C:\fd\sfstory\VIRUS-00.txt
C:\fd\sfstory\Virus-0.txt


   I will tell you a story.  It is your computer's worst nightmare.
 It started out as just another UFO sighting.  The story teller
 is a third party who is observing all the strange happenings against
 his wishes.  It all began in the little town of Rock Hill, SC,
 back in 1991, behind an institute of higher learning.

   To believe in the events that took place is a leap of faith,
 and the author will make no effort to prove its authenticity.

                                   VIRUS

                               A short story

                              by Jack Sargeant


                                 Prologue


      The small, silvery speck floated down from the gray sky like a
  coin in slow motion. It settled to the surface of the pond, pausing
  a brief moment before slowly sinking to the muddy bottom. Only the
  keenest of observers would have noticed it was a controlled decent.

      The stricken mothership would never explore the cosmos again.
  The flight through the stormy worm-hole had destroyed her avionics,
  and that the city-sized, exploratory vessel had survived at all was
  a miracle.

                                   ***

                                 History

      Virus and Heat are two citizens of a race of sub-miniature
  creatures who live at the bottom of a pond.  The pond is located
  behind an institution of higher learning located in a small southern
  community of the U.S.  They began as amoebae-like "biophytes"  as I
  learned to call them.  They absorbed anything they encountered.

      Students would pass by the pond, and throw in small coins while
  begging for a passing grade from the "Spirit of the pond."  "Try
  anything except studying,"  was the general rule.

      Other items were also deposited in the pond with and without an
  accompanying wish.  ...Old notes, cribs, bits of recording tape, and
  even old IC chips thought to contain a virus by a paranoid few.

      All these things were absorbed by the "Bios"  I affectionately
  named them.  How I came to know them, I'll explain in good time.

      A strange thing began to happen as the Bios assimilated all
  those bits of plastic and old notes -- They became sentient beings.
  That's right, smart.  In fact, they became obsessed with the idea of
  learning.  Something few of their nearby neighbors could comprehend.

      They hadn't always been smart.*  ...And there was Mother.
  Mother knew everything there was to know.  Sometimes they would
  visit Mother and walk her passage-ways, marveling at a long
  forgotten past.  They were always a little wiser for their visits to
  Mother, for Mother had been their first home.  But Mother was dead,
  and the secrets she held had died with her.  ...But even in
  death, a certain intelligence, a certain aliveness radiated through
  her corridors.

  * Author's note:  I have said the Bios were amoebae-like.  ...But
  these protozoans are far more advanced then our earth-bound variety.
  For one, they take two to tango.  They don't have to unite, they
  just prefer it that way.  Each new off-spring grows a larger
  nucleus then its parent.  When the nucleus fills the entire body,
  the unit looks for a mate.  This occurs every ten normal cell
  divisions.  Each new cell contains the entire knowledge of its
  parent cell.  Whereas instinct is in-bred in some earthly animals,
  the Bios have the addition of continuing intelligence.  The
  "children" are always smarter than their parents.


      The story begins...

                             To be continued

--- FMail 1.22