Shards Read Online Free

long list,
with emails from hundreds of lists from all over the world. They
wanted apocalypse through the internet, I'd give it to 'em.
    You know when you're looking at
email addresses and some seem really familiar? It's almost like
dejá-vu. Well, when going through the occult newsgroups, I came
across an email address that practically burned itself into my
eyes.
    Hell, it wasn't even the
address, it was the word.
    Malephagia.
    I didn't know what it meant.
Yet I recognised it, like I'd seen it before but couldn't
remember.
    As I hovered my mouse over the
email address, something in my head told me to delete it from the
list. I even started to. Then sense kicked in and I moved on.
    #
    Long slender fingers, concealed
within black velvet gloves, deftly played across the keyboard. The
rhythmic tapping of keys formed a strangely melodic tune that
filled the apartment. Arcane symbols, indecipherable to layman's
eyes, lined the screen in an complex yet ornate arrangement.
    Twin tanks flanked the
computer---itself a sleek black machine that purred in accordance to
its master's desires. The tanks were connected to the hard drive by
serpentine plastic tubes. These tubes, filled with amber liquid
pulsing from the nearby tanks, snaked into the hard drive case and
circled back again, forming a closed circuit.
    Floating at
the centre of each tank, akin to monstrous test-tubes, were
foetus-like creatures. They were vaguely human yet wrong , drifting in the
cloudy ochre fluid---nine inches of wrinkled pink flesh bobbing in
artificial wombs.
    The melodic typing continued
its song until a warning flashed up in bold, red letters, bordered
on every side by an array of runic characters.
    Virus Detected. Designation:
IcE Maiden.
    For seconds, the screen
remained unresponsive, despite repeated tapping at the keyboard.
Another message flashed on screen but only for an instant. It
wavered and vanished before it could be read. The keyboard returned
to life, as further keystrokes were converted to symbols in the
on-screen document.
    One of the foetuses convulsed
as the hard drive whirred into automated life, sucking and
recycling the greasy fluid from the tanks. The hybrid machine
clicked over for long seconds, syphoning through the amber liquid.
The symbiote foetuses drew more orange fluid in hungry,
synchronised gulps, returning it in bubbles and dark ochre
dribbles.
    A final message appeared
on-screen, surrounded by assorted runes.
    Counter-measures initiated.
Destination: 'Sabre' - IP 203.198.66.4.
    A throaty laugh echoed through
the apartment.
    #
    Nothing in my life could ever
prepare me for what came next.
    A few hours later, I get this
weird message on my computer. That took me totally by surprise.
    Doing what I do, by definition
I have to have the very best filters and firewalls in the game. The
community is pretty tight but wars between hackers can be deadly.
Turning our virtual arsenals on each other is a nasty business, so
protection comes in spades.
    So on the screen was this
freaky message. I don't know to this day how he did it, but the
words were flaming. Not like your usual animation-type stuff, I
mean like they were really on fire. The windows and icons on my
desktop caught fire on screen. The desktop images inside the
monitor---on the screen---were burning. It was awesome.
    The message
read: Your virus has been detected and
destroyed on contact. You are now infected by Malephagia Firewall
counter-protection.
    I was stunned. In my years of
hacking, I'd never seen anti-virus protection like this before. The
whole damn screen was on fire, but the message burnt brightest,
right in the centre.
    I sat there hypnotised,
watching my desktop image---a half-naked supermodel sunbathing next
to a swimming pool---get slowly eaten by the flames. When the water
in the pool started bubbling, I thought I was going crazy.
    Before my eyes, the face of the
burning girl twisted into a contorted scream.
    I freaked.
    I put my hands to the keyboard
and was