Chapter Fifteen

Soon he began talking about the Argosys philosophy again. His words and charisma were deeply mesmerizing to the young members. Even though a mask covered his face, they felt as if they knew him better than anyone else.

Perhaps an extension of himself, and whatever he wanted them to accomplish, they would do it without question.

They were a true collective.

Then the last part of the ceremony came, and the man said again, “As we all well know, at this point in our celebration, we will introduce one more person to our inner circle as a recognition of their dedication and hard work. This year, this night, we accept Zena as our dear sister into Argosys,” he said, and the group cheered with a round of applause.

It thrilled Aura to have the opportunity. She wanted nothing more in her life. Tears of joy misted in her eyes as her soul beamed with a kind of peace that came with taking on a righteous cause.

She could barely hold in the excitement after that. Everyone congratulated her, causing the smile on her face to grow wider.

She was now in Argosys, the world’s most famous, unheard-of, elite hacker group.

After the occasion ended and the crowd hooked up, exchanging contacts, conversing about everything, they called the newly accepted member into the inner chambers.

As Aura made her way into the room with the smaller group of leaders, all her excitement dissipated and was suddenly replaced with a whirl of anxiety.

She tightened her jaw and could not get her shoulders to relax, a reaction that had caused her some spinal pain and alignment problems over the years.

She found herself short of breath, being careful that she might do something wrong or end up on their unpleasant side and possibly get kicked out.

What if I’m not good enough?

The room was small, with two long leather couches and large computer screens. The crowded legacy framed artwork of actual oil paintings hung on all the walls, barely showing any brick wall behind them. Paintings of dawn skylines, flourishing parks, and twentieth-century architecture created scenes of nostalgia that anyone could enjoy from anywhere in the room.

The man who had just addressed the gathering sat on the table corner, though now he no longer wore a mask or the long black coat that hid his body. Neither were the rest of the leaders.

Aura blushed at the sight of him. His blue eyes caught hers. She smiled as she turned her face away.

She had always adored him and all his principles, even though she had never seen him before.

If only the world had enough people like him, then it would be a much better place, she thought.

We would not be in the perilous state that we are in now.

She also found him to be attractive, even if it was in a peculiar sort of way.

He moved closer to her, striding one foot after another at an excruciatingly slow pace. She felt tense as he approached her.

“Congrats, welcome,” he said with a smile that only caused one side of his lips to rise.

“Than…” she cleared her throat, then said again, “Thanks.”

“I’m Azid, but you can call me Z,” he said, still grinning.

Every time she stared at his face and caught his eyes, she could not help but turn away.

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“I thought we didn’t use real names or show our faces?” she asked.

“Who said that’s my real name? And who says this is my actual face?” he questioned, leaning toward her as he winked. With that, he walked away, laughing. Azid continued greeting the others before settling at the desk in front of the large screen.

Aura also removed her mask, trying to fit in with her peers in the room.

The seven leaders took their place on the couches. She scrutinized every one of them. She was only the second female among them, and even then, she knew they all differed wildly from her.

She envied the way they dressed and the confidence they carried.

She sat still, afraid every movement could mean something would go wrong.

“We all know why we are here,” Z said, and everyone nodded except Aura.

Why were they here? Why all the fuss?

They finally got the keys to the kingdom, so to speak.

“Zena, here, has given us valuable information concerning something the TITAN team has been working on.

“Earth is dying, and we all recognize this truth. The climate change, earthquakes, and the natural disasters, which a group of science-fair amateurs unintentionally weaponized into a device of destruction, born of their own ignorance and arrogance.”

She wanted to speak, but remained quiet. Yes, the device had unintentionally become something that could destroy the world and was on its way to do that, but that was never the purpose of TITAN.

She listened as Z continued explaining to the group about her previous covert operation at Halikkon and how she had successfully stolen a cyber-key they needed, as the rest clapped in recognition of her loyalty and dedication to their cause.

She had secretly deciphered a set of encrypted credential pairs to allow access to the Halikkon Collective server array. The Argosys team was pleased to accept this as payment for entry to their elite group.

It was something that only an insider could have provided.

Secret and silent.

Maybe she felt a little proud or somewhat like a betrayer of her friends, but she remained there, in that room with the others.

She assured herself this was what she wanted. To save the world, to stop the Frost.

It has always been what she desired.

And that was exactly what the Argosys team was doing, or maybe that was what she needed it to be. Either way, she convinced herself it was so.

“It’s been seven years since TITAN started killing us all, and the scientists responsible for this have done nothing yet to undo their damage, to fix the problems that they themselves have caused,” he continued.

“They have all become paralyzed in fear. It is time we take action. If we sit back and do nothing, Earth as we know it will be destroyed.”

“This device rids us of excessive carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of Earth, but as we realize for a fact, it is presently doing far more than it should. When we insert our code-base to counter and reverse its failed purpose, we will correct its actions and prevent the devastating calamity they have cast upon us all: our frozen graves. Zena here has graciously opened the gate for us, getting us the access, the very key in our hand that will allow us to connect to the beast,” Z said.

The rest of the group agreed, but not Aura. She knew better.

“Sir, as a… reminder, the Halikkon team has already tried this. The AI just overrides all the commands and keeps going. The AI cannot be disconnected. It is also at the core of the systems, and it won’t allow external insertions, not even with overrides. The access will get us as far as the—” she started to explain. She froze as they all turned to her with a piercing gaze.

She remained frozen in her seat, her throat suddenly dry.

“Honey, we are not some amateur programmers with Harvard and M.I.T. decorative certificates. Frankly, they couldn’t code their way out of a paper bag. My dear, we can hijack any, and I mean any system,” the other lady said with authority.

The others laughed and joined in, commenting on how they were indeed the elite.

Aura gulped as she stared at the other lady; she had seen no one with that many piercings before.

The discussion ended, and they all seemed overly confident in their ability to ensure TITAN’s new code-base would run smoothly.

“You need to have more faith, my love,” Azid exclaimed, as he ended the unintelligible murmuring in the room.

She kept quiet throughout the rest of the meeting and even maintained her silence afterward.

“Shit, I should have kept my mouth shut,” she cursed under her breath.

She recalled the words of Azid just before she left the place.

“You need to have more faith.”

The words stuck in her head longer than she had wished and seemed to chain her to the fact that she wasn’t sure exactly what she believed in.

Faith.

Had she lost faith? Or was she ever one to really have faith? She had so eagerly betrayed her friends in the desperate attempt to be a part of something to help them all, to save the world from its demise.

She thought of Evata and the rest of Team Halikkon. They might not be capable of doing everything as expertly as Argosys, but they were not really that bad.

At least, not as bad as Argosys had painted them. She could not help but wonder. Perhaps she was doing something wrong, or maybe she was just willing to do whatever it took to ensure that the world was safe, no matter the cost.

The only thing that she knew for certain was that her conflicting thoughts were at war right now, and she needed to find some kind of common ground between them to do the right thing.

To do the good thing.

To save them all.