By: RoeBoot

Prologue

Chip and Max had filed themselves in their favorite spot overlooking Freespace. From the large hill they had visual observation of the valleys and plains making up the Netscape. Chip could spend several cycles each day in one spot simply watching and finding not a bit of trouble. He had a habit of making himself more comfortable. Chip loved to sit in Max's saddle backwards and lean back on the cyberstallion's neck to relax. Max liked to stay alert, so he didn't mind holding his head up to let Chip rest a while.

Max heard the snoring noise in his ears. At first he snored to try and wake Chip up. When that failed, he shifted his weight to shake himself thinking that might work. That failed also. He neighed loudly. No response. Only more snoring. The horse huffed in annoyance. He asked for it. Max lowered his head, sending Chip spilling over. Chip landed hard on his rump, his hat landing next to him.

"Maximilian!"

The horse snorted at him and stomped his foot.

"I was not sleepin'!"

The horse nodded his head.

"I was not!"

Chip got up and patted the cyberdust from his uniform. He took his bandana from his neck and wiped his hands. Before he could bend over and pick up his hat, Max gently took the brim of the white cowboy hat and held it up to Chip.

"Thank you." Chip took it from him and wiped it off. "So I took forty winks downtime. I doubt I'm the first Guardian to power down at midday."

Max snorted as Chip put his hat back on.

"Will a tune make you fell better?"

Max nodded.

Chip climbed back into the saddle, sitting backwards. Max held his head upright again to support Chip as he leaned back. Chip removed his harmonica from his duster's pocket.

"What's your pleasure?"

Max neighed and stomped his rear hooves.

"That one? That's Laser's old song?"

Max purred.

"Okay."

Chip began playing the old tune, the old folklore song about a lost child sprite that followed a null that guided her home. It had a cheerful lift Max liked to hear when he wanted a pick-me-up. To Chip it produced mixed feelings. Laser and his sister Reso were his sister's children from a long line of Guardians. All three generations, Sam the grandfather, Ram the father and Laser the son were all deleted in the line of duty. The loss of his nephew Laser had hit the worse. He had been 10 when Ram died, leaving his sister a young widow. Reso had been only a baby and Laser a very young child. Chip grew up more a big brother to them than an uncle. His sister saw the desire to be Guardians take hold of the pair but she refused to discourage them. Chip took the badge of office as Laser prepared to enter the Academy and Reso waited her turn. Chip felt honored to see Laser not only graduate but be "chosen" to have a keytool. Later on Laser got booted up to the grade of special agent along side his best friend Bob. Things were really looking bright until a game cube took Laser's life devastating Bob and Reso. His niece blamed Bob and had yet to reconcile with him. Now Bob lived in Mainframe and Reso at Outpost Omega.

A beep interrupted the song. He reached into one of Max's saddle bags for a keytool-sized scanner capable of sending and receiving messages and running scans.

"Receive message."

"Hey Relay? What's processin'?" Guardian Buck Wall asked. A youngster posted under him only in the last few seconds, Buck was logging in with a report. Buck had red skin with brown eyes and burnish colored hair.

Chip told him. "I've got a couple of ranchers in this sector watching over their stock is all. What have you got, hombre?"

"Only a few side-winding nulls. I've been mostly talking to LockFont for the past couple of cycles."

"Figure he'll talk back someday?" Chip asked.

"Got plenty of time to teach him. You've taught Max some tricks."

"He taught himself. In fact he's got me trained!"

"How do you put up with it being so quiet?"

"Kid, when you've grown up in this place, you're formatted for it. You don't want to transfer do you?"

"No, but I've been itchin' for some action since we mended that last tear one hundred cycles ago."

"Somethin' will come along kid just give it a few more cycles. It never-"

Chip saw the sky turn purple. Max jumped at the sound of electrical thunder and neighed in anger.

"Game cube comin'!" exclaimed Chip. "Calm down Max!"

Chip saw the game cube going down too far away for him to catch it. "Cursors!"

Max snorted.

"Well I would have enjoyed a game! Can I help it if a horse can't play."

Max snorted again.

"You couldn't fit in a jump jet! I'm sorry I had to leave you on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier! It was either that or get nullified!"
Chip then saw dust kicking up in the valley bellow. "Kid! I'm got some trouble over here! Get LockFont in overdrive and high tall it over here!"

He cut the link with Buck.

He saw a heard of cybersteers stampeding down the center. The game cube had obviously spooked them.

"At last! Some action! Let's go Max!"

The horse took off down the hillside at a strong gallop.

"Max! Wait until I get turned around!"

Max continued on with poor Chip sitting backwards in the saddle.

And I wanted to live out here, he thought to himself.

The cybersteers were running wildly down the canyon's center. The cattle hands where not gaining any ground on the herd. The binome's cyberstallions didn't have the best clock speed to keep up with the runaways. However, Max had gone into overdrive to catch the front of the herd. When Max passed the other riders, they noticed Chip sat in the saddle backwards.

Chip shrugged and called out,. "At least he knows which way he's goin'!"

Max began to pass the slower steers.

"Get in front, Max!" Chip ordered.

The horse neighed and pressed even harder on his accelerators. Chip glanced over his shoulder. A narrow area in the canyon was coming up. He guessed it would be the best place to lay the blockade.

"Hurry Max! I know you can do it!"

The cyberstallion passed the lead animal. Chip now had a good view of the stampeding herd.

"Time to wind down, fellas!"

Chip pulled out his rifle and started firing at the canyon walls. Large chunks of rock fell into the path of the steers. The debris and dust scared the cattle into slowing down. After a few more boulders were thrown down at them, the cows stopped.

Chip sighed and spoke to Max. "Next time let me turn around in the saddle first."

Chip dismounted and took the horse by its reigns to let the cyberstallion rest after the long run. He then guided Max through the maze of tired cattle who were pulling up bits of data grass. The cow hands arrived. The binomes, three ones and a zero, were all dressed in Western Net gear. A chuck wagon driven by another one binome, and pulled by four cybermules, joined them.

"Glad ta see you were here, Guardian Relay," the zero binome named Willie told him. "They got plum away from us. Games are sneaky varmints out here!"

The wagon driver spoke. "You look like you could use a cup of juice."

Chip gestured to Max. "My partner could use some fresh data. After all he did all the leg work."

Max neighed.

Chip looked down the valley towards the cube. "Did you guys happen to spot a young, over-driven Guardian?"

The wagon driver answered. "Sure did! Dang city-formatted sprites. Went right into the game. We coulda used his help!"

"It figures," Chip stared. "I have to go scan that cube."

"I'll go with you," Willie offered.

"Sure," Chip climbed back on Max's saddle. "Sorry Max. Well both get some energy in a nano. I promise."

Max huffed.

* * *

Chip rode Max slowly out towards the Cube. Max continued to huff his displeasure all the way. Game cubes made the cyberstallion naturally nervous. Chip was tempted to spur the horse to go closer but he figured they were close enough to get good readings. As they watched, the cube turned from purple to a dark shiny black in less then a blink of an eye, then switched back to purple.

Willie whistled. "Woo-whee! I've never seen them do that before."

"Neither have I," Chip consulted his scanner. "I can't get a proper fix on the progress of the game! Buck might be winnin' or losin'. I just- Uh oh!"

"What is it?"

"Watch it! It's pullin' out!"

The cube withdrew with its usual amount of speed. Max and Willie's horse reared up and screeched at the cube's departure.
"Easy Max! It's gone now!" Chip patted the horse's neck to calm him. "Come on! Let's find Buck."

Chip spurred the horse forward, Willie falling in behind him. From the first visual signs everything seemed fine. The sector showed no damage that was normal for a user winning a game.

"Buck? Where are ya kid?" Then Chip noticed Buck's cyberstallion LockFont. The silver and white horse stood with a dazed expression in its eyes. Chip dismounted, taking the horse's reigns in his hand along with Max's.

"You see that?" Willie pointed.

About a bit block away the ground showed signs of gray scoring, the type of damage consistent with nullification. Chip felt his harddrive skip a block. He led the horses over to what turned out to be a large crater. In its center was a red null with brown stripes.

Willie removed his cowboy hat in respect. "Poor kid. He lost the game."

"He couldn't have!" Chip said in shock. "The entire sector should be nullified. We should have found LockFont as a null along with him."

"You mean you haven't seen this kinda thing before?"

"No. If he where deleted before the game ended he'd simply be vapor," he admitted as he ran through his read only memories. "But I know a couple of other Guardians who have encountered somethin' like this. Willie. I'm goin' to need a null trap to carry Buck in. Do you have any?"

"All the time. Gotta keep the varmints out of our food."

"Best rustle me up one and get some grub ready. I have to go to port over to Outpost Omega right away."

"I'm sorry about Buck, Relay."

"So am I. He was a good kid. A little random now and then but he coulda been a great Guardian. It's a cryin' shame this happened."

Just like it happened to Laser, Chip thought.

* * *

Outpost Omega was a vast harddrive system of monstrous size. Five of its sectors were sealed within a titanium casing to protect it from the ion storms that blew in from Freespace. The sixth sector, Serial Port remained open, protected when necessary by a force field generator that could run for several days at a time. This sector was key to the commerce of the system. Ships came and went from here from points in Freespace to as far as the Super Computer itself. The docking ports, fifty levels high from top to bottom could handle as many as one thousand ship connections a day with room to spare for long time cargo storage. Ships landed at a strip on level one and were sent by hydraulic elevators to the lower levels to load and unload their cargo.

Chip had seen many interesting transports come and go when he stopped by the outpost and he met many interesting characters to go with it. Most of them were to found at the bottom, Level Fifty, nicknamed "The Shaft" as some of the smaller cargo carriers called it. If you had more clout, a better ship or more important cargo to deliver, you got Level Twenty or better. The biggest got Level One. If you had the low end deal, well then, you got "The Shaft." It took longer to get in, drop off your goods and then get out. It also was a magnet for bringing trouble with it. Chip had caught software pirates working the level many times. He wondered if Guardian Dar even cared what went on down here. As far as Chip thought, Dar let the other Guardians do all the dirty work. Worse those Guardians didn't have keytools.

Chip guided Max through the corridors of Level 50 heading for the main civilian elevator to take him to the Administration Office. He paused when he heard two familiar voices arguing very loudly. He led Max towards a side corridor which opened into one of the docking ports. He recognized the ship right away by the markings on its tail rudder.

"It's a small Net ain't it Max?" Chip whispered to his horse.

Chip walked up unnoticed to the zero binome and purple-skinned sprite. "Excuse me?" he asked. "But may I ask what the problem is?"

Mouse turned to look at Chip. "Relay? Guardian Relay!?! Why, I haven't seen you since-"

"Since I caught you trying to relieve some software pirates of a claim they stole from an old prospector in Freespace."

"Hey. They stole it first. I just wanted tah take it back."

"Without tellin' the original owner you got it back?"

"Energy crystals are a powerful fuel source, sugah. Energy can be expensive. But not as much as this little twerp is tryin' tah charge me!"

Chip tipped his hat back. "Hello Sid."

"Hi Relay," Sid gulped.

"What may I ask are you doin'?"

"Nothing Relay. You know how prices go up."

"Yeah. Especially when you think it's someone who can't file a complaint due to past brushes with the law?"

"Aww! Chip! I wouldn't do that."

"Good. Then charge the little lady the goin' rate. Got it?"

"Uh...right!" Sid punched several keys on his electronic order form and pasted it to Mouse. She took it, glanced it over, then pressed her ring against the area requiring her signature branding her logo on.

"Here yah go," Mouse handed it back. "And I intend tah measure the fuel level when yar done! And check the quality!"

"No need to, Miss Mouse. I'll do everything right."

"You'd better," Chip warned him.

Mouse sashayed over to Chip. "That's one I owe yah sugah. When do I expect yah tah start cashin' in?"

"You could start right now darlin'. I'm on my way upstairs to see Reso."

"Little Reso? She's here?"

"I figured you'd know. She came out here after..." Chip stopped. It was harder to talk about then he thought. "Well after what happened."

Max snorted.

"Oh I'm sorry Max. Did you want to say howdy to the little lady?"

On cue the horse lowered his head and dropped to one knee in a bow.

"I'm happy tah see you too Max," Mouse laughed.

When the horse stood upright again Mouse produced a treat. Where she had kept it, Chip could only guess. Max took the sugar energy cube and neighed a thank you.

"As I was originally sayin' I'm goin' upstairs to see Res. I hoped you'd come with me. I hate to give report bad news alone."

"What bad news?"

Chip moved to the null trap he had strapped to Max's saddle bag. "This used to be Guardian Buck Wall."

Mouse shook her head. "What a shame. I can see why you don't want tah tell Reso."

"But I gotta. Better she find out come from me than Dar! The guys too cold to be a Guardian! Reso deserves better then workin' under him!"

"Ain't she a Guardian by now?"

"She never finished her final level of trainin'. Care to figure out why?"

Mouse understood, "I'm gonna have a serious talk with that girl!"

"Come on then. I know where to find her."

* * *

Reso sat in her usual file space at the main vidwindow switch board of the Principal Office wing. The circle of vidwindows were quiet at the moment. In fact they were very quiet for the enormous amount of activity that went on at Outpost Omega. Not a pixel of trouble anywhere. Even on Level Fifty.

Reso sighed. Babysitting the security system. This was something for a CPU. She'd rather be doing a dozen other things. Mending a tear. Fighting a virus. These were the things she dreamed of.

What would dad have thought? she wondered.

A chirping noise at her feet got her attention. A deep green null matching her skin tone purred to get her attention. The creature's body bore bronze-colored stripes to match Reso's hair. She smiled and reached for a snack container she kept under the desk. She opened it and took out a chip of slow food. She held it out to the null which quickly absorbed it from her hand.

"Hungry, huh?" she asked. "Don't worry, Laser. My relief will come any nanosecond then will go over to the Sub-Routine for some downtime."

The null squeaked.

"Excuse me."

Reso looked up, her amber eyes widening surprise. She got up from her chair as Chip and Mouse approached the desk.

"Uncle Chip! Mouse!" Reso exclaimed.

She practically hoped over the desk and flung her arms around Mouse. Chip smiled. Her niece had become Mouse's friend via her relationship with Bob.

"You haven't changed a pixel!" Reso told her.

"Can't say the same for you honey. Yah've reformatted a lot. You changed yar hair. But I'm glad yah didn't change yar eyes."

There was a time when Reso had her bronze locks in a ponytail similar to Mouse's hairdo. Now she had cut it to just above her neck with long bangs that fell almost over her amber eyes.

"So what are you two doing here?"

"Oh you know me," Mouse replied with a bit of hesitation. "Just passin' through. In between things."

"You're always in between things Mouse," Reso giggled. "And what about you Uncle Chip? Picking up supplies?"

"I actually came to see you. I had a run in with a game and-"

A shrilling neigh came from down the hallway. They turned to see Max cantering into the security wing dragging a drone by his reigns. "Hold up there Max! Whoa!" Chip yelled at the horse.

The cyberstallion stopped in front of him, snorting in resentment.

"I told you before! You have to stay with Arthur at the Wait State while I'm in the security wing."

Mouse and Reso helped pull Arthur to this feet. The chrome and blue droid served as the outpost secretarial unit. He organized the systems file upgrades, personnel files, shipments arriving and departing from the serial port and occasionally wrote memos and made a decent cup a juice. But he had severe clumsiness problems and had to clean up many a mess he was responsible for.

"Sir. Can't you control your animal?" Arthur pleaded.

"I told him to stay," shrugged Chip.

"And eat the B-tree bush in the foray? Maybe you should have told him to sit."

As if a cue Max sat down like a dog and snorted at Arthur. Reso cuffed her hands over her mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter.

"Max. Stand up," ordered Chip.

The horse obeyed.

"Now go back to Wait State with Arthur."

"Aww! Come on, Uncle Chip," Reso pleaded. "I haven't said hello to Max in a while."

She began to pat Max on the neck and scratch one of the cyberstallion's ears. The horse purred.

"Reso we got in trouble the last time the horse came in here!" Arthur reminded her. "The animal made a mess on the floor. Guardian Dar stepped in it!"

Mouse looked at Chip and said deadpan. "I thought Guardian Dar was always stepping in it."

Chip winced. So did Arthur.

Reso laughed. "That was a good one Mouse. And I promise not to-"

Reso saw the null trap attached to Max's saddle bag and the red null inside.

Chip told Max, "You go back to the Wait State room with Arthur. I've got to talk to Reso."

Chip handed Arthur the horse's reigns.

"Come on Maximilian," Arthur coaxed him. "I'll get you some sugar energy cubes. I keep a big supply near the juicer."

Max snored and trotted away, dragging Arthur after him, excited by the thought of sugar energy cubes.

"What happened?" Reso asked trying not to hide her disgust at seeing the null.

Chip knew he didn't have to tell her who the null had been. Reso knew her old classmate Buck worked in Freespace.

"He went into a game cube."

"And where were you?" she demanded, her voice raising another optic.

"Willie's herd of cattle stampeded. I had to go after them. I ordered Buck to come but he went after the cube instead. Willie and his ranch hands can verify it."

Mouse kept calm despite Reso's manor towards here uncle. She acted as if she were a member of Guardian High Commander interrogating a lesser Guardian.

"Sugah yah can't expect things tah go perfect every nanosecond. Chip did his best."

"Then it's all Buck's fault?!"

"The one tah blame is the User honey. The code is simple. Win yah get out, lose and-"

"You lose a piece of your family! Or a friend or two! But life goes on right?!"

"Reso. I'm only tryin' tah help. Chip wanted me here. I'm sorry about Buck. We both are."

"Reso," Chip began, "I'm not tryin' to be insensitive. It's my job to file a report I just thought I'd tell you first in case Dar told you before I had a chance to explain."

"Oh I see. You had the guts to come to me first! When Laser got nullified Turbo told me what happened because Bob couldn't face me!"

Chip gritted his teeth. "Now listen, young lady. Bob's memory got all fouled up. He had to be treated by Pixie and then take a leave."

"Leave! Funny you should say leave Uncle Chip! Because that's exactly what he did! He left! He left without saying goodbye! He couldn't face me or what he did to my brother!"

"Reso! This has got tah stop!" Mouse cut in. "You can't keep blamin' the wrong sprites for things!"

"I should expect this from you! You always protect your friends!"

"There was a time when Bob was your friend sugah. You quit file on that first! Not him!"

"Well I don't need friendship from him anymore! Maybe I don't need yours either!"

Reso turned away. Chip caught her by the arm. She glared at him as he asked, "You goin' to disown me too darlin'? Just because of Buck? Or because Laser treated Bob as family?"

Reso didn't answer. She pulled her arm free and walked back to her desk. A CPU came from up the hallway.

"I'm here to relieve you Reso."

"Thanks Metro," Reso responded reaching around the desk to pick up her lunch pack. She then lifted the pendant she had around her neck. She put the thin, metallic whistle to her lips and blew into it. Laser scurried out along the floor. She bent over, picked him up and walked off without looking or saying another word.

Metro stared at Chip and Mouse. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing Metro. Just some low Res."

* * *

Chip and Mouse walked slowly back towards the Wait State room.

"I made a mess of that," Mouse growled.

"What? Because you defended Bob? Heck I'd done more if either of you gave me the chance."

"I can't believe she keeps Laser with her like he was a pet or somethin'."

"I think it makes her feel better to have him around. She's afraid to lose what's left of him."

"What do you plan tah do know?"

"Now I send Buck off to the Super Computer. Then I have to go to the postings office to send and receive some e-mail."

"Yar gonna tell Bob aren't yah?"

Chip nodded. "I gotta. I can't tell you exactly why and I don't understand it all myself but Buck's nullification was not normal."

"Then tell Bob hello for me and I'm sorry about the mess I sort of caused when I dropped by."

"You've been to Mainframe?"

"Yeah. But I can't talk about that. It was private business."

"You have to learn to stay out of trouble darlin'."

"Trouble is all I'll ever be sugah."

"At least you've got the prettiest accent I've ever heard in Freespace."

"Likewise, honey. Remember. I owe you."

Chip watched her walk away. How had Bob ever get mixed up with her? In fact how had he gotten mixed up with her? He had to send Buck right away to Disk Tool Operations in the Super Computer and into the care of Guardian Pixie. And then an e-mail message to Bob in Mainframe. And maybe they would all be one pixel closer to finding the truth.

Read Part 1 | Back to the Changing of the Guardian