5. THEATRICS
Junco was just about to ask another question when Vireo suddenly appeared – or to be accurate a floor-to-sixteen-feet-ceiling bass relief of his face appeared on one of the steel shutters that now surrounded them. Vireo was smiling. When it was about to speak Junco and most of the others involuntarily leaned or stepped back, expecting a massive assault on their eardrums. The boom never came though. When Vireo spoke the volume was normal – he had obviously decided to keep the theatrics visual only.
“All is not what it seems.” The metal of the shutters seemed to separate into semi-transparent layers tinted with various colors. The layers slid over and sometimes through each other in time with Vireo's speech patterns.
Teal, who appeared remarkably unfazed considering her non-virtual background, spoke first. “Enough with the cheap holo tricks. Just tell us what the hell is going on.” and then “Are we prisoners, hostages, or what?”
Some unpleasant potential scenarios to come to Junco's mind. Among them low-budget so called 'Reality Sims' where groups competed against each other to win the hearts and more importantly the votes of the Voyeurs. The Voyeurs was a rather odd but surprisingly large group that consisted of people who never interacted with sims and scenarios. They preferred to live vicariously through the actions of others than to experience things first hand. The Reality Sim competitors were supposedly volunteers but rumor had it that this was not always the case. Walking through fire or eating live jellyfish with pain sensors set to ultra sensitive seemed to be too high a price. Junco knew, however, that some would do anything for their 15 nanoseconds of fame.
Before Junco's brain could descend to a really nasty place the semi transparent layers of the steel shutters started to move again and Vireo spoke. “Some are hostages and prisoners and some will do a job for me. The majority of you are either obscenely rich or come from obscenely rich families – you are the hostages.”
Junco, Teal and the historian glanced at each other, each giving the others a look indicating that they did not fall into that category.
“Now,” continued Vireo. “I am going to put those of you that fall into the obscenely rich category back online and then you have a choice. You, or a proxy, can either transfer a large amount of credits to me and walk out of here right now or you can refuse and be hostages When you come back online your home-screen will have a very large, very obvious 'Donate Now' button front and center. As soon as you activate this, five million credits will move from your account to mine. Those of you who do not control your own finances need to place a call with someone who does.”
Eight pairs of eyes flickered, indicating that their owners were online. Four of the captives immediately looked relieved. Junco guessed that these were the ones that had completed the transaction successfully. Two looked panicky and Junco assumed that these had tried and failed. The final two were unreadable, possibly because they had decided not to attempt to pay the ransom and were going to play for time. Vireo's visage came back to life after about five minutes and the face on the shutter smiled.
To describe what happened next as a turning point in Junco's life would be a massive understatement. The scene unfolded as if in slow motion:
A mechanical humming sound quickly rose in pitch and volume to the point where it sounded like an insane army of thousands of cicadas. Everyone in the room covered their ears but it made little difference. Still the noise grew. Then Junco saw a metal disc, around the size of his hand, spinning freely a foot or so below the ceiling. Vireo's face on the shutter was smiling the ugliest smile imaginable. “Just got to love the multiple clone function – one deadly little object or a million deadly little objects – all the same to me.” The air was now full of spinning discs.
Then the discs moved through space, all of them. Thousands of discs flying faster than the eye could keep up with. The massive wind they generated was enough to tell everyone that the discs now occupied all heights between the floor and the ceiling. The screams started. After what felt like an eternity, the noise, the wind and the screaming suddenly stopped. It was as if a switch had been flicked.
The floor was now littered with body parts, the largest of which was no bigger than a hand. Both the steel shutters and the floor were spattered with blood. Many of the spatters continued onto and across the high ceiling. Eight people were doing any combination of throwing up, crying, shaking and staring into space. Four people were no longer doing anything.
Vireo's blood flecked ever shifting face began to howl with laughter and this time he had the volume on full. Teal was the first to speak. “Junco, about those that were killed.”
Junco looked at her and didn't know whether to be impressed or frightened by her relative calm. “How many?” He heard himself saying.
“Four,” was her immediate response. “But this is the interesting part – they were the four that paid over the credits that Vireo demanded.”
“That makes no sense. Why kill off the ones that have already shown that they are able and willing to throw credits at him?” Junco asked.
Teal thought for a second before replying. “This isn't about money, he has credits to burn.” And almost as an afterthought, “He's making a point.”
Teal looked up at Vireo's face on the shutter. The translucent layers had disappeared and only the steel remained. “Tell me that was a trick, a magic trick intended to shock us into submission.“ She didn't look hopeful.
Vireo's visage stirred back to life, “No, no trick. Your new colleagues will not suddenly reappear. What you saw is what is. The blades were virtual but the effects were most definitely not – I can play the whole scene back in high def slo-mo if you like, a sort of director's cut.“
Teal's eyes were cold, hard. “Then why – why kill the ones that went along with your instructions?”
“Because I could.” Vireo responded, confirming Teal's worst suspicions.
Vireo continued. “Time to get down to business. I selected four of you to perform my task. Teal, Junco, our historian friend, and Tanager. Tanager, why don't you go and join the other three over in the corner?” Tanager seemed to know the difference between a request and an order without having to be told. She wandered over to where the others were sitting. “The rest of you are hostages. If these four don't deliver you die – that is the one certainty here.”
“How long do we have to complete this task – in other words, how long until you start killing the hostages?” Teal asked.
“Let's see now, I'll make you a promise. One will still be alive in one weeks time regardless of any other circumstance.”
Junco let his thoughts be known “That is outrageous!” Teal threw Junco a look that stopped him from even thinking about expressing himself more fully.
“Haven't you seen enough to know that fairness and other such high ideals are not going to be a part of your life for some time to come?” Vireo's huge face then looked in Scoter's direction and Scoter vanished. A glance at Tanager produced the same result, one minute she was there and the next she wasn't.
No one said anything at all.
Vireo broke the heavy silence “There is a group, a collective, that I want destroyed. They are called the Mechanik. Do that and at least one of the hostages will survive.” He added, almost as an afterthought, “And of course it goes without saying that if you fail you will die.”
“I've never heard of them. How do we even know where to start?” said Junco
“Don't worry. You will find out soon enough.”
Junco's internal home- screen suddenly came back to life – he was back online. Vireo looked at them and simply said “You may go now.”
It was Teal who broke the silence. “Well that was pretty intense.”
“You could say that,” Junco replied, staring at the bare walls in his Level Minus One apartment. He was thinking that 'intense' didn't even begin to describe recent events. He knew that he was way out of his depth but had a strong suspicion that Teal wasn't out of hers. “Why do
I get the impression that you've seen worse?”
“That is a discussion for another time,” she said softly. Silence returned.
Several minutes later Junco spoke again. “What do you think happened to the historian and that other girl – Tanager, I think her name was?”
“If I had to guess I'd say they are still alive”
“Why so?”
Teal thought for a couple of seconds. “A couple of reasons. Vireo loves theatrics and he'd see an unspectacular death scene as a wasted opportunity.” She went on “And, more importantly, he sees them as being useful regarding the destruction of the so-called Mechanik, whatever they may be.”
“Do you think the others are really dead?”
“Yup, I do unfortunately. Vireo doesn't need money which is basically what they bought to the table, and he is a complete psycho to boot.”
“So what now?” Junco asked flatly.
“Firstly, we need to decide whether to do what that maniac wants or not,” said Teal
“Do we have a choice?” asked Junco, expecting only one possible answer.
“Nope. We have to assume that he can make good on his threat to kill us very easily judging by the tech at his disposal.”
“And he has the hostages” continued Junco”
“True,” said Teal, showing little emotion.
“You think that they are as good as dead?”
“Oh I think he may well keep one alive, but that one will probably wish they were one of the killed by the time this ends.”
“Crap,” was all that Junco could muster.
After a little more thought Junco spoke again. “What if these Mechanik are good guys? If Vireo wants them gone it is a fair bet that they are.”
Teal's response was pragmatic. “We have to at least look as if we are trying to kill them otherwise we will be killed. Let's do that until we know more.”
“I suppose taking out Vireo isn't an option”
“You suppose right.” She said.
It was Junco that broke the next silence. “Why us?”
Teal got his meaning straight away. “My guess is that you catch on quickly, are very good with tech, have no strong family ties and the fact that you do have some power regarding my Level's oil industry could possibly be a factor.”
He realized that she had put some thought into this. “Anyway, enough about me – why are you here?”
“An IQ of two twenty and number one ranking in seven out of eight fighting disciplines.” said Teal.
Junco was impressed but not surprised.
Another pause, then Teal said, “The thing that I don't understand is why Vireo doesn't just take care of this Mechanik Level or whatever it is called himself.”
Junco had no answer.
6. IMPLANT
Teal had agreed to get implanted. There was no other way. They both knew this, and with Teal's agreement Junco did some research. He uplinked and started digging. Through a friend of a friend he soon located several individuals working in the gray area of non corporate approved tech and navigated to their storefronts. All of these individuals told a similar story: There was a temporary implant available that gave the user full web access for a set period. This was set by the person who implanted the device. When the time was up, the implant simply dissolved and was taken care of by the body's own biological defenses. Junco thanked them all simultaneously and then flipped back to Level Minus One, where Teal was waiting for him with a neon brown beverage in her hand.
“Want some?”
Junco focused. “Alcohol or drugs?”
“Mild hallucinogenic” Teal responded.
“Careful, best to go up the Levels straight – of course once you're there all bets are off” he smiled.
Teal put the mug down and Junco described the options, including thoughts about the vendors that he had met. Teal was relieved that a temporary option was available and was more than happy to leave the choice of vendor to Junco. Junco contacted the vendor who seemed the least sleazy while checking his reviews in the background. Over a thousand reviews and a four and a half star average was pretty good. A high star rating with few reviews was easy to fake but no one has a thousand plus mothers and best friends. So far so good.
Ani, the techno, turned up at Junco's apartment about twenty minutes after Junco had spoken to him and transferred half of the total payment over to his account. The other half would become due within twelve hours of the implant expiring. He looked a little older and a little more frayed around the edges than his sim but then again, so did just about everyone. The actual procedure was a lot more straightforward than Junco expected. A hypodermic, a mild sedative, and a few instructions, rendered the job complete and Ani was on his way.
Teal was told that the implant would find its own way to where it needed to be and would assemble itself and make its own connections to her biological systems by means of the nanobots that were injected with it. It would be an hour or so before all the systems came online. Once they were online they would remain so for seventy two hours before dissolving. Ani had told her that he could be reached anytime as he'd incorporated a permanent speed dial into the system and that he had included a Level One program that he had written himself. Apparently the program had recently become popular and many were building semi permanent residences and lives within the sim. He estimated the hardcore user count at over two million and the 'weekenders' at over seven million. Junco could piggyback Teal into the Sim but would have to pay if he wanted to access it on his own. Junco was left wondering about just how little he actually knew about things that he thought he knew a lot about.
Junco noted Teal's eyeballs twitch – a sign that her systems were coming online. He could not really imagine how this felt, as his own systems were in place prior to his earliest memories. His concerns were put to rest when Teal's eyes lit up and it became obvious that she was having fun. The next step was to send a 'Sense as me' request to her, get the confirmation, then they were good to go. Teal could now see and feel whatever Junco was, and vice versa.
Junco established a virtual private network to see what Teal's screen was offering. In among the usual indicators and prompts was a small spinning three dimensional metallic red box with the words 'Rubidium Beach' superimposed in silver. He felt that the first non vocal words that Teal received should have been a bit more original and inspirational than 'Hey whatsup – how's things?' but his creativity gene was obviously having some downtime. Teal responded with a digital smile and let him know that 'things' were great and that she was looking forward to the ride.
Junco upped them both to Level Zero. They were now in a different space but one that felt little different to the reality of Level Minus One. Teal looked surprised.
He caught the look and guessed the reason. “Remember this is our basic Level. It has been hundreds of years in the making so its very stable and very real for want of a better word. Most of the higher Levels are less detailed and some are downright flaky and likely to freeze up as soon as anything even remotely complex is attempted.” Junco went on to recount the tale of a program called Satin by an outfit called Zonama that was meant to be a lightning fast full immersion encyclopedia. It was canceled after five years due to the fact that the longest recorded time between freezes was around fifteen minutes.
7. RUBIDIUM BEACH
The spinning cube with the cryptic 'Rubidium Beach' label was drawing them both like moths to a flame. Junco knew that Teal would benefit from a lot more orientation on Level Zero before going up the numbers but in the end it was Teal who made the decision and she zapped Ani's link before he had a chance to stop her.
It was pretty dark. They were barefoot on a cool metal surface. The sound of waves beat at a wall beneath their feet. They were on a metal street above a body of liquid that didn't behave quite like water. It moved and sloshed too slowly. Something zipped past them at speed almost sending them over the low smooth rail and into the dark liquid below. This happened three more times in
as many minutes. The dry side of the metal road was lined with shops, bars and many buildings that gave no indication of their purpose. Junco and Teal decided that getting off the street would be the smart thing to do.
The well-maintained neon sign said 'Jupiter Moon Bar'. The place, though, was downmarket even by Junco's suspect standards. Junco ordered two beers and thought that if it was possible to contract a biological disease from within a sim this was it. The attention to detail was incredible. Despite the impression Ani had given them this scenario was no low budget hobby job – this was top notch and very expensive slumming.
Junco was the first to spot the lone figure at the table in an unlit corner of the room. The figure, a youngish man by the looks of it, was one of only six people in the bar, the bartender, an old silent couple at the bar and themselves being the other five. The man got up, and as soon as he moved out of the shadow and into the thin light of a bare yellowed bulb Junco recognized him as Ani. As was usually the case, this version was younger looking, fitter and more fashionable than the Minus One version.
“Not quite what I expected.” said Junco. “The workmanship is stunning” Teal nodded in agreement – even though she had nothing in her background to compare it to.
“Thanks, it took a long time and I called in a lot of favors.”
“It was worth it” Junco stated – and he meant it.
Teal took a large gulp of her beer which was slightly flat and on the warm side, perfect for this scenario. “Are you the same Ani who just implanted me?”
“Yes it is the real me who is here with you you now. There is another programmed version of me in here somewhere, probably the bar a little way down the street. I really need to program out his alcohol problem at some point. He was meant to be the program help file but recently has taken to asking anyone that comes to him whether they have tried shutting the sim down and rebooting regardless of the actual problem.”
The Rubidium Beach Series - Episodes 1 Through 4: Cyberpunk/Dystopian Science Fiction Page 2