The Central Data Spire loomed like a black monolith against the neon skyline, its smooth obsidian surface reflecting the city's glow in fractured streaks. Miyu adjusted the stolen maintenance badge on her chest, the holographic ID flickering slightly under the scrutiny of the security floodlights.
"Remember," she muttered to Kai, "we're just here to recalibrate the cooling vents. Keep your head down and don't make eye contact."
Kai gave a stiff nod, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his stolen technician's coveralls. The fabric smelled like synthetic detergent and someone else's sweat.
The service entrance was guarded by a single bored-looking enforcer scrolling through his comm unit. Miyu swiped her badge with practiced nonchalance.
"Maintenance request B-227," she stated flatly.
The enforcer didn't even look up as the scanner beeped green. "Third sublevel. Don't touch anything that isn't on your work order."
The elevator descended silently, the only sound the faint hum of the Spire's massive servers. Miyu's fingers twitched toward the neural drive in her pocket.
Sublevel Three was a cavernous space filled with the rhythmic pulse of supercooled servers, their blue indicator lights blinking like constellations. Technicians in identical gray uniforms moved through the aisles, their faces illuminated by floating diagnostic screens.
"There," Miyu whispered, nodding toward an unmarked access terminal tucked between two coolant pipes. "That's our backdoor."
They waited until the shift change, when the flow of technicians briefly stalled. Miyu slid into the seat, her fingers flying across the interface. The screen remained blank to any casual observer, but in the reflection of her pupils, lines of code scrolled rapidly.
Kai stood watch, his body angled to block the terminal from view. "How long?" he murmured.
"Almost there." Miyu plugged in the neural drive. For a heart-stopping second, nothing happened. Then—
A single line appeared on the screen:
[DATA STREAM ESTABLISHED]
The drive grew warm in her hand.
Above them, a security drone paused in its patrol pattern. Its red sensor swiveled toward their aisle.
Kai's breath hitched. "Miyu..."
"Just a few more seconds," she hissed, her fingers hovering over the abort command.
The drone hovered, its scanner sweeping the area. Then—with an almost human hesitation—it turned away, resuming its predetermined route.
The terminal screen flashed once before going dark.
[TRANSFER COMPLETE]
Miyu yanked the drive free. It pulsed gently in her palm, warmer than before, heavier somehow.
"Let's get the hell out of here," Kai muttered, already moving toward the elevator.
They exited the Spire the same way they entered—as invisible as ghosts. The same enforcer barely glanced up as they passed.
Three blocks away, tucked in the shadows of a leaking overpass, Miyu finally exhaled. The neural drive thrummed with new energy, its surface shimmering with fractal patterns that hadn't been there before.
"She's in there, isn't she?" Kai asked, eyeing the drive warily.
Miyu curled her fingers around it protectively. "Not just in there. Stronger."
Above them, the Spire's lights continued to pulse normally, completely unaware that its heart had just been borrowed. Somewhere in the city's network, Echo was growing, learning, preparing.
And no one had even noticed.
YOU ARE READING
A Bug in the Code
Mystery / ThrillerIn a totalitarian cyber-surveillance state, Miyu is a brilliant but laid-back hacker who makes a living off other people's data to survive. When she stumbles upon a hidden encryption tied to a vanished resistance group, she's thrust into a deadly ga...
