralto. "It is a thing to be searched for." She hummed, and danced right up to the white deer, which raised its head and regarded the sprite with calm brown eyes.
"What she means is that we have to collect clues and testimony from Game sprites all over the Game world, in order to figure out where we have to be, and when, to win the Game," Turbo said dryly. "We really should ReBoot and get moving." He tapped his icon. "ReBoot," he said in a resigned tone.
Aria tapped her icon, and ReBooted between one step and the next.
Davic whistled, and looked Aria up and down. "Not bad," he observed.
Aria laughed, and danced across the glade. She now wore a brightly-colored silk dress, tied at the waist with a belt of flashing metal coins and complemented by a silk scarf tied in her hair. Tiny bells braided into her hair rang as she moved, and there was a wooden flute tucked under her belt. She stopped in front of Davic and lifted her chin, challenging him with her bright blue eyes. "I was created this way," she told him, suddenly solemn. "I am an Elven Siren, raised by the gypsies of this Wild. I can lead any traveler astray with a simple tune, or turn back an army with a dance. Do you dare challenge me?"
"Uh—" Davic's cheeks turned bright red.
Caen clicked.
Bob lifted an eyebrow at Aria, and gave Davic a hard elbow in the ribs.
Davic blinked, and shook his head. "User, don't do that," he said to the lovely sprite in front of him. "I'm on your side, remember?"
Caen chattered.
"You should talk," Davic reproached it. "You're the one who went chasing after—"
"Cut it out, all of you," Turbo ordered. He settled a dented helmet onto his head and shook his shoulders under the weight of the chain mail the Game had dressed him in. "We've got work to do."
"Right, right," Davic tapped his icon. "ReBoot!"
"No!" Bob and Turbo cried in unison.
Caen squealed and chattered, glowing bright blue. The icons embedded in its length sprang apart for an instant, spinning to the very tips of the noisily buzzing keytool.
Copland, Glitch, and Aria's keytool jumped away from their Guardians and flew straight into the ball of light that Caen had become. There was a great deal of beeping and several small explosions before the light faded.
"What?" Davic asked. He looked down at himself. "What the…?"
"An ogre!" Aria cried. "A powerful beast, if not particularly intelligent." She chuckled, and caught her keytool as it zipped back to her. The keytool rattled and clicked.
"Hey!" Davic protested around a mouthful of fangs.
"He is simply young and impetuous, Pavane," Aria reproached gently.
"I haven't been young since I was 10," Davic declared truculently. He hefted the enormous club he now held in his left hand, and Caen stuttered out a noisy phrase before wrapping itself around his arm. "Oops," he said, abashed.
"Oops is right," Turbo said sternly as Copland settled itself onto his gauntleted left arm. "You just ReBooted Wayne, son."
"Let's hope he made it into the Game, then," Bob said. Glitch settled back onto Bob's arm with a satisfied chirp.
Caen clicked and beeped.
"That's a relief," Davic said. "What kind of character did he get?"
Caen whirred.
"Caen, anything is better than an—an ogre, for User's sake."
Caen buzzed.
"Now that was hitting below the belt," Davic accused.
"You have to wonder, though," Bob teased. "Sometimes it seems like the Game knows a lot more about us than we think it does."
"Why don't we see what the Game thinks of you, then, city sprite?" Davic growled around his massive teeth.
"Why don't we?" Bob countered. He tapped his icon. "ReBoot!" He took a step back as the ReBoot finished.
"Ow!" Davic lifted one of his now-massive feet, and hopped around for a moment. "Watch where you're putting your feet, Bob!"
Bob's brow furrowed. "But I didn't—oh. Oh, boy." He twisted his neck as he tried to get a look at himself.
The Game had provided Bob with a bow, a quiver full of arrows, a brown leather vest with matching cap, and an extra set of legs. Bob wheeled, his hooves digging into the soft turf. "This is a new experience," Bob remarked as he surveyed his dark blue horsehide. A long tail of silver hairs flicked itself across Bob's flanks, and he jumped forward, startled. "Hey! That felt…pretty good actually." He twisted to look over his shoulder, and switched his tail again.
Copland whirred.
"Let's get moving," Turbo said. "There's a village in that direction."
"Raven's Hame," Aria supplied. She took Turbo's arm and tugged him toward a tiny path through the underbrush. "A quiet and poor little hamlet." She looked up at Davic, then to Bob. "It might be best if you stayed here in the Wild. The villagers will flee the appearance of an ogre, and centaurs are not welcome in this region."
"I can't imagine why," Davic said sarcastically. He sat down and stretched thick legs in front of him. "Bring us something to eat when you come back, will you? For some reason I'm hungry enough that even you guys are starting to look good."
"That's reassuring," Bob commented, taking a few steps back.
"It is the nature of ogres," Aria explained. "They are always hungry, and they will eat anything that crosses their path."
"Really?" Davic reached toward the white deer still grazing at the edge of the forest. "I wonder what this tastes like." He caught the deer by one hind leg and dragged it toward himself.
"No!" Turbo cried, lifting one hand.
The deer slipped through Davic's fingers and sprang away into the dark forest.
"Wonderful," Turbo growled. "Your appetite just lost us an advantage, Davic."
"Huh?" Davic, deprived of the deer, grabbed a convenient blackberry bush and tore it up by its roots. He shoved most of it into his mouth, and bit off its top. "What are you talking about?" he asked around his mouthful.
"The white hind is a guide," Aria explained. "If correctly approached, it can be persuaded to show a worthy soul the Path of Heroes."
"Oh," Davic said ruefully. "Sorry about that."
"Is there anything else we should know before you two go to the village?" Bob asked.
"Keep an eye out for the Users," Turbo said. "Try and follow them, if they show up. Don't attack them until we catch up with you—you'll be outnumbered."
"Does that matter?" Davic asked. "We're not exactly easy pickings, you know." He took another bite of the blackberry bush.
"The Users aren't either. Trust me," Turbo answered. "We won't be gone long." He let Aria lead him into the brush.
"You know, I'm starting to get really curious about those two," Davic remarked.
"You're not the only one," Bob agreed. He chose a spot across the glade from Davic, scuffed it a bit with his hooves, then carefully lowered himself to the ground.
"You think they'll ever explain?"
Bob shrugged. "Aria might, if we asked her to."
"You go ahead," Davic said, stuffing the rest of the blackberry bush into his mouth. "I'm in enough trouble with Turbo for one cycle."