by D. S. Murphy
“Maybe,” I said. I flailed my arms uncomfortably. It was exhilarating, but also a little scary. Then suddenly, gravity kicked in. I screamed as we plummeted lower, and the ground came rushing up towards us. We fell through a lattice of streaming code, straight lines of numbers and digits randomly ticking, glowing with blue auras. We passed layers and layers of them, and each time the landscape below us shifted: first a small tropical island, then a deep canyon, then what looked like a Tibetan temple in the Himalayas. After the last layer, we were too low to the ground to see much of anything except rooftops and crowded streets. The signs and billboards were covered in some kind of Asian script. Cambodian, I guessed.
I hit the ground hard, sending up a plume of dust as I kneeled on the hard slab of broken tiles. I looked up and saw that we were in some kind of abandoned warehouse, with yellowed, cracked windows behind slats of iron bars. We were surrounded by about a dozen figures in black hoodies, and my skin crawled as I took in their faces: identical masks, that looked like the badly stitched faces of a voodoo doll, with X’s where the eyes should have been and a crooked smile sewn shut with glowing neon thread.
That’s when I realized my clothes were missing. I was wearing a simple bra and underwear. Brad was standing next to me in matching boxers.
“What the hell is this?” I asked. “Where’s Jens?”
I shivered and crossed my arms. I knew it wasn’t real, that this wasn’t my real body, but with the new headset everything was so vivid. I could see the pores on the back of my hand. I was used to VR being fantasy; where I could be my best self. Now I felt stripped and raw.
“Hold on,” one of the figures said. He raised some kind of handheld scanning device, flashing it over us, then removed the mask. Jens smiled sheepishly. He looked different than he did on Planet Plunder. Shorter, for one, and just, less heroic in general. He was wearing dark jeans and a black hoodie like the others. Also his skin was darker. In the game he was caramel, with bright green eyes. Here they were more sage, and his skin was brown like chocolate.
“Nice welcome, asshole,” Brad said.
“Necessary precautions,” Jens said.
“So we can’t see you guys are just a bunch of twelve-year-olds masturbating in your mom’s basement?”
“Something like that.” Jens smiled coldly, eyeing Brad’s bare stomach. I noticed his abs were ripped, and I wondered if they’d always been like that or if he’d been SelfXing.
“Why are we here?” I asked. “You said this was about our app, right?”
The figures around us shifted uncomfortably. There was a buzz in the air, like they were communicating silently. Probably a chatroom on a level outside my awareness. Jens tilted his head like he was listening, then took a step closer.
“We’ve been watching, with interest. First the video, the Halloween costumes, the big eyes. We’ve done a lot of research and analysis, but it’s mostly speculation. What you’ve been doing with the therabots, it’s revolutionary. We want in.”
“Of course you do,” Brad said. “You and everybody else. Todd Brieker already offered us a million bucks each. What are you offering?”
The buzzing grew louder, apparently this was news to them. Who were these guys anyway?
“Your lives,” Jens said. A chill ran down my spine.
“Is that a threat?” Brad asked, stepping forward, his biceps flexing.
“A warning,” Jens said.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, putting my hand on Brad’s chest to hold him back.
“Also, now that we’ve cleared your security protocols and location scrambler, can we get some fucking clothes?”
Jens snapped his fingers, and we were wearing blue jeans and black T-shirts. I could live with that. He waved his hand and furniture filled the space out of nowhere. Long leather couches, rows of computer terminals and monitors. A few archaic video game machines lined the wall, along with vending machines.
“What, no minibar?” Brad joked.
“Let me ask you,” Jens said, ignoring him and settling into one of the couches. “Have you noticed anything weird since using the app. Anything, unexpected. Maybe even a little… paranormal?”
“Define weird,” I asked, crossing my arms. Brad took a seat across from Jens and I sat as well. Two of the other figures joined us, watching silently with their neon-stitches.
I refrained from glancing at Brad from the corner of my eye. Jens was a friend but I didn’t really know him. Better to play our cards close to our chest.
“Your app has been live for just over a day,” Jens said. “That’s barely enough time for people to get their hands on some therabots, whether stolen or recycled. There have already been three reported break-ins to medical centers. And yet, already some people on the dark web are reporting side effects. Nobody believed them at first, until they started disappearing.”
“Wait, what?”
“They totally ghosted. According to friends, they vanished, not just online, but offline too. It makes us think that whatever they were talking about, it’s real, and somebody doesn’t want it getting out.”
This time I couldn’t resist looking at Brad. He didn’t even flinch, but I knew he was as curious as I was. If this was true, we could use allies, and information. Whoever Jens’s friends were, at least they were talking to us.
“Our friend Greg,” I said. “He got picked up last night, after a basketball game.”
“We saw the video,” one of the masked hackers said. I was surprised at the pitch of her voice, realizing she was a girl.
“We thought they were government,” Brad said. “But then, we tried to follow, and things got violent.”
“But they came to the game before he manifested his abilities,” I said. “They couldn’t have known.”
“They were probably just after you – the app’s developers,” Jens said.
“But why?” I asked.
“This thing you’ve created, have you ever thought how dangerous it could be, in the wrong hands?”
I flinched, thinking about Megan.
“Not until recently,” I said.
“It’s a weapon,” the girl said. “Or it least, it could be. On the one hand, super-soldiers. More powerful, faster, meta-human. The military has been working on something like this for decades, and you practically gave it to them.”
“On the other hand,” Jens continued, “a plague. The therabots were meant to heal, but if they can be hacked, it means anybody who uses them is vulnerable. Do you know how it works?”
“How what works?” Brad asked.
“This extra stuff. I mean, your app is pretty limited. Health stuff, some cosmetic. Nothing that would let someone do what your friend did. He must have jumped twelve feet. That’s physically impossible, for a human. It’s doing more than augmenting. Was it some kind of special code?”
“We don’t know exactly,” I said. We hadn’t even talked about what had happened last night, with Brad and Amy. It was impossible. But I’d seen it with my own eyes. The eyes that apparently were capable of mind-control. I shook my head, then covered my face with my hands.
“I was just trying to help my sister,” I muttered. “We never planned on, all this.” I waved my hands at the space around us, even though I didn’t literally mean finding ourselves in some kind of Asian hacker’s den.
“It’s not your fault,” Jens said.
“Well, it kind of is,” the girl said. “But in a good way,” she added quickly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan. I think you’re awesome.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said, staring at the creepy mask covering her face. “Wish I could say the same about you.”
“Regardless, this is where we are. Kids are disappearing, after manifesting abilities that border on supernatural. We don’t know if it’s government, military or what. But whoever they are, they’re not following due process, which means we’re all at risk. Things are going to get bad, fast. It could mean a total breakdown of society.”
> “That’s going a bit far, don’t you think?” Brad asked.
Jens shrugged. “Wouldn’t you rather be prepared?”
“So what do you want from us?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Jens said. “It’s what we want to offer. Security. Protection. Anonymity.”
“In exchange for our research,” Brad snorted.
“Your research is already online,” Jens said, leaning back, “and we’ve already taken your app apart and studied each line of code. It’s impressive but it’s nothing incredible. Somehow the combination of the app and the therabots, it’s producing something new, something we never even knew was possible.”
“It’s the stress,” I said, remembering what David had told me. “When you encounter a perceived threat, your hypothalamus prompts your adrenal glands to release a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. If you already have hacked therabots in your system, they go into default mode and try to protect you. Depending on what you’ve been hacking, and where the bulk of the therabots are in your body, and the nature of the incident, they alter your DNA. At least, that’s our working theory,” I said.
“Incredible,” the girl nodded.
“Honestly, you wouldn’t believe what we’ve been through in the last twenty-four hours. The things I’ve seen, I can’t explain them.”
“Thank you for your candor,” Jens said. “I told the others you were cool.”
He smiled, and I felt my cheeks grow red as I noticed his dimples.
“So what now?” I asked.
“Prepare a bug-out bag. In case things get worse. In case you have to run.”
“Run, where?”
“If that day comes, I’ll send you details. We’ve been organizing an underground network of safe houses. Off the grid locations around the world, with supplies and secure connections.”
“You’ve been doing this?” Brad asked, raising his eyebrows. “But you’re just teenagers.”
“So are you,” Jens said. “And you’ve just changed the world.”
He stood abruptly and we said our goodbyes. Some of the other hackers left first. I hesitated, watching them as they left the channel with artistic flourishes in case I could recognize them later by their call signs. Some sprouted wings and flew through the ceiling. Others cast a glowing circle of dark magic, with symbols and runes, then sank into the floor like they were descending into hell. When most of the others had left, the girl removed her mask, winked at me, then burst into colorful rubber balls that bounced away in all directions.
“Stay safe,” Jens said.
I smiled, then disconnected the channel and pulled off my VR helmet. I blinked slowly, coming back into my real body. The sun had risen and the morning light was nearly blinding. David was peering out the window. Amy’s eyes looked frantic and she held a finger up to her lips.
“Shhhh…” she whispered.
“What?” I asked quietly. “What is it?”
David answered, without turning away from the window.
“Somebody’s out there.”
23
Something heavy was coming down the path. We could hear the leaves rustling in the still early morning. It sounded like a large animal, or a bear, or… Greg. He emerged from the bushes like a breaching whale, wiping dew-glazed spiderwebs from his face. He looked pale, and there were bags under his eyes, but otherwise he seemed fine.
“Holy shit, man!” Brad’s face lit up. He jumped to the rope ladder hanging next to the tree fort and swung down to the ground in series of fluid movements. The rest of us climbed down the usual route one at a time. David was scanning the forest uneasily.
“What happened?” he asked.
“My father, mostly.” Greg said sheepishly. “Those first guys, they weren’t FBI.”
“We figured, when the ran us off the road,” Amy said.
Greg’s eyes widened but I held a hand up.
“Story for another time,” I said. “Continue.”
“They blindfolded me in the van so I didn’t see much,” Greg said. “They parked, and I heard jet engines, so I figured we were at the old airport. Private jet or something. I knew I couldn’t get on the plane. As soon as I felt air on my face, I jumped. I heard wheels squealing, and shots fired. The plane took off without me. I got arrested, this time by the real FBI. But I had time to send a message to my dad and turn a tracker on, before they processed me and took my phone. He showed up with a team of lawyers and pulled some strings. It took all night, but they let me go.”
“They just let you go?” David asked, lifting his eyebrows.
“What were they going to hold me for, jumping too high?”
“What about the app?” Brad asked.
“They shut it down,” Greg said, hanging his head. “I had no choice but to tell them. I mean, not about you guys, but the paper trail. I tried to hide it and mask the IP, and I used offshore accounts, fake names, everything. They issued an injunction, forcing Arcana to pull it from the aStore.”
“And Todd actually complied? The app must be making lots of money.”
“They claimed it was plagiarism, fraud. They shut down the account. Unfortunately, they also froze the payout.”
“Ah, now that sounds more like Todd. So he plays ball with the government and he gets to keep our money?”
“Afraid so,” Greg said. “Also, I’m just out on bail. They set a hearing for two weeks. Honestly they have no idea what’s going on. I don’t even know how they knew to come after me.”
“We’re just glad you’re safe,” I said, reaching out and touching his arm. He seemed even taller than I remembered.
“What about you though?” he asked. “When I got home I tried to call or message, nobody was answering. I figured you might be laying low here, but why? What happened?”
“We went after you,” Amy said. “But the car flipped and hit a tree. Honestly, we should have died.”
“We don’t know what happened,” Brad said, his face tense, his eyes hard and serious. “I heard the car crumpling, things were moving in slow motion. We just, survived somehow.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” I scoffed, crossing my arms. We still hadn’t talked about what happened last night and I was tired of being patient.
“Brad saved me,” Amy said quietly. “I felt his arm across my waist.” She lifted her shirt and showed off an ugly purple bruise.
“Yeah but then the car caught fire,” Brad said. “I thought we were done for, for sure. But Amy— fuck, man, I don’t even know. It was like she channeled the fire and kept it away from us.”
“We saw the car explode,” I said. “I thought you were dead. Then Brad ripped a hole in the sports car and lifted Amy out. You should have seen him, he was huge, almost as big as the vehicle. And Amy…”
“Amy was on fire,” David continued. “Or, she was fire. It was coming from her fingertips, from her eyes, she was an inferno. Then she flipped a switch it and it was gone, like she was waving out a match.”
“I don’t remember it,” Amy said. “Not like that. I just, felt the heat, saw the glow. I remember Brad pulling me to safety and setting me on the ground, and seeing you two.”
“Brad I get,” I said, pointing at his shoulders. “He’s been upstacking his muscles, building body mass, upper body strength. When threatened, the bots in that area went haywire and he hulked out. But Amy? I mean, what the hell – how is that even possible?”
“Inspiration,” David said. “Amy’s been trying to hack creativity. Right?”
Amy flinched, but she nodded.
“Nobody knows how creativity works, but it’s some kind of extra-sensory perception. An openness to big ideas, to the zeitgeist. Some people compare it to divine fury; traditional inspiration refers to the brain as being on fire. My guess is, somehow she destabilized her own atomic structure. Her aura extended several feet out. Rapid heat or cooling, changed temperature – it’s just a change in atomic vibration.”
“That’s impossi
ble,” I said.
“Yes,” David said, adjusting his glasses. “But I happened. That’s the most logical guess I can give as to why.”
“So now what?” Amy asked. “If they let Greg go, does that mean we’re safe?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Even if the government is standing down for now, we’ve got the world’s most desirable tech and nowhere to show it off.”
“It’s all over the news this morning,” Brad said, scrolling through his feed. “The app being shut down, the videos of you, and Greg now too. Millions of views. You’re internet famous.”
“But are we outlaws or prodigies?” I asked.
“The jury is still out,” Brad said.
“The way I see it, we’ve got two choices,” David said. “One, we can disappear. Give up everything, hand over our files, scrub the internet as much as possible, let this all blow over. We accept whatever deal we can to stay out of trouble, and we go back to being normal high school kids.”
“And option two?” Brad asked.
“We go all-in. Claim the app publicly. All of us. Show what we can do. Then we partner with whoever can protect us and our research.”
“You’re not talking about Todd, are you?”
“If the deal is on the table,” Amy asked.
“After what he did to my sister?” I asked.
“We can’t prove he did that,” David said. “It seems extreme, even for him.”
“I’m not taking a deal with the devil just to save my own ass.”
“This isn’t all about you,” Amy sniped.
“Fine then, we take another deal. This is potentially worth billions. We take jobs, deals, whatever. We merge with the establishment, the government, the military – whoever offers us the best terms.”
“We sell out,” Brad said, crossing his arms.
“According to your hacker friends,” David said, “the alternative is to go on the run and live as refugees. Always looking over our shoulders. Unable to continue our work or research, never safe. Does that sound like fun to anyone?”
