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Cinq
“Damn it,” I yell, tapping on my pad like a madman. With Nilt and my device bugged, I can bet the entire Gharian nanosystem has been.
“What’s going on?” Jessica asks me.
I don’t have a microsecond to spare but can feel her and Quin’s fear. “You two have Vahdmoshi nanos. Use them in various ways while I deconstruct this attack.”
“Holy shit, attack?” she whispers before going to Quin. “The Gharians are down right now, so let’s kick ass in helping Cinq and Nilt.” Quin nods as they settle in together.
Nilt is still motionless, but I can’t focus on him right now. If every Gharian with nanos has been compromised, and it looks like they have, mini disasters are happening everywhere. I wince when seeing the code because whoever created the programming knew where to strike. Almost too well, actually. I refocus, looking at what I can stop, then reverse, and hopefully repair.
“Cinq,” Jessica says. “It’s a virus from the Kostans in a message marked urgent.”
I knew that, but don’t say so. Instead, I prod her for more with, “Anything else?”
She nods, her eyes still glazed while she accesses the information. “Most of their victims opened the notification, thinking the source could be trusted. It’s been sent to every augmented Gharian and their tech. The Kostans are claiming a victory.”
“Bikkers,” Quin says.
“Good work, and yeah. Bikkers.” Something Jessica said about tech sticks in my mind and I double check the code. I almost chuckle when seeing a good way to hit them back. The Kostans know about bionans but their hacker forgot to include the biologically based nanotech in the attack. So, as much as I hate the emperor, he and his family, which includes S’Tou, are unaffected. I exhale, relieved they’re safe at least.
Their crafts, devices, and homes however? Those are now bugged. I sigh when an urgent notice comes in from the empire. Those fleegans assume I’m behind the hack? I guess so, because there’s a message from Noni, too. I sigh, wanting to throw the pad across the room in frustration, especially over Noni’s accusation.
“What’s wrong?”
I glance up to find Jessica’s clear blue eyes trained on my face. Her irises are mildly cloudy, so she’s accessing something at the moment. I just smile at her. “The emperor thinks all this is my fault.”
“Oh, shit.” She straightens. “But S’Tou? He can tell the emperor what’s really happening, can’t he?”
“He can and will.” I go back to my pad after giving her a wink. “I’m not worried about anything Emperor Eldan does to me. I'm more concerned with what the Kostans have unleashed on everyone else." I scan the code. “This is messy.”
“I should leave you alone, then.”
I take her hand before it can slide from my knee. “For a little while, yes, but not for long, all right?”
She gives me a sly grin. “Of course. Never for long.”
I watch for a moment as she goes back to her information hunt before I return to mine. Shifting to a more comfortable position, I scroll though, copying the malware into a clean document for easier manipulation. Nilt needs fixing first, so I focus on cleaning up his system to begin with.
The living quarter’s temperature in here is warm but not enough for how I’m sweating. This datapad is better than nothing, yet I wish S’Tou had the newer and made-in-this-century infopad. Projecting the code in the air via hologram would have been far more helpful in getting a bigger picture of what this program does.
After a while, I don’t know how long, I look up to see why the room is so quiet. Nilt and Quin are gone and Jessica sits at the dinner table, zoned out. I begin to talk, my voice a rasp. “Hey, where is everyone?”
She gives her head a shake before going to the replicator. “Nilt finally recovered but is still feeling off. He’s not connected at all and wanted to go out for some air. Quin went, too, to keep an eye on him.” She brings me a glass of water and a bowl of fried luz rounds. “They’ve been gone a while. I thought about going with them but decided to stay in case you needed anything.”
I take a long drink, happy she landed on my planet. “Thank you.”
“Is it unsolvable?” She nods at the screen. “Or maybe we all need to shut down and restart our nanos?”
Laughing, I nod and take the snack from her. “A reset? Not yet. I’ve isolated the problem but want to be certain I’m not breaking one thing while fixing another.”
“Sounds very prudent of you,” she says and gives my forehead a kiss.
I’d pull her down for a real smooch but am sure I have tikk seasoning on my lips, plus people need my help. “I’ll want more of that later, you know.”
“I do too, so hurry up and save the universe.”
I laugh, but don’t correct her that it’s just the galaxy as she goes back to the table. Chewing, I examine the changes I want to make, going over them one last time, then again, until I’m ready to send the code to Nilt. Standing up, I stretch while telling Jessica, “Let’s see if this works on Nilt.”
