Max and the others walked in a few hours after the twins' latest discovery. Logan made a bee line for him computer room, while the three X5s dispersed – Jondy followed Logan, Zane headed for the kitchen, and Max walked towards Teli and Tye.
Should we tell her? Teli asked with a quick glance at her brother.
Not quite yet. He answered. Teli looked back to Max and smiled, scooting over on the couch so she would have a place to sit down.
"Hey guys." Max started, plopping down next to Teli. "You two have a long day?" She asked, sounding empathetic. Both twins nodded.
"It's... not exactly easy to stay in one place after almost a week of traveling." Teli explain. Tye backed her up with a definite nod.
"Yeah, I believe it. Sorry about that." Max replied, a sympathetic expression on her face. "Though, you shouldn't have to hang out here too much longer, I promise. If nothing else, I'll take you on the grand tour of Seattle." She said with a little laugh, "though, there isn't all that much to see." Teli liked the idea of the tour; her brief view of Seattle on the way was a rather blurred memory, probably due to the exhausted state she'd been in at the time. Tye rather agreed with Max's last comment about Seattle, he remembered quite vividly the condition on the streets. Though, a tour could be beneficial, he'd get a better lay of the city.
"Oh hey, you guys had a visitor today." Teli said, suddenly remembering the strange encounter. Max turned sharply towards Teli.
"A visitor?" She asked cautiously. Teli nodded.
"Yeah, name's Alec." Tye offered. "He said to tell you he had some info for you and Logan." He finished. Max relaxed, but raised an eyebrow.
"Alec huh? Should've known he'd come up with something sooner then expected." She said with a laugh. "Let me guess, he came in here all self assured acting like he owned the place?"
"That's about right." Teli answered. Max laughed again.
"Good to know some things never change." She said. Teli and Tye both got the impression that this Alec character would be an interesting, if not entertaining person to know.
"Hey guys, come in here a sec, I think we've found something." Jondy called from the computer room. Max, Teli, and Tye rose and made their way over. Logan was sitting at the computer, typing furiously while screens flashed across the monitor.
"What is it?" Max asked, leaning over Logan's shoulder and watching the screens wiz by. Logan's fingers didn't even slow down.
"We found a lot of recent activity on the Manticore database. Either someone hacked into it and took over the controls or the Wyoming facility is back in use." Jondy replied, pointing at the different screens.
"It's unlikely that someone is actually using that facility again, it'd just be too risky since the NSA took over the controls and shut the place down. Not to mention that most of the computers were probably destroyed." Logan explained. "So, my guess is that they're somewhere in the vicinity and have managed to tap into the network, if not fully take it over."
"And you're trying to hack into their system and figure out where they are." Teli ventured. Jondy shot a surprised glance in her direction.
"That's right," Logan offered. "But so far they've run me through a bunch of loop... Damn it!" His fingers stopped typing. A box flashed on his screen. Connection Lost.
A collective groan went around the three adults in the room. Starting over was going to be a frustrating task. Teli glanced quickly at Tye.
Maybe there is a way we can help without having to leave this place. She offered, touching the sliver bracelet on her left wrist. Tye nodded and broke the eye contact.
"Logan," Tye started. "Mind if we give it a try?" He couldn't help the confident half smile that tugged at his mouth. Logan glanced from Tye to Teli and back, then up at Jondy who shrugged.
"Let them try Logan." Max spoke up, seeing his hesitation. "They seem to have some confidence in their ability, maybe they have some training we don't know about." Logan looked about to protest, then shrugged and pushed his chair back away from the desk.
"Okay. Have at it." He said, waving them almost reluctantly towards the desk.
"Well, first we're going to need a couple things. Like two splitters and some extra cable lines." Teli replied, stepping towards the desk. Logan opened the lowest draw in one of his filing cabinets; it was filled with everything they could possibly need. Teli shot a glance at Tye.
"Lets do it." Her twin replied with a grin. Jondy and Logan looked on curiously while Teli disconnected and re-connected wires, plugging them into splitters and back into the computer until she and Tye were left with two ends of cable plugged in a one end, and not at another.
"Ready?" Teli asked Tye. Tye grabbed an extra chair and sat down next to Teli. Typing a few commands onto the keyboard, he re-established a connection.
"Ready." He replied, reaching for one of the extra cables.
"Whoa, whoa. Just a sec." Jondy intervened. "I'd like to know just what you two are planning before you dive into this." Tye turned and looked at her.
"Jondy... there's no real way of explaining it to you, you're... just going to have to watch." Tye tried to explain.
"Don't worry," Teli jumped in, "we know how to make sure we're not being traced and we'll be able to find out what you're looking for, for the most part we'll follow the path you already made, Logan." She explained further. Jondy and Logan exchanged a glance, Logan shrugged, looking unconvinced, but curious. Jondy nodded to the twins.
"Well, get on with it." Max said with a smile. "I want to see this new trick you two have worked up." At that Teli pulled off the silver bracelet and Tye undid his watch. Neither saw Jondy's eyes get huge as they plugged the extra cable lines into their wrist outlets.
Teli and Tye glanced at each other, took a deep breath in sync and closed their eyes.
The computer world opened in their minds. They both immediately recognized the complexity of the Logan's computer, it was much more advanced they anything they had been able to practice on, at least, in recent memory.
Teli found herself on what would best be described as a junction or crossroads area. Many thousands of pathways met and traveled on from this spot. To Teli's amazement she found she actually had a physical form in this place, instead of being invisible, she could see her hands in front of her and her feet below her, though it was a computerized image.
Tye? Where are you? Teli called out mentally, wondering if their telepathy worked in this place as well.
Right here. He answered from behind her. Teli turned towards him and both realized quickly that their telepathy was much more advanced within the computer, eye contact was not needed.
Tye also had a physical form, appearing to Teli as a computerize image of himself. We've got to follow Logan's trail before it gets lost in other commands. Lets go. Teli nodded and followed Tye as he moved off towards the center of the conjunction.
There. She pointed. Logan's path appeared to them as lighted strip, no doubt because countless energy particles had so recently traveled down it. They quickly jumped onto the path and moved off.
To Max and the other, Teli and Tye appeared to be asleep, except for some slight fluttering of their eyelids. Logan watched the computer screen intently. New windows popped up and flashed by rapidly, all in the same sequence as he had done, only much faster.
The twins moved swiftly along, following the lighted path. They passed through doorways, over passages and under bridges. Each knew that these doorways and such were supposed to be blocking their path, but Logan's earlier run had hacked through these barriers making their going much easier.
The path is growing dimmer Tye. Teli called as Tye passed quickly in front of her and through yet another doorway. Tye glanced back and nodded.
And the barriers are re-setting themselves. We'll have to move quickly. The door they had just past through shut with a click behind them. They ran on, following the slowly dimming path.
"They're getting real close to where I was cut off before." Logan commented. Jondy nodded, Max put a hand on each of the twin's shoulders.
The path took them through a narrow tunnel, dark except for their lighted way. They went single file, Tye's longer strides carried him a little in front. Their footsteps fell on a smooth surface and their outstretched fingers touched cool, smooth walls.
An opening appeared ahead of them. An orange, flickering glow lighted the walls, eating up the lighted path they followed. The twins moved on towards the light. But when they reached the end, they were forced to pull up short.
Well, now we know what broke Logan's connection. Teli said, gazing at the sudden end their path came to. Tye nodded and scanned the firewall in front of them. Teli's thoughts jumped back to the firewall she had gotten through on her last visit to the Manticore sight, only the one in front of her now was much brighter and thus much stronger.
Tye looked around him, trying to find a tool of some sort with which to test the wall. The tunnel behind them had been smooth walled, but it was most likely a pathway under some other obstacle. If they could find that, they could activate a warning in the wrong spot.
We need to make some sort of diversion. If the wall thinks there's a hacker it'll concentrate in one area and we can slip under it at a weak spot. Tye communicated. Teli nodded in agreement, turning to scan the walls around them.
Above their heads there appeared to be a veil of wires that skirted around the edge of the firewall. A few of them glowed with energy that passed through them. Teli pointed upwards. Tye followed her glance and nodded.
Tye spotted Teli as she scaled the wall near the entrance to the tunnel. Catching a hold of some of the stronger wires, Teli swung out away from the wall, making her way towards a junction of the active wires. Tye stayed below her. At the junction of wires Teli carefully detached a main wire. With a glance down towards Tye she took a hold of the now free wires and swung down, using her weight to pull the wires away from the ceiling.
Teli aimed the swing towards the firewall, gathering momentum. Just as the heat of the wall touched her face, Teli let go, dropping in a front flip towards the ground. Tye spotted her landing, keeping one eye on the wire. As hoped, the firewall seemed to grab a hold of the wire and flames gathered strongly around it. Teli and Tye ran back parallel to the wall and watched for an opening. A small lessening of the orange glow appeared close to the ground and instantly the twins threw themselves down and rolled through.
Heat seared around them and they rolled faster trying to get through. The flames seemed to get stronger, gathering around this new break. Just as the hot orange glow concentrated around them, they broke through. They sat up slowly, watching the hot glow turn red as if in anger that someone had broken through.
Teli turned from the firewall first. The image that met her eyes was nothing like the passageways and tunnels they had just journeyed through. Instead a little city appeared before their eyes. A long path stretched before them, leading towards the main gate. The landscape around the city was much like a valley complete with a tiny stream that ran a little ways off the main path.
Some pretty fancy programming here. Teli said as she looked around. Tye had turned and was scanning as well.
This was designed for people like us, people who can enter this world. It's just another block, yet this time more complicated. Tye replied, turning his eyes towards the city gate.
Then it's really just an image for us to get lost in. A diversion. We must be just within the Manticore sight, only they would have a need for this kind of programming, right? Teli asked, looking for the way through. Tye nodded his agreement.The gate can't be the real gate. I'm sure that it's just an alarm. He said thoughtfully, moving down the path a ways. There's another path around the city and out of the valley. He offered, indicating towards the smaller path. Teli shook her head.
Still too easy. Plus, this place is giving me an odd sense of déjà vu – I wish I could actually remember where to go! Teli replied, frustrated with the answer that hovered just out of her reach. Her keen eyes searched the digital world in front of her. The little stream flowed past in an easy calm, falling quickly down a little waterfall and disappearing around a bend. Teli's eyes came back to the waterfall. And then it clicked.
The waterfall. Tye, the path is under the waterfall! She said with a rush, running past Tye towards the pool that gathered at the base of the fall. Teli didn't hesitate when she reached the pool's edge; with a light spring she dove down, making her body streamlined, racing deeper and deeper. She vaguely heard Tye's splash as he followed. Her fingers touched a smooth surface. Searching quickly along it's surface Teli's hand found a handle, it turned easily and Teli passed through the small door. Behind it was another tunnel. Teli swam quickly pushing against the tunnel walls. An opening appeared above her, and she surfaced quickly.
Teli climbed out of the pool and helped Tye out as he surfaced just after her. The moment Tye fully left the water the pool dried up and disappeared. All traces of water vanished from their clothes and hair.
Teli and Tye found themselves in the middle of large, white room. The walls were lined with stripes of glowing wires, the floor and ceiling shimmered with energy as information flowed from one point to another. The twins exchanged a grinning glance.
We're in. They both echoed.
"How the hell did they do that?!" Jondy exclaimed. "They got right into the central database." She explained, still sounding shocked.
Logan immediately started typing and downloading information. Jondy's eyes quickly scanned the data that filed past on the screen, pointing to vital windows and important information. It was both a shock and a relief to see this screen. That the twins had actually made it in was impressive, even though both still appeared to be asleep in their chairs. The screen had gone blank for a few minutes and a box had flashed indicating an overload in information. Then suddenly this main sight had appeared, and they were working hard to get the information they needed.
We need a trace program, figure out where these people are working from. Teli said quickly. Tye nodded and stepped towards the wall in front of them.
I'll get the trace working. You see what else we can pull up. He replied quickly. Though neither twin in recent memory had entered such a place, both instinctively knew how to operate and control the information around them.
Tye stepped up to a wall and scanned the information passing before him. His brain automatically translated the digital code. He moved to the next well, adjusting his placing along the wall briefly, then reached both hands out and lightly touched the wall. A tracing program immediately opened like a liquid screen in front of him. Tye moved his fingers slightly, controlling the operation of the trace program, helping it along as it journey along the connection path of the hackers.
Teli watched her brother for a moment, and then moved off along the walls, scanning and interpreting the information in front of her. Details of the Manticore operation flashed by, information about it's founding, it's operations, and it's destruction. Teli moved on to a more active part of the wall.
A familiar sense pulled Teli towards the far corner. Teli reached out and placed a hand on the wall. A screen popped up in front of her. Brain wave patterns flowed across the screen. Teli moved her hand slightly. A heart monitor screen appeared. Teli felt her own heart rate increase as the monitor's peaks and valleys flashed by. Teli shifted again, tapping into a video monitor system.
A blue medical room appeared on the screen. The back of a blonde woman's head blocked the face of a patient, sitting in a chair. Teli shifted a finger, changing the angle of the camera. The woman was yelling. A red laser shone just in front of her. Teli shifted again. The face of the patient appeared, fully focused. And Teli screamed.
"It's Kat. Oh God, they have Kat!"