6:02 AM. The sun was just peeking it's top over the roofs of the houses as a sluggish voice broke though the morning silence.
"Lights on Emma."
Jake Starr arose out of bed, hot, tired, and feeling like he had a major hangover. Only problem, was that he didn't drink.
"Start the coffee Emm, and run some water for me will ya. Hot, no wait, make that cold. I had a rough night." Jake walks into the bathroom and shuts the door.
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With half a donut in his mouth he climbs into his vintage Dodge Viper from 1997 and shuts the door.
"Hello Mrs. Wakefield, how are you this morning?" He asks his nabiour.
"Fine Jake, going off to work are you?"
"Just like every other day Miss." He smiles as he pulls out onto his street and out into the busy Seattle traffic.
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People never understand why, a big techno guru like him, likes history; old things interest him. Whenever people ask him about it he always tells them, "For in the past, lies, our future." They can't understand the thrill he gets, just from driving an old '97 Viper. It reminds him of when people used to think, they didn't just press in where they wanted to go and go there. They thought about where they were going, where they had been. Something that Jake found harder and harder to do everyday.
When he arrived at the SCS headquarters at 8:00, he knew he had lots of time before the 10:00 meeting. He went up to his office and checked his e-mail. Nothing unusual...still some reports of networks crashing on the 6th floor though. Wait, there was something unusual. A report about a failure in the VR room? That never happens. The VRNet access is restricted to only high level access government employees. Though there were a few around, owned by the people who could afford it, the VRNet was hardly ever attacked, in fact it wasn't even known about by most of the public.
He glanced at his watch. Almost time for the meeting. First partner, a girl even, and a cute one at that. Jake Starr couldn't wait.
He walked into the office a few miniutes early and found that there was someone with the chief, Mr. Johnston.
"Hello Jake, this is Mrs. Topal. She is the mayors wife." Mr. Johnston said.
"Hello Mr. Starr. I've heard a lot about you." They shook hands and sat down.
Mrs. Topal was in her mid-thirtys, slim and attractive. She carried the air of a woman who liked to be in control.
"Well, I hope it's been mostly good things you've been told Mrs. Topal." Jake says as another good looking woman walked in.
"Ah, Katrin? This is Jake Starr. The two of you will be working together for the next while. This here is Mrs. Topal, the mayors wife."
Katrin nodded and shook hands with me and then Mrs. Topal. She had striking green eyes and her hand shake was firm. I didn't know it then, but this woman was going to be my best friend and one of the most important people I'd ever meet.
As she sat down in the chair next to me Mr. Johnston said,
"Well, for your first assigment together, I thought that I'd give you a less stressful yet equally important job. Mayor Topal has been having some problems with his VRNet connection to the City Hall. We have other people who could check out this system, but we figured that since you, Jake, installed the system, you might want to look at it yourself."
Caught off guard, forgetting that he had personally install the VRNet systems for the mayor's house. Parhaps a bit disopointed in having to do something new, yet old. This was his first assigment with a partner, but how many times had he checked systems by himself, how could this be different?"
"Oh, well, of course. I'd be happy to have a look."
...
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