“What do you need us to hack?” I ask Leah.

  “Why don’t we discuss this in my office?” Leah easily stands from her chair and heads outside, not bothering to check if we’re following.

  Of course she’s right, and we follow close behind her. Cassie still has the car battery tucked under her arm. It’d probably be easier for her to just pce it in her backpack, but I’m not going to offer to help. If she wants me to, she’ll ask.

  Despite Cassie being mobile on her feet, Leah still leads us down back alleyways. I can’t bme her, while we wouldn’t block anything, I’m sure Corax and I would invite some questions I can’t imagine she wants to answer.

  We slowly make our way towards the rgest building in the vilge, with a towering spike connecting it to the ceiling of the cavern. A few powerful lights hang at the top, an artificial sun illuminating the dark parts of the man-made cave.

  She opens a door from the alley, leading directly into a small office. A computer sits atop a desk, and a small collection of polished guns are hung proudly on the wall. There’s a thin yer of dust covering most of the floor, with just a small path between the door, her guns, and her desk being clean. There’s not even a path through the dust deeper into the building, I guess other people don’t come in here very often.

  “Well, get to work.” She gestures zily at the computer and drops into the chair behind her desk.

  “I assume this is your computer?”

  “Sure is.”

  “Alright.” I find an open port and plug my cord in. The ground is cold and hard, but it’s not like I can remain standing while I do this. I sit down and hand one of the two plugs to Corax, who takes it in his beak. “Are you ready?”

  Instead of a response, Corax moves to plug himself immediately, and I have to rush to plug myself in at the same time.

  Instead of pure code, I find a computer that’s already adapted into a physical world. Great, I’m not sure if a human did this, or an AI, but I’m sure it’s bad news either way.

  We stand on a sandy isnd with rge trees growing all around. Instead of fruits, files grow from their leaves, rustling in the warm breeze. Simir isnds dot the horizon, distant computers networked together with no easy way to reach them.

  Rich blue water surrounds our small isnd, with dark shapes circling just below the gssy surface. A single path is the only other thing on the isnd, leading straight into the ocean and disappearing beneath the surface.

  My body looks surprisingly normal. My vibrant hair and white skin have returned, a far cry from my physical self right now. The only thing out of pce are two rge holes through my body with red hair slowly drifting out of them, directly where a heart would be on a human.

  Corax looks about the same he always has. A cloak still covers most of his body, but his hood is pulled down and his sleeves rolled up. Angry ripples run through his feathers, and he refuses to even look at me.

  “Corax? Can we…” I reach out to him, but refrain from touching. If we could just meld, it’d answer everything. He could feel what I felt, know why I did what I did.

  “No.” He says firmly and takes a step along the path, towards the ocean.

  “Wait! Corax! There’s something in the water.”

  “No.” He repeats and continues on his walk. His feathers stand on edge and his family shifts across his skin, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

  “Corax please! Can we just talk?”

  His cws reach the coastline, and he takes a brave step into the water. A single ripple disrupts the gss like surface of the ocean. As the disruption passes over the dark shadows, they turn and rush towards Corax, a small wake trailing behind them along the surface of the water.

  “Corax please!” I rush to his side, stepping between him and the nearest creature. My hands plunge into the warm water, freezing it to my will. I pull out two rge, wickedly sharp icicles. I’m not going to let it harm him, I’ll jump in front of another bullet for him if I have to.

  The shadow charges, and I crouch down, ready for anything. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know how it will attack, but I do know I won’t let it touch Corax.

  The shadow breaks off its charge only a few feet away, taking a sharp turn to the side and vanishing below the water.

  “Corax, please be careful.” I move quickly to intercept another creature in the already waist deep water.

  No matter what I do, Corax just continues his march. The water creeps up above his waist, his chest, his shoulders, and finally, his head disappears beneath the perfect surface with another singur ripple. I rush forward to match him, quickly dunking my head underwater.

  The shapes in the water vanish from around us, repced with only open ocean. Beautiful, ancient coral lines both sides of the path, with fish swimming around and through it. Just beyond the coral is a steep dropoff into the void.

  At the end of the sloping path lies a grand castle. Green brick walls with climbing pnts and even more coral makes up the majority of it. Impossibly rge seashells have been constructed for the roof, spiraling upwards, creating a second, rger seashell shaped roof. Bioluminescent bulbs are pced evenly around the castle, creating a light in the dark sea. Every path to every isnd leads into the castle, with no way to reach them besides going inside.

  That has to be the main server. It can’t be anything else. If I gain control of that, a nigh undetectable backdoor will be trivial to install.

  A great roar echoes from deep below us, in the void, causing the fish to scatter and hide. A few even weave beneath our legs, hiding in the small crevices of our bodies.

  Corax, as unphased as ever, responds only by sending a single bird from his feathers. The raven flies easily through the water, and out above the void. A massive tentacle, thicker than I am tall, shoots from the void with blinding speed. It grasps the small bird, sms it against the floor in front of us with enough force to nearly knock me off my feet, and drags it into the void before I can even react.

  My mind screams at me to leave, to get out. My death isn’t worth this. I settle the thoughts, there is no other choice. Leah will throw us into the sandstorm if we’re lucky, or just shoot us and dump us in the canyon if we’re not. And when have I ever been lucky?

  I grip my icicles tighter.

  We continue our march downwards, the light disappearing from above us with every step. A steady growl rises from the void, growing angrier with every passing inch, promising only our imminent demise. I focus on the physical world for only long enough to move my hand to Corax’s plug. If anything happens I am pulling him out first.

  Our long walk continues in silence. The dark shapes return at the edge of our visible range. As the light fades they grow closer, staying barely visible against the encroaching darkness.

  A suspicion begins to rise in my mind. This is weird, a creature has demonstrated that it’s both stronger and faster than us. There’s nothing stopping it from pulling us to our deaths. There are hundreds of creatures swirling around us, far too many for us to fight off. Why are they not swarming? Why is the server allowing us to live? Does whoever lives here want to talk? Or is there another reason?

  “I’m not hallucinating am I?” I ask Corax, my voice unimpeded by the water.

  “No, real.” He says, gncing into the distance.

  “Alright, thanks.”

  The creatures come closer, close enough to catch glimpses of their pure white gnashing teeth in the dim light.

  “Wait, let me try something.” I come to a stop and concentrate on my hands. I form the water in front of me into a rge ice ball. I command the ice inside to move and flow to my whims. The sphere grows as I force the internal ice to move to the walls, ending with a massive ball filled with only a vacuum.

  “You might want to cover your ears.” I allow the ice bubble to float a safe distance away, and then force the ice to turn back into water. An entire ocean's worth of pressure rushes in to fill the void. A tremendous shockwave rocks my body as the water collides with itself, but more importantly, it creates a fsh of light.

  The creatures attempt to retreat, but the momentary fsh is enough to get a good look at them. The indistinct shapes weren't just because of the low light. Their bodies are bck and amorphous, as if a toddler found some cy to py with. Their teeth and eyes are pstered directly onto their bodies, with no mouth to close. I’m not even sure how they’re moving. They have no fins, they just seem to wiggle and glide away, as if pulled by a string.

  “They’re harmless.” Though that answer lessens the panic in my mind, it creates a hundred more questions with it. What is happening? Who made this? Why? If I were a virus, the creatures would have no effect on me, a simple virus can’t feel fear. Which means this was created to scare away people and AI. Why not just create an actual security system? Or maybe the tentacle is their system, but why not use it? What’s the point of any of this?

  “Keep moving.” Corax says, and returns to walking, kicking up silt with every step.

  “Right.”

  It’s not long before we reach the castle. Seaweed drifting in the currents is the only sembnce of a door.

  Corax summons another bird and sends it through, returning safely a moment ter. He walks through the seaweed, with me following close behind.

  We step into open air, the seaweed behind us somehow enough to keep out unfathomable amounts of water.

  The inside is clean, with marble floors and bioluminescent chandeliers hanging at regur intervals. A single hallway traces the outside of the castle, and a rge wooden door in front of us beckons us deeper into the server, deeper into the den of whoever made this.

  I brace against half of the double doors, and Corax the other. Together we push, and the massive doors swing open easily.

  We enter into an enormous circur chamber. The walls are filled with books, a few of which remove themselves from the shelf, open to a page, write something, and return to their resting spot. A few more books fly between the shelves, switching pces at some unseen whim.

  In front of us is a coral throne, with a man of the same material sitting atop it.

  “You are not welcome here.” His voice reverberates around the room, shaking the walls and floor. Even the books quiver under his booming voice.

  “Human.” Corax mumbles quietly enough that I’m the only one who can hear. That’s good, probably. I have the advantage here.

  “We’re sorry to intrude!” I yell back. “We are being forced to be here, and we’re not against making a deal. We’re just trying to live.”

  “Silence!” The voice commands only after I’ve already finished my expnation. “I don’t care for your wants or needs. Leave now or be destroyed.”

  The roof of the castle begins to move, lifted from its resting pce and tossed aside easily. Great tentacles spill over the lip, their tips dangling down the walls and resting on the floor. Wicked looking hooks trace the bottom side of the creature's limbs.

  Corax flexes, and a storm of ravens springs forth, creating an impenetrable wall around him. I clutch my ice spikes harder. Sorry Cassie, it looks like you might see us almost die again.

  “We’re not afraid to fight, but please, can we just talk for a minute?”

  “Then you have made your choice. May you find peace in your destruction.”

  The tentacles shoot out with lightning speed, I only have time to brace for impact. I have the time to pull Corax out, but I can’t let myself do that, no matter how much my mind screams at me to. He’s not hurt yet.

  The tentacle wraps around my torso, and squeezes gently? The hooks along its limb attempt to dig into me, but can’t even pierce the skin. It tries to pull me upwards, but a simple thought creates ice around my feet, keeping me connected to the floor.

  “Uh, I think something’s wrong here?” I call out to the man. Are humans just incredibly weak?

  I bring a spike down on the tentacle, freezing a portion of it solid. The second one shatters it into a million beautiful pieces, each one catching the light and painting the walls with shimmering starlight.

  Beside me, Corax’s family has already torn his tentacle apart, and the flock is descending on a second one.

  The coral man only sits still on his throne, not even reacting to my calls.

  “Uh, hello? Can we talk now?” I walk up to the still man. Even when I wave my hand in front of his face, he doesn’t react. I reach out and touch him, only for the coral to colpse onto the ground harmlessly. “Uh, alright. Hey Corax? I’m going to try sitting in the chair. It might be a trap. Can you tell Cassie to pull me out if anything happens?”

  Corax gives a nod in response, his attention still on his family systematically dismantling the creature.

  I brush the coral man off the seat, which ctters unceremoniously to the ground. I lower myself in, and my awareness expands. The knowledge of every book, every current in the ocean, every cut on every tentacle, all exist entirely within me. I retract the kraken’s arms, using one to repce the roof and letting them disappear back into the void.

  One book catches my interest, and a single thought summons it in front of me. This single file has the answer to every question I have.

  “Apparently someone had the idea to make a fake hacker to scare off anyone trying to get in?” That’s an awful pn, but I guess if we weren’t so desperate it would have worked on us. Or at least me.

  My mind tches onto a few more books in here, quickly memorizing them. Someone has an entire fiction library stored in here, and I’m sure Cassie would love for me to read her literally anything else at this point.

  I craft a hidden backdoor which manifests itself as a tiny, almost unnoticeable tunnel between the library and Leah’s isnd. It won’t be fast accessing information, but it should be able to slowly siphon off whatever she wants to know. Any faster and she’d risk being discovered.

  “I guess we’re done here.” I stand up and reactivate the fake hacker, setting him to not react to Corax or I, and for that piece of code to be deleted as soon as we leave. I don’t care to hear his pre-programmed speech again. “I’ll see you back in the real world.”

  JanePtinum