Tiffany wrapped the covers around her form, as she embraced the need for sleep. It was like she had not slept in weeks. She could easily ignore the need for sleep in her old form, but this one? It was demanded.
She looked under the covers, and under her pyjamas, making sure what she saw before was still there. Her body still glowing with all its intricate lines intact. She felt annoyed as her strange horn got caught in those covers, and she had to pull it away. She heard a slight ripping sound, as it tore one the sheet...
.. great. How was she supposed to have this thing on her head for the rest of her life? She knew one thing, she couldn't possibly let anyone see her naked.. or even in a low cut dress again. She would have to dress conservatively... even if... it wasn't really her. She wrapped her body tightly, determined to hide this strange light, feeling one thing she thought she would never feel.
Shame.. ashamed of how she looked now. She was so proud and happy before. The sunlight allowed her to become herself, unlike the fate of others... but now, now she was in a form she didn't want. Just like everyone else...
She couldn't wear her two piece bathing suit any more. Her summer clothes were out... even if she couldn't hide the horn, maybe she could hide the weird light. She would die if anyone found out just where they all lead to.
But that could wait. For now... sleep. Perhaps now... she could dream of something better.
The light on her body continued to glow.
Dennis was worried. He had never seen him in the 'flesh'. Seeing him like that, was strange... it made him smaller perhaps. No longer a godly entity, but a kid playing jokes...
"Can he see us?" Asked Effie.
"I don't know. But.. I don't think so." Said Dennis. The two fairies were standing on top of the machine in the real world now. Dennis realised this was the first time they were doing so, without the physical presence of their host.
Of course they were still connected to Mikey through a signal, but... this was still very strange to Dennis, even if Effie seemed to be taking it all now in stride.
"We're safe," reminded Effie quickly. Though she kind of understood how he must feel. What if she met up with that other AI, intent on applying internet justice upon her? The digital world seemed so small... but that might be because there were so very few citizens.
"He's sending another query," said Dennis. He knew they were safe... but this was awkward. It was like a phone constantly ringing. Why did he want to initiate contact with them?
"Was he able to manifest?" Asked Effie. "Like the AI's we've met?" Maybe they could hide inside a computer, or take their chances on the internet.
Dennis shook his head. "I think his abilities are limited in terms of what an AI can do... but he's been quite imaginative in using what he has. I wouldn't put it past him to figure out a way."
"Then he might try to come inside," Effie thought with trepidation. Again she reminded herself that the cyborg could not do anything to them. They were not dealing with a true AI... and even if they were, their internet traffic was still being routed through Mikey.
At this point, she was really missing Amy. She stood up to this being straight away, and his true color showed. What should they do?
Hiro synchronised the motions of his feet, to the pattern he saw on the screen. Simple, and he was only running at about 25% of his mental capacity. Now he had to try and make contact with the digital life form...
so far, all his queries were being ignored. That was unusual. If the digital creature was trapped in the arcade, much like a lot of the beings he had encountered, it would have made contact. There was also a possibility the being didn't know how to respond... Then again, maybe he was wrong. Maybe there was no digital life form here after all...
Still, the prospect of a replacement was... a very tantalising thought. He sent the queries a few more times, with no response as yet. He started to initiate a hacking routine, to create a tunnel. Maybe if he could see the data streams running, he could see this digital creature, and convince it to join him.
"He's up to something," Said Dennis. He was starting to ping around the area.
"he can't hurt us, even if he did find us," reminded Effie. If the guy was stupid enough to try hacking into their own data stream, Mikey herself would become involved. She was no expert, but even if the cyborg had a few unusual abilities, she suspected Mikey would absolutely destroy him as a fly within her own digital space.
@unknown: If you are a digital creature... are you trapped here? I can help.
Effie was surprised at this query, but Dennis scoffed.
"He's only interested in what a digital fairy could do for him. He's not really acting selflessly." the DOS fairy pointed out.
@unknown: I can help you. I can get you out of here.
"Did he do this routine on you?" asked Effie ignoring the texts.
"Yeah... his run time wasn't the best, but it was usable."
Effie studied the data packets and saw that the cyborg had a lingering connection to the game he was playing. She took hold of Dennis, as she lightly stepped upwards, the breeze of the wifi signal in her hair. It was almost like no gravity at all here, in the hum of energy and machinery of the arcade.
They stepped into the DDR machine, careful not to go into the visual screen.
"What do we have here?" Asked Effie. She knew she saw something!
She picked up the spiky program carefully. How low! He was using his abilities to... play free games in an arcade? It was a very strange program. Not quite like a normal written program.
She didn't know what that said about this guys state of mind, but it did give her an idea. "Looks like he left a bit of a mess here... shall we send his program back to him?" She said with a little smirk.
Dennis tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
Effie threw the hacking program back towards the cyborg. "Let's see what a free credit program does to his systems."
Hiro started to seize up. his body felt a conflict somewhere and his artificial systems were glitching. Immediately his organic components started to take over the failed systems as best they could. What happened?
He ran a diagnostic, and found that someone had thrown his own program right back at him. He gritted his teeth. His firewall had let that program through since it had his own signature. He couldn't prevent that, it was an aspect of his organic systems too so they were able to recognise each other.
The flowergirl started to pick up the pace. Not good! He was... about to lose. But he had to stop, he had to purge this program from his systems.
"I win!" Said Steven triumphantly.
"W-Well done.. princess," Hiro said grinning. But he felt like he was about to throw up. His body became very pale. His organic systems quickly protected his organs such as his heart, and parts of his organic brain. Metabolic activity had stabilised, but that still left his electronics severely impaired.
Steven looked to him in concern. "Are... you okay?"
The asian man's artificial eye started to flicker. "I've- been hacked." he explained with a tone of fear in his voice. "I... need to...reboot my... artificial... systems."
Hiro stopped moving at that point. The real world flickered off, as he was lost into the embrace of digital oblivion. For a time, he reminded himself. He hated this part of his nature. Sleep was understandable... but this, was a shut down. Part of him, a part that supported his organic parts, were being turned off. While it was temporary, it was far more dangerous then an AI doing it. He's only had to do this once before, and he remembered it felt unnatural in some way.
Time stopped for the cyborg.
Effie arched an eyebrow at what she saw. She didn't mean to hurt him! What happened?
"I think his core program is rebooting," said Dennis. "I didn't think that would..." Dennis trailed off.
"I didn't mean it!" Effie said defending herself. Honestly, was all data in her hand a potential weapon? She was half tempted to go inside the cyborg to repair the damage... it shouldn't be too hard right?
"It's okay," Said Dennis. "He's rebooting now."
Whatever kind of creature he was, he wasn't so easily killed. Thankfully.
Steven looked quite surprised, and waved her hands in front of the cyborg. Suddenly Hiro's eye started glowing again, and he looked at her with a steeled expression. Steven knew that look... fear.
Pure fear.
What did he see, when he was half shut down but still metabolically active?
But just as quickly as Hiro showed that face, it was replaced by a mask of calm. Steven wondered if he had programmed his body not to display his true emotions, and if she just caught a glimpse of them...
"Are you okay now?" she asked.
Hiro nodded. "Yeah. Hope I didn't worry you." He glanced about the room. This place wasn't safe. He reminded himself that it was his own program that did that... his firewalls and immune system should keep him safe from anything foreign.
Steven glanced at the clock. She didn't have much time before she had to go, or risk her friends coming.
Hiro still looked distracted. Unknown to the flowergiil, he was activating every defensive program he had. He opened only one tiny port, to allow text communication.
@Hostile-Unknown: can we talk about this?
Mr Gordon decided to check on how the children were doing. He felt a little bad still about what happened with Billy... he honestly didn't mean it! God.. how confusing can it be when your son is now your daughter and vice versa? He didn't even know what he wanted to be identified as now anyway.
He knocked saw the children playing some kind of game. It looked like they had got the lego bricks out and were making things with it. He knew Billy had grown out of those toys ages ago. Still she was a child again... an animal child, but a child all the same.
"Hello Billy," he said with a smile. "Having fun?"
"Uh huh," She giggled.
"Lilly is very nice," said Jenny.
"Lilly?" asked Gordon. Did this mean...
"Well it's short for Lil'Billy," explained Jenny. "Cause she's little Billy now."
"Ah..." Gordon thought that seemed convenient... "Look.. um... you know I love you... right?" things were going so fast for the poor father he just didn't know what to do!
Billy- or Lilly even, smiled. "Could you... tell me a story?" She asked hopefully. "I told Jenny you tell really good ones..."
A story? He had not told a story to Billy since she was... well... the age she was now. He wasn't sure he had one in him now.
"Please?" Asked Jenny hopefully. She couldn't remember ever hearing a story...
Mr Gorgon picked up one of the lego figures... it had a medieval motif to it. Maybe... he had one story he could tell them, and it might help himself as much as it would help Billy.
"There is one story I never told you..." he said thinking. "Once upon a time... there lived a king and queen. They were loved by everyone and had great wealth. They were very good people..."
jenny and Billy sat together, listening eagerly.
Mr Gordon seemed a off put by the attention. "They had a son and daughter, who would one day rule the kingdom, bringing even more happiness. However, something strange happened... and it seemed as if, the kingdom was cursed." Gordon hoped they couldn't realise he was making this up as he went along.
"Cursed?" Asked Jenny. "How?"
"Somehow, everyone lost their shadows..." The father said with an air of suspension.
Billy leaned forward, her two tails twitching, one of them batting Jenny slightly. "Sorry" she said sheepishly.
"It's okay," The white haired girl giggled rubbing her face slightly at the impact. "Why would anyone take shadows?"
Gordon leaned back a bit feeling more relaxed. "A very good question. It was only the start of something strange... and So, the two children decided to find out what had happened..._
