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It's been a relatively calm cycle. No Games, only one Tear, and--miracle of miracles--Dot actually has all her paperwork done before supper. Both she and Bob have a chance to just relax and put their feet up for the evening.

[where's that ominous music coming from?]

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[Probably the same place that mad laughter is coming from]

Both feet are up on the couch, and Dot is resting, only resting her head on Bob's shoulder as the vid-window plays the evening SIT-COMs.

All is calm and right with the Net. There's even COCOA warming up on the stove slowly, no real hurry for it.

Edited 2008-12-05 02:19 (UTC)

Yes, all is right with the...

Wait.

Something's not right.

Edited 2008-12-05 02:29 (UTC)

When you're lying on someone for comfort, you tend to notice right away when they tense up.

"Bob? What is it?"

Glitch knows that feeling. And so does Bob. He's felt this once before--before the merge, even before the Web. Back when...

Oh spam.

He rises to his feet. "Dot," he murmurs without looking back, "I want you to stay very still, understand?"

...Bob, you don't need to tell her twice, she already staying still and starting to reach for her PDA. Drat it, shouldn't have put it on the end table.

"Bob..."

Don't bother, Dot. Your husband is just going to put an energy shield around you now, 'kay?

"I know you're there," he says to the empty air. "There's no point hiding."

!!!

A hole opens in the air in front of Bob. Not a portal, not a Tear--just a hole, rough-edged and glowing, barely large enough to accommodate the figure stepping through it.

He's tall and almost skeletally thin, with an insectoid face and hollow, sunken eyes. He wears no clothing except for the odd pack strapped to his back and the voice synthesizer hooked around his mouthparts.

"You are more perceptive than when we last met, Guardian," he rasps as the rip in cyberspace shrinks back to nothing behind him.

!!!

Also, Mairi's got some choice near-screeching baby-keytool babble going now now that the scarything is closeby.

The Codemaster's expressions are hard to read, but he manages to exude an air of satisfaction as his eyes move from Bob to the pregnant sprite on the sofa. "So. The rumors are true."

"You have no business here." Bob's voice is just barely removed from a growl. "This is private property. You're trespassing. Get out."

So are the rumors about Dot's current temper.

In that it's shorter than she is and extremely vicious if the look she's giving Lens through the energy-sheild (which may well be for HIS protection come to think of it).

"You file-send a single BIT of information to the press," Her voice, unlike Bob's, is definitely growling, "And I will end your file."

Edited 2008-12-05 03:15 (UTC)

The Codemaster is unruffled. "I am not a tabloid reporter, sprite," he says coolly. "And I have already acquired what I came for."

"Which is what?"

"Confirmation." Another meaningful look at Dot and the shield surrounding her. "A rumor that a Guardian has become one with his keytool is not a thing to be taken lightly."

"The Codemasters care about power, Bob. Remember?" Dot replies, her voice less a growl, it's that clipped teacher-like tone. "Just like the Guardians are interested in your abilities, especially given the nature of keytools."

She's not taken her eyes off of Lens the entire time, she's been talking.

The Codemaster nods.

"I have gathered the data which the Guild requested. Now, if you will indulge my own curiosity..." He's addressing Bob now. "Do the Guardians still consider you one of their own?"

"...of course they do," says Bob, taken aback. "Why wouldn't they? I'm still a Guardian, just with some extra code, that's all."

"You are more than merely a Guardian," replies the Codemaster. "Spritekind does not yet have a word for what you are, and for what your child will become."

"Then they'll have to suck it up and think of one." Dot replies coolly. "Both Bob and my daughter are still members of Spritekind, and that is something no one should forget."

"I never claimed otherwise."

"You have not, but it does not take a scientist to figure out that sometime in the future, there will be people BASIC enough to think just that." Dot replies. "Bob, I think you can let down the sheild. If he was here to harm us, it would have happened right away."

"...okay." The shield comes down. "But what I really want to know is why is he still here?"

"Very well. I will depart this system. But as a... 'friend'..." He says the word as if it's something obscene that he wishes he didn't have to speak aloud. "...I would advise you to be vigilant. Others may not be as... accommodating as I."

He bows, and the hole in the air reopens just long enough to swallow him up again.

It's a long quiet pause, with Mairi still wailing in keytool before Dot takes a deep breath and gets up to get the COCOA, and some digitized chocolate they've both earned it, from the kitchen.

"Bob?"

"Yeah?" Bob looks up. "It's okay, he did leave. His signature's not there anymore."

...that's not what she's worried about and he knows it.

"I think, from now on...we'll be taking breaks someplace safer," There is a pointed eye-movement up towards the location of the second-floor Closet.

"He had a point."

He recalls a long-ago conversation in Milliways.

( "My daughter is not a science project." )
( "Don't look at me. I'm just saying you'd better tell anyone who thinks to prod her this. Because. I have an unsettling feeling they might try it." )

"...yeah, he did."

Edited 2008-12-05 04:17 (UTC)

"...We've enjoyed a virus-free system...since Daemon. We might not be that lucky in the future minutes."
.
.
.
"Lens was giving us information he wasn't supposed to, I think." She says after a long moment. "I think, that he had all the information that the Guild wanted, the moment you threw the sheild over me."

Bob nods. "It's weird to think of him doing us a favor, but..."

"Not so weird...he did us a favor the last time he was here, remember?"

Lens did not have to report Talon dead, when infact the old coot was still alive and processing.

"...he could even get in trouble with the Guild, for doing what he just did."

Bob sags back down onto the couch, closing his eyes.

:: Mairi... I promise you, I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I promise. ::

Dot is soon as close to him as they can both possibly be, with Mairi, having calmed down to little 'hiccups' now. Something about Dad talking is just helping her calm down now.

"I think Mairi sensed Lens as well..." Dot murmurs softly. "He scared her."

"I don't blame her."

He lays a hand gently on his wife's pregnant belly. :: It's okay, Mairi, he's gone. It's all gonna be okay. ::

Edited 2008-12-05 04:50 (UTC)

Neither does Dot.

Eventually though...the little spark dows calm down and just...babble at Dad for a bit to be sure he's hearing her, before nodding off.

By then, Dot is much the same way. Fear is exhausting, after all. "Let's go to bed early tonight."

"Fine by me." Bob stands and offers his wife a hand up.

It takes little fussing at the stairs, but soon enough...they're in bed.

Tomorrow is going to be another day to think more on what has just happened.

Tomorrow is another day.

It'll be a while before Bob gets to sleep tonight, though.

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