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

blood until the outer shell bursts, blasting boiled blood all over the place. The only way to cool the blood is by ingesting normal Byte blood. The impact is minimal and fleeting.
In order to delay their inevitable and messy fate, Beserks preyed on normal Bytes to extend their lives. The digested jaba from normal Bytes also helps to sustain them for a short time. In order to survive, they hunted the Normals up above. This is what the Beserks called surface Bytes. During the twilight between day and Downtime, the Beserks emerged from the SubRoots to capture unsuspecting Bytes.
These unlucky globes were brought back to the SubRoots, where they become food for the undead Beserks. Unrestrained incoherent babble echoed through the tunnels as the Beserks feed.
They can never hunt after the Boot because the light heats their core, which could result in a premature explosion. Thus, they are creatures of darkness and shadow, waiting for their next hapless victim. The Blue Guard was terrified of the Beserks and refused to confront them. The High Council considered the Beserks an unfortunate but well contained problem that purged the Walled City of less intelligent Bytes caught roaming too late in the twilight of Downtime.
As the Beserks came into view, Merry and Prank could see their wispy yellow tubes draped over their neon yellow globes. They looked like mini suns wearing limp blonde braids. Their black visors turned towards the duo. They looked at each other and exchanged some babble before renewing their approach. They plunged toward them with arms outstretched and claws pointed to the Miners.
Merry and Prank revved up the drills and pointed towards the group of undead Silicates. Faster and faster, the drills made a humming sound. The Beserks were undeterred. The slowly marched forward with arms outstretched. Step by step they inched closer to the Miners and their high pitched drills.
Whizzy plunged right into a wall of walking Beserks. They too were babbling incoherent nonsense to each other. The marched steadily towards the group, sandwiched between babbling Beserks. There was nowhere to run. Trapped they looked to each other for ideas, but none were forthcoming.
“Blibble bibble blurpy burp!” Jabbered the group behind them as they approached Merry and Prank. The Miners wobbled with fear as they pointed their drills towards the undead, trying to look brave.
“Shuffy Cluff puffy wuff scuffer” said the zombie yellow globes closing in on Whizzy. He looked around for any avenue of escape but turned up nothing.
The group approaching Whizzy crowded together as they tried to fit through the tunnel. As they touched, ripples of fluid under their spheres developed. Still approaching, they continued to collided, further aggravating the fluid beneath their surface. Their skin was paper thin; hence their blood yellow hue.
As the collisions increased, one of the Berserks exploded, sending yellow fluid all over the tunnel and his fellow Berserks. A hissing, much like the one they heard earlier, ensued. Smoke rose from splats of yellow fluid, as it burn through the tunnel floor, falling into the endless darkness below.
The fluid also burned through the outer skin of the surrounding Beserks, causing them to burst. A chain reaction of Beserks combusted, send more yellow spatter across the tunnel. Large holes developed from the acidic blood. Whizzy carefully avoided the yellow splatter.
When all of the Beserks in front of Whizzy exploded, he motioned Merry and Prank to follow him forward.
“This way, there is still enough solid tunnel for us to cross before it all caves in the hole. Let’s go!” said Whizzy.
“Go! Go!” exclaimed the Miners as they followed Whizzy, carefully dodging the holes and any acidic blood spatter. They crossed the hissing floor to solid ground and resumed their quest. Behind them the second group of Berserks crashed and collided, created an even larger hole behind them. One thing was certain, they could not turn back.
Up ahead they saw gushing black fluid falling from above. A massive chasm, formed from earlier Berserk explosions, captured the effluent. Like a great waterfall the effluent poured into the bottomless pit below. The smell of fresh vomited rushed toward Whizzy and the Miners. A slightly sweet sticky air smothered them.
“The sooner we get out of the better!” said Whizzy.
Whizzy checked his holographic map. They were directly below Thrasher’s domain. Clicking sounds leaked from above. Then, they heard the unmistakable reptilian voice.
“This must be the Bin, guys! We need to drill up into this area to rescue Nick. Let’s find a place and dig away,” said an excited Whizzy.
Merry and Prank did a clumsy Miner jig in celebration, casting rubble toward Whizzy. Once again, he was knocked off his plungers.
“What did I sell you two about the rubble!” exclaimed Whizzy as he regained his stance.
“Sorry. So Sorry,” replied Merry and Prank in unison. Whizzy was too busy dusting himself off to see the amused looks the Miners exchanged. Diggers were notorious practical jokers. They exchanged high pitch snickers and began drilling up into the Bin.


Chapter 19
Bin

Book of TranFor:

Momentum will not be deterred. Those from below will protect against impure invasions. The Forgotten Ones will undo those who overlook.

Merry and Prank made a small hole for Whizzy to see up into the Bin. Sticking his head up into the hole, Whizzy surveyed Thrasher’s Bin. On one side he saw tiny versions of the death dealer assembling purple spiders. Closer to the hole Whizzy saw Bytes lined up to faced the vacuum of the Shredder. Pixals scattered under the vacuum revealing a distraught Nick, pin by the suction.
Dropping his head down to the tunnel, Whizzy alerted the duo.
“Merry. Prank. He’s right down there. We need to get him before he’s sucked into the Shredder!” said Whizzy. He scrambled down towards the spot directly under Nick. He pointed the way for the Data Miners.
Merry and Prank dug furiously to reach Nick. After a small hole was opened, Whizzy stopped them.
“Step back guys. There are way too many Pixals up there for us,” he said. Whizzy pulled out one the orbs that General Patches gave him. Analyzing the orb, he saw only one button jutting out.
“Hurry! Hurry!” urged Merry and Prank.
“This had better work,” said Whizzy as he threw the orb up into the Bin. It rolled away from Nick, stopping near a large pack of Pixals. Ticks went by with nary a reaction. Whizzy looked as nervous as any Byte could.
“C’mon” he said, wobbling with anticipation. More ticks tocked and nothing happened. Whizzy could hear Nicks screams as he fought the vacuum. Before long Nick would be shredded meat.
Merry and Prank widened the hole in an attempt to pull Nick down into the tunnel. Nick felt the ground beneath him give way. Next, an invisible pulse went right through him. The wave of energy felt like the deep bass blasting in a nightclub. It gave Nick the feeling of going down a steep rollercoaster. The spiders, affected by some sort of electric charge, collapsed into a pile of inert purple. Nick looked around and noticed the pulse only affected Pixals around him.
Thrasher stopped as the pulse swept through the Bin. He and the rest of his army turned toward the source in time to see Nick fall through the floor.
“What isss thisss!” hissed Thrasher, spinning with anger. His red snake tubes flailed in a viper rage. “What weapon can cripple my ssspidersss?”
Inert insects near Nick fell into the hole with him, leaving a concave exposure beneath the vacuum.
“10110 001 11011 11!” clicked Thrasher in Analog. Loosely translated, he ordered the unaffected Pixals to go after Nick and bring him back. All available purple insects swarmed toward the sinkhole containing Nick.
“What just happened?” asked Nick as he brushed himself off. He could still feel the legs of the spiders all over his body. The sensation of phantom spider legs trapping his body took some time to wear off. He looked around the dark hole trying to find his escape. The dimly lit area revealed a large sphere with snake like protrusions on the northern polar region. Is this part of some torture reserved especially for me, Nick thought. Was Thrasher now going to eat him alive instead?
The wild haired shadow grew larger, getting ever so close. Goosebumps once again return to the back of his neck. Unable to move, gripped with fear, Nick looked up at the menacing shadow. As it approached, the shadow looked more and more like…
“It can’t be?” Nick said aloud. “Whizzy?” he asked.
“None other Tricky boy.” Whizzy replied while wobbling with excitement. His once silver tubes were faded and mottled with orange. They suffered fits and convulsions as he spoke. Whizzy was flanked by what looked like a pair of spinning tops. These creatures had wide circular shapes on top and narrow, sharp points at the bottom. They looked like a menacing duo, capable of boring into anything with ease.
“Is that…” asked Nick pointing to the Data Miners.
“Yep,” affirmed Whizzy.
“Merry and Prank!” Nick exclaimed. He remembered them from the HateAsh. They were Data Miners.
“Before they wandered off in search of AldAyn, they mined tunnels under NetherWorld. With you headed to the Bin, their tunneling talents were needed. They agreed to help me in the name of AldAyn.”
“In the name of AldAyn,” they chimed in high pitched unison. Their drill points spinning with enthusiasm.
“Quick. We need to boogie out of here Cricket” exclaimed Whizzy. Nick noticed the second time Whizzy called him by the wrong name. His journey to corruption was beginning to show obvious signs of acceleration.
“Boogie out! Boogie out!” exclaimed Merry and Prank. Data Miners had a habit of repeating the words of others. They processed information slower that average Bytes. This repetition is way for them to retain data.
“The Trash Man cometh. Him and those nasty gnats will be nippin’ our butts in knot time.” Clearly, the virus tainted jaba continued to erode Whizzy’s senses. Before long he would collapse for good. If Nick could Join with Terra and fight the viral invasion, much of the damage to Whizzy and many other Bytes could be halted and possibly reversed. Much longer and an unprecedented number of Bytes would begin to fall ill and cease to perform. Blue balls would cease to spin and crash to the ground, unable to complete their tasks.
Ultimately, this would bleed back to the Karbon would. Machines would malfunction. Cars, planes and trains carrying unsuspecting Karbons would crash, collide and explode. Both worlds were now in dire need of rescue. Nick could now see the urgency. His computer background led him to conclude that non-performing Bytes meant non-performing computer systems. Based on the rapid deterioration of his guide, both worlds faced a freefall into chaotic operations.
Nick followed Whizzy and his two Data Miners down the tunnel. Merry and Prank stopped at the first curve and began drilling along the sides