“How?”
“I think you said it yourself, you’re not desperate anymore. You have a purpose.”
“I feel like I do. More than one, to be honest. After this job, I’ve got to make sure Gomez’s mom has what she needs. I was thinking about giving her my portion of the credits for the job. At least most of it.”
“That’s good of you.”
“She was my second mom.”
“You want another drink?”
“Sure.”
Sandy went inside, and Jacob looked back to the Your Better Life building. Designed to resemble a strand of DNA with different colored lights moving up the strand, it was a unique structure in the skyline. The last time he was in the building, he spent the day excited because he just put the finishing touches on the code he and Xia were doing the night he got burned. When he told her at lunch that day, he acted like a giddy schoolboy who had just won the science fair. He deserved to. He had worked hard creating one of the most nuanced codes he had ever seen, a work of art. So much so that Your Better Life used it. He ran across it in the streets shortly after he got out of prison. They modified it a bit, but he knew his code when he saw it. Of course, they had the right to take his code. The same contract they used to fire him and send him to prison without a trial gave them the rights to anything he created while employed at the company. They made millions off of his code, and he would never see a single credit. He wouldn’t have seen much more if he had created it for them legally. When you were under contract with a corporation, everything about you belongs to them. Employees even had to apply to have children, and if having a child conflicted too much with the company's schedule, the application was denied. That day at lunch, three years ago, he worked hard to convince Xia to try the code with him. She resisted and told him they shouldn’t. He spent many hours since then telling himself he should have listened to her that day. Things would be so different. So much better. But he hadn’t felt that way in a while. Sitting there, watching the lights climb up the twisted form of the building, he knew he was living his better life now. No matter how complicated it had become in the last few weeks, it was better.
“Hey, deep thinker,” Sandy said as she sat down.
“Yeah, kind of lost in thought I guess.”
She handed him his drink. “What about?”
“Your Better Life and their hold on people. You know, when we helped that kid at The Market, Xia couldn’t use her deck. She was afraid they could use it to fire her.”
“For what?”
“If any non-authorized code is registered on her deck during a random company scan, she can get fired, no questions asked. Who knows what could have happened to that kid if she hadn’t been able to help me with Two-Step’s deck.”
“Still no idea about why his chip went nuts?”
“The only thing I can think of is that the Steamer who implanted it screwed up something in the process. I’m sure the SRS is involved. I don’t know how, but they are.”
“Worry about that later. First, let’s break into the headquarters of one of the biggest corporations in the world and steal their latest technology and sell it to, wait, we don’t know who,” Sandy said.
“Since you put it that way, I guess it can wait.”
“Do you know what can’t wait?” Sandy said, grinning.
“Tell me.”
“Dessert.”
“I didn’t make dessert.”
“Not yet.”
Chapter 46
Johnson enjoyed being driven around. While it was true any self-driven car was essentially driving you around, he enjoyed having someone in the front seat, even if they were just sitting there while the car drove itself. Like most symbols of wealth and power, it served no purpose other than to make the wealthy and powerful feel wealthy and powerful. And for him, it did.
He asked his driver to take him to Galveston for an early morning drive along the seawall. Tomorrow, Mr. Quince and his friends would either fail or succeed in their plan, and he wanted to consider the possibilities going forward. A drive down the coast always had a calming effect on him and cleared his mind. He never got out of the vehicle, but he enjoyed the sound of the waves against the wall. It was so soothing to him, he often went to sleep with his room playing the sounds of waves on a beach.
He asked the driver to stop, and he rolled down the windows. Taking a deep breath, he let the cool Gulf breeze fill his lungs. The silhouettes of decommissioned oil rigs dotted the horizon, their shapes breaking the long, clean line of the Gulf meeting the sunrise. While they hadn’t been used to drill for petroleum in decades, the rigs were teeming with activity and life. Shortly after they were shut down, people found their way to them, and they were now a vast network of loosely connected communities throughout the Gulf. If those communities had their version of the wealthy and powerful, he wondered what symbols they used to project their wealth and power.
The monitor linked to Mr. Craig’s office beeped, interrupting his thoughts, and Mr. Craig’s image appeared on the screen.
“Yes, sir?” Johnson said as he pressed the button to roll up the windows.
“Johnson, I see from the tracking data, you are taking one of your beach drives.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I do not know what you see in those drives, but who am I to argue with what a man does to center himself. I realize it is technically your off day, but on to the business at hand. Your report states that Mr. Quince and his team are commencing with the operation tomorrow, correct?”
“Yes, sir. Mr. Klein, the one they call Two-Step is already in the building, as they have planned. Ms. Leung is as well. She is part of the research team working on the new chip.”
“Excellent. Now, I need your honest assessment of their chances of success.”
“I believe they will be successful.”
“And if they are not?”
“There is no evidence of our connection with Mr. Quince or his friends. Authorities will link them to the SRS. It was costly, but we have made sure of that. But again, I believe they will succeed.”
“And have we discovered what happened with the faulty data upload?”
“No, sir. The research teams are still reviewing the reports. They should have an answer shortly. However, their initial speculations suggest that the chip was not properly implanted.”
Mr. Craig looked frustrated. “This was a chip implanted by SRS people?”
“Yes, sir. They have enlisted a group of so-called Steamers to implant the chips. However, their work can be inconsistent.”
Mr. Craig sighed. “An unfortunate price we must pay. However, the costs that were saved by avoiding putting the chips and decks in customs, as well as the savings in research and development, more than cover the inconvenience.”
“Yes, sir. And thankfully, they only have a small number of chips.”
“Have we recovered the missing chips Mr. Li diverted?”
“No, sir. Mr. Tal has not produced the chips as of yet.”
“Perhaps we need to apply more pressure.”
“Yes, sir. I will take care of that.”
“Thank you, Johnson. Well, I will let you get back to your beach. Tomorrow we take another step into the future.”
“Yes, sir.”
Johnson turned off the monitor and rolled down the windows and listened to the waves against the seawall.
Chapter 47
Two-Step had to admit, he was looking forward to spending the night in the bed provided by Your Better Life. It was the first thing he noticed when the med tech brought him to his room. A few other pieces of furniture occupied the room, a small desk and a chair, a lamp and a monitor attached to the wall, but it was the bed he was interested in. He could see that the mattress was one of the latest smart models he saw in ads on the net. He had never slept on a smart mattress. There were none in the LowTech community he grew up in, and in his apartment, he slept on an old futon Kat gave him. A real mattress, even for a night, would be ama
zing. After the med tech left, Two-Step lay on the bed, changing positions, giving the bed time to adjust to his body and adjust to each position for the maximum comfort level, then programming the results into the bed’s database. After cycling through every position he thought he might end up in when he slept, he put his hand behind his head and stared at the ceiling, a childish grin plastered on his face.
The entire process made him think his parents and other LTLs were even more wrong about technology than he thought. How could a mattress that would improve your life so much be a bad thing? He was sure that a shipment of these mattresses to every LTL community would go further toward getting them to accept technological advancement than being able to link directly to the net or chips that programmed your brain to release neurochemicals or promises of eternal life through uploading to the cloud.
Of course, he loved to link to the net, but he hated the idea of a chip programming his brain. He knew it was weird. A virtual representation of the net somehow projected on your consciousness and making you feel separated from your body should seem much more transhuman or posthuman or whatever his parents wanted no part of than code sent to your synapses. But not to him. There was a freedom in being linked. Chip code made him feel like something was being done to him, something he didn’t control. He did have to admit, Jacob’s hangover code was great, but he would have taken his chip out if he didn’t need it to link. There was a part of him that had been programmed by his upbringing to have a bit of fear of tech, and he wasn’t sure if he would ever completely get over it. But he didn’t fear the mattress.
He was still enjoying it when there was a knock. He reluctantly got up and answered the door.
“Hello, Mr. Klein, my name is Granger.” The man, wearing a lab coat and a Your Better Life ID badge around his neck, held out his hand.
“Hi,” Two-Step said, shaking Granger’s hand.
“I will be your monitor for the trial. I would like to ask you a few questions. May I come in?”
“I thought…” He stopped himself. Where was Xia, and who was this Granger person? If Xia wasn’t his monitor, the plan wouldn’t work. They would be screwed. Granger looked at him blankly. “I thought the trial didn’t start until tomorrow.”
“That’s correct. However, we do have some questions we like to ask ahead of time, and there is the issue of preparing you for the installation of the new chip. May I come in?”
Installation, Two-Step thought. That made the procedure sound like he was a machine, a computer. Implant sounded much more human. He started to say as much, but said, “Sure,” and took a step back, allowing Granger in.
“I hope you are enjoying the room,” Granger said as he sat at the desk.
Two-Step sat on the edge of the bed. “It’s great. This bed is…”
“An amazing piece of technology,” Granger said, interrupting. “I bought one for myself after I saw what they can do. Now, about the questions. You were raised in a Low Tech community?”
“Yes, I…”
Granger cut him off again. “And you left of your own accord? How old were you?”
“Eighteen. Like I said in the...”
“The application. Yes. I just like to get to know my subjects on a personal level. It helps me with my observations. And after you left, you never had your subdermal chip upgraded?”
“That’s right.”
“May I ask why?”
“I just didn’t see the point. I don’t use…”
“And you have you ever used your subdermal for medical purposes?”
He was getting tired of this Granger interrupting him, so he didn’t answer, shaking his head instead. There was no reason to tell him about the hangover cure, and he didn’t think they would scan his chip to see if it had been used.
“I see. So, you have a clean medical history. May I ask why you decided to take part in this trial?”
He considered shaking his head no, but answered, “I wanted the...”
Granger nodded. “The credits. That’s fair. Well, we will be installing the new test chip later this afternoon. I will monitor how you react to the chip afterward, as well as tomorrow morning, checking for any adverse reactions. There may be an elevated risk since this is the first upgrade you have ever received. I can tell you that subdermal technology has come a long way since yours was first installed. It is quite quick and painless. A simple outpatient procedure. I hear there are even some code junkies who have it done in the streets, but you can be assured we will do a much better job here.”
Two-Step nodded.
“After the trial, we will remove the test chip and reinstall your old one. However, you are being given the option of having an upgraded chip installed at a steep discount, of course.”
“I guess…”
“You do not have to decide now. Just inform me of your decision before the trial is completed,” Granger said. He stood and pushed the chair back under the desk. “A nurse will come by shortly and take you to the installation room.”
He shut the door behind Granger. He did not like that man. Rude and impersonal was the best way to describe him. He was exactly the kind of person his parents would say was the result of an overreliance on technology and corporate life.
More importantly, he wasn’t Xia. There was no way he was going to get out of here with the new chip if Xia wasn’t his monitor. He wasn’t allowed to bring any electronics with him, so he had no way of getting in touch with her and coming up with another plan.
Trying to think of a solution, he paced the room for a few minutes. He toyed with the idea of hacking the system using the monitor in the room, but quickly realized it was nothing more than a closed system media player. Finally, he gave up and stretched out on the bed, but now no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get comfortable, no matter what setting he entered.
Chapter 48
Xia watched her hands move over the input panel in the testing room as if they were not a part of her but only attached to the ends of her arms. At times she still had trouble coming to grips with where life had taken her in the last few weeks. That feeling only came through in moments like this, moments when a sense of detachment came over her, and she felt like she was watching her life on a screen.
Snap out of it, she told herself. She closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath in through her nose, letting it out through her mouth. After repeating the breathing exercise, she felt calm and present again. Everything was going as planned so far. She had downloaded the backdoor Sandy would use to crack the security system, Two-Step had been admitted to the testing program without any trouble, and she had the overload code ready to send to him during the test. There’s no reason to worry.
Going back to the display, she scanned the list of test subject names she would be in charge of monitoring during the test. Two-Step wasn’t on the list, or rather, Robert Klein wasn't. She checked the other monitor’s lists and found him on Granger's. So much for no reason to worry, she thought.
It had to be Granger. She didn’t like him very much. He had a habit of interrupting people, especially females, and he liked to argue with anyone he perceived as impinging on his territory. Despite those faults, he was a good researcher and a thorough one. Xia would bet he already had his test subjects’ names memorized. She looked around the lab. Granger was at a table in the corner reviewing notes on a pad.
She went to him and sat down. “I’m going to have to transfer test subject 47 to my monitoring list. His subdermal chip is extremely…”
“Yes, I know. I’ve already slated him for the new installation,” Granger said.
“Well, all of the subjects will need to have this chip…”
“Of course, I was…”
“That’s not the point,” Xia said loud enough to interrupt him. “According to his file, his current chip is his original chip, and he has never had medical code prescribed, and...”
“I saw that.”
“And I’m concerned about the potential risk of an over
load in his case. Since that is one of my areas of…”
“It makes sense that you would monitor him.”
Xia expected and argument from him. He had argued with her about much less in the past. However, it made sense that he didn’t. He wouldn’t want an overload on his watch. It wouldn’t look good for him, and he did care about looking good.
“Great. I’ll take subject 47 and transfer subject 52 to your list,” Xia said and walked off before he could reply.
After she left Granger, Xia checked the schedule. Two-Step was due to have the new chip implanted in two hours. She’d already conducted pre-implant interviews with her three other subjects, and Two-Step would have been interviewed by Granger, but she needed to talk to him. She made a note on his file justifying a second interview and went to find him.
He was with several other subjects, relaxing in the rec room the company set up for them, sitting at a table with another subject, explaining what it was like to grow up in a Low Tech community.
“Mr. Klein, my name is Xia Leung, there has been a change in assignments, and I will be monitoring you for this test instead of Mr. Granger.” She hadn’t realized Two-Step was tense until she saw the relief wash over him. “I know that you were interviewed by Mr. Granger, but I’d like to conduct a second interview since I’ll be your monitor. It will give us a chance to get to know each other a little better before the test, which will help me in my data gathering.”
She hoped that didn’t sound as forced as she felt it was. The subject with Two-Step didn’t seem to notice, so she guessed it sounded fine.
“Okay, that sounds good,” Two-Step said.
“We can go to an interview room down the hall,” Xia said.
Two-Step could barely contain himself long enough for her to shut the interview room door and sit down.
“God, I’m glad to see you,” he said quickly. “I thought the whole thing was going to fall apart with that Granger guy as my monitor. I thought about contacting you, but I had no way I could. The only electronics in my room are the bed and a media box. Granger’s such an ass, too. He never let me finish a sentence or get a word in edgewise.”
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