Meliora - Extricate - 25

[lady_mab]

Jun Zhou

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about things that I’m not being told.

After the Halloween event, I sat down with Uncle Bao and we talked about what we might have learned. It did not boil down to much.

One: ALICE is keeping track of just who exactly has the apps on their phone.

Two: Their definition of ‘fair’ is a tricky one, but easy enough concept to grasp. The concept is that if you play by the rules ALICE has established, they will play by their own set of rules.

Three: There is something at play that affects memories.

This last one is a bit shaky, because it is mostly conjecture at this point. It is not one that I bring up to my uncle, because he is my test subject.

On multiple occasions, he has forgotten what I am talking about and needs to be reminded. It doesn’t take long before he does recall the events of Meliora and of ALICE, but there is still the fact that I need to repeat the story to him each time.

Additionally, on multiple occasions, the Program Manager and his team have alluded to the fact that things will simply fade for those not participating.

I want to know more about the app that the Assistant Program Manager had us install on our phones. Glen doesn’t know the details of what happened to Ayumu’s phone.

I will have to go straight to the source. Zoné knows something, but he will not tell me.

One day in early November, I get the chance to preempt Lionel before he can find his way to Liala or to a location where I will not be able to find him. Our Biology lab is in a different part of the building. It lets us out early after we’ve finished our cleanup, and I part ways with Glen, who has to get off to work and can’t wait around for me like usual.

Lionel’s last class of the day, as I have gathered from my friends, is Algebra. The classroom is near the labs, and so it is very easy to simply wait for a few minutes for the final bell to ring.

While waiting, I read the recent blog post from the Ghost and the Lady. It wasn’t something that interested me when I first heard about it, but things have taken a dramatic change. Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad tool to look into after all.

Students file out of the classrooms and I look up just in time to catch Lionel stepping into the hallway. His eyes are already on me, and his expression is resigned. As if he knows that it will be impossible to try and get away from me. “Hi, Lionel,” I say, pushing away from the wall and moving to walk beside him.

“Hi, Jun,” he says, accepting my presence. “Did you ditch the last few minutes of your class to meet me here?”

“Of course not.” I wouldn’t ditch class, even if it meant getting answers to questions that might otherwise be difficult to obtain. “We had a lab, and it let out a bit early. I forgot when I saw you last that I wanted to talk to you.” A bit of a lie. I had been meaning to try and get information from him regarding the app on Ayumu’s phone since I found out what happened, but it would have been awkward to bring up when Glen was there with me.

He considers me out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah? Computer problems?”

I hum in thought, trying to keep my tone light. Uncle Bao has said that the best way to get what you want is to seem unassuming about it. Like you could get this information anywhere, but it is easiest to get it from your chosen source. Let them feel a bit honored that you are asking them for it. “Sort of. I want to know what you know about the APM’s program.”

Lionel stops so suddenly that I don’t notice for several paces. When I finally come to a halt amidst the tide of bodies, he’s staring at me with wide eyes. “About what?” he chokes.

That answer is a very good response. So there is something else. I smile, and allow it to take on a bit more of the energy that I’m feeling than I would have around Zoné or Glen. “The app that the Assistant Program Manager asked us to install on our phones. I am very curious about it.” From my brief few conversations with him, I can tell that he is a prideful person. Perhaps appealing to his personality will win me some favors. “And since you pulled it from Ayumu’s phone, I thought you might have some more information on it.”

I want to know how it works. I want to know what it’s purpose is, how they can check us in remotely without knowing who was in a room. Is it a proximity thing? Is it a manual code they have to key in?

I want to know everything about it.

Lionel practically drags his feet across the linoleum in order to reach me. He fidgets with the collar of his sweater. “Are you suddenly a computer genius that I’m not aware of?”

“Hardly anything like that.” I dismiss the idea with a wave of my hand. “I… hm.” I try to figure out a way around the phrase I want to use. “I do not really know how to explain it. You have done something that I do not think many other people have, and I want to know if you will be willing to tell me how it works.”

Honesty, even a little bit, has to be worth something in this game.

He looks uncertain as he shakes his head. “I hardly think I’m the first one to figure this out. I mean, it’s not that amazing.”

If there is one thing that I dislike, it is when a person sells themselves short. It’s not humility, it’s not trying to be humble. He thinks that, compared to others, he is not good enough.

I press my hand to his forearm to get his attention. With as much confidence as I can muster, I move to place myself in front of him. I need to make myself look bigger, the same way Uncle Bao does. “Please do not say that, Lionel. There might be people who do the same thing, but they are scared.” I see something flicker behind his gaze, and I wonder if I’ve hit a nerve. “There is a phrase -- lànhǎorén. It means someone who tries to appease everybody. To the point where they do not have the courage to act.”

Lionel struggles under my words, but he does a very good job at not letting it show on his face. But his jaw clenches, and his eyes search my face for a better understanding.

Finally, after a long pause, he forces out, “Why are you telling me this?”
I don’t look away. It is not a time to be shy or back down. “Glen is my friend too. Zoné is keeping something from me.”

There’s a degree of loosening in his posture. Like I said something that he didn’t expect. Like he’s disappointed. “Perhaps you should ask him about it instead. I don’t want to get involved.”

I almost tell him that it’s too late for that, but instead I reach out and press my hand against his chest. I apply pressure, forcing him to stay in place. I am smaller than a lot of people, so I’ve learned how to demand attention. “I am asking you because I do not think you should be that sort of person.”

Also because I don’t know how to ask Zoné for all the answers that I need..

Lionel rises to the unissued challenge, leaning forward as if he thinks he can get me to back down by being bigger. “Are you calling me a coward.”

If I am being honest, I hadn’t expected him to respond with this. Does he want me to play nice, say ‘no’, and step away? But I’ve come this far, and he’s overestimating my politeness.

“Yes,” I say simply. “Perhaps I am.” I let the words sink in before pulling my hand back.

Lionel’s chest swells with a silent inhale. His eyes narrow, and he crosses his arms over his chest. “Alright then. Fine. What do you want to know?”

For him, I only have one question that has a lot of possible answers. So I shrug and reply as honestly as I can. “Everything you do.”

“And what do you plan on doing with this information?”

I don’t understand his question. It’s not quite a quid pro quo. Does he want credit if I spread the idea? “Nothing. I am no Lady and the Ghost. I admit, I am a bit selfish in my desires, despite encouraging you to not be the same.” I can’t help the hint of a smile as he stares at me. I only planned on sharing it with Uncle Bao, but a few more people can benefit from it as well. “Perhaps I will share it with a friend of mine. He knows people who will know what to do with it.”

His eyebrows rise even higher than I thought possible. “You talk like you’re friends with criminals.”

My laugh comes as a surprise even me, because it’s not entirely wrong. Still, I cover my mouth with my hand and try to regain enough composure. “Now wouldn’t that be silly.”

Uncle Bao has a wide reach, but what people do with their own reach is none of his business.

“Alright,” he says, sounding a little resigned. He doesn’t tell me ‘no’, which I would have honored if he had. He must have been wanting this just as much. “I haven’t really had the chance to look into it. I only told Zoné what I figured out. I’m surprised he managed to keep his mouth shut long enough to not tell you.”

I am surprised, too, and more than a little hurt that he hasn’t tried to talk to me about it. We briefly discussed Glen, and even in the moment, in the room where we confronted our friend, I still didn’t have much of an idea what was going on. I’m uncertain how much Lysander knows as well.

“It is not that,” I finally say, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. “More that he probably thinks I do not need to know.” I turn around before my expression shifts to something I don’t want him to see. I set my course down the hall, heading towards the front of the school.

I hear his footsteps hurry to catch up with me. “But you want to?”

“Like I said -- I think I know someone who might benefit from it more than me. He’s an Informant.” I catch the slightest glance at his face and hurry to clarify. “Not Mr. Stavros. Someone who has more connections. I think Mr. Stavros and your Informant know him, though.” Somehow, over the course of this conversation, I’ve tried to shift the focus off of my uncle. It will be easier if people don’t get too curious about why I need to bring this all back to someone who is not involved.

Zoné has asked, and I have tried to explain. But many of the people are natives to this city, to this country, or they are comfortable here.

People like Uncle Bao, people like those that he caters to, are largely transplants. I want to help them as much as I want to help everyone else participating, if not more. The desire to help people like me is easier to understand.

I push open the front doors when we reach them. There’s a bench off to the side, a little ways away from the stairs that lead out onto the front quad. I head straight for it, and drop down.

Lionel hesitates slightly before sitting carefully next to me. His leg bounces, anxiety undoubtedly building. I am asking a lot from someone who doesn’t know how to give it.

So I wait, patient, and let him take his time.

The words, when they come, are soft and careful. He explains the moment when Ayumu approached him at the end of class, what problems were on the phone. How, when he started to investigate it, nothing made sense. The app actually changed the operating system of the phone. Not just in the usual sense that I’ve noticed -- permission to use our camera and location systems, to store data and have access to send and receive messages.

I don’t know much about programming for phone apps, though I’m sure that I can ask someone else if Lionel’s answer isn’t enough.

He explains his theory on its abilities to me. That the app is able to ‘hatch’ and start unpacking data that it shouldn’t. Accessing even the most mundane things. A sort of punishment for people who are not on the ‘whitelist’. He confirms that he hasn’t actually investigated the programming of the app itself. It sits in an old storage drive.

I watch a piece of trash swirl in the light breeze, dancing across the sidewalk out of my reach. I think about his words, trying to figure out what they mean.

“There’s one more thing…” Lionel starts, and I turn to look at him. I didn’t expect him to tell me more than what I asked, or perhaps this is something that he hasn’t even told Zoné. “I scripted a proxy for the Informant’s messages.”

“What does that mean?”

His thumb smoothes over the screen of his phone. He had been fiddling with it during our conversation, though I hadn’t taken much notice of it until now. He pulls up a text and shows it to me.

It’s the same message that Glen received on Halloween.

I read it over a few times, as if doubting it, but it looks exactly the same as it had on Glen’s phone.

I don’t know what I’m feeling at this revelation. Zoné and I had been curious as to how Lionel managed to make his way to the tower we were investigating. Especially when it became clear that his brother and his Informant had no idea what he was doing. That would imply that he was ‘illegally’ partaking in an event.

ALICE’s rules are simple and broad enough that they are hard to break, and yet he found a way.

“I had my suspicions,” I sigh as I sit back and return my attention to him. “That event, back before Ayumu’s phone--”

“Yeah. Zoné brought it up to me in class.”

So Zoné knew about this too and didn’t tell me. I guess that is fair. I don’t know Lionel as well as he does. I am new and unfamiliar.

I have to fight to keep my shoulders from slumping. “Thank you for telling me. Do not worry. I will make sure that none of this is linked back to you, should anything be released.”

I push myself to my feet, though I can feel my limbs dragging in protest. I didn’t expect this talk to disappoint me as much as it has. It managed to put into perspective just how out of the circle I really feel.

Lionel catches my wrist and pushes on past his own visible hesitation. “I know you’re thinking to not involve me in this because of… my team’s situation.” He swallows, licks his lips, and forces himself to look up at me. “But I don’t want to be that… that lanhaoren or whatever.”

A smile manages to make its way onto my face, and I’m relieved to feel it rest there easily. “Then you do with it as you will, Lianel Lions. I do not think it will be such a bad thing if it is known by more than a select handful.” I take his hand in mine, give it a brief squeeze, and set it back in his lap. “I will see you at school tomorrow. Say hello to Liala for me, hm?”

I hitch my backpack on my shoulders and take off towards the sidewalk, to make my way to the bus stop. Lionel doesn’t make a move to follow or call after.

As I walk, I run his words over and over in my head in time with my footsteps. Insofar, Uncle Bao has been curious about my progress, but not enough that he has wanted to directly interfere. Now, I am glad that he never asked to try and install the app on his phone, because I would have sent it to him without a second thought.

As evidence on the Halloween event, the Assistant Program Manager can access our phones to check us in with the app. As proven by Ayumu’s phone, they can decide who does and does not get to have access.

I wonder what happened to the team at Halloween. I don’t know their names, and I didn’t even get a good look at them. Perhaps Jonas would know more.

I pull out my phone, ready to send a text message, but my fingers hesitate over the screen.

ALICE has proven that they have a larger access to our phones than they originally let on. That means that it is likely they can read the messages that we send and receive. They can try and keep track of people texting those without the app about Meliora.

At least, that is a theory. And Jonas is at least involved. They never said that we couldn't discuss it amongst ourselves.

Still, I can’t help but feel a little nervous as I send the text, because their rules might be broad enough to make them hard to break, but that also makes it hard to understand their limits.

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