Read The softwire : Virus on Orbis 1 for Free Online Page A

Jumpers are softwires.”
    A few in the crowd whispered. I had read about Space Jumpers on the
Renaissance.
An odd, raw-edged sort of panic caught hold of me.
I don’t want to be a Space Jumper,
I thought.
I just want the implant. I want to be like everyone else for a change.
    “Everyone, we must continue with the arrival process,” Theylor said. “Please get back in line if you have not received your implant.”
    “If he can do that, then so can I,” Switzer declared, and sat at the screen. He scrunched his eyes and concentrated on the file.
    “Come now, please. Your implant will be sufficient,” Theylor said, and gently nudged him.
    Switzer slammed the table and stood up.
    “It’s pretty awesome you’re a softwire,” Theodore said. “Did you know?”
    “Not a clue. Well, there was the whole Mother thing.”
    “I wonder what it means. You know, to be the first human softwire.”
    I didn’t have a response for him before Max slipped into our conversation. “I wonder what other things you can do. I can’t wait to try it out,” Max said, and smiled.
    I looked at Theodore, but he just shrugged. Max seemed pretty comfortable with me now as she reached up and searched behind my ear where the implant should be. She was already planning on taking something apart.
    “Hey, stop that,” I told her.
    I turned my attention to Switzer, who was finally getting his implant. The R5 pushed Switzer’s face into the chair and inserted the implant. Switzer got up scowling and rubbed behind his ear. He brushed past me and whispered, “Freak.” But I just turned away. I wondered how my newfound gift would be received on Orbis.
    Once all of the other kids had received their neural implants, Theylor guided us back through the New Arrival Processing’s main lobby. With my new translation codec and a little help from the central computer, I was able to understand everything the other aliens were saying. Tall ones, small ones, even really weird ones all spoke in a language I could understand. But I wasn’t listening. I was thinking about Theylor’s revelation.
    A softwire? Space Jumpers?
Everyone knew that Space Jumpers were fearless humanoids who slipped through space and time. We had read all about them on the
Renaissance.
Space Jumpers had roamed the rings since the Ancients controlled Orbis, and they were the elite force that protected the Keepers against the First Families during the War of Ten Thousand Rotations. But the Citizens, most of them descendants of the First Families, still feared the Space Jumpers and had forced the Keepers to banish them from the rings almost a thousand years ago. How could I possibly have anything in common with them?
    “Excuse me,” Max said as she maneuvered around a small dusty alien that looked as though it had just come out of the ground.
    “You excuse me! You surface dwellers think you can walk wherever you want. Well, I’m standing here right now. It’s not often I’m aboveground, so please let me stand here.”
    The alien sucked in as much air as its crusty little body could hold. It looked quite angry, puffing up in front of Max in an attempt to look threatening.
    “The aliens understand you now also,” said Theylor, who came up from behind and stood in front of the alien. “Their codec translates your language to theirs, but it does not translate gestures, cultural differences, or
manners.
” Theylor glared at the alien, who shriveled back down. “For that, you will attend social classes.”
    Theylor led us away from the enraged alien and across the atrium to a large tubelike passage.
    “Children, gather around, please.”
    We circled around Theylor. Ketheria was at my side.
    “We will now proceed to the assignment sector. We will board the spaceway for transportation to the other side of Orbis 1, where you will meet your new Guarantor.”
    When Theylor finished talking, the tube filled with a sleek transportation device that looked a lot like a monorail. The large