Guardian Blues
By Dan Green

Part 6

"I’m sorry." I blinked tears out of eyes and turned back to Zip, who’d be the first one to reach us. There was no way I could open a passage now, not in the state I was in – and I didn’t have time anyway. All I could think was how I’d let the girl I loved down when she needed me. "I’m sorry, Lisa."

"It’s not your fault." She kissed me on the cheek. "You were wonderful. You always are."

"Isn’t this sweet." Zip smiled, the vein on his neck pulsing a sickly green. "Don’t worry – you’ll still be together. Forever…"

Lisa pushed her way between me and Zip, as if she could save me somehow. "You’re still a pig, Zip – infected or not."

"And you’ll still be a bitch. Shall we get this over with?" He reached out a hand for her and she cowered back, trembling.

"No!" Seeing Zip’s horrible animal face leering so close to Lisa’s made me think of what he’d tried to do to her before, and what he’d done to me. He was everything evil in the net, infection or no – and she was everything good. She was my whole life. It filled me with some kind of twisted rage like I’ve never felt before and it gave me a kind of strength. I still had the golden child under my arm, and without really realizing what I was doing I whipped it at him with everything I had. It wasn’t very heavy but it was hard, and it hit him right in the eye – the same one I’d popped in the rec room. He gave a little scream and stumbled back, and the mace he was holding dropped to the ground.

Time seemed to slow down again, like it had in the rec room when we’d fought. I wrapped a hand around the handle of the mace and I know it should’ve been too heavy for me to lift, much less do anything else. But I could see Lisa’s beautiful face, still red from Zip hitting her, and somehow it wasn’t too heavy. As Zip stumbled to his feet I swung it around hard and released it just before it dug into his shoulder. He screamed and collapsed against the green wall of the passageway, blood pouring from his toga.

Calisto had broken into a run now, though he was still a ways off. I could hear myself panting as I took a step towards Zip, and I picked up the mace and held it in both hands. He was writing in pain, his face blank with shock. I lifted the mace and took aim at his head. I stood over him, thinking of all the reasons I hated him, how he’d hurt me and how he’d hurt Lisa and what he’d almost done to her, and I raised the mace a little higher.

I held it there for what felt like forever but I’m sure only a nano or two passed, because Calisto hadn’t gotten much closer. Finally I lowered the mace and spit, a good wad with everything I had, and it hit Zip right between the eyes and he flinched. I got a good grip on the mace and turned to Lisa. "Are you OK?"

"Fine." She said, looking stunned.

"Let’s go." I took off down the passage and Lisa was right behind me. The mace was starting to feel pretty heavy now and it didn’t occur to me until much later that I had no way of knowing that touching it wouldn’t infect me – it could’ve had some sort of residual trace of Daemon on it, or something. I guess it wouldn’t have mattered – it was the only chance we had anyway. But now that my unnatural adrenaline strength was wearing off it was starting to feel like Matrix after a big meal.

We got to the T-junction and turned back the way we’d come. The mace slowed me down and Lisa caught up to me quickly, carrying the golden child in her arms. I knew Calisto wouldn’t stop to take care of Zip’s wounds, and I knew my strength was going fast. "Stop!" I hissed, and went to my knees. I mustered up every bit of concentration I had left and closed off the junction behind us. Panting, I dropped the mace to the ground and started to fall onto my side.

I felt Lisa’s hands on my back, holding me steady. She helped me to a sitting position and gently brought my head to her shoulder. "It’s OK, Enzo. Rest. It’s OK."

"I’m sorry." I rasped. "I wanted to delete him, I really did." One thought was running through my processor – Matrix would have.

"I know. I know you did."

"I wanted to." I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my tunic. "I wanted, to Lisa. I should have deleted him for what he did to you, I’m so sorry."

"Stop. Just be quiet and rest now."

"I’m a coward, Matrix would have done it…"

"Stop it. You’re not a coward! You’re brave, you saved me again." She kissed my head, over and over. "You’re the bravest sprite I know, Enzo. You don’t have to delete anybody to prove it."

"But-"

"You’re not a killer. You’ll never be a killer. Anyone could have deleted him – he was helpless. It was much braver not to."

"Maybe." I sighed. There had been a time, once, where Matrix didn’t delete someone he could have. Maybe should have. Did that make him a coward?

"Just rest. My brave boy." I fell against her and let my muscles relax, just for a nano. I felt totally drained – physically, mentally, and especially emotionally. "You always find a new way to amaze me, Cutie – you know that?"

"Huh?"

"You started surprising me with that first kiss." She smiled and kissed my nose. "And you’ve never stopped. Are you OK?"

"I guess." I grunted and sat up. Every muscle ached. "I’m getting pretty tired of this, though." I looked at the mace, lying next to me, a couple of the points now tipped with blood. "I don’t want to run anymore. Let’s finish this once and for all, while we’re still strong enough to stand a chance and Zip is offline. He won’t be for long."

"I’m pretty sure you broke his arm, Cutie."

"Maybe. But when someone is infected by Daemon they’re not normal – she’ll make him keep going no matter how much pain he’s in. Until he loses so much blood it deletes him, anyway."

"Oh, my…"

"He deserves to delete." I scowled. I’d never felt that way about anyone except Megabyte – and even there I’m not sure how I’d feel if I looked him in the eye. The most terrible things he’d done were during my "absence" before the restart, and while I’d heard all about them it wasn’t the same as being there. But with Zip I was sure – I hated him in a way I’d never hated anyone. Any sprite that’d try and do what he was planning to do to Lisa – or any girl – deserved to delete. And Lisa wasn’t just any girl – she was the one I wanted to be with forever.

But I didn’t want to be the cause of it. Let whatever happened happen – I wouldn’t delete him or anyone, not if I could help it. Not unless I had to do it to save someone I loved. To mend and defend. But we still had a game to win, and the User wasn’t a sprite like Zip who’d die if his game character did. "We’ve got to kill the User – it’s the only way. If we keep running we’ll get weaker and weaker until they trap us and we’re helpless, and Zip probably will bleed to deletion. Let’s kill the User and end this thing."

"I’m all in favor of it, Sweetie – but how?"

"We’ll make our last stand." I sighed. "Find a good spot and wait for him and when he comes – take our best shot. And if he doesn’t find us, just let the clock run out. I don’t think that’ll happen, though."

"What if it’s Calisto who finds us – or even Zip? We’ll waste our strength fighting them and even if we win, the game won’t be over."

"I know. But I have an idea."

Lisa smiled wearily. "I thought you might, somehow. What is it?"

"I’ll partition us in."

"What?"

"Trap us – inside a box. We’ll find a spot and I’ll seal it off, so the only way inside is to go over the wall. Only the User can do that."

"Crash." Lisa said softly. "We’ll be trapped inside with him, then."

"I know. But it’s the only thing I can think of."

She squeezed my hand. "I’d feel better if we both had a weapon of some kind – this little golden girl isn’t much of one. And that mace is as big as you are, practically."

"Yeah! But it’s all we have, so…"

"Maybe not." She frowned thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?"

"I know you’re tired, Enzo – but can you still shift the walls around? If you have to?"

"I’ll have to anyways – to seal us off." I sighed. "So I guess the answer has to be yes."

Lisa smiled. "One of us could hide – on the opposite side of a wall. With the mace. And when the User comes, you could open a gap and they could come through and surprise the User."

"Crash – that’s not bad! We sure wouldn’t have much time, though."

"It’s better than letting him see what’s coming, isn’t it?"

"Yeah. I… I could get in a clean shot, maybe-"

"Not you, Cutie. Me."

"What?" It was a struggle not to shout. "Lisa, no-"

"Listen!" She grabbed my hands and leaned in close. "You’re tired and weak – you’ve been keeping us both processing since we got in here. Save your strength to shift the maze. I’m not as wiped out as you are – I’ll have a better chance to take him out with one shot."

"But… Lisa-"

"Trust me." She smiled and kissed my forehead gently. "Let me do this, Enzo – it’s the best way. Just rest and save your strength so you’ll be ready."

"All right." I sighed. Even as exhausted as I was I could see she was right, even though my pride was a little hurt. It was her idea, anyways. "But when you swing the mace, let it go right before it actually hits him – I don’t want you getting infected and I’m not sure how it works. Both of you touching the mace might be enough."

"Right." She picked up the weapon in both hands and hefted it slowly. "Cursors and crashes, Enzo – this thing is heavy!"

"I know."

"How did you swing it so hard?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. I saw Zip reaching for you and I… I just did, I guess."

Lisa set the mace down and put her arms around me. "You really are the most amazing sprite, you know that?"

"I just didn’t want him to hurt you any more."

"I know." She squeezed me and smiled. "I’ll manage it, somehow. Are you strong enough to keep going?"

"Hang on a nano." I closed my eyes and urged my brain to work, one more time, to try and get some idea where we were. "Codeswap it. This is as good a place as any – there’s passageways on either side of us, so you can hide. Let him come to us, for a change." I grunted and felt myself swaying as I sealed off the corridor several steps away from us.

"Are you OK?" She was holding my steady, just like she had been for micros.

"Yeah." I panted. I opened my eyes and looked around. We were effectively boxed in – I’d closed off the only access. Our cell was a passageway maybe ten steps long. "Now all…we can do is wait. And…rest."

"I doubt we’ll have to wait long." Lisa sighed.

"Yeah. Let’s… Let’s go right…to the center and wait there – we don’t know which way he’ll be…coming from."

"Right." I could barely walk, and Lisa had to help me to the center of our pen. We slowly lowered ourselves to the floor, as far from the walls of the passage as possible. I closed my eyes and leaned my weight against her.

"How will we know where I should hide?" Lisa said after a few nanos. "There’s passageways on all four sides."

"When he gets very close, I’ll feel him. He feels different than Zip and Calisto. I should be able to tell which direction he’s coming from, and I’ll open a path to the opposite passage so you can hide in there. Then when he comes in, I’ll open the way."

"Oh Enzo… Will you be able to? You’re so tired. If you can’t open the way again you’ll be trapped in here by yourself!"

I opened my eyes to look at her, trying to give her confidence. "I’ll be fine. I just need to rest a few millis, I promise."

"Enzo." She sighed deeply and smiled. "You’re my hero, Cutie."

"I just want you to be OK, Lisa. I just want this over. It’s my fault it happened."

"It is not." She hugged me and I went stiff for just a nano, but I couldn’t resist and I hugged her back. I wanted her to be angry with me, somehow – I deserved it and I knew we were only delaying the inevitable. But I was defenseless when she hugged me, and I was so tired and scared and she was so soft and warm and I put my head on her shoulder and she put hers on mine, just like in the directory trees, and I tried not to cry.

"I’m sorry all this happened. I’m sorry Zip… I’m sorry he… touched you."

"I know. It wasn’t your fault, Enzo. He’s sick."

"If… If we get out of here-"

"Hush. Don’t talk about that now. Let’s just worry about getting through this, OK?"

"OK." I whispered. It’s funny, but even though she looked different in the game her hair and her skin smelled just the same as they did in RL. With my eyes closed it was so easy to pretend we were safe, and I’d be able so stay in her arms forever.

"Are they close, do you think?"

"I…I don’t think so. Not very close. Calisto’s probably trying to find another way in here."

"They’ll be here soon enough, I guess." Lisa sighed. Neither of us said anything for a couple micros after that – I think we were both exhausted and scared and just out of things to say. Besides, when we hugged each other it was incredibly comfortable – it was like we fit somehow. It was safe, it was warm, just totally wonderful…

"Enzo?" My eyes snapped open. "Are you asleep?"

"No." I mumbled. I think I had drifted off for a few nanos, and that was the worst possible thing I could do – asleep, I wouldn’t be able to sense the User coming and he’d be on us before we could be ready for him. "I can’t – I have to stay awake."

"You can nap for a few nanos if you want – I’ll keep watch-"

"No." I blinked a few times and sat up. I gave Lisa a weary smile. "I could let you hug me all cycle – but I have to stay awake, the User will be here soon."

"I could hug you all cycle." She kissed me gently on the nose and stroked my cheek.

User, she was beautiful – gold hair or dark, she was everything I could ever imagine. Her eyes were the same as always – dark and warm and gentle, and looking right through me. At that nano the thought that I might never kiss her again was suddenly too much to bear. I leaned in close, took her face in my hands and softly kissed her on the lips. "I love you so much."

"Enzo?" She looked surprised.

"Sorry!" I closed my eyes and turned away.

"It’s all right-"

"I shouldn’t have kissed you. Not so soon after – you know…"

"It’s all right!" Lisa slowly tuned me back to face her. "This has nothing to do with that, Enzo. Nothing at all." She kissed me, light as a pixel. "You just surprised me a little bit, that’s all – like you always do."

I kissed her again, softly, on her cheek. I could have kissed her forever. "You’re the most amazing sprite I’ve ever met."

"So are you." We kissed again, right on the lips, and broke our record for intensity by a gigabyte. We kissed forever, our lips dancing over each other’s, until the kiss was all I was and all I ever wanted to be. It was everything in the net and the web and whatever else is out there besides. Compared to that kiss, Daemon was a nanobyte in the data sea and always would be.

Maybe it was because we were both desperate and scared and thought we might delete or be infected any nano, I don’t know. Maybe it was even because we were in older sims. But there was something different to kissing her this time, not like any of the others. More intense. But I still felt hesitant, like I was threatening her or something. "I… Are you sure it’s OK? After what they did to you?" We didn’t even break off the kiss – we just kept going, right through the question.

"Enzo – it’s all right. It’s more all right than ever."

I had to see her face – If I didn’t I was sure I’d delete right there. I pulled back and my hands were in her hair and I saw her smile, her soft eyes, and I kissed her lips and her cheek and her forehead and even her ear. I knew right then and there that we’d be OK – that in a net where something as amazing and wonderful as kissing a girl like Lisa could happen, Daemon didn’t stand a chance against us.

I felt like I was possessed – not by Daemon, but by some other force that was controlling my every thought and movement, and I never wanted it to stop. I held her gently and sighed. "I love you. I’ll always love you." I knew I should be afraid, nervous, but I wasn’t – I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing except that my processor was on auto-pilot and I knew it was right, and I felt like Lisa and me were alone in the net, forever.

"Enzo…"

My lips were back on hers again, soft and warm and sweet on to the touch. "I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. I promise. I’ll take care of you and keep you safe and I’ll never leave you."

"I know you will." Her hands were in my hair and we were hugging again, clinging to each other. "You’re my hero, Enzo. My brave boy."

"And you’re my angel." I held her and smelled her hair and even softly kissed her neck, and felt myself lost in her, and I didn’t want to believe the feeling in my processor at first. But it grew stronger and stronger and she felt my body tense up and she knew why. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to wish the feeling away but it wouldn’t go, no matter how much I wished it. I sighed and pulled away from Lisa and mouthed "He’s close."

"Where?" she asked silently. I closed my eyes again and tried to focus, and my problem now wasn’t being exhausted – my whole body was shot through with more energy than it could handle – but that my processor was running on turbo mode and it didn’t want to concentrate. I think I discovered the miracle cure for tiredness that cycle, at least.

My senses were sharper with my renewed energy, and there was no doubt in my mind that it was the User I was sensing. I thought I could feel Zip or Calisto too, but not close – far enough away that I almost couldn’t sense them and I couldn’t tell which one it was. The User was to our left, moving slowly in the long corridor, then behind us. Circling, confused maybe. Looking for a way in.

I peeked up at the sky quickly and found the moon. It was no good – too high in the sky, still. No escape there. I felt the User hovering close-by, and I figured he knew something was going on – that the walls around our chamber weren’t there by chance. He knew there was a space inside, closed off from the rest of the labyrinth.

It was time to take a chance. There was no easy way for him to get into the passageway to our right – he could do it if he jumped a couple walls, but I figured he wouldn’t – he knew where we were, most likely. I grabbed Lisa’s hands and gave her what I hoped was a confident smile, and closed my eyes. I was shaking and my heart was pounding but I blocked everything out as well as I could and after a few nanos of effort I parted the walls, giving Lisa a small gap to slip through.

Lisa sighed and kissed me on the cheek, then handed me the gold child, nodding intently. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was all I had. I took it and, though I hadn’t planned to, I slipped the wings and their harness off my back and slipped it around Lisa’s shoulders. They were so light I’d almost totally forgotten they were there. Lisa frowned and started to try and give them back, but I shushed her and pointed to the wall. With a disapproving glare she knelt and scooped up the mace in both arms. She looked ridiculously small holding it and for a nano I started to think our plan was totally hopeless, that there was no way she could possibly use it effectively. But she was actually taller than I was and probably weighed as much or more and it didn’t matter anyways – we were committed now, like it or not. It was this or infection.

Lisa walked over to the gap in the wall and slipped through into the other passageway. She turned to look at me and smiled, and I had a horrible thought that this might be the last time I ever saw her face. I banished it as quickly as I could – the User was still out there, moving back across to our left again. I took one last look at her and stored the image of her beautiful face in my mind forever. I closed my eyes and in the darkness I felt the walls move and the gap close, and when I opened them all I saw was a wall of green.

I could feel the User there, sense him right on the far side of the opposite wall. His energy was totally different from Zip or Calisto, maybe because the infection was stronger in him or maybe because he was a User and not a sprite. I couldn’t help but be afraid, sensing him there, knowing that in a few nanos I’d be facing him and maybe my own deletion.

I didn’t have to wait long. I backed away into a corner, something I’d normally never do when someone bigger –and who isn’t bigger, crash it all – was coming after me. But I wanted Theseus to have to come at me, to leave the center of the chamber and have to turn to face me. There didn’t seem to be much chance there’d be enough time for Lisa to do anything – but maybe, at least, she’d have a chance to get away after I was infected. The gap in the wall would still be there and she had the wings…

There was a little stab of pain in my processor, as if the energy from the User was spiking, and a flash of reflected moonlight appeared in the air above the wall of the passageway. The User landed unsteadily near the center of the chamber, and it was shockingly loud – a thunderous crash of weight onto the ground, a clanking of iron as his sword and shield rattled against each other. He wasn’t graceful, but he more than made up for it by being big. And User, was he big.

I backed away into my corner, holding the puny gold child out in front of me and listening to my heart thumping in my chest. A stray thought popped into my head - This isn’t fair! I’m too young to be infected! It wasn’t what I wanted to be thinking but that’s how stray thoughts are. The User took a nano to get his bearings, looking around him. His Theseus body was amazing – he was tall and broad-shouldered with huge muscles, shaggy hair and a thick black beard. He would have looked heroic if it weren’t for the sickening green glow at his neck.

Once the User focused his eyes on me he took a step closer, eyes darting around the sealed-off passageway. I’ve never been more afraid in my life – not even the first time I faced off against an infected User. Maybe I was too young to know better then, but that had still felt like a game in a lot of ways. An adventure. Now all I could think about was how much I didn’t want to delete, and how strange oblivion must feel. The User took another step, not removing his sword from its scabbard. "Two."

"What?" I rasped, my voice sounding high and thin and scared.

"There were two." He smiled a cold smile and advanced.

"She’s where you’ll never find her." I said as defiantly as I could. "She’ll tell everyone what’s happened when this game is over, and they’ll delete us before we can infect anyone else. You’ll lose."

"She will join us before the game ends."

"No! She has the wings, now – you’ll never catch her."

The User hesitated, and I could see that he was thinking or trying to talk to the others, or something. The memory of the wings was in there – as the User, he’d know about them. He scowled and advanced on me. "So be it. By the Gods, she will be found."

I slid a couple of steps along the back wall, trying to get Theseus pointed away from the left side of the passageway. I’d never tried to change the maze without closing my eyes and concentrating before, but I knew if I did that it’d tip him off. It was incredibly hard trying to do it with my eyes open – everything I saw distracted me and scattered my concentration – and I gasped and felt my face scrunch up but I figured the User would just figure it was from fear. "You’ll never get her. Never!"

"Why do you resist? It is pointless. My Lady’s will is all-powerful." I wasn’t even sure if I’d managed to open a gap in the wall but the User was so close now and so big that he blocked my whole field of vision. He raised his arm and reached for my neck.

I fell to my knees and my throat tightened up and I was terrified, but my arms remembered how to work and I flung the gold child at him from close range and he was forced to stop and raise his shield quickly. It skimmed of the shield and clipped the side of his head loudly and he gasped and staggered back, blood dripping from a small cut above his ear. It took him just a nano to get his balance, then he smiled and reached for me again.

"No! Please!" I squeaked, wanting not to delete more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I cowered and made myself as small as possible and then there was a loud "thunk" and Theseus’ eyes opened wide and he fell. Right on top of me. I closed my eyes and wondered what infection would feel like.

After a nano had passed and I didn’t feel any different I opened my eyes and the User’s face was close to mine, screwed up in pain. I was so close to the corner that he’d fallen against the walls and never touched me. I saw blood dripping from a huge hole in his right side and scrambled out from under him. There was a loud slap as he reached for my ankle and missed and his hand slammed into the ground. I pushed myself to my feet and I saw Lisa reaching for the mace on the ground and I took a step backwards and tripped over the gold child and fell on my bitmap. My ankle twisted under me and I howled as a sharp pain shot up to my processor.

The User staggered to his feet just as Lisa scooped up the mace and he reached for her, just as she was trying to draw the huge weight back for another swing. I grabbed the gold child and whipped it and it clanked off his face and he teetered again, and then there was a snapping noise as the mace shattered his left leg, just below the knee, and he screamed and went down like a directory tree, right between me and Lisa.

Our eyes made contact just for a nano and I could see hers’ shining with fear and excitement, and then the User tried to push himself up and Lisa and I dove back. His leg buckled and he fell again, growling and reaching for her. His huge bulk was between her and the mace, now, and I did the only thing I could think of and yelled to get his attention. "Leave her alone!"

His head swiveled to face me and his blood was everywhere and his leg was twisted at an angle I’ve never seen one twisted before. But he wasn’t deleted and the pain wasn’t enough to totally shut him down. I picked up the gold child and whipped it at him again and he raised his arms to fend it off, and Lisa chose that nano to dive over him and grab for the mace. He snarled and twisted himself to reach for her, and I saw the hilt of his sword pointing towards me. It was in his scabbard, not touching his body, so I took a chance and reached for it, not knowing what would happen.

My skin touched the metal and I didn’t feel infected – or any different at all – so I yanked it free. It was lighter than the mace but still deleted heavy, and the blade was almost as long as I was. Lisa had managed to grab the mace and she was trying to grip it properly while staggering backwards as the User crawled after her, and she was having a hard time. Not only that, she was running out of room, backing herself into the same corner that I’d been trapped in.

My ankle was throbbing and I could barely stand, but I pushed myself upright and hopped towards them. I knew I wouldn’t be able to thrust with the sword and still let go of it before it touched the User, so I lifted it as high as I could and swung it like an axe and screamed as loud as my throat would scream and released it as it sliced into his arm and there was more blood. Some games are more realistic than others and unfortunately this was one of the realistic ones. I hate all that blood and stuff – I’ll never get used to it.

The User gasped and writhed and looked first amazed, then angry. "You will serve her or die!"

"That’s what you think!" Lisa had used the nanos the chop from the sword had given her and she had the mace poised over her head, her eyes dark and burning and her jaw set. "You leave my Enzo alone!" I turned away as the mace made contact with The User’s skull and felt a shudder go through me as the game cube shimmered and danced with energy.

"GAME OVER"

I dropped to my knees, totally exhausted. Lisa had fallen forward from the momentum from her last swing of the mace and she was sprawled on the ground, motionless. I screamed her name and I was terrified for a nano that she was hurt or infected, but she was just worn out like I was – she looked up at me and her eyes were clear and bright and her hair was golden again and she smiled. We crawled towards each other and she fell against me. "Enzo!"

"Are you OK? Are you OK?"

"Yes. Yes, I’m fine." She panted. "You’re not hurt?"

"No. Just my foot, I’m OK." She buried her face in my shoulder and I kissed her head and squeezed her tight enough to break her ribs, and I felt so happy to be alive that I though I might pop right there. "Oh User, Lisa. You’re really OK?"

"I’m fine, Sweetie. I thought I’d lost you, when he fell on you-"

"I know. Oh, User…"

"Enzo… I really thought I’d lost you. If anything had happened to you-"

"I know." I held her face in my hands and just stared at her, amazed and relieved and exhausted and trying not to lose it completely. "You saved me."

"We saved each other." She smiled and kissed me and I kissed her back. I never wanted that nano to end and spammit, we deserved not to have it end – hadn’t we done enough that cycle? But my processor sort of kicked and sputtered back to life and I remembered that Zip and Calisto were still infected and the pain in my leg came back like an awful memory.

"Shit." I whispered. I could see a form coming towards us down the hillside. I opened a vidwindow and I couldn’t even remember anyone’s IP address so I just opened a general one and half-shouted into it. "Help! We… The game cube was infected and there are infected sprites at the Academy. We need help immediately!"

Calisto strode towards us and Lisa and I stumbled to our feet. We backed away from him and I could see the green pulse from his neck glowing in the darkness. Lisa fiddled with her ring nervously. "You turned out to be a real pain in the ascii, Infant."

"It’s over, Calisto. There’s teachers and uninfected cadets all over this place – if you don’t give up they’ll delete you."

"They’ll all serve our Lady." Calisto sneered. That sneer, at least, hadn’t changed.

Problem was, Lisa and I didn’t have any weapons now that we were out of the game – we were defenseless. We turned to run but I could barely walk, much less run, and even though Lisa tried to help me, with my weight leaning on her we were way too slow. And there was no sign of anyone coming to help us yet.

I managed to pull out my zip board and Lisa pulled out hers and we started away, only to see Zip stumbling towards us. I’ll never forget the sight – the whole left side of his body was dark red with blood and his arm was hanging loosely from his shoulder. His face was all screwed up tight, and there was almost no color to it – the pain must have been unbelievable but somehow Daemon’s infection wouldn’t let him collapse. I knew he’d delete soon if he didn’t get to a hospital.

That wasn’t our biggest problem right then, though – he was still coming, straight towards us, and between he and Calisto they had us pinned back against the boys’ dorm building. "This ends now, Sprout." Zip snarled, advancing closer.

"Byte me!" I threw myself in front of Lisa but she wouldn’t have any of that – she wrestled her way next to me and on one leg there was nothing I could do to stop her.

"You’re going to die, you know." She said in a calm voice. "You’ll bleed to death."

"It’s not important." Zip’s voice was ragged and strained. "I’d enjoy deleting the two of you, but unfortunately you’re needed. You don’t deserve to receive our Lady into you – but you will."

"Lisa was right – you are still a pig." The thought that entered my mind was how pointless and stupid it was to be infected now, after surviving the game. I put my arms around her and coiled myself as well as I could, thinking about one last try to escape even though I knew we were hopelessly trapped.

Then a bunch of things happened.

First of all, there was a flash of movement to our right and Calisto went tumbling to the ground, and the rest of us spun to see what’d happened. I caught a glimpse of blond hair and saw Ray swooping around and coming back towards us. He headed straight for Zip. "You kids all right? User, Mate – what happened to your arm?"

"Look out!" I shouted. "He’s infected!" Ray veered off but Zip reached out with his good arm and knocked it into Ray’s board, and both of them went tumbling head over heels to the ground. Zip rolled down the hill and was motionless - Ray lay still for a nano or two, then slowly lifted his head, looking dazed.

The next thing that happened was that, like in slow motion, I saw Calisto appear just behind Ray. I screamed "No!" as loud as I could and Ray started to turn, but then Calisto’s hands were on his neck and he struggled for a nano, and was still. And when Calisto moved his hands, Ray’s neck was pulsing with green light. "Ray! No!"

I heard Lisa gasp "Oh, my User!" next to me and I felt totally stunned and defeated, like all the fight had been drained out of me. Ray was infected. Then I felt Lisa’s hand around mine and I saw Ray and Calisto moving towards us and I leaned against her and got ready to jump in front or her. Or something. Anything.

The next thing that happened was a flash of very, very bright light that made me shield my eyes with my arm. Then what looked like a sort of rip – not a tear, but something very neat and well-defined – opened up in the air itself, and a man stepped through. But not like any other man I’d ever seen. He was tall, muscular and dressed in what looked like ultra high-tech silver armor. His hair was a brilliant gold, short-cropped, and his eyes were jet black. Where his icon should have been, on his chest, was a brilliant blue-black stone that emitted a light from its center. And he was holding a long, shiny staff, with a jeweled tip. Even though I’d never seen one before, I knew exactly what it was.

A Gibson-Coil Pike.

"Daddy." Lisa said, simply. Just that one word.

"Why did you summon me, Little One?" His flinty eyes were almost soft when he looked at her, but when he turned and saw Ray and Calisto, they went hard and cold. "Virals! Interesting…"

"What is it?" Calisto rasped.

"Codemaster." Ray frowned. "A Codemaster – here? Impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible for a Codemaster, Virus." The gold-haired man stepped between us and the others and turned back to Lisa. "Are you all right, Child? Are you injured?"

"No, Daddy." Lisa said softly. Her father reached out to her and she gave him her hand, silently. "The game we were in was infected, Daddy. Enzo saved my life."

The Codemaster turned his black eyes on me and I felt about as tiny as a null. He looked me up and down for a nano. "Indeed. If that is true, you have my gratitude, Boy. You were wise to call me, My Lisa – these viral scum are the product of Daemon, and she is not to be trifled with."

"You know about Daemon?" I gasped.

"Even the web is not free of her filthy infection. The sooner she is eradicated the better."

"You can’t stop her, Mate!" Ray spat. "Not you or your pathetic society."

"The ways of viruses are not my concern, nor the concern of any of the Seventh Brotherhood." The Codemaster laughed. "Not unless they are so foolish as to anger us. You have threatened the daughter of Avatar the Doom-Bringer – and that makes me very angry. It will be your last mistake." He raised his pike, and the others took a step towards us.

"Daddy, Wait! You can’t delete them!"

"They are viral scum, Child-"

"It’s not their fault they were infected, Daddy – you can’t! Ray is our friend – he was infected trying to help us!"

Avatar looked at her for a nano, then sighed. "Very well, Child – I will consider." He raised his pike casually, and Ray and Calisto were swallowed up in some sort of shimmering silver casing.

"What’s that?"

"A stasis field." Lisa said softly. "Thank you, Daddy."

Avatar left Ray and Calisto suspended in their cocoon and turned to us. He put a hand on Lisa’s cheek gently. "You have grown, My Lisa."

"It’s been four hours."

"You are certain you are well, Child? The virals have not damaged you?"

"I’m fine. Just a little scared…"

He turned to me. "And who is this youngling who saved your life, as you say?"

"Uh…"

"This is Enzo, Daddy." Lisa squeezed my hand. "He’s my friend. He’s very smart and very brave and he did save my life in that game."

Avatar chuckled. "He doesn’t look like much, does he?"

"Daddy!"

"She was the one who saved my life, Sir." I said when I could finally get my voice to work. "She’s amazing."

"She is my daughter." He lifted Lisa in his arms as easily as I’d lifted the golden child in the game. "Why have you waited so long to call me, Little One? Are you not bored with the ways of sprites yet?"

"I’m a sprite. This is my home, Father."

"Will you refuse me again? Will you not return to the web?"

"No!" I blurted out. Avatar shot me a glare and I nearly peed myself.

"No, Daddy. I don’t want to live in the web. Not even with you."

"Foolish Child." He looked angry, but he was still very gentle when he set Lisa down. "You know nothing of what you turn your back on. Such power-"

"I don’t want it!" Lisa scowled. "You could stay, you know. You don’t have to go back to the web. You can help us fight Daemon! You could come back to Wozniak-"

"Laughable! I cannot, Child – you know this. No more than I can force you to come with me." He looked up, towards the great hall, where several more sprites were coming towards us on zip boards. "Ah, they come – scurrying like software bugs. I think perhaps it is time for me to leave – to stay would surely involve tedium of the highest order."

"I’ll miss you." Lisa said softly.

Avatar smiled for the first time. "I will always come when you call, Daughter. And I will always hope you change your mind. I never give up, and I am very patient."

"Good-bye."

"Farewell, Daughter." Avatar glanced at me and I thought about offering him my hand, then decided against it.

"I wish you could stay for once." Lisa said, so softly I almost couldn’t hear her.

It was only then that it occurred to me just what the implications of Avatar’s presence were. Lisa’s secret was out now, most likely – even if Zip or Calisto didn’t spill the java beans there’s be some serious explaining to do. Codemasters didn’t just walk through the door at nanos of crisis and save the day for the fun of it. Did I want to stay at the Academy without Lisa? But it wasn’t like I could follow her home, either – and no one would believe we were really in love. We had no control over our own lives. Crash – sometimes I really hate being a kid!

Of course I was getting way ahead of myself anyway – once everything settled down Lisa would probably think about what I’d done and she wouldn’t cross the street to spit on me. And we were both lucky to be alive, besides. You can’t help what enters your mind sometimes, though. And that’s what I thought about as I watched her say good-bye to her Dad.

I’d never seen a Codemaster before – well, not counting Mr. Pearson – and it was weird to think that "Avatar the Doom-Bringer" was my girlfriend’s Dad. As scary and intimidating as he was, he was gentle with her. Like a father. He knelt next to her and lightly touched her face. "You know I cannot stay any longer, Child. My presence here will only complicate things further for you."

"I know, Daddy." Lisa sighed, running her fingers over his smooth skin. "Thank you for saving us."

"You are certain you would not like me to atomize these virals?"

"No, Daddy! I told you – this isn’t their fault. It’s not fair to delete them for being infected."

Avatar didn’t look happy. The others were almost on us, now – I saw Laser and Mouse among a group of teachers. "I leave them to your friends to sort and file, then – and good fortune to them." He straightened, tall and powerful. "One cycle you will return to the web with me, My Lisa – it is certain. You cannot deny yourself forever."

"If you say so, Dad. I’ll miss you."

"Farewell, Child." Avatar opened another rip in the air with his pike, like he was pulling down the zipper on a jacket.

I looked at Lisa and saw a tear on her cheek as her Dad took a step into the portal, or whatever it was that Codemasters used to travel the web. I started to go to her, just to put my arm around her or comfort her or whatever – and that’s when I saw the hand. It was covered in blood, and shaking, and of course when I followed it backwards I saw it was attached to the arm that was attached to Zip – barely. And it was reaching for Lisa.

No one else saw it – just me. And even though the hand was moving pretty slow I could see there wasn’t time to warn Lisa – the bloody fingertips were practically touching her elbow already. I felt really calm, surprisingly – when I think about it now I figure I should have been terrified or panicky or whatever – but I wasn’t. I did the only thing I could think of – well, that’s probably giving myself too much credit ‘cause there was no time to really think of anything. Probably it’s better to say I reacted the only way I could – I shot my arm out and grabbed the hand before it could touch Lisa.

There was just a nano of feeling disgusted by the slick feeling of the bloody hand, and then a kind of shock, a buzzing on my skin like software bugs were crawling over it and sinking their tiny little teeth into it, and at the same time the sound a scream building in Lisa’s throat. And then nothing – not a thought or even a dream, just total black emptiness. Exactly what death must feel like.

The next thing I remember is being cold. I remember feeling myself shivering and someone pulling a blanket up over me and even though there was absolutely nothing in between that cold feeling and the black emptiness which was the only thing I remembered at first, I knew some time had passed, maybe a lot. I’m still not sure how I knew that – how I sensed the passage of time when I wasn’t sensing anything. But I did.

There were a few nanos when I felt really fuzzy and stupid, then everything started to come back to me in a rush and I opened my eyes. Everything was way too bright and I brought my hand up to shield my eyes and I was breathing heavily, and someone was telling me to take it easy, everything was fine. After a nano I recognized the voice. "Laser?"

"Calm down, Son. Take it nice and slow."

I slowly uncovered my eyes and blinked, trying to adjust to the light in the room. I was in a bed in a room I didn’t recognize and Laser was sitting in a chair next to me, arms folded. "What… What happened, Sir?"

"Quite a few things, actually." He smiled. "But you’re safe now."

"Lisa! Omigosh, is she-"

"Lisa is fine!" Laser gently pushed me back down in bed and my heart was beating a million times a nano. "But you won’t be if you get yourself worked up. You’ve been through quite a bit. Now relax – that‘s an order!"

"Yes, Sir." I rasped. My panic was receding a little but I still wasn’t quite ready to believe everything was fine. "Is she really OK?"

"She is. Thanks mostly to you, I might add. You saved her from infection."

Saved her… But not me – obviously. "Where am I?"

"The infirmary."

"How long-"

"Just a couple of cycles."

"A couple of cycles?" Crash – that was an awful lot of my life to be missing. I was only 1.3.

"As I said – you’ve been through quite a bit." Laser put one of his calloused hands on my forehead softly. "We had to take things slowly – not take any risks. A couple of cycles don’t mean much, in the larger scale of things. When you’re older you’ll understand."

I could sense that this was one of those times when Laser was my grandfather more than my Headmaster. I grabbed his arm and pulled myself to a sitting position. "What happened? Was I… Was I, you know… infected?"

Laser stared at me and stroked my forehead with his thumb, like he had in his office. "In a way, yes. But Avatar spared you from the worst of it."

"Avatar? Really? How?"

Laser chuckled wearily. "Have you ever heard of a Ultra Near-Field Time Lock Mechanism?" I guess I looked pretty dumb, because he chuckled again. "I’m not surprised – you don’t run across one every cycle. The only way to generate one – or dispel one, for that matter – is with a Gibson-Coil Pike."

"Gibson-Coil?" I rasped. "Lisa’s- Uh – I mean…"

"I know who he is, Lad. A UNFTLM is a total time lock – a perfect stasis field, like an absolute vacuum in time. As soon as you touched the infected cadet he encased your entire body in one."

"Dude – really?" Damn – I’d called the headmaster "Dude" again…

"Yes. Very quick thinking on his part – not entirely surprising, given the processor speed Codemasters run at - but quick nonetheless. Not even Daemon’s infection can process in the absence of time, so he effectively froze it before it had a chance to reach your processor. It was confined to your arm – to just below your right elbow, as it happens."

"Cursors and crashes!" I stared at my arm but there was absolutely no sign that anything unusual had happened to it. "That’s amazing!"

Laser tousled my hair softly. "You should feel honored, Son – Codemasters are loathe to involve themselves in the ways of sprites. But then I suppose Avatar has already showed himself an odd Codemaster. It was the pleadings of your girlfriend, I suppose."

"My… My girlfriend?" Laser really wasn’t supposed to know about that. "How-"

"Enzo, I’m not basic. Nor is my faculty. It’s been obvious for some time that you and Lisa are… fond of each other. When two cadets are constantly holding hands that’s usually a fairly reliable indicator."

"Oh." I felt myself go red as Mouse’s hair. "Am I in trouble?"

"We have rules, Enzo – but we don’t have rules against sprites being sprites. I’m not so naïve as to think we can throw a hundred teenagers together and no hearts will go a-flutter. As long as you don’t cross certain boundaries and your studies don’t suffer I won’t consider it an issue." Laser smiled at me. "You did surprise me, though – you’re so young! Or so I thought – but old enough to feel the pull of the heart, I suppose."

I returned his smile. Whenever Laser showed me the little bits of Bob he hid inside it made me feel closer to him. "Thanks."

"She’s a remarkable girl. She refused to let her father leave while you were still in danger – she begged and pleaded with him to stay and care for you. As I said, the only way a UNFTLM can be removed is with a Gibson-Coil – and once it was removed the infection would spread throughout your entire body. We had to remove the time-lock from only the infected arm – which was a ticklish thing in itself. And it was no easy task to convince Avatar to remain here while we debated your treatment."

"Crash." I whispered. "How’d you finally get rid of the infection?"

"Simple enough, really. We ran the code in your arm through a series of filters until we were satisfied it was clean. Than we did it again, just to be sure. Treatment is a whole lot easier when the processor isn’t infected. After that we removed the time-lock and waited for you to come around. That took several milliseconds. The time-lock slowed your healing from that sprained ankle of yours, but it should be fine in a few cycles."

My head was spinning from all this information and there were a million questions I wanted to ask, but at that nano one pushed all the others out. "Oh User! What about Ray? Is he…"

"We’re doing what we can." Laser sighed and patted my arm. "Ray and the others are in containment fields now. We have options – not without risk, but options. Don’t concern yourself – they’ll get the best possible treatment."

"Just tell me Sir – please. It’s kinda my fault Ray was infected. I need to know what’s gonna happen!"

"How is it your fault, Cadet?"

"I sent out the distress call. That’s why he came…"

"Don’t be stupid." Laser snorted. "If it weren’t for you two kids the entire Academy might be infected now. Lisa told me all about your trials in that game."

"But-"

"But nothing. You did what you had to do – and so did Ray. His job is the protection of the Academy and the students – he was the first one to respond, that’s all. He’ll pull through this. Besides, if this… If it’s anyone’s fault it’s mine."

"Sir?"

Laser took a deep breath and all of a sudden he looked really old and tired, like he sometimes did. "I’m very proud of both of you, Cadet – you were placed in a seemingly hopeless situation and you managed to survive it through bravery and ingenuity. I should expect it from you by now… But I’m still proud."

"Um… Thanks. I-"

"Wait." He forced a strained smile. "Enzo, its no one’s fault that game cube was infected – there’s no technology at anyone’s disposal that could have predicted it. But it is my fault that Lisa and yourself were placed in the danger you were, regardless of the infection. You could both have been deleted. I want you to know that I’m very sorry."

Even as bewildering as the last few micros – well, cycles really - had been, this had me truly confused. "I don’t understand, Sir. Why are you sorry?"

"Enzo…" Laser ran a hand across his brow and looked away from me, towards the door. "It’s due to my carelessness that Cadet Jobs and yourself were in that game with sprites who were capable of such savagery. It’s entirely my fault that you had to suffer like that."

"What? Why?"

"To begin with, Son, I had no idea that Zip and Calisto were as far gone as they were. I didn’t think their behavior would extend beyond schoolboy pranks and an occasional fistfight. I thought they were salvageable, spammit!"

How much did he know? I wasn’t sure if Laser knew about Zip and Calisto’s plans for Lisa, but it didn’t seem like my place to tell him if he wasn’t. Only Lisa had that right. "It’s not your fault – you didn’t know-"

"It is my fault. I underestimated Zip. In many ways, I’m afraid. He was more ruthless and brutal than I imagined. And much more clever as well."

"Clever, Sir?"

"He engineered the whole thing, Enzo." Laser sighed. "Getting you and Lisa into that game with he and Calisto – that was his plan all along."

"His plan?"

"You don’t think I’d have intentionally sent you into a game with both of them after what happened, do you?"

"I… I wasn’t sure. I thought it could be a test or something…"

"A test?" Laser laughed bitterly. "Some test! You were tested all right – no child should have to endure a test like that. No, Son – he doctored the game rosters – hacked into the central computer and manipulated them. It was ingenious, the young bastard."

In a strange way, I actually felt better knowing Laser hadn’t set me up. "Sir, it was my fault – I should have said something-"

"No it wasn’t, Boy – it wasn’t your place to question orders. It should never have been allowed to happen in the first place."

"I still don’t get it, Sir. How did he do it? Where was Mr. Garamond?"

"Like I said – Zip was very clever. He intercepted the rosters before they were sent out, changed them. He sent Garamond a roster showing Ray Tracer going into the game with you, and sent Ray one with Garamond’s name on it. And the rosters that went out to the staff showed the cadets with their original assignments – only the students saw the one you did. And no one put two and two together and came up with four."

"Wow." I whispered. The most amazing thing was that Zip would go to all that trouble just to humiliate me - and I hadn’t even really done anything to him! "That’s… It’s unbelievable. I knew he was smarter than Calisto, but-"

"It was a good plan. He’s a clever little hacker too, the worthless null – but I can promise you this sort of thing will never be repeated. We were complacent, and it’s my fault. I’ve asked Mouse to make sure this never happens again." Laser finally looked back at me and grabbed my hands. "I’m sorry, Cadet – sorrier than you’ll ever know. This was a failure of the highest order."

"No it wasn’t! You couldn’t have known he would do that, Sir. No one could." He really looked tired and old and helpless then, and I felt terrible for him.

"You’re a good boy, Enzo. A good boy…"

"Sir, I still don’t understand why. Why did Zip do all this? I never did anything to him – I only punched him after he tried to beat me up! And after that I just tried to stay out of his way."

"I know, Enzo – you don’t have to convince me."

"I just don’t understand why." I scowled.

"Don’t obsess over it. Some questions don’t have easy answers. I think he was jealous of your experiences, Son – your time with Bob, Mouse, Ray… Perhaps he knew you and I are… Related. And sometimes people can’t look past what they see of a person at first glance – and he saw someone small and young and innocent and couldn’t believe that person earned his way in here on his merits."

"My experiences? I wonder how he’d like having no parents and being a backup and growing up with no friends!"

"I know." Laser said softly. "Sometimes people have dark places inside them we don’t see. I didn’t see that the dark places were all there was to Zip, in the end."

My little burst of anger had made me tired for a nano, and I had to lean back and close my eyes. "What will happen to him now, Sir? I mean, if… You know."

"He’ll get the best treatment we can give him. They both will. We’ve already repaired the damage to Zip’s arm as best we can – if he recovers it will heal, more or less. Hopefully we’ll be able to cure their infection – but even if we do, they’ll both be expelled, I can promise you."

I opened my eyes and felt a little thrill to hear that. "Definitely?"

Laser nodded. "Even if it were all there was, their manipulation of the game rosters would be sufficient grounds for that – they placed themselves and two other cadets in danger by sending them into a game unsupervised. We’ll send them back to their home systems – where both of them will face charges of attempted rape."

I heard a little gasp escape my chest. "You know?"

"Yes. Lisa told me – she didn’t want those two to go unpunished for what they tried to do." Laser’s face hardened and he sighed grimly, eyes shining. "That’s the most shameful thing of all – that a cadet at this academy was subjected to that kind of degradation. I’m sorry you had to witness it, Son – but I’m glad for Lisa’s sake you were there. She’s a remarkably strong child – you both are. Remarkable children. Remarkable…"

"Will… Will Lisa have to leave, Sir?" I said it in a choked little voice.

Laser’s eyes were wet, and now they widened in surprise. "What?"

"You know – because of her father. Please let her stay, Sir! I know it’s against the rules but she’s not a Codemaster and-"

"Enzo-"

"I’ll delete if she goes, Sir! She’s so amazing, and-"

"Calm down, Son. That’s an order!"

I took a few deep breaths. "S-sorry, Sir."

Laser smiled like he was relieved to have the subject changed. "You really are in love with her, aren’t you?"

"S-sir?"

"Enzo, listen to me for a micro. There are no written rules in place that a Codemaster can’t be a Guardian. But there are things we have to consider – risks. A full Codemaster has certain abilities… Which might prove troublesome when combined with the Guardian protocols. And there’s the matter of philosophy – the ideals of the Collective ran directly counter with the tenets of Codemaster societies."

"But Sir, please-"

"Hush up, Boy!" Laser said sternly. I closed my mouth and looked down. "I know this is an emotional issue for you, but when a superior officer is addressing you interruption is against the rules. Got it?"

"Got it, Sir. Sorry."

"Good." He tousled my hair and I heard him laughing softly. "We’ll let it slide this time. The reason I’m telling you this is so that you’ll understand what a complex situation we’re dealing with. Lisa isn’t a full Codemaster, and she’s expressed no interest in becoming one. She wants to be a Guardian, and her conduct thus far has been exemplary, and under the worst circumstances possible." I looked up, hope starting to build, but I didn’t dare interrupt him again.

"It would seem unfair of me to send her home now – she’s been the victim in all this. And since we never expressly asked her if her father was Codemaster, she never expressly lied to us – although withholding that information is of dubious ethical stature. In any case, life isn’t fair, not most of the time – so that couldn’t be my final barometer. I decided to let Galileo decide."

I stared at Laser’s forearm. "Galileo, Sir? Your… Your keytool?"

"That’s right. Galileo is linked to me and will be until I’m deleted or infected, so it’s not a perfect test – but I gave him the opportunity to reject her, if he so chose. Keytools are wise, Enzo – wiser than we are in most ways."

I could barely get my voice to work. "What… What happened?"

"Other than her initial nervousness at using a keytool, not much. Galileo merged his code with hers and did not reject her. Based on that, and her demonstrated bravery and loyalty, she’ll be staying."

"Alphanumeric!" I was so happy I bounced up and threw my arms around Laser’s neck, which would have horrified me if I’d taken a nano to think about it. He stiffened for a nano, then softly patted my back. Then I did think about and I fell back in bed and I was horrified. "Sorry Sir!"

There was a glint of a smile in Laser’s eyes. "Don’t concern yourself, Son. Understandable in the circumstances."

"Sorry." I was almost able to keep a smile off my face, but not quite. "I’m just very relieved, Sir. Cadet Jobs has become very important to me."

"I know. She’s a courageous young lady – I know she’ll get through this, but what happened to her was very traumatic. Try and understand that, Enzo – she’ll need you to help her as much as you can."

"I will. I promise!"

"Good lad." Laser smiled.

"Make… Make sure Ray gets better, OK?"

"I have faith in my people, Enzo. We’ll find a way, I’m sure of it."

"Please." Ray’s infection was the one big cloud that kept me from feeling totally happy. "Is the Academy safe? We’re OK here, aren’t we?"

"I believe so. We don’t really understand how the communication between Daemon and these infected sprites works – if there even is any real-time communication. Her infection may simply execute a stream of pre-written commands to control their behavior. But it’s also possible that they can communicate, somehow – we know they can communicate with each other, locally."

I gulped. "So Daemon might know where we are?"

"Possibly." Laser said softly. "None of the cadets were given the address of this system – Mouse sends scrambled commands to their navigation systems when they come here. Ray is another matter. But even if Daemon does know, there’s nothing she can do about it. Mouse’s algorhithms have turned the tide – Daemon hasn’t successfully infected a protected system in the last hour. And this is the most heavily protected system in the net."

"Good."

"Good." Laser patted my hand softly. "We’ve talked too long – you need to rest, now. You’ve had a difficult minute. And I need to let Dot and Bob know you’re all right."

"Dot?" My heart spontaneously leaped about halfway up my throat. "She knows what happened?"

"I had to tell her, Enzo – she’s your Guardian. I had a responsibility."

"Oh." I closed my eyes and suddenly felt very tired. "It’s just – I know Dot, and- Well…"

"She had to know, Son. I couldn’t keep this from her. But she’ll also know that you’re safe, now – and how well protected the Academy is."

"I know. It’ll be all right." I wasn’t sure I believed that, but I wanted to.

"You’ll have a lot to talk about when you see her next minute."

"Next minute?" Crash – the school break! "Has it been six minutes already?"

"Almost, Son – six eventful ones. I’m sure she’ll be glad to see you."

"Oh, yeah! I’ll be glad to see her, too! And Bob, and Frisket, and Matrix and Andri…" User, I’d forgotten how much I missed them – all of them. Suddenly Dot’s absence was an aching hole in my gut again.

Laser chuckled. "Get some more sleep – you need it. I’ll let Dot know you’ve pulled through. She’ll be very relieved, I’m sure."

"Uh, Sir? You didn’t, um, tell Dot about Lisa, did you?"

He looked confused for a nano, then smiled. "I didn’t tell her that you two were – well… No – only that you were in the game together."

"Thanks." I sighed. "Would you mind not mentioning it?"

"I doubt it will come up in conversation."

"Thank you, Sir! Can I see her - Lisa?"

"Later. It was hard enough to get her out of this room so the med-techs could do their jobs – she didn’t want to go. And she and your roommate have been pestering us to see you ever since. We’ll have the M.T.s check you out and if you’re cleared, you can go back to the dorm."

"Please, Sir – couldn’t I see her now?" There was one more big doubt still hanging over me, and I couldn’t wait to have it resolved.

"Later, Cadet. After you’re cleared."

"Please, Sir? Please? I won’t be able to sleep until we talk. There’s… There’s stuff we need to say."

Laser scowled at me and I wilted just a little, I couldn’t help it. When Laser wanted to look stern he was very good at it. But he softened back up – I think he felt sorry for me. "I’m getting weak in my old age. All right, Boy – I’ll let her know you’re awake and you can have a few micros. But just a few, got it?" He winked. "And take it easy on the kissing, too – you’re still recovering!"

"Yessir." I was as red as it was possible for a green sprite to be, but at least I’d be seeing Lisa. "Sorry."

"I’ll send her in." Laser started to stand and head for the door.

"Sir?" He turned back to me and stared, expectantly. "Uh…"

"What is it, Cadet?"

"Just – please don’t feel bad about what happened, OK? It wasn’t your fault. You’re a great Headmaster and everything and I-"

"Enough." Laser sighed. "I appreciate that, Enzo. I’m going to have to live with this as best I can – it’s myself I have to answer to. I’ve gotten quite used to it."

"OK. But I meant it. And thank you – for everything." I know it wasn’t regulation but I leaned over and hugged my arms around his neck. "Thanks."

"Enzo-"

"You’re not supposed to care more about me than the other kids, but I know you do. It’s OK - I promise I won’t tell anyone." It was pretty stupid to say something like that to my Headmaster, but somehow that just didn’t seem important after what I’d just been through. Not saying anything seemed a whole lot worse. "Not even Bob."

"I…" He didn’t say anything for a few long nanos, just kind of sat there. Then his arms were around me and he was hugging me back. "I hope Bob realizes what a lucky man he is."

"Yeah. He has a great Dad."

"Enzo, you don’t know. You weren’t there-"

"No – don’t." I didn’t want him to say anything else – I knew how he felt about himself as a father but I didn’t want to hear it. The only Laser I knew was the one who was hugging me right then and there.

He didn’t try and argue with me – we hugged for a few nanos and then he lowered me back to the bed, smiling ruefully. "If people know, Cadet… It’ll just make things worse around here for both of us."

"Yes, Sir. I’ll never say a word."

He stared at me for a moment, then chuckled and tousled my hair. "All right, Kiddo - it’ll be our secret. And you’ve certainly earned my trust."

"Yessir. Thanks."

"You’re welcome, Son. You relax, now – I’ll send Cadet Jobs in and after that you can have a rest before the med-techs examine you." I squeezed his hand and he left with a wave, then I settled myself down to wait for Lisa.

* * *

My whole processor was buzzing with everything that had happened and everything that would happen. I was alive, and in an incredibly cool way, too – infected, frozen, and cured. Pixelacious! Lisa was OK, and she’d be staying. I’d be seeing Dot next minute. That was all alphanumeric. But Dot might not let me come back. And Ray – Ray was infected! User, it was sure a lot to think about.

Luckily I didn’t have to wait as long as I expected – Lisa appeared what seemed like just a few nanos after Laser left. "You’re here already!"

"I was waiting outside." She smiled, and then I saw a tear on her cheek and she walked quickly over to the bed and we hugged each other tight and didn’t say anything for a long time.

"User, you feel good…"

"Enzo, I was so worried. Why did you do it?"

"To save you, Silly."

"Enzo…" She was crying softly, her head on my shoulder. "If anything had happened to you I wouldn’t want to process anyway. Don’t you know that?"

"I couldn’t let you be infected. Especially by him."

"You saved my code. You saved me." She took my face in her hands and pulled back a little. "Let me look at you, Sweetie. You’re all right?"

"Laser says I’ll be fine. Thanks to your Dad."

She laughed softly. "Thank the User he did what he did. He’s very grateful to you, you know. For everything you did in the game."

"How did he know, anyway? Why did he come?" Lisa blushed a little and shrugged. "Wait! It was the ring, right?"

"Enzo! How did you know?"

I smiled and felt a little pleased with myself. "It’s the stone – it’s just like his… I dunno, his icon or whatever Codemasters have. Right?"

"Yes. It’s a jewel – from the web. But it’s also a .DLL command. Daddy gave it to me when I was little and told me to use it if I ever needed him." She smiled. "Maybe he knew I’d be the sort of kid that gets in trouble! I think he was hoping I’d call him sooner, though."

"Is he still here?"

"No. He left right after he removed the time-lock. He really hated being here – it wasn’t easy for him. But I wouldn’t let him leave you until we were sure you’d make it."

"Thanks." I sighed. I inclined my head forward and we kissed, softly. "Laser says I have to take it easy on that. He knows all about us."

Lisa grinned. "I guess we’re not very good at keeping secrets." She threw her arms around me again. "Oh, Enzo! I’m so happy you’re OK."

"Me too. And you’re staying – that’s totally pixelacious! Laser knows about everything and it’s still OK!"

"Yep. I’m pretty relieved, I have to admit."

"Was it scary, when he sent Galileo to link with you?"

"Of course it was, Silly! It was my whole future on the line. And I’ve never used a keytool before."

I kissed her hair, over and over. "Galileo is pretty smart. He knows what an amazing sprite you are."

"Enzo, stop it…"

"I used Galileo once – in a game. It was awesome."

"Yeah – Laser told me." Lisa sighed. "My poor Enzo. When you were infected, I just-"

"Don’t talk about it. Its over." We held each again and didn’t say anything for a few nanos. I knew there was something that was unsaid, but I wasn’t in any hurry to say it and it was easy to just do nothing when she was holding me and I was holding her. But it had to come out, sooner or later, and finally it did. "I’m sorry."

"Enzo, don’t-"

"Lisa, I’m so sorry for what happened. I’m sorry Zip found out your secret. It’s my fault what happened and I’m sorrier than I could ever be!"

"You don’t have to be sorry."

"But I am." I closed my eyes and put my head down on her shoulder, and her hand slowly stroked my hair as I talked. "Something terrible almost happened to you – what did happen was terrible. And it was all my fault."

"It wasn’t. Zip is a liar and a sneak – you couldn’t know what would happen. It’s not your fault."

"It is! And I… I’m really sorry. I’m so sorry…"

"You saved me." Lisa whispered. "You got me through it, just like you promised. You’re my hero, Sweetie."

"Oh User, Lisa, I’m sorry."

"I know. But you don’t have to be." Lisa kept smoothing my hair, and we held each other and I tried not to cry. "It’s all over, now. It’s over."

"And… I’m sorry about what I wrote, too."

"What?" She lifted my head so she could look into my eyes. "Why?"

"Lisa, I’m sorry I wrote that. About kissing you and everything. I-"

"Hush." She smiled slightly and kissed me on the cheek. "What you wrote was the sweetest, most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. Even Zip reading it couldn’t ruin it."

"What?" I gasped.

"I could never hope for a nicer first kiss, Enzo. Knowing that’s how you felt about it too makes it even more wonderful."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I meant it." I kissed her again, her lips and her nose and her cheek. "Um… I’m sorry about the other thing, too. What Zip read, uh-"

"Don’t be." Lisa gave back as good as she’d got, and I sighed and let the wonderful feeling cradle me. "I have thoughts about you too, you know. Feelings. All the time."

"No way!"

"Of course I do. I always have, ever since that first kiss. But do me a favor?"

"Anything."

She smiled. "If you’re going to write stuff like that down, do a better job with your security protocols next time, please!"

I blushed ever redder, if that was possible. "Promise."

"Good." Lisa kissed my nose. "You’re such a hottie…"

"I love you."

"I love you too." She put her head down on my shoulder and squeezed me. "I’m so glad you’re all right. So glad."

"I don’t think I could have stayed here if you’d gone. I don’t think I could have…"

"Oh, Enzo. You would too."

"I couldn’t. I… I’d have gone back to Wozniak with you. Or brought you to Mainframe-"

"I think your sister would have had something to say about that." She chuckled. "Not to mention my Mom."

"Yeah." I sighed, kissing her hair. "Crash, what would we have done, Lisa? I can’t even think about living without you."

"We’re not supposed to feel that way, Cutie. Not yet."

"I don’t care! I’ll love you forever, I know I will. I will."

"Sweetie… This wasn’t supposed to happen! We’re so young. You’re really young! This just wasn’t supposed to happen."

"I know. But it did. And I love you, I always will and I don’t care if we’re young or not."

"Sweetie." Lisa lifted her head, looking tired. "I love you too. I love you with all my heart."

"You can’t tell me we’re too young to know. Everything that’s happened - the game, everything! I know I’ll always love you. I know it! It doesn’t matter if we’re young – Matrix was 1.0 when he met AndrAIa and they’re still together."

"I don’t know, Enzo. I don’t know everything that’s going to happen." She ran her hand over my cheek slowly and stared into my eyes. "I can’t imagine ever not loving you, though. I can’t imagine ever feeling any different."

"I made you a promise, didn’t I? I said I’ll always take care of you and protect you and I’ll never let anyone hurt you, ever. I meant it. I’ll always love you and I’ll always take care of you."

"Oh, Enzo." Lisa grinned. "Don’t ever change, OK? Don’t grow up and be just like everyone else." She nuzzled my neck gently. "You’re my hero."

"You’re my angel. I promise I’ll always love you." Maybe we Enzos were destined to fall in love at a young age, I don’t know - but I’d never been as sure of anything in my life.

"I promise I’ll always love you." They were the most wonderful words I’d ever heard. We kissed and I felt as strong and defiant as I’ve ever felt. Anyone who tried to split us up – even Dot - was going to have a very big surprise on their hands.

"Lisa." I whispered. "Lisa, I love you."

"I love you." Her lips were on my neck, and mine were on hers. I can’t even begin to describe what that felt like, after all we’d been through together. But we both knew Laser could walk through the door any nano and that thought was in both our minds. We pulled back and stared at each other, breathing heavily. Finally Lisa broke out giggling.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What? What is it?" I started tickling under her chin, and she howled. "Tell me!"

"Just…" she laughed. "We’re gonna be at the Academy for a long time, you know? I was just thinking we’re both gonna be pretty overheated by the end of second hour!"

"Oh." I blushed. "You mean-"

"Yeah."

"Yeah." Well, there was no point in denying I thought about it – a lot. Especially since now I knew she did too. "Bob said I was way too young for that. I guess he’s probably right."

"Me too, I guess." Lisa sighed.

I kissed her cheek softly. "One cycle we won’t be. I can wait."

"Me too. And kissing you is about the most graphical thing in the net, anyways, so maybe it won’t be so bad."

"Yeah." I grinned and kissed her again, just to refresh myself that she was right.

"Enzo… You know I’ll only be 1.6 when we graduate. And you’ll be…"

"1.5." I said softly. "Almost."

"We’ll both have to serve apprenticeships. What’ll happen then? What will we do?"

"I don’t know." I took her in my arms and squeezed her as tight as I could and tried not to think about it. "We’ll find some way to be together. We have to. I promise we will, Angel."

"OK, Sweetie." Lisa whispered. I rocked her slowly and we just sat for a little while, both thinking about the same thing, I guess. Or trying not to think about it. "I hope you go home soon. Linux misses you. I think he’s lonely in that room all by himself."

"Is he OK?"

"Yeah." Lisa chuckled. "I think he and Patch were starting to hit it off pretty well before all this happened. After you’re back at the dorms we’ll go out on that double-date."

"Yeah." I grinned. "But afterwards, you and I will find somewhere to finish the evening on a single-date."

"Who knows, maybe they will too!"

"Yeah!" I laughed. "Maybe they will." I held the most amazing girl in the net in my arms until Laser came back, and then I went to sleep.

* * *

Amazingly after everything that had happened, I was fine, pretty much – just dead-tired with a swollen ankle. After I slept a while the med-techs checked me out and said I was cool to go back to the dorms. It was after dinner and getting dark by then, and I felt weird – there was a hole in my life and everything, even the time of day, felt slightly offline. It made me think of what I felt like right after the reboot, and I could have processed without that memory.

Linux was lying on his bed doing homework when I got back, just like nothing had ever happened. He bounced right up when he saw me, though. "Enzo!"

"Hey, Dude. Long time no see."

"Yeah!" He grinned and gave me a little awkward hug. "Welcome back. I… I missed you."

"Yeah – you too." I pounded him on the shoulder and we sat next to each other on his bed. "So what’d I miss – anything good?"

Linux shrugged. "Just us worrying about you, mostly. I tried to come see you like every five micros, but they wouldn’t let us in."

"I know, it’s cool. Turns out I should have listened to you, Man – you were right about the game roster. It was fixed – Zip did it. I shoulda gone to somebody, like you said."

"Dude – no way! Really?"

"Yeah." I smiled grimly. "He was actually pretty clever about it too, the bastard. He did the whole thing just to try and get revenge on me."

"Man – that’s unbelievable."

"Well, I don’t have to worry about those nulls any more – neither of us do. As soon as they get dis-infected they’re both gonna be expelled."

"Crash! That’s awesome. For tampering with the rosters?"

"Yeah." That was all Linux needed to know, really. I wish it was all I knew, that the other thing had never happened. It seemed to me that I’d probably seen more stuff in my life already than somebody 1.3 should, and it made me feel ridiculously protective about my roommate. "Sorry you took a beating for me, Linux."

"I know. It’s no biggie – shit happens. Not your fault those guys are like, totally insane."

"Yeah! You look good – the bruise on your face is almost totally gone. How’s your belly?"

"Better. It hardly hurts at all, now. Does your ankle hurt much?"

"It’s cool. Not bad." I punched his shoulder again. "You’ve been a totally pixelacious friend, Dude – I never woulda got through the last six minutes without you. Thanks."

"Yeah. Whatever…"

He was obviously embarrassed, and that made me giggle. Maybe talking with Lisa had put me in a gooey mood or something. "I mean it, Linux. We gotta stick together foe the next two hours, you know? We need each other. Look at all the bad stuff that’s happened just in six minutes!"

"Yeah, I guess." He smiled. "Well, don’t worry – you’re definitely my best friend here and you always will be." He punched my shoulder, hard. "But that’s only because at the rate I’m going you’ll be my only friend, Nullbreath!"

"Ow! Does Patch count?" That set him blushing and fidgeting like he was on fire, and I started laughing hard and fell backwards. I couldn’t help myself. "You crack me up!"

"Shut up, Dude."

"Heh! Seriously, Linux – you like her, right?"

"Obviously, Stupid."

"Well – how’s it going? You guys have been having lunch and stuff, right?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. It’s OK, I guess. I don’t think she thinks I’m a total low-density anymore. We have lunch and it’s OK."

"Well – ask her out on a real date! Take her to dinner and stuff."

"Stuff?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, and I giggled again. "We haven’t been thinking about dates or anything. We’ve just been worrying, you know… About you."

"Oh." That really got to me, realizing that there were sprites here that cared so much about me and worried about me. Good people were good people, wherever you met them. I sat up and popped his shoulder again, just a tap this time. "Thanks, Linux. You’re the best."

"You too."

I looked up at him and grinned. "Have you kissed her yet?"

"Dude! No. I don’t wanna talk about it, OK?"

"You’re blushing."

"Shut up!"

"I can’t figure out if you’re blushing ‘cause you did, or ‘cause you didn’t."

"Shut up! I didn’t, OK? Never! I’ve never kissed anyone except my Mom and my Aunt Arial who smells like 32-bit lotion."

"Chill! It’s all right. You will – it’ll happen. Patch likes you, I know she does. Just be cool and it’ll happen."

"Maybe." Linux sighed. "Actually, we both went to see you and while we were waiting and talking she was saying how nice it was that you and Lisa had each other to take care of and everything. And I kinda lost it and I told her I really liked her and I’d take an infection for her if I had to."

"Dude – that’s awesome!"

Linux sighed and blushed a little more. "I was kinda goofy, though. I told her I knew she didn’t like me that much and it was OK and I’d leave her alone, and then she said well, she kinda did like me…"

"Pixelacious!"

"I dunno – I just acted all weird and intense and I think I freaked her out. And we didn’t even get in to see you, anyways!"

"That’s cool, though – you told her you like her and she said she likes you. That’s a big step, y’know?"

"I guess. But it’s not like you and Lisa, though. You guys are totally, I dunno… Together. Every time you’re together."

"Not at first. I was really nervous, but…. It changed. I don’t even know why, it just did." I smiled and now it was my turn to blush, I think. "I totally love her, Linux. You know? I know I’m only 1.3 but I really do."

"I know. It’s pretty cool."

"Yeah." I lay back with my hands behind my head and closed my eyes, just enjoying the feeling of being with a friend and acting goofy and not having to worry who noticed. Plus, I could tell Linux stuff – I guess because he was my age. I don’t know why that matters so much, but it does. "What’s the secret, Enzo?"

I winked one eye open. "No clue, Dude. I didn’t plan it – it just happened. I’ll tell you the most important thing, though – be nice."

"Thanks a lot. I kneel before you, O Wise One."

"No – I mean it! I think a lot of guys just aren’t nice to girls, you know? They treat them really bad. If you’re nice to a girl and just talk to her and listen to her, it really makes a difference."

Linux scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You think?"

"Definitely. If you’re nice, even a hideous freak like you might have a chance."

"Ouput." Linux whacked me with his pillow and I let out a resounding scream. User, it felt good. "Easy to make jokes when you have a righteous babe for a girlfriend."

"I- Never mind. I can’t argue with that."

"Lucky bastard." Linux fell backwards next to me and we lay there for a few nanos, staring at the ceiling. "So, uh… What’s it feel like to be infected?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

I shrugged. "Nothing – honest. The only part of me that got infected was my arm – and I was in a time-lock anyways, thanks to Lisa’s Dad. It was just total nothingness – no dreams, no thoughts, nothing. It felt very weird when I woke up – everything was all time-shifted, or something."

"Dude."

"Yeah."

"You’re really lucky, Enzo. Zip could’ve deleted you in that game, or you could’ve been infected a lot worse."

"I know." I propped myself up on my elbow and faced him. "I dunno why stuff happens, sometimes. But I’ve been really lucky about a lot of things."

"It would’ve sucked if you got infected."

"For me, too."

"I’m serious! My brother got infected and I never saw him again. Now you – that would’ve been awful. It’s hard, you know... It’s hard for me to make friends and stuff. And it was really easy with you."

"It was really easy with you, too. This place would suck without you here."

"Shut up." Linux sighed. "You and Lisa would still be sucking face all cycle – that’s what would suck!"

"No. I mean, Lisa is incredible – she rocks. But you’re like my brother, Dude. Totally. I’d hate it if you weren’t here."

"You too." He held out his hand. "You’re more like my brother than my real brothers in a lot of ways."

"Cool." We shook. "We promised, right? We stick together, to the end."

"Definitely." Linux grinned. "And Daemon better watch out, ‘cause we’re gonna kick her ascii."

"Unless we have a date."

"Crash! You are nuts. I’m going to bed."

"Bed?" I checked my chronometer as Linux pushed me onto the floor. "Aw, Man – it’s almost lights out!"

"I know!" he giggled. "That’s why I’m going to bed."

"Man… I’ve been sleeping all cycle! I told you, everything was all weird when I got out of that time lock. I won’t be able to sleep for seconds!"

"Sorry Enzo. Lights out is lights out."

"Yeah." This sucked – it was gonna take me cycles to get my chronometer back to normal. And there was no way I was gonna fall asleep anytime soon. I kicked Linux’ foot-locker and limped back to my bed with a sigh.

I picked up my organizer and tried to work on a homework assignment, but I couldn’t concentrate – my mind was still buzzing with everything that’d happened. Sleep isn’t something you think about much except when you really want it and it won’t come – that’s when you realize how precious it is. Sometimes at home I’d lie in by docking bay for microseconds after Dot put me to bed, just worrying about everything and feeling lonely and afraid. When I was real little I could crawl into bed with her and she almost never kicked me out – she wrapped me up in her arms and talked to me or sang to me and held me till I fell asleep. But that definitely wasn’t an option here. I didn’t think Mouse would be too cool with the idea.

I sighed and tossed my organizer aside, and prepared myself for a long night. Then I head Linux’ voice from the darkness on his side of the room. "Enzo?"

I looked up, surprised. "Yeah?"

"I think I’ll stay up for a while. You wanna do something?"

"Aren’t you tired?"

"Nah." I could dimly see him, propped up on his elbow and smiling. "We can’t use the organizers or anything, but we could play a word game, or-"

"We could just talk."

"Yeah. We could just talk. You want to?"

"Yeah, I think so. Cool."

"Cool."

"Linux?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. You’re the best."

"You too."

* * *

The last few cycles of that minute passed really slowly, almost like it was in a time-lock. Now that I was almost there, the idea of going home was so fantastically exciting that I thought about it every nano of every cycle, practically. I’d been so busy trying to survive hazing and deletion and infection and being in love that I hadn’t had much time to think about how much I missed my family.

But I did – User, did I ever. I saw them everywhere I went, all the time – Dot and Bob, Matrix and AndrAIa. Not being with them was torture, and knowing I was so close to seeing them only made the torture worse.

I managed to work myself back into my classes more or less, and I loved every nano with Lisa, and I spent a lot of time worrying about Ray. I even hoped Zip and Calisto wouldn’t delete, and that they’d get cured. Then I wanted their asciis out of the Academy forever and in a jail, where they belonged. Mouse and the medical staff were working on that round the clock, practically without a break. I couldn’t ever remember Mouse really working all-out on something and not succeeding – and believe me, she was a fully dedicated server on this one with Ray being infected. I was worried, but I believed in my heart it would be all right.

When the big cycle finally came I could barely restrain myself in class, I was so worked up. Home! The last cycle of classes was a half-cycle, so I’d packed up my minute-end stuff the night before. We were going back home that night, so after my last class I went back and grabbed my duffel and my guitar – hey, I couldn’t miss the chance to get a lesson from Bob - and said good-bye to Linux and headed out to do a couple things before I left.

I ran into Quantum down in the main hallway on my way out, and he flashed me a big grin. "Hey, Kiddo. Going home for the break?"

"Yeah! Five cycles. It’s gonna be amazing to see everybody again."

"They won’t recognize ya." He frazzled my hair. "Heard about your little adventure in that game. Unbelievable. I should’ve taken those two nulls out myself, but I never thought they were capable of this kinda thing."

"Me neither. Or Laser. I knew they were mean, but…"

"You gut guts, Little Man." Quantum nodded approvingly. "Stuff seems to just find you for some reason, but you don’t whine about it – you deal with it. I like that. You need anything for the rest of this hour you tell me, OK?"

"Thanks!" I grinned. "Just no more I/O shots for awhile, maybe."

"You’ll change your mind about that. You just gotta learn how to hold your distillate, that’s all."

"Whatever. I guess I gotta head – I’m meeting Mouse, she’s taking me back. You going home for the break?"

"Nope." He smiled. "Things’d go to Hell around here without me. I’ll hold down the fort till you get back."

"Cool." It was hard to believe this was the same guy I’d been terrified of when I first got here – I guess all I’d seen was the muscles and the stubble and the loud voice, but that wasn’t all there was to him. Well, I’d been pretty scared of Matrix too, when I met him. "Listen, Dude – thanks for everything, OK? You totally saved my-"

"Nope." He interrupted, holding up a big hand. "A Guardian’s in trouble, a Guardian has to help out. You’d do the same for me."

"Well – yeah, I definitely would, but even so-"

"Say Hi to your family for me, Little Man. You tell ‘em they should be proud of you."

"I will." We shook hands. "C ya in a few."

"C ya, Enzo."

I headed on my way towards the little patch of trees, which by this point was forever saved in my memory as "the kissing spot". The thought of going five cycles without a kiss from Lisa was pretty depressing, but my lips probably needed the break – I was starting to think they’d get bruised at the rate we were going.

"Enzo!"

"Patch!" She was just coming out of the girls’ dorm and she trotted towards me, and I sort of limped towards her. I hadn’t really been alone with her since I found out she was into me, and I wondered if it might be a little weird. "How you doing?"

"I’m good." Her smile seemed genuine enough. "I’m really glad you’re OK."

"Yeah – me too!"

"You’re so funny!" she giggled. "I tried to visit you but they wouldn’t let us in when you were, you know… Frozen, or whatever. And then when I came back you were asleep and I didn’t want to disturb you."

"Thanks. You guys have all been great to me."

"How’s your ankle?"

"Almost healed. It still hurts, but just a little."

"I can’t believe how horrible Zip and Calisto were to you." She scowled. "I really can’t. How could they be so cruel and stupid?"

"Websearch me." I shrugged. When I could get myself to forget all the awkward stuff, I really liked talking to Patch. You can’t have too many friends, you know? And she was a totally nice person. Loyal too. "I don’t think people like us can ever understand people like them."

"Well… I’m sorry they got infected. But no one ever deserved it more! Anyway, you and Lisa are OK and that’s the main thing."

"Uh – yeah. I guess."

"Going home, huh?"

"Yeah! You?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "Gonna be cool. It’s not really home until I can go back to the Supercomputer, though."

"You will some cycle." I smiled. "So, um… You think maybe you’d like to go out with Linux? With Lisa and me, I mean? Sort of a double-date."

Patch looked hurt, just a little and just for a nano. But then she smiled she really did seem OK. "Sure – why not? We can go into town next minute-end, dinner and a quicktime or something."

"Cool! Uh, Linux is a really awesome guy – he’s alphanumeric."

"Yeah, he is pretty nice." She sighed, then kissed me on the cheek. "So are you, Enzo."

Uh-oh. "Um… Thanks."

"Have a good trip home, OK? I’m glad you’re feeling better. And thanks for being so nice to me and everything."

"Anytime. You deserve it."

"C ya." She patted my hand and zipped off. I stared after her for a few nanos, still not knowing quite what to make of her. She sure was a nice person, though – that was clear enough.

I thought about Patch for a few nanos, but by the time I got to the kissing spot Lisa was the only thing on my processor. I was early – I usually was when I was meeting Lisa, for some reason – so I found our favorite tree and sat down against it to wait. Every time I saw Lisa I still got a little pounding in my chest and a little thrill in my brain, just like the first time. I figured I probably always would.

Seeing her zipping down the hill towards the trees totally filled me with happiness. I just couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have a girl like her – if you’d told me six minutes earlier I’d have said you were basic. But I did, and the living proof of it was walking towards me through the trees, smiling and looking great in her uniform. I loved everything she wore, but I think I loved her best in her uniform.

I stood up and walked towards her and I think I was smiling so much my face hurt. I had the greatest girlfriend in the net and I was going home today, to boot. "Hey."

"Hey!" She held out her hands and I took them and kissed her cheek. "Bringing your guitar home, huh?"

"Yeah. Maybe I can get a lesson from Bob, if I have time."

We sat next to each other against our tree. "Will you play for me, sometime?"

"Yeah. Absolutely! Only I’m not very good right now…"

She giggled. "That’s what the lessons are for, I guess."

"Yeah." I kissed her nose and snuggled up against her. "I’ll write a song for you, I promise. About how beautiful you are and how much I love you."

"Enzo! Stop it."

"I will." I sighed. "I love you."

"I love you, Cutie." A kiss on the lips, long and slow and soft. "We sure say that a lot, don’t we?"

"They’re my favorite words." I grinned. I took her in my arms and held her with her head on my shoulder, which absolutely rocked. I could sit like that for minutes and never need to move if she’d let me.

"Are you excited about going home?" She finally asked in a soft, dreamy voice.

"Yeah." It was amazing how torn in half I was – fantastically happy about seeing Dot and my family, horrified at the idea of five cycles without Lisa. When you let yourself love people you’ve just gotta accept stuff like that, I guess.

"I’m glad. I know they must really miss you. Your sister must be totally worried about you."

"Yeah. I bet she is." I sighed. I didn’t wanna think about how Dot would react to everything at that nano. I rocked Lisa slowly and watched the slivers of sunlight slice through the trees and dance off her hair. "I’m sure gonna miss you, though. User…"

"It’s only a few cycles."

"It’s forever." I whispered. "I wish you got to go home to see your Mom."

"I know, me too. But she can’t leave the system to come get me right now. She’s got a lot of responsibilities, you know?"

"I know what that’s like." I kissed her soft hair and squeezed her tight. "At least you got to see your Dad when you weren’t expecting to. Maybe that kinda makes up for it…"

"Yeah." Lisa lifted her head and smiled. "He really liked you, Cutie."

"Yeah. I’ll just bet."

"Well… He didn’t get to talk to you much or anything – not with you being time-locked and all. But he knows what you did. And he knows how I feel. And he likes you ‘cause of that."

"Really?" I wasn’t sure how I felt about having a Codemaster like me, but I guess it was a gigabyte better than having one not like me. "It was so weird, seeing him here."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Sorry – I didn’t mean anything!" I said quickly. "It’s just, well... He’s a Codemaster, you know? Even his name – ‘Avatar the Doom-Bringer’. But when he was with you, he was just a Dad. You could tell."

"Yeah." Lisa whispered. She inched a little higher in my arms and held her cheek to mine, and we stayed like that. "He’s just my Dad. He’s a strange Dad, but I know he loves me."

"They’re gonna be talking about that cycle around here for a long time."

"Yeah. Everyone knows about me now, or at least they will deleted soon the way rumors spread in this place. That isn’t gonna be easy to deal with…"

"Codeswap them." I growled. "It’s the same with me, being little and knowing Guardian 452 and Mouse and all that. The ones that matter won’t care, and we can deal with the rest of them if we help each other. Anyone who gives you a hard time is gonna have to answer to me."

"My hero." She gave me a little sideways kiss and a squeeze.

"Lisa, I… I haven’t told anyone about what happened. In the game. Mouse and Laser won’t either. It’s nobody’s business. I’ll never tell, I just wanted you to know…"

"Thank you." Lisa whispered. She snuggled closer and trembled a little bit so I just held her tighter and thought about what she must be feeling inside.

"I have to go soon." I sighed, after we’d held each other for a little while.

"Too many energy shakes at breakfast?"

"Hilarious!" I tickled her a little and made her howl. Finally, reluctantly, we sat up and looked at each other. "I have, um… I have a present for you."

"What? Enzo, you don’t have to-"

"Stop. I knew you’d say that." I’d been thinking about this a long time, since before the last game cube even, and I was sure I wanted to do it. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two little silver pins. "I’ve been afraid to wear these around here because, well… You know, with everything going on and Zip I didn’t want to give anyone another reason to give me a hard time."

"Enzo – they’re beautiful! What are they?"

I smiled. "Bob gave me these. When I turned 1.0." I held them up in a ray of sunshine and watched it sparkle off them. "He got them for outstanding service to the collective. And he gave them to me…"

"Enzo-"

"Shhh. See? One of them is a keytool, and the other one is a Guardian icon." I held out the keytool pin. "This one is for you."

"No, Enzo! Bob gave them to you! You can’t."

"Bob will understand. I know he will. See, these pins were one of the best gifts I ever got. I… I was having kinda a hard time with the reboot and being a copy and the only kid and everything, and Bob and Dot were just starting to, know… Be a couple. And when he gave me these I just couldn’t believe it – I… I was just so… I can’t even say." I grinned. "I didn’t take them off for minutes. I ever wore them on my PJs. It drove Dot nuts…"

"Enzo, you can’t give away something that means that much to you!"

"Yes I can. ‘Cause you mean even more." I leaned across and kissed her, then pinned the keytool to her collar. "They aren’t standard issue so you can’t wear ‘em on duty, but-"

"Oh Enzo – it’s beautiful." Lisa whispered.

"Yeah. I wanted you to have the keytool, ‘cause Laser’s keytool chose you and that’s why you’re still at the Academy, see?" I pinned the icon to my collar. "The only gift I could give you that would matter would be something that was totally important to me. I didn’t want to buy some ring or something I’d never even seen before."

"Enzo – you didn’t have to give me anything!"

"Yeah I did. You made my life totally incredible, Angel. I never dreamed I could be as happy here as I am – that’s ‘cause of you. I had to show you how grateful I am, or at least try."

"Oh Enzo…" She shook her head disapprovingly. "You wore them on you PJs, for User’s sake! How can you give me this?"

"I know." I smiled. "But I’ll still have this one and besides – you’ll always have that one and we’ll always be together. So they’ll always be together, too – just like you and me. That’s what I was thinking anyways."

She stared at me for a nano, and it made me fidget a little. Then she kissed me on the cheek and squeezed me so tight my ribs ached. "I love you so much. You’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met, you know that? I don’t know how you think of these things but you are. Thank you."

"So – you like it?"

"It’s the best present I ever got, Enzo. It’s absolutely perfect."

"So are you." I whispered in her ear, and I meant it, too.

"No I’m not, and stop! Don’t say I am. But it doesn’t matter – I’ll love it forever and I’ll keep it safe. Just like you."

"Thanks." We kissed then, just a long, soft, wonderful kiss that made me feel strong and safe and made me think I could do anything.

"Hmph!" Lisa giggled.

"What?" She giggled again. "What is it?"

"Nothing." She smoothed the hair out my eyes, grinning. "I was just picturing you in your little PJs, wearing your silver pins. I bet you were cute!"

"Oh jeez…"

"Did they have keytools on them? Dinosaurs, maybe?"

"No! Stop, OK? Just stop!" My face was on fire and I stared hard at my feet.

"Sorry." She giggled. "I’m just having fun with you, Cutie."

"I know." I sighed. "I’m used to it."

"Poor Enzo."

"I bet you wore a little frilly pink nightgown, didn’t you? With teddy bears on it!"

"I’m not sure I like where this is going…"

"Now you know what it feels like!" To be honest I didn’t like where it was going – as soon as I said it I realized it was a mistake. Just picturing Lisa that way was enough to turn my insides into pudding.

"Truce!" Lisa smiled. She kissed my cheek and smoothed my hair a little more. "This really is the best gift anyone’s ever given me, Enzo. I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything. I’m not as thoughtful as you are."

"You don’t have to." I mumbled. "You never have to give me a present, Lisa. You’re the best present ever."

"Stop! "

"I mean it."

"Enzo... What am I going to do with you?" Lisa sighed.

I wanted so much to stay there forever, but I knew I had a whole lifetime of being with Lisa to look forward to. "Uh! I really have to go now. Mouse’ll be waiting."

"I know. You have a nice trip back. Have fun with your family, OK? Enjoy every nano you have with them."

"I promise." We kissed again, one last time, and I gathered my duffel and my guitar. "I love you, Angel. See you next minute."

"I love you too, Enzo. I’ll miss you."

"Miss you too." OK, I lied – now we kissed one last time. I ran my fingers through her hair and got a good dose of her to tide me over, and headed for the great hall. "Only five cycles." I whispered to myself. Funny – now the Academy was a place I’d miss when I wasn’t there. Just like Mainframe. That sucks in a way, since you’re always missing somewhere – but it also meant that wherever I went, it was someplace I wanted to go. That was a pretty alphanumeric feeling.

I walked through the corridors of the great hall feeling more at home than I’d felt any time in the last six minutes. This place was becoming part of me – the people, the classes, the games, the buildings and trees and paths and even the town. I was a Cadet – it was a part of me now, and it always would be.

I got to the Med Unit and found Ray’s door. I knocked and a voice called softly for me to enter, so I slipped through the door, feeling a little nervous – this was my first time seeing Ray since everything happened. "Hey."

"Hey, Mate. All packed?"

"Yeah. Mouse isn’t here yet, huh?"

"Can’t slip one past you." Ray winked. His voice was soft and strained, but he was smiling. "She’ll be by any nano."

"Crash – it’s so great that you’re OK! I was really worried." I set my stuff down and climbed up on the bed next to him. "I wanted to come see you sooner, but they said you were too sick. How you feeling?"

"Tired." Ray scowled.

"Well – total code filtration sounds pretty serious."

"So they tell me."

"Dude – did they really drain every drop of code from your body? That doesn’t even sound possible!"

"Yup." Ray rasped. "So Mouse says – drained every drop and ran it through anti-viral filtration, then a transfused it with Guardian code. Twice. I doubt anyone else would have even thought of it, but you know Mouse."

"Yeah." Ray was pale and thin – ever for him – but he was processing. That was enough for now. "I’m glad you’re all right, Ray. If anything had happened-"

"Hey – I’ll be fine. I’m glad you’re OK, too – sounds like it was pretty touch and go in that game for a while."

"I guess."

He smiled wearily. "Sorry I wasn’t in there with you, Lad. I should’ve been."

"No! You didn’t know – nobody did. That bastard Zip was actually really clever."

"I underestimated the bugger, that’s for sure." Ray sighed. "You ought to feel really proud, Mate – you’ve carried yourself really well for your first time away from the apron strings, but getting each other through that game was really impressive. You and the little gal might just have saved the Academy by saving yourselves."

"Thanks. Um… I really do feel kinda proud, actually."

"Don’t get cocky, Son."

I spun around and smiled. "Hi Mouse! All set to go?"

"Keep yer pants on Sugar, Mainframe ain’t goin’ anywhere." Mouse winked and tousled my hair on her way to the bed, where she leaned down and softly kissed Ray on the forehead. "How you feelin’, Hot Stuff?"

"High-res." Ray yawned.

"Ya look low-res to me. You need sleep, Honey – listen to your doctor. Has this boy been botherin’ you?"

"Hey!"

"Naw – he’s a good kid." Ray smiled. "Excited to go and see the family, Lad?"

"You bet. I wish you could come with us."

"Me too Enzo. But I need a couple solid cycles of sleep before I go anywhere. A little rest and I’ll be right as vegemite."

"Yeah, I know. I feel bad Mouse has to leave you to take me home. If you guys are worried-"

"Nah." Mouse smiled. "I’ve done my bit, Sugar – the boy’s clean now, just wore out. What he needs is sleep. If I was around here I’d just keep him up nights smoochin’ and carryin’ on." Ray laughed a tired little laugh and she winked at us. "’Sides – I’m lookin’ forward to seeing everybody back home – it’s been too long. So don’t worry yer cute little head about it."

"OK. If you’re sure-"

"I’m sure Pumpkin. You all packed and everythin’?"

"Yeah – guess so. I never had to pack to go to Mainframe before, so I wasn’t really sure what to bring."

"Just yourself – that’s all they’ll care about." She patted my cheek. "Can’t believe how much you’ve grown up in a few minutes…"

"Me?"

"Amazin’ what being on your own will do for a kid." Mouse grinned. "Still – I bet you miss ol’ Dot’s hugs and kisses, huh? Sometimes a boy just needs his mama."

"Er – yeah, I guess." One thing about Mouse – she never shied away from saying something because she thought it would embarrass me. "Um – you ready to go?"

"Ready, Sug – Ship’s charged and loaded and pointed towards home. I had some business to take care of, but that’s done with."

"What business?"

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." She said softly.

"What? You mean…"

She squeezed my hand gently. "Laser an’ me portaled ‘em outta here a few micros ago, Pumpkin. Their home systems can decide what to do with ‘em now – I cleaned ‘em up and sent ‘em on their way."

"Wow." I whispered. Knowing they were really gone should have made me totally happy, but for some reason I felt all mixed up about it. I was relieved, definitely – I won’t pretend I was looking forward to any more fights ore hazing or anything else. But it still didn’t make me happy exactly. "Are they both…OK?"

"They seen better days – especially that smug little ascii Zip. You did a job on his arm but it’ll heal eventually – and they’re both clean, that’s the main thing. Calisto’s parents didn’t want me to try my little experimental treatment on him, but when I told ‘em he’d probably be infected for life if I didn’t they changed their minds quick enough."

"Well… I’m glad they’re gone, I guess." I sighed. "But I’m glad they’re OK, too."

"I know y’are, Honey. That’s why you’ll never be like them. You ready to get going?"

"Yeah." I turned back to Ray. "Get better, OK? I wanna go surfing when I get back."

"You got it, Mate." Ray put his hand on my head, and it felt cold. "Have a safe trip home. I’m bloody proud of you."

"Thanks." I gave him a smile and a quick hug and then I gathered up my stuff. "Uh – you guys want a milli alone?"

Mouse laughed. "In his condition? You ain’t gonna see nothin’ you ain’t seen before, Kid!" She leaned over Ray and they kissed gently, and she looked… softer, somehow. Like when she’d fixed me up after my fight. "Bye Lover. Doctor’s orders are sleep, sleep and more sleep. And when they bring you food – eat it!"

"Roger, Lovely Lady. Safe trip."

"Safe trip." She smiled. "C’mon, Kid – your sister’ll have my hide if I get you home late for dinner."

"Right." I waved to Ray and followed Mouse out of his room and down the hall. Dinner – at home! How weird was that gonna feel?

That’s when it all started to really hit me, after Mouse made that comment. I was going home. The Diner, the P.O… Phong, Frisket, AndrAIa… AndrAIa! Matrix. Bob. And Dot – oh User, I was gonna see Dot! I’d never gone a cycle in my life without her and now, after six minutes apart, I was finally gonna see her again. I can’t even try and describe what that felt like.

I didn’t have much to say as I followed Mouse outside and towards the docking area - too many thoughts rattling around in my head - and she kept along at a steady clip without saying much of anything. She hopped on onto Ship and I passed my stuff up to her and then she gave me a hand up and we were ready to go. "Get strapped in, Sugar. Safety first, y’know."

"Right." I grinned. I buckled myself into the co-pilot’s seat and looked around the cockpit, which I’d never been inside before. It was incredibly cool, but that’s no surprise when Mouse in involved.

"Uh – Honey?"

"Yeah?"

She handed me a tissue. "Might want to wipe your face a little. Unless you want the first thing your sister sees to be about half a lipstick."

"Oh!" She’d done it to me again. "Thanks. Uh, Mouse – you won’t tell her-"

"That’s between you and Dot, Pumpkin." Mouse smiled, starting the engine. "Long as it don’t affect your work, it ain’t none o’ my business to tell her."

"Thanks." I sighed and sat back in my chair, which was too big for me anyway so it was easy to stretch out in, and draped my leg over the arm. Mouse went silent and I got wrapped in my thoughts again. We lifted slowly off the ground and I saw the Academy start to spread out below me.

Home. That wasn’t as simple a word as it had been a few weeks before. I got real scared for a nano, and this idea crept into my processor that I couldn’t ever go home again, back to Mainframe – I wasn’t the same person anymore and they’d reject me because of it and I’d never be able to go back.

But I realized almost immediately that wasn’t right. People left home all the time – but they still came back, and if it was still home it didn’t matter if they’d changed. People did change – you couldn’t help it. Matrix did. Bob did. Dot did too, and she never even left. But when they were together they were home. Mainframe hadn’t left me just ‘cause I’d left it for a while.

I watched the Academy buildings getting smaller and smaller and thought about that. It was OK to change, I figured. I was definitely going home a very different sprite than when I’d left and it was because of this place and the people here, but that was all right – as long as I was still Enzo it was OK. Dot would understand – they all would. They were my parents – Dot and Bob and Matrix and AndrAIa and Phong and the hacker sitting next to me, and Ray, and even Laser. I was their kid, all of them. They’d understand.

I figured it out then, sitting in the cockpit of Ship watching the Academy slip away for a little while. You had to face stuff on your own – no matter how much you wanted your family to protect you they wouldn’t always be there. But you didn’t have to be on your own – Matrix had figured that out too, a long time ago. You had to be strong enough to let others sprites help you – you had to be there for them and let them be there for you, whether it was an infected game or a disciplinary meeting or whatever. Part of being strong was letting people help you and not shutting them out. I had to be my own man, like Bob said – but that didn’t mean I had to alone. And knowing that made the idea of growing a little further away from all my parents seem a little bit less scary.

"You OK, Honey?"

"Huh?" I looked up and saw Mouse looking at me with a little smile on her face. The Academy was long gone – we were in the net.

"You left me for a while there, Pumpkin. You all right?"

"Yeah – sorry. Just thinking about stuff."

"That’s OK." She chuckled. "You got a lot to think about. We’ll be home soon enough, and that’s plenty to think about right there." She leaned back and put her hands behind her head.

"Yeah." I actually did think about something just then. "Um – Mouse? Could you do me a favor?"

She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Sure, Sugar. What is it?"

"Well – I have this… This journal, see… And I was hoping you could write me some security protocols…"

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