Chapter Three: As Dot Said, We Have A Problem

The sprites, having hastily abandoned their meal, were now in the war room of the Principal Office, looking at the map of Mainframe in the center of the chamber. Galatea was there too, since everybody wanted to know what was going on but nobody wanted to leave her alone. There was too great a risk of her getting into — or causing — trouble.

"An injured binome was found on Level 31 a few nanoseconds ago," Phong informed them. "One other…" the console behind him beeped urgently. He excused himself and turned to it, scanning the message that had just been sent to him. He turned back to the assembled sprites. "Two others have been reported missing. I am having the CPUs look for them." He steepled his metal fingertips. "The one we found was drained of energy — not enough to delete her, fortunately, but she was barely able to keep processing. There were no marks found on her, so we are unsure as to how the energy was drained."

"So it looks like the User wasn't the only weird thing that came in with the Game," Matrix said.

"I do have a name," Galatea pointed out acidly. But nobody paid attention to her, so she crossed her arms and sulked as Phong continued.

"The victim is not yet conscious, so we cannot question her about her attacker. But we found traces of viral residue at the scene of the attack."

"So we're dealing with an energy-draning virus?" Matrix asked. "Well, we had better start looking for it, before it hurts anyone else."

"That would be a logical deduction at this juncture, my son," Phong said, adjusting his spectacles. "However, we cannot determine where it will strike next. You see, we have had no reports of power failures, except the one caused by the Game cube. It is therefore unlikely to be a virus of the Class-5 type. It only drains dataform energy - a vampire virus, for lack of a better term."

"Excuse me," Galatea said from the back of the room. The sprites turned to her, except for Matrix, who seemed to be lost in thought. "What is a virus?"

Mouse was thinking of a way to explain it to her, but Bob did it first. "Well…viruses come in many different shapes and sizes, but they're generally bad news. With…a few exceptions," he added. "From what we know about this one, it's safe to assume that it means the system harm."

Galatea nodded. "I see. Then I shall aid you all in your search, so that you may…"

"No!" cried all the sprites in unison. Galatea looked shocked.

"Err…that is…" Bob searched for words.

Phong saved him by wheeling up to Galatea and putting a hand on her arm. "My child, you have never encountered viruses before. In fact, this whole system, and our way of doing things, is new to you. It would be best if you were to stay here in the Principal Office and out of danger," he said calmly.

With a hurt expression, Galatea protested, "But it is my sworn duty to defend innocents against such menaces…"

"That's our job," Matrix interrupted. "You're staying here. End of discussion." He glared at her, to silence any further protests on her part. She met him stare for stare, something few individuals, sprite, binome or otherwise, could do. They might have remained deadlocked for some time if Dot hadn't jabbed Matrix with her elbow and AndrAIa hadn't gently led Galatea out of the room.

After Phong had finished the briefing and dismissed everyone, AndrAIa and Galatea reentered the war room. The strange sprite didn't look at Phong, but at the great holographic map of Mainframe in the center of the chamber. Phong would have to find something to do with and/or about her. He rolled up behind her and was about to tap her on the shoulder and get her attention, but she turned to face him before he could do so. He put his hands together.

"I will assign you quarters here. I am afraid we cannot let you go around unattended, because…"

"…Because thy people do not trust me." AndrAIa, standing behind Galatea, looked distressed.

"No, because you are unfamiliar with Mainframe and there is a virus loose," Phong finished. "And do not worry about Matrix. Experience has made him both suspcious and stubborn, but he is a good sprite. Given time, he will come around."

"Maybe," Galatea muttered. She sighed resignedly. "Very well. Because of the state of emergency, I shall comply, for the nonce. But I do not like being treated like a troublesome child."

Phong was glad that their unexpected guest was willing to abide by his decision, at least for the time being. He did not think that she would do any intentional harm, but between her ignorance and the fear the Mainframers might have of her (most of them had seen Mike's aborted broadcast), he dared not let her out. "Give it time," Phong told her. "AndrAIa, will you please find a suitable room for our guest?"

The room they put her in was a nice one, or at least she thought so — it looked very different from anything she had ever slept in. There was an attached room for ablutions and certain necessary functions (quite a luxury, but apparently standard here) — AndrAIa had explained it all to her. Her door was not locked, but there was a binome wachman on guard outside to make sure she did not leave. She had been allowed to keep her sword, although she wasn't sure what that meant — whether they trusted her not to anything malicious, or whether they simply were not afraid of what she could do with it.

There was a small terminal in the room as well. AndrAIa had helped her get started on figuring it out, before she'd left to join the others. Galatea had spent two hours (by her reckoning) working out the intricacies of the device, using it to find various documents, pictures and recorded scenes. Some of them were interesting, but, for the most part, they were incomprehensible. Galatea was bored, frustrated, and anxious: she had abandoned the terminal and was now staring out the window.

She had recently contemplated escaping through it, as rude as that might be, but it was too high up to be feasible, and in any case she couldn't figure out how to get it open. She just watched the traffic — the strange hovering horseless carriages and people (of both sprite and binome types) on sets of hovering discs. She thought she had seen the boy Enzo go by on one, but she wasn't sure.

She heard the soft noise of the door sliding open behind her, and with it the sound of snoring from the corridor outside. Turning around, she saw Enzo standing in the doorway, a finger to his lips. He gestured for her to follow him.

She didn't want to give her hosts cause to trust her any less than they did already, but she couldn't stand being stuck in here any longer — and she was curious. Moving quietly, she went to the door. Enzo moved aside so that she could enter the corridor, and the portal to her room slid shut behind her. The snoring sound she had heard earlier came from the guard binome, who had fallen asleep in his chair, a half-empty box of torus-shaped, frosted pastries beside him. There were crumbs all over him and, Galatea noticed, frosting around his mouth. Written on the side of the box was the word"Donuts."

Enzo pointed to the sleeping binome, and grinned at her. Galatea wondered if he were responsible for the guard's state of repose (she wouldn't put it past him, at this point). The boy moved off down the corridor and gestured to her again. She went to join him. At last, he seemed to think it safe to speak.

"I figured you must be bored in there," he said, "and that you might want to see more of the city than the Principal Office and my sister's diner…" He jumped at the sound of approaching footsteps.. Enzo quickly pressed a button near a door and pushed Galatea through it — she was too startled to react or resist — and then the door closed again. She couldn't see, since the room was not lit and there was no window, but she could hear the faint sound of the footsteps coming closer. Then there was a brief conversation, and then the footsteps went away again. The door opened and Enzo took her hand to pull her out before shutting it again.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't want anyone to see that you were out. I know a secret exit — once we're in a safe place, I can give you a different clothing format so people won't recognize you, at least not from a distance. I've got it all planned out," he said proudly.

"Thou art clever, for one so young," Galatea said. "But why art thou taking such a risk? The others will be wroth with thee."

Enzo's expression turned grave in the way that only a child's could. "Because I don't like being left behind either," he said. Then he brightened up again. "C'mon!" He jogged down the corridor. Galatea followed him.

Eventually they came upon a door marked "Maintenance." Enzo opened it and ushered Galatea through. After she had entered, he joined her and the door shut behind them. "I didn't get your name before," Enzo said.

"Galatea," she said. "Where is Frisket, by the by?"

"On the bottom level, with the other stuff I got together," he said. He started to move down the passageway to a ladder. She followed him. "They told me to stay put too. But I'm not scared of the virus. They just wanted me out of the way."

Galatea found herself liking Enzo more and more — he was the only sprite she'd met who seemed to understand her completely.

They traveled through the twisting labyrinth of passageways for some time, occasionally talking to each other, until they reached what Enzo claimed to be the last ladder.

"Frisket is down there with the stuff I brought," he said. "Then we can get out — no more ladders.

"The two descended to the bottom of the ladder. Then Enzo held out a hand to stay Galatea and went off into the next chamber on his own. He has better hearing than I do, Galatea thought. Then she heard Enzo speak, sounding mildly discomfited.

"Oh," he said, "Uh…hi Hex."

In teams of two, Mainframe's finest searched for the virus that was loose in their system. Bob and Dot were together, gliding above the city and giving it a thorough examination. Bob saw something that Dot couldn't catch and began to descend. He gestured to her as he did so, but didn't take his eyes off whatever it was. Dot followed.

Bob came down in an alleyway, and picked up something off the ground. He showed it to Dot. "An icon," he said sadly, "Without its owner. I think…this belonged to the other missing sprite."

Dot hoped that someone had just dropped it by accident, but she knew it was unlikely. She took a PID scanner off her belt — something that only the or a higher-level Principal Office employee was allowed to have — and scanned the icon, reading the code contained within.

Her stomach dropped when she read the result. "You're right, Bob," she said. "This belonged to one of the missing binomes." This made her very worried — two other binomes had been reported missing in the time they had been searching. How many more of the virus' victims were going to be deleted?

Dude! did Hexadcimal get here? Enzo asked himself as the chaos virus poked at the disguise materials he had obtained for Galatea. He hoped his new friend would stay hidden. User only knew what Hex would do if she saw…

"And what — or who — are these things for?" Hex asked pleasantly. "Not you, I should think. This color doesn't suit you at all."

Frisket growled at Hexadecimal, but he knew not to attack her. She ignored him and looked up at Enzo, her eyes a calm blue, a smile on her face. "You must be doing something interesting. But you reallyshould be in a safe place. There's a nasty uninvited guest running about. Your sister wouldn't be happy if she knew you were wandering around."

Enzo swallowed. "Umm…you're not going to tell her, are you?"

Hexadecimal grinned — not her sharp-toothed grin, fortunately — and chucked him under the chin. Enzo was uncomfortable with Hexadecimal's close proximity to him, but tried not to flinch. "Of course I won't, you sweet little boy. Who am I to spoil your fun?" She drew back her hand — Enzo felt relieved — and chuckled. Then she turned her head towards the chamber he had just come from, where Galatea still was. Oh no.

"What a surprise," Hexadecimal said excitedly. "There's someone else here." She zipped over to the doorway. Enzo got there just after she had gone in, and saw her talking to Galatea. He was glad that Galatea had been sensible enough not to draw her sword, even though the sight of Hexadecimal had probably scared her. Then again, maybe Hexadecimal didn't seem any scarier to her than anything else she'd seen lately.

"Good day to thee, mistress," she said. "My name is…"

"I know. Galatea," Hexadecimal said, cocking her head and peering curiously at the sprite. "I've seen you in my looking glass. So Enzo is taking you out to see the sights? How charming."

"I would like to know thy name, lady," Galatea interjected. Hexadecimal's eyes turned green, and she twirled around.

"Ooh, listen to how she talks. Isn't that precious?" She faced Galatea again. "My name is Hexadecimal. It's nice to meet you."

"Well met," Galatea said with apparent sincerity. Enzo had to admire her calm in the face of danger. But he tensed again when Hexadecimal asked:

"What Game do you come from, dear?" She blinked her eyes and waited for the answer.

"I do not," Galatea said. "I come from the kingdom of Mandor. I am still not sure what brought me here."

Hexadecimal leaned towards Enzo in a conspiratorial way and said in a rather loud whisper, "She's obviously quite mad."

Please don't get angry, Enzo thought desperately, looking imploringly at Galatea. She looked back at him with her eyebrow raised, but didn't draw her sword.

Hexadecimal stood up again. "Well," she said, "It has been a nice chat, but I have to help Bob look for the…unexpected guest. I'm sure he'll appreciate it." Her last sentence was spoken in a sultry tone, and she smiled dreamily. Then she said "Ta-ta!" and vanished — body first and face after.

Both Enzo and Galatea sighed with relief. Frisket came over to join them, whimpering.

"What an…interesting person," Galatea remarked.

"She's a virus. But not like other viruses. It's a long story," Enzo said. "She's sort of random, but she's mostly okay. I think."

"I hope so. I thought she was referring to me when she talked about the 'unwelcome guest.' And thou'rt sure she will not tell anyone about our venture?"

"She probably won't, if she says she won't," Enzo said. "Unless someone else realizes we're out first."

Galatea nodded. "All right," she said. She changed the subject. "Now…where are those costume things?" Frisket dashed out and fetched them from the next room. He dropped them at Galatea's feet, and she patted him. He looked up at her, wagging his tail.

"I am afraid thee and thy master will have to go out of here," Galatea said, "For decency's sake while I change."

"C'mon, Frisket," Enzo said, going into the next chamber. The dog followed him. With his back turned to the doorway of the room in which Galatea was changing (there was no door), he played with his yo-yo. After a few nanoseconds, he heard her say, "I am ready."

Enzo turned to look at her. She was now dressed in a more stylish red clothing format, with the brown clothes she had been wearing bundled under her arm. Her hair was now covered by a flame-colored scarf. She looked almost like a normal sprite, except for her icon. But there was nothing he could do about that.

"Alphanumeric," said Enzo. "Okay, let's go outside. I got an extra zipboard for you, but I guess I'll have to teach you to use it first."

Galatea looked confused. "Alphanumeric?" she queried him.

Enzo realized that she didn't know the word. He tried several synonyms. "Awesome, amazing, cool, neat, good, awesome…"

"I think I understand now," Galatea said. She said the word slowly, as if chewing it over. "Alphanumeric. What an interesting word…"

She followed Enzo as he led her into a passageway. After walking along it for a while, they came to the other end, where there was a trapdoor. Enzo opened the door and they came up in a warehouse nearby. "We just went through one of the Principal Office's causeways," he explained, helping Galatea out. "Dot had it put in after the restart, just in case." Frisket leaped out of the hole in the floor, drawing an appreciative whistle from Galatea, and afterwards she helped Enzo to cover the trapdoor entrance again.

"Okay. You can hide the other clothing format here, for now. Just remember where it is. I'm going to teach you to use a zipboard." He had two of them, compressed, hanging from his belt. He handed one of the hand-sized disks to Galatea, and took the other himself. "Watch," he said. He took the disk, black-and-white side up, and held it about half a micrometer above the floor. Then he let go. It didn't fall — it hovered there. Then he double-clicked it with his hand, and it expanded into a usable zipboard.

Galatea, amazed, imitated him, and was delighted to get the same results. "I have seen others using these," she remarked, "But I have no idea how they are controlled. And…they look rather unsafe. Is it possible to attach one's feet…"

"You don't need to," Enzo said, waving a hand dismissively. "It'll stay by itself, unless you try to jump off. Or if you run into something really fast, that'll do it too."

Galatea thought for a few moments, then shrugged. "Well. I shall simply have to avoid running into things. How difficult can it be?"

Enzo spent a while training Galatea in the use of a zipboard — the thing was controlled by how one leaned one's body. It could apparently read shifts in the rider's weight and position. One had to develop an intuitive understanding of how one's movements would translate to the zipboard before one could use it effectively — a bit like using a sword.

It was all terribly complicated. Galatea slammed into the side of the warehouse for the third time (Enzo wasn't letting her ride it outside until she had the 'hang' of it), and landed painfully on her backside. The zipboard clattered to the ground next to her. Enzo floated over to help her up. "Are you okay?" he asked. Frisket nudged her with his cold nose and whimpered.

She patted Frisket as she got to her feet. "Unhurt but for my pride," she replied. Enzo smiled at her.

Galatea picked up her zipboard, lifting it to knee level, then let it go. It hovered there, waiting for her to step on. She did so, and drew herself up to make the board ascend. It began to rise: she hunched to halt its descent.. "I think I will figure this out, eventually…"

"Here's a tip," Enzo said. "You need to use your knees more. You're keeping them all locked up. That's fine when you're going slow, but you need a lot of swing to make fast turns. Try it again — we can go out when you've made three laps around the warehouse without bumping into something."

Galatea floated to the warehouse door, set her course for the corner to her left, and began to move. She swung around to avoid hitting the corner, and managed (barely) not to bump into the wall. The rim of one of the disks scraped a large crate, putting her off-balance a little, but she was able to right herself. She managed to complete one successful lap.

"Two more!" Enzo shouted. Galatea hoped she could make it. It was taking a lot of concentration to keep track of how she was moving and thus keep control the board. She finished the second lap. One more to go.

"You can do it!" Enzo encouraged her. I certainly hope I can, she thought. She barely managed to avoid hitting the rear wall of the warehouse when she turned a corner, and would have breathed a sigh of relief if she were able to concentrate on anything other than avoiding a collision with something. Enzo cheered as she returned to the front door and slowed down.

"That's great!" he exclaimed. "Now we can go out. I'll try not to go too fast for you, since you still need practice. But we'd better stay low so we don't get caught." He opened the door and paused. "Exciting, huh?"

"More like stupendously dangerous, but I suppose one could call it exciting," Galatea said, carefully following him. Frisket bounded out with them, and Enzo pulled the door shut.