Sanctify

In the nursery, Noriko and Diane touched the belly of Naomi Egas. A sweet smile and a gentle hand, Naomi was known for her exceptional patience. During the first two years Noriko was under her private care and attention because of her seemingly ADHD tendencies, but after personal and intense care, Noriko blended into human society easier. That was all because of Naomi.

Naomi looked at the two girls and smiled, “Can you feel the baby kick?”

Diane’s eyes were wide with wonder but Noriko looked bored. “Why does it matter that the baby kicks? Maybe you should just let her sleep.”

Naomi knew Noriko was more bored because she wasn’t patient enough or sensitive enough to feel the tremors the baby made. Not knowing how those nerves had been damaged in the past, Naomi and Diane simply chose to stay quiet on the subject. And then Naomi’s eyes perked up and asked, “Her? We haven’t gone in for the gender yet.”

Noriko smiled, “Let that be my present to you.” She rolled over and returned her attention to the computer Professor Egas kept in the room with simple games to keep Naomi entertained.

Naomi peeked over and frowned, “Noriko, what are you doing?” The code was simple but also very different from what she and her husband had dabbled with.

Diane, also, peeked over and asked, “Did you break through the fire wall yet?”

Naomi frowned, “How did you know it was called a ‘firewall’?” She moved closer and Diane followed. “Do you know what this is?” she asked, watching Noriko type codes into the computer.

Noriko nodded and replied, “Of course. I like to say that my father and mother work as computer programmers, software engineers, to be exact. It explains why I’ve played a little in this and they think I have a talent,” and that caused Diane and Naomi to wince a little. Both knew Noriko liked to make up stories to cover her orphan status but they knew that anyone who watched Noriko work would believe her story. Impatient, Diane ran out of the room and into the next classroom with a large boxy contraption.

“I’m jumping in, too! Give me a side door,” she shouted.

Noriko smiled and moved the computer closer to Naomi, “Go on and join in the conversation. They’re talking about the Y2K scare. Most of the hackers are arguing between Sanctus and the haven.”

“What is the Haven?” Naomi asked as Noriko jumped up and hurried to the door.

“Di, Mave, Toph, and I set up a platform on the cyber space and dubbed it the Hacker’s Haven. The talk in there is so intense about Y2K, we’re trying to get a hold of the situation. Join in!” she added, ducking out of the door as Professor Egas dodged her and walked in.

“What is all the excitement about?” he asked Naomi, kissing her forehead.

Naomi sighed and sat back, “Your prodigies are working hard to make the cyber net safe.”

Professor Egas touched Naomi’s pregnant belly and sighed, “Did Noriko guess?”

“She guessed a girl,” Naomi replied and shook her head, “You were right.”

Professor Egas laughed, “Indeed. She wrote me a long paper on the rational and irrational perspectives of the Y2K, not taking either side. She’s got both the mind of a hacker and a cracker.” He watched the codes and sighed, rubbing Naomi’s belly.

In the computer room, Mavis and Topher worked together to enforce the securities within the space they cleared out for themselves, as Diane and Noriko worked within the walls, creating a forum and talking circle, where the most advanced of all hackers could rest and chat amongst themselves. Tirelessly, they communicated and built upon the most advanced network that was undiscovered. It was like a drug.

After making sure Naomi went to bed safely, Professor Egas walked in to the computer room. “Where are we with this Sanctus character?” he asked the room of four youngsters meddling with the computers. He hadn’t wanted to confess to his wife about seeing if his students could catch the character, especially since he knew she’d think him an evil mastermind-type.

Diane turned from her chair to the next computer, and replied, “Sanctus has pulled a few hackers in and destroyed them. It’s like playing with a 10-year-old. Seriously,” she added, and returned her attention to her computer screens.

Professor Egas looked around and frowned, “Where’s Noriko?”

From beneath the tables put together, in a tangle of wires and lines, Noriko replied, “I’m here, Professor! Some of the systems ran slow, so I patched in a few cables to help speed things along. The haven is plenty safe,” she added. And then, as if an after thought, “Maybe I should upgrade my Kanon safety system. It’s been a year since I’ve checked on it,” she added, cleaning some dust off some wires.

Professor Egas nodded and looked over the codes again. He noted a few dedicated members and a few on edge. He asked, “What is the possibility for the Y2K terror to manifest as Sanctus claims?”

“You didn’t read my paper?” Noriko asked from beneath the desks, “I covered Sanctus on the eight and ninth pages,” but Professor Egas rolled his eyes.

“Would someone give me the short version?” he asked, looking around to his other star students.

Diane thought about it and Mavis turned, both trying to truncate their opinions, but it was Topher who replied, “58% of the hackers think something will happen but 42% think it’s just a big hoax.” He shook his head, “People are just afraid of the unknown.”

“You know what they say,” came Noriko from under the desk, “fear is just uncertain curiosity.”

“But it doesn’t hurt to protect yourself,” Mavis added on and then turned to Professor Egas, “What do you think we should do? I mean, we can scan the net, hunt down Sanctus and shut him down, or we can let things be.” And, under his breath, he added, “I don’t think four kids and a weird adult can pull off the heist of the year.”

Noriko poked her head out and smiled, connecting two wires, “Let’s take him out.” Topher looked to Diane who rolled her eyes. Professor Egas watched their interactions, finding it entertaining. Such young minds behaving so far beyond their years, and he had the power to hone their minds. “Think about it, guys. We’re all set up to do it! We just need to set the trap and keep it contained. After that, Di and I can decode everything and press the massive reset button. He’ll get wiped with the rest of them.”

Diane smirked and sat back, “That may actually work.”

Professor Egas nodded and shrugged, “This lab is yours. If you can stop this Sanctus and the crash, then I’ll give you a pizza party.”

Topher and Mavis sat up, eyes wide and alert. Mavis turned, “You can’t take that back, Professor!”

“If you do, you owe us double!” Topher added on.

Professor Egas nodded, “Yes, children, yes, children. Let’s do what we must for now. I won’t take anything back,” he added. When Topher and Mavis jumped on their tasks, Professor Egas shook his head and smiled, “Why would I bother having children when I already have children?”

He turned and peeked over Diane’s shoulder. On her screen, she used ‘DIEM’ to hack and build. She moved gracefully and easily through the system. Noriko had sat down at a nearby table, talking quickly about equations and codes with Diane. Peeking over to her screen, he saw her use the handle ‘NOX’. ’So appropriate that night and day would work together,’ he thought to himself.

The kids worked through the night, practically engrossed in the codes and the firewalls. “The Haven has to have guardians,” Noriko had said to Topher, who encoded a line of traps. Everyone was busy and the system wasn’t running too fast, but she made do with that which she had. And moments later, she sat back, arms up in victory and exclaimed, “Trina is picking up the guardian slack. That should fix the gaps!”

Professor Egas shook his head and left the children to their tireless task. It was the holidays and public schools weren’t open, which meant that a simple call to their parents were enough to keep them working. Noriko, however, jumped through hoops just to keep herself there. Despite the annoyance of the orphanage, she promised to be back by New Year’s Day. And on the eve, they let loose their traps and waited.

As fast as Sanctus ripped through the codes, Topher and Mavis patched them up and rebuilt using logarithms and equations, mending the tears in the cyber world. And when the strange encrypted codes knocked on the Haven’s doors, Diane and Noriko activated the 22-contingency trap and the scare that Sanctus would penetrate through society fell silent.

The Haven went viral, winning the battle against Sanctus and the dreaded Y2K crash.

In his office, Professor Egas answered his office phone and listened for a moment. “The Sanctus threat has been removed. She has passed the obstacles and course,” he added and then hung up the phone, his hand lingering on the receiver.

From the doorway, Naomi watched her husband. She knew it has come time for something to pass and that none of them wished it would, least of all the man who had been asked to raise the world’s greatest weapon for the future. She touched her stomach and closed her eyes, feeling great pain and sadness. Enough that when Processor Egas looked up at his wife, he couldn’t help but feel it too.

Stepping out of the elevator with Noriko, Diane smiled as they walked onto the empty street. She grabbed Noriko’s arm and led her friend away from the subway station. “We just stopped the biggest threat in a new world that no one knows how to navigate to yet,” she nudged Noriko, who smiled.

“I’m quite pleased with what we’ve done, too,” Noriko smiled. The two best friends walked down the empty street. There was never the thought that they were being watched. You just didn’t suspect such things in those days.

Diane had stayed behind to wait for Noriko as Topher and Mavis hurried home. The two girls caught the train and only parted at the intersection in front of the train station. But before that, Diane warned, “Call me when you get back. You never know.”

Noriko laughed and waved, “Right, then. You’ll hear the keeper yelling at me in the background. Nah, I’ll just phone you tomorrow. We should go watch ‘Fantasia 2000’ before it leaves theaters!”

Diane nodded and waved, “See you tomorrow, Nox!”

“Lataz, Diem!” the two giggled while walking their own ways.

The next morning, Diane woke up to her mother nudging her awake. She could hear Professor Egas somewhere in the room as he stated, “Noriko didn’t wait for me this time. She was too eager to get home. If I knew something like this would happen, I would have –”

“She ran out because she thought she had to make it home before you got mad at her.” Diane looked around to see Mavis and Topher in her room, talking to Anna McClintock, the head of the orphanage Noriko boarded at, who sat on the bed.

But Ms. McClintock didn’t look her normal cool self but rather quite flustered and frustrated. “I told her to stay the night and come home in the morning. It wasn’t until I phoned Professor Egas that we realized she was missing.”

All eyes turned to Diane as she sat up in bed and Mrs. McClintock demanded, “Well? Where is Noriko?”

Diane looked from Ms. McClintock to her mother and then shook her head, tears of panic in her eyes, “I don’t know. We said good-bye at the subway station. She said she was going straight home!”

Diane’s mother wrapped her arms around Diane, who took a moment to steady her breathing. Mavis swallowed and ran out the door, Topher following after him. From in her mother’s embrace, Diane could hear her friends shouting and calling for Noriko in vain. And the tears did not stop.

Noriko opened her eyes to see a grayish ceiling. She sat up and noticed her bag and jacket were on a chair. The blue door opened and a man entered. The door shut behind him. Noriko looked up at him and asked, “Where’s Madam McClintock?”

The man replied, “My name is Tyler Burlent.”

Noriko frowned and then asked, “Where am I?”

The man replied, “You are at your new home.”

Noriko shook her head, “I never signed up to leave my old home.”

The man shrugged, “Not my problem.”

Noriko looked around the room and noticed that there was a window but it didn’t seem to open, and a door that led to a bathroom. She swallowed and asked, “Am I dead?”

The man smiled, letting out a laugh, as he replied, “Quite the contrary. In fact, you new life begins now.”