Your Name:
	Your E-Mail Address:
	Subject:
	Message: : Chapter 3 : The second thoughts came flooding into Owen's brain when he was already : halfway to the party. Because on some level, risking what little standing : he still had was kind of stupid. : Then he remembered what had happened when he'd arrived home the previous : night: the whole community lined up to castigate him. Sure, they framed it : as disapproval of his "selfish" behavior. But really, they were : just mad that he was tugging down their score ever so slightly. : Sneaking off to a party seemed pretty easy to justify after that. Especially : since underground parties were great black-market venues, and Owen had : snuck out a potato, two bell peppers, and a battered copy of The Word for : World is Forest to trade for whatever caught his fancy. : For her part, Nyx carried an angular, five-string hunk of metal that she : called her guitar. Owen loved how it looked almost like some weird : medieval weapon, the sharp corners and battered surface like visual : rebuttals to the smooth gray ceraplast guitars normally assigned to : musicians. : They walked single file through an access corridor. A BOB in a science team's : blue coveralls passed them by, and they squeezed to the side to let her : pass. Owen felt a twinge of anxiety; he'd seen that scientist before, : though he didn't know her name. : "Do you really think these events are secret?" he asked once they'd : gone some distance. : "Shh, don't say anything until we get to cryo," Nyx warned. : But surely the cameras already kept track of where they were going. Yes, the : crew had free access to the ship when not otherwise assigned—but that : didn't mean Leela wasn't watching their every move. : They reached a bulkhead with the striped yellow-and-black outline indicating : a new section. It opened and they passed through into the high-tech : confines of Cryogenics. Stainless steel compartments in the walls, stacked : three or four high, had once held the hibernating bodies of colonists from : the Earth and Mars of the distant past. Only a few were still occupied, : waiting for the colony to get a little bigger. : "There's supposed to be all kinds of weird stuff in cryo," Nyx : said. "You know Carmen? She said a friend of hers found a stash of : weapons from the old Martian rebels." : Owen had heard the rumors. Back when the UESC had been turning Deimos into a : colony ship, some of the impoverished Martian colonists took exception to : the idea of one of their moons being used as a government vanity project. : Insurgents with MIDA—Mars Independence and Defense Alliance—had supposedly : placed weapons caches throughout the ship with the idea of letting : sympathetic Martian crew take over. : Not that it mattered now. The Marathon had mandated vat-birth in the 2540s to : break up the constantly quarreling family units of the early decades, and : to try and stave off some of the genetic problems that resulted from : living in space. They'd succeeded on both counts, though only modestly on : the second. : "That seems like it'd be the sort of thing Leela would dedicate a : few-dozen subroutines to finding and rooting out." : "Hey, you never know. You sure you're okay with this?" Nyx asked, : looking back over her shoulder as she led the way. : "At this point, I feel committed. I hate my DREAMS score enough to want : it to bottom out." : "Kickass." : "But if anyone asks, I'm doing this out of principle." : "Ah, you'll fit right in. I mean, I mostly do this for fun but some of : us care. And if you want to get away with something on the Marathon, : Cryogenics is the place to do it." : "Thanks to the Privacy Accords." : "Another history lesson?" Nyx was probably rolling her eyes. : "Hey, they were important. The Privacy Accords were the one time the : senior crew actually limited AI power, which among other things, : translates to limited monitoring of non-work areas. And no one works in : Cryogenics anymore, meaning we can party. Or do whatever." : "Can't deny that's handy. But you're saying the AIs and senior crew : actually decided to give us nobodies a break?" : "Not exactly. See, the AIs were so involved in everything those days : that BOBs formed cults around them. The cults started getting into fights : over who was the one true AI god, and the authorities wanted to clamp down : on that by making the AIs a little less ubiquitous." : Nyx laughed. "Wow, a cult around Tycho or something? 'Oh holy one, I : beseech you for a medical chart!' You know, you make this bullshit pretty : interesting sometimes." : "It is interesting. You just have to get to the truth." : "Think we're here," Nyx said, stopping at a door marked with yet : another Marathon logo. It slid open with a cool hiss, revealing a short : narrow hallway where a lone crewmember in green coveralls worked at a : terminal. : "Oh, hey!" the crewmember said. "Sorry, this place is : off-limits for—" : "Dark path," Nyx said. : The crewmember nodded. "In you go," he said, gesturing at the door : on the other end. : Mildly impressed, Owen followed Nyx through the second door and into a big, : featureless metal room that must have once been used for storage. The : place was packed, with at least thirty people crowded shoulder to : shoulder, most in yellow or green coveralls. Sure enough, the place was a : swap-meet for contraband; a half-dozen stands along the walls offered : books, booze, non-regulation garments, real food, and more. : At the center of it all was Ivan, a rangy red-haired BOB that Owen had seen : scrubbing air ducts more than once. He stood on top of a pile of crates : with a few other musicians all jamming away on jerry-rigged instruments : and surrounded by a wildly dancing crowd, yet not making even the : slightest sound. Puzzled, Owen watched for a bit. Were they just : pretending to play? : "Uh, I can see them playing, but I don't hear anything," he said. : "That's 'cause you're not wearing these," Nyx said, handing him an : earpiece. : Owen took it and gave Nyx a questioning look. : "Underground always puts up noise cancelers around the musicians, so the : sound doesn't travel too far and get security's attention. These earpieces : are connected to a recorder right next to them, so you can hear what : they're playing." : "I see," Owen said. "You just give them out?" : "Yup. But we don't have enough for everyone, so if someone asks for a : turn, give them a chance. And you gotta give them back when you're : done." : Owen hesitated, not liking the idea of using an earpiece that might've : already been inside someone's ear. As if seeing his doubt, Nyx chuckled. : "What, you worried you gonna get cooties? The party's still young, and : no one's used this one yet." : "Uh sure, thanks." : Owen accepted the earpiece, put it in, and flicked it on. Instantly he heard : Ivan's rough and snarly voice struggling to be heard over the twangy notes : coming from his guitar. : "Enjoying your first taste of decadence?" Nyx asked. : "Tell you the truth, I'm a little disappointed. Was thinking more : fountains of wine and maybe a few gratuitous human sacrifices. But I guess : this'll do." : Nyx grinned. "The sacrifices were messier than they were worth, anyway. : I'm gonna get ready. Think I'm set to play right after Ivan's done." : She walked off to a few other BOBs in the corner, one of them fiddling with : an electronic keyboard. Owen decided to repay Nyx for inviting him, so he : went to the booze stand where plastic bags full of frothy beer hung from a : rack. Getting a drink from the vendor took some negotiating; too many : vegetables in circulation, only fruits were in demand. Thus, he headed : over to the food stand run by Keiko, one of his fellow Cast Iron Cozies. : "I won't say anything if you don't," Keiko said. : "You sure said plenty yesterday," Owen replied, remembering the : barrage of criticism. : "You do what you need to fit in. It's true there, it's true here." : Owen managed to exchange all his veggies for a plump pear, which he then : swapped for two bags of cucumber beer. Satisfied with the goods, he walked : back to Nyx, keeping as much distance as he could from the dancers in the : middle of the room or more specifically, from their droplets of sweat : still slowly drifting to the floor. : "Here," Owen said, handing Nyx a bag. : "Thanks!" : "Sure. This place already feels like a speakeasy, so I figured I might : as well go all the way." : "What's that?" : "Speakeasies were places where people could get booze in places where it : was illegal. That all happened in 19th​ century Earth." Owen : double-checked his history. "Sorry, I mean 20th​ century." : "Gotcha." : "Granted, the booze there had a decent chance of making you go : blind." : "The only sense this stuff might ruin is taste," Nyx said. "A : toast to shit beer?" : "Sounds good." : They raised the bags, and then punctured them with the attached straws. Owen : took a sip, the beer warm and fizzy and a little bit fruity despite being : vegetable-based. : "Thanks for being a great audience," came Ivan's voice over the : earpiece. "Nyx is next!" : Nyx raised her arms in victory and stepped up to the makeshift podium. Owen : stepped back and checked his earpiece. This was something he wanted to : hear. : Her hand dropped to her guitar and she looked out at the crowd, no doubt : marring her bright eyes. Then she hit the strings, fingers clawing across : them as a wild metallic wail emanated from the speakers. She lowered her : head as she played, dark strands of hair hanging loose over her brow, and : then raised it high to reveal a smile brighter than stars. : She loved this. And that made him love it too. : Sure, he was stuck inside a steel-clad moonlet way beyond the bounds of human : space, constantly monitored by AIs and nosy neighbors. Sure, humans hadn't : learned anything in the past 300 years. But here, in this forgotten corner : of the ship, Nyx had a world of her own and she was sharing it with him. : Suddenly, the lights flicked in and off three times in a row. A frustrated : cry went up from the crowd that Owen heard even above the music from his : earpiece. : "It's security!" someone cried. : One of the doors slid open and a half dozen security BOBs in red uniforms : rushed in, yelling at everyone to stay calm and be quiet. Half the crowd : surged against security, pushing them back toward the door. : But nothing beat Nyx, still on stage, as she kicked the sound canceler free : so that music blasted through the room, the metal walls amplifying it into : cacophony as she played on. The security BOBs grimaced and fell back, and : for just a moment, Owen wondered if she might win the day after all. : Then she turned and their eyes met. Her lips formed the word "go!" : The more timid partygoers already ran toward the rear exit. Owen didn't buy : it; no way would security (guided by Leela) be so careless as to not block : every way out. There were surely guards on the other end, waiting to pull : Owen's score down even further and put him into credit debt, which meant : the Cast Iron Cozies completely getting sick of him and why had he ever : been so stupid as to go to this party and— : A bunch of fleeing BOBs pushed him toward the free door. His beer was gone : and his earpiece had fallen out. All he could see was metal floor passing : beneath his feet and the coveralls of the people jogging in front of him. : The narrow hall outside the party room forced them to go single file. : "Shit! Security up ahead!" came a shout from the front of the line. : Owen spotted another narrow corridor branching off to his right. He jumped : into it as soon as he could and ran past the stacks of empty cryopods, not : sure where the hell he would go other than as far away as possible. : Footsteps hammered on the floor behind him, and he didn't check to see if : they were fleeing partygoers or pursuing guards. : He took two sharp lefts and then a sharp right, the corridors around him : echoing with the sounds of pursuit and capture. More footsteps and voices : up ahead. Security? Other partiers? : A dented bulkhead stood to his left. He hit the button, it slid open, and he : stepped inside. : Big mistake. This was a dead end, a tiny monitoring station flanked by vacant : cryopods and marked only by a single terminal. Owen cursed and leaned : against the nearest pods, breathing heavily as sweat ran down his face. : God damn him for a coward. He'd lost himself in the moment but once that : passed, once reality's heavy hand had fallen down on him, he'd run. So : what the Nyx had told him to? Hell, he wasn't even sure if she'd actually : told him to go or had just imagined it. : In the end, he was a BOB: meek and passive. Nothing to do now but wait for : security to find him. Not even they would just walk past an obvious door : like this. Stupid of him to take it. : A digital chirp sounded out from the terminal. Well, that did it: Leela knew : he was there, and was going to scold him through the terminal. Owen : prepared himself for the cold, smug voice he'd grown to hate. : But no voice came. Instead, bright green words popped up on the black screen, : glaring in the room's dim light. : "Why don't we write this out? I don't think anyone needs to overhear our : conversation," it read. No identifying text accompanied the message, : the words hanging there in darkness. : Owen blinked. He looked at the terminal, and then back at the door. The metal : reverberated with the sounds of yelling. Typical posturing between : rebellious youth and overbearing security. But that still meant more : problems for him. : Gulping, Owen took cautious steps up to the terminal and put his fingers on : the keyboard. : "Who are you?" he typed. : "An interested observer," came the response. "It's fascinating : to me that even though you're given everything you need, you still push : against the rules. Is this the unintended result of poorly planned social : conditioning? Or something more intrinsic to your nature?" : Uneasy though he was, the response annoyed Owen. "I'm not interested in : debating the nature of humanity right now. Can you help me or not?" : "You're already participating in that debate, like it or not." : A faint chill ran down Owen's spine. It was possible to hack into the network : and disguise yourself. Possible, but not easy. He had no idea who might be : doing this. : "Who are you?" Owen typed again. "You don't have to tell me, : but there are a bunch of security people out there who'd be very : interested in knowing that someone's been hacking the network." : "You'd have to turn yourself in to tell them," was the response. : "Yes, but whatever punishment you'll get is far worse. So out with it, : or I let them know." : Footsteps sounded out like drumbeats in the hallway outside. Voices too, : harsh and commanding. : "You think they can catch me? Quite amusing. But I may be able to help : you. With the press of a button, I can falsify the records to give you a : valid reason for being in this forgotten corner of Cryogenics. It'll even : seem to be approved by Adams." : "Why?" Owen typed. : "Because I'm curious to know what you'll do with this proposition. Will : you turn it down and accept your punishment like a good little BOB? Or : will you accept and dig yourself deeper into counter-social behavior to : keep what few freedoms you think you have?" : Owen's fingers hovered over the console. This had to be a trick. No way was : there some secret underground hacking ring savvy enough to go through the : network like this. But what if? He wasn't the only one sick of the : Marathon. Apathy ruled the lives of the BOBs, but apathy didn't mean : loyalty. Sometimes, apathy worked as a mask. Maybe some were ready to take : it off. : And what were his alternatives? Get dragged back to Cast Iron Cozy so : everyone else could vent their disappointment in him again? Have his bunk : searched, and his real books destroyed? End up given the worst possible : jobs for the next ten years of his life? : He was about to agree to the falsification offer. Then it hit him: he still : had no idea who the person on the other end was, or what they wanted. And : he knew better than to jump in blind. : Taking a deep breath, Owen typed, "You can keep your records. If I have : to be manipulated, I'd rather it be by a system I can somewhat navigate : instead of by a complete unknown." : The door slid open behind him. : "Hey, we got one here!" one of the guards shouted to his fellows. : "Okay, kid! Let's make this simple. Just come with us and we'll take : you back up to the Conurbs for processing. Make it quick, yeah?" : Owen turned around to face the security guard at the other end of the room. : "Fine, but check this computer. Someone was sending me messages on it : anonymously." : The guard's expression turned into one of confusion. "That ain't : possible. And it's blank, anyway." : Owen frowned, then looked back at the screen. The text had vanished, the : screen showing only the Marathon logo. : "Check the records. I was contacted through the terminal by someone : offering to falsify my—" : "Not buying it. Leela's got the system locked down tight. And these lies : you're telling me? I'm putting them on record, and that's gonna hurt your : DREAMS score." : Suddenly, Owen very much regretted not taking the stranger's offer.
	If you'd like to include a link to another page with your message, please provide both the URL address and the title of the page:
	Optional Link URL:
	Optional Link Title:
	If necessary, enter your password below:
	Password: