Effie was sitting on Mikey's desk, while Amy stood circling around her. The ME fairy didn't really liked being looked at like that. Effie tried not to look nervous. One benefit of being invisible she rarely had to deal with being looked at in her new form. Her loss of memories 'should' have made it easier too, but there was still enough of her old self that made it feel awkward. Being seen by that Male DOS fairy was strange enough.
The new digital fairy, Amy, was settling very well among Mikey and Effie.
A little too well, Effie thought biting her lip. She looked at the girl- no the woman. Effie knew she had become younger, but it was only once this fairy showed up it had actually become apparent to her. She wondered if she was physically stuck this age, or if she would age as time go by... maybe digital fairies were immortal? Well, only immortal in that as long as hardware existed to run her program.
Effie had another thought. If it was very hard to change her form that could mean she would never change at all. She wondered if that extended to Mikey too? As a robot maybe she wouldn't change, or age or anything.
However that did not mean tech-life didn't have a natural 'aging' element to it. After all she was not a static program. She could think, feel, as much as she was when human. If this fairy and her fought, would they actually bruise and bleed? Well, If she didn't age, at least her breasts wouldn't get larger. It also brought a comfort in that it was even less likely, she would actually menstruate, despite how 'real' her parts all felt. What would be the point anyway? Its not as if she could actually have digital babies someday- the thought made her brain actually freeze briefly. (though fortunately not an actual crash)
The way the new fairy looked down on her was getting on her nerves.
"So, what have you been able to program?" Amy asked
Oh hell she thought. Of all the questions to start on. "Well- I made-" she couldn't really say anything she did in her old life. Besides they were not actually hers. "Um- I'm still learning."
Amy giggled a bit. "with that error symbol being part of your dress, I can only guess what the problem is. I'm glad your generation is actually aware of Amiga systems though"
"Hey! My systems can work just fine with a little tweaking."
"You know if we had won, you would probably be an Amiga fairy. You would have benefited from stable code, and the world would probably be ten years ahead. All that stuff in windows was a step backwards."
"No it wasn't! Your stuff wasn't nearly as user friendly-"
"With good reason! You had to learn properly on our machines. It wasn't even 'that' non-user friendly. Windows copied us! Its little wonder you don't know how to code."
Effie stood up. This was starting to get a little personal.
Mikey sat down on the desk "How are you two?" She asked.
They both turned sheepishly to her.
"We- Amy started
"She-" Effie also said at the same time.
They paused and looked at each other. "We're fine" They both said in unison.
Mikey smiled. "We still have to find whoever caused that crack"
"Oh that's easy!" Amy giggled. "Now that I have enough computing power, I can make a very simple tracer. You said it was a DOS fairy right?"
"Yeah" Mikey nodded.
Amy started to trail her hand in the air. An image formed, like a small glowing piece of paper. It was translucent though, like it was made of light. Both Mikey and Effie looked in awe at it.
"Hm? I got this with me when I transformed. Its my text editor. Quite handy actually."
Effie fumed a bit. She lost all her stuff back in the beginning.. mainly because it was all loaded with viruses. Starting from scratch was just painful. This fairy was acting like she actually enjoyed being what she was. Just what was her deal?
Amy continued to run her hand across the air, bits of code flowing. With each finger doing one word, she was working exponentially faster then a human who typed it out. Given she only had to think as well for it to be made, also added to the speed. Effie looked a little curiously to the program. It was not a large one, She could understand some of the functions called. The effect was... almost enchanting. Like the act of casting a magic spell.
"There we go!" Amy smiled confidently. One basic IP scanner, which should look for DOS signatures. She gently held the translucent code in her hand, and with a puff from her lips, blew it towards a USB key. It turned into a tiny speck of light as it made its journey across, disappearing within the circuitry and memory.
"Now I didn't make it user friendly-" she glanced at Effie, who crossed her arms a bit. "Just compile this where you last saw the fairy, and we'll be able to trail where he went."
"Wait- we?" asked Effie
"Of course! We have to provide the program with an occasional prod now and then. Its not exactly intelligent like we are, but it will go towards the general direction better then us. Just follow me through the network. If it came from within the school it won't take long. Mikey has to use the program from the terminal end too."
Effie looked a bit tensely.
"Scared?" Amy asked
"N-No! I'm not scared... I just don't know about leaving Mikey on her own."
"I'll be fine" Mikey smiled. "Go ahead, and come back as soon as you can. You can tunnel my runtime as you go through the network. Just don't go too far."
"Just stay close to me kid, I'll keep you safe" Amy smiled again. "I got to know these systems quite well. It'll be fine"
Effie tried her best to smile back really not liking being called a kid. "er... sure."
Caitlin then approached Mikey "er... who are you talking to?"
"Um-" Mikey wasn't sure how to explain it. Effie and Amy just looked up at the large stone girl.
"Some... people on the internet?" Mikey eventually said.
"You got internet access here? I didn't think you could." She said surprised.
"I got a.. small signal. Not a big one." She tried to explain. "I guess my ears are more sensitive"
She smiled very slightly "They are... quite big. I don't think I've seen any robot with antenna your size, come to think of it."
"Have you seen other robots?" Mikey asked quickly.
"Well- just on the television. I think there might be some on the other side of the school but I don't know. However you do have larger antenna proportional to the rest of you. Maybe... its a good thing?"
Mikey honestly didn't know how to respond to that.
David actually felt a lot happier after Jon talked to her.
It was nice to get some of what she was feeling off her chest. Jon wasn't like the others at all. But... could they become friends? She looked at the sun, as she sat on the bench alone once more. she didn't really have much in terms of thought going through her head, just that constant lingering sadness. It wouldn't go away, it was always there, emanating from her out of the six. She felt bad that she was making the others feel bad too (making the problem even worse).
Why couldn't she fit in? Could she ever... be happy? In this body? She didn't see how. Jon mentioned a 'game' girls play. Social structures were always games she guessed. She knew the rules when it came to guys. The stronger always beat the weaker. It was a game practically designed against people like her. She assumed it was the same with girls. She didn't think her social situation would change at all. Even if she... she was pretty.
She glanced upwards at the halo of light above her head. Was it supposed to signify anything? The light did make her feel a little warmer.
As the wind picked up a bit, she decided now was a good time to go. She opened the door to enter the building, when she bumped into someone- hard.
They toppled for a bit, and David tried to get up. She looked at who she bumped into, and nearly shrieked- when the other creature did.
It was a Harpy! "A-".. she was - naked
David stared too scared and shocked to even respond. She saw her bare breasts, and incredibly sharp talons across the feathered form.
Sarah stared at the angel girl and then got an angry at her look. "What are you looking at!"
"N- N- N- othing" She stammered.
"Hmph. Nice wings. . She dusted herself off with her own wings. "Be glad you got to keep your hands too."
"I-I-" She stammered again.
Sarah decided to ignore the angel as she walked off.
David wasn't sure if to glance back or not... She saw the angel going inside the classroom. She hesitated deciding to wait a moment before going in.
Sarah entered the classroom.
She had to make a quick detour with the principal again, but it actually went far smoother then she realised it could.
The students looked a little stunned. There were some feverish whispers as Sarah took her seat. As soon as she lifted her book though using her talons, some of those that did not laugh, had to bite their lips to stop it from happening. The sight of it was just... so weird.
Jon didn't laugh of course.
David then walked in. She noticed the harpy girl, blushed as she tried to get back to her seat.
"I guess the birds were at it." One person said.
The roar of laughter made David hunch lower in her chair.
Sarah however, was not going to take it. she walked right up to the person who said it. It looked like a wolf creature. She used her talons and grabbed his tail. "Go ahead, just say more. She leaned in whispering. "I'll cut your tail right off."
The wolf was so stunned. "I-it was just a j-joke-"
"Sarah! Back to your seat" The teacher said. "And the rest of you, If any of you object, you are to see the principal."
Jon looked around... it didn't look like anyone would object.
Inside the school intranet, Amy stretched her arms out. It was a rather barren, featureless world. Little streams of light seemed to connect to larger points of light, probably representing the various computer terminals in the school network. Effie noticed a thin silver cord extending from the two of them, probably linking them to Mikey. It was all a bit surreal. The cord was a visual representation of the runtime their host provided. As long as it was secure, they didn't need the run time of the hardware they would inhabit.
"Ah, I can't tell you how much nicer it is to have some real run time to work in here with. You've been enjoying the rather easy life haven't you" she winked to Effie playfully.
"I- wouldn't say easy."
"What is that Torrent rule? Give and you will receive? You've been taking all your hosts run time but you haven't programmed anything for her. You're supposed to be partners! Why not defrag her systems now and then? You could do it better then any program could."
"She doesn't need any-" Effie stopped as Amy was doing something. "What are you doing now?"
"Mikey is activating our search program." A strange red and white ball appeared in her hand. It did a bounce on the 'floor'. It gave a few more bounces, before starting to lean towards a direction. "Ah, perfect. There's still a ghost trail here. We'll find out where he went. Spamming your host was a good trick, but it wont work with this."
"You do know nothing here is real, right?" Effie asked. "Why treat it like it is?"
"Hm? Technically nothing is real, and everything is as real as you make it. "In the real world your eyes are simply reacting to photons of energy, all with their own wave patterns that can be described in a mathematical form. The human brain can be simplified to processes of maths too. What your seeing here is no different to that you know."
"Huh?" Effie didn't get it.
"The mind makes it real kid. maybe that explains it to you better."
"I'm not a ki-" the ball started bouncing away as Amy ran after it.
"Come on! move those legs! We're on the trail!"
They started to follow the trail of numbers, going from port to port, terminal to terminal, following the path of the DOS fairy.
