![[Bob's Web Suit]](img/episo34a.jpg)
AndrAIa is not doing any better. Watching over her are Frisket and Princess Bula; the transparency appears to have worsened. She's not going to make it unless they restore her energy and repair her code. Once again Matrix directs his frustrations at the surfer, Princess Bula stops it with "No fight here." "No stress, Princess", replies Ray. He goes out to put a fix on the Web creature that bit her.
Captain Capacitor ralleys his troop of scurvy "C drives" into battle readiness. Mr. Christopher, the accountant, worries that this trip is not garnishing any profit. The Captain's comment about there being other reasons to set sail besides profit has the rest of the crew dumbfounded. Doing the right thing, repaying a debt to a friend, is worth it.
Below decks, Bula connects a machine between Matrix and AndrAIa. "Might work. - Might hurt." Matrix cares not for his own discomfort; a blob of blue energy goes from the big guy into the girl.
The pirates are prepared for war, yet are a bit surprised when Sally reports that the surfer is already coming back, being pursued by Web riders. Once again we see the mean beast that took a bite out of the surfboard last time. He calls out to the ship to open the ruddy hatch. They do so, but it is only open part way. That's enough - the surfer taps his board, then switches from solid form to a cloud of multicolored blobs that is absorbed by the surfboard. The riderless board heads to the airlock at full speed, deforming the inner door. The Captain orders the crew to open fire, and the resulting cannon fire is suitable for "Beast Wars". Matrix is still hooked up to the machine, donating energy to AndrAIa, and is not in a condition to fight. Bula goes upstairs, but the Captain needs Mr. Christopher to "go down and extend an invitation to Mr. Matrix to join our little soiree."
Mr. Norton is successful at shooting down one of the enemy, but the jubilation is short lived. A second Web rider's sword bends the starboard gun barrels; that gun cannot be used. Meanwhile, the surfboard beeps twice, an indicator turns green, and surfer re-materializes. He's in better shape that Matrix, who is noticeably woozy. He climbs to an upper deck, then slides out on a spar to get to the ship's shield wall. Poking the Gun through the wall, he issues the command line for multiple target acquisition. The red dots hit their targets - blaster beams follow, inflicting enough casualties to convince the Web riders to fall back.
The battle is won, but not the war. The pod of Web whales arrives. Herded by the Web riders, the creatures bounce of the sides of the Saucy Mare, weakening the walls until it depressurizes. Enzo's gun falls down the stairs and a One binome get sucked out the hole. A large warrior attacks Matrix, and the Crimson Binome is very surprised to see that his file-lock sword is completely ineffective. Princess Bula is happy for a chance to crack some heads together. Ray holds his own, mowing down the enemy with his surfboard, until one of them snags the device. Two of them, holding the surfboard and laughing in high-pitched modem sounds, demonstrate that they recognize his weakness by punching the board. When Ray recovers, he looks up at Matrix in the distance, and give a shrug that seems to say "sorry, lads, we're done for."
Matrix summons up enough energy to knock the facemask of the big bully
he had been fighting. "By Gaar! They be degraded sprites!", exclaims the
Captain. (The wretch's response is translated as "Disrespect is unwelcome.")
It knocks out Matrix. Ray goes down. A sitting binome faints. The bad
guys are laughing.
Everything stops when a new player arrives on a zip-board. He's got a blue and green Web suit (with discolorations at the knees, shoulders, forearms and belt line). The people with him close the hull rupture, and have rescued the binome that got sucked out. The guy modems to the others, "Stand down, These are my friends." The guy walks up to Capacitor and Matrix, extends his hand, but before Matrix can return the handshake, Glitch jumps off of Matrix's arm and onto the new guy.
Mr. Christopher crawls up the stairs from below. Apparently he had been
giving energy to AndrAIa, and that's not enough. The guy goes below, where
Frisket stands guard, growling. "Oh, hi Frisket". (The dog sniffs, recognizes
this person, then resumes growling.) The guy hooks himself to the machine,
and immediately AndrAIa becomes less transparent. He double clicks his own
chest, and a yellow and black Guardian icon comes out. This is placed back to
back with AndrAIa's icon, allowing the code to be mended.
![[Bob, open Web Suit]](img/episo34b.jpg){kind=small}
AndrAIa awakes; "Oh, Bob, we found you." Bob removes his helmet, and explains, "You just can't talk in these things." (He has spots and lines on his face, but they don't look like the green glowy super-virus infection.) Enzo cries out "Bob!" (which in Season I would be that the Guardian would soon be flat on his back from the impact). Bob holds him back with "Whoa! I think you're a little too big for that."
[The new voice of Bob is Ian Corlett (Cheetor on Beast Wars).]
page 69 of 129