E-Boy

by Anh Do

  He clicked his fingers, and the security footage flicked up on all three monitors.

  ‘Whoa!’ Stevie J exclaimed.

  ‘How did you do that?’ asked Rose. ‘You need our permission to put something on our screens.’ Ethan frowned. ‘Must have accessed some command for it. Anyway, look, there he is!’

  The camera showed a Hyperspeed Couriers van pulling up at a plumbing supplies warehouse. Brad looked confused as he got out of the van and walked towards the entrance.

  Brad moved inside the warehouse and out of camera range.

  ‘Oh man, wish we could see his face,’ Stevie J said.

  ‘We can.’ Ethan concentrated on the screen as his fingers flew over the keys. A moment later, the view from a camera inside the warehouse foyer flickered onto all of their screens. Ethan even managed to access audio.

  ‘You’re on fire today!’ Rose said.

  The three of them watched Brad walk up to the reception desk and ring the bell.

  A sweaty man appeared from the back of the warehouse. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I’m from Hyperspeed Couriers,’ said Brad. ‘I’m here to pick up …’ He referred to his palm tablet. ‘… um, three crates of bananas. It says they must be ripe.’

  The hairy man scoffed. ‘Does this look like a banana factory to you?’

  Stevie J giggled.

  ‘Well, no, but it says here …’

  ‘Kid, I don’t care what it says, we’re working round the clock to fill a big order. We don’t have time for this nonsense.’

  ‘Look,’ Brad said, showing the man the tablet. ‘It says right here – three crates of bananas, to be picked up from this address, care of Reginald Doonside.’

  ‘Reginald Doonside? I think someone’s playing a joke on you, son.’

  The man disappeared back into the warehouse and Brad stalked out the door.

  Ethan switched the view back to street level as Brad returned to his van.

  ‘Poor Brad,’ laughed Rose.

  ‘Wonder if he’ll get in trouble from his boss?’ Stevie J said.

  ‘Let’s find out,’ said Ethan. Code streamed towards him, as if he was flying through a vortex of bits and bytes. He whizzed from the national network to Brad’s provider to Brad’s phone. He then switched on the phone’s internal microphone.

  ‘How are you doing that?’ asked Stevie. Ethan blinked and glanced down at his hands. They were resting on the keyboard, but he couldn’t remember if he had actually been typing. Rose was staring at him.

  ‘Um …’

  ‘But I’m telling you,’ snapped Brad, ‘I have the order right here!’

  From the other end of the call came an unsympathetic voice. ‘Brad, there’s nothing in the system about a warehouse on Gardeners Road, let alone three crates of bananas. Now get back to work!’ Brad’s boss hung up, and Brad cursed in frustration.

  Ethan felt bad for him. The guy had been seriously unpleasant at school, but Ethan didn’t want him to get fired. He squinted at his computer and shut everything down.

  ‘Hey!’ exclaimed Rose, as the vision disappeared off their screens.

  ‘Sorry,’ said Ethan. He realised that he still wasn’t typing, so he bashed the keyboard for show.

  He didn’t know what was happening to him, but whatever it was, he wasn’t ready to share it with his friends just yet. He needed to investigate alone.

  ‘Gotta go!’ Ethan scooped up his bag and left Stevie J and Rose staring at each other, gobsmacked.

  ‘Hi Mum and Dad,’ Ethan sang out as he hurried towards his room. He was desperate to get to his computer, to explore this feeling, of being in tune with the machine.

  ‘Perfect timing, Ethan. Dinner’s ready,’ Tracy called back.

  ‘Now?!’ Ethan was annoyed at being interrupted at this incredible moment. But he chased the feeling away.

  ‘Coming,’ he called.

  Testing his powers would have to wait, at least until after dinner.

  When he entered the kitchen, his parents both beamed at him. Having a carefree family meal wouldn’t be such a big deal to many people, but to his parents it meant the world.

  As they sat down to eat, his mum tuned her digital radio to a pop music station. An annoying repetitive song came on.

  Oooh yeah, you turn me on! went the chorus.

  I’ll do the opposite of that, thought Ethan.

  He concentrated on the radio until he made sense of its internal systems, then tuned it to a classical music station instead.

  ‘Thing must be on the blink,’ said Tracy, getting up to have a look at it.

  ‘Mum?’ said Ethan. ‘Can we leave it on this station? I find Mozart kinda soothing.’

  Tracy smiled and sank back into her chair. ‘Of course, dear.’

  Ethan felt a touch guilty about manipulating his mother, but it had been a very annoying pop song.

  He noticed the household router sitting on the kitchen counter. It pulsed at him, almost like it was saying hello.

  As Ethan stared at it, he saw a silver stream of data shooting through the walls of the house. He instinctively latched onto it and was suddenly whooshed along at incredible speed.

  The stream split into more streams, which split into more streams, which became myriad complicated fractals … full of possibilities!

  He floated above it for a moment, marvelling at the flashing web of data, a trillion threads crisscrossing the entire planet.

  Wow, he thought, surfing the net really is like surfing.

  He could sense everything in the house that contained a computer chip. His computer, his phone, a remote control car, even his alarm clock. It was amazing how many things were controlled by chips these days!

  What was even more amazing was he could see their code too, like coloured strings interweaving in ways that he could instantly comprehend and change.

  Whatever had happened to his brain during the operation had given him the ability to manipulate any computer.

  Something drew his perception back to his body, like the power cord being sucked back into a vacuum cleaner. It was not a pleasant feeling. Suddenly, he was looking at his dad’s face.

  ‘Ethan? You haven’t touched your meal,’ Paul said, looking worried.

  It was taking Ethan a moment to truly return to his body, as if threads of himself were still being reeled in. He felt … stretched.

  ‘I think I was just … having a bad daydream. Sorry, Dad.’

  ‘That’s okay, mate,’ Paul said, a little relieved.

  Ethan didn’t have an appetite, but he knew it would make his parents happy to see him eating heartily. Forcing a smile, he began to cut up a fritter.

  As he ate, Ethan couldn’t stop thinking about his newfound powers. From years of watching superhero movies and reading comic books, he knew that new heroes often spent ages wondering why this had happened to them, and often got all angsty about it.

  Not going to make that mistake, Ethan thought. Instead, he felt a great curiosity and eagerness building inside him.

  The next day, Ethan and his mum went for a walk to the shops. Ethan was tired, but he enjoyed the sun on his face. They bought a bunch of groceries and waited at the lights for the green man. It seemed to take forever.

  Ethan could easily reach into the city’s traffic network and speed things up, but he knew a small tweak could result in consequences for motorists and pedestrians everywhere.

  Just stand here with your mum, he told himself. Like a normal human being.

  ‘Got plans tonight?’ Tracy asked.

  Ethan frowned. He knew what she was really asking. Ever since his high school girlfriend had broken up with him, he hadn’t had an amazing dating life. Tracy always told him he was handsome, but what did mums know?

  Doctor Penny’s face floated into his mind. What was she doing tonight? Probably not hanging out with boys ten years younger than her.

  The light turned green and they stepped onto the road. Ethan heard Tracy gasp, and turned to see a tr
uck bearing down on them – the driver had sped up to run the red light!

  Time seemed to slow down.

  Ethan saw his mum’s face fill with fear as she threw her hand across his chest – as if that would stop four tonnes of oncoming steel.

  He saw the truck driver’s eyes open wide and felt a surge of anger – the stupid man had put all their lives in danger just to save a few seconds. The driver slammed on the brakes and the tyres squealed as smoke shot out the sides, but he was never going to slow down in time.

  Ethan plunged into the truck’s electronic systems – radio, engine, air conditioning – and spread himself out in every direction, looking for anything that might help. He found an electronic petrol gauge and diverted power to it from everywhere else, overloading it instantly.

  There was a BOOM and the side of the truck exploded. The whole rig blew sideways and tipped over. It screeeeeched along the ground, sparks flying.

  ‘Oh my god, are you okay?’ Tracy clutched at Ethan as the spinning wheels missed their heads by centimetres.

  As his mum pawed at him, Ethan felt a bunch of stuff all at once. Relief, white-hot rage at the driver, and annoyance at his mum for grasping him.

  ‘I’m fine, Mum,’ he said, pushing her hand away.

  Tracy was so full of adrenaline she hardly noticed his reaction.

  People ran towards them, calling out to ask whether they were okay. A couple of guys helped the driver climb out of the overturned cabin. The man’s face was pale and his hands were shaking.

  ‘Get away from the truck!’ someone yelled. The truck was oozing smoke from its side and plumes of fire were shooting upwards.

  Ethan quickly looked into its systems and rerouted all the dangerous elements away from each other.

  ‘Quick!’ Tracy pulled at him.

  ‘Get off me!’ Ethan shouted. He picked up the grocery bags and strode off.

  His mum blinked in hurt and confusion, then followed.

  Ethan cursed silently. Why was he behaving this way to his mother? This wasn’t him.

  ‘I’m sorry for yelling,’ he said. ‘I just got a fright.’

  ‘You and me both,’ she said, looking back at the smoking truck.

  Back home, Ethan tried to process everything. He felt tightly wound, stressed, tired and irritable, as if he had pushed himself too hard. There was a cost, it seemed, for electronic telepathy.

  He smiled at the thought – had he just named his power?

  The smile was short-lived. He desperately needed to confide in someone, and there was only one person he could think of. The woman who had been there when his mind was zapped by lightning. A doctor with a special understanding of the human brain.

  Ethan took out his phone and called her number.

  ‘Hi there, this is Penny. I’m unavailable for a few days, so please leave a message.’

  Unavailable? thought Ethan. But you made me promise to call daily.

  He tried to delve into Penny’s phone to track its GPS, but it was switched off.

  ‘Where are you, Doctor Penny?’ he muttered.

  Ethan set up an automated notification to let him know when Penny turned her GPS back on.

  In the meantime, he was on his own.

  Across the world, in the Sharo Desert, a supply truck rumbled along a sandy road. Ahead was a brick compound, its walls manned by guards with machine guns that glinted in the sunshine. As the truck drew near, the driver said a string of numbers into his radio. The iron compound gate slowly opened.

  The truck juddered as it hit a bump in the road.

  Suddenly a hand sprang from the sand and clamped onto the truck’s undercarriage.

  The owner of the hand burst from the sand and hauled himself underneath the truck.

  The truck hurtled through the gates, which closed behind it with a clang.

  Gemini boosted power to his hands and feet to keep himself steady as he clung to the underside of the truck. Meanwhile, the radio receiver inside his head crackled with the voice of his commander.

  ‘Good work, Gemini,’ said General Mawson. ‘They failed to detect you. Now remember, your priority is the hostages. There are ten of our citizens in there. You have a duty of care to see them safely returned home.’

  Gemini wondered about this inefficient use of the General’s breath. He had already given Gemini his orders. Didn’t Mawson know that a robot never forgets?

  ‘Gemini, you hear me?’

  Affirmative. Gemini’s reply appeared as text on Mawson’s command centre screen.

  The truck parked in the middle of the compound courtyard. The driver got out while soldiers opened the back, speaking in a foreign language. Luckily Gemini was programmed with every language known to humanity.

  ‘I was expecting more warheads,’ a man said.

  ‘This was all they had,’ said the driver.

  Gemini heard something hit the ground nearby, and glanced over. A gob of spit lay on the earth centimetres from his head. He narrowed his chrome eyes.

  DNA scan in progress.

  A moment later his analysis concluded: Subject identified as Reno Belic, currently wanted in 16 countries.

  ‘Mawson here again,’ said the General, completely unnecessarily. Gemini could crosscheck the voice records of anyone who had ever spoken to him. ‘You now have a secondary objective, Gemini – terminate Reno Belic.’

  Gemini felt the order sink into his programming. He was compelled to follow it, despite the fact that it was completely at odds with his primary function as a medical practitioner. There seemed to be contradictions in his code.

  Am I doing what I’m supposed to be? he wondered. The thought seemed to curl around inside him before being … absorbed … into his program. He wondered about that too. Were his own thoughts meant to add to his code?

  This thought went into his code in turn.

  Am I thinking independent thoughts? Gemini felt confusion for the first time.

  ‘I demanded three times this many warheads,’ said Reno, as his boots moved around the truck. ‘And we shall get them – presuming they want to see their countrymen again. It’s time I paid our hostages a visit.’

  Gemini opened his mouth and a tiny silver orb flew out and latched onto Reno’s boot. It was a mobile probe designed by Penny to access vision of a patient’s passageways, but it doubled as a tracker.

  ‘Gemini,’ said Mawson, ‘you have a better chance of getting those hostages out safely if there are no hostiles left alive.’

  Gemini pondered this input.

  When he woke up twenty-four hours ago with no memory, he knew in his core – quite literally, his computer core – that he was a healer. This seemed at odds with his current directives. Did innocent lives take priority over the lives of those with evil intentions? Like killing bacteria to stop an infection? Or was it always wrong to take a life?

  These questions spawned more bits of code.

  Gemini watched the legs of the men unloading the truck. There were five men.

  He splayed his fingers and an aperture opened in his palm. A syringe full of fast-acting anaesthetic snaked out on a prehensile cord. Gemini calculated speed and distance, then sent the syringe to jab repeatedly at the legs around the truck. There was swearing, cursing, confusion – and then all five men dropped unconscious to the ground.

  Gemini rolled out from under the truck and onto his feet.

  ‘This seems like an appropriate compromise,’ he told the unconscious men.

  A quick sweep with his enhanced eyes revealed no other heat signatures nearby. He walked in the same direction as Reno, through a stone archway and into a dark tunnel.

  He came to a metal door, which was slightly ajar, and heard Reno’s voice on the other side.

  ‘… pay for your country’s crimes, but do not fret. If they deliver us what we ask for, a few of you might walk away alive.’

  Gemini could hear the man pacing. He isolated three other sources of footsteps. So, it was Reno and three guards inside. He co
uld also hear stifled breathing and moans – it sounded like the hostages were gagged.

  ‘Maybe I should kill one of you to show them I am serious,’ said Reno. Gemini heard a woman’s muffled cry.

  There was no more time. His orders and his programming combined to push away other thoughts. It was his duty to save lives.

  He wrenched open the door.

  Ten hostages were heaped in the middle of the floor. Standing around them were Reno and his brutes, machine guns slung casually over their shoulders. One of them stood facing away from Gemini.

  Gemini lunged forward and clapped his hands over the man’s temples, knocking him unconscious. The other soldiers reached for their guns.

  Gemini charged with inhuman speed and leapt at two of them as they raised their muzzles. He spun in the air as his laser scalpels flashed out from his fingertips.

  As he landed, the men dropped to the floor on either side of him.

  Power reserves at 90%.

  ‘Kill him!’ Reno yelled to the last guard.

  Gemini stepped forward and grabbed the muzzle of the gun being swung towards him. He jabbed its butt into the guard, who flew backwards, leaving Gemini holding the gun.

  ‘Please, don’t shoot,’ said Reno, backing away, his hands raised.

  Gemini crushed the muzzle of the gun in his grip and flung it away.

  ‘Do you surrender?’ he asked.

  Reno nodded frantically, but the way his eyes darted about told Gemini there was a high probability he was lying. Sure enough, the man produced a pistol and fired.

  Gemini quickly turned to the side, making himself a smaller target. The bullet caught his elbow, ripping through his synthetic skin, then pinging off his cybernetic frame.

  Gemini dropped to the floor and sent out a sweeping kick that took Reno’s feet out from under him. Gemini knew the force of the fall would not be enough to reduce Reno’s threat level to zero, so he pushed Reno’s head to the ground. It met the stone floor with an almighty crack.