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

who had schizophrenic breaks. And strangely enough, like Barbra, this woman Anna was unresponsive to the typically successful medications and had no history of mental illness in the family.”

“Weird,” she says. “Let’s see if we can find any other similar articles here or outside of Stroudsburg.”

We both search for a while but have no luck.

I rub my head in frustration as I watch holographic tree branches blow in a fake breeze.

“Let’s go back to the three women,” says Nav. “Was the third woman, Sandra, also unresponsive to medication with no family history?”

I re-scan the article. “It doesn’t say, but I can figure out which hospital they took her to and get answers.”

I access my q-link and find the address of the courthouse where Sandra was rescued, then look up the closest hospital, Stroudsburg Regional.

I breach their outdated systems, locate Sandra’s file, and scan the information. Diablo. “She didn’t respond to medication and has no family history either!”

“Wow, this is getting weird. There’s definitely a connection. But what could be causing it?”

“I don’t know. Barbra and Sandra both had the flu before or while they were hallucinating. There are no diseases that cause flu-like symptoms and hallucinations, though. Encephalitis is the closest thing, but it doesn’t fit because the hallucinations shouldn’t last past the disease.”

“We need to check if Anna also had the flu. It may be nothing, but what if there’s some new disease?”

I nod. “I considered that. Let me hack her social media account.”

Before I start, Nav’s cybernetic fingers zip through the air as she hacks. “I’m in her Bazo account.”

“That was fast.”

She grins. “I am still your teacher.”

“Any mention of the flu or flu symptoms? It could be anytime in the last few weeks.”

She flicks a finger, and Anna’s posts scroll through the air. “Wait…here we go. She says, ‘The only thing worse than my stuffy nose, is how tired I am.’ It was a week ago.”

My eyes widen. “Could it be?”

“We’ll have to contact the Center for Disease Control. Maybe this is enough to clear your name.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We need to confirm that she had the flu.” I locate her address, then breach the simple defenses of nearby doctors’ offices until I find hers. “She wasn’t in for the flu, but that doesn’t mean anything. Wait,” I say with a sigh. “She has allergies. That might be all it was. See if you can confirm that.” I pull at one of my curls while I wait.

“Cube,” she says into her q-link, “locate anything about allergies or the flu.”

“There are five mentions of allergies. There is one mention of the flu,” says her q-link.

I lean forward.

Nav shakes her head. “It was from three years ago.”

I slump. “So much for that theory.”

“What else do the women have in common?”

“They’re all women,” I say, “but that probably doesn’t mean anything.” What else could it be?

An idea strikes me, and I picture my mom on her deathbed. Her face was slack and gray tinged. Despite her spasms of pain, she pushed herself up on her elbow and locked eyes with me. ‘Swear to me,’ she said. ‘Swear you’ll never get the Evo.’

It can’t be. An Evo hasn’t malfunctioned in fifteen years, but what if? “Could it be the Evo? Barbra got one just before her break.”

Her eyes widen. “That could be really bad. Let’s see if Anna and Sandra had the Evo before we get worried, though. I’ll check Anna.”

Nav’s cybernetic fingers move and select holograms as she scans Anna’s social media. Her face falls. “She wrote this a month ago, ‘I see why they want to pass job quotas for norms. I just upgraded, and wow, I’ll be an even greater asset to the Cardinal Post.’ She had it. Tell me that Sandra didn’t.”

I access Sandra’s social media and scan her posts. A cold dread sizes my body. “Three weeks ago, Sandra wrote, ‘they expanded the Evo to my department. What could be better than evolving at the employer’s expense?’”

“Oh my God. If it’s the Evo, a third of the population is at risk.”

I shiver as I think of the potential consequences. The issue seems limited now, but what if it spreads? “Why didn’t they ban brain implants? They banned human-level AI?”

“Evos are controlled by the brain and usually don’t have problems,” says Nav. “Whereas AI has a mind of its own. It’s much more dangerous.”

I glance at Sunny. He watches a parrot glide from one holographic tree to another, giving no indication he’s listening.

“I know it would be terrible if the Evos are the issue,” I say, “but we can clear my name if we can prove it.”

“Do you think it could be a malfunction like what happened to your mother?”

“It’s possible. Can you look up if there was a cluster of manufactured Evos that were sent to our area?”

Nav’s enhanced fingers fly as she searches. “Nope. Our Evos here are part of a wider distribution all over the country.”

“Since there were no other strange schizophrenic situations outside of Stroudsburg, it can’t be a malfunction then,” I say. “I wonder if it could be a hack or some advanced malware.”

Nav adjusts her legs. “We all remember what happened when the early brain implants were hacked, but the Evo is different. It’s been shown to be unhackable, and honestly, I’ve taken a shot at it. It’s like nothing else I’ve come across. I can’t see how it would be possible.”

I stare off into the corner at some swaying ferns, my hand over my mouth, and my brow furrowed. Unfortunately, I know that it’s possible and no amount of wishing otherwise will change that.

“Fae…Fae?” asks Nav.

I flinch and jerk my head toward her. “What?”

“I said, what else do you think could cause