Junco was first out of the gate. “Where are the exits to this place?” His aversion to enclosed, door-less spaces having grown exponentially since Vireo had cut loose with his own special brand of mayhem.
“Good, an easy one to start with. There are none, at least not until I create one.”
This was not good. “So we are prisoners then?”
“No not at all.” Ani replied genially. “It is purely a technical thing – ask and I will create one”
This made Junco feel marginally better.
Teal's first question showed that she was thinking about a getaway and also that she was still relatively new at virtual travel. “How far underground are we?”
“We are not underground. The virtual space that we are now in has no real relationship to the virtual space that we were in. I can create an exit to just about any place in this scenario. Think of exits and entrances as portals if it makes it easier.” Ani then went on to give an explanation of programs and subroutines which he wrapped up with an apology to Teal for the fact that he couldn't simplify things more than he had. Junco suspected that Teal found the explanation condescending. He later found out that this assumption was correct.
They suddenly found themselves looking down on Rubidium Beach from a height of around seventy feet or so. The bar was as it had been before, including the beautiful people, but the ceiling walls and floor had vanished. Not just transparent but gone, nothing. Junco's feet transmitted impulses to his brain telling it that the floor was still very solid and very much there. This didn't stop him from instinctively pulling his legs up onto the sofa though. Teal on the other hand did the exact opposite. She trusted her sense of touch, stood up and walked the few steps to the bar and back as if to test the non-floor's integrity.
The whole bar, within the containing cube that was there to the touch but invisible to the eye was moving slowly through the scenario. It remained a tall building's height above the landscape and moved along the metallic shoreline. The swirling patterns formed by the deep red sunlight on the metal sea had a hypnotic effect on Junco and Teal and it was several minutes before either of them looked up again.
Ani addressed them both. “A little show and tell; besides, I thought that you might like the chance to see a little more of my folly.” Before the others could interrupt he went on. “All I did to make this happen was move one subroutine and change two variables, speed and container transparency. This is sort of the point with virtual, do it right and massive changes can be made with minimal effort. This brought Junco's mind involuntarily back to Vireo's display of extreme copy and paste with his deadly spinning discs.
Junco decided to get straight to the point. “The Mechanik, what do you know about them?”
Ani's expression changed immediately. No longer amiable bordering on jovial – the look was one of thunder and Junco thought that he heard the word bastard along with Vireo's name – he couldn't be sure about this though as there were a lot of other curses fighting for expression. Before Junco could ask Ani about this he was hurled over the back of the sofa and saw that Teal was now sprawled across the table between the sofas. The cube had obviously been accelerated through space, presumably by Ani in a fit of pique. Junco observed from his new position that Teal and himself seemed to be the only ones affected. The rest of the patrons were drinking, chatting, sitting and standing as if nothing untoward had happened.
The scene below their feet had changed. They had obviously left the shoreline and were now a fair way out into metallic sea. The red light was still moving around its surface but it seemed more subtle. The tone of the view had changed, it was darker now, bordering on menacing. In the distance were several structures that looked like some kind of drilling rigs only much bigger. Junco could make out a couple of tiny figures on one of the platforms, one on a ladder and a second one on the walkway below. He wondered if these were the source of the new sulfur smell that came and went with the breeze.
The room was now moving at a much more sedate speed back towards the shoreline and Ani seemed to have regained his composure. The friendly jovial version was back in control and full of apologies. Junco glanced over at Teal and judging by the expression on her face she trusted Ani even less than he did at this moment.
“Ani,” said Teal flatly. “Would you mind if we continued this back on terra firma or at least whatever passes for it on this Level?” She was looking a little green around the gills to put it mildly. Before Ani could reply Teal threw up. The contents of her stomach never touched anything other than air. The vomit simply disappeared as soon as it got about an inch from her mouth.
“How are you feeling?” Junco asked, noting that her color had completely returned to normal.
“Absolutely fine.” she replied. “Weird thing, my mouth tastes of peppermint and not puke.”
“Least I could do.” said Ani.
Junco dropped down to Level Minus One for a fraction of a second to check up on non-virtual Teal to make sure that she was not choking on her own vomit. As he expected, everything was fine. She was lying on her back with the slight smile that most people wore when they went up the Levels. It was unusual for bad stuff to cascade down the Levels but the rules seemed to be a bit different here and Junco didn't want to take any more chances than he absolutely had to.
They were still in the bar but the other people or props or whatever they were had all disappeared. The walls had reappeared with one addition - a door with brightly lit exit sign above it. The table had three large glasses set on it. “Hit drinks on your homepage.' They both did as instructed and a search box appeared. “You know what to do next.” continued Ani. Junco typed fruit juice – he wanted to keep a clear head for this meeting. He checked in on Teal and noticed that her choice was not so conservative and included at least three known narcotics along with a very odd choice of mixer. The empty glasses flipped to full. She caught his disapproving look. “You are not my mother.” It was hard to tell whether she was joking or not.
The door with the exit sign above it slowly opened and a ball shaped object rolled across the floor and stopped before it reached the three of them. Teal's training caused her to yell at the others to get behind the furthest sofa. The door closed again. Then nothing happened. Ten minutes later they were all still behind the sofa and the ball was still at the position where had originally stopped rolling. Eventually it was Ani who looked at the other two and said that he was going to have a look. He took their silence as assent and walked over to the new object. “It is not a bomb.” he stated categorically. He then walked over and placed it on the table. “Junco, it has your name on it. Do you want to do the honors?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you want to open it?” said Ani.
“You may as well.” replied Junco as he had no idea how to open it. Ani then pressed two very small indentations opposite each other on the ball and sat back. The ball split neatly into two hemispheres revealing a medium-sized box. The writing on the box simply said. 'tick-tock.' His virtual blood turned to virtual ice. Teal looked as she was about to repeat the dive over the sofa back but Junco knew instantly that the message had nothing to do with a bomb. The box did contain body parts as Junco had feared, a heart, a big toe and a nose.
Junco closed the box and looked at Ani. “Please tell me that these are virtual.”
“They are virtual insomuch as they have to be to be here but they are definitely analogs of real body parts that are no longer attached to their hosts. They were programmed around a real lattice which makes them products of Level Minus One.” This was exactly what Junco and Teal did not want to hear.
10. VIREO
Ani disposed of the newly arrived body parts and their packaging then turned to Junco and Teal. “Time for a little more show and tell.”
“No argument here,” said Junco, who was keenly aware of the need to make a lot of headway in a very short period of time.
The three of them set up a secure connection and Ani overlaid that with a thous
and different protocols to keep all others away. They were hooked up with each other but as far as the rest of the Net was concerned they did not exist. Unlike most of their previous conversations this one was going to be strictly non-vocal and as heavily shielded as it was possible to be. Ani also removed the door with the exit sign.
Teal, who was fast becoming comfortable with the Net flashed the first question at Ani. “What is the connection between you and Vireo?”
“I made him” he replied instantly. Teal asked for clarification. “Originally he was a program that I made on this Level. I created him to look after things if I had to be away for any length of time. He was not meant to exist outside of this Level but he managed to hack into a part of the Level Minus One system and make a base version of himself using the automated systems that run that place.”
“You mean like the ones that I am responsible for?” interjected Junco, thinking about his job controlling oil production and distribution.
“Exactly like that. And guess what? It was your system that contained the vulnerability that let Vireo in. From your oil supply and distribution networks he accessed all the other networks and routines that he needed to build himself a body, off the grid so to speak, along with that Gothic monstrosity that he calls home.”
“When did he hack my system?” asked Junco.
“It was on your watch I'm afraid” said Ani, answering the implied question.
This time it was Teal who spoke up. “Are you and Vireo working together?”
Ani laughed without humor. “You could not be more wrong. I would destroy him in a heartbeat given half a chance – and he would do the same to me.”
Teal continued. “Let me guess the Mechanik Level is very important to you?”
“Yes.” said Ani.
The questions were now multiplying in Junco's head, fighting for pole position. “How come you two haven't destroyed each other before now?”
“An intricate collection of checks and balances that run through a dozen different Levels and that involve people and things that we both hold very dear.” That made enough sense to Junco that he was happy to leave it in the abstract for now. There would hopefully be plenty of time for specifics later.
11. THE MECHANIK
“What is the Mechanik?” and there it is, the biggie, thought Junco to himself even before Teal had finished broadcasting the question.
“It is my home for one thing but it is a whole lot more than that.”
“I thought that you lived here on Rubidium Beach?” Teal again.
“I created this Level several hundred years ago as a platform for myself and others to build other higher Levels. This Level was never intended to be anything more than a staging post so to speak but it took on a bit of a life of its own and people came to like it and I began to enjoy the distraction that it provides. The Mechanik is my real home.”
Junco then asked. “Does Vireo know that you are a part of the Mechanik?”
“No – I've managed to keep that much from him. It hasn't been easy.”
Teal asked if it was OK to take a short break; the others agreed. By the time they were fully back in the room and out of each others' heads, Ani had whipped up some drinks and light snacks. The discussion centered around the Mechanik. Ani seemed to be more focused on an internal debate he was obviously having and the others struggled to get his attention. All of a sudden he smiled and said. “Let's go.”
Ani reestablished the link. Junco had no sensation of a physical body or of anything else.
“Nearly there.” He knew it was Ani but he wasn't sure how he knew that. The words were all there was. The nothingness was sliding away and colors were taking its place, mainly blues and greens with flecks of yellow and orange around the edges. His home screen was no longer sitting in the space between his eyes and brain. No account of credits, times, health or anything else. He was flying blind. The colors moved and changed, slowly and subtly, nothing discordant. He became aware of a happy presence. Happy wasn't quite right – awestruck was better. He knew he was sensing Teal.
Junco knew now that this journey was not about getting from A to B in any physical sense but that it was about preparing them for what came next. It was about putting distance between old, ways of thinking and what would be required for the Mechanik. He had no idea how he knew this but he had never been more certain of anything. He felt Ani's presence again and a new clump of ideas coalesced amidst the ever-evolving color-scape.
“Where we are going there are no rooms, no landscapes, no things. Also there are no bodies. Not even virtual ones. Although Level Minus One, Teals home Level, and the higher Levels may appear to be radically different that is not really the case. For starters, Level Zero still uses the room as its basic building block. The room is attached to other rooms, sometimes within a larger room and always within a landscape. This is true of the vast majority of Levels. It is comfortable, it is what humans are used to. It doesn't matter how fantastic or surreal a Level design is, it is all about surface. The substance remains the same.”
The colors were moving a little faster now but still very smoothly. There were no rough edges; greens and blues still dominated. He knew that Teal was receiving her own briefing from Ani. He also knew that it was one more tailored to her previous life experience. Ani was the originator of the ideas but it was his own mind that was working out and controlling the presentation. Junco had absolutely no doubt that the process was the same for Teal.
Ani continued. “As I mentioned before, on the Mechanik Level bodies have been rendered obsolete. On just about every other Level people travel in virtual shells that are based on their own real bodies. Granted, most remove a little weight and a few years and some go a bit further depending upon what the Level permits but we all exist within something based on our own body. In virtual space the body is not required. It serves no purpose beyond familiarity and hedonism. There is nothing wrong with those things but not every experience has to be rooted in them.
The colors were now gone and Junco was surrounded by nothingness, and he had never felt more calm. He had the sense of having arrived somewhere. He now felt the presence of many others but it was not overwhelming. Some part of himself was sorting and allocating incoming voices with absolute precision. He was sure that a million stimuli were occurring simultaneously and that his mind, with or without help, was presenting them in a linear way. He was also absolutely certain that time had no meaning here, that it wasn't just different like on Rubidium Beach but rather that the concept was irrelevant.
Junco was aware of thousands of voices, all welcoming him without reservation. Most of all he heard Teal. Her voice was pure unadulterated contentment that went much deeper than happiness alone ever could. He was insanely pleased for her. Ani was hanging back, letting them experience The Mechanik on their own terms.
Junco became aware very quickly that the residents of the Level knew all about Vireo and his plans for their destruction. They did not seem too concerned about this but that didn't mean that they thought the threat was without meaning. The feeling that Junco was picking up on was one of detachment. Junco thought that perhaps they could escape and take up residence on Rubidium Beach or any other Level, but that wasn't the reason for the detachment. Junco realized that these thoughts that he was receiving were the thoughts of very old minds, minds that had seen a lot.
It turned out that the Mechanik was a repair system for all of the other Levels. The other Levels had grown chaotically, without any type of master plan. A new Level would be bolted on to an existing Level and if more capacity was required something else would be added to allow for it. The Levels were never dismantled and completely rebuilt so no scalability was ever built into the system. Level Zero and all of the Levels that it had spawned really needed to be destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up but that was never going to happen as the work would take centuries and there was no temporary economic or political system that could be instituted fast enough to cover the working
period. In short, people would either starve or they would kill. Even if the sacrifice of a temporary return to the Dark Ages was deemed a cost worth paying; society would collapse before the Net could be rebuilt. In other words it would never happen.
The Mechanik watched all of the Levels, from the biggest to the smallest, with populations in the billions to those with just one person. They quietly observed, ran their own simulations, and replaced old obsolete code that could endanger both the Level it directly applied to and others. The one thing that the Mechanik did not do was directly interfere with human lives - under any circumstances. The code, routines and subroutines of the Levels were completely fair game but interfering on a personal level was not. The reasoning for this was based both in cold logic and moral considerations. The morality is self explanatory. The pragmatic rationale is based in human unpredictability and unintended consequences. Simply altering a child's test score can have ramifications that echo down centuries. If a child fails a test that he was meant to pass it could change his whole life and the lives of whole societies. The Mechanik was an empirical philosophy. It did not like dealing with too many variables let alone thousands of them all spinning out of control.
A recent example that the Mechanik shared with Junco and Teal showed an extremely intelligent but pathological dictator systematically mopping up power on a largish Level One scenario. The Collective debated whether to break their cardinal rule but decided that the ethical damage and precedent outweighed salvaging the Level and its inhabitants.
The Mechanik's knowledge of the Levels and what occurred within them was comprehensive but it was not complete, for example, they had only become aware of Vireo's activities over the past few days. This in itself led to a couple more questions which Junco filed away for future discussion. The first was how Vireo had managed to fly under the Collective's radar. The second, and more important one was why Ani had hidden Vireo's existence from the group.
The Rubidium Beach Series - Episodes 1 Through 4: Cyberpunk/Dystopian Science Fiction Page 4