By Skolskoly

1988AD

Erik swiped his finger across his phone and clocked in. It was a Friday morning and Facebook’s headquarters were a docile environment. There were some audible murmurs among the office staff. They had only just begun to file in. Occasionally, there was a quick whir of a computer coming online. It was all very typical. But when Erik looked at his mail there was a message from Albert. It was marked as urgent, so he abandoned his workstation and gear, and headed for the stairs. He arrived at Albert’s office on the second floor and the man was waiting at his desk. His face was marked by stress, and he was typing on his phone. He looked up, acknowledging Erik, but paused before speaking.

“I talked to Mark,” his voice was hollow.
“There was an attack last night. San Fran.”
“God,” Erik breathed. “What do they have? Everything?”
“Whatever we were to stupid to encrypt. The Oculus SDK was leaked on the dark net. Client data too.”
“Fuck. Pirates?”
“That’s the story. The feds aren’t giving us much.” Albert wrung his hands and looked down to his phone.
“It’s going south. We’re losing shares.”
“Yeah.” Erik sat down on a chair by the wall and Albert quickly typed a message.
He looked up. “Google has an offer.”
“Damn it,” Erik spat. He looked out the window, blankly staring at the courtyard.
“How much?”
“Thirty Billion.”
Erik turned back. “Assholes.”
Albert nodded, and leant his head on his hand, pressing his temple angrily.
“Well, what can we do, are we taking it?”
“Not yet,” he said, looking down. “We’re not there yet.”
“What then?”
“We have a job for you.”
“What,” Erik asked. Albert looked him in the eye. “We need you in the Mojave.”
“The-” he began. “Oh.” Erik’s face went white.
“I know it’s dangerous. You’re the best engineer we have.”
“I understand,” His brow was creased.
“Thank you. There’s a car waiting out back. It’ll take you there. Here’s your ID.”
“Alright.”

Erik got up and turned to leave. He closed the office door behind him. Down to the ground floor, he exited by the sliding doors, and passed through the courtyard to the parking lot. He saw the car waiting. It was white, clean. It seemed to have never been used. He walked over to it and got in. The car pulled out of the lot and followed the road that fed onto the main streets. It stopped at an intersection. The lights were out, but the east bound roads were both closed anyway. It idled there for a few moments before a honk sounded out from behind. Erik looked up, confused. Then, he quickly activated the manual override. He pulled the car through the roadway before switching back to automatic.

The car drove itself onward down the city street, merging and spacing itself with precision among the heavy morning traffic. There was an acrid smell in the air. Erik wrinkled his nose, then pushed a button to shut his window. As the vehicle rounded a corner, he saw a broken glass and rubble strewn between the remains of the city sky scrapers. The streets disappeared from the side window, and he turned to look ahead. The car arrived at the interchange, and exited to the highway.

It was late afternoon by the time Erik neared his destination. The sun had set over the Californian desert casting eerie shadows over its barren expanse. His car cruised smoothly along the highway as he reclined in the front seat, reading headlines on his phone. The compound came into view from behind a rocky outcropping in the distance. He swiveled his device shut and raised his seat upright.

As the car approached the checkpoint, he withdrew a card from his pocket and pressed a button on the dash display. His window retracted into the door with a light whistle, and he reached through it to feed the machine his identification. A moment passed, and then it made a small beep. He took the card back and the window slid shut. Then, the gate began to open, and his car slowly accelerated back to speed. He waved up to the camera as he passed by.

During the night, all the engineers were off their shift, and only the night crew and patrol guards remained. The uniforms and the unmarked concrete buildings gave the site a distinct militaristic air. He rolled down the narrow road towards the central complex and came to a stop at its entrance. He got out of the car and walked to the building. As he entered the chamber, a pair of double doors opened and closed behind him. He walked over to the terminal on the wall, where he placed his hand. He turned to face the scanner. There was a buzz of motors, and a solid metal gate began to rise open. He continued on his way.

The server complex was unlit save for rows of flickering LEDs that extended into the darkness. The spots of light revealed outlines of coolant pipes densely wrapped around heavy duty processors and server racks. The audible churning of industrial pumps enveloped the building. The man walked to a workstation near the entrance and it came to life with a blue glow. The screen was saturated with numbers and statistics. He glanced at it before connecting his phone with a small cable, and got to work.

During the night, Erik worked diligently while monitoring the machines and over the course of his shift he would often disappear among the servers. Later, he would return to the workstation and look it over before dutifully retreating once more. Hours passed, and late into the night he returned to see a figure standing before the terminal. Erik concealed himself behind a server rack, and slowly peered forward. The man was bent down, looking over the display. He was carrying a fire arm. Erik stepped back, his eyes locked on the visitor. He moved behind a machine to hide, but his foot scuffed the cement. Erik froze. The man turned and held his weapon at his side. He looked down the aisle, and slowly began making his way toward the noise.

Erik leaped out at the man and they collapsed onto the ground. They struck at one another desperately, and the compound echoed with the clamor of their limbs. After some time, one lay silent on the concrete floor, and the silhouette of the other rose slowly, grasping the dead man by the arm. The corpse was dragged deep into the heart of the server complex and hidden between the machines.

The man continued walking down the aisle until he stopped at a rack. Crouching, he opened its hatch and placed a small package on the inside. Meticulously, he closed the panel with barely a scratch of metal. Then he got up, and did the same for a number of other servers. He returned to the computer terminal, removed the phone, and powered down the screen.

The sun was just set to rise as he exited the complex. The man opened the door of his car and started the engine with a touch of his finger. The nav system prompted him to enter a location and the car began to move forward. It drove down the narrow road, and on toward the checkpoint. The car pulled up to stop as the gates began opening, allowing the early morning sunlight to come streaming through.

He grit his teeth. The car put itself in motion once more, and vacated the compound, passing the Google logo on the roadside. For a few minutes, he sat, glancing between the rear view mirror and the road.

The compound disappeared from sight, and he reclined his chair, letting out a long, ragged breath. He reached for his phone and scrolled through his messages, the headlines, and his news feed. A little green mark indicated that his file transfers had completed. He then sent a message to his employer and a moment passed.

Then, there was rumble, and the blast of an explosion rang out behind him. In the rear-view mirror, he watched a large column of black smoke billow into the air. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He knew shareholders would be pleased that their funds couldn’t be in safer hands.