Expelled

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  Then again, setting off a level-five alert to enroll herself without having to stand in line was a little over the top. It would be the easiest way to do it, though. Not the cleanest, perhaps, but definitely the easiest.

  What would a cleaner method be? she wondered, now fully engaged in the hypothetical exercise.

  I suppose I could breach without setting off any alerts. All I have to do is backtrack to get the hashing algorithm used to create the keys and generate a custom version of my own. That way, the system won't notice when I break in.

  Hashing algorithms were supposed to be one way to get the output from the input but not the input from the output. This had been a very effective security measure until the era of quantum computing. Seventeenth generation quantum computers could easily backtrack a hashing algorithm in a matter of minutes. And while the SHA hash was a mile long, quantum computers really could think a mile a millisecond.

  This would definitely take much longer than her previous approach, and she was sure the university didn’t have its hashing algorithms out there in the open for a passing hacker to snatch. She might have to break through the fractal encryption, or even worse, their quantum encryption.

  No way would they have quantum encryption here. This is a university, not a military base.

  But then again, the data protection laws are stringent these days.

  Well, time for plan C then.

  A smile played across her face as a new fantasy materialized in her head in movie format. She could practically hear the dramatic soundtrack as special effects heretofore unheard of manifested to augment the experience. There she was, the hero of her own story, breaching the university’s data center to…

  Oh, I don't know. Save the world?

  Getting to the server room floor would be a piece of cake. The white metal structure she’d noted outside would be the perfect route.

  But then again, I could simply use the elevator. Nobody would notice. All I’d need is a fake ID card to walk straight into the server room like I owned the place.

  She shook her head. That’s too easy. Let’s go with scaling the metal structure.

  Reaching the top of the structure would take her to the right floor, but she still had to get into the server room. It was highly unlikely that the door would be unlocked.

  Ventilation shafts, she decided. They were standard for any system. And if it was anything like the holo-films, they’d be well lit and roomy.

  And, of course, since this was her fantasy, all the university’s would be the same type and size and barely large enough for her to squeeze through. Nonetheless, Jayne imagined swinging herself off the white structure and opening the cover with…

  Breaking open the ventilation cover might be bit of a problem. Hmm…

  She pursed her lips.

  Note to self, remember to carry your acid drops everywhere you go. There’s no way I’d be able to open that without the help of acid.

  All right, acid drops would solve that problem.

  To ensure they were most effective, she would have to squeeze as close to the roof as possible and keep her fingers hooked through the edge of the shaft. That way, once the acid ate through the cover, it wouldn’t drop to the ground and alert security.

  Once she’d safely disposed of the cover, she would crawl around the metal floor, making a monotonous thud as she moved on all fours, right up to the next grid opening to the server room.

  Security…

  Holographic detectors, she decided. Those are pretty standard issue these days, aren't they?

  Dropping onto the ground would be a bad idea, then. The detectors would instantly pull a 3D image of me on-screen.

  Of course, Jayne had absolutely no idea what the location looked like, so she created some random mental imagery.

  Some lighting here and color effects there. I’m sure they would have a big display in the corner…and perhaps holographic projectors stuck to the walls? Yes, that should be a realistic representation.

  She would have to stay in the blind spots. It wasn't all that difficult. The trick was to walk right into their view and disappear before they could complete processing.

  Dodge to the left, Dodge to the right, vault over a bunch of servers, and right to the control panel. Easy.

  From there, it was a cakewalk. Nobody expected anyone unauthorized to get that far, so it was likely that the control panel would be unguarded and unlocked.

  She’d have to input a few commands and the databases would update with her records. More than likely, she wouldn’t even have to tap in any commands. A beautiful GUI would be available. No waiting in line and no fuss.

  Jayne was reveling in her imaginary success when a voice calling “Next?” shattered the illusion.

  “Excuse me? Young lady?”

  Jayne hurried forward and hastily gathered her thoughts into the here and now. She was reminded of a lesson all spies must learn. It was a lesson she had a hard time accepting: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. The spy adventures would have to wait for another day.

  +++

  Armaros, Techcropolis, Tesla University of Technical Arts, University Administration Building, Main Hall

  “Oh, come on! I don’t want to stand in another registration line,” Jayne fumed.

  First, she’d had to wait to register for the university accommodation. Now, she was told she had to register for classes separately.

  It certainly didn’t help that this line looked as long, if not longer, than the one she had just endured. Maybe hacking would have been the way to go.

  "I'm sorry, but that is the protocol," the staff member said. More protocols! "Different classes have different requirements. We need to check each one of them before granting you admission.”

  The sound of an alert on her tablet distracted her for a moment. It was a notification telling her the location of her new room, the building’s entrance code, and other access codes required to gain entry to the university’s intranet.

  “Oh, hell. You can’t be serious,” Jayne muttered. “My room is like a mile away from here!”

  “Yes, sweetie. That’s where all the dorms are located,” the woman said. She motioned Jayne on from her window so she could deal with the next person awaiting processing.

  Jayne wanted to bang her head on the glass window but restrained herself. Since there was nothing more to be accomplished there, she turned on her heel and left the counter. It was either wait for another eternity or use the time and effort to find her new room.

  The choice was obvious.

  It’s not like I’ll be here much anyway, she reminded herself. She hoisted her bag onto her back and left the campus administration hell. It didn’t take her long to notice Angela spinning in circles, comparing her surroundings with a map of the university on her tablet.

  “If you can’t find the exit, you failed the entrance test,” Jayne called brightly.

  The girl turned to face her, her shoulder-length hair whirling with the movement. “Oh, so you’ve passed this test already?” she asked coyly.

  “I should think so,” Jayne replied confidently.

  Despite her experience with finding the enrollment office, her spy training had given her a good sense of direction.

  “Aren’t you going to register for classes?” Jayne asked tentatively.

  “Aren’t you?” Angela returned.

  She shook her head. “Too crowded. Later.”

  “Same.” Angela drew herself tall. “Now, Jade, please lead the way to the exit.”

  “It’s Jayne,” she corrected. “And weren’t you called in for enrollment a good ten minutes before me? How come you’re still here?”

  Angela gave her a sideways glance, “You think it would have made any difference when they called me? The people inside that office move like slugs on Valium.”

  Jayne felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips.

  “You know, it really wouldn’t be a crazy idea to have the whole process automated. Lik
e, y’know, online,” she said, throttling the impulse to show genuine emotion. Spies didn’t allow themselves to get attached easily, and they certainly didn’t play their hands this early in the game.

  “Amen to that,” Angela agreed. She smiled enough for both of them.

  They walked in silence as Jayne navigated through another stairwell and a corridor before reaching the entrance to a lecture hall. Three of the four walls were covered with plasma boards that pulsed a purple-tinged white.

  “We had these when I was in school,” Jayne said, gesturing at the boards. “The jokers in the class would draw dicks on their tablets and drop them onto the boards, all to get a cheap laugh.”

  “Oh, I’m sure that was delightful,” Angela replied dryly. “Our boards were equipped with restricted permission technology. Only the teachers could use them.”

  “Well, ours too, but the teachers could never figure out how they worked. When they tried they usually locked themselves out. Instead, they left the boards open for any idiot to doodle on them.”

  Focusing on the task at hand, Jayne moved past the lecture room with Angela close behind. They turned another corner and saw a proper gymnasium, something that piqued Jayne’s interest.

  The gym had been one of her favorite places at the academy. As they shuffled past, she caught sight of vertical and horizontal bars in the left corner of the ceiling. Jayne had absolutely loved swinging back and forth on those. She was the only one in her entire class capable of moving from one end of the bars to the other in under ten seconds. In fact, some students couldn’t make it in ten minutes.

  She decided that she should make a point to maintain her physical training. Feats of physical strength should wait until after she was properly settled, though. The task at hand, she reminded herself. Focus on the task at hand.

  “Ah-ha!” Angela pointed excitedly to a familiar glowing exit sign down a hall. “How’d we miss that?”

  The girls burst through the doors like convicts let out on parole by mistake.

  “Great! A couple hundred miles to go and we’ll be at our dorms,” Angela added dryly.

  Jayne didn’t mind the walk as much as her companion did. As far as she was concerned, this was one of the very few times she would actually take it. The perfectly groomed university gardens were beautiful, but walking through them every day would get old fast.

  “Oh, quit whining. It’s only a few hundred feet.”

  “Easy for you to say. You look like you’ve jogged every day for the last hundred years.” Angela pouted as she looked her up and down.

  Jayne shrugged the comment off and changed the subject quickly. Fortunately for her, the girl was only too happy to talk about her family.

  +++

  Armaros, Techcropolis, Tesla University of Technical Arts, Block F, Student Residential Hall

  Jayne ambled into the dorm building with her bag on her back and Angela no longer in tow. The self-proclaimed prodigy’s dorm building was the block before this one, so she’d taken her leave to get settled in for the year.

  The building was comfortable with an inviting lived-in feeling. Students strode up and down the passages with their dorm furniture and decorations. Clustered groups littered the passages. Jayne couldn’t believe people were already making friends. That had never been one of her strengths..

  A young man’s voice carried over the din. “Look, I’m terribly sorry about that,” he said into a phone pressed to his ear. Jayne’s ears perked up. She was piqued by the sound of someone feeling agitated.

  The boy maintained complete silence as she passed him. He avoided her gaze deftly. Whoever was on the other side of the phone was shouting, and she could hear that it was a man. Nothing was audible, of course, but she made out enough to know that something was wrong.

  Jayne resisted the urge to look back at the boy and made a mental note of her observation. She hoped that wouldn’t be the norm. Shouting couples irritated her. Also, the last thing she needed was any kind of trouble that might draw attention to her, even indirectly.

  A few other students milled about, introducing themselves casually. Jayne carefully avoided eye contact while she noted the door numbers.

  four-oh-seven, four-oh-eight, four-oh-nine, and here we are, she thought to herself.

  “Four-ten. Home sweet home,” she said softly. The lock clicked with a swipe of her key pass. She pushed it open and stepped inside.

  The place looked comfortable and safe, at least at first glance. The door was definitely sturdy. A few basic pieces of furniture were scattered around the room—a couch, a love seat, a few chairs. Nothing overboard but nothing shabby.

  “And thank God the walls are white.” She sighed loudly.

  “Yeah, that’s true. The greenish-white color outside really is bad, isn’t it?”

  Jayne whirled, taken completely by surprise. A pretty girl smiled at her. She had a childlike face that couldn’t help but be overpowered by her large and gentle eyes. She had a kind of beauty that might be used to sell soap.

  “You must be Jayne,” she said, pushing her pale hand out awkwardly. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  Expecting me? Weird…

  Jayne accepted the handshake. "And you are?"

  Maybe she’s with the administration? Perhaps she wants to see if I’m settling in okay?

  “Jess. Jess Kringer. Your roommate!”

  “Roommate?” Jayne sputtered. “Sorry. They just didn’t tell me I’d have a roommate,”

  This was bad. This was absolutely fucking bad. She had a plan. Cheat the system by masquerading as a university student. Go freelance. Establish an independent spy agency. Make the academy sorry. Easy as one, two, three. A roommate ruins the plans. Plus, who’s got the time to share a bathroom?

  Jess took a shocked step back and flinched. Jayne almost felt bad for her. Had she not been caught up in her own concerns about the arrangement, she might even have apologized.

  “Yeah, I know,” her unexpected roommate agreed, obviously in an attempt to manage the situation. “I wasn’t told I’d share a dorm either.”

  Jayne wanted to tell the girl off. After all, she had more important things to worry about. But Jess already looked about ready to run, and her eyes had turned glassy with unshed tears. Snapping at her again might cause a complete breakdown, and Jayne was not equipped to deal with the fallout of that. ‘Apologizing’ and ‘burying the axe’ and ‘hugging it out’ had never really been her thing.

  Social anxiety, she guessed. Great. Jayne Austin, interplanetary spy for hire, socially anxious roommate included.

  She was already flicking through options in her head. How the hell could she run a spy operation if someone constantly watched over her?

  “Sorry. I’m just surprised,” Jayne explained. “I wonder why this happened. Maybe there was some confusion?”

  “No, sharing a dorm costs half the credits. They must have decided you didn’t have the credits for an individual unit,” Jess said finally. “My parents were okay with paying for the dorm, but not for a full room. How did you manage?”

  “Uh, I got a discount,” Jayne said. She didn’t have many options available for now, so she’d have to make it work. Spies did it all the time so she would, too. “Well, guess we better get used to each other. Which side of the room is mine?”

  Jess smiled wanly. "Over there." She pointed to the left side of the room. "Unless you want the other side. I’m fine with that, too."

  “No…no,” Jayne said quickly. “Left is good for me.”

  It wouldn’t have mattered which side she got. They were exactly the same. Two polished white tables were tucked in either corner with matching chairs. Two small cupboards stood back to back in the middle of the room to define the border line.

  Jayne dumped her bag on the floor beside the door and wandered to her side of the room to investigate. She looked over a panel on her side of the wall and tried the first button. triggering a mechanism that slid the bed out. It used air pockets instead
of a mattress. Jess hovered uncertainly at the foot of the bed.

  It was obvious that she struggled to speak, so she decided to help the girl out. “So, how do things happen around here? I mean, how do you get food and stuff?” she asked.

  Her roommate walked to her cupboard and pulled out a card. “We use food cards here. They aren’t very expensive, but mine gets paid for by the government,” Jess said.

  Jayne waited, curious as to why the government would ever want to do that. Her companion seemed oblivious to the cue.

  “You can borrow it anytime you want. I mean, it’s free food, so why not?” Jess placed the card on her table.

  Jayne instinct was to feel insulted. At first she felt a fall from grace—from the top of her class to “looks like you need some food.” But then again, who in their right mind says no to free food?

  “Thanks,” she said brightly.

  “Well, um, I still haven’t registered for classes. And I guess you haven’t either?”

  Jayne shook her head.

  “Soooo…you coming?”

  “Nah. I’ll do that later,” she lied flatly.

  Her roommate grabbed her jacket and waved an awkward goodbye as she left.

  Jayne slumped on her bed as the door closed. This was terrible. Jayne was a planner, and nothing was going according to it. She ran a mental assessment of all her new ‘buddies’. Angela was bubbly and fun-loving, but cool. She had a hint of a naughty side. Jayne actually liked Angela. In a pinch, she thought, she might even be able to trust her. Jess, however… Jess was clearly the good-girl type. Jayne could tell she always followed the rules, never missed class, and, most troublesome for Jayne, did not tolerate troublemakers. Jess could not under any circumstances know the truth about Jayne.

  “Looks like I’ll have to maintain this cover twenty-four-seven,” she muttered. “I’m so fucking screwed.”

  With that thought, Jayne got back on her tablet and started working through the University’s system. If she was going to blend in, she needed to know the layout of this university, who the RAs were, and for whom she needed to play the part of bright-eyed student.