More on the Prober
Previously: Introducing the Prober
I've surfed with so many faces, been to so many places, delved into Hell and back...but no one will compare to the friend I found in Frack.
We didn't know each other long. Our webfort didn't take too kindly to Prober types. Too much "bad mojo" as my mother put it. They were painted like crazed hermits, things to be whispered softly and invoked to curse others with bad fortune. Bad fortune was what happened to Frack. One day she just dumped out of a hyperlink onto my frame. She wasn't entirely what I had been taught a Prober was like. Sure, she was unkempt and in disarray, clutching scripts I've still yet to come to grasp...and crazy. Very crazy. But she was far from being an old crone...
I'd saved her from the stonings, sheltered her. And in return, she taught me things. Things about the servers, the existence beyond we were permitted direct access to. Things about how to ping links, how to feel the breath of the datastreams...but more importantly...she taught me how far humanity can still go in this world...
She taught me that on our last day together. Some idiot had stumbled upon an old link in our webfort. Bastard didn't realize it was directly into Google. In minutes, the eebfort was crawling... literally crawling, as the Cybers and Virii poured out of that hellmaw and saturated every strand of code in the fort...the place was lost...and those few still alive were trapped in the bowels. The clutch of us were barricaded behind some firewalls that we hastily threw together. People started glaring at Frack and I. They always felt she'd bring this upon us.
She murmured to herself for a while...seemingly oblivious to the situation. And then...
"Todd...I'm going out there. Here." And she pressed to my chest a java app. "This will get you and these ducks out of here and onto a safer server. Direct links won't work with this level of infestation, you'll have to use that..."
And she started to move to the door. "...Frack, what are you..."
"Just watch, duckling. Momma's gonna show you how to throw a party. She's going to invite some -very- special guests." She pulled out another script, one I hadn't seen before "Frack...what is that..."
"Giantbait, sweetie. You do well not to imitate this trick. Now get going."
And with that she just stepped through the firewall like it wasn't there. I couldn't here her well...muttering her scripts "PROGRAM INITIATE. PEER TO PEER CLIENT. NETWORKING. KAH ZAH, LIEM WIRE, BIT TORMENT..."
Quickly I set to work running the JavaScript. Indeed, feeling the data flow through the hyperlink, it was going to be rough, but it would take us safely out of here.
"What is she..."
I looked out...data and entrails strung behind her as Frack walked further away from us. I could here her yelling...screaming at something.
"NO, YOU IDIOT. I KNOW YOU'RE LAZY, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING TASTY HERE!"
Thump. Like something striking against the entire site, we were rattled.
"YOU" THUNK. Something wasn't right. The breeze from out beyond the firewall was changing...it wasn't like the putrid scent of Google...this was...wrong.
"COME" THUNK. Quickly I resumed the last setup needed, the link stabilized, and quickly I started shoving the survivors through, knowing they don't want to be here.
"HERE!"
Screaming. Noise. Like electrified static, it wailed throughout the webfort. But beyond the noise...was a sound...so beautiful...and with that sound, Frack blossomed, her entire body unfolded like a flower, showering pixels and gore all around... the ill wind howled, and I knew that something was coming...something I was not ready to see.
I ran through the JavaScript, shutting it down as I ran, but still that scent and sound followed me...