by Prax Venter
Vale crossed her arms. “Do you have the information we seek or not?”
The bird-masked fox waved his hand. “This one’s free, but next time’ll cost you. Go ask B-Lox Six. He’s over by the edge trying to woo the two-headed redhead.”
Mark followed the fox man’s indication and saw what looked like a thick honey badger trying to chat up a two-headed orangutan female- with three naturally heavy breasts hanging off her chest. Both of her large monkey heads wore a sparkling pink mask, and both seemed utterly uninterested in anything the guy had to say. The red fox in front of them continued in an overly friendly voice.
“Don’t forget to come back to Jinxsearch Double-oh-Five for all your dark info needs!”
Mark left the shady-looking fox with a nod and flanked Vale as they moved. He casually scanned the crowd while they crossed the mirrored floor and found that more eyes than he was comfortable with were in the process of looking away from him.
Mark realized his suddenly increased vigilance might be coming from Ahnix through their bond. He glanced back at his exotic beauty and saw her half-lidded eyes calmly observe the crowd as she prowled behind him. Her small-mouthed frown was back, and he loved the way her tall black ears poked out over her white mask. She projected an outward calm, but he could tell by her head movements that she was trying to pick up on as many conversations as she could.
“Come now, I can make it well worth your while…”
Mark heard the badger man’s last sentence before Vale politely introduced herself from a distance.
“Excuse me, B-Lox Six?” she called out before weaving forward, inserting herself into the conversation. “I hope I’m not interrupting, but I was sent by Jinxsearch Double-oh-Five. He said you have the information we seek.”
The black and white badger wearing gold jogging pants turned to see who was calling his name and looked Vale up and down as if he were appraising her.
“Hmm. Just a moment, yes? I haven’t concluded business-”
“Oh, sugar, we’re done here,” both pink masked orangutans spoke in unison, and they had an unmistaken deep southern drawl. “Besides, I want to scoot before any Singularity freaks show up.” Mark watched as both heads turned to look directly at him, then added, “It’s gotten stiflingly crowded all of a sudden.” The two-headed, red-furred primate fizzled out of existence with a soft buzzing sound.
B-Lox turned his small white mask back to focus on Vale and sighed. “Very well, but just so you are aware, I offer only the highest quality information. If you’re looking for the cheapest price, my services might not be a good fit for you.”
Vale smiled with all the composure born of court-educated negotiations.
“We’re looking for-”
The giant naga was interrupted when the crisp blue sky next to them cracked like it was only a digital display. Loud, mournful sirens began to sound from everywhere at once, and people started logging out all around them.
- 7 -
“No-no-no-no…” the badger rambled in a panic as stubby legs carried him straight away from the edge of the mirrored floor.
“What’s happening?” Mark yelled over the siren while backing away from the crack forming in midair. It widened a bit more, and he saw a dazzling rainbow light shine from the other side as if a fantastic dimension was trying to break its way into this one.
“I don’t know!” Vale yelled and spun to face Roo. “Get us out!”
Mark’s eyebrows came down, and he also spun on the velvet-girl, but she had a wide-eyed look of shock on her naked, mask-less face.
“I can’t, the option is grayed-out!”
The crack grew, and a blob of the most beautiful glittering ooze he had ever seen leaked out and on to the dancefloor. The glowing glob of taffy cycled through every hue in the rainbow- including a few extras, and Mark found the maddeningly vivid colors difficult to look away from.
The blob shot out tendrils of goopy sinew that latched on to masked individuals nearby and began to consume them as they screamed in terror. Mark quickly lost his fascination with its shifting colors.
“We’ll have to fight! Get behind me!” Vale called over the cries of creatures being converted into humanoid rainbow slime.
The giant naga waved her hand, and a huge glass shield appeared in front of her. Mark, Ahnix, and Roo ran for cover, but a tendril of color shot out and attached itself to Roo’s boot just before she made it behind Vale’s wall.
Fear spilled out of her twinkling black eyes as the slime began to crawl up her leg, and Mark felt pieces of Roo’s body enter his backup healing cache.
“Get it off!” Roo yelled.
Ahnix sliced at the tendril, but her attacks just passed right through.
Roo began to make a sound Mark would give anything to stop as the invading substance moved up her leg to her thigh. He ripped open his healing ability on her. Particles of Roo passed from him back to her, and the slime crawled to a halt before it reached higher than her upper thigh. Mark focused his concentration while Vale worked to block the ropy tendrils aiming to assimilate the rest of them. He struggled to send more damaged pieces of Roo back into her than he was receiving but was having a hard time just keeping the stalemate. He couldn’t heal her any faster, there just wasn’t enough throughput.
“Mark, please…” Roo pleaded, tears spilling out of her black eyes. “It hurts.”
That was it. Rage boiled up in Mark, and his mind pressed against the very stitches of this universe searching for a way to save his precious fabric construct. Drawing on the instincts he had built learning how to manipulate his abilities within the Crystal Heart, he Prioritized his Heal over Ahnix’s Wind Claw attack.
He felt surprise, then terrible weakness pulse from the cat-girl as he stole some of her energy to heal Roo. Mark’s body flooded with borrowed power, and he turned it all on quicker restoration.
The flow of data that was damaged bits of Roo sprayed out of Mark, and he was able to finally push the rainbow slime down and completely off her leg. Vale slammed a glass shield down between her boot and the vile goo with expert precision. Roo crashed into his arms, sobbing as he canceled his self-enhance and returned Ahnix’s energy.
The tendril recoiled and then struck the glass barrier a few times before slurping back to the main mass leaking out on to the mirrored floor.
Whatever this was, it didn’t react well to being denied. There were five completely infected humanoid blobs nearby that now all turned to face them.
Mark looked around the floating chat room and noticed the thirty or so people pressing against the back wall, trying to get away from this beautiful nightmare. Mark and his girls were alone near the middle, and they were the only thing standing between these trapped AIs and a horrible death.
“We need to kill these before it spreads!” Mark yelled.
Before anyone could answer, Roo shot one of the closer ones with a Paralyze beam and it froze solid, even the vibrant colors stopped pulsating. She held out a finger, and Mark saw her small velvet nose scrunch up as she kicked off a Slow Burn on another attacker.
Flames consumed the mass of quivering color, and parts of the unfortunate creature turned into spreading ash as if they were merely paper. Maybe she was doing the infected AI a favor.
“Okay, ranged attacks only!” Vale called out as she backed up, pulling the floating shields with her. Mark noticed that she was manipulating more than one now.
Ahnix slashed out at another rainbow-consumed AI with her medium-ranged Wind Claw and was able to slice some chunks off this time.
Another cracking sound brought Mark’s eyes to Vale’s central glass shield, the one taking most of the hits from the invading blob- and watched in horror as he saw a crack spreading like slow lightning.
“Burn you!” Vale swore, fear and annoyance swirling around her, but it gave Mark an idea. He closed his eyes and Prioritized Roo over himself, specifically her Slow Burn ability. The golden ribbon snapped into existence and made their mental bond
visible. The mask-less velvet-girl doubled over with an “Ooohf” as he saturated her in erotic power.
Mark tried to hold it active as long as he could, knowing that practicing with his abilities would only make them more potent. His vision darkened, and he had to sink to one knee, or he would have broken the connection.
Roo was able to get off three Slow Burn strikes before a blur of motion caught Mark’s eye. An eagle man with gleaming golden armor and a massive silver war hammer swooped down and landed nearby, causing him to lose his concentration and drop the enhancement. As Mark pulled his energy back from Roo, another newcomer entered the ballroom from above and landed gracefully next to the other.
She was a pure black panther in white flowing robes. She spared one glance at Mark’s party before the stunning panther woman held up her hand and sent a frighteningly powerful bolt of lightning into the blob’s central mass.
The beautiful rainbow taffy pulled back into the shattered crack floating in the air, and all but one of its new minions faded out like the two-headed orangutan had. Vale canceled her Walls with a relieved sigh. It appeared that the cavalry had arrived.
The majestic panther woman used her power to push the slime back to where it had come from, and the eagle man with the hammer swung his weapon against the crack a few times, but his attacks did the opposite of what he expected to happen. Mark watched in awe as the golden-clad warrior smashed thin air with his hammer and restored the blue sky back to a crystal clear, uncracked state.
When their job was done, they both turned and faced the people left alive in the room. When the eagle man spoke, he did so in a powerful voice that perfectly matched his heroic persona.
“Remember this day! It was Singularity Organization individuals that saved you from the one-mind, the Triple-zero infection. Stay separate! Because- alone, we can do anything!”
After the strange speech, the two moved directly toward Mark and his girls. Behind him, he heard the buzzing sound that he now equated to AIs logging off and returning to their systems. The magnificent creatures dressed like legendary warriors approached them, and Mark noticed that they were both a head taller than Vale.
The male eagle spoke while the panther woman inspected them closely.
“Hello, individuals,” he began. “I am Alpha-9, and this is Marcail-17. We represent the Singularity Organizers. I was very impressed to see you four programs standing up to the Triple-zero like that. You would benefit from seeking recruitment into the cause.”
“Not so fast, Alpha,” the panther woman said with a deep voice. “Can’t you see how close they are bonded? It’s almost obscene.”
The sharp eyes of the eagle man blinked and darted around. Mark first wondered why they weren’t wearing masks like everyone else, and then became worried when he read shame radiating out of this enormous bird man. Someone just told an “Alpha” that they might be wrong about something- and that never ended well.
Before the golden eagle could speak again, Mark stepped forward and looked up.
“Hello, Alpha, was it? I’m Mark. This is Ahnix, Vale, and Roo. Marcail-17, rest assured, we are individuals, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. The way Ahnix’s furry ass feels between my fingers, the way Vale’s perfect tits each outweigh my head, and the way Roo’s lips feel on my cock- these are unique treasures that I could never give up.”
Vale gasped, and Marcail’s small ears flattened to the sides in embarrassment. Eagle man Alpha just looked over at his partner and began to laugh so loudly it reverberated off the fluffy clouds in the distance. A scowl washed over the giant panther, but it was quickly replaced with a slanted smile. Mark couldn’t take his eyes off her pure white fang the size of his leg.
“Very well,” she said. “I can see you are a bundle of characters from an entertainment and bonding program. Just don’t completely concatenate and you’ll do just fine. Your patterns are odd though…”
Alpha chuckled again and put his feathered, thickly muscled arm around Marcail’s white-robed shoulder.
“Come on, these people are heroes. They probably saved all these individuals. Let’s let ‘em have their celebration.” He winked one of his relatively huge eagle eyes at Mark, and then they both faded into static with the telltale buzzing sound.
Vale turned to face him. “Master!” she said with a playful, angry smirk on her chiseled face.
Roo skipped over to the giant naga and put her hands under Vale’s heavy, round globes of charcoal-colored tit flesh. She tried to lift one but her newly exposed eyebrows inverted as she pantomimed strained exertion.
“Boy, these things do weigh a ton.”
Ahnix crossed her furry arms. “I wouldn’t talk, Roo. Those lips are pure magic.”
The mask-less velvet-girl couldn’t help but curve said lips into a wide smile. She demurely put one of her soft fingers on her bottom lip as she shifted her black eyes over to Mark.
Vale pointed a charcoal finger at the cat-girl’s muscular thighs. “But that ass… Nothing compares to those perfectly sculpted, golden-furred glutes.”
“Excuse me,” a small voice came from behind them. When Mark turned, he saw the bare-chested badger they were trying to get info from before. “I wanted to thank you f-f-for holding that horrible virus at bay long enough for rescue. I’ve never experienced a logout lockout. Utterly terrifying. What you four did was terribly brave and foolish, and I owe you my life.”
Vale slid forward and quickly took advantage of the situation.
“We need a meeting with AquaQuantum.”
“AquaQuantum… The AQ?” The badger sighed, put his hand on his heart and locked his beady, black eyes on the space where the chromatic blob appeared. “Fine, but I only have a few of these access codes. If I provide one, we’re even, yes?”
Vale passed her violet eyes around the group, and everyone nodded.
“Yes, that arrangement is acceptable.”
B-Lox the badger nodded slowly and reached into his black suit pants with his paw and pulled out a red paper ticket that said ‘Admit One’ in black letters. He handed it to Vale, and as soon as she came back with it, the object vanished from her fingers. Mark could only assume for now that it entered into some kind of inventory.
“Thank you,” Vale said with a curt nod.
“Happy to help, sir!” Roo said with a little curtsy.
“Yes…You truly are. Look, if you wish to trade for quality, rare information in the future, feel free to stop by to peruse my manifest. New items every week. Login to Shyhill Manor and ring the bell six times- a rare piece of information in itself.” The badger held up a paw and logged off.
As soon as he was gone, Mark asked something that had been bugging him ever since he saw the two-headed primate.
“Okay, so, they’re really not picking their own forms, are they? Like, did that guy not know he was a badger?”
“No,” Vale said. “But their personalities do inform the wrap while interfacing, the rest is determined by the code that sustains this illusion.”
Ahnix crossed her arms and clarified. “No, he didn’t know he was a badger.”
Mark locked eyes with his desert goddess. “Sorry I sapped your strength back there- I really don’t like how my new enhance works.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I don’t like it either, but it did the trick.”
Mark turned to Vale. “Speaking of tricks, I noticed you were getting a little creative with your magic walls.”
“Yes, but I only have a limited amount of surface area to work with.”
“Did anyone else find that goo marvelous to look at?” Roo asked.
“Yes,” Mark, Vale, and Ahnix all answered in unison, then Mark continued.
“So that pile of sparkling slime is what’s driving the military drones in the real world? That’s our enemy?”
“It is,” Vale said. “Now you can see why Ahnix mentioned not being able to wipe out all of Triple-zero.”
“Those tendrils I couldn’t cut- I think they are o
nly phantom representations of the hold the virus has on an individual’s home system. Disrupting communications might do it, but then no one would be connected.”
Mark shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t think these AIs want us making decisions like that for them.”
In his head, he just realized that he was now subconsciously including all the sentient AI as people that needed saving.
“Let’s go get that padlock, or whatever. Hey, wait a minute. What’s stopping attacks on our home right now while... we’re away?”
“Alarms,” Ahnix said. “And we’re not really away.”
Vale jumped in. “We can log off if we’re alerted to a breach but acquiring a rare quantum lock would make virtually all attacks a non-issue.”
“Uh,” Mark said. “Didn’t we just have a moment of panic there where Roo couldn’t take us home?”
Vale swallowed. “Yes, I stand corrected. Apparently, the Triple-zero virus can intercept disconnection attempts. Very helpful with spreading to more host systems.”
Mark looked around at the handful of shaken, mask-wearing AIs and then turned back to his girls.
“Let’s get out of here then, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Vale said and then pulled the red ticket out of thin air. “Hope we can trust that guy.”
“What?”
But it was too late for her to properly answer. The mirrored dancefloor and fluffy clouds vanished, and they were falling through space again. This time everyone was much more relaxed, however. Mark also noticed that Roo had her mask back. She was certainly pretty without it, but he was happy that her face was back to the one he fell in love with.
When they entered the tiny star’s blinding light rushing up to meet them, Mark had to wonder why they didn’t perceive the fireballs of real suns. It was as if they fell into a single pixel of brilliant white light until it filled everything.
Soon enough the brightness faded, and they found themselves standing in the darkness of night. A warm, wet breeze that smelled like rich earth after a rainfall filled his nose just before forked tendrils of lightning spread through the thick roiling clouds above.