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  Alex gave a voice command into her access pod, which was connected to her arm, and then held it up to the back of Mara’s neck. Within seconds, Mara’s biological stats came through – her name, age, height, weight, body mass index, and her genetic code. Alex retracted her arm and read the only field that mattered to her – GENETIC MATCH NOT FOUND.

  Alex’s head sunk low and a wave of disappointment washed over her. The veil had been lifted and reality had set in, giving Alex a much more grounded perspective. She took a moment to reassess the situation and realized how naïve she had been for thinking she could ever find her mother.

  About to leave, Alex looked at the woman and thanked her for her time. But something struck Alex as odd. The woman was fighting back her emotions, which was a peculiar response for a complete stranger to have. Puzzled, Alex was unsure what it meant, but became transfixed by the encounter. The woman’s eyes became glossy with tears and she bit down on her quivering lip. The expression on the woman’s face suggested she was being reunited with a ghost from a long-lost relative.

  The guardians walked ahead, preparing to escort Alex to the waiting area, but Alex was still taken aback by the woman’s overly emotional response. By now, nobody was paying attention to Mara or Alex anymore, the excitement was over. When everyone was out of earshot, the woman said something that was intended for Alex’s ears only.

  “Mara Miletus is my pseudonym,” she whispered, “before that, my name was Alexandra Gray.”

  Alex’s heart skipped a beat and her eyes immediately welled up with tears. She spun around and was about to jump for joy, but there was a look on Mara’s face that told her to stay calm. Not another word was spoken between them – Mara just winked at Alex and smiled. As she did that, a tear squeezed out and rolled down her face. Mara quickly wiped it away. Alex had a look of bewilderment on her face and just stood there for a moment, processing this new information.

  “Let’s go Miss Gray,” one of the guardians said sternly.

  “I believe they’re talking to you,” Mara said.

  As Alex walked back to her companions, a million thoughts raced through her mind. Only two thoughts were going through Milo and Aris’ heads – they were either going to celebrate or console, but based on Alex’s facial expression, they were not sure which one to do.

  “So how did it go?” Milo asked.

  “It’s not her, let’s get out of here.”

  Alex waited until everyone was in the cab and driving away from the prison before she revealed the full story.

  “Mara Miletus!” Milo blurted out.

  “Who?” Aris said.

  “I just remembered the woman’s name, it’s Mara Miletus,” he said with a proud grin.

  “Good for you, genius. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re driving away from the prison where Alex just met the woman, who, as it turns out, is not her mother. So what good does it do us to know her name now?”

  “That’s not her name,” Alex said distinctly.

  “I’m pretty sure it is,” Milo responded.

  “Her name is Alexandra Gray,” Alex said firmly.

  “Alexandra Gray?” Aris said confused. “Isn’t that your name?”

  “Yes it is,” Alex said.

  “So you actually found your mother!” Milo shouted. “That’s incredible. What happened in there?”

  Alex told them what had happened.

  “How do you know she wasn’t just messing with you because you introduced yourself as Alexandra Gray? Didn’t you do a genetic comparison?”

  “I did a gencom.”

  “And? What were the results?”

  “Negative – zero genetic match.”

  “Okay, so she was messing with you.”

  “Well, not exactly. I didn’t introduce myself by first and last name. I told her my name was Alex.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, Alex, you’re not exactly anonymous,” Aris pointed out. “When we were walking in the pyramid the other day, nearly a dozen people knew your name.”

  “It was her,” Alex assured. “Trust me.”

  “So how do you explain the gencom mismatch?” Aris asked.

  “I’m not sure, maybe she altered it in some way.”

  “So what do we do now?” Milo asked.

  “We could always camp out at the jail and wait for her to be released.”

  “No need,” Alex said firmly. “Now that we know my mother’s real name and alias, we should be able to find everything there is to know about her.”

  Chapter Eight

  Alex soon discovered she may have been a little too optimistic about tracking down Mara Miletus. As it was suspected, Mara was using a modified accountability chip. The address that came up as her place of residence was a vacant lot – she was essentially off the grid so any other search would prove useless.

  “Search Alexandra Gray,” Alex instructed her computer.

  The search populated thousands of results, many of which pertained to articles about her achievements. They needed more information to narrow down the parameters.

  “We could always hack into the government database,” Aris suggested offhand.

  “Do you know how to do that?” Alex shot back with more interest than he expected.

  “Let’s just say I’m no stranger to hacking into secure locations and snooping through highly-classified files.”

  “Great, can you teach me how?”

  “I can just do it for you,” Aris offered.

  “No, I prefer to do it myself. Hacking into the government database is highly illegal and I don’t want to get you involved.”

  “It’ll take too long for you to download the necessary information; I was only able to download a fraction of the file and even that took me two days under multiple sessions.”

  “It’s a good thing she’s not you,” Milo chimed in.

  “Where’s the file?” Alex asked in a serious tone.

  “It’s in the cloud.”

  “Send me the patch.”

  “But—”

  “You heard her, send her the patch.”

  Aris was befuddled, but obliged with her request.

  Alex sat down and waited for the patch to transfer to her access pod. It came through quickly and within moments was ready to be wirelessly downloaded into her brain. Alex leaned back and closed her eyes. The download began and Alex’s eyes started fluttering rapidly. While still conscious and coherent, it was recommended to have a clear mind and remain silent during downloads.

  Even though she was just sitting there, it was still a sight to behold. Milo and Aris were used to downloading files, but to see the famous Alexandra Gray in action was something special. They remained in silence, staring at her, both showing their admiration on their faces. Alex’s brain was like a never-filling reservoir, and the speed at which the data was being transferred was unlike anything they had seen before.

  “How much space does she have in there?” Aris whispered.

  “Don’t worry, it’s enough,” Milo said proudly.

  Just then, the transfer had completed and Alex opened her eyes.

  “That was incredible!” Aris said. “You just downloaded that entire file in under a minute.”

  “It’s not that I have a limitless capacity,” she said, addressing Aris’ question. My brain is incredibly efficient with how it stores and processes data. I have a condition known as synesthesia.”

  “Syneth—what?”

  “Synesthesia – it comes from two Greek words meaning ‘together’ and ‘sensation’. The human brain is comprised of many different compartments, each with their own function. The frontal lobe recognizes smell and is responsible for such things as a person’s behaviour, characteristics, and movement. The parietal lobe helps a person identify objects and understand spatial relationships. The occipital lobe is responsible for processing visuals. The temporal lobe is involved in memory, speech, and musical rhythm. There are many other parts, but these are a few to give you an idea. For
most people, all these parts perform separate and largely independent functions, but when my brain processes information, every region lends a hand. When I think of numbers, for instance, I attribute shapes, colours, and sounds to the digits. When people listen to music, they typically only use one of their senses, but for me, multiple senses are activated. I hear the music, but I can also see and smell it too.”

  “Really? Aris asked inquisitively. What does music smell like?”

  “Mostly raspberries.”

  “Fascinating,” he said dumbfounded.

  “She’s joking you dolt.”

  “Oh, of course, I knew that,” Aris said, feeling embarrassed. “So does that mean you’re some sort of savant?”

  “Yes, but I don’t have any noticeable side effects from the condition.”

  “Do many people have this?”

  “I’m not sure. It has come up a few times in the medical journals – that’s how I learned about it – but I’ve never heard of anyone other than me who currently has this condition in the same way I have it.”

  Alex went over to her computer with an intense demeanour. “Initiate Excalibur protocol,” she instructed. A holographic image awaited further command. “Prompt Trojan sequence 40-30.”

  “What’s she doing?” Aris asked again in a hushed tone.

  “It’s your patch, don’t you know this stuff?”

  “Like I said, it’s a big file.”

  “Oh right, I forgot, you can’t download it in full.”

  “Neither could you,” Aris retorted.

  “Just be quiet,” Milo said. “May I remind you she’s hacking into government servers and needs total concentration?”

  Alex began rattling off a series of codes that were a mixture of broken phrases and alpha-numeric sequences. It all sounded like gibberish to the uninitiated. Various screens and images populated as she navigated the global network with blinding speed. The screens were flashing so quickly that Milo and Aris did not catch any more than a glimpse of whatever she was looking at. Alex used her hands to swipe aside the holographic projections and keep them organized.

  “This is incredible to watch,” Aris whispered to Milo. It was the one thing that they shared in common – admiration of Alex’s computing abilities. It was almost like watching someone play a musical instrument really well; they both could not help but smile.

  “Okay, I’m accessing the government records now.”

  Alex’s pace slowed down considerably. She was now deep in the government archives – probably the only one to look at this data in decades.

  She searched for any incident reports on her date of birth, involving a woman giving birth and getting arrested.

  “I found it!” she announced with jubilation.

  “What’s it say?”

  “Says here a woman by the name of Alexandra Gray gave birth in an alley near Ferndale and Willow.”

  “You were born in an alley?” Aris interrupted.

  “Apparently,” Alex responded. “It says that Alexandra Gray was arrested for the criminal act of violating the Child Rearing Act and sentenced to one year in prison. The baby, who was named after the mother, was rushed to St. Albans hospital for further examination.”

  “That’s fantastic, Alex. I’m so happy for you.” Milo said.

  “Is that it?” Aris asked.

  “Hey, show a little sensitivity,” Milo scolded.

  “What?”

  “Could you two please try to get along for five minutes? I want to try something,” Alex said.

  “What are you doing now?” Milo asked inquisitively.

  “It says here I was born in an alley.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Well, I want to see it.”

  “See it?” Milo asked confused.

  “We know the exact date and location of the event, and thanks to this incident report, we now have the precise time of day. I want to check the archives for any surveillance footage that may have captured a video of that fateful night.”

  Chapter Nine

  Alex went into another fast-paced frenzy as she manipulated several screens at a time. Within minutes, she tracked down what she was looking for.

  “Okay, I found it!” she announced proudly.

  “No way, load it up.”

  The three of them huddled together and watched with anticipation as Alex synced up the video feed.

  “So the incident report says my mother was arrested at around 10:30 p.m., so if we load it before that time, we should be able to watch the entire event.”

  “This is incredible. I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” Aris said with excitement.

  “I suppose there’s some benefit to having big brother watch our every move – we can use their technology to watch back.”

  There was no telling what the cameras caught, if anything. The video showed a vacant street and not much appeared to be happening. It was dark and there were no pedestrians or motorists. All was calm until a pregnant woman in her early twenties entered into frame.

  “Oh my gosh, that’s your mum,” Milo gasped.

  The woman was distraught and clearly in pain as she hobbled down the street. She kept looking over her shoulder as if some knife-wielding maniac was chasing her. A solemn tear rolled down Alex’s cheek as she watched on helplessly. It was almost too hard for her to watch, but her interest trumped any other competing desire.

  The woman headed into the alley just as the incident report had stated. It was dark, but with the bright streetlights and the camera angle, they could see enough. The woman pressed her back up against the building and slid down. She continuously looked down the alley to see if anyone was coming. There was no sound on the video, but it was obvious based on her facial expressions she was about to go into labour at any moment. She took out her access pod and inserted a cord into her arm.

  “Check it out,” Milo said. “She’s actually plugging in.”

  “What do you think she’s doing?” Aris asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  Sensing the inevitable, the woman looked out into the street one last time before she was about to deliver her own baby. As she did, she noticed something – a surveillance camera pointing directly at her. The woman then appeared to be doing something with her access pod. Alex and her friends watched with a gripping fascination. Nobody said a word.

  A few moments later, the woman turned toward the camera as much as possible. Whatever she had downloaded seemed to be relevant for what she was about to do. She raised her hands to the camera and began using sign language.

  “What’s she saying?” Aris asked.

  “How the hell should we know?” Milo responded.

  The woman obviously knew time was not a luxury she had, so she made her message brief. She refocused her efforts on giving birth. The sight was somewhat disturbing to watch, but none of them turned away. After what looked like a painful and horrific experience, baby Alex finally entered into the world and came to rest on a navy blue blanket. Milo nudged Alex’s shoulder to point out the blanket.

  Baby Alex was quickly wrapped up and placed on her mother’s chest. Even in the woman’s anguish, she seemed happy. Alex paid close attention to how warm and affectionate her mother was being to her. It warmed her heart to see her mother’s love and affection, and to know she was not abandoned.

  Alex was fighting her emotions, but when the two guardian transport vehicles arrived, she lost control and began to cry. Based on what everybody saw, the only crime that was committed was baby Alex being pried away from her mother’s weak grip to be taken away.

  The video continued to roll, showing a vacant street corner as if none of it had happened. Milo put his arm around Alex and told her it would be okay. Alex took a moment in her friend’s embrace and dried her eyes.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine now,” she sniffled. “Now, let’s find out what that message said.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.”
>
  It did not take long for Alex to download the data on sign language. She reloaded the part of the video where her mum had signed into the camera, played back the video, and translated out loud.

  “My sweet baby, please forgive me. I will always love you. If you get this message, know that you will be in my thoughts forever.”

  After she spoke the message, Alex began to cry again. This time she did not hold back. She got up and sat on the couch. Milo joined her.

  The video continued to play and Aris took over the controls. He reversed the video until Mara was out of frame. Familiar with the neighbourhood, he checked the adjacent surveillance cameras. Another angle showed Mara come into frame, hobble down the street clutching her stomach before exiting stage right. Aris then tapped into another surveillance camera, which happened to capture the origins of where Mara had come from.

  “Hey you guys, check this out,” he said enthusiastically.

  Alex and Milo got up and walked over to the screen. Much to their amazement, Aris had found a new camera angle displaying more footage of the incident. They watched a pregnant Mara exit a window of an apartment building and make her way down a rickety fire escape. Once on the ground, she ran out of frame.

  “Do you have any other angles?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t show much, just her running. Wait, something’s wrong,” Aris said.

  “What is it?”

  “The screen went blank.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  Suddenly, a message appeared – ‘SECURITY BREACH – UNATHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED – ACCESS DENIED’.

  “Aris, what did you do?” Alex asked in a panic.

  “I don’t know, I was just searching for another video clip and then for some reason it kicked me out.”

  “Did you enable your trace scramblers?”

  “My what? You’re speaking another language to me right now.”

  “Your trace scramblers, Aris,” Alex said firmly.

  “No, of course not, I don’t know what those are.”

  “We have to get out of here,” Alex insisted.

  “Why, what’s going on?” Milo said worriedly.

  “They know we were in the system. It won’t take long before they track us down.”

  Alex quickly ran into her bedroom and began shoving several items into a bag.

  Chapter Ten