VIRUS

                                 Chapter 5

                                 They live!


      Thursday headlines in the Bogustown Bugle:  "They live!  Virus
  and Heat survive the EXTERMINATOR!"  According to my sources who
  wish to remain anonymous, Virus and his mate Heat are alive and in
  seclusion.

      Apparently they had slipped into their ship for some private
  reasons, and were only slightly dazed by the de-magnetization
  procedure.  They then escaped down the modem line to the house of a
  pirate who gave no ID.  As soon as they can unscramble their way
  through all the hackers aliases, Virus would send word to Hack and
  Lock that they were alive and well.  "So...  All heed this warning!
  Back up that hard drive today!  There is no time to waste and no way
  to know where the BIOS will strike next!  It is thought by this
  reporter that they would strike first at the scene of the crime
  against them.  Stay tuned for further updates as the developing
  story unfolds."

      Virus wasn't too happy with his new home.  The files in the
  hackers computer weren't nearly as tasty as the bytes at Michael's
  place.  Yes, I did say Michael.  He left me E-Mail threatening to
  reduce my access time if I persisted in calling him Mike.  Sysops
  aren't always right, but they are NEVER, NEVER wrong.  Sigh!  Wished
  I could afford to start up a BBS of my own!  I'd fix him!..

      Virus thought..  If his hacker host would just use the same
  logon twice, somewhere..  They could cross-triangulate their
  location and find a pathname to a better home.  Virus knew he would
  have to keep a sharp lookout for the jerk's first mistake!  If they
  could ever find their way back to Michael's or Don's, Virus made a
  promise to himself he would never wander again.  He was just getting
  too old for this kind of hassle.  He would be more respectful of his
  host and eat only the older, less important bytes, like the temp and
  .bak files.

      Authors note:  It's a well known fact that Virus was always
  making promises he knew he wouldn't keep, but his intentions were
  honorable at the time.  But in the past, he broke his oath as soon
  as he was out of trouble.

      Virus was reading a message from Jeff to Jack.  Now there's a
  guy he would like to visit.  Nothing like going first class

      ...Surely there must be a phone number around here someplace!

(Don't touch that dial! It gets even sillier. ...I promise!)

                                 Continued

--- FMail 1.22