Free Existence by James Frey Page B

race.
    Machines are better. Machines are rational, trustworthy, easily controlled. Everything in cyberspace is smooth and comprehensible—everything except for the fact that An Liu’s mother is invisible, unfindable, even by someone with An Liu’s unlimited powers.
    This, An Liu cannot comprehend.
    And there’s something else: someone is blinkSHIVERblink watching him. There’s no concrete evidence at first, just a sense he has, that someone is tracking his digital footprint. It should be impossible; he moves untraceably through the cyber world. He’s a ghost in the machine, and yet . . .
    And yet there are traces of another. Tiny bread crumbs left behind, almost as if this shadow wants An to notice him, as if the predator yearns to become the prey.
    Then, one day, the impossible happens: despite the security protocols on An Liu’s system, despite layers and layers of unbreakable firewalls, despite some of the best encryption in the world, the stranger breaks through, and a message in English pops up on An’s screen, uninvited, unwelcome.
    It blinks red, waiting for a response.
    12GOLDENGATE12: GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS, FRIEND. WANT TO PLAY?
    An doesn’t want to blinkSHIVER “play,” whatever that means. He doesn’t blinkblink want to be noticed, or watched, or tracked. He certainly shiverBLINK doesn’t want a friend.
    But 12goldengate12 is persistent.
    12GOLDENGATE12: I’M NOT YOUR ENEMY.
    An ignores him that day and the next.
    12GOLDENGATE12: I CAN BE YOUR ENEMY, IF YOU’D RATHER.
    He tries to trace his IP, find this annoying bug and squash it, but12goldengate12 is the best he’s ever seen, as good, almost, as An himself. The signal is bounced across 12 satellites, ping-ponging back and forth across the world—An is, finally, able trace its origin to the west coast of North America, but that tells him nothing he couldn’t have guessed from the username itself.
    It doesn’t tell him how to find and eliminate this pest.
    Or what the pest might want from him.
    And blinkblinkblink as the days pass, An finds himself getting curious. His uncles and his father haven’t spoken to him in weeks. They deliver his food to him in silence. It’s a relief, this temporary respite from pain and torture—but it’s a strange silence to live in. Sometimes An wonders if he’s gone invisible. If he blink died blink after all, and is shiver doomed BLINK to haunt his father for all his days.
    It’s easy to imagine he doesn’t exist—except that 12goldengate12 knows An Liu is there, and wants an answer.
    After one week, An finally gives it to him.
    LAMORT377: WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?
    12GOLDENGATE12: A FRIEND
    12GOLDENGATE12: I COULD BE A FRIEND, AT LEAST
    12GOLDENGATE12: DO YOU WANT A FRIEND?
    This is a question An Liu has never asked himself.
    LAMORT377: WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND?
    12GOLDENGATE12: DUDE I’VE BEEN WATCHING YOUR WORK. IT’S SOME NEXT LEVEL SHIT. NOT MANY PEOPLE OUT THERE CAN KEEP UP WITH ME. BUT YOU’RE ALMOST THERE. I CAN TELL YOU’RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE, THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT SOME HELP.
    It disconcerts An to think that the stranger has traced his steps well enough to figure out that he’s searching for someone. What else does this interloper know? And how dangerous is it to have him out there, knowing it?
    On the other hand, he appreciates that the stranger is impressed with him. Even if he’s clearly not impressed enough.
    LAMORT377: YOU’RE SUGGESTING YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME? THAT I COULDLEARN FROM YOU?
    12GOLDENGATE12: FOR A GENIUS YOU’RE KIND OF SLOW. YEAH, DUDE, I’M SUGGESTING THAT. I’M THE BEST. SO I MUST BE BETTER THAN YOU. THAT’S JUST LOGIC
    LAMORT377: PROVE IT
    With that, An Liu shuts down his system. The stranger is galling, enraging—but blinkblinkSHIVER this is the first shiver tic- blink- free conversation he’s had with someone since