The softwire : Virus on Orbis 1

by PJ Haarsma

  “Unfortunately, you’re right. But it was so easy to disguise. The creatures on this ring will believe anything they see as long as it comes from that stupid central computer. And that brings us to how we’re going to deal with you meddlesome brats. Especially you.” She pointed at me. “There is no way I’m going to let the Keepers put you into the computer to spy on us. If they’re going to waste your talents by making you live in the central computer, I would rather see you dead.”

  “What?” Theodore said.

  Max and Theodore looked at me. Ketheria could not hold back her tears.

  “Is that true, JT?” Max asked.

  “It certainly is,” Madame Lee replied. “The Keepers, those two-headed know-it-alls you admire so much, have condemned your little friend to a life of servitude inside the central computer. Isn’t that nice?”

  “Well, I’m not doing it,” I said.

  “Oh, but you know the penalty if you don’t obey your owners. You’re dead either way, I’m afraid.”

  “Weegin, is this true?” Max asked.

  Weegin dropped his head.

  “Don’t worry. Weegin will be paid handsomely for his loss.” Madame Lee smiled. “He’s been planning to sell you off from the very beginning.”

  “Don’t kill them all,” Weegin said. “That’s almost half my stock.”

  “Your stock? Remember, I own you, too, now. I’m not going to kill anyone — yet.”

  “How do you know about the Keepers’ wanting Johnny to live in the computer?” Max said.

  An evil grin spread across Madame Lee’s face. “Powerful friends in powerful places? I mean, how can I have any control over their precious computer if I don’t know about their security devices?”

  Madame Lee drifted toward Ketheria. Ketheria would not look at her.

  “What’s the matter, my child? Still trying to hide your secret?” she said in a motherly voice. Ketheria just stared at her feet.

  “What secret?” I asked, trying to position myself between Madame Lee and my sister.

  “Quite a big secret. A secret she discovered on the Renaissance but was afraid to tell her brother once she read about how they treated telepaths on Orbis. Aren’t I correct, dear?”

  Madame Lee stroked Ketheria’s hair as Ketheria stared at me.

  “Telepath?” Max and I said in unison. Theodore simply stared with his mouth open.

  “I have a softwire and a telepath?” Weegin said.

  “Shut up,” Madame Lee scolded him. She turned back to me. “Your little sister has the ability to read minds. She actually prefers it to talking. I’m sure she could talk if she wanted to. Isn’t that right?” But Ketheria did not respond.

  This definitely explained a lot of things about my sister.

  Ketheria pointed at Madame Lee. I understood immediately.

  “You’re a telepath, too!” I exclaimed.

  Madame Lee only smiled. “Getting smarter by the moment.”

  “Why didn’t you let me know, Ketheria?” I asked her.

  Max knelt next to Ketheria. “She couldn’t, JT. All telepaths must report to security upon their arrival. It’s one of the Keepers’ decrees. First they are quarantined, and then they are fitted with a device to control their abilities,” Max said.

  “Your little sister would have been taken away once you arrived. Who would have wanted that?” Madame Lee added.

  “If you’re a telepath, how come you’re not registered? How come you’re not wearing a device that lets everyone else know?” Max asked.

  “I made them write the decree, of course, a very, very long time ago. Besides, how do you think I find them? But now the truth must be told.”

  Madame Lee reached into her tight-fitting outfit, a combination of leather padding and something that resembled turtle shells or reptile scales. She removed a communication device and spoke into it: “This is Councilwoman Lee. I must report an unregistered telepath. I’m requesting an immediate self-guiding security sphere. Direct it to these coordinates.”

  “No!” I screamed, but before I could even move, Ketheria was sealed in a green security bubble like the one they had used on me. I could see Ketheria pounding on the inside of the bubble, but no one could help her. I tried to grab the bubble. Max and Theodore tried, too, as Madame Lee and the Neewalkers laughed. I knew from experience it was no use. The bubble left Weegin’s World with Ketheria inside.

  “If you ever want her back, you must do exactly as I say,” Madame Lee said.

  “What do you want me to do?” I demanded.

  “That’s better,” she said with a smile. “First, we’ll deal with this.”

  Madame Lee pulled out a computer drive. I could not hide the surprise on my face. It was the same computer drive Boohral had revealed at the tribunal. Could it be the one that contained the restricted files from the Renaissance?

  “Cost me a Trefaldoor to finally get my hands on this,” Madame Lee said.

  “You’re a murderer,” Max said, spitting out the words.

  “Such name calling,” Madame Lee said. “Is that really necessary?” Madame Lee looked at me. “You’re dying to know what’s on this, aren’t you, my boy?”

  “Not really,” I said.

  Madame Lee snapped back, “Have you not been paying attention? I’ve been listening to you think about this meddlesome hunk of metal since the moment I pulled it out. Do not underestimate me, Softwire.”

  Madame Lee tossed me the drive. I stared at it in my hands. I wanted desperately to know what was on it.

  “I know you do,” she said. “Now throw it out the window.”

  “What?” I said. I couldn’t; there was no way. Here it was, right in my hands. I tried to push into it, but there was no power source. What’s going on here? my mind screamed.

  “Fine, we’ll do it the hard way.” Madame Lee motioned to the Neewalker, who grabbed Max, lifted her off the floor, and moved toward the open window.

  “Wait!” I needed more time. I looked around the room.

  “It’s either her or that meddlesome little device. It’s your choice,” she said.

  There was no choice. I looked at Max. I had hoped there was some secret, some clue my parents had tucked away in these files, but I was not willing to risk Max’s life for it.

  “You think all your answers are in that, don’t you, earthling? Maybe an answer for why you and your sister are what you are?” Madame Lee walked to the window. “You’ve been asking the wrong question, my son. I’m afraid the answers on this drive are to questions I do not want asked.”

  “But —”

  “Oh, this is so boring. Toss her over.”

  “All right!”

  I tossed the drive out the window. It sailed out of Weegin’s office and smashed on the factory floor. Weegin’s robotic scavengers scurried out and gobbled up the pieces. I had been so close to finding out the answers to everything, but nothing could bring that drive back now. I felt like I had watched someone die right before my eyes.

  “I hate you,” I said to her.

  “You wouldn’t be the first,” she replied.

  “Why do you care about that drive?” I asked. Madame Lee laughed.

  “Now that the drive is gone and it would only be the word of a slave against mine, I will tell you. Although I’m quite disappointed you did not figure it out yourself. I always expected more from the son of a Space Jumper.”

  A Space Jumper? What was she talking about? “You’re crazy,” I said. “I’m a human.”

  “He does not need to know this,” growled Sar Cyrillus.

  “I want to know,” Weegin said, who was now quite comfortable, watching the events unfold in front of him.

  “A Space Jumper?” Max said.

  “Quite handsome, too,” Madame Lee added.

  “I don’t believe you,” I said.

  “That’s impossible. JT’s father died over one hundred years ago on the Renaissance,” Theodore said.

  Madame Lee rolled her eyes and shook
her head. “What are they teaching these children?”

  “Madame Lee is an immortal,” Weegin said.

  “Thank you, Weegin, but not really.”

  “She’s over twelve hundred Earth years old,” he added.

  Theodore started calculating. “Throw in some interstellar space jumping and the time dilation could make it possible. If the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second . . .” he mumbled.

  “I like this one. He shows potential,” Madame Lee said, stroking Theodore’s chin with her long black fingernails. “Your father wanted to leave Orbis. He grew tired of our petty bickering and a life of exile. He chose a simpler life on another planet. Your rotting little planet, that is.”

  “If you’re telling the truth, why would he come back, then?” I asked.

  “Oh, I am telling the truth. Leaving the comfort and security of your own home is never easy. He believed that every person needed to make that journey to improve their station and fortify their character. But in order to leave the Trust, he accepted one more mission. A ridiculous mission. The details were on that drive,” she said, motioning to the factory floor. “But I’m afraid it was a mission I did not want completed, and I’ll do anything to get my way. Anything.”

  I just stared at her. What did she mean? Madame Lee only smiled.

  “History shows us that space travel always brings its share of risks, but it wasn’t easy when your ship was light-years away,” Madame Lee said, reading my mind. “I only wish I had destroyed the whole thing now. I would have, too, had I known they’d brought a carton of human eggs on board. But with your father gone, there was no way his mission could be completed. Besides, we never would have had the chance to meet,” she added.

  “You killed my parents?” I said.

  “And mine?” Theodore added.

  “It was you who made the cryogenic sleepers fail?” Max said.

  “Peons.” Madame Lee’s voice was full of scorn.

  “Why did you kill them?” Theodore asked.

  “His father forced my hand. I asked Quirin not to take the mission. I even begged him, which is very unbecoming for a Sinovian. The mission was foolish, nothing more than myths and rumors,” Madame Lee said. “The universe will meet its fate, and nothing can stop it. But Quirin thought he knew better.”

  “You’re wrong,” I said. “My father’s name was not Quirin. It was Sam. Sam Turnbull,” I said. “And what did his mission have to do with you, anyway?”

  Madame Lee shook her head and said, “So much of your mind is in the dark.”

  “I think Madame Lee had a thing for your father,” Weegin said, taking great pleasure in piecing everything together.

  “Never,” I said. “He would never have had anything to do with someone like you.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Sar Cyrillus said. “We do not have time for this.”

  “Is that why Johnny’s a softwire?” Theodore asked.

  “It’s his destiny,” Madame Lee said.

  “I don’t believe in destiny,” I told her.

  “What you believe is as important to me as those lives I destroyed. And if you don’t do exactly as I say, I will add you, your friends, and your sister to that very unimportant list.”

  A hate grew in my belly such as I had never known. There was not a rational thought left inside my head. Any fear that I felt now disappeared. My mind was focused on vengeance and nothing else. I glared at Madame Lee. I would have my revenge.

  She read my mind and simply laughed. “Please, child.”

  Madame Lee left the ugly Neewalker with Weegin. She gave him strict orders to kill Weegin if he attempted to contact anyone. Then she ordered everyone else out of Weegin’s World. A transport, guarded by two more Neewalkers, waited for us in the exact same spot where we had said good night to Charlie.

  Sar Cyrillus forced the remaining Neewalkers to sit in the back of the transport with Max, Theodore, and myself. The vehicle reeked of Neewalkers, a fishy stench mixed with grease and sweat that matured in such close quarters. Theodore held his nose as long as he could, but he eventually gave up.

  “You guys really stink,” Max said, but the Neewalkers did not respond. They simply stared at me. I could only assume the story of what I had done to the red-and-white-faced Neewalker had spread among their ranks. But they did not scare me. There was not a drop of fear in my body anymore. As far as I was concerned, I was dead anyway.

  The trip took a very long time, and Max and Theodore kept dozing off, despite the putrid air. There was too much on my mind for sleep. First of all, where was Ketheria? Whatever Madame Lee wanted me to do, I needed to secure Ketheria’s safety first. I would do whatever she asked until I knew my sister was safe. Then I would get my revenge.

  “Do you think she was telling the truth about your father?” Theodore was awake.

  “I don’t trust anything she says,” I answered.

  “Why would your father want to come back?”

  “He’s not my father,” I said.

  “Well, it might explain your abilities.”

  He did have a point. I had begun to assume that the prolonged spaceflight and my parents’ science background had something to do with my being a softwire. It had never entered my mind that my father might be a Space Jumper. Why isn’t Ketheria a softwire, then? Maybe there were no female Space Jumpers. So many questions bounced around in my head. And what about Ketheria? Who would have known she was a telepath! And why did that Quirin guy come back — and with all those humans?

  My head was spinning. This was too much information for me to take in. I now knew how Theodore felt the day he uplinked too much at social studies class. But I needed to concentrate on the task at hand. I had to get Ketheria back. I focused every cell in my body on that task.

  When the transport finally came to a stop, we were forced to wait with the Neewalkers until the doors were unlocked. What little air circulated within the moving vehicle now evaporated. When Sar Cyrillus finally opened the back of the transport, we jumped out and gasped in the fresh air.

  Max tapped me on the shoulder. I was not prepared for what I saw. I didn’t know where we were on the ring, but Madame Lee was preparing for war right under the nose of the Keepers. And she prepared well. Thousands of Neewalkers were camped in fields below a spaceship that looked like it was cut from a single piece of vulcanized metal. We stared in amazement at the sight of Madame Lee’s army.

  “Look,” Theodore said, pointing toward a large pond.

  “They’re like fish,” Max said as one of the Neewalkers struggled toward the water without his stilts. Once in the water, his short, finned legs gave him more agility and speed than he ever demonstrated on land.

  Sar Cyrillus marched us toward the sleek and sinister spaceship, stopping at a small camp below its belly.

  “This is far enough,” he said.

  Madame Lee, who must have boarded the ship while we waited in the transport, now descended the craft on a lift. She smiled at us with an evil, knowing grin.

  “Impressive, isn’t it?”

  “For a murderer,” Max said.

  “You earthlings love to label things, don’t you?”

  “Remember, she can read your mind,” Theodore whispered to Max.

  “That’s right,” Madame Lee said, and Max gave her a nasty look. “My, such spiteful thoughts for a young lady.”

  “Let’s get this over with,” I said.

  “That’s what I want to hear.”

  “Tell me what you want me to do.” Madame Lee raised her eyebrows. I thought of anything but my plan. I did not want to give Madame Lee any more ammunition than she already had. I could see her trying to read my mind. It was a familiar look that I had seen often on Ketheria’s face. How I didn’t recognize it before, I’ll never know.

  Clear your mind, clear your mind. . . . But I had to think of something. The sweet taste of Ketheria’s favorite treat — toonbas. That’s what I thought about.

  “Fine, have it your way,”
Madame Lee said. “Besides, do you know what those disgusting things are made from?”

  “If I do what you want, I get Ketheria back, right?”

  “Of course. I always keep my promises.”

  Max made a snorting noise.

  “Then what do you want me to do?” I asked.

  Madame Lee stood up and faced the thousands of Neewalkers below. “I will fulfill my destiny. The seed is within me! Now it is time we take what we need. What I need,” she said. “And I need you to enter the central computer and destroy the Keepers’ security controls before they commit you to their servitude. With this done, I will march on Magna.”

  “Forget it,” Max said.

  “Yeah, never,” Theodore added.

  “Fine, let’s get started,” I said.

  “What!” Max and Theodore said together.

  “You said it yourself, Max: Maybe it’s the Keepers who are causing the computer malfunctions. Maybe she’s the victim. Besides, the Keepers want me to live in there forever anyway. I’ll be dead to everyone, so what do I care?”

  “But she’s a murderer, JT. You’ll be helping someone who killed our parents.”

  “I never met my parents, did I?” I said.

  “Because of her!” Max pointed at Madame Lee.

  “I’ve made my choice,” I told her.

  “Very smart boy,” Madame Lee said. “We will do great things together.” Madame Lee ran her hand over my hair. I just stood there as Max and Theodore stared in disbelief.

  “But you’ll destroy Orbis 1,” Max pleaded.

  “I’m not very fond of this place anymore,” I said.

  “JT, she killed our parents.”

  I simply shrugged and turned to Madame Lee. Theodore and Max stared at each other as we walked away with Sar Cyrillus.

  Toonbas, toonbas, toonbas, toonbas, toonbas . . .

  The inside of Madame Lee’s ship was nothing like the Renaissance. I did not see any controls or instruments. A solitary chair suggested that the ship could be piloted by a single passenger, despite the spacecraft’s massive size. Madame Lee led me to something that resembled an O-dat.