The key was in the code that fixed the code. Charlie would hide a hidden link in the fixer code that referenced a third-party application his friend wrote. If that link was obsolete, it would break the fixer code. He always hyperlinked the same word when he did this; Trebek.
Charlie needed to fix Trebek, then the code would fix itself.
Easier said than done with trillions of lines of code. But Charlie was happy to see talking computers did wonders for navigating this. As did computer chip ham sandwiches. As did the throngs of admirers looking over his shoulder.
Charlie worked. And he worked. And he worked.
The problem for Dustin was Charlie really was a genius. The fact he wrote the Big Bang code centuries earlier that was still the foundation for the most important project in history was impressive. And equally as impressive was that the fixing he did on the code now was so simple. He never would of think hyperlinks were the issue, it was too archaic of a solution. Neither had anyone else. There was a simplistic brilliance to it all.
But he couldn’t let Charlie know that. He needed Charlie on edge. But he also needed to code to be fixed for Warren’s plan to work.
Things were going along smashingly.
Charlie stared at the swirling world of the code universe. He didn’t dare blink or look in any direction. He prayed he wouldn’t do anything to throw the machines off, because the code looked perfect. It was all carefully back in place, and riding together in a way to stop the problems everybody was having. The Malcom code was bridged.
He was sure of it now. Like healthy blood lines moving throughout a body, lights were moving from his code out to the greater universe of code that governed the Hybrids.
Charlie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He blinked his eyes even slower and slid his face away from the screen.
“The hybrids are fixed,” he said. “It’s done.”
Chapter 22
Dustin looked sideways at Charlie’s face. God, he hated the simplicity with which Charlie said that the code was fixed. It wasn’t because Charlie was cocky. He wasn’t. It was because Charlie knew he was right. And every damn programmer in the room believed him, too. Not just because he was Charlie Richards, Godfather of all hybrids, but because, well, he believed in himself.
Now, as the crowd exploded in cheers accented by some whoops and hollers, Dustin felt a grudging respect for Charlie, a respect he would never admit to.
One of the guys let out some sort of loud trilling sound that stood out above the others. Charlie wasn’t sure what the hell it was about, but he felt his heart swell at his success.
Dustin sat there and eyed the raucous crowd, the corners of his mouth pulled up in the tiniest smirk. He raised a single black-gloved hand and silenced everyone.
“You don’t even know if it works yet,” he said. “Don’t be fools. Some guy stares at a code swarm for hours and now you’re all caterwauling like some tomcat in heat because you think he’s solved all the problems of this little town.”
Truth be told, Dustin was torn. Eighteen months’ worth of his work was wrapped up inside Charlie’s code. He needed Charlie’s plan to work. Not just because he was a hybrid and would succumb to the disease like every other hybrid was falling, but he needed Charlie’s code to work so that he could live forever through the work he had just implemented in the code.
But he still hated sitting here listening to these idiots cheering on some guy just because he turned around and said he deserved to be cheered on.
“Push the code through,” Charlie said, his voice even quieter than the stillness that had descended upon all of the programmers.
Dustin sputtered and considered losing his shit for a second, but all eyes had turned on him and he wasn’t going to let them see he was feeling outclassed. He ran a hand over his smooth hair as if it needed it.
“Who do you think you are?” he whispered. “You don’t just push things through around here. You don’t just make decisions that will affect more than half the population of Crowley without getting the approval from the man himself.”
“You don’t know how to do it?” Charlie asked.
“Of course, I know how to do it,” Dustin responded, irritation deep to his toes. “But I don’t have to. It’s already in their system and the system will automatically push it out to the hybrids. This is not the point. The point is, you don’t own this town. This town owns you. The only reason why you’re here is to fix this problem.”
Charlie’s eyebrows knit together.
“Well, I have fixed the problem,” he said.
And before Dustin realized exactly what Charlie was doing, Charlie pressed the fail-safe button on the surface of the desk, which would ensure they could always do a manual reboot. The very button that would reset the computer with the core hybrid code on it. Upon rebooting, it would push the new code out to all the hybrids.
“No!” Dustin cried, lunging forward, but it was too late. Charlie’s finger was already pressed deep into the button. The machine was already shutting off. The room held its breath, save for one guy in the corner who seemed to have a cold and sneezed into the silence.
“Bless you,” Charlie said as the whirs and beeps of the CompuVerse behind him started up again and the code was pushed out to every hybrid of Crowley.
Dustin sagged against the glass desk, his arms holding himself up weakly, then fell forward. What if it was wrong? What if the code was wrong? What if Charlie’s code was wrong? What if something terrible happened? He wasn’t afraid of losing people. Warren, though, Warren was somebody to be afraid of. It wasn’t just the power behind the throne, he was the one who wielded the ax. And Warren would never do anything publicly to Charlie, he couldn’t. But now that he had Dustin’s code… if there was anything wrong with Charlie’s fix or Dustin’s code, Dustin knew exactly who was going to take the blame.
It would be him.
“Screens on,” Dustin said, pushing himself off the desk. There was still time, they just needed to figure out if the code worked. If the code didn’t work, he was going to have to do something about it, or at least disappear. If the code did work, he was going to have to make sure he stayed as close to Charlie as possible so maybe some of the gold would rub off on him.
The room descended into silence with a bit of whispering, everyone’s eyes on the screens lining the walls.
Charlie scanned them along with everyone else. He was looking for Jade, but buried in the random screens, he didn’t see her. It troubled him how much that worried him. What if the code didn’t work? He had no idea exactly how long it would take for the code to travel from the CompuVerse in to the hybrids. The problem was, all the cameras were centered on various spaces in Crowley headquarters and random street scenes. Every programmer was trying to find a sick hybrid who maybe wasn’t quite as sick anymore.
But like everything else, the screens were set to focus on whatever they were told. And not many people knew the code to reset them. Except, Dustin did. He thought for a moment.
“Josie-968,” he said. At first it didn’t seem like anything had happened.
Then a couple of screens blinked as cameras synced to a different network and the scenes switched from random street scenes to the hybrid hospital. All the screens in the room switched until all ten were connected to a different camera viewing the patient floor. Delta hybrids lay everywhere. The cameras were surprisingly close in some areas, but still not close enough. Dustin scanned the screens and focused on one that seemed to have a decent angle.
“Niko X5, zoom in,” Dustin commanded. Charlie glanced over at him. The kid was a snot, but he sure seemed to have a lot of information stored in his brain. How do you randomly remember a camera name… and get it right? The camera, which initially scanning the entire room, suddenly stopped and zoomed in so quickly they were suddenly staring at a black screen.
“Back up,” Charlie said.
Dustin glared at him, but didn’t say anything as the camera obeyed Charlie’s command.
“Zoom to face.” Dustin took control. The camera focused on the flesh and bone that signified this was, indeed, a face. The gore took up the entire screen. The Delta hybrid lay there, its eyes open, staring at the ceiling. Its head rolled to the side and everyone could see the burnt-out eyes rolling back in its head. Its body started twitching.
“The code is downloading,” someone in the room whispered, and everybody leaned forward ever so slightly to see what the hybrid’s next breath would bring.
Except for Charlie, he was staring at another screen, a screen looking at a street in Trenchtown as a lithe, dark haired woman stepped into view. She held her gun cocked and straight out, aimed at nothing, her eyes wide and staring.
A cool breeze caressed Jade and soothed the lines of her face. She raised her chin into it, hoping to cool down. Her body was heating up.
New code, she thought.
The new code was clicking into place. Her other hand flexed with a sharp intake of breath.
Charlie, I hope you got this right. She looked up at the camera that she knew was there, cameras were always there, scanning her and everyone in Crowley. Everyone that wasn’t above the line, which was everyone except for two people.
Her eyes flickered back in her head and she leaned against the wall waiting for the code to update completely. The world closed in, dark and ominous around her. Breath came shallow. Was this the right code? Or was this something else?
She bowed her head, body sagging. The code had given her a longer life. She’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for this hybrid extension to her life, but as a Delta… she was powerless. Code updated at the will of Blake. It wasn’t Charlie who was like a god, he was an angel, the hands of the god.
Still, she needed this. If she was ever to save her parents and give them what they deserved, she needed to live, whatever the cost.
Her eyes closed and though she didn’t believe in a single god, in that moment, Jade prayed it worked.
Charlie leaned towards the screen, barely stopping his hand from reaching out towards it. Had he gotten it wrong? Jade was sagging against the wall, her eyes closed and it looked like she was about to slump to the ground. His eyes flicked to the screen showing the hospital.
The hybrid’s eyes closed and still its eyeballs twitched under the skin. His mouth opened, his jaw moved in time to his jerking eyeballs.
The room of programmers held their collective breaths. Charlie held his breath, his muscles, and every atom in his body barely together.
Beads of sweat poured out of the gray skin of the sick Delta hybrid’s face. The camera lurched to not lose sight of the pitiful figure, and the whole room moved with the camera, every person trying to maintain the balance and keep eyes on the hybrid. The hybrid’s eyes shot open, only to turn away from the camera.
Jade’s head lolled back, her mouth open and gasping for air. The download was complete and she felt… possibly better than she’d felt in the long time.
Charlie tilted forward in his chair. He couldn’t tell from the screen how Jade was feeling. The camera was too far away.
He whipped around to look at the hybrid in the hospital, who was scanning the rest of the room before slowly turning its gaze directly towards the camera.
A mammoth round of cheers and screams went up from the programmers. The hybrid’s eyes were perfectly bright and clear. The burnt-out shells were gone. Whatever code Charlie had installed in the CompuVerse had super powers to heal. Now with the new code, healing was possible.
Jade stared directly at the camera, smiling. She gave it the thumbs-up, hoping Charlie was watching. He was. His thumb lifted in response, even though she couldn’t see him. The camera switched off, but Charlie, beside himself with delight, threw his arms around Dustin and gave the CIO a very uncool, non-programmer hug.
Blake’s hand flew, swatting a MediBot away from his wife. Her eyes had closed and her lids were twitching. Why the hell hadn’t they told him they were ready to do it? He should have been warned. This was his experiment, bringing Charlie here and having him work on the code.
He gripped Robin’s hand. She was getting the update. He knew he should call Warren and give him a ration of shit, but it was the last thing Blake wanted to do right now. His heart hammered in his chest in a way that he would never admit to as he stared down at Robin’s tremulous body accepting new code.
For a second she stopped breathing.
Then suddenly, her eyes sprang open and she gasped for a breath.
Blake stared down into the bright blue eyes of his wife.
Robin was healed.
And for the first time in what seemed like months, Blake Crowley felt like he could finally breathe again.
If Dustin went to Warren expecting any level of accolades, he was sorely mistaken as he walked into Command Central. In fact, Warren looked incredibly annoyed.
“It better be right,” he muttered to the young CTO.
Dustin didn’t need to be told that, but he was far too smooth to let Warren see him sweat. “Oh, it’s right.”
“Prove it,” Warren said.
Dustin was a little taken aback. “You want me to give you control over all of them, right now?” he asked.
Warren shook his head. “No. Let’s do a test case.”
“Okay, I have this Delta down in -”
“Go big or get the fuck out,” Warren said. “Push it through to Jadyn of Crowley.
Dustin’s eyes widened as he stared at Warren, almost choking on the words. “Ja-Jade?” He hated the way he couldn’t get her name fully out. But he knew better than to say the other two thoughts that were running through his head. You gotta be fucking kidding me and I’d like to have her under my control for even just an hour.
“Do it,” Warren said. “I want to see if this code you wrote works.”
Dustin nodded silently and moved over to a CodeSwarm in the corner where he could privately access the CompuVerse. In less than two minutes he was isolating and opening the package he’d placed in the computer code of one Jadyn of Crowley.
Zeke and Tallahassee heard the trumpets before they knew what was happening, but it didn’t matter. All they knew is that something big was going on in Crowley and they needed to find out what it was.
“Let’s get up there,” Zeke pointed to a high rise that overlooked the Pavilion. “Whatever is going on, we need to report on it.”
“I’ll check in with base,” Tallahassee said, pressing a patch on his brown vest.
Zeke nodded. It was always risky to use comms, which could be tracked. But under the circumstances, they were alone in enemy territory. No rescue would be on hand, but perhaps there was more they could do to help the Lowsmiths. After all, the trumpets of Crowley blaring meant Blake had an announcement to make, and an announcement from
Chapter 23
Blake knew something about making a spectacle of things. He knew something about getting people’s attention and ensuring the masses all felt good. Early on, he and his wife had chosen the color platinum as their family brand. They felt it was a valued medal, slightly darker than its cheaper cousin, silver, yet it still sparkled. It didn’t look cheap and tawdry like yellow gold.
Today, the Pavilion of Crowley was streaming reflective platinum flags from the highest pinnacles, all the way down to the smallest wooden stick in each child’s hand. They hadn’t even had to buy them. Crowley had made sure the pennants were handed out to every guest who entered the Pavilion. He knew it was crucial for everyone to feel involved in the celebration. The new code was a win for all of them.
Blake placed his arm around Robin, who was seated next to him on the platform overlooking the crowds. The masses were orderly groups in marked off sections set up in such a way so people would feel unified, but not crowded. He wanted them to feel part of the throng, yet also safely separate. The Pavilion was a masterful plan of control, designed in the early days when rebellion was still a possibility. But today the people were nowhere near rebellious. They w
ere grinning up at Blake and Robin, who sat in the golden glow of the magic hour, just before the sun would rise to scorching temperatures that would heat up the landscape and practically melt the city.
But right now, it was perfect.
He clutched Robin’s fingers in his. She was weak. but she was still his wife. Still the woman who built this city with him; built this society. She was much loved by the people and knew exactly how important it was for her to be out here on this momentous occasion.
Blake had overcome the barriers of time itself to find a cure for his people. The thought astounded him. Its implications were limitless. They had been so worried about the hybrid danger, the rebels attacking, and the crumbling of their entire society, that overcoming the boundaries of time and space had almost been an afterthought. But now…his fingers traced the delicate skin of the back of Robin’s hand. Now, he would have the opportunity to explore the space-time continuum. Once he got through this awards ceremony and stopped the rebellion. Then he would really sit down with Warren and start to figure out what they could do with this technology.
Warren stepped up to the podium, a platinum metal tripod, which held a single, powerful mic. Microphones had been obsolete for a century, but for somethings, they were really useful. Appearances was one thing. It didn’t just connect to the implants of the people here in the Pavilion, it was connected to all the citizens of the entire city. Still, he had everyone’s implants blocked while they were here. Even though he could access them directly, there was something powerful and majestic about a voice booming all around you.
Anything said from this microphone would be heard by everyone and this was exactly the way Blake wanted it; in their ears and executed perfectly. There wasn’t a squeak or hiss or anything. Blake’s eyes flipped over to the AV guy standing off to the side, who looked visibly relieved the microphone seemed to work without a hitch. Blake nodded and smiled at him. It was important for the people to know someone as high up as himself, though there was no one higher, paid attention to them occasionally. It’s good for morale when the word gets out. So, when he gave the AV guy a slight nod and smile, he knew his acknowledgement would be carried back to the AV guy’s home, to the warrens and communities of Trenchtown. Bots could do almost anything in this day and age, but you still had to give people jobs and recognition. Every single gesture Blake ever made was done with marketing and appearances in mind. It was crucial to spread the message that he was a great guy. This event was going to be one of his greatest yet.
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