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to leave.
    “I’m going,” he said aloud to the room in
general. No one could hear him, his wife was asleep.
     

Chapter 19
    When U2258 started out it was still dark, but
now the sky had begun to gray, and the traveling was easier. He had
already traveled to the edge of the city and the buildings thinned
out. He could even see the open plain before him and a thought
crept into his mind. One he could not dismiss. Until he was found
missing, he would have access to much of the information at his
company, but later that might change. Currently he had the security
keys to almost everything, but he would lose those soon enough.
Unless.
    If he went back one more day, he could access
the algorithm they used to generate future access. If he used that
he could create a secret way in. One only he knew about. That way,
even if they deleted his known profile with all its access
privileges, his secret one would remain. And then, just in case he
had a reason to get access in the future, he would have it. Just in
case.
    He turned around and headed back into the
city. U2258 was nothing if not thorough. Why burn a bridge when he
could keep it open?
    It took him two hours to get back to the
building. It stood massive against the skyscape and he had been
able to see it even at the edge of the city since it was the
largest of all buildings. He knew he was coming in late, so that
would take some fast talking, something U2258 never felt equipped
for. He thought beforehand what he would tell them and he made
plans.
    Once through the main lobby, his security
badge got him through. He took the elevator and upon arriving at
his floor was approached by A116, the divisional head. “Good
morning, U2258.”
    “Hi.”
    “Are you just arriving?”
    “I did some biorhythmic research from home.
You can check my chip logs.” Indeed, during his walk back he had
created a log for research in some obscure corner of biorhythmic
technology so he had a good excuse. But if A116 opened up the log,
he would find it mostly empty. He hoped he didn’t check.
    “Excellent,” said A116. “I look forward to
checking your logs later today.”
    U2258 had to hurry. He had to access the
control room. He had security clearance to go in there, it was just
that he either couldn’t be seen doing it, or he needed a good
excuse. It was not something people did every day. And it certainly
seldom came into his job description. He thought about this problem
for several minutes without a good solution until he decided on an
extreme course of action. When no one was looking, he moved to a
corner of the room and pulled the fire alarm.
    Lights blazed, sirens wailed, and everyone
began to clear the building. Everyone except U2258, and the
firebots who scurried here and there looking for signs of fire.
These robots were efficient, so he only had a couple of minutes
before the alarm would be called off and people would again enter
the building. And who would they find there? Him.
    He opened the door to the control room and
sat before the main terminal. He typed in his credentials, and then
created a separate account. Something that could not easily be tied
to him. Then through that account he created another account with
all the same access he currently possessed. In order to cover his
tracks, he then went back in and deleted the first account he
created, making it impossible to trace who had even made the third
access account.
    Being U2258, he did this slowly and
deliberately. Even with a time limit he did not hurry. No need to
make a careless mistake. By the time he had finished, he heard the
alarm being called off and a general announcement was made that the
building was safe. They chocked it up to a fire sensor malfunction.
U2258 got out of the room, but on the way down he met others coming
up. Quickly he ducked into a bathroom and splashed water on his
face. A moment later when he ran into a co-worker, X213, he told
her he was not feeling well and should head home due to a