Chapter Nine. It's a little long. I got a little excited with this one b/c it's the one where big changes are coming our way. especially for max. Footnotes are there just like before. enjoy.

I don't own Cyberchase. Max is mine.

Chapter Nine
Effects of Magnetite

This isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Hacker thought.

Over the last few weeks, Hacker had forced Max and Digit to build his new Cyber-coop – a vehicle he had already dubbed "The Grimm Wreaker" - and, so far, Max had been very uncooperative. This wouldn't have been much of a problem except Hacker didn't know what to do about it. She showed total disregard to his authority, even going as far as to call him some rather unflattering names, and she always had a snappy come-back for anything he could say to her. The worst part was, Hacker couldn't punish her for it. Hitting her either with the back of his hand or with her stave wasn't motivation enough. She continued to defy him and even if he did punish her, she never yelled, screamed, or begged for mercy. Instead, she stared at him through her forelocks; glaring hateful daggers in his direction.

The fact Max hated him did nothing to slow him down or stop him from trying to complete his dream of trying to obtain complete Cyber-domination. But she continued to be difficult with him, making Hacker believe he needed to continually assert his authority. Sometimes, he would call her out on just the smallest thing – whether it was a spot of oil on the floor or a part dropping out of place, it didn't matter. Hacker would haul her away and start hitting her either with his hand or with her stave. He decided hitting and yelling at her was better than deleting her. Using the Dematerializer on her would be far too quick and easy. He didn't want quick and easy. He knew Max would rather be deleted than stay another night in the hanger with him. Deleting her would only give her exactly what she wanted, and he was trying very hard not to do that.

Usually, the only time Hacker would penalize Max was when he felt in the mood for doing it. Every day, he came around, looking over everything his two prisoners had done. If he saw anything out of line, he always picked Max. It didn't even matter if it was Max who did it, either, nor did Hacker care who did it. Someone had to pay and since Max was being a nuisance, she was the most likely candidate. Plus, Max was much more sturdy than Digit. If Hacker even did half the things he did to Max, he could very well be destroyed. Hacker couldn't afford to destroy Digit, at least not yet. So far, Digit had been the more obedient of the two. Hacker had hopes the cyboid would turn to his side. He also hoped that he could force Digit to turn to his side by showing the cyboid what he was capable of. Punishing Max seemed like a good way to go. At least punishing Max forced Digit to cooperate, but while it worked for Digit, it didn't work so well for Max.

Hacker leaned against his chair and looked over at the heap of scrap where the remains of the Cyber-ash quarter-stave now lay. A week ago, Hacker had broken the stave over Max's back while he was yelling at her for being so clumsy – she wasn't clumsy, of course, but he wanted to belittle her as much as possible and the clumsy comment seemed like the way to go. She hadn't made any sound, nor did she twitch. The fact she wasn't reacting to him beating her only frustrated him, and in his frustration he overpowered a hit to her back. The stave broke with an audible crack! and shards of Cyber-ash rained down upon the astonished, young borg. She stared at the pieces through her forelocks. Then, slowly raised her head so her dark-brown eyes met Hacker's black ones. He saw the hate and loathing there and knew he had committed a serious infraction against herself as well as the Warriors of Shangri-La. She was giving him a "I kill you!"1look. A look which frightened Hacker, but didn't dare show it.

Hacker didn't know what to do with her. She was being disobedient to him, but he never saw her be disobedient to her father. Of course, he could understand why. Mathias was her father and Hacker was her kidnapper and enemy. But he had to do something. Otherwise his henchmen would starting believing it was okay to disobey him too.

A couple weeks ago, Hacker had built two robots to keep Max and Digit in line while he was making other plans. The robots weren't really all that smart, but at least they obeyed him – much better than Digit, who was a pathetic excuse for a henchman – and they were loyal but extremely klutzy.

Hacker couldn't help but grin in satisfaction the morning after both robots came online. He had worked tirelessly through the night putting them together, and after switching them on, he sent them out to rouse Max and Digit. Max was not a happy camper when they woke her.

"Up and at 'em, you two. Time to start work." said one of the robots.

"Ye-ah." said the other. "We're here to make sure you do everything the boss tells you to. Aha-ahahahahaha."

Max punched one robot in the jaw, grabbed them both by the antenna and threw him on the garbage pile. She stood in a half-hunched position and glared after them. Both were poorly built, designed primarily to do minimal grunt work, and it was obvious Hacker hadn't put much care in building them.

One was built like a watermelon on two legs. He had a big, red mouth with white fangs growing out of the bottom jaw, black antenna topped with yellow radio receivers, a black robber's mask over yellow rimmed eyes, and tiny hands. The other had a trashcan body, blocky legs, long arms with yellow hands, a dog-like face, antenna, and a robber's mask.

Max watched them extricate themselves from the pile of rotting food, oil-soaked rags, and scrap metal. Digit peered at the two robots around Max's leg, one wing holding onto her calf and his head half-buried in the torn remnants of her nightshirt hem. The two bots approached, picking garbage off themselves. They stopped just short of Max's reach.

"What was that about?" the watermelon-bot asked.

"Ye-ah. What was that?" the dog-bot asked.

"You touched me." Max said, harshly. "Nobody touches me."

"He's touching you." the dog-bot said, pointing to Digit.

"He's an exception." Max said.

"How come?" Watermelon-bot asked.

"I like him."

The two bots contemplated this a moment.

Max relaxed a moment. The bots seemed too stupid to be much of a threat to anybody. Least of all, Digit. "What'cha called?" she asked.

"I'm Buzz. That's Delete." said the watermelon-bot.

Buzz and Delete. Go figure he would use a couple of short, easy names for two dumb robots. Max thought, scathingly.

"Well, come on, you two. Time to get to work. Move it." Buzz said.

Max held her ankle out. "If we're going to do that, change the chains."

"Huh? Why would we want to do that?" Delete asked.

Max regarded him. Are these two really that stupid? "These chains are mounted to the wall. There's another set of chains over there. Those are set aside to keep us from running off while we work."

"Whatever." Buzz said.

He and Delete went and got the chains. After hooking the two prisoners together, they untied the wall-mounted chains and directed Max and Digit to the temporary workbench where Hacker laid out the parts for the engines. The two prisoners mounted their stools and set to work. Hacker didn't have any plans laid out, but it didn't matter. Max had a working knowledge of building engines. Digit didn't. But he had a working knowledge of which part to hand her, so every time her hand came out, he would slap a part into her hand, scrub nurse style.

The two robots lounged apart from the prisoners on a pair of discarded seats, keeping one eye on them to discourage running away. Max could very well have beaten the neutrons out of them and run off with Digit under her arm. Problem would have been getting off the Northern Frontier.

The robots never said a word except tell them to hurry up if they thought Max and Digit weren't being fast enough. Buzz even once posed a question.

"Why are you the only one working on the engine?"

Max swiveled on her stool to stare at the robot. "I'm not the only one. Digit is doing something called 'helping'. It's a common occurrence between people who like each other." She went back to work screwing the fuselage to the rear of the engine. "Anyway, he doesn't know how to build an engine. I do. And since I was started up before him, of course I would be the one in charge of the project. Which would make him my assistant." She reached across and ruffled the metallic feathers on Digit's shoulder. "He makes a good assistant, too."

The robots said nothing to this. Instead, they watched as Max and Digit put the engine together. Within two-and-a-half hours, the engine was finished, installed, and Hacker handed Max a box for the next project.

1

It took about a month before the Grimm Wreaker was finished. And when it was finished, Hacker took it for a test-drive with Max and Digit as his passengers. But they weren't allowed on the bridge. Hacker had taken some time to build a brig and he stuffed both prisoners inside.

The Grimm Wreaker not only served as a mode of transportation, but it also had a bedroom for Hacker and battery-charging station for the two robots. Max and Digit had to live in the brig. Occasionally he brought them up to do something. But, there was a time when he brought Max up, but not Digit. And his intentions weren't friendly.

0

Buzz and Delete walked around Max, checking the chains around her ankles to make sure they were short enough to keep her from lunging at Hacker. Max ignored them, her eyes on Hacker who was strutting back in forth in front of her. She couldn't help but question his attire, for he was dressed head-to-toe in an ugly, two-piece, yellow suit. The hood was down on the suit and he covered his hands with a pair of black gloves. One hand was behind his back and a wide grin over his face told Max to be wary.

"I bet you're wondering why I called you here for." Hacker said.

"That thought does cross my mind." Max admitted.

"I've brought you here because of this . . ." He held up his right hand which contained a mound of blue, glowing crystals. "Know what this is?"

Max took a very small step back. "Magnetite." she said.

"That's right. Magnetite." Hacker said. "Know what it does?"

"It does a lot of things, but its major application is to crash a harddrive." Max said.

"Exactly." Hacker said. "Know what happens when a harddrive crashes?"

"A lot of things happen." Max said. "Accelerating aging, oversized appendages, poison-ivy-like bumps."

Hacker stopped strutting. "Why yes. I'm surprised you know so much about this. You're making my ability to gloat . . . difficult."

Max gave him a smile, but her eyes still reflected a small amount of worry. "I'm glad to be such a nuisance."

Hacker curled his lip at her. "You know, you're a lot like your creator."

"My father. I'm a lot like my father. Get it right."

Hacker made no response to that. Instead, he continued pacing. "Did you know that some borgs are actually immune to its effects?" Max nodded. "Did you also know that the side-effects of Magnetite actually varies from person to person?" Max nodded, again. Hacker looked down at the mound in his hand. "I wonder what it would do to you. I'm curious to know if you're part of the two-percent that's immune to it – or part of the ninety-eight percent that will malfunction."

"I'd rather not find out." Max told him.

"Ah, but I want to find out. Besides, there is a one in a thousandth chance that you won't be effected by it."

"And the other point nine-hundred ninety-nine?"

"I suspect something will happen to you."

"You're wasting your time. When I was on Shangri-La, one of the first things I had to undergo was Magnetite immunization. In other words, that stuff won't affect me."

"I don't think I am wasting my time, Max. Now that you've told me that, I have to assume you didn't complete the course."

"I did complete it."

"Ah, but I can also assume there was a limit to how much they could present you with. I have read that there is a legal limit of measuring units which any borg can endure. Even those Warriors cannot legally bend the rules when it comes to an S-ranked dangerous material like this."

"So, how did you get it?"

"Oh, that's right. You and Digit have been in the brig for the last few days, haven't you?"

Max didn't answer that question.

"I located a Cybersite my navi-computer2 called 'Eureka'3. That Cybersite is literally a goldmine. Magnetite virtually grows on that site."

"Yeah. But nobody is supposed to harvest it."

"Why not? If it grows in Cyberspace, doesn't that make it available for use by anybody?"

"Yes, but that stuff is unpredictable. That's why Magnetite is illegal. Nobody wants to mess with the stuff and why nobody will harvest it. They don't want to take a chance their hard drives will crash."

"I'm willing to take that chance. After all, I came prepared. I'm wearing protection. I'm not taking any chance my hard drive will crash."

"I see that."

"But you aren't protected. So, I wonder what will happen if I do this . . ."

He threw a few pieces of Magnetite at Max. Nothing happened. He threw a few more pieces – these landed closer to Max's feet than the others. Still nothing. He grabbed small handful and threw it at her.

"Look at that. Something's happening. Apparently you're not as immune to it as I thought." Hacker said.

"What?" Max asked.

Hacker pointed and Max looked down and gasped. Her hands and feet were white and lines crisscrossed over her skin. The whiteness spread up her legs to her hips and up her arms to her shoulders. As it spread, her skin stretched and bulged out. Claws sprouted on her fingers and toes which curled in on themselves as soft, white pads formed.

"I wonder what will happen if I throw the rest at you." Hacker said. He tossed the rest in an underhanded throw and that was when the changes really took shape.

The whiteness spread up her neck and torso. Lines etched themselves on her ever-expanding flesh. Her nightshirt was turned to shreds and her knees reversed directions. She fell on her hands which had become paws. Wings grew out of her shoulder blades and a ridge of raised bone thrust upward out of her back. Her hair turned white and her eyes turned pink. A tail shot out of her haunches and a four-sided barb formed. Horns curled out of her forehead and her ears slid up to the top of her head while her face bulged out and fangs filled her mouth.4

For the most part, Max managed to keep her expressions straight. But once all the outside appearances were finished, the inside appearances began changing.

Max grunted in pain and fell forward. She twitched and kicked the wall. Then, she started whimpering. And her whimpers turned into a down-right scream. A scream which even sent shudders down Hacker's spine.

1

Digit didn't know how long he sat there on the floor of the brig alone. He knew that Max had been gone for far too long and he didn't like it at all. He started worrying.

Where are you Max? he thought, looking up at the drop shaft above his head. What's going on?

He was thinking about getting up and start pacing but before the action could have been carried out, the drop shaft opened and something large and white fell in. Digit dived out of the way while the thing landed by him with an "oof!" The shaft closed with a creak and Digit was left alone with the thing.

He slowly approached and touched it with his wing; his feathers came in contact with smooth, sharp scales. Digit felt around the scales and located the object's shoulder and felt along the ridge of what could only be a wing. As his wing came down, he came in contact with a mass of hair and a leonine ear. His wing moved to the left and found a hard, smooth horn that curved upward and ended in a sharp point. His wing moved down and he located a broad muzzle. As he stepped closer, he tripped over a tail and was almost impaled by the sharp barb when an enormous paw came up, held him gently by the chest, and moved him carefully off to the side. In the dim light from above, Digit saw a pair of blazing, pink eyes through a mess of colorless mane.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The beast sat up and stretched, then looked down at him. "Who do you think I am, Didge?" she asked.

Digit stared at her. "Max?"

"Yeah. It's me."

"Max! How . . . how did this happen? You left as a borg and now you're a-a –"

"I'm a gargoyle now, Didge."

"A gargoyle? How?"

"Magnetite."

"Magnetite? What's that?"

"A viscous material that effects all cyborgs within a four-foot range. At first I seemed immune to it but then, the side-effects started kicking in. I was turned into this - something unheard of since Magnetite has drastically changed someone's appearance. Other than giving someone an aged appearance or big feet, never had Magnetite ever made a cyborg change species before." Max said.

"So, why did it happen to you?" Digit asked. "Why did you change into a gargoyle?"

Max shrugged. "I don't know. Magnetite effects everyone differently. Some borgs experience only a little change, some not at all. For me, the change was complete. My harddrive crashed5 and I completely changed species."

"Is there any way for you to change back?"

That was the big question. Max already knew the answer to that question. A few years back, Mathias had done a study on Magnetite and he let Max read his results. There had been a few scientists that believed they could come up with a cure or reversal potion for the effects of Magnetite. The only difficult part of going about to do that was knowing where to start. So far, nobody had come up with a cure, and even if a cure was made, chances were it couldn't be used for extreme cases of damage. Also, the longer the damage remains, the harder it is to get rid of.

"No." she said. "There is no chance. I'll be like this for the rest of my warranty."

"If Hacker doesn't kill you first, that is."

Max held her breath. "Yeah. If Hacker doesn't kill me first." she agreed. She curled up in a corner and opened her paws to Digit who climbed in and folded himself into the wide hollow of her throat. "Let's make the most of it while we can."

"Yeah. Let's make the most of it." Digit said just before sleep-mode kicked in.

1"I kill you." - Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity

2Navi-computer – Star Wars reference; short for Navigational Computer

3Eureka – Homesite of Professor Archimedes

4Reference to Animorphs

5"Magnetite effects everyone differently. Some borgs experience only a little change, some not at all. For me the change was complete. My harddrive crashed . . ." - direct quote from Coop in "Measure for Measure", episode 405