Override (Glitch)

a typical brain.”
    An image of a brain rotated in the orange light. “This is what a non-glitcher brain looks like. The sparks of blue represent neuron activity.” She pointed at various portions of the brain where minuscule blue dots lit up, making small bright clouds. “And this—” she said, then tapped the screen a few times, “is a glitcher brain.”
    I leaned. “They look the same to me.”
    “Here, I’ll show them side by side. See the frontal cortex here on the glitcher brain?”
    I looked closer, glancing back and forth between the two images. “There’s more blue light,” I said, looking up at Jilia.
    She smiled. “Exactly. At first we thought glitchers simply had an increased neural capacity due to the brain adapting around the Link hardware the Community installed. But now, it’s clear that the actual number of neurons has been increasing exponentially. There are genes that usually lay dormant that, in glitcher brains, are finally finding expression. The electrical impulses and connections your brain is able to make—it’s not the same leap as the difference between primates and humans, but it’s still impressive.”
    Jilia tapped in the screen a few more times. “Now, hold on. This is Zoe’s brain.” The blue lights on the new model covered almost the entire frontal lobe. Adrien gasped and took a step back. I blinked, certain I was seeing it wrong.
    “But what does that mean?” I asked. I was suddenly queasy. My powers, the uncontrollable seizures, Adrien’s visions of me as a powerful leader. All of it must be explained by the brain scan in front of me. Solid proof that I was different. My stomach dropped. I didn’t want to be different. I didn’t want to have all this power capped up inside me. I just wanted to be a regular glitcher.
    “To be honest, I don’t know.” Jilia’s eyes were still trained on the model, and as she leaned in to look closer, her face was bathed in reflected blue light. “I’ve never seen this before.” I couldn’t read the look on her face—it seemed like a mixture of surprise and excitement. It was clear Jilia only saw strength and possibility when she looked at the model of my brain, but I saw it for what it really was: dangerous.
    “Do you have any unusual symptoms? Headaches? Surges in power? New abilities?”
    I glanced at Adrien. “Sometimes I lose control, and I feel like it’s too powerful to fit inside my skin.”
    Jilia nodded. “Training for you is going to be a bit difficult because we’ve never seen anything like you before. I’m not sure how best to tap into it and control it, but we can experiment with a few different methods.”
    She looked away from the screen. “You might be the most powerful glitcher in the new generation, perhaps even the most powerful we’ve ever seen. I can see now that there could be truth to all of Adrien’s visions, Zoe. Perhaps you’ll be able to save us after all.” Her voice held a note of awe.
    I didn’t know what to say to that. I wanted to convince her that she was wrong. I wasn’t special. Maybe even Adrien’s visions were wrong. I didn’t have a clue how to save anyone, couldn’t they see that?
    Adrien leaned in, his expression dark and withdrawn as his eyes flickered over the data on the scan. He didn’t look at me, and I couldn’t tell what he must be thinking, but his silence sent a chill through me.

Chapter 5
    DURING OUR LATE BREAKFAST, Jilia explained the results of my brain scan to Tyryn. “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”
    I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Tyryn was a friendly guy, just a few years older than Adrien and me. I’d never seen anyone with such a developed physique. His arm muscles strained the sleeves of his shirt. He also had a wide scar from forehead to chin. The angry line of healed skin was shiny against the dark brown skin of his face.
    “General Taylor will be pleased to hear it,” Tyryn said, finishing his last bite of an omelet and then sitting back in his chair. I could feel his eyes on me, assessing me. “She’s asked me to head up a new glitcher task force. We’ll start training when we get to the Foundation.”
    “What?” I nearly choked on the gritty protein mix coming through my straw. “But—” I started, then stopped. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”
    “Don’t worry,” Tyryn said, his voice calm. “I’ve actually never trained a team of glitchers before, but I’ve been training Rez recruits for