 
                          Program Alpha-Omega
 
Program Alpha-Omega
 
Episode 5: Alpha finds Omega
 
By Net Wolf
 
Original concept by SLATE
 
 
 
            Zack thought he probably looked pretty silly standing
there, his mouth agape, his hand on the door, his eyes as big as golf
balls.
 
            “You’re… you wrote… I mean, you tried…”
 
            “Yes, Zack.  I wrote the initial program that you have
obviously been working with.  May we come in, please?”
 
            Zack could hardly have stopped them.  You could have
knocked him over with a single finger, so startled was he at this
revelation.  They walked past him into the house, and he shut the door,
rather mechanically.  They seated themselves comfortably on the couch,
and waited for him to settle.  After a great deal of effort, he was
able, barely, to manage this, and moved across from the couch, but
didn’t sit down.  He felt vulnerable, and he needed to be standing to
keep his cool.
 
            “How in the hell… I mean, how did you find me?”
 
            Adam chuckled.  “You led us on a merry chase.  It did take
us quite a while.  You missed some special coding we put into the
program.”  Seeing Zack’s eyes narrow, he quickly added, “Don’t be too
offended: the code looks very innocuous by itself.  But when the lines
are put together, well… they become less so.  It informs us when the
program is used for the first time on a computer… or for the first time
after it’s been compiled.  That’s how we knew you were using it.  Of
course, we had to break through your security defenses, but… well, we
have a lot of resources to do that sort of thing.”
 
            Zack was suspicious.  “That can’t be all.  I am a very
careful person.”
 
            Adam nodded.  “You’re right, it’s not.  We pretty much knew
where you were, but we needed proof.  Your friend Valkyrie works for
me.”
 
            Zack’s expression darkened.  He muttered, “Bitch.”
 
            Adam nodded again.  “I understand your feelings, but,
realize, she *does* work for me…”
 
            Zack abruptly changed the topic.  “What do you want?”
 
            “Well, dear boy, I thought that would be obvious.  I want
my program.”
 
            “You expect me to just give it back to you, after all the
work I’ve done?”
 
            “No, no.  You misunderstand.  I don’t expect you to give it
up, but I would like a copy.  After all, I did have my reasons for
writing the thing in the first place.  I would like to continue with
those reasons.”  Adam and William rose, not threateningly, but just
because it felt more natural if all of them were standing, rather than
just one.  “I know you’ve spent a lot of effort on this program.  Our
last report suggests you’ve made some major modifications to it.  I
wouldn’t think of asking you to just hand that over.”
 
            “So, I give you a copy of the program, and you go away?”
 
            “Well… no.  Actually, Zack, I’d like to make you a
proposition.”  Zack stood straighter, but Adam continued as if not
noticing.  “Although you obviously have the intelligence to make the
program work, you do not have the resources of our company.  Your
ability to use the program has to be severely limited by that.”
 
            Zack stiffened.  “Hey, I’ve been doing just fine without
your help, thanks.”  He kept speaking as William moved toward him
slightly, hoping to calm this boy down.  “For your information, I’ve
managed to get pretty much whatever I wanted.”
 
            William reached him, and went to place a hand on his
shoulder.  “Calm down, Zack, we just – WAAHGH!”  The rather undignified
scream was the result of William watching the world rotate very
quickly, and then feeling a very hard surface connect with his back. 
He was staring up at the ceiling, waiting for his vision to clear.
 
            Adam stared, rather impressed at the Aikido move that had
been rapidly applied to his subordinate.  Adam said, with some degree
of mirth, “It appears you missed something in your evaluation, William.”
 
            William shook his head and struggled to his feet.  “No
way.  There’s no way you can have taken martial arts classes without us
finding out!”  William was very nearly livid, but also knew he was
completely outmatched.  He had never learned any self-defense style.
 
            “Actually, you’re right.  I’ve never set foot in a dojo.” 
He paused, and, seeing the look he expected from them, simply said,
“It’s the program.”
 
            “The program turns you into Bruce Lee?”
 
            Zack sighed.  “The program allows you to learn anything. 
Very quickly.  I studied the basics of martial arts under the effects
of the program.  I hadn’t realized until just now that it had been so
fully incorporated into my brain.  I wouldn’t advise touching me like
that again, though.”
 
            William stifled a hot-headed reply, and just nodded
instead.  Adam was far more interested in this application of his – was
it really his anymore? – program than he was William’s bruised ego.
 
            “You say that the program allows you to learn?  How did you
get it to do that?”
 
            “Good grief, that was easy!  You just write a script for it
that makes you remember everything you read, see, hear, whatever,
during a certain time period.  I suppose, you could have it make you
remember everything, forever… I never tried that.”
 
            “I see.  Well, I know this is probably a stupid question,
but, as I wrote the program initially, I must ask:  What did I do
wrong?”
 
            Zack actually laughed.  “Yeah, I suppose, if you’re
anything like me, that would be bugging you.  Come on back to my room,
and I’ll show you.”  Zack led them back to his bedroom, sitting down at
his computer.  The men sat down on the bed.  Zack pulled up his
journal, and paged it to the first entry.  “There were six spots where
you had flubbed the code.  It wasn’t anything major, but in two cases,
you’d gotten the frequencies wrong.  And that threw off the whole
thing, since they were the base frequencies off which everything else
modulates.”
 
            “Shit,” William said.  “How the fuck did we miss that?”
 
            “Well,” Zack offered, “Chances are that you assumed that
this research had been done properly, and you didn’t actually look
here.  When I started working on the program, I didn’t know anything
about it.  I analyzed everything.”
 
            Adam could tell by William’s deflated look that Zack was
right.  *We could have had this thing working months ago?*
 
            “Anyway,” Zack continued, “It wasn’t the only problem,
anyhow.  Your will matrix was off, as well.  Actually, I still don’t
have that worked out yet.”
 
            “How do you mean?” Adam inquired.
 
            “Well, your original matrix worked on me, though there are
some changes I’ve made since even to that, but it didn’t work on women
at all.  My initial subject,” Zack slipped into scientific-speak to try
to conceal his unease at what he and his “subject” had done, “did not
react to the matrix until I had made a few seemingly minor alterations.”
 
            “Hmm,” Adam commented.
 
            William, however, was more vocal, “Seemingly minor?  You
changed a quarter of the code!”
 
            “Yeah, but that wasn’t for this… subject.  Once I got the
program to work with the first female, I also had to make some
alterations to the matrix to get it to work with both genders at the
same time… but at this point, the program was still… um…
‘user-specific’.  The matrix had to be tailored for each individual
that I used it on.  Now, I ran across a subject who was extremely
resistant to the program… due, I found out, to her extreme dislike for
me.”  Adam and William both reacted to that.  Neither had thought that
human emotion would play any part in the program.
 
            “How did you overcome that?” Adam asked.
 
            “Well, that’s where the big change he mentioned came in. 
After *Shirley* sent me that file, I found the information I needed,
and I had to make some significant modifications to the will matrix. 
It’s a lot stronger now… though I’m still worried that the changes may
have long-term side effects.”
 
            “Perhaps I could look it over for you.  I am familiar with
what it’s supposed to do.”
 
            “Maybe,” Zack allowed.  “Anyway, once I had gotten over
that hurdle, I also created a video version of the program-“
 
            “What?” interrupted William.
 
            “I made a version that can be played on a TV.  The normal
program won’t work if you just convert it to video… the TV interlacing
fucks it up.  Anyway, I did that, and got it to work… it has been
tested on at least three subjects.”
 
            Adam looked at William.  “William, I think I can handle it
from here.  Why don’t you go back to the hotel and wait?”
 
            William was about to protest when he realized that his boss
was about to try to strike a deal with the young man, and that Zack
would probably feel more comfortable if he wasn’t outnumbered in his
own home.  “Yes, sir.  Zack, nice meeting you.  I hope we can talk
about this in the future.”
 
            “Yeah.”
 
            Adam waited until he heard the front door close.  “Look,
Zack, I’ll be honest with you.  All of this impresses the hell out of
me.  I spent two years designing and writing the program, and in just a
few weeks, you’ve managed to fix all the problems in it, get it
working, *and* expand the function of it beyond what I had ever
planned.  I’d like to offer you a deal.”
 
            “I’m listening,” Zack responded cautiously.
 
            “Look, TV and computer screens are great, but they’re
hardly portable, are they?  What we really need is a portable version
of the program.  By the way, how long does it take to run?”
 
            “A little over four and a half minutes for the stronger
version.”
 
            “Any thoughts about getting that time reduced?”
 
            “That’s already down from an original time of six minutes. 
I suppose there are ways to refine the algorithms, but I hadn’t wanted
to mess with that too much.”
 
            “See, that’s where my company can come in handy.  I’ve got
mathematicians who can refine the algorithms for us.  And, if we can
figure out how to do it, perhaps we can make a fully portable version
of the program.”
 
            “What do you mean, fully portable?”
 
            “Put it into a device… oh, like a PDA.  But one with good
speakers, and a really good LCD screen.”
 
            “It would be expensive,” Zack noted.
 
            “That’s… not really a concern.”
 
            “Ah.”
 
            Zack and Adam talked for some time, and they finally came
to an arrangement.  Zack would put all his materials together, and send
a copy to Adam.  Adam would provide Zack with the information and
equipment to continue his own research.  They would share all
information.
 
            Well, not all.  Zack still didn’t trust Adam completely,
and so he would not give him the one major change he’d made to his own
matrix: that he could not be programmed by anyone without a special
code to do so.  It was vital to his security, and his peace of mind.
 
            Zack spent the next couple of hours until dinner putting
together and vetting the information that he would send, via email, to
Adam.  There were certain bits and pieces of information that he just
wasn’t going to let him have.  With that job done, he zipped it all
into one file, and emailed it off to the address Adam had given him,
then he went down to dinner.
 
 
 
            After dinner, Zack returned to his room.  He didn’t bother
telling his parents about Adam.  After all, they wouldn’t understand
what was going on, anyway.  He did, however, call Brian.
 
            “Hey, Bri.  What you got going tomorrow?”
 
            “Nothing much.  Dad moved out yesterday, things are real
quiet around here.  What’s up?”
 
            “I wanted to come over.  I have to... uh, get that project
going with Bonnie and Wendy, and I wanted to talk to you about
something, but... um... not on the phone.”  Adam’s visit had made Zack
even more paranoid than usual.  If they were tapping the program, what
else might they be listening in on, now that they knew who he was?
 
            Brian got the message loud and clear.  “Gotcha.  Sure, I
can come get you a little after noon, if that’s cool.”
 
            “That works perfect.  See you then.”  He hung up, and
turned to his computer.  “So, you’ve been spying on me, have you? 
We’ll see about that.”  

            Zack didn’t know how many lines of code he had to find.  He
didn’t know exactly what the program was telling them, nor when or
how.  He’d have to figure out what lines in the program were causing
the program’s tattling before he could disable it.
 
            *But if I disable it, Adam will know.  He’ll know then that
I don’t trust him, and what kind of confrontation might *that* cause? 
Hmm.  But I suppose... once I find out what the program is telling
them, I guess I can write up a fake program, and have it inform them
every once in a while... give them some bogus numbers or whatever.  It
depends on what it does, exactly.*
 
            And Zack knew that the only way to find out what it did was
to trace the program’s execution.  And he’d have to be very specific
about it.  He dug out some old work he’d done; a special debugger for
finding special network-related issues.  It would require heavy
modifications to fit this task, but he would spend the entire weekend
on it, if necessary.  He didn’t want Adam looking over his shoulder.
 
 
 
            Zack was up until four in the morning trying to get his old
program up to specs.  He fell into bed, exhausted, but not having
completed the task.  It looked as if it would take him another six or
seven hours in order to have it ready, and then he could only hope it
would find what he needed it to.  His thoughts were disordered as he
fell asleep, and his dreams were unpleasant.
 
 
 
            Zack awoke with a start, unsure of where he was for a
moment.  He’d had some horrid dreams, and he knew they were caused by
the appearance of Adam.  Zack was worried, and until he knew exactly
what Adam was up to, what he wanted, Zack would not be comfortable with
the situation.
 
            It was nearly noon when Zack got up, and so he hurriedly
made himself something to eat.  His program could wait until after he
got back from Brian’s house.  He wolfed down a sandwich and chips, and
then headed back to his room to get dressed.  His parents were once
more off looking for a car, but he had told them the previous night
where he was going, and they had not objected.
 
            When Brian arrived, Zack packed his stuff up in his
backpack and they hustled over to Brian’s house.  Things were, indeed,
quiet.  Much quieter than they should have been.  No one was making any
excessive noise, and the attitude was beyond subdued.
 
            “Hi, Mrs. Selman,” Zack offered as he walked into the
kitchen with Brian.
 
            Mrs. Selman looked up, her expression brightening on seeing
the young man.  “Oh, hi, Zack!  How are you today?”
 
            “Oh, can’t complain.”  Seeing that Brian had wandered off
somewhere, Zack settled down in the chair next to his mother.  “Mrs.
Selman, what’s the matter?  I mean, it’s so quiet around here. 
Normally on a Saturday, you guys would be off doing things, and busy. 
I know that Mr. Selman moved out and all, but...”
 
            Mrs. Selman smiled at him.  “Yes, but.  It’s hit us all a
little hard, I’m afraid.  We just don’t seem to be adjusting to the
loss.  Twenty years, down the drain.  How am I supposed to get over
that?”  Her face fell again, and Zack could see she was close to
tears.  

            Putting his hand lightly on her arm, he said, “I’m sorry,
Mrs. S.  If there is anything I can do, or that my parents can help
with, you just say the word, okay?”
 
            Mrs. Selman smiled at him again, and though her eyes were
watery, the smile was warm.  “Thanks.”  She reached over and hugged
Zack, and he enjoyed it immensely.  He wished there was more he could
do for his friends, but he couldn’t think of anything that would help
the situation.  She broke the embrace after a few moments, and said,
“Well, where’d Brian get off to?  I’m sure you came to see him, not to
console a lonely old woman.”
 
            “You’re hardly old, Mrs. S,” Zack said without thinking. 
“And I like talking to you.  But yeah, there was something I needed to
talk to Brian about.”
 
            “You go do that, then.  Will you be staying for dinner? 
We’re having spaghetti.”
 
            Mrs. Selman’s spaghetti should be a food group, or so Zack
thought.  “You bet, if you don’t mind.”
 
            “I never mind having you here, Zack.  You’re like a member
of the family.”
 
            “Thanks.  Well, I’m gonna go find Brian.”  Zack wandered
out of the kitchen, but looked back just long enough to notice that she
was watching him go down the hallway.  *I wonder what’s up with her?*
 
            Zack found Brian in his room.  “Hey, man.”
 
            “Hey.  Sorry I kind of abandoned you, but Mom’s been so
depressed the last couple of days, and I just can’t stand to see her
like that.  I hope you managed to cheer her up a little.”
 
            “I tried.  Shit, you guys are taking this hard.  Not that I
can blame you; I can’t even imagine what it would be like if my Mom and
Dad split.  Hell, my life is complicated enough without that sort of
thing.  Did you at least get him to watch the tape before he went?”
 
            “Oh, yeah.  Let me get that for you.”  Brian pulled the
tape out of a drawer and handed it to Zack.  “Thanks.  At least I don’t
have to worry about us getting kicked out of the house.”
 
            Zack stuffed the tape into his book bag, and sat down in
Brian’s computer chair.  He looked at his friend.  “Now’s probably not
the best time to talk about my problems, is it?”
 
            “Hell, yes it is!” Brian retorted.  “Anything to take my
mind off all this crap.  What’s up?”
 
            “Remember I told you that the program was written by a guy
named Adam?”
 
            “Yeah...”
 
            “Adam came to see me yesterday.”
 
            “Oh, shit.  What did he do?  I mean, you’re still in one
piece...”
 
            “He offered to work with me.  He wants to develop the
program even further.  He wants to make a device, kind of like a PDA,
specially designed for using the program on people.”
 
            “Can you do that?  Make it that portable, I mean?”
 
            “If the screen’s got enough pixels, sure.  And if there are
decent speakers on the thing.  But I’m worried.”
 
            “About what?”
 
            “Adam.  He told me that he found me because of some lines
of code.  If he’s been peeking over my shoulder like that, what’s he
going to do with the program?”
 
            “Good point.  I don’t know.  Any way you can find out
without him knowing?”
 
            “I’ve thought about that.  I have one contact inside his
company.  The bitch lied to me, and squealed on me to him.  I think I
could program her without him finding out.”
 
            “Might be a good idea to have an inside source.  Just in
case, you know?”
 
            “You’re right.  And I’m going to try to disable the
snooping code in the program.”
 
            “Won’t he notice that?”
 
            “He would, yes, but I’m going to mimic the output in
another program that sends him false data.”
 
            “Good idea.  How does this change what you were going to do
at the media presentation?”
 
            “It doesn’t.  He *says* he doesn’t care what I do here in
Martina.  He wouldn’t elaborate on what he wanted the program for,
though.  I couldn’t get him to tell me why he’d written it.”
 
            “Shit.  He could want it for anything.  I mean... what’s
his company do?”
 
            “They make hardware and software, they do some network
stuff.  It’s a basic medium-sized computer corporation.”
 
            “So... what could he want the program for?  I mean, maybe
he just wants to do what you’ve been doing with it.”
 
            “Then why the need for portability?  Also, he wants to get
the run-time down below a minute.  What’s the need for that if you’re
only going to use it on a few people to have some fun?”
 
            “Shit.  You’re right.  I don’t know.”
 
            “And he knows about you, by the way.  Which is my fault. 
The code that tells him about the program ran on your sisters’
machines, so he knows all about you, too.”
 
            “Fuck!”
 
            “Sorry, man.”
 
            “Not your fault, you didn’t know about it.  I just don’t
like people spying on me.”
 
            “Yeah.”
 
            “So, what are we going to do?”
 
            “*We*?”
 
            “Hey, I owe you big time for the program.  And I can’t
leave my best friend dangling at the mercy of some corporate scum.”
 
            “Thanks.”
 
            The two spent the next few hours considering how to protect
themselves against whatever Adam might do.  Zack ran a protection
script on himself and Brian, so that neither of them could be
programmed without the proper code, which each had entered on their
own, so Zack couldn’t even program Brian without his say-so.
 
 
 
            It was about an hour before dinner when Zack figured it
would be a good idea for him to deal with the girls, before he forgot. 
There were only two weeks left in the school year, so he’d have to work
fast.  Brian left the room as Bonnie came in.  Zack gave her the orders
she would follow, and she responded as expected.  She was quiet, but
polite, and accepted her instructions without question.  Zack handed
her the disk with the screen saver on it.  This one had been modified
to run on the school’s computer systems  One of the things in the
program said that no teacher or student would deactivate the screen
saver.
 
            Zack knew he wouldn’t reach all of his targets this way. 
Not everyone went to the computer lab on a regular basis, and some of
his subjects might not be exposed to the program.  It was Bonnie’s job
to steer as many of them as she could, without undue notice, to the lab
to see it.
 
            Similarly, Wendy would do this job with her grade.  She
came in next, a minute after Bonnie left.  Wendy, however, did not
stand facing him, as Bonnie had.  Wendy sat down on his lap and leaned
back against him.  Zack’s arms automatically wrapped around her waist,
and she snuggled in  Zack was confused by her behavior, as he had not
written any such thing into her command script, but he didn’t object to
it, so he let it slide.  He gave similar instructions to her, and she
nodded in acceptance of them.
 
            When he was done, he didn’t tell her to “go play”, but
instead gave her another key phrase that merely told her he was done
instructing her.  “Go play” was also an order that would make her
leave, and Zack was curious to see what she would do now that he was
done giving her orders.
 
            For several moments, she did nothing at all, just sitting
in his lap quietly.  Finally, she turned so that her legs were across
his, and she could face him.  With her height, they were nearly
eye-to-eye, even with her in his lap.  He could see the concern that
had been written into her face by current events, and there was
something else there, as well.
 
            It took her a few moments, but she eventually got up the
courage to speak.  “Zack, do you think I’m cute?”
 
            “I think you’re way beyond cute, Wendy.  I think you’re
gorgeous.”  While this was true, Zack would have said something like it
anyway, just to cheer her up.  He wondered where she was going.  

            She smiled at him in kind of an odd way.  “Am I... sexy?”
she asked, wiggling her hips.  This question wasn’t really necessary,
as her current behavior was giving Zack a raging hard-on.
 
            Zack took just a moment to figure out exactly how to answer
that question, then decided to confide in her one of his dirty little
secrets.  “You’re one of the sexiest girls I’ve ever met.  You’ve got a
hell of a bod, Wendy.  I’ve been sneaking peaks at you all year.” 
Wendy had not begun to blossom until earlier this year, and she had
done so rapidly.  Zack had trouble taking his eyes off her in the early
portions of the year, as her growth had intrigued and aroused him.
 
            “Really?” she asked quietly.  Zack nodded in response. 
Shifting her weight again, she leaned in a little closer.  “You don’t
have to sneak anymore.  You can look all you want.”  She wiggled her
hips again, and Zack had trouble controlling himself.  Looking into her
eyes, though, he saw what appeared to him to be an invitation.
 
            Zack leaned forward slowly, and Wendy did not retreat.  Her
eyes closed as their lips met.  Their kiss was forceful and passionate,
and Wendy’s tongue was soon forcing its way past his lips.  Zack’s hand
slowly rose from her waist.  He was taking a chance that he’d read her
right: Wendy wasn’t “under”, and so her reactions were genuine, and he
just might be about to get in a lot of trouble.  Hesitating for a brief
moment, he decided to take the plunge, and moved his hand onto her
breast.
 
            He felt her moan in his mouth, and her hand immediately
moved to his.  Not to pull it off, but instead to force him to grasp
her more firmly.  He kneaded her tit as they continued to kiss for
several more moments.  Finally, the pair came up for air.  She put her
arms around his neck, but he did not remove his hand from her breast. 
She smiled at him in a very seductive way.
 
            “That was great,” she said in a purr.  “I’ve been wanting
to do that for a while now.”
 
            “What kept you?” he asked with a smile, allowing his hand
to slip from her breast, and to drop softly onto her thigh.  She
immediately parted her legs ever so slightly so that his hand could
slip onto her inner thigh, which it did.
 
            “I was afraid you’d laugh at me if I just came up and asked
you to kiss me.”
 
            Zack paused for a moment.  A month ago, had she made the
offer, would he have taken her up on it?  He didn’t know, but he had to
admit he was glad that she had, for she was a very hot young lady. 
Seeing that she was waiting for a response, he said, “I would never
have *laughed* at you, Wendy.  Even if I’d said no, I’d have done it
nicely.  But I didn’t say no, did I?”
 
            She smiled, and blushed slightly.  Zack’s hand was very
gently massaging her thigh through her jeans, and it was sending
tingles to all her important body parts.  “I’m glad,” she whispered.
 
            “You can kiss me like that any time you please,” Zack said
lightly.  She smiled at him again.
 
            She hesitated to make her next admission.  “I’d... like to
do more than kiss you.  But I can’t, not with the others around.”
 
            Zack was taken slightly aback that she was so forthright
about it, not that it was a total surprise, as she had not objected to
where his hand was at any point.  He thought for a second.  “Maybe I
can work something out for us,” he offered.
 
            “Really?  You mean, you’d want to?” she asked, somewhat
incredulously.
 
            “Really.  I would *love* to see... uh... more of you,” he
replied with a chuckle, as she blushed.  “Until then,” he continued,
“we can have these little sessions here.”  This led to another long,
hard kiss during which Wendy’s knees slid even farther apart, and
Zack’s hand worked its way almost all the way to her crotch.  He
stopped not because he couldn’t go further, but because if he did, he
might do something they weren’t prepared for.  Wendy was squirming in
his lap, and breathing heavily as they necked.
 
            Eventually, they had to break it off.  It was reaching
dinner time, and he didn’t want to get caught.  Although Mrs. Selman
was programmed to ignore Pam and Brian, she wasn’t programmed for
anything else, really, and would react normally if she caught Zack
feeling up her baby girl.  He gave Wendy one final, soft, kiss, and
then he let her go.  She stood up only reluctantly, but she knew they
had to be careful.  It was somewhat exhilarating to Zack to actually
have to worry about getting caught again.  He ran his hand along
Wendy’s hip as he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out.  It
may take me a couple weeks, though.”
 
            “No problem, Zack.  Meanwhile, I’ll do what you asked me
to.”  She smiled warmly at him again, and then left the room.
 
            Brian was inside the room almost immediately after she
left.  He closed the door, and moved to the bed, speaking in a
stage-whisper.  “Shit, man, what did you do to her?  I came to see what
you guys were up to, and I heard her talking.  I didn’t mean to
eavesdrop, really, but it was hard not to, right outside the door.  Is
Bonnie like that, too?”
 
            Zack looked at his friend for a moment.  He wasn’t sure
what to tell him.  Finally, he decided that he wasn’t going to lie to
his best friend.  “That’s not her programming, Brian.  I didn’t program
anything like that into either of them.”
 
            Brian looked at him, stunned.  “You mean... you mean my
sister actually *wants* you?”
 
            Zack took some mild offense at that.  “I’m not a *complete*
loser, you know.”
 
            Brian retreated quickly.  “No, man, I didn’t mean that. 
It’s just... I don’t know, you’re my best friend, and I just never
thought...”
 
            “Does it bother you?  Would it bother you if I went out
with her?”
 
            Brian thought for a moment.  “Nah, I guess not.  I mean,
she could do a lot worse than you.  I’ve seen some of the jerks that
hit on her.  At least you’re nice to her.  You always have been. 
You’ve really been checking out my sister all year?”
 
            “Dammit, Bri, *look* at her!  Shit, is she hot!”
 
            Brian shrugged.  “I just never really paid her that much
attention.  Pam was always on my mind, I guess.”
 
            “The easiest way for me to get anywhere with her is to
program your mother.  You do know that.”  It was not a question.
 
            “Yeah.  I don’t mind, just don’t mess up her head, okay?”
 
            “I do try not to do that.  You think there is *any* way we
can get her to look at a computer screen?”
 
            “Why?”
 
            “Otherwise, we have to wait until Monday, when I can get
back to the media lab to make a new recording.”
 
            “Well... if *you* ask her,” he said, considering, “she
might go for it.  I’ve never been able to get her to.”
 
            “Okay.  How long before dinner?”
 
            “About ten minutes.”
 
            “Damn, that’s not long enough.  Oh, well, I can do it after
dinner, and see if we can get her to come look at it.”
 
            “Sounds good to me.  You’re not going to screw her, too,
are you?”
 
            Zack was taken by surprise.  “Uh... I hadn’t really
considered it, why?”
 
            “Oh, just wondering,” he said with a chuckle.  “I’ve seen
you look at her.”
 
            “Hey,” Zack said defensively.  “At least I’m not doing my
own sister!”
 
            “Only ‘cause you ain’t got one, I’ll bet,” Brian retorted
quickly, completely unhurt by the jibe.
 
            Zack laughed.  “True, probably.  Is she off-limits?”
 
            Brian grew serious for a moment.  “You’d really do my
*mother*?”
 
            Zack shrugged.  “Like I said, I hadn’t thought about it.  I
wasn’t going to mess with your family at all, but it seems that at
least *one* of them *wants* me to mess with them.  I’m just wondering
what my limits are with you.”
 
            Brian sat back and considered it for over a minute.  Zack
wondered what thoughts were running through his mind.  Suddenly, he sat
back up and looked at Zack.  “I want Bonnie.  You can have Wendy, and
if you want her, my Mom.  I just... look, I think she’s nice, and
good-looking, but I couldn’t do my own Mom, okay?  But I want Bonnie. 
She’s been kind of bitchy to me this year, and I think she needs to be
a lot nicer.”
 
            Zack laughed.
 
            “What’s so damned funny?”
 
            “We’re dividing up your family like some kind of prize,”
Zack said, continuing to chuckle.  “Look, I’ll get you Bonnie, and I’m
going to play it by ear with Wendy.  I won’t program her unless she
needs it.  As to your mother... um... well, I’ll play *that* by ear,
too.”
 
            “Cool.”
 
            Just then, Mrs. Selman called the two boys to dinner.  It
was a very interesting meal, to say the least.  There were looks being
passed around and around, and it was hard for Zack to concentrate on
the meal, good as it was.
 
            After dinner, the boys retired to Brian’s room, and Zack
fired up Brian’s computer.  He inserted his zip disk, and brought up
the program.  Brian looked on with only vague interest, as he didn’t
really know what his friend was doing.
 
            Zack looked at him for a second.  He *had* brought
something for Brian to watch, if things had developed this way, but he
still wasn’t sure if he wanted him to see it.  *What the fuck.  He
already knows about them.*
 
            “There’s a tape in my backpack for you to look at, if
you’re bored.”
 
            Brian reached in and grabbed the tape, turning it over in
his hands and looking to Zack.
 
            “What, you think I’m trying to program you?  I *can’t*. 
Not after that program I ran earlier.  Just put the damned thing in. 
And you might want to turn the sound down.”  Zack returned to his
coding as the VCR started playing the tape.
 
            “Holy fucking shit!” Brian whispered loudly.  It was the
tape Zack had made of Claudia and Stephanie together.  Brian watched
with rapt attention the two ladies onscreen, while Zack revised the
program.
 
            By the time the tape ended, Zack had finished one file, and
was nearly done with the other.  Brian rewound the tape and put it back
in Zack’s bag.  “How the hell did you get them to do that, Zack?”
 
            “It’s just part of their instructions.  They’ll do what I
tell them to, and I told them to do that.  I’ve rewritten instructions
for Pam and Bonnie onto this one screensaver.  Wendy will no longer be
affected by it at all; her programming is complete as it needs to be. 
I’m just...  okay, there, I think.  This version here is for your
mother.”
 
            Brian looked at the code on the screen.  “What language is
that?  It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen.”
 
            “It’s not.  This is the scripting language used for
commands.  It’s really complex, because these are the instructions that
go directly into the person’s brain.  Doing this has always taken the
longest amount of time, because it’s so... unintuitive the way it’s
written, and because you really don’t want to screw up here.”
 
            “What’s this bit?” Brian pointed.  “You mention my sister
here.  Why, if this is for my mom?”
 
             “This code is what tells her how to react to sexual
activity in the house.  It gives me access to Wendy, and it gives you
access to Bonnie, without your mother’s interference.  Actually, if she
finds out about it, this script will actually make her somewhat happy
about it.”
 
            “Well, what about Pam, then?  I don’t see her mentioned
here at all.  I don’t want to lose her.”
 
            “That’s the last bit here.  Those commands have already
been entered, and I don’t want to mess with them, so I’m referencing a
file number that was implanted in her through the video she saw.  It
has the commands that refer to Pam.”
 
            “Cool.  Now all we have to do is actually get her to come
look at it.”
 
            “Leave that to me.  Take this to your sisters’ computers. 
Tell them *I* told you to install it, and they won’t question you at
all.  Otherwise, you’ll have to put up with their bullshit.”
 
            Brian laughed.  “Okay.  How long will this take with my
mom?”
 
            “Should be just the usual four and a half minutes.”
 
            “Okay.”
 
            As Brian took the disk to put it in the other computers in
the house, Zack made his way back to the kitchen.  Mrs. Selman was
there, finishing up the dishes.  Zack stood for a second and looked at
her in a new light.  Well, not entirely new; he’d thought she was hot
for years, but now he wondered if he wanted her.  He let the question
rest for the moment, as he walked fully into the kitchen.
 
            He put his hand gently on her arm, as she had not heard him
come in.  She jumped slightly, startled.
 
            “Oh!  Zack, sorry, I was a bit spaced out there for a
minute.  Is it time for you to go home now?”  He thought he heard the
barest hint of regret in her voice.
 
            “Not yet.  There was something I wanted you to see in
Brian’s room.  I found something online that you really need to look
at.”
 
            “Zack,” she said patiently, “I don’t have any interest in
that computer garbage.”
 
            “C’mon, Mrs. S.  It’ll only take a minute, and I think
it’ll make you feel better.”  Zack had turned on his little-boy voice,
and the puppy-dog eyes, and he knew that she would relent.
 
            “Oh, all right.  It’s not as if I have anything better to
do now.”  Her voice was downcast, and that bothered Zack.  He’d put a
considerable effort into adding a pick-me-up into her command script,
so that her husband leaving wouldn’t depress her so badly.  He led her
down the hall to Brian’s room, and directed her to sit in the chair.
 
            “Where’s Brian?” she asked curiously.
 
            “Talking to Bonnie, I think.  Anyway, just hit the Enter
key.”  Zack had already cued the program so that it would start easily
for her, as she was completely computer-illiterate.
 
            “Okay,” she said skeptically, and pressed the key.  Zack’s
program started up, and he was gratified to see that she was instantly
under.  The new will matrix, with its added power, packed a real punch,
and he hadn’t had it fail yet.
 
            Four and a half minutes later, the triple-shrug gesture
indicated that Mrs. Selman had completed her programming session
successfully.  Zack waited as she turned to him.
 
            “Wow!  Thanks, Zack.  That was really uplifting.  I feel a
lot better.”
 
            “I thought you might like it.  If I find anything else like
that, I’ll let you know.”
 
            “You do that.  Now, it *is* time for you to be getting
home, isn’t it.”  She looked at her watch with a frown.
 
            “I guess so.  Let me just say good-bye to Brian.”  Brian
picked that moment to walk in the door.
 
            “Oh, hey, Mom.  Did Zack show you that thing he found?”
 
            “Yes, and it was wonderful.  Unfortunately, I think we need
to get him home.  It’s getting late.”
 
            “True.  Well, I guess I’ll see you at school on Monday,
then.”
 
            “Yeah.  See ya.”  As Zack was walking down the hall, he
turned to see that Bonnie was whispering something in Brian’s ear, and
Brian had a big grin on his face.  Zack just smiled as he followed Mrs.
Selman out the door.
 
            Nothing was said on the ride home, but once they got there,
it was obvious that she wanted to say something.  Zack turned to face
her, but didn’t say anything; he waited for her to speak.
 
            “Zack, I appreciate the time you spend with us.  I know it
sounds odd, but you seem to be able to cheer up the entire family, and
we need that just now.  I’m glad Brian has you as a friend.”
 
            “No problem, Mrs. S.  I like you and your family a lot.”
 
            Mrs. Selman turned to him, and reached out, embracing him. 
He leaned into the hug, and wrapped his arms around her as well.  The
hug was platonic, even if Zack’s thoughts were not.  As she pulled
away, however, she gave Zack a quick kiss on the cheek, which she had
never done before.  Zack’s groin stirred.
 
            “Thanks again, Zack.  If you want to come over again, just
call, and one of us will come get you.”
 
            “Thanks.  Good night,” he said as he got out of the car. 
*That was odd.  She has never offered to come get me herself
before...*  Zack pondered this as he walked into the house.  *Oh,
well.  I guess she just likes my company.*
 
 
 
            Zack got up Sunday intent on completing his work on the
tracing program he had started.  Luckily, this week was not one of his
mother’s get-together Sundays, and he was able to make lunch a very
short affair.  He stayed in his room until dinner time, when his mother
interrupted him to eat.  He was very quiet at dinner, and his parents,
seeing this, knew that he was hard at work on another project.  They
silently wished their son luck, but didn’t comment on it, as he seemed
reluctant to talk about his work these days, and his private life was
his business, wasn’t it?
 
            It was in the days since Program Alpha-Omega.
 
 
 
            It was nearly nine o’clock by the time Zack finished
updating the old program to do what he needed it to.  After three
compile attempts to remove typos, he finally got it compiled and it was
ready to run.
 
            Zack disabled his Internet connection by brute force; he
pulled the phone cable out of the wall.  His computer was now
isolated.  This was the ultimate precaution, in case his tracer didn’t
prevent the program from activating its secret codes.
 
            Backing everything up on to a zip disk, Zack was ready.  He
opened his tracer program, and it asked for a source file.  He typed in
the name of the Alpha-Omega program, and pressed Enter.  The tracer
popped up a small output window, which Zack minimized immediately.  He
also turned his speakers off.  These were all precautions against what
other nasty items might be in the code.  He didn’t really think there
was anything dangerous in there at this point, but he didn’t figure
there was a reason to take chances.
 
            Because running the program in this manner was the
equivalent of a newly-compiled version, the eight lines of code woke
from their normally-dormant state, and tried to perform their task. 
Zack’s tracer program noted the network activity attempt, and caught
it, finding the precise lines of code that had called for it.  The
tracer program kept a record of line-execution, and so it was possible
for it to look back through its history at which lines had called for
which other lines.  The program popped up a box asking if Zack wanted
to stop the execution of the program.  Since he wanted to make sure
that there were not other snoopers in the program, he let it continue,
but had it log the complete path of the activity it had found.
 
            It took an extra three minutes to run the PAO program
without it being compiled, and it didn’t break at any other point.  The
tracer program beeped to let Zack know that it was finished.  This beep
he had executed through the system speaker, so he’d actually hear it. 
Preparing for a long night’s work removing a hundred lines of code,
Zack opened the log file that his tracer program had generated.
 
            “Eight?” he muttered to himself a minute later.  “*Eight?* 
They pulled this off with eight fucking lines of code?”  Zack was
dumbfounded.  He had not expected it to be that tightly-written of a
virus.  Was this really a virus?  Well, no, not in actuality, but it
acted like a virus in that it was a separate program hiding inside of
another program.  Zack traced those commands throughout the program’s
execution, to be sure that they weren’t accessed by any other code.  He
didn’t want to break the program by removing these lines.  But nothing
else called these eight lines of code.  They were run initially by the
simple act of initializing the program, and it was a simple task to
remove all eight lines.  Zack cut them from the source code, and pasted
them into a separate file.  He would study these eight lines intensely,
later, to produce a mimic-program, so that Adam would not know what
Zack had done.
 
            By the time he was through clearing out the code, it was
nearly ten, and he realized that he was exhausted.  It had been a long,
hard day of intensive code work, and he really needed to rest.  He
wasn’t so tired that he forgot to password-lock his computer, however.
 
            He collapsed into bed, and was asleep in minutes.  He had
dreams of Wendy.
 
 
 
            A warm, wet feeling was washing over Zack’s ear, and a
soft, warm feeling pressed against his chest.  Zack smiled as he opened
his eyes, and they focused on Stephanie.
 
            “Good morning, Zack,” she said sweetly.  “Should I assume
my position now?  We don’t have much time...” she stopped, and waited
for his answer, seeming to understand that he was too groggy to react
quickly.
 
            Zack looked over at his clock.  His alarm had not gone off,
and they only had twenty minutes to get to school.  *Guess a shower’s
out of the question this morning*.  “No, Steph, that’s okay.  We don’t
have any time for fun this morning.  Too bad,” he said, running a hand
along her jean-clad ass as he got up to go to the bathroom.  She
shivered at his touch.
 
            Zack hurriedly got dressed.  While he was putting on his
shirt, he asked, “Something the matter with Claudia this morning?”
 
            “No, I just asked if I could pick you up today.  Your Mom
let me in.”
 
            *Hmm.  A drawback to the program I used on them: normally
Mom would have woken me up at the right time.  Oops.*  Zack wasn’t
overly worried about this, as he was never tardy, and being late once
all year would be no big deal.  Better to be on time, though.  He
finished dressing, and grabbed his book bag out of the corner.  “Okay,
babe.  Let’s go,” he said to Stephanie, putting his hand on her waist
and giving her a kiss on the cheek.  She blushed slightly at his words,
but followed him out the door for school.
 
            Zack and Stephanie made it to school with a full two
minutes to spare, which Stephanie almost did away with as she kissed
him at his first class.  He reluctantly pushed her away.
 
            “I don’t want you to be late for class.  I’ll see you at
lunch.”
 
            “Okay, Sweetie.  Bye!”
 
            *She’s much nicer now,* Zack thought to himself as he
entered his class in high spirits.
 
 
 
            Zack’s mood remained good throughout the day, and he made
it to seventh hour without any unpleasantness at all.  At this point,
Zack had to consider what to do with his time.  He couldn’t just leave,
as a teacher might ask for use of the ITV system.  On the other hand,
he was in a holding pattern with his projects until Thursday, when the
media presentation would take place.  He sat down in front of the
computer and yawned, signing on to see if there was anything exciting
going on.  He thought briefly about Pat Barron, but he already had one
tape of her, and another one would be repetitive.
 
            His problem was solved a few minutes later by a knock on
the door.  He hollered for whoever it was to come in, and the door
opened to admit Larissa Marks.  Zack swiveled quickly in his chair to
face her, and his eyes swept over her form, studying her wonderful
curves.
 
            “Hey, Larissa.  What’re you doing down here?”
 
            “Mr. Grosner wants to use the ITV system tomorrow.  He said
I should come down and help you bring it down to him.  I guess it’s
pretty hard to move, huh?  ‘Cause he told me not to worry about how
much class I missed.”
 
            Zack praised the Fates for his luck.  Larissa was a real
knockout, and while she’d always been nice to Zack when she was alone,
she had been downright rude to him whenever she was with her two
friends, the wicked bitches of the Sophomore class, as they were
known.  He didn’t like hypocritical people, and Larissa’s behavior had
always struck him as just a little two-faced.  While she talked, Zack’s
left hand closed out his internet connection and brought up the PAO
program on the school’s computer.  This was the same version of the
program he’d used on Brian’s parents, and he glanced sideways to make
sure he entered the script that he’d used on Pat Barron.  It looked as
if his seventh period would be fun, after all.
 
            Turning back to Larissa, he said.  “Oh, okay, no problem. 
You’ll need to watch this little video first, so you know what we’re
doing.”
 
            “Sure, no prob,” she responded.
 
            *One can hope*, Zack thought to himself.
 
            Larissa slipped down into the chair, and Zack hit the Enter
key to start the program going.  He stepped back to make sure that
Larissa had a good view.  He could tell that her big brown eyes were
already transfixed by the screen.  He was tempted to stroke her dirty
blonde hair while she was watching the program, but he didn’t know how
that would affect the outcome, so he refrained.  It was only a few
minutes before the triple-shrug indicated that she was his to command,
anyway.  She turned to face him, her eyes somewhat glazed as she waited
for his orders.
 
            Zack went over and made sure that the door was locked.  It
would be hell to try to explain to anyone what they were about to do. 
He moved back to his new toy, and had her stand up.  He moved over into
the chair, and said simply, “Strip for me.  Sexy.”  Zack hit another
key on the computer, and brought up some music that was being used at
the media assembly on Thursday.  It wasn’t strip music, but it had a
beat, and Larissa immediately began swaying to it, her hands moving
along her sides as she stared intently at Zack.
 
            Larissa’s hands moved to the buttons on her blouse, and
began to undo them as her body continued to gyrate before him.  She was
doing a much better job than Pat had, and his dick was already hard in
anticipation of where this was going.  He knew he didn’t have *all*
hour, but he figured he could get away with about twenty minutes.
 
            It wasn’t long before the blouse was not only unbuttoned,
but on the floor.  Her lace bra was enticing, and it became more so as
it was removed from her body.  She tossed it into Zack’s lap, and he
picked it up as he watched her now-naked tits swaying with her body.
 
            Larissa kicked off her shoes, and then undid her jeans. 
She wiggled her hips seductively as she squirmed out of the tight
pants.  They finally passed over her hips, and she pushed them easily
to the ground  She stepped out of them, and kicked them out of her
way.  Remaining bent over, she turned to face away from Zack, and then
began to work her panties down off her body.  Her position gave him a
very nice view of her pussy as her panties fell off her body.  He stood
up as she stepped out of the undergarment, and he unzipped his pants,
shoving them and his briefs roughly down his legs.  He pulled his
T-shirt off, and dropped it on the desk, on top of Larissa’s bra.  He
sat back down in the chair, and motioned her to come to him.
 
            He pulled her into his lap, and he could feel the heat
radiating from her cunt.  He pressed his lips to hers, and roughly
pushed his tongue into her mouth.  She was quickly squirming in his
lap, and he could feel her wetness.  Now that he knew she was ready, he
lifted her hips up, and pulled her into him.  She held herself up as he
positioned his cock at her entrance.  With a look from him, she then
settled down on his prick, wiggling her hips to make his entrance more
comfortable and enticing.  Zack began to kiss her again, as he used his
hips and his hands to move her on his dick.  She was immediately
moaning into his mouth, and her hands were sliding along his back.  He
thrust hard into her, causing her to lift up off his lap slightly, and
then slam back down hard.  They were both grunting from this sensation,
and Zack knew that he wouldn’t last long.  He thrust his hips harder
and faster, and he could feel her tits sliding along his chest,
dragging trails of heat along his skin.  It was soon more than he could
take, and he blasted his load into her.  Larissa groaned in his mouth,
and she squirmed on his cock, milking all of his cum out of him.
 
            It took Zack a minute to calm down from his orgasm, during
which time Larissa did not get off him.  He looked at her, and she
smiled back at him, as she should.  “Okay, babe.  You can get off me
now,” he said, not unkindly.  She did, and he could see their combined
juices leaking down her leg.  “You’d better clean up a little,” he
said, and she grabbed some tissues to wipe herself off.
 
            Zack looked at himself, and he knew he couldn’t put his
pants on yet.  “Come here, babe,” he said, and she immediately
complied.  “You need to clean me off.  With your tongue and mouth,” he
added.
 
            Larissa dropped to her knees, and her mouth engulfed his
prick.  Zack groaned at the feel of her tongue sliding along his
sensitive dick.  She worked over his cock repeatedly, cleaning off
every remnant of fluid.  Then she expanded her search, sucking his
balls, and then licking her juices off his thighs.  Zack was about
ready to come again from her ministrations, and so he had her suck him
off.  Her tongue played along his shaft as her lips worked his length. 
It wasn’t long before he shot his load down her throat, and she took
every drop, so as to keep him clean.
 
            As Larissa was getting dressed, Zack put his shirt back on
and pulled up his pants.  When Larissa reached for her bra, he stopped
her.  “That’s mine,” he said.  She blushed, but complied, putting on
her blouse without it.  Her firm tits didn’t really need the bra, and
she looked very sexy without it.  Without further delay, Zack packed up
the ITV cart, and they took it down to Mr. Grosner’s class.  Though he
looked at them funny, he said nothing about how long it had taken.
 
            *Damn that was fun!*
 
 
 
            When Zack got home, he settled down in front of his
computer.  It had been an interesting day so far, and he wondered what
else might happen.  He logged on, and checked his email.  There, he
found a message from Valkyrie359.
 
            *Bitch*, Zack thought to himself.  The message read:
 
 
 
Zack:
 
            Sorry to have lied to you for all that time, but that’s my
job here at Adamant.  Finding a solution to the problem of the program
has been high priority for a long time.  I hope you’ll understand that
I was just doing what I was being paid to do.  It wasn’t anything
personal.
 
 
 
Shirley
 
 
 
            *Wasn’t personal, huh, bitch?  Well excuse me if I *take*
it personal!*  Zack fumed as he thought about the best way to get back
at her.  Program her to be a dog for the rest of her life?  Nah, too
noticeable.  Program her to orgasm at the word “meeting”?  Cruel, but
not satisfying.  After tossing a few ideas, Zack decided the best thing
to do to her would be to turn her into a spy.  That way, she could do
*for* him what she’d done *to* him.
 
            *So, how to get her to watch the program, now that she
knows I have it?*  Zack was still thinking about this when it came time
for dinner.
 
 
 
            The next day at school was very peaceful for Zack.  His
life seemed to have settled into a comfortable pattern.  He sat with
his two beauties at lunch, each of whom would now kiss him at the
beginning and end of the meal.  Stephanie’s friend Sarah did make an
appearance, but Zack’s leering look and cocky grin warned her off
before she made an annoyance of herself.  He knew that she wouldn’t be
an issue after Thursday, and he was content to let her mouth off until
then.
 
            When he got to seventh hour, he knew he wouldn’t have any
work to do unless something went wrong.  All three of the school’s ITV
systems were out in classrooms, and were supposed to stay that way for
the next day or two.  He booted up the media lab’s computer, and loaded
his zip disk.
 
            After dinner last night, he’d finally come up with an idea
how to ensnare Shirley.  He only hoped it would work.  He prepared the
file on his zip disk, an AVI file, for transfer.  Next, he logged on,
hoping she would be around.
 
            Sure enough, as he logged onto the chat room, she was there.
 
 
 
<Zmorph>: Hey... Val.
 
<Valkyrie359>: Hey, Z.  Uh, thanks for not spilling it there.  I was
worried you’d be really pissed at me.  “A” said you were... not happy.
 
<Zmorph>: Eh.  Shit happens.  You bets your money and you takes your
chances.
 
*Valkyrie359 sighs*
 
<Valkyrie359>: Glad to know you’re okay with it.  So, what are you up
to today?
 
<Zmorph>: Just finished up some last-minute touches on my media project
for CS.
 
<Valkyrie359>: I thought you had that done already.
 
<Zmorph>: I did, but I decided to spruce it up a little.  Nothing
better to do, ya know?
 
<Valkyrie359>: I hear you.
 
<Zmorph>:  Hey, you wanna take a look at it and let me know what you
think?
 
            Zack crossed his fingers, hoping she wouldn’t see through
this.  He wasn’t even sure his heart was beating at this point.  It
took a long moment for her to answer.
 
<Valkyrie359>: Sure, I guess.  How big is it?
 
<Zmorph>: 52 MB.  But you’re on a fast connect, right?
 
<Valkyrie359>: Yeah, that’s not too bad.  Okay, send it on over.
 
<Zmorph>: Just a sec... here it comes.
 
            It had taken Zack three hours to figure out how to make
sure that the AVI file would properly contain the program’s codes and
instructions.  He now had to wait for over five minutes, first for the
program to load to her computer, and then for her to run it.  He sat
impatiently, drumming his fingers, staring at the screen.
 
<Valkyrie359>: ZZZ – omega – ZZZ
 
            “YES!” Zack shouted.  He had had to figure out a new
confirmation signal, since he couldn’t see her.  “ZZZ – omega – ZZZ”
was the confirmation code.  It meant nothing in and of itself, but it
was something a person generally wouldn’t type in conversation.
 
            *Now you’re mine, bitch.*
 
<Zmorph>: Very good, Val.
 
<Valkyrie359>: Any orders at this time?
 
<Zmorph>: Wipe this conversation.  And do not mention it to anyone. 
Never mention me to your coworkers or boss again.  You and I will not
officially speak ever again.  Do you understand?
 
<Valkyrie359>: Yes, sir.
 
<Zmorph>: Very good, Val.  That will be all for now.  Good-bye.
 
<Valkyrie359>: Good day, sir.
 
            Zack logged off with a big grin on his face.  Not only had
he managed to trick her into watching Program Alpha-Omega, and put her
under his control, but now he had a spy inside Adamant Computer
Technologies, Adam’s company.
 
 
 
            When the bell rang, Zack was quite ready to go home.  Other
than his success with Shirley, he was fairly well bored.  He picked up
his book bag, and headed out the door.  He closed the door behind him,
and just as he was about to turn, a hand grabbed his shirt from behind,
and threw him across the hallway.
 
            Zack’s new instincts kicked in automatically, and he
cushioned his blow against the lockers.  He spun around to see that it
was the four he was expecting: Kyle, Tim, Mike and Bill.  He dropped
his backpack to the floor, and slipped into a defensive stance.  

            Tim looked at him and sneered.  “Oh, look!  Now he thinks
he’s Bruce Lee!”  The other three laughed outright.  Zack waited for
the attack he knew was coming.  He felt Bill’s hand on his shoulder,
and he was ready for it.  He didn’t use the same move he’d used on
William, for Bill was much bigger.  He did grab Bill’s wrist and placed
his other hand at Bill’s elbow, and then twisted viciously.  Bill was
thrown to the floor and wasn’t getting up quickly.
 
            Zack sensed that someone was moving behind him, and turned
just in time to miss Tim swinging on him.  He raised a hand in a
deflecting maneuver, stepped in and placed a perfect jab to Tim’s solar
plexus.  Tim was immediately doubled over in pain, unable to breathe. 
Zack placed both hands on the back of Tim’s head, and drove his face
down into Zack’s rising knee.  The boy was thrown onto his back with
the force of the impact, blood gushing from his nose.
 
            Zack spun as he knew Mike would advance now.  Kyle wouldn’t
fight unless he had no choice: he wasn’t in any mood to get kicked out
of school again.  Mike came on menacingly, his bulky muscles rippling
beneath his T-shirt.
 
            It was at that moment that Mr. DeVain stepped from the
office.  He had heard the initial slam, and thought he knew what it
was.  He was just about to yell, when he saw the scene: two boys laying
on the ground, and Zack standing, facing off against the largest of the
four.
 
            Before Mr. DeVain could say anything, Mike lunged at Zack. 
In a flash, Zack whirled around and delivered a spinning back kick to
Mike’s balls.  Mike, unprepared for the assault and in no case ready to
deal with it, screamed in agony.  Zack returned to his defensive stance
for only a fraction of a second before shifting forward, and then
leaping upward and delivering a hard front snap kick to Mike’s upper
chest.  Mike, already staggering from the first blow, went flying. 
Zack landed before Mike did, and he watched with some satisfaction as
Mike collapsed on the ground, completely unmoving except for his hands,
which were clutching at his groin.
 
            Zack turned to face Kyle, who was, by now, a pasty white
color.  Kyle took an unsteady step backward, and then turned to run. 
He found that he was now staring Mr. DeVain right in the face.  Kyle
nearly panicked, but had nowhere to go anyway.
 
            “Apparently you don’t learn easily,” Mr. DeVain said in a
deep, menacing growl.  “You spent a week cleaning buses because of
behavior *just like this*, and it didn’t teach you a damned thing! 
Well, fine.  You’re expelled.  All four of you.”
 
            “But... I mean, we’ve only got a few days...”
 
            “You should have thought of that before you brought this
kind of violence into my school!  Consider yourself lucky.  If Zack
hadn’t managed to defend himself, you’d be on your way to jail!  You
want to be a bully, that’s fine, but you aren’t doing it in my school,
and you aren’t doing it with a *diploma* from my school!  Now get the
hell out, all four of you!”
 
            Kyle turned, and looked at Zack, who remained in his attack
posture.  Then Kyle looked to his friends, two of which were just
beginning to rise.  Mike wasn’t going to be moving without help.  It
took a solid two minutes before the three relatively unhurt boys
managed to walk Mike out of the hallway.
 
            Mr. DeVain turned to Zack.  “You sure improved a lot in a
week’s time, Zack,” he said, suppressing a laugh.
 
            “I’m a fast learner,” Zack replied, a little winded.
 
            “I guess!  Look, Zack, I’m glad you’re okay, and I know it
wasn’t your fault, but I do have discipline to uphold here.  I won’t
put this on your record, but I’m going to *have* to punish you
somehow.  So... don’t come in tomorrow.”
 
            “What about the media assembly?” Zack said with some small
panic.
 
            “That’s not until the day *after* tomorrow.  Unless you
plan on skipping, you’ll be here for that.”
 
            “Oh,” Zack said, finally understanding.  “Yes sir.  Sorry
to have to do that.”  Zack made it clear that he was only sorry for
causing Mr. DeVain trouble.
 
            “Not a problem, Zack.  See you Thursday.  Oh, Miss Merris. 
Come take your boyfriend home before he beats up the rest of the senior
class over you, would you?”  Mr. DeVain turned and walked away,
laughing.
 
            Claudia looked at Zack with a puzzled expression.
 
            “The senior four came up against my new martial arts
lessons.  They didn’t do so well.”
 
            “Oh.  Zack, I don’t want you to get hurt...”
 
            “They didn’t lay a hand on me,” he exaggerated.  “C’mon,
let’s go home.”
 
            “Okay.”
 
 
 
            Zack’s parents were concerned, but not upset, when he told
them what had happened at school.  His mother, knowing what had
happened the last time, immediately asked him where he hurt.  When he
told her that they had not managed to hit him, she looked very
skeptical.
 
            Grant was proud of his son, in a distant way.  He had never
been violent; in truth, he had never been accosted violently.  It was
not something Grant had ever had to deal with, and so wasn’t sure how
to take his son’s new strength.  As with all such things as of late,
Grant let it pass by, not worrying over something he couldn’t change.
 
 
 
            The following day, Zack enjoyed getting up late, and
lounging about.  He ate a leisurely breakfast, and then played on his
computer for a while.  While entertaining, this sort of thing quickly
became boring.
 
            Zack took a trip to the kitchen to get a snack, and that’s
when he saw the notice posted on the fridge.  It was to remind him that
he needed to go up to the local university and register for his summer
session.  Zack was taking a special program designed for college-bound
students.  It would get him started on college coursework in computer
programming and system design.  He had applied for the program at the
beginning of the school year, and had only received his acceptance
letter two months ago.  He was excited about spending time on campus,
with the older kids and with professors who might actually be able to
teach him something about computers he didn’t already know.
 
            Zack decided that today was as good a day as any to go up
and register.  He didn’t have a vehicle to get there, though.  Sighing,
he called for the city’s shuttle bus, which operated only by
appointment.  He got cleaned up and waited outside for the van to
arrive, and then rode in silence to the college.
 
            Zack walked into the registrar’s office, looking around
rather obviously like a first-time student.  The clerk at the desk
smiled at him, and asked, “Can I help you?”
 
            “Yes, ma’am.  I’m here to register for the SCOT program.” 
SCOT stood for Summer Computer Orientation and Training.  It was a
fully accredited program, and would give him six college credits when
he was finished.
 
            “Oh!  Okay, do you have your acceptance letter with you?” 
Zack handed it over, and the lady looked it over quickly.  “Great.  All
you need to do is fill out these forms, and then bring them back to
me.  You can have a seat over there,” she directed him to a table,
obviously set up for the purpose, and he went to do the paperwork.
 
            It didn’t take him long.  The clerk made sure all his
information was filled out, and then speedily entered it into a
computer.  The system popped back with some information which she
looked over intently.  Turning to Zack, she said, “Okay, you’re one of
our scholarship students.  All of your materials are being paid for
through a state grant.  Let me get you your school packet.”  As she
walked over to a filing cabinet, Zack frowned.  The only way he’d been
able to go to this program was through the state’s educational grant;
his parents simply could not afford the extra expense.
 
            The lady returned with the paperwork, and a special
identification card.  “Okay, these are your orientation materials. 
There is an on-campus orientation the Friday before class starts.  You
aren’t required to attend, but it is strongly recommended.  This is
your student ID card.  You’ll need this to access certain rooms and
labs.  Also, this card will tell the bookstore to give you your
supplies.  You can do that any time up to the third day after class
starts.”
 
            “Can I do that right now?” he asked.
 
            “Sure.  You’re in the system, they’ll have your information
down there.  You know where it is?”
 
            “Yes, ma’am.  Is that everything?”
 
            “Yep.  I hope you enjoy the program.”
 
            “I’m sure I will.  Thank you.”
 
            Zack walked out of the registrar’s office, and turned
toward the bookstore.  He had another hour before the shuttle van would
come back for him, so he walked slowly, taking in the sights and sounds
of the campus.
 
            Some of the sights were very attractive, indeed.  Zack
smiled as he watched the college students pass him by, ignoring his
presence.  Zack would have felt insecure about that, if he didn’t know
about his program.  He could have any one of these females, if he could
just get them to look at Program Alpha-Omega.
 
            *And how do you do *that,* ace?*  It was at that point that
Zack realized the usefulness of the PDA device that Adam was building. 
*If you can’t bring the girl to the program, bring the program to the
girl.*
 
            Zack encountered no trouble in the bookstore, and was
surprised that the student cashier actually seemed to be flirting with
him.  *Maybe she’s just bored.*  He smiled at her and was very nice,
anyway, on the grounds that she was pretty, and she might be fun to be
around.  He took his books and supplies, said a very pleasant farewell
to the girl, and left.  He wandered over to the bench where the shuttle
was supposed to stop, and sat down.  He spent the next half-hour
waiting for the bus and looking over his textbooks.
 
 
 
            Claudia dropped by that evening with Zack’s homework, but
while they cuddled for a while, she had her own homework to do, and by
the time they had both finished, it was a little late for anything
really intimate.  They spent a little time necking before Claudia
reluctantly headed home.
 
            Zack sat back down at his desk, and checked, for perhaps
the twentieth time, that his presentation for the next day was ready. 
Mr. Parks was so impressed with Zack’s work – he’d shown Mr. Parks the
latest version of his presentation, with a little “push” added – that
it was to be the final, most important, presentation in the assembly. 
This position was usually reserved for a senior’s project, but Mr.
Parks freely admitted that none of the seniors had done work half this
good.
 
            Satisfied that the program was ready, he downloaded it to a
zip disk, and put it in his book bag.  Thursday would be a big day for
Thorndyke High School.
 
 
 
            The next morning, Zack was a little nervous.  When he gave
his zip disk to Mr. Parks before the assembly, he asked to be excused,
because, he said, he felt sick to his stomach.
 
            “Okay, Zack.  But you need to be back here for your
presentation.”
 
            “You still planning on doing mine last?” he asked, already
knowing the answer.
 
            “Yes.  It’s the best one we’ve got this year, by far.”
 
            “Thank you, sir.  I’ll be back in time, don’t worry.”
 
            Zack quickly left the room, trying to look queasy.  It
wasn’t that hard.  What he really needed to do was to see who wasn’t in
the assembly.  He knew that there would be maybe as many as ten
students who would be somewhere else.  Perhaps even a teacher or two. 
The media assembly was a very big deal at Thorndyke, and Zack was
certain that the principals and all the other faculty would be there,
with the exception of those who had to get work done.
 
            It took him fifteen minutes to look over the entire school,
and found one teacher and five students who were somewhere other than
the auditorium.  He made a note of who they were before heading back to
the media lab.
 
            Slipping into the lab, he closed and locked the door.  He
was sure that no one would come looking for him.  He had over an hour,
still, as the media assembly was over two hours long.  It was the last
day of school for the seniors, and the media assembly was one of the
ways that the principal repaid them for actually showing up.  

            Zack slumped into his chair, and tried to relax.  He slowed
his heart rate down with some deep breaths, but he still felt uneasy. 
He needed to *do* something to get his mind off of the project.  Never
had he tried to control so many people.  There were over one thousand
people in the auditorium, and if he had screwed this up...  He didn’t
even want to think about it.
 
            Looking over his list of people not in the assembly, he
noticed two that jumped out at him.  Monique and Katelyn were working
on something together in Mrs. Sanders’ room.  Mrs. Sanders was a math
teacher, and he couldn’t think of what they would be doing.  He did,
however, know that there was an ITV system in that room currently.
 
            Getting a naughty idea, Zack turned on the school’s
computer.  One of the things he had realized, after reading through the
manual, was that he could, using some software the company had sent
along, turn any computer into a receiving unit for the ITV system.  He
activated the software, and then typed in the appropriate location. 
Immediately, the video window popped up, and Zack saw the two girls. 
Mainly, they were giggling and goofing off, but it looked as if what
they were supposed to be doing was assembling some papers into booklets.
 
            Zack only watched the two girls for a minute or two, before
he decided that he wanted to have a little fun.  The two girls had
never been terribly friendly to him, though they were in his grade. 
They acted very superior, and that annoyed Zack.
 
            *So, how do I do this?*  Zack brought up the copy of
Program Alpha-Omega that he had stored on this computer.  A few quick
changes to the script, and the program was ready.  Now, the question
was, how to send it to them?  Technically, the system wasn’t capable of
this.
 
            Zack knew differently.
 
            Bringing up some other software that he had brought to the
school, he activated it, and hacked into the ITV system remotely.  This
was child’s play for him.  The system wasn’t really protected against
such attacks, especially if they came from its own internal network. 
In seconds, Zack had control of the ITV system in Mrs. Sanders’ room,
and he was ready to make his plan work.
 
            A few commands entered, and he pressed “Return.”  The first
thing he heard was a high-pitched squeal.  This was to get the girls’
attention, and what he’d heard had come through the microphone on the
ITV system.  Simultaneously, PAO began running on the TV screen in
front of the girls.  They had turned toward the squeal to see what it
was, and were then caught by the PAO signal.  Zack watched to see that
they were entranced, and then he exited the media lab, heading for Mrs.
Sanders’ room.
 
            Zack moved leisurely down the hallway, wanting to arrive as
the program was finishing its job.  He walked into Mrs. Sanders’ room,
closed and locked the door, and waited.  The program finished up in
just a few more seconds, and then the system kicked back off, as
programmed.
 
            The two girls did a triple-shrug, and then stood, waiting. 
Zack smiled, and walked over to them.  He ran his fingers through
Katelyn’s dirty blonde hair, and she smiled dutifully at him.  He
looked her over to find that her T-shirt was straining to encase her
36D tits.  Standing behind her, he grabbed her tits and groped them
roughly.  Katelyn gasped at the feel of his hands on her body.
 
            Looking over at Monique, he said, “Okay, remove her pants
for me.”  Monique bent to comply.  He could barely see past Kate’s
glorious orbs, but he did see Monique’s dark brown hair flop back and
forth as she struggled to remove Katelyn’s rather tight jeans. 
“Panties, too,” he said, as he was yanking Katelyn’s T-shirt up off her
body.  Katelyn was not struggling, and she was panting slightly from
him feeling her up.
 
            Katelyn’s bra was a front-clasp, and Zack loosened that, to
finally have Katelyn stripped naked.  It had taken the two of them less
than thirty seconds.  He turned her around, and looked her over.  Her
tits were topped with tight, dark areolas which held pert little
nipples.  He tweaked one, and Katelyn shuddered.
 
            “Kneel.  You know what I want,” he said.  She complied, her
hands going to his belt.  Once she had it undone, and his jeans, she
pulled his jeans roughly off his hips, and then quickly lowered his
briefs as well.  Zack’s cock stood out from his body, fully erect from
the sight of her body, and the sheer nastiness of what he was doing. 
His thoughts faltered as Katelyn’s mouth engulfed his prick, her lips
working over his shaft to pull more and more of it into his mouth.
 
            “Come here,” he grunted to Monique, and she complied.  He
pulled her tightly against his side, and his lips locked onto hers. 
Her tongue slipped into his mouth, and they were kissing hotly as
Katelyn continued to work over his cock.  Zack’s hand groped Monique’s
tit through her blouse as his other hand caressed her ass.  She was
moaning heavily already.
 
            He broke their kiss, and said, “Strip.”  Immediately, she
stepped back, and began to remove her clothes, teasing him as she did
so.  While his eyes watched more and more of her luscious skin being
revealed, his hands rested on Katelyn’s head, to encourage her to keep
up the wonderful movements of her lips and tongue.  He was already
close to shooting his load into her mouth.
 
            It didn’t take long before Monique, too, was fully naked. 
She then approached Zack again, and pulled his shirt over his head. 
She rubbed her soft tits against him, dragging her hard nipples along
his skin.  He grabbed one of her nipples with his fingers, and
twisted.  Monique squealed in a mix of pleasure and pain.  Seeing the
look on her face shoved him over the edge, and he came in Katelyn’s
mouth.  She did her best to swallow it all, but some leaked out and
dribbled down onto her chin, and then fell onto her ample breasts. 
Before he could order her to, she was wiping it up with her fingers and
guiding it into her mouth.
 
            He could see that Katelyn had been finger-fucking herself
while blowing him, and she had come when he did.  He knew she needed to
rest a second, but it appeared that he did not.  Stepping out of his
clothes, Zack moved Monique over to the teacher’s work table.  He
picked her up and plopped her down onto it, her ass on the very edge,
so that her cunt was right where he needed it to be.
 
            Monique was already dripping, and so he wasted no further
foreplay on her.  He placed the head of his cock at her pussy, and
pressed in quickly.  Monique cried out in slight discomfort, until her
pussy adjusted to him, and the pleasure kicked in.  He pushed her down
onto her back, and she reached up to grab hold of the other edge of the
table.  He grabbed her under each knee, and put her ankles up on his
shoulders.  Bending over slightly, he had her nearly folded in half.
 
            Now, Zack began to rut into her, slamming against her hard
enough that his balls slapped against her ass.  Monique was immediately
writhing beneath him, her hair flailing as she twisted her head from
side to side.  As he continued to ram into her, he reached down and
mauled her 36C tits, twisting her nipples and groping her flesh.  She
was screaming out, now, which would have been a problem, if there had
been anyone else in this part of the building, but there wasn’t.
 
            He felt a presence at his side, and turned to see Katelyn. 
He straightened up a little, so that he could kiss her.  His tongue
slid into her mouth, massaging its partner and arousing her further. 
Her hands played with her own tits, keeping herself aroused and ready
for him.
 
            Zack pounded even harder into Monique, and soon she was
thrashing about in the throes of her orgasm.  He hung on for the ride
as she screamed and bucked on the table.  He continued to thrust
throughout her climax, and watched in wonder as she twisted and
contorted in her pleasure.
 
            Soon enough, Monique’s gyrations subsided, and Zack pulled
out of her.  She lay, limp and exhausted, but well-sated.  Zack turned
his attention to Katelyn, who was more than ready for him.  She bent
herself over that same table, her ass stuck high in the air, and moved
her legs apart.  Her pussy was calling to him, its juices already
running down her legs.
 
            Zack wasted no time sliding his dick home into her hot, wet
tunnel.  Her cunt grabbed at his dick like a velvety vice.  He quickly
set up a rhythm, and had her moaning and thrusting back at him.  His
hands reached around to play with her pillowy tits, kneading and
mauling them vigorously.  She groaned out, “Yes, Zack.  Fuck me, fuck
me harder!”
 
            Zack increased his tempo, slamming into her harder and
harder, moving his hips faster.  Her hips started bucking even more
wildly against him, her feet nearly coming off the floor.  He reached
his hand down, and began to frig her clit.  This sent her far over the
edge, her body froze, her back arched, and she groaned loudly for many
seconds, her pussy rippling along his shaft, trying to get its juice
from him.
 
            But he wasn’t quite ready yet.  He pumped through her
orgasm, and then pulled out of her.  He pulled her off the table, and
lay her out on the floor.  He looked down at her full, wonderful tits,
and he knew he had to have them.  He straddled her waist, and placed
his cock between her breasts.  He grabbed her tits and pushed them
together, forming a nice warm, fleshy place for his cock to penetrate. 
He began thrusting between her breasts, building up a fast pace. 
Katelyn was only semi-conscious, but she soon grasped her tits with her
own hands, pushing them tightly together, and freeing his hands to
twist at her nipples as he fucked her chest.
 
            It wasn’t long before Zack loosed his load.  His cum
spilled all over Katelyn’s face, even running in her hair.  She opened
her mouth to catch as much of it as she could, but most of it spilled
over her skin.  When Zack was done, he leaned back, and watched as her
hands quickly sought out and escorted his cum right into her mouth.
 
            As he stood up from watching Katelyn, he saw that Monique
was conscious again.  He motioned to her, and she came to him.  “Clean
me off,” he said.
 
            Quickly, she knelt and took his cock into her mouth.  If he
had not been completely spent, he would have been hard in an instant. 
Her tongue and lips worked him over like a professional, and it was
less than a minute before she had him completely cleaned off.
 
            He helped them both back up, and then kissed each one on
the cheek.  “That was a lot of fun, ladies.  Thank you.”  Each of them
beamed at him, and then they all went to get dressed.  Once Zack had
put his clothes back on, he left the room, now relaxed enough to deal
with the media assembly.
 
 
 
            Zack spent a little time freshening himself up in the
bathroom before heading back to the assembly.  He still looked a little
disheveled, but all his teachers knew that he supposedly wasn’t feeling
well, and that was as good an explanation as he needed.  He took his
seat next to Larissa, who had saved him a spot.  He would have
preferred to sit with Claudia, but there were strict divisions of class
at the media assembly.  It was okay, though, as Larissa gave him a nice
kiss when he sat down.
 
            “You feeling okay?” she asked with genuine concern.
 
            “Sure,” he answered.  “Just nerves.”
 
            She smiled and squeezed his hand before returning her
attention to the display on the screen.  They were into the juniors
now, but Zack had even helped some of these students, so he found them
familiar, and not terribly interesting.  Even Zack’s original
presentation had been more interesting than these dull bits of work. 
He tried to stifle a yawn as he watched the mediocre work pass before
the screen.
 
            Soon enough, they passed into the senior class
presentations.  He hadn’t seen any of these, and so his interest perked
up.  The work was well done, but in most cases, it still wasn’t up to
his expectations.  They’d had four years to work on this stuff.  Didn’t
they have any pride?
 
            He sat through the remainder of the assembly, bored to
tears, as those around him oohed and ahhed about the work.  He tried to
look interested, but it wasn’t really working.  Larissa saw the
expression on his face, and leaned over.  “Not everybody can be as good
as you are, you know,” she said lightly.  He smiled weakly at her, but
then returned to staring mutely at the screen.
 
            Finally, after what seemed an interminable length of time,
the senior class presentations were over.  Mr. Parks walked onto the
stage, in front of the screen.
 
            “We have just one presentation left.  We always save the
best one for last.  Usually, we pick a presentation out of the senior
class to show you what can be achieved after a lot of work and effort. 
However, this year, we want to show you what can be produced by talent.
 
            “This years first place winner, chosen by the assembly
council, was done by a sophomore.  The vote was unanimous.  Zack, could
you come up here, please?”
 
            Zack stood up and walked to the stage, amid a round of
applause.  He actually blushed at the attention.  Mr. Parks shook his
hand when he arrived, and handed him the obligatory plaque.  Mr. Parks
held him in place as he continued to speak.
 
            “Not only has Zack Griffin produced perhaps the best
presentation seen to date in this competition, but he spent a lot of
time helping out the other students with their own presentations. 
Although he has caused me certain amounts of grief...”  This comment
was met with widespread chuckles; Zack’s pranks were well-known.  “I
have to say he is one of my best students.  So, we now present you with
his masterpiece, ‘Alpha and Omega Unite’.”
 
            Zack stepped back out of the way as soon as Mr. Parks let
him go.  He walked back down off the stage as the screen flashed.  He
kept his body facing the audience, rather than the presentation.  He
wasn’t worried it would hurt him, but he wanted to see what would
happen to them.  He wondered if anyone would be unaffected by the
presentation, and he thought he would notice if they were.  His eyes
scanned the darkened room, but it appeared that everyone was under. 
Not that he could adequately see over a thousand people, but no one was
moving about, at least.
 
            Five minutes later, the program complete, Zack found it
interesting to watch over a thousand people shrug three times, all at
once.  Then the applause started.  It was, of course, fake, but it was
also expected, and would seem out of place if it wasn’t there.  Zack
wandered back to his seat as the applause continued.  He sank into his
seat, and received an immediate kiss from Larissa.
 
            *Well, at least that’s over.  Now, the real question: did
it work?*  He knew that Sarah would be the answer to that question.
 
 
 
            After the media assembly broke up, it was time for lunch. 
Zack found two lovely girls waiting for him at his usual table.  He
gave them both a warm kiss.  This time, he noted a total lack of
reaction from the rest of the cafeteria.  *Good.  Maybe this worked,
after all.*  Of course, it was kind of late for it to matter, as this
was their last day, but he knew that the programming, if successful,
would hold through his next two years here, and he’d be able to have a
lot of fun unseen, or at least unnoticed.
 
            They were about halfway through lunch when Sarah came over
and, without any preamble, sat down across from him.  He continued to
eat, waiting to see what her reaction would be.  It took a couple of
minutes before she said anything.
 
            “I’m sorry, Zack.”
 
            He looked up at her, an imitation of confusion on his
face.  “Hmm?  For what?”
 
            “For accusing you of something.  I guess maybe I was... I
don’t know, jealous or something.”
 
            Zack smiled.  “That’s okay, Sarah.  We all make mistakes.”
 
            She smiled at him, and they continued their meal in silence.
 
 
 
            Zack was bored that night, as both Claudia and Stephanie
were out with their families, celebrating their graduations.  Of
course, the ceremony wasn’t until Sunday, but it was now official: the
two were no longer “high school kids.”  Claudia had been upset that she
couldn’t invite Zack, but since they had kept their relationship
somewhat quiet, it would have been out of place.  Stephanie offered to
take him out with her family, but he knew that her family wouldn’t like
him, either.  So, he stayed at home that night, did his homework, and
killed time.
 
            The next day at school was almost as bad.  Claudia had
picked him up and taken him to school, and they necked for a full five
minutes once they got to school, but then he had to go in without her. 
It wasn’t her building anymore.  He promised to see her on Sunday, at
the graduation ceremony, and she blew him a kiss.  Before she roared
off, she called, “I love you!”  But she was gone before he could
respond.
 
            The school seemed empty without the seniors.  Without
Stephanie and Claudia to walk him to first-hour, it was very lonely. 
He slumped into his chair, and barely paid attention to any of his
classes.  Ms. Pinches was able to perk him up a little, but that only
reinforced feelings of something he hadn’t achieved.  It was a dismal
day as Zack plodded to lunch.
 
            He sat in his usual seat by habit, but without anyone next
to him.  He started in on his food, and didn’t pay much attention to
the world around him.
 
            “Hey, bud,” Brian said, sitting down across from his
friend.  “You seem a little glum.”
 
            “Lonely,” Zack answered.  “This place is dull without
Claudia.”  It wasn’t lost on Zack that he was less concerned about
Stephanie’s absence.  She hadn’t been his main target, after all.
 
            “Sure, I know what you mean.  I kind of miss Pam, too. 
That reminds me, you wanna come over tomorrow?  Mom said she’d make us
pizza again.  And, uh... Wendy has been pestering me about you.”
 
            Zack laughed for the first time that day.  “Okay, yeah,
sure.  Bri, I might um... need some time alone with Wendy tomorrow.”
 
            Brian nodded.  “I figured.  I’m sure Bonnie, Pam and I can
find something to do...”  He winked, and Zack laughed again.
 
            “Good for you, I...” Zack’s voice trailed off as he saw
Larissa walking over to them.  “Hey, Larissa,” Zack greeted.
 
            “Zack, can I sit with you?  I know that you’re going out
with Claudia and all, but...”
 
            “Sure, have a seat.  You know Brian, right?”
 
            “Hi,” she said quietly.  Brian nodded a greeting, and went
back to his lunch.
 
            “So, Brian, about... one?”
 
            “Yeah.  Mom said she’d come get you.”  Brian stared levelly
at his friend.  Both of them understood the oddity of that.
 
            “Okay.”  Turning to Larissa, he said, “How’d you like the
assembly yesterday?”
 
            “Boring, as usual,” she answered.  “Why do they make us
non-seniors go to that thing?”
 
            “Equal rights.  We have the right to be as bored as they
are.”  Zack laughed, and Larissa smiled at him, her pale lips parting
to show her teeth.  “Anyway, you ready for exams next week?”
 
            “Ugh, don’t remind me.  I’m cutting a few of my classes
pretty close.”
 
            “Well, if you need some help, let me know...”
 
            “I’d appreciate it, really.  I just can’t get a handle on
this math.”
 
            “How ‘bout Monday night, you come over to my place, and we
can work on it?”
 
            “Okay, thanks!”
 
            Zack smiled, knowing there would be more anatomy than math
studied on Monday.  Not that he wouldn’t make sure she passed her test,
but that was much easier to do now.  He leaned over and kissed her on
the cheek.
 
            “Thanks.  You made this day a lot brighter.”  She smiled
her response, accompanied by a blush.
 
 
 
            Zack was just finishing up getting changed into his
after-school clothes when the doorbell rang.  He paused, remembering
what happened the *last* time that doorbell rang on a Friday
afternoon.  He slowly walked to the door, and was relieved to see a
FedEx delivery person standing at the door.
 
            “Package for Zack Griffin,” the cute young woman said.
 
            “Yeah, that’s me.”  He signed the form, and took the
package.  She smiled, offered him a pleasant day, and trotted back to
her truck.  Zack took the package indoors, and went to his room.
 
            He had an idea what was in the package, as it came from
Adamant Computers, Adam’s company.  He opened the box to find in it two
PDAs, a reprogramming device, and a couple of disks.  Also included was
a note.
 
 
 
Zack:
 
            It didn’t take the boys long to finish the PDA device. 
I’ve included two, in case you have reason to need a second one.  PAO
is hard-wired into the PDA, and so if you want to change the program,
the programming device is necessary.  The enclosed disks contain the
software for the programming device, as well as the encyclopedia of
research we did in starting the PAO project (we never had a name for
it, yours is as good as any).
 
            Please let me know how field-tests go with the device. 
There is a user’s manual included on Disk 1.  If you run into a
problem, please contact us.
 
 
 
                                                                       
            Good Luck,
 
                                                                       
            Adam
 
 
 
            Zack unpacked the materials, and looked them over.  There
were a half-dozen CD-ROMs, only one of which had programs on it. 
*That’s a lot of fucking information.*
 
 
 
            Sitting back in his chair, Zack looked at it all.  *Well, I
suppose it’s time to play.  The first thing is to find out what kind of
snooping code he put into these things.  Looks like I have another
project for this weekend.*
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
