Investigation Begins

Twenty four hours stretched interminably. Back in her dorm, Melanie was quietly going nuts, her mind running in circles around her mysterious ‘secret admirer.’ Was he —tall? Handsome? Not likely? Probably shorter, according to Korinne’s profile…maybe wore glasses….probably quiet and bookish…he might be into Science Fiction or Fantasy. Melanie looked hopefully up at her wall poster of Anakin Skywalker – which her friends were constantly teasing her about –but she didn’t care: she still thought he was hot… All of these things were buzzing around in her mind, which made studying impossible: not that she needed to anymore, though – the gift book had supplied more than enough material for her term paper.

She sighed and fell back on her bed….the bottom edge of her shirt riding up on her ribs as she folded her hands behind her head. She looked up at her ceiling and tried to picture this mystery man….

Across town, BobaFett was online, chatting with an old friend.

“It was so perfect!” he typed. “The timing was perfect, no one saw me, and she was totally blown away by it! I stayed and watched and she couldn’t let it go!”

“You seem to have her attention now,” came the reply. “What is your next move?”

“I was going to try to leave her a note,” he said. “I’d really like to meet her, but not yet. I just wanted her to know I think she’s really cute.”

“Well, if finals are next week, then you still have time,” came the reply. “She’ll probably be there again tomorrow. Will you ‘strike’ again?”

“Yes!” Fett typed. “Twice in the same week! It’ll drive her crazy!”

****************************

In the library, Korinne was pretending to read her book, but was actually looking up at regular intervals, scanning the room.

“Will you stop that!” said Carmen, smacking her hand. “You’re going to blow the whole operation!”

“Relax, Carmen: this isn’t Mission Impossible,” said Angela, keeping her eyes on her own book. “Korinne, do you see anyone suspicious?”

“They’re all suspicious,” Korinne said. “That’s the problem.”

Dawn was tapping at the keys of the terminal next to Melanie’s.

“Okay,” she said, “basically I’ve set up a window straight into the server’s message logs, which means I’m monitoring all the traffic into the server. Mostly it’s requests for books. This,” she pointed to one line of numbers, “is your mystery man’s terminal: 392. We’re at the same table we were at yesterday,….”

“…so it stands to reason that he’ll use the same terminal,” said Korinne. She was barely able to see the terminal in question – it was tucked out of sight back behind the geography books in the reference stacks, but she could just make out the screen of the monitor: they had gone into the stacks and arranged the books so that Korinne had a clear view of the targeted terminal.

Melanie was completely nervous and found it almost impossible to study anything. She wanted to keep looking up, but forced herself to pretend to read, turning pages she hadn’t even glanced at. It was nearly a half hour before Dawn spoke quietly.

“Korinne, what do you see?”

Korinne glanced up, then back down at her book.

“Someone’s there,” she said. “There’s a head blocking the screen.”

“Oooohhhh!” said Carmen. Korinne smacked her hand. “Shut up,” she suggested.

Dawn watched her own screen. “There’s a server request from 392,” she said. “…and here comes our Cyrus protocol. Yup…this is our man.”

“Ooohhh…let’s go see what he’s like!” said Carmen.

“Carmen, you move your fat ass and you are toast,” said Korinne.

“My ass isn’t as fat as yours!” said Carmen, only slightly offended.

“He’s logged in,” said Dawn, “but he hasn’t done anything yet. Wait….” She watched the screen before her carefully. “Oh Ho….he’s logging into Yahoo,” she said. “And there goes the IM chat protocol. He’s talking to someone else.”

Korinne nodded thoughtfully. Melanie looked at her.

“What?” she asked.

Korinne shrugged. “It sounds a little bit like Cyrano de Bergerac,” she said. “The young suitor is seeking counsel…perhaps with his mentor…”

Carmen was literally squirming in her chair.

“I can’t stand this!” she complained. “I feel like I’m going to explode!”

“Have another peach danish,” Korinne advised. “You can put us all out of your misery, then.”

Dawn was frowning.

“He’s not doing anything with Cyrus, yet,” she said. “It’s all IM chat….which is a neat trick in itself, since the campus server is supposed to have a firewall blocking IM chat. This guy is good…” Angela was watching Melanie.

“You could just go over and introduce yourself,” she said.

Korinne shook her head. “He might bolt,” she said. “You’d never see him again.”

“I think we need to get up and move away from the table,” said Carmen. “That’s what we did yesterday!”

“Yeah, but it has to look natural,” said Korinne. “What would pull us away from here?”

“Other than a bunch of guys,” said Angela.

“Let’s go get a snack!” said Carmen. “The machines are over by the lounge!”

“Perfect,” said Korinne. “We can watch the table from there. Mel, you stay here. Dawn, can you keep that channel open and fix it so he can’t see what you’re up to?”

Dawn nodded. “I’ll just minimize it and run a browser request for a book,” she said.

“Okay,” said Korinne, standing up, “let’s go get your danish, Carmen.”

The girls left their books and moved toward the vending machine room, which had several table in it. Snacks were not allowed in the main library, so they would have to remain there until finished with their food.

Melanie resisted the urge to look back behind her.

“I feel like I’m walking away from a buried treasure,” she muttered.

Angela nodded. “I know what you mean,” she said.

Once at the machines, it was Carmen who spotted their man.

“He’s there!” she hissed, glancing out through the glass wall and turning to look at Melanie.

Melanie glanced sideways, but her view was blocked by a passing student.

“What’s he like?” asked Angela.

“Short….glasses…..kind of thin…dark hair…”

Korinne nodded. “Classic Geek,” she said. “Probably stays up reading comic books all night.”

“He’s leaving something!” Carmen hissed, looking over Korinne’s shoulder. “There he goes…he’s gone!”

“Okay, back to the table,” said Korinne, finishing her small coffee. “And keep quiet, all of you.” This time, it was two roses….and a note.

Dawn brought up the messaging log again. Melanie had the note open and was reading.

“What does it say?” Carmen hissed.

“Carmen, you are about as subtle as a cement truck,” said Korinne.

“It’s personal,” said Melanie, folding the note. She slipped it into one of her books.

“Ooohhh…you can’t DO that!” said Carmen. Melanie blushed and looked at her.

“…’for the fair lady…and the hopes she will favor me with a smile one day,’” she quoted.

Korinne looked at her. “I can see the screen,” she said. “That means he’s watching you.”

“Ooohhh…this is just like a stalker!” said Carmen. Korinne nodded.

“Here’s your big chance,” she said. “Flash him a nice one.”

Melanie blinked, then lifted her head, and beamed. Nothing happened, of course.

Melanie dropped her smile and glowered at the table. “I feel like an idiot,” she muttered.

Angela shook her head.

“Don’t,” she said. “I think you just made his day.”

Korinne nodded. “He’s at the terminal again.

Dawn nodded. “He’s there, all right.”

“So NOW what?” asked Carmen.

“Well, NOW,….” said Korinne, “it’s up to Mel. This is the perfect time to get the drop on him: just walk over there.”

Melanie shook her head, then nodded, then looked at Korinne.

“Do you think he’s safe?” she asked.

Korinne nodded. “He’s probably miserable and thinks you’d never give him a glance,” she said. “Kind of like Phantom of the Opera…”

“That’s so SAD!” said Carmen.

Melanie stood up, and began walking back toward the geography section.

“He’s gone…!” said Korinne behind her suddenly. “The screen…I can see it again!”

Dawn blinked at her own screen….”but his IM chat window is still open,” she said.

“He saw her! He’s onto us!” said Korinne. “Mel, get to that terminal before someone else does!”

Melanie turned and ran back through the stacks. At the back of the row, she came to an empty internet carrel…the screen still flickering…and on it, was a small Yahoo chat window….Behind her, she felt the presence of her friends.

“…his name is Bobaxxfett?” she said.

“That’s a Star Wars character,” said Korinne. “He’s probably a Sci-Fi freak.”