Orion immediately changed his decision about the willingness to cooperate. Seeing his dead and mutilated friend who was senselessly given such a macabre end, something within him cracked. If they thought this way would make him break more easily, they gravely misjudged.

  The man who was with him stared for a moment at the corpse, then smiled in a way a typical person would smile at a liked neighbor, saying ‘good day.’ He approached Orion slowly and resumed beating him, this time targeting the hands and feet. The pauses between each strike were brief, just long enough for the pain to penetrate. It was clear that the abuser possessed the skill, as it hurt like hell, but apparently nothing had been broken. It lasted a few minutes. Due to the repeated blows to the same places, the pain became increasingly difficult to bear. Orion felt himself close to fainting, and it was likely only the beginning.

  After countless strikes, a longer pause finally came. The man moved behind Orion again, this time bringing with him a plastic chair; the only clean piece of furniture in the room. He settled himself comfortably and, with a satisfied gaze, looked Orion in the eyes.

  Orion tried not to show anything on his face. For as long as he could remember, he had been stoic, but the fact that he didn’t show emotions and his taciturn nature had once been a conscious choice; one he had simply grown used to. It made his life easier. Despite this, there were still individuals who weren’t bothered by his manner and willingly spoke with him. Now, the man in front of him clearly saw it as something of a challenge.

  After a moment of sitting, the man, still with the same smile, spoke for the first time.

  “Officially, you are under arrest at this moment. You have committed a very, very nasty crime.” the man said, almost singing, instantly causing confusion in Orion. He wasn’t particularly concerned with how others looked at him, but he had never imagined he would end up in people’s eyes as a criminal. “Your family and colleagues are currently being questioned by the police to see if they ever noticed any signs of you, potentially going as far as this. It’s a great opportunity to find out if they happen to know something they shouldn’t. By the way, you left behind very ugly corpses, you know?” he said, observing the reactions.

  The man repeatedly got up and continued the beating, and when he decided it was appropriate, he sat down and spoke again. He told him how a clear image was being constructed for the audience regarding Orion and his ‘felony’. Although he didn’t say this explicitly, Orion deduced that the steps towards his placement here had begun several weeks earlier, and a surprisingly large group of people was involved.

  He said that, in the beginning, they observed his behavior and how he interacted with others. They asked others about him, and to do so, they even bought a firm he was working for. He was constantly monitored. If he had made any phone call during that time, it would have been immediately intercepted and analyzed by the appropriate people.

  They studied his habits, found someone capable of replicating his handwriting style, and even commissioned a search for a willing look-alike. Last Saturday, they attempted direct contact with Anna. Evidently, by not maintaining too many contacts with others, she became an easy target. She lived alone and was quite reserved, outside the office. She was offered the role of a victim, willingly, with a huge profit, but she declined.

  Anna called to report the matter to the police, or at least she thought she was speaking with officers, as they professionally questioned her about details and reassured her that they would investigate it. The next day, she awoke here, much like Orion, but no one spoke to her.

  On Monday, during their company meeting, she was still alive, but by night her body was delivered to Orion’s apartment, where it was further desecrated. In the official version, he manipulated her into visiting him. Several individuals were involved in transporting him, and another team prepared his apartment to appear as a credible crime scene. It was overwhelming to hear that his loyal, white friend hadn’t been rendered unconscious that night; he had attempted to defend him, effectively becoming an additional, temporary amusement for them.

  Orion was increasingly struggling to hear. He was tired and aching, and each subsequent word only worsened his discomfort.

  The man torturing him still hadn’t questioned anything about the program. Until now, there had been no explanation as to why he was in this place. He only made sure to dearly explain to him that if he somehow managed to get out of here, there would be no future for him. Care was taken to ensure this. Letters, styled to look like they’d been written by Orion, had been delivered to Anna’s apartment, constructing a narrative of his gradual and cautious approach, with a clear plan. Her photos were found on his computer. As from nowhere, recordings from various surveillance systems appeared, showing a figure following her; someone who looked exactly like him.

  He was presented as the worst pervert, and that thought was hammered into his colleagues and family. His father attempted to call and question if he could see him, but he was refused, claiming they had to confine him to a segregation unit, because he had attacked someone. It was mentioned that he would meet with him either upon release or after a visitation date was set; a date which, of course, was never meant to arrive.

  Another person would probably feel pure agony at that moment, but in Orion, besides exhaustion, all that was boiling at that moment was anger. Anger at being right about the human species. Anger at having decided to do something on his own in the first place. Anger at having been so stupid to ask others for advice. Anger at Byton for not trying to escape, but trying to defend him. Anger at the person who was beating him. Anger at Anna, for not being tempted to make money at his expense. Even though he would hate her now, at least she would still be alive.

  The man finally stretched and sighed, as if he regretted that the fun had to end so soon. He gagged Orion’s mouth and made sure that the bindings were not broken. He put the chair aside and took off his apron, which was covered in a fresh layer of blood.

  “This is how the first day of our wonderful friendship ends. I guarantee you’ll miss me tomorrow.” he winked at him and then left.

  Orion had initially planned to use the moment of rest to think more deeply about his situation. He also wondered why they were making such a big deal about kidnapping a nobody like him. But despite the pain that was engulfing his entire body, he quickly fell asleep, exhausted.

  He was woken by the sound of keys in the door. This time someone else came in. The man looked older, but this one didn’t give you the impression of your friendly neighbor anymore. He was gray, and his face bore many scars. He carried a bag with him.

  First, he put the bag on a chair and unzipped it, taking out some kind of sack with a tube attached to it. He removed Orion’s gag, quickly pushed the tube into his mouth and with his other hand, squeezed the sack, forcing some kind of mush down his throat. At this point, Orion was starving and thirsty, but the suddenness and force of his feeding caused him to choke and almost vomit several times.

  “Yesterday was a warm-up. Today there are questions. You may not answer. Your choice.”

  Then he injected Orion with some substance. This was probably to maintain his consciousness or perhaps enhance his sensations. Before the man began to torment him, he cut off his clothes, leaving him completely naked.

  The beatings changed to burning, electrocution, cutting, and stabbing with needles. Orion’s body convulsed, paralyzed with pain, and screams filled the room. After an unbearably long time, the question finally came.

  “Have you encrypted your authorship anywhere?”

  The question itself said a lot about the current situation. Foremost, he was right about the program. It was probably already being worked on, and given the scale of his kidnapping, there were clearly no problems with resources, so it was safe to assume that a group of people were working on it. There was a possibility that they had already found the encrypted delimiters and priorities, hence the question. It was true that they were incredibly chaotic, but he still left behind a ton of notes.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  He was told that he didn’t have to answer, which suggested competent people would review his code. It might take a bit more time, but everything could be deciphered and studied even without his participation.

  If he was asked about the authorship, Orion suspected that they did, in fact, intend to sell the program to the world as their own.

  Thinking back to yesterday’s ‘warm-up,’ it might be best to quickly answer and explain everything. He wouldn’t avoid the torture either way, but the sooner he became useless to them, the sooner they’ll get rid of him. At this point, he highly doubted he would survive. In a moment to catch his breath, Orion decided to answer, but he also wanted to ask a question to confirm his thoughts. He expected his answer to be fairly clear, but he could only rasp his words out.

  “No. Will I get out of here alive?”

  He heard no denial or confirmation. The gray-haired man reached for a knife and began to cut the skin on his calf. After another minute filled with screams, Orion heard the man’s voice again.

  “Have you encrypted your authorship anywhere?”

  Did they send me a fucking deaf guy for questioning? Orion thought, unintentionally causing himself to laugh in pain. The man clearly didn’t like it, as he made a few more cuts, then grabbed a device that looked like pliers. He grabbed a section of skin, slowly tearing off the entire patch, ignoring his desperate cries and squeals.

  This was the first time Orion fainted. He regained consciousness by having a bucket of water poured over his face. He was woken up by the ‘friendly’ guy from the previous session, laughing as if he had just seen a kid shove a stick into the spokes, and as expected, ended up hurting himself.

  “It’s not a smart move to mock someone’s work, especially here.”

  It didn’t take a genius to recognize the ‘good cop, bad cop’ tactics in these two men, but even if he did, he had to admit that it worked somehow. He almost automatically responded that it wasn’t mockery, but he held back.

  He didn’t know how long he had been unconscious, but today’s session was continued by the friendly guy. Of course, he still caused a lot of pain, but definitely less than his gray-haired friend. Orion remembered a thought he had once had: he thought that toothache must be some kind of peak pain that a human could experience. He knew that wasn’t true, but he didn’t expect to be wrong on this scale.

  The days passed in this way, or so he assumed. They came to him in turns and the torment continued. During the sessions with the friendly guy, during the breaks, he would sometimes throw various crumbs of knowledge at Orion. Some of them he regretted hearing, but others somehow filled his curiosity about the whole kidnapping thing. The sessions with the gray one, on the other hand, were a set of several repetitive questions and a much more intense pain. They asked about various things: from the program itself and its capabilities, through whether he had told anyone or even suggested what he was working on, to strange mathematical questions where he was asked to count. Regardless of whether he answered or remained silent, it did not change the outcome.

  From the crumbs of knowledge he had gathered so far from his sessions with the friendly guy, supposedly, his family and colleagues now cursed his name. Apparently, they were constantly being fed some concocted dirt on Orion, even in such a way that they would think they had found something new themselves. Nothing specific was mentioned, about his brother, who was the only one who knew what Orion was working on. Most likely, he had managed to pick up on when the questions were dangerously close to things he shouldn’t know, and had somehow managed to play the fool. Afraid he might accidentally give him away, Orion tried not to show any different reactions, regardless of the topic being discussed at the time.

  Another thing he was able to confirm was that he was no longer necessary in the process of taking over the program. He had already done his job by simply creating it, and the person who ordered his kidnapping no longer cared about him. Orion was now a bit confused, as to why he was still being held and tormented. Apparently, he hadn’t managed to hide his confusion well enough, as he got a response.

  “What are we surprised about? You’ve got the full annual plan booked here, and we take pride in our work ethic. We’ve got a reputation to uphold, ya know?”

  Orion had already thought he had been brought to the lowest point several times, but somehow they still managed to make him feel worse and worse. Until now, it had seemed to him that his suffering would not last much longer, but after the last answer, his mind felt cold and heavy.

  He didn’t even know how to feel about the fact that the person ordering his current torture had given just one order, and the whole machine had already started on its own. It was a kind of boast from the friendly guy about how his small organization and those associated with it were working so well together.

  In summary, according to the information he had been given, the only people who were currently interested in Orion were the two people who had been torturing him. Besides, there was also someone he hadn’t met, but who was responsible for monitoring, recording his stay, and properly cataloging everything. He was also supposed to keep an eye on him, and if something seemed wrong, they would immediately inform the friendly guy. At this point, every time someone left the room, they would attach various sensors to Orion.

  ***

  Two weeks later.

  Robert was sitting in the kitchen of his parent’s apartment. Although he had to travel around the country pretty often, he has currently taken some time off from work and returned to his family. An uncomfortable silence reigned in the room, broken only by the moving hands of the old clock. His parents were present with him. His mother sat in silence, her eyes cast glumly at the floor, and his father was leaning on the windowsill, looking out the window. The silence was broken by his mother, who sighed and reached for a pack of cigarettes. She had long since managed to give up this habit, but now she had returned to it, hoping that it would help reduce stress. Lighting a cigarette, after a few drags, she took a long breath and said.

  “The truth is, he was always a strange kid. We never knew what was going on in his head.”

  “Are you suggesting that’s some kind of evidence? That it’s proving something?” he replied after a moment. Robert didn’t want to let his emotions explode and start another shouting match.

  “Robert, this is not the first time we have heard a story about someone calm and composed showing their true face.”

  “That’s enough!” the father shouted without even turning around, also not wanting the discussion to escalate into something else.

  Robert had become very paranoid over the past few days. At this point, he didn’t even know what he could or couldn’t tell his parents. His mother seemed convinced by the outside world that Orion was guilty, and in trying to convince her, he might accidentally suggest something that could put them in danger.

  He didn’t feel safe in this apartment, and what’s worse, he couldn’t even reveal it. By a strange coincidence, the day after he heard the news, his father found drugs and women’s underwear hidden somewhere in Orion’s old room. But it was clear to Robert that they had been planted by someone. Robert knew Orion’s thoughts on drugs. That was enough for him to form his opinion about the situation. Orion had once told him that you had to be an absolute idiot to voluntarily put into your body substances that cloud your mind. Another time, he had gotten a surprisingly long talk from him when he was caught smoking cigarettes. Robert didn’t know whether it was luck or misfortune that their longer conversations were known only to the two of them. He had once mentioned to his parents that Orion spoke a bit more around him, but they had clearly assumed that instead of one sentence, he uttered two.

  Robert’s parents were quite divided in their opinions after receiving the news. His mother cried for the first few days. She behaved as if every bad word she heard about Orion was a revealed truth. His father, on the other hand, tried to approach the subject more logically, initially trying to call the police, lawyers, or the company where Orion worked. Although Robert didn’t really know what his father currently thought about the whole situation, having witnessed his rather unusual silence, he guessed that he hadn’t been convinced at all.

  His father had changed radically during the entire situation. He had always been the person who was everywhere, spreading positivity and improving mood. He was eager to tease and joke, exuding a comforting presence. Now that was missing. Robert was very tempted to talk to him privately, revealing the mysterious Orion project, but he was held back by the thought of the danger he could put them in. The last thing they needed was for it to ‘come out’ that yet another family member had done something bad.

  After another prolonged silence, the father spoke up. “We’ve called and asked everywhere we could. All we can do now is wait until they let us meet with him. Then we’ll find out firsthand if there’s any truth to all this.”

  After a thought, Robert had to agree with that. No matter what happened, he would see his brother sooner or later; even if this time there would be bars between them. It hurt him that his brother had been framed and was currently sitting in some prison surrounded by thugs, but he believed that they would finally be able to solve this. He was aware that there were definitely too many ambiguities in this matter, and he couldn’t act alone, lest he accidentally do more harm than good.