Chapter 1: Violet
“The code just won’t work.” I sat back in my chair and stared at the screen. “We can’t take a few random facts and turn them into miracles.”
“I don’t accept failure. You know that.” My boss, a very imposing man named Mr. Prince, breathed down my neck—literally.
“I need help. An app like this should have a team of people working on it.” I shifted forward so I didn’t feel his breath.
“This is a secret project. Secret projects usually start with one person who puts together the prototype. After that, we start the marketing campaign and bring in a team to take it into production.” He reached over my shoulder and tapped the screen. “Making it work is your job—and you know what is at stake if you don’t.”
The app I was working on had consumed most of the summer after my sophomore year of college. It was my penance for spending a few late nights on my computer trying to become an amateur hacker. I took a wrong turn one night and ended up breaching Mr. Prince’s server, which brought the FBI to my front door. I thought I was headed to prison instead of back to college when the summer was over, but Mr. Prince was rather impressed I had managed to do it. He said he had a place for someone like me at PrinceSoft. Little did I know that meant I was going to be nothing more than an indentured servant until I had a working prototype of his latest secret project.
“I’m tired. I think I’ve gotta call it a day.” I started to stand, but Mr. Prince put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me back into my chair.
“Drink a Red Bull.” His tone was stern. “You can catch up on sleep this weekend.”
“Yes sir.” I nodded and reached for one of the energy drinks sitting next to me.
PrinceSoft specialized in creating dating apps. Mr. Prince’s first app hit the market shortly after Tinder made headlines and he was determined to find an app that could put them out of business. The one I was working on definitely different than anything else on the market. It wasn’t going to be an app for hooking up or getting off. It was supposed to actually connect people with their soulmates. The problem was that it just didn’t work the way he envisioned. I was trying to turn an algorithm into true love, which I thought was rather ridiculous to begin with, and every test run had been an absolute failure.
“Okay, Mr. Darcy.” I loaded one of our test profiles. “Let’s see if you match up with Elizabeth.”
We had a few test profiles loaded based on famous fictional love stories. I wasn’t even able to get those right. I had managed to hook Mr. Darcy up with Cinderella, but she wasn’t the lonely young girl Jane Austen meant for him to end up with. Elizabeth’s fate was even more comical. Every time I ran her profile, she got matched with a woman, and it was never the same woman. If fantasy relied on my algorithm, Mr. Darcy would have been touring the English countryside with a glass slipper and Elizabeth would have been getting risky with a pair of evil stepsisters. I chugged the Red Bull and groaned when the algorithm failed again.
“This is hopeless...” I looked back at Mr. Prince.
“Keep working. I have all the faith in the world that you’ll get it right.” Mr. Prince started walking towards the door and as soon as it closed, I heard an audible click.
Indentured servant might have been a gentler term for prisoner. I had signed a contract to stay locked in the makeshift apartment at PrinceSoft until the project was done—no matter how long it took. I thought I would have a working prototype and a clean record in a couple of weeks when I agreed to the terms of the deal, but it wasn’t as simple as I hoped. The algorithm should have worked, but it just didn’t. The only thing it was going to accomplish was leaving people wondering what kind of cruel mistress fate had become—it certainly made me feel that way every time I ran another test.
“Even the Red Bull isn’t working tonight.” I leaned back against my chair and groaned again.
I forced my eyes open and made more adjustments as the hours whisked by. I was so dead on my feet that I could barely stand up to go to the bathroom after the last Red Bull ran through my system. As much as I wanted to keep working, and as angry as I knew Mr. Prince would be, I just couldn’t keep going any longer. I walked into my bedroom and crashed against the mattress, feeling my eyes close. The bed was comfortable at least, not that I would have really noticed at that point. The energy drink struggled against my exhaustion, but in the end, exhaustion won.
“VIOLET, WHAT THE HELL? It doesn’t look like you’ve done any work since I left!” Mr. Prince’s angry voice roused me from my slumber.
“I’m useless without sleep.” I sat up in my bed and rubbed my eyes. “I promise I’ll get back to work in a couple of hours.”
“I promised my investors we would announce a revolutionary new app before the end of the year. If you can’t deliver a working prototype by then, it will cost me a lot of money.” He pointed at the desk. “Get back to work—now.”
“Yes sir.” I nodded and crawled out of bed, stumbling towards the computer with way less sleep than I needed.
“I’m going to leave you alone for a couple of days because I have to meet some investors in Phoenix. If you don’t have something for me that looks promising when I return, we’re going to have a different discussion about motivation.” He buttoned his suit and walked towards the door.
What does that mean?
I felt like I had all the motivation I needed. A threat wasn’t going to create an impossibility out of thin air. My freedom was already on the line. My case was still active with the FBI and while Mr. Prince had declined to press charges after I hacked his system, he could change that with one phone call. I delayed it by agreeing to his deal, but the reality of failure had been clear since the first day. If I had more people working with me, I was certain the app would come to fruition a lot faster. I coded a couple of apps in high school, mostly just to try and make money, but they weren’t as complicated as the one Mr. Prince had me working on.
Come on, Mr. Darcy. You want Elizabeth, not that trollop Cinderella.
It didn’t match him with Cinderella after a few modifications, but it still didn’t match him with Elizabeth. Instead, the app suggested his true soulmate was the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. I had a brief chuckle at the prospect, and then started changing the algorithm again. Two days of tireless efforts and lots of Red Bull resulted in the same awful result. I felt defeated when I heard my door unlock. I didn’t even realize it was Friday already, but a quick move of my mouse to highlight the date at the bottom of m
y computer confirmed it was. I stared at the screen and shook my head as the door opened.
“Hello, Violet.” Mr. Prince smiled when he walked into my apartment. “Tell me you have some good news.”
“I wish I did...” I sighed and turned towards him. “I don’t even have progress to report. I’m just treading water here.”
“That’s disappointing.” He exhaled sharply. “I guess that means we’re going to have to find a new way to motivate you since the threat of going to prison isn’t enough.”