With a beep from her pager, Megan decides to call her mother. Quinn mocks the extravagance of owning a portable telephone. Vange ponders dependency on electronics - if computers are getting smarter all the time, what might that mean? Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, she calls her story "The Tale of the Virtual Pets".
Tom searches the web for artificial intelligence, and finds a blue screen, set with the face of a cartoon bulldog. A female voice welcomes Tom to Digger, the Digital Information Gathering Resource Website - apparently, the digital information gatherer can hear Tom. Amazed, he invites the website to read the cover of his book, ‘’Advanced Computer Language’’. It does. Tom is thrilled.
Suddenly, the screen glows purple. From the middle of the screen, a stream of purple light flows towards Tom’s face, and engulfs him. Tom’s entire body blurs. His skin and clothes fade to the sharp, rippling components of a digital construct - and fade from view...
One morning, Kate invites Isabel shopping. Isabel is transfixed by a small, beeping yellow rectangle. By their lockers, Isabel tells Kate about the latest virtual pets - Tom, who brought in the "Diggers," says they can hear and understand the owner's voice.
In class, Tom hands out the free virtual pets. Kate uneasily declines the offer. As he bends down, Kate sees, on the back of his neck, a purple image of the cartoon dog’s face.
That evening, Kate joins Isabel for revision. At her desk, Isabel reads aloud from a textbook - the Digger likes to be read to.
Late that night, the voice of the Digger wakes Isabel, and demands to be fed. From the screen, a stream of purple light reaches for Isabel’s brow. Her entire frame blurs and digitally ripples. From out of her digitised frame steps an identical replica of Isabel. The original Isabel’s digitised components fade into the beam, which withdraws into the Digger. Replica Isabel smirks. On the Digger's tiny screen, a tiny, pixelated image of Isabel cries for help.
Next morning, when Kate picks her up, "Isabel" seems strangely subdued. Kate notices, on Isabel’s neck, the purple image of a cartoon bulldog - just like Tom’s.
In class, many other students have the same image on each of their necks. At her desk, Kate is startled to find herself under the cool gaze of several of those seated in front of her. She gasps. "Isabel" offers Kate a Digger, which she coolly declines.
After school, Kate forgoes volleyball practise to follow her strangely behaving friend. As Isabel and Tom march in unison to Tom’s house, Isabel stealthily follows them round the back, through the basement door, and down to Tom’s basement bedroom.
As Kate takes cover behind a chair, two other students enter to join Tom and Isabel at the computer. Into a rectangular plastic device, on which is mounted a large diamond, Tom plugs each virtual pet. He enters a code. He gives the others more Diggers, and leaves with them.
Kate approaches the computer, on whose screen remains the Digger website. She then notices, upon the plastic rectangular device, each installed Digger. On each tiny screen is a digitally displayed image of each of those who just left. Their tiny voices become audible. Kate tries to do switch off the monitor screen, but a tiny electric shock stops her. Tom suggests she try to shut down the possessed computer.
The screen darkens - and the Digger website returns. To crash the computer, Tom directs her to open several programmes at once, and to press "Enter."
As Kate prepares to do so, a hand grabs her wrist, and pulls her to her feet. Replica Isabel aims her virtual pet. Its screen beams a purple glow. Kate and Replica Isabel struggle across the room.
From the diamond mounted on the plastic rectangle, a purple beam of digital information streaks across the room into the computer screen. From the wall, Kate takes a mirror - and uses it to deflect the digital beam into the computer screen. From the mirror, several beams bombard the glass.
An electronic whine fills the air. The Replicas cover their ears. From within the computer monitor, a small explosion shatters the screen. The Replicas freeze in their respective positions. Each replicated body is wiped by a brilliant purple glow. When it fades, they fall to the floor.
Kate surveys the smoking monitor. She briefly panics at the similarly wrecked virtual pets - but is assured by Isabel that all is well. Kate finds no tattoo on Isabel’s neck, and is reassured. Thrilled by her life-or-death contest, Kate announces herself a recent convert to the world of computers.
Beneath the desk lies a spare, intact virtual pet...
Isabel’s shoe then crushes it.
Vange closes with a warning not to underestimate computers. Megan’s pager beeps again. She inspects it, gasps in shock, drops the device on the sofa, and flees. Andy and Tucker read the tiny digital message, and hurry off. Vange reads it: "FEED ME".
This episode provides examples of:
- Alien Invasion: A speculated origin of the Diggers.
- Assimilation Plot: The sapient website Digger aims to convert human bodies to digital information, and store them in cyberspace for dissection.
- Chekhov's Gun: In the clothes shop, Kate pulls Isabel away from her virtual pet to behold a marvel achieved through the simpler method of combined mirrors: a view into infinity. Later, having failed to stop Digger by crashing the computer, Kate simply uses a handy bedroom mirror to deflect the computer’s fork of digital lightning, causing it to overload.
- Cyberspace: The virtual pets convert their users into digital information, which is then stored on the device’s tiny screen, in a digitised image of the person.
- Data Crystal: Tom plugs the virtual pets into a rectangular relay device, atop which is mounted a large crystal, which beams data in digital pink beams.
- The End... Or Is It?: Defied, only one digger is left after the kids leave, implying it will still try to wreak havoc, but then Kate comes and squashes it, insuring he will never come back again.
- Light Is Not Good: The bright blue Digger website, with its jolly cartoon dog, implies a fun-filled quest for "digging up" information. It really wants to trap everyone in cyberspace.
- Not So Above It All: After defeating the Diggers, Kate has a newfound fascination with technology after her thrill of defeating them. ...Subverted, as she crushes a still-active Digger and decides her pen and pencil are adequate enough.
- The Prankster: In classic Midnight Society tradition, Vange and Quinn alarm the others with implication of the threat depicted in tonight’s story to be real - she and Quinn have secretly arranged Megan’s pager to display the virtual pets’ message of "feed me."
- Rock Beats Laser: Having earlier noted wonder to be found in the simple combination of light waves and glass, Kate, having failed to crash the computer, deflects its fantastically advanced fork of digital lightning with a mirror.
- Sci-Fi Horror: Some kind of entity, embodied in Cyberspace, converts people into digital symbols to trap them in virtual pets.
- Virtual Pet: A fictional interpretation; these virtual pets channel a sentient website, convert their owners into pixels, and imprison them in cyberspace.
