Read The softwire : Virus on Orbis 1 for Free Online

I heard Max say behind me.
    The only thing I heard coming from the Keepers’ mouths were weird sounds. They were directing the children with the new hardware, who obviously knew exactly what the Keepers were saying. I admit, I was eager to get mine.
    Ketheria was next. She was no longer afraid. Whatever that alien had done, it worked. Before Ketheria took her seat in front of the R5, Theylor was back. He took me by the shoulder again.
    “Please, come with me.”
    “But my sister. I —”
    “She will be fine now,” Theylor said as he led me to one of the empty O-dats. “Take a seat please.”
    Am I in trouble?
I wondered. Nervous, I followed his instructions.
Do they know about the files I took?
That would be impossible. I wanted my implant.
    “Johnny, I want you to —”
    “How do you know my name?”
    “I know a lot about things, as you will soon discover,” Theylor said. “Now please face the screen.” A few of the other children gathered around. “I want you to concentrate on the screen. Without touching the screen, I want you to scroll through the files.”
    “That’s easy,” I told him. “Anyone can do that.”
    “Yeah, right,” Switzer said, now standing behind me.
    I scrolled through the files without touching the screen. This was something I always did. I thought everyone could do it.
    “Johnny,” Theylor said, “I want you to locate a file named Translation Codec. The computer will automatically compensate for your language.”
    “What do you mean?” I said.
    “Do not think. Feel. Grasp the file with your mind. Visualize it in the front of your forehead — like one of these displays. Make it part of yourself.”
    I thought about the file, and there it was on the O-dat. Usually I just asked Mother for something like that.
    “Now I want you to scan the file and store it in your memory.”
    “He can’t do that,” Switzer said.
    “Yeah, Theylor, he’s right,” I said — although I hated to admit that Switzer could be right about anything. “I don’t think I can do that.” Max came to my side. Ketheria was there also. A lot of people were gawking at me now.
    I didn’t know how to scan a file with my mind. What was I supposed to do? I looked harder, but nothing happened. “I don’t get this,” I told Theylor. “Why can’t I just have my implant?”
    “Concentrate,” he said.
    I thought of the file opening up. I pictured it jumping into my brain. I felt silly.
    “I can’t do it, Theylor.”
    “See?” Theylor said. “You should find this very easy.”
    “But I didn’t do anything,” I said.
    “I am speaking to you right now in my own language,” he said. His lips moved slightly out of sync with his speech. “You understand what I’m saying, do you not?” I nodded. His pronunciation was much clearer, too.
    “What did double-dome just say?” Switzer asked. Obviously he had not received his implant yet.
    “JT, you can upload the files with your mind!” Theodore said.
    “That’s so awesome!” Max said.
    “You are a
softwire,
” Theylor announced.
    “A what?”
    “A softwire. I have never known of this ability in the human species, but you
are
a softwire.”
    “What does that mean?” I asked. The crowd was getting louder and larger. Now the other Keepers joined in also.
    “It means that you can access any computer by simply standing near it. Many computers transmit data back and forth. You are able to access this stream and the data within a com puter without any additional hardware. You do not need the implant. That is how you could talk to Mother on your seed-ship.”
    How does he know about that?
I wondered.
    “I told you he was telling the truth,” Max said to Switzer.
    “Hmmf,” was his only reply.
    “Are there any others?” I asked. I didn’t want to be the only one again. I had lived with being different for thirteen years on the
Renaissance.
    “There are none on Orbis,” Theylor said. “Although softwires are extremely rare, all Space