Coded the connection sag.., p.30
CODED (The Connection Saga Book 1), page 30
“So it only appeared because I was dying…”
“Yes, and no. At this moment, it is that way. However, what was needed was a major shift in our connection on both ends. Perhaps it was the catalytic effect of the virus in my system in combination with your near-death experience.”
I knew Amity was important to me, but I never knew how it affected the nation. I wish my parents were alive to make this all sensible.
“Furthermore, the central point of the node system was registered through the unlocked data. Your parents named it the Enlightenment Tower, where they monitor and connect every person’s node—a connection they wanted to break.”
I don’t know what to think or feel after listening to Amity. My head feels heavy, as if it has received massive bytes of data. I thought what we found at the estate was everything my parents knew. I was wrong. They were a wealth of information, it seems, for intel on the Enlightenment. Connection to people throughout the nation, and the main place where all nodes are. Vengeance is all I ever wanted, but my path seems to connect with the dream my parents and Claire wanted.
The dream of freedom.
As I try to process, a fog creeps through the pod, and as I breathe it in, my muscles relax, making me sleepy. My mind quickly fades from thoughts of my mother, Amity, and the pain.
“You’ll be okay, Ms. Young,” Amity says.
My eyes close, and I drift away into my subconscious.
54
My eyes slowly open to find Eliza at my side. A gold holodevice tightly wraps her shoulder.
The lights hovering above let me know I’m on the recovery thread, the same place I was a week ago when I had a panic attack. My eyes trail back to Eliza, and bright blue eyes twinkle in the white light, making me smile.
“I thought you—”
“I’m fine,” she cuts me off. “I was more worried about you. You’ve been out for three days.”
Three days… It barely feels like a few hours. How could it have been days?
“Zoe induced a coma to repair the damage you received Ms. Young,” Amity says reading my mind.
Through my mixed emotions about lost time, I smile at Amity’s voice.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’ve seen better days.”
“Apologies for the system malfunction. The virus… There was nothing that could be done.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Also, apologies for the amount of information I relayed to you during your duress.”
My mind is foggy from the moments before this. I guess three days of unconsciousness are to blame.
Claire’s blood-stained clothes haunt my thoughts, and my heart aches for her. I can’t help but think it’s my fault for hesitating again. My breathing shudders at the want to cry. I should have killed Zane before he had the chance to kill her.
I slowly sit up, and, like a meeting in the briefing room, the silks and the web stand at my bedside, battered and beaten.
Raelyn stands at the foot of the bed, the same way Claire did after my panic attack. Tears stain her face, yet she holds her head high. Everyone looks like they’ve been through hell and back, except for Zoe, who fiddles with some liquids on a side table.
“Welcome back,” Raelyn says.
“Thanks.” My voice cracks.
I want to mention Claire and what happened. The want to apologize for allowing her mother to die eats away at me, releasing the tears I’ve been holding.
Raelyn’s hand lands on my feet as her eyes confirm what I can’t bring myself to say. Our stares linger and end with soft smiles for each other.
“So… Three days, huh,” I say. “What did I miss?”
“For starters,” Dahlia says from beside Raelyn, “we have both Ezra and Trace’s clone in a chamber. The clone hasn’t spoken a word but is awake. Ezra, however, has yet to recover from the wounds he sustained. We’re still not sure how or when he got them.”
Ezra. The last thing I saw was the person with silver hair, and they threw him to the ground. Were they not working with him? If Ezra is our prisoner, the unknown person must have betrayed him.
“Ezra mentioned the clone isn’t perfected,” Eliza says. “So it most likely won’t speak.”
“Hmmm, perhaps we’ll have to shut it down,” Thaddeus says. He stands behind Ayster on the opposite side of Raelyn.
“That would probably be best,” I say.
The idea of seeing Trace the way he is stings my heart. I still can’t believe they cloned him.
“What about Ezra?” Ayster asks.
“Yeah, who caused his wounds?” Astraea adds. Her hands cross her chest as she shifts next to Eliza.
“Someone else was with him when he arrived with Zane,” I say.
“Who?” Dahlia asks.
“I couldn’t see their face, but they killed Zane as well.”
“Ha!” Astraea shouts. “Good for them.”
“Where is this person now, I wonder?” Mason, who has been quiet in the corner, asks. His sunken eyes show he’s been crying for a while.
Closing my eyes, I try to think, still unsure if this person existed. I know I saw someone, but then again, I thought I saw my mother. In the moments of dying, I could have imagined other things.
“Either way, Ezra is still unconscious. Whatever they did to him has completely made him useless,” Dahlia says. “However, we have news.”
Everyone remains quiet, patiently waiting for her to speak. We put everything into this mission and lost Claire to it. Nothing played out how we planned, but in the back of my mind, I can’t help but scratch an Enlightenment member off my list.
“Cybourne has made contact,” she says. “An encrypted message was left with Ezra’s body.”
Cybourne, I repeat to myself.
The most unknown sector in the Area. Before Claire died, she mentioned it. With her last words, she told me and Eliza to find it.
“We need to act—” Dahlia starts.
“That’ll have to wait,” Zoe quickly interrupts. My eyes find her as she continues to explain. “You may not feel it right now because of the medicine I have given you, but you suffered severe internal bleeding. Your rib cage punctured your liver. Causing internal bleeding. I stemmed the flow, and you’re stable now; however, you need rest.” She takes a deep breath and attaches a liquid device to a cord feeding into my vein. “You’ll live, but it’ll take time before you’re back in the field.”
“How long?” Dahlia asks.
“It’ll mostly depend on her, but I’d say at least two weeks.”
“We need her much sooner.”
“No,” Raelyn says. “We need to regroup.”
Everyone stares at her with wide eyes.
“She’s right,” Thaddeus says.
“With no director…” Eliza pauses, forming her thoughts. “We need a new plan of action for our next steps.”
There’s a moment of silence. It’s something we’ve all been hovering around, too afraid to speak about what has happened: Claire, the director of Black Web. A mother and aunt. She should be here. Raelyn watches me as if she knows what I’m thinking. She smiles, and a feeling of forgiveness seeps inside. My thoughts settle, and I remember I have valuable information that they don’t.
“I may have a start,” I say.
Eliza’s eyes move to me, and the others’ follow.
“My A.I. has revealed something my parents had during their quest to end the Enlightenment.”
“What is it?” Dahlia asks.
“The central point of the node system.”
“Your A.I. has this information?” Thaddeus asks.
I nod as they all watch me intently.
“I believe my parents didn’t rush to reveal their findings because they were looking for another way to help citizens see the truth. This is the other way. They wanted to break the node’s connection to everyone.”
“If it’s true, that could be how we beat the Enlightenment. Your A.I. may have the key to it all,” Dahlia says.
Hope erases the despair that once filled everyone’s eyes. Their heads slightly raise, and strength fills the room at my words.
“I think we may have a new director,” Eliza says.
“Who?” I ask.
“We follow you,” Raelyn says.
“What?” I ask. “Where?”
“Everywhere.” Mason steps forward.
“Those assholes will pay,” Ayster says.
“Little badass in charge,” Astraea says. “Hell yeah!”
“It’s what Claire would have wanted,” Raelyn adds.
“No,” I say. “I can’t. I don’t know how.”
“You can, Ms. Young,” Amity says. “This is how you’ll end the Enlightenment.”
Eliza smiles and nods her approval. My head surveys the web, and they all smile, waiting for my answer.
My heart rattles inside my chest, thumping from the anxiety and pressure. The ache in my ribs returns as I try to gain strength. Everyone looks hopeful, and I don’t know what to say.
“As we take time to regroup and fully form a plan,” Dahlia says, “I think it’s important to know I found who left the encrypted message with Ezra.”
“Who was it?” I ask, using this as a distraction.
“I traced the message back to the unknown sector; someone transmitted it under the code name Glitch.”
Glitch.
The name triggers a memory, one buried deep inside of me.
‘If I ever become a hacker, my code name will be Glitch.’
It can’t be.
A knock on the door breaks the silence in the room.
“I’ve invited them here,” Dahlia says, stepping aside.
The door glides open as the unknown person walks in. They remove their hood, and my eyes can’t believe it. Silver hair, different from the black I remember, falls down her shoulders as she steps inside. Smokey eyes force me to stare as the memories thrash in my head.
“Nexia?” Eliza asks, seeing the shock in my eyes.
“Nexia isn’t your real name, is it?” the girl says quickly.
“Wren?” I gasp.
She winks and reveals that same smile I will never forget—the smile I thought was gone forever.
As she tilts her head to examine me, she says,
“We need to talk.”
Acknowledgments
Ahhhh! It’s finally complete! My debut novel which has been in the works for years! What started as a project to heal from a very tough time in life, turned into a dream I could have never imagined. I am in awe and beyond excited for what’s to come from this journey. Before I get into the people who have made this book happen, I wanted to share why I wrote this type of book: a dystopian novel. Ariadne Young came to me after I read laws about a world where the government would watch everything people did on the internet and then I thought, what would happen if they went beyond the internet. One of my favorite books is 1984 by George Orwell, so you can definitely see the influence there! But, to put it simply, I wrote this to shed light on the world and what could possibly happen with technology if not held in check and of course power. Okay okay, without further ado, the people who made it all possible!
Coded wouldn’t have made it out of the notebook I started back in 2018 if it weren’t for the love of my life, Madisyn, who listened and nurtured my strength when I thought this book was nothing. Without your love, support, and wonderfully cooked meals, this book would still be a draft. All my love and appreciation. Madisyn keeps me grounded when I’m too far gone in my writing, but she’s also the one that inspires most of my ideas! P.S. Eliza is inspired by her.
My mother and sister were the first to hear the idea I crafted years ago. Thank you for your love and support from the beginning, when I thought I was alone. You both helped me through some dark times, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have you both by my side.
To the college friends who made sure I wouldn’t give up on my dreams, I thank you. You have no idea how much your words have pushed me to keep going. I won’t forget them.
My colleagues at work, you are not forgotten. Your words of aspiration have helped me learn so much about life and myself every day. Thank you all for your wisdom and support.
And to my readers, thank you for taking the chance to read a debut novel from someone unknown. This book—I hope—is the start of a journey I will cherish to my core, and with you all supporting me and reading the wild stories I plucked from my mind, I’m sure it’ll be a hell of a ride.
About the Author
Born and raised in Miami, Florida. David always had a creative mindset. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, where he found his love for writing. With a newfound passion for storytelling, ‘Coded’ came to life. When he’s not buried in a journal, taking notes, he watches and reads anything Sci-Fi/Fantasy related. David lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his fiancé and Cosima—a cat afraid of the world, just like some characters he reads and writes about.
https://www.authordaviddmyers.com
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David D. Myers, CODED (The Connection Saga Book 1)
