by C. M. Carney
Finn nodded. “Thank you Doc.”
“You’re welcome kid.” Doc grabbed a bottle of whiskey off the bar and took a big swig. “Consider this payment.” Doc headed towards the bathroom, carrying the bottle under his arm the way other men hit the bathroom with a magazine.
Finn smiled at the old drunk and looked down at the pulse drive. His face turned grim. What did you die for Dalton? Finn thought. And what have got herself into Brynn?
Finn walked into the small office behind the bar and sat. The desk held a computer that had been obsolete before Finn was born. It was slow, however it had no built in access to the lattice making it untraceable. Finn inserted the pulse drive into an external port, a shiny bit of malplast that looked so out of place with the rest of the rig.
The ancient monitor powered up and the only file on the drive pulsed to life. It brought up a blinking password prompt. Finn stared for a few moments.
"Shit," Finn said aloud. Brynn was smart which meant only Finn would be able to decipher the code. Which meant he already knew it. He wracked his brain, trying to remember everything he knew about his sister.
Finn had always been the silent loner. Brynn was always joyous, even as a child. Her mere presence lit up a room. It was no wonder she had thrived in life. He’d been so proud of her when she’d earned VP of Public Relations at Sacrosanct Integrative Networks. Sure they were “just a game company” Brynn had said. But they were cutting edge and even had contracts with the US military.
Finn cursed himself for failing out of her life, both before and after his disgrace. His work had made real connections difficult, even with Brynn. He thought back to the last time he’d been happy.
He’d come to the family summer home after graduating from Ranger School. It was Brynn’s favorite place in the entire world. A wondrous and magical oasis nestled on Bow Lake in New Hampshire near where their Mom had grown up. Brynn, all of 13 years old, dragged her big brother into an adventure around the lake. There they fought goblins and orcs and dragons and even saved a gryphon. A live action adventure based upon the role playing games Brynn forced Finn the play.
Finn asked her why they saved the gryphon after slaying so many other monsters. Brynn got her intense look. That look that would someday shame everyone from big brothers to local police chiefs to the heads of Senate committees.
“Because the gryphon is noble and strong and always fights for what is right,” Brynn said with the intensity only a 13-year-old could muster. “Just like you Finn.”
Brynn had always hated that their names rhymed, so from then on she had called him Gryph. Finn’s heart seized at the memory. He’d been her hero, but unlike the gryphon he had done many a thing that was not noble or right.
His amazing and strong sister, the best of the Caldwells, was in trouble. She needed him and if he had any chance for redemption, he needed to become who she always thought he was. He needed to become the gryphon.
“G-R-Y-P-H,” Finn realized. “The passcode is Gryph.”
Finn’s fingers sped across the keyboard as he typed the code. A video began to play. A video of Brynn.
4
F inn’s heart thudded in his chest at the look of fear on Brynn’s face. Several moments passed before his training took over. Finn watched every detail with detachment and precision. Brynn was in her office. It was night and the San Francisco skyline glinted through a window behind her. The room was dimly lit, as if she was trying not to draw attention to herself.
She’s at Sacrosanct, Finn realized.
“Hello Finn,” Brynn said, sneaking a glance past the camera as if fearing interruption. “I’m in trouble. We’re all in trouble.” Her small smile seemed forced
She’s terrified.
“I don’t have much time,” Brynn said. She glanced around again.
She’s afraid somebody will interrupt her, catch her.
“I’m about to go into the Realms and I don’t think I’ll be coming back out. I don’t have a choice. None of us do. He’s become paranoid, suspicious. He may be onto us already. By the time you get this I’ll either be in the Realms or…” Brynn bit her lip and Finn saw the fear bubble to the surface as she tried to keep herself together.
What could scare her this badly? By the time I get this? Finn’s eyes snapped down to the time code buried in the info feed at the bottom of the video. April the 4th. Six months ago? His mind reeled. Six months? Dalton had been right. Finn cursed himself. Why had he been so damn stubborn? He should have known she was missing. He should have been searching for her all this time.
“The Realms are not what we thought they were. Alistair is not who he claims to be. My God Finn, it’s bad. I don’t have time to explain, but I need you to come find me. Not here, but in the Realms. Finding my body in this world won’t do me any good if you cannot rescue my mind.”
Brynn held up a pulse drive, a small data storage device that used pulses of light to encode information. They were popular not just for their massive storage capacity, but also for being nearly impervious to hacking.
“This drive has a map to a safe house Dad made me memorize in case I ever got into any ‘boy trouble.’ As if any boy would ever date me with the Colonel lurking. There you’ll find a cutting edge neural immersion rig that will get you into the Realms. Your banner already has the codes necessary to override Alistair’s security protocols.”
She grinned and for a moment she was the Brynn he remembered. Then as she leaned closer to the camera that Brynn was gone. Stress lines had aged her face. She was scared and tired and on the edge of a breakdown.
“When this video is over, you’ll have two minutes to port the map and safe house access code onto your banner before the pulse drive self destructs.”
“I love you big brother. Come get me. Come save me. Everything depends…” Brynn stopped cold and glanced up. Behind her, reflected in the window, was the silhouette of a man. “Shit, you scared me,” Brynn said, and the video ended.
The screen went blank and Finn tapped at the keyboard desperate to bring it back. There had to be more clues. The screen didn’t respond, but a moment later a countdown appeared.
2:00 … 1:59 … 1:58 ...
Finn tugged the pulse drive from its housing and placed it onto his injured left palm. The organic circuitry tattooed into his palm activated and flares of sub-dermal light moved in intricate circular patterns as his banner attempted to connect to the pulse drive. The banner interface lit up and cycled, but flared out.
“Shit,” he said aloud, lifting and replacing the pulse drive in an attempt to connect. Once again the cycle began, but it collapsed. The knife must have damaged the circuits.
Lex? Finn begged.
My interface is damaged, Lex responded in a calm voice.
No shit. What do I do?
Find another banner, Lex said smugly. I’m okay by the way. In case you were concerned.
Shut up.
So that’s a no I guess. Well, at least now I know where I stand.
“Doc?” he yelled as he emerged behind the bar and sprinted towards the back of the room. He slammed open the ratty door to the men’s room.
“Doc?”
The disgraced surgeon stood in front of the urinal doing his business. The noise made him jump and piss sprayed everywhere.
“Dammit, Finn. Can’t a man take a whizz in peace?”
Finn ignored the anger and grabbed Doc’s hand.
“What the hell?” Doc sputtered pulling his hand from Finn’s grasp. “I know I’m a casual kinda guy man, but even I have boundaries.”
“I need you to access this pulse drive,” Finn said and grabbed Doc around the wrist
Finn slapped the pulse drive onto Doc’s left palm. Doc opened his mouth to protest, but the desperate look on Finn’s face convinced him. Doc closed his eyes and the interface of the older man’s banner surged to life as a connection synced.
Finn folded Doc’s fingers over the pulse drive, securing it. Time crawled as the file in the pulse drive me
rged with neural interface of Doc’s banner. Finn’s heart thundered away the seconds.
Doc’s eyes opened, and he swayed, knees failing him. Finn caught him before he could fall to the floor.
“Jesus Finn, what was that?” Doc reached up to rub his temples.
“Sorry Doc, but I needed a banner, and I needed it quickly.”
“Because your’s is shot,” Doc realized nodding his head.
“Did the file download?” Finn asked.
Doc nodded, regaining some of his equilibrium. “It’s a map and some kinda passcode.”
“Good. We need to go there. Now.”
“What is going…” Doc began, before his eyes widened and his mouth erupted in a scream of pain. Finn felt the heat a moment before he smelled the burning skin. He still held Doc’s palm closed, but now a fierce heat surged through their fingers.
“My hand is burning. Fuck Finn, I’m on fire.”
“The self destruct,” Finn said.
“The what?”
“This is going to hurt.”
Finn wrenched Doc’s fingers back and charred flesh tore. Doc screamed in agony and his eyes widened at the burning shard of malplast melted into his hand.
Finn did the only thing he could think of. He dragged Doc into the stall, and shoved his hand into the toilet. The heat died amidst a surge of steam. Finn pulled Doc’s hand out of the toilet and wrenched the melted pulse drive from Doc’s palm, tossing it to the ground.
Doc pulled back his undamaged hand and punched Finn in the face. It was a good punch. It hurt.
“Dammit,” Finn said.
Doc remembered who he was dealing with and his natural calm returned.
“Sorry, just reacted.”
“Understandable,” Finn said rubbing his jaw. “That’s some punch you have there Doc.”
Pride beamed through the pain on Doc’s face. “Harvard boxing champ, 2021. You’re a dick and I really need that med kit.”
I’m detecting tons of encrypted lattice traffic. Lex said.
Can you tell what are they saying?
You do know what the word encrypted means, right?
Finn felt the need to deliver serious violence to Lex. He knew it was stupid. Finn decided that he’d have to have words with his sister, once he found her.
“We have to go Doc.”
“More bad guys?”
“More bad guys.”
5
I t would take them a few minutes to get out of the building. Ever mistrustful, Finn had long ago scouted an emergency exit from the bar. Despite numerous attempts to kill his past life, old training died hard. The Colonel had begun grooming Finn for a life he never wanted as a child. It had caused a rift between father and son, and Finn had rushed to join the Army to get away from the old man. How ironic, that as an adult Finn had unknowingly worked for the Colonel. Now, it seemed, even Brynn had been unable to escape the Colonel’s web.
Finn forced the anger at his father down. He had no time to dwell on the past. He led Doc to an old ladder at the back of the kitchen and they climbed to the roof. There, Finn placed a few planks he’d set aside ahead of time across the gap between buildings.
“You’re nuts if you think I’m crossing that,” Doc said, then noticed more armed men entering the bar below. Doc found his courage and eased himself across the makeshift bridge.
A terrifying jump from one rooftop to another and a few more ladders and they were back on the ground. Finn led them to a small door in the alley. He grimaced as he placed his left hand against the scanner pad hanging next to the door. The pad made an angry noise, blared red and refused to open.
Finn scowled and a small device from his sweatshirt pocket and inserted it into the keypad’s data port. He’d grabbed the device, and the gun in his waistband, from a stash he kept under the floorboards of the storeroom.
“Pretty sure that’s not legal tech,” Doc said as the door chirped and clicked open. “But I guess that’s the smallest felony I’ve been a party to this afternoon.”
Finn gave him a glance that said ‘you sure you’re up for this?’ A calm look crossed Doc’s face, and he nodded. Finn pulled the door open and motioned for Doc to enter the small garage. Doc eased inside. A large mass covered in a tarp dominated the room. Finn pulled tarp off to reveal a late model sedan.
Finn got behind the wheel and Doc sat in the passenger seat.
Lex, open the door.
The squeal of a long unused motor broke the silence and a garage door lifted into the ceiling. Finn started the car, rammed it into drive and surged into the alley.
Half an hour later, sure nobody had tailed them, Finn pulled onto a service road. Dozens of identical buildings lined the street. They were near the port where hundreds of the structures created a maze. Finn killed the engine.
“This is it,” Doc said, pointing to a squat two story.
Finn scanned the area, but they were alone. He pulled the pistol from his waistband, checked the safety and the cartridge and looked at Doc.
“Under normal circumstances I'm not a fan of guns,” Doc said. “But, today has proven the exception.”
Doc flexed his bandaged hand. Guilt wormed its way into Finn’s guts, but he shoved it down. No time for that now. “How’s the hand?”
Doc looked down on it. “Hurts like a son of a bitch, but I’ll get proper treatement when this is all though.”
Finn nodded, and both men exited the car. Spotlights illuminated the doorways up and down the long row of buildings. A few doors down a light flickered and went dark. Finn’s hackles rose. "Classic technique," he muttered. He stared into the murk seeking hidden opponents.
Lex are you sensing any active lattice links?
Nothing but the normal passive security links for the warehouses. This place is as dead as disco.
You are one weird bastard Lex. Finn shook his head and wondered again why the hell Brynn had given him Lex.
That hurts my feelings.
Doc had walked up to the building indicated in the map. A high tech lock secured the door. A quick survey of nearby doors told Finn that the new lock was abnormal.
What did you get yourself into Brynn?
Doc looked to Finn who nodded. Doc sent the code from his banner into the lock and after a few seconds a happy chirp and a pleasant green glow rewarded them. A moment later the sound of heavy bolts retracted from the doorframe and the door opened.
Finn motioned for Doc to stay back as he hefted his pistol and entered the dark building. Dim lighting came on as Finn entered, tripped by motion sensors. The room was a simple 20 by 20 square. A small bed and fridge lined one wall. A couch sat towards the back of the room facing a holo-vis. A small kitchenette rounded out the luxury. Another door was set into the back wall. On the wall next to the door was a small security monitor showing a long hallway of nearly identical doors.
At the center of the room sat a large crate on a raised dais. It reminded Finn of a coffin in an ancient vampire movie… if the vampire had been aliens. The crate was modern malplast and held a banner panel at its center. Cool air suggested the room was climate controlled. Another door at the back led to a hallway bearing dozens of identical doors. After assuring himself that the place was safe, Finn returned to the front.
“It’s safe Doc.”
“So what’s all this then?” Doc said as he entered. Finn flipped the main power switch. More lights came on and a low hum rose from underneath them. Finn saw a metal grate in the floor near the far wall. He lifted the grate revealing a small fusion generator. Cables snaked from the generator up into the floor below the mysterious crate.
“That thing puts out a crap load of power,” Finn said. “What the hell is in that crate?”
“Only one way to find out,” Doc said, raising his hand again.
Finn nodded and Doc tensed as he put his damaged hand onto the banner panel. The crate powered up and the surface parted as if it were undergoing a controlled melting. Inside sat another coffin of glass,
plymetal and malplast.
“It’s a neural immersion rig. This technology was tested at my old hospital when it was still in the prototype phase. It was a program designed to help vets with PTSD through direct neural interface. The commercialized the technology for the NI helmets the beta players used to get into the Realms. But this unit looks more advanced than any I’ve ever seen.” Doc tapped at the interface.
“This is how Brynn wants me to go into the Realms?”
“Makes sense. It has built in biosensors and life support. Quite an advantage.”
Finn nodded. “Time to open her up.” Doc moved towards the NI rig and placed his hand atop it.
Finn, I’m sensing an encrypted lattice link, Lex said.
Then they were no longer alone.
6
A few hundred meters away Milena Ortiz Yung, or Mo as her friends called her, stared through the scope of a sniper rifle. She could hear the entire conversation though sensors hidden in the safe house walls. She didn’t know who this man Doc was, but Finn seemed to trust him, so Mo would as well.
Mo grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat and blood from her face. She took a moment to inspect herself. She sighed. Thankfully, the blood was not hers
Mo switched to the internal surveillance. Finn and Doc were examining the crate. She moved in on Finn, biometric readings popping into her banner display. His heartbeat was steady and even, in stark contrast to the thundering pulse of the doctor who stood next to him.
Mo watched Finn and a worm of doubt burrowed into her mind. Brynn better be right. If her faith in her brother was misplaced? Mo shivered at the thought. Everything depended upon it. She glanced down at her own NI rig, open and ready to receive her. Mo had lost count of the hours she’d spent in that small coffin over the last six months.
Mo dreaded and loved the Realms. The danger of an untamed world and the freedom to remake herself as she always wanted to be. The adrenaline surges of combat. New knowledge. Terrifying truths.
She brought her attention back to Finn. He did not understand what he was getting involved in. Mo at least had been able to grind and level inside the Realms for the last six months. She’d uncovered enough of the mysteries of the Realms to know the danger was real. She hoped that the aid she’d secured Finn was enough. He was a noob in the strictest sense of the word and he would be taking on a god.