Date: 10.17.2152

To: you, my only friend

Subject: they know the truth

hi,

you will not be happy about this.

I spent the last couple of days pacing around my apartment, trying to come up with a plan. And then I spent another couple of days trying to come up with a plan that wouldn’t involve Kevin and his "gang of idiots".

Alas, it seems to be my only option. However incapable these guys are, at least they somehow managed to get Katja back from Neptune without raising the government's suspicions. They might not be able to help me send a transmitter to another planet, but they definitely have information about possible loopholes in the security. That would at least be a start. And I will take it from there.

I thought about writing to Kevin directly but, in the end, decided it was too risky. There isn’t much of an email trail between us, and I prefer to keep it that way.

So I did the only thing that I could do in this situation. Yes, it wasn't very smart but, come on, give me a break! A starving man will eat poison if he's desperate enough.

I made my way to the abandoned factory where Kevin had taken me earlier. I know what you're thinking – what about the possible government spy Maxime?

That's a very good question, but after thinking about it long and hard, I decided I was willing to take certain risks. If Maxime was an undercover agent who knew about Katja's escape and still hadn't made his move, he was most likely waiting for some bigger fish to fry.

In any case, I wasn't going to discuss anything in front of this guy – all I wanted was to leave Kevin my number and ask him to contact me. Yes, I got myself a burner phone. Just like a drug dealer. Please don’t judge.

Luckily for me, all these extra precautions turned out to be unnecessary as I found Kevin at the factory all by himself. He opened the door right after one knock and looked at me without any sign of surprise.

"So, the prodigal stalker returns," he said, raising an eyebrow. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, I have a question for you and a proposition," I answered.

"And what makes you think I’ll listen to anything you say? Last time you made it clear how useless, stupid, and delusional we all are."

"You still need to know what I found in those files," I sighed. "I’m ready to make a deal."

"We already decrypted everything without your help, thank you very much," said Kevin stiffly.

"No, you didn’t," I rolled my eyes. Even a child would see that he was bluffing.

"How would you know?"

"If you did, you wouldn’t be so calm right now, believe me."

"Ok, what do you want?" Kevin gestured towards the sofa, finally inviting me in. I sat down and stretched out my legs.

"First of all, what do you know about Maxime?" I asked him quietly after I made sure that the room was really empty.

Kevin frowned. "Gotta admit, didn’t expect this kind of question. Why all of a sudden?"

"Do you have any idea that he used to work for the government?"

"Ah, so you dug up some more info," Kevin smiled. "Yes, of course, I know. Do you take me for a fool?"

As you're well aware, I do, in fact, take this guy for a fool, but I only said: "That’s what I’m trying to find out. It doesn’t bother you that he is a government man from a family of a higher-up official?"

"Bother? No, you got it all wrong," Kevin shook his head. "He is the most useful asset in our team."

"Double agent then, huh?" I sighed. "Are you sure about his loyalties? He is French, after all."

"I’m very much sure about his loyalties. Trust me, I know him very well, and he has proven himself many times. I don't need to explain it to you. Any more questions?"

"Why doesn’t he have an accent? For that matter, why don’t Sarah and Katja have one either?" This was something I asked more out of curiosity than anything else.

"Ah, about that..." Kevin suddenly looked proud. "We have developed a very interesting piece of technology to help facilitate skill acquisition. It’s still experimental, but so far it seems to be working fine."

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Wow, I’m impressed."

I actually was impressed. To make a certain program interact correctly with the biological brain is quite an amazing feat. One which I thought was borderline impossible until…well… I don't want to talk about that now.

"So will you now finally give up your secret?" Kevin asked.

"One more question. How did you get Katja back?"

"Aha! You are curious after all!"

"Not as much curious, as I might need to use your idea, " I said thoughtfully and finally told him that I was thinking of sending a private transmitter to Neptune. I kept it vague enough and didn’t mention Mia’s name just in case.

"You’re crazy," said Kevin after a couple minutes of silence.

"And again, you are very on point with the judgment of my character, but I need to know if you can help me. If so, I can offer you my services and all the info I have on the files from the government servers."

"That’s quite a task, "Kevin was thoughtful. "I need to actually discuss it with Maxime – he is the one who knew how to get Katja out by using a garbage space shuttle that was already on Neptune. I don’t know if he has a way of getting something on that planet without anyone noticing."

"When is he coming back here?" I was impatient, even though I still had my suspicions.

"Most likely this evening. He’s on a mission."

"What kind of mission?"

"Slow down, buddy. I have told you too much already, while you just keep giving me empty promises. All further discussions only after you tell me about the files."

I sighed. And then I sighed again. This secret might disillusion Kevin so much he’ll decide to abandon his "rebellion 2.0" project right here and now. And that would not be desirable for me now.

But what other choice did I have? Besides, finally telling someone and not carrying this horrible secret by myself anymore was tempting.

So I told him. Everything. From A to Z.

You should have seen his face. He went pale, then he asked me several times if I was telling the truth. Even after I confirmed, he said he couldn’t believe me, that I must have cooked up some elaborate lie.

"This technology shouldn’t even exist!" He said, looking completely lost. "How?"

I just sat there quietly. I went through the same emotions a month earlier. This just proves that sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Now that I don’t have that sweet haze of obliviousness around me, maybe I can truly master living in denial. I have been practicing for a long time after all.

I stayed with Kevin, till Maxime and others arrived. I just didn't have the heart to leave. See, I'm not completely devoid of compassion.

Of course, the gang noticed immediately that Kevin was not all right.

"What happened here?" asked Sarah.

"Did this weirdo hurt you?" Katja jumped to an unlikely conclusion and glared at me.

"No," Kevin shook his head. "It’s just… I need to tell you something."

"Are you sure?" I was more than surprised. "Do you really want them to know?"

"Know what?" Maxime asked, confused.

"They need to know. It would be unfair of me to keep them in the dark. If anyone wants to abandon the mission after this information, I’ll understand."

"Wait a minute!" I did not agree with that at all. "How about your part of the bargain?"

"It’s not mine to keep, "Kevin shrugged. "If Maxime agrees to help you, then, by all means, go ahead with your crazy plan. I won’t be able to participate, at least for a while now. I need a time out."

"What?" I shouted. "Revolutionaries don’t get a time out!"

"How did you expect me to react?" Kevin asked, defeated.

Of course, I expected him to react exactly the way he did. But I wasn’t about to say it.

"I thought you were stronger than this!"

"Guys, what is going on?" Now it was Sarah who was shouting.

Kevin stood up, took a deep breath, and told them everything. What an idiot!

Why is it that every time I leave my apartment, it ends in some kind of disaster?

As soon as they heard what Kevin had to say, their reaction was as bad as can be expected. Maxime choked on his vaping fumes, Sarah slowly sat down and started muttering: "oh no, oh no, oh no." And Katja said: "I need this like a hole in the head! Count me out!" and slammed the door behind her, as she left.

I thought about talking to Maxime about the transmitter, but he was obviously not thinking clearly anymore. He had a "thousand-yard stare" and was just mindlessly puffing out smoke.

"I’m going to go now, "I said. "But I will return to talk to you, ok?"

Kevin just waved at me. I knew this would not end well.

Why would Mike even send something like this to Kevin? He should have known how he would react.

Another question I have no answer to.

Yours,

Ryan