by Corrinthia Breuckner
Dot looked up from the black pit as she heard Bob's voice call to her. His voice seemed distant and hazy as her mind focused on the look that Megabyte had given her as he fell. The expression had been oddly placed on the virus's face, as if it didn't belong on it, or to him. The expression seemed like it should have been somewhere else, on someone else’s face. That fact that it had been present on his face made Dot shudder slightly, her mind still unfocused on the world around her. A large jolt from the stone she grasped onto brought her thoughts back to reality.
"Dot, just hold on. I'll be there in a nano. I'm not going to let you fall." Bob continued to yank on his foot as the cracked stone that encased it tore at his boots and flesh.
"I know," Dot said solemnly, unaware that her eyes were full of tears. It all still seemed distant and unreal. It wasn't until the two remaining supports of rebar gave away with a deafening snap that her senses finally came back to her. By then, however, it was too late. Without a single scream or utterance, her body slipped off of the rock and disappeared into the darkened pit where her mind had been focused moments before.
"How? We can't all fit on Baud." Matrix looked around for other options as he spoke.
"Good point, sugah. Radio for help?" Mouse looked up at Ray and the radio attached to his belt.
"Sorry luv, that radio is nulled."
"Spammit!" Mouse sighed. The building was going to come down, and it was going to come down fast.
"AndrAIa?" Matrix glanced over as AndrAIa began to crawl herself along the edge of the building, her foot slipping a few times through the roof's surface. "What are you doing?"
"I see something," she called back over her shoulder. "It looks like a PID icon!"
"What?" Then Matrix turned his eyes to the distance between themselves and his sister.
"Dot!" He took a few steps forward, then was forced to quickly jump back as the roof gave way under his weight. "Bob's stuck, and it looks like Megabyte is trying to pull Dot down!"
"On my way." Ray started to let Mouse off Baud, intent on going to where Matrix couldn't.
"Gun, target." Gun shot up into Matrix's hand and he aimed at the distant blue steel creature attached to his sister's foot. Just as he was about to fire, his mouth went slightly wide.
"He let go... I mean, he slipped." Matrix refused to believe that Megabyte had let go of his own accord.
"It is a PID!" AndrAIa began to reach across a gaping hole in the crumbling roof to where the icon lay. "Strange looking one though."
"Careful honey!" Mouse got out just as the roof gave one last moaning crack. The building was going down. "It's going!"
"Back up you go." Ray wrapped his arm around Mouse's waist and set her on Baud. "C'mon Matrix!" Ray held out his hand to the large green sprite.
"Go get AndrAIa!" Matrix yelled as he fell to his knees, the crumbling surface causing him to lose his balance. He looked down as a great crack appeared underneath him. He followed it with his eyes as it ran along what remained of the roof, heading straight for Bob and Dot. The crack disappeared under Bob before hitting the stone piece that Dot clung to. With a large plume of dust and a loud snap, Dot disappeared from view.
"No!" Matrix yelled as he watched Bob leap from his position, the large crack having loosened the roof's hold on his foot. Then like an unending nightmare, he turned his eyes in time to see another fissure swallow AndrAIa whole.
"Watch it!" Slash said as they dodged the falling debris.
"Was that was I think it was?" Hack questioned as he looked down to where the large blue metallic object continued to fall into the darkness.
"I hope not." Slash turned his eyes back to the roof.
"What if it was! Should we go back?" Hack nervously asked.
"Um, go back for what?" Slash played dumb.
"Ye... yeah! Go back for what? I did not see anything." Hack caught on.
"Me neither."
"Oh dear." Phong scratched his beard for a moment. "Is the med team in the sector?"
"Ready and waiting a safe distance from the collapse zone, Sir," Tiggs responded.
"Very good."
"Sir? Should we go in after the group?"
"No," Phong said after a long pause. All of the remaining CPU's were needed to keep the ABC's occupied. The wounded from the battle were still coming in, and they had suffered four casualties already. "No, it is too risky. Just keep those ABC's away from the building."
"Yes, sir." Tiggs saluted with a lack of enthusiasm. He understood Phong's reasoning in the matter, but he still didn't like the order he had given. Tiggs turned off the vidwindow and turned to what was left of the CPU battalion 342 and gave the order with a heavily burdened conscience.
"AndrAIa!" Matrix called out to the plume of dust that now occupied the space where AndrAIa had knelt just nanos before. He was frozen in his movements and thoughts. Ray's voice calling to him to get onto Baud did not reach the distant part of his mind that his awareness had fallen into. He continued to stare blankly at the empty spot on the roof as his body sank into the darkness of the collapsing building, Ray's call becoming even more distant.
"Going my way?" Hack's voice brought Matrix back to virtual reality. Hack scooped Matrix up from the darkness and flew out of the crumbling structure.
"What?" Matrix shot his eyes up at Hack. "AndrAIa! We have to go back!"
"Hi lover," AndrAIa shot Matrix a smile from her position in Hack's other arm.
"AndrAIa!" Matrix gave her a large smile as he moved his arms toward her.
"Hey! Quit squirming!" Hack looked down at the two sprites in his arms. "You two are not as light as you used to be!"
"My hero," Matrix smirked. Then another thought hit the large green sprite. "Dot! Dot fell into the hole too!"
"Yes, she did," Slash replied as he flew up next to Hack. "But I did catch her."
"Hi," Dot said softly as she looked up at Matrix and AndrAIa.
"Imagine running into you two here," Bob smirked from Slash's other arm. Bob gave a small wave to Matrix and AndrAIa who both returned a small smile and laugh.
"What about Megabyte? You must have seen him too?" Matrix asked.
"Megabyte? Um, no," Hack answered and looked at Slash.
"Yes, that is defiantly a negatory on a Big Ugly sighting," Slash replied.
"How about we save this nice little reunion until after we land on the ground?" Mouse suggested as she and Ray flew up to the two bots and their passengers.
"Good idea, Sir-Ma'am!" Hack and Slash both replied, wanting to get far away from that building and where they had last seen Big Ugly.
"Yeah, Dot's injured," Bob answered.
"I'm fine, Bob." Dot crossed her arms slightly, despite the burning pain from the scratches on her legs. Megabyte's last grip had left deep gouges that now bled down onto her shoe.
"It will only take a nano to treat that, Ma'am," the med-numeral pointed at Dot's bleeding ankle, used to her stubborn nature when it came to treatment. After a small nod from Dot, the numeral four set out at repairing the scratch.
"There she goes." Mouse pointed up as the top floors of Circon Industries began fall down onto the floors below. The great rumble created by the falling tower echoed through the sector, vibrating in the files of each sprite.
"Cover your eyes, please," the med-numeral said as he stood away from Dot's ankle.
"Why?" Matrix looked down at the small numeral.
"Because of that, mate," Ray answered as he nodded toward a great wave of dust and debris that headed their way.
"Oh." Matrix blinked at the sight before shielding his eyes against the coming storm. The dust plume that made its way as far as the med-team had set up was minimal compared to the hurricane of dust and debris that occured at ground zero. After a few nanos of howling wind and choking dirt, the air cleared and the med-numeral once again knelt down beside Dot's ankle.
"Wasn't that fun." Mouse shook her head, causing dirt to fall from her hair.
"That tasted wonderful," Bob smirked, coughing to clear the dust from his throat.
"I've had better," Matrix gruffed out the small joke as he swept dirt from his shirt.
"You are dirty." Slash pointed at Hack.
"You are not so clean yourself." Hack pointed at Slash.
"Good point," Slash nodded.
"I think my gears are clogged with dust." Hack pounded on his head slightly as a bit of dust fell from underneath his armor.
"Oh, let me help buddy!" Slash began hitting Hack in the head and watched as the dust continued to fall from his metal frame.
"Hey! Not so hard!" Hack hit Slash in the back of the head to return the favor.
"I'm going to be picking plaster chips from my hair for seconds!" AndrAIa scratched her head. "And it itches, too."
"Not as bad as web-mites," Ray cut in as he wiped off the lenses of his goggles.
"Dot?" Bob looked over to Dot as the rest of the group continued to discuss their now dirty state. He watched her for a moment as she stared almost expectantly at where the tall building had once stood. The med-numeral finished fixing her wound and left to look over the others. Bob knew what Dot was looking for. "Dot?"
"Oh, I'm fine." Dot looked over at Bob, answering his question before he had time to ask it. She gave him a distant smile as he walked over and wiped some of the dust from her face. After a moment locked in his brown eyes, she looked up at the debris of documents, plaster chips, and particles that continued to float down to the ground around them. In another circumstance, the floating debris may have actually been almost pretty. She took Bob's hand in her own, making herself hold on to that small idea of beauty amongst the disaster around them. The moment ended as Matrix called out to the group.
"I don't believe it!" He growled and cursed before pointing over to the clearing plumes of dust. In amongst the twisted medal and shards of stone that made up the remains of the building hovered Megabyte's personal ABC.
"I do." Dot said softly, almost to herself. Bob squeezed her hand as her words brought forth the feeling of an unending nightmare between those he cared about and the virus that refused to stay buried.
"It may just be the commander. It doesn't mean he survived." AndrAIa looped one of her arms through Matrix's arm to try and calm him.
"It was quite the fall, darlin'," Mouse added in as she continued to pick debris out of her hair. She batted Ray's hand away as he picked a few chips out of her hair with a smirk. Mouse avoided looking at him so she wouldn't feel inclined to return a smile she didn't have at the moment.
"Yeah," Ray sighed as he crossed his arms and looked at the back of Mouse's head. Before he could add in another sentence, numerous vidwindows popped up around the sector. After a moment of static, a deep-throated and darkly sinister chuckle filled the quiet air.
"I win." Megabyte forced a smile to spread itself across his lips, despite the fact that he was about to fall unconscious. "It was a nice try, Guardian, but I still win."
"Spammit," Matrix cursed under his breath again, although he didn't fail to see what a battered state Megabyte was in.
"The hunt will still go on, citizens of Mainframe, so prepare yourselves. Well, as much as you can prepare for deletion, that is." He chuckled again, then glared darkly into the vidwindow. "I look forward to our next meeting." He knew the person he intended would get the message as he shut off the vidwindow after another dark laugh.
"Oh no!" Hack nearly fainted.
"This is bad." Slash shook his head, the rest of his parts shaking slightly.
"This is all your fault!" Hack's own parts shook violently.
"How?" Slash raised an eyebrow.
"I haven't figured that out yet, buddy," Hack answered.
"Oh." Slash scratched the top of his head for a moment. "Please let me know when you do."
"Allrighty," Hack nodded.
"He may have survived, but he's in bad shape." AndrAIa shook her head, feeling the tenseness of Matrix's muscles.
"Will it never end?" Matrix sighed and looked down at AndrAIa who could offer no answer.
"Dot?" Bob squeezed the silent sprite's hand and waited for acknowledgment.
"He won." She sighed as she felt a sob rising in her chest. "He won again."
"It's ok, Dot." Bob turned her to face him and gave her a small smile.
"The past three cycles of work have been for nothing." Dot's shoulders rose and fell as she continued to fight back the small sobs.
"No, they haven't, Dot." When she turned her eyes away from him, he lifted her chin with his finger and smiled more deeply at her. "They haven't. We have Phong, the PID locators, and now Megabyte is weak." He looked at her for a long nano before finishing with a fact that the command.com could not refuse. "Megabyte is vulnerable."
"You're right again, Bob." Dot said after a nano of silence between them. She squeezed his hand and turned to the rest of the circled group. The group looked up at her, waiting for the next move. "All right then." Dot took in a small breath. "He may have won this round, but now he's weak and vulnerable."
"So we should strike now." Matrix nodded.
"Hold it, sugah." Mouse stepped forward to address Matrix. "We need to regroup the CPU's first and see exactly what we have left to strike with." Expecting an argument from him, she was surprised when he nodded in agreement.
"We also need to check in with Phong," Bob added in, ready to pull up a vidwindow.
"All right then. We'll regroup at the diner, ASAP," Dot continued. "Mouse, see if you and Ray can locate your ship."
"Way ahead of you darlin'," Mouse nodded.
"We'll have no problem locating it, luv." Ray leaned slightly on Baud as he watched Mouse's ever so slight reaction to the "we'll" part. It was slight, but it was still there.
"Matrix," Dot looked at her brother, "go to bunker alpha and see how the troops are coming together."
"All right," Matrix looked around for a zipboard from the med-team.
"AndrAIa, I need you to go get Enzo and..." Dot stopped as she watched AndrAIa stare up at the debris-filled sky. "AndrAIa?"
"Are you all right?" Matrix questioned softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to see what exactly she was looking at.
"I don't know. It's odd." AndrAIa tilted her head and continued to watch the falling debris. Her game-sprite senses were tingling and filling her mind with something she couldn't grasp. "Something has happened, something strange."
"Like what?" Bob halted in his actions to call up Phong.
"I don't know." AndrAIa shielded her eyes from the falling particles as she continued to look up at what the others couldn't see. "But something is coming."
"Sir?" The binome in the lab coat stepped silently up to Phong with a black digi-pad offered from one hand.
"Yes, my child?" Phong looked up at the binome with another adjustment of his glasses. The binome reminded him of Specky, who was still stuck inside of the Principal Office.
"Sir, we have some strange readings coming in from the game departure analysis."
"We do?" Phong tilted his head before taking the digipad and giving it a quick glance. "Oh, we do." Phong nodded slightly.
"Sir, do you know what it means?" The binome waited to see if Phong could answer what his own science team had not been able to.
"Well..." Phong stroked his beard for a moment as he thought over the readings on the pad. Something in his mind kept hinting that he had seen such readings before, but it had been so long ago. As the haze in his aging memory cleared to reveal the answer he sought, his eyes grew ever wider with his mouth opening in a sudden realization.
"Oh dear."
Therein lies the possibility for the program to grow. A simple program credited for a certain purpose now gains the ability to reorganize itself and develop beyond its original intent. The ability to develop its own self-identity arises.
When does a program break free of its creator's intent? When does a program cease being a program? What does it take to divide the line between a program and a self-identified entity?
AndrAIa kept her eyes focused on the debris that continued to float softly down to the dirt and ash covered ground. A shimmering glint in amongst the soot-covered debris danced with the reflection of the morning light. AndrAIa's eyes followed it closely as it neared the group, its direction controlled by an unfelt breeze. An eerie silence hung over the small circle of sprites as each began to see what AndrAIa’s eyes were focused on. "There," she said simply with a small gesture of her hand.
"I see it." Dot watched as the small glimmering object floated slowly in the air.
"So do I, but what is it?" Matrix shielded his eyes to the morning light. He and AndrAIa turned with the rest of the sprites to face the centre of the circle as the object landed in the dust with a last glimmer of light. The eerie silence returned over the circle of sprites as they each stared at the object. The silence continued as they began to look to each other for some type of explanation. All eyes quickly returned to the object in the dust, however, as it began to blink with a light blue luminescent flicker.
"I don't believe it." Dot blinked and broke the silence of the group as she slowly took a step toward the object to get a better look.
"All Hail!" The viral binomes cheered as their lord returned. The looks on the faces of the viral binomes hid their understanding that their great lord had almost lost.
"Lt. Chauncy," Megabyte gruffly made the words pass over his weak lips. "Begin preparations for the hunt." Megabyte stood tall as he walked through the control room toward the lab bay, refusing to appear injured to the minions before him.
"Immediately, Sir!" Chauncy saluted as he watched Megabyte and the herr Doktor disappear into the lab. Unsure if Megabyte had received news that it had been his order to fire on the building, Chauncy decided to get in another word of praise. "All hail Lord Megabyte and his victory in the forthcoming hunt!"
"All hail!" The viral binomes filled the P.O. with their cheers and anxiousness for the hunt. With all the commotion, celebration, and preparations going on in the P.O., no one seemed to take notice of the strange blinking energy indicator on the Systems Status screen.
No one except Specky, but what would he have to gain from telling the viral enemies that surrounded him? After reading the strange energy readings again, he silently shut the visual on the vidwindow off and began thinking on how to use his no longer droned state to his advantage.
"I'm not sure, Bob." Dot turned to face him and the rest of the group who had all walked over to hear what she had to say.
"Dot, honey, isn't that the PDi Phong and I were working on in the test lab?" Mouse eyed the object for another nano before turning to the rest of the group.
"PDi?" Matrix raised an eyebrow at Mouse.
"Program Designation icon," Dot spoke slowly as she thought.
"And what exactly is that?" Bob scratched the top of his head slightly.
"Well, darlin'," Mouse took over, noticing that Dot was deep in thought. "It's like the PID's, but it's designed to carry and register system-connected programs like A.v.A."
"Well, is it supposed to be blinking like that?" Matrix asked.
"Not that I'm aware of." Mouse furrowed her brow as she thought.
"Then why is it?" Ray asked as he leaned on Baud.
"Your guess is as good as mine, sugah." Mouse replied.
"How does this explain the strange feelings I'm getting?" AndrAIa asked herself, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Good question." Bob glanced back over to the object.
"Maybe it's a trap. One of Megabyte's little surprises." Matrix crossed his arms.
"Good point." Bob nodded. He didn't feel like he was being very helpful as he surveyed the situation.
"Why would it be a trap, mate?"
"Well, why not." Matrix gave Ray a stern look. "Anything can be a trap."
"More like everything," Ray rolled his eyes beneath his goggles.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Matrix fumed.
"Would you two stop it?" AndrAIa sighed.
"Well, he started it," Matrix replied.
"I didn't start anything. It was a perfectly reasonable question," Ray shot back.
"Oh for User's sake, you two." Mouse put both hands on her hips.
"You push da button," Hack said quietly as he and Slash stood away from the rest of the group. They looked over the small round PDi that lay blinking in the dust.
"I'm not going to do that again." Slash replied.
"You're still mad about that?"
"Yup."
"Oh."
"It's kind of pretty."
"Yeah, all blue... and..."
"Blue and blinky."
"Oh yes."
"Hey, why don't you push da button?" Slash glanced up at Hack.
"Do I look crazy to you?"
"I'm not even going to answer that."
"Wha... hey!" Hack crossed his arms.
"I said nothing."
"Yeah, but you thought it."
"So?"
"So... so... oh, just push da button!"
"No."
"Wait," Hack scratched the top of his head.
"Waiting..." Slash drummed his fingers.
"I have an idea."
"Uh-oh."
"Give me your hand."
"Um, OK." Slash unscrewed his hand and held it out to Hack. "Here you go, buddy."
"D'oh!" Hack rolled his eyes. "Must you take everything I say so literally?"
"What?"
"Put that thing back on!" Hack stuttered out of anger and disgust. "That is so gross."
"Whatever." Slash rolled his eyes and screwed his hand back on.
"Now..." Hack took a hold of Slash's hand.
"What are you doing, pal?" Slash raised an eyebrow.
"Getting you to push da button!" Before Slash could react, Hack slammed Slash's hand down on the icon, double clicking it. For a moment, the icon lay still. Then without warning it sprang to life and sent a cascade of light across the dusty air.
"Look what you did," Hack shook his head at Slash.
"That is so unfair." Slash held his head in both hands.
"Boys, stay frosty! We have more to worry about then whose ego is bigger," AndrAIa frowned.
"He's the one acting like a basic." Matrix frowned at being chided like a child.
"Guys?" Bob tried to interject.
"Basic! At least I'm not paranoid about everything, mate!" Ray crossed his arms, then dropped them to his sides when he noticed the look Mouse was giving him.
"Boys! I'm trying to think!" Dot fumed.
"Um, guys..." Bob tried again to get everyone's attention.
"Sorry, Sis." Matrix gave in.
"Yeah, sorry." Ray sighed, still flinching from Mouse's evil look.
"Hey guys! Yoo-hoo... over here!" Bob frantically waved his arms.
"What?" They all looked up to him.
"I think it's doing something!" Bob, glad to finally get everyone's attention, pointed toward Hack, Slash, and the icon with its new light show.
"He did it!" Both bots yelled in unison and pointed at each other.
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"Dot, hold on!"