by Wolfe Locke
I can see how easy it is to get lost in here and why everyone else seems so content to lock themselves away in the digital world. The real world was dying and a pale imitation of life at that. The contamination levels were rising, with no near-term solution to the problem. The global embargo remained in place, and food scarcity had only gotten worse.
On fewer and fewer days, the air was breathable without having to wear a mask, and the constant pollution was pumping toxins into the air making some days more than other dangerous.
A place like Seven Cities within the SynaCAID system was the only way for a lot of people to meet up and have any sort of social life, the only way for the economy to continue moving. If that system was sabotaged, the country would crash.
“Sorry Mr. Marx. It seems your card has been declined.” The driver of the Chariot said regretfully before turning to grab the reins and fly away. That’s going to be a problem.
Chapter 10: Anomaly
* * *
Of course, that would be my luck, Niles thought as the Chariot started back up and flew through the sky without him in it. The driver had been unwilling to wait on Niles to figure out a solution and took off to join the other transportation units as they carried people back and forth across the server. Niles sent a thought to his implant to resume pathing and watched as the orangish, almost gold UI lit up with directions, and he started walking again.
Everywhere he looked, it was the complete opposite of what he was used to. People were happy and laughing. He saw advertisements for schools, and trades, and eSports for kids. This isn’t a game, not really. Not when the real world was dying. The real world was terrible and here was the most popular world within SynaCAID offering a way for people to escape. It was no wonder Grisham had made it a priority to find those responsible for attacking the system.
As Niles walked, he kept going through the details of what had happened to the victims and the method of attack in the reports. It wasn’t clean and professional, which meant to him one of two possibilities, either those on the ground were amateurs and somebody else was in charge, or it was intentionally done sloppy to make a scene. Neither scenario sat well with him.
It didn’t take him too long before he got to the jewelry store. Unlike many of the nearby storefronts, this one was closed, and more than once Niles saw a few fearful looks tossed his way as he got closer. Paladins, Marines, Healers, and Medics all stayed far away.
The lights were dim and Niles could see entire sections of the building appeared damaged as if they had been roughly ripped out. Niles leaned close in examination and saw that in each of these spots, the image of the jewelry store had become distorted and pixilated.
Even with the stark reminder right in front of him that the world he was in wasn’t real, Niles still felt uneasy. Centered in the space where the pixilation had started was a dark center. The impact site from whatever weapon they used? Hesitantly, Niles scanned the anomaly with his implant. He wasn’t surprised when the system wasn’t able to register any information.
Niles reached with his hand out towards it, hesitant, needing to examine the anomaly closer, and the closer he got to the dark center, the more he began to feel a deep ache in his hand from an intense cold while a pulse of electrical energy began to spread in an arc of lightning from the anomaly into his hand and up to his arm. His arm shimmered, seeming to take on an almost after image.
Abruptly he pulled away and the energy disappointed as Niles looked down at his hand relieved to see it was undamaged, even though a residual pain remained. That was a mistake, I’ll have to be more careful in the future. I need to report this though.
Niles brought his implant up to his mouth and began to send a message back to the analysts to pick up. “Whichever one of you is supposed to be monitoring me, back up all the data from the last 5 minutes and keep tracking. I’ve encountered an anomaly I believe is a residual left behind from the attack by a member of the Old Dominion. I have come in direct contact with it and it has caused a physical reaction. My implant was not able to collect any data on it.”
Ending the message, Niles rubbed his arm and looked through the window of the shop to see if there was anything more to be found. He saw multiple distortions inside, but otherwise, no direct contact with the anomaly would give him the information he needed.
Niles knew the investigation had just started and that he needed patience, but he also knew he needed results soon. Grisham would start breathing down his neck any minute. If Niles knew anything about his old Commanding Officer, it was that Grisham valued results above all else and that Grisham already knew more than he’d shared with Niles.
Maybe it’s time for me to get the Talon installed, this isn’t getting me anywhere. I might be able to find data inside, but I can’t even get into the shop to explore and probe. He stood there, wondering what to do. It was like chasing ghosts. It was one of the reasons he had avoided Seven Cities for so long and working in Cybercrime in general. It was easy to erase. Easy to make sure every almost ever trace got removed in a way that didn’t happen with real-world issues. All he had so far was the update he just filed. The analysts would be able to sift through it for useful data, but Niles felt he was missing the important details.
I’m not going to find anything else here. Niles decided he needed to see more of Arcadia. As far as he knew, the gaming areas and commerce areas had never had a problem before, and at least in the commerce area, it was physically impossible to attack another user. Not just in the same that no damage occurred, but that the system itself wouldn’t let you go through with attacking another user, there was an override command that prevented it, just in case.
That’s it though, isn’t it? Most of the people who’ve died had been attacked in areas where the system should have prevented it. Maybe corruption in the system code? A spasm spread through his body, interrupted his thoughts as his leg started to hurt. That shouldn’t be happening. Niles went ahead and logged the incident with the analysts “Approximately 3 minutes after touching the anomaly the sensation of pain has returned to my leg.”
The pain increased, and though Niles wasn’t ready to call it quits, he knew his time investigated was getting short. He summoned the map interface and plotted a path back to the Cafe he had spawned in. He grimaced, knowing he should start logging out, but caught a small icon on the bottom of the interface for equal access and selected it. Instantly a moving sidewalk appeared in front of him, instanced for him only and he stepped on it as he was carried back to the coffee shop.
Things were different, he realized. I’m out of my element, this all feels so different to me. There has to be something, a crack, one single loose thread that nobody else saw that I can uncover. That had been one of Niles’ defining traits, he had always been able to find a path forward. A blue screen appeared in front of him asking “Accept the Call? Yes/No”, Niles was pretty sure he knew exactly who was trying to get ahold of him, a moment later, he was staring at Colonel Grisham Fairway in his office.
“What do you want?” Niles asked, letting the call sync noticing for not the first time that the Colonel’s appearance had been edited a bit for these calls.
[Transmission: Niles, good to see that you’re getting right into the mix of things. That’s important we need to move fast while we still can. Besides, what’s the attitude for, Niles? You want me to apologize for something?]
Like that would solve anything. Niles shook his head and Grisham shrugged on screen before leaning back in his chair, allowing Niles to see into the man’s office. The pile of paperwork on Grisham’s desk had increased ten-fold in the hours since Niles had been in there.
[Transmission: What do you think about the Grid? It seems more than real, doesn’t it? That’s one of the reasons we need to find who’s behind what’s going on and shut it down. It’s not just for the economy, the Grid is the only way out some of these people have, you and I included.]
>
Niles looked around away from the interface. There was light all over the place—streetlights, shop lights. They lit the night up. He shrugged. It was incredible, but he wouldn’t want to tell Grisham that. Niles’s grudge went too deep to allow the man a little bit of the satisfaction of being right.
“It’s alright, I prefer the mountain though,” Niles said and watched for the reaction. There was none. The Colonel sighed and sat up on the screen. Niles waited for him to say something, to make a scene or pick a fight, just like he used to when they’d been younger. Grisham didn’t respond like that, he just shook his head sadly.
[Transmission: I know you just started, but do you have any leads yet? I can’t tell you the shit storm that’s following this six ways from Sunday, and I know you don’t care, but I do, we need results yesterday.]
There’s the Grisham I know, already breathing down my neck. Niles shook his head, putting his hands on his waist as a look of disappointment crossed his face. He was just as discouraged as Grisham was. He’d found the anomalies but had nothing solid yet to go off of. I also need to assume Grisham’s seen the same anomalies. Which would make this a test. Niles had been excited to be back in the field working, but this assignment already had him second-guessing that decision.
[Transmission: Don’t get too worked up. I know how you get in your head. It’s still early. We just don’t know when the opposition is going to hit again, and we need to work on getting a headwind to keep people safe when that happens. You understand, right?]
“Yeah, you got it Grisham,”” Niles said rubbing his leg as the pain started to intensify. “Can you tell your guys to come to integrate the Talon?” Niles asked and Grisham raised a brow. He shrugged. “The data I got on the past hits were interesting. I’m not seeing any patterns in the victimology. I don’t think they are after the money.”
On screen, Grisham raised an eyebrow and motioned for Niles to keep talking and explain what he was thinking.
“With the kind of money some of the victims had, it’s obvious those victims were connected, but the rest of them, I can’t see the connection. Average, normal, poor, middle class. They didn’t seem to be anybody special, and that’s what makes me think it’s not all about money. This is basically targeted terror to discourage the use of the Grid, right?”
[Transmission: Yeah. That’s what the analysts were thinking too. A few of the attacks were definitely targeted, while the remainder seemed indiscriminate, and our own investigation hasn’t yielded any real leads yet.]
“Grisham, this may seem obvious, but don’t you have a list somewhere of everyone who might want SynaCAID to fail? I mean, that should be the obvious target to check, right? Also, can you have one of the guys unfreeze my account? I need to get a few things.” Niles asked.
Grisham smiled. His eyes looked a little bit distracted like he was thinking about something else. Then he shook his head.
[Transmission: No, that’s not it. At least nothing so obvious. Your job is find the opposition, and our job is to take care of them. I don’t think it’s bigger than that, and you shouldn’t either. It’s probably just permabanned users that found a way around it. Just don’t rush it. I know you like getting results as much as I do. Don’t rush it this time. I’ll have the 33’s pinged for when you get back for Talon integration. The money has been taken care of. You should be able to use the Contingency Funds directly from your wallet.]
Niles nodded in understanding as the interface faded and. Grisham’s face along with it. Shortly after, he found himself back in front of the coffee shop. He sat there, trying to think through what he knew, not yet ready to log out of the system. Being here, inside the Grid, was better than being out there. He waved the girl over from before and ordered another cup of coffee. A coffee Grisham is basically paying for, it doesn’t matter that it’s late.
It didn’t bother Niles that the coffee technically didn’t exist. The caffeine supplement his Rig would administer to him worked just as well. I’ll be working late anyway. Maybe I’ll go for another run. My mountain is waiting for me. It’s as simple as switching over from Seven Cities to my private server.
Niles waited to log off, instead he sat down in a chair stirring a hot cup of coffee, full of milk and cream, the first such cup he had experienced in years since the embargo. For a moment, he closed his eyes and enjoyed himself. He forgot that the music, the smell of coffee, even the air he was breathing in the room wasn’t real. In that moment, to him it didn’t matter.
”Can I sit?” A smoky voice asked. Niles opened his eyes to find a beautiful woman standing there smiling at him. Her hair was ginger red, her eyes the color of the ocean. A shapely face and elegant hands that that were holding on to the strap of a small purse.
She was wearing a simple gown that seemed too easy of a choice to make. Like she had made no conscious thought about what to wear and came out stunning regardless. Niles soaked in everything he could before responding. “Sure, I’d love that, please have a seat.” Niles felt relaxed rather than nervous. Even though it had been so long since he sat with a woman he felt perfectly at ease. Like riding a bike, some things you never forgot.
“You really need to change up your cosmetics. You stand out too much by still looking normal. You’re looking for them, right?” she asked. Niles frowned. He was about to say something, but she shook her head and motioned for him to hold up “Are you?” she asked again. Niles cursed. He was in a tight spot. Who is she? He nodded. She sighed, then looked at him seriously, like she was scanning him.
“Have you ever been to Volkerball?” she asked him quietly, and to anyone else, the question might have not have made any sense, but to Niles who’d spent most of his adult life working behind the scenes, knew the response. It was a challenge question. “Only on the layover between Berlin and Bangor.”
She nodded, “It’s a lovely flight. Who are you?”
“Niles De’Santes, 7863” Niles said.
Discreetly the woman looked around before leaning in with a sly smile as if to kiss him and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I have something that can help you, but I can’t give it to you here. It’s outside, the real outside.”
She pulled away from him, still smiling. “I’ll see you soon. I’ll be calling.” As she stood up, the woman abruptly disappeared as she logged out of the system, and Niles knew his time enjoying coffee was up.
What just happened? Niles looked around to see if anyone else was paying attention, and the few other users mixed in with the NPC’s didn’t seem to have noticed or cared. Looking at these people, I really do need to swap out how I look, but Niles knew how he looked wasn’t the biggest issue, somebody with insider knowledge already knew he was on the case. He needed to get the Talon set up as soon as possible. Oh... he realized; she was warning me.
“Initiate logout,” he said, and the café disappeared as if it had never been there.
Chapter 11: Limitless
* * *
Unlike when using his personal Rig, there was none of the temporary blindness on logout that Niles was used to. The logout was just as smooth as the login had been. Niles sighed when he opened his eyes, noticing his body was still almost fully submerged in the immersion gel and he had a thin film over his face. I guess that one can’t be helped. A single command sent forth a burst of electricity that caused the gel to immediately detach from him and soon he was pulling himself up and sitting on the rim of the Rig.
Who was that anyway? She knew the right challenge phrase. Niles pushed up from the edge of the pod and got out, picking his clothes up off of the ground and starting to put them on. He noticed his arm still ached where he had touched the anomaly within the Grid.
A wave of sudden fatigue spread over him. It wasn’t the first time it had come on. Niles often felt that when he got out of the SynaCAID, but this time it had come on more intensely than it ever had in the past. Niles braced
himself against the wall, waiting for the moment to pass.
Niles finished putting his shirt back on when he heard the notification. He checked himself out with his implant and frowned when no data was forthcoming. A few seconds later he heard a knock on the door to his quarters.
Ah, the help has arrived. Niles walked to the door, his leg dragging as he went, his time in the Rig didn’t seem to have helped. He opened the door and in walked two young men, a Sergeant, and a Staff Sergeant. The night crew assigned to work with him.
“You guys got a notification as soon as I logged out right?” Niles asked. One of them looked at the other and they both looked at him and shook their heads. Niles frowned. “You guys were watching me though, right? Providing a little bit of overwatch?” Both of the men were shaking their heads again as the Staff Sergeant responded, “No Sir, that’s not actually why we’re here. We’ve come to do the install.”
Niles closed his eyes, trying to not be annoyed. Why are they here then? He gave them a quick once over, noticing they both seemed to be in their late 20’s heading into the low end of thirty. He turned to both men shaking their head again. Niles sighed. These were not the guys to ask. “Alright, come on in.” Niles responded as the two soldiers entered the Rig room and shut the door behind them. The younger Sergeant pulled what appeared to be an old fashioned USB drive from a sleek plastic Hardcase he was carrying.
“This is the Talon sir, but for the installation, we would need you to still be inside the Rig sir.” The Staff Sergeant explained the one whose name-tag read Jacobs. Niles nodded, understanding what he needed to do. Niles opened the pod up and got in, closing the lid behind him, and waited for the coldness of the medical gel but it didn’t come.