Of Minds and Masters

by Paul Ormond

  “Where you going, Mitch Mythic? We’ve got some unfinished business, you and I,” Sage said while the other boys snickered beside him. “Grab him, Donnie, before he runs.”

  Donnie Henderson was a big guy and he grabbed Mitch by the arm from behind. Mitch tried to break free but Greg Curtis caught him by the other arm as well. He knew he was in trouble but he refused to look scared. He wasn’t afraid of Sage on his own but he knew that he didn’t stand a chance now. He stopped struggling and raised his head defiantly.

  “You think you got the best of me in the cafeteria, Mitch? Let me show you that I mean business. Let him go, boys,” Sage said. Donnie and Greg shoved Mitch from behind and he stumbled forward and landed on his knees. As he tried to get to his feet, Sage hit him hard in the chin and he went down again. Mitch tried to lift himself up but Sage kicked him hard in the ribs. “That’s for blowing the game. And this is for hitting me today.” Sage yelled. White flashes of pain ripped through Mitch’s body.

  Suddenly they heard a strange whistling in the air. “Whooo-heee Whoo,” came echoing through the forest. Everything became very quiet. They all heard it again - “Whooo-heee Whooo.” A gangly kid wearing a grey hoodie over his head walked calmly towards them. Mitch knew exactly who it was. Drak’s strange body type was unmistakable. His long arms swung casually at his side as he strolled up to the group of boys circled around Mitch. “Good afternoon, fellow students. I walk in woods for pleasure. It seems you have pleasure with Mitch,” Drak said while grinning at Mitch.

  “What do you want freak? Get outta here before we take care of you too. Wait a minute, are you friends with this weirdo, Mitch? Ha, seems right, you two losers should be friends. Grab him, Donnie. When I’m finished with Mitch, I’ll take care of him too,” Sage ordered Donnie.

  Donnie reached out to grab Drak, but he deftly stepped aside. Donnie lunged at him, but Drak grabbed him by the arm and then flipped him on to his back. Donnie's big body came crashing down and he groaned as the wind left his chest. Everybody stood motionless for a second, astonished by what they had just witnessed. “Oh look, we got a little Bruce Lee on our hands. Get him,” Sage said.

  They all turned and moved towards Drak, who crept backwards cat-like. His face looked calm and relaxed, and his long arms hung loose by his side. Greg swung at him and Drak knocked back the blow, and at the same time, grabbed Greg by the collar. Drak pulled Greg down and effortlessly flipped him over onto has back and slammed him into the ground. The same fate met all of the other would-be assailants. Drak tossed them all aside again and again until they were all exhausted.

  Drak motioned to Mitch while the other kids were on the ground. “Let’s go,” he mouthed silently to Mitch. Mitch didn’t need to be told twice, he got to his feet and made his way up the steep path to the park. Drak followed close behind. Sage and the others were slowly getting back to their feet. Sage looked up to see Mitch running off.

  “You’ll never play on our team again. I don’t care if you’re dad’s the coach, we’re done,” Sage yelled. He stalked up the opposite path and the rest of the boys rose to their feet and followed him through the forest path.

  Mitch ran all the way through the park, past the merry-go-round and the swings, and up the hill until he reached the sidewalk. He turned around and grabbed his knees only to see Drak casually jogging up the hill behind him. “What are you a ninja too? You know how bad you’ve made this whole thing now? All those guys are going to want to kill me, thanks to you,” Mitch said adamantly.

  “What they think not matter. Soon this problem in past. Much bigger problems in future,” Drak said with certainty.

  “Oh, I know. I might have gotten myself into this but you just made it worse. I was doing fine there on my own. Now those guys are gonna come back even worse than before. And another thing, are you following me? What’s wrong with you dude? Don’t tell me that you are some kinda stalker. My life is already messed up as it is. I don’t need some nut job coming along and going all whacko on me,” Mitch said, breathing heavily.

  “Friend need help, so I give help,” Drak said calmly. “I help you. Why angry?” Drak asked.

  “I’m angry because…ahhh…look it doesn’t matter. Listen dude, I just wanna go home and forget all of this happened. I know you’re just trying to help, but I’m sorry, it looks like you’re just making things worse than they already are. I hope nobody sues you after what you did to those guys,” Mitch stated.

  “They attack. I hit back. No one get hurt. They start fight. I finish,” Drak intoned. “I no know why you care they think. They want hurt you. They enemy. You fight back. This the way,” Drak said dryly.

  “It’s not the way. Oh, you just don’t understand how things work around here,” Mitch sighed.

  “I understand well. Social hierarchy very important in your culture. Don’t worry. Go home. Rest. Things different tomorrow,” Drak said calmly.

  “Oh, things will be different tomorrow for sure now. Thanks for all the help, Drak,” Mitch said and walked away. After a few seconds, he looked back. The park was empty and Drak had vanished.

  Who is this kid, he wondered to himself again. Mitch couldn’t make heads or tails of his new-found friend, if he could call him that. It had been amazing to watch him take out Sage and his goons but he was also terrified of what Drak might do next. He seemed like the kind of person who was capable of anything - both good and bad. He was even more scared now of what Drak would do with his MindHIve account. He feared that he had made a terrible mistake. The elation he felt earlier had all but vanished as he walked up the driveway of his house.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mitch’s house was typical of the Dream Acres development. It had a two car garage with a side entrance and a front door that was only used by guests. Both exterior doors and the garage doors were white, in contrast with the grey paneling of the house. A big living room window sat next to the front entrance, and Mitch could see his mother standing in the living room with her hands on her hips, watching him walk up the driveway. She had, no doubt, heard about what happened at school and he was certain that a long and infuriating lecture was about to unfold.

  Mitch walked in through the side entrance into the garage. Only his mother’s small grey sedan sat silently in the garage. It looked like his mother had just arrived home from shopping. Mindy Mythic loved a bargain and she always brought home all kinds of strange and interesting items that had she had found on sale. The Mythic’s house was filled with any manner of strange appliances and bizarre food products and the garage was filled with old cardboard boxes that had housed all kinds of different products from Japanese dumplings to couscous makers.

  Mitch picked his way past the assortment of boxes that cluttered the entrance and took off his shoes before walking inside. His mother stood on the stairs that led to a landing in the kitchen. She didn’t say anything at first. She just looked at him. Her jaw was tense.

  “Your father told me there was an incident at school,” his mother. Mitch sighed and sat on the couch. He left his bag sitting beside him.

  “What’s happening with you, Mitch? It looks like you are letting this family down. Your father and I have a good reputation in this town and we won’t let our son go around, giving our name a black eye. There is talk all over town that you’ve been fighting with your teammates. It looks like nobody is going to press charges, but we can’t have you going around clobbering on anybody you like, let alone your teammates. The world isn’t a hockey rink, Mitch. Despite what you think, your father and I aren’t rich people. I don’t want some lawsuit ruining my retirement plan.” Mitch’s mom finally ran out of breath. After a brief pause, she took a big breath and was about to let go again but Mitch interrupted her.

  “Thanks for understanding, mom. It’s all about you isn’t it? I just had a brutal day and this is what I get. Nobody is on my side here,” Mitch shouted at his mother. He got to his feet and grabbed his backpack and went down to his room in the basement.

  “
You can’t just walk away from me,” his mother shouted back. “Your father will be home soon and he’ll want to talk to you too.”

  Mitch slammed the door to his room and threw his bag down in disgust. He flung himself on his bed and closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the outside world. Mitch’s room wasn’t huge but it wasn’t tiny either. Along with his bed, there was a battered dresser and a cluttered desk. Next to his closet was an old couch that Mitch had taken from upstairs before his mother threw it away after purchasing a new set of DIY Swedish furniture to decorate the house. The floor was littered with old clothes and spare change. Mitch had decorated the walls with posters of sports stars, bands, and old movies. On the desk was his computer, which sat quietly, having been powered down the night before. Mitch sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. He could see his reflection in the screen of the computer. He hadn’t looked at himself in the mirror all day. Even in the grayed-out screen of the computer, Mitch could see how disheveled he looked. He picked a leaf out of his hair that must’ve gotten in there when he was shoved to the ground by Greg and Donnie. He looked at the leaf for a second and then tossed it on the floor. He sighed, got up, and turned on his computer.

  He laid his head down on the desk and listened to the sounds of the computer booting up. Although Mitch loved playing sports, he also loved to play video games. Mitch’s computer wasn’t the best computer in the world but he definitely had set it up with all the right hardware for online gaming. The most popular game at the moment was “Death World,” an online open-world RPG that let players build their characters as they wanted and let them follow quests or battle against other players online. Mitch had been building his character for months and he had recently been able to upgrade his armor to snake level after defeating an evil wizard. Gaming had been Mitch’s way to escape the horrors of his everyday life since #epiccrotchshot went viral. It was the only way he could turn off the outside world and cease to be himself, if only for a short time.

  The only problem was that DeathWorld was a product of MindHIve so Mitch’s gaming profile was connected to his MindHIve account. MindHIve made sure that all of their products infiltrated the user’s daily life and DeathWorld was no different. While tracking down and killing enemies, the player was constantly bombarded with notifications and player interactions. Mitch had been able to mask his identity by using the handle “Legend23,” but it was impossible to stop MindHIve from sending push notifications through the game’s HUD. DeathWorld was a synchronized cross-platform game so anyone with an internet connection could access the same world as anybody else. Although it wasn’t the first of its kind, DeathWorld was very good at integrating itself into the user’s daily life. It was addictive and endless and it provided Mitch with enough distraction to forget about his problems.

  His computer had fully booted and he absentmindedly logged into his MindHIve account. Players had to log into MindHIve before they could access DeathWorld. For a moment, the screen was white and the company’s logo - a simple interlaced MH - flashed on the screen. He watched his profile load and then sat stunned for a moment and pressed the reload button in disbelief. “That can’t be right,” Mitch thought to himself. Once the screen had loaded again, Mitch stared aghast at what had happened to his profile. His profile picture had changed to a screenshot taken from the epiccrotchshot video. It showed him in mid-air being flung over the top of the net. Next to the profile photo in the banner read the statement that he had said to Drak earlier in the day: “My Name is Mitch Mythic and I am #epiccrotchshot boy.” The quote was written in bold neon green and behind the quote was a gif of the video, which played in an endless loop.

  Mitch was horrified by what had happened. “What has that crazy maniac done?” Mitch said aloud. But then something else caught his eye. There were three things that mattered most in the world of MindHIve users: likes, comments, and most importantly, connects. A connect was someone that had hit the connect button on any given account, linking them together. How many connects a user had determined their status, so obviously, more connects meant a higher status. In the morning, Mitch had 1723 connects, which was not bad. He had more than most kids he knew, but like most people, he wanted more. He couldn’t believe what he saw in the notification panel in his profile. He had gained 23,472 connects since his last login. This was an unbelievable gain. His likes and comments had exploded as well. Thousands of people had posted and commented in his feed. Mitch was certain that he was being trolled but as he started to read the comments, but he had shake his head disbelief again. People were singing his praises:

  Cher45 wrote: @epiccrotchshotboy you are my hero

  Drontheeagle wrote: @epiccrotchshotboy incredible!

  Hockeyhead wrote: This guy is awesome!

  The comments just rolled on and on and Mitch watched in shock as the notifications continued to pile up. He couldn’t understand what had happened, but he knew that Drak had everything to do with it. He didn’t know if he wanted to strangle him or hug him. Regardless, Mitch could not deny that things were going differently, as Drak had said they would.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Robert Chapman stood behind the curtains to the left of the stage, waiting. The auditorium was packed with people and the room was buzzing with anticipation. His assistant, Allan, stood to his right and just a little behind him. Allan wore a small ear piece microphone. Both Robert and Allan awaited a signal from the engineers, which would let them know that all was ready for Robert's grand entrance.

  Among his peers and the general public, Robert Chapman was considered the greatest innovator in the IT world. As the founder of MindHIve, the largest technology firm in the industry, he had achieved the status of “grand wizard” among the disciples of digital information. He had been credited with a multitude of tech creations that seemingly came out of nowhere. It was he who had introduced “Untouch” commands. This development allowed users to interact with their devices without touching them, hence the name. Untouch had changed the game. While touchable screens had brought handheld devices to the forefront of the tech world, MindHIve’s Untouch technology had altered the playing field. These days, Untouch had been implemented into almost every single piece of technology available. From cars to fridges, everything was using Untouch, and Robert had been lavished with praise for his extraordinary achievement. Of course he took the credit, but only he, and a few select others, knew that the credit wasn’t owed to him. Robert had a secret.

  The board of directors and all the top executives of MindHIve, along with a mass of shareholders, had all assembled in the grand and glorious MindHIve auditorium. They awaited the arrival of their Chief Executive Officer, Robert Chapman. Suddenly, the lights dimmed and the sound of booming drums and synthesizers filled the room. A voice came over the loudspeaker: “Ladies and Gentleman are you ready to be a part of history? Please put your hands together for the CEO of MindHIve Robert Chapman.”

  A spotlight appeared on the stage and a huge shadow of a man filled up the background. The crowd roared with approval as Robert took the stage. Everybody rose to their feet and gave him a standing ovation. Robert beamed in the spotlight and bowed several times. He reached out to the front row and shook hands with some people. He pointed at others and then he raised his hands in the air. The audience hushed and the room grew silent. Robert paused for dramatic effect before he began to speak. In the background, on a massive screen, the MindHIve logo spun slowly. Animated green static electricity shot forth from the grey letters.

  “It’s been a long journey to come to this point, ladies and gentleman, but I have never been more excited to stand on this stage before you. Are you ready for the future?” Robert boomed. The crowd cheered and jumped to their feet again. “The world has changed, and the technology must change with it. We here at MindHIve believe in one thing before anything else - adapt or die,” Robert said.

  The crowd applauded. Everybody had gathered here for the big announcement that MindHIve had been hyping for the last few mon
ths. The audience hung on Robert’s every word, waiting for him to reveal the latest new and magical development from MindHIve.

  “It’s well known that the ingenuity of humans and our technological developments are what dragged our Stone Age relatives out of their caves and into the future. From fire to the wheel to the internet - Bold and innovative ideas have driven mankind into this amazing age. Since its inception, MindHIve has continued to lead the world in innovative technology, and our incredible growth has allowed us to invest in new ideas. We have made some amazing products and we have also been able to make a lot of money. Our great success is owed to hard-working people and their amazing concepts, but let us not forget the technology that failed,” Robert paused and looked out at the audience. “Why should we consider things that have failed you may wonder? Well, as the old adage goes: ‘If we don’t consider what has failed, then we cannot learn from others’ mistakes’. Let’s look at some of the technology from recent years that was said to change our world but fell short, shall we?” Robert asked again and the audience agreed.

  On the screen behind Robert appeared a hands-free ear piece. “Remember these things?” Robert asked. “It was a great idea, hands-free technology. Answer your phone and talk all without touching anything. The only problem is nobody wanted to wear them. Why would that be?” Robert asked the audience again. “It’s because you look like an idiot if you wear one of these things. Who wants to go around talking to themselves? We’ve all seen these guys walking around saying ‘Hey what are doing? Oh, I’m just getting some pizza. I think I need to go to the bathroom’,” Robert said using a goofy accent. “And when it was all said and done, the technology failed,” Robert said and looked out at the audience. “Sometimes good ideas fail because they don’t integrate well into people’s lives. Technology is as much of a status symbol as it is a useful device,” Robert said and the audience nodded along with him.