Benedict’s shaking.  He didn’t know what to say.  He was saving himself, but instead he dug himself deeper into his own grave.

“I think I made a mistake.”

“You think?!” scowled the mistaken manager.

“I will not have any shouting in my room, Roger.”  The CEO has been quiet the whole time, but when he speaks, he commands authority.

“So will someone tell me what just happened here in my office, that required me to talk to the Head of Security – something a person of my stature wouldn’t normally do.”

“Mr. Deogracia here accused me of being a hacker just because a bot was running in two of my systems.”

“Judging from the extent of reach this hacker has in our servers, bugging one of our laptops is a walk-in-the-park, am I right Benedict?”

“Yes, sir.”  All the accuser can do is to look down in shame.  He has never been humiliated in his life.  Here he was thinking this could be his big break.

“Roger – do you think Balthazar is… old man Val?”

“Nelson, I’m positive that Val is not the hacker here.”

“And where is this assurance coming from?”

“From the hospital of St.Luke, sir.  I just went there for a visit last weekend.  And just as he was 6 months ago, he is still in coma.”

“I see…  So do you have any clue who might be using Val’s call sign then?”

“No idea but we have a list we can cross-reference for investigation.”

“Let’s do that then.  And with haste, if you may.  The shareholders are very unhappy with declining subscriptions since last month.”

“Will do, sir.”

“What about your programmer here, Rog?  Are you going to fire him?”

“No, he will help in the investigation.  Besides, he knew Balthazar and Melqiorra from in-game and kept their chat logs with him.”

“Right.  You are very compassionate – a very good trait for a manager.  I would hate to see you go.”

“Oh don’t.  Don’t get me wrong.  He’ll just help me get to the bottom of this.  Then I’ll fire him afterwards.  For conspiring and profiteering.”

“Very well.  Start your investigation while I pay old man Val a visit.”

Excerpts from the Chronicles of the First Generation
November 3, 2014
Global Stratum, Office of the CEO