Awaken Online: Ember (Tarot #1)

by Bagwell, Travis

  “Hi, Dad,” Gracen said.

  Finn opened his eyes to see his son looking at him, failing badly at hiding his concern. His wife stepped into the room behind him, their two young children in tow. Finn did his best to plaster a smile on his wrinkled lips.

  “Hey there, sport,” he said, as his son stooped to give him a hug. “Sarah,” he said with a smile as he greeted his daughter-in-law.

  “Wow, have you two gotten bigger!” Finn said, eyeing his grandchildren as he gave another round of hugs. Rachael would have loved to see them. She had always wanted grandkids. Just that brief thought caused the memory of his dream to return, and he had to bite back a grimace.

  “Come on, gang. Get off Grandpa and let’s get you something to eat,” Sarah said, herding the kids over to the counter with an apologetic look at Finn.

  She must have misinterpreted Finn’s reaction – assuming the kids had hurt him or something. Damn it. He needed to keep it together. He rounded on his son, looking for a distraction. “What did you do to Daniel?” he asked.

  Gracen looked a little nervous, biting at his lip. Sarah glanced over at him in confusion, but her attention was quickly refocused on heaping some food onto the kids’ plates and finding them a place at the table. “Well, I just set an appointment for this morning,” Gracen offered tentatively.

  “Uh-huh. With no reminders,” Finn continued dryly. “That seems a bit beyond your capabilities. I sense your sister’s hand in this. Where is she, by the way?”

  “Julia should be here shortly,” Gracen replied cautiously. “She said she was caught in traffic.”

  “Managed to find a shortcut!” Finn’s daughter said, poking her head into the room. Of course, Daniel hadn’t announced her presence. Finn couldn’t help but glare at the floating blue cloud that hovered in the corner of the room. The lack of reminders had been a minor annoyance, but this was another matter entirely. Julia had somehow circumvented all of the security protocols built into Daniel’s systems.

  “Hey, Dad,” Julia said, giving him a peck on the cheek.

  She pulled away, noting the sour look on his face. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to see me?” He saw her brown eyes flash mischievously. Yet he could only see Rachael in her face. It was the hair and the eyes that got him every time.

  “You’ve been messing with Daniel’s programming again, haven’t you?” Finn grumbled. “And it sounds like you roped your brother into it this time.”

  “Didn’t have a choice after you removed my remote access. Besides, I only made a few little tweaks here and there. Daniel needed a little more personality. Especially if he’s your only companion in your self-imposed exile,” Julia replied unapologetically, settling down into the chair beside him and kicking her feet up on the table.

  Suddenly, Daniel’s glib tone earlier made sense.

  “I gave you two remote access to my network so that you could get in touch in case of an emergency,” Finn reprimanded Julia. Although he was struggling to maintain his frustration. He was somewhat impressed. Even with a remote login, it would have been an undertaking to hack his system. Julia had gotten a lot better.

  “Yeah, well, there was a boring emergency in here,” she replied, arching an eyebrow.

  “Here you go,” Sarah said, depositing plates in front of the two and interrupting Finn’s next barbed comment. The rest of the group had settled down around the table.

  “So, what have you been up to lately?” Gracen asked his father, clearly trying to switch the subject. “Any cool projects or upgrades to the Fortress?” He asked this while gesturing at the house.

  Finn grimaced, rubbing at his neck. “Nothing really. Just regular maintenance and a few upgrades around the house. Although, it sounds like I’m going to be spending some time running diagnostics on Daniel this afternoon,” he added dryly, glancing at his daughter. He just received a grin in response.

  “Huh. Well, one of your old colleagues at Cerillion contacted me the other day,” Gracen offered. “Said something about having trouble getting in touch with you. He thought he had something that you might be interested in.”

  “I’m good,” Finn replied curtly. He had blocked most public network access for a reason.

  “You don’t even know what it is. Besides, it could also be a good reason to get out of the house a little…” Gracen offered, trailing off as he saw his father’s expression.

  “I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy,” Finn grumbled before shoving another forkful of food into his mouth.

  His entire family looked at him skeptically. Even Sarah’s expression indicated that she thought he was full of shit. This was precisely why he avoided these gatherings! They just had to go and try and help him, fix him, force him to move on. Next, they would probably tell him it wasn’t his fault. Just a mechanical glitch. A bit of faulty wiring that had cascaded into a devastating accident.

  But he couldn’t forgive himself. He just couldn’t.

  After the accident, Finn had tried to stop the implementation of autonomous vehicles, but it was already too late. He had expected a public outcry, people screaming about the dangers of this new technology. However, he had vastly underestimated the power and influence that Cerillion Logistics’ parent company exercised.

  The company had spun the story so hard that it had made Finn dizzy. They had pointed out how the accident actually demonstrated how much safer the cars were. Very few people had died in the collision due to the additional safety features that had been built into each vehicle. The system – his system – had managed to protect nearly everyone. Besides, they couldn’t prevent all accidents. And the system was still infinitely safer than manually operated vehicles.

  For others, this had been a compelling argument, though the statistics rang hollow for Finn. His wife wasn’t just a number on a page. His complaints and concerns had landed on deaf ears. The bean counters didn’t want to hear about defects in a product that would make them billions.

  He had turned to the government then, trying to stop the federal grant. Yet that had just been another dead end. He had been confronted by senators acting in lockstep. He’d received condolences and handshakes, but nothing more. A little bit of digging had revealed that the company was one of the largest political contributors in the country. No one in their right mind was going to speak out against them – it would have been political suicide.

  In the face of this monstrous thing that he had created and its overwhelming momentum, he had been forced to give up. He was just one broken man who once again found himself along for the ride. The company had gently nudged him into early retirement, citing mental health issues. The younger executives looking for a rotation in the old guard had been more than happy to help speed that process along.

  Disenchanted and disgusted with the world, Finn had sold his shares in the company, taken the golden parachute, and built this house – locking himself away behind several inches of reinforced steel and a nearly impenetrable firewall.

  He was now a self-imposed hermit amid an ocean of people.

  “I’m fine,” Finn murmured, snapping back to attention. The others were all looking at him, concern lingering in their eyes.

  “I’m not sure you even know what that word means anymore,” Julia groused at him. She waved at the floating blue AI. “It’s like talking to Daniel. You’re saying the right words, but there’s nothing behind it.”

  “Julia,” her brother hissed. “Take it easy.”

  “Hey, it’s the truth,” she insisted. She glared at Gracen. “He’s getting worse.”

  Finn didn’t miss the way his son motioned at his wife to take the kids into the other room. Sarah spared Finn a sympathetic look as she left, mouthing the words, “I’m sorry.” He just wished she would take him with her.

  Julia turned to face her father. He saw determination there. She knew she was right, and she wasn’t going to back down. Damn it, as much as it pained him to admit it, Rachael would have been proud. “When was the last t
ime you left this cyber fortress you’ve built for yourself?” his daughter demanded.

  “Umm…” Finn honestly couldn’t remember. Maybe a few months? Everything he needed was delivered, and Daniel took care of practically everything else. There wasn’t really any reason to leave.

  “The answer is a year,” Julia said. “I checked while I was rooting around Daniel’s operating system. How about the last time you talked to someone besides Daniel?”

  Shit, he thought to himself. Why couldn’t he have dropped these brats on their heads when they were younger? Two human vegetables hooked up to a ventilator would have been much easier to manage.

  “Yeah, I thought so,” Julia continued, taking his silence as an admission.

  “This isn’t how we talked about handling this,” Gracen muttered.

  “So, there was a plan behind this ambush and tirade?” Finn asked sourly. “Was this supposed to be an intervention or something?”

  “Definitely or something,” his son grumbled under his breath.

  “Yeah, actually. That’s exactly what it is. An intervention,” Julia said, glaring at her brother. “And we also brought your stubborn, ungrateful ass a present. Let me just go grab it. I left it by the door.” She hopped out of her chair and headed for the front entryway.

  “Hey, I’m sorry about this,” Gracen said to Finn as his sister left the room. “Honestly, I didn’t think she was going to be so harsh.”

  Finn could only laugh at that. “You didn’t expect your sister to speak her mind – bluntly and without reservation? Maybe I’m not the one that’s out of touch.” This earned him a small smile from Gracen.

  Julia stepped back into the room, carrying a simple white box, and set it down in front of her father. Finn’s eyes drifted across the surface and stopped on the simple logo on the front, a few words scrawled underneath. They were enough to make his stomach churn.

  Cerillion Entertainment.

  It seemed that George had created a new division. Go figure. The bastard had always been enterprising. Cerillion this and Cerillion that. Spreading his damn brand across so many industries that Finn had lost count. He wouldn’t be surprised if the cunning asshole had developed a new way to deceive and corrupt young minds under the guise of “entertainment.”

  “No,” Finn said.

  “You don’t even know what it is,” Julia demanded.

  “I know who made it,” Finn retorted.

  “You do. I also know you blame yourself for what happened with Mom – which is stupid by the way.” She held up a hand to ward off his angry response. “But I’m not going to fight you on that. You think this company is the devil, and you signed on the dotted line. I get it.

  “But after an old friend reached out to Gracen, I did some digging of my own. I’ve heard rumblings about this new VR hardware and this game they’re calling Awaken Online. The beta and development lasted for years and underwent extensive testing. They passed with flying colors. Actually, the study results seem too perfect. Let’s just say that something is off here,” Julia said, her expression somber.

  “That’s kind of vague,” Gracen added.

  “Yeah, well, I may not have acquired all of this information through legal means,” Julia replied, a grin tugging at her lips.

  “You want me to look into a videogame?” Finn asked, skepticism coloring his voice.

  His daughter turned back to Finn. “This isn’t like any other game you’ve seen before. That’s beside the point, though. I know you feel guilty and you hate these people. Well, maybe you can kill two birds with one stone,” she offered, nudging the box toward him.

  Julia leaned forward. “Check out this new product. Best case, you figure out some defect that may help some people. Worst case, you might find it entertaining – a way to leave this jail cell without actually leaving. Almost like a compromise!”

  Julia’s eyes twinkled, her eyes challenging. He remembered that look. He had seen a similar one only hours ago – in his dreams. “Unless you think you’re not up to it?” she taunted.

  Chapter 2 - Intrigued

  After he had kicked his two ungrateful children out on their collective asses – or rather, they voluntarily chose to leave after eating all his food – Finn wheeled himself into his workshop on the second floor of his home. As he entered the room, his workstation came to life. It was a thing of beauty, a dozen or more floating blue screens creating a sphere of information detailing every aspect of the house. Finn palmed the wheels of his chair until he came to rest in the center of the globe.

  His mind was still working through the conversation with his children. Well, calling it a conversation was a little misleading. It was more like a verbal lynching. And against a crippled old man at that!

  “Sir, where would you like for me to place your package,” Daniel said, interrupting Finn’s dark thoughts. The house’s AI had floated into the room. Beside him, a small all-purpose drone hovered in the air, the plain white box clutched in a mechanical claw.

  “How about the garbage?” Finn grunted.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but I cannot fulfill that order. Her Supreme Majesty Julia has commanded that I keep the package and protect it. I was also ordered to use force if you don’t try it at least once,” Daniel replied.

  Finn could only stare at the AI. “What the f…” He trailed off, shaking his head.

  Instead of yelling at Daniel, he decided to just fix this problem. “Pull up the system log for AI Controller Build G2.3,” Finn snapped.

  The screens around him shifted, showing various parts of Daniel’s operating system. A display floated down in front of Finn and listed off the recent changes to the AI’s operating system. As soon as Finn moved to scroll down the log, a notice suddenly appeared, flashing across every screen. It could have only been left by his daughter.

  It was the heart emojis that gave it away.

  System Notice

  I buried the changes to Daniel’s code pretty deep. I may have also made a few other alterations to slow you down. This should take even you a while to fix!

  Or… you could give the game a try. I’m asking for five minutes. As soon as the headset is connected to the public network and registers a login, a detailed list of my changes will be emailed to you directly. Since you will already be out on the scary interwebs, it shouldn’t be too hard for you to actually check your email for once.

  XOXO

  Her Supreme Majesty Julia

  Finn rubbed at his eyes. Damn it.

  What was most frustrating was that he wasn’t sure whether he was angry or impressed. An involuntary smile crept across his face as he looked back up at the notice. However, it abruptly faded as the drone floated into his field of view, still holding that stupid white box.

  He supposed he had a decision to make.

  He could spend who knows how long trying to ferret out every little change his daughter had made. There was no guaranteeing that she had stopped with Daniel. He was half expecting for there to be no hot water and his stove to stop working too.

  Or he could capitulate. Although he didn’t love the precedent that would set.

  Yet some part of him also responded to the challenge. Julia had thrown down the gauntlet when they had been sitting in the kitchen. That look in her eye that challenged whether he was up to this. It was the same taunting implication the notice repeated now. Could he find whatever problem she had detected with this new VR technology and game?

  If he was being honest with himself, he was intrigued. Sort of. Grudgingly. Maybe he had been more bored than he realized.

  “Okay, fine,” Finn grumbled.

  “Sir?” Daniel asked.

  “Just hand me the damn box.”

  The AI promptly obliged, the drone dropping it into his hands. “Her Majesty instructed me to tell you that you have chosen wisely.”

  Finn was grinding his teeth together before he realized it.

  Yet his fingers still pulled open the cardboard, revealing a plain black heads
et. It looked a bit like an old-fashioned motorcycle helmet. He lifted it out of the case, his curiosity overcoming his irritation as that familiar analytical part of his brain took over.

  Before he just stuck it on his head, he needed to see what he was dealing with.

  So, Finn proceeded to take the headset apart.

  Daniel assisted him, using the drone to move a table closer and hand Finn various tools. He then plugged the individual components into his workstation and ran his own diagnostics, watching the data stream down the screens that hovered around him. Once he had the pieces all neatly laid out on the counter and had inspected each one carefully, he put it all back together. The process must have taken hours, although he barely noticed.

  When he was finally finished, Finn was left looking at the same black helmet – which now had a few scratches and was now plugged into his workstation. He understood the basics of how this thing worked. Essentially, it was a combination of an incredibly powerful, portable MRI and a wireless router. The helmet sent electric impulses directly into the user’s brain, stimulating clusters of neurons. Frankly, he was impressed.

  And more importantly, intrigued. Although, this was the moment of truth.

  Was he going to put the thing on?

  His daughter’s taunting expression flitted through his mind’s eye once more, and her notice still flashed in the corner of his many screens. He would play her game. And then that would be the end of it.

  However, he also hadn’t forgotten Julia’s cryptic warning.

  “Daniel, please allow the IP address for this headset to access the public network and give me a secure connection. Initiate ‘Fortress’ security protocols. I don’t want any outside traffic touching your system or the house. I also want all traffic and activity on the headset logged locally to my workstation. Got it?”