Hacker Academy

Domain

I carry my things and walk out of the train, onto the glass floor. The place in front of me is made out of glass. Bright lights shine everywhere, making it seem like a testing laboratory, and I am the subject. The train zooms past, and the icy wind blows through my clothes.

There is a boy standing on the other side of the tracks.

"Well, look who showed up."
I take a step back. "Who are you?"

He points to his black jacket. His jacket is the same as mine, except stitched with the words Domain. He pushes his square black frame glasses up and smirks. "I'm the administrative hacker."

I raise my eyebrows and point at him. "You were the person I was just talking to?"
"Who did you think you were talking to?"
"A thirty year old bald man."
"Hey, easy in the ego."

He turns away and walks towards a wall. Maybe people here have a thing for walking towards solid things. He takes out his phone and starts typing.

I wait for him to finish, but it doesn't seem like he's going to be done anytime soon. I put my stuff down. My new metallic computer is lighter than I expected, and I put it into my bag. I still like my old computer, maybe I can ask the teacher if I can use my old one. I wear my jacket, zip it all the way up to my chin. It feels snug, like a warm blanket covering me. And it's the right size.

"Annnnnd, done." Domain puts his phone back in his pocket and stands in front of the wall, expecting something. A rectangular object starts to slowly appear from the wall.
A door.

He looks at me. "Every time I walk out, I have to hack the codes to get back in. You don't know how annoying it gets." He pushed his glasses up before snickering. "One time I let a hacker hang around here for a few hours before I felt like getting out the door."

My stomach feels weird. Hopefully not all hackers are like him.
He opens the door and I walk into the room.

I should not have expected his room to be clean. There's a desk, with three computers lined together. His office chair is overturned, and a plastic chair is shoved to the side. The room smells like dust, old paper, and spilled beer. Sour. The sides are stacked with books and papers, which reminds me of home. There are three windows, but only the centre one doesn't have blinds. Tall, neon lit skyscrapers line the view.

Domain lifts the plastic chair up. I walk towards the computers. The two computers on the side are listed with code. The middle one has a picture of a girl in a bikini.

"Hey, that's irrelevant." Domain pushes me to the side and quickly closes the image. I raise an eyebrow. He lifts his office chair up and raises his hands in defense. "It gets boring around here, okay?"

I ignore him and sit on the plastic chair. He starts to type. "Now that you're here, I'll return Racter station to HQ control."
I cross my arms. "You do know that I have lots of questions."
He raises his hand as if to quiet me.

"Now I know you have lots of questions but I'll only answer some. You don't know how many annoying 1000's I've met."

Something sinks inside of me when I realize I'm not the first hacker number 1000. If I didn't rank up often, I will be back to New York. Domain will be seeing another 1000.

"That crazy train thing at Racter station. How did that happen?"

"The thing with the train coming towards you? That was a courage test. And right before you were killed, I made you teleport over to Hackcity. All my doing." He pushes his glasses up and flashes a bright smile.

"Glad I'm alive because of you," I mutter. "So how about here? Where is this place?"

"You're in Hackcity. Underground New York. And below this floor is Hacker Academy." He points to the floor. I open my mouth but he raises his hand up and spins his chair around. "That's enough questions. Let's get you registered. Name."

"Ada Ingres."
He mumbles to himself and types it into the computer. "Female. Age?"
"17."
"You look like my grandma." He snorts. "Now let's take a look at your face."

He looks straight at me. Want to play intimidation game? I stare back. His skin is darkish, maybe he came from the Philippines. But he has green eyes so maybe he was just naturally dark. Maybe he's mixed. A few moles are on his face, and he has a crooked nose.

He leans back to type my profile on his computer.
"You're not the prettiest I've seen, that's for sure. You should see some of the chicks here. Beauty and brains all in one!" He whistles. I glare at him. Ducking his head and clears his throat, he continues.
"Short auburn hair, blue eyes. Slender nose, dry lips... Possibly B-cup."

I frantically stand up. "Why do you need that!?"
He laughs, spinning around in his chair and kicking his feet like a child. "Kidding. That's irrelevant."
I sit down, feeling my cheeks heat up. "Can't I write this myself?"
He shakes his head, still typing. "I can't do that, because you might say you're a C."
I scoff.

After a few more minutes of typing, he finishes. "Done."
A small box that looks like a mini printer vibrates, and slides out a plastic card. Domain snatches it and flips it to me.

"That's your citizen ID. You lose it, you're out of Hackcity."
I grunt and take it from him. "Thanks."
He laughs. "You're welcome, now please get out."
"You going to show me out?"
"Nope. Too lazy to."
I'm fuming now. "You're an idiot."
"See ya, 1000." He turns around and goes back to typing.

I close the door.

The place isn't empty anymore. There is a luggage x-ray machine and a body scanner in the far corner of the room. I can see a door with a sign on top: Hackcity. I put my duffel bag into the x-ray. The body scanner is a big circular machine. There's a big hole in the middle and it slides out a plank.

"Please sit on the board. Keep your hands and feet to your side. Do not get up until signalled."

I sit down and do as told. The plank slides in, and a blue light scans my top to bottom. I pray that Domain isn't the one overseeing this. The plank slides out the other side.
"Thank you. You are clear."
I get up to pick up my duffel bag and cross the sign.

No turning back.