Protector of Men Ch 5
Cover was again in the Matrix, this time assisting a recruitment for another ship, the Mayflower. Columbus, the Mayflower's captain, had said that this new recruit was vital, but he had proven hard to get. Once the Mayflower's crew had contacted him the agents had his signal immediately traced, then bugged. Now they not only had to debug him, but to convince him of the Matrix and his dangerous situation. Only two other coppertops had been traced before; one of them had been Zandra. Luckily for her though, she got out before she was caught.
So Cover, Alias and Shade had been called in to help. They were supposed to watch out for agents while the Mayflower's crew debugged the poor kid and told him what was happening to him. Cover guessed that it would be a rough day. The three all guarded different entrances to a run-down house in the suburbs of Manhattan, all watching vigilantly for any sign of a problem. They had rarely dealt with agents before - it seemed like they mostly ignored the rebels when they were in the matrix - and therefore no one sure what to do if they encountered one. Would they try to capture them, or just kill them? None of them knew. All they knew was that for now, if they saw an agent, they were to alert the Mayflower and run in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile Zandra and Trim were left on Purgatory to watch the ship. Trim was there to be the techie, and Zandra was there only because she wasn't ready to go back into the Matrix yet. Unfortunately, there was not much for them to do while the three were on the mission. Yet, Kesia was also there to keep them company - she was left out by default because she was their operator.
Zandra was a bit disappointed that she didn't get to go out with Cover and the rest of them. If she had lived in the Matrix for twenty-two years, why couldn't she go back now? It didn't sound like the mission would be very hard - it sounded to her like they would basically be waiting for someone to be jacked out of the Matrix. She understood that Trim stayed behind because he had to do work in their absence, but she didn't see why she had to as well. For most of the day, she wandered around the ship glumly, hoping that maybe one day she would be a contributor like the rest.
It had been a week since her fight with Shade, and he had barely spoken with her since that day. Generally they had avoided each other. Every time she had seen his figure, his straight brown hair showing from behind a corner, his hazel eyes glancing nonchalantly at her, she froze. What had happened that made him so mad? The rest of them had seemed happy enough - Cover had congratulated her on her combat skills, and even Alias had commented on how well she did. It was almost enough for her to forget about Shade's negativity. Almost.
The last few days had been pretty quiet. Zandra had been regularly jacking in to various practicing programs, and was beginning to master the many new techniques that she had learned in the training upload. It seemed like she was closer to being equal with the rest of the crew, just 'one of the guys', like she had hoped. yet the day before, Cover had announced that he, Alias, and Shade would be going into the Matrix to get a recruit. They were mysterious about it, and left early the next morning. Zandra and Trim were left twiddling their thumbs in the silence.
Trim was in the cockpit, staring out the large window into the piped tunnels around them. He almost liked being left behind, because it left him the ranking officer on the ship. Without them there, he had more power. He could drive the ship if he had to, he could order Kesia to take them out, and run the EMP. So he sat in the captain's chair of the cockpit, quietly admiring all the controls and buttons around him.
Zandra soon found her way to the cockpit and decided to join him. Maybe she would enjoy his company.
"Busy, huh,"
He was a little surprised at her voice, but concealed his sudden fear.
"Oh yeah," he joked, "I'm sure glad I'm not stuck with the rest of them."
He then turned more cynical.
"I'm sure they're bored out of their minds."
Zandra could sense his bitterness. Upon her entrance, Trim remembered that there was nothing that he could really do. He couldn't run the EMP without killing everyone jacked in, he couldn't drive the ship without a copilot (and Zandra knew nothing of steering), and Kesia probably wouldn't listen to him anyway. He might as well be wandering around, like Zandra. Like he didn't know anything.
"They probably thought you were the best person to keep onboard."
Trim was silent, then responded quietly, "Shade would have been better stuck here than me. I've been here longer than he has."
It was Zandra's turn to be quiet. She was in a bit of an awkward situation, but figured that if he felt comfortable enough to confide in her, then she was one step closer to being a true part of the crew. Even his stature displayed anger – hunched over in the seat, his shaved head resting on his hand.
"No, Cover put him there because he won't stay around me," she replied. Perhaps she had confided too much… "Plus, you would know more about the ship than him."
Trim sighed, then slowly nodded his head. Zandra was relieved.
"That's true," he said, staring at the scenery outside, "He's never been really trained for the ship maintenance."
Zandra was confused, "But isn't that done with an upload?" She waited a moment for his response, but soon recalled that she could not remember anything having to do with the ship mechanics.
"No, if that were done, a program could steal it and take our information. You have to learn this stuff in the real world." Trim breathed deeply and propped his feet up on the control panel, subtly making sure he didn't accidentally start the ship.
It made enough sense, she figured. A safety measure installed so that the integrity of their information would be kept safe.
"What do you have to learn?"
"Controls, maintenance," he replied, turning to face her, "most of it depends on past coding experience." Zandra stared, nonplussed.
"Hacking stuff," he explained.
"You were a hacker?"
"Yeah," he replied, with a mysterious look.
"Is that how they got you out?"
Trim nodded. "I was in prison when they finally found me,"
Prison? That sounded a little extreme. Quiet, shy Trim had been in prison?
"Prison?"
"Okay, juvenile hall. I was fourteen."
"Why were you there?"
"Why else?"
Both paused.
"How could hacking get you into prison?"
Trim figured that Zandra had never been in any trouble before. He also guessed that she had never gotten into hacking, but that seemed a bit hard to believe...
"I hacked into the CIA database and found information on Cover and a bunch of older people."
"They had that?"
"I had to dig deep."
"And they tracked you?"
"I left my handle somewhere in the coding, and the CIA found out. They threw me in prison." He paused a moment, then added, "But it could have also been the matrix responding to what I had found."
"Geez," Zandra breathed. Trim nodded again, looking rather solemn.
"I took the first chance out I got."
"I bet,"
"Yeah,"
Both were silent for a little while, and it soon became apparent to Zandra that he would not reciprocate - ask how she got out. She self-consciously ran a hand through her hair, but only got air again. She quietly got back up and retraced her steps to the main room. Kesia was still sitting at the computer screens, still intently watching the incessantly falling code. Zandra was jealous of her long wavy hair, she looked so exotic, so normal. Kesia probably never had to worry about looking like a man, now did she? She saw Zandra come up and instantly smiled. How can she be so nice?
"Having fun?" she asked Kesia, glancing at the screens. Kesia laughed.
"Of course I am. They're still just standing around. Columbus is talking to the kid now,"
"Right," she replied. Zandra was beginning to notice patterns in the falling code - she had learned some in the training program, but not enough to decipher anything yet.
"So have you heard anything about this kid?" Zandra asked curiously. Maybe this kid wasn't a hacker, either.
"Not much," she replied, "everything I know is just from the code I see."
"What do you know so far?"
"Well, he's about twenty three, making him about your age."
That would be nice, Zandra thought to herself, maybe it would be someone she could truly relate to. Maybe she would even get to meet this person - it seemed like the Mayflower's crew knew Cover pretty well.
"He was an underground hacker I think, that would make the most sense. But I would guess he's just a college kid who got a little too deep."
"Yeah." It strangely reminded Zandra of her own story. She had been just a college girl herself - classes during the day and sorority parties at night.... And it was only until she started that damn project that stuff started to go wrong... But he was a hacker.
"So what's this guy's name?"
Kesia was silent, trying to remember what she had been told.
"Um, I don't remember exactly, maybe Tevy or something. Oh," she suddenly said, punching a button, "operator?"
"Yes Kesia," Cover said stonily, still standing next to the door that he was supposed to be guarding, "We're finished, and we've been traced - do we have an exit?"
Kesia instantly went into action, pushing and typing on the machinery surrounding her. "There's one right in the building across the street on the fifth floor."
"Specifics?" he asked, sounding a little bit apprehensive.
"Third door on the right, I'll be waiting."
Cover hung up after that, and that was all the information Zandra got. Minutes later, all three came back to life, staggering out of their chairs with heaving breaths.
