Virtuality

by H. L. Wegley

  When people greedy for gain fought those seeking to protect innocent Americans, the battleground would be the halls of government, including congressional hearing rooms like the one Jess and Vince sat in. And the winner of the battle wouldn’t be a geeky genius like Paul, or an INTJ woman like Jessica Jamison. The winner would be a strong, good person with passion and words, an orator, a man like Paul’s little brother, Vince van Gordon.

  The hearing room remained quiet except for a few pens rasping on paper.

  Jess leaned her head on Vince’s shoulder. “You can keep your ears, Vince.”

  Her words echoed through the quiet room.

  In leaning on Vince’s shoulder, Jess had leaned too close to his mic.

  “That’s very generous of you, Ms. Jamison,” Chairman Wells said. “But it’s the second time you mentioned—I see … Vincent van Gordon, Vincent van Gogh.”

  “Yeah, you see.” Vince grunted out the words.

  “There will be no ear amputations in any hearing over which I preside.” The committee chair paused. “But, should this committee decide to draft legislation to present to Congress, who among our four witnesses will be available to help with that effort and testify, if needed, when we present it to the full Armed Forces Committee?”

  “I will,” Jess said.

  “Of course you will, Ms. Jamison. Thank goodness, I won’t have to preside over that meeting.”

  Vince, Dr. Scoggins and General McCheney all gave their assent.

  “Duly noted,” the chairman said. “Thank you all for bringing this matter to the attention of this subcommittee … and for making this a rather memorable meeting.” One corner of his mouth turned up when he looked at Jess. “This hearing is adjourned.”

  The gavel sounded.

  It was over. Jess leaned back in her chair and forced out a sigh that sent her lips vibrating.

  Vince tapped her shoulder. “Dat’s cool. Could ya show me how ya do dat?”

  “At Starbucks, you heard?”

  “Yeah. It was cute. So were you, Jess. You know, you should wear that mini-skirt more often.”

  “It was a pair of skorts.” Her voice rose in a crescendo. But Vince had taunted her, and Jess was not in a mood to hold anything back. “And I don’t want to hear any more about it, Vince.”

  Epilogue

  The hearing was over. They had accomplished their mission. The tension should all be gone, but it wasn’t. Not yet. All because of lop ear.

  Wasn’t he supposed to be van gone?

  Yes. But ingrained habits don’t die easily.

  Jess looked up as a tall figure towered over her and Vince.

  “Do you two always fight like this? I can recommend a good counselor.” The chairman of the committee gave her his crooked smile. “Or a justice of the peace. Might even be able to convince the Chief Justice to marry you two. Just a thought.” He walked, away then stopped. “In about five months, we’ll probably be discussing this with the Armed Forces Committee. Maybe I’ll get to see how this all turns out.” The chairman patted Vince’s shoulder and walked away.

  “By the way, how is this going to turn out, Vince?”

  “If you don’t know …” Vince stood and gave her his arm.

  Jess stood and looked at the arm belonging to the most exasperating, manipulative—her gaze followed the arm up to his face—handsome, lovable wordsmith on the planet. She took Vince’s arm and they walked out the door of the meeting room.

  “van Gordon, Ms. Jamison, do you have a minute before you start looking for that justice of the peace?”

  Great! General McCheney had heard the chairman’s remarks.

  Vince pulled Jess to a stop. “Sure.”

  She looked up at Vince. “There’s still a question that needs to be answered before I hear any more talk about justices of the peace.”

  “To hear Chairman Wells talk, you’d think you two needed a justice of war.” The general grinned.

  Jess didn’t.

  The general’s gaze switched back and forth between Jess and Vince. “How’s the plan coming to restart work on the project at Virtuality?”

  Vince looked down at her.

  If the CEO wasn’t going to answer the general … “The lab has been configured with all the software except the games, which I removed. The lab is ready to run the system. I kept two of our programmers, men I know we can trust. They will provide continuity going forward. But we need to hire six more. We have thirty promising resumes, so that should not be a problem.”

  Vince’s eyes appeared to focus on the star-studded epaulettes on the general’s shoulders, and then he draped an arm over Jess’s shoulders. “The work should be moving ahead in about five weeks. With no more distractions or illegal moonlighting, the original schedule will slide only a couple of months. And Patrick Michaels is cooperating. It looks like there will be a trial at some point, but we’ve already gotten everything we need from him.”

  “What’s happening with the software engineers you let go?”

  “Two of them are completing rehab,” Vince said. “The others … that really depends on whether you pursue charges against them.”

  “Regardless, they won’t be working for Virtuality,” Jess said.

  General McCheney patted Vince’s back. “Keep up the good work. Our country could use some more like you two.” He nodded to Jess. “And good luck in, uh, matters of the heart.”

  “Speaking of …” Jess looked up into Vince’s dark brown eyes.

  “Got a second?” Dr. Scoggins approached them, brief case in hand.

  Her conversation with Vince would have to wait … again.

  “You two did great in there. I am so proud of you.” The professor shook Vince’s and Jess’s hands. “Have you decided what comes next for Virtuality, after the Army contract?”

  Vince looked at Jess.

  She nodded for him to take the professor’s question.

  “Yeah. We know the military applications will dry up after a while.” Vince said.

  “There should be some medical applications for the technology, but we haven’t talked to anyone about those, yet,” Jess said. “Instead of just sending impulses into depressed people’s brains, we could entertain them with fun, healthy games while treating their depression. But we would need to bring a psychologist or two onboard during research and development.”

  Jess looked up at Vince. “Are you going to ask him or not?”

  “Dr. Scoggins, would you like to be involved in that development, if the door should open for us?”

  “I’d be honored to help any way I can. And I can give you a list of contacts for exploring medical applications. Why don’t we talk again in a few weeks, after things settle down and …” His gaze darted back and forth between her and Vince.

  “Yeah. As soon as things settle down,” Vince said.

  Scoggins strode away, leaving her and Vince alone in the hallway.

  Maybe some things were about to settle down, finally.

  “It looks like this will make it to the floor of Congress for a vote. You made that happen, Vince.” Jess studied Vince’s eyes and decided to pop the question, her question. “So what now? You know, I'm not going to let you run away like you did seven years ago.”

  Vince didn’t reply, but he looked like he was sorting through words. Maybe weighing them?

  “Tell me this …” Jess paused. “How did two people who knew each other so well get something so important so wrong?”

  “I think you’ve used up your so quota for the day.” Vince turned to face her. “But, Jess, the lies we believe about ourselves usually come from our deepest wounds. And we hide those lies and hurts in the deepest part of our hearts. They’re buried so deep that we don’t even see them for what they are. But I wish we had discovered our lies eight or nine years ago.”

  He was good, really good. “Did you come up with that just now, or did you read it somewhere?”

  “I’m a writer. We’re supposed to say things like that
. We’re wordsmiths.” Vince’s mouth had uttered profound words, but his eyes were making a profound statement as they scanned her somewhat figure-flattering business suit she’d chosen for today, a navy-blue blazer and matching skirt.

  “Don't look at me like that, Vince. That look requires permission.”

  “Don't look at you like that or you'll what? Do that whirling kick thing and break my nose?”

  “I'll—”

  “Don't say it, Jess. I'm asking permission.”

  “No. You're scanning me like one of those old flatbed scanners … inch by inch.”

  “Okay. Do I have permission to look at Jesse James however I choose?”

  “As long as you're not Robert Ford.”

  “I’m not, so I guess that means you’ll marry me.”

  “You call yourself a wordsmith? If you meant that as a proposal, Vince van Gordon, I'm going to cut off your ear. No, I'll cut them both off.”

  “If you’ll marry me, Jess, I'll let you cut them off.”

  Jess gave him her impish grin. “I might as well cut them off now. Men never listen to their wives, anyway.”

  “That's the most gruesome acceptance of a marriage proposal in the history of the human race. Can we call this discussion closed?”

  Jess stuck her thumbs in the waistband of her skirt. “Almost. When are we gettin’ hitched, podner?”

  “ASAP.”

  “ASAP? How romantic.”

  “About as romantic as me marrying Jesse James.”

  “And how do we seal this deal?”

  “Let's rob a bank.”

  She gave him her best imitation of an icy stare.

  “Or maybe a train.”

  “I had something more like this in mind.” Jess pulled Vince into a close embrace and kissed him.

  When Vince kissed her back, it was the kiss she had anticipated the night he took her home from the National Honor Society dinner. It was a kiss filled with passion and love, one that told Jessica Jamison that Vince had found what he wanted in her, one that healed deep wounds and buried the lies that inflicted them.

  Uh, it had been the kiss Jess dreamed about, until Vince broke it off.

  He slapped his side as a drumroll sounded. The beginning of the Washington State fight song? It was not music to the ears of a Washington Husky like Jessica Jamison.

  Vince stuck a hand in his pocket.

  “You're not going to answer it, are you?”

  “I'll just see who it is.”

  “Vince?”

  He looked down at his cell. “It's Jamie, my agent.”

  “I can see where I stand. Pastor Harding warned me about relationships with writers.”

  “When did you talk with him about me?”

  She didn't reply.

  Vince hit a button on the side of his phone, then picked up the call.

  A woman's voice came through the speakerphone, loud and clear.

  Obviously, Vince had turned it on for Jess’s benefit. This ought to be interesting.

  “You're a hard man to track down, Vince van Gordon. Rumor has it you’ve been living an epic adventure in the great Northwest, and then you went back East to tell your story.”

  “Jamie, your timing stinks.”

  “You always say that. But did you finish that happily ever after ending?”

  “I haven't written a thing since I left Denver.”

  “No, Vince. The real-life happily ever after. You did see her, didn't you?”

  “Look, Jamie—”

  “How can I look. This isn’t a video conference.”

  Vince pushed his cell at Jess and mouthed, “She's all yours, Jess.”

  Jess pushed out her palm and stepped back.

  He ignored her retreat and shoved the phone into her hands.

  Jamie continued. “Please tell me you didn't blow it, or this story of yours is going down the tube faster than a greased—”

  “This is Jess Jamison. He didn't blow anything, Ms. West. I haven’t had much experience with happy endings either. But that’s about to change. If … just a second … Vince, can you write and manage Virtuality too?”

  “Sure. I can handle two stories at a time, even if one is reality.”

  “The bigger question … can you handle two stories and me?”

  Vince’s eyebrows rose. “I can handle them because of you, Jess. So, yeah. I plan to keep writing.”

  “I don’t know if you heard all that, or not, Ms. West. But Vince and I are getting married.”

  “Praise the Lord!” Jamie’s exclamation, and the laugh that followed, blared from Vince’s cell. “And tell that big teddy bear to send me the story when it's finished. Hang on a minute. I’ve got an announcement to make.” Jamie paused. “Hey, HarperCollins!” Her voice had doubled in volume. It echoed down the hallway of the Rayburn House Office Building. “Vince van Gordon’s found his happy ending! And you're about to see something that you’ve never even seen before! So y’all get ready!”

  The End

  If you enjoyed Virtuality, please consider leaving a rating and a brief review on Amazon. Reviews are difficult to get and greatly appreciated by authors and readers. You can find Virtuality on H. L. Wegley’s Amazon Author Page.

  Author’s Notes

  The inspiration for writing Virtuality came from reading two depressing articles in IT trade journals. One article told of the epidemic of video-game dropouts among young men in America. I wondered what could be so addictive about video games—something I have no personal interest in—that men would drop out of the work force, preferring their game world to the real world.

  As social media use proliferates, real human needs for intimacy and meaning are met on such a superficial level that video games and virtual worlds came along at a perfect time, a perfect storm sweeping many people into addictions they would never have if we lived in a healthy society with healthy families.

  In a virtual world, people can see that what they do matters. They take an action and see the consequences, immediately. In the real world, they see this less and less. If they work for a large corporation, they often feel that they are only a number, their employee number in a database. What they do doesn’t matter, unless they do nothing, which could get them fired.

  The second article that influenced me caught me by surprise. In a mainstream trade journal, the use of virtual reality for pornography was treated as normal, something with no stigma attached. This acceptance of the unacceptable arises from the downward moral spiral in our culture. But the downward spiral, itself, speaks to the depravity of the human heart, something that is only explained well by a biblical worldview.

  After some research, I learned that the adult entertainment industry—a $100 billion a year industry, accounting for nearly 40% of all Internet traffic—has driven technology for nearly three decades by selectively backing technological advances that would make the industry more money. And future directions, using emerging technology, could increase the addictive power of augmented virtual reality to the level of street drugs, while eliminating some of the physiological damage of those drugs.

  Ethicists are already on high alert, and some are calling for a pre-emptive ban on pornographic use of some technologies.

  But, as problematic use of technology worsens, and new advances exacerbate the problems, we can’t count on government to solve them. The first place we must look is at ourselves, our own hearts and minds. Therefore, rather than worrying about the results of recent technological development, we should worry more about the morality and ethics of the people who control and use the technology.

  As I thought about the importance of the morality of those controlling new technology, my plot for Virtuality was born.

  This story also deals with the question, who is man? I hold to the biblical definition. We are imago dei, created in the image of God with a spirit, our real self, that’s immaterial and exists even after the body dies.

  While I may write about dark subjects, I do not write dark s
tories. So creating a moral and ethical hero and heroine, who were in a position to risk their lives to control dangerous technology, became my goal for the story.

  With that goal in mind, I created Jess and Vince. I hope my readers love them and love the story they entered while still behaving much like the children they were when their deep childhood friendship was torn apart by the lies they believed.

  There is a romance in Virtuality. The reader won’t have to look very hard to find it. It’s present even in the thriller-level action scenes. And like all H. L. Wegley novels, the story gets gritty, but it’s flinch-free, never graphic, gross, or gratuitous. And heaviness is always lightened with humor.

  H. L. Wegley

  Don’t miss H. L.Wegley’s award-winning, political-thriller series, with romance, Against All Enemies:

  Book 1: Voice in the Wilderness

  Book 2: Voice of Freedom

  Book 3: Chasing Freedom (The Prequel)

  Read all three books in the Witness Protection Series—action and romance with thriller-level stakes—clean reads that are never graphic, gratuitous, or gross.

  Witness Protection Series

  Book 1: No Safe Place

  Book 2: No True Justice

  Book 3: No Turning Back