The Metaverse: Virtual Life-Real Death

by William Kurth

  “Mom had grandpa come over and kill the power to the thing. Our AE that helps us might not be recoverable now.”

  “I’m sure there is a backup of... of whatever his name is.”

  “She’s a girl, and her name is Erica. Do you think she will be fine?”

  “I’m sure she is. Hey, is your sister there? I want to talk to her.”

  “No, Stacy is taking one of her marathon showers.”

  “Ok, son. Tell her I love her and tell mom too. I have to run now.”

  “Mom says that when you find the guy who did it you should let the caged animals on him.”

  Argosi guffawed. It was his old team she meant.

  “Well, that might be necessary. Gotta go, love you.”

  “Love you too, Dad. Bye.”

  Argosi turned the TV on in the bathroom that was conveniently viewable from either the toilet or the tub.

  All the talking heads were going on about the deaths of the two unidentified teenagers. It was the same on every channel. They all started with the same disclosure.

  Noting that while nothing is confirmed, they simply wanted to learn if this could be related to the video sent out earlier in the day about the death of the doctor in Colorado? Then some “expert” panel would debate whether it was or not and what the feds were doing about it right now.

  Not much. Argosi flinched as another wave took its toll on his stomach.

  The phone went off again.

  “Argosi.”

  “Dom, its Stezno. Are you on top of all of this?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” In a matter of speaking. He thought, not wanting to elaborate on where he was sitting.

  “Charlie Parker gave me a quick rundown, but I’m waiting to hear more details.”

  “Great, keep me informed. The director is already breathing up my ass. If you need more people or resources, let me know ASAP and I’ll see you get it. So, how’s it hanging?”

  “Ma’am?”

  “Come on. I know where you are right now. I’ve purged a few times. It gets easier each time. If you plan beforehand, you don’t even have to do the purge now with the new stuff, but you need a week or so for your system to adjust. Too bad you didn’t get to plan ahead. Oh well, shit happens—no pun intended.”

  Why is everyone infatuated with bathroom humor? Argosi winced. “Yes, ma’am. Thanks for the concern.”

  “Great, keep me in the loop. Seriously, if you need anything, just call.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Stezno hung up.

  Argosi felt normal enough again to make his way to the bed where he collapsed onto it. After a few deep breaths to make sure he would not have to run back he dialed Parker.

  “Hey, Commander.”

  “Charlie, call me Dom when it’s just us talking, save the title for when were in front of the troops.”

  “Got it, sir, er, Dom. Anyway, we’ve looked at some of the analytics. It seems there was a power surge to the facility.”

  “But only two of the pods were affected? What’s the likelihood of that?”

  “It’s pretty unlikely. It’s possible that a power surge could affect only those two pods, but that’s not the easiest explanation.

  “What is?”

  “That those two pods were targeted. There is something else too.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “The reports that I’m getting are that the two kids’ bodies were broken up. I mean literally torn apart. Multiple fractures and limbs ripped from sockets. Those injuries seem way too severe than simply being thrown from a pod.”

  Parker took a breath.

  “There’s one more thing as well. The two victims had severe burns at all their major joints. Those burns match up to where they would meet with the exoskeletons magnetic servos.”

  “Think they got super-hot from the power surge?”

  “No way to know right now. If they did that explains the burns but what about the injuries?” it’s almost like they were in a catastrophic crash. Like a high-speed collision or something far in excess of the speed that pod was moving.”

  “Ok, it’s all speculation at this point, but I appreciate the info. Do we have anyone on scene?”

  “Yes, sir. The whole of the San Diego office’s Crime Scene Investigation Unit is out there, along with some of the real world investigators. Did you make that call, Dom?”

  “No, but I know who did.” Thanks, Stezno.

  “Well make sure you thank them for me. SDPD is glad that we are handling it. Their staffing and resources have been dismal at the local level for some time. Be a while before that once great agency recovers.”

  “I hear you, Charlie. It’s always the cops and the citizens who suffer from public policies that aren’t sustainable... but that’s a discussion for another time.”

  “Yes, sir. So, how’s the purge going?”

  “Now that you mention it, I haven’t had to use the bathroom in almost two minutes. That’s a record. Maybe the tide is turning.”

  “Well, hang in there. It’ll be a lot easier once we can meet up here in the Metaverse and we can concentrate on catching this sick scumbag.”

  “Agreed. I hope to be in-world as soon as I can.”

  “Great. See you then. I’ll send you regular updates.”

  Argosi ended the call and took a deep breath before racing back to the bathroom.

  New Polis, Metaverse

  MD and his guest sat on one of the plush couches in the den off the great room. Against the wall, a large screen TV split it into several screens shouted the news. A mostly empty bottle of wine sat on the table in front of them.

  “Oh Jack, why are you so worried about what happened out in the real world? It doesn’t concern us.”

  No, it concerns me. MD leered at the gorgeous 20-something woman in the red dress snuggled next to him.

  Augusta was an SDB. Not some T2 or T3 owned by an escort agency or some male or female human in an avatar. Augusta worked for herself, practicing the world’s oldest profession. Which had found its niche in the Metaverse almost to the point that it was nonexistent in the real world.

  That wasn’t surprising to someone like MD. After all, sex is in the mind, and everyone has their ideal of what it should be. In the Metaverse it can be tailor-made and delivered with a few taps on a screen, wining and dining optional. That’s not to say that actual and real traditional relationships didn’t occur, they most certainly did. But the Metaverse had something for everyone.

  Tonight, that something for MD was in the form of Augusta. Just one name, like so many celebrities. Augusta was expensive. In the real world, she would be known as a high-end call girl. But it wasn’t her skills nor her reputation that interested MD.

  Those, along with her killer looks, were all bonuses. For MD, it was that she was a non-human sentient being. He admired the elegance of her operating code as much as her personality and stunning looks. Augusta was the whole package. Someone MD could talk and relate to and have a physical relationship with to boot. Her mind was as incredible as her perfectly shaped body.

  Augusta for her part didn’t care about those things. She expected payment. If that meant just stroking MD’s ego rather than anything else she was game.

  “Augusta, sweetie, what’s going on out there is significant. If humans get scared out of the Metaverse, that’s not good. Not good for the economy here and not good for a working girl like you.”

  Augusta held her elegant crystal wine glass in one hand as she sat with her knees folded up under her dress with her lower legs resting off to her right. Her shoes were laying on the floor between the couch and the table. Her bare feet moving occasionally against the comfortable fabric of the sofa. She leaned her head against MD’s shoulder playing with his shirt collar. MD had his arm around her, resting on her forearm gently massaging it through her dress sleeve.

  Amazing how you can feel the silkiness of the fabric while still being aware of the warmer and firmer surface of the arm underneath. MD admire
d the technology that made him appreciate Augusta almost as much as her skills in bed.

  Augusta let out a sigh. “My work is recession proof, honey. Besides, I visit some of my clients by video call. Even when they are at work or home with their wives in the real world. With a couple of attachments, it’s almost like being in-world.”

  “No attachment could replace being here with you in digital first person, love.” MD kissed her on the forehead. She was so practical and never worried about anything.

  “That’s my Augusta, business woman and sex goddess rolled into one.” MD sipped his wine, an excellent Chardonnay. He moaned as the aroma wafted up from his glass. The alcohol content by percentage was much higher than its real world counterpart, since you drank much less by volume when you did full emersion. Even so, the taste was superb and every bit as sublime as the actual stuff. They must load up the actual aroma into the synthesizer to get the taste match. MD thought as he looked at his glass and tilted it before taking another sip.

  “So a couple of kids got killed. That happens every day in the real world. What’s that got to do with us or the Metaverse? Why would people stay away?” Augusta asked.

  MD brought his hand to her face and began stroking her hair. “Augusta, you lovely thing you. For all your ability to perceive humankind, you are missing the big picture. Those kids were in the Metaverse, killed in a horrific catastrophe that was deliberate, brilliantly planned and executed.”

  “Jack, the news said it was an accident. Some pod malfunction. Besides, they were human. They can only reflect into the Metaverse. They aren’t physically here. They are here only in the digital first person.”

  Someday I will tell you of my brilliance darling; I’m not a businessperson with the average IQ that you think I am. MD thought.

  “My little sex goddess. Don’t you realize that whoever is doing this has figured out how to reflect the Metaverse back out onto a human? They did it first with the human male doctor with the female avatar and now causing the jet pack crash of the two latest victims. They must have a depth of understanding about the Metaverse that would even dwarf your digital brain—and that’s saying something.” MD twirled his fingers in her light brown hair.

  “Jack, I always think it’s sexy when you talk digital to me, but you are not logical, you’re speculating.”

  “Not logical? Speculating?” MD felt a flash of anger.

  “Yes Jack, the news didn’t say there was a jet pack crash, how do you know that’s what caused it? Besides a crash would only be represented digitally but those kids really got killed. That had to happen in a physical sense in the real world, not in the Metaverse.

  MD sat silently trying to take his mind off her words by admiring her body. Beauty or not who is she to lecture me?

  Augusta topped off her glass of wine, finishing the bottle off. Before leaning back on the couch back and bringing her left hand up to MD’s shoulder where she began to move her index finger in little circles.

  “Jack, you are so cute when you try to explain the workings of the Metaverse and how the various codes and systems interface. But you really are out of your league with me on that, darling. But that’s why you’re so adorable. Do you even know how the Metaverse works? Do you understand how you—a human being—can exist here with me now? How we can do the things we do?

  MD felt his anger rise. Not being logical? Now she thinks I don’t know how the Metaverse works? What gives this digital servant the right to judge me? I’m a God to her kind!

  “Augusta, I have a headache. Derek will see you out.” MD stood now and tapped the icon on his wrist screen to summon his servant.

  Augusta looked up at him, her digital consciousness painting first a confused look then a serious one. Augusta set her drink down on the table and pulled on her shoes.

  “I expect to be paid the full 1K for my time.”

  “You’ll get paid for the time you spent here minus the cost of your dinner and the glass of wine. How does that sound Digital Dolly?”

  Augusta glared at him. Derek entered the room.

  “How may I be of service, sir?”

  “Derek, Ms. Augusta is leaving now. Please see her out. Give her five hundred M-Dollars and cab fare.”

  “Certainly, sir. This way, Madame.” Derek held his hand out pointing towards the door of the den.

  Augusta knocked over her drink and the empty wine bottle with her purse as she spun around and walked towards the doorway.

  MD shouted after her while she stormed off. “Don’t try me! You think that a sentient being means anything to me? I design things like you! I may have even created you! I could just erase you or make you like a T-2—pretty and stupid! You don’t think I know how to find you? You have no idea who you’re dealing with!” MD glared at her for a moment before letting fly another insult.

  “A digital whore like you should show more respect!”

  Augusta stopped just inside the door and turned back facing MD. She looked him up and down before speaking. “Well, Jack, or whatever your real name is, I’m sure you think you’re very important and very smart, but to me you’re still just another John with limp dick issues.”

  Augusta spun and turned walking out the door. MD threw his glass at her just missing Derek and impacting against a bookshelf. Derek paused for a moment not sure if he should clean up the mess or follow Augusta before remembering MD’s instructions to pay her. He ran to catch up with her.

  MD fumed. Just like the real world women with these things.

  A media report caught his attention, and he turned towards the large screen. He read the subtitle, “Young People Pay Metaverse Safe Passage Fee.”

  MD enlarged that channel to the full screen and turned up the volume. A news reporter and his cameraman were out at one of New Polis’s newest and hottest nightclubs. The reporter was interviewing some young women while a crowd behind them danced to loud music, laser lights and other special effects.

  Well, at least avatars of young women. MD thought.

  The reporter was talking to a group of 20-somethings. They were all saying how they had paid the fee to the mysterious Mr. Reynolds so they could enter the Metaverse without worry.

  “Did the deaths of the two teenage boys earlier today influence you to pay the fee?” The reporter had to shout the question over the loud music.

  The nearest young woman responded.

  “I was thinking about it after the lady got cut in half and now that those kids got killed my sister was all like I’m sending in the fee. It’s a small amount and why be a target? So I did too.”

  “Right now the authorities and Digital-Life Systems are treating the deaths as an accident. Do you think it was or do you think that they do not want to panic everyone?” The reporter followed up with another young woman in the group.

  “Well, like the guy, who is really hot, warned that it would happen. I mean, it’s like his world. We’re just visiting it—so like, why not pay for the protection?” The second woman answered.

  “Yo Alex, I think you’re hot. I signed up for your safe passage! Come down to the club and dance with me—or call me!” A third woman who had jumped in front of the camera and was making the hand signal for talking on the phone shouted.

  The reporter turned to face the camera.

  “Well, there you have it. We haven’t noticed any slowdown in foot or vehicle traffic on the streets of New Polis tonight. Most of the people we have talked to indicated that they either have paid the fee or were going to. The ones that say that they wouldn’t didn’t want to go on camera. Back to you Joe.”

  “Thanks, Nathan,” the anchor said to the screen behind him before turning to the audience.

  “Just a reminder to our viewers that no one in authority has stated that there is a link between the murder of Dr. Sullivan earlier in the week or today’s tragic deaths. Nor any connection with the individual, identified as Alex Reynolds or his demands that humans pay a fee to roam safety through the Metaverse. This remains a
developing story, and we will bring you updates as we get them. We’ll be back after this short break.”

  MD muted the volume and minimized the screen so that multiple channels were displayed again.

  He tapped the screen on his wrist placing a call to Alex.

  “Good evening, Mr. Swanson.” Alex answered.

  “Good evening, Alex. I was just watching the news reports. At least some of the young people out tonight on the town were going to make a payment or have already,” MD said.

  He was still agitated over Augusta and cared little about being discreet. Besides, who would be listening to one phone call out of billions? Alex, following MD’s lead also spoke openly now.

  “Yes, sir. I have seen an uptick in activity. Not an impressive amount but certainly surprising.”

  “How many, Alex?”

  “One moment, Mr. Swanson, while I bring that up.”

  After a momentary pause, Alex was back on the line.

  “As of right now we have four thousand one hundred and eighteen.”

  This bit of good news eclipsed MD’s fury at Augusta’s insolence. They had not even released the video yet. When people see it, they will sign up in droves. Maybe we should offer introductory pricing then up the fee after a few more demonstrations.

  “And the video, Alex. Where are you on that?”

  “It is about two thirds done, Mr. Swanson. Another few hours and I will have the final cut ready for approval.”

  “Great, Alex. I will touch base with you first thing in the morning. Tomorrow should be a banner day.”

  “Yes, Mr. Swanson. Good night.”

  MD ended the call. He felt hyperactive after having gotten his adrenaline going with Augusta—for a variety of reasons. The elation that his plan was coming together further excited him. He suddenly did not want to be in the penthouse, luxurious as it was.

  “Derek!” MD shouted for his servant, who came running back to the room.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I was trying to get Ms. Augusta to leave, she is still in the foyer, sir. She is demanding the other five hundred dollars.”