Glancing at his table, I noticed the picture he’d been working on. Looked like a kid’s drawing of zombies and centaurs battling anthropomorphic calculus symbols.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Basically a war between mythological creatures and derivatives.”
“Who’s winning?”
“Math,” Kenny said, for the first time sounding like an actual nine-year-old kid. “Math always wins. You all have fun with your secret club.”
16.1
Painted Wolf met us in the library lobby ten minutes later.
We followed her, silently, to a study room in the basement stacks.
Every step, watching her move, I couldn’t stop my emotions from fluctuating.
Had she laughed at all of Kiran’s jokes?
Had they accidentally touched and felt a tinge of excitement?
I wanted to know what Kiran had said, but really, I didn’t care. I was driving myself crazy coming up with all sorts of romantic gestures I was sure he’d made. I had never been so insanely jealous in my life.
What an idiot.…
First thing Painted Wolf did after she closed the door was scan the room for bugs using an app on her phone that I’d developed a few years earlier. Her version was tweaked, though, and seemed to run twice as fast as my original program.
That was impressive.
No bugs, no radio signals. We were safe.
“Like what you did with that program,” I told Painted Wolf.
She nodded. “It’s decent. Use it all the time back home.”
Decent?
“So,” I asked, shaking off the distraction, “what’s the deal with Kiran?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” she said, “but he’s planning to use the quantum computer to power something called Rama. It’s basically a second Internet and he wants to use it to dismantle the existing one. He wants to open every cache of information and take down every security door. Way he sees it, it’s going to jump-start a new society.”
Tunde spoke up. “This does not make any logical sense.…”
“Dark Web already exists,” I added. “Why re-create it? Besides, the Internet isn’t a single thing. It’s a bunch of interconnected networks. You can’t bring it down or break it with clever programming. I’m not buying it. Sounds ridiculous.”
“He made it sound plausible … and kind of incredible,” Painted Wolf said.
“Of course he did,” I replied. “I think he likes you.”
Painted Wolf scoffed. “Are you jealous?”
“It’s sketchy. Him inviting you alone,” I said.
“He was recruiting me. Not flirting.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. He probably likes you,” I said, trying to stop from clenching my jaw so tightly. I could hear my teeth grinding. “He’s a nice enough guy, smart, but—”
“He’s not a nice guy,” Painted Wolf interrupted, stone-cold serious. She turned her cell phone so Tunde and I could see a freeze-frame of a video zoomed in on a framed photo. In it, Kiran was shaking hands with General Iyabo in front of a fountain near a park. Tunde had posted articles about him and I’d recognize his cruel face anywhere.
Oh no …
“No,” Tunde said, his voice trembling. “How is it that Kiran is smiling when he is shaking the hand of the man who threatens my family?”
“Kiran has two faces,” Painted Wolf replied.
“I do not understand,” Tunde said, still sounding lost.
“What do we really know about Kiran? He has a classic rags-to-riches story. He’s an inspiration, held up by the tech world as the next Steve Jobs. After his recruitment pitch this morning, I don’t doubt that his end goal—this Rama thing—is legitimate. He really does want to change the world. But he said Rama is the answer; it’s the order after the chaos. I want to know what he’s planning to do first. General Iyabo, China … Whatever it is, it’s already begun … and I have a terrible feeling it’s something unthinkable.”
Tunde groaned. “This day so kolo! I cannot take more of this chaos. All these duplicitous actions and lies, I tell you, I cannot burden myself with them any longer. I have to save my people before I can save the world. Do you understand?”
“Yes, of course,” I said.
And I did. While my immediate struggles were nothing compared with Tunde’s, I could clearly see the pain, the worry, in his eyes.
“We also have to talk about how this affects us,” Painted Wolf said. “Kiran wants me to win. He’s already bent the rules and showed me around. Not to mention the fact that he told me the next step. Kiran’s throwing the Game to get what he wants. And that means that I can’t win. I have to be on a losing team.”
“No,” Tunde said. “That is not true.”
“I won’t let Kiran use me. I’m already pushing it being here.”
“I can’t win, either,” I added. “If Kiran finds out about WALKABOUT, there’s no telling what’ll happen. I’m a liability. I have to be on a losing team as well.”
“But the general … I cannot be on a losing team.” Tunde grew anxious.
Painted Wolf smiled. “Trust us, we’ll get you a winning team.”
PART THREE
EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE
17. TUNDE
01 DAY, 20 HOURS, 36 MINUTES UNTIL ZERO HOUR
Oh, what a headache I had!
After the disturbing conversation with Painted Wolf, Rex and I returned to our room for much needed naps. Between the revelation regarding Kiran and his duplicity and waking every few minutes to check the satellite phone, my sleep was poor. Every few minutes I checked the phone I had been given by General Iyabo, but he had not called. Still, I worried. When I finally managed to find my way into a dream, my worries followed me there as well.
I dreamed of a tremendous battle between a pride of lions, two crocodiles, and a herd of wildebeest. But faced with two of the top predators in the world, those wildebeest never surrendered an inch of ground. What a good and telling dream this was!
I awoke filled with a new certainty.
I knew that no matter how bad things seemed, there was always an opportunity to fight back, always an opportunity to win.
Like the wildebeest, I would fight General Iyabo and Kiran.
I would build a jammer that would give the general what he thought he wanted and ruin him at the same time. And with the help of Painted Wolf, I would expose Kiran for the corrupt man he was.
I turned to share my excitement with Rex only to discover that he was no longer in our room. On rising, I found Rex had left a note. It said that we were to meet at the North Amphitheater to learn about the final challenge.
Leaving the dorm, I was disheartened to find the campus filled with the sad faces of the competitors who did not solve the crafty puzzles Kiran created and had to go home. They dragged their bags to their parents’ cars or waiting taxicabs; so many of them were in tears, it was heartbreaking.
Seeing them made me miss my family. General Iyabo quickly came into my mind and I had the rather delirious vision of creating a time machine and going back fifty-odd years in an attempt to stop his parents from meeting. It was a good fantasy but did not relieve the anger boiling in my stomach. How I wanted to send that man running into the desert with his tail between his legs!
All this thinking made my heart burn and go colo!
I suddenly picked up my step thinking about how I could achieve this.
Minutes later, I found Rex, Painted Wolf, Anj, Kenny, and Norbert sitting in the North Amphitheater, a half circle carved out of stone and concrete, with the additional Phase One successes.
“Tunde!” Rex shouted on seeing me. “Over here.”
Painted Wolf smiled at me before she stood. “Good afternoon, Tunde, you’re just in time,” she said. “Let me introduce you. You already know me, Rex, Norbert, Anj, and Kenny.…”
I waved to them all.
Pointing to a tall young man with the very first stirrings of a goatee in a Maker Faire
2012 T-shirt, Painted Wolf said, “This is Halil.”
“Halil Tawfeek,” he said in a thick Egyptian accent. “I’m a fabricator.”
I smiled, happy to meet him. This was a person after my own heart. He said he made machines, many of them crafted wholly by hand. He told us that in his hometown of Beni Suef he had erected several wind turbines of his own design.
Halil Tawfeek’s wind farm as imagined by Tunde Oni
Dat guy ma bross! I needed this person on my team for certain.
Painted Wolf motioned to the remaining competitors.
One was a young woman with green hair named Fiona.
“I’m a mathematician,” she said. “Big on Boolean algebra.”
Next was a young man with a massive red beard. He said his name was Ezra, and that he was almost eighteen, the oldest of the contestants by far. “I’m from Tel Aviv, Israel, and I’m your guy for engineering. Built a tank in fifth grade. Used to drive it to school until I accidentally ran over my principal’s Prius. Guess he shouldn’t have left it running in the loading-only spot.” Ezra gave a hearty laugh.
No one joined him.
We turned our attention to an obese young man with many freckles and shortly cropped dark hair. He had enormous blue eyes and seemed to be the most awkward person I had yet encountered.
“My name is Ambrose,” he said as a robot would, every word carefully balanced and weighed. “I am from New Jersey. I am good with artificial systems. I enjoy working with swarm intelligence. Insects mostly.”
Second to last was a short girl. “This is Rosa,” Rex said.
“Hey, Tunde!” Rosa beamed. “I’m the LODGE’s biggest fan. Seriously.”
“I believe it,” I said, reading her expression of delight.
“She’s annoying,” Kenny spat.
“And he sucks,” Rosa said.
I looked to Rex for an explanation. He shrugged.
“Apparently it goes way back,” Rex said.
“He’s a thief,” Rosa grumbled.
“She’s a baby,” Kenny said.
“Enough,” Painted Wolf said, putting an end to the squabble.
Last, there was a young woman with long braids and almost too many piercings on her ears to count. “I am Leleti Pheto,” she said in a thick South African accent. “I am here to win this competition and I will do it with great skill. My ability is in game theory. I hope you are all ready to go home disappointed.”
Kenny cheered at hearing that. “I like her!”
“How are we all doing?”
Kiran had arrived. His voice echoed around us and we all turned toward him simultaneously. Knowing what I did about him, I was angered by the fact that he was free to gallivant around while the men he met with reaped chaos and destruction.
“Let me start by telling you what comes next,” he said. “You all have a map at this point. It is a diagram of the campus. Somewhere here, there is a room. In that room is a Plexiglas safe. In the safe is a laptop computer. It’s a Windows machine, approximately five years old. In roughly two days’ time, at Zero Hour, you and your team will be entering that room, cracking the safe, and hacking into the laptop computer. There is, of course, a twist: You cannot physically be in the room to crack the safe. You must build a machine to do it for you. This machine must be able to move into the room, crack the safe, and then access a USB port on the laptop. I leave the details up to your imagination, but there are no holds barred. If you so choose, your machine can attack the other contestants’ machines.”
These comments were followed by a long pause.
None of us could believe the difficulty inherent in this final stage of the competition. My first thought was one of extreme excitement! Schematics of machines capable of these feats were spinning so quickly through my mind that I nearly became dizzy. The excitement did not last long, however. Soon my worries about building the jammer and protecting my family subsumed even these delirious fancies.
Ah, but I was surely in the right place!
Design a machine? This was going to be something else.
“First,” Kiran continued, “you must divide into teams. There are to be three teams with four contestants each. Go on, do it now.”
Chatter instantly broke out, with contestants running this way and that.
I stood beside Rex, and he and I glanced at each other, certain that at least we would be on the same team, until Painted Wolf got our attention with a whistle.
“Most of us don’t know each other,” she began, standing at the center of the amphitheater. “But I think we should organize the teams based on skills and expectations. We’re here to get things done. With that in mind, I’ve got a few ideas.”
Kiran stepped back, impressed with her leadership skills.
“I better not be with Rex!” Kenny yelled from the back.
“Tunde,” Painted Wolf said, “You will be with Norbert, Anj, and Halil. You will make a formidable team. And you all can do what Rex and I can’t.”
The implication of those last few words was very clear. My team was to win so that we all could win. We were to play the inside hand.
“Sounds good, if they will have me,” I said.
Norbert nodded, Anj smiled, and Halil fist-bumped me. Then, quietly, he said, “Painted Wolf’s told us you have an, uh, extracurricular project you need to work on. We’re down to help you with whatever. Just let us know.”
“Thank you, my friend,” I replied. “I appreciate this greatly.”
Painted Wolf turned next to Rex. “I’d like you to be on my team. That okay?”
Rex tried his best to hide his pleasure. “That’s fine,” he said.
“Who else do you think might be a good fit?”
Rex walked over to Rosa. “How about a chemistry pro?” he said.
Rosa squealed with delight as Kenny rolled his eyes.
“Your loss,” Kenny said to no one in particular.
Painted Wolf turned to Ambrose and smiled. “Want to be the fourth?”
“Sure,” Ambrose replied. “Charlie and I would love that.”
“Charlie?” Painted Wolf asked, looking around at the rest of us. We had no idea who or what Ambrose was talking about.
“You’ll see.” Ambrose grinned.
Kenny jumped up. “Seriously? You all don’t know what you’re missing! I’m better than anyone else here. Not picking me is like choosing to lose.” He glanced over at the remaining unchosen contestants: Leleti, Ezra, and Fiona. “Guess I’m with you guys, then.”
Painted Wolf said, “Anyone have a problem with it?”
No one spoke up.
“Whatever,” Kenny said. “You’re all going to lose anyway.”
Leleti said, “Damn straight.”
She and Ezra high-fived and then glared at the rest of us.
So, this is how it was decided. Looking over the teams, however, I remained worried. My greatest concern was that Painted Wolf had carefully constructed two teams that would function in a way to ensure the outcome we wanted.
The team of Rex and Painted Wolf would not win but would achieve its stated goals. My team was primed to win the spot. But Painted Wolf surely could not have anticipated the aggressiveness of the team Kenny had formed. They came on as strong as crocodiles!
I just hope dey rake, oh!
17.1
“So, these are my teams?”
Kiran looked around, appearing confused by our choice of teammates.
He paused beside me and then looked over at Painted Wolf.
“Interesting choices,” he said to her. “Why?”
Painted Wolf said, “We’re keeping it competitive.”
“You certainly are.”
Kiran turned to me. “How are you feeling about the next phase, Tunde?”
“I am here to win,” I told him. “That is all.”
“I would expect nothing less,” he said, seemingly bolstered by my curtness. He then turned to everyone. “You know your goal. From here on out, you’re locked
onto a track to the finish. Find the safe. Crack it. Hack the computer. Win. Easy, right? Everything you need to build your machines can be found in one of the three fully stocked engineering labs assigned to each team. Everything inside is at your disposal. Now, please allow me the honor of naming each of your teams.”
Kiran pointed to me.
“You are Team Mitra. In India, Mitra is considered the divinity of friendship. I think it’s a fitting name. Your lab is in the Parsons building, room 102. To help you all find the safe room, I’m giving each team a clue. For Team Mitra, it is this.”
Kiran handed us what I learned later is a called a “friendship bracelet.” It was made of interwoven red and blue fabric, with a large glass bead at the center.
Team Mitra’s clue
To the team of Rex and Painted Wolf, Kiran gave the name Team Pushan.
“Pushan is the patron god of journeys, leading one from wherever it is you are, to the next stage. Traditionally, he is presented as leading people to wealth. A good omen, I would expect. You’re in Parsons, room 105. Your clue is this.”
Kiran handed the clue to Painted Wolf. It was a key made of glass.
Team Pushan’s clue
To the team led by Kenny, Kiran bestowed the moniker Team Indra.
“Indra,” Kiran explained, “is the god of thunderstorms and a great warrior. He is known for his strength and courage. He seems an excellent fit.”
Kenny said, “That’s us for sure.”
“Your lab is room 107. And here is your clue.”
Kiran handed a flashlight to Kenny. When Kenny flicked the flashlight on, the light that it gave off was black light. I wondered about this clue for quite some time.
Team Indra’s clue
“Well,” Kiran concluded, “seems you likely have everything you need from me at the moment. I will see you all soon, and don’t hesitate to contact Edith if any problems arise or on the off chance that you’ve decided to change teams.…”
He let his final words linger as he looked over at Painted Wolf.
The teams immediately gathered up their stuff, ready to hustle over to Parsons and the waiting engineering labs. I will admit, I envisioned a room as large as an airplane hangar replete with every tool and mechanical device imaginable. But before I could join my Team Mitra compatriots on the walk to the lab, Painted Wolf and Rex pulled me aside.
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