It was the start of his new life as a student after what happened to the whole city due to the havoc that the Hacker brought a few months ago. After the summer vacation, he was enrolled in the school where all of the academically inclined students went to harness their skills, gain experience beyond comprehension, and meet people that will change their lives. No one doesn't know what the GSSTI in the middle of the city of Aurum is.
GOLD STAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE
Educate to Innovate
It was located at the same compound, a few blocks ahead at the back of the ORION in Zone 1. Students here came from different parts of the world to study in a state-of-the-art school harnessing pool of elite programmers, technicians, and scholars to innovate for the future of the modern world. Standardized facilities and educators gather to nurture the gift of knowledge given to gifted students. It has a middle school, high school, and college curriculum where the graduates have a high percentage of employment through the connections of Gold Star Technologies Inc. headed and owned by President Ginsei Reiko, owner of the ORION Co.
No one can enter the school without a GWA of 93.5 or 1.75, a passing grade of 93 to its standardized entrance exams, and a recommendation from anyone from the school or the GS Technologies Companies.
"Or so what the advertisement said." Markus sighed and shook his head as he walked past the entrance gate of the school. "Of course, I've just got a direct admission because dad's the owner of the school." he added.
"You had the brains to pass the entrance exam, my master." Shichiro whispered on his head. "No one will doubt the skills of the Anti-Hacker, the one who ended the chaos a few months ago."
"Gladly they did not make that information public. Dad made it sure to transfer me from South High to GSSTI and enter on the first day of the new term." Markus sighed. "I wish they all also came here."
He reached the gymnasium and went to register in one of the tables.
"Please find this and follow the line." The attendant gave him a slip and Markus went his way.
"Year 1, section 2, huh." Shichiro muttered.
"At least they made a nice assessment on where I should be placed." Markus sighed again.
"I welcome you all to this new semester of the school year," The principal said. "I hope you will have a good Semester ahead and uphold the VMG of the Gold Star STI." He added.
The opening ceremony was a blast. A grand program was performed in front of the whole population of the school gathered inside with an estimated population of 12, 876. The population of the freshmen was about 3000 and Markus was one of them obviously.
The students were sent to their classrooms and did the casual orientation for the school and classroom policies. They all wear their uniforms except for the newcomers and transferees.
Markus wore his casual attire, SpongeBob printed T-shirt, black jeggings, and a pair of white Adidas shoes. His headphones hang on his neck and his Jansport bag on his back. He went straight to the faculty room to ask for his schedule from their Adviser, Mr. Dan Jayco.
"Ahh,, excuse me..." he knocked on the door. "Is Mr. Jayco around?" he asked.
"Yeah." A teacher replied, "Mr. Jayco, someone is looking for you."
"Send him here." Mr. Jayco replied.
Markus went to Mr. Jayco's table and they talked about his schedule. The teacher was his adviser from now on. He had a Ph.D. in computer science and one of the advisers of the Olympians. He also works for the ORION as an executive assistant to the department of affairs and entertainment. His shaggy blonde hair matches his golden eyes and a pretty white face. It was the first time Markus had seen someone, besides his dad and Louige, to have hair and a pleasing appearance though working at ORION. He thought he would be a good teacher to accompany his venture in the GS high. After the pre-orientation at the faculty, they went to the classroom and his teacher introduced him to the class.
"Silence for a while..." Mr. Jayco said. "As we start the new semester where others have started 3 months ago for summer advancement training, I want to introduce to you your new classmate, Markus Lockwood."
Markus went inside and greeted his new classmate "Ahh, I'm Markus Lockwood. Nice meeting you all. I hope we'll get to know each other."
"Okay,, so much for that, I will begin the homeroom session so please take your seat Mr. Lockwood."
"Ahh,, but where do I seat, sir?" he replied
"Oh, I forgot.. okay, so take that seat at the back near the window."
"Okay..."
He went to his assigned seat and the class started.
They decided to disclose the information of him being Reiko's son, that is why he's still using the Lockwood name instead of being Ginsei Hachiro. Well, that is to guard him against Reiko's potential enemies and the likes. But his name, Markus Lockwood had become infamous in GSSTI.
After the homeroom class, another teacher came in for the next subject, Discreet Mathematics with Cryptography, aka Math 345.
"I am Mr. Gui Llermo, your teacher for this subject Math 345." Mr. Llermo said in utter confidence "...and see you next sem."
"What the??" Markus said under his breath.
"Open your book on page 24.." he continued.
The teacher came in a sudden and gave them a challenge at the very start of the semester. Mr. Llermo had a bald head with only a few of his hair remains on the sides. His face is fat so as his body that he cannot see his toes anymore because of his big fat belly. He wore the usual uniform for the teachers but it seems to be so fit for him and sandals showing his fatty fingers. He brought his netbook with him as he always does because his lessons were in there. He connected his netbook and flashed a PowerPoint presentation on the LCD board.
"We'll gonna start now?" Markus' seatmate complained.
"I dunno,," Markus replied
"That is how it is here, especially for that teacher." Markus' classmate seated in front of him replied.
"He's quite the cruel one, ne?" Markus said
"Yeah, so don't let your guard down." His classmate said, "I'm Jake, Jake Rogers. Nice meeting you."
"Markus Lockwood" he replied.
"Sean Colman, nice to meet you too." Markus' seatmate said.
"So as all we know,..." Mr. Llermo continued "...a bug is different from a virus but it can also distort the program running in the computer..." he turned the LCD on and codes flash on the screen. "... so, the ORION's Olympians created the AMOS to detect any unwanted behaviors and cancel it if needed..."
"Ahh, I'm sorry sir, but what do AMOS stand for?" Markus asked, raising his hand. His previous school was a preparatory school for white-collared jobs, not specifically for the genius ones like the students in GS High. He did not study about programs and software though he knows a lot about it from his mom and dad and Louige and some of his own tinkering that at some sort, defeated the hacker who had caused mayhem at their city. He did know not any of those jargon used in this field though.
"Ohh, there is still someone who doesn't know about it..." he closed his netbook and the screen went blank "The AMOS is, Mr..."
"Lockwood, Sir."
"Mr. Lockwood, are you the transferee?" Mr. Llermo said
"Yes, Sir, sorry for my ignorance."
"I'm glad to help, but I want to see you next sem, Okay?" Mr. Llermo added
"That's bad..." Jake whispered, "He got his eyes on you.."
"As I was saying, AMOS stands for Anti-Markus Operating System to detect any unwanted behaviors and cancel it if needed. It is the most prominent anti-malicious software, the most expensive as well, ever created for the benefit of information processing in the modern world though it is still in the delta phase." Mr. Llermo explained
"Anti-Markus? Seriously?" Markus said under his breath again. "But why Markus, Sir?" he asked again.
"Markus was coined to this system because of what happened 4 years ago, when the hacker named Markus breached the ORION's system and caused havoc testing the efficiency of Aegis at that time..."
Do they know it was me? Markus thought that they were referring to him, contrary to what his dad told him that that issue was cleared and referred to as confidential. But the thought of having a software named after him because of what he did at ORION years ago, made him shiver as if all the bad memories were flooding again in his consciousness. His feet starter to go cold.
"Ohh... Is that it?" he replied anxiously.
"Hey, dude, Markus was your name, right?" Sean asked.
"Yeah,,," he replied more anxiously. "Why?" he added.
"I'm just wondering,,,, but..." Sean looked at Mr. Llermo if he was caught talking to his classmate "Don't worry about it,, I guess it was just a coincidence..."
"Ahh,, soo.." Markus replied
"Well, so that was it, Mr. Lockwood. Any other question?" Mr. Llermo said
"Nothing more, Sir... Thanks." Markus replied, lowering his head.
"Okay, so as I was saying..." Mr. Llermo continued and the screen turned on again.
The class with Mr. Llermo ended with stress. They had a long discussion and he even gave them reading to scan for their quiz tomorrow. The bell rang and they took a short break from class.