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

seconds and Whizzy would begin to lose his tubes. At this point, neither Whizzy nor Nick could put together a string of thoughts. Everything became a dizzy haze with swirling chants making them wobble.
As the circle reached top speed, small black shapes from the adjacent stream swirled up to form a menacing black cloud. Rising above Whizzy and Nick, it hovered above the entire circle of Tainted Ones. The smoke grew in size and closed in on their Tainted orbit. They broke their chant and slowed their spins.
“Murks! Tay never come dis far,” screamed the Leader. “Away. Weez must return to da Ether. Away!” Ether was a safe haven for the Tainted Ones. Murks never followed them into the white fog.
“Away! To the Eater,” repeated the group of Tainted Ones in unison. They scattered in fear making high pitched girlie squeals along the way. Some were absorbed by cloud. They rest spun towards the Silver Forest, trying to reach the Ether mist. The captured globes disappeared within the amoebic clouds, never to be seen again.
Fingerlike extensions of the mist followed the rest of the Tainted bytes, catching them before they could go very far. Cries for mercy were followed by a snap of silence.
With the circle broken, Whizzy and Nick began to regain conscious thought. They were still woozy, but able to string together what just happened.
“Whew Sticky boy! That was close; we were almost food for the Tainted,” exclaimed Whizzy while checking to make sure his precious tubes were still intact.
“The same clouds appeared in the forests when those Tainted globes attacked me. What are they?” asked Nick.
“Sticky baby, those are Murks. No one knows why they are here. They first appeared from the Ether mist back in the forest. They never harmed anyone else beside the occasional Tainted globe. They appear when the Tainted Ones trap Bytes in an attack orbit . This has kept the nasty green things in check,” Whizzy explained. Nick noticed green creeping into Whizzy’s formerly Blue complexion. Along with this change of color came the inevitable process breakdown which brought mixed words and jumbled sentences.
“They don’t bother us healthy Bytes or even corrupt Bytes…only the Tainted Ones. For that we’re glad. With them Burks, old Dizzy here would have been shredded long ago,” Whizzy’s path of corruption was in full swing. His confused words were easier to make out, but they signaled an inevitable trip to the bin.
“Murks! That’s what those Greenies called them in the Forest. They look pretty scary, but as long as they don’t hurt us, I guess that’s ok. There sure were a lot of Tainted Ones in this area.”
“Yeah. They call it the Silicate Slums. The Slums are loaded with the Sainted Ones. This is the only way from Flash Playas back to normal sectors of NetherWorld. They know it is a well travelled road; a great place to turn Bytes into Taints. We better get goin’ before more show up.”
“Gotcha.”
Whizzy turned left down a side stream. He brought them to a rather large thoroughfare. It was even wider than MainStream.
“What is this stream called? It’s huge!” asked Nick.
“This is BroadStream. The widest stream in NetherWorld.”
“Wow. It is massive! Lots of room here!”
The immense stream was riddled with blue Bytes surfing towards their programmed destinations. They moved very fast, but never seemed to bump into one another. From above it looked like thousands of blue marbles with white frosting scattering in random directions. Although the traffic patterns appeared most chaotic, there was an order to their travel. This was because of the specific paths laid out for each Globe. The traffic patterns were already worked out before the Byte left to give or retrieve data.
Meanwhile, Whizzy and Nick travelled down BroadStream. This jabaway was easily three times as wide the normal streams in the Walled City. In the distance, Nick saw a rather larger intersection.
“What is this place?” asked Nick as they approach the jaba juncture. The stream rippled with tiny waves from alley winds churning up jaba foam whitecaps.
“This intersection is called the Torrent. We must traverse this Torrent, the widest and wildest intersection in the city. Phish Pirates control this entire area. We have tried to retake it, but the Pirates are too powerful,” Whizzy warned.
“Phish Pirates? What are we in for?” he asked.
“If they catch us, we will be chewed alive by their scary big jaws. We must be careful. I am far too pretty to be food for these bozos! We have the Boys in Blue to help us through, and Ticky baby, those Bytes will protect us with their very core.” At least twenty five blue orbs swished around his blue teacup. These were elite soldiers that kept order in NetherWorld. Each Blue Guard wore a gold sash. The sash symbolized their ultimate responsibility to protect the Servers. Instead of white tubular tresses, their tubes were baby blue.
The Boys in Blue were able to create weapons with their high grade silicate spheres. Sprouting a host of metallic knives, they looked menacing. With serrated silicate extensions waving around in a motored blur, Nick felt confident they could stop most anything.
“They look mighty tough Whiz,” remarked Nick. The Guard extended the full width of the alley as they surfed forward.
“Those Boo Boys can fake on anybing,” agreed Whizzy, who was more and more affected by taint in his system. Some of his sentences were really tough to decipher.
“I think I get it. They can take on anything, right?”
“Less!”
As they travelled through the intersection, they passed some of the tallest towers in NetherWorld. Nick could not see where the tops ended and the clouds began. No buildings in Karbon reached these heights. That much, Nick knew for sure.
All was quiet in the beginning. Maybe we can skate by with the Pirates coming after us, Nick hoped. This wish was soon dashed when a few ripples developed up ahead.
Bubbling up from the murky gel, silver and black colored globes revealed gaping jaws and razored teeth. They were enormous by Byte standards. One crunch of their jaws would eviscerate a normal sphere. Like the Blue Guard, the Phish Pirates lined the width of the alley. Blue Guard Bytes spun in preparation. Their sharp equatorial blades emerged.
Anything passing through Phish jaws would be cut into tiny strands of silicate spaghetti. The Blue Guard sped ahead to deter the steely jaws. Buzz saws vs Jaws. Blades cut into teeth, Jaws crunched and shredded Bytes. Sounds of grinding metal serrated Nick’s ear drums. A few Phish lost their teeth and clapped their harmless gummy jaws. Other Phish shredded Blue Guards before the buzz saw could finish the job. Shredded blue and gold strands floated at the battle scene.
“Who’s wining Whizzy?” asked Nick.
“Looks like a pie at the moment. Go Blue! Crack their teeth!”
“Looks like we lost a few. See the strands,” Nick pointed to left side of the alley.
“Yeah. A few more fell on the right side. Ricky, we may have to find another way. Get ready”
As the battle raged on more toothless Phish fled the scene, while fully half the Blue Guard was a shredded heap floating in the stream.
“Looks like we got ‘em Whizz!” exclaimed Nick.
“Not so past Nicky. Look ahead.” Whizzy extended a clawed arm to point out a new batch of Phish Pirates surfing towards the battle. “We cannot win this. The Phish will shred every Blue Guard. We gotta get outta here!”
“Sounds good to me!”
Whizzy began weaving in and out of Blue Guard corpses in a desperate attempt to turn the corner and reach the HateAsh. The Phish Pirates cannot leave the stream. If they could make it around the corner, they were home free. This was easier said than done. The pirates spotted Whizzy and rushed to block any passage. Whizzy was was surfing far too fast to stop or turn. He was headed straight into the pack. Dead Bytes bounced off them and bobbed in their wake. Collision was imminent.
Whizzy had one trick left. “Brace yourself Bic!” Whizzy grew his legs and plunger feet. The help to slow them down a tad, but not enough to avoid the collision.
“We’re going too fast Whizzy!”
“Hang tight dude!” Just as they were about to crash, Whizzy pushed his plunger feet forward and landed on the dead Blue Guard. He used all the forward motion to propel them in air. They sailed over the entire group of Phish. They were airborne for seconds that seemed like hours.
Snapping maws of the sliver/black Phish Pirates chomped at air in earnest. Razored shark teeth just missed Whizzy and Nick as they sailed over tubeless marauders. With a robust splash, they landed back on the stream, facing a clear path to the HateAsh.
“Now that’s hang time!” exclaimed Whizzy as they left the Phish Pirates behind them toiling with what was left of the Blue Guard.
Whizzy and Nick pulled up to the closest sidewalk and left the choppy Torrent to the Blue Guard and Phish Pirates. The battle raged on as teeth attack blades leaving pieces of silicates flesh floating atop the vast intersection. Concerned Bytes looked on from nearby jaba shops and salons. No one went near the rabid melee. They just stood by and let the Pirates and the Guard work out their differences.
As they began to plunge away from the scene, Nick looked back and noticed a large lumpy blue Globe crawling out of the stream. He was massive and quite disfigured. The bumpy blue Byte marched towards them with his massive plunger legs. His feet created so much suction, a popping sound clapped after each step.
Nick was the first to see the creature.
“Whizzy, look! We’re bein’ chased by some big thug!” exclaimed a panicked Nick.
“Oh my. That’s Lumpy the Deleter. He’s a hired assassin who works for NazKlan. Scary dude. He was once a professional wrestler in the Calculations. I think he was the NetherWorld Champion five times over. A tragic tube accident forced his retirement. In one match he ended up killing a Byte by pulling all his tubes out and then sucking his blood. After that, the wrestling guild banned him from action. NazKlan saw an opportunity and snatched him up. We need to boogie!” explained Whizzy. Lumpy was riddled with cauliflower bumps from a long wrestling career. His limps were callused and twisted.
“Stop you wotten Bytes. Lumpy will hurt you bad. NazKlan told Lumpy you are weally wotten. No place to hide,” called out the lumbering Lumpy.
His speech was slurred from cycles of wrestling. He incurred serious injuries on numerous occasions. Despite warnings from Calculation medical staff, Lumpy continued to wrestle. It was all he knew. Once he became incoherent and unpredictably violent, he was banned from action. This