Chapter 8: The Chase

The pickings were slim this second — the inhabitants of the system were being cautious. The virus had only managed to catch a single zero binome in the last several milliseconds. It was stronger than it had been upon entering this system, but it was still not up to full power yet. And it was still hungry.

It had been doing most of its hunting in an area far below the top level of the city, a place of grimy darkness. It was very comfortable there. It was searching for prey in that area when it sensed a sudden flare of energy not far away. The source of energy dulled a bit after its initial appearance, but not by much — it shone like a beacon to the virus' senses.

The virus had felt this energy before, on and off, since it had arrived in the system. It knew that the energy source was another virus, one that, oddly, seemed to interact with the resident sprites on a friendly basis. But it had never felt the energy this close by before — it had always been far away, out of reach. Now, however, it was nearby, and staying in one place.

This was an opportunity not to be missed. The virus headed for the source of the energy, keeping to the shadows, drawn by the prospect of a feast.

Matrix fiddled with the communication headset for the 28th time, trying to get it into a relatively comfortable position. Since the sprites, robots and Chaos virus needed to keep in communication for this to work, Dot had furnished them with small earphone-and-microphone sets not unlike the one she usually wore. Matrix wondered how his sister had gotten used to wearing it. He just couldn't get his to sit right…

"How long do I have to keep doing this?" he heard Hexadecimal complain.

"Just be patient," Bob said, not for the first time. Right. Like that's gonna happen, Matrix thought.

"Aye, the hunter must be still to catch the prey," Galatea's voice chimed in. "Sometimes for a few hours."

"Hours!" Matrix grimaced at Hexadecimal's screech. Behind him, AndrAIa winced.

"I think she means milliseconds," Ray corrected quickly. "But I don't think we'll have to wait that long."

They had been in place for several nanoseconds now. They had set up their trap in Mr. Pearson's Data Dump (over the binome's vehement protests) on level 31, since most of the virus attacks had taken place there. Hexadecimal was hovering out in the open, a red aura glowing around her. She was radiating a substantial amount of energy, but not doing anything with it. The sprites involved in the plan were hidden around the data dump, in small groups of two or three, with a virus scanner to each.

Matrix, AndrAIa and Frisket were hiding behind an old car, to Hexadecimal's north. Mouse and Ray were east of her, both armed with energy lances (Mouse had admitted, grudgingly, that her swords would be of little use against something so much like a null). Bob, Dot and Galatea were to the south. Hack and Slash were actually managing to keep quiet and hidden on the western side of the dump. They were as BASIC as it was possible to be without serious neural net damage, but they had really wanted to help and their formidable arrays of weaponry might just come in handy. Matrix was starting to wonder whether they were actually still there (he had never known them to be this quiet before), when Slash started gibbering over the communicator.

"Ooh, ooh! It's coming!"

"What? What's coming?" Hack asked anxiously.

"The thing the thing the thing!"

"What 'the thing'?"

"You know, the thing! The nasty thing!"

"Oh, that thing!"

Dot's voice broke in with "How close is it?"

"Uh, what's it called again?" Slash asked. He hadn't caught Dot's question.

"I dunno," Hack said. "I forgot."

"How could you forget, you 8-bit…"

"Hey, hey, you forgot too!"

"No I didn't. It's an…umm…gimmie a nano…"

"Hah! You forgot! You can't scold me 'cuz you forgot!

Mouse's roar, which they would have been able to hear without the communicators, startled Matrix and his companions and brought an end to the robots' bickering. "Start makin' sense or Ah'll FAQ-in' delete you both! How close is it?"

"Uh, umm, 100 micrometers and closing, Ma'am!" Slash answered briskly. Matrix could swear he heard the robot rattling with fear.

"We're picking it up now, too," Dot informed them. Matrix heard Frisket starting to growl. "Coming in from the southwest."

Matrix reached out to pat Frisket. "Steady, boy. Not 'till Bob gives the word."

"Everyone stay frosty," Bob said.

Dot issued instructions over the communicator. "Hack, Slash, no missiles, only precise weapons. As soon as it passes between you and us, we go for it."

"Finally," Hexadecimal sighed. "This was starting to get rather boring."

AndrAIa maximized her trident. Matrix got Gun ready, holding it with the barrel pointing upwards, as he peeked over the hood of the car. Frisket was growling fit to wake the deleted.

Something moved to the northwest — it wasn't one of Matrix's allies, since it was too far from Bob's or the robots' hiding places for that. Then he saw something shiny, black and null-like peek around the edge of a heap of garbage. Slowly, he aimed Gun at the black thing. "Gun: command line: targeting," he whispered, watching the virus.

Matrix had long ago ceased to see the world in the way that most sprites did — in both a literal and figurative sense. In times of danger such as these, his view of the world departed even more from the normal datoid way of seeing things. Through his cybernetic right eye, he saw the world in terms of heat, energy levels and wireframes. Numbers and text flickered in the lower right corner of his vision, displaying information about his current target. Near the center of his field of vision, a red crosshair emblazoned with an (V) was branded on what his targeting system classified as a virus. It was about twenty-five micrometers away from him.

"Remember, we're going to try and capture it," Bob whisper came over the communicator. Matrix frowned at the reminder, knowing that it was addressed especially to him. Gun was already set on "filelock," as per Bob's instructions, but if Matrix had had his way…

Suddenly the Absorber virus darted forward, and one of the numbers in Matrix's view, the one that indicated the target's distance from him, was rapidly decreasing. Although he felt an almost overwhelming urge to squeeze the trigger, Matrix waited for Bob's signal.

"Now!" Bob shouted. On his signal, all those equipped with long-range weapons stood up or stepped out from their hiding places and fired. Hexadecimal helped out with a few fireballs.

There was a piercing shriek, like that of a distressed null, only much louder. AndrAIa dropped her trident and fell to her knees, putting her hands over her ears. Frisket, his tail between his legs, cringed and tried to bury his head in the garbage. Although Matrix's ears were not as sensitive as those of the Game sprite or the dog, the screech was enough to cause him physical pain: he covered his ears as well, shouting a curse. With the onset of the screech, he lost his concentration and his target lock along with it.

After a cycle, there was another screech, but not from the Absorber — it wasn't as high-pitched or as loud (or as painful) as the first screech had been. Matrix was surprised that he hadn't gone deaf from that one. The second screech was followed by a long, drawn-out wail and incoherent shouting. The wail was dwindling away: the shouting was getting steadily louder, and it took a moment for Matrix to realize that it was not coming from the headset — he had crushed the earphone by accident, when he had been trying to cover his ears. The source of the shouting, he perceived, was coming closer, and now he could make out words.

"Thou hell-spawned puddle of shoe-shine polish! Cease and desist! Surrender now or taste my steel!" Matrix pulled himself up on the hood of the car and surveyed the scene.

The first thing he noticed was that Hexadecimal wasn't floating anymore — she was on the ground, almost completely enveloped by the black mass of the Absorber virus. The second thing he noticed was Galatea, running toward the fallen Hexadecimal and brandishing her sword as she hurled imprecations, insults and oaths at her foe. Bob was running — no, flying now — after her, probably trying to stop her from getting herself hurt. He was shouting too, but Matrix couldn't hear what he was saying. Dot was following closely behind the Guardian, until Hack and Slash, hysterical with terror, ran into her. From the opposite direction, Ray and Mouse were heading for Hexadecimal as well, Ray on his baud and Mouse on foot.

There was a weak red flash around the two grappling viruses — Hexadecimal trying to defend herself — but it didn't seem to affect the Absorber. Matrix was about to lock on it again when he heard AndrAIa whimper behind him.

He had assumed that she would recover as quickly as he did, but he had been wrong. Matrix hurried to her and crouched by her side. She was curled up in a ball, her hands still over her ears. Frisket was nudging her, concern showing in his eyes. He looked questioningly as Matrix as the renegade gently lay his hands on AndrAIa's shoulders. "Are you all right?" he said softly. She lifted her head and looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears. She lowered her hands and Matrix repeated his query, a little louder this time.

AndrAIa shook her head. "I can't hear you," she replied, her voice trembling. "I can't hear anything." She put the heel of her right hand to her forehead. "And my head hurts like a .BAT."

"It's getting away!" Matrix heard Dot cry. He turned his head to look in her direction, although he couldn't see much over the car. He saw flashes of light and heard the sound of weapons fire. He turned back to face AndrAIa, who was looking up at him again.

"I'll be fine," she insisted stoically. "Go. They'll need your help." Matrix was about to protest, though AndrAIa would not have been able to hear it anyway. "Go!" she shouted. "You too, Frisket," she added to the dog. Frisket perked up and ran off, barking, to join the other sprites. AndrAIa looked at Matrix once more and nodded. He patted her on the shoulder reassuringly before he stood, retrieved Gun from where he had dropped it and ran to follow Frisket.

Galatea, Dot, Mouse, Ray and the henchbots ran off in pursuit of the fleeing virus. Frisket and Matrix joined the chase shortly after. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Hexadecimal, who had collapsed on the ground. Bob, who didn't feel good about just leaving her there, went to check on her.

He crouched by Hexadecimal, who was translucent with the loss of so much energy. She wasn't flickering, fortunately. Her eyes were closed, and he could not tell if she was still conscious. "Hex?" he asked softly.

Her eyelids fluttered open. The eyes beneath were dim blue, although there was a brighter blue spot in the center of each eye — a strange parody of normal sprite eyes. "Bob?" Hex asked weakly. "What…happened?" She tried to sit up quickly, but almost immediately fell down again. Bob quickly put one hand behind her head and gently lowered her back to the ground.

"You've lost a lot of energy, Hex," he told her. "It got you. I didn't think it would be able to drain you so fast…I'm sorry."

"Oh," she said. "Did you get it?"

"No. It ran away, but the others are going after it. I wanted to make sure you were all right." He could hear them talking to each other over their headsets, and he could hear Phong, who was in the war room tracking them, speak as well from time to time. Hexadecimal seemed to have lost her headset.

"It's getting away?" Hex snapped with surprising force. Her eyes flared red. "Then what are you doing here? Go get it, Guardian. I can take care of myself." He'd rarely heard her sound so lucid.

Startled by a noise nearby, Bob looked up to see AndrAIa stumbling out from where she and Matrix had been hidden. AndrAIa stumbling? That added to his worries. The Game sprite put a hand to her head, as if dazed, then looked at Bob.

"Go on." She winced. "The others need you now. We'll be all right." Hexadecimal nodded at him, encouraging him to go. An ambulance flew over the dump and landed a few micrometers away — Phong must have sent it.

The Guardian nodded grimly and stood up. He ascended into the air and flew in the direction that the other sprites had taken. He could hear them speaking to each other over the headset.

"Don't let it get to the…" he heard Matrix say. Then there was the sound of weapons fire. "…sewers," Matrix finished despondently. "Great. Now we'll have to go down there after it."

"Phong, seal off the sewer pipes around…the intersection of thirtieth avenue and Q street," Dot said.

"One moment," Phong said. There was a pause, during which Bob saw his companions in an intersection below him, gathered around a spritehole. Frightened binomes were watching them from doorways and windows. Bob floated down to his friends. "There. The pipes are sealed," Phong said.

"Good," Dot said as Bob landed. "We've got the spritehole covered, and that's the only way in or out. Send a CPU unit here — I want the block evacuated and surrounded. If it gets out I don't want it running off again. And have them bring some lights for us." She looked at Bob, frowning.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I was checking to see if Hexadecimal was all right. A medical team just picked her up, and AndrAIa too. They'll be all right."

Frisket was sniffing at the spritehole and growling. "Be patient boy," Matrix said. "We'll get that virus soon enough."

The CPUs arrived a few nanoseconds later, although it seemed like an eternity to the waiting sprites. Working quickly and efficiently, the police binomes evacuated the area, getting the civilians out of harm's way, and set up a perimeter around the block. One of them gave the sprites helmets with lights mounted on the front, of the type that maintenance workers used.

"I don't think Frisket or the henchbots will fit through that hole," Dot said, tightening the chin strap on her helmet and switching the light on. "They can stay and guard it."

"Right, boss!" Hack said, saluting.

"Yeah, we'll watch the hole." Slash saluted too.

"It won't get past us."

"We'll make sure."

"If it comes out…"

"…BAM!" Slash drove his right fist into his open left hand for emphasis. He did it a little too hard. "Ow!" he yelped, shaking his left hand.

"Um," Dot reconsidered. "Ray, Mouse, will you stay up here with them?"

"Of course, Sugah," Mouse assured her, pointing the business end of her energy lance at the hole. Ray gave Dot a thumbs-up, and did the same with his lance.

"All right then," Matrix said, with a rather vicious grin. "Let's go down there and get that virus."

One of the binomes handed Matrix a crowbar, which he used to lift the spritehole cover. Bob and Matrix peered into the hole below — there was a vertical concrete tunnel, with rusty metal rungs forming a ladder down one side. The beams of light from their helmets showed a damp concrete floor below. Matrix lowered himself into the hole first. Bob followed him, then Galatea and Dot after. As the stench of the sewers wafted up to meet him, Bob started breathing through his mouth to save his nose. Matrix reached the floor and moved aside so that Bob could get to the bottom of the ladder.

The ladder ended in a small alcove which was recessed into the wall of the tunnel. Walking out of it, Bob found himself on a walkway that was just wide enough for a single sprite or binome. The walkway ran along the edge of the tunnel, raised above the stream of sewage that flowed down it (although it wasn't flowing now, since Phong had shut off this part of the system). There was another walkway of the same kind on the opposite side of the stream, close enough that he could easily jump over to it if he wanted to.

It was Matrix, however, who jumped to this other walkway. When Galatea came out of the alcove, he motioned for her to join him. She did so, leaping the gap and drawing her sword in one smooth motion. Dot came down last and looked at each of the other three sprites in turn.

"Good idea," she said to Matrix. "We'll follow the same tunnel, but walk on opposite sides. That way the virus will have a tougher time escaping if we corner it." Her face wrinkled in disgust. "Yuck. I'll have to spend a whole second in the bathtub after this."

The virus panicked as it came upon another sealed door. If even a small pipe had been open it could have escaped, but the sewers were sealed tight. It flattened itself against the ceiling now, listening to the sprites talking in the adjacent tunnel. Wounded as it was, it would not be able to slip past them. But it was already healing — the energy it had gotten from the other virus was more than enough to restore it. It would just have to avoid those sprites for a little while — soon it would be strong enough to make a speedy escape, or perhaps even consume the sprites themselves…

"Stay frosty. It could be anywhere," Bob warned. The beams of light from the sprites' helmets danced back and forth as they looked from side to side and up and down. Matrix didn't need his headlamp at the moment, though, because he was using his cybernetic eye. With it he was able to see around corners, so the others were following his lead. He was peering around when he heard Galatea shift around behind him.

"What was that noise?" she whispered. Then, "Look out!"

Matrix whirled around, saw the virus leaping at them, and fired. He missed, but the virus missed them too, and it fell into the stream of filth below with a wet smack. Matrix could still see it, though, swimming under the surface. He got a target lock on it as it rounded a corner.

The walkway on the side of the tunnel was too narrow to run on, so he leaped into the muck itself — it was fairly shallow, little more than ankle-deep — and ran along the tunnel floor. Galatea, without hesitation, followed him, and Bob flew after them. Matrix heard his sister sigh resignedly as she too jumped to the tunnel floor and joined the pursuit.

The virus was heading down a tunnel. He wheeled after it, splashing the muck onto his trousers, but he hardly noticed. He saw the virus had come up against one of the closed sewer doors. A ball of golden light, crackling with energy, hurtled at the thing from over Matrix's shoulder — that was Bob, of course. The virus, with nowhere to flee, leaped at them.

The next few cycles, as Matrix would later recount to AndrAIa, seemed to happen very slowly. The black thing was in the air, coming toward him. Bob fired another shot, and Matrix managed to get off two of his own. But the virus shifted in midair, and the shots missed it. It was bare nanometers from Matrix's face when a bar of red light stabbed through it…

Time resumed its normal speed as the virus, impaled on Galatea's sword, began to screech. Matrix put his hands over his own ears, but the sprite beside him kept her hands firmly on her sword hilt. Her face, twisted into a rictus by the pain of the noise battling the force of her will, was eerily lit by the red glow of her enchanted blade. The virus writhing and jerking with shock, cast strange patterns of red light and black shadow around the tunnel. Then it too started to glow red, and it began to shrink, the sound of its cry fading as it did so. It was reduced to about the size of a sprite's head before it exploded into a cloud of dust and ashes that drifted downwards and joined the stagnant waste on the bottom of the pipe.