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Error

Nathan Hahs

1.
    Gideon stared at the ocean before him.
He could hear the gulls and feel the breeze on his face and chest.
He stepped forward as the waves approached.
The water was relatively calm.
He took another step closer to the water.
When his feet touched the wet sand, a chill ran down his spine and the wind ran through his hair.
He walked closer to the water’s edge, with his eyes still on the water.
He felt a seashell under his left foot.
He stopped and picked it up, taking his eyes off the water for only an instant.
He placed the shell inside his pocket and continued walking.
The salt water rushed over his feet and he stopped.
One thought occupied his mind, “How did it come to this?”

*


    Gideon Edwards pressed the “Enter” key on his computer.
The message had now been sent through his email.
He turned to the filing cabinet to his right and began filing the papers that had arrived earlier that day.
Papers regarding his latest project:
Project Go.
Mr. Edwards worked in the Project Analysis Department of the EnTee Corporation.
His job was to evaluate the work of the Development and Design Department.
Project Go was the most recent in a long line of computer programs structured to assist in the examination of other computer programs.
Gideon’s job was to evaluate the evaluation programs.
Project Go, named after the Chinese board game, was the culmination of five years of work by the Development and Design Team.
Previous attempts had all been seriously flawed.
Gideon had been working with this current program for six weeks and believed the D & D team had finally succeeded in their endeavor to create a properly functioning program.
The email message was to notify the other department that Project Go had passed all preliminary examinations and had only to undergo the last few steps.
No other examination program had come this far.
The final tests would begin the following morning.
Now, it was five o’clock and time to go home.
    Home was in Carmel, five miles south of the office in Monterey.
Gideon’s home was a family heirloom, handed down from his father’s side of the family.
This 4,000 square-foot house sat on Carmel Bay, with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.
Although the house itself was over one hundred years old, it was decorated in a contemporary style, with several works of art by twentieth-century American artist ranging from Jackson Pollock to Ralph Steadman.
Gideon stood, beer in hand, on the back porch.
He watched a sailboat fade into the horizon before heading inside.
After finishing his beer, he went upstairs, took a shower, and went to bed.

*


    Charlie Garten loved her cubicle partner.
She had been in love with him since the moment she met him two years ago.
They worked in the Project Analysis Department together.
He had been working at EnTee for six months when she was hired.
Everyday she tried to look her best for him, hoping he would give her a sign that he was interested in her, and everyday he was nothing less than professional.
In two years, he had never made an advance.
Not even a second glance.
Her resolve was that tomorrow morning she would make the first move.

2.
    Gideon arrived at work the following morning ready to begin the final testing stages of Project Go.
His cubicle partner arrived only a few minutes later.
    “Gideon,” she said.
    “Yes,” he replied.
    “Would you like to have lunch together today?”
    “Sure,” Gideon replied.
    “Do you like Chinese food?”
    “I do.”
    “I know this little restaurant just a short walk from here.”
    “Great.
Let’s go there,” he said.
    “Alright,” she said, “Have fun with Go.”
    “I will.”
He turned to face his computer and she sat down at her desk.
Both of their computers beeped as they booted up.

*


    Stephen typed the encoded message into his computer.
He was the creator of Project Go.
He had given his project a backdoor that only he knew about.
He had been observing the Project Analysis Department since the project had been given over to them.
Workers in the D& D Department retained their anonymity in their work.
No one evaluating a program knew who wrote it and no one writing programs knew who was evaluating them.
Until now.
    When Stephen received the message yesterday with the update on the status of Project Go, he opened the trace program in Go and discovered that the message had been sent by Gideon Edwards.
Stephen knew of Mr. Edwards and he knew that he was the best man on the team.
Stephen also knew that Mr. Edwards’ cubicle partner was Charlie Garten, the number-two person on the team.
Stephen was going to play a game.

*


    “How’s work going?” Charlie asked him.
    “Very well.”
    “That’s great, Gideon.”
    “Yeah, I think this may be the one.
I’m excited to see how the rest of this week goes.”
    “You’ll have to keep me posted.”
    “I will.”
    “How about tomorrow?
Lunch?” she asked.
    “Okay.”
    They finished their lunch in silence, but made small talk on the walk back to the office.
    “I had a good time,” Charlie said as she sat down in front of her computer.
    “So did I,” Gideon added as he opened up Go.
    The two of them worked the rest of the day without saying a word.
Gideon was running an algorithm program through Go, looking for bugs.

*


    That evening, as Gideon sat on his back porch, he thought of Charlie.
He had had a good time with her.
She was attractive, very attractive, but he was unsure about getting involved with someone from work.
Perhaps he would have a clearer idea of what to do after lunch tomorrow.

3.
    Stephen watched, unseen, as Gideon ran the advanced algorithm program through Go.
There was not a bug to be found.
At least, not yet.
When Gideon would discover that you engage the computer, if he could beat the program, he would then discover the bug.
Stephen, through the backdoor, inserted the bug and closed the door.
He could watch from anywhere and he was going to do so.

*


    “Time for lunch,” Charlie said to Gideon.
    “Okay.
Just give me a minute.”
He powered off his computer and they left to eat.
    “Let’s go back to that Chinese restaurant,”
Gideon suggested.
    “Sounds good to me.”
    The food was good.
The conversation was good.
They were both enjoying themselves.
    “Have you ever played Go?” Gideon asked Charlie.
    “Yes, I have.
I like it.”
    “Me, too.”
    “Well, we should play sometime.”
    “How about tomorrow night...around seven?”
he asked her.
    “Is this a date?” she asked him.
Her heart sped up.
    “Okay.”
    “I’d love to.”
    “Sounds great.
I have a board at home.
Seven?”
    “Seven it is.
I’ll bring a bottle of wine.”
    Gideon gave her directions and they left the restaurant and returned to work.

*


    As soon as she got home, Charlie began searching through her closet.
She had to find the perfect ensemble to wear to Gideon’s.
After trying on close to fifty outfits, she found the right one:
a mid-length black skirt, with black boots, and a blue button-down shirt that matched her eyes.
She pressed the outfit and went downstairs to pick out a bottle of wine.
Her wine collection contains approximately one hundred bottles of white and two hundred red.
After only seconds, she selected a bottle of pinot noir from California’s Napa Valley.
Then Charlie ate dinner and ran off to bed.

*


    Gideon lit his cigar.
He rarely smoked and only did so on special occasions.

Tomorrow would be his first date in over a year.
He had immersed himself in work and had thought of little else in the past twelve months.
He had been reconsidering getting involved with a coworker romantically.

Since it had been so long since he had had a woman over, he figured this was as safe a place as any.
At least they had work in common, if the conversation went dry.
They could always talk about EnTee.
And, he thought, it would be nice to play a game of Go.
Gideon was good at his job, but he was even better at Go.
He wondered what type of opponent Charlie would be.
He finished his cigar and his beer and went to bed thinking of her.

4.
    When Stephen had received the email from the Project Analysis Department a few days ago regarding Project Go, he got butterflies in his stomach.
This feeling was something akin to what Charlie had felt when Gideon had asked her out.
Things were falling into place quite nicely, he thought.
Mr. Edwards would soon find the game in Project Go and then the pace would quicken.
The game was going to get very interesting very quickly.

*


    “Good morning, Gideon,” Charlie said as she stepped into their cubicle.
    “Good morning, Charlie,” he said.
    She turned on her computer and caught his eye.
He smiled and turned on his computer.
    They did not have lunch together that Friday.
Gideon did not even take a lunch break.
He worked through the whole day, running the last evaluations of Go.
At five, Charlie tapped him on the shoulder.
    “Time to go,” she said to him.
    “I’m just going to wrap up some loose ends.
I’ll see you at seven.”
    “Sounds great.
Good-bye.”
    “See you later, Charlie”
    Gideon loaded Go onto his laptop.
He needed another hour to finish up the logistics program on Go, but he could do this from home.
    Once at home, he immediately started the program.
As it was running, he straightened up his home.
It was not unclean to begin with, but he wanted to light some candles and start a fire in the fire place.
He wanted his home to look romantic without being too obvious.
He dusted off his Go board and set his laptop on the table close to it, so he could monitor its progress
    Then the doorbell rang.

*


    The wine was good.

The conversation was good.
Charlie was quite enthralled with his art collection, especially the Jackson Pollack.
Gideon had purchased it from a private collector in Arkansas.
The only problem with the evening was that Gideon had lost their game of Go to his date.
This frustrated him.
It had been years since he had been beaten.
It was close to midnight and the two of them were playing another game.
Gideon felt he could win this one for sure.
He placed his white stone down and the computer, which had been running silently in the background, beeped.
    Gideon turned to face his laptop.
    “Hold on just a second,” he said.
He looked closely at the computer screen.
It displayed a Go board.
At the bottom of the screen was a small window.
It read:
“Choose Black or White.”
    “Look at this.”
He turned the computer so it faced Charlie.
    “It’s Go,” she said.
    “Which should we be?”
    “Let’s be white,” she said.
She typed it in and turned the computer so they could both see it.
    The computer made its first move.
They made their move and the game began.
    “Do you want a beer?”
    “Sure,” she said.
    “Let’s see if we can beat this thing,” Gideon said and walked to the kitchen to grab a couple of beers.
    They played until the sun came up and then fell asleep together on the couch.

*


    Stephen watched.
They had found the game.
Could they beat it?
And would Mr. Edwards be prepared for what he would find if they could beat it?

5.
    After Gideon and Charlie woke up, he fixed them breakfast.
When they had finished, they resumed trying to beat the computer.
At noon, Charlie asked if she could take a shower.
She came out of the bathroom wearing Gideon’s robe.
    “Let’s see what’s next with our computer friend,” she said.
    “Okay.”
They sat down.
    They played for the next eight hours, loosing every game.
    “Let’s have a beer and try one more time,” Gideon said.
    “Good idea,” said Charlie.
She changed back into the outfit she was wearing when she first come over.
“Two heads are better than one.”
    “We can beat this thing.”
    “ Yes, we can,” she added and they made their move.

*


    Stephen watched.
He had a good feeling about this game.
This would be the one.

*


    At half past eleven, Charlie and Gideon made their final move and won the game.
The screen went black.
Then, the following appeared:
“Go Error 191888 10165.”
    “What does that mean?” asked Gideon.
    “It must be some sort of bug.”
    “I guess so.”
    “Well, it’s the first one I’ve seen and, considering we found it playing the game and not on the actual program function, I guess it is insignificant.”
    “I guess so.”
    “Well, that means the D & D team has finally done their job.”
    “Yeah, how often does that happen?”
Charlie said sarcastically.
    “Right,” he said and turned to her with a smile.
    “But what does it mean?”
    “I don’t know.
I’ll have to work on that.”
He stared at the screen: Go Error 191888 10165.
    “Well,” she said, standing up.
    “It must be some sort of code.”
    “Yeah.
While you’re working on that, I’ll be heading home.”
    “Okay.
I’ll call you.”
    “Maybe we could do lunch,” she said.
    “Sounds great.”
Gideon was already becoming hypnotized by the screen’s message.
    “Good luck.
Be sure to let me know when you get it.”
    “Okay,”
said Gideon.
    “Bye,” she said and they kissed.

6.
    Stephen looked at his computer screen.
It read Go Error 191888 10165.
Now the back door could be closed.
All he had to do was watch the newspapers.

*


    At his previous job, Gideon had been a code breaker.
Surely, he thought, I can solve this one.
He printed a copy of the screen and went to work.
    The next thing he was aware of was the rising sun.
He now had two notebooks beside him on the couch.
Two notebooks filled in and he still had not broken the code.
When the phone rang, Gideon noticed that it was dark outside.
    “Hello,” he said.
    “Gideon?”
The other voice said.
    “Charlie?” Gideon responded.
    “Yeah, you were supposed to call me,” she said.
    “Oh, shit.
I’m sorry.
I have been working on that code.”
    “I figured.”
    “Look, I’m sorry.
I just lost track of time.”
    “It’s okay, Gideon.”
I’ll let you go, so you can get back to work.”
    “Okay,” returned Gideon, “Bye bye.”
    “Good night,” Charlie spoke into her headset.
    Gideon lost no time in returning to the error message.
In the morning, after staying up through the night again, he called into his workplace to notify them that he would be working from home this week.
    Gideon was obsessed.
He only ate or drank when absolutely necessary.
He hadn’t showered or changed clothes in nearly a week.
His hair was a mess and he couldn’t remember when was the last time he had shaved.
    In the early hours on Friday, it happened.
He cracked it. “8” stood for “L”, “19” stood for “K”, “16” stood for “E”, “5” stood for “R”, “18” was “I”, and “10” was “H”. The message was “Kill Her.” Then the doorbell rang.
    He answered it and there stood Charlie.
    “Good God, Gideon!

Are you okay?”
    “Yeah, I..uh...come on in.”
    “Do you want a beer?” he asked.
    “It’s seven in the morning.”
    “Oh. Yeah.”
    Despite Gideon’s personally shabby appearance, his home was relatively clean.
    “Let me take a shower,” he said. “Make yourself at home.”
    Twenty minutes later, after a shower, a shave, and a change of clothes, Gideon emerged looking as good as ever, except for the bags under his eyes.
    Charlie told him about the past week at work and how excited everyone was about Project Go.
    “It’s all anyone can talk about,” she said.
    “Really?”
    “Yeah.
Are you done?”
    “Almost.
There is only one thing left to do and then it will be finished.”
    “Great!
Then maybe you’ll come back to work.”
    “Sure,” he said. The gears turned inside his head.
That one sentence kept repeating itself inside his head: “KILL HER.”
    By this time, it was late afternoon. The two of them had skipped lunch, but eaten dinner. Gideon made a fire and they sat in front of it, beer in hand.
They talked about his art collection; which pieces he had purchased and which had belonged to his father or grandfather.
    At ten o’clock, they went upstairs to his bedroom.
They undressed between kisses and slipped under the covers. Gideon was going through the motions, but his mind was somewhere else.
Shortly after making love, they both fell asleep.

7.
    When Gideon awoke, it was still dark.
He quietly got out of bed and went downstairs. He walked to the gun cabinet and removed the shotgun.
He loaded it with three shells and stood for a moment just holding the gun.
He turned and walked back upstairs to the bedroom.
He cocked the gun, and pointed it at Charlie’s chest.
He pulled the trigger.
The sound was deafening inside the room.
He fired again.
And again.
His ears were ringing as he set the gun beside the bed.
    He walked back downstairs and out to the back porch.
He walked onto the beach and stared into the ocean.
He could hear the gulls and feel the breeze on his face and bare chest.
He stepped toward the water as the waves approached him.
When his feet touched the wet sand, a chill ran down his spine.
As he walked to the water’s edge, he felt a sea shell under his left foot.
He stopped and picked it up.
The salt water rushed over his feet.
One thought occupied his mind: How did it come to this?
He could hear sirens in the background.

*


    Stephen picked up the paper.
He searched the headlines and found what he was looking for in the bottom right corner.“Man brutally murders coworker.”



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