Leonard Woke in a Silent Room
Leonard woke in a silent room, under white sheets.
He had a headache. He rubbed his eyes, and reached for his water. It was further than he expected, the cold glass brushing against his finger tips. He picked it up, and sat up; and then he realised that he had no idea where he was.
He was wearing light trousers and a shirt; not exactly pyjamas, but not exactly clothes, either. The room was plain: simple furniture, blank walls.
On the bedside table was a document folder. He picked it up, because there was nothing else to do.
Within was a complicated mathematical problem. It was described poorly, like it had been written by someone with no understanding of the underlying complexities. He scanned it, and then looked at the rest of the room.
What he had thought was a curtained window was just a light. There was no door. He was in a sealed box.
He got out of bed, alarmed.
On the other side of the tiny room was a chair and a desk. On the desk there was a computer; pads of paper and pencils; and a pile of pink sticky notes. He booted up the computer. It had some custom operating system, and the only software available was a maths app and a thing for taking notes. He looked under the desk; there was no power cables. The computer was powered by batteries or magic.
He sat back in the chair. It was surprisingly comfortable.
I have one option, he thought. I have a problem to solve, and maybe that's a way to get out. What am I doing here?
He looked at the folder again. It was a cryptography problem, something he understood. If it was broken, someone would be able to read encrypted data that they weren't supposed to.
Wait a moment. Who am I? How do I understand cryptography problems?
He remembered being on a train. Or was it a plane? Sitting in a chair, the hull rattling around him... Then, nothing.
I have no other options, he thought. This is not a request. It's a demand.
The problem was interesting. It could be broken down into two separate parts: one was fairly easy and could be solved by a grad student, but the other was hard. He flicked back to the front page again; there was a paragraph he'd skimmed over without reading.
Want some help? it said. Write it on a note and push it into the post box.
He picked up a pen, and described the first, simpler problem on a pink sticky note. Then he got up and found a slot in the white wall labelled 'post', and he pushed the note into it.
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Leonard woke in a silent room, under white sheets.
The glass of water that he reached for was further than he expected. He sat up, and wondered where he was.
On the bedside table was a document folder. On the top was a pink sticky note. He lifted it up, and he read the instructions. Then he opened the folder and read what was inside.
He understood the contents of the folder: it was some sort of cryptography problem. The pink note described a part of it; not a very interesting part, the sort he would give to a grad student.
But the interesting part was that the pink note was in his handwriting.
He frowned at that. Why had he written that note? It must be important, otherwise he wouldn't have done that.
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Tevun-Krus #106 - Best of '22
Science FictionWelcome to the very first Best Of issue for Tevun-Krus, Vol. 2! It's the BEST OF '22!
