by Wolfe Locke
He watched Zander and his men race through the simulations through the glass. Each harder than the last. . Niles watched them as they slid through simulated slopes, shooting enemies as hostages ducked behind cover, and a timer showed a countdown before a bomb went off. I should try that. He walked to the System operator and asked what difficulty it was set to. The operator answered, “A nine. We don’t almost ever do 10.
Niles smiled. He decided that maybe he should try something himself.
After Zander and his men were done, Niles got in alone. Before the simulation started, someone came in and scanned him.. He didn’t ask what it was for, but he figured it was for them to monitor him while he was inside. He knew a lot of people would be watching too.
The difficulty was only a 7, but it was hard to clear. He was supposed to break into a drug den alone. He had always hated this simulation because it was the only one he hadn’t been able to clear. He nodded for the operator to begin. The simulation room shook a bit, the light focused, and the place changed into a factory. He sighed. He saw the gun he was supposed to use on the floor in front of him. His legs hurt a bit, but with his adrenaline up he easily shrugged it off.
He picked up one of the simulator interfaces and realized it resembled something older. An M4 Carbine. He used to like the weapon, had loved it in fact. It was easy to move and was pretty light for when he was on the go. It wasn’t always the best for consistency in the field, Niles had always believed that it depended on whoever was using it.
Niles heard the footsteps and ran to hide before the bullets started flying towards him. It might have only been a simulation, but that didn’t mean he intended to be reckless. This round limited him a bit, he wouldn’t be granted extra ammunition. Bullets cracked through the air, and shells hit the ground. He cursed, he had to surprise them. He climbed up the huge pipes he was hiding behind while they wasted bullets.
Kovacs, he thought as he positioned himself to get a clear shot. It was almost too easy. They had bunched up together and in a moment of pause that Niles took to mean they were reloading, he jumped out sideways firing the carbine. Every bullet hit true. He rolled away as he hit the ground and found cover before moving behind an old refrigerator and running up the stairs. He tried to be as stealthy as possible, but it was close to impossible.
Bullets trailed up behind him. He didn’t bother to fire back and just kept running, and that’s when the simulation stopped and Niles found himself in the middle of an empty room alone. What happened? It was just getting good. . Niles frowned. One minute he was in a firefight, the next in an empty room with nothing more than an electronic paperweight in his hand. He walked out of the room and saw six soldiers had been watching him through the one-way glass. Grisham was among them.
Grisham gestured for him to walk with him.
“You have lost little of your edge, it looks like,” Grisham commented. “Still remember a few techniques too.”
Niles shrugged. “I remembered what saved my ass. You don’t unlearn years of training and experience.”
Grisham stopped and changed the subject abruptly. “That man you found, James. He died in his Rig. No apparent injury. Just dead. From what I’ve been able to gather, the opposition mobilized to kill him almost immediately after you logged into the system. Does that seem odd to you?” “
“That’s not just a coincidence?” Niles responded, but he had his own suspicions ever since Kubrick had mentioned something.
Grisham shook his head, his eyes shifting in avoidance. “I’m hoping it is but…” What’s he trying to avoid telling me?
“You know that old saying about assuming?” Grisham asked.
Niles nodded. “Add hoping to it, and hope isn’t something I peddle in. I’d rather be cautious than wrong.” Grisham said, walking forward. “Look, I don’t like this, its not how I usually operate, but from what I can tell, you’re the only person I can trust, and that’s just because I’ve known you for so long.”
“Take this.” Grisham said, handing him a thin storage device.
“On that device you’ll find information on everyone within the facility. Your friend Kubrick seems to know what he is doing. Tell him to check and see what he could find. He has access to information we don’t on the deep web. Once we know none of our people have ties to the opposition, we can rest easy knowing we don’t have a leak. At least an intentional one.” Grisham explained.
Niles struggled with the implications. He struggled to believe that anyone at the facility would sell information or attempt to undermine Grisham. They all probably hated him, but that was how it was most of the time, at least that was how it was when he was with Grisham back in the day. They hated him, but everyone wanted his approval. Grisham had that effect on the people who served under him.
I need to get some more training in and try to get used to the changes of having a digital or simulated body. Niles’ thoughts were heavy as he walked back to his quarters. He grabbed some food on the way. I’ll have to link back up with Kubrick soon. Then we can work out how to survive in the play areas of Seven Cities.
Once he got back to his quarters, Niles was reminded of the strange way he had almost died. I should be afraid of getting back in there, but I’m not. He immediately got undressed and laid down in the Rig, waiting for the immersion gel to pass over his head. I’ll need to thank Kubrick for initiating the force log out. It probably saved my life. Soon the world of SynaCAID sucked him in.
*******
SynaCAID Platform
You have died. Your Avatar is now being respawned.
Location: Arcadia – Starter Location - Pub
“You don’t look like a dead man,” Kubrick told him as he waved Niles over.. It had been so long he had been in a pub. I’m used to the smokey haze of the VFW’s, this is something else altogether. The room was full of music, lights, and yes, smoke, but it didn’t have that same feeling he was used to. The place was alive. People there were dancing, each of them dressed in colorful and loud outfits, dancing away in a world better than the one they had come from.
“Did you hear me, Niles?” Kubrick said, and Niles turned to him and nodded. Kubrick smiled. He popped the fruit garnish from his drink into his mouth and chewed. Niles watched him. Kubrick picked up his glass and gulped everything. Niles flashed with annoyance when Kubrick reached for his own glass, but he didn’t stop him.
“You sure you don’t need to slow down? We’ve work to do?” Niles asked, but Kubrick waved the concern away with a grin.
Niles shook his head and let the man be. I’m not here to babysit him, besides, not like he’s in real danger. “Been a while since I’ve been in a place like this. Not many still exist on the outside.” Niles commented, and Kubrick nodded uninterested.
“I can’t tell at all that you don’t get out of the house much.” Kubrick said and chuckled. It was a drunk laugh. “What did the old man have to say about you almost dying?” Not much really. Niles shrugged. He had expected Grisham to be pissed, but mostly the man seemed concerned about the facility and the people in it. He didn’t know what the man thought, but he was grateful he didn’t have to listen to Grisham get on a soapbox..
“I don’t know yet. But he has a job for you. He can’t come to you himself, so he’s having me be the middleman” Niles explained, thinking he knew Grisham’s intentions.
“What does the Colonel want?” Kubrick asked.
“”It can’t be here. Has to be in the real world. What I’ve got to show you is for your eyes only.”
Kubrick dropped the glass, looking all serious, like he was about to hear some kind of state secret. He nodded.
“I’ll let you know where then,” Kubrick said, then he scoffed. “You will be surprised, though.”
“Why?” Niles asked. Kubrick shook his head. His face was lit up by the light in the bar, giving him an odd smile. Niles noticed Kubrick’s teeth had been upgraded. Some had been colored red, while others were colored blue. Niles picked up the glass again a
nd finished the drink. He seems immature.
“I think I have a clue about what you want to tell me. It is about what I said, isn’t it?” Niles nodded. Kubrick didn’t look or sound as drunk as he was a few moments ago. Niles was uncomfortable. This wasn’t a conversation to have in public where it was easy to be overheard.
“I’m headed to the game-play area,” Niles said, standing up. Kubrick nodded like he had expected as much.
“Yeah, I figured you will need that,” Kubrick said. “Stress relief and all.
“If you’re looking for something, I’ve an idea of what you need.” Kubrick said.
“Like what?” Niles asked.
“Guts, man.. You gotta go plus ultra” Kubrick said. “Because, trust me, those guys there will eat you up.”
Kubrick snapped his fingers at the bartender and then pointed at the glass in front of him. The man nodded and poured. “Your minion is ready anyway. The Talon system should let you move from one area to another, but the minion will lag a bit. I don’t think there will be any problems if we find some action here while you’re in the game area. Just watch yourself better. I might not be there next time to save you from a glitch bullet.”
“I appreciate it. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything this dangerous.” Niles admitted.
“Yeah?” Kubrick responded. “Then work better on staying alive.
“ I’ll call you when I know more.” Kubrick said as Niles walked away.
Chapter 23: We Are Who We Are
* * *
The toxicity level outside was seventy-five percent when Kubrick called ready to meet. Niles wasn’t surprised when Kubrick sent cryptic directions on how to meet him. Niles wore a Class III Respirator and a fortified body suit under his clothing.
The body suit was for some of the worse days when the toxicity of the air was enough to poison a person through the pores of their skin. The nanostorms could eat the body bit by bit until there was nothing left to eat. Niles used his implant to activate both. The purifier made breathing a little bit like hard work, but the body suit was easy on him. It felt like he wasn’t wearing anything extra. It stretched over his body like another skin. It was thin and easy to move in. It was his first time being in one of them. He heard they were pretty expensive and wore off in time.
Niles moved his hands this way and that. Then he wore a black t-shirt and black pants. His boots were military issued and then his gun. He walked out of the facility feeling a little bit proud of himself. He had been visiting the game-area, been fighting some very mean characters in there and Kubrick was right—the kid was almost always right. There, it was like battling real people, fighting real wars. There was a lot of planning, a massive adrenaline rush and sometimes he forgot the pain in his leg.
He found a cab after walking a few minutes away from the factory. Grisham told him there was no need for that, but it was habit. It was difficult to break away from it. The cab he got was heavily secured, the purifier was a new model and the man’s platform had a screen that showed how high the fare to each part of the city was. He seemed to charge according to how high and how low. That surprised Niles, but he didn’t say anything about it, capitalism was always something to look out for.
When the cab stopped in front of a pub, Niles decided Kubrick was probably a drunk in real life. A super gifted drunk. He walked in, expecting the usual sightings in all pubs in the world, but the place was quiet. There was just Kubrick sitting in one of the tables. The place was brightly illuminated, chasing the usual dreamy darkness away. When Niles looked closer, he scoffed shaking his head.
“What the fuck?” Niles asked and Kubrick, or the kid that was supposed to be Kubrick, grinned and spread his hands. He stood up, his hair a lot of blond strands that sparkled in the white light. He was grinning with fine, white teenage teeth. Niles felt weird. He wanted to backtrack and walk back to the facility. He wanted to keep Kubrick, the tall, confident man in his head.
“I told you,” Kubrick said. “I told you, you would be surprised.” Niles nodded as the boy walked closer to him. There was one thing ringing in his head and he did it. He pulled his gun out and pointed it at the kid in front of him. The boy frowned, his face going from amused to fear. He was a kid after all.
“Who the fuck are you?” Niles asked. He was waiting for the gang to come out from some hidden door or something, because he had obviously fallen into some kind of trap. The boy’s face switched to annoyed and then his eyes and lips calmed. He was amused again. Niles easily picked up on all these emotions.
“Chief, you can just scan me with your implant if you are in doubt,” The kid said. His voice was so young, it made him look stupid. His hair looked ruffled, like a parent had done that just before he stepped out to come meet him. He was not wearing a breather, which meant he could be an Mechanic Avatar too.
“I don’t think so,” Niles said. “Kubrick wouldn’t be so stupid to come out like that, are you his Mechanic Avatar? I can’t speak with an Mechanic Avatar. I need flesh and blood, you idiot.”
“Just fucking scan me, Chief. De’Santes,” Kubrick said. He was impatient. Niles scanned him and his implant gave him all the kid’s details. His name was Marcus Wright. His body consisted of human components—blood, bones and flesh. He was not an Mechanic Avatar then, Niles thought.
“Marcus Wright,” Niles said when he saw the alias at the bottom of the details. Kubrick. He frowned and shook his head. The kid smiled. “Why Kubrick though?”
“I’m hoping you don’t find out,” the kid said. Niles looked at his age and shook his head. He had been completely fooled with the kid’s online persona. It was blunt and mature. He looked at the boy. His blue eyes, his round face and his lips that looked innocent. Niles shook his head.
“I would like you to do something for me,” Niles said. The kid nodded. “Tell me why you are not wearing a breather?” Niles asked. The point gestured at the place.
“It’s being purified. I set this place up immediately when you said you would like to meet.” He walked back to sit down and gestured for Niles to do the same. The boy was nineteen. He looked younger and he talked older.
“I can’t be here for long,” he said and Niles realized he was trying to tell him to get on with what he wanted to do. Niles nodded, bringing out the data block Grisham had given to him. Giving it to the kid felt wrong, but then he knew that was because he was scared.
“The Colonel thinks you should check this out. It is the access to the system and everyone in the base,” Niles said. The kid leaned back, trying to get away from Niles and what was in his hands. He cringed as if the block was a bright light, a star he couldn’t look at directly. Then he started shaking his head.
“What?” Niles asked. The boy stood up, still shaking his head.
“I am already on Old Dominion’s kill list, but with that? They will do anything to find me and then they will kill me. If I have anyone I love, they will kill them first,” Marcus said. Niles looked at the block. He nodded and then held it out to Marcus. The boy, his face folded in a painful frown, pulled away. Niles sighed. He was a kid after all. He felt he understood the kid a little bit better now. In SynaCAID, he felt confident, strong. He was in his element. A place where he seemed to know almost everything. Out here, he was still nineteen years old, scared of guns, and didn’t want to hurt people he loved.
“Marcus, Kubrick or whatever you choose to call yourself, you can’t be half in and half out, that will surely get you killed. Believe me, I have been killed or nearly killed before.” Marcus rolled his eyes. Niles smiled and then stretched the block out to him once more. The boy looked at it for a moment and walked over to him and took it.
“This is worse than giving me a nuke to keep for you,” Marcus groused.
“Nuke? You been reading those old books, kid?” Marcus waved him away. He was looking at the block. It was wonderful how something so small could hold so much. With what he had been given, Marcus could monitor almost everyone’s activity i
n the System. It was like being God.
“We should leave,” Marcus said, tucking the block into his pocket. Niles nodded. Both of them looked at the other, neither one wanting to be the first to go. Then Niles sighed and walked ahead, Marcus sniggered. Before he walked out, he activated his own breather and sighed. It was not a mask. It stretched over his whole face like a helmet.
Niles watched the boy activate his implant on the back of his palm. He clicked something Niles couldn’t understand and a bike revved somewhere. Then it glided slowly and came to a stop right in front of them.
“How come they haven’t come for you?” Niles asked. The boy chuckled and shook his head. He was almost the same height as Niles. He climbed his bike and revved again. It was in manual now. It probably shifted from automated to manual when he touched it because Niles didn’t see him do any of his computer magic. The boy nodded and zoomed off.
Niles sighed. He had to get a cab. He was tired. He would have to walk a bit. He could feel the gun on his hip as he walked. Then he heard the bike again and when he looked up, Marcus was there. He stopped in front of him.
“Get on the bike!” Marcus said. Niles didn’t ask why, he could hear the problem in his voice. Something was about to happen.
“What is it?” Niles asked when the bike moved. This was not as fast as the one he had almost died with, but it was not far behind. Marcus didn’t say anything, he just drove. He was driving really fast, but he was being careful. The bike shifted gears and accelerated smoothly. He slowed down when they had to turn, but the gear was pushed and the bike sped almost immediately as soon as they were done.
“What the hell is happening?” Niles asked. Marcus used his thumb to point behind them. Niles looked and cursed. He hadn’t thought they would find them but two cars were behind them. They were the only people in the road.