classwork. He had a lot of brain-strain ahead if he wanted to turn the vague ideas in his head into real plans.
Matt worked through the evening with only a quick break for dinner and the dishes. It was almost ten o’clock before he decided he was ready. His stomach was tight as he floated in his veeyar, looking at the little line of program icons on the marble slab. On one side was the fiery pawn of Leif’s proxy program and the lightning bolt that would take Matt into the Net. Then there were the programs he’d been working on. A copy of Cat Corrigan’s earring lay on the workspace, twisted and tarnished where Matt had been tampering with it. There was also a small white key that Matt had spent a long time programming, and an icon that looked like a tiny set of binoculars.
Last was a small book — an information file filled with everything Matt had discovered or guessed about the virtual vandals. He not only put this into his computer’s memory, but also loaded it onto a datascrip. Maybe it was asking for bad luck to act as if he’d never come back from this venture. But he knew his half-baked plan was dangerous, and he wanted a record to remain if the virtual vandals decided to silence him.
Matt took another moment to write up a short virtual message that he’d carry along. He’d been thinking about it all night.
Cat,
Okay, I won’t ask where you got the magic label I saw you use. But don’t you think I should get a chance to see your friends again? After all, I did everything you guys asked. I think you ought to keep your promises. I’ll be back at midnight to talk to you. If I find out I can’t trust you, don’t expect me to keep quiet about it.
Mr. Sticks
He turned the message into a little scroll-icon and left it in line with the others. Then, taking a deep breath, he scooped them all up and moved out into the Net.
The virtual constructs seemed much clearer and brighter than they’d ever been before — or was that just the condemned man noticing things he’d never paid much attention to before?
Matt darted back and forth across the glowing landscape, whizzing around through several major nodes to keep anyone from backtracking him.
Okay, he thought, no more putting it off. He held up Caitlin’s communications protocol — with his modifications — and activated it.
His course to Caitlin’s virtual mansion was becoming almost familiar now. Here’s where he’d skim the edge of the government’s virtual domain….
Matt came to a dead stop. This was one of the changes he’d put into Caitlin’s program. It had been a nasty enough shock when he’d found himself locked out of her system. Cat had done that on the spur of the moment, scared by his questions. He didn’t think she could hack into the government’s systems and come up with nastier surprises, but she did have a friend who was a computer genius. It wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.
Sorting through his icons, Matt chose the tiny binoculars. From here on in, he was going to scout out his route. His program scanned the constructs ahead, trying to find anything that looked like a disguised security coding.
Matt smiled. Nothing.
He slowly continued on the route that Caitlin had given him, still checking for computerized watchdogs or virtual guards. At last he reached the edge of the grounds that surrounded the glowing copy of Mount Vernon.
Everything still looked clean.
Matt dashed for the wall that held the secret trapdoor to Caitlin’s veeyar. But instead of crashing into it again, he braked sharply. Then, holding Cat’s earring and his message in his right hand, he began slowly pushing it into the wall.
His tinkering with the communications protocol worked! Instead of crashing the program, the virtual wall in front of him seemed to give way. His tampering wasn’t perfect. Matt felt as if he were shoving his hand through clay or soggy sand. But he was able to get through and leave his message in Caitlin’s veeyar.
At first, Matt had planned to head back home and get some rest during the two hours he’d have to wait. But he changed his mind, deciding instead to keep an eye on the glowing Mount Vernon. After all, Caitlin and her friends might get together to give him a fatally warm reception. If he kept the virtual mansion under observation, he should be able to spot their preparations.
Long minutes crept by, but nothing happened around the Corrigan mansion.
At last, a muted
Just as he started forward, a figure came through the wall — Matt saw an angry Cat Corrigan. Her hands were balled up in the pockets of the loose jeans she wore, and her bright blue eyes sparkled with fury.
“You threatened me!” she accused. “Who do you think—”
Matt interrupted her. “What do you think your pal the cowboy was doing with his six-shooter? Or the frog with the sword? Or your large sparkly friend with the great big fists? This isn’t a one-way street, Caitlin. You guys asked me for something, and I delivered. Don’t think you can blow me off now.”
Cat’s defiant act disappeared. Now all that confronted him was a scared kid. “We’ll go see the others,” she said. “But don’t threaten them! They’re half over the edge as it is. One push, and they’ll do something
“Why are they half over the edge?” Matt demanded.
But Caitlin only turned big, fear-filled eyes toward him.
He shrugged. “Okay, no questions — at least till I’m all the way in.”
Caitlin held out the black skull that would take them to the other virtual vandals. Matt took her hand, hoping the lightless icon wasn’t a symbol of things to come.
They hurtled wildly across the Net. Matt wasn’t sure, but he thought they bounced along a different route from the one they’d taken the last time.
But their destination seemed the same — the small, featureless white room where the other three members of the group stood waiting for them.
At least they didn’t have their weapons out.
The cartoon cowboy tilted back his ten-gallon hat. “Feller that pushes as hard as you do ought to have something to back it up,” he said ominously.
“Right,” Matt said. “I wouldn’t want to get you
“Durn tootin’,” the cowboy said. “I rile up real easy.”
Matt allowed himself a small smile. His studying had paid off.
Gerald Savage shook his big jeweled fist in Matt’s face. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t squash you like a bloody bug,” he demanded.
“How about honor?” Matt asked. “You people who are rolling in dough always talk as though you’re better than other people, because you have honor. That means you’re supposed to pay your debts—
“I made no promises—” the big frog began.
“Your loud friend there did,” Matt said. “‘If you want to run with us, you have to show what you can do’— that’s pretty much what he said. So I showed you — I got CeeCee into Sean McArdle’s veeyar — someplace where your rich-kid connections couldn’t get you. And what do I get in the way of thanks? The door slammed in my face.”
He glanced over at the scowling cowboy. “Not very
The cartoon cowboy began to nod, agreeing that it wasn’t fair, then stopped. “’Fraid I don’t
Matt decided to go for broke. “Come off it, Serge. You gave yourself away when I spoke Serbo-Croatian before. I don’t think your Idiom Savant program automatically translates all languages.”
He rounded on the other proxied-up kids. “Then we have the frog swordsman — it must take a pretty warped sense of humor to see yourself that way, Lucien.” Matt twisted the knife a little, thanks to the research he’d done. “But you prefer to be called Luc, don’t you?”
His chest was tight as he confronted the looming, jeweled proxy. “And you, with your British slang and the
