“You want to put that in my head?” Kaiden shouted in shock. Good God, how many people there were gonna toss these horrific things at him like they were normal requests?
He felt a chill as he reached the conclusion that they might be normal requests to those people. Then he realized that if he didn’t have this special factor, he would be downstairs with the others getting the normal gear and probably on his way by now.
Being special was starting to sound like it fuckin’ bit.
“Well, yes, but as I said, it is up to you,” Laurie admitted. Kaiden picked up a downtrodden tone in the last few words. “You can use the normal gear as all the other initiates. It is what we are known for and what all your peers will use, after all.”
Laurie then reached across the table and clasped Kaiden’s drinking hand. The half-empty glass shook with the sudden pressure. He looked into the former gang member’s eyes, almost pleading, his composed swagger falling away slightly.
“You must understand, Kaiden. You could be the future of this technology, and of this academy,” he declared. “It is through the information we gain from using theories and devices like these that we advance our potential, and you could give up a chance to reach heights you probably can’t even comprehend until they become commonplace for you.”
Kaiden looked casually at the pleading genius. He leaned forward and tilted their clasped hands to finish his drink. He recalled the memory from his meeting with Mya.
Jake’s demand to never settle.
He laughed. Of all the things Jake had beaten into him, it was probably this mantra that would eventually get him killed.
“I don’t gotta pay anything extra, right? I’m already looking at around five million credits here.”
“Oh no, I’ll take on any excess fees. I’ll do the procedure myself, in fact,” Laurie proclaimed, his good mood returning. “Or, rather, the robots I created and programmed will.”
“Well, I can always use a leg-up. I’ll…dammit…alright. I’ll do this. Just don’t leave any scarring or I swear I’m goin—”
“Of course not. It is a simple and painless procedure. You won’t feel a thing, and you will begin integration as soon as you wake-up,” Laurie insisted. He had fully recovered his previous aplomb.
He retrieved a tablet from his desk drawer and handed it to Kaiden, who put his glass down and took it. A form of some kind displayed on the screen.
“It just states that you understand what the procedure is and give your consent,” Laurie explained.
Kaiden nodded and scrolled down. It was pretty basic, but he supposed it wasn’t used often enough to warrant some sort of massive contract. He added his signature and placed his thumb against a scanner on the screen. It beeped in confirmation, and Laurie retrieved it and placed it on a stand.
“This is fantastic. I promise you, this is where your true ascent begins, Initiate Jericho,” the genius exclaimed, filling another glass halfway and handing it to Kaiden.
He raised it in salute and downed it. “Lookin’ forward to it. Do we schedule a date or something? The semester starts pretty soon, right. Gotta be ready beforehand.”
“Oh, we start immediately. Just as soon as the medication takes effect.”
Kaiden nodded. “All right, sooner the better. Give it here.”
“You’ve been drinking it,” Laurie admitted, pointing to the glass in Kaiden’s hand.
He looked at the man and then at his empty glass, “Oh… Well then.” He realized that the calm sensation he had previously felt had gradually increased. It washed over him now, suddenly irresistible as the professor became blurry. “That’s… That’s kinda fucked up, Prof…”
“Wasting time is a sin. Besides, you did say yes.”
He placed his finger on a panel on the desk. Kaiden could vaguely hear Laurie shouting, “Prepare the theater.” It seemed to issue from a long tunnel rather than from the man across the desk.
As the final lights of consciousness faded, Kaiden slumped into the chair, and a thought came to him.
Semantics are a bitch.
Chapter Five
Kaiden woke in a darkened room. He looked around for the professor but saw no one. In fact, he realized with a vague feeling of alarm, he saw nothing at all. He sat up and peered into the darkness across the room. What little light there was only shone a few feet in front of him.
“Hey, Professor, where ya hidin’?” he called. Then he heard a shrill buzz that doubled him over with an accompanying white-hot shard of pain. He clasped his hands over his ears to try to muffle the sound, but he could still hear it clearly.
“What in the hell is going on?” He gasped, and the sound stopped abruptly. Slowly, he stood and looked around. No one and nothing occupied the dark space.
He was now growing concerned.
“Kaaai-den.” He heard a new sound, raspy and muffled, like talking to someone over a bad connection. His head pivoted left, then right, looking for speakers, but he found nothing. Then, as he looked up, he realized he couldn’t even see a light illuminating him from overhead.
Now this was getting bizarre.
“Kaiden? Initiate Jericho, can you hear me?” It was Laurie’s voice, coming from everywhere all at once.
“Yeah…yeah, I hear you. Where the hell are you and where the hell am I? Answer the last question first. Am I in hell?”
A shimmering figure appeared beside him. He jumped back and raised his fists into a boxing position. The thing was composed of numerous tiny lights that began to swirl in place. Kaiden took two steps back as he watched the lights start to align, taking human shape.
His eyes narrowed. At first, it was nothing more than a solid form, but as he watched, some lights disappeared, and others rearranged, giving the being more detail. Hair, facial structure, and body shape came into view. Kaiden began to recognize the form.
“Wait a moment, trying to sync the connection here,” Laurie’s voice called. This time, it came from the lights rather than as an echo. Finally, with a vivid flash, the lights formed into a silhouette of Professor Laurie, his body perfectly molded in white light with certain features such as his eyes and mouth formed by the negative space around him.
“Good God, Prof, what’s going on with you? You look like something out of an old black-and-white comic,” Kaiden asked, bewildered by the surreal apparition before him.
The professor smiled. “A simple avatar I created to interact with the system. I wish I could have crafted something a little more elaborate, but I didn’t want to potentially cause any burnout in the systems, not with you inside, anyway.”
“The system?” Kaiden inquired. “And burnout? What might burn?” His eyes opened in alarm, his voice shooting up an octave in mounting panic. “Did you fuck up?”
“Calm yourself, Initiate. No one likes such a frenzied tone,” Laurie’s avatar stated with a negligent wave of the hand. “You certainly have no decorum, do you? I recommend a class or ten after this is all done.”
“What exactly is being done?” Kaiden didn’t give a rat’s ass about decorum right then. Without thinking, he lunged to grab the man, but his hands and body passed right through the professor. He stumbled and dropped to the floor, feeling no real impact but landing on his hands and knees.
“I would recommend you grow used to this, dear Kaiden,” Laurie admonished, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Kaiden couldn’t feel any weight from the gesture, and it didn’t really look like it was actually interacting with him—more like a projection hovering just above his body.
“We are currently within the pride and joy of Nexus Academy, The Anima System,” Laurie explained, standing at attention with his hands clasped behind him, his eyes roaming around. “This is a simple simulation I loaded to help you get your bearings and make your EI integration easier. The Anima System is an advanced virtual reality technology that the academy uses to train their students, faculty, and the occasional soldier or freelancer who can pay for the services.”
Kaiden looked around, struggling to tamp down definite feelings of something that might be hysteria. There still wasn’t much to see, but nothing seemed off to him. He had used VR devices before, mostly for gaming or to meet with friends or fellow Dead-Eyes in discrete hangouts that could be blocked off to prying eyes. However, in those instances, the artificiality was obvious. Digitized replicas of himself and others wandered about, or modified skins of pop culture characters or in-game personas.
This, however bizarre, looked real.
“I’ll give you a few moments to compose yourself. Also, I’ll take your eloquent silence as a compliment to myself,” the professor said, his grin widening. “I actually provided the latest upgrade myself, and all subsequent updates were designed by me and a team of top developers, doctors, and technicians.”
He whisked himself around, his translucent, digitized white eyes staring into Kaiden’s. Without warning, he reached out an arm, and another mass of light formed in his palm. It quickly took shape, molding into a square with a protruding handle. It was a hand-mirror, this one black with a reflective surface. More importantly, it looked real, unlike the professor’s current features.
“Take a look. I made sure to replicate everything in the finest detail. It may be a little uncanny at first, but you should grow used to it in no time,” he promised, presenting the mirror to Kaiden with a dramatic flourish.
Kaiden took a look at himself and was both impressed and a little shaken. Laurie was right; it did look freakishly uncanny.
His hair was combed and long in its usual pompadour, coal-black with the sides of his head buzzed down to almost nothing. His blue eyes stared back at him in their naturally pointed, piercing way, contrasting with his tanned skin tone. The bridge of his nose even had the slight crook to it from a fight three years ago when it was broken then set improperly.
“Not bad. Must have taken a good while to replicate something as nice as me,” Kaiden commented with a smirk. He tried to hand the mirror back to Laurie, but it simply disappeared in a flash of light.
The professor scoffed. “Hardly. My system’s scanning abilities can’t be compared to any other corporation’s or supposed genius designer’s. Honestly, I felt some improvements could have been made to some of your…shall we say, less-than-pleasant features while the operation was underway.” He ended the statement by tracing the bridge of his own nose.
“Appreciate the thought.” Kaiden rolled his eyes to add emphasis to his sarcasm. “How did it go? Did ya get that claw-looking thing in there?”
“My reputation apparently needs some restructuring. You should know better than to insinuate that I could fail at such a task.”
“You said you don’t get to do this often, so call it giving you a handicap,” Kaiden said, folding his arms. “Besides, you could show a little more appreciation. Not everyone would be such a good sport about letting a stranger mess with their brain for shits and giggles.”
The professor leaned toward him again. Kaiden could see his desire to retort, but he sighed and nodded. “Fair enough, Initiate. I do confess I may be a little rusty at the moment. The surgery went smoothly, but the setup of the nerve gear device and linking it to the Anima did take me longer than anticipated. I went over my self-allotted time of three hours by eleven minutes, and who knows when I’ll get another chance to best myself?” Laurie admitted his shortcomings with a sigh. “Life can be so dull when you have no true competition. You must create your own challenges at times.”
Kaiden nodded, keeping his face neutral but unconsciously tapping his fingers on his arm. “So it’s in there, and I’m in this Anima System thing. What else we got? ʼCause I’m feeling peckish.”
The professor tilted his head. “Well then, how about you introduce yourself to your EI?” he asked.
Laurie stepped back a few paces, motioning Kaiden to do the same.
“Begin EI integration,” he declared into the void.
At first, nothing happened. Then a large orb appeared between them, similar to the one he had seen in Mya’s office, but this one had no unique color. It emitted the same white light as everything else.
“Initializing, beginning start-up and user integration,” a disembodied voice intoned. It was entirely mechanical, similar to the artificial voices Kaiden heard at information kiosks or cheap advert displays.
“Why does it sound so basic?” he asked.
“All EIs are loaded clean. The user chooses their EI’s customization settings, like their appearance and personality,” the professor explained, walking around the orb.
The EI’s light faded in and out, glowing rhythmically as it loaded its initial functions. Then the monotone voice spoke again. “Initial components loaded, ready to begin integration with Nexus Academy Initiate Kaiden Jericho.”
Kaiden looked toward the glowing balls and saw a smaller, brighter circle that seemed to track him as he shifted in place. He forced himself to stay still, rather uncomfortable with this unexpected development. “Ready whenever you are, uh, chief.”
“EI does not recognize chief as a function or executable. Is this a designation?” the voice asked.
“What, like a name? Yeah, sure, go for it.” Kaiden shrugged. He’d grown a little impatient and really didn’t feel like playing five hundred questions with the device. It was much more interesting to see what the EI was capable of.
“I would be a little more cautious, dear Kaiden.” Laurie stressed the word “cautious” as he crossed over to his side. “EI’s are a pain to reset in even their commercial forms. I don’t think being haphazard with yours is so wise, especially since it will essentially be bonded with you from here on out.”
Kaiden had forgotten about that. He supposed it wasn’t like he could merely pop open the back of his head and replace the thing. He mulled it over and gave another shrug. “Chief ain’t such a bad name. I’ll be sure to comb over the rest carefu—”
“EI, designated Chief, shall begin start-up sequence requesting user preferences. Expected time for set-up approximately five to six hours.”
He shook his head. “Oh, to hell with that. You got an express install?”
“Express installation is available; this option will load this unit with all basic Nexus Academy features and necessary programs. The user will then decide on this unit’s cosmetic settings and personality profile to finish set-up. Expected time to install ten minutes.”
“Kaiden, I really believe that you should take the time to—” Laurie began before Kaiden cut him off.
“No, I’m good, Prof, but it’s probably already night time, and I got other tasks I’ve got to get to before the weekend is over and the Academy starts. I’m okay with not specifying if I want it to have a fuzzy dice accessory and what my preferred coffee temp is, all right?”
The professor still had the you-are-making-a-mistake look in his eyes, but he lifted his hands in faux-surrender and backed away.
“Go ahead,” Kaiden instructed the EI.
“Beginning installation, downloading drivers and basic programs…” The EI droned on for a few minutes.
The light went back to flickering in and out as it installed. Finally, Kaiden saw it return to normal. The orb was no longer a simple blob of light but had gained a more intricate design all around, like gas swirling through a clear bubble. Its little eye once again looked at Kaiden. “Installation complete, basic design loaded as a temporary template. Please designate model, colors, and personal preferences.”
Kaiden looked it over. It actually looked fine as it was. Besides, he wasn’t looking to make a mascot. “You look fine, Chief. Maybe do somethin’ about the color. It’s a little plain, but beyond that, you’re good.”
“Recommendation, mood coloration palette. This model’s primary coloring will change depending on the different situations and feelings of that conversation.”
“You have feelings?” Kaiden asked, looking at Laurie, whose smile deepened while his eyes flicked up and down a few times.
“This model’s programming is loaded with functions and algorithms that allow for the simulation of displaying human emotions. It is not a chemical construct and therefore cannot feel in that capacity. This was a cosmetic option made available by this model’s designer Alexander Laurie.”
Kaiden’s gaze lowered, and he shook his head. “How is this an advancement, exactly?”
“It’s practical. In the heat of battle or during times of stress, a person may not think clearly. The EI monitors their user’s blood pressure, heart rate, and other states of excitement or mood and adjusts its algorithm to better comply with its user and offer advice that the user is more likely to understand or require during those situations. The differing colors merely added a touch of flair,” the professor explained. “I would actually recommend it. If you’re going to leave it with its basic template, you might as well let the poor thing add a touch of color.”
“Yeah, sure, go ahead,” Kaiden ordered, not bothering to hide his apathy. “What’s next?”
“Personality Profile.”
“What are the options?”
“There is a list of over one thousand basic personalities installed on this unit. However, it would appear that we have access to the databanks of the academy and can synthesize one using psychological evaluations and descriptions stored within.”
“Is that basic?” Kaiden inquired looking to Laurie once again.
Laurie coughed into his hand. “Not entirely. I performed the operation in my personal theater and therefore set up your access into the Anima through my personal network which has a bit more clearance than most.” He began pacing around the EI. “That option is normally used to create EI’s to mimic the personalities of persons of interest when the authorities may have a use for it or in the creation of war games to create different scenarios for the students to run, not usually for personal entertainment.”
Animus series Boxed Set Page 5