The Rendering (18 page)

Then Mr. and Mrs. McCheerful divorced.

I’d realized there was more to family than having a mom and dad, and vowed never to take Auntie M for granted again. And instead of being jealous, I’d always felt bad that Jamie only saw her parents a few hours a week.

Now she didn’t even have that.

We crowded into Jamie’s bedroom with the skunks, and Larkspur talked to my aunt for a few minutes, reconfiguring the uplink, while Jamie vanished into the house somewhere. Maybe her parents’ room, I don’t know.

When she returned, Larkspur asked her to check the configuration with her dragonfly. At first I thought he and Auntie M were just trying to keep Jamie occupied, to take her mind off her loss. But she fired up
CircuitBoard
and started muttering about codelinks and optimal routing, until finally they were satisfied.

“Here goes,” Larkspur said, and vanished.

“How long’s this gonna take?” I asked Jamie.

“Not sure. A minute or two.” But she was distracted, chatting with Auntie M on the keyboard—typing a private conversation.

So I took the hint and crossed the room toward Poppy, who was lounging in Jamie’s chair, brushing her tail and watching Cosmo tinker with an old CD player and some party supplies.

“I could’ve taken Hund,” Poppy was saying.

“Sure,” Cosmo said, pouring silver powder into deflated balloons. “I could tell by the way you kept hitting his fist with your face.”

“Hund’s not so tough. If I was at full power …”

“He’s not human, I’ll tell you that.”

“Who isn’t?” I asked. “Hund?”

“Born human,” Cosmo said, “but someone’s been messing with his code. He’s genetically altered or something.”

“Upgraded,” I said. “That’s what Roach said. Something about his upgrades.”

“Well, next time we meet,” Poppy said, “I’m gonna
down
grade him.”

Just then, Larkspur reanimated through the uplink.

“Much better,” he said, his injuries gone and his armor repaired.

“My turn,” Cosmo said, and digitized into the uplink.

He reappeared in two minutes, his cuts healed and a
dozen new devices on his belt and bandolier. Grappling hooks and flash grenades and smoke bombs, all small and brightly colored.

Maybe he really
had
spent too many iterations in
SimToys
.

Poppy raised an eyebrow at him. “Do any of those come in
black
?”

“We’re black and white enough already.”

“They look like toys.”

“For the element of surprise,” he said. “There’s no better way to make an adversary underestimate you.”

“And …?” Larkspur said, prompting him.

Cosmo looked a little abashed. “And I like ’em colorful.”

Poppy snorted, but I saw a glint in her eyes in the instant before she digitized. And when she reanimated, she had not only a new, longer motorcycle chain but throwing stars.

Yet she grumbled unhappily.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“No Harley,” she said.

“We can’t download objects that size,” Larkspur said. “The weight limitations are fairly stringent. The algorithm, if you’re interested, is—”

“I’m not,” Poppy said, still scowling.

“The only thing I wanna download,” I said, “is my aunt.”

The skunks turned to Jamie, who was still sitting at the computer, tapping on the keyboard. For a moment, nobody spoke:
nobody wanted to interrupt her conversation after what had just happened to her parents.

“Pardon me, Jamie,” Larkspur finally said.

Jamie looked up. “Mm?”

“We’re not sure how to configure the uplink for Dr. Solomon.”

“Oh,” she said, and glanced at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Um,” she said. “The thing is, Doug …”

“Let me explain,” Auntie M said through the computer speakers. “I’ve been scanning the information Jamie downloaded from Roach’s site.”

“Did you get a lock on his base?” Poppy asked.

“Not yet.” The hard drive spun, then quieted. “However, I’m stunned by his technical advances. Those scanning booths are frightening. He really is evil—and he really is brilliant.”

“An evil genius,” Cosmo murmured. “Excellent.”

“Plus the attack on the auditorium …,” my aunt continued. “Scanning in hundreds of people … He’s even more of a threat than I’d realized.”

“That’s why we need his home address,” Poppy said. “End the threat once and for all.”

“During my conversation with the new Awareness—” my aunt started.

“You spoke to it?” I asked.

“To
her,”
my aunt said. “Yes.”

“Her? The computer is a she?”

“The Awareness is me, Doug. That ‘corrupted’ data emerged from my brain. I am me, and the Awareness is also me. Mostly. But she’s better integrated into the Net; she won’t lose integrity. She will never dissolve.”

“What about you? Can’t you reanimate through the uplink?”

“Yes, I …” She paused. “I
could
, Doug.”

“But?”

“But I won’t.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry, Doug. I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” I looked at Jamie. “What is she saying?”

Jamie just shook her head, her eyes big and sad.

“Here are the facts,” my aunt said. “Roach is more powerful than I imagined. His software is generations beyond what I expected, both the scanning technology and the biodigital weapons he’s developing. He’s a threat to the entire country. The entire world.”

“Yeah, I got that,” I said. “Reanimate, and we’ll fight him together.”

“No one knows about him but us, Doug. The skunks are the only weapon that can touch him—they can fight in both reality and virtual reality. They can switch back and forth without an uplink. They’re our only hope.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And the Awareness projects that cybercriminal activity and the virtual underworld are going to explode.”

I shook my head. “You mean like credit card fraud? Who cares?”

“I mean a crime wave like nothing we’ve ever seen.”

“But what about
you
, Auntie M? What about
you
?”

“If I reanimate,” she said, “the Awareness will cease to exist.”

“But you will—
you’ll
exist.”

“I’m going to stay on the Net, Doug,” my aunt said. “I’ll merge with the Awareness to fight VIRUS and—”

“You’re leaving me. You promised you’d always be there—and now you’re leaving and you’re not coming back.”

“I—”

“You’ll die,” I said.

“No,” she said. “But I
will
change. I will be part myself, and part data network. Yet as long as VIRUS is a threat … I have no choice. Once I merge with the Awareness, I can monitor Roach. It’s the only chance we have.”

I stormed away and slammed the door behind me.

Jamie found me in the guest room five minutes later.

“Bug?” she said.

“Go away.”

She sat beside me on the bed.

If she said anything, I was gonna scream. I knew that Auntie M didn’t have a choice—of course she had to fight Roach. And I knew that Jamie had just lost her parents to Roach’s cyber domain.

But I’d already lost my parents. I
needed
Auntie M.

Maybe that makes me selfish, but … sometimes I thought I was cursed. They call me Bug because things break down around me. I didn’t care about that.

But what if
people
broke down around me, too?

My aunt, Jamie’s parents. My whole town. My mother and father.

But Jamie didn’t say anything. She just sat there beside me. And after a while, I felt better. Having a friend like her—at least
that
didn’t break down.

Finally, I turned to her and said, “Thanks.”

She smiled a little sadly. “I needed that, too.”

“I’m sorry about your mom and dad. You know Auntie M—or
whatever
—will try everything to get them back.”

“I know.” She touched my arm. “That’s one reason she’s … 
merging, I think. Joining with this Awareness, or whatever. For me. To try to help me.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“You’re not mad?”

I shook my head. “Not at you.”

She squeezed my hand. “What are we going to do?”

“Fight,” I said. “Fight until we get your parents back. Until we get
everyone
back.”

That’s why I started this blog: because we can’t do this alone, we can’t win without help. Without
you
. Act as our eyes and ears. Watch for Roach and VIRUS, and don’t believe the lies. Stay alert, stay focused—stay sharp.

Now you know about the skunks. Yeah, they’re ridiculous, but they’re also real and the most powerful weapon we have. The most advanced biodigital life-forms on the planet.

But Roach? He’s getting stronger every day—every minute—expanding his domain and creating new weapons.

We got the uplink from the auditorium. We stabilized the skunks. My aunt could’ve regenerated … but fighting VIRUS was more important. I’m not gonna pretend I’m happy about that, but she didn’t have any choice.

We’re in this fight together. Me and Jamie. Auntie M—or whatever’s left of her. The skunks.

And you.

After Jamie and I talked for a while, we headed back to her bedroom.

“It’s done,” Larkspur told me as we stepped inside. For a guy in a deadly combat suit, he sure had kind eyes.

“Auntie M?” I asked.

“I am here,” said the voice from the computer.

“Is it really you?”

Random images flashed on the screen: train tracks, a hummingbird, mathematical equations, a palm tree. “I have integrated with the Awareness and transformed it.”

I swallowed and didn’t say anything. Because that didn’t sound like Auntie M.

“And she has transformed me, too,” the voice continued. “I am still me, Doug—just a slightly
different
me.”

“In what way?” Larkspur asked, hunched over Jamie’s laptop.

“My mind is spread throughout cyberspace, running thousands of operations at any given moment, monitoring tens
of thousands of channels. I do not see through eyes or hear through ears; instead, I patch into security cameras and cell phones and electrical outlets. I am like the Center’s AI, but I have several new parameters of concern.” The pictures on the screen started flickering too fast to recognize. “For example, I am concerned that Douglas does not eat a sufficient quantity of vegetables to maintain optimal health.”

I gave a feeble laugh, partly from stress, and partly from relief that Auntie M was still in there somewhere. Maybe she wasn’t reanimating completely; maybe she wasn’t gonna walk through the door. Maybe she wasn’t gonna sit across from me for dinner or wake me in the morning with a hockey stick to the ribs.

But she wasn’t dead, either. She wasn’t gone forever; she hadn’t left me completely. I guess I found that pretty comforting.

Then we got down to business. The first thing was Jamie’s parents.

“Are they hurt?” Jamie asked.

“They feel no pain,” my cyber aunt told her. “Roach’s scans do not allow higher consciousness.”

“So … they can’t
think?”

“They simply know that they must perform their function. Expand Roach’s virtual world. Although …”

“What?” Poppy said.

“I’ve reviewed the files Jamie downloaded from the Resloc.” Images blurred on the screen: snowflakes, cartoons, scientific notation. “Once he perfects the technology, Roach intends to implant new memories and goals above the ones that already exist. And then to reanimate the subjects.”

“So he’ll brainwash them?” Larkspur asked. “And then output them?”

“They will appear precisely the same, but inside will be merely components of Roach’s program.”

“Perfect spies,” Cosmo said. “And if he can replicate powerful people …”

“You mean like scan in the president?” I asked. “Then mess with his mind and output him again?”

“Exactly,” Auntie M said.

“But I thought Roach wanted to destroy the world, not take over.”

“This is just a first step, Doug. Once he controls the politicians and the generals, the celebrities and newscasters, then he’ll have no trouble scanning everything he wants into his servers. And once he’s done, he’ll destroy all life on earth. He’ll destroy everything but his computers, humming away in underground bunkers. Still, he’s a long way from perfecting that technology.”

“Let’s not wait until he does,” Larkspur said. “We need to save those people he scanned.”

“So we attack?” Poppy sounded eager.

“She’d beat
herself
up,” Cosmo muttered, “just for something to do.”

“I’ve discovered Roach’s weakness,” my aunt said. “With Jamie’s help.”

Jamie smiled, though her eyes still looked sad. “All of Roach’s data is currently saved to a single server, to escape detection. After we download the minds of his victims—to keep them safe—we can destroy the server and he’s finished.”

“Though we don’t have much time,” Auntie M said.

“Yeah, he’s gonna transfer everything to a secure domain,” Jamie said. “Once he does that, his data will be completely protected.”

Larkspur nodded. “So we attack before that happens.”

“Just point and click me to him,” Poppy said. “Where’s this server?”

“We need to raid his server to find out.”

“What?” Cosmo said. “We have to what his what to what?”

Jamie spoke a little more slowly. “Raid his
virtual
server to find his real one.”

“I’m with Cosmo,” I said. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Roach’s virtual world is generated by real computers,” Auntie M said as a starburst of images appeared on the screen. “We need to invade his virtual domain. From there, we can determine his real-world location.”

“Sounds like a job for the bug,” Cosmo said.

“Hey!” I said.

“I meant Jamie’s bug,” he said. “The dragonfly.”

“You are partially correct,” my aunt said. “Jamie and Doug can track the information through the
CircuitBoard
interface on her laptop.”

“How can they get through Roach’s defenses?”

“That’s not just any laptop—it’s hub-upgraded and Protocol-enhanced. And you skunks will be there to protect them.”