The System

At the office,

"What about the feedbacks? "

A white collar officer asked an administrative person.

" Did we not have another player few days ago?"

The man squinted at the person who with his head lowered, had no proper answer to that question.

" We- we did"

" Then? "

" We- we..d-don't know about that...."

The man held his head helplessly. There were only unanswered questions in their hands. And the issue was a sensitive one with everybody's expectations from it, especially the director. After all the object of their stress, was hand picked by the director himself.

Yet there was too little they could do despite the importance of the matter. The departments were kept concise, only a few people constituted a department.

This powerless person was in charge of the 'newly introduced character' in the game this organization managed.

But there was still too little they could gain from other means.

" The Legal department notified this morning, they had received a call from the crime investigation unit of the city.. two of our players were murdered peculiarly on two consecutive days.. "

He left the sentence incomplete with an uncertainty as if trying to shape the argument in a suspenseful direction.

" How are we to respond to R n D people.. Ah-" The man murmured to himself.

After a while as he looked again at his subordinate, he calmly assured,

" Just some random murders.. they happen all the time. Don't pay much attention to those, it's their duty to inform the death of our players.... It's in the rules, you know it " The man ruined the tension his subordinate had set in, brushing it off like a speck of dust.

The more important issue now was this 'character'. He didn't want to hear any more so he dispersed the subordinate despite his persuasion to hear the complete case once.

Exactly, this new character was most important. This was why that administrative officer was still dubious. He really believed that something didn't fit , but what and how?

As he opened the two envelopes containing the photo copies of the two murder cases posted from the city, he was struck once again by the strange way those bodies were found.

The only connection these two cases had was that both had recently played the game, with that ' new character '.

Strange

Too strange

And this fact stood out even more when he tried to survey the players who had played with the character, but none of them were alive anymore.

Also, when the system could not take a hold of this character for months and even after seizing the control, they could not launch him as a successful character, a headliner.

Simply because the trial phase carried out by the system instead of players was severely ravaged, the cause of which was still under investigation. But this 'character' was still not suspected.

The havoc caused for seizing a control on 'him' and then the issues related to him was too much to ignore.

Their indomitable belief was reasonable, the system in itself had a futuristic, otherworldly technology capable of unfeasible things.

Failure wasn't an option. The system was perfect- or so they claimed.

So it was practically impossible that someone could have actually defeated or rather cracked open a loophole in the system.

He was not the first one. Vicious of the vicious beings were held practically captive here in the system for years.

Some even living past their expiry dates, again, they were kept alive by advanced technological means.

The administrative officer put down the papers and envelope and aggressively ran his fingers through his hair, dishevelling them.

He removed his glasses and dialled a number on a table telephone.

" Yes, this is crime investigation unit of 'Z' city. Your call is being directed to the incharge of--"

He pressed a button on the telephone, sighing with impatience. After a minute, the call was connected.

" Yes, you may speak." A feminine voice came from the other side.

" Am I speaking to Ms Jones? "

" 150 seconds and we're done with the conversation. " She spoke indifferently.

The man promptly left his seat and ran his hand sloppily on the desk, throwing a few things on the floor.

" I am an administrative officer of 'Human Resources' department. There's two murder cases of our players reported earlier in the morning. Make me a member of the investigation team with authority to retrieve the details of the cases. "

He said all in one breath, picking up his glasses and the papers from the desk.

" Why am I talking to a HR bastard? Where are those legal team tramps, it's their job, y'know. Why are you-"

" I wish to be a part of the team on my own accord. " He said decisively.

The voice from the other side of the call deepened all of a sudden as the handset conveyed,

" Connect me to your superior or we're done here. "

He sighed, his eyes closed.

The large office which was usually empty, felt tense all of a sudden. A feeling of unease enveloped him like a cord trying to suffocate him to death.

Why would he call her if his superior knew about that? He would have certainly asked him to ignore it.

" It's not about me. It's about the case, they wouldn't understand. " He mentioned calmly, trying not to show his frustration.

" And what is it that you do? "

She asked scornfully, with a chuckle at the end.

" At least I'm not blinded by the contemptible supremacy "

He spoke with an unexpected inflation, contradicting himself as a cynic of the system's ascendency.

A snicker from the lady somehow put the officer's mind at ease. "Well....I believe I can't disagree on that account "

Finally, he had a chance.

He sat back on his seat, leaning back with slight joy in his eyes.

" That groups us on the same side then. " He added.

" You wouldn't have the permit. You, at least do trust the security of the system, right?" She said straightforwardly.

" Yes, I do very well. "

The call disconnected and he looked at the handset in his hand.

[ Another call like this one and I'm doomed. ]

He left the desk, leaving the papers on the table. One of the papers contained an image of a victim, whose slightly curled up body had spikes-like writing pens coming out tangentially.

*****