Now, Where Was I Again?

“Uhm, well, I knew I needed to figure out the SGI. In my head, I guess I thought of it as the server itself, but really it is the program that’s the issue. TAM.” Shooting Timothy a panicked look, Karen trails off and reaches out to one of the small water bottles on the table.

Smiling, Timothy waits as she removes her hand from his, opens the water, and takes a nervous gulp. “Whenever you’re ready daa-lǐng. I think we all need to know what you found, and then I’ll tell you why I was so rude and spied on you and your friends.” His patience and good humour seem to fortify Karen.

“Where was I again…” she muses and then shakes her head. “By December I had to accept that TAM had worked. It was real, somehow, and I had been dating Tim for over a month. It was, well, magical. It was better than I could have imagined. But, I didn’t really tell anyone about it. Tim wondered, I could tell, but I didn’t mention him at work or to my handful of friends. I was always a loner, and while I love my family we’re not exactly close. I think I mentioned to my brother that I had dated someone new but he never brought it up again. It was easy to keep it to myself.”

Karen frowns, and her jaw quivers. But she fights through the emotions clearly overwhelming her and looks up at you. Maybe it’s easier to tell you about it than the man in question. “I was ashamed. Not of Tim, of course! But of how we were together. I was almost used to us being in public, to seeing other women glance at us and then do a double take. He is with her? It wasn’t enough to stop me, but I noticed and I never fully got over it. And then, on top of it all, knowing it wasn’t real. I didn’t deserve it.”

Clearly, Timothy wants to say something but Karen shakes her head. “So I needed to know what was happening. How. It was bad enough, what I did, but to let it continue was something worse. I had searched the internet for more information a couple of times but never found much, so I went back to that torn up piece of paper that had been in the box. I knew the box of stuff had been in the basement for a number of years, and the sub-basement before that because of the SB2-07 room number written on it. I had already redrawn the wiring diagram and the random names of the people around that rectangle meant nothing to me. I wasn’t going to do anything with the unlock code until I knew what it was for, so... off to the sub-basement! That’s where everything turned, and I got scared.”

While Karen takes a minute to gather her thoughts, you share a look with Jayne. She seems concerned, and reaches out to give your hand a squeeze. Whatever Karen is working up to clearly is still bothering her.

“I had the key to the stairwell door, that metal screen that covers the entrance from the basement to the sub-basement. So I had the papers with me and a notepad of all things. I didn’t know if I’d find anything at all, but if I did I rather thought it would be more of the SGI gear. It had the main server and the cables to go with the hub, but the hub was designed to interface a few machines so maybe they’d be there?”

Taking her glasses off, she rubs at her eyes and chuckles mirthlessly, “The sub-basement was creepy, but fine I guess. I’d never been there, but I saw the big room with the gravel and it felt like a tomb. Then I went to SB2-07 and went inside.”

“It wasn’t locked?” you can’t help but interject.

“No, the door was closed but unlocked.” Karen tells you, and you motion for her to continue. “So I went inside, and it was pretty much empty. Some really old telecom gear that might be totally worthless or might be worth good money nowadays, a desk, and a lot of dust. I walked around inside and looked in the desk, but there was just some old pens and a few random items, nothing that looked important or unusual in any way. I opened the other door, that lead to the old morgue, and then closed it as the lights were off and I could barely see anything in there except that one creepy table.

“So, all that for nothing huh? I was standing there by the door, looking around one last time and wondering what I would do now. And that’s when I heard a sound from the hallway. A footstep, at first I wondered if it was the security guard doing rounds, like maybe he saw me on a camera and wanted to know what I was doing? But then I got scared. Whoever was in the hallway was walking softly and slowly, like they were trying to sneak up on the room.”

Karen shivers and shakes her head, “It was the craziness of TAM, of what was happening, that made me so nervous and paranoid. It never even occured to me to just open the door and see who it was, it was someone being stealthy and that was enough to trigger my panic! I was a step away from the door so, out of instinct, I locked it as quietly as I could. Then I tiptoed towards the desk where I had left my notepad and the papers. I grabbed them, not realizing at the time I left behind the wiring diagram and the unlock code paper. But then I heard the sound of the door knob clicking quietly - someone had tried to open it. There was no knock and I was frozen in panic, just hoping that whoever it was would go away!”

Shaking her head, Karen frowns at the memory and you can see she is as angered by what happened as she is afraid.

“I was about to yell ‘who is it?’ or something dumb when I remembered the other door. I was being as quiet as I could, and I turned off the light as I heard a key being inserted - well this is it! But the door didn’t open, and I could tell it was the wrong key as the knob rattled. I took my chance, quietly walking in the dark to the side door and into the morgue. I used my phone as a light and walked as fast and as quietly as I could to the other door. I opened it and sneaked out, just as I heard someone opening the door down the hallway to SB2-07 so I guess they found the correct key. I all but ran up to the stairwell, and then to the elevator and my office.”

With a nod at Jayne, she continues, “I grabbed my bag and coat and sent my manager an email saying I wasn’t feeling well and was going home early. Then, when I was leaving the elevator opened and you got out. You may not remember it?” Karen pauses and Jayne shakes her head, “Yeah I’m sure, but at the time I was terrified, but just as confused in a way. This is embarrassing Jayne, but at home I wondered if it was you in the sub-basement, trying to get in. But your reaction had been so normal I thought not, it was probably security or someone else who was able to know that someone went down there somehow. But if that’s so then they would have seen me? There were security cameras in the hallway near the elevator in the basement, but I wasn’t sure if they worked or if anyone watched them.”

Now Karen looked at Timothy and sighed, “I’m sure that’s when you noticed my mood change. I became very paranoid, got rid of my cell phone, deleted all my social media. The very next day, I opened my Gmail account at home and all of my messages were marked unopened. Such a random, strange thing, maybe just a glitch or a bug? But if something like TAM is real, then surely someone knows? Someone is watching it? If they were watching, they would have seen me in the basement, and now my emails were altered? So I told you I wanted to leave Toronto and move to this house.”

“It was certainly sudden,” Timothy agreed, “but you said you were unhappy at work and it seemed to be the case. I didn’t have much keeping me in Toronto specifically, I mean if you said you wanted to move to the North Pole I might have had a different opinion but driving a bit up the highway wasn’t so hard. And I wanted to be with you, even if we had only been together a short while all things considered.”

**** back a sob, she pulls up his hand and kisses it, “Oh my love, I’m so sorry for what I did to you! The next time I was in the office I was going to fully ‘reset’ you in the TAM, I was! I knew it would make you leave me and I didn’t care, I had to do it! But then I had the program open, and I was looking at the admin menu, and I didn’t! I disabled you as a Person of Interest in the system, but I didn’t do the full reset so your scores would go back to the proper levels! I’m so so sorry I wanted to but I could-”

Her tearful apology is interupted by Timothy, as he pulls her from her chair and stands up to grab her in a full, strong hug. You feel awkward seeing this scene, but the way Karen sobs in his arms, and his understanding expression has you and Jayne holding hands more tightly.

After a few seconds of crying, Timothy lets her go and she sits back down, clearly overcome. The man looks at her and smiles, then turns to you and Jayne. “Well I should just say my piece now while my better half collects herself!”

Karen snorts and shakes her head but his kind, joking manner clearly are helping her relax. Timothy’s own expression falls however. “To be honest, like I said, I noticed Karen got very suspicious and nervous when we moved here to Newmarket so suddenly. But I was also wondering about… myself. You see, there is no way to say this gently… I was a piece of shit.”

You start, and Jayne makes a confused noise as well. Even Karen seems surprised, not just as Timothy’s declaration but the bitter tone of anger in his voice as he said it.

“I mean, I was always charming I guess. Easygoing. Handsome.” Timothy shrugs as he says it, with the same lack of embarrassment as if he said he had black hair. “I modeled as a teenager, loved the gym, got cut. People liked me and I liked being liked.”

Now, he pauses and looks embarrassed, “But women - and some men - clearly liked me a lot. And I enjoyed their attention. I never really felt that much for most of the women I dated, I mean I enjoyed sex and liked partying with them, but I knew I never loved them in the way that other people talked about love. In the way that women told me they felt about me. So, as I got older, I started dating women who could… help me in some way. When I was 19 an older, rich white woman hit on me. I was flattered and joked around with her, and she just flat out said - if you go on a date with me and treat me right, I’ll buy you a new phone. She saw I had a busted old phone and she just told me she’d buy me one if I went out with her.”

His eyes cast down, Timothy says, “I didn’t believe her, but she was so calm and confident about it. Go on a ‘date’ with her, and she made it clear this wasn’t going to just be dinner and a movie, but go on a date and she’d have a brand new top of the line phone for me. So I said yes. I went to a fancy restaurant with her, and laughed at her jokes and talked with her. Well, mainly I listened, she enjoyed just telling me about her life and she clearly loved it when the other women looked at me. And then she took me to a hotel and I screwed her and she gave me $700 cash to buy a phone.”

“I did it with her a few times but she got bored. So I found other women, now and then, women who had some money and were a bit older than me. I just told myself that I liked older women, but really I liked it when women bought be expensive things and I didn’t care much beyond that. If you had told me I was a prostitute I would have laughed at you, because I rarely got paid cash. I just, uh, let interested women know I needed help and quite often they’d eagerly buy me a laptop. Or pay my rent if I was behind one month. And that was how I went through most of my 20’s and into my 30’s, working as a personal trainer and partying. I dated some women casually but mostly I just found wealthy women, the ones who understood what kind of relationship I was looking for. And then I bumped into Karen.”

His eyes suddenly surprised, Timothy smiled his dazzling smile, “And was I flirty when I met her? Sure! I could tell she was into me, and I like meeting people. And who knows, maybe she’s a bored doctor or something. But no, she’s an IT worker, but easy to talk to. And then, after I meet her at the gym a few times, I realize I feel things for her I haven’t really felt since, I dunno, high school? I’m actually happy to talk to her and be with her, and I don’t even need her to lend me a few grand to invest in some bullshit scheme? So I ask her out. And, it’s great! At first I’m just thinking, I must be getting old, I want to settle down or some shit haha. But it was more than that, I was allowing myself to really get to know a woman in a healthier way. Where I wasn’t just working an angle, I guess? So, when Karen suddenly told me in December that she had given her two weeks notice and wanted to move out of town, I said yes.”

Timothy’s smile dims and he looks at Karen carefully. “I have to admit, when we moved and you suddenly started avoiding the internet and shit I was confused. I was happy to be with you in an exciting new kind of life, but confused. So I snooped in the desk upstairs and read through that notebook you keep now instead of using a computer like you used to. And when I saw stuff in it about mind control experiments and the CIA and so on, I was scared. I wondered if you were writing some bad sci-fi story, but it was clearly about your old job and coworkers. It was specific enough to make me concerned, but full of logical research and self doubt so it didn’t feel like just plain crazy talk. So then today when one of your old coworkers came to visit I was happy, but the weird energy in the room when I got back made me wonder what was really going on. So I left and climbed up the trellis out back to an open window, did a pretty good job of it too if I do say so myself, and sneaked down to eavesdrop.”

With his long story done, Timothy gives a relieved “Whew!” as Karen stared at him, agape. You have no idea even where to begin, there is so much to talk about, so you glance at Jayne. She’s clearly absorbing the various revelations too.

You clear your throat, “Well, there’s a lot to go over and digest. But maybe we should focus on the TAM stuff, and the sub-basement, first? If someone at BHC knows about it and was looking for you, that seems to be the most important thing. As is what you did with the SGI server, Karen.”

She tears her face away from Timothy’s and nods, “You are right, of course. I think I need to apologize to Tim in private and clearly we need to talk about our relationship. But first things first… Zach I’m afraid you and Jayne are in danger now too.”