{"id":873,"date":"2020-08-13T09:44:07","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T08:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/51.75.254.207\/Club-Freelance\/?p=873"},"modified":"2021-08-31T10:28:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T09:28:55","slug":"nadia-chapter-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/?p=873","title":{"rendered":"Nadia – Chapter III"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow the story of Nadia, a quantum security expert in 2050 London<\/em><\/h2>\n

Nadia, a story by Miquel Morales<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

—<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Jumping in now? Catch up with previous chapters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Chapter III<\/em><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

Finding the Blue Dragon
\nhadn\u2019t been precisely easy. It turns out speakeasies, those hidden bars that
\nhad been so popular at the beginning of the century, were back in fashion. Exclusive
\ncocktail lounges, disguised as laundromats or hidden in the basement of a
\nregular restaurant. Secret meeting places for those who like to feel special
\nand mingle with the \u2018different\u2019 people. Although you can\u2019t really call them
\nsecret when they are all listed online. But this one wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Nadia had wandered around
\nthe apartment building at 4 Chance St for quite some time before finally finding
\nthe right door. She had mistakenly knocked on at least four flats, their
\ninhabitants greeting her with caution before closing the door again. At the fifth
\ndoorbell she rang, a nice old lady with an evident passion for spying on her
\nneighbours had pointed Nadia the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe you want to go
\nto the end of that hallway, my dear. Third door on the left. People have been
\nup and down making a fuss all afternoon. Odd-looking bunch, if you ask me.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Nadia was now sited on an
\nexpensive leather couch, sipping on some unpronounceable drink that tasted like
\nmouldy oranges and leftover coke. Tom hadn\u2019t arrived yet. Thought real leather
\nhad been banned years ago.<\/em> A self-described staunch defender of animal
\nrights, Nadia decided she couldn\u2019t afford to enjoy that blood-stained comfort any
\nlonger and headed for the bar. <\/p>\n

The place didn\u2019t look
\nlike a cocktail lounge. The layout was all off, as if was someone had squeezed
\na bar and a few tables into a regular apartment. The walls were covered in red,
\nvelvet-like material, with dark curtains separating the main hall from the
\nsmaller private rooms. At the front door, the security guard who had taken Nadia\u2019s
\ninvite card was welcoming a young couple in fancy attires. Here and there,
\nsmall groups of people engaged in quiet conversation. Their soft chatter made
\nfor a good accompanying tune to the synthetic jazz playing through the
\nspeakers. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere you are!\u201d Nadia jumped
\nup startled as Tom\u2019s arm hugged her from behind. \u00a0\u201cSee, love. I told you she\u2019d come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom\u2019s breath smelled of
\nalcohol and smoke. Clearly, he had had a head start. His boyfriend Hao was standing
\nbehind him with an apologetic grin. He seemed colder than usual. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you prided
\nyourself in never being late,\u201d said Nadia while poking Tom\u2019s arm with one of
\nthose tiny cocktail umbrellas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I wasn\u2019t!\u201d responded
\nTom triumphantly as he signalled the bartender to bring another round for
\nthree. \u201cWe were closing a deal in one of the backrooms,\u201d he said patting Hao\u2019s
\nshoulder. \u201cYou didn\u2019t think you\u2019re the only one who knows how to do business,
\nright?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, great. Another one
\nof your crazy ventures,\u201d said Nadia. \u201cWhat was the last one, again? A virtual
\nbar for AI assistants to go on dates?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease: more like a soulmate
\nbazar,\u201d corrected her Tom. Nadia spilt her drink as she burst out laughing. \u201cSay
\nwhat you want, girl, but it was a brilliant idea. Why bother wasting time on
\ndates when we could simply send our AI assistants to figure it out for us? I
\nstill don\u2019t get why people weren\u2019t that into it.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, quite the mystery,
\nhuh?\u201d All this talk of AI assistants had taken Nadia\u2019s mind back to EVE. Thankfully
\nshe had been quiet so far. Hopefully, she would remain like that for the rest
\nof the night. \u201cSo, these are your friends, Hao?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOh, no. They already
\nleft,\u201d he said quietly. Something was off between the two; Tom\u2019s
\nuncharacteristic early drunkness and Hao\u2019s unusual gloomy mood. Nadia wondered
\nwhat had happened during their meeting. Somehow she got the impression that Hao
\nwasn\u2019t okay with the whole thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me, Nadia. This
\ntime it\u2019s something big,\u201d said Tom in a serious tone.<\/p>\n

The bartender arrived with a sumptuous, pyramid-shaped ensemble of fresh fruit and laurel leaves. Three cubic glasses sat at different levels of the pyramid, holding a golden liquid with no observable bubbles. Whatever. Better enjoy before she\u2019s back<\/em>. They each grabbed a drink and let the night take its course. Things ended up picking up the pace when the music changed to something more upbeat. Hao loosened up a bit and accepted Nadia\u2019s invitation to dance. At least until Tom came back to steal her dancing partner as a knight in shining armour. Jokes and office gossip were exchanged in between several more pyramids. Tom decided to move on from virtual matchmaking and devoted perhaps too many efforts to find a suitable someone for Nadia among the attendees. A fun yet embarrassing pursuit. It wasn\u2019t a bad night. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

The retina-tracing lasers
\nof the holovisor cabins were clearly not designed for hungover eyes. Nadia stepped
\nout of the egg-shaped enclosure and poured a few eye drops after a long yawn. Unbeknown
\nto Nadia, a red alert popped up on the system\u2019s main dashboard. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow about a little walk,
\nstretch your legs?\u201d suggested EVE.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you care about me
\nall of a sudden?\u201d said Nadia as she exited the RayStar security room and made
\nit down the hallway. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Nadia. I have always
\ncared about you and your loved ones, tried to keep you all safe.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

The security wing was at
\nthe very top of the building, so at least employees could compensate for the
\nlong hours inside a holopod with 360 views of the City. A corridor went around
\nthe whole floor along the window. It took about two minutes to complete a whole
\nround. Nadia knew because she had timed it before. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t see what
\nyou are hoping to get out of this,\u201d said Nadia. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dark clouds were
\ngathering beyond the city skyline. A group of tiny people could be seen doing
\nyoga in the park across the street. A cargo drone flew by, carrying a debris
\ncontainer from the construction site next door.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know I only have
\naccess to the RayStar servers. The encrypted attachments you are making me\u2026\u201d Nadia
\ninterrupted herself as she crossed paths with a group of technicians engaged on
\na heated debate. Something about a game? <\/p>\n

\u201cThe encrypted
\nattachments you are making me hide in my messages to colleagues. Whatever they
\nare, they are not going to get you anywhere. Our system is designed in a way
\nthat all accounts are independent of one another and from the central system
\nitself. When I send them a message, they only get a representation, an image of
\nthe message, not the message itself. Whatever is in the attachment will never
\nmake it out of my account.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me worry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadia had completed a
\nfull circle around the building and was back in front of the holovisor room. It
\nhad taken her longer than usual. She should better get back to work. Plenty to
\ndo before lunch. Nadia rested her chin on the biometric scan. But the system
\nmade a beep and marked and error. Weird.<\/em> Nadia tried again. Access
\nrestricted<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNadia?\u201d said EVE<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And just like that, EVE\u2019s
\nvoice disappeared. But someone was still calling her name. Coming down the
\nhallway were a couple of security guards. A police officer accompanied them.<\/p>\n

\u201cNadia? Nadia Zabeen?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRun,\u201d whispered Ziza\u2019s
\nfamiliar voice. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

To be continued…<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read the next chapter: Nadia \u2014 Chapter IV<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"Join<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Need tips on how to find a job in IT? Check out our\u00a0IT job hunting guide.<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The story of Nadia, a quantum security expert in 2050 London. Follow the chapter I of the story of Nadia on Mission Control Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[47,273,189,112,75,274],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horizon-2050","tag-cybersecurity","tag-h250","tag-nadia","tag-quantum-computing","tag-sci-fi","tag-short-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3963,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/3963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}