Chapter 5
Ven looked back one last time at his room for the past two years, he didn’t know when he would come back, or if he would ever come back. The last two years had flown by in a blur, he had been through a rigorous rehabilitation regime, and when he wasn’t exercising, he was stuck in a classroom getting a crash course in everything from ‘World History’ to ‘How to Use a Phone’. His teachers had taught him enthusiastically in the beginning, but once everyone found out he was giftless, their enthusiasm had waned. As a result, Ven skipped most of his classes without any complaints from his teachers.
Natalie had left the base last year, it was an emotional moment for Ven, she had been a person who could relate to what he was going through, and one of the few who didn’t look at him as a disappointment.
“Guess I might not miss this place as much as I thought,” said Ven out loud as he picked up his bag.
He was taken aback the moment he opened the door to walk out of his room. Ravi, Ivan and Zacharias were waiting outside his door.
“You didn’t think we would let you leave without saying goodbye,” smiled Ivan.
“During your time with us people haven’t always treated you fairly, and it was not because of any fault of yours. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize. But today is a new start for you. You’re leaving us to embark on your new mission, I wish you the very best in it,” said Ravi.
“We don’t have enough agents in the Police force, so we are hoping you can get into their mainframe and copy as much data as possible. You can never join the UTF, but the UTF and Police work hand in hand on a regular basis, so knowing what they know would be an advantage for us. But remember, a spy’s most valuable skill is to remain inconspicuous, don’t attract unwanted attention to yourself. To help you in that endeavor, we have a little gift for you,” said Zacharias.
Ravi stepped forward with a swish of his labcoat and opened a small ball box he had been hiding in his pocket. It held in it a single azure colored USB stick.
“I am grateful for the gesture, but to be honest I am not sure what I am looking at,” said Ven.
“What you are looking at is a marvel of creation, many sleepless nights, countless do overs and innumerable flipped tables out of frustration! When we first learned of you not having any powers, we ordered our scientists to come up with something which could give you an edge in the field. This here is what R&D came up with! As you know, every officer in the Police Department gets issued their own personal AI Assistant, a bare bones program on outdated hardware, utter garbage and a waste of your time, in my opinion. Now while I would have loved to have given you better hardware as well, it was impossible to keep it undetected. So, we came up with is this workaround, connect this to your Assistant, it will overwrite the AI program with the one we have programmed. Through your modified Assistant you will be able to contact Vikram at any time! Just so you know, he volunteered for the job. But of course, if for some reason you can’t connect to the Net, well then, your Assistant won’t be able to function beyond its most basic features. So, what do you think, are you blown away?” asked Ravi.
“It sounds very impressive, but how can I use it in the field?” asked Ven.
“My boy, while we have given you a fundamental course in everything we thought was necessary, let’s be honest we didn’t cover everything, this can feed you the information you need on the fly through your ear piece, and as a spy there will be times you will need to get into places you’re not supposed to. With Vikram to help you, hacking and opening doors shouldn’t be a problem, but remember, while Ravi has managed to find you an edge of sorts, this doesn’t help you in a fight. Anyone with a gift can still kill you with a snap of their fingers. Never forget that, never get cocky!” said Zacharias.
“Other than tricks to help you with espionage, the Assistant will send us information about your life signs, location and a secure means of communication if the need arises,” said Dr. Ivan.
“Now the software has never been field tested, so there are bound to be some hiccups along the road. You’ll be field testing it for us while you’re out on your mission. If the Assistant is as successful as I think it will be, we plan on handing it out to more of our agents. So be proud, you might not have a gift, but you’re already a huge help to us. We never would have considered using our time on an outdated tech like Assistants if not for you,” said Ravi with a huge smile as he handed the azure USB to Ven.
“Thanks, so how am I getting to Genesis?” asked Ven.
“You’re going to be taken by truck eastwards, to your fake hometown of Sparrow Ville, it’s a small back water town, nothing special about it. From there you’ll take a train North, towards Genesis. The whole thing should take you a little over a day, so make sure to get some sleep on the train. Try not to act like it’s your first time on a train. Once you get to Genesis, take a taxi to the Central Office of the Police Department, there you’ll start your new career as an Inspector. Here’s your fake ID, don’t worry it’s made by the best, so no one will be able to tell it is a forgery, and here’s a phone. Be careful about what you use it for, information on those things isn’t as secure as most people think,” said Ravi.
“Wait, I am still called Ven on this ID,” said Ven as he looked at the fake ID.
“You’re horrible at reacting to any other name, and the name is common enough that people won’t think twice about it. Now, if anyone asks why you don’t have a surname, it’s because you’re an orphan, you never knew your parents, you were found abandoned in front of an orphanage,” said Zacharias.
“That’s quite the tragic backstory you have made for me,” said Ven with a sarcastic smile.
“The fewer ties you have, the smaller the chance of an inconsistency popping up,” said Zacharias.
“Well then, I think that was all that needed to be said. Good luckn and stay save out there!” said Ravi as he turned around with a swish of his lab coat.
Finally the much expected time jump, Ven is about to go out on the world! A world he's never seen!
Will he able to fit in or will he stick out like a sore thumb? Tune in next week to find out!
Stay safe out there everyone and remember you're not alone.
Anderoth.