Jane's a teenage weirdo. She's awkward, plain, anxious, and above it all, a hacking prodigy.
Ryder's the quintessential high school hero, or so it seems. Dark secrets that threaten their lives are uncovered when Jane decides to snoop into Ryder's...
She was there again, spinning away in the skies, the garden all around them. A sky awash in hues of blue and purple, though no sun could be seen. An island surrounded by the endless expanse of blue, high in the atmosphere.
A red-haired man was sitting next to her, a spotless white suit stretched over narrow shoulders. The stone bench beneath them was cold, yet surprisingly comfortable. The man sighed, a look of resignation adorning his face.
"You never learn, do you, Janey?" her father asked. His smile was as familiar as it ever was, relaxed in a way Jane could never replicate.
The wind was stirring through the garden, hissing between the grass. Jane's hair swirled around her eyes, momentarily obscuring her father from view.
"I guess not..." Jane admitted. She looked at the ground, the brick pathway lead off into the distance, ending abruptly where the garden met empty sky. The clouds were flowing beneath in a sea of white. Not a single speck of the Earth was visible beneath.
Her father's arm encircled her, pulling her closer. "That's alright. Every system has a point of failure. Recursive learning algorithms often fail when given a large picture. They need to break it down first."
"What?" Jane asked, utterly confused.
He shook his head. "You understand what I'm saying. You just need to think about it."
"But dad, I don't."
His hand rubbed her shoulder. He did not reply.
"I'm scared dad. I don't know who to trust. It feels like-"
"No, no." He was shaking his head, face turned towards the sky. There was no sun, yet his face was perfectly lit. "No feeling. Recursive learning. Break it into smaller pieces. And do it quickly. You don't have much time."
Jane's lips pressed together. Smaller pieces. And quickly.
Victoria had been watching her back, even before Jane had confessed her secret to her. An ever-present fixture in her otherwise lonely life. It was only by accident that Jane had discovered a reason to doubt her.
Ryder had, so far, proven himself to be absolutely trustworthy. There had been many speed bumps, but he had always pulled through in the end. If anyone was on her side, it was him.
And then there was Watson, who, in his own words, was only doing this for his job. He was as mercenary as they came, stooping low enough to use a teenage girl as a one-woman reconnaissance team. The wild-card of her loosely connected resistance movement.
Loosely connected, but somehow still connected.
"I'm missing something. Information." Jane looked up, face set in determination. Her father was right. She had to separate herself from her emotions, break the problem into smaller pieces and-
"Dad?"
He was gone. She was alone in the garden, legs grown cold against the stone bench.
And then a crash pulled her from her dreams.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
