The Hacker

Chapter One

Ten years later...

Leonard's Produce Palace; The freshest man made Organics from test tube to you since NE 214!

I tugged at the apron and scowled at the slogan. Working the stand's counter was torture. The tent flap rustled, and a shaft of light beamed through revealing the busy marketplace around us before the curtains fell together and shut out the noise.
The red ambient light of the tent kept the customer's face in shadow as they flitted about inside the store. I watched them lazily drift from one stand of strawberries to another, never touching, never staying anywhere for too long. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

It was that kind of customer.

"Hayden," I whispered over my shoulder, "I think there's a man here to see you." The fabric covering the staff room was flung open, and a beanpole topped with a brown mop popped out. He stared at me questioningly, his eyes searching mine. His eyes created new depths and intricacies than any of mine ever could. I tried copying his eyes once, but I could never get them right. Pity.

He surveyed the shop and noticed the customer lurking by a bushel of apples. It was clear the second he spotted them because his spine snapped to attention and his normally calm demeanor was overtaken by some subtle nervous ticks.

"I think you should go into the back for awhile Kira," He said. Loudly. Too loud. I didn't need to be told twice and scrambled head first through the curtain and landed in a heap on the makeshift flour sack bed hidden behind it. I pulled myself into a ball and squeezed my eyes shut, listening hard to the muted conversation.

"Hello sir how may I hel-"

"No sir I'm sorry we don't supply that. There are rumors that the maroon tent two rows down knows a man looking for what you want."

A crash resonated through the shop, and I flinched, arms grating against the rough sack material.

"Oh. Alright, I apologize for the misunderstanding sir. I'll just be a moment." Hayden's head appeared on my side of the room.

"Kira? There's a customer in need of your..." He paused. "Services." A knot of dread coiled inside of me. It was that kind of customer. I sighed and pushed myself up.

"Tell him to meet me in the back in five minutes. I need to go prepare." I pushed past him making a beeline for the front of the shop, determined not to look the man in the eye. If he was really here for me, then I knew that he was trying to catch my eye. Trying to see if the rumors were true.

The rumors of a young Coder who went rogue and Hacked herself out of the Academy. The rumors about how the girl had changed her chip and could morph her appearance at will. The Hacker who ran away from the Inner City to the marketplace to avoid capture, even though she had the perfect disguise. The Hacker, who rumor has it, had a knack for making bad people disappear.
For a price, of course.

The man watched my step and scrutinized my violet hair, and wondered if any of it was real. For the record, hair is the worst thing to hack. If one manages to get it to change colors, a dodgy process at best, then it's real color has to grow out enough to be cut off and let the new color replace it. The easiest way to "hack" the color of hair was to dye it, plain and simple. I tend to gravitate towards purple. I like to think that it's my inner rebel trying to come out. Hayden thinks that I like making people think that I programmed my hair that way.

I won't dignify his theory with acknowledgement of being accurate.

I shot into the skinny alley of the marketplace at top speed and wove around to the blue overseer tent to ask for computer access.

Four minutes later, I returned to the red tent, passed a concerned Hayden, and entered the back room with computer in hand. The man rose when I entered.

"Good afternoon, Miss. Walker. My name is-" I cut him off.

"I don't care about your name," His smile froze and slowly slid down until his face gave away nothing but the slightest hint of a frown. I sighed. "What do you want?" His head craned around to see if anyone was listening.

"I need to disappear," He whispered with a sly grin.

"Obviously, otherwise you wouldn't be here," I had no desire to indulge him by adding to the intrigue behind his need to vanish, and he seemed deflated, like a balloon.

"Well?" He asked, handing me his chip. "Can you do your," He wiggled his fingers in my face. "thing so I can get out of here?"

"Naturally," I replied, plugging it into the computer. "I charge by the minute." He sputtered in protest, but by then the uplink was done, and he slumped to the ground, his DNA mine for the changing. I took a mental snapshot of him before the change to use as a base and got to work.

My fingers clicked away at the keys, and minutes flew by, giving way to hours. Hayden stuck his head in to check on me once or twice, but I entered such a deep trance looking at the screen that I couldn't be bothered to reply to his questions or even process that he asked one. Four hours passed, and I hit run.

The rearranging after a successful Hack felt ethereal. The slumped form on the bed grew a little taller, his eyes grew a little wider, and his skin lightened several shades. When the creaking and reshaping was finished, I scooted over to the man and prodded his shoulder. Newly blue eyes focused on my face, and I smiled, handing him a mirror.

~~~~~~~~
Hope this makes up for my constant hiatus. If any of you are still reading this I've probably given you abandonment issues sorry!

-fez