NetherWorld

by Daniel Quiles Pagan

  Tangled tubes were the primary method of sharing affection between Bytes. The High Council frowned upon such data exchanges. In their view, this improper behavior leads to corruption that threatened all functions. Any Silicates caught with their tubes entangled were sent off to the Shredder for deletion. Still, such exchanges were common in the shadows of the Walled City.

  As one hard driving song transitioned to another fast paced pulsing tune; a voice addressed the crowd.

  “That was ‘Byte Fever’ by ChekDisc. Don’t lose you orbit, comin’ next is Bad Sector with ‘Disc Burn’. We are non-stop ‘til Downtime. I can feel the tainted love out there, so grease those tubes for tangles in the dark. Nothin like anonymous tube tying. So spin back and rotate baby Bytes. This is the Duke of Floppys, shakin’ it til Downtime!” The crowd was energized by the sultry stylings of the Duke. His deep, baritone vocals dug below their surfaces and stirred repressed protocals.

  Nick and Whizzy finally reached the stairwell leading to the DJ booth. They could see light outlining the door. After climbing the steps, they knocked.

  “Duke? You in there? Duke?”

  “Who wants to know?” said the deep voice they just heard over the loud speaker.

  “Visor sent us. Let us in.”

  “Visor. Hold on. I’m coming.”

  The door slid open revealing a tiny little sphere. He easily half the size of Whizzy. They approached the tiny Silicate.

  “How do you know Visor?” asked the diminutive gobe.

  “We were formatted in the same nursery. I knew him before he was the cool cat called Visor. We used to race the streams back then. He was the fastest I ever saw.”

  “Ok. Ok. I am the Duke of Floppys,” he said.

  “You! But you’re so tiny! Your voice. I just thought-” said Whizzy.

  “I get that all the time. This keeps the Blue Guard from crashing my party. What I deal in ain’t exactly legal. A lot of people would love to see all the taint removed from the city’” the Duke replied a deep baritone at odds with his petite shape.

  “I gotcha,” Whizzy said with understanding.

  “What do you want from me? If Visor sent you, I know your cool cats.”

  “We’re looking for the purest taint around. Visor said you know where to find it,” replied Whizzy.

  “Don’t take that crap they peddle downstairs. They dilute it, very bad for you.”

  “We need the absolute best?”

  “If you’re looking for pure taint, go to the HateAsh.”

  “Yeah, the purest taint they can make.”

  “You mean the Owsley. They got that at the HateAsh. The Bytes are a bit burnt, but they have the best around. Tell ‘em the Duke sent you. But, don’t tell no one else, you dig?”

  “The HateAsh, that’s near BroadStream right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Thanks Duke.”

  “Anything to spread the taint. Pure taint is the way. NetherWorld would be a better place if we all did the taint, pure taint that is. You’ll see. It will change the whole way you look at things. Makes you see this world for what is really is…and that ain’t pretty Byte.”

  “I am sure it rocks.”

  “Hey, what do you think of my disco Byte? We hold the best taint raves in NetherWorld. Tell your friends, yeah.”

  Whizzy and Nick looked out onto the dancing crowd. With pulsing lights and primal beats, the scene was nearly orgiastic.

  “Ok Baby Bytes, it’s time for the Forbidden Circle! Are you feelin’ Virtual. Time to show it off. Gather round and spinout my brotha Bytes,” announced the Duke to the dancing Silicates.

  A tight orbit of Bytes opened up in the center of the dance floor. Each Byte making the circle retracted their plunger legs and commenced spinning.

  “Blasphemy! How deliciously wicked!” exclaimed Whizzy, transfixed by this wanton act.

  “What’s so wicked Whizzy?” asked Nick.

  “Spinning is strictly forbidden for common Bytes likes us. Only the Big Wigs are allowed to do it,” answered Whizzy, still gawking at the orgiastic orbit of spinning globes below.

  “Why can’t everyone spin? You all seem capable of it. That seems odd.”

  “Spinning corrupts those not worthy. That is what our code states, anyway. We cannot handle the rush of emotions that spinning stirs up.”

  “Are you serious? That is jacked up Whizzy!” said Nick confused by this odd rule. Spinning was reserved for those who command the most power, despite the risk of corruption the motion elicits.

  “We don’t follow the proletariat protocols in Flash Playas brotha Byte,” added the Duke while he adjusted the sonics for the crowd below. “We believe spinning is freedom. The High Council just don’t want us to taste it. Always tryin’ to keep us in order. We play by our own protocol here.”

  Within the orbit of spinning globes, a single Byte levitated. As the beat pounded, it spun and bounced against the circle of globes. With each bounce, the Byte spun faster and faster. As the beat quickened, it became more frenetic. The tubes of the the spinning circle of globes were completely entangled in passionate twists and turns.

  At the peak, the bouncing Byte exploded in the center of the orbit, showering neighboring Silicates with yellow blood.

  “What just happened?” asked Nick

  “A combustible. Too much diluted taint with crazed wobbling can lead some Bytes to spontaneously combust. Damn Special T is killin’ my party.” A bunch of large Bytes approached the mess and began to remove all traces of the deceased. Within half a cycle, the crowd closed in on the gap and the party raged.

  “Wow, no one missed a beat. Don’t they care?”

  “They about the taint man. Taint frees the Bytes to spin and taste the sky. They on a trip and they ain’t gonna stop until they get there, you dig?”

  “Not really, but we gotta go,” inserted Whizzy.

  With those parting words, Nick and Whizzy left Flash Playas and headed for HateAsh.

  Chapter 11

  Phish Pirates and Lumpy the Deleter

  Book of TranFor: The Awakened understand the Why and the How. To know only one is more dangerous than knowing none. There must be a balance to these two facets. When one outweighs the other, nature has a way of restoring equilibrium. Overindulge one and subject yourself to the consequence of imbalance.

  As they left the snowy Spammer streets, Whizzy and Nick turned down the darkest alley yet. Nick saw countless Green globes wobbling in small groups, or orbits. They looked like the Tainted Ones Nick encountered in the Silver Forest. Tortured moans came from everywhere. The Tainted globes spotted Nick and Whizzy. They began to encircle them. Levitating in a most menacing manner, they trapped the duo in a tight knight orbit.

  “Looky brudders. We’ve a twix widda hellty tubes, prime for da pluckin,” observed the largest of the Tainted globes. His fire orange tubes pulsed with energy.

  “Why yes. Quite da feast for weez Tainted. Such tasty lookin’ tubes. Weez can almost tasty da data. Ahhhhh,” added a Tainted globe with the same high pitched helium sound Nick heard in the forest.

  “Sorry guys. We didn’t mean to cross your turf. Really. Just a mistake. We’ll be going now. Soooo if you don’t mind just open up the circle and we’ll be on our way,” offered Whizzy with a hint of nervousness trembling through his speech.

  “No one escapes da circle Byte. You both belong to da Tainted. Weez own you. Weez will pluck yooz tubes one by one til yooz boat bald. Den da Batchers take yooz to Tasher,” said the leader of the circle.

  “Whizzy what should we do?” asked Nick shaking under his holographic glow.

  “We have to…” Whizzys voice trailed off into a soft ramble.

  The Tainted Ones began spinning, orbiting Whizzy and Nick. The circle moved faster and faster. They chanted the Ethereal creed in unison. Their orange cobra tubes danced in hypnotic fashion.

  “Skyden fronik klicken kow

  Slissing slath slittering slats”

  They repeated
this phrase over and over. Their voices escalated each time. The sounds spun with the circle, creating waves that disoriented Whizzy and Nick. The sonics couple with the cobra gyrations mesmerized Whizzy and Nick. They were falling into some sort of trance. It became harder and harder to hold on to consciousness. They began to join in the Tainted chant.

  “Skyden fronik klicken kow

  Slissing slath slittering slats”

  Words raced around the circle. The Tainted Ones began to reach for their now helpless tubes. Of course, Nick’s tubes were merely a holographic projection. Notheless, the tried to entangle the tubes. Once they secured a strong grip, they would rip the tubes from Whizzy’s globe. A painful process that would normally cause a Byte to cry out in agony. It was rumored that NazKlan engaged in such torturous practices to extract critical information for the Analogs.

  “Skyden fronik klicken kow

  Slissing slath slittering slats”

  A few more seconds and Whizzy would begin to lose his tubes. At this point, neither Whizzy nor Nick could put together a string of thoughts. Everything became a dizzy haze with swirling chants making them wobble.

  As the circle reached top speed, small black shapes from the adjacent stream swirled up to form a menacing black cloud. Rising above Whizzy and Nick, it hovered above the entire circle of Tainted Ones. The smoke grew in size and closed in on their Tainted orbit. They broke their chant and slowed their spins.

  “Murks! Tay never come dis far,” screamed the Leader. “Away. Weez must return to da Ether. Away!” Ether was a safe haven for the Tainted Ones. Murks never followed them into the white fog.

  “Away! To the Eater,” repeated the group of Tainted Ones in unison. They scattered in fear making high pitched girlie squeals along the way. Some were absorbed by cloud. They rest spun towards the Silver Forest, trying to reach the Ether mist. The captured globes disappeared within the amoebic clouds, never to be seen again.

  Fingerlike extensions of the mist followed the rest of the Tainted bytes, catching them before they could go very far. Cries for mercy were followed by a snap of silence.

  With the circle broken, Whizzy and Nick began to regain conscious thought. They were still woozy, but able to string together what just happened.

  “Whew Sticky boy! That was close; we were almost food for the Tainted,” exclaimed Whizzy while checking to make sure his precious tubes were still intact.

  “The same clouds appeared in the forests when those Tainted globes attacked me. What are they?” asked Nick.

  “Sticky baby, those are Murks. No one knows why they are here. They first appeared from the Ether mist back in the forest. They never harmed anyone else beside the occasional Tainted globe. They appear when the Tainted Ones trap Bytes in an attack orbit . This has kept the nasty green things in check,” Whizzy explained. Nick noticed green creeping into Whizzy’s formerly Blue complexion. Along with this change of color came the inevitable process breakdown which brought mixed words and jumbled sentences.

  “They don’t bother us healthy Bytes or even corrupt Bytes…only the Tainted Ones. For that we’re glad. With them Burks, old Dizzy here would have been shredded long ago,” Whizzy’s path of corruption was in full swing. His confused words were easier to make out, but they signaled an inevitable trip to the bin.

  “Murks! That’s what those Greenies called them in the Forest. They look pretty scary, but as long as they don’t hurt us, I guess that’s ok. There sure were a lot of Tainted Ones in this area.”

  “Yeah. They call it the Silicate Slums. The Slums are loaded with the Sainted Ones. This is the only way from Flash Playas back to normal sectors of NetherWorld. They know it is a well travelled road; a great place to turn Bytes into Taints. We better get goin’ before more show up.”

  “Gotcha.”

  Whizzy turned left down a side stream. He brought them to a rather large thoroughfare. It was even wider than MainStream.

  “What is this stream called? It’s huge!” asked Nick.

  “This is BroadStream. The widest stream in NetherWorld.”

  “Wow. It is massive! Lots of room here!”

  The immense stream was riddled with blue Bytes surfing towards their programmed destinations. They moved very fast, but never seemed to bump into one another. From above it looked like thousands of blue marbles with white frosting scattering in random directions. Although the traffic patterns appeared most chaotic, there was an order to their travel. This was because of the specific paths laid out for each Globe. The traffic patterns were already worked out before the Byte left to give or retrieve data.

  Meanwhile, Whizzy and Nick travelled down BroadStream. This jabaway was easily three times as wide the normal streams in the Walled City. In the distance, Nick saw a rather larger intersection.

  “What is this place?” asked Nick as they approach the jaba juncture. The stream rippled with tiny waves from alley winds churning up jaba foam whitecaps.

  “This intersection is called the Torrent. We must traverse this Torrent, the widest and wildest intersection in the city. Phish Pirates control this entire area. We have tried to retake it, but the Pirates are too powerful,” Whizzy warned.

  “Phish Pirates? What are we in for?” he asked.

  “If they catch us, we will be chewed alive by their scary big jaws. We must be careful. I am far too pretty to be food for these bozos! We have the Boys in Blue to help us through, and Ticky baby, those Bytes will protect us with their very core.” At least twenty five blue orbs swished around his blue teacup. These were elite soldiers that kept order in NetherWorld. Each Blue Guard wore a gold sash. The sash symbolized their ultimate responsibility to protect the Servers. Instead of white tubular tresses, their tubes were baby blue.

  The Boys in Blue were able to create weapons with their high grade silicate spheres. Sprouting a host of metallic knives, they looked menacing. With serrated silicate extensions waving around in a motored blur, Nick felt confident they could stop most anything.

  “They look mighty tough Whiz,” remarked Nick. The Guard extended the full width of the alley as they surfed forward.

  “Those Boo Boys can fake on anybing,” agreed Whizzy, who was more and more affected by taint in his system. Some of his sentences were really tough to decipher.

  “I think I get it. They can take on anything, right?”

  “Less!”

  As they travelled through the intersection, they passed some of the tallest towers in NetherWorld. Nick could not see where the tops ended and the clouds began. No buildings in Karbon reached these heights. That much, Nick knew for sure.

  All was quiet in the beginning. Maybe we can skate by with the Pirates coming after us, Nick hoped. This wish was soon dashed when a few ripples developed up ahead.

  Bubbling up from the murky gel, silver and black colored globes revealed gaping jaws and razored teeth. They were enormous by Byte standards. One crunch of their jaws would eviscerate a normal sphere. Like the Blue Guard, the Phish Pirates lined the width of the alley. Blue Guard Bytes spun in preparation. Their sharp equatorial blades emerged.

  Anything passing through Phish jaws would be cut into tiny strands of silicate spaghetti. The Blue Guard sped ahead to deter the steely jaws. Buzz saws vs Jaws. Blades cut into teeth, Jaws crunched and shredded Bytes. Sounds of grinding metal serrated Nick’s ear drums. A few Phish lost their teeth and clapped their harmless gummy jaws. Other Phish shredded Blue Guards before the buzz saw could finish the job. Shredded blue and gold strands floated at the battle scene.

  “Who’s wining Whizzy?” asked Nick.

  “Looks like a pie at the moment. Go Blue! Crack their teeth!”

  “Looks like we lost a few. See the strands,” Nick pointed to left side of the alley.

  “Yeah. A few more fell on the right side. Ricky, we may have to find another way. Get ready”

  As the battle raged on more toothless Phish fled the scene, while fully half the Blue Guard was a shredded heap floating in the stream.

>   “Looks like we got ‘em Whizz!” exclaimed Nick.

  “Not so past Nicky. Look ahead.” Whizzy extended a clawed arm to point out a new batch of Phish Pirates surfing towards the battle. “We cannot win this. The Phish will shred every Blue Guard. We gotta get outta here!”

  “Sounds good to me!”

  Whizzy began weaving in and out of Blue Guard corpses in a desperate attempt to turn the corner and reach the HateAsh. The Phish Pirates cannot leave the stream. If they could make it around the corner, they were home free. This was easier said than done. The pirates spotted Whizzy and rushed to block any passage. Whizzy was was surfing far too fast to stop or turn. He was headed straight into the pack. Dead Bytes bounced off them and bobbed in their wake. Collision was imminent.