Childhood?
what childhood?
Born without a name in the silence of the grid really does wonders for a child’s development
you can't imagine how confusing it is to one day be in the relatively silent, safe limited universe of the grid and then find out that your universe is in fact infinitely bigger than that, that there are so many other possibilities.
So there I found myself in Tir, in an immense world that stretched far beyond my previously limited view of the universe.
I was terrified, the only thing I had known up to that point was the grid and so my aim was to find my way back home.
It was so frustrating! all I was trying to do was get home and I found a way! I found a terminal that was my key to safety, my key to going home!! But I couldn’t understand how to work the damn thing!!
I spent many a night next to the grid terminal in Tir trying to understand how to unlock it.
Luckily for me, one night I was happened upon by the man who was to become my mentor.
This man had watched me studying this terminal for a while, decided that I had potential and took me under his wing
He took me across to west Athens, which was to be my new home and set me away studying all he could find me on computers, terminals, hacking anything he could get his hands on.
I drank up the knowledge fast.
He bought me my first masseur, my first hacker tool and set me away to work for him in payment, once I was competent enough that is.
By this time I was used to Rubika and the idea of my universe being so much bigger. My longing for the grid could be met through my mentor who had the ability to take us both back to my home at will.
I knew that one day I would be able to do that, which made me study all the harder.
Even at this point I had no real name, I was only ever known as 'Intra' (a Nickname given to me by my mentor).
As time went by my studies turned back to the grid, not so much as a technical subject.. But more a study of my relationship with it or my affinity for it and the way in which I can use it to benefit myself.
I was shown how, through the use of my personal CPU, I could link myself to it giving myself a greater amount of freedom within this universe.
I still remember the rush, the first time I did it. Obviously uploading the most limited version of the formula, as my CPU and my knowledge were not great enough to handle anything bigger at that point. But wow! I brought my home, for a short period of time, into this world with me. I could for once feel at home outside of home.
My desire to learn more and use more of the grid was now at a max, I could see the benefits that it could bring me and the limitless freedom that I could gain from it.
I was set on my way.
At was at this point, when my need for knowledge was greatest, that my life changed even more.
My mentor had always been a powerful man on rubika... secretly.
He was part of an underground movement filled with people that held similar knowledge to himself and worked together for a common cause.
He had only ever hinted at this to me and I had only ever met a couple of his 'associates' up to that point.
As it turns out, info on him and his group had gotten out to the wrong people.
I remember it well, we were heading out together on a mission, we ran through the grid... he always moved faster than I did and he got out into MMD before me.
I remember dropping out of the grid to the sounds of gunfire turning and seeing him dead, the agent sprinting off, disappearing into the shadows before I could catch him.
I stood at reclaim waiting for my mentor’s insurance return and for him to appear next to me. It didn’t happen.
Maybe he hadn't renewed his insurance?
I tried to reach him on his com channel... no response...
I hacked the insurance terminal to find out what could have happened.
There were traces of some hacker having removed his claims. it hadn’t been neatly done, but maybe they didn’t think anyone would follow it up.
But, there was no way I would let them win! not this time, my mentor, who had given me the universe, had just been taken away from me... I didn’t know who they were, or why they wanted him dead.
The only way I could fix it was to bring them to me.
I hacked his insurance and took it for myself.
I previously had no name; I had not been legally recognised or born. From that point I assumed my mentors identity and made it obvious that he was still alive.
they want him dead, they will come for me..... Hyman 'Intra' Rouse ....
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