Fiction logo

I Am Not

What trouble can your name bring you?

By Gal MuxPublished about a year ago 12 min read
Like
Image by TheDigitalArtist on Pixabay

The AutoT pulled up smoothly on the driveway. 

On the outside, it resembled a newly released 2014 Chevy Suburban. One would not have guessed that this was a time machine that had just jumped seventy-three years back to arrive there at that moment. 

Like hungry vultures anxiously hovering ready to pounce on potential prey, a few dozen journalists lingered on the opposite side of the road. With mics in their hands and cameras pointed in the direction of the house, they were an obvious nuisance to the quiet suburban street. 

Agent Fischer stepped out of the AutoT, closed its door behind him and began walking up the driveway. Behind him, agent Rina rushed carrying what looked to be an iPad. She had hastily alighted from another vehicle that had been parked on the opposite side of the road immediately she saw the agent park his car. 

The two walked up to the door and rang the bell. Cameras flashed as countless questions were thrown at them by the journalists. 

" Have you come to arrest him?" 

"From which agency are you?" 

" Where will you take him?" 

The two agents ignored the questions. 

Agent Rina looked at the AutoT.

"New model? she asked the agent. 

Fischer didn't reply.

"It looks pretty," agent Rina added somewhat embarrassed and intimidated by this officer's coldness. 

Fischer managed a polite smile. 

" l received a message that you would be arriving from the capital. I didn't expect you to arrive just a few minutes later…," she continued. 

The agent did not reply. 

Rina adjusted her coat, a slight eye roll visible. It seemed this was going to be one of those tough ones she thought to herself. 

She rang the bell again. 

She then pulled up her iPad and clicked on the article on the screen. The title read: The face of Bitcoin. 

" Do you think he is him?" Rina asked trying to make conversation while pointing to the image of the man on the screen. 

Again, she did not receive a reply. 

The silent agent walked a few steps into the yard and peered inside the house. 

" Mr Nakamoto, my name is agent Fischer from the CIA. Please let me come in?" the agent said the second he saw the tired-looking man on the other side of the glass kitchen window. 

The man just stared at him.

The agent pulled out his badge from the pocket of his coat and placed it on the window. 

The man came closer and studied the badge, then the agent for a few seconds. He then pointed in the direction of the front entrance. 

The agent walked to the door. A few seconds later, he heard a key on the lock. The door was opened. 

The cameras flashed harder. 

" Stay here!" Fischer ordered agent Rina who had attempted to follow him up the steps, "I will proceed alone." 

Agent Rina paused. 

Fischer stepped into the house and followed his host who led him to what looked like a small home office. It had a desk with an old computer on it, piles of papers and old magazines next to the computer and in the open cabinet next to the wall. 

The agent closed the office door behind him and looked at the quiet man who was now seated on the office chair next to the desk. 

" Is this a safe place to talk?" the agent asked. 

The man nodded a frown on his forehead. He ran his fingers through the greying unkempt hair on his head and adjusted his thick glasses. It was clear the recent events had had a toll on him. 

" Mr Nakamoto. My name is agent Fischer. I have a proposal for you," the agent said pressing what seemed to be a button on the device on his wrist. 

A projected screen popped up in the thin air between them.

Dorian Nakamoto watched and listened intently as the agent continued.  

" I come from 2087. And things are bad. Really bad. Catastrophic." 

Dorian remained silent. Unfazed as he watched the graphics on the screen. 

" Three hours ago, a strange bug hit Bitcoin's software locking out 47% of miners out of the network. Power now rests on a 53% majority mining pool calling themselves HackKRaGu. Our intelligence shows that they are being controlled by the KRaGu a coalition of global militant states who recently gained considerable power. It is not yet clear how they have been able to do this.

One Bitcoin is now priced at $1,150,000 up from the $780,000 it was just two hours ago. Based on our intelligence, the hash rate has dropped drastically, and some transactions especially those with gas fees lower than $5000 are deliberately going unverified bringing chaos to global financial markets. We fear more is to come including hacks on wallets or forced surrender of coins held in individual, exchanges or government wallets. And worse still, alterations in the blockchain before we can correct the situation. 

If this threat escalates further, billions might be rendered destitute unable to afford basic necessities and many nations including ours will be brought to their knees politically, militarily and economically. 

We fear that with such power in their hands, the militants might rage vicious terror and brutal control on the rest of the globe." 

The screen then faded. 

Dead silence followed for the next few seconds. 

" Look, mister, that future you say you come from sounds terrible," Dorian managed to finally utter. "I also don't know what you may have had, or what TV network may have sent you to deceive me to get an interview, but even if you knew what you were saying like I said yesterday and I have been saying since all this started, I am not Satoshi Nakamoto. I did not create that thing. I have nothing to do with Bitcoin!" he concluded frustration high in his soft voice. 

" Sir, listen…" the agent tried to calm him. 

" Please leave!" Dorian ordered calmly as he stood from his seat. " I have had enough of this! It has caused me too much trouble for me and my family. I am worn out. I can't take it anymore!"  

" Mr, Nakamoto listen. Please listen to me. Our agency holds great power. I have been sent here to help you. To make it all go away and to make it better for you. We have a proposal for you. Listen to me and we can make all of it go away. Not just for now, but for the future too. Think about future generations. Save the earth." 

Dorian sat down again in defeat knowing well enough he was not being heard. 

"What do you want from me?" he asked hoping it would push forward the events so that he could be left alone. 

" This is a very crucial moment. The whole world is watching. We want you to admit that you are Satoshi Nakamoto. Tell the world that you are him and convey your regrets for creating Bitcoin. Mention the environmental concerns, its usage in criminal activities, its potential for being exploited for anarchism and the future possibilities of it further widening inequality. Discredit the invention as its creator. This will kill its adoption or at least injure its growth at this early stage and we will take care of the rest. And you will save yourself, and us from the future. All of us." 

" But I am not Satoshi Nakamoto!" 

" We know." 

Dorian bent his neck and rubbed his forehead. It's as though he wished he would rub the nightmare away. 

" We will provide you with a permanent position at the agency with benefits far greater than what you have ever received. We will also provide you with different identities for you and your children, housing and relocations to any part of the world you would wish. Just do an interview we will organise for you, admit you are its creator, discredit Bitcoin and we will take care of all the rest."

Dorian stared at the agent, a blank expression on his face. 

" Mr Nakamoto. Please. Consider this." 

The man stood and paced around the room for a few minutes. He would move to the window and peer out at the crowd of reporters on his road. He would then come back sit on the chair, and then stand and pace again. 

The agent stood there watching him. Silent and patient. 

" Let me consult my children on this and I will get back to you," Dorian finally managed to mummer still looking like he was deep in thought. 

" I thank you for your consideration, Mr Nakamoto. Can you call them right now?" 

"No! I will talk to them in person. Not now. Later." 

"Mr Nakamoto. This is a matter of urgency." 

" Please. Leave your number and I will contact you when I make a decision," Dorian said as he opened the office door leading the agent out to the hallway. 

" Take this," the agent said. 

He handed Dorian a small thumb-sized black stick that he had pulled from his pocket. 

"Press the button when you are ready to talk and I will be on the other end. Remember that time is of the essence. I will await your call. If you do not call, I will return in less than twenty four hours," Fischer said as he turned the doorknob, "Remember the future is in your hands. And please, one more thing. Treat this conversation with the utmost confidentiality. 

The man took the item albeit reluctantly, looking somewhat relieved that the agent was finally leaving. 

Numerous cameras flashed as the door opened.

The agent walked out heading straight to the AutoT, agent Rina following behind him to her vehicle. She knew not to attempt a conversation. 

The journalists now gathered closer together threw more questions that also went unanswered. 

" I was watching you in there. You know sixty years ago, they said Satoshi Nakamoto was a time traveller who had come back through time to create Bitcoin." 

" Oh, shut up Cody," Agent Fischer said to the voice coming from the device on his wrist, " If he was a time traveller, our solds would have flagged his jump links by now. You do know you need to be registered to jump now and every jump that has ever happened is catalogued right?" the agent shot as he started the AutoT. 

" This person or persons managed to evade detection in the era of his times. Nobody even the smartest of them all could unearth his identity. What makes you think he is not smart enough to evade our detection now? You know they said he was always watching." the voice, this time coming from the AutoT's speakers came again. 

" If he is to show himself, the time is now!" Fischer added. 

" He never did even in the dozens of crises Bitcoin faced in the last seven decades. Maybe he has seen how they all get solved and knows he shouldn't intervene. Who knows whether he is the one who wrote the genesis equations that brought the building of the first AutoT. Nobody knows who did that too yet you jump through space and time every day using the technology." 

"Cody! Focus!" agent Fischer shot. " We will do one jump, rest, and then come back to Dorian's door. It will be tomorrow for him. We need to pressure him before the final message gets posted on the P2P Foundation forum. If he agrees to the deal before then, the 2014 post will hold less credibility which will set our plans rolling." 

Agent Rina had been driving behind the Chevy. Suddenly, it shot in speed turning left at the traffic lights. Rina waited for the cars on the right to pass before attempting to keep driving. She didn't want it to seem too obvious that she was following it. This cold agent from the capital had really intrigued her.

It had only been a minute or so when she turned right and couldn't see the Chevy. 

" Damn where did it go?" she asked her partner puzzled, "He isn't just rude, but he also drives like a madman!" 

***

"Wake up! Wake up! Agent. The tele is blinking," the voice from the speaker in the AutoT alerted. 

Agent Fischer rose from the chair, adjusted it to a sitting position and pressed the device on his wrist. 

" Mr, Nakamoto. This is agent Fischer. Please speak." 

" When can you come over? I have reached a decision." 

" Right away. I will be at your front door right away." 

"Ok," Dorian answered. 

The agent disconnected the call and swiped the screen in front of him. Numerous numbers that looked like dates appeared. The agent scrolled down and settled on one. He then pressed on it. 

" You are going to 6th March 2014," came the voice of Cody again. 

The transformation started, turning the AutoT into a Chevy 2014. It shot out cutting through the air. Out of nowhere, its wheels were now rolling on the California road leading to Dorian Nakamoto's house. 

" Oh! Wait! You won't believe this now," came the voice of Cody. " Is this guy truly a time traveller?" 

"Why? What happened?" the agent asked as he turned right to Dorian's street. 

A popup screen appeared on a section of the Chevy's dashboard. It was the final message on the P2P Foundation forum. Next to the faceless profile with the name Satoshi Nakamoto, and below the first message posted in 2009, it read, 

" I am not Dorian Nakamoto." 

Screenshot by the author from digital archives of Satoshi Nakamoto's messages

" What just happened?" the agent burst out. 

" It says it was posted two minutes ago. I must have missed it. It looks like he beat us to a jump." 

" How is it possible?" the agent asked, " Cody, check if the Authority has registered any unfamiliar jump logs in the past two minutes?" 

" I have checked already. They have registered none." 

The agent thought for a second as he missed the turn to Dorian's driveway. 

"Cody, change of plans. Alert the office! Tell them to contact Dorian Nakamoto. Let them inform him that we will keep in touch." 

The agent swiped the screen again and selected a date. 9th January 2009.  

" We shall have to go further back. Right from the beginning. Cody, compact a file on Hal Finney."

MysteryHistorical
Like

About the Creator

Gal Mux

Lover of all things reading & writing, 🥭 &

🍍salsas, 🍓 & vanilla ice cream, MJ & Beyoncé.

Nothing you learn is ever wasted - Berry Gordy

So learn everything you can.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.