Sheentastic Voyage
by Gary D. Snyder
Chapter 9:
Inside the lab Jimmy turned around slowly, staring open-mouthed at what he saw. Nearly a third of the indicators were burning a steady red, and almost as many were blinking an angry crimson. "It's worse than I thought," he finally said.
Cindy looked about at the lights. "What's happening?"
Jimmy gestured towards the banks of lights. "All those lights are status indicators for various systems in my lab. Every one of them should be green. A blinking red light means that something is failing. A red light means that it's already failed." He passed by several of the panels and shook his head as he examined each one. "It looks as though a lot of Vox's systems have been corrupted or have completely shut down."
Cindy pointed to one corner of the lab. "What about your reactor?"
Jimmy inspected a console of green lights. "So far, so good. It's one of the most protected systems in here so that and Vox's core systems will be among the last things to succumb to the virus. But there's another problem."
"Another problem?" Cindy looked both incredulous and annoyed. "Just how many things can go wrong with your inventions anyway?"
Jimmy snorted in protest. "Hey, I have a lot of things going on in here!" He reined in his temper before continuing. "But at least this is something that I was able to anticipate. Vox is trying to defeat the virus, just like your body would fight off a cold. To do that takes energy. The stronger the virus is the more energy Vox needs to fight it, and the more power the system has to pull from the reactor. The power levels are still well below the danger level, but I'd guess that there isn't much more than thirty minutes left before the reactor overloads."
"So even if the virus doesn't get us, the reactor could still explode?" Cindy shook her head in disgust. "This just keeps getting better and better, Neutron."
"I told you earlier that you were making a mistake coming along. But if I can stop the virus it'll solve both problems." He looked about in bewilderment. "But what could have happened here? And where are Sheen and Libby?"
"Sheen and Libby?" asked Cindy. "Were they here?"
"They were supposed to be." Jimmy slid into the chair in front of his main computer console and began typing furiously.
Cindy frowned. "Well, if Sheen was in here without supervision I'd say that pretty much explains what happened."
Jimmy paid no attention, instead studying the computer log information that was flashing by on the main video screen. After several seconds of careful scrutiny he tapped a key that froze the list and began to advance the data one line at a time. "Okay," he said. "Here's where a program was uploaded to the X Station simulator. That must have been the beta test game that Sheen wanted to try out. Someone named –" He sounded out the names. "- Love Monkey and Straw Muster logged into the program. Apparently the program maxed out what I'd allocated to the simulator, but nothing serious. Wait a minute." He peered harder at the list. "A few minutes later someone gave the program unrestricted access to the system."
"Sheen," Cindy put in wryly.
"Probably. But why?"
Cindy looked smugly superior. "So his dorky game would run better, of course. That's why people keep buying faster computers with more memory."
Jimmy shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Why would an X Station game need more memory than what an X Station would have?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's for some next generation X Station that will have more memory and fast processing."
"Well…" Jimmy considered it. "That would make sense. Sheen did say that it wasn't released yet." He turned back to the video screen. "Unfortunately I did set things up so that Vox would do whatever they asked. And when Vox gave them unrestricted system access it opened the door for some kind of virus or Trojan horse in the program to get into the secure areas. It's been working its way towards the system core and shutting down processes along the way." He slammed his fist against the panel before him in anger. "But why didn't Sheen or Libby tell me what happened? Why would they just take off like that?"
"They were probably scared to tell you that they'd infected your system. Although," Cindy added, "it doesn't sound like Libby to just run off like that."
"No, it doesn't. And it doesn't sound like Sheen, either. He might have been scared to tell me about infecting Vox but I can't believe that he would just leave. And the system log shows that they never logged out of the game." He thought about it. "Maybe they went looking for me. Vox!" Jimmy called out. "When did Sheen and Libby leave the lab?"
Vox's answer surprised Jimmy. "Subjects have not left the lab."
"Come again?"
"Subjects Sheen and Libby have not left the lab."
"What do you mean they haven't left the lab? Where are they?"
"Please specify the subjects you are attempting to locate."
Jimmy felt a moment of irritation but realized that Vox's response was no doubt due to the continuing degradation of the system. "Where are Sheen and Libby?" he stated clearly, attempting to keep any trace of impatience out of his voice.
"Virtual digi-digi-digitization interface activated at 2:28 PM," Vox replied.
The sound of Vox's stutter worried Cindy. "It sounds like things are getting worse," she ventured.
"Much worse," Jimmy agreed, although for a different reason. "Sheen and Libby are in the system."
"Well, yeah," Cindy said. "I mean, you said that they had never logged out."
"No, that's not what I mean," Jimmy said. He pointed at the video screen. "I mean that they're in the system! Literally!"
"Say what?" She looked from Jimmy to the large screen and back again. "Are you saying that they're like some kind of program in your computer?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Jimmy began typing rapidly again.
"Why would they do something like that?"
Jimmy thought about it. "I think," he answered slowly, "that they were trying to fix the system. That's what the virtual digitization interface is for. Sheen knew that."
The answer meant little to Cindy. "And just what is this interface thing?"
"You know about my Game Pyramid?"
Cindy thought about it. "You mean that thing that lets people enter their video games to play them?"
Jimmy nodded. "Yes. It's like that. But instead of placing them inside a game, it digitizes them and creates a virtual representation of them inside the computer so that they can directly interact with the system. I use it when I have to do some maintenance on Vox." He went on thoughtfully, "I guess that Sheen felt that he and Libby could fix the virus by using it."
"Can they?" Cindy asked.
"In theory, yes. But they'd have to know where to find it and how to deal with it." Jimmy resumed typing rapidly. "And they'd have to know how to get back out of the system again before the system shut down or lost power. As long as they're virtual representations they need a functional system to be represented in."
"But if Vox shuts down and they're in there, what's going to happen to them?" Cindy asked, not completely sure she wanted to know.
Jimmy paused long enough to give her a bleak look. "What happens to the programs in your computer when you shut it off?"
If Cindy had been worried before, she was terrified now. "The programs shut down too. But they aren't lost forever. I can just start them up them."
Jimmy resumed his frantic typing. "That's because you have the programs stored on your hard drive. The programs in memory are just copies and as long as the program on the hard drive is intact you can always reload them again. There isn't anything like that for Sheen and Libby. They're the genuine article, not just a copy. If they vanish, they're gone for good." He pounded the console again. "Gas planets!" he snarled. "I can't get in! The antivirus containment protocols have locked everything out!"
Cindy looked at the event list. "That doesn't make any sense. The list says that those were activated at 2:23 PM. How could Sheen and Libby get in at 2:28 PM?"
Jimmy began pacing. "I don't know. Unless…" A thought occurred to him. "Unless it's because they were already logged into the game. The containment wouldn't affect things that were already active in the system." He resumed pacing. "But this is bad. It means that I can't get in to stop whatever is shutting Vox down. I can't even access enough of the system in time to try doing it from outside before the virus shuts everything down." He stopped pacing and gave Cindy a solemn look. "I'm not even sure whether I could get Sheen and Libby out of the system before that happens. Not that it would matter one way or the other where they were if that happened. And right now, they're they only ones who have any access to the system."
"So what you're saying is…" Cindy's voice trailed off as the situation dawned on her.
Jimmy nodded. "If this virus is going to be stopped in time," he said, confirming Cindy's worst fears, "it's going to have to be Sheen and Libby that do it."
Cindy's shoulders slumped in defeat. "We're doomed."
End of Chapter 9
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