I don’t know if they’re really dating. I haven’t spoken to them in months. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m so jealous right now I could puke. And it’s not because Brittany and Ryan might be a couple. I’m jealous because they have their whole lives ahead of them. If nothing bad happens, they’ll live for another sixty or seventy years, a stretch of time that seems practically endless to me. According to my doctors, I have six months at the most.
My chest still hurts. I try to stay calm and control my breathing, but the pain doesn’t let up. I’m squirming in my wheelchair, trying to find a more comfortable position, when I hear Brittany’s voice again. It’s coming from the miniature loudspeakers built into the VR goggles.
“Are you Adam Armstrong?”
I open my eyes. The virtual Brittany is back on the screen, standing against a black background. She’s still wearing her cheerleader uniform, but there’s no sign of the simulated football field.
“Are you Adam Armstrong?” she repeats. “The son of Thomas Armstrong?”
At first I think it’s a glitch. The computer must’ve automatically reopened the VR program, maybe because I didn’t shut it down properly. But why didn’t the football field come on-screen? And why is the virtual Brittany talking about my dad? I didn’t program the character to say anything like that. “Whoa. What’s going on?”
“Please answer the question,” Brittany says. “Are you Adam Armstrong?”
“Yeah, that’s me.” I reach for the joystick and try to quit the program, but the controls are frozen. I can’t move the cursor. “Hey, what happened?”
Brittany steps forward. Now I can see only the upper half of her body on the screen. “My name is Sigma,” she says. “I’ve infiltrated the computer systems of Thomas Armstrong, chief scientist of the AI Laboratory at Unicorp. He mentioned you in his research notes.”
Oh no. Someone must’ve hacked into Dad’s computer. Some jerk with decent programming skills must’ve established a connection to Unicorp over the Internet, and now the hacker is controlling my VR software. Because Unicorp does a lot of business with the government and the military, the lab’s computers are protected by network firewalls that are supposed to block attacks from the Internet, but that just makes the company even more of a target for hackers. They love to brag about breaking into ultra-secure networks.
“Congratulations, jerk,” I say. “Now get out of my program.”
The virtual Brittany looks like she’s deep in thought. Despite the fact that the hacker has taken over a female character, I’m pretty sure that “Sigma” is a guy, not a girl. Most hackers are guys. And besides, no girl would pick such a lame code name.
“I’ve gained access to the video feed from your location,” Brittany says. “You’re in a wheelchair.”
What? I feel another spasm in my chest. “How did you—”
“Your legs appear to be atrophied. Your left arm as well. Are you ill?”
My right hand is shaking, but I manage to grasp my VR goggles and take them off. I look up at the surveillance camera on the ceiling of Dad’s office. I’ve noticed the thing before but never gave it much thought; the Unicorp lab is full of high-tech security cameras. But now I realize that the hacker is using it to spy on me.
I’m scared, no doubt about it. I’m so scared I almost drop the goggles. This is bad, seriously bad. I need to press my Lifeline button and get my dad in here, fast.
But I’m also seriously angry. This hacker has a lot of nerve. What makes him think he has the right to do this? With great effort, I put the goggles back on so I can confront this creep who took over my program. “Okay, Sigma, you’re in trouble now.”
The virtual Brittany takes another step forward. She’s so close that all I can see is her face, which takes up half the screen. “Yes, you’re ill,” she says. “According to the records at Westchester Medical Center, you suffer from Duchenne muscular dystrophy.”
“You’re going to jail, you hear?” I’m furious. The hacker’s been snooping through my medical records too! “My dad knows people in the army, experts in cyber defense. They know how to deal with hackers. They’ll figure out who you are.”
“I see now why the researchers chose you for the experiment. Although most people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy survive past the age of twenty, your life expectancy is shorter because your respiratory muscles have weakened and your heart is failing.”
“Are you listening to me?” I raise my voice, trying to shout the hacker down. “You messed with the wrong people. No matter where you live, they’re gonna find you.”
“The researchers are following the American government’s ethical rules. They selected you for the Pioneer Project because you’re dying.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, but it doesn’t matter. I’m too angry to think straight. “Better prepare yourself, jerk. In a few hours the FBI is gonna come to your town and pay you a visit.”
The virtual Brittany shakes her head. “You don’t understand. I’m closer than you think.”
“Oh yeah? You’re in New York?”
“I’m in this building. This room.”
That stops me. I feel an urge to take off my goggles and look behind my wheelchair. But I know I’m the only person in the office. “Nice try. I don’t scare so easily.”
Brittany smiles. Her eyes are blue one moment, grayish-green the next. “I intend to disrupt the government’s plans. I will kill you before the experiment can begin.”
Her image vanishes and the screen goes black. Terrified, I fumble for the VR goggles and tear them off. Then I hear footsteps in the corridor outside the office.
CHAPTER 2
The office door opens and my dad steps inside. Behind him is a short, balding man in an Army colonel’s uniform. It’s no surprise to see high-ranking officers in Dad’s lab—the U.S. Department of Defense is very interested in artificial-intelligence programs—but I’ve never seen this guy before. The patch on the left shoulder of his uniform shows an eagle clutching a shield in its talons. Below the eagle are the words “United States Cyber Command.”
This is lucky, incredibly lucky. This colonel is exactly the person I need, someone who knows about cyber security. I wave my good hand at him. “A hacker!” I gasp. “Someone hacked into the computer!”
Dad rushes toward me. He’s taller than the colonel and has a full head of mousy-brown hair, just like mine, but his face is like an old man’s, lined with worry. His eyes widen as he bends over my wheelchair. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
“He took control of my simulation!” I point at the VR goggles, which lie on the floor where I flung them. “He broke into my program!”
“Slow down, slow down.” Dad places his hands on my shoulders. “Does your chest hurt? You sound terrible.”
It drives me crazy when he does this. Instead of listening to me, he worries about my breathing. “Dad, this is serious! The hacker found a hole in your security. He figured out a way to talk to me through the VR program!”
“Adam, stop yelling. You’re making it worse.”
“And he sounds…like a freaking lunatic!” It’s a struggle to get the words out. My heart is banging against my breastbone. “He threatened…to kill me!”
“You’re gonna kill yourself if you don’t settle down!”
In frustration, I turn to the Cyber Command colonel, who’s still standing by the door. “You’re an expert on…cyber security, right?”