Dystopia

Chapter 14

Eric had finally been back home free of charges. If he was being brutally honest, he was indeed terrified Mr. Raynott wouldn't grant him a pardon, but it was definitely worth it. He acquired the Master Code from Mathew, and now, he could finally find answers. However, Eric did find it odd Mathew was bandaged across the chest. Maybe it was a Governing custom?

The only downside about Eric's triumph was the scolding from his parents. It lasted days, but finally it was over. Eric was currently inside his room locked up. As punishment, he wasn't allowed to leave the house, and was suspended from school as well. To everyone else in his faction, he had no future. The news of him being sent to earn a pardon for proposing rebellion spread through the Commoner Elite like wildfire. His family's reputation was now ruined. 

In his mind though, he was glad his public image was falling apart. Eric had made up his mind that he was going to start a rebellion, and who would not back down. He thought ahead, and decided he should modify his appearance before running away from home. Eric picked up the holographic blade he had in a drawer and went to the restroom. He took one last look at the onyx, shoulder length hair and side bangs he had, and inhaled. In one swift motion, he dragged the blade along the base of his head. The strands of hair fell softly on the marble floor. 

Eric looked at himself in the mirror. His black hair now perfectly halted at the base of his head, right where his neck started. He moved his side bangs to the front of his face and arranged them so they fell evenly over his eyes. He dragged the blade once more in front of his face and the severed hair fell. Eric's hair was now short and straight all over. 

He would never come back to this life. The only way he was coming back here was going to be with the Governing Elite gone.

Eric put the blade in his pocket and left the hallway restroom. He ran quietly back into his room and locked the door. He would have to wear a hood in front of his parents and faction all the time until he left. So no one would recognize him if he returned.

He had to admit, his head suddenly felt lighter.

Eric put the blade back in his drawer and sat on his desk with his laptop open. The flashing red screen was in place and Eric had the Master Code in memory.

"10078." Eric muttered as he took a deep breath and got to work.

He pressed a few keys on the keyboard and the screen turned a black color. Eric was nervous, and that was an obstacle. In this situation, there was such a thing as being too obviously careful. This was it, if he hacked into the Governing Elite archives he would posses the answers to everything. He could answer so many questions. Why the Governing Elite is sacred. Why interaction is not tolerated. When the Isolone was born. Why was the Isolone born. What is happening in the Eastern Hemisphere.

But if he made a false move, pressed the wrong key, the Government would find out and would have him executed at the third dusk. It was all or nothing, right in this moment.

Eric began communicating with the basic coding of the web. He managed to open a prompt that would allow him to manipulate the security settings. He began typing in Mathew's Master Code, but received the following message:

'Dear Mathew T. Raynott ,

Your Master Code has been deactivated and the command cannot be automatically performed. To access the Governing Elite Archives the Web Security Scripts must be decrypted manually. Do you wish to continue?'

Eric was astounded the code was invalid, he typed it in correctly. Eric sighed and clicked continue. The screen flashed back into the black screen but it now contained rows of white numbers and letters. Eric had played with coding as a hobby, he now hoped it would help him through this.

More concentrated than ever, Eric typed the Master Code again within the first row of numbers. On the row titled Security Break I, he typed in the break command and inserted the Master Code once more. He continued changing numbers, breaking the locked sequences, and memorizing the new codes.

He was extraordinarily excelling in code breaking. It's as if the numbers lived within his head, and now they were flowing out through his fingers. Computers operated in basic operations, adding and subtracting. It was just like basic math, except a wrong number and his life is on the line.

Eric was on it for hours and hours. The rows of numbers seemed to have no end. Eric had been sitting for five hours straight with no rest. His eyes were starting to burn from the poor blinking periods he allowed to happen, and his eyebrows were furrowed in deep concentration. He completely tuned out the rest of the world.

But after many arduous hours, the computer proclaimed:

Access Granted.