Brian Saves the World, Maybe

Chapter 20 - Sorry, Brian

Brian woke up with a start, disoriented, quickly shoving the dome off his head.

Dale looked up from his phone. "Good morning, Sunshine."

Brian tried to remember where he was, and what he had been doing. He soon realized he was in his living room, but why was he in... a salon chair? And why was Dale there?

You were in the Gateway program, Brian.

Dale raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

Brian started to recall carrying the chair from Dale's van to his living room, and memories of the Observatory gradually returned. It felt as though he were trying to recall events that had happened in the distant past. "Something... went wrong," he said.

"Wrong, how?"

"I was just about to find out... something."

"What?"

"I have to go back." Brian pulled the dome back down. The phone made contact with his ear, but nothing happened. He raised and lowered the dome, but it still wasn't working.

"What's going on?" Dale had stood up. He looked perturbed.

Brian told him what happened.

Dale frowned. "Maybe the batteries drained."

"Does this thing even have batteries?"

"It's got to," Dale said. I'll take it home tonight and have a look inside."

* * *

Brian sat at his desk, working on Thor. He was thinking about what had happened in the Observatory. If there was another Observer at Talon, he needed to know who it was, and there was no telling how long it would take to get that phone working again.

Maybe I was just seeing Jessica, Brian thought, as he emptied Thor's dust tray.

Unlikely. You said her chip had been disabled, right?

Yeah, good point.

Brian frowned. He opened a desk drawer, revealing the smart glasses. He hadn't used them since getting pulled over by Officer Watkins.

TV, did you ever figure out how to upgrade these things so I can see Observers?

Yes, I just need you to type some code into your computer so we can upload it to the glasses.

* * *

It took most of the morning, but Brian finally finished transcribing the information TV dictated, and followed TV's instructions to install the software on the glasses.

He put the glasses on. Okay, time to test these.

Look in the mirror.

Huh? I wasn't thinking it would work on me.

It should. I programmed the glasses to detect all Observer-like signals. It doesn't matter if the chip is registered with the Borae or not.

Brian walked to the men's room and looked in the mirror. He was surrounded by a bright, pink aura.

"I'm pink," he said, aloud.

A man stepped out of one of the stalls, giving him a funny look.

Perhaps I can adjust the color. We will need to alter the source code and reinstall.

He grimaced at the thought of more typing. Nah, this will work.

* * *

Brian sat in the break room, wearing the glasses while eating lunch. He hadn't come across any Observers yet. Several people had already been scratched off his suspect list. Jack Martin was the first. Brian had made a point to walk by his office. Jack was many things, but an Observer apparently wasn't one of them.

He had also stopped by HR, and they were all clean. Ditto Ralph, Phil, and Jessica (TV was right - no aura). That covered just about everyone he knew well at Talon - except Dale.

Brian paused mid-bite. Dale. What if he were an Observer?

Dale was one of only a few people who knew what was going on. If he turned out to be an Observer, Brian was toast.

You said the red dot was in the Talon parking lot. Wasn't Dale with you at the time?

Yes, but I have no idea how that tech works. It might have been a delayed feed.

That is possible.

For the rest of lunch break, Brian waited to see if Dale would show, but he never did.

Crap.

As he walked back to his office, more suspicious thoughts were swirling.
Dale has the red phone, too. Crap, crap, crap.

He texted Dale:

"Hey, how did it go with the phone?"

Brian could see that Dale had read the message. After a few seconds, Brian saw the symbol indicating Dale was typing something, but then the symbol went away, and nothing came through.

A few minutes later, his phone vibrated.

It was Dale:

"Meet me at the van."

* * *

Brian took a moment to adjust the smart glasses on his nose, then scanned the parking lot for Dale's van. It wasn't in its usual space. Then he spotted it. It was all the way down at the other end of the lot. There were no other vehicles near it.

He had hoped there might be a way to sort of hide behind another vehicle and get a glimpse of Dale before Dale saw him, but that wouldn't be possible. And worse, the driver's side wasn't even facing Brian.

Why had Dale parked way over there?

Maybe he is concerned his vehicle will be damaged by others opening their car doors.

Starting today? Right.

Brian began approaching the van.

What would he do if Dale indeed turned out to be an Observer? [50 yards away]

If they got in a fight, would Brian stand a chance? [30 yards]

Doubtful.

Thanks for the encouragement. [10 yards]

After a few more paces, Brian stopped. He tried to peer through the passenger window, but Dale's van had tinted windows, so it was no use.

The passenger window lowered a couple inches. "Come on. Hurry up."

Brian still couldn't see inside.

He decided to approach the passenger side, rather than go around the vehicle.

When just a few feet away, he stopped again. "What's up Dale?" he croaked.

"Come closer."

Brian shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Can you just lower the window some more?"

"Brian, you need to be closer."

Swallowing, he took a few more steps toward the van.

There was a clicking sound.

"I'm sorry, Brian."