NetherWorld by Daniel Pagan (each kindness read aloud .TXT) 📕

mean?” he asked.
“Well Click…”
“The name is Nick.” Nick was suspicious that ReadMe talked with Whizzy.
“So sorry. Didn’t I say that? Oh well. Anyway, the streams used to run clear in the bold days. Once the viruses rained down on us, we tried to filter the jaba to keep it clean. But the viruses kept coming. We couldn’t filter it fast enough. Then it started turning green and smelling really bad. The stink was strong enough to knock a Byte off his axis.
“Bytes drink jaba to get their energy, the way you meat eat to get your nourishment. The tainted jaba made us go mad. Our heads spun out of control. Our information began to fragment. Many times, we couldn’t think straight. This made the programs crash on your side. That is why my sentences sometimes sound silly. Don’t let my Blue color fool ya, I am nearly corrupt.”
“Corrupt?”
“Once a Byte can no longer properly execute instructions, it is deemed corrupt. Once that happens, it is over, kaput! Those big bad birds, called Batchers, circle us when we get close to corrupt. They can smell the data rotting,” WhizzyWig pointed up a flock of Batchers hovering over a nearby block of the metropolis. Their elderly parrot squawks were drowned out by the city noise.
“We begin turn green when we become corrupt. It won’t be long before the green gets me. Then the Batchers ship me off to the Bin. If the Batchers don’t get us when we go green, it is an ugly scene, trust me.”
“I trust ya.”
“Good. Now follow me across this stream. Like I said, it’s dangerous, so be quick about it.”
“Why would I want walk through this gunk then? Isn’t there another way to reach the building? Can I just stay outside,” he asked.
“Not a good idea. The Worms come out at downtime. They are beasts sent from Karbons roaming the streams at night. These leviathans swallow our Bytes whole, leaving just a blue shell. They swim around plucking vagrant Bytes off, one at a time. Swallowed by a Worm is a terrible way to be deleted. I know this is a smelly mess, but it’s for the best. Come. Follow me.”
“Sounds like I really don’t have a choice,” said Nick. Walking into the stream he sank and was quickly submerged in the cool sticky liquid. He felt the clawed arms of the host pulling him above the stream line. Whizzy helped Nick up onto the platform on the other side of the stream. They stopped under an arched doorway. Both were still coated with jaba from the swim across. Whizzy wobbled and wiggled to disperse the mucky stuff. Nick watched the thick gel snail off his body. Whizzy then shook his crazy hair, sending slimy jaba all over the place.
“Hey! Watch with the slime pal!” Nick yelled at Whizzy.
“Oops. Sorry. Just need to keep my tubes tidy. Clean tubes are very important here,” explained Whizzy. NetherWorld values robust looking tube tresses. It was a sign of health and an area of vanity for Bytes. Whizzy was especially proud of his tubes.
“Okay.”
“Like I said, my name is WhizzyWig. You can call me Whizzy for short. I am here to escort you to our leader, Tera. This trip will take a little time, so we have arranged for you to rest here first. We leave at first Boot tomorrow. Please follow me to your crib, Sticky.” Whizzy said.
“By the way your slang is out of date.”
“I can reduce the slang, but not eliminate it. The slang is programmed into my code. Tera thought speaking slang would help me to vibe with you. You will have to forgive my miscues. Like all Bytes, I am sick with the Taint. The Taint messes with my gourd and rocks my rotation jack.”
“What exactly is NetherWorld?”
“NetherWorld, my boy, is another dimension; completely separate any that you know. And you are the first Karbon to ever step foot in our world.”
“Did you say dimension? You kidding, right? Is this the taint messing with your gourd?” he asked.
“Taint or not, this is another dimension. We cannot go to your world. We exist only in the computer network you call the World Wide Net. Your people do not even know we exist. When they send a virus or worm to corrupt programs, they are really hurting our world. If we go down the tubes, so do you. Without us, Karbonon will fall apart. You need us. We need Karbons. If something doesn’t change, we’re all doomed.”
“A world inside the Net? Are you kidding me? That’s crazy,” said a skeptical Nick.
“Sounds nutty, I know. But, look around. You’re standing in this world right now.”
“But how? When? This is too much!” Nick’s head was swimming with this new revelation. It must be a dream, he thought to himself.
“NetherWorld was born of the Connections. Towers, once isolated joined as computers and reached out to one another. Over time, as all Karbon computers connected, Netherworld was hatched. You made our world by connecting your computers. We are the unintended consequence of Karbon computer connections. We became self aware soon after the world was created. A great internal explosion took place once enough connections were made. The critical mass created our leader, Tera, in this divine combustion. She gathered our leaders and helped organize our world. It is Tera, we will meet. She is one hot mama, Picky boy. All the Bytes dream about her.”
“This is just incredible. Well, when I wake up, I’ll have to remember this crazy dream. Fine. Let’s see this Tera you mentioned,” said Nick, ignoring Whizzy’s continued butchering of his name. Might as well see this dream through, he thought.
“There’s much to discuss. Both our worlds are in danger. Tera will explain it all. Until then follow me to your room and rest. It is almost Downtime.” explained Whizzy. The door slid open revealing an elevator of sorts. Whizzy guided Nick into the elevator.
The Bytes were housed inside buildings during downtime. They moved in and out of buildings the rest of the time. When in transit, they carried vital information needed by programs in other parts of NetherWorld. Each building contained specific collections of data grouped according to a specific system of organization. In order for programs in Karbonon to work, data must be moved and deposited according to the commands of the Karbon users.
“Where will you be during this Downtime?” he asked.
“I will be zoning out. All us Bytes get loopy during Downtime, so we shack up at home. One Downtime without rest and we Bytes can turn into Beserks. It is not a pretty sight.”
“Ok, I guess. Is downtime like sleep?”
“A mix of sleep and stupor. The tainted jaba plays with our minds. Time to get you to your room.”
“I don’t feel tired. Can’t we just continue? I would really like to finish this dream and wake up.”
“I’m a mess without my daily download during downtime.”
“I wouldn’t want to corrupt you any further Whizzy. I’ll just play this thing out.”
With that, Whizzy whirled around, a tangle of long white tubes followed along. He marched his plunger feet toward the elevator. The doors slid open revealing a stark metallic space. They entered the sterile looking room. An ambient glow lit the elevator as the doors shut.
When the elevator ascended he could see outside the building. Reaching an incredible height, Nick could see the panorama of Netherworld. The Walled City was vast indeed. He knew of no city in his home world that appeared as immense.
Glass-like buildings stretched on as far as he could see. Nick could see that most of the Bytes had left the streets to retire for Downtime. Only a few spotty globes trekked about. Large neon red serpents slithered throughout the streams in the twilight. Opening their gaping maws, they gobbled up these tardy blue dots leaving black shells in their wake.
These were the worms, created by the Hacker, harassed Bytes from Downtime to Boot. There were far too many blue globes to eat, but the worms were making a dent in the population. The streams were busy, but precarious passageways in NetherWorld. As Downtime dimmed the cityscape, blue dots scattered back into the buildings. All that remained in the jaba streams were the glowing reds worms. Their crimson serpentine bodies wended their way through crisscrossing alleys. They radiated in the twilight of NetherWorld, glowing red wigglers in an otherwise stark metropolis in repose.
On the other side, Nick saw the great forest from which he came. From this height, he could see that the forest and the field wrapped around the moated city. In the Nether twilight, he saw that the silver trees were losing ground to the Black Death. A hard rain draped the trees. He could still see that there was little pristine forest remaining. The fields he walked though were similarly afflicted. In fact, the murky lime stream overflowed in the field, created a swampy expanse. Dying stalks far outnumbered the healthy silver blades. What was happening here? This world was dying by means of another dimension? It smelled of rot and sewage. Too strange, he thought.
The elevator stopped near the top of the building. Whizzy escorted him out in to the hallway. She led him to another doorway not far away.
“This will be your room for the night,” he said. “Please rest. We’ll be trippin’ tomorrow. Downtime calls me Nippy boy.” By this time everything outside was steeped in black.


Chapter 7
Downtime

Book of TranFor:

The viral will prove our undoing unless that which lies under is addressed. The matter of matter must be solved.

“How will I know when Downtime is over? Does a sun rise or something?” he said to Whizzy.
“Darkness covers Netherworld until the Boot. The Boot brings light and all activity resumes. Please stay in your room during Downtime. Unspeakable dangers lurk in the Nether Shadows. I cannot guarantee your safety.” he said. Silicates measure time in three distinct quantities; ticks, boots, and cycles.
Ticks feel like seconds in Karbonon, but are actually mere fractions of a Karbon second. Boots represent the days for Silicates. Of course, Boots are considerably shorter than Karbon days. Cycles represents years to Bytes. These too are far more fleeting than the annual cycles on Karbonon.
All of NetherWorld retires for downtime. This version of evening is so ephemeral; Karbons never notice a dip in processing speed. Downtime begins and ends quicker than the click of a mouse.
“Ok. I think I’ll just stay here until the Boot, as you call it.” Looking around the room, Nick examined his accommodations. The room contained no couch, no bed and a very large flatscreen embedded in a