A Pet for Perry
Warning: Bob and Dot fans, be warned in this storyline Bob and Dot are not married. Instead true love has taken its natural course and Bob has married Hexadecimal. While there is no explicit sexual content and only mild violence shown some readers may be offended. If you are wondering how this could happen read my earlier works like Necropolis and Surprise Beginning. If on the other hand you want to read about Bob being chased by a pack of angry puppies read on.
Bob stared nervously at the social worker, a Mr. Grimm, while his wife, a beautiful white skinned sprite, watched their daughter from the two-way mirror. The thin sprite cleared his throat and Hex turned to meet him. The social worker was a sharp-featured literally colourless man in a conservative brown suit.
"Mr. and Mrs. Robert Calvin," said the social worker. "We've done all physical and psychological tests on little Perry and we've come to a conclusion. Perry is an extremely intelligent child, gifted and therefore bores easily. All her acting out, such as breaking into the zoo, using her mother's paint program to deface the city are all symptoms of that. She needs to stimulated, tell me does she have any friends?"
"No," said Hex. "We ah, sent her to a nursery school once. She didn't get along."
"What Hex is saying, is that the Sons of Bats who were in charge couldn't handle her and left her in a corner while a game cube dropped," said Bob.
"The children thought she was weird, so no she doesn't," finished Hex.
"Well she's too young to be placed in a school for the gifted, any school in fact but she does need a friend," insisted Mr. Grimm.
"Well we can't buy a friend," said an exasperated Bob.
"But we can buy a pet," added Hex.
"Well it seems you've come to a solution," said Mr. Grimm. "Obviously Perry is too young to care for a pet. That'll be your job but I think a pet might be a perfect solution."
When they got home. Bob and Hex sent Perry straight to bed and then spent the evening discussing what to do.
"There's a directory all the pet stores," questioned Hex as she sat down on the couch beside Bob.
"No, pet mills," answered Bob.
"There's a dog show tomorrow."
"I don't get along with dogs, remember Frisket? In the morning we'll go to Kardon and Megan's. He's breeding monitor cats now. I'll make a call and we can make a deal."
And the next morning Hex dressed her little girl in a nice green dress and the family left for Kardon's. Perry appeared to be about three years old; she was the living image of her father with blue skin and silver hair. She even inherited the golden freckles Bob acquired in the Web. Right now Perry wore the same nervous expression on her face that her father had when Hex first tried to tell him she loved him.
"Are we going to another doctor?" asked the little girl as she stared up at the large doors of Kardon's house.
The house was huge, dark and built like a fortress. Hex and Bob could understand why Perri would be frightened. The reason was simple, Kardon's wife, Megan, was viral born like Hexadecimal and like Hex people resented that, hence the fortress.
The doors swung open and a large green sprite wearing a large smile stepped forward.
"Bob, Hex, come on in. You're in luck," said Kardon. "We've just got a nice batch of black short hairs."
Though long and winding passages the family walked, all the time Perry clutched Bob's hand firmly. Soon they came to a large room. The place was designed entirely with cats in mind, with scratching posts, litter boxes and sleeping boxes everywhere. It was also filled with cat sprites. The ball like creatures came in every colour and every pattern. Big ones and small ones, they slept, they played, they climbed everywhere and they ran around the room. The room was filled with the deafening noise of meowing and hissing.
It all stopped when Hex entered the room. The cats sprites stopped whatever they were doing and turned to face the ex virus. The change was absolutely freaky. Bob gulped nervously.
Kardon sensed this too, "Well the kittens are in the back, come right this way."
The cats watched them every step of the way as the family walked to the back. Finally they reached the back of the room. There in the back was a box with six black kittens inside. They looked like miniature Scuzzies, a cat that Hex once owned. They leapt out at Hexadecimal and stared licking her. They ignored Perry completely. The mother half-heartedly tried to push them away as she giggled.
"Whoa, this is freaking me out I'm going," said Bob.
A few nanos later Hex and Perry followed and with what appeared to be an act of will Bob didn't think Hex was capable of, without a kitten.
"We're trying to get a pet for Perry," said Hex more for herself than anyone else.
They stopped in a small restaurant for lunch. It was forgettable, average looking diner. Bob didn't even catch the name. One of the servers a green skinned woman looked murderously at them as they ate their lunch. Bob eyed their lunch carefully; Hex and Perry were occupied with other business.
"Don't worry darling, cats just have a thing for me. We'll try another animal, " soothed Hex. She bit into her blessedly bug free salad.
"I heard you and Daddy talking about a puppy show, can we go there? Can we Mom huh?" begged Perry. She then took a slurp of her safely white milk.
"No, Perry, Daddy and dogs don't go well," said Bob firmly. He fearfully took a bite of his burger, nothing wrong there.
"But Bob these are puppies, they're so cute. And they love everybody, besides they're not real dogs. They're featuring toy dogs, come on it can't hurt," pleaded Hex. Glitch's scans proved negative any poisons or viruses.
Perry looked at him pleadingly with those big brown eyes of hers. This was his daughter how could he say no.
"Alright, we'll go it can't hurt," said Bob as he took a sip of his coffee. He then sprayed it out. "Hey! My coffee tastes funny."
The green skinned woman smiled evilly.
The puppy show ended up being held in the other side of town. By the time they got there Perry had fallen asleep on Hex's arms. The dog show had had been held in a small indoor stadium. By the time they got there the show had ended so a crowd was leaving as they entered. A simpering one binome greeted them at the gates.
"Bob, Hexadecimal might I say its quite an honour for two of the Net's greatest heroes to visit us," said the binome. He seemed to be fond of purple. "Oh how cute! This must be little Perry I read so much about her. I've got all my friends waiting to see you guys. Come on in and take a look at the puppies.
The purple binome took them to the back rooms where the dogs were getting ready to go home. Like in Kardon's home this place was filled with animals only it was puppies instead of cats. Like in Kardon's the puppies frolicked everywhere. Like Kardon's the room became silent as the family entered the room. Perry rubbed her eyes at the sight of this. It was every child's dream come true.
It was Bob's worst nightmare. For unlike Kardon's this was not an adoring silence. As Bob walked nervously down with his family, he heard a tiny growl from a poofed up a poodle puppy. Little Perry was in bliss as she played with the puppies. The puppies strained against their cages waiting to get Bob.
Finally Perry had picked a puppy, a little white thing. "How about this one?"
The little white monster leapt at Bob. The Guardian let out a little shriek as he batted it away. The owner picked it up apologizing profusely. If only the apologies worked on the other dozens of puppies as they broke out of their pens.
The little fur balls snarled and snapped at Bob's heels as they chased him around the room. Perry knew that her Daddy got hurt in a game once before she was born. That was why he never ran and played with her like the other kids Daddies did but you'd never guess it this time. He ran as fast as she had seen any sprite do right out the building and up a tree. The little monsters soon followed and sat at the base of the tree yapping angrily. None of them were any larger than Bob's hand.
Hex stared dumbfounded at her husband. Never in all her life, even when she was psychotic, did she ever see Bob as frightened as this.
"I guess Daddy really does have a problem with dogs," said Hex to her daughter finally.
"Un, Hex need a little help here," pleaded Bob.
The ex virus shook herself awake. With a smirk she snapped her fingers and used her magic to transport her family safe and sound to their apartment. Perry gasped in wonder.
"Alright that's enough pet hunting for today," said Hex firmly.
"But I'm not tired Mummy," whined Perry.
"But your father is, now shush. We'll look for a pet another day," answered Hex.
The next morning before work Bob stopped at one of his Web rider friends before going to work. With a flourish the deformed sprite presented a rock like thing about the size of a fist. Bob stared at intently.
"What is it?" the father asked in Web language.
"It's a nubbin. They are very popular pets among my people," answered the Web rider.
"What does it do?"
"What doesn't it do is more like it."
"Well what doesn't it do?"
"Try to eat you. The Web is a hostile place."
"Is it alive? It's not moving," said Bob as he poked it. As soon as he did that the thing squired out a jet of dark ink in Bob's eye. Needless to save Bob did not take it home.
Hex in the meantime was not idle. Every morning she and Perry would go down to the Super Computer bazaar ostensibly to buy art supplies. Every morning the ex virus would search the stalls for a suitable pet.
One time Hex found a parrot. The ex virus thought it would be perfect. It was beautiful and Perri could teach the bird some new words. Instead the bird taught Perry some new words instead. Another time a large plant grabbed Perry in its jaws. The little girl kicked her exposed feet in the air using the new words she learned from the bazaar.
"Oh look my plant loves your daughter!" cried the stall keeper. Who was an exotically dressed zero binome.
"I can see that!" hissed Hex as she tried to pull at Perry's legs. "Now help me get her out before the plant eats her."
"He isn't eating her. If he was he'd be chewing right now."
With a fierce tug Hex pulled out a very confused and wet Perry. The stall keeper merely smiled.
"Shall I wrap up the plant for you?" asked the binome.
Finally things got desperate. It happened in the Academy while Bob was heading back to his office. A co-worker an older yellow skinned sprite was with him as Bob vented his feelings.
"Buttercup, it's getting worse. Perry is extremely lonely. She's now carrying around a rock she named Petey," said Bob.
"But she has her mother around," said Buttercup.
"It isn't enough, Perry needs someone to play with. Hex senses this and she's getting desperate to help her. I'm not sure what she'll do next," said Bob as he opened the door to his office.
There lay Hexadecimal wearing nothing but lipstick and a smile sprawled out on Bob's desk. Bob flushed a deep purple, while Buttercup snorted in laughter. Bob squeaked out an apology and slammed the door in Buttercup's face.
Hex was not in the least bit phased. She slid off the desk and said "Guess who's ovulating?"
"Hex stop it, now is not the time. You want to have two lonely children?"
"But they'll play with each other. Problem solved, Perry could play with her new brother or sister." She wrapped her arms around her husband.
"M-maybe so but that will be a long time in coming and Perry needs a friend now. Where is she anyway?"
"She's safe. I left her in a play centre." Hex kissed him again and again in the places he liked.
Reluctantly Bob pushed her away, "Hex I have to write up some papers now. Why don't you take Perry back to the gallery and I'll see you later, okay?"
Hex walked back to her gallery depressed holding her daughter's hand. She headed straight to her studio and started to daub some paints on a canvas when she heard a clattering sound from inside the gallery.
At this time in the evening the gallery should have been closed. She motioned for Perry to stay in the studio while she went out to investigate. The gallery was dark and Hex's sculptures loomed threatenly. The ex virus scanned the rooms for the source of the sound. She heard a tinkling of glass. Hex ran noiselessly to the sound with a glowing ball of light guiding her way.
When she got to source, the place seemed deserted. She scanned the room until she saw a strange sculpture of a mouthless reptilian humanoid beside a broken window. She had never made a statue of a Code Master before. What was it doing here? Hexadecimal came in for a closer look. The statue blinked. Hex let out a little screech and the Code Master jumped out the window before she could react.
"Mummy look! Someone left a present for me," shouted Perri from behind.
Hex whirled around. Little Perry held in her tiny hands a large brightly coloured box with her name on it in large friendly letters. As her daughter held it, the box moved within her hands. Smiling Perry sat down and began to unwrap it.
"No, Perry you don't know what's inside," warned Hexadecimal. But it was too late. Perry pulled out a small black furry thing that looked like a toupee. The thing chirped and whined as stumbled across the room.
"What is that?!" said Hex.
Several micros later Bob and his family watched anxiously at the Guardian academy science lab while a bald orange sprite, a Dr. Black examined the thing Perry dubbed Whatzat. The room was huge to accommodate scanners of shapes and sizes. They surrounded Whatzat as it chirped in fear. Perry watched intently a scan of Whatzat's internal organs.
Dr. Black took the scanners away from Whatzat, "Well Robert, I've never encountered any creature like it nor are there any thing like in our Academy files but I can tell you this it is very young and it shares some mammalian characteristics."
"How can you tell?" asked an amazed Hexadecimal.
Dr. Black pulled out one of his fingers that Whatzat had been sucking on, "Lucky guess. I can tell you this, it will never harm you or yours. It has imprinted on your daughter." Then Dr. Black handed Whatzat to the little girl and patted her on the head, "Well, Perry it appears you have a pet."
Perry smiled as she hugged Whatzat to her. It chirped happily in her tiny arms. No this was going to be more than a pet, it was going to be a friend.
Fin
Warning: Bob and Dot fans, be warned in this storyline Bob and Dot are not married. Instead true love has taken its natural course and Bob has married Hexadecimal. While there is no explicit sexual content and only mild violence shown some readers may be offended. If you are wondering how this could happen read my earlier works like Necropolis and Surprise Beginning. If on the other hand you want to read about Bob being chased by a pack of angry puppies read on.
Bob stared nervously at the social worker, a Mr. Grimm, while his wife, a beautiful white skinned sprite, watched their daughter from the two-way mirror. The thin sprite cleared his throat and Hex turned to meet him. The social worker was a sharp-featured literally colourless man in a conservative brown suit.
"Mr. and Mrs. Robert Calvin," said the social worker. "We've done all physical and psychological tests on little Perry and we've come to a conclusion. Perry is an extremely intelligent child, gifted and therefore bores easily. All her acting out, such as breaking into the zoo, using her mother's paint program to deface the city are all symptoms of that. She needs to stimulated, tell me does she have any friends?"
"No," said Hex. "We ah, sent her to a nursery school once. She didn't get along."
"What Hex is saying, is that the Sons of Bats who were in charge couldn't handle her and left her in a corner while a game cube dropped," said Bob.
"The children thought she was weird, so no she doesn't," finished Hex.
"Well she's too young to be placed in a school for the gifted, any school in fact but she does need a friend," insisted Mr. Grimm.
"Well we can't buy a friend," said an exasperated Bob.
"But we can buy a pet," added Hex.
"Well it seems you've come to a solution," said Mr. Grimm. "Obviously Perry is too young to care for a pet. That'll be your job but I think a pet might be a perfect solution."
When they got home. Bob and Hex sent Perry straight to bed and then spent the evening discussing what to do.
"There's a directory all the pet stores," questioned Hex as she sat down on the couch beside Bob.
"No, pet mills," answered Bob.
"There's a dog show tomorrow."
"I don't get along with dogs, remember Frisket? In the morning we'll go to Kardon and Megan's. He's breeding monitor cats now. I'll make a call and we can make a deal."
And the next morning Hex dressed her little girl in a nice green dress and the family left for Kardon's. Perry appeared to be about three years old; she was the living image of her father with blue skin and silver hair. She even inherited the golden freckles Bob acquired in the Web. Right now Perry wore the same nervous expression on her face that her father had when Hex first tried to tell him she loved him.
"Are we going to another doctor?" asked the little girl as she stared up at the large doors of Kardon's house.
The house was huge, dark and built like a fortress. Hex and Bob could understand why Perri would be frightened. The reason was simple, Kardon's wife, Megan, was viral born like Hexadecimal and like Hex people resented that, hence the fortress.
The doors swung open and a large green sprite wearing a large smile stepped forward.
"Bob, Hex, come on in. You're in luck," said Kardon. "We've just got a nice batch of black short hairs."
Though long and winding passages the family walked, all the time Perry clutched Bob's hand firmly. Soon they came to a large room. The place was designed entirely with cats in mind, with scratching posts, litter boxes and sleeping boxes everywhere. It was also filled with cat sprites. The ball like creatures came in every colour and every pattern. Big ones and small ones, they slept, they played, they climbed everywhere and they ran around the room. The room was filled with the deafening noise of meowing and hissing.
It all stopped when Hex entered the room. The cats sprites stopped whatever they were doing and turned to face the ex virus. The change was absolutely freaky. Bob gulped nervously.
Kardon sensed this too, "Well the kittens are in the back, come right this way."
The cats watched them every step of the way as the family walked to the back. Finally they reached the back of the room. There in the back was a box with six black kittens inside. They looked like miniature Scuzzies, a cat that Hex once owned. They leapt out at Hexadecimal and stared licking her. They ignored Perry completely. The mother half-heartedly tried to push them away as she giggled.
"Whoa, this is freaking me out I'm going," said Bob.
A few nanos later Hex and Perry followed and with what appeared to be an act of will Bob didn't think Hex was capable of, without a kitten.
"We're trying to get a pet for Perry," said Hex more for herself than anyone else.
They stopped in a small restaurant for lunch. It was forgettable, average looking diner. Bob didn't even catch the name. One of the servers a green skinned woman looked murderously at them as they ate their lunch. Bob eyed their lunch carefully; Hex and Perry were occupied with other business.
"Don't worry darling, cats just have a thing for me. We'll try another animal, " soothed Hex. She bit into her blessedly bug free salad.
"I heard you and Daddy talking about a puppy show, can we go there? Can we Mom huh?" begged Perry. She then took a slurp of her safely white milk.
"No, Perry, Daddy and dogs don't go well," said Bob firmly. He fearfully took a bite of his burger, nothing wrong there.
"But Bob these are puppies, they're so cute. And they love everybody, besides they're not real dogs. They're featuring toy dogs, come on it can't hurt," pleaded Hex. Glitch's scans proved negative any poisons or viruses.
Perry looked at him pleadingly with those big brown eyes of hers. This was his daughter how could he say no.
"Alright, we'll go it can't hurt," said Bob as he took a sip of his coffee. He then sprayed it out. "Hey! My coffee tastes funny."
The green skinned woman smiled evilly.
The puppy show ended up being held in the other side of town. By the time they got there Perry had fallen asleep on Hex's arms. The dog show had had been held in a small indoor stadium. By the time they got there the show had ended so a crowd was leaving as they entered. A simpering one binome greeted them at the gates.
"Bob, Hexadecimal might I say its quite an honour for two of the Net's greatest heroes to visit us," said the binome. He seemed to be fond of purple. "Oh how cute! This must be little Perry I read so much about her. I've got all my friends waiting to see you guys. Come on in and take a look at the puppies.
The purple binome took them to the back rooms where the dogs were getting ready to go home. Like in Kardon's home this place was filled with animals only it was puppies instead of cats. Like in Kardon's the puppies frolicked everywhere. Like Kardon's the room became silent as the family entered the room. Perry rubbed her eyes at the sight of this. It was every child's dream come true.
It was Bob's worst nightmare. For unlike Kardon's this was not an adoring silence. As Bob walked nervously down with his family, he heard a tiny growl from a poofed up a poodle puppy. Little Perry was in bliss as she played with the puppies. The puppies strained against their cages waiting to get Bob.
Finally Perry had picked a puppy, a little white thing. "How about this one?"
The little white monster leapt at Bob. The Guardian let out a little shriek as he batted it away. The owner picked it up apologizing profusely. If only the apologies worked on the other dozens of puppies as they broke out of their pens.
The little fur balls snarled and snapped at Bob's heels as they chased him around the room. Perry knew that her Daddy got hurt in a game once before she was born. That was why he never ran and played with her like the other kids Daddies did but you'd never guess it this time. He ran as fast as she had seen any sprite do right out the building and up a tree. The little monsters soon followed and sat at the base of the tree yapping angrily. None of them were any larger than Bob's hand.
Hex stared dumbfounded at her husband. Never in all her life, even when she was psychotic, did she ever see Bob as frightened as this.
"I guess Daddy really does have a problem with dogs," said Hex to her daughter finally.
"Un, Hex need a little help here," pleaded Bob.
The ex virus shook herself awake. With a smirk she snapped her fingers and used her magic to transport her family safe and sound to their apartment. Perry gasped in wonder.
"Alright that's enough pet hunting for today," said Hex firmly.
"But I'm not tired Mummy," whined Perry.
"But your father is, now shush. We'll look for a pet another day," answered Hex.
The next morning before work Bob stopped at one of his Web rider friends before going to work. With a flourish the deformed sprite presented a rock like thing about the size of a fist. Bob stared at intently.
"What is it?" the father asked in Web language.
"It's a nubbin. They are very popular pets among my people," answered the Web rider.
"What does it do?"
"What doesn't it do is more like it."
"Well what doesn't it do?"
"Try to eat you. The Web is a hostile place."
"Is it alive? It's not moving," said Bob as he poked it. As soon as he did that the thing squired out a jet of dark ink in Bob's eye. Needless to save Bob did not take it home.
Hex in the meantime was not idle. Every morning she and Perry would go down to the Super Computer bazaar ostensibly to buy art supplies. Every morning the ex virus would search the stalls for a suitable pet.
One time Hex found a parrot. The ex virus thought it would be perfect. It was beautiful and Perri could teach the bird some new words. Instead the bird taught Perry some new words instead. Another time a large plant grabbed Perry in its jaws. The little girl kicked her exposed feet in the air using the new words she learned from the bazaar.
"Oh look my plant loves your daughter!" cried the stall keeper. Who was an exotically dressed zero binome.
"I can see that!" hissed Hex as she tried to pull at Perry's legs. "Now help me get her out before the plant eats her."
"He isn't eating her. If he was he'd be chewing right now."
With a fierce tug Hex pulled out a very confused and wet Perry. The stall keeper merely smiled.
"Shall I wrap up the plant for you?" asked the binome.
Finally things got desperate. It happened in the Academy while Bob was heading back to his office. A co-worker an older yellow skinned sprite was with him as Bob vented his feelings.
"Buttercup, it's getting worse. Perry is extremely lonely. She's now carrying around a rock she named Petey," said Bob.
"But she has her mother around," said Buttercup.
"It isn't enough, Perry needs someone to play with. Hex senses this and she's getting desperate to help her. I'm not sure what she'll do next," said Bob as he opened the door to his office.
There lay Hexadecimal wearing nothing but lipstick and a smile sprawled out on Bob's desk. Bob flushed a deep purple, while Buttercup snorted in laughter. Bob squeaked out an apology and slammed the door in Buttercup's face.
Hex was not in the least bit phased. She slid off the desk and said "Guess who's ovulating?"
"Hex stop it, now is not the time. You want to have two lonely children?"
"But they'll play with each other. Problem solved, Perry could play with her new brother or sister." She wrapped her arms around her husband.
"M-maybe so but that will be a long time in coming and Perry needs a friend now. Where is she anyway?"
"She's safe. I left her in a play centre." Hex kissed him again and again in the places he liked.
Reluctantly Bob pushed her away, "Hex I have to write up some papers now. Why don't you take Perry back to the gallery and I'll see you later, okay?"
Hex walked back to her gallery depressed holding her daughter's hand. She headed straight to her studio and started to daub some paints on a canvas when she heard a clattering sound from inside the gallery.
At this time in the evening the gallery should have been closed. She motioned for Perry to stay in the studio while she went out to investigate. The gallery was dark and Hex's sculptures loomed threatenly. The ex virus scanned the rooms for the source of the sound. She heard a tinkling of glass. Hex ran noiselessly to the sound with a glowing ball of light guiding her way.
When she got to source, the place seemed deserted. She scanned the room until she saw a strange sculpture of a mouthless reptilian humanoid beside a broken window. She had never made a statue of a Code Master before. What was it doing here? Hexadecimal came in for a closer look. The statue blinked. Hex let out a little screech and the Code Master jumped out the window before she could react.
"Mummy look! Someone left a present for me," shouted Perri from behind.
Hex whirled around. Little Perry held in her tiny hands a large brightly coloured box with her name on it in large friendly letters. As her daughter held it, the box moved within her hands. Smiling Perry sat down and began to unwrap it.
"No, Perry you don't know what's inside," warned Hexadecimal. But it was too late. Perry pulled out a small black furry thing that looked like a toupee. The thing chirped and whined as stumbled across the room.
"What is that?!" said Hex.
Several micros later Bob and his family watched anxiously at the Guardian academy science lab while a bald orange sprite, a Dr. Black examined the thing Perry dubbed Whatzat. The room was huge to accommodate scanners of shapes and sizes. They surrounded Whatzat as it chirped in fear. Perry watched intently a scan of Whatzat's internal organs.
Dr. Black took the scanners away from Whatzat, "Well Robert, I've never encountered any creature like it nor are there any thing like in our Academy files but I can tell you this it is very young and it shares some mammalian characteristics."
"How can you tell?" asked an amazed Hexadecimal.
Dr. Black pulled out one of his fingers that Whatzat had been sucking on, "Lucky guess. I can tell you this, it will never harm you or yours. It has imprinted on your daughter." Then Dr. Black handed Whatzat to the little girl and patted her on the head, "Well, Perry it appears you have a pet."
Perry smiled as she hugged Whatzat to her. It chirped happily in her tiny arms. No this was going to be more than a pet, it was going to be a friend.
Fin