Chapter I
THE BLACK TOWER REACHED TO THE SKY LIKE A CLAWED HAND, TEARING AT THE clouds. Although the entire system around it, the network of gleaming blue skyscrapers that made up the Supercomputer, seemed shadowed and dark---like everything else here---the tower itself was a spot that light could not touch at all.
Turbo sighed heavily, glanced across the cockpit at the young female pilot, Guardian 778. At one point in her life, he knew, she had been called Kiara. Now, her call number was sufficient to distinguish her from the others in the Guardian Collective. With all her friends gone, with even the memory of friendship fading from her mind, she simply had no use for the name. The spidery green veins pulsed at her temples, glowing brightly, a constant reminder...
Heaving another sigh, Turbo tried to remember a time when it hadn�t been like this. It was so long ago now that it almost seemed like a dream.
778 keyed the com channel open, coldly identified herself and Turbo, and offered their landing clearance codes. The dark tower swelled in the viewport until it filled it entirely, engulfing their shuttle completely in darkness.
Perfect rows of streamlined black fighters, bristling with cannons and plated in polished black armor, lined the hangar in which the Guardians� small shuttle had been cleared to land. In silence 778 powered down the craft, and the two of them left it, meeting the two robed guards who stood solemnly at the far end of the hangar.
Each guard was sprite-sized, but what they were beneath their death�s-head masks and floor-length red and black cloaks remained a mystery to all but the One they were sworn to protect. Their helmets were modeled to be gruesome and frightening, the wide shoulderpads imposing. Every guard carried an energy pike at his side.
From personal experience, Turbo knew that the terrifying images of these guards was not something one got used to after time.
"This way," the voice under the mask rasped.
Dim red lights along the floor lit the vaulted corridors. Every aspect of the tower seemed a blend of cold, mechanical practicality, and architectural flourish. Technology merged with art. The straight, angular walls along the grand corridor were fashioned of the latest blast-absorbent metals, yet they were elaborately etched, and decorated with carved marble moulding. Holographic tapestries and paintings hovered between the automatic doors, power cables and access terminals, giving off a pale, eerie glow. Rows of narrow oval skylights lined each side of the arched ceiling.
Each of the guards seemed to hover across the floor, taking up position on either side of the doors. "Enter, Prime Guardian." One fearsome mask turned to Guardian 778. "You, remain outside."
Without a word, without a flicker of any emotion across her face, 778 drew to attention and remained behind as Turbo entered the throne room.
A massive chamber, the throne room was perfectly spherical in shape. A narrow walkway stretched from the doors to the main platform, a flat half-circle suspended in the center of the room, large enough to support three large tiered decks. The bottom level housed command terminals, communications arrays and a small generator to power this equipment independently of the palace�s main systems. A small crew of suited sprites quietly manned the control stations.
The second level was an empty deck, the base for a flight of metal steps lit by rows of glowing red lights. More of the rigid guards lined the staircase leading up, looking like nothing more than a row of decorative statues. Turbo halted at the base of the stairs, his eyes flicking across to each line of guards. This was as far as he went.
A tall, curved throne hovered in the center of the uppermost level. Behind it, a giant circular window, decorated with metal filigree, looked out onto the cityscape, letting in a disc of orange light that spilled onto the tiered decks.
"Ah." The female voice, smooth as the purest silk, seemed to emanate from all directions, surrounding Turbo. Her presence was everywhere. "Prime Guardian."
The voice belonged to a dark figure standing atop the dais, a tall black shape hidden from the neck down beneath flowing robes. She was turned away from him, gazing out across the Supercomputer�s vast reaches. All that Turbo could make out was a hazy outline in golden light.
Turbo fell to one knee and dropped his gaze to the ground. The buzzing of her voice in his mind grew stronger in her physical presence. He was strong...he�d always been able to fight it off. The voice was always there, but it did not consume him as it had the others.
"You summoned me."
"Yes." The figured turned, the bright light behind still obscuring her face. Turbo himself had never seen it. No one had. "Thanks to you and your Guardians, my control over the Net is nearly absolute. Still, there are systems which I sense are beyond my grasp." A rippling sound, almost a laugh. "Small of course. One would not guess that they should be of any importance. But Mainframe..."
The name struck a chord within Turbo. He jerked, feeling a sharp pang in his chest.
"Ah yes. Your friend, Bob...the only Guardian to elude my grasp," she said wryly. "As long as he is outside of my control he remains a threat to me."
Turbo tried to suppress the sudden wave of relief that washed over him. She was right---as long as Bob was free, there would be hope. Now, he was the last Guardian left. The last real Guardian.
"I have sensed others. Not Guardians...not yet. But they are too dangerous to ignore." She turned back to the window, facing away from Turbo again. "I need you, Prime Guardian, to help me find a way back into Mainframe."
"It will not be easy," Turbo said cautiously. His first instinct had been to say, It�s impossible. Mainframe was locked off from the Net. He only knew one hacker so skilled and underhanded that she could have broken the codes---and, last he�d heard, that hacker just happened to be in Mainframe.
"I have alternative methods. I have sensed one other person who can open the way to Mainframe," she said evenly. Outside the window, the light was slowly fading to a dull, pale yellow. "But I need you to find him for me. He�s in the Web, you see."
In her presence Turbo was usually quite controlled, but still he gasped, "The Web?!"
The form nodded, the tall spikes of her pointed headdress glinting in the pale light. "Yes, the Web." She moved across the dais, settling into the curved, floating throne that hovered in the center of the platform. A fine-boned, feminine hand waved dismissively. "He will not be difficult to find. I will provide you with the exact coordinates...my spies were able to locate him and his sparse forces in their last sweep. You will be escorted by a squad of my finest soldiers, as well as two of my most trusted Guardians...in the unlikely event that he does not immediately accept my offer, you will be well protected."
Very quietly, Turbo asked, "What offer?"
"An alliance." Her tone was cool, the words sharp and brief. "An invitation to come here to the Supercomputer, the very thing he has always sought after. I am confident he will accept. I know how his mind works. And, after all, this is his only way to escape the Web...safely."
Who in the Net can she possibly be talking about? Unless it�s... Turbo swallowed hard. The Web.
The Web---
"Who---" His voice faltered, and he tried again. "Who am I looking for?"
"A virus." The floating throne slowly rotated, facing out towards the dark cityscape. The shimmering fabric of her black robes spilled over the edge of the throne onto the deck. "His name is Megabyte."