The Infinet (Trivial Game Book 1)

by John Akers

  “Trust me—if it had been anybody else, I would have.” She straightened up and said, “And believe it or not, the real reason I came here wasn’t to get into a fight with you, but to ask if you’d care to join Angelo and me for dinner.”

  “Are you going to toss me on my ass again if I refuse?”

  She laughed. It was a child’s laugh—loud, pure, and untroubled.

  “No, of course not. If you’d rather be alone, we’ll bring your dinner to your room. But it’s a beautiful night, and we thought you might like to get answers to some of your questions.”

  Pax realized he was hungry again, and now that he was rested, he needed to resume gathering as much information as he could.

  “Sure, why not.”

  Elena stepped to the wall, and the opening reappeared. “In that case,” she said, “please follow me.”

  Chapter 29

  Saturday, March 17, 7:37 PM PT

  Breaking News: Widespread Internet Hacking Causes 7 Deaths, More Than 100 Injuries

  By Sienna Gutierrez, Contact Reporter

  San Francisco Chronicle

  A widespread computer virus has been used to take control of thousands of internet-connected consumer devices throughout Santa Clara county and caused them to malfunction in ways that have directly or indirectly killed 7 people and injured more than 100.

  Early Friday afternoon, Jerry Cunningham of Los Altos was killed in a bizarre accident in which an automated car deviated from its programmed route and struck Mr. Cunningham in front of Stanford Hospital, killing him instantly. Mr. Cunningham had called the police to his home several times in the week leading up to his fatal accident with claims of being stalked and attacked through the internet-connected devices in his home. Initially, police dismissed his claims, largely due to lack of direct evidence, but now it appears that his claims may have been credible.

  Since Mr. Cunningham’s death, a rapidly growing number of people throughout Santa Clara county have begun reporting malfunctioning devices in their homes, including refrigerators, stoves, coffee makers, microwave ovens, lighting systems, garage doors, sprinklers, toothbrushes, oral irrigators, hair dryers, and security systems. The epicenter was originally Mr. Cunningham’s neighborhood in Los Altos, where almost every resident has reported at least one device malfunction, but it has spread rapidly from there.

  In most cases, the glitches start off as merely odd or annoying, such as lights turning on and off, or doors unlocking and opening, but quickly progress to being much more dangerous. All the deaths reported at the time this article went to press have happened in different ways, including a pacemaker overload, being struck in the head by an automated door, a exploding gas grill, electrocution caused by a short-circuit in a pool, and an overdose caused by a medicine bottle dispensing too much medication. Also, eight robberies and three rapes were reported as a result of anonymous information placed on ‘dark web’ sites about homes being unoccupied or only having one person inside. In these cases, the security system was disabled and the front door unlocked.

  The Los Altos police department has refused to give the total number of incidents reported, but a spokesman did confirm the rate of reported incidents is increasing rapidly. So far the police have not offered a theory as to who or what is behind the attacks. All active-duty officers and some off-duty officers have been dispatched to incident areas in hopes of learning more about the cause of the attacks, as well as finding ways to contain them.

  Chapter 30

  As he followed Elena, Pax reminded himself to be vigilant and not divulge anything about either Project Simon or Project Aegis. He had to get them talking and keep them talking. Any questions he didn’t want to answer he needed to redirect onto them. As a last resort, he could always be rude and simply refuse to answer. They hadn’t tried any rough stuff yet, and until they did, keeping mum was always a viable option.

  They exited the capsule into another large, circular room. This one was three times the size of his bedroom. The front quarter was open to the outside, and Pax could see the ship’s bow from where he stood. Angelo was seated on the right side of a small circular table, where three salads and glasses of white wine were already in place. He wasn’t wearing his Univiz, and he smiled as they approached.

  Elena sat across from Angelo and gestured for Pax to sit between them, facing the bow. Pax sat and looked out at the sea and sky. It was a beautiful night. The water rose and fell gently but was strikingly calm overall. Streaks of tangerine dappled the undersides of the few wispy clouds in an otherwise clear sky.

  Suddenly, Pax noticed there was no wind, even though the open front of the room faced the direction in which they were headed. If what Angelo had told him about the boat’s speed was true, they should all be plastered against the back wall of the room by a 100 mph wind. Yet somehow there was nothing, not even a breeze.

  “Cheers,” said Elena, raising her glass, followed by Angelo. Reluctantly, Pax raised his as well and clinked it against theirs. He took a sip of the wine. It was a crisp, delicious Riesling, another of his favorites, as was the Caprese salad in front of him.

  The three of them ate in silence for a minute before Elena put down her fork and looked at Pax.

  “So,” she said. “Questions.”

  Pax nodded but continued eating. Let them do the talking.

  “First, who,” she said. “We are members of a society that believes humanity has reached an inflection point. An existential tipping point, as it were. Our members come from all over the world and every walk of life, joined only by a common desire to ensure the continued existence of the human race in its natural form.”

  Pax gave a noncommittal shrug and continued eating. Inside, however, he began to feel nervous. Could these two be part of some weird doomsday cult? Until now they’d seemed intelligent and relatively normal—despite the fact that they’d kidnapped him. But he’d met enough people in his life to know a nontrivial percentage of them suffered one form of psychological problem or another. Sometimes you could tell right away, but usually, it took getting to know someone before their disordered, sometimes delusional thinking became apparent. The difficulty was particularly pronounced when it came to ideologies. People who otherwise seemed rational would, when in the presence of their fellow ideologues, suddenly start spouting gobbledy-gook aphorisms that, when subjected to rational analysis, made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

  When they had finished eating their salads, Angelo picked up their plates and disappeared through an opening that appeared in the back wall. Soon after, he reappeared, this time carrying a large serving tray. He held it with one hand as though it were a frisbee, even though there were three large plates and a bottle of wine in a chiller on it. Angelo served each of them and refilled their wine glasses before putting the tray down and taking his seat again. Each plate had a large filet mignon, a fully loaded baked potato, and steamed carrots—Pax’s favorite dinner. The smell was delicious, and his mouth started watering.

  “Next, where,” said Elena, as she picked up her fork and knife and cut off a piece of steak. “We are taking you to the island of Socotra. It’s located just outside the Gulf of Aden, at the far western edge of the Arabian Sea. To be specific, it is 150 miles west of the northernmost tip of Somalia, and 200 miles southwest of Yemen. In the 1990’s, it was annexed to Yemen, but shortly before the government there collapsed our society purchased it. It’s been our symbolic home ever since.” She stopped talking and ate.

  Pax’s mouth fell open. Then he blurted out, “That’s the other side of the goddamned planet!”

  “Almost exactly,” said Elena. “Which of course begs the question, why?”

  “You’re damn right, ‘why!’” said Pax. He was seething with anger, but then he remembered what had happened in his room only a short time earlier. He closed his eyes and took a couple of slow breaths. Then he looked at Elena and said, “Yes, I would love to know exactly why you find it necessary to drag me halfway around the world against my wi
ll. Please, enlighten me.”

  “Because there is something there we need to show you,” Angelo mumbled as he chewed a mouthful of food. He cut another piece of the steak and ate it. “Mmmmhhh!” he mumbled appreciatively. “You godda try this, it’s delicious!”

  “Gee, that’s a big help,” said Pax, continuing to ignore his food.

  Elena finished chewing and took a sip of wine before responding. “Sorry I can’t say more. It’s something you have to experience directly.”

  The way she said this sounded ominous. “You said earlier I’d be with you for three days,” said Pax. “But I’ve got a shareholder’s meeting on Friday that I need to prepare for now!”

  “We’ll have you back in time, should that continue to be a priority for you,” said Elena.

  “What do you mean, ‘should that continue to be a priority for me?’ If I don’t fight off this shareholder revolt, the entire world will suffer! The people I’m fighting, trust me, do not have humanity’s best interests at heart.”

  “We understand, but extenuating circumstances have forced our hand,” said Angelo. “You’ll understand why once we reach our destination.”

  Pax wanted to scream at him that he had no idea what he was talking about, no idea what it was like to be responsible for the largest company in the world. But instead, before he said something he might regret, he grabbed his knife and fork, cut off a piece of steak, and stuffed it in his mouth.

  Angelo hadn’t been kidding. It was delicious. Moist and tender and marbled with fine lines of fat throughout, it practically melted in his mouth.

  “All lab-grown,” said Elena. “Much more efficient than raising and slaughtering a real animal. Plus, the Infinet’s made some enhancements, so it tastes even better than the real thing.”

  Pax ate several more bites, hardly pausing in between mouthfuls. When he was done with the steak, he moved immediately to the potato. It was loaded with butter, cheese, sour cream, chives and bacon bits. To Pax’s amazement, it tasted as good, maybe even better than the steak. The skin was perfectly crisped, and the combination of toppings was a medley of succulence. Before he knew it, he had cleared his plate, yet found himself hungering for more.

  This time it was Elena’s turn to clear the table. When she returned, she had a much smaller serving tray with three plates of chocolate mousse cake. “Now try this,” she said.

  The cake was even better than the main course. It was so good that when he took a second bite he literally shuddered with pleasure. He wondered if they’d laced the food or wine with some drug that heightened his sensory perceptions. If they had, he couldn’t tell — he didn’t feel drugged or muddle-headed in any way.

  When he was finished with the cake, he finally felt satiated. He leaned back in his chair and stretched, then yawned. He knew he should still be furious with them, but the food had sapped his anger. He wondered how he could possibly feel tired again, but he did.

  “I know it has been a very stressful day for you, Mr. Pax,” Elena said. “I think we should let you return to your room so you can get some more sleep.”

  “Right. I’ve got a busy day of doing absolutely nothing ahead of me tomorrow.” Still, the thought of flopping down on the delightfully soft bed again sounded wonderful to Pax, so he said, “That’s fine with me.” Then he remembered an earlier question. As he stood up, he pointed toward the opening in the wall. “How come there’s no wind in here?”

  “Force field,” said Angelo. Pax stared at him, waiting for him to smile and say he was joking, but he didn’t elaborate. Pax was too tired to figure out if it was a hoax or not, so with a faint smile he said, “Of course.”

  Elena led the way back to his room, and after she left, Pax immediately lay down on the bed. He thought about everything he’d gone through that day, then about Socotra, the place they were taking him to. He wondered what could be there that would justify the enormous cost and risk of abducting and transporting him there.

  Suddenly his eyelids felt as though they weighed five pounds each. They closed quickly, and once more he fell into a deep sleep.

  A few minutes later, Pax began to dream. Less than ten feet away, in the sealed cubbyhole at the 12 o’clock position in the bridge underneath his bedroom, Pax’s Univiz flickered to life.

  Elena. Angelo. Boat. Socotra. Cevis. Aegis. Simon.

  Elena. How she looked at dinner with her hair down. They are alone in his bedroom. She flips him again, this time onto the bed. Then she is above him, leaning over, kissing him. Soft, full lips, electrifying his own.

  A sound like an explosion. Angelo is behind Elena, just inside the doorway, a look of fury on his face. Elena is rolling away, and now Angelo is grabbing Pax, His massive hands are tearing at him, ripping him apart. Pieces of Pax’s body drift slowly to the ground, like snow made from paper maché.

  The pieces slowly drift back together and merge, only now Pax is in the observation room for the Project Simon testing. Everyone in the company is there. Somehow they are miniaturized so they all able to fit in the center of the room. They are standing and applauding Pax, who is still normal size. The sound is like high-pitched squealing. Pax runs around the outside of the room, laughing, his footsteps thunderous, running, faster and faster. Then he dashes up the center aisle, the tiny people spilling frantically out of his way as he runs to the last row before leaping as far as he can. He feels himself soaring, through the air, out of the room, out of the building. He is still rising, the warm air rushing by him. Pax sees he is flying over the ocean, approaching an island. Far away there’s a figure on the sand. It’s Cevis. He’s writing in the sand with his feet. Huge capital letters:

  S O C O T R A

  Pax falls to the beach and rolls wildly into Cevis, knocking him over. Cevis jumps up, laughing, then pulls Pax up and pats him excitedly on his back. Both of them run toward a featureless brown bunker of a building. Somehow Pax knows it contains the treatment for Project Aegis. The door opens, but it is completely black inside. They pass through the door, their feet not touching the ground. Pax turns to Cevis but Cevis is gone, and Pax is drifting through the black space, alone. He screams, but there is no sound. He kicks and thrashes and tries to scream again. Nothing.

  His viewpoint decouples from his body and begins to recede. His body grows smaller and twists and turns, arms and legs flailing. The viewpoint flies back out the door, then up and over the sand, into the air. He can still barely see his body though the open door of the brown building, just before it snaps silently shut. Then he does hear sound, of waves lapping and exotic birds softly calling. A soft zephyr tousles his hair and bends the leaves of the treetops nearby, over which he is now rising. There is nothing but golden sand below. And still he has no body.

  No body.

  No body.

  Pax's eye movements slowed, then stopped. In the room below, the lights and display on his UV flickered briefly, then winked out.

  Part 4

  It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct.

  Sigmund Freud

  Chapter 31

  Sunday morning, 3:30 AM PT

  “Wake up, Mr. Pax. It’s time to move.”

  A moment later the room light flared, stabbing Pax into consciousness. His head swam in confusion and indignation. With considerable effort, he lifted his head and opened his eyes. Angelo was standing just inside the opening in the wall, his shoulders and chest eclipsing the top half of it.

  “Wha?” Pax mumbled. He looked up at the dome above and saw thousands of stars glittering in the night sky. Despite the fog of sleep, he noticed how unusually bright they were. It was as if his eyes had suddenly switched from viewing in standard definition to SuperHD. No light pollution in the middle of the ocean.

  “You need to come with me.”

  Pax smacked his lips and swallowed, trying to clear the mungy feeling from his mouth. “What time is it?”

  “It’s 3:37 a.m.”

  “Wha
t? Why so early?” Pax felt a twinge of fear.

  “We’re leaving the ship,” said Angelo. “Now.”

  Instantly, Pax was wide awake.

  “Leaving the ship? What’s wrong? Are we sinking?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Huh?”

  “Let’s just say it’s time for you to disappear,” Angelo said with a smile.

  Pax’s eyes widened, and he scrambled backward on the bed away from Angelo, struggling not to get tangled in the sheets. On the opposite side of the bed, he dropped into a crouch and looked at Angelo fearfully. For a moment Angelo looked confused, then he shook his head and waved his hands in front of him.

  “I didn’t mean it like that, Mr. Pax. We just need to change our mode of transportation is all.”

  Pax remained on the other side of the bed. “What do you mean? We’re moving to a different boat?”

  “Um, yes. Please, we do need to get moving.” Anglo eased his massive frame back through the opening in the wall and stood expectantly on the other side.

  Pax walked slowly around the bed and joined Angelo in the capsule. The door closed, then reopened a few moments later. Angelo moved aside so Pax could exit first. As he stepped through the door and looked up, his breath caught in his chest.

  They had entered the ship’s hold, which spanned the full width and at least half the length of the ship. In the middle, resting in a channel that led to the rear wall, was something that looked like a massive torpedo. It had a cylindrical body some 50 feet long, 15 feet in diameter, and a 10-foot conical nose pointed toward the ship’s stern. Grooves in the nose ran in a twisting pattern from the tip to the base. The tail section had several long fins spaced evenly around the perimeter.