The softwire : Virus on Orbis 1 Read online

  After a moment the little girl peeked out from behind the wall. I ignored her but kept making the glowglobe move in all different directions while the little girl watched. Slowly she moved out from behind the wall and tried to pluck the ball from the air whenever it bounced near her. Soon the little girl was jumping and laughing with every attempt to catch the ball.

  I moved a little closer.

  She almost caught the ball, and giggled with delight. I bounced the ball a little higher, and she lifted herself off the ground to try to reach it. Despite her ability to cause terror, as she chased after the jumping sphere, the little girl seemed as harmless as Ketheria.

  I inched nearer.

  I was close now. The little girl’s skin flickered lightly in the sun. I could see computer code running under her skin like blood through a vein. Her eyes were the color of a computer chip, and I even thought I could see the circuitry. She pushed her brown hair away from her face. It gave off an unusual sheen, almost plasticlike, and it did not react to the wind.

  I caught the ball as the little girl turned. We stood toe to toe.

  “Hi,” I said, and smiled.

  For a moment I thought the little girl might actually respond. Instead, her eyes glowed bright white and I was instantly transported to the same scorching, barren planet that she had sent me to once before. This time, however, I was tied to the ground. I could feel the sizzling surface burning my back. I let out a scream, but no one could hear me. My wrists were chained to sticks in the ground and the giant red birds circled above, patiently waiting for their dinner to cook.

  I woke still screaming, but it hardly disturbed anyone. Switzer grunted and rolled over. I removed the headset and this time I ripped it from the sleeper, destroying it. I would pay whatever Weegin deducted from my pittance for the damage.

  I lay back down, but something jabbed into my ribs. It was a small screen scroll. I pushed the lid back and opened the tiny message.

  Meet me at the Earth News Café,

  recreation spoke, next cycle.

  Tell no one.

  Theylor

  Tell no one? What did this mean? Why didn’t Theylor come to me straightaway? Why was he being so secretive? I put my head on the pillow, but any sleep was now impossible.

  “Why do you think the little girl in your dreams has something to do with the computer malfunctions?” Max asked while I helped Ketheria onto the spaceway.

  “I don’t think she has something to do with it; I think she is doing it. All of it,” I said.

  “How does the computer not recognize her, then?”

  “Maybe the Trading Council put her in there and she’s under their control,” I suggested.

  “Maybe the Keepers put her in there,” Max replied.

  “I don’t know what to think anymore, but I do know I always see her doing a lot of damage,” I said.

  “But you never see her doing the damage at hand. Maybe it is just a dream,” she said.

  “Then how do you explain my seeing her when I enter the computer?”

  Max looked out the window at the crystal moons. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  I used my social studies class to get as much information as I could before meeting with Theylor. By pushing into the central computer, I was able to bypass the alarm Keetle used to keep us from studying anything she did not want us to learn. I made Max and Theodore stand guard in case Keetle snuck up on me.

  Once inside, I learned that the Neewalkers were a dangerous breed but not very loyal. During their history of criminal employment, they had switched alliances several times, always to the highest bidder. Whoever had hired the Neewalkers was very wealthy. Money was the only way to ensure their loyalty.

  “Only the Trading Council or its Guarantors could afford that,” I said.

  “Or Keepers,” Max said.

  “I don’t think so. Look at this.”

  I showed her a digi of Sar Cyrillus. Standing behind him was the Guarantor Torlee.

  “Torlee?”

  “It says Torlee used to be a Trading Council member.”

  “He looks awfully friendly with that Neewalker,” I said.

  “What does it mean?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s the only connection I can find.”

  I also learned that Neewalkers were permitted on the Rings of Orbis. No one was barred from visiting Orbis, since it did not have planetary status. No one, that is, except Space Jumpers, and they seemed to have no problem at all moving around Orbis 1. The Keepers only controlled who lived on Orbis and who landed on the crystal moons. That’s why the Trading Council had to deal with the Keepers when it came to harvesting and profiting from the crystals.

  “None of this helps us very much,” Theodore said.

  “I know to stay away from these guys,” Max said as Keetle shut down the O-dats to end the session.

  “C’mon. I think we should tell Boohral’s kid what we know,” I said.

  “Why?” Max grabbed Ketheria and followed.

  “If it was me, I’d want to know.”

  “I’m going back,” Theodore said. “Weegin will freak if I’m not there. You, too, Max.”

  “We won’t be long,” she said. “Make an excuse for us.”

  We jumped a chute to the Citizen level, only to be greeted by sneers from the other kids. Max spotted the big Trefaldoor.

  “Graalon,” Max called out, but Graalon showed no intention of talking to a group of knudniks, especially in front of everyone. “Graalon, wait.”

  “You shouldn’t be up here. This is for Citizens, not knudniks,” Graalon said with a snarl. He looked just like his father, only smaller — but not much smaller.

  “We have information about your father,” I blurted out.

  Graalon looked around and then said, “Follow me.”

  The huge alien led us to a room off the top floor of the social studies cylinder. Drones flew back and forth, replenishing food and drink while Citizens lay around on loungers much nicer than the ones in Weegin’s World.

  “What are you doing bringing knudniks in here, Graalon?” demanded one alien, a slender creature with soft emerald skin. Its movements reminded me of a plant swaying gracefully in the wind, but its voice was full of thorns.

  “This one belonged to my father. The other is the human Softwire. Leave us be, Dop,” Graalon growled.

  The sight of the large yellow alien leaning against the frail greenish one made me smirk, something I shouldn’t have done. Dop moved swiftly toward me, grabbed me by the throat, and lifted me off my feet.

  “Do you find me funny, knudnik?” Dop said through clenched teeth.

  “Put him down!” Max yelled. “Graalon, stop him!” But Graalon just moved toward a tray of toonbas while I dangled in Dop’s grip.

  “You’re not welcome on Orbis. You’ll never be welcome on Orbis.” Dop’s breath smelled like flowers, only rotting ones. I stared at the alien, not willing to show any fear. A toonba flew across the room and hit Dop in the head. Ketheria was winding up to launch another when Graalon grunted at Dop.

  “Remember what I said,” Dop whispered as he dropped me.

  I sat on the floor, rubbing my neck as the alien left, then got up and joined Graalon, Max, and Ketheria.

  “Why are the Citizens so against us being here? No one is really from here,” I said.

  Graalon plopped his large fleshy body on a lounger. A small round metal disc like his father’s hovered over his head, only fewer wires were attached. Graalon shared a bowl of toonbas with Ketheria. Graalon seemed to take a liking to Ketheria, who shared his appreciation for the Trefaldoorian treat.

  “The universe is very old, Softwire,” he said. “Humans have existed for only a brief moment on the timeline of life. Most of the Citizens on the Rings of Orbis have no home planet anymore. It has been swallowed by a dying sun, has been destroyed by warfare, or has succumbed to elements out of their control. Orbis is their sanctuary, a chance for a new future for their kind. They do not
want it overtaken by unworthy species, ones that would abandon a perfectly good planet instead of fixing it or that would trade their time for a place on the rings. Time is too precious to trade away. We find humans weak and useless. They have no purpose here. I doubt you could understand the deep feelings of the Citizens.”

  I thought about Earth, a planet I would never know, and about my parents, who gave their lives trying to get here.

  “No, Graalon, you’re wrong. I understand it completely.”

  “Then you’ll appreciate their resentment,” he replied.

  “I am willing to try.”

  “Good. Now what is this information you have about my father?”

  Max and I told Graalon that we had met his father’s slopcrawler, and we described the attack by the Neewalkers.

  “Neewalkers! So my father was right.” Graalon tapped on an O-dat. “Where is this slopcrawler now? We need him to testify in front of the council.” Graalon labored to his feet. “Take me to him.”

  “We can’t,” I said.

  “We don’t know where he is,” Max added, trying to soften the truth.

  “He could be dead. He was left with the Neewalkers.” I was not as sensitive.

  Max gave me a wide-eyed stare.

  “So what are we going to do?” I said.

  “We? This is none of your concern, knudnik,” Graalon said.

  Now I was on my feet. “It is my concern. We were nearly killed, let alone the fact that a war would not make Orbis a nice place for any species.”

  Graalon sat back at his O-dat. “The Keepers are trying to remove the Trading Council from power. They want to control the profits from the crystal moons. They are sabotaging the computer to squeeze the Trading Council out.”

  “The Keepers believe the Trading Council is responsible for the central computer malfunctioning,” I informed him.

  “Why would we destroy our own businesses? They are our only way of life.”

  “Why would the Keepers risk destroying something they were born to protect?” I shot back.

  “Religion.”

  “What do you mean?” I said.

  “The Keepers live more by a religion than a philosophy, especially the old ones. They feel some sort of connection to the Ancients and to a prophecy that their race failed to live up to a long time ago. But still they want to bring back the benevolence of the Ancients and make the crystal-moon harvests free to everyone again.”

  “We overheard Drapling say that in the city of Keepers,” Max said.

  “It’s ridiculous. Just because the Ancients were brainless doesn’t mean we have to be. That wealth is my birthright now.” Graalon mumbled the last words. “Wait, you were inside Magna?”

  “Yeah. If Magna is where the Keepers live.”

  “I don’t believe you — how did you get there?”

  “A Space Jumper left us near there,” I said.

  “Now you really are lying to me. The council banned Space Jumpers almost a millennium ago. A Trefaldoor can smell a lie. You would have to summon the Space Jumper. Only Keepers and their own kind can summon a Space Jumper,” Graalon said as a look of contempt washed across his puny face.

  We had already stayed too long. Theodore would not be able to make excuses for us for much longer. “We have to go,” I told Max.

  “Graalon, a lot of strange things are happening on Orbis 1,” she said. “We’re telling the truth. Everything we’ve told you is the truth.”

  “We only want to protect Orbis 1. It’s our home, too, whether you like it or not,” I said.

  “I wish some of the Citizens felt the way you do, earthling.”

  When we arrived at Weegin’s World, the hover belts were turned off and the giant crane robots hung motionless from the ceiling. I headed straight for my room, eager to get to the Earth News Café.

  “Where are you off to?” Weegin barked when he saw me bolt for the door.

  “The hover belts are down,” I replied, pointing to the silent machines.

  “Cleaning time.”

  “What?” Switzer didn’t like the sound of that, either.

  Weegin made us clean every nut and every single bolt of the hover belts. The grease, combined with the evil-smelling radiation gel, added up to a thoroughly nasty job.

  “Don’t rush out of here after work, JT; we want to go, too,” Max said, and Ketheria nodded in agreement.

  “I have to go by myself — sorry,” I said.

  “What do you mean?” Max was offended.

  “I just . . . I just have to go alone. Okay? Just this time.”

  “Can I come?” Theodore said, eavesdropping on our conversation.

  “No!” I snapped.

  “Sorry for asking.”

  “No, I’m sorry. I . . . this, um — I need to . . .”

  “What are you up to now, Softwire? Get back to work. Or do you want to spend the next spoke here, too?” Weegin said, which only made me very nervous. I didn’t want anything to go wrong.

  “Nothing,” I replied, and turned to Theodore. “Next time, okay? I promise.”

  “Fine,” Max said.

  I just shrugged and went back to cleaning the grime off the belts — anything to pass the time.

  When the spoke was finally finished, I quickly cleaned up and headed for the door while Max and Theodore ignored me. Ketheria hurried next to me.

  “No. Stay with Max, Ketheria.”

  She looked at me for a moment, then headed for the door as though I had said nothing.

  “Ketheria, no.”

  “Ketheria! Over here. C’mon, let him do whatever he wants,” Max called.

  While I sat on the spaceway feeling a little guilty for the way I had treated my friends, I asked myself a very hard question: What are you trying to do? One moment I felt excited at the thought of my life on Orbis and my new friends. But the very next moment my body filled with anxiety about the Citizens’ accusations. I really just wanted it all to go away. I’d accepted the fact that I was a slave on Orbis and that nothing could change that. All I wanted was to serve out my time on Orbis and maybe create a place for my sister and me. Could Theylor help me? All I could do was ask.

  I made my way through the Trading Hall and entered the Earth News Café. Theylor was waiting for me in the same booth where I had met Charlie and his pals, although this time there was no sign of my Earth friends. Theylor nodded his right head when he saw me.

  “I am glad to see you are all right,” said Theylor, rising as I slid into the booth. “Would you like something to eat?”

  “No, thanks, I’m fine.”

  “Are you really?”

  “Everything lately has been pretty crazy, to be honest. I mean, I’m seeing Space Jumpers and they’re supposed to be banished. The central computer’s going crazy. My dreams are more like nightmares. Yeah, maybe things aren’t all right.”

  “Were any of you hurt at the Center for Science and Research?”

  “No, but I still don’t know how —”

  “How you escaped the dark-matter containment room?”

  “The what?”

  “The Ancients used dark matter to stabilize the wormhole. An amplifier in the room creates the extraordinary mass Orbis needs to keep the wormhole open. It also creates the energy needed to maintain each ring’s photonic gravity reactor. You’re lucky you didn’t die in there.”

  “You got us out?”

  Theylor nodded. “That will be our secret,” he said.

  “This is all crazy for me, Theylor.”

  “There is a very serious threat to the existence of Orbis right now, Johnny,” he said, lowering his voice.

  “Why are you telling me this? I’m just a piece of property, right?”

  “I am aware of your status, but your existence is still very important.”

  “Why?”

  “The Keepers have always been protected by the Space Jumpers. They fought the War of Ten Thousand Rotations with us and created a stable environment for everyone on
Orbis.”

  “What went wrong?”

  “The Keepers are not very good at business. If some Keepers had it their way, they would give the crystals away for free. For them, to give is the ultimate achievement. The problem, however, is that the financial transactions of Orbis need better guidance in order to maintain everything you see around you.”

  “And that’s where the Trading Council comes in.”

  “Precisely,” he said. “The Citizens are brilliant at managing the resources of the crystal moons. When peace was made after the War of Ten Thousand Rotations and the Keepers allowed the Citizens to inhabit the rings, the Trading Council was formed to oversee all business functions. But the Space Jumpers had fought for our side and their presence offended the Citizens. Some had altercations with Jumpers in different galaxies. Some Citizens, I’m afraid, are not very honest.”

  “So they made you get rid of the Space Jumpers?”

  “When the Trading Council proved their worth and created the unimaginable wealth that we now have, they became very powerful. Orbis became dependent on the constant guidance of the Trading Council. We were forced to listen to them.”

  “So you banished the Space Jumpers from Orbis — you turned your backs on the people who protected you for thousands and thousands of years.”

  Theylor bowed both heads in shame. “I am afraid that is correct, but we still remain in constant contact with them.”

  “That’s obvious. But what does all of this have to do with me?”

  “All Space Jumpers are softwires. They could protect the central computer from sabotage or outside attack, but they could also access it at will. This was also one of the reasons they made the Citizens so nervous. They didn’t want anyone poking around inside their computer like that.”

  “But that’s what you think is happening now?”

  “Yes. We believe someone in the Trading Council is manipulating the central computer, but we have no way of proving this. We cannot use a Space Jumper to protect the computer without breaking our agreement with the Council.”

  “Didn’t you break the Council’s agreement by working with the Space Jumpers at all?”