Scalpel Tests The Engineer
PROLOGUE
[forum: r/TheDock — “IS ANYONE ELSE DOWN RIGHT NOW”]
xXFragKingXx: Literally cannot launch a single game. library won’t even load. Anchor pls
verlia_sik: Same here. Thought it was just me. Tried restarting like 4 times. They should not put Breach and Standoff in this garbage platform.
GruntWork_09: LMAOOO this is the third outage this month. How do you run a store that can’t stay open
Trxt.exe: I miss the easy way we used to download Standoff. Do they just want to make money by dumping games onto this garbage platform?
xXFragKingXx: Typical Anchor moment tbh. Cool games shame about the actual platform
Monturi: Anyone know if this is affecting purchases too? I just bought something and it says “processing” and hasn’t moved in 20 min
Joey: Bro I paid for this. I paid actual money for a game that doesn’t work
Trxt.exe: Where’s the “we’re aware of the issue” tweet? Does anyone want to email them and ask for a refund?
deleted_user: S***id Platform.
xXFragKingXx: 💀💀💀 deleted_user with the header shot.
Bang_bang: Ok this isn’t funny anymore it’s been over an hour
Janson_rug87: refund. I want a refund.
verlia_sik: Does anyone actually work there? like a real human being? or is it just three guys and a server rack held together with tape
Monturi: My little brother’s been crying for 40 minutes bc he cant play with his friends. thanks anchor
GruntWork_09: At this point just take the site down officially instead of pretending it’s “loading”
Bang_bang: remember when you could just insert a disc and play. we ruined ourselves
Trxt.exe: True. It used to be so easy. now everything’s digital, everything depends on someone else’s server.
Joey: Somebody’s getting fired tonight lol
deleted_user: Or somebody’s about to pull an all nighter
xXFragKingXx: Either way not my problem. i just want to play my game
An interface glowing in shades of blue, With simple buttons to play, or log out. I lost the best friend I ever knew, The platform I dreamed of, shattered by doubt.
A thousand voices rising all tonight, Each one certain that I don’t understand. They see the crash, but not the losing fight, Not the two of us who built this out of sand.
The silent night now haunts my heavy mind, As bitter words are tearing me apart. I am so lost, with no one left behind, Holding the final hope within my heart.
Gaben sat alone in the office long after everyone else had gone home, the overhead lights off, just the cold blue wash of the monitor lighting the room. He’d stopped scrolling an hour ago and started reading properly instead, every comment, every thread, every username with a grievance and a countdown timer on their patience.
Then Gaben looked at his phone. The chat history with him and Mark, scrolled up further than he usually let himself go.
Gaben: Hey Mark, I know you are having fun right now. With your life. I really wish you were with me right now. If you know what I’m saying.
Mark: I know, Gaben. I’m so sorry I can’t be with you right now.
Gaben: Even for this? This might be the last one, you know.
Mark: I know you, Gaben. It’s never the last one. I’m sorry. You’re on your own for this.
Gaben stared at the message longer than he needed to. His thumb hovered over the keyboard, typed three words, deleted them, typed two different ones, deleted those too. In the end he just locked the phone and set it face-down on the desk, screen dark, like that solved anything.
SEVEN YEARS EARLIER
The hospital lab smelled like medicine and liquid antiseptic. Gaben stood over the tray, scalpel in hand, staring down at a frog lying tied to the tray, its sides heaving with quick, shallow breaths.
“So I just… cut it?” he said.
Norm leaned against the counter, arms crossed, grinning like a man who’d been waiting all week for this. “You’ve been telling me since we were nineteen that you wanted to be a doctor. Take your shot.”
“That was a childhood dream, Norm. There’s a difference between wanting to be a doctor and actually being handed a knife and a living thing. Honestly, I thought it’d just be, you know — mixing liquids, matching stuff up. Nobody said anything about cutting.”
“It’s not living anymore. Technically.”
“That’s not comforting.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be.” Norm shrugged. “You dream it, you try it. Otherwise you’re just a guy at NovaSoft who used to want to be a doctor. Otherwise you’ll never actually experience what you dreamed of.”
Gaben huffed a laugh despite himself and looked back down at the frog — still tied to the tray, chest rising and falling too fast. He turned the scalpel over once in his fingers.
“I usually dissect software, don’t I?” he muttered. “So this time I’m dissecting a living creature. Why not? It’s just a frog. What could possibly go wrong?”
Norm smirked. “Famous last words. But go on.”
Gaben lowered the blade. He approached it the only way he knew how — look for the structure, the logic, the inputs and outputs. But biology didn’t follow syntax. With a sudden, disgusting tear of tissue, a splash of bright red sprayed across Gaben’s glasses.
“B— blood—”
He was out before he hit the floor.
Norm didn’t even try to catch him. He just stood there, laughing quietly at the sight of a grown man in a lab coat crumpled because of the blood.
“Typical engineer.”
Gaben woke up staring at a ceiling that felt familiar in a way he couldn’t place. He blinked a few times, sat up slowly, and looked around.
This is my brother’s room. I must be at his house.
He rubbed his eyes, dragged himself downstairs, and found his brother at the dining table, plate in front of him, looking entirely unsurprised to see him.
“Look who’s up.”
“How’d I even get here?”
“Norm dropped you off. Said you fainted.” A pause. “Dissecting a frog."
“Great. Really great friend I’ve got.”
His sister-in-law came in from the kitchen with another plate, setting it down without missing a beat. “Okay, now I’m curious. Why a frog?”
“Experience,” Gaben said, like that explained everything.
“That’s a doctor’s job, not a programmer’s.”
“I just wanted to see what it was like. It’s not a big deal.”
His brother raised an eyebrow. “Not a big deal? You passed out over a little blood.”
“Can we not.”
“Why not, it’s a great story. She’d probably love to hear it.” He tilted his head toward his wife.
“Don’t you dare.”
“Wait — hear what?” She looked between them, delighted. “There’s a story?”
“There is no story.”
His brother was already grinning. “He wanted to be a doctor as a kid. Tried to prove he still had it in him today. Turns out he can build you a whole operating system but he can’t handle a little blood.”
“I did not sign up for this roast.”
His sister-in-law laughed, then softened, nudging the plate toward him. “Come on, sit. Eat something. You’re clearly a genius at something, even if it’s not surgery.”
He glanced at the food, glanced at her, and gave up the fight. “I can’t say no to free dinner.”
“Of course you can’t,” his brother said. “Genius, scared of blood. Never change.”
Gaben shot him a look, ate just enough to be polite, and stood to leave.
“You could stay the night,” his brother offered.
“Mark’s probably wondering where I am. Don’t want to be the reason his night gets weird too.”
“Suit yourself. See you at work tomorrow.”
The walk back to the apartment gave him too much time to think.
Afraid of blood. He said it to himself like it was a diagnosis. Fine. I was just startled, not afraid. Nothing that needed dwelling on.
He was three blocks from home when a storefront display stopped him cold: a sale on GPUs, the newest one sitting front and center under the shop lights like it had been waiting for him specifically.
He stood there a moment too long.
Maybe this can heal my broken heart over the blood.
Mark was hunched over his desk when Gaben pushed the door open, deep in his own work, barely glancing up.
“Hey, how’d it go? Norm said you fainted—”
“Nope. Please don’t finish that sentence.”
“C’mon, it’s funny.”
“It was funny the first two times. The rest of it, no.” Gaben held up the box. “Look what I got instead.”
Mark’s eyes went wide. “Tell me you did not actually buy that.”
“You seeing this means I bought it. What, you expect me to steal it from the store?”
“You’re the crazy guy that’ll do anything. But that actually surprised me — that thing costs more than our rent.”
“And it’s gorgeous. Those two facts can both be true.”
“What are you even going to use it for?”
“What else would I want to do? I want to see how far it can support my software.” Gaben was already unboxing it, entirely too pleased with himself.
Mark checked the clock and sighed. “It’s midnight.”
“I know.”
“You know how this goes. You get like this, you forget to sleep, and then you’re the guy stumbling in late tomorrow.”
“Not tomorrow. Tomorrow I’m early. I promise.”
Mark didn’t even look up from his screen. “Sure you are.”
