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

win gold like my father. He won it at twenty-one. I’ll be twenty,” he says with certainty.

I wish I had even a fraction of his confidence.

He pushes up from the bench in a fluid motion to stand in front of me. “Here, check out his medal.”

It’s smooth and cool, and light glimmers off its golden surface as I rotate it. “It’s nice that you have this to remember him by.” It’s like my dad’s letter.

“After my dad died, I vowed to win a gold medal in his name. I want to show my mom I can be as great as he was.”

Admirable quality and similar to my goal of being a great programmer…or hacker now, I suppose.

“But I’m such a boss. It will be easy for me.”

And there’s the difference. “Where’s your mom?”

“She lives outside of Stroudsburg in the house my dad built. I thought it was best if she stayed there when things went down. At least she has my dog, Leonidas, for company.”

“Weird name.”

“He’s named after a famous Greek military king.”

Of course.

“I miss him, but my mom needs company,” he says.

“Do you miss your mom?”

“Yeah, I lived with her before this, but I talk to her all the time. She loves to hear about all my heroic deeds. She’s a patriot at heart. Her new favorite is the story of how I saved you.”

It’s my favorite too. So that’s who he keeps talking to on his q-link. “Let me guess. She’s a track star,” I say, feeling like I can be more myself with him.

“She was a professional soccer player,” he says with a chuckle. “I considered doing that, but I want a gold like my father.”

Impressive family.

“Let’s go to the command center and see what’s going on,” he says, taking back the medal.

“Command center?”

He shrugs. “The main hall.”

I shake my head, always amused by Alexander. I wave to Sunny. “Coming?”

“I’ll stay,” he says and motions to his hologram. Bean swims in the air to Sunny’s side.

“That’s some toy you have,” says Alexander.

A butterfly hits the wall of my stomach. Does he suspect something? I had better tell Sunny to only play with Bean in the room. “I programmed him to do that. I thought it would be funny.”

We walk out to the main hall.

Gabriel stands in front of his followers. “And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Sounds rough, but not much worse than I’ve been through.

Gabriel continues, “My fellow Knights of Christ, the end of the world is near. It’s clearer now than ever that Xyphotech’s Evo is the mark of the beast. Eventually, they will demand that we install the mark. They will cut us off from the economy if we don’t. What are we going to do when that happens?”

His Knights say as one, “We will refuse in the name of our God.”

I pull my attention away to see Yumi leaning against a wall, her one leg up, playing the harmonica. Her eyes linger on Astrid, who squats with a barbell across the room.

Others lounge around, chatting or eating. Brandon stands close to a young female Loyalist that I don’t know. He pokes her, and she giggles. Weird Tom is springing a deck of cards between his hands, his long beard mostly hiding a slight smile.

“I’ll talk to you later Sprite,” says Alexander.

A pang of irritation hits me. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

His grin flashes. “You’re like a fairy, you know small, sweet, from the Fae.”

Ohh. Fae means the fairy realm. It’s weird that my parents named me that. Too bad I can’t ask my mom about it. He thinks I’m sweet. Maybe the nickname is okay.

He winks at me and walks off toward his usual bench. Nearby, Nav sits on a couch, meditating, her hair pulled back in a spiral-patterned headband. The image of the blimp crushing her husband appears in my mind, and a pang of guilt hits me.

 “Want some holy basil tea?” asks Americus to my left. “It’s relaxing. You look like you could use it.”

I push the dark memories from my head and accept the warm mug.

“If you want some, Brandon, I left an extra cup in the kitchen,” says Americus as Brandon walks over.

Nav opens one eye and looks from me to Americus to Brandon. She smiles at Brandon and closes her eye again.

“And thanks for growing this new batch of herbs,” Americus continues. “It certainly helps with stress.”

“Of course, sir. Anything I can do to help out,” says Brandon. He points his arm toward the mug of tea. A device on his wrist hums. An instant later, a small quadcopter drone unfolds and zips into the kitchen. Small arms with grips extend to wrap around the mug. It flies back and hands the tea to Brandon.

Oh, cool. I want one of those.

Brandon sips his tea, then says, “I’ve been thinking about what you said, sir. Do you really think we could have another economic collapse?”

“Unfortunately, yes. An attack of this magnitude on American soil will disrupt supply chains and massively affect GDP. While our government has low debt, consumer and business debt is at fifty-year highs.”

Brandon runs a hand through his parted hair and lets out a long exhalation.

I cross my arms. I’m reluctant to talk to Americus, but I’m too curious not to ask. “Why did the economy collapse before the revolution?”

Americus grins at the question. He sits and motions to the seating across from him.

I drop onto the soft couch, and my tea sloshes onto my lap. Brandon lowers himself next to me and smiles as he looks at