← Gone Away
A Very Parfit Knight 3
(to start from the beginning of this story, click here)
Part Three
Sir Gawain stared at the note. This was bait, without a doubt. Whatever it was that was leaving these messages wanted him to follow it. This was a game of some kind. If the thing could move about undetected so easily, it could have caused irreparable damage already, if so it wished. That was not the object of the game. The target must be Sir Gawain, the knight errant of the electron metropolis.
Sir Gawain's processes cooled as he realized that he was being toyed with. And this in his own fief, the far-flung intranet that he tended so assiduously. This was not to be borne!
Anger was not in his programming, but an icy, hard resolution seized the knight as he considered his options. He could go immediately to the Geek and get everything wiped; that would stop this evil game. But Sir Gawain knew already that things had gone beyond that. He wanted to break this case himself, to prove that nothing could challenge him on this, his home ground. The Geek was no longer an option.
The crawlers had failed him; already one was in the grasp of his foe. He would have to tackle this alone. And that meant he would have to follow this lead, to enter the game knowing full well that he was doing exactly as expected. But there was no other way. He could not just ignore the thing. This second interference was larger than the first and the implication was clear: try to catch me or I cause more and greater disruption. Oh, the thing was clever.
Sir Gawain knew where he was to start. HO24, where the crawler had disappeared. As he fixed the problem in Stack 5 and then turned to begin the long descent, he knew that he was walking into a trap. His only advantage was that he knew his fiefdom like the back of his code.
Once inside HO24, Sir Gawain went through the place carefully, looking for the slightest sign that something unusual had happened in the sector. Here in the deep mysteries surrounding the kernel, silence reigned as though this were the holy of holies, where any interloper must tread lightly in reverence. The darkness was lit only by the faint glow of distant calls from the vast metropolis above, its constant throb of activity hushed in these gloomy depths. For the first time, Sir Gawain felt a sense of impending doom gathering around him as he checked each bit and byte. The tension grew as he moved deeper, ever alert to any alien presence, searching and searching for the clue he knew must be here. He was very near to the deepest level when he saw it at last.
A switch. A switch that was not supposed to be there. The knight re-checked his memory but found no knowledge of this switch. This had to be it. Unless... Sir Gawain cursed quietly as he realized that this might be one of those things the Geek had so carelessly thrown away in a reloading.
He examined the switch carefully, seeking its connection with the code around it but finding no reason for its existence. Surely this must be the work of the Avenger. It made no sense otherwise.
He reached out and flipped it.
The light grew suddenly more intense as a doorway appeared in the wall beside the knight, its edges glowing with activity. Now that is definitely not supposed to be here, he thought. It was an obvious invitation and the knight was supposed to take it. Knowing that he had no option, he stepped through it.
As expected, the door disappeared behind him. He was standing in a tunnel but this looked nothing like the tunnels he was used to. It meandered into the gloom before him instead of taking the direct route beloved of the Geek. Sir Gawain examined the coding of the walls. C, he thought. Definitely not the Geek's. Somehow something had entered the system and built this tunnel behind the hidden door. That door was good, he had to admit: nonexistent until the switch was activated.
And Sir Gawain was meant to follow the tunnel, indeed had no option but to do so. Well, he was being led by the nose deeper and deeper into the trap but at least now he knew something to his advantage. He clenched his fingers to feel the Assembly rippling through the muscles of his arms. Okay, Mr Clever Avenger, he thought, we'll play it your way. You choose the ground and the weapons and we'll see just how good you are.
The knight's face set hard in determination and he began to stride down the tunnel. As he progressed, the tunnel looped and wandered in apparent indecision, but the trend seemed always upwards. The light became stronger as activity in the walls increased.
He came at last to a place where the tunnel opened out into a room. Sir Gawain entered and saw immediately that this room was intended merely as a vestibule, the entrance to something greater. It was bare and featureless in the glow but, in the opposite wall yawned a great portal, pulsing in active code and beckoning. Sir Gawain approached.
The entrance was as unformed and misshapen as had been the tunnel. It was high and wide, but inside the knight could see that it narrowed again immediately and then branched into three. There was a message, flashing in mimicry of a stuttering neon sign, above the portal. Sir Gawain read it grimly.
Welcome to the Labyrinth
(to go directly to Part 4, click here)
Part Three
Sir Gawain stared at the note. This was bait, without a doubt. Whatever it was that was leaving these messages wanted him to follow it. This was a game of some kind. If the thing could move about undetected so easily, it could have caused irreparable damage already, if so it wished. That was not the object of the game. The target must be Sir Gawain, the knight errant of the electron metropolis.
Sir Gawain's processes cooled as he realized that he was being toyed with. And this in his own fief, the far-flung intranet that he tended so assiduously. This was not to be borne!
Anger was not in his programming, but an icy, hard resolution seized the knight as he considered his options. He could go immediately to the Geek and get everything wiped; that would stop this evil game. But Sir Gawain knew already that things had gone beyond that. He wanted to break this case himself, to prove that nothing could challenge him on this, his home ground. The Geek was no longer an option.
The crawlers had failed him; already one was in the grasp of his foe. He would have to tackle this alone. And that meant he would have to follow this lead, to enter the game knowing full well that he was doing exactly as expected. But there was no other way. He could not just ignore the thing. This second interference was larger than the first and the implication was clear: try to catch me or I cause more and greater disruption. Oh, the thing was clever.
Sir Gawain knew where he was to start. HO24, where the crawler had disappeared. As he fixed the problem in Stack 5 and then turned to begin the long descent, he knew that he was walking into a trap. His only advantage was that he knew his fiefdom like the back of his code.
Once inside HO24, Sir Gawain went through the place carefully, looking for the slightest sign that something unusual had happened in the sector. Here in the deep mysteries surrounding the kernel, silence reigned as though this were the holy of holies, where any interloper must tread lightly in reverence. The darkness was lit only by the faint glow of distant calls from the vast metropolis above, its constant throb of activity hushed in these gloomy depths. For the first time, Sir Gawain felt a sense of impending doom gathering around him as he checked each bit and byte. The tension grew as he moved deeper, ever alert to any alien presence, searching and searching for the clue he knew must be here. He was very near to the deepest level when he saw it at last.
A switch. A switch that was not supposed to be there. The knight re-checked his memory but found no knowledge of this switch. This had to be it. Unless... Sir Gawain cursed quietly as he realized that this might be one of those things the Geek had so carelessly thrown away in a reloading.
He examined the switch carefully, seeking its connection with the code around it but finding no reason for its existence. Surely this must be the work of the Avenger. It made no sense otherwise.
He reached out and flipped it.
The light grew suddenly more intense as a doorway appeared in the wall beside the knight, its edges glowing with activity. Now that is definitely not supposed to be here, he thought. It was an obvious invitation and the knight was supposed to take it. Knowing that he had no option, he stepped through it.
As expected, the door disappeared behind him. He was standing in a tunnel but this looked nothing like the tunnels he was used to. It meandered into the gloom before him instead of taking the direct route beloved of the Geek. Sir Gawain examined the coding of the walls. C, he thought. Definitely not the Geek's. Somehow something had entered the system and built this tunnel behind the hidden door. That door was good, he had to admit: nonexistent until the switch was activated.
And Sir Gawain was meant to follow the tunnel, indeed had no option but to do so. Well, he was being led by the nose deeper and deeper into the trap but at least now he knew something to his advantage. He clenched his fingers to feel the Assembly rippling through the muscles of his arms. Okay, Mr Clever Avenger, he thought, we'll play it your way. You choose the ground and the weapons and we'll see just how good you are.
The knight's face set hard in determination and he began to stride down the tunnel. As he progressed, the tunnel looped and wandered in apparent indecision, but the trend seemed always upwards. The light became stronger as activity in the walls increased.
He came at last to a place where the tunnel opened out into a room. Sir Gawain entered and saw immediately that this room was intended merely as a vestibule, the entrance to something greater. It was bare and featureless in the glow but, in the opposite wall yawned a great portal, pulsing in active code and beckoning. Sir Gawain approached.
The entrance was as unformed and misshapen as had been the tunnel. It was high and wide, but inside the knight could see that it narrowed again immediately and then branched into three. There was a message, flashing in mimicry of a stuttering neon sign, above the portal. Sir Gawain read it grimly.
Welcome to the Labyrinth
(to go directly to Part 4, click here)