The softwire : Virus on Orbis 1 Read online

I looked up. It was true; one to the left and one to the right.

  “Do you think our hero forgot that fact?” she asked. “Yuck, they were disgusting.”

  “Who, the Neewalkers or the Space Jumper?”

  “Both,” she said.

  Ketheria tugged on my sleeve and pointed at the moon to the right. She started walking in that direction. I looked at Max and shrugged. We have to get home. I followed Ketheria. Max glanced up at the moon on the left, shrugged, and fell into step behind us.

  The three of us walked in silence toward a forest of trees and enormous crystal rocks. We kept the moon in front of us, just like the Space Jumper said to. The ring’s horizon reappeared over the top of the forest, curving up and disappearing into the thin clouds. There was no sign of home.

  “I wish I had had more time to talk to the slopcrawler, you know, about the drive,” I said, breaking the silence.

  “What would a computer drive from Earth have to do with Orbis?”

  “My point exactly!”

  “No. Boohral was always complaining about the Keepers. About how he mistrusted them and how he was convinced they were trying to take back control of Orbis.”

  “But they have nothing to gain,” I said. “If anyone is sabotaging the computer to get some sort of control, it can only be the Trading Council.”

  “Why? Their businesses depend on it. That seems kind of dumb, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t know,” I told her. “The way Theylor made me work the computer — it felt like he was using me to figure something out.”

  “But what?”

  I stopped and turned to my friend. “There’s something in the computer, Max. Someone put something in the computer, and the Keepers are trying to find it.”

  Max rolled her eyes and shook her head once more. “Not this again. If there was something in the computer, the computer would know and spit it out. It’s that simple.”

  “I can get in there. How come it doesn’t spit me out?”

  Max shrugged. She didn’t have an answer.

  “I wish you would believe me, Max.”

  “It really doesn’t matter what I think. If the slopcrawler was right and there is an army of Neewalkers somewhere on the ring, it can only mean that they’re getting ready for a war.”

  “Well, I didn’t fly halfway across the galaxy just to get blown up,” I told her. “Don’t you wonder if there isn’t more? Something bigger, something better?”

  “No. I’m thirteen.”

  “If this is it, if our parents were just fooled into working for these aliens, then I’ll help Switzer steal the first starship he can find and we’re out of here.”

  “Don’t tell him that. He’ll hold you to it.”

  I stopped when I reached the edge of the forest. Ketheria was already several steps beyond the tree line before I noticed it.

  “What’s the matter now, JT?” Max asked.

  “I’ve been here before.”

  “Yeah, right.” Max grabbed me by the arm, but I pulled away.

  “In my dreams. I once thought I was chasing Ketheria through this forest, but it wasn’t her. I think it was the thing I found inside the central computer.”

  Ketheria cautiously stepped out of the forest.

  “A dream? Now you’re telling me the thing you think is screwing up the central computer is also in your dreams? C’mon, I’m hungry,” Max said, moving into the forest without us. Ketheria waited for me and we walked in together.

  The forest unfolded precisely as in my dream. I looked up to see if that horrible red bird still circled the treetops. Ketheria followed my gaze as if she knew exactly what I feared. I stopped at a large boulder whose shell was cracked, letting the purple crystal core shine through. The last time I saw this rock, the number ten was carved into the top of it. Ketheria ran her hand over the spot I was staring at.

  Unlike in my dream, however, Ketheria stayed by my side and the winged red creature never arrived.

  “Don’t worry, Ketheria. Max is right: it was just a dream.”

  I heard the sound of rushing water. It grew louder as we walked through the forest.

  “Is there water near Weegin’s World?” Max asked.

  “Not that I know of.”

  Were we going the right way?

  When we cleared the forest, the sound of rushing water became deafening. We stood at the edge of a deep pool that spilled toward a majestic palace cut into the side of a giant waterfall. Smaller rises around the palace created more waterfalls, some of which even passed right through the walls. I could not see where the water was coming from or where it was going. It was as if the water was only used for decoration. Lush plant life was everywhere, and several of the red birds that I once feared now soared over the water looking far less dangerous than before, almost beautiful.

  “That doesn’t look like home to me,” Max said.

  “Who do you think lives here?” I wondered aloud.

  “I have no idea.”

  As I looked closer, I noticed that the palace was more like a small city. I looked down and saw several marbled stones rise in front of us and hover just above a pool of crystal clear water, as if beckoning us forward. Ketheria stepped onto the first one.

  “Wait, Ketheria. This is not the way home,” I said, and another stone appeared. Soon there was an entire path that guided us to the unknown city.

  “I’m following her,” Max said.

  “Fine.”

  With Ketheria in the lead, we stepped carefully across the stones and through the mist rising from the water cascading all around us.

  “Keepers,” Max said, pointing to the two-headed creatures scurrying around above.

  “Is this where they live?” I said, as I stepped off the last of the stones and onto a broad stairway that rose up and into the city.

  “I don’t know, but they’re in an awful hurry.”

  When we reached the city, we strolled through the streets undisturbed as Keepers rushed by us, hardly noticing we were there. Fresh fruit hung from vines, and every stone, every piece of metal, was carved in intricate patterns and symbols. And water was everywhere. It rushed through channels and spilled into pools. In some places, the water rushed upward, as if it was immune to gravity.

  Max attempted to stop a Keeper by reaching for his purple robe, but all he did was stare at her with one head while charging forward, guided by the other.

  “Something’s wrong,” I said. “I can feel it.”

  “They must know the Neewalkers attacked the Science and Research building,” Max said, and Ketheria nodded in agreement. Then Ketheria reached up and plucked a thick, fleshy fruit from a tree.

  “Be careful, Ketheria — you don’t know what that is,” I warned her.

  Max took the fruit from Ketheria and sniffed it.

  “Smells sweet.” She bit into it as Ketheria tried to take it back. “Softer than an apple . . . it’s really good, JT.” Max held it up for me as the juice ran down her chin. I declined and Ketheria snatched it away. “Careful. It’s hard in the middle,” Max added.

  I saw a Keeper pass through a small archway at the end of a cobbled lane.

  “We need to ask one of these guys how to get home,” I said, and I followed him. We turned the corner, and the alien descended a flight of stairs that appeared to go under the building.

  “That’s not the way home, either,” Max said, staring down the darkened flight of stairs.

  “C’mon, someone down here should be able to tell us how to get back.”

  The stairwell was damp, and the fresh, earthy smell of mold was strong. The stone steps led so far down I couldn’t see the end of them. If Theodore were here, he would be counting the number of steps right now. Maybe I should, too, I thought.

  The stairs reached a series of cavernous rooms with rows of odd, identically shaped pillars. This place was nothing like the surface. Small circular craft, each navigated by a single Keeper, hovered across the pillar tops. The only light, a cool
greenish glow that cast creepy shadows on the metal-plated walls, came from these vehicles.

  Max peeked down the rows of pillars, watching the green glow as the vehicles descended deeper into the underground. She rubbed her forehead. “I would love to look inside one of those machines, but I’m not too crazy about this, JT,” she said.

  “Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “I’m sure Theylor is here somewhere.”

  She looked around the enormous cave. “But it’s impossible for a room this size to exist under the building we just entered,” she said.

  “Dimensional displacement,” I replied.

  “What?”

  “Pretend you live in a digi and you’re holding a bucket. . . .” I started to explain Theylor’s lesson but hesitated after seeing the incredulous look on Max’s face. “Forget it. C’mon.”

  The path of pillars opened onto an oval room filled with a soft golden glow. Several of the craft hovered, as if waiting. The air was thick, sweetened by a tangy smell, and the room was deathly quiet. I could even hear myself breathing. I moved off the path and away from the pillars.

  “This way,” I told the girls, and stopped on a balcony high above a crowd of Keepers, who were circling a pool of slick black water. I could see symbols flickering from lights hidden deep in the pool.

  “There’s Drapling,” Max said.

  “Shhhh.” I sensed we would not be welcome. “Don’t even breathe.” I worried someone would find us before we found Theylor.

  Drapling stood at the top of the pool on an ornate riser carved from the same stone that decorated the city. I peered down on the ceremony. Drapling raised his arms above his heads and spoke loudly.

  “Reality is the result of our thoughts!”

  “So say the Descendants of Light,” chanted the other Keepers.

  “The Ancients are the Original Architects!”

  “So say the Descendants of Light.”

  Every time the Keepers responded, strange symbols formed inside the pool of black water: the same symbols Theylor had used when he accessed my O-dat during my stay at the Science and Research building. Each time Drapling spoke, the secret writings swirled away and were replaced by a new set of symbols.

  “Only when we believe things are possible will our reality change!”

  “So say the Descendants of Light.”

  Drapling lowered his hands, and seats rose from the ground around the pool of black water.

  Max whispered, “I think we should get out of here, JT. I don’t see Theylor, and I don’t like that Drapling guy.”

  I held up my index finger. I wanted to see what they were talking about. I wanted to know what those symbols meant.

  “We were incarnated on this ring to labor for the Ancients,” Drapling preached from his stone. “To harvest the life-giving crystal from Brother and Sister moon and, through the great wormhole, spread this quintessence throughout the universe.” Drapling paused and leaned forward. “While we wait, powerless, for a sign from the Ancients, our duty to them has been defiled. Those among us who strip our Brother and Sister for profit have infected the Supreme Intelligence. They wield their power not to spread the message of the Ancients but for their own personal gain. We have begun to serve them more than we serve the Ancients!”

  Drapling stood tall. The other Keepers could not sit still, and their pale blue skin flushed red with anger.

  “Friends, Descendants of Light, now is the time. The enemy will soon attack. It is our responsibility to cleanse Orbis and revive the true intentions of the Ancients!”

  The Keepers let out a screech that rocked the very footing we stood on. Ketheria dropped the large fruit pit that she still clutched in her hand. I watched in horror as the fruit seed rolled over the edge and tumbled toward the Keepers.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Max breathed, but before we could move, the pit splashed into the pool of water. Their screeching halted as the Keepers stared at the ripples on the pond in disbelief. Drapling’s heads shot up toward us, but we didn’t hang around to find out if he had seen us.

  “Find them!” I heard Drapling shout.

  We scurried back into the shadows along the walls and crossed the oval room.

  “Why are they chasing us?” Max asked.

  “I’m not sticking around to find out.”

  I grabbed Ketheria’s hand while Max followed. The room ended with a large maze of walkways over a pitch-black void.

  Ketheria stopped in her tracks. She did not want to cross.

  “We have to, Ketheria,” I urged her. Ketheria shook her head stubbornly.

  “I’m with her on this one,” Max whispered.

  The screeching from the Keepers grew closer. “We can’t go back,” I said, and pulled Max and Ketheria onto the walkway.

  I did not look down, but it was so dark that I don’t know if I would have seen anything, anyway. Just keep moving, I told myself, but the farther I got, the thicker the air became. I found it increasingly hard to breathe. I looked behind me, and I could hear Keepers where we once stood but couldn’t see anything. The Keepers now sounded kilometers away.

  It became harder and harder to lift my legs. Ketheria’s hand felt too heavy for me to hold, and it slipped from my grip. At that moment I wondered if our capture would have been a better outcome.

  “Ketheria,” I breathed, but the word barely made it out of my mouth. I could not lose her here.

  I slowed to a crawl. It felt like a giant gravity cushion from the spaceway was pushing down on my entire body. I tried to call out for Max, but the pressure on my lungs left the words on my lips. Falling down seemed as hard as standing up. After a few more steps, I couldn’t breathe, let alone go back. A small light blinked in front of me, then I blacked out.

  I opened my eyes and the next thing I saw was the lid to my sleeper at Weegin’s World. I pushed the lid back and sat up. Switzer was snoring, as usual, and Dalton was asleep below him. My head was pounding.

  “Where did you go?” Theodore was awake.

  “Where is Ketheria? Is Max back, too?” I whispered to Theodore, getting off my sleeper.

  “I don’t know. They brought you back a while ago.” Theodore rubbed his eyes and I went for the door.

  “Who brought me here?”

  “Security drones. Where are you going?”

  “I want to see if Max and Ketheria are all right.”

  “Max?” he said. “JT, Max is not here.”

  I tapped into the door scan to get my vest.

  “JT,” Theodore said, pointing to his implant port, “just search the security controls to see if Ketheria’s in her sleeper.”

  “You’re right.” I did just that and slipped into the local network from the door scan. I accessed security, and there was Ketheria. I assumed Max made it home, too.

  “Where have you been all this time? Weegin said you were in prison.”

  “Why didn’t you come to see me?” I asked him.

  “Weegin wouldn’t let me.”

  “But Ketheria came,” I said.

  “I guess because you’re her brother. He really didn’t seem to care what she did,” Theodore said. “JT, aren’t you going to tell me what happened?”

  But I didn’t know where to start. Instead I said, “What’s been happening here?”

  Theodore whispered anxiously. “There’s talk of war. Weegin has doubled the work shifts to repair his factory. He says the Keepers are trying to destroy his business. He said you work for the Keepers.”

  “I don’t work for anyone. The Keepers and the Citizens have it all wrong. There’s something in the central computer that’s doing all of this, but they can’t see that.”

  “How do you know?” Theodore asked.

  How did I get home? Who brought me here?

  “JT?”

  I looked at Theodore. “I saw it,” I said. “I saw the virus inside the central computer. It looks like a little girl.” My head hurt. “Let’s go back to sleep,” I said.

  “But
. . .”

  “I’ll tell you in the morning. Everything. I need to sleep,” I said, quickly getting back into my sleeper. I didn’t want to talk and I was deathly tired. Besides, I couldn’t explain it even if I wanted to.

  Things seemed different at Weegin’s World now. Switzer was ostracized for snitching on me. Weegin avoided me at every turn and didn’t say a thing about the Science and Research building or why I was back. But none of that measured up to the moment Max walked through the main door.

  All the children from Boohral’s group had been dispersed among the remaining Guarantors. Max arrived home to find a screen scroll that told her to report to Weegin’s immediately. It seems Boohral did not make proper arrangements for the placement of the children before his death, so they could not be willed to Boohral’s brood. This was one Keepers’ decree that I certainly agreed with. Where she could have ended up was any alien’s guess.

  Weegin, however, now complained that there were three more mouths to feed.

  When Max and the others joined everyone in the common room, they bombarded her with questions.

  “What was your place like?” someone asked.

  “Was it better than here?” said another child.

  Max looked around. “No. Maybe a little bigger.” She noticed the garden and pointed. “Wow! Ours only opened onto the Trading Hall.”

  “You’ve been to a trading chamber?” Theodore asked.

  “Yeah. You don’t have to stay here during your recreation period, you know. Didn’t Weegin tell you?”

  Weegin made busy in the corner as if he had never heard Max.

  “And he’s supposed to credit your account with the proper amount of chits every four cycles. Isn’t that right, Weegin?” Max said, aware that he was avoiding the discussion by tending to his larva.

  “We can leave here? Anytime we want?” Switzer shouted.

  “Weegin?” Max pushed the subject.

  “Yes,” Weegin said sheepishly.

  Almost every child bolted for the door.

  “How do we access our chits?” Dalton asked.

  “Just give them your name and they’ll scan your vest,” Max said. “By the way, Weegin, I’ll be needing a new skin.”