Cristal - Novella (2 page)

His mother, Bina, pushed the doctor away,
screaming, “No! It’s not true!”

The doctor waved to a nearby nurse who went
to get help. His mother stepped forward and grabbed the doctor’s
scrubs with both hands.

“He’s not dead! What did you do to my
Aaron?”

When he didn’t respond, she turned wildly
towards the other people in the waiting room, and pleaded, “They
took my husband! Please help me!”

Harry wasn’t surprised with her reaction.
She was an Israeli wife and mother who tended to be over dramatic
when she expressed her emotions. But something in her eyes made him
wonder if she was right.

Three nurses came rushing back, grabbing
hold of his mother’s arms. “Let me go! Let me go!” she wailed, as
one of the nurses stabbed a needle into her arm.

“You need to relax, Bina,” Dr. Saeed said in
a soothing tone. He helped guide Harry’s mother down into a chair.
“Everything will be just fine,” he told her.

“Saeed, you need to find Aaron,” his mother
said, before passing out.

Harry had observed everything from a
distance; not fully comprehending what was happening.
Funny how
a tiny blood clot could bring a man as brilliant as Aaron Doub to
his demise
.

***

Harry was only seventeen when his father died; a
university senior writing his thesis,
Mind-Reading Computers:
Intelligent Assumptions of Complex Thought Processes
.

Besides the fact that his father was an
atheist and that his mother pretended to be one too, growing up in
Harry’s home had been anything but normal. The rare times Aaron was
home, Harry might as well have been invisible. When Aaron did
acknowledge that Harry was alive, he would rattle on and on about
his theories, asking Harry what his opinion was on the matter. If
Harry even tried to respond, eight times out of ten, his father
would spin around and say, “Where is Saeed? You’re not Saeed!”

When Aaron did not confuse him with Dr.
Saeed, Harry could actually have a profound conversation with his
father. But those moments were so infrequent that Harry had to
mentally accept the fact that he didn’t really have a father.

Now that Aaron was dead, Harry didn’t have
to pretend anymore. A year later, Harry legally changed his last
name to “Doubt.”

FOR YEARS, BINA AND AARON tried to have a
baby—honestly, it was she who wanted it more than he did. When Bina
couldn’t conceive, she sought help from the best Israeli fertility
specialists. When Aaron took the job at Global Nation (GN)
University in New York City and uprooted them from their home in
Tel Aviv, she hoped the change would help.

Her prayers were answered twelve months
later when Harrell Doub was born. He was perfect. From his wavy
brown hair, to his ice blue eyes, and his chubby fingers and toes.
Unfortunately, Aaron never cared much about the baby. He let Bina
do all the parenting.

“Harry, you were born to do something
memorable,” she often said to him. “You were meant to do great
things.”

* * *

After the death of her husband, the strange
dreams began. Many nights, Bina woke from her sleep with the dreams
still clinging onto her like the cobwebs that sprawled across the
doorway of their garden shed. She started documenting all the
details in her journal that she could remember. She kept the
private journal locked in her nightstand, safely hidden away.

Now that Aaron was gone, Harry was taking
care of the household—buying groceries, preparing and cooking
meals, and paying the bills. The inheritance money Aaron left for
them was substantial…enough to bring out all her long lost in-laws
out of the woodwork. Aaron’s brothers and sisters travelled all the
way from Tel Aviv and brought their high profile lawyers to claim
their share of the inheritance, which left Bina almost
penniless.

***

Four years later, Harry was feeling
optimistic about the future. He was in his room at his desk,
staring at his laptop, re-reading an email that was open on his
screen. He had read it so many times that he knew it by heart.

Dear Harry,

Although you will be receiving the official
documents from our legal department, I wanted to write to you
personally to say that it was a pleasure meeting you. We at Google
Inc. are delighted to acquire the rights to your Truth Seekers
online game. The legal documents and bank draft have been sent to
your home address.

Please reconsider the job offer as we could
use someone like you on our team. Feel free to swing by Google Inc.
headquarters the next time you are in California.

Sergey Brin
Co-founder, Google Inc.

Harry smiled as he picked up the courier box
from his desk. His mother stuck her head in the doorway of his
room.

“Dinner is ready, Harry,” she said. She
watched him as he opened the box. “Is that what you’ve been waiting
for all day today?”

“Yes, Mom,” he said. “It’s finally here.” He
ripped open the box and pulled out a thin binder of documents. He
reached in again and pulled out an envelope.

“You never told me how much money you sold
the Truth Seekers game for. Like I always say, ‘a mother
understands what a child does not say.’ You know you created that
game when you were only eight years old. I hope you didn’t just
give it away to those Google schmucks,” she said as she walked up
to him. She frowned, placing her hands on her hips.

Harry stifled a chuckle. What could he say?
She was just being who she was—an overprotective mother. Harry tore
open the envelope and pulled out the bank draft; the smile on his
face stretched wider.

“Harry, did you hear what I said?” Bina
asked, raising an eyebrow; which usually meant that her patience
was coming to an end.

He waved the bank draft in her face. Bina
squinted her eyes to read what was on it.

“Is this a joke, Harrell?” She often
referred to his legal birth name when she wanted a serious answer
from him.

“No joke, Mom,” Harry said. He stood up and
gave her a big hug. “We don’t have to worry about money
anymore.”

She nodded her head but the frown remained
on her face. “But Harry, this Truth Seekers’ game is your baby. How
could you sell it for that
pitsvinik
? It’s not enough!”

Here we go again.
“Mom, are you kidding me?
That’s a ten-digit figure. What do you mean it’s not enough?”

She took a deep breath and said, “So my
brilliant son thinks ten digits is enough. Why not twenty digits?
Thirty? Your game is your life. You know this is true!”

Harry put his arms around his mother’s
waist, planting kisses on her cheeks. She pretended to push him
away, but he knew she enjoyed the attention he was giving her.

“Stop it, Harry. That’s enough.”

He stepped back and shrugged, hiding his
smile from her. “Okay, if you say so.”

“Oh? You stop so easy? Harrell, don’t you
love your mother?” Her eyes were wide with surprise.

Harry laughed and gave her an enormous bear
hug. “Don’t worry, Mom. Google didn’t buy the rights to the Truth
Seekers’ name. I already made a better Truth Seekers game and
brought it underground. It’s hosted on multiple private servers. I
call it the ‘interranet.’”

Bina gave him a warm smile and pinched Harry
on the cheek. “Ah, my wonderful boy. Your father would have been so
proud.”

Harry raised his eyebrows and said, “Yeah,
whatever, Mom.” He bent over and gave her another kiss on the
cheek. “Please don’t ruin my mood by bringing up Dad again,
okay?”

She pressed her lips together, holding back
what she was going to say.

“Mom, I’m starving. Something smells real
good in the kitchen.”

Bina raised her hand. “Wait, Harry. I wanted
to tell you this at dinner, but it is better if I tell you
now.”

“Okay,” he said. “What is it?”

“I decided I am going to Global Nation in
Tel Aviv. I want to be a peacekeeper in Gaza while the peace talks
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are happening,” Bina
said.

Harry’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy, Mom?
Why do you want to go there? You and Dad came here to New York to
get away from all the politics and now you want to go back?”

“I have to go, Harry. I need a purpose in
life,” she said, as her voice broke.

He looked at her for a long time, his anger
diminishing. “Are you sure you can take care of yourself, Mom?” he
asked.

She smiled. “I took care of you and your
father.
Makhshava me tumtemet le-gamrei
. What a stupid
question.”

***

Two months later, Harry received a phone
call.

“Mr. Doub, you are listed as the emergency
contact for Bina Schwartz. We regret to inform you that Ms.
Schwartz did not report to work two days ago at our Gaza office. We
are doing our best to locate her and are working closely with
Israeli officials to find her.”

Harry decided that his mission was to find
his missing mother even if it meant that he had to infiltrate
Global Nation from the inside to do it.

A NEW STATUS ALERT BOX popped up on the
bottom corner of his computer screen displaying a familiar avatar—a
dark shadow of mist in the silhouette of a woman standing tall,
hands on her hips with her long hair blowing wildly over one
shoulder like black flames.
Cristal.

Harry made sure that the closest members of
his team contacted him via the private Truth Seekers’ game
messaging system, which he simply called TSVC or Truth Seekers’
video chat. He had overridden the personnel spy software, which the
president of GN, Shelley Lionheart, had ordered his team to install
on all GN desktops and laptops. Even though he was confident that
no one could hack into his system, he made sure that everyone
messaged each other using alias names and coded phrases.

Mist:
Received the latest mission you
sent. Not sure why we need Shadow to be involved. His programming
skills suck.

Harry smiled as he typed his reply.

Zero:
Your comment is noted. Bring
Onyx with you to location.

Mist:
You chose her as a recruit
without my input. So you take care of her yourself.

Harry started to type a response but paused.
He could have easily walked five cubicles down to talk to Cristal
in person, instead of texting her via her online alias
Mist
.
Her recent snide remarks about his latest recruits, Kerim and
Joanna, were becoming difficult to ignore.

Harry had warned Cristal that upcoming
missions would become more dangerous. His warnings, however, seemed
to fall on deaf ears. He feared that her cockiness would get her in
trouble. So without her knowledge, he had hired former Turkish Army
Intelligence Kerim Ilgaz, giving him the alias name
Shadow
,
and assigning him as Cristal’s bodyguard. If she ever found out the
real reason behind Kerim’s role in the Truth Seekers, she probably
would never speak to Harry again.

As for Joanna, alias
Onyx
, he
couldn’t understand what was Cristal’s gripe with her. Although
Joanna was a good programmer and gamer, having one of the highest
scores in the Truth Seekers’ game, she lacked the ability to see
the big picture—a talent and skill that he found only in Cristal.
He never admitted this to Cristal convincing himself that it was a
conflict of interest. After all he was the head of the Truth
Seekers and also technically her boss at GN.

He had to admit though that Cristal was the
only one who could see through him, past his boyish good looks and
bravado. His choice of communication was text messaging so he could
avoid looking into those kohl brown eyes with flecks of gold, like
lasers that could detect his deepest and darkest fears. They were
good friends and he wanted their relationship to stay that way.

Mist
: I’ll meet you after work to
discuss this further.

***

Cristal was standing outside the building
waiting for him. He saw her through the glass doors when a gust of
wind blew her long chestnut hair away from her oval face revealing
her dainty nose and lips like pink rose petals. Her taupe silk
dress hugged her curves.
I have never been so jealous of silk
before
, he thought to himself.

When Harry invited Cristal to join the Truth
Seekers, she gave up her scholarship at MIT and transferred to
Global Nation University. Both of them had been fifteen years old
and the youngest students in GN’s history to attend the university.
Now at twenty-two, they still felt out of place being the youngest
staff working at Global Nation.

“Coffee shop is too busy and we really need
to focus,” he said.

“Okay, so where do you want to go?” Cristal
looked briefly at her watch.

“Thought we could go to my place,” he said,
trying to keep his voice steady.

She raised an eyebrow but then grinned, and
said, “Yeah, sure. I’ll be the first Truth Seeker to get to see
Zero Doubt’s new crib.”

He laughed. “Just don’t post that on the
website, okay?”

“Too late, I already tweeted everyone,
posted it on Facebook, and all the gaming blogs,” she said with her
usual snappy retort.

A group of GN staff exited from the building
and walked past them, chatting amongst themselves.

Cristal grabbed his arm and said, “Let’s
go.” She pulled him towards the bus loop.

“Afraid to bump into Joanna? You really have
something against her, don’t you?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Harry. Can we
please
not
open that topic again? I have better things to
think about right now. Like, why you want me to hack into Shelley
Lionheart’s private folder on the GN cloud network?”