CHAPTER IV
"Matrix!" Enzo screamed, as soon as he found his voice. His brother was falling, a surprised look on his face, and for an instant Enzo thought the ice beneath him would give as well, and send him plummeting after the big sprite. Then he screamed again, this time in pain, as there was a spine-cracking jolt to his torso and he was slammed against the rock face, hard. A tremendous weight was pulling on him, tearing him in half. He screamed again.
Dimly, through the fog of pain, he heard his brother's voice calling his name. He's still alive! That fact spurred his processor into action, and with a sudden clarity he realized how he could make the pain stop. He reached as high and as far as he could, and with his fingertips felt the solid metal of the belay device. With trembling fingers he depressed the tab and instantly the pressure was gone – the carabiner now supporting the weight of the rope and the big sprite dangling from it. The boy collapsed against solid rock, retching, anguished tears rolling down his face.
Trembling, waves of agony shooting through his body, Enzo fought against the urge to surrender to the pain. He could hear his brother's voice calling to him from below. Gingerly the boy tried to move, using the rock face for support, each micron feeling like a mile. There was soreness all up and down his back where it had slammed against rock, and a deeper, more penetrating pain from his middle – it felt as if his spine had been pulled apart. Yet he could move, slowly and carefully, though it hurt terribly to do so. His brother was alive – he had to move.
Each breath agony, the teenager slowly wedged himself upright, leaning back against the face. He looked down to see his feet at the very edge of what remained of the ice shelf, Matrix' backpack next to him. Whether the depleted ledge would hold for long, there was no way to know. Matrix was calling his name, over and over, and Enzo tried to force enough air into his lungs to reply. He pulled his mask off. "Matrix?" he rasped.
"Enzo! Are you all right?"
"Yeah. I… I think I'm just bruised. Are you OK?"
"I've been better." Fighting vertigo, Enzo peered over the precipice, loathe to leave the reassuring bulk of the rock face against his back. His horrified eyes saw Matrix dangling, upside down, what seemed like a mile below him. "My hands are scraped up, and I swung into the rock face pretty hard, but I don't think anything's broken. You're not hurt? Can you walk? I heard you scream."
"When… When you fell, the rope yanked me pretty hard." Enzo's voice broke into a fit of coughing. "It knocked… the wind out of me. I closed the brake on the belay device as quick as I could."
"Good thinking."
"Are you OK? Can you climb back up?"
"Spammit, I can't…. I can't reach! The deleted rope tangled on my leg and I can't reach it!" Enzo could hear the strain in his brother's voice – the effort to keep a sense of calm, which was for his benefit. "I don't think I can climb back up."
"Try!" Enzo shouted, tasting bile. "You can do it! You have to do it."
"I can't. We're not all as flexible as you, Kid. I can't reach it."
"Oh, User!" Enzo doffed his goggles and wiped his eyes quickly. This was bad – very bad. The urge to panic was powerful, strong – the boy felt very small on the flanks of the mountain. "What do I do, Matrix?"
"Stay calm, Enzo."
"I'll try." Slowly he lowered himself to his knees, wincing as his body protested. "I'll… I can try and pull you up."
"You can't, Enzo – there's no way. You're not strong enough."
"Yes I am!" the boy screamed, willing it to be true. He gripped the rope in both hands and began to tug. "I can do it!"
"Don't!" Matrix shouted back. "You can't do it, Enzo – you'll fall off trying. This isn't going to work!"
Enzo pulled as hard as he could, groaning from the effort, ignoring the pain that flared through his body. He screamed again, straining as hard as he could, but the rope seemed not to move a micron. The boy fell back against the rock, exhausted. "Spammit – I can't do it! Why can't I do it?"
"I told you – that isn't going to work. Just stay calm, all right?"
"Spammit – why aren't I strong enough?" He grabbed the rope and pulled again, screaming from the pain and exertion, but there was no give at all.
"Stop it! Stop it, Enzo – you aren't gonna help me by falling off or deleting yourself!"
"FAQ!" The boy fell back and covered his face with gloved hands, panting heavily. A strong will might be one thing, but in the face of reality it could only accomplish so much. I'm not gonna be able to save him…
"Unclip the rope."
"What?"
"Unclip yourself from the rope. It's the only way." Matrix' voice was calm, but Enzo could hear the strain. "You'll have to win the game on your own."
"No! I'm not leaving you here!"
"You're not strong enough to pull me up, and I can't reach the rope. I don't think you have any choice."
"No! I don't believe in the no-win scenario! What if the rope breaks, or the carabiner gives out? Or you run out of air? You could delete!"
"Enzo, just do it! It's the only way."
"Just shut up a micro, all right?" Enzo, already beginning to feel light-headed, slipped the oxygen mask back over his mouth and breathed deeply. "Think, stupid! Just think – you can do it…"
"Enzo-"
"Shut up!" The boy willed himself to concentrate, block out all distractions – even his brother's voice. Think! Just think… Spammit, why can't I do it? Why I am I so weak? The answer didn't come – there was just cold, and pain, and fear. No worse than I've faced before. He told himself.
Know your strengths… Matrix said that, right? Use your strengths… OK – Physical strength isn't one of them. I can't pull him up. I have to just admit it – or I'm being even weaker. What can I do? I have to be smart – just be smart… Enzo opened his eyes, looked around the ledge. Matrix' backpack was there – maybe there was something inside, something that could help… But what?
The answer, when it struck him, was so incredibly simple that he almost disbelieved it at first. There wasn't anything in the pack that could save Matrix… But the pack could. Maybe. It was a science lesson from when he was a little kid, way before the Academy even. What had they called it? Pulley, that's what it was – a pulley. And knowing your strengths. Maybe he wasn't strong enough, but… "I have an idea."
"What? I can't understand you!"
Enzo ripped his mask off. "I have an idea."
"What? What is it? Enzo – don't do anything stupid!"
"Don't go anywhere!" the boy shouted. Work fast, before the thin air gets you… The boy slipped his arms through the straps of Matrix' bulging backpack, then turned to reach for the carabiner. To his alarm he couldn't even rise far enough off the ground the reach it – the pack was that heavy. With a groan the boy rose into a crouch and summoned all his will, trying to force his thin boy's legs to straighten, screaming from the effort.
"What're you doing?"
Slowly, surely, Enzo raised himself up against the rock face, grateful for every session he'd spent in the Academy weight room. His hands quested over his head, scrabbling over rock and ice until they felt metal. Get the right tab! Make sure it's the right one… He braced himself against the pain he knew was coming, and released the brake.
All at once there was a fierce pull on the rope, but the additional ballast of the weighty pack saved his body from the worst of it. He cast his eyes over the precipice, bracing himself against the sudden terror that gripped him as he contemplated what he was about to do. Know your strengths! Smart and brave, right? Brave… Besides, the rope will hold. Won't it? Closing his eyes and spreading his arms, the boy leaned out over the abyss and allowed himself to fall.
The sensation wasn't even unpleasant – at least it wouldn't have been had all-consuming terror not been coursing through his veins along with his code. The fall seemed absurdly slow – a hovering sensation, like a bird riding an updraft from the desert on a warm afternoon. But he was falling, slowly – nothing but air around him, wind howling in his ears, cold kissing his skin. Above him, the ledge of ice receded slowly – too slowly. Crash – what if I'm still not heavy enough?
As the ledge receded Matrix grew closer, micron by micron. The big sprite's mouth was open in a gape of astonishment and he didn't say anything for what seemed like minutes. Finally, as the boy's prostrate form descended almost to eye level, he spoke. "What in the net are you thinking?!"
"It was the only way." Enzo rasped with aching lungs. Face down the ground seemed very, very far away. "I couldn't pull you up, and I couldn't leave you there. I saw how heavy your pack was, and-"
"I…You… Unbelievable!" Matrix sputtered.
"It'll work." The boy breathed, willing it as much as saying it. His sense of falling stopped and how he could feel only a slight swinging as the wind caught him. He and Matrix were only an arm's length apart now, and the distance didn't change. Improbably, impossibly, their weights were balanced perfectly. "No! It can't be!"
"I can't believe you even tried this, Enzo! You put your own life at risk when you could have gone on and won the game yourself!"
"I couldn't leave you. I couldn't." Feeling woozy the teenager slipped his mask back on and breathed deeply. The canister on his back was nearly empty, he knew – and he wouldn't be able to reach into his pack for another suspended in this position. There were two canisters in his brother's pack, though – could he reach it? His brother's pack… He slipped the mask back off. "Matrix!"
"We're really codeswapped now, Kid. We-"
"Drop the pack!" Enzo panted. "Drop it and you'll be lighter than me, and the rope will pull you up!"
"What?"
"It doesn't matter how much heavier, even a little bit… If I'm heavier you have to get pulled back up – it's physics. Drop the pack!"
Matrix frowned thoughtfully. "I guess we've got nothing to lose by trying… We're not exactly in a winning position as it is."
"Do it." Enzo breathed oxygen again, hungrily. Matrix contorted at the end of his rope, slipping first one arm through the straps of the lighter pack, then the other. Enzo watched it fall, shrinking until it inaudibly collided with the icefall in a puff of snow. When the boy raised his eyes his brother was slowly but surely being pulled up towards the ledge. "Yes!"
"It's working!" Matrix laughed hoarsely.
"Pixelacious!" In his elation it was almost possible to forget that a rope clipped to a climbing harness was all the kept Enzo from being deleted, far below. "Faster, faster… Work faster, spammit!"
"Almost there!" The teenager's slightly greater weight continued to force his brother to be pulled upwards, slowly but surely, as the laws of physics did their work. Enzo had never been more grateful in his life that Dot made him go to school. Matrix eyed the ledge, then grabbed at the rock and pulled himself atop it when the face came within reach. Frantically untangling the rope from his leg he peered over the edge. "You OK down there?"
"Yes!" Enzo shouted back. "Just get me up there fast, OK? I'm scared shitless!"
"Hang on!" The big sprite leveraged himself against the rock and began to draw on the rope, again using the carabiner as a pulley. "Hang on… Crash – you're heavy!"
"Should… should I drop the pack?"
"No – we need that stuff. I can do it."
"Hurry!" Now that Matrix was safe, the peril of the boy's own situation felt all too clear. He didn't want to look down, but it was impossible not to – he could only look up by craning his neck, which hurt terribly after a few nanos. The ground looked so, so far away, and the movement of the rope felt excruciatingly slow. What if it gave out? Or the rest of the ledge collapsed?
"Just hold on, Kid!" Matrix grunted. Enzo could hear the strain in his brother's voice as he battled the rope, but if the big sprite was tired he didn't allow it to slow his progress. It felt like forever but the boy was moving, he could feel it, and when he looked up now Matrix was close enough to see the frost on his beard. The teenager closed his eyes and waited, too tired to look up and too unnerved to look down, until he felt a pull at his harness and his feet were on solid ice. "Gotcha!"
"Matrix…" Enzo slipped the pack off, wrapped his arms around the bulk in front of him and clung for dear processing. His brother felt as solid as any mountain in that nano.
"It's OK, Kid. I got you."
"I know. I…I just need a nano."
"You OK?" the big sprite whispered.
"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little freaked out. Thanks."
"Thank the User." Matrix pounded on his brother's back softly. "Nothing broken?"
"No." Enzo opened his eyes at last. "But let's get out of here, OK? I don't trust this ledge anymore."
"Me neither. But we're gonna talk about this, Little Brother. That was a pretty risky thing you just did."
"We're all right, aren't we?"
"Yeah – we got lucky. But-"
"Look – I just did what you said, Matrix. I knew you could pull me up. And I wasn't gonna leave you there to delete. No way."
Matrix, scowling, cuffed the boy's neck roughly and sighed. "Stubborn kid. Always were. We don't have time to do this now, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook, got it?"
"Got it. Can we go now?"
"Yeah." Matrix hurriedly removed everything from the pack except two oxygen canisters and an extra coil of rope, then slipped it on his back. He handed one of the dislodged tanks to his brother. "You can swap this on your own?"
"Yeah." Enzo nodded, only now noticing that his mask appeared to be supplying him nothing but the stale air trapped inside it. "Start climbing."
"See you at the top." Matrix began to cautiously pick his way upwards, then peered back down. "Thanks for saving me, Enzo."
"Don't mention it." The boy smiled weakly. His brother turned back to the rock face. "Matrix?"
"Yeah?"
"My brains and your strength is a pretty awesome combination, huh?"
"Unless you feel like staying down there, I'd think real hard about keeping my mouth shut – Little Brother."
"Right." Without another downward glance Matrix returned to the climb and Enzo watched him, certain that the ledge was going to give out at any nano. It didn't – the hardest part of the climb was over and Matrix reached the top of the wall in short order. Wanting nothing more than he wanted to put that part of the mountain behind him forever, Enzo quickly followed. Belaying up the slope was easy on the nerves compared to hanging from the rope in midair, and easier even than being stuck on the ledge. Climbing was a relief after that.
Once they reached the top of the rock face the summit was in view, clearly – a brilliant black pyramid against the blue sky, it's visage broken only by a wisp of cloud just below it's apex. The ground sloped upwards towards it rather gently, and Enzo could see the knife's-edge ridge Matrix had called the Hilary Step. It might have been intimidating once, but after the ordeal he'd been through Enzo thought it looked a walk in Floating Point Park. They took off towards the Step at a steady clip, needing nothing more than their crampons to ensure steady footing.
"You don't think the User is up there ahead of us, do you?"
Matrix squinted towards the summit. "I don't see him – but he'll be climbing from the other side. He's alone and he's got the tougher route, so I'd surprised if he's making better time than we are. He's probably burned a few of his lives already."
"Man – this is the easy side? I'd hate to see what he's climbing! Why bother?"
"Who knows? Maybe he won from the south route already. Maybe he likes a challenge. Users don't get nullified when they lose – all they have to do is restart. Don't ask why – just be glad."
"Yeah – I guess." Enzo followed closely behind his brother, concentrating on matching his pace to distract himself from the achy weariness that threatened to drag him down. "You sure learned a lot playing all those games, huh?"
"The hard way. Don't waste your oxygen talking – just climb."
"I guess… I guess learning about games isn't really the same as playing them, huh?"
"There's no substitute for experience, Kid." The big sprite turned back with a scowl. "What did I say about talking?"
"Sorry." Enzo tried to imagine himself having to play games like this every cycle, like his life depended on it – because it did. Playing these games every cycle with no one there to teach him or guide him or even help him except someone even younger than he was. There would be no luxury of time to learn – only experience. Anything he learned would be through failure and pain – effective enough as a teaching tool, but…
That had been Matrix' teacher. Pain. Failure. And it had taught him survival. He was hard sometimes, now. Impatient. But wouldn't Enzo be, too, if that was the course his education had taken? The boy caught up to his brother and walked beside him. The big sprite stared down at him and he smiled, weakly. Matrix frowned, then returned his gaze to the mountain. "This is it – Hilary step."
"I can do this – no problem."
"Don't get cocky." Matrix growled. "Let's swap the last tank in here, and that should take us to the top. Stay close to me and be aware every time you plant your foot down, got it? This is a dangerous stretch of mountain."
"If you say it, I believe it."
Matrix stared at the boy again, his expression unreadable behind his goggles. With a shake of his head he clipped a short length of rope to Enzo's climbing harness, then his own, and proceeded to swap his last oxygen canister into place while his brother did the same. His thumbs-up was returned in kind, and the two sprites started up the Hilary step.
The wind was stronger here as they drew closer to the exposed summit, a loud presence in their ears and a constant unpredictable factor as they picked their way up the Step. In most places the ridge was barely as wide as Enzo was tall, perhaps less. On either side it fell away steeply, an endless expanse of white than seemed to go on forever. Enzo wondered idly how long it would take him to reach the bottom if he fell, then wished he hadn't. On a few occasions a particularly strong gust threatened to blow him off his feet, causing the boy to grab onto the back of his brother's parka in panic. It was a pulse-quickening nano each time it happened, and the teenager felt his heart pounding in his chest. Even with his mask on the air was thin and seemed incapable of allowing him a satisfying breath. His lungs were always hungry and his head began to throb. All in all, it wasn't a pleasant hike.
Still, they progressed – knowing the User was on the flank of the mountain somewhere, perhaps closing in on the summit as quickly as they were. Enzo was content to trust Matrix' experience – he stepped where the big sprite stepped and paused when he paused. While the mountain made him feel small it also made Matrix seem a mountain himself in the boy's eyes – his large body even protecting him from some of the wind's harshest effects. Enzo was lucky to have Matrix with him in that place, and he knew it – and he knew he'd be a fool to let his pride interfere with that good fortune. Matrix would get him to the top, if anyone could.
Soon the Step was behind them, and all that remained was a relatively easy scramble up the summit pyramid. Easy, that is, in better circumstances – Enzo was tired, slightly groggy from the thin air, and his head hurt – a pounding behind the eyes that was matched only by the throbbing from his back and spine. He was sure Matrix must be feeling some effects of the ordeal they'd been through, but the big sprite's gait was steady and his expression unchanged. Either he simply felt no pain, or was able to ignore it – and Enzo wasn't sure which would be the more impressive feat.
"This last bit is just free climbing – not that steep and plenty of handholds. You ready for it?"
"Yeah. I'm… ready."
Matrix smiled gruffly. "You know, I can take this part on my own – you can stay here and rest if you want. You did good to get this far – this is a damn tough game."
"No." It was his pride again, Enzo knew it – Matrix could probably get up there faster without him. But after all they'd been through, he couldn't imagine himself quitting now. Was that a bad thing? "I really want… to finish it."
The big sprite nodded. "Figured you'd say that. Lead the way, Kiddo."
"Really?" Matrix stood aside, and the boy started up the final ascent. "Cool."
He felt a slap on his back. "Couldn't have made it this far without you, Enzo."
"Thanks." Enzo wasn't really sure if that was true of not – he'd been there when Matrix had fallen, true, and used his wits to get them both out of that crisis. But who knew if Matrix would even have been there when that ledge collapsed if Enzo hadn't been with him?
The boy picked his way up the rocky pyramid, all bare rock, the exposure to fierce winds blowing it clear of snow and preventing the formation of ice. It didn't make sense to worry about maybes, he guessed – whatever would have happened if he hadn't been there didn't matter – and he had done his part, there was no question about that. He'd known when to swallow his pride – but maybe it was OK to feel a little pride now. He'd helped his brother get them to the brink of victory. The User was irrelevant – when he and Matrix were together there wasn't a game they couldn't handle.
The pain in Enzo's head and body receded a little as he picked the last few steps up to the summit, his small body somehow finding a reserve of energy to ride his exhilaration across the finish line. He stood atop the mountain and Matrix scrambled up behind him, and it truly felt like the top of the world – he could see forever, mountains and green valleys and far-off thunderheads, and most of all the sky – so achingly blue and best of all, they were a part of that sky. It was the most beautiful sight the boy had ever seen in his short life, after Lisa's face. He laughed hoarsely and held up his hand, and Matrix resoundingly slapped it. "Not bad, huh?"
"Not bad." Enzo grinned. There was a small cloud of snow on the southern flank of the mountain, a few micros climb below them. "User?"
"Yup. Guess we had a little time to spare."
"Hey! Why hasn't the game ended yet? Isn't this the top?"
"Experience, Kid – I told you." Matrix reached inside his parka and pulled out a small flag, emblazoned with a Guardian icon. "This was one thing I didn't want to risk leaving behind by mistake."
"Spam! I wouldn't have even known that…"
"You'd have figured it out." The big sprite slipped the hammer off his belt and gently pounded the banner into the rock. "Eventually." Enzo watched him sheepishly, feeling a little younger and greener than he'd have liked. But that wasn't such a terrible feeling, really, when he was honest with himself. You are what you are, I guess, and I'm a kid – for now. Better to admit it than pretend you're not…
"GAME OVER"
The rush of warm air was invigorating, like stepping under a hot shower on a cold day. Matrix closed his eyes and savored the heat, the dewy thickness of the air as it filled his lungs. "Well – I'm glad that's over."
He peered down at a boy who had seen better cycles. Enzo looked exhausted, and was painfully stretching out his back. "Hey – it was your idea to defend the game, don't bitch about it now. You OK?"
"Yeah. When you fell off that ledge I thought I was gonna be ripped in half, though. Gonna be sore for a while. How about you?"
"Been through a lot worse. Just goes to show you, Enzo – any time you defend a game it's risky, game-sprite mode or not. Once that game drops you never know what you're gonna get."
"I know." Enzo sighed. "But I'm still glad we did it."
"We can argue about that on the way – we've still got an appointment with Bob, and that little adventure cost us some time. First thing we have to do is find our way back to the trail, though."
"I don't think that's gonna be a problem." The teenager pointed to a swathe of crushed vegetation. "Looks like a squad of ABCs came through there!"
"Yeah, yeah – laugh it up." Matrix started off through the brush towards the trail they'd left behind them. "I didn't hear you complaining when this squad of ABCs hauled your skinny butt back up to that ledge."
"Chill! Just kidding." Enzo fell into step next to him, having no trouble picking his way unscathed through the trampled undergrowth. "You were totally alphanumeric in that game, Matrix. I thought I was pretty good, but all I did was slow you down."
The big sprite felt a stab of irritation. "Like when you saved my bitmap?"
"Yeah – well…" Enzo blushed. "That was a freak thing to happen. And I got lucky. But you were saving mine through the whole game."
Matrix was a little surprised his brother wasn't availing himself of the chance to gloat at his expense. He was embarrassed at his predicament in that game – embarrassed to be helpless and need saving. But strangely, it didn't rankle like it should – he was more proud of his brother than ashamed of himself. "You'd have gotten there. Eventually. But I guess there's something to learn from that – when you have a partner in there with you, a lot of stuff that could be fatal can still be beaten. Two is always better than one."
"Sure. I guess we really do make a pretty good team, huh?"
"Maybe." Matrix smiled. They emerged from the brush and back onto the trail. "I know you're tired and sore, but we need to set a pretty good pace if we're gonna get to the rendezvous point before Bob. You up to it?"
"Yeah. Lead the way."
"Tell me if you need a break." There was no reply but the light footfalls behind him. There was a stoicism to Enzo's demeanor that certainly hadn't been there before, the big sprite noticed. An acceptance. It was all part of growing up, but still it saddened him to think about it.
They walked on in silence for a while, the landscape around them taking on a more familiar appearance, each sprite weary and content to ponder their own thoughts. The trail slowly dipped as they trekked, and through a clearing in the trees the glint of a data stream could be seen in the distance. "Is that the river by the trail junction?" Enzo's clear, youthful voice came from behind.
"That's the one." The boy was at the stage now where his voice sounded a little different every time he spoke, seemingly – sometimes the pure boyish alto of youth, sometimes the cracked strain of a teenager, usually somewhere in between. It was always a bit jarring to hear those voices – voices Matrix knew, deep within him, but somehow never expected to hear again.
"So I guess it's almost over, huh."
"Guess so." They walked through thinning forest until the tress gave way to tall grass, and the glinting of the stream was joined by the swathe of the cross trail that had served them at the start of their journey. Matrix pulled up and checked his internal clock. "Made it! With Millis to spare."
"Cool." Enzo stopped beside him, wiping his brow. "Seems weird to think it was all just a few cycles…"
Matrix spied a large boulder and sat atop it, tossing his bag to the side. Enzo followed suit and stared thoughtfully out over the river. "So – you have fun?"
"Yeah." Enzo smiled a little, was silent for a few nanos, then looked up. "Did you?"
"Yeah." His brother nodded. "You know, I did."
"Cool." Enzo grinned widely. He was, as ever, transparent in his feelings. "I'm glad. I know you didn't really want to come."
"Yeah well – you know… Tough to get me motivated to do much of anything, sometimes. Just ask AndrAIa."
"Yeah. But I'm glad you did – it was fun."
"Yeah." That was important to Enzo, he knew – the kid always tried to make him have fun, it was something of a crusade. Matrix understood, even if it annoyed the data out of him sometimes.
"I don't want to go back to the way it was." Enzo said softly.
"What?"
"I don't… When we don't see each other very much, or talk very much. I don't want it to go back to being like that." The boy looked up. "I liked how it was here – we talked all the time and you answered stuff I asked you, and we helped each other out… I liked it."
"I liked it too." Matrix smiled. Most of the time… "But it was just you and me here, you know? It's not the same back there, Enzo. And you're going back to the Academy-"
"Yeah, I know. But even when it is just you and me it's not… it's not like it was here." What you really mean is, sometimes I don't like being around you. Maybe I didn't work hard enough not to let you feel that. "You know?"
"I guess." The big sprite nodded. "But maybe it can be, who knows?" He cuffed the boy on the neck. "You're not too old to change."
"Log off!"
"You wish."
"Whatever." Enzo kicked at his backpack softly. "Aniki?"
"Yeah?"
"You think maybe we could do this every hour?"
"Huh?"
"Y'know." The boy smiled. "We could go on a camping trip every summer, just us. Maybe even come here every summer. Just for a few cycles... It could be kinda, – you know – our thing. Just you and me, every hour."
"Yeah, well – I guess that would be OK." To his surprise, the idea really did seem OK to the big sprite. Maybe it was just because of the joy the notion brought to his brother's face, but even if it was, well - there was nothing wrong with that. It was as good a reason to like the idea as any.
"Really? You mean it? We can do this every hour?"
"Yeah – why not? It'll be a good learning experience for you – I can teach you stuff they won't teach you in any Academy. Call it continuing education."
"Alphanumeric!" Enzo beamed. It doesn't take much to make him happy… A few cycles an hour set aside, that would belong to just the two of them – that wasn't a huge price to pay to see the joy on that face. Soon enough Enzo wouldn't be a boy anymore and it wouldn't be so easy to make that happen…
The air in front of them shimmered and danced, grew opaque. "Looks like our ride's here."
Where nothingness had been, a portal appeared – and from it, Bob's arm, followed by the rest of him. "Hey, Guys. Have a good trip?"
"Pixelacious. Right on time, I see. That's not like you, Bob."
The Guardian rolled his eyes. "You know your sister, Matrix – she'd delete me if I was late getting your brother home. So how was it, Enzo?"
"Great." The boy grinned. "We hiked all over, and went swimming, roasted marshmallows… We even defended a game!"
Bob raised an eyebrow. "Is that a fact?"
"Don't get me started." Matrix scowled. He shoved Enzo to his feet. "C'mon, Slim – grab your pack and lets get home before Dot has a nervous breakdown."
"Yeah, yeah – you don't have to push me!" The boy snatched his pack and darted into the portal, ducking under Bob's tousling hand. Matrix grabbed his gear and followed after, turning for one last look around.
"So – it was OK? No problems?"
"Nothing we couldn't handle." Matrix watched as the mountains and river shimmered and disappeared, feeling a pang of regret. He'd seen a lot in those few cycles – a lot of changes in his brother that he'd allowed himself to miss for too long. And not just in his brother, for that matter. The changes happened too fast – Enzo was a different sprite every cycle now, practically, and too many of those were spent far away from Mainframe. He'd only be young for a little while longer. The time they had together was too valuable to waste not really seeing each other.
"Next hour, huh?"
"Sure, Enzo – next hour." Matrix looked down at his brother's smiling face. It was in looking at that face that he was most clearly able to see the changes in himself, he realized. They were linked always, it seemed - inexorably and in all things, for better or for worse. A change in one couldn't help but spur a change in the other. Matrix thought of next hour, and all the cycles in between, and he thought of home, and returned the boy's smile.