Cristal - Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

stop
playing on the computer, I’m going to shut off the Internet!”
    “Is everything okay?” Harry would ask
her.
    “Yeah,” she answered, in a tone that was a
bit sharper than she intended.
    She always pretended that things were fine.
“Never show anyone your weaknesses,” her father always told her.
“Especially your closest allies .”

Chapter 6
Joanna Chan (alias
Onyx)
    “IS HE SERIOUS?” Joanna asked herself,
running her hand through her long, straight, black hair. This was
the fourth quality assurance project assigned to her. What an
insult to her programming expertise. She wasn’t the top gamer in
Truth Seekers for nothing.
    She drummed her peach-colored manicured
nails on the armrest of her office chair.
    Instead of working, she was entertaining
herself by playing the Truth Seekers’ alternate reality game. The
fun part was doing it with no one noticing. It wasn’t hard to do,
since she was the newest kid on the block. Her cubicle was the size
of a postage stamp stuck way back in the dungeons of the office,
far away into the corner next to the archive cabinets. The nearest
cubicle to her was ten feet away, so she had all the privacy she
needed to play her games. Out of all the games she played, Truth
Seekers was the most breathless and demanding, just like the
programmer genius who developed it. And like in any game, she
wanted the top prize, so she had no doubt that Harry was hers to
attain.
    The game’s private message box bounced in
the corner of the monitor demanding her attention.
    Joanna’s eyes sparked with excitement.
    Zero: Onyx, let’s meet at the coffee
shop across the street in ten minutes. Mist hacked into the
database and found some information that might help both Graphix
and you find out what happened in the disappearance of your
family members. You can work to decode all the encrypted data. But
we can talk more when we see each other.
    Without hesitation, Joanna logged out of her
computer, grabbed her purse and ran out the back door. She ran
across the street, the spiked heels of her black boots tapping the
cement. She could see Harry sitting by the window table of the
coffee shop. Finally, here was her chance to work alone with Harry
on a real Truth Seekers’ mission.
    Harry Doubt, the icon of alternate reality
game creators was a private guy. Gamers could only play by his
personal invitation. Joanna, who had been playing obsessively on
Truth Seekers every night, took the job at Global Nation at the GN
University campus in New York City when Harry sent out the
following message via the Truth Seekers’ private message
system:
    “Looking for a real Truth Seekers’ mission?
Only inviting 5 of the top gamers here. You’ll get to work closely
with me on missions which are yet to be disclosed.”
    Joanna didn’t think
twice. She was twenty-four years old and had just graduated from
the Emery College’s Game Art and Design Program in San José,
California. She was itching to do something fun. She bought a
one-way ticket to New York City.
    Harry had made sure all the hiring paperwork
was taken care of. He even found an apartment for her to live in
and paid one year of the lease up front. She was so thrilled to be
one of the few gamers to have the opportunity to meet the famous
Harry Doubt that she had heard so much about in the discussion
forums.
    His father, Aaron Doub, professor of
theoretical physics at Global Nation University of New York, was
pretty famous too. He was intelligent and entertaining without even
trying to be. People paid big dollars to watch him guest speak at
conferences. He introduced himself as a “futurist” and a “mad
scientist.” His quirky habits were his signature. He continually
pushed his black, horn-rimmed glasses up on the bridge of his
beak-like nose, and waved his hands around excitedly, explaining a
breakthrough in something unheard of, like worm holes. He wore a
T-shirt that said, “I’m from 2025.” His presentations were captured
on