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“I have no idea,” said Loir, as intrigued as she was. “That one didn’t come out of the toy factory... Don’t start playing around with it just yet, Kitty. Let’s finish our business here first.”
“Right.”
Quickly, Eden put all the documents back in the box, only keeping the strange star with her. She wasn’t sure if she should put that box back or destroy it, though. It would be like putting a file back where it was after she had made a copy... Maybe it would be better to just destroy it. For now, she left it on the desk and turned to the computer. It wasn’t like real-life computers. It had a square screen, and instead of a keyboard, there was just one large mat.
“Ready, Loir?”
“Let’s play, Kitty.”
Eden nodded and pushed the single button below the screen. The computer lit up instantly and lines of codes began appearing. This part was completely Loir’s domain of expertise. Despite her own knowledge, Eden could only understand half of what she could read, and most of it was way too fast for her to grab anything. She only noticed that the code defiling was some sort of loop, with only a few lines changing each time.
“Oh, nice, nice, typical Core style this time... Oh, I like a little fun. They’ve done twenty-three upgrades since our last visit? Really? Damn, their builders have been busy...”
“Builders?” repeated Dante.
“The ones who keep building the Core,” explained Eden, letting Loir focus on his part. “Although the AI should be able to develop by itself and adapt, it often needs some human help to check on some breaches in the code, help put in new defenses, or simply do routine maintenance. They are like the human part of the Core, even if it could function without.”
“They are no better than bees working for the Queen,” sighed Loir. “A builder is like a hacker who never grew out of the sandbox... Poor little ones, so young and already being chewed up...”
Eden could witness it too. She smiled when a black-and-white Pac-Man character suddenly appeared among the lines of the code and began eating it. Loir just couldn’t help himself... She waited for a while as he dug through the code, breaching the security more and more. Eden was ready to go, though. This was the most complex and risky part of their little excursion, and where she was the most at risk of being found out. While Loir could never have gotten inside this deep if it wasn’t for his Dive partner, Eden was the one that was most vulnerable.
She kept glancing around to check if anything unusual moved. Her eyes were frequently going to the star too. She wanted to try it out. Just like those documents they had found, this was so typical of her master’s work...
“Kitty, get ready!”
Eden refocused on the screen, putting her fingers on the flat mat. She quickly found Pac-Man, who had changed appearance, still fighting against the Core’s code.
“Is that a... white orangutan?”
“It’s a yeti!” protested Loir. “I actually spent time on that, Kitty, I’m really offended now.”
Eden rolled her eyes. He really had too much free time on his hands... Still, she didn’t have time to scold him. Soon, the lines of codes began disappearing, and the normal access appeared. It was like looking at a different folder with black boxes and dozens of files with name codes. Eden used the mat like a keyboard, hacking her way inside each file. She only had to open them, glance at the document, and close it. Loir could access and view it again from her SIN... as long as she came out. It was like a direct transfer from that computer to her brain, her eyes going in all directions on the screen like a scanning machine. If she couldn’t open a file and didn’t manage to hack it, Eden left it aside for Loir to try his luck with it. The yeti was still jumping from one file to another, working his way through those that had refused to open for her.
“How much?”
“We’re about 30% through.”
She kept opening and closing them fast. She had to make sure not to leave any open for too long or it could trigger some sort of security breach. However, the number of files Loir had forced to open was growing, and this would definitely grab some unwanted attention sooner or later...
Suddenly, an alarm rang above her head.
“Oops, time to run, Kitty!”
Eden nodded, but she was already typing fast to finish closing everything. She knew that from then on, she didn’t have a single second to lose. The yeti disappeared, and she turned the computer off quickly, getting up. She grabbed the star but was hesitant about the Pan box.
“Loir, destroy it,” she finally declared.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind but it’s going to have your location light up like a Christmas tree on their radars, Kitty!”
“Just do it!”
She ran out of the room, holding her star and letting Loir destroy the box she had left behind. Now that she was back on the square balcony, she could see all the bots in suits from earlier had suddenly changed their directions, heading toward her. They weren’t walking anymore, and the closest one was barely two rooms away.
Eden glanced around, but there was another one coming behind her, and she knew trying her luck with any one of the rooms would be pointless.
“Lower floor?”
“Second one,” said Loir in a breath, his typing furiously buzzing in Eden’s ears.
