Short Story: The Trinity Code
By: Micheal Nixon

I am one to watch life as a system where opportunities arise for everyone, but some opportunities are not for everyone. Well that’s what my friend Tim Rose learnt the hard way. We sometimes tend to take things for granted and just view life as a joke. However we later realized that the joke was on us. Thinking back on the event I always say to myself that if we had just minded our own business, Tim and I would still be up to our little experiments. However, our attempts were futile; with me losing my dignity and Tim, well let’s just say he is no longer the rational friend I once knew. He lost and entered his own world the day it came; a vile entity we call Trinity. Its seductive self and irresistible aura was what enticed Tim to pursue its trail, while burning its codes in our thoughts. That why I always reflect on the events that led to Tim going insane.
It was the first Monday in September; the year was 1998. School was prosperous for Tim and me as usual. We were known as the internet gods after all. Whenever a file was to be retrieved, altered or edited we were the ones. Whenever a code was to be broken Tim was the one. Whenever REG’S (Restricted Electrical Gateways) were to be accessed, I was the one. You could have just called us the opportunists. Always seeking an opportunity and risking getting caught. At school, there were rumors of a new code created by a user called Trinity. A code if broken would give the hacker access to files that are rumoured to unravel the six sense equation.
We thought it sounded really cheesy at first; something you would expect a conspiracy theorist nutcase to make up. However, our sources proved that the code was indeed genuine, thus igniting us with the pleasure of breaking it. Our afternoons were committed to cracking the code, in turn leaving our homework and other second rated chores to be done later. Tim’s apartment was the ideal spot for this as he was more up to date on the latest technical gadgets, which gave him the edge over me and other mediocre school hackers. On our first viewing, we realized that the code was different in architecture; in that the usual commands were replaced by binary.

We deciphered the codes religiously every afternoon making an oath to crack the main code within ten days. I will admit it was the most complex code we ever came across, sometimes even challenging our psyche. There were times when we would be in Tim’s room making irrational comments to one another, trying to relieve the code cracking stress. We even became delusional at times, unable to tell reality from the internet. The code just didn’t make sense and what puzzled us was the unusual message we frequently came across which read “DNIMSUDEEF”.
It was day five and I had completely given up on cracking the code. I have to admit I felt underachieved for a while since this was the first code that undermined my skills. Tim however had a different agenda. Giving up was not a word in his mental dictionary, as he was fully devoted to breaking Trinity. The sixth and seventh days passed with Tim not showing up for school. I tried calling him but to no avail. I even visited his apartment but it was locked. “Maybe he went out...well that’s what I thought at the time”.
Then on the eighth day, I got a call from a weeping Mrs. Rose, explaining that Tim was found in his apartment, in front his computer, with his eyes focused on the screen but unresponsive; only repeating the name Trinity. Tim was later diagnosed as mentally unstable and transferred to St. Catherine’s Home for the mentally challenge. I would regularly pay him a visit but eventually stopped, realizing that I had lost Tim forever to Trinity. I would sometimes surf the internet and always feel Tim’s presence but realize that I am the only one in my room.
Sometime after Tim’s incarceration, I finally deciphered the DNIMSUDEEF message, by reading it backwards. It will always remain a mystery to me and everyone else as to what really happened in Tim’s apartment, before we lost one of our best hackers. In life, it is just better if we keep our selves out of things that don’t concern us, because there will be a point in time where you won’t be able to climb out of what you dug.

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