Muse has this thing about "Games" (Canon is REBOOT)

[alphanumeric]

[Have a sarcastic eye roll to start.]

Oh, great.  Another Space Game. That's original.

Just tell me there's no golf course.  

Right, AndrAIa?

[...]

[...]

...AndrAIa?

Comments

[alphanumeric]

No.

Sprites. Citizens who aren't Binomes or Numbers. [His eyes narrow at this last example:] Or Viruses.

[hackingyoursensors]

[Binomes, numbers, sprites, viruses?]

You're from the inside of a computer program?

[alphanumeric]

A System called Mainframe.

Though we've been traveling the Net for Cycles.

[hackingyoursensors]

[Alright, this is just weird.]

So by sprite, you mean a game sprite. The little characters that show up on screen during a video game, right?

[alphanumeric]

[He looks away; whether or not he intended to, Robin had hit upon a vaguely tender subject.]

AndrAIa is a Game Sprite, but that never mattered to me.

I was compiled in Mainframe's Twin City.

[hackingyoursensors]

[He notices]

I don't see why it would matter.

I have no idea what that is. See, I'm usually the one using the computer. I only ever see the user interface.

[Though the idea of cities inside of computers is cool, in a fairytale kind of way.]

[alphanumeric]

[Eyes. Wide.]

You're a User?

[hackingyoursensors]

[Seeming...confused]

Yep. I use computers, I hack them, I build programs, I build computers.

[alphanumeric]

I've...never met a User before.

[A pause.]

I always imagined you'd be taller.

[hackingyoursensors]

Hey. I'm still growing. I'm considered young for a, uh, User.

[alphanumeric]

So there are multiple Users.

That explains a lot.

[hackingyoursensors]

A little over 6 billion, yeah. Though not all of them use computers.

[alphanumeric]

Then what do they use?

[Information Overload right now]

[hackingyoursensors]

[Jokingly:] Pen and paper.

[alphanumeric]

Huh?

[hackingyoursensors]

[Biting his lip.] It's a thin sheet made of wood pulp and a stick with graphite or ink that you can write with.

[alphanumeric]

Oh.

I think I've seen those in a few School Simulations before. You mean, those things actually exist outside the Games?

[hackingyoursensors]

Yep. Wow, you're going to be in for a lot of surprises.

[alphanumeric]

Nothing I can't handle.

[hackingyoursensors]

I dunno, it's probably pretty different.

What's your cybercity like anyway?

[alphanumeric]

Mainframe?

[He glances upward. It's been a long time, but he could still remember it as if it were just last Second]

Once, it was a bright System. A dozen sectors, each specializing in something different. There was Sector 13, with Al's Really, Really, Really Slow food...and then there was Baudway, where I lived with my Sister at her Diner. I went to school. When AndrAIa came along, she went with me. We visited Phong, the Command-dot-com, at the Principle Office. We hung out with Bob, our System Guardian. He was my Hero. Still is.

[His head lowered. Dejected.]

But that was a long time ago. Who knows how the System's changed since we've been gone?

[hackingyoursensors]

Wow, it really is a city. You guys even eat.

Command-dot-com...? You mean the command line? And System Guardian? Do you mean an antivirus program?

[alphanumeric]

Something like that.

Though Bob was more than that. He fought Megabyte, sure, but he also helped mend tears and defend us from the Game Cubes.

[hackingyoursensors]

I've never heard of a virus called Megabyte.

Oh, so he was also overall system maintenance. Defragmenting data, repairing data blocks. But what's a game cube?

[alphanumeric]

Exactly what it sounds like.

It comes from the User, taking over an entire Sector. We have to play and defeat the User in order to avoid nullification. Sometimes, taking on Game Sprites as well. If we lose, the whole Sector is lost. Along with the Sprites and Binomes in it.