“This is for you.”

Andrew slowly looked up to see Ms. Rolf, a woman in her late fifties with a sharp angular face, thin lips, long flowing black hair with streaks of grey nestled within, and large brown eyes stained with the light pink of someone who had just been crying.

She stared into his eyes for a long moment before putting a warm and delicate hand on his cheek. Her solid black dress matched the black cap she wore perfectly. It was a sight that Andrew wished he never saw… It made him feel extra uncomfortable in his black suit.

“Andrew…”

He felt something like paper touch his hand. He looked down to see a cream-colored envelope pressing into it.

“Sorry, Ms. Rolf… I, I must have zoned out.”

She smiled weakly and, with one final effort, pushed the envelope into Andrew’s hand until he had a firm grasp on it. He could feel her hand trembling slightly.

“Vladimir wanted you to have this. His will instructed us to give it to you.”

He looked down at the envelope, which had a heavy crease due to Ms. Rolf forcing it into his hand. Lifting it up, he felt a small weight inside of it. What could Vladimir have possibly left him?

“Thank you, Andrew, for being such a good friend to Vladimir. I remember when you two first met at pre-school, and all those playdates…”

Ms. Rolf began to cry. Tears streamed down her puffy red cheeks and splashed onto the white marble floor beneath them. Andrew stepped in and hugged her tightly. Memories of him and Vladimir flashed in his mind as he hugged the woman he considered his second mother.

After a few moments, they separated. She patted Andrew’s cheek gingerly and gave him one last somber smile before turning around and walking towards another circle of people. Andrew couldn’t help but admire Ms. Rolf’s incredible strength. He couldn’t even imagine the pain and grief one felt attending their own child’s funeral.

Andrew clenched the envelope in his hand.

“Damn it, Vlad… damn it.” The world, as big as it was, became a lot more lonely for him.

His one and only friend… gone.

___________

Andrew’s car’s headlights illuminated a large garage door. Dozens of small red lights poured out of a sensor above the garage door and passed over the crimson vehicle. After a few seconds, the red lights pulsed a solid green, and the garage door began to open.

He stepped out of his car and closed the door behind him. He watched his car pull into the garage and park itself inside. A small black cable hanging from the ceiling lowered itself next to the car’s right rear tire. The cable stopped descending and a small panel on the car slowly opened, revealing a charge port. As soon as the panel cleared more than halfway open, the cable leaped towards the port and attached to it. The black cable dangling from the ceiling began to pulse with soft green lights, indicating that the car was charging.

No matter how many times Andrew saw this, he still couldn’t get over how cool it was. A dozen years ago, he read science fiction books describing what he just saw, and it blew his mind that a lot of the things he read in those books were becoming a reality.

Turning on his heels, he began walking up the stone pathway leading to the front of his ultra-modern home. His peers always made fun of him for owning a house at the ripe age of twenty-six, which baffled him. Most people these days were living in small apartments to try and live a more minimalistic life. Well, that’s what they would try and sell it as, but in reality, it’s because most people weren’t working full-time jobs. Why? Because they were spending most of their time in the Splicer. The only things people cared about these days were food, sleep, and Final Conquest.

Andrew bought this house simply because he liked it. The house was newly built and looked incredibly sleek and modern compared to the other houses down the street. Although living in a four thousand square foot house by himself was rather lonely, he appreciated the good architecture.

After walking up a small set of stairs, Andrew found himself standing in front of a solid black door with a thin sliver of glass no wider than his thumb spanning the length of the door. He placed his hand on the silver doorknob and after a moment there was a soft click. Andrew pushed the door open revealing a beautiful foyer with a chandelier in the shape of a sphere made by dozens of rod-like light bulbs.

“Samantha, set the house to privacy mode please.” A woman’s calm and robotic voice projected through the house’s speakers. “Of course, Andrew. I also received your text message and made sure to prepare dinner for you. It’s waiting in the dining room.”

“Perfect, thank you, Samantha.”

The house’s windows flickered from clear transparency to a smokey grey, not allowing anyone to see through them.

Andrew ripped off his tie and threw it onto a nearby counter as he worked his way toward the dining room. He pressed his pant pocket and sighed as he felt the outline of the envelope he received from Vladimir’s mother. What could Vladimir have possibly left him? Vladimir didn’t keep much. The only things he owned he had with him at his office – and that still wasn’t much. He lived to work, and by a cruel fate, that’s what ended up killing him.

A day after speaking with the woman on the phone about Vladimir’s death, they informed him that they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary on the security tapes. Vladimir was plucking away at his keyboard and then suddenly collapsed. The medical personnel concluded that fatigue had caught up with him.

Even though that was the report, it still didn’t quite make sense to him. Andrew knew Vladimir more than anyone else. Vladimir wasn’t the type of person to work himself to exhaustion like that, especially after what happened to Andrew’s mother. Vladimir knew it didn’t make sense for him to work his body to the bone and produce poor results because his mind and body were tired. No one benefitted from the crunch.

Andrew rounded a corner and found himself in the dining room with a large grey table and matching chairs. At the head of the table was a plate of spaghetti with small wisps of steam rising from it. Silverware and a cup filled with water sat next to the plate of spaghetti.

“Samantha, could you bring my laptop to the dining room, please?”

“Of course.”

A moment later a panel on the table raised, revealing a small pedestal underneath it. The pedestal slowly raised, revealing a silver laptop. Andrew grabbed the laptop and took a seat at the head of the table. The pedestal silently sank back into the table while Andrew worked on his dinner. He had to eat dinner quickly and finish some work at home that he couldn’t get to at the office. At least he had work to keep his mind off of Vladimir for a bit... though, he knew he should check what Vladimir had left him first.

Andrew chased down his last bite with the last bit of water in his cup. He dug into his pocket and produced the cream-colored envelope. Whatever was in it, it was important enough for Vladimir to leave it to him. He never envisioned Vladimir being the type of person to leave people things in a will, which in turn made him even more curious as to what was inside.

He tore open the envelope and tipped it to the side. A small silver rectangular box no bigger than his index finger slid out of the envelope and clattered on the table. There were no markings or indications as to what it was. What on Earth had Vladimir given him?

Andrew placed a finger on the box, which suddenly began to pulse with a red light. It flickered to green and a silver USB prong slid out of one end of the box. He couldn’t help but laugh.

“A USB drive?”

USB drives were hard to find since being discontinued years ago. Still, this was a clear sign that this was from Vladimir, who tended to like old school tech. This had to be a custom piece because the identification software installed on it was fairly modern. The identification software worked off of one’s DNA. If someone else other than Andrew had touched it, the USB would have more than likely remained locked. And if someone tried to force it open, the data would delete itself.

Having this software installed on the USB in itself raised a few questions: What kind of information was on this device that warranted extra security? How long has Vladimir had this – and why was he only now getting it?

Andrew chuckled as he picked up the USB and gave it a closer examination. He then turned his attention to his laptop which sat next to his empty plate. He picked it up and set it down with the laptop’s ports facing him. There, facing him, was a USB port. Andrew’s face started to turn pale upon realizing something.

Close to a year ago Vladamir insisted on Andrew getting a USB port installed on his laptop. Andrew refused, saying that he had no use for it since USB’s didn’t exist anymore, and nothing he used required it. After some childish back and forth conversations, Andrew finally caved and got it installed. Did Vladimir, all that time ago, have him install the port for the device now in his possession?

Barking a laugh, Andrew inserted the USB device into his laptop. Vladimir was smart, but not this smart. This is just a huge coincidence – that’s all.

A notification instantly displayed on his laptop’s screen asking if he wanted to download a program. He clicked ‘yes’ and a progress bar appeared on the screen. The program must have been small because it finished downloading instantly. The progress bar winked away revealing a program named Vladimir’s Will.

Andrew hesitated before placing his cursor on the program and opening it. A black box appeared on the screen with a blinking cursor. A small script with white text scrolled quickly in the black box and then the entire box disappeared. A moment later another black box appeared, but this time it had a green text script scroll across it. The text faded leaving a single sentence bolded and underlined.

Body Gear is in danger.