Chapter 4

Bacchus brought them to an airless dungeon, where racks of servers, modems and assorted computer paraphernalia emitted a constant hum. Electrical cables, embracing the lifeblood of the Alternative, snaked across the floor. A few people were seated at terminals, intently tapping away. "They have been trying to break into the cloud but haven't had much success to date," Bacchus admitted.

Seated at a terminal, Margarth asked apologetically for reams of paper and pencils. She preferred to work the old-fashioned way. A character or even a spacing could mean the difference between success and failure, and scrolling up and down the screen, it was easy to miss infinitesimal differences. For her, the antiquated mode for spotting patterns won hands down. She pondered a little on the past, where according to her history lessons, people had used paper on a daily basis. Even books were on paper, with vast libraries to store their collections. She speculated what it felt like to walk into a room full of paper books. Well, now was not the time to be delving into the past, she mused. She was aware that even basic firewalls had safeguards in place to track and locate invaders. Some could even locate invaders within ninety seconds, and she had heard unbelievable stories where software detected an invader within sixty seconds and sent a virus to command the hacker's terminal to self-combust. PizzaMan668 swore it was true and added with what she felt was unnecessarily gruesome relish that the Pax Keepers had to scrape his neighbour off the ceiling after the poor guy was caught breaking into a government server. Margarth had been strangely drawn to the story as a moth to a light and hunted feverishly for information on the matter. Recalling what she had read made her apprehensive. She flexed her fingers with some limbering exercises and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"Shall we leave Margarth to it? asked Bacchus, taking Ren by the elbow and gently but firmly steering him out of the room. "I've got someone here whom you would love to meet. He can train you to intensify your power."

Ren broke free from Bacchus' grasp and ran back to Margarth, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Gonna split, see you in a bit," he whispered in her ear, their private farewell bringing a smile to her lips.

Over the next few days, Margarth became steadily more disillusioned. She was no closer to cracking the code and time was running out. She had no doubt that the cloud was monitoring her every unsuccessful attempt; the more she failed, the more frequent the cloud would shore up its firewalls. She decided a walk would help to clear her mind. In the sorry excuse for a garden, where overgrown ferns battled valiantly for sunlight, she found Ren seated on an ancient stone bench. He was deep in conversation with a young boy who looked to be about ten years old. They looked up at Margarth's approach and she was treated to the child's engaging grin which he now displayed in its full glory.

"Hiya, what are you guys up to?" she asked. Perching on one end of the stone bench, she nudged Ren's thigh with her own and he moved obligingly to give her room.

"Margarth, meet Alex. He grew up in an orphanage where the administrators didn't have time for anything much except filling in forms for extra funding. Alex discovered his power to control light when he was just seven. Like you, he came across the Alternative code in a computer game and managed to make his way here himself. Isn't he amazing? He's been teaching me how to focus my thoughts so my powers are stronger. Here, let me show you," Ren said excitedly. He stood up and moved to a spot a few steps away from them. As Margarth watched, Ren started glowing and the air around him shimmered. The blades of grass around Ren's feet gradually became scorched and fell to the ground in crisp sepia fragments. With a grin to match his young mentor's, Ren flicked his wrists, extending his fingers, and new patches of ground began to smoulder, sending tiny plumes of ashes into the air.

"Better stop before Bacchus comes after us," Alex grinned. "He's partial to the garden."

Eddies of smoky air surrounded Ren and he curled his fingers; instantly, he reverted to his normal temperature.

"That's great, Ren!" Margarth clapped her hands.

"All thanks to Alex," said a grateful Ren modestly, as he stamped out the remaining embers under his boot.

"You know what, guys?" Margarth said suddenly. "You've just given me a great idea on raiding the cloud." As she hurried off, she waved a cheery farewell to the boys, who returned in kind.