by DD White
Chapter 12: The Urania Nebula Event
The city of Tze-Doldusdoor had been deep within the quanta-nanocoded virtual realities of the Tze-Doldus star-door, under the Great Glacial Mountain on the planet Urania, and the city had been programmed with the deep purple morning sky of the planet Pripica under the legendary star Poa. The particular composition of the deep Pripican atmosphere made the sky an ultramarine blue that often changed into purple when Poa approached the horizon. Here in Tze-Doldusdoor the star Poa still shined in all its pre-nova glory, which had left it now a pulsar in this day and age. The star-door programmed sky remembered everything about this ancient sky on this ancient planet, and had continued the imitative dance of its existence now for billions and billions of Earth years. The star Poa rose over rows of Tze-Doldusdoor warehouses that were lined up along the shores of the void of nothing, where the latest shipment of compiled neutrinos had just arrived. The warehouses were bustling with the activity of little Uranian-like virus programs that were rushing to unload the crates off of the mysterious ships that arrived here from the mysterious nothing beyond.
Around those warehouses were also other Uranian-like quanta-nanocoded security programs that were scuttling stealthily up to the teleportation warehouse that received those neutrino crates. The security programs, like a tightening rope noose around a neck, rapidly closed in on the perimeter of the busy warehouse. Beataphoriah stood amongst these teams of security programs as their leader. Beataphoriah had been the only Uranian still displaying the more ancient hairy un-evolved form of the species, which became out of style in Tze-Doldusdoor around the same time it went out of style on the actual planet.
Under the still dim purple light of the Pripican morning, one of the quanta-nanocoded security programs approached the leader Beataphoriah with a report. “Sir, we’ve now secured the entire parameter, and can confirm that the virus boss is in that warehouse overseeing the operation.”
Although they looked Uranian, these quanta-nanocoded Tze-Doldusdoor residents spoke a kind of Nephaprican dialect. “Thank you security13207496. That warehouse has been programmed to beam the contraband into the flaming plasma surface of the star Tze-Doldus in order to blow it up. It’s a good thing I returned when I did. This shipment might have destroyed everything. That all depends on how many of these shipments have already been teleported.”
Secruity13207496 looked over at the dawning star Poa that rose on the morning horizon between shores of nothing and the city Tze-Doldusdoor. Security13207496 kept looking at Poa, obviously trying to comprehend the implications of what Beataphoriah just said. It had been one of those moments that Beataphoriah realized these programs know no other existence except the quanta-nanocoded physics of this virtual reality that pretended to be the ancient planet Pripica. “Yes Security13207496, destroying the power source of actual reality would effect the star that rises every morning here in this virtual reality also.”
Security13207496 understood. “I only need to know that this must be stopped. I’m sorry we failed to stop the last ten neutrino bombs.”
“I understand Secrity13207496. This boss virus has a powerful credential program that only I can de-bug from you. Today it no longer controls Tze-Doldusdoor.” Beataphoriah concluded that it became time for action. “Have the parameter close in and take them out now. I’m going to stop that boat.” Then Beataphoriah disappeared, and Security13207496 sprung into action, and returned to the other programs somewhere out in the shadows along the parameter.
The quanta-nanocoded virus program did not surrender the warehouse without a fight. Uranian automatic projectile weapons greeted the Security programs as they emerged from the purple morning shadows. Beataphoriah wasted no time, and just teleported to the deck of the boat docked by the warehouse. None of the glowing fields of light that were the crew on the deck responded to Beataphoriah’s appearance. There had been no quarrel with the star-door quanta-optic-nanocode being’s presence. Beataphoriah hoped to receive a similar response from the captain as it walked across the deck towards the captain’s quarters; unchallenged by the crew of mysterious glowing lights.
The captain had been just a glowing field of light himself, seated behind a desk of strange objects when Beataphoriah entered the room. The captain’s light seemed to twinkle and blink as it talked. “What is this unannounced intrusion? You have no business in here whatever you are!”
Beataphoriah knew right away that this program would require some debugging before it again worked properly. Beataphoriah stretched its own neck well beyond anything anatomically accurate. It pressed its head and neck across the table into the area of light that had probably been the captain’s face. Beataphoriah’s Uranian eyes began to glow, and a sparkling light projected from those eyes into the captain’s face. It seemed to wait for just the right moment to say, “I am Beataphoriah.”
The debugging of the captain seemed to take place just in time as the crackle of automatic explosion-launched projectile weapons indicated that the warehouse assault went ahead outside as expected. “I need you to remain docked here, and immediately stop unloading this shipment. I am going to have this shipment reloaded on this boat to be de-compiled.”
The captain’s grumpy mood instantly altered. “As you wish Beataphoriah. Welcome back after all these years.”
Beataphoriah left the boat to join the confrontation taking place just inside the warehouse. Security had closed in and gunned down virus programs, which were being tossed out of the pockets of the boss virus hand over fist as black balls that became Uranian shaped programs when they hit the ground. It looked like a matter of time before the virus programs overwhelmed security.
Beataphoriah got in front of the boss virus while bullets were just bouncing off of it. The boss smirked over its Uranian teeth; still tossing programs with both hands out of inexhaustible pockets. Then suddenly one hand stopped, and instead of tossing out a ball to spring into a Uranian shaped virus program, the hand held a gun pointed at Beataphoriah that then, in that instant, zapped Beataphoriah out of existence. “Pchoo!”
The boss virus became surprised to find out that this confrontation had been easier than anticipated, and it started to giggle to itself. Beataphoriah had now been once again properly imprisoned in an infinite quanta-nanocode loop. The boss virus smiled smugly at its easy victory when suddenly Beataphoriah appeared right behind it and punched a clenched fist on the back of the boss’s Uranian head. The boss virus collapsed on the ground holding its head. Beataphoriah stretched its head in on the boss virus just as it did with the captain before, but probably to do more than just debug. “I’ve long since upgraded a way out of infinite loop traps as soon as I became free of the last one, and my brother Begalius taught me a few tricks. Begalius also knows all about ridding a star-door of virus programs like you.”
All the other virus programs ceased to function when the boss virus had been destroyed by Beataphoriah. They were quickly de-compiled like their boss, and the crates of neutrinos were immediately loaded back on the boat to be returned to the nothing. The star Tze-Doldus had now at last been saved from the nova bombs that had been creating solar flares, and causing planetary electricity blackouts for many Uranian years. Beataphoriah experienced the incredibly euphoric relief of saving the planet Urania from near certain doom, while the rest of the security programs just thought of it all as another job well done on another day in the ancient virtual reality star-door city called Tze-Doldusdoor.
