Sanctify
Chapter 14 - New Friends

Michel opened his eyes, hearing the door to his room be unlocked. He sat up to see Rayner open the door and step back. When no one entered, Michel slipped off the bed and walked out. “What was that, earlier?” Michel asked, leading the way to the electronics room.

Rayner remained silent until they reached the dining room. There, he replied, “If you know what’s good for you, just help him without asking questions. I don’t want to hurt you, Michel,” he added, rather wistfully.

Michel waved his hand and continued into the busy room. He noticed a few people he’d never seen before working at stations, running countless programs. Uncle came down from his overseeing perch and smiled, seeing Michel. It wasn’t a real smile, but he understood just how volatile things would be unless he cooperated, so he pulled one on, as well.

“Young Rayner tells me of your technical skills. Would you like to show me what you can do?” Uncle asked, squeezing Michel’s shoulder a bit harder than necessary.

Michel shrugged, feigning intelligent arrogance, and nodded, “Tell me what you want and I’ll show you what I can do.” Confidence, even in stupidity, was one of Michel’s strong suits. He knew he had to get into Uncle’s good graces, somewhat.

And Uncle did just that. He moved Michel to an empty workstation, complete with a comfortable chair and four monitors all mounted on the walls. “Show me your best firewall and virus. I’d like to assess it, myself.”

Michel took a seat and smirked. For a firewall, he designed something similar to that of the CIA’s and then hijacked a current virus roaming the net, adding his own piggybacked poison to it. He checked the screens, replaceing it easy to navigate around the system, meanwhile noticing the complete lack of privacy. From the overseer’s perch Uncle liked to sit in, he could see and monitor everyone’s work, which Michel didn’t like too much.

Uncle smiled, watching Michel finish up his virus and then sent it along. When Michel protested, Uncle replied, “I want to see it in action, not just on the desktop. It’s how I evaluate your abilities,” he added, and walked to another station, noticing an increase of red exclamation marks.

Michel looked around and wandered over to where Diane sat, still immobilized. He leaned closer and sighed. The moment his breath touched the capsule, Diane opened her eyes. She looked at him with a narrowed gaze before she closed her eyes. Michel noticed she looked different. For one thing, she had something on her mouth that kept her from talking. And another new attribute were the cords that ran in her body. She seemed to be hooked on to the web like a machine could be plugged in.

Seeing her no longer take interest in him, he walked over to the workstation he had been at and noticed a small blinking box. He clicked on it to see a message from “Diem”. The handle was rare and often followed by a slew of numbers, but this seemed like the real thing. And if it was the real hacker extraordinaire from the cyber history, he knew ignoring it would be stupidity on his part. So, he looked around and then opened it.

’Are you a hacker?’ Diem asked, not even settling for the usual greetings.

Michel typed in return, ’Not too much. I get by alright.’

There was a moment where Michel noticed a processing signal, before Diem replied, ’How did you learn the buzz virus?’

Michel smiled, impressed with the knowledge Diem had. He smiled and replied, ’While learning the flame, I happened upon it. Been using it ever since. You ever take a crack at it?’ he asked, almost curious about her response.

When it came, Michel was floored. ’My buddy made the system that beat flame, and I used buzz to give them support. Interesting that a kid like you would know of these things,’ was the response.

Michel smiled and then let it drop. He leaned forward and typed quickly, ’Where are you?’

Again, Diem’s response surprised him. ’As far as being imprisoned goes, I’m nearby. How about you?’ she asked, not taking a moment to respond.

In all of this, Michel had forgotten where he was. So when Uncle cleared his throat from behind, Michel gave a start. “I see she has taken a liking to you,” was all he said as he turned and walked to the capsule.

Michel turned to the blinking box and then turned to the capsule Uncle poured his attention over. Michel felt his throat dry as he returned his attention to the blinking box and, his hands felt as heavy as lead as he asked, ’Are you in that capsule?’ He wanted the response to be any form of ‘no’. He prayed the legend he spoke to through the messaging system was away from this place, where Sanctus had his hold.

And then she broke his heart. ’Who did you think it was in the capsule? Don’t you even know who you’re working for here?’ she asked. And then came the explanation, ’They’ve been keeping me pretty locked up tight. All of the networks are interconnected. Just as much as you want to get out, you won’t be able to.’ And then she disconnected.

Michel looked over to see Uncle typing into the console directly connected to the capsule. He felt a pang of guilt and sadness but nothing more. It’s not like he knew Diem. But, for some reason, he wanted to. Even if she was no longer the legend he remembered her to be, he still admired her work. He sighed and turned to his computer screen. There was a document on the desktop, in the corner. It didn’t look like a document and was, easily, mistaken as part of the wallpaper, but he found it changed with the design, curiously enough.

He opened it and shut it quickly. It was plain and simple. So, he turned to Uncle and asked, “Is there anything you need me to do? Anything is better than being locked in that room.”

Uncle smiled and nodded, “Such eagerness. I suppose we should put your abilities to good use. Yeah, make me something to tear down firewalls. A program with a simple activation algorithm.”

Michel nodded and turned to the computer. The words on the document were burned in his mind and he worked for the purposes of those words. He smiled, almost like a kid, with the mischief of a kid.

Noriko looked around and then closed her eyes, her hands on the keyboard in front of her. She heard the soft whirring sounds of oxygen being pumped into the room and let it relax her body. She had heard the details of the on-goings and asked to be alone for just a moment. She knew the signs of Diem better than anyone else. With her limited time alone, she had to make sure she knew both sides of the stories. Not that she would distrust anything the three people in the facility said, but the trust between old friends was, simply put, a bit stronger, despite the passing of time.

Logging into the systems was simple enough for Noriko, almost like child’s play. It was when she reached the locked files she had to think back on the information she had managed to secure before her sleep. And when she reached the gate of the Haven, she stopped. She had worked hard to keep it a secret for so long. She had ensured her gatekeepers as the only ones with the access, and yet, she was about to break into her old life.

Noriko sighed and started putting in her codes, marking and scanning as she went. About three walls in, she hit the first Guardian. She navigated around the usual security measures into the members’ zone. There, she surfed and scanned to replace only two or three other hackers. Their information, also, severely lacked detailed information. So Noriko found her sky-hatch and found it empty. She shook her head, re-routing through another door, only to replace it, also, empty.

For the first time since hearing the strange tale Hayden and Jenna told her of the current status of the cyber world, Noriko found herself believing them. She didn’t want to, but her usual informants were missing. So she packed up her things and headed to the room she knew they were waiting for her.

Upon entering, she found Hayden and Jenna in a quiet conversation as Dr. E compared notes. “Hayden,” Dr. E had been saying, “if what you’re saying is correct, then the Towers is the only place we can go to access the network.”

Noriko frowned, remembering the strange signal based off of the cyber attacks and the buzz virus that had been contaminated in the signals. “Is that where the signal is getting messed up? Do they have a surge protector or signal jammer to mess with outgoing signals?” she asked, sincerely contemplating what affects it had on what she had been reading.

Hayden nodded, “The Towers is the most secure living area on the West Coast. They pride themselves in being inaccessible with complete privacy and their own network to run on.” He smiled, adding, “We had suspected them to be running the Haven, but it’s impossible with such a small network space.”

Noriko nodded, “True, no, the Haven would never survive being so confined. But, the encryption on the messages, after being peeled away are still messy and not so coherent. Is there any way we can get into the building? If that’s the case, then I can figure out what’s going on.”

At this, Jenna smiled and smacked Hayden’s back, “Guess we’re paying your Origin’s family space a visit.” Jenna wanted to seem friendly and open. At least for her Origin.

Hayden shuddered, “It’s so strange being there. So many memories and yet, so foreign.”

Dr. E smiled and stood, “Well, you kids have fun. Remember to visit,” she added and headed for the door.

At this, Noriko frowned, “You’re not coming?”

Dr. E shook her head, “My place is here. When you’re done with this, come back and we can discuss your future and options. You are, as I’ve explained, ten years early. But because of what’s going on, I’ll overlook it as long as you get your butt back here once all has been settled.” She tossed Noriko a small bag and added, “That’s yours. Dad packed it for you. I’ll be waiting,” she added and walked out the door. Noriko wondered if it was because she had a lot to do or because she wanted to hide the tears in her eyes.