Veil (42 page)

“I call it Suren’s Law. Basically, it’s a
safety.”

“Suren’s Law?”

“Yeah, ummm … for whatever reason, Jin used
Suren as his first and only test subject. He was killed weeks after
his first test run. We didn’t discover that he used her until much
later and even then by chance. Suren didn’t know; she didn’t
remember. Jin used the Veil process to place markers in her memory
and then chemically targeted that particular section of her memory
afterwards to block access to it.”

“Memory
-
specific
,
chemically-induced
amnesia?”

“Yea, exactly. We aren’t really sure why he
did it, but she’s certain she doesn’t remember any of it and
there’s some stuff about memory manipulation in his notes. I
actually included some of the memory functionality in the final
version I sent you.”

“I saw that. By the way, side note, I also
saw the cute little kill switch you tried to implant. Smart
move.”

“Apparently not smart enough. You found
it.”

“Yeah, but still pretty ingenious. Actually,
I put it to good use. I left it in the programming of the prototype
the military still has in their possession. So really all they have
is a fancy looking brick.”

“Fuck, that’s brilliant. I was wondering how
you could leave Veil behind but without them being able to use it.
How long do you think it will take them to track down the kill
switch?”

“Knowing them, it could take months. And
that’s being generous.”

They both laughed.

Hunter clarified, “Anyway. Essentially, Suren
wants a safety measure to make sure what her husband did to her
can’t be done to anyone else? Ensure no one can be Veiled without
their knowledge or permission?”

“Exactly.”

“What do you suggest?” Hunter asked.

“Signatures. Digital signatures.”

“Like device specific keys? Like
passwords?”

“Precisely. Right now, the way it’s set up,
you can use one Veil device to perform an entire Veil. Like you did
with Brock, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, imagine if every Veil was given its
own identifying number. Its own serial code or whatever, but
specific to the person, tied to their specific neuroelectric
frequency and pattern. A number tying together their device and
their brain.”

“Like a Veil Security Number instead of a
Social Security Number.”

“Precisely. So now the process will always
require that there be two Veil devices in order to perform a Veil.
And before the Veil of the subject will accept the Witness of
another person, it has to generate a key, like a password, for that
specific Witness, using their security number. That way, the device
can recognize and identify incoming connections, so it can allow or
refuse them. It would be, at the very least, a pretty sophisticated
building block for a security system. As the technology evolves,
the security will evolve as well. But this way before we leave the
gate we already have something in place: Suren’s Law.”

“So we need to program Veil to generate this
security number when the person first obtains the device. Before
they can use it? And then only one person will ever be able to own
or operate that Veil? They won’t be interchangeable?”

“Nope, and you’ll need two devices in order
to perform a Veil. Each device with its very own digital signature
that’s linked only to that device and only to its owner’s
brain.”

“Shit man, I think we could do it. I don’t
think it would be that hard. And I actually like the idea. Forced
Veil—people not knowing they’re essentially being spied on—is the
main reason I knew what the military was doing was wrong. I like
this idea. A lot. Don’t take it the wrong way but that Jin dude was
kinda twisted for doing that. I mean, to his own wife. Sounds like
something I would do.”

“I’m sure he had his reasons. We’ll never
know what they were. But he loved Suren. More than anything. He had
to have his reasons. Good reasons, unlike…”

Hunter took the hint and chuckled. “Guess so.
Well, we have from now until tomorrow morning when the Veils get
delivered to get the code completely polished and ready to go. Then
all we have to do, once they arrive, is upload the final operating
system into each one and test them each individually.”

“We won’t be able to test them once we enact
Suren’s Law. If we test them, they will be permanently assigned to
whoever tests them,” Ken reminded him.

“Shit, that’s right.”

“If you don’t mind, you and Brock can test
two of them. That will leave us with eighteen.”

“I’ll see if I can talk him into it. I still
think he’s pretty wiped from yesterday. He’s been asleep all
day.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be a long test. It
can be an operational one. Quick and simple.”

“True,” Hunter agreed. “Well, let’s get on
it. Let’s get to coding this shit, Sweetness.”

After pausing for a moment, Ken cocked his
head.

“Did you call me Sweetness?”

Schaffer didn’t give a friggen crap anymore.
Frak it, he figured. He knew it was always going to fall on his
shoulders; he would always have to speak for the two of them. Far
be it from Pollock to grow a backbone and take the lead. Even the
General knew it. Since Schaffer decided not to give a crap anymore,
when Pollock opened Schaffer’s office door without so much as a
knock, Schaffer about lost it. Especially since they had yet to
uncover anything whatsoever concerning Hunter Kennerly’s
whereabouts.

Schaffer jumped up from his seat and shouted,
“Oh, motherfrakker! You have a lot of friggen nerve!”

Pollock put his arm out to ward off
Schaffer.

“Wait, wait! Wait, Carl. Wait, man.”

Schaffer lunged and grabbed Pollock by the
lapels of his lab jacket. He threw him against the bookshelves next
to his office door.

“Wait for what, bitch?”

“‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’! Obama appealed
‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’. If that’s what you’re worried about, man.
Come on, man.”

Schaffer couldn’t think of a more wrong thing
for Pollock to have said in that moment. He let go of Pollock’s lab
jacket with his right hand and whacked him upside his head while he
said, in rhythm with each whack, “You—really—think—I’m
worried—about—that?” By the last word and the last whack, Schaffer
was nearly beating Pollock in the head.

Pollock knew he could take Schaffer. He was
trying to avoid doing it. Not only because he felt guilty for what
he said, but also because he genuinely didn’t like to beat the shit
out of people. As a last resort he shoved Schaffer off
him
,
which sent Schaffer flying backwards
onto his desk.

Schaffer pushed himself off the desk, as if
he were going to lunge at Pollock.

Pollock raised his fist and yelled, “Carl, I
will break your fucking face. Just stop!”

Schaffer instinctively responded to Pollock’s
indication that he could take him and was prepared to do so.
Schaffer pretended to brush himself off instead. Schaffer went
behind his desk and lifted his chair, which was knocked over when
he went at Pollock. He sat down. His face was red and he was
sweating, but he tried to talk as normally as possible.

“What … do you want?”

Pollock, who by that point lowered his fist
and was breathing heavily, sat in the chair in front of Schaffer’s
desk. The two men sat and stared at each other.

After a minute, Pollock composed himself
enough to speak.

“Look, I’m sorry for what I said in there. I
… I just—” he started.

Schaffer raised his hand. “Stop. Shut up. It
doesn’t matter. I’m not gay. It doesn’t matter.”

“Look bro,” Pollock tried a different angle.
“Look man, it doesn’t bother me. I had a gay fraternity brother. Or
at least I think he was. He was ok with me. I mean as long as he
didn’t—”

Schaffer slammed his fist down.

“Shut the fuck up! I’m not fucking gay. I
don’t care what you think you saw. And for the record, do you want
to talk about your gay ass thoughts? Probably so deep down you
don’t even realize it. Like what you thought when you saw that buff
dude in the Commissary—”

“Fuck you, man!” Pollock leaped up and used
his fists to support himself, so he could lean across the desk and
tower over Schaffer. “I don’t have sex with dudes or get feelings
for them. What the fuck is wrong with you, saying that shit?
Bringing that unconscious or whatever kind of shit up? When you …
you … well you fucking know! Whatever you saw in my head was in my
head, and it’s none of your fucking business. Just because you
heard something doesn’t mean you understand it.”

“Exactly,” Schaffer growled. He didn’t back
down and held eye contact with Pollock. “Which is why I didn’t say
anything about it. It’s none of my friggen business. I’m not you. I
didn’t run to the General like a little bitch telling him what a
homo you might be because you thought some random dude’s body was
hot.”

Pollock resumed feeling guilty for what he
said to the General. He shook his head, took a seat, and
apologized.

“But anyway, ok, ok, ok … I’m sorry. I
shouldn’t have said anything. Gay shit is weird but it doesn’t even
bother me. Fuck. Can we move the fuck on now?” He then mumbled that
he didn’t think the guy was hot and randomly added how Jackson
Pollock’s art wasn’t shitty.

“Yes you did and yes it is. But yeah
anyway
,
what do you friggen want,
Luke?”

Ken and Hunter stayed up practically the
entire night coding and recoding as much of the Veil programming as
they could; they wanted the programming to be ready when the
devices were delivered the following morning. They knew whatever
code they put into them would be the final product. It was going to
be the first taste of Veil the world got.

They figured people would be so consumed with
using and experiencing Veil for the first time that it would take
months for anyone to really start dissecting it and trying to mod
it or hack it. It was something they were sure was going to happen:
people were going to hack Veil. Or, at the very least, try to hack
Veil.

“There’s no hidden subsystem of functions.
We’ve given them access to essentially everything,” Ken argued. “So
there’d really be no reason for anyone to hack it. And if they did,
so what? For one, they can’t use it to do anything to anyone. What
they do to their Veil won’t have any impact on another person. And
two, they can’t do anything their brain isn’t already capable of
doing. They can’t give themselves anything extra. They can only
accentuate what’s already there. Enhanced sights, smells, tastes,
stuff like that. And not even enhanced too much, because they’re
still working off the signals from the subject’s brain.”