Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

25 - Loyalty Index

The server room sizzled with energy. Odiye could see the tendrils whipping back and forth, shimmering, barely-real lines of force connecting the powerful processors. The main power systems coursed beneath the floor plates; in front of him semi-circular groups of screens filled the chamber. A few of them had groups of AmpCore students clustered around them, alive with light, while others lay dormant.

He found Holly in the back corner, several empty banks away from the nearest group. A low hum of conversation filled the air around them, with students arguing over assignments from their Logistic tutors, or managing data files to sort and control the sea of information that the academy contained.

Holly beckoned him, over. Wearing a pair of academy trainers, some black leggings, and a tank top, she sat at the desk with one leg folded up beneath her, the other dangling loose and swinging back and forth.

Doing his best to seem nonchalant, Odiye swept another chair into place alongside her and sank down into it. He'd changed out of his ragged gym clothes into a simple set of black shorts, t-shirt and jacket, about as casual as you could get with what AmpCore provided. For a moment they sat in silence, and he didn't quite know where to start.

In the end, Holly beat him to it.

"You alright?" she asked.

He shrugged wearily. "I guess. Mattise made it very clear what he thinks of me."

"It's not your fault, you know, no matter what Mattise says. She chose to step into that arena with Ferra."

"She didn't know what she was doing. We should have stopped her."

"Then Ferra would have turned the Sharks on us for spoiling her fun." Holly placed a hand on his arm. "She'll be okay, Odiye. And now Ferra's proved her point she'll leave Piper be."

"Let's hope." Odiye nodded, not really feeling any better. Taking a deep breath, he gestured to the screen instead. "So, are you ready to do this?"

"I've come this far." She looked at him. "Date, time, and log number."

Odiye reeled off the information. Holly silently tapped at the holographic keys, filling out the fields as she spoke.

"I managed to get a Byzantium access designation," she explained. "My sponsors at Gammaton pulled a couple of strings. Didn't take too much convincing for them to want to take a prod at Skiltron, but that's the maximum clearance I'm going to get without something more substantial to go on."

"Let's just see what's on the database first," Odiye replied, leaning back in the chair and steepling his fingers together thoughtfully as he stared at the screen. On the day in question a slew of incidents scrolled down the screen, but Holly quickly located the log number.

"Alright..." she muttered, speaking more to herself than to him. "Cartwright Residential, Block 7538, Dock Grid East 24. That the place?"

"That's it," Odiye confirmed with a nod.

The file summary flashed up in front of them. He ran his eyes over it with growing consternation.

"You sure this is it?" Holly asked, glancing at him. "Just says 'Residential Disturbance' – Marked as situation contained, no wider public threat."

"Open the file."

"Alright, alright." Holly straightened in her seat, sliding closer to the screen, fingers flickering over the formless holographic keyboard. She keyed in a command, but when she did, a red error message blared up on the screen.

ACCESS DENIED.

"Huh."

"Why would they seal it like this?" Odiye hissed, leaning forward to peer at the screen.