by J B Cantwell
I approached them, but was a bit confused about how to proceed.
“What can we help you with, Miss?” one of them asked.
“Um,” I faltered. “I’m not exactly sure. I’m supposed to be meeting someone here.”
“Okay, Miss. Who might that be?”
But before I could answer him, he must have read my name and designation. His eyes grew wide, and he moved around from behind his desk.
“He’s expecting you,” he said. He escorted me through the metal detector and pushed the elevator button for me. It arrived in an instant, but when I walked inside, I wasn’t sure what to do.
Where was I going again?
The man pressed the button, the doors closed, and a moment later I was headed for the fifteenth floor. The building was old fashioned, nothing like my building uptown. Here, there was crown moulding even in the elevator. The whole place felt white, polished, new despite its age.
When the elevator opened, a door directly in front of the exit was ajar. I took a tentative step out of the elevator, then was surprised to hear the doors close behind me, the car headed back down to the bottom.
I turned back to the open door and stepped inside. The letters on the door read, “The Factory.”
The room was dark, and I wasn’t sure for a moment that I’d made the right decision coming here on my own. Several desks stacked with computers sat in the empty room, abandoned.
“Hello?” I asked softly.
I heard voices coming from another room, one of them familiar. Chambers.
I waited for a moment, unsure, suddenly worried about whom he might be speaking with. Was it safe?
Of course. It must be. He wouldn’t just let someone hurt me after so much effort had been put into remaking my appearance.
But where I’d thought the voice might belong to, say, Jonathan, I found it was a different voice, a female voice. I stepped into the room.
“Hi,” I said, unsure.
“Ah, good,” Chambers said. “You’re here. Audrey, this is Jessica, Jessica, Audrey. The two of you will be working together. Or, rather, in tandem.”
“Jess,” she corrected, holding out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Audrey.” I shook her hand, then waited, staring up at Chambers.
“They really did do a fantastic job on you,” he said. “You look spectacular.”
For this, I had no thanks for him. I simply nodded. I would have much more preferred to be back in my old body, no matter the danger that might’ve presented.
“You’ve met with Janeen?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then,” he said. “Shall we start?”
“Start what?” I asked.
“You won’t be working here, but it’s important you know that there are others who will be. If things go south, you’ll know where to go. Do you understand?”
“I guess …” I said. I glanced up at Jess, and she nodded.
“This is our headquarters now,” she said.
“Jessica is one of the few Volunteers that escaped the bombings. A handful of others made it out with her. We were lucky to be able to make contact with them again. All of them have had chips inserted and are now listed in the main system.”
“I don’t get it. What is this place?”
“It’s, well, it’s a Factory,” Jess said. “That much is true. We’re a gaming company, but it’s just a front for what we’re really working on.”
“And what’s that?”
“War plans,” Chambers said. “The beauty of this place is that they actually produce real virtual reality games, sold under the name, ‘The Factory.’ Though only a fraction of those here actually work on them. The rest are hackers, just like in the old Stilts. It’s a great front.”
“Right now, we’re trying to gain access to the main power grid,” Jess said. “With all of the attention on the server buildings, we’re hoping that some things have been left unchecked in the mainframe. We’re going to try to take out the system that way. No power …”
“No designations,” Chambers finished for her. “A clean slate.”
This took me aback.
“But, wait a minute. Have you really thought about this? Things are going to crumble without electricity. People will …”
“Yes,” Chambers said. “There will likely be casualties at first, but we have a plan for that.”
“You have a plan for everyone under the entire power grid to survive something like that? What about food? Or even water? Not to mention, once you deploy all this, you won’t be able to control it any longer. Your electricity will be out, too.”
“We know,” he said. “That’s why we’re counting on you to make sure we don’t need to take it that far. By now, you must be wondering what your role is going to be in all of this.”
“You could say that, yes. But the only information I’ve received is to do what Janeen tells me to. She seems to have a plan for everything.”
I might’ve been more concerned. I might’ve been scared or nervous or even unwilling to move an inch in any direction these people were trying to steer me toward.
But I hadn’t even really given it much thought yet. The whole thing had been such a whirlwind. First, I was in great pain. Then, the pain was gone, replaced by intense anger and irritation. Then, I woke up in the lap of luxury, Janeen, who seemed to know everything, running the show.
The truth was, I was lost. Still strong, but lost. And with no clear path to helping Alex.
“So, what are you expecting me to do?” I asked. “You’ve barely told me anything.”
Chambers looked up at Jess. “Can you please give us a few moments?” he asked.
She smiled. “Sure. I’ll be in the kitchen. Do you want anything?” she asked me. “Coffee?”
I had never tasted coffee before, but I knew it was intended to keep you awake. I was tired, but the last thing I needed was to be totally out of it in the morning from tossing and turning all night. Janeen would find her revenge.
“No,” I said. “Thanks.”
She turned and walked away, and Chambers beckoned to me.
“Let’s sit.”
The only chairs in the place were at the workstations, and I didn’t know the first thing about computers, at least not the ones that existed outside my own head
He pulled up two of the chairs, sliding them across the floor on their casters. He motioned for me to sit. Unlike one of our last meetings, I did go ahead and follow his lead this time.
“There’s a man,” he began. “He didn’t build the system; it was created decades ago. But his work has led to what it has become today. It’s been his work that has taken the lens system to the next level. It wasn’t too long ago that the designation system didn’t even exist. Nobody could be tracked back then, either. It was nothing more than an internet interface. You wouldn’t remember it because you were just an infant, but this man was the one who invented and implemented those functions.”
“So, what about him?” I asked. “You want me to kill him or something? I didn’t sign up for murder. You—”
“I’m not suggesting you murder him. Let me be clear on that. Aidan Valle is not a bad man. He’s a bit of a savant, actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t even really realize what he’s done. He’s like a machine; he just goes and goes, creates, invents. And it’s not that he’s immoral. He just … is.”
“What does any of that have to do with me?”
He sat back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap.
“We need you to seduce him.”
I stared at him in disbelief for several long moments.
“What? You mean you want me to have sex with him?”
Chambers smiled.
“No, that’s not my intention, unless you are so inclined.”
I had never had sex before. My first kiss had been two years ago with Alex, and the kisses between now and then were few and far between.
“I am not inclined.”
“That wi
ll be fine. But you must find a way to secure his affections for you.”
“Why do I need to get to him, anyway?”
“Because he has the power to shut the thing down. We’ve tried to infiltrate his world for the past five years with no progress. He is very well protected. You must get to him and convince him to disable the system.”
I sat back in my chair. Seduction? Was he nuts?
“I don’t know if I can do that. I mean, I’m just me, just Riley. I don’t have any experience with men. I wouldn’t know the first place to start.”
“You will not need to search for a place to start. Your beauty is stunning, and you will be new to the scene. People will be fawning all over you. And you are not Riley. You are the literal embodiment of Audrey. Audrey who stripped down for Doctor Fanning. Audrey who paraded around in her underwear today. Audrey who shot out that mirror.”
I froze. It was stupid for me to think that he wouldn’t know what had been going on in the apartment. I had expected, or hoped for, a measure of privacy; now I realized that wasn’t possible.
“Are you watching me?”
He paused, giving me an amused sort of look.
“I am not. But I am not far from you at any time. Janeen and I are in contact, yes. But it wouldn’t make sense, at least not to my mind, that you would be able to connect with Aidan Valle with me listening to your every word. Would you agree?”
I could feel the overwhelm starting. First at my neck, then prickles starting down my back. My breaths became shorter, and though I tried to tell myself to calm down, it did no good.
Seduce this man? And do it all with an audience?
Chambers rolled his chair over closer to me, then put one of his hands over mine, which were tightly balled up in my lap.
“It will be okay,” he said. “No one will be in your head. We can’t see your thoughts or hear your voice. But you must do this.”
I felt like crying, but no tears came. I just sat there, frozen.
“Did I ever tell you about my life before?”
I frowned and shook my head.
“I was a father once. My wife passed many, many years ago now, so I was on my own. I had two children; one boy, one girl. I—well, I wasn’t the best at it. I was climbing up the ladder back then, pushing my way into the phasing program run by the government. I was not so unlike Valle in that way. I created wildly, and my inventions were used to make the system what it is today.
“My children were left on their own, raised by nannies, no mother, and very little time with their father. They went their separate ways after graduation. My son joined the Service. It was only then, with that one act of his, that I realized the enormous error I had made in my life. He would, of course, be made into a Prime. What better way to honor his father after all?
“I fought against it with every resource I had. I had seen what happened to those young men. I had created it. Created them. But before that point, I had only ever considered them soldiers, figures on war maps, expendable. Now, that machine had taken off and was no longer in my hands. And my boy was running off to war.”
He shook his head and sniffed. It was only then that I realized he was crying.
“He died, of course. He was one of the first in the program. And while he made it through several rounds of phasing, he was never the same. He became wild, a hulking mass of anger and strength. Well, you know that feeling, yourself. Imagine it times ten. Times a hundred.
“They put him on the battlefield. He was dead in a month.”
“Dead?” I asked. “But why? How?”
I knew very well the strength of the Primes. It didn’t make sense that this theoretical child of his would perish so suddenly.
“He ran right into the fight. It was before the new armor had been developed. In the end, I was the one who developed it, just as I had developed so many other things.”
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, then sat up straighter in his chair.
“What about the girl?” I asked. “What happened to her?”
“She survived. She moved as far away from me as she could. The last I heard, far north in Canada. She has two children, nearly grown now. I haven’t seen her in twenty years.
“I have spent the past two decades trying to make up for my mistakes. I helped to create the phasing system, and I have done nothing but try to both break it and to make it safer ever since. But those above me aren’t easy to fool, and despite my efforts, the program remains largely unchanged. I am in charge of it. So I should know.
“And now you know. You must get to Valle.” In his voice there was a note of pleading. “Only he can figure out how to stop all of this. The implants. The caste system. The phasings. If we can take down just one of those pillars, the rest will come down of their own accord. Can you do this? Will you?”
I stood up from the chair and started to walk around the small office. Eleven computer stations. Eleven Volunteers. Chambers’s Volunteers. And I had my own back in Brooklyn.
The last time I’d seen Alex in the flesh, he had been bleeding out. What power did Chambers have over him now? Any? All?
I turned and let the arrogance wash over me, the irritation, the anger. He was right about me. About Audrey. With the right target, she would be deadly.
“Get him back,” I said, “and I’ll do anything you want.”
Chapter Seven
“Tomorrow night will be your first test,” Janeen said. “So we don’t have much time. I’ll be working with you on and off after today, but for now we need to focus on getting you ready. Am I right to assume that you’ve never danced?”
I suddenly felt enormously worried. Dancing? Tomorrow?
“Um, yes, that’s right.”
“Fine. You have an appointment with Carlos today at three. He will be coming here for your lesson.”
I let out a sigh of relief. It would be just he and I, and probably Janeen. No classroom full of people to embarrass myself in front of.
The shoes today were platforms. It felt strange being so high up, even higher than yesterday, but the feeling made me oddly confident. Still, I was back in my underwear; it remained to be seen whether I would be able to rock these shoes once I was in a gown.
So far, I had learned how to hold out a hand to shake properly; apparently, I had been doing it all wrong up until that point. Then, it was posture and a polite sort of half-curtsy, which I thought didn’t suit me at all. The posture I needed help with, but if she expected me to bow to a man, she would be sorely disappointed.
Now, it was food training, which was strange considering she would have seemingly preferred to have me not eat a bite of anything for the rest of my life in order to stay rail thin.
But no. Today, she had ordered a veritable buffet of delectable foods. Mostly, I thought she was trying to discipline me. I hadn’t done a good job of hiding the remaining ice cream from the night before, and the first thing she did in the morning was throw it in the garbage.
Insanity.
But she knew, and I knew, that her control would only extend so far. I would be on my own soon enough.
The tiny hors d’oeuvres were torturously good, and yet she expected me to pass on virtually every single one. I tried taking a bite of one, and it didn’t go well.
“You are a slob,” she said. “Look at your teeth.”
I was still chewing the piece of toast with some sort of melted cheese on top, and was ready to pop the other half of it into my mouth when she handed me a small compact mirror.
I opened it as she removed the remaining toast from my hand and saw that she was right. I had toast and cheese stuck between my teeth; not very glamorous.
“You must learn to resist at these parties,” she said. “Eat your dinner, if you must, before you depart. Otherwise you’ll end up with cheese on your dress and spinach in your teeth.”
She shook her head, disgusted.
“What’s it going to be like?” I asked, swallowing and handing her back the mirro
r.
“Oh, you’ll have an easy time of it, I expect. The men will be all over you, so be certain you don’t lead any of them on. Your target, however, will cause no such problem. I’ve been advised that he is quite quirky. Painfully so.”
“I wonder what he’s like,” I said, my thought spoken out loud when in fact I hadn’t meant to speak at all.
“You will have many opportunities to visit with him over the next two months. Summer balls are nearly every weekend during July and August.”
I sighed.
“Is that a problem?” she asked.
Was it? Was complaining about it lunacy? Maybe. But the fact was that I’d much rather be on the battlefield than at one of these parties she was talking about.
“No, it’s not a problem,” I said. “I’ve just been trained … differently. You know, for combat.”
She smiled.
“Dear girl, you have no idea. You are heading into combat, just of an entirely different sort. You have beauty on your side, and intelligence. Those things will take you far in these sorts of battles. They’re games, really.”
“You think I’m intelligent?” I asked.
“I’ve read you’re intelligent,” she corrected.
I had to laugh. She was impossible. And maybe she thought the same thing of me.
She smiled, though. Just a little.
“You have a lovely laugh,” she said. “And good teeth. At least when they’re not coated in food.”
I laughed even harder at this, and her smile diminished significantly.
“Both will serve you, but guffawing like a fool will not.”
I tried to get myself under control, but it had been so long since I’d laughed, it was surprisingly difficult.
She stood up from the table and gathered some of the dishes. This got my attention and cut my laugh short.
“No! Wait. Please don’t. I’ll be good. I promise.”
She glared down at me, then moved away with the platters of food and took them into the kitchen. The small piece of toast she’d taken out of my hand lay forgotten on the table. I popped it into my mouth before she had a chance to see it.
