Cytronica

Eight

Monday

The afternoon sun was high, shining its light on the school below. The blue sky was not unlike that of Cytro's—cloudless and crisp. Serene.

"What if we just do half autonomy then?" Diego suggested. "We should ease into it.

Hunter let out a low growl. "No. Stop trying to change my mind. I honestly don't know what your problem is, man."

Diego shifted his position. The steel table bench in the schoolyard was far from comfortable. He stared at the boy sitting opposite. "My problem is that I don't want Casey calling the shots in Cytro. We're the administrators; we should be in charge."

"Casey's not in charge of anything," Hunter dismissed. "Don't forget—Zack and I are the ones who modified the code in the first place."

Zack opened his mouth to protest, wanting to remind Hunter that he altered the code solo, but decided against getting involved in the petty debate.

"I just think we should be easing into things," Diego repeated. "I don't want to do anything we can't handle."

Hunter threw back his head and laughed in a dramatic fashion. "We? I can handle things just fine. I'm not going to waste every day by tweaking just one little parameter a fraction. That'll grow old fast."

"Well, you kind of have a point there," Priya confessed. "We've done one thing in Cytro so far and everyone already wants more."

"Exactly. We need to keep the masses happy."

"But then what do you have planned for tomorrow?" Diego enquired, still not convinced. "If we grant the bots autonomy today, what's next? And then the day after? I'm worried things will get out of hand quickly."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Just relax, will you."

A towering figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere, nudging Diego aside and squeezing onto the bench. Casey looked at the other four. "Good afternoon, everyone," he greeted.

"Good day, sir," Hunter said with a smile, holding up a hand and high-fiving his new friend.

"Are we all excited? Today's the day."

Priya looked at him and faked a smirk. "Sure."

"Alright, so, what's the plan? Run it by me again."

Diego furrowed his brow. "Plan? There's no plan. We're not robbing a bank here."

Zack tried not to laugh. "Yeah, it's fairly straightforward. All we have to do is write a block which gives the bots autonomy. It's like three lines of code. I can show you right now if you like."

"No, thanks," Casey said, holding up a hand. "I'll leave the nerd stuff to you."

"Have you been spreading the word?" Hunter asked.

"Yep. I told everyone I know—which is practically the whole school," he boasted. "We'll be there at the common."

"Awesome."

Casey tilted his gaze and noticed Diego's sour expression. "What's wrong with you today? Why do you look like that?"

"I'm fine."

"He thinks you're trying to take over Cytro," Hunter explained, glaring at Diego as he uttered the words.

Diego returned the glare, sending a menacing look in Hunter's direction.

Casey shook his head. "Are you serious? You really need to chill, dude. I'm not taking over anything. I'm just here to help. And at least I'm getting involved and offering suggestions. You've done nothing but complain so far."

The tension was interrupted by Jiaying and Beck, who crossed the yard over to the table. Between them was a giant poster, covered in bright, colourful letters. They placed it on the table for all to see.

The foursome stared at it, all of them in a state of shock.

"Really?" Priya laughed.

Diego's reaction was similar. "Oh my god."

Casey stared at it, his face screwing up. "What the hell is that?"

Taking up half the poster were the clear, unmistakable words: The 4PM Club. Join us in Cytro!

"What do you think?" Jiaying asked, half-jokingly. "We took Mr Ramirez's advice."

Casey swore under his breath. "It looks stupid."

"We know," Beck chuckled.

Silence followed as everyone studied the uninviting poster. It was indeed hideous, not at all an accurate reflection of what activities the students had planned for the realm.

"I like it," Hunter eventually said.

"Are you serious?" Priya asked, not sure if he was joking or not. "It looks like a poster for a children's party."

"Correct. Which is exactly why it works." The others stared at him, waiting for an explanation. "Okay, look, Cytro is about to have a huge influx of users. We need a reason to justify this."

"Exactly," Jiaying said. "Ramirez said to launch a marketing campaign, so this is exactly what we've done. We'll put these posters up, and that way he won't be suspicious when there are suddenly a thousand kids logged in."

Casey's face fell. "I guess, but ... the 4PM Club? Is that really our name?"

"It can be our code-name," Hunter snickered. "Let the teachers think we're a cute little club."

Priya looked away. "Get it away from me, please. It's awful."

The group all laughed—except for Casey, who was still disturbed by the immature name.

"I guess that's it then," Hunter said. "We have the name, we have the explanation."

"The lie is set," Zack added, his tone excited. "Now all we gotta do is log in."

Casey put his hands behind his head and looked upwards. "Bring on four o'clock."

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