40 3D
1628 Words
The company members begrudgingly continued operation due to the fact that they had several clients looking into the ST-SAI product. Nobody wanted to be at work as they were all focused on the incident that had just happened. The room felt as if it was totally empty, knowing that Lina was not where she would usually be sitting. Charlie would occasionally look over to her chair to call her over but would be saddened at the idea that she wasn’t there. Eventually, he stood up and walked over to Max.
“Hey, I’m off early. Like we agreed,” Charlie said, seemingly despondent to everyone and everything around him.
Max looked at him sadly, but let him go with a sigh.
“Alright… Don’t do anything stupid, Charlie,”
Charlie scoffed at him.
“Maybe if somebody did something stupid, she’d still be here.”
He walked out the door and slammed it shut. Max immediately put his face in his hands and let out another sigh. Max knew that he was right. But what bothered him the most was what Charlie had yelled at him just after what had happened. It replayed through his head over and over again.
“She called out your name, Max… She f*****g called out your name. She wanted you to come and save her, and where were you?”
It stung every time he saw it again in his head. He tried to shake the thoughts of everything that had happened, but the more he tried, the more they would flash even more fervently in his head. Trae walked over and put his hand on Max’s back.
“Hey… You alright?”
Trae knew that it wasn’t going to be good. But there was nothing else he could do but try to help.
“I’ve been better,” Max said as he lifted his head slightly.
He looked over at Jules, who was also distant from not only Max but everyone. She got up and left promptly after her duties for the day had ended. She did so without even saying goodbye. It was only natural, Max thought, as he knew that what had just happened was largely due to her being a target. She slammed the door in a similar fashion after rushing out of the room.
“Well, I guess everyone ain’t taking this too well...” Trae said. “Hey man, I gotta get goin’ as well. But stay here aight? Someone got in touch with me just after the incident. They said they might be able to help. Hear him out, ok?”
Trae walked out of the room, as Max was trying to process what Trae had just told him. As the door clicked behind him, almost immediately, it opened again. Max looked up expecting that Trae had forgotten something, but it wasn’t him. He looked at this tall, relatively young, caucasian man in his late twenties, who was dressed in a long, beige, trench coat. His face was covered in a five o’clock shadow, and his eyes were deepset. Furthermore, they were staring intently at Max, who was wondering what was going on. Before Max could question him, he took a seat in one of the classroom chairs and sat in front of Max.
“Hello… Max, is it? My name is detective Dean Donovan. I work with the NYPD.”
Max was nervous at the idea of a cop being present in front of him without anyone else in the room. Nevertheless, Trae told him to hear him out, so that is what he would do.
“Maximilian Burner… Max, yeah. Sorry, just… A lot’s happened.”
“I completely understand and don’t worry I promise I won’t waste your time. I just have a few questions and depending on how you answer, I will be out of your hair.”
“Depending on how I answer?”
“Yep! Alright, let’s cut the bullshit. Earlier this year, you and your friend Trae Owen pirated several of the market’s high end games illegally and sold them with the consent of the companies that created and manufactured them.”
Immediately Max tensed up. He was sure that there was no way that the police were able to pick up on it. A nervous sweat started to form on Max’s forehead.
“A month after, you did the same for some Personal Computer Games. Would’ve been smart of you to cut the online multiplayer function, wouldn’t it?”
s**t, Max cursed in his head. He knew he had forgotten something, but never knew it would come back to haunt him in such a matter.
“Um… Detective Dean?”
“3D.”
“Uh… What?”
“Call me 3D.”
“Right… 3D. What do you intend to do with the information I give you, should I answer those questions?”
He chuckled and leaned forward so that Max could smell the stink of cigarettes come from his mouth.
“As I told you, depending on how you answer, I will be out of your hair. Besides… I’m not finished.”
He stood up and walked around the room as he continued to talk.
“Maximilian Burner, the things I will tell you, are things that I haven’t even told Trae when I interrogated- talked with Trae.”
Don’t f**k with me, this is totally an interrogation, Max thought.
“You hacked into these games as soon as they were released onto the market. Normally, it takes a few months to develop the crack into games, especially those PC ones. How did you do that?”
Max continued to get more nervous as he started to sweat more profusely.
“W-well, I’m just that good at it… I guess.”
3D spun around and pointed at Max in delight.
“Precisely! You are too good at it! Right? What else could it be?”
Max kept his eyes on 3D as his erratic movements continued to unsettle him. 3D walked in front of Max, as his eyes continued to probe him. The idea that someone knew something that Max didn’t bother him, but he stopped himself from speaking in hopes to keep even more information from escaping. Before too long, the detective spun the chair that he sat in, and sat down with his legs spread, with the back of the chair facing Max.
“That being said… When I investigated the matter, I noticed that there were some interesting lines of code in the master code. Interested in what I saw?”
“What did you see?”
A wicked smile formed on the face of the Wiley detective, showing his teeth as though they were fangs.
“I saw some unfamiliar lines of code. The likes of which I haven’t ever seen before. Can you tell me where you learned this?”
Max began to shake from the nerves.
“I think I’d like to have my lawyer present for this,”
“You sure? Because I’ll be honest with you, you might not be comfortable divulging information that could completely discredit your lawyer.”
He leaned in and whispered into Max’s ear.
“Especially since that kind of code was created in the year 2009.”
Max’s eyes widened, as the detective pulled back with another wicked smile. He started to laugh as if he had just heard an incredible joke. 3D wiped a tear from his eyes before he continued.
“I’ve been waiting for someone like you to come around, I gotta tell you. I’ve been running in circles trying to find other Seers.”
Max was in complete shock. He felt a bit of relief knowing that he was not the only one. But on the other hand, he wanted to know more. His fear was immediately replaced by curiosity, as he proceeded to turn the tables and questioned the detective.
“Seers?”
“It’s a term I secretly coined for people like us. You know… The kind of people who’s consciousnesses was transported back in time into other bodies into the future or the past. Of course, if I told anyone else this, they’d think I was crazy. But clearly, I’m not crazy am I?”
“No… no, you aren’t. But why seers?”
“Well if a non-seer comes into contact with us and witnesses how we can make exact guesses into events in the future, then it’d be like we were psychics right? Hence the term, seers.”
“I see. Anyway, you’re from the future… Just like me?” Max asked. “When were you from?”
“Well seeing as nobody would believe me if I told them, it’s safe to tell you. I’m from the year 2011. You?”
“2020...This is completely wild...” Max said still slightly in disbelief.
“I know. But I gotta get back to the reason why I’m here.”
“Right… right.”
“So we in the NYPD know about you and Trae. That being said, my main directive is to investigate the happenings behind the group known as the Wolfpack. Knowing you? You already know about them. So let me cut to the chase. We would like you to help us investigate the Wolfpack with us, remotely of course.”
Max suddenly realized why 3D had brought up their illegal background.
“And I’m guessing I can’t say no, can I?”
“Well, I mean you could… If you want to spend 20 years in the crowbar hotel.”
Max chuckled.
“I guess I don’t really have a choice do I?”
“No. But I don’t want you to think you’re getting nothing out of this… I can tell you all I know about seers and the Wolfpack. Plus, you’d be colleagues with someone like you. Makes it feel a little less lonely… wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah… It would. In that case, I have some information about the incident that had just happened. Can we discuss it?”
“Of course. Thank you for your cooperation, Max.”
3D was wrong though. Max already knew that he would be getting something out of this unlikely alliance. It would be much more important in order for him to exact his revenge on the group that killed him. For the moment, this man was an ally.
- Writer
