** Date: 08.06.1029 PNT // Saturday **
** Time: 2:41 // 2:41 AM **
** Location: Ecosystem Mika // Habitat Melissa // District 7 // Sector 4 // Moira Road 3 **
** Cafe Moira // backroom office**
“What the fuck happened?” Lizzy shouted. She came back to the office and found herself in a battlefield. Ralf was in the middle of fighting some fires. Roland lay unconscious on the floor. “Oh no, my sweet baby.” She ran towards him. “Are you okay? Ralf, take your baby brother into the bedroom. Jules and I will handle this.”
Ralf dropped the fire extinguisher and picked up Roland. Lizzy picked it up and did the rest, while Jules cleaned up the trash and broken technology. “I really hope Roland transferred the money.” She held the fried laptop and the flash drives that were attached to it.
“Fuck.” Lizzy took the laptop from her and looked at it, as if she would understand anything about it. “Maybe we can restore some of it. Roland did that before.”
“Yeah...sure.” Jules picked up more of the trash. Lizzy was about to say something, but this broke even her.
** Time: 3:03 // 3:03 AM **
** Cafe Moira // backroom office**
“How is your head, sweetie?” Jules held a cooling pad on the bump on Roland’s head.
“I don’t know.” He stared at the wall. “I’m still a bit dizzy.”
“What happened, Ralf?”
“While I was scanning, we found this locket.”
“Jules, look for it. Is it broken?”
“No, it’s not.” Ralf continued. “When I scanned it, there was no data. I tried to get data on the material; metal, plastic, copper, gold -”
“Yeah, yeah, go on.” Lizzy pulled him back onto the main track.
“But it got blocked. Roland said, there is a weird encryption around it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t explain that…”
“I kind of can, but I don’t know the details.” Roland got back to his senses. “The locket has a continuously shifting encrypted key and hole. I have looked to see if the method of encryption is anything known, anything ancient, but nothing. It doesn’t have a specific cipher, no pattern, nothing recognizable.” He fell back into the bed. “I tried to decrypt it with different methods and even a very questionable AI. That is when everything blew up.”
“Told you not to use AI!” Ralf exclaimed.
“It wasn’t the AI.” Roland protested. “The issue is something else… it is actually a couple of things.” He stood up and held up his index finger. “First, the key on the box is not for this locket. It is for something else. However, we have to assume that whatever the other object is, probably another locket, also has a key and a hole, and both open each other.” His second finger went up. “The key we have seems to continuously change, based on… whatever. I thought maybe on its environment. Temperature, air, electricity, magnetic fields, and so on, but no. From what it looks like, it infinitely extends and changes. Almost like true infinite randomness.”
“Almost?” Jules asked.
“True randomness is not programmable. Especially not an infinite one.” He continued. “Which brings us to the next issue. We have to assume the other key is the same. We need both. And even then I am not sure if it will work. I would say let’s talk to Rat, but I don’t think he knows anything about it.”
“Honestly, I don’t quite understand.” Ralf scratched his head.
“Imagine a key, but both ends open a lock. Each opens the lock for the other. The keyholes only open if the keys merge. We know there is a second key. We don’t know how to merge them. Maybe just having them present is enough. But with that kind of effort, I don’t believe so.”
“This piece of shit has cost us so much money; I am not gonna ask you how much exactly. That would break my heart. But if someone made the effort to encrypt it like that, then the information must be valuable. The locket itself, even. So even if we don’t crack it, someone else can.” Lizzy complained.
“No!” Roland shouted. “I wanna do it. I just need a better computer.”
** Time: 16:15 // 4:15 PM **
** Location: Ecosystem Mika // Habitat Melissa // District 3 // Sector 2 // Penitent Wall 8 **
** Melissa May Mall // 13. Floor // Recreational Zone **
A red ball rolled past Jules onto Lizzy’s feet. A little boy came running out of the playground area. Without hesitation, he took the ball off Lizzy’s feet. He turned towards Jules. He stared at her and smiled. “I like your hair. It goes woosh and looks like fire.”
“Aw, thank you.” Jules patted his head. “I like yours, too. But you should go back now.” The boy ran off.
“Lizzy, my queen.” Rat appeared from behind the group and sat down. Two men followed him. He waved at the waitress. Who came immediately. “Could you bring me an iced Chai Latte?” The waitress nodded and walked off. Rat smiled at her, showing off his golden fangs.
“It is great to see you, too.” Lizzy said. “Unfortunately, most of our product is gone. This is what is left. The receipt says 3.7 veils in total.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rat leaned further into them. “Let’s get to the good stuff.”
“Yeah, the locket.” Roland said. “Ralf has it in a box.”
“Showeth thy treasure, slow one.” He said to Ralf. He growled as he placed a box on the table. “So when you tried to analyze and decrypt it, it overloaded your laptop?” Rat looked at Roland. “Your laptop?” Roland nodded. “Honestly, from what you have told me, I can’t place it anywhere. I could ask around. But I can tell you, 99%, you will get no info on this.”
“That’s what I thought, too.” Roland said. “I need something different from you. I need a supercomputer. Not just a supercomputer. I mean really -”
“Old world super, you mean.” Rat finished. “Look, I can provide you with access to one. However, the whole process is not easy, and the guy is not cheap.” Lizzy rolled her eyes and waved her hands. Meaning: Just spit it out. “My fee is not the problem, honestly. I will do the introduction for 1 veil. However, the guy wants 50 veils for one task.”
“That is a straight-up fucking scam!” Lizzy said as she leaned towards the table. “Are you fucking joking?” Rat shook his head. “I have 1.2 veils and 1,200 credits, Ralf has 0.8 veils and 600 credits, and Roland has 1.4 veils and 800 credits.”
“We also have 25 veils on the hard drive, and I have 1500 credits.” Jules added.
“We are not touching that money.”
“But-”
“Even if we did. It’s not enough.” Lizzy tapped Roland on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, buddy.” She turned towards Rat. “How much can you give us for this piece of shit? I mean the technology alone-”
“Oh, I know where this is going.” He stroked his chin. “I could probably find someone to buy it. However, I just don’t know if it is worth the effort.” He licked his lips. “And to be honest, I kinda want to know, too.” Rat leaned back. “I will see what I can do. It is obvious you won’t be able to pay it, like ever… but maybe things can be handled differently.”
“I would rather just sell it.” Lizzy said.
“Okay, look, you guys have been my almost best customers for years. I would love to keep it that way, and I would hate to see Roland sad. I will make you an offer. You guys have 25 veils. You need another 25. I will give you 30 for this locket or…”
“Or?” Roland had a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“You give me a couple of days. I will see if I can work something out. If that doesn’t work, then I will gladly buy the locket off you.” They agreed on that, shook hands, and as Lizzy and her group were about to leave, she turned around.
“Wait, who is your best customer?” She asked him.
Rat smirked. “That is none of your business, my queen.”
** Time: 17:15 // 5:15 PM **
** Location: Ecosystem Mika // Habitat Melissa // District 3 // Sector 2 // Penitent Wall 8 **
** Melissa May Mall // 13. Floor // Recreational Zone **
Ralf ran up and down the halfpipe. Roland had his head on Lizzy’s shoulders. She gently stroked his hair. “Well, the money of that evening is gone. But we might get everything at once.”
“I really want to open that locket.” Roland said.
“Oh, shit.” Jules stood up.
“Oh, for fuck's sake.” Lizzy and Roland did the same. Ralf walked to them and stood next to Lizzy. “What the fuck are you doing here?” She shouted towards three silhouettes coming towards them.
“I could ask you the same question, bitch!” A younger woman in her early 20s shouted back. She walked straight towards Lizzy and was so close to her now that she could feel her breath.
Lizzy pushed her away. “Piss off!” The two men next to the red-headed girl were about to go in when the ginger stopped them.
“Still anger issues, eh?” Ri’el said. She looked towards Roland. “Hey there cutey.”
“Please don’t talk to me.” He replied.
“What do you want?”
“What do you mean, ‘What do you want?’” The man on the right squinted his eyes and twitched his head. “Not everything is about you. We just happen to be here.” His long, dark hair fell into his face while he was talking.
“Well, maybe you should happen to be somewhere else.” Jules commented.
“The wannabe artist trying to be clever.” The bald one on the left said.
“You better watch your mouth, you literal dickhead.” Lizzy took a step forward.
“Colten, Helry, don’t engage.” Ri’el turned around and pushed the boys away. “This one has crazy anger issues. Honestly, the money you are saving would be better invested in anger management than in this childish little art project.”
“I’ll show you fucking anger management, bitch!” Lizzy pulled Ri’el back by the hair and punched her straight in the face, planting her in the ground. Ralf immediately jumped in and headbutted the bald Helry.
Colten had a devilish grin, stared at Roland, and walked towards him. Roland shook his head. Colten nodded. Jules smacked a bottle on Colten's head. She and Roland jumped on him. They didn’t beat him. But they kept him from standing up.
Right when the fight was about to peak, a whistle tooted. “We order peace!” Two men shouted.
“Fuck, it’s the fucking piece of shit pigs.” Ri’el said and let go of Lizzy’s hair. “Everyone get your shit together.” They all let go and behaved.
“We are so fucked.” Roland said.
“We don’t have anything with us; they can’t do shit.” Lizzy said and looked at Roland. He nervously gulped. “We don’t have anything with us, right?” The cops came closer.
“I bought 3 ounces of coke.” Roland stuttered.
“You did what?” Lizzy whispered while pinching his arm.
“Hah, your dumbass crew fucked up.” Ri’el commented, and the cops were halfway there.
“Ehm, Riri…” Helry gulped as well. “I have 50 ecstasy pill.”
“You worthless fucking dumbfuck!” Ri’el pinched Helry. “We are fucked.”
“Oh, your crew is just perfect, isn’t it?” Lizzy laughed, and the cops arrived.
“We need all of your identification.” One of them said.
“What seems to be the problem?” Lizzy asked.
“Well, yes, it’s called assault and violence.”
“Who was assaulted?” Ri’el went up with her voice. “I am shocked and appalled just by the mere image of such gruesome acts.” Lizzy rolled her eyes.
The peacekeepers looked at each other and back to them. “All of you are going to empty your pockets, phones, drives, watches, and whatever the fuck else you scum have on you.”
Ri’el sighed. Then kicked the left one in the balls. Lizzy punched the right one. Both groups ran in opposite directions. The cops shot at them. The sirens blared in the distance. “The whole day has been like this…” Lizzy was done.
They ran deeper into the abandoned areas. Until they reached an industrial zone. It had a big fence around it. “What do you guys say? Explore a little bit and hide from the cops?” Lizzy asked them before they climbed the fence.
Broken and rusty machinery was all over. But other than most areas like this, it had no graffiti. A big gate was right in front of them. It was slightly open, and the 4 of them were strong enough to pull it open. The inside was decrepit. Plants, fungi, and mold growing in every corner and on every surface. The ones without were flooded with water. Rusty stairs, pipes, and containers. And of course a pile of dead rats.
“What do you think this was?” Ralf asked.
Roland had already scanned the area. “This used to be a water purification plant. It got obsolete as we found better ways.”
Lizzy looked at Jules. Who was standing still and just staring at seemingly everything and nothing. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She turned around with a big smile. “This is it. The Art Gallery.”
