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Enders(64)

By:Lissa Price


“It’s still just theory,” he said.

Hyden touched the airscreen and it resumed playing. My father continued speaking. I’d never seen him so serious.

“I may not be alive by the time this is played, I know that,” he said.

It hurt to hear those words. But he’d just been in my head. He had to be alive. Unless…

“During the past month, I’ve been followed and confronted and harassed because I refused to work for a man whose vision for the technology did not match mine. I’ve documented my key research on this drive in the event that something happens to me. Protect it and use it wisely.”

His image cut to black and then a series of numbers and formulas flashed at a rapid pace. Hyden watched the screen with fascination. Suddenly, it went blank. Just like that, gone.

“What happened?” I asked.

“It’s okay, it’s all there,” Hyden said. “Don’t worry. I’ll examine it later.”

The video “visit” with my father was painfully short. I longed to play it again and again.

“Those numbers you saw flying across the screen?” Hyden said. “Well, now I can use his program and upgrade your chip. This opens the path for you to reverse the transposition.”

“Then if Brockman jacks me, I can see through his eyes,” I said slowly. “Make him do what I want.”

I was sure my father never could have imagined that I’d be the one to use his discovery. We had to make it work.





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE





Hyden believed the transmission would be easier outside. With time closing in on us, he wanted to increase our chances of success, so we parked outside, near a shut-down miniature golf course. The barbed wire at the top of the fence made me sad and afraid. It was late and dark, but I could see that the windmill inside was broken, with only two blades left. It reminded me of the last time I was at a place like that, with my mother. It was the day the spores fell.

“You coming, Callie?” Michael poked my arm with his finger.

I got out as Hyden opened the back of his vehicle and started up the airscreen.

He used my father’s program to try to wirelessly upgrade my chip. “Stand over there,” he said to me, pointing to a small tree about ten feet away. “No guarantees it worked. We’re going to have to test it.”

Michael stood behind Hyden and looked over his shoulder. “What’re you doing now?”

“Setting her chip ID,” he said. “There. Got it.”

Hyden then climbed into the lounge-seat and closed his eyes.

In a few seconds, I could hear Hyden inside my head.

Can you hear me?

“Loud and clear,” I said.

It was strange having Hyden inside my head again. The last time had been when Dawson was forcing me to shoot Michael at the range. But now we were the ones pulling the strings.

Okay, don’t move, don’t do anything. I’m going to establish control.

I stood there and waited, my arms at my sides. Then my right arm rose slowly, until it was over my head.

Good. So now see if you can resist. I’ll keep your arm up there and you try to bring it down.

It was sort of like arm wrestling with an invisible opponent. Hyden was strong, mentally, and I was not making any headway. I focused, even gritted my teeth, but my arm stayed up.

“I can’t,” I said.

It’s because you’re not scared. You know this is safe. Okay, I’ll lower your arm.

My arm came down. I felt like a failure.

Let’s try the reversal. Just work on getting inside me.

“How?”

I found something in your father’s notes on the drive. He suggests focusing on imagining a string between us. A taut cord. Visualize a blue light around it running from me to you. Now picture a gold light going from you to me. Take the blue light and turn it gold. See the flow from you to me.

I tried to see what he wanted me to. I understood it intellectually, but making it real was something else. I worked at it for several long minutes, but I never was able to get inside his head and see what he was seeing. I was still in my own body.

Now I really felt like a failure.

“It’s not working,” I said.

Hyden got out of the special seat. He looked at the airscreen, examining the program. And then he climbed out of the car and joined me.

“I looked at the program. I did it right. It should work.”

Michael came over and put his arm around my shoulders. Hyden looked back at the car.

“Let’s try another location,” Hyden said.

“Isn’t all this exposure dangerous?” Michael asked.

“If he jacks her, then we’ll really have a test,” Hyden said.

We all got back in the car, and Hyden drove.