MiSTed: "White Noise" and "The Sprite in Black"
               Original stories by Joshua Falken
                      MiSTing by Jen White


[Open on the "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" set.  A package is in on the desk in
front of Space Ghost.]
Brak:  True Believers, Space Ghost has just received a package in the mail!
Zorak: Thank you, Stan Lee.
Ghost: You guys'll never guess what's in here.
Brak:  Hot dogs?
Zorak: A severed head?
Ghost: [cheerfully]  Wrong!  [He opens the package.  As he digs around
inside it, packing peanuts go a-flyin' every which way.  Then he holds up a
mint in package action figure.]  Look!
Zorak: Toys?  You're getting so excited over some flippin' *toys*?!
Brak:  Lemme see!
[Brak patters up to Space Ghost's desk and takes the package out of Space
Ghost's hand.]
Brak:  Hey, cool!  This looks just like you!
[Brak rummages in the box and pulls more out as Space Ghost and Zorak speak.]
Zorak: So WHAT?  We've seen those stupid things.  You've got dozens of 'em
all over your office.
Brak:  Hey!  Here's me!  And Zorak!  And Moltar!
Ghost: [turning toward Zorak]  And I don't appreciate coming back after a
hard day of... fighting crime, and finding you've posed them in rude ways!
Brak:  [playing with the figures and imitating the sounds of a battle]  Ba-
dow, ba-dow!  Zap!  I'll get you!  Ah ha ha ha ha!
Zorak: Jealous 'cause a hunk a' plastic's getting more than you are, huh?! 
[snickers evilly]
Ghost: ANYWAY, these are not just toys.  They are the first in a series of
action figures based on our beloved show that will be coming out this Summer. 
And as the first, mint in package, they're worth...
[Space Ghost then turns back and sees Brak playing with the figures, which of
course he's taken out of the packages.  He has even taken the cape off the
Space Ghost figure and put it on his own.]
Zorak: ...jack.
Brak:  [holding up the figure]  Lookit!  I'm a hero now too!
Zorak: Ahh, you can still sell 'em for a ton of dough on eBay.  Just say
they're RARE and VHTF and NEAR MINT and some schmuck'll pay out the kazoo.
Ghost: [sighs]  Never mind.
Brak:  [flying the Space Ghost figure around the room]  Hey, lookit me, I'm
Space Ghost!  I can zap evil!  [running toward Zorak]  Lookit, a fifty foot
mantis!
Zorak: [playing along]  BWA-HA-HA-HA!  Just try it, Space Cheese!
Ghost: All right, knock it off!  I see where this is heading!  Stop it right
now!
[Brak and Zorak stop it and look over, surprised.]
Ghost: Zorak, if I know you, and I'm ashamed to admit how well I do, you're
going to bite the head off that figure, or do something unimaginably worse, to
get my goat.  Well, it won't work.  Brak, bring that back to me.
Brak:  [meekly]  All right.  Here it is.
Ghost: [taking the figure from Brak]  Thank you.  [He puts the figures back
in the box and closes it, spilling more packing peanuts.  Brak starts playing
with those.]
Zorak: That's not gonna stop me, ya know!  As soon as those things hit the
shelves, I can buy as many as I want!  I can destroy you *every day*!  I can
*MASS MURDER* YOU!  BWA-HA-HA-HA!
Ghost: [slyly]  So you can.  [dramatic pause]  And I get royalties for every
figure.
[Zorak stops and blinks loudly.]
Zorak: Waitaminnit... if I destroy you in effigy... somehow, I'm *payin'*
you?!
Ghost: Yyyep.
Zorak: That *sucks.*
Brak:  Do we get royalties too?
Ghost: Well, uh...
Brak:  'Cause there's one of me, and one of Zorak, and one of Moltar too.
Ghost: [quickly]  You'll have to talk to your agent about that.
Zorak: Or our lawyer, Doctor Nightmare.
Brak:  Attorney at law!
Ghost: Now now, I'm sure we can settle this out of court.  I mean... uh...
how about that merger, huh?
Zorak: I don't give a phrack.
Ghost: It's the weekend anyway, so you can't get to your lawyer yet.
Brak:  [helpfully]  It's Tuesday on his planet.
Ghost: Um... why don't we read a story?
Zorak: Huh?
Ghost: I SAID-
Zorak: I heard ya!  "Why don't we read a story?"  What kinda segue is THAT?!
Ghost: [taking aim at Zorak]  The kind that's gonna get you toasted if you
give me any hooey!
Brak:  He's gotcha there.
[The monitor lowers.  Space Ghost points to the screen with his power bands. 
One zap, and the text of a story appears onscreen.]
Zorak: What was that?  "Bookmark ray"?!
Ghost: Yes.  [aside to camera]  This oughtta take their mind off the action
figure royalties.  And then they'll be mine.  MINE!
[Brak looks at the camera, then at Space Ghost.]
Brak:  Who ya talkin' to?
Ghost: [sighing]  Just read, Brak.
Brak:  Okey-dokey.
[The text begins scrolling on the screen.]

> 
> 
>                                 White Noise
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                                  By: Joshua
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Brak:  Hey!  we ought to have Joshua here making jokes with us.
Ghost: Why?
Brak:  The story's just beginning, and look at all the *straight lines* he's
already gotten!  Ah ha ha! 

> Bob looked at the system's time fluxogram in the wall of his apartment.

Zorak: No matter what you call it, it's just a lava lamp.

>                                                                         The
> Freedom Cycle Celebration festival would take place in tomorrow's downtime.

All:   [chanting]  We're here!  We're binary!  Get used to it!

> Then, he looked at the several used textpads with his early attempts to
> write and smashed his forehead on the keyboard.
> 

Zorak: What *every* fan fiction writer oughtta do.

> 'I don't believe it!' he thought. 'I-I-I-mean... I survived several games,
> survived the Web, I finally got tell Dot that I love her... I even kissed
> her,

Ghost: [Bob]  I got my car to work...
Zorak: [Bob]  I house-trained Frisket...
Brak:  [Bob]  And now I'm going to Disney.com!

>      after the restoration of Mainframe... And now I can't write a poem for
> her!" He shook his head in astonishment.
> 

Zorak: [Bob]  Except for those limericks...

> He wondered if it was even a good idea... Creative Writing was the class in
> which he always had trouble when he was in the Guardian Academy.

Ghost: On the other hand, he was a whiz at horticulture and Home Ec.

>                                                                  But he
> wanted to do something special for Dot. And he wanted to send it to her
> before the Freedom festival, before their date, to surprise her.

Ghost: And she was getting sick of Holomark cards.

>                                                                  He sighed.
> "Well, back to work."
> 

Ghost: I get the feeling that Bob's heart just isn't in this.  How about you
guys?

> Some microseconds after, he finally reached an reasonable result:
> 

Brak:  A mountain of scrunched-up paper and a box of See's Chocolates.

>                                    "Dot,
>                 When I was in the Web, with no escape port,

Brak:  [singing]  That was a very good year...

>     The remembrance of you was the only thing that brought me comfort.

Brak:  [confused]  Uh, was that supposed to be a rhyme?
Ghost: I'm not sure.

>                    (I know that you won't believe that,
>             Even after that kiss after the System Crash... ^_^)

Zorak: Smileys in a *poem*?!  GEEK!

>                        The brightness of your eyes,
>                            Your gentle smile...

Zorak: The shininess of your coat, the way you'd run after frisbees in the
park...

>                            Even your stuborness

Ghost: I've heard of free verse, but free spelling?

>                   and your non-stop workaholic style! ;-)

Zorak: The way you'd stay on the Internet all evening, downloading God only
knows what...

>                      I will tell you in only one shot.
>                   What I mean is that you struck my heart

Brak:  [singing]  You always hurt the one you love, the one you shouldn't
hurt at all!

>                                   Harder
>                     With your shocking, gorgeous sight,
>                            Than a lightning bolt
>                              From a tear storm
>                          strikes a lightning rod!"

> 

Ghost: Leaving Bob a smoking lump of charcoal.

> Bob pressed the "send" key, and released his breath. Message Destination:
> Dot Matrix, Command.com of System Mainframe. Obvious, isn't it?
> 

Ghost: So simple even a subroutine can do it!

>                                     ***
> 

Brak:  [singing]  Three little tears from school are we,
       Pert as a little tear may be...

> "...Shannon's Theory of Information stats that to communication occurs,
> there to be a emissor, a receptor, the message itself, and the medium...
> the emissor can be an person writting a letter; the message, the text of
> the letter itself, and the receptor, the person who receives the
> message..."
> 
>                                     ***
> 

Zorak: Huh?!
Brak:  What was *that*?
Ghost: Joshua!  Stop pasting your homework into your stories!

> Bob entered the Dot's Diner, looking for her. He saw her reading some
> spreadsheets. She raised her head and smileed at him. He smiled back.
> 

Ghost: I'll see your smile and raise you two grins and a smirk.

> He was about to go up to her, when a binome called to her attention. The
> binome gave her a card. And that make Bob freeze, because he recognized it.
> That was the card with the poem that he did had written for her.
> 

Zorak: [Bob]  Oh, crud, I wrote that when I was *so hammered*... I didn't
think I *sent* the thing!

> Dot finished reading the card. And she looked at him. Her face was serious.
> She stood up and left the diner.
> 

Zorak: Her laughter echoed up and down Baudway.

> 'It is that bad?!' a worried Bob thought.
> 
>                                     ***
> 

Brak:  I give it three tears.
Zorak: Out of what?  Ten?

> "...but the in transmiting process thorugh the medium, the information can
> suffer interference...."
> 

Ghost: [heroically]  But the information shall transmite the vile
interference and pursue its quest!

>                                     ***
> 

Brak:  An anime smiley for someone suckin' lemons.

> Later that cycle, Bob was siting on a bench in Floating Point Park. He was
> in deep thought; he don't notice all the people working to get the place
> ready for the festival.
> 

Ghost: He was surprised later to find that they'd built a kissing booth
around him and put a blonde wig on his head.

> "Bob?"
> 
> He raised his head, surprised.
> 

Brak:  [Bob, sleepily]  Mmmph?  Huh?  Whazzat?

> Someone asked me to gave this message to you," said the binome, handing him
> a little card.
> 
> "Uh... thanks..."
> 

Ghost: [Enzo]  His name was... Jean-luc.  Yeah, that's it.

> The binome left. Bob opened the little card and read: "Come to the Dot's
> Diner, at 07:30 d.cc." No signature.
> 
> The Guardian frowned in confusion...
> 

Ghost: [Bob]  Duhhhh... invitation... what me do?

>                                     ***
> 

Zorak: Suck a lemon.

> "... the interference in the message to reach a point where it transforms
> the original message in an undeciphable code... that is called "White
> Noise"..."
> 

Ghost: Oh, I get it now!  His poem was caught in the "white noise!"
Brak:  Ya think so?
Ghost: Sure!  What else would this be leading up to?  Something weird
happened to his poem, distorting it into something completely different!
Zorak: Oh, like anything that happened to *that* poem wouldn't be an
improvement?

>                                     ***
> 

Ghost: There weren't this many tears even in Megaframe.

> At 07:29 d.cc., Bob arrived at the Diner. It was closed, because of the
> Freedom festival. He opened the door and entered in the dark diner. He was
> wondering if he had just fallen victim to a pratical joke, when, behind
> him...
> 

Ghost: A shot rang out!
Zorak: The maid screamed!
Brak:  A pirate ship appeared on the horizon!

> "Well?" a well-known woman's voice called him.
> 

Ghost: [Mouse]  It's about time you got 'round to mending these tears,
darlin'.
Zorak: [to Space Ghost]  Don't *ever* speak like that again.

> Bob turned around, and saw Dot. She was wearing a white vest, a red blouse,
> and a red skirt. Her face was serious. Arms were crossed. She seemed to be
> waiting.
> 

Brak:  [Bob]  Hey, you finally landed that bellhop job you've always wanted!

> "Uh... hi!"
> 
> "Hi."
> 

Zorak: One thing ya gotta give this story, it's got realistic dialogue.

> "Well... did you receive my card?"
> 
> "Yes," she replied simply.
> 
> "And did you... read that poem?"
> 
> "Yes." Again, the simple reply.
> 

Ghost: I knew it!  His message got twisted into something horrible and he is
in trou-ble!

> Bob looked into his lover's eyes, but had no success in discovering what
> she was thinking.
> 

Ghost: [Bob]  Glitch!  Telepathy!

> "And?"
> 
> "'And' what?"
> 

Brak:  [Bob]  What'ja think of my use of internal rhymes and variations on
iambic pentameter?

> Bob shook his head. What in the Net was Dot planning?!
> 
> "Did you like it?!" a nervous Bob asked.
> 

Ghost: It's gonna take more than 'tragedy or apology' to get him outta this
one.

>                                     ***
> 

Brak:  [Bob, nervously]  Uhhh... look!  Tears!  I gotta mend 'em!  See ya,
Dot.

> "...the "White Noise", however, could be considered the sum of all possible
> messages..."
> 

Zorak: He is going to *pay* for rhyming "port" and "comfort".

>                                     ***
> 

Zorak: Now you know he's just *making* tears to mend so he won't have to go
back.

> "Did I like it?" Dot asked, showing Bob's card with his poem.
> 

Zorak: [Dot]  You rhymed *port* and *comfort*?!  What, didja flunk Creative
Writing at the Academy?!

> He confirmed with a nod of his head.
> 

Brak:  [Bob]  Yes.  You did like the poem.

> Dot looked at him for a nanosecond, then all of sudden, she grabbed his
> shoulders and gave him a very passionate kiss.
> 

Ghost: Hey!  What?!

> Then, smiling, she asked a very surprised (and very *happy*) Bob, "Did that
> answer your question?"
> 

Brak:  [Bob]  Uh...  Couldja tell me again?

>                                     ***
> 

Ghost: Ignore the tears.  They'll *wait* a few nanoseconds more.
Brak:  Wait!  What was all that about the white noise and stuff?!

> "... So, this case, with the correct decipher mechanisms, the white noise
> can become an undestandable, and possibly, a very clear message..."
> 

[Space Ghost and Zorak both groan]
Zorak: Aw' c'mon!  All heck was supposed to break loose!  What a rip-off!

>                                     ***
> 

Brak:  Uh... isn't it getting a little crowded in there, what with all those
tears opening and stuff?

> "Yeah," Bob confirmed, crossing his arms and giving Dot a questioning, but
> at same time stunned and playful, grin.
> 

Ghost: [Bob]  She liked my poem!  Who'd have figured?

> "Hey, you were the one who bugged me to deletion about I was needing to be
> a little more impulsive."
> 

Brak:  Livin' on the edge...

> Bob laughed.
> 
> Dot was at the Diner's door.
> 

Ghost: She had somehow teleported there.

> "Hey, are we going to go to the festival, or not? We still had a date
> today, remember?" she asked with her hand at her waist.
> 

Zorak: And you've still got a blonde wig to fill, Blue Boy.

> "Sure!" He approached her. "But I guess that *this* way is better." When he
> finished saying that, he stretched his left arm and opened a portal.

Brak:  Using one of the two dozen tears crowding the inside of the Diner.

> Putting the free arm around Dot's waist, he said: "This is faster."
> 
> Both them laughed and entered the portal.
> 

Ghost: And they teleported off into the sunset.

>                                   The End
> 

Ghost: Um... well, that was...
Zorak: Short.
Brak:  Not too bad.
Ghost: Better than most of the things that we've read.
Zorak: So, Brak, you got Doctor Nightmare's phone number?
Brak:  [searching his pockets]  Hold on, I think I got it in here somewhere.
[Space Chost zaps the screen.  It goes staticky for a moment, then clears,
with a different story on the screen]
Ghost: [loudly]  Hey, will you look at this?  Another story for us to read!
Zorak: [to Space Ghost]  I hate you.
[The text begins scrolling.]

> 
>                             The Sprite in Black

Brak:  [singing]  Here comes the Sprite in black, the Sprite in black,
Mainframe's defender!

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                                  by Joshua
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Zorak: Now starring in "Between Enemy Lines".

> "Did you know that the Guardian has a girlfriend?" a boy binome asked his
> classmate, during a class in the school.
> 

Brak:  [boy binome]  Ewwww, the Guardian'll get cooties!

> "What?" the colleague who was sitting down in the chair in front, Enzo
> Matrix, asked surprised.
> 

Ghost: [Enzo]  Bob, who's always hanging around my sister, is dating
someone?  DUDE!

> "Boys!"
> 

Brak:  Bob's dating *boys?*

> They turned forward immediately when they heard the teacher calling. When
> she typed in the vidwindow again, Enzo spoke to his classmate quickly:
> 
> "We will talk later!"
> 

Brak:  [Enzo]  I'll GET you for saying that Bob's dating someone!

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Brak:  [covering his ears]  Ow!
Ghost: What?
Brak:  Don't you *hear* it?!
Zorak: *No.*  What's your problem?
Ghost: You okay, Brak?
Brak:  I can't stand all that *line noise!*
[Space Ghost and Zorak groan.  Brak laughs.]

> "Where did you hear that?" Enzo asked his colleague, Chris. They were in
> the patio of the school.
> 
> "That what?" Chris had forgotten the previous chat.
> 
> "That Bob has a girlfriend!"
> 

Ghost: Did DOT tell you?  Maybe just before she and Bob went out to a movie
or something?  Hmm?

> "Ah... Kevin's who told me. He's over there... Hey, Kevin! Come here!"
> 

Ghost: And the world's burliest rabbit lumbers over...

> A boy,a one binome, came up to them.
> 
> "What's up?"
> 

Zorak: WHAZZUP!
Brak:  WHAZZUP!
Ghost: [to himself]  How long is it gonna be before people forget about that
stupid commercial?

> "Tell to Enzo that you told me." Chris asked. "About that sprite."
> 

Zorak: [Kevin]  It doesn't have caffiene.  So what?

> "Well, I was walking through the Level 31, when I saw someone else walking
> over there. It was Bob. He seemed to be looking for someone, and I, out of
> pure curiosity, followed him. He entered into a little dark alley. There, a
> female sprite all in black was waiting for him and from the way that they
> talked to each other, they knew each other for a long time. She gave me
> jaggies!"
> 

Brak:  [Kevin]  Want some?  They're grape flavored.

> "Why?!"
> 

Brak:  It wasn't even CLOSE to Halloween!

> "I don't know! she seemed friendly, but... something in her seemed
> artificial..." He laughed embarrassed. "She even looked like a deleter."
> Then he amended, "But the Guardian seemed to trust a lot in her." He
> shrugged.
> 

Ghost: This is the same Bob who trusted Mouse and thought that Gigabyte
might have been benign.

> Chris sighed. He knew Kevin's imagination.
> 

Zorak: Ever since hypnosis class.

> "How does she look like?"
> 

Zorak: [Kevin]  She was wearing black, okay?  Get off my back!

> "I don't know exactly. I was far away from them and she was a little hidden
> in the shadows." Kevin apologized.
> 
> "I gotta tell Dot!" Enzo thought.
> 

Zorak: What?  No "No way!" or "Alphanumeric!" or "Pixelacious!" or
"Awesome!"?
Ghost: They've been cutting down on his sugar.

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Brak:  Is anyone hungry?
Ghost: A little.  Why?
Brak:  There's a *line feed!*  Ah ha ha ha ha!
Zorak: Ya walked right into that one, Space Roast.

> "Hey, Dot! Do you already know the news?"
> 

Zorak: [Dot]  Yes, Enzo, I got your e-mail that Nostradamus said that the
system will be deleted this weekend unless 1000 people forward the letter to
all their friends.  Now fetch the peach switch.

> After school, Enzo had invaded the diner, literally, in search of Dot. She
> just smiled at his untimely arrival; she knew the brother that she had.
> 

Zorak: That's why she was building a moat around the diner.

> "What news?"
> 
> "That Bob has a girlfriend!"
> 
> "What?" she asked surprised.
> 

Ghost: [Dot]  I am gonna DELETE that hacker... or that Virus... whichever
comes first...

> He told to her the story that Kevin had told him. Enzo found her reaction
> strange during the chat: she had become surprised at the beginning of the
> story, and later curious about that sprite, but it was a normal curiosity.

Zorak: The kind that usually kills cats, but since there were none in
Mainframe Frisket dropped dead.
Brak:  Sometimes ya gotta improvise.

> He didn't know what kind of reaction he waited from her, but it wasn't that
> one. At the end of the report, she only shrugged. Confused with her
> reaction, he left the diner after saying good bye.
> 

Brak:  [Enzo]  See ya later, Diner!

> Before leaving the Diner, he looked back through the window. Dot shook the
> head, laughing.
> 

[Zorak cackles as he pantomimes picking something head-sized up and shaking
it.]

> Enzo had understood.
> 

Ghost: [Dot]  Ha ha ha!  Bob is two timing me and everyone in Mainframe
knows!  Ha ha ha!

> "She thought that was a joke!", he thought bothered. He had an idea. He
> opened a vidwindow, and a binome woman answered the call.
> 

Ghost: Actually, he called Ms. Pac-Man up, but she looks so much like a Zero
that nobody could tell the difference.

> "Is Kevin at home?"
> 
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Brak:  [ominously]  Before she could answer, the line went dead.

> Later, in the Level 31, two boys were arguing.
> 

Brak:  [boy]  Level 31 is in in G Prime!
Ghost: [boy]  No it isn't!  It's in Baudway!
Brak:  [boy]  Nuh-uh!
Ghost: [boy]  Uh-huh!
Zorak: *Boys*, not *fanboys,* ya chumps.

> "Kev! You said that you will show where you had seen the date between Bob
> and that sprite in black!" Enzo exclaimed.
> 

Ghost: [Enzo]  Well, OK, it was actually more like a conversation than a
date, but anyway, YOU PROMISED!

> "No way! I'm not going! Do you think I'm random?!"
> 
> "Why not?"
> 

Brak:  I don't know.  Why *not* think he's random?

> "That sprite is a deleter! I'm telling you!"
> 
> Enzo sighed.
> 

Zorak: [Enzo]  The only father figure I've had in nano-years is dating some
creepy Sprite and is probably gonna get deleted too.  Forget reality, I'm
gonna jump into a pile of comic books and never come out again.

> "If you don't want to go, all right! But tell me where the place was!" he
> asked.
> 

Ghost: Watch him go there and have Frisket follow the trail.

> Kev indicated the location. It was close to Al's Wait and Eat. Enzo got on
> in his zipboard. His friend tried again.
> 

Brak:  [Kevin]  Hey!  How'd you get into your zip board?  I have to stand on
top of mine!

> "Enzo, don't go. That sprite is dangerous! Then, why will she get dressed
> all in black, like those deleters of the movies? Why did she hide in the
> shadows?"
> 

Zorak: She's one of those goth Sprites.  You know, dressing all in black,
pretending to be vampires, writing bad poetry how crappy their life is between
cashing checks from their parents.

> "Perhaps her eyes can't support bright light." Enzo said smiling, when he
> took off. He thought that Kev's imagination was really crazy.
> 

Zorak: [Enzo]  My best friends are all head cases.  I love my life!

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Brak:  Emergency line!  Do not cross!
Zorak: We just did.
Brak:  Oh.  Never mind, then.

> Enzo arrived at the street close to where Bob and the Sprite in Black had
> met according to Kevin. It was a totally deserted area. He waited to see if
> anyone appeared. And someone did.

Ghost: It was The Amazing RANDO!
Brak:  Who's that?
Ghost: I... have no idea.

>                                   Some moments after Enzo had arrived, Bob
> arrived in the alley. He cautiously looked down the alley for a few nanos,
> and then he entered. Enzo followed him, hiding at the entrance of the
> alley.
> 

Ghost: And witnessed Bob's shameful secret: his addiction to pitching
pennies.

> Bob was talking a female sprite who was hidden in the shadows. She was
> dressed in a big black leather overcoat. The collar was raised, hiding a
> large portion of her face. Her black hair was a little disheveled and
> seemed to be cut short, but he didn't couldn't be sure. She seemed to be
> wearing sun glasses. She really fits with Kev's description.

Brak:  Of Carmen Sandiego.


>                                                              She perfectly
> resembled a deleter or a Software Agent. 

Brak:  Or the Grey Spy from the old Mad Magazine comics.

>                                          Enzo was curious to know how she
> looked like, but her back was to him.
> 

Zorak: Hey! Open your eyes!  She's got black hair, a black overcoat,
sunglasses...

> Enzo couldn't stop smiling when he saw Bob to move nearer of the sprite and
> to put an arm about of her waist. And by the way that they acted, they
> looked like they really knew each other for a long time. "She should really
> be his girlfriend.", Enzo thought.

Brak:  What happened to 'if Bob and Dot break up Mainframe'll crash'?
Ghost: How quickly they forget.

>                                    They had been talking for quite some
> time, when Glitch gave some type of alert. Bob quickly whispered something
> in her ear, and he came in direction of the mouth of the alley.
> 

[All three look at each other.  Nobody speaks.]
Ghost: Moving right along.

> Enzo hid in a nick of time,

Brak:  Wow!  Those figures of speech come in handy.

>                             behind some garbage cans. Bob hadn't seen him.
> When Enzo left the hiding place, he looked into the alley. The sprite in
> black was still facing away form him, adjusting the sun glasses with the
> hands.

Ghost: Not the ones with the lenses.

>        When he noticed that she will turn to leave the alley, Enzo hid
> again. When he come out the hideaway, she was already walking away in the
> other direction. He decided to follow her. He manage to stay close behind
> her, not wanting that she notice him.

Zorak: Which is a good idea if you're dumb enough to follow a Deleter in the
first place.

>                                       She walked with regular, slightly
> rigid, steps, with the hands in the pockets of the overcoat. She always
> looked forward. She was about Dot's height more or less; Enzo couldn't stop
> laughing at the thought of his sister dressed in that way.
> 

Ghost: Hearing his laughter, she whips around and fires her delete ray at
him!

> The laughter had alerted the sprite, she was turned to see from where the
> laughter came. Enzo quickly had hidden behind a wall. When he raised the
> eyes, the sprite in black had disappeared.
> 

Zorak: She uploaded into her mask.
Brak:  Ya think?
Zorak: Come on!  A woman wearing lots of black, you can't see her face,
she's for the hots for Bob.  Hexadecimal's the only other woman in Mainframe
besides Mouse!  'N if it was *Mouse* they'd be face-hugging like Aliens by
now.

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Brak:  Hexadecimal's finally gotten the nulls organized.

> Back to the diner, he saw that Bob and Dot talked regarding the last game
> that had runned in Mainframe.
> 

Brak:  [Bob, jabbering excitedly]  And then I got the hyperblaster, you
know, it uses the same cells as the BFG-10000 - man does it go BOOM - and I
used it on the Tank Commander, but then I didn't have any more ammo for it and
only had my Super Shotgun and some grenades, so I threw the grenades and took
out the Parasites below me, but it didn't gib them, an' then I realized that
there was a MEDIC down there too-
Ghost: [Dot, bored monotone]  Really.  How interesting.  Do go on.

> "Fortunately the User didn't know the cheat code for invulnerability in
> that game. If he knew..." Bob shook the head. That war game was really very
> difficult.
> 

Zorak: And if the User knows the cheat codes, well, ya might as well do a
backflip into the lava yourself so he won't have the satisfaction.

> It was then that they both noticed Enzo's presence.
> 
> "Bob, can I speak to you for a nano?" Enzo asked.
> 

Brak:  [Enzo, whispering]  It's about *girls.*

> "Sure." he answered a little surprised.
> 

Ghost: [Bob]  Enzo?  Wants to talk to me?  Whoa!

> When they were out of the diner, Enzo released the bomb.
> 

Zorak: [monotone]  You have no chance to survive make your time.

> "Bob, who was that sprite in black?"
> 
> "Huh?!"
> 
> "That sprite that you met in the Level 31."
> 
> The guardian still tried to escape from that subject.
> 
> "I don't know what you are talking about."
> 

Ghost: Imagine how hard he'd be squirming if Enzo'd seen them in Lost
Angles.

> "Bob, I saw you meeting with her!"
> 
> "How did you see our date?!" Bob asked, a little startled.
> 

All:   BUS-TED!

> "I followed some clues." Enzo said, evasive. "But you has just admitted
> that you met someone! You didn't even try to hide it."
> 

Ghost: [Bob]  Glitch!  Alibi!

> "Ok." He gave a sigh. "That "sprite in black", as you calls her, is my
> girlfriend."
> 

Zorak: [Bob]  Let me give it to you all at once.  Dot's about as exciting as
a tax form, okay?

> Enzo already guessed that, but the confirmation still surprised him. "Your
> girlfriend?!"
> 

Ghost: [Enzo]  Just like I've been saying all along?  Wow!  What a surprise!

> "Yes, my girlfriend. Why?" Bob found odd that Enzo was so surprised.
> 

Brak:  [Bob]  He's surprised that I've betrayed his sister, and by a child's
logic him too?  What the heck?

> "Nothing... What's her name?"
> 
> Bob thought a moment, to try decide if he should give her name or not.
> 

Brak:  After all, she already had one, and she seemed to like it pretty
good.

> "Natasha," he said, before the Voice of the System informed:
> 

Zorak: [system voice]  WARNING, INCOMING GAME, DAHLINK.

> "Warning, incoming game. Warning, incoming game..."
> 

Ghost: Saved by the bell.

> Bob ran off in the direction of the game.

Ghost: He was in such a rush that he forgot his zip board.

>                                           Enzo was so surprised, that he
> didn't even think in follow Bob towards the game.

Zorak: Boy, a game comes down and their brains just go phffft, don't they?

>                                                   Instead of that, he
> entered the diner and went talk with Dot. He told regarding the date that
> he had witnessed and of the chat that had had with Bob.

Zorak: Thus putting himself in the middle of a crossfire that would leave
him scarred and unable to form a lasting relationship for the rest of his
life.
[Brak and Space Ghost look at Zorak.]
Zorak: I been readin', okay?

>                                                         Dot scolded him
> about respecting the privacy of others, and Enzo listed it quietly.

Ghost: [Dot]  Enzo, don't you ever respect the privacy of others!
Zorak: [Enzo]  One: Don't respect privacy.  Two?

>                                                                     He was
> expecting Dot's reaction to the news. She had been surprised at first, and
> after that, she shrugged. And she smiled when Enzo had told her the name of
> "Sprite in Black".
> 

Brak:  [Dot]  Oh, that's my sister, Blot.

> "If you described her right, Enzo, the name fits with her, isn't?"
> 
> "Huh... sis?"
> 
> "What?"
> 

Zorak: [Enzo]  Have they got you on Prozac again?

> Enzo didn't know how to continue. He only knew that the reaction from Dot,
> or better, the lack of reaction of her, had something of wrong.
> 
> "Are you not jealous?"
> 

Ghost: Jealous?  Of him?  There are plenty of other Sprites in the system! 
Like, uh...
Brak:  Phong?
Zorak: Mike the TV?
Ghost: Mouse?
[Brak and Zorak look at Space Ghost oddly.]
Zorak: I know what kinda stories *you've* been reading.

> Dot raised the head abruptly. She was sincerely surprise.
> 
> "Why would I be jealous of them? I hope everything goes very well for
> them!"
> 

Zorak: [Dot]  Now I'm gonna go visit Aunt Mouse.

> "Don't you have a crush on Bob?"
> 
> Dot laughed.
> 

Zorak: [Dot]  Just because I'm carrying his pixels?  Ha ha!

> "Enzo, Bob and I are friends, nothing more. I don't know where you got that
> idea from." She spoke calmly. She smiled and went back to her organizer,
> indicating that she had spoken seriously. Enzo had not only fallen in the
> ground of pure shock, because that he had a seat behind him.
> 

Ghost: [decisively]  Now I get it!  This is a "flipside" story.
Brak:  Flipside?  Whatzzat?
Ghost: "Flipside" is when the author gives completely different
personalities to the characters.
Zorak: Like the one in which Bob's an out-of-control wife beater, and Dot
just takes it.
Brak:  [upset]  No!  Bob wouldn't do that!  He's too nice!
Zorak: You don't understand, Brakkums.  It's a serious story about serious
issues, so the author can write them and dang way he likes.
Brak:  [really upset]  Nuh-uh!  That's not Bob!  That's not Dot!
Ghost: I'm sorry I brought this up.  Maybe it's an alternate universe story
instead, okay?

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Ghost: [to Zorak] That's the line you almost pushed Brak past.
Zorak: Sorry.  Next time I'll try harder.

> Enzo had decided speak with Bob about Natasha. Frisket was at his side.

Brak:  For moral support.

> When he saw Bob, he noticed that his friend was going to the Level 31. Enzo
> was in doubt for some moments, but he was after him.
> 

Zorak: [Enzo]  Frisket, SIC 'EM!

> For some moments, Enzo had lost sight of Bob, and decided to go to that
> alley where he and Natasha met before. And he was right - both were there.
> 

Ghost: Some people meet in their favorite restaurant, some meet in parks or
at the beach.  Bob and Natasha?  They have the dumpster behind Al's.

> They talked in a very low tone, Enzo couldn't listen them. She was with the
> hands in the pockets of the overcoat.

Zorak: [singing]  I hold your hands in mine, dear, I lift it to my lips,
       I take a healthy bite from your dainty fingertips.

>                                       Now she used a cap, also black,
> buried until the eyes, besides the sun glasses. They were very close one of
> the other. 

Brak:  Uhhhh... 
Ghost: She buried her cap beside her sunglasses because her eyes were too
close together.  I guess.

>            Enzo didn't get to see her face. At a certain moment, she
> crossed the arms and she were with a serious posture, as if she was
> expecting an explanation. Bob spoke some thing and she laughed.

Brak:  Bob told a joke?
Zorak: And someone *laughed?*
Ghost: See?  This *is* an alternate universe story.

>                                                                 Enzo was a
> little confused, her laughter sounded familiar, but he could not say the
> reason of the feeling.

Zorak: Perhaps because it *sounded like someone he knows*?
Ghost: [slowly and patiently]  Now, Enzo, think.  Was it a Southern alto or
a wild cackle?

>                        They talked for a little while longer, when it
> seemed that she had to go.

Brak:  She kept looking toward the little girls' room.

>                            She arranged the overcoat, but she was standing
> as if she was considering something. Enzo saw Bob ask something to her,
> when she surprised him: she wrapped her arms around his neck and she
> passionately kissed him. Bob didn't resist and retributed the kiss back.
> 

Ghost: I'm calling this.  It's Mouse.
Zorak: You're nuts.  It's Hexadecimal!
Ghost: Wanna bet?
Zorak: You're on!

> "The date is really serious!", Enzo thought, when upos seeing their
> passionate kiss. Enzo cannot stop smiling, and he would swear that Frisket
> smiled too due to the scene.
> 

Brak:  PDA.  What every boy 'n his dog loves to see.

> It was then that Natasha released Bob and she arranged the sun glasses.

Ghost: In a vase to make a *lovely* centerpiece for the dining room table.

> Enzo and Frisket hid behind a near wall. They heard the sound of
> high-heeled footfalls walking out of the alley, later the sound of someone
> in a zipboard too leaving the allet, later again the sound of high-heeled
> footfalls.

Brak:  Wait.  How many women were in that alley with him again?

>            Enzo left the hiding place. He saw Natasha walking in direction
> of Al's Wait and Eat.
> 

Ghost: A wretched hive of scum and villainy.

> "Let's go, Frisket!"
> 

Brak:  [Enzo]  Oops, she musta heard me. I keep forgetting that sound
carries!

> Both followed the sprite in black. Frisket walked quietly beside Enzo, who
> was in his zipboard.

Ghost: I guess he uploaded into it like Ray Tracer does with his Surf-Baud.
Zorak: [under his breath]  Geek.

>                      She walked in a moderate step; she didn't seem to had
> any hurry. She had only removed the gloved hands from the pockets just
> once, to reposition the sun glasses.

Brak:  [Natasha]  Hey!  These things work *great* when I put 'em over my
eyes!

>                                      Enzo thought now that Kev could be
> right, there was something in Natasha that didn't fit...

Ghost: [falsetto]  Natasha, that skirt doesn't work for you any more.  Maybe
you *do* weigh the same as you did in college, but it's shifted since then.
Zorak: Natasha got back!

>                                                          Her gestures now
> seemed cautious, as if calculated; they didn't combine with the manner that
> she acted in the encounter. There, she acted looser, more well-tempered.
> Now, she seemed a little too cold, serious.
> 
> Enzo thought over this, when Frisket saw a null. He snarled for the null,
> that escaped.

Zorak: [animal yelps]  Yipe!  Yipe!  Yipe!

>               The detail was that he had roared a bit too loudly.

Zorak: As opposed to those "stealth roars" that he usually does.

>                                                                   Natasha
> stopped of walking, her body tense of alert.

Ghost: [Natasha]  Hmm.  Animal roaring nearby.  Should I run?  Nah, I'll
just stand here!

>                                              It was in the nick of time,
> when Enzo pushed Frisket into a nearby alley. Natasha turned abruptly, but
> late too much to see her pursuers. She laughed when she saw that null.

Brak:  A Roaring Null!  Now all she needs is a Lesser Speckled Energy-Sucker
and she'll finish her Null-Watcher's Chart.

> Suddenly, her eyes were narrowed. In the corner of the wall of an alley,
> she saw a reflection in a mirror piece: a boy sprite and a rather large
> dog.

Zorak: Sure is *conveeeenient* how that mirror just happened to be hanging
in a deserted alley, ain't it?

>      She bit her lower lip for a moment, then she smiled and she retaked
> her way again.
> 

Ghost: [Natasha]  Lemme see - what's my motivation again?  Am I worried that
I've been found out?  ...  NAHHH.

> Enzo breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of her footfalls
> decrease of intensity.

Brak:  Whew.  I dunno about you guys, but those footsteps were getting way
too intense for me!

>                        He didn't think she really was a deleter, but... was
> better to be safe, isn't?

Zorak: "Better to be safe?"  Who are you, and what have you done with Enzo?!

>                           He and Frisket left the improvised hideaway, and
> they followed the "Sprite in black" again. She turned in a bifurcation.

Brak:  [Nanny Ogg]  I hope she got the young man's name.

> When Enzo entered in the same road... she had disappeared again!
> 
> He blinked for sometime, trying to understand how she had made this magic.

Zorak: Duhhhh, who in Mainframe can appear and disappear?  And has the hots
for Bob, but he has to see secretly?  Mouse?  Duhhhh, I wonder!

> In this instant, a black-gloved hand grabbed Enzo by the arm strongly and
> pulled him into an alley!
> 

Ghost: Oh, okay, she "disappeared" by stepping into the alley right behind
Enzo.
Zorak: It works in Quake.

> Enzo's breathing stopped in that instant, of pure fear. Natasha now was
> behind him, holding his shoulders in a firm way; her hands, very close of
> his neck.
> 

Zorak: [Natasha]  I've got you, my pretty, and your little dog too!

> "What do you want from me, sprite?" The sprite in black asked, seriously,
> in a tone that was not threatening, but it was not also friendly.

Ghost: So, she asks in a sort of bored, uninterested tone.

>                                                                   Her voice
> was strange: it seemed oddly familiar, but it had something of very strange
> - an a little artificial, a little too much regular tone.
> 

Brak:  Y'know, I'm beginning to get the feeling that she's actually someone
we've heard of before.
Zorak: No!  Ya think?  How'd you figure that one out?
Brak:  There's little clues here 'n there.

> "Are you Bob's girlfriend? Natasha?" Enzo asked the obvious, for the simple
> reason of being scared too much to think in a convincing answer.

Ghost: Way to go.  Keep 'em off balance!

>                                                                  And he
> knew that he was far away from any help, only for that reason he didn't
> scream.

Brak:  [Enzo]  Um, has anybody seen Frisket?  He was there a moment ago. 
[whistles]  Here, boy!

>         And by her agility, he knew that if he screamed, if she wanted, she
> could do something very unpleasant before he could do some thing.
> 

Zorak: She could give him *such* a wedgie!

> "Yes, I am." she said in the same tone before. "Why did you follow me?" she
> repeated, a little more authoritarian.
> 

Brak:  [Enzo]  Uh I wasn't!  I was following the Yellow Brick Alley!  Yeah,
that's it!  I was walking down the road, I was looking for the Truth of Life!

> Enzo gulped. Her tone was the same of the deleters from the movies! He
> remembered what Kev had said. Now he believed. "Now, she will turn off
> without saving!" Enzo thought of closed eyes.
> 

Ghost: [Natasha]  Look, kid, I can't read your mind.  Speak up!

> "Why did you follow me?" She repeated the question. He opened the eyes.
> 

Brak:  Whose eyes?
Zorak: Everybody's.

> In a pulse, Enzo tried to turn the head to see her face. Before he had the
> chance, she pressed his shoulders a little more strongly - just enough to
> be a "gentile" form of saying: "Don't think in that!"
> 

Ghost: [Natasha]  Don't you DARE think in your shoulders!

> "I was curious about you!"
> 

Brak:  I guess he never heard what killed the cat, huh?
Zorak: What, Frisket?

> The "Sprite in Black" asked slowly, with a mixed tone of irony and
> amusement:
> 

Ghost: Who are you?
Brak:  What is your quest?
Zorak: What is your favorite color?

> "Were you curious about me?"
> 

Zorak: What, ya deaf?!  He just SAID he is!

> Her tone didn't tranquilize him.

Ghost: Perhaps she should have told him to SLEEEEEP!

>                                  She still held firmly him for the
> shoulders. He felt when she slowly descended. She spoke slowly, close of
> his ear:
> 

Brak:  [whispering]  Taste the rainbow.

> "Enzo, you should try to be a little less curious!"
> 
> "End of file!", Enzo thought, terrified.
> 

Zorak: You should see Enzo after Phong talks to him.  He wets his bed for a
nano-week.

> Suddenly, something covered his eyes and he felt that was spinning.

Brak:  Next thing he knew, he was ballet dancing with Dee Dee!

>                                                                     He held
> himself in a wall. It was when he noticed that what covered his eyes it was
> his own cap. And it was on that moment he noticed that Natasha had
> disappeared.
> 

Zorak: And then he noticed that he had hands on the ends of his arms.
Brak:  But he still didn't notice that Frisket was gone.
Ghost: Probably off playing poker somewhere with the other dogs.

> Enzo was still a little dizzy, because of the spinning. Natasha really had
> cheated him! 

Ghost: [Enzo]  Hey!  She should have deleted me, but I'm still alive!  What
a rip-off!

>              She should have loved the fright that had given on him! Now he
> noticed a tone of who thought funny when she had said: "Enzo, you should be
> a little..." It was when he noticed: He had not said it, but.... she knew
> his name!
> 

Brak:  And she knew what he did last summer camp.

> Frisket licked Enzo's bewildered face. He asked:
> 

Brak:  [Frisket]  Arf arf woof woof bark?

> "Frisket, why didn't you attack her?" Enzo wasn't angry, he was only
> amazed.

Ghost: [gravely]  And very, very disappointed.

>         If somebody had grabbed Enzo of that way, in the next moment
> Frisket would be to the point of to attack the attacker's throat. The only
> answer that Frisket can give was a insecure snarl.
> 

Ghost: [Frisket]  Look, I'm sorry, I just froze up!  It can happen to
anybody, right?

> They were in direction of Baudway.
> 

Zorak: But *what* were they doing in the direction of Baudway, huh?

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Brak:  Making a beeline for it.

> "That is not funny!" Enzo said bothered.
> 

Zorak: You're telling me!  That joke was *lame*.
Brak:  You think you can make better line jokes, mister bug?
Zorak: Yeah, I can!
Brak:  Then you do 'em!  I double-dog dare ya!
Zorak: I will!  Nyaah!
Brak:  Nyaah!

> Bob still laughed. In the next cycle, Enzo had told him regarding the
> fright that Natasha had given him. The two sprites talked in the Dot's
> diner. There was not anybody close that could hear the chat.
> 

Ghost: Cecil was off on vacation, so for once nobody was waiting at the bar.

> "Excuse me! But that is what you win by spying the others!" Bob said
> well-tempered. "Did you really think she was a deleter?!" He didn't believe
> in that.
> 

Zorak: [Bob]  MAN, what a stupid kid you are!  I thought delivering packages
for Megabyte was dumb, but, sheesh, this really takes the cake!

> "She resembles one!" Enzo defended.
> 

Ghost: [Bob]  She looks like a killer, so you followed her around.  *How*
have you stayed alive this long again?

> "O.K. She really resembles a deleter. I admit that. She doesn't support
> strong light, so she gets dressed of that way. But she is not dangerous,
> that is just her way."
> 

[They all look at each other.]
Brak:  I dunno know where to start.
Zorak: Ya got me.
Ghost: Let's just move on.

> Enzo was not still convinced.
> 

Brak:  Gee, why?

> "Oh! Is her way then almost to kill anybody of fright?!

Ghost: [Hexadecimal]  That is the way of things.

>                                                         When she grabbed me
> and she spoke in that tone... I thought that she will delete me!"
> 

Zorak: [Enzo]  And then I thought, "What sucky kinda Guardian do we HAVE,
anyway, huh?!

> Enzo turned the head. Dot looked at fixedly to some spreedsheets. She
> seemed to be very concentrated on them.
> 

Ghost: First comes denial...

> Bob scratched the head. He said cautiously.
> 

Brak:  Whose head was that?
Ghost: Probably just some random binome passing by.

> "She doesn't just like to be the center of the attentions. That is all.

Brak:  That's why she's wearing the Carmen Sandiego getup.

> When she noticed you followed her, and as she knows that she resembles a
> deleter, she should have been thinking that a fright would be a great way
> of you to give up. She is a very cool and a very pretty sprite, she is just
> a little shy with unknown people."
> 

Ghost: And, after all, Enzo's gotta be the most unknown person in Mainframe.

> Enzo raised the brows. Even he knew that that kiss didn't belong to a shy
> person.

Ghost: He'd been watching Bill Plympton films, and that one was at least a
number six!

>         Enzo noticed that he would not get anything else about Natasha's
> personality, he asked:
> 

Brak:  [Enzo]  Where do babies come from?
Ghost: [Dot]  Er, um, ask your... oops, awkward.

> "Is she from Supercomputer?" Enzo thought that that would explain her
> strangeness.
> 
> "Yes, she is."
> 

Zorak: [southern drawl]  Oh, she's one o' them *for'ners*.  Get the shotgun,
Zeke.

> Enzo felt a hand in the shoulder. He almost jumped of pure fright.
> 
> "Hey, Enzo, it's me!" Dot said, surprise with his reaction.
> 

Zorak: Forgot to take your Ritalin again, kid?

> "Warning, Incoming Game. Warning, Incoming Game..."
> 

Brak:  I hope it's Brak's Bean Chomper!

> Bob came out of the Diner to enter in the game that went down. Enzo will
> follow him but Dot held his brother. Besides being dangerous, he still had
> homework to do...
> 

Ghost: [Dot]  You still have that term paper due next year!  Up to your
room, young man!

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

[Brak looks at Zorak.]
Zorak: If they want to send an SOS, they'd better stick some dots in.

> Two cycles after the chat in the diner, Enzo, Chris and Kev were in the
> Level 31. They had going to Wall Street Sector, to research some files for
> a school work, and now they went back home, cutting the road for the Level
> 31.
> 

Brak:  They were going to put some lovely drapes all around the sector.

> "Why we don't go to Al's?" Chris asked.
> 
> As they didn't have anything else to do, they were.
> 

Brak:  ZAP!  Just like magic, there they were!

> Some moments then, Chris and Kev had left. 

Brak:  ZAP!  Just like magic, they're gone again!

>                                            Enzo was arranging his
> annotations.

Ghost: [Enzo]  One... two... four... darn it, I *know* I had a three around
here!

>              He heard somebody enter in the restaurant, but he didn't care
> in the moment. He noticed that the person had sat down in the table behind
> him. He will rise when he heard:
> 

Zorak: Oh, he *will* rise.  Believe me, he WILL!  BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

> "One energy shake, please." The voice was calm, and a little too regular.
> 

Brak:  [Enzo]  Oh no!  A calm, normal voice!  What do I do?!

> "Sure, lady." The waiter answered quickly.
> 

Ghost: [waiter, grumbling]  Energy shake.  Where does she think she is,
Dot's Diner?  I'll serve her a quantum shake, she'll never know the
difference.

> Enzo had recognized the voice.

Ghost: I sure didn't, since that's not either of Al's Waiters that *I've*
seen.
Zorak: Geek.

>                                He ventured a glance back. He saw the back
> of the neck of a black-haired sprite, with the collar of raised black
> overcoat raised. Enzo couldn't believe in the irony. There was Natasha,
> Bob's mysterious girlfriend from the Supercomputer.
> 

Zorak: [Enzo] Great.  I stop stalking her, now she's stalking *me*!

> The young sprite continued sat down, waiting. Natasha finished her energy
> shake.
> 

Brak:  Will she get a refill? Will she order chips?  Eat here or carry-out? 
I CAN'T TAKE THE SUSPENSE!

> "Thank you." She said kindly and she smiled at the waiter.

Zorak: [surly waiter]  Hey, lady!  Y'ever hear of *tipping*?!

>                                                            Then, she seemed
> to think better and she stayed with a neutral expression in the face.

Brak:  And then she shifted her face into park.

>                                                                       Enzo
> was annoyed. He was sure that he had already heard that gentile tone
> before...
> 

Ghost: I just can't stop thinking this *might be* foreshadowing.

> Natasha rose and she calmly left, the hands carefully in the pockets of the
> overcoat.
> 

Zorak: She was smuggling Thing out of Al's Wait and Eat.

> Enzo almost that jumped from where he was to speak with the waiter.
> 

Brak:  Boi-oi-oi-oi-oing!

> "Was that sprite already here before?"
> 

Zorak: [waiter]  Before what?

> "Yes. Once in a while, she appears here."
> 

Ghost: Some people say she uses a portal, but others think there's a
hydraulic lift in the floor.

> "How long she comes here?"
> 

Zorak: How long's it take to drink one energy shake?

> "Not much time. Just some cycles..." The waiter thought a little. "She is a
> little strange."
> 
> "Why?"
> 

Ghost: Well, don't *you* think it's odd to spend all cycle drinking one
energy shake?

> "She only comes all dressed in black, sometimes with a cap hiding her face.
> But..."
> 
> "But?"
> 

Brak:  The long coat covered that part.

> "I don't know... she intimidates a little, with that way of her, but the
> smile that she gave was very gentile, the kind that you wait of a friend...

Zorak: The kind of smile you wait for your Gentile friends to make...

> the problem is that her smile seems to be very familiar." The binome shook
> the head. "I don't know why..."
> 

Ghost: Ah, there's that foreshadowing thing again.

> "Does she always come this hour?"
> 
> "Yes." On that moment the waiter was called by another customer.
> 

Ghost: At least it wasn't another incoming game.

> Enzo had an idea.
> 

Brak:  A wonderful, awful idea.

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Ghost: Sooner or later they're going to have to lay the other half of the
railroad track.

> Some cycles later, he waited hidden close to the Al's Wait and Eat. Enzo
> was ready to discover how the face of mysterious Natasha was. All right,
> she could be shy, but it seemed that she didn't want that anybody saw her
> face!

Zorak: Except for Bob, when he was sucking on it.

>       A moment she hides with the sun glasses, another with her hair,
> another with that black cap: if she was as pretty like Bob said, that
> didn't make sense...
> 

Zorak: Unless she just didn't want to be seen with a dork like *Bob*.

> He heard the sound of high-heeled footfalls arriving close. It was the
> "Sprite in Black". She arrived with the face hidden by the cap.

Brak:  The other face went to park the car.

>                                                                 It seemed
> that in the neck she had a very old scar.

Zorak: He can see her neck really well, can't he?  Hey, kid!  Wake up! 
*What color is her skin already?!* 

>                                           While she was inside of Al's,
> Enzo prepared a special photo machine, that didn't need flash. That will be
> Enzo's way of to take revenge of that scare that Natasha had given him.
> 

Ghost: Yow.  I wouldn't want to get on *that* kid's bad side.

> She had left. Enzo followed her quietly. She calmly walked.

Brak:  Brak waited.
Zorak: Zorak yawned.
Ghost: Space Ghost tapped his fingers.

>                                                             She stopped in
> front of an alley, close of the limits of the Level 31 with Baudway. After
> she looks for the sides, she entered in the alley.

Ghost: [Natasha]  It's narrow, it's got a left side, it's got a right
side... yep, it's an alley.

>                                                    Enzo was in the mouth of
> the alley. Natasha went to the bottom of the alley, where there was an old
> broken mirror in the ground. She removed her cap and she opened the
> overcoat. 

[Zorak begins singing Mancini's "The Stripper".]

>           Enzo saw the reflex of the icon in her chest in the mirror.
> Natasha clicked twice in the icon and rebooted.
> 

Ghost: You reboot *inside* games, not *outside.*
Zorak: Fanboy.

> Enzo blinked, don't getting to believe.
> 

Brak:  The tension!  I can't stand it anymore!!  WHO ARE YOU?!?

> In the place in that it was Natasha, it was Dot!
> 

[General consternation from the audience, then groans of acceptance.]
Ghost: Oh, brother.  I should've known.
Zorak: Faked out twice in a row!
Brak:  Gotta give Joshua credit for that.

> Enzo was literally without speech. He left of there before his sister
> noticed him.
> 

Zorak: Knowing well that if she had, he'd have been fitted for concrete
sneakers before the next cycle was out.


>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Ghost: Johnny O'Binome's latest joke.
Brak:  Kinda fell flat, didn't it?

> Enzo went to the apartment in that he and his sister lived, in Baudway. He
> knows that Dot would not go to there, at least for while. He went try to
> ratiocinate regarding what he had discovered.
> 

Brak:  Warning: incoming syllogism.  Warning: incoming syllogism.
Zorak: Incoming what?
Brak:  Um... I dunno.  Buddy.

> Dot and Natasha were the same person.
> 
> About that, there wasn't more doubt now.
> 

Ghost: [hopefully]  Unless she was actually Hexadecimal disguised as Dot
again.
Zorak: Give it up.

> Question one: why Bob and Dot are doing that?
> 

Ghost: To add romance to an otherwise increasingly tedious relationship?

> Answer: It was now obvious that both were very impassioned one for the
> other, but they didn't also want that nobody knew about that. Reason:

Zorak: They didn't want any more fiascos like what happened after their
first Tiff.

> everybody in Mainframe will comment, being Bob a Guardian from
> Supercomputer, and Dot, one of the only sprites that remained in Mainframe.

Brak:  She was a small-town girl... he was from the wrong side of the
tracks... but together they could change the world!
Ghost: That sounds like something Mike the TV would make up.
Brak:  Oooh!  Reason number two!

> Then if you don't want the people to know so that you can date in peace,
> use a disguise.

Brak:  And you can also get all the 'trick or treat' candy you want!

>                 Of course everyone would be supercurious if Dot suddenly
> dated some sprite that they ignored, but as Bob was from Supercomputer, and
> no one knew much about his past, he could have a girlfriend from there,
> even if she is very strange.

Zorak: Hexk, he probably has a girl in *every* comport!

>                              And it would be normal that she came to visit
> him, since it would be very difficult he visits her: to be the guardian of
> a system was a work of integral period. Being like this, Dot only needs
> reboot and Natasha, the girlfriend from Supercomputer has just arrived in
> Mainframe to meet the boyfriend. That made sense.
> 

Ghost: And it would save him the trouble of having to portal back and forth. 
That could take up, oh, ten nanoseonds every cycle!
Brak:  Is that a lot?
Ghost: Uh...  I'm not sure, actually.

> Enzo now was not angry with the fright that Dot had given it: if he had the
> chance of scare her of that way, he would go ahead with the game, he
> admitted that to himself.

Zorak: In fact, he'd probably have set Frisket on himself to teach himself a
lesson.

>                           And he knew that Dot would not also lose the
> chance of she scare him in that way, only to play with him... she should
> have been laughing for a long time! And he had to admit that Dot made a
> perfect performance of a deleter...
> 

Ghost: And she had crushed his soul and rendered him incapable of even
*thinking* anything against the almighty Dot.

> "She could be a great actress...", Enzo thought, with irony.
> 

Brak:  [Mike the TV]  Live from the Principle Office, it's the Dot Matrix
hour!

> Question two: How had not he recognized her?!
> 

Zorak: Considering there's only three women who aren't binomes in all of
mainframe?  He could just have listened for an *accent!*

> Answer: Enzo could not simply imagine Dot walking thereabout, wearing a
> black overcoat, sun glasses and a cap buried until the eyes. As well as no
> one in Mainframe would imagine that.

Ghost: It's *much* easier to believe that a Guardian would have brought a
Deleter Virus to Mainframe!

>                                      And Dot knew about that! Had not he
> laughed when he thought of his sister wearing those deleter clothes after
> all?
> 

Ghost: I know I laughed when I saw the KISS doll!

> Being like this, pefect disguise for her. That, with a necklace with a
> voice filter that he had found, she became another person - speaking
> literally.

Brak:  Wait a minute!  What voice filter?  When'd he find that?
Zorak: Between scenes.

>            And that explained because Frisket had not attacked: it should
> have felt the her smell,

Brak:  Or tasted her sound.
Ghost: Or listened to her sight.
Zorak: [hippie]  Whooooa, man!  Whatta trip!

>                          and it was confused,

Brak:  I don't blame him at all.

>                                               among the evidence of the
> smell and the appearance that Dot had in the moment.
> 

Ghost: So, he just took five while Enzo sorted it out.  Good dog.

> Enzo thought aloud:
> 
> "Allright, I won't tell their secret." He smiled. "But now it is my time of
> scare them a little."
> 

Zorak: And then to blackmail the HECK out of 'em!

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Zorak: He started by tapping their line.

> Later, Enzo found Bob and Dot talking in Dot's Diner's counter. Perfect
> chance.
> 

Ghost: Not so good for Community Chest.

> "Bob?"
> 
> "What was?"
> 

Zorak: [Rastrafarian Binome]  No, no, mon.  Say it wit' me: "What it be."

> "Does Natasha like to read?"
> 
> "Yes, she likes a lot." Bob raised the brows, confused. "Why?"
> 

Brak:  [Enzo]  Would she read me bedtime stories?  Dot never has time any
more.

> "Well, perhaps you should give to her some text files of Robin Login or
> Epson Dialup."
> 
> Robin Login and Epson Dialup were authors of thriller stories that Dot
> loved, but only Enzo knew about that.

Ghost: Even Bob didn't know, so he had no clue what Enzo was babbling about.

>                                       She was worried.

Zorak: That Enzo had found out her secret: Bob was actually a woman!

>                                                        Enzo had been a
> little too specific.
> 

Zorak: Hey, it coulda been worse.  He could have suggested Steven King and
his pay-or-I-won't-finish-the-dumb-story E-books.

> "Why you think that?" Bob asked. He was concerned too.
> 

Ghost: Give it up, Dot!  You're busted!

> "Intuition, perhaps. She looked like be the kind of sprite that likes that
> kind of story." Enzo smiled mysteriously and left.
> 

Zorak: [Enzo]  I'd loan her the ones my sister has, 'cause I don't think
she'd mind, wink wink, except I bet Natasha's already read them, HINT HINT!

> His smile contrasted with the worried faces of the two sprites. Dot and Bob
> looked one for the other. Will it be that he knew?
> 

All:   DUH!

>                                   The End
> 

Brak:  Or is it?!

> Copyright (c) 1999 by Joshua Falken
> 

Brak:  Oh, okay, I guess it is.
[The text scrolls off the screen.]
Ghost: So, what have we learned today?
Zorak: That Enzo's rock stupid.
Ghost: No.
Brak:  That Bob 'n Dot like messing with Enzo's head.
Ghost: No.  That the Good Guys always win!
Zorak: WHAT?!  How the heck do you get THAT outta those cruddy stories?!
Ghost: [aiming his Power Bands at Zorak]  Who said anything about the
stories?
Brak:  Ohhh, it was a trick question.  I get it now.
Zorak: And we don't.  [to Brak]  He's gonna stiff us on those action
figures!
Ghost: Now, now, Zorak, I'm a fair man.  The deal's already set for the
first set - but if they make MORE figures, we can renegotiate!  Whaddaya say?
Brak:  Can we have some toys too?
Ghost: Well... tell you what, I'll see what I can do.
Brak:  Ya got yourself a deal, buddy!
Zorak: [sighing in disgust]  Brak, you're... oh, never mind.
Brak:  [cheerfully]  I never do!
[A rimshot is heard.  All three laugh loudly and theatrically.  They continue
laughing as the credits scroll on the screen.  By the time the credits are
finished, they sound pained.]


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                  | ________________________ |/


This MiSTing is copyright (c) by the author, JenWhite6@aol.com. "White Noise"
and "The Sprite in Black" are copyright (c) by Joshua Falken. Space Ghost,
Brak, Zorak, and Moltar are copyright (c) Hanna-Barbera.  The new Space Ghost
Coast to Coast action figures by ToyCom are real, and are expected to be in
stores this summer.  This MiSTing was done in the name of fun, and no malice
is intended to anyone.  Many thanks to Joshua for letting me MiST his fic!


> "The date is really serious!", Enzo thought, when upos seeing their
> passionate kiss. Enzo cannot stop smiling, and he would swear that Frisket
> smiled too due to the scene.