CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Encrypted

"ARE you guys seeing this?" Jim Kamau was saying later that evening when the first reports had started pouring in.

Derek Mbūgua and apparently his new roommate, Tamana Minajri, together with Jim, had all been doing nothing but watching the news ever since the CNN coverage from the WHO.

"First, the assassination and now unexplainable deaths happening all over the world. The hell's going on, people?" Jim said exasperatedly.

"You said whatever it is that your dad sent you in that drive could have something to do with the virus," Derek said to Tamana questioningly.

"Yeah, you think it's a cure?" asked Jim.

"Guys! I don't know anything! At least I'm not sure."

"It does kind of make a lot of sense, though," said Derek.

"What does?" asked Tamana.

"The lead scientist in the world's biggest medical facility being assassinated right before sending her daughter the cure to saving everyone."

"But why would anyone want to do that to him. He's the one with the cure, isn't he?"

"Is he, though?" came Jim.

"What?" Tamana snapped, "Are you trying to suggest that my father created a virus?"

"No," Derek cut in, "that wouldn't make any sense. COVID-19 started out in twenty-nineteen. Why would he send you the virus now when we've got a number of variants to deal with already-"

"My father did NOT and would NOT make any viruses!"

"Wait, hold on," Jim raised a hand, "we're not talking about computer viruses so how do you send a virus-vaccine-cure. . . whatever, through an email?"

"In the form of a biochemical formula," Tamana said.

"Bio-what?" asked Jim.

"Equations and. . . ugh. . .why do I even bother! I can't open the drive!"

"Let me," Derek asked for the drive which Tamana handed over, "you said it's password-protected."

"Not the drive itself but whatever it is that my dad sent me."

Derek then proceeded to one of the monitors. He connected the hard drive to the system unit.

"Okay, let's see what we have here," Derek accessed the drive and found the file Tamana was referring to as she and Jim stooped on either side to see what Derek was doing.

Derek clicked on the file and got a pass code prompt.

"It's encrypted."

"So, can you open it?" asked Tamana.

"Not without the correct cypher. No."

Jim sighed disappointedly. "Damn, your pops sent you a file with a password. That doesn't quite help anyone-"

"Unless he gave you the deciphering key," Derek offered, turning to look at Tamana on his left.

"I don't. . .I don't know," Tamana whispered, feeling all the more awful.

"Nothing else we can do?" asked Jim.

"Unless you have a deciphering key lying around somewhere, no."

"Waah. . .na vile wewe huhack masystems," added Jim, "I thought we ni expert wa hizi vitu."

"Ni nini wewe!" Derek retorted, "siuketi hapa basi tuone ka utawezana!"

"What're you two arguing about?" asked a clearly baffled looking Tamana.

"Derek here's a hacker."

"Jim!"

"What? It's true. He hacks movie databases all the time!"

"That's different. Movie databases are easier to hack into when they're public. This file, however, is under private encryption. It's gonna take a lot more than a little guessing and a trick with numbers to get it open."

A second later, Jim's phone started buzzing.

"What is it?" asked Derek.

"It's my. . ." he stopped himself, briefly looking up at Tamana then back at Derek, ". . .mathe anauliza nko wapi. Alikua amenishow nirudi home na mayai."

"Oh, poa," said Derek as Jim started to leave, "Lock up the workplace for me on your way, okay."

Jim gave him the thumbs up, nodded at Tamana, then hurriedly left.

"What was that about?" asked Tamana.

"Oh, that. Jim still lives with his mom," Derek grinned, "and let's just say you do not wanna be on the receiving end of her wrath when you run late on her. But don't tell him I said that. He tells everybody that he lives in this super rich estate on the other side of town."

"Noted," Tamana said and the two briefly exchanged the slightest of smiles before Derek turned back to the computer.

"I can try a number of combinations on this thing but I'm not sure I can get it to open without the corresponding key to match the one that was set. Your dad must be one heck of a tech guru."

"He was," Tamana said bitterly but with a little force, notifying Derek that she did not need him sugarcoating the fact that she would never see her father again by using the present tense.

Apparently the one thing that we did not share," added Tamana, sitting down on Derek's bed.

Sensing the awkward silence that was about to develop (and a lot of silent cursing towards Jim for leaving him alone with an extremely emotional stranger), Derek turned in his swivel chair to face Tamana.

"W-What was he like?" he asked, hoping it was the right question.

"A lot of things," Tamana responded, playing with her fingers, "but his goofy sense of humor seemed to always stand out from the rest. The king of all 'dad jokes', I swear! He just liked to make everything fun and I mean like literally everything. I mean who makes math fun?"

Derek smiled, seeing the girl's mood lighten up a little.

"We spent a lot of time together back when I was in high school but then all of that began to lessen when I joined college and my love for Biochemistry that I got from him of course. Then it would just be holiday vacations, with him taking me a lot of places around the world until. . .well. . ."

"Sounds like a really great guy."

"He was. . ." Tamana whispered back, surprised at how open she was being to a complete stranger but then she probably would not be alive right now if it weren't for him. That and she found it strangely easier to talk to or maybe it was just because she had nobody else right now.

Feeling a little selfish for having been the center of attention that entire day, Tamana decided to progress the conversation.

"What about you?"

"What?"

"Dad? Mum?"

"Oh. . ." Derek's voice broke unexpectedly as he looked down at his Casio™ wristwatch.

"How long?" Tamana was shocked by how she could easily tell that the young man had also lost his parents.

Derek tried to open his mouth but no words came out. He had been caught totally off guard. No one had ever asked him about his parents. Not even Jim. He felt his whole body grow hot and somehow began to get angry, though his expressionless face did not reveal anything.

He was saved by his phone which he instantly picked up from the table, relieved to find a new message.

"It's Jim," he said, "he just finished locking up. He's heading home now."

Tamana was taken by his reaction. This kid had probably being living on his own far more than she had. How had he been able to handle it all?

"You hungry?" Derek asked, getting up.

It was already dark out and Tamana hadn't realized how much time had passed.

"I'm more tired than hungry," she said, "I'm afraid my teeth wouldn't handle masticating right now if they tried."

"Masturbating?" Derek asked, frowning.

"What? No. Masticating," Tamana corrected, nearly chuckling, "you know, chewing."

"Could've just said that," Derek shrugged.

"You try taking on Anatomy classes and we see how you're going to converse."

Derek was about to offer that Tamana can sleep on his bed but she was already passed out and luckily for him, she was not a snorer.

Pulling over a blanket, Derek frowned at how he had frozen when Tamana had asked him about his parents. She was rather very easy to talk to, so why didn't he tell her?

Brushing the thought aside, Derek gently covered her with it, hoping that this would all end soon and that he would get back to his own normal life. But wasn't he the one not so long ago who had been lamenting at how the 'normal' was just becoming worn out and meaningless?

Moreover, he had run into a complete stranger whom he chose to help instead of ignore her and let her be someone else's problem. Why had he done that?

Shit, Derek! He said to himself, unafanya nini? (What are you doing?).

He did not answer that question either. Instead, he returned to his desk and tried to work out a deciphering code for the encrypted file.