by Jamie Davis
“Let me open up my account and I’ll send it to you,” Cass said. “Give me a few seconds.”
She accessed her connection to the Mantle and the net, opening her bank account. In the Mantle, she scanned the virtual surroundings, until she found Frederick’s persona nearby. She mentally poked it while saying, “Is this you?”
“Yep, that’s me. Just wire the money there.”
“Sending it now,” Cass said.
Frederick pressed the button to raise the chair up again as Cass connected her bank account to Frederick’s and sent five hundred dollars to him. Cass admitted to herself it was a lot easier than carrying a load of cash around with her.
“I’m glad to be of service, ladies. If you ever need anything again, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I’ll let my brother know what a good job you did. I’m sure he has other friends who need this kind of work done,” Shelby said. She reached out for Cass’s hand to help her stand up.
Cass turned back to Frederick. “Hey, how does this come off. I asked for a temporary version, so I assume it comes off somehow?”
“Just concentrate on the side of your face around the implant. The edges of the patch are tuned to you and will release on a signal from your implant. You’ll see the connection points when you take it off. There are tiny magnets inside the patch holding it to your face around the implant. Pull on the edge and it’ll automatically lift off so you can peel it away. To replace it, just hold it back in place and run your finger along the seam to create a fresh seal with your skin. The linkage and seal should hold up for six months to a year before it’ll need to be replaced. A new one is only two hundred since I already have your personal template in my system.”
“Sounds good. Thank you again,” Cass said. She turned with Shelby and left. This solved one problem with her upcoming visit from her father. All she had to do was keep him away from Shelby and everything would be all right.
Chapter 17
Friday rolled around too quickly for Cass. Despite the fact her new skin patch covered her implant perfectly, she was still apprehensive about meeting with her father.
Things were tense between herself and Shelby, too. Shelby wanted Cass to tell her father about Shelby’s cybernetic enhancements, even if she didn’t tell him about her own. Shelby told Cass she owed it to her parents to tell them the truth.
Cass knew Shelby had no idea how strong her parents’ feelings were concerning cyber-humans. In the end, she convinced Shelby to go hang out with her brother all afternoon following her classes.
Shelby made her displeasure clear as she grabbed her purse and left that morning. Cass tried to talk to her to make her understand but Shelby refused to talk with her at all and left the room.
Cass checked the time via her implant and then went to scan her face in the mirror one last time before her father got there. She nodded. Nothing had changed so he should see nothing unusual. The skin patch matched and sealed to her skin just as it was designed to do.
Cass tugged at her wig, making sure it wouldn’t come loose or shift while she was out to eat with her father. The portion of her implant that curved up and behind her ear was hidden by the wig. She’d be glad when her own hair grew back enough that she could get rid of the wig. It itched, especially on warm days like this.
There was a tap at her door. Cass knew it was her dad. The building’s systems had already alerted her implant of his arrival when he checked in at the front desk.
She wondered again if that automaticity made her more susceptible to some sort of influence by the Mantle or a rogue AI. A chill ran down her spine as Cass thought about it.
Cass walked to the door, took a deep breath, and opened it. Her father greeted her with a big hug.
“Hi, honey. It’s so good to see you in person again and not just on the other side of the screen.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Dad. Come on in.”
Cass stepped back so her father could come into the room.
James Armstrong looked around the room and smiled. “It’s nice of you to pick up for me.”
“I know how to keep my room clean, Dad.”
“Well, you’ll have to make sure you clean up your room when you come home, too. It still looks like a cyclone hit it from when you left.”
Cass resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew her dad was just trying his hand at some good-natured banter with her. He didn’t mean anything by it.
“So, am I going to meet your girlfriend? I see she isn’t here.”
Cass hesitated for a second before answering. “No, Dad, Shelby is away with her family for the weekend. I wanted to have you all to myself.”
The disappointment showed on James Armstrong’s face as he frowned. Cass got the impression it wasn’t only about meeting his daughter’s girlfriend. She knew how suspicious her father was. He probably had tried to look up info on Shelby but had been unable to find anything. Cass had purposely given him misleading information so he wouldn’t find out much about her on a routine search.
“I’m sorry, Dad. Something came up with her mom and she had to go away to deal with it.”
“Never mind, hon. It’s good to see you. You’re the one I actually came to visit.”
“How was your trip here?” Cass asked. “Did your business meetings go as planned this morning?”
“It did. We’re concerned, though. There are several dissident groups in the city that we’ve heard are going to disrupt our perfectly legal march and rally. We’ve asked the chief of police and the city to turn down any requests for counter-demonstrations on the same weekend.”
“Is that legal?” Cass asked. “Can’t anyone apply for a permit to hold a demonstration?”
“Our movement has friends in high places all over the country. If those friends are not members of the movement outright, they’re people who sympathize with us. One of them is the chief of police in the city. He’s assured me that because those who’ve applied to date all have police records for various petty offenses, he has grounds to turn them down.”
Cass wondered if Shelby’s brother, Eric, was one of the dissidents her father referred to. She knew that not having the legal paperwork wasn’t going to stop Eric. He and his friends would organize something whether he had a legal permit to hold a demonstration or not.
“The other reason I’m here, besides visiting you and helping to organize the march, is to talk with a few of the local legislators about a new bill we have coming up in the Congress. We’re hoping to get some local support and a few new co-signers for the bill.”
“What is the proposed law going to do?” Cass asked.
“It’s going to make it illegal to make, produce, or manufacture any enhancements that are not specifically designed for medical uses.”
Cass couldn’t hide her surprise. “Really? Isn’t that going a bit too far?”
“I’m surprised to hear you say that, Cass. You should know it doesn’t go far enough. Still, it’s a step in the right direction. If I had my way and thought we could push it through, we’d make sure that no implants could be manufactured that had connectivity to the Mantle. These people need to be stopped for good or the AI is going to use them to take control of everyone.”
“Do you think it’ll pass?”
“I think it might. It’s not everything I want but it’s a step in the right direction. Allowing for medically necessary devices is a small price to pay given how few of them there are compared to the rampant use of black market implants around the country.”
Hearing about the exception for medical devices made Cass feel like there might be some hope for her with her family. Maybe this meant she could let her parents know about what happened to her. Cass needed to talk to her father some more and figure out exactly how firmly he supported the stronger version of the bill. She’d bring it up again over dinner.
“So where are we going to dinner?” Cass asked.
“I thought I’d let you pick a place. You’ve been livin
g here for several months. Surely you have a favorite restaurant by now.”
“Yeah, I do. Honestly, though, Dad, I was hoping we could go somewhere a lot fancier than I can afford on my limited budget as a college student.”
James laughed and smiled at his daughter. “Somehow, I knew you’d say something like that. No worries. I already talked to the police chief about it during our meeting. He recommended a nice steak and seafood house downtown. He even called ahead to make sure they had room for us. How does that sound to you?”
Cass nodded with enthusiasm. She hadn’t had a decent steak since she’d come to college. The mystery meat they served in the cafeteria here on campus might be called steak, but it didn’t taste like any steak she’d ever had before. “I think that would be awesome. Let me grab my purse and we can go.”
Her dad walked over to the door and waited while she grabbed her purse from the side of her chair. Double checking to make sure the room was in order, Cass headed for the door.
“Don’t forget your key,” James said, pointing to the key card on the lanyard hanging from a hook next to her desk.
Cass stopped for a second, initially confused. She hadn’t used a key card since her implant had been put in. Her door just recognized her and opened when she got there. She realized how close she had come to making a critical error.
“Oh yeah, thanks. I’d forget my head if it weren’t attached.” Cass walked over to her desk and grabbed the lanyard with the key card and slipped it into her bag.
Crossing back to the door, she gestured to her dad to lead the way. She let the door close behind her and latch as she and her father headed out to the dorm’s common room. A few of Cass’s friends said hi as she passed by. She smiled and returned the greetings then followed her father outside to the street. As expected, her father had rented a manually-operated car. He’d parked along the street nearby. As Cass climbed into the car, her father remarked on the rental.
“It’s getting harder and harder to rent a car that isn’t connected to the Mantle. They only had two on the whole lot when I landed. The clerk at the rental desk seemed to think the company wasn’t buying any more like them in the future. I’m not sure what we’re going to do about getting around after that. There’s no way I’m trusting my life to a car operated by an AI.”
Cass reached out with her mind. She saw right away this car had no external connection to the network around them. It was just a dumb machine.
“I’m sure there will be places that’ll cater to your specific needs and people like us, Dad. Especially if some of the initiatives you’ve proposed to Mr. Noble go through.”
“I hope so, Cassie. We need to get more people from the movement elected, first. That’s in the plan for the next election cycle. Who knows? You might be out of school in time to work on a key congressional or senate campaign, maybe even a presidential campaign if we get Sterling the exposure he wants.”
The thought of working on a presidential campaign alongside her father excited Cass. She realized, though, she’d have to have come clean about her implant by then. Maybe the position on medical devices would soften some once the new legislation passed.
As her dad steered them through traffic filled with automatic vehicles, their conversation turned to family news.
“Your mother was sorry she couldn’t come along with me on this trip. She’s really jealous that I get to see you and she doesn’t.”
“I’ll make sure to call her this evening and spend extra time chatting with her. I know she’s upset about not coming. I miss her, too. How’s Elena doing?”
“Your sister is doing well in school. I think she’s happy to be out from under your shadow. For a long time, she was known as Cass Armstrong’s little sister. Now she has a chance to make a mark of her own as the only Armstrong in the school.”
Cass was happy to hear her sister, Elena, was succeeding in her studies for a change. She’d always struggled in school before. Cass had always been the better student and athlete in the family.
“Is she involved in any activities at school?” Cass asked.
“She made the soccer team. She worked hard all summer before you left, as you know. I know you spent a lot of time with her on her skills. It paid off when tryouts came along. She’s actually had some playing time and they seem to think she might move up from the JV squad to the varsity squad next year.”
“I’m sorry I’m not going to be able to see her play.”
“The school is actually recording the games and posting them on its restricted site. It doesn’t have open access, but I think we can arrange to get you a password so you can have your own connection. I think she’d appreciate knowing that you were watching her games at least some of the time.”
Cass nodded. “That would be nice. I’ll send her a text when we get back to the room.”
They arrived at the restaurant. It was every bit as nice as her father led her to believe.
“The police chief did a good job picking a place, Dad. This is great.”
“It is. I’ll be sure to thank him. We have one more follow-up meeting tomorrow over breakfast before I head home.”
They sat down to eat and most of the conversation turned towards hearing updates about friends and family around the enclave.
As dinner ended, James drove Cass back to the dorm. It was just starting to get dark as they pulled up in front of the building. As Cass climbed out of the car, her dad froze. Two people walked by on the sidewalk. Cass wasn’t sure what the problem was until she realized both people had implants.
The boy had an installation of monofilament fiber hair. The glowing filaments changed color as he walked down the sidewalk with his arm around a girl’s waist. She had a metal ridge running up from her neck where it divided on either side to run up and over either ear. Her hair was shaved on the sides to show off the implants. The metal bars glowed with a deep purple light around the edges.
Cass overheard her father muttering under his breath. Her implant gave her better than average hearing. She easily heard him say, “damned subs.”
“Hey, Dad, why don’t you just drop me off here? That way you don’t have to pay the parking meter again.”
“That would actually be nice. I do need to start heading back to the hotel. I’ve got some calls to make tonight.”
Cass walked around the front of the car to her father. She reached out and gave him a big hug.
“It’s good to see you, Daddy.”
“It’s good to see you, too, cupcake. Make sure you continue to work hard on your studies. Finish strong.” He said, starting the family motto.
“Armstrong,” Cass replied, finishing the phrase.
Her words brought a smile to her father’s face. He nodded and climbed into the car. Cass watched him drive away. She sighed. That had gone about as well as she could have hoped. Now, to head in and apologize to Shelby.
Chapter 18
When Cass returned, Shelby sat waiting on her bed.
“So, how did it go?” Shelby asked.
“It went all right,” Cass replied with a shrug. “He hasn’t changed at all, not that I expected him to.”
“You knew he wasn’t going to be any different, Cass. He hasn’t given you any indication during your face chats that his opinion has changed on anything.”
“I know, but I keep hoping he’ll soften in some way. He talked some about a new piece of legislation going before Congress.”
“What’s it going to do?”
Cass hesitated before answering. “It’s going to outlaw any manufacture or installation of cyber enhancements on humans outside of medically necessary implants.”
“They can’t do that,” Shelby exclaimed. “People have a right to do what they want with their bodies.”
“He made a point to say there’d be an exception made for medical needs. He wasn’t happy about that concession, but he saw the need for it.”
“What about the rally my brother heard about?” Shelby asked.
<
br /> “There is one planned. He’s working with the police chief to shut down any counter-protests by refusing their permits.”
“I have to tell my brother,” Shelby said. “He knew there was going to be a rally, but he didn’t know about this. If they restrict counter-protests, it changes everything.”
“Be careful what you tell him, Shelby. No one’s supposed to know about this. If something crops up here on campus, Dad might think I told somebody.”
“Nonsense, he won’t suspect you. He’s had meetings with people about this all day. He’ll think one of them, or one of their assistants, leaked something to someone.”
“Maybe. I think Eric should be careful, though. This rally and the pending legislation are going to happen. My father was pretty adamant about it.”
Shelby didn’t answer her and Cass glanced in her roommate’s direction. Shelby had stood up. She stared over Cass’s shoulder at the door to their room behind her. They left it open when they were just hanging out, so people could come by and visit.
A horrible feeling filled Cass with dread as she turned around.
James Armstrong said, “Your father is adamant about what, Cass?”
“Dad, what are you doing here? I thought you were leaving.”
“I forgot to give you something from your mother.” James Armstrong held out a package wrapped in brown paper. “It’s a new sweater she thought you would enjoy since the weather was getting colder. She’d kill me if I forgot to give it to you.”
James looked past Cass at Shelby. He couldn’t disguise the disgust on his face. With a sneer, he said, “Who’s your friend, Cass?”
“This is Shelby, Dad.”
“This. Is. Shelby.” Her father said, enunciating each word.
Cass realized he was at a loss for words for the first time in her life. He stammered a few times as if starting to say something else.
Her father found his voice at last as he took a step forward pointing at Shelby. Anger twisted his face as he said, “What have you done with my daughter? She’d never let someone like you anywhere near her. Come on, tell me what you did to her to make her take a freak like you to bed?”