Early Adopters S01E07 — A Storm is Coming
Continued from previous episode s01e06: Amir encountered Jasmin in the bus and they almost got into an argument. He felt guilty about her suspension and he was determined to make things right for Jasmin.
Amir walked the school hallway headed for the principal’s office. He was determined to confess to be the hacker so that Jasmine could return to school. It felt like the longest walk of his life.
Amir clenched his hands tightly as he walked through the empty hallway. He was passing by the school’s computer room when he heard murmurs from a man who sounded frustrated. Amir wanted to ignore it but for some reason those murmurs peaked his interest and decided to walk closer to be able to understand them.
He leaned closer, pressing his left ear against the door while he tried to carry his weight by holding on to the door jamb with both arms stretched.
Still unable to hear well, he remembered the recording device he had been working on.
“Guess, it wouldn’t hurt to try,” Amir thought to himself. He reached into his bag and brought out something that looked like a small silver ball.
Amir carefully held the ball between his thumb and forefinger. With one eye closed, he peeked under the door looking for the best spot to roll the ball into.
“Here goes nothing. Don’t let me down, Spidey!” he whispered to himself as he flicked the ball.
The ball rolled under the door and bumped into the wall. Then, it suddenly unfolded into a tiny spider which attached itself onto the leg of the seat. Amir took out his phone, ran to a spot between the lockers and plugged in his earphones.
“They have been asking who the culprit was. But we couldn’t find anyone. I had no choice but to give that girl’s name.” Amir heard the man say. His new device was working perfectly.
“This voice sounds familiar.” Amir started saying in a loud voice, but he was able to cover his mouth just on time.
“They had to suspend that student for this but that’s one very small matter.” Amir heard a clink from his phone as the man placed his coffee cup onto the saucer.
“…When she gets back, it’ll be like nothing ever happened.” the man continued speaking.
“It’s strange we couldn’t find the real culprit. But at least we were able to take advantage of this opportunity to carry out a trial run.”
There was a moment of silence. All Amir could hear were flipping pages and the clinking of a cup. He was sweating badly.
“The culprit is still out there, sir. I have the feeling that if we don’t catch him, he could ruin everything. But the bugs we installed on the students’ phones a few days ago should help us track him. The beta testing of the Big Eye program should be a successful run.”
Amir’s hand started shaking and stared at his phone. Then, he remember he had left his phone at home when the school asked to collect all the students’ phones after the incident.
“My phone… My phone is safe. What does he mean by Big Eye? Was that my program?”
Then the conversation he had with Leo two days before came to his mind.
“Hey Amir, can you tell if someone is eavesdropping you? I really don’t feel good after they got our phones.”
“What are you talking about Leo?”
“Sometimes I feel that someone has been listening to my conversations. Truth is, I was talking on the phone with a friend of mine about the hacking incident. I was joking with him and told him that I was the one who did it. It was just a harmless joke. The next day, the computer teacher called me to his office, asking me what I knew about the incident as if he had heard my conversation.”
“Go on…”
“When I told him I didn’t know anything, the teacher scolded me and said I shoudn’t be joking about the incident.”
Amir had sighed at that point, wanting to dismiss the story. Leo had never been serious anyways. He was always out there pranking someone.
“Just let it go, dude. Good thing the teacher did not report you to the principal.”
“But it’s so strange he knew…I mean, we were talking on the phone.”
“It could be that the teacher was passing by and he had heard you speaking to your friend.”
“That’s the weird part, man. I remember being at home and in my room when I had that conversation.”
Previous: s01e01, s01e02, s01e03, s01e04, s01e05, s01e06
Brought to you by Slash.
Written and created by Marc Gamet and Mianne Cudal.
Story-telling Consultant: Robin Narciso.
Drawing by Faisal Arief.
