ORPHEUS - A.I.

Chapter Two: A dark past for a lovely lady

Megan flinched a bit as the nurse pushed the needle slowly into her arm.

"A blood test? Seriously?" she wondered as the nurse collected a sample of her blood and rubbed her arm with some spirit. She thought it was a bit excessive for her employer to check their new recruits so thoroughly but she didn't say anything.

She was in some sort of medical chamber inside Orwell's headquarters. Earlier during the day she was recruited by them and brought into their offices at around 5 pm. Her weekend was ruined, she had planned to go the library, sit quietly and read some books.

She was a psychologist- fresh out of the university downtown. Twenty-five years old, slim with blue eyes and blond hair and really smart. Her university gave her a gold medal for her book on ‘Cognitive Psychology’. Her friends loved her, boys were crazy about her, her neighbours adored her, even the elderly owner of the bakery where she went almost everyday , would offer her some extra treats but she kindly refused- such was her charm and beauty and on top of that she was very smart too. She was once told by her professors that she was a borderline genius - she laughed...

But despite of all the love and recognition, barely anyone knew about her personal life. She had lost her parents at a very young age and she could hardly remember them. Her maternal uncle and aunt had taken custody of her when she was about four years old. She had lived with them happily until she was sixteen years old. That's when her uncle - John Rutherford became extremely erratic and violent. He had lost his day job as a clerk due to the recession and started drinking heavily. He would threaten and beat his wife- her aunt, while Megan was not at home. He fought with her almost everyday and Megan couldn't do much because he threatened to stop paying her college fees. 

This continued for three years until one day he fell seriously ill. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer and was spending his days in the hospital barely holding on to his life. Luckily, Megan had started to receive scholarships and was able to pay her dues. She was so good that she started to receive job offers from universities while still pursuing her Masters but she declined them saying that she needed more time to take care of her ailing aunt. Three years of marital problems had turned her aunt into a schizophrenic and it was dangerous to let her stay at home unsupervised. 

She started writing books in her spare time and they were well received both by the scientific community as well as the general public. She was an independent woman now and she made sure that her aunt would never have to face her abusive uncle again. So she bought herself a nice little apartment in the suburbs and was living happily with her aunt. 

It was this Sunday morning that she received a call from Orwell Corp saying that they would be honoured to have her in their new project which required her expertise on the human psyche. She would be handsomely paid they said and it was only for a month. She thought about it a bit before finally agreeing to lend her services. So she packed her bags kissed her aunt goodbye and got into the company car that was waiting outside of her apartment.

And here she was signing agreements and contracts and having herself medically examined. After the test, she was asked to sit in a large conference room along with two other hipster looking guys. They were offered a little snack of coffee and cake. The room was well lit with a large round table fitted with mics and chairs all around it. To the front was a huge LED TV . The entire room was covered with dark glasses with a giant glass door in the entrance.

Megan looked at her watch - it was fifteen minutes past six. She was getting impatient. The other guys were sitting opposite to her laughing and talking with each other in a foreign language. She couldn’t make out the language but she guessed it must be Finnish or Norwegian.

"I wonder what are they so happy about?", she thought not able to make out what they were saying. One of them spoke with a thick accent :

“ So, missy what is it that you do?....You see my friend and I make a bet here …He say you’re a scientist, I say you’re a coder…”

“Close… I’m a psychologist…” replied Megan indifferently.

The guys were amazed and started talking to each other again in their language. Apparently one of them was arguing that he had won the bet. Megan looked at her watch again and sighed…

Back at the car Hex had almost dozed off after staring out of the window tirelessly for almost two hours. They were out of the city by now and he could see more greenery through the window. He didn't know that their offices were located so far out of the city. After a few minutes the car stopped abruptly and he was received by another lady who showed him to inside.

Hex took off his shades and stared at the huge compound covered with 16 ft. tall walls and armed guards patrolling everywhere. He was checked at the gates and then led inside the compound where he saw this gigantic dome covered with glass which was supposed to be the headquarters of the Orwell Corp.

"What are they doing out here...in the middle of nowhere...with so much security and privacy..." he wondered.

"Wonder what monsters do they cook up here?"

"This way Mr. Brook..." , said the lady politely leading him to some kind of a screening office before entering the main offices.

He was given some forms to sign, which he did happily and then they took a sample of his blood to test for unwanted substances.After five minutes of getting the green signal to enter he was shown into the conference hall of the main office. He entered the hall and saw a pretty girl sitting around a huge table along with two other guys. 

"Phew! Helluva ride, huh.." announced Hex as he approached his seat. He nodded to the guys and they nodded back and sat next to the girl. He was promptly given a cup of coffee by a waiter who left as silently as he came.

"Are you the Hex?" said one of the foreigners.

"Yes... I am..." replied Hex calmly sipping his coffee, relieved to have been finally recognised by this name.

"Whoa...yes...I knew it ..We are big fans..Adagio 2.0 ...yes ...big fan..." , said the guy shaking his hand-

"I am Timothy Bjork and this my friend Andre ... we are coders like you huh..."

"Yeah .. nice to meet you guys... yeah.. thanks", replied Hex smiling and shaking their hands.

Adagio was Hex’s most successful project that he completed successfully 10 years back- a virtual reality game based on the medieval times.He became famous after the game sold over a hundred thousand copies, but everything went downhill since then. He got distracted by the fame and money and he was never offered another such project...

He looked at the pretty girl next to him she was silently staring at her phone.

"Maybe she's texting her boyfriend...does she have a boyfriend? I mean look at her why wouldn't she...", he kept thinking silently sipping his coffee.But then he remembered about Rosa- his crush, the beautiful barista in the cafe and felt guilty about being attracted to another woman. He wondered whether he should introduce himself but then suddenly the front door opened and a middle aged man walked in, he had a cane in his left hand and slowly limped into the room with a young lady by his side.

"Sorry to keep you waiting guys... it's been a busy day...", said the man as he approached the centre of the room.

The man was well dressed in a grey suit.He had neck-long hair which was turning grey indicating his age, his brown eyes shined from within his thick eye glasses and he had a grey moustache. He looked like a scientist, but he looked rich.

"Thanks everyone for accepting my invitation on such short notice...I hope you're all doing well", said the man.

"Yes... that's cool ... but we don't know who you are ..." , said Timothy. The man burst out laughing at this stupid question and said-

"Oh how rude of me... please allow me to introduce myself...I am Alan Devonshire owner of Orwell Corp. and this beautiful lady is my daughter Serena... I'm sure you've heard of me..."

Hex almost spilled his coffee on himself.

"That's Alan Devonshire?" he thought "the controversial scientist who allegedly had created the world's most powerful mass surveillance software?...he was supposed to be dead in a lab accident..." Hex was puzzled.

Mr. Devonshire sat down in his chair upfront while Serena took out her laptop and sat beside him. Megan was also sitting there looking puzzled, while Timothy and Andre took out their own laptops. Her mind went back to her apartment as she wondered about her aunt. Poor woman keeps forgetting things which is why she had left her best friend Emily with her to look after her while she was gone. Emily was a simple minded girl and the kindest most generous person she had ever known...

"I'm sure you've your questions guys...so let me tell you everything from the beginning.." said Mr. Devonshire. The lights turned dim and the TV screen turned on Mr. Devonshire spoke slowly but steadily-

"Privacy is a myth..." he said.