by Amy English
Through
the
Wires
A
Amy English
Novel
This book is fiction based on the imagination of the writer. Names, characters, places and incidents are creations of the writer for entertainment purposes and any resemblance to actual people, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.
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©US copyright 2020 by Amy English. All rights reserved. Any use in parts or a whole, is strictly prohibited. For use of this material email us at [email protected]
Acknowledgments
Thanks to all the readers who love to immerse themselves in a good book. Books have the power to open up the mind, allowing the reader to be creative, critical, analytical and emotional all at the same time. Thank you for your support.
Table of Contents
Game Changer
Interfaced
Illuminating Effects
A Problem Within
Play at Your Own Risk
Friend or Foe
Possibilities
One
Game Changer
T
he bell rang at Edison High. “Let’s go everybody. Get to your class. Clear this hall,” one of the teachers said, as he walked past. He stopped then glanced around. Students began closing their lockers. They knew better than to disobey Mr. Farley. He was one of the no-nonsense teachers. His commanding voice and reputation for sending students to the office, had him respected and feared. And soon, everyone walked with purpose towards their classes.
“Hey Dylan. Wait up,” Emily yelled, as she ran down the hall. Dylan adjusted his backpack as he slowed his walking. He was headed to Mr. Neil’s class. He nodded at some of his fellow classmates as he passed them. Emily bumped one of her classmates as she tried to navigate through the busy hall. “Sorry,” she said, as she turned her head and smiled.
“Hey. What’s up,” she said, breathing heavily from her quick jog to catch up with him. “What’s up,” he said, looking around as he walked past the group of guys and girls standing against the lockers. “Move! Now! Get to class this minute,” Mr. Farley shouted. A warning for anyone not making their way to their designated classroom.
The teens closed their lockers. Mr. Farley stopped and snatched a cigarette from a young man’s ear. “To the office young man. Now!” he said. A sneer at the aggressive teacher sealed his fate. “This is an automatic suspension. You know cigarettes aren’t allowed,” he said, as he followed him.
“What up Dyl,” a student greeted, as he walked by. Other students acknowledged him as he continued down the hall. Dylan walked to his locker and threw his bookbag inside. “Did you pass that test?” he asked. “I think so,” Emily replied, shrugging her shoulders. “I have another one today. Ms. Hill has been giving a lot of surprise tests lately. She gave three, back to back. I hope she doesn’t make us test today.” Dylan looked around. He spotted his friend Peter laughing and joking with a group of girls. He grabbed his text book and walked with Emily towards her class.
Dylan was the cool kid at school. Well known and liked by his peers. He was popular despite being new to the school. He entered in the middle of his freshman year after relocating from Nebraska. Everyone acknowledged him when he passed by. He was the handsome young man that the boys wanted to be friends with and the girls had a crush on.
But Dylan was preoccupied. He’d been having a lot on his mind since discovering that his father had perfected his invention. Dylan was hoping he would be launching it soon. A gaming system that would change the way players could interact with one another. He hadn’t told a soul except Emily, his friend and neighbor who lived just a few doors down. She had been anxious for Dylan to tell her about the secret game and more importantly, get his hands on the systems so they could try it out.
“Did your father say anything to you yet?” Emily asked. “No. I don’t think he’s gonna let me use them. He brushed me off the last time I asked. I don’t know what he’s so afraid of. I know games. I know technology. He shouldn’t underestimate me. I’m not a kid anymore,” Dylan said, looking disappointed.
Emily sighed. She was looking forward to using the game that Dylan told her had capabilities beyond this world. He had limited information as to how the system actually worked. He only knew that the game consisted of a headphone and a console unit. And was capable of taking the user to a four-dimensional virtual world. “Hey I gotta go. I’ll see you after class,” Dylan said, as he walked into Mr. Neil’s class. Emily paused then looked back and sighed as she turned and headed to her math class.
Dylan went home that afternoon, plopping down on his bed after an exhausting day of basketball practice. He ran downstairs, greeting his mother Claire and father Frank, before fixing his plate and being allowed to take it to his room. Dylan laid down on his bed and crossed his legs. He looked at the ceiling and stared at the illumination of the galaxy. A recreation of a constellation of stars from a table lamp he’d had since he was five years old. His father purchased it for him and Dylan was fascinated by it still, at the age of fifteen. He ate his dinner and played games until it was time for bed.
Frank, his lovely wife Claire and their son Dylan were the only black family in their neighborhood. Dylan had adjusted well since they moved from Nebraska. His father was concerned about pulling Dylan out of school, to move to a new city, right in the middle of his freshman year. But a chance to be the lead engineer for the technology firm he worked for, opened an opportunity for Frank Wilson.
Dylan had adjusted well. He had plenty of friends in his neighborhood and at his school. He was now a sophomore and was one of the star players for the school’s basketball team, The Edison Warriors. Life was good for the Wilson’s. Dylan had parents who loved him and believed in him. He was a gifted student. A gifted basketball player. Just as his father was when he was a young man.
The Wilson’s were a solid family. Dylan looked up to his father. Frank Wilson was his sons hero and Dylan hoped to be just like him. An engineer by trade, who had several inventions to his credit, Frank was advancing quickly in his field. He held several degrees in engineering and technology and had finished his PhD in Information Science. He also held several patents for his creations of computer systems and cell phones that included options for advanced games with lifelike graphics.
Frank was happy. This was the day that could mark the beginning of a new era in gaming. He was ecstatic. This day could make history. If he could just get approval from the board members and the other executives about his invention, he could introduce the technology to the world. An invention he thought would change the world as we knew it. An invention that could yield him millions of dollars and even more money in grants for other projects. Frank Wilson sat at his table, drinking his coffee and thinking of a strategy to get a unanimous yes vote from his peers.
“Dylan, come to breakfast,” his mother yelled out. “What is that boy doing. I swear. Honey, you need to talk to him,” Claire said to her husband. Frank looked at the clock and continued eating, noting that he had a few more minutes before he had to leave for work. He was an up and coming executive at a Technologies Firm called Silverfish and was beginning to worry about the meeting he had scheduled that morning with the board members. He looked up and acknowledged his wife as he drank his coffee
and read the morning paper. “I will,” he said, as he took another sip. “Hey ma. Hey dad,” Dylan said, as he grabbed a slice of toast and a piece of bacon leaving his eggs and waffles behind. He grabbed his cell phone off the charger and ran out the door.
“That boy,” she complained. “Don’t worry. Wrap it up. He’ll be back,” Frank stated. He looked at his wristwatch. “I better get going. I have to go in for an emergency meeting,” he said. “On a Saturday honey?” she said, in a disappointed voice. She had hoped the family could hang out and go to the movies or maybe visit the museums. But this was a last-minute meeting that he couldn’t miss. The board had agreed to hear him out on his project. He had several projects going at once and so the board was unaware that he was going to be presenting the same project they had voted down before.
Frank Wilson shook off his last-minute jitters and prepared to leave. He wouldn’t let this meeting get the best of him. He had been down this road before. He always excelled in the face of adversity and this was no different. When he was young, he was a bit of a geek and odd ball growing up in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Children throughout grade school and high school made fun of him but his parents pushed him to excel. He was a child prodigy and skipped grades every few years until he graduated from high school at the age of fourteen. He continued on to college, where he was a double major earning a bachelors in Biology, then a second bachelors in Information Technology. He then went on to earn his Masters in Software Application Development.
Nothing intrigued him more than electronics and gaming systems. And this was the motherload of gaming systems. He had developed software that he felt would change the world as we knew it. But it was still in its infancy. He hadn’t tested it other than some preliminary testing. No intensive logistics checks for system flaws or weak points had been done. But Frank was anxious. He wanted to release his technology. He thought it was safe. The system had limited ability to trouble shoot or produce a detailed report. He had designed the system to be a self-learning and adapting system but hadn’t worked out the kinks completely. He believed this to be a minor flaw and was ready to push for approval and financial backing.
What Mr. Wilson was working on was an Artificial Intelligence system, built for gamers and initially designed to self-diagnose and self-repair. An AI system tied to a virtual reality world. A two-part system that consisted of a headphone and a console. He got up from the table and kissed his lovely wife on the cheek before heading out.
Frank exited his home and walked up to his car. It was a wonderful morning. The sun peeked up from the horizon. It was the setting for a wonderful morning. Clear skies was the forecast. Frank walked down his driveway and waved at his neighbors as he got into his car. He looked over at the Douglas’ house. He didn’t see Zach’s car and assumed he had left for work already. Zach worked with Frank at Silverfish and the two were golfing buddies. He pulled out of his driveway and rode past Peggy Temple’s house, also another Silverfish employee. Her minivan was not in its usual spot. He hoped everyone he worked with would be in attendance.
Frank Wilson and his neighbors Zach Douglas and Peggy Temple, all worked for Silverfish Technologies. He backed out his driveway and waved at Claire as she stood in the doorway. This was an important day. A second chance to get support for something he believed was ground breaking. He was on the cusps of something he touted as the next big thing in gaming. He’d requested this meeting so that the executives and managers could be brought up to speed on new details. In the end, he hoped to be given a thumbs up so he could proceed with scheduling production of the first set of consoles. It was history in the making.
Z
ach Douglas, Emily’s father, walked into Silverfish smiling and speaking to everyone as he made his way to conference room B. Frank was in his office with his door closed doing some last-minute preparations for his presentation. “Hey Frank. You need anything? Looks like everyone is here if you’re ready to get started,” Zach said. Frank looked up and shook his head. “Yep. I am. I’ll be right in.”
Frank grabbed the console, earphones and his file and walked into the conference room looking around as he made his way to the front of the long oval conference table. He appeared somewhat nervous and he had reason to be. He knew he hadn’t yet tested it completely and with its vast capabilities, he wasn’t sure the board member, executives and other managers would approve. An approval he needed, in order to move to the next phase of his work and invest in its completion.
To make matters worse, no one but Zach Douglas would understand his high-tech lingo and wouldn’t be able to follow along on some of the more complicated jargon about the system itself. The last meeting he’d had ended disastrously, and he was forced to shelve the project for six months.
“Um, Um,” he cleared his throat and looked around. Zach, his golf buddy and neighbor gave him a quick smile and head nod for encouragement. Frank looked at the rest of the people in attendance. They all looked as though they’d rather be fishing than listening to him push yet another one of his unfinished, untested, bright ideas at them.
“Come on Mr. Wilson. We don’t have all day,” one of the board members said, as he sat stone faced. “Ok... Sorry… Well… The project that has consumed most of my time this year is finally near its completion. I um, have a projected release date of May 10th. The project is called Espanys which is just synapse spelled backward for anyone interested in knowing where the name came from.
“Espanys is an Artificial Intelligence system built to take the user to a virtual world of his or her choice. The console is the home base as with all systems and everything the user wants must be preselected. How the system works is the user places the headphones on their head. Then select a desired location and how long they wish to be in the game. Other controls like temperature, environment management, structural management and other layouts are pre-set. After the user logs on and starts the game, they will fall into a light sleep and be taken to the four-dimensional world and experience things they never thought possible. Users then emerge from the game after the selected time has elapsed. This will change the world as we know it,” Frank said, pausing his PowerPoint and preparing to give a demonstration, if he could get someone to volunteer.
Frank looked around. In his excitement and haste to explain his invention, he hadn’t noticed the perplexed looks on everyone’s face. They started looking at each other with a look of confusion. The CEO looked at their highest-ranking board member Bridgette Lancaster. She was powerful and well connected. If she didn’t like something, he would quickly squash it. And she looked displeased.
Mr. Stallings cleared his throat. “Ummhmm. Mr. Wilson. I think I speak for everyone in attendance here today when I say that this is nothing new and we were under the impression that this particular project had been shelved some time ago,” he said, as he looked around for support. “Yes, that what I thought,” Mrs. Lancaster chimed in. “Yes. This was supposed to be shelved,” Mr. Brenner, a highly respected employee said, as he looked Frank in his eyes. One by one, the executives and managers all stated that they were under the assumption that the project was shelved.
Everyone in attendance sat quiet. Frank looked around. He was surprised none of his colleagues supported him. Silverfish was looking to take over the technology market. They planned on doing so by creating state of the art devices and leaving their competitors in a trail of smoke. Espanys was ground breaking. It had been thought of, but not successfully created. Not perfected. No one knew how to get inside the human mind. And even some brilliant scientists who had come close, couldn’t turn theory into art. This was his chance and yet no one believed in it. And worse, they feared it. He understood to a point. Playing games with the human mind was scary. But this project was ten years in the making. He had worked non-stop on it and had worked through most of the kinks. It was ready.
The only one in attendance who he expected criticism from with no support was Jeff Brenner. Jeff envied Frank and had sabotaged his work on
more than one occasion. Jeff hated anyone more brilliant than himself. He had been at Silverfish for fifteen years and was the companies star employee until Frank came along. Suddenly Jeff found himself taking a back seat to Frank and his many inventions. All cutting-edge technology. All game changing, world changing projects. Frank was not only good at creating fresh ideas, he was brilliant enough to make prototypes that actually worked.
Mr. Stallings could see Frank was disappointed. But he had fears about technology that worked by going inside a person’s mind. And he knew his board members would never approve taking the system public. Especially something that involved the gaming world. A world where young people thrived. Young, impressionable minds. But Frank Wilson was Silverfish’s ticket to huge profits and the sole reason the company was the leader in an industry swarming with other large companies. And it was no secret that some of their competitors wanted Frank.
“Mr. Wilson. This company has a lot of faith in you. Why, you ask. Because you finished at the top of your class. And you came to us without much convincing. You developed the first conversion device for transferring information from your phone to your computer. And we made a fortune. We give you plenty of freedom to work at your own pace on whatever you deem important because we trust you. And we have been more than patient. But when you go off on these tangents and set out to use company time to make a shelved creation viable again, it becomes a waste of everybody’s time,” Mr. Stallings said, looking at Bridgette and the other members.