ORPHEUS - A.I.

Chapter One : The First Recruit

Three Weeks Earlier-

It was a pleasant Sunday evening- around 4 p.m. Far away from the maddening crowd, Hex was sitting on a cliff trying to meditate. From the hilltop he could see the entire city from its huge sky scrapers to its crowded roads and the busy neighbourhoods. It looked like a giant machine, slowly crunching its wheels- people and cars moving about from one place to another like clockwork. He could see the chimneys of the factories far away in the east slowly protruding smoke into the orange skies. Houses were decorated with tiny colourful lights and he could feel the chilly winds blowing from the west… 

"It will be Christmas soon..." , he thought with a deep sigh. 

He had been in a deep mess in the past couple of weeks with all the drinking and partying and gambling till he had nothing to lose anymore. One morning he woke up in a street drenched in his own vomit and that’s when he realised that he needed to get his life back on track. He decided to take a break from everything and went on a hike in the nearby mountains with nothing but his backpack on him. He had no idea what he would do next. But he tried closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. He really wanted to get his head straight. 

He was thirty years old software programmer trying to earn a good living. The competition those days was brutal. Everyone wanted to be hired by the top three companies – H.H. Media- the biggest media company in the country, Redbone Inc. – a video game company whose games have been killing it in the markets and then there was the big daddy of software development- Orwell Corp- not many people knew what is it that they actually did but there were some rumours about them that they led all the black projects for the government including mass surveillance and spying- their official spokesperson denied all these and reiterated that their only goal was to produce consumer friendly applications!

Hex didn’t care about all these rumours because the money was so good. He had heard that Orwell never gave people full time jobs, rather they employed people for a few weeks on specific projects and paid them a year worth of salary. They never hired the same people again and the ones that were hired were asked to stay in their posh living quarters. You never know whom they were going to hire and when and for how long.

He had been trying to get noticed by them for a long time and had even applied for a few projects in the past but no luck. Frustrated that his life was going nowhere, he got into drinking and partying whenever he made a few extra bucks through small projects. But he would run out of money and soon find himself looking for new jobs here and there.

He liked to do his coding outdoors, mostly in a café downtown – “Riverdale” He liked a girl there - a Spanish barista with beautiful eyes and long black hair who would always smiled at him when he was having a cuppa at the cafe. He wasn't too bad looking himself- tall, fit and a nice beard too go along with his rugged appearance. Once she told him that she liked his hair and that he should trim it more often. He’d never let his hair grow long ever since. Unfortunately he never had the guts to ask her out, mostly because he was nearly broke.

“Girls want a man who can provide ...” – he was told by his mother once when he went to see her last Christmas. He had’nt been home since. But in his mind he had already been planning his whole life with her- all he needed in his life was stability. He had been bunking with his mates at their flats where they let him live because they knew he was the best coder amongst them and also he was a charmer and knew how to talk and influence the clients.

All these years he had been doing some freelance work, short term projects for small firms and living pretty a mediocre life, but he found it hard to work from 9 to 5 everyday locked into some cubicle of a soul sucking private company with a humiliating boss and a even humiliating salary. Even though it would've been a much safer and stable way of living but it would also have been vague and mediocre and he hated mediocre. Deep in his heart he knew he was meant to do something greater which is why in the last couple of days he had gathered a few of his friends and started working on a new security software. Although in its testing phase the software once successfully launched would start to generate enough revenue in a few months to buy him a new house or even a car.

Thirty minutes had passed but he only felt sleepy - his mind was still running the numbers-

"Hundred users in one month...A thousand in the next...another thousand in the next...he would make millions...Ah stop it! ...need to focus... peace... calm... inner peace." 

His phone rang- " Ugh! what now..." 

He picked up the call.

"Hello!? "

"Hello...Is this Mr. Richard Brook?", a female voice asked politely.

"Yes, who's this?" , wondering how the voice knew his real name- everybody knew him as Hex!

"Hi…It's Serena from Orwell Corp. I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected for the job of our lead programmer and we would like to discuss further on this matter with you..."

Hex couldn't believed it. It has been months since he’d applied to this multi billion dollar company and wasn't expecting them to call back- there were better recruits out there!

But here they were. All his dreams were coming true- 

"Oh! that's great  ... " , replied Hex trying to hold his excitement.

"Yes, sorry for the delay ... We would like to meet with you today if that's possible."

"Today? yeah ok ... but it would take me some time to reach your offices."

"That's been taken care of. A car will arrive at your location in about ...11 minutes. You just need to get in and it will take you to our offices."

"Yeah? ok... but how did you know where I am.." the call got disconnected.

He stood up, picked up his backpack and looked at the winding road downhill. A black sedan was approaching.

" Well that was quick..." he thought.

"But I wonder how they knew where I was...have they been spying on me?"

The car reached on the foot of the cliff and the driver honked. A pretty lady got out of it and waved at him from below. He waved back awkwardly and began descending the cliff.

"Well whatever it is, I'd rather not miss this chance ..." , he reached the car, greeted the lady and got in. He was asked to sit alone in the backseat of the car which was shielded by a thick window from the front so that he couldn’t see the driver or the lady in the front.

“Great!” , he thought, “I am in the backseat of a car with people I’ve never met before driving towards a place I’ve never seen before…this could very well be a k********g…”

But even though he had his doubts he sat there patiently waiting for his supposed destination just to see how it turns out. He wondered though whether it was the same voice that had called him a few minutes earlier- Serena? Only time will tell. He took out his earphones and stuck them in his ears- scrolled through his favourite playlist on his phone and then hit play!

  James Brown’s song started playing:

“This is a man’s world…but it would be nothing.. nothing, without a woman or a girl..”

  The car raced towards Orwell Corp. headquarters – the sun was beginning to set.