Background music suggestion: Okko: Out in the Dark
Chapter 4: ...Go!
...
The van was a rented white Toyota Hiace.
"I wonder how many hackers you could fit in this. Because there are now four of us...and I'd say we could easily fit a dozen more," Orfeus said.
Mitsuko grinned. She liked him. He was definitely the comic relief. They were sitting in the front seats. Gudrun and Vanya were riding in the back.
"Are you nervous?" Orfeus asked, more serious now.
"I am," she said.
"No need to be. I mean...You don't have to be," he said.
"Just don't be."
"Okay. I won't. If you say so."
"So I guess this is it then. Day one of MoGaCon," Vanya said looking the passing streets of Oslo through darkened windows.
"Yes," Gudrun, Malin that is, said. They had all shared their real names after the arrival. Orfeus was Ernesto. Vanya had naturally shared his name too. He found Gudrun/Malin somehow very professional and also a little cynical.
"Are you nervous?" he asked.
"I'm trying to avoid the feeling. I just don't think it would be beneficial," Gudrun said.
He just nodded in reply. She definitely had sounded professional and he most certainly didn't feel like that. It was actually only his second time he had traveled outside Belarus. It had been quite a long journey from Minsk to that van that morning. And mentally even longer. A lot of it had to do with him watching an eighties movie "War Games" as a child. In hindsight that day had changed the course of his life. His father had been a state official and he had bought him a computer after he had begged for it for almost a year. And what then had followed had been his mother's death, his father's alcoholism and he himself escaping deeper and deeper into the world of conspiracies. And now he was an Agent of Metal, a rookie agent at least.
They parked at a street close by the venue and Vanya and Gudrun jumped out of the car. There had not been a reason to alter their looks that much as they were unknown to SCEPTRE. Vanya wore blue jeans instead of the black ones he usually used, a worn t-shirt and a grey hoodie. His shoulder-length hair was tied to a short ponytail which was also unlike his usual style. Gudrun had a tunic with a floral pattern and leggings. Vanya had a backpack and Gudrun a shoulder bag where they had their laptops. It wouldn't be an unusual sight to sit with one at the conference.
...
Jo was driving the Kia Picanto.
"They're still kids, you know," Erik said from the backseat.
"You mean Mitsuko and the others? Ian asked.
"You're right. But remember that not long ago we were junior Agents," Jo pointed out.
"Let's just try to keep this mission strictly recon. And today let's try to keep it even more that. Maybe tomorrow we can dig deeper," Erik said.
MoGaCon would last two days. The first day would end in a party and the following day the conference would continue at noon.
They parked the car not far from the venue. They checked the gear once more. The glasses were also recording and sending audio. In order to communicate they used hands-free devices that used their own radio system. They assumed all the phone and internet traffic would monitored by SCEPTRE.
Inside there was already a long line to the registration counter. Many of the people standing in the sidelines were obviously security staff.
Finally, inside the hall they joined another line that was for the refreshments. There was a barista behind the counter.
"A soy latte, please," Jo requested.
"I'll have the same, " Ian said.
"One for me too," Erik followed.
They took their drinks in the paper mugs and chose a place close to the front. They noticed Gudrun was sitting right in the back and Vanya close to one of the exits. None of the three actually drank their lattes. Suddenly the lights went completely out and the side walls begin to lit up with white pixel rain.
"WELCOME…" a low echoing low voice filled the hall. A catwalk from the back of the hall lead to the speaker's podium in the middle. They could see someone walking on it in the darkness.
"...TO…
The room was slowly filled with smoke followed by red laser beams. A booming beat also appeared to the background.
"...MOGACON 2014!"
Suddenly there was a spotlight lighting the person that had walked to the stage. It was the CEO of the hosting company NV, Tyr Nielsen. He was a fortyish sleek man in skinny jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was cut short but he had a similar beard than Ian.
"Welcome. It is an honor to have you here," he said with a slight accent.
There was a map of the world projected to the large screen behind him. The screen was actually made of mist. There were dots appearing all over the map.
"Today is all about you. Thank you for joining us from all around the world."
The CEO was exactly as was expected. Energetic, youthful, yet casual.
"Let me ask the lead designer of Match11, Loke Magnusson, to the stage," Nielsen said after some initial greetings.
Another sleek man in skinny jeans and a t-shirt walked down the catwalk, in long deliberate steps. His clothes were black. Also his trimmed beard was black, as was his hair. He was clearly older, possibly closer fifty.
"Loke, they're all yours," Tyr Nielsen grinned and walked away, leaving his colleague alone on the stage.
Mr. Magnusson just stood there calmly looking at the audience. It looked almost as if he was counting the people in the room as his eyes carefully roamed the rows. Jo felt that it stopped uncomfortable long when he looked at their direction.
"Let me tell you about Match11," Mr. Magnusson finally said. His voice was very controlled. After the first sentence there was a long silence and he kept staring at the audience, unfazed. He was obviously in no hurry. Then he slowly put the palms of his hands together, his index fingers touching his lips, like he was meditating. Then he raised his head slightly and lowered his hands so that the fingers were now touching his chin.
"What's the goal?"
Another long silence. More staring.
"Release some dopamine in the brain. Make people feel a bit better."
Some more silence. Even more staring.
"But that's not the goal."
He took one step forward.
"The perfect game is the goal."
After the initial creepiness, his talk turned out quite normal. He told the story of how he had been asked to do a sequel to the very successful game Match9 and how his great vision had been to skip the number ten entirely and continue with number eleven.
The talks that followed were exactly what one would expect at a Mobile Games Conference.
"Have you guys noticed anything we haven't?" Ian asked from Mitsuko and Orfeus as the day's program was drawing to an end.
"Haven't noticed anything exceptional from our point of view," Mitsuko said.
"Me neither," Orfeus said.
"Okay. So everything seems…normal. Too normal," Ian sighed.
After the official program the party commenced.
"Let's just keep our eyes and ears open. Perhaps we'll still find out something," Jo said.
...