AndrAIa didn’t know why she was being called to the Principal Office the next day. Dot had called her while she was still in bed, early in the morning, and alerted her that something serious had just happened and that they all should get down there as soon as possible.
She wasn’t expecting this.
When she reached the Principal Office everyone else was there and no one was informed on what was going on. Dot was the one to tell them.
Apparently Mouse’s traps, the force fields in the web protecting the city from any outside attackers, had gone through some sort of disturbance and something had happened to it. No one knew exactly what, but they expected something big was trying to get through. Megabyte was at the top of everyone’s lists.
“So what can we do?” Ray asked, hopping on his surfboard.
“Nothing right now,” Dot replied, pushing her glasses father up her nose as she looked down at her computer. “Whatever’s getting through the fields will head for Mainframe.”
“But they can’t get through, can they?” AndrAIa asked. “Doesn’t there have to be a tear?”
The Command.com was shaking her head. “Not anymore. They can just enter in through the portal from the web. If that happens, a giant tear will appear in the sky, or wherever else in the city, and that itself will turn into a portal to the web. Until that happens, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Why’s that?”
“We don’t know were the tear will appear, and we can’t prevent tears from happening, we can only mend them.”
“I suggest we assign posts throughout the city,” Bob suggested, “two at each post, and not too far apart.”
“That’s a good idea,” Dot said, nodding. “Okay, who are the volunteers for that?”
But before they could even start speaking up, a loud crashing noise erupted from the sky above. Surprised, they all headed for the window and peered out.
Up in the sky they could see a blue flashing light, almost ripping through the system. Before their very eyes it started to form into a round shape, taking on the form of a tear.
“Send recruits!” Dot started yelling at the soldiers in the room. “Get your people out there now!”
There was loud chaos as the military binomes started running single-file toward their vehicles. But they weren’t fast enough.
The tear exploded and turned a bright purple, growing larger all the while. They recognized those tentacle-like shapes in the portal, swirling around faster and faster, like something was trying to get out.
They watched in horror as web creatures started flying out from the portal, heading for the city below. It looked like a repeat from the first time this happened.
“Let’s go people!” Dot yelled, heading for the door. AndrAIa hesitated at the window before following, watching the purple swirls and web creatures. She remembered seeing something just like it before, when she was just a little girl.
Bob appeared at her side, looking up beside her.
“This is very bad,” he said.
She nodded, not sure how else to respond.
“Get ready AndrAIa, we’ve just stumbled into Web War II.”
Robert stood outside the trailer, arms at his side, staring at the building in front of him. He was not happy about this.
He had no idea what was going on in there, but the old man had asked him to kindly step out so they can talk.
He didn’t want to step out. He wanted to know what was going on. He was just as much confused as they were.
At least the boy had stayed out there with him.
He looked at Devon, who was kicking at the dirt in front of the door. “So you’ve been working for the Guardian Bob all this time?”
The boy nodded.
“So you knew about this?”
“No, not really. Actually not at all.”
Robert nodded. “So what do you think’s going on in there?”
“I don’t know.”
When Robert had left the room, Bob and Hailey were the only ones left in the room. He looked at her for a long time, then was surprised to see that she was starting to cry.
He reached up and touched her hair. “Blue,” he said, “short too. I like it.”
She didn’t know how to respond. “Thank you,” she finally said. “Um, maybe I should go or something, I don’t think-“
He looked at her strangely now as he slowly guided her toward another chair in the room. “Maybe you should sit down.”
She let him sit her down, and she watched as he sat himself back down in his own chair. For a long moment they just stared at each other, studying each other’s faces, the soft glow of the fireplace illuminating off of them.
“Let me tell you a story,” he said.
“Maybe-“ She began, but he cut her off.
“I think you should hear this,” he insisted. “Please. Let me tell you.”
She sighed and sat back in her chair. “Okay.”
He nodded and stared into the fire. After another long moment he began to speak.
Web creatures were all over Mainframe, almost worst than before. They attacked before the people had a chance to defend themselves. They mercilessly deleted wherever they went, and even more of them were coming out of the portal.
AndrAIa didn’t know what to do as she came out on her zipboard, the rest of her friends splitting up and taking on as many webcreatures as they could. But it already looked useless. The place was a warzone.
Dot was still in the Principal Office with Mouse, building up the shields and defense lasers. She glanced back at the building before unsnapping her trident and heading out to the battlefield.
Creatures were everywhere, flying past her, attacking everything in site. Several smaller ones she was able to fight off with her trident.
A vid-window popped up then, startling the Game Sprite. Dot’s face appeared.
“AndrAIa, try to get everyone clear of the Principal Office,” she said. “Mouse is working on getting the main guns charged up, so in a couple of secs we’ll be using them.”
“Got that,” AndrAIa nodded. The vidwindow vanished and she turned toward the others. The stood several yards away from her in the air, weapons out, shooting, hitting, and striking whatever creatures were in site.
“Guys!” She shouted. “Dot says to stay clear of the Principal O-“
She cried out when one of the bigger webcreatures flew straight at her. She barely had time to lift her weapon when the creature slammed into her, forcing her off her zipboard.
“AndrAIa!” Matrix shouted. He started going after her, but several more webcreatures got in his way. He shot frantically at them, trying to get through.
AndrAIa could barely see as the creature shoved her off the board, sending her reeling for the ground below. Her trident flew from her hand and she screamed as gravity took over. The creature wrapped its tentacles around her arms, preventing her from breaking free.
“AndrAIa!”
She could hear Matrix’s voice from far above, and that’s when her whole body slammed into something below. Air flowed from her lungs and she gasped for breath.
The creature released her and floated backwards, surveying her, probably figuring out the best way to eat her. She groaned in pain and lay there for a moment, trying to regain her breath. Her body hurt really bad.
They had crashed onto the roof of Baudway, and the impact itself and completely thrown her out. She looked up and slowly pulled herself to a sitting position. The creature seemed to grin down at her.
“WARNING, INCOMING GAME, WARNING, INCOMING GAME.”
Both AndrAIa and the webcreature looked up as the sky turned purple and right overhead, directly above them, a game cube began to descend.
She had to move.
Getting to her feet, she made a run for it, but wasn’t fast enough. The web creature pounced on her, and she could feel its teeth feel around her arm.
“No!” She pushed it away as hard as she could, trying to keep it from biting her. The creature lashed out in anger and attacked.
Grabbing one of her stars, she threw it. It hit the creature right in its middle and it drew back in pain. She stepped backwards, keeping her eye on it and the cube at the same time. She had no zip board so she wouldn’t be able to get off the roof in time.
“Matrix!” she shouted.
The renegade and the others were fighting frantically through the wall of creatures, and the main vidwindows to the city popped open, displaying Dot’s commanding face looming over Mainframe.
“Attention citizens of Mainframe,” she said. “Please stay indoors and anywhere else that is safe. We are under attack. Repeat, we are under attack. Please stay calm and do not run out into the streets. If you are in a building, stay there. If you are near one, get in it as soon as you can.”
AndrAIa glanced up. The bottom of the game cube was getting closer and closer and closer…
That’s when she saw her zipboard. It had drifted down from its perch when she had fallen off of it, and now came to rest just on the other side of the roof.
Ignoring her aching bones, she made a run for it, trying to get there before the game cube did. She was just about to jump on it when-
The webcreature smashed into her, throwing her across the roof and back in the line of the game cube. She cried out and tried scrambling away, but the creature lashed out and started grabbing her, its teeth frighteningly close to her face.
She kicked at it, trying to flip it over her, but it was no use. The creature swung for her stomach, hitting her square in the belt.
She heard a shattering sound as air gushed from her lungs a second time. She hit the ground on her back, unable to move, unable to breathe.
Looking down, she saw the remains of her icon. It was completely shattered, her only ID keeping her in the real world.
“AndrAIa!”
Far away she could see Matrix flying toward her, finally able to get through the web creatures.
But her view of him was blocked as the game cube came down, enveloping her, covering her. The last thing she saw of Mainframe.
Bob trailed off, still staring into the fireplace. When he got no response, he looked at the girl sitting across from him. She had tears in her eyes.
“After all these years, after what happened to her, what happened to everyone, you’d think I’d never see her again.” He took a deep breath.
“I…Bob…”
“What happened?”
Finally she started crying. He could see the tears fall down her cheeks as she stood there helplessly, looking down at the ground.
“It’s been…so hard!” She finally said between sobs, and that’s when he reached out and hugged her close. She sobbed in his shoulder, her tears making his shirt wet. He didn’t mind. He just held her.
“It’s been so hard,” she repeated, still hugging him. “I don’t know what to do anymore, everything has changed so much, everyone is gone…I didn’t know what to do!”
He drew away, studying his face. She was starting to calm down as she wiped the tears away.
“Hailey Intel…” he murmured. “Hailey Intel. New name for you, I presume?”
“I had to change it.”
“I understand that.”
“I couldn’t be AndrAIa anymore.” She squeezed her eyes shut as the memory came back to her, forcing her to remember, to take it in. “I couldn’t be her anymore. Too much had changed. Too much.”
He looked at her. He could recognize AndrAIa’s features better now. The hair was the only change. Other than that she still looked the same.
“I’m so scared,” she whispered.
She had been scared. Coming back to Mainframe and finding it the way it was, as corrupted as it was. She barely recognized it. For years she dreamed of coming back and when she did, she wasn’t sure anymore.
Everyone she knew was gone. And now the memory of it, the memory of what she had tried to block out for so long was coming back. She had tried to forget, but couldn’t. The pain wasn’t any better either.
“How did you get back?” he asked. “What happened to you?”
She leaned back in her chair, wiping her eyes. “Bob…I couldn’t get out of the game, I just couldn’t! I tried every time It dropped down on a new system, but it never worked, it never worked! I tried and I tried, and nothing happened! My icon was gone, I couldn’t leave, I was stuck…for a hundred and fifty years I was stuck. And I wouldn’t age because I was stuck in the same time warp forever. For over a hundred years I lived in agony because I couldn’t get back!”
“But you did get back,” he said gently. “Look at you, you’re here.”
AndrAIa reached down to her belt. There was no icon, but when she pressed on the belt, the icon materialized from the clothing. It was the Game Sprite icon. The round version had been destroyed years ago.
“In every system the game landed,” she went on, drying her eyes, “no one could beat the game. I don’t even want to go into detail on what it’s about. All I can say is that…no one could beat it. Until I landed here. I didn’t even know it was Mainframe because I didn’t recognize the players.”
“Mainframe Guardians,” Bob said. “Graduates from the Academy.”
“Well they beat it, and just like I did with Enzo I got out using their icon. They weren't aware of it. The minute I came out I left and found myself here. I didn’t recognize the city because of how much it changed. When I did find out…I had to find out what happened, I needed information. And the only way I could find out was the Academy.
“I had to change my name, I had to change everything about me.” She paused for a long moment, suppressing the urge to cry again. “I…I had to be different, I couldn’t be AndrAIa anymore. And then I found out everything, how much time had passed, what happened to you guys…” She couldn’t speak clearly anymore. She broke down again.
Bob remained silent for a long time, not speaking. When she mad finally managed to control herself again, she looked at him.
“What happened to you?” she asked. “You’re not…like the others.”
He sighed. “I’ve become like Phong, in a matter of speaking. The User doesn’t even know I’m still around, I’ve become so outdated. But the others…you know what they did. Dot, Matrix, and I have our own little monument. Matrix became leader for the military. Ray started his own business in web touring. Mouse founded the Academy. Enzo took over the Diner. We all got married and started families.”
AndrAIa was silent. He looked at her.
“Even Matrix.”
She blinked hard, determined not to cry, but her expression said it all. “To who?”
“A sprite. Her name was Pavilion. He met her after he thought he lost you. He spent several years moping around, he couldn’t get over it. He met her, a traveler from the Super Computer.” He saw the look in her face. “He had to get on with his life. I’m so sorry.”
She didn’t answer. The look on her face broke his heart. She just sat there, staring ahead, a crushed look on her face.
“I wasn’t there,” she whispered.
But…there’s a reason Mainframe is so different. There was another war, but not concerning the web. This time it was a super-virus. You’ll recognize her. We thought we got rid of her so long ago but-“
“Daemon,” she said, her voice low. The look on her face was still the same. She wouldn’t look at him.
“She came back with a new army, with Megabyte at her side, and Megabyte had insiders from the web, even though web creatures were never involved in Mainframe. She killed Ray, Megabyte got to Mouse and…Matrix was deleted.”
“No…” he could barely hear her. She started crying again and shaking her head. “Oh no, Matrix…Matrix…User no…”
Bob reached out and touched her shoulder. She broke away and just sat there, huddled, whispering things under her breath, refusing to look up.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
She didn’t move from her position. She stayed here, shaking, trying her hardest to stay controlled. Bob watched her sympathetically, not sure how to say the rest. This had to be so hard for her. So incredibly hard.
“And Dot?” She struggled to keep her voice steady. “Enzo?”
“When Daemon and Megabyte attacked, they ruined half the city. Many binomes were caught beneath collapsed buildings…Enzo wasn’t…he didn’t make it out. And Dot…Daemon’s soldiers took over the PO and held her hostage there.”
His voice started to quiver and AndrAIa looked up at him.
“And I…I didn’t get there in time and…” he squeezed his eyes shut.
He broke through the remaining soldiers and burst through the Principal Office, not sure what time he had left. Dot had called for help, he knew where she was, he knew who held her there, he knew, he knew, he knew…
He finally reached the main foyer of the building, but the sight in front of him stopped him in his tracks.
Dot stood in the middle of the room, her wrists and ankles tied together, sitting in a chair. Megabyte stood beside her. Daemon stood in front of her, a gun in her hand.
They were waiting for him.
“Let her go!” Bob directed, walking farther into the room.
Soldiers from behind him suddenly reached out and grabbed him, keeping him from getting any closer. He cried out in surprise and fought back, but they were too strong.
“If you try fighting us, I’ll kill her,” Daemon said.
That stopped him.
Then she smiled. “So what do you think of that in tomorrow’s newspaper headlines?” She looked at Megabyte. “’He fought back and I shot her’.”
Bob stood there, helpless. “Dot…” he began. Her smile grew even more.
“Or…’He told her everything will be okay…and I shot her’.”
Now Megabyte was grinning. Bob hated this. It was like some sort of sick game they were playing.
“Or maybe I just…” Now Daemon looked positively evil.
She shot her.
Bob’s eyes widened as Dot jerked in her seat.
“NO!”
Bob could still hear the voice, see Dot’s look of pain as she fell out of the chair. He opened his eyes to see AndrAIa looking back at him. She was crying too.
“Bob…” she said. “I…”
He nodded. “I know, I…I couldn’t fight anymore, something in me just couldn’t, not after what happened. Right after that happened helpers from the Super Computer came and helped get rid of the viruses, but the city was never the same after that. Never again.”
“I can’t…I’m so…Dot…”
“I made a vow to myself,” he continued, looking right at her. “Everyone I now knew and love were dead, my life no longer had a reason for being, especially after…but you…the last person that meant something to me and I didn’t even know if you were still alive. I didn’t know if you survived the cube or where you were and…” he swallowed hard. “I vowed I wouldn’t see deletion until I saw you again.”
Now he was smiling. A tiny smile, but a smile nevertheless. “And here you are. I can’t believe it.”
She reached out and hugged him close. So much time had passed, she couldn’t believe how old he was and how young she still was.
“You would’ve been my brother-in-law,” she whispered.
He nodded.
She paused, thinking. “Bob…about Matrix, did he have a family?”
“Yes.”
“Would his descendant still be…”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Who are they?”
“There’s only one, and it’s a young man. I’ve been watching him from here. I’ve kept close watch over all our families.”
“And who is?”
“Ace. Ace Matrix.”
Her eyes widened.
Just then the door to the trailer burst open and Devon flew in, breathless. Outside she could see that it was nearly nightfall. Had she been here all day?
“Sir,” he called frantically, “there’s something wrong.”
TO BE CONTINUED… |