The Sapporo Outbreak (20 page)

In the farthest corner of the open lobby, beyond the elevators, a door discretely blended in with the wall swung open and Harper emerged. As the big man approached, Skinner was again struck by the change in his demeanour. Harper's usual ebullience was gone, and instead he seemed distracted, lost in thought. The whole group had been amazed by the augmented experience the iSight system created, but Harper seemed much more affected than the others. His head constantly pivoted, his eyes flickered and blinked and occasionally he'd wave his hands in the air. It seemed to Skinner that Harper had 'left' the group - his mind instead exploring the strange snapped-on world that Tanaka and his team had created. As Harper reached the bench, and thudded down on the thick white leather next to Hill, Skinner could see that his eyes were now a pinkish-red and the skin around his eyes had been rubbed raw. Clearly the lenses were bothering the big man. And Harper's red eyes were beginning to bother Skinner.

"Hey Andy."

Harper turned with a start to face Skinner.

"Yeah Ben, what's up?"

"Those lenses look like they're really irritating you. Why not take them out for a while, maybe try the glasses instead?"

Harper's face flushed a furious red as he jabbed a long index finger past Hill and toward the professor.

"What the hell has it got to do with you Ben? I'm absolutely fine. I'm checking the system, which is what we're actually here for. You should remember that Ben. You wouldn't have time to poke your nose into my business if you spent more time doing your job and less time hitting on little miss sweet ass."

With that, Harper slumped back on the bench beside Hill, mimicking the lawyers body shape with his elbows on knees and chin resting on an upturned palm. All signs of anger or aggression completely gone. As if nothing had happened.

Hill glanced quickly at Harper to confirm the big man's attention had drifted away again, then turned to Skinner, raised an eyebrow and whispered "What was
that
all about?"

Skinner gave a wry smile and winked, "I think someone needs a sugar hit."

Hill responded with a weak smile. Clearly keen to talk, he continued, "So what's your take on all this Ben?"

Hill turned to face Skinner, sitting immediately to his right. Elbows resting on his knees, chin resting on his left hand, Hill looked deflated. Skinner quickly assessed the young lawyer. He had noticed Hill nervously fidgeting with his iSight glasses since the group had arrived on the fifth floor. It struck Skinner as more than the impatience he often demonstrated. Rather it seemed to be a subconscious statement, a physical manifestation of his struggle with all that had been revealed in the last few hours.
 

It occurred to Skinner that he wasn't really sure
what
he felt. That was probably as good an answer as any, so that was how he decided to respond.

"Honestly Alex, I'm really struggling to form a view here. On the one hand, Tanaka's clearly achieved something extraordinary with the technology, something I don't think any of us saw coming. We haven't seen how all this translates into the final version of the game, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the game immersion lab. Maybe even trying it myself.

Hill nodded in agreement.

"But, on the other hand, I can't help wondering why Tanaka stonewalled us on all this. In just under a week he launches what will almost certainly be the most popular online game in history. We are all meant to be part of a small team that's helped shape the game, and it turns out none of us have seen what the game will really look like when it launches."

More nodding as Skinner continued.

"A few hours ago, I'd never stepped foot in Sapporo. Now that I'm here it seems clear to me this isn't simply one of the larger centres. Instead, it looks like the centre of the hive rather than another regional centre."

Hill nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. Yes. That's exactly how I feel. Unlike you Ben," Hill seemed to forget Harper was sitting on his other side, "I'm not here to help guide the development. My role here is simply to provide an informed opinion to the WhiteStar investor group on whether the iSight system is safe and ready to launch. Which is why when I see all these investments that I've never heard of, technology that's more advanced than we've been led to believe, I don't get excited.
 

"You really want to know how I feel?"

"Yes Alex, I do."

"I feel scared Ben. The more I see, the more it scares me. It feels too big, too
chaotic
, to be controlled. I used to understand what WhiteStar did. It made online games that people liked so much they'd pay for. Games that encouraged players to give more and more information about themselves, either by what they say, or the choices they make in the game. And all that information about a billion people had marketers falling over themselves. I got that. It made sense."

Skinner could hear the stress in Hill's voice. He could see it in his drawn face. It was odd. In some ways, Skinner could understand Hill's frustration, but his concern seemed much deeper than that. His fear seemed...primal.
 

Hill continued, his voice starting to shake. "But I don't get it anymore. Not now. It
feels
as if the game is taking on a life of its own. Your discussion with Doctor Becker keeps running through my head. How
will
people separate what's real and what isn't? What effect will it have? Will we see more attacks like Palo Alto ..."

Hill stopped in his tracks, a look of horror on his face. Skinner gawped at the lawyer, while Harper stretched his long frame forward on the bench, clearly confused, and asked, "What attacks Alex? What's this about Palo Alto?"

Hill spoke at double speed. "What? Oh, it's just something Ben and Eva were talking about on the flight over to Seattle."

Harper was about to ask more, but Skinner beat him to it.

"What's going on Alex? Is there something you need to tell me?"

Hill stared at Skinner, before his eyes flicked to Skinner's right and relief swept over him.

"Hey guys, what've I missed?"

The men all looked up to see Santos walking toward them. While she held their attention, Skinner discretely shook his head and mouthed
later
. Santos nodded quickly while smiling beguilingly at the young lawyer and lanky executive.
 

Santos was intrigued. She'd gone to the bathroom two or three minutes ago. What the hell had happened in that time to create this tension between the men?
 

As if on cue, the elevator doors slid open, Sakura strode out and announced. "Thank you for waiting. I'm sure you are all anxious to continue, and so without delay we will proceed to the heartbeat of our operations, the Network Operating Centre."

#

Security here was - if anything - even tighter than around Doctor Becker's VR lab on the fourth.
 

Sakura no longer made any attempt to disguise her impatience with the tour as she hustled the group past two security checkpoints in quick succession. The guards at each door clearly objected to the rush, but - it seemed to Santos as she trailed through at the tail of the group- that Sakura had pulled rank, leaving two burly disgruntled Japanese men in her wake.

The first area the group entered was a massive, rectangular room lined on all four walls by a series of identical long glass office spaces, packed with people. As Skinner panned across the west wall, the iSight system floated labels for each room, including 'Physics', 'AI', 'UI', and 'Scripting'.

Skinner briefly thought about asking Sakura what actually happened in these rooms, but their petite hostess was already standing at the south end of the room beside another guard and clearly waiting for the group to catch up.
 

Skinner skipped forward,catching up with Hill, Harper and Santos as they marched past the sofas, chairs and water coolers of the open plan common space in the middle of the area. As Skinner approached, he noticed Hill lean into Santos and heard the lawyer say with a smile, "Finally! Something that actually looks like an office. I already know I'll like this place the most."
 

Santos flashed Hill a broad smile in return, and for the very briefest moment Skinner felt a pang of ... what? Jealousy? Almost immediately, he felt a little embarrassed at his reaction. As if sensing his discomfort, Santos turned to Skinner, lightly rested her hand on his shoulder, leaned in and whispered "Let's try wrapping this up soon. I don't know about you but I've just about had it for tonight and I'm also starving. My stomach's still annoyed we missed out on our dinner in Georgetown!"

After passing through the second security door, Skinner was surprised to find a large, rectangular space, and in the middle of the space an oval room which a floating ISight bubble helpfully labeled 'Network Operating Centre (NOC)'.

Unlike the rest of the building, the walls and doors of the NOC were solid. No frosted glass. Just thick stark white walls that stretched from floor to ceiling. Beside imposing, heavy double wooden doors stood one of the toughest looking security guards Skinner had ever seen. Shaved head atop a thick muscular neck, broken nose, broad shoulders and arms struggling to break free from his WhiteStar uniform, he seemed like a man worth agreeing with. It also seemed to Skinner like overkill.
Just how tough a guard does Tanaka need to protect an already secure facility?
Skinner mused,
how rough can these nerds get
?

After more hurried checks and steely stares from the guard, the heavy doors swung inward and Harper, Hill, Santos and finally Skinner followed Sakura as she hurried inside.
 

The walls of the large oval room were entirely digital - it seemed to Skinner like one enormous floor-to-ceiling screen that wrapped around the space. As Skinner slowly rotated 360 degrees to take in the jaw dropping scene, he could see that dozens of windows, large and small, were arranged in a patchwork quilt of video. Security camera footage showed areas of the building Skinner recognised, and quite a few he did not. A variety of baffling graphs, charts and scrolling text seemed to be monitoring the performance of the technology. Impressive as they were, neither caught Skinner's attention. Instead his eyes slowed to a stop over a mosaic of video showing different rooms, each with a diverse group of people moving around in an oddly theatrical manner. Some were walking together deep in discussions while others seemed oblivious to the others in the room as they waved and gestured in the air. A few appeared to be more agitated, their heads jerking around the room as they moved stealthily through the open space.
 

The group slowed to a halt in front of a shin-high steel raised platform mirroring the oval shape of the room. On each side of the platform - the 'long' end of the oval - were steel benches hosting an array of large glass monitors and tilted touchscreen control pads. Sitting in wire mesh chairs, evenly spread across both benches, sat a dozen technicians, six on each bench. A small wiry man with a shock of blonde hair stood in the middle of the oval alternating his gaze between the video walls and the technicians' screens arrayed along the benches. Skinner noticed the men all wore the same black trousers, white shirt and red tie while the women all wore black skirts, white blouses and a red pin. To Skinner, the effect was a little disturbing, almost paramilitary.
   

Without acknowledging the group, Sakura stepped up into the platform and walked briskly over to the man, her heels clicking on the steel below. As she engaged in a hurried conversation with him, it was clear from the man's reaction that he neither expected nor welcomed the visitors.

Keeping his voice low enough so that Sakura couldn't hear, Harper addressed the group.

"This here - this room - is the reason I'm here. We've been working on this with David and his team ..." Harper nodded up at the man on the platform talking to Sakura, "...for the last two years to make this all happen. What you're looking at is the most advanced security monitoring operation in the world. "

Skinner, Santos and Hill were genuinely fascinated. Hill, as always standing the closest to Harper, looked up at the tall man and asked, "So what actually happens here Andy?"

Harper flashed a dazzling cosmetically-enhanced smile at Hill, before his eyes flicked past Skinner before resting greedily on Santos. He was relishing the spotlight.

"Everything that happens in this building can be monitored from this one room - but of course that's not too unusual. What turns this place into something very special is that everything that happens in the iSight game can also be monitored here."

Harper scanned the group, and was disappointed to see the confusion on his colleagues faces.

Harper pressed on. "Just think. Right now over 300 million real people are playing iSight, pretty soon that number will be closer to a billion. They immerse themselves in different worlds, take on different characters, connect with old friends and make new ones. And everything that happens is monitored here."

"That's correct Mr Harper, but there's so much more that we can do than simply monitor."

Harper and his audience swivelled as one to look at the man standing on the platform next to Sakura.

"My name is David Tait, and I am the Chief Engineer here at WhiteStar. Miss Sakura informs me that your last hour was spent with Doctor Becker in his VR lab, so I have a feeling what I'm about to tell you will be very good news."

Tait gave the group a short, tight smile. Santos could tell by the strain on his face and the tone of his voice that he was pretty tightly wound.
 

"As I was just saying to Miss Sakura, I'm afraid your visit is a little unexpected. I'm sure you can imagine just how busy we are completing final tests ahead of the new game's release next week and therefore, my presentation will of necessity be very short."

Tait nodded curtly, as if making it clear this wasn't up for discussion.

"You are standing inside the very heart of the WhiteStar Corporation. As Mr Harper has explained, in this room we can monitor the security and performance of this building. Indeed we can monitor any WhiteStar centre around the world. Over there for example..." Tait jabbed a finger to his right, pointing to a grid of six videos displaying more people in rooms, "...are the immersion labs in Palo Alto."