[ WP ] In a world of TechnoMagic , you are a Hacker

The first time I met Theodore Mira, I did n't know that he was a criminal. I did n't even know that he was n't in my school. 
 
 My parents had been paying for *la Académie de lumière électrique*, or the ALA, since I was seven. It was the only place for training in the use of the miraculous new technologies and sciences, and my father had become rich in the first TechnoWar by selling quantities of Synergon Crystal, the batteries which are used to power the technologies. It was natural that he should send me here, to learn about Synergon Tech. I was 13 and had been attending the ALA for six years when The Marked Ones appeared. 
 
 Nobody knew who they were, or what they stood for. The Marked Ones kept to themselves, except when the government would unveil a new piece of Synergon Tech. No matter how hard they tried to keep it safe, the Marked Ones found a way to get to the tech, and shut it down within weeks, rendering it useless using a strange, unknown, unique program that destroyed itself after wrecking the machine. Their leader was nicknamed `` Whistler,'' and the only thing anyone knew about him was that he understood how to work Synergon Technology unlike anyone in recent history, and more importantly, it appeared that he knew how to remove the energy from within Synergon Crystals. The bounty on his head started at one hundred thousand chirons, but it kept going up. By the time I met Theo, the bounty was at two and a half million. 
 
 I should have known he was n't a student from the whistling. I was going to get my books from my locker on a particularly chilly December morning. Sophia was chatting animatedly about classes, and as I looked up to respond, I saw him walking down the hall casually, a binder under his arm and a chain necklace hung round his neck. Floppy, tousled red hair pushed back to reveal pale skin, freckles, and dark brown eyes. He turned, spotted me, and approached us with a shy smile. 
 
 `` Hi.'' He said. `` I'm Theo. I'm pretty new here- I do n't suppose you all would know where they keep the student designs?'' 
 
 Students at the ALA have to design new Synergon Technologies. I had just recently designed my final project for the semester- a device which could extract any piece of information from any book it was pointed at. 
 
 `` Oooh.'' Sophia eyed him. `` You *are* new here, are n't you.'' 
 
 `` Sophia!'' I admonished. `` Sorry.'' I blushed slightly. `` The Student Design Lab is near the main doors.'' 
 
 `` Oh, the room that's locked?'' He asked mildly. 
 
 `` Yeah, that's the one.'' I nodded. `` Why do you need to get in there?'' 
 
 `` I'm looking for a design.'' He smiled. `` I hear it's quite something.'' 
 
 `` Well, I hope you find it.'' 
 
 `` Me too.'' He extended his hand. `` I did n't get your name.'' 
 
 `` It's Erin.'' I laughed. 
 
 `` Cool.'' We shook hands. `` I'll see you around then, Erin.'' 
 
 He walked off, and I watched as he tossed a small, glittering object into the air, whistled softly, and turned the corner. 
 
 The Design Lab would be discovered trashed the next morning. After painstaking reconstruction, only one design would be found missing: mine. The design for the information retriever had gone missing, and all copies of it had been wiped from the Synergon-powered computer, which had gone dark for the first time in memory. 
 
 The Government came to investigate, and found that the disk had been wiped using another Synergon device. More importantly, they found something else. Hidden in the corner of the room was a disk the size of an orange. It had a small, elegant design in the center that, when blown on, would emit a soft whistle. 
 
 The bounty on Whistler's head went up by another half a million, and I still did n't tell anyone that I might have seen him. I thought about that day every time I passed the Design Lab. I wondered if I'd meet him again. I wondered why he took my design. 
 
 I did n't expect to meet him here, crouching in front of me as the men in black spew bullets and flames into the room, but I suppose that all good stories have to have beginnings like this.
