by Box Set
“Proof of life, huh?”
“Yep.”
I’ve got a business to run.”
“Let’s get real,” Aiko said, rolling her eyes. “You’ve got great people. E.I. runs itself. Right now, whether you like it or not, your month in VR is the best marketing we could’ve hoped for. Everybody’s talking about it. So you’ll just have to be content being a pretty little figurehead for HyperLyfe until that month’s over.”
“I suspect you’re right.” Aaron frowned.
“So, changing the subject…” said Aiko.
Aaron shot her a look. He knew what she was after. Like a dog with a bone.
“How’d the date go?”
“I’d say very well, although remind me not to fall asleep on this countertop again.” Aaron knocked the surface with his knuckles. “My back is killing me.”
Aiko’s jaw dropped. “I’m going to need every detail.”
Aaron put the lid back on his coffee, grabbed another donut, and headed for the door. “Not from me you’re not. C’mon. Let’s get to the office. I’ll log into HL from there and we can set up another live feed, video of my actual body in the fucking rig, while I’m in world. Hopefully that will calm down some of the conspiracy theorists.”
“Great idea,” said Aiko, following him out the door. “And I think Malcolm and I are gonna do some digging around. The vitriol around this is so intense, it’s got my spidey-senses tingling.”
They stepped into the elevator and Aaron hit the button for the garage.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I dunno yet. But this feels personal, like somebody with a grudge.” Aiko shook her head and narrowed her eyes, her lips set in a grim smile. “Whoever it is. I’ll find ‘em.”
Aaron grinned at her. “Glad you’re on my side. You’re kind of scary.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Aik?” Katie tucked her phone between her cheek and shoulder and moved Rupert off the bed. “Hey do you know how to clean the S-suits? I wore mine all day yesterday and got a little sweaty and–”
“Save it hotstuff,” said Aiko. “I’m not interested in your lies, I already know you and Aaron were fornicating last night.”
“What? He told you?”
“Nope, not a word. But the man’s got no poker face whatsoever. I guessed. Thanks for confirming.”
“Goddammit.”
“Four avatars?” said Aiko. “What was that like?”
“He told you that?” Katie’s jaw dropped, and she nearly dropped the phone.
“Again, no, I saw his program in the code. Never-mind, long story. Anyway, the suits are washable, believe it or not. A miraculous feat of modern ingenuity. Wash it in cold water with mild detergent, hang to dry, and it’ll be good to go.”
“Thanks.”
Aiko was quiet on the other end of the line. Then she sighed.
“Are you gonna make me beg?” she asked.
“What?”
“I want to know how your S-suit got dirty. Come on! Gory details! I practically set you two up. I deserve at least that much in thanks. Did you have a gang bang with Aaron and his extra avatars or what?”
Katie tried to suppress her laughter, but it was impossible, so she ended up wheezing and sputtering into the phone instead. Rupert threw his ears back and hissed at the sound, but when she stuck her tongue out at him he turned tail and walked away.
“I don’t think I’d call it a gang bang.” Katie opened the accordion door that hid her stacked washer and dryer, threw the S-suit in the washer and added some detergent.
“Then what would you–”
“Hey, you said hang the suit to dry. How long do you think that takes?”
“Takes a good 8 hours at least. Didn’t they send a spare?”
“No, no spare. I’ll just–”
“We’ve got suits at the office,” said Aiko. “I’ll text you the address. Meet me for lunch, and I’ll hook you up with a spare. But you’ll have to hook me up with the details.”
Katie had spent twenty minutes picking out a lunch-downtown-with-Aiko-and-I-might-bump-into-Aaron-so-I-better-look-amazing outfit. She spent several of those minutes wishing her HyperLyfe closet existed in real life. Finally she settled on a pair of deep blue skinny jeans, a super soft red cashmere sweater, and a pair of high-heeled black leather boots. She grabbed the red clutch Tessa had given her too, since it went so well with her sweater. She was starting to think of red as her Flirt with Aaron theme color.
By the time she hailed a cab, and made it through security at Eldridge Innovations downtown office building, she was running late.
The elevator doors opened on the 38th floor and Aiko was waiting to greet her.
“Sorry again,” said Katie. “I couldn’t decide what to wear, and traffic was shitty.”
“No big. I want to eat here anyway. Aaron caters lunch three times a week. Why go out when we can eat for free? Come on, let’s get to the lounge before all the salmon sashimi is gone.”
E.I.’s staff lounge was an enormous space of glass and chrome with brightly colored molded plastic furniture. At one end was a kitchen that looked like it was well stocked and fully functional, since several employees appeared to be cooking their lunches. A group of tables on the far side of the room held an impressive spectrum of sushi, and was staffed by five chefs in white coats. Katie recognized the logo embroidered on their chests.
“Uni?” she whispered at Aiko. “They’ve got a waiting list for reservations that’s like, five years or something.”
“I know!” said Aiko. “Aaron got them to cater. C’mon, let’s claim a table, and then I advise you to stand back, because I’m going to shamelessly devour my body weight in raw fish.”
“I’ll race ya,” said Katie with a grin. “All your salmon are belong to me!”
Katie threw her purse and coat on the nearest table and chased Aiko to the sushi line. She was piling her plate high with eel, maguro, and ebi roll when the wall across from her lit up with an image of Aaron’s face, five feet high and smiling.
“What the fuck?” she hissed at Aiko.
“Flat screen,” Aiko mumbled around a mouthful of fish. “Really big TV wall screen.”
“Yeah I gathered as much but–”
“Anytime he’s live on TV they play it here in the break room.” Aiko shrugged as she led the way back to their table to sit down. “He’s been doing a bunch of interviews today, trying to diffuse last night’s drama.” The screen divided into three shots and Aiko pointed at the wall, explaining. “That’s a shot of his avatar in HL. That, one, upper right, that’s a shot of what he’s seeing. And that one.” Aiko pointed to the lower right. “That’s as shot of him in the demo bay right now, in his S-suit and rig because as of last night, we have to prove it’s really him operating his avatar and not some lackey employee of E.I.”
Katie grimaced and took a bite of her sushi roll. “Sorry.”
“No problem, because you’re going to pay me back in smut stories.” Aiko grinned and Katie rolled her eyes.
“Oh, come on. Some things are private–”
Someone turned the volume up on the TV wall, and Aaron’s voice grew louder.
“Last night?” he said, and his avatar smiled at a gray-haired male avatar with glasses holding a microphone that said CNN.
“Is that Wolf Blitz–” Katie began, but someone behind her shushed loudly.
“–last night was just an experiment,” Aaron continued. “Just something fun I was trying out with a friend. It wasn’t a conspiracy to trick the public into thinking that we weren’t going to stick to our promise.”
“About that,” said the reporter. “Many critics have suggested this is all a stunt, and that, in fact, you’ve already broken faith with your initial promise.”
“I don’t think so.” Aaron’s avatar shook it’s head. “The spirit of that promise,” Aaron said. “Was to show how safe and beneficial virtual reality and augmented reality can be. The e
xchange I had with Ms. Lewis was about her assertion that VR is inherently dangerous and unhealthy. My goal is to show that is untrue. Part of doing that is leading by example. So while I’m spending most of this month in the HyperLyfe simulation, I will be taking personal time, as needed.”
“And is that what last night was about?” said the reporter. “Some personal time?”
“It was,” Aaron’s avatar smirked and nodded. “The extra avatars, the three additional Aaron Eldridge’s that showed up in world, it was just a bit of an experiment, some silliness on my part to amuse a friend.”
“And that friend is who you were with last night? Anyone you want to mention?”
Aaron’s avatar laughed. “Oh, now you’re prying Wolf. Let’s not go there. Let’s just say, well, someone special–”
“You don’t have to be coy,” said a voice off screen. “I don’t mind darling.”
“Fucking bitch.” Aiko’s head snapped up from her sushi plate, a few grains of rice stuck to her lower lip as she snarled at the screen.
Aaron’s avatar’s face was still and emotionless. His head moved to the right and the visor view on the wall screen of the lounge filled with the smiling white teeth of a tall, blonde, female avatar that was the spitting image of supermodel Carly Carpenter.
Carly walked forward, kissed Aaron’s cheek, and slipped one arm through his.
“Hey babe,” she said. “Last night was amazeballs.”
Chapter Eleven
Katie’s stomach lurched.
Holy shit.
She’d known about Carly, of course, her relationship with Aaron had been in all the tabloids and gossip blogs. But she’d also thought they’d broken up.
And she sure as shit knew Carly hadn’t spent last night with Aaron because it was Katie who’d ridden him to orgasm and then spent the night in his arms.
She needed some reassurance right now, a knowing smile that promised everything was fine and that the guy she’d been virtually screwing last night wasn’t some piece of shit who liked to juggle hotties and play with people’s feelings.
Katie turned to Aiko, her eyes wide. What the fuck?, she mouthed to her friend.
But Aiko was too distracted to catch Katie’s question.
“That fucking velociraptor!” she spat, grains of rice launching across the table. “Goddammit!” Aiko picked up her sushi plate and stood.
“Just bring your food,” she said. Stalking to the lounge exit, she beckoned impatiently for Katie to follow her. “Come on, I wanna know if she’s actually in the building, because if she is, I’m going have a new pair of lizard skin boots.”
Katie chased Aiko down the hallway, watching with amazement as E.I. employees parted in front of them, giving a wide berth to someone they’d obviously seen in the throws of a tantrum before.
“Are they still dating?” Katie asked in a rush, breathing heavy as they hopped in the empty elevator. “I thought–”
Aiko held up a hand. “They are not together,” she said firmly. “Aaron would never have hooked up with you if they were. She’s a flaming bitch who cheated on him with a photographer and then said, ‘It’s just business’ when he confronted her so–”
“Should you be telling me that?” Katie said, her mouth gaping “I really don’t think you should be telling me that.”
Aiko sighed. “Probably not. Fuck.”
“How do you even know that?” Katie asked. “What exactly do you do here? I thought you worked for Jack, but now you work here–”
“I do work for Jack,” Aiko said. Handing Katie her plate she fished her cellphone out of her pocket and began texting furiously. “I work for Jack, who owns a consulting company, so he loans me out for people who need consulting. Aaron needed our help.”
“Oh so… still doesn’t really answer the ques–.”
“I do whatever needs to be done,” Aiko said, thumbs still stabbing at the screen of her phone. “Whatever Aaron needs. My job is to protect all of his interests, any way I can.” Aiko slipped her phone in her pocket and took her plate back from Katie. “Today,” she said, stuffing another piece of sushi in her mouth, “I’m hoping that involves murder.”
Unbelievable.
Aaron’s ex-girlfriend had just totally hijacked his interview, heavily implied that the two of them were back together, and managed to ensure that the next few days of the tech world news cycle wouldn’t be about his companiy’s innovations in virtual reality, but rather about E.I.’s CEO screwing a super model. The worst part was he’d been too stunned when it was happening to contradict her. To say anything.
Un-fucking-believable.
Aaron ripped off his visor and unstrapped himself from the rig. As he was stepping out of it he saw Aiko burst into the demo bay, Katie trailing behind her.
The last time he’d seen her she’d been in his arms, now here she was, in the flesh. It was really nice flesh.
“Is she here?” Aiko demanded, her gaze darting over the other rigs in the demo bay. “Is Carly here?”
Aaron shook his head and accepted a bottle of water an employee held out for him. “She’s not here,” he said, unscrewing the cap. “Her agent got her a private session in one of our demo sites out in California. How could you think I’d let her in here?”
Aaron took a swig of water and tried to catch Katie’s eye, but she was very obviously looking anywhere but at Aaron.
“No,” Aiko said, shaking her head. “You’re right, you wouldn’t. Okay, so listen I texted Malcolm, he’s on it. Do you want to firebomb her house or dump poison ivy oil into her water supply?”
Before Aaron could answer, a brunette in a smart blue pantsuit burst into the room, a collection of clipboard wielding minions in tow.
“That was brilliant!” crowed Susan Charles. “Why didn’t you tell me? Great idea, just what we needed.”
“I hate disappoint you Susan,” said Aaron. “That was all Carly’s idea.” He glanced at Katie, who’d wandered away from them, and was examining one of the rigs with an air of fascination, which was odd since she had a rig of her very own at her apartment. She’d used it last night, when they’d been together. Why was she pretending?
Oh. Boy am I stupid.
He noticed her posture. Katie stood stick straight. Her shoulders were rigid, neck stiff and her head was tilted casually, but really, she was listening…wasn’t she? Probably wondering what on earth was going on. He couldn’t blame her.
Aaron cleared his throat, raised his voice a little so she’d be sure to hear. “I’m not sure why Carly said what she did, but she and I are not together, and haven’t been for some time. In fact, Susan, I’d like you to clarify that to point to the press as soon as you can.”
Susan’s face fell. “Oh sir, I cannot recommend that at all. This is exactly what we need to distract from the fraud stories that came out this morning. It’s the perfect sexy celebrity juice that will get everyone talking, even blogs and magazines that ordinarily wouldn’t be interested in something they consider tech news. It will expand our organic reach incalculably.”
“Fuck,” said Aiko, staring at her phone. “She’s right, shit’s already on Jezebel.” Aiko turned, tapped Katie on the shoulder with her phone, then handed her a plate of sushi that Aaron just now realized she’d been carrying. She hit a few buttons and lifted her phone to her ear.
“What are you doing?” asked Aaron.
“Calling off Malcolm, I dunno if he had the surface to air missiles loaded yet, but I might be able to catch him in time.”
“Aik,” Aaron said, his tone a warning.
“I kid. I kid.” Aiko held up a hand and shrugged. “Sort of.” She turned her back and wandered away from them to make her call.
“Sir,” said Susan, stepping forward. “I realize it’s uncomfortable, but maybe I can come up with a contract. It might be good to have something formal, in writing, to clarify the terms of whatever press you and Ms. Carpenter are comfortable collaborating on.”
“None,” said
Aaron. “None at all. That’s how much I’m comfortable with.”
Katie cleared her throat. It was a quiet sound, barely audible to anyone that wasn’t standing near her. Aaron looked over, and she caught his eye, gazing back with a grim smile.
“They’re right,” she said softly. “It’s good press. Don’t do something stupid on my account.”
“It’s not–” he began, but Susan cut him off.
“Great!” Susan’s eyes darted back and forth between Katie and Aaron so swiftly that he knew she was confused by the woman who’d just agreed with her, but she didn’t care enough to ask her name. “That’s settled,” said Susan. “We’ll–”
“No.” Aaron squeezed the water bottle and heard it crackle under his grip. “I said no.” It wasn’t just Katie, it wasn’t just the fact that he’d spent the night with her, and hoped there’d be another. It was that Carly had only injected herself into his life for her own selfish purposes. He couldn’t let that stand.
“Get on CNN,” he told Susan. “When they ask, and they will, clear it up.”
“But Sir,” Susan complained.
“That’ll be all.” Aaron turned his back on Susan and her team and gestured to Katie’s plates of sushi. “You gonna eat all that?” he asked. “I’m starving.”
She was here, alone with him, in the flesh, sitting in his office on the leather sofa across from him, nibbling on sushi and smirking at him shyly while he smirked back. There was so much to say. And he had no idea how to say it.
When the last bite of rainbow roll had been consumed, Aaron stood up, ready to give a charming and sincere speech. All he had to do was smooth over the awkward tension that lingered from the debacle downstairs, and they could move on to more appealing things. Like that second date. Maybe that could be tonight?
He took one look at her and lost his nerve. Those big brown eyes stared back at him, lush pink lips wet from the last sip of water she’d taken from her glass. All he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and taste those lips, experience the one pleasure he’d been craving all last night. The one thing that had been denied them both.
