Virtual Immortality

by Matthew S. Cox

  The sudden bellow snapped her out of her frenzy. After a shiver, she stared at him for a moment of silence, and then bawled. He loosened his grip when he felt the fight leave her. Crumbled fragments of leaves clung all through her hair and clothes.

  “What happened?” Eldon grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a light shake.

  Amber pointed at her head with a trembling finger. “Behind my ear.”

  Masaru helped Katya back to her feet. Joey pulled Amber’s thick blonde hair out of the way, revealing the small metal circle of a system interface port.

  Joey blinked. “It’s just an M3, what’s the big deal?”

  “Get it out, get it out!” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “I don’t wanna be a machine.”

  “Whoa, whoa. Calm down.” Kenny rubbed her arm. “Millions of people have those, its damn near required to lead a modern life these days.”

  She sniffled. “Do you have one?”

  Kenny made an awkward grimace. “No, but… I also don’t lead a modern life.” He pointed at his cowboy hat and gun belt.

  “Would you let your daughter get one?”

  “Not a chance…” He answered before he could filter it. “Well… I mean… once she’s eighteen that’s her choice but…”

  Amber whined. “See.”

  “It wouldn’t be my choice to make… but, yeah.”

  “Someone put it in me. I did not want it. I hate cyberware, it’s icky.” She seemed about ready to tantrum again.

  The little girl in the truck rolled her eyes with such a contemptuous look, Joey burst into laughter as she vanished into the back seat. He had to hang on to Eldon to avoid falling over.

  “Shhh…” Kenny pulled her into a paternal hug. “We know a guy that can help you…”

  “Ido.” The kid muttered, sounding bored.

  Amber nodded, wiping her face. “Okay.”

  Katya cursed in Russian as her scorn for the spoiled rich girl boiled over.

  Once the initial blast of anger subsided, she slipped into English. “Such a fit over nothing. How can you lose your mind like that over something so stupid? Look at that kid!” she pointed at the truck. “Look what these corporate bastards did to her. She’s not crying about a little fuckin’ metal plug.”

  Amber buried her face in Kenny’s shoulder.

  He glanced at Katya. “Was that really necessary?”

  Joey smirked at Masaru. “Soul?” He pointed at Katya. “Eh?”

  Masaru rolled his eyes; not that Joey could see it through the helmet.

  “What if the dogs heard her screaming and came after us while I was trying to calm her down? What then?” Katya fumed.

  Joey squeaked through his continuing laughter. “The doggies would have had some borscht.”

  “Die.” Katya seethed.

  Joey put on a patronizing tone. “Not sure if you’ve been keeping up with what’s gone on here, but Amber was victimized, too.”

  Katya folded her arms. She stared at the sobbing young woman for a moment before she got her jealousy in check. Amber made it to nineteen enjoying the kind of life of which she could only have dreamed. This situation came as the result of idiotic choices, choices that Katya never had the chance to make.

  Katya sulked. “She overreacted and put us at risk.”

  “Let’s just be happy she didn’t discover that thing when it was dark out.” Kenny pulled Joey and Amber together hoping that she would distract him from the imminent trading of barbs with Katya. “Keep an eye on her.”

  Kenny climbed into the driver’s seat, glancing at the little girl sitting innocently below three large rifles on the gun rack. His jaw tightened at the realization she had been alone with weapons for a while.

  She did not look up. “Class 4 assault rifles would break my shoulder. Besides, my legs are too short to reach the pedals so I can’t steal the truck after I kill you all.” Her emotionless presence broke into a fit of childlike laughter. “Sorry, I guess that wasn’t too funny.”

  He breathed a long sigh of relief.

  “Did you find it?” She looked up and wiped her nose on the back of her arm.

  Kenny grumbled. “Nothing we can use, just some terminals with email. Corporate BS, they wiped everything out of the system.”

  She shrugged. “Oh.”

  A few yards away, Joey held Amber and enjoyed every minute of it. He thought about the irony of an HLM terrorist with cyberware. They may be deluded and violent, but hypocrites they were not.

  “Sad, the only honest people left are the crazy ones.”

  “What?” she looked up.

  The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became.

  “Amber?”

  “Yeah?” She shrank away, afraid of eye contact.

  “I need to ask you something and you’re probably not going to like it too much…”

  She undid the button of her pants. “I don’t mind… I figured it would happen sooner or later. I’ll do whatever you want if it’ll get me home.”

  Joey bit his lip. The temptation was unbearable, but he still grabbed her hand.

  “No, that’s not what I meant.” He flashed a nervous smile. “Tempting, but not what I meant.”

  She blinked.

  “Once we get you home to your family and you get adjusted… If you’re still in the mood after then, fine, but you don’t have to do that just to buy a ride.” He stared at the leaves. What the hell is wrong with me? I turned her down. Me… Turned her down. Am I going soft like Kenny or am I worried about Eldon?

  He glanced over at the others. Eldon, having seen where her hand went, pointed two fingers at his eyes and then one at Joey.

  She refastened her pants. “Okay.”

  He brushed her hair aside. “That thing in your head.”

  Her wounded look would have put a cartoon princess to shame.

  “I can’t understand why anyone would bother forcing someone that hates cyberware as much as you do to have one of those, unless they were just a vicious bastard.”

  She looked down and whined. “I wouldn’t tell them how we found this place. Maybe they wanted to steal my brain.”

  “They wanted your genes. actually.”

  “But I was naked. They already took them.” She pouted at him with wide-eyed innocence.

  Eldon stared at her with his mouth open. His eyebrows had formed a single flat ridge.

  Joey had all he could do not to slap himself in the forehead. “No… Not your pants. Your genes, your genetics.”

  “Oh.”

  “They can’t just read your mind with that plug, it lets your brain control other things… most of the time.”

  “I still want it out.”

  “That’s fine. I want to check something, if it’s okay with you.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I just have to connect my deck to your socket and…”

  “You just told me I didn’t have to do that.”

  Several thumps came from Eldon punching the dashboard of the truck in an effort not to laugh aloud.

  “Okay, I admit I worded that poorly.”

  Eldon could not take it anymore and burst out laughing.

  Amber looked lost.

  “Okay. A wire. That little socket in the back of your ear is meant for a wire. I’d like to run a diagnostic on it just to see if it is what I think it is.”

  She tried to pull away from him. “I dunno.”

  “It won’t hurt at all… I swear.” He pushed her hands together. “Please trust me.”

  She trembled, but the look in his eyes reassured her, and she offered a hesitant nod.

  Joey sat in the mulch with her, pulled the Teradyne Silver into his lap and brought it online. He pulled out the secondary lead, usually meant for terminals, and held it up so she could see it. Amber jumped when the asterisk-shaped prong snapped out of the plastic casing.

  “Don’t pop the balloon.” Eldon could not help himself.

  Joey stifled a snicker. />
  “Okay, Amber. I swear this won’t hurt, but it might feel strange.” He put a hand on top of her head and turned her to face away from him.

  She tensed as the plug got closer and closer. Just as she reached the verge of screaming, it clicked into place. Her shaking stopped with a nauseated face.

  “That… I felt that in my skull.” She stared at him with sick in her eyes.

  “You won’t feel anything else.” Joey patted her on the head.

  Amber looked at the wire that descended from behind her ear, over her chest and legs, and went into the machine. She dry heaved at the sight of being plugged into such a thing, and closed her eyes.

  She squeaked, just above a whisper. “Pull it out.”

  “I can’t pull out till I’m finished.”

  Eldon howled.

  “Finished what?”

  “Someone put data in you.”

  “My mom will kill me if I’m pregnant.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Eldon screamed. “Are you really that god damned stupid or are you just acting?”

  Amber hid behind Joey. “Why is he yelling at me?”

  “I’d explain, but it wouldn’t be worth it.” Joey patted her on the head again before he continued in a whisper. “The airhead thing isn’t necessary; we won’t tell the cops about the HLM stuff.”

  She drew a breath.

  “You were sincere about not wanting to go back?” he asked.

  “Yeah. I had enough. I don’t want to do this anymore. I swore to God that I’d go home to my parents if he saved me from the torture.” She met his gaze. “I’ll never hurt anyone ever again… but I still hate cyberware.”

  “How long ago did your memory come back?”

  “This morning, I started remembering stuff when I woke up.” The wire brushed her ear, making her shudder. “It seemed like the right thing to do back then, but I feel so stupid now.”

  “They took advantage of you. Just… do me a favor?” Joey looked over the floating screens at her.

  “What?”

  “Don’t do anything like that again, you’re way too cute to wind up dead or maimed.”

  She blushed. “I promised him I wouldn’t”

  “Who?” asked Joey.

  “God.”

  Joey concealed his eye-roll, not wanting to get into that debate out here. “Oh and…”

  “What?”

  “Will you tell me how you found this place?”

  “I guess. Kevin got the information from someone named Proscion.”

  Joey blinked. “Proscion? But he’s been gone for two”―he gazed up―“that’s right, you came out here seven years ago… Yeah. He’s been off the grid for like two years.”

  Amber shrugged. “I never met him. I just know that’s who sent us out here; he used to do some work for the HLM bosses. He wasn’t into the cause though, they had to pay him.”

  “I guess when you’re as good as he is… was … you can get paid for whatever you want.”

  Kenny, standing on the running board, yelled. “Hey, you two kids done flirting?”

  “I found something.” Joey shouted back. “Okay, done. Want to pull it out or should I?”

  Amber wrapped herself around his left arm. “You do it. I don’t wanna touch it.”

  She braced for pain as if Joey were about to tear her nipples off. “Okay… do it.”

  “It’s already out.” Joey swung the wire around in front of her.

  Amber blushed at her lap. “Oh.”

  He stood, offering her a hand. “C’mon.”

  The white haired girl clung to Katya, overacting the child angle, but neither seemed to care. It helped her cope and it made Katya feel a little better as well. Joey sifted through the data from Amber’s head.

  Kenny flicked switches, bringing the truck’s drive system online. “Okay, I’ll circle back to the compound and we can start kicking down doors.”

  “Hold on. We may not have to. Someone stored data inside her head.”

  “At least she had room.” Eldon’s comment attracted a smirk from Kenny.

  Joey looked at Amber and handed her the wire again. “You really should let me delete that stuff out of your head. If people find out you have it, they’ll try to kill you.”

  “What?” She stopped picking bits of leaf off her clothes, cowering away from the plug.

  “The Mayberry data is in your head, it’s the reason we came out here. The crypto looks like a fit for my cipher key. WellTech has already been trying to kill me for it, and there is no reason for you to get caught up in it.”

  Eldon threw his arm over the seat. “How the hell would anyone know that she had that shit in her head?”

  Joey shrugged. “Someone sent me out here to find it, so someone has to know.”

  Amber took the plug and stared at it. She felt around her head until her finger hit the metal socket. She seemed ready to vomit as she slid it in place. “I didn’t have this thing when I came out here.”

  “You probably did and didn’t notice.” Joey’s face turned blue from holographic light. “If you kept it, you’d forget you had it in a week. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

  “Fuck that. This thing is gone as soon as I’m back in the city. Can we stop there before my parents see it? I think it would kill them more than me dating a psionic.”

  “Sure, whatever you want.” Kenny nodded. “What’s up with the file?”

  Joey thrummed his fingers on the deck. “It’s still working. This is some heavy crypto, but it’s still taking a long damn time. I gotta check my deck out when we get back.”

  He deleted the contents of Amber’s storage module, unplugging the cable as soon as it was done. She offered a weak smile, trying not to vomit.

  “You also have a memory implant. Ido should be able to remove that at the same time. Someone used you as a living holodisk.”

  She re-swallowed her breakfast.

  “There we go. Holy shit.” Joey’s near-white face flashed green with information. “No wonder they wanted me dead. God damn.”

  “Out with it man!” Eldon bellowed.

  “The files in her head prove WellTech used some freaky black ICE; ACC made it, some soft called Puppenspieler. This is fucking insane.” He gawked. “They used it to go into the heads of two HLM deck jockeys. That German soft turned them into zombies, just like hacking a cyborg and taking it over.”

  “They what?” Masaru’s eyes bulged. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

  “Neither did I. The details are right here. These WellTech bastards ran them like marionettes and forced them to machinegun that EduTran full of kids just to make the HLM look bad. The son of the exec that signed the order was even on it.”

  “Oh my god…” gasped Katya.

  “It looks like a second generation soft. From what I can tell, the control was sketchy at best. Because they moved like zombies, the attack was far from as lethal as it could have been; they’re lucky they hit anything at all.”

  “I doubt the man wanted his son dead, that was no doubt deliberate,” said Masaru.

  Katya squinted. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  Amber cried. “Those poor children.”

  “Well that explains why the HLM turned them over to the police without the usual bullshit.” Eldon patted his leg. “It wasn’t a sanctioned operation; they probably thought those two went crazy.”

  Kenny looked at Amber. “Did you know anything about it?”

  She thrashed her head back and forth with an emphatic no. “I was like eleven when that happened, I didn’t even know what the HLM was then. Fuck, a few sectors west and I could’ve been on that EduTran.”

  “There’s enough here to prove their involvement.” Joey looked up. “WellTech is going to keep coming after me and Hayley. The only way I can stop it is just blow it out onto the NewsNet.”

  Kenny leaned back. “That’ll start up one hell of a shit storm.”

  “No doubt.” Eldon faced front and settled int
o the seat. “Better get a good raincoat.”

  “Could you contact WellTech and arrange to sell it back to them?” Katya glanced at Joey. Everyone’s initial gasp at her mercenary suggestion faded as she justified it. “If you release it, the HLM might get a boon of recruits.”

  “I gotta take that risk. Stupid people will always do stupid things, and charismatic shitheads will always be there to take advantage of those with no will of their own and a desperate need for acceptance.” Joey shut his deck down.

  Amber shot him a hurt look. “That was mean.”

  “Maybe, but am I wrong?” Joey winked.

  She pouted.

  “Besides, WellTech already tried to kill me twice. Do you really think they will trust me not to have copies? I know I don’t trust them not to keep trying. I got what I came for; we can go back as soon as y’all want to.”

  Kenny turned the truck and accelerated toward the compound. “They tried to kill Hayley. I say let ‘em burn.”

  Eldon looked to his left. “What say you Ken? Want to search for treasure?”

  “Naa. This is all modern shit anyway, not worth anything. Plus we got passengers, wouldn’t be fair to make them wait.”

  Eldon patted his shoulder twice, hard. “Okay man, let’s get you back to Alyssa.”

  espite the standstill traffic, Joey smiled, still able to smell Amber’s presence all over him and his bike. She had clung to him, screaming, the whole way back to her parents’ place. Her father even managed to put aside his obvious contempt for someone of Joey’s social standing and spoke to him like a real person for the short time he spent there. Even with a five-way split, he pocketed a hundred grand of the reward money, and with it, a sense of security he had not known in a long time.

  Still, something yet gnawed at the back of his mind about this strange situation in which he found himself entangled. He had started the upload of the Mayberry data from outside the wall, as soon as they got into wireless range. It should have taken a few seconds, but it did not complete until Ido took Amber out of the medical tank an hour later.

  At first, he assumed WellTech tried to interfere with the transfer, but a diagnostic check made it seem like the deck’s I/O channel was stressed beyond capacity, as if uploading massive amounts of data. He figured the same idiot who had tried to fry it at Kenny’s place was at it again.