Portals

“Let me get this straight,” his roommate asked. “You think The Matrix trilogy sucks?”

           

“Yes,” James answered, matter-of-factly, without ever looking up from his keyboard.

“Why?” Sean asked incredulously.

           

“Does it have Keanu Reeves in it?”

“Yes.”

“I rest my case.”

“Yet, you liked the new Tron movie?” Sean continued.

“Did it have Olivia Wilde in it?”

“Yes,” Sean replied admittedly.

“I rest my case.”

           

Sean shook his head. “Dude, we seriously need to get you out more.”

“This, I do not dispute,” James answered, again without ever looking up from his computer. His fingers typed feverishly as line after line of computer code worked its way across the monitors.

“Well, Chrissy and I are going to grab a bite to eat. Are you sure you don’t want to take a break and come alone? You have to eat, you know.”

James’ only response was to hold up the can of Salt & Vinegar Pringles that sat next to the keyboard on the desk.

“Suit yourself. I’ll see you later.”

“Later,” said James. With a click of the lock, Sean was out of the apartment and gone. The truth was that James would very much have liked to have gone out. However, he was under a deadline. As one of the chief programmers for XDX Animation, he was responsible for writing the base code for a new, virtual reality, 3-D immersion game that was due to be released in the fall. It wasn’t anywhere near completion, and James had told his superiors that the time frame was far too short. “We have faith in you,” they told him.

“Great, thanks,” he mumbled to himself. “And I like Tron better because I write video games, dumbass,” he said in mock response to Sean’s earlier query. “And now I’m talking to myself.”

James let out a deep sigh and took a few gulps of the now warm and slightly flat Mt. Dew he had been drinking. He did need to get out more, but until this programming work was finished he was relegated to ten hour days, and longer nights sitting right there in that chair and staring at the three monitors in front of him. Nearly an hour had passed since Sean had gone out to meet Chrissy, and James was ten minutes away from a scheduled break, when his phone rang. Glancing down, he saw that it was a blocked number. Making it a rule never to answer blocked numbers, he slid his finger across the screen to shut off the ringer and let it go to voicemail.

Less than a minute later the phone rang again and he repeated the process. “Go away, I’m busy,” he said to the phone. “And, I’m now talking to an inanimate object. I really do need to get out more.” James continued typing when, without warning, his screen went blank. “What the hell?”

His system was equipped for basically any kind of equipment malfunction or power outage imaginable, and even his back up drives had back up drives. He wasn’t so much worried about losing the data he had been entering as he was curious as to what happened. He didn’t have a chance to think about it long as all of a sudden the following appeared in the middle of main monitor in the middle of the three:

Answer. Your. Goddamn. Phone.

He stared at the words and was startled when the phone began to ring a third time. This time, he answered.

“Hello?” he said curiously.

“Meet me at the Schooner in ten minutes.”

           

“What? Who is this? Why?”

“James, listen to me very carefully. You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into. Meet me at the Schooner in ten minutes and I’ll explain everything.”

James was about to ask again what the call was all about when the line went dead and his monitors filled once more wit the strings of code he had been typing. Intrigued, James shrugged his shoulders, made sure to save and back up his work, stood and stretched. “Well, I was due for a break anyway,” he declared before changing into a clean sweater and heading out the door.

The Schooner was a small dive bar that sat right on the edge of the bay, barely a hundred yards from the small duplex of which he and Sean occupied half. He knew most of the local regulars, so he suspected that his unknown caller would be easy to spot. He was wrong. When he walked in, a few people said hi, and he scanned the place. He didn’t see anyone that he didn’t recognize, so he sat at the bar, ordered a bear, and waited. From out of nowhere she appeared and sat at the bar next to him. It took him a moment to notice her presence, and when he did he immediately knew that it was her. She did not look at him.

“So, I’m here,” James said to her before taking a sip from his bottle.

“Do you know what you’re working on?” she asked.

“A game, but I can’t discuss it,” he answered. All XDX programmers were required to sign a confidentiality agreement before beginning their employment.

“You’re working on Portals, a 3-D, virtual reality simulator. Currently you are writing the base code, and the program is due to be tested next month at the main XDX facility in Dallas. You were going to fly down there and be one of the first to try it out. The immersion pad is constructed and they are just waiting for the program.”

This time James turned and stared into the stranger woman’s face with concern. “How do you know all of this? Who are you?”

“For now you can call me Barrett. James, listen to me closely. Portals is not just a game. Right now they are working on the other half of the code you’re writing. When the two are combined, it will no longer be just a game.” Barrett let her words sink in for a moment until the revelation beamed in his eyes.

“Are you saying I’m helping to create an actual portal?” Barrett nodded. “To where? How? I mean, this is science fiction you’re talking about here!”

“No, it’s not. It is very, very real. And if you complete that code, it could trigger World War III.”

James chuckled. “That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?” Barrett’s face grew somber, and James new in an instant that she was in no way understating the situation.

“James, right now they are discovering that you have not yet returned to your terminal from your scheduled break. They know you are here, but they don’t know you are talking to me. In a few moments your new neighbors, the ones that coincidentally moved in across the street exactly six months ago, and a day after you began working on this project, are going to walk through that door. They are going to act friendly, and then drug you and take you back to their operations center in their cottage, and force you to finish the code. Do you understand?”

James sat, dumbfounded. None of what Barrett was saying made any sense.

“James, you are going to excuse yourself for a cigarette. Trevor is going to try to join you. Let him. I’ll be outside.” With that Barrett stood from her stool and left the bar. James was frightened now, and nearly jumped out of his seat when the door to the bar opened and, sure enough, his neighbors entered, smiling, and headed straight for him. He wanted to crawl out of his skin when Trevor and Eden said hello.

           

“Hey neighbor!” Eden said cheerfully as she sat down to James’ right. Trevor sat to his left.

“Buy you a beer?” Trevor insisted. Every bell and whistle in the back of his mind sounded at once, telling James to trust Barrett, whoever she was.

“Sure, but I was just gonna go grab a smoke,” James said nervously.

“I could use one, I’ll join you,” Trevor replied, much to James’ dismay. James smiled, stood, and headed for the back patio of the bar. Trevor followed. Once outside, James reached into his coat pocket and took out his cigarettes. He lit one and took a long deep drag. Trevor was in the process of doing the same when Barrett appeared from around the corner. Trevor’s eyes widened when he saw Barrett approaching. With lightning-like reflexes, he reached into his jacket and drew a pistol. Barrett was faster. Her gun was already drawn and, with two quick pops of what sounded like compressed air being released, she let two bullets fly through the suppressor of her 9mm Berretta and into Trevor’s chest. He crumpled instantly.

“What the fuck!” James exclaimed as he stood there staring at Trevor’s dead body.

“Come on,” Barrett instructed, ignoring his shock. “We’ve got to go.” Barrett grabbed his arm and dragged James away until they were both running towards a black Chevy Camaro parked at the end of the row. Its engine had already been started. James snuck a quick glance over his shoulder to see Eden kneeling down beside her fallen partner, her hand held to her ear as she spoke frantically.

“Get in,” Barrett demanded as they reached the car. James did as told and barely had the door shut before Barrett was peeling out of the gravel parking lot. She drove like no one James had ever seen drive, reaching speeds of over 100 miles per hour on the rural roads leading away from the bay. It wasn’t until she hit the highway and they were headed for the bay bridge that she began to slow down. Abruptly, she slammed on the breaks just before the bridge and put the car into a spin while simultaneously she shut the lights off. Hitting the gas again, she sped down a service ramp to the abandoned Water Authority pump station that sat below the bridge before screeching to a complete stop.

“Come on.”

Barrett didn’t say another word before exiting the car and heading to the large steel door of the pump station. James shook his head and followed. When he caught up to her he noticed the two large men wielding automatic machine guns standing in the shadows on either side of the forgotten concrete structure. Barrett strode inside and James obediently followed. The guards shut the door behind them and returned to their positions.

“Wow,” James exclaimed as he looked around. The pump station hardware and equipment had all been removed, and in its place stood one of the most expansive yet intricate computer sub-stations James had ever imagined. “What is this place?” he asked. Barrett smiled.

“This, Mr. Davies, is where you are going to help us finish the work you’ve started, and save the world.”

James stared at her blankly, then smirked.

 

© J.J. Goodman 2013. All rights reserved.