by Box Set
Beyond that was a small dining table, and beyond that, taking up the entire back wall of the space, was the kitchen.
Aaron padded over the wood floor and opened a cabinet. Wine glasses and coffee mugs. Fancy.
The kitchen set up was professional and spectacular and paid such attention to detail that he suspected Katie had spent a long time on it, and probably liked to cook in real life. He’d have to ask her about that, if she started talking to him again.
There was a pattern on the largest wall in the kitchen, dark grey over light. He stepped closer. Nope, couldn’t make it out, so he stepped back. Then a little more. Oh! It was words. The entire wall was covered in words. He looked up and to the left, searching for the start of it.
“We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained…” He read the words aloud, and his chest clenched.
It was John F. Kennedy’s speech at Rice University. Better known as the “We choose to go to the moon speech”. It was, hands down, one of the most influential and inspirational speeches he’d ever heard. One of his favorites.
He’d never mentioned that to Katie. She’d added this herself, knew him well enough to have guessed what it might mean to him.
But there hadn’t been a note with this strange gift. No guidance as to how to take this. Was it a commentary on his lack of furniture? An invitation to get in touch with her? A parting gift along the lines of “have a nice life?”
Okay, he couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to see the bedroom. Maybe there, he’d find an answer.
Running back to the entryway he sprinted up the stairs to the second floor loft that hosted his bedroom and master bath.
When Katie had seen the real bedroom, it had a mattress and not much more. Now the space was transformed.
He glanced around hurriedly, hoping for another surprise, another sign.
There was a flat screen across from the bed, which itself was covered with a thick comforter and some fluffy pillows.
One whole wall featured a custom wood closet with open shelves filled with neatly folded clothes and accessories.
He spun, taking it all in again a second time.
It was nice, but kind of…sterile?
Disappointment coiled in his gut, and he realized, with some reluctance, that he’d been ridiculously hoping that he’d see Katie lying on the bed when he walked in. That was absurd, of course. But at the very least it would have been nice to have seen some element of her in this room, some sign that this world she’d created for him would have her in it.
But it didn’t seem so. It was a bachelor’s room.
Aaron walked back down the stairs. There, by the door, there was a small little seating area he’d missed.
Another comfy chair, a side table with a book and a glass of Prosecco.
Katie liked Prosecco.
He looked closer.
The chair was covered in a tartan fabric, the same colors and style as the skirt she’d worn in the highlands. He heard purring, so bending low, he peeped under the chair. There was a fluffy black digital cat snoozing underneath. He stood back up, and eased himself softly down onto the chair. No telling how that virtual cat would react to be woken up.
Was this the sign? he wondered. A black cat and plaid upholstery?
He glanced up, and noticed a piece of framed art he hadn’t seen before.
“The only way to predict the future is to invent it.”
The first line of the speech he’d given the night they met.
Aaron hadn’t coined the phrase, but it didn’t matter, the sentiment spoke to him on the deepest level.
He hopped up and walked back to the kitchen wall. John F. Kennedy had ended his speech with “We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Aaron had always agreed with that too. When it came to tech, to innovation and development, to pushing his company and his people to the limits of their abilities, he firmly believed in those words. If you aren’t scared, then you aren’t pushing yourself, he told them. If you aren’t pushing yourself, you aren’t growing. If it’s hard, then good, you know you’re on the right track, because nothing worth doing was ever easy.
Fuck.
That was it.
She may not have intended to, but Katie had left him a sign after all.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Boss man,” the voice buzzed in his ear. “You’ve gotta stop falling asleep in here dude.”
Aaron bolted upright and opened his eyes. Oh, he still had his visor on. He looked around for Aiko and didn’t see her.
“What? Where are you?”
“In my rocket ship in Celestia City, where are you? I stopped by the castle, you weren’t there.”
“Then how did you know I was asleep?” he said.
“Lucky guess. Dude, teleport me over to where you are, I can’t stand this voice chat, it’s like being on the phone or something.”
“Yeah well the phone was a pretty impressive invention you know, kind of changed the world and stuff.”
“Whatever, teleport please.”
He thought for a minute, looked around the bedroom Katie had decorated and decided that even though Aiko was a dear friend, he didn’t feel like sharing this.
“No, I’m logging out,” he said. “I’ll see you at the office.”
“Can’t wait,” she said, and Aaron could hear her chewing on something. “I’m home, I’ll just come up to the penthouse.”
“Right, bring some of whatever you’re eating please. I’m starving.”
Aiko arrived with two bagels (one half eaten) and an enormous paper cup of black coffee. She grabbed the One Eyed Turtle mug that was sitting on the counter, dumped in half her coffee, and handed it, and the half eaten bagel, to Aaron.
Aaron frowned, traded the half eaten bagel for the untouched one and took a big bite.
“Worth a shot,” she said, shrugging. “I get kind of greedy when it comes to bagels.”
“You get kind of greedy when it comes to all food,” said Aaron. “So let’s sit down and…” he trailed off when he realized he was heading into an empty living room. His brain must still be sleep addled. For a moment he’d really thought there was a green sectional in there.
“Okay.” Aiko hopped up on the kitchen counter and swung her feet as she drank coffee. “So listen,” she said. “What’s that word, the one that writers use for the end of stuff?”
“What?”
“You know!” Aiko waved a hand in the air. “Like for the end of a play or–”
“Oh…finis?”
“No like the final part of something, when everything comes full circle and it’s all tied up in a neat little bow. The last–”
“Denouement?” asked Aaron, raising an eyebrow. What the hell was she going on about?
“That’s it!” Aiko pointed at him. “Deh-noo-mah. That’s the word. Right. Okay, so I’ve got my denouement, or our denouement rather.”
“Aik,” he said, rubbing his forehead with frustration. “What are you talking about? I thought this was important.”
“It is.” Aiko took a bite of bagel and nodded. “I’ve got our hacker.”
Aaron stared at her.
“That hacker. You know, back when we first met. Ages ago. You know, Jack thought Calvert Consulting was being hacked, but we traced it back to his nightclub Glow, and really it wasn’t about Glow at all, they were trying to hack Lux, but really it wasn’t about Lux either, they were trying to get to you because…” She waved both hands at him frantically as if the movement would jumpstart his memory.
“Yeah, right,’ said Aaron. “At the time you said it was–”
“A ham-handed attempt by newbie hackers on a fishing expedition hoping they stumbled onto something good.” Aiko finished for him. “Yep.”
“I thought it was already over.” Aaron shrugged. “They didn’t get anything, we patched our security hole. Done.”
“Oh my sweet naive little
angel.” Aiko shook her head at him. “It was never over, not until I caught the bastards.”
“Okay, so you’re saying you caught the bastard.”
“Yep.” Aiko nodded smugly. “I did. Because, those ham-handed newbs struck again. Last night.”
Aaron bit back a curse.
“Nope, it’s good news. Now just listen to me though, let me get it all out, before you fly off the handle.”
“Fly off the handle?” He grimaced. “Why would I…Aik you are trying my patience here–”
“Last night, Katie’s laptop glitched out while she was in HL. She thought it was just Rupert’s big ass, so whatever, she went to bed.”
“Okay…”
“I on the other hand, was not sleeping last night, for…reasons. So I was up, watching the code.”
“You’re so weird.”
“I find it soothing, and stop interrupting.”
“Fine.”
“So anyhow, I saw the glitch when it happened and something just–”
“You saw the glitch on a single user account exactly when it happened?” Aaron looked at her skeptically. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Okay I was watching the code for you and Katie, hoping I’d catch you guys making up. But you’re both dumbasses, and that didn’t happen. There. Happy now? Can I continue?”
Aaron pursed his lips and nodded.
“So I saw the glitch. It was an attempt to hack her avatar’s user information. Everything. Passwords, credit cards, archived files.”
“Archived files?” said Aaron. “Did they get anything?”
“Nope. Because I quarantined her profile. What she thought was the glitch was actually me taking over her account and beating back the hack.”
“What about our automated security, why didn’t it see the attack?”
Aiko grinned. “Get this,” she said. “Because the attack was happening from her own computer.”
Aaron stared at her.
“Okay see, I saw the activity on her account and it was all too organized, too fast to have been coming from a human user. But to our security it looked organic. We don’t have anything set up to monitor user activity like that, we assume people doing shit to their own accounts are doing it on purpose.”
“Right, I know.” said Aaron. “But we’ll look for it now. First thing when I get in we’ll have the security team create a new protocol for this.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” said Aiko. “But in this case, Katie’s laptop was directly compromised. She was targeted. Personally.”
“Why?” said Aaron. “Because of me?”
Everything Katie had been through, having her photo splashed all over the tabloids and TV, called a slut, a cheater, having Celestia disparaged and her named dragged through the mud, it was just one more thing. Now someone had broken into her home and….Shit.
“Is she okay?” he asked. “Aiko, how did they get to her laptop? Did someone break in? Is she safe?”
“She’s safe. Malcolm and Jack are on top of it. I left Katie’s house this morning. She gave us her laptop and we ran diagnostics on the rig-bay. Luckily, the asshole didn’t realize it was even there. What a total fuckwit. He’s playing around with spyware on a USB stick while she’s upchucking in the bathroom, meanwhile there’s thousands of dollars in state-of-the-art VR tech hiding in the guest bedroom.”
“What?”
“Katie’s ex-boyfriend,” said Aiko. “Steven Mayer, CEO of Galaxus Games is our villain my friend. How’s that for a surprise ending?”
“I don’t understand.” Confusion and anger churned dangerously in his gut. He was feeling very much like he wanted to punch something. “Steven Mayer planned all this somehow? From the beginning?”
“Ha!” Aiko took a few long seconds to laugh dramatically and clutch at her stomach. “Ha! No. No. No. The guy is not that smart. He just got lucky with the Katie/HyperLyfe connection. It was whack-a-mole. He’s been running hacks on a lot of companies, trying to see what might pan out.”
“Why?”
“Bank records show he’s been running Galaxus into the ground and also probably stealing from it and trying to launder some cash on the side. Galaxus went to shit after Katie left. They have no product anymore, so instead of make something new, something good, he’s been trying to steal product from someone else. Katie said he recognized her design style when he saw Celestia on the live streams. We talked to the creeper photographer in Lux and the paparazzo guy, and they both gave up Mayer. Said Mayer was trying to find out what else Katie was working on. She figures he either wanted to steal it or try to hire her back. But once Mayer got the idea that you and Katie were an item–”
“Mayer thought he could use her to get something from me somehow.”
“Yup.’
“So he went to her apartment.”
“Yup.” Aiko nodded. “And snuck some spyware on her computer when she wasn’t looking.”
“And you and Jack and Malcolm just figured this all out…how?”
“No more questions Eldridge.” Aiko sighed. “Do not make me lie to you, it’s boring.”
“Right.”
“All you need to know is that Aiko’s magic has once again, saved the day. Steven Mayer is our guy.”
“I never liked that boy,” signed Barb. “He’s rude, and his eyes are too close together.”
Katie laughed as she dragged her Mother’s suitcase to the door.
“I know mom,” she signed. “You used to say it all the time, to his face.”
“Well, a nice boy would learn sign language if his girlfriend’s mother is deaf.” Barb put her hands on her hips and nodded smugly. “Then he would have known I was talking shit to his face.”
Katie nodded along in agreement, stepped forward, and pulled her Mother into a tight hug. After a moment, Barb pulled back and cupped her daughter’s face in her hands, kissing her on both cheeks.
“You sure you want to leave so late?” Katie signed. “You can stay another night.”
“No,” Barb signed. “I need to water the plants. And it’s not that late. I’ll get back before ten.”
Katie frowned and Barb patted her cheek. “I’ll call when I get there,” she signed. “And remember, I’m coming back up in June.”
“Okay,” signed Katie. “And I’ll come up for Christmas.”
“I want a rig-bay,” signed Barb. “I know it won’t fit under the Christmas tree, but I think I have enough room in your old bedroom if I throw out all your stuff.”
“Hey!” Katie signed. “That’s just mean.”
Barb grinned, then pulled Katie in for another hug.
“Okay,” she signed. “Time to get on the road. Don’t forget–June. Make us an appointment at Lux.” She winked. “I think I’m ready for a boyfriend.”
“Oh my god, Mom! Seriously!”
Katie waved her Mom goodbye, and closed the door behind her. Rupert wove in and out of her feet as she walked to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.
Popping open her bottle of vitamins she took two, then did a mental systems check. Physically? She felt great. The flu was all gone, chased off by Barb’s doting care. Emotionally? She spent a little extra time on that check, carefully inventorying everything she was feeling.
Leaving the water on the counter, she went into her bedroom and took stock of her appearance in the full-length mirror behind the door.
When Aiko had shown up at her apartment that morning with the news that Steven had hacked her computer she was stunned. For about ten seconds. Then in one rumbling demolition, years of anger, humiliation and angst came crashing down.
She was so done with him, and every negative thing that she’d allowed him to do to her self-esteem.
Who cared what one pathetic ex-boyfriend thought of her?
As soon as all the facts were in, Aaron gave the go ahead to leak Steven Mayer’s criminal exploits to the press. The Gaming Channel and Game Hour in particular owed him a favor,
and he called it in. But he made them promise to run the story straight. The facts were bad enough, there was no need to pad the story with seedy details about Katie’s past relationship with Mayer, or whatever they suspected her current relationship was with Aaron.
Mayer turned out to be a tool. Before the special report was over, it was breaking news on every network, and Mayer had tried to flee the country with millions of investors’ dollars in cash in a carry-on suitcase in a borrowed jet.
The Feds met him in Boston. They had a list of things they wanted to talk to him about. Aiko had been right, Eldridge Innovations hadn’t been the only company he’d been trying to hack.
Aaron had the PR team announce he was taking twenty-four hours off from his VR streaming commitment. They spun it like he was needed for questioning.
Really, he just wanted to see Katie.
She still hadn’t sent him any messages. No texts, emails, phone calls, or in-world alerts, but his mother had always taught him to say thank you for a gift. So, after he finished talking to the Feds, he took his car across town to Katie’s building.
The way he figured it, when somebody made you a gift as thoughtful as a 3D interactive replica of your home, furnished with custom decor and a bitchin’ hot tub, you should probably thank them in person. With roses. And maybe some chocolates and a bottle of Prosecco.
The plan was to show up, hand over the gifts, say thank you, and just see what happened.
Aaron stood in the elevator of Katie’s apartment building and stared at himself in the polished metal walls. He needed a haircut, and the cold Prosecco bottle was condensing all over his suit. What should he say?
“Hi,” he mouthed at himself. “I’ve missed you.”
No, too much pressure.
“Thanks for the gift, here’s some junk food–”
The elevator stopped, the doors opened, and Aaron was face to face with a short dimpled woman that clearly shared a large portion of her genetic material with Katie Martinez.
This had to be her Mom.
