When Fizz and Rodger, two twelve year old boys, get caught up in a DTB (Direct To Brain) virtual reality experiment they are thrust into the Advanced Technology Gaming company server where virtual worlds are created for video games, and military training units. Trying to get away, they manage to find their way out of the server into the surreal Ethernet where websites and online game worlds actually exist. A wild and thrilling adventure ensues as the boys fight (and think) their way through several virtual worlds to find an elusive "Extraction Point". A dangerous World War II game scape, an online dragon hunt, and a gripping space battle on the Starship Parallax are but a few the thrills they find. Along the way Rodger makes a habit of lying and smarting off which causes him to be taken captive by ethereal aliens. Fizz is forced to try and save the day in a climax that will have even the adult readers curling their toes and cheering him on. This is a quality read for intelligent kids, and adults who want to go on a thrilling ride through the inner workings of the digital world we live in. *A Snippet* Fizz only counted to six before the first of the bright crimson spotted antelope came leaping out of the trees to cross the stream. The creatures resembled mountain goats, but some of them had a single spiraled horn that was about a foot long sticking out from in-between their eyes. They had dirty white fur with a big splash of bright red on their backs. It looked like someone had poured a half a bucket of paint over each of them. It wasn't paint though. It was the randomly chosen color pattern that some computer had given the species. There were dozens of them. More than that, there were hundreds of the swiftly leaping deer. They jumped alertly with their front legs drawn in and sailed twenty to thirty feet with each leaping bound. Agile and fleet, they leapt right past, and even directly over, the boys where they stood. The passing of the huge herd of computer formed creatures sounded like an actual stampede might sound. Dan, standing there in his micro-processor suit, was screaming over the din to the people in the control room, "We're okay! Do not abort yet! I repeat: DO! NOT! ABORT!" For some reason, Rodger was pulling franticly, yanking at Dan's belt, and shaking his head no. Fizz would have wondered more about it, but he was frozen stiff because he had just seen something big and dark out in the forest. He suddenly knew why Rodger was going crazy trying to get Dan's attention. The herd of red and white goat-deer weren't just running through the forest; they were being chased, or hunted. They were running away from something. "No I didn't see that," Dan yelled to the control room. "I'm looking, I - " A powerfully large harmonic roar blasted through the forest, causing all three of them to tremble with fear. It sounded like that Dolby stereo thing that they play really loudly at the beginning of movies, only this was louder and all rough and angry. It sounded again and Fizz felt the low rumbling part of the growl vibrate through his whole chest. "Come on boys! Whatever made that sound could be dangerous!" Dan knelt between them and pulled them both into a hug. "We're aborting in five... four... " "There it is!" Rodger yelled. "Three... two... " Fizz turned to see a big, dark green, tiger-striped bear, or maybe it was an extra-furry, over sized tiger. He wasn't really sure if it was either. All he knew was that it was big and dark with red glowing eyes. It was charging toward them now, and Fizz saw that its slobbery razor sharp teeth were as big and long as his father's fingers. Then, Dan said, "One. Abort!" and vanished from in between them, leaving them alone in virtuality with the raving computer evolved beast.
Genre: Children's Fiction
Genre: Children's Fiction
Used availability for M R Mathias's The Adventurion