With a ripple of light and colour, Thunderwolf, Fuzzball, and Lady Bast materialized out on a vast plain. Around them, the horizon seemed to describe a perfect circle...there was not a hill or a tree to be seen. Though the line of the horizon was ragged with scrub bushes, nothing seemed to grow taller than three or four feet in height and the trio could see for miles around...had they all been inclined to sit and stare at the scenery.

"Yerg...what the hell was that?!?" roared Thunderwolf.

"We were riding light particles!" declared Bast happily. "What do you think?"

"If I didn't have a cast iron stomach, I'd puke on you."

"I take it you didn't enjoy it much. Too bad. You could do it too if you..."

"NO!" snapped Thunderwolf. "Stop asking!"

"We weren't seriously riding light particles," scoffed Fuzzball.

"Really truly! This is a computer game and I'm a light goddess," grinned Bast. "After all...virtually, anything goes!"

"Hmmm..." mused the Snarf, an evil gleam coming into his eye. "That talent certainly has possibilities for world domination. Imagine the troops that could be transported! The artillery!"

"Imagine you trying to figure out a way to do it on your own," grinned Bast almost evilly.

"Awww...is the little kitty afraid to get her hands dirty?" mocked Fuzzball. "If you're not here to watch me, I might be a baaaaaad Snarf and hack in some nuclear weapons."

"Hey, I have a game to run!" snorted Bast. "I only brought the two of you here out of the goodness of my heart...otherwise it would take forever for you to find people to build an army! And if you were to pull *that* particular trick, Fuzzy dear, you'd be more than bad. You'd be dead. By game standards, of course."

"Ooo...threats from a puddy tat. We're shaking in our boots!" laughed Thunderwolf. Now that he was getting the hang of the game, he was really feeling his power and was anxious to test it. "Come on, what would happen to us, really? You talk big, but we have yet to see proof."

"Proof," sighed Bast. "Fine." She crossed her arms over her chest and drummed her fingers against one bicep. "Alright...neither of you are viral and we have no contaminents in the game as of yet so I'm going to have to make a copy of one of you. As though someone was trying to hack into the game under your character name. Any volunteers?"

"If my copy gets to fight back, then I volunteer," said Thunderwolf. "I want to see how well 'I' would do in the same situation." Fuzzball shrugged. It was all the same to him.

"Well, hopefully you won't *be* in the same situation," said Bast drily. "You're a legal player. Now watch."

At a word, a small, organic console rose out of the ground before the cat-woman and she manipulated its touch-screen as she spoke. "Initializing duplication program 'Het-Hertra'. Active file 'thunderwolf.cha' duplicating...5...4...3...2...1. Active file 'thunderwolf.cha' duplicated. Load to 0.1 X 0.1. Loading...5...4...3...2...cancel action."

"Loading incomplete," said a computerized voice in the minds of the players. "File will be corrupt. Do you wish to delete?"

"No," replied Lady Bast out loud.

"File will be corrupt. Viral protection will be activated. Do you wish to delete?"

"No," repeated Lady Bast out loud.

An almost perfect copy of Thunderwolf appeared one character space in front and to the right of Lady Bast. Almost perfect, but not quite. Something about him was a little fuzzy around the edges and when he moved, the air would occasionally ripple and distort. He moved in a set pattern of gestures that had been recorded by the computer as being an integral part of Thunderwolf's character, but he did not speak or make any particular action.

"The file is corrupt," Bast stated simply to the two observers. "Thunderwolf, since he is more likely to obey your command. Tell him to do something easy...like walk twenty paces east. The game won't pick up the corruption until the file is used."

Thunderwolf looked at his copy with some amazement. It was really strange to see one's self performing in a game loop. "You heard her!" he growled finally. "Walk twenty paces east!"

The duplicate Thunderwolf snarled back at his original, but obeyed and walked the required distance, then stopped and resumed the performance of his game loop. Dimly, the three players could hear alerts sounding on their various computers. "Virus detected," the game spoke into their minds. "Game halted. Initiating viral control 'Anebt-Set'."

This time, instead of simply performing the action, another figure materialized on the plain and the world around them seemed to freeze momentarily. The creature was a young woman...no taller than Bast herself and quite tiny with a triangular elfin face and skin like pale copper. Her hair was cut bluntly just above the shoulders and was stereotypically Egyptian with a multitude of braids alternating between red and black, each tipped with a gold bead. Her costume too was Egyptian and she held five black dogs on chains.

Her eyes were large and black, rimmed with dark kohl, and she looked from one player to another, appraising each of them. "Lady Bast, file 'bast.app'...no errors," Anebt-Set said in a low, gravelly voice before turning to Fuzzball. "Fuzzball, file 'fuzzball.cha'...no errors. Thunderwolf, file 'thunderwolf.cha'...no errors. Thunderwolf, file 'thunderwolf.cha.copy'..."

Anebt-Set paused, her voice drowning in a hiss. "Code corrupt! Terminate file!" Her eyes flared brightly red and she uttered an ear-splitting, soul-searing shriek and snapped the chains she was holding as the dogs surged forward to rend the copied Thunderwolf to shreds.

"Turn and fight, you idiot!" Thunderwolf roared at his duplicate.

Obediantly, the copy turned with a snarl and lunged at the oncoming dogs. Despite his corruptions, this Thunderwolf fought like a master. He ignored the snapping jaws which bit into his flesh and tossed the mongrels about like rag-dolls, the sound of breaking bones audible in the still air. When all the dogs lay dead at his feet, he turned his sights on the viral control function.

"YES!" demanded Thunderwolf. "GET HER! TEAR HER APART!"

The Thunderwolf copy roared and leapt at the tiny woman, but Anebt-Set did not flinch. She merely watched as the rogue character came barrelling at her and raised her right arm, extending one finger as though to point at the rampaging lion. When he got close enough for her to feel his breath on her face, she flicked her wrist to touch her attacker's arm with her single finger. On contact, the Thunderwolf copy dissolved into pixels which dissipated into the game air.

"Corrupt file neutralized," said Aneb-Set, "full deletion and cleansing in effect. 5...4...3...2...1. Corrupt file fully deleted. Cleansing complete." Anebt-Set's eyes glowed faintly red once more before fading to black and the dead dogs vanished before the players' eyes. She bowed low at the waist. "Thank you for your cooperation," she said matter-of-factly. "Game is resumed. Have a nice day."

And, as quickly as she had appeared, Anebt-Set vanished.

"And that," said Bast solemnly as Fuzzball and Thunderwolf stared at the spot where the dulicate had been vaporized, "is why we don't hack into games. Anebt-Set is *very* good at tracking discrepencies."

"Right. What say we find that army now?" suggested Fuzzball, quickly changing the subject. "The world won't wait forever! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"There's a though! You boys have fun," grinned Bast.

"You're not coming with us? How is an evil warlord supposed to get around without a chauffeur?" demanded Fuzzball.

"Oh, you'll think of something," said Bast serenely. "I could teach Thunderwolf to do it if..."

"No!" the lion growled in annoyance.

"Suffer then," said Bast sticking out her tongue. "Have fun training your army!" She laughed and vanished in glimmer of light.

Fuzzball propped himself up on his tail and looked around. "Didn't I just leave an open plain? I'm going to be really pissed off if I'm back where I started!"

"Better than the Forest of Silence," snorted Thunderwolf. "At least around here I can use my animal senses. Speaking of which, something doesn't smell quite right..."

"Did your pack come equiped with a change of underwear?" grinned Fuzzball. Thunderwolf gave him a dark look. "Hey! I'm a Snarf! I walk around naked so what would I know?"

"You're not too big to play kickball with, you know."

"Yeah, but then you'd lose your rights and priviledges when I take over the world," said the Snarf, nonplussed. "Think of all you'd be giving up! The territories...the palacial pleasure houses...the harems...the beer..."

"Fine, I won't dropkick you just yet," agreed Thunderwolf. "But tell me then, Mighty Fuzzball, how you plan to take over the world with a field full of grass."

"Hmmm...good point. Bast said there was army material around here somewhere...I'll be really pissed if she was lying."

As if in response to his words, the grass rippled and fourteen human men rose up around them in a circle, each of them painted with mystical symbols and brandishing weapons of war.

"Hayaya seta!" the largest of them cried and they all raised their weapons against the strangers.

"I think this is going to get ugly," said Thunderwolf, lifting his mace.

*********************

"Wait a minute...I gotta stop!"

"What is it?" asked Suzene.

"I think dat magic spell sucked all my juice out," said Mummraa making a face. "I'm too tired to walk in warrior form anymore." There was a flurry of dispelled ether and the player stood much shorter now, swarthed in bandages and a white kalsiris.

"Well, it *was* a bottomless bag of peanut butter cups," grinned Telly. "I guess that takes a lot of magic...and we all started out on the first level."

"Yar...was worth it," grinned Mummraa brandishing her bag.

"Assuming it *is* bottomless," said Artemis jokingly. "It might be a temporary spell."

Mummraa gasped in feigned horror. "Don't even think that!"

"The woods are getting thicking," Suzene interrupted. "Any idea how close we are to the Treetop Kingdom?"

As if on cue, an arrow flew by Mummraa's ear with a faint whine, embedding itself firmly in the tree behind her. "Pretty close, I'd say," she grinned.

"You could have been shot! Doesn't that bother you?" cried Telly.

"I is already undead!"

"Stand away, evil one!" cried a voice from the trees. A brown-haired Warrior Maiden already crouched there, a second arrow already drawn and ready.

"I'm not evil!" protested Mummraa loudly. "Well, okay. I *am* evil," she said more quietly, "but I'm not da *same* evil and that's different so that's okay. An' I'm a *girl* mummy."

"I said, 'Stand away'," the Warrior Maiden repeated. "We will not have you molesting travellers in our woods!"

"Did I molest you?" Mummraa asked Artemis. "I forgetted..."

"You still have hands, right? I guess you were gentlewomanly," grinned the Avatar.

"Oh yeah! But Lepraa tried to eat ME," said Mummraa proudly. Lepraa looked up at Mummraa questioningly.

"She did *not* try to eat you...she was only sitting on you," sniffed Artemis.

"Enough lies!" cried the Warrior Maiden. "We know of your evil! Surely you have put these women under your spell!"

"I get the feeling that you're not going to be welcome here," said Suzene, nudging Mummraa.

"Too bad...I wanted to see the Treetop Kingdom," said the female mummy glumly, "but really, truly I is going to the Tower of Omens."

"Well, I still want to get to the Treetop Kingdom," said Telly.

"So do I," agreed Artemis. "Guess we part ways here..."

"Once we establish credebility, we'll come back for a visit," grinned Suzene, shaking Artemis' hand. "Excellent bit of gaming getting past that river!"

"And the same to you!" replied the Avatar.

"WAAAAAH! Goodbye! Goodbye!" wailed Mummraa, hugging Telly tightly.

"Hey! Quit it!" yelped the warrior.

"I repent! Go! Go! I release you from your spell! Boohoohoo," cried Mummraa dramatically. "Be free, little warriors! Be free!"

"She'll be okay when the sugar rush wears off," Suzene told Artemis confidentially.

"You hope."

Telly squeaked and managed to escape Mummraa's grip, bounding a few steps away and out of reach. Artemis followed her, Lepraa at her heel. Discreetly, both warrior women waved goodbye as Suzene dragged Mummraa away from the gathering to disassociate themselves from the other players. Hopefully, the Warrior Maidens wouldn't shoot them *before* asking questions.

"How was that?" grinned Mummraa. "Think dey think that I'm not evil even if I am, but not the same evil as I think dey thunk?"

"I think you're lucky the smarm police didn't show up," laughed Suzene.

"Dey have smarm police?" gaped Mummraa. "Where was dey when Thundercats was on and Lion-o was running around bein' all preachy?"

"Why do you think they *became* smarm police?"

"Oohhhh...I geddit," grinned Mummraa. "So where's da Tower?"

"Somewhere in this direction," said Suzene forging on. "I've been keeping an eye on the map."

"Watch us get there and Bengali is gone on a mission!"

"Don't even think it!" said Suzene, punching Mummraa on the arm. "I only have a narrow window of time before I meet up with Darrell..."

Mummraa laughed. "Well, we is on our way now! Let's sing! 'We're off to see the tower! The wonderful Tower of Omens!'"

"I'm not trying to rhyme that!"

"Me neither," said Mummraa as the pair disappeared into the woods. "Not 'less I get a yellow brick road..."

*********************