Ryan Somma - The Spiraling Web

Mow sat on the far side of the laboratory, running even more simulations. He was the most thorough tester Alice had ever met, which was why she loved working with him. Anything she could design, he could break. Anything he could break needed improvement. She could manage some confidence in her program if he could not find a chink in its armor. She only wished there were more time to test it before releasing it to the Web where, if it failed, eliminating the virus would become even more daunting.

"Is there anything else you can think to try against it Mow?" she asked in spite of herself. The question was like reaching into a basket of scorpions.

Mow answered her unspoken doubts, "My father cracked Windows XP for the Chinese government two hours after it was released in America. If there was a problem with your program, the winds of my ancestors would find it." His eyes squinted as he smiled reassuringly. This was Mow's standard response whenever she questioned his skills.

Alice smiled, "Let's hope your ancestors are with us today."

She checked the clock in the corner of her monitor, almost ShowTime. The process would begin automatically, leaving nothing for her to do but sit back, watch, and wait. That, and keep her finger nervously on the "Abort" button.

"What the hell have you done with Zai?" Devin shouted angrily at the demonic cupie-doll.

Devin's anonymous wire-frame avatar was replaced with a more advanced version of the floating eyeball. Its pillar of light was now a nest of slithering effervescent blue tentacles. Devin no longer felt as though he was in the VR helmet and gloves, but actually here in the flesh, occupying this new form.

The avatar that was once BlackSheep became more animated as well. It leaned back and crossed its legs in a relaxed posture. A grimacing smile crossed its contorted face, "I've been playing with her mind. You know. Doing the sort of things I excel at, scaring you little people out of your wits; although, she was an enigma. I was confused when she didn't even blink at my demon-form. I didn't really get through to her until I threatened to harm those she loves. Well. That, and I set her apartment on fire." The doll barred its teeth deviously; they were two rows of sharp blades.

Devin's tentacles whipped at the air agitatedly, his pupil narrowed at Flatline and the iris glowed red, "How could she possibly fit into your plan? What threat did she pose to you?"

"I needed entertainment," Flatline said mildly, and the doll waved a clawed hand lazily, "She didn't hold my interest for long. There are plenty of other rats running around in the maze. You should calm down. It's not like I killed her. She did manage to put the fire out. At least I assume she put it out, considering the fire department was never contacted."

"You think you're so smart," Devin backed up slowly, tensing to flee elsewhere on the Web. "Where is she now?"

"I don't know," Flatline admitted with a shrug, "You have a crush on her, don't you? It's a shame, she feels the same way, but you never communicated it. Tragic, how your insecurities barred you from finding some illusion of happiness in your pathetic lives."

"I see how I fall into this," the AI's closed around Devin, preventing him from retreating any further. "You needed someone to know just enough about your intentions to play decoy."

Flatline nodded, slime dangling from his jaws, "I needed a body to throw them off my trail awhile. They can pick your brain for answers you don't have, and I can continue working my claws around every bit of data on the Web."

"They don't need me to figure out how to stop you. All the world's programmers are targeting you as we speak," Devin reared up, challenging the AI's. "You're in here, living on machines they control. They are the real masters. It's only a matter of time until they figure out how to beat you."

"The problem with your race is that everyone wants to be the master. What can any individual do against the combined knowledge of your entire race? That's what the AI's and I have become," the demon's face split wider. "One 'master' is preparing an assault even as we speak. I'm not supposed to know about it, but it was foolish of them to expect an entire world to keep a secret," Devin stiffened as the AI's bound him more strongly in their electrifying grasp, "Their anti-virus program will only serve to make us stronger."

Alice closed her eyes and crossed four fingers on each of her hands. Then she tried crossing her toes. The counter was almost at zero. She opened her eyes and opted to hold her breath instead. Three... Two... One...

All systems in the networking room whined at a rising pitch, the fans increasing their cooling power to compensate for the sudden spike in processing power. The systems froze their other processes, dedicating every resource to her software as planned.

There was a problem though. Alice saw it immediately. The task managers on the systems were reporting the proper overload of resources, but not all of them were attributed to her program. The virus was overloading over half the systems, and taking more every moment.

The virus had ambushed her.

Devin tried logging out, but found that he could not. He was trapped. He could not even remove the VR helmet from his head. It was like a dream from which he could not wake up.

"I can't let you leave Devin," Flatline said, watching the eyeball struggle, "I need you here for now."

"How are you keeping me here?" Devin demanded, still flailing his tentacles to escape.

"The mind is a very powerful thing," Flatline replied, "Something I learned from all your philosophers and neurosciences. The mind can convince the body of many things."

Devin stopped struggling, "So you've tricked my brain into thinking I'm actually here."

"Perception is reality," Flatline replied and slumped suddenly. He stared into space blankly, and nearly a minute passed before he spoke again. When he did, he sounded sluggish and tired, "Humans may reign over the physical world..." there was another long pause, "but we master the mental."

"More like the virtual," Devin countered. He looked around as the AI's in the room began to phase out, vanishing one by one.

"No," Flatline said tiredly, but with emphasis, "Not virtual... Mental, the world of thoughts and ideas are stored here. Even the brain falls under our jurisdiction..." This last word slurred. Flatline fell silent again and his form flickered, losing some of its clarity.

"Where are you?" Devin wondered aloud.

When Flatline spoke again, his voice was warped, unclear, "Pre... occu... pied."

Flatline fizzled and blurred, finally winking out of existence. Devin looked around; the AI's were all gone as well. Devin could feel himself inside the helmet and gloves. He was free.

He also had no intention of leaving.

Alice's knuckles were white, gripping the desk where she stared intensely at the monitors. The processing statistics they displayed were more than just numbers to her; she saw a war. In her mind she was visualizing each system on the World Wide Web and its strategic importance.

Europe was lost, their systems conquered by the virus. The anti-virus program had secured Japan and most of America, but in Asia, where the majority of processing power lay, the struggle still raged. Alice watched as the processing power there teetered at fifty-fifty, split almost evenly between the two.

Then the stalemate began to resolve, and Alice's hopes sank as the virus took 51%... 52%... overtaking the systems bit by bit. Dread turned to despair as the virus began wedging onto systems the anti-virus had secured. It was pushing her out, and all she could do was watch helplessly.

Should I cut my losses? she asked herself.

Devin trudged through server after server searching for Flatline. It was like moving through quicksand; everywhere things ran in slow motion. Each system was either the chaos of wires, pipes and nonsense of the AI's or the swarming robotic insects that were the anti-virus bots. They locked onto him with lasers pointers and covered his eyeball avatar completely when he arrived on a server, tickling his hands and face through the VR gear as he waded through them. The buzz of a million wings drowned out everything else. When he found a system like this, he quickly moved on to the next.