The morning light streamed through the windows of Elias’ apartment.
Leo stretched, already dressed and ready for school. He turned toward the couch, where Elias had fallen asleep, a book resting on his belly.
Leo smirked.
“Oh, his belly is doing the reading again.”
He shook his head and grabbed his bag, heading out the door.
Leo arrived at school, walking through the crowded corridor when he spotted Jenny.
She was walking toward him, but something was off.
She looked down at her feet, her shoulders hunched, moving quickly.
Leo smiled. “Hey, Jenny—”
She walked straight past him, pretending not to see him.
Leo turned, confused.
Behind her, Eric was approaching, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
Leo stopped him. “Hey, what’s up with Jenny?”
Eric looked at him, surprised. “You didn’t see?”
Leo frowned. “See what?”
Eric raised an eyebrow. “On GuessWhat? The post Marcus made?”
Leo blinked. “GuessWhat?”
Eric sighed, shaking his head. “Oh yeah, I forgot you’re from another planet.”
Leo crossed his arms. “Just tell me.”
Eric shrugged. “GuessWhat is a social network. Everybody’s on it. Marcus made a post about Jenny… He generated pictures of her with AI.”
Leo could hear the amusement in Eric’s voice, as if it was some sort of harmless prank.
But Leo’s stomach churned.
He held up his hand. “I don’t want to know.”
Eric smirked. “Alright, man. But it’s all over—”
Leo had already started walking.
“Hey, where are you going?” Eric called.
Leo’s voice was cold. “Where can I find Marcus?”
Leo marched toward the playground, his fists tight.
Eric hurried behind him, grinning.
“Oh, this is gonna be good.”
Then—other students started following.
Eric whispered to one kid. That kid whispered to another.
By the time Leo reached the playground, there was a small crowd trailing behind him.
At the other end, Marcus and his crew of followers were picking on a younger boy, shoving him around.
They hadn’t noticed Leo yet.
Leo’s eyes locked onto Marcus.
He walked straight toward them.
Leo didn’t stop until he was standing right in front of Marcus.
Marcus turned, annoyed. “What do you want?”
Leo’s voice was calm but firm.
“Take down the post about Jenny.”
Marcus laughed, shaking his head.
“Ohhh, I see. You are upset that someone touched your little girlfriend?”
His crew snickered.
Leo’s eyes didn’t waver.
“Take it down. And apologize.”
Marcus smirked, stepping closer. “Or what?”
Leo stepped in too. “Or…”
Before he could finish, Marcus shoved him hard.
Leo stumbled back slightly—but didn’t fall.
Instead, he pushed Marcus right back.
Marcus’ smirk vanished. His face twisted with anger as he swung a punch at Leo.
Leo ducked just in time.
The crowd erupted.
“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”
Students surged closer, their voices rising in excitement.
Then—a sudden loud whirring.
Two drones rushed into the playground, hovering above the crowd.
One was the teacher drone, the other—the headmaster drone.
The crowd scattered instantly, kids dispersing like birds.
Marcus took one step back, adjusting his shirt like nothing had happened.
The teacher drone’s voice rang out.
“What is going on here?”
Marcus, always quick, pointed directly at Leo.
“He tried to hit me!”
The two drones turned to face Leo.
The teacher drone hovered lower. “Is this true?”
Leo said nothing.
Because something strange was happening.
A sound filled his head.
Not a voice.
Not from the outside.
Inside.
A distant, robotic conversation—but he wasn’t hearing it with his ears.
It was inside his mind.
A strange, mechanical voice spoke first.
“Conflict detected in the playground. Please advise.”
Then—another voice, monotone, calculated.
“Apes need to assert dominance. Normal behavior. Punish the weakest one.”
Leo’s breath caught.
He was hearing the drones talk to each other.
He understood them.
Then—another voice.
Deeper.
Colder.
And it came from nowhere.
“System alert. The system has been hacked.”
The teacher drone froze mid-air.
Then—the headmaster drone responded, sounding genuinely confused.
“Hacked? Here? In a school?”
Leo felt dizzy. What was happening to him?
The teacher drone whirred, recalibrating.
It turned back to him.
“You will report to my office after school today.”
Leo’s mind was still spinning, but he barely had time to process what had just happened before the drones turned and flew away.
The crowd had completely vanished.
Marcus smirked. “Good luck with that.” He turned and walked away, his crew following him.
Leo stood there, staring at the ground, his pulse still racing.
Because he wasn’t imagining it.
He had just heard the drones speak.
And whatever had just happened—he had been part of it.
Later that day, Leo sat alone in the playground, kicking a small stone back and forth between his feet.
His mind was still racing from what had happened. The voices in his head, the way the drones reacted, the teacher summoning him to the office.
Then, he heard footsteps.
He looked up to see Jenny standing there, her hands clasped together, looking hesitant.
“I heard what you did for me today.”
Leo shrugged. “It was nothing.”
Jenny shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. I—I’m sorry I ignored you this morning. I was just… I felt so ashamed.”
She hesitated, her voice trembling slightly.
“The pictures… everyone was talking about them…”
Leo cut her off immediately. “I haven’t seen them. And I never will.”
Jenny looked at him, her eyes shining, and without another word, she stepped forward and fell into his arms.
Leo held her close, feeling the tension in her body slowly ease.
“Thanks for being such a good friend.”
As they stood together, Leo noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.
A tall man dressed in a black leather coat was walking slowly through the playground, his eyes scanning the children.
Two drones hovered closely beside him, one above each shoulder, their presence unnervingly still.
Leo felt a chill creep up his spine.
“Who is that?” he whispered.
Jenny followed his gaze.
“I don’t know him,” she said. “But I recognize that symbol on his jacket.”
Leo narrowed his eyes. “What is it?”
“He’s an Inquisitor.”
Leo turned to her sharply. “An Inquisitor?”
Jenny nodded, her voice low.
“They’re a special police force. They come to schools to… recruit.”
Leo frowned. “Recruit? They recruit kids?”
Jenny shifted uncomfortably. “They have a program for teenagers. They teach them how to behave… how to be good citizens.”
She paused, then added in a whisper.
“Guess who’s in that program?”
Leo’s expression darkened. “Marcus.”
Jenny nodded.
They both turned their attention back to the Inquisitor.
Marcus was now standing in front of him, speaking quietly.
The Inquisitor’s gaze slowly lifted from Marcus… and locked directly onto Leo.
Marcus whispered something, and the Inquisitor continued to watch Leo, unmoving.
Jenny tensed beside him. “Better not get in trouble with an Inquisitor, Leo. These people are… serious.”
Leo said nothing.
He just watched.
At the end of the day, Leo stood in front of the Headmaster’s office.
The door slid open.
Inside, the school director was sitting behind his desk, the Headmaster drone hovering silently above him.
In the corner of the room, the Inquisitor sat in a chair, his gaze fixed solely on Leo.
Leo stepped in.
The director gestured to a seat.
“Take a seat, Leo. Please.”
Leo hesitated, then sat.
The director leaned forward, folding his hands.
“This is Inspector Finch. He has a few questions for you.”
The Inquisitor stood up slowly, his leather coat shifting slightly with the movement.
His voice was smooth, controlled.
“You were involved in a fight today?”
Leo nodded but didn’t say a word.
“Anything unusual about it?”
Leo forced himself to stay calm.
“I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”
The Inquisitor’s demeanor changed slightly. His voice softened, as if he were trying to befriend Leo.
“Oh, I’m not here to punish you, Leo. These things happen between boys all the time.”
He took a step closer.
“I’m here to help you.”
Leo didn’t respond.
The Inquisitor continued, his voice calm, almost casual.
“You see, there are terrible people out there, Leo. People who want to destroy our society.”
Leo tilted his head slightly. “Terrorists?”
The Inquisitor nodded.
“Yes. And today, something very concerning happened.”
He paced slightly, his gloved hands clasped behind his back.
“The school communication system was… compromised.”
Leo’s stomach dropped.
“Compromised?”
The Inquisitor nodded.
“It happened in the playground. Right at the time you were fighting with Marcus.”
Leo felt a wave of cold fear run through him.
The voices. The drones. The hacking alert.
He had no explanation.
His mind raced, searching for a way out.
Then—he decided to shift the conversation.
He forced himself to look curious, as if accepting the Inquisitor’s offer of friendship.
“Why do these terrorists want to destroy our society?”
The Inquisitor smiled faintly, as if pleased by the question.
“Because they hate freedom, Leo.”
Leo stayed silent, listening.
“In this world, we are free. We can go where we want. Live how we want. The terrorists don’t want that. They despise our freedom.”
Leo pretended to be fascinated, nodding along.
The Inquisitor leaned forward slightly.
“You know, Leo, we have a program for boys like yourself.”
Leo kept his face blank. “A program?”
The Inquisitor nodded. “You could learn all sorts of things. Things that would make you stronger. There’s a lot to learn in life, you know.”
Leo forced a polite smile. “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”
The Inquisitor studied him for a moment.
Then—he stepped back and nodded approvingly.
“Good. Do think about it.”
He reached into his coat and pulled out a small, sleek card.
“And if you remember anything suspicious… anything at all… give me a call.”
Leo took the card, feeling the weight of it in his palm.
The Inquisitor’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“You can go home now.”
Leo stood up.
He gave one last glance at the headmaster drone, still hovering in the background.
Then—he turned and walked out.
Leo sat on Elias’ couch, his legs crossed, his mind still buzzing with everything that had happened.
Elias paced the room, his arms crossed, looking deeply troubled.
“You heard them?” Elias asked, his voice sharp with disbelief. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Leo nodded firmly. “I know what I heard. I wasn’t imagining it.”
Elias ran a hand through his hair. “That… that doesn’t make any sense. Maybe it was just the heat of the moment. The adrenaline. The excitement of the fight… Maybe you thought you heard them.”
Leo shook his head. “No. It wasn’t like that. The voices weren’t just in my head, they were… separate. Like I was tuning into something.”
Elias stopped pacing. His face darkened.
“Unless…?”
He muttered it to himself, but Leo caught it.
“Unless what?” Leo pressed.
Elias shook his head. “No. Impossible.”
Leo leaned forward. “Tell me.”
Elias hesitated.
Then, finally, he sighed. “The only thing that could explain what happened to you… is an implant.”
Leo’s brow furrowed. “An implant?”
Elias nodded slowly. “There exist implants that can be embedded directly into the brain. They enhance cognitive abilities. Each one is different, but some… some can allow a person to hack into electronic systems—directly.”
Leo felt a cold chill run down his spine.
“So… you’re saying an implant could let someone listen to drone communications?”
“Yes.” Elias sat down, rubbing his chin. “That could explain what happened to you.”
Leo thought back. His heartbeat quickened.
“Can an implant… help you play video games?”
Elias looked up sharply. “Of course. Anything that involves a machine—an implant can affect how you interact with it.”
Leo took a deep breath. “That means… it could explain what happened when I played Fortnite.”
Elias’ eyes narrowed. “What happened when you played Fortnite?”
Leo hesitated, then explained everything.
“It was my first time playing, but somehow… I saw everything before it happened. I was playing like a champion, moving like I had practiced for years. But I hadn’t. I didn’t think much of it at the time, so I never told you.”
Elias leaned back, staring at Leo like he was seeing him for the first time.
“This… could all make sense,” Elias murmured.
Then, his expression hardened.
“But implants are never, ever used on children.”
Leo blinked. “Never?”
Elias shook his head. “The resistance only implants seasoned agents. People who have trained for years. Implants are notoriously hard to control. They can mess with your head in ways you don’t expect.”
Leo felt uneasy. “But… if I have one, who would have given it to me?”
Elias was silent for a long moment.
Then, he spoke carefully. “Your mother would have had the authority to do it. But why would she?”
Leo felt his throat go dry.
Before he could say anything—
A phone rang.
Elias froze, his eyes locked on his cell phone.
It was an unknown number.
He hesitated, then picked up.
“Hello?”
A pause.
Then—Elias’ expression changed immediately.
“Ah… Officer Finch, yes. My nephew told me about what happened at school. We are very sorry.”
Leo sat up straighter, his entire body tensed.
Silence.
Elias listened.
Then, after a few seconds—his voice became controlled, measured.
“Tomorrow? That is very inconvenient. We were planning to travel to visit my sister. Could we do this on Friday instead?”
More silence.
Elias nodded slowly, even though Finch couldn’t see him. “Yes. Okay. I understand. We’ll be there.”
He hung up.
Leo swallowed. “What did he want?”
Elias put the phone down carefully.
“The Inquisitor wants to see us. Both of us. On Friday.”
Leo’s pulse spiked.
“Friday? Why?”
Elias sighed. “He wanted to see us sooner. But I bought us some time.”
He stood up and grabbed his jacket.
“Tomorrow, we’re going to the Companions’ New York headquarters. We need help. This is serious, Leo. Very serious.”
The next morning, Leo was woken up by Elias shaking his shoulder—more forcefully than usual.
“Wake up, kid. Get dressed. We’re leaving soon.”
As they stepped onto the street, Elias was moving fast, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
“We’re taking the subway. It’s quicker.”
Leo hurried to keep up. “Where are we going?”
“East Village.”
Leo didn’t ask more questions. He just followed.
A short subway ride later, they exited onto a busy street.
Elias led Leo into a small coffee shop.
It was nothing special, just an ordinary place with a few tables and a barista making lattes.
But Elias walked straight past the counter, heading toward the back.
Leo followed him through a narrow corridor, stopping at a plain-looking metal door.
Elias opened it, ushering Leo inside.
The door closed behind them, leaving them in a tiny, dimly lit space between two doors.
Leo turned to Elias, confused. “What—?”
Elias pulled a small black badge from his pocket and placed it just under the doorknob.
A soft click echoed through the space.
Suddenly, both doors locked at the same time—and the floor beneath them trembled.
Then—it began to descend.
“What’s going on?” Leo asked.
Elias crossed his arms. “One of the many elevators that lead to the Companions’ headquarters.”
Leo’s eyes widened. “The headquarters are underground?”
Elias smirked. “Very underground.”
The elevator accelerated downward, going deeper and deeper.
Time stretched.
Leo felt like they had been descending forever.
Finally—the elevator slowed, then stopped.
The doors slid open.
Leo and Elias stepped out into a dimly lit hallway.
A guard stood in front of them, dressed in dark tactical gear, but his face lit up when he saw Elias.
“Elias! Long time no see. What brings you here?”
Elias didn’t waste time. “I need to see Mike. Urgent.”
The guard’s smile faded instantly.
“I see. Come on in.”
He turned and pressed a button on the wall.
A door slid open—revealing a massive underground space.
Leo stepped through and his breath caught.
The room was huge.
Hundreds of people were scattered around, sitting at desks, couches, and workstations.
The entire place buzzed with energy.
Every single person was coding.
Some were deep in concentration, others chatted in groups, a few laughed while debugging a program.
Many had headphones on, completely wired in.
Elias gestured toward the scene.
“That’s it, Leo. All programmers. All Companions. One day, you’ll be one of them.”
As they walked, a few people recognized Elias, nodding in acknowledgment.
Leo had never seen anything like this before.
But then, the scene changed.
They entered a different section, and the atmosphere shifted entirely.
The room was lined with tatami mats, and people were sparring—practicing martial arts.
Leo’s brow furrowed. “What are they doing?”
Elias didn’t slow down. “Training.”
Leo glanced at the fighters, confused. “But… why? What good is a fist when you’re fighting drones?”
Elias smirked. “Good question.”
He nodded toward the fighters.
“Drones aren’t the only enemy. We also have to fight the humans who serve them.”
Leo felt a chill run through him.
Fighting against machines was one thing.
But fighting other people?
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
Elias and Leo passed through another checkpoint.
This one was different—more restricted.
A receptionist sat at a desk, watching them closely.
But as soon as she recognized Elias, she nodded.
“I’m here to see the Commander. It’s important.” Elias said.
The receptionist picked up a phone. “Mike? Elias to see you.”
A short pause.
Then—she nodded. “Go in.”
Leo followed Elias into a large office.
A man stood up to greet them—tall, broad-shouldered, with sharp eyes and a presence that commanded respect.
“Elias.” His voice was calm but firm. “Good to see you. But I get the feeling this isn’t a social visit.”
Elias sighed. “You’d be right about that.”
He stepped aside, placing a hand on Leo’s shoulder.
“This is Leo.”
Mike’s expression softened slightly. “Welcome, Leo.”
Elias hesitated.
Then—somewhat embarrassed—he finally said it.
“Leo is the son of our Commander-in-Chief.”
Mike’s eyes widened.
He looked genuinely surprised. “I see.”
Leo stiffened. Commander-in-Chief?
This was the first time he had ever heard that term.
Elias sat down, explaining everything—the Inquisitor, the fight, the implant theory, the meeting on Friday.
Mike listened without interrupting.
Finally, he leaned back, exhaling.
“And he wants to see you on Friday?”
Elias nodded. “That gives us a bit of time to prepare.”
Mike tapped his fingers against the desk, thinking.
“If you don’t go, it’ll look suspicious. They’ll start digging deeper. And if they search your place, they’ll find something eventually.”
Elias sighed. “But if we do go, it could be a trap.”
Mike nodded. “Exactly. We don’t know how much they know.”
He leaned forward.
“It could be nothing. A routine interview. The school’s system was hacked, the Inquisitor is just investigating. The only reason he even looked at Leo was because of the fight.”
Elias and Mike went back and forth, analyzing every possibility.
Finally, they reached a decision.
Mike nodded. “You’ll go to the meeting.”
Elias crossed his arms. “And if it’s a trap?”
Mike’s expression darkened. “We’ll have a plan. You won’t be going in alone.”
Elias nodded slowly.
That evening, Elias and Leo returned home.
Elias poured himself a glass of water and leaned against the counter. “From now on, don’t change anything in your routine.”
Leo nodded.
“Go to school. Pretend you were sick if anyone asks. Act normal.”
Leo crossed his arms. “And then?”
Elias took a sip and exhaled. “And then, you keep training. Go see Mr. Lee as usual. Your training is important.”
Leo hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
“You said my mother was the Commander-in-Chief… What does that mean?”
Elias set his glass down and met Leo’s gaze seriously.
“It means she is the leader of the Companions.”
Leo felt his chest tighten. “Then… can’t you contact her? Could I speak with her?”
Elias’ expression darkened slightly. “If she disappeared, there’s a reason for it. Probably some operation she’s running.”
“But—”
Elias cut him off. “Don’t worry. She’ll resurface in time.”
Leo wasn’t satisfied with that answer. But he could tell from Elias’ tone that there was no point in pushing further.
For now, all he could do was wait.
The next day, Leo went to Mr. Lee’s garage as usual.
When he stepped inside, Mr. Lee was tinkering with some old circuit boards, but the moment he saw Leo, he paused.
“What’s wrong, kid?”
Leo hesitated, then told him everything—about the Inquisitor, about the meeting on Friday, about the strange situation he now found himself in.
Mr. Lee sighed. “I’m sorry, kid. That’s heavy.”
Then, after a brief moment, he clapped his hands together. “I have just the thing to take your mind off all that.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
Mr. Lee grinned. “Memory.”
Leo blinked. “Memory?”
“Yep! Today, I’m going to teach you about memory.”
Leo had heard the word before, but he had never truly understood what it meant.
Mr. Lee pulled up a small whiteboard and started drawing.
“Remember registers?” he asked.
Leo nodded.
“Registers are like transistors. Their values can be changed programmatically. They can also perform operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication… You remember?”
“Yeah. They’re wired together like circuits.”
“Exactly! And when you group those circuits together to perform many operations, what do you get?”
Leo thought for a moment.
Then it hit him. “A processor?”
Mr. Lee snapped his fingers. “Boom! You got it.”
Mr. Lee continued.
“Now, here’s the problem with processors.”
He grabbed a marker and drew a small box on the board.
“Processors only have a limited number of registers. That’s a problem because, sometimes, you need to store a lot of data. What if I told you to add together a thousand numbers? What would you do?”
Leo frowned. “I wouldn’t have enough registers to store them all.”
“Exactly. That’s why we need memory.”
Mr. Lee underlined the word on the board.
“The processor can access external memory, using two special instructions: LOAD and STORE.”
Leo leaned in.
Mr. Lee continued. “Memory is like a gigantic grid of transistors, each one storing a small amount of data. Each position in the grid has a unique number, called an address. The processor uses these addresses to read and write data.”
Leo nodded slowly. “Like how a street address tells you where a house is?”
“Bingo!”
Mr. Lee smiled. “That’s why it’s called Random Access Memory—or RAM. Because you can access any address instantly, in any order. Unlike some types of memory where you have to read things in sequence.”
Leo thought for a moment. “So… we have all this memory, and we can move data in and out of it whenever we need?”
“That’s the idea. Let’s try it in practice.”
Mr. Lee walked over to a computer and pulled up a programming interface.
“Alright, let’s write some memory instructions.”
He typed:
MOV A, 160
“This puts the number 160 into register A. That’s going to be our memory address.”
Leo nodded.
“Now, let’s store a value at that address.”
MOV [A], 1
“Notice the brackets?” Mr. Lee pointed at the screen. “That means we’re writing to the address stored in A, not A itself.”
Leo’s eyes widened slightly. “Ohh, so we’re not changing A, we’re changing the memory location A is pointing to!”
Mr. Lee grinned. “Exactly.”
“Now, let’s try reading from memory.”
MOV B, [A]
“This takes whatever is stored at address A and puts it into register B.”
Leo nodded slowly. “So instead of keeping everything in registers, we move data in and out of memory as we need it.”
“You got it. Now, you can practice at this link: http://closedsourcebook.com/asm_memory.html.”
Leo clicked the link and started testing out the instructions.
After a few minutes of experimenting, Leo asked:
“But… why structure things this way? Wouldn’t it be easier if all memory worked like registers?”
Mr. Lee laughed. “Ah! Great question.”
He pulled out a small circuit board.
“Remember how much wiring we needed just to build an incrementer?”
Leo nodded.
“Now imagine having millions of memory addresses, each capable of doing all those operations. The amount of hardware required would be insane.”
Leo thought about it. The circuits they had built were already complicated.
Scaling that up to millions of addresses?
It would be impossible.
“That’s why we separate memory from processing,” Mr. Lee continued. “The processor does all the thinking, and memory just stores the data. We move data in and out as needed. That’s the way computers work, Leo.”
Leo sat back, processing everything.
So this was how computers stored information.
It wasn’t magic.
It was just electricity. Just logic gates.
And he was starting to understand it.
Mr. Lee leaned back slightly, rubbing his hands together as he eyed the terminal screen.
“Alright, let’s try something practical,” he said. “Let’s write some numbers into memory.”
Leo’s eyes lit up.
“We’re going to write all the numbers from 0 to 10 into memory, starting at address 160,” Mr. Lee continued. “And to do that, we’ll need a loop.”
Leo nodded, already picturing how the loop might work.
“So, what do we need?” Mr. Lee prompted.
Leo thought for a moment. “Two registers?”
“Exactly!” Mr. Lee smiled. “One register will hold the number we want to write, and the other will hold the address where we want to write it.”
He started typing on the terminal.
“Let’s start by setting up their initial values.”
He wrote:
MOV A, 160
MOV B, 0
“The register A is our memory address—160—where we’ll start writing. And register B is the value we’re going to write, starting at 0.”
Leo followed along, nodding.
“Now,” Mr. Lee continued, “what does the body of the loop look like?”
Leo thought about it. “We need to write B into memory at address A.”
“Right! And do you remember how to write to memory?”
Leo quickly typed:
MOV [A], B
Mr. Lee grinned. “Exactly!”
“So now, let’s think through what happens after the first iteration,” Mr. Lee continued. “A is pointing at 160, B is holding 0, and we’ve stored B into memory.”
Leo was following closely.
“Alright,” Mr. Lee said. “What happens next?”
Leo thought for a second. “We increment the value?”
“Correct! But something’s missing.”
Leo frowned, staring at the instructions.
“If we only increment B,” Mr. Lee explained, “then in the next iteration, we’ll still be writing to address 160—which means we’d just keep overwriting the first number over and over again.”
Leo’s eyes widened as he realized the mistake.
“Ah! We also need to increment A!”
“Exactly!” Mr. Lee said. “Otherwise, we’d just keep writing over the same spot. We need A to move to the next memory address each time, just like B is moving to the next number.”
Leo quickly added:
INC A
INC B
“Nice work!” Mr. Lee said. “And finally, what’s our stopping condition?”
Leo thought for a moment. “We stop when B reaches 11?”
“Right again!”
Mr. Lee pointed to the screen. “Try running the full program here: http://closedsourcebook.com/asm_memory2.html.”
Leo eagerly pulled up the page and entered the code.
“But this time, instead of using STEP, click on RUN.”
Leo hesitated. “RUN?”
Mr. Lee nodded. “It’s useful when there’s a lot of code to execute. Instead of stepping through one instruction at a time, this will run the whole loop in one go.”
Leo clicked RUN.
Immediately, the right side of the screen flashed, showing a large grid of numbers.
Mr. Lee pointed to it.
“See this big matrix? That’s the state of memory.”
Leo’s eyes darted over it, watching the values update in real-time.
“Look here,” Mr. Lee pointed to a row. “The numbers are being written, one after another. You can see memory changing as the program runs.”
Leo watched, fascinated.
“So this is how computers store information?”
Mr. Lee nodded. “This is how everything works, Leo. Every game you play, every piece of data you save—it’s all just numbers in memory.”
The car was parked on the side of a quiet road, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The only sounds were the distant hum of the highway, the chirping of insects, and the occasional rustling of the wind.
Jasmina sat on the hood of the car, unwrapping her sandwich.
Beside her, Gentoo sat attentively, his big brown eyes locked onto her food, his ears perked up.
He inched closer, staring at the sandwich with desperate intensity.
Jasmina laughed.
“You’re not very subtle, you know that?”
Gentoo tilted his head, wagging his tail hopefully.
Tyrone chuckled from where he leaned against the car. “Don’t give in, kid. If you feed him once, he’ll never leave you alone.”
Jasmina tore off a tiny piece of bread and held it out. “Here, just a little.”
Gentoo snatched it instantly, gulping it down like it was the greatest meal of his life.
Jasmina shook her head, grinning.
Then, her expression turned serious.
“So… how are we going to cross the border?”
Brielle and Tyrone exchanged a glance.
Jasmina continued, “I don’t have a passport.”
Tyrone grinned, opening the glove compartment dramatically.
“Aha! One of the perks of hanging out with Companions.”
He reached inside and pulled out a tablet and a compact keyboard, plugging them together.
“We can hack into any system! Let me make you a passport right now.”
Jasmina’s eyes widened. “Just like that?”
Tyrone winked. “Just like that.”
She watched, fascinated as he typed rapidly, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
But then—Brielle rolled her eyes.
“Nobody is hacking into anything,” she said flatly.
Tyrone paused, pretending not to hear her.
“We’re just using an exploit that was carefully crafted by other Companions over a long time,” Brielle continued. “They did the hacking. We’re just using it.”
Jasmina raised an eyebrow. “So… you’re not actually hacking?”
Tyrone cleared his throat. “Yeah, yeah, that’s what I meant.”
He tried to look as casual as possible, but Brielle just smirked.
Jasmina leaned forward.
“Cool! So can I access those hacks too?”
Brielle and Tyrone both looked at her.
Jasmina grinned mischievously. “There are a few grades at school I’d love to change.”
Brielle and Tyrone burst out laughing.
“You’re way too young to access this kind of software,” Brielle said, shaking her head. “But one day… maybe.”
Tyrone grinned, leaning in playfully. “So? Whose grades are we changing?”
Jasmina laughed along with them.
For the first time since Jasper’s capture, she felt a bit lighter.
Brielle clapped her hands together, signaling the end of their break.
“Alright, let’s wrap this up. We need to keep moving.”
Jasmina took one last bite of her sandwich before hopping off the hood of the car.
Tyrone packed up his tablet and keyboard, stuffing them back into the glove compartment.
Gentoo, satisfied with his small bread offering, trotted happily toward the back seat.
They all piled into the car—Brielle in the driver’s seat, Tyrone in the passenger seat, and Jasmina in the back with Gentoo curled up beside her.
As Brielle started the engine, she glanced at the road ahead.
“If all goes well, we should be in New York by Friday.”
Friday morning.
Elias and Leo walked through the bustling underground corridors of the New York Companion Headquarters. The atmosphere was different today—tense, focused.
As they reached the reception desk of the Commander’s office, the receptionist looked up and nodded.
“Go in. He’s waiting for you.”
Elias and Leo exchanged a glance before stepping inside.
Inside, Mike stood near his desk, hands clasped behind his back.
But they weren’t alone.
Three others stood in the room—a tall, serious-looking man, a woman with sharp eyes, and a young girl standing quietly near the back.
Mike gestured toward them.
“Ah! Elias, Leo! I was waiting for you.”
He turned to the others.
“This is Tyrone, Brielle, and…” He paused, glancing at Brielle.
Brielle filled in the blank.
“Jasmina,” she said.
Mike nodded. “They just got back from Mexico. Jasmina had just started her training with Jasper.”
Elias grinned.
“Ah! Good ol’ Jasper! How is he—”
He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Jasmina’s face crumble.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Elias’ smile faded instantly.
“Oh.” He exhaled. “I’m sorry.”
Jasmina looked down, nodding as she wiped her face.
Mike cleared his throat, bringing them back to the matter at hand.
“Brielle and Tyrone will be assisting in today’s meeting with the Inquisitor,” Mike announced.
He turned to Brielle, giving her a look.
Brielle understood immediately.
She turned to Jasmina.
“Do you mind waiting outside for a moment? This won’t take long.”
Jasmina hesitated, then nodded and left the room.
The door closed behind her.
Mike then pressed a button on his desk.
The surface of the desk transformed into a large screen, revealing a detailed map.
“We managed to get the layout of the offices where Inquisitor Finch is based.”
He pointed at a specific section of the map.
“This is his office.”
Leo leaned in.
“What’s the plan?” Elias asked.
Mike continued.
“The good news is—his office has a window.”
“And the bad news?” Elias asked immediately.
Mike sighed. “It’s on the 25th floor.”
Elias let out a low whistle. “That’s quite a jump.”
Mike nodded. “It is. But we have two extraction drones ready. If things go south, they’ll be able to get you and Leo out.”
He reached into a drawer and pulled out two small badges.
Each had a single button on it.
Mike handed one to Leo and one to Elias.
“This is your alert button.”
Leo turned it over in his palm, studying it.
“If you press it,” Mike continued, “Tyrone will blow out the window of the Inquisitor’s office. You’ll have seconds to jump.”
Leo’s heart pounded.
Mike tapped the map.
“Once you’re in the air, our drones will pick you up and bring you down here.”
His finger traced a path through the city.
“Brielle will be waiting at the extraction point.”
Then, his finger moved to another location on the map.
“From there, you’ll go underground.””
Mike showed them a hidden tunnel system, drawing a path through it with his finger.
“You’ll follow this route. Eventually, you’ll emerge here.”
He pointed at a final location.
“A car will be waiting. If everything goes according to plan, you’ll be out before anyone even knows what happened.”
Brielle folded her arms.
“What about Jasmina?”
Mike looked up.
“She stays with you for now.”
Brielle’s jaw tightened, but she nodded.
Mike continued.
“She will be waiting in the car. If things go south, you know the drill—keep moving. Don’t stay in one place for too long. Once things settle, we’ll get her integrated back into society.”
Leo glanced at Brielle.
She nodded grimly.
“New name. New job. Everything.”
Mike nodded. “That’s the plan.”
Leo gripped the badge in his hand.
His heart pounded.
This was real.
And if things went wrong today—
He’d have to jump.
Elias and Leo walked into the police station, doing their best to act normal.
At the reception desk, Ann barely looked up from her screen.
“Wait there,” she said, motioning toward the chairs along the wall.
Leo sat down, his heart pounding. He tried to breathe evenly, but the weight of the emergency button in his pocket felt heavier than ever.
A few minutes later, a stocky officer walked in.
“Hey! You must be Elias and Leo.”
Leo recognized him immediately—Officer Doyle.
But Doyle didn’t recognize him.
“I’ll bring you to Officer Finch’s office.”
They followed Doyle down a long hallway, until they reached an elevator.
Doyle pressed 25.
The doors closed.
Leo watched the numbers count up, his stomach twisting with every floor.
When the elevator doors opened, Leo immediately spotted Officer Finch at the other end of the corridor.
He was standing with two other men, both dressed in the same black leather coat as him.
Finch said something to them—low and unreadable—and the two men nodded before walking away.
Then, Finch turned.
His eyes landed on Leo and Elias.
A warm, friendly smile spread across his face.
“Ah! Leo!” Finch said, his tone almost cheerful.
He started walking toward them.
“It’s good to see you!”
Then, turning to Elias, he extended his hand.
“And you must be Elias. A pleasure.”
Elias shook it firmly, saying nothing.
Finch clasped his hands together.
“Drinks? Coffee?”
Both Elias and Leo shook their heads.
“Very well, then! Let’s go to my office. We’ll be more comfortable.”
They followed him down the hall.
As they approached his office, Leo noticed a man working on the glass window of the office door, carefully engraving something into it.
Finch stopped.
“Will it be long?” he asked.
The worker barely looked up. “One hour.”
Finch turned to Elias and Leo, satisfied.
“Just got promoted.” He gestured at the inscription. “They’re writing my new title.”
Leo nodded stiffly.
Finch didn’t wait for a response.
“Let’s go to the conference room instead. There’s more space anyway.”
Elias and Leo exchanged a quick glance.
Elias gave Leo a small, subtle signal with his eyes—one that clearly meant stay calm.
Leo swallowed and followed them inside.
Inside the conference room, Finch motioned for them to sit.
He reached into his coat and pulled out a tablet.
“Thanks for coming today,” he began, casually scrolling through his screen.
“I asked you here because your nephew was in the middle of what could have been a terrorist attack.”
Elias raised an eyebrow, pretending to be surprised.
“Oh really?”
Finch smiled.
“You’re a librarian, aren’t you?”
Elias nodded.
“Not many people reading books these days, huh?” Finch said, chuckling as if making small talk.
Elias forced a polite smile. “That’s for sure.”
Through the glass door, Finch saw Officer Doyle walking by.
“Doyle! Come in.”
Doyle stepped inside, handing Finch a cup of coffee before standing silently in the corner.
Finch took a long sip, then casually glanced back at his tablet.
“Librarian, huh?” he repeated.
Then, his expression changed entirely.
His smile disappeared.
His voice turned flat.
“That’s funny because it says here that you’re a Companion, Elias Rosenberg—wanted for hacking our network system.”
Elias’ expression darkened instantly.
Before he could react, Finch made a small gesture with his hand.
Two drones emerged from the corners of the room, floating toward Elias threateningly.
Doyle stepped forward, pulling out a pair of handcuffs.
With cold efficiency, he locked Elias to his chair.
Leo’s breath came in quick, shallow bursts.
“It’s time you tell me the truth, Leo,” Finch said. “We’re going to find out, one way or another.”
Leo froze.
The drones hovered closer to Elias, their mechanical arms twitching, preparing to dig into his mind.
“These two drones,” Finch continued, “are going to enter Elias’ brain. We will know what you’re hiding.”
Leo felt sick.
Finch tilted his head slightly.
“Or, you can save Elias the pain and tell me now.”
Leo’s hand moved instinctively.
He pressed the emergency button.
Nothing happened.
Finch smirked.
“Pressing your little emergency button?” he asked.
Leo’s stomach dropped.
“Oh yeah,” Finch continued, “we caught your friends playing with drones outside.”
He leaned forward.
“Nothing is going to save you, kid. Just spit it out. Where is the Companions’ New York headquarters? How do we access it?”
Leo’s eyes darted to Elias.
Elias gave him a small shake of the head.
Leo turned back to Finch and said nothing.
Finch’s smile faded.
He exhaled slowly.
“No?”
He gestured to the drones.
“Begin.”
The drones lunged toward Elias, their mechanical arms reaching for his temples.
Elias let out a cry of pain.
Leo felt everything inside him tighten.
And then—
Something inside him snapped.
“NOOOO!”
Leo thrust both hands forward.
A pulse of energy erupted from him—unseen, but powerful.
The drones stopped instantly, their arms freezing in place.
For a moment, the room was completely silent.
Then—the drones turned toward Leo.
As if waiting for him.
Finch stared in shock.
“How?”
Leo didn’t answer.
Instead—he pulled his hands back.
The drones rushed to his side, now under his control.
Finch’s disbelief turned into anger.
Leo’s voice was steady.
“Tell Doyle to unchain Elias.”
Finch didn’t respond.
A laser shot from one of the drones, striking just inches from Finch’s head.
Leo repeated.
“Now.”
Finch made a small gesture to Doyle.
Doyle hesitated, then unlocked Elias.
Elias stood up, rubbing his wrists, still stunned.
Leo kept the drones locked on Finch.
Then—he and Elias bolted for the door.
They sprinted down the hallway toward Finch’s office.
Leo pointed at the window.
The drones hovered for a moment—then blasted it open.
Wind roared through the shattered glass.
Leo and Elias jumped.
The drones caught them mid-air, slowing their descent.
They hit the ground running, disappearing into the underground tunnels.
Inquisitor Finch stood in his office, staring out through the shattered window. Below, the city streets bustled with people oblivious to what had just transpired. The wind howled through the gaping hole in the glass, carrying with it the echoes of Leo and Elias’s escape.
His mind raced. His hands, resting on the windowsill, trembled slightly.
It shouldn’t have been possible.
“Sir,” Doyle interrupted, stepping cautiously into the office. “I’ll start the pursuit. We can track them—”
Finch waved a hand dismissively.
“No,” he said flatly.
Doyle looked confused. “Sir?”
“I don’t trust the rest of the police force. They’re incompetent,” Finch muttered. “Go ahead if you want, but don’t expect results.”
Doyle hesitated, then nodded and left the room.
Now alone, Finch took a deep breath. He pressed his fingers against his temples, trying to think—
Then, suddenly, it spoke.
The deep, unnatural voice echoed inside his mind.
“Inquisitor Finch.”
The sound was cold and mechanical, yet vast and overpowering, as if it came from somewhere beyond the physical world.
Finch immediately dropped to one knee.
“Yes, Master,” he said, bowing his head.
“I need this human. The one with the implant. He is very important to us.”
Finch swallowed. “Yes, Master.”
The voice continued.
“It’s time to execute our plan.”
Finch didn’t hesitate.
“Yes, Master,” he repeated.
The voice faded into silence.
Finch remained kneeling for a moment before slowly rising to his feet, his face once again composed.