Journal Entry #3 (More Intro)
We are back in the air again, still heading to Florida. To an oil platform. More on that later.It took me three days to get over the after effects of whatever they hit me with in Flagstaff. It was only once I was up that I got to see my father. I was summoned to his study. He was sitting behind his big oak chair, smoking his pipe with that gross tobacco he always uses. To this day it smells like burning socks to me. Thing is I could not read any emotions on his face. It was blank. He was not angry or happy. Nothing.
In a quiet voice he apologized for letting me down. He had not realized how severe my mother's illness was. I asked what he meant. He told me that over the past couple of years my mum had been experimenting with something called BTL. At that time I had no idea what he was talking about.
He explained it was a dangerous tech that caused brain damage and insanity. The fantasy world she was living with the BTL started to become real to her. She believed she was talking to spirits and ghosts when it was just a construct of her BLT. This lead to her madness and kidnapping me.
When I asked about her, where she was, he just shrugged. With a tired voice, he said he had no idea where she was. The runners he had sent were supposed to return with both of us. But they could not find her. She wasn't there when the runners came into the house. For all he knew, she was in Canyon de Chelly. But she was not of our concern. It was time to move forward. Look to the future. Our future.
In hindsight, my father knew or was told what to do with me. To keep my focus from my mum and what happened. Basically, he gave me whatever I wanted. It is easy to keep a six year old occupied. When I mentioned I wanted to learn how to ride, within a couple of days I had a horse. Any new tech that came out became mine. I wanted to see Dunkelzahn, so he arranged a trip so I could see him.
With all the tech I was getting, I really got into the trix. What stunned me, when I was in school, was how the kids kept complaining about how hard it was to use computers, tech and the trix. At first I thought they were stupid. For me it was quite simple. And my father was there to spur me on.
And he was pleased with the way I advanced in school. In both elementary and high school, I skipped two grades. So instead of graduating from high school at 17, I was only 13. But he had no idea what difficult it could be. A good example was when I was 9. There I was with a bunch of teenagers hitting puberty and I was no where near puberty. I felt completely alone.
Because of my name, no one bullied me but there were a lot of put downs, let alone people ignoring me. But I quickly found out that my knowledge and expertise was a major advantage. Kids started to seek me out to help them with assignments and problems. And then I found out they would be willing to give or do almost everything.
When I was 11, in the throes of puberty, I really could use my knowledge. First, there was Laurie Patterson. She was willing to do anything if I helped her with a trix assignment. She was my first time. Then there was Chris Yarnick. At that time, I didn't see how this was going to my head. How I was becoming like my father.
Thing is, my father sees everything and everyone as objects. He gauges people based on what use they are to him. And he is fast to discard someone when they lose value. And I was learning this at an early age. The kids were willing to give anything for help and it gave me a sense of superiority. Which my father encouraged and cultivated.
A good example was my graduation party. He was proud of my achievements, graduating at such a young age. He threw a massive party at the mansion. All the people I knew were invited. And family, including my mum's parents. Of course, he invited people from the company.
It was the first time, in years I had see Grandpa Roy and Grandma Diana. When I asked about my mum, both looked a little strange and told me they had no idea where she was. They had not heard from her since the day she had left for Denver. I couldn't tell, for sure, if they were telling the truth or not.
But my father was quick to get me away from them. He paraded me about the party, exhorting my achievements and my future. And I loved the attention I got. Except for Jon. But he is a special case. I never liked him and still don't. And for good reason.
Jonathon Fryes. Even from the beginning, I never could find out what his position in Ares was. He started to hang around the mansion a couple of years after my mum left. My father and him were and are extremely close. To the point of being creepy. And it was even worse when he and I were alone.
It took me a couple of years to know more about Jon. To be blunt, he has a magnetic personality. I felt drawn to him. But I felt strange when he was close to me. His hands would move to inappropriate places that made me uncomfortable. That is until I hit puberty and learnt about sex. It was then I realized that Jon was a paedophile.
Thing is, I saw some advantages to the attention he gave to me. Even in my young mind, I could see the weapon sex can be. The leverage one can get, the information that can be archived away. But the age different really bothered me. Why would a man in his 40s be interested an a boy of 11?
Be it the flush of excitement at the party, the attention or the alcohol, I was drawn to Jon. I started to play with him. And I could see Jon was getting into the game. The whole evening was a game of seduction on both sides. To end up in the back gazebo.
After the flush of sex, I became physically ill. The idea what I had done with Jon revolted me. As he went back to the party, I was on my knees puking my guts out. And when I thought I couldn't feel worse, my father made things worse.
When I came back to the party, he was all smiles. I saw him talking with Jon. When he saw me, he gave me a wink and a massive grin. I realized he knew what had happened. I almost became ill right in the middle of the ballroom.
Luckily the next day I was heading off to Europe for vacation. My father arranged three months in Europe for me to see the world before starting university. And when I returned, I was moving into my own apartment near Harvard. So I would not have to deal with Jon on a regular basis.
University was a shock. I was used to being unique in high school. At Harvard I was like everyone else. No one was impressed by my age or my knowledge. And my name didn't do much other, especially since there were sons & daughters from all of the major corps at Harvard.
My one edge was sorting through information. That is how I met Leech. He thought he was erasing his trails as he hacked through the trix, especially in the corp areas. I found out about him because I noticed some patterns in droppings he had left. They were vague and most people wouldn't noticed. The majority of the security bots also would not notice. But I did. And ended up saving his ass.
He was out on the trix and glitched. Specifically in an area of the space subdivision of Ares, looking into a new drone for Mars. He tried to clear his trail but messed up. From the beginning, his abilities impressed me. When he glitched, I saw it. I didn't want to see this artist get flamed. It wasn't easy but I was able to use some of his old droppings to misdirect those who started to search for Leech. In the end, they ended up in Germany not finding out who had hacked into the system.
It would be a few months before Leech and I actually met. I didn't think it would be a good idea to find him until the bytes settled after his glitch. All he knew of me was my avatar I called Raven until we met. And then came one of the most important people in my life.
To call him misanthropic would be a complement. Leech has this complete, utter contempt for humankind. His life is the trix. I believe if he could xfr his essence into the trix, he would. He has more in common with AI modules than most people. And it was he who opened my eyes to the world.
We didn't hit it off when we finally met. And it wasn't just my name. It was my arrogance. My view on people and the world. The first thing he mentioned was I was just another planet rapist. I was taken aback. He laced into me and my father. And all we represent. I tried to defend myself and my father but he didn't hear a word I spoke. After our meeting, I was infuriated by the guy.
I have to stop here again. There is some discussions starting about our mission. Hopefully, I'll get to that in the next entry.
