Book Two of the Travelers Read Online Free

“Hey!” he said, grinning. “I was just thinking about you. Did you sort out your little password problem?”
    She glared at him. “I think you know the answer to that.”
    â€œWhat!” he said innocently.
    â€œSurely you’re aware that any gain in class standing that you might make by crashing my security protocols will be lost when Headmistress Nilssin finds out that you’ve hacked the origin code.”
    Nak squinted at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    â€œRight.”
    Aja’s communicator chimed. She pulled out the small silver device. “Yes?”
    â€œIt’s Dal,” the voice on the other end said. “We’ve run into a really serious problem. Whatever this program is that’s attacked your identity…Well, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œIt’s starting to move deeper into the core software.”
    â€œSo you’ve isolated the program?”
    â€œWell…sort of. The program we’ve located is just a shell. It sits over the top of more programs. But we can see what’s underneath it. The shell program is hiding its real function.”
    â€œWell, go Command Level One.”
    â€œCome on, Aja. We’ve done that already.”
    â€œI wrote a new security facility called—”
    â€œI already tried that. We’ve tried everything obvious.”
    â€œThen why are you calling me?” Aja said.
    There was a long pause. “Because the program that crashed your password…”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œWell…you wrote it.”
    Aja felt momentarily confused. “What! That doesn’tmake any sense. Why would I write a program that crashed my own identity?”
    â€œLook,” Dal said, “I know you’ve been messing with a lot of Lifelight’s deeper code for your project. If you made a little mistake or something, hey, we understand. But you need to tell us.”
    Aja felt a stab of dread. This was starting to get serious. “I swear!” Aja said. “I didn’t do anything. What’s the name of this program anyway?”
    â€œIt’s got some kind of goofy name. Hold on….” She heard some keys clicking. “It’s called ‘King Hruth’s Maze.’”
    Her eyes widened. “That’s not my program!” she shouted.
    â€œNo need to get emotional,” Dal said. “Just admit what you did, and we’ll figure out how to stop it.”
    â€œI didn’t do anything !”
    There was a very long pause. “All right.” Dal’s voice sounded distant and cold. “If that’s the way you want to play it. But I’ll be forced to notify the Lifelight directors about what you’ve done here.”
    â€œDal, how could you even think that—”
    â€œLast chance, Aja. Your little program is already attacking the core.”
    â€œNo, Dal, I—”
    â€œAll right. But don’t say we didn’t give you a chance.”
    Her communicator went dead. She started to call Dal back. But what would that do? Right now logic pointed straight at her. If she was going to prove she didn’t have anything to do with this problem, she’d have to get more evidence.
    Nak was still leaning casually against the wall, a placid smile on his face. “Everything okay?” he said.
    â€œNak, you framed me!”
    Nak shook his head, as if she were speaking a language he didn’t understand. “You seem kind of nervous,” Nak said. “Maybe a quick jump would calm you down. I have an excellent game in mind that might—”
    â€œThis is not funny anymore!” Aja said. “Your clever little program is attacking the core!”
    â€œ My program? What program? All I’m talking about is playing a game.”
    Something was forming in her mind. An idea. A plan. She could feel the shape of the