Chapter 3: Retribution
I found myself in a log cabin seated between the cliffs and mountains of an evergreen forest. The cabin was large and spacious, with big bay windows in the main room facing out to a beautiful waterfall shrouded in a light rainy mist. The fireplace was glowing, breathing warmth into the entirety of the cabin while I walked from the kitchen to the living room across hard wood floors with a bowl of cheddar broccoli soup. I sat down in front of the fireplace, back up against a column, and took a spoonful of soup. It was warm and delicious, and the warmth of the fire and the beauty of the waterfall put me at ease. A part of me knew I was dreaming, and that same part didn't want to spoil the illusion as this was infinitely better than last night's horrible experience. I finished the soup and set it up on the low coffee table, not really moving away from the fire as it was so peaceful, and I was at ease.
I laid there for several minutes before getting up to wash the bowl out and return to the fire. As I walked through the wooden hall, I peeked into every open door with some sort of childlike wonder. I had never been to this place, curious as to what laid in the rooms and lofts in my mind. Through the first door was a cozy office room with an old computer terminal and several neatly-organized folder baskets. Felix would like a place like that, I thought to myself. Next, I passed a game room with wooden tables and shelves lined with board games, playing cards, dice, books and papers for tabletop role-playing games, with what looked like seven player sheets ready to go. The room across from that was a sort of family room, with two brown fabric couches along the back and side walls, surrounding another coffee table. In the corner was what appeared to be a large dog bed. I wondered when I would see the dog.
The following room stood out, it was a small concrete room with a glowing blue rift in it. It reminded me of the ones Felix uses to get in and out of New Infinity, and it piqued my interest. I got the bowl to the sink, set it in there (I shouldn't have to wash my own dishes in a dream), and walked back. The door this time was shut, curiously. I opened the door and stepped inside. The cold concrete floor was a far cry from the warm wooden floors throughout the rest of the massive cabin, but still I explored. There was nothing else of interest in the room, so I ultimately decided it was worth my interest to step into the rift.
On the other side of the rift, I found myself back in the main room of the cabin. I turned around, there was nothing else behind me but the bay window again. I walked back through the hall and found the door to the concrete room again, this time it gave me some trouble opening it but finally I could shove it open, and on the other side was that rift again, this time I could catch a glimpse of someone stepping into it. I rushed after them, only for the rift to dump me back in front of the fireplace. I was conflicted, I did just want to lay in front of the fire again, take in the warmth, but at the same time I needed to know what was going on with that rift, where would it take me, why did it only put me back here, where was it supposed to go? One last time, I told myself as I stepped back into the hall and approached the door.
This time, the door was open just a crack, and as I stepped inside I found the room was colder than before, the floors were a bit damp, and the rift glowed not as brightly. I stepped into it, afraid of what it all might be, but once more I found myself in the main room. I gave a sigh of frustration, followed by feeling myself give into the warmth of the fire. I laid down in front of the fireplace, curling up and watching the fire crackle and the embers glow, and found myself falling deeper asleep.
Suddenly, a heard a whispering voice. “What are you after in that rift, Ash?” it said.
“Mmm, I dunno, it's gotta lead somewhere,” I responded quietly.
“Does it? Does it need to point in a direction? Is misdirection a direction?”
“Well,” I yawned, “sorta, all rifts go somewhere, that's what Felix said. Maybe.”
“But what if they did lead somewhere? Where are you now?”
I couldn't respond to the voice, I felt too sleepy to move. “Get up, Ash.”
Suddenly, I got myself back up and stepped towards the window again. The waterfall was farther back in the woods, but shot up much higher, and behind it was even more falls. “Whoa,” I said.
“This is the type of power, the type of worlds we can see if you let Felix give me the power for that. You can feel like this every day.”
“I-- Ardy?”
“Uh, shit, wait, no--”
Suddenly, I woke up in my own bed. I sighed, cussing to myself. I kinda liked the cabin dream, at first. I really hoped that what had happened was just a dream, Ardy being able to manipulate people like that really bothered me. But with that in mind, I had a plan. It was risky as all hell, but it was a plan nonetheless.
I headed back to Felix's workshop as early as I can. “Oh hey, Ash!” he said, working on a computer he ripped open, “I'm replacing the internal battery, dropping some more RAM in here... I'm also thinking a sound card, maybe a Gravis...”
“Felix, is Ardy around?”
“No, he still hasn't turned up.”
“Well, he came to my house and tried to invite himself into my house!”
“Really?” he said, before reaching over to cross his name off a piece of paper.
“And that's not all, he then invaded my mind last night, he wanted me to get him access to your terminal!”
“Yeah, that one's no good.”
“You can disown him all you want, but I still fear he'll be after me night after night. So until you get rid of him, I'm done helping you with New Infinity.”
“I... really, Ash? I mean, I get it, it's just... this is really sudden...”
“I know, Felix, but I don't want to be harassed by this son of a bitch in my dreams every night, so I've gotta sever ties to you.”
“Wait, you said kicking him will be enough? Well here, let's do that right now.”
He quickly hooked the computer he was working on into a monitor and then into his terminal, and used a pen to press the little power button inside the computer. The screen came to life, and he nodded his head in excitement. He quickly worked his way through the lists until he came across Ardy's files, and then typed in a command to delete them.
Nothing happened. The files stayed put, then started duplicating themselves. Felix tried deleting each one individually, trying to move them to a floppy disk, but nothing was working. “Whaddya think you're doin' here, Ash? You just gave Felix your letter of resignation!”
I screamed, and Felix shot up out of his chair. “Ardy, I am appalled at your treatment of Ash! You are not allowed in my workshop from now on!”
“I don't need your workshop, my man, just check this out.”
Ardy produced a Modifier, and Felix quickly reached for his own under his desk. I rushed Ardy to knock him down, to pin him and give Felix a better shot, but suddenly he was gone. “You think you're so clever, huh?” he said from the base of the stairs.
Felix clicked Ardy with the Modifier and started tapping away at its screen, but nothing happened. “Why isn't this working?” he asked.
“Missing something, Felix, like, say... administrator approval?” Ardy replied.
“Wh... you... you hacked into New Infinity and gave yourself admin status?” Felix said as he started to walk towards Ardy.
“Me? No! I thought you'd like to meet your old boss again. Recognize the initials, RD?”
“R... no...”
“See ya, pals, it's been fun, but...”
Ardy suddenly vanished, and Felix rushed to power down the computer he was working on, and ran to his terminal. Suddenly, he was stopped by a tall, skinny man in a black longcoat with slicked back hair standing at the terminal. His face kind of reminded me a bit of Twitch a little bit. The man looked down on Felix, who seemed much shorter in his presence. “Hello... riftwalker.”
“Uh, Roland, uh, thi—this isn't what it looks like, Roland, I swea--”
“Silence! You know how long it's been, Mr. Felix. It's been, oh, I dunno... eleven years? That sounds right to you, Mr. Felix? It sounds right to me...”
“Uh... R—Mr. Demetrius, if I can just make one thing very clear, thi--”
“If I myself can make one thing perfectly clear,” Roland said, kicking Felix to the ground before squatting down in front of him, “you didn't leave the company in any of the manners I approved of. You left with company secrets. This right now isn't about theft of our software, this is about you leaving with knowledge of what we have done. We offered you a choice, Mr. Felix, when you left the company, you didn't take any of our options. We are ashamed to admit, sir, that you cost what's left of the company millions just to track you down, and I myself cannot wait to get my retribution in, sir.”
I started walking backwards up the stairs quietly, but Roland suddenly snapped to look in my direction and pointed at me, taking a step forward. “You, ma'am!”
“Uh-- M... uh...”
“Enough! What has this man told you about our company, our software?”
“I, uh... that it exists?”
“Someone is holding onto something, I can tell. Luckily, we have ways to get information out of people, and you're standing in one of them right now.”
He picked Felix up by the collar, then handed him a gun. “Mr. Felix, you will shoot this girl.”
“I... Ash? No, no, I could nev-- Roland, please, just let her go!”
“Enough! You will shoot her unless she tells me more.”
“I... I'll shoot he-- no, no! I can't!”
Felix was pointing the gun right at me. Roland looked in my direction. “It's amazing how much power over the mind a digitized private sector like this can hold, after all it does use the human mind as a co-processor, enough force and persuasion and you'll believe anything. Well, anything a system administrator tells you is correct when they give themselves that power. Now, tell me what you know of the Happy Infinity Company now, or I will order Felix to shoot. Mr. Felix, line up the shot, right between the eyes.”
“Ash, I... Ash, please, just run! Run!”
“Well,” I said, looking Felix in the eye, “for starters you're definitely not very happy people if you're anything to go by.”
“Fine, I'll shoot you myself,” he said, taking a giant revolver out of his coat, “this thing was designed for hunting elephants, I imagine it'd paint the walls rather well with you. Mr. Felix, you will shoot her on the count of 3, or I will shoot you as well. One...”
“Fine, Felix has literally just told me that he used to work for you, left, he gets hung up about it sometimes, he knew someone named Felis, and that's about where the story ends!”
“Two... More, ma'am, I need to know more.”
“Ash, just run! I'll handle this, you know I can!”
“Three!”
“Please, Mr. Demetrius, she already told you more! Just let her go!”
Roland immediately turned and pointed his gun at Felix, who gave him an absolutely mortified stare before activating the safety of his gun, dropping the magazine, pulling the slide back to eject its round, and setting it down. Roland grinned at Felix, before turning back in my direction with his revolver. “Spare the girl?... Mr. Felix, I'd call that the dumbest idea anyone who worked for me has come up with. I think I'll just shoot her no—what?”
I had already begun rushing up the stairs, and I pushed the door open before deciding to hide instead. I rushed into the library and hid in the back corner, behind a couch, listening carefully as the front door slowly came closed again. “So the girl ran off... we'll conduct a sweep, then, but you, Mr. Felix, you're going to stay here for the time being, you will show me what you have done to my software, let me access your terminal and... is this it? You riftwalkers fascinate me, get with the times! You will let me access your terminal, and make the transition as smooth as possible. But by the end of this you will make good on your contract. The only ways out are a lobotomy, hard labor, or an assisted suicide. You will be presented those options on the 1st of October, and will have until the end of the day to make your choice or I... will make it for you.”
“Yes, Mr. Demetrius...” Felix sighed.
I heard the clack of keys, and started carefully walking back to the front door, careful to open and close it as to avoid making noise. From there, I ran home, and as I got inside, I saw a swarm of men in red suits round the corner.
“Hey, Ash,” Alex said.
“Alex, Felix was captured. The man who was always stalking around outside our yard brought in Felix's old boss who wants to take over the town.”
“Wh...”
Suddenly, there was a forceful pound at our door. “Happy Infinity Company! Open up!” shouted the man at the door.
I ran upstairs as Alex opened the door. “Hello, sir, we are with the Happy Infinity Company, we need to conduct a sweep of your house.”
“Get bent,” Alex said, and I cheered his forceful rejection.
“Sir, we now own this property.”
“Prove it. Felix told my mother the house, the yard was all hers.”
“We... we'll get the head of the company on the phone for you.”
There was a pause. “What do you want?” Growled Roland over a speakerphone.
“This is 8063, we just want approval that we have clearance to sweep any and all houses in, eh... 'New Infinite'.”
“Yes, you have approval.”
“There you are, sir.”
“Okay,” Alex said, “Who was that?”
“Roland Demetrius, acting president of the Happy Infinity Company.”
“I don't know who that is. Maybe that's just some guy.”
“Sir, please cooperate.”
“No, I don't need to. Now, if you will kindly get bent.”
“But I--”
Alex closed the door in their face and waited a moment. “What, are they looking for you?” he said.
“Yeah, I ran off, that guy on the phone was going to kill me.”
“What the hell did you do?”
“I don't know.”
“Well, they're gone. Hey, if you want, I can make you a bowl of soup.”
“Um... no thanks, but do we have sandwich stuff?”
“Uh, we have Italian herbs and spices cream cheese and some pastrami, a few sub rolls.”
“Sounds like a sandwich to me. Thanks, Alex.”
“Ah, anything for my sister, but you'll need to tell me what the hell happened.”
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