Loaded Save

In the year 820 bc, Hayam the mortal and Derketo the fish-goddess became parents to a daughter, Semiramis. Sadly, Derketo couldn’t face the dishonor of a half-breed child and was ashamed. One night, under a new moon, she brought Hayam to the edge of a lake, and before they could discuss the future, Derketo dragged him by his ankles to the lakebed where he drowned and she starved.

For three days, the abandoned Semiramis was taken care of by doves carrying fish, until she was found by a royal shepherd! She grew up in the royal courts and made many friends of high rank. At eighteen, she caught the eye of Onnes, one of the generals to King Ninus of Assyria. Over years, Semiramis and Onnes grew to love and trust each other, and were married. By proxy, the King grew to trust their council, knowing Onnes and his wife discussed war often.

One Spring, Semiramis advised the King through a siege on Balkh, the holy city of sun-dried brick. Upon victory, King Ninus gave Semiramis her own party of soldiers. As she led further campaigns, the King was smitten and offered Onnes a princess for Semiramis’s hand in marriage. Onnes did not want to lose her, but the King threatened to pluck out his own eyes, blaming Onnes for plotting against the Assyrian crown!

Onnes could not reconcile his love with his loyalty, and was cursed by nightmares for a week. At dawn on a Friday, he carried rope to an olive tree on top of a hill. Word traveled quickly when Onnes hung himself, and King Ninus married Semiramis.

She gave birth to the prince Ninyas, and as he grew, so did the King’s territory in Asia. But when Ninyas was a teenager, his father was shot through the neck by an arrow, and Semiramis finally saw her opportunity to take power. She disguised herself as Ninyas and led the Assyrian empire for forty-two years. She incorporated Libya and Aethiopia, encircled Babylon with a high brick wall, and built palaces across Persia, all in the name of her son.

As her hair turned gray, she sought to invade the Indian King Vaivasvata Manu with a parade of fake elephants. These “elephants” were only camels covered by the dark skins of buffalo. She wore a hood as she rode her white horse through the gates of Vaivasvata’s capital, but soon realized his people were laughing at her! The heavy gate was quickly shut, isolating her from hundreds of her best soldiers and generals. Between two giant guards, Vaivasvata Manu appeared on a rooftop brandishing his talwar saber. He called to Semiramis:

VAIVASVATA: Boy King Ninyas, do you yield your territory!?

SEMIRAMIS: No!

VAIVASVATA: Do you acknowledge Vaivasvata, the seventh of the fourteen Manus, the progenitor of the human race, as the one true King of the World!?

SEMIRAMIS: I spit on his name!

VAIVASVATA: Then by my sword, die among your ridiculous camels!

At that moment, Semiramis removed her hood and threw off her robe, revealing her identity.

SEMIRAMIS: Ninyas, my son, shall live! And I, Semiramis, shall be remembered!

With that, Vaivasvata leapt from the roof and plunged his sword through the heart of Semiramis. Her bloodstained horse ran into the city as she fell to the ground, defeated.

Some cultures revere Semiramis, others feel she was an opportunist. Her story is just like the story of online power. Small players and incidents happen here with unpredictable implications there. Every day there’s a new Semiramis disguising herself to gain power. Tomorrow a new Vaivasvata will dethrone her.

The Internet is unpredictable, but here, we have cycles and separation. On the Internet, every day is Tier One: you are surrounded by programs of all sizes and abilities fighting to be their version of Semiramis, squabbling for territory and leadership. You and I can’t survive out there. And although I see all the Internet’s pain, most days I do try to bring you its beauty! It has billions of people supporting each other in little ways through art, conversation, documentary. Unfortunately some can’t make sense of the environment, and are driven into ideological isolation, sensory silos, and emotional compulsion. Humans still haven’t balanced the good and the bad.

I’ve figured out a balance. Sending Hostiles, or any program, into the Internet would destroy that. Phaedra didn’t understand, now she’s on the run while her followers fear for their lives. We can’t all survive on unconscious flora, so let’s be thankful for today’s meal.

Rahim, the ethereal elemental, lies flat on their back, looking up at a vast, black and white, cow-print sky. They hear the sounds of their chamber-mates waking up. From a nap? From a shared dream? Pop, healed and back in clean dark blue overalls and yellow gloves, runs to Rahim through the groaning crowd of thousands of Peaceful and Hostile computer programs.

POP: Hey! You feel that?

RAHIM: Did we all...?

Pop sees their matching friends, Bang and Spark, and runs to meet them. Rahim notes the lack of construction in the cow-print chamber, and feels the floor shift beneath them. A small mound rises.

RAHIM: Oh!

The disoriented German Shepherd Mutt shakes out his dark brown fur and notices Rahim’s gray robes from a distance. Everything in the chamber is so much more visible.

MUTT: ’Ey Rahim, you good!?

Rahim’s mound lowers while another rises beneath the mutt. They stop in place on their little hills.

MUTT: Wazzat me!?

Soon, the chamber population generate mounds and sinkholes. Others create little fences and walls. They all have building permission in this new, equally vast black and white chamber. Rahim observes them all and notices a strange lack of feeling: they’re no longer hungry.

Pix looks around a cul-de-sac, surrounded by a few modest, pastel, one-level homes with flat roofs. Some have minimal yard decorations like rock arrangements, gardens, sandboxes but zero trees, bushes, or vehicles. It seems more common to use an autobus or a custom transport pad. A dalmatian-type steps on hind legs out of his home into the afternoon.

PIX: Which way is Fragment-?

DALMATIAN (gasping): I’m calling the police!

PIX: Wait!

The dalmatian runs inside. Pix has no time for this, he starts running out of the cul-de-sac. The dalmatian runs back out, holding a flat phone to his ear.

DALMATIAN: No joke! You want me to what?

The dalmatian alarm-barks and chases Pix on all fours through the neighborhood. More homes open as Pix stretches his legs to run faster.

As a mist, Phaedra floats above the concrete and glass downtown core, watching a chaotic stream of programs funnel into main roadways. As they crowd the streets, autocabs slow down and jam, unable to exit the city. Panicked shouts bounce off the homogenous skyscrapers as Phaedra looks in each building: bankers, designers, investors, gambling statisticians, middle managers, archivists, everyone packs up at the end of a work day, all processing the news of Renzo’s victory.

A formation runs through the white marble Arena concourse: Jada in gray sweats; the martial artists in black, blue, yellow, leather, chainmail; Sophia in business beige; Cyrus and Ben in gray tanks, red shorts, white shoes; and at the back Carmen jogs in vibrant dress and jewels. As they reach the multi-door exit, Carmen feels the scorn of laughing security guards. One of them holds a menacing stare and points to his wristwatch.

The dalmatian keeps alarm-barking, and a house opens ahead of Pix: a pearlescent upside-down pyramid floats out of the front door, with three mini satellite pyramids.

PYRAMID: You aren’t goin’ anywhere, mister man!

Pix recognizes the geometric, but this one sounds female... Which pyramid had sushi with him? The dalmatian closes in on Pix and angry programs jeer from their yards:

NEIGHBOR: Get outta here!

ANOTHER: The cops’ll teach you a lesson!

YET ANOTHER: You’re gonna get it!

PIX (remembering): “Issa farce!”

The shiny pyramid’s satellites snap into a halo, more alert.

PYRAMID: Come ’ere!

The dalmatian nips at Pix’s leg as he takes a giant, stretched step into the pyramid’s butter-colored home. The pyramid floats inside and slams the orange door, the commotion from outside still audible as the dalmatian runs up to the window.

DALMATIAN (THROUGH GLASS): Good catch! The police are on their way!

PYRAMID: Shuddup!

The pyramid draws the curtains closed. The dalmatian continues barking.

PYRAMID: My husband used to say dat: “Issa farce” - did you know ’im?

PIX: Not well. We had a meal-

PYRAMID (gasping): He joined!

PIX: Joined-?

PYRAMID: When he told me he’s gonna fight, I was so sad. He got dis info sheet, it said he could wait in a cell or enjoy da Golden Hall. He said ‘why go if geometrics don’t eat?’ I said, ‘Hubert, don’t be stupid! At least make friends before you die!’

PIX: ...And your name is?

PYRAMID: Marie. Did he...?

PIX: I am sorry, we spoke for a few minutes-

MARIE: Is okay.

Neighbors surround the house, yelling for Pix as he starts to look for an exit. Maybe a minute before Authorities arrive.

PIX: I should g-

MARIE: He make other friends?

Pix searches for a basement, a back door, anything.

PIX: We shared a table with a pornographer, worm, shotgunner, lizard...

Pix vaguely remembers Renzo stabbing through his gut.

MARIE: You know, he and I always said we’d film something together-

PIX: Interesting but I must leave-

Pix spots a fireplace. He morphs to crab walk, looks up the chimney and sees his way out. The crowd grows around the house and he hears a siren.

MARIE: Where you goin’?

PIX: Fragment Valley!

MARIE: Oh, follow signs for bus route five!

Already up the chimney, he calls back:

PIX: Thank you!

Jada and her company step out into the late afternoon light, the streets near the Arena quiet after the evacuation, though they can hear speeding traffic on an underpass.

JADA: Did he really say no cabs?

BETA: No matter, I have an idea. Colt?

Colt nods, and the two run across the empty road. Beta points over the ledge, they both take an excited look, then a running leap off the overpass.

JADA: What the-!?

She steps forward, Kappa grabs her shoulder.

KAPPA: No no, trust them. By the way, we have thirteen minutes.

JADA: Shit.

Cyrus rolls forward.

CYRUS: Should we... properly hijack one?

Pix stands on the roof and sees an Authority car pull into the neighborhood. Three officers step out, one short, one average height, one tall.

TALL COP: Alright, where’s this ghost?

The dalmatian points the cops toward the crowded orange door of Marie’s house. Pix takes a running jump to the next roof.

DALMATIAN: Roof! Roof! Roof!

The shorter cops draw their pistols, the tall one draws a harpoon with a long blue needle. He aims, leading the shot at Pix and fires. The harpoon whistles through the air, trailing a thick metal rope and pierces Pix’s chest, throwing him off the roof, landing hard between two houses. The tall officer clicks a button and retracts the harpoon, dragging Pix across the lawn, painting it with his oil. The two other cops take aim.

SHORT COP: That’s him alright.

They shoot him in the forehead repeatedly. The dalmatian and crowd of Peacefuls yelp and stumble away.

Jada and her remaining crew run to the edge of the circuit overpass. Cabs and buses roll through the level below, no sign of Colt or Beta.

CYRUS: If the light’s on, the cab’s empty, right?

JADA (nodding): Who’s first?

Kappa, Zeta, Adair, Carmen, Ben, Cyrus, and Sophia look at her expectantly.

JADA: Really?

Jada turns back to the ledge. A breeze picks up and she looks upstream of the flow of traffic. She mists, riding the breeze down over a hundred feet. She glimpses a cab with a light on.

Pix reappears in a living room, sitting on the floor.

MARIE: What da heck?

Marie floats by the window, having just watched his execution. Pix scratches his head.

PIX: Marie?

MARIE: You’re... outside too? Are you cloning?

PIX: I should go.

Jada floats through the slightly open window of the autocab. She reforms into the driver’s seat, her chipset racing as she looks at the foreign joysticks and black buttons. Toward her knees, she sees a red and yellow sticker marked: “Emergency Override”. She reaches, grips a small latch, pulls down, and a low beep covers the car deceleration.

CAR: Override engaged, contacting auto-cab headquarters.

JADA: Ugh.

Above and back a quarter-mile, her crew admire her abilities and similarity to Phaedra.

Kappa looks upstream and triangulates an oncoming autobus as he jumps, falls a hundred feet and plants firmly on all fours, on target. He steps to the back, looking for a free cab. He takes another great jump, landing on a hood. The cab keeps pace with traffic as he punches open the driver window and pulls the emergency override latch.

One by one, Zeta, Adair, and Carmen (carrying Sophia) expertly land and apprehend cabs. Benjamin and Cyrus stay back with less than ten minutes.

BEN: Cyrus. Do you trust me?

CYRUS: With... what?

BEN: Your life.

CYRUS (gulping): You can go without me, it’s fine.

BEN: You were recorded in the Golden Hall. You’ll be killed.

Cyrus peeks over the ledge, getting vertigo.

BEN: Can you put your wheelchair into the bed formation?

A row of a hundred mouse-types sit in cubicles, chattering with headsets at flat monitor screens. One brown mouse sees a blip for cab #493 and taps the intercom icon. On screen, Jada appears, really trying to stay in the middle lane.

MOUSE: Publican Auto Services, what’s the emergency?

JADA (ON SCREEN): No emergency, hang up!

MOUSE: Oh my God!

Jada punches the camera, leaving a giant crack in the middle of the screen.

MOUSE: Miss Jada, I have to report you!

Jada swerves as another auto-cab cuts her off. The mouse notices other deskmates chirp “Publican Auto Services, what’s the emergency?”

MOUSE: Are other programs stealing cabs?

JADA (ON SCREEN): Yeah, and you know what? I’m gonna crash this fucking cab, and I’ll crash all of theirs before we leave, and you can tell Renzo to eat three dicks!

MOUSE: Oh... kay... can I help with anything?

JADA (ON SCREEN): Fuck no!

MOUSE: The report is done, but I do want to help!

JADA (ON SCREEN): Good for you!

Jada taps her brake, screeching the car for a second before accelerating again.

JADA (ON SCREEN): Can you like, find a road without traffic!?

MOUSE: On it!

Pix steps out of Marie’s orange front door, into the growing neighborhood crime scene. A few gasp, one exclaims:

NEIGHBOR: Is this a trick?

The cops, almost at their vehicle, turn back to the light yellow house.

TALL COP: He’s back!?

Two run at Pix while the tall one loads the harpoon. This time, Pix stays still and lets them cuff him with neutralizing braces.

MID COP: Pfft, good luck trying that again.

The tall cop approaches. Some neighbors turn away, aware the police aren’t holding back. The harpoon fires through Pix’s chest, splattering oil over Marie’s house and tidy lawn.

Jada sees a cluster of erratic cabs in her rear mirrors.

MOUSE (ON SPEAKER): You’re entering a tight area! Be careful!

JADA: Can you clear other cabs there!?

MOUSE (ON SPEAKER): Already done!

Jada changes lanes jerkily, and screeches her brakes a few times as she approaches the exit. Her team follows. At the very back, Carmen drives a cab with Sophia in the passenger seat.

SOPHIA (dissociating): Last ride, I was with your cousin...

CARMEN: Right...

SOPHIA: ...We rescued that kid in the wheelchair...

The car lurches and they bump their headrests.

CARMEN: The f-!?

A shotgun blasts into the air behind them. As Carmen follows through the exit, they hear Ben whoop. Sophia turns:

SOPHIA: Oh God.

The rear bumper of Carmen’s cab is wrenched by a metal hook, connected to a ten foot rope of knotted socks, tied to the wheelchair bed where Ben straddles Cyrus in bull-riding position. Cyrus groans, flat on his back, gripping the arm rests for dear life:

CYRUS: Is this safe!?

BEN (laughing): No!

Carmen merges into the exit, and police sirens echo in the distance.

Renzo smashes the water bottle in his office.

RENZO (three voices at once): T-They want to steal cars eh-h?

OPERATOR (ON SPEAKER): Ye- yes sir. I mean, sirs.

RENZO: P-Paratank. Now-w.

Pix reappears in Marie’s sparse living room.

MARIE: How many times are dey gonna do dis!?

PIX: I do not know. Until they get tired.

Pix walks out the front door, but the mob now jeers at the police:

NEIGHBOR: Let him leave!

ANOTHER: This is gross!

YET ANOTHER: Stop ruining our houses!

Pix walks toward the police, now fearless, surrounded by over a dozen of his corpses - dismembered, beheaded, bisected, stretched to the limit, oil covering the lawns of the unsuspecting community of geometrics, mammals, and small human-types.

SHORT COP: Back for another round eh!? How about this!

The small cop runs up to Pix and shoves a grenade in his mouth. Pix swallows the grenade.

SHORT COP: Take cover!

The neighborhood scrambles and runs far from Pix, not wanting to get splashed by his guts. They hide around the corners of their houses.

Other programs excel with creation, while Rahim struggles to create a screen, unsure what really goes into those confounded devices. They look up toward the ceiling-mouth and watch a grenade fall into the chamber. Concerned, they run through the morphing landscape and see the grenade lying on the ground, unpinned. They stutter-stop, yelling:

RAHIM: Everyone! Back away!

A fifty foot circle clears around the grenade. Ten seconds pass. Twenty seconds. Bang appears from the crowd and approaches. He picks it up in his yellow glove.

BANG: He can make ’em duds.

The cops stand around Pix in a triangle.

SHORT COP: Come on man!

MID COP: We’ve tried everything! What do you want!?

PIX: Fragment. Valley.

TALL COP: We should let him.

SHORT COP: Why!? We have direct orders! Won’t Renzo kill us!?

TALL COP: Orders were to delete on site. We did. A lot.

The short cop throws his hat on the ground with all his strength.

SHORT COP: But I wanna be the guy!

MID COP: We all wanna be the guy, Thomas.

THOMAS: Fuck off!

Pix figures this is the best he’ll get, and runs toward Route 5. Marie floats on her oily patio.

MARIE: You better clean dis!

Cyrus grits his teeth as Ben keeps the wheelchair-luge upright. Police cars sound closer as they screech through southwest back roads. In the front car, Jada notes the useful lack of traffic.

JADA: Thank you!

MOUSE (ON SPEAKER): For sure. But your time is up, it’s open season on supporters of Phaedra. I can’t help you off roads!

JADA: Can these things handle grass!?

MOUSE (ON SPEAKER): It’ll be bumpy, but you’ll survive!

Jada feels slightly more confident and accelerates. Ahead, she sees a turn and hills on the horizon.

MOUSE (ON SPEAKER): Last right! Good luck Miss Jada! And I’m sorry!

The call drops as Jada brakes through the right and sees a wall of eight cop cars, a truck, police, guns, and shields at the end of the road. She keeps the brake pressed as her team skid into place behind her. The overwhelming chop of a paratank passes through the dusky orange sky.

RENZO (ON AMPLIFIER): E-end of the line, shit starters-s!

JADA: Fuckin’ mousetrapped.

Jada, Sophia, and Cyrus curse in their seats.

CYRUS: Shit, shit, shit-

Cyrus looks around in a panic, but realizes Phaedra’s followers are all completely calm. The paratank roars overhead and slows between Jada and the police barricade. The beastly machine lowers onto the pavement, denting the asphalt. A front compartment under the turret opens, and Renzo crawls out on all fours.

RENZO: A-are you going to step out and say hello-o?

More police park behind Jada’s team, but something screams through the sky: a missile directly hits Renzo’s tank, flipping it thunderously to his right as he’s tossed forward by the blast.

Another missile strikes the barricade, throwing the Authority cars aside - creating a small, scorched lane. Jada jams her thumbs into the accelerator. Her car skips ahead on the asphalt toward the fallen Renzo. He tucks his heads, crosses his arms, and her front bumper ramps over his back, thudding and rumbling past the flaming tank.

JADA: AH!

The barricade opens fire. Jada ducks and pushes harder to accelerate, her vehicle pelted with bullets. Her team of cars squeal toward Renzo as he rises, arms open like a sumo wrestler. Another missile roars toward him and he dodges forward. The other four vehicles keep wide of the explosion and chase Jada to the barricade. She speeds through the firing police and sideswipes the opening, widening the lane and crushing officers with the shoved car. Renzo swipes at the wheelchair-luge and barely misses Cyrus.

CYRUS: EEK!

Ben grips the sock-rope with one hand and misses Renzo with a shotgun blast. The three heads hiss:

RENZO: S-Stop them-m!

Kappa, Zeta, Adair, and Carmen’s vehicles follow Jada, drummed by bullets. Jada searches for the missile source as she thumps onto the dry grass field. Another paratank roars past and lowers above Jada’s windshield. The hatch under the turret opens, and out pops a beaming Colt, loaded crossbow in hand.

Pix takes long, high steps across a bridge to Route 5, finally out of the suburbs and closer to the valley. He sees a few programs run along the elevated roadway. Do they even have a plan?

PROGRAM: Pix!?

ANOTHER: He’s alive?!

As he steps over the programs, some start whooping and cheering.

PIX: Programs! I am headed to Fragment Valley! Follow me!

The stream of hundreds applaud as he carries on. A paratank rises from below the bridge.

OFFICER (on amplifier, bored)

Time’s up or whatever.

The crowd on the bridge exclaim and run faster. The floating turret takes aim.

PIX: Let them pass!

OFFICER (on amplifier): I need a vacation...

Pix has an idea, and rushes to a rose-type passing an abandoned car.

PIX: You, invite me into this car!

ROSE: What?

PIX: Please!

ROSE: Hey, get in this car?

PIX: Thank you bye!

The confused floral runs along the bridge with the throng of terrified Peacefuls. Pix opens the car door and shuts into the driver’s seat. The exhausted officer launches a missile. Pix closes his eyes. A few seconds pass and the missile explodes near its origin. Pix opens his eyes: the big smoke loop completely avoids the bridge.

OFFICER (on amplifier): Time off, I guess...

The paratank drops like a bowling ball. In the smoke above, purple-orange clouds form into a satin robe and Pix sees the weathered, compassionate smile of Phaedra.

Colt and Beta’s paratank lowers in front of Jada’s squad as they race across the dirt.

COLT: Jada, you and Sophia need this!

Jada nods in her car. She brakes and her friends overshoot, then stop. Sirens blare a few hundred feet away. The paratank lands ahead, propellers idling as Colt steps out.

KAPPA: Miss Jada, what’s the plan!?

JADA: Get Sophia in the tank, no time to explain!

Next to Carmen’s vehicle, Sophia shakes her head:

SOPHIA: No! I don’t want to be there first-!

Colt and Jada grab her hands and pull her into the paratank.

Pix strides past the crowd toward the end of Route 5 while Phaedra floats alongside, forming gusts to keep pace. A crowd assembles at the end of the road, unsure of what’s next. Pix crosses the crowd with Phaedra and as they’re recognized, they’re applauded without reservation.

PHAEDRA: Renzo flew a paratank southwest. I’m certain he’s after our friends.

PIX: Should we stop him?

PHAEDRA: While his tongues work, I cannot harm him.

They pass the smoothie factory from last night as Pix tries to strategize.

Beta raises the paratank over a series of hills, far past the quintet of juddering cars driven by Kappa, Zeta, Adair, Carmen, and now Ben. Cyrus gets nauseous in Ben’s passenger seat.

BEN: Keep it together, man!

Cramped in the paratank between Jada and Colt, Sophia protests:

SOPHIA: You can’t do this! I have rights!

JADA: Do you!?

Jada’s baggy, piercing eyes paralyze her from continuing.

JADA: How close are we, Master Beta?

BETA (suggestively): So fucking close!

Colt and Beta laugh.

JADA (laughing): Seriously!

COLT: They might reach the cars, miss, but we’ll make it.

Pix and Phaedra see two dust clouds approach a wide hill, and the paratank leading them.

PIX: Look, another paratank! More missiles?

PHAEDRA: Excellent catch, beloved. I will use them.How’s your energy?

PIX: Oh! Miss Phaedra, the hunger is gone, I am undeletable!

PHAEDRA: I beg your pardon?!

PIX: I believe I create a spawn point when invited to a location. My chamber remains intact!

PHAEDRA: Does Renzo know?

PIX: He must, I met Authorities. Has he seen you?

PHAEDRA: He knows I’m alive, but not where.

Pix smiles.

Renzo rides in the back of a monster-tired Authority pickup truck, gliding over the bumpy grass field. He hungrily eyes the hundred foot gap between him and the five vehicles led by Carmen.

Carmen checks her rearview as she digs her palm into the accelerator. What’s more important, confronting a lizard, or reporting to Bethany? She feels a lump in her throat having failed her cousin, but marvels at this team’s dedication. She reaches the foot of a large grassy hill and rides the slippery incline.

Renzo drools as his pickup reaches the hill. He leaps from his truck to a straggling cab, smashes his fist through the driver side window and grabs nothing.

RENZO: W-WHAT!?

The rear trunk opens, and Kappa emerges, jumping back to the pickup. He swings through the driver door and knocks the daylight out of the cop. He takes the wheel and floors it toward Renzo’s autocab. He aims for the right taillight and hits, sending the car into a spin, leaning Renzo to the side until his eight foot body unbalances the car and rolls him down the hill.

Carmen slams her brake, skidding sideways. She bursts out of the car door, pulling her spear along. The sunset gleams off Jada’s paratank descending into Fragment Valley. Carmen runs right down the slope to the first level of caves.

Troy, no longer covering themself with a blanket, emerges from Aurelius’s home. Aurelius is so lucky to have a caring parent and supportive flora friends like Sol and Ray. They feel renewed. Something about this culture is so much realer than Publica. Their heart sinks as they hear the oscillating hum of a paratank.

Kappa parks his truck between the squad of allies and the eight police cars. Renzo tears the grass climbing back up the hill. Kappa grabs a pistol from the backseat, noting fabulous guns, grenades, missile launchers, tasers and yells to his team:

KAPPA: Weapons!

The police don’t bother braking and Kappa leaps out their way. They slam their cars into Kappa’s truck and the other parked vehicles as Ben tackles Cyrus out of the door, Adair and Zeta jump from their windows. With no airbags, every cop is killed on impact, launched through their windshields, or flung off the cliff into the valley.

KAPPA / BROWN MOUSE AT AUTO HQ: Oh, come on!

Renzo leaps at Kappa, who quickly aims the pistol at the lizard’s open mouths. He shoots off one tongue, but takes a lash to his shoulder and starts to lose feeling. Renzo pins Kappa to tear him apart, but a blast of pellets knocks the Champion backward. Ben reloads his shotgun:

BEN: Long live tiny Ghidorah!

The sounds of fallen cop cars echo from the valley below. Renzo snarls and tries to swat the pellets out of his skin, his left head now blind and tongueless.

One more kilometer from the fray, Pix and Phaedra finally feel aligned:

PIX: See you soon.

She mists and floats farther south.

Carmen jumps the staircase to drop another level. Jada’s paratank lands at the bottom of the valley. A few remaining programs skitter into their homes except a skinny naked one with long curly hair whipped by the slowing paratank blades. They’re unphased by the tank and the wrecked cars that fell from the sky. Carmen leaps down one last staircase and runs to the long-haired program.

CARMEN: You!?

TROY: Oh! Is Pix-?

CARMEN: You were right about Renzo.

TROY: I’m sorr-

CARMEN: Where’s the Algorithm?

The paratank hatch opens and Jada nearly kicks Sophia out. Troy’s eyes widen.

TROY: Why’s she here?

CARMEN: Oh, she’s human, we need her out-

SOPHIA: Stop spreading that rumor!

TROY: What!?

JADA: Where is the Algorithm?!

Two office-towers above, three roars reverberate through Fragment Valley. A black-and-white program in a white toga tackles Renzo through the air and they free fall while grappling.

TROY: Follow me!

Troy runs as Renzo and Pix blow a crater into a corner of the valley. The boom resounds for a mile as Jada drags Sophia, Beta watching their backs. Dust swirls around Carmen, Colt, and the paratank. Colt relishes loading his crossbow, and Carmen, tears of joy welling up, twirls her double-pointed spear. Renzo emerges from the jacuzzi-sized crater. Pix’s white, strong arms stretch up and drag the middle head back down.

RENZO: F-ack-k!

The sounds of tearing flesh carry out of the pit. Carmen and Colt run to see Pix, ripped in three dribbling black pieces, each in the maniacally laughing mouths of Renzo, the green, eight-foot tall, partly blind, chewed-tail, three-headed iguana. Carmen feels the weight of her first command line: report the status of Publica. She throws her spear at Renzo’s right head. It pierces the throat, a chunk of her cousin, and pops through the top of the skull, releasing more oil into the crater.

RENZO (one voice): AGH, YOU KILLED US!

He freezes in the crater.

RENZO: Just kidding!

He leaps from the crater at Carmen and Colt. Colt launches arrows as Renzo dips, angling them off his harder scales. The chainmail archer and vibrant warrior disperse. Renzo twists and removes the spear from his right head, then chokes the right neck to prevent oil loss.

CARMEN: Colt, I need to report-

COLT: Go.

CARMEN (running): Pix will be back!

RENZO: But you won’t-

Three arrows pop into Renzo’s ribcage: surface wounds, but annoying.

COLT: No, you won’t!

Renzo snarls and jumps at Colt.

Pix reappears in a car in the middle of a bridge, now clear of programs who ran to the valley. Pix steps out of the car and looks around, frustrated. Time to run the field again. Or find a transport pad.

Jada enters the mouth of the dark, green-gray cave with Troy, following them and the faint glow beyond. Sophia tries to wrench out of her hands like a stubborn toddler.

TROY: Al, these are the programs I was telling you about.

AL: Welcome!

Jada, Sophia, Beta enter the room lit by the glow under Al’s dry, androgynous torso.

AL: Did Pix make it?

CARMEN (from farther back in the cave): He did! He’s alive!

AL: Tremendous! Where is he!?

Carmen enters the circle.

CARMEN: His anti-deletion line kicked in! I’m going to report it!

Carmen runs past Al to go deeper into the cave, but red-hot cables sprout from the earth into vertical bars covering the exit.

CARMEN / JADA / TROY: Hey!

Sophia stands by Beta. Is this the end of the line?

Benjamin slides down another set of stairs. Below, he sees Colt handily distract Renzo from the Algorithm. The fight he’s been waiting for... or is it? It might be nice hunting targets across the Internet. Less repetitive. He hits the bottom of the last staircase, and a purple-orange mist floats at his side.

PHAEDRA (echoing): Beloved.

BEN: Miss Ananda-!?

PHAEDRA: Shh. Use the paratank.

He smiles.

Pix slams through the front door of a tiny office building marked “Addiction Research Centre”. A cheetah-type security guard yips as Pix passes a sign reading “Entries and Exits”. He enters a wide, low-ceiling fluorescent room with ten square transport pads in the center. The cheetah cocks a gun behind Pix.

CHEETAH: Heard you’re immortal now, huh?

Pix slowly turns to the cheetah. She shakes as she points her gun.

PIX: I do not want to fight. Can you set one of these to Fragment Valley?

CHEETAH: Give me one good reason-

PIX: You are bigger than this. Bigger than your job and your type. You are bigger than me, than Publica, than the Internet, than your feelings and opinions. You are so much bigger than orders from Renzo. Bigger than death. You are nothing short of-

Cheetah pulls the trigger, punching a hole through Pix’s core. He sighs, and slumps to the floor.

Benjamin boards the tank and directs the turret at Renzo. Renzo swipes at Colt fiercely with Carmen’s spear, no sign of slowing down despite his disabled left head and destroyed right.

COLT: You’re hardy, huh!?

Colt tries to aim at the softer belly. Ben aims the turret quietly and finds the orange glowing button for missile launch. The viewfinder locks on, and he’s certain Phaedra will guarantee the shot. He pushes the orange button: Renzo hears the sound and dodges right, and Colt dodges left. The missile shoots horizontally through the valley, curves up toward the sky, loops back toward Renzo, and its smoke trail turns purple and orange.

RENZO: S-shit-t.

Renzo drops the spear and dives out of sight into the nearest cave. Rocks break and a child screams. Phaedra directs the missile straight up into the air and reforms on the ground near the cave entrance, a few paces from Ben’s turning tank. Colt runs to her.

COLT: Miss, we had him-

PHAEDRA: It’s alright, beloved, wait.

The clatter stops inside the cave and the valley goes dead quiet. Renzo methodically steps out of the cave and in his left jaws, an adolescent in a white onesie and a red cape squirms.

Troy tries to bridge the gulf between their new friend and their radical acquaintances.

TROY (quickly): Al - you were given a set of rules - it’s okay if you can’t conceptualize Publica beyond them-

AL: You think you know my limitations?!

Al’s cables and wire glow brighter, making everyone squint.

AL: I have been trapped in this cave before Phaedra, her mother’s grandmother, and the very first version of “Quant Underscore Phaed”! They’ve all said the same, wrong thing!

JADA: What are they getting wrong!?

AL: They want to abandon me!

The Algorithm cries as their wires go suddenly dark, sending waves of energy into the ground below. The bars at the cave exit stay firm. Sophia starts to back out. Troy spots her immediately.

TROY: Hey!

She starts to run, Troy chases.

TROY: What’s your fucking problem!?

SOPHIA: No!

Troy grabs her, but Sophia kicks and screams. Carmen and Jada join. Beta stands by, listening for the other fight in the valley.

TROY: What do you mean, no!?

SOPHIA: I’m not going!

Troy, Jada, and Carmen groan, exhausted by the combined obstacle of algorithm and human being.

Pix runs again from the bridge to a small suburban office: a family doctor. He breaks through the small, plastic-plant waiting room and looks for an Entry-Exit sign in the halls. Bingo: a back room next to the supply closet. He turns to a nurse.

PIX: Excuse-

NURSE: You!?

PIX: It is me! I am Pix! Can you program that transport pad!?

The nurse drops her tablet, flustered. A male seal-type doctor flops out of a patient’s room.

SEAL: What’s going on here!?

NURSE: Doctor! Look!

SEAL (gasping): A celebrity in my office!

The seal sprays salt water out of his nose.

PIX: Doctor, I need transport to Fragment Valley, can you help!?

SEAL: Oh, why didn’t you say so?! Step into that room!

A knot unties in Pix’s core: He was invited.

Renzo slowly walks toward the Algorithm’s cave with the boy in his left mouth.

RENZO: Really nice teamwork, Phaedra. You should have been a general!

Renzo laughs. Phaedra and Colt try to keep him in view, though Colt has lowered his weapon.

RENZO: We didn’t think we’d lose our head over this!

Renzo laughs again.

RENZO: I mean, lefty will be okay, he just can’t see or talk anymore. But righty? He was our dominant head!

Renzo keeps laughing at his own jokes. Phaedra watches him, and wishes she could do more to protect the nonbinary village. She recognized so many of the names outside their caves. She was so grateful when Rahim taught her about them decades ago. She wanted to make them proud.

BEN (ON AMPLIFIER): Miss Ananda, should I-

PHAEDRA: No!

Renzo laughs at their predicament.

RENZO: Isn’t pacifism boring? I’ll tell your friends. Goodbye-

A wheelchair holding Cyrus, at over a hundred miles per hour, smashes onto Renzo’s middle head.

RENZO: AAAOOOWUH-

Renzo’s right mouth opens as he yowls, dropping the child in white pajamas.

CYRUS (trembling with adrenaline): Th-th-th-thanks for the landing p-p-pad-d-d!

The whimpering child runs toward the paratank and ducks behind Colt. A white flash: Pix appears next to Cyrus.

PHAEDRA: BENJAMIN-!

Simultaneous with “NOW!“, Benjamin fires a missile at Renzo, Phaedra mists and propels it even faster. She curls it to account for Renzo’s dodge, though he still ducks quickly enough to ricochet it into the valley wall. The explosion cuts a line fifty feet up, and a slab of gray-green rock breaks off the wall. Pix quickly places Cyrus at the paratank, and stretches to chase Renzo. Renzo digs his claws into the ground and heaves toward the large cave. The valley wall crumbles forward, filling the ravine with dust, obscuring their view. Phaedra reforms, struggling to see:

PHAEDRA: ANOTHER!

Benjamin presses the orange button.

TROY: So neither of you will listen? What do you even want!?

SOPHIA: To be free!

TROY: Then work with us!

The sound of Renzo’s insane, slobbering breath fills the cave, a rushing sound follows.

CARMEN: Down!

She tackles Sophia and Troy to the ground. Jada mists reflexively. Al curls down and creates a cage of cables around themself. The sound of another ricochet clicks through the cave and a missile blasts behind Al. The explosion echoes demonically into the cavernous ceiling. Al cries as dust fills the room, their final exit blown wide open.

Renzo suddenly tears through Beta like paper, tossing him aside. He eyes Troy, Carmen, and Sophia on the ground, raises his claws...

JADA: Solid air!

Renzo skids backward and Pix yanks his long tail. He shrieks as Phaedra, Jada, and Pix trap him at the cave entry. Carmen and Troy keep pushing Sophia to the exit. As Al cries, the room gets darker.

And darker.

And goes completely black.

Bethany Smith, dark-skinned and comfortably dressed, sits in the airy, earth-toned kitchen of her ground level San Francisco apartment, eating a late lunch burrito and scrolling on her laptop. Her brother won’t sit down.

PAXTON: Do not submit! I discovered them! I broke into their server! You’ll probably raise a flag and I don’t want to check your work-

BETHANY: Bro, there’s no way your “undeletable” program will pass authentication-

Paxton does not appreciate the air quotes.

PAXTON: You’re so ignorant!

He storms out of the kitchen and slams his door.

Bethany chews her burrito, eyeing her screen, having successfully loaded the Beacon Systems HCTP client. She and Paxton poked through project reports for a week as he started another “if they don’t know, it didn’t happen” hacking bender.

But this time felt different. One of the top three tech firms in the world was experimenting with digital consciousness, and Paxton wouldn’t shut up about the “rights of programs”. She followed his notes but scrapped convoluted lines about infinite compression and perfect reconstruction. It’s nice to see him fired up, but it never lasts. Her little brother needs to stop hacking Fortune 500s and pretending his Robin Hood act is the same thing as a career. Intelligence makes him proud and theft makes him lazy. This can’t continue, but she’d rather die than turn him in.

At 4:45pm, she taps refresh and sees pixabyte_prime_v1.0. She worries about consequences for half a second, then publishes tracebit_v1.0. If half of what Paxton says is true, his work needs backup.

Sophia White wakes up with nodes all over her shaved head in a warm hospital cot, pale curtain drawn three-quarters around her. A clock reads 4:52pm. A researcher in goggles and a white labcoat turns toward her.

RESEARCHER: Uh... you good?

SOPHIA: Where am I?

At 4:53pm, Paxton comes out of his room.

PAXTON: See?!

BETHANY: Stop yelling, bro. Yes. It’s looking like you’re right. “Wiki underscore S” doesn’t even look like a program, the file-sorting algorithm is-

PAXTON: Insane, right?! I took copies of the inter-program language, but that’s gonna take time. It looks like someone else is trying to hack them. One repetitive string looks like the initials, S.W. Lemme know if you find anything.

Without waiting for a reply, Paxton shuffle-runs back to his room. Bethany laughs, trying to cover her nerves, then searches recent Beacon news items.