Hex by Rhiannon Lassiter

some sleep,” Kez suggested cautiously.
    â€œNot until I’ve worked this out,” Raven replied firmly. Crossing over to the Nutromac she ordered tea and carried the cup over to the couch, sitting beside Wraith and stretching her legs out in front of her. Kez sat opposite, watching as she sank into the cushions.
    â€œPerhaps the CPS hid the system so that it couldn’t be found by a Hex,” Kez said.
    â€œThat’s what I would have thought,” Raven replied. “But you haven’t seen their main system. It was pitifully easy to hack into. Even a regular hacker could have cracked it in time.”
    There was a pause. Raven had closed her eyes and was beginning to drift off into sleep before Wraith suddenly spoke.
    â€œRaven,” he said, frowning.
    â€œWhat?” She opened one eye, apparently wondering if it was worth her while to listen to him.
    â€œDo the CPS know that you’re more than just a regular hacker?” he asked.
    â€œThe CPS don’t even know I exist,” Raven replied. “And I intend to keep it that way.”
    â€œYou’re missing the point.” Wraith shook his head. “What I meant was, do they know what any Hex can do?”
    â€œExplain,” Raven said, both eyes open now.
    â€œI’ve never known another Hex apart from you,” Wraith told her, “so I don’t know if this is right. But all of your mutant abilities are connected to computers, are they not?”
    â€œMore or less.” Raven sat up. “There are other aspects, but the basic bent is clearly technological.”
    â€œDoes the CPS know that?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Raven frowned. “At least, I’m not certain, because I haven’t found the results of any recent experiments.” Then she shook her head. “No, Wraith, you’re wrong. They must know, that’s how the Hex gene was created in the first place.”
    â€œHow?” Kez asked. He hadn’t really expected Raven to answer but she turned to look at him with a sudden interest.
    â€œKez, what do you know about Hexes?” she asked. “I mean, what did you know before you met me?”
    â€œI figured it was like magic,” he said slowly, a little embarrassed. “Or aliens, something like that. I had no idea it involved computers.”
    Raven nodded slowly, glancing at Wraith, who was watching her intently. Then she began to speak, thinking out loud.
    â€œMost people don’t know anything about Hexes, except that they’re illegal,” she said. “The genetics experiments and the extermination laws are ancient history now.”
    â€œThat was when the Hex gene was created?” Wraith asked.
    â€œDon’t you know any history either?” Raven raised her eyebrows.
    â€œGangers generally have their minds on other things,” Wraith pointed out dryly.
    â€œOK.” Raven shrugged. “There’s not much to tell.” She looked at Kez. “But it’s connected to what I was telling you the other day about the rush to create more advanced technology during the twenty-first century. One of the areas that was affected was genetic research. A lot of mutated genes were grafted on to human DNA. They were designed to make the human race more efficient and adaptable. Most of the mutations didn’t have much effect so in the end the experimentation was abandoned. But the Hex gene which was created was widely adopted until 2098 when Hexes were made illegal.”
    â€œWhy was it widely adopted?” Wraith asked.
    â€œIt was designed to increase computer literacy,” Raven told him. “They were trying to improve programming skills, things like that.”
    â€œSo, why are Hexes exterminated?” Kez asked. “I would have thought that computer literacy was a good thing.”
    â€œSomething must have gone wrong,” Wraith mused.
    â€œThe extermination laws were passed in 2098,”