NaNoWriMo, Day Twenty-Four

While I normally put in a lot of  internal links to previous, related posts here, I won’t be doing that for what I hope will be thirty NaNoWriMo posts. If you have jumped into or stumbled onto this story in mid-adventure, there are plenty of other ways to navigate around the site to find previous installments. Actually doing so is left as an exercise to the student.

This year’s NaNoWriMo adventure is not only a stress test on me, but on my primary computer system as well. While I have a decent system as of a couple years ago (8GB RAM, multiple 3TB hard disks, high-end video card, Win7 Pro, etc) like most Windows systems, it tends to pick up processes that just keep running in the background. I also use some programs that have known memory leaks. The more the system is used, the sooner it gets to the point where it has a fair amount of resources tied up, starts to slow down significantly (due to more and more stuff needing to be constantly swapped in and out of memory and off to disk), and needs a reboot to get back to normal.

But all month I’ve wanted to avoid any reboots because I’ve go so many programs running and so many windows open and so many active tabs on my browsers — it would be a real pain to set that workspace up again every time I reboot. So I’ve avoided rebooting.

In addition, this month I’ve been using the system a LOT, really stressing it with many, many windows open, multiple programs running, big files, lots and lots of internet access, printing, and screen grabs (a known memory leak). In addition, many of the updates from Microsoft, Java, Adobe, and others will require a reboot after installing, so I haven’t installed them. This leaves those annoying processes running to remind me about twice a day that there are updates available. And so on and so forth.

I keep waiting for the big file save or the big screen grab that’s going to push the system over the edge and lock it up tight. I almost got there this afternoon. When it comes I’ll have to do a hard reboot and rebuild the workspace, but so far I’ve dodged that bullet. (When the time comes, I hope to lose little or no data. Save early & often!)

CHAPTER NINETEEN (continued)

A possible solution presented itself as Ellen turned off the secondary road they were on and onto a rough dirt road. She slowed some due to the washboard surface of the road that was rattling everyone’s teeth. Burly Dude #1 was forced to turn around to face forward, although he put down the visor, opened the vanity mirror in it, and angled it around so he could still keep an eye on Tom.

Burly Dude #2 and Tom were getting bounced around pretty good. Burly Dude #2 finally reached his right arm up and held onto the grab bar there in order to stabilize himself. Seeing his chance, Tom did the same with his left arm.

The next big pothole did what Tom had hoped it would do. The tracker was jostled out of the coat sleeve and down into the body of the coat. There it was held near Tom’s waist by the elastic bottom of the coat. Still holding on to the grab bar with his left arm, Tom hoped that everyone was being tossed around enough so that a little bit of motion by his right arm wouldn’t be too noticeable.

Tom allowed his loose right arm to bounce up and bump his chest and waist several times, each time pulling the tracker a little closer to his right side. When he had it moved around to where he wanted it, he waited for his next chance.

Soon enough, the road got rougher and started resembling an off-road motocross track, climbing a steep hill. Tom looked ahead and saw a series of big potholes and rocks that they would have to get through while climbing. As Ellen put the SUV into four-wheel drive and drove in at a speed that Tom wouldn’t have thought wise, he was able, while being tossed around, to grab the tracker. In one smooth move he stuffed it down into the crack in the upholstery where the back and the seat met.

He hadn’t had the time to try to activate the tracker, but at least it was someplace where he might be able to use it later. That was much better than being caught with it. As long as no one folded the seat down or started poking around in the upholstery, it might be possible for him to somehow safely retrieve it later.

He had acted none too soon. As soon as they were at the top of the hill, the road got a bit smoother and started running parallel to the railroad tracks that supposedly didn’t exist. Beyond the tracks on his right, Tom could see the low cliff of the Hogback, here less than a hundred feet high. Ahead about a half-mile was a break in that wall where a canyon emptied out. Beside the mouth of the canyon was the compound.

“You wanted to see it so badly, here it is,” Ellen said, breaking her long silence as the ride got smoother.

“Thanks,” said Tom. “That’s quite the little obstacle course you have to get here.”

“We like it.”  There was one last series of bumps and jolts as they crossed the shallow dry stream bed coming out of the canyon and climbed out the other side. Then Ellen turned to the right across the railroad tracks and stopped on them in front of the compound gate. Either she pushed a button he couldn’t see or there was some other trigger for the gate, but it slowly started moving to the side. When the opening was wide enough, Ellen drove in.

She parked next to three other heavy duty four-wheel drive SUVs that were parked out in the open between buildings. As she stopped, Burly Dude #1 and Burly Dude #2 immediately got out. To Tom’s surprise, they both walked off toward the back of the compound instead of coming around to his side of the SUV. Ellen retrieved Tom’s camera from the console between the two front seats, then got out. Tom got out beside her and throw a thumb in the direction of the two receding figures.

“We don’t need them anymore?” he asked.

“They have other things to do,” Ellen replied. “Come with me, please.” She began walking away from the large, long building that ran along the west side of the compound and toward one of the freestanding buildings on the east side.

“They’re charming guys, the life of the party, I’m sure.”

“They’re very, very good at what they do,” Ellen said.

“Just what is it that they do?”

“They keep unwanted guests away from us. We value our privacy.”

“That would explain your stylish and elegant downtown location.”

Ellen pulled open a door in the building and gestured for him to enter. Tom went in to face his fate, whatever it might be.

The room turned out to not be any kind of torture chamber or interrogation room, but a rather conventional living room. It was simply furnished with nothing too elegant or flashy, but it was not Spartan. There was a small kitchen on the left and what looked to be three bedrooms on the far side. There was a large computer monitor mounted on the wall above a desk, with a keyboard and mouse sitting on the desk. Next to the desk was a book shelf with a variety of fiction and non-fiction paperbacks, There were also very prominent security cameras mounted in smoky plastic bubbles on the ceiling in all four corners.

The room looked like the love child of a private minimum security prison and a Motel Six.

Ellen went into the kitchen and put Tom’s camera on a small table. She opened a cabinet, pulled out a large cloth bag, looked at Tom and pointed at the table. “Empty your pockets there.”

Tom pulled out his phone and briefly considered “dropping” it to prevent it from falling into Ellen’s hands, or even smashing it on the table corner right in front of her. The futility of the act was apparent though, since most phones were rugged enough to not be destroyed that easily. He could probably crack the glass front, but they would still easily be able to get the information off of it. He was just going to have to trust that Jason’s software was good enough to keep them out of trouble if necessary.

He put the phone on the table, along with his keys, a pen, his wallet, and his watch. He looked at Ellen and asked, “Do you want my belt and shoes also? Are we going through a TSA checkpoint nearby?”

Ellen held out the cloth bag. “Please put all of your clothing in here, including your shoes and coat.”

Tom took the bag as he raised his eyebrows and gave Ellen a quizzical look. He turned and looked for a bathroom, didn’t see one, then started walking toward the nearest bedroom.

“Stop!” Ellen ordered. “Please do not leave my sight until I instruct you to do so. We require that you disrobe here and put all of your clothing into the bag.”

“You’re kidding,” said Tom.

“Please do as you’re asked.”

“I don’t get a male attendant for my strip search?”

“Grow up, your body issues and nudity phobias are not my concern. Please put all of your clothing in the bag.”

Tom wanted to react. He fought the urge and took a deep breath. He had heard of this sort of thing being used in other interrogations, in order to put the subject off guard and at a psychological disadvantage. He would do his best to not give them the pleasure. He stripped, putting all of his clothes into the bag before walking over and setting it down next to Ellen.

“Thank you,” she said. “You may choose any of the bedrooms you wish, you’ll be staying here alone, for now at least. In the closet and dressers you’ll find a variety of clothing and shoes. Each bedroom has a separate bathroom with a basic selection of toiletries. Please go get dressed and then come back out here.”

Tom did as he was instructed without bothering to say another word. He went to the middle bedroom where he found a queen-sized bed, dresser, and night table. There was a walk-in closet at the back of the room with a bathroom on one side. There was no window. In this room as well there were security cameras on the ceiling in all four corners. In the closet there were two cameras, with two more in the bathroom. So much for any semblance of privacy.

Tom found the clothing as Ellen had said it would be and got dressed. He came out to find Ellen sitting at the kitchen table waiting for him.

“There are drinks in the refrigerator if you wish,” she said as he approached. “Then please sit down.”

Tom was thirsty and hungry, so he opened the refrigerator and found a variety of soft drinks, as well as bottled water, fruit drinks, and milk. There was also a variety of fruits and vegetables, lunch meats, and cheese. Tom upgraded his opinion of his cell. It was more like a combination of prison and a Marriott Suites. Tom took a bottle of water and sat down across from Ellen.

“Please put in the security code to unlock your phone, and tell me what the code is. We know that you may have software which will wipe the data and destroy the phone if you put in a destruct code. Please do not consider doing that if we are to be able to work together cooperatively.” She handed the phone across the desk.

Tom did in fact have a destruct code, but he decided not to use it or mention its existence. Thanks to Jason’s software he also had two separate unlock codes. The first one was for his use, allowing him access to everything on his home system and secure communications with Jason. The second was for situations just like this, not that he had ever envisioned needing it when Jason had set it up.

Tom unlocked the phone with the second code and gave the code to Ellen. She took the phone and began going through the control settings, making changes right and left. The GPS and antennas got disabled, what used to be called “airplane mode”. The automatic locking function was disabled. Soon the phone was set up with no security at all.

Tom watched calmly and tried to keep a poker face. Jason had told him what was really going on when his phone was in this mode. While it appeared to have had its security and communication functions disabled, they were in fact still active. Anyone using the phone would get innocuous data, but no clue of the existence of anything Jason’s system had flagged as confidential. And the phone’s camera would quietly and silently be taking time-lapse video of its surroundings and transmitting them when it could. The phone was now an electronic Trojan horse.

Ellen looked up and waved her arms toward the room. “For now, this suite is yours. There are a selection of movies and entertainment options on the computer. You will not have access to the internet or the outside world, for reasons that will become clear later if they’re not already. Obviously, you will be monitored in here. If you get hungry there are a variety of things to eat, including microwaveable meals in the freezer. There should even be some ice cream in there. We’ll be back later in the afternoon to talk. In the meantime, please relax and make yourself comfortable. Do you have any questions?”

Tom had many, many questions, but stuck to a few simple ones for now. “Am I prisoner here?” he asked.

“No, you are a guest. The door will not be locked. It is cold outside and we have a fence to keep wild critters out and domestic critters in, so we strongly suggest that you stay in here. All of the other buildings will be locked, so there’s really nowhere for you to go, but for now you are not strictly restricted to this building.”

“When can I talk to Annie, or Dahlia?”

“She’s still in her morning activities and will be there for a while. We’ll let her know that you’re here when we’re able and then set up an initial meeting time, but that might not be until tomorrow. We’ll see.”

“How do I get in touch with you if I need to?”

“There’s a communication icon on the computer you can use.”

“Okay. I guess that I’ll twiddle my thumbs and wait for your next move. Let’s hope at least that you have ice cream that I like.”

Ellen never smiled or changed expression as she got up, took all of Tom’s possessions and clothing, including his camera and phone, and left the building.

Tom checked out the freezer. There were small servings of vanilla and chocolate ice cream along with the TV dinners. He picked up a half-pint of chocolate, found a spoon, and sat down to wait.