Author: Leoloco and Kouklitsa (collaborated writing and beta)
Pairing: Non, for once…..but maybe a hint later on
Rating: Nothing shocking, if you can watch the show, you can read this
Summary: Playing games is no longer fun when your family and friend are put in danger.
Disclaimer: I am a mere mortal and therefore cannot own anything as divined as Numb3rs.
Leoloco's disclaimer: What Kouklitsa said.
Feedback: Greatly appreciated!
Warning: No spoilers
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Charlie sat in his office working on something on his laptop, deeply concentrated. It was late; the office only lit by the light that shone off the screen and the only sound heard were his fingers hitting the keyboard.
He was working on a new approach to a problematic algorithm that was bothering him for weeks now. It had suddenly come to him, like a bolt of lightning, and it just wouldn't let him go. Charlie loved having these sudden epiphanies; he had been waiting for one for a long time. Besides consulting for the FBI, teaching and giving lectures he sure missed working on problems on a higher level. It was in his nature, and he had missed it. Even though he would never say that out loud as he did not want anyone to think that he might think less of the work that he does on a day to day basis. But oh how he loved challenging his own mind…
As the solution to the problem seemed to gain more and more form something on his computer suddenly blinked and beeped. Charlie cursed inarticulately fearing that his laptop had frozen and he had forgotten to run a proper backup for hours.
When he looked closer at the screen he noticed it was indeed an error message. Or was it? Charlie's eyes gre wide as he stared at the little grey box and it's contents.
"Hello dr. Eppes. Having a late night of work?"
Charlie stared at his screen, completely stupefied. The message that showed up as an error had a little dark grey box which said 'ok'. He figured that he was meant to click on it so moved the mouse to the box and clicked it. The message dissapeared as soon as he did. Charlie just kept on staring at the screen not resuming his prior work anticipating a next message as he felt there was going to be another one. And he was right.
"You shouldn't work this late" The message said.
He had no idea what those message were and who was sending them. He had seen them before, when he had to update software, or when an error had occurred. It seemed that someone had granted themselves access to his computer and was sending messages. But who? And from where? Charlie waited a while before clicking the 'ok' button. Just as he had clicked the button, another appeared.
"You should turn on some lights dr Eppes. Working behind a computer for so long is bad for the eyes." The message said.
Charlie almost jumped up and started looking around his office to see if anyone was there. Confusion and a slight feeling of fear crept up on Charlie. Who was this? And how did they know the office was dark? It started to frustrate Charlie that the only thing he could do was click on the stupid box and had no way of replying to ask who was sending these messages.
"What the heck is going on here?" He whispered as he clicked on the button again.
Another message appeared on his screen.
"You would like to know what is going on, dr Eppes?" The message said.
Charlie stared at the screen, still confused over who was sending him these messages. Of course he wanted to know what was going on! He clicked 'ok' again.
Charlie waited. He was curious now and wanted to know who was sending him these messages and what they wanted. So far it seemed quite harmless and Charlie started to think that it were some students up to some playful fun. He wanted to wait it out a little to see if whoever they were send another message clarifying what it really was they wanted.
As Charlie peered at the screen another sound chimed, announcing a new message had appeared on his screen. Charlie moved in closer to read its content.
"We're going to play a little game, dr Eppes. You like riddles?" The message said.
Charlie was left no other choice than to press the 'ok' button again, so he did. He wasn't quite convinced anymore that the person, or people, that were sending him these messages had friendly intents. The way the message asked whether he liked playing games made Charlie's stomach turn into a knot. Another message appeared on the screen.
"Well, here we go dr Eppes; this should be an easy one for you. How many cosmologists do you need to save a LA Supernovae project from being deleted to oblivion?" The message said asking Charlie to press 'ok' again.
Charlie's hart stopped beating. What kind of sick joke was this? Was this a genuine threat to destroy Larry's work? He quickly stood up in search for his cell phone, and when he found it he sat back down behind the computer and pressed the 'ok' button while dialing Don's number.
While Charlie waited for Don to pick up the phone, another message appeared flaming Charlie's anger to an all time high.
"Tick tack, dr Eppes. You are wasting time calling your brother. Concentrate on the problem. You're supposed to be famous for the ability to focus on problems. Tick tack dr Eppes… Tick tack…"
When Charlie heard Don's voice through the phone he was unable to reply.
"Charlie?" Don's voice sounded.
How did whoever was sending these messages know that he was calling Don?
"Charlie, what's going on?" Don asked.
And why were they referring to time ticking away?
"Charlie, answer me! Are you ok!" Don pressed.
How much time did he have to figure out who these people were and what they meant with the last message?
"CHARLIE dammit! Would you answer me! Where are you and what the HELL is going on!" Don's voice echoed through the phone.
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Don sat upright in his bed, clinging the phone to his ear. He had planned to have an early night for a change, and when Charlie had called he had only just turned off the lights.
After a couple of moments, Charlie seemed to have found his voice again and was able to answer Don on the phone.
"Don, I'm here… I... I think I have a problem here." Charlie muttered. It was clear that Charlie still had trouble finding words, and Don immediately heard the shock in his brother's voice.
"What are you talking about, Charlie. What's going on" Don asked, this time his voice on a more normal volume.
"Don, I think you need to come over here… I think… I think I'm being watched," Charlie finally managed to get out.
"What do you mean, you're being watched?" Don asked, this time sounding a little bit more annoyed. It was 11pm, and after a long day Don desperately wanted to catch some sleep. He didn't intend to fall out with his brother like that, but right now he couldn't really help it.
"I mean, someone is hacking my computer, and he knows exactly what I'm doing. He even knows the lights are out in my office, Don. So, could you please come over?" this time, Charlie actually sounded scared.
"Sure… Charlie, why not... It's not like I had any better plans right now," Don sighed, and with that he took a last look at his bed. Nope, he thought, nothing better to do.
"I'll be right there, ok? You're at CalSci, right?" Don asked, knowing about Charlie's unusual office hours.
"Yeah... and thank you Don" And with that Charlie hung up the phone. Don was sure now, something had scared Charlie and he intended to find out what.
Charlie had called Don twenty minutes ago, and in the meantime he hadn't dared to do anything. He had read the ominous message over 50 times now, he had calculated the number of vowels, the probable time spent typing the message and the individual words, the area of the box, how many pixels it contained, how many pixels were used for the letters etcetera etcetera. Charlie had contemplated the little error message over and over, but he didn't want to press the 'ok' button. Not without Don here. Even tough the 'Tick tack' reference signaled a deadline, Charlie knew he had to wait for Don. He had fought the urge to press the button a few times, but managed to stay concentrated. Waiting for Don.
He had been sitting in the same position, staring at the screen for over twenty minutes when Don came in.
"Hey Charlie, show me, what's going on. And turn on the lights next time, ok" Don flipped the light on, and came to stand right behind Charlie and looked at the screen.
Charlie had trouble finding words all of a sudden, having stared at the screen in silence for so long. Instead he just pointed to the message, and turned to look at Don. He looked tired, and Charlie suddenly felt guilty for calling Don at this hour.
As he watched Don's face, Charlie could see the concern growing in his brother's eyes. Just as he wanted to ask Don what to do, there came another sound from the computer. The message was gone, and replaced by a new one.
"Finally, we can continue. No more games… except of course this one. No need to press the button this time, we will continue right away." The message said.
Charlie felt all the blood drain from his face. He looked back at Don, and found that he was still staring intently at the screen.
This time the computer made another sound, but different than the chimes before. Charlie looked back at the screen and saw the message box being replaced by a whole new sort of program. It looked like an old computer game, like the ones he used to play as a kid. It was a black box, with brightly colored letters that spelled the word 'Supernovae Rescue'.
"Supernovae Rescue? What's that supposed to mean?" Don frowned. He obviously knew nothing about the prestigious project Larry had been working on for the last few years. Charlie stammered, "It's something Larry's been working on. The message said something about me saving his project earlier. So I guess this is it."
Directly under the title, other words appeared, a game instruction. Charlie moved closer to read them.
"Dr Eppes. You have been selected to rescue the LA Supernova project from being deleted. He objective of this game is to guide professor Fleinhardt safely to the other side of the building, before time runs out and his life's work will go up in flames. Use the arrow keys to move. Have fun!"
"What the hell!" Don muttered. "What is this?"
Charlie felt his heart beating like a maniac, and felt the cold sweat running down the back of his neck. His hands were sweaty and he was getting nauseous. He really didn't like this game anymore.
The game menu flickered, and suddenly, directly beneath the instruction, there appeared a countdown.
"3… 2…1... GO!"
The game begun. It looked like the old "frog crossing the road" game. At the bottom there was a little figure, a man with a 'F' on his shirt. From both sides objects that looked like little blackboards came floating through the screen. At the top was a grey box, in the form of a big computer, supposedly representing the Supernovae project? There appeared to dance small flames around it, and when Charlie looked closer he could see that the little man at the bottom had a bucket with him. Then his eye got drawn to the clock at the upper right hand corner. He only had 32 seconds left!
Finally he realized what was going on, and he quickly moved his hand to the arrow keys. He had played this game before, but it was so long ago. He knew the objective, but his lack of skill would be the problem here. If only he had more time! He knew he couldn't afford to make a mistake, because he didn't think the person behind this thing would have given him multiple lives.
He carefully maneuvered the man (he tried desperately NOT to think of it as Larry) to the top, trying to avoid the floating blackboards. His nerves were getting the upper hand of him, and he felt his hands shaking.
"Easy, Charlie… Slow down" he heard Don say, placing a hand on his shoulder.
This helped him steady his nerves a bit, and with one eye on the clock 'only 7 seconds left!' he moved the little figure further to the top. He knew he was going too slow 'only 6 seconds left!', but he couldn't go faster or he'd bump into the blackboards. '5 seconds left!' he passed another row of blackboards and avoided getting hit by another row by a hair '4 seconds!' He now knew that he had to take risks in order to get at the top in time '3 seconds left..' and with that he took the last obstacles '2 seconds left' and finally got to the top. With one second left, he had finished the game.
The screen flickered again, and there appeared another error message box, like the ones Charlie had seen before.
"Congratulations dr Eppes! It seems that professor Fleinhardt gets to keep his project! Let's see who you will save next time." The message said and after a couple of seconds it disappeared.
Charlie turned around to face Don. Both their faces were pale and neither one knew what to say for a moment. Then they suddenly spoke out the same time: "Next time?"