Chapter 8: Error 404
Halloween in Pasadena meant costume parties, and costume parties meant Kayel had a problem.
He sat on his bed, staring at his bank balance—$28.70—and trying to figure out how to look festive without spending money he couldn't afford to lose. Around him, the building buzzed with preparation. Through the walls, he could hear Leonard and Sheldon debating the scientific accuracy of various superhero costumes, while from across the hall came the sound of Penny trying on what sounded like seventeen different outfits.
"Cheapest possible costume. Something that looks intentional but costs almost nothing."
[COSTUME DATABASE: $2.00. HUNDREDS OF CREATIVE, BUDGET-FRIENDLY OPTIONS.]
The system's offer hung in his mind like a tempting mirage. Two dollars wasn't much, and having professional costume advice might be worth it. But Kayel had learned to be suspicious of the system's seemingly reasonable offers. There was always a catch, always some hidden cost that revealed itself too late.
"No," he said aloud. "I can figure this out myself."
"White t-shirt, black marker. Keep it simple."
Twenty minutes later, Kayel stood in front of his bathroom mirror wearing a plain white t-shirt with "ERROR 404: COSTUME NOT FOUND" written across the front in black Sharpie. It was nerdy enough to fit with the group's aesthetic, cheap enough to preserve his fragile finances, and self-aware enough to deflect questions about why he wasn't wearing a "real" costume.
Total cost: $3.00 for the shirt. His balance dropped to $25.70, but it was worth it for the meta-joke.
The party was at Caltech, in one of the larger lecture halls that had been transformed into something resembling a haunted house. Orange and black streamers hung from the ceiling, carved pumpkins leered from every corner, and someone had rigged up a fog machine that filled the room with an appropriately spooky atmosphere.
Kayel arrived to find the gang already in full costume mode. Leonard was dressed as a medieval knight, complete with cardboard armor that looked like it had been assembled with more enthusiasm than skill. Howard had gone for a vampire look that somehow managed to be both dramatic and ridiculous. Raj was wearing what appeared to be a detailed reproduction of a Star Trek uniform, and Sheldon...
Sheldon was dressed as the Doppler effect.
"It's a brilliant conceptual costume," he was explaining to anyone who would listen. "I'm wearing a blue shirt in front and a red shirt in back, representing the frequency shift of electromagnetic radiation. As I walk toward you, the frequency increases—blue shift. As I walk away, it decreases—red shift."
"It's very... scientific," Penny said diplomatically. She was dressed as a cat—black bodysuit, ears, tail, and makeup that somehow made her look both cute and devastatingly attractive.
"She looks incredible. Too bad I can't afford to think about how incredible."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: $25.60.
"Even noticing that she's attractive costs money. This system is evil."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: $25.50.
The party was in full swing when Kayel realized something was wrong. The sounds around him seemed muffled, like he was listening to everything through cotton balls. Conversations became harder to follow, music sounded distant and distorted, and when people spoke directly to him, he found himself asking them to repeat things.
"Oh, no. Please tell me this isn't what I think it is."
He pulled out his phone and checked his account balance. Negative five dollars and eighty cents. Somehow, throughout the evening, his casual observations and social thoughts had accumulated enough query charges to push him into debt.
[DEBT LEVEL 1 ACTIVE. AUDITORY DEGRADATION: 30% REDUCTION. UPGRADE TO PREMIUM HEARING: $0.25 PER MINUTE.]
The world suddenly sounded like he was underwater. Conversations became a blur of muffled syllables, music turned into distant humming, and the general party noise faded to a dull murmur.
"Perfect. I'm at a party where I can barely hear anything, and the system wants to charge me by the minute to fix it."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$5.90.
The muffled hearing got slightly worse.
Kayel spent the next hour navigating the party in a bubble of sensory isolation. He smiled and nodded when people spoke to him, laughed when others laughed, and generally tried to fake his way through social interactions he could barely perceive.
It was during this auditory purgatory that he witnessed the Kurt incident.
He was standing near the punch bowl, trying to figure out if the person next to him was telling a joke or asking a question, when he saw a familiar figure across the room. Kurt—tall, muscular, and wearing what looked like a generic "tough guy" costume—was making his way through the crowd toward Penny.
Even with muffled hearing, Kayel could read the body language. Kurt's aggressive posture, the way he pushed through people without apologizing, the possessive hand he placed on Penny's shoulder when he reached her. Penny's startled expression, her attempt to step away, Kurt's refusal to let her go.
"This is a problem. Someone should intervene."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.00.
"Of course thinking about helping costs money. Because heaven forbid I have altruistic impulses."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.10.
Through the crowd, Kayel could see Leonard approaching the situation with all the confidence of a man walking into a lion's den armed with a rolled-up newspaper. Even with impaired hearing, Kayel could tell Leonard was trying to defuse the situation diplomatically, probably with some combination of humor and careful reasoning.
Kurt's response was swift and physical. He shoved Leonard backward, hard enough to send the physicist stumbling into a group of graduate students. The push was casual, dismissive—the kind of gesture that said Leonard wasn't even worth serious aggression.
"Poor Leonard. He's trying to be the hero, but he's about as intimidating as a strongly worded letter."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.20.
The auditory degradation got worse, making it even harder to follow what was happening. But Kayel could see Leonard picking himself up, brushing off his costume, and walking away from the confrontation with as much dignity as he could muster.
Then something unexpected happened.
Leonard, apparently having reached his limit of humiliation for one evening, walked back to where Penny and Kurt were standing. But instead of confronting Kurt again, he did something that caught everyone off guard—he grabbed Penny's face and kissed her.
It was awkward and desperate and probably tasted like punch and social anxiety, but it was also unmistakably romantic. For a moment, the entire party seemed to freeze, watching this unlikely hero moment unfold.
When they broke apart, Penny looked stunned. Kurt looked furious. And Leonard looked like he couldn't believe what he'd just done.
"Good for him. Sometimes the best response to intimidation is complete disregard for the intimidator."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.30.
"And now I'm being charged for having positive thoughts about my friend's romantic success. This system is absolutely diabolical."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.40.
The party continued around him, but Kayel found himself increasingly disconnected from the festivities. The combination of muffled hearing and mounting debt made social interaction feel like performing surgery while wearing oven mitts. He smiled at the right moments, laughed when others laughed, and generally tried to maintain the illusion of participation while actually experiencing everything from a distance.
By ten o'clock, he'd had enough. He made his excuses—though he wasn't sure anyone could actually hear them clearly—and headed for the exit.
The walk home was surreal. The streets of Pasadena buzzed with Halloween activity, but to Kayel, it all sounded like a movie playing in another room. Trick-or-treaters became silent pantomimes. Cars passed like distant whispers. Even his own footsteps sounded muffled and far away.
He was halfway back to the apartment building when he realized Leonard and Penny were walking behind him, deep in conversation. He could see them in his peripheral vision—Leonard's animated gestures, Penny's smiling responses—but their voices were lost in the auditory fog.
"They're probably talking about the kiss. Finally making some progress after months of awkward flirtation."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.50.
[AUDIO ENHANCEMENT AVAILABLE: $0.25 PER MINUTE. RESTORE FULL HEARING CLARITY.]
For a moment, Kayel was tempted. Twenty-five cents to hear what they were saying, to understand the conversation that might determine Leonard's romantic future. It was a small price for potentially important information.
But he kept walking.
"Some conversations aren't meant to be overheard. And some prices aren't worth paying, no matter how small."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.60.
By the time he reached his apartment, Kayel could barely hear his own keys jingling in the lock. The auditory degradation was now severe enough that the world felt like a silent movie with occasional sound effects.
He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, finally allowing himself to acknowledge how isolating the evening had been. It was one thing to be broke—he'd been poor before. But being unable to afford basic sensory perception was a special kind of hell.
"Tomorrow I need to find more work. Real work. Enough to climb out of this debt and maybe build up some kind of buffer."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.70.
"Even planning for financial stability costs money. This is insane."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.80.
As he got ready for bed, Kayel could hear the muffled sounds of Leonard and Penny continuing their conversation in the hallway outside. Their voices were indistinct, but something about their tone suggested the evening had ended better than it had begun.
"At least someone's night turned out okay."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$6.90.
He brushed his teeth in relative silence, changed into pajamas he could barely hear rustling, and settled into bed with the eerie quiet of someone living in a sensory void.
Through the wall, he could just make out the sound of Leonard talking to Sheldon—probably recounting the evening's events, analyzing every moment of his interaction with Penny, and generally overthinking what had been a pretty successful night.
"Some problems money can't solve. But apparently, in my case, money can create a whole new category of problems I never knew existed."
[QUERY: $0.10]
Balance: -$7.00.
The auditory degradation reached a new level, reducing the world to almost complete silence.
Kayel closed his eyes and tried to sleep, wondering what fresh hell tomorrow would bring.
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