07-16-2014, 11:32 AM
<small>[[continued from Connections]]
</small>
The super let Connor into the Ms. Chadova's apartment. The building was a run-down affair. He'd taken the stairs with the super because the elevator looked dicey. He wasn't even sure it worked. There was a musty smell to everything, including the apartment.
He thought about the girl, Katya. He'd seen her face in the news. Dead of "the sickness." He grimaced. Another one. Mr. Zhirov was a fat man, mostly bald with a very pathetic comb-over. His shirt had stains on it and from the look of everything, only did enough to keep the building from falling apart and nothing more. He was surprised that any of Katya's things were still there, especially the powerful workstation he had been sent to retrieve. As if reading his mind, Zhirov said, "I'm not going in there. I'm not gonna get sick for a bunch of junk!"
He chewed on a cigar and looked him up and down through watery brown eyes. "If you ask me, this is a foolish. Her parents didn't even want her things, they were so afraid."
He looked around irritably. "Now they don't even answer my calls. They need to come and do something about this mess."
He hocked as if to spit and then looked at Connor and refrained. He muttered, "Not my job."
Connor looked down at him frankly. "I'll get Paragon's property."
He worked for them too and had volunteered when this assignment came up. His mouth turned down. He knew what the sickness was. Hayden's face flashed across his mind. "You don't need to come in if you are afraid."
He walked into the room carrying a couple boxes and started looking around. The workstation dominated the room. Course anything would, really. Not much to the small single room. Small kitchenette, bed, small bathroom. The computer sat on a desk by the bed. Connor heard the door close behind him. The room was quietl. He just stood still, imagining the young girl. It made him sad, to think this was her home. It was an ugly place.
Even worse, there really didn't seem to be any personality to the room. No pictures adorned the wall, no photos of family or friends, nothing to say who this girl was. It made him sad. Such a lonely life. She'd died on the subway surrounded by strangers. He looked down, once again struck by how lucky he'd been to be with Hayden at the end.
Magic is everywhere. My son had it. Ayden has it. Jensen. Giovanni. Now this girl had it. He'd seen the news reports regarding the events in the DV. And some of the guys at work who frequented conspiracy sites were talking about strange events that were rumored to have happened there too. He'd even been shown grainy video of a man supposedly using magic to lay waste to one of the armies. Others in the office made fun of them of course. You could do anything with video editing and effects these days. But Connor knew all too well that magic was very real. He'd seen Giovanni use fire to burn that Ijiraq. He'd seen Jensen freeze it, just before Aria cut its head off. He pushed away the twinge of guilt at thinking of her name. The video was real. He knew it. He could vaguely make out the face. There was nothing really familiar about it, though that didn't surprise him. The world had changed. Soon the facts would be undeniable.
A part of him smiled at that thought. Once this gets out, those bastard Atharim won't be able to just put down people like they used to! Then, maybe, people like Ayden or Jensen could use their experience to teach, so that kids like Hayden and Katya didn't have to die. That would be good thing. A great thing.
He went to the workstation and when he jostled it, it woke up and he saw the images he'd expected on the wall instead floating across her display. Of course. She lived in a virtual world. That's where she displayed her loved ones. This was her true home. He felt some sense of reverence as he shut it down and boxed it all up.
He let himself out- the super was gone. Not a very good one at all, he thought, To let a stranger take whatever he wanted. He'd said he was having trouble reaching the parents. Maybe he hoped the place would get robbed and remove some of the stuff he'd have to dispose of.
It was odd though, her parents. Connor really couldn't imagine them just leaving their daughter's stuff, sickness or no. A dark thought occurred to him. The Atharim. The article had been in the news. They would have seen it. Jamie had said that families had also disappeared. Anger welled up inside him. Is that what had happened? Now that Katya was dead, her family also needed to be killed as well? He was angry. Because of them, Hayden had died. And countless others. Even though he vehemently disagreed, he could see their rationalizing it. But to also kill the family? He was shaking his had in rage. It was not right. He hated the Atharim, hated their setting themselves up as judge, jury and executioner for society.
By the time he got back to his office, his rage had given way to frustration. He'd warned Tehya and Ayden. He really didn't know what else he could do. He set the computer up in the lab and booted it up. He used the administrator login that was built into every computer. Course, everyone here was an expert, so he expected layers of home-grown security before he'd be able to get into the machine and retrieve any of Paragon's files Katya had been working on. It took hours. He ate lunch and texted Ayden. She was going to be getting off soon and said she wanted to take a nap and that she'd see him later that night. He smiled thinking of her, then frowned. She was someone who needed protection from those Atharim. Shaking his head, he got back to work.
At around 4 he finally made it through the last layer and had full access. He started pulling the last files Katya ahd been working on. One of them was a large database that she had been decrypting. That wasn't on the list given to me of projects she'd been assigned. Then again, it wasn't uncommon for people like her to do side work. He thought about her apartment. If she did do side work, it sure didn't pay well. He was curious so he opened up the file.
What he saw was strange at first. Lots of names and locations and dates, along with other names tagged as "handlers". Next of kin. Status. And pictures. Many pictures. One of the pictures made him stop, scalp prickling. He looked around to make sure he was alone in the lab, and then clicked on the image. A larger version came up, along with more detailed information. Family, a bio, summary of evidence, danger assessment, last known location.
The face was unmistakable. It was Giovanni. But the name given was "Francesco Moretti". And there was also a "reborn god" confirmation and date. And a kill-order. He knew what this was. He shut the computer down immediately, his heart racing. If they knew he had it...He wondered at how Katya had gotten this. But it didn't matter. If someone knew he had it then he would be in danger. He thought about destroying the drive. But he just couldn't do it. He had proof in his hand. Evidence of the Atharim and their murders. Many of the entries had said "terminated" under status. He'd be willing to bet searches of those people would bring up suspicious deaths. He had a powerful weapon if he could just figure out how to use it. A voice nagged at the back of his head. He also needed to let Giovanni- Francesco, really- that he was in danger. Had Giovanni known what Aria was, how dangerous she was to him?
As he thought, he got out an old drive that was exactly the same as Katya's. He then zeroed out the drive, so that it would be irretrievable. He'd tell them that Katya had booby trapped her drive with a secret security program that he'd missed. She had been low level, so what she'd been working on would not really be too important. It's why they'd sent a relatively new guy like himself to get the system and retrieve the files in the first place.
Then he slipped her drive into his bag and walked to his desk and wrote up his report. At the end of the day, he headed out, bag in hand. He was very careful to be aware of his surroundings. It didn't appear anyone was following him. But his heartbeat raced anyway.
Edited by Connor Kent, Aug 27 2014, 03:55 PM.
</small>
The super let Connor into the Ms. Chadova's apartment. The building was a run-down affair. He'd taken the stairs with the super because the elevator looked dicey. He wasn't even sure it worked. There was a musty smell to everything, including the apartment.
He thought about the girl, Katya. He'd seen her face in the news. Dead of "the sickness." He grimaced. Another one. Mr. Zhirov was a fat man, mostly bald with a very pathetic comb-over. His shirt had stains on it and from the look of everything, only did enough to keep the building from falling apart and nothing more. He was surprised that any of Katya's things were still there, especially the powerful workstation he had been sent to retrieve. As if reading his mind, Zhirov said, "I'm not going in there. I'm not gonna get sick for a bunch of junk!"
He chewed on a cigar and looked him up and down through watery brown eyes. "If you ask me, this is a foolish. Her parents didn't even want her things, they were so afraid."
He looked around irritably. "Now they don't even answer my calls. They need to come and do something about this mess."
He hocked as if to spit and then looked at Connor and refrained. He muttered, "Not my job."
Connor looked down at him frankly. "I'll get Paragon's property."
He worked for them too and had volunteered when this assignment came up. His mouth turned down. He knew what the sickness was. Hayden's face flashed across his mind. "You don't need to come in if you are afraid."
He walked into the room carrying a couple boxes and started looking around. The workstation dominated the room. Course anything would, really. Not much to the small single room. Small kitchenette, bed, small bathroom. The computer sat on a desk by the bed. Connor heard the door close behind him. The room was quietl. He just stood still, imagining the young girl. It made him sad, to think this was her home. It was an ugly place.
Even worse, there really didn't seem to be any personality to the room. No pictures adorned the wall, no photos of family or friends, nothing to say who this girl was. It made him sad. Such a lonely life. She'd died on the subway surrounded by strangers. He looked down, once again struck by how lucky he'd been to be with Hayden at the end.
Magic is everywhere. My son had it. Ayden has it. Jensen. Giovanni. Now this girl had it. He'd seen the news reports regarding the events in the DV. And some of the guys at work who frequented conspiracy sites were talking about strange events that were rumored to have happened there too. He'd even been shown grainy video of a man supposedly using magic to lay waste to one of the armies. Others in the office made fun of them of course. You could do anything with video editing and effects these days. But Connor knew all too well that magic was very real. He'd seen Giovanni use fire to burn that Ijiraq. He'd seen Jensen freeze it, just before Aria cut its head off. He pushed away the twinge of guilt at thinking of her name. The video was real. He knew it. He could vaguely make out the face. There was nothing really familiar about it, though that didn't surprise him. The world had changed. Soon the facts would be undeniable.
A part of him smiled at that thought. Once this gets out, those bastard Atharim won't be able to just put down people like they used to! Then, maybe, people like Ayden or Jensen could use their experience to teach, so that kids like Hayden and Katya didn't have to die. That would be good thing. A great thing.
He went to the workstation and when he jostled it, it woke up and he saw the images he'd expected on the wall instead floating across her display. Of course. She lived in a virtual world. That's where she displayed her loved ones. This was her true home. He felt some sense of reverence as he shut it down and boxed it all up.
He let himself out- the super was gone. Not a very good one at all, he thought, To let a stranger take whatever he wanted. He'd said he was having trouble reaching the parents. Maybe he hoped the place would get robbed and remove some of the stuff he'd have to dispose of.
It was odd though, her parents. Connor really couldn't imagine them just leaving their daughter's stuff, sickness or no. A dark thought occurred to him. The Atharim. The article had been in the news. They would have seen it. Jamie had said that families had also disappeared. Anger welled up inside him. Is that what had happened? Now that Katya was dead, her family also needed to be killed as well? He was angry. Because of them, Hayden had died. And countless others. Even though he vehemently disagreed, he could see their rationalizing it. But to also kill the family? He was shaking his had in rage. It was not right. He hated the Atharim, hated their setting themselves up as judge, jury and executioner for society.
By the time he got back to his office, his rage had given way to frustration. He'd warned Tehya and Ayden. He really didn't know what else he could do. He set the computer up in the lab and booted it up. He used the administrator login that was built into every computer. Course, everyone here was an expert, so he expected layers of home-grown security before he'd be able to get into the machine and retrieve any of Paragon's files Katya had been working on. It took hours. He ate lunch and texted Ayden. She was going to be getting off soon and said she wanted to take a nap and that she'd see him later that night. He smiled thinking of her, then frowned. She was someone who needed protection from those Atharim. Shaking his head, he got back to work.
At around 4 he finally made it through the last layer and had full access. He started pulling the last files Katya ahd been working on. One of them was a large database that she had been decrypting. That wasn't on the list given to me of projects she'd been assigned. Then again, it wasn't uncommon for people like her to do side work. He thought about her apartment. If she did do side work, it sure didn't pay well. He was curious so he opened up the file.
What he saw was strange at first. Lots of names and locations and dates, along with other names tagged as "handlers". Next of kin. Status. And pictures. Many pictures. One of the pictures made him stop, scalp prickling. He looked around to make sure he was alone in the lab, and then clicked on the image. A larger version came up, along with more detailed information. Family, a bio, summary of evidence, danger assessment, last known location.
The face was unmistakable. It was Giovanni. But the name given was "Francesco Moretti". And there was also a "reborn god" confirmation and date. And a kill-order. He knew what this was. He shut the computer down immediately, his heart racing. If they knew he had it...He wondered at how Katya had gotten this. But it didn't matter. If someone knew he had it then he would be in danger. He thought about destroying the drive. But he just couldn't do it. He had proof in his hand. Evidence of the Atharim and their murders. Many of the entries had said "terminated" under status. He'd be willing to bet searches of those people would bring up suspicious deaths. He had a powerful weapon if he could just figure out how to use it. A voice nagged at the back of his head. He also needed to let Giovanni- Francesco, really- that he was in danger. Had Giovanni known what Aria was, how dangerous she was to him?
As he thought, he got out an old drive that was exactly the same as Katya's. He then zeroed out the drive, so that it would be irretrievable. He'd tell them that Katya had booby trapped her drive with a secret security program that he'd missed. She had been low level, so what she'd been working on would not really be too important. It's why they'd sent a relatively new guy like himself to get the system and retrieve the files in the first place.
Then he slipped her drive into his bag and walked to his desk and wrote up his report. At the end of the day, he headed out, bag in hand. He was very careful to be aware of his surroundings. It didn't appear anyone was following him. But his heartbeat raced anyway.
Edited by Connor Kent, Aug 27 2014, 03:55 PM.