"Sorry about that. Maxwell Reed," he said, extending his hand to me like grown-ups always did on the news.
I shook his hand tentatively. "Jada Breaker."
He widened his bright blue eyes, which looked even brighter under his pale blonde hair. "Whoa! The Jada Breaker?"
"That's me!" I chirped, proud of my title.
"Nice to meet you," he said. "Like, really nice. Good thing I'm sitting next to you, huh? I’m never gonna need the teacher's help!"
I gave him a good-natured mock glare. "You're not cheating off me, mister!"
Maxwell raised his hands in a dramatic gesture of innocence. "Never!"
Giggling, I reached back down to my backpack for my prism again. "Nice to meet you too, Maxwell."
"Just call me Max. Only my dad calls me Maxwell, Max is way better."
"Okay then, Max."
"Good morning, class!" rang a new voice. "Welcome to your first day of school!"
Max looked over at me with a permanently excited grin, and I smiled back.
Already, school was even better than I thought.
Max was not a mistake. I could never call him a mistake.
Sighing, I rolled up the paper and got to work.
"Interface, please establish a desktop prism link."
"As you wish, Miss Breaker."
"Access library. Search Station Alpha student records for year 2145, grade nine, class designation one."
The other set of numbers scrolled across my prism.
Maxwell Reed: 99.9997.
"Interface, when was this document first loaded into the system?"
"Document first created August fifteenth, 2145.”
"Okay. When was this document last modified?"
"May thirteenth, 2146."
“Nature of modification?”
“Complete data set downloaded for archives."
Officially, the record was archived at the end of my tenth-grade year, which proved it had remained untouched since then. Still, the conflicting data sets made no sense. I would have to go deeper into the code to verify whether or not the files had been altered.
"Display source code for Station Alpha student records, year 2145, grade nine, class designation one. Version May thirteenth, year 2146."
Staring at my prism, I expected a sea of binary digits to flood the screen within moments. Instead, though, I only heard a whirring, contemplating noise from the interface before it spoke.
"Access denied."
"What?" In all my years on Alpha, I’d never heard that sentence before.
"Access denied," the interface repeated politely.
"Display error message," I requested. Finally, words flooded my prism's screen. The same phrase repeated across my display, scrolling over and over.
Error code 42: Unauthorized
"What do you mean, unauthorized?" I muttered under my breath so the interface couldn’t hear. "These are public records."
A fundamental concept of Alpha, or so I’d been told from childhood, was the availability of all information to all residents at all times. If everyone shares the same information, they told me, they will share the same thoughts, and society will no longer be divided.
So, what kind of information needed to be hidden behind a vague error message? And, more importantly: who would dare?
CONFIDENTIAL
Audio Log
Recorded on May 19, 2148 at 11:48 PM
Jada Breaker. That name elicits respect from most, whether Terran or Enlightened. A great feat in our world. An accomplishment owing to her intelligence, her ability. But she is young.
I must be more careful. It's only a matter of time before she uncovers the evidence, and then there will be no stopping her efforts.
I can only keep the evidence hidden for so long.
There is no need for the evidence to be destroyed. Just the girl.
She is not timid, the way Miles was. I don't believe she'll be so easily convinced.
So, I'll bide my time. But this will be Jada Breaker's last year of life.
Chapter 11
"Malik, you're such an idiot! That's a terrible idea!" Charlotte could hardly get the words out between breaths of laughter.
"At least it's an idea! You got anything better?"
"Of course I have something better. I already said we could go shopping!"
"Girl, this is why we don't let you pick. All we ever do is shop, there's gotta be something better."
"Well, I think shopping is a great idea," Jenny piped in.
"Me, too!" Suki followed suit.
"Rowan, what do you think?" Charlotte asked the question with big, grey eyes, pleading with me to agree. Everyone turned to face me.
I shuffled my feet, feeling the walkway move under them. Bright white light reflected off the walls.
"If you girls really want to shop, go for it. Malik and I can find something else to do."
Charlotte’s lips pushed into a pout while Malik let out a relieved sigh.
"Fine, then," said Charlotte, tossing her long, blonde hair as she turned and stepped onto a different path. "Come on, girls!"
Jenny and Suki looked at us, looked at each other, and obediently jogged down the corridor to catch up with Charlotte. The walkway turned a corner and they disappeared.
"Those two don't really want to go shopping, do they?" I asked.
"Like they're gonna argue with Charlotte," Malik responded, a hint of disdain in his voice.
"Why do they listen to her?"
"Same reason the rest of us do, I guess.” I wanted to ask more, but Malik’s tone was final. "So, what are we doing, man? Not shopping, thank God."
I cracked a smile. "No, definitely not shopping. What's around here that I haven't seen yet?"
Malik lit up. "The rock-climbing wall! Charlotte hates that place, so we hardly ever go. But, she's not here right now."
"Sounds awesome," I told him. "Lead the way."
∆∆∆
Late that evening, I found myself sitting at a round booth in Harley's Tavern. The noisy bar was famous for its heavy music, blinding strobe lights, and free-flowing alcohol, which could legally be served to any station resident over the age of sixteen.
Tucked away into a quieter corner of the restaurant, we settled into an easy silence, broken only by demands for beer when the waitress walked by. I didn't think a place like Harley’s could exist on Alpha, where everything seemed so sophisticated, controlled, and efficient. My mind flicked back to the station library, and for a second I felt a strange nostalgia.
“Your usual,” said the waitress, returning with a tray of seven pints. She set five of them down, shaking the table with the impact of each mug before continuing to a pair of customers across the room.
“So, um, you guys come here a lot?” I couldn’t stop staring at a poster on the wall. It had been a smiling clown at one point, but discoloration from years of moisture trapped in the frame pooled around the clown’s face and gave it an eerie glare. Looking at it more closely, I wondered if it had been a glaring clown all along.
Jenny shrugged, glancing at Charlotte and Suki. “Enough.”
I blinked, pulling myself away from the clown’s gaze. Taking a sip out of my mug, I wrinkled my nose. “Does Zhang usually come here with you, too?”