1010

I flipped around my glass phone in my hand, wondering what it would be like if I were to find some way to shatter it. There was nothing I could possibly gain from doing such a thing, but I couldn't help but wonder about it nevertheless. But before I could give in to the temptation and actually do such a thing, I decided to check what was actually in my phone.

The moment I saw that Ianto had sent me a message, I found myself dizzy with anticipation. All I wanted to do in that moment was simply read through it and try to decipher what was happening over with my brother. Ronnie tended to make fun of me for getting so excited about it, but her words couldn't stop what I was feeling.

Lucky enough for me, Ronnie was not nearby at that particular moment. All I had to worry about is making sure I had enough time to read it before I needed to report in to see Alex and end up getting my training for the day. I hadn't a clue what to expect - everything had been incredibly vague, just like things before had been as well.

At the end of the day, it didn't matter to me. Ianto had promised me a good detailed message, and I thoroughly believed he would give it to me. There was nothing more that I could possibly ask for.

Hello, Alia. I'm glad that you're allowing me to send these long messages, as it gives me a place to simply gives me a place to let my thoughts flow out. While I do have to apply somewhat of a filter to it, it's not very much of anything that I would find to be particularly striking. However, I need to tell you that you are always welcome to reply should you ever feel the urge.

But I'm sure you don't want to waste any of your time trying to write out a message for me. I probably should stop wasting your time by writing out all of this and get to what is actually happening here at the central base.

Not much has changed from yesterday, but I have certainly been able to get to know my fellow team mates somewhat better. You know that I am not the most sociable person, but I won't shy away from people if I find them to be welcoming to me. This is precisely what I have found to be the case here with the Intel Initiative, and I can relate to many of them as well.

You already know Cecily, of course. I cannot say that I truly know her as she remains somewhat of an enigma, but I certainly can see that she has very impressive leadership skills unparalleled to anyone else I had met before.

I must say, Britta is very intelligent. She's revealed to us that very few people believed in her abilities when she was younger because they assumed she was "ditzy." Instead of letting this break her, however, she strived to improve herself. Now she's made it to the Intel Initiative. While yes, she is rather ditzy about some things, she tends to be extremely smart and a valuable part of the group.

Everett is somewhat of an opposite to her in terms of how he carries himself. You are consistently aware that he is very clever and he always make it a point to show this off whenever he is given the opportunity. As I've said before, he has been the forerunner in getting somewhat successful data reviving codes.

But even though we've just been here for a matter of days, our progress is significant. We are indeed working on a deadline - however, it has not been clear when exactly this deadline will be ending. I guess they just want us to our best in however much (or little) time we have left.

Nell is still looking over me, which I guess is all we could've ever asked for. It's not as if either of us did ask for it at the end of the day, but as I've said before I don't mind it. I can't stop praising her on everything that she's ever done. She's extremely intelligent, but she isn't cruel about it.

I've met plenty of people in my life who believed that simply because they were smart they were better than everyone else. (I must digress - I hope that people don't believe that I think I'm better than them because I believe in my own intelligence!) But Nell isn't like that at all, and I can't get over it. It's not as if the others in the central group are full of themselves, but at Nell stands out over them all.

We've continued working together in an attempt to get everything to come out successfully, and it's been working very well. But I have to admit to myself that she's probably the one who's been doing most of the real work in our group. I'm certainly trying, but everything that she comes up with end up turning out working.

If it seems like the only thing I admire about her is her work ethic, then I'm certainly sending out the wrong message. I can't even begin to sing all of my praises for her - it could easily take up this entire message. I only have so much time before I have to head back and work on the codes.

Maybe I'm making a mistake in confiding in my older sister, but at the end of the day I can't think of anyone better to confide in. I want you to know that I find Nell beautiful, inside and out. Don't tell Mom and Dad, please. It's embarrassing, one of the most embarrassing things I've ever truly admitted to.

Part of me is saying that it was a horrible idea to tell you such a thing, that it was an impulse decision I should simply get rid of. But I'm not so sure. Obviously if you are reading this passage of my thought I have decided against deleting it all.

I found myself cooing at the screen as I continued to read through Ianto's message. Then, once I was finished I went back to the part where he talked about how beautiful Nell was and nearly squealed out in excitement. It was so strange to know my younger brother was so infatuated with a girl, but I didn't mind it.

Of course, I couldn't stay in this happy part of my mind for much longer. Ronnie's voice immediately broke my concentration on the topic as she burst into the room.

"Parr, get yourself off your butt and come to training! I never marked you down as someone who'd be late, but here you are looking at your phone as if you have nothing to do. I mean, seriously - you're the only one who isn't there yet. Not good, Parr. Not good."

"If you're so worried about time, Truitt, you shouldn't be lecturing me," I said, smirking over in her direction. She simply rolled her eyes, but I still got up and started to follow her along. When we made it into the main room, I was deeply surprised to find that Ronnie was right. I was late. I was the last one to get to training.

Pretty much all eyes were on me as I walked in, but as soon as I sat down the others began to look away. I couldn't deny that it made me feel somewhat uncomfortable to begin with, but I didn't have to worry about it all too much. It wasn't as if they all hated me or something like that.

"Now that everyone is here, we may begin," Alex said. "We've decided to start you all off fairly easily - and by that, I mean that we won't be using vigorous physical training to speed you up as of yet. As you are required to rush into an enemy base and break into their computers, you will need speediness in all things you are doing. You are all familiar with speed typing codes - and that is what we will be working on today."

My face started to flush because Alex spent his entire time speaking looking over towards me. He certainly must've remembered all of those details about how I was apparently the fastest data eater around. Our conversation from before came flooding back to me - I guess the part of me he knew best would be the fact that I was a quick typer.

"Our computer lab is significantly less elaborate than the one at the central base, but it is more than sufficient for what we have planned. You'll be filing over there in just a matter of minutes, and I fully expect you to memorize where it is quickly."

Once again, it seemed as if Alex's eyes were fixated on me. I was never much of one who was able to simply just ignore something like that. I could feel his gaze upon me, and I couldn't help but allow my heart to flutter a bit in response. My earlier apprehensions about trusting him were all leaving my mind as if they were disappearing like storm water into a gutter.

"Now, shall we begin?" Alex started walking away, prompting the rest of us to rise from our seats and follow behind him. The four of us immediately assembled into a blob of sorts, and we began to talk as soon as Alex seemed to be far away so that he wouldn't hear every word we said.

I found my cheeks were flushing - I could feel the heat taking over my face, but I had no clue what I could possibly do in order to make it go away. Perhaps it would be best if I just ignored it and tried to go about my business without a care.

"Isn't this wonderful?" Ronnie said, pouting. "We left data eating school to do more data eating in a school-like setting. I'm so glad that I'm in the Intel Initiative."

"Come on, Truitt, it's not that bad," I sighed.

"I don't like it either," Deric said, immediately jumping on Ronnie's side. "The way Alex was making it sound was that we were going to get ripped and then go on some amazing spy mission."

"He never said that specifically, no," Zeke said. "But yeah, that was the impression I got too. This was going to be something amazing...and now we're just typing fast."

"At least Parr's going to be good at it," Ronnie asked, jutting out her elbow towards me. "Maybe that's what this is all about - Alex wants to show off her skills."

"Well, if that is the case, then I wouldn't be too upset about that," I replied, placing a smug smile on my face. "I'd love to show off my skills so early inside of everything that we're doing. Make a good impression on everyone."

Ronnie raised her brows over towards me as she spoke once again, this time using my new Greek nickname - "Oh, Psi. I think you've already made an impression on everyone."

"Psi?" Zeke asked.

"None of your business, Zeke," Ronnie said, glancing over towards him. For a moment I thought she was going to end up calling his Rees, using his last name the way she always did for me. But luckily she didn't, and the pit in the middle of my stomach faded away.

"Anyways, we better start heading over towards the computer lab," I suggested. "We'll never get it over with if we don't begin it."

"Good point, Psi," Ronnie said. As she used my nickname all over again, I saw Zeke and Deric exchanging a look. I realized that I hadn't called her Tau yet, which of course meant that she didn't have anything to be embarrassed about. I could've avoided an uncomfortable situation if I had simply used her nickname earlier on.

Before the conversation could carry on much further, we had arrived at our destination of the computer lab. Alex turned back to face us, and any bits of chatter that might've remained was immediately stopped. Now that we were about to get down to business, we became fully silent.

"There aren't assigned seats, in case you're wondering," Alex said. "Just go and sit down wherever you see fit."

All four of us all started heading towards the back of the room, and then we ended up in a row. I was on the far left, and then Ronnie sat next to me. Next to her was Zeke, and finally on the right was Deric.

I sat down in front of the computer, feeling just how foreign these chairs and all of the equipment was. After shifting around several times, I decided that the only way I'd end up being successful at showing off my typing skills would be if I allowed myself to be comfortable. I closed my eyes and leaned back, attempting to relax.

"Psi, now is not the time to fall asleep!"

"Tau, now is not the time to yell at me!" I replied, my eyes snapping open in an instant. Luckily, I was gradually getting used to the feeling of the area. Surely I'd be able to function in the environment. Maybe even one day it would end up feeling like a second home to me. If that were the case, I certainly wouldn't mind it. It was far more advanced than anything I'd known back at Ross or at home.

Something about that was exhilarating. This was special, and it was for me. Certainly that made me special, as it was for me to use. I couldn't say I minded it, not a bit. The screen reminded me of my glass phone - it was thin with well defined edges, and perfectly clear.

Part of me wanted to reach out and touch it, but I find myself feeling like it was some sort of piece to be found in a museum. No, I'd be able to work on it, and that would have to be enough for me, at least for the moment.

Alex walked in closer to us, and it took just about all of my willpower to avoid turning around to look at him. I could hear his footfalls behind us, and I knew it was just a matter of time before he would be right behind us and forcing us to work.

Our computers suddenly burst to life, a blank white screen sitting right in front of us. Aside from the blinking line that signified that we were supposed to type, there was absolutely no instruction on what we were meant to do.

"Not only is this a typing exercise, but a creativity exercise," Alex began to explain. "You're given a goal, but the path you choose to get to it is up to you. You'll be forced to think fast as well as type fast - all of which will be vital skills when it comes to your real mission."

"He sure is making it seem awfully important for a whole bunch of random typing," Ronnie said underneath her breath. I decided against saying something, mostly because I found myself intrigued to know about what Alex would end up saying next.

"Your goal this time around is to make the computers turn themselves off after running several lines of text across the screen. This could be used in a real experience in order to create a scare - it won't do any real damage, but it can buy time. I'm sure I've stressed this more than enough - time is the most important resource you have."

I heard the sound of Alex rubbing his hands together, the strange hum shaking the nearly silent air. This was all about to come together, and the pressure was certainly sitting on top of my shoulders. Throughout my years, I had always been overshadowed by Ianto and I never minded. But now I was given an opportunity to show off what I could do even though I had a feeling that everyone around me was simply better.

My breath seemed to be caught within my chest as I tried to think over all of the possibilities I had for what I could do. The final goal - turning off a computer and running text - was a very broad and vague one. In school, I had always been taught to follow a certain guideline, that there was always a specific way to do things.

Of course, I had always questioned why this was, but I never made an effort to go off of it. That would mean jeopardizing my grade, and chances are whatever I'd end up trying would end up failing. Ianto, on the other hand, would most likely be able to pull this off easily. I just didn't have the same touch as my brother.

Behind me, I could hear Alex starting to count down from ten. I could only assume that he was trying to make us feel a higher point of pressure. He seemed to put a lot of pressure on us being able to handle pressure - but at least I could see where he was coming from to begin with.

"Three, two, one! Begin typing!"

My fingers began to fly across the keyboard as if they had little minds of their own. I continued to type and type, my gaze flicking from the keys to the screen, trying to make sure I hadn't made any effects. I didn't even think I had typed this fast when it was for test grades back at Ross.

But my mind wasn't exactly keeping pace with my fingers - I wasn't sure if I could continue moving on at this rate and actually accomplish anything. It wasn't until my screen suddenly flashed off and I let out a gasp that I realized I had done everything correctly.

The text rolled across the screen, nothing more than gibberish and a mesh of letters and numbers. Somehow, I had done it.

"Take that, Tau," I murmured, looking over to Ronnie's screen. Sure enough, she was still typing. For once, I had won.

A/N And there we go - ten chapters in already? Hard to believe we're getting so far in this story - to me it feels like it's just barely begun. But anyways, yes. In case anyone is wondering, I will be continuing weekly updates during Camp NaNoWriMo - I have it all sorted out. So, yeah!