The Initiative (A Sleeping Beauty Remix)

Eleven

Eleven

"The damage is unprecedented. This ability cannot be measured on a scale. It is unlike anything witnessed. I do not recommend a resuscitation of the patient."

-Dr. Hasan, Head of Research, University of Sarias

"You created..."

Tony brushed hair out of his face, "No way. I'm calling foul. No one's been able to identify the designer. And trust me, I've tried hacking the site. The core servers are unlike anything I've seen. They're unhackable."

"You don't have enough experience to have designed the trending algorithm," Brayden said.

I swallowed, trying to get words past my aching throat, and stared at Wes. "You want to share?"

Our Captain shifted his weight. "Aria created the initial page design and site idea. She implemented the core of what is now Musetunes."

Musetunes. He'd kept the name too.

"Once the site picked up, I found someone to maintain it and construct necessary keep-safe protocols within the mainframe."

"Because if the site isn't safe from hackers it loses its reputation," I muttered, following his train of thought.

Reputation. Something we'd never thought about--years ago, the site was just baby. Hacking wasn't even on the radar. But now it made sense. If anyone found out someone was able to mess with the data, then really how accurate could the numbers be? Would the top artists actually be popular, or were the numbers fabricated?

"Aria, I like you," Brayden said, "but there's no way the site is yours. You barely know about technology."

I shrugged. Today's technology--definitely. It all seemed new and sleek and ten times more complicated. The past technology--that was one of my strong suits. "I took a coding class in high school. Musetunes was part of my final project. It never hit the web." The internet sure wasn't what it was now. Back then, a lot of websites were just being designed. Musetunes was a speck in the pile of creations. Never to hit the greater Kingdom.

Until now.

I didn't really care if any of the team believed me or not. While I was under, Wes had made sure that my ideas, my passions, hadn't died out. Hell, he'd taken my idea and made it soar.

What else had he done during that time?

I sent him a look that said, you and I need to talk. He nodded.

The site wasn't anything like its original coded version. The original had all the elements of a child's work--wasn't quite organized, images were less clear, words all over the place. This one though...this new Musetunes had a logo, a copyright, a trending page, collected revenue, advertised artists. It was beautiful. Professional. Inspirational.

Everything Shayla and I could have dreamed of.

She'd be so proud.

The ache in my throat came back. I cleared it, forcing myself to focus on something else. "Why would someone save their Musetunes profile onto a drive?"

"People save their profiles all the time," Tony said. "Some people like to track their success, see where they're headed, take a snapshot of where they've been. It's not uncommon."