Cytronica

Fourteen

Hunter flared his nostrils, his vicious stare pointed in Mr Miller's direction. It was 4:06, and the engineer was still working.

Hurry up, Hunter thought to himself, hoping he could somehow telepathically coerce the man to leave.

The other four admins were present, each at their desks. The mood was a little tense after the lunchtime debate.

"You lot seem quiet today," Miller chuckled, noticing the animosity.

"Really?" Hunter said through gritted teeth. "Nah, we're fine."

The old man continued typing for another full minute before clearing his throat and standing. "Alright, I'm off."

Hunter's eyes were half-closed. It took Miller almost another entire minute to log off, put his jacket on, and grab his briefcase.

"Bye, sir," Zack called.

He waved farewell and closed the door behind him.

"God!" Hunter exhaled, looking down at his comm. "How slow is he! It's already 4:08. Everyone's probably freaking out."

"Doubt it," Diego mumbled. "Not yet anyway."

Hunter smeared his cheek against the glass, watching as Miller vanished. "Okay, he's gone. Let's get this show on the road."

Zack leapt up and stood by the computer. "Who wants to do the honours?"

"I vote Priya. She was the deciding vote."

This caught Priya off guard. "Oh. Nah, I'm fine. You guys can do it."

Hunter grabbed the swivel chair and rotated it for her. "Come on. Give it a shot."

She smiled a little, and then took a seat at Miller's workstation, entering his obvious password. "Alright, I'm in. Do you know the code?"

"Of course," Hunter laughed. "We've practically memorised the manual."

"Well, not really," Zack said, also laughing. "That'll take a while."

"You sure you want to do this?" Diego asked, although knowing his question was pointless.

"Yes," Hunter said, his tone flat. "Now, type in the following ..."

He relayed the relevant lines to her, keeping the bot autonomy up, having the code reset at midnight, and specifying the bot peace.

"Wait, what?" Diego gasped. "Fifty percent? I thought we agreed we wouldn't go that low."

"It'll be fun," Hunter jested.

"We'll meet halfway," Priya said, taking charge. "Seventy-five." She finished typing and faced the others. "How does it look?"

"Perfect," Zack said. "Good job."

Hunter looked it over for himself. "Okay, so, bot autonomy at one hundred. Bot peace at seventy-five. Everyone happy with that?"

"Like I have a choice," Diego said under his breath.

"Should I execute the code?" Priya asked.

Zack nodded. "Go for it."

She hit enter, and the code was accepted by Cytro.

Hunter jumped over into his chair, landing hard. "I'll meet you in there."

"Wait, I'm coming," Zack said, heading over to his desk.

The others did the same, sitting in their chairs and preparing themselves to log in.

Jiaying and Diego exchanged a final glance, neither of them approving of the idea, although both also a little curious to see the results.

They closed their eyes and entered the realm.

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