Stasis (Part 2): Iterate

by E. W. Osborne

  “When is it supposed to happen?” she yawned.

  “Any time now. We’re triggering it Stateside, but it’s a matter of time before the first reports come rolling in.”

  Her eyebrows lifted as she took a sip of the crimson liquid. “I’m guessing Dad isn’t coming then.”

  Julian shook his head. “I talked to him earlier, though.”

  “I’m sure he sent his love,” she snorted wryly.

  After a few minutes of silence even he was beginning to get a little antsy. He resisted the urge to go check the computer, choosing to trust that everything was going to plan.

  Why shouldn’t it? Everything else has gone perfectly so far. Well, almost perfectly…

  “What exactly are we waiting for then?” Harriet asked, sounding more bored than curious. “What’s being triggered? I’m getting pretty bored of watching people kill themselves, if I’m being honest.”

  A wicked smile spread across Julian’s lips as he shifted onto his back. “It was Dad’s idea, actually. I wanted to go bigger, but he wanted to toy with people a bit longer. I have to admit, it’s quite a brilliant plan.”

  “Of course it is. It’s Dad.”

  The comment, while touched with sarcasm, still stung a touch. He pushed past it, hoping that in time she’d think of him on the same level.

  “We’ve accessed the Dreamscapes of world leaders, celebrities, generals, you name it. And little by little, we’re releasing them into the wild.”

  Harriet’s eyes widened as she fully realized what that could mean. “Did you pick what ones to release?”

  “Of course,” he scoffed, lacing his hands behind his head. “You wouldn’t believe how many people fantasize about fucking little kids. Shocking, really.”

  She traced a finger down his stomach and into the waistband of his pants. “The world is so full of perverts.”

  He grabbed her hand with a violent snatch that made her gasp. He smoothed the action over by bringing it to his lips for a gentle kiss. “It’s not all sex. We even have a clip of the Prime Minister’s Dreamscape involving a machine gun and Parliament.”

  “You’re joking.”

  Feeling back on his game, he nodded to the wall. “You’ll see.”

  Harriet pushed herself up to sitting, nearly knocking over the open bottle between them. Her head hit the top of the tent, the sheet canopy billowing out like a wild crown.

  “Can I see now? Show me on your computers!”

  With a few strokes, he brought up another website. A series of numbers quickly scrolled down to zero. Even though he could start and stop the ticker at any moment, the sheer deliberate inevitability of the countdown pricked at his pulse.

  She frowned, her mouth pinched and full. “Stasis? I don’t even… I want to see the Dreamscapes! Show me.”

  “I told you, brother-dearest is controlling it.”

  “Which one is that again? The hot one or the one who looks like Father?”

  “How the fuck am I supposed to know which one is the hot one?”

  “Now, now. No need to get jealous.”

  “You’re waiting.”

  Her lower lip jutted out. “But I don’t want to wait with the rest of the plebs. I want to see the scandalous stuff first.”

  Julian couldn’t resist teasing her. She made it too easy. He pinned a bored expression to his face and gave her an idle wave. “You’ll see it when you see it.”

  “But you’ve seen it.”

  “Of course.”

  “And Father has seen it.”

  “Obviously.”

  “But I’m not allowed to see it.”

  Julian arched a single, uncaring eyebrow and nodded as if the whole line of questioning bored him. He half expected her to throw a complete fit, but perhaps that was unfair. She wasn’t a kid anymore. Harriet had long since learned she had more effective ways of getting what she wanted.

  She huffed and leaned back on her right elbow. The tiny spaghetti strap slipped off her shoulder. With a little wiggle, it slid even further down her arm, exposing the swell of her breast.

  This behavior normally wouldn’t work so well on Julian, but it’d been a long time since he’d been with anyone. The close confines of the makeshift fort brought them closer than he normally allowed, the heady scent of her musky perfume almost sweet on his tongue. His hand twitched, wanting to tear that tiny bit of fabric from her body, but his willpower prevailed.

  When she realized she wasn’t going to get the reaction she was looking for, Harriet upped the ante. With a deliberate, far less accidental move, she hooked her left wrist under the other strap. A tiny twist, a little gasp, and her bare chest popped free.

  Julian did his best to ignore the little display carrying on right beside him. To be honest, not a lot could’ve torn his attention away from the incoming chaos he’d helped orchestrate, but his step-sister was certainly giving it a good try. His expression and gaze might not have betrayed him, but his body did. Any movement would’ve drawn her attention to his groin anyway, so he simply let his erection grow unchecked. She knew. He knew. And that’s as far as it went, usually.

  Harriet pressed the bud of her hard nipple against his bare forearm. The flat of her hand quickly tugged his shirt up. In flash, she dove into his pants to collect her prize. But the shock of her warm skin against his startled him into action.

  “Enough,” he said through gritted teeth. His grip dug sharply into her wrist, her fingers only centimeters from where he wanted to feel her the most.

  Her fiery gaze bore into his, the tension between them strong enough he feared it might combust. She must really want this, he thought as he slowly pried her hand away. She nibbled at her lip again, looking adorable even in defeat.

  “Please?” she whispered.

  His resolve nearly broke, on so many levels. He didn’t care what she was begging for. He was ready to hand it all over to her on a silver platter if she said one more word. Julian feared another advance would be too much to defend, but his father’s impeccable timing saved him from temptation once again.

  The smart wall flashed as a breaking news bulletin overrode the broadcasts. It was a little bit of design he’d whipped up just for this occasion. The countdown had already hit zero. They both looked at the wall as he unmuted the display, focusing on the one that picked up a story.

  A woman in a pink jacket looked down the camera with a serious expression.

  “Unprecedented. That’s what officials are calling a breach of the Steele Industries Dreamscape laboratory. An unknown number of saved Dreamscapes have been leaked to the public, many of which come from top ranking officials.”

  By the time Julian looked back to Harriet, she’d repositioned her top and was watching with rapt attention. Happy the plan was carrying on the way they’d intended, their little moment was forgotten. He helped himself to a slice of salmon sashimi, savoring the texture of the raw flesh in his mouth.

  “They’re going to show the clip, right?”

  “Probably not,” he muttered, scanning the other screens. He did a quick search online and grinned with satisfaction as he read the search results. The story was spreading like wildfire through the internet. This sort of scandal tended to carry with only a spark, but the reporter had been correct. This was unprecedented.

  “Find a fun one,” Harriet beamed.

  After a little searching, Julian found a link to a Dreamscape a well-known singer had apparently viewed over thirty times. He pressed play, not having seen this particular clip.

  The video’s point of view was first person. If it hadn’t begun with the singer staring at his naked body in the mirror for a full minute, they would’ve had to use context clues to figure out who it was. He ran his hands over his body, humming softly to himself. The bedroom was light and airy, the furnishings decadent and flamboyant.

  A voice called from down the hallway. Without bothering to clothe himself, the singer left the room and softly padded down a dark hall to a light kitchen at the
far end. An older woman was at the counter, a steaming cup of tea beside her, a newspaper open. She glanced up as he entered and gasped.

  “What are you doing?”

  The man giggled, his voice deep and gravelly.

  The woman jumped from her seat and began chasing him around the room, speaking to him as if he were a child. “Where are your clothes, mister? What have you done with your clothes?”

  The man laughed as he dodged her playful attempts of catching him. He ran around the living room, the decor an odd mixture of wealth and common children’s toys. As he rounded one corner, she picked up speed and grabbed his arm, swinging him around.

  “Mummy!” he shouted.

  With a mock stern face, she picked him up and plopped him on the sofa. The fabric looked cheap and rough. Julian could almost feel it scratching against his skin. “You’ve been a very naughty boy.”

  “No, Mummy! Don’t pinch my willy,” he giggled.

  Harriet looked over, her lips pressed together to stop from laughing. It was horribly embarrassing, almost so bad they couldn’t bare to watch. “This is really odd.”

  “Uh, yeah. There’s something really off about it, isn’t there?”

  A swarm of butterflies flitted in his chest. The excitement of seeing Harriet’s reaction, of knowing this incredibly shameful secret was now out in the open… all the possible ramifications this tiny little move meant. He felt downright giddy.

  She cocked her head to the side and screwed up her face. “No, really. Why are they the same height?”

  Julian couldn’t put his finger on it, but the moment she mentioned it, he realized. What made the whole video so bizarre were the proportions, something Harriet picked up right away.

  He frowned as he considered the question, remembering one of the few rules they’d instated regarding Dreamscapes. “It must be a real Dreamscape, not a hacked version. Because of the content, it couldn’t happen to a little boy, so he made himself a full grown man.”

  Harriet’s lip curled as though she’d smelled something offensive. “What if he wanted to be full grown?”

  “Oedipus, party of one,” Julian laughed. “His voice is the same too,” he noted.

  “Shame. I actually liked a few of his songs.” She knocked back the rest of her wine with one gulp. Without asking, she topped up his glass, refilled hers, and lifted it for a toast. “To a plan well executed.”

  Julian felt a self-satisfied grin slide naturally across his face. If she kept up the flattery, while in that little dress, he wouldn’t have any control. “To a plan well executed,” he repeated, clinking their thin glasses together.

  Harriet settled into the crook of his arm, acting more sisterly than sultry. “If the other clips are anything like this, we’re going to have such a blast today.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Steele Industries - Upstate, NY

  THE MOMENT he arrived at work, Jamie was straight on him, saying he needed someone like him in the testing department. His screw up with monitoring the Dreamscapes obviously hadn’t hurt his esteem.

  “It’s hard when you’re the boss,” he’d explained. “I’m never sure if people are just telling me what I want to hear or if they’re telling me the truth. It’ll be good to have someone I can trust down there.”

  His speech was so fast, the words slurred together. Christopher had a hard time keeping up with his thoughts and his long strides. He was led through yet another maze of corridors. “Okay, yeah. I guess things have been pretty crazy around here?”

  Jamie looked over his shoulder with a harried huff. “You wouldn’t believe it. I don’t know what your schedule looks like, actually, but I might need you to come up more than two days a week. Do you think that’ll be okay? We can talk about it later, if you want. But it’d be really great to have you up here to help out. It’s really all hands on deck, so to speak.” He finished each sentence with that fake little chuckle Christopher had grown to hate.

  Relieved that he wouldn’t have to watch the Dreamscapes anymore, he wondered what his next position at the company would be. “Makes sense with the breach. So, what is it you need me to do?”

  “Well, obviously something has happened to the safety system we have wrapped around the Seed, right? Luckily it only effected a few people, but even so.” His brother made a hand gun and held it to his temple, pretending to fall dead when he pulled the trigger. The dramatic gesture was so out of character, Christopher didn’t know how to react. “I have a team testing a few users to see where the weakness is.”

  “You should probably know I barely passed science in high school,” he laughed.

  “Ha, ha, ha,” Jamie replied robotically. “Don’t worry. All I want is for you to observe what’s going on, let me know if you see anything strange.”

  Christopher couldn’t take another moment of this. He stopped suddenly, his shoes squeaking on the tile floor. He reached out for his brother’s elbow and came away with a pinch of his shirt. “I do see something strange.”

  Jamie rounded on him with confusion. “What do you mean?”

  He studied his brother. His disheveled hair was slicked back not with product, but with sweat. His eyes couldn’t focus on anything for more than a second or two, flitting this way and that like a cat tracking a bird. Even standing still in one place for twenty seconds proved too difficult. He fidgeted with his cuff, looked up and down the hallway, expression changing every few moments.

  “What are you taking, man? You’re bugging out,” Christopher whispered.

  “Nothing! You know I don’t do that stuff.”

  “Come on…”

  Jamie rolled his eyes as he gave in a little. “I might be hitting the energy supplements a little too hard, but I need to stay on top of this. You don’t even want to know what our stocks have been looking like since this hit.”

  “I couldn’t care less about stocks. I care about you,” he said. It took a lot of effort to put that kind of emotion into words. He’d never had a touchy-feely type of relationship with anyone in his family, so it was new territory.

  Jamie nodded at the sage advice, reciprocated with a strong hug that left wet patches on Christopher’s shirt. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I’ll try to take it easy.”

  “Okay, good,” he replied, giving his back a single pat.

  He held his gaze for an uncomfortable amount of time. Chris didn’t stand this close to someone for this long unless he was trying to get in their pants. Still, he chalked it up to being unfamiliar with familial relationships.

  Jamie finally pulled away and started back down the hall. “I’m glad to have you looking out for me.”

  In a way, Christopher was grateful for the Dreamscape leak. He actually found what they were doing in the testing facility fascinating. For the first time in his life, he wished he’d pushed himself a little harder with his studies. With any position in the company at his fingertips, he could’ve been leading scientific teams like the one he was observing.

  Jamie had dropped him off after a few short introductions. Duncan, the team leader, appeared put out that the boss had assigned a babysitter. It didn’t help that the man had a face that would probably crack if he tried to smile. Even so, he was polite enough to Christopher and patiently explained what his team was doing… at first.

  The room was sectioned into a series of smaller cubicles, each consisting of clear glass or plastic. Each cubicle housed an individual, some standing, most sitting. Aisles separated each cubicle allowing Duncan and the team to move freely around the space, observing and tweaking their experiments as needed. The users couldn’t see out, or each other.

  “What we’re doing is testing the limitations of the security protocols we have in place. The easiest way to do that is in person.” The scientist then rattled off some statistics and facts Christopher could barely understand let alone retain. But he nodded along as if it were all elementary to him.

  He watched as the team used their cuffs to communicate w
ith the users inside. In quiet conversations all around the room, they ran through a series of questions and basic commands. Every few minutes, a scientist would acknowledge a failed response by illuminating the glass in red. Once red, a separate pair of employees entered the room to collect the user and remove them from the room.

  Within twenty minutes, more than half of the thirty users had been eliminated.

  “Was there something wrong with them or their Seeds?” Christopher asked.

  “We won’t know until we conduct further testing.”

  The experiment took a turn. Some users were moved out of the room, others were escorted in. A few cubicles now had two users, each sitting still, placidly awaiting their commands. Duncan became intent and serious, far less receptive to Christopher’s barrage of questions. After the third or fourth response was only a grunt, he stopped asking altogether.

  The mood in the room changed as well. The team fanned out without a word, obviously having performed this test before. They opened various closets scattered around the perimeter of the room. Each walked a tray of objects to a cubicle. Some stayed inside. Others placed the trays in front of the user and stepped back outside.

  Christopher felt like a ghost for all the attention he got from the others, but it allowed him to walk around the room unnoticed.

  In an authoritative voice, Duncan commanded, “Ready.”

  The scientists projected into each cubicle, their low voices all starting with the same word.

  “Garrulous.”

  As he tried to remember the exact definition of the word, the users all straightened in their seats. Their movements weren’t uniform, but within seconds their postures matched; ramrod straight, hands flat on the tables before them, eyes blank and doe-like. Each scientist tapped on their tablets and waited. After a moment, the users replied with a short message on their cuff and resumed their positions. Only then did each member of the team signal to Duncan.