Free Accidental Hero (Jack Blank Adventure) by Matt Myklusch

black-and-white film negative. “Can I help you?” he asked in an annoyed tone. His voice had an echolike reverberation that gave Jack the chills.
    “You can try,” Jazen replied. “Emissary Jazen Knight.” He flashed his badge. “I’m here to process this boy for entry into the Imagine Nation.”
    The clerk paused a moment, as if he didn’t quite hear Jazen correctly. “A new visitor?” he asked.
    “That’s right.”
    “This line is not open, sir,” said the clerk. He started to walk away, but Jazen grabbed his wrist.
    “Then I suggest you open it,” Jazen said. “As far as I know, the borders of the Imagine Nation aren’t closed.”
    The clerk locked eyes with Jazen for a moment, but quickly lost the staring contest with the emissary. He could see that Jazen wasn’t backing down. “No, sir, theborders are not officially closed,” the clerk said, pausing to look up at a SmartCam that was trained directly on him. He then leaned in toward Jazen and spoke softly. “But it is our understanding that in these trying times, with the Rüstov threat to our planet still lingering, that all emissaries have been discouraged from bringing new visitors to the Imagine Nation.”
    “Interesting,” Jazen replied. “I guess I didn’t get the memo. I’ve actually been encouraged to bring this boy here.” Jazen held up Jack’s forms in front of the clerk. “Let’s get started.” The clerk still hesitated.
    “I’d do what he says if I were you,” Blue said, bearing down on the clerk. “You see, I’m here with them, and I really don’t have a lot of patience for waiting in lines.”
    The clerk’s lips quivered as he stared up at Blue. He reluctantly took the form and fed it into the screen of his holo-computer, grumbling about how he better not get in trouble for this. The page broke up into a million data bytes, then reassembled in the proper order, projected in the air next to the podium with most of the information still missing.
    “Relax,” Jazen said to the clerk. “For all we know, thisboy’s a returning citizen. We don’t have any info on his background. You’re going to need to run a scan to find out who he is.”
    “Put your finger there, please,” the clerk said, indicating a red dot on the podium. Jack did as he was told, and a needle pricked his finger.
    “Ow!” he said, pulling back his hand.
    “It’s just a little pinprick,” the clerk said in a curt tone. “We need a drop of blood for the DNA scan. See? It’s searching the database now.”
    Jack looked up at the screen that displayed a single drop of his blood. It read SEARCHING.
    “I can’t believe this,” Jack said. “Am I seriously going to find out my real name right now? I mean, what if I still have family here? I might have relatives, a home…” Jack held his tongue, forcing himself to say no more, but he couldn’t help thinking about what else might be waiting for him in Empire City. There might even be a mom and dad.
    A ding sounded and a light on the screen flashed green.
    “We have a match,” the clerk said, a little surprised.
    Jack’s heart leaped. “You do?” he exclaimed. “Really?”
    “Looks like you have been here before.” The clerk nodded. “We’ll just pull up your birth certificate, and… wait a minute.” Before the clerk could finish, the screen froze and started flashing red. The screen zoomed in on Jack’s blood drop to reveal millions of tiny microchips floating inside of it. Jazen and Blue leaned in toward the screen with confused looks on their faces. “Nanites in the blood?” the clerk exclaimed as he watched the screen in disbelief.
    “What the?” Jazen said. “No, that can’t be right.”
    “What can’t be right?” Jack asked. “What’s going on? Where’s my file?”
    “Legend’s ghost!” the clerk gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth. He looked at Jack and his white glow intensified greatly. Jack got a real bad feeling in the pit of his stomach as the fear rose