5

“Gentleman,” appeared Elizabeth in the message with a very serious face. From the background, it looked that she was in her living room. “I would hope that all of you are in a secure location, alone, and without the possibility of any eavesdroppers. Before I continue, please be warned that some may consider my position to be against the immediate interest of the company, but I sincerely believe that it is for the long-term interest of humanity. I have held these beliefs for an extended duration, but have now decided to announce them to you since I am sure that none of you holds an amicable relation with Bureogis for the present time. Anyways, let me get to the point, I would like all of you to come to these attached coordinates by midnight. If you are not interested, don’t come, and on your honor, don’t tell. For those of you interested, make sure that you are not tracked. I hope that I do not have to remind you of the seriousness of this occasion.” With a strong stare into the camera which looked as if it could have pierced the screen, the colonel signed off.

Aiden didn’t know what to think of the message. He as almost sure whatever the colonel suggested, it wasn’t going to be legal. He weighed the potential consequences and concluded that by merely attending the meeting, he wasn’t committing a grievous crime. After all, if the colonel concluded something too absurd, he could also just drop out. But, if he was discovered to have known about anything that the colonel was committing and yet failed to report it, charges could be brought upon him. In addition, it is not even the criminal charges which would be the biggest problems if he was caught.

Working at Bureogis, Aiden knew how some of the more shadowy departments, such as his, did with “traitors.” Working in the “security” department, Aiden has seen with his own eyes mission logs which reported the assassination of high ranking members within the company itself, mostly for the trading of corporate secrets with competitors for money. But there were also cases where the issue was apparently more personal to either some of the higher-ranking members or to CEO himself. Once, Aiden witnessed a case where Serp Pros ordered the secret abduction of a journalist who criticized him to Bureogis HQ. The CEO then personally used his own hands to break off two of the man’s teeth, as well as his nose. He then sent the man to the nearest hospital, telling him that he ought to tell the doctor that the injuries occurred as the result of slipping on the stairs, otherwise the life of his wife and children might be in danger. It was only two days after the incident that the same journalist published an article praising the wise leadership of the CEO Serp Pros who have brought inordinate good to all of humanity.

Aiden sighed when he finished considering what the worst was, and concluded that the worse, was pretty bad. But then again, Aiden felt like that he had little to lose anyway, and decided that if he simply knew about whatever the colonel was planning, the worst which would happen was perhaps a beating from some of the other operatives in the BSF. The company might even send his own team to do it, which would be ironic indeed.

He got up from his bed and looked at his watch. It was 7:30 at night, as apparently reflecting on his possible actions and looking up at the ceiling had taken around half an hour. Aiden got up from the bed and walked to his desk. There he sat down, took off his specs, pulled out the message pin, and entered it into his old tablet. He then took a connection cord and connected his specs to the tablet as well. Within 10 minutes, Aiden has formatted all the data which were in the com-specs in the last hour and ensured that there were no traces left. After scanning the specs again and receiving a negative result, Aiden connected the specs back to the internet, feeling assured that no one will know what he just saw.

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He then turned his attention to the coordinates, which he looked upon a secure encrypted connection. Apparently, the coordinates pointed to the outskirts of an abandoned industrial zone. Aiden then searched up the available transport to the same zone, however, this was incredibly slow. Aiden concluded it was because the specific mapping service he was using didn’t pay his internet provider enough money, and thus data to their corresponding server was at a low speed. Aiden switched The Traveler’s mapping service, which loaded almost instantly but had a much worse interface than the indie service which he wanted to use. He wondered how the internet must have been like at the dawn of the 21st century, where net neutrality was enforced in all the western democracies. The internet would have been a place for minds to communicate and for ideas to be shared, instead of the pathetic, censored, and limited platform that it is today.

Aiden looked at the suggested and available transports pulled up from The Traveler, and saw that the best route for him was to take a bus to a community one and a half kilometer west of the industrial zone, and then to walk through what looked like a forest to reach the coordinates. The community looked like it was on the urban-rural fringe of the city, and Aiden decided that it would take a few hours to get there. Pulling out the estimated time and distance from The Traveler confirmed Aiden’s predictions. For he needed around two and a half hours to travel a hundred and forty kilometers to the city’s edge. Considering that he also had more than a kilometer of walking to do, Aiden established that he needed to leave immediately. He cursed under his breath, for he planned some time to finish up some of the day’s paperwork before leaving, but apparently not getting the chance to do so.

Aiden got up from his desk, turned off the specs and his tablet, and went to his closet and took out a pair of blue jeans, a white shirt, and a black hoodie. Taking off his shirt revealed a chiseled upper body. This was the result of the daily PT, or physical training, which was mandatory when Aiden was in the army. But what can also be seen is a long scar, from his right chest to his upper abdomen, which was the result of one of the more challenging “security” missions ordered by the BSF. Taking off his pants revealed scars on his knees, which resulted from another mission, no less challenging.

Aiden felt refreshed after he wore his new clothes. Although he was not expecting any conflict, he didn’t want to feel sorry when he did, and so packed a knife in his boots and a concealed pistol under his hoodie. He placed his uniform back into the closet, and grabbed the data stick and stuck it into his pocket. Then, he turned off the lights, walked out, locked the door, and left the apartment. When outside of the block, he looked around, and suddenly just felt very nice for no exact reason. He threw two boxing punches in the air randomly, inserted his earbuds, started his favorite playlist, and walked towards the nearest bus station.