The blue light of the CRT monitor at Netopia Express flickered, casting a ghostly pallor over Xavier's face. It was forty-eight hours after his first upload, and the progress bar of his life was finally moving.
"NOTIFICATION: YOU HAVE BEEN HIRED FOR: "LEGAL SEO CONTENT BATCH - ASBESTOS/MESOTHELIOMA"
"ESCROW FUNDED: $45.00"
Forty-five dollars.
In 2031, Xavier wouldn't have even bothered to open an email for forty-five dollars. But in 2007, with the exchange rate hovering around 46 pesos to the dollar, that was over two thousand pesos. It was more than the monthly salary of some of the junior helpers at his father's factory.
And he had earned it in two hours of agonizingly slow typing.
*It's a start* Xavier thought, his small fingers clicking the accept button.
*The first drop in the ocean*
"ABYSS: FIRST REVENUE SECURED. RECOMMENDATION: ESTABLISH A VERIFIED PAYMENT GATEWAY. NOTE: AGE RESTRICTIONS ON BANK ACCOUNTS WILL BE THE PRIMARY OBSTACLE"
"I know, Abyss" Xavier whispered, glancing around to ensure the DOTA players at the next station were still too busy screaming at their monitors to notice a Grade 2 student talking to himself.
"I'll use the Guan-Tech business name for the oDesk billing later. For now, it stays in the digital wallet."
He logged out and pulled his USB drive. He had more pressing concerns than money today.
Today was June 25, 2007.
The air outside the internet café was thick and stagnant, the kind of heat that preceded a typhoon. As he walked back toward the school gate where the Isuzu was waiting, Xavier could feel the countdown clock in his head ticking.
Tomorrow, June 26th, at approximately 10:45 AM, the main axle of Stamping Line B would reach its breaking point.
---------------
Dinner that night was a tense affair, though only Xavier seemed to feel the vibration of the coming disaster. Arthur was distracted, his eyes glued to a newspaper headline about the surging global demand for infrastructure materials.
"The government is bidding out the new bridge projects in Northern Luzon" Arthur said, his voice filled with a tired kind of excitement.
"If we can secure multiple contracts for the bolt assemblies and related products, Guan-Tech will be set for the next three years. We won't even have to worry about the steel fluctuations."
"That's great, Arthur" Clara said, spooning more rice onto his plate. "But you look exhausted. You haven't had a full night's sleep in weeks."
"I'll sleep after the bid is submitted" Arthur replied.
Xavier looked at his father. The man was working himself into an early grave. This self-sacrificial and success-seeking trait runs deep in their family.
"Pa" Xavier said, his voice small but clear. "Did Mang Bert check the grease in Line B? I heard it again today when I was in the office. It sounds like... like a screaming cat."
Arthur paused, a bit of chicken halfway to his mouth. He looked at Xavier and sighed. "Xavi, I told you, I'll have him check it. But Bert is busy fixing the compressors for other lines right now. One thing at a time, okay?"
"But if the grease is dry, it will get hot" Xavier pressed. "The science book says friction makes fire."
"Xavier, enough" Arthur said, his tone sharpening. "I'm the engineer here. You focus on your meal"
Xavier went silent. He looked down at his plate, the cold weight settling into his chest. He had tried the childhood innocence route twice. It had failed.
Logic wouldn't work on a father who saw him as a child. There was only one option left.
---------------
At 1:15 AM, the Guan household was silent.
Xavier sat up in bed, his heart hammering against his ribs. The biological urge to sleep was a physical weight, pulling at his eyelids, but the adrenaline of the saboteur kept him upright.
He slipped out of bed, his bare feet silent on the floorboards. He didn't turn on the lights. He didn't need to. Abyss was projecting a low-light wireframe of the house directly onto his retinas. This is a feature he had spent a lot of time in.
He navigated the hallway, avoiding the third floorboard from the stairs that he knew would creak. He reached the back door, slid the deadbolt open with a slow, agonizingly quiet *click*, and stepped out into the humid night.
Xavier cautiously walked along the quiet night, afraid that someone will notice him.
After tens of minutes, he arrived at the factory. It was a dark silhouette; a sleeping beast made of corrugated iron and steel. The security guard, Domeng, would be at the front gate, likely nodding off over a radio or a newspaper. The side entrance which the family used was locked, but Xavier had swiped his father's spare key from the kitchen bowl earlier that evening.
The air inside the factory was different at night. It was still, smelling of cooling metal and heavy industrial oil.
Xavier moved toward Line B.
In the dark, the stamping machine looked like a prehistoric monster. It was a massive, ten-ton mechanical press, its heavy iron arm currently at rest. Xavier climbed onto the maintenance platform, his small hands gripping the cold, greasy railing.
*Abyss* he whispered.
*Analysis of the Line B axle. Identify the most effective point to cause a non-destructive mechanical fault that will trigger a safety stop on startup*
The phone screen lit up, illuminating the gears and shafts in a pale blue glow.
"ANALYSIS COMPLETE. RECOMMENDATION: INSERT A FOREIGN OBJECT INTO THE SENSOR HOUSING OF THE HYDRAULIC PRESSURE VALVE. AN OBJECT WITH A HARDNESS OF 5-6 ON THE MOHS SCALE WILL BEND THE SENSOR PIN WITHOUT DAMAGING THE MAIN SYSTEM."
"PROBABILITY OF FIRE PREVENTION: 98%."
"PROBABILITY OF FORCED MAINTENANCE INSPECTION: 100%."
Xavier looked around. He found a small, discarded brass bolt on the floor. Brass was softer than steel but hard enough to trigger the sensor.
He reached into the housing. His small hands were an advantage here; he could reach deep into the machinery where an adult's arm would never fit. He felt the delicate pin of the sensor. With a sharp, controlled shove, he wedged the brass bolt into the path of the pin.
"Done"
Tomorrow morning, when the foreman flipped the switch, the machine wouldn't start. It would hum, the pressure would spike, and the safety alarm would scream. The line would be down for hours. Mang Bert would be forced to open the casing to find the fault.
And when he opened it, he should see the bone-dry axle and the micro-fracture that was hours away from exploding.
Xavier climbed down, his hands covered in black grease. He wiped them on a rag, his heart finally slowing down.
He had just saved his father's life. He had just saved the family business.
As he walked back toward the house, he saw a flickering light in the shadows at the mezzanine.
He froze.
"Xavi?" Xavier's blood turned to ice. He turned slowly.
Aris Mendoza was standing there, his school bag still over his shoulder. He looked terrified, his eyes wide in the moonlight.
"Aris? What are you doing here?" Xavier hissed, his voice a low, dangerous rasp.
"I... I didn't go home" Aris whispered, his voice trembling. "My Stepfather... he was angry again. I thought I could sleep in the factory. I know where the keys are hidden in the guardhouse"
Xavier looked at the older boy. He saw the bruise on Aris's cheek that wasn't there during recess. Xavier's mind shifted. This wasn't a mistake. This was an opportunity.
"Did you see what I did?" Xavier asked, as he went moved up the mezzanine.
Aris looked at the machine, then at Xavier's greasy hands. He swallowed hard. "You... you broke it."
"I saved it" Xavier corrected. He walked up to Aris and reached into his pocket.
"I'm going to tell you the truth, Aris. Because from today on, you're the only one who's going to know it."
He pressed Aris.
"That machine was going to explode tomorrow. It was going to burn this factory down. I broke it so they would fix it. Do you understand?"
Aris was startled at the seven-year-old boy who sounded like a ghost. The indoctrination he had started at the canteen wasn't just about money anymore. It was about a shared secret.
"I won't tell" Aris said, his voice suddenly firm. "I promise, Xavi. I won't tell even if they beat me"
"Good" Xavier said, patting Aris's arm. "Now, go to the breakroom. There's a sofa there. I'll bring you some bread and water. Tomorrow, after they find the fault, I'm going to need you to help me with the next part of the plan"
Xavier walked back home, the cool night air hitting his face.
"ABYSS: CRITICAL TRAGEDY AVERTED. ARIS ESTIMATED LOYALTY: 80%"
Xavier climbed back into his room, cleaned his hands, and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.