Sinc, Chapter Ten

    To Solus’ own surprise, he actually went home after logging off of the server on Tempest’s orders. He had a nagging feeling that this was a mistake, but even still he settled himself on his bed, his laptop in front of him. He was sifting through his accounts, checking balances and updates. Once her was sure they were in good standing he pulled up his email. To his further amazement, he had an email that was apparently from Tempest. He clicked it open, wondering what she could possibly want to tell him off-server.

    But when he saw the contents of the message they left him more confused than when he had seen the message initially. All that was written was a phone number and an address; there wasn’t even a name to go with them, unless they were Tempest’s. He hadn’t asked for the information, and she could have given it to him the next time they logged on and met with each other, so her method of delivery seemed rather odd.

    Since he wasn’t sure if the information actually belonged to Tempest, Solus resolved to just ask her when her logged on tomorrow after her got off of work. With that, he decided to head to sleep. He had nothing better to do today anyway, and it was rather late as it was. Once his laptop as put away on his desk he settled himself under his covers, pleasantly warm. His head ached a bit, though Solus was so tired that he managed to ignore it. Soon he was fast asleep with no dreams to disturb the calm of the first decent sleep that he had gotten in several days.

    When he finally awoke sunlight was streaming through his window and pooling into a large spot on his floor. He yawned and rubbed his eyes as he looked up at his clock. It was earlier than he was used to waking up, thus he hadn’t been awakened by the alarm, but he had also gone to bed a bit earlier than usual in order to ward off the boredom. The ache in the back of his head had faded to the very occasionally, barely noticeable dull throb, so he was sure that he would be able to make it through work perfectly well. He was glad of this fact, and so got up with an eagerness that he didn’t recall ever possessing in the first place.

    Instead of lazing around until it was time to head out for work, Solus decided to go ahead and dress to give himself some extra time out of the house. Any interest that he might have once had in being in the house longer than necessary had pretty thoroughly worn off of him. Thus he was walking down the semi-crowded street as he made his way to the deli near the store almost two hours earlier than usual. This gave him time to really relax and take in the scenery around him like he rarely was able, or even cared, to do. Most of the neon lights weren’t on at this time of day, but the light from the sun seemed to make them glow anyway. People walked by him without really noticing he was there, except to move out of the way as they scurried on to their next destination. Many were occupied with some gadget or call, or else they were trying to keep children in check as they made the trek through the streets. Cars passed by with little regard to the throng on the sidewalks, some with music blaring and windows rolled down to allow the pleasant breeze to flow through the vehicle, tussling hair and eliminating the need for an air conditioner.

    The day itself was exceptionally nice. The air wasn’t extremely humid or dry; it had found a wonderful equilibrium. The sun was bright, but the light cloud cover kept it from beating unbearably down on the city. It wasn’t too hot either, though it was a little warmer than Solus usually preferred. Even still, the breeze that wafted through the buildings and walkways eased this. All in all, Solus was surprised at how much he was enjoying his leisurely walk. It wasn’t in his normal nature to really care about how the weather was; he didn’t exactly try to make small talk about it, so why bother? It was also fairly apparent from his skin tone that he didn’t spend much time outside as it was, as well.

    Despite this, Solus couldn’t help but feel a little sad when he stepped inside the deli. His stomach berated him for neglecting it as he had recently. He quickly ordered his food and sat in a seat right next to the window so that the sun could still warm his face as he ate. Once he was done he crossed the street to a coffee shop and sat down with his phone and a mocha. The rest of his time before work was spent wandering around in the pleasant weather until he deemed it time to head in.

    Work went by as dully as usual, save for the concerned questioning that he received from his boss, Aaron, upon entering the shop. Afterwards he had been mostly left to his own devices, taking care of customers and running the cash register. The store wasn’t very busy, so Solus and his manager were the only two employees on duty until Solus’ shift ended and Aaron told him to go on, he would close instead. Usually Solus would have fussed over the offer, since it was his turn to close, but he wanted to make up for lost time with Tempest, so he took it gracefully and headed to the server station.

    “Solus!”

    The first thing that occurred to Solus was that Tempest looked and sounded much tenser than usual.

    “What’s wrong?” He asked, automatically concerned. Tempest shook her head and snatched his hand into her own.

    “I can’t explain right this second. Come with me first.” Without waiting for Solus to even process her words, Tempest had transported them both to her room. “Sit down, okay? I made it so that no one can get in here unless I bring them, so hopefully we’ll be safe in here.” She said when Solus gave her an odd look.

    “Who exactly are we hiding from?” Solus looked around curiously before sitting on the beanbag chair by the bed and looked up at her. She was acting so strange. What could have possibly caused this?

    “I can’t explain everything, yet, I’m sorry. What I really need for you to do is log off and lay low until I can sort things out properly.” She sighed and flopped onto the floor in front of him.

    Solus shook his head. “Tempest, you’re not making any sense. Does this have something to do with that email I got?” He prodded.

    “Kind of. Solus, my full name is Tempest Crowe, okay?” Just remember that.” She said, getting a vague look in her eyes. “And watch yourself.”

    “It’s a little hard to when I have absolutely no idea what I’m even supposed to be watching for. Tempest, seriously, you’re going to have to tell me what’s going on eventually. Did you find out who’s been corrupting the server code? Is someone threatening you? Come on, speak up.” As he spoke, Solus slid off of the bean bag and settled himself directly in front of her. He reached out and placed his hands on either side of her head, cradling it just behind her ears. He leaned a little closer to her and looked directly in her eyes. “Come on.” He repeated, a little surprised at himself.

    Tempest reached up and placed her hands on his and closed her eyes for a moment. Finally she wrapped her fingers around his, pulling his hand into her lap. “I can’t. Not right now at least. There’s a lot you still need to…I just need to know you’re going to be safe until I can sort some things out.”

     "Things I need to what? Tempest, I’ll be fine. You don’t need to be worried about me. Right now I’m more worried about you.” He was getting frustrated, and it was beginning to show in his voice. All he wanted to know was what had suddenly happened to put her in such a fuss. Usually it took a lot to upset her so genuinely, which meant that whatever she wasn’t telling him had to be pretty serious. That worried him all the more.

    Tempest stared down at their hands, a little unsure of what to say. Finally she looked up at him and said, “Solus, you’ll find out what you really need to know if you use the information I emailed you, okay? Afterwards, please don’t log on or try to contact me unless I make contact first. Do this for me and I promise I’ll be able to fill you in on what’s going on. This will make things easier to explain, and it’s important for you to be able to understand what’s actually happening right now. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t insist on it.” She squeezed his hands and placed them on the floor between them. “Do you understand me?” Her eyes pleaded her case to Solus in a way that words couldn’t.

    Very reluctantly, Solus nodded. “Fine. Just...” He paused to search for the proper words. “Don’t get yourself into too much trouble. If you need me you know how to reach me, so don’t hesitate to. You know I’ll always be here for you, right?”

    She found herself unable to voice a response, so Tempest only nodded. They stared at each other for a few moments, neither having any idea of what to say. The knowledge of the situation weighed down on Tempest’s heart, while Solus’ unwilling ignorance frustrated him to no end. The silence was only broken when Tempest decided that they had lingered long enough and stood up, holding out a hand for Solus to do so to.

    “I’m going to alter the coding for this place to allow you to log on in here, okay? When you finally do come on after I contact you, I need to you log on into this room. Don’t leave it when you get on until I’ve spoken to you. Promise?” She looked rather desperately up at him.

    “Alright, I can do that.” He nodded. “Promise.” He added, almost as an afterthought. “How long do you think it will be? If it takes too long I’m coming on anyway.”

    Tempest thought for a moment, her eyes squeezed tightly closed as she did. “A few days probably. If a week goes by then…then I guess you can get on. If you do be extremely cautious. I don’t know how things are going to go once they start going.” She rocked a little on her heels and sighed. “Solus? I’m sorry I’m being so vague. I know how much it sucks not knowing what’s going on but please, trust me, you’ll understand soon.”

    Solus seemed to consider the truth to her words a short period of silence. “It’ll be okay so long as you don’t get yourself into trouble. This whole hacker business is obviously a lot nastier than we were both thinking it was, if it has you this worked up. I just wish I could do something to help.”

    “What you can do is listen to me.” With this she latched to his side, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest.

    “I…” He was a bit lost for words, partly due to just being unsure, and partly because of the air being thrust from his lungs. If he had nothing else to say about Tempest, he still would be able to say that she was capable of the tightest hugs he’d ever heard of, let alone felt. Suddenly, though, he felt himself being pushed out of her grip.

    “Go! And don’t forget what I said, Solus!” She was several feet away from him entering something into a terminal. Before he could protest he found himself forcefully booted off of the server, though whether it was Tempest’s doing or not he couldn’t confidently say.

    When his senses came back to his physical body he only found himself able to stare up at the ceiling for a while. A thousand questions buzzed in his brain, but he couldn’t answer a single one of them. Instead he let them bounce around the crowded space, occasionally picking one to brood over until it lost his interest and he would move on to the next.

    He had no idea how long he spent on the terminal, not even logged in but staring blankly up and pondering questions. All he knew was that, by the time he finally pulled himself up to leave it was about the time he usually logged off. With a bit of difficulty, he forced himself out of the server station and into the still trafficked streets of the city he called home, his feet taking him home as though they were programmed to do so without his brain even telling them what to do. When he reached his door it came as somewhat of a shock to him; since when had he even left? Something felt numb within him as he opened the door and allowed it to close behind him, already having started down the hallway to his locked room. In a robotic motion, he entered the necessary code and his door slid open, allowing him just enough time to stumble inside and flop onto his bed.

    Nothing could explain to him the odd hollowness that filled him. He didn’t even bother undressing to get to sleep; he simply let his shoes fall to the side of his bed before he crawled under his sheets, glancing half-heartedly at his clock before falling into a deep, coma-like trance.