milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Ben emerges from the forest again today and stops, brows furrowed. Maybe he should bring a winter coat. He looks behind him, considering. Apparently it wasn't a consideration worth following, as he is now walking over to a patch of land by the lake where then sits.

[ post is open for tags till whenever ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He might spot a flash of brighter color a dozen yards out in the water; a blue-skinned man in red boardshorts is doing a breaststroke across the lake.

He does spot it, and sits up, watching with a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

They get all types around here!

The blue man stops at a large rock protruding from the water, and pulls himself up onto it to catch his breath.

At that point, he sees he has a spectator. He gives Ben a wave and a small smile.

Ben nods, smiles.

"Good afternoon."

"Hi. Are you new? I don't think I've seen you around before."

"I guess you can say that." He shrugs. "My name is Benjamin Linus."

"Bob, Guardian 452 of System Mainframe. Pleased to meet you."

" ... guardian who of the what now?"

"Guardian 452 of System Mainframe," Bob repeats. "Um. Does the word 'computer' mean anything to you?"

"Of course."

Bob takes a deep breath and begins The Explanation.

"The world I come from exists inside of computers. In cyberspace. I'm a sprite--a kind of sentient computer program. My format is Guardian. My function is to Mend and Defend."

Ben now has his "uhh" face on: slightly agape mouth, widened eyes --

"Mend and defend from what?"

"We repair instabilities in the system and defend against internal and external threats," Bob clarifies. "Things like viruses, hackers, Games..."

"Games?" He narrows his eyes. "I thought games were supposed to be fun, not harmful."

"They're not supposed to be harmful, but in my world they are." Time for Explanation Number Two. "When the User inputs a Game, it takes over a sector of the system. Any sprites in that sector are trapped in the game's environment, and have to play against the User. If the User loses, the Game goes away and everything goes back to normal. If the User wins... the sector and everything in it is nullified. Deleted. Gone."

" -- wow. Next time I play a game I'm just going to let the computer cheat."

"There's no guarantee your world's computers work that way," Bob feels obligated to point out. "Most people's don't, from what I've seen. But unless you can bring in a computer from your world to check..."

"Have you seen those things? My 'door' to this place is through the forest. There's no way I'm lugging my computer through the forest."

"--what things?"

"Computers. They're not very portable. Unless, of course, you have a laptop."

"Huh. Seems like most of the people in the bar do."

"Do what? Have laptops?"

Bob nods. "Or at least access to one that they can bring in to test for digital life."

"Sorry to say, I don't have one. I'm stuck with a boring, old, clunky desktop."

"You don't even have access to a laptop? Something you could borrow to bring in?"

"I could try."

"Would you? Please?"

The scans have yet to find sprites in any universe except Bob's own, but he's still hoping that maybe, just maybe...

" -- if it means that much to you, yes."

"It does." Bob's smile gets a little bigger. "Thank you."

"Then I'll see what I can do."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only