Girl in a Fishbowl (Crowbar Book 1)

by Thomas A. Gilly

  On the wall appeared a column of links. One went to Wikipedia’s entry on the meaning of life. Another went to an article in Philosophy Today called “The Many Interpretations of the Meaning of Life”. A third went to a TED talk titled “Does Life Have Intrinsic Meaning?” Above them all, within the paid content section, the boy saw a picture of a beautiful girl. Next to her image was the text “The Three Core Virtues: The Path to Meaning in Our Lives”. The boy leaned forward, and with his good hand he touched the girl’s face. Her image expanded to fill the wall. She had a natural beauty—hardly any makeup, if any at all. Her blond hair was pulled back from her face. The image was cut off just below the shoulders, which were bare. There was only a white background behind her.

  “Think about everything that is good in your life,” she said to him. “Everything from your earliest memories up to today. Think about all those things that gave you the purest good feelings about yourself, about your surroundings, about your entire world. Just think about a loved one, someone precious, or an accomplishment you’ve made, a work of art you created or a winning score during the big game. Think about all the things you have done that you are proud of—perhaps helping someone in need, comforting someone in pain. Think about what the word ‘good’ means to you. Think it, feel it, this good that is in you. And ask yourself a question—why do we insist on hiding our goodness?

  “It seems like we can’t hide anything these days with cameras recording us wherever we go, every word stored in the memories of computers, computers that are located who-knows-where, deep in the basement of some corporation. But these cameras and these computers can’t record, and they can’t understand, the truest, the best, and the most profound parts of our hearts. They can’t convey the core virtues that are the basis of what is good in both you and me . . . they can’t convey the three core virtues of truth, freedom, and compassion.

  “It is not an accident that our modern society does not emphasize those things in us that are the best parts of our characters. It’s because corporations can’t make money off of them. It’s that simple. Companies like VuDyne encourage us to record all of our lives, turning us into superficial commodities that help them become rich. And this glut of information makes it impossible for us to see what is best in each other, to appreciate how good the people around us are. We are just the toys of corporations, their playthings—playthings that they squeeze money out of, like we are their own personal bank accounts.

  “All of this has been lost to us…but now, finally, it has been found once again—in the writings of the one of the most brilliant activists and philosophers of our time, the secretive outlaw computer hacker who goes by the name Craynium. His book, The Three Core Virtues: Escaping the Black Iron Prison is available for free by clicking here.” The characters ‘3CV’ appeared next to her head in plain black script. “Please read his profound views and, if you wish, join one of our many local discussion groups that are forming now across the world. Thank you for your time. And . . . just . . . thank you.”

  The boy reached forward, his hands shaking, and with his index finger he touched the 3CV.

  Chapter 43

  They left him in a room that looked like a hospital waiting area—antiseptic and soulless—that was empty of people. There were no windows, but there was a metal double door—between the doors Conrad saw a thin seam of sunlight—the first sunlight he had seen in over two days. There were a couple of uncomfortable looking couches and a water fountain against the wall. Conrad went to the fountain and sucked up water from the weak trickle. When he was done he noticed a small section of wall had become a video screen. It was blinking the words, “Please approach the screen.” He looked around for any other clues of what to do, and when he saw none he approached the screen. He heard a female voice say, “Is your name Conrad Hicks?”

  Who the hell do you think I am?

  “Yes.”

  “Please state your name.”

  Dafuq?

  “Conrad Hicks.”

  “Your possessions are in the bin below. Press your thumb against the screen to open the bin.”

  Conrad pressed his thumb on the screen and the bin swung open. In the bin was a black sealed plastic bag. He lifted it out and felt his fanny pack inside. He went to one of the uncomfortable couches and tried to open the bag. It defeated all of his attempts. He was about to bite the edge when he heard the voice say, “Please don’t open the property package until after you have left the premises.”

  The door he had entered in from a few minutes before opened on the other side of the room. He stood when he saw Terri. They looked at each other as the door closed on its own behind her. Her eyes were red and puffy and ready to burst and he wanted to be angry with her but he couldn’t be angry. She saw that truth in his face and she rushed toward him. She openly sobbed into his shoulder as they embraced, and even though he suppressed his own sobs, tears still leaked from his eyes.

  When they moved to look at each other he held his hands on her shoulders and said, “You can get your stuff over there. I think we can leave, although they didn’t specifically say I could leave.”

  She wiped her eyes and went to the screen, performing the naming ritual before receiving her own property package.

  “I think we can leave through here,” Conrad said.

  They pushed open the double doors and were assaulted by the streaming afternoon sun. They were in the middle of an industrial park, surrounded by white windowless buildings several stories tall, each building taking up a city block by itself. The streets were new and smooth and there was no other human beings in sight. Their Blink Dog contacts came online and colored every centimeter in view with magenta—not a single space around them was free of surveillance.

  Standing there, Conrad clenched his fists and whispered, “I don’t know what to do. I just don’t know what to do. It’s too big. It’s all too big. I don’t know what to do.”

  Terri came around to stand in front of him. “Show them you don’t care they’re watching.”

  Conrad looked down at her eyes and her mouth that was slowly forming a smile, so much like the smile she had made when they first kissed. The world was wide and grinding and made to crush you down but in front of him was someone who was worth everything in the world and more. He put his hand behind her back and pulled her to him and she raised herself on her toes and they kissed. They kissed with abandon, they kissed shamelessly in front of no one and in the face of the entire world and they didn’t care about anything in the world but that kiss.

  When they finally broke away they grinned stupidly at each other for several seconds. Terri looked around and said, “If I can open this thing up I can get to my regular contacts and call a car.”

  They sat on the curb and after resorting to teeth finally got their property packages open. They went through the contents of the fanny packs and made sure all of their possessions were accounted for—Conrad got a glimpse of Terri’s gun as she took out her contact lens case. She removed her Blink Dog contacts and replaced them with her regular smart contacts. He watched her hands move as she called a car service.

  They held hands as they waited for their ride. Two minutes later a small blue sedan pulled up next to them. Conrad gallantly opened the door for her, and she said, “Thank you sir.”

  When they were both seated Terri said, “Where do you want to go?”

  “Let’s go back to my place, I could really use a shower.”

  “I wasn’t going to say anything,” she said and laughed.

  “And real food. Order from Danny’s?”

  “Absolutely.”

  When they crossed into the McGee’s Rocks Terri leaned into him and said, “I can fall asleep right here. Mind if I lay my head on your lap?”

  “I don’t mind,” Conrad said. As her head with its dark streaming hair laid itself on his lap he marveled at the beauty of her profile and wondered if he dared to stroke her hair, to push it over her ear and to stroke it gently and to simply touch
her.

  She wouldn’t mind, would she? If I stroked her hair?

  He was about to do it when he saw something out of the edge of his vision, out the window. It almost didn’t register in his mind, but when he realized what it was he shifted quickly in his seat to see as they drove past.

  “What is it?” Terri asked, getting up as he twisted to look out the back window of the car.

  “That guy!” Conrad said in surprise and disbelief. “There’s a guy over there! He’s wearing a white t-shirt! See?”

  Terri looked where he was pointing. There were a few people on the sidewalk now, and one was wearing a white t-shirt with some black letters on it.

  “I think I see him,” Terri said.

  “His t-shirt had ‘3CV’ written on it!”

  “What?”

  “There was some guy with a 3CV t-shirt!”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. Dafuq?”

  He reached into his fanny pack, taking out his smart glasses. Putting them on, he did a search for 3CV.

  “Oh shit,” he said when he saw the results.

  “Oh no,” Terri said, obviously looking at the same results on her smart contacts.

  As they took in the news that scrolled in front of them the car turned onto the road to Conrad’s apartment. Down the block they saw the street was filled with news vans.

  “Stop the car,” Terri said and the car stopped, parking at the curb. People were getting out of the vans, running toward them.

  “New destination,” she said with increasing urgency. “Bedford Place, in Stanwich.”

  As the car performed a k-turn the reporters ran back into their vans. The vans fell into an orderly, autonomous pursuit.

  It wasn’t until they reached the tunnel that Conrad said, “Cult leader?”

  “The press has really gone crazy about this.”

  “Cult leader!” Conrad’s voice rose. “I’m a cult leader now? A cult leader!” He shook his head in amazement. “A cult leader! And Dad really is a big-time hacker! Did you see what they’re saying about him? He really is wanted by Homeland Security. Oh crap. Are you reading what they’re saying about him?”

  “Yes I’m reading it.”

  “And what is up with Natalya? The way she’s embracing 3CV. I mean, really? Really? Did you see that video she made about it? I mean, how could this have all happened in a couple days? She gets caught talking about 3CV and then she has this video . . . and t-shirts! I mean, the boards are lighting up with this! How can this be happening so fast?”

  “Natalya knows how to make things happen.”

  Conrad now fixed his gaze on Terri. He squinted and said uncertainly, “You didn’t know about this, right?”

  Looking down, Terri opened and closed her mouth a few times, and then looked up directly into his eyes. “I knew she wanted to do something like this. I didn’t know if she was actually going to go through with it.”

  They stared at each other for a few moments. Then Conrad tried to speak. “I . . . I . . .” He looked back at the pursuing vans as they emerged from the tunnel into the park. “I’m . . . I . . .” He couldn’t look back at her. “That video of her talking to her friend about my dad, that was staged, wasn’t it?”

  “Probably,” Terri said. “I didn’t know about that.”

  “Not that.”

  He didn’t look at her or speak for the rest of the ride.

  The car slid into the underground garage of her apartment complex. The press vehicles milled uneasily together outside the building, lacking the security credentials to follow. Moving through the concrete pillars and cars far more expensive than itself, the small blue sedan found its way to the elevators and parked. With her finger tracing in the air Terri paid the bill. She then said, “We can go upstairs to my apartment. You can take that shower and I’ll order some pizza. It isn’t Danny’s but . . .”

  “No!” Conrad shouted and opened up the door on his side. Before she could even get out of the car he was already running, turning the corner and out of sight.

  Chapter 44

  The apartment door opened and Terri looked at her mother. Slightly shorter than Terri, Cathy Vieira was slim and trim with just a few streaks of gray in her short black hair. “Oh my!” Cathy said, looking at the disheveled condition of her daughter. “Come in!”

  The apartment was as modern and stylish as any in Bedford Place. Terri soundlessly sat down on the couch as her mother went to get her a glass of water.

  She placed the water on a coaster on the coffee table when her daughter didn’t acknowledge its existence. Cathy sat next to her. “What did that boy do to you?” she asked with concern.

  Terri, still looking blankly ahead, said, “He didn’t do anything. It’s what I did.”

  “What you did? This is Conrad we’re talking about, right? The last I saw of you online you went to his apartment. You are an adult now and I always liked Conrad, a little weird but a nice boy. I was glad to see that you two connected again. And when you didn’t ping on peeper for a few days I thought . . . well, you are an adult now. But then I saw all that stuff about Conrad’s father and . . . what the hell is up with Natalya? And I did get worried about you when you weren’t answering your texts. I know David Hick’s apartment is like an internet black hole, but. . .”

  Terri took a deep breath and said, “Natalya is an evil person Mom.”

  “I don’t know about ‘evil’. ‘Evil’ is a bit strong. She’s young and spoiled and a little self-absorbed, although she seems to be changing her ways with this 3CV thing.”

  “She’s not changing her ways. She’s just using 3CV to screw people over. Everything she does is to screw people over.” As if seeing the water for the first time she picked it up and took a gulp, clutching it with both hands. “She’s using Conrad and his dad. She’s the one starting this ‘cult’. She exposed Conrad’s dad’s past just to get buzz for this new project of hers, which she’ll probably drop in a month when she gets bored of pretending to be moral. And I knew what she planned. And now Conrad knows that I knew . . .” Tears started to flow down her cheeks. “I was an evil bitch to go along with Natalya. I wish we had never become friends. I wish we still lived in the Rocks and were just normal people.”

  Cathy put an arm around her daughter. “Hey, hey, being Natalya’s friend has opened up all sorts of opportunities for us that we never would have had. It’s okay, whatever you’ve done you’re a good person and Conrad knows that.”

  Terri pushed herself away from her mother, spilling some of the water on the couch. She slammed the glass back down on the coaster. “Aren’t you listening? I’ve ruined David Hicks’ life! Conrad, the only boy I’ve ever felt comfortable with, the only boy who really knows me, is never going to speak to me again! There’s nothing I can do to make this right!” She stood up. “I have to go to my apartment and take a shower. I have to be alone.”

  Cathy Vieira stood. “Stay here Terri. You can take a shower here. I’ll make you a nice meal.”

  “No Mom, I need to be alone. I just need to clean myself and be alone.”

  Before her mother could protest Terri was out the door.

  Chapter 45

  There were still a few car services that used quantcoin, Conrad used Blink Dog to find a section of road that wasn’t being surveilled (not an easy thing to do in the Helix district) and contacted one of them. A few minutes later he was riding in a beat-up yellow compact. From the smell he guessed that some people called this car service when they needed to take a piss. He told the car to go to his apartment.

  He slouched down so his head was below the windows and then surfed the web about Natalya, 3CV, his dad—and himself. The talking heads were debating the significance of 3CV—some of the more ‘obscure’ passages of the manifesto were being quoted and used to show that his father was crazy. Others were calling it brilliant and insightful and a legitimate condemnation of modern society. Everyone was speculating about where David Hicks was hiding.

/>   Conrad felt sick deep in his belly. He felt sick worrying about his dad. He felt sick thinking about Terri’s betrayal. It was all so big, all so beyond him. And he had no one.

  As the car approached his apartment he braced himself to get past the reporters waiting for him. Then he saw another van that was different from the others—this one had the crest of Homeland Security on the side.

  Oh boy he thought. He quickly told the car, “Don’t stop, keep driving down this road.” He took his contacts out of his eyes and put them in his mouth, swallowing them. The car ignored his command and stopped next to the van. Two men wearing suits and smart glasses exited the van and went to each side of his car. They opened the doors simultaneously and one of them said, “Conrad Hicks. We’re from Homeland Security. Would you come with us please?”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “You wouldn’t be making things any easier for yourself.”

  The reporters surrounded them at a respectful distance. Conrad quickly debated how the world would react to seeing him resist being taken in by Homeland Security. He was already being portrayed as a nefarious cult leader—if the news showed him getting tazed by government agents—well, his dangerous image would be cemented in the minds of the public. He decided to get out of the car and go quietly.

  The agents didn’t say a word as they sat stonily on either side of him and the van started to move.

  “Am I under arrest?”

  “You are a material witness to an ongoing investigation of a federal crime.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the local branch of Homeland Security.”

  When they reached the local branch Conrad was led through a building that looked pretty much like your average business office, until they went through a security door that required biometric entry into a sterile white hallway. They entered a small room with a table and two chairs—across the table sat a young clean-cut man who didn’t look much older than Conrad himself. He motioned for Conrad to sit down and the men who brought him left the room.