The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1) by Brian Terenna (best ebook reader .txt) 📗

the window. On the way in, my shoelace gets stuck on a nail. I tumble to the ground inside with a grunt.

Oww. I lie there for a second, then crawl over to my blanket and collapse.

  CHAPTER 4

SELF-AWARE

Sunny stands over me. “I’m going to scan you to make sure you have no serious injuries.”

I’m too fried to respond.

“You have several contusions and minor cuts but no serious damage.”

That’s good at least. Too bad I’m in so much pain. “I’m sorry I lost Bean. I know how much you like him.”

“That doesn’t matter, Fae. You are much more important to me. Even though I never told you, I consider you to be my mother.”

Awww. He’s not human, but I feel closer to him than anyone in forever. I hug his metal body. You would think it would be unpleasant, but when he wraps his little arms around me, I feel loved. “Thank you, Sunny.”

“What are we going to do, Fae? Things are even worse now.”

You’re telling me. First, I need to charge my q-link. “Hold on. I need to do something, then we’ll figure it out.”

Most people have ambient power in their houses to charge all devices. Maybe I can extend the neighbor’s power beyond the borders of their house. I was hoping I’d be done hacking after the ATM, but what choice do I have now? If I’m going to avoid the police, I need to do this.

I access the neighbor’s power network, and the defensive program projects from my wrist. It’s child’s play, but I’ll only have seconds before my battery dies. Am I fast enough?

I scan the code, then attack with a flurry of commands. I hack as fast as I can, but my dwindling battery distracts me. I force my mind to focus and execute the final lines.

An instant before my battery dies, I break through and extend the electric field in my direction. My q-link’s power increases. I wait until it’s full, then undo my hack.

I lie back down. “Let’s figure out our next steps.”

“I think we need help. We should contact Blaze.”

I’d love to have someone save me, especially since I don’t know if I can do this alone, but… “Another person will only make things worse.”

He sits next to me and rests his hand on mine. “Fae. You have several injuries, we still have no money, and you’re wanted for murder. Things can’t get much worse.”

I want to argue, but I’m just too tired. I twist to my side, my dark curls draping over my face.

“This seems too big for you to handle, and Blaze is your friend.”

“But the second law,” I say.

He frowns. “I know. But you broke it once.”

The hug Barbra gave me when I said I wanted her to adopt me thawed my icy core. I wouldn’t have admitted it then, but I felt safe.

The image of scissors protruding from her chest flashes before my eyes.

I push it away. “It was a disaster. I can’t go through something like that again. I don’t need anybody anyway.”

“But I do. Will you call her for me? It won’t be like that again,” he says, his hand squeezing mine.

His little pleading voice makes me want to despite what I went through. “I can’t call her. I didn’t help her with the hack. Do you understand? She needed me, and I wasn’t there. Now, I need her, and she’s supposed to come running? I can’t call her. I can’t.”

“You wanted to do the hack, though. You had the complication with Barbra. Maybe you can tell Blaze that.”

I nod slowly. Maybe she would understand. Who knows? It would be nice to have help to get on my feet, at least. After that, I can leave and take care of myself again.

What if she got arrested for her hack since I didn’t help, though? I would feel terrible. I guess there is only one way to find out. “I’ll contact her.” And suddenly, I’m ready to break the second law again. I can’t wait until this blows up in my face.

At least if I plead to her as StarFeather, she’ll be more likely to listen. In-game, she was always there for me. “Chim, access Silent City.”

“Your account has been deleted.”

What? No way! “Chim, access the game archives.” They store deleted accounts for a while. I can get it back.

After a short hack, I’m into the archives. I scan through the deleted accounts. It’s not there. I smack the ground. Hell, this is cracked. It has to be connected to my deleted apps and Progs account.

I check to see if there’s any record of my account and find that they’ve accused me of violating the service agreement for the second time. I’m also banned from starting new accounts for six months. There’s no way I violated anything, but it’s not as if I can contact them since I’m a wanted criminal.

Silent City was always a rewarding, safe escape for me, and now, it’s over. A year of progress on my character, StarFeather, is lost forever. I’ll need another way to contact Blaze now too.

I’ll have to hack into the game and get her data. The servers are local, so she should at least be on this side of the state. I access the game, and after a few minutes, I locate her name and contact information.

Naveha Jain. She lives in Stroudsburg. That helps. I lift my q-link to call, then lower it, biting my lip. I imagine Blaze’s anger since I didn’t help her. I don’t know if I can take it. I sigh and call her anyway.

“Hello,” she says.

For a moment, I say nothing, then hesitantly, I say, “Blaze, it’s me, StarFeather.”

“How did you get my number? How do I know it’s