Stories To Tell

“I guess we both have some stories to tell.”

After speaking, Karen stares at her hands and wrings them nervously. You look at her closely - a woman edging into middle age, with long curly dark hair streaked with a few noticeable strands of gray. Her makeup is plain and with her glasses and slight chubbiness you can’t believe that, just a few minutes ago, this woman looked like a terrifying threat, gun or no gun.

Twice she opens her mouth as if to speak but can’t seem to start, so with Jayne sitting very still you clear your throat and say, “I guess I can start, since we dropped in on you like this. I’m Zach, I took your old job at Bathurst about 4 months ago. On Monday, I finally got around to cleaning out the asset disposal cage, and I found the SGI server in it along with that weird port replicator and the cabling. So… I plugged it all in and turned it on. Then I ran The Affection Multiplier.”

You pause for a moment, wondering how much detail to go into. You’re strangely excited to talk about the nuts and bolts of the machine with a fellow IT nerd, and Karen looks up and makes eye contact with you again and says, “Did you use the wizard?”

“I did, did you?”

Nodding, Karen replies, “Yeah I did. I really wonder what would happen if you didn’t. Which option did you take? I assume you are the admin now?”

Thinking back, you slowly reply, “I think I choose the ‘all’ or ‘both’ option, to make me the admin and add a nearby person as a PoI. So it added Jayne, I guess because her office is right next door.”

Looking at Jayne, Karen asks, “And he told you about it? You know everything? What did it do to you? I only made myself the admin, I never scanned automatically or anything like that. Wonder if it would have made you a Person of Interest for me?”

Startled, Jayne says, “Uh, huh, never thought of that. I guess it says if you have any kind of potential to have the, uh, full scores then it would?” Everyone pauses and tactfully ignores the question of whether Jayne would have ended up falling for Karen in some manner or not.

“But Zach added you, so how did it affect your feelings?” Karen insists, glancing at you suspiciously. You realize suddenly how this might look, like Jayne might be under your influence directly. How much control could you have over a person with TAM on your side?

“Well, long story I guess,” Jayne chuckles nervously, “Zach and I had been good friends already, and we were definitely pretty flirty with each other the last month for sure, both being single and the same age and enjoying each other’s company. But then on Monday I was more openly thinking about Zach romantically. It didn’t seem strange at all, I had been thinking about how to get him to ask me out for a couple of weeks, but then I was just pondering it more openly. More seriously. When we’d talk, I could tell I wasn’t just crushing on him, I really liked him and wanted to get to know him better. Then, uh, he told me about TAM. The next day, in fact, and I got very angry for a few hours because it was all so crazy but I could see it with my own eyes and it felt real. Impossible but real.”

Karen looks at you again and says, “So, he told you the next day? Showed it all to you?” You notice she looks slightly impressed or maybe just surprised to hear you found this magical device to make people like you and more or less instantly blabbed about it.

Taking on the next part, you say, “Once Jayne got used to the idea she read through the tutorial and then had me make her an admin too. Then we made each other dormant.”

“Ahh,” Karen nods, “so The AM is not actively doing anything right now? That might be important.”

You hide a wince and say, “Well, actually there is one Person of Interest on it right now, I added a clerk on Monday, just as a test. We did both tell her about it and showed her TAM on Wednesday. She is still on the PoI list.” The two of you had agreed that you might have to mention Karissa’s involvement but only in the broadest strokes.

As Karen ponders that Jayne says, “Zach and I obviously wanted to know what was going on, and we had a couple of ideas. The company that made the program seemed to be called Panopticon, which didn't lead anywhere, but the main clue was that the cardboard box all the server stuff was in said SB2-07. So, we went down there.”

“You went to the sub-basement?” Karen asks, her face pale.

“Yes, we couldn’t get through the padlock but we went through the old morgue door,” at this Jayne pauses to look at you with a wide grin, “and hilariously enough that’s where Zach and I kissed, it made sense at the time trust me! We realized we did care for each other with or without TAM. There was nothing in SB2-07 except the diagram of TAM with the names of the old IT team on it and an unlock code.”

Sighing, Karen mutters, “Padlock? Well, I knew I dropped that sheet there, I just hoped no one would find it.”

“I half-recognized your handwriting, and the list of the old IT department people helped too, since your name wasn’t on it. And, basically, here we are.” Jayne finishes. Sure, she left out some things, but you think it’s a good synopsis of the major points as they relate to you two driving up to Newmarket on a Saturday afternoon.

The sound of the front door opening causes everyone to start, and you recognize the voice of Timothy calling, “Hello? Karen?”

She shoots you both a slightly panicked look, and you’ve put the pieces together enough to nod and quietly say, “We know, we won’t say anything while he’s here.”

With a sigh of relief Karen calls out, “We’re in the dining room honey, I saw your note but had bumped into Jayne and Zach outside already.” You stand awkwardly as Timothy bursts into the room with a dazzling smile and the effortless charisma of a man used to being the center of attention.

“Hello again!” He says as he approaches you first to give you a second hearty handshake, “Please, sit down, like I said I’m so thrilled some old friends showed up. Oh, do you want anything? A drink, we have some decent wheat beer, some energy drinks, uh, bottled water and some cold pressed organic juices that Karen can’t believe I like to drink but trust me, the cucumber and kale is actually damn tasty!”

Suddenly flustered, Karen looks at the table and blurts out, “Oh! Sorry! I was so, uh, thrown off to see Jayne again I totally forgot to ask if you wanted anything!”

Well, she’s not lying about the ‘greeting’ having thrown everyone off balance. Jayne laughs politely and says, “No no worries at all, Zach and I were just at Starbucks actually, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Timothy says as he backs into the kitchen, “How about you Zach?”

“Uh, a water would be totally great,” you answer and he gives you a happy grin and ducks away. The three of you slowly sink back down into your chairs as he returns with a bottle of water for you and a few more that he places on the table before opening one himself.

Jayne shakes her head and says, “Jeez, I almost forgot, we brought you a little gift Karen. I remembered you liked them so…” she hands over the gift bag that had been sitting on the table, completely ignored once the conversation about TAM began.

“Thank you,” Karen says as she reaches into the gift bag past the tissues that hid the contents. With a laugh, she pulls out the gift, a 6 pack of blue glass bottles and cries out, “BAWLS!”

Timothy peers at the bottles and laughs along with you all. Jayne looks at him and smiles, “When Karen worked at Bathurst in the office next to mine I used to see her drinking these sometimes. She had to go to a specialty store that sells energy drinks you can’t find anywhere else, but she swore by them. I had one, once!”

Laughing louder now, Karen says, “You acted like I was poisoning you! Sure, guarana is an acquired taste but if you really need some caffeine to get through a long day and you’re sick of espressos a Bawls is way more potent than a Monster or Rock Star! Zach, you’re in IT, you must have been familiar too, right?”

“I knew some of the older guys who used to drink them at LAN parties back in the day when you’d lug your giant computer and monitor to a buddies house to play Quake all night long, but I never drank any myself,” you reply.

Dubiously, Timothy is holding one of the bottles and arches an eyebrow as he says, “Hang on, let me see this… oh dear 32g of sugar, and it’s high fructose corn syrup to boot! Quote-unquote 'high levels of caffeine'? I bet. Nope, this does not fall within our healthy eating plans. BUT I guess you can have a bottle now and then.” He smiles at Karen as he hands it back.

Sighing theatrically, the older woman blushes and admits to Jayne, “Timothy is a personal trainer, and let me tell you living with one saves a lot of money on gym workouts but it makes it tough to break your diet!”

“It’s not a diet, it’s a healthier eating plan,” Timothy says, primly.

Jayne leans in to her old friend and says, “I have to tell you Karen, you look really great! You’ve lost a fair bit of weight in just a few months, I could tell right away! You're positively glowing.”

“Oh I still have a long way to go,” Karen mumbles bashfully, “but with Timothy working out an hour a day I have **** but to try to keep up. At least try to lose some weight.”

Shaking his head, he says, “You wanted to be in better shape for when we travel to Vietnam and Europe. Your appearance doesn’t factor into it, except how you feel about you. We’re doing all this so you feel better and are healthier and we can hike the hills outside the city my family lived in before they emigrated to Canada.”

“Oh I know, thank you honey,” Karen shrugs and you’re again aware of how Timothy is a model-hot personal trainer about your age and Karen is a rather average looking woman maybe 10 years his elder. She shoots you a quick glance and you suspect she’s wondering if you’re thinking about that very thing.

Karen pauses, and both you and Jayne are looking at her intently. TAM and the questions you have about her experience are bubbling up inside you, no matter that her boyfriend is being an engaging host.

As you try to think of something innocuous to talk about - maybe work related? - Timothy seems to note the sudden change of mood. With a quick but perceptive look at you, he turns to Karen and says, “Hey babe, I told Hank at the gym I’d be able to get back there to talk to some other potential clients. Do you mind if I go back and meet the new people? I’ll be back in half an hour or so.”

Karen sits up and says, “Oh! That would be totally fine, give me a chance to talk to Jayne, and Zach, about boring work stuff and catch up on office gossip. I’m sure they’ll still be here when you get back.”

Standing up, Timothy nods, “Good, good. I’ll just duck out and leave you all to talk about computers and health care. Be back in a while, if you two aren’t busy maybe Karen and I can take you out for dinner, there are a few good restaurants here we enjoy.”

“I’m not sure we’ll be in Newmarket that long, but if we’re already gone when you get back it was very nice to meet you Timothy, I hope we can all get together if you’re back in Toronto for sure,” Jayne replies.

With a final smile and good bye, Timothy glides out of the dining room and you hear the front door close again, then the sound of the lock being turned from outside.

In the silence that follows, Karen adopts a serious look and says, “Well, my turn I suppose.”