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nofileext May 28 2007, 22:00:37 UTC
The zoom-room pulls AndrAIa into the Clockspeed Room of the Supercomputer. It's a high-ceilinged circular chamber with shimmering glass windows, an elaborately tiled floor, and a tiny pink supervirus standing a few pixels away.

"AndrAIa," she says. "Welcome."

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notascreensaver May 28 2007, 22:04:06 UTC
AndrAIa looked around, momentarily disoriented. But then she saw the virus in front of her.

With a warrior's scream of rage, she brought her exo's metal fist down, hoping to smash Daemon.

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nofileext May 28 2007, 22:07:00 UTC
Daemon holds up a single finger in the path of the descending fist.

The exoskeleton stops dead at the touch. Green light swirls up its arm and into the body of the Game-sprite, who drops to the floor.

AndrAIa has just heard the Word.

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notascreensaver May 28 2007, 22:08:42 UTC
She fights for a minute, but then she looses out, and unlatches from the exosuit, landing with catlike grace in front of Daemon.

Her eyes are full of worship and love when she looks up. "My lady."

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nofileext May 28 2007, 22:15:57 UTC
Daemon smiles back at AndrAIa.

"You've arrived just in time."

She floats up away from the floor, glowing with a viral green light that grows to fill the entire chamber. A pulse of energy streams out of her, out of the room, out of the building, out of the system. It expands across cyberspace, spreading the Word to everyone and everything it touches.

In the heart of dozens of systems across the 'net, carefully concealed egg capsules suddenly burst forth with the same light, sending out secondary pulses of the infection.

It doesn't quite reach everywhere--there are doors which are still closed to Daemon. But nonetheless, Phase 2 is completed, and the 'Net has heard the Word.

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l33t_mouse May 28 2007, 22:32:05 UTC
Back in Mainframe, Mouse's eyes widen as she sees what's happening on the display at her workstation.

"Dot?" she says, shaken. "You... better see this. I'm puttin' it on the main screen."

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command_dot_com May 28 2007, 22:45:29 UTC
Dot looks at Mouse before looking at the big screen, that tone of voice is never a good sign. She watches as the infected circle showing the supercomputer flashes green...and travels down the network path for a formerly clean system. Then that system flashes from blue to green, and the infection travels fater, taking multiple paths now.

"How is she doing this? She can't. It's impossible!" Her voice is hushed, this left 'very bad' and zoomed past 'what in the WEB' and left 'oh frag' eating it's pixels.

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nofileext May 30 2007, 01:33:23 UTC
"This... this cannot be!" Phong protests.

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l33t_mouse May 30 2007, 02:08:30 UTC
Mouse hates to be the bearer of bad news, but she's gotten used to it by now. "It gets worse. Some of the systems we've just sealed have gone viral."

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command_dot_com May 30 2007, 22:32:20 UTC
"What?" Dot gapes at Mouse, dismayed. "But HOW?!"

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nofileext May 30 2007, 22:46:45 UTC
"She must have had the power to do this all along! Why wait?"

Clearly a strategem, yes, but its purpose quite eludes him.

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l33t_mouse May 30 2007, 22:50:52 UTC
About seven-eigths of the pie chart showing the number of infected systems is now a glowing, disturbing green. The indicator in the bottom right corner of the display reads 92.18%.

"Net ninety-two percent infected," Mouse says, although even she feels it is unnecessary.

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nofileext May 30 2007, 22:57:30 UTC
"Ninety-two percent?!"

Initiating Panic Mode. Panic Mode is go.

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l33t_mouse May 30 2007, 23:02:20 UTC
"It's over. She didn't get it all," Mouse says, trying to reassure Phong and all the assembled dataforms. "There're still small pockets of closed systems that are clean." It's not much consolation, though.

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nofileext May 30 2007, 23:04:22 UTC
Now is the time when we really need a plan.

"Dot! What are we going to do?"

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command_dot_com May 30 2007, 23:09:43 UTC
The Command.Com you are trying to reach is not available at this time. Please wait a nano while she processes raw defeat.

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