by Wolfe Locke
The pod activated and started to warm up a little. Niles closed his eyes, but then the other Sergeant whose name was Johnson yelled out, telling him not to. A red line like a laser moved from one end of the pod to the other scanning him. The pod opened back up immediately after. As soon as the pod opened, Niles got out.
“That was to synch you with the Talon. Consider this your read on. The Talon will let you have a back door into the SynaCAID and alter specific sections like that Grid. It should theoretically allow you access to other people’s Rigs too.” Staff Sergeant Jacobs explained. “You don’t need to do anything on this side so long as the Talon is plugged in and you’re synched to it.”
“Now listen up because this part is important. With the Talon you get direct access to everything the SynaCAID has on file. Cars. Weapons. Places. People. You get the idea. How that works out though is on you, we haven’t done a lot of field testing yet.” The younger Sergeant Johnson explained.
“Even women,” Johnson finished explaining with a smug smile. Jacobs and Niles turned to look at him with their brows raised and shook their heads in mock disgust. up.
“There are limits though to what you can do, even with the Talon. Like in commercial zones, you can’t spend more than 10,000 units at a time and in play zones, you can’t use explosives, and you can’t abuse the system to kill anyone in non-play zones.” Johnson explained with grim seriousness before Niles asked “Why? What happens? Grisham fires me?”
Jacobs shook his head. “No, nothing like that. The Colonel will only fire you if you’re reckless with the Talon. The system will kill you if you try those things. You have to understand, the Talon is a brute force instrument that opens up SynaCAID, and SynaCAID responds accordingly. It’s one of the reasons these attacks have been such a huge deal. Somebody has the same tech, or something similar, but better because they’ve found a way around the SynaCAID failsafe.”
“So, the system gets hostile when things don’t work as they should?” Niles asked, clarifying.
Johnson answered, “Absolutely. Trade secret through. I believe you touched one of the left behind anomalies. How’s your hand feel?”
So they did know. It was a test. I already told them it hurt. “It aches, like being on Bivouac out of Frankfurt,” Niles answered, rubbing his arm in response.
Jacobs smiled. “It doesn’t exist. The anomaly, touching it does something to the brain. We think it relates a bit to how they cover their tracks after attacking. Get hit by a weapon that causes those, and it might induce a heart attack, but most of the people who died were killed after the fact on the outside. Somehow it’s all connected.”
“So, you’re pretty sure the opposition probably have something like this?” Niles asked. Johnson shook his head. The man was reluctant to speak and seemed to be holding in something he wanted to say before shrugging and passing the moment off.
“Similar, but different. The Talon doesn’t make you invisible to SynaCAID. It’s a special key that opens all doors. Sort of like an old-fashioned Game Genie if you remember the classics. What those bastards have is more like a shroud, and believe me, we’ve been scanning our systems to specifically find them. It’s just not coming up with any hits.” Niles nodded with a grunt as the pain in his leg started to kick up. He wanted to sit down, but his pride wouldn’t let him.
“Is there any limit on me when I’m in?” Niles asked. The soldier nodded.
“Yeah, a few. You can take any weapon in from the Debug room we’ve set up, and if you want, we can install any number of skills on your virtual avatar but, you can only have three abilities and one passive—with one being your ultimate.”
“I can work with that,” Niles said. Johnson smiled and shook his head. Niles sighed and nodded. He turned around and walked to a chair. He ran his right hand over the table and the screen came on. The first thing he saw was the face of one of the victims. She’d been stabbed to death in her Rig. It was brutal. He sighed and pushed the image away as the two men went back to work doing some last-minute adjustments to the Rig to better accommodate Niles.
Niles was about to look at the reports again when his connector notified him of a synch request. He frowned but allowed it. There was no window, the only thing he heard in his ears was a sigh.
“Hello, Niles De’Santes?” The voice said, a heavy masculine voice. It was not familiar. The only person who ever called Niles was Grisham, and the eRehab guys and they haven’t called in a while. There was heavy breathing again. Niles cleared his throat.
“Who is this?” Niles asked, standing up, picking up his cane. This could be a trap and he didn’t want to be in the base if it was. He looked at Johnson and Jacobs. They were not working, they were talking. He walked to them, putting his head through the threshold while his body stayed out.
“I said I’d be calling you, we need to talk” the voice said. Whoever was on the other side didn’t sound like a woman. Yeah, that’s about my luck. The voice started to breathe heavy, sounding like he had been running. The call abruptly ended. Niles felt a chill and waved it away. A lead.
“You guys done?” he asked the two NCOs. They nodded and started packing. Niles was grateful for their understanding. They all walked out. “Do I still need a chaperone to leave?”
The two men looked at each other before Johnson responded. “As far as I’m concerned Chief, you’re your own man. You’re not in the Army anymore, if you want to leave, I’m certainly not going to stop you.” Niles nodded in gratitude.
Niles turned and checked his implant for the toxicity level outside and cursed.
[Transmission: Current air quality is rated at *Yellow* you may safely leave the*address restricted* with the use of a Class III Respirator. Please be advised tomorrow’s dust storm advisory has shifted to 0700 and 1000 HLT.]
“Where can I get a Class III Respirator?” he asked the two men. They told him where to go and left him alone after that. Niles was sure they weren’t supposed to let him take off, but out of respect for him and the situation, they looked the other way. Shortly after, Niles took off to Supply, which was thankfully, exactly where he remembered it being.
Niles bent down at the counter and made the request from the Supply Sergeant through the window and thanked her for the Respirator as she scanned his implant to assign the serial number of the mask to him.
Shortly after he was heading through the staff entrance. He pulled the mask over his face. It was cold against the skin and light. Created like a mask, but even better. He walked quickly to the elevator that would take him to the top and once inside the elevator, he activated the breather.
Once outside, he felt more at ease under the night sky, the ache in his leg had subsided and the feeling in his arm had returned to normal. Niles walked out and saw two soldiers joking, splitting a cigarette as they threw paperwork into the burning coals of a burn pit, seemingly oblivious of the coming dust storm. He nodded a greeting at them, getting only stares in return.
He walked out the gate past the guard shack, not once did anyone try to stop him. Maybe I was wrong about assuming I was not supposed to leave. Niles breathed easier, even in the mask. In and out. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to check in with the Colonel every time he wanted to leave, but until that problem presented itself, Niles wasn’t volunteering self-restrictions. He walked all the way back to his vehicle.
Hearing the soldiers talk and working with the others had stirred something in him. He didn’t care that Grisham had his rules. The organization has its rules. He liked it, even. It was comforting and familiar. He inhaled and exhaled. Niles was sure he didn’t have to check in with the Colonel every time he wanted to leave. He walked to his car.
With the coming storm in the morning, most of the homeless that had been on the street vanished to whatever shelters and holes they could find. The walk back to his vehicle was relatively eventless. Once he saw it in the parking lot, he unlocked it with a flick of the wrist and it opened immediately as he touched it.
&nb
sp; The security measures disengaged as the vehicle revved up and circulate heat. Almost as good as being home.
Niles slid inside the car. He let it idle for a bit, enjoying the comfort of his seat before he checked the call log, and when he got the number that called him, he called it back, but no one picked up. Niles felt a flush of anger and cursed when he felt another synch request. He accepted it immediately as adrenaline made his ears go flush.
“Who are you?” Niles asked. This time his voice was strong and firm. He was not worried about being caught off guard. The vehicle asked for the address and since he had none, the vehicle was set to return home, automatically routing to his apartment. Niles let it be as he adjusted the restraints.
“I told you I’d be reaching out to you, Niles,” The voice said cryptically, the voice was more even not wasn’t breathing hard like before. “We need to meet.”
“Why?” Niles asked. “You can tell me whatever you want to tell me.”
“Not really, I don’t want to tell you much. I have to give you something, something I can’t send over any channel, secured or otherwise. If you don’t trust me, you can send your Alte,” the voice said. Niles shook his head. He didn’t have an Alte. It was too expensive, and the robot would have ruined his routine.
People bought the real world avatars to help them navigate the toxic air outside. The Alte was all machine, so they were unaffected by the pollution. As a freelancer and partial pensioner, Niles didn’t have that kind of money.
“Fine, send me a location,” Niles said. He wondered if he was making some kind of mistake, but this could be the break he was looking for in the case.
“Yeah, I will.” The synch ended and Niles rubbed his eyes. Synch were unlike normal calls. They were too personal. It was an implant-to-implant communication and the man, whoever he was had used two implants. That interested Niles. His implant pinged. He made a fist and released his fingers. A small projected screen came up and he selected the short message. It was an address. He shared it to the car and changed the destination.
[Transmission: Trip confirmed. You will be arriving at your destination in approximately 25 minutes. Though the road conditions have cleared, please understand that the best driver is a human controller, and a human controller assumes all risk.]
The car kept moving along the route through the city for about ten minutes until it suddenly adjusted and started down a different road. Niles disengaged the restraints. I might need to get out in a hurry. The voice from the phone wasn’t far away. The AI drove for about fifteen more minutes.
Niles found himself in a neighborhood he had never seen all the time he had been in the city. His car stopped in front of a small flat. He pulled leaned forward and opened the glove box and pulled out the gun he kept in there. It was an old G-90 he had used when he was still in service. a pistol that had been reported missing in a tragic boating accident. It was once his pride and joy.
He tucked it into the waistband of his pants and then he got out with his cane. A flick of the wrist re-engaged the car’s security measures as he walked away.
His leg was a bit better, but he could feel the dull ache still. He walked up to the door of the room. He looked around the door’s frame, a ping from his implant let him know there was a camera somewhere, but he couldn’t tell where the camera was hidden.
Niles didn’t knock, he just waited. The door made a sucking sound and unlocked with a click and a masculine voice called out, “Come in, but slowly.” Niles pushed the door in and locked it behind him. The door opened to a small hallway, but his caller was standing there with a shotgun, beads of sweat running down his face.
“You walk with a cane?” The man asked. Niles put his two hands at the top of his cane and nodded. The man chuckled and shook his head. “These people really have no idea what’s going on. It’s big”
“And what’s that?” Niles asked, walking closer slowly. The man shook his head and sighed. He put his shotgun down and leaned against the wall. The house was empty. Niles sighed. He had thought he was dealing with a novice, but it seemed the man knew what he was doing. Even if these spook types were always cryptic.
“You will see yourself, very soon. I’m sure you’ve seen how clean the System is after something happens, even when the anomalies remain? Unlike real life where you’d still see some traces of what happened in a crime scene, nothing remains in SynaCAID. It just resets, usually, because that’s what it wants to do. You’ll find your answers on this side of reality. Where the victims were killed. Just look for the trace signal after you see Kubrick.”
Niles nodded. The man sat down on the stairs and looked at Niles in regret.
“Now that I know you’re legit. You will have to see Kubrick,” The man said. Niles frowned.
“Kubrick?” The man nodded and smiled. He was still looking at the cane with a look of disbelief. As he if couldn’t believe that Niles was crippled.
“You will have to meet him. He’s the one who wants to help. I’m just the person who establishes bonafides and checks the door. Most of us don’t like what those Dominion dickheads are doing, and we don’t trust your side much either, but we can’t do this alone.”
“Who are you, who do you work for?” Niles asked, but the man waved the question away with a smile. There was not enough light to tell but Niles thought he saw a tattoo on his face. He didn’t need to guess for long. The man got up and walked closer. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Niles. He opened it and there was only one word in it. Underworld. It was written carefully in cursive. Only a handful of people can still even read cursive. Niles looked at it and then at him.
“That’s where you’ll find him.”
“Who are you?” Niles asked again. The man chuckled and shook his head. He walked past Niles, towards the door but Niles held him back. He could see his face clearer now. It was not a tattoo; it was a scar. Something that healed and had left the man permanently disfigured.
“What are you guys up to?” The man pushed his hand away and reached down for the shotgun but didn’t bring it up.
“I told you, I’m just the messenger tending the door,” he said. “Kubrick will tell you everything.” Niles didn’t understand.
“Why come at me pretending to be a woman? You had the challenge question and password.” Niles asked. He had been worried about that for a while now. People were not allowed to edit themselves. That was why Niles had been surprised about Grisham’s grey hair. SynaCAID was supposed to be you in the truest and purest way.
“You don’t know anything about the system, and when you look like me, sometimes it’s nice to not be treated like a monster. Though I’ll give you a small piece of information. When an account gets banned, if you know-how, you can jump into a dead account.” The man said, shaking his head. “You’ll learn soon though,” the man said and then he turned around to leave, this time Niles let him go. It was obvious he was not going to get anything from him.
“Underworld is in the system. Find that place in the system, he will be waiting,” the man said and opened the door to leave. The quiet of the neighborhood was torn by the sound of gunshots.
Niles threw himself to the ground by reflex, when he looked up, the man had been torn apart by a blast from a high-powered weapon, killed on impact. All it took was one look to let Niles know the man was dead. He started to crawl, staying low as an old-fashioned car sped away, leading a plume of smoke from the exhaust as it took off. Niles didn’t delay, he didn’t stop to look at the man. He picked his cane, ignoring the pain in his leg, he ran to his vehicle.
Chapter 12: Chase
* * *
With a sense of urgency, Niles reached out to his vehicle with the implant, disengaging the automatic security system. The time it took to finish deactivating felt like years as Niles lay on the ground and tried to watch where the car was going. As soon as he could, he hopped into the vehicle and pressed the emergency override underneath the steering wheel. Immediately putting control o
f the vehicle in his hands.
[Transmission: Warning! You have engaged manual override. User forfeits any rights to compensation under personal harm protections.]
He pushed the vehicle forward and turned it around as fast as he could. With control firmly in his hands, Niles heard the tires tear into the road but didn’t care. He followed the car and the shooter. Even though he couldn’t see them, Niles had the vague beginnings of a plan formulating in his mind, there was after all only the end of the road at the block followed by a long straightaway.
The vehicle tore through the street and Niles winced. Even if he could drive it like a car, the transport vehicles weren’t built for this kind of abuse and not for pursuit. They were made for automated leisure. Regardless, Niles pushed the vehicle to its limit, and then straight passed that limit.
He didn’t need to use his imagination to hear the engine of the vehicle straining and groaning from the abuse. I’m so sorry, just a little longer. You can do this, don’t break down.
The street was empty except for the haze of brown and orange in the air from the dust storm. The emptiness was one of the few benefits of the impending storms. On a normal night, or at least a night when the air was more breathable, the street would have still been full of people and clogged with cars and vehicles.
Niles turned into the curve of the road, noticing there were more cars than he had anticipated, but overall didn’t feel anxious. He could handle it. He knew what the car looked like that he was chasing after. Old fashioned grey and beat up. It would stand out. Niles sped forward, looking on the side of the road to see if the car had pulled off anywhere.
