by Corrinthia Breuckner
"Um, Phong?" Bob looked down to Phong for a moment, "Can I get back to you?"
"I have important news! We have encountered some strange readings from the game departure analysis, and although I could not quite put my digit on it to start with, I think I have figured it out and I..."
"Phong?" Bob shook his head.
"Yes, my child?" Phong tilted his head.
"We know."
"But how could you possibly know this information?" Phong stroked his beard in contemplation at the strangeness of the situation. Bob gave Phong a better view of the situation as he switched the vidwindow from Glitch to a larger format in mid-air. Phong's jaw opened wide as he watched the readings from the planner come to life in amongst the dust and a cascading lightshow. "Oh...I see."
"Alphanumeric!" Enzo popped into the vid-window from behind Phong. "Bob! What's that?"
"That? Well, um... that... that is..." Bob scratched his head as they all stood and waited for the PDI to finish doing whatever it was that it was doing.
"You have no idea." Enzo smirked.
"Not a clue," Bob almost laughed.
"I do, darlin'," Mouse finally spoke up after being silent for a while. She had seen this same light show earlier that morning.
"Please, enlighten us child," Phong spoke.
"That PDi," Mouse glanced over at Ray for a small moment, then refocused her eyes back on the cascading lights as they began to take on a distinct pattern in the dust, "is formatting something."
"Formatting." Bob raised one eyebrow and lowered the other in a rather comical expression of confusion. "What do you mean, formatting?"
"Yeah, how is it formatting something? Formatting is a program function," Matrix added in, displaying his usually hidden program knowledge.
"I think the more important question, mates, is what it's formatting." Ray too had recognized the formatting sequence that the PDi now displayed. Like Baud, the PDi was taking digital information and reformatting it into some type of physical information, like an interface.
"It's so pretty!" Slash gazed at the beams of light as they traced back and forth in a new pattern. The beams moved up and down in the air, creating a digital image that was just beginning to take the resemblance of a discernable shape.
"Pretty? It could be dangerous! It could explode! All you can say is pretty?!" Hack waved his arms in the air frantically.
"Well, it is pretty."
"I told you not to push the button, but no, you just had to push it."
"I wonder what it's making." Slash didn't care to hear a word Hack said.
"I don't think I want to know!"
"Oh! It changed colors!" The light switched from the soft blue to a bright yellow.
"Wonderful," Hack said in a slightly frightened voice.
"Oh, yes. This yellow is even prettier!"
"What?!" Hack looked at Slash as if he was the biggest null-brain in Mainframe.
"I said the yellow was even prettier."
"This is all your fault."
"Why am I not surprised."
"I still think it's a trap," Matrix spoke quietly as he watched the PDi do whatever it was that it was doing.
"Don't start that again, mate." Ray rolled his eyes.
"Well, fearless leader, should we contain it?" Bob turned from Phong and realized Dot hadn't heard a word he'd said. He watched as she slowly approached the formatting light, which now appeared to be making an armature frame of some type. Bob raised an eyebrow as he realized what that armature resembled. Bob looked to Dot to see the same realization come across her face. "Dot?"
"Impossible." Dot shook her head with a soft murmur.
"Yes, quite, Sir." Binky agreed.
"Would be easier if everything wasn't the same color." He sighed and looked around at the monotone grayness of the dust from the building collapse.
"Indeed, Sir." Binky peered through the thick air.
"Quite the clean up job we will have on our hands."
"Oh yes, quite." Binky nodded, then pointed toward a large mass of metal covered in ash and debris.
"Oh! There it is." Algernon began to make his way toward Mouse's ship, or at least what they hoped was her ship. A glint on the metal caught his eye. "I do say Binky, what do you make of that?" Binky looked across the dust covered sector to a large show of lights. After a suddenly blinding flash of radiant energy light, the sector fell dark to the normal morning light again. All Binky could offer in response was a wide-eyed shrug.
Bob flinched against the blinding light as he and the others shielded their eyes. The energy burst cut off the vidwindow as the sector lost power for a brief nano. His first thought was that it had formatted a weapon that had just taken Dot away from him again. That, however, would not be the sight that his eyes opened to.
"What in the net?" AndrAIa took a few steps forward before being stopped by Matrix's outstretched arm.
"Does that look like a trap to you, mate?" Ray questioned Matrix.
"Bob! Is everyone all right?" Phong said as the vidwindow came back online.
"Hey! What's going on? C'mon! Move! We can't see! Please?" Enzo called through the vidwindow, distressed to see that everyone was blocking his and Phong's view.
"Dot?" Bob took a few steps toward her as she stood staring at what the PDi had finally formatted.
"Impossible." Dot repeated as she slowly raised a hand toward its unmoving face.
"Close the door, Herr Doktor." Megabyte winced at the sudden bright glare in the room.
"Ach, ja!" The doctor scrambled into the room quickly and closed the door behind him. He gazed about the dim room as his eye adjusted. The only light in the room came from the flickering screen of a vidwindow. "I am believing that I have developed a way to fix your infection."
"Which one..." Megabyte asked rhetorically as he stared at the readouts that ran across the screen of the blue vid-window. When no reply came from the doctor who was unsure of how to respond, a small smirk slithered its way across Megabyte's face. "As you were saying, Herr Doktor?"
"Oh, ja." The doctor was glad to have Megabyte's first questioned left unanswered. "I believe the solution lies with a binary purge, Lord Grossenbyte. It will be lengthy, and quite painful," the doctor paused for a reaction, then continued when he received only a nod, "but it should prove successful."
"And it will completely rid me of this... A.v.A.?" Megabyte raised an eyebrow slowly as he continued to stare at the screen in front of him. His speech was slowed and filled with inflections of pain from what remained of A.v.A. The screen brought a second line of input up that caused Megabyte to laugh slightly.
"We have also received some strange readings from sector KIT." The doctor continued as he tried to make out what Megabyte was looking at. "A few energy fluctuations, und something odd has just been registered within the system."
"I know." Megabyte glared at the screen as it displayed what the Doctor was discussing. The new registered element in the system had gained great interest from the virus. It could be used as an advantage if it could be controlled. If it could not, then it would have to be destroyed. Megabyte found himself marveling at the mixture of simplicity and complexity that existed in this new entity. The power contained with in it made him smile darkly as he began to think of ways to harness it.
"So you know what it is?" the Doctor pressed through Megabyte's deep thoughts, hungry for an answer to the puzzle on the screen.
"Indeed." Megabyte turned his eyes slowly toward the Doctor, but did not fully answer his question before turning his eyes back to the screen. "And it will be mine."
"Sparky..." AndrAIa did her best to ease his tension by wrapping an arm around his waist. "It's just a child."
"You don't know that." Matrix glanced down at AndrAIa for a nano before turning his eyes back to the figure.
"Well I'll be nullified," Mouse blinked a few times at the child that now stood in silent stillness where the lightshow had been moments before.
"Impossible." Dot reached out and softly touched the shoulder of the child. The child did not react to the touch, but instead remained staring blankly forward. The female child stood a little over four feet tall, its yellow skin enhanced by the increasing daylight. Her dark blue hair drifted to the small of her back as her mussed pink bangs hung lightly over her forehead and left eye. Her blue lips were expressionless as the blue irises of her eyes remained still.
"Well, believe it, luv." Ray ran a hand thru his hair, still not quite believing it himself.
"Sugah, is that what I think it is?" Mouse slowly walked to where Bob and Dot stood next to the figure.
"I think so." Dot shook her head.
"Mind letting us in on this?" Bob was struck by the situation, but not surprised by it. With all he had been through, he didn't think anything could surprise him now.
"Hey, Big Me! You're blocking my view!" Enzo called from the vidwindow.
"Bob," Dot shook her head again, as if not believing what she was about to say. "That's A.v.A."
"How is that possible?" Bob raised an eyebrow.
"Physical format, mate." Ray leaned on Baud nonchalantly, as if this was old news to him.
"Yes, but how is that possible?" He looked to Ray. Ray started to say something, but then came up blank.
"The game?" Mouse looked to Dot.
"I... I guess." Dot touched the child again. "It looks like the game didn't complete it, though." Dot looked almost disappointed that such a miraculous thing had happened only to have it not work completely.
"So let me get this straight." Bob ran a hand through his hair as he continued to survey the situation. "The game somehow took the PDi that you gave A.v.A. and created a... a..."
"A physical interface," Ray completed.
"A physical interface." Bob nodded.
"Yeah, but a physical interface for what?" Matrix raised an eyebrow, his hand no longer resting on gun, but nearby.
"To A.v.A., I suppose, darlin'." Mouse put on hand on her hip as she thought. "We created it to be a fully interfaced program... though not physically... but with commands and an integrated AI. "
"Commands!" Dot snapped her fingers. "Of course!"
"Bob! Please, what is happening?" Phong too was trying to see over Matrix.
"Phong, I think we should explain this in person." Bob didn't exactly want to try and repeat things he didn't understand himself. "Meet us at the diner."
"Very well, my child." Phong nodded, slightly disappointed, before turning off the vidwindow.
"Dot, you were saying?" Bob watched as Dot picked up the PDi from the ground and dusted it off.
"Commands." Dot repeated as she walked back over to the motionless child, her mind in deep planning thought.
"Of course!" Mouse rolled her eyes at the sudden realization.
"What do you mean?" AndrAIa tilted her head.
"Yes, what do you mean?" Hack cut in.
"Please do explain." Slash nodded.
"Yes, Slash is confused."
"You are confused too."
"I am not."
"Then explain it to me." Slash raised an eyebrow.
"Shhh, you are distracting them." Hack avoided Slash's comment.
"Oh, sorry."
"Commands, sugah." Mouse turned to glance back at AndrAIa. "We designed A.v.A. as a program for a keytool that functioned off line commands."
"Like Glitch?" Bob looked down at Glitch for a moment.
"Exactly like Glitch." Mouse nodded. "In fact, the A.v.A. program was designed specifically for Glitch. We planned on integrating it, if Glitch approved of course."
"Sure Glitch wouldn't mind a new tool command or two." Bob grinned. "Is it still possible now that it has a physical interface?"
"I suppose, sugah." Mouse turned her eyes back to the physical interface as it stared blankly ahead. "Won't know unless we can get the command lines operational."
"And all the commands were imprinted on the PDi," Dot completed almost to herself as looked at the PDi in her hand. Her eyes made their way back to the child in front of her as she completed her thoughts. "Without the command lines, this interface is non-functioning."
"But with them it will work?" Bob tried his best to follow along as Mouse and Dot tried there hand at a basic explanation of something that was obviously more complicated.
"Only one way to find out." Dot took in a deep breath and placed the PDi onto the shirt of the female child interface. After holding her breath for a moment, Dot let out a deep sigh when nothing happened. The child remained still with her blue eyes facing forward.
"Well, that didn't work." Matrix gruffed out as he again moved his hand away from Gun.
"We're missing something," Dot huffed in frustration.
"A start command?" Bob suggested knowing he probably just sounded like an idiot.
"A start command!" Dot turned around and gave Bob a quick kiss on the cheek. "Of course. The commands are on the PDi, but they still need the 'initialize' protocol."
"Initializing." Everyone jumped slightly as the female child spoke. "Please stand by."
"Standing by!" Slash nodded.
"Standing by for what?" Hack questioned.
"Good question." Matrix continued to survey the physical interface with an uneasy stance.
"Easy, big guy." AndrAIa smiled up at Matrix who slowly returned the smile.
"Initialization sequence complete."
The child went silent once again for a nano before her eyes began to blink a few times. A small smile slowly made its way across her blue lips as she surveyed her surroundings. Her eyes looked at each of the sprites before her as she turned her small body in a slow circle. After surveying those around her, she turned her eyes on herself. A small flighty giggle made its way past her lips as she moved her hand in front of her face. Her attention drifted again as Dot approached her.
"A.v.A.?" Dot tilted her head and leaned down so that she was at eye level with the girl.
"Hi!" The impish voice that came from the girl and the giggle that followed made Dot smile slightly. A.v.A. waved her small hand at Dot. A.v.A.'s mind wandered again as her eyes became amazed at the way her hand looked when it waved.
"And I thought I'd seen just about everything." Ray shook his head slightly.
"I think we had better get it... uh her... to the diner." Bob found himself smiling as he watched the girl watch her own moving hand.
"Darlin', will you come to the diner with us?" Mouse joined Dot in her eyelevel stance with the child.
"OK." The girl grinned widely at Mouse for a moment until a piece of floating debris caught her eye.
"Dot, are you sure it's safe?" Matrix honestly questioned.
"To tell you the truth, I'm still not exactly sure what it is." Dot turned her eyes to her brother, then to Bob. "But it is... she is... here."
"Right. Maybe Phong will have some answers." Bob nodded slightly.
"I sure hope so, honey." Mouse watched as the girl tried to catch the small piece of debris. After giving up on that act, A.v.A. turned her eyes back to the group.
"Dot?" A.v.A. picked her name out of the conversation that she had been listening to in the back of her mind.
"Yes?" Dot's eyebrow raised as the child spoke her name.
"What is a diner anyway?" A.v.A.'s eyes sparkled in the morning light as she patiently awaited an answer.
"So much for your weapon-o-doom, mate." Ray laughed at the look Matrix gave him.
"I'll explain it on the way, OK?" Dot slowly offered her hand to A.v.A.
"OK." A.v.A. looked at the hand for a moment before accepting it with the same large grin as before.
"Could this minute get any weirder?" AndrAIa spoke softly as the group made their way back to the diner for some much needed rest and explanation.
"Oh please do not ask that." Hack mumbled.
"Every time someone says that - " Slash caught up with Hack.
"It gets weirder." Hack completed.
"Yes indeedy." Slash nodded in agreement.
"Bob!" The voice of Phong rang through Bob's video device on Glitch. "Come in Bob!"