Bitemarks 2.3

Today's dental appointment was cancelled so I have spare time! :O

Bitemarks 2.3

Skarletta stood near the shelf, book in hand. She was only skimming its contents, not through lack of ability. Reading had come pretty quick to her and the book was not entirely uninteresting, being as it was a beginner's guide to internet usage. But as she scanned its pages she was keeping a watchful eye on the computer terminals and the people using them. She watched their movements noting the simplicity of the devices used. One flat array of alphanumeric characters for input, one moveable device that controlled an on screen equivalent allowing direct interaction. It was fascinating. So complex to design, build and even comprehend its inner workings, yet so laughably simple to manipulate. At that moment one elderly man left his terminal and Skarletta sidled over and sank into the chair. From what she'd read so far the internet was really one huge book. Using a 'browser' as an index page she could search the book's pages for information relevant to her. Simple. She had the beginner's guide open beside her and looked at the screen for the symbol that would open the index. She gripped the device to her right that the book named as a mouse and moved it, watching the on screen cursor follow her movements. She smiled to herself and clicked upon the circular symbol she recognised from the book. The screen changed showing a brightly coloured logo reading "Google". What was a Google? She flicked through a couple of pages in her book. Ah this was the index. All she had to do was enter the words that interested her and be presented with the information. She pondered where to start. There was so much that was new about this world. She should probably begin by catching up on all the events that had happened since her supposed death. She typed in "history" and clicked and began reading.

Reading was something Skarletta had no trouble with and the more she read the faster she was able to process the information. Before she knew it she had absorbed most of the major historical events. There was a lot of irrelevant information that she skipped and she soon found herself diverted to other pages as a topic took her interest. There were periods of science, where the Dherroine had discovered that their planet was round. For some reason, she already knew that. Periods of culture where man had painted and sculpted and written great works of fact and fiction. And periods of war. Much war. That did not surprise her at all and yet this too seemed important to her somehow. What was this significant piece of information that still lay buried in the back of her mind as she had lain buried in the snow? She read more. She read about man's fear of biological disaster. She read about man's discovery of electricity and how they harnessed its power the whole world over. She read about how high speed fibre optic cables could carry impulses around the world. This too seemed familiar. She read about cancer, about pokémon, about spam, about modern political figures, about C++, about Youtube, about the hole in the ozone layer, about WW2, about the telephone. And then something happened. She read about videogames and for the first time paid attention to a box to the side of the screen flashing. She'd noticed them on nearly every page, all irrelevant, many offering prizes for clicking but this one was different. It showed a woman, looking not unlike herself, in a state of semi-undress. Skarletta clicked and received an error message. Curiosity gripped her. She returned to the index, the Google, and searched the error message. Something was denying her access and soon she found details on how to bypass it. It was complicated but she was growing more adept by the second. An hour later she had managed to bypass the security filter the library tech staff had put in place and had returned to the picture of the woman. She clicked and the page immediately changed. The background was bright red and offered up more images. Images of women completely unclothed, many of them adopting a pose that suggested only one thing and that thing now made sense to her mind. This was the second hunger. She clicked through more links, stumbling across a site offering moving images, pre-recorded videos of the Dherroine procreating. This was what distracted her mind. She knew now that until this was out of her system she would never recover the important information. The second hunger was the desire to mate. But not with a Dherroine. With one of her own kind. And for that she would need to spawn.
"Excuse me miss."
The voice came from her left and Skarletta turned to see a bespectacled young man standing awkwardly. A badge on the front of his ill fitting shirt named him "David". Skarletta analysed his posture, his look, his nervous voice. She had seen a word for this type of physically weak Dherroine. Nerd.
"Yes?" she inquired.
"You can't look at that here." he motioned toward the screen, "These computers are for public use. You'll have to..."
She interrupted him with a raised index finger and sniffed the air.
"You live alone?"
"I'm sorry? I don't see..."
Skarletta thrust the Thrall upon him. For a moment he struggled, mentally trying to resist her but she glared at him, staring deep into his pupils and forcing her superior mental prowess upon him, piercing his defences and dominating his mind. She reached over to the mouse and closed the offending page.
"Lead me." she commanded.