Techno Fever [ONC II Round 1 WINNER | Asian Scifi | Complete]

Chapter 6

Tselong leapt off his stool and waved a hand over the metal surface beneath the hologram. A neon blue cube adorned with buttons slid up from between the panels and he stuck his hand into the controls, twisting his hand and manipulating the diagrams that popped up over the words 'System reboot failed.' Diagram after diagram enlarged, spun, shrank, and were swept aside as Tselong's eyes leapt from one three-dimensional image to another, absorbing all the new information. His face went paler and paler and sweat trickled from his hairline to his jaw. Eventually, he straightened up and rubbed his temples with a heavy sigh that made Meiha's heart sink.

"Is... is everything all right?" Meiha said tentatively, knowing the situation was far from all right.

A female voice swore behind Meiha, making her jump. It was one of the techs who were plugged in to the large centre display Meiha had passed earlier. She had the modified Wenchang fused across her eyes but she'd decorated it with tiny little dots of flashing light around the edges. They changed colours in soft ripples from neon pink to deep violet to lime green. Her lips, painted bright red, were pursed at the sight of the report on Tselong's screen. Her hair was drawn back in a messy bun; tiny strands of straight black hair fell to her neck.

"You still don't think that bat po had help?" the tech said with a snarl, sweeping over and bringing up a second control cube from the metal work surface. One hand manipulating the controller, she gestured with her other hand at parts of the code, highlighting the light blue text in bright orange — not that the numbers, words, and complex images meant anything to Meiha. "Look at this! She couldn't have managed something so advanced. You trained her yourself. She didn't have this kind of talent in programming."

Tselong said nothing. The air was heavy. Meiha couldn't read his expressions with his back to her, but his fists were clenched, pressed against the metal work table, his controller standing upright and waiting for him to use again.

"That would explain why the virus is so resistant."

"What would?" Meiha said at last, unable to withstand the vague pronoun game any longer. Her eyes darted to Tselong. He didn't appear to have heard her.

"I think you should go," said the woman, not even turning to face her. She still sounded furious, but Meiha couldn't read her face beneath the modified Wenchang. "This is an internal matter and you're an outsider."

Meiha stood awkwardly, smoothing her t-shirt and waiting for Tselong to say goodbye. Then, out of the blue, the text on the virtual screen started spinning on the spot, turning into nonsense. Vibrant colours flashed chaotically, brilliant hues crashing into each other and spiralling out of control. The techs around shouted, leaping to their feet and bringing up the controllers.

"A second malware?!" hollered the tech who had been beside Meiha, now standing beside the huge centre display once more. The image it had shown previously now appeared distorted, buzzing in and out of focus. Despite the instructions the techs fired at the core body, the flickering images didn't correct themselves. "How?!"

"Diu," muttered Tselong under his breath. Meiha had never heard him swear before. He ran a hand through his hair before using his free hand to slam on the controller. There was a whir before the images disappeared, leaving the room in a dim, light blue glow from the streaks of light running above their heads and from beneath the glass floor.

"Emergency shutdown sequence initiated," said a gender neutral electronic voice overhead. "Now rebooting Core Talos System in Maintenance Mode."

"What happened?" said a male tech, unplugging the wire attached to his modified Wenchang. The wire was no longer glowing.

"That bat po must have hidden a second malware in the system. She knew Tselong would try to reset the Talos to before that forced update." Saliva sprayed from the angry female tech's mouth. She threw her hands in the air. "Diu, now she's sealed our access to the peripheral Talos Systems."