Mind Trace Read Online Free

screen.

     
     
    Chapter 3
    Alice snuggled into her padded armchair and turned on the
TV. She was determined to put "the incident" out of her mind, at
least until she was prepared to sort it out. She flipped through the channels, but
they were devoid of anything interesting. She paused when something on the
Channel 6 news caught her attention.
    The news anchor was very candidly relating a story of how a
state official from Washington, D.C. had been arrested for selling government
secrets to terrorist organizations.
    I know that face… Why do I know that face?
    Suddenly, her vision was filled with unbidden images of a
report made by authorities in the Pentagon. The report detailed that the suspect
was innocent, and the real culprit behind the crimes was a senator. Rather than
expose the senator, the Pentagon concluded it would be more effective to make someone
else take the fall so that they could handle him without drawing too much
attention. The senator would be taken into custody by the government,
interrogated, and then systematically "dealt with."
    She abruptly stopped her train of thought, not wanting to
be aware of any more details. 
    Is there no way I can get away from this?
    Blinking hard, her vision finally returned to normal and
she saw the news anchor once again. Turning the television off, Alice escaped
upstairs to her room, shaking slightly. 
    How about some puzzles? No harm could come from doing a
puzzle...
    Not prepared to consider the possibilities, Alice needed a
distraction. She pulled a book of Sudoku puzzles from her bookshelf and settled
onto her bed. Within fifteen seconds, the puzzle was done. In disbelief, Alice checked
her results, and they were completely accurate.
    What is happening to me? I'm not just remembering data
on a computer anymore. This is more than that… It's like my mind is functioning
like the computer itself.
    She threw the book down onto the floor.
    That's impossible.
    At the bottom of her bookshelf, there was a small
collection of advanced calculus and physics books. They were supposed to help
her prepare for a PhD. Alice had not yet had the chance to study any of the
information.
    Flipping through the physics book, she took out some paper
and decided to solve some problems.
    Only there was not much to "solve." She was only
limited by the speed of her hand as she wrote out complex solutions on the
page. She stared down at the symbols and equations that she knew she never
learned on her own. The pencil trembled in her hands as she considered what
that meant.
    So I get electrocuted, and now my brain is a
supercomputer? How is that possible? And somewhere in there is all of the
information from EngineerCorp's servers?
     A knot began to form in the pit of her stomach. If anyone
found out what had happened, she would be in immediate and extreme danger.
    If anyone at EngineerCorp found out…well, she would
probably disappear forever. Even though she had unwittingly hacked into their
servers, she was still guilty. At best, she could be arrested. At worst, she
could become someone's sick science experiment for the rest of her life.
Neither thought appealed to her.
    While the security she had in place on her computer would
protect her for a time, she assumed that eventually someone would trace the
download to its source.  Technically, it would first lead them to the older
couple who owned the cottage she rented. They wouldn't be in any real danger,
given their circumstances. They were both in their early eighties and no one
would rightly believe they had anything to do with the situation.
    Either way, it would probably be a good idea for her to get
out of town for a while. 
    Alice went to her closet and pulled out her suitcase. Never
in a million years did she think that she would be packing the drab black bag
to run away from a global corporation that may or may not be pursuing her.
    She did her best to keep her mood light, humming one of her
favorite songs as she packed, even