AndrAIa squirmed in her suit. It was a little big for her, but it was the smallest size Capacitor had. The weight of the armor made it difficult to move. Initially when she had tried it on it felt like at least fifty pounds. In the weightlessness of the web it definitely slowed her down, but wasn't nearly as laborious. Thankfully, Maxine changed the ship's settings to a happy medium; there was enough gravity to keep their feet planted on the deck, but not so much that AndrAIa couldn't move around. It was better than when they were in the Desert Port system, but the feeling definitely took some getting used to.
AndrAIa sat in one of the aisle seats and watched Maxine. She stood at the front of the ship looking out into the darkness ahead of them. Against the dark backdrop of the web Maxine's skin seemed to glisten in the dim light. AndrAIa was thankful that she had a friend in her, she seemed prepared for their journey. Within an hour of leaving Capacitors she had managed to mount the harpoon gun to the deck of the ship; a task that would have taken AndrAIa a day at least.
Maxine had traveled on the web before, and it showed. AndrAIa on the other hand was nervous beyond belief. Her one trip to the web had been brief and she wasn't conscious for most of it. She had no idea what to expect.
"How long until we get to Mainframe?" AndrAIa asked. Her voice came out muffled through the clear glass of her helmet.
Maxine looked back at her. She could tell that AndrAIa was out of her element. She walked over and took a seat across from her. The ship they were on wasn't very large, only being able to seat about twenty to thirty sprites. She could have taken a bigger one, but decided against it. The benefit of using her own ship was that she was connected to it. Search engines had a special bond with their vessel. Her ship was an extension of herself, and that made it much easier to steer in tricky situations. It would know what move to make before she even turned the wheel.
"A few hours maybe. It all depends on what obstacles lie in our path; we may have to redirect our course to avoid an asteroid field or storm."
AndrAIa nodded in understanding.
"But don't worry, I'll get you home."
"...Believe it or not, I'm more worried about what waits for us once we get there."
Maxine paused. She could tell that something weighed heavily on AndrAIa's mind.
"Matrix is probably one of the most determined sprites I've ever met. He's not a quitter. You don't need to worry about him."
"I know," AndrAIa smiled sadly, "I still can't stop myself from worrying. I just… Need to know that he's okay."
If Mainframe was offline then they must have been in some sort of trouble. Her mind wandered to Silicon Tor and Megabyte. She had hoped that things would be over and done with once she lost the game. In actuality AndrAIa had no idea what they would be walking into.
"I know."
A gentle beeping came from the front of the ship. Maxine stood, rushing over to the steering wheel. Below it was a small screen with a radar.
"No." She cursed under her breath.
"What is it?" AndrAIa awkwardly stood and made her way over.
Once she was at Maxine's side she looked down at the screen. Off towards the outer edge a small green dot pulsated.
"We have to change course." Maxine said as she spun the wheel hard to the right.
The ship turned suddenly. AndrAIa had to grab the railing to not fall over. She looked around them. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was a small web storm, close enough to provide soft orange light, but not so close as to pose a threat. AndrAIa looked down at the screen again. Whatever it was picking up was heading towards them, and fast.
"Maxine?"
"Hold on a second." Maxine began charting a new course. She steered them towards the storm, "The storm should be able to mask our heat signature."
The ship began to shake as they approached the swirling pools of violent energy. AndrAIa held on tight. She glanced behind, squinting off into the distance. Movement caught her attention. Something was following them. It looked like a dark blob from the distance; the way it moved resembled a fish swimming. Whatever it was though was much larger than a fish.
"...Maxine…"
"Give me a nano, AndrAIa. This is going to take some maneuvering."
AndrAIa looked at her friend and then behind them. As the shape got closer to the light she could tell what it was.
"Maxine!"
At this point the search engine turned. Maxine tried to hide her fear as she saw the web creature, right on their tails. She gripped the wheel tightly, keeping her eyes glued forward.
"We can outrun it."
"Can we?!" AndrAIa asked, not so convinced.
"Well…" Maxine stole another glance back, "We have to try."
# #
"Game over."
The game cube receded into the sky leaving Bob and Dixon standing in the street. They were both still trying to process what the User had said. There was always a possibility that the User was lying, but what would they gain from that? The guardians had no time to discuss what they had learned, as they were met face to face with chaos.
Daemon had managed to gather up all the sprites in that part of Kit's. They yelled out in fear, trapped inside the energy fueled cage.
"What in the net…" Dixon gasped, not sure what to make of the scene.
Bob grabbed her arm and quickly dragged her behind a building. He opened a vidwindow to the Principal office.
Dot looked back at him from the war room. Phong, Matrix, Specky and a team of Mainframe's finest all worked in the back, some hunched over computers. He could tell immediately that everyone was in a state of panic. Sprites raced back and forth in the background comparing notes and digging through files.
"Bob! Thank the User you're all right." Dot said.
"Dot, what's going on? Who are those viruses?"
"Daemon, a cron virus- and a sprite that she turned viral."
Bob and Dixon looked at each other.
"Turned viral?" Dixon asked, still in shock from the whole situation.
"Megabyte wasn't the only one trying to alter sprite code."
"Mainframe is a small system, we aren't equipped to deal with a cron virus." Bob said.
"As long as we're sealed in this containment field we're on our own. I've sent a distress signal to the Supercomputer, but I have no way of knowing if it actually made it."
"This is bad, very bad." Bob sighed.
"The police are on their way, can you guys stay there and help them? For now we have to save those captured sprites."
"Understood." Bob said, about to end the call.
"And Bob… Take care of yourself."
"Hey, to mend and defend, remember? This is what I was programmed for."
She smiled before hanging up.
"So, what now?" Dixon asked.
"I have no idea."
# #
AndrAIa ran to the center of the ship, where they had mounted the large harpoon gun. She had never used anything like it before; that or any other weapon. She picked up one of the spears and struggled to load it. It took some muscle to pull it all the way back. After some effort it clicked into place.
"Turn the ship!" She called.
"What?"
"Turn the ship, now!"
Maxine did as she was told. She made a sharp turn causing the ship to spin to the side. The creature was now heading straight for their center, with nothing between it and the weapon.
The web creature opened its jaws to let out a deep growl, streams of saliva dripping from its crooked mouth. As its jaw opened wider it revealed rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. It watched them with dozens of glazed over eyes. AndrAIa fired. The spear flew through the air, striking the beast in one of its eyes. It landed further off to the side than she had hoped, but she was just thankful that the shot hit it at all.
Upon impact the creature screeched in pain and began to slow its pace. In an attempt to flee it turned suddenly, the end of its tail scraping against the side of the ship.
Maxine cried out in pain, crumpling to the floor.
"Maxine!"
She had seen something similar before with Ray. Maxine was connected to her ship the same way Ray was connected to his surfboard. Any damage to the ship was like an attack on Maxine herself.
AndrAIa struggled to maintain her footing as the ship rocked back and forth. She wanted to get over to her friend, but the web creature wasn't done with them yet. It turned around, circling back towards them. AndrAIa returned to her station, fumbling with the spears in an attempt to reload the gun. She managed to get another one in. As the creature got closer she fired once again. This time it dodged the attack. It was a lot smarter than she hoped.
As it drew near she could see the first spear still logged in its eye, globs of black blood dripping from the wound. She thought about loading the gun again, but it would take too much time. The creature was almost upon them.
The only thing the game sprite could do was listen to the ferocious pounding of her heart against her chest. She had mere seconds to decide what to do. Her first instinct was to leap from the ship, but even then; she couldn't leave Maxine behind. And any more damage to the ship may have been the search engine's undoing. She couldn't take that chance.
She looked over at Maxine, who lay on the ground by the ship's wheel. The harpoons weren't working, the creature was too clever to let another one land. She doubted she had the strength in her current state to even load the gun again. Instead she waited, sizing the creature up. It was only about half the length of the ship; a baby.
AndrAIa held her breath as the beast lunged for her, opening its jaw wide. She reached for the small staff that was strapped to her side and held her arm out. As its jaw threatened to close around her AndrAIa hit the button, extending the trident while it was still inside the beast's mouth. The trident grew to full length in an instant, piercing the web creature from inside.
The creature slammed into her, landing on the deck of the ship, knocking over several rows of seating in the process. AndrAIa was dragged along with it until it slid to a stop. She lay panting, her arm still inside of its mouth. Her mind was racing, her body trembling. She couldn't believe that it actually worked. A web creature's skin was stronger than diamonds, so she had been told.
She took a moment to catch her breath. After the shock wore off she hit the button again, retracting the trident. She hastily pulled her arm out and rolled away from the creature. Black blood and saliva glistened against her armored suit.
AndrAIa's eyes were glued to it as she sat up. She watched for signs of any movement. There was none. It lay motionless, blood steadily trickling from the wound at the top of its head. It pooled beneath the carcass. By some miracle she had managed to pierce right through its skull. Capacitor was beyond shifty, but he had clearly been honest about the trident's origins. It was well worth the price.
She lay back down, completely exhausted, looking up into a black sky.
# #
The war room of the Principal office, which was usually vacant, was completely full of concerned sprites. Dot watched the screen anxiously. The police had arrived in Kit's sector and opened fire on the two viruses. As suspected, their weapons were no match for them. The CPU units flew a safe distance away and continued to shoot, to no avail.
"This isn't working, they need help." Dot said as she walked towards the door. "Phong, I'm heading to the armory."
"Wait!" Specky called.
Dot turned.
"You can't go out there. You're the command..com, we need you here."
Dot was stunned, not sure how to take his sudden outburst. She knew where she needed to be. The containment field was one thing, but a simple cage would be easy to hack. Her priority was getting those sprites out of there while Daemon was distracted. Bob and Dixon were preoccupied supporting the police.
"Specky… All hands on deck. Keep my seat warm until I get back."
"... Yes Ma'am."
Dot left without another word. Specky stood frozen for a moment, not sure what had just happened. It had been a long time since the system saw a threat on this scale. During the war he never saw any action, he had never even been inside a game before. For him this was all completely new.
Dot was a level headed commander who never made rash decisions. He had to believe that she knew what was best for the system. Daemon had proven to be quite the adversary. If Dot was going out in the line of fire things must have been more dire than he had previously anticipated.
"So my son," Phong said to him, "What is our next move?"
"Our next move?"
"Dot has left you in command until she returns."
"She did?" He blinked, thinking back to her exact words, "... She did."
Specky was well aware of the fact that he hadn't welcomed Dot with open arms. In fact it was quite the opposite. Looking back he knew he had been down right mean to her. Yet, in Mainframe's time of need she entrusted him with an important task. He wasn't going to make her regret it.
Specky hurried over to his post and opened a vidwindow to Welman Matrix. Welman wore a tarnished lab coat covered in stains. His hair was also a mess. It was obvious that he hadn't left the lab for days. Welman frantically wrote on a whiteboard as several scientists took notes behind him.
Specky cleared his throat.
"Dr. Matrix, we require your assistance." He said nervously.
"Specky?" Welman turned to the vidwindow.
"We have determined that the current intruder is a cron virus. Can you and your team work on engineering a weapon that can target her code?"
"In theory, I suppose… Cron viruses are tricky; their code is complicated."
"Then please make this top priority."
"We're in the middle of something right now, under whose authority?"
"The acting command..com's."
Welman's eyes went wide. He didn't want to know the conditions under which he acquired the title. It was best that he stayed focused on the task at hand.
"V-very well. You heard him!" Welman turned to his associates, "get to work."
The other scientists scurried away. Specky sighed as he ended the call.
Matrix watched from his spot in the back. He leaned against the wall, deep in thought. He hadn't even noticed that Dot left. He was trying to remember the layout of Daemon's fortress. Last time he was there security was non-existent, but that could have changed. He looked around at all the sprites around him. They were like Dot; brilliant, but not the most physically inclined based on appearances. Matrix knew it would be better if he just went alone; a large crowd might draw too much attention. Sneaking into her base and destroying the machine would take some planning.
Matrix slipped out while everyone was distracted. He knew how to get to Daemon's, but with the ports down he would need to travel by portal. Creating a tear was easy, but stabilizing one took experience… or a guardian.
As he walked down the hall he attempted to call Bob. No answer.
"Of course." He grumbled. Bob was probably busy.
After a moment's thought he paused. He sighed, remembering that Bob wasn't the only guardian in Mainframe.
He opened another vidwindow. Dixon looked back at him. She was running with a small child in her arms.
"Matrix?"
"Hey, I need your help."
"I'm a little busy right now."
"I know how Daemon plans on turning all those sprites into viruses."
"Okay." She paused, waiting for him to elaborate.
"And I know where she's keeping her machine. I just need a portal to get there."
"All right." She ducked into a building and set the child down, "Let me see where the nearest tear is."
"No need, I got that covered." He held up his gun for her to see. "And you'll have to come with me so we can portal back," he added.
"Okay, I'm in."
"Really?" He was surprised that she didn't need to be convinced. She didn't even ask where exactly they were going.
"I didn't become a guardian to sit around doing nothing all day."
Matrix smiled. He had his reservations about her, but suddenly got the feeling that they would get along just fine.
End Log