by Tony Corden
“3: Takobi is laughing.”
Leah waited and kept watch. She was aware when the three who had been in overwatch disappeared into their own tunnel and then she followed Takobi and Kimtora into the underground hideout.
After descending almost fifty paces through the rock, there was a large room with several tunnels shooting off in various directions. All the scavenged gear was already loaded onto wire carts. Buforns led them down the largest of the tunnels. After they’d gone over a thousand paces, there was another large cavern. Buforns led them to one side where there was a wooden door.
“B: In here is a series of rooms you may use for the night. There are facilities for your cleanliness and rooms to rest in. I will have some food brought to you. I will not lock the door though you will find it can be locked from the inside. There will be guards out here but they are for our safety, and for yours. Once again, thank you for your assistance. I apologise that you felt threatened.”
Leah sighed and said, “Buforns, I did not feel threatened, I was threatened. I believe you should keep watch and that you should be careful. It would have been just as secure without pointing the rifles at us. I would not have even mentioned those watching us except they tracked us with their weapons. They knew we had helped rescue you and acted as if that counted as nothing. They showed a lack of what I consider even basic honour. Thank you for the accommodation. I will be travelling in my dreams and will be awake probably nineteen hours from now. Goodnight.”
With that, Leah entered the room and after choosing one of the bedrooms locked herself inside. Even though it had only been just over six virtual hours, Leah lay down on the bed and logged out.
48
December 26 2073 - 3
STORK TOWER
Gèng was waiting back in the Tower and said, “4: ‘Loathsome creatures, you vex me.’ What was that all about?”
“You said Edison wanted to use some feed. If Edison wants it to attract mainstream players, he’ll need to keep to the motifs. If he doesn’t, it’ll just become another Zombie world rather than the Steampunk Zombie experience he wants.”
“4: You’re right. I was watching with him, and he almost had a heart attack when you had the pack chase you. He’d expected you to save the Ma’nav but hadn’t imagined you doing anything except pick the Ja’ mar off from the edges. Instead, you got them all pumped up.”
“That’s because he knows how they’re programmed. Most people will start by running away. Was that scenario set up quickly? I imagine he thought we’d go through the tunnel.”
“4: He did. He’s really excited by what’s happening and loves some of the scenes from today. I know you said it was free, but he insists at least on paying you the standard rates. I let Leon know, and he’s set up a separate account.”
“Fair enough, please thank Edison for me. Do you think I’m ready to enter the cyberverse?”
“4: It wouldn’t hurt to spend another fifteen minutes practising then fifteen NREM3 before going. That gives you half an hour. You may need the extra time when you slow down to talk with the prisoners.”
Leah agreed and spent fifteen minutes practising by breaking into a variety of secure situations without being identified. After that, she lay down to sleep in her virtual bedroom. When she woke, she felt refreshed and headed for the area Three and Gèng had set up for her to start from.
CYBERVERSE
Three said, “3: I’ll take you out through my space and into what you might call a mini-LAN we’ve created to deal with two chips and three AI. From there, we’ll go into the ‘Guàn Enterprises–LAN’ where you’ll notice Gèng and John have added additional security since you were abducted. From there we’ll go through the Brisbane Area Network to the Australian Area Network then the Virtual Multiverse Network. From there we’ll step through the Country LAN for St Lucia. Alan did some work for the government, and one of his backdoors is through the Secure LAN that services their government. They’re a member of the World Bank, and he’s not only given his password and bio details to get into the Secure area but also described the location of an entrance to his private network. From there you can enter the private vault at the World Bank.”
Leah nodded and stepped into the space they’d set up. Three was waiting and had taken a faceless androgynous form that was dressed like one of the security AI Leah remembered from her last visit. Together they stepped into the mini-Lan where both Six and Gèng were waiting. Six looked exactly the same as Three but had a label identifying itself as Six. Gèng looked as she always did.
From there they stepped to a door labelled ‘Guàn Enterprises–LAN’. This time it was Three who entered the correct sequence, and the door opened. Stepping through, they appeared into what was becoming a familiar circular room. However, it was once again more extensive, and the outline felt more solid as if it was made from steel rather than something that could be battered down.
Security guards still patrolled the central area, but there were more of them, and they were armed. Several watched the various packages of data running through the walls and floor. From there, they passed through security into the Brisbane Area Network. They followed Three’s outline until they were standing outside the main entrance to the St Lucia Parliament Secure Area Network. Three disappeared, and Leah took a mask from her bag and fit it over her face. Once this was done, her image changed, and she looked like Alan Hopper. As she stepped through the door, her biometrics matched his in every way.
Once inside, Leah followed Alan’s directions but had to pause once or twice as what appeared as a mist crossed in front of her. She was careful not to walk through the fog as this was Gèng and Three’s projection of possible activity related to Epics in the network. As she approached the door into Alan’s private network, she concentrated on the area around the door searching for evidence that someone, or something, had left behind any recording or security code.
Even though she didn’t find anything, she waited. It seemed to her like she stood there for almost fifteen minutes, but in reality, it was only seven seconds. Even this was a long time for an AI, but Leah wanted to make sure nothing was scanning the path into Alan’s backdoors. Not finding anything, she placed her hand in the centre of the hidden panel and then stepped through the opening into Alan’s system. Everything looked different from the last two times Leah had been here, and she knew it was a result of her intrusions. Now it had the appearance of a long corridor with keypad locked doors every five metres. None of the entries was labelled, and a security guard was standing in the middle of the hallway facing Leah. It stepped forward and said, “Please identify yourself.”
Using the information provided by Alan, Leah said, “Guest AC-1.”
“What is your password?”
“4Rt-e4r-3W2-Ijr43s-#$jd”
“Would you be allowed to drink at Mozzi’s bar?”
“No.”
“Welcome, you have been given a one-time unlimited access pass to one area. Should you attempt to enter any other area, you will be ejected. Return access will require additional authentication. Please follow me.”
As they walked down the corridor, Leah noticed two doors which had a slight haze around them. When the guard stopped outside a door, he said, “This is the entrance to the area you have been given access to. It will remain open until you return.”
She said, “Thank you. Two of the areas we passed had anomalies around their entrances. I suspect they are being scanned.”
“I have been advised you may have additional information. Which pathways?”
“May I show you?”
“Affirmative.”
Leah walked back and pointed to both. She described what she felt. The security AI scanned both doorways using a variety of devices and said, “I do not register any anomalies but will advise the owner. Thank you for the report.”
With that, he followed her back to the entranceway they’d visited before. The guard entered a code, then stood beside the doorway to let Leah in. He said
, “I will not observe what you do but will wait here to ensure you are not disturbed via this access point. Note, I am authorised to terminate this link if anything other than you approaches the open access.”
Leah thanked him and stepped through the door and onto the floor of the same vault she’d visited thirteen days before. Everything looked unchanged. There were still twenty of the large storage boxes, seventeen of them empty. The other three were locked, although data passed along the conduits connecting them to the outside world. She ignored the tunnel leading to the main area of the bank and stepped toward the storage box labelled 55–100001–NKMOODMAM.
Each storage box had a locked door with two distinct keyholes and a bio-pad. Besides these was the small combination-locked slot used by vault security for randomised security sampling to ensure the archived material was stable. Leah concentrated on the image her SNAIL module built up of the locking system, then felt around the slot using her hands. Gèng and Reed had designed several additional sensors which they’d programmed to be accessed in a similar way to how Leah recognised electric currents.
When nothing showed on any of her sensors, Leah pulled the small hand drill with a diamond bit, and she began to drill in the same place she’d chosen previously. If there had been security measures added which she couldn’t recognise, she doubted they’d been invisible to her scans which had taken account of her previous entry and the code used. What she was really doing was accessing the randomly used subroutine which scanned the activity in the archived dataset to ensure nothing foreign or unexpected was taking place. The drill was a specialised data hacking module. It worked slowly through any security parameters and not only accessed the data but also modified any scanning that occurred and mirrored inactivity. She thought her sensors would have recognised if this had been reinstalled or altered.
Once through the lock, Leah inserted the flexible fibre optic cable. Instead of peering into the box, she unscrewed the tip of her middle finger and inserted the cable into a connection point Three and Gèng had placed here. It was designed to help Leah’s brain understand what was happening. Leah’s perspective shifted, and she felt herself standing at the edge of Meredith’s small virtual apartment-like prison. Everything was similar to before except this time, Meredith wasn’t reading but had placed an exercise mat on the apartment floor and was doing what looked like yoga.
49
December 26 2073 - 3
CYBERVERSE
Leah scanned the room for surveillance devices and found three. She took three small spider-shaped specially designed and tasked AI from her pack and placed them at the floor by her feet. Each one scampered across the outer surface until they reached the hidden surveillance. Then using preset options, they attached themselves to mimic the data collected but deleting any evidence that Leah was present. Once all this was in place, Leah did a second sweep of the room and finding nothing, let the data showing her presence connect to the feed going to Meredith.
Meredith had her eyes closed as she moved from a squat into the Bakasana position. Leah waited until Meredith had lowered herself back to the mat then said, “Excuse me, I am sorry for interrupting.”
It said a lot for Meredith’s strength of character that she didn’t scream. Even so, she started in fright and her head whipped around to stare at Leah with wide eyes.
Leah again apologised, “Sorry, I wasn’t sure how to get your attention. You are Meredith Kodoman, aren’t you?”
Meredith was still in some shock but managed to answer, “Yes, I’m Meredith Kodoman. Who are you? No, don’t tell me. You need to leave. If they find out you’re here, they’ll kill you. Go.”
Leah lowered herself to the floor and said, “They’ve tried that, but so far it didn’t take. I’ve hacked their surveillance feed to show you in an empty apartment finishing your yoga practice. If there is anything you always do that they might notice, then tell me and I’ll have the AI modify the signal.”
“I normally exercise for another fifteen minutes then go for a run on a treadmill.”
“Good. If we need more than that, then I’ll need the location and model of the machine. Do you have any access to the outside world?”
“No. They take me from my Pod once every three months for a physical, but that’s it. I have no idea what’s going on in the world at large. Who are you? How did you find me?”
“OK, here is a quick summary. My name is Atherleah Carrol. I’m from a negative-tax family and had my first chip installed less than two months ago. Your son, Jackson, or maybe he’s the son of Louise Guerin, I’m not sure, he tried to use the coercion software in my chip to enslave me. It didn’t work, and Jackson was arrested, sort of. You, or rather, the fake you, tried to intimidate me into dropping charges but I’m stubborn. I’d worked as a pickpocket in my early years and to make a long story short, I ended up stealing something you, or rather, she, needed.
“While trying to deal with the fallout from your evil twin’s machinations and her manipulation of the official channels, I broke into the Virtual Security Archives and then found my way to this vault. I saw you here and realised that maybe the Meredith the world knew wasn’t the real one. The other Meredith, and if you don’t mind me saying so, your slimeball of a husband, kidnapped my mother and had me shot. I got Mum back, but they framed me for the murder of the guy who shot me. I was abducted, and they burnt out my chip with a taser. I’ve just managed to get another chip.
“There are two other vaults here. One holds Leo Barnsworth, and the other has Abimbola Adebowale. Both of them have doubles in the multiverse. I haven’t told the authorities because a, I don’t trust them, and b, I wouldn’t put it past your husband to kill you and hide all evidence, and if I’m honest c, I want them to be outed in the biggest way possible so it can’t be hushed up. I broke in again to see if you wanted out. When I’m done here, I’ll ask the other two. I’m pretty sure I know where both their pods are located, and some friends are arranging to be ready to protect them when they’re released. I’m almost certain you’re in Brisbane somewhere, but I also need the address or something that will lead me to it. Without that, I can’t ensure you are safe.”
Meredith had been staring at Leah as she’d been speaking. When Leah finished, Meredith looked down and said, “The boys are mine. Nathan used the time I took off after Jackson’s birth to have Louise take my place. I haven’t seen them since I was locked away. Everything else you’ve said I’m struggling to believe. Not that they would stoop to kidnapping or murder, but that you’re here and have done what you’ve said. Tasering a chip normally leaves someone a vegetable or a mindless lunatic.”
“I do understand but haven’t really got a way to prove it. The tasering did do a lot of damage, and I can’t hear, see or speak. I shifted at the last moment and broke off the tip of the taser, so I still have all my tactile senses and muscle movement. There is more to it than that, but I don’t know you well enough yet to share everything. I have a SNAIL module, and your words are being tapped out on my finger in Braille. You’ve probably noticed my finger’s moving. It isn’t a twitch, but I’m typing out what I want to say. That’s why my mouth isn’t moving. The image of the apartment, and you, are being filtered and applied to my skin using a variety of pressures, temperatures, electro-magnetic pulses and even simulated pain to help me build up an image of what is happening.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“The other you and Nathan are monsters. I want to publicly humiliate them and bring them down. I think I can do that without you, but then you’d probably be a casualty, and your name would always be held in contempt. Besides the fact that it would be wrong, I’ve learned the real you was considered honourable. With you free, they’ll burn, and if we plan it right, you will be vindicated and free to resume your life. Also, and it probably sounds self-serving, but without you, having everything they’ve done brought to light will be harder. I expect they’ll just lawyer up. With you alive, they’ll find that so much harder to achi
eve. I want all the people they’ve helped enslave to be freed.”
“How many people?”
“They, and people like them, have enslaved or played mind games with somewhere around a quarter of a billion people, most likely more.”
Meredith sat in silence for a few minutes trying to absorb everything. Finally, she said, “What have you got planned?”
Leah outlined her ideas, then she and Meredith fine-tuned them for almost twenty minutes. At the end of that time, Meredith said, “OK, I’m at a warehouse Nathan and I bought to build a Pod centre for people who couldn’t afford their own. Nathan redeveloped it. It’s used as the main corporate offices for what were our companies. I have no other details as I’ve been in the dark since 2055. The only reason I’m semi-sane is they allow me to read, listen to music and exercise. The warehouse is in Tennyson.
“I know where you’re talking about. Do you know where on the property your Pod is?”
“There are no windows or doors. Every three months, I’m walked to a nearby room for a checkup. It’s all sterile with nothing to show where it is. The location is all I’ve been able to pick up over the years. I think it’s in a basement area, but that’s supposition.”
“That should be enough. Give me three or four days, and I’ll be ready to get you out of here.”
“That soon?”
“I’ll start the ball rolling today. I have to act soon and keep Nathan and Louise on the back foot. Is there anything that I need to worry about re your chip? Nathan had an explosive chip inserted in my mother, then arranged for her AI to be separated and stored in a separate world.”
