In the mid-1990s, there were two graduate students working on an academic set of grant-sponsored algorithms that were quickly "purchased out-of-existence" by the U.S. Military. This quiet acquisition was made several years before the PATRIOT ACT was signed along with the launch of the Department of Homeland Security. These powerful algorithms created and subsequently acquired were designed several years before the PATRIOT ACT's Privacy Regulations took effect. This perfect timing let the software have much more lenient capabilities.
The younger of the two graduate students had invested wisely from the settlement. A major part of these investments made from the settlement and other "non-related" projects were placed into the Internet stocks during the Internet Boom resulting in the student's sufficiently effective retirement. (He even consulted with the IPOs of some of those Internet companies, but that's another story altogether.)
The younger academic's only publicly acknowledged work during his pre-retirement time was teaching the "Introduction to Vehicle Logistics" ten-month course at The University.
He only felt comfortable in revealing his feelings on his purpose and destiny in life with those of his students whom decided to meet with him, listening to his coffee-filled and suspiciously believable rants, after hours at the local diner. This story is a linear collection of many of those "off-the-record" discussions.
(The second hint book to complete the preventthetrace.com alternate reality game [ARG] project)
An "Official Channel" of the Department of Homeland Security offers Angel the return of generous portions of the rights to his algorithms. In exchange for those rights, The Department strongly encourages Angel to offer his consultation on the finalization of a need-to-know project that involves Angel's deep knowledge of securing and optimizing legacy technology.
Debating the offer, on a moral and ethical grounding, Angel seeks the opinion of his most trusted former graduate, revealing to her more than anyone but he and Stellethee could ever share about what they had truly developed.
The graduate, among other secrets, learns that there were three teams with her classmates, and not just two teams that the class had naively suspected. She was on this third team, and unknown to her, there was another person assigned as well. Angel and Stellethee, at the time before her graduation, could never reveal the details to the situation.
The former student starts to learn why.
Characters and Stories Copyright © Dave Kristula. Learn About Dave's New Book.