Reality Hack

by Niall Teasdale

  Without warning, Alaina opened a door and stepped through, dragging Nisa along with her. The room was big and the sound she could still hear from the party was deadened suddenly, probably by the mass of books lining the walls. There were a lot of them, floor to ceiling on three walls aside from where the door came in. The fourth wall contained a fireplace, and the fire in that was the only source of light. Alaina did not turn the room lights on.

  ‘Small library,’ Alaina said, her voice soft. ‘No raised voices in the library.’ She giggled. ‘I like it in here. It’s quiet. If I’m working late I come here for a break.’ Letting go of Nisa’s hand, she walked over to a desk which was set near to the fireplace and rested her behind on the old oak. The firelight flickered wildly on her glossy dress.

  ‘It’s a nice room,’ Nisa said. ‘It’s kind of cosy.’

  ‘Uh-huh. Why am I so attracted to you, Nisa?’

  The sudden question brought Nisa’s eyebrows up. ‘I… Well…’

  ‘No, I don’t get it either. First time I saw you I thought “that is a woman I’d like to shag senseless,” but it’s more than that and I don’t get it. Tell me you don’t feel the same thing.’

  Nisa crossed the space between them and paused, leaning forward with a hand on the desk. Their faces were barely an inch apart and she could feel Alaina’s breath on her cheek, stuttering, uncertain. ‘I could argue it’s fate or something,’ Nisa said, her voice almost a whisper.

  ‘Not sure I believe in that stuff. We make our own destiny.’

  ‘Then I’m going to make it now.’ Leaning forward, Nisa claimed Alaina’s mouth with hers. Tongue parted lips, slid deeper, met no resistance until it was fencing with Alaina’s tongue. The latex dress was slick beneath Nisa’s hands as she slid them up Alaina’s body and found the little points over her breasts and rolled them down. And then Alaina was gasping as Nisa’s thumb grazed over her nipple.

  ‘We… we should lock the door,’ Alaina moaned.

  ‘Does anyone come here?’

  ‘They might… m-might to do this.’

  ‘Cool,’ Nisa said, ‘we could get caught.’ She dipped her head and sucked in a nipple as her hands lowered to find the hem of the red, rubber dress.

  ‘Oh… shit. Don’t stop.’

  Nisa had not been planning to. She rolled the rubber up Alaina’s thighs and spread those thighs, one hand cupping Alaina’s naked mound. No knickers, naughty girl. Just perfect, and she was already wet and there was no resistance as Nisa slipped a finger into her. How long had the hot little blonde been waiting for this? How long had she been planning to get Nisa alone in this room?

  ‘Oh…’ Alaina’s gasped cry told Nisa it was a long time. ‘Oh… oh… please… I need… please.’

  Nisa dropped to her knees and slid another finger into Alaina, her tongue finding the hot, swollen nub of her clitoris easily and quickly. Alaina’s hands curled around the back of Nisa’s skull and pressed her closer. Nisa’s tongue lapped and her fingers danced, pushing and prodding, quickening and slowing, and driving until Alaina’s hips were bucking and she was gasping and panting, and then Alaina was clamping a hand over her mouth to cut off the scream which was most certainly not suitable for a library.

  ‘Pull that skirt up,’ Alaina said when her breathing had returned to normal. ‘I want you on the rug in front of the fire.’

  Nisa grinned at her and turned to do as she asked. ‘But what if someone comes?’

  ‘Someone is going to come. You.’

  Tower Hamlets, November 1st.

  Faline peered at her from the lounge sofa as Nisa stumbled into the flat. ‘I wasn’t sure you would actually be back before dawn,’ the Witch Cat said.

  ‘I’m back,’ Nisa replied, grinning brightly.

  ‘Hmm, yes. And you had sex, with the blonde girl.’

  ‘I so did. She was almost like I remembered from the fake world. A bit crazier. A little more wild once she got going.’

  ‘Interesting,’ Faline replied. ‘You wish to see her again?’

  ‘I so wish.’

  ‘I’m happy for you, but perhaps you should get some sleep.’

  Nisa giggled. ‘I’m too hyped to sleep!’

  She was unconscious inside of ten minutes.

  ~~~

  ‘…have seen…’

  ‘Is she in…’

  ‘…demon as well…’

  ‘Did she see?’

  ‘She saw, but has not yet seen.’

  ‘She must…’

  Nisa turned in her sleep and the voices were cast aside, but her eyes flickered open and, for a brief instant, she saw the pattern of light hanging over the coin on her bedside table. Closing her eyes, she sank herself into a memory of Alaina’s face looking up at her. Fuck the stupid coin. Could she not have one night of being happy?

  Westminster, November 3rd.

  ‘You are looking rather happy,’ Kellog said from the doorway of her office.

  ‘I’m feeling kind of happy,’ Nisa replied. ‘I had a nice night out on Friday. Nothing bad happened and I didn’t sense anything weird. I didn’t see any signs of anything strange being used, though I won’t say they weren’t, just that I didn’t see anything. Plus, things are still pretty quiet.’

  Kellog nodded, though it looked a little reluctant. ‘We had a report of some shadow figures come in. Filtered through from Newcastle. Vague, and late, but it sounds like the same sort of thing.’

  Nisa giggled. ‘Well, Newcastle… Geordies? Probably too much of the “broon hale” on a Saturday night.’

  Her partner winced. ‘I’m American and even I know that was a terrible impersonation of a Geordie. I’m going to put word out to a few of the regions, see if anyone else has seen anything out of the ordinary.’

  ‘You’re thinking that we haven’t seen them because they’ve been further afield?’

  He shrugged. ‘And maybe they’ve just done what they came for and they’ll be gone.’

  ‘I never took you for an optimist, Kellog.’

  ‘Oh, I’m not. But sometimes these things do just quietly go away. Of course, when they do, it leaves us with an unsolved case and the worry they could come back, so it’s not really optimism.’

  ‘Well, that’s good. I don’t want you shattering my illusions of how the world works. Again.’

  ~~~

  Covent Garden was a convenient place to meet, roughly midway between XC and the Order’s building. It was just coffee, on Nisa’s lunch break, and Kellog had noticed that she was actually going out for a break rather than staying in the office, but he had said nothing. So Nisa met Alaina in a coffee shop in Covent Garden.

  The blonde looked nervous as she walked in, but her smile was genuine and bright when she spotted Nisa. ‘I… I wasn’t entirely sure you would be here,’ Alaina said as she sat down across the small table. ‘I know we said we would meet, but…’

  ‘Thought I might have forgotten you already?’ Nisa’s lips twitched in amusement as she spoke.

  ‘Well… You’re busy, police work and… whatever else. I haven’t stopped thinking about the library all weekend.’

  ‘I’ve slept,’ Nisa replied. ‘I’m not sure I was thinking about it then.’

  Alaina giggled. ‘Okay, yes, I remember having a dream where we were doing it on a white beach, in the tropics maybe, so that wasn’t the library.’ Nisa returned the giggle. ‘When can we do it again? I mean, I don’t think I want you just for the sex, but the sex was…’ Alaina sighed and a shiver ran through Nisa’s body, originating somewhere in her crotch.

  ‘Uh, well, I am kind of busy, I admit. I’m still learning the ropes, so to speak.’

  ‘Ropes? Now there’s an interesting thought…’

  Nisa felt her cheeks colouring and a few other physical reactions starting. ‘Friday night? We could catch a club and… And then see where we go to from there.’

  ‘Friday? So long. I’ll be dragging you into the restrooms.’ Flashes of her alternate life with alternate-Alaina
danced through Nisa’s mind. ‘I can wait until then, but we have coffee on Thursday to confirm. You might have picked up a hot case and can’t make it.’

  ‘Nothing’s that hot,’ Nisa told her and then forced herself not to add ‘except you,’ because the line was too corny.

  ‘You are,’ Alaina whispered and then burst into a fit of giggles. ‘Damn that was too corny for words.’

  November 6th.

  ‘So we have a few reports of shadowy figures,’ Kellog said over coffee in the break room. ‘Not what you would call exemplary eyewitness reports, but reports which more or less match our other ones.’

  ‘This is out of the city, right?’ Nisa asked.

  ‘Yes. Newcastle, as I said, and there are ones from Glasgow, two in Edinburgh, York, Borth.’

  ‘Borth?’ Nisa felt her heart lurch. ‘Is that in Cornwall?’

  ‘Wales. A fairly small… village I think is the best word. Just north of Aberystwyth on the coast.’

  ‘Oh, right.’

  ‘You were thinking of Miss Norris?’

  ‘Yes. I wasn’t aware you knew she’d gone to Cornwall.’

  ‘Hanson mentioned it. We tend to keep an eye on people affected by the supernatural. Especially when they’re friends of our staff.’

  ‘Thanks.’ She pursed her lips and then took a pull on her coffee while she thought. ‘I’ve been working on some statistical analysis stuff to show up patterns in the data we have. Maybe when I finally get it all worked out we can spot something.’

  ‘Have you any idea how much longer? To finish the research, I mean.’

  ‘Couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure I’ve got it right. I’m going over my maths again. It’s a confidence thing, I guess. I’ve always been way better at applied. Statistics is… well, it’s statistics. It always feels like summoning facts out of thin air.’

  ‘You summon energy from thin air on a regular basis,’ he pointed out.

  ‘Statistics is more arcane than reality hacking.’

  Norbery stopped in the doorway as he walked in, raising his eyebrows. ‘Now that is not something you expect to hear.’

  ‘You saying I’m wrong?’ Nisa asked, her own eyebrows going up.

  ‘Well… no… You’re probably right.’

  November 10th.

  And just when Nisa was beginning to believe that life was really looking good, Alaina dropped a spanner in the works. They were back in the coffee shop. Nisa was feeling a tiny bit guilty since she had barely seen Faline all weekend, and that was due to Alaina having spent a fair amount of that time in Nisa’s bed. Faline had appeared late Sunday, sulky but trying not to show it, and had explained that she was not that fond of voyeurism. And now…

  ‘Alexander’s confirmed it,’ Alaina said. ‘We’re going to be away a month. Thirty-three days, leaving on Saturday.’ She pouted. ‘Early Saturday. We’re flying out to the US first and the check-in time is ridiculous. Two weeks bouncing across the States, and then over to Germany, down to Italy, uh, France, Norway…’

  ‘Sounds tiring,’ Nisa replied, trying not to sound dejected.

  ‘It’s going to be…’ Alaina ground to a halt and frowned, and then said, ‘It’s going to be weeks of not being able to see you. He did have the good grace to look apologetic about it.’

  Nisa gave her new sort-of-girlfriend her best smile. ‘Think what the reunion sex will be like when you get back. And you’ll be here for Christmas. And I’ve got a load of work I need to concentrate on, so it’s kind of good timing.’

  ‘It’s not,’ Alaina moaned. ‘I only just got my hands on that body of yours and now I’m being dragged off. It’s not fair. Though… the reunion sex sounds good.’

  ‘And, you know, we have these things called “telephones” now. They let you communicate with other people across great distances.’

  Alaina giggled. ‘Now you’re being silly. I want to see you before I go.’

  ‘You leaving from Heathrow?’ That got a nod. ‘So we get a room out there Friday night. Hotel sex, and you’re right there at the airport when it’s time to go.’

  ‘Now I see why you’re a cop,’ Alaina said, smiling. ‘It’s clear that you’re a genius.’

  Heathrow Airport, November 15th.

  Nisa turned, her eyes falling on the blonde hair spread on the pillow beside her. She smiled. Her muscles were probably going to ache in the morning, but it would be worth it. Damn, but they had tried to make sure neither of them would forget the other before Alaina left. The thought made her squirm a little and she thought of waking her bedmate for another round, but… No, it was too late now… Or too early now… And they were both tired…

  ‘…still does not know.’

  ‘She does not need…’

  ‘She hears us!’

  ‘Let her. She hears, but does not listen.’

  ~~~

  Nisa watched as Alaina followed Alexander Maxim through the security barriers and on into the interior of the airport. Maxim had given Nisa a smile as the two women kissed goodbye, which was kind of nice. He seemed pleased that they had hooked up, which Nisa was a little surprised about given that he did not really seem the type to view same-sex relationships with favour. She waited and was rewarded by a quick look back and a wave before Alaina was swallowed by the tight security which accompanied international travel these days.

  ‘Damn good reason not to leave the country,’ Nisa muttered and then turned to leave. She had promised Faline she would be back as soon as possible and that she would cuddle the cat thoroughly for putting up with a lovesick owner. Faline had said that that was unnecessary. Nisa’s lips twitched. Actually, she had looked horrified at the idea of excessive cuddling which meant it had to happen. Oh yes, it did.

  Anyway, there was going to be some hard work, even if it was the weekend: Nisa was sure she was close to a solution on the statistical analysis, but the tests she was doing on her program kept coming back wrong. That either meant her software was wrong or her maths was incorrect. The only way to be sure was to go over both, carefully, thoroughly… again. Okay, so police work could be tedious, monotonous, downright boring at times, but statistics…

  Poplar, November 21st.

  ‘I know it’s not exactly your area,’ Nisa said as she showed Spike her laptop and the program it was displaying, ‘and I know it’s police stuff and against your principles, but…’

  Spike huffed out a breath. ‘And you just expect me to find some bug in your code, just by looking?’

  ‘Well, you’re a genius wizard hacker, right?’

  ‘Right…’

  ‘We all know you can do it, Spike,’ Jenna put in, grinning. ‘You’re just holding back because the keyboard might give you cop cooties.’

  ‘Hadn’t thought of that. Anyone got any rubber gloves?’

  Giggling, Nisa dug in her bag and produced a pair of blue latex gloves. ‘Actually…’

  Spike raised an eyebrow. ‘What on Earth have you got those in there for?’ He waved it away, focussing on the code. ‘Never mind, let’s see what I can see, uh…’

  And that was when Nisa felt it. As he focussed and you could almost see his mind narrowing in on the screen and the code, and the flow of it all, and how the code would react when data was put in… There was the unmistakable sensation of magic being worked in her presence. She had to stifle a gasp, because it so felt like it was really coming from Spike, but it could not be him… Could it?

  ‘There you go,’ he said and the feeling was gone, but that just made it seem more likely that he was the source. ‘This loop… No, these loops are going to terminate prematurely. You’ll be failing to scan some of the data each time it iterates.’

  ‘Told you,’ Nisa said quickly. ‘Told you you were a wizard.’ Though the correct term was ‘technomancer.’

  ‘Huh,’ he grunted, and she believed the sincerity of his dismissal. ‘I’m just good. Anyone could do it. I never got your little light trick working. I’m no wizard.’

  ‘Just kee
p telling yourself that, Spike.’ Nisa pulled her laptop over and peered at the code loops he had indicated, already half lost in fixing them.

  ‘What I want to know,’ Lena said, ‘is who the new love of Nisa’s life is?’

  ‘Who says I have a new love in my life?’

  ‘The way your cheeks flushed when I asked.’

  ‘And the way your back is straighter when you walk,’ Jenna added. ‘You kind of floated in, even if you had a problem to solve. That’s love.’

  ‘Her name’s Alaina,’ Nisa said, not looking up, ‘and she’s blonde, very cute, fantastic in bed.’

  Wallace let out a groan. ‘Why are all the best ones gay? At least tell me you have video.’

  ‘I do,’ Nisa lied, ‘and you can’t watch it.’

  Tower Hamlets, November 23rd.

  ‘It’s a weird number,’ Nisa said into her phone, ‘so it must be Alaina. Where are you?’

  ‘Oh… uh… Hang on, it’s Sunday… Washington. Washington, D.C. not the state. We’re flying out there day after tomorrow.’ Alaina sounded jetlagged. Certainly tired.

  ‘Be careful out there. I hear sparkling vampires are all the rage on the north-west coast.’

  ‘Huh? Oh, that. You know people in our, um, business don’t talk about that book.’

  ‘Probably not. You sound tired.’

  ‘I haven’t been up long. Time difference and stuff. Just not awake yet. We have been pushing kind of hard. Alexander’s a bit irritable, but he’s under a lot of pressure.’

  Nisa frowned, leaning back from her laptop where she was busy arranging data files for processing by her newly fixed and validated software. ‘You’re okay though, right?’

  ‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, and we have a two-day break in the schedule once we get to Seattle. That’ll ease the tension. Gotta say, the academic types in New England make the Order seem normal. I mean… You ever read any Lovecraft?’

  ‘Some, yeah.’

  ‘Well, now I know where he got it from. Wee-erd. I kept expecting people with fish heads for, well, heads to turn up.’