Asher Frayne Jr. had a dilemma- several in fact. Among them was that Rika, beautiful little Rika who had a striking fire inside her that matched his own, had finally had enough of his antics. Her words paraphrased had been something along the lines of, “Until you stop experimenting with different forms of harassment in the work place I refuse to put up with you.”
So of course that meant she wasn’t replying to his texts and emails or answering his calls. Even though he really did need help with a certain delicate problem- a problem that actually induced a sort of physical and emotion pain akin to losing a child.
Only this child suffered from circuit and hard drives related illnesses rather than the usual kind. And, unfortunately, like any human individual, it was irreplaceable.
“What’s your name again?”
Asher nearly fell out of his chair and hit his back against his desk rather ungracefully. But he recognized the figure as he looked up at through his long bangs. Tall and slender like one of those male models plastered on the faces of fashion magazines, with messy black hair and just as black eyes, stood Deatras.
He glanced down at Asher, looking as uncaring as ever and obviously expecting an answer to his previous question.
Said boy tried to arrange himself in a more dignified manner in the face of such a condescending stare, and smiled away the subtle insult.
“Deatras! I’m so glad you could come! I really need some expertise especially since Rika left me-“
“Name?”
The young man now had a smart phone out, wielding it almost like he was planning to throw it at Asher.
“Asher…” he replied. His eyebrows furrowed as Deatras began to type on his phone. “What do you need it for? Obviously not for common courtesy, because you would keep calling me ‘hey you’ otherwise…”
This didn’t get a rise out of Deatras like he’d hoped.
“I didn’t have your contacts until you called me.”
Asher shouldn’t have been surprised, but he still was. He leaned forward. “What? So you answered it even with no caller ID? Ah man, I must’ve seemed like a creepy stranger.”
“A lot of my clients call from unknown numbers and are sufficiently ‘creepy.’ It makes no difference to me.”
He stared at Deatras in stark amazement, whilst processing his precise words.
Did he just call me creepy? Asher shook off his surprise and vaulted into action as Deatra’s phone vanished into his back pocket.
He clapped his hands together. “All right! Let’s get down to business! Come here, Deatras so you can see better.”
Asher swiveled in his chair to face his desk and Deatras moved to stand behind him. Asher grinned ecstatically and took a device which looked like a cross between a tablet and a satellite phone in his hands tenderly.
“Do you know what this is?” Asher already knew the answer he’d get, but he always introduced his projects in such a manner.
Like expected, Deatras shook his head.
Asher nodded sagely. “I would be impressed if you did, because this is something special I created. It’s one of a kind!”
Deatras stared at the device. “What does it do?”
“I’m glad you asked! But to be accurate, it would be what did it do? Before this beauty came down with a bug, it was an advanced user authenticated hacking system with the everyday uses of a phone and first- rate global positioning along with a few other odds and ends. I even fixed it to scan for paranormal activity within a six-mile radius. You know, to make the boss happy.” Asher winked and tilted it side to side.
He spent the next ten minutes demonstrating how it was supposed to work and pulling out the chip and pointing out the sources of the problem.
When he paused for a moment, Deatras coughed and crossed his arms. Asher must’ve imagined the impatience in his eyes.
“Why do you need my help with this? Aren’t you the expert here?”
Asher beamed. “As much as I appreciate your recognition of my talents, I wouldn’t have called you here for nothing. I need to arrange a new code and while I do that I need someone to hold this…” He held up an almost invisible wire. “… to the end of the chip- i.e. you.”
Apparently Deatras couldn’t find a loophole to slip out of the hacker’s clutches because he sighed and asked Asher what he had to do exactly.
When the young man had the thin filament in contact with the chip of Asher’s device, Asher began to type furiously, a series of numbers and letters flying across one of his many screens. He knew he must’ve looked like a mad scientist- he always grinned maniacally while stripping down firewalls- but at least he was a handsome mad scientist.
Asher had Deatras watching the screen of the tablet for any sign of life and after twenty minutes or so, Deatras cried out.
“It’s working! It’s turning back on!”
Asher turned to see Deatras crouched over the glowing tablet, his face and voice animated like he’d never seen them before. He hid an amused smile best he could. Maybe the guy wasn’t such a stiff after all…
“We really did it! Look! Huh… what…?” He brought the tablet closer to his face, a cloud of confusion passing over his face.
When Asher scooted over to see for himself what the matter was, Deatras’ smile was already disappearing.
And it was easy to see why.
The screen of the tablet was slowly filling with blinking words inscribing the same message over and over again: “I’m alive! You’ve saved me! Thank you Deatras! Thank you!”
As Asher lowered the tablet, he was relinguishing his only defense. Deatras’ glare was burning a hole in his forehead. He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.
“You tricked me,” Deatras intoned, sounding and looking scarier than ever.
“Well…”Asher started. “Not technically. This baby is really busted. The message just now was sent via other means.” He tapped the screen and it flickered. “And I really am upset that she’s fried, because she may have been old, but I’ve had her for a long time. Now, even I can’t resurrect her.”
He shrugged and glanced at Deatras hopefully. Nope, those eyes were still piercing him with an accusing stare.
“You, see, it may have been impossible to replace, but I already outfitted a new one. Hehe…” he patted a slick, black screen the size of a pocket book sitting innocently on the desk, bringing out his biggest grin.
“Then, you have no further use for this one.”
Before Asher could react, the tablet hit the side of his head and went skittering into oblivion. He almost followed, toppling backwards, chair and all.
Once more, Deatras was looking down on him.
“Now I know why Rika doesn’t want to be around you.” Deatras promptly turned on his heel and exited the room without another word.
Asher had to pick up the broken pieces, but that’s what he always did. It was his job as a hacker after all, just as it was his job to put them back together. He placed the remnants of his old tablet on the desk next to the new one carefully, but somehow he didn’t regret it.
He’d gotten to see a different side of Deatras for a moment, and have a little good old fashioned fun in the process. He settled down in front of his many screens and leaned back in his swivel chair, musing whether he should give Rika another ring.
Yup, it was a win- win situation for him every time…