[s19980704-7.15:00/f19980831-2.23:59] Tonight on Netranger: Sarah sighed. "If it sounds like I'm high on drugs then please correct me and I'll apologize; but, you seem to be very quick to blow off Roger. I mean, just because he's a technician doesn't make him a robot. And even though he's a man and by that fact, embarrassed to show any true emotion, doesn't mean you haven't hurt him by acting like he's some kind of inexperienced boy." "Sarah, I have never felt any animosity or lack of respect for Roger and further more, I can't see how it's any of your concern," Christine countered. "We needed to slip past whatever early warning systems Netronix had in place so we could drop one of their primary gateway servers and would be unaware of our presence," Wizard answered. "Now that they're isolated from the Ultranet, they have no way of tracking us down. But if we can get into this server, we can track them down." Reluctantly, Roger nodded. "Like I said, the NetGuard extensions are not stable. If you managed to create a net-junction after uniting the first time, the data burst will max out your CPUs and fill up your cache memory, causing the entire robot to be completely motionless for a eight seconds." Sarah looked up. "We're gonna have to refine this if we manage to survive this next confrontation. Right now, we don't have any time for that." She looked at Rick and added, "Glitchmaster Z wont wait around until we're ready to deal with it and Viron Wizard." Episode number 12, "Save Us! The Challenge of NetGuard" Artist Bros. Presents . . . COMPUTER TASK FORCE NETRANGER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An Eclipse Studios Production Starring . . . Michael Hopkins . . . . . . .NetRed! Rick O'Donnell . . . . . . . NetBlack! Christine Black . . . . . . .NetBlue! Rachel Wills . . . . . . . . NetYellow! Sarah Black . . . . . . . . .NetPink! And Wilton and Betty Hopkins with Jeff Armstrong as: Exabyte Written by: Dairenn Lombard Matthew Williams Last time on Netranger: On the floor, its two-toed, muscle-bound legs stood on the platform, one foot at a time. However, from the waist up, it had a robotic torso with Mixmaster's chest drill and right arm. However, its left was the muscular and tough-skinned limb of Glitchit. The pine needles in its head were even taller than before as steam fogged from its smoldering, leather-like skin. "It looks incredible but how dangerous is it?" Exabyte asked. "Very dangerous," Viron Wizard told him. "It has the amazing aggression of Viron Glitchit with the calculative strategy of Viron Mixmaster." "Well, since you want to know--Christine was copping an attitude with me like I didn't know what I was doing." "It's like you lose it whenever she shows up," Sarah tried to explain... "I mean honestly, if it were up to me--I wouldn't even give any effort to it because the whole practice is just nerve wrecking and depressing," Roger said. "Because I never had the chance to figure out how to relate to the opposite gender outside my teachers in grade school, talking to someone my age who is physically attractive is not easy." This is why he stutters so much with Christine around, Sarah thought to himself. "That's okay. I'll figure it out someday. And maybe one of these days, someone'll figure out that I'm not the loser I seem to act like." Sarah's face expressed disagreement. "Being disadvantaged doesn't make you a loser. But you have to find a way to associate with females as yet another human being."but that doesn't solve my other problem." "What's that?" asked Sarah. "Even though she really pisses me off, I think I like..." On the sidewalk, arcs of green lightning stemmed from the pavement as rapid flashes of bright light eventually produced the Virii Clones. The clone bot merely caught her second punch and used it to launch her body into the air. Over the rubber garbage cans behind the restaurant, Sarah screamed as she soared through a cardboard box and out of sight. Roger reached out and shouted, "Sarah, no! Aw _man_!" Over the fence, the Virii Clones somersaulted two by two and before he knew it, Roger was surrounded by Virii Clones that grabbed him by the arms and shoulders. "Augh--Roger!! Oh no..." The entire gang of clone bots with Roger froze like paused video before becoming visual static that disintegrated, pixel by pixel. "I, Descriptor, execute this command: Decompress Glitchmaster Z!" Now the size of a giant, something was rising up into the blue sky above as the swollen, drooling face of the cyclops Glitchmaster Z was was followed by the rest of its massive body. Its massive body had risen what must've been at least a hundred feet into the air. "I have adapted to your weapon, Netranger!" NetBlack was surprised. "What?" GlitchMaster Z pushed BlackGuard backwards into the air. BlackGuard swung backwards through midair into the blue and yellow GuardioBots, causing a giant explosion and the three of them to crash into the Earth. "GuardioBots, this is PinkCruiser. I've secured Roger and we're heading for Netranger HQ." KiloTower crossed its Infection Wand with Glitchmaster Z's Drill Arm and sent a chaotic ray of blue and yellow light blazing ahead. And towers of sparks had exploded from the ground and upon the armor of the four GuardioBots. NetRed was rocked by the blast of sparks and shook his head. "Thank God, Sarah; let's get outta here!" Still smoking, RedGuard stood up and looked at the other GuardioBots now standing again and brought down its arms. They'd all become silhouettes made from a grid of yellow light that dissolved into thin air. Episode 12: "Save Us! The Challenge of NetGuard" ACT I: The multi-story high-rise skyscraper marked 1990 above the double glass door entrance on North Shoreline Boulevard featured a circular structure built into the rest of the square building that stepped down, story-by-story like a staircase. On the twenty-third floor was the network operation center for Netranger headquarters at Netronix. From the primary entrance, one could see workstations lining the walls around the sphere-shaped center here. Black partitions reduced visual and audio crosstalk between the men and women at their terminal's consoles wearing microphone headsets. Behind them were golden brass railing, periodically interrupted by the stairs that led down onto the main floor. Franky Gleason was seated at the terminal 6 while Wilton Hopkins stood behind him. "The header identifies it as Glitchmaster Z but its actually a lost cluster and not a real file. This means you can't find it through normal means but NetScan's trojan detector can go through where Glitchmaster's been, bit by bit until some form of discernable code can be re-constructed." "That's gonna take a lot of time but fortunately the AI computers here should speed it up," Wilton replied. "Since we're using a proprietary version of the operating system, your program wont have to endure VitaTron's version." The elevator doors in the white walls opened and Michael, Rick, Christine, Rachel and Sarah with Roger all walked out and into the center. Franky turned around and stood up, greeting Rick. "Oh good, you're all in one piece." "Barely," Christine complained. Roger glared at her lack of perspective, since they were there to save his life. Rick glanced at her and then looked at Franky. "Dude, thanks for showing up. I know you're busy with finals so I really appreciate this." "Don't mention it, Ricky. When Wilton told me you said you'd need my help, I just thought, 'Hey, better do something useful with my time.'" Wilton looked at him and nodded. "And we're grateful for that. I'll be sure to make sure you're compensated for your trouble, Frank. Roger, are you okay?" Roger took a deep breath and shook his head. "I don't know, Mr. Hopkins. I mean I feel all right but getting the wit scared out of you leaves you pretty shocked." Sarah nodded sympathetically. "Dad, the GuardioBots weren't much good against that freaky thing we tried to fight," Michael interjected. "What was that anyway? It looked familiar." "Well, based on what we know--the two stealth viruses you almost deleted before; Glitchit and Mixmaster became lost clusters so, somehow, each other's source codes were patched together and became a new one. A zombie process which can't be killed." "Oh shoot," Sarah exclaimed. Christine shook her head. "I was wondering what happened to those two Viron warriors." "What about that demonic looking thing in the robes?" Rachel asked. Wilton shrugged. "It seems to be what is responsible for Glitchmaster Z's existence." "Glitchmaster Z? Is that the Glitchit/Mixmaster combo?" Wilton nodded at her. "Viron Wizard seems to be using 128-bit multitasking capabilities to support its own functions while manipulating Glitchmaster with point-to-point protocol." "So this thing is a remote controlled dummy?" Rick asked. "It also managed to adapt to our weapons and kept on buggin'. What's up with that?" Franky shook his head. "I don't know but Viron Wizard will lose control of Glitchmaster Z if carrier drops between them." This was Sarah's expertise--network communications. "Okay, so, the best thing to do right now is find out on what TCP/UP Socket Viron Wizard is transmitting from and scramble port synchronization between them. Our peering connection will reset the link and drop carrier for a re-try." "The other thing is keeping Viron Wizard busy after we syn-port flood him," Rick said. "He's not just gonna sit there while we blow away Glitchmaster after we pull his phone cord out the proverbial wall." "I don't know, Rick," Wilton said. "You're the resident modem expert so it'll be up to you two to figure out how this is all going to work." Michael stood in front of Christine and Rachel. "What about us?" "Be ready to go back to action in case the Vira Empire plans on introducing Glitchmaster Z and/or KiloWizard to the city again just like the last time," Wilton told him. "We don't want to see anything like that happening ever again." They'd nodded affirmatively while Michael clenched his fist--angry over that incident. "Roger, meet me in my office," Sarah told him. He turned to her, bringing his listening attention to what she'd just said. Sarah knew he'd be surprised. "I'll need your help with the custom programming." Rick nodded and smiled in agreement. Down the monitored, white hallway leading to the elevator; the Netrangers, with Roger, walked towards the doors. Sarah began to glare at Christine. "Um, Mike, Rick, Rachel--go ahead with Roger and show him to my office. I need to talk to Christine." Roger's head immediately turned to Sarah, restraining a gasp. At the last moment, Sarah noticed his panic and winked at him--her only way of letting him know she isn't going to get him fired. While Rick and Rachel looked at each other, Michael shrugged. "Well, okay. Come on guys..." Sarah looked past Christine to watch the four of them walk up to the elevator. She wait for the doors to open and for them to step inside, turn around and wait for the doors to close. Once they did, Sarah's eyes focused on Christine, who turned her head around to look at her. "Okay," Christine cued. Sarah sighed. "If it sounds like I'm high on drugs then please correct me and I'll apologize; but, you seem to be very quick to blow off Roger. I mean, just because he's a technician doesn't make him a robot. And even though he's a man and by that fact, embarrassed to show any true emotion, doesn't mean you haven't hurt him by acting like he's some kind of inexperienced boy." "Sarah, I have never felt any animosity or lack of respect for Roger and further more, I can't see how it's any of your concern," Christine countered. "This is a professional working environment and there is no room for social politics here. Especially since we're on a mission; we're not just simple technicians." Sarah shook her head. "It concerns me because you treat Michael the same way and you treat me the same way. And, I'm willing to allow that because I don't think he would appreciate me sticking up for him and I simply don't even think it's worth the time trying to convince you to give me any respect. But since Roger is such a young guy--I can see how a smart kid will lose his self-esteem and let himself fail to excel in life because of this constant treatment." "WHAT treatment?" Christine queried. "Sarah, you keep talking about how I'm treating you and Michael without even nailing it down to what I'm doing to you guys that is so awful!" Sarah shakes her head again. "It's your body language, Christine..." "Body language?" rhetorically asked Christine. Sarah's face contorted with disbelief. "Facial expressions, gestures, tones of voice.. You know--ways of communicating your emotions without exactly using the words." Now referring to her behavior, she continued, "You say 'thank you' and make small talk with our superiors but with everyone else..." Christine scoffed at what she felt to be a lame argument. "I make small talk when I feel like. And, if I have something to say, I'll say it. But I'm not going to say thank you for something that someone's supposed to do. It's their job to do it; so, they're not doing it for me." "But it's polite! Christine," Sarah moaned, "what kind of..." Christine interrupted, "There is no such thing as body language here. This is just a job, Sarah." "Behaving like this contributes to an unprofessional atmosphere because it looks like you're disrespectful us even though you think you're not," Sarah told her. Christine sighed and took a moment to pause. Sarah wanted to know what she had to say about that--given that it challenges her respect for professionalism. Christine cocked her head and looked at her through one eye. "Sarah, I think you want me to act in a particular way..." "It's not for that..." Sarah corrected; not wanting to be accused of being a control freak. "So? What is it? What do you want me to say?" Sarah shook her head. "This isn't my point, Christine." "I usually don't say anything I don't mean," she concluded. "So, I'm sorry if you have a problem with that." Sighing, Sarah could see no way to get her to understand how she seems to other people. Past a sign beside the door lock hole in the wall reading SARAH BLACK, NETWORK ENGINEER; she herself walked inside. At her computer, Roger was busy typing while Rick read an O'Reilly & Associate's published book on TCP/UP Programming, 3rd Edition. "Hey guys," she half-heartedly greeted. "Sorry for keeping you guys waiting." "It's cool," Rick replied. Roger turned to her. "This is what we've come up with but I've yet to run make so it could compile and die from dozens of errors right there." "What are we going to be doing here?" Sarah asked while sitting down. Rick moved over to them and showed a print out illustrating in outlined graphics the five GuardioBots. "We're going to put the GuardioBots together to form a much larger robot that actually matches their size. As it is, most of the GuardioBots are around 60 or so feet in height in the real world while the KiloViron warriors are usually almost 100 feet or more." "Increased full-duplex bandwidth will give you guys the ability to adequately flood KiloWizard's socket connection at the same time eliminate both KiloViron. But I've got to make sure this works right. Otherwise, a netsplit will occur and the GuardioBots will become desynched themselves." Sarah nods. "I know." "The source code for those things are amazingly long. 300 Gigabytes per robot," Roger reported. "And that's the longest I've ever seen for any artificial-intelligence program." Rick grinned. "You should see the source for the Netranger program itself." "It took me forever to write the patches so I suspect there are going to be a great deal of bugs to work out which is why you should probably run this thing with the error log turned on," Roger advised. "This way, if anything goes wrong, I can try and fix it on the fly using the core dump file and all you have to do is use the restart command. This way, you don't have to shut it down completely." "Good, so that means we can try this immediately?" Sarah asked. Reluctantly, Roger nodded. "Like I said, the NetGuard extensions are not stable. If you managed to re-create a net-junction after uniting the first time, the data burst will max out your CPUs and fill up your cache memory, causing the entire robot to be completely motionless for a eight seconds." Sarah looked up. "We're gonna have to refine this if we manage to survive this next confrontation. Right now, we don't have any time for that." She looked at Rick and added, "Glitchmaster Z wont wait around until we're ready to deal with it and Viron Wizard." Rick nodded affirmatively. In San Francisco, boats were at the Embarcadero facing San Francisco Bay; meanwhile, factories and industrial works were operating in Richmond while the skyscrapers in the Financial District at the Civic Center and beyond stood above the citizens and policemen and women below. The city had already enacted an emergency plan of action in case of disaster, similar to all other natural disasters. Except this one including evacuation. Watching these places from a warehouse roof was Descriptor, using his digitized body to see beyond the range of an ordinary human being. He turned around and spoke using his internal communications system, "Bootmaster, no sign of the Netrangers as expected." Within the electronic universe was blackness as the setting for a long and straight walk way. It led over a river that led to a sparkling crystal castle, the local area network for the Vira Empire. In the meeting chamber, chairs stood before a round table sitting in the center of the large hall surrounded by tall, mosaic windows in the walls. Bootmaster looked at Descriptor on the triangular, table-top display terminal. "I knew they wouldn't return to face their fate. Cancel the Virii Clones to the city and mobilize the second unit crew. We're about to hit 'em where it bloody hurts." On the screen, Descriptor nodded. Exabyte walked towards Bootmaster after their communication had been completed. "I still want to see Viron Wizard try to hack the Netronix name server." "It is their only machine on the Ultranet that has a UP Address that is announced worldwide," Bootmaster told him. "The rest are on a private address to prevent direct access to any of their hosts. Thus, all traffic going in and out is through ns1.netronix.unet-5. Their primary domain name server, mate." "It seemed like too easy a target so I never felt taking it down would accomplish anything," Exabyte said. "However, that firewall has yet to be passed through, undetected. And if Viron Wizard is as magical as it seems, it can use that server to get past whatever security measures they have arranged." The blackness above led to hues of purple to blue to bright yellow on the neon horizon at the end of bright green, liquid-like light that rolled like a river. A black wall with a neon red outline and a star-field of dots found its way up an electronic plaza. The buildings looked like computer generated high-rise structures from a video game while at the foot of the tower was a draw bridge that led to the cliff over the river below. The blue cliff ran down a hill where Glitchmaster Z stood with Viron Wizard. "We're in position." NETRANGER =============================================================================== ACT II: At the Netronix Plaza in Mountain View, California--the 30-story tower was reflecting the sunlight from the windows that ran around the round building. In the Network Operations Center, Franky at one of the terminals turned around and said, "Michael--how come I'm getting a Connection Refused error here?" "The server you're accessing could be down," Christine said. Rachel glanced at Franky's screen. "It's highly unlikely the UltraNIC would be down." Michael left his console to join his to look at what Franky was seeing. "The UP address still works so domain name service is apparently down." "Not possible," Wilton interjected. "We've got four fully redundant OC-3 links on three different telecommunication networks with an interoffice T-3 running through a separate OC-12 on our own backbone on the Ultranet." Looking at him, Michael nodded. "I know that, but, dad; look. This is the result of a UCMP ping request to our gateway server." Wilton read the display: --- 3.00.0001.1 ping statistics --- 60 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss "For some reason, one of your primary name servers aren't on the Ultranet," Franky said. Wilton nodded. "Michael, telnet to your shell account at Cyberspace Online and traceroute to our primary name server. Whatever UP address you die at, cut and paste it to your NetVisor's flash ROM memory and bring the others. Rachel, contact Rick and Sarah." Rachel nodded affirmatively. On the Ultranet, Virii Clones were whacking at the big, steel doors with their MicronMaces, trying to break into the name server with apparently little success. Glitchmaster Z stopped watching them to look at Viron Wizard. "How come we re-compressed to stand by mode?" "We needed to slip past whatever early warning systems Netronix had in place so we could drop one of their primary gateway servers and would be unaware of our presence," Wizard answered. "Now that they're isolated from the Ultranet, they have no way of tracking us down. But if we can get into this server, we can track them down." The white elevator doors allowed Rick, Sarah and Roger to step out of the car before the doors closed again. Christine was the first to join them on the raised section of the floor before Rachel came to listen. "Any luck coming up with a way to beat Wizard's zombie virus?" Roger shrugged. "I'm gonna need to hang here with Franky to fix bugs live on the net. I managed to get the extensions to install without me getting any errors but I don't know if they're reliable." "That's all we can ask for," Rachel commented. Michael turned around quickly. "Guys, I've got the address." Christine looked behind herself at him and nodded. "Good." "Address of what?" Sarah asked. "What's going on?" "Something knocked our main gateway off the Ultranet," Rachel answered. Rick popped his knuckles. "Well, I'm about ready to go back to Africa on these guys and make sure they don't come back this time." "I'm ready too," Rachel said. Sarah looked at Roger. "By the way; what you did in my office is proof that you can work with a woman without losing your cool. You've got what it takes to get what you want, and what you need." Roger nodded and smiled. "I'll remember that." He walked down the steps, passing Wilton before sitting next to Franky. Christine walked next to them where Roger stood. "Materializer: On-Line!" Michael, Rick, Rachel and Sarah activated their wrist-mounted Materializers. Standing from left to right: Christine, Michael, Rick, Rachel and Sarah crossed their arms before swinging them down and back up to swipe their NetCards through the slots in their Materializers. "Netranger Log On!" And, as everything turned black, their bodies became white silhouettes of brilliant light before a blinding flash of white energy shined. Somersaulting diagonally overhead into the black, backlit sky and out of sight in opposite directions were the red, black, blue, yellow and pink Netrangers. The team landing on the smooth, digitized, gray hill and took their positions, shouting, "Netranger!" Viron Wizard stepped forward and clenched its fist. "Impossible! Dispatch the Clones!" One by one, the virii clones leaped overhead and out of sight from left to right and from right to left. Along the straight trail along the top ridge of the hill, the red and blue Netrangers were running after the clone bots as NetBlue jumped into a somersault before cartwheeling into a back-flip. Meanwhile, NetRed side-kicked over a Virii Clone that tumbled beneath him. NetBlue came up and twisted a clone's arm back before elbow-stomping its shoulder. She beat it out of the way as NetRed blocked a kick and side-kicked the clone bot over the cliff. Overhead, NetYellow cannonball flipped out of midair before landing in the middle of green clones before bringing her arms into a circle above her head. A green clone leaped into the air after the yellow Netranger and she looked up and jumped into the air. NetYellow was already in midair while shouting, "Spinning Disc Kick!" and half way through her kick, light flashed repeatedly before her foot flew across with a glowing streak of yellow to follow her boot. The Virii Clone was still flying backwards until it dropped over the side of the cliff while NetPink somersaulted backwards out of the sky and landed on the hill. There, she sweep kicked a clone's foot, tripping it upon standing up again, holding her ElectronWeapon. "TerraBow!" NetPink announced before pulling back the bowstring. In a bright flash, a pink beam of light appeared in her bow before becoming a pink arrow. The pink Netranger let go and the Virii Clones approaching her were knocked down by a tower of sparks reaching up into a fountain of fireworks. A green clone bot spin-kicked at NetBlue, jumping backwards into the air and back onto her feet. Its roundhouse missed her as well when she sequentially bounced backwards onto her feet again. When the blue Ranger's blue feet hit the ground, she jumped up again. In midair, her body twirled over the Virii Clone just then trying to grab her. When the brown belt, boot and gloved clone turned its black-visored helmet around--NetBlue jumped up and side-kicked it in the chest. As the green clone dove head first over the cliff--NetPink blocked a side-kick before elbow punching her attacker in the abs and raising her fist into its green mask, knocking it out of the way. The pink Netranger turned around, finding a Virii Clone running up to her from behind. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around its head before dropping her torso down to stand on her hands and then pulled the clone's body over herself with her legs. The Virii Clone tumbled out of the way and NetPink stood up to run off. Viron Wizard took a step ahead of Glitchmaster Z. "No matter--we'll hack the server later. Glitchmaster--get ready." The red Netranger looked at NetBlue and asked, "Christine, do you see the carrier signal from Viron Wizard?" From her perspective, there was a dotted line traveling to the tip of the drill on Glitchmaster Z's head. "I do. It's EM resistant so our weapons can't disrupt it." Viron Wizard had risen his wand above itself. In the blackness of what would be the sky on the Ultranet, dark clouds were building overhead as they'd began to roll with light randomly flashing within themselves. "Self Extracting Decompression Command: Execute!" Viron Wizard commanded as lightning reached down from the clouds to touch its special wand. Eventually, the arcs of blue lightning penetrated both stealth viruses as their bodies were encased in an aura of the same color. A diamond of white light shined forth, opening its true inner energy, compressed so it may retain its human-sized form. Rising dozens upon dozens of feet into the sky were KiloWizard and Glitchmaster Z, side by side. With the online equivalent of the Netronix plaza before them, Glitchmaster Z took a step towards the primary gateway. NetPink looked at everyone else. "Let's see if Roger's idea'll work." NetBlue nodded and replied, "Right. All together now..." "Netranger Control Message Protocol," they shouted in unison, "GuardioBots install!" Materializing out of video pixels overhead--the red, black, blue, yellow and pink GuardioBots free fell in opposite directions one by one. On the ground, the five robots took steps forward. On the hill, the Netrangers watched before NetBlue looked to the others on her left and right. Bringing up her fist, she ordered, "let's connect!" Using both of her arms, the blue Netranger jumped into the air. The black and red Netrangers looked straight ahead and replied, "Right!" upon leaping into the air. "Ready!" the pink and yellow Netrangers added before jumping up. In the sky, the red Netranger was flying up and out of sight followed by the black and blue Netrangers and the pink and yellow Netrangers. On top of RedGuard's head, NetRed landed on his knee with his arms out before standing up. "Made it!" The red Netranger jumped down into the head of his tall robot before dropping out of sight. Within the cockpit, NetRed landed in his seat and put his hands on the console before himself. "RedGuard Log In!" he commanded; on the terminal, the active matrix monitors on his console suddenly came on as the many LED lights below lit up with the backlit buttons, levers, knobs, switches and dials. "I'm goin' for it!" NetPink said via her radio. PinkGuard brought up its big silver fist and rammed it ahead. Knowing that KiloWizard would block the punch, she had PinkGuard use its other hand to grab its wand. Its grip was firm but she was getting it so KiloWizard kicked PinkGuard back, causing sparks to drop out of its abs. In the cockpit, NetPink moaned from getting violently shaken in her seat. NetBlack saluted her. "Good try, Sarah but we need NetGuard." "Christine," NetRed said, "Load ng.exe and run it." On her keyboard, the blue gloved fingers typed R-U-N and then the Return key. NetBlue looked up. "AutoPilot mode working." Two holes in the back of BlueGuard started blasting air from the tubes which lifted the heavy robot into the air. A glowing green circuit board print over blackness continuously rolled upward while--in midair: BlueGuard's head turned around while its arms locked into its back and legs came up sideways to where its arms were--creating a torso. Meanwhile, after RedGuard's head retracted between its shoulders, its forearms tucked inside of its neck and allowed its torso and legs to split--forming shoulders and the beginnings of arms. BlackGuard's arms locked on top of its shoulders once its head rotated into its back before separating its torso, bringing its legs and torso up, sideways until they formed larger legs and hips. Meanwhile, yellow and pink GuardioBots merged their legs and locked their arms into their backs before their heads were replaced by black fists. Suddenly--BlueGuard turned around to show a V-shaped golden shield for a chest; BlackGuard turned upside down to land on the ground before BlueGuard landed on top of it forming the legs and torso. RedGuard landed on top of BlueGuard to form the head and shoulders. And Yellow and Pink GuardioBots connected as the left and right arms. The head began to rise from between its shoulders, showing a metallic blue face with shaped metal lips below a nose between two red robot eyes. Within the cockpit, the back wall slid apart before the five Netrangers were rolled forward within their chairs before they met five terminals that descended from the ceiling on poles. These laptop-computer stations had large, over-sized, backlit buttons for one-finger operation. From left to right--the black, red and blue Netrangers were in front of the yellow and pink Netrangers behind them on a slightly higher level. "Net Junction complete. Resume manual operation." Suddenly, the icons of a Computer, Monitor, Keyboard, Printer and Modem appeared in a golden circle behind the gigantic robot bringing its fists apart: NetGuard. Glitchmaster Z jerked back. "Uh oh." "No!!" KiloWizard shouted. In the meeting chamber, chairs stood before a round table sitting in the center of the large hall surrounded by tall, mosaic windows in the walls. Descriptor looked at the triangular, table-top display terminal. "Where'd that come from??" The multi-colored robot, NetGuard, shifted its fists aggressively, preparing for combat. Within the cockpit, NetRed watched the some eight meters on his slanted screen jump at what seemed to be random. "Okay, these are a lot of systems to keep an eye on all at once." NetPink pointed ahead. "Here they come!" KiloWizard charged ahead of Glitchmaster Z, also running after NetGuard. The skull-headed KiloViron warrior swung its wand at NetGuard, immediately knocking it out of the way before using the back of its big fists to knock Glitchmaster in the shoulder and in the abs. Two huge blasts of sparks leaped out of its half metal, half leather-skinned body. Aboard the cockpit--NetRed shouted, "MagnoPunch!" NetGuard took a step forward and launched a fist forward. Sparks blew out of KiloWizard's body before the giant robot rammed its other fist into its chest. The final blast of sparks sent him flying backwards onto the hill; as seen between NetGuard's legs. Meanwhile, Glitchmaster Z gets up off the ground and runs its drill and NetGuard stood ready. Two mighty swings from the zombie Viron warrior sparked against NetGuard but it turned around when Glitchmaster ran to the other side and punched it in the shoulder--blasting sparks out of its armored side. "Overload!" KiloWizard ordered before touching its wand to the back of NetGuard. Lightning began crawling all over its body as bright lights started flashing. Aboard the cockpit, it was as if a magnitude 8.5 earthquake were rocking them in their bucket seats as the Netrangers' arms were swinging around in their attempt to regain their stability. Warning sirens were going off as NetRed saw the red meters dropping. "Agh!! I've got 150 seconds worth of lag here!!" After a puff of white smoke left a bright flash of sparks, NetGuard found itself flying from its feet, falling backwards into midair. In several flashes of light, NetGuard took the form of separate, outlined shapes that flew apart from one another. The neon-lines began to resemble the five GuardioBots and once they'd become solid again, they violently crashed into the ground. At the Netranger Operation Center on the 23rd floor of Netronix corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California--Roger was reading an array of colored numbers, refreshing themselves once per second until some turned yellow and red. "NetSplit, Franky." "Looks like somebody threw one whopper of an oversized packet down her pipe," Franky said. "NetGuard must've core dumped." Roger nodded. "I'll analyze the core file and patch NetGuard's source code as fast as possible. Hopefully, they'll still be alive by the time it compiles and I can upload the new binary executable program." The smoldering GuardioBots tiredly stood up and, inside of BlueGuard's cockpit, the thumb of her blue gloved hand pushed 6-6-6-7 on the roof before NetBlue looked down. "I changed to a less congested port so our socket connection wont be as slow. Ready to connect, everybody?" NetRed nodded. "The sooner the better." In midair, BlueGuard turned around to show a V-shaped golden shield for a chest; BlackGuard turned upside down to land on the ground before BlueGuard locked on top of it forming the legs and torso. RedGuard hooked onto the roof of BlueGuard to form the shoulders. And yellow and pink GuardioBots connected as the left and right arms. On the left-most station, NetBlack behind the red and blue Netrangers looked at them. "Guys, we're not doing anything." "I know, we're still waiting for the burst data from all the GuardioBots to re-synchronize," NetBlue said. "This is bad, you guys," NetRed interjected. Standing next to KiloWizard, Glitchmaster Z said, "We really must've messed them up. They're just standing there!" "This is too easy," KiloWizard said. "Kill 'em!" NetGuard found itself getting lashed and slashed by Glitchmaster Z's drill arm and KiloWizard's wand; both of them taking turns striking the giant as the sparks caused the gigantic robot to rock a bit. Inside of the cockpit, sparks exploded in front of the window as the Netrangers were typing commands as quickly as they could. "Damn it," NetPink cursed. "Over 400ms ping times to the left arm!" Leaping into midair was KiloWizard as both of its feet plunged forth. Sparks blasted from NetGuard's armor. "UHN!!" the Netrangers groaned after being rocked by another explosion. A huge blast of fireworks exploded when Glitchmaster Z's drill cone lashed its chest before striking across its abs, causing another great burst of sparks. Glitchmaster Z finally struck down one more time and sparks exploded in front of the window of the cockpit. "We've still got another 183 seconds before this piece of crap does anything, Michael!" NetBlack said. "We'll be DEAD in less than 183 seconds if we don't move!" NetYellow added. NetRed nodded. "Dad--we got trouble! How long before that new code makes its way to us? We're ready to download it now!" KiloWizard and Glitchmaster Z flew by and struck NetGuard back and forth a few times more. "It's coming, Michael," Wilton said. "Stand by." KiloWizard touched its wand to NetGuard's back, causing the entire robot to flash from negative to normal colorization. Aboard the cockpit--light flashed constantly as the Netrangers found themselves jerking from electrocution. KiloWizard looked to its left and said, "Glitchmaster Z, now!" "Die!" the zombie virus shouted, crossing its drill cone with Wizard's wand. Inside of the cockpit, NetPink looked at her console. "We've got eight seconds until we can re-start NetGuard with the new version!" "We're not gonna make it," NetYellow said. NetBlue turned around behind herself and replied, "Yes we are!!" "Guys, look." NetBlack said. KiloWizard and Glitchmaster Z lowered their crossed weapons as arcs of red lightning crawled all over the wand and metal drill before a wide, blue ray of light pulsed forth, leaving behind a horizontal flare of electric blue light. NetPink looked up and announced, "We've got it!" NetRed shouted, "Christine, run the program!!" "Done!" NetBlue reported. "Satellite Shield!!" NetGuard's arm suddenly came up and, inside of its left fist, a yellow grid of glowing light became a pistol shaped satellite. As NetGuard stood their--the blue, fire-like comet of light slammed against the satellite before returning back the other way. Multiple sparks blasted up out of the ground in front of Glitchmaster Z and KiloWizard. Both of them violently hit the ground and tumbled over. NetBlue turned her thumb upside down. "Let's put 'em down." NetRed nodded. "VoltLaser!" A big steel cannon on NetGuard's back locked onto its left shoulder and another one attached itself to its right shoulder. NetGuard took a step ahead and a ray of golden light pulsed forth before becoming a yellow laser beam. The beam penetrated Glitchmaster Z's armor with a huge blast of sparks and aboard the cockpit, NetRed commanded, "RocketGun!" NetGuard's right shoulder cannon launched a missile and Viron Wizard used its wand to created a shield by turning it 360 degrees. A transparent window of pink light appeared before the sparks exploded. The Netrangers within the cockpit jerked within their seats. NetBlack looked at the others, saying, "Guys--how are we ever going to disable KiloWizard? We've done everything but thrown the kitchen sink at 'em!" "Not yet," NetRed said. "Sarah, turn on the TowerSword." After NetGuard got into position, it slammed its two fists together before a diamond of white light shined. And while bringing its iron fists part, a golden ray of light was being generated before becoming the blade of a sword. NetGuard pointed the telephone-pole, like sword to the sky, allowing its tip to twinkle in the light. KiloWizard was already charging while swinging its magic wand. And while NetRed was watching--he pressed certain function buttons. So, while NetGuard held its sword, it took the TowerSword to the sky and swung down. After the thin, razor-sharp blade sliced through midair; it came down on KiloWizard's wand as fireworks violently sprayed from its black staff. Still smoking, the other half of the wand fell to the ground at KiloWizard's feet. NetBlack looked at a light on his terminal beside 'CD' go off. "No carrier!" Glitchmaster Z was swinging its arms around while yellow rays of light beamed from the crevices in its surface. Eventually, it suddenly froze before NetGuard as it began to tip over backwards by its heals. NetGuard was still as a statue, with its sword down as the final moment happened. The moment Glitchmaster Z touched the ground, a ball of fire blasted apart before launching flames skyward. "One down, one to go," NetBlue said. "TowerSword Electrocution!" With the blue sky above NetGuard, the giant, multi-colored robot raised its golden guarded sword above its head. And while NetGuard held its sword to the air, the blue sky dimmed to a navy blue as clouds gathered overhead. Flashes of light flared within the dark clouds as arcs of golden lightning reached down to crawl along the TowerSword as if it were a lightning rod. The blade became a gold laser beam of at least 200 feet or more--if in the real world. NetGuard began to lower its blazing sword as if it were timber tipping over. As it came down, the elongated beam of light slammed down, shaking everything with power. KiloWizard found its head, neck and torso cut in half by the high voltage laser swinging through its body. And as the KiloViron warrior stood in front of NetGuard, the stealth virus found itself paralyzed. Aboard the cockpit, the Netrangers gave a two-finger salute and KiloWizard found yellow sparks leaping out of its forehead, neck, chest and abs--becoming consumed by white fireworks. The blade of NetGuard's sword returned to steel from tip to base as the explosions ultimately resulted in the fiery end of KiloWizard. And, as the the sky above the gigantic robot returned to its natural blue color, NetGuard returned to stand-by mode with the TowerSword held within its large right fist. Behind Mountain Lake next to the Presidio Golf Course was Mountain Lake Park next to the U.S. Military Reservation. Here, Sarah and Roger were taking a walk from her 1998 Volkswagen Bug bought during its fad in the 20th century. "That's how we got rid of the zombie process so our theory worked." Looking into space, Roger smiled and shook his head. "It's hard to believe we're talking about computer programs and viruses here. I never figured they'd actually ever be a physical threat." "I know," Sarah replied. "It always seems like whenever something cool is created or invented, somebody has to come along and turn it into something everyone ends up hating." Roger paused for a moment. "It's even harder to believe you guys were able to deal with these hackers. I could never be that brave." "Trust me, being thrown in the line of fire makes you brave real fast," Sarah told him. "Nobody starts out a hero; they're actually just one of the men and women behind the scenes--just like each and every one of the people we have at headquarters." Roger stopped to looked at her. Sarah stopped to look at him as well and continued to assure him. "You helped us. That's more than what most people even care to think about," Sarah told him. "Everyone is always thinking about the end in view and what they can get out of it but nobody is thinking about what somebody else must be going through and how to help." "I know," Roger replied. "But, what about Christine?" Sarah shrugged and shook her head. "She's the leader of the Netrangers and the world, both on the Ultranet and in the real world benefits from her actions," Roger explained, "so she can't be all that self-centered; but, she's not exactly..." "I know what you're trying to say," Sarah replied. "To her, this is just a job. And, anyone that's doing anything out of a sense of duty or obligation is not going to be overly concerned about anything but getting the absolute minimum of what has to be accomplished completed." Roger sighed. "I know; but--how do you relate to someone like that?" Sarah grinned and looked around. "I don't," she half-chuckled. Roger looked down at the grass and quietly said, "It's too bad Christine looks how she does; otherwise I could forget about her." Sarah suddenly looked back at him with a concerned expression. TO CONTINUE Next week on Netranger: "And now, I spilled a cup of coffee on my pants and I was hanging them up to dry so they wouldn't be wet when I sat on the bus to go home," Sarah told him. Rick was almost sorry he asked but started to walk closer to her without thinking. "Well, if you need a ride home, I'd be perfectly willing to..." Sarah was looking at him coming near him and started moaning nervously before interrupting him. "I wasn't wearing anything else," she blurted out before Rick jerked his head. Mortified, Sarah's head bobbed while trying to retain her dignity. "There, I said it." "Okay," was all Christine said to him. "When can Sarah come see Roger? I'd hate for him to have nothing to do when he gets paid by the hour." Rick shifted his eyes in hidden panic. "Uh, well, you see, that's going to be a problem. Remember when I told you she messed up her pants?" "Okay! That's all. I don't need to hear anymore," Christine told him. Viron Erronion's body of reflective, silver armor featured wide shoulders, knee shields, a protruding chest plate and black robot fists. It's diamond shaped head had an upside down mask above two red robot eyes. On its back was a black question mark surrounded by a circle of 1 and 0 numbers printed around it. "User, I have arrived, Megahertz." Roger's heart rate was increasing while he tried to say, "You made a mistake. I'm not who you're looking for!" "But you are," Erronion told him before bringing its elbows out to the sides before holding out the palms of its black, metal hands. Roger's puzzled but terrorized face was hidden behind the fourth wall that came up. All four corners shined with a blue, almost white glow that sealed the digital box. In episode number 13, "The Digital Mirror". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Computer Task Force Netranger" is a trademark of Eclipse Studios & Artist Bros Productions. The above text is protected under laws of the United States and other countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability, and criminal prosecution. Copyright (c) 1999 Artist Bros. Productions, Artist Brothers Music, Eclipse Studios, Matthew Williams and Dairenn Lombard. All Rights Reserved. Country Of First Publication: United States of America. Eclipse Studios, Artist Bros., Matthew Williams and Dairenn Lombard are the authors of the preceding text. The characters and events depicted in this story are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional. This copyright notice does not extend to infringe upon the existing copyrights for `Super-Sentai' titles maintained by Toei Company LTD., Toei Agency, Toei International, Asahi-TV, and Ishimori Productions. [TV-PG] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------