The Desolate Guardians

by Matt Dymerski

  Chapter Two

  After spending the last several nights trying fruitlessly to find the source of that haunting message, I was beginning to lose hope? but, then, I found something.

  It wasn't the source of that message. Far from it. Instead, I found that the hierarchy of our network was far taller than I'd assumed. I oversaw all of it in the off-hours, but I'd never personally mapped it. There'd been no need.

  Last night, though, I began understanding that our network was a massive conglomeration of smaller networks that were each separated from one another in all respects - except for us. We served as the backbone for an enormous range of systems. Each was very different, and some were in other languages entirely. I'd known our organization was huge, but I'd never quite guessed at the true extent of our reach.

  Maybe I was going about this all wrong? maybe I shouldn't have been searching for the origin of a message clearly made to be untraceable. Maybe I should have been searching for related initiatives or keywords? had he been military? Had he strictly stated he was military, beyond mentions of a commanding officer? I guessed I'd have to go with that assumption, in any case.

  Everything in the message had been too vague. That was the core problem of the modern age: there was too much information available. It was impossible to sift through it all without key words that acted almost like in-plain-sight passwords. You could have the best decryption software in the world, but it was useless unless you actually knew what to look for. Certain combinations of words pulled data out of massive networks like plucking gold out of the ether.

  Thinking about it like that, I suddenly felt very certain about my next search: the only defense we have against nightmare is the power of self-sacrifice.

  I tried that search first on a very small network, and, to my triumph and amazement, an exact result appeared.

  For a millisecond, I hesitated. My random browsing online was one thing, but this was a specific inquiry into obfuscated communications?

  On the other hand, I would inevitably do this at some point once the boredom and curiosity became unbearable. Why not now?

  I opened the file up to the relevant section. It was an audio log with an automatic text transcription? curious?