Is this destiny?

On their way to first event, Sarah and Aiden took a 10-minute shuttle ride through dense forest to another building. Along the way, they made one stop to pick up few more passengers who waited next to the well-maintained road. These people had dark blue robes, dark blue masks and silver numbers embroidered on their left front pocket.

No one spoke.

Sarah had a strange feeling of mystery and was excited what is coming next. She was holding hands with Aiden and somehow, she knew that whatever is coming, as long as he is by her side, everything will be all right. That allowed her to relax and enjoy.

Staff waited for them at the entrance, and immediately led the way for each participant.

Inside of the building where this event was held reminded Sarah of those theaters where operas are held. Seating on lower level, and balcony-seating on the upper level. Space was not large. There were less than hundred seats on the floor.

Sarah and Aiden were led to the upper level, each had their own separate balcony. Sarah didn't like that they were separated, but each balcony was set up for one person, and she saw that he is on the balcony to her left, so she relaxed. She observed a display in front of her and a headset. On the display she could order food or drinks and select language. Later she found out that each event will be translated to multiple languages, and she can choose which one will be heard through her headset.

Below the balconies were floor seats. Each seat was separate with at least one foot of space on each side. This allowed people who sit there to move around without interrupting others. Sarah thought that this is how it would look if in a movie theater you remove every second seat, and every second row.

Soon she observed that there is a distinction between people who wear different color robes. She was able to see that only about ten of them were on balconies, all wearing dark red robes. Down, on the floor, everyone seated was wearing dark blue robes, and she spotted at least three people in white robes. Sarah could not see where people in white robes are seated.

Aiden observed amount of security guards. It made his skin crawl. He held Sarah close to him, his only thoughts were about her safety. He analyzed potential escape routes and counted number of armed guards they passed by. He didn't like it. Aiden knows that security on these events is tight, but what if those guards turn hostile? Want to imprison them? He didn't like it at all.

Aiden was happy that Sarah seems to be enjoying the experience, but he hoped that she is a bit more aware of potential dangers around them. They were in an unknown place, surrounded with masked people and armed guards. That didn't seem to bother her at all. 'I will need to talk to her when we get back… I hope we get back safely after this.'

When he realized that they will be physically separated for the event, he almost caused a scene, not willing to let go of Sarah's hand. But when he saw that they are in adjacent booths, he eased up a bit.

He read the information on the panel, about leaving his designated seat: he will need to call for a staff member who will escort him wherever he wants to go.

All lights dimmed, including the ones on the panels in front of them, and the conference started.

One man in white robe stood on a lit-up stage in front and greeted them. His face was covered with a silver mask. He didn't talk much, mostly just start-of-the-conference pleasantries, thanking them for coming, wishing them to enjoy, and reminding them of few privacy and safety rules which everyone already had in their rooms and on the devices in front of them. Man had an Indian accent, and Sarah was almost certain that is Mr. Patel.

When he left the stage, large white screen was lowered, and image was projected on it. This event was a presentation-style talk by a world-famous hacker Viper. It was live-streamed. He was wearing a mask, and only upper half of his body was visible. It was obvious that he was seated, in front of his computer. He spoke about technical aspects of his last endeavor, challenges and how he overcame them. Sarah found it fascinating. During the talk, they could enter their questions using devices in front of them, and Viper would answer them after his talk is done.

Viper's talk was only a bit over half an hour, but part with answering questions took more than an hour.

After that event, all participants were offered to come for refreshments and socializing. Few were not willing, and Sarah saw them taking the shuttles back to their rooms.

Sarah and Aiden stayed behind. Neither of them had a desire to socialize, they decided to join mostly out of curiosity. It was like social hour with some snacks and beverages provided for people to help themselves. No formal seating was available, so most of the people were standing. Few took a seat at the bar. People in the room were wearing blue and red cloaks.

Not long after, one white-cloaked man with silver mask covering his face stood in the middle and clapped loudly to get everyone's attention. He had a Spanish accent, so it was definitely not Mr. Patel. He welcomed everyone and wished that they enjoy the event with a reminder that unless they want to reveal their identities on purpose, they should address each other by numbers on their garments.

Sarah observed that red and blue cloaked people had numbers on their front left side, probably assigned by the order in which they solved challenges required to qualify for the event. That white cloaked man had a symbol on his front left which looked like a flamenco dancer.

'Definitely Spanish', Sarah thought.

The man in white cloak didn't speak much and wished them a pleasant evening before leaving the room.

People gathered were not very chatty. They mostly glanced at others, averting gazes if they met someone's eyes by accident, like this was some kind of a one-way-staring event. Sarah observed people of all sizes. She wished to see their faces and had to remind herself that it's not OK to go and remove their masks. Especially when a person, obviously female walked by them, and Sarah noticed that she had number 11 on her dark blue cloak. That means that lady completed her task definitely before Sarah. Oh, how she wished to find out who that person is. But then she noticed that 11-wearing-lady was throwing glances shameless at Aiden! Sure, he is handsome, even with that mask and cloak on, but he is obviously NOT available.

"Let's go back to our room…", Sarah grumbled. She lost interest in the social event.

…

When Sarah and Aiden returned to their room, Sarah removed her mask and voiced her frustration that made her boil. "That insolent woman!"

"Which one?"

Sarah frowned. "The one with 11! Don't tell me you didn't notice how she looked at you?!"

"My beloved wifey, don't make me the bad guy here… what about all men who were staring your way?"

"What men?" Sarah was obviously surprised by his question. She didn't notice any men looking at her.

"Exactly! Do you think I was holding onto you like that for no reason? And I glared at each and every one of them until they gave up on the idea of approaching you." Aiden was happy to see that he managed to coax her. He can't control other women if they stare at him. Unless they approach him, the best he can do is to ignore them. But he was not lying. More than one man there was very close to coming to chat with Sarah, and if she didn't suggest that they go back to their room, he would. After all, he wants to avoid causing problems during this event, at least on the first day.

"Oh…", Sarah's anger subsided. Now she felt a bit embarrassed for throwing a fit. She reminded herself that next time she needs to show that Aiden is hers, and not to just retreat easily.

Once that topic was out of the way, Sarah and Aiden noticed two tablets on the coffee table in the living room. It was from the organizers, used for communication. They already had few emails each in the inbox specifically created for the event.

Sarah opened hers as '30' and read few emails which were introductions, greetings, nothing new or important. And then the last one got her perked up. It was about the event for VIP participants.

Aiden had the same email invitation in his inbox.

The VIP event was starting later in the evening, and they had to respond if they want to participate or not. Of course, they decided to participate.

"I remember Patel mentioning that VIP comes with some additional events. I wonder what that is…", Sarah was excited.

"The first speaker in white sounded like Patel.", Aiden shared his thoughts.

Sarah agreed with him.

Two of them compared some other observations they made, and concluded that people in white are organizers, dark blue cloaks are for regular participants, while dark red are for VIPs.