The Hartwell system was a binary star system with two identical main sequence stars. The star system was unique because a habitable planet was located right at the barycenter of the binary stars. When the colonists aboard FS Hartwell first discovered this planet, they were elated. Historically, it was believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe, and the Sun, the planets, and other heavenly bodies revolved around it. Although it was subsequently disproved, the theory represented a crucial trait of human beings. To each human, they are undoubtedly the center of the Universe.

For the settlers on Eaton I, this age-old belief was validated. They were now technically at the center of the star system since the two suns of the star system were now geometrically revolving around them.

But the crew’s excitement was short-lived because they soon found out that being at the barycenter of binary suns meant that the days were endless, scorching, and extremely dry. The shape of Eaton I was also quite awkward. As it was being pulled apart by two massive bodies, the planet was more ellipsoidal in shape. This meant that around the planet’s equator, there were no water bodies in sight, only an endless desert. However, the poles of the planet housed two vast oceans that were home to a plethora of known and unknown exoflora and exofauna.

The reason why the Hartwell colonists decided to settle onto Eaton I, even after considering the disadvantages, was due to the fact that the planet contained dense deposits of rare metals and minerals, as well as high energy density fuel.

Eaton I was especially attractive for industrious corporations due to access to endless sunlight. Vast patches of the desert would be plastered with stacked, high-efficiency concentrated solar panels to directly power the multiple plants littered across the landscape. But what about the workers?

As it was discovered during the end of the Age of Expansion, the corporations didn’t put much thought into the employees’ living situation. They went with the age-old, tried and tested method of stacking houses on top of each other. As more and more employees immigrated to the planet, the stacking accelerated and resulted to form mega buildings that looked like Jenga structures, threatening to topple over at any instant.

However, once the UPA put its foot down, the corporations started to pay more attention and began creating cities separated into atmosphere-controlled microcosms. Over time, these microcosms started to merge together to form one sprawling, and ever-growing, megacity. The entire population of the planet could now be found within this one megacity, called the Oasis.

Simon and his family lived in one of the many mega buildings in the now dubbed ‘cybersecurity and technological services district’, in a two-storeyed stack.

Today, the family ate lunch in silence. The old man refused to leave his room and ate his lunch there. Once the four cleaned up after, Simon knocked onto his grandfather’s room door and spoke loudly, “Grandpa! Grandpa!”

He waited for an affirmation, which came in the form of a grunt.

“We’re going out. Want us to get you anything?”

He waited, but there was no response. Simon spoke in a lower voice, “Please don’t be mad. I’ll talk to them okay?”

Still no response. Simon resignedly turned his LChair and gestured for his siblings to leave with him.

“Why is Grandpa so angry today? He’s never acted like this before.” Karina said as she closed and locked the shop door.

“I think it’s got something to do with the test,” Horace spoke out loud.

“No shit Sherlock! What gave you the hint?” Karine poked at Horace sarcastically.

Nathan quickly diverted the conversation, “Stop it you two. Leave it for the time being. Simon, did the twins update you on how their job went? I tried contacting them, but they still haven’t responded. I’m a little worried.”

Simon pressed the elevator button while responding, “They pinged me while we were eating. The job went … OK, and the client transferred the remaining Bits.”

Once the elevator arrived on the 19th floor, the four siblings entered and pressed the button for the 23rd.

“That’s good. I was worried they’d gotten into some trouble. It was their first solo job after all. Can’t imagine how stressed Rhona must’ve been, coordinating with Rhys. I’ll bet you a million Bits that Rhona probably wished you were there. It’s somehow more comforting when you’re the one coordinating.” Horace commented while patting Simon’s shoulder.

“HA! She’d wish Simon was there alright!” Karina winked. But since there was no reaction from the crowd, she cleared her head and continued, “Horace’s right you know? I’ve never seen you panicking!”

Simon smiled blankly at their praise. He didn’t feel proud or embarrassed. It was as if he was acknowledging a fact.

The elevator dinged once it reached its destination. The four got off together and made their way to Room 2307.

Nathan reached over and knocked on the door in an inconspicuous beat. Following a lengthened pause, the door slid open.

The family lived exactly 4 levels below in Room 1907. As a result, the rooms shared the same layout. As soon as Horace entered, he rushed towards the sofa to his right and jumped on top of the man sprawled on it watching a video on his Holo-Comm Device.

Horace screamed, “BYRON!” and landed with a belly flop on top of the unsuspecting individual.

“Ooof! Why are you so heavy damn it? Get off! Hey, stop reaching… Hey, stop! Stop, fine I’ll get up!”

Byron unceremoniously pushed Horace off of him and quickly fixed his trousers. He then sat down at one end of the sofa and resumed watching the video.

Karina glanced towards a 14-year old youngster hunched over his computer at the far end of the room next to the balcony, typing away vigorously.

“Colin!” She called out.

Colin looked up from his screen, fixed his spectacles, and stared at Karina blankly.

“The twins?” She asked curtly.

Colin’s eyes darted towards the stairs, indicating that they were upstairs. Karina nodded in acknowledgement and pulled Nathan along.

Simon, instead, moved towards Colin.

“How’s the development of the new strain going?”

Colin sighed before he answered, “I’ve reached a dead end. As you suggested, I cloned your C0rdyc3ps daemon and tried building my variant using it as a base. It works fine until the first part of the highjacking phase, but every time I throw it against Radeon’s security suite it never makes it past that.”

Simon inched towards Colin’s seat, and Colin silently scooted aside.

“Radeon’s security suite is especially tight. Even the tiniest indication of an intrusion sets off multiple alarms. It’s so tight that you can’t even use automation AIs. What the software looks for is any unauthorised attempt to manipulate data from any and all non-human agents in the host system. My original strain is more aggressive, I’ve programmed multiple points of attack in which I target the suite’s search subroutine first. Although it sets off the suite’s alarms, it can’t do much since there is no way for it to determine the next point of attack. Once it enslaves the security suite, the suite turns against the host system.”

Simon scrolled down further and highlighted a chunk of code on one of the screens.

“What I asked you to do is to reduce the aggressiveness of the strain. If you look here, my DoS attack on the search subroutine is separated from that of the remaining multi-point attack on the security suite. You need to restructure the code. I think you can leave the rest the same.”

Colin nodded in acknowledgement.

“You didn’t attend the Institute today?”

Colin hung his head and avoided Simon’s gaze.

“Look I know that you think attending is a waste of time. But you need to learn to interact more with people. Learn how things work in society, make connections. You can’t live your entire life being your screens.”

Just as Simon was about to start an extended tirade on the importance of socialising, Nathan and Karina, followed by the twins, descended the stairs. The twins had pale skin washed over by a light tan, with vibrant auburn hair and green-hazel eyes. The girl had a thin physique with small breasts and a modest rear, while the boy had a naturally lean body without excessive muscle mass.

Simon noticed that Rhys was limping slightly, while Rhona looked like she had aged 5 years. The twins were a year younger than Simon’s siblings, yet they looked more mature and weathered.

Horace exclaimed, “What happened to you two?”

Rhys grimaced as he plopped down on the sofa next to Horace.

Rhona turned towards Simon to explain what went down. But before she could begin, he interrupted her, “You slacked off because the task was a simple courier job. Am I right?”

The cold look in his eyes pierced through Rhona, threatening to swallow her. Rhona’s eyes burst open in shock, as she found it harder to breathe. A bead of cold sweat dripped down from the side of her forehead.

In a calm, yet forceful tone, Simon continued, “This job was a test to see if you two could handle our line of business. Did you think what we do is easy?”

Rhys flinched in his seat. In a low voice, he muttered, “All my other courier jobs went so well…”

His grumbling didn’t miss Simon’s ears. Simon slowly rotated his LChair to face Rhys and stared at him. Unable to take the pressure, Rhys slid further into his seat.

“I see the problem. You’ve become disillusioned after having it easy. Make no mistake, it was the exact same job. The only difference was that I wasn’t the one coordinating the mission!”

He then turned back to face the distraught Rhona and reprimanded her, “You chose to skip doing your legwork and jumped straight into unfamiliar territory. Not only did you threaten the completion of your task, you nearly cost your brother’s life. You’re lucky that your pursuers weren’t as skilled in free-running as your brother.”

Karina gently grabbed Rhona’s shuddering shoulders and said pleadingly, “Simon, I think she gets it. It was her first time. Why don’t you cut her some slack?”

Simon’s head jolted in place to directly face Karina. Karina was frightened by the suddenness. She was then assaulted by Simon’s cold and piercing glare, and her instincts caused her muscles to tighten in fear. Noticing her reaction, Simon quickly suppressed himself.

He then spoke to her gently, “Do you know how easy it is to die? Her one mistake nearly cost Rhys his life. She needs to realise the severity of involving herself in this line of business. Tell me, do you want her to be the one coordinating your next job?”

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Karina started to hesitate. Rhona steeled her resolve and plopped down on her knees. Everyone was surprised by her actions.

“I’m really sorry Simon! I realise my mistake, and that my inadequacy almost caused dire repercussions. I implore you, please! Please give me another chance! I promise you, I won’t make this stupid mistake again!”

Awkward silence reigned the room. Byron burst out laughing, immediately followed by Horace. Nathan looked unperturbed as he immersed himself into a projection playing on his Holo-Comm Device. Karina was still surprised by Rhona’s actions.

Simon slowly moved towards the kneeling Rhona. As he approached her, the laughter in the room slowly died out, as an invisible pressure started to build up threatening to boil over.

“I’m giving you an out. Either you choose to continue working with us, OR you quit. If you choose to stay, I will not tolerate stupidity. You’re allowed to be ignorant, IF and only IF you can’t help it. But if you’re aware of your ignorance, and you choose to not remedy it, I will not be as forgiving. Understood?”

Rhona was on edge. The voice that spoke to her appeared calm and composed on the surface. But she could feel the weight of a sword hanging above her neck bearing down on her with every word. After a quick thought, she nodded vigorously, unable to even voice her agreement. Simon then turned to face Rhys who was nearly buried into the sofa. He too nodded vigorously.

Simon then revealed a blank smile, and the pressure in the room dissipated almost immediately.

“Good! Back to business then. I don’t want you two to take on any new jobs until I deem you fit to handle them. Colin, try to finish that task by the end of the day tomorrow.”

Simon then moved towards Nathan, Horace, and Byron who were seated near the entrance. Karina walked with him.

Simon then reached into a hidden storage compartment in his LChair and pulled out a tablet. He tossed it towards Byron.

“How’s the preparation going for the vehicles for tomorrow’s job? It is mission-critical that they meet those specifications.”

Byron swiped through the tablet as he responded, “Chill! The rides are all covered. My girl’s gone under the knife and has come out the other side prettier than before. What I’m worried about is security. I can guarantee you that a weapon manufacturer’s convoy’s bound to have some nasty firepower.”

“That’s not an issue. The convoy is completely automated. The client even sent over the documents on the architecture of Arc E&B’s custom security suite. It has a near-impenetrable firewall, but it’s wasted on the century-old tech that they’re using out here. Corporations keep forgetting that things are different out in this wasteland of a star system. As long as Nathan can get our bug connected to the convoy’s net, we’re good.”

Nathan apprehensively scratched his forehead to Simon’s last sentence.

“I feel like you guys are overestimating me. The convoy will be moving at nearly 200km/h…”

To that, Byron retorted, “I’ve seen you succeed in even worse conditions! Don’t play humble with us, we all know what you’re capable of.”

Simon then turned to leave, “I need to make sure Grandpa’s eating. I want you four to go through the plan again. Prepare everything and be ready by 12:00 OET tomorrow!”

Everyone currently in Room 1907 had one thing in common. They were all orphans. Some were abandoned, some were orphaned due to industrial ‘accidents’. But nonetheless, they were all in the same boat, struggling to survive in the corporate world. This shared experience, brought them closer together, as a family.

Karina moved towards the still shivering Rhona to comfort her.

“Hey. I wanna apologise on behalf of Simon. He was unnecessarily strict with you today.”

Rhona finally calmed down and said, “No. I was the one at fault. I nearly got my brother into trouble. I won’t ever forget what happened today.”

Karina heaved a sigh of relief.

“Karina. Today, when I looked into Simon’s eyes. For the first time in my life, I felt true fear.”

Rhys had moved over to Rhona, who was sitting at the dining table. He added, “Even when staring down the barrel of a gun, I’ve never felt so helpless.”

Karina gently punched Rhys’ shoulder and joked, “Y’all are just feeling guilty that’s all. You know how Simon is? He just worries a lot. It’s hard for him to express himself.”

The twins begrudgingly nodded their heads. But deep down, they would always remember the way Simon looked at them. Like a predator ready to eviscerate its prey at any moment.

Karina, though she said that out loud, was quite conflicted. The brief glance into Simon’s eyes rocked her to her core. But in the end, she decided that it was only in passing.

‘Simon was probably really worried for them. Yea…’ she told herself.