Randomers

by Alexis Dogman

  Poobalan A/L Raja

  Gender: Male

  Age: 35 years old

  Race: Indian

  Marital status: Single

  Occupation: Electronic engineer

  Location: Kajang, Selangor.

  The information is that simple. The first thing that strikes her mind is to go onto the internet to search for more information on this man but she has been warned about doing that.

  "Rememba, yu want live yu must neva use electronic. No handphone, no intenet, no bank account, no ATM, credit kad, no CCTV, no email, no join memba' for anything," that was the advice given to her by Kaew before she left.

  The warning that Kaew had given before she left starts to echo inside her head. No Internet. If she really needs to she will have to go to a cybercafé with no CCTV to run her search.

  It's only one name, Yuna thinks to herself. His friends might be doing a search on him right this instant, Yuna convinces herself. She's certain searching for one name on the internet couldn't get her killed. Maybe Kaew is just exaggerating the seriousness of it all. She gets up from the floor and goes to her room. Her computer is still sitting on the writing desk where she had left it two years ago. She hurries over towards it with the file in her hands.

  "Please don't fail me," she utters with her fingers crossed, hoping that the computer still works. She turns on the wall plug with her toe and proceeds to turn on the CPU. What glory it is to hear the fan in the CPU starting to spin off as the tiny blue LED light blinks to life.

  Yuna turns the monitor on and sees the computer starting up as normal.

  "Yes!" she exclaims.

  The file in her hands almost falls onto the floor when the picture of Mei and her celebrating Christmas three years ago shows on the screen with the caption 'Welcome home!'

  Mei has changed her wallpaper to this picture to give her a welcome surprise - a sad and painful one to be exact.

  She takes a deep breath and pulls her swivel chair out. Sitting in the chair she tries to focus on what she is supposed to do, browsing for a Poobalan A/L Raja.

  The search is easier than she thought. The Internet is a marvel, allowing Yuna to locate his work place in less than fifteen minutes. That is all she needs to find him and warn him.

  Yuna flips to the second last name in the file - Mohamed Yusof. The information given states that he is thirty eight years old two years ago and is a businessman with his location being in Dubai.

  Yuna then turns the page to the last name in the file. It is a thirty two years old security officer named Jarjeet Singh. He was single at the time and is located in Kuala Lumpur.

  Warning these people can help them but what are they supposed to do? If Yuna is going to foil their plans, she has got to know what H-7842 means.

  Rationally, Yuna knows she is not supposed to search for all these information online. But her heart feels so conflicting right now. And searching for a few names couldn't possibly get her into trouble. With the pattern in her home, she just doesn't feel comfortable leaving home.

  Finally she decides. Her fingers swiftly punch in Mohamed Yusof's name into the search engine and she hits Enter. The search results are simply disappointing; too many persons with the same name and age, all from Dubai. She will never know who the right one is.

  Without even thinking much, she enters the last name in the file, Jarjeet Singh into the search engine. Jarjeet is easier to find as he is still working in the same security firm as two years ago, only that he has made it to a manager. She takes down his office address.

  Yuna struggles as Kaew's voice echoes in her head. No Internet. Not only has she ignored her advice but she is about to conduct another search. She hesitates before finally entering H-7842 into the search engine and hitting Enter. There is no useful information that can be found. Yuna stares at the monitor, her eyes lifelessly filled with disappointment.

  Unbeknownst to her, she has just triggered an alarm. Eyes are already watching her and instructions to hunt her down has been issued out. Soon she will discover the terror of pursuing the truth and her life will never see the light of the day again.

  Chapter 14

  India: Saturday, 15th November 8:06 p.m.

  Ada lets the arrow fly from between her fingers, shooting out by the bow. With speed like the wind, the arrow shoots through the air and the sharp metal tip pierces into the red center of the square target. Ada lowers her bow with satisfaction. Archery has been her favorite sport since joining the hive. It is a sport she can do alone and in silence, which also helps her de-stress rather effectively.

  "Great shot but too much focus," Zero's voice echoes from the back proudly.

  Ada turns her head back, her wavy pony tail swinging behind her. In a pink and white sleeveless tank, black three quarter tights and bright yellow sneakers she looks at Zero walking briskly towards her with a long bow slung across his body like a bag. Donning a plain white body hugging T-shirt and a simple grey track bottom, he is effortlessly handsome. It makes the women down in the Hive more envious of Ada as she is his only female friend.

  "Look who's talking," Ada smiles lowering her bow and relaxing her posture.

  "I can shoot like that at half your speed. Wanna bet?" Zero challenges playfully.

  Ada narrows her eyes into a half squint and the edge of her lips curve up into a skeptical smile. Zero can see a spark of playfulness in her eyes.

  "I take it as a yes," Zero smirks.

  "Game on," she replies as she turns back to face her target. She continues to lift an arrow up to her bow and assumes her perfect shooting posture.

  "Usual five?" Zero asks.

  "Five it is," Ada nods.

  "I'll let you count," Zero says.

  Zero stands into the station next to hers and removes the bow from across his body. He lifts an arrow to his bow and in a most relaxed manner aims at his target.

  "Three, two, one, shoot," Ada counts down and they start shooting. Ada, serious and focused, starts shooting arrow after arrow, achieving a perfect shot every time. She reaches for the fourth arrow and just before her fingers touches the cold metal rod, Zero stops her.

  "I win," he cheers with his fists in the air.

  Ada glances over at Zero's target. Five arrows, all perfect shots. Indeed he is a better archer than her but she doesn't like to admit it.

  "Not so fast. I have three shots and you have five. But you were betting on shooting all five shots at half my time. You just lost your bet," Ada smirks.

  Zero raises an eyebrow, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You just can't face loosing, can you?"

  "Technically speaking, you didn't win," Ada insists.

  "Sore lo-," Zero is saying when Ada's leech let's out a continuous beep. Instead of the usual calm blue, the information displayed on the silver matte surface are red in color.

  Ada stares down at her leech with alarm. The last time this happened, it was to inform her that her randomer had jumped off a building.

  This time, the message reads:

  Gamma threat detected. Possible breach of randomers' identities.

  Ada's hands turn cold. She shoves the bow in her hand to Zero, who has been staring at her face turning pale. She places her right thumb over the leech's surface before instructing, "Initiate trace of breach."

  Immediately, the leech displays the next message which reads:

  I.P. address located. Web camera detected. Proceed with video recording and facial detection?

  "Proceed," Ada vocally instructs and dashes off. She has to get back to her station immediately and see who is breaching into the randomers' identities.

  No one knows it, but a special intelligence spying software named Project Eye Spy lurks the internet, screening and processing all activity that could be potential attempts of breach into the Hive's system. When Yuna searched the second name in sequence after Raja Poobalan, she has already been detected and classified as a Gamma threat, sending a warning signal back to the Hive and Ada's leech.

  Ada runs to the pod, a
cable-less elevator system that shoots its travelers up and down the levels of the Hive using air pressure. It travels at high speed, working like a bouncing ping pong ball. A reverse push-fall system within the pod prevents its users from feeling the momentum of the pod's bounce and drop. Ada hits the down button and immediately a white capsule the size of a normal elevator shoots up the tubular glass tunnel and halts smoothly in midair at Level 02, balanced by the differential air pressure above and below the capsule. The glass of the tube that holds the capsule is in actual fact a thick, seamless sheet of material called glax and is stronger and more durable than man-made diamond, thus having the ability to withhold the strong bursts of air pressure.

  The curved glax door of the tube slides open simultaneously with the capsule's white metal door and Ada enters promptly. The doors then slide to a close as she hits Level 03. In less than a second she reaches her destination and Ada squeezes out the doors the moment they start to gap apart.

  Ada runs to her workstation. Her worries are right. A well-toned, fierce looking Caucasian man with his blonde hair cropped military style, wearing a black round neck shirt tucked into his neatly ironed black khakis is waiting for her.

  "What the fuck is happening!?" he asks in his Russian accent, disgruntled. His name is Goda and he is her reporting superior, a mean and strictly result oriented discipline freak. No one under his charge had lasted as long as Ada.

  Instead of answering, Ada pulls the swivel chair out and plops onto it as she pulls the leech off her wrist. The large screen before her instantly comes to life again as Goda stands watch behind her, waiting for an answer.

  Ada's fingers hastily punch in a string of code and a fresh window pops up onto the screen giving live streaming of the web-cam's recordings onto her monitor. Ada stares dumbfounded into the screen looking at the woman who shockingly resembles her ex-randomer.

  "But she's dead!" Ada thinks to herself as the facial recognition continues on another window behind the live streaming.

  Goda looms over Ada and stares into the screen before asking, "Who and where?"

  "Location, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia," Ada replies, hoping that the run on the facial recognition based on the local government's database will be quicker to provide an answer for her to give to Goda.

  "I asked who?" Goda demands again and lucky enough for Ada, the facial recognition completes just in time, popping up to the monitor next to the live streaming window.

  "Her name is Lee Yu Na. She is the sister of the defaulted randomer," Ada reports.

  As they watch, hoping that it is all but a highly unlikely coincidence, Yuna completes her search and hesitatingly punches in the last name on the lifegrid - Jarjeet Singh.

  The Eye Spy immediately escalates the incident to a Beta threat. There are no chances of such coincidences. Ada and Goda both know it well. For all the years they have been in the Hive there has not been one threat and now suddenly this woman has their highly confidential data. Everyone has been trained on paper of the protocol in case of such threats but nobody, not even Goda has actually handled one. They don't even know where to start.

  "How did she get the names?" Goda asks.

  "I don't know," Ada replies, wishing she has a better answer.

  Just as she gives the most unappetizing of all answers, Yuna keys in the code H-7842 into the browser, elevating the threat to an Alpha threat. Both Ada and Goda is shocked beyond words. Yuna's consecutive search of the three randomers' names and the code H-7842 in the proper sequence is now confirmed as an extremely dangerous threat to the Hive.

  "Then find out. I want the threat eliminated in twenty four hours," Goda instructs ferociously before marching off in the direction of the pods.

  The whole Level 03 of the Hive is now rejoicing on the threat as this might just be the one thing to end Ada's career.

  Ada takes two deep breaths to calm her nervous mind. Remember the protocol. Step one - background search on everyone involved.

  This woman has got to have some information leaked to her. Anyone smart enough to steal the information will not be dumb enough to search the names in perfect order with a web camera facing her. Where and who is what she has to find out. She will have to take it to the root of the problem and destroy all traces of evidence of the Hive and the lifegrid's existence.

  Ada slides the live streaming off to the side of her wide monitor and starts retrieving all information related to Yuna. She tries to search for an active phone line registered under her name and the line is traced to her Australia line, which has not been in use since she landed in Malaysia.

  "Accountant based in Australia... Traveled to Malaysia for her sister's funeral. Hmm....," Ada murmurs to herself as she analyzes the information, her forehead creased into deep lines of frown. Ada is so nervous she has forgotten all about keeping her composure, "God, how can a naive woman like you get to us?"

  There just aren't any useful data to suggest how Yuna could have obtained the data. Not knowing how to progress, Ada turns her head to look at the live streaming which shows Yuna still staring into her computer screen looking for information on H-7842. Then she sees it - a blue smartphone on the bedside table in her background.

  "Why have a phone when you have no line? Whose line are you using?" Ada asks herself doubtfully as she double checks Yuna's Australian line. Her doubts are confirmed when her computer returns no results of the Australia number on international roaming.

  "Don't tell me you're using her number," Ada whispers to herself as she does a trace on her default randomer, Lee Yu Mei's number.

  "Yes!" Ada cheers to herself as she sees the computer loading the results she has anticipated. There were no calls placed after the period of Mei's death but the data consumption indicates that someone has been using it quite extensively.

  And now, to confirm if what she suspects is true. Ada swipes the window off screen and calls a dialog box to which she punches in a message using her keyboard and clicks send. She drags the window back to the screen before her and keeps watch on the life streaming. The phone in Yuna's background lights up. Yuna jumps from her chair in a startle and stares at the phone before going over to check with hesitation.

  There is a message, sent by an unknown number from a local operator. Yuna taps on the message, not knowing that the message has been sent using an unused, unregistered number, borrowed from the database of a local operator.

  Hi Mei, it's been years since we've talked. Let's meet up one day.

  Yuna has no idea who sent it. But whoever it is sure doesn't know what has happened. She cups her stomach with one hand as she wonders how she should reply to the message. After a few seconds of thought she starts typing in a message.

  Ada waits anxiously. She is already sure but Yuna's reply will be a black and white confirmation.

  Yuna taps send on the screen of the phone and Ada's computer instantly receives her reply in the dialog box.

  'This is her sister Yu Na. Sadly; Yu Mei had passed away in an accident.'

  This has just made things ninety percent easier for Ada. All she needs to do now is re-access Mei's phone. Ada types in another string of codes which allows her to begin remotely accessing the phone again. She uses a system called Duppy to duplicate the whole phone onto her supercomputer. This Duppy will continuously synchronize with her computer to any updates on the phone’s usage, be it the data usage, software usage or just listening to a song.

  Ada starts off by looking through Yuna's phone and message logs. There hasn't been any usage. Then she checks her social media accounts, which were still logged in as Yu Mei. Ada then checks what Yuna has been using the phone for. She goes to her data usage and discovers to her delight that the phone is mostly used as a GPS device.

  "Great! Now I know where you've been," Ada mutters to herself as she opens the GPS app to see her travel history.

  "Shark Palace and Mc Donald's? Who did you go and meet?" Ada continues to look for information but that is all she could find on the phone.


  Ada then starts downloading all CCTV footages from Shark Palace and the McDonald's for the designated times that Yuna was there. She watches the ones from Shark Palace first but since there are only security cameras on top of the front entrance and in the main hall, Ada can only see Yuna being stopped from entering the entertainment facility and leaving. Ada then goes to the Mc Donald's footage. This time she sees a woman getting into Yuna's car and they drive off. But she can only see the woman's back.

  "Must be her," Ada bites her lower lip as she tries to search for CCTV footage from neighboring facilities that can provide her a clearer view of the mysterious woman informant. Her efforts however, are futile as this woman seems to be a natural at avoiding security cameras. It's either her long hair was covering her face or she would be looking downwards as she walked, making her face almost non-visible to the highly mounted cameras. But Ada can be sure about one thing - something fishy is happening down at this place called the Shark Palace. It's time to activate the lurker.