Veil

by Aaron Overfield

  Schaffer couldn’t think of a more wrong thing for Pollock to have said in that moment. He let go of Pollock’s lab jacket with his right hand and whacked him upside his head while he said, in rhythm with each whack, “You—really—think—I’m worried—about—that?” By the last word and the last whack, Schaffer was nearly beating Pollock in the head.

  Pollock knew he could take Schaffer. He was trying to avoid doing it. Not only because he felt guilty for what he said, but also because he genuinely didn’t like to beat the shit out of people. As a last resort he shoved Schaffer off him, which sent Schaffer flying backwards onto his desk.

  Schaffer pushed himself off the desk, as if he were going to lunge at Pollock.

  Pollock raised his fist and yelled, “Carl, I will break your fucking face. Just stop!”

  Schaffer instinctively responded to Pollock’s indication that he could take him and was prepared to do so. Schaffer pretended to brush himself off instead. Schaffer went behind his desk and lifted his chair, which was knocked over when he went at Pollock. He sat down. His face was red and he was sweating, but he tried to talk as normally as possible.

  “What … do you want?”

  Pollock, who by that point lowered his fist and was breathing heavily, sat in the chair in front of Schaffer’s desk. The two men sat and stared at each other.

  After a minute, Pollock composed himself enough to speak.

  “Look, I’m sorry for what I said in there. I … I just—” he started.

  Schaffer raised his hand. “Stop. Shut up. It doesn’t matter. I’m not gay. It doesn’t matter.”

  “Look bro,” Pollock tried a different angle. “Look man, it doesn’t bother me. I had a gay fraternity brother. Or at least I think he was. He was ok with me. I mean as long as he didn’t—”

  Schaffer slammed his fist down.

  “Shut the fuck up! I’m not fucking gay. I don’t care what you think you saw. And for the record, do you want to talk about your gay ass thoughts? Probably so deep down you don’t even realize it. Like what you thought when you saw that buff dude in the Commissary—”

  “Fuck you, man!” Pollock leaped up and used his fists to support himself, so he could lean across the desk and tower over Schaffer. “I don’t have sex with dudes or get feelings for them. What the fuck is wrong with you, saying that shit? Bringing that unconscious or whatever kind of shit up? When you … you … well you fucking know! Whatever you saw in my head was in my head, and it’s none of your fucking business. Just because you heard something doesn’t mean you understand it.”

  “Exactly,” Schaffer growled. He didn’t back down and held eye contact with Pollock. “Which is why I didn’t say anything about it. It’s none of my friggen business. I’m not you. I didn’t run to the General like a little bitch telling him what a homo you might be because you thought some random dude’s body was hot.”

  Pollock resumed feeling guilty for what he said to the General. He shook his head, took a seat, and apologized.

  “But anyway, ok, ok, ok … I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. Gay shit is weird but it doesn’t even bother me. Fuck. Can we move the fuck on now?” He then mumbled that he didn’t think the guy was hot and randomly added how Jackson Pollock’s art wasn’t shitty.

  “Yes you did and yes it is. But yeah anyway, what do you friggen want, Luke?”

  Ken and Hunter stayed up practically the entire night coding and recoding as much of the Veil programming as they could; they wanted the programming to be ready when the devices were delivered the following morning. They knew whatever code they put into them would be the final product. It was going to be the first taste of Veil the world got.

  They figured people would be so consumed with using and experiencing Veil for the first time that it would take months for anyone to really start dissecting it and trying to mod it or hack it. It was something they were sure was going to happen: people were going to hack Veil. Or, at the very least, try to hack Veil.

  “There’s no hidden subsystem of functions. We’ve given them access to essentially everything,” Ken argued. “So there’d really be no reason for anyone to hack it. And if they did, so what? For one, they can’t use it to do anything to anyone. What they do to their Veil won’t have any impact on another person. And two, they can’t do anything their brain isn’t already capable of doing. They can’t give themselves anything extra. They can only accentuate what’s already there. Enhanced sights, smells, tastes, stuff like that. And not even enhanced too much, because they’re still working off the signals from the subject’s brain.”

  “I guess I tend to assume the worst in people,” Hunter replied. “Hackers might not be able to do much damage, but that’s not going to keep them from trying. I think the first thing they’ll try to do is bypass the security measures.”

  “Definitely,” Ken agreed.

  “And you’re right, if they figure out how to hack anything else, I’m not sure what it would accomplish. They couldn’t change anything. To do that, they’d pretty much have to know more about the brain than you, Tsay, and me combined. Like you said, we’ve given them access to everything. The touchscreen control panel lets them take full advantage of all the features.”

  “So,” Ken finished for him, “why not release it out there and see what people can come up with? It’s going to be the world’s Veil, let’s see what the world decides to do with it.”

  “Right the fuck on,” Hunter agreed.

  “You two sure you don’t want to take them for a spin?” Hunter asked the pair and held up the first two fully functional Veils ever in existence.

  “Nope,” they declined simultaneously.

  “Ok, all on you,” he replied and set a collar on Brock’s lap. Hunter tapped the touchscreen on his collar a few times and then placed it on himself.

  The slick, black acrylic Veil Collar hung from his ears and rested on his nape. It hugged his neck quite snugly. The Veil beeped when it was in place and a clear electrode-infused silicone membrane ascended from the device, up along the base of Hunter’s neck. It snaked over the top of his head and followed the contour of his skull until it reached his hairline.

  The silicone membrane completely covered the top of Hunter’s head. It then lit up with purely decorative lines of electricity that streamed throughout the silicone. They resembled blue lightning bolts that branched out and shot in different directions. The bolts constantly pulsated and buzzed about, like a visible field of blue static electricity. The Veil Collar started to beep.

  Upon hearing the beeps, Suren let out a tiny squeal and burst out three little excited claps. She got embarrassed and turned red.

  “What it’s doing now,” Ken schooled Suren and Brock, “is reading what we call Hunter’s neuroelectrical frequency. After it reads that, it will use the information to formulate a special digital signature. That number, the Veil Security Number, will be stored in the device and will be used to perform authorized Veils.” He looked at Suren. “It’s setting up the ‘Suren’s Law’ feature.”

  Suren smiled. She thought for a moment and then asked, “So each Veil can only have one owner … one user?”

  “Yep,” Hunter smiled, as the collar continued its configuration.

  “Oh, shouldn’t you sit still and not talk or something?” she worried. The Veil was beeping, which Suren figured meant it was still working and doing some important technological whatnots.

  “Nah, it’s fine,” Hunter assured her. “It’s not that sensitive. It knows what it’s doing. And this is only the configuration stage. No neuroelectricity is actually being transferred.”

  “Gotcha, ok,” she nodded.

  “Ken, do you want to start the process for Brock’s?” Hunter asked.

  “Sure thing.”

  Ken got up from the lab table and walked to Brock’s chair. He grabbed the Veil from Brock’s lap and tapped on its touchscreen. The screen lit up and Ken pressed the only selection available, “Initial Configuration.”


  A message popped up: Are you sure? This cannot be undone.

  Ken pressed, “Yes.”

  The message changed to: Please place Veil into position. It will detect when it is ready and will start automatically. You will hear a beep when Veil is about to start initial configuration. It will continue beeping until the process is complete. This screen will then display your Veil Security Number.

  Ken placed the Veil on Brock’s neck and it beeped. Brock’s Veil then began the same configuration procedure, which Hunter’s just completed.

  After the two Veil Collars were configured and tested out for a few minutes—both collars completing a Veil by shadowing and by being shadowed—Hunter informed everyone that the devices were fully operational, functional, and ready for action. ‘Suren’s Law’ was also officially in place: before the test, Hunter and Brock were both assigned their Veil Security Numbers and had to use them to gain access to each other’s collar.

  As the test run was his first time on the other end of a Veil, Hunter also added, “And this shit is cool as fuck. Holy shitballs. I don’t know if words can describe it. Y’all are missing out. Holy fuck it’s intense, and I only did it for a few minutes. It’s like eating acid but falling asleep right afterwards. So, when you wake up you’re already tripping so hard that you not only forget you took acid, you also don’t even know who you are anymore.”

  Suren and Ken laughed nervously. They had no idea what any of that meant.

  “We’ll pass,” Ken said with a grin, but didn’t want to go into too much detail. He really didn’t want to get into a conversation about why he didn’t want to use Veil. Hunter and Brock didn’t seem to care, anyway.

  “So that’s it? It’s done?” Suren asked.

  “It’s done,” Hunter announced.

  “Yep, it’s done,” Ken conferred.

  “So now what?” asked the voice from Brock’s chair.

  “So now we program all the rest of them,” Hunter groaned.

  “Boo! No fun!” Suren teased. It took them over three hours to upload the operating system and program two Veils. “I’m not sitting around for that. I’ll go make food and stuff. Seriously though, what’s the next step? I mean … how long do we have?”

  “Well, Saturday we’re meeting up with Anderson Cooper somewhere in the District. After that happens, the Veil is going to hit the fan, as they say. So we need to have the rest ready by then.”

  “Anderson Cooper?” Suren squealed. “Are you serious? Anderson Cooper? I love Anderson Cooper! Oh my God, he’s so adorable. I wanna pinch him.”

  “Yep, Anderson motherfucking-boss-ass Cooper.”

  Suren let out another squeal. She was excited; she wasn’t dreading it anymore; she wasn’t worried about what was going to happen to her after Veil was released out into the world. She could see her revenge on the horizon, and more than anything else, she simply could not wait. She couldn’t wait to share Veil with the whole world and give everyone a glimpse into what she always knew was the amazing genius of Jin Tsay. Her Jin.

  “Alright then, let’s get this going and set these bitches up,” Ken said as he marched to the eighteen remaining Veils on the adjacent lab table.

  Suren let out one big cackle that surprised herself, so she covered her mouth with her hand and giggled through it. She was slaphappy. They were all slaphappy.

  From Brock’s chair came three very succinct words: “Ken said ‘bitches’.”

  “His credit cards turned up nothing. Neither did his cellphone. Nothing has been used since last Sunday. He’s not at any hospitals within a hundred-mile radius. No police contact, either.” Schaffer frowned and continued, “Also, sir, his friend Mr. Elsbeth departed from Reagan International last Sunday night. He boarded his flight at twenty-two forty-five. We haven’t been able to reach him. We did leave several messages. We attempted contact with Dr. Kennerly’s parents but that was … um, rather unsuccessful.”

  “Unsuccessful how? Hunter’s father was in the service. I’m sure he’d be more than responsive if he knew who was calling.”

  “Sir, when I introduced myself and tried to tell him why I was calling he clarified that I was calling about his son and when I answered in the affirmative he told me to … um … go fuck myself … and terminated the call.”

  Pollock tried to contain himself but let out a small, uncontrollable chuckle after Schaffer finished. The General seized an empty glass, which contained a considerable amount of gin before the two whitecoats entered. He hurled it at Pollock’s head. Pollock ducked and barely avoided it, and the glass shattered against the wall behind him and Schaffer.

  “Continue,” the General ordered Schaffer without the slightest change in demeanor.

  “Surveillance from Hunter’s quarters shows him returning from the lab last Sunday at approximately eighteen hundred and then leaving precisely at eighteen forty-five. We spoke with the parents of Hunter’s friend Mr. Elsbeth. They were adamant they hadn’t seen either of the men since Sunday evening some time. When Brock Elsbeth left for the airport.”

  “Son of a bitch!” the General shouted. He reached to pick up the glass that was sitting in front of him but found he already threw it at Pollock’s head. Instead, he picked up his pen and threw it across the room. It didn’t quite have the effect the General wanted and that only pissed him off more.

  “I’ve already sent men to canvass all the establishments around the home of Mr. Elsbeth’s, to acquire any security footage. Also to the airport to speak with TSA and review their security footage. However, because so much time has lapsed, I’m not sure they will be successful in turning up any information.”

  “So he just disappeared? You’re telling me Hunter Kennerly up and disappeared? The one person who can actually use the fucking technology? He up and disappeared and left behind a piece of equipment you two goddamn motherless idiots are too stupid to operate?”

  “That’s another thing, sir,” Schaffer reluctantly interrupted.

  “What’s another thing? Because I obviously don’t have enough things, do I?”

  “No sir—I mean, yes sir—I mean … well, Dr. Kennerly seems to have added programming to the device. Added programming that we—that Dr. Pollock and I have never seen before. We’re not sure yet what it does. What it adds. We can’t even figure out when he added it and can only assume it was during our test runs. That’s all we can figure, sir.”

  “Well you’d better figure out something. You’ve given me absolutely nothing. You’ve had an entire day, over twelve hours and,” the General checked his watch, “Jesus, it’s almost twenty-one twenty and you’ve given me fucking nothing. Do you know how long I’m going to have to listen to my wife bitch about me being…” the General continued but was interrupted by his cellphone. He looked down at it and yelled, “Well speak of the fucking devil with tits!”

  The General flipped open his phone. “Yes, dear?” His tone change quite drastically.

  For no obvious reason, he gave Schaffer and Pollock the finger.

  “I know honey, it’s just that … Lynn, I’m still working on that issue I told you about. Like I said before I’ll be home as soon … What do you mean? … What do you mean he’s on the news? … Yes, we’re still looking for him … What happened, what happened to him honey? … What? … Anderson what? … Is it still on? … I need you to rewind it … Hold on … Lynn I said hold the fuck on I’m going to put you on speakerphone.”

  The General put his cellphone on speakerphone and set it face up on the desk in front of him so the two scientists could hear the call.

  “Don’t you cuss at me Eugene! Don’t you cuss at me. I will hang up!”

  “Lynn baby, I’m sorry. Lynn baby, I need you to rewind it. Is it still playing?”

  “Yes. It’s commercials now.”

  “Press rewind. On the gray remote. The fat gray one. Rewind it back to the beginning.”

  “I’m not recording it! I told you!”

  The General balled up his hands into fists and
pounded his desk on either side of the cellphone in front of him. Despite doing so, he did not raise his voice and tried to remain calm.

  “Lynn honey, I’ve told you a hundred times baby, these days with DVR you don’t have to push record. The box starts recording the show as soon as you start watching it. I need you to rewind it and turn it up so we can hear it.”

  As his wife struggled to operate the remote, the three men could hear her talking to herself, “Who thought of that? Recording whatever is on. Who needs that? Waste of space. They think they’re so smart. With their small, little hands…” Finally, “Ok, it rewound all the way to the beginning.”

  “Thank you dear. Press play and turn it all the way up.”

  After some garbled opening music, the three men heard what General Coffman’s wife began to watch approximately fifteen minutes earlier.

  “Good evening, we’re in Washington tonight, on the eve of what might prove to be one of the most historic developments about which I’ve ever had the pleasure of reporting. Our special guests for this prerecorded segment of tonight’s broadcast are Dr. Hunter Kennerly, Dr. Ken Wise and CNN’s Science and Technology Correspondent, Dr. Ivan Goss. First off, let me start by asking, Dr. Goss, did you expect this? Did you expect to experience and witness what we’re about to report on tonight?”

  “First of all, let me say good evening Anderson, and thank you to Doctors Kennerly and Wise for allowing us the first glimpse of this remarkable technology. And, to answer your question Anderson, unequivocally, no, I did not expect to see anything like this. Ever in my life. What these two men have brought to us is not only totally unlike anything I’ve ever seen, but also unlike anything I’ve ever heard. This technology came from out of nowhere. No one saw this coming. No one is talking about it. No one I know of except the few of us sitting in this studio have seen or used this device. No one. It is remarkable and dare I say it, it’s going to change the world. Tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be a new dawn and a new day.”