The softwire : Virus on Orbis 1 (9 page)

Theodore tapped the control panel, and the lid withdrew into the wall. Another button released a headset. “This is the best part.” Theodore picked up the headset. “You can actually change your dreams with this.”

“Change your dreams?” I said.

“Yes. Look at these sensors here. You can adjust for color, sound, and even characters,” Theodore said. “If I remember correctly, it’s kind of crude. You can select single numbers, groups, or crowds.”

I opened my sleeper and cradled the strange headset in my hands. Could it work? I decided to give it a try. I set mine for color: high; sound: soft; and characters: four.

Like the ones on the seed-ship, these sleepers monitored the occupant’s vital signs and could seal themselves in case of oxygen loss, severe temperature change, or gravitational variances. I climbed inside, and the cover slid over me automatically.

“Good night, JT,” Theodore said.

“Night.”

“Night, freak,” Switzer said.

Dalton just snickered.

I lay back and closed my eyes. Despite its small size, the new sleeper was far more comfortable than my old one. I pulled the sheet close to my neck, and the blue light from the sleeper lid began to fade. I wanted sleep to come so badly, but I was concerned about my sister and I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Ketheria had spent many rough nights on the
Renaissance,
thrashing about in her pod. I always thought she was having nightmares, but whenever I asked her about them, she acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about. On the seed-ship I had instructed Mother to always wake me at the first sign of trouble. It happened often, and I still remember her fits clearly.

“Johnny, your sister needs you,” Mother informed me one time, waking me.

I jumped out of my sleeper and raced to the enormous pod chamber where Ketheria, along with most of the younger children on the
Renaissance,
still slept. Many of the silicon nurture pods glowed blue, telling me they were occupied. Only one was rocking.

Kneeling next to my sister’s nurture pod, I placed my hand on the chamber.

“How long has she been like this?” I asked Mother.

“She has been in this state for fourteen minutes and twelve seconds . . . thirteen seconds . . . fourteen seconds . . .”

As on so many nights before, I had helplessly watched her through the silicon as she thrashed back and forth, kicking her little feet. Her long auburn hair was soaked. The sweat was dripping onto the nutrition pad.

“Open it, Mother.”

“Johnny, waking her is not advisable in this agitated state of —”

“Open it!” I yelled.

The blue light dimmed as the pod lid slid back and around. Ketheria’s teeth were chattering.

“She’s freezing, Mother.” I lifted her in my arms and wrapped her more tightly in the thin blanket. “There’s something wrong with her nurture pod.”

“The pod is in perfect working order. I noticed a slight supplement deficiency and instructed the nutrition pad to release small amounts of vitamins D, C, and B
₆
throughout the night. Proper neural stimulation occurred as scheduled. Your sister is simply having a bad dream, and as you have instructed, I have alerted you.”

“Shh,”
I whispered, ignoring Mother and slowly coaxing Ketheria to settle down. “
Shhhh,
Ketheria, everything is all right.”

After a while, Ketheria’s thrashing stopped. Through it all, she never woke up. I placed her back down in the nurture pod and wiped some of the sweat from her face.

“Please close the lid, Mother.”

Now I stared at the lid of my new sleeper, still waiting for sleep to come. I looked across the room: Dalton and Switzer were already snoring.
That was fast,
I thought.

“Theodore?” I whispered, but no one answered.

“Theodore?”

Why wasn’t I asleep? I was certainly tired. I rolled over, and that’s when I heard someone knock on the door.

“Hello?” I tapped the sleeper’s controls. The lid slid back. Everyone was still sound asleep.

Another knock.

“Ketheria?”

I went to the bedroom door. It wouldn’t open. My vest! I needed that stupid skin to open the door.

“Hold on, Ketheria,” I whispered. I had to get to her.

I put the skin on over my pajamas and went back to the door. It still wouldn’t open. I put my hand over the sensor, and just like before, I could see the computer codes blocked — so much for a self-correcting computer. Now the bits of data were fighting with each other. They weren’t even trying to get through the glitch. The code pulsed and distorted, shooting streams of green and yellow in every direction. I went to remove the block, but the code swarmed around it.

“Freak, freak, freak,” the data chanted, flashing angry childlike faces.

This is computer code,
I thought. I reached out and swatted the faces away. I saw the block and flicked that out, too.

The door disappeared.

Instead of the storage foyer, however, I stood in front of a beautiful bright green forest. The trees were just like the one I had seen earlier on the ring. There were trees as far as I could see. Some with green leaves, some with orange. I even saw a tree with purple leaves.
How did I get here?

I saw a girl running through the forest in her plastic nightgown. “Ketheria, wait!” I shouted. But she only ran deeper into the forest.

I would not let Ketheria go by herself, so I stepped into the forest and chased after her. The grass felt cool and damp under my feet. I bent down to touch it. Ahead of me I saw huge bushes and yellow rocks. I even saw a six-legged creature with a long bushy tail staring down at me from a tree. The whole scene made me nervous, yet I was intrigued by everything I saw.

“Ketheria, come back!” I shouted. “Look, there’s some kind of animal here.”

Ketheria, however, would not listen. She ran from tree to tree, trying to touch each one. I followed her, hoping to sneak up on her, when a monstrous shadow drifted across the trees. I looked around but saw nothing. Where was Ketheria going? I needed to find her. I did not want to think what would happen if whatever had made that shadow got to her first. I pushed on, my throat very dry.

In the distance I saw Ketheria stop at a bed of vibrant pink and blue flowers. I almost caught her when she bent down to pick one, but she saw me out of the corner of her eye and bolted.

“Ketheria!” I called after her.

The trees grew taller and taller, and the forest became denser. The deeper I went, the more the forest changed. I saw things I’d never seen in any database: ponds of slimy gold goo, strange gnarled vines that moved out of the way as I approached, and low silver clouds that danced among the trees. The clouds looked like they were playing a game with each other. I also began to sense that more than one . . . thing . . . was watching me.

The shadow passed across the trees again.

What if I couldn’t find the way back before I found out what was following us? I stood on a rock to get my bearings. The sky was much bluer now. It was almost glowing, but there was nothing to guide me home. I saw Ketheria go deeper into the forest.

“Ketheria! That’s too far!”

I chased after her, but she was moving very fast now — much faster than I knew she could run. And then she was gone. With a jolt, I realized I was now alone.
Where did she go?

“Ketheria?”

Someone giggled behind me. I whirled around, and in the distance I saw Ketheria sitting on the yellow rock I had just stood on.

“Ketheria?” I moved closer.

Her faced blurred as if she were trying to take on a different shape.

“Ketheria? Why won’t you stop? You’re making me angry,” I scolded her, hoping the tone of my voice would make her stop.

Then, just as if the computer had shut off a light, she was gone. It was as simple as that. I looked around, but there was no sign of her, and I did not know which way was home. The monstrous shadow passed over again, this time on the grass. I looked up. Nothing. I walked over to the yellow rock.

I glanced down and saw the number ten etched into the rock.

It looked like a child’s initials carved for someone to see. I touched the number. Was every rock numbered? Why would someone number a rock?

Suddenly —
wham
! — something huge slammed to the ground next to me. The monstrous shadow now covered me completely. I looked up and saw a giant flying creature circling over my head. In one clawed foot was an enormous stone like the one that had just missed me. I jumped from the rock and began to run.

Another stone crashed down, just missing me. The ground shook beneath my feet as I bolted away.

I turned to see the vibrant red creature dive straight toward me. Its fiery wings streaked across the green and purple trees. Everything was much more colorful than normal.
This doesn’t feel real,
my mind kept telling me.
Where did Ketheria go? Why didn’t she stop?
Then the screeching started: the same horrible sound that had rattled my bones when the central computer malfunctioned during our arrival. I tried to look at my hands. As they slowly came into focus, I felt the scorched breath of the fiendish creature on the back of my neck. And that is when I understood.

I was dreaming.

I awoke with a start and bumped my head on the lid of the sleeper. I ripped off the headset and stared at it in my hands.

“Wow.”

I looked over at Switzer and Dalton, still snoring. I put the headset next to me and tried to go back to sleep — without it.

The next morning everyone exchanged stories about the dream-enhancement abilities of their new sleepers.

“I was flying,” Grace said.

“I was exploring the crystal moons,” someone else said.

I didn’t tell anyone about my nightmare.

Ketheria came up to me while I was thinking about the number ten carved into the rock.

“Did you have a good sleep?” I asked her. She nodded in reply. “I spent the entire night chasing you around my dreams.” Ketheria gave me a strange look. “Tonight I think you should stay in your own dreams.”

The common area looked entirely different. It was now filled with tables and chairs. A plate, a glass of water, and a piece of cloth were placed at every seat.

“The room changes with our needs — one room, several purposes. Very efficient,” Theodore said admiringly.

“Very Weegin,” I replied.

“What’s this?” he asked, taking a seat.

On each plate were three tablets.

“That’s breakfast, split-screen.” Switzer scooped a pink tab let from Theodore’s plate. “Mmmm, bacon! Better than Mother’s chow synth.”

“Hey, that’s mine!”

“Oops,” Switzer said, and swiped another tablet.

Switzer moved down the row, gobbling up each person’s pink pill. By the end of the row, however, Switzer’s shenanigans caught up with him. He doubled over, clutching his stomach. As Weegin entered, Switzer straightened and reached for a glass of water.

“Children, be careful with your breakfast. Eat each tablet slowly, with a full drink of water. The tablets expand in your stomach. You will quickly begin to feel very full. The water helps expand the molecules of the tablets.”

Everyone gawked at Switzer as he stared back wide-eyed over the top of his water glass. He had eaten twelve pink pills in a matter of seconds and just washed them down with half a glass of water. No one touched his or her breakfast. We wanted to see if Switzer would explode. He put his glass down and laughed.

“This is nothing. I’ll eat everyone’s breakfast.” And with that Switzer gave a loud burp. Ketheria, who stood with Grace between him and Dalton, stared intently at Switzer. After a moment, she took a step backward and then reached for Grace to join her.

Switzer grabbed his stomach and threw up all over Dalton.

“
Eewwww!
That’s disgusting,” Grace said as Dalton wiped Switzer’s vomit from his face.

“Awesome,” another boy said.

Dalton was covered in it.

“Quick thinking,” I said to Ketheria.

“Yeah, thanks,” Grace said.

“Switzer, clean yourself up and then get back here and clean this mess up,” Weegin ordered.

Switzer threw up again.

“That’s a lot of food for such a little pill,” I said.

“And I’m deducting half a chit for this mess,” Weegin said. “You” — he pointed at Theodore — “where is your skin?”

“In my room.”

“You are to have that skin on at all times. Half a chit.” Weegin was on a roll. He went to the front of the room. “The first spoke of each day will be spent in social studies. Here you will be uploading educational and social programs through your neural implants and engaging in social interactions with other ring residents. The sessions are located in the Wisdom, Culture, and Comprehension building on Orbis 1. Travel time: point two five diams. Eat up.” Weegin turned to leave. “Oh — I will show you how to travel there today, but only today, so pay attention to how to get there and back. If you’re late for work — half a chit.”

Switzer threw up one more time.

After a short ride on the spaceway, Weegin ordered all of us into an open-air tram. I wanted to talk to Theodore about my dream, but I never got the chance. I became so engrossed in my first trip to the city that I quickly forgot about the forest and the red bird. As the tram raced along channels cut through the gleaming metropolis, the zillion strange and unfamiliar things I saw quickly clogged my senses. I only hoped social studies would offer me an opportunity to fill in the gaps of my Orbis education.