Rogue Read Free

‘It never used to fail – ever – and suddenly over the past couple of months it’s started happening more and more often.’
    ‘It’s not just the lights either,’ Lucy said. ‘It’s getting so I don’t want to take a shower in the morning.’
    ‘Yes, the water temperature in the accommodation blocks has been somewhat . . . variable,’ Wing said, raising an eyebrow.
    ‘Yeah, it varies between ice cold and skin-blisteringly hot,’ Laura said, ‘sometimes in the course of a single shower.’
    ‘Hey, welcome to life at H.I.V.E.,’ Shelby said with a grin, ‘where even the bathroom is filled with mystery and danger.’
    ‘And what was that music that started playing over the tannoy system at three o’clock this morning?’ Lucy asked.
    ‘I believe it was the “1812 Overture”,’ Wing said matter-of-factly.
    ‘Everything electronic’s going haywire, and we can’t even blame Ott—’ Shelby said, stopping herself when she saw the look on Laura’s face. ‘Sorry, I forgot, no mentioning the O word.’
    The last few months had been hard for them all. After the initial excitement of discovering that Otto was still alive, they had heard precisely nothing concerning the whereabouts of their friend. Most of the time they tried not to think about the fact that he had vanished without trace after the events on board the Dreadnought, but every so often one of them would say something, or something would happen, to suddenly remind them all that he wasn’t there. After a while they’d come to an unspoken agreement not to mention Otto unless they had some actual news. Unfortunately there had been precious little of that.
    ‘I assume no one’s heard anything new,’ Laura said.
    ‘Doctor Nero assured me last week that they continue to search,’ Wing said, ‘but there was, unfortunately, nothing else to report.’
    ‘Why can’t they find him?’ Laura asked sadly. ‘With all the resources G.L.O.V.E. has, they still can’t track him down. They won’t even let us help.’
    ‘Perhaps it is time we took matters into our own hands,’ Wing said quietly.
    They all knew what Wing meant, but since Otto’s disappearance Nero had had the four of them on an extremely short leash. He had guessed that they might try to mount a rescue mission of their own and had made it abundantly clear to them that not only were they all being watched but that any attempt to leave the island would be met with the harshest of penalties. The irony was that the one person they really needed in order to put together a solid plan for any sort of escape attempt was currently AWOL.
    ‘Guys, you know I’m as keen as anyone to find Otto, but what could we do that G.L.O.V.E. couldn’t?’ Shelby asked with a sigh.
    ‘There’s got to be something,’ Laura said angrily. ‘Anything’s better than just sitting around here and hoping for the best.’
    ‘Hey,’ Shelby said, holding her hands up, ‘I’m not suggesting we give up. We just need to come up with a plan that doesn’t require an albino genius to make it work.’

    ‘This is most troublesome, Professor,’ Dr Nero said, placing the tablet display listing the series of bizarre technical malfunctions that had recently afflicted the school down on the desk in front of him. ‘I would like an explanation.’
    ‘As would I,’ Professor Pike replied, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. ‘We have been struggling to keep the school’s systems running properly without the assistance of H.I.V.E.mind since the Overlord incident, but I thought that we had managed to iron out most of the problems. Then out of the blue things seem to have gone haywire. My first assumption was that it might be some sort of virus or that one of the pupils might have hacked into the system somehow – our network defences are formidable, but we have too many inventively devious minds within these walls to eliminate the possibility altogether.’
    ‘I assume that was not the