Chapter 8: Discovering Serverport 83

A SAMPLE CHAPTER

Bewildered, the kids stared at each other. The serenity of the moment was hopelessly destroyed. They stood mystified on the street in front of the Laerton residence. 4est was gone.  They were abandoned and alone.
“That was Mrs. Laerton,” Jay stammered in explanation. “I met her yesterday. What happened? They were all so nice before. Should we go up to the house?”
The others made no any effort to move.
“Deleted?” Gif asked puzzled. “What is this place? If I were to believe everything you told us yesterday and everything we have just seen, I would almost think we were inside our own…”
Tiff clamped a hand over his mouth.
“Don’t say it, don’t. We’re all going crazy. This must be a mass hallucination. I read about that once. It’s not possible, it just isn’t. How could we ever fit inside our own….”
“Computers?” Jay volunteered the frightening possibility with an air of courage. “Compressed into a world of byte-size dimension? That’s exactly what it is. Whoever created it is a total genius. Better than the designers of Dragon Drop. A million times better. An absolute marvel. Come on we have to explore.”
“Shut up!” Gif said with an expression of annoyance and looked somewhat ill.
Tiff meanwhile was turning a variety of odd colors, none of which complemented her otherwise pale complexion.
“Our minds have been hijacked,” she gasped in a quivering voice. “It’s not a game. It’s not funny. Let’s get out of it now.”
Em placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We’ve got the hypersticks,” she reminded her reassuringly. “We can leave anytime we want to. Jay got home last night didn’t he? Come on, it won’t hurt to walk around a bit and explore. No one is watching us now.”
She held her nose up into the fresh seaside air and sniffed loudly.
Tiff gasped. “You’re insane,” she stammered. “We’ve all flipped our tops.”
Jay studied his friends with apprehension. He pulled out his own hyperstick and fingered it nervously. He definitely did not want to go home yet. There were far too many questions and far too much left to explore.
“Just a few minutes?” he pleaded and started to move down the street. “We’ll be okay. What else could possibly happen?”
Gif frowned. He always frowned at the Pegg kids’ abnormal levels of courage.
“A few minutes,” he agreed seriously. “That’s all. I don’t want to think what could be happening to our bodies back home.”
Jay grinned with relieve. A few minutes were all he needed. He slapped Tiff on the shoulder and led the little gang down the street. He felt strangely comfortable in this world of logical lunacy, beyond any reason and common sense. Something about it was very appealing.
They wandered silently into the small, quaint township of Serverport 83. The streets were as lifeless as one would expect on Super Bowl Sunday. There was a haunting quality to its beauty. They passed a number of uneventful houses before reaching a central marketplace.
A tower with the sign Institute for the Study of Wetware, loomed prominently over the plaza. Around its corner they entered what appeared to be a shopping strip with little boutiques. None of the kids had ever seen such shops except in old movies. At home the malls had only huge outlet stores, and everyone shopped online anyway.
“Oh look, it’s a baby,” Tiff cried startled at the sight of something moving in a nearby window. Color returned to her face instantly.”
The Fuzz Factory Baby Boutique,” Jay read a sign above the shop.
They peered inside.
In a big playpen in the window display were several babies and toddlers, all looking exactly alike. A sign hung in front of the playpen reading:
Brand new, just arrived, “The J4CK1E, Version 1.0. Only 50,000 MBucks. Accessories not included. Don’t wait, get yours today.
“They must be clones,” Tiff said thrilled. “They all look alike, even the bigger ones.” Her eyes wandered to a second sign next to the crib.
SPECIAL: The J4CK1E is a limited edition and will be a hard to find child. Get one while she’s small. The J4CK1E is perfect as a little sister, big sister or only child. She is sweet, smart, has a spunky personality and will not drool! Also, get a 3000 word vocabulary free of charge at time of purchase. Hurry in!
A smile spread across Gif’s face.
“Jay, wouldn’t you benefit from that?” he asked and stood back a safe distance. “A 3000 word vocabulary might be the answer to your English paper problems.”
“And if we buy a J4CK1E it will be FREE!” Em chimed in.
“Very funny. We only have 200 MBucks combined,” Jay retaliated in defense, “And I certainly don’t need another sister.”
He called their attention to an inside display in the center of the shop where a group of small, colorful chairs surrounded a table stacked with building blocks. Around the table chased five little boys dressed in overalls and different color turtleneck shirts.
“See the ones back there,” Jay said eagerly and read a sign hanging over the table “The JUL1US, strong-willed, competitive, athletic. Build in leadership personality. Outgoing. Friendly. This one will make you proud. Don’t miss out. Only five left. 25% off when you take two. Free sports gear included, so act now!”
Em chuckled. “Cool beans! Let’s get a pair. See where that leaves you in a day or so. You’ll be begging for the J4CK1E or even for me.”
“Really?” Jay couldn’t keep a straight face and knew he had lost another argument. The thought of a few two-year old JUL1US models invading their domestic paradise was pretty amusing. Screaming, whining and breaking of expensive electronic toys would be on the daily agenda. Jay gave his sister a slap over the head.
“So, guess, I’m stuck with you, the EMM3L1N3, version 1.0 – pesky, obnoxious, and full of beans.” He slapped the back of her head again. “500 word vocabulary not included. Each word sold separately.”
Em melted in laughter and made a feeble attempt to swing a fist at her brother. This only frightened a few of the J4CK1ES in the window who had apprehended the kids and were now starting to howl at the top of their lungs.
“Come on you two, let’s go,” Gif pleaded and ushered them down the street. “Any moment the salesperson is going to come out and ask if we want one. Let’s move.”
They ventured down the street past a number of little boutiques until they came to another interesting shop whose sign read Crawlatory. The shop appeared larger than the others and happened to be open.
“Wonder why all those other stores were closed,” Tiff asked as they filed through the door of the Crawlatory. “Right in the middle of the day. You think it’s safe to be wandering around? I really wish we could go home now.”
“Soon,” Jay said hurriedly and ushered her inside.
Dimly lit, the store opened into a large, dungeon like cavern. Hundreds of small cages tagged with bright neon colored signs and numbers lined the walls. At the center of the store lay what appeared to be a large pigpen with something dark and furry at its center.
“May I help you?” a voice came from the back of the room and a man in a brightly colored shirt appeared. He bent over the pigpen and lifted out something resembling a fur covered tennis ball.
“Brand new litter,” he announced and handed the neon colored fur ball over to Tiff. “They are only 35MBucks each and come with papers of authenticity and a seal of approval from the URL of Webwick himself.”
Tiff raised an eyebrow and looked apprehensively at the ball in her hand. It was soft and warm. “Sports equipment?” she whispered to Jay who was standing next to her.
Jay squinted at the ball. He gasped. “Oh, I know. It’s a ..” he started but was cut short by a scream and a thud on the floor.
“SPIDER,” Tiff yelled horrified and jumped up and down, narrowly missing the merchandize. “It’s a spider.” She now starred into the pigpen with bulging eyes and discovered that there was no pig in there at all but rather a massive black spider around which tumbled a few dozen smaller versions in a multitude of colors.
“What’s the matter with you girl?” the sales person barked furiously and picked the little spider off the floor.” If you break it you buy it.” He carefully inspected each of the spider’s legs separately then announced that it was only in mild shock. Carefully, he placed it back into the pen.
“That’s what they call a Crawlbot,” Jay whispered to his friends. “4est has one too. His is called Arak. They use them to gather information out of the World Wide Web.”
The kids swung around in all directions.
The entire store was full of spiders.
There were cages with red, green and blue spiders for only 25MBucks, others that had more exotic colors and rainbow stripes and still others with special fur pattern imitations, like tiger, leopard, sheep and zebra. There was even one with a sign reading ‘Elegant elephant hide look, perfect for the gentleman’s desk’
Tiff was again turning several colors herself and dashed out of the store for fresh air. Gif was right behind her.
“Poor Tiff. She hates spiders,” Em said at the sight of her friends bolting for the door.
“Arachnophobia,” Jay concluded disappointed. “Phobias run in that family. Too bad, I really would like to get one. We have enough money.”
“I want one with red polka dots,” Em said and stuck her finger through the bars of a cage to pet a very fluffy critter. “Do you think they bite?”
Jay leaned over the pen again. “Maybe if it doesn’t like you,” he replied casually. “What about this one? Crawlbot Version 7.0. Comes with 20 free changes of colors and a pocket protector for easy carrying. 4est had his in his shirt pocket.”
“I like it,” Em said immediately, “They seem very collectible. Do people usually have more than one?”
Jay didn’t know. He had only seen the one that 4est had shown him the day before. “Maybe they are good for searching certain things in the web,” he suggested. “You know like the search engine spiders we use on the internet.” There was an uncomfortable moment of silence between them as the words sunk in. Jay pulled back from the pen.”Anyway, we can’t buy one and take it with us. I bet we couldn’t take it home,” he added, not realizing the new implications.
“We couldn’t?” Em asked cautiously. “We should try. That would proof…”
“Nothing. It would proof nothing,” her brother interrupted. He held out his arm and pointed to a long, ugly scratch. “It happened when I fell down the Link Rot yesterday but it was gone when I got home last night. You can’t take anything back because you are not physically here, I think,” he said creasing his forehead in a frown. “Let’s talk about it later,” he added quickly. “We’ll come back again with 4est. He’ll know what to look for in a Crawlbot.”
Em nodded and was swiftly steered out of the store.
Outside, in the warm summer air, Tiff was still recuperating from the spider incident but her color appeared to be quite normal again.
“We have decided to call it quits,” Gif announced gravely. “I think we have seen enough for now. Let’s go home and discuss everything.”
Jay nodded and grunted. He couldn’t argue against the various inconvenient phobias of the Anderson kids. Gif was probably still afraid that a new type of virtual reality game was destroying his nervous system.
“I guess so,” Jay said reluctantly even though he was ready for plenty more adventure. This little town was totally fascinating. He pulled the hyperstick out of his pocket and stretched it to make it longer. The others did the same then laid them out on the sidewalk.
“Should we all go at once?” Em asked. “Can I go first? I don’t want to be left behind.”
“I’ll go,” Tiff volunteered, “I’ve had enough of this odd excursion.” She cautiously placed a foot on the Hyperstick and jerked it back in horror and confusion. The very moment she had touched it a huge explosion ruptured the silence of town. Stumbling over her own feet she fell backwards, landing hard on the now violently shaking ground.
“Earthquake,” Em screamed terrified leaping for her hyperstick and giving Tiff a hand off the street. Pocketing their sticks, all four kids bulleted down the street in a panic, away from the dangers of flying debris and crashing houses.
The ground shook again bending the sidewalk and twisting the rows of houses that lined the beach. Suddenly one of the houses disappeared into thin air and the house next to it vanished by half. Netizens were streaming into the streets out of every crevice of town and raced toward the openness of the beach.
“What is it?” Gif yelled as they reached the sand and stumbled down toward the water of the incoming surf. “It’s not an earthquake, nothing is falling down. Stuff is just disappearing.”
Jay caught his breath.
“DELETING,” he screamed back over the roar of the masses descending on the beach. “Remember what Mrs. Laerton said ‘They deleted Serverport 89′.” He waved his arm toward the buildings behind him, many of which were disappearing in entire rows. Others had partially vanished. All the chaos and hysteria, left nothing close to a mess. The DELETIONS were clean and precise. No wires, no falling concrete, no shredded furniture pieces. Only a dense vibration and a foul odor, that lingered heavily in the air.
The kids clustered together and watched the herd-minded stampede of frightened Netizens rush over the sands in endless droves.  Like lemmings, the masses ploughed through the sand. It was difficult not to be run over. In the distance there was something moving and thrashing. The beach shook violently and Netizens tripped and toppled over each other, trying to get away.
“It’s a dragon,” Em screamed as a huge worm-like monster reeled its head and towered over the running crowds.
“Looks like the Loch Ness monster,” Gif said excited. His resolution to call it quits appeared to have instantly evaporated. “Let’s go and get him.”
Before anyone could protest, Gif was pushing through the oncoming crowds, his friends in close pursuit.
“We don’t have any weapons!” Jay’s scream was drowned by the onslaught of bodies. He threw himself into the stream of Netizens and battled his way toward the huge creature.
They emerged out of the crowds and into a big circle that had formed around the intruder.
“Get that Worm,” a man shouted and tried in vain to catch a hold of the monster’s tail in order to stuff it into a recycle bin. The sight of him running back and forth, bucket in hand was beyond hilarious, though Netizens stared at the scene in deathly fright.
The kids assessed the situation quickly and went into full action. They’d had years of training.
Em and Tiff ran to either side of the creature to distract it while Gif and Jay attacked the head and tail. Screaming Netizens backed further away from the monster. Without any weapons at their disposal, they had to use their experience from Dragon Drop. Judging from past encounters with giant snakes, Jay knew that this pea-brained terror could be cleverly tricked into submission.
He watched as Gif tore off his T-shirt and stuffed it with heaps of sand, then flung it into the worms beady little eyes. The creature howled and snapped viciously.
Distracted by the girls’ yelling and poking from the sides, the worm head swung around like a dangerous pendulum, swirling sand into the air. Out of its mouth came a vile, repulsive odor that shot through the air like an explosion and dissolved anything in its path. The dunes of the beach dissolved, a tree vaporized on impact and a small cottage vanished from sight.
Jay tackled the tail. The hopeless man with the recycle bin had given up his effort and ran off into the crowd, leaving the thrashing tail in disrepair. Gooey, neon pink slime splattered over the boy as he leaped on the creature from behind.
The Worm roared in furor as Jay dug his fingers into its thin hide and clawed his way toward the head. The doomed tail whipped upward, slicing the air, then crashed down like a battle-ax.
“Giant earthworm,” Jay yelled to his friends down below. “Get sticks. We’ll take him down.”
Em and Tiff grabbed the first things in sight – an abandoned beach chair and an umbrella stick.
Tiff thrust the stick into the worm’s side and dodged a shower of neon pink slime spurting out of the wound. The hide was very thin and nothing compared to the thick, tough scales of dragons.
A spray of foul breath hissed dangerously close to her, vaporizing the sand, when Em moved into position and impaled the worm on the legs of the beach chair. The gaping jaws of the beast quivered, unfurling a final attack of vile breath.
“He’s done for. I got it,” Jay cried from the back of the monster.  He clawed his way to the head and wrapped his legs around the creature’s neck, choking off the explosions of foulness.
And then as suddenly as it had started, it was over.
The shredded tail lay frozen on the sand as the worm’s front took a steep plunge and crashed to the ground, squirting neon pink slime in every direction. A tremendous vibration shook the beach.
Then it was quiet.
Netizens stood in speechless shock as the kids collected themselves and inspected the creature. It was huge. At least a two-pointer! A fierce battle cry ruptured the motionless silence as Jay jumped off the worm’s head, dripping with slime. He beamed in sheer delight at the sight of the monster. Never before had a slaying felt so real, so exhilarating, so absolutely, positively, disgustingly gooey.
Elated and gasping for the fresh seaside air, the four warriors were ecstatic. An ancient hunter’s instinct shot proudly through them as they inspected the slime splattered, fallen prey.
“What an awesome game,” Gif cried, his bare chest covered with neon pink slime.”It’s Dragon Drop, the ultimate version.” He tossed his sticky, sand covered T-shirt on the ground.
Tiff whipped around and grabbed his arm, turning him on the spot.
“It’s not the game,” she said in a small, foreboding voice. “Look at THEM. It’s not the game.”
A deadly silence fell around them as startled, awestruck faces of curious Netizens drew closer and closer, encircling the kids and the massive monster by the thousands.