The Day I Fooled Death – Part 5

Richard had barely slept that night. He had a feeling of impeding doom that haunted his every thoughts. As he arrived at the office, Ralph barely recognized him. He had reason not to, because Richard looked as if he had slept in his clothes, his eyes were red and swollen from lack of sleep, worry lines circled them, his hair was uncombed and his face unshaven. Ralph, with concern in his voice, asked: “Are you all right, Mister Dexter? You are looking ill this morning.” Richard looked up at the young man. He willed a smile to his face and replied: “Don’t worry Ralph, I only had a bad night. I am not used to my new responsibilities. I will get used to them eventually. As Miss Kathleen come in this morning? Is she in her office?”

The young man looked at Richard with a startled look in his face. He jabbered: “But…. You don’t know…?”

“I don’t know about what?”

“About… Miss Kathleen. She has gone on holidays for at least a month… I had thought that you knew… She left this envelope to Phil last night. It is addressed to you.” He handed Richard a small white envelope and continued. “I am sorry Mr. Dexter…”

Richard did not wait for the young man to finish his sentence, to leave. He dragged his feet toward the wing housing his cubicle. He was half way over when he realized that he no longer had a cubicle. He reluctantly changed his course. He unlocked his door and walked in the office. Everything was as he had left it last night. He threw the letter on his desk and let himself fall in his chair. He looked at the letter for a long time, afraid to open it. Finally he garnered some courage and proceeded.

“Dear Richard

I managed to talk to Dad, last night, with the help of Ken. I tried to reach you at home but your phone was off the hook. I am sorry that you were not there. We discussed the long term prospects for the firm. I am not sure if I am the right person to guide the company at this moment. I have a lot of things to think about, the company, my future, also, possibly, our future you and I. I will need a few weeks just to clear my mind and think this over. After that, I will send for you to plan for the future. In the mean time Ken will take care of the day to day business of the company. He was nice enough to agree to it.

I will see you soon.

Love

Kathleen”

Richard was dumbfounded by the immensity of it all. Not only was Price now running the show, but Kathleen was gone. He did not find any comfort in the prospect of a future with her, because he now suspected foul play. He barely controlled his impulse to storm to Price’s office, demanding an explanation. He needed to find out more about this “Thanatos” project. He could find no better way than to hack into the computer system of the advance research department.

He turned his chair and rolled to his workstation. He was surprised that someone had tempered with his system. The prompt on the screen was not blinking in the same directory as he had left it last night. Paranoia settled in his Richard’s mind. Thinking that his workstation was monitored he stormed off to Ben’s office. He walked in without first knocking. His friend did not look surprised to see him barge into his office. Ben said. “I was wondering when you would show up. I found out some interesting things about you friend Price. I am now worried about Kathleen’s disappearance. I have tried to reach you all night.”

“How come I’m always the last one to know about these things. I seem to be living in a different universe than anybody else. What’s the news.”

“Last night Amanda told me that there was a large explosion in one of Price’s labs. There was a large commotion and she is sure that she saw Kathleen going in the lab before it happened. When she inquired about it this morning, she learned that Kathleen had left for an extended period and the lab did not show any signs of the explosion. She was sure to have seen glimpses of destroyed instruments last night. When she pressed Price about that, this morning, he reluctantly showed her his lab. It was as if nothing had really happened in the lab since the last time she had been there.

Also there has been snoopers on the computer network. They are trying to clamp down on the hacking. There were areas that I used to get into easily but now I have no access to them. What do you think about this?”

Richard shook his head. He replied: “It only confirm my suspicions. I think that Kathleen was eliminated by Price and I will try to find how it was done. Can I used your workstation? I think that mine is bugged by Price.

“Go ahead…. I hope you don’t mind if I watch?”

Richard did not answer as he sat in front of the keyboard. He quickly go out of the graphic shell and back to the command prompt. He did not log-in by his name. He was afraid that it would be flagged by the network snoopers. He did not want to use one of his alternate names in case that they were also known. He looked at Ben with a wry smile on his face. He said dryly: “Can I use one of your alternate names to login? I don’t want to alert the snoopers by using one of mines.”

Ben seemed upset by this statement, he replied in an injured tone: “Why do you think that I have illegal access to the system? I never would do such a thing.”

“Come on, you know as well as I do that you have at least 4 or 5 alternate identities on the system. Just the same as I have.”

“OK you got me. Try logging-in as BeniHana with the password 9854267y98pu.”

Richard logged-in as Ben watched over his shoulder. For two hours he tried unsuccessfully to find any information about the “Thanatos” project. Everywhere that he looked files had been purged. Areas of interest where off limit even to his persistent hacking. Richard had made a career in breaking down systems security. For the first time he was unsuccessful. He was growing more stymied by the minute. After another frustrating hour he managed to get through the back door of the advance research project system, using a telecom link to a maintenance system. He was at last getting some results. At that moment the telecom link came down. As much as he tried, he was not able to reestablish it. The advance research complex was cut off from the rest of the world. Richard banged his fist in hanger, on the keyboard.

He turned toward Ben, who had been admiring his work, and asked: “Do you think that Amanda can get me into the complex? I need to work on one of their workstations to get some answers.”

Ben shrugged. He answered: “I’ll call her right now and see.”

He got on the phone and arranged for Richard to meet her that evening at the complex. With the help of the night guard, he would be able to get in.

Richard spent the rest of the day in his office trying to get some work done, without getting much results. As the time of the meeting grew nearer, he could not keep from pacing behind his desk. Before leaving his office he walked into the private bathroom adjoining it. He could barely recognize the man that was staring back at him in the mirror. He looked even worse than he had in the morning. He did not even attempt to make himself look more presentable. He could not care less.

He met with Amanda at the entrance of the underground passageway that linked all the buildings in the sprawling complex. The stunning brunette was seated on a small electric cart. She looked worried when she saw his bedraggled appearance. He drew a thin smile and said: “Don’t worry I look even worse inside.” He took the empty seat beside her. She drove the cart silently back to the advance research facilities. When they arrived and took the elevator to the lobby and its guard station. Richard was surprised to see that Ralph was sitting at the main desk. He looked from his paper and winked at Richard. He said: “Don’t worry, Sir, I am replacing the regular guard. He suddenly fell ill.” He winked again saying that. Without asking for anything he continued. “I can see that your passes and authorizations are valid. Please be on your way.” He opened the gate preventing them to access the building.

As Richard passed by, the young man shook his hand. He left in his cupped hand a small electronic keycard with the security logo embossed on it. He murmured: “Good luck…”.

Amanda pulled on his sleeve to make him hurry up. She dragged him to a small office, in which stood a functioning workstation. She showed him the keyboard and said: “This station has already been logged-in with the highest security clearance. Use it at your discretion. When you are done, please ask Ralph to let you out to the basement. My cart will still be there, here are the keys.” She handed him a small key at the end of a short piece of rope. She continued, “Good luck, I hope that you will find what you are looking for.” She left locking the door behind herself with her own keycard.

Richard quickly started to work on the console. From this station, he had no troubles to access the information that he wanted. What he found out was devastating!!!

In the past few years, while they were trying to extract energy from the interstitial space in a controlled manner, Price’s crew had contacted an entity that inhabited that area of space-time. Price had found a way to exploit that being’s feeling of boredom, in helping him to gain control of the company.

Richard kept reading file after file for the better part of the night. He was almost sure, by now, that Kathleen was trapped in that interstitial space and he was looking for a way to get her back. He was so tired that his eyes had difficulty to focus on the CRT. He rubbed them, trying to make the fatigue go away. This only increase the sting to an intolerable level. His discomfort prompted him for action. After he logged-out of the system he use the security keycard to open the door of the small office. He peered furtively into the corridor. It was devoid of any activity. He exited the office and locked the door behind himself. He tried to remember where Price’s main lab was located. He only had been there once, on a guided visit of the complex.

He went to the end of the hall and tried to orient himself. He walked one way, then changed his mind and walked the other way. He arrived in front of a pair of large glass doors. Stenciled in flowing script was the name of Kenneth Price. He hoped that his security card would unlock the doors. He inserted the small plastic card into the lock and heard a muffled click.

He sneaked in the lab and looked around. Behind a partition a vast expanse of machinery stood idling in the penumbra. He tried to make sense from the consoles that operated the equipment. A low hum emanated from the machine. He sat at what looked like the main console. Richard was afraid to touch any of the controls. As if sensing his presence, the hum slightly increased in frequency. A few seconds later the lights came on in the lab. The sudden brightness startled Richard so much that he froze on the chair. He slowly turned toward some increased activity at he far end of the lab. His tired eyes had difficulty focusing on the face of Kenneth Price, who was standing behind a glass screen, with a wide grin on his face. Fear paralyzed Richard. He was about to bolt for the door when a bright arc of blinding light enveloped him. His senses were so overwhelmed by the light that his mind blanked out, and darkness enwrapped his mind.

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From 7/2006: The Day I Fooled Death

The Sass