Nanosecond: second
Microsecond: minute
Cycle: hour
Second: day
Minute: month
Hour: year
**Author's Note**
* *
*
"There's one guy I can't shake
Over my shoulder is a big mistake
Sitting on the bed
Or lying wide awake
There's demons in my head
And it's more than I can take."
Offspring, lyrics for "Gotta Get
Away"
* * *
Pain 2
* *
*
Dot moaned groggily. The sound of
a vid-window opening up had awoken her. Sitting up, she blearily stared
at a viral binome.
"Please report to engineering."
He said in a monotone. "On floor 4, sub level 2, down corridor..."
"I KNOW where that is!" Dot
snapped. "I DID used to live here."
The binome shrugged and closed
the window. Dot sighed and walked out, a dull ache still in her stomach.
As she traveled through the draughty corridors, she saw that Megabyte did
indeed need her help. There were large holes everywhere. She had no idea
why repairs hadn't been made earlier...
Reaching engineering, she
stepped inside. Viral binomes milled around several large pieces of equipment.
Dot looked around. There were a few binomes clustered around a desk and
table in one corner. One of them was that creepy doctor binome that always
hung around Megabyte. Dot walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
He jumped about a meter into the air.
"Ach! Don't DO that!" he said,
panting.
"Uh, sorry." Replied Dot,
taken aback. It flickered across her mind that insanity must not be a valued
trait here, as long as you did your job.
"At least you're here." He
said. Herr Doctor pushed a button and a vid window snapped up. On it was-
"Oh, you've decided to join
us Dot." Megabyte said on the window. She tried to keep her revulsion down
as that mental flow became stronger again. Slightly tilting her head, she
asked coldly, "What's my job?"
"For now I'm putting you in
charge of organizing the building crews and making sure they finish on
schedule. Ever since Hex's little-escape-we haven't had time to organize
yet."
He pressed a button, and a
list came up. "These are all the repairs that need to be made in six or
seven seconds."
Dot's expert eye swept over the
list. "Okay...well, first of all I'll need to see your organizational charts."
"You just did."
"Oh. Well then I-WHAT?"
Megabyte sighed. "Along with
erasing quite a bit of my army, Hex also melted all the computers in the
Tor. Most records were wiped out."
Dot stood there open mouthed.
"Do you mean to tell me," she said slowly, "that not only do I have to
organize this whole department, AND quite possibly some others if you need
those done too, AND help with the repairs BUT..." she took a deep breath.
"You've been operating without any sort of organization for a whole MINUTE?"
"Yes." Megabyte replied calmly.
"Most of what we're doing right now is on a temporary basis. I DID mention
you'd be quite busy for a while."
Dot mentally groaned.
* *
*
It was late that second. Dot
was finishing up the last of the new organization chart. She took off her
glasses. During the day, she had been so busy she didn't have any TIME
to think, but now, she sniffed once. Glancing around to make sure all the
binomes had gone home, Dot sat back and put her head in her hands.
After a while, tears started to
leak out from under them.
She stayed like that for a moment,
then wiped her face. Looking into the shiny surface of a mirror-window,
she made sure no traces of her crying were left. Dot punched a button on
the desk. Megabyte turned around in his chair and addressed her through
the vid-window.
"Ah Dot. I was expecting this.
Done already?"
"Yes." She said stiffly. "Here
they are." She punched the chart into the console, and a vid-window by
Megabyte popped up, with the chart displayed on it. He studied it, looking
approvingly.
"I MUST say, I AM impressed."
He said, eyebrow arched. "Very well. You'll have full control over implementing
this tomorrow."
"Fine. Can I go?" Dot asked.
"Yes, fine." Megabyte replied.
"Oh, and Dot-" he added, making her pause in mid-stride. "Do try to stop
crying so frequently. I can understand once in your room, but right here?"
The virus couldn't see her
face, but from the feelings he sensed, he didn't need to. She felt a sort
of creeping horror at what he said, the full implications running through
her mind.
Dot slowly turned around.
She had gone pale.
"How-how-did you KNOW?" she
asked.
"Through this." Megabyte replied
non-chalantly, closing his eyes for a nano-second, and making himself know
in her mind. Dot clutched her head and almost fell to the floor.
She had felt a surge in the
dark spot of her mind where Megabyte's influence had settled in-it had
been no worse than usual, when suddenly he was THERE, inside her head,
feeling exactly what she did...
"You can't-know what I'm THINKING
can you?" she managed to get out.
"No, but as I said it IS a
bit-strong." For a moment, he looked a bit disturbed, then shook his head.
"Anyhow, I believe you wished to return to your quarters?" his mind retreated
from hers back to normal, and then he shut off the vid-window. Dot managed
to stagger to her room, then collapsed for a second time onto her bed,
in shock.
His part of her mind had gone
back to normal now, but Dot took little joy in that. It had been HORRIBLE.
The virus could feel her feelings...thank God she hadn't seen HIS although
she supposed he COULD do that...Dot shuddered and feverently hoped not.
She had no desire to sense what a virus felt. This gross invasion of privacy-she
didn't know if she could take it again.
On an impulse, Dot stood up, breathing
heavily, and looked for something sharp. Dear God, if this happened again,
she might just take a sharp object to her wrists and...and...
And what?
Dot found her sudden urge
to commit suicide blocked by her viral side.
*No.* It said. *Your body
is not yours anymore. You cannot take your life, because it's not yours
anymore to take.*
The sprite sank down to the
floor slowly. She had certainly not WANTED to REALLY die. It was just a
wild, spur of the moment idea, but it had shown her the extent of Megabyte's
control.
Dot put her head in her hands
again.
* *
*
Megabyte went back into his
mind's eye. He made sure Dot didn't sense him spying on her like this.
Dot's pain was there again, and
so was the strangest sort of pleasure. It was almost euphoric, and unconsciously
he clenched a hand, a twisted smile on his face. He felt a quick flash
of his own emotion for a second. One he couldn't identify, something he
hadn't before felt-almost painful in its own way-but then it was gone.
For a nano second, he wondered if
this might perhaps get out of hand...
* *
*
A typically cold, overcast
day. The sky was so grey it was almost black. Dot worked on an outer section
of the Principal Office wall. She had FINALLY implemented all the changes.
Half the work had been done, ahead of schedule.
She looked up and shouted
"A LITTLE TO THE LEFT!"
"HUH?"
"A LITTLE TO THE LEFT!"
"WHAT?"
Dot shook her head. For a
moment, the viral working there at the huge machinery had sounded like
Al.
"OH, THE LEFT?" he shouted
down. Dot nodded. He pushed a lever, and the huge wall-plate scraped a
bit, then settled in. The welders moved in and started to seal the cracks.
Dot stepped back a bit and surveyed the job. Not bad. She sighed. Now for
the worst part...
Dot grimaced and pressed a
button on her new organizer. Megabyte's face appeared.
"Yes?" he said, raising an
eyebrow. "Ah, Dot. Don't tell me there's something wrong."
"No. We're done the outside."
Megabyte blinked. "You're-"
"Done. We're just finishing
up the welding of the outer walls."
The vid-window moved so Megabyte
could see. She WAS done. Turning back, he looked at her thoughtfully.
"Hmm...you know, I just might
consider giving you quite a bit of control over the whole army." He said,
half to himself. Shrugging, he nodded. "Excellent job. Do continue."
Dot sighed as he quit. Well,
talking with him was over with. Now she could start on the internal repairs.
She stared out into the city.
Even this close to the source, she didn't know if those rumors of Megabyte
desperately trying to break out of Mainframe were true. The rumors said
that Mainframe was on its way to crashing and minute now, and the virus
was about ready to do anything to escape and prolong his life. Hopefully,
the repairs she was making would stop the crash. For a while...
A cold wind picked up and
made her shiver. She turned towards Hexadecimal's island, which was where
it came from. Her hands clenched. If there was anyone else she hated more
than Megabyte, it was Hexadecimal. No, she didn't hate Hex exactly, it
was more like - a combination of fear and disgust. Hexadecimal was INSANE.
Insane enough not to realize that what she had done to the system would
break it. And insane enough not to think twice about doing it again.
Megabyte, at least, cared enough,
wanted the system enough not to damage it or any more of its occupants
more than necessary. He really DID want control of everything, and was
loath to destroy something he could own.
In most cases.
She went into the Principal
Office, but paused when she realized her route would take her past the
throne room doors. Dot decided to try to brave it anyway.
Quickly marching past the
throne room, Dot almost made it past when a binome threw the doors open
and declared "Lord Megabyte wants to speak with you."
"Augh!" thought Dot, the connection
pulsing through her mind stronger again. It was perfect timing, of course.
* *
*
Megabyte smirked as Dot was
led up to the throne room.
"What would you like?" asked
Dot as civilly as she could.
"Why, I only thought I might
allow you to say good-bye to someone you've know for a very long time,
Dot." Megabyte said in false hurt. "Tsk. It's rather a pity but I'm afraid
I'm going to have to erase them."
Tapping a button, he turned
his throne slightly as a jar came up.
"Phong- NO." Dot breathed.
She desperately tried to think of a reason for Megabyte to spare the old
sprite. "But he's command com! You can't delete him!"
"Actually, I can." He replied
calmly. "I've found a backup of an old automatic one. We've upgraded it
considerably, and it will allow me access to parts of the Principal Office
that have previously been banned because of a, shall we say, lack of co-operation
on Phong's part."
Dot stood there mouth open, her
horror of Phong's impending deletion forgotten at this statement. She finally
managed to get out, "Are you out of your MIND?!"
Several of the pure virals
looked at her askance.
"We USED to have automatic
command coms, but they didn't work! We're all be erased!"
"I am fully aware of the former
problems with them, Ms. Matrix. Do you remember WHY they failed?"
"Of course! It was because
some parts were too inflexible in dealing...with...viruses..."
"Precisely."
Dot stopped and stared in
horrified admiration as she realized what Megabyte was up to. The virus
sat back and preened slightly at the admiration he felt.
Of course...HE was a virus-the automatic
command com's main weakness was viruses...therefore, he could easily gain
even more power than he already had through several loopholes. It might
be tricky, but possible.
And the cold reality of what
that would mean to Phong swept back in.
"No...he CAN'T...oh no..."
she thought.
Megabyte felt something building
up in Dot's mind...dread, horror...he had a small smile on his face as
he pushed the electrocution lever to "maximum". This would be brief...
"G-goodbye...child..." whispered
Phong sadly.
"No!" Dot said. She tried
to move, but Megabyte waved a hand and she stopped. Dot breathed in in
horror, at the scene and at the ease with which Megabyte had stopped her.
"No..." she whispered.
The doctor threw the switch.
Dot's eyes widened as her
brain took in the scene.
"No..." she though. "No...no...no
no NO..."
She said "No." outloud. A
strangled sound escaped her lips.
"Oh Phong..." she though as
numbness spread through her body. "Goodbye..."
* * *
It was four seconds later,
but Dot felt as if it had been four minutes. She expected Phong's death
for some time, in the back of her head, but the reality had crashed down
on her. Dot's sadness constantly teased the edges of Megabyte's mind. It
hovered there as he addressed a few vid-windows, with Dot, his highest
army officials, and Herr Doctor on them.
"As you all know, we're finishing
up the re-construction of the Principal Office. I'll be able to access
the citywide PID's any second now. Yet we still have a rather large problem..."
his face grimaced slightly. "Hexadecimal."
A collective shudder went
through them all.
"She's a menace. My Lord,
I strongly advise that ve delete her if she ever comes under our control
again!" said Herr Doctor emphatically.
"That wacko took out half
the army!" said one of the army commanders.
"She took out half of the
SYSTEM." Added Dot bitterly.
"Well..." said Megabyte. Dot
sensed a thin trickle of emotion for him for a moment. She twisted up her
mouth. In the past second it had happened, three or four times. She would
be working on a project, and HIS feelings would flash in for a moment.
The first time it had happened she had nearly dropped her organizer.
It had been-frightening. Not
only because of the intrusion, but also because of the alien nature of
his feelings...arrogance, self-satisfaction and lust for power-those had
been the chief emotions in the front of his mind. Dot didn't think Megabyte
knew what he had done, and she hadn't tried to go any further into
the deeper layers of his thoughts. Shaking her head, she went back to the
conversation.
"...quite frankly, I'm open
to any suggestions on how to dispose of her." Megabyte looked at Dot specifically.
"Don't look at me. *I* didn't
take any guardian programming. Bob might have known..." Dot's voice trailed
off at the mention of Bob.
"Yes, but Bob's dead." Said
Megabyte, dismissing that with a wave of his hand. Dot felt a pang of hurt,
then anger.
"She might be attracted by
the rebuilding of the Principal Office." ventured someone.
"We can't just hang around
hoping that a Game cube will wipe her out." Dot sighed.
"Too true." Megabyte said.
He paused and a thoughtful look spread across his face. "Or maybe not..."