Virtual Perfection: Technology has drawn everyone into Virtual Reality, but what will happen to humanity if no one can get out? (Veiled Destiny Book 1)

by Jason Bourn

  So, Hayden set about modifying his personal data assistant, or “persa” for short, to start this wonderfully sweet process. The persa, the latest ubiquitous “must-have” technology, was simply a very sophisticated artificial intelligence software package, able to be accessed anywhere. It was based in the cloud, but a fragment of its instantiation could run on a processing element in one’s toaster, refrigerator, car, or wherever. This was the ideal tool for Hayden to use since the persa’s strongest selling suit was that it could simulate one’s owner to the extent, for example, that one can’t tell if a persa was answering the phone or the actual owner was. The persa used all forms of data – video, pictures, phone conversations – to get better and better at simulating the user. Before long, even close friends couldn't tell if the person answering the phone or having a video chat with was real or a persa impersonating the real owner. The owner only had to provide general guidance to their persa and that person could stay immersed in their other activities (usually gaming) all day long, only getting interrupted if there was an emergency that the persa couldn’t handle.

  With Hayden’s AI skills, he knew he could easily manipulate others’ persas to get the knowledge he needed. And he knew knowledge was power. If he could find this type of knowledge about those with the most power, then he would acquire that power himself.

  Hayden could see the tendrils of power hanging seductively in front of him, seemingly close enough for him to grasp – he could almost smell and taste the irresistible feast just outside his reach. He smiled to himself as he knew that they would not be outside his reach for long.

  – – –

  As Calaes watched the debris from the explosion of the general assembly room settle in the thin air of the Martian atmosphere, all the new recruits in Calaes’ sleeping quarters started talking at once: “This can’t be happening!,” “Now what are we going to do?,” and “Oh my God!” were exclamations heard by everyone. With everyone talking or simply gawking, no one was really doing anything. This did not seem overly productive to Calaes, so he decided that now was as good a time as any to try to get things under control and take charge.

  “Quiet everyone!” Calaes had to yell five times before everyone could hear him.

  “We have to come up with a plan,” Calaes said. “The first two days are going to be crucial in determining whether we are going to survive or perish. We need to take stock of our equipment and supplies and determine what needs to be done first and what can be put off until later. For each of the tasks that we determine are critical, we have to designate who is going to be responsible for each one.”

  Calaes was moderately surprised when there were no shouts of anger or challenge, but instead there was a murmur of agreement. Calaes had never attempted to lead such a large group of people before, but in his earlier adventures he had taken on more and more responsibility – just never for such a large group.

  “Ok,” Calaes continued, “we need to have those interested in the various areas to get together and form their individual plans. I propose breaking into four groups: equipment assessment, supplies assessment, infrastructure assessment and overall planning, nodding to the area of the quarters that each group should congregate to.”

  Calaes was happy to see the recruits all forming into four roughly equal groups, with Calaes going into the planning group. Everyone looked expectantly at Calaes for direction, with the exception of a somewhat older man – probably in his late thirties with long dark hair tied in the back. He introduced himself as Barton.

  “Welcome everybody...” Calaes began.

  Barton interrupted: “We do need to determine our priorities, but first we should pick our leaders. The leaders will have power to make the necessary decisions for the entire group.”

  Calaes sat stunned. How could anyone vote when they didn’t know anything about their fellow recruits, Calaes thought. But others were nodding in response to Barton’s words. Calaes could tell that he was going to lose the initiative if he didn’t act fast.

  “How about if we get to know each other first,” Calaes said. Barton smiled patronizingly at Calaes and said “Yes, we should share how much experience we have, especially with those that are a bit green behind the ears. How old are you son?”

  Calaes flushed and said “I am fifteen years old, but age and capabilities are not the same thing.”

  Barton looked at the group and said “True, but there is no substitute for experience, especially where people’s lives are at stake.” The group again nodded their collective heads in agreement. “Let’s vote right now for both leader and second in command.” Calaes knew he was going to lose the vote if it happened right now. He also knew that something so critical as the ability to save the entire human race was resting on this decision. Perhaps he had made a strategic mistake when he had used his actual, unaltered appearance. It would have been so easy to add a few years to his image. Oh well, it was too late now.

  “How about if we discuss our priorities as a way of getting to know each other and our capabilities first, before the vote,” Calaes said. Barton scowled, but before anyone could say anything there were a series of closer, thankfully smaller explosions, including one in their quarters. The klaxon went off again and the ceiling display indicated that their sleeping quarters was losing air. Everyone scrambled into emergency environmental suits, but this was a short-term fix only – each suit contained only two hours of air.

  Calaes rushed over to the infrastructure team and asked what was the issue. They indicated that this was more terrorism – an intentional destruction of the air regulator valve. They needed to have a replacement valve from the supply area – which was in another dome on the other side of the complex.

  Calaes turned to address the group, almost running into Barton who was right behind him. “We need to stage a salvage mission,” Calaes said loudly. Barton jumped in, even louder: “Yes, I’ll lead the mission – those interested in joining me, please come over to the east wall.

  Calaes, fuming, went over to the east wall with Barton and two others: Paul and Heather.

  Paul, an engineer, had just graduated from the academy. He had red hair and was growing a beard, somewhat unsuccessfully. He appeared competent, as most engineers appeared to be, but was definitely younger looking than Barton.

  Heather was the other volunteer. Calaes decided instantly that he didn’t want to mess with her. She was short, but moved with a feline grace. She had short-cropped brown hair with rather plain features. She indicated that she had martial arts training and had experience with both the infantry and special forces. Calaes thought she would make an excellent teammate under these circumstances.

  The four of them exited the sleeping quarters, each in their own emergency environmental suit, with Heather leading the way. It was nice that she was short, since the three other recruits following could see over the top of her head for any signs of danger. Calaes pointed out that they should be on the lookout for any terrorist booby traps – given the two prior attempts that had already taken place. They walked carefully down the corridor with Heather in the lead and the other three following in a triangular pattern.

  There were seven other sleeping quarters at this end of the complex. The first one they approached slowly and quietly in their suits. To Calaes’ horror, the same valve in this chamber as in theirs had been targeted by the terrorists – but in this case the valve had been completely destroyed, letting in the Martian environment instantly. All the new recruits in this chamber were dead.

  The four recruits quickly backed out of the passageway. They dreaded looking into the other six chambers – and each one filled them with the same sense of shock as they looked upon the still, lifeless bodies in each. Calaes wondered out loud if they were the only ones alive in the entire Martian complex other than the terrorists who had initiated the bombings. Based upon their findings so far, it appeared the answer was “Yes.”

  Barton boldly said, “Let’s go straight-away to the supply area.”
Calaes thought that they should find something to arm themselves with since they didn’t know who the terrorists were, but grudgingly agreed. The four set off at a brisk pace in their suits, still using the long-strided gait that was feeling so natural. They had just under an hours’ worth of air left, so they couldn’t afford to spend too much time debating.

  Along the route, they saw several bodies of the crew – mostly mutilated beyond recognition by the blast in the general assembly room. As they passed one body that was not as badly damaged, Calaes surreptitiously searched for any weapons. He found a stunner and stealthily hid it in his suit since he was still uneasy as to who they might run into.

  As they approached the maintenance and supply area, they could see racks and racks of equipment. In addition, this area contained the controls for all the environmental control units. Calaes felt sure that the terrorists would use this as their base, since this was where the environmental controls were as well as where all the critical equipment was stored – whoever controlled this area effectively controlled the entire complex. Calaes, expecting that this area would be guarded, was somewhat puzzled by the lack of resistance, but he did not want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  Calaes tried to determine how to go about searching the supply area, but before he could say anything, Barton quickly went to the rack of emergency environmental suits, grabbed a fresh oxygen canister and installed it into his suit. The others quickly copied his actions – though Calaes thought it ironic that they would have enough air, but if they were too late getting back to the sleeping quarters, the other recruits’ air would have run out.

  Barton suggested that they break into two groups to search for the critical air valve replacement. Barton quickly took Heather and started searching on the side nearest the shuttle bay, forcing Calaes and Paul to search the far side.

  Calaes and Paul found many critical pieces of gear, but not the air valves that were the most urgent. While looking into one large rack of equipment with shiny, reflective metal sheeting, Calaes saw out of the corner of his eye that Paul, looking at an equipment rack nearby, had fallen. He didn’t know exactly why, but instead of closing the equipment bay door and running over to Paul, Calaes instead ducked behind the equipment bay. He pulled out the stunner and waited. After close to a minute, Calaes heard Barton’s voice calling out: “So, you think you’re the smart one? The other two were so gullible, they were easy prey. I may have underestimated you.”

  “Why are you doing this?” yelled Calaes. “Don’t you know that we need to work together to be successful?”

  “I’ll be successful if I am the leader of this group,” Barton growled. “You’re the only one that is standing in my way and I could tell you were going to cause trouble from the moment you spoke up earlier. Well, that is going to end right now.” With that, a bolt of energy from a blaster shot up from where Barton’s voice was coming from, narrowly missing Calaes.

  Calaes knew that he was at a severe disadvantage. A stunner was no match for a blaster. He would have just one shot at bringing Barton down – and that was only if he could get Barton to expose himself. Thinking quickly, Calaes made up his mind. He grabbed a nearby piece of metal sheeting and, yelling loudly, pushed it out into the hallway. Barton saw Calaes’ image appear, smiled and shot him at point blank range. Satisfied, he knew that he had won.

  Suddenly, Calaes leaped out from behind the equipment rack and fired the stunner at full strength at Barton. Barton recognized his error – the image had been a reflection of Calaes – but it was too late to fire a second time. Already his hand and all his voluntary-controlled muscles were incapacitated. Only his automatically-controlled muscles, like his heart, could function. Barton silently screamed his rage at Calaes, but there was nothing that he could do.

  Calaes secured Barton and continued his search for the air valve. Near Heather’s lifeless body he finally found the right cabinet – in Barton’s half of the supply area, of course.

  Looking at the time, he calculated that if he rushed back to the sleeping quarters there would be just enough time to install the device before the air ran out. He took off at a run. He was still making good time as he approached the sleeping quarters. He just nodded and continued running as he was repeatedly asked if he had found the part. Finally, he got to the sleeping quarters and gave the part to the Infrastructure team. They gratefully accepted the part and quickly started work on installing it. As they completed the install with only minutes to spare before everyone’s suit air ran out, everyone let out a cheer.

  At that point, everyone relaxed a little bit and Calaes and the infrastructure team were all clapped on the back for their good work.

  Calaes was able to catch his breath and related what had happened. He led a small group to where Barton had been left. After securing the bristling, uncooperative Barton in the sleeping quarters, the election for leader was held. Calaes was unanimously elected as the leader.

  Sitting back and resting, Calaes reflected back on his adventure so far. His first real large-scale leadership position – he had found it both intriguing and nerve-wracking at the same time. He knew he wanted to lead people to improve the community as a whole, but he knew he needed more experience and he was still not fully comfortable doing it. Thinking about it more closely, Calaes thought of leadership like a puzzle.

  The simplest puzzles, like those assembled on a board with only a few pieces, were those where you had to manipulate a few objects or tasks to optimize the final outcome. There were just a few ways they could be arranged and the tasks were mostly independent, so it was easy in his mind’s eye to optimally arrange them.

  The more complex puzzles, like those assembled on a board with a lot of pieces but only a few colors or with complex patterns but not many pieces, were those where you had to spend more time arranging, but each task was still rather static. So, when you moved them around, they were more or less independent and stayed put.

  The most complex puzzles were like those assembled in a 3-D arrangement with a lot of pieces and complex morphing patterns. This is how Calaes saw leadership of people. To lead, each person was so much more complex than any piece of equipment or task. Not only could people morph/change from day to day, but one person’s change could impact one or many other people. Calaes saw leadership as optimizing this constantly changing and interacting group of people. It was all about knowing when to give free reign to allow an individual to reach their potential and knowing when to shorten the leash to ensure they didn’t go off in an inefficient or, even worse, detrimental direction.

  Calaes knew that he had done his best in this simulation, working with all the different people and personalities. He just hoped that this was good enough to allow him to receive an invitation to the next level of the Martian Survival Challenge simulation. He felt his chances were good, but one never knew and he was on an adrenaline high, so he hoped that he would find out soon.

  PART 2 – VIRTUAL SUIT

  CHAPTER 3

  Hayden had worked ceaselessly to develop the AI algorithms to snoop into the who’s who of the rich and powerful, learning more and more about those leaders that he had targeted.

  The persa was the tool that really made the job achievable. As more and more people leaned upon their persas to answer the phone, text, and video chat, this provided them with the time to do what they otherwise wouldn’t have time for – and it provided Hayden with the perfect tool to monitor their electronic inputs and outputs.’

  Technology had been freeing up more and more time for workers and housekeepers for centuries. Yet with the advent of the persa, suddenly the need for a person to actually engage with other individuals became optional. Therefore, people utilized their persas to interface with other people most of the time. This was especially true for the most powerful individuals, since they had the most people trying to secure their most precious resource – their time.

  Hayden knew this and used it to his advantage. He targeted the most powerful and monitore
d all of their interactions with the outside world. Before long, Hayden knew everything there was to know about every major politician in every country of the world, with one exception. The one exception was the President of the United States. The President was protected by the best security available, layer upon layer of it, and it had proven to be too hard for even Hayden to crack. At least so far.

  What he needed was a way to control each of these individuals, including the President. Hayden felt a stirring of pride when his thoughts fully coalesced into a plan that would allow him to control every world leader, including the President of the United States.

  – – –

  After playing the Martian Survival Challenge simulation for several years, this was the day Calaes had been waiting for, it seemed, forever. He was so excited – finally his own virtual suit in his own virtual room!

  Most of his friends had already “Become Part of a Better Reality” as the commercials always said. Everyone had heard that phrase so often. That, along with all of his friends’ recommendations, convinced Calaes that it was a life-changing experience and he couldn’t wait until it was really happening. All the reviews of the experience were fantastic. He had not heard of a single person who had tried it ever leaving. Who would not want to experience anything you wanted, whenever you wanted, for as long as you wanted? More than half of the people in America were among the lucky ones that were already enjoying everything the suit had to offer in the two and a half years it had been out – and the US was one of the slower adopting countries. There were huge new virtual room complexes in every major city in every country, with virtual suit production in all but the poorest countries – and in those countries humanitarian aid had donated all the virtual suits they needed.