Greetings from my dorm room!
Sorry for not uploading earlier, There was a bunch of stuff that needed to be done before and during this week for college. But now I'm all situated in my nice lofted bed, ready to get back to cranking out more greatness
Although, that won't be a possibility for HOR anymore. You know why?
Two weeks ago, something happened in my life. It was a first for me, and I don't really know how to feel about it.
I finished HOR, the first story I ever finished.
What does this mean for you guys? Well, apart from the guarantee that you will see an end for HOR, not much is changing. I don't want to speed up the uploads, because I can use that time to work on To Be Human, as well as begin work on a SciFi story I've wanted to write for some time now, but didn't want to start it and forget about HOR. I've learned a lot from my work with HOR, and feel that the story will be better than anything I've written before. I don't have an ETA for that one yet, since I'm now in college, and I never begin uploading stories until they're about halfway complete.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, and you guys probably want to read the chapter now. Very well then, here you go.
Waking up for Alex felt like swimming through a river of thick mud; he only managed to do so inches at a time. Groaning, he carefully opened his eyes. He was in a hospital bed in a stark white room. Jessica and Dunham were sitting on a couch, their eyes closed as they dozed off. Wincing, Alex shifted as he struggled to remember how he'd gotten there. It suddenly came back to him in a rush. Being surrounded by Hackers; falling to the ground; the unending whine of the Hacker's virus. And then, nothing.
Panic ensued as he remembered what happened to Professor BA. "How, how long was I out?" He groaned.
Jessica woke instantly. Sobbing, she threw her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder.
"You idiot! What the hell were you doing?" She asked.
"It's a long story," Alex replied. "How long was I out?"
Jessica seemed not to hear him and continued sobbing into his shoulder.
"Jess, I need to know how long I was out," Alex pleaded. "Also, you're kind of crushing me."
That got here attention. She released him immediately and stepped back so suddenly, she tripped into Dunham, who was just getting up.
"Alex. Please tell me you're alright," Dunham pleaded, concern in his eyes.
"Will someone please tell me how long I was out for!" Alex said loudly before wincing as his right temple throbbed.
Jessica blinked in surprise. "Almost a day," She said.
Alex moved his arm to rub his eyes and noticed there was an IV in his arm. He felt the blood leave his face. "Tell me," he said, panic rising in his voice, "Why is there an IV sticking out of my arm?"
Dunham frowned. "Alex, the doctors didn't know when you'd wake up. They put that there to give you supplements to speed your recovery!"
"They could've done that by feeding it to me!" Alex argued, "They didn't have to stick me with a needle and just leave it there for all eternity!"
"Twenty hours isn't all eternity Alex," Jessica said, her arms folded, tears gone in an instant.
Alex smiled. Jessica was back to her normal self. Truth be told, the crying Jessica unnerved him. It was like she had lost control. Jessica never lost control.
At that moment, a doctor walked in, consulting a tablet. He looked up and did a double take when he saw Alex struggling into a sitting position. "Mr. Samson! It's good to see you awake."
"You and me both," Alex said. "What happened to me? My head is killing me."
"You suffered a Sub-periosteal hematoma on the right side of your skull from coming into contact with the headrest of your bed." The doctor said. "Nothing major, but it will hurt for a while. Quite frankly we didn't expect you to wake up for another couple of hours."
"I did what to my skull?" Alex asked, confused.
"You bruised your skull," Jessica said before swatting Alex's hand away from the tape holding the IV to his skin. "Fortunately, you have a thick one."
"I'd elbow you for that, but I think it'd hurt me more than it'd hurt you." Alex said irritably.
The doctor put the clipboard down. "Well, now that we know you won't be spending the weekend here, we no longer need this." He reached over to Alex's arm and yanked the IV out. Alex made a yelping sound as blood oozed out of the hole. The doctor placed gauze over it and taped it down. "You appear to be fine, but just to be safe, we're going to keep you overnight, if that's okay" he said. He left the room and closed the door quietly.
As soon as it was closed, Dunham turned on him. "Alright Alex, I want to know what you were doing when you fell and got knocked out" he said.
"I was working on homework and my seat gave way," Alex fibbed. "Next thing I know, I'm in here and Jessica is hugging the crap out of me." It was his default excuse that he had made in case something like this ever happened.
Dunham frowned. "Alex, we both know that you weren't doing homework. I we found you with a headset on and some sort of gloves. That doesn't sound much like homework to me."
"I, uh," Alex stammered. He hadn't expected his excuse to go down in flames so quickly.
"Alex, please. Tell us what you were doing?" Jessica pleaded. "We just want to know."
Alex looked at his twin and realized that he couldn't lie to her. Not this time; and maybe not ever again. He repositioned himself in the bed and told them the story. Everything.
At the end, Dunham folded his arms and sighed. "Alright Alex, now please tell me what you were really doing on the computer."
"You mean you don't believe me?" Alex said shocked. He had expected them to be shocked by the story, maybe even a little awed. But certainly not disbelieving.
"Alex, it was a nice little tale that would certainly make good internet fiction, but it just doesn't add up. If there really are hackers on this game of yours, why haven't the people who run it been notified. And furthermore, how were they able to infect your computer with a virus. If I remember correctly, your father installed state of the art antivirus programs the day you got it."
Alex pursed his lips. "Fine. If you don't believe me, I'll just have to bring in some further proof."
Ignoring Jessica and Dunham's protests and the throbbing headache emanating from his right side, Alex swung his legs off the bed and made his way to a computer sitting on a desk in the corner.
"You won't be able to get very far," Dunham warned. "They've got a website block system installed."
"Which works about as well as the ones on the computers at school" Alex said simply, already pulling up the main forums for Rune. The operating system was old beyond measure and the only browser available was Internet Explorer, but before long, Alex had pulled up the major discussions about the Hacker and Coder war. Opening tabs of several different threads he knew had juicy information, he presented them triumphantly to Jessica and Dunham.
After reading for what seemed like an eternity, Dunham finally turned to Alex. "Very well Alex," Dunham said, "let's say for the moment that what I you've shown me is true. Why haven't you told Jessica and me until now?"
"Well, partially because I feared this exact reaction," Alex answered. "The rest is that I knew that you'd disapprove."
"You are right Alex. I disapprove greatly" Dunham said irritably. "You have gone behind our backs, interacted with complete strangers, fought in a massive online war where winning has no real world benefits and for what? You ending up in the hospital with injuries? Why Alex? That's what I want you to tell me. Why are you doing this?"
Alex sighed. "As I told you, when I first met those two, I had no idea who they were, or what they were doing. I just immediately figured they were pretty nice guys. My ignorance caused someone who has already lost so much, to be in pain once more. How am I supposed to sleep at night, knowing that I caused that, and not do everything that I could to help fix the solution? I came in later, but I'm wrapped up in this just as much as the Coders are."
"But this is dangerous," Dunham argued. "Alex, if these Hackers have this kind of ability, then you could get seriously hurt. No, from what you've told me, you have been seriously hurt."
"Yeah it's dangerous," Alex agreed, "But so is Jessica's sports. She could easily be beaned in the head with a soccer ball and end up right where I am. We're not kids anymore Dunham. We're old enough to decide if we're passionate enough about something to accept the risks that come with it. Just like Dad when he created SAI. You think that didn't come with some risks?"
"Alex, you cannot compare what you are doing to your father's work," Dunham said, his voice just above a whisper. Alex knew this was a sign that Dunham was seriously angry, but also knew that if he let off on the pressure, he'd never get it back on.
"Look Dunham, all that I am saying is that he and I both put ourselves at risk because of something that we believe needed to be done."
Dunham looked away from him for the longest time. When he finally looked back, his face was devoid of emotion. "We will discuss your punishment when we get home." He said. "Needless to say, you will be forbidden from playing that game. For now though, get some rest, and get better."
"But-"
"I am not going to discuss this further with you Alex," Dunham said fiercely. "It's over."
It was after midnight and all was quiet in their room. Jessica and Dunham were sprawled on two foldable couches set up on the sides of the room. Alex was feigning sleep. He waited until the digital clock on the table next to the computer showed 12:45 when he slipped out of his bed once more and snuck to his pants, which were lying discarded on a chair next to his bed. Rummaging through the pockets, he searched for his phone. To his distress, it wasn't in there. He must've taken it out before he started playing Rune. Almost giving up hope, he was turning to reenter the bed when he blearily saw Dunham's phone on the desk. He grabbed it and slid into the bathroom, where he powered it up and entered his password. Fortunately, he knew for a fact that one of Dunham's favorite shows was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and that he loved the appearance of the Defiant. Typing in the ship's registry number, the phone opened up and he quickly accessed the messenger. He put in Sam and Garrett's numbers and sent them a quick text.
It's me Alex. Call me ASAP.
Within two minutes, the phone was buzzing with a call. Alex answered it and held it up to his ear.
"Dude, you okay? I tried calling earlier and they said you were in the hospital!" Garrett's voice crackled over the speaker.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Fell out of my chair and hit my head on my bed. My skull is bruised and I have a whopper of a headache, but I'm fine. Did you get out in time?"
Static washed through the speaker as Garret sighed. "They got us just as we logged out. Right now, Sam's trying to hold them off while at the same time wiping his hardrive and patching the back door, all at the same time."
Alex swore. "Hopefully they won't get in."
"I don't know man." Garret said, uncertainty creeping into his voice. "He hasn't slept the entire time. He hasn't eaten, and he's only drinking this mix of red bull and black coffee. He's got to go to the bathroom sooner or later."
"Great. Just great. Hey, has he gotten time to message Qilin about what's going on?" Alex asked.
"No, but Miles and Silent Stealth did." Garrett answered. "They both sent us messages earlier today."
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't particularly care for Qilin, but didn't want to see him or the Coders blind to the situation. "If something comes up, let me know, will you?" he asked.
"Sure thing."
"Thanks. I've got to go man, I don't know when Dunham will wake up."
"Gotcha. See you soon, hopefully."
Garret disconnected the line and the screen changed to the home screen. Alex was reaching for the sleep button when a notice popped up, showing an alert that Dunham had received a new message from the acting CEO of Samson Aviation. Curious, Alex pulled up the email app and opened the message
To: Dunham
From: jackrobinson
Subject: Homer Samson Sr.
To the Legal Guardian of Homer Alexander Samson Jr. and Jessica Mary Samson
Dear Sir,
It has come to our attention that tomorrow, the federal courts will be declaring Mr. Homer Alexander Samson Sr. legally dead. It is our intention to revoke his family's status as CEOs at that time.
After the aforementioned time, we will be sending an order to your residence requesting all Samson Aviation Industries items to be returned to the rightful owners. We do not wish for any strife or trouble and therefor ask that you and your charges comply peacefully. We will also be in contact with the banks that are currently holding Mr. Samson's funds and asking for those that belong to the company. We ask that you peacefully comply with this directive as well.
Failure to comply with deliberate speed and efficient manner will result in immediate legal action.
From the Acting CEO of Samson Aviation Industries,
Jack Robinson.
Trembling, Alex marked the email as not read once more, and powered down the phone. He stumbled out of the bathroom and somehow managed to return Dunham's phone to the desk without dropping it and making a clatter. He crawled into bed, tears running down his cheeks and pulled the covers over his head. So this was it. This was the moment he had been dreading for over a year now.
Dunham was right. It was over.
Alex sat in the waiting room while Dunham checked him out. He thought about telling Jessica about what he had seen, but decided against it. No sense in ruining anyone's day further.
He was broken out of his brooding by a cup of steaming coffee thrust into his vision. He looked up to see Dunham smiling down at him. "I had it prepared how you like it" he said.
Alex accepted the cup but remained silent. To his right, Jessica had a cup herself and was sipping graciously.
Dunham sighed. "Alex, I know that you're upset with me, but this is for the best. Your father wouldn't want me to let you continue doing this to yourself. If what you told me is true and people are being put in comas for months at a time because of this game, I think we can both agree that you got off extremely lucky."
Alex ignored him, opting to instead take a sip from his cup.
"Alright then, I see that you have chosen the silent treatment."
Half an hour later, they arrived at the house. Alex got out and took a good look at it. It might be one of the last times he got a chance to.
"Alex, I want you to go up to your room and bring all the electronics for that game of yours downstairs" Dunham commanded. "It's going to take a one way trip to the garbage can."
Alex grunted and made his way inside, already formulating several ideas on how he could sneak the gear back out of the garbage and into boxes when they inevitably packed up. He had just made his way into the kitchen when he saw something that froze him in his tracks and drop his cold cup of coffee. Hearing this, Jessica rushed into the kitchen, fearing her brother had collapsed. When she saw what he was looking at, she gave a squeak and covered her mouth.
Homer Alexander Samson Sr. was leaning against the breakfast bar, eating a bagel, and drinking from his own cup of coffee. He saw them and smiled. "Hello Alex, Jessica. How have you been the past year and a half?"
Seeyounextweekokaybyepleasedon'tkillme
ns 15.158.61.51da2
