Simulation: A Pop Travel Novel

by Tara Tyler

  Dr. Rastogi finally voiced his opinion. He’d been leaning back against the counter, silently listening to all the information streaming in from the news broadcast and his guests.

  “I am very glad you two came to see me again, though I wish it could have been under happier circumstances. Still, I believe I can help. This is indeed a difficult situation. And, Geri, my dear, I believe it calls for a disguise.”

  Hasan brightened. “Yes, Uncle. Exactly what I was thinking. Thank you. I knew you could help us. You are a master with biological innovations.”

  Geri scrunched her eyebrows. “I guess I do.” But she didn’t like the sound of biological innovations or the way the doctor and Hasan considered her face, like a lump of clay they wanted to reshape.

  “Hmm. Let’s go down to my lab.”

  As they descended the stairs to Dr. Rastogi’s cybernetic prosthetics lab in the basement of his building, Geri touched her cheek, very apprehensive about having her face altered. Many people had modifications and touch ups done on a regular basis. Some even had their own personal plastic surgeons. Geri wasn’t vain enough for all that. And she hated the thought of sharp objects near her skin.

  “Nothing will be permanent, right? I mean, my face isn’t perfect, but I kinda like it.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, Geri. We aren’t going to do anything drastic.” Hasan spoke the words, but his eyes glistened with eagerness to play with a live doll. That old Creator sparkle.

  Geri frowned.

  The lab hadn’t changed much. The familiar part-human, part-electronic limbs decorated the room. Some were suspended above the tables, some floated in clear liquid while they cultivated, and others had wires hooked up to CCs as they went through automated performance testing. In the back of the room, she heard the comforting whir of the large machines spinning and running tests. On the wall next to the machines stood the two transport docks, shiny steel chambers with accompanying transmission and receiving stations. Hasan had installed them two years ago. Geri logged many hours in this lab with him while he conducted his thorough testing on pop travel to ensure its safety and set the proper limitations.

  It had been a long, lonely year down here, and Geri didn’t miss that hole one bit. Now she was back, and especially wary about being a guinea pig in it. Imagining the things that could go wrong, she had nightmares drift into her daydreams of a new face. Still in a vague state of shock from watching herself go insane via satellite, Geri let Hasan and his uncle guide her to an examination chair. She barely noticed as they raised her to a better vantage, though her stomach flip-flopped, presenting a solid case against any precarious changes to her person.

  The young man and his uncle donned their lab coats and vinyl gloves, then turned on a blinding spotlight. She felt like she was getting ready to have her tonsils removed, but that wasn’t half as scary. While they prepared, they spoke as if she was test subject number eighty-seven.

  “The easiest thing to change will be the hair and eye color.” Hasan leaned back and scrutinized her like a beautician, rubbing his chin.

  “Her voice won’t be difficult either.” Dr. Rastogi brought a wand over from the closest CC station. “Try to stay still please, Geri.”

  “And smile. I thought girls liked makeovers.” Hasan, always using his hands to emphasize his points, reached to pat her cheeks, making her jerk back.

  “Hasan, my nephew. Please go stand over there.” The doctor pointed off to the side and Hasan obeyed, wearing a guilty sulk. “Now I must start over.”

  While Dr. Rastogi scanned her, Geri felt like she was posing for an ID photo. She always looked terrible in those. Maybe a new face would help. She kicked herself for not smiling and hoped she didn’t look too scared. It could be the last image she had of her former self.

  Hasan stepped over to the CC imager and squinted. “Oh, Geri. You are not very photogenic.”

  Geri lifted her head and tilted it at him. He had the tact of a five-year-old. “Thanks, Hasan.”

  “You can get up now, my dear,” Dr. Rastogi said as he gently nudged Hasan away from the imager. Geri would’ve liked to shove him into the wall.

  “What color skin would you like, Geri?” Hasan reached around his uncle, playing with the program, and darkened the shade of her skin tone a few degrees. “Say when.”

  “When!”

  “Hasan, stop that.” Dr. Rastogi didn’t get annoyed easily, but Hasan was pushing his limits. He was good at that. No wonder he and Cooper got along so well.

  “Aww. Okay. Just trying to help.” Hasan put his hands behind his back.

  After another stern glance for Hasan to keep away from the imager, Dr. Rastogi asked Geri a few questions, “Do you have any preferences? Eye color? Hair color? Ethnicity?”

  “What exactly are we making here? A mask?” Geri had a disturbing feeling that would be too simple. They were going way beyond a mere adhesive mask like the ones her office once used. Security system technology had surpassed disguises and become so sophisticated, they couldn’t even fool their own scanners.

  Hasan smiled. “Sort of. But much more advanced. My uncle has taken on some extremely disfigured burn victims to see what he could do to help rebuild their faces. He’s been experimenting with living masks. Virtual and adhesive skin masks are never fully convincing. You can tell they’re not real.”

  “Okay, what’s a living mask?” Geri stiffened. Burn victims usually wanted a permanent fix and required many surgeries to get there.

  “It’s grown from samples of your skin, enhanced with gel to firm the shape. Uncle calls it a Second Skin mask. It’s a thin, flexible membrane that melds to your face so you still feel everything, and it moves in sync with your facial muscles.”

  “Very good, Hasan. Yes, that is a good description. You see, Geri, we will create a template on the imager, adding gel to alter your features.”

  Geri nodded. “That all sounds very nice, especially for helping the burn victims. But I didn’t like the phrase melds to your face. How do we get it off?”

  “We can worry about that later.” Hasan waved her question away.

  “Uh, no. We’ll worry about it now. Dr. Rastogi?”

  He frowned. “I have a serum that dissolves the mask. With the serum, it washes off like a beauty mask. But I haven’t tried it on a person wearing one. So far, the burn victims haven’t wanted to remove them. And after a few weeks, the original facial skin adopts the mask and it becomes the permanent epidermis.”

  “Permanent?” Geri gripped the arms of the chair.

  “It’s better than plastic surgery!”

  She glared at Hasan. “Permanent?”

  “But still not approved or tested enough. I only work with volunteers from the surrounding poorer sectors.”

  Stomping her foot, Geri yelled, “I do not want permanent!”

  “Calm down, Geri. We will get it off before it becomes permanent. Way before.” Hasan waved his arm in a slow rainbow arc to emphasize way.

  Geri opened the mirror on the new basic QV Hasan’s uncle lent to her and touched her cheek again, pouting. “I like my face.”

  “Geri, you know it’s the only way. We have to stop your simulation. And the phony Wells.”

  She’d been eager to go back undercover, but this was too deep. They were changing everything about her. Even though the deep-rooted disguise was the best way she could be seen in public, she didn’t know if she was ready to give up her identity.

  Hasan read her worried expression. “It’s only physical. It won’t change who you are on the inside.”

  Comforting. I wonder if Cooper will be able to tell. That thought popped into her head out of nowhere. She shook it out. If that was her biggest worry, she had no good excuse. Hasan was right.

  “Fine. Let’s do it. But you two make the changes. I don’t want to watch.”

  Hasan gave his hands a clap. “You heard the woman, Uncle. Let’s get started. I love makeovers!”

  While Geri waited for the geniuses to create
her new look, she searched for information about Wells and who could be controlling him. In every photo, an elderly gentleman stood right by the giant Congressman. He had cropped, silver hair and wore a traditional charcoal suit. Watching a video clip of Wells taking questions at a press conference, Geri noticed the older man whispering before Wells responded, like he was coaching his every sentence. The older man’s name was Colonel Crews Hamilton.

  After some more research, she discovered the Colonel was a well-funded and very successful campaign manager. His last winning candidate was Jonas Tucker. She covered her gaping mouth at that name. It was the senator who Geri’s simulation just murdered. Click.

  “We’re ready!” Hasan announced.

  “Great! We have to get moving. I know who’s behind all this.”

  “Wonderful. Then we should start growing your new face right away. What do you think?”

  “No, don’t show me.” Geri shut her eyes and put a hand up to the imager, afraid she’d change her mind if she saw it. “Just do it!”

  Geri escaped to a secluded island, lounging on a beach, watching the golden sun and lapping waves as she held a tropical drink with a skewer of exotic fruit stuck in it. She grinned as she clinked coconuts with a handsome stranger sitting next to her. Far away were the harsh troubles of a broken relationship, her murder accusation, and the scary extreme makeover in the lab. She never wanted the vacation to end, but an aggravating seagull wouldn’t leave her alone. It squawked her name over and over.

  “Ger-i! Ger-i!”

  Her dream poofed away as she realized the annoying sound was Hasan’s whiny voice bringing her back to her unfortunate reality. Reluctantly she pried one eye open.

  “It’s about time you woke up. How do you feel?”

  “Fine.” She clamped her mouth shut and grabbed her throat. Her voice sounded much too deep, like she was hoarse or had a cold. “Did you give me a male voice box?” She covered her mouth again.

  When she tried to sit up, she felt a little woozy. Though there had been no surgery, they had given her some soothing gas to relax her for the attachment of the voice box implant onto her vocal chords and to keep her calm during the mask placement. She must’ve drifted off anyway.

  “You’ll get used to it. Now you sound sexy,” Hasan said. He couldn’t stop grinning at her.

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. Bringing her hands up to feel her face, she couldn’t really tell what she might look like. It definitely felt different. Each touch gave a delayed reaction of the sensation. What had she let these men do to her?

  Dr. Rastogi smiled politely, giving no indication of how she looked. Was it a good sign she wasn’t ugly? Or a bad sign they screwed up and left her misshapen?

  “Are you ready for the big reveal?” Hasan jittered like he was going to pee his pants.

  Geri heaved a sigh and held out her hand for the mirror, which gave her a glimpse of her new, darker skin tone. She’d almost forgotten about that, applying it beforehand, but now the color had deepened. The buildup to see her new self was unnerving.

  Hasan gently placed the mirror in her hand. A definitive moment.

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the worst, then raised the mirror. When she opened her eyes, she jumped in the chair, not prepared for the significant changes. She wasn’t hideous or disfigured, but she was incredibly different. Feeling her new features, she had a hard time believing she had a mask on. She kept turning her head to see her new face from all angles. They darkened her hair to a deep brown, changed her eyes from emerald green to sapphire blue, raised her cheekbones, lengthened her perky nose, and made other subtle changes to her chin and jawline. She was completely transformed.

  “You’re gorgeous, Geri!” Hasan held his fists at his cheeks.

  What was I before? But she had to agree. They’d done a spectacular job. “I don’t recognize myself at all. It’s amazing.”

  “Isn’t it? My uncle is astounding!”

  Dr. Rastogi let out a huge sigh. “Oh, I’m so pleased you like it.”

  Geri kept looking at herself in the mirror, fascinated. “It’s incredible! I can’t believe I’m looking at myself.” She touched her throat. “Or hearing myself. There are no seams, no bumps or scars, nothing that would make anyone think it was a mask.”

  “I keep telling him to get a patent on it. He could do so much good with the money he would make. This living mask has so many positive uses.”

  “And negative ones. Like framing someone for murder.” Geri frowned at the stranger she had to become.

  “Well, you’re innocent.”

  “I know. I know.” Geri finally put the mirror down. She didn’t know if she would ever get used to her deeper voice. “So what’s my new name?”

  “Ooo. Good question. How about Penny? Or Paisley? Or Pixie?”

  “You sound like a six-year-old girl naming her stuffed pink unicorn. And, Pixie? That sounds like a stripper name. I like Dina. Or Gina.”

  He put a finger to his mouth. “Yes, I did know a Pixie once.” Hasan gazed off into space.

  Geri swatted his shoulder. “Gina it is. Now we need to go find me.”

  “Lucid! A new adventure! Where do we start?”

  “Well, I’ll need new identification. I have a contact I can call. And while you and your uncle were engineering my disguise, I did some research on Representative Wells. I believe Rajul is working for Wells’ campaign manager, Colonel Crews Hamilton.”

  “That name sounds very familiar,” Hasan said.

  “He’s an older gentleman, about seventy years old. He’s rich and lives near Lake Lanier.” She pulled up a photo of him on her borrowed QV. That would take some getting used to as well.

  “Oh, yes. I met him at the plantation a couple of times when he came with different candidates.”

  “The candidate he helped put into office before Wells was Jonas Tucker. The guy my simulation killed.”

  “No! Really? Well, that adds more evidence in his favor as the bad guy. So how do we get him?”

  “I’m going to need some help. I need to contact Aimee. I wonder how she got away when they nabbed us. She slipped under the table, but I never saw what happened to her.”

  “Oh, let me call her. I’m not a murder suspect. My poor, sweet chipmunk!”

  Ugh. “Fine.”

  Dr. Rastogi set up the imager and Geri got them a secure line. When they were ready, she stepped off to the side so she could coach Hasan without being seen, and placed her order for a temporary fake ID with one of Cooper’s sources. She never approved of their work, but it was a matter of catching bigger fish. And sometimes they came in handy.

  Aimee’s face appeared. She looked depressed, with droopy, bloodshot eyes and a deep frown. Geri hardly recognized her.

  “This is Agent Boscowicz.”

  “Aimee. Hello. It is I, Hasan.” He patted his chest. “Never fear. I am alive and well.”

  Her eyes brightened. “Sir! I mean, Hasan! I’m so glad to see you are safe. Where are you? What happened to you and Geri?”

  “Ah, yes, we are safe. I must tell you all about it. But not until we meet in person. I also want to tell you, and all who might be listening on your QV, that the Agent Geri who killed the politician is not the right Agent Geri. She’s an imposter.”

  Aimee tilted her head at him, looking puzzled. “What do you mean? We have her on the surveillance cameras all over D.C.”

  Geri waved at Hasan. She rolled her arm to keep him moving, not wanting the call to be traced. Then she pointed to her borrowed wrist imager. She could really use some tools and gadgets. Maybe Aimee could bring her a generic one from the office, which would be better than what she had.

  Hasan nodded and tried to relay his interpretation of Geri’s pantomiming to Aimee. “Yes, I will explain it all when we meet. The false Agent Geri also stole the good Agent Geri’s QV. If you could please bring a new QV for Geri, it would be a big help. The good Agent Geri, not the killer Agent Ge
ri.”

  All Hasan succeeded in doing was confusing everyone, especially Aimee.

  “Uh, okay. So is Geri with you? I will have to get it cleared. Where are you guys?”

  Geri smacked her forehead. That girl was glued to protocol. She waved at Hasan again and shook her head, mouthing and gesturing to him as if he was her slow-witted partner in charades.

  Hasan nodded and answered Aimee, “I cannot say. We don’t want to risk someone jumping to a wrong conclusion. They may take away the good Agent Geri and stop looking for the bad Agent Geri.”

  Aimee blinked, still not quite on board with Hasan’s strange requests and behavior. “All right. Where should I meet you?”

  “I have contacted Security at my plantation and all is safe again. Defenses are triple tight. You can pop there, but only you. I will give you the address of the travelport that will have a special, single-use code just for you. The only way into my place. No one will be invading us with deliveries tonight.”

  “Okay. I have a lot to tell you too.”

  Hasan disconnected and gave Geri a wink. “How’d I do, Gina?”

  Geri sighed. How was she going to clear her name with the clueless wonder twins helping her?

  “Perfect.”

  Atlanta, GA

  Monday, June 22, 2082

  gent Cross and his partner not only drove Cooper to the Reagan Travelport, they popped back to Atlanta with him and gave him a ride home. Cooper was definitely under surveillance.

  “Really, guys. I’ll be fine. It’s been a long day and I’m beat,” Cooper said as he got out of the car.

  “It’s no trouble, Mr. Cooper. We’re going to secure your apartment for you. And we’ll feel more comfortable keeping an eye on you tonight. We’ll be right outside the building.”

  Cross’ partner sneered. “That crazy nut-job might try to ambush you. Don’t you worry. We’ll be ready for her.”

  Cooper’s shoulders slumped. He didn’t like the direct approach. He preferred to be spied on without knowing it, like last time. But he wouldn’t let these two cocky agents get in the way of finding Hasan and Geri. He would just have to change tactics.