PROJECT: DELTA [ONC 2023]

Δ : TWO

There was a moment of stunned silence.

Then JJ's eyes narrowed. "I know you didn't just trap us in here."

"Only temporarily!" Emery held up his phone. "You're here because you recognised that code I gave you over the intercom this morning, right?" he looked from face to face. "Because you got this weird message sent to your phone last night and you want to find out what it means?"

JJ shoved his hands into his pockets and stepped closer, bending down so they were at eye level. He had an angular face, framed by wavy dark hair that hung just above his eyes. The set of his dark eyebrows usually gave his face a serious, if not slightly annoyed, vibe. But now his lips had curled into a sharp grin, the supercilious look of someone who knew something the other didn't and was about to enjoy rubbing it in their face.

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?"

Emery frowned. A single sentence on a blank screen and nothing else seemed pretty un-figurable to him. "Figured what out?"

JJ's smile widened. "C'mon. Isn't it obvious? Kantscape dropped the announcement a couple of weeks ago. There's been loads of buzz about it."

Emery shook his head. "Kantscape?"

He glanced around at the other two, hoping it wasn't just him. Wren did look a little bemused. But her expression always seemed absent — something in the way she looked at things, long and unblinking, as if she was puzzling over something far beyond the scope of the current conversation.

The other boy shrugged. "There has been a lot of buzz about it."

Emery almost lost it. "About what?"

JJ shook his head. "You're hopeless, you know that?" He flipped open his phone and swivelled it round to face Emery. On the screen was a video of a young man at some kind of Games Expo, addressing a crowd.

"Kantscape...uh, Kantscape Technologies is pleased to announce that the, uh, closed beta of its new mobile app, PROJECT: DELTA, will be launching soon."

On the video, the man coughed and adjusted his tie. He couldn't have been older than eighteen, and looked incredibly uncomfortable at the centre of attention, standing at attention in a suit so pristine it might have still been freshly-wrapped. Emery couldn't help feel a twinge of sympathy.

"Using the, uh, latest technologies in augmented reality, PROJECT: DELTA is an exciting, interactive app that will blur the line between game and reality. Selected participants will receive a code enabling them to form teams and test the app for a four-week period ahead of the global release in June."

JJ pocketed his phone. "See?"

Wren just looked tired. "You trapped us in a lift because of a game?"

"I didn't know it was a game," Emery said. "There was like, no context—"

"Just get us out of here," Wren said. "I've got more important things to do."

JJ raised an eyebrow, a lazy grin at his mouth. "Oh, what's that? Re-reading the orgo textbooks? Shirking human contact?"

"Yes, yes; very funny." Wren glanced up at Emery. "The lift, please?"

"Yeah." Emery glanced at the control panel behind him. He could see the Emergency Stop button, but there didn't seem to be much in the way of an Emergency Start. "About that..."

Behind him, the boy Emery made a strange noise, like he was trying hard to hold in a laugh.

Wren sighed. "Let me have a look."

While she investigated the controls, Emery turned to the others. "So you think we should get the app?"

"I've installed it already," JJ said. "But you need more than one person on your team to start a session. I figured I'd check this out and see who I was dealing with. But if you guys are who I'm gonna end up stuck with..." He pushed his glasses up his nose with a snort. "Do us both a favour and sell the code, yeah? I know loads of people who'd be better for this than you."

"Hey, that's not fair," Emery said. "We were chosen, same as you."

"Yeah, by a computer," JJ said. "Getting picked doesn't mean you're special."

Somehow, the words stung. Not that he thought he was special — five months of isolation at Faraday High had proved that already. But being reminded of the fact here, when he'd just wanted to meet someone new, was like rubbing salt into the wound.

"You're really gatekeeping a closed beta, huh?" the other boy said. Unlike Emery, JJ's words hadn't fazed him. He'd long since made himself comfortable on the floor of the lift, lounging against the wall with his arms tucked behind his springy curls. "At least wait until the real thing gets released before you start being obnoxious about it."

JJ clicked his tongue. "Alright, calm down, Cass."

Emery didn't know what to do. The app seemed interesting, but he wasn't sure how he felt teaming up with JJ. Wren clearly wasn't interested, and he couldn't really get a read on Cass. But after drifting under the radar at school for so long, he liked the idea of being chosen for something. Even if it had been by an algorithm.

"Well, I'm installing it," Emery said. "I'll pick it up." He typed the name into the App Store and hit install. While it downloaded, Emery turned to Cass. "What about you?"

Cass's gaze shifted between JJ and Emery. The expression in his eyes was hard to pin down: slight amusement and something else Emery couldn't put a finger on. "Well, if you insist."

JJ snorted. "Trust me, nobody's insisting—"

"Gosh, so persistent," Cass said, already typing. "Guess I don't really have a choice, do I?" He looked up at JJ and smiled. "All done."

JJ groaned. "Listen," he said. "I'll do one test run with you guys. If you're gonna slow me down, I'm selling the login details. Got it?"

Emery nodded.

Cass smiled. "Sounds like fun."

"What about Wren?" Emery asked. She'd managed to connect through to school security, explaining their situation.

JJ shrugged. "Forget Wren. We don't need her." He showed Emery his phone. Instead of the login message, it was now showing a dashboard, with a futuristic background and text scrolling in the background. "See?"

Emery nodded, then jumped when a girl popped up on the screen.

"Operatives, there's no time to waste!" She pressed her hands against the screen, eyes wide with concern. "You've got to act quick! There's been an emergency!"