The Higher Define (2018)

7

Ariel makes me go through another door and I quickly try to scan her code and search for any clues that would hint that she is dangerous.

I come up empty but I'm not surprised. My contacts would have flashed red if they detected anything unsual. But it's not like I have much faith in my contacts, after what happened with Cali.

"Don't even try." Ariel says, without turning to give me a look as we head down another hallway, which the Hub is full of, "I'm too encrypted for you."

I want to open my mouth to argue and beg to differ- when I first saw all their chip representations floating in Telane, I instantly knew that it was a terrible idea.

Placing the core of people's chips into a system that supplies all the chips, that has instant access to everything is risky. It's the stupidest thing that I have ever seen. But before I can protest, Ariel has been given access to another room- she places her eye along a scanner that reads her contacts detail and lets her in.

The door allows me to go in, too, and I find myself mystified again by the first-rate facilities.

I'm in a room that is bigger than what it looks from the outside. The walls and floors are white and along each tile of the floor, there is a screen that display the live feed of each different facility in the Hub.

The quality is amazing, almost as if I am transported into that actual place and I see that along the main wall that is just behind a hovering piece of board that looks like the top of a table that is pitch black, there is code being written over repeatedly.

They're keeping track of our activity and our interactions. I recognise the code as thoughts pulsing through from the Hub, it is code that I only know too well.

I try not to shiver from this newfond knowledge but it takes a lot to straighten my posture and be able to look Ariel in the eye, after gaining this new piece of knowledge.

Why are they tracking our activitiy, though? Our code's feed consist of everything that we do- isn't it a nuisance to have to go through everything and sift out the important bits?

Maybe it's for what Friday says it is- making sure that the Screening was flawed and placed us in the wrong category but even then, it doesn't make sense to have their gaze so fixated on us when we have just arrived.

"Don't worry." Ariel says and I notice that she has been watching me for the past few minutes. Her words are nowhere near comforting and I wonder if she has managed to score herself an entry into my code.

I know that our wireless codes are revealed to those authorised after we have been labelled but this doesn't make me any less aware that anything that can happen. Many Corrupts' wireless codes enable others to hack into their main code system, because it's practically a route to the chip's core but I'm far better than that, right?

"Aspen. Just the person I wanted to see."

I don't even notice that a person has teleported into the room. I turn, shocked and my lungs entangled with fear from the suddeness of his appearance until I see the laughter on his face.

He's a nice person, I say to myself, slowly, hoping that if my code could process these words, it would ring true.

"Ariel, you may leave." The man says quite calmly. Ariel shoots me a scowl, her eyes narrowed, right before she turns and heads out of the room.

We stay in silence for a while as the man examines me and I note his features curiously. He's tall and old but his features are still striking even after his years of experience and age. With dark eyes that brim with mystery and hair that curls along the collar of his shirt, still dark even though it should be white, he is clearly able to win anybody's attention even from afar.