by Tony Corden
Leah kept measuring the room as Gèng checked. It was a minute before Gèng said, “Tesfaye says both connections are two-way. He hesitated a little but when questioned he said you should try the Pleasure House route. He thinks some of the boys and girls who work there may not be in complete control of their wills.”
Leah’s face went still. She said, “Major, please contact your friend. I suggest he be heading for the Pleasure House. Make him into a good guy but conflicted. He was worried about one of the girls and asked you to help. You’ve come to stop him from getting hurt because you think something even more dangerous is going on. I’ll get the name of one of the people being controlled and get the name to you. An investigation should find any other girls. Gèng, please tell Tesfaye that if he knows or suspects things like this he’d either deal with it or tell me. Tell him if he holds back information like that again, I will cut him loose and destroy him.”
“Leah, he was looking out for you.”
“I won’t agree or accept that as an excuse. Not at the expense of someone being forced into prostitution. I know what he was doing, but he has to see that this is destroying people.”
“He does see it. He’s seen the agony in people’s eyes when you set them free. I will tell him, but don’t think too harshly of him. He thinks you being free will lead to more people being saved. He doesn’t like it, but it is a rational decision.”
“I know, Gèng, I know. I just can’t see how one person’s suffering can be weighed against someone else’s and be found less important. I know you understand what I mean, but I need him to understand. My need doesn’t outweigh that stranger’s need. Anyone who wants to work with me needs to understand that because I won’t support them saving me over someone else.”
“I’ll tell him, but I’m not sure he’ll really understand. He believes in you.”
“Then let him believe enough to accept it.”
“You don’t want blind followers, Leah. You want people to act on their own consciences. Give him the freedom to follow his just as you follow yours. You taught me that.”
Leah stared at Gèng for a moment then gave a half grin, “Am I being self-indulgent and self-centred?”
“Just a little bit.”
“OK, just let him know how I feel, please?”
“I will.”
Leah turned to Major White and said, “Do you have any way of improving the rather makeshift plan I outlined?”
“Not really. I’m not sure exactly what you can do, but I do know how to follow orders. How long do you need to get into position?”
“By the time you explain things to your friend, I should be in place. Is eight minutes enough time?”
Major White slowly nodded and looking at his watch said, “Yes. My friend will walk into Mozzi’s eight minutes from … now! We will have the agent’s attention twenty seconds after that.”
Leah nodded and waited for Major White to disappear before saying, “Can you move me directly to your area? I’ll get ready in Cyberspace.”
57
Chapter 57
December 17, 2073 - Evening - Part 2
CYBERVERSE
Gèng transferred her to cyberspace where Leah found her cyber-backpack waiting and a list of instructions from Reed on ways into the Pleasure House. Gèng led the way through to the multiverse until they reached the Cambria Regional Area Network. Gèng stepped across the chamber, and they appeared next to a doorway labelled Cambria Erotic Service Providers Local Area Network. Reed had prepared notes, and Leah knew that although she was unable to enter the network because of her age and Californian legislation involving trafficking, there were several backdoors open into the Area Network. Even as she watched, she could see people, AIs, and data edge around the doorway and enter through gaps in the wall. Two guards were standing in the doorway. One was checking ID, and the other was peering at the faces of anyone entering and comparing them with something on his data tablet. Leah noted that the two would glance up and observe the people using the broken doorway.
Reed had suggested these access points were monitored continuously by both law enforcement and the industry itself. Instead, he had identified a conduit from the shadowverse. As soon as Leah had the image in her mind, Gèng stepped away, followed by Leah. Gèng’s movement brought them a third of the way around the room to where there was what looked like a drain cut into the side of the network. Even as she watched, Leah could see data flowing into and out of the opening.
Reed’s instructions were that this was the local entry point into the Shadowverse. Leah needed to be careful as there was a range of sensors at the opening. Once inside, she would be free to move as long as she was careful. Looking closely, Leah could see four obvious sensors and five or six that were hidden. Gèng and Akia had provided Leah with excellent filters so she would see the sensors in terms she understood. There were cameras, motion detectors, and even what looked like a hair plastered over the opening. As Leah watched, one of the data streams passed through the segment of hair which adhered to the data stream and disappeared before a new hair took its place.
SHADOWVERSE
Leah opened her bag and disabled two cameras and covered the screen on another. She sprayed a thick foam over the motion detectors and then, after saying farewell to Gèng, she very carefully manoeuvred past the hair and slipped into the Shadowverse. When she arrived, she checked her clothes and bag for any trace that she’d been detected. She found one small bug hidden under the strap of her bag. She killed it and did a second check, and then a third before she allowed herself to believe she’d not been detected.
The shadowverse was similar to the multiverse in that she was in a large cavern with data moving through it. The difference was the lack of labels and a series of partitions which cut the room up like a maze. Leah pictured the Cambria Erotic Service Providers Local Area Network Opening from the multiverse cavern and then removing the label, she took a step and appeared near a shadowy imitation of the doorway. The door was dark and, but there were no broken edges, and three security guards stood outside. Before they noticed Leah, she stepped out of sight by moving further along the wall.
The guards checked ID, but they also appeared to take money from people and AI who entered. Leah kept moving until she was ten metres to the left of the doorway. Reed had bought details to what was promised as an anonymous entry to the network. Reaching down, Leah saw the outline of an entrance that was disguised to look like a part of the wall. Reed had paid for the combination and Leah was about to use it when she remembered another of Jimmy’s sayings, ‘stupid trusts crooks’. He’d always insisted that unless you trusted the source then using their information without verifying was stupid. People who sold illicit information were by the very nature of their profession, ‘illicit’.
If the lock was being represented accurately by Gèng and Apia’s filters, then Leah knew she wouldn’t be able to force the locked edge of the entrance. Leah examined the outer edges and finally identified where the hinges were most likely to be. She considered her options and decided that speed outweighed caution. Besides, it was unlikely that Virtual Security would be looking for whoever broke in.
She removed an electric powered metal cutter and cut a small grove to outline each of the hinges. She then took a small container out of the backpack and from it removed two foil-wrapped packages. Slipping on a pair of rubber gloves, Leah mixed the contents of the packages and kneaded the putty which formed until she began to feel it start to warm her fingers. She rolled out two thin strips and pressed them into the grooves. By the time she’d finished the last hinge the putty was almost too hot to touch. Leah took half a step back and shielded her eyes as the putty flashed into its plasma state, destroying the hinges.
Using a crowbar, Leah pulled the door away from the wall and slid into the opening. As she did, she noticed several small spiders and cockroaches rushing toward her. Leah killed them and then checked and re-checked her clothing. When she was satisfied, she moved along the
crawlway and under the shadow section of the Cambria Erotic Service Providers Local Area Network. Moving carefully she worked her way under the central part of the cavern until she was below a door labelled Security LAN. Leah didn’t want to enter the security section, but she needed to know which of the other doorways was the Cambria Pleasure Palace.
Moving under the floor, she used the hand drill to bore through the stone tiles. Even with the diamond bit, it took her half an hour cyber-time to break through. She unhooked a flexible fibre optic cable and looked into the room. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see any labels or security screens from where she was. She did see somewhere closer to the rear wall which had a better view, so she went through the process of drilling a hole a second time. This time, when she looked, she could observe a screen showing data moving through the network. She couldn’t see a map, but on the display was a grid, and each line was labelled with the doorway the data went into.
Leah locked the optic cable so that it wouldn’t move and then carefully crawled back under the security room laying out optic cable as she went. Finally, she could look both into the Area Network and see the security screen. Within minutes she’d identified the correct doorway. Leah carefully retraced her movements and filled each of the drilled holes with a fast-drying cement. She then made her way back into the network area and under the entrance to the Cambria Pleasure Palace.
Leah didn’t take long to find a crawl space into the main section of the Cambria Pleasure Palace World. Within minutes she’d found a vent which looked into the world, and she was somewhat underwhelmed. It was more like a large reception area covered with deep red carpet and a variety of chairs, tables and lounge chairs scattered around with a young, barely-dressed woman playing the piano over in one corner. It had a high ceiling and along the back of the room was a row of doors bisected by a stairway leading to a balcony and a second row of doors. Each door was labelled with a description or a theme word. Opposite the row of doors was the entrance to the world. Leah could see twenty-five young women and maybe five young men standing glassy-eyed around the room. All of them were dressed in sexually provocative clothing, but they stood like statues. Leah had to slow down her speed to understand what was happening.
The room held a reception desk. Behind the desk was a woman and behind her, a middle-aged man stood watching her and the room. As Leah watched, a man walked through the entrance and up to a reception desk. He didn’t seem to notice the man or the young people but talked only to the woman behind the counter. He said he was after a blonde girl to pretend to be his reluctant, but eventually willing, school-aged daughter. As far as he was concerned, he was the only one in the room, and his voice was loud enough to be clearly heard by Leah. The woman showed him several models until he pointed to a small statue of one of the girls. The man had to give his name and pay. As he did that the man behind the counter walked over to one of the girls and said, “Margaret, listen to me, you’re up. You’re in a daddy-daughter fantasy. You are to resist and then become a very willing participant. Your name is Shelley. Nod if you understand.”
The girl nodded, and the man said, “Good. You’ve just come home from school, now go and say hi to your daddy.”
The girl’s clothes changed to a school uniform, and she suddenly became animated. She almost skipped over to the man and gave him a hug before leading him to one of the doors which had morphed into a door that might belong on any girl’s bedroom. Leah was already moving around the edge of the room, looking for a way into that room when another man entered the room and headed for the reception area. Leah kept moving, knowing she needed to get pictures of each person here and get them to Tesfaye, but she was not prepared to let even one of the girls suffer anymore.
She was crawling past another grill into the room when she heard the man say, “I’m here for the ‘Atherleah’ fantasy.”
Stunned, Leah stopped and turned to look. The receptionist said, “What scenario do you want? She attacks you? You attack her? Or a meeting of lovers?”
“She attacks me, but I win.”
As the client finished speaking the man behind the reception walked over to one of the girls who was built like Atherleah and had similar colouring. He said, “Jennifer, listen to me, you’re up. You’re really popular at the moment. Wear the leather ranger gear and ready yourself in the Fantasy forest. You attack the player, but he overcomes and subdues you. Be submissive after that. Your name is Atherleah. Nod if you understand.”
The girl nodded, and the man said, “Good. Now off you go.”
The girl disappeared, and Leah waited momentarily to see which door the man went to, then she sped up and continued toward the first room. She was able to work her way until she was looking through what looked like an air-conditioning vent but was a conduit into the fantasy for a data recorder. Leah assumed the owners were recording the fantasies. The man was sitting too close to the girl but was still talking about school. Leah reached into her bag and grabbed a tin of what Akia had labelled ‘Liquid Camouflage’. Using a cloth, she applied this to her face, it smeared her features so it looked like a highly pixilated face. She then disabled the ‘camera’, unscrewed the vent, and dropped into the room before slowing the speed of her perceptions.
The man was startled, but the girl hardly reacted at all. Leah had taken note of the man’s name and said, “Hi, Mark Larkin. I’ve a recording of you asking for a sick fantasy. I’m sincerely hoping that when I hunt you down in real life that you don’t have a daughter called Shelley. If you do, you’d better pray she has never been touched by you or by anyone else. If I find you have a daughter, or that you’ve ever abused someone, then I will destroy your life. The mood I’m in, I may destroy it anyway. Now, wait in this room for half an hour then leave with a smile on your face. If you cause a scene, then I will broadcast what I recorded across your whole social network. I’m not the police, and there are no rules to stop me. Do you understand?”
Mark nodded slowly. Leah turned to the girl and said, “What is your real name?”
“I’m sorry, my name is Shelley. That is my name.”
Leah shook her head, and after taking a good photo of Shelley’s face, she said, “I want you to log out and contact someone at an address I give you. Can you do that?”
“I’m sorry, my name is Shelley. This is my daddy.”
Leah shook her head and thinking through everything she’d seen, she said, “Margaret, listen to me, you’re up. I want you to log out and contact someone at an address I give you. Your name is Margaret. Nod if you understand.”
“I’m sorry, my name is Shelley. This is my daddy.”
Leah tried again, this time she said, “Shelley, listen to me, you’re up. I want you to log out and contact someone at an address I give you. Your name is Margaret. Nod if you understand.”
Margaret nodded, and Leah gave her a single-use address which would connect her to Tesfaye. Then she said, “Good. Now off you go.”
As Margaret disappeared, Leah said, “Mark, when I find you I expect you to be a model citizen. Nod if you understand.”
Mark nodded slowly, and Leah increased her perception before leaving through the vent. Once she was out of the room, she slowed the speed at which she perceived things and watched for about ten virtual-seconds to make sure Mark did nothing. When he remained sitting and looked like a statue, Leah increased her perception and headed for the room with the ‘Atherleah’ fantasy. Leah worked her way around the perimeter of what turned out to be a large open space and disabled all the data recording devices. After removing the ‘camouflage’, she dropped into the room. Leah found the girl some distance from man, and after slowing her speed once more, she said, “Atherleah, listen to me, you’re up. I want you to tell me your real name and your ID number. Your name is Jennifer. Nod if you understand.”
Jennifer nodded, and Leah waited. When nothing happened, she said, “Good. Now off you go.”
“My name is Jennifer Leong. My ID is AU-949-12-6735-F235.”
“Jennifer, listen to me, you’re up. I want you to log out and contact someone at an address I give you. Your name is Jennifer. Nod if you understand.”
Jennifer nodded, and Leah gave her a different single-use address which would connect her to Tesfaye then she said, “Good. Now off you go.”
In Leah’s bag was the leather outfit she’d worn to the Vault. She changed into that and took out her daggers. In the end, she didn’t have to sneak to find the man. He was standing beside a tree and waiting. Leah moved behind him and dug one end of a dagger half an inch through his back toward his left kidney. The other she slid under his jaw, pointing it upwards. As he spasmed from the pain in his back, the other knife cut into his chin. Leah said, “So, you wanted to meet Atherleah. Well, here I am. What’s your name?”
“Ron, Ron Lourdes.”
It took him a while to say as Leah didn’t ease the pressure under his jaw. She said, “So, Ron, Ron Lourdes, if you log out before I say you can, then I will hunt you down in real life. Do you understand Ron?”
Ron nodded. Leah said, “Good. Now, Ron. Ron Lourdes. What do you think the real Atherleah would do in this situation?”
“I-I-I don’t know?”
“Oh, come on Ron. You’ve seen her in action. You’ve heard the stories. You better get this right because another wrong answer and I know for a fact that I’m going to run out of patience.”
“She’d…she’d hurt me.”
“Bzzzzz, Wrong answer, Ron. Atherleah wouldn’t hurt you. No. She’d stick a knife through your ear and into your brain. What do you think of that, Ron?”
“I’m sorry, Ma’am. I’m real sorry.”
“That’s nice Ron, sorry is a good start. But sorry, sorry doesn’t heal, sorry doesn’t mend, sorry doesn’t fix. No, you have to make amends Ron. What are you going to do to make amends?”