Pain. A million little pinpricks crawled through the soles of his feet and up his shins. Devin gasped, teetered, and then fell backwards onto his butt. More pain.
Through his grimacing, he heard the gate rumbling and squeaked one eye open at it. A car glided through the exit, its driver staring at him oddly. Chagrined, Devin got up and limped on down the road.
He slipped his monocle out of his coat pocket and placed it over his right eye. The menu came up, minus any feed requiring Internet access. Luckily, the Global Positioning System (GPS) with a world map stored inside of it was all he needed. He searched his locality for some time before he found an Internet cafÉ twenty miles away. It did not look too far on the map, and Devin figured he could make it in a few hours.
Devin's feet were aching just a few blocks down the road, he was breathing heavily, and was disappointed to find he had only made a quarter-mile of his journey. Then he heard voices and followed them down one more block to find a group of kids his age huddled on the sidewalk. The sounds of their conversation drew him in like a magnet. It wasn't a newsfeed, but it was something.
"What about that big eyeball on all the TV channels. Have any of you seen that?" one kid asked the others.
"I've seen it," another kid lifted a hand, "It looks like it's staring at you no matter where you are in the room. Totally creepy."
"I haven't seen it," a girl said, "I just get blank screens."
"I heard on the radio every ATM in the city is crashed and all the banks are closed until they can bring their computers back online. My Dad's freaking out," a boy with greasy hair and buckteeth laughed.
"Whoa!" a guy with long hair slapped a palm to his forehead, "That's why my Data Miner Three-Oh was crashed this morning. I thought the feds finally shut them down or I was busted for my bootleg movie collection. So it's just a virus? That's a relief."
"You know nine-one-one is out of service," a girl with long blonde braids said. She was hugging her textbooks to her chest.
"I call B.S.," a muscular kid waved the comment away angrily, "Nine-one-one don't go out of service."
"Then why don't you call and find out?" the girl retorted.
"I ain't doing that," he said dismissively, "Besides, my cell phone isn't getting a signal."
"I wish I knew what was going on."
A girl looked up, "There haven't been any planes in the sky all morning."
There was a long silence.
"What's up?"
It took Devin a moment to realize this last was directed at him, "I'm sorry?"
"Who are you?" one blonde kid said, and Devin realized they were all now staring at him.
"I'm Omni-er... Devin," he said, "I live down the street."
"Oh," one girl said rolled her eyes, Devin did not understand the gesture. "He's a home-schooler."
"Are you gonna die soon?" a younger girl asked him innocently.
"Huh?" Devin didn't understand.
"He's a Net-head," a larger kid said. "They all look like that."
The others gave Devin unpleasant expressions he did not understand. "What are you guys doing out here?" He asked them.
"Waiting for the bus that obviously isn't coming," one blonde kid exclaimed, hitching his backpack over his shoulder and marching through the throng of high-schoolers, "I'm going home. My Internet works fine. It runs on a ultra-secure system provider that can't be hacked. I'm gonna play some death match."
Devin was taken off guard by this statement, and it wasn't until the kid was nearly a block down the road that it sank in enough for Devin to chase him down. With a quick jog that left him short of breath, Devin managed to catch up, "Hey, you play death match? What dungeon?"
The kid shrugged, "I used to play on War Machine's MMORPG before it went down, but there's plenty of other MUD's to play on. Battlenet's an old standby."
"You know anything about hacking?" Devin asked eagerly, trying to sound innocent, but the kid shot him a suspicious glance. He quickly added, "I'm new to the scene and was hoping to get some pointers. You know, like how to change my grades and stuff."
The kid relaxed a little, "I'm just in it for the free stuff."
"Me too," Devin said, remembering Flatline taking down LD-50's server, "Can you help me get some information? I got stuff I can trade for it."
The kid considered Devin for a moment, and Devin thought he could actually see the boy's ego get the better of him, "Sure, I can find almost anything on the Web. I'm Patrick," he said, holding out his hand.
Devin stared at it for a moment before realizing he was supposed to take it in his. "I need information about a user out on the Web," Devin said, letting Patrick's hand go and wiping his own on his pant leg impolitely, "His avatar is Flatline."
The ideonexus portal was completely empty. Gone were the sounds of traffic usually rolling through its virtual hallways. The cacophony of web surfers, chat rooms, search results, and game rooms were all missing. A hollow whistling wind reverberated through the portal's tunnels, unnerving her even more. Zai felt like the last person on Earth.
She swallowed and toggled her command line switch, wincing at the sound of her own voice, "Search engine, browse category News and Media, subcategory Reuters Current Events. Go. Go."
The portal's female voice replied, "Browsing... Headlines for Reuters Current Events... 'Orange County without water after unexplained plant shutdown...' 'Flatline computer virus shuts down all major portals...' 'International Aviation Authority cancels flights nation wide after planes crash in Boston, Hong Kong, San Fran-'"
"Stop," Zai commanded. "Open 'Flatline Computer Virus Shuts Down All Major Portals.' Go. Go."
"Accessing..." the search engine said, then a male announcer followed. "The Flatline computer virus continued wreaking havoc today as all the world's major Web portals closed down to prevent further damage from the virus which has caused more than three billion dollars in downtime for the service providers and..."
Okay, Zai thought, If the ideonexus portal is down, why am I walking around in it?
"...The virus, which seemed to strike the entire Internet at once, continues to propagate itself from system to system using a technique unknown to network security personnel, and is considered the most lethal to computer systems since the Legion of Discord's code worm shut down servers across the world over a decade ago. The International Web Authority stationed in Alexandria, Virginia has been at a loss for answers to defeat this latest threat. Detective Dana Summerall comments:"
A woman's voice came onto the broadcast, it was curt and authoritative. "Our Computer Scientists are working around the clock to find a solution. It's just a matter of time until we put down this latest assault on our world's information systems."
The announcer questioned her, "Are there any leads on who designed this virus?"
"With the cooperation of private, federal, and international law enforcement agencies, we are following several solid leads. I am optimistic we'll have the individual or individuals apprehended soon," the detective replied. "We do know this is the work of a new hacker or organization on the Web, with no connection to groups such as the Legion of Discord or Free Information Network."
"Who were responsible for similar acts of information terrorism in the past," the reporter clarified. "This could prove to be the most destructive computer virus in history. Do you think this may mark a new age of advanced computer crime?"
"I can't comment on that until we know more about this current menace," Dana Summerall responded. "I can say once we figure this virus out it will be like the others, another nuisance on the list of anti-virus software updates, forgotten by the rest of the world. Anti-virus software has stayed ahead of the game for years now. This virus is simply a novelty item."