THE SYNDICATE

 

THE SYNDICATE

                                                             II

Five years ago

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Carl completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science at the top of his class at the MIT and was the Valedictorian for the class of 2019. He was a genius to others when it came to computers others a god when it came to hacking, testing penetration and software testing. His unique ability to write complex code was unmatched to anyone in the whole University. Not only was able to master the coding skills but also the online hacker space.

He had acquired a huge notoriety as the campus’s most promising hacker, winning high stake hackathon tournaments, also working in the University as an Ethical hacker. Huge blue-chip companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon all wanted to recruit him. He was ecstatic that his talents had given much popularity and liking.

Carl always had the most acute social anxiety and also a bit of OCD. He could always see patterns that no one else saw. It came naturally to him like a baby’s first words. He always struggled with articulating his words, some of his “friends” always joked around and told him he had some form of autism, of which it was kind of true.

He was always silent. Hunching over his laptop rendering website deployments and creating his own AI tools. He was a skilled programmer and his ability to write raw, flawless code was just part of his arsenal. The other students always gave him complex assignments that he would finish in hours using sites like Lovable and ChatGBT he’s logic and problem-solving skills made him quite a prodigy.

On this day, The stadium was alive with a strange electricity—half joy, half nervous anticipation. The morning sun fell like gold across the rows of chairs lined in military precision on the freshly cut grass. The graduates wore smartly dressed gowns that looked immaculate with a blue silk ribbon across their chests. They were all proud of themselves, some laughed hysterically at their inside jokes reminiscing the good old times of the University fraternity while others were stiff and nervous.

Families crowded the stands, their cheers and chatter filling the air. Mothers dabbed their eyes with crumpled tissues, fathers stood tall with pride stiffening their shoulders, and younger siblings held handmade signs, eager to wave them at the right moment. Confetti and roses were all seen dangling over their bodies as they all celebrated the important day.

The band lead the crowd into the University anthem, drums would beat and trumpets blown into a sweet symphony as the graduated walked one by one to the podium to receive their degrees, diplomas and PHD’s. Carl was seated at the fore front of it all admiring the music and the beautifully decorated wall. He couldn’t believe it after long nights of study and toil he was graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, top of his class.

He rose swiftly when it was time to give his speech. He was eloquent and precise making sure he was audible and well heard. He talked about how the lectureres were kind, the students were genial and the staff benevolent. He emphasized that this was only the beginning for them and the journey had just begun. He spoke about all the sleepless nights, the sheer hard work and all its rewards. Finally, he wrapped up the speech congratulating his fellow students and showing gratitude towards the faculty.

Cheers and applaud rented the air as the graduated jeered him on.

The afternoon sun hung low retreating to sleep and slumber. Carl’s parents were extremely proud of him. When they got home, they had learnt that the mail man passed through delivering some mail. Carl was excited for he already knew that these were coming from the most prestigious of jobs, that he applied to.

He skimmed through all the mails, all of them acceptance letters to work for the biggest jobs in the world as: data scientist, software engineer and cloud developer. But one stood out a cyber security analyst at an unknown company he tried to google it no results were found upon the search.

He decided to write an email to them and see the response he was excited that now he that he had a job. Little does he know this would be the beginning of a new chapter in his life.