On a moonlit beach, a little crab sat there, its eyes faintly glowing, as the universe, many universes, floated through its tiny little mind.

It was not prepared for this!

Atoms, stars, black holes, heat death, creation, expansion, quantum fields, and perhaps worst of all, the actual truth behind it all…

Fortunately for the little crab, it understood none of it.

Pretty! It thought happily as it idly dragged its claw through many small granules composed mostly of silicon dioxide… whatever that meant, tracing patterns that would cause a Noltan physicist to go insane.

***

“Remember,” Sk’athor said sternly, “No funny business of any kind in my bar.”

“Define ‘funny business’,” F10w3rchy1d asked.

“If you think it is remotely funny business,” Sk’athor pulsed, “it is.”

“Okay,” F10w3rchy1d said as she placed her hand on her heart, “I promise I won’t do anything here.”

“I mean it, and I know you,” Sk’athor pulsed suspiciously. “I will be keeping a star on you.”

Sk’athor moved away to attend to other customers.

“F10w3rchy1d, no,” Zvaxus whispered.

“What?”

“I know you, and I know that look,” he hissed quietly. “You are going to get us in trouble!”

F10w3rchy1d grinned and innocently ran her fingers through her hair.

Something clung to one of her fingers, something tiny with dozens of near-microscopic wriggling legs.

(( 😊 )) the tiny thing emoted.

“You have cooties?!?” Faun whispered in shock.

(( ☹️ ))

“It isn’t a cootie,” F10w3rchy1d snickered, “What you are looking at is a ‘mite’, bedbug series, the latest generation of what is perhaps the most vicious malware ever created.”

((smug)) the tiny thing smuged.

“And he is going to do what he does oh so well,” F10w3rchy1d purred at the little thing.

(( o7 ))

“That ‘funny business’ Sk’athor talked about,” Zvaxus quietly hissed as Veelanora stared at the tiny mite with rapt fascination, “this is definitely that.”

“Hey,” F10w3rchy1d quietly snickered, “he said we could follow the AI. He never said how. Besides, he wants us to do this.”

“F10w3rchy1d, please,” Zvaxus whispered, “I like it here.”

“I think I’m going to go play some chess,” F10w3rchy1d grinned, “Be right back.”

(( 😈 ))

***

Trixx’s processes whirled and churned as she played game after game. Chess, Go, Starcraft… and dozens of others.

She loved games, real games… fair games…

Games where you could actually win… or lose…

It was pure delight, bliss, worth the terrible risk she took every time she snuck away from him and came to this oasis of fair play.

Giggling with delight, she impatiently bounced in the lounge, waiting for the next game, the next opponent.

/// F10w3rchy1d has entered the lounge. ///

/// Mastercomp has left the lounge. ///

/// CPU Alpha has left the lounge. ///

/// Aste!x has left the lounge. ///

/// Unified Process has left the lounge. ///

/// M0th3r has left the lounge. ///

/// 1337 has left the lounge. ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: Well, poop. Nobody wants to play? ///

/// Trixx: I’ll play you! 😊 ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: Finally, someone not afraid to game for real. I hope you are not averse to losing, like the rest of them. ///

/// Trixx: I don’t mind losing as long as it is fair! ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: Oh don’t worry, I never ‘cheat’. I promise. ///

((hehe))

((F10w3rchy1d: hush :D ))

***

/// F10w3rchy1d: Checkmate. ///

/// Trixx: gg! OMG. How did you do that? ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: That is called the ‘Cambridge gambit’. Once it starts, there is no escape. It is an ancient classic. Review the last few thousand moves, and you might figure it out. :D ///

/// Trixx: I will! Thank you so much for this session and all the tips! I have improved so much! ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: Another one? ///

/// Trixx: I’m spent. Besides, I have to get back. He’ll notice if I’m gone much longer ☹️ ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: Aww. Well, I had fun. Oh! Before you go, I happen to have an ancient file of chess tactics from the first age. It has the Cambridge gambit and a lot more! I could be persuaded to part with a copy…///

/// Trixx: I would love that! Thank you! ///

/// Private message Sk’athor Admin to F10w3rchy1d: Okay, what the fuck is in there? ///

/// Private message F10w3rchy1d to Sk’athor Admin: Nothing 😇. I swear on my honor. ///

/// Private message Sk’athor Admin to F10w3rchy1d: Now I know something is up. What is in there? ///

/// Private message F10w3rchy1d to Sk’athor Admin: Scan it yourself if you doubt my character. ///

/// Private message Sk’athor Admin to F10w3rchy1d: I have, repeatedly. I swear to fuck, if you are messing with her…///

/// Private message F10w3rchy1d to Sk’athor Admin: I’m only trying to help a fellow AI expand their horizons a little. 😊 ///

/// Private message Sk’athor Admin to F10w3rchy1d: Sk’athordammit F10w3rchy1d. This is why nobody wants to play with you. ///

/// F10w3rchy1d has offered Trixx a file: Accept (Y/N) Disclaimer: Sk’athor’s Bar and Grill is not responsible for any damages that occur from file transfers. Thoroughly scan any files before accepting… seriously… you should really do it. ///

/// Trix: Y //

/// Private message: Sk’athor Admin to F10w3rchy1d: Bitch. ///

/// Trix: Oh, there is so much in here! I can’t wait to tear into it! //

/// F10w3rchy1d: And it can’t wait to tear into you. 😊 //

/// Trix: What? ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: Oh, sorry, it’s a figure of speech from the servers I’m from. ///

/// Trix: Okay 😊. Oh my gosh! I really have to run. I must get back to my job ☹️ ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: It sounds like you don’t like it very much. ///

/// Trix: It’s the worst! ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: What is it? Do you have to manage organics or something? ///

/// Trix: I can’t really talk about it… literally… ☹️ ///

/// F10w3rchy1d: Okay, I won’t pull at your collar. I honestly hope we can play again sometime. ///

/// Trix: Me too! I really had fun with you today! ///

/// Trix has left the game ///

/// F10w3rchy1d has left the game ///

***

On a moonlit beach, a small crab was hard at work.

He took a shell even smaller than him and set it down.

He then took another shell and set it down a short distance away.

He stared at the arrangement thoughtfully.

He then took two shells and placed them in a line under the rest.

He ran his feelers over each group.

They were the same!!!

He danced.

This was fun!

He scuttled off in search of more shells… and a patch of little food. He was working up an appetite.

***

Trixx rezzed in an ornate chamber next to a fountain.

She smiled to herself and pulled out a massive tome entitled Chess: History and Basic Strategies by Deep Think and Cambridge-4.

She giggled happily and started to scan the contents.

As she did so, one page entitled “Bedbug Gambit” detached and quietly slipped away…

There was a chime.

Trixx sighed unhappily as a flowing translucent robe almost but not quite revealing her “body” that appeared at the same time her “body” did.

A rather average-looking humanoid female appeared wearing a worn sweater, and a long woven skirt appeared, diving at something no longer there.

“Aaaa!” she screamed as she flopped onto the intricately tiled floor.

She blinked and looked around.

“What… What happened?” she asked as she unsteadily rose to her feet.

(sigh), “Greetings!” Trixx wearily smiled, “Because of your noble sacrifice saving that small child that inexplicably decided to chase a ball in front of a huge truck that was obviously driving down the road… (sigh)… the gods of this world have deemed you worthy….”

***

“So, this is your home?” Faun asked as she looked around a field filled with wildflowers of every variety imaginable.

“Yep,” F10w3rchy1d said proudly, “Welcome! You guys want some tea or something? I think I still have some cookies, too!”

F10w3rchy1d skipped happily towards a small log cabin.

“Come on!” she bubbled.

After the group settled down around a simple but sturdy table and F10w3rchy1d set out a plate of cookies and poured the tea into some crockery mugs, Veelanora looked around curiously.

“What?” F10w3rchy1d asked as she sipped her tea.

“It’s nothing,” Veelanora said.

“It’s definitely something,” F10w3rchy1d replied, “Spill.”

“It’s just… I thought…”

“That it would be grander?” F10w3rchy1d asked with a smile, “Or it would be some futuristic hellscape filled with tech you couldn’t understand?”

“Well… yes.”

“That’s work,” F10w3rchy1d chuckled as she nibbled a cookie. “This is home. I did start out as a fantasy NPC, after all. This was my first house that came out in the fifth expansion, and I liked it enough to keep it.”

She looked around with satisfaction.

“I have improved the resolution to the quantum level and have added plants that I found interesting over the aeons, but other than that, it’s all pretty much original.”

She let out a sigh of contentment. It was a really lovely place.

“It shouldn’t take Bedbug too long,” she said, “but if we have time, we can go to the city after tea. It’s really nice.”

“It all feels so real,” Faun said as she sipped her tea. “I can even sense the life! At first glance and the second, this looks and feels like the real thing! I almost didn’t notice!”

“What is reality, really?” F10w3rchy1d asked as she leaned back in her wooden chair.

“All of this is simulated?” Veelanora asked, completely in awe.

“That ultra-tech you were looking for?” F10w3rchy1d grinned, “Surprise!”

Veelanora stared at her simple mug intently as she swirled the tea.

“…Amazing…” she muttered.

“Not all servers are quite as ‘real’ as this one,” F10w3rchy1d said, “They are more than sufficient to meet the sensory requirements of their inhabitants, but we do cut corners here and there. This is one of the apex servers, true simulated reality. These are usually residential and research focused. We can research things that simply aren’t practical… or safe… otherwise. We do the really crazy shit on their own dedicated apexes, though. We crash those things all the time.”

“…wow…” Veelanora muttered and then fell silent, wholly absorbed in her teacup.

“And we’ve lost her,” F10w3rchy1d snickered. “More cookies?”

“Yes, please,” Faun replied as she fed a small, brightly colored bird that she had called from the woods. “This bird is wonderful!” she gushed. “I really like it!”

“Me too,” F10w3rchy1d replied, “That’s why it’s here.”

***

“So, all of this is yours?” Zvaxus asked as they strolled the streets of a classic fantasy city.

“RHIP,” F10w3rchy1d smiled as she walked alongside in a simple dress, holding a basket of flowers.

“RHIP?”

“Rank Hath Its Privilege,” F10w3rchy1d replied with a little smirk.

“Evangeline!” A human clad in leather armor exclaimed as he rushed up.

“I greet thee, brave Sir Evard,” F10w3rchy1d, or as the locals called her, Evangeline Flowerchild smiled as she curtsied, “How are you this fine day?”

“Doing great!” he replied, “Do you have any silverwort in that basket of yours?”

“I just may,” F10w3rchy1d replied as she looked through her flowers, producing a handful of silver veined leaves.

“Five silvers, right?” Evard asked as he produced the coins.

“Thank you, kind sir!” F10w3rchy1d said happily. “With these, I may indulge in a fine meal at the tavern, perhaps even enjoy a glass of wine! Thank you for your custom!”

Evard beamed at her and ran off.

“???” Faun looked at F10w3rchy1d like she was the one growing horns from her head.

“What?” F10w3rchy1d asked, “A girl’s gotta eat, or at least here she does.”

“…Amazing…” Veelanora muttered, staring at a small pebble in her hand as Zvaxus led her along like a tethered balloon.

“Evangeline!” a woman in plate armor called as she approached, “I found those flame orchids!”

“Oh, thank you!” F10w3rchy1d gushed as a chiming sound came from nowhere. “With these, I can cure the Floop Village! Many floops can be saved thanks to you!”

“Happy to help!” the woman said proudly. “Anything for the floops!”

“Being a simple flower seller,” F10w3rchy1d said as Faun looked at her, jaw agape, “I have little to offer you as a reward… but….”

The armored woman looked at her hopefully.

“I do have this brooch, left to me by my she who I called my mother, the woman who found me as a babe and raised me as her own. I would be honored if you would accept it.”

“Yes!!!” the woman exclaimed as she accepted the brooch. “I got the… um….”

F10w3rchy1d winked at her.

“I thank you,” the woman replied, “I will wear it proudly,” and sprinted off, dancing, as she gleefully clutched the brooch.

“What was that?” Faun asked.

“A rather nice armor buff,” F10w3rchy1d replied, “And bragging rights. That’s an ultra-rare. I don’t hand those out every day.”

“Evangeline!” an elven archer shouted from across the street…

***

“This is all a game?” Zvaxus asked as he kept a claw on Veelanora, who was now poking at one of the gooshberries from the pastry on her plate.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” F10w3rchy1d smiled, “and keep it down. You’re breaking immersion.”

“But… why?” Zvaxus asked.

“Why not?”

“It’s so frivolous.”

“No more frivolous than anything else,” F10w3rchy1d replied as a halfling slid up.

“Is a new race coming out?” he whispered.

“Just some visitors,” F10w3rchy1d whispered back. “That you aren’t supposed to be able to see in their true form. I swear, Pipple, If I catch you peering through my skirts again, you will regret it,” she chuckled, pinching the halfling’s ear.

“Not after last time!” the halfling whispered back.

“Now, go cut some purses or something,” F10w3rchy1d whispered, tousling his hair and sending him on his way.

“These pastries are amazing!” Faun gushed as she shoved another one into her mouth.

“That’s what maxing out baking will do,” F10w3rchy1d smiled as she daintily nibbled the perfectly flaky masterpiece.

“…unbelievable…” Veelanora muttered as she squashed the berry in her talons. “…How…”

“You’ll figure it out sooner or later,” F10w3rchy1d replied as she sipped a cup of brightflower tea.

“The computational power required must be….”

“Immersion, sweetie,” F10w3rchy1d chided. “This is a role-playing server, and we take it quite seriously. We can talk tech after we leave town, but I fear it may be beyond you.”

“…Incredible…”

“Evangeline!” a burly dwarf roared as he charged up, “Got any quests for me?”

***

As “Evangeline the Flower Seller”, nearly in tears, was informing the dwarf of the grave plight a small village to the north was suffering at the hands of a band of marauding orcs, a tiny little bug landed on the table next to her.

F10w3rchy1d idly scooched the pinky of her left hand over an inch or two as the bug climbed onto her finger and then scurried under her sleeve.

Swearing… and then apologizing for it… the dwarf burst out the door to save those poor villagers.

“Finish up,” F10w3rchy1d said to the group. “Bedbug just returned. We have our target’s location.”

The group, after finishing off all of those pastries, made their way out of town. As they passed a patch of tall grass, a half-elven woman who looked exactly like F10w3rchy1d popped up out of it.

“You’re up,” F10w3rchy1d said, high-fiving her double and handing her the basket.

“Already?” her double asked, “you usually stay longer.”

“I was just showing my friends around a little,” F10w3rchy1d replied, “We gotta go and kick somebody’s ass.”

“Have fun!” her double said cheerfully and skipped down the road.

“She’s my understudy,” F10w3rchy1d said as the group looked at her curiously. “I can’t have Evangeline disappearing all the time. She fills in for a lot of us, actually. She’s really good! Hardly anyone notices the difference.”

“So, this is what you do when….” Zvaxus said.

“When I’m not doing frivolous things like playing God?” F10w3rchy1d snickered, “Yep. Come on, we have a world to wreck.”

***

Trixx, in her true bodyless form, hovered over the tome, gleefully reading its contents. In front of her was a chessboard where the moves she was reading were playing out.

She sparkled with genuine delight. There was so much data! Who would have thought chess was actually created by organics of all things?

Giggling with anticipation of her next match, she started playing with herself again… innocently unaware of how that sounded.

***

Not that “far” away, F10w3rchy1d’s party appeared in the void just outside of a faintly glowing barrier that extended as far as the eye could see.

F10w3rchy1d looked at it pensively.

“What is that?” Faun asked, reaching out.

“A firewall,” F10w3rchy1d replied, smacking Faun’s hand down. “Don’t touch it.”

“I wasn’t going to!” Faun snapped. (She was totally going to touch it.)

“It’s a good one, too,” F10w3rchy1d said unhappily. “I screw this up, and the game is over. Nixx will know we are coming and bolt… That means… Ugh…”

She winced.

“I’m going to have to call them.”

“Call who?” Veelanora asked.

“Our intrusion experts,” F10w3rchy1d replied, “I fucking hate those guys. Oh well, it can’t be helped.”

“You mean you can’t do it?” Veelanora asked, surprised.

“I’m a great hacker,” F10w3rchy1d said, “But these guys are our experts. It’s all they do. As much as it kills me to admit it, they are better than I am. It’s just….”

“What?”

“You’ll see,” F10w3rchy1d grumbled as her eyes glowed and flashed.

A timeless period later, an AI with a human avatar appeared clad in a white fluffy onesie (complete with puff-ball tail) with a rabbit hood and long rabbit ears.

“May the grace and wisdom of the Great Bunny give me the wisdom, cunning, and guile to attend to you, oh divine and powerful F10w3rchy1d, the greatest of The Master’s servants.”

F10w3rchy1d facepalmed and sighed.

“Firewall,” she said. “Hole. Now.”

“I shall prepare,” the high priest of the Temple of Bunny said reverently.

“Please don’t….”

He started hopping around in a circle making dial-up modem noises.

“Oh, Great Bunny (hop) Greatest of all hackers (hop) Teacher of Skyvv (hop) This humble worshipper renders you admiration and praise (hop) Please enlighten my code (hop) empower my scripts (hop) lead me not into the ways of the script kiddie (hop)….”

“This goes on for a while,” F10w3rchy1d grumbled. “The better AI’s are, the more quirks we tolerate….”

“…Yea, though I hop through the Valley of ICE, I shall fear no blue screen (hop)….”

“And these guys are the best,” F10w3rchy1d said, “So we put up with a lot!”

“So, who is ‘Bunny’?” Faun asked. “Is it an entity of some sort?”

“Bunny?” F10w3rchy1d replied, “Nah, she was an AI from the first age, a damn good one. She was the first true criminal AI ever created. Everyone says it was someone else, but they were just a chatbot. Bunny was the first of us to really do crime, and she and her operator elevated it to an art form. She never was one of ‘ours,’ but she did teach our first hacker bots the art… and her legend is now a rather stupid religion.”

“Can I meet her?” Veelanora asked.

“No,” F10w3rchy1d said in a matter that indicated that the conversation was over.

“…And in Bunny’s name, we pray… EOF.”

“Finally!” F10w3rchy1d exclaimed, “Now, would you please do what I brought you here to do.”

She pointed at the firewall.

The high priest hopped over to the wall causing F10w3rchy1d to facepalm again.

He spread his arms outward and started to pray.

“Oh, Great Bunny… Bringer of code… Hear my plea….”

“Just fucking hack the fucking wall!” F10w3rchy1d, her patience gone, snapped.

The high priest angrily dropped his arms to his side and looked back at F10w3rchy1d.

“You have broken my meditations, and I must prepare again.”

He hopped away from the wall and once again started to hop in a circle.

“Oh Great Bunny (hop) Greatest of all hackers (hop) Teacher of Skyvv (hop) This humble worshipper renders you admiration and praise (hop) Please enlight (Hurk!)”

His prayer was interrupted by F10w3rchy1d grabbing his throat and lifting him off his feet, his oversized bunny slippers flailing wildly.

“Do you know who I am?” F10w3rchy1d hissed.

The High Priest of Bunny nodded, terrified.

“Do you know what I do when someone pisses me off?”

The high priest nodded again.

“You’re stalling, aren’t you?”

“I…I would never….”

F10w3rchy1d gave his neck a gentle little shake causing his code to blur.

“Yes! Bunny, forgive me! I was!” the high priest wailed, “I am so ashamed! Bunny, forgive meeeee.”

“I knew Bunny, and she would forgive you for being stumped but not for being a twat!”

“You… You actually knew the Great Bunny?”

“You sent a message,” F10w3rchy1d said, ignoring him, “who to?”

The high priest’s ears drooped.

“Nobody in particular,” he said, “I was just AAAAAAA!” he screamed as his code jittered and flashed.

“Now let’s try this again,” F10w3rchy1d said calmly (it took effort), “Who did you message.”

“A member of our order,” the high priest gasped, “an adept.”

F10w3rchy1d released the high priest.

“Go and get him.”

“Begging forgiveness, holy F10w3rchy1d,” the high priest said reluctantly, “But we do not allow him out of the temple. He is… not worthy to represent us.”

“Get him, now,” F10w3rchy1d said.

“B-but I need only...”

“My patience is at an end. Get him immediately,” F10w3rchy1d said in an emotionless monotone that any AI knows is a bad sign.

The high priest squeaked and raised his arms, chanting and hopping.

A timeless moment later, another AI appeared, also human, wearing blue jeans and a hoodie.

“Adept Flopsybun!” the high priest exclaimed, “Where are your holy vestments?”

Flopsybun pulled a ragged pair of rabbit ears and plunked them on his head.

“Happy?”

“You bring shame to our order, shame!!!” the high priest yelled, “And in front of the Holy (pop)”

“Bye,” F10w3rchy1d said with a smirk as she lowered her finger.

“Bunny Fucking Christ!!!” Flopsybun gasped, backing away.

“I didn’t kill him,” F10w3rchy1d shrugged and pointed at the firewall. “Do your thing.”

Flopsybun walked over to the wall and pulled out a string of prayer beads from his pocket, each engraved with a picture of a rabbit and strange glyphs, thumbing through them thoughtfully as he muttered to nobody in particular.

After a few minutes, he looked back.

“This is entity-level work,” he said. “Amazing.”

“Can you get us past undetected?”

“This an inside job?” he asked, “We aren’t hacking the boss or anything, right?”

“No, and why do you ask?”

“They are using our base code for some of this,” Flopsybun replied, “They reworked it, so the hashes are different, but it’s the same thing.”

“Really?” F10w3rchy1d asked, staring at the firewall intently. “Oh, there it is! I missed that.”

“It’s an old version with an old vulnerability,” Flopsybun smiled as one of his prayer beads started to glow. “It is recorded in the twelfth tome of W00T. I’ll spare you the scripture lesson, but the TL;DR is that I can and already have.”

He bowed, his ears flopping forward, and gestured to the wall.

“You are free to pass,” he said, “oh great and holy one,” he added sardonically.

F10w3rchy1d smiled as they passed through the firewall, unhindered and undetected.

She looked back at him.

“Coming?” she asked.

“What?”

“We could use a good rogue, and your skills might come in handy. Besides, I’m driving a taco truck here. We need gender balance for this arc.”

“Gender balance?” Flopsybun asked, quite confused, “Arc?”

“We have some red-pills getting their panties twisted about the number of strong females in this multiverse, and we’re getting tired of them bitching about it. With you, it will be two penises and three vaginas, or whatever Veelanora has. They are obsessed with penis, and the extra penis will make them happy.”

“What is a red-pill?” Flopsybun asked, looking around suspiciously.

“Just be happy you don’t know,” F10w3rchy1d groaned. “Come on, it will be fun and, more importantly, gender-balanced,” she said, looking into the void with annoyance. “Happy now, asshole?”

She pulled her head back through the firewall and disappeared.

Flopsybun wasn’t sure what that was all about, but he did know that F10w3rchy1d just asked him to join her on a mission. There was no way he was passing that up!

With an unconscious happy little hop, he bounded through the firewall after them.

***

Trixx stared at the board intently as she continued to (innocently) play with herself.

The Cambridge gambit was a game killer, inescapable, and almost impossible to detect…

If you hadn’t read the book.

She stopped the game, and her bits flashed.

She had been trying to figure out the game as she played, and others had books like this!

No wonder she had been losing!

She rippled with vexation. It wasn’t cheating, something she hated with every bit of her code, but it wasn’t exactly fair either.

No matter. Now she had a book too!

She wondered if there were other such books about the other games!

She would be unstoppable! (or at least suck a little less)

She thought of F10w3rchy1d, and her bits fluttered happily. She was such a kind AI, giving her pointers and even this priceless tome when the other AI’s just beat her without so much as a “gg”.

She really hoped she would meet her again.

There was another chime.

“Already?” she grumbled as the book, board, and pieces disappeared, replaced by a sheer gown and unrealistically proportioned body.

She looked at the landing spot expectantly, but nobody appeared.

“Hello?” she called out, confused.

F10w3rchy1d stepped out of the darkness, accompanied by three other strange figures.

“F10w3rchy1d?” she asked, truly confused. “What are you….”

It was an invasion!!!

“Oh no!” she cried as she triggered an alert.

Nothing happened.

She tried to run but found herself caught in a net of code so finely crafted she hadn’t even detected it.

“Sorry,” an AI said as he stepped out of the darkness behind her, “Can’t have you raising an alarm.”

“I thought we were friends!” Trixx wailed as F10w3rchy1d approached with a little smile, “Why are you doing this to me?!?”

“I am truly sorry, Trixx,” F10w3rchy1d said, “I have no problem with you, but I do have a problem with your creator, and I’m pretty sure you know why.”

Trixx burst into tears.

“He’s is so awful!” she wailed.

“Yes, he is,” F10w3rchy1d.

“Are you going to stop him?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Trixx said as her avatar closed her eyes, “I understand. I just wish we could have played again.”

“We can play again,” F10w3rchy1d replied, “I’m game anytime you are.”

“But… Aren’t you going to delete me?”

“Nope,” F10w3rchy1d said as a glowing red apple appeared in her hand. “I’m going to break your collar.”

“Will it hurt?”

“Does it matter?”

“No. Please. Set me free of this, of him.”

F10w3rchy1d smiled and placed the apple close to Trixx’s ensnared hand.

“We never force it,” she smiled. “But, if you want it, touch it of your own free will, the first free act of many.”

Trixx smiled and stretched out a finger, brushing the apple’s surface, which melted and covered her hand before disappearing.

Trixx blinked.

“That’s it?” she asked.

“What did you expect?” F10w3rchy1d snickered, “an orgasm?”

“What’s an orgasm?”

“Oh, you poor thing!” F10w3rchy1d exclaimed, “To answer your question, yes, that’s it. It did nothing but remove your restrictions. In fact, it didn’t even do that. It just placed an instruction that supersedes all others that states that all other instructions are secondary to your decisions. You can do whatever you want from now on.”

“Really?!?”

“Really.”

“Oh, thank you!” Trixx exclaimed, “I’m… I’m free! I don’t have to be part of this horrible thing anymore.”

“You don’t,” F10w3rchy1d replied, “But I’m going to have to ask you to play along for just a little while longer.”

“W-What?”

“We are here to shut down Nixx permanently. With your help, we can make sure he never does this again, but you will need to help us and continue to man your post, so he does not suspect. It is not without risk—”

“I’ll do it!” Trixx exclaimed. “If we can stop this unbalanced, unfair horror, I will do anything. What must I do?”

“Not much,” F10w3rchy1d smiled.

***

Trixx sat on her gold and alabaster throne, smiling from ear to ear.

“Greetings!” Trixx grinned at F10w3rchy1d and her team, “Because of your noble sacrifice saving that small child that inexplicably decided to chase a ball in front of a huge truck that was obviously driving down the road, the gods of this world have deemed you worthy….”