The softwire : Virus on Orbis 1 (14 page)

“What did you just do there?” Theylor asked.

I pulled out of the computer and said, “Um . . . I pushed.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s like I pushed my head inside the computer. It gives me a clearer look at what I’m searching for if I don’t have the name of a file or something and I have to do some digging.”

Theylor just stared at me. Both heads tilted in the same direction.

“Does anyone else know you can do this?”

“Why?”

“Do they?”

“Why? What’s wrong, Theylor?”

“Do others know you perform this
push
function? That your mind actually enters the hardware?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Theylor accessed the O-dat manually and entered some keystrokes while I just sat and watched. He used an unusual language of symbols — some form of Keeper language, I figured. I’d seen it in the computer before, but it was never translated for me. When he finished, his right head turned to me.

“Theylor, why is that so strange?”

“Softwires possess the ability to interact with any computer device by simply interfacing with the machine’s controls. As I told you earlier, a softwire uses only its mind to create a cerebral connection. It is as simple as controlling a thought for a softwire, but everything is done within the mind. Somehow, you have managed to put your mind in the computer yet still maintain complete control. I have never seen this before.”

“This doesn’t mean I’m going to stay here longer, does it?”

Theylor shook his head. “But let us keep that information private for now. Agreed?”

“Sure. Is anything wrong?” I asked.

Theylor’s left head stared off into the distance while his right head said, “No. Not yet, anyway.” He removed a clear crystal from his robe and inserted it into the O-dat. “How about this?” Theylor said. “Can you tell me what I just put in the computer? I want you to
push
again.”

My mind entered the computer. It was getting easy now. If only I had known about this ability on the
Renaissance,
I could have had some fun. I snooped around the computer’s local RAM to see what Theylor had installed. Nothing. I saw the portal that led to the network. It was sealed shut. I attempted to pry it open, even will it open, but nothing worked. I looked for little tricks, something different, but I could not find a thing.

What was that?

A flash of green electrons caught the corner of my eye. The program that I had seen trashing Weegin’s sorting bay headed straight for the sealed portal and slipped right through. It never paused, not even to open the network or acknowledge me. What was it doing there? Was this what Theylor implanted for me to find? Was this “thing” something the Keepers had known about all along?

“That’s enough, Johnny.” I heard Theylor in the distance, but I wanted to go through that portal.

Be careful.

I unlinked from my terminal and sat up straight.

“This was more difficult, am I correct?” Theylor asked.

“Yeah, what was that?”

“It is an advanced encryption seal for data portals. Nothing can penetrate it once it is activated.”

“No, I mean the program.”

“It is not a program. It is simply a seal, a sort of lock, if you like.”

I was puzzled. Theylor was not talking about the program I had just seen slip right through his unbreakable seal.

Theylor stood up.

“Has anyone ever gotten through? Gotten through your seal?” I asked him.

“Never,” he said confidently. “It was created with the help of the Space Jumpers.”

“Space Jumpers. But I thought they were banished.”

“They are,” Theylor said, but I swear I saw his right head smiling. “But enough now. You have some visitors.”

I turned and saw Ketheria and Max entering the examination room. Ketheria ran in and threw her arms around me. Theylor observed the hugging with a quizzical look.

“Wow, it’s so great to see you guys!” I said.

“It took forever to get here. You must be on the other side of the ring,” Max said.

“It only feels that way the closer you get,” interjected Theylor. “I will leave you now. I will see you again, Johnny.”

Theylor left us to ourselves. I put my arms around Ketheria, and Max, too. I squeezed them tight. I’d been missing them for ages, but they both seemed a little shocked at my display of affection.

“Whoa, you haven’t been gone that long,” Max said.

“I think three phases would be considered a long time,” I replied. “Didn’t you miss me? What’s been happening at Boohral’s?”

“What do you mean? It hasn’t been more than a couple of cycles, JT.”

Max was puzzled. I was even more puzzled. Even Ketheria seemed confused.

“Max, I’ve been going crazy, I’ve been here so long.”

“So it’s true, then,” Max said, nodding.

“What’s true?”

“This place, these examination cells — they exist in a different dimension. They’ve stretched time for you.”

“What?”

Ketheria interrupted our exchange by offering me a strange food I’d never seen before.

“They’re called toonbas. They’re a delicacy on Boohral’s planet,” Max said.

“What are they?”

“Don’t ask,” she said. “Just eat one. They’re good, huh?”

“They are, but what’s in them?”

“Well, I guess the best way to describe it is a bug. Or at least the excrement of a bug.”

“What!” I spat the rest of my toonba onto the ground. Ketheria reached for another.

“Don’t worry. They’re synthetically made here on Orbis, and they’re not from any bug you know. Toonbas are from Trefaldoor and they’re a delicacy. Just enjoy them.”

I didn’t care how good they tasted. Bug crap? No way (but I had to admit, they were good).

“In the real world you’ve only been gone two cycles. We haven’t had a chance to miss you yet,” Max said, picking up where we had left off before Ketheria had changed the subject.

“But I’ve had study sessions, I’ve gone to sleep a zillion times — I’ve been here a long time,” I said, reaching for another toonba. I sniffed it and put it back.
Bug crap — really.

“Sorry, it’s all temporal distortion to make the — um — prisoners feel like they have been here longer. It’s more productive for Orbis. You feel like you’ve been here a long time, but in reality you don’t miss too much work. I checked it all out. Your sleeper back in Weegin’s World is still warm, my friend.”

“Theylor won’t tell me how long I have to stay here.”

“I don’t think they’ll keep you here very long.”

“How come?”

“The central computer is still acting weird and you’re locked up in here. But they’re having a huge tribunal. Everyone will be there.”

“Then you know I didn’t do anything?”

“Of course, but it doesn’t matter what I think. If they find you guilty, JT, you will be banished from Orbis. Forever.”

“What?”

Max looked at me. “By yourself. Without us. Without funds. To who knows where.”

I looked at Ketheria. I knew I didn’t like it here, but I could never leave without her. “I can’t let them find me guilty, Max,” I said.

“I know,” she said, glancing at Ketheria. The dinner drone arrived at my cell, and she moved out of the way.

“Don’t worry, it’s only delivering food,” I told her. “Just don’t touch it.”

The drone deposited enough food for the three of us, and Ketheria sorted through the different-colored food pills, taking out her favorites.

“Everyone is very nervous. Boohral says the entire existence of Orbis relies on that computer. It was built to never make a mistake. That’s why they are afraid of you: you can connect to it and now there’s all this trouble. . . .”

“Max — I can actually get into it.” She stared at me, and her eyes widened.

“But I don’t think I’m the only one.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I go into the computer, sometimes I get the feeling I’m not alone.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “It’s like I see things sometimes. I don’t know what they are, though. Listen, when you go back, I want you to find out if there have ever been other malfunctions with the central computer.”

“There haven’t; that’s why everyone is freaking out. They started when we arrived — when
you
arrived.”

“Look harder; look for little things. Like a virus or something,” I said, my mind spinning. I could not let them banish me.

“The computer is self-adjusting; it would spit out any virus or any bad code by itself. It’s the most advanced computer anyone has ever dreamed of. Don’t you get it? If something is wrong, someone else is doing it,” she said.

“Then we have to figure out who.”

Max and I discussed strategy as Ketheria finished the last of the toonbas, as well as all of her favorite food pills. Before they left, Max agreed to visit every other cycle to keep me up-to-date, and I promised to pry Theylor for as much information as I could. Max said my testing time was the perfect opportunity to dig into the central computer, since it was my only chance to access it.

“I wouldn’t let Theylor know what you find, either,” Max warned.

“I trust the Keepers. Theylor is a good person.”

“It was a Keeper who put you in here, JT.”

I had never looked at it that way before.

Charlie did come to see me again, only this time it wasn’t for a visit.

“Here,” he said, handing me one of the narrow gold tubes I’d seen the Keepers carrying. “This is for you.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a screen scroll. Read it.”

I pulled out the silicon screen, and the notice blinked onto the electronic parchment. It was addressed to me.

I looked up at Charlie. “When am I supposed to go?”

“Right now,” he said, and held up a nasty-looking device that was nothing more than a corroded helmet with shoulder padding. A silicon strip with a metallic core dangled from the back of the headgear.

“What’s that for?”

“People on the ring are fearful of you, my little friend. Unfortunately this is for their comfort, not yours.”

“Do I have to put that on?”

“Afraid so. It’s going to make you a little disoriented, but by the time we get to IJFD sector, you’ll be used to it. They don’t want you messing with the central computer or their tribunal,” he added.

“But it’s not me.”

“Well, let’s go prove it, then.”

Charlie was right. The protection device made it impossible for me even to see straight. By the time I got used to it, we were already standing outside the Center for Impartial Judgment and Fair Dealing.

“This is where I do most of my work,” Charlie said with a little pride.

The perfectly round structure floated several meters above the ring. I could see aliens standing out on the large bladelike platforms protruding from the building, where small craft were also landing. It was the first time I’d seen these fliers. I had just assumed everyone traveled on the spaceway. A large light chute streamed down from the bottom of the sphere. I watched Keepers and Citizens step into the pale purple beam of light and disappear.
That must be the front door,
I decided, and followed a frail-looking alien toward the beam of light.

“One at a time,” Charlie said, holding me back. The thin alien glanced at Charlie and then at the apparatus on my head. He quickened his pace and stepped into the chute. I noticed that a lot of aliens were staring at me.

“I look pretty guilty with this contraption on my head,” I told Charlie.

“Don’t worry about them. We’ll get all of this straightened out,” he said. “Make sure to step out of the way when you arrive. You don’t want to go clogging up the system.” Then Charlie gave me a nudge and I stepped into the purple light beam. The effect was instant. There was no time to feel anything. Before I could blink, I found myself inside an enormous lobby abuzz with activity.

The building seemed even larger on the inside. Rows and rows of railings circled the walls. Aliens traveled up even more beams of light to different floors. Small robots carrying screen scrolls flew back and forth between the floors like bees among flowers. Then I remembered what Charlie had told me and stepped off the light beam just as he arrived.

“Follow me,” he said.

Charlie walked straight up to the front of a long line and accessed a private O-dat. I saw two or three aliens nod to Charlie as he tapped at the screen. I stood waiting patiently, but my skin itched from the stupid device I was wearing. I forced my fingers under the plastic to get at the itch. The alien next to me left his place in line. I think I was making him nervous. Maybe he was worried that I was trying to take the thing off. I don’t know, but I noticed that a lot more aliens were staring or moving erratically, trying to get away from me. I really needed to prove to these Citizens that I was not the one messing with the central computer.