Hard Wired Trilogy

by DeAnna Pearce

  Ari raised her hand.

  He nodded at her. “Yes?”

  “How do you avoid an error when the loops transition or start over?” She often saw a slight glitch when a loop started over, like the fish in the ocean with Garrett.

  The teacher’s brow lowered. “There shouldn’t be an error. Reread your coding manual. As elementary as it is, I’d be surprised if a child could screw that up.”

  A voice traveled softly from the back. “Sounds about right for that girl.”

  Ari nodded and lowered her eyes. Her face burned, and she wanted to kick who ever said there were no stupid questions. But if it was such a remedial error, why did she see it so often? She wasn’t about to bring up what happened to her and Garrett in the VR.

  Ari spent her lunch hour drinking coffee in her room while searching through online rumors on warpers. She sifted through a myriad of claims and rumors. One guy claimed to be a warper and was experimented on by the government. Another site claimed they were warpers and could recreate anyone’s sexual fantasy to perfection. Gross. They boasted about their ability but never explained how they manipulated the code or what exactly they did. Could they create programs quicker if they wrote them while in the VR?

  She was mulling over the implications of warpers as she headed to Dr. Coleman’s class. While finding her seat, her stomach churned. She no longer had full blown panic attacks in his class, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel ill every time she went in.

  Dr. Coleman walked in between the chairs, in black slacks and a dark, crisp shirt. “Today we’re going to see if you’re worth your salt in programming. Dr. Speltman had you submit the skeleton you completed for your midterm assignment. You will walk through it, criticizing the flaws and assessing potential for the next level of design, the user interface. Please run your program for twenty minutes and then after a brief discussion, we will move on with our normal agenda.”

  Ari exhaled a bit loudly, which drew Dr. Coleman’s attention. “Is there a problem, Ariana?”

  She shook her head.

  “I should hope not. After the weekend you should have no problem with the VR, should you?”

  How would he know about the weekend?

  His look was piercing though, and there was no doubt that he knew. “We’re going to see if you really have what it takes to do this.”

  “Yes, sir,” Ari answered and, under his heavy gaze, reached for the cable to plug in. She ignored an uneasiness in her stomach that had nothing to do with the VR.

  The world Ari had created was sparse, but she’d done that on purpose. Lush green countryside traveled for miles in every direction. A small hill rose to the east, next to a wooden house surrounded by several well placed over-sized trees. She’d even created a stream to run behind it. Ari wanted to create a piece from history, when things weren’t as crowded, but with the benefits of indoor plumbing. Her VR world wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad.

  She strolled near a small plant, a bush really. And without thinking about it she concentrated on the bush, trying to see the code, like she’d done with Garrett. But all she saw was a bush, boring and plain. At least at first.

  Continuing to focus, the characters in the code appeared, showing what she used to create such a small simple bush. She laughed out loud in spite of herself. She wondered if that was why she was here. Could that aptitude test she had taken at home somehow predict this?

  Ari wondered how easy it would be to change the bush. Not that she would do it, but she itched to try.

  “You must be really pleased with your bush there.” Ari turned around to find Dr. Coleman. He always oversaw the VR trips and interacted with students, but today Ari wasn’t prepared for him.

  “No, sir. I was thinking about how fake it looked.”

  “Good, because you are right. It’s abysmal. What else?” he asked.

  Before Ari could continue though, Dr. Coleman put his hand on his temple in a concentrated expression.

  A mechanical voice broke into the VR. “Please exit the virtual immediately.”

  Dr. Coleman turned to Ari and talked over the voice. “We’re going into lockdown. Leave immediately.”

  Panic rushed through Ari’s body. Lockdown. They’d gone over this in the beginning of the semester, and they’d even had lockdown drills at her school, but for some reason this didn’t seem like a drill today. What was happening out there?

  Dr. Coleman must have noticed her hesitation. He put a hand on her shoulder, grabbing her attention. “You need to leave. Can you do that? Or does Mica need to pull you out?”

  Ari shook her head. “No, I got it.”

  Then Ari forced herself to leave, leaving her imperfect world for a scarier, more real one.

  Mica appeared, took out Ari’s port without even asking and moved on to the next student. Ari glanced around the classroom, unsure of what to do. The other students were slowly waking up from the VR, asking questions.

  “Everyone can be seated.” Dr. Coleman stood at the front. “The room is secure, at the moment.”

  Ari clutched her bag onto her lap in case they needed to leave.

  “What happened?” Tessa asked from the back of the room.

  “There was a gunman apprehended at the entrance of our facility. They are worried he may have an accomplice, so they are searching the rest of the campus. Our systems may also have been breached so only internal network communication is allowed.” Dr. Coleman pulled out a stool to sit on. “All the VR facilities are shut down in case we need to be evacuated, but they should have the place cleared in a couple of hours.”

  A moan went through the students.

  “Don’t complain to me. This is your fault,” Dr. Coleman said to the class.

  “What?” a dark hair boy asked in the back.

  “Every time after break, the school has to double security. People watch the students partying on break and are reminded of what we are creating here. It makes the wackos come out of the woodwork. Crackpots from religious groups think virtuals are evil. They think VRs teach kids to have sex, do drugs, and kill others.”

  Ari swallowed, thinking that they might be partly right.

  Dr. Coleman stood up and resumed his pacing, his argument turning into a lecture. “Ironically though, they seem to have no problem slaughtering us despite their moral objections.” He stared off in the distance for a bit, and then a cough from the back of the class revived his attention. “Nevertheless, here we are. Please start your essay on your virtual and continue with reading the next chapter.”

  He began to walk off as the students pulled out their small computers. Then, as a second thought he added, “There will be a quiz tomorrow on the reading in case you decide to skip it.” With a smug smile, he disappeared to his desk in the corner.

  The campus was on lockdown: the VR College, IT, IT security, and network management. It seemed the whole world, or Ari’s world, was frozen for the time being. She spent the first hour of lockdown completing her homework. Reed texted her once to make sure she was okay. She’d sent a message to her brother but hadn’t heard back. Reed had told her not to worry about Marco, but something didn’t sit right. Why wouldn’t Marco text back? Maybe he was making out with some girl and locked in her room.

  As time ticked by students became restless, stretching out their legs, or having quiet conversations. She ignored Wake and his buddies’ comments and snickers from the back of the room. Tessa sent her a video of a comedian who specialized in jokes involving AIs. When Ari let a laugh escape. Dr. Coleman cleared his throat and glared at her.

  She didn’t have time to apologize before gunfire sounded outside the class. A girl shrieked in the next room. Ari jumped at the noise hoping, praying, it wasn’t as close at it sounded. Several students cowered in their seats.

  “Please!” Coleman said in a firm voice. “A gun cannot make it through these doors. And being hysterical will not help this situation.”

  The air in the room hung heavy and thick. Ari strugg
led to breathe as she unconsciously scratched her fingernails along the inside of her palms.

  “You guys have gone through enough simulations to know how to control your emotions. If I passed out weapons, I would expect you to be the soldiers you have been trained to be.”

  Ari had never gone through those simulations that trained students in emergencies and even on the battlefield. It was one way the government could pick the perfect soldiers. Ari had always been exempt from all VRs with a note from the school psychologist. But by the look of the other students, Ari wondered if Coleman himself understood the difference between simulation and reality. These students were computer geeks, not soldiers, no matter what VR they did.

  Dr. Coleman paced restlessly in front of the classroom, angry with his class for their less than exemplary behavior. He finally returned to his desk in the back. The class resumed its mumbled conversation, and Ari turned back to her screen.

  She flinched as a hand fell onto her shoulder. It was the moron, Wake. “You’re not scared, are you? Maybe they want to destroy your brain from creating anything. Don’t worry, I’ll tell them it’s not worth wasting a bullet on you, on the other hand—”

  Ari slapped his hand away. “Get lost,” She’d said it louder than she’d meant to and earned yet another glare from Dr. Coleman.

  A brief noise sounded overhead, and a voice came on the speaker. “The threat was terminated. Please continue regularly scheduled classes and, as always, report any suspicious behavior.”

  Terminated.

  Ari wondered what that meant exactly as she left the classroom. In the hall, students pushed against the glass windows. She moved further down the hall and looked out a different window. Authorities had gathered on the grounds. A stretcher was pushed out of the front of their building with a black body bag on top, and she realized the gunshots they heard weren’t aimed at the students but at the intruder.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Once dismissed, Ari headed to her next class, art design. There was only ten minutes left in class after the lockdown, but she didn’t want to miss any assignments. The teacher had the door closed and locked with no note. Ms. Weber might have been just as rattled by the lockdown as everyone else and didn’t bother catching her next class.

  On the main floor, several students stood at the glass doors, watching the darkening sky, and complaining about the intruder. Ari stood slightly apart from them and watched large drops of rain pelt the path. She loved the rain, but today it felt dark, melancholy almost. The dead body being wheeled out of school might have something to do with it. Tessa came running down the path, her arms full of white bags, distracting Ari from her thoughts.

  Once inside, Tessa brushed water off her jacket. “Man, it’s cold outside. I wish it would snow already.” She passed a bag to Ari and ran her fingers through her newly colored dark purple hair. She even had purple eye liner on to match.

  “Wanna eat?” Tessa asked, looking up, drops falling from her hair.

  “I’m starving.”

  “I got a lot of food just in case of another lockdown. Our fridge might overflow, but at least we’ll have food.”

  “Bless you,” Ari’s stomach growled in agreement. They rushed up to their room and sat in the middle of their floor with their array of food in self-warming packages, steaming with a variety of flavors. They even kept their door ajar, sharing with some of the neighbors.

  Stuffed to capacity, Ari leaned against her bed and watched the rain hit the window. The dark sky made it feel later than it really was. Coming from a desert climate, she excitedly awaited first snow, even if she didn’t have clothes for it. She’d have hit the student center soon to stock up.

  Tessa sat on her bed with her tablet. “Have you started Tollingston’s paper yet?”

  “No, I can’t believe he gave us a paper on our first night back.” Ari turned from the window and grabbed her bag.

  “Probably was jealous that we actually enjoyed our break.”

  “Enjoying your break was an understatement I believe.” Without notice, a richly dressed man had appeared in their doorway.

  Ari jumped. The man, dressed in an expensive navy suit, had smooth tight features that had a too-perfect feel about them. What he spent on his appearance could probably sustain a family of four for a lifetime. A school security guard stood several feet behind him.

  Tessa didn’t act alarmed, but her lip curled in annoyance. “Number Four is always telling me that I need to be more social.”

  “Not so social that we have to face complaints from the condo board. Sheri’s pass is under investigation.”

  “Are you sure Number Four wasn’t having some of her own fun?” Tessa asked in an innocent voice.

  The barb hit its mark. The man, presumably Tessa’s father, stiffened and his jaw flexed.

  “Her name is not Number Four, but Sheri. You will show respect to your stepmother.” His voice raised in volume.

  “My roommate has a name too. This is Ari.”

  “Hi,” Ari said, trying to turn invisible in the confrontation. Neither Tessa nor her father seemed to be worried about having an audience though.

  “Ari, the girl from the block?”

  Ari kept her chin up, refusing to react or be embarrassed by where she came from.

  “Nice, Dad,” Tessa said.

  “What? I think Ari should be proud. Not many scholarships are assigned such high-paying occupations. I wish my own daughter could rise to something besides online gaming. It really shows when people make something of themselves out of nothing. Not like Tessa here who has had every opportunity in the world. Did Tessa ever tell you how I started my first business?”

  “Dad, really? I think that was a new record. Three minutes before we’re talking about you again.”

  “I just remembered,” Ari interjected. “I was supposed to meet my brother for something.” She grabbed her bag and took off. Ari would brave any storm to avoid that conversation.

  Outside, the rain poured down as she ran towards Reed’s dorm. She should’ve called first but didn’t think he’d hear her over the rain, and she didn’t want to stop running to text him. She also could have stopped in the cafeteria or student center, but if she stopped she would’ve lost her nerve. They’d messaged each other but hadn’t talked in person since coming back to campus on Sunday.

  Part of Ari worried if it was a weekend fling, or maybe a dream that she wished would come true. She wanted to know if what they had was real.

  By the time she arrived at the door, she was drenched. She had only one more hour until visiting hours were over and then a key was required to enter. On the way up the elevator, a couple of guys eyed her questioningly. She ignored their stares and tried not to think about what she must look like. By the time she knocked on the door, she was shivering.

  Reed answered the door, his lips pulling up in a grin.

  Words stumbled out of Ari’s mouth. “I had to get out of my room, and I wasn’t sure if you were around or if you wanted—”

  He ignored her words and quieted her rambling by pressing his lips against hers, warm and welcoming. He pulled her close, holding her tight despite her sopping clothes. It was the whistles and cheering from two guys down the hall that made them finally separate.

  Reed glared at the two guys. “Come in.” He closed the door. “You must be freezing. Do you want something to wear?”

  “I’m fine,” Ari lied, distracted by Reed’s side of the room. He always had pictures up, some from home, many of them of the desert trees with their broad twisted branches. She loved to look at them. An unfinished drawing on his desk caught her eye. It was a portrait of a girl, with a long wave of hair covering half her face. It was her.

  “I haven’t finished this one yet, but it’s of you.” Color flooded his cheeks as he reached for the black and white drawing. “It still needs a lot of work.”

  “It’s amazing.” The detail in her eyes held more emotion than any photo she’d ever seen of herself. Loo
king up at all the pictures, the familiarity brought a bit of homesickness. She pointed to one bush with thorns twisted into the air. “This should be in a program. You would have been amazing in design. They are so surreal. Like a world, beautiful, twisted, scary.”

  Reed was a scholarship kid, like most kids from the block, and art was one of those things that might be a great hobby but didn’t pay the rent. As an only child with a single mother, he had to be more than an artist. But at that moment that nothing else seemed as important.

  Something else caught her eyes—a miniature green sculpture of a dragon, with gray eyes that blinked and moved around when it sensed movement. Ari had made it for him years before, after she’d read a book about dragons. The robot was easy enough to make. Reed had started a series of dragon cartoons after that gift. She couldn’t believe he’d kept it.

  “Here, let’s get you changed,” Reed said, taking her attention away from the dragon.

  “I don’t think you’d fit in my pants, but maybe Marco’s.” Reed handed her a long t-shirt.

  “I’ll grab some of Marco’s sweats,” Ari said. Marco was built more like Ari, thin and tall.

  Reed offered to step out while she changed. Ari put on the dry shirt which reached down to her thighs. She laid her wet clothes over the back of Marco’s chair and turned to dig through his dresser for sweats. Digging through the drawers, something black caught her eye.

  Lifting a shirt, she found a gun. It couldn’t be a real gun, those were illegal. Why would Marco need a gun at school? For a joke? She picked up the weapon, the cold metal heavy under her hand. It didn’t feel like a joke.

  “Are you done yet?” Reed stepped back in. “Man, my shirt is like a dress on you. Cute.”

  She ignored the comment, and instead turned around with the gun in her hand.

  Reed’s eyes widened. He stepped back into the dorm, shutting the door behind him. “What’s the weapon for?”