by BP
“So. Galdur have no clue where are?”
“Well…maybe. I wasn’t expecting to find a library at the other end of the tunnel. But…well, maybe that makes sense.. This must be where he keeps his research.”
Galdur headed deeper into the library, followed by Nou. Tall shelves filled the room, each one lined with discs and cartridges.
“Why Flyte keep weapon in library?”
“The library is in a dimensional hole. Perfect hiding place.”
“How we find?”
“Flyte’s efficient, remember? He’d want the weapon in easy reach for him if worse came to worse. And he’ll be pretty confident in his security. After all, we never would have found the place if you hadn’t picked up on the radiation.”
“So. It be easy? We have to find fast-Beth and Postmaster need it!”
“I know, Nou, but pressuring me won’t get things done any faster.”
They passed a large bank of flickering monitors.
Nou slowed as they passed, skimming through a few snippets of data. “Galdur? What “Nexus” ?”
“Nexus? Haven’t heard of it.”
“Galdur, should we get info for Postmaster?”
“Any other time, I’d say yes, but we don’t have time for that.”
They continued deeper into the library.
“Galdur?”
“H’m?”
“That it?” Nou pointed to a small crystalline device, sitting in a glass case.
Galdur smiled. “Yes, Nou, that’s it!” His smile abruptly turned into a frown. “But this feels too easy.”
“Galdur no second guess. We get device, we get out of here!” Nou headed for the case.
Galdur followed warily behind him. “I don’t like this.”
“You one saying it be easy! ‘Cause Flyte efficient, remember? Not want hassle when need device in hurry!”
“I know, I know! But…I just have a bad feeling.”
“Galdur no complain. It work out.” Nou had reached the case. He studied it briefly. “See? No traps. Just lift lid and grab!”
“Nou, wait-”
Nou lifted the lid of the case and removed the Chain Reaction Device.
Galdur grimaced, looking nervously around him.
For a few minutes, the pair was perfectly silent.
At length, Nou laughed. “See? Galdur get all worried for nothing! It all-ack!” Nou grimaced, shuddering.
“What? What happened?” Galdur asked sharply.
“Feel weird! Static-y, but worse! Hurts!”
Galdur’s eyes widened. “Come on, we have to get out of here, now!” Galdur ran for the exit, glancing back to make sure Nou was following him.
“Why we running?”
“Now I get why it was so easy! Flyte was confident in his precautions, but wasn’t going to take any chances. He must’ve had some kind of security measure, a switch, a button, something fast, easy, but something only he’d notice. We must’ve activated something, because now the dimensional radiation is WAY more intense then it should be.”
“You telling me!”
“From what I know about dimensional holes, the radiation only spikes during several events. One, during creation. Creating a dimensional hole inside a dimensional hole would be far too catastrophic to attempt, and Flyte knows it. Two, during destruction. Flyte wouldn’t want to destroy his library. Far too much work to build up all the info again. That leaves the last option. When merging.”
“Merging?”
“Yep. If this dimensional hole is merging with another, we can only assume it’s Flyte’s base. If he gets to us with the device, we’ll be finished.”
“Nou got it! When we get to exit?”
“There!” Galdur exclaimed, plunging through the entry to the dimensional tunnel. The tunnel was different this time, darker and more turbulent. “It’s really quite ingenious. I don’t know of any one else who can sense dimensional radiation, so I think it’s safe to say Flyte didn’t either. That means the dimensional holes could merge without the intruder realizing it. By the time he realized what had happened, it’d be too late. Flyte could sweep in and neutralize the threat.”
They burst through the other side of the dimensional tunnel. Galdur leaned against a wall of the cave, breathing deeply.
Nou was gasping for air, clutching tightly to the Chain Reaction Device. “We-safe now?” He gasped.
“Impossible to tell.” Galdur straightened. “We better keep going. No time to waste.”
“But Nou’s lungs are burning! Legs ache…”
“If Flyte’s pursuing us, a lot more than your legs will hurt!”
“Got it, got it!
The pair began running again, heading for the exit.
--
Beth cried out in pain as an energy leach blasted into her. She struggled against the wave of exhaustion and pain that surged over her. She gritted her teeth, forcing herself on. “For the Postmaster!” She thought, trying to block out the pain.
A second leach hit her.
“Not…giving up!” But as the third leach hit her, she sank to her knees, unable to continue on.
She looked around, seeing the AV’s swarm toward her. A surge of rage filled her.
“Not like this…not like this!” With a tremendous effort, she stood. “You wanna piece of me? Well come get it! I’m not goin’ out on my knees! Just try to take me down!”
An AV lifted an arm to fire. A small blue explosion momentarily blinded Beth. The AV’s shrieked in pain, gliding back a few steps.
Someone grabbed Beth’s wrist, tugging her toward the cure. “You are aware that I hate you, right?”
“Defcon?” Beth asked, earnestly surprised. She blinked a few times, her vision clearing.
“Yeah, me. You know, my life span estimate was WAY longer when I was a coward.” He pulled an energy nib from his pocket and threw it over his shoulder. It exploded as it hit the ground, flooding the area with blue. “You know I got all the way to the end of the hall before the guilt hit me?”
“Thought cowards didn’t feel guilty about bailing out.”
“Tell that to my achy conscience.”
They paused long enough for Defcon to pluck the energy leaches from Beth’s back and to throw another nib at the AV’s before continuing on.
“These guys are wimpier than I thought.”
“Trust me, they may be down, but they’re not out. These guys can tale ya for years without tiring. They’re just a bit discombobulated at the moment.” Soon, they had reached the cure. Beth picked it up tentatively, not fully believing that she finally had it. “All right, now how do we get back?”
“Back?” Beth asked, a deep sense of dread creeping over her.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t make an escape plan.”
“The Postmaster wouldn’t have sent me over without a way back…sender trails! I can use my sender trail, right?”
Defcon let out an exasperated sigh. “Well, DUH, yeah! Do it! Get us out of here!”
Beth frowned. “I…” She shook her head and closed her eyes, focusing on the Postmaster base. A wave of pinpricks washed over her. She felt Defcon grab her wrist, and then a wall of cold slammed into her. She gasped, opening her eyes. She looked tentatively at her surroundings. “we’re back!” She shouted jubilantly. “We made it!”
“Beth?”
“Postmaster! You…sound awful. I found the cure!”
“I…see. Did you…stop…Flyte?”
“No, not yet…but I didn’t even see a single chain letter soldier while I was over there.”
“Then…you should not…have come…back.”
“What!? But, Postmaster…I had to, I found the cure!”
“The soldiers…are amassing…Flyte…is almost ready…to strike…you…should have stayed.”
“But…Nou and Galdur aren’t even back yet! How would I destroy the soldiers without the Device?”
“Oh, wow, it really is the Postmaster…” Defcon breathed. “And…you were right.”
“You…have a new…ally?”
“Yeah, this is Defcon. He helped me get the cure.”
Before the Postmaster could reply, Nou’s voice echoed into the base.
“Postmaster! We find Device!”
Beth smiled. “Nou and Galdur and back, I have the cure, and we can get rid of all the soldiers at once, since you said they’re amassing.”
“No…go to Flyte’s base…with the device…find the Chain Matrix…it is…Flyte’s chain letter…storage unit…set off Device…in it…will destroy…all chains…in his possession…unable…to create more soldiers…”
“Not till I cure you! How do I install this?”
“Flyte’s…base.”
“Beth, he’s not going to give you anything useful.” Defcon interjected. “I’m a virus, remember? I’ve seen netities in their last days because of this kind of stuff.”
“Well, do you know how to install the anti-virus?” Beth asked sharply.
“Yeah, cool your jets! Get it in his meta-core.”
“And how do I do that?”
“This is his netspace. Sticking it anywhere would do it.”
Beth took a deep breath. “You better be right.” She took a firm hold of the cure and took a deep breath. In a swift motion, she plunged the cure into the floor.
There was a slight tremor. A gentle pulse of white radiated out from the cure. The netspace rippled as the white passed over it. Small droplets of black floated up from the netspace as the wave moved out. The droplets coalesced into a single grotesque shape. It writhed and screamed, spitting at Beth and Defcon. The cure let out another pulse. This pulse rose straight into the air, wrapping around the black creature. The white pulse intensified in brightness, squeezing the creature until its screams were suffocated.. With a final pulse of light, the creature disappeared, fading into nothing. Beth took a deep breath, shuddering. “Is it over? Did we kill it?”
Defcon nodded. “Definitely. Most virus killers aren’t nearly that thorough. That thing is well and truly dead.”
Beth let out a relieved sigh and smiled. “All right then. You can be recovering while Defcon and I take the Device over to Flyte’s and take care of business.”
There was no response.
Beth frowned. “Postmaster?”
“Here…”
“Don’t DO that, Postmaster. You had me worried for a sec.”
“Finish…the mission.”
“Postmaster…you still sound…” Beth turned to Defcon. “You said we killed it! Why isn’t the Postmaster getting better?”
“I…I don’t know.” Defcon said softly.
“You…did admirably. I…am proud…to have had…all of you…as my agents.”
“Don’t talk like that, Postmaster. You’ll be fine!”
“Yeah! Postmaster be fine.”
“You can’t have put us through all that to just shut off on us.”
“I appreciate…your efforts…but…it is too late. Beth…Nou…Galdur…and our new ally…finish the mission…stop Flyte…it is…my final request.”
Beth shook her head. “Postmaster…” She blinked back a tear. “All right, you stupid blob of pixels, fine. We’ll do it.”
“Thank…you…”
The netscape, once a vivid and beautiful blue, shuddered, and darkened to a lifeless grey.
“Postmaster?” Beth asked quietly, not expecting an answer, but unable to believe what had just happened.
Defcon shook his head, sheer disbelief on his face. “I can’t believe it…a Metamaster…dead.”
Beth squared her shoulders and took in a shuddering breath. “Well, sitting here being sad won’t get us anywhere. Nou, send the Device in. It’s time to take out the trash.”
Nou was outright sobbing. “I-it, w-what P-postmaster ask for. N-nou do h-his best to h-help finish the j-job!” Nou located a Digitizer and fired several blasts at the Chain Reaction Device.
The Device appeared a few feet away from Beth, hovering in the air. She took a hold of it, studying it.
“So much lost…for this. For this one chance to stop Flyte’s army.” She said quietly. She looked up at Nou and Galdur. “Open the Postmaster’s memory banks. I want to see if they’re still in tact.”
Galdur nodded, moving past the sobbing Nou and tapping a few keys. The grey netspace briefly flickered.
A small consol appeared in front of Beth. She studied it, tentatively tapping a few icons. The consol hummed to life. She touched a few more panels, trying desperately to find something that could bring the Postmaster back.
“Beth, I don’t think you should be doing that.” Defcon warned.
“And why not?”
“That doesn’t look like a normal memory bank.”
A small white sheen appeared over the consol.
Beth reached forward to touch a button.
“Wait, Beth, don’t-”
The white sheen passed onto her, covering her entire body. It gave a single brilliant pulse and then dissipated.
Beth frowned. “What just…?”
“You downloaded something.”
“Downloaded what?” Before Defcon could answer, a calm monotone broke through the netspace.
“WELCOME POSTMASTER.”
Defcon gaped. “Oh, spark, you-you-how…? How is the possible?”
“How is what possible!?” Beth snapped.
“You downloaded the Postmaster Initiative! I…I had only hear rumors that it could be passed on, I mean it makes sense, if something happens to the Postmaster then someone else can take on the mantel and keep things going, but…wow…”
“You-you mean…I’M the Postmaster?” Beth said, dumbfounded.
“Well, A Postmaster. That’s a huge power boost, mind you. We can take on Flyte, piece of cake now.”
Beth looked down at the Device, shaking her head. “All for you, Postmaster. I’ll take good care of it.”
She looked back up at Defcon. “All right, let’s go.”
“Lead the way.”
Beth closed her eyes, focusing on Flyte’s computer.
--
The wave of pinpricks fell over her again. The cold began to come over her. Something slammed into her. A ferocious, searing pain grabbed onto her, tugging and shoving her roughly. In an explosion of red, Beth and Defcon were thrown out into Flyte’s netscape.
Beth groaned, rubbing her head. “What the heck…?”
“Oh, I imagine you two are confused.” The voice was cold, cruel and sadistic. Something about it made Beth’s blood boil. “I bet you weren’t expecting me to intercept your send trail. Bring you right to me…welcome to my lair.”
Beth looked up at the owner of the voice.
It was a figure clad entirely in black. His armor was black and gold. “I, am Timothy Flyte. And you have been quite the annoying little insect.”
Beth scowled. “So, you’re Flyte, h’m? You’re the maggot responsible for the Postmaster’s death!”
Flyte smiled cruelly. His face was horribly disfigured, adding to the sadism of his smile. “Ah, yes, that was me. But don’t you want to watch my ascension to power? Look behind you.”
Beth turned around warily. Her eyes widened.
Before her stretched row after row of Chain Letter Soldiers, eventually fading further than she could see.
Flyte spoke again. “So you see you can do nothing. I’ll offer you a consolation prize, though.”
Defcon stirred finally, standing groggily. “Urg, what happened…?” He trailed off as he saw Flyte. “Oh…”
Flyte snickered. “Just in time, virus. You get the consolation prize as well. I’ll start at the beginning. I had the virus planted in the Postmaster’s system. You brave little agents would naturally want to embark on a quest to find it, and the Postmaster would oppose it…but long story short, I knew one of the agents would come for the cure. And come you did. And made a little friend along the way. How charming. You know the Postmaster died regardless of the cure. And you, unwilling to accept that, opened up his memory banks…and downloaded the Postmaster Initiative. You now carry what makes the Postmaster so dangerous…” He snickered. “Oh, and I must thank you for bringing the Chain Reaction Device. It will be very convenient to have it with me, should I need to use it. And you’re little friend, who ever it was who got into my library, I must thank him as well. I’ve been meaning to move that library closer. And now…now it’s all at the end. I’ll kill you, and the Postmaster Initiative will die with you. Then nothing will be able to stop me.”
Beth scowled. “It’ll never work. The other agents won’t give up.”
“I’m counting on it. And all in vain…how delicious it will be to watch them all die, oh so nobly, for a useless cause. Just look. See my Matrix? See that portal? Soon, my soldiers will march forth upon the world…like a scourge…like a fire. None shall stand in my way.”
“Wanna bet, scab face?” Defcon shot defiantly. “WE’RE going to stand in your way, right here, right now.”
Flyte snickered. “Bravery, virus? It doesn’t fit you.”
“Shut up. How do you know what fits me?”
“It doesn’t matter. Here, I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, and I will destroy you BOTH…!”
With a violent gesture, Flyte sent out a surge of putrid black energy that swept out at Beth and Defcon. It slammed into them viciously.
Defcon crumbled to the ground.
“Defcon!” Beth cried out, barely standing her own ground against the wave of energy.
“Fall now, fall. Succumb to the darkness. Return to the dust from whence you came…” Flyte hissed softly.
The wave increased in intensity, nearly forcing Beth to her knees. She closed her eyes, memories of the Postmaster filling her mind. Some desperate, fragmented, frail hope had flickered to life in her. “Come on, come on! Something! Anything! Work!”
A fresh bolt of pain screamed through her mind. For a moment, she felt as though she were being pulled back to the Postmaster’s netspace.
In a painful burst, her mind exploded back into Flyte’s netscape. She collapsed to the ground, exhausted and disoriented.
Through hazy vision, she saw a figure stand and send a blast of whit energy at Flyte.
“Defcon?” She mumbled groggily.
“Not Defcon.” A familiar voice said. “Something…a bit better.”
She shook her head, trying to clear it, desperate to know if what she was thinking was true. “Postmaster?” She said, not daring to believe it. Her vision cleared.
A tall man clad in white and gold armor stood in front of her and Defcon. “Finish the mission!” He snapped.
“Impossible! Impossible!” Flyte screeched. “You died, I made sure of that!”
“Flyte, Flyte, Flyte. Your own plan backfired. You don’t understand the nature of the Initiative.”
“Impossible!” He shrilled, his voice rising dramatically in pitch.
“Beth, finish the mission!” The Postmaster shouted.
Beth stood shakily, still not fully understanding what was happening.
She turned away from Flyte and the Postmaster, heading for the ranks of Chain Letter Soldiers.
Flyte had conveniently pointed out the Chain Matrix when he thought the game was won. Now his arrogance was returning to haunt him.
Beth ran for the Matrix, holding the Device at the ready.
She heard someone cry out sharply in pain. She cast a glance over her shoulder, seeing the Postmaster sink to his knees.
She shook her head, closing the distance between her and the Matrix. “Hey, scabby!” She shouted at Flyte, brandishing the Device. “Eat this!” She stabbed it into the Matrix.
The Matrix, an immense black structure, hummed deeply. Huge white cracks crawled over its surface.
Beth backed away from it, turning and running back toward the Postmaster and Defcon.
“You fools!” Flyte screamed. “You shall SUFFER FOR THIS!”
The Chain Letter Soldiers bellowed in pain as they burst, their ranks thinning swiftly.
The Postmaster stood, grabbing Beth and Defcon. “No, Flyte, I think not.” With a blinding light, the trio disappeared.
Flyte looked at his crumbling army frantically. “Impossible. Impossible!” He snarled. He ran for the portal, vowing revenge on the Postmaster and his agents as he returned to the non-digital world.
Beth blinked, her vision clearing slowly.
--
They were back in the Postmaster’s netspace. It was still a bleak grey.
Beth looked around for Defcon, finding him curled up on the ground.
“He’ll be fine.” It was the Postmaster who spoke. “I must commend you for your service.”
Beth shook her head. “But how…?”
“Truth be told, I’m not sure myself. Nothing like this has ever happened before…perhaps some part of me clung onto to existence, and when you used the Initiative to call back to me…it was the catalyst needed to bring me back. I must ask you for the Initiative back, though.”
Beth nodded. “Yeah, definitely. How exactly do I…?”
“Hold still.” The Postmaster reached out and touched her temple.
A white sheen appeared around Beth’s body. It flowed onto the Postmaster. As it grew in brightness, the Postmaster’s body grew fainter. There was a small flash, and he was gone. The netspace pulsed back to life. The vivid blue coursed back to life.
“Everything back to normal, boss?” Beth asked, smiling.
“Yes, all is back to normal.”
“How come you don’t have a body now?”
“Without the Initiative, I wasn’t nearly as powerful.”
“Not a Metamaster anymore.”
“Correct. I see your knowledge expanded on your travels. Anyway, now that I have the Initiative, I am back to my old power levels. I imagine you want to be restored to your non-digital form.”
“Oh, yeah, that’d be good.”
“Nou, Galdur…”
Nou looked at the monitor, gaping. “Postmaster! You alive!”
“Yes, alive and well. Would you mind digitizing a Digitizer? Beth would like to come out.”
“Yes, Postmaster, Nou will! You alive! You alive! Nou could dance!” Nou resisted the urge to dance until after he had sent the Digitizer to Beth.
“The setting should automatically reverse in the digital world. Just shoot yourself a few times, and back to normal.” Beth did so. As she materialized in the non-digital world, she received an enthusiastic hug from Nou.
“He alive, Beth! He alive!”
Beth grinned. “I know, I was kinda there.” She looked around the base. “Hey, where did Galdur go?”
“He just leave. Made good ally. Flyte never suspect.”
“But he doesn’t know about the Postmaster! Then again, Flyte seemed pretty steamed about it…I don’t doubt he’ll make sure every single one of his minions knows about the state of things.”
“I DON’T MEAN TO INTERUPT THE CELEBRATIONS…” The Postmaster interrupted. “BUT YOU HAVE A MISSION.”
“Back into the field already, eh? Let us have it!”
“TROLLS.”
“I assume you don’t mean real trolls.”
“NATURALLY. THAT WOULD BE ABSURD.”
“Oh, right, silly me…”
“WHAT YOU WILL BE DEALING WITH ARE PEOPLE, ALBEIT TRANSFORMED PEOPLE. YOU ARE NO DOUBT FAMILIAR WITH TROLLS. HORRIBLE PEOPLE INSISTANT ON MAKING THE INTERNET A HORRIBLE PLACE FOR OTHER PEOPLE. THESE TROLLS HAVE TAKEN ON A RATHER TROLLISH APPEARANCE, AND ARE TERRORIZING PEOPLE IN THE NON-DIGITAL WORLD AS WELL AS THE DIGITAL.”
“So we’re going after the non-digitals. And…?”
“I IMAGINE DEFCON WILL BE QUITE WILLING TO HELP WHEN HE REGAINS CONSCIOUSNESS. I’LL TELL HIM WHERE YOU TWO WENT.” He paused. “AND…I WILL ADD THAT HE HAS GAINED A FULL PARDON FOR HIS ACTIONS.”
Beth smiled. “But how did you find out about his history?”
“I WASN’T DEAD THAT LONG. DON’T INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE. I’LL SEND YOU THE DATA YOU NEED AS SOON AS YOU HEAD OFF.”
Beth shook her head. “Same old Postmaster.”
“You not expect us to leave Postmaster by self now!” Nou exclaimed. “After what happen? Never! Postmaster need bodyguard!”
“He’s right, you know. We know just what Flyte is capable of now. You’ll need someone to watch your back while we’re on missions.”
“…I SUPPOSE YOU’RE RIGHT. WHY NOT USE DEFCON? IF HE WERE DE-DIGITIZED, HE COULD BE A PROFICIENT BODYGUaRD.”
“Defcon? Guarding you? Heh! Well, that’ll be something!”
“It work for now. Come on, Beth. We have trolls to trash!”
A peace settled over the Postmaster base. The team had pulled through what seemed like an insurmountable challenge, and had come out the stronger for it. For now, they were safe. For now, they had won.
--
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