Characters: Sophia, Jesse, Russell, Pip, Neil, Marcus, Gibbers
Location: Central Neverquest Network (CNN)
Day 4 - 2:16 PM
“I’m sorry, sir, you can’t come—”
“Out of my way!”
There were sounds of a struggle for a moment and then the door to the hallway was kicked open. Sophia looked up, squinting through her watery tears, as the darkened figure behind the doorway moved closer and wrapped his shadowy arms around her.
“Oh, Jesse, thank God…” she cried. “They killed him… They…they…” Her words went under again as the tears began to suffocate her.
Putting his fingers to Sophia’s brow, Jesse brushed back the strands of hair and gently forced her head upwards. “Who? What’s going on here, baby?”
“I don’t know!”
“Was there a break-in? Are you hurt? Did they take anything?” He never took his eyes away from her. He was a strong guy, both inside and out, with long stringy hair like a wet mop and a rough course of stubble all the way down his chin. Silver-eyed, he wore a slack brown jacket and an old t-shirt underneath with a neckline that showed off his bushel of chest hair. His jeans were dirty and greasy and near gray, probably from working on cars, and his knuckles were knotted so tight that they ran like leather against Sophia’s cold skin.
“No, no… It wasn’t anything like that…”
“Then what was it? A heart attack?”
Soundlessly, Russell stepped out of the Neverquest control room and the wrinkles in his face relaxed when he saw Jesse standing there. “Jesse, I’m glad you’re here.”
Jesse had Sophia in his arms, pressing her warmly into his chest, but he looked up at the old man and nodded. “I rushed over as soon as you called. I got my buddy covering the garage.”
“Well, I can’t thank you enough for coming,” he said. They shook hands behind Sophia’s back. “I wish I could fill you in on the details, but we frankly don’t know what happened here. We think it’s a malfunction in our systems.”
“You think?”
“As I said, we’re still looking into it.”
“Man, that’s not good enough! What if Sophia had been hurt, huh? I told you this place was bad for her.”
“It’s a lot safer than having her work under automobiles!”
“Please…” Sophia said, prying herself away from Jesse’s burly arms. “I don’t want to think about this anymore. I just want to go home.”
Russell looked at his daughter with pity in his aging eyes and then at Jesse. “Would you mind? I’d take her myself, but I have work to finish here…”
“Yeah… Yeah, old man, I’ll take her.” But his eyes were narrow and crossed and he gently put his arm around Sophia again, turning her away. “I wouldn’t want you to confuse your priorities, Russell. I know how hard that can be.”
The old man tried to respond, but he couldn’t find the words to speak before they had disappeared out the doorway as one. He watched them go and then reentered the control room, rubbing the temples of his forehead.
“Sir,” Pip said before he had a chance to sit down. “We have Marcus on the line. He’s found the computer that housed the virus. We traced it through our systems and the ID access code matches perfectly with what we have.”
“Good. Whose house did it come from?”
Pip was quiet for a minute as he listened to Marcus over the phone. Then he put his hand over the receiver. “There’s a young girl named Siarra who lives there. She’s apparently been playing Neverquest with what looks like her grandfather and younger brother.”
“How long has she been logged into our servers?”
“Almost three days, sir.”
Russell slammed his fist against the desk. “Damn! Where are these kids’ parents!? Don’t they try to get their kids off the computers every now and then?”
By now, Pip had switched the phone over to loudspeaker and they could all hear Marcus through the buzzing static.
“Mr. Russell, is that you?” Marcus asked.
“Yeah, Marcus, it’s me. Are you sure that it was this Siarra who planted the virus?”
“It came from her computer, sir. We traced the ISPs.”
“Why would her grandfather and brother be in on this too? How can we be sure she’s not a professional hacker and is holding them hostage?”
“Sir, I’ve checked out their house. There are pictures of all three of them together. They have to be a family.”
“What about her parents?”
“Away, sir. I checked her father’s laptop and his planner has the next two weeks scheduled for a vacation in the Bahamas.”
“She knew what she was doing,” Neil said.
Pip searched through his computer and pulled up the archive of Tony’s last visit through Neverquest. He fast-forward it until he found what he was looking for, hit the freeze frame button, and then zoomed in on the faces of one of the girls.
“This is Siarra,” he said. “At least, from what Gena told Tony, that’s what we know. Marcus, does the Siarra you see have pink hair?”
“Yeah,” came the static voice.
“Then Gena was telling the truth. Siarra and Kim must have planted the virus.”
“Kim? I don’t see a Kim here. There’s only one girl.”
“The Kim we’re looking for as red hair and freckles,” Neil said, standing up from his chair.
“What about the other houses?” Russell asked. “How many houses have you been to so far, Marcus?”
“Three, sir.”
“Who lives in them? Who was playing Neverquest when you went there?”
“Joan, at the first house. Her mom told me her name. She also told me that Joan plays Neverquest about two hundred hours a week, so I’m sure she’s not worried about her daughter being trapped in the game. That should buy us some time.”
“What about the second house?”
“I don’t know. Some Goth girl. She didn’t look like she had red hair, but it was too dark to see. And I don’t think we have to worry about her parents either. They were too busy fighting with each other when Gibbers and I broke in.”
“Well, at least that covers for the parents,” Russell sighed. “What about the fourth house? Who lives there?”
“It’s a LAN party,” Pip said. “I don’t think we need to worry about it.”
“Damn it, Pip—yes, we do! If the police find out about this, we’re all going to jail.”
“Sir, I think we have bigger problems to worry about right now… Like getting those kids out of the game.”
“Damn this!” Russell threw the printer against the wall. “Marcus, I want you to stay with Siarra. See if you can break through her computer’s security system and delete that virus.”
There was a pause on the other end. “Sir, I’m no programmer.”
“Just try. I can’t afford to send Pip or Neil over there right now. We’re already lost one programmer today.”
“Alright, sir.”
“Is Gibbers there with you?”
“Yes, sir,” came Gibber’s voice. “I’m here.”
“Okay. Gibbers, I want you to check out that LAN party and see what you can find. We have to assume that Gena is on our side. If she’s right, then Siarra had an accomplice. Find the redhead and report back to me.”
“We’re on it, sir.”
There was a click and then silence in the room.
“…We’re in deep shit if the cops find out what happened,” Russell said after a minute. “This whole company will go under. Tony’s death will be for nothing. All of work will be for nothing.”
Pip stared down at his computer screen and took a deep breath. “But we’ve made a breakthrough, sir. We know where the virus originated. We can stop it now. In a few hours, this will all be over.”
“…Then I’m going to need my daughter back here.”
“What?”
“She’s the only one who knows Tony’s protocols,” Russell said. “You’re a programmer and Neil is new at this. We’re going to need my daughter if we want to stop this virus.” He reached for the phone, dialed Sophia’s cell phone number, and handed the receiver to Pip. “Get her back here, Pip. Get her back now.”
Giantess World
