Hacking the Sun - The Re-Remake

Chapter 15 Darkstar 2/2

When Dexter departed, Shannon appeared in his place. "Everyone looks down, dirty, or desperate," she said. "And it looks like we're in for some new scenery. Aside from the fact that everyone's packing, I overheard Monarch and that one dude. They said Asgard knows what we have."

"As we thought," said Jessica, crossing her arms pensively. "Looks like we're reacting now."

"We just got here, too."

"You!" exclaimed Raptor.

Jessica cranked a bitter gaze at Raptor's stiff advance, then decided to play dumb. "Who, me?" she mouthed.

"Yea you, red vest." He stopped directly in before her. "Monarch tells me you're the premier egghead."

"I resent that!" Amon said in passing. Both Jess and Raptor's irritated faces reflected off his sunglasses, as Shannon chimed in.

"You sound upset."

"Incredible understatement," said Raptor. "Understatement, but it has nothing to do with you. I wanna know if you'll be as useful as he said you'll be. Dead weight's not gonna work in this outfit. Neither will beating around the bush."

"Well, it's as simple as this, Sarge," Jess began condescendingly. "Valerie, AKA Wildcat, brought me the chip that is mission-critical to Sub Terra. And chu know what? I cracked it. You wanna know how I cracked it? First, I found holes in a wall of hashes the space elves considered unbreakable. Then, I manually reconstructed a Goliath administrative document, did a bait and switch, then fooled an alien into applying his signature. Now, if I simply knew where to look—in other words, if I was inside Goliath's centrifuge—and if my theory is correct, I could compromise all of their secrets.

"Since a portion of the data was corrupted, I had to go analog and sift through lines of code to reconstruct chains of evidence pointing to the Union's guild. Do you understand base computer language? The difference between a bit and a qubit? Do you know many people who do? I don't either, but if you can point me to anyone who would've managed all of the above, then sure, I'm dead weight."

Silence.

Shannon began a slow clap.

"You just got served!" said Valerie, who was apparently standing behind Raptor the entire time.

During the next pause, Raptor closely scrutinized Jessica. He was the complete opposite of Dexter with his intensity, but then his brows lifted. "Believe it or not, I actually feel better now," he said. His chin swiveled to Shannon. "You..."

"Me."

"She's with me," Jessica warned.

"Can you drive?" he asked.

"Depends on how big it is," said Shannon.

"Very manageable."

"Then I guess I'll manage."

"Go with Wildcat. She'll help you set up."

Valerie jumped. "Let's do it!"

"And you..." Raptor returned. "Your name is Jessica?"

"My friends call me Jess. But since we seem to be using monikers, you can call me Lynx."

"You look like a Lynx," he said. "You can do as you please, but we're not staying in the city. Get your bearings and make your peace."

Jessica inwardly flinched as Raptor walked off. "Well, alright then," she said in self-approval. She was not alone. Behind her stood little boy Boros, the computer-savvy kid from Dissent. Slouched, his eyes slanted in an upward glare—glaring at her for some reason. Or maybe that's just his face. He suddenly fell on the verge of tears. "Hey. what's wrong, man?" she soothed, leaning forward. "Ah!"