S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND: Season Two Omnibus (Episodes 9-11) (51 page)

Kelly slid Ashley's Link into the slot and pressed the button to connect it to
The Game
stream. The light blinked orange for a second and a half, then green for a couple more, then remained lit. He pulled the goggles on and spoke Jessie's name. The view he received was an indecipherable blur of gray and black.

It's in her pocket.

“Jess? Can you hear me?”

You
hope
it's her pocket. It might be in Ashley's.

There was the rustle of movement, then a metallic clatter, as if something had been thrown to the ground. The patter of footsteps, hard and fast. The creak of a door opening and slamming shut.

The image in his goggles smeared to pink, then Jessie's face came into view. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead, a smear of mud on her chin.

“Sorry,” she panted, out of breath. “I was outside. I couldn't disconnect.”

“Disconnect from what?”

“
The Game
.” She gave her head a quick shake. “Long story. I'll explain later. Why are you connecting now?”

“Is that blood on your face?” Kelly asked.

He watched as she rubbed her cheek, scraping away the dried spots with her fingernail and looking at it. He grimaced for her, even though she couldn't see him. She nodded. “It's not mine.”

“Are you alone?”

“I am now.”

“Where's Ashley?”

Jessie didn't answer right away. The scene in the goggle's screen swiveled dizzyingly as she dropped the hand with the Link in it to her side.

“Jess?”

After a moment, she brought it back up. “I left her outside.”

“She was the hacker, wasn't she?” Kelly asked.

Jessie nodded. “She had Ben's gear and was using it to take control of our implants.”

“Damn it.” Kelly pinched his nose. He felt like he was going to be sick. “Eric figured it out the moment he saw her there with you. I didn't want to believe it.”

“I still haven't figured out how she managed to do it without fully activating the implants and killing us. The firewall prevented her from fully accessing mine.” She coughed.

“It's going to kill Reggie when he finds out.”

“I think he already knew. I think that message he left inside Micah's house, the words he spoke when he woke up, I think they were really from him and he knew that Ashley was behind it all. He was telling us to kill her.”

Let her believe it
, Kelly thought,
if it helps her get past this
.

“I disconnected him,” Jessie said. “Is he alright?”

“Yeah, he's back to his normal self. The police are releasing him tonight.”

“That's good.”

“Your brother deserves the credit. He took your theory to his captain and she forced Arc to look into their systems. They're planning to make an announcement about it in just a few minutes. I wanted you to hear it.”

“So, they're admitting to the hack?”

“Yeah. Eric's hoping they'll finally talk about the problems with the network so we can start addressing the vulnerabilities.”

“You don't sound so hopeful.”

“Are you?”

Jessie was silent for a moment.

“Listen, Kel, I found something strange. Ashley had hardwired the Player's implant to Ben's Link. I found it in the gaming gear. I don't know how she managed to extract it without it exploding, or what she was trying to do with it, but I suspect it's not good.”

“She won't tell you?”

Jessie's face twitched. “She blamed me for everything, from G-ma Junie volunteering, to her parents taking the blood money and running off to Canada.”

“They defected?”

Jessie sighed. “I guess they'd been planning it for awhile.”

“It wasn't your fault, Jess. None of this was.” He lifted the goggles to check the television screen and saw that the previous show was just ending. He wished he had more good news to give her, something to cheer her up. “You get my text about your mom?”

She nodded, and the line of her jaw tightened. “But, please, I can't think about anything else right now, Kel. I'll deal with that as soon as I get home.”

Kelly frowned. He would've thought she'd be happier, celebrating even.

Another check: The closing credits were ending.

“You are coming home, aren't you?” He wasn't sure why he had to keep asking such a stupid question, and the look on her face reflected her confusion. But when she answered, “Of course, as soon as I can,” there was something in her eyes he didn't like.

“Any second now,” Eric announced, his voice sounding from the Link in Kelly's lap.

Kelly lifted the device. “Eric's pinged in from the hospital,” he told Jessie. “We've got the television on and Arc is supposed to start with the announcement.”

He could hear the dramatic opening sequence of the afternoon's
Survivalist
episode.

“They're coming on. Looks like some kind of press conference, Jess. I'm going to turn it up and move closer so you can hear.”

. . . aware that certain of our technology have recently been infiltrated. The compromised streams and associated devices represent an infinitesimally small fraction of our overall systems, while exploiting equipment not widely available to the general public. To mitigate any further risk, we are issuing an immediate recall of affected models. We have also put into place safeguards to prevent the spread of any malicious code into unaffected systems by isolating the impacted ones.

There was a pause.

I want to stress that this is a one-time incident, completely without precedent, and we're working to quickly and completely contain it. There is absolutely no risk to the public. I'll be happy to take questions now.

“That's it?” Kelly said. “No specifics. No mention of Jessie's role in capturing the hacker?”

Mister Beaucorps, is there any connection between this breach and problems being reported elsewhere in the streams? I'm speaking specifically about those in the Civil Workcorps Network.

As you know Arc has a stellar safety record in all of its platforms. We provide the best, most secure technology to the best, most secure nation in the world. Our own investigations of these incidents you're referencing have established several incontrovertible facts. First and foremost, they have affirmed that any negligence rests on entities other than Arc Properties. Second, most incidents, such as the recent one in Connecticut, were merely false alarms. We're working to fine tune our monitoring algorithms to avoid repeating such incidents in the future. Third, they have identified specific examples of human error made by our subcontractors.

Arc is actively working with our vendors to establish stricter protocols to ensure the highest level of public safety. It is imperative that the public understand that the vast majority of reports originate from the so-called black streams. As such, they are patently false. The black streams are, by their very nature and origin, unreliable. Stories coming from them are fabricated by parties wishing to do Arc Properties harm and should be completely disregarded.

“That's complete bullshit!” Eric exploded. “They're still obfuscating!”

And, sir, what is Arc doing to prevent future breaches of the type you found today?

As you know, we take all attempts to gain unlawful access to our streams with the utmost seriousness. We aggressively pursue and prosecute any individual or group involved, including recommending immediate conscription. Our prosecution rate is unparalleled. We are also updating our equipment and programs to meet the heightened security requirements recently established by the government's new strict mandates.

Have you captured the individuals involved?

Not at this time, but, as I mentioned, any extant damage has been partitioned off. We are working aggressively to bring the individual to justice, and plan to have this issue resolved within the next twenty-four hours.

Can you tell us more about this person?

Thanks to the hard work and diligence of Captain Lynn Harrick of the Greenwich PD, we now know that it is a single individual working in isolation, a female with a reputation in the community as a hacker. We also know precisely where she is located inside our Long Island gaming arena.

How will she be apprehended if she's inside the arcade? As you know, law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction there.

With the blessing of the National Security Committee, we have implemented a new protocol to aid us in the recovery of the perpetrator, one which utilizes our existing framework of Players and Operators.

You're using civilians?

Absolutely. Who better than the ones with the most intimate knowledge of the arena and who possess the tools at hand to execute the task? And to demonstrate our commitment to bringing the person to justice, we have established a ten-million-dollar fund to be awarded for the successful apprehension of this individual.

A bounty?

“Whoa,” Kelly whistled. “Ten million dollars is a lot of money, Jessie.”

“I don't care about that.”

“Yeah, but just think what we could do with it when you get back.” He studied her face, not knowing if she was aware that he was.

But Jessie wasn't paying attention to anything but the news conference.

The reporter asked her final question:
Can you tell us the name of the hacker?

I'd be happy to share that information. It's Jessica Anne Daniels.

‡ ‡ ‡

The unfamiliar jangle of the telephone on the desk knifed through the office, shattering the stifling silence. In the eleven years since the old copper wire communications system had been mothballed in favor of Stream technology, the seemingly inert artifact had rung only two other times. There was simply too much risk in using it.

The phone rang again but still went unanswered.

A woman lay behind the desk, arms and legs akimbo and her head thrown carelessly to one side. She looked as if she'd fallen asleep and had slipped out of her chair. The look on her face could only be described as peaceful repose. In fact, it was the first rest she had managed to get since first injecting herself several days before.

The third ring faded away and wasn't repeated. There was a click as the call connected automatically, but no welcoming voice followed offering an invitation to leave a message. The caller left one anyway:

Lyssa, it is Geena. I have just now heard zee news.

The speaker had a thick German accent.

You must call me back immediately
.
Zee blood you sent me. You ver right: elevated AFP levels. I calculate five or six weeks.

There was a long pause, as if the woman were weighing the risk of exposing more than she already had. Sensing the silence, the recording machine terminated the call with a long beep. Almost immediately, the phone rang again, three more times, just as it had previously. The recorder activated.

Zer is somezing else, Lyssa, somezing I have not told you about zee implants. It is a fundamental flaw in zee design— a kind of a svitch. Richard Daniels discovered it in his first test many years ago. But he did not know vaht it does.

Zee svitch, Lyssa, it acts like a virus— no, a prion. It reconfigures zee implant, zen zee reconfiguration spreads.

There were sounds of a commotion, a shuffling of papers. Then:

Lyssa, zis block in zee girl's implant, if it is removed, I fear the svitch will be flipped. If it is, God help us all.

Pause.

Click.

Beeeeep
.

There was a moment of silence in the office, then a second figure rose from a chair pulled over close to the door and cracked the window to let in some fresh air.

“I got the second Link. Finished off the good doctor, but I think she was on her way out anyway.” The palm of the hand used to smother the woman was wiped again on a pants leg. “One more thing. Sounds like the Daniels girl is pregnant.”

For the time being, Sister Anne, also known as Doctor White (and, in a previous life, Lyssa Anne White-Stemple), was completely at peace with the world. In another three hours, she would rise from her resting place on the floor.

But by then, any proof that the cure did indeed work would already be too late.

‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡

END OF
JESSIE'S GAME: SIGNS OF LIFE

‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡

 

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