"...lost within my own mind, aching beyond recourse; the only goals that compelled me to survive were to regain control of my being, my people and my faction. The latter two I gained back, but I don't think I've ever regained myself completely. Something of me is still missing…like a final task is still left incomplete…"

-Provost Prokhor Zakharov,

"The Mind of the University."

"Nathanial, I told you, no playing those web games until you finish your homework!"

Nathanial looked back at his mother, who was standing in the doorway of his room with her hands on her hips. The thirty-five year old housewife generally had an easy-going temperament, but she couldn't stand to see idle hands in her house. He sighed and turned his attention back to his monitor.

"I'll do them, Mom; I just need to finish this. Don't worry; I'll get good grades on this batch of homework, as usual."

She wasn't buying it. "Nathanial, you need to learn discipline. Just because you find this homework easy doesn't mean that you won't need to learn adequate study-"

"-Methods for the future," Nathanial finished with her in unison, "so that I can get into top University colleges someday. Yes, mother, I know. I said I would do it, just let me finish this."

The woman scowled, but she knew Nathanial; if she pushed any more, he'd just get more defensive. "Alright, but I want it done before you go to bed. Got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, half-sarcastically. He knew he'd won this battle.

"Your father will be home soon. I'm going to go start dinner." She turned and left the doorway.

Nathanial watched her go, and then he pushed a button on his monitor and reconnected to Mille. She smiled.

"Finally! I thought she'd never leave."

Nathanial moaned. "She thinks I'm just some kid, just like everyone else."

Mille shook her head. "I don't think that."

Nathanial rolled his eyes. "That's because you're my best friend."

Mille smiled again. "How long will it take to access the Gaian Defense Mainframe?"

Nathanial accessed his side computer and quickly typed commands into it. "…Now."

Mille raised her eyebrow. "It took you nine seconds to access the GDM?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "You'd think it'd be harder for a seventh grader to access the most advanced military network on Planet."

Mille shrugged back. "You're not exactly an ordinary seventh grader."

Nathanial snorted. "This is child's play. Anyone could do it, particularly an adult with a more advanced computer."

Mille shook her head. "I've tried. I can't get past the military locks, and I always end up getting caught hacking the password. Luckily, all they've done so far is just snap my connection, which is good...I'd rather not be thrown to the corrections committee."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "There are always backdoors into the mainframe. The Gaian tech-guys apparently aren't worried about hackers."

She shrugged. "Then you'll just have to teach me, one day."

He nodded, and then turned back to his screen. "So, what're we looking at today: Military, domestic, criminal, agricultural, foreign, or financial tabs?"

Mille pointed to him in the screen. "Oh, criminal, that sounds neat!"

"Alrighty." He pushed down on the tab on the screen. "Recent…archives…this just looks like drunks and thieves reports. I mean, look here: 'SIMKE FIEDE: ESTIMATED THEFT: $343.77. TIME OF IMPRISONMENT: 1DAYPRIOR. TIME OF SENTENCE: NOTYETESTAB."

Mille brushed away a stray bang of hair from her eyes. "Meh. Boring. Try something else."

Nathanial wasn't listening to her. He pushed a tab on his monitor.

"Nathanial?"

The boy turned to her. "This tab says 'The Armageddon', and it requires a password. It doesn't look there are any backdoors through this one, either."

Mille raised an eyebrow. "'The Armageddon'? That's odd."

Nathanial put a hand to his brow. "It's in the criminal tab, too…this tab isn't even public knowledge, so whatever's behind that tab has to be seriously under wraps."

Mille cocked her head sideways. "So, what do you suppose it is?"

Nathanial turned back to his side computer. "I have no clue. This is like nothing I've come across before so far in the GDM. What is Lady Deidre hiding in there?"

Mille looked contemplative for a moment…than Nathanial watched her turn around in the screen. "I need to go, I'm being called. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Nathanial."

He smiled at her. "Okay, good night, Mille."

He turned off the monitor and closed the access to the GDM. Whatever was there would have to wait until later. For now, he had to work on that homework before the oppressor came.