There was something to be said for dramatic entrances.
He smirked, thoroughly enjoying the attention. Even the Surfr's eyebrows were raised in a surprised way.
Bob wasn't surprised, of course. The Guardian had escorted him to the meeting room; Bob knew when he was going to enter and had seen the outfit already.
Ah, yes, the outfit. He wore tight, black leather pants that left absolutely nothing to the imagination and a collared, sleeveless maroon shirt. Calf-length boots and fingerless black gloves completed the outfit.
He noticed Mouse giving him a slow once-over.
He would definately keep the outfit.
***
Silver stepped into the office uncertainly. The binome had directed her to a sprite called Phong's office, when she asked about access to the Read-Only Room.
It was a nice office, very homey. A plush carpet on the floor, tasteful wallpaper, and cute pictures of the native sprites. A rather large wooden desk dominated the room, however.
The ancient, golden sprite behind the desk looked at her curiously. "Can I help you, my child?"
"Yes, sir. I'm doing my thesis on how closed systems develop socially, economically, and technologically." She took a deep breath. This was the important question. "May I have access to the Read-Only Room?"
"Certainly, my child." The old sprite rolled towards her. "Follow me."
***
Megabyte disliked having guns pointed at him.
It was a recent discovery, but it seemed perfectly reasonable. Everytime someone pointed a gun at him, bad things happened.
The first time, he had ended up getting pulled into the Web. The next time, his fiancee had terminated their engagement.
He was quite sure that this one would also end up with something unpleasant happening to him.
***
Phong had not immediately returned to his office after escorting Silver to the Read-Only Room. A sudden craving for cocoa had hit him.
He ran into one of the mailroom binomes on his way back to his office.
"Excuse me, Phong, sir, but this arrived a couple of micros ago." The one binome held out a small package. "There's no room number for it, but it's addressed to an 'MB.' The only person we can think of with those initials is, well...."
"I see your point, my child. I will take care of it."
The binome gratefully handed over the package. "Uh, sir-"
Phong held up a thin-fingered hand. "Ask me your question after the Command.com makes her announcement."
"Yes, sir."
***
The meeting was growing quite repetitive.
The boy would point that over-large gun at him and yell at the Guardian. The Guardian would talk to him soothingly, and the boy would calm down. The other sprites would just watch them. Then, the Guardian would say exactly the wrong thing, and it would start all over again.
He was growing bored.
One of the traits he shared with his sister was a rather energetic reaction to being bored.
Unfortunately, before he could goad the boy into violence, Dot stood up.
"Matrix!" After she was sure he was paying attention, she continued, "Under the circumstances, this was the best of our limited options. And we are not retroactively changing it. Understand?"
The boy growled assent.
"Good. Megabyte, change of plans. You are confined to the Principal Office, except to go into the Games with Bob. Understand?"
"Ms. Matrix, I am quite capable of understanding sentences with infinitives in them."
Dot almost snarled at him.
He came to the conclusion that the Matrixes had to have a Destroyer somewhere in their family.
Dot looked around the room slowly. "This... encounter is over."
She left soon after that, pausing only to say something to Mouse.
Matrix and AndrAIa were the next to leave, although the Game sprite gave him an apologetic smile before she left. Apologizing for Matrix seemed to have become embedded in her code.
Mouse pulled the Surfr out next.
Nibbles-in-a-robosuit looked like it was looking at him. Given that it was a null, Megabyte wasn't quite sure. Fortunately, it left after a few nanos of what might be looking.
The little boy was just staring at him with wide-eyes.
He raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
The little boy just shook his head slowly and scrambled out of the room.
***
Phong started when Dot stalked into his office.
"What room did you assign Megabyte?" she demanded.
"I haven't actually assigned him a room yet." He paused to adjust his glasses. "I had thought to keep him in the Med Sector for the next second. There are still some tests I should run...."
"Too close," she growled."Assign him a room that is far, far away from my office."
"I see."
He sighed inwardly as she flopped onto his couch. He had hoped that these sessions would be over now that she had gained closure over the two Bobs incident.
***
He followed Bob through the corridors. "Where exactly are you taking me, Guardian?"
"Room 2, Corridor ST, Level Y," Bob replied. "That's the room that Phong selected for you."
"Ah."
The Guardian started chattering about the meeting, but he tuned it out. From what he knew of the Principal Office's design, Level Y would be one of the absolutely top floors. It was rather far away from where the inhabitants actually worked, but it was very close to the portal generator and a rather large auditorium.
Now if only he could find a guitar.... He could ask Hex to send her familiar to find the guitar he had given to the boy, but his new life would be unpleasant enough. He did not need to become indebted to Hexadecimal for something that trivial.
Thinking of Hex, where was she? He had expected her to show up and mock his new form. "Bob, why didn't Hexadecimal show up for that introduction?"
Bob stopped abrubtly. "She didn't come because, she's.... Well, she's.... Umm...."
"Spit it out, Guardian."
The Guardian inhaled sharply. "Well, she deleted."
"WHAT?!"
***
She sat upon an elegant, dark brown throne. It had been made hours ago for an ancestor of hers. It had a tall back, claw-worn arms, and spiral-carved legs. Some hours back, her grandmother had added a wine-colored cushion.
It was a very nice throne. She thought it would even nicer in the system called Mainframe.
Tucked into a pocket in the cushion was Silver's first report. She had read over it, glad that she had chosen Silver for this particular task.
The new voice in her head hissed in approval. "Mainframe...." it said. "Bob...."