"I am to presume that something has gone wrong," she said politely, to her superior. She was the second-in-command.

He snarled a response, his lips curling, showing his canine teeth. "It seems that my brother, Dahg, didn't arrive on schedule." He took a breath, which ended up as another snarl. "His crate was supposed to arrive at the last dark-fall. The delay condemned him to be in the wrong transformation stage when he emerged the second. He was apt to attack anything in his way, thus drawing attention to himself. There seemed to have been a miscalculation somewhere along the chain." He affixed his eyes on the cat-lady standing below him. "Give notice to our general to find that faulty link. His orders are to bring those slackers to me. I want to delete them personally. I cannot allow the death of another of our kind."

The cat turned to do his bidding. She didn't have any disrespect towards being his underling, as most viruses would. Truly, they were a very different, more cooperatively based, and once their council was complete, they were sure of their success.

"Oh yes, and Kah't, if you please, tell the general I want some of our virals down at the docks for the next arrival." He checked a vidwindow that popped up inexplicably beside him. "She should be arriving in, perhaps, a few milliseconds. Let's hope this one does not get botched."

"As you wish, Jah'kal." She bowed in respect, for she hadn't ever been ordered to do so, and left. Just as she got outside the door she heard him sigh and say something to himself, "It's sad enough to lose one brother. I can't lose another sibling to those sprites!"

A loud thump followed and tousled Kah't from her eavesdropping. She hurried to find the general somewhere on their level forty stronghold. There were quite a few empty levels above them, and therefore gave no one any reason to go down this far.

Not a soul knew they were there, yet.

"That," Chroma said, pointing gingerly at a passing Wire," is Diode's kid?"

"Yep," Veronica said briskly.

"But, how?"

"Guilt," Ron replied simply.

"What?"

"Guilt," Ronnie repeated. After a short span of silence, Veronica decided to elaborate. As she talked, she walked over to the tower, following Wire. "Well, you see, a few hours back, when Diode was relatively new here, a virus went down here." Noting Chroma's scowl of incomprehension, Ron added, "You know, went down, happened?"

"Viruses don't just happen," Chroma said coldly.

The conversational exchange stopped as everyone smashed themselves against the wall to let Diode pass on his way down. Wire suddenly remembered something she wanted to ask him and followed.

Chroma and Veronica continued up the stairs. "Anyway," Ronnie was saying, "Diode fought this guy for, like, minutes-- not non-stop of course-- but, like, this stupid virus would not go away. So, when Diode finally beat him, there were only two casualties, which just happened to be during that last battle. Things like that really depress him."

Reaching the top of the stairs, she interrupted herself to warn Chroma of various objects on the floor. "Watch it! Don't step on those chips! That's how I can tell if anyone's been up here. Wanna drink? There's a fridge over there. Just don't knock anything over. Remind me to pick up that toy. It's supposed to be hanging from the ceiling. Anyway," she said to herself sternly, "this little kid came out wandering around so I led her to Diode, figuring he'd know what to do with her. He didn't, but he was sure he had helped orphan her. You know," Ronnie said softly, "He still blames himself for that. I wish he wouldn't. So this guy, Diode I mean, practically a kid himself, was forced by his conscience to take this little kid in. But he loves her. He really does. So that's Wire's story. Don't ask about Diode, I know, like, nothing about him. But whatever I know, you'll know soon enough. Well, it's been nice doing biographies with you, but you should get to work. Things could start going down at any moment. Trust me, I know."

"Where do I start?"

We-e-eell," Veronica stalled, standing up, leaning forward against her desk. She looked out at the docks. "Mm, start there," she said, pointing a little to her right, back the way they came, "Dock..." She squinted. "Dock 15, see the one with that sinister-looking ship? You know, Diode and I call "sinister-looking ships" code 12." Veronica added with a note of confidentiality. "You're gonna have to learn all these if we're gonna be efficient." She stood up, ready to bid Chroma 'farewell.' "And don't be afraid to call for backup if you need it. Diode had to learn that the hard way."

Chroma nodded her thanks but couldn't help adding, "Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. All the time."

Chroma smiled and turned to leave. Veronica sat back down. "Oh!" she cried, "don't--" A loud crunching sound could be heard, "--step on the chips. It's okay, I'll clean it up, go on," Ronnie sighed. There would have to be a lot of getting used to for both parties.

The gray colored viral sprite paced as he awaited a report from his men from the field that every movement had been reported. Kah't watched him. "Has anyone ever told you that you take your job to seriously, General Cobol?"

He stopped pacing long enough to regard the viral. As usual his expression didn't change. Kah't found him incredibly boring, at best.

"It's my job to be serious about my job," he said, with a slight accent. Kah't rolled her eyes. She decided to try to reason with the unreasonable. It would probably win her a lecture from him but she didn't really care.

"You know, it's most people's job to be serious about their jobs, to use your terminology, but most of them don't take it this seriously."

"Yes but do they excel? Do they get to be all that they really can be?"

"Probably," she said, adding quickly, "I didn't say if they goofed off!"

The general took a breath for his speech. It was at times like these that she wished that she had Jah'kal's power; mainly because then, she could dismiss him before he actually said anything. She was at equal rank with Cobol. Luckily, he was interrupted by a viral binome calling from a vidwindow, which popped up right in front of his face.

Kah't sighed with pleasure. At least now she could watch him do something. Plus, she'd been saved from having to listen to him prattle on, which was better than nothing, she supposed...

Chroma stepped off her zip-board in front of two suspicious-looking binomes doing shady business beside their sinister-looking vessel. She cleared her throat. The binomes jumped, and one hid the object-of-interest behind his back. This one looked from side to side on nervousness. The second, a very confident one, strode forward to clear up this complication. Both were one binomes. With a slick, collected look that never varied, he said, "What seems to be the problem, Guardian? It's just me and my client here, doing business."

"I'd like to take a look at your items. Including that one." The client binome grinned stupidly and nearly dropped the item that was hidden behind his back. He began to edge away. Obviously, the transaction had already been made, for the slick binome, and most likely captain of the ship, ignored the fleeing client.

"Zip, stasis field," Chroma said, pointing her key-tool at the hasty binome. It froze in a block of blue energy.

The captain looked vaguely surprised before resuming his usual confidence. "You can't search my ship without a warrant," he said coolly.

"The Web I can't," she retorted, "The warrant comes with the badge," she said, tapping her icon lightly, bending down to his eye level. The captain scowled. "What's your name?" she asked, boarding the ship.

"I don't have to give you my name," he said. As he spoke she called up a vidwindow.

"Yes, you do," she replied. She now directed her voice to the vidwindow. "Veronica? Could you freeze the ship? Dock 18." Chroma kept a vigilant eye on the binome.

"What? Dock eighteen? Wasn't it fifteen?" Veronica's eyes went elsewhere as she spoke. A green stasis field surrounded the ship, and connected to the dock itself. "What?"

"You need glasses." Chroma closed the window, leaving Ronnie to think about it.

Chroma walked around the dock of the large ship. She planned to go around to the lower levels after.

Zip bleeped.

"Yes, what is it?" Chroma asked, annoyed. It was Veronica.

"You know, you can use your key-tool to 'vidwindow' people."

"I'm aware of that."

"I have good eyesight," she proclaimed. Chroma continued to inspect the ship and prepared to go down to the cargo area. She'd find something in there for sure!

"No, you don't," said Chroma, "considering I could see that number from up there." Chroma lifted the trapdoor leading to the cargo hold. She smiled. "Will you look at this."

"Look at what?" asked Ronnie.

Chroma wasn't looking at her key-tool anymore, but continued to talk. "You should see all the boxes here. Your inspector is going to have a field second with this." She brought her wrist up so she could look at Veronica. "You do have an inspector."

"Well duh! This is a port. Ports to and from everywhere. And stop swinging your arm around like that! It's nauseating!"

"Sorry."

As she walked down the small amount of floor space between the boxes, she noticed her footsteps had changed pitch. Stopping, she knelt down. The binome watched her stand up and start stamping the floorboards with her boots. He couldn't figure out what she was doing.

Suddenly, more suddenly that Chroma would have it, the floorboards splintered and gave way. She found herself falling into blackness.

"The Guardian was seen boarding the host vessel, sir," said the lead binome to the General.

"We can't let our cargo fall into the wrong hands; they may be able to tame it. Start moving in. If you can, you might want to dispatch the Guardian, and our problem sprite if he shows up, but that's not priority," said the general in that slight accent that suggested that he probably came from the Net originally.

"Yes, sir. Moving in as requested," the other replied and the window shut, only to be replaced by another double-sided one. It was a black screen with red and green dots on it. Some portions of the display were gray indicating buildings. The single green dot, the Guardian, didn't seem to be moving, or very slightly.

Kah't leaned back to enjoy the show.

The general was still in command of his troops with an audio-transmitter.

Kah't didn't like the fact that the green dot wasn't moving. Could she have already found the compartment? Quite possibly. Guardians were cunning, observant, and good problem-solvers by nature. There wasn't much reason to think that she'd have done otherwise.

"Chroma? Hey!" Veronica groaned. She called up another vidwindow. "Diode," she muttered. He's not going to be too thrilled about this. "What?" he asked, forced to stop or risk smashing into the window. "You look tired." His expression darkened. "What's wrong?"

"Your Guardian's gotten in trouble again. And it was on a code 12 too. You didn't even get in trouble on a code 12 and you're... well... you!"

"She's not my anything, Ronnie," Diode said sharply. "Where is she?"

"Dock 18, Diode," she added suddenly, "Do you think I need glasses?"

"Um, how can I think about that? I have someone to save now."

"Yeah, just asking."

The windows closed.

"Wire, go home."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Can I at least go to the Tower?"

"No."

"Okay, okay. I'll stay there this time. As long as I can see everything, I'm fine," she pleaded.

Diode gave her a doubting look and shook his head but let her go anyway. Diode head off in one direction and Wire in another. For once, Wire was going to listen to him. The sooner I show him I'm responsible, and can take orders, the sooner I'll be down there helping him.

Chroma stood up in the blackness and looked to the only light source: up. The captain was looking at her, or more precisely through her.

"Are you alright? I can't see you," he said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sort of." She noticed that Zip, her key-tool, had stopped displaying. Clearing her throat, she said, "Zip, light." A small ball of light rose up from the faceplate, lighting up the bottom of the ship. "Did you know this was down here?" she asked the slick binome. She had given up asking him about his name; the inspector would wring it out of him.

"No," he said. She could tell that he meant it because, mainly, his "slickness" had melted away. Now he looked like any other scare binome, just with a better outfit.

Chroma looked around. The whole place was empty, except for a large cage at the stern. She neared it. Inside was a huge wolf, and behind it, she saw a female sprite. Chroma couldn't help but gasp. The wolf turned and put a cold nose on the cheek of the sprite. Thin, light blue tendrils moved with the creature's breathing. Chroma figured she had nothing to lose trying to talk to the beast. "Don't hurt her..."

The creature fixed its eyes on the Guardian. Chroma found those eyes unnerving. They were definitely clear, with dark blue flecked with light blue. Not like the beast they met at the docks. This one was different, yet, in a way, the same.

Without taking her eyes off the beast, she vidwindowed Veronica.

"Is that a habit or something?" Ronnie asked when she answered.

"Zip is busy lighting the room," she retorted.

"Diode's on his way. Are you okay? What happened?"

"I fell into some secret room beneath the ship's hold. I found something. I want an ambulance down here. The sprite I found looks okay, but I can't be sure." Yet she looked at the wolf again. She decided not to tell Veronica about the creature. She closed the window and walked over to the cage. Tentatively, she put her hand in-between the cold bars. The wolf licked it, much to Chroma's surprise. She smiled. The latch holding the cage closed was crude, but one needed an opposing thumbs to open it. Opening the cage, Chroma expected it to attack her or run away.

It did neither.

Diode watched the scene the scene below him. He saw the locked ship, and the virals closing in around it. According to Veronica, Chroma was still in there. As much as he was reluctant to save her, Diode did still have a conscience. Unfortunately, in his opinion.

He lowered himself behind the line of troops. The captain was aware of his presence and sent half of the troops back towards him to keep him from interfering.

Diode could see the ambulance coming, escorted by three CPU's out of the corner of his eye. He decided that he'd take care of these binomes while Chroma stepped out.

She crawled up on the deck and saw the ambulance coming. She also saw a number of virals coming at her too. As of yet, they hadn't seen her. Diode was swinging at others further in the distance. She'd draped the other sprite over the wolf, which was looking up through the trapdoor at her.

"Stay there," she said. "Wait until the CPU's get here," she said. It seemed to understand. It nearly sat down to wait, but remembered at the last nano its passenger and stood again.

While Chroma waited for something to happen, she marveled at the great white beast. It's shoulders were level with the bottom of her rib cage. Its paws were extremely large; slightly larger than a large guy's palm. It started to pant happily, and she saw its abnormally sharp teeth. Its canines were noticeably longer than the others.

She looked back at the escort. It was now practically on top of them, and the CPU's were breaking away to engage in the fray Diode was causing. Oddly, the virals didn't notice any of it (except Diode's badly aimed slices), and those not fighting Diode were steadily advancing on Chroma. The ambulance stopped over the deck, and a ramp fell to the deck itself.

"Okay, now bring her up." The wolf trotted past her.

At the sight of the beast coming up to them, the binomes froze, then shivered. The wolf saw no alternative but to leave the sprite, then back off. It didn't really think like this, but did realize that the binomes were afraid of it and wouldn't come nearer.

Turning its back to them, it sat down letting the sprite roll off. It then headed back to Chroma. Standing beside her, it followed her gaze to a male sprite who was trying to cut the virals surrounding him to pieces.

The binomes not contending with Diode had seen the big wolf and were zeroing in on it. These, the wolf seemed intent on ignoring. It was watching the sprite.

"Miss Guardian." The binome addressing her indicated the sprite whom she had just rescued. It seemed they needed help lifting her. Chroma was just about to run over to the various virals and Diode to break up the like her programming insisted, but decided that both Diode and the wolf would take care of themselves for now.

The wolf was totally enraged by what it saw.

The binomes crept around the wolf, who was conveniently ignoring them, trying to herd the creature back to their master's domain.

The wolf was the thing that they sought. The newest viral of Jah'kal's type. These virals were only quiet and unhurtful for perhaps a second, then explode in a deleting spree until they win intellectual consciousness, then they become like Jah'kal and Kah't.

The wolf leapt forward, right over the heads of the viral ones and zeroes surrounding it. Its course was direct and certain.

"What in the Web does she think she's doing?" Diode grumbled angrily taking a couple more easy swipes at the binomes surrounding him. "Get going," he growled at her, not half expecting her to hear. "Now what're you doing? Step away from the ambulance," he muttered venting his frustration.

Suddenly, before Diode knew what was happening, the multi-weapon was being kicked from his hand.

Clutching his hurt hand, Diode turned to face his assailant, who was behind him.

The general stood there, clearly receiving the multi-weapon handed to him by a binome that was going to retrieve it from its landing place.

He toyed with it as he spoke. "Now that you're defenseless, my forces won't have any trouble taking you down." Looking over Diode's shoulder, his face brightened-- slightly. "Even better, let our new virus take care of you."

The wolf was running straight at Diode. Snarling ferociously, it buried its claws deep in his armor; so deep he could feel the claws pressing into his protecting gear. They almost pierced it. Diode went crashing to the ground, getting himself be knocked out, the growling virus on top of him.

Wire was probably as close to outright panicking as she ever got. "Daddy's out there with no one to help him!" she squeaked and began to babble, something she always did when nervous. "Chroma's in the ambulance, I'm up here, You're up here, the CPU's left because they thought everything was under control, and the second I decide to try to be good, too... eep... I think he's unconscious, Ronnie do something... Oh, look at me, I'm babbling, distract me or something-- I must sound like a total girl, a-a-a-a... what am I saying? My dad's down there unconscious and I'm worrying about sounding like a girl, which I am, a girl I mean..."

Ronnie, however was probably the total opposite in reacting to panic. She simply sat there not hearing anything, not seeing, and just staring distantly out the window. "I'm going to close my eyes and everything is going to be fine..." she muttered under Wire's endless talking.

Continued in Another Time, Another Place: Part Three

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