CHOSEN: A Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Dystopian Novel (16 page)

“I
think it just might too. I’ll keep one and give you one.”

Alexis
started putting the data on two separate microchips. Marco finished the
disconnection only to start reconnecting again so they could get back on with
Stephen and Stella.
She does have big pretty hair just like Alexis said,
Marco
thought.

Stephen
disconnected and reconnected too, just in case the issue was on his end. He
paced back and forth in front of the display and Stella lay on the bed. She was
tired after her early morning and the end of camp party they’d had the night
before. She needed to rest but from what she could tell, that wasn’t going to
happen. Her mind had too many thoughts running around and she was picking up on
some strange things.

“Stephen,
I don’t think that was Marco causing the interference. Someone was there. Like
a ghost in the machine. Someone or something was there with you and Marco in
that chat room. If we hear it again, we should just ask who it is,” she
muttered in a voice that sounded tired.

The
screen came back up and then it showed one other user in the room. Marco’s face
popped back up and then immediately began to break up into pixels.

“Marco
you are coming through broken up. What do you think’s going on?” Stella asked.

“Not
sure. You’re doing the same thing. There is definitely interference. Let’s
hurry up. Can you somehow get the data to me, Stephen, in a safe way?” Marco
asked quickly.

“Do
you have a system with a secure virtual pass connection that goes through the
interspace?” Stephen asked.

“Of
course I do. Do you?” Marco asked back sounding insulted by Stephen’s question.

“Yes.
I am going to copy it into a virtual pass through file. It takes a while, but
once it reconnects on your end, you’ll have to use a password to pull all the
files back together. I’ll start the copying and I’ll send you the password
encrypted. We can’t use this room but,” Stephen was cut off by a sharp static
sound and his image once again was broken up.

“I’ll
be back in touch in five, the other way. Get outta this room.” Stephen shut off
the connection abruptly.

“Let’s
go say good night to mom and dad now, so they don’t try to say good night
later, Stephen. Come on. Maybe it’ll give your system time to work any bugs
out.” Stella grabbed Stephen’s arm and drug him out of the room. Their parents
would be coming for them soon and she didn’t want to be surprised.

***

More than four
thousand miles away in Australia, Canson Pritchard had lost the connection,
again. He hadn’t been able to get in without interrupting the class chat
session. He was certain Marco had done something to the chat room that blocked
other users from coming in.

Marco
was too good and now Canson had missed his chance, a unique chance that could
have helped the mission leap forward. He wasn’t sure he’d end up with a chance
like that again. He took comfort in knowing the groundwork was being laid and
the pieces were falling into place just like the Earth Council had planned. He
knew another way would open up.

Antarctic Research Center

Stella sat in
anticipation on the bed behind Stephen as he sent a message to Marco that he
was ready to talk again. They didn’t have any other way to talk besides the
classroom chat site and he hoped what they’d done would make it secure this
time.

The
four had all agreed that the second they heard or felt anything strange, they’d
disconnect. Stephen was already nervous, checking and double-checking the
connection, the site, and what he was hearing in the background.

He
didn’t want to break the law by sharing this information or have his parents
get in trouble, but he had to know what was going on and what the secure files
in the Noah folder were. The only person he knew who could do it was Marco.

Marco
sat down in front of his system and camera. He could see Stephen in front and
Stella behind him.

“Hey
Stephen, Stella. So I got the file and the encrypted one. I take it you want me
to try and open them?” Marco asked as he made copies of both on his side.

Stephen
looked around as if someone might be there unexpectedly. “Yes. I can’t get into
them. I thought maybe you could. I need to get access to everything on there. I
am pretty sure something is being hidden from us that is important,” Stephen
answered in a loud whisper.

“I
can try,” Marco said looking at the small microdot in his hand.

“I
think if we can find out what’s on there, we can figure out how everything
connects and why these people are acting like they are,” Stephen said before
stopping at the first sound that hinted there might be interference.

“Talk
later,” he said abruptly and disconnected. “Who do you think it is?” Stephen
asked Stella. 

“Or
it could be a what,” Stella suggested. She thought it was strange that the
interference happened again.

“Turn
off your camera completely and disconnect from everything. I don’t want someone
tracking or hacking us,” she added.

“Good
idea. I still need to understand who it is. Can you send Marco a message for me
from your system?” Stephen asked Stella optimistically.

“Yeah,
but someone may be tracking that too,” Stella answered.

“I’ll
set it up for you so that it’s a one sided message with a mid-way source
scrambler. Nothing can come in that way, the source will be hidden, and only
you can send out. Once the message is out, I’ll switch it back,” Stephen
assured her.  

Stephen
and Stella scooted out his door, checking the hallway for their parents and
anyone else before scurrying into Stella’s room, closing the door and locking
it immediately behind them. Stella resumed her position, on the bed, while
Stephen took the chair and got back to work.

“You
can just send the message yourself. You know what you need to say, I don’t,”
Stella said while looking at the back of Stephen’s head. 

“No.
I’ll tell you what we need to say to him. I need you to write it out in your
words. You’ll say it different than I would,” Stephen said.

A
few minutes later Stephen stood up and backed away from Stella’s desk.

“It’s
ready for you,” he said. “Okay. So we need to give this message but make it
sound normal. Are you ready?” Stephen asked.

“I
guess so,” Stella said confused. “What is it you want to say?”

“I’m
trying to say that we want to talk soon. That we want to hear what he might
have found out. That you are sending this message with a scrambled source. That
he can send one back that way. That the thing we can’t talk about is
earthquakes and volcanoes about to happen,” Stephen said, hopeful Stella could
make it sound like it needed to.

Stella
sat in front of his system for and tried to make sense of what he’d just said.
They were twins, but wired completely different.  

“Okay.
Here’s what I’m sending. ‘Hey, all scramble brained over here. Sorry, I had to
cut out but would love to talk again soon even if I can’t talk about what’s got
me all cracked up and ready to explode. Ever felt scrambled? I’m sure you
have.’ How’s that?” Stella turned and asked Stephen.

“I
suppose it will be sufficient. It gets the message across that we need him to receive.”

“Can
I go ahead and send him the message now?” Stella asked back. She was proud
she’d made sense of his message which sounded a little creepy.

“Yeah,
go for it,” Stephen said to Stella nervously. Stella sent the message, stood
up, and sat back down next to Stephen on her unmade bed. 

“Are
you ready to go back home?” Stephen asked Stella as they waited. 

“Definitely.
I am ready for a normal Summer - one that doesn’t require a parka. I’m ready to
be off this continent and see some kids our age. I’m ready for our birthday
party and getting our new status as para-adults, too,” Stella said almost
daydreaming. She’d been ready to go home since before she’d left for camp.

“You
know we don’t get anything as para-adults. The only thing new is that we can
get in more trouble for doing things. Things like what we are doing now,”
Stephen said correcting Stella.

“That’s
not true Stephen. You’re being pessimistic. We get new freedoms, a later
curfew, aggregated voting rights in local elections, we can get our first
license, and more. Plus, we get an upgrade on our watches which raises the
programs we can access to the para-adult programs. Even if we do something
wrong or get in trouble we don’t get in as much trouble,” Stella corrected him.

“I
think you are being overly optimistic,” Stephen argued back.

“Oh,
I forgot to tell you about what happened at camp. Alexis, some other kids, and
I saw something really strange. We went into the teacher’s cafeteria, I think,
behind Dr. Lima and these three people. They were strange and scary but in a
cool mysterious way,” Stella beamed.

Stephen
looked at her appalled, “You snuck into a building on the university campus?
What if you’d been caught?”

Stella
cocked her head to the side and ignored his question. “We snuck in because we
needed to. Once we got inside, we heard the strangest conversation between Ms.
Joykill, also known as Dr. Lima, and these people. We had to run out of there
because Ms. Joykill must have heard us. Oh my god, it was so exciting. Makes me
want to go exploring,” Stella said with a broad smile.

“You
shouldn’t have been snooping around and going into rooms you weren’t supposed
to be in Stella,” Stephen admonished her.

“Like
I said, I had to. Have you ever thought about what else was here in the ARC?
This place is so much bigger than either of us ever knew and then with all of
the off limit areas and locked doors, aren’t you curious?” Stella asked
Stephen.

“Of
course I’m curious, but I’m not going to go in locked rooms or areas that say
off limits. That would be bad citizenry,” Stephen said with a look of surprise
that Stella would suggest it.

“Don’t
act all high and mighty Stephen. Just because it’s not a physical door you are
walking through, what do you think you are doing with all this trying to break
into files and get access to data that has restricted access? Same thing,”
Stella retorted.

“I
disagree - it’s not the same thing. I think we have a message back. Hold on.”
Stephen was happy for a change of subject.

It
bothered him that what Stella said was possibly true. He was behaving like a
criminal and putting himself in the position of risking the loss of his full
citizenship status because of being overly curious. It didn’t make him feel
much better that he was doing it because he had to, not just for fun. 

Stephen
paused. “What if we get in trouble? What if someone finds out?” he asked
Stella.

“Well
then, do it soon, before you are sixteen,” Stella smiled. “We can’t stop now. We
may be breaking the law, but it doesn’t mean we are doing something wrong.”
Stella always had a way of making him feel…confused.

“Marco
just sent us something. He says, ‘We’ll talk soon. Feeling scrambled too and a
little overwhelmed. So much to think about and I just need a little time to
sort things out. You’ll be the first to hear from me when I’m ready. Stay warm
.
’

Stephen
looked confused. “Oh, I get it. Okay,” Stephen nodded.

“Yeah,
I got it too,” Stella smiled. “So how do we actually get the files once he gets
them open?” Stella asked Stephen. “How do we receive anything safely?” 

“We
have to use the same process as before. If Marco can open them maybe it’ll be
safer to wait until we are home for him to send them. We have access to more
systems and networks there so it wouldn’t be as traceable.”

“Don’t
you think if Marco can manage to open up these blocked files, he can manage to
send something without it being traced? My worry is us opening it up or having
it show up on our side,” Stella said.

“Yes,
you are right but there is still much more risk here,” Stephen nodded.

“So
you think we should wait until we are home to have him send it?” Stella asked
confused.

“Right.
Tell him that Stella,” Stephen said to his sister who just stared at him.

“Stephen,
if we don’t get it until we are home how can we use it to figure out the ARC?”
Stella asked Stephen.

“We
will just have to wait until we’re back or study the files from home,” Stephen
answered.

“Between
you, Marco, and Alexis we can figure this out. We’re gonna have to risk it.
Everyone is going to be so busy the next few days they won’t notice anything. You
know how to clean up the network. So as soon as you get it on something safe,
just get rid of any trace of it. You can do that right?” Stella smiled a sneaky
smile and then her eyes got wide as something dawned on her.

“Stephen,
what if someone or something is trying to tell you something in that chat room
but can’t get in?” Stella asked, as the idea dawned on her.

Stephen
looked at her. She was making no sense.

“I
mean, Marco put that block on the class chat room so no one else could get in
besides the two of you, right?” she asked.

“Yes,”
Stephen said with a pause.

“What
if the staticky sound is someone or something trying to get in, but being
blocked? Aren’t you curious about what it is?” She smiled mischievously at
Stephen.

Stephen
lied, “Not that curious, but I get what you mean. We don’t have much time but I
could go back in and see if anyone is there.”