|
That's strange... I don't remember seeing that before...
Jaz slows, then turns to gracefully glide back to the murky area
she noticed on the way to her dragon weyr.
An ominous sensation of dread crawls up her spine as she searches
for... Yes!
There it is. Barely visible as a dim thickness in the fabric
of the virtual world network...
She hovers closer scanning through
several frequencies to get a better look. A little
closer... Hmmm,
it seems to be---some---sort---of...
| "No!" | In a nanosecond,
she's being drawn inexorably toward the shadowy void. Her very
essence is being extracted from her sleek blue body, dissolving
like sand into the....
Unh! No! Got :: to :: fight :: it !
Jaz strains and claws against the clutches of the mist. Come
on Jaz! Fight it girl!
Ripping her body free from the grip of the darkness, Jaz flees
to a safe distance -- fear beating a frantic rhythm inside
her chest.
Panting to catch her virtual breath, she struggles to pull
her consciousness fully back into her avatar
body.
Gulping air deep into her dragon
lungs, she struggles to calm her racing heart. Whew, that
was a close one!
As her pulse begins to slow, Jaz studies the artifact, an
almost imperceptible spot in
the VR+ environment, dark and viscous. How
long has this thing been here?
Scanning at different frequencies, she searches for a clear image. It's
so hard to see... Must
be some kind of node, a nexus in the virtual world. Almost
like a virus, absorbing the surrounding data. Feeding on it,
channeling it somewhere...
Could it be the product of some secret government
agency, or malicious hacker? Jaz
circles the node, searching the enigma for a data stream. Where
is it going...?
She closes her eyes, reaches out with her psi
awareness, tracing the path of the data. Stretching. Extending. Just
a little further... Almost...
There! | "O M G!" | The truth hits
her like a wooden bokken across
the shoulders. Icy dread flashes through her body, forcing
a gasp from her lips.
So that's where it's going...
|
