That scared me. Now I wanted to go just out of curiosity. What had Theodore gotten involved in?
Theodore punched a number into the light chute, one he memorized from repeated use. It was a very long number, not a normal destination code.
“How many times have you done this?”
He didn’t answer. “You first.”
I stepped into the chute and emerged in a part of Orbis 3 I’d never seen before. The Illuminate poked through the dark blue sky to my left, so I knew we were not far from school. But I was still unable to get a bearing on exactly where we were.
“This way.” Theodore motioned me to follow him through the chute and away from the Illuminate.
We slogged our way under dripping concrete and steel girders. It was a stark contrast to the slick buildings the Citizens erected in honor of themselves. Despite my misgivings, I was excited. I always enjoyed a good adventure.
Theodore stopped in front of a concrete wall beneath a tall curved structure. The grimy wall was marked with symbols. Unlike the drawings in the tunnels on Orbis 2, though, these symbols were angrier and they slashed at the concrete. Theodore traced a purple one with his fingers. The gesture produced a light chute inside the concrete wall.
“Wow,” I exclaimed. “Nice trick.”
“Wait,” he said, smiling, his eyes widening.
He stepped into the light chute without punching a code. I followed him immediately, and we were both on the other side of the wall before I could blink. In fact, we could have been anywhere on the ring, but it felt like we simply walked through the concrete to the other side. The corridor was cramped, lit only by thin blue crystals dangling from the ceiling. We followed the glow.
“Where are we?” I whispered.
“They call it the shed.”
“Who are they?”
“My friends.”
Even though I’d stood toe to toe with Neewalkers, battled Sea Dragons, and fought monsters inside the central computer, I had never felt apprehension like I felt now.
The corridor ended at a round metal door. I looked back and noticed that we had just walked through some sort of tube, not a real hallway. Now Theodore was forced to tap an entry code into an archaic keypad on the wall. The wall dilated, and we stepped inside. The first thing I noticed was the sound. A strong thumping filled the air, like a heartbeat. This was broken up with a slight tapping and wailing moans. Not a moan like a person would make, but something mechanical, more high-pitched — like a bot on its last legs. An alien stood in the corner of the messy room, her body jerking violently every time the heartbeat sounded. Covering her face and the top of her head was a tetrascope. It was bigger and bulkier than the one I had seen at the Festival of the Harvest back on Orbis 2. I think about six wires attached the tetrascope to the wall behind her. The wall was covered with different types of connectors and cables. I pushed into it quickly, just out of curiosity, and found a dark, haunting array of computer codecs with more personality than I’d ever felt inside a computer before. Images of masked faces, wires, and knives sparkled on the codecs near the girl’s connection points. I pulled out, wondering if Vairocina had ever visited this place. But then I guessed that this place wasn’t linked to the central computer. I had heard that Citizens paid a lot of money to block their estates from the probing central computer, and I was sure this place was one of them.
The girl pulled the scope off and said, “What was that? Something just looked at me. Peeked right inside me.”
I looked away from the girl, not saying a word. I reminded myself to be careful where I poked around. I didn’t know if they would appreciate a softwire in here.
“Who’s this?” an alien asked Theodore, getting up from several O-dats. They were taller than normal and hardwired to an assortment of unrecognizable devices. The tangle of wires and machines made Tinker’s workshop look very organized. The alien’s pale skin glowed blue from a dull sapphire-like crystal perched in the low ceiling. The O-dats provided the only other light source. He twirled a metal tool in his long fingers as he spoke.
“This is JT. He’s the one I told you about.”
“The Softwire?”
“Yes. This is Sul-sah, JT. He’s my friend.”
“Hey,” I grunted, waving at him as I looked around. There must have been at least eight kids attached to scopes inside the room. Others were too old to be kids, and some looked so frail and emaciated that I wondered if they ever left this place.
“A softwire,” Sul-sah said admiringly. “You ever thought of letting people ride you for a living? A lot of freaks would pay plenty to scope a real softwire.”
“There are non-real softwires?” I asked him. It was a little sarcastic, but I’d never heard it put that way before.
“This big freak came in the other cycle pretending he had the gift, but he was a phony. That’s what I meant.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stick with Quest-Nest,” I said.
“No, my friend, really. I mean when you scope someone, it’s real. You are that person. You see what they see, you feel what they feel, but when you scope a softwire . . . wow, it’s so much deeper. I mean you even think what he’s thinking. The fears, the joy, the thoughts.” Sul-sah tapped the side of his head.
“Theodore, can we get this over with?” I groaned.
“Get what over with?” Sul-sah snapped as if coming out of a trance.
“Nothing,” Theodore assured him, and pulled me aside, talking under his breath. “Just relax. Don’t embarrass me, all right?”
“I’m sorry. I just don’t like it here.”
“Wait till you try the scope. You’ll forget all about this place.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said.
“I just want to show him the tetrascope, Sul-sah. We’re going to play together, and it’s going to help our game.”
“It’s your story,” he mumbled, and waved one of those chit verifiers over our skins.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
“This isn’t a charity organization. If you want to scope for free, I can make a deal with you. I can get a lot of chits for what’s inside that head of yours. Otherwise you gotta pay to ride the scope,” Sul-sah informed me.
Sul-sah handed us two helmets and pointed to some free space on another wall, away from the girl I had accidentally pushed into.
“It’s free to use at school, Theodore,” I whispered, even though I was sure Sul-sah couldn’t hear me.
“They’re not as good as these,” he assured me.
The helmet was a blunt oval made from a dull, silver-colored plastic with the face scooped out. That part was a dusty blue. The inside was very soft, softer than anything that had ever touched my face, and the whole thing felt extremely light for its size. Theodore plugged one of the cables into the wall and sat below his connection.
“You’re gonna have to interface with it yourself,” he told me before placing the helmet over his face. His mouth was the only part left exposed. Two supports gripped the back of his head and one automatically attached to the neural port behind his ear. It was obvious to me that Theodore had done this a bunch of times already.
“Wait,” I said. “Aren’t we riding the team we’re playing?”
Theodore pulled the mask off and looked at me. His face was kind of blank, and I could tell he didn’t really care who we were going to ride just as long as he scoped someone. “Yeah,” he hesitated, dropping his eyes. “Check to see if they’re playing in the lobby. The interface takes you there first.”
“At this spoke? They’re asleep, Theodore. I thought we were going to watch old games or something.”
“Well, let’s see what’s available. Otherwise just pick someone so you can feel the effect. I know you’ll see the benefits of using this in our game,” he said quickly, and slipped the scope over his face.
Theodore just wanted to use the tetrascope. He didn’t care about the game. What was wrong with him?
Reluctantly, I plugged in, pl
aced the device over my face, and pushed into the interface. The effect was instant. I grabbed my seat, feeling like I might fall. The scope was different from a dream. Dreams can be foggy or patchy. This was vivid and real, like when I was inside the central computer. In fact, the effect was a lot like pushing. Using the scope, though, everything seemed heightened for optimal stimulus. Colors, even smells, seemed more pronounced, and I was actually moving around inside the interface. Unlike when I used my softwire, I could see my whole body. This made me feel very small, less in control, like a specimen in a jar.
The “lobby” Theodore had mentioned was a jungle of three-dimensional cubes, each with an alien advertising what he or she had to offer if you scoped that alien. Each screamed at me from one face of the cube, while the other side broadcast examples of what they were doing at that moment. I noticed that many of them were going about mundane activities like eating, and most were simply sleeping. Why would someone want to scope a person when they were sleeping? An alien with shiny skin and puddled black eyes answered my thought by saying, “You can’t even imagine what I’m dreaming about.”
The cubes were everywhere, strung on top of one another and lined up in rows. Not very efficient, I thought, but then again, I might not be using the interface properly. Sometimes my softwire took me deeper into a device than I needed to go, and I ended up seeing behind the program rather than just the intended design.
The farther I walked, the darker and more sinister the cubes became. Some offered a chance to ride a tracker, chasing down game on an open frontier. “Feel the thrill of the kill,” the cube called out. Another advertised an opportunity to take part in a mugging, where you would actually attack another person and take their belongings! I turned back. I’ll just scope someone eating, I said to myself, and turned up a different row. I found myself standing in front of a group of ominous black cubes marked with nothing more than slashes. What are those? I wondered. My mind wanted to peek inside, but I was too scared. I quickened my pace, but I didn’t go too far before I stopped. I stood in front of the cube that caught my eye. It was a Neewalker. The painted face and metallic neck collar were unmistakable, and he was offering the opportunity to ride. What would that be like? “Only one way to find out,” I said aloud, and touched the cube. All the other cubes in the lobby imploded, and the Neewalker asked me to touch the cube again to accept the link.
I did as prompted, but this time the barren surroundings of the virtual environment collapsed into the cube — with me included. I felt like I was ripped through a cable, my physical self shredded in the process. I tried frantically to maintain my sense of self, but even that was being torn away from my consciousness.
When the feeling subsided, I was a living, breathing, thinking, and stinking Neewalker. I sat down on a cold stone bench and removed my stilt, rubbing my greasy fin. The metal was tearing my flesh. I needed to get that fixed. Sar Janicj could help me, I thought. Who’s Sar Janicj? That thought came from a tiny remote part of my own brain.
I grabbed some paper from the floor and stuffed it into my stilt. That should help for now. I was hungry, but fighting on a full stomach was never wise. Just a little something, I convinced myself, and rummaged through the pile of ice melting in the corner. The last scallit tried to squirm away from me, but I was faster. I snagged the treat from the ice. The creature was frantic now. I grinned at it, showing it my teeth. That drove the scallit crazy. One sniff, and the powerful aroma thickened in the back of my throat. Still fresh; that was good. I smiled. I opened my mouth and squeezed the creature’s head into my . . .
“Wow!” I shouted, yanking the helmet off my head and bolting to my feet. “Theodore!” I shook my friend, who was smiling and leaning against the wall. Reluctantly, he pulled his helmet off.
“What?”
“That was incredible. I was Neewalker. A real Neewalker. I was him!” I panted.
“I told you; it’s amazing. It’s just astonishing, isn’t it? I knew you would like it.”
I instantly wanted more. I wanted to break open every cube in the lobby. I needed it. Theodore was already putting his scope back on when I stopped him.
“And that’s why we can’t do it anymore,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“Look at you. How many times have you done this?”
“I thought you liked this.”
“It has to be banned for humans for this very reason.”
“But not for us. We’re playing Quest-Nest.”
“Not right now. This has nothing to do with the game.” My voice was getting louder as I was getting angrier.
“But I want to,” he confessed, and he meant it. “What does it matter, JT? Really. Think about it. What are we doing here, anyway? Sometimes I think Switzer is better off. I mean, I know we’re not risking our lives anymore for our Guarantor, but what kind of life do we have? No one wants us here. With this, I can be anyone I want. Go anywhere. See anything, everything! It’s better than the life I have.”
“At least it’s your life.”
Theodore grunted. “Easy for you to say. You’re a softwire. Everyone is interested in you. You’re destined for some amazing life. I can see it.” Theodore put his helmet on his lap and glanced at Sul-sah. Then he whispered, “Do you really think anyone cares about what happens to me?”
The funny thing was, I couldn’t argue with him. He made a very good point, but something told me that life had to be better than this. “I care, Theodore. This doesn’t feel right. You know it, too. It’s not real. C’mon, let’s go home.”
“You go,” he mumbled. “I want to stay.”
The door to the shed dilated, and another paying customer stepped inside.
“That’s the other guy that hangs out with Ceesar,” I hissed at Theodore.
“His name is Cala.”
“You know him?”
“I sat with him when you played Ceesar, remember? Before they nabbed Buzz.”
Cala gestured to Theodore, a simple nod of his head, before he found an open space on the wall.
“I see him every time I come here. It’s weird: he always comes in after me. No matter when I come.”
It didn’t surprise me. The shed seemed like a perfect place for Ceesar and his gang.
“If Charlie finds out, you know you’re in big trouble.”
Theodore shrugged. “What’s he gonna do?”
How did I become the worrier and Theodore the risk taker? I stared at Theodore. He was already back under the scope. I wasn’t going to leave him there. I sat next to him and visited the lobby one more time.
We slipped back into the estate as the ring was rotating out of darkness. Charlie was waiting for us. I knew we were gone too long, but it’s very hard to judge time when you’re riding the scope. In his hand, Charlie held a screen scroll. He pulled on the electronic paper.
“Does this little excursion have anything to do with these charges?” he demanded, holding up the screen scroll.
“What charges?” I asked.
“Computer maintenance, broadcast fees, port repair. What are these for? And twenty-one brand-new pobs?”
“We won those. Dop was supposed to pay for those,” I protested.
“And you’re gambling? You’re not making this easy for me, guys. Everyone is under lockdown. Straight to school and straight home. No exceptions.”
“But we have a game to play next cycle!” I cried.
“No exceptions.”
“For how long?” Theodore moaned.
“Until I say.”
“That’s not fair, Charlie,” I told him.
“You should have thought of that before you snuck out,” he growled, and left us standing by the light chute.
“I’ve never seen Charlie that mad before,” Theodore whispered.
I couldn’t look at Theodore. His indifference was infuriating. I didn’t get it. Life was supposed to be easier living with Charlie, but everything just felt wrong. I stormed to my sleeper without speaking
another word to Theodore. I just wanted some sleep before I had to face the Illuminate.
Ketheria was sick again when we got up. This time she was having trouble standing, and it scared me. She said she was dizzy and her eyes wanted to go black. Charlie called someone to look at her, who told Charlie it was simply growing pains. I could only assume that the guy didn’t have a clue about human anatomy. Where would he have gotten the practice? I asked Max to find whatever she could on the central computer.
“Why not? There’s nothing else for us to do now that we are all in lockdown,” she said coldly. Maybe Max was also angry that Theodore and I had gone out without her. I would have asked her if I knew I wasn’t just going to freeze up again. The space between us felt wider than the wormhole.
Charlie wasn’t taking any chances on our behavior. He changed the exit codes on the light chute, and he added a security program that required his Citizen data key to operate the chute anytime someone wanted to leave the estate. Now I really felt like I was in prison. The only person who didn’t seem to care about the lockdown was Nugget. He enjoyed having us around; he just didn’t like it when Ketheria was sick. She started doodling again, but I managed to get a screen scroll in front of her before too many walls were marked with her graffiti. Nugget, however, took great pride in letting Ketheria draw all over his big snout.
By the next cycle, Ketheria was her old self again. Just like that, as if nothing had happened. But now Theodore was acting strange. Unlike Ketheria, however, it was easy to tell what was wrong with Theodore. One night I caught him tapping different codes into the light chute. He was spewing numbers out loud, tapping faster and faster. His sweat dripped on the floor.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
“It’s not fair. We’re not criminals. We should be allowed to leave here whenever we want.” Theodore’s eyes were on fire.
“We are knudniks,” I reminded him. “Would you rather go back to Odran’s?”
“Anything’s better than this place!” Theodore thumped his fist on the wall and stormed off.
I followed Theodore around school, too. I was worried that he would take off for the shed. Ketheria and Max took turns watching him, and I could tell he was annoyed by all of the attention.
The Softwire: Wormhole Pirates on Orbis 3 Page 15