Interphase

by Kira Wilson

  Analara inspected her scraped arm and made a sound of displeasure. She picked a handful of grass and rubbed the stalks gently over the scratches, wincing as dirt and dried blood flaked away. She noticed Jessica's eyes on her again and blushed. "I must look terrible right now."

  "You've just gone through more than I could imagine." Jessica moved closer. "Can I help?"

  Analara pointed to a patch of lavender flowers growing nearby. "Could you bring me some of those, please?"

  Jessica picked some of the plants and handed them over. Analara bit off the delicate flowers, chewed carefully, and spat the contents into her hand. She smeared the paste lightly over her wounds. "This will help for now." She leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes.

  Jessica patted her on the shoulder. "Try to get some rest," she suggested. "Thomas will be back soon."

  Analara smiled. Jessica held her hand quietly and strained to hear any sound. Every second that ticked by increased her worry for Thomas's safety.

  A twig snapped behind them. Jessica whirled around to see Thomas slip into the grove. "Bloody hell, Lancelot," Clyde hissed. She hadn't been the only one Thomas startled.

  "We need to go. Now," he reported. "I outdistanced the soldiers and tried to lose them through some trees, but they'll find my trail soon."

  David looked over at Analara, an unspoken question in his eyes. She nodded. "I'll be all right for the run."

  He turned back to the group. "Move fast, stay together. Jessica, if they catch us, I'm counting on you to get everyone out. Thomas and I will buy you enough time."

  Jessica's brow creased with worry, but she said nothing.

  They set out at a quick jog. She knew Thomas was a few paces behind her, and she longed to take his hand, but doing so would slow them down. More than anything she wanted to be home. Several minutes passed in silence, then she heard shouts from behind.

  "The gate is near. Hurry," David yelled, and everyone began to sprint.

  Behind them, a group of soldiers were drawing closer, but ahead Jessica caught the glimmer of the gateway through the trees. They were nearly there.

  They raced between the trunks and came to a halt in front of a half-dozen warriors. The officer in charge shouted triumphantly, and they advanced, weapons raised.

  The wind came up with such abrupt ferocity that it nearly knocked Jessica down. It howled through the bending trees like a wild animal, blowing her hair into her face. From the clear sky above, the twisting finger of a tornado descended. It touched down around the soldiers and lifted them into the air, hurling them over the tops of the trees. As quickly as it had appeared, the gale vanished.

  Jessica didn't know what had saved them, but the group didn't stop to puzzle it out. As one, they dashed through the doorway, heaving sighs of relief as they stepped back into familiar environs.

  A sharp gasp from Analara made Jessica look up. They weren't alone. A man stood several yards away, watching them silently. In the dim light of the command core his robes seemed black.

  David stepped forward, staring in horror at the figure. "Shalaron."

  ***

  David stood in shock, his pulse racing. This was no vision. Shalaron was standing inside V-Net, staring directly at him. The sight filled him with dread.

  For several seconds, Shalaron simply gazed at them, one by one, his expression unreadable. Finally, he returned to David, and his gaze lingered. Closing his eyes, he whispered, "Let my actions be testament to virtue, that my people may know peace."

  David frowned, unsure whether Shalaron was speaking to them or to himself. Taking a tentative step forward, he cleared his throat. "Lord Shalaron, there is evil at work in your city—"

  "There is evil manifested before me," the Sage snapped. His eyes opened again, seething with rage. "Thieves. Usurpers. Each and every one of you."

  "Oh please," Clyde scoffed. "Usurpers of what? Until three hours ago you people didn't exist!" David stared at the hacker with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

  "David, who is this man?" Thomas stepped forward, his gaze locked on Shalaron as if assessing a potential threat. "What quarrel does he have with us?"

  Shalaron raised a finger and swept it around the room. "Invaders, all of you. You lay claim to that over which you have no right." He pointed at David, and his eyes narrowed. "But you. You are darker and fouler than the rest. Upon your hands the blood of Ilinar flows. I mark you now as the murderer of Melarras."

  David paled as he recalled the fight in the barracks. He had tried to forget the sickening feeling of his blade plunging into the other man. How could Shalaron know?

  "I see the knowledge of the deed reflected in your eyes." Shalaron glanced toward Analara. "You, and the traitor, shall both be disposed of. For your crimes, and for the darkness which your people have spread across my world, I sentence you to destruction. Stare into the eyes of your executioner, and behold the death that awaits therein!"

  "Whatever crimes I have committed were in defense of her," David growled. "It was your people who betrayed her and began this fight. You are in our world now, and you will find we are not without defenses." He morphed into the Wraith, drawing his blade from its sheath. Behind him, he could feel the shift as his friends loaded their own avatars.

  Shalaron blinked, taken aback, but the look was quickly replaced with one of unbridled anger. "You dare to challenge me?"

  "To save her life, I would face your entire world."

  "Her life…" Shalaron raised his hand, and his palm filled with black fire, "…is forfeit!" He loosed the deadly projectile, not at the party, but at Analara.

  David's heart seized. "No," he screamed, dashing forward, but Jessica was quicker. He watched her fling herself in front of Analara, pushing her out of the way, just as the burning sphere exploded. Jessica crumpled to the floor like a rag doll.

  A cry of rage tore through the room. Thomas hurled himself at Shalaron, greatsword raised above his head to deliver a killing blow. Shalaron thrust his hand forward, and a burst of air exploded into the knight, knocking him off his feet.

  Clyde aimed his launcher and fired a blast at Shalaron. Whirling, he snatched the rocket out of the air and studied it for an instant. When Lucas charged from behind, Shalaron tossed the rocket at him. The explosion threw Lucas across the chamber.

  Shalaron turned to Clyde, who was preparing to fire again. He gestured, and Clyde lifted off the ground, gripped by an unseen force. Shalaron made a throwing motion. Clyde slammed forcefully against the codewall and slumped to the ground, senseless.

  Regaining his footing, Thomas nodded to David, and the two of them advanced. Shalaron opened his hand, and a quarterstaff blinked into existence, the tips burning with blue flame. He parried the incoming strikes and lashed out, clipping Thomas in the shoulder. David tried to flank him and split his attention, but the Sage was a dervish, spinning madly and deflecting every attack. Shalaron focused his counterstrikes on Thomas, and slowly, the knight was beaten backwards. Ducking a high slash from Thomas's greatsword, Shalaron drove the butt of the staff into the knight's chest. Thomas collapsed, gasping for air.

  Shalaron turned to David, stalking him across the room. "For your crimes, murderer, you shall burn!" He pointed the staff, and a stream of flame blazed through the chamber toward David.

  Focusing on the Wraithblade, David strengthened the aura with his mind, and he angled the sword's edge in front of him. The line of fire struck the aura and bent to the side. Shalaron snarled and gestured, flinging razor shards of ice toward David. Again, the blade deflected them.

  This has gone on long enough.

  David drew all of his rage inside, channeling it through his sword. He thrust the blade forward and felt the surge as a lance of force streaked toward Shalaron. The Sage raised his staff to ward off the attack, but the energy wave shattered it and pierced his shoulder. He fell to one knee, gasping.

  Drawing the blade back, David charged forward to deliver the finishing blow. The hair on the back of his neck
rose as Shalaron stood up, radiating power. A blast of electricity swept through the core, throwing him to the ground next to Clyde. Faint traces of energy cascaded through him, holding him motionless.

  Shalaron paused, pulling in ragged breaths. He looked around the chamber at the fallen party, letting his exhaustion show.

  David felt a faint mental tingle. Someone was sending him a tell?

  =Okay, this guy's a bitch,= Clyde muttered woozily down the link.

  =How do we stop him?= David responded. =If we don't, we're all dead.=

  =I need a distraction to analyze this field he's snared us in. I may be able to turn it against him.=

  =I'll see what—=

  David was cut off as a scream ripped through the chamber. Analara was cradling a motionless Jessica, her wails growing louder. She jumped to her feet, facing Shalaron with all of the fury she could muster. "You killed her. I hate you! You, the priests, and the rest."

  Shalaron regarded her, his face impassive. "You have no right to speak in my presence. Your actions are darker than anything done to us during the Betrayal." Analara's face paled as he continued. "Your heart has made its home here with these villains. It is only fitting that your grave be here as well."

  Raising his hand, Shalaron muttered something under his breath, and Analara choked. Her eyes rolled up, and she collapsed.

  Trapped in his immobile body, David screamed silently, frustration and rage overwhelming his thoughts.

  =Shut the hell up,= Clyde shouted back. =I can't think with you screaming so loudly. Make yourself useful, if you're done with your wailing.=

  David felt a formula streaming down the channel. He interlaced it mentally with his avatar, and suddenly he could see the lines of force pinning them to the ground. He could feel the code streams, manipulate them. Gathering the strands of energy with his mind, he glared his fury into Shalaron's eyes and reversed the flow.

  A shockwave crushed David into the wall as the air blasted out of the chamber. He opened his eyes, blinking away tears. Shalaron was nowhere to be seen.

  Chapter 21

  David let out his breath in an explosive sigh. He hadn't realized he'd been holding it. His limbs still shook from the intensity of the encounter. Letting the sword fall from his trembling hand, he got up and ran to Analara's side. Her eyes were open and dull, and she whimpered softly. As gently as he could, he picked her up and cradled her in his arms.

  Thomas removed his helm, still gasping from Shalaron's attack. David watched him crawl over to Jessica's body, smoothing her hair back and feeling desperately for a pulse. His normally stoic expression crumbled with despair. "No…"

  Lucas watched with eyes round from shock. The explosion from Clyde's weapon had destroyed Nadarra's form, returning Lucas to his natural state. His gaze shifted between David and Thomas, tears flowing unnoticed down his cheeks.

  "No," Thomas yelled and lifted Jessica into his arms. "This can't be happening! It's just her character, right? She's all right outside the network, isn't she? She couldn't… she—" His words choked with sobs.

  Clyde shakily rose to his feet, grunting with pain. He tapped the holo-screen on his wrist computer, and a beam of light fired up and down Jessica's body. He sighed. "Her body isn't dead." His flat tone cut through the air like a knife.

  "What do you mean?" Thomas demanded.

  Clyde closed his eyes; despite his outward demeanor, David suspected that his old friend was more sensitive than he appeared. "Shalaron's attack was meant for Analara. I think he used an energy that would be fatal to his own people. It looks like it worked differently on Jessica. It destroyed her mind." He opened his eyes and scanned the computer readouts while his words sank in. "Right now, her basic autonomous functions are being run by V-Net. As soon as she disconnects, her body will just stop."

  A fist closed around David's heart, and he gave a strangled cry. An image filled his mind…

  The medical room was packed with observation equipment, faint electronic noises coming from the assembled hardware. Outside, his mother turned away, tears in her eyes. David watched the form of his father, lying in bed, and in his mind he saw the passing of years as the man's brown hair turned gray. Kept alive by technology, but lifeless.

  David stared at Jessica, the motionless figure of his best friend, and a hatred for Shalaron smoldered in his heart. The silence of the chamber was broken only by Thomas's weeping.

  Analara shuddered in David's arms, and her breathing became irregular. Her face was ashen, and her eyes rolled back as she convulsed. Clyde knelt beside David and performed another scan. David held her close while she trembled.

  "What the hell?" Clyde's eyes went wide as he watched the holo-screen. "Part of this scan is gibberish. The system doesn't know what to make of a non-human. Another part looks like standard biological readouts, but this portion…"

  David craned to see. "Looks like code-strings," he finished.

  "And that…" Clyde's finger stabbed at a particular line of code. "…looks like a virus to me. That's what's killing her. I don't know how Shalaron did it, but he infected her with a computer virus."

  David stared at Clyde in disbelief. "That's not possible!"

  "Not according to this," Clyde snapped. "This thing is brutal. It's breaking down her biological functions, tearing her apart like a real virus, but she's somehow… " Clyde's eyes narrowed, considering several possibilities. "Because she's in the digital world, rather than her own, the virus is working differently. Instead of just destroying her, it's converting her into program code."

  David clenched his teeth, fighting back the fear that threatened to drown him. "Okay, if a computer virus is physically killing her, how do we stop it?"

  Clyde's gaze followed the readouts on the screen. "We can't. At the rate this thing is moving, she'll be dead before I could finish an anti-virus." He gave a frustrated groan. "One of them will die if we do anything, and the other will die if we don't?"

  David buried his face in Analara's hair. It took everything he had not to surrender to grief.

  "We might…" Clyde's expression became dire. "Jessica's mind is gone, and Analara's body is being destroyed. If I can rig up a transfer program, I might be able to save Analara's 'code' in Jessica's body. It's a long shot, but it's the only idea that could save either of them."

  David looked at Analara, then back at Clyde. "But you don't know if—"

  "No one knows if this will work," Clyde fumed, his emotions bursting forth in a torrent. "Nothing like this has ever been done before. I don't know if I can even pull it off." He raked a hand through his hair, releasing ragged breaths.

  Thomas turned toward them, a mixture of grief and hope in his eyes. "Could Jessica still—" His question choked off in a sob.

  Clyde's expression twisted in anguish, but he squeezed his eyes shut and seemed to suppress it. "She's already gone," he replied, suddenly emotionless. He had withdrawn into himself. His ability to turn his heart off might be their only chance to salvage the situation.

  David tried to catch Thomas's gaze, but his friend was awash in a sea of sorrow; the choice fell to him. Jessica had given her life to save Analara. He had to see her final act through.

  I'm about to kill my best friend.

  David turned back to Clyde. "What do we do?"

  "My mainframe is trashed." Clyde looked more focused than David had ever seen before. "I need a large-scale interface. The amount of data we're dealing with is staggering." He glanced at Analara's readout. "We're running out of time, Harris."

  "The VERAsign core office. That's the interface I've used before. Everyone's still out because of the Crash Storm," David said, picking Analara up off the floor.

  Clyde nodded and loaded a new program on his wrist computer. "Thomas, get Jessica. Lucas, come here." He waited as the group squeezed together, then punched in a final command.

  The dark space of the command core was replaced with a lit office interior. Next to a door in front of them, a sign read 'Large-scale Program
Compiler: Authorized Employees Only'.

  David's eyes went wide with panic. "Clyde, do you know how many security layers you just hacked through? You'll trigger the module's shut-down code!"

  "This is my world, Harris," Clyde snapped. He scanned Analara again, typing commands furiously on his screen.

  A minute dragged by, like a razor pulled across David's heart, as Clyde finished his preparations. He had just opened the door when a voice rang out.

  "Hold it right there, Harris."

  David turned slowly, clutching Analara close to him. Behind them, grinning sardonically, stood his V-Cop blackmailer.

  "I told you I'd be watching you, boy. Got my own little cameras set up right on this door. I figured sooner or later the draw would be too much for you." The V-Cop raised his D-gun and pointed it directly at David. "You and your friends are in real deep shit now."

  =Clyde, we can't let the girls get hit,= David quickly sent. =It would kill them.=

  Clyde merely raised his arm, materialized his launcher and fired. The V-Cop looked shocked before he vanished in a burst of light.

  David blinked in surprise.

  "Move your ass, Harris. We've got work to do."

  ***

  Something tickled Analara's forehead. It was soft and slightly damp. She tried to turn her head, but her muscles wouldn't move. Her entire body felt stiff and unresponsive, and her thoughts were hazy. Dimly she heard voices whispering, then someone touched her cheek.

  Analara's eyes blinked open. A man with brown hair and a mustache smiled down at her and said something she didn't understand. She stared at him blankly. Images and sensations collided in her mind. Nothing made any sense. Fear began to well up inside her.

  The man tilted his head to one side. Analara could hear his voice clearer now, but could only understand some of his words. "Home" and "awake" she knew, and…

  "Jessica…"

  Jessica? David's friend. The pretty girl with brown eyes. She had jumped in front of the fire…