|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:03 pm
 The fog had rolled in, and the combination of late night and obscured stars convinced Sabotage to attempt to walk home later. He had stayed out later--much later--than he had intended. The world was a fascinating place, and he was always finding a new and interesting thing to investigate. Today, at the shop, he had spent much of his time crawling around vents and poking into corridors--who knew the shop was so big? There were nooks and crannies everywhere. He'd even found a couple of computers that no one seemed to be using. He spent a little while exploring the files on it and surfing the internet, slowly reading webpages as he tried to remember which abstract, curving line corresponded with which sound. It wasn't that he couldn't read--it was just that the Latin letters were as alien to him as his familiar, polygonal letters were to most other people.
He ought to head home. Father would be worried if he didn't come home on time. But it was dark, and though Sab could see tolerably well in the dark, it was foggy and he didn't want to risk getting lost. The lights outside would do for a while, but the House was back through woods and a wide meadow that would be completely unilluminated at night. No, it was best to stay here until morning, or at least until the fog blew off. Most other people seemed to have gone home by now, and he was starting to get the eerie feeling of being totally alone.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 3:15 pm
 Night was the time that Bame couldn't seem to get through, the static hiss rumbling in the depths of her throat echoing in the small cabinet space she'd crammed herself into. Most nights she sat, as awake as during the day, within the confines of the wooden walls, the possibility of sleep alien to her. A sound caught her attention and she leaped from her hiding place, hackles pixeling with her sudden distress at the idea of being bothered by a program.
Calming herself, she pressed an ear to the nearest outlet, listening through the wiring where her intruder was... THERE! Computers? She smirked deviously, assuming this could only be one person. Almost as if she were made of sand, her body melded into the socket and she traveled through the wiring, reforming her physical form just inside the room where Sabotage had taken root. However, she never expected to see this creature before her, and widening her mouth much more than possible for a physical being, she let out a growl with all the clicks and screeches of a dial-up connection and backed herself against the wall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 4:18 pm
Click. Click. The metal plates on the very tips of Sab's fingers tapped slowly on the keys, making a rhythmic sound. He was reading an interesting article on an online encyclopedia about mythology. Interesting stuff! He'd never heard most of these stories. Clicking another link, he waited for the next page to load. And load. And load. Why was it taking so long? It was going quickly earlier... It was just the fog. The moist weather was interfering with the satellites. He wanted that to be the reason so desperately. He was unarmed, and if there was some...No, there can't be anything supernatural here. The supernatural simply doesn't exist, and if it did, why would it be making the computer slow down?
He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice at first the pixels hanging in the air. When he saw the movement, he instantly got to his feet and leapt back--not necessarily in that order. He and the chair he had been sitting in went down in a tangled heap. A grey figure, red pupils mere pinpricks in black, had appeared in the room. Something about them set Sab's fur to standing on end. He could feel all of the follicles of his hairs start to swell a little in an uncomfortable bumpy feeling.
The stranger backed up against the wall, seemingly as startled by him as he was by them. They gave off the sounds of clicks and screeches like a primitive computer. Chips in Sabotage's brain flashed into life, trying to translate the sounds. Maybe he--or she--is trying to say something to me. I mean, I speak in clicks and whirrs... But in the language his father had taught him, the sounds were nearly meaningless. Who was this? And what were they?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:01 pm
Instead of standing her ground, Bame kept the recoiled stance and let out a snarl, "You are NOT the Program!" Whether this was relief or disgust, it was unreadable in her angry expression. Wrinkling her nose as she started her slow circling of the figure who lay sprawled on the floor as he voice came from seemingly nowhere, reverberating off the walls with disgust, "Who are you?!" She looked at him from every angle in the time it took most to blink, trying to make sense of what he was and analyze him with as little exchanged dialogue as possible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:31 pm
Sabotage disentangled his legs and tail from the chair legs, trying to watch the figure as he did. The booming voice--seeming to come from the very air around him--made him wince and the hairs continued to stand straight on end. Program? he wanted to ask. Which program? There are programs everywhere! AIs are everywhere around here! All he could do was give a little metallic squeak. His limbs finally out from between the chair legs, the small noodle looked up at the stranger. What did he know about it? He couldn't tell the gender. He didn't seem to have the knack. It came from the computer, so it was probably a program itself. It had appeared as pixels, and its voice seemed to come...
No. No, no, no, this is not happening! All of the stories Father used to tell him late at night to get him to recharge without a fuss started to come back. He looked desperately around the room for something--anything! Anything to get out of here and not be caught, please, Primus, not to be caught! Sab snatched up a chair and held it out threateningly as he edged towards the door.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:20 pm
In a heartbeat, she realized the stranger's intentions. Just as fast, however, she had put herself between him and his escape, letting out a warning snarl, "Your NAME. NOW." Bame was not one to be rejected of her questions, and it wasn't to start now. The fur at the back of her neck seemed to static like unregistered television channels, her claws scratching into the floor in an attempt to make herself much more intimidating. She wanted to know, and he would tell her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:16 am
The chair would be useless against a virus. It could just go insubstantial, and then it could--Oh, Primus, no! Sab dropped the chair with a frightened chinking sound. Now it was his turn to back against the wall, back arched up as he lashed his tail back and forth as best he could. No way out. There was no other way out of the room than the door. No windows, and the vent was much to small for him to crawl out of. He didn't have a lot of options, and giving his name did not seem like a very good one. Even if it did end up being one of the few who could interpret his bizarre way of speaking, it would probably only possess him. It could do that anyway... Ears laid back flat against his skull, Sab gave off a frightened whirr that, in his rudimentary way of speaking, meant his name: "Sabotage. I...I am Sabotage..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:28 pm
Bame was winning; the very idea of it sending shivers through her. "Sabotage, you may call me what you wish..." She paced lightly, her little bout of intimidation becoming a game more than a serious fight, "But my name is Bamestra." She purred, but her tone was anywhere but soothing. She let it trickle as close to his ear as she dared, her ventriloquism one of natural ability and her teasing nature just as natural. She slammed the door shut with her hind leg and stretched her torso to inhuman lengths to reach the computers with a paw, blocking his path and being as frightening as possible, "What were you doing, Sa-bo-tage?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:36 pm
It could understand him, worse and worse! It could even be in his head right now. Trembling all over, Sab made a sound of distress, every movement it made reminding him more and more of the stories, of mouthless visions speaking from everywhere, avatar of chaos and horror, unbound by natural laws...There was no way out. There was no way he could get out. It would grant him no mercy...I should have taken my chances with the fog! At least it wouldn't have taken over my body and used me to destroy everyone and anyone I love...
"I'm...c-cowering..." Sab beeped softly. He wasn't trying to be clever or witty, only honest. "Please, Bamestra...Lord or Lady...could I..." His voice shrank back even further and he fell silent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 12:13 pm
The more fear that emanated from him, the more Bame couldn't help but push him. She took a step towards him, her whole body flickering like bad reception, "Speak up, Sa-bo-tage, or I won't hear you." Another step and her features played on adoring her captive, "Weakness may be your downfall." At this point she let out a soft growl, daring him to show even a little spine. That would be the best thing for him, in her mind.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 6:23 pm
Sab shivered, all but scared out of his wits. He didn't know what to do. He'd heard of viruses--met one--but he never knew what to do, and the one he'd met never hung around. He'd always relied on Reb to get him out of danger--he didn't have any weapons himself! Teeth, sure, but what could teeth do against a technological terror? I'm weak...There's nothing I can do... He opened his mouth to say it when he felt his own words being formed in its voice. Weakness...downfall... The words, fall, they had meanings...such meanings, dark and sinister, murder and betrayal.
Other memories came to mind, other stories, other legends told with a strange mix of sadness and pride. Sab's head snapped up with the borrowed pride of kin. He narrowed his eyes at the virus and, summoning all of his courage, he snapped, "I don't plan to fall."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
