P. J. Haarsma - The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Copyright 2006 by PJ Haarsma

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

First electronic edition 2010

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Haarsma, PJ.
The softwire: virus on Orbis 1 / PJ Haarsma. 1st ed.
p. cm.

Summary: When twelve-year-old Johnny and his sister arrive on Orbis in a spaceship of orphans, he finds he has a unique ability to communicate with computers.
ISBN 978-0-7636-2709-6 (hardcover)
[1. Computers Fiction. 2. Orphans Fiction. 3. Science fiction.]
I. Title. II. Title: Virus on Orbis One.
PZ7.H111325So 2006
[Fic] dc22 2006046285

ISBN 978-0-7636-3638-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-7636-5235-7 (electronic)

Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

visit us at www.candlewick.com

I can see them! I can see the Rings of Orbis! Theodore Malone cried, and a stampede of kids charged toward the observation deck.

I bet youre dying to see Orbis, arent you, malf? Randall Switzer said, digging his foot a little deeper into my face. In fact, I was. Id waited twelve years to see my new home, wishing every day was this day. But I wouldnt dare let him know that.

I can kill a little more time down here, I said from the floor.

Switzer snickered and shifted more weight onto his foot. I hate feet. Feet with shoes, feet with socks, but worst of all like the sweaty one grinding into my cheek I hate bare feet.

What are you doing, Switzer? Maxine Bennett said.

Why do you care? he replied.

I figure youve got another microsecond before Mother knows what youre doing. I do not want to be near all this food when it turns the gravity off, Max warned him.

You dont want to be on a toilet, either, I thought, but I didnt feel this was the right time to bring that up.

Why doesnt he just tell Mother to rescue him? Switzer said.

And there it was, the thing that separated me from everyone else on the seed-ship. While the others communicated with Mother through their O-dat displays or heard Mother over the cent-com, I was the only one who actually spoke with it. It, not her Mother was the ships computer that had saved and cared for all of us after the adults died and that had guided the Renaissance to its destination the Rings of Orbis.

The thing was, not everyone believed me, especially Switzer. Our self-proclaimed leader took great pleasure in discrediting my ability and making me the laughingstock of nearly everyone else on the seed-ship. But things were about to change. The ride was almost over thank the universe.

So now you believe him when he says he can talk to the computer? Max said.

I just asked him what his hurry was, Switzer said, beginning to sound bored. He knows the rules.

Answer him, JT, she said.

Actually, I had come into the contest tank looking for Max. I needed her help getting something out of the computer. Something Mother wouldnt let me have, but I didnt want Switzer to know about it. Silently, I stared at her feet (at least she wore shoes).

Stubborn doesnt work, Switzer reminded me.

Finally, I lied and told him, I was just looking for my sister.

Baby-malf? Why would I care about her? he said, raking his toes one more time across my nose as he released me. See how easy that was? Come on, Max, lets see if that freak really did spot the rings.

I sat up and watched them leave. My quest would have to wait.

I found Ketheria standing alone in the eighty-meter glass tube that connected the common galleries and the contest tank. My sister, who was five years younger than me, was fiercely independent. Then again, so were all the children on the Renaissance. Thirteen years with the supervision of only a computer can do that. Together, Ketheria and I squeezed to the front of the crowd and squished our faces against the glass as the giant seed-ship came about.

There they were: the Rings of Orbis four colossal planetlike rings floating around an invisible wormhole. What will it be like there? I wondered for the trillionth time. What will happen now to us? I had been waiting my whole life for this moment. After 253 years in space (we spent most of the trip as nothing more than a few cells frozen in plastic dishes), the Renaissance would finally set down on the ground, or the ring, that is.

I tapped on the glass for magnification, and the four massive rings filled the void in front of us. For a split second I wondered how my parents would have felt if they had been alive to see this day.

I squeezed Ketherias hand and said, Look, between the rings, those are the moons. I pointed. See? Ki and Ta.

Ketheria didnt say anything to me. It wasnt that she didnt know what they were. She just never said anything to anyone. She was almost eight years old and had never spoken a single word. I looked out for her because she was the only family I had and we were the only siblings on the Renaissance. I kind of liked that.

I cant wait to get off this ship, I whispered to her. Finally, a place we can call home.

Ketheria looked up at me. She smiled and squeezed my hand again. It was reassuring because I really had no idea what Orbis would be like. There would be a whole new set of rules, but I felt confident that any alien rules had to be better than Switzers.

I stared at my new home. Our parents had signed a contract to work on Orbis for four years one year on each ring. In return, their Guarantors, administrators for the Trading Council, paid for their travel and would sponsor their citizenship on Orbis when their work was done. But the untimely death of all our parents meant that Ketheria and I, along with every other kid on the Renaissance, were now at the mercy of the Citizens of Orbis.

Are you bleeding this time? Max asked me, popping up on my left.

No, I said.

She kept her eyes focused on Orbis and let out a deep breath. I cant wait to see what makes those rings tick, she said.

I like Max. She never makes fun of me about Mother, like most of the other kids. And shes better than anyone when it comes to taking things apart and putting them back together, although they usually wind up performing an entirely different function when shes done.

Well, Im going to finish packing, she said.

As she turned to leave, I scanned the tube for Switzer. He was at the other end, preaching to his bootlickers.

Max? I called, and she looked back over her shoulder. I need your help with something.

She pointed at herself and said, Me?

I nodded.

Sure, she said.

Sit here, I told Max, pointing to the O-dat display in my room. It was actually my parents quarters. Most of the little ones still stayed in the nurture pods, while the older kids had scooped up the private rooms.

She read my screen. Restricted? I didnt know any files on the