Back to: Byte Betrayal – A Jenks Adventure

Fractured bonds

The door shut behind him.

And it was over.

Jenks looked around for Emily; the hall was empty. At one end, the sun streamed in through the faculty’s stained-glass window. All the colours of the rainbow gleefully scattered across the floor. Jenks turned his back on the glistening colours of the light and slouched his way to the gloomy stairwell.

The last… Jenks checked the time on his phone… four hours… had felt all too short, and all too long. Jenks thumbed out a text to Emily, ‘U @ home?’

Send.

The voices of the faculty members hummed in his ears. He caught the odd word again, felt its barb, its pain, afresh. He’d tried to get them to see, to understand, to grasp the whole picture. Sometimes he felt they’d come with him, and then seconds later it was like the tide had gone out.

‘Courtyard, by our apple tree,’ came back the text.

Jenks paused by the handrail at the top of the stairs and looked back to the stained-glass window. The intense colours started to fade and dissipate… Jenks huffed to himself, pursed his lips, and then trudged downwards.

He knew what Emily would want to know, what had they asked him? And rightly, he couldn’t say, except the Dean kept saying, ‘Now here’s a simple question…’

But simple questions don’t need simple answers; things are nuanced. They need context. ‘And what did you say?’ she’ll quiz him.

Like he needs another four hours of interrogation. And what had he said? ‘No. No I am not a cheat. No, I didn’t steal others’ work. No. I’m not a liar.’

That’s the core of it all, sure there were lots of variations of those. And his attempts to show them… but with three (or was it five) of them firing off questions constantly, never really listening to his answers, cutting across each other. Had he really ever got into his stride?

The gloom of the base of the stairwell sucked Jenks in. He looked down another deserted, now dark, corridor. And then to the double doors, out. Jenks chewed on the decision. Then, letting out yet another sigh, Jenks slapped at the doors. With a loud clunk they relinquished their command of the outside; and let the light flood in on him.

*                                  *                                    *

In the courtyard, Emily had reconstituted a facsimile of their first date picnic. Just some simple fare, a slab of cheese, an overly crunchy baguette, some grapes, own-brand tortilla crisps, a pack of dips, and the cheapest carton of wine money could buy. She’d even liberated a couple of cups from the water cooler. Emily’s final flourish was the shiny red apple. On their original date, Jenks had shinned up the tree to get her the best one off the top. The poor thing had twisted and bent under Jenks’s weight, and then, in revenge, thwumped him onto the ground. He took risks, she loved him for that, but she’d been scared when he didn’t move after his graceless fall from the apple tree. She’d shed a tear over him – only for the ungrateful arse to start laughing at her as he offered up her prize. A somewhat bruised red apple.

‘That for me?’

Emily swung around to see Jenks, and cleared a half tear from the corner of her eye. ‘I got… guessed you would too… so I…’

Jenks follopped onto the bench. He pulled on, what he felt passed for, a smile. One of thanks. But his eyes screamed of his exhaustion. Emily unscrewed the carton of wine and poured Jenks a wobbly cup full. Without a word, she passed it to him. He tried to take it with some grace, but its thin walls made its contents bob up and down like the waves on a stormy sea, as Jenks struggled to contain it all. Emily took a sip of her own wine and watched him intently. Jenks flicked away the excess of his wine waves that had spilled on to his fingers.

Across the other side of the courtyard, a couple of students came in chatting noisily. Their chat was all about the new tech labs being sponsored by Hathaway’s company. They fizzed with excitement, their steps bounced with the possibilities, their laughs accentuated their glee. Until they saw Jenks.

It was like witnessing a balloon pop with the sound off. Eyes jabbed accusingly at Jenks, the lack of noise sucked the thrill out of them, and their feet fell heavily on the path. Jenks wearily waved an acknowledgment to them. Their snarls of disapproval leaped across the space at him. He expected to flinch… but this time he didn’t… this time he felt nothing.

‘FUCK OFF!!’ came the scream from Emily, ‘You know nothing!’

Jenks toasted Emily, ‘Eloquence personified.’

Emily smiled.

Jenks tore some bread and offered her some.

They ate. They drank.

Somewhere in the middle of the picnic, Emily’s patience paid off, ‘Of course I’m standing on the shoulders of giants. Did Ford invent the wheel? Course not. But the bloody Model T wouldn’t have been any use without it. Was that ‘Use without attribution?’’

‘So… you did use Hathaway’s code?’

‘It’s not like that, I used open-source code, I had to!’

‘Had to?’

‘Course, the deadline was looming, I just needed some workarounds.’

‘Workarounds?’

‘Come on Ems,’ Jenks felt that Emily had put him on her psychiatrist couch again and it grunkled him, ‘I didn’t have time to read all of it.’

‘Read all of it?’

‘Thousands of lines of code,’ Jenks squirmed, ‘it worked, so I used it.’

‘so… you used it?’

‘IT’s Not Cheating, everyone does it.’

‘It’s Ford’s tyres…?’

‘ ‘xactly!’

‘So the supplier got their compensation, and you trusted their code lineage?’

Jenks didn’t reply; his eyes shifted around looking for the way to help Emily understand the community he worked in. People pick up snippets of code, write pieces in certain styles, they ‘borrow’. No harm is done. If you put it out there it’s fair game…

‘I wanted to take it round the Crypto Expo-’

‘Crypto Expo?’ Emily cut across.

‘There’s a big one in LA, the Dean had said… ‘Jenks shrugged a pained dismissal of the idea, ‘not that it matters anymore.’

Emily tossed a crumb to a pigeon, ‘Did you say those lines we practiced?’

Jenks shifted his weight to take in the pigeon. ‘Sort of…’

Emily let her breath out, making the sound, ‘sort of…umm.’

The first pigeon was joined by a head-bobbing friend. Emily tossed out another few crumbs. The pigeons eyed her before gingerly stepping forward to peck at the morsel.

‘I had a proof of concept,’ pleaded Jenks, ‘I could have…’

‘Then Why Didn’t You?’ bit back Emily.

Jenks found himself shocked. This wasn’t the doting Emily, his rock.

‘I’ve carried you for months, all these promises. I’m the one footing the bills. I don’t know when you’ll come in, go out,’ continued Emily, ‘What do I get out, out of all of this? Ummp Jenks?’

Emily turned to Jenks and tears were welling up in her eyes, ‘Why couldn’t you … like all the rest?’

Jenks, ‘Hathaway did this… she’s just another billionaire bully.’

Emily sensed the pain well up in her. Was Jenks ever going to take responsibility for his actions, more than mere words. The system was to blame, the Dean was to blame, the other coders were to blame and now it was Hathaway… who would be next in Jenks’s life conspiracy?

‘So, what happens next?’ Emily pushed out her words.

‘Er… they make their decision and I’ll be informed in writing.’

‘And if it doesn’t go… your way?’

‘It will, it has to. You’ll see. I’ll make them see.’

‘But you’ll still help me with my…’

Jenks’s face contorted; Emily never needed to finish the question, she knew what was coming.

‘What with the café, and the shifts at the club, and now needing to lobby this lot…’ pained Jenks.

Emily just looked away. Another promise broken, another way for Jenks to prioritise himself, over her needs.

*                                  *                                    *

The next week passed for Jenks and Emily like two mice in a vat of milk treading water. Hoping beyond hope that the milk will turn to butter, and they’ll be able to get on with their lives. Emily had her exams and final studies to focus on. Jenks put in more shifts at the café and at the nightclub. And when he couldn’t sleep, he pounded away at the gym.

The distance between them grew.

Jenks arrived back after a long shift at the café, thoroughly tired, to their little flat. As he pushed through the door, he was greeted with Emily sitting in the dark, sitting in the middle of their tired brown sofa. Just the iPad screen casting a glow from beside her. He glanced over to the kitchenette; the normally tidy space was still a jumble of last night’s dinner and their breakfast dishes. The plates caught a glimmer from the stale orange sodium streetlight.

‘Are we out? I can put more credit on the key…’

‘Why am I so stupid?’ the sound of past crying lingered on her voice.

‘Won’t take a tick,’ Jenks tried with more positivity than it deserved.

‘When were you going to tell me?’ Emily locked Jenks with a stare.

Jenks’s mind raced, was she mad that he shared a drink with Alex after a gym session the other night? Alex had just wanted to thank him. And Jenks really just needed someone different to talk to.

‘It was just a drink, Alex just …’

‘Alex?! What’s this to do with Alex?’

‘Nothing? Hon?’

Emily’s eyes shot daggers. OK so not ‘Hon’. And not Alex… what else?

Emily slowly lifted up their iPad. She twisted the screen towards him. He could feel the fires of fury radiate off her as if she were made of lava. Jenks tilted his head, to read the email. Emily rolled her eyes. She was sure Jenks knew exactly what this was about and was stalling for time.

‘American Airlines,’ read Jenks – checking with Emily as he continued, ‘Confirmation of travel. Outbound London Heathrow July 1st, 11:40 to Los Angeles?’

Jenks looked at Emily in disbelief; Emily flicked her eyebrows at him to continue. ‘First Class?’ Jenks spluttered.

‘Read on,’ commanded Emily’s flat voice.

Jenks couldn’t gauge what was going on, why on earth had Emily got a ticket to LA? First class no less. What obscene luxury. Just the idea of flying to LA for the expo had felt like lavishness to Jenks. The cheapest ‘red-eye’ was right at the top of the budget, back in the days when he had the potential backing of the Dean. The University’s outreach programme could just about afford the most basic motel for the small delegation. That’s why the Dean had asked Hathaway to come along, generate sponsorship, ask alumni to dig deep for the long-term good of the institution. But that dream was long gone… wasn’t it?

‘Who is it for? Jenks?’ the flat voice quizzed.

‘er… Blake Jenkinson… ? Emily this is too much.’

Jenks’s heart soared like a bird released… but he couldn’t help feel that he was tethered, just waiting for gravity to take effect. Just waiting for the anvil to hit him.

‘Where the fuck did you get the rest of the money from?’

An alarm bell went off in Jenks’s head, ‘…rest?’

The anvil struck.

‘You couldn’t just slum it out there. You had to rub my nose in it.’

‘Emily… what ‘rest’?’ pleaded Jenks, fear growing up his backbone and racing towards his head at breakneck speed.

‘Our life savings. Our fuuucking life savings Jenks. I believed in you!’ Emily teared up.

‘Emily,’ pleaded Jenks, ‘I didn’t…’

Like a snarling tiger, Emily snatched up her phone, flicking with venom to her banking app.

‘I’d put all my money I got from that lecherous bastard, ‘Short skirts sell houses’ my arse…’, then she was in the app, ‘at least three quarters was mine’ she snarled.

Jenks’s mouth flopped around, like a fish screaming for ‘Bob’. He just hadn’t got to grips with what was going on. Emily hadn’t got him the ticket? He was / wasn’t going to resurrect his career, his life? His mouth, it was making noises, the sort that a teenage zombie makes… but nothing useful. And his brain just echoed with emptiness.

Emily jabbed her phone screen at him, ‘There!’ she claimed with hollow victory.

Jenks blinked in the darkness, shuffling back to take in the intense glaring screen. Behind it was Emily, tigress, exuding danger and retribution. Jenks shifted his gaze to the screen. It was true, their savings account was empty. The airline ticket had been paid, in part, with his card. Jenks blinked in disbelief and tried to take the phone from Emily. She didn’t relinquish it; her grip hardened.

‘Ems you saw me cut it up – you wanted control. I happily gave it to you,’ said Jenks in a soft voice, ‘It wasn’t me.’

‘Of course, it’s never you, never your fault,’ Emily swiped the app, revealing recent emails with the bank, ‘Everyone does it. Ford did it. Blake Jenkinson did it!’ her finger pointed to the last confirmation email.

‘New Card Issue – Blake Jenkinson’ it read.

‘Admit it, BLAKE dearest! I’m just your meal ticket, I should be blessed to be in your shadow, happy to be your little woman,’ the tears she’d been holding back finally breached her defences as Emily choked on her words.

Jenks wanted so desperately to wrap his arms around her, convince her that it wasn’t him, tell her it would be alright, they would get their money back. But he knew he couldn’t touch her. That he didn’t know it would be alright. He didn’t even know where to start.

Jenks started softly, ‘This isn’t like you, you’re being sill,’

‘Silly? Oh Jenks, I am. You are right. I’m stupid.’

‘I didn’t say that,’ Jenks crushed voice tried.

‘No, no you’re right though. I was stupid to ever think you could change. To put someone else first.’

‘EMILY -I’m not going to LA!’ barked Jenks.

‘Of course you aren’t. This is just an elaborate April fools – and I’m the FUCKING fool,’ barked back Emily.

Emily was on her feet, her glistening eyes on fire with the hate, with the burning betrayal. Jenks grabbed at her, to hold her, just for a second. To stop her from leaving. To stop the madness. To stop and make sense of it all. But Emily was ready for him and her hand landed a slap so hard that it shocked her. The pain stung in her hand and reverberated through her arm. And that’s when Jenks saw it in her. That’s when she left him. The flame was out. The chance of reconciliation evaporated. The sting was much more than the residual from her slap.

Emily looked up from her hand. Softly she passed Jenks. Her scent filled his nostrils and somehow it felt alien, no longer part of his world. All their plans, their life together. All gone. Never to wake up next to her and take in her snuffling little snores. Happiness lost.

CLUNK! Metal on wood. Emily was near the door. Her fingers released his engagement ring to her. Jenks felt his stomach turn a full flip… and it didn’t even attempt to land it. His eyes pleaded with her not to go. But Emily didn’t turn to make contact. She just stiffened her back and told the door, ‘I’ll be back for my stuff tomorrow, don’t be here.’

Another door opened.

This time Emily stepped through.

‘Go or don’t, I don’t care anymore,’ she told the corridor.

And the door closed.

Jenks’s feet finally unstuck themselves and he made his way over to where Emily had left his ring. Next to it was an envelope from the university. The jagged edges of the envelope showed that she’d opened it.

Jenks’s world unravelled before him.

*                                  *                                    *

The security guard shadowed Jenks as he carried his few personal belongings from the tech block. Three years of study sat lamely in the box, an old-styled keyboard stuck out of the top. The box itself was on its last legs, bulging from below, flexing to each step Jenks laid down – his last in this institution.

Jenks looked round for Emily; she’d normally be there with some soothing words, her comforting presence a balm to his wounded spirit. And he was wounded, he was suffering, the anguish crashed onto him like a storm wave beating the coastal defences. He couldn’t see a route forward from here. Just a wilderness of dead-end jobs, no dreams to live, no possibility of being more than useless, more than a cheat.

The hall was festooned with students. As he got near a classmate, they turned their backs on him. Jenks fumed as one student after another turned their backs, making their disdain for his fall from grace evident. As he made the long walk, the box grew in weight, his arms became leaden, his legs swung and his feet swallopped down. The noise filled his ears. He looked up and clocked Alex. Surely, she would understand, he started, he tried to tell her.

WHACK! Her slap stung Jenks, ‘Shit!’ she exclaimed.

Alex shook her hand in pain and locked Jenks in her glare, ‘Now we’re all being treated like we’re you!’ Alex spun on her Dr Martins, unlaced & hardly attached to her feet, and made her exit.

The Dean rounded the corner from the side corridor. The Dean and Alex half collided; half danced past each other.

‘Got you!’ the Dean smiled at Jenks.

Jenks’s heart leapt, was this a reprieve? Had they spotted something? And then he realised the Dean wasn’t smiling that way, ‘Caught you. Before you go. Have you checked it?’ the Dean asked the guard while she delved into Jenks’s box.

‘Mam,’ confirmed the guard.

Ignoring him, the Dean continued her inspection, ‘And any digital materials gained from this university must also be returned and erased from all your systems, Mr Jenkinson.’

The Dean’s head came dangerously close to Jenks as she eyeballed him. Jenks shifted uncomfortably under her scrutinising gaze. ‘MISS STERLING!’ screamed the Dean.

‘no,’ came back Alex’s flat refusal from halfway down the side passage, as she continued to walk away.

‘YES! – if you want to get a grade from this faculty.’

Alex stopped. Her shoulders sizzled with her frustrations. Half turning her head she announced to the assembled few, ‘It’s not designed to do that.’

‘It, and you, will do as you are asked, Ms Sterling.’ The Dean’s head swivelled to focus on Alex, ‘Or are you another cheat?’

Jenks instantly tried to utter his defence for Alex. The Dean had gone too far. Fine take it out on him. Why the others? The Dean’s gaze shot back to Jenks and silenced him. Alex’s shoulders slumped. How could she not? How could she throw the past three years away just to cover for this cheat? For this coward? For this plagiarist?

She turned back…

*                                  *                                    *

‘And that’s the fourth run – no new anomalies. Everything with university data tags has been erased from everything I can access of Jenks’s here,’ claimed Alex as she flipped up a prism in front of an eye.

If the casual viewer had walked into the room at that moment, they would have wondered how this bunch of scrap tech, hokum steam punking, and a rat’s nest of wires could calculate Pi any further than a 12-year-old could do on their fingers. There was no obvious mother board, things just seemed to dangle, or were half sewn into Alex’s bag, come case. Some of the tech was so old that museum curators would have salivated over them… if only they’d not been hacked about so much. The only – nearly – conventional part of Alex’s set up was the keyboard; even if it did look like it was hewn out of oak. The screen, for want of a better word, was part projection and part green on green (old VDU styled) LED panel – currently pointed at the Dean. Alex’s hand dropped from its hovering mode over her remote mouse.

Dean Dr Nora Cooper leaned back. Satisfaction written all over her. She’d done a good job, protected the reputation of the university. Cheats don’t prosper! ‘All of it?’ she checked.

‘I don’t get that his original offer was ‘unreasonable retention of university…’’

The Dean’s hand whammed down on the table, next to Jenks’s laptop and a plethora of wires from Alex’s machine that held the stage, ‘Good!’

The Security guard jumped from his half slumber. Looking round at Jenks, sitting bored next to him, and the scene of Alex quickly unplugging her stuff – like it was red hot. The Dean turned to the lazing duo and just thumbed them out.

Jenks rose stiffly. Alex stuffed her tech into her bag and pushed past the stink of Jenks. ‘Alex…’ Jenks hoarsely whispered at her as she shoved past him.

Her hand jammed into Jenks’s face, no eye contact, just a sniff. Was that a cold, a huff at him, or something else? Alex crashed through the door of the seminar room they were in. Jenks’s eyes lingered on the door, and another woman exiting on him. Then the Dean stepped into his field of view.

‘Get him off campus in five minutes – or press charges for trespass!’

And then the Dean was gone too… for some reason Jenks found himself waving her off in one big circle of a wave.