Cry Freedom

By Staci Tate

Free wasn't like the other drones ...... Well, except for her friend number three, who wasn't bad because he was "Mr. Corpo Poster-Boy".

But she wasn't like any of them. She was born free and one day soon she will sail further than any Asset has ever seen, breaking into the high-priority people data stack at the heart of CodeSea and proving it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9781304283306

Book preview

Chapter 1 A girl named 'Free' and a boy named 'Three'

I’m going to do three things.

Shut up, Free, you're not.

Yes, all you have to do is watch.

Just go back and fix the code.

This CorpoCode is garbage anyway.

Maybe if you put more effort into learning it instead of spending all your free time on your own little projects, you’d be better at using it.

Well, this is real garbage, look at it! She pulled out a string of code and placed it in front of him.

In fact, most of this section of road was built by my father, thank you very much.

It’s clear he didn’t feel inspired by the work.

Number Three grumbled a little but said nothing. She wasn't actually wrong, and his father had other things to do.

The two sat on the edge of the derrick platform, continuing to work in CodeSea, surrounded by other employees, working on their own work. Some had digital tablets floating in front of them, while others took screenshots of passing code snippets and injected their own code modifications into the larger ocean. Free looked at her feet as the ocean continued to stretch out into the inky blackness. It looked scary, well, as scary as the digital CodeSea looked.

What's down there?

Number Three's fingers continued to move across the tablet as he gave her a flat look.

Yes, yes, don't ask.

She sorted out the last few edits and stitched them together into a delivery packet that resembled a fish.

She put her hands on the ground and looked up at the ground hundreds of feet above her head.

Flashes and shocks sent ripples across the digital waters. When was the last time someone broke through it? Three knew, and he was more interested in Corpo stuff.

Number Three paused, looked up, and said, A wall of water? It happens from time to time, but it's usually not serious. My grandfather told my father it happened right above his derrick once, and half the asset managers on his team had their heads melted inside the rig.

How's the other half?

Well... He tapped the edge of the screen rapidly with his index finger, Most of the rest were launched from CodeSea. You don't want to get stuck there.

Is it that dangerous out there?

Yeah, that's unusual... Three stopped talking, spinning something on the screen, then waved his hand and pulled Free over.

...I have to go. He jumped up, pressed his hand on the big red button of their department, and rushed to the supervisor's tower at full speed.

Where are you going? What's the rush? She looked at the screen.

Oh. She looked up, and the derrick platform began to rise toward the surface. As they approached, a stumbling figure appeared in the blank space on the other side of the sea. It came toward the surface with a stumbling step. Towards them. It slammed the water above them with a milky white hand. There was a soft rumble.

Access? Give me access...I want access.

Its fist struck the surface again, and this time, it rippled in response. The automatic strikeback propelled the glassy-eyed supplicant's body and tracked it back in its direction. Its eyes glowed blinding red, and its mouth opened in a wordless scream. It dried up, bursting into a misshapen mass of ones and zeros. Some stack somewhere had just been blown up.

A broadcast came from the tower in the center of the platform: The detected threat has been eliminated. Please return to your respective positions and prepare to resume work. Maintenance ship 4901 will resume operations in 4...

Why was he pushing the button? Just for that lonely robot? She hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for it. It seemed like an overreaction.

As the breath left her lungs she could barely get the next word out of her mouth, What was that?

Countless dots appeared in the empty sky above them, and from each dot emerged a group of empty husks.

Zombienet! DDOS attack!

This is too big!

The sirens in the surveillance tower echoed with the flashing lights on the platform.

As corporate fire suits sprang up around each employee asset, ports throughout the platform opened and switched, red battle suits emblazoned with the company logo overlaying the employees' own custom avatar settings. Free ran in front of another employee and jumped into the SQL relay cannon, severing their connection.

Damn it, I'm going there!

Find something you actually know how to use, Tanny, and I'm not going to die here because you suck!

SQL's staccato spears began firing from various points around the platform, their number increasing as neighboring derricks joined the salvo. The spears struck the robots, shredding their code and blowing them to pieces. Rigs, units, stacks, portables, tablets, a smoking pile of electronic waste behind each destroyed robot. Without a second thought, she continued firing upwards, with perhaps only two or three real RigUsers in the entire group being harmed by the malicious data injection.

The first bodies finally reached the edge of the Enterprise's water wall. The soft rumble from each robot's hand sounded like thunder. The automatic systems reacted as fast as they could, but they had little effect on the endless army of robots.

The groan of visit turned into a harsh hum. Free turned down the audio input.

An order came over her communicator: Platform E-47b2 is under fire. Transfer fire to support.

Are you stupid? Look ahead, we can't hold this place anymore!

All the other spears moved in from the sides, but by her calculations the wall of water above them wouldn't hold. She saw it crack and sag, the decay accelerating before her eyes. Shoddy CorpoCode. Free continued to fire on his own platform.

Another broadcast that covered the entire derrick came from the Supe Tower: All personnel, turn your fire to the adjacent E-47b2 platform!

Number Three ran over to her, Freedom be damned, the water wall will be fine, I've already activated the re-encryption network, go help the other platforms!

She frowned and looked up. Damn it, Three was right. She saw that his web was now covering the cracked and sagging ceiling, and the cracks had begun to repair themselves with the help of the enhanced encryption.

Oh. That's it.

There was a deep depression in the wall above their neighbor's platform, deep enough that the wall above