Free The softwire : Virus on Orbis 1 by PJ Haarsma

said, pointing to his own head.
    “What?”
    “That’s not going to do anything but screw it up more,” Switzer argued.
    “Can’t hurt to try,” Theodore said.
    “But what do I do?”
    “It has to be run by some sort of computer device. The skin must send a signal to tell it which door to open. Do what Theylor told you.”
    I put my hand over the sensor. Why, I don’t know; it just seemed like the thing to do. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Then, on the inside of my forehead, as if someone had mounted an O-dat inside my brain, the streams of computer code flashed before me. The code was jammed by something. I could see it — a little shiny nugget. I thought about what Theylor had told me to do. I got my mind around the blockage and gently nudged it away. At first it wouldn’t give, and then it shifted, turned, and flushed through along with the rest of the computer code. The door disappeared.
    The other boys just stood there gawking at me. No one said a word as we filed out of our room.
    I walked into a long chamber filled with loungers and more O-dats like the ones I had used to uplink my translation codec. The room looked surprisingly comfortable for someone as cheap as Weegin. Everyone was gathered around Weegin and lit by an odd and uneven glow from three arched windows running the length of the far wall. Ketheria was standing by herself and ran up to me the moment she saw me.
    “When I ask you to be somewhere, you do it immediately. I don’t care what else you’re doing,” Weegin scolded. “When I say move, you move. When I say sit, you sit. If I have to tell you twice —”
    This wasn’t how I wanted to start with him. “The door wouldn’t open,” I said, trying to cut him off.
    “I’m deducting half a chit from you for lying, Softwire. It is impossible for the central computer to have a glitch like that without maintenance notifying us,” he said.
    “But I —”
    “Are you questioning me?” Weegin said, refusing to let me explain. “The computer is self-correcting and would detect a problem like that before we even knew it!” The angrier he seemed to get, the more the spikes on his temples twisted up toward the ceiling.
    “That’s what I said,” Switzer shot out. “He wanted us to lie, but I said no.”
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
    “Fine, you get his half chit,” Weegin said, commending the liar. This was getting worse.
    “I swear,” I pleaded, trying to start again. “The door was stuck, but I fixed it.”
    “I will not tolerate swearing, either. As long as you belong to me, you will represent my organization with the utmost professionalism. Children or not, you will behave like adults.”
    Ketheria put her finger to her mouth to show me not to say anything else. I looked at Weegin standing confidently, chin out and legs apart like he was ready for a fight. But it was no use. I had already lost.

When I returned to my sleeper, I felt exhausted. The extraordinary events of the last cycle were draining from my body and I longed for sleep. I slipped the gold disc I’d brought from the
Renaissance
into my locker and put on the plastic pajamas. I avoided Switzer, who gloated over his sudden fortune.
    “I wonder what I’ll buy with my new money,” he said with relish.
    “Not much,” Theodore said under his breath as he examined his sleeper.
    “What did you say?” Dalton jumped to Switzer’s defense. “You don’t know anything.”
    “I didn’t say anything,” Theodore said.
    “Keep it that way,” Switzer added.
    “Leave him alone,” I said.
    Switzer turned to me. “You’re not on the
Renaissance
anymore, Turnbull. Mother’s not here to help you.”
    That was painfully obvious, but I said nothing. He didn’t need any more encouragement. I missed the
Renaissance
and I missed Mother, but I wouldn’t dare let Switzer know that. I was still determined to give Orbis a chance. I just needed to try harder.
    I stood in front of my sleeper. The Keepers