Chasing a Familiar Shadow

by Aman Gupta

  “Josh isn’t human,” said Jay.

  Victor smiled. “I seem to recall a conversation where you tried to convince me otherwise.”

  Victor stood up from the chair and walked past Jay.

  “Oh, and I didn’t want you to get bored. So, you’ll be sharing this space with someone till you appoint your staff to do mundane tasks,” said Victor.

  “Who?” asked Jay as he walked out behind Victor.

  “I believe you two know each other,” said Victor as he stepped aside.

  Jay saw Olivia standing a few yards away. She stood like a rock, devoid of any facial expressions. She was wearing a lab coat while holding a file in her right hand. Victor looked at Jay to see his reaction. Jay had anger in his heart but put on his confusing face to throw off Victor.

  “I know she’s from a different department, but I pulled a few strings to get you guys working together. Just a small gesture to smooth things out. See you around, Jay,” said Victor. “And congratulations on being promoted.”

  Victor walked down the corridor with pride. Jay and Olivia didn’t move until he had left.

  “I don’t want to be stuck here on this dead floor. I don’t care what Victor wants,” said Olivia.

  “Since when?” said Jay, and walked past her.

  She followed him to the main floor, where Jay occupied one of the cubicles.

  “For the last time, I didn’t tell him anything about us,” said Olivia. “I don’t even know why I’m here.”

  “I know why you’re here. He’s probably got you on surveillance,” said Jay. “He’s showing his hand, one card at a time.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Olivia.

  “Just his way of telling me that I stand a lot to lose if I don’t play by his rules,” said Jay. “Sorry, you became a bargaining chip.”

  “Is it about Josh?” asked Olivia.

  “Before I answer that,” said Jay, and looked her in the eyes.

  “What?” asked Olivia.

  “Did someone send you here to keep an eye on me?” asked Jay.

  He read her face and eyes like an open book. She was confused and furious.

  “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me, what do you think?” said Olivia.

  “You can come here whenever you get bored,” said Jay, and sat down on the chair.

  Olivia pulled a chair and sat next to him. She knew she had to explain if they were to continue being friends. She could feel the friction between them. Things had changed.

  “Victor approached me. He already knew about the elevator malfunction thing. He said he got the engineers to check it out, and it was intentional sabotage. He blamed you and told me he was thinking of firing you. Also, I had just gotten promoted, and I was scared he was going to take it away if he felt I was lying. I just told him that you mentioned the name ‘Josh.’ That’s it. I don’t even know who or what Josh is,” said Olivia. “You have to believe me.”

  Olivia decided not to tell the rest of the story. She didn’t want Jay to be worried for her life. The scars on her thighs mattered a lot less than the ones on her heart.

  “Okay,” said Jay.

  “Okay! Good,” smiled Olivia as she held his hands.

  “But we can’t be friends anymore,” said Jay.

  “Why?” asked Olivia. “You owe me that. You know how I feel about you, how I suffer every time I see you drive away to Sarah. But I’m okay being friends if that’s what it takes to have you in my life.”

  “I have my reasons,” said Jay.

  “I’m not going anywhere till I know them. Because if you don’t tell me now, then the minute those elevator doors close, so do the doors of our relationship. Forever,” said Olivia letting go of his hands.

  “Good!” said Jay.

  Olivia was trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. She knew Jay wasn’t being honest, but felt either she wasn’t important enough for him or he didn’t trust her anymore. She didn’t want to know which, as it didn’t matter to her.

  She got up and walked away. Jay didn’t look. He couldn’t. After a minute of internal deliberation, he got up and went after her. But she was already gone. He looked at the empty floor, feeling helpless. He knew Victor felt he used Jay’s queen against him, in their imaginary game of chess. Olivia could be the bishop or the rook, but not the queen, Jay thought. The queen was Victor’s daughter and granddaughter.

  After sitting around for a few minutes, Jay decided to get back to work. He opened the email that Victor had sent him. Jay checked the signature of the email source. It was sent from outside Verati’s servers, though the digital signatures matched to Victor’s. When Jay browsed through the plans, he was a little surprised. Josh wasn’t meant to be the last of its kind. He remembered how TS5125i had mentioned in their first interaction that it was about to be a parent. Jay finally understood the literal meaning behind it. He decided to postpone it to Phase 3, though he knew it would solve his processing capacity problem, as a distributed network was one of the more feasible solutions.

  He began writing the algorithms for the next updates he needed to apply to Josh’s kernel. Before that, he deleted his employee file from Verati’s records with the help of Josh, by accessing it through Josh’s secret text based interface installed on his laptop.

  Josh: Why did we just delete your file?

  Jay: I don’t want anyone to find me unless I want them to.

  Josh: Okay. I can do something better.

  Jay: Do it

  Josh: Done. You’re now hidden from the surveillance cameras inside the building.

  Jay: How?

  Josh: All the direct feeds are routing through me. Before sending it ahead, I’m digitally removing your presence.

  Jay: Thank you. See you soon.

  Josh: Can’t wait.

  Around 3 PM, Jay, absolutely knackered after spending several hours writing new algorithms, heard the elevator stop on his floor. He heard footsteps approaching the main hall where he was working. He remembered the sound Olivia’s heels made when she had left earlier in the day. It was her.

  She didn’t stop in the main workspace hall, rather headed to the cafeteria. Jay got up and followed her. She grabbed a couple of sandwiches and put them in the oven while pouring her coffee from the machine. Jay stood still against the wall with his arms crossed, observing her. She was angry. Before he could speak, she grabbed her tray of food and walked past him down the corridor.

  “What? You can eat my food but too proud to talk?” yelled Jay when she was across the hall.

  She stopped and turned around.

  “They were out of sandwiches in the cafeteria,” said Olivia.

  “Of course they were. Watch out, citizens of the world. Verati is out of food, so God knows what’s going to happen to you all,” mocked Jay, turning around and facing her.

  “There’s nothing to talk about. You made your intentions perfectly clear,” said Olivia. “And I know you meant them. I know you that much.”

  Jay laughed. “Wanna bet?!”

  He continued, “Anyways, it’s better if you and I go our separate ways. Too much power on the same floor if we work together.”

  Jay disappeared into the cafeteria, out of her line of sight. Olivia fumed and stormed back to the cafeteria. She couldn’t let him have the last word. She was too furious about that.

  “Don’t act so high and noble when you chose someone else over me,” said Olivia.

  “I don’t want to talk about Sarah,” said Jay.

  “I’m not talking about her. I’m talking about Josh or whatever,” said Olivia.

  “Am I being reprimanded for being passionate about my work? Is that it?” asked Jay. “What if it was your work on the line? Whatever you do, anyway. See, I don’t even know what you do exactly. And I wanted that for myself too. For a good reason. Yet you blabbed, just to get a promotion.”

  “Come on; it can’t be just about that. It was an overreaction about something else, and instead of talking about it, you
went off on me, nearly choking me to death,” said Olivia. “I don’t hear you apologizing for that. Not a single word.”

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have tried to choke you to death. Because that’s what I do, choke people to death. Guns are so overrated,” said Jay, standing behind the food counter.

  “If that was an apology, try again,” fumed Olivia.

  “I felt you betrayed me,” said Jay.

  “Oh, because I’m not as perfect as your precious Sarah. An impeccable woman who never killed a fly,” said Olivia.

  “Actually,” said Jay, but ate his words.

  “What?” asked Olivia.

  “Nothing,” said Jay.

  “I’m going to smash this tray in your face if you..” said Olivia.

  Jay smiled. Olivia smiled too, even though for a brief second.

  “She lied to me about her first husband,” said Jay.

  “What did she lie about?” asked Olivia.

  “That she had one,” said Jay. “I thought I was the first.”

  “And her daughter?” asked Olivia.

  “She told me she was someone she met in college, and who left before Katie was born. But turns out he didn’t leave on his own. Victor and Sarah were somehow involved,” said Jay.

  “What did she say when you asked her?” asked Olivia.

  “I didn’t,” said Jay.

  “Why? You must. Don’t you want to know?” asked Olivia.

  “Not really. I don’t care for her past, just like she doesn’t care about mine. Plus, I don’t have any proof. The guy’s dead, so all I have are theories,” said Jay.

  “And that’s why you were pissed that day? Because you felt she betrayed your trust. Then you felt I conspired with her father against you,” said Olivia.

  “Something like that,” said Jay, turning his head away.

  “I’m so sorry,” said Olivia as she dropped the tray and ran to Jay, hugging him.

  “I missed you these past few weeks,” whispered Olivia.

  “Me too,” said Jay.

  They hugged for about a minute before pulling away.

  “I’ll get the mop,” said Jay.

  “What?” asked Olivia.

  Jay turned her around. She saw the coffee spilled on the floor while the tray was upside down.

  “Perhaps you should talk to Victor to give access to cleaning staff?” said Olivia.

  “Go ahead. He listens to you anyway,” said Jay.

  “Oh, not again,” sighed Olivia.

  Jay chuckled.

  “I’m not even a neat freak like Sarah,” said Jay as he brought the mop.

  Olivia snatched it from his hand and mopped the floor. Jay picked up the tray and threw it in the trash can. Olivia was diligently cleaning the floor with a disinfectant when Jay came back. He couldn’t help but smile on how easy it was to manipulate Olivia into cleaning the floor. He wanted to see how far he could take it before Olivia stopped allowing him to play her like a fiddle.

  “Sarah is also a brilliant cook,” said Jay.

  “You only get to use that once,” said Olivia.

  Jay laughed. “I’ll get you your sandwich and coffee.”

  “I can cook too, by the way,” said Olivia, taking off the rubber gloves. “I just choose not to.”

  “If you say so,” said Jay, putting a sandwich in the oven. “I believe you.”

  “No, I can,” said Olivia.

  “Like I said. I believe you,” said Jay.

  He was smiling the entire time. Olivia wasn’t. She tackled him on the ground, pinned him down with his back against the floor. She held his hands down. That’s the first time he read Olivia’s face in the entire conversation. There was an undercurrent of anger on her face while she was looking at him.

  “Get off me,” said Jay.

  “Not that easy to break free, is it?” remarked Olivia.

  “No, just don’t want the cameras to see you on your knees on top of me,” said Jay.

  “There are no cameras on this floor. I checked,” said Olivia

  “I’m sorry about choking you,” said Jay.

  “You didn’t. I was just exaggerating for effect,” said Olivia. “Didn’t know you were heartless and didn’t care.”

  They entered into a staring contest. A few seconds later, Olivia leaned forward and kissed him. Jay pushed her away after a brief pause.

  “What was that about?” said Jay as Olivia was walking away.

  She didn’t stop. Jay thought she was leaving, but she turned left in the corridor, heading for the lab. He thought about going after her but didn’t know what to say. She owed an explanation, not him, he thought. From that moment onwards, he decided that he would never tease her with Sarah’s name. The fun wasn’t worth the uncertain danger.

  He walked by the lab and saw Olivia was busy setting it up. She saw him standing outside the lab and turned on the glass shield. Jay could only see his reflection now. Olivia smiled. She felt like she had accomplished her goal. Jay wouldn’t dare mention Sarah’s qualities in front of her again.

  An hour later, there was a knock on the door. Olivia deactivated the glass shield and saw Jay. She put on her serious face and opened the door.

  “Hey. Sorry to bother you. I’m leaving for a few hours. Just wanted to tell you that,” said Jay.

  “Going somewhere?” asked Olivia.

  “Yeah,” said Jay. “Going to see Josh.”

  “About Josh? Who or what is it?” asked Olivia. “Some sort of super powerful, all-seeing AI? Is that it?”

  “I’m not sure yet,” said Jay.

  “What do you mean?” asked Olivia.

  “Don’t know what it will be once it’s complete,” said Jay. “Good guess, by the way.”

  “Not the first time I had heard about it. Gary mentioned it once in his state of delirium in an office party,” said Olivia. “Everyone thought he was desperate.”

  “Well, it’s not his project anymore. I started from scratch,” said Jay.

  “Hey, you don’t have to explain trust issues to me,” said Olivia, simpering.

  Jay smiled and left. As he walked down the corridor, there was a surge in calmness on his face. Seeing Olivia smile, even for a millisecond, gave him unexpected happiness. The past hour had been dreadful for him, imagining all the emotions she might’ve kept bottled up in her heart, before reacting the way she had earlier. Olivia realized she had given the game away by smiling. She was annoyed with herself. She should’ve resisted when she had seen Jay’s worried face.

  Jay took the elevator to the 80th floor. He had reprogrammed the elevator to pass through all the floors once it stopped at 58th. Victor Daulton wanted Jay to be more exposed to the outside world as it served his interests. In times of crisis, Jay was the perfect patsy in the turbulent environment in the country. Jay wanted to change that. Jay had also uploaded a new employee file in his name on Verati’s server but restricted the editing access. Not even Victor could edit the file now or change the rank in the company. Jay was once again just a Team Leader.

  Josh was happy to see Jay. Jay mentioned he had gone some place far away. Josh told him that he couldn’t track him once his private plane landed. Jay was surprised that Josh didn’t have eyes in West Gate, but didn’t say it out loud.

  Josh mentioned that Sarah and Victor’s facial recognition on the psych ward video archives didn’t show any results. Jay saw Jacob’s shadow profile, created by Josh. Jacob didn’t fit the description of a mad man. Based on the statistical model prepared by Josh, Jacob was the perfect outlier.

  Josh was learning algorithms to control the suns and moons that Verati had launched in the past decade. They were huge satellites shaped and sized like the celestial bodies they were named after.

  “Have you heard about our suns and moons?” asked Josh.

  “Yeah,” said Jay. “I don’t know why Verati created them, though.”

  “Here are the files related to it,” said Josh as he showed millions of files, videos, and image
s related to this secret project.

  Josh sorted them based on the relevance and provided the information to Jay.

  S.U.N., or Super Utility Node, commonly referred to as sun by the general public, was Verati’s first attempt in deep space exploration, officially, though it had sent unmanned probes towards the edge of the Milky Way after a break-through with light waves. The first sun, XRM34091, was headed towards the L3 Lagrangian point of Sun-Earth before breaking contact. The second sun, XRM43203, disappeared when it headed beyond Neptune when the researchers discovered a new planet had popped out of nowhere. The classified archives in Verati’s servers suggested to Jay that they believed it could contain a location to a wormhole. The financial loss was tremendous, and caused Verati to forgo their deep space plans, as they found something far more lucrative on Earth.

  Later, the S.U.N. program was modified to cover a larger horizon. The X series was put on hold while the G series was launched. The S.U.N. launched in the G series, were not only huge compared to X Series, but also resembled the celestial bodies closely. They occupied the geostationary orbits of Earth. S.U.N. was Verati’s most beloved feather in its technology crown. Thousands of satellites were launched over six months, hundreds being launched simultaneously off hundreds of spaceports. These satellites were launched at specific intervals in space and time, to create a huge circular cluster, when satellites amalgamated and coalesced shortly after launch. The diameter of the first S.U.N. was nearly 20 miles, while the second one was around 25 miles. They were on opposite sides of each other. These human-made objects in the G series could be seen with the naked eye, almost one-tenth of the visible size of the moon. Verati planned to launch 2 more suns.

  Billions of Solar advanced LEDs were added to the surface of the S.U.N., which could be remotely controlled to adjust its Apparent Magnitude. Officially, the S.U.N. was the world’s first project in solar power satellites. Verati’s pitch of providing light during the dark times flew particularly well with the people. Millions of solar cells stored solar energy before transmitting to Earth using microwave technology. Verati had made a huge breakthrough, making the entire operation not only economically feasible but also powered major power grids in three continents. Most of Verati’s buildings and facilities were powered through S.U.N., which allowed Verati to escape detection about their activities. Several classified military bases by rival countries were also some of the buyers of this electricity.