Chapter 20
Magnus
I fell into bed as soon as Trent and I got back from dinner with my parents and forgot to charge my phone, which is why I’m currently running late to class.
If Trent didn’t have a morning class before this one, he would have known to wake me since he knows my schedule.
Alas, he has a class before mine, so I’m tardy.
Rushing, I make it through the classroom door only a minute late and wave at everyone in their seats as I dump my backpack onto the table.
“Apologies, class, I forgot to charge my phone last night, so I didn’t have any alarms going off this morning.
I have all of your papers graded, so why don’t you come get them while I set up my laptop? ”
I set all their papers in two piles on the table and pull out my laptop while they descend to retrieve their work.
The laptop connects to the bluetooth projector, and I open up the presentation I’ve prepared for today.
This is one of two sociology courses I teach, a second year contemporary theory course that I enjoy.
The other course is classical theory, and the two compliment each other.
I mostly have overlapping students, which means that ninety percent of this class will also be in my other one where I’ll be giving them the papers they wrote for that class.
A gasp from beside me has me glancing over, but the girl with her hand over her mouth isn’t looking at her grade; she’s looking at the projector.
A wave of stillness falls over my students, and I follow their gaze to the projector where the fake image of me with a face full of spunk is on-screen with the AI generated image of Chancellor Mustafa.
I immediately cover the projector with my hand and turn it off, looking around the room at my students.
I study every face and reaction, looking for the perpetrator who put that image on the projector.
“That bad AI generation job is not on my computer. I don’t know who put that image up, but I’m going to find the person, and this will not happen again.
It is not appropriate for porn photos to appear in our classes, and I promise I’m going to make sure the person who did this regrets getting caught.
” I have to say that just in case it’s one of my own students.
“Since we seem to be having issues with the technology today, I will be posting the presentation to the class folder now, and anyone with access can follow along on their own device while I lecture. Any questions?”
Silence greets me, and I wave back to the papers still left unclaimed. “Get your work and get back to your seats. We will be going fast today since I have to use the whiteboard more than usual.”
With that, the class gets back into action.
I know there is going to be at least one complaint about what just happened, but I get ahead of the incident by sending an email to Mehcad and the dean of the sociology college, Dr. Heimus, before I start the class.
I post the presentation to the class folder and then get the lecture started.
By the time class is over, I have two emails waiting for me in my inbox, one from each man, and a time to meet with them to address the issue.
As the students exit, I digitally break into the projector to find out what device connected to it at the same time as mine, and to no one’s surprise, the bluetooth connected device was a phone.
I save the phone number to my notes and pack up.
Time to trace this fucker back to his point of origin.
Or her. I’m not disqualifying women from being weird and creepy.
I don’t have any classes for three hours, and since I always use the time to work on whatever is most pressing, I sit outside on the steps down from the building and open my laptop.
I never felt the need to pursue computer science and technology classes because the information is so easily accessible without a university, but software was my first love, and sending the phone number a link is only the first step.
I take a selfie with a wide smile and imbed some homebrew spyware in it. If the person clicks the pic, I’ll have them as long as they’re using a compatible device. I send it as a message to the phone number and cross my fingers:
Me: Try harder; you’re up against a genius, and I guarantee you’re not as smart as me.
It’s taunting but likely true, too. I’m not going to say I’m smarter than everyone else on campus, that would be a ridiculous claim, but I am going to say that it’s unlikely the person stalking me and Trent is better at this than I am.
Connecting to a bluetooth device is nothing compared to starting congressional hearings because of an email hack.
Not that I’d ever admit to having done that.
That would be criminal and the height of stupidity to cop to.
As soon as the person clicks on my picture, the software downloads, which tells me they’re not good at protecting their android device from people like me. I’m not going to be mad about that.
Unknown: I don’t have to be smarter than you, Magnus.
Interesting reply.
The device sends me its information (it’s unregistered and not using a carrier service) and location, which is, according to the coordinates, in the building behind me.
I glance behind me, but as good as my location tracking is, that’s as good as I’m going to get. I’ll have to watch to see if it moves. Here’s hoping for trackable movement.
Me: You can leave me and Trent alone, and I may not figure out who you are, but if you persist, I’m going to burn your world down.
Unknown: Let’s find out who’s world burns faster.
“You’re not touching mine,” I mutter to that message.
My phone rings, and Chancellor Mehcad’s voice greets me as soon as I say hello.
“Magnus, the board is calling an emergency meeting for this evening. You need to be there. Whoever made that photo sent it to the Board of Trustees.”
“I expected them to taunt me longer before pulling the trigger on that image,” I grunt, genuinely surprised.
“I’ll be ready to address them, but I’m not going to bend because of an asshole who wants to control me.
I’m going to make sure the board understands what they’re going to lose if they choose to victim-blame. ”
Mehcad breathes a chuckle and sighs. “I wouldn’t expect anything like a reasonable response from you, my friend.”
I may have underestimated how Mehcad sees our relationship.
I take a moment to switch him from amicable mentor to friend in my mind, and then I smile like there isn’t a blaze on the horizon of my career.
“I’m too young to be a reasonable threat unless my finger is on the nuclear button, you know this. ”
“I do. I’ll see you tonight.”
“We’ll be there,” I agree and end the call.
The phone still hasn’t moved, so I pack up my stuff, turning to head back into the building.
It’s a medium sized building, and it won’t take more than fifteen minutes to do a quick check for suspicious people.
I take two steps toward the door and stutter.
Taped to the door is a cheap phone. I press a button; it lights up with the fake picture of me and the chancellor.
Frustratingly, the person is smart enough to get rid of their compromised phone.
I pull up a text thread with Trent, guarding the phone and directing students through the other door as I message him.
Me: Are you currently unoccupied?
He doesn’t have class, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a study group or something equally important.
Trent: I’m studying.
Me: I need a Ziploc bag and some latex gloves at the north entrance to Harding Hall.
Trent: Why?
Me: Our stalker left me a gift.
Trent: OMW.
My next call goes to the department head for the school of criminology.
“O’Brian here,” the director says by way of greeting.
“This is Magnus Lancaster. I’m calling because I was wondering if you have any students available to do a study on a found phone for me? It’s a prepaid phone, but one of your students might find something interesting. It does have porn on it, so if that’s an issue, you’ll need to warn them.”
“Best call Amelie Alves; she’s responsible for the lab. She would know who’s looking for work.”
“Thank you, Dr. O’Brian.”
“You’re welcome. Would it be inappropriate to ask something about your sociology research?”
I can’t help the smirk that hits my lips. “Only if it’s rude.”
“It’s not illegal,” he grunts. “I was just going to say that my wife and girlfriend are fans, and they’ve decided to participate in your study, and they wanted me to participate, but I didn’t know if that would be appropriate.”
“I don’t mind if you participate,” I say and immediately blush.
It’s the same feeling as when Connie Ying admitted to subscribing.
“As long as you’re aware that you have to live with the fact that you’ll have seen my penis and my o-face, which I’m told is pretty good, even though I don’t know why it would matter what face I make when I orgasm—” and now I’m just talking too much.
I pointedly shut my mouth.
“Yeah, I’ve heard. If you don’t mind, then I’ll let my girls know.”
I thank him and end the call, then dial the switchboard to connect me to Amelie Alves.
She answers after a few rings. “Criminology lab.”
“Hello, this is Magnus Lancaster. I have a phone I found, and I’m wondering if you have any students who might need some lab hours willing to work it up.”
“Oh! It’s you! I mean, hello. Um.”
Trent joins me as she’s stumbling over her words. “Hey,” I tell him, and point to the phone.
“Hi,” Amelie Alves replies. “I’m sorry. I’m just a big fan of your vlogs. You and Trent are super cute together.”
“Thank you. I hope you are participating for my research purposes, but even if you don’t, I appreciate your support.” I watch Trent pull the phone off the door and slip it into a Ziploc bag. “So, do you have a student willing to do a work up on the phone?”
Trent gives me a curious look. “Who are you talking to?”
“Amelie Alves,” I reply.
He holds out his hand and I put the phone in it, and he takes over the phone call. “Amelie. Yeah. Oh, thank you. I think my partner forgot that I’m a criminology minor. Yep. Thanks. Ok, see you later.”
He ends the call and hands me back my phone. “I’ll do the work up on the phone,” he tells me. “How do you know it belongs to the stalker?”
“I texted him. He took over the projector in my Sociology 311 course and put up the image he sent you. I emailed Mehcad and Dean Heimus, but the stalker emailed the Board of Trustees, and now we have to attend an emergency meeting this evening. I’m going to make sure you’re protected no matter what, but I’m also going to force them to make the best decision, which isn’t going to be shutting us down.
This university isn’t going to be known for victim-blaming if I have anything to say about it. ”
Trent’s crooked smile appears on his lips. “Ok. Are you going to tell me when and where this meeting is?”
“I’ll forward the information to you as soon as I get it,” I promise. “Are you going to work on that now?” I point to the phone.
“Yeah. I’ll have as many answers as I can get in a few hours when the meeting starts.”
My stomach flips and nervousness gives me butterflies again. It’s weird how I can ignore my anxieties until I’m around Trent. I guess it’s nice to know I think he’s a safe person to be vulnerable with, although I think I knew that when I proposed getting naked with him regularly.
“I think I’d like a hug,” I tell him, stepping in close without waiting for an answer.
He responds exactly like I expect him to: he wraps me up in a warm hug and I press my nose into his neck where he always smells faintly of a cologne I got him for our first Christmas exchange. The scent alleviates some of the nervousness, and I breathe him in for several long seconds.
When I pull back, his affectionate smile lifts his lips, and I think it might be my favorite Trent-smile. “I’m going to prepare the presentation for the board. Let me know if you find anything interesting.”
Trent nods. “I will. Let me know when and where to meet you.”
I assure him I will and walk him as far as the sidewalk where our paths diverge, then I head to my office in the math building.
It’s the only private space I have on this campus, and if I’m going to prepare to take the board to task, I’m going to need a distraction-free environment.
Outmaneuvering the political entities of this campus takes more skill than I usually put toward my machinations, but money equals power, and I have that in spades.
Or at least, control of funding the university needs, and I’m not above using my power to keep the board in line.