Guardian Blues
By Dan Green

Part 1

Bob loved to tell me stories – ever since I met him. He’d tell me tales of the supercomputer where he grew up, all the games he’s been in (and that really off-lined Dot for a long time) – but most of all he loved to tell me about the Guardian Academy.

I guess that might be a big reason why I wanted to go to the Academy so much. That and just generally wanting to be like Bob. Bob is my best friend, ever. He came to Mainframe and right away he treated me really nice – like I was his friend, too. I guess he knew I didn’t have any friends my age – and I’m sure Dot told him anyway. He didn’t have to be great to me, that’s the point. But he was. He talked to me and took me into games - when Dot let him - and played jetball, took me circuit racing… He let me help when he worked on his car and told me jokes and taught me neat little stuff. Its only now that I realize just how pathetically lonely I was – but it doesn’t even really matter. Bob was still great.

So even if that were all there was to Bob, I’d probably have wanted to be like him. But it wasn’t. Bob is the bravest guy I’ve ever met. He never acts like he’s afraid, and he never backs down from a fight. He never looks for a fight either – I guess that’s the difference between him and Matrix. He’s great at figuring stuff out in games. He does all that without making anyone feel small or stupid, though – and he still loves to have fun. And on top of all that he’s got the coolest job in the net. So I guess, looking back, I never really had a chance.

Guess I got distracted – I was talking about Bob and his Academy stories. When Bob went there it was in the supercomputer, and they had almost 1000 cadets. Crash! I couldn’t even imagine that. They had a bunch of dorms and a keytool repository and scads of teachers and their own shops and sports teams, and even a dedicated security force of over 50 CPUs and armored vehicles. Wow.

Well, now it was a little different. The new Academy had been set up on Gallifrey Seven, which was a small system with ports to the net. Like Mainframe it’s location had been hidden where nobody was gonna find it – guess who was responsible for that? There were only like 120 cadets now, and not a lot of extra stuff. And since Laser was the only clean Guardian we knew of besides Matrix, there were no keytools either. Except Galileo, which was his. And he actually let me use it one time, which was alphanumeric.

So I knew a lot of stuff was gonna be different than it was in Bob’s stories. But that was OK, I guess. It was still The Academy – and when everything was filed and processed that was what counted. Right up until the nano Bob opened the portal and we stepped through onto Gallifrey it never quite seemed totally real to me. But that all changed the nano I set foot in the system.

I guess it was a cycle of firsts for me. That was my first step on a system besides home. Bob squeezed my hand and grinned at me. “So – whaddaya think, Tiger?”

“Pixelacious. You’ve never been here before, have you?”

“Nope. Just read the reports. It’s a good system – secure location, good infrastructure. Maybe it lacks a certain charm that Mainframe has…”

“Yeah.” I looked around. It was nice enough – not as green as Mainframe. There was nothing like Floating Point or anything like that. I could see their P.O. off in the distance – it was smaller than ours back home. A small group of buildings and stuff clustered around the P.O., and the energy sea skirted along the edge of the city in a long blue ribbon.

“There it is.” Bob pointed. I looked. Set off away from the rest of the city, on a little hill, there was a modest complex of buildings, all golden colored. Most of them were pretty small – two or three stories high. There were a few green fields mixed in – I guessed they were for physical education and stuff like that. I could see little dots as sprites zipped back and forth between the buildings, and faintly hear the voices carrying down to me. And on the biggest building – the one right in the middle – there was a big gold and black icon.

The Academy. I was here.

“Crash.” I said softly.

“Don’t worry, Kiddo. You belong here. Just remember that and you’ll be fine.”

“K.” I took a deep breath and felt a big knot forming in my stomach. Bob popped open his zip board and I did the same, and we gathered up all our stuff and started off towards the campus on the hill.

Bob opened up a vidwindow. “Anybody home?”

A face popped up, someone I didn’t recognize. It was a guy who looked like he was maybe a little younger than Matrix, wearing a uniform like Bob’s. He looked a little nervous. “Please state your name and function.”

“Guardian 452.” Bob said it with that same pixelacious calm that he always seemed to have, no matter what. “I have a first-hour I’m escorting in for the semester. You should be expecting me.”

The young guy looked even more nervous. “You’re… Guardian 452?”

“Uh – yeah!”

“OK. Come over to the front gate – I’ll let them know you’re here.”

“Thanks. Let the Headmaster know I’m here too, willya?”

“Yeah. I m-mean – yes, Sir! Wow…”

“Thanks!” Bob chuckled and closed the vidwindow.

“I guess they know who you are, huh?”

He looked at me and winked. “Guess so. Nothing special I did – I guess if you’re the last clean PID word’s gonna get around. You ready?”

“I guess so.”

“Cool.” The thought occurred to me that if the other cadets saw I was with Bob, it was gonna change the way they looked at me. It could be good – maybe they’d respect me a little more than they would for just being the youngest, littlest kid in the Academy. But maybe some of them would be jealous of me. And there’d be a lot more pressure, too…

Well, there was nothing I could do about it anyways – no way was I gonna pretend I wasn’t there with Bob. I was deleted proud of that – I was Bob’s student. Even Bob’s kid, and even though I had my insecurities about that Bob went out of his way to make sure I knew that’s how he thought of me. It was one of the best things about me, and no way was I gonna run away from it. I’d just have to deal with whatever the other cadets thought about it, and if they didn’t like it they could kiss my bitmap.

“Here we go.” Bob grinned, and squeezed my shoulder. There was a proxy security setup with one guy manning it – again, he looked a little younger than Matrix’ age – maybe 1.9 or something. I guess I didn’t have much experience guessing ages of anybody under 2.5. “Hey! Special delivery for you.”

The kid smiled nervously. “I… We need to scan your PID, Sir. Just for security.”

“Sure.” Bob stepped up to the scanner and it beeped once, then twice.

“You too.” The guy waved me over.

“Oh! OK.” I took my icon off and held it up to the scanner. I guess I checked out too – it beeped twice and he waved us inside. “Thanks.”

We stowed our zips and walked through the security doorway. “Sir, if I can ask – are you really-“

“Yup.” Bob sighed. “You can tell your grandkids about it someday.”

I giggled – which was no small feat, scared and nervous as I was. We walked into the main building, the one with the icon on the side. There wasn’t anyone around, but as we passed a couple of rooms with closed doors I could hear people talking inside. Offices, I guessed.

Then, out of nowhere, two sprites walked around a corner, talking and laughing. And I just about lost what little composure I had, right then.

Kids.

No matter much I’d tried to prepare myself for that nano, I never really had a chance. It was so weird, so unreal to see them – I know my eyes must have been as big as jetballs. But cut me a little slack – try to imagine being a kid and never seeing any other kids. I don’t know how I managed to get through it, sometimes – and believe me, sometimes it was really hard. You can’t imagine how lonely I was. Matrix at least got AndrAIa, just when he needed her – but no one ever came for me. As nice as Bob and AndrAIa and the others were, as much as they tried to make time for me - it just wasn’t the same.

Basically I never saw another kid my age after I was about 0.4 – and who remembers anything from when they were 0.4? The closest thing was Matrix – and he’s like twice my age – and Mac, who’s so little he hardly counts and he can’t even talk yet. That’s not very close.

So when I saw those two kids come around the corner, I just crashed. System overload. It was a boy and a girl – I don’t know exactly how old they were. He was maybe 1.4, and she might’ve been 1.5 or1.6 – but they were kids. They weren’t much bigger than me, really. They weren’t in uniform because the semester hadn’t started yet – they were wearing training shorts and plain gray T-shirts. They were just walking and talking, smiling. And she was pretty.

When I saw them my eyes went wide and, like I said, I just froze. I couldn’t move, even blink. I don’t even wanna think about what I looked like to them. All I could do was stare. They stopped talking and nodded politely at Bob, and he said “Hey.” They looked over at me and I guess they looked curious, maybe even like they were about to smile – but they didn’t look mean, not really. And all I could do was stare, look at them even after they passed us and watch them walk down the hall and not even blink.

“Tiger?”

I don’t know how many times he had to say it before I heard it – maybe once, maybe a hundred times. “Tiger! C’mon – let’s go see my Dad.”

When I finally heard his voice it sorta broke me out of the spell I was in. I thought about those other kids and how comfortable and relaxed they looked and how stupid I must have looked and I just groaned and dropped my stuff and threw my arms around Bob’s waist and buried my face in his chest.

“Hey – what’s wrong, Enzo?”

“Bob…” I didn’t even want to look at him. I just felt totally overwhelmed and I was ashamed of it. “Bob, I don’t think I can do it!”

“What? Do what?”

“I don’t think I can handle it, Bob. I can’t deal with other kids, I just can’t! I don’t know how to talk, what to say-“

“Whoa! Chill, Enzo.” He wrapped me up and laughed softly. “Take it easy. You’ll do just fine.”

“I’m a freak!”

“Of course you’re not! Why would you say that?”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him – I just let him hold me and didn’t look up. “I… I don’t even know how to be around other kids. I don’t! And there’s like a hundred of ‘em here and they’ll all think I’m weird and totally basic-“

“Stop it. You’re a good kid – everybody back home likes you, don’t they?”

“But – you guys are all grown-ups, and I know you…”

“Sprites are sprites, Enzo. If anything you’ll think it’s easier to talk to these kids – you’re all in this together. You’ve got a lot in common. They’re gonna like you fine, stop worrying.”

I took a deep breath and finally looked up at him. “But what if they think I’m, you know… Weird?”

“They won’t! Don’t be basic.”

“But I -“

“End file.” Bob sighed. “Enzo, everybody who knows you likes you. You’re the most likable sprite I know! Crash, you got Matrix to like you and after that, how could anything be a challenge?” That managed to bring a half a smile. “All you have to do is just be yourself and it’ll be fine, Tiger. I promise – after a couple of cycles you’ll get used to the other kids and it’ll be easy as can be.”

“But – what if I don’t get used to it? I-“

“You will. I promise.”

“But-“

“Just trust me, OK?” He knelt a little so we were eye to eye. “Isn’t this what you wanted – what you’ve been working towards? Being here, learning to be a Guardian?”

“Yeah.” I sighed.

“Didn’t you want to see some of what’s out there besides Mainframe? Meet sprites your own age, make friends?”

“Yeah! But I didn’t think it’d be so…”

“Trust me.” He repeated, with a grin. “If I didn’t think you could do this, you think I would have let you come here? I’m gonna miss you like crazy every cycle, Kiddo – but I really believe you can do this. So does Dot. Do you think we’d let you go away if we didn’t believe you could handle it? If we didn’t believe it was the best thing for you?”

I tried to smile back. “No. No, I guess not.”

“There ya go. Everything new is tough at first, but you’ll handle it. After all you’ve dealt with already this is nothing. Look at it as an opportunity! Don’t think I can’t see how hard it’s been for you, not having any friends your age. You can’t even imagine how much you’ll grow from being here. So relax! Get settled, enjoy yourself. OK?”

“OK, Bob. I’ll try. Thanks.”

“Not a problem.” Then he surprised me and kissed me on the forehead, which he’d almost never done. I can’t even tell you how much that meant to me at that nano – I couldn’t even try. Start with everything, and build from there. “Now – you ready to go see Laser?”

“Yeah.” I hugged him, hard, and we picked up the stuff and moved off down the hall. We didn’t see any more kids – I guess most of them hadn’t arrived yet, or they were in the dorms. I just thought about everything Bob had said and tried to get myself to believe it. It would have been a close call, but somehow he’d known how to get me where I needed to be, emotionally. Maybe living with Dot had rubbed off on him.

* * *

The building seemed bigger on the inside than it had on the outside – maybe it was a Gallifrey thing. Bob seemed sure of himself, though. “You know where you’re going?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen the schematics. The whole building is set up like a wheel, and Laser’s office is at the hub.”

“Cool.” I thought it was kinda funny that Bob called his Dad ‘Laser’ when we were talking – and that popped a thought into my processor. “Uh, Bob? What should I call him?”

“Who – Laser?” I nodded. “Well – I don’t think ‘Grandpa’ would be appropriate.”

I laughed. “Bob! I’m serious.”

Bob scratched his chin. “When I was in school we called the head of the Academy “Headmaster”. I think that should be fine.”

“OK.” User, it was a lot to think about – I’d basically been dealing with the same set of sprites my whole life, the same place – and now everything was gonna be different. Sure, it was exciting, but…

“Well – look what the energy tide dragged in.”

“Hi, Dad.” Bob set down the stuff he was carrying and walked through the open door to Laser’s office. I did the same. Laser got up from behind his desk and stared at Bob with his hands on his hips. He looked good – he’s not a real big guy, but there’s something about him that impresses you. He didn’t look any older than the last time I’d seen him – if anything, he looked younger. I figured he must really enjoy his job.

He smiled and stuck out his hand, and Bob took it. They held the handshake for a long time, just sort of looking at each other. Bob made a little uncomfortable move towards him, then stopped and grinned. Laser lifted up his arm and held it for a nano, then patted Bob on the shoulder. “How you doing, Son?”

“Good, Dad.” Bob sideways patted Laser’s arm. “It’s great to see you again. You’re OK?”

“Fine.” Laser looked down at me for the first time – I’d sort of been hovering half behind Bob. I could feel myself trembling a little – Laser has a very intense stare. “Enzo – good to see you again, too. Welcome to the Academy.”

“Thank you, Sir.” I smiled as best I could, wondering if we were supposed to shake. I guess so – he held out his hand and I took it, as hard and firm as I could.

“Ow! You trying to break my hand, Cadet?”

“Sorry!” I gasped, and pulled my hand back.

“I’ll live.” He smiled, and stepped past me to close the door. He sat down behind his desk and Bob and I sat in the chairs in front of it. It was a much simpler office than I’d expected – a plain desktop and a few chairs, a workstation, nothing much up on the walls except the walls. “So – we’ve finally got our youngest cadet where he belongs. Bob been teaching you well, Enzo?”

“Yes, Headmaster. He’s great.”

“You don’t have to call me that when its just us.” Laser chuckled.

“Big cycle for Enzo, Dad.” Bob grinned, patting me on the back. He left his hand on my neck and gave it a little squeeze, just to help me calm down, I guess. “Biggest cycle of his life, maybe.”

“I can imagine.” The smile was gone from Laser’s face – he didn’t smile much, from what I remembered – but somehow he looked pleased anyway. “How you feeling, Cadet? Excited? Scared?”

“Yes. Yes.” I replied in the steadiest voice I could find.

Laser chuckled a little. “Well – that’s as it should be. I’d be worried if you weren’t.” He put his elbows on his desk and leaned across a little. “Don’t be too nervous about being the youngest cadet, Enzo. I know a little something about that myself – I was the youngest cadet when I enrolled at the Academy.”

“Dude - really?” My stomach did a couple of turns when I realized I’d just called the highest ranking Guardian in the net “Dude”.

“I sure was. I was a pretty brash kid, but when I got here and saw all those hairy chests and brawny arms there were a few nervous nanos, I can promise.”

“See, Enzo?” Bob offered. “You just gotta roll with it and you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah. Thanks, I’m sure I’ll be cool.”

“Good boy.” Laser nodded at me. “I’m the headmaster of this place, Enzo, and I consider myself responsible for everything that happens inside it. The most important responsibility is the safety and welfare of the cadets in my protection. So if there’s ever an issue that’s troubling you, don’t hesitate to come and talk to me about it, all right? That’s true for every cadet in here, and it’s most certainly true for you.”

“Thank you, Headm- Sir. Thanks a lot, that makes me feel better.”

“Not promising you’ll like what I say, mind you – but I’ll listen. But if you expect things to be easy around here, you’re wrong – so don’t expect a lot of sympathy if you think things are too tough.”

“No Sir. I know it’ll be tough. But I… I want to work hard. I have been working pretty hard.”

“He has, Dad. He’s been a good student.”

“I’m sure he has. And I’m sure you’ll do fine. Now - let’s get to some specifics. I took the liberty of seeing to your living arrangements. One of the luxuries of not having so many cadets, I suppose – let’s me take a personal hand in things. I’ve assigned you a roommate – a young man from Helios, another first-hour. I’ve seen the reports, he looks like a good kid. He turns 1.5 during the term. I think he’s a good match for you. He should arrive tomorrow.”

“OK… Thanks.” More overwhelmed feelings. A roommate!

“We’ll get you a readme with all the details on house rules and class schedules and the like – I just want to go over a few things right now, OK?”

“Sure.”

“Dorms are set up two cadets to a room, with a bathroom on every floor. There’s currently 62 cadets assigned to the boys’ dorm, so you can do the math. There are no kitchens - you’re not here to learn to cook like your sister Dot. Meals are in the common mess hall – if you’re late, you’re hungry. Food’s good – it’ll keep you strong and healthy enough. With me so far?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“There’s an instructor in each dorm – your House Master. He’s in charge of you when you’re not in class. Lights out is thirty hundred – no exceptions. And you might have guessed that if we have a boys’ dorm, we probably also have what?”

“Uh – a girls’ dorm?”

“Right.” He smiled. “And that’s the last word I want to hear from you about the girls’ dorm. I think you’re probably familiar with the term, ‘off-limits’. Well, it applies here. Understood?”

I felt a good blush forming on my cheeks and ears. “Understood.”

“Good. You’ll notice I called it a boys’ dorm – you can think of it as a men’s dorm if you like. We don’t have the luxury of different class tracks and dorms for different ages any more – cadets are first-hours and second-hours – that’s it. That means that even though you’re only 1.3, I’ll expect the same level of maturity from you that I do from every first-hour.”

“Yes, Sir. I’ll try.”

“I know you will, Son. Just remember – the only time you’ll be treated like a child here is if you act like one. We’re not your mothers and fathers, and this isn’t a nursery. You’re here to learn, and if you conduct yourself like a responsible person you’ll be treated like one. Being a Guardian is about being responsible for yourself as much as the sprites you’re assigned to protect. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

“Yes, Sir!” I felt a thrill rush through me as I listened to him. It was really good to be talked to like an adult.

“Good.” I looked over at Bob, and he smiled at me. “This isn’t a perfect situation, Cadet – we’re at war, and we’re all doing the best we can. That’s all I expect from you. If you do that you’ll come away from here knowing exactly who you are and how much you’re capable of. You’ll be able to think for yourself, make decisions for yourself – and sprites will be counting on you to be their protector and friend. How does that sound?”

“Alphanumeric.” I whispered. I hadn’t felt like that since Bob gave me the protocols when I was 1.0. “I promise – I’ll do it!”

“Welcome to the Academy.” He stuck out his hand and smiled. “You’ve got the right bloodlines, Son – and you’ve had a pretty good teacher these last few hours. There’s no doubt in my mind you’ll be a fine Guardian.”

“Thank you.” I shook his hand again – softer, this time – and smiled. “I’ll do my best.”

“That’s pretty good, if you ask me.” Bob grinned and clapped me on the shoulder. “Why don’t you go over to the dorm – check out your room and just chill for a few micros. It’s been a pretty full cycle already. I’ll talk to Laser for a little bit and meet you over there.”

“Cool. Thanks, Bob.”

“What about you, Bob? I thought we’d put you in an apartment in the staff building.”

“Sounds good – but I think I’ll crash in Enzo’s room tonight – just for old times sake.” Bob winked at me. “Check out the digs, right Kid? I’ll probably be here two or three nights – I’ll bum over to the staff apartment tomorrow. OK with you, Enzo?”

“Sure.” I grinned. I knew exactly why he was doing it, and I suppose if I’d been really firm on my promise to myself I’d have told him not to – but I really wanted him there. It might even be fun.

“Fair enough.” Laser said with a small frown. “I’ll get one of the second-hours to show you around and help you with your gear, Cadet.”

“Thanks!” It was the best I’d felt all cycle – in all the scariness and worry during the trip and arriving and everything, I’d sorta forgotten why I was coming in the first place. Laser had a way of inspiring you like nobody else I knew – I remembered from his trip to Mainframe. He really stoked me up. I don’t know if he took that much time with every new cadet – I guess probably not – but it was still very cool.

Laser opened a vidwindow and gave a command, and a couple of millis later a kid knocked on the door of his office – well, sorta half-kid, half-adult. A second-hour. Laser introduced him to us – his name was Helix - and we shook hands. He looked a little awed of Bob just like the others had been. He picked up a bunch of my stuff and I took the rest and we headed off down the hallway.

“Where you from?” I was still a little nervous and I tried to hear some challenge in his voice, but he seemed friendly enough.

“Mainframe. You?”

“Supercomputer. Not much left of it now – we got out when I was 1.3.”

“Yeah, sorry. We almost lost Mainframe, too. 1.3? Uh – that’s how old I am now.”

“Yeah?” He gave me a quick look. “I figured you were maybe 1.1 – not much to you, is there?”

I didn’t say anything right away. He probably didn’t mean anything by it, but it stung me quite a bit. “I guess.”

“No biggie. We’ll take what we can get – in case you hadn’t noticed this ain’t exactly the supercomputer. You came in with Guardian 452?”

“Yeah.” I was ready to fight him if he ragged on me for it, but he didn’t.

“That’s pretty awesome. I hear he merged with his keytool.”

“Yeah, he did.” We were on my turf now, talking about Bob. I didn’t want to get in the habit of trading on his name, but it was my first cycle… “He did it to save Mainframe and get everyone home from the web.”

“The web? Random access! No one’s ever merged with his keytool before. He sounds pretty amazing.”

“Well, he had to save the system. To mend and defend – you know? That’s Bob.”

We’d arrived at the boys’ dorm - a plain-looking square building tucked in behind the big building where the offices were. Helix set my stuff down and palmed his icon in front of the security console. It beeped and the door opened, and he nodded me after him. “This is it – not much to it, but its home. Four floors – you’re in 32, third floor. Mess hall and House Master’s quarters are on this level. Rec room, too – simulators and vidscreen and pinball - stuff like that. Pretty cool. Bathrooms one to a floor upstairs. Your room is coded to accept your PID scan for access. Any questions?”

“No – I guess not.” I looked around the dorm as we rode up in the elevator, which had clear doors and walls. It wasn’t anything fancy, that was for sure. We got off on the third floor and he took a left. Room 32 was the fourth one down.

“Go ahead – try the panel and make sure your icon works.”

“OK.” I took off my icon and held it to the door. It beeped once and slid open. “Coolness!”

“That’s coded to open only for you and your roommate, the House Master, and the teaching staff. Some free advice?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t go out without your icon. It’s a long walk from the showers to the Master’s office downstairs, and no one is gonna feel sorry for you. Got it?”

“Yeah! Thanks.”

He set my stuff down and looked around. The room was just that – a room. There were two beds on opposite corners, foot lockers at the foot of the beds, two small desks on facing walls and a couple of simple chairs – that was it. “Looks like your roommate isn’t here yet.”

“No Sir. He gets here tomorrow.”

Helix frowned. “Don’t call me ‘Sir’ – I’m a cadet, not a teacher.”

“Sorry!” I felt another blush on my face.

“No biggie.” He pointed to the bed in the far corner. “Since you’re here first, I advise you choose the bed farthest from the door – easier to grab a little privacy if you have a guest, if you get my meaning.”

“Oh! Uh…”

He chuckled and tossed my stuff on the bed. “See that organizer on the desk?”

“Sure.”

“Initialize it – set up your user name and password. Once you do that you’re the only one who can access it – not even the staff can get in without your codes. Once you initialize it the central computer will download a bunch of stuff – you want to look at the readme first. Got descriptions of house rules, class schedules, all that stuff. The computer will know who you are – the teachers will download assignments and stuff directly to your organizer. There’s also a log – a lot of kids keep a journal and like I said, its totally secure. Some games, too – mostly ‘educational’ ones, strategy and stuff – but some of them are pretty random access. You getting all this?”

“Uh – yeah.” I was feeling a little mentally swamped – I realized I hadn’t even set my stuff down yet.

Helix grinned. “Don’t worry about it – the readmes will tell you everything you need to know. Keep whatever stuff you brought in that foot locker. Wardrobe upgrades’ll be downloaded onto your organizer after you input your height and weight and stuff… Hope they make ‘em that small.” He paused for a nano – maybe he was waiting to see if I’d jab back at him and maybe I should have – but I didn’t say anything, just seethed a little. “We pretty much wear shorts or sweats when we’re in physical exercises or out of class – dress uniforms for classroom and events. Got that?”

“Got it.”

“Right. I guess that about covers it. If you have questions don’t be afraid to ask a second – we’ve been through it and we don’t bite. Most of us anyway. And its better not to bug the teachers with the stupid stuff. Anything else I can do for you?”

My anger was starting to drop away again. He seemed nice – maybe he was just kidding around. I figured I’d better get used to it unless I started looking like Matrix real soon. “I don’t think so. Thanks for showing me all that stuff.”

“No worries.” That sounded weird – it caught me by surprise, but I didn’t think much about it. “Good luck – I’ll see you out there.” He nodded at me, I nodded back and he left.

I looked around the room that would be my home for most of the next two hours. I felt a little depressed – I missed my room at home, with all my posters and my own bed and my dirty clothes and all my junk. At least this room had a window. Maybe it’d look better after I fixed it up a bit…

I sat down on the bed and leaned back against the wall, and I felt really tired. My emotions were going up and down like power surges and that’s pretty exhausting. Right now they were definitely in a down cycle – Helix’ jokes about my size must have started me on a little slide, and now I was thinking about how new all of this was, how scary. How much I was gonna miss home. And Dot.

I don’t think I was asleep for very long – it couldn’t have been, because the shadows in the room were in about the same place as I remembered. There was a light knocking at the door that woke me up. I was disoriented for a couple of nanos, but finally I placed myself and called out “Hello?” in a muzzy voice.

“Hello! Permission to enter, Cadet?”

It was a familiar voice, and it brought a smile to my face. “Yeah! Come in!” I’d seen Ray a couple of times since he and Mouse had left when I was 1.0 – he’d been back for short visits, strategy sessions and stuff. But I’d never been happier to see him than I was right now – he was a friendly face, and that meant the net to me.

“Hey, Kiddo! You made it!”

“Ray!” I bounced off the bed and I know I was grinning a system wide. Before he knew it I wrapped myself around him and hugged him as tight as I could, which seemed to surprise him a bit. “How you doing?”

“No worries!” he chuckled. He pounded me on the back a couple times and looked around the room. “So this is home, eh?”

“Yup.”

He ruffled my hair and let me go, and grabbed a chair, spinning it around backwards. He sat and I flopped down on the bed, still grinning. “User, its good to see you, Mate! Did you and Bob have a good trip?”

“Yeah, pixelacious. Where’s Mouse?”

“Supercomputer.” Ray must have seen the look of alarm on my face. “I know, Kid – but she can handle herself. She’s doing a little sabotage and espionage, you know.” He tapped his nose slyly and smiled. “She’ll be back in time for classes. How you settling in?”

“OK, I guess. It’s a little too much to take it all in right now.”

“You’ll manage it, no worries. Just have to get the feel of the waves a little bit, then you’ll be gold. I see you brought your surfboard.”

“Sure.” I grinned. “I’m getting pretty good on it – maybe you could give me a few lessons, when you have time.”

“Definitely.” He leaned across a little closer. “Listen Mate – one thing I do hafta tell you… You know I’m a teacher here and everything – I have to be careful not to look like I’m playing favorites, y’know?”

“Oh sure, I know that…” I guess I felt a little hurt, but I knew he was right.

He tousled my hair again. “Tough thing, Kiddo. Not really good for a teacher to be friends with the students – but we’re definitely mates, and we always will be. I guess we just need to be a little careful about palling around too much in front of the other blokes – know what I mean?”

“Yeah – definitely. That’s cool.”

“Good lad. Doesn’t change a thing, Enzo – you’re still one of my best mates, and I’ll definitely be there anytime you need to talk or just hang out. Let’s just keep it low-key, and it’ll be fine. OK?”

“No worries.” I smiled.

“Heh! All you young blokes are starting to talk like me!” He sat next to me and wrapped his arm around me. “Don’t worry too much – you’ll get through this fine. Good people here, Enzo – the teachers really care about the kids, and the kids really believe in what they’re doing. Bright lad like you is gonna fit right in. And if you ever need me, just call me.”

“Thanks, Ray.” It was definitely a relief knowing that Ray and Mouse would be around – that there was at least someone here who knew me for who I was. The Mainframe Enzo. Because after Bob went home this place seemed like it was going to feel pretty lonely…

* * *

I don’t remember a lot about the next few micros. Bob came back to the room and he and Ray greeted each other like long-lost brothers. Definitely the two coolest guys I knew, and along with AndrAIa the coolest sprites in the net. Matrix is my brother and I love him with all my heart, but he’s definitely not cool.

The three of us went and had dinner in Laser’s apartment, which was pretty much like his office – plain. I don’t think Laser can cook to save his code, so we ordered a bunch of stuff from a restaurant in the town. I didn’t say a whole lot during the meal – I was a little bit intimidated by the three of them, and a little overwhelmed by the whole cycle. I wasn’t even really sure I wanted to eat, to be honest – but the food smelled really good and I hadn’t eaten all day and that kinda overcame the nervousness in my stomach so I ate. A lot.

After we’d eaten Bob asked me if I wanted to go out and take a look at the town – Ray said there wasn’t much to it, but the people were nice enough. I begged off and said I was tired – which was pretty much true. Bob promised to take me around town the next day after breakfast and I said that would be cool. I told Bob I was gonna hang out in my room and he said he’d be back after a little while. I knew he and the others wanted to talk Daemon – normally I’d have killed to be there, but I’d already had too much input that cycle. Besides, I knew they’d only really talk about it after I was gone.

I walked around the campus a little bit before I went home (home – that was gonna take some getting used to…) just to burn off some nervousness. It was almost totally dark out and the streetlights around the campus were starting to flicker on. There was a path that wound between the buildings and around behind the campus, overlooking the far side of the hill. There were hardly any sprites around. In the dim light it was actually kinda beautiful. I just stood there for a while and watched the lights flickering on and tried to let my brain go dead for a few micros.

I took the long way back to the boys’ dorm, following the path all the way around the perimeter of the campus buildings. I was enjoying the quiet, but I also kinda wanted to walk by the girls’ dorm, too – I dunno what I expected to see and I didn’t end up seeing anything except a quiet building that looked just like mine. Feeling vaguely disappointed, I headed back for home.

I could hear a couple of people yelling when I got into the main corridor – they sounded like kids my age or a little older, and they sounded like they were having fun. Probably in the rec room. I thought real hard about going over there – a part of me really, really wanted to. But another part of me was afraid, no matter what Bob had said earlier. And right then that part was stronger. I stood and listened to them for a couple of nanos, then took the elevator upstairs to my room, hating myself just a little bit for doing it.

Once I was back in my room I started to feel really lonely. I almost went back out and tried to find Laser’s apartment again just so I wouldn’t have to be by myself, but I didn’t. That would have made me look pretty basic. Being alone wasn’t anything really new for me – especially since Mac was born I’d been spending a lot more time by myself. But that was different – I knew that at the end of the cycle Dot would always be there, and Bob was always close by if I needed him. But that’s not how it was gonna be here.

I tried to think about Matrix – about everything he’d been through, and how much worse that was. How I was being a baby. But I’m not Matrix. I don’t have AndrAIa. And my life is different than his life. Maybe I’d had too much time to think about everything. And right then everything was new and scary…

I could feel that sense of being overwhelmed creeping up on me again, no matter how hard I tried to fight it off. I felt about 0.0 – alone and scared. I just kept thinking about how I wasn’t going to be sleeping in my own bed in my own room, and Dot wasn’t gonna be there in the morning or even to kiss me goodnight. Every cycle I can remember, no matter how busy or pregnant she was or what stuff was going on with Hex or Daemon or anybody else, Dot always kissed me goodnight. But not tonight.

It’s funny how it’s the little things that bother me so much – I’d been noticing that more and more as I got older. I needed something to distract me – anything at all. My eyes fell on the organizer sitting on the desk and I got up to grab it, figuring on looking at the readme file Helix told me about. I initialized it like he said to – I didn’t even need to think about a password. “AndrAIa”. That was a password I’d never forget, ever. And just as I was getting ready to pull up the readme file there was a beep and the “Incoming Call” icon flashed.

I was so surprised I just stared at it for a nano as it flashed and beeped at me. Finally, I shook myself out of it and tapped the icon and the call window opened. And there she was, staring right up at me like she’d been reading my thoughts.

“Dot!”

“Hi, Sweetie.” She said it casually, like she was just sitting in the next room. She had a big smile on her face. “How are you?”

“Dot!” I was so surprised to see her – she seemed totally out of place in this place. But at the same time her face was the most natural sight I’ve ever seen in my life – it always has been.

“I know who I am, Enzo. Are you all right?”

“Uh, yeah! I’m fine. I’m just – surprised. I didn’t think you’d call…”

“Well, it wasn’t easy.” She giggled. “You have no idea how hard it was, actually – Mouse has more security protocols tied into our locations than anyplace else in the net, probably. But I just thought – well… It was your first night away and all, I thought it’d be nice.”

“Oh, yeah! I’m glad you called.” I sat down at the desk and put my face close to the organizer, probably too close but I just wanted to see every pixel of her face. I felt about 0.0 again, but this time it was in a good way. “Dot, I’m so glad to see you.”

“You too, Kiddo. How’s the cycle gone – everything OK? Where’s Bob?”

“With Laser. I’m OK - just tired. I still can’t really believe I’m here.”

“Well – you’ve had a big cycle. How do you like Gallifrey so far? How’s the Academy?”

“It’s fine.” I sighed. It was enough just to be talking to her, so I could hardly concentrate on what I was saying. “Not like home. But its fine.”

“Oh, Sweetie…” I could see sadness creep into her expression for the first time. “You’ll get used to it, I’m sure. Every place is different. How’s Laser?”

“Cool. He seems really happy. I saw Ray, too.”

Dot grinned. “How is he? Is Mouse there?”

“Not yet – she’ll be back in a couple of cycles.” I decided not to tell Dot about the Supercomputer – there really wasn’t any reason to worry her about it. “And Ray’s alphanumeric – he’s a great guy. He said we were best mates and he’d help me whenever I needed him to.”

“That’s wonderful!”

“Yeah, he’s great.” I stared at her for a nano, then just blurted out what I’d been thinking the whole time. “Dot, I miss you.”

“Enzo, I… I miss you too.” She smiled, but I could tell it was an effort. Maybe she was thinking If he misses me on the first night, what’s he gonna be like in a few minutes… But she didn’t say that. “I know this isn’t easy for you, Angel. It’s not easy for me either. But I promise you it’ll get better – you’ll get used to it. You’ll make friends, forget all about Mainframe most of the time.”

“No I won’t. Never.” I tried to smile back at her. “I’m worried about the other kids, Dot. I don’t know how to talk to them…”

“I know. But you will – once the novelty wears off you’ll see they’re just sprites, like you. You’ll make lots of friends, I promise. You’re a sweet boy – they’ll like you just fine.”

“Maybe.” I sighed.

“I can’t tell you not to worry, Enzo. I know you will anyway. But I know you – and that’s why I’m not worried. If I weren’t sure you’d be happy I’d have told you to stay home. But I am sure – as sure as I’ve ever been of anything.”

“Really? You promise?”

“Cross my heart. You’ll have a great time, I know it. And we’ll see each other plenty. I know it’ll be hard to be apart, but it won’t be all the time and it won’t be forever. Try to think about that, OK?”

“OK.” User, it was good to see her face – but it was incredibly painful, too. Not having Dot with me was like a great big hole ripped out of my gut. Dot has been my whole life since I was 0.4. I knew she couldn’t call me every cycle, either – it was a security pain in the bitmap, and Laser wouldn’t be thrilled to know she was doing it. “I’ll try, promise.”

“Good boy. You want to say Hi to Mac?”

“Sure.” She disappeared for a few nanos, then popped back up holding Mac under the arms. He looked kinda grumpy. “Hey, Sprout!”

“He’s tired – I’m about to put him down for the night. Wave to your uncle, Sweetie!” She held his arm up and waved it at me, and I giggled. Mac didn’t – he looked at her like she was a three-headed null. “He’s tired. I’m gonna set him down in his crib – don’t go away.”

“Night, Mac.” I waved back at him. They disappeared off the vidscreen, and then Dot appeared again a nano later. “Hey.”

“Hey, you.” She grinned. “Miss me?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “Sweetie, I miss you too. Just because you aren’t here that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you every nano – you know that, right?”

“Sure, Sis. I know.” And I did, I guess, although it was hard not to feel sorry for myself.

“Good. It doesn’t matter if you’re away for a little while – I’ll always be thinking about you. Always. And when you come home I’ll be waiting. Remember what I told you – I’ll never love anyone else the way I love you. Never. OK?”

“OK, Dot.” It was getting hard to talk. “I love you.”

“I love you, Honey. With all my heart. I’ll see you in six minutes. A little less, now! And if you really need me – we’ll talk. Say Hi to Bob and tell him I’ll see him soon, OK?”

“I will.” I croaked.

“OK then.” She kissed her hand and blew the kiss to me. “Have fun, Enzo. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye. Love you.” We smiled at each other, and she terminated the connection. I closed up the organizer – there was no way I could pay attention to the readme now – and wiped my eyes. I sat down on the bed to wait for Bob.

* * *

It was hard to know exactly what I was feeling that night – so much had happened, so much was going to happen – there were emotions churning all through my processor and I couldn’t really get a grasp of them. The closest I’d felt was when Mac was born – sitting there in the hospital, watching Dot and her new baby… I was filled with emotions I didn’t understand then, too, and they were pulling me every which way. I was facing a big unknown. But in some ways this was even worse.

All I can say is, thank the User Bob was there with me that night. He knew what I was feeling – well, maybe not what exactly, but he knew I was scared and unsure and all that stuff. Bob isn’t real big on emotional stuff most of the time – he likes to kid around and get rid of tension that way. But he feels stuff just as much as anybody, and he knew I needed him just like he’d known earlier, after we ran into the boy and girl outside Laser’s office. And he was there for me.

After Bob got back to my room he helped me unpack my stuff a little and he showed me how to customize my organizer with my height and weight and all that stuff, for wardrobe upgrades. I downloaded a bunch of stuff – an extra dress uniform, some sweats, and some shorts and t-shirts. I rebooted into blue shorts and a t-shirt and Bob and I sat next to each other on the bed, leaning on the wall and not saying much of anything for a while.

“So – big cycle, huh? I’m beat.”

“Me too.”

“You wanna go to sleep? Or stay up a while?”

“Stay up.” I smiled at him. “I’ve got too much in my processor to sleep for a while. Is that OK?”

“Sure it’s OK!” Bob laughed. “I don’t blame you. It’s all an awful lot to think about, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“No classes tomorrow anyway – we don’t need to be up early. We’ll have some breakfast and check out the city for a while. You want to watch a vidscreen or something?”

“Nah – that’s OK.”

“Cool.” Neither of us said anything for a few nanos.

“Thanks for staying with me, Bob.”

“No problem.” He ruffled my hair. “How about a guitar lesson, since we have a few micros?”

I wasn’t sure I was up for a guitar lesson right then – I didn’t think I could pay attention, anyway. “Could you maybe just play for a while? That’d be alphanumeric.”

“Sure.” Bob grinned and got up to get my guitar out of the case. He sat next to me again. “Electric or acoustic?”

“Acoustic.” It felt like it would fit my mood better.

“Acoustic it is.” Bob tuned the guitar for a few nanos, humming and mumbling to himself as he did it. “Any requests?”

“Something slow.”

“Slow. Got it.” He started to pick out a tune, something in G-minor, which I’d learned was my favorite key even though I still didn’t know very much about music. G-minor is a key that cuts straight through me, for some reason.

Bob is a pixelacious guitar player. He can play really fast when he wants to – when he rocks, he rocks hard. But he’s really great on slow stuff, too – and when he played, it just carried me right along with it. I could feel the music inside me and even though it had a sad sound to it, it made me feel better. For a few nanos all my processor could think about was the music.

“That was really nice. What was it?”

“’American Tune.’” He smiled. “One of my favorites.” He picked on the guitar for a while, not really a song, just doodling. He looked down at me. “How about singing one?”

“Sing? I don’t think so…”

“C’mon – it’ll be good. How about it?”

I guess I should say that I’m a pretty good singer – it must run in my family ‘cause Dot is an alphanumeric one, and I remember my Mom’s voice and it was really beautiful. Sometimes it was all I remembered about her, but it was clear as if she was right there. Anyway, I can sing good too – but I don’t like it very much.

For one thing, my voice is still really high - straight soprano - and that kinda bugs me. Singing also doesn’t really seem like a Guardian thing to me – I dunno, it just doesn’t. So I always tried not to sing if I could avoid it, but Dot knows I have a nice voice and she was always trying to get me to. I sang with her sometimes, when it was just us – and that was OK, I guess. But she talked me into singing with her in front of Bob, once, and now he knows too.

But I still don’t like to. I get very embarrassed, especially in front of Bob. But he asked me again. “I’ll bet it makes you feel better, Kiddo. Music is like that – it transports you. And making it is even better than listening to it. How about it?”

I really didn’t want to but I also didn’t want to say no to Bob, ‘cause he was being so nice to me. He’d taught me a few songs since I got the guitar and I thought about it and decided that if Bob and me were really close like I hoped we were, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. So I said I’d do it.

“You call the tune, Maestro.”

I thought for a nano. There was a song that was running through my head for some reason, one I knew pretty well. “How about ‘Ramblin’ Boy’?”

He arched his eyebrows and looked a little surprised. “I don’t remember teaching you that one! That’s a good song, Enzo. Sure, ‘Ramblin’ Boy’ it is. Ready?”

“Sure.” He started to pick out the intro on the guitar and I closed my eyes, just tried to lose myself in the sound. I don’t really understand the lyrics to ‘Ramblin’ Boy’, but there’s something about them I like…

He was a man and a friend always
He stuck with me in the hard old days.
He never cared if I had no dough
We rambled 'round in the rain and snow.

And here's to you my ramblin' boy
May all your ramblin' bring you joy
And here's to you my ramblin' boy
May all your ramblin' bring you joy.

It’s a traveling song, I know that much. And it’s a song about being really good friends. I liked that. After that verse it starts to get really sad…

In Mainframe town we chanced to stray
We thought we'd try to work one day
The boss said he had room for one
Says my old pal, "We'd rather bum!"

And here's to you my ramblin' boy
May all your ramblin' bring you joy
And here's to you my ramblin' boy
May all your ramblin' bring you joy.

I guess that song should have depressed me – it’s sad, the guy’s friend deletes and everything. Like I said, I don’t really understand all of it – but it didn’t depress me for some reason. It just made me think of home and being away and having friends and missing them, and it made me think of Matrix, too. It weird how songs can take you away from where you are to a totally different place, for so special reason except just being what they are.

I opened my eyes and I realized I was leaning over against Bob with my head against his shoulder. “Nice job, Tiger.”

“Thanks.” I smiled. “I don’t like singing, though – it’s embarrassing.”

“No reason to be embarrassed with that voice of yours. Wanna do another?”

“Naw – just play some more, OK?”

“You got it.” He played for a while and I leaned against him, and I closed my eyes again and just listened and didn’t say anything. Before I knew it was thirty-two hundred and now I was so tired that even all my nervousness and weird thoughts couldn’t keep me awake much longer.

I was dimly aware that Bob had stopped playing, and he stood up and lowered me into bed. He put my guitar away and knelt next to me. “Time to sleep I think, Tiger. You look almost as tired as I feel.”

“K.” I yawned. He stroked my hair a couple of times and walked over to the other bed. My roommate’s bed.

“Probably ought to make you brush your teeth but what the heck – Dot’s not here, let’s go nuts.”

“Bet he’ll be excited.” I smiled.

He stretched out on the bed and slipped under the blanket. “Mmm? Who’s that?”

“My roommate. He’ll go offline when he finds out Guardian 452 slept in his bed.”

Bob laughed. “Another lasting legacy of my visit, huh? Another impressionable young sprite whose life will be forever changed.”

“Yeah.” I stretched out and lay back with my hands behind my head, staring at the ceiling. It was a cycle of firsts, and I guess this was the last one – my first night sleeping away from home.

“Boy, I’d forgotten what these dorms are like. Sure brings back a lot of old RAM…”

“I bet. Thanks again for staying with me, Bob-“

“Gotta sleep somewhere.” He rolled over on his elbow and stared at me. “I’m really proud of you, Enzo. I just want you to know.”

“Thanks.” I whispered.

“I don’t think there’s a father anywhere prouder than me. If Mac grows up to be anything like you, I’ll be the happiest sprite in the net.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’re my kid, Tiger – no matter what happens. And you always will be. Don’t ever let anyone tell you different. Where we’re born doesn’t matter – the only thing that matters is how we feel. Right?”

“Right.” I rasped.

“And you know how I feel.”

“Me too.” And as much as Bob had meant to me since we’d met, he’d never meant as much as he did that nano. “Thanks, Bob. Me too.”

“OK, then.” He grinned at me from across the room. “Get some sleep. Another big cycle tomorrow.”

“OK. Night, Bob.”

“Night, Kiddo. Sweet dreams.” He deleted the light and I closed my eyes, just hanging onto everything Bob had said and done all cycle. And almost before I had time to think again about being in a strange bed, I was asleep.

* * *

One more first.

Waking up in my bed in the dorm – that was definitely a little weird. Wake up in the same bed every morning for nine hours straight and tell me it wouldn’t be weird to wake up in a different one. It was.

I had some very scraggy dreams that night, mostly concerned with being lost and not being able to find my way home. I’m no Phong but it’s pretty easy to figure out what was going on in my processor. So I don’t think I slept all that well, and in addition to that I was incredibly wrung out to begin with and Bob and me had stayed up late the night before.

So… I didn’t wake up on my own the next morning. Bob woke me up, and his voice was the first thing I remember. Dot usually woke me up when I didn’t get up myself. Basically, every cycle. Once in a while Bob did, though, since he’d moved in with us. So at first it didn’t seem all that unusual.

After I finally opened my eyes, though, it all came back to me. I saw light streaming in through the window behind Bob and I knew I wasn’t home. Not the home I’d known, anyways. The whole last cycle launched itself in my processor in a fraction of a nano. “Hey.”

“Hey, Tiger. About time! C’mon, roll out and face the cycle already.”

I yawned and stretched, and my muscles hurt from sleeping too long. “What time is it?”

“Almost nine-hundred, sleepyhead.”

“Crash…”

“Yup – won’t be getting’ away with that once Academy starts. Up and at ‘em.”

“In a nano.” I yawned again and when I opened my eyes Bob was still kneeling by the bed, grinning at me. “What?”

“Nothing.” He stroked my hair again, like he had before I fell asleep. “Just filing and saving, that’s all. C’mon.” He grabbed my hands and yanked me upright.

“Stop!” I giggled.

“I’m hungry – move your ascii. And don’t tell Dot I said that.”

“OK, I’m going.” I pulled the blanket back and sat over the edge of the bed.

“I already showered – it’s just down the hall, two doors. You wanna grab one?”

I looked down. “Uh… No. I’ll just brush my teeth and change and everything.”

He frowned. “Whatever you say, Kiddo.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed my bathroom stuff and headed down the hall before he could say anything. It was a subject I didn’t feel like talking about with Bob. My stomach was already growling, though, and after a couple of nanos all I could think about was breakfast.

* * *

After the cycle before being so intense – going from one extreme feeling to another, one scary and exciting new experience to another – I was pretty burned out. My senses felt a little dull, and my emotions started out sort of behind a wall where I could see them, but not totally feel them.

I remember feeling like I just wanted to hang on to Bob as long as I could, because I knew in a cycle or so he’d be gone and then I’d be all alone. More or less. We spent some time in Gallifrey Town, starting with breakfast in a place called “Borusa’s” which looked about as close to Dot’s Diner as anywhere in the system. I was hungry and the food was good, probably better than what I’d be getting in the mess hall the way I figured it. So I ate a lot and even made Bob laugh because I ate so much.

We walked around the town for a while, just checking out the lay of the system. Cadets were allowed to go into town on our free cycles as long we were back by curfew, so I really did want to get a little idea of what it was like. It was OK – there were quite a few cafes and restaurants, some shops and a department store. I didn’t see anything that looked remotely like Baudway, or Floating Point, or Kits… Dunno why I would have, but Mainframe was the only place I knew and on some level I kept thinking other places must be a lot like it. Guess not.

Bob and I ducked into a couple of places just to look around, and the owners were very friendly. I wore my uniform and so did Bob so everyone knew we were in the Collective, and maybe that’s part of the reason. I got the feeling having the Academy in the system meant a lot of credits for the people there, which was fine. I knew from Mainframe that businesses aren’t always happy when a kid walks in the door, so I doubted all that friendliness was from the goodness of their hearts.

I didn’t see a whole lot of cadets walking around – there were only a few kids, and none of them in uniform although I guessed most of them were cadets. Maybe I’d get to the stage some cycle where I didn’t want to wear my uniform unless I had to - but I sure hoped not.

Bob tried to encourage me to talk to the kids we saw, but I begged off. I could tell it worried him a little bit but he wasn’t gonna push me – I think he was trying to let me deal with my problems on my own. But I was definitely wasn’t dealing with this one – I was avoiding it for as long as I could.

My favorite place in town was a kind of arcade where they had something called “Pixels” which looked like the closest thing Gallifrey had to our jetball. They had a sort of obstacle course and you had to go out and try and shoot everybody you were playing against with a pixel gun – it actually shot pixels, but you wear a protective suit – and if you zapped them they were out of the game. You could either get a whole team together or just go in on your own and play free-for-all. It was- well… It was pixelacious, it really was! Bob paid for us and we played for about ten micros and it was a total blast. It felt great to just forget everything and concentrate on something simple.

After we played we headed back to the Academy and I showed Bob the path I’d taken the night before. It was a beautiful cycle – nice and warm, just like Mainframe – and the campus buildings were shining gold in the bright light. It was really something to see.

Bob pretty much remembered the schematics and he pointed the various buildings out to me as we walked by them. There was a little more to the campus than I’d realized – there was the main building at the hub of the circle, the staff apartment building, a couple of different classroom buildings, the playing fields… Bob identified them one by one as we passed them, until we came to the girls’ dorm.

“I know – I walked by here last night.”

“You did? Why?” I didn’t look at him but I could sense him grinning, and I immediately regretted mentioning it.

“I… I dunno. Just curious, I guess.”

“Curious? I’ll just bet you were.” He chuckled. “Don’t forget what Dad said, Enzo – he wasn’t kidding.”

“I know.” I sighed. “I wasn’t doin’ anything!”

He put his arm around my shoulder and slowed down. “Sure brings back a lot of memories. Crash, does it ever! Pretty faces. Sneaking around in the middle of the night. Panty-raids…”

“’Panty-raids’?” I frowned. “What’s a ‘panty-raid’?”

He stopped, like he didn’t realize he’d been talking and not just thinking. “Never mind, you. Nothing you want to know about.” He started walking faster.

“But, Bob-“

“Never mind, Kiddo!”

“Jeez…” It didn’t take a genius to figure out why Bob didn’t want to talk about it – I pretty much knew what area he’d blundered into. I had a burning curiosity but I let it go. Bob and I had a talk before we left Mainframe and I was glad we had, but there was stuff I was gonna have to figure out on my own.

When we got back to the boys’ dorm I’d forgotten all about panty-raids and Bob and I were talking about the class he was gonna teach come next semester. I couldn’t wait – the idea of being at the Academy and having Bob and Dot with me was almost too good to be true. I was dreaming about that and not paying much attention to what was happening around us, so when I decrypted the lock and open my door what I saw inside was a total shock.

He was on his bed lying on his stomach looking at his organizer – going through the readme, probably, which made me feel guilty because I hadn’t yet – and he was dressed in a cadet uniform that looked just like mine. He looked up and when he saw us, he bounced to his feet and smiled a little nervously.

“Hey!” Bob said, and I’m glad I did because I’d done my usual standing and staring and not saying anything routine, which would have left things pretty awkward after a few nanos. “Who might you be?”

“Hi – I’m Linux.” The kid stuck out his hand and Bob shook it with a goofy grin on his face, which seemed to relax him.

“Hey, Linux – glad to access your acquaintance. I’m Bob. This is Enzo – your new roommate.”

“Hey.”

Bob nudged me a little and that sorta woke me up. I shook the kid’s hand and tried to smile as best I could. “Hi. I… I’m Enzo. Good to meet you.”

“Hi, Enzo!” He seemed friendly. My roommate! It was a weird concept. Linux was only a little bit taller than me, but he looked a lot stronger. He had blond hair cut short, not as short as Ray’s but shorter than mine, and his skin was a pale tan. How old did Laser say he was – 1.4? And I was talking to him – another actual kid! Helix didn’t really count – he was practically an adult. This was a real kid – he barely looked older than me!

I say I was talking to him, but at first he seemed a lot more interested in Bob and I guess I can’t blame him. After he noticed Bob’s uniform he got a little nervous again. “Are… Are you a Guardian?”

“Yup.” Bob grinned. “And you guys will be too, soon enough.”

“Wow! Even the teachers aren’t Guardians anymore – that’s what my Dad said. Are you gonna be teaching here now?”

“Next semester – not this one. I know some of your teachers though – and they’re amazing sprites. You’ll learn a lot.”

“High density! Do you have a keytool, Guardian?”

“It’s Bob to my friends, Linux.” He chuckled. Bob was sorta monopolizing things, but that was OK – it gave me time to get my composure and like I said I didn’t blame the kid for being impressed. “I’ll let Enzo explain that, if he wants to. I have some stuff to do – I’m sure I’ll see you boys before dinner.”

I looked at him, pleading with my eyes. “Bob! D-don’t go! We could-“

“Sorry, Enzo – stuff to do.” Bob winked at me.

“But-“

“See you guys in a byte, OK? Have fun! Pleasure to meet you, Linux.” Crash! I knew deleted well what he was doing, and I was pretty ticked off.

“Uh – you too, Guar- I mean, Bob! It was an honor.”

“Same here.” He tousled my hair once real quickly and just like that, he was gone and I was alone with Linux. I was not ready for that, I knew I wasn’t…

Linux sat back down on the bed and grinned at me. “Wow - your Dad seems really high density, Enzo. That’s the first real Guardian I ever talked to!”

“Uh…” I couldn’t believe how scared and nervous I was – scared that this guy would think I was a dork and hate me and I’d have to live with him for the rest of the hour. But I didn’t know how not to be a dork – I just didn’t know what I was supposed to say to another kid my age. I tried to just concentrate on what he was saying so at least he wouldn’t think I was basic. “Bob isn’t my Dad – he just kind of helps take care of me, I guess. He and my sister.”

Linux looked puzzled. “What about your parents?”

“Um – they’re deleted. Dot’s been watching me since I was 0.4.”

Now Linux looked sad – and I realized, in a flash of insight, that having deleted parents might actually buy me some slack with the other kids. I don’t like people feeling sorry for me, but at that nano I was drowning in data and looking for anything I could grab onto. I hated myself for even thinking it, but I did. “Crash – sorry, Man. That’s rough.”

“Thanks.” I sighed, and looked sad. At least it’d given us something to talk about. I grabbed a chair and turned it around backwards like Ray had before I sat down. “You’re right about Bob though – he’s totally alphanumeric.”

“Alphanumeric? What’s that?”

I blushed. Strike one. “Uh – it’s nothing. It just means, like, ‘cool’, I guess.”

Linux smiled thoughtfully. “Alphanumeric – I like that. High density!”

“Yeah. So – you’re, um… From Helios?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Mainframe.”

“Huh – never heard of it.”

“Me neither. Helios I mean! What’s it like?”

“It’s OK.” He didn’t look all that thrilled. “Small system with ports to the net. My Dad is the Command.Com there.”

“Dude – no way! Dot’s the Command.Com in Mainframe!”

“Double-sided. Dot? She’s your sister?”

“Yeah!” I was so giddy that we were actually talking and had something almost in common that I blurted out something personal. “She’s really more like my Mom than my sister.” I cringed as soon as I said it. It sounded babyish to me.

“Yeah? That’s cool – she takes care of you and everything. Is she way older?”

Wow! He actually thought it was OK, not weird or anything. “Yeah – she’s about the same age as Bob.”

“Cool.” He leaned back and folded his arms behind his head, and I could feel myself start to relax just the tiniest byte. “So what’s Mainframe like?”

“Kinda like Helios, it sounds like. It’s a small system with ports to the net, too. But I love it – it’s the only place I’ve ever lived.”

“Really? We’ve lived a couple of other places – even in the Supercomputer for a while, before Daemon.”

“Dude – you lived in the Supercomputer?”

“Yeah!” he grinned. “It was high density – totally… alphanumeric! My older brother was going to the Academy while I lived there, and he used to get to visit us sometimes.”

“Pixelacious! Is that why you wanna be a Guardian?”

“Yeah. He was a great brother, and being a Guardian seemed like the coolest thing ever. But then Daemon came while he was a third-hour and now he’s… Infected. You know. And I haven’t seen him for hours.”

“Dude – that crashes…”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I wanna fight Daemon – I wanna delete her myself! This seemed liked the best way to do it. My Mom and my brother Dex didn’t want me to come – but I had to. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Definitely. Is Dex a Guardian too?”

“Nope. He works in the research archives with my Mom.”

“Got any other brothers or anything?”

“Nope – just my Mom and Dad. How ‘bout you?”

“Just my big sister Dot.” How could I explain Matrix – and not make the whole thing sound totally weird? “And she and Bob have a kid now – Mac! He’s not even an hour old yet. I’m his uncle but that’s just too weird – I think I’m more like his big brother, you know?”

“Sure, I guess. So – how’d you end up here?”

I decided not to tell him about Laser – not yet, anyway. “Bob. Ever since Bob came to Mainframe this is all I ever wanted to do. Bob’s totally the best. I don’t think Dot really wanted me to come either – but she let me.”

“Moms are like that.” Linux grinned.

“Yeah – I guess!” I grinned back. “Dot is – high density. Definitely.”

“Well, that’s cool.” He looked down, like he was a little embarrassed. “Actually, I was kinda glad to see you.”

Now I was puzzled. “Why?”

He looked up. “I didn’t exactly know what to expect. I wasn’t really sure there were gonna be any kids smaller than me here.”

That hurt – a lot – even though I don’t really think he meant it to. I looked away, towards my bed. “Oh.”

“No offense! I was just… Worried, I guess. I knew most of the cadets were older than us. How old are you, anyway?”

I almost didn’t answer him, but I knew that would make me look totally basic. “I’m 1.3.”

“Really? Wow! I mean – that’s cool, that you made it in so young and everything.”

“Yeah.” I think he was sorry he’d said what he did now, but I was just thinking how there wasn’t gonna be anyone I could look at and feel relieved that I was bigger and older. I was gonna be the one everybody else looked at and felt relieved. It was a very lonely feeling.

“I’m only 1.4 – so we’re practically the same age.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

“Don’t worry – we’ll do all right.” I guess he knew he’d hit a sore spot and upset me and he was really trying to make me feel better, which made me sort of like him. Which did make me feel better – a little, anyway. “I’m not gonna be scared of anybody just ‘cause they’re bigger than I am – I was the littlest in my family anyway so I always had to fight for everything. You were too, right?”

“Sure.” I looked back at him and smiled a little. I debated telling him right then and there that I wasn’t just the only little kid in my family – I was the only one in the system. But at the last nano I chickened out. “I guess it really won’t be any different that that, huh?”

“Naw –we’ll kick ascii.”

“Yeah – ascii!” I giggled. It was nice knowing I could swear without worrying about Dot getting on my case. “Besides – Bob has been training me since I was 1.0, so I think I can hold my own.”

“Dude – really? He’s been training you?”

“Yeah.” Now I felt on my own turf again. “Mainframe’s had a rough time – we almost got taken out by a virus. Megabyte - I hate him. Anyway – Bob invoked the emergency procedure and downloaded the protocols onto my icon when I was 1.0 and ever since then he’s been taking me into games and training me and stuff.”

“High density!” Linux gasped. I could tell he was impressed, but he also looked like he wasn’t absolutely convinced. But my icon was Guardian – that much was indisputable. Linux had a sprite icon – he was gonna get the cadet protocols at indoctrination the next day.

“Yeah. And you wanna know a secret?”

“What?”

I leaned forward. “I’ve seen Daemon. Well – I’ve seen her infection, anyway.”

“No way!”

“Uh huh. We’ve had infected games in Mainframe – I’ve been in two of them myself. Daemon took over the User somehow and corrupted the game codes. It was pretty scary.”

“Crash! That’s amazing!”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Jeez – you could be a second-hour, practically. Will you help me out if I start to fall behind and stuff?”

“Sure!” I started to feel a little guilty about bragging, especially since Linux had really tried to make me feel better before. “But it’s still gonna be pretty tough dealing with all those older cadets. I hear most of the first-hours are about 1.6.”

“Yeah. Gonna be tough.”

“We’ll do OK, I bet.” I grinned.

“Sure. Um… So – when did you get here, anyways?”

“Last cycle.”

“Cool. Have you, uh, seen any cute girls yet?”

“Girls?” I could feel myself blushing again. “Maybe. One or two.”

“Yeah?” His eyes got wide. “I’ll bet there are gonna be a lot of them. Cute girls.”

“I dunno. Maybe…”

“Do you have a girlfriend in Mainframe?”

“Uh… No. Definitely not. Do… Do you? In Helios I mean?”

“No.” he sighed. “Not yet.”

“Well, that’s OK. So if you get a girlfriend here, you don’t have to feel guilty or anything!” I was proud of myself for thinking of that – it almost sounded cool.

Linux laughed and blushed a little. Good to know I wasn’t the only one who did that. “Yeah – maybe!”

“Cool! Uh – can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Do you know what a ‘panty-raid’ is?”

He frowned. “Nuh-uh. It sounds kinda dirty, though.”

“Yeah – that’s what I thought.”

“But cool, maybe. What is it?”

I smiled. “I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me. Maybe we’ll find out…”

“Yeah.” He looked across at my stuff. “I saw your guitar – do you play?”

“Um… Not really. I can play a few chords and stuff but that’s it. Bob can play really alphanumeric, though – he’s teaching me.”

“Crash! Is there anything he can’t do?”

I laughed. “Stick to a schedule. Cook. Clean out the sink after he shaves. That’s what Dot says anyway. Other than that, pretty much anything.”

“Alphanumeric.” Linux grinned. Maybe it hadn’t been strike one after all.

“So – you like, just got here? Have you seen the campus and everything?”

“Not really. I just checked in at the office and they brought me over here.”

“There’s this awesome path – it goes all around the campus, up on the hill, and loops around back to the main building. It goes by everything – even the girls’ dorm. You want me to show you around?”

“Yeah, that’d be great! Thanks, Enzo.”

“No worries.” I grinned. I was glad Bob brought me two cycles early – it almost made me seem like a veteran.

It was a pretty amazing feeling walking around the campus with Linux – another kid, almost my age, right there next to me. Almost surreal. I’d sat and talked to him – and I’d actually liked it! He seemed to like me OK – he didn’t seem to think I was a dork, or weird, or a baby. A freak. In fact talking to him had almost been better than talking to the others in a way, because he’d gotten what I was talking about right away when sometimes somebody older just wouldn’t. It was alphanumeric! Were we friends? I suppose it was possible.

It felt like one hurdle cleared - that was definite. I’d actually talked to another kid and survived, and my roommate hadn’t turned out to be a null. Of course I hadn’t really had to deal with any big kids yet – Linux was basically little, like me. And he was a guy – which meant that I still had the big hurdle out there waiting for me, the one that was hovering over my processor like a virus. I still had to talk to a girl. An actual girl, not like AndrAIa but a real girl my age and User, was I terrified about that.

But at that nano I managed not to worry about it too much – hanging out with Linux was actually fun. I showed him around the campus, which was much busier than it had been the cycle before. Most of the cadets had arrived or were just arriving, and they were walking around the campus, getting familiar with it or getting re-acquainted. Some of them were in dress blues, some of them in casual stuff. Almost all of them were bigger than Linux, and all of them were bigger than me.

Linux and I didn’t stop and talk to anybody – I guess we were both feeling a little shy. Naturally a lot of the cadets we saw were girls, and I was amazed at the variety of girls there were. All different shapes and sizes. Fascinating shapes. Like I said we didn’t talk to them – I just hoped it wasn’t too obvious I was staring and that my face didn’t give away what I was thinking. Sometimes I’d catch myself wandering off, though – just looking at one of them and being totally hypnotized by how bizarre and wonderful it was just to be looking at them.

We were almost back at the dorm when a vidwindow opened up and Bob was there, grinning at us. “Hey, you two – having fun?”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “What’re you up to?”

“Boring stuff. I’m helping Laser out with logistics and he’s briefing me on what to expect for my class. What about you guys?”

“Just walking around and talking.”

“Yeah?” Bob grinned and me and saw me smiling back and he looked totally happy at that nano. “Sounds like fun. Listen – you think you can scrounge your own dinner tonight? This stuff with Laser could drag on for a while.”

“Really? But-“

“Mess hall’s open – They serve dinner at twenty-four hundred. Why don’t you and Linux eat there and I’ll meet you back at your room after?”

“Yeah – sure.” I was back to missing Bob again - just from talking to him for a nano I was thinking how he’d be leaving soon. “No problem.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you kids at the dorm.”

“Bye, Bob.”

“He’s awesome.”

I looked over at Linux and smiled. “Yeah – he’s amazing.”

“I wish my Dad would talk to me like that.”

“Like what?”

“You know – just regular. Like we were friends or something.”

“Oh.” I sensed maybe there was something deeper there, but I didn’t know Linux well enough to be sure. “Well – we are friends, in a way. But he’s like my Dad, too. It’s hard to describe…”

“Do… Do you remember your real Dad at all?”

I shrugged. “A little. He worked in the science archive, like your Mom. I was so young when he died that I hardly remember him.”

“How’d he delete?”

“Uh…” I wrestled with myself inside for a nano. “I kinda don’t like to talk about it. It was pretty bad.”

“Sorry!”

“No big deal.” I punched him on the shoulder to let him know I wasn’t mad. “Thanks. Like I said, Bob is like my Dad now. I don’t see how anybody could be a better Dad than Bob’s been for me. He’s the best.”

“That’s high density.” We were standing in front of the elevators now. “So – you wanna access something to eat? I’m dying!”

I checked my internal clock. “Yeah – I guess the mess hall is open. I’m pretty hungry too.” I usually was, and it had been a pretty big cycle what with the Pixels and meeting Linux and all the walking and stuff.

“You wanna eat here or the one in the Great Hall?”

“Great Hall? There’s a mess in the Great Hall?”

“Sure – one in each dorm, one in the Great Hall. Didn’t you access the readme file?”

I blushed again. “I got distracted. Where do you wanna go?” I know what I was thinking – if we ate in the Great Hall there’d be girls there, and we might end up talking to one. All of a sudden I wasn’t quite as hungry.

“Here, I guess.”

“Yeah – OK.” I was relieved and a little disappointed.

The mess in the boys’ dorm wasn’t anything special to look at. There were four long tables with benches – mostly empty at the nano we arrived – and that was about it for furniture. There was a counter on the far end of the room, and you could see the kitchen on the other side of it. There was a vidwindow showing what kind of food and stuff they had that cycle. And one old lady binome behind the counter serving the stuff up. Probably a local, I guess.

Linux and I grabbed a tray and I ordered some lasagna and garlic bread, and she handed me a salad too which I guess came with it because adults are always trying to get kids to eat stuff like that. I grabbed an energy shake and waited for Linux and once he had his food, we turned around and started thinking about where we were gonna sit.

Like I said most of the tables were pretty empty, so it’s not like we were gonna have to squeeze in anywhere. I don’t think either one of us wanted to say it but I think we were both debating whether we wanted to try and talk to anybody else or not. I’d have been just as happy with not – it’s like I’d expanded my safety bubble just a little to include Linux and that was good enough for now – but he pointed to a little knot of kids that didn’t look too hairy and grown up and said “Let’s sit there.” and took off without waiting for me to answer. I wasn’t about to eat by myself, so I gulped a couple of times and followed him.

Before we sat down a couple more kids joined them, on the other side. We sat down next to the group – five boys. I call them ‘boys’ but I’m a boy, and up close a couple of them – the new ones - didn’t look like the same species of sprite as me. They looked very, very adult – one of them even had a little stubble on his face. The other three were more like me and Linux – kids. They looked like they might be 1.5, 1.6 - I didn’t really feel too confident guessing. The three younger kids were in uniform and the older two were in sweats.

I nodded in the direction of the others, and a couple of them nodded back and smiled. I was debating whether I should say something or not, so I’d started in on my salad to stall for time, when Linux spoke up. “So – you guys second-hours?”

“I am.” Stubble-face said. He pointed at the other kid in sweats. “Zip too. These guys are all first-hours – you can tell ‘cause they’re wearing the uniform on a free cycle!” The two older guys laughed and I giggled nervously.

“I’m Linux – this is Enzo, my roommate.” I had to hand it to him – he was trying to fit in a lot quicker than I had.

“Hey.” I said, and raised my hand in a little wave. One of the younger kids said ‘Hey’ back and the others nodded a greeting.

“I’m Quantum – this is Zip.” Stubble-face said without smiling. “You’re the kid that came in with Guardian 452, aren’t you?”

“Um… Yeah.” I wasn’t sure where this might be going, but it scared me a little to be the center of the big kids’ attention. “How’d ya know?”

“Word gets around.” Quantum smiled.

“Who’s Guardian 452?” one of the younger boys asked.

“Kids!” Zip cackled.

“He’s kind of a legend around here.” Quantum continued. “Is he your Dad?”

“Sor of. My Dad’s deleted, but Bob helps look after me back home.”

“Sorry, Kid. But you’re pretty lucky. How old are you?”

That seemed to be a popular question around here when people got a look at me. “I’m 1.3. But Bob downloaded the protocols when I was 1.0.” I knew as soon as I said it that it was risky – I didn’t want to come off like I was bragging to a bunch of big kids who’d take it as a challenge.

“Youngest kid I’ve seen here.” Zip said thoughtfully. “But I guess when you’re in with a legend that doesn’t matter.”

“I-“ I started to jab back at him, but I knew it’d be a mistake. It was too early to make enemies in a place when you didn’t have any friends yet. “Yeah – maybe. I know I wouldn’t be here if Bob hadn’t been helping me. But I wouldn’t even want to be a Guardian if it wasn’t for Bob, so that’s OK.”

Quantum seemed to approve of that answer – he nodded thoughtfully. The three younger kids were sitting quietly, not wanting to step on the seconds’ conversation. “What about you, Kid? What’s your story?” Zip asked Linux. I took the opportunity to start wolfing down my lasagna.

“I’m from Helios. My brother was a third-hour when the Collective was infected, and ever since I found out the Academy was open again I’ve wanted to come.”

“That’s cool.” Quantum nodded. He shot his arm out and wrapped one of the younger guys in a headlock, and I almost dropped my fork. The kid protested but Quantum just grinned. “This pathetic runt is my brother Rom – the others don’t matter. They’re just sprouts.”

I finally did drop my fork. “They’re what?”

“Sprouts. First-hours. Mama’s boys. What’s eating you?”

“Nothing, I… It’s just that my… My friend, Matrix – he calls me ‘Sprout’. I don’t think he has any idea they use it here, though. That’s pretty random.”

“Yeah, that’s weird. He’s never been to the Academy?”

“No. He-“ Again, how to explain Matrix - and me, for that matter - without it seeming really weird? I let it go. “No, he never has. Just a coincidence.”

“Yeah – I guess.” He finally let his brother go, and the kid punched him on the shoulder but Quantum just laughed. “You guys stay out of trouble and you’ll do all right.”

“Thanks.” Linux smiled. “We’ll try.”

I picked up my fork and started in on the food again. It really wasn’t bad – it wasn’t Dot’s, but it was filling and it tasted OK. Especially the garlic bread – I love garlic bread. But just when I was really getting into a zone I dropped my fork again because all of a sudden I couldn’t see. Someone’s hands were covering my eyes. I started to bounce out of my chair but their elbows were on my shoulders and I couldn’t stand up. I was starting to panic that I was gonna get beat up or something when a voice said, “Guess who.”

“Mouse?” I squeaked.

“Looks like they’ll let just about anyone in here these cycles!” She let me go and straddled the bench next to me, grinning. “A little baud told me I might find you here. How ya doin’, Pumpkin?”

“Good!” I hadn’t seen Mouse for ages – not since she’d been to Mainframe when I was 1.1. I beamed – it was good to see another friendly face. She looked exactly the same. “How was – Uh… How was your trip?”

She winked. “Good Sugar, real good. User, you’ve grown! I hardly recognize you.” She pinched my cheek, which I could have processed without.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“See you’ve hooked up with Quantum already – he’s trouble.” She chuckled and shook her head in his direction. “How you doin’, Honey?”

“Fine, Mouse.” I guess Mouse didn’t care for ‘Miss’ or anything like that.

“Stayin’ out of trouble?”

“I haven’t even been back a cycle yet!”

“Good point.” She turned to Zip and her face hardened a little. “Mister Zip. Back to torture us for another semester, huh?”

“Thank you, Mouse. I’m looking forward to your class very much.”

“I’m sure ya are, Sugar.” Mouse sighed. “The rest of you I don’t recognize. Is one of you Enzo’s roommate?”

Linux raised his hand. “Me, Ma’am.”

Mouse narrowed her eyes. “Honey, I know yer a Sprout and all… But if y’all want to live to see another cycle you won’t call me that again. Think you can manage that?”

I just barely avoided laughing at the terrified expression on Linux’ face. “Uh… S-s-sorry Ma – Mouse! I’m very sorry.”

Mouse threw her head back and laughed. “It’s a joke, Sugar! But just call me Mouse from now on, OK?”

Linux smiled tentatively. “Sure. Mouse, right. Sorry!”

She shook her head and winked at me. “All you new guys, welcome. Don’t let me catch you getting’ into trouble, all right? And watch out for these two.”

“Mouse!” Quantum gasped.

“Save it, Hotshot. And use a blade next time, hear me?” She turned to me. “User, it’s good to see ya again, Pumpkin. You relax and try to have fun, OK? There’s a lot of fun to be had around here.”

“I will Mouse.” I grinned. “Thanks. It’s good to see you, too.”

She patted my cheek. “This is a good kid, y’all. A good kid.” She bounced up from the table. “See you boys in the trenches. Stay away from the jello – it’ll get ya every time.” She grinned back at us once and breezed out of the hall.

“Wow!” Linux whispered. He was looking at me with a sort of awed expression.

“You know Mouse, huh?” Quantum asked.

“You’ve just got all sorts of friends around here, don’t you?” Zip said softly.

I looked at Zip nervously and back at Quantum. “Er… Yeah. She helped us out when Mainframe was under viral attack.”

“What does she teach?” One of the younger kids said in an awed whisper.

“Hacking. Both kinds.” Quantum made a chopping motion in the air.

“Wouldn’t want to meet her in a dark drive bay…”

Quantum was staring at me thoughtfully. I shrugged and smiled, and tried to turn my attention back to my food. The rest of the meal passed without much conversation, but I was feeling distinctly uneasy.

* * *

Linux didn’t talk to me too much as we took the elevator upstairs and settled back into our room. I felt bad – I thought we were starting to be friends but it seemed like he felt weird about everybody knowing who Bob was and about me knowing Mouse. The idea of having a friend was so great that I couldn’t deal with the possibility of losing him already. I just wanted so much for him to like me.

We were sitting on our beds, just relaxing. I finally accessed the readme file and figured out where my bitmap was supposed to be and when, and I looked up and caught him staring at me. I smiled the friendliest smile I could. “Hope Mouse didn’t freak you out too much.”

“No – she’s OK.” He said dubiously.

“She really is! She’s just like a family friend, that’s all. She gave me my surfboard, actually. She can be pretty scary if she doesn’t like you, but she’s great to have on your side. I haven’t seen her in forever.”

“Sure.” He nodded. “She’s pretty- well…”

“Yeah, she is. Boy, those guys were big, huh? Quantum looks old enough to be a teacher! Kinda scary.”

“A little.”

“I guess it’ll be OK.” I just wanted him to forget about Mouse and Bob and for us to be little kids again – us against all the big people. Teammates. “I heard Laser was the youngest cadet when he went to the Academy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And he’s done pretty good. So we can handle it.”

He smiled tentatively. “I guess. I wish I had all the experience with this stuff that you do.”

“I haven’t ever been through anything like this. I’ve never even been away from home before. That’s why I’m glad I got a cool roommate – having to live with a jerk for the whole hour would’ve been totally scraggy.”

“Sure. No problem.” I could see him relaxing now – I think deep down he needed me as a friend almost as much as I needed him. “I’ve been away before, for a few cycles. It’s tough, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Really? Thanks! I hope so.” I grinned. “Let’s promise to help each other out as long as we’re here, OK? So we don’t have to deal with stuff by ourselves. Promise?”

“Sure, Enzo – promise. Good idea.”

“High density!”

“Alphanumeric.”

I was pretty relieved – we were OK. It felt really important to have him around all of a sudden. “You want me to teach you a couple chords on the guitar?”

“Yeah! That’d be cool.”

I got out the guitar and cranked up the amp just a little. It’s easier to fake it on electric than acoustic, but I wasn’t sure how good the soundproofing was and I didn’t want to get us in trouble. I really only know like four chords, and I can almost play the intro to one song. Not very impressive. But we were having fun just goofing around and I had just managed to teach him a “G” when Bob walked in on us.

“Well, well – here’s a couple of likely lads if I’ve ever seen ‘em!” he grinned.

“Hey, Bob!”

“Hey back, Tiger.” He sat next to me and tousled my hair. “Hi Linux- how’s your first cycle going so far? Having fun?”

“Yes Sir.” I could tell Linux was a little nervous around Bob after the conversation in the mess hall, but Bob wasn’t having any of it.

“Please don’t call me that! My name’s Bob. OK?”

“I’m having trouble with names today.” Linux sighed. “Sorry, Bob.”

“NP, Kiddo.” Bob laughed and frazzed up Linux’ hair a little bit and he laughed too. Bob is amazing – he knew Linux was my friend now, so just like that he was Bob’s friend too. That’s just how Bob is. “Enzo teaching you mastery of the guitar?”

“Not hardly. I just about managed to show him a “G” chord and I’m tapped out.”

“LOL! You’re always so hard on yourself, Tiger.”

“Play us something?”

“You won’t learn by listening to me play, Enzo. The only way to learn is to practice.”

“C’mon – please?”

“Yeah!” Linux piped up. “Play something, please?”

“Sheesh! I’m outvoted.” Bob sighed. “All right, hand me that thing and I’ll figure something out.”

“Pixelacious! Thanks, Bob.”

“No problem.” He plucked a couple strings tentatively and arched his eyebrows in surprise. “You tuned it already?”

“Uh – yeah.”

“Good job! You did it perfect, too.” He winked at me and hammered out a quick progression. “What’ll it be? Something slow again?”

I was in a very different kind of mood than I’d been the night before. “Naw – something fast. And electric. Rock out!”

“I’ll get you boys kicked out of here your first cycle!”

“Naw – it’ll be cool. C’mon!”

He laughed and shook his head. “All right. But I’m not turning it up to eleven. Ready?” Linux and I nodded. “Remember, you asked for it.”

He started out on the intro and it was kinda slow, just a chord progression. Then he launched into a solo and I recognized the tune. Crash, it was awesome! I swear I could see smoke rising off the strings but Bob just sat there and grinned like a little kid which was OK, because that’s what Linux and I were doing too.

He played about a thirty nano solo that was totally pixelacious, and then went back into the chord progression again. He sucked in a big breath, and that’s when I realized he was gonna sing…

In a white room
With black curtains,
Near the station

Blackroof country
No gold pavements
Tired starlings…

I love Bob – he’s more than a father to me. And he’s an incredible guitar player – all the time he was singing he kept working that axe till I thought his fingers would bleed. But there’s no nice way to say it – he’s an absolutely horrifying singer.

I’ll wait in this place, where the sun never shines
Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves

Never mind the fact that I had no clue what the words meant – “White Room” is like that. But Bob’s voice – it sounds like a thousand nulls being tortured by Mike the TV. It’s not pretty. I looked over at Linux and he was just staring, with his mouth open. Bob was oblivious – his eyes were squeezed shut tight, and he was selling that song like he owned it.

Something about the whole picture was too much – I lost it totally. I started laughing and I couldn’t stop – eventually I fell down on the floor and grabbed my sides. I was sure I was gonna break a rib.

Linux looked at me and I could see he was fighting it. Finally he couldn’t hold back and started giggling too, and in a few nanos he was laughing as hard as I was. We were both laughing so hard we drowned out Bob’s voice and even he heard us. I thought I was gonna pee my pants for a nano.

Poor Bob – he stopped singing and sat there, looking hurt. “Fine – this is the thanks I get for sharing my gift with you…”

“I’m s-s-sorry, Bob!” It was hard to talk yet. “I…I-”

“Save it for the jury, Kid. After I break your neck…”

“Sorry!” I choked down my laughter as well as I could and wiped my eyes. “You… You… Really shouldn’t sing. I’m s-sorry!”

Bob smiled ruefully and looked at Linux. “What about you, Pal? What’d you think?”

Linux looked like he just swallowed an undo command. He stammered for a nano, shifting all around like his pants were too tight. “I… Uh… I think you’re a really great guitar player.”

I lost it again after that, and even Bob laughed a little bit. “Maybe you’re in the wrong school, Kid – you should be in the diplomatic corps.” He grinned down at me. “We can’t all be gifted with a sweet voice, can we? Maybe Enzo would like to sing for us?”

“NO!” I bounced to my feet. That was definitely not gonna happen.

“Enzo sings?” Linux giggled.

“Like an angel.”

“No – I don’t! Just end file. I don’t sing.”

“My mistake.” Bob said dryly.

“Dude – that was too funny! You guys crack me up!”

“Thanks a lot.” I sighed. I sat back down on the bed and all three of us were together, Bob in between Linux and me.

“How about a compromise? We sing one together?”

“Jeez, Bob-“

“I think it’d be fun. But I don’t know very many songs.”

“That’s cool Linux, we’ll find one. Let me see…” Bob drummed his fingers on the neck of the guitar thoughtfully. “Since you guys are determined to act like 1.1 boys, maybe we should sing a song written by one!”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry – just play along, you’ll pick it up. This one was very popular with the kids in my grammar school in the Supercomputer.”

“Dude – it’s that old?”

“Just keep it up, Enzo.” Bob muttered. He turned off the amp and started picking out a nice acoustic riff. He started to sing again, but he didn’t have to drown out the amp this time so it wasn’t so bad. Maybe only a dozen nulls being tortured.

Old Ben Lucas
Had a lot o’ mucous
Comin’ right out of his nose;
He picked and picked
Till he made you sick
But back again it grows!

“Dude – that’s disgusting!” Linux howled. I just laughed. I’d never heard a song like that come out of an adult’s mouth before. But this was Bob…

When it’s cotton pickin’ time in the system
Boys, it’s booger pickin’ time for Ben.
He’d raise that finger mean and hostile
Stick it in that waitin’ nostril,
Here he comes with a green one once again.

Linux and I were keeping up a pretty steady roar of laughter through the whole song, and Bob had a huge null-eating grin on his face as he sang. I was pretty sure I was gonna injure myself, I’d been laughing so much. “Come on, you two – everybody now. One more time!”

Old Ben Lucas
Had a lot o’ mucous
Comin’ right out of his nose;
He picked and picked
Till it made you sick
But back… again… it… grows!

We joined him on the last chorus, and Linux’ voice was almost as bad as Bob’s. But with that kinda song it didn’t matter. Bob strummed out the finale and Linux and I both fell back on the bed and applauded.

“Yeah, I figured that one was about the right intellectual level for the room. Don’t forget to tip your waitresses, now! Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome!” I sputtered.

Linux wiped his eyes. “I… I didn’t know Guardians did stuff like that.” Our eyes met and we both started howling again.

“We do on our cycles off. I’m glad to know Enzo is developing such a refined taste in music. Dot will be so proud…”

“End file! You’re the one who played it!” I punched him and he playfully grabbed me around the neck.

“Bob, you’re totally high density.”

“Thanks, Linux.” Bob grinned at him and Linux looked like the happiest kid in the net. “You guys have a big cycle tomorrow – first cycle of classes. Think I’ll haul my bitmap over to the staff building and leave you to it. Gotta get to bed soon.”

“Really? Can’t you stay awhile, please?”

“Better not, Enzo. You guys need to start getting yourself organized and I’ll just be in the way.”

“OK.” I sighed. Bob got up and put the guitar away. Playtime was over. “I… Will I see you tomorrow?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye! I’ll meet you after classes and we’ll have dinner and talk about it. Might even sit in on a class.”

“Cool! Thanks.”

“I’ll probably go home after that. Think that’ll be OK, Tiger?”

That was a sock to the gut, even though it was pretty much what we’d talked about. “Sure – I guess. I’ll be OK.”

“I know you will.” He grinned. “Don’t worry about it – you guys will do fine. This is gonna be the best experience of your lives – I promise. I’ll see you tomorrow, all right?”

“Yeah. See ya tomorrow.”

“Come on.” He held his arms out and I went over and he gave me a hug. I was a little embarrassed, but it wasn’t too bad. “Sleep well, OK? Tomorrow’s your big cycle – what you’ve been working for. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.” I hugged him back as hard as I could. “I’ll see you after classes.”

“You got it.” He pounded my back a couple times and straightened up. “Linux – I’ll probably see you tomorrow, too. You have a good first cycle, OK?”

“I’ll try. Thanks, Bob.”

“Night, Boys. Stay out of trouble.” He gathered up his stuff and winked at us, then he was gone.

“Wow. He is amazingly cool.”

“Yeah. He’s pixelacious.” I was totally proud to have Bob as a friend right then.

Linux sat down on his bed and sighed. “Guess I’ll start getting ready. Don’t want to screw up tomorrow and be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“I guess.” Playtime was over. As of the next cycle I was officially a cadet at Guardian Academy. It was so scary and so exhilarating that I could barely get my processor around it.

“Indoctrination is at eight-hundred. What time you wanna get up? We gotta shower and get breakfast and everything.”

“Uh…” I thought about that for a nano. I went over and grabbed some stuff from on top of my desk. “I think I’ll shower now.”

“What? Why?”

“It’ll be better – no crowds in there. Plus it’ll save time in the morning. Besides, I didn’t shower this morning so I feel kinda stinky.”

“Oh. Whatever.” He picked up his organizer and lay back in bed. “See ya in a few, then.”

“Yup.” I took my stuff – making sure I had my icon – and headed off down the hall. The showers were only two doors down from our room and when I went in my worst fears were confirmed – no doors on the shower stalls and no changing rooms. Just one big locker area. Crash. Well, taking showers at night was just gonna have to be a regular routine, that’s all.

When I got back I climbed into bed and studied the readme file for a little while, just making sure I knew all the big stuff. Linux was doing the same thing and neither of us said much of anything. I guess we both had plenty of our own thoughts to keep us busy.

I was scared – I’m not ashamed to admit it. I was a little kid and I was getting ready to face a big challenge. I knew there were gonna be a lot of other kids who didn’t think I belonged there, who thought I was too young and too small and too basic. Deep down I felt like I could cut it – I felt Bob’s trust and belief holding my confidence up. But until I actually did it there was always gonna be a little doubt in my processor. Maybe even more than a little.

I set my organizer down and deleted my light, and a few nanos later Linux did the same. We lay there in the dark for a while and listened to each other breathing. I was the first one to say anything. “Linux?”

“Yeah?”

“You nervous?”

A nano of silence. “Yeah. You?”

“Yeah.” I felt a little better, knowing it wasn’t just me. “You really think we can do it?”

“I hope so.”

“Yeah.” There wasn’t much else to say. When everything was processed both of us were gonna have to face it alone and do the best we could. I just hoped Linux would be there for me on the bad cycles. “Night.”

“Night, Enzo.”

I lay there for a long time, thinking about why I was here, what it meant to me. I thought about Bob and Dot and Matrix, about everything I was giving up to come to the Academy. I had them behind me, but when everything was processed it was up to me. I wanted to make them proud – I wanted it so badly I could feel it inside me. It was about me, but it was about them, too – and everything they’d done to help me, to get me to that point. They’d given up a lot to get me where I was. I wanted to do it - I had to do it, for them. They believed in me and I wasn’t gonna let them down. And that was the thought I took with me when I finally drifted off.

* * *

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say my stomach was doing flip-flops the next morning. Me and Linux went down to the mess hall and got some breakfast, but I didn’t eat a whole lot of it. When I get nervous I don’t eat. Linux looked pretty scared too but he wolfed his food down – guess that was just how he was when he was nervous.

Linux didn’t have a problem with us sitting off by ourselves this time – I don’t think either one of us wanted to talk much. There was a low buzz of conversation in the hall but it wasn’t loud and boisterous like I imagined a room full of kids would be. Maybe they were nervous, too – the first-hours anyway.

I was looking down at my tray, sort of compulsively stirring my bytemeal with my spoon, when I checked my internal clock for the hundredth time that morning. It was just a few micros before eight-hundred. I was a little startled when Linux actually spoke to me. “What’re you thinking about, Enzo?’

I looked up and tried to smile. “Bob. You?”

“Cray. My brother.”

“I really want him to be proud of me. I want to do this so much, Linux! I want him to know he was right to make me a Guardian…”

“Don’t worry – you’ll do fine. Bob wouldn’t make a mistake.”

“Thanks!” I sighed. “You will too.”

“Thanks. Cray needs me – I have to.”

“It won’t be so bad… We’re as good as any of these nulls, right?”

“I sure hope so.”

“We definitely are.” I grinned. “Ascii. Kick. Us. Right?”

He giggled. “Scared. Shitless. Me.”

“Dude!” I laughed.

“Come on. I think it’s time.”

“Yeah. Let’s do it.” I stuck out my hand. “Good luck.”

“Good luck.” Shaking hands with him was weird – he was the only sprite I’d ever shook with whose hands were as small as mine. “Remember your promise.”

“Yours too.”

There was a general trickle of cadets headed towards the great hall – the biggest building on campus, the one where the auditorium and most of the offices and even some classrooms were. The auditorium was at the end of one of the spokes that radiated around Laser’s office.

“Dude!” I gasped when I saw the interior. I couldn’t help it – it was amazing. The assembly hall was as big as the one in Mainframe where we’d seen the Mainframe Strolling Players after the restart. There were big pillars along the sides of the auditorium, and up on stage, behind the podium, was a huge Guardian icon in black and gold. It was one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen – it set my heart thumping under my icon, and not just from fear this time.

Everyone was supposed to go to indoctrination – the new students, the second-hours, even the teachers. It was for the whole Academy. The hall was about half-full when we got there – Linux and I found seats near the front, where the younger kids seemed to be congregating. There were a lot of nervous faces among our group. The older cadets seemed to hang towards the back, and there were smiles and even a few laughs among them.

Here I am – talking about the Academy that was gonna be my life for the next two hours – and I haven’t really said anything about how it actually worked. Some of it I knew from a zillion talks with Bob, some of it I knew from the readmes – but I think I should summarize the basic idea…

* * *

When the Academy was online in the Supercomputer, before the output hit the cooling fan, all of the teachers were Guardians. There were plenty of Guardians to go around, and the best ones - the best at dealing with kids, anyway – were chosen to teach the various subjects. They all had keytools, and the cadets all got the chance to work with keytools sometimes as part of their training. When (if) a cadet completed the training a keytool chose him or her and they became partners.

In those cycles games were a huge part of Guardian training – the biggest part. Naturally that’s the area Bob was able to train me in the most, so I felt like I was definitely ahead of the pack there. That was very cool. But nowadays, games were only a small part of the whole training process – important, but nowhere near as important as they once were. We were at war, after all.

In Bob’s cycle, Guardian training was a three-hour program. Now it was only two – and sacrifices had to be made. The main focus of the Academy was still teaching us “to mend and defend” – but now it was mostly Daemon that we were defending against. Laser wanted to train us to go back to our own systems and lead the resistance to Daemon from there. We still had to defend our systems from games – but we just didn’t have the time to spend on them that Bob and his classmates did.

Here’s a really good example – Mouse. Mouse was training us in hacking – using computer defenses to protect our systems against Daemon, and maybe even to aggressively attack her. No one in the net was as good at that geeky stuff as Mouse – but in the old cycles it was just the sort of stuff the Collective was supposed to defend against. Now it was just another weapon to use against Daemon – and an extremely powerful one.

That reminds me of another really important change – the teachers. There were no clean Guardians left except for Laser and Bob, and Matrix kinda. Even me, in a way. So naturally other people had to teach us. Laser recruited people like Mouse and Ray – sprites with special skills they could teach. He’d also brought in a few sprites who for some reason or another were ousted from the Collective or left it on their own, and no longer had the protocols. They still had the knowledge, though – and that was the important thing. Because Laser was Second Guardian and head of the old Academy he knew all of these sprites, knew how to find them. It was awesome.

Even so, there were barely enough qualified sprites to teach us as it was. So for stuff like security and administration and things like that, the second-hour students had to help out. Even a few of the underage cadets that Laser had graduated in his first release – New Guardian Academy v 1.0 – were helping out as a sort of extended internship.

Oh – games! I forgot about games. The Academy had a game simulator engine – a device that could simulate certain game environments on a small scale. It wasn’t anything like the old one at the Supercomputer, but it was OK for teaching us specific skills and stuff like that. They could control what we encountered – if they wanted to test on a particular ability they set up the GSE to do it. Also, there was no chance of us being nullified if we lost, which I guess was a plus.

The really cool part is the game rosters. See, Gallifrey Seven got real games, just like Mainframe. And the Academy didn’t just waste them – they used them as a training tool for us cadets. There was a schedule updated every minute – they called it a game roster. Every cadet in the academy was on alert for a certain time every minute, and it was our responsibility to know when we were on call. When a cube dropped, the cadets that were assigned that slot on the roster went into the game, along with the teacher who was assigned that slot. We all went into the game and we had to beat it as a team. The teacher was in charge, but all the team members had responsibilities and we all had to help. Teams were made up of four cadets – two firsts and two seconds - and one teacher. We were never assigned the same teacher and the same partners from minute to minute – that way we’d have to learn to work with everybody, and all types of personalities.

Crash, I could talk about that forever. All of it – it was incredibly pixelacious. But that’s the basic idea, anyways. I don’t know if everybody knew as much as I did that morning – they all had the readme files but they hadn’t had guys like Bob telling them stories since they were little sprites.

Once the auditorium was mostly full of cadets a few adults started to file on stage – teachers. They sat down on chairs set up either side of the podium in the center of the stage. I didn’t recognize anyone until Ray and Mouse showed up, both grinning. I noticed that none of teachers were in Guardian uniform – but I guess none of them were Guardians, so it made sense. Still, it was weird to think that we were being trained how to be Guardians by teachers who weren’t. Desperate times call for desperate measure, Dot says.

Ray caught my eye and winked at me, and I smiled back. I was gonna wave but I decided it’d be better not to under the circumstances. He sat down next to Mouse and a few milliseconds later Laser walked in, and the whole auditorium all of a sudden got very quiet.

He looked very impressive – even more because he was the only one up on the stage in Guardian blues. Even though it was whiter than Bob’s he still had that silver hair, and User, was it shining in the lights. I got a little lump in my throat just looking at him up there and thinking about where I was and what was happening. He stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat, but he didn’t even really need to – there wasn’t a sound in that place anyways.

“Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Guardian Academy, v. 2.03. I’m sure you all know why you’re here, so I won’t waste your time with a lot of pleasantries. The net we all call home is under attack – the reason this place exists is to help stave off that attack. There is a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of everyone here – the men and women who will teach you, keep you fed and clothed and safe – and most of all, on each of you. The future of the net is in your hands.

I trust you’ve all accessed the readme files that were downloaded onto your organizers since your arrival here. If you haven’t, you’re off to a very bad start.”

A nervous laugh passed through the hall when he said that.

“If you have, you know where you’re expected to be today and when, so I won’t bore you by repeating it. I understand that this may seem like a lot to take in for some of you new cadets, but I promise you it will get easier in time. Meanwhile, use the resources at your disposal – your teachers, the experience of the cadets in their second hour. Second-hours – part of your responsibility is to be educators. I expect you to help the new cadets to the best of your ability. The mission of this academy is a fragile one – we will succeed or fail together, as a unit. A success by a classmate is a success for you – never forget that.

When I look out at you I see a variety of sprites, from many systems, of many ages. In this academy you will be judged equally – you are all expected to behave as adults and accept the responsibilities given you. Some of you are very young, and these responsibilities will not come easily. I understand. You will be asked to grow up very quickly – but if I did not think you were up to the challenge you would not be sitting here today. I know you will not disappoint me.

During the time you spend here you will learn a great many things. Your teachers will share the wisdom of their experience and training with you. You will also learn from each other - learn the values of teamwork, friendship, trust and loyalty. Being a Guardian is about being self-reliant and independent – you are not here to learn to follow orders mindlessly. Once you graduate and go back to your systems you will have to make a great many decisions on your own. But while you are here you are part of a team – each one of you an indispensable part. We succeed or fail together, as a unit.

We have rules here. By now all of should know them pretty well – within a few cycles I expect you to know them by heart. Provided you follow those rules you will be allowed a great deal more freedom than most of you are used to at home. Your mothers and fathers are not here now – whether you follow the rules is your decision. But rest assured, there are consequences when you don’t follow those rules. By now you should be well-versed in those consequences as well.

First-hour cadets: In a few moments you will be standing on this stage, receiving version 1.0 of the Guardian protocols. From the moment your icons are upgraded you will be Guardians. Your lives will never be the same. When you accept those protocols you accept all the duties and responsibilities of the Collective. You accept the mantle of defender of the system – and defender of the net. That will always be your primary responsibility. Do not enter into this contract lightly – and do not enter it unwillingly. If any of you do not wish to accept those responsibilities, you should say so now – because once you accept the protocols, you are a Guardian.

Second-hours – You have all fulfilled the requirements of your first hour here successfully, and earned the right to continue as a second-hour cadet. Your icons will be upgraded to Guardian level 1.1. More will be asked of you than ever before – you will be tested by your teachers as you have never been tested. And you will be asked to help the first-hours in some fashion every cycle, I can promise you. Nothing you do here is more important than that. Once you leave here at the end of the hour, you will be expected to fulfill the responsibilities of a full Guardian – and no one will be there to make sure you do. It will be up to you. That is why we must make certain before you leave here that you are prepared, and why the challenges before you in this hour will be so much greater than you have ever faced.”

At this point Laser looked out over the cadets, scanning the room, and smiled a little for the first time.

“I imagine all of you are fairly anxious to get up here and receive the protocols – especially the first-hours. Well, I don’t blame you – it will be one of the greatest moments of your life, and I won’t delay it much further. I just want to leave you with a few final thoughts.

Most of you have seen the devastation Daemon has wrought first-hand. You may have lost loved ones to her infection, or to her armies. You may have seen sprites dressed in Guardian uniforms do terrible things – perhaps even been a victim yourself. I want you to understand – these men and women are not Guardians. They are no more responsible for their actions than if they were deleted – they have been perverted, and the ideals the Collective stands for have been debased. When Daemon has been defeated perhaps they will be Guardians again – we do not fully understand the nature of her infection. But it is possible.

Until then, they must be views as threats – but never viewed with hate. If you hate them you hate yourself – because these men and women gave their codes over to the Guardian Collective, and now they are prisoners because of that commitment. Perhaps we can free them from their imprisonment – perhaps not. But we must never lose sight of the sacrifices they have made. They paved the road on which you are now standing. If we succeed, it will be because they and others before them founded this Collective and kept it strong. In their names, and in their memories, we must not fail.

Now – I will call your names one by one, starting with the incoming first-hours. When you hear your name, please leave your seat and walk onto this stage, where your icons will be upgraded. Please remain on stage for the duration of the ceremony and honor your classmates with your support. After the ceremony is complete, please proceed to the athletic fields where you will attend your first class of the semester – physical conditioning. I trust that you all know where you are supposed to be after that.

I have nothing more to add – except to welcome all of you to the Academy. You are about to embark on the greatest adventure of your lives – a journey that will take you places you have never imagined, and show you reserves of character you never imagined you had. I expect nothing less of you than you are capable of –dedication, courage, and decency. I expect you to be your best. And I know you will not disappoint me. Thank you, and welcome.”

I don’t know whether we were supposed to or not, but a big cheer rolled through the cadets then, and everybody stood up and started whooping like crazy. I joined in - it was impossible not to. I’ve never felt anything like it – hearing all those voices was amazing. They were young – like me! There was so much enthusiasm, so much pure happiness in that room – I’ve never felt so much a part of something as I did at that nano. I’ve always been an outsider back home – the only kid in the whole system. Being in that hall at that nano was a burst of pure energy shooting through my entire body.

One by one Laser called the cadets up to the stage to receive the protocols, and everybody – even the teachers – stood and applauded as they walked up. Laser spoke to each kid for a few nanos after he upgraded them and shook their hands, and they all walked off looking a little dazed. Linux got called, and I pounded him on the back a couple times as he headed for the stage. It was high density.

Laser called my name, and even though I already had the protocols I still felt a thrill as I heard the cheers and felt all the eyes in the room focus on me. Little Enzo. I’d never been the center of so much attention and it freaked me out a little bit, especially because I was convinced everybody was thinking about how puny I was.

I got up on stage and I saw Mouse and Ray grinning at me and I grinned back. I managed to get all the way to Laser without stumbling and stopped in front of him with a deep breath. “Enzo. Obviously you’ve already got the protocols, so we’ll dispense with that part of the ceremony for you. But this moment still belongs to you – this is still the nano you join the Collective. Congratulations.”

“Yes, Sir. Thank you Sir.” I breathed. He stuck out his hand and I shook it, and everybody applauded again as I walked over and stood next to Linux at the edge of the stage. He gave me a big relieved grin and I returned it, and released the breath I’d been holding in.

That was when I saw Bob. He was standing in the wings at the far end of the stage, watching the proceedings with his arms crossed. He was watching me when I noticed him – I guess he’d been watching me the whole time. He grinned and saluted me, and I saluted back. We stood there and cheered the others as they were called up to the stage, the first-hours looking mostly flustered and nervous, then the seconds, calmer and with a little swagger in their walk. We applauded all of them and hollered as each name was announced, even though we didn’t know who any of them were, really. It didn’t matter – we were all Guardians. All in all it was one of the greatest moments of my life.

* * *

We had a light schedule of classes on the first cycle – which was probably just as well, ‘cause I was so charged up on nervousness and excitement that I couldn’t concentrate on anything for more than a few nanos. Laser was smart – he set it up so the first class was physical conditioning. If you’ve got a hundred hyper teenagers on your hands the best thing to do is let them get out and run around and burn some of that excess energy off.

Once we got to the fields they split us off into the firsts and seconds, told us to boot into workout uniforms and ran us through some basic calisthenics. Our trainer was a guy named Bernoulli – I’m not sure what his background was but he was an older guy, almost as old as Laser. He was in great shape, though – and he pushed us pretty hard considering it was the first cycle. I’d done a lot of conditioning drills as part of my training with Bob but nothing could mask the fact that I just hadn’t grown much yet. Little legs just have a hard time keeping up with big ones sometimes. Seeing everybody out there in their shorts and t-shirts was kinda intimidating – even the girls looked stronger than I did, mostly. I could tell this class was gonna have some challenging moments.

Not that the girls didn’t look really good in their gym clothes - believe me, they did. It was hard to keep my processor on what Mr. Bernoulli was saying sometimes, since what was going on around me was a lot more interesting.

After we got done with conditioning it was lunchtime, so we were free to go back to our dorm and shower or rest or just have lunch before our next class. I decided to go straight to lunch, ‘cause I hadn’t really eaten breakfast and I was really hungry. Linux said he wanted to shower first so he went back to the dorm, and I was faced with going to mess on my own for the first time.

I looked around a little for Bob, but I couldn’t find him so I just went straight ahead to the mess in the great hall. I was nervous but I’d had a little taste of being around girls that morning and my curiosity was stronger than my fear. The mess there was mostly like the one in the dorm except they had a bunch of big round tables instead of the four long ones. There were maybe thirty kids there, no more than that. I got a tray of food, found a fairly empty table and took my bearings.

There was a lot more chatter than I’d noticed before – cadets were settling in and some of them knew each other a little bit so they were talking to each other more. I ate my lunch slowly, trying to look around the room and observe people without seeming like I was staring.

I was about halfway finished with my sandwich when three cadets came and sat next to me at the table – two girls and a guy. I was pretty sure they were all first-hours – they looked fairly young and still a little nervous. Well, two of them – the third one, a teal-skinned girl with golden hair who might’ve been 1.5 – looked like she owned the place and she knew it. She was dressed in her workout clothes and once I saw her, there was no one else in that mess hall.

“Hi.” She smiled, and I smiled back.

“Hi.” I mumbled. I forced myself to look at the others. “Hey you guys.”

They nodded back at me and smiled. Those two had changed back into their uniforms. “First-hour?” the guy asked.

“Yeah.”

“Us too.” The other girl said. I don’t even remember what she looked like.

“Pretty wild, huh?” the guy said. “Being here and everything.”

“Sure. But it’s cool.”

“How’s the food?”

“Uh – good. You know – it’s not like my sister’s astro-chicken parmigiana, but it’s OK.” The boy and the girl laughed, but the teal-haired one next to me didn’t make a sound – she just matter-of-factly ate her lunch, looking very focused. The other kids were making small-talk as they ate and I tried to keep up, but I wasn’t too interested.

One thing I really remember is how she smelled. She’d been in conditioning too and I guess she’d been sweating but she didn’t smell sweaty, she just smelled fresh and alive and good. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. And there was a little sheen on her bare legs below the table, which made her skin look like it was lit up from the inside.

I wanted to ask her name, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. In fact I was sweating more than I did in the workout, and feeling increasingly uncomfortable. I wolfed down the last couple bites of my lunch and figured I’d better get out of there ASAP.

“Gotta get ready for my next class.” I stammered.

“What do you have next?” the other girl asked.

“Uh… Intro to games.”

“Oh! I’ve got that later. Hope it’s fun.”

“Yeah! See ya, I guess.” I stumbled a little as I pushed back from the table and the teal girl looked up with a glint in here eyes. “S-sorry!”

She grinned and stared at me for a moment. “You ought to be more careful.”

“Uh – yeah! I will, thanks.”

“See you around.”

“Yeah! See ya!” I turned around, almost tripped on my chair but didn’t, and walked away a little too fast. I dumped my tray, walked straight out of there and back to the dorm, and didn’t take a slow breath until I was sitting safely on my bed.

Linux walked in just as I was getting ready to head out for my first classroom assignment. “Hey! What’s up? Your face is all red.”

“It is? Guess I ate too fast…”

“Huh. You OK?”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “I’m cool.”

“Pretty exciting, huh? Wasn’t that alphanumeric, getting up on stage and all that cheering and stuff?”

“Yeah. That was high density.”

He looked down at his icon and his eyes got real big. “Isn’t this awesome? I look at it and I can hardly believe it.” It made me smile – I remembered seeing that look in the mirror when I was 1.0. It made me feel old and wise for a nano, which I really liked. “This is so high density.”

“Yeah. I still can’t believe we’re actually here sometimes. You’ve got physical defense last period, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool! So I’ll see ya there, then. We can compare notes.”

“Cool. I’ll see ya there.” I grabbed my organizer and headed out the door. I had a scary nano or two then – I got lost on the way to my class. There’s like three different buildings where the classrooms are, and all these deleted hallways and stuff, and I didn’t know exactly where I was supposed to go. I had horrible Mpegs in my head about walking into the classroom late and everyone staring at me and laughing and it reminded me of a dream I used to have when I was little, except this time I was wearing clothes.

I finally got so desperate that I did the thing I’d been avoiding at any cost and asked a second-hour where to go. I was all flustered and breathing hard and he laughed a little, but he didn’t seem too surprised. He pointed and told me to go down the hall and take the next two rights, and I did and behold, chatroom 21B was right there and I didn’t think I’d ever seen a more beautiful sight.

I made it just at the last nano – I think I was the last kid to arrive but the teacher hadn’t started yet and I managed to find a seat near the front and I sat there, panting, trying to catch my breath.

The class itself was pretty uneventful. It was all about figuring out what a game was without having a keytool to tell you – what the objectives were, what game sprites you had to watch out for, stuff like that. The teacher was a very young guy – younger than Matrix even, I think. He seemed almost as nervous as we were and I think he didn’t want to overwhelm us with too much stuff on the first cyc