Joe Chung strapped the dermatrodes across his forehead and clicked in the countdown. 3, 2, 1… The digital perfections of the Matrix swiftly replaced the grimy bedsit. He keyed some familiar coords and the scene shifted quickly to a large, flat circular space, skinned in cybersteel: the Robot Wars arena, his old fight-to-the-death ring for AS3bots made for his FlashBrighton partners.

Bennett’s broken bot still lay wrecked in the centre of the space. The arena was a place where the bots could react to their surroundings and smash each other up, and Bennett’s was an aggressive bot that had pounded itself to pieces in it’s blind hunt for Willis’ pacific bot, a gutless thing that just sat at the side. Willis had ultimately won that fight but Chung was here to ensure that cowardly shit wasn’t gonna happen again. He downloaded a fix into the arena that would allow players to skin & change the size of their bot, which would affect their speed and strength.

Clearing the ring, he switched a msg pkg across the Matrix to the old combatants ‘Robot Wars is back’ it began. ‘Playaz: bring ur laptop & fav AS3 editor. Bot skinnin reqs Flash CS3+. Best skinz r circular & top-down. Make them b4 if u want. More instructs 2 follow @ FlashBrighton.org. Sesh will b split in 2: 1st codin/skinnin bots, 2nd fight. Winna will take coco-based stimulant.’

Chung looked around the old arena, the simsmell of cyberdiesel & blood reg’ed on his display. His pupils dilated, briefly flaring the place bright red.

‘Jack in Tues Nov 3rd, 7pm GMT @ The Werks & no actin like bad losers on yahoo chess’.

Chung clicked the msg out and jacked out of the Matrix. The bedsit roughly phased back in. He hid the dermatrodes behind the air-con grill and pulled his console out to prepare.

Fiona Sutton-Harper admired herself in the plate glass windows of the towering office block. Sexy but professional, that’s the look she needed. She arranged her emerald scarf with precision: looped once, hanging just below the waistline. Satisfied, she sasheyed into the foyer and across to the pristine white reception desk, curls bouncing. “I’m here for the interview with Flashy Magazine, for the ‘Character Animation’ role” she beamed, pearly-whites gleaming.

“Well let’s see” replied the receptionist, running a hand through his blond buffon. “Ah yes, the position was filled internally yesterday by Tim Frost.” Fiona’s smile fell off. “`Very talented man” he continued smugly, leaning forward onto crossed arms. “He’s done TV commercials, documentaries, websites, museum kiosks, including some BAFTA winning stuff.” He leant back and smirked.

“Great!” Fiona sighed sarcastically, and turned to leave.

“`Scuse, missy?” the receptionist called after her. He beckoned her back to the desk and whispered under his breath “There are many entrances into the Flashy Palace, not just the front door. Read my lips: Not only can Tim animate characters, he can also lip-sync them.” He leant forward, “You wanna know how that’s done, sister?” Fiona’s eyes sparkled, she nodded. “OK here’s a secret: Tim himself is giving a talk about it next week. He’s discussing character set-up and rigging, the work-flow from Illustrator to Flash to After Effects and that magic lip syncing.” He grabbed a post-it note and began scribbling. “Here you go girlfren’, time, date & place. Be a sweetie and don’t tell them I told you.” He winked and handed her the slip.

Fiona looked at the scrap of paper. It read:

Tuesday 13th October, 7pm,
The Werks, Hove.
I do this for her and she still won’t give me a smile!
Dermot xxx

She looked up and, sharing a secret smile with Dermot, marched out with her head held high.