~Chapter Twenty-Seven~
Another two days had passed since Marbles' and Ada's disappearance. Pictures of Ada were all over stores on the missing cyborgs bulletin and her roommate called her cy-phone number every day, in hopes that she might just answer. Archimedes was doing likewise, while Melissa lacked sleep worrying over the two. When Antoine saw Melissa in class on Monday, he could see the lack of sleep all over her. He didn't know Marbles or Ada, but he could feel her pain somehow.
Seeing Melissa in pain put him in pain...
That afternoon around 6:00, Antoine decided to go check on Melissa.
"Brian," Antoine said as he threw his jacket on, "I'm going to go visit Melissa."
"You seem to be more into her every day," Brian said looking up from his homework.
"Its not about impressing her right now," Antoine replied, "She's going through a hard time. I'm worried about her."
Brian smiled. "You really are a mature dude. I'm proud of ya man."
Antoine smiled back at his roommate, then opened the door and left.
Melissa was knelt down at the edge of her bed in prayer.
Ever since she found out Marbles and Ada were gone she had been praying and fasting, the latter of the two mostly unintentional. At one point, Melissa had tried to install some sort of advanced tracking system into her laptop only to realize she didn't know Ada's ID code and had forgotten Marbles' long ago.
Not only that, but the laptop was nowhere near advanced enough to carry out such a task. Such a tracking system could only fit into the most advanced computers known to Cyberspace...
Supercomputers...
Melissa was so deep in prayer that at first she didn't hear the knocking at her door. On the second knock, she closed her prayer with an "Amen" and answered the door. She smiled when she saw Antoine's face, but it didn't quite meet her eyes.
"Antoine what a surprise!" she said and opened the door wider so he could come in, "How are you?"
"I'm alright," Antoine answered politely, "I wanted to check on you though. I know that this is still bothering you. You look as if you haven't slept in a while."
"I haven't," Melissa replied, "All I can think about is Marbles and Ada. I'll be in sleep mode for about an hour and then have horrible nightmares that wake me up and keep me up."
Antoine's smile faded. He felt so bad for her.
"I've also been hard at work trying to design a tracking system for my laptop," she continued, "But it simply isn't designed for such functions." She then laughed lightly and went to sit in her desk chair. "I remember when I was a little girl, I used to daydream of being a computer program so I could have a greater capacity for knowledge."
"That's cute," Antoine said smiling weakly.
Melissa returned the gesture. "Its times like this that I still wish it. The 20th Grand Posha was able to track cyborgs just by thinking it. Computer-cyborg programs can do a lot of things in fact, just by thinking them."
Antoine nodded in agreement. "That's true yes. But what about all the things you wouldn't be able to do. You couldn't dance or feel the sun's warmth or-"
"Or climb trees," Melissa laughed.
"You climb trees?"
Melissa nodded. "Every now and again."
Antoine smiled. "Anyway, from what I've been taught though, there have only been three conciousness transfers in the history of Cyberspace."
Melissa nodded again. "The 20th Grand Posha of Pompadoria was first. Not long after him, they transferred the king of Happily-Ever-After-Ville. And the last cyborg to be transferred into a computer program was Mayor Cubic of Memoryville."
"Wow," Antoine said in amazement, "You seem to know a lot about this stuff."
Melissa laughed. "Well I major in Computer Science too, remember?"
"Oh yes that's right," Antoine replied, "So what else do you know about it?"
"Well," Melissa began, "I know the Grand Posha didn't like it much. Since a supercomputer has the ability to sustain life far longer than a cyborg body, he ended up watching all his loved ones die, without even being able to hug them one last time."
"So I've heard," Antoine said, "And didn't he eventually die from a computer virus?"
"Not eventually," Melissa answered, "Immediately."
Antoine eyes widened. He knew the Grand Posha had died from it, but he never realized how severe it was.
"Yes," Melissa continued noticing his facial expression, "His technician claimed to have heard an ear-piercing screech from the Posha's chamber. When he ran in, the Posha's computer system was shut down and no matter what his technician did, the system could not be rebooted. When he examined the inner circuitry he found evidence of a breech virus."
"What's that?" Antoine asked.
"A rare virus which can only be activated by opening a breech in Cyberspace, almost like creating a black hole. Its a near impossible task, which is why the virus is so rare. But its the second strongest, next to logic busters."
"I see."
"The technician guessed that the Posha's scream was due to the virus inflicting physical pain," Melissa continued, "But nobody believed him. It was deemed impossible because a computer system doesn't have nerve endings. But when the king of Happily-Ever-After-Ville got a virus sent to him by cybermail, he complained of being in pain every time his screen would glitch and that it constantly felt like someone was tearing apart his inner circuitry... And he was tired all the time."
"How long did he survive?" Antoine asked.
"A month."
"Goodness," Antoine exclaimed, "These viruses seem pretty difficult to survive."
"That's why they invented the Encryptor Chip," she explained, "It has the ability to eliminate almost any virus without having to wipe the computer's memory, which would in turn delete the program they're within."
"So did it work?" Antoine asked.
"Yes," Melissa answered, "Mayor Cubic was also sent a virus through cybermail. His encryptor chip cured him immediately."
"So... What happened to him?"
"I said most viruses, not all," Melissa answered, "At the very beginning of Abaddon's rebellion, one of his first moves was sending the Mayor the strongest logic buster in recorded history. Both his firewall and encryptor chip combined could not stop it. Just like the Grand Posha, his death was instant."
"Wow," Antoine said again, only this time from shock, "I can see why there are so few leaders willing to go through with it."
"Yes," Melissa replied, "Its only done when there's no other option. Like with the Mayor, nobody was willing to take his place at the time. Everyone loved him too much."
"I know," Antoine replied, "My Professor last year mentioned it." He paused then added, "Any explanation as to why their first initial and ID code appears like a bar code on the right side of their face?"
Melissa shook her head no. "And there isn't an explanation to the parenthesis mark on the left side either. Nor why the backs of their eyes are yellow. It just happens that way."
"I suppose its a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things."
"True," Melissa replied then smiled, "But I'm afraid we've gone completely off topic."
Antoine laughed. "You're right. We have."
Melissa smiled sadly. "I don't know what to do. I just want to know they're safe."
Antoine hugged her tightly. "Don't worry. Everything will work out."
Location: Ann Arky's Cyber Triangle of Doom:
"Five hundred fifty cyber feet Ada," Marbles said as she recorded the numbers, "We're almost done with the last side."
"But what are we going to do then Marbles?" Ada asked, "I have failed to see how determining the length of the triangle will help us upgrade out of here."
"Five hundred fifty five cyber feet," Marbles announced before saying, "Nor have I Ada. But have you or I uploaded a better idea?"
Ada said nothing. She just glared and continued recording. Since the remainder of side three was shorter than the body they were using, Marbles measured the rest with his Skwak pad.
"Five hundred fifty eight cyber feet," Marbles said, "That makes one hundred eighty-six cyber yards. Now maybe we can exit this program permanently."
"Let us hope so."
The two walked back to the cyber-coupe where they looked over their notes.
"So side one was one hundred fifty one and a half cyber yards?" Marbles checked with his girlfriend as he reviewed the numbers recorded in his Skwak pad.
"Affirmative dear," Ada answered.
"Side two?" he asked.
"One hundred seventy cyber yards."
"And the third side was one hundred eighty-six cyber yards," Marbles said as he entered in the new data.
"So now what?" Ada asked.
"Well..." Marbles began the noticed something, "Backspace Ada. There's some sort of error here."
Ada rolled her eyes. "So we have to start again?!"
"Maybe not." He was catching on to something. "Ada? You remember yesterday how we said this was clearly a right triangle?"
"Yes Marbles," she answered, "It was so obvious that even if we didn't measure we would know so."
"Well according to our calculations, these measurements don't fit the Pythagorean Theorem."
Ada groaned in frustration.
"Backspace Ada," he said once more, "This could be our way out."
"Have you lost your marbles, Marbles?!" Ada exclaimed.
Marbles frowned. "You're mocking me aren't you?"
"Maybe," Ada said teasingly.
Marbles rolled his eyes. "Well no. I am perfectly sane, thank you very much. As I was saying, the hypotenuse should be approximately two hundred twenty-seven point seven cyber yards. But we measured thirty-four thousand five hundred ninety-six cyber yards."
"And?" Ada was very confused at this point.
"Don't you see Ada?!" Marbles exclaimed, "There has to be something where the remaining yards are. She had to have made some sort of illusion. There's probably an escape route."
Ada smiled. "Marbles you're a genius!" she said and kissed him, "We'll be out of here tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"It will be dark soon," Ada said crossing her arms, "Do you really think it wise wandering around here in the dark."
"I suppose you are right my lady," he sighed.
"Of course I'm right," she smiled.
The two were silent again as they relaxed, Ada writing in the poetry book she never left her dorm without, while Marbles played solitaire on the Skwak pad. It was an app that he had only recently installed, well invented pretty much, and was glad he did. Otherwise, he'd be bored stiff.
"Marbles?" Ada asked suddenly.
"Hmm?"
"Don't you think that cyborg we've been measuring with looks very familiar?"
"Its funny you should say so Ada," Marbles answered, "I was thinking the same thing the moment I saw the body. In my opinion, she looks a lot like a slightly older version of Ann Arky herself."
"I've never seen Ann Arky though," Ada pointed out, "So how would I recognize her?"
"True my lady," Marbles acknowledged. Suddenly a disturbing thought came to his mind. "Ada, could it be?..."
Ada waited for him to finish. But she then realized what he was thinking and in turn realized how it made sense.
Her eyes widened. "Francesca!"
Location: A Distant Uninhabited Cybersite:
Abaddon sat in front of his television, watching the news like always. It had been years since his last failed attempt at claiming Cyberspace. He was beginning to not see a point in trying, but at the same time he couldn't give up. He was at a point where he was so filled with evil and hatred, it would rule over him until his dying days. Even now, with only a few cyborgs left from his rebellion group, he was still determined to overthrow Williams, or any rulers that would come after him. Or if nothing else, take his anger from being defeated out on the cyber world.
"Sir," General Biff said from the open door, "One of our men spotted some cyborgs around here from the periscope. I presume they've discovered our territory for the first time."
"WELL?!" Abaddon yelled, "You all know what to do by now. SHOOT THEM!"
"Yes sir," General Biff said and ran out of the room.
"What fools!" Abaddon said to himself, turning back to the television screen.
On the news was a report about a recent mishap in Happily-Ever-After-Ville.
"-I'm here at Happily-Ever-After-Ville," the reporter said, "Speaking with Little Bow Peep, whom just had a terrible encounter with the infamous Ann Arky. This morning the cyborg broke into her barn and stole her sheep."
The reporter gestured for the crying girl to take the mic and speak into it.
"I heard a loud banging at around 7:00 A.M," the fairytale cyborg said wiping her eyes, "I went into the barn and all my sheep were gone! And there was a note nailed to the back of the door."
"The note," said the reporter as the screen showed a close-up of it, "read: 'Your precious sheep are mine for five hours. Don't worry you'll get them back, but they'll have a wonderful new makeover thanks to the queen of chaos. -yours truly, Mizz Arky.'"
Abaddon's right eye brow raised in interest as the news reporter kept talking.
"Sir," General Biff said coming back from following his boss' order.
"SHUSH!"
"Arky turned out to be partially telling the truth," said the reporter, "The sheep came back, but the makeover wasn't exactly wonderful."
"At noon I came back to the barn and my sheep were all dyed purple and 'Mizz Arky' was shaved onto all their backs," Bow Peep explained as the news show filmed the now purple sheep."
"It is unknown what this rebellious teenager's motives are," the news reporter said coming back on the TV screen, "People have thought that she was after cyber-world domination, but in a blog she posted on her website, she stated 'There is nothing I want out of you pathetic losers. I don't want Cyberspace, or money, or jewelry. I just wanna make chaos.' More on this story later, now here's Winter Gale with the weather."
Abaddon turned the TV off and he and his right hand man were silent awhile.
"The kid has spunk," General Biff noted, breaking the silence.
"And she's just what we need," Abaddon added, an evil grin coming to his face.
"But-"
"SILENCE!" Abaddon shouted at the general, "Track down Ann Arky and have her brought here at once. We have a lot to plan for..."