I should have figured that trying to write a story in pieces would lead to me making a gaff. I had long planned for Pandora to refer to Bob as Interface, since that was his Webrider name. I adjusted the mistake and put it in the last chapter, but I’m not going to edit the story on the blog. When I have the entire thing done, I will republish it on my DA and The Java Hutt. For now, I continue I was dying to get to. It’s shaping up to be a long one. Enjoy!
DRB
Part 5 – I Want to Know What Love Is
The last time Megabyte had spent some of his downtime regenerating injuries and recompiling his systems into a more predatory virus, he had much more pleasant dreams. However, this time around his temporary bug transformation gave him dreams of Matrix, Mouse and AndrAIa attempting to swat and step on him as he crawled around the floor, trying to avoid being crushed. When he finally opened his eyes, Megabyte found himself lying on his side on top of the table that served as his bed. He picked his head up slightly, before attempting to roll onto his back. A sudden jolt of pain made him shift to his former position.
Looks like I got hurt, Megabyte thought. But, I can’t remember what happened. My memory is all jaggy.
“Hello? Are you awake?”
The virus turned his head to see Pandora sitting on the edge of the table. She was dressed in her black gown once more and held a flask of liquid in her hand. She offered it to him, ” Would my hero like a drink?”
“Hero?” He still tried to recall what had transpired in the previous second. His memories quickly reorganized themselves and he groaned, “Oh cursors! I must have been basic!”
“You’re welcome,” she smiled before she sipped the contents of the flask herself. She added, “And that would have made us even, if you hadn’t tried to kill me.”
Megabyte snarled and sat up, causing several unseen creatures to growl. Megabyte focused his eyes and looked around. He could see a dozen Webworms of sizable length staring at him from the surrounding area. He also heard another low snarl coming from just over his head. He glanced up to see Pandora’s Web symbiont hanging from the ceiling above him, growling and salivating. Its long tongue flicked in and out of its mouth. Megabyte glared at Pandora. “So? I am no longer a potential partner?”
“They only wish to protect me. If you make any attempt to assimilate this part of me, my the other half will attack you.”
“And how do you know I can’t assimilate a Web Creature?”
“I don’t. Do you want to try testing it?” she suggested.
Megabyte didn’t need any long amount of time to think it over. He murmured, “No.”
“I didn’t think so. I told Warlock you would cooperate.”
“Only for now.”
“Megabyte!” Pandora scolded him. “Warlock wanted to cut your head off! Do you really want to be deleted?”
“How nice of you to ask this time,” he responded in an icy tone. “You have acted as if my choice in this really matters. I don’t even know if you didn’t cause all this in the first place.”
“You think I did this all to you? I didn’t send Interface back to Mainframe to destroy you.”
“I have never suspected that. You’ve been running experiments. Something you gave me to eat or drink might have caused this. Am I wrong to think such a thing?”
Pandora sighed and sat beside him. She boldly took one of Megabyte’s hands in hers. She told him, “If I did, it was not intentional. The Web altered me when I came here. If not for my symbiont, I would have been deleted. The Web could have simply changed you to adapt to your new surroundings.”
Megabyte stared at her in continued suspicion. She paused and leaned forward a bit to whisper, “However, if it would make you feel better, I’ll say something viruses never tell each other. I am sorry.”
Megabyte blinked and cocked his eyebrow, not sure how to respond to a firm apology. Being sorry ran contrary to any viral programming he had ever processed. Either Pandora was defective, or the User who wrote her had given her too much emotion.
Pandora waited for him to say something, but when no reply came, she turned his hand palm side up to examine the strange indentation just below his shortest finger. She said, “Last second’s little episode explains these marking, doesn’t it? The indents on your hands help you upload data from another sprite or virus. It why your eyes turned yellow after you assaulted Wolfram.”
“I was gaining access to his Read Only memory,” Megabyte recalled. “I thought I was only hijacking his memories, not trying to assimilate his entire form.”
She nodded, “I believe the Guardians would classify you as a Trojan Horse.”
“A Trojan Horse Virus?” Megabyte pondered the program upgrade a few with a nanoseconds before a sudden sly grin came to his face.
Pandora chuckled, “Only moments ago you blamed me for this. Now you are smiling. You are quite the enigma, my dear.”
“I was just contemplating the parameters of what this could mean.” He then came close to paying her a compliment, “You certainly know your viruses, don’t you?”
“It was part of my function to know what my enemies would know. A Stealth Virus like me wants to discover what my potential allies can do as well. I told you were meant for more then making chess pieces.”
Pandora smiled and continued to caress Megabyte’s hand. He found the way she gazed at him a bit familiar and at the same moment disturbing. It reminded him of something he couldn’t quite remember, but then a similar memory came to him, he suddenly pulled his hand away. He said sharply, “Stop that!”
“What is it?” Pandora attempted to tease him. “Are you ticklish, my dear?”
“That isn’t what I mean. I’m referring to the way your looking at me.”
“What about it?”
“You’re fawning over me again.”
“Of course I am. You are the most magnificent virus I have ever met.”
“When you stare at me like that, it reminds me of Dot Matrix.”
Pandora became very confused and a maybe a little hurt. She asked, “Why would I remind you of the Command.com of Mainframe? Do I look like her? Or is it something else?”
He paused a moment before explaining, “My viral spies would bring me back reports about Miss Matrix’s every move. I knew Phong was grooming her to be a better adversary. She was extremely intelligent and even cunning for a sprite her age. She was a worthy chess opponent. But, she had a very strong weakness. Bob.”
“Interface,” Pandora recalled Bob’s face in her mind and found herself smiling. “Let me guess. She liked him?”
“Liked is an inadequate word for it. She was absolutely infatuated with him.”
“A crush! How sweet. Is that the reason way you sent the Guardian to the Web? To get rid of the rival?”
“I wanted to be rid of Bob to conquer Mainframe,” he corrected. “And if it ripped open Miss Matrix’s heart in the process, so be it! I wanted to destroy them both. Break Bob physically. Break Dot emotionally.”
“From what you’ve told me, and from what I’ve known, you seemed to have failed on both fronts.”
“I did underestimate the Matrix family’s ability to adjust to fighting without a real Guardian.”
“And you underestimated Bob’s ability to survive. You made him stronger.”
The virus sneered at the idea, “His feelings for Miss Matrix were the perfect trap.”
“Is that what you think love is? A trap to be caught in?”
Megabyte stood up, wincing a little at the aching pain on his back. He cuffed his hands behind him, kept his eyes on the Webworms as he continued to speak. “It is a feeling only fit for sprites. It’s a pariah to our kind, causing confusion to our programming. The only desires I have is for power and conquest. I cannot go against my code.”
Pandora curled her lip as if she were snarling. “So because of that, you’re giving me the cold shoulder?”
Megabyte replied lifting his taloned hand to point with his finger. “I will not be damaged any further. I am not interested in any partnerships, mergers, or any other of your crazy ideas. I do not - !”
Megabyte couldn’t even say the word. To him, saying it in that particular frame felt abhorrent. After all, he had long ago decided that the foolish emotion had made her sister insane.
“Love me?” Pandora said in a solemn tone as if the term were somehow dead.
“Exactly,” Megabyte said. “I am not programmed for it.”
“Neither is my cousin.”
“Then she is far better virus than you are.”
Pandora bristled at the insult. She got up and passed the room. Her Webworms could see she was upset. One of them growled at Megabyte.
The virus didn’t care. He thought, if she starts crying, I’m going to throw up!
Instead of getting angry or upset, she asked,” Answer me one question, and I’ll leave you alone. If you are following your program, why did you save my life?”
Megabyte’s eyes widened as a different emotion crept over him. He had feared thinking about what had happened in the last second. He knew it might have been a better idea to let Pandora be deleted by the rival virus, but she had saved his life and felt by some obligation to repay her. However, Megabyte was a virus! Why repay her for any act of kindness. It would have been within his programming to kill her or let her die.
What in the Web is wrong with me? Am I going mad like Hexadecimal?
Pandora’s deep green eyes were setting something off in him. He wished he could remember what.
He closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed the temples of his head as if trying to force a memory to pop up that never came. He felt something touch his wrist.
Pandora moved his hand away from his eyes and said something he didn’t understand, “I promise I will find a way to remember for the both of us.”
After a few moments of the two staring at each other, a loud roaring rumbled though the ship to break their gaze. Pandora said, “Our other guest is awake.”
“You didn’t erase him?” Megabyte asked. He was secretly glad for the interruption since he still had no good reply to her question. The Web Creature slid down onto Pandora’s body and wrapped itself around her. When the beast was fully integrated with her, she got up and walked towards her audience chamber saying, “Come. You now can meet Avatar.”
