Realm of Opportunity

1: Piracy is a Crime, You Know

^^ Xavier Dorian ^^

(Credits- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Song of Nature, various Stanza.)

--- Xavier ---

"Mine are the night and morning,
The pits of air, the gulf of space,
The sportive sun, the gibbous moon,
The innumerable days.

I hid in the solar glory,
I am dumb in the pealing song,
I rest on the pitch of the torrent,
In slumber I am strong.

--- Anonymous."

I blinked slowly, removing my glasses as I leaned back.

"Oh, that's quite nice, isn't it? One of yours?" My mother decided to surprise me, which never worked.

I nodded calmly. "Yes... from my journal."

She hummed slowly. "You never publish those."

"I didn't." I replied in the same tone.

She hummed again, and nodded, patting my shoulder. "Don't let anyone rile you you up, my boy. How'd they get it out of your Journal? It never leaves the house." She understood the situation quickly, which didn't surprise me at all.

"I have no clue... but I'm finding out." I said simply, as I accessed the code for the site and changed the author's name from 'Anomymous' to 'Xavier Dorian, Poet Laureate.'

She tsk'ed quietly. "You can't just hack them, my boy-"

"I hear hacking?!? We having fun?" My aunt poked her head in, grinning widely.

"Someone stole Xavier's work and posted it online, he's claiming it... though there is Hacking involved, yes... did you leave my pasta on the stove unattended?!" She changed tracks like clockwork, making me smile a bit.

Aunt Zoë squealed and sprinted into the kitchen, nearly tripping over my cat, Dotty. The tiny, old cat wearily climbed into my lap, grumbling softly in dear offense.

I smiled and scratched her scruff and ears gently. "Hey, Dotty. Have a good nap in that new bed I got you?" I asked softly. She grumbled a bit and rolled over, presenting me with her stomach, demanding a belly rub. I chuckled and obliged, then went back to my Hack.

"I don't know why you keep buying those beds. She never sleeps in them. Ever. Always one of our beds." Mother huffed at the same volume. Loud noises scared Dotty, so we avoided being very loud with her around.

"We can hope, eh? And besides, she likes laying on them, just not sleeping on them." I shrugged. "She prefers to sleep surrounded by our scent, Mother. She's basically blind, so our scents and voices are all she has left, okay?" I raised an eyebrow.

She nodded. "True... ah well. Your money, you can do what you want with it."

"Hm." I nodded slowly, and finished, spreading a host of taggers to monitor and track all movement of the data from my Poetry, and to search for more that matched my Journal.

It came back immediately with hundreds of references, and Dotty crawled out of my lap grumpily when my hands stopped moving.

I found my entire repertoire, and tracked it all to one source, which made no sense at all. My own Computer Camera was scanning Written words in my room constantly, and documenting them.

I growled softly, then delved into its programming, and found what led to it labeling any full or partial work as 'Anonymous', then replaced it with my full name and title, watching the cascade of information through the networks that held my data.