by D. S. Murphy
Two walls were lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. The others had transparent panels looking back towards the office. Employees were busy working, but other than the hum of fingers typing, we didn’t hear anyone else.
“They can’t hear or see us,” Todd said. “The program keeps track of their current position and updates with real time locations. I like to keep an eye on my people.”
“You’re spying on them,” David said.
“I assure you they’ve signed the necessary waivers and NDA agreements. They’re very loyal. Until they aren’t.”
Todd’s avatar tapped on the panel, then made a hand swiping motion towards the glass and the view changed again. It was the code we’d used for the app.
“How did you get that?” Brad asked, stepping forward quickly.
“You’re running an illegal app on a hacked phone. When you patched the OS, you voided the warranty... and also violated the user agreement.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“They hacked our phones,” David said.
“Not yours,” Todd said, with a tight smile. “Mine. I made them. You’re borrowing them. As long as they’re used as directed, the government prevents too much surveillance. We can quietly collect data, in order to serve you better. But since you modified our base code, the privacy laws don’t apply to you.”
“That’s illegal!” Brad shouted.
“Possibly,” Todd smiled. “You can take it up with my lawyers. They rarely lose. But moving on. This code here—” he said, pointing to a stretch of code, and circling it with red ink, “is primitive, but still quite impressive, for your age anyway.”
Brad frowned, and I saw David stiffen.
“But this code,” Todd said, “which you’ve patched into your app. That looks like a proprietary application of the government’s new therabot program. I don’t know how you got it, but it couldn’t have been legal. By the way, want to know how I found out about you? I have a team monitoring social media for tech developments. They read through the comments, and found your name. I pinged your phone to find your location, then ran a search on your town—the first thing that popped up in my newsfeed was the recent break-in. That’s when I knew what you were doing. I hacked your phones to find the app, and now we’re here.”
“So why don’t you call the police?” Brad asked.
“I could,” Todd said. “After all, you’ve broken enough laws. Tampering with government policy, copyright infringement. As soon as you make the app public, if that’s what you’re planning, you’ll get shut down, and probably arrested. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”
I shared a look with David, and he nodded.
“We’re listening,” Brad said, crossing his arms.
“I’ll tell you a secret, we’ve been working on similar projects for several years. In fact, I wrote some of this code for the government. They needed my help to fix it, after some rather shocking test results, but then turned around and put a federal ban on consumer applications outside the therabot program. I’ve spent years developing a workaround. We’re not ready to go to market, but we don’t want our launch compromised by negative public opinion based on a failed garage experiment by a bunch of kids. This is dangerous stuff, a lot could go wrong. The press would eat you alive.”
“Plus, I’d hate to see bright young minds go to waste, or be punished for outside the box thinking. So we’d like to buy you out now. My developers will fine-tune your process, and release our own version of the therabots to the public, under the name Asklep.”
“Ass clap?” Brad repeated, his lips pulling up in a smile.
“Short for Asklepios,” Todd said drily, “the Greek god of healing. Not only would my resources allow you to develop your process safely, you’d also have the full protection of my legal department. And you’d be doing a great service, helping more people, like your sister,” he nodded to me, “or your brother,” his eyes drifted to David. He’d done his research.
“In exchange for what?” Brad said.
“Not going to jail, for starters. And an unpaid internship directly under me, for one year.” David’s eyes widened and even Brad looked impressed. A job straight out of high school, working at Arcana on cutting edge tech, under Todd Brieker? We’d be set for life. It was the offer of a lifetime.
“No,” David said quietly. Brad grabbed his arm, but David held up a palm and continued. “You wouldn’t have wasted your time with us unless you knew we had something big. We have something you need, something you haven’t figured out yet. If we trademark the missing piece, the piece that we developed, which is completely separate from the therabot program, it would stop you from developing any similar technology. It could be worth billions.”
Todd’s face was nearly impassive, but I saw his cheeks tighten as he assessed David and narrowed his eyes. I wondered if David was bluffing. I knew we had something, but billions?
“We want profit share,” David said.
Todd frowned. “That’s not how this works, I’m afraid.”
“Then we’re done here.”
“Wait,” Todd said, struggling to turn his lips up into a pained smile.
“What’s it going to take?”
“A million dollars,” I blurted. I saw David stiffen. Todd smiled, a little too broadly, and I knew I’d underbid.
“Each,” I added quickly.
“Done.” Todd said.
“And we have two more partners. Silent partners.”
“I’ll have my lawyers draw up the paperwork,” Todd said. “I’ll just need a bank account to transfer the five million. You can divide it up however you like.”
“Can we think about it?” Brad asked.
“We need to tell the other two and make sure it’s okay,” I said.
Todd’s frown deepened. I got the feeling he wasn’t used to getting no for an answer.
“You have twenty-four hours. After that, I’ll alert the authorities and let them deal with you.”
18
“You turned down a million dollars?” Greg said the next morning. I already told Amy all about the meeting as soon as I unplugged from VR, but we’d agreed to wait and discuss the details once we were all together at school in first period. It was my first day back since the dance, and I could feel other kids staring at me, but I tried to tune it out. The dance had been brutal, and I’d never live down the pictures of me, but that seemed like a lifetime ago now, and the embarrassment had faded quickly. Plus, I was far too excited about SelfX. Thanks to Todd, we now knew how valuable it was. No matter what happened, I’d have enough money for Megan, for college, for everything.
“He would have paid more,” David said, “I’m sure about it.”
“Yeah, but do you really want Todd Brieker as an enemy?” Greg said. “He hacked our phones. He could be listening to us right now.”
“That’s probably overstating it,” Brad said. But I saw both him and David reach into their pockets to turn off their phones.
“I don’t get it,” Amy said. “The science fair was supposed to be a way to get a job or an internship. It worked, you got exactly what you’ve always wanted, right? Why turn it down?”
“It’s the principle.” David said. “An internship is basically indentured servitude. He’d have a year to squeeze every bit of value out of us and use it to enrich Arcana, then cast us aside.”
“You don’t know that.”
“A million in the hand is better than a lifetime position at Arcana,” I said. “You could invest it. Build anything you want.”
“At Arcana we’d have unlimited resources,” Greg said.
“Plus, don’t forget about the other thing—what he said about using the government files. I mean, if we release it, we could get in serious legal trouble. We could get arrested, or go to jail.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Greg said.
“Me either,” said Amy, a little too quickly.
“If you aren’t willing to share respons
ibility,” Brad narrowed his eyes at them, “you shouldn’t get a vote.”
“Just because I didn’t break into a medical lab and steal government property and documents, doesn’t mean I haven’t contributed to this project,” Amy huffed.
“What is there to even talk about?” Greg asked. “It’s either jail or a million bucks.”
“Not necessarily,” Brad said, pulling up his tablet and folding the cover into a stand. “We already leaked the stolen files to the darkweb. It’s out there now. They can’t prove we stole them.”
“And what, the missing box of therabots in our town was just a weird coincidence?”
“I’m just saying, they don’t have hard evidence. Which means, in a trial of peers, the verdict could be influenced by public opinion. Check this out. I put up this video up on YouTube yesterday.”
“You put that up?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“It was already out there,” Brad said. “People were already putting it together, I just connected the dots and raised the question. On Reddit it’s already gotten 230,000 views. On YouTube it’s half a million. People are sharing this. Talking about us. The hashtag is blowing up. I’ve seen some blogs and websites pick it up. By tomorrow it could be on the front page of the internet.”
“So what are you saying?” Amy asked.
“We release it ourselves, claim credit. Use our 15 minutes of fame to launch the app. Make as much money as possible. Get as famous as possible.”
“I don’t want to be famous in jail.” Amy said.
“The money would be useful for good lawyers at least.” Greg said. “It’s all about the story. If we’re seen as heroes, the government won’t want to move against us.”
“David?” I asked.
“He barely raised an eyebrow when you asked for a million.” David said. “Did you see him smile? He thought it was a joke. That we were just stupid kids. I bet he’d have paid a hundred million to get us on board and keep us quiet. For some reason, he wants this contained. Don’t you see, he wants this to be an Arcana product. We have the only working model, and they need it. They’re the biggest, best technology firm in the world and they got beat by a handful of high school kids making a science fair project. Can you imagine if something like this came out for real? It will change everything. It’ll change civilization. We’ve patched the human species. Think about the kind of legacy we’ll be leaving. If Arcana owns it, they’ll own everything. We’ll be paying them for literally every breath we take. They would be in our bodies. They could order us antibiotics when we have an infection and recommend a good movie to help us relax when we’re feeling stressed. They could create diseases and sell the cure. Or we launch it ourselves. A misfit group of high school seniors.”
“But we’ll get in trouble.” Amy said. “Todd will turn us in.”
“I don’t think so,” David said. “He only knows what we’re doing because he hacked our phones. Even though it might technically be legal, I doubt they want people talking about how Arcana can see everything on your phone and is silently monitoring us. And if we did get in trouble, it would ruin their plans to develop something similar; it would be out there. Too public. Too much bad press. He doesn’t want to ruin the project, he just wants to make sure he’s got ownership. Finally, Brad’s right. I don’t think they can prove we stole the therabots; or even the code. If it’s on the darkweb, we can say we found it there, just like everyone else. After that... it would be legally tricky, but we’d have options. It would mostly depend on public support. Greater risk, but possibly much greater reward. But more than that, it’s the right thing to do. Not for the money. But because otherwise, Arcana wins everything. It would be game over for the human race.”
There was a pause when David stopped talking. It was probably the longest I’d ever heard him speak, but his words had a powerful effect. We looked at each other for a few seconds, but nobody disagreed.
“So we launch it,” Brad said eagerly.
Greg nodded first, then Amy. It seemed risky to go it alone instead of accept Todd’s buyout. If Megan’s Retinoblastoma hadn’t been in remission, I probably would have taken the money. But David was right. Todd owned the present. We couldn’t give away our future.
Just then the intercom crackled and I heard my name.
Brianna Hammond to the principle’s office.
“We have all day to decide,” I said. “Think it over and meet at lunch.”
I’d been dreading the crowded halls, so I was glad to be alone—but still curious. I was no stranger to the principal’s office, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was in trouble for this time.
There was a woman in the office I hadn’t seen before, with dark hair and very white teeth. She smiled at me and the principle introduced her.
“This is Vanessa Briggs, our new guidance counselor.” I’d never seen her before, and I wondered why she was starting so late in the school year, but I kept my mouth shut and waited for Mr. Deckler to get to the point.
“This morning she informed me about what happened at the dance.” the principal said, staring me down. “Since it took place on school property, and we have a strict anti-bullying policy, we wanted to know if you will want to press charges.”
“What?” I asked.
“Against the school, for negligence,” the new counselor said without blinking, as if this was the most natural thing in the world. Mr. Deckler’s face was dour, and I knew this wasn’t his idea. He’d never liked me, not since Freshman year when he saw me skating through the hall between periods and playing on my phone at the same time. I might have run into him.
Miss Briggs saw me looking at Mr. Deckler dubiously and jumped up.
“Why don’t we discuss this in my office,” she said, opening the door and gesturing down the hall. “Privately.”
Vanessa’s office was so clean it looked almost sterile, apart from a framed print of sunflowers in a blue vase and a high-end laptop that looked brand new. I’d only met the last counselor a few times, a pudgy woman with gray hair and a collection of feline figurines. I wasn’t sure yet whether I approved of her replacement, but at least she didn’t smell like old milk.
“Normally, a school can’t offer students protection off-campus,” Vanessa said when we were alone. “But we recognize that online bullying, especially on social media, can feel just as bad as the real thing.”
She swiveled the monitor of her computer, showing the Facebook page for Basic Bree. It had grown to over 20,000 likes, including adult men and even a few international profiles. Gross. The comments were so obscene my ears turned red.
“I just wanted to let you know, I’m here if you want to talk. It’s not unusual for young girls to sext nude pics with guys. Whoever he is, don’t let him pressure you into doing it again. When these photos get out, it can be devastating.” She reached over and squeezed my hand.
My throat dried up and I felt my palms sweat. That’s why I was here, because this new counselor thought I was sexting? I was too stunned to speak.
“If you can tell me who did this, who hacked the cam feed at the dance, we can take action. The student will be disciplined. Severely.”
“There wasn’t a guy,” I said. “I took those pictures.” For science, I wanted to say, but I bit my lip. I couldn’t mention the science project.
“For myself,” I finished lamely. “They were never supposed to get out. I didn’t send them to anyone. Someone stole my phone. But I don’t know who it was,” I added quickly. “It was missing, then I found it again. It could have been anyone.”
I don’t know why I was protecting Melissa. Mainly, I didn’t want this to become a big thing. I didn’t want to press charges. I didn’t want Melissa playing the victim and everyone calling me a tattletale. I had enough going on already.
“If that’s all, I’d like to get back to class now,” I said, standing up.
I could tell the new counselor didn’t believe me, but so what? I didn’t even know her. Why would I open up
to a total stranger. Besides, after meeting Todd Brieker yesterday, the nude pictures didn’t seem like the most important thing in the world. It was just high school, after all. It would blow over and everyone would forget about it.
The bell had already rung when I left the office, and I nearly got clipped by a pair of racing Freshmen. They tripped over themselves when they saw me, and one of them went sprawling. I hurried in the other direction. My skin prickled, and I realized I was angry. The new counselor was just like everyone else: she thought it was all my fault somehow. Assuming I slept around and sent naked pictures to boys. But I’d never been that kind of girl. I used to be invisible, but now I had a target on my back.
A few guys gave me hoots and whistles as I passed, and I wrapped my arms tightly around me. The girls whispered behind my back, but I knew what they were saying. I was wearing dark jeans, a black Tshirt and a leather jacket. Even though I hadn’t put on makeup, I was noticeably more attractive than usual, and the bright pink tuft of hair stood out. Combined with the nude photos, promiscuity was assumed, even though I had practically zero experience. Greg had been my first real kiss, and it didn’t count, because I’d kissed him. I wasn’t sure if we needed to talk about it, but I didn’t want to. I could handle being rejected. I didn’t want it explained to me. I also needed to talk with David; I hadn’t told the others about the permanent changes, but we needed to figure out what happened to me before we launched the app for real.
I went outside for a breath of fresh air. I’d just made it down the steps when I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around. I didn’t see Melissa’s fist until it slammed into my jaw.
***
Time seemed to slow down as my pulse spiked, pumping adrenaline through my body. I felt the air on my arms raise as my fight-or-flight response kicked in. But I was tired of running. I might be a target, but that didn’t mean I had to abide by the abuse.
I ducked the second punch easily, then grabbed Melissa’s wrist and pushed her backwards until she slammed against the wall. I twisted her hand behind her until she cried out in pain.