Free The System by Gemma Malley

feeling the blood drain from her face. Her own woman? It was like this person had seen the message Milo had sent her. And taken it seriously.
    ‘How about if I say please? And smile flirtatiously? You can’t see it, but I’m doing it, right now. My most charming smile.’
    The messages were coming through thick and fast; Frankie leant forwards to read them all again.
    Her heart was thudding in her chest. Who was this? He wasn’t like the usual conspiracy theorist, who would write long diatribes full of assertions that had no evidence to back them up. This guy … he was different. And it was a ‘he’. Frankie was sure of it. She frowned.
    ‘You’re wondering if maybe there’s something in it after all, aren’t you? I know you are. Frankie, you’re cool, and hot, but you’re also clever. So do something brave. Do something a bit more exciting. Please?’
    Frankie bit her lip and did her best not to smile. The stranger was totally flirting with her. If Milo knew he’d be furious.
    But he’d said ‘please’, which was better than ‘That’s an order.’
    Even if Milo had been joking, the words still rankled. Which was no reason for listening to the stranger. No reason at all. But then again, people
had
been talking about the UK all her life; theories abounded of how there were still people there, that the talk of radiation was a conspiracy to stop people investigating. And she knew it was all just conjecture and gossip; knew that test after test had been done to confirm the devastation, but what if the stranger was onto something? What if there was something real underpinning the rumours? What if there was something that they weren’t being told?
    And as if the messager knew what she was thinking, as though he was sitting right there with her, another message appeared from the same untraceable address. ‘Don’t be an Infotec Stooge. Think for yourself. Look into it before you dismiss me out of hand.’
    The smile disappeared from her face immediately. Infotec Stooge? How dare they? How dare someone say such a thing? She would sue. She would tell Milo and get him to track them down and …
    Her eyes narrowed. Not Milo. She didn’t need Milo and his Infotec army. That would play into this person’s prejudices. She was so not an Infotec Stooge. She was totally her own person.
    She folded her arms in irritation; whoever this person was they had hit a nerve. She’d ask Jim to track him down instead, she decided. Then she’d write back and make it absolutely clear that the reason she wasn’t following up on his message was because he was obviously mad and delusional, that’s all.
    ‘Try sending a message to the US and follow its path. You know how to do that?’
    She stared at the message in front of her eyes. The audacity of it! Of course she knew how to do that. But she was busy. She was pissed off. She wasn’t doing anything just because some mad person wouldn’t leave her alone.
    She exhaled angrily. Then her eyes narrowed. Maybe she could send one message. Just one. Just to see. The message would whizz straight to the US and that would be the end of that, she reasoned. Conversation over.
    Quickly she sent a few messages to the US and traced their path. Then she watched uncertainly as everything bypassed the UK, zigzagging round it, which was strange because nuclear fallout might be bad for humans but, to her knowledge, there was no reason wireless signals should avoid it.
    Then again it didn’t mean anything. So the network was complex. There would be a reason. A perfectly good reason.
    Suddenly Frankie had an idea. She went into the ‘Questions Worth Answering’ section of her blog, and wrote about what she’d done, asking if anyone had any suggestions.
    Straight away her palm started to tickle; it was Milo. ‘Milo?’ she whispered. ‘I’m in the Library. Can’t really talk.’
    ‘What’s with the question?’ he asked immediately.
    ‘The question?’
    ‘The one you’ve just posted.