The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2 Read Free Page A

rummaging through the discarded shipping crate. He froze, his eyes widening. “And I think it just got worse,” he added.

“A replicator?” Max said, glancing up from the instruction screen Theodore had found in the crate.
    “Where did he get it?” Theodore asked.
    “Probably in some corrupted corner of the universe,” I replied.
    “What good is it going to do him?” he said.
    “He’s going to try to replicate things: yornaling crystals, chit cards, ID scans — anything of value that he can fit into the machine. A gadget like that will get him into a pile of trouble by the Center for Forbidden Off-Ring Materials,” Max explained. “Citizens call the stuff F.O.R.M.”
    “How do you know all this?” Theodore questioned her.
    “It’s all in the central computer,” she replied. “There’s a kabillion things that are forbidden on Orbis, especially a replicator.”
    Switzer snatched the electronic paper from Max’s hand.
    “So what can it do?” Switzer asked, trying not to sound interested.
    “It will make Weegin a very wealthy alien if he starts replicating crystals. That’s why the machines are forbidden,” Max told him, and snatched the instructions back. She wandered toward the rec room, poring over the replicator’s diagrams. Theodore and I followed.
    Inside the rec room, Ketheria was sitting against the glass wall that led to the fake courtyard. Nugget sat next to her.
    I moved to the far side of the room, away from anyone that could hear me. “Vairocina.” I whispered for my friend. She was the little girl I had found inside the central computer. No one on Orbis had believed me when I told them something was inside their computer, but together she and I saved Orbis from an attack by Madame Lee. Now she lives inside their enormous mainframe helping the Keepers protect the Rings of Orbis. My ability as a softwire lets me contact Vairocina by simply calling out her name. She usually responds in an instant if she is monitoring the same frequency the central computer uses to translate all the different alien languages.
    “Yes, JT?” she said inside my head. I turned my back to the others.
    “Is it hard to get a replicator on Orbis?”
    “A replicator is a F.O.R.M. item,” she said. “Not only is it impossible; it is very illegal. Someone of your status should not be looking for such an item, JT. I am afraid the Keepers would not be very kind if they caught you with a F.O.R.M. item.”
    “Don’t worry,” I told her. “I’m not looking for one.”
    “Who you talking to?” Theodore whispered. I hadn’t seen him come up behind me.
    “Good-bye, JT,” she said inside my head.
    “Vairocina,” I told him.
    “A game of Ring Defenders?” Theodore said, and plopped on a nearby foam lounger.
    “Why not?” I replied as he started the game.
    “What were you talking to her about?”
    “Replicators,” I told him.
    “I’ve been thinking about those, too. I wonder what Weegin plans to do with his.”
    “Why?”
    “Well, think about it. He can make anything he wants. If you had a replicator, what would you do?” he asked me, leaning in.
    “I don’t know, but you just lost a whole fleet with that move.”
    “C’mon, there must be something you want.”
    “I want a lot of things, just not a replicator,” I said.
    “Like what?”
    “Well, I want to work, you know. To do something useful around here. Prove to these people that I’m worthy of Citizenship. But I want it to be something I choose; maybe use my softwire. Weegin certainly hasn’t taken advantage of it. I also want my parents’ files back, but I know that will never happen. I want to know why we’re here. I want
answers,
” I said, a little worried that I was preaching again. “I don’t think a replicator can make any of those for me, Theodore.”
    Theodore was staring at his feet when he said, “You know what I want?”
    “What?”
    “I want a Space Jumper’s belt so I can jump off this ring,” he whispered.
    I