After nearly an hour had passed, the number of other online players suddenly blinked to 1. Ryan sat up straight in his chair. Then, from the right edge of his screen he saw a burly armor-clad warrior approaching, the moniker above him flashing "VillagePariah.”
"VillagePariah is requesting to chat. Do you accept?" read a message in the center of his screen. Ryan anxiously looked back at his bedroom door, making sure it was still closed, and clicked yes. A text box popped up at the upper left corner of the screen.
VillagePariah: Hello
Hot4Higs: Hi
VillagePariah: Can you please delete the picture of the handwritten note on your digital frame?
Hot4Higs: Done.
VillagePariah: Good. one more thing. the black writing on your mom’s purple shirt that gave you the amazon address… it’s actually the photo AFTER the one with her teaching you to ride a bike. I superimposed it with an animation effect. I can’t actually edit or delete photos remotely — can only add them. can you delete that one too?
Hot4Higs: Done.
VillagePariah: Thx. those frames have no permanent memory. when you delete files, they’re gone — unlike text messages or emails. This game sucks doesn’t it?
Hot4Higs: Big time. I guess there’s a reason only 2 people on earth are playing it. what’s this about?
VillagePariah: I think we may have something in common. what do you know about Avillage?
Hot4Higs: Its a stock exchange for orphans — like I used to be
VillagePariah: Like WE used to be
Hot4Higs: You’re on the exchange too?
VillagePariah: Yep. I’m glad you already know about it. that makes this easier.
Hot4Higs: Let me guess… Dillon?
VillagePariah: Why do you say that?
Hot4Higs: I’ve tracked down about half the exchange. you’re — i mean Dillon is a computer guy. and look what you made me name my smokin hot princess character
VillagePariah: Not bad. that was supposed to be an inside joke to myself. anyway, I have ALL the names matched with ALL the symbols on the exchange. I want to end Avillage — get rid of it. not just for me. for everybody.
Hot4Higs: Why?
VillagePariah: They’re evil. they’re manipulating things behind the scenes. taking away our freedom — and of course our money
Hot4Higs: They definitely manipulate things, but I’m not sure they’re evil. I’ve actually got things pretty good
VillagePariah: That’s what a neutered dog in a fenced in yard would say too. trust me. I’ve been all through their private intranet. there’s nothing concrete, but there’s smoke everywhere. I need you with me, Ryan
Hot4Higs: Why?
VillagePariah: Because you’re the poster child. you’re the initial IPO. and you’re smarter than me
Hot4Higs: smarter than I — just kidding. And I’m definitely not smarter than you. I couldn’t have thought of
VillagePariah: I’m not guessing. I’ve seen our files… I have a question. did you have any other relatives besides your parents?
Hot4Higs: No. my grandfather died a few months before my parents. he lived on the west coast. I didn’t really know him that well.
VillagePariah: Sorry about that.
Hot4Higs: It’s ok
VillagePariah: Did he die before or after you took the IAT?
Hot4Higs: ?
VillagePariah: The initial aptitude test you took in september of first grade.
Hot4Higs: Would have been after. I remember it was Halloween night.
VillagePariah: Hmmm…
Hot4Higs: What?
VillagePariah: Avillage has the full list of IAT scores from your year. not sure how they got it. your name’s at the top. the file is dated mid-October. don’t remember the exact date.
Hot4Higs: My grandfather had pretty bad diabetes. his death wasn’t too big of a shock to my parents, if that’s what you’re getting at.
VillagePariah: OK. do you know what the policy is on orphan adoption? I mean how long a kid has to be in an orphanage before he’s available to Avillage?
Hot4Higs: 3 months. it’s in their company profile
VillagePariah: Did you ever think it was strange that you lost your parents almost EXACTLY 3 months before the opening of AVEX? Or that they confirmed the opening date of AVEX two days after they died?
Ryan’s cursor flashed for a full 30 seconds with no reply. Dillon kept an anxious eye on the lower left of his screen, continuously checking how many other players were online, hoping he hadn’t scared Ryan away with such a sensitive topic; the number remained stuck at 1.
VillagePariah: It strikes me as odd. I’ve dug pretty deep into this. opening day was an absolute make or break for Avillage. Ryan, you were it. there was no plan B.
There was another long pause.
Hot4Higs: We need to meet.
CHAPTER 6
A natural leader with a tireless work ethic, strong motherly instincts, and endless optimism, thirteen-year-old Annamaria Olivera had been invaluable at the orphanage in the 3 months since a catastrophic 7.9 magnitude earthquake had nearly leveled her home city of Colón, a working class town at the Caribbean entrance to the Panama canal. Her district, Rainbow City, had been the hardest hit.
She had been on her way to school when the quake had hit, walking in a small clearing between two more densely populated areas. First, she’d felt a curious vibration beneath her feet, almost as if they were starting to fall asleep. Then before she’d had time to consider what exactly the odd sensation might be, she was hit with a thunderous force that threw her to the ground, split the road in front of her lengthwise and crumbled the rickety bridge up ahead, sending its splintered remains into the swollen, muddy river below.
Rattled in every sense of the word, she turned back toward her home and watched helplessly as the low-rise apartment buildings began to crumble, one after another. Plumes of dust twenty stories high formed a haunting new skyline in their stead.
Two days of round-the-clock rescue work would pass before a Red Cross disaster counselor finally confirmed what she pretty well knew to be the case: no one in her family had survived.
But with more work to do than there were able-bodied people to do it, she never took the time to grieve. She got busy the moment she set foot in the overcrowded orphanage, nursing minor wounds of the other children when the staff didn’t have time, warming bottles and feeding the babies when she heard them cry out at night, and routinely helping out with the cooking and cleaning. But her most impactful contribution was her unique ability to soothe with little more than a look, especially when the aftershocks hit.
Her large dark eyes were deep yet bright and expressed a sensitivity and simple sincerity that couldn’t be replicated by the harried staff at the orphanage. Her soft, full lips came together in a sweet smile, and her flawless bronze skin radiated warmth. Her beauty wasn’t lost on the younger children, who naturally gravitated to her, even if they weren’t sure why.
But another quake was about to rock her world. Her appearance — and two recent policy changes at a stock exchange a world away — would soon set her life on a drastically different course.
After three years of mostly rousing successes, Avillage was slogging through a third consecutive quarter of flat growth when James Prescott, without notice, eliminated the position of vice president of operations in the Orphan Identification Division, and ordered its employees to report directly to his Senior Executive Vice President/Henchman Aaron Bradford. While the move had dealt a serious blow to the section’s morale, its productivity did increase. Temporarily.
As it turned out, the problem really wasn’t internal; it truly seemed to be a lack of qualified orphans.
In response, Bradford had pushed through two controversial changes in the Avillage recruitment plan. The first was to offer orphan-referral incentives, by way of a 1.5% ownership incentive for each orphan adopted by Avillage, to be split 70/30 between the referring orphanage and the individual making the referral. The second was to pursue international adoptions, thereby increasing the pool of potential orphans a thousand-fold, effective immediately.