Simulated, p.10
Simulated, page 10
I’m left with Ms. T. We’re staring at each other. I could be wrong, but I think we have the same idea. The hacker.
“I think I can get him to tell me what he knows,” I say. “Maybe he knows where to find the holothumb.”
Ms. T leans over, her voice low. “Are you afraid of him?”
At first, I don’t know how to answer. Yes, he scares me, but not in the way she’s thinking. I can’t prove it, but I don’t think he’ll hurt me. It’s more like falling down a rabbit hole, not knowing what I’ll find.
“No,” I say, finally.
Ms. T nods. “Good.” She stands and approaches Mrs. Youssef and Mr. Ayadi. “In order to do our job, we need to shut down the Ministry of Education for three days. Websites. Domains. Servers. Everything.”
Gasps and appalled objections mix with paper shuffling in the room. The head of security shoots the State representative a worried glance.
“Don’t worry,” Ms. T explains, “our team will find an alternative solution for the work of the Ministry to go on without interruption.”
They look shocked and skeptical. A rush of whispers in Arabic flutters across the room.
“Let me make this clear,” Ms. T says in her stern voice. “Your country is in danger. Either we shut down your system or these radicals will.”
They reluctantly agree, discussing strategies to engineer work-arounds for the Ministry employees. Pens and Felicia answer a few questions before joining Eddie and Harrison. The team gathers in a small circle.
Ms. T leans over to me. “Leave the Ministry of Education and the leaks to us. You go back to your room and connect with the hacker. Find out everything he knows. For some reason he only wants to talk to you. Do anything you need to help us get the Blacklist tech out of the hands of these radicals.”
My eyebrows shoot up. Huh. I just got direct verbal permission to meet Coral Hacker tonight. Looks like I was worried for nothing. I’m stalking toward the door, making plans in my head until she stops me.
“Just remember,” she adds, “No one leaves this building.”
Chapter 18
THE SUN IS an hour from setting with no reply to my cyber SOS or a location from the hacker. Apparently, Coral Hacker does not play well with others. Goliath is in the room next to me, always guarding the door. And I’ve checked the street for messages from Kai six times but it’s still blank. The very least I can do is work on getting my gift back.
Coral Hacker basically instructed me to do my sims, agreeing with Ms. T that it was important. He said I’d pick up on clues others won’t. Right now, we need that. But I’m hesitating. During my last sims, I almost crashed in a helicopter. Kai was bloody in the square. And the Mandelbrot Set postcard breached my defenses in a way I haven’t felt in a long time. The sims feel foreboding, yet, with my gift back I can help Kai.
My sim glasses are on the bed. For simulations to be done outside the sim box, PSS invented the most advanced smartglasses on earth in terms of virtual, mixed and augmented reality. They secure around your eyes and ears, and stimulate nerves in the temporal lobe, inducing a dreamlike state to make the experience more real. I reach over, pull on the glasses and lie down on the bed, taking a deep breath. “K2, please load sims 1-3. Decrease the session by half please. Minimum process time.”
I close my eyes as the screen goes black.
There’s no scent of lavender to greet me this time, but a pine and cedar candle burning in the window. I’m thirteen and my face is snuggled into my pillow. I’m just waking up. My phone is alerting me of unread messages. I grab it and notice the date: December 25th.
I sit up in my bed. Outside my window is our old backyard. The green grass is frosted over, and the sky gray. My body and mind shiver, confused. Obviously, I know I’m in Tunisia where it’s not cold, but everything is so real that I’m sinking in. Even my bare arms feel like they need a sweater. Since my bed felt warm, I sneak back under the covers, and silence my buzzing phone. There are Christmas messages from my friends. My face is beaming, no worry about anything. I can even smell pancakes and coffee wafting up from downstairs. I’ll check my messages then run down to see everyone. An excitement to open presents bubbles inside me.
Scrolling through my messages, I notice that one is from Son of a Mandelbrot. My heart skips a beat. I always read his messages first. But right now, I feel funny about it. A glimmer of reality slides in. Kai is missing and here I am reading old messages between two kids. But it’s a distant past. Besides, this simulation is designed to help me. I click on it.
Inside his message is a link to a hidden page on his website called “gift for jo”. I click on the link and a snowflake pops up. Lots of them. Each one is unique and beautiful, and completely covered in mathematical equations. I shake my head. fc(z) = z2 + c the equation for the Mandelbrot Set, is embedded into his design. As I keep watching, each snowflake-fractal begins to grow larger, and a new one reforms from the center, a typical fractal display. Eventually, the image changes to a picture of me covered in snowflakes. Me—or the thirteen-year-old girl—laughs out loud. I thought it was the coolest gift.
Below the snowflakes, I re-read our back-and-forth messages, a tingle of warmth coming over me.
My head spins with memories I’d forgotten. That was when I actually started watching the financial world. I guess Mandel was to blame. Before my time in the sim is done, I pull up the snowflake gift once more and marvel at its beauty. Knowing each snowflake is different, I wish a pattern would emerge. None do. But as I watch, a strong desire to play in the snow itches in my chest. I haven’t seen snow in years. I remember Mandel claimed that eating snow was a pleasant way to consume fractals, and I laugh. Then, slowly, the infinite equations on the snowflakes become time zones and plane routes and birthdays. My system is flooded with graphs until K2 suddenly glitches and my sims are terminated.
It’s him. A robotic voice fills my ears. “You didn’t make arrangements to come tonight.”
“We shut the Ministry down. But you knew about the holothumb, didn’t you? Now how do we get it?” I demand.
“We’ll talk about it when we meet tonight. I don’t trust anyone else.”
“Yeah well, no one here trusts you.” My mouth dries up because I’m stalling. I’ve made up my mind to meet him even though it’s very possible this hacker could be King all over again. A swarm of numbers simmer below the surface of my skin and the dimensions of the room vaguely appear but in a tangled mess that makes my head ache. In the past, my numbers would have helped me predict danger. But they’re useless now, especially regarding the hacker.
The low robotic voice softens. “I get it. The odds of me being safe are low. If I were you, I wouldn’t trust me either. But I keep my promises.” He’s silent like he knows I’m weighing his words.
“Go to the window on your right,” he says, surprising me.
“Why?” I ask.
“An exchange of trust. What do you see?” the voice directs.
Hesitantly, I move toward the only window in the room, I peer through its thin glass. “Lots of buildings, brown dirt, cement walkways, people, cars, a tree.”
“Focus on the tree. Imagine its roots, then move your eyes up its trunk. With your mind, trace each branch like you were drawing it with your finger. Think of every vein, every angle of the leaf to its very edge.”
I feel silly doing it, but I really have nothing to lose.
The trunk is thick. I follow the bark up and choose one branch to follow. That branch shoots off to another one, and then to a thin twig, which leads to a leaf. The next branch is the same. Each branch is its own tree. I close my eyes, and imagine a small pattern emerging, like brushstrokes. When I open my eyes, the tree is dripping with numbers. Unprompted by danger, without struggle, my gift pours out a bit more, like a faucet turning on. One branch here is numbered another one there is measured. It’s flooding over onto the distance around it—measuring the landscape and the distance between me and the tree and—
“Your gift’s back, isn’t it?” His robotic voice snaps me from the illusion and my gift fades, leaving me wondrous and lost.
“How did you know that would happen?” I ask.
“A calculated guess.” The robotic voice softens. “There’s always a design. Designs make patterns, patterns produce equations. I promised if you came to Tunis, I’d help you get your gift back. But time’s running out.”
“Fine. Where do I meet you?” I agree, perhaps too easily. He is baiting me. And I’m taking it. I’m a kid and he’s offering me candy.
“National Bardo Museum.” A map shows up on K2 as he speaks. “I’ll be inside.”
“How will I know who you are?” I ask, my heart beating at the thought of meeting the hacker alone. K2’s seconds tick by.
“Don’t worry. I know who you are.”
Chapter 19
MS. T STARES at me wide-eyed. “You want to do what?”
“Retrieve a clue from the Bardo Museum.” I do not tell her Coral Hacker will be there. She’d never let me go. “You told me to establish a connection with the hacker and find the list, and he sent a clue,” I say, calmly. My plan to meet Coral Hacker alone hinges on if Ms. T allows me to go with only Goliath accompanying me. “All I need is one hour to scope it out. Goliath can stay with me the whole time.”
“I don’t like the way this sounds. What if he shows up?” She paces the room, eyeing me. I hold her gaze. I don’t want to lose her trust. She’s been good to me. But the last thing I want to do is endanger the team. I have to find out what’s really going on first. Which means, I have to go with or without her permission. But Ms. T is not the biggest problem here. It’s Goliath.
“The clue is in a public location, which I will be visiting during regular business hours.”
“You know there was a major terrorist attack there some years back?” Harrison pipes in.
Pens elbows him.
“Never mind,” he mutters under his breath.
“His goal is you, Jo.” She shakes her head like she means business. “There’s a reason he’s breaking into your sims.”
“I’m not afraid of him. He has what we need.” My teeth clench, hurting my jaw. “Isn’t this the reason you brought me?”
“Our goal is the Blacklist and the safety of this country and our team. After what we found out today, this situation is more dangerous than we thought.”
Pens raises her hand. “With all due respect, Ma’am, with the Blacklist in the wind no one is safe. We are the only ones who can trace it. And I don’t need to remind you of this, but PSS will be shut down if we don’t destroy that information.”
Kai’s face is in my mind, haunting me. My hand is tapping. Time is running out.
There’s a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Ms. T sighs.
Goliath steps in. “Ms. Taylor, I’m a personal friend of the curator of the National Bardo Museum. I’ve just made a few calls. They’re willing to offer heightened security, which they’ve already engaged. Jo will be safe the whole time. I won’t let her out of my sight.”
A strange gratefulness comes over me along with thick suspicion. Goliath is an obstacle I don’t need but apparently when he said my goals would be his goals—he meant it. But what’s in it for him?
“Our objective is to best him—not the other way around.” She paces a bit more, and I know I’ve won. “I can’t believe I’m saying this. But if it’s just a clue, and he won’t be there, you can go. On one condition.” Ms. T calls over Harrison and Pens. “Set her up.”
Pens and Harrison rub their hands together.
After ten minutes I am so decked out with micro-tech it’s ridiculous. Despite the risk, the team is excited and they’re swarming over me like I’m the coolest thing since Tesla.
“We’re still nerds, ok? We’ve never had the chance to use this tech before.” Harrison’s smile is devious.
Pens holds my chin. “Open.” She squirts something in my mouth. It tastes minty and sour and makes my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.
“What’s that?” I ask, swallowing it down.
“Hold still.” She smears some lipstick over my lips.
“Oh no. You can’t be serious. Sway?” I ask, incredulous. “Sorry. I refuse to kiss anyone for information.”
“Especially when he’s probably a creepy old hacker who hasn’t changed his underwear in God knows how long,” Harrison gags. “Ew.”
“The lipstick serum—if ingested by another party, makes them dizzy-drunk and open to suggestions without remembering a thing. I squirted the antidote in your mouth. I know you’re going to check out a clue, but if our creepy hacker debuts, you could get all we need from him.” She obviously thinks it’s cool, but there are certain lines I won’t cross.
K2 beeps. Time to go. “You’re ready.” Wow. In less than ten minutes my body is covered in tiny pieces of equipment that have facial, voice, and biometrics recognition scanners to catch this hacker.
“Look,” Pens whispers, hiding the worry in her voice. “This is actually dangerous for you. Are you really doing this for the list? I mean, are you sure Coral Hacker can be trusted? Do you think he really has what we need?”
I nod, thinking of the tree and the design. “He has what I need. You’re a polymath. You know as well as I do that the answer isn’t always where we think it is.”
“I’ll be online with you the whole time. If there’s any doubt about your safety, use the tech,” Harrison says.
Standing at the door, my dad’s voice rings through my ears. You have your bag? Your watch? Your earrings? I touch my earrings one last time to make sure they’re on. I’d better be right about this.
“I’ll have answers soon.” I wink and saunter out the door. I managed to get out mostly alone.
Now, all I have to do is take down a giant.
Chapter 20
SOMETIMES, THERE ARE no options other than a bad plan.
Riding to the Bardo Museum, Goliath stares straight ahead. Coral Hacker won’t like that I have a two-ton brick wall accompanying me. There are only two ways I get to go in alone. I sort of like Goliath, so I’ll try diplomacy first.
“I know Ms. T said you can’t leave my side, but I don’t want you to go in with me,” I say, politely and firmly. “I’ll be fine. I’m just touring the museum for clues. It’s not like there’s anywhere to go. I already did a perimeter study.” I wave a map of the area and building blueprints displayed on K2 in his direction. “There’s only one entry and one exit. And you said they’ll have extra security. On top of that, I’m loaded with tech.”
He doesn’t say anything for a moment. “Look. You’re important. I’m here to protect you with my life because the person that hired me cares for you.”
I sigh, remembering how my dad donated most of the funding to cover the bodyguard costs.
“I won’t do anything stupid.” I bite my lip. “I know you read my file—Ms. T told me she briefed you on my past. So, you know I’m not fragile.”
We stop at a red light. He whips his gaze to me. “I didn’t say fragile. I said important.” He sighs. “Lucky for you I know the museum is safe. I didn’t just ask for extra security. I booked a private tour. No tourists and no staff. I also prepared a lockdown of the entire museum except one door. No one’s getting in or out. You will be alone. Except for me, of course.”
Oh snap. Goliath isn’t messing around. “Look, I’m giving you one last chance to let me go in alone.”
“Sorry, Josephine. You’re not the one I take orders from.”
Oh well. I tap my leg, considering my other option. He won’t like it, but he had his chance.
We pull over, parking near the museum. I wait for him to put the car into park and shut off the engine.
As soon as he does, my wrist points in his direction. I’ve wanted to try this for a long time. “Everything should get its chance for a maiden voyage.”
“Wha—?” But the giant can’t even finish his sentence. He has been struck down. Not by a tiny rock, but the lowest setting of a Taser-Watch created by a bunch of nerd kids.
