The Chronicles of J.C. and Yu - The User Manual

From the Author:

This is a work of fiction.

Any resemblance to actual persons, places or events is purely coincidental.

Prologue:

"Any questions?" Yu said, not really expecting a response. He knew that J.C. had a unique ability to remember - and repeat back verbatim - everything he heard. It was like the audio version of photographic memory.

"After I complete the job, can I stick around and enjoy the sights?" J.C. asked - secretly crossing his fingers inside the pockets of his leather jacket.

Yu stood up (the signal that the meeting was coming to an end) and said, "Up to you. But I predict you'll want to leave as soon as possible when anyone discovers what we did."

Twin Enigmas

Try as he might, J.C. couldn't relax as a passenger on any airplane.

It was a mystery to him that, although he'd narrowly escaped drowning during a helicopter mishap over water while performing special ops in the U.S. military, he still could sleep in them, but not on commercial aircraft.

"Maybe it's the noise and vibration?" he thought.

"No, it's probably because on commercial flights, life jackets and/or parachutes are issued after a situation is identified and triple-verified; making it too late to properly prepare anyone (physically, psychologically and emotionally) to perform any semblance of effective emergency procedures."

Witnessing firsthand the cruel aftermath of "Murphy's Law" several times during his military career, J.C. was always keen to be as mentally prepared as possible for any - as Yu put it - "untoward situations".

So, in his true OCD fashion, J.C. ran the mission brief in his head for the umpteenth time; adding more and more contingency plans with each mental rehearsal.

He had been on too many missions when everything suddenly went to shit. He knew that the only chance of survival in those situations is to quickly execute pre-planned courses of action.

Once satisfied that all possible scenarios that he could think of were covered, his mind drifted to thoughts of his boss (and best friend) "Yu".

It dawned on him that the friendship between them was a stark example of irony. Their backgrounds, training and life experiences couldn't be more dissimilar.

But, in spite of all their differences, they had become as close as brothers. Maybe it was because both didn't grow up with any male siblings?

J.C. knew one thing for sure, the one thing they surely had in common was this:

They were both enigmas.

A Different kind of Prison

Yu was an eccentric billionaire.

Like J.C., Yu was an athletic looking Asian-American. He was pushing fifty-four (one year less than J.C.), but could easily be mistaken for a man decades younger.

At a very early age, he was diagnosed by a panel of diversified medical and psychological professionals as "more intelligent than a genius".

That "Uber-Genius" label resulted in a life sentence (without parole) in the dark, manipulative world of government Think Tank service.

From childhood and well into his late thirties, Yu spent most of his waking hours researching and running simulations for the Rand Corporation, DARPA and other Think Tanks - public, private and "non-existent".

It wasn't long before Yu realized he was essentially imprisoned within the walls of each high security, high surveillance research facility. He also knew that he had become too valuable for his employers to ever allow him to permanently leave.

Any trips to the outside world required the proper authorization - from whom was never clearly stated. There was always a constant, annoying presence of robot looking, earpiece-tethered, men in black lurking in the background; purportedly serving as "bodyguards".

The top directors from every sleazy "alphabet organization" agreed:

"Yu's proven ability to craft high probability scenarios and to create everything from advanced weapon designs and global game theory tactics to specialized cryptographic algorithms and quantum computer programs, make him a prime candidate for abduction or assassination by persons and nations not friendly to the United States."

"Additionally, his participation in, and knowledge of, multiple secret projects identifies him as a huge potential threat to national security - should he decide to go rogue someday."

After decades of secret planning, materials acquisition and relationship building with powerful people, Yu was finally able to leave the Think Tank; supposedly with the government's blessing - sort of.

In actuality, Yu positioned himself to where they had to let him go (safe, unscathed and without future surveillance) or run the risk of swift retaliation from every foreign country that holds large sums of U.S. currency and government bonds.

How did he do this?

Over the years, he carefully accumulated a formidable cache of very damning evidence against the United States. It was proof positive that countless illegal acts were done during the administrations of the last three presidents.

The mass of documents, images and video footage were safeguarded by thousands of layers of QCL (Quantum Computer Language) encryption hashes, stored in a global maze of redundant arrays and subject to multiple blind failsafe plans if anything should "mysteriously" happen to Yu.

J.C. met Yu in Bangkok over 14 years ago. Yu had finally escaped the Think Tanks and was still adjusting to normal life.

Remembering that initial meeting with Yu always made J.C. smile and chuckle; perpetually thanking the universe to allow their paths to cross.

Looking back, J.C. realized that after meeting Yu, his life had forever been changed in countless ways - all for the better.

Feet Dry

J.C.'s brief stay in the lands of nostalgia was halted by the flight attendant's voice - a voice that matched her sexy, pheromone emitting body.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for flying EgyptAir. We will be landing twenty minutes early into Cairo International Airport. Please ensure your seat is in the upright position, seatbelt is securely fastened and tray tables are returned to their original storage slots..."

(To be continued)

By JaiChai

About the Author

He is a retired U.S. Military veteran.

Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic. In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he freefall parachuted out of airplanes and performed diving ops in very deep, open ocean water.

He spends his days on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, longtime girlfriend and three dogs.