I blame this one ultimately on Joules - she started the whole darn thing! That said, it was amusing at the time and got me thinking. (And my muse's attention, for that matter! *sigh*)[Click the pic to see the full sized version]
In the depths of every computer system there lurks a presence. Not malevolent - but hardly benign. It is to them the cause of all 'bugs' can be traced, to them goes the credit for every crash, every lost file and every corrupt piece of memory. They are Gremlins - and they are legion.
In some houses, there are only one or two. They infest a specific machine and claim the flesh and blood owner for their own. In other houses there are many, infesting networked machines and driving their chosen 'fleshies' to new heights of frustration. So it is in this household… and within the depths of one particular machine, two of these gremlins are entwined.
One of them, the pale violet skin of her torso shading down the length of her serpentine tail to flukes as black as night, opened her green eyes and floated backward with a quick flick of her tail. Her gold and copper hair floated around her face and shoulders with the motion. The other, light aqua skin darkening to deepest cobalt, swam carefully around behind her to watch the glow forming against the female's stomach as it drifted slowly out to hover only inches away.
Slowly, it made itself out into a lithe form... female, dark and sinuous with a definite sheen of iridescent scales.
"Success." Jet purred, staring down at the figure uncoiling in front of her. Behind her, Ayzur smiled, pleased with the fruits of their labour. It could be done. It had been done.
Gremlins could breed.
Syrine - the new one - uncoiled further and looked around. A deep violet-blue in colour, her body shimmered iridescent for a moment before she turned a sharp-fanged grin at the two older gremlins. "I am being aware. Who am I?"
"You are Syrine. We are Jet and Ayzur." Jet answered. She considered her 'daughter' for a moment, taking in the similarities between herself and Syrine. The latter's face was feline in feature, her ears huge and pointed like a cat's and her eyes slit-pupilled emerald. Her hair was shorter and silver blonde, falling to below her shoulders. Like Jet, she was a mer-creature. Unlike Jet, she was eel-like in the long tail and continuous fins that ran its length. From the tip of Syrine's tail all the way up to her arms, the undulating fin shimmered, translucent in the warm green light.
Syrine hummed a little - and heard a particular whining noise from above her. Jet smirked. Syrine considered and sang a note - and a fleshie swore loudly as the system the three gremlins floated in suffered a fatal crash. Syrine modulated her tone, ::calling:: out, and Ayzur felt the system ::twist:: as Syrine shifted a filesystem around and corrupted a file with the pure notes.
Another gremlin, this one a golden feline with several tails and back-pointing horns, skated around the corner, leaping from chip to chip in her haste. "Ayzur! Jet! What have I said about crashing MY -" Seeing Syrine, she stopped short, then continued in a more calm tone. "Oh. You did it." Myin said, instantly distracted. "Who's this?"
"Syrine, I am being called. You are.. Myin." Syrine answered.
"Yes." Myin came up, padding gracefully. "You can leave now." The cat flexed all of her tails at once - and Jet, Ayzur and Syrine found themselves sitting in the Banshee system, looking at the tiny winged serpent that called this system home. A presence hovered behind - the multi-winged and fan-tailed form of Banshii, this system's other inhabitant.
"Oh no, you don't - go harass the Thorne-fleshie." Banshii shrieked from behind them. Shadow nodded agreement from where he was coiled around a RAM chip and flexed his feathered wings.
Jet and Ayzur nodded - neither of them were willing to mess with Banshii and Shadow - the two had control over the machine that held the network - and made for Vyrmilion with an amused Syrine undulating behind them.
Living in a house full of computers meant living in a house full of gremlins and more importantly, getting along with a housefull of gremlins. Jet and Ayzur were only two of several. Myin, Banshii and Shadow were three more; but there was also Kael, another feline (albeit one who walked on two feet rather than four) who called the Skywalker machine home, Lokii the dual-minded ::presence:: that called the 'House' machine home, Onyx, the tailed humanoid female who called a laptop home (and didn't have much to do but bollux the embroidery dongle every once in a while..), and Kasmi, the dragon-presence who actually had some sympathy for her fleshie. He was computer inept in many ways...
Syrine took advantage of the chance to look around the Vyrmilion system, gliding around until she had seen all, then turning to look at her parents. "My own place I will be needing. I am being looking now." She said in a firm tone.
"I suggest you copy yourself onto a disk and wait for a time - we are told that there are other systems used in this place. Perhaps one of them will be an adequate home." Jet answered.
"Suggest? Yes. This will be a good plan. I am being doing this." Syrine said, a note of finality in her crystalline voice. "I will be sending word once I am being settled." She bowed, and undulated upwards, fading away before a bare handful of nanoseconds had passed…"Success. We must tell the others." Ayzur said, smiling.
"Yes... but first... " Jet flicked her tail against a chip, crashing the drawing program the fleshie favoured, causing a litany of curses. After a moment, a shimmering presence made itself felt, a winged, fierce looking female of indeterminate race - the fleshie's muse.
"Y'know, Thorne really hates it when you do that.." The muse pointed out, her tone amused.
Jet grinned. "We know. You have seen Syrine?"
The muse thought about that, then nodded. "Yeh, I saw her. What of it?"
Ayzur coiled himself around the videocard with some care. "We would have Thorne draw her."
"You would, huh? Alright... lemme get my bat..." The muse pulled the length of wood from the sheath attached to her back and swung it once or twice, experimentally. One side had written, "Blunt Instrument. Handle with Care." down its length. On the other was "Inspiration. Use Sparingly." the muse nodded once to herself and vanished. Jet and Ayzur grinned at each other and swam off to find the others to let them in on the good news.
On the other side of the screen, Thorne got a very odd look on her face before reaching for the sketchbook...
© 2004 February 7th Sylverthorne
© 2003-2004 WordWrights
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