Contest (The Stork Tower Book 6)

by Tony Corden

  “It’s fine with me, but you’d best check with both Mum and Dad. I have to be careful when making decisions for others. I’m slowly realising that everything I do affects others.”

  Stopping short of Leah’s door, John waited for Leah to face him, then said, “Speaking of letting people know things. Would you believe that Merinda Fellows told Johan where we could find Ben? He asked a few times with no luck, then out of the blue Merinda visits him and suddenly shares Ben’s location. Why do you think she did that?”

  “She probably had a crisis of conscience. I expect she realised what a despicable human Ben really is and she decided to help.”

  John shook his head and said, “Every word you say is true, and yet, every word was chosen to mislead.”

  Leah smiled and said, “It only misleads if you don’t know what happened. I’m sure you have an idea, and you would have worked out why it had to be that way.”

  “I would have been careful and discreet, you know.”

  “I know you think that’s true and maybe I’m just anachronistic in my thinking, but I still think there are differences between men and women. At times we see the world differently. Even though we both find Ben’s actions wrong, I think my reaction is probably more visceral than yours, and while I know you think you understand my reaction I doubt that you do unless you walk in my shoes. Your reaction is just as real, just as valid, and maybe even harsher than mine, but I doubt it’s the same as mine. I think the difference is more to do with gender than with our individuality.”

  “Fair enough. Jimmy has sent several of the boys to get Ben and his family. Jimmy’s wondering who gets to deal out the punishment. Ben ratted you out, but he broke his word to Jimmy, and the whole family turned its back on the Switch. Are you OK if I leave Ben to Jimmy?”

  “Yes. Just ask him to talk with Ben’s mum and sister separately from Ben and his dad. I’ve suspicions they’re not to blame and maybe are the real victims here. I’ve been watching them on and off since last year but haven’t been able to find proof of what I think’s been happening. I suggest you ask Mia to give the two of them a good physical and suggest Jimmy ask Lacey, Jen or Mrs Sperry to do the questioning.”

  John shook his head and said, “You know Jimmy will kill them if they’ve hurt little Beth.”

  Leah shrugged her shoulders and said, “Does that bother you?”

  “Yes, and not really. It bothers me that we’ve sunk so low as a society that the best outcome is to have a self-appointed gang leader be the preferred keeper of law and order and that the only punishments possible are pain, torture, or death.”

  “Not true John, sometimes we just take away their goods and their livelihood. Still, I know what you’re saying, but if my supposition is true, then Ben and his dad knew what the consequences would be. Jimmy’s made it clear ever since I’ve known him that certain things won’t be tolerated in the Switch. You don’t abuse kids, period. If he handed them over to the courts, we all know the best we could hope for is they’d both be locked away for a few years. Worst case, and most likely, is they’d be sent to a different negative tax community with an ankle bracelet and be free to hurt someone else.”

  “But people don’t come back from death, Leah. What about forgiveness and mercy? Where do they fit in?”

  “I think they’re the provenance of the person who’s been hurt rather than belonging to the official arm of justice. If someone hurts me and they apologise and try and make it right, then I’m all for mercy and forgiveness. My faith even demands that I must show both. I don’t think it’s the same when someone breaks society’s rules. When you break those, then you’ve gone against a shared vision, and you’ve put yourself on the outside. If you can make it right, then all’s good. No forgiveness is needed, nor mercy. You steal, then you pay back. All is good. But what happens when you can’t pay it back. Break my window, fix it. Steal my shoes, get me new ones. Rape or kill me, and there is nothing you can do to fix it. I may forgive you, but society as a whole has to keep its values and its rules, or it falls apart because they lose all meaning.

  “As a society, I don’t believe that Australia’s current values are based on truth, justice, responsibility, mercy, or repentance because all those things depend on some form of basic agreed upon morality or standard. In our modern multicultural Australia though, everything is tied into efficiency, appeasement, economic growth, public opinion, and tolerance. Everything else is up for discussion, debate and variations.

  “I don’t want people to be forced to follow one religion or another, but I think it would help if we agreed that some things are just plain wrong. So, in this case, ‘rape’ is wrong. It doesn’t matter to me if you were on drugs, if you were hearing voices, or even if you were raped yourself some time in the past. It’s wrong and those who do it, they should be held to account. Sure, it’s nice to talk about rehabilitation, but the truth is people should have been caught and rehabilitated long before it gets to that. Everyone wants to blame someone else. People blame their parents, their family, their economic background, their education, their experiences, they even blame society itself.

  “Growing up in the Switch taught me that I am responsible, me! If I do something, then it’s my fault. If I get caught, then it’s up to me to pay the bill. I broke Ben’s arm, I knew the possible consequences when I did it. What were they? If I were caught, then I would probably be sent to a young adult remand centre for five years. Ben, on the other hand, would have served no time. The penalty for a first offence for filming women without their consent is six months to be served in the community with non-enforcible weekly counselling.”

  John raised his hand to stop Leah and said, “I get it, I really do. It’s just that death is so final.”

  Leah shook her head and said, “Sorry John, death may be final, but at least it’s quick. Beth has to live with what’s happened to her every day for the rest of her life. Besides, let’s face it, Jimmy won’t kill them for hurting Beth. As far as he and the Switch are concerned, they’ve a greater crime to pay for, treason. They sold us out, John. Jimmy will want people to know they can’t do that without consequences.”

  “And you, what would you do?”

  “It’s not up to me, John. I’ve more than enough on my plate without having to make imaginary life and death decisions. Besides, you know exactly what I would do. I’d do what you would do.”

  John nodded slowly, and then they walked the rest of the way in silence. After Leah was back in the room, Lacey said, “Could you, Leah? Could you order them killed?”

  Leah shook her head slowly and said, “No Lacey, I couldn’t order someone to kill someone else. If it were up to me, then I’d have to do it myself. I used to wake up sometimes with nightmares of breaking Ben’s arm and leg. Believe it or not, I think that’s healthy. It made me think and rethink my actions and the possible consequences. One of the problems with being in the Pod all the time is I don’t dream. My subconscious doesn’t have a convenient way to get me to review my life, my decisions. It’s one of the reasons I write in my diary three or four times a day now. It’s one way to force me to evaluate my life.

  “Taking a life shouldn’t ever be easy, but yes, Lacey, if I had to, I think could kill someone. If I ever have to, then I expect you and John to be here to make sure I’ve thought it through, that I have good and just reasons, that I’m not being impulsive, reckless, arrogant, or petty, that I’ve considered every angle and that it never sits comfortably with me. I expect you to stop me if you think I’m wrong, punish me if I’ve already done the wrong thing and stand behind me if you think I’m right. I promise to do the same for you.”

  Lacey helped Leah bathe and get back into the Pod without anything else being said.

  Diary - 18 December, 2073 - Morning

  After talking with Yìng Yuè, I wonder if it’s really coercion if you do it to yourself. Is hypnosis coercion? If it is then is it wrong. Brainwashing sounds terrible but aren’t most people conditioned to behave
in specific ways by their family, their culture, their group? Parent’s smacking children is considered abuse but isn’t that true of parents who change direction with rewards? They force their child down one path and not another. The truth seems more that there is no such thing as ‘freedom’, or ‘free will’. Everyone is automatically forced to conform within the confines of the closed system in which they live. Is Jen and Emily’s sister, Lily, responsible for where she finds herself. I think so, but I also blame the system. I imagine what we see as closed systems have boundaries that are permeable to some extent and to get through, there must be a greater than normal motivation. I wanted out, so did Jen and Emily. Will Lily find that reason, that object which will pull on her so hard she’ll break out of the mould society, and modern living has squeezed her into?

  75

  Chapter 75

  December 19, 2073 - Early Morning - Part 1

  STORK TOWER

  Back in the tower, Leah said, “Gèng I’m over an hour late for Dr Ellis. Did he message me?”

  “No. I took the liberty to contact him and I explained your mother’s rescue. He understood your need to see her. I believe he was actually pleased with the reprieve because he’s apparently spent almost every moment except for his mandated time in deep sleep reworking equations and making alterations to his machines. He suggested you formally write up your insights from yesterday and save them to a secure private box in Academia’s vault. Apparently, all students have access to the vault for a small fee.”

  “How secure is it?”

  “I checked with Reed, and it said the Vault was on par with the World Bank.”

  “I’ll do that later then. I’m still a little wired from Survival and seeing Mum. When I got out of the Pod, some of the pain I’d felt in Survival seemed to hang on even after I logged out. That hasn’t happened before. Is there any explanation that you know of?”

  Gèng’s paused momentarily before answering, “Electromagnetic neural manipulation is an established technology that is over fifty years old. Experiences such as yours were common in the early experimental phase of the technology, but they disappeared with the more precise placement of electrodes and the greater fidelity achieved in the applied signal. Another mention of residual sensations appears in research done when this type of manipulation was used in a developing neural system and is one reason that children under five cannot be safely chipped and why the hours are limited when people are under the age of sixteen.

  “I’ve sent a query to Dr Roberts, but I would hypothesize that it is a combination of the ongoing growth in your neural system, the increased time you’ve spent the last few days in cyberspace and the longer than normal last session. I suggest it might be wise to restrict the amount of time you spend in an accelerated state. This effect, in itself, does not appear to be deleterious, but some other effects on the developing brain were noted. I’ll need to discuss this with Dr Roberts and do further research myself before I can offer more detailed advice.”

  Leah nodded and said, “How long do I have before I’m due in Pneumatica?”

  “Fifty-one virtual minutes.”

  Leah found a comfortable place to sit overlooking the valley and worked on her diary entry as another part of her brain listened to Gèng read out a summary of the significant conclusions Pneumatica players had reached about Pyranthia. Finally, she looked over the various reports sent to her by Stephen, Sharon, Leon and Peter. Leon had reviewed the options in what was available in what were colloquially called Shells (SIM Humanoid Externally Located Locomotive Simulators). These were human shaped drones capable of being controlled from a Pod. Strict controls were in place on the private use of shells because of the ease with which they could be used for violence and in warfare. Police and militaries had pioneered their use early in the century, but their extreme sensitivity to signal loss left most attempts to mass produce them as weapons fruitless. Despite this, and several international treaties, most countries continued to look for ways to develop stronger and more dangerous shells as well as developing, and deploying, smaller, more invasive, drones for espionage and warfare.

  There had been some initial large scale application of shells in industry, but the development of cost-efficient highly precise and dependable AI had replaced them. Leon’s report contained a description of possible shells from the four main sectors which continued to use them. First was a range of medical prosthetic shells for people who were bed-ridden for one reason or other. Some of these people lived permanently in specially constructed life-support Pods. Most of their living was in the virtual world, but they still needed a connection with the real world. Their shells were constructed to mimic the human body and to resemble their controller in every way. They could play with their children, attend real-world gatherings, or comfort their partner.

  The second area which used shells was the one Leah was most interested in as it was when shells were used as an aid in scientific research. Unfortunately, most of these shells were constructed to facilitate work in environments where the researcher could be exposed to hazardous conditions involving poisonous environments, chemicals, toxins or pathogens. Even then, most research aids were constructed to meet specific needs, and very few were humanoid.

  The third use of shells was in sports. In addition to the Real-world Leagues, there were both Virtual Leagues and Shell Leagues. Many of the world’s top athletes preferred the Virtual Leagues because there was no danger of pulling a muscle, tearing a tendon or being involved in a high-speed crash which broke bones or disabled them. Spectators made the transition to Virtual leagues fairly seamlessly for non-contact sports, but they didn’t transition as easily in highly physical contact sports like Wrestling, Rugby, Boxing or American Football. Sporting authorities discovered that the possibility of danger and violence was an intrinsic part of why people watched such sports. Some sports maintained the Real-world Leagues, but modern safety regulations so transformed the rules that people almost preferred the simulated clash of the virtual game. The winning compromise had been the use of shells. Sports like rugby and boxing returned to their pre-regulation forms and athletes controlled robust shells which could be battered and abused to the delight of audiences.

  The final major user of shells was the arts and entertainment sectors. Shells were used as an alternative to CGI in avant-garde works by artists and film-makers who promoted themselves as either anti or post, CGI. They also filled in as stunt doubles in non-CGI works or facilitated real-world collaborations without the need for the expensive and time-consuming travel components. For example, the real-world Global Symphony Orchestra employed the world’s very best musicians who attended the performances using shells.

  Leah read through the different technical specifications and sent a long list of questions to the manufacturers of the top five models she thought might be workable. She’d finished this and was re-reading the draft contract with Cosmos Online when Gèng said, “You have three minutes before you are expected in Pneumatica.”

  Leah relinquished the processing core she was using in the PAI chip and climbed the stairs to the gaming level. Once there, she used the SPIDER to transition to the entry portal into Pneumatica. Before she entered, she said, “Gèng, I sent Jesse a thank you for his help and prepared a general message for everyone who helped unlock the Survival Scenario. I wouldn’t have succeeded without them. Please send it to all the people who helped.”

  Gèng agreed, and Leah stepped through the portal and arrived in her room aboard the Cavaticus.

  76

  Chapter 76

  December 19, 2073 - Early Morning - Part 2

  PNEUMATICA

  Leah was heading into another tense situation, and she knew she needed to get into the right mindset or she’d get herself or one of the others killed. She sat on the bed and closed her eyes. When she was still, she consciously cleared her mind and locked the last few hours away to think about at a later time. Then she brought to the front of her mind what she’d learned abo
ut Pyranthia.

  Pneumatica had taken the Burroughs’ pre-cyberpunk motif of a sword-wielding, technologically capable, non-human barbarian enemy when it designed the Pyranthians. The Pyranthian culture was designed around honour and family. It had a strict hierarchy and had a penchant for pain, violence and blood. Pyranthians were latecomers to Pneumatica. The first wave had appeared en masse through a trans-dimensional portal high in the desolate and windswept volcanic wilderness a thousand leagues from Aeolipile. Every sixty years, a new wave arrived which adding complexity to the culture, as each wave was primarily from a new family with slightly different social mores and behaviours.

  The portal itself was in the centre of a high circular caldera on what had so far been a dormant volcano, though there were several fissures in the centre which occasionally emitted toxic fumes and smoke. The city of Pyranthia was built in concentric circles about the portal site with each new family carving out their homes from the rock on the edges of the central peak. When they’d first arrived, the Pyranthian immigrants had spread out to occupy the wasteland but had met some resistance from the human settlers who had already begun carving out a livelihood on the edges of the mountainous area. The Pyranthian warriors slaughtered the settlers readily enough, although they did take some losses. When the news of the invasion reached Aeolipile, the king of the day sent out a battalion of the Aeolipile Royal Cavalry to investigate the trouble and to turn back the invasion.

  Although the Pyranthians had killed the settlers, they accorded them some honour for fighting to the death and so prepared their bodies as they would any honoured foe. They first smoked the bodies and then prepared a feast whereby they might be consumed and the settlers’ strength used by the Pyranthians.