The Encryptor

"Like I said before, what you did was simply reckless. You could have killed him."

John turned to look at the being with a cold glare. "But I didn't!" He snapped with gritted teeth.

"And what if you had done that?"

John sighed. "Then I'd have done the usual thing... try to keep it under wraps," he muttered silently.

"I did not teach you the 'daze' for you to try kill anyone. I taught you to use it to your biddings, making it easier for you to get the needed information from others. But twice, you have gotten out of hand, making use of it wrongly.

Next time, make sure you control yourself when using it, or more still, control your anger or I will be forced to take the 'daze' out of you. Remember, that is not even your objective at the moment. Your objective is to kick-start the project, and that, you must do soon."

Rasmus sounded angry as it lashed out at the man. If any other person could hear it speak, they would probably flinch or worse still, keep a distance from it. But its anger made the aura surrounding John turn cold, making people to actually keep a distance.

John was bewildered. The being was angry, for what actually? He didn't do anything wrong, did he? It definitely wasn't really his fault in the first place. If the bodyguard had simply told the truth straightaway, his anger definitely wouldn't have taken over him, completely resulting to this situation.

He made an attempt to give the being a reply but quickly cautioned himself when a group of nurses passed by him. That would wait until later. He definitely needed to learn the telepathy soon.

Through the glass door at the entrance, the bright view of the morning could be seen. He stepped out of the building of Linken Hospital via the door. As he walked down the stairs which had a row of flowers by both sides, he looked up to see the location of his automobile.

Someone was trailing behind him at the moment — The bodyguard he stationed at the entrance.

"Is the perimeter clear?" He questioned.

"Yes, sir."

They both made way to the fleet of cars that had been brought up to the hospital — three black Audi A6. John walked up to the one in the middle, his black suit and that of the team of bodyguards complementing the color of the cars.

"How safe is it?" He asked the one stationed in front of the car just as the door to the back seat got opened for him.

"A hundred percent safe."

"Good," He nodded and stepped into the car. And as the bodyguard entered through the passenger seat to accompany the other one in the front seat, John said, "You know where to go..."

.....

The fleet of cars arrived right in front of a high-rise building, the gate giving away automatically after the driving bodyguard of the first Audi leaned out to swipe a card on the transmitter next to it — a distinct black passage card.

High-tech cultural concepts came into sight as the men stepped out of the cars into the premises of the building.

'Been a while.' John thought, savoring the familiar air around him.

Still surrounded by the hefty bodyguards, John walked into the building unrestrained via the entrance. He didn't need no permission to do so. This was his self-made company: Titan Technology.

On sighting him for the very first time in about a month, the front desk receptionists immediately stood up to welcome him.

"President Ruben," They both said with a bow.

He gave a brief nod and headed to the elevator. The head bodyguard did the needful and they all entered into it. Floor after floor, the elevator ascended before finally coming to a halt at the 56th floor and the doors slowly opened after.

The floor was an open-plan section for the senior management of Titan Technology. John swept his eyes across the area, as they moved toward his office, for any noticeable change but didn't get to see any.

In front of the office sat a figure behind a desktop on a desk. The figure, a lady, stood up immediately on seeing him.

"Welcome sir,"

"Tell Director Dickson to see me in ten minutes time," He instructed the lady and walked alone into his office, leaving the bodyguards out with the secretary.

A glittering effect made possible via the large bulletproof open-air door-like windows, the office looked well maintained, squeaky clean with the luxurious splash of grey painting, not withstanding the fact that the occupant has been absent for awhile.

Inside the large office, gadgets were put up, arranged orderly in shelves on the wall at one corner just above where an office chair and desk were placed. A large screen monitor, probably a TV, 65 inches wide, was mounted up on the wall just near the shelves and was turned off at the moment.

The first thing John did was to walk up to the large plasma-like screen and press a button just below it. The Encryptor, he called it. A green light came on just beneath and immediately, the large 65 inches screen came on.

The Titan Technology logo, inspired by a picture of the Greek mythology giant gods and infused with a tech concept, came up behind a white background. A screen popped up after, revealing a dark background with something like a square shape in the middle. The shape had a green-like line to the edges resembling a hand sensor.

What John did next was to put his right palm on the square shape and immediately, a red line went up and down the shape twice. It was indeed a sensor. The whole shape turned green after the scan and John took his palm off the screen.

Another screen popped up after and this had the shape of a human face with the same green line used to indicate the edges. A face detector. The whole shape turned green and shone on John's face. Like when he put up his palm on the screen, a red line came up on John's face, going up and down twice as it scanned his face before it stopped. A green digital inscription came on the screen after: ACCESS GRANTED.

He alone had his vitals synchronized into The Encryptor, denying access to other entities. Even the best code genius or master hacker definitely wouldn't be able to decrypt the security of The Encryptor. Why? It was John's single-handed masterpiece.

A menu appeared with different icon options. He swiped on the screen to reveal another menu and clicked the icon option which had the title 'Security check'.

He let out a sinister smile after watching the contents of the option... a captured video. His eyes laid still on the screen. He was cold within, forcing himself to control the flow of anger vibrating through his system.

[Now that you have known what you need to, what are you going to do about him?]

"For a betrayer, I'm going to make his life miserable. Slowly, I'll make him regret ever pulling such stunts against me," John told the being coldly after a minute.

[This would have been made much faster if you had me involved in it. Now the project will likely have to be delayed until you get the issue sorted out.]

John shook his head. "In as much as I'm trying to get used to this whole idea, I cannot be totally dependent on you. Being reliant is definitely enough for me. I have my plans and I know how I'll proceed with them."

"Very well then," Rasmus decided to speak out instead of mind communicating again. "Let us see what ideas you have regarding the project,"

John swiped back to the first menu screen and clicked on the first icon option which had the title 'Project ABI'. A page with series of written texts, documented ones, codes and picture diagrams came up and John began explaining to the being with hand motions toward the screen.

"There isn't much changes to the plan. Like the past, I'm going to effect the 3-year cycle plan to commence and finish up the project. The plagiarizm there is still going to be effected, as well as the Linkings. But there's something I'm looking to add up as a change."

"What?"

"Synoptic Feedback Response."

"Hmph. What is it about?"

John was just about to give a reply when a knock on the door disrupted him.

"Come in," He said as he turned around.

A creak followed the opening of the door and the secretary's figure came into view.

"Sir," she said with her hand by the door. "Director Dickson is here."

"Come here first," He gave a signal with his hand while helping himself to the seat behind the desk.

The secretary closed the door behind her and sauntered to his desk. "I'm here, sir."

"Tell me, Hayley," He said. "Who else came into this office asides you and the cleaners during my absence?"

The secretary seemed to contemplate for some seconds before replying. "No one, sir."

John eyed her suspiciously. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, sir. Is there any problem? Has something gone missing, sir?"

"No," John waved his hand to dismiss her. "You may go. And tell Director Dickson to come in,"

"Okay, I will." She said and walked out of the office. Immediately after, the door opened again and this time, it was a male figure that could be seen.

An obvious middle-aged man with grey strings of hair overshadowing the black strings sauntered in with his average height. He still looked straight for his age and had a neutral vibe to his looks.

"President Ruben," the man said enthusiastically, portraying a smile with good intents. "It's so nice to have you back,"

"Thank you, Director Dickson. Please, have a seat," John motioned with his hand toward the receiving seats.

"How do you feel now?" Director Dickson questioned after relaxing himself.

"Better. Much better."

"So, do you want me to set up an impromptu board meeting for us to discuss the recommencement of the hiatus project?"

"No," John shook his head, "not yet. There's something I still need to look into before we go through with that,"

"And what might that be?"

John folded his hands, placing them on the table while being used as a support on his chin. He leaned forward a little toward the other man, his eyes revealing an ice-cold glare, not actually made noticeable on his face.

"I need to find out who masterminded the release of the news about me."