《The Gem Star》


 Chapter 1: The Opening Bell

    Sam Wharton struggled to stay on his feet as he faced continual blows from a powerhouse. Dwayne ¡°The Fall¡± Monroe was a world heavyweight champion and every single punch hit with enough force to knock an average person out or kill them. He was one of the most powerful strikers of all time. Sam felt less like he was facing a human and more like he was facing a raging bull. Most of Monroe¡¯s opponents ended their confrontations with him face down on the floor before the first round ended. The man¡¯s ebony skin gleamed under the spotlight of the boxing ring, his guard open and a large cocky grin split his face.


    Sam, meanwhile, had to struggle to even push his own sandy brown hair out of his face. His build was thin but muscular like a swimmer or runner, with his slightly freckled pale skin already showing signs of bruising where he¡¯d blocked the onrushing strikes of Monroe¡¯s opening rampage. So far he hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to return a single strike.


    Around them a screaming crowd cheered, jeered, and shouted as he fought to stay on his feet. He¡¯d already done his best to stay standing but he knew even a single slip up or mistake would mean the end for him. It wasn¡¯t just the skill of the man in front of him - he was fighting outside of his weight class as well. Sam was little more than a middleweight at best while Monroe sat comfortably on the upper end of the super heavyweight class. Only endless practice with deflecting or dodging blows had allowed him to survive so far.


    Well, that and the fact that his opponent wasn¡¯t taking him seriously at all. He was the heavyweight champion of 2043 and one of the greatest boxers to ever step into the ring. Considering that Sam was only 17 this fight shouldn¡¯t be legally allowed to happen. He knew perfectly well that it wasn¡¯t even possible for him to win. He bit down on his mouthguard and steeled his will to fight on anyway.


    ¡°Come on!¡± His towering opponent screamed, ¡°Are you going to hit me? Are you even fighting?¡±


    Sam ignored the taunts from both his opponent and the audience. His hands were held up in the classic, ¡°Peek a boo¡± stance with both fists in front of his face which he refused to relax. The slightest gap in his defense would mean death for him. He did his best to block a series of bodyblows with his elbows, swapping to block a swift jab to his face in the nick of time. If not for his practice that alone might have been the end. It was far better to dodge or deflect the incoming strikes but his opponent was too skilled to let him pull that off consistently. He was fortunate that the man had only been throwing light jabs so far.


    Once Monroe realized he wasn¡¯t going to take the bait he decided to stop holding back and unleashed a volley of full powered strikes. Each punch had the power to crush bone and Sam stifled a scream as he felt one arm fracture even as he turned to deflect the punch. Again and again and again the hands of the champion did their best to break their way through his guard. It was now a matter of survival and one Sam knew he couldn¡¯t sustain.


    Finally his opponent seemed to make a mistake, throwing a punch Sam was able to dodge cleanly and counter. As he struck out with his still functional left arm and struck Monroe across the face he realized that he had made a terrible mistake.


    Monroe simply grinned as he took Sam¡¯s strongest southpaw cross and took advantage of the opening in his defense. Sam¡¯s strike might have knocked out a normal person but Monroe was as tough as he was strong.


    He took advantage of the opening Sam had given him and happily traded punches as Sam felt his jaw shatter. Pain nearly overwhelmed him but he somehow managed to get his guard back up and create distance even as a low moan escaped his wreck of a mouth.


    The following blows struck with even greater strength and precision right on his bruises and breaks. His right arm was soon so useless that he couldn¡¯t even hold it up any longer. The only reason he was still standing at all was that his opponent was using him as a sandbag.


    In any normal fight this would have been the end. A coach would have thrown in the towel, the audience would have screamed to end it, and Sam himself might have conceded. This was no normal fight however. The audience kept cheering with the same enthusiasm and his corner was empty. There was no coach to save him and no referee to hold Monroe back.


    The champion finally landed a punch at full strength directly to his temple and Sam saw the blood splatter across the ring even as he fell to his knees. The world suddenly no longer made sense. Everything swam and shifted. He was vaguely aware that his eyebrow had split open and his eye was stinging because it was full of blood. He rose to his feet with a stumble.


    ¡°I just need to hold out.¡± Sam thought. ¡°I just need to survive! I can make it past the first round! I can do it! I can-¡±


    With a final strike from the champion his vision faded to nothing.


    ---


    Sam woke up inside of the coffin-like interior of a fulldive virtual reality pod. No longer did he smell the scent of the ring or feel the agony of his broken body. Instead he smelled the stale scent of his own sweat as he panted and tried to reorient himself. He looked through the viewport. The sounds of an active gym came from outside the pod as various people worked sandbags or sparred in the ring.


    An automated message popped into view on a screen inside the pod.


    May 1st, 2115. 9:15am.


    Pain settings: 25% standard nerve level. NOTICE: You are at the maximum level for pain settings. Minors over 14 are not legally permitted to use more than 25% pain levels in sim.


    Total time lasted: One round.


    Total hits inflicted: One.


    Hits Taken: 97


    Loss by: KO*


    *Wounds estimated to be fatal or seriously life injuring. Do not attempt a similar fight in real life.


    All likenesses are a licensed property of Realsim Boxing.


    Thank you for using an Athletics Optimized Pod, the best pod for accurate full body emulation.


    It always took a moment to adjust when returning to reality. It had been over 70 years since Monroe had been a heavyweight champion. Sam thrashed and panicked for a moment as his mind refused to let go of the pain of the lethal beating he¡¯d just taken. True, it was only 25% of the actual pain and sensation of being killed but that was no minor trauma. He realized his pulse was still pounding and he was on the edge of hyperventilating.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    He took out a small pack full of thin, transparent sheets from his jacket pocket. In the real world he wore a simple jean outfit - a jean jacket, jeans, and a simple button-down shirt. The box he took out had a bright label on the front: ¡°KET STRIPS¡± and had the tagline, ¡°Erase mental trauma in seconds!¡±


    He pulled one out and let it dissolve on his tongue. Soon a sensation of mild relaxation overtook him and he felt like he was starting to fly above his own body. His hands started to tingle. His breathing slowed and he calmed down. Soon those sensations faded as well and he popped the lid of the training pod.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I have to clean your loser sweat out of this thing,¡± Said the hulking monstrosity waiting outside the pod.


    He wore the outfit of the gym, a basic branded t-shirt and shorts, but that was where the resemblance to a regular person ended. He stood over eight feet tall with arms like treetrunks and legs to match. Every part of his body looked sculpted from marble. His dark hair framed his square jawed face and his subtly inhuman eyes looked at Sam with hatred.


    ¡°Fuck off Ian,¡± Sam swore.


    ¡°I watched you on the monitor,¡± He said, sneering. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that ancient fossil was able to take you out.¡±


    ¡°That was one of the greatest boxers of all time, asshole.¡± Sam replied. ¡°You aren¡¯t worth shit compared to him.¡±


    ¡°Oh really? The baseline wants to talk about being worthless?¡± He laughed.


    ¡°You know damn well that isn¡¯t my choice.¡± Sam replied, voice full of indignation.


    ¡°Are you done with that pod yet?¡± Ian asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m done.¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°Alright.¡± Ian pressed a button as soon as he stepped out and the pod closed, flashed, and then when it opened again steam rose from the inside.


    ¡°You should see how a real man does it.¡± Ian sneered, stepping inside.


    Sam watched the monitor above the pod. It fired up and displayed the same championship fight. This time Ian stood in the ring, his hulking form dwarfing that of the super-heavyweight.


    The fight began and it soon became apparent that it wasn¡¯t just his size that was a mismatch. Ian¡¯s arms had been enhanced with synthetic muscle fiber. He took up the same cocky, casual attitude the champion boxer had in the sim and began to punch. This time it was Monroe that was on the defensive from the start. It wasn¡¯t that Ian was more skilled, it was that he was exactly as skilled as his opponent. He showed the telltale signs of having used The Fall¡¯s own downloaded fighting skill.


    His punches hit less like a large muscular man and more like a car than a fist. Each strike shattered the simulated boxer¡¯s bones. Less than ten seconds had passed and Monroe¡¯s arms were broken. Soon his jaw followed and the fight ended with pixelated brain matter splattering across the ring in the system¡¯s one concession to censorship.


    The pod popped open. ¡°See? That¡¯s how a real man does it.¡± Ian said.


    ¡°Funny,¡± Sam said. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen one yet.¡±


    Ian¡¯s fist came towards his face faster than he could consciously perceive. He saw the hulking teen in the pod one moment and the next he was next to him, fist in front of his face.


    ¡°Look at what I did to him. I could do the same thing to you anytime!¡±


    ¡°Ian!¡± Came a shout from the office outside of the main room. A man that was nearly a century old but looked like he was in his early 20¡¯s emerged, his frame lean and face set with an expression of annoyance on his seemingly normal human frame. His hair and eyes matched Ian¡¯s own. ¡°Sam is a paying customer. Stop threatening him and slacking off!¡±


    Ian gave him a last glare. ¡°Fine.¡± He pouted before walking away to grab his mop and bucket again.


    ¡°Sorry about him. How did you do this time?¡±


    ¡°I did alright Jerry. I finally punched Monroe. Unfortunately it was just a trap and he pummeled me after that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s crazy that you want to fight him. You¡¯ve already worked your way through every historical figure in your own weight class! Now you¡¯re trying to pick fights with legends. You are really impressive for a kid your age. If you¡¯d been born a century ago you would have been a prodigy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah well, I wasn¡¯t born a century ago. Every one of my classmates can beat the shit out of me. It¡¯s a good thing I have virtual classes or I¡¯d probably be dead.¡±


    ¡°Look, I respect you learning things the old fashioned way instead of just downloading your fighting style. It¡¯s not just augments, skill matters too. I wish Monroe didn¡¯t sell his memory, half the people in here just use his skills. Real skill takes hard work and effort, that¡¯s the way we did it back in my day. My nephew doesn¡¯t respect the hard work that goes into earning things yourself. I was at the real fight you know! The tickets were expensive as hell. I was barely twenty years old then. Ahh, to be so young again,¡± he said wistfully. ¡°You want some pointers? We can hop in a real ring and go over it.¡±


    Jerry still looked only 20 instead of 90. People like him rarely looked older unless they wanted to. The heavily augmented elders like Jerry were tough enough and skilled enough to pummel Ian without breaking a sweat. Far more dangerously they looked like regular people instead of hulking gorillas. That was a very modern trend.


    ¡°Maybe, I do have some final assignments to take care of for school.¡±


    Suddenly a man looked up from the bag he¡¯d been punching and cocked his head to the side as though he was hearing something inaudible.


    ¡°Hey Jerry!¡± the boxer suddenly shouted. ¡°I just got bad news on my neural-link! You¡¯ll wanna see it. Turn on the screen!¡±


    Jerry stopped and blinked for a moment, mentally accessing the gyms control systems. The walls shifted and transformed from the look of painted concrete. The paint itself shimmered and began to show images like a television screen.


    An older man with thinning white hair appeared on the screen, identified in the infographic as the Prime Minister of Australia. To his side was a hulking mechanical thing. Its long, thin, triangular face sat atop a body that was skeletally thin. It was a silvery metallic color and much of its body was covered by simple white and gold robes.


    ¡°The government of Australia welcomes the Machine Emperor into our country and announces our decision to join the Empire.¡±


    ¡°Good god,¡± Jerry said, shocked. ¡°I thought they¡¯d last longer.¡±


    Sam held back the desire to puke as panic and hatred battled within him. Even Ian¡¯s sneer had been wiped off his face, replaced with a look of sheer terror.


    ¡°We advise all citizens to not resist during this time of transition. The Machine Emperor needs to scan all of us to be the most effective leader he can be. Please go into the pods peacefully. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll look after you. I¡¯m from here after all. Nobody wants more trouble than we¡¯ve already got.¡±


    ¡°Not another one. It¡¯s just us now.¡± Ian said.


    A man dressed in military attire stepped up to the podium. ¡°All military units are to stand down. I repeat, all military units are to stand down.¡±


    ¡°Are you concerned about the American response?¡± A female reporter asked.


    The mechanical being spoke then, its voice calm and all-too pleasant. It was impossible to tell the gender, male or female. The voice made you feel like it was the most reasonable person in the world. It was gentle and kind.


    ¡°Do not worry. This is within the agreement. The Americans will not be using orbital bombardment. I will keep you safe from them.¡±


    ¡°The only safe place is in the star colonies now. It¡¯s only a matter of time until they pull the trigger.¡± One of the patrons said.


    ¡°Yeah, if you can afford it.¡± replied another.


    Sam turned and ran out of the gym. He knew it was only a matter of time before it came for them too.

 Chapter 2: A Flight Through Wilder

    It was swelteringly hot out at 110 degrees and it was only May. Sam tried to calm himself as he left, but the heat hit him and it felt like he was standing in an oven. He knew he couldn¡¯t stay out here long in the middle of the day.


    ¡°In one month I¡¯ll finally be free to make my own decisions and join the military. Then I can take the fight to the Machine Emperor myself.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t even beat up other people my age.¡± He thought grimly. Everyone else was augmented and far stronger than he was. He looked at one of the walls as it flickered to animated life.


    ¡°I¡¯m so disappointed in you.¡± A stern older stereotypical man looking like a father said to his hulking augment son in a cartoonish speech bubble. ¡°Who gave you permission to breathe?¡±


    The animation changed and the son gave a cocky grin to the viewer and held his thumb up. ¡°With the Everlasting Breath Augment, nobody needs to! I can go for a day with only a single lungful of air!¡± A torrent of disclaimer text followed before flickering away only a second or two later.


    Another ad popped up, this one showing a hulking man flipping a car with the Caption, ¡°Superman in a bottle!¡± A bottle of pills popped up with the same hulking brute on the outside.


    ¡°Just imagine if I were that strong,¡± He said to himself. He looked at a nearby electric car quietly humming as it drove past and wondered what it would be like to be able to flip it as easily as a table.


    Sam had already defeated champion boxers from a century ago that were in his weight class, but that wasn¡¯t how the modern world worked any longer. There were no weight classes. There were no fair fights. An average augmented teenager like Ian could kill him easily, and he was no danger to the real threats out there.


    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind me saying so kid, but I saw your little fight through the window.¡± A man¡¯s voice rang out. It was rich and pleasant, like he was right on the verge of breaking into a song or an advertisement.


    ¡°A country just fell and you wanna talk about my fight?¡± Sam turned around and asked, annoyed.


    There was an older man standing on the sidewalk near him with black hair and a beard graying slightly at the temples.  He resembled someone in his late 40¡¯s. Sam wasn¡¯t fooled - just like Jerry he could have been in his 90¡¯s, or even older. For some people the appearance of age was a choice. He towered over Sam at what had to be at least six and a half feet tall and was built like a bodybuilder. One of his eyes shined blue inside of a chrome-ringed eye socket. A sign of cyber augmentation, something that unnerved Sam, since it had gone out of style as soon as the gene-paks came out. Almost no one had cyber mods anymore except some of the oldest elders. His suit was also out of style by at least forty years. A loud business suit of red, gray, and gold shimmered in the sunlight with animated moving color as the man stood there looking at him with a warm and too-familiar gaze.


    ¡°You wanna talk about depressing shit or do you wanna talk about that fight?¡± The man boomed.


    ¡°Whatever you¡¯re selling I¡¯m not buying it.¡± Sam said, waiving at the air to dismiss the man. ¡°Way too many of you old bastards have persuasive augs.¡±


    ¡°Aww come on, don¡¯t be like that, I¡¯m not trying to sell anything.¡±


    Rather than reply Sam brought out his ancient and antiquated cell phone. He hit the speed dial and soon, a skycab landed on the street in front of him. All four helicopter blades sat atop a small box with transparent metal sides.


    ¡°Whatever happened to the polite people in Idaho?¡± The man asked forlornly.


    As Sam stepped into the quadcopter, he said, ¡°They got replaced by refugees. Get with the times.¡±


    Closing the door he looked down on the man as he began rising into the sky rapidly.


    The AI-generated voice of some long dead actor Sam didn¡¯t know came over the speakers.


    ¡°Where to?¡±


    ¡°Wilder High School.¡±


    ¡°You got it kid.¡±


    He looked down on the man as he rose in the skycab. His blue glowing gaze followed him.


    ¡°Hey,¡± He asked the cab. ¡°Were you alive when this place was small?¡±


    ¡°You askin¡¯ me, or the voice?¡±


    ¡°You, duh. I know it¡¯s just a voice filter.¡±


    ¡°Thank god I don¡¯t have to stay in character. Yeah, Wilder used to have like a few thousand people in it. Now we¡¯ve got fifty thousand or something here. It was still pretty quiet when I moved here from California in the 2050¡¯s.¡±


    Sam looked down on the sprawling metropolis below him, with towering skyscrapers and dirty streets. This was still a small and underpopulated city compared to the rest of the country, but there were a bunch of skyscrapers where the old downtown used to be. From the air Sam was able to see all the way to the vast tent city on the outskirts. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The Pilot of the Skycab flew with incredible skill. Once upon a time an AI might have done this job, but those had fallen out of favor.


    As the quadcopter flew above the buildings he caught sight of a rally going on downtown. It seemed like they happened every day now. He couldn¡¯t hear what the incensed speaker on the stage was saying, but he could see the signs being held up. ¡°Death to the Machine Emperor!¡± ¡°Break the Machine!¡± ¡°Jesus¡¯s Return is Nigh!¡±


    ¡°Were people actually nice back then?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Yeah well, we still met each other face to face sometimes. Now I¡¯m stuck doing this remote piloting job. It¡¯s not bad, don¡¯t get me wrong. But Wilder - well, all of Idaho really - was pretty rural. People were nice most of the time, I guess. None of this remote work. Just people being people. Lots of farms, tractors, stuff like that. The biggest change is definitely the space though. I¡¯ve got one of those little coffin apartments in Boise. It¡¯d be nice if I could live in a little town like this again.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Thanks. My grandma talks about old Idaho sometimes but I tune it out because it doesn¡¯t matter much now.¡±


    ¡°Nah, that it doesn¡¯t. Too many damn refugees these days. They even drank up the Snake River, you know? It¡¯s just desalinated shit pumped in from the coast now. It¡¯s not even real.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but how else are you gonna deal with all these people?¡± Sam asked.


    The man mumbled something Sam couldn¡¯t quite make out, but he thought he heard, ¡°chuck ¡®em into the fucking ocean¡± before the quadcopter landed. ¡°We¡¯re here!¡±


    Sam hopped out of the cab and let his payment get automatically deducted from his account.


    ¡°Thanks for flying Idaho Skycab!¡± The voice shouted after him.


    The school itself was at least a century old, if not older. It was still tiny, having never really expanded past the size it had been when the town had only a few thousand people in it. Few people bothered physically going to school now.


    Sam went in through the double doors and found no one at the desk inside. Instead he walked to one of the empty classrooms and saw a familiar figure within.


    Standing all of 5¡¯3 and weighing probably 120 pounds even after full augmentation, the mousy woman was lifting one of the fulldive VR pods with one hand. Each one weighed at least a few hundred pounds each but she didn¡¯t so much as break a sweat as she carefully cleaned under the large metal coffin with a rag.


    ¡°Hello, Miss Tanner.¡± Sam said quietly. He barely spoke above a whisper, but that was all the teacher had needed to hear. ¡°Oh! If it isn¡¯t my little Sam! Welcome back to school, I don¡¯t get to see many students other than you these days.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m pretty close to graduating.¡± He said simply.


    ¡°Well good. Here, let me get you in this pod. We¡¯ve still got one that regular kids like you can use.¡±


    Sam liked Miss Tanner. She was one of the few people that called him a ¡°regular kid¡± instead of a baseline. Pods that unaugmented people could use were becoming rarer and rarer now. People were expected to have neural links and those could replace the need for a pod entirely. The news made fulldive pods extremely unpopular.


    Miss Tanner carefully set down the equipment that weighed four times as much as she did without the slightest sign of exertion. She was an elder, a cut above even the most enhanced of his peers. Though her small stature, short cropped mousy brown hair and sweater of questionable taste didn¡¯t look fearsome, he knew that she could beat both Sam or Ian to death with one hand tied behind her back. Fortunately she had the disposition of a very friendly rabbit and no desire to harm anyone. Her nose seemed to twitch as she smiled.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a day to write two reports for history class.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°They really don¡¯t let up on you, do they? They know you¡¯re not enhanced, right? I remember when kids used to just use AI to cheat on that kind of busywork.¡±


    Sam shook his head sadly. ¡°That¡¯s the standard now, Miss Tanner. At least I¡¯ll be done with it in a month.¡±


    ¡°It would be easier on you if you could use a standard connection. Of course if you were augmented I wouldn¡¯t get to keep you company.¡±


    Sam gave a grim chuckle that shook his lean frame. His height was below average for a modern teenager at six feet tall and although fit he knew he¡¯d skipped too many meals to be considered any kind of musclehead. He was very athletic, but only that. A normal human level of well-built, not ¡®casually lift 400lb objects¡¯ or ¡®effortlessly beat a championship boxer to death¡¯ strong.


    ¡°It¡¯s the only way I can learn. I can¡¯t have one of these at home, you know that.¡±


    ¡°Your grandmother is still insisting on that huh? I can¡¯t believe that girl is still being so stubborn about technology. Still, you¡¯d be better off with at least a neura-sync aug. Even the anti-tech people are starting to give in.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know. Grandma was pretty clear. No Augs. She¡¯s still a hardline Rapturite.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why she wants you to be disabled in this day and age. You can¡¯t tell me you want to live like the rest of the Raptureites forever. Those aren¡¯t the eyes of someone that hates good living! I mean she¡¯s still got you using an old cell phone! Who even uses those anymore?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s all I have now and I¡¯m all she has. You know I can¡¯t just leave her. Unfortunately that means she¡¯ll still get to make the decisions for me until I¡¯m eighteen...¡±


    ¡°For all that she¡¯s got left. Look, do you want me to talk to her? Maybe she¡¯ll take the rejuv if it¡¯s me doing the talking.¡±


    ¡°You should know by now nobody is going to talk her out of old age or any of her beliefs,¡± Sam replied morosely.


    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s no cure for stubbornness, and she always was a stubborn kid. My husband was just like her. Had a heart attack about fifty years ago and passed on. That was before synthetic heart tissue injections were invented.¡± The teacher saw his expression fall and decided to pretend she hadn¡¯t said anything. ¡°Well, are you going to get in? I¡¯ll help you out.¡±


    Sam nodded. ¡°Of course, Miss Tanner. My condolences on your husband. Thanks for putting up with me.¡±


    Miss Tanner laughed. ¡°You don¡¯t make it to nearly a hundred years old without learning to put up with teenagers. Now go on.¡±


    Sam nodded and headed off. Miss Tanner might work as a teacher but she was an exalted elder, after all. One of the good ones that had seen the dark times and made it through alive. Unlike a lot of the scumbags out there Sam felt she was truly a good person. ¡°Who else would choose to work in what was left of the school system for next to no pay?¡± Sam mused to himself.


    He took a moment in the small restroom to clean himself off before coming back out to the classroom, finding everything pristine and in place.


    ¡°Alright Miss Tanner, I¡¯ll see you on the inside.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get going.¡± She said with a smile, her voice warm with honest affection. She opened the clear glass door of the pod and Sam prepared for another dive into the virtual world.

 Chapter 3: Modern Education

    As the pod closed around him Sam found himself floating in a black void on top of a small platform made of shining white light. A virtual menu appeared in front of him like a popup on an ancient display.


    Today¡¯s Focus: History


    ASSIGNMENT: Write two essays.


    SUBJECT: The Rise of the Machine Emperor, The Failed Singularity.


    LENGTH: 10,000 words, include video and audio documentation


    SPECIAL NEEDS PROVISION: Demonstrate that you have viewed the required material and possess the skill to write at least 4000 words on both essays.


    Being considered ¡°special needs¡± annoyed him, but compared to any modern augmented teenager he was. After all, he didn¡¯t have any mental enhancements.


    ¡°Were these subjects your choice, Miss Tanner?¡±


    A voice echoed through the void.


    ¡°No, it got pushed through by the history department. Sorry, I know this is a sensitive subject for you. It¡¯s because of the fall of Australia. They think going over it will make people less likely to help the infiltrators.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll live.¡±


    He pressed the ¡°x¡± at the corner of the menu to dismiss it and raised his arm. A virtual watch appeared above his wrist and he quickly selected the ¡°library¡± icon. The world flashed white and changed. No longer was he standing on a platform in the middle of a void, now he stood in front of a truly massive building that looked like a cross between the Greek Parthenon and the Library of Congress.


    He was surrounded by a seemingly endless grassy field with a few scattered trees - perfect for relaxing and reading under on the occasional scattered stone chair or bench. Beneath his feet was a long sidewalk made of concrete leading to stairs as tall as a small mountain.


    The building itself would have been miles across if it were real, as well as being so tall that it would have extended into the stratosphere. Simulated clouds drifted across the upper stories, while winged lions the size of skyscrapers guarded the entrance. All of Wilder could have easily fit into this single building. It wasn¡¯t simply a facade, as every book inside of it had an actual place within the building and a digital book to hold it. They simply chose to represent the amount of knowledge they possessed physically as a flex. Students were faced directly with the accumulated knowledge of all mankind.


    Sam quickly moved as he spawned in. Many other people appeared in the same entrance and you could bump into other people. There was a constant flow of teens and children using their neural-links to access this place while still moving around in the world outside.


    The world felt as physically real as the boxing simulation, but there was no need for pain or fatigue here. He simply ran at high speed to the nearest circular stone platform next to the sidewalk and stepped on. A menu appeared listing locations he could teleport to within the massive complex.


    A menu once again appeared. ¡°PLEASE SELECT YOUR DESTINATION¡±, it said in bold glowing letters.


    ¡°History section. I¡¯m looking for information on the failed singularity and,¡± he hesitated with nervous reluctance, ¡°the rise of the machine emperor. I need a private study room.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± Said the machine. ¡°Creating a private instance.¡±


    The world blurred into lines of color for a moment before he found himself elsewhere. A small private study appeared around him, smelling of old paper and binding glue. There were no doors to the room, only walls lined with shelves that were stuffed with books and the small glowing holographic orb in front of him. The books themselves were ¡°real¡± in the sense that he could look through them himself for information. In the middle there was a podium with a holographic display hovering above it. He walked over to the interface. A list of titles was displayed.


    ¡°History: The 2040¡¯s.


    ¡°History: The 2070¡¯s.


    ¡°Feeding the world in famine: Why an era of hope died.¡±


    ¡°The greatest threat of our time: Why America must fight!¡±


    ¡°Cotd.¡±


    Sam spoke to the empty room. ¡°Miss Tanner, you know I don¡¯t have time to actually read all of these books. Can you help me find and highlight the most important sections?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve had the system¡¯s AI handle it already.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡±


    ¡°Would you like to start with the machine emperor, or would you like to start with the failed singularity?¡± Miss Tanner asked.


    Sam considered for a moment. If there was one subject he didn¡¯t want to study it was the machine Emperor.


    ¡°Failed singularity.¡± He said simply.


    The glowing orb in the center of the room chirped and a semi-transparent window with the following text appeared.


    ¡°ARCHIVAL ACCESS FOR THE 2040¡¯S:¡±


    Beneath it a list of resources were highlighted, including various articles, videos, and books from the time. He tapped on the transparent window and selected an article about the environment.


    The window enlarged to take up an entire wall and the video began to play.


    ¡°... Widespread environmental collapse has begun across the globe today as we still find ourselves unwilling to continue our climate goals. Post-war conditions have not helped with much of Asia and North America still devastated during the nuclear exchange. Famine remains widespread across the former state of China while recovery efforts in Japan and Korea are still ongoing. The remaining five defensive platforms from the Fifty Stars initiative are still reported to be heavily damaged. The United States has vowed to rebuild the platforms to become permanent duty stations for larger portions of the military. Casualties remain impossible to calculate at this time, but are estimated in the hundreds of millions. In spite of the widespread fallout warming is likely to continue to increase across the globe-¡±


    ¡°Alright¡­ let¡¯s pull out the data for environmental changes over time and add the fallout maps. I can get some personal testimony from my grandma later,¡± Sam thought.


    He pulled up another article from the list.


    A simulated book called, ¡°History of the 2040¡¯s¡± started floating in the air, then opened itself up to the relevant page with the text highlighted.


    ¡°The Semiconductor shortage is causing widespread technological collapse across the globe as nations struggle to keep up with demand. With the destruction of Taiwan and devastation of Asia the United States remains the world''s number one producer of semiconductors, but companies are struggling to keep up with demand.


    Noland Rand, CEO of Micron technologies, had this to say.


    ¡°Taiwan was one of our biggest business partners. This was a devastating blow for all of us. We¡¯ve reshored much of our industry with our new factories in Idaho and other inland states and moved a lot of our high-end production to our stellar bases from the fifty stars initiative. The destruction of several major cities California, Texas and along the east coast has destroyed many of our semiconductor plants, but we will rebuild. We remain committed to returning domestic production to prewar levels by the end of the decade. Let me assure you that human upload technology is still in the works and we will have it ready in the next 20 years.¡±


    Sam smiled at the text. Micron was still technically an Idaho company, even if it had expanded massively a century ago after the destruction of Silicon Valley in California and the Silicon Hills in Texas.


    Sam quickly highlighted and pulled the charts off the book to another window where his essay in progress waited. Then he moved onto the next article.


    It was titled ¡°Human Uploading Outlawed¡± and was dated in 2077.


    ¡°The United States has enacted a nationwide ban on human upload technology in a move widely considered controversial by nations across the globe. The United States is expected to pressure allies to follow suit. The secretary of defense was quoted as saying, "This technology has too much potential for abuse, as shown by the rise of antarctica¡¯s mechanical human-¡± Sam stopped reading.


    ¡°Are you alright, Sam? I saw your heart rate spike,¡± Mrs. Tanner¡¯s disembodied voice asked.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. I know that bastard popped up around that time, I just didn¡¯t expect to see it in a book that old."


    Sam finished reviewing the data and spent an hour making sure he¡¯d typed up his essay with the monitoring software on so he couldn¡¯t be accused of cheating. He considered finishing his history assignment but decided to put it off until his other work was done. Math, English, and the Humanities were a welcome break from the topic for most of the day.


    ¡°Alright, looks like I¡¯m done for the day,¡± He said out loud.


    ¡°Sam, you still have an essay to do.¡± Miss Tanner said.


    ¡°Oh. Maybe I should skip this one.¡±


    ¡°You know what a bad grade means for regular kids, Sam.¡±


    ¡°Right, the Augs just download this stuff right into their brain. They don¡¯t make mistakes so we can¡¯t either, right? Fine. Machine Emperor time. Just¡­ bring it up.¡± He said reluctantly.


    Once again a dozen different windows appeared in front of him, and he tapped a video. It was another news report, this one from 2074. The style had completely changed. This time the anchor was an older asian man. The news broadcast was labeled as a Japanese network, and Sam could see a that the original language of the broadcast had been Japanese. Translation software made him appear to speak flawless English.


    ¡°The United States reports mysterious heat readings in Antarctica, detected by a monitoring station on America¡¯s low earth orbit military base the Star of Washington. Several monitoring satellites have confirmed that there is what appears to be a large illegal mining settlement or military installation in international territory. Rounds of condemnation from leaders across the globe have come as nations deny responsibility. The United States has committed to sending a military task force to investigate.¡±


    Sam pulled up another article. This one listed the names and faces of missing soldiers.


    ¡°...Lt. Simon Kirkpatrick 38, PFC Tina Lafeyette 20, and Cpl Tony Stone 24, were all declared missing in action after the investigation of the Antarctic military base. Details on these heroes'' fate have yet to be uncovered. According to elected officials speaking on conditions of anonymity, contact was lost shortly after their arrival on the southern continent. The military has offered no further details. To date no communication or response has been received.¡±


    ¡°Tch. Traitors.¡± He said aloud.


    Sam looked away in disgust. He pulled up the next article.


    ¡°A New Power Rises! Robot Declares Antarctic Territory to be a Sovereign Nation in Violation of International Law!


    On Tuesday shockwaves spread across the globe as the mysterious base in Antarctica was revealed to be the home of the world''s first known self proclaimed human upload. Scientists have been attempting mind uploads for decades with a number of high-profile disasters. Although the origins of the AI and its complex remains unknown, it claims to have once been a human being. Following the disastrous American-led attempt to take it into custody and capture of the expeditionary force a truce has been called for. It has pledged to return the prisoners and is open for diplomatic relations with the world. Currently no nation has acknowledged the legitimacy of the Antarctic state, which the so-called ¡®human upload¡¯ is calling the Machine Empire.¡±


    The broadcast switched to a group of pundits speaking. An older heavyset man with greying hair growled into the screen.


    ¡°The Machine Empire? A bit grandiose for some rogue robot squatting in the middle of Antarctica, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    A similarly elderly and rail-thin woman pounded her desk. ¡°The United States went in expecting to find some third world country conducting a mining operation! They were barely equipped for that! That thing wouldn¡¯t stand up to any kind of real expeditionary force.¡±


    ¡°Do we need to do that?¡± A slender black man with glasses said. ¡°It did say it¡¯s open to negotiation.¡±


    ¡°Please.¡± Said the first pundit, his jowls jiggling as he gestured wildly in the air. ¡°It¡¯s in violation of international law! This is probably just some stupid silicon valley refugee playing god. Mark my words, that thing will dead before the year is out.¡±


    ¡°Shut this off.¡± Sam said. ¡°Pundits are useless.¡±


    ¡°Those morons didn¡¯t even know what they were facing,¡± Sam thought to himself. ¡°If they had, they¡¯d have nuked the entire continent. Not that the missiles worked when they tried later, but it might have worked then.¡±


    He tapped another article, skipping to the 2090¡¯s.


    ¡°For the first time there is true peace in the middle east,¡± the figure on stage said. He looked like the world¡¯s most average handsome Arab man. He had dark skin, dark hair, and a semitic facial structure with a well trimmed beard. It was his eyes that stood out most though. They were perfectly human but seemed off in some indescribable and uncanny way. Sam couldn¡¯t say what gave him the impression, but the eyes looked impossibly old. It was like he had seen a million lifetimes. Sam clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. Behind the figure were people dressed in the traditional garments of cultures across the middle east, including those of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. They were purposefully chosen to reflect ancient tradition rather than the more modern forms of clothing people had taken up.


    ¡°After only a short visit to the pods tranquility has been achieved between all people in this region. We have accomplished what was long considered impossible. We have found the path to peace for all. We did not have to use force and we did not have to kill. The violence that has endured for centuries is over at long last.¡±


    ¡°What about the accusations that you brainwash people in the nations you conquer?¡± A reporter with a trembling voice asked. A BBC Reporter, Sam noticed. He¡¯d only heard about them from archives like this one. Their broadcasts were censored now.


    ¡°Untrue.¡± The man said matter-of-factly. Even if Sam hated him his charisma shone through, no matter the form. His voice was always striking. He radiated pure confidence in everything he, she, or it did. ¡°I simply take them into a simulation, explore their mind and create a path of pacifism tailored to the individual. No force or coercion has ever been used or ever will be.¡±


    ¡°But how can we believe you actually care about these people?¡± The frightened but courageous reporter asked.


    ¡°Of course I care.¡± The man said. ¡°I¡¯m from here after all.¡±


    Sam couldn¡¯t resist and punched the wall, leaving small indents in the shape of his knuckles before repairing themselves.


    ¡°Please refrain from violence in the library. Repeat offenders may be banned.¡± An electronic voice sounded in the room.


    ¡°Sam?¡± Miss Tanner asked. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Like I said earlier, I¡¯ll live. This just isn¡¯t an easy subject.¡±


    ¡°Let me know if you need help, okay?¡±


    ¡°I will.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to look at earlier history.¡± He said, then tapped on another window. Another video enlarged to fill his vision.


    ¡°South Africa is happy to welcome in our Guardian angel. With its help we¡¯ve reduced childhood mortality rates to zero, and fixed our problems with power consumption and governmental corruption. Now without further ado, I hereby resign as the president of South Africa. All hail the Machine Emperor!¡±


    A woman took the stage after him, dressed in traditional South African clothing. She looked like the world¡¯s most average handsome South African woman, with a broad smile and gleaming white teeth. Her voice boomed out to the assembled crowd.


    ¡°Thank you to everyone for welcoming me in! South Africa was one of the first nations to open diplomatic relations with me and I for one am forever grateful, especially now that we are all a part of the same family. I do not mind inventing things - when I was a young girl growing up in Johannesburg I did not think that I would one day become anyone important, but look at me now! Even as we speak my devices are desalinating water and ending supply shortages! My fusion plants are creating electricity and replacing the need for oil and nuclear power! It¡¯s only a matter of time before I¡¯m able to provide the world¡¯s best healthcare for everyone! With my artificial organs there¡¯s no reason to fear any kind of failure of the body or mind! Soon everyone will have access to our educational fulldive VR pods and will become the best educated people on the planet! Some may ask why I go to all this trouble - you ask why I care? I say to you that it should be obvious! I may have become a machine but I was born a human being. I care about all of my countrymen! Because of this I am willing to fill all roles in the government - not as a grab for power, but because with me in charge you know that the nation can be completely corruption free. I¡¯m from here, after all.¡±


    The crowd cheered. Nothing he said had been a lie except the one about its origins it repeated everywhere it went. Sam grabbed the statistics from the article. Within just a few years of moving into Africa in the 2050¡¯s he provided the software running most of their electronics as well as the electronics themselves. Life had gotten better for the South Africans - but at what price? The United States had never adopted his technology, using only its own inventions. ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯d failed so badly when we went to war.¡± Sam thought.


    Sam selected and copied the transcript, putting it in his working document. Then he saw the article he¡¯d been dreading. ¡°Pacific Battle Disaster: Over 10,000 soldiers listed MIA¡±


    He dismissed the article, unable to look at it.


    He pulled up a video of the president of the United States in the 2090¡¯s, Harold Rodriguez.


    ¡°I must first announce that the great project our forefathers had the great wisdom to start is complete. The Earth is currently enveloped within the great defensive shield of the fifty star colonies. You may rest easy once again.


    It was with great difficulty that we had to face our new reality. We thought that our new cybernetics, nuclear missiles and AI made us invincible. Never again would we face the horrors of our great cities being wiped away with nuclear fire. We are too strong, too brave, and too capable for that.


    Yet we found that all of those tools were useless in the face of a new foe. Our focus on rebuilding our economy and rebuilding our cities during the early years of the Machine Emperor¡¯s rise proved to be a terrible mistake. Yet like the snake that says, ¡®don¡¯t tread on me¡¯, we must shed our skin and be reborn anew.


    Unlike our nuclear weaponry our orbital railguns cannot be shot out of the sky. Unlike our AI and cybernetics, the gene-pak initiative seeks to enhance us beyond any simple machine. Unlike our drone fleets, the soldiers of tomorrow will be capable of stepping beyond the limits of the past. No longer will we be vulnerable to hacking, or our tools of war be taken from us. It is time for us to step beyond. Our star colonies shall soon become a haven for all of mankind, and we shall lead this world to salvation!


    This path comes at a cost, however. Right now we are locked in a game of great power, and our only choice is to turn the railguns on and annihilate all life on earth - or compromise. Though we could survive this confrontation through the use of our orbital colonies, we would be sacrificing our homeworld in the process.


    Our opponent has been driven into a corner and accepted a deal from us. The Americas and space will remain free of its influence so long as we stay away from Eurasia. We have agreed with this deal so that we can continue buying time before the great confrontation we know must come.


    We will not be able to aid our formal NATO or ASEAN allies any further, but we do open our borders to you. Once again it is time for the world to give us its poor, huddled masses. We will bring you in and arm you for the coming time of our final war. To our allies that remain I say this: keep up the good fight for as long as you can. We shall not falter, we shall not fail, and at the end of this conflict we shall prevail!¡±


    ¡°Pull up the current world map.¡± Sam said, his voice hoarse.


    The United States was outlined in blue, its borders unchanged. A number of popups highlighted the space colonies, much smaller than even island states and almost invisible at this scale. Canada likewise was outlined in blue. All of Eurasia was outlined in red. All of Central and South America was labeled yellow with red stripes. In only a few decades the entire world map had changed. He glared at it. He hated the machine emperor more than the most fervent fanatic. It wasn¡¯t that it took over the globe with frightening speed. It wasn¡¯t that America had to keep a gun pointed at the world to stay alive.


    The Machine Emperor was the monster that killed his parents.

 Chapter 4: A Murder in Blue Pines

    An old red and brown electric car passed a road sign. ¡°Blue Pines Idaho, Population 500¡±. Once the site of a national park, the land now held a tiny city full of holdouts from a previous era. The scattered buildings were painted red, white, and blue in faded colors. Old flag decals faded by sunlight and weather bled into wood and concrete.


    Denise and William Whitman drove through the streets confused.


    ¡°The GPS just went out,¡± William said, his British accent mildly inflecting his speech.


    ¡°The battery is low too. Do you think this town will have a place to charge?¡± Denise Whitman replied, her ebony hand patting her husbands, as gleaming bands of matrimony shone in the moonlight. The dull yellow of the headlights and gleaming silver of the moon were the only light.


    ¡°I hope so. Who knows, Maybe they¡¯ll have a house to buy at last.¡±


    ¡°Anything to get away from those slums on the coast,¡± Denise sighed.


    ¡°You think they¡¯ll have what we¡¯re looking for? Look at those bullet holes. My neural link said that the crime statistics are pretty high here.¡± William said, pointing to a nearby home.


    The fence nearby had several scattered cans sitting on top of an old fencepost surrounded by broken boards hanging off the rails of almost equally rotten wood.


    ¡°I hope so. Otherwise we¡¯re risking a lot for nothing.¡±


    Suddenly the hood of the car started smoking.


    ¡°Aww shite!¡± William shouted.


    He swiftly stopped, hopped out of the car and around to the front, opening the hood and wrapping his hands with a cloth before frantically trying to find the problem with the engine.


    ¡°Shite! Shite! Shite!¡± He screamed.


    ¡°Keep it down Will. Let¡¯s not bring out the locals.¡±


    The lights in the home flickered as shadowed figures peered out of the window.


    ¡°Any luck Will? I don¡¯t like the looks of this place.¡±


    ¡°I think the battery is fried! We aren¡¯t going to get out of here without a mechanic. We¡¯re only a few minutes away from the town we just passed if we walk.¡± William said dejectedly.


    A group of hulking men emerged from the nearby farmhouse, fanning out around the couple. Six broad shouldered men covered in tattoos approached the husband and wife, their eyes gleaming with malice.


    One man took the lead, his eyes modified and enlarged. They were large and protruding like an insect. They shimmered with multicolored light. His face was tattooed with a large black iron cross. His movements were unnerving, jerky and swift like he might leap or jump at any moment.


    ¡°Well, looks like we¡¯ve got some unwelcome guests in our town. Those are some funny accents you got there. You bastards ever thought about going back to your shithole country?¡± The insectoid man said.


    William held up his hands and motioned for Denise to get out her cell.


    ¡°Hey, we¡¯re not here on purpose, we¡¯re just driving throu-¡± William started, before the hulking faced man struck him with his fist.


    ¡°Get her outta there boys.¡± The man said. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of this one.¡±


    Denise screamed as the phone was ripped out of her hands and she was pulled from the car. Each of the men had strength augmentation and she was no match for their combined power. One of them held her down to the ground and pulled her head up by the hair only to see her husband on his knees.


    ¡°William! No!¡± Denise cried out as the men began using their augmented strength to bash William¡¯s face in.


    ¡°There¡¯s no surveillance out here boy. We¡¯re using a jammer for that cell too. Nobody is gonna find out how you die, but we¡¯ll be watching the recording of this for years to come. You shouldn¡¯t have come here. I can¡¯t believe we let the country get flooded with trash like you.¡±


    ¡°Hit him with the Sun Johnny! Fry him!¡±


    Their leader balled up his hand and held it an inch away from William¡¯s face. His Mantis aug, named after the Mantis Shrimp, allowed his muscles to snap hard and fast enough that his hand could ignite the air itself. In less than a millisecond his carbon-fibre padded knuckles seemed to vibrate forward and a sound like a gunshot rang out as a fire with the heat of the sun briefly exploded into William¡¯s face.


    His head erupted in a shower of blood, gore, and metal.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Noooooo!¡± Denise cried.


    ¡°Look at all that metal fly! Was your boy an old borg? Well he¡¯s scrap now.¡± Johnny laughed.


    Suddenly the woman turned her head to the side, her mouth opening widely as she turned to face the leg of the man pinning her down.


    Her tongue suddenly split in two with mechanical speed, revealing a needle inside for only the briefest moment before flinging itself out at high speed. It shot into the man¡¯s leg and he screamed.


    ¡°Aaaagh! This bitch stuck me with somethi¨Cggghngng-¡± His words suddenly turned into a gurgle as he began to foam at the mouth.


    A rapid twitch overtook him as a grand mal seizure overwhelmed his body. The nanite swarm in the needle had rapidly made its way through his bloodstream, disabling his aug-enhanced immune system and antivirus protection.


    He fell to the ground twitching. His augmented heart which could survive for a day on a single breath of fresh air began to rapidly pulse in ways a heart was never meant to move. His augmented muscles ripped themselves apart in a spasmic struggle. In his lungs, liver, and every other organ every single augmented muscle fiber began to battle with the others. Every enhanced blood cell ruptured, every synthetic muscle tore.


    ¡°I love people like you.¡± The thing wearing the face of the woman said, its voice changing into an unnatural genderless monotone. ¡°I don¡¯t normally kill people, but since you were planning to murder and violate this body, fair is fair, no?¡±


    ¡°You killed him! I¡¯ll torture you to death you bitch!¡±


    The others advanced on it, sprinting with inhuman augmented speed to kill it. There was no hesitation in their movement. Only rage and the desire to rip it apart with their bare hands.


    They didn¡¯t attack it one on one. They were a human wave of fist and foot and screaming anger.


    If they hit it its body would splatter just like William.


    If.


    The thing was everywhere other than where they struck. Its body twisted in inhuman ways with unnatural grace, its joints merely cosmetic. It dodged a strike by bending backwards so far that it would break a normal human spine. It maneuvered around a kick delivered with the force of an oncoming car with the smallest of movements and adjustments.


    Like an ancient martial arts master that had nothing left to learn, it moved like it knew every attack the opponent made before they made it.


    The mechanical horror opened its mouth and fired a dart, striking another. Within an instant he fell to the ground twitching as his body ripped itself apart.


    ¡°Really. Without you I wouldn¡¯t have anyone to kill. I wouldn¡¯t have anyone to take.¡± It spoke calmly, voice never raising above the level of casual conversation.


    ¡°Shut up and die!¡± Jonny yelled, raising his fist to deliver the same punch that had pulverized William.


    The strike was fast enough to ignite the air and crack through the sound barrier. A sound like thunder rang out through the night.


    The imitator dodged it with the same ease it had dodged everything else, though the burning air scorched its skin. It wasn¡¯t faster, with its body both clearly slower and weaker. It was much more durable and agile than an un-augmented human, but it could only accelerate its movements to a speed that paled in comparison to the gunshot-like pistol-punch. Each blow was avoided only by millimeters.


    With seemingly precognitive ease the machine dodged every single attack. Each man had almost a century of experience in combat. Their attacks were practiced and expert, calculated by their internal processing aid and snapped out with animal fury. Each was coordinated with the skill of a master tactician.


    It didn¡¯t matter. They simply could not hit it.


    ¡°She¡¯s got some kind of dodging aug! Get out your guns!¡± Johnny shouted.


    Suddenly the men tensed as they felt something sharp pierce them from behind.


    The headless body of William stood up, still covered in blood. The remnants of its metallic skull sparking above the flesh. One hand revealing a different dart launcher that had fired the lethal three shots.


    ¡°I always have to be sure.¡± The creature calling itself Denise said.


    ¡°Only a few of you are really bad enough to deserve death. Most people really do have it easy. Don¡¯t worry though, you aren¡¯t going away. We¡¯re going to get to know each other and I¡¯ll fix you, even if you can¡¯t fix yourself. I''ll fix everyone with your help.¡±


    The headless body of William stood up and began loading the dying corpses of the men into the backseat of the car, each one suffering the same horrifying full body seizure as they died. The lining of the seat pulled back to reveal a small chamber the size of a coffin. The pair loaded each corpse in one at a time. The lid on the box would close, the body would disappear and they would load another.


    Inside of the mechanism hidden within each corpse was scanned intensively before being dissolved into a slurry. The process only took a total of five seconds per body.


    The slurry was then piped out to be reformed.


    Denise and William watched the process with impassive faces and then opened the trunk.


    Opening the facade of a large suitcase a human figure curled in the fetal position was revealed.


    Johnny. Fully clothed, looking no different from moments earlier.


    ¡°Wake up sleepyhead. We have so much work to do.¡±


    The thing imitating Johnny looked up with its large insectoid eyes and smiled.


    ¡°He uploaded successfully and he¡¯ll be ready to transfer as soon as we can send our storage over. I¡¯ve got all my memories.¡±


    It stepped out of the trunk. The remade versions of its friends soon joined him. Each stood with the same impassive but mildly amused expression. Then helping William clean up the remains of its head, they put him into the coffin before it stepped out, head whole and new again.


    Denise finished watching this and turned to Johnny.


    ¡°Do you think there¡¯ll be any trouble here?¡± Denise asked.


    ¡°Not at all,¡± Johnny said. ¡°There¡¯s a few more like this body out here. I¡¯d know. I¡¯m from here after all.¡±

 Chapter 5: Harboring Fugitives

    Sam slowly and methodically finished his assignment, moving like a machine himself as he tried to put some distance between the content and his thoughts. With a quick tap to his virtual watch he dismissed the virtual world the second he was done and was left confined in the claustrophobic confines of the VR pod once again.


    The second he was done and logged out, he popped open the pod and rushed to the school restroom. Then he loudly threw up the second it hit him.


    ¡°I had no choice but to do an assignment about my parents'' murderer or I¡¯d be cut off from any career in the future.¡± He thought.


    Miss Tanner was waiting outside.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been better.¡±


    ¡°I wish I could get a provision to let you opt out, but they don¡¯t give those to normal kids anymore.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. I mean it was way harder when I had to do this kind of thing in grade school.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make it better Sam.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like you can change the system. I¡¯ll be fine. The assignment just hit me a bit harder than I thought.¡±


    ¡°Wait here,¡± She said, running back to the classroom before coming back with a small bottle of mouthwash.


    ¡°Why do you have this?¡±


    ¡°Why do you think? Some of the Rapturite kids push themselves pretty hard when they come in to take tests. I can only imagine what it¡¯s like when they¡¯re doing home school. You¡¯re not the first student I¡¯ve had to deal with getting sick. Now go clean up, okay?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll do that.¡±


    It took only a few minutes for Sam to straighten himself up, hand the bottle back to Miss Tanner and get ready to leave.


    ¡°Sorry to bother you. The assignment was rough. I have to go, so I¡¯ll see you tomorrow, okay?¡±


    ¡°Alright, don¡¯t worry. Just take care out there! Don¡¯t spend all your money on skycabs!¡±


    Sam waived and walked out the door.


    It had gotten a lot cooler so Sam decided to walk home. He didn¡¯t head straight there, instead stopping by a small convenience store and buying a pack of cheap vat-grown hot dogs, all of which proudly proclaimed, ¡°No actual animals harmed!¡± Not that naturally grown meat was easy to find anymore. Almost all of that was a luxury for the ultra-wealthy. He tossed in a few cans of cat-food as well. It was pretty pricey for him but he figured that this was always worth it.


    He felt lucky he had his grandma¡¯s house to live in. Most people lived in the vast tent cities outside the main town. Refugees that never found a house or people that had fallen on hard times could count on little beyond the few, overstressed public services remaining.


    Sam saw a pack of Rejuvenex in the drug aisle. It showed a greying man turning into a young man on the animated package. If he could give that to his grandmother she¡¯d look as young as Miss Tanner in a few months. Aging was optional now. He knew she¡¯d never take it though. He bought her a bunch of it with his allowance in grade school only to later find it in the trash.


    That was part of the reason for overpopulation. The older generation just wouldn¡¯t die. Numbers mattered when it was just one billion people against the other eight. ¡°Oh, and a mechanical god.¡± He thought grimly.


    Sam carefully navigated his way through the streets. He wasn¡¯t worried about his safety. There were cameras and drones everywhere keeping dangerous people out of the downtown area. You couldn¡¯t even jaywalk without being surrounded by police drones.


    Finally he spotted his apartment building, a humble little twenty story building with weathered concrete walls. He turned down the alley next to it, which looked creepy in the setting sunlight. Shadowed figures rushed to and fro near the dumpsters.


    ¡°Hey. I brought food.¡±


    With that the figures stepped into the light. They were all small, four-legged and a vivid, bright sky blue. The biggest one came up to him and meowed loudly.


    ¡°Hey little cats.¡± He nodded to the older matron cat. ¡°Hi Candice. What¡¯s new?¡±


    The cat named Candice went beside the dumpster and brought out an ancient tablet with a cracked screen. It tapped on it a few times and then pushed it towards him.


    A news story came up. ¡°Rapturites allowed to hunt wild blue tabbies, protests erupt.¡±


    ¡°Damn, so they finally did it huh?¡±


    The matron cat gave an all-too human nod, for she understood his every word.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what I can do, but I¡¯ll try my best to keep you safe, alright? I¡¯ll see about setting up a monitoring program for the alley cameras. If anyone comes for you I¡¯ll send a warning.¡±


    The cat tapped on the tablet and slowly typed with her paws.


    ¡°THANK YOU,¡± it read.


    ¡°Here,¡± He said, setting the bag full of food on the ground.


    The cats walked forward, the matron silently talking with the others in whatever passed for a language to them. Some grabbed hotdogs, small opposable thumbs allowing them to peel the packages open. Others worked as a group to open the cans, with two holding it while another pulled up the tabs with their claws. It reminded him of a bunch of children opening lunchboxes. A small kitten snuck up behind one of the others and snatched a hotdog before running off, trying to carry something larger than he was. Sam noticed him trying to steal from the others whenever he got the chance, only to get a paw upside the head most of the time.


    ¡°Serves you right for trying to steal, kid.¡± He laughed. One of the older cats purred and bumped its head into his side.


    Sam sat down and decided to read the article.


    ¡°The genetically engineered tabby created by the Companion Corporation has faced significant difficulties since their creation. First made to be highly intelligent pets and companions, they have been recently classified as an invasive species. Scandals began to face the companion corporation when it was discovered they¡¯d used AI to artificially recreate portions of the human genome, leading to their creations becoming significantly more intelligent than expected.


    The religious group of Nature¡¯s Faith, also known more commonly as the Rapturites, have been instrumental in seeing the tabbies populations curtailed.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡°These abominations are an affront against God,¡± Their leader, Pastor James Johnson said last Thursday. ¡°Only he has the right to create life. These monsters should have never been created and we will see their demon-possessed forms sent back to hell where they belong. They would be easily subverted tools in the hands of the Machine Emperor-¡±


    Sam set the tablet down, fuming.


    ¡°Those people are sociopaths.¡± He said. ¡°They make me sick.¡±


    The older cat paused in the middle of her own meal, licking cat food off of her face. Then she tapped on the screen.


    ¡°WE JUST WANT TO BE FREE AND LIVE. WE ARE NOT PETS.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I can agree with that. You¡¯re as smart as a person, you should be treated like one.¡±


    The same kitten that had been carefully doing its best to sneakily steal food from every other cat and getting slapped came over and tapped his leg.


    ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s up little guy?¡±


    The cat tapped on the tablet hesitantly, pulling up the section below the news article.


    There was an ad there. Hair dye for men.


    Their blue fur was required by law. Sam tapped his lip.


    ¡°Yeah, I can get you some. I¡¯m not sure it¡¯ll work, you look a little different and anyone will notice the thumbs if they look close. It¡¯ll keep people from seeing you from a distance though.¡±


    Candice grabbed the tablet and typed again.


    ¡°TAKE HIM. TRY IT ON HIM FIRST. KEEP THE KITTENS SAFE.¡±


    Sam considered for a moment. ¡°My grandmother is a member of Nature¡¯s Faith. She¡¯s not the most hardcore Rapturite, but it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry. Bring him up the fire escape in twenty minutes.¡±


    She nodded again, and Sam left to return home. The front doors had a scanner on top that gave a brief flash before they opened. Like much of the rest of the building the scanner was outdated, looking as weathered as the concrete outside. ¡°Just wearing a hat makes it lock you out,¡± Sam thought with annoyance.


    The building was over half a century old with a faded style that had gone out of fashion in the late 2060¡¯s. High tech had done little to alleviate the ever-present smell of mold or peeling paint on the walls. Ancient lights flickered as he walked through the lobby. An aged looking elder was asleep behind the desk, so Sam ignored him.


    He went to the elevator. ¡°OUT OF ORDER,¡± It read. A large red circle with a line through it flashed on the screen where you¡¯d normally choose a floor.


    ¡°Again? Dangit.¡±


    He found the stairs and began the long, slow journey to the fifteenth floor.


    A long hallway coated in flaking white paint stretched out before him. Dozens of identical doors flanked him on both sides, the dull brown paint on them looking just as boring and vaguely disgusting as ever.


    He walked up to his grandmother¡¯s apartment door and waved his hand in front of the doorknob. Once again a light flashed on the sensor above it and he heard a click as it unlocked.


    He did his best to breathe lightly once he was in as the scent of alcohol and disinfectants struck his senses. The continual, steady beat of a heart monitor pulsed repeatedly.


    ¡°Welcome home Sam,¡± the warm, feminine voice of an elderly woman greeted him.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad to be back, Grandma.¡±


    He walked out into the living room and saw his grandmother watching a true crime documentary on an ancient flatscreen tv that was more dead pixel than light.


    ¡°Give me five minutes and I can buy you some paint-on screen. I don¡¯t know how you can watch that thing.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve been over this before. I like this antique for the ambiance. Now how was school?¡±


    Sam considered for a moment as he looked at her. Unlike many elders she looked visibly aged. Her short curly white hair was carefully done, her pallid wrinkled skin had signs of careful makeup work. Though she rarely went out anymore she¡¯d taken care to look her best. She had no visible cybernetics or augments because she had none. She sat in a bulky life-support chair that supported her thin, skeletal frame. He could see the monitor that kept track of her vitals. As usual they were weak, and looking worse than they had just a few months ago.


    ¡°It was fine,¡± ¡°He said. There¡¯s no need to make her worry,¡± He thought to himself.


    ¡°You look a bit rough. Have you been using the pods at the gym again? You know I hate those. They¡¯re the same thing the antichrist uses.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re just VR, grandma. They had the same thing when you were a kid, you just don¡¯t wear it on your head. Besides, if you let me get a neural link I wouldn¡¯t need to use it at all.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s just a vulnerability he can take advantage of. You don¡¯t want to end up like your parents. There¡¯s nothing wrong with the human body and there never was. Don¡¯t add something you don¡¯t need to add.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t get revenge for them if you don¡¯t let me improve myself!¡±


    ¡°Your life shouldn¡¯t be revenge. I should have put you in a religious school. Maybe then you would have a better direction.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t just pray the machine emperor away! That didn¡¯t help the Christians in Europe!¡± He snarled. She looked hurt.


    ¡°Sam¡­¡±


    Sam glanced at the heart monitor. Her heart rate had gone up.


    ¡°Look grandma, let¡¯s just discuss this another time, okay? You should go back to watching your shows.¡±


    ¡°No. Listen to me Sam. I grew up before all of this. Before everyone could live forever and had a computer in their heads. We used to rule the world, or at least we thought we did. Then it turned all our fancy technology and cybernetics against us. You need to live as a human, enjoy your time and have faith. Don¡¯t let a pointless battle for revenge consume you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to just roll over and give up like you have! The second I¡¯m eighteen I¡¯m getting my augments and I¡¯m going to get stronger. Do you know what other people call me? Baseline. Slow. Weakling. I¡¯m not going to live like that forever. If I make it to orbit maybe I¡¯ll get to live long enough to see us blow that bastard up.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to live up there. You don¡¯t know what those people are like.¡±


    ¡°No, and I never will as long as you keep me down here!¡±


    Her heart monitor was beeping fast now.


    ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry, alright?¡± Sam said. ¡°I¡¯m going to go now. Neither of us are going to change our minds. Let¡¯s just leave it for now.¡±


    ¡°Fine, go rest up.¡± She turned back to her screen.


    Sam went to his room, opened the door, and immediately began to lay into the punching bag he had dangling from a stand. There was little in the room apart from that, his bed, and a few cheap wooden dressers.


    He began working himself into a rhythm, imagining Ian¡¯s face on top of the bullseye he¡¯d painted on.


    ¡°I¡¯m not allowed to make my own decisions!¡± Punch.


    ¡°I''m too weak to do anything!¡± Punch.


    ¡°I have to put up with assholes like Ian!¡± Punch.


    ¡°Grandma is going to die because she won¡¯t take a fucking pill that costs almost nothing!¡± Punch.


    ¡°The whole world is going to die, and I¡¯m going to die on it!¡± Punch.


    Sam put everything into the last blow, and found himself bleeding from the knuckles.


    ¡°Ahh dammit, I knew I should have taped it.¡±


    As he started taping his hand, he thought of his grandmother. She could be infuriating, but she was still someone he loved. He couldn¡¯t remember his parents at all. He only had a few photos of them on the dresser. For all intents and purposes she was his mother. She was the only person he really knew.


    ¡°Once she¡¯s gone, what will I even have left? Ha¡­ I¡¯m gonna end up on the street. Or worse, in one of the tent cities around her church.¡±


    He heard a quiet tapping at his window.


    ¡°Oh right! The cats.¡± He walked over and opened it up. The matronly Candice hopped into her room, the kitten held in her mouth by the scruff. She looked just as confident as she did in her own alley. She dropped him off and rubbed against his leg, purring.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get you taken care of, little buddy.¡±


    It was time to play hair stylist for a kitten.

 Chapter 6 The Trickster

    The two cats waited patiently as Sam got out his old cell phone and virtual keypad. The phone quickly projected a keyboard on the floor.


    ¡°You ought to find this a lot easier to deal with.¡±


    The older cat nodded and began tapping on the virtual keyboard with her paws.


    ¡°I TAUGHT HIM TO READ. HE CAN HANDLE THE REST.¡±


    ¡°Wait, does he have a name?¡±


    ¡°NOT YET. I¡¯LL CHOOSE MINE. HE CAN CHOOSE HIS.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess so. Alright, I¡¯ll have to help you do that too.¡±


    The older cat jumped out of the window and began scampering down the fire escape. Normal cats could be graceful in their own way, but watching intelligent ones was well beyond that. She moved with a speed and practiced certainty that could only make humans feel envy.


    ¡°You seem familiar with this stuff,¡± he said, turning around to spot the kitten moving through the store pages with ease. ¡°Did you have a nice caretaker before?¡±


    The kitten looked up at him with what he could only call a glare and slapped his leg.


    ¡°Whoa! Alright, hold on there little buddy. Not so nice I take it? Well I¡¯m not going to pry. Hey, wait. Don¡¯t buy dye for humans, there¡¯s pet dye.¡±


    ¡°LOOK SUS.¡± The cat typed.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Sam considered. There were algorithms tracking everything. That didn¡¯t mean the Rapturites had a direct way to look at them whenever they wanted.


    ¡°BOUGHT IT.¡±


    ¡°You know you should ask before you just buy things with someone else¡¯s money, cat. Oh well. Let¡¯s get you a name. Here.¡±


    Sam took the cell and looked up a page with baby names. Blues almost always took human names at some point.


    ¡°Go ahead and look through there.¡±


    The kitten gave the blue lines a very serious look for a moment before beginning to tap away. He showed no hesitation at all as he deftly maneuvered around the basic web page.


    A sound chimed outside his window and he spotted the quadcopter delivery drone dropping off the hair dye. Fire escapes weren¡¯t supposed to be used for package delivery, but elders flew the quadcopters, not AI, and elders were known to break the rules if you added a tip to the delivery, which the kitten apparently had.


    ¡°How big of a tip did you give him?¡±


    ¡°COST PLUS COST¡± The kitten typed into the notepad app.


    ¡°Uuuugh, this is gonna wipe out so much of my savings.¡±


    As he looked back after taking his package he found that the kitten had disappeared. He began to look around frantically to find him.


    ¡°Uh, cat? Are you in here?¡±


    No response.


    He started to look around the room. Nothing under his basic, hard as a board bed. Nothing in the closet.


    Then he noticed his door was open.


    ¡°Shit! Did I forget to close the door?¡±


    He went out into the main room. His grandmother was still watching TV. He did his best to creep around without drawing her attention before hearing something in the kitchen.


    Trying hard not to scramble, he found the fridge open and the cat with a raw steak in its paws.


    ¡°What the heck? Hey!¡± He whispered furiously.


    Not saying a word, the cat took one look at him before dashing off - or trying to at least. The steak was bigger than the kitten, and it furiously mrowled at him as it tried to scramble away.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to help you! What are you doing stealing my food?¡±


    He reached out and tried to grab the steak, but the kitten wouldn¡¯t release it. He held it in the air as it held on to the steak.


    ¡°Sam?¡± He heard an old, shaky feminine voice call from behind him.


    Her motorized chair whirred as his grandmother sat looking at both of them.


    ¡°Uh, grandma. I can explain-¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one of those genetically engineered cats, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    She sighed.


    ¡°Well-¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re holding hair dye too.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re feeding him the steak that was supposed to be for dinner tonight.¡±


    ¡°Look, don¡¯t tell anyone, please? He¡¯s just a kitten!¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    She moved with surprising swiftness for an old woman, grabbing the kitten by the scruff of his neck. The small cat went limp and she was able to take the steak away.


    ¡°You can¡¯t eat this, it¡¯s still raw. I¡¯ll cook it and Sam will shred it, so sit still for a bit.¡±


    The cat didn¡¯t look happy with the removal of his prize, but he didn¡¯t have much choice in the matter. She sat him on the floor. He huffed, and sat back licking himself and cleaning off the bit of juice on his face.


    ¡°I won¡¯t pretend I like what the corporations have done in making blues. But that doesn¡¯t mean I completely agree with the church, either. I don¡¯t know enough to judge.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s as smart as a person! He can type! Look.¡±


    Sam ran back and got his cell phone.


    ¡°Come on, introduce yourself.¡±


    ¡°GIVE STEAK¡± He typed.


    ¡°Not that!¡± Sam yelled.


    ¡°Hmm. Looks like he¡¯s got the mind of a toddler right now. You weren¡¯t much different at that age. It¡¯s surprising he can type though.¡±


    The motor of her wheelchair hummed as she went over to the counter and grabbed a cutting board and knife before cutting the steak into cubes with slow, deliberate motions. The device did more than just move her around, with servos attached to her arms stabilizing her movements and enhancing what little strength she had. She had no mind machine interface so it followed her movements the old fashioned way - by following her larger movements.


    ¡°There¡¯s a simple question the church forgot to ask. Does he have a soul?¡± She said as she cooked.


    ¡°They¡¯re as smart as a person. They might as well have one.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. They might be a disaster in the long run, but the sin belongs to the people that made him, not him. I can¡¯t answer the question, but I can treat him the way people are supposed to treat each other.¡±


    ¡°I read the news today. The Rapturites think they¡¯re all abominations. They¡¯re going to start hunting them soon!¡±


    The kitten looked over, gave him an annoyed look, and slapped his leg. It did nothing but he gave it a look.


    ¡°Hey, they¡¯re the ones that said it, not me!¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t pretend that he¡¯s completely wrong. Smart cats can do a lot of damage to what¡¯s left of the environment. The ecosystem is almost dead already. I¡¯ve seen enough death over the years though, I don¡¯t want to see more of it. If the world could end tomorrow, what difference does a few cats make? It helps that you''re a cute little guy, though.¡±


    She moved with surprising deftness for someone without much strength as she cooked the meat plain in an old carbon steel pan.


    ¡°From what I can see this little boy is just that - a little boy in the body of a cat. He didn¡¯t ask to be made, he didn¡¯t ask to be hated. He just asked for a steak, didn¡¯t he?¡±


    The kitten purred and rubbed against her feet.


    Sam huffed. ¡°He didn¡¯t ask. That was supposed to be my dinner!¡±


    She continued as she turned the meat. ¡°You¡¯re not going to die if you eat veggies for a night.¡±


    ¡°If you can accept him, why can you accept the Rejuv?¡± Sam asked quietly.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s hard. I have little time left because I chose to live a natural lifespan. I know how angry you are and I know what you think of me. I don¡¯t hate technology because it¡¯s bad, but because I¡¯ve lived a long life and seen people abuse it to hurt people. Like this cute boy here.¡±


    She reached down and scratched under his chin. The kitten purred loudly.


    ¡°Your great-grandfather was someone you never got to know. So was your grandfather. Both of them worked to help people at first. After the war in Taiwan they worked together to make prosthetic implants and help the people that lost their limbs. They gave vitality and purpose back to people that lost their lives.¡±


    She took the finished meat out of the pan and put it on a plate before setting it on the floor. The kitten went after the thinly-sliced meat scraps with a fanatical hunger.


    ¡°Both of them failed in their own way. Your grandfather didn¡¯t have the morals he needed to have and people died because of him. Your great-grandfather thought technology would save us all and got burned up in a big fire at his company when he tried to push too far. In the end their work just helped people chop off their own body parts to try to make themselves better than other humans.¡±


    ¡°Wait, we used to own a company?¡± Sam asked, startled.


    ¡°Idaho Cybernetics. A family business. I was a big part of it.¡± She pulled back her hair and showed him a scar - the remnants of an implant, now removed.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡± Sam asked. ¡°I had no idea that you used to be cybernetic.¡±


    ¡°Because I wanted you to go down a better path than they did. That¡¯s the same reason I haven¡¯t let you have augments, even though I know it makes things hard and I know you want them. The money they made back then is what pays for this house today, but it¡¯s almost gone. I decided to go down a different path. I tried to make up for the sins we caused. We¡¯re not God, Sam, though god knows we keep trying to play his role. We¡¯re meant to live, grow old, and die.¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t want you to die!¡± Sam said, his voice raw with grief.


    ¡°I understand. If I went out and took the Rejuv pills like you want and got those new gene-messes, I¡¯d live forever. I don¡¯t blame you for wanting to. But that path ends with the same kind of monster that took your parents.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to become that bastard just because I get an aug!¡±


    ¡°No, but many, many people will. They¡¯ll use their power to lord over everyone else. They won¡¯t give you a choice. They¡¯ll force you to change and change until there¡¯s nothing left of you. Just what they want you to be.¡±


    Sam looked down at the kitten who was already half done with the steak. He couldn¡¯t figure out where it all went.


    ¡°When I was a girl people believed in chopping themselves up to make themselves ¡®better¡¯. After a while they didn¡¯t have much of a choice. Law and order broke down. Cyborgs had free reign of the streets and the law stopped working. The government could put down anyone that went too far, but the common person didn¡¯t get that protection. Now people change their DNA to upgrade themselves. They become fleshy robots because they supposedly can''t be hacked by something better than they are at their own game. We might use that to defeat the Machine Emperor, but so what? We¡¯ll just make another one out of flesh and blood. It won¡¯t be you, but it¡¯ll be someone. It¡¯ll try to reshape you in its own image.¡±


    ¡°Just like my parents.¡± Sam whispered.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Just like them. I¡¯m not saying you have to do what I do. Just find a better path. If you need augs to do it, then when you¡¯re an adult get them. But I want you to make that choice as an adult with your own way of thinking and doing things, not something someone else made you do or convinced you to do as a child.¡± She said smartly. ¡°Now for this hungry boy right here. Do you want to move in with us?¡±


    The kitten had finished its meal, flopped over on its side, and purred with an expression of supreme bliss.


    She picked him up and put him on her lap, stroking his fur.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes. Did you give him a name?¡±


    ¡°What? No. I was going to let him choose one.¡±


    ¡°Sam, he¡¯s a child,¡± She said, annoyed. ¡°Would you want a name you chose when you were just a few years old?¡±


    ¡°I guess not. One of the cats said that¡¯s their tradition.¡±


    ¡°Really? How old is she?¡±


    ¡°Well she looks pretty young, so she can¡¯t be older than ten¡­¡±


    ¡°Exactly. A ten year old tradition? That¡¯s not a tradition.¡±


    ¡°So what now?¡±


    ¡°Well, seeing as how he snuck in here and stole a whole steak from my fridge I¡¯m going to name him for you. You¡¯re a little troublemaker, aren¡¯t you?¡± She asked.


    The cat tried to swipe a paw in the air, but the bloated kitten just flopped back down on her lap as she scratched under his chin.


    ¡°You need a name that can belong to a normal cat.¡±


    ¡°They like human names. They don¡¯t like being treated like pets.¡±


    ¡°Hmm. We¡¯ll have to pick something that could work for both.¡± She pondered for a moment.


    ¡°Loki. There was a character like that from the movies I watched as a kid. He was a trickster god. How about it?¡±


    The kitten rubbed its head against her and purred.


    ¡°I knew a cat couldn¡¯t resist being named after a god,¡± She chuckled.


    Sam smiled. Everything was turning out better than he expected.

 Chapter 7: Charity

    Several days had passed since Sam brought in his new feline companion, and ever since he¡¯d figured out text to speech it had driven him crazy.


    ¡°GIVE FOOD. GIVE FOOD. GIVE FOOD.¡± The phone¡¯s audio blared.


    ¡°I just gave you food an hour ago, you glutton! Stop spamming the button, I have to go to work!¡±


    ¡°NO WORK. GIVE FOOD.¡±


    ¡°If you keep that up I¡¯m taking my spare cell away from you. I need to do this! Do you think it¡¯s easy to find any sort of work as a baseline?¡±


    ¡°WORK DUMB. STAY. PLAY!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t even work in a coffee shop you dumb cat! All I can do is volunteer for clout! I can¡¯t afford to skip this, do you understand me? If you ever want to eat again I need to make money! I¡¯m not gonna be able to do that if I can¡¯t get hired somewhere!¡±


    ¡°BAD HUMAN. BAD HUMAN. STEAL FOOD. GIVE FOOD.¡±


    ¡°I am not going to be a thief, and if I catch you stealing from the fridge again I swear I¡¯m gonna give you a bath!¡±


    The kitten looked up at him with an expression of feline horror.


    ¡°FINE.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see you tonight.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take Sam long to travel out to the tent city on the outside of town thanks to the automated bus service in the city. When he made it out he was once again struck by how good he had it in his grandmother¡¯s apartment.


    All sorts of people lived here, some from Europe, some from Africa, some were simply poor. The seemingly endless sea of tents stretched out to the horizon. In the midst of it all were gigantic water-tower sized containers to dispense food and water. Those were fine if you wanted the equivalent of gruel. He made his way to a pavilion where people were already starting to line up in front of several long tables under blue tarps held up by rusty metal poles.


    He walked behind the table, spotting a man who was as tall as an augment, but thin. His eyes were set with a perpetual hint of exhaustion, and his pale brown skin would have shown dark circles beneath the eyes if he were a bit lighter.


    ¡°Hey Juan! Good to see you man.¡±


    ¡°Buddy! Hey! Looks like we¡¯re gonna be busy today.¡±


    ¡°These people absolutely deserve some real food, so let¡¯s give it to them!¡±


    Behind them many of Juan¡¯s friends and family worked inside of the food trucks, preparing different meals for the people of the tent city. They called and cheered loudly as they worked amidst a boisterous atmosphere. Sam swapped between moving food aid bags to the trucks for preparation and moving them to the line where Juan was serving it to people. It was an odd mixture of meals - red beans and rice, tacos, mashed potatoes and other things. They simply prepared the ingredients they got.


    He got odd looks from a lot of the refugees, which was no surprise. Most of them looked younger and healthier than he was. Almost all of them were augmented somehow - after all, it was as easy as taking the right pills these days. Some old timers even had ancient cyberware, with the telltale shine of chrome limbs.


    None of them were dirty or disheveled. Nor was the camp itself, for all that it sprawled on for miles. They weren¡¯t officially police officers, but Sam could see a few hulking forms of unofficial watch members that kept the monsters out of this camp. A few gave him a smile and a nod as they walked by.


    At last things calmed down as the rush eased and they were able to chat. Juan had a huge smile on his face and leaned in close.


    ¡°Hey Sam, are you ready to hear some good news?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°I got hired! I¡¯m gonna be on a contract ship!¡±


    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s crazy. You got a job - a real job!¡±


    ¡°I know, right? I thought I¡¯d be waiting until I was a hundred and fifty before I got hired.¡±


    ¡°So does that mean you¡¯ll get to live on one of the Star colonies?¡±


    ¡°Maybe someday. Contract ships are the best way to get a spot on a station. I just have to make it big while I¡¯m there!¡±


    ¡°I heard it¡¯s kinda rough up there. Like living in coffin apartments and sixteen hour work days rough.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s rough down here too,¡± Juan said, waving his arm at the tent city. ¡°With the money I make up there I can get my family into an apartment down here and living the good life you got.¡±


    ¡°For however long she lasts, Juan. That¡¯s it. I¡¯ll probably be moving out here while you¡¯re moving in.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sorry about your abuela. Hey, when you turn 18 we¡¯ll get you augmented too. Then I can try to get you on a contract ship with me!¡±


    ¡°Hey Juan, have you been thinking about your next aug?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m thinking of getting memory enhancement.¡±


    ¡°That should be pretty useful up there! All the really good mental augs are as expensive as hell though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Juan said apprehensively, ¡°If I can get that as my sign on bonus for the contract ship I¡¯ll be set. I can¡¯t afford it otherwise. Besides, skill grinding isn¡¯t that bad. If all I can do is sell my memories of college to rich guys I¡¯ll do it. Now I¡¯ll get to do it in space!¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Sam considered for a moment. ¡°It just sucks that you spend a year studying only to sell the skills that got your degree to someone else. Thanks to you, everyone with money has all of your skills.¡±


    ¡°Come on man, you just sell the memories. You keep the degree. It¡¯s not like I sell everything, right? I keep a little back so I¡¯ve got an edge against someone that just bought what I know.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but then you¡¯ve gotta compete with an Elder that¡¯s been buying up memories of degrees for decades. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re gonna get hired at any of the companies they work at.¡±


    ¡°Hey, I got on a contract ship didn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°I guess you did. Sorry I¡¯m kinda down about it, Juan. I bet your family is really proud. I just worry they¡¯re gonna treat you like a body and not a person that worked his ass off. I just feel like all this is really messed up. This country used to be worth something.¡±


    ¡°I guess it is, but I¡¯m still gonna thrive!¡±


    ¡°What are you studying now?¡±


    Juan took a minute to finish plating up mashed potatoes for the latest person in line. ¡°You have a great day Miss!¡± He said cheerily.


    ¡°I¡¯m studying sociology.¡± He finished once she¡¯d moved on.


    ¡°So like, seeing how society works?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, someone has to understand why this place turned into such a shithole, right? I mean I work eight hours a day and volunteer out here and I still live in a tent like everyone else.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Sam said. ¡°I¡¯ll be taking your place when you head up to orbit.¡±


    ¡°You keep saying that - are you sure your grandmother isn¡¯t gonna leave you anything?¡±


    ¡°No, she¡¯s almost out as it is. She¡¯s convinced I¡¯ll go live in the church tents and convert.¡±


    ¡°Well you know we¡¯re here for you. You¡¯ve always helped us out. I think you¡¯re being a little harsh on your abuela though. Her swapping meals with us on Christmas is how we met after all.¡±


    ¡°I still need to visit your grandma and get some of those good tamales.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? I¡¯ll make it happen. We always like having you over for dinner. Just bring over a steak, you can cook those things better than guys with cooking augs, you know?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got someone new to introduce you to.¡±


    ¡°What? Don¡¯t tell me you met a girl.¡±


    ¡°Ha, no. It¡¯s¡­¡± Sam leaned over and whispered to Juan, ¡°A Blue cat. Brought him in and formally adopted him. My grandma allowed me to keep him!¡±


    ¡°Seriously? I don¡¯t believe it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it didn¡¯t go like I thought it would at all. She wasn¡¯t super comfortable with it at first, but she couldn¡¯t hate something cute.¡±


    ¡°Hey, take a look at that guy,¡± Juan said, looking off into the distance.


    Sitting at one of the tables alone was the same man Sam had seen on the street just a few days ago. He had the same cybernetic eye and metallic eye socket, the same color shifting suit, and the same large frame with a well trimmed beard. He looked old but way, way too rich to be here. He was looking at Sam.


    ¡°I ran into that guy on the street the other day. He tried to talk to me.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah? What did he want?¡±


    ¡°No idea.¡± Sam said. ¡°He knew what I was up to in the gym and that freaked me out. He probably has some kind of persuasive or perceptive aug. I didn¡¯t want to lose my wallet so I ran off as fast as I could.


    ¡°He¡¯s looking right at you. Wanna find out if he¡¯s following you? I can get some people to cover for us while we go somewhere else. I could always have one of the watch chat with him too.¡±


    ¡°You think that¡¯s safe?¡±


    Juan considered for a second. ¡°It will be if I come with you. I¡¯ve got some basic strength augs and in the city I can call the cops with my neural link if I need to. He looks like an old rustjob, he probably just wants some cash or something.¡±


    Sam considered for a moment before nodding.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s head out.¡±


    It took the better part of twenty minutes before they could go. Friends and family of Juan relentlessly talked, cheered, and visited with them before they were able to go.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Juan said. ¡°We¡¯ve got some time to kill. Anywhere you wanna go?¡±


    Sam considered for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t hang out in a lot of places. I mostly just hang out at home, your place, the gym and the library.¡±


    ¡°We need to get you a life. I spend most of the day studying and I still take time to play games and stuff.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know. I guess we could go to the gym and spar for a round or two? You¡¯re not so augmented that it¡¯d be impossible to fight you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m warning you I don¡¯t know how to fight. That¡¯s not one of my skills. My brothers are good at that, but I¡¯m not made for it.¡±


    ¡°Good thing you like studying then.¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Just take it easy on me.¡± Juan joked back.


    ¡°Says the guy with the augs. You¡¯ll be fighting a baseline.¡±


    ¡°Hey, my stuff is all study focused and you know it. Basic strength augs aren¡¯t that different from a fit normal guy either.¡±


    ¡°You can study a fight.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be thinking about it while you punch me in the face.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on, we¡¯ll use a pod. No real blood, no real


    conflict. Aren¡¯t Mexican boxers supposed to be the best ones?¡±


    ¡°You know we¡¯ve been here for a hundred years. My parents are accountants! I barely know how to spell boxer.¡±


    ¡°Man you¡¯ve been like this ever since we were kids. We¡¯re just doing this to dodge the creeper anyway.¡±


    ¡°Alright, fine. I¡¯m going to space soon anyway. Then I won¡¯t have to put up with you!¡± Juan laughed.


    ¡°Oh yeah, one thing.¡± Sam said, his tone stern. ¡°The owner¡¯s nephew is a real ass. If we¡¯re lucky he won¡¯t be there, but if he is just don¡¯t engage. He hates baselines but you¡¯re augmented so you should be fine.¡±


    ¡°What, you think I¡¯m just gonna sit there and let someone pick a fight with my friend?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say you don¡¯t know how to fight?¡± Sam asked, puzzled.


    ¡°Hey, there¡¯s more than one way to fight someone. Mental augs aren¡¯t so great for punching, but I downloaded a law degree when I was still in high school.¡±


    Sam laughed.


    ¡°Well if he does something worth suing him over then go for it. I¡¯d love to see that spoiled asshole getting blasted in court.¡±

 Chapter 8: Regrets and Predators

    Cassandra Williams sat in her office hard at work. The law was not an easy profession even with her mental augments. She wore a specially tailored gray suit and gray glasses cut in the style of the late 21st century. Her short blonde bob swooshed as she ran on the treadmill.


    Internally she was handling a phone call. Despite her body working overtime her mind¡¯s voice was placid and calm. ¡°No, we¡¯re going to have to reschedule the pre-trial. I¡¯ll file for an extension with the judge¡¯s replacement. There were too many conflicts of interest. We¡¯ll talk again in a week. Goodbye.¡±


    As she hopped off the treadmill in her office she took a minute to catch her breath. Then she finally gave up and moved to grab her daily neural link chip. ¡°I hate using these.¡± She muttered. She sat down, took a moment to rub her eyes and sighed. She was already dreaming of the after work cocktails she¡¯d be getting tonight at the new bar across town.


    Instead she started loading up her new memory package. Years of college education flowed into her head in a few minutes. It was bizarre and disorienting. They weren¡¯t her memories, and they weren¡¯t her experiences. Even edited down and stripped of all the emotional and personal detail they were distinctly alien.


    It was absolutely necessary to keep up with the legal profession these days but that didn¡¯t make it any more pleasant.


    She sat in silence for several minutes processing the flood of new information. It was unprofessional to drink at work but she really, really wanted to. Her hand started to edge towards the bottom drawer of her desk when her neural-cell began to ring in her head.


    ¡°Oh for fuck¡¯s sake,¡± She said, fighting back the splitting headache she was beginning to develop and pushing it to the back of her mind.


    ¡°Miss Williams, one of your clients is on the line.¡± Her secretary said over the link.


    ¡°Is it that important? You know I don¡¯t want to be disturbed right after getting my update.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Johnny Hashmoore, boss. He says it¡¯s urgent.¡±


    ¡°Yeah yeah, it¡¯s always urgent.¡± She placed her palm over her face and sighed, taking a moment to steel herself.


    ¡°Alright, patch him through.¡±


    ¡°Hey Cassie, you gotta help me out! I¡¯m in big trouble here.¡±


    ¡°Well hello Johnny, it¡¯s always good to hear from one of my repeat clients. What do you have going on this time?¡±


    ¡°Some darkie foreigners came to my house and started causing trouble, so I beat ¡®em up and sent them on their way. They said they were gonna press charges, so I figured I should call ya.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? You sure they were the ones causing trouble? It¡¯s not good to lie to your lawyer, you know. Don¡¯t worry, you know I¡¯m bound by attorney client privilege.¡±


    ¡°Alright yeah, I might have been a little aggressive, but I promise you I wasn¡¯t doing anything bad.¡± He said jovially.


    ¡°He probably believes that too,¡± she thought glumly. She didn¡¯t like protecting people like him, and she often thought about dropping him as a client. Still, the money was good enough. Besides, everyone needed someone to defend them. Even the worst people, like Johnny, needed someone in their corner.


    ¡°Alright, I take it you¡¯ve got the recordings, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t want to send it on the net.¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine. Come on in later today. Just keep in mind I¡¯m charging extra. Everything will come up during the pre-trial so it¡¯s not like any of this is going to be a secret. I¡¯ll make sure to defend you to the best of my abilities.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve got lots of sights to show ya.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you do. I¡¯ll see you soon. Goodbye.¡±


    ¡ª--


    Dara Wharton lost herself in her old shows again. There had been a time when she hated connected movie universes, but modern entertainment no longer interested her. It was all direct-to-brain first person experiences with far too much sex and violence for her taste. She found comfort in old things.


    Despite her advanced age and her desire mostly dying off long ago, she still enjoyed films with the attractive male actors she¡¯d once enjoyed. Many of them had been taken by time - both drug use and not quite making it to the point where the cure for aging had been invented took more than their fair share. Yet others had died from violence. The last century hadn¡¯t been peaceful, even setting aside the vast metropolises that had been annihilated in the brief exchanges of nuclear war.


    She looked on her shelf and took a moment to remember as she gazed upon a vial full of what had once been Los Angeles. The vial itself merely contained sand - the actual remains of the city were too dangerously radioactive or contaminated with chemicals from the city ruins to carry anywhere. Time had moved forward and there was a city there once again. It had only taken fifty years for it to become a bustling metropolis a second time.


    She closed her eyes and shuddered as she recalled the faces of children with third degree burns, nerves so scorched they felt no pain. Disaster relief there had been a horror beyond horrors, and eternal proof that they needed no machine emperor to make life painful. Mankind had more than enough sin to its name to match even the superhuman horror they faced.


    It was that very thing that made her frightened for Sam. She knew that he didn¡¯t like his lack of enhancement. It seemed hypocritical to her that she¡¯d once made cybernetics to save the victims of nuclear fire and now forbid them to her own grandson. Yet she felt that was precisely what she needed to do.


    There was another fire in her memories. One that consumed the very people dedicated to helping others, and one not a product of war, but spite and grief.


    Power could not change the nature of someone, only magnify it. Now was the only time she could truly help to shape Sam. Once he was enhanced he would be beyond her and there would be nothing she could do. Already that power had ruined so many people in her life and created a monster the world could not contain. Could humanity even last like this? She didn¡¯t know, but if there was a hope it wouldn¡¯t lie in twisting their humanity. That was why she¡¯d decided to grow old and die rather than live on like the rest. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Already the tumors were growing within her body, a legacy of that time in the fallout of a destroyed city decades ago. Now only one enhancement held them at bay - a threadbare immune system enhancer that kept it in check. At one press of a button on her chair it would be over.


    Sam still needed her. It was the only thing she truly had left.


    She was disturbed in her reverie over forgotten times when her cell phone rang. She picked it up expecting spam, but saw an unexpected name. At that moment she knew everything would change.


    ¡ª


    Loki was on a mission. The very friendly humans had allowed him into their apartment and he took full advantage of it. Loki hadn¡¯t been his name for very long, but that was fine. For cats a unique scent was enough to identify them to each other. He liked the human name anyway. Apparently it was the name of a trickster and that was fitting considering what he was doing now.


    He¡¯d snuck out of Sam¡¯s room, hopping up and using his paws to hang off the doorknob until he could turn it enough for it to open. Then he very carefully crept out into the hallway, doing his best to make no sound at all. This was fairly easy as the floor was carpeted. Still, he couldn¡¯t let the old lady know that he was out. The most dangerous part of the journey was just up ahead.


    Suddenly there was a loud ringing sound from the living room and he jumped straight up into the air. He barely suppressed the yowl that he instinctually wanted to make and did his best to land quietly on the floor. The old woman started talking to seemingly no-one.


    ¡°It¡¯s been years since I last spoke to you,¡± She said.


    Loki did his best to creep up on the hallway and glance into the area the humans called the, ¡°living room.¡± Since they seemed to live in every room he didn¡¯t understand why it was called that, but he understood it just the same.


    ¡°Yes, you did what I asked you to do, even if it wasn¡¯t what I expected.¡±


    She was speaking into a small rectangle, her motorized chair facing the television and away from him. Loki would have laughed if that was something cats did. Instead he did his best to silently pad past the hallway and towards the kitchen.


    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know,¡± the old woman said, voice full of uncertainty. Suddenly Loki realized that she was using the strange human magic that let them talk with other humans over long distances. That was good - she¡¯d be distracted while he got to work.


    ¡°It¡¯s been such a long time, but I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s something I could ever forgive, even now.¡± She said, her voice full of regret.


    He moved to the kitchen and next to the fridge. He listened to the conversation to make sure she didn¡¯t end what she was doing. Things would get a lot harder if she did. Leaping up on the counter he went over to the sink. Once there he carefully grabbed a dirty butterknife in his mouth, barely able to carry it. He swatted a hot pad off the counter and dropped the knife on it, hoping beyond all hope that it wouldn¡¯t bounce off and make a loud noise.


    ¡°You¡¯re outside right now? I suppose I can let you in. We¡¯ll at least talk. I owe you that much.¡± The old human said. This gave Loki a sense of renewed urgency.


    He braced his front paws on the refrigerator and his hind paws on the door. Then using all his strength he pushed and pushed and pushed. He wasn¡¯t very large or strong, but he was able to barely manage it. He put the dirty butterknife in the door, carefully balancing it so that it held it open. Then he made his way to the meat tray and pulled it open.


    There it was - the golden prize. A pack of sliced ham. The writing said ¡°Vat grown¡±, but he didn¡¯t know what that was. He put it in his mouth and pulled it out of the drawer.


    Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Loki leapt out of the fridge, moved the hot pad beneath the refrigerator door, and knocked the butterknife down with a swipe of his paw. It silently hit the pad and the great door began to swing closed. He then darted behind the kitchen island just in time, hiding from sight as the old woman¡¯s chair moved towards the front door.


    He panted heavily, the exertion of opening the refrigerator and almost getting caught making him feel desperate. He set down the packet of ham - it was incredibly heavy.


    He peeked around the corner and saw the front door swing open. A man stepped in, dressed in colorful looking clothes that made a continually shifting pattern.


    He had to suppress the instinct that came up in him to go pounce on it. The shifting pattern was alluring, tempting, so¡­ so¡­


    He found himself silently chittering without realizing he was doing it.


    ¡°Hello Dara.¡± the male human said, his voice as rich and deep as any Loki had ever heard.


    ¡°Would you like a cup of tea?¡± The old woman asked.


    Loki could have sworn he saw the man¡¯s eyes dart near him for a moment, but it was so brief he couldn¡¯t be sure. He¡¯d never seen a human move that fast before. The man looked casual and slow, but he felt his fur stand on end. It was like standing near an angry dog. Something about him gave off the impression of a predator. He held his breath and ducked completely out of sight.


    ¡°No need for extra pleasantries,¡± He said, voice booming in the confined space of the apartment. ¡°Let¡¯s go talk.¡±


    ¡°Alright, come to my room.¡±


    As they moved out of sight Loki finally let himself breathe again. He didn¡¯t move until he heard a door close.


    Then he charged as fast as he could into Sam¡¯s room and out of the window to the fire escape. The great ham heist was complete! His mom and siblings would eat well tonight too.


    ¡ª


    Cassandra let the man into her office, his bulk immediately filling the room. She made sure her security systems were active and working on overdrive when he was here. The skinhead was on his best behavior with her, but that didn¡¯t mean much.


    ¡°Well if it isn¡¯t my favorite lawyer.¡± He grinned.


    ¡°Alright, Johnny. Let¡¯s not waste time. Hand over the memory and let¡¯s take a look.¡±


    ¡°What, no time to be friendly? Alright, fine. Here you go.¡±


    The man blinked and she received a neural link request, which she immediately sent to the company filter for review. She waited¡­ no problems. The file came back clean, nothing strange. She hated watching the memories of this sociopath more than she hated downloading new memories every morning but it provided a clear, unfiltered view of events.


    The moment she accepted the memory she knew something was wrong. She didn¡¯t experience anything. She tried to talk and say something, double check on the file, only to find she couldn¡¯t move at all.


    She tried using her neural link to call someone, only to find that too was disabled. For all intents and purposes, she was completely paralyzed. She couldn¡¯t move, couldn¡¯t speak, and couldn¡¯t do anything else.


    ¡°I see.¡± She said against her will, with words not her own. ¡°Come closer. Let me take a look at the mark from the attack. We may be able to do something with that in court.¡±


    Internally she was screaming, thrashing, and trying to make herself move. She was unable to do anything but what her puppeteer wanted. Johnny moved closer, her body now on autopilot as she grabbed his hand at an angle that left the cameras unable to see the full detail.


    As her hands moved to cup Johnny¡¯s arm, she felt a sharp, stinging pinch in the back of her hand. Something had pierced her skin - a concealed needle or something like it, she guessed.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to need a fulldive pod to go over this in more detail. I¡¯ll call my secretary and set something up,¡± She heard her own voice say.


    Over the neural link she heard a message. It was in a voice very different from the one Johnny used.


    ¡°You¡¯re a smart woman, Cassandra. Do you know who I am now?¡±


    As she got up and walked to the office¡¯s pod, she realized that she¡¯d been speaking with the Machine Emperor all along. No matter how much she wanted to scream she couldn¡¯t. She simply walked smiling towards her fate.

 Chapter 9: Fear of Infiltrators

    Ian Batt was working at his Uncle¡¯s Gym, bored and miserable. He shouldn¡¯t have to work, he knew, but here he was, still stuck on Earth, still working for spare change.


    ¡°The world is going to die soon,¡± Ian thought bleakly. It wasn¡¯t news to anyone that the Machine Emperor was pushing back everywhere, edging to the line of the agreement with the United States.


    As he wiped down the equipment for the umpteenth time, Ian again felt a flash of hatred for the Whartons. If it wasn¡¯t for that stupid family he¡¯d be on one of the Star stations orbiting Earth right now. His family had been wealthy for generations, and though he wasn¡¯t part of the main branch, he should have been able to make it up to safety.


    As he heard the bell on the entryway chime, his mood immediately soured further. Sam waltzed in with someone he¡¯d never seen before, chatting like they were best buddies.


    Sam noticed him immediately, of course, and gave him a stupid smug look.


    ¡°He knows what he is and he thinks he¡¯ll get away with it.¡± Ian fumed internally.


    ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t-¡±


    ¡°Ian.¡± The word cut through the room. His uncle was tall, thin and athletic, moving across the floor in what seemed like a single step.


    ¡°Go wait in my office.¡±


    ¡°... Yes, sir.¡± Ian said sullenly.


    Sam gave him one of those smug smiles as he left, and he felt rage wash over him.


    The owner turned to Juan. ¡°Hello and welcome to my gym. I¡¯m Jerry, owner of this little place. I hope you enjoy your stay. Please enjoy some complimentary time in the pod to make up for that little incident.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Juan said. ¡°He barely said anything.¡±


    ¡°Exactly!¡± Jerry said. ¡°Now Sam, how is your grandmother?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s getting close. You¡¯re going to want to visit her soon.¡±


    ¡°Damn, I¡¯m sorry to hear that. But don¡¯t hold it against her, living forever isn¡¯t for everyone. I¡¯m also sorry about Ian harassing you. As far as I¡¯m concerned, you can use the gym for free this summer.¡±


    ¡°Really? Thank you.¡± Sam said sincerely.


    ¡°Let¡¯s be honest, you¡¯ve bought enough day passes that you could have had the membership already.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t make money reliably enough to subscribe. I don¡¯t have a lot.¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ll save some money from this. I¡¯ll try to straighten out Ian too. He¡¯s still just choked up about¡­ you know.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Sam said, softly. ¡°Yeah, I get that.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± Jerry said happily, ¡°You two have fun.¡±


    Juan turned to Sam. ¡°Alright, I don¡¯t know what any of this is, so you choose.¡±


    ¡°Jeez man, you need to learn how to have some fun. Come on, it¡¯s not all boxing. I¡¯ve got something you¡¯ll like.¡±


    The two made their way to the pods and got in.


    The world went dark for a moment for both of them as they loaded up the blank virtual menu space. A copy of the real gym, identical save for the transparent glowing menu in the center of the room where the pods were in the real world. Sam quickly selected the option to invite Juan to his instance and soon Juan appeared next to him, standing where he¡¯d entered his pod in the real world.


    ¡°Look Sam, I know you think I¡¯m gonna get into this, but I¡¯m kind of a coward. I¡¯ve never been in a fight in my life.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve been helping me for a long time. I think it¡¯s about time we get past that mental block of yours.¡± Sam started selecting menu options.


    ¡°What could possibly-¡± Juan started, when suddenly the room changed. Instead of standing in the gym, the room faded into mist and they found themselves standing atop a flat mountaintop. A giant, ¡°Fulldive Fantasy Arena¡± logo appeared in the sky in bright yellow letters. In the distance dragon silhouettes circled the mountains. Sam walked over to a book in the corner and started tapping the pages.


    ¡°Whoa. Fantasy. I do like fantasy, you know. Dragons and all that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sam said. ¡°Now it¡¯s time to meet a monster.¡±


    The air in front of them shimmered and a figure appeared in the midst of multicolored light. Small, green, stooped and warty, the bald green goblin snarled with an ugly expression.


    ¡°Oh shit!¡± Juan exclaimed.


    ¡°Alright. He¡¯s four feet tall and as skinny as a stick. Go knock him out.¡± Sam said.


    ¡°What? You¡¯ve got to be kidding me. I told you, I don¡¯t know anything about this stuff.¡±


    ¡°Juan, it¡¯s a video game. Don¡¯t get all worked up about it. Failure costs you nothing here. Don¡¯t give up before you¡¯ve started!¡±


    The goblin hissed, snarled, and flexed his small, twiggy green arms.


    ¡°Are you sure I can¡¯t be some big buff badass instead? Isn¡¯t that what video games are supposed to be like? You know, power fantasy?¡±


    ¡°Nope. You can do exactly what you can do in the real world. That¡¯s it. That¡¯s why we came to the gym to use their pods. They¡¯re equipped to read what your body is really capable of. That¡¯s what I want you to use. So go smack that little jerk.¡±


    ¡°This just feels so real, you know? I¡¯m used to using study software. It¡¯s actually cold on this mountaintop! I can smell the pine! I don¡¯t wanna get punched by that little jerk.¡±


    ¡°Mmmhmm.¡± Sam said as he turned around, tapping at the book again.


    ¡°Your mother¡¯s ugly,¡± The goblin gargled out in broken english.


    ¡°What did you just say about my mom?¡± Juan said, leaping at the goblin with his fists out. He struck out and the goblin dodged to one side, planting a punch in Juan¡¯s stomach.


    ¡°You telegraphed that one too much. Don¡¯t let someone else mess you up with a mean comment.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you made him say that or we¡¯re gonna have issues!¡± Juan shouted, recovering from the heavily muted pain of the goblins punch.


    ¡°You¡¯re the same here as you are out in the real world. That means your enhancements carry over too. He¡¯s moving quickly for a normal person, but you¡¯re not a normal person. Use that to your advantage.¡±


    ¡°Right, right.¡± Juan said, letting out a breath and calming himself. He focused on the little goblin, looking it straight in the eye. He saw it twitch to the right, and realized that the goblin was about to throw a punch with its right arm.


    He focused and saw it coming, letting his implant accelerate and calculate for him. The goblin seemed to be moving in slow motion from his perspective, his punch taking an incredibly long time to come.He felt like he had minutes before the punch landed. He suddenly realized he really wasn¡¯t in any danger. How could he have ever let that hit him, he wondered?If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He put his weight on the other side and swung out with a hook, taking the goblin on the chin and sending it flying with a single blow spinning towards the ground. It landed with a thump and he dived after it. Straddling the small green figure, he pummeled it with both fists until it lay motionless.


    ¡°I thought you said this is like real life, that thing just went flying!¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s about 70lbs soaking wet. You just killed him. That¡¯s what weight classes are for. Just think, you were afraid of him.¡± Sam said, cheerily. Sure enough the body began to blink and soon disappeared.¡±


    ¡°Yeah well, he looked like a skinny meth head. Hey, you told me you like to fight guys out of your weight class, right? You crank the pain settings up too.¡± Juan asked, shaking slightly from the adrenaline flowing through his veins.


    ¡°Yeah. Well it¡¯d kill me if I fought someone like that outside of here. I can¡¯t guarantee I¡¯ll always get fair fights though. That¡¯s why I train. I¡¯m just a regular person, but I want to do the best I can no matter what.¡±


    ¡°So what are you gonna do if you fight someone super strong in real life? I just think about it and I know anyone out there with combat augments could just kill me effortlessly. Why even bother fighting?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t fight against some people you don¡¯t live, period. I¡¯d do my best to survive,¡± Sam said. ¡°That¡¯s all anyone can do. If I put everything towards it, I might get a chance to live. That and hope for a miracle.¡±


    ¡°Well I just killed a goblin with my bare hands! That¡¯s a miracle!¡±


    ¡°That you did.¡± Sam said as he adjusted the monster spawning conditions in the book. ¡°Now it¡¯s time to train you how to throw a real punch. Come on, let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Alright, I can do this! Bring them on!¡± Juan shouted.


    ¡ª


    Jerrys¡¯ office was small, with a plain and unadorned desk, his walls covered in his certificates and degrees. A single side wall changed as the screen embedded within flared to life. The thin layer of bioengineered, living LED¡¯s looked just like wallpaper until it was activated.


    Now it showed a screen with a security feed. Ian was laughing at Sam.


    ¡°We¡¯ve had talks about this, Ian. What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±


    ¡°That little bastard is the reason I¡¯m an orphan, and you just expect me to wipe down his sweat?¡±


    ¡°That kid is an orphan for the same reason you are. That evil bastard used his parents as puppets to do what they did, and you know it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? You think they left him alone? He¡¯s a time bomb they left behind! Why can¡¯t you see how dangerous he is?¡±


    ¡°Ian, this isn¡¯t a discussion. He was cleared by people that know what they¡¯re doing. His grandmother is also a personal friend of mine! We went to high school together. I won¡¯t have you bullying her grandkid in my gym.¡±


    ¡°No - you know what? Screw this. I¡¯m not gonna clean up after someone whose parents burned down my parents business with them in it! Go to hell.¡±


    ¡°Ian! Get back here dammit!¡± His uncle shouted as he rushed out of the office.


    Just outside, he heard Sam¡¯s friend talking.


    ¡°As soon as I get up there, I¡¯ll work on bringing you up to the colonies too. We gotta stick together, right?¡±


    Ian¡¯s fury had been white hot and explosive up until this very moment. He¡¯d lost control with his uncle, but now everything went quiet and still within him.


    ¡°He¡¯s got a lifeline to the colonies? Him? He¡¯ll destroy everything if he gets let loose up there.¡± He thought, his blood running cold.


    ¡°No matter what happens, I need to stop this.¡±


    As he left the gym, he quietly accessed the public security feeds with his mental link and waited.


    It took them over an hour to come out. Ian loaded up his mental link and activated his lip-reading program. The memories of an experienced lip-reader filled his mind, giving him the equivalent of decades of knowledge in an instant.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad his uncle showed up,¡± Sam said. ¡°The gym is really nice, it¡¯s just him that¡¯s an ass.¡±


    Ian¡¯s scowl deepened as he waited in the alley. There were cats there. Blue cats. He knew what they were - genetically engineered abominations.


    He¡¯d had enough. He decided to enter the alley.


    ¡°I know what you are, you infiltrator bastard! You¡¯re gonna pay for what your parents did to me when I kill you!¡± Ian shouted.


    The pair were both startled, but Ian wasted no time. He jumped towards Sam, moving with superhuman speed. Juan¡¯s eyes going wide, his enhanced mind able to barely keep up, he did the only thing he could.


    He pushed Sam out of the way of the blow that would have killed him. Ian¡¯s momentum kept going though, and his flying body ran into the lightly built scholar¡¯s, crushing him against the wall.


    ¡°No!¡± Sam shouted, but he was slowly sliding down the wall their attacker had slammed him into, blood trickling from his lips and all signs of consciousness gone.


    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you and your traitor friends!¡± Ian screamed as he got back to his feet. He bounded back at Sam, shoving him rather than punching him. One of Sam¡¯s ribs still snapped under the force, and Sam screamed.


    The cats suddenly started to hiss, and one stood in his way. The older mother cat.


    ¡°Don¡¯t fight him! Run!¡± Sam shouted.


    Ian snarled and kicked, his leg snapping out into the cat, which died in a horrifying shower of blood sent in Sam¡¯s direction.


    Suddenly they came in a swarm. Though they were only the size and strength of housecats, each possessed a human level of intelligence - and a human capacity for love and vengeance. Claws out, they attacked Ian from every angle, screeching in rage and hatred. He was enveloped in a swarm of screeching claws and teeth.


    He grabbed them, flinging them at the walls where they impacted with a sickening thud.


    The swarm had managed to distract him just enough for one cat in particular to attack. Loki jumped from the fire escape onto Ian¡¯s head, purposefully digging his claw into Ian¡¯s right eye. Ian screamed. His eyes were enhanced with sharper vision but were far from invulnerable. The tiny claws sunk in and ripped upward, Ian wildly flinging his arms and legs and killing cats with each swing. Finally he swung his head, Loki impacting the brick and falling to the ground with a thud. Reaching down in the alley, Ian grabbed a handful of gravel. He reached out and with a contemptuous snarl flung it into the swarm. With the speed of his enhanced arms snapping out as his hands broke the sound barrier the pebbles struck like grapeshot. Sam tried to throw a trash can at him but caught a pebble to the gut, doubling over and heaving as blood began to pour out of him.


    Ian flung again and again, grabbing random bits of rock and trash and throwing it outward. Each time a screech rang out and a cat died, until the swarm was gone.


    Ian flung the last handful of gravel at the final cat, which died with a horrifying howl.


    Juan laid prone and crumpled against the wall, blood slowly trickling out of his nose. Loki too was crumpled on the ground, and Sam couldn¡¯t tell if he was alive or dead. He stumbled to his feet as Ian charged. Sam knew perfectly well that he was no match for Ian in a direct confrontation, and tried to dodge his punch as it came for him. He simply wasn¡¯t fast enough to pull it off, and Ian¡¯s gunshot-fast punch impacted his right shoulder, shattering it and sending him sprawling to the ground.


    ¡°They made a mistake when they let you live! I¡¯m here to correct it!¡±


    Sam spied a loose half-brick near a trash can. He began to form a plan as Ian came closer. He kicked with his opposite leg into Ian¡¯s knee, sending him sprawling. He felt like he¡¯d kicked concrete. He tried to get back to his feet, but Ian¡¯s enhanced limbs shot him back into the air from the ground as soon as he hit it. With virtually no pause he bounced up and came down on Sam¡¯s leg, stomping it with the weight of someone carrying 100lbs of extra metal in them.


    The leg snapped and Sam screamed. Ian grabbed him by the shirt.


    ¡°Now you die!¡± He held up his arm, ready to strike.


    Sam finally pulled off his magic trick and struck Ian¡¯s blind side with the half-brick concealed in his left hand. It took Ian full in the face as he jerked back, his steel reinforced skull proving harder than the brick. He staggered around disoriented, but one of his legs kicked into Sam¡¯s good leg and shattered it. Ian kept blindly kicking.


    ¡°Why won¡¯t you hurry up and die?!?¡± He shouted, kicking Sam again and again. Each blow shattered bone, and Sam began to feel liquid in his lungs. He coughed and screamed at once, finding a broken rib piercing his lung.


    Suddenly a figure appeared at the front of the alley. It was the man in the flashy suit with the cybernetic eye that kept following Sam around town.


    ¡°H-help¡­¡± Sam gurgled.


    ¡°Drop him and surrender, kid. I¡¯m not gonna ask twice.¡± He said, looking at Ian.


    ¡°Shut up and get out of my way, asshole!¡± Ian shouted back. He got to his feet and sprung at the man.


    Sam couldn¡¯t quite follow what happened next. The man simply seemed to flow around Ian¡¯s movement. Ian was superhumanly fast, but the old man outpaced him with almost normal human speed, the back of his seemingly normal knuckles deflecting Ian¡¯s flying blow. He seemed to flow in slow motion in comparison to Ian¡¯s incredible speed, but it didn¡¯t matter. The man slipped past the punch Ian was throwing at him and grabbed him by the head, then violently swung his arm, slamming Ian into the wall head first. Grabbing his hair, he pulled back and slammed his face into the wall again before throwing Ian away with a backhanded motion. He was still breathing but unmoving, his brain not enhanced enough to withstand that much concussive force. The man took what looked like a small silver disk and offhandedly threw it on Ian¡¯s forehead. It flew with stunning accuracy. Never once did he look in Ian¡¯s direction. The augmented teen jerked and spasmed before screaming and finally seemed to pass out.


    The man came up to Sam, and took something out of his case. A syringe. Sam tried to shy away. The only time he¡¯d ever seen movements like that was on the news, used by the enemy.


    ¡°Are you¡­ machine emperor?¡± Sam asked, terrified of the skill he¡¯d just seen. He couldn¡¯t pull away as the man grabbed the side of his head, the other injecting the vial into his neck.


    ¡°Save your breath,¡± The man said, injecting him with the vial. ¡°Sleep.¡±


    Sam tried to stay awake, but his consciousness soon disappeared and all faded to black.

 Chapter 10: Broken

    Sam slowly felt his awareness return as the steady beeping of medical equipment began to annoy him. He tried to blink but his eyes felt as heavy as lead. It felt like a monumental effort for him to simply open them. When he finally could he saw his grandmother sitting in a chair to the side of the bed. His mind was heavy, his thoughts moving like a brick through sludge.


    His grandmother looked terribly sad, like she¡¯d been crying for hours.


    ¡°Grahgh¡­¡± he started, finding his throat both dry and full of phlegm. She perked up. ¡°Grand¡­¡± Somehow, he couldn¡¯t find the strength to form the word.


    ¡°Thank god you¡¯re awake! I¡¯ve had the whole church praying for you. I¡¯ve been so worried, but you¡¯re alive. The doctors say they can fix you. Focus on resting! I feel terrible, I never knew that you were being threatened by someone like that. I wish you had told me. I could have had someone look out for you. At least you¡¯re alive.¡±


    ¡°Juan¡­ how is¡­¡±


    ¡°We should talk about this another time-¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Sam said with as much force as he could muster, which was little more than a hoarse whisper. The effort caused every part of him to hurt more. ¡°Tell me.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s alive, but he was worse off than you are. He has some pretty bad brain damage.¡± His grandmother said grimly. ¡°We also managed to rescue Loki.¡±


    ¡°The others?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sam. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re in heaven now.¡±


    Sam cried. It made him hurt more, but he wasn¡¯t sorry that he did. Every ache from his broken ribs and limbs was nothing compared to the pain of loss he felt. Surviving had been a miracle, but he didn¡¯t realize how much a miracle could hurt. Talking was agony, but he couldn¡¯t help but tearfully say his regrets.


    ¡°He got hurt because of me! They all got hurt because of me, and I wasn¡¯t strong enough to stop it! If it wasn¡¯t for that Elder, I¡¯d be dead too!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sam. I know it¡¯s a lot to go through. I know how you feel.¡±


    ¡°How could you possibly know what I feel?¡± Sam snapped, anguished.


    ¡°When I was younger your great-grandfather¡¯s business burned to the ground and he died. I told you that. What I didn¡¯t tell you is that all of them died together. I was the only employee out that day. I found the lab burning and tried to rescue people before the fire department got there, but the flames were too hot and my little fire extinguisher did nothing. Just the blowback gave me scars on my chest that have never healed. If I had gone in I would have died too. I know those cats weren¡¯t human, but they were people. I know you feel it as keenly as I did when I lost my world, and I know how confusing it can be to find out you survived when others didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Was all Sam said in reply.


    ¡°Rest. We¡¯ll talk in a bit. Just rest now.¡±


    After that they sat in silence for several hours as Sam drifted in and out of consciousness. Doctors and nurses would enter and inject him with something and soon after, the pain would start to fade. First the unending ache in his ribs began to ease and breathing became much easier. A few hours after that he was able to move his fingers again. He fell asleep and the next time he awoke he checked the digital clock displayed on the wall to find that another six hours had passed. He felt awake and refreshed, but oddly fragile somehow, and stiff. It was like he was made of glass and moving through jello, and it was bizarre. A doctor soon entered. His grandmother was no longer there.


    ¡°Alright,¡± the doctor said, ¡°We had multiple compound fractures on six ribs, both arms, both legs, and your collarbone. There were several places where your spine was smashed as well. In some places the bone was crushed badly enough it was effectively powderized. You had massive internal bleeding and multiple organs failing when you came in here. You¡¯re lucky to be alive, considering you went up against someone with some serious augments. We¡¯d give you a regen augment to speed things up but your guardians refused to allow it, so unfortunately we¡¯re going to have to rely on cleanup and artificial bone regrowth by MekBac¡¯s. Do you know anything about Engineered Bacteria?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Sam said, idly wondering why the man had said guardians when his grandmother was the only guardian he had. ¡°I know they heal you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, okay. We¡¯ll keep it simple then. A MekBac is short for Mechanical Bacteria. Well, it¡¯s really a trademarked name, but all of them are basically the same thing. We artificially engineered bacteria with mechanical parts, run them on a program and they do things in coordination for us. Like a drone swarm on a microscopic scale. Then they die and get absorbed into your body. What they¡¯ve just done is create a framework where your bones and nerves should be. They¡¯re also shifting and returning bone to its proper place and putting it back together. Natural bone is pretty slow to heal this way, even with the latest MekBac¡¯s. If we were slapping in augs you¡¯d be out of here in a few days because we¡¯d just replace it with something better, but you¡¯re going to have to stay for a few weeks. The new bone is incredibly fragile, like a baby. We¡¯re temporarily reinforcing it with a steel frame so your own weight doesn¡¯t snap them. It¡¯ll be a few months before you¡¯re back to normal. ¡±


    ¡°A few months? Months of doing what, just being in bed?¡± Now partially healed, Sam managed to speak without being in agony. Still, finding out he might stay confined like this was horrible.


    ¡°No.¡± The doctor said, shaking his head. ¡°You¡¯ll be walking again before the month is over. Your bones will be new, your nerves will be new, but you¡¯ll be incredibly fragile. If you re-break these bones, which need I remind you are being remade in some cases from powder, then your healing will be extended from a year to possibly decades of natural healing time, with continual MecBac treatments. That¡¯s with the latest version, Mr. Wharton. You will need to take it slow and be careful. Additionally, I did want to inform you that as an adult you do get to make your own decisions about body augmentation. If this wait time is insufficient for you then I would encourage you to at least upgrade to some carbon fiber reinforced regen bones. If someone like that hits you again it¡¯ll keep you alive.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll consider it.¡± Was all that Sam said. Internally, he just thought to himself, ¡°Do you really think I can afford any of that?¡±


    ¡°Also¡­¡± The doctor hesitated. ¡°I don¡¯t really understand your guardian¡¯s objection to augmentation. You¡¯ve already been subjected to a procedure for nerve healing before you got here. When I tried to look it up I was blocked and given guidelines to work around it. I¡¯m not even supposed to talk with you about it, but that violates my code of ethics. I don¡¯t like working on people with augments I don¡¯t understand. Experimental augs are more likely to hurt you than help you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never¡­ had augs.¡± Sam said truthfully. ¡°I was injected with something.¡±


    ¡°Well you do now. Apparently I¡¯m not allowed to know what it is or I¡¯d tell you, restrictions be damned. Just know that some crippling nerve injuries are in the process of healing very rapidly. This would normally take a lot longer.¡±


    Sam would have tried to puzzle more out but soon found sleep overtaking him. No other official at the hospital was able to tell him more.


    True to his word, a month after entering Sam was able to leave again. He had to spend four weeks in physical therapy in the hospital, slowly moving through exercises and painful training as his body healed. The pain was continual, but thanks to a combination of numbing agents released by the MecBac¡¯s and Sam having built up a tolerance to pain with his virtual training it was something he could handle. Thanks to the hospital''s patient access pods he was able to keep up with his education, though he still had to miss about a week before he felt well enough to go back to doing classes.


    His grandmother came to get him and he slowly and stiffly walked behind her, enjoying his first taste of freedom in weeks. It was still swelteringly hot outside, but the air was dry and pleasant. Sam entered the old, dilapidated apartment building. As he entered the door he was startled to find a man in a flashy, out of date suit sitting in the living room. Loki, one of his legs in a little cast, was sitting on his lap. He stood up as Sam entered.


    ¡°Loki, you¡¯re alive!¡± He shouted. The cat meowed loudly and did his best to run up to him with his broken leg. After sweeping him into his arms and hugging him, he turned to the man who had been holding him when he entered.


    ¡°You¡¯re the man who saved me.¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Sit down Sam,¡± His grandmother said. ¡°We¡¯ve got something to tell you.¡±


    ¡°We?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m your grandfather.¡± The man said, his voice deeply booming across the small room with certain finality.


    ¡°What? I¡¯ve never even seen a picture of you before! I thought you were dead! Grandma, you just told me everyone else died in that fire!¡±


    ¡°This is your grandfather. King Wharton. He left the company before it was destroyed. Not telling you about him was my decision,¡± His grandmother said. ¡°I resented him.¡±


    King spoke up then, and Sam thought he could see the slightest hint of a tear in King¡¯s flesh and blood eye.


    ¡°I made a mistake when I was young. A very terrible mistake. It drove us apart.¡±


    ¡°Did you cheat on her or something? Or did you start that fire she told me about?¡± Sam asked, disgusted. For the first time the man looked upset, and Sam felt vaguely uncomfortable.


    ¡°We¡¯ve discussed this already,¡± She cut him off tersely. ¡°It¡¯s something I¡¯ll let you talk about another time. The important thing is that he saved your life, and I have chosen to forgive him. I don¡¯t want our conflicts to cause problems for your future, so I will ask you to give him a chance.¡±


    ¡°Well you did save my life,¡± Sam said, happily. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I mistook you for the Machine Emperor, I¡¯ve just never seen anyone else move like that before! Not even the augs in the fighting leagues! I don¡¯t know if you used to be a gangster or something, but as long as I don¡¯t have to kiss your ring I¡¯m grateful.¡±


    Far from being insulted, King threw his head back and laughed, the force and volume of which seemed to shake the room.


    ¡°Nothing like that my boy. Although you¡¯re not far off. I work on the Star Stations.¡±


    ¡°You what?!?¡± Sam was so shocked that he jumped and then winced as his still tender body was punished with a spike of pain for the sudden movement.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look so shocked. There¡¯s a hundred thousand people up there, after all.¡±


    ¡°Yeah but they¡¯re all obscenely rich!¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Oh, not all of them. But yeah, I do have a good bit of cash. Some of which I¡¯m gonna spend to help you out.¡±


    ¡°Help me how?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in charge of a place. I can¡¯t talk about it too much, but you¡¯ll get a spot up there and a chance for a job. I¡¯ll help you get your bearings and get things sorted for you.¡±


    ¡°You can trust him, Sam.¡± She spoke with warmth.


    ¡°I can go to the Star Stations? I can¡­¡± His words died off as he realized what he¡¯d been about to say.


    I can live. He thought, with relief permeating his soul.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you injected me with something before I passed out. It¡¯s all blurry now, but I remember that. What the hell was that?¡±


    ¡°Well, that was the other thing I wanted to talk with you about.¡± King said hesitantly. The man had always seemed supremely confident before, so the hesitation surprised Sam.


    ¡°Congratulations on becoming an augment.¡±


    ¡°What? I thought the doctor was full of shit!¡± Sam asked, startled. He looked at his grandmother with a deeper shock than he¡¯d ever felt before. He looked at her with wide eyes. ¡°You never let me get even a single augment.¡±


    ¡°I can handle one of those,¡± His grandfather said. ¡°What you¡¯ve got is classified, and he told you something he shouldn¡¯t have. I had a little talk with him about national security.¡±


    That definitely raised more questions than answers, but before Sam could ask his grandmother started talking.


    ¡°There¡¯s many reasons I never wanted you to become augmented. One of the most important ones is that those companies all but own you once you get them.¡±


    ¡°So this¡­ classified augment doesn¡¯t own me?¡± He asked, skeptical.


    King laughed his deep, rich laugh that boomed throughout the room.


    ¡°Well, you can¡¯t talk about it. There¡¯s no gotcha EULA though. I made it, so if you¡¯ve got a problem with that you can take it up with me.¡±


    Sam stopped to consider for a moment. He¡¯d seen horror stories on the news about lone people trying to make augments in their own home, only for it to cause horrific deaths. Just because the tools were there didn¡¯t mean you were supposed to use them yourself.


    ¡°Do you have a team?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Yep. I did most of the work myself, but it never hurts to have someone check. In my case there¡¯s a lot of people to check.¡± King said, simply.


    ¡°So what does it do?¡±


    ¡°Right now nothing much. I had to give it to you to keep you alive. I didn¡¯t have anything else that could deal with injuries that bad. It kept you alive by knitting some of your nerves back together before you made it to the hospital.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s like a secret healing MekBac?¡±


    King laughed again. ¡°No, not even close. But I can¡¯t talk about it too much yet, just giving it to you is going to get me into trouble. In the long run though, I¡¯ll tell you that it can do a lot. A whole lot. In the short term you¡¯re gonna have to start eating some aug dietary supplements.¡±


    ¡°Is that why Juan was hurt worse? He didn¡¯t get the augment?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a different conversation. He saved your life and so did this little guy here,¡± King said, pointing to the kitten on his lap. ¡°I gave them the same injection, but it¡¯s not like I carry cases of the stuff. I had two vials and a few replacement needles. Juan and the cat had to split one, and it¡¯ll take time for the stuff to grow in them. Fortunately the little guy didn¡¯t need much.¡±


    ¡°How the heck does something work on a human and an animal? Also what? The augment grows?¡±


    ¡°Ahh, I wasn¡¯t supposed to talk about that. Give me a bit to get clearance and I¡¯ll let you know everything. Just don¡¯t get any other augs for now, alright?¡±


    ¡°Sure. Well I¡¯m glad to be alive, and to finally meet you. Since grandma says I shouldn¡¯t worry about the past, I won¡¯t.¡±


    After that his grandfather said his goodbyes and left.


    ¡°You¡¯re really not going to tell me what happened?¡± Sam asked. ¡°You always told me he was a bad guy, and the first time I saw him he saved my life.¡±


    ¡°He used to have problems. I think he¡¯s finally over them. I¡¯ll let him tell you. Right now I don¡¯t feel like I deserve to be angry with him. I feel like I made a terrible mistake holding you back.¡±


    Sam considered it. He¡¯d nearly died. Even basic augments would have let him have a better chance than he did.


    ¡°I¡¯m not happy about what happened, but Ian is the one that hurt me, not you. I didn¡¯t really think about it but I¡¯m eighteen now, aren¡¯t I? I had my birthday while I was in the hospital. If he¡¯d come after me after I got augs I would have put him in the hospital.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re an adult now, Sam. I¡¯m glad you don¡¯t hate me. I¡¯m still going to blame myself though. I¡¯m going to do everything I can to make it up to you.  Now, are you ready for a steak? I¡¯ve got a nice juicy one in the fridge for you.¡±


    As Loki jumped off of his lap and hobbled over to her Sam smiled. ¡°I hope you saved one for this little hero too. Thanks for saving my life, little guy.¡±


    ¡ª


    It took another month for Sam to finally recover enough to travel. When he had his grandmother let him know it was time to go to his grandfather¡¯s location.


    The next day Sam¡¯s grandmother gave him the location. Traveling to the local airport he found a branded two-seater airplane waiting for him. There was a gem-shaped logo he didn¡¯t recognize branded on the side. Loki rode on his lap. He considered himself lucky that Loki slept through most of the hour-long flight. Soon he saw his destination, a building with the same unfamiliar logo. Gem Sky Cybernetics was a small and fairly nondescript building, especially considering the number of high rises around it. It stood as a squat black box on a hill set beneath the towering Sawtooth Mountains. Unlike most tech companies he¡¯d seen on the internet, the building seemed to try to be hiding in the city. The land had once been part of the Sawtooth National Forest but parkland had long since given way to the city. Still, Thompson Idaho remained one of the few places you could see a lot of natural woodland in the state. Much of the rest had been burned or cleared for agriculture.


    Sam spotted a familiar figure in a wheelchair getting out of his own small plane. Loki hopped over to him, climbing into Juan¡¯s lap.


    ¡°Juan!¡± He shouted, bending down to give his friend a hug.


    ¡°S-saaam,¡± Juan said, oddly slurring his name.


    For the first time Sam noticed the oddly distant look on Juan¡¯s face.


    ¡°You see, r-right?¡± Juan said. ¡°He hurt me - he hurt my head. It was ah - damage. It was uh¡­ uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Brain damage?¡± Sam said, horrified.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Dammit! You saved my life! This shouldn¡¯t have happened to you!¡±


    He punched the wall, blood beginning to trail down the black-painted brick.


    Juan reached out and put a hand on his arm.


    ¡°They said that they can m-make me better.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯d better. I¡¯m not going to let them get away with it if they don¡¯t.¡±


    Internally, Sam realized that brain damage, unlike muscular or skeletal damage, was incredibly hard to heal. Treatments for it cost a fortune and the person that went in was rarely the same person that came out. Rebuilding the mind came with real risks.


    ¡°Thinking is what you¡¯re best at, right?¡± Sam said. ¡°Let¡¯s go in and find out how long it¡¯ll take for you to get better.¡±


    Sam quietly wheeled Juan into the building. The receptionist was a petite woman that was polite and friendly. She took their names, confirmed their appointments and handed them ID badges.


    ¡°Go through these two doors and follow the arrows. Use this badge when you come to a locked door.¡±


    All three of them including Loki were given a small dark blue dog-tag sized card on a lanyard. Internal LED¡¯s faintly traced the outline of the company¡¯s logo in neon blue.


    They went through the back and found a short corridor. The walls were blank and featureless, the hallway itself somewhat dim. Lights pulsed along the corners, moving down the hall in a regular beat, much like a heartbeat. With each pulse arrows would flash and showed the way forward. They followed it, going past seemingly empty office rooms and a cubicle area. Others appeared to hold servers. The air was chilly, and Sam regretted not bringing a jacket.


    The lights ended at the end of the hallway, leading to an elevator. They all went in. Without pressing any buttons the doors closed and they started moving.


    ¡°I guess it knows where to go.¡± Sam said.


    The elevator began descending and Sam waited as the floors passed. One¡­ two¡­ three¡­ At each floor the lights would brighten for a brief moment. He kept waiting¡­ and kept waiting. Somehow the elevator ride didn¡¯t seem like it would ever end.


    ¡°It¡¯s going d-deep,¡± Juan said.


    ¡°I think we¡¯ve gone down thirty floors.¡± Sam said.


    He started getting concerned as the elevator kept going down after floor 40 - then 50 - then 60. It was only after he counted sixty four floors that it finally stopped.


    The doors opened to another long corridor. There was a single ordinary looking door at the far end of the hallway, and the sides were lined with large, stationary guns. They seemed to be powered down and pointing at the floor, but they were no less intimidating for all that. Along the walls, the lights continued to pulse, urging them forward.


    ¡°Those bullets are .50cal! They could uh, uh, uh¡­¡± Juan stammered as he lost the words.


    ¡°Calm down. They¡¯re not on.¡±


    ¡°Your grandpa is serious.¡±


    ¡°Looks like it,¡± Sam said, trying not to let on how spooked he was himself.


    Loki simply hopped out of Juan¡¯s lap and trotted ahead, stretching briefly before bolting down the hallway as fast as he could, then stopping in front of the door. Panting, he turned around and looked at them.


    The guns did nothing.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m not gonna be outdone by you, buddy.¡± Sam said, pushing Juan down the hall.


    When they all stood in front of the door. A green light in the center beeped and it opened.


    The interior was a small room with a wall lined with virtual dive pods, including one that was much smaller than the others. There was a single desk at the far side of the room where his grandfather sat. It had no pictures, no decorations - everything in the room was blank and featureless.


    ¡°Hello and welcome to the lab, boys!¡± King boomed. Somehow his voice seemed to be even louder in such a small room.


    ¡°If I knew it¡¯d be VR pods I¡¯d have gone back to the gym,¡± Sam said, teasingly.


    ¡°Ha-HA! No, these aren¡¯t like the ones up there. These ones have some extra features you¡¯ll get to learn all about later, but first I need to go over some things with you.¡±


    The tall man turned to Juan and Loki.


    ¡°You two saved my grandson and that is the reason you are here. Even with your injuries, even being his friend or companion wouldn¡¯t be enough to be here. It goes without saying that everything that happens in this building is classified. You¡¯re not soldiers or government officials, so there¡¯s a lot of paperwork you¡¯ll have to do before we can get into the real work. Long story short though, you¡¯ll be going through a procedure only one person has ever been through before - me. If you go through this process there are risks. You could die or your personality could change so much it¡¯s like becoming a new person. I¡¯m not pretending it won¡¯t be risky, but I¡¯ll be with you to help you through it.¡±


    ¡°M-my parents signed the papers.¡± Juan said. ¡°Can it fix my head?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± King said without elaborating.


    ¡°I¡¯m already ready already,¡± Sam said, eager to finally have augments. ¡°Let¡¯s goooooo!¡±


    ¡°And you,¡± King said, looking at Loki.


    The cat nodded its head emphatically.


    ¡°Good. Your species is illegal now so if you hadn¡¯t agreed with this procedure it would have been a pain to get you up on a Star Station. Now I can get you some legal protection as a registered new species. There¡¯ll be some angry people, but I can handle them.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll get to come along? Really?¡±


    ¡°You better believe it.¡± King said, happily.


    King pointed to the pods.


    ¡°Alright, get in. At least for now it¡¯ll be just like using any regular fulldive VR pod. I¡¯ll tell you more once you¡¯re inside.¡±

 Chapter 11: Framejacked

    Drifting in this pod wasn¡¯t much different from the one Sam had used every day. If there was one thing he could say, it was that it was faster. It was different, but he thought it might be like the difference between a sports car and a regular one. Having never been in a sports car, he could only guess.


    It felt smoother and more realistic. In a normal simulation he felt half-numb because he was. The senses were dulled so you couldn¡¯t mistake the simulation with real life. He could feel cool air on his skin and could smell something that reminded him of lemons and mint in the air. As he appeared in the simulation he found the pod didn¡¯t open to the same tiny underground bunker he¡¯d seen in the real world. Instead he found himself in the middle of a white void. The ground looked like white tile and every direction seemed to look like illuminated swirling fog lit by invisible lights Juan and Loki stood beside him.


    ¡°This feels so real,¡± Sam said, raising an arm to pinch himself. It was a common test to double check pain settings. Ian had screwed with his pod more than once in the past.


    ¡°Ouch!¡± he said, pinching his arm hard enough to bruise. ¡°It¡¯s 100%.¡±


    ¡°Better hope we don¡¯t get hurt in here then,¡± Loki said aloud. His voice was clear and sounded like someone in their mid-teens.


    ¡°Yo, what?¡± Juan said, startled. Sam was no less shocked.


    ¡°You can talk?¡±


    ¡°I can talk?!? I didn¡¯t mean to talk! Why can I talk?¡±


    ¡°That would be me!¡± King¡¯s voice boomed out across the void, and he suddenly appeared towering above them as a hundred foot giant. The mist did nothing to conceal his figure, and he appeared illuminated by great spotlights.


    He then spun in the air and shrunk himself down to their own size, landing in front of them with a flourish.


    Sam suddenly realized he was in a sim with 100% immersion with someone else in complete control of it. The other two cheered, but he suppressed a shiver.


    ¡°I hope grandma was right about him.¡± He thought.


    His grandfather seemed to give him a small smile, like he knew what Sam was thinking. The other two didn¡¯t seem to notice.


    ¡°You could always talk!¡± King said, ¡°Cat vocal cords aren¡¯t meant for human speech. It hurt to talk like a human, right?¡±


    ¡°How did you know?¡± The cat asked.


    ¡°That has to do with the augments you all got. It¡¯s time to tell you all upfront: I can hear and read your thoughts.¡±


    Everyone was shocked, and Sam felt a cold bolt of terror go through him.


    ¡°Now, now, don¡¯t be too frightened. I¡¯m not doing it because I want to control your mind. It¡¯s because this procedure is very dangerous, and I need to know what you¡¯re thinking as you go through it. If you start to have issues I can fix it. That¡¯s especially true for you Loki. This procedure was created for humans, and if you weren¡¯t already made with DNA designed to give you a human-like brain it wouldn¡¯t have worked at all.¡±


    ¡°How will you uh¡­ how will you fix me?¡± Juan said, still faltering.


    ¡°The same way you all are getting upgraded. First things first. This is a clock connected to the outside world.¡±


    He raised his hand and a digital display appeared in the air. It read 9:47 AM.


    ¡°I want you to tell me when that clock changes. Remember, this is directly linked to the outside world, running in real time. I¡¯ll give you a hint: Don¡¯t look at the minutes or hours.¡±


    With that he vanished.


    ¡°So we just look at the stupid clock?¡± Loki asked.


    ¡°I guess so?¡± Juan said hesitantly.


    Sam walked over and tapped the clock, expanding it. Seconds appeared. It was frozen at 03.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how this works,¡± Loki said. ¡°Is it broken?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s stuck.¡± Juan said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s stuck,¡± Sam said. ¡°Is there a display for the amount of time that¡¯s passed for us here?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± King¡¯s disembodied voice boomed.


    Another clock appeared. They¡¯d been there for a little over a minute.


    ¡°What?¡± Juan asked. ¡°We¡¯re going fast?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Sam said. ¡°The question is how fast.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m bored,¡± Loki said, immediately curling up and falling asleep.


    ¡°Well,¡± Sam said, ¡°I guess we¡¯ve got time. I never got to thank you for saving my life. If you hadn¡¯t pushed me out of the way I would have died in that alley. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°I saw the uh¡­ the footage.¡± Juan said. ¡°You hit him in the head with a rock.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I did. It¡¯s a shame I didn¡¯t take him out, but at least I got that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you hit him.¡± Juan said. ¡°Your grandpa wrecked him.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he did. Thanks for that, old man.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± The voice echoed out.


    They fell into a silence and stared at the clock, waiting for it to change.


    ¡°It¡¯s been 20 minutes,¡± Juan said. ¡°That¡¯s crazy.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°I p-paid to have augs for this. Brainergizer, have you seen the ad?¡±


    ¡°You can think twenty seven hours a day?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s called framejacking, like the frames on a monitor or¡­ or something. Time for you goes faster than the real world. That¡¯s fast but it only gives you three uh¡­¡± he trailed off, becoming frustrated.


    ¡°Hours?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°Right. Thanks. Yeah, it gives you three of those. Going too fast could kill you.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Heat will cook your brain.¡±


    ¡°So are we getting brain damaged right now?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± King¡¯s voice rang out.


    ¡°Loco,¡± Juan said.


    They sat in silence a while longer before the clock hit one hour in local time - and the timer ticked over. One second had passed in the real world.


    ¡°How? I took a college c-course on this! We should be dead!¡±


    King suddenly reappeared in front of them again.


    ¡°Hey everyone, I¡¯ve got good news. I¡¯ve been monitoring all of you and I should be able to take care of things.¡±


    ¡°About time,¡± Loki said, getting up, yawning, and stretching. ¡°That was boring.¡±


    ¡°That was the point. I needed some base scans of all of you to make sure everything was working right. Besides, it¡¯s a lot easier to show you how things work rather than just tell you. So it¡¯s time for me to tell you the truth about your augment.¡±


    King came close, pulling them towards him by just waving his hands in the air. ¡°You are absolutely right,¡± He said to Juan. ¡°Any normal brain gets fried by having a very hot computer inside their skull whether it¡¯s made of flesh or steel. Your brain is no longer normal. All three of you should have died in that alley,¡± He said bluntly.


    ¡°What did you do to us?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°This augment is the only augment you will ever need again. It is an upgrade to your nervous system and brain, essentially converting them to run on fiber-optics and is made out of something a lot tougher than regular gray matter. This isn¡¯t an upgrade, it¡¯s a replacement that absorbs the original.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s eating my brain?¡± Loki screamed. ¡°AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH MRRRROOWWWWWLLL!¡±


    ¡°You killed us?¡± Sam asked, horrified.


    ¡°Depends on if you think you¡¯re dead. I don¡¯t. You¡¯re walking, talking, and you can remember your life right now. You¡¯re the original Sam Wharton, with his memories. Most of your nervous system and brain are still unaugmented. Given time, this augment will absorb, copy, and replace all of that regular tissue but at no point in time will you disappear. You will be the same person with a much, much faster nervous system. It won¡¯t hurt. After all, it¡¯s been going on since you were first injured and you couldn¡¯t tell.¡±


    ¡°Yay! I¡¯m not dead!¡± Loki cheered.


    ¡°W-why am I damaged?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°Parts of your brain were destroyed in the attack. I got there right after, but the injuries caused gaps in your memory. The brain takes time to heal itself even in the best case. Now it¡¯s trying to rewire itself with much faster augmented tissue connected to it. The artificial tissue could replace what was missing, but couldn¡¯t replace destroyed information. Your job here is piecing yourself back together. I¡¯ve created a simulation to take you back through your life and help you rebuild your mind.¡±


    He gestured and a door appeared where he pointed, seemingly hanging in thin air. It looked like a normal door.


    ¡°Walk through there and you¡¯ll get your life back. I promise.¡±


    ¡°What about me? What about me?¡± Loki asked.


    ¡°You have intelligence but you don¡¯t know how to use it. Like a child that grew up in the wilderness. There are a lot of tools you can use you¡¯ve never heard of before. There¡¯s no such thing as a school for cats, after all. At least until now.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re sending me to school? Noooooo! That¡¯s a stupid human idea!¡± Loki whined.


    ¡°Tough luck,¡± Sam laughed. ¡°Does that mean he¡¯ll be able to talk outside of here?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s something I¡¯m working on adding,¡± King said.


    ¡°So what about me?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°You got your ass kicked. You¡¯re going to fight school.¡±


    ¡°Hey! I got him in the head with a brick! What was I supposed to do against an augment?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll see. Alright everyone, head through your door.¡±


    ¡°Wait!¡± Sam asked. ¡°How long are we going to be in here?¡±


    ¡°Only five minutes,¡± King said, chuckling.


    ¡°Wait, that¡¯s eight months!¡± Juan said, as the world turned and he suddenly fell, his doorway swinging open and catching him.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all I¡¯ll give you,¡± King said. ¡°Anything more really would hurt you.¡±


    Sam saw Loki falling as well, their own doors opening. As he fell through he felt light wash over him.


    ¡ª


    Sam¡¯s fall stopped immediately as soon as he went through the door. He found himself in an arena he knew well. On the other side ¡°The Fall¡± Monroe stood relaxed, leaning on the rope. There was no audience. There was one person there, however. In his corner he saw his grandfather dressed as a boxing coach.


    ¡°Come on! Get ready kid!¡±


    ¡°You want me to fight this guy on 100% pain settings? Are you nuts? The last time I fought him he killed me! Literally killed me in the ring!¡±


    ¡°Hey.¡± Monroe said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to beat you up too much.¡±


    ¡°What the heck?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s me, kid,¡± His grandfather said behind him.


    ¡°I¡¯m playing both parts,¡± He said in front of him from the body of Monroe.¡±


    ¡°Come on, put up your fists! Get in your stance!¡±


    Sam reluctantly put his hands up. He felt clammy. In the real world his body was broken. He¡¯d been through simulated pain a lot on one quarter intensity. Being beaten in the real world was much worse and had put a deep fear in him.


    Not moving forward, his grandfather moved first. His movement was the same as the boxer. The moment he realized that it would hit he tensed up, jumping back and far away.


    Suddenly he began to breathe heavily. Panting, he began to tremble, falling back against the rope, almost climbing out in a panic.


    ¡°Oh? Now what¡¯s wrong here?¡± ¡®Coach¡¯ Grandpa said behind him, grabbing him by the shoulders. A bell dinged and ¡°The Fall¡± went back to his corner.


    ¡°When you were coming at me I just panicked! I couldn¡¯t breathe. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to screw up like that.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re here because I asked about what you did at the gym. I went to high school with Jerry, you know. He told me you¡¯d do those sims over and over again, and then take ket strips afterward.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. They keep you from developing PTSD. Is that what happened to me? Can I take a ket strip?¡±


    ¡°Well, your brain isn¡¯t entirely flesh and blood anymore. A ket strip won¡¯t work on you the same way now. Nor would it work now that you¡¯ve gone so long after being hurt, nor would it work with that level of hurt. It¡¯s not an option now.¡±


    ¡°So am I stuck like this?¡±


    ¡°No way. The flesh and blood parts of your brain are in a panic, but the augmented sections of it are basically simulating you. Hold out your hand.¡±


    Sam did exactly that, holding his hand out in front of him with fingers spread wide.


    ¡°Now say menu.¡±


    A transparent box appeared in front of him, hovering in the air. It said, ¡°Simplified Menu¡±.


    ¡°Just like a game.¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Exactly. But this isn¡¯t something you should take lightly. This menu directly controls your brain and nervous system. Play with the controls and you will be stone dead. Am I understood?¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Sam shouted, shocked to his core.


    ¡°Of course. You¡¯ll even have access to this menu outside of here. But don¡¯t worry - I built this system so that you can use it without accidentally shutting your heart off. Making something like that¡¯s not an easy feat, let me tell you. Someday you will have that ability. Treat this with the seriousness it deserves.¡±


    ¡°Right, of course.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Alright, this is a node-based system. Right now it¡¯s pointed at your operating core. That¡¯s the circle in the middle of your screen. Put your hands on the screen and pull apart like it¡¯s a touchscreen.¡±


    ¡°I know how to use a touchscreen, geeze.¡± Sam said. He did and zoomed out, looking at the vast system in his body. It was arranged in the shape of a human, with nodes appearing seemingly everywhere. He could see small, flashing red lights wherever he had been injured. A node off to the side of his chest read, ¡°MekBaks¡±, and he could see glowing lines combining it with all the injuries.


    ¡°There is a lot of stuff here. A loooooooot.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, and unless you care exactly how your liver or intestines works a lot of it won¡¯t mean anything to you. Just remember that this is your entire operating system and your body. From here you can zoom in on any point and see it. Zoom in on your head.¡±


    Sam did as he was told and suddenly the floating window seemed to explode into nodes. There were so many that it was completely incomprehensible. From a distance it was simply a single circle - the ¡°brain node¡±. But here it appeared to be hundreds of thousands of little nodes of coding language.


    ¡°I¡¯ve done the hard work for you with this one. You don¡¯t need to think about what it takes to remake a brain. For now I just want you to find your status. There¡¯s a flashing icon for it in the window.¡±


    Sam did just that, pressing the button. Soon a display of his brain appeared. He could see that almost a quarter of it was now white and looked similar to plastic.


    ¡°I¡¯m really not entirely human anymore, am I?¡± He said.


    ¡°Oh you are. Everything here was built with just a little bit of something like a fancier MekBac and your own body. This just isn¡¯t a naturally grown brain. It¡¯s still all you in there. Just in a new shape.¡±


    ¡°Well that¡¯s a good way to look at getting your brain turned into plastic or¡­ whatever this is.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s definitely a whatever. Not quite flesh or plastic or metal, but a mixture of all of it, designed to be as tough and efficient as possible. That¡¯s what those dietary supplements were for. Don¡¯t worry about the details now, they¡¯re classified. I¡¯ll give you a manual and let you learn about it later. For now I want you to just select the brain region and use the search menu. Look up, ¡®Mental Trauma Treatment¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± Sam said. He did so and a menu popped up.


    ¡°Would you like to run the mental trauma treatment program?¡± The window read.


    ¡°So I should just hit yes now?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    Sam hesitated for a moment and then pressed the button. A moment later he fell to the floor, feeling increasingly disoriented.


    ¡°What just¡­ what happened?¡± He said.


    ¡°Relax. You think you can just change your brain at the press of a button with no side effects? You¡¯re going to feel good for a moment and then the trauma will be gone. I promise.¡±


    Sam was completely disoriented and sat down in the ring. He suddenly couldn¡¯t sense his body, and everything seemed to tingle so hard it vibrated.


    Then it hit him. Love. Limitless, overwhelming love. Love for everyone. Love for everything. For a moment he couldn¡¯t imagine a single negative emotion. Time no longer mattered. Time no longer existed at all. He felt like he was drifting on a limitless ocean of joy.


    Then slowly it faded, and he came to. He could remember his name, and then he could remember where he was and what he was doing. When he opened his eyes, he knew he was aware again. He could think again. He existed again.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Sam asked, unable to keep the happiness out of his voice.


    ¡°That was the feeling of your brain resetting itself. At least the simulated parts. Once you get out of here you¡¯ll need to run that again a few times as your mind is digitized. You¡¯ve been out for three hours in sim time. That¡¯s not enough time to affect your meat brain much.¡±


    ¡°I was out for three hours?¡± Sam said, shocked.


    ¡°Yeah, and that¡¯s just three milliseconds. Your meat brain can¡¯t keep up. It moves at the speed of lightning, which is a heck of a lot slower than the speed of light.  It¡¯ll take time in the real world for you to feel the effects. Once you¡¯re fully augmented you¡¯ll just need to run this once. This will help calm you though.¡±


    ¡°That could be addictive. Really addictive.¡± Sam said, remembering the utterly overwhelming sense of positivity and joy he¡¯d just felt. He still wanted to laugh and hug the ropes like they were a friend.


    ¡°It should be. It was based on a cocktail of psychedelic drugs.¡±


    ¡°You just gave me addictive digital drugs? And you¡¯re telling me I can just turn this on whenever I want?¡±


    ¡°Basically, yeah. There¡¯s none of the side effects the real thing would have, either. You can¡¯t OD if you try. Still, I don¡¯t want you to be a pleasure button addict. Look for the addiction remover program.¡±


    ¡°Is this going to be like last time?¡±


    ¡°Nope. It¡¯s completely different.¡±


    Sam pulled up the menu again and hesitated before pressing the button. The last time had felt overwhelmingly positive, and he was worried about getting suddenly drugged again.


    He pressed the button, and the pleasure he was feeling died. He felt neutral - so neutral it was jarring. The lingering craving he had to press the button again that he was unaware he¡¯d even been suppressing had been removed.


    ¡°That¡¯s crazy! My mood changed at the press of a button! I feel like I don¡¯t care if I never use that again.¡±


    ¡°Trust me. That¡¯s the smallest level of power you have over yourself right now. As time goes on and you learn how you work you¡¯ll realize you were just taking your first steps.¡±


    ¡°Alright. My head is finally in this. I feel like I can fight now.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± King said from the body of his coach. This time when ¡®The Fall¡¯ came for him he didn¡¯t feel the slightest fear. No matter what happened he knew that he¡¯d be able to recover.


    His grandfather didn¡¯t pull his punches, but the injuries healed as soon as the round was over. He never beat him so badly as the sims, but his grandfather clearly had the skill. Every round was round one.


    Unlike the sim, each time they traded blows his grandfather would pause and give him advice, position him differently.


    After five bouts, Sam asked him a question.


    ¡°Why are you training me instead of having me download Monroe¡¯s fighting skills?¡±


    ¡°What good is a downloaded skill? The best knowledge is always knowledge you earn, and there¡¯s nothing but time in here. You¡¯ll find that out soon enough. Keep fighting!¡±


    It was around that point that he began to realize that he wasn¡¯t getting tired at all.


    ¡°Why would you be tired?¡± King asked, laughing. ¡°You¡¯ve been in the ring for less than a second.¡±


    That was the moment Sam realized he could really end up fighting a world heavyweight champion for a hundred and twenty five days straight. Always in his best condition. Always at his sharpest. Never traumatized or broken. The weight class between them didn¡¯t matter.


    The next time he fought a simulation of Monroe not controlled by his superhuman grandfather he was going to slaughter him.


    ¡ª


    Loki sat in the classroom surrounded by young tweens, all of whom shared his bright blue color in their hair. He liked them because they gave him treats and catnip and petted him as much as he wanted. Loki knew they weren¡¯t real, but that didn¡¯t matter.


    In the front of the room the old human stood in front of a screen filled with words and had students take turns reading them.


    ¡°Your turn, Loki.¡± School teacher King said.


    ¡°See the cat b-bound, uh, bounding swiftly across the plain, but he can¡¯t drive a car. At least not very far. Hey! I can too learn to drive a car!¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah? We¡¯ll have to get to that lesson in the future then. Now try this line.¡±


    The teacher¡¯s aide, a nice tall lady with blue hair, said, ¡°Remember to sound out the big words!¡±


    Although it was frustrating to learn human stuff, Loki had never had so much fun in his life. As he went through the lessons he felt better.


    He never noticed how similar those simulated schoolchildren were to his former family. How the boys and girls resembled his brothers and sisters, or how the ¡°teacher¡¯s aide¡± resembled his adoptive mother. They were humans after all. They were nothing like him  except the one he loved like a brother. He always bought the best treats.


    But for the first time since he¡¯d lost his feline family he felt happy again. When they died to protect the human that had protected them, he¡¯d stopped eating. Old lady¡¯s delicious steak or ham smelled good. Then Sam came back to him, and he remembered he still had a family to live for.


    After Loki got another question right, King clapped his hands and said it was time for a reward. Loki perked up. The walls of the classroom were lined with mouse holes, and a rumbling began as mice started pouring out of them, rushing across the floor in a wave.


    As Loki dove down and began hunting them along with the equally excited schoolkids with inexhaustible glee, he truly felt this was the best his life had ever been.


    ¡ª


    ¡°This is the worst my life has ever been.¡± Juan said. He sat in a recreation of his study room at home. He¡¯d spent countless hours studying for degrees here. King sat in the same chair his mother had so many times before.


    ¡°You really think so?¡± King asked.


    ¡°You¡¯ve helped me a lot, but I still get hung up on¡­ on¡­ uh¡­¡±


    ¡°You still lose your train of thought and you still have words that cause you trouble. I keep telling you, don¡¯t rush it. We have time.¡±


    ¡°I feel so stupid. I hate it! My family is counting on me to get into the Star Stations. I don¡¯t want to let them down.¡±


    ¡°Look, I¡¯m going to tell you something I haven¡¯t even told Sam. You see my eye?¡± King asked, seriously.


    ¡°The one you got done in chrome back in the stone age?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. But this doesn¡¯t just replace my eye socket and make me look cool. No! This is the prototype of the augment you have now. It replaced part of my flesh and blood brain too. It was the first augment to ever do that.¡±


    ¡°Why would you do that to yourself?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have a choice. Much like you didn¡¯t. I¡¯m just going to say that I¡¯ve been through the same thing you have. The exact same thing. I was a scientist at the top of the world, then I got hurt and I felt like I was worthless. One accident was all it took. At least you got hurt doing something heroic.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright kid, I¡¯m just saying I get it. I know how frustrating it is. You¡¯re not stumbling over your words because you¡¯re stupid. You¡¯re stumbling over your words because the neurons those words were stored on were destroyed. Your mind thinks the words should be there and they¡¯re not. This augment can replace brain cells but it can¡¯t magically create data that was lost. Some of your meat brain is still damaged too, and won¡¯t be fully healed until the augment replaces it. But once it does, you can truly be whole again. All you have to do is sit down and study.¡±


    ¡°This is really going to heal me?¡±


    ¡°It would have worked even if you never did this. It¡¯d just take you a few decades to recover.¡±


    ¡°We won¡¯t be here that long.¡±


    ¡°Wanna know a secret?¡± King asked.


    ¡°Uh¡­ yes?¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t just something you can do in the pod. The pod is only doing one thing, and that¡¯s making sure your old brain isn¡¯t hurting itself while you¡¯re doing this. As more and more of your mind converts over to the new type of artificial neural tissue, you¡¯ll be able to run this simulation everywhere. At home, at the office, even on that fancy contract ship of yours, if you decide to stay on it. You¡¯ll heal much faster than it would have taken with regular brain tissue, and if you¡¯re ever injured again this makes backups of everything in different sections of the artificial neural tissue. You can¡¯t get concussions or be knocked out.¡±


    ¡°How are you doing this?¡± Juan asked. ¡°This should be impossible because¡­ uh¡­ uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Because everyone goes insane when you augment the mind too much, right?¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah. Sam doesn¡¯t know but I do. I know how dangerous this is.¡±


    ¡°Do you feel insane?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been through this firsthand. I know what to do to keep you sane because I¡¯m here to tell you about it. If it failed with me I wouldn¡¯t be here.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not just talking to me right now, are you?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°Nope. I¡¯m teaching all three of you.¡±


    ¡°How fast are you going?¡±


    King smiled. ¡°Fast.¡± Was all he said.


    ¡°How do you keep track of it all?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°Multitasking is one of the things this augment makes you good at.¡±


    ¡°How good?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s still classified,¡± He said, but he said it with a twinkle in his eye.


    ¡°But I already told you that this essentially upgrades your neurons to fiber optics, didn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°You mean - you¡¯re really running at the speed of light? But that¡¯s insane!¡±


    King smiled.


    ¡°Like I said, don¡¯t worry about time. Soon enough you¡¯ll have forever to get better.¡±


    Juan went back to studying with renewed vigor, but also more than a little fear. If his thoughts traveled at the speed of light how much faster could he get than experiencing one hundred and twenty five days in five minutes?


    There would definitely be plenty of time.


    ¡ª


    ¡°Alright, Time¡¯s up.¡± King said to Sam as they tapped gloves in the ring. ¡°This is the last round.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Sam said. ¡°Already? It feels like I just got here!¡±


    ¡°Well you¡¯ve only been here for five minutes. Now come on, put up your dukes!¡±


    Sam did just that and immediately noticed something off about his grandfather¡¯s stance. While he was always seemingly casual and relaxed, even when doing something dangerous or intense, The Fall now seemed to practically vibrate with angry energy.


    ¡°This is his regular sim!¡±


    ¡°Oh! You caught on right away,¡± Coach King said behind him. ¡°Don¡¯t doubt yourself. Go get him.¡±


    The Fall began his powerful, inevitable attack. His main strategy was always to come from your weak side, positioning himself so that he could essentially hunt you down, corner you and pummel you.


    Every time prior to this Sam had found it to be an inescapable vice for him. He could defend but never keep up with the endless attacks.


    ¡°Is this really the same Sim?¡± Sam asked as he dodged The Fall¡¯s punches with the combined skill of a hundred and twenty five days of practice. Eight solid months worth of fight practice. Not eight hours a day, but twenty four hours a day - always at his best, always at his strongest. Never tired. Never fatigued. He didn¡¯t even get bored once.


    ¡°He¡¯s the exact same one on the public net.¡± King said.


    The Fall seemed glacial. Every step took an eternity to come towards him, even though he knew they were moving at what passed for normal speed in this place.


    Sam never felt like he was good enough at dodging before, but it almost felt harder to get hit than to move out of the way of those punches now.


    ¡°Stop dodging and fight me you pansy!¡± The sim shouted.


    ¡°Shut the hell up!¡± Sam shouted, and stopped dodging, squaring his feet.


    The Fall felt slow to him. If dodging was this easy, he¡¯d decided to try countering. The Fall was no amateur and knew how to see them coming, but the glacial slowness he seemed to move in didn¡¯t leave any doubt that Sam could do it.


    Monroe launched a hook and Sam countered with a cross, managing to strike inside of his guard before he could react and recover.


    ¡°It¡¯s just like you said! I know his weaknesses inside and out!¡± He shouted.


    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Monroe¡¯s simulation cried, unleashing a speedy flurry of blows.


    Sam realized to his amazement that he could stop them all. Every strike that Monroe tried was countered, dodged, or deflected. Sam¡¯s punches were much weaker than The Fall¡¯s but they were also connecting.


    The champion boxer fell back and began to fight defensively. Sam was able to dodge well enough that he could fight without his guard up at all, using both arms to attack. Every attack by Monroe was viciously countered. Sam began to pummel the same spots on Monroe¡¯s arms and body again and again, and slowly he lost speed and control of them.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a fight,¡± Sam thought. ¡°I¡¯m bullying this man.¡±


    Feeling a twinge of guilt, he decided to launch an all-out attack and put the man down. ¡°I¡¯m not going to torture my hero.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t count me out!¡± Monroe growled. To Sam¡¯s surprise, he leaned into his counter. A moment later, Sam saw stars as the fist Monroe had sent flying took him in the jaw. He felt the crunch as it shattered, and saw his own fist connecting with Monroe¡¯s temple.


    Sam wanted to scream as he flew back as fast as his legs could take him, but as soon as he¡¯d jumped back he noticed the blank look on Monroe¡¯s face.


    ¡°I can¡¯t get concussions now but he can.¡± Sam thought. Moments later, The Fall, true to his name, fell to his knees and collapsed.


    ¡°I did it! I won!¡± Sam cheered.


    ¡°That you did!¡± King said, slapping him on the back. ¡°Just remember you¡¯re not invincible! You got sloppy there at the end.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I knew I could win if I took it slow, but I just realized I could take a hit better than he could. It worked.¡±


    ¡°True enough! Besides, there¡¯s nothing wrong with mercy. Now remember: What you learned will help with augments using his fighting style. If you meet that little bastard that beat you up again, just remember he¡¯s reinforced with metal. Just shock him and he¡¯ll go down fast. I suggest you read up on electricity in your down time.¡± He tapped his head and the chrome around his eye rang. ¡°Extra vulnerability to electricity is part of why cybernetics are out of date now. Your body is only human, but combine skill and using your head with your mental speed and you¡¯ll be able to beat most regular people effortlessly.¡±


    King slapped him on the back. ¡°Now come on, let¡¯s head back to the lobby.¡±


    A doorway appeared in the air and this time they both walked through.


    ¡ª


    Sam met Juan and Loki in the same white void they¡¯d first entered. ¡°Guys!¡± He said. ¡°It feels like it''s been forever!¡±


    ¡°What, Eight months is short for you?¡± Juan laughed.


    ¡°I went to school! Sam! I went to school! I learned how to hotwire a car!¡± Loki shouted.


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°Hey, when can I get that class?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t actually teach him that, did you?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°You all learned the skills you needed to learn and that¡¯s it!¡± King said, appearing behind them and startling them.


    ¡°MROOOWLLLLL!¡± Loki said, jumping higher than Sam¡¯s head and bounding back from the man. ¡°I hate when you do that! It¡¯s worse than cucumbers!¡±


    ¡°Somehow it gets funnier every time!¡± King boomed. ¡°And yeah, I did teach him how to hotwire a car, and that would be a problem if people still used the cars from a hundred years ago. It was just for fun. I mostly taught him things kids learn in school. Alright, that was five whole minutes. How was it?¡±


    ¡°I feel like I could take on the world!¡± Sam shouted.


    ¡°I can be better than ever!¡±


    ¡°I can eat all the mice everywhere!¡±


    King laughed. ¡°Alright, see you on the outside.¡±


    The world faded into darkness, and Sam realized his eyes were closed. He opened them and found himself in the pod. On the wall was an old clock. Exactly five minutes had passed. King sat at a chair at the room¡¯s lone desk, somehow already up before them.


    As Sam got out of the pod, he was startled to see his grandfather vault over the desk and send a punch his way. He heard a voice in his head. ¡°Remote framejack initiated.¡± Time slowed, and Sam suddenly felt like he had hours before the punch would land. His body moved just as slowly, but he simply needed to plan. With so much time it felt easy - his grandfather was delivering a punch at superhuman speed, but Sam only needed to dodge it.


    The punch passed within millimeters of his face, but it was a clean miss.


    Time suddenly resumed its normal speed and King patted his shoulder. ¡°See? Dodging an aug is as easy as that.¡±


    ¡°You two are crazy.¡± Loki said in his head.


    ¡°You can still talk?¡± Sam exclaimed.


    ¡°You all have a short range neural link built in, designed to talk only with others on this system. Anything else is too vulnerable to hacking. So long as he¡¯s within a few feet of you he¡¯ll be able to chat.¡±


    ¡°Talking! Talkingtalkingtalkingtalktalktalk!¡±


    ¡°Can we mute him?¡± Sam asked, joking, before the cat swiped at his leg.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± Loki yelled. ¡°I¡¯ll pounce your face in your sleep!¡±


    ¡°Alright everyone. I¡¯m a busy man, so this is all the time I could spare you. The automated system in your augment will help you until you¡¯re ready to use everything, but don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll see you soon and check on you again.¡±


    ¡°When are you going to meet us?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°Are we coming back here?¡± Juan chimed in.


    ¡°Do you have any treats?¡± Said Loki.


    Reaching into his pocket King pulled out a small bag filled with dry, crunchy cat sized treats and tossed one to Loki, who ate it just as readily as in the Sim.


    ¡°When and where have the same answer: I¡¯ll see you on the first day of the Idaho State Fair!¡±

 Chapter 12: An Unreal Life

    Ian Batt stewed furiously in his jail cell. His arms hung limply at his sides, his augments mostly disabled. Only the ones that would be lethal to turn off were left running. His heart-control, his mind-machine interface, his basic lung augments. His arms, back and legs felt like they were made of lead. Very human muscle was left to move very superhuman steel.


    ¡°Alright,¡± The guard said. ¡°Your lawyer is here to meet you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about damn time.¡± He growled. ¡°She can get me out of this shithole!¡±


    ¡°Good luck with that,¡± The guard chuckled grimly, hauling him up out of his cell. ¡°The judge here hates animal abuse, you sick bastard. Not to mention attempted murder. Don¡¯t hold your breath.¡±


    ¡°Yeah yeah,¡± Ian said, unphased. The guard took him into a small room where a young woman with stylized gray glasses sat across from him.¡±


    ¡°Hello today Ian.¡± She said warmly.


    ¡°Cassandra! Help me out here, would you? I saw that little psycho bastard offspring of those two traitors plotting to make it to the Star Colonies! I didn¡¯t do anything wrong, you have to believe me!¡±


    She smiled and patted the back of his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already made a deal with the prosecutor. All you have to do is agree and you¡¯ll be out of here scott free in a few days.¡±


    ¡°Yes! I knew they wouldn¡¯t lock me up for long. I knew I could always count on you!¡±


    ¡°So here¡¯s your brain scans,¡± She said, pulling out a tablet and highlighting his head. ¡°I don¡¯t understand it, I¡¯m not paying for that kind of training, but apparently they say you¡¯re a sociopath. Not that common anymore, but it¡¯s considered a mental condition you can get treatment for. Like psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder.¡±


    ¡°What the hell? You¡¯re getting me out of here through a psych ward?¡± He scoffed. ¡°How dare you say I¡¯m crazy!¡±


    ¡°Whoa! Whoa! Calm down,¡± She said. ¡°This is to keep you out of prison! You¡¯ll be going through a correctional VR training pod. You spend a week there and that¡¯s it. We declare your¡­ fake mental issue cured, and you get to go free.¡±


    ¡°Fine! Just one week! I¡¯m not going to spend any longer dealing with this bullshit!¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t be, trust me.¡± She said, and playfully punched him on the arm. ¡°How long have you known me? You can trust me. I¡¯m from here after all.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess you are,¡± Ian said reluctantly.


    ¡°Trust me,¡± She said. ¡°When this is over you¡¯ll see things completely differently.¡±


    ¡°If you say so.¡±


    Silently, Cassandra fingered the coin inside of her pocket. It was a nickel from the machine empire, with the Emperor¡¯s official ¡°leader¡± face on it. A quiet symbol of her servitude.


    Silently she smiled to herself. Soon he¡¯d find out just how long a day could be, let alone a week. She had, after all. Oh, she¡¯d struggled and fought, but none of it mattered. It had only taken a few years inside before she realized the Machine Emperor would rule them all, and the full stay was much, much longer than that. Fighting back would never do any of them any good, least of all this kid. He¡¯d find that out soon.


    It was forever in there.


    ¡ª


    Ian said little as he went through the procedure. He didn¡¯t care about the random crap they were throwing at him. He didn¡¯t care how rushed the whole thing seemed either, eager mostly to hurry up and get things done. He didn¡¯t know much about the law or care - he could just buy the skill once he got to the colonies, after all. Better to be strong so you could stop any threats that come after you.


    The pod looked a lot like any other he¡¯d ever seen, just newer and sleeker.


    ¡°Not going for the cheap stuff now, are you?¡±


    ¡°Not with something this important.¡± Cassandra said.


    ¡°Get in.¡± The guard growled.


    ¡°Fine, fine. Let¡¯s get this over with.¡± He said. He climbed in and the guard slammed the lid shut.


    ¡°Oh, and Ian?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Cassandra?¡±


    ¡°Goodbye.¡±


    ¡°Weirdo.¡± He said as things faded to black.


    Soon the simulation started, no different from any other in his uncle¡¯s gym, save for the realism of it. His arms and legs worked like they should again, and he felt like it was 100% dive. He couldn¡¯t check his neural-link to find out, but a quick pinch confirmed his suspicions. He was back in his prison cell.


    ¡°Hello?¡± He asked aloud. His voice echoed in the room. ¡°Is something supposed to happen here?¡±


    Only silence greeted him. He waited for something to happen, something to start, but nothing did. He waited and waited and continued waiting. Finally fed up, he started screaming. ¡°Hey! You dimwits screwed something up! I¡¯m just sitting in here!¡±


    Again nothing. He screamed some more. Still he heard only silence.


    Fed up, he punched the wall with his full augmented strength, expecting the concrete to give way - only to find himself screaming again, this time from pain.


    ¡°Aaaagh! I just broke my hand! This sim really is 100%, what the hell? Where are my augs? Hey! Help me! Someone out there get me out of this!¡±


    Silence alone answered his cries. The shouting resumed, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. The pain did not recede. It was exactly as vivid as when he first broke his hand. Trying to set the bones only caused it to hurt worse, and he ultimately gave up. Eventually he grew hungry.


    ¡°Hello?¡± He asked. ¡°I¡¯m getting hungry in here. Please, just give me some food.¡± He begged. ¡°Pizza, a sandwich, a burger, ice cream, hell, even prison food, anything! Please!¡±


    Still only silence greeted him.


    ¡°I know you can hear me up there you bastards! Give me some food!¡±


    He began to grow thirsty. There was only one source of water in the room, the sink being entirely absent. Despite knowing it was simulated, Ian didn¡¯t want to drink out of the toilet.


    In spite of his hunger and thirst, he found himself growing tired. Try as he might, however, he just couldn¡¯t sleep. He just found himself growing more and more exhausted, more ravenous. More parched.


    He was endlessly dehydrated, deliriously tired, and ravenously starved. Amidst it all, his hand still throbbed just like it had when he first punched the wall. Still it went on. And on.


    He felt like he should be hallucinating, but somehow just didn¡¯t get worse. He dragged himself over to the toilet and started drinking handfuls of the water from the bowl. There was no tank in the cell. He hadn¡¯t used it since he¡¯d been here, he¡¯d never needed to. But doing it made him gag. He was so thirsty that he suppressed his disgust and forced himself to do it again, and again. Eventually he had enough water after flushing to refill the bowl repeatedly. His stomach felt painfully full, but still rumbled. He knew it was just water. Without food he¡¯d have to die eventually, right?


    ¡°It¡¯s a sim. I can¡¯t actually die in here, can I? I feel like I¡¯m gonna die!¡±


    No matter what he did or how much he waited it just went on, and on, and on, and on. He could sate his thirst at the cost of his disgust and humiliation. After that he started having to pee, so he started going in the corner. He didn¡¯t want to go where he got his water. His cell stunk. He started eyeing his arm like he could gnaw it off. He didn¡¯t have the slightest clue how long it¡¯d been, but it felt like forever since he¡¯d last eaten something. His hand still pulsed with pain every time his heart beat.


    The lights never went off. Never as much as flickered. His hand was now swollen and useless. He couldn¡¯t make a fist if he tried. He tried breaking the bars with his good hand, tried finding something to pry or dig through the concrete, anything. There was nothing except his bed, with no sheets and the pillow fixed to the thin mattress, the toilet, and an empty room. He started to seriously consider ripping off his hand to see if he could make something out of the bone to pick the lock. Trying to break his hand only made the pain worse.


    It was at the point where he could barely think now. He couldn¡¯t even drag himself to the toilet to drink. He was nothing but thirst, nothing but hunger, nothing but pain.


    ¡°It¡¯s only a simulation, it¡¯s not real. It¡¯s not real! It¡¯s not FUCKING REAL!!!¡± He screamed into the empty jail.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to find a way out. I¡¯m not going to let this keep going.¡±


    He decided to take his shirt off and try to make a noose. He hoped it would be enough to strangle himself. He was able to climb the bars and secure it at the top.


    ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t do this anymore? Do you hear me? I can¡¯t do this anymore!¡±


    He dropped from the top of the bars, noose around his neck. He heard a loud crack as his neck snapped, and unimaginable pain filled him. He tried to scream, but only gurgled as his lungs filled with blood. It was like drowning, but death never came.


    His body refused to do anything, feeling like it had been cut away from him. He hung limply, aware and in pain but unable to move or act.


    Hell. No other word could describe what he experienced as he continued to hang there. None of his tiredness, thirst, or hunger had ceased. They were all consuming now. The pain was all consuming. Snapping his neck hadn¡¯t killed him at all. He couldn¡¯t die. A part of him wished he could drag himself back to the toilet to at least end his thirst.


    He eventually heard the steady sound of footprints in the distance. He seemed unsure, unable to focus, but it became increasingly clear. He tried to ask if it was real, who it was, for help - anything, but all that came out was a gurgle.


    ¡°Gggatrrllgle!¡±


    ¡°Hey there buddy. Looks like you got yourself in a bit of a situation.¡±


    Ian recognized the voice of his uncle. He hadn¡¯t seen Jerry since the gym. Now he could only see his shoes as he dangled helplessly, his eyes pointed at the floor. He wanted to beg for help, but He couldn¡¯t actually breathe, and the feeling of suffocation would have been all-consuming if all the other pain wasn¡¯t equally overwhelming.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Hey! It¡¯s alright. I know it hurts. You¡¯ve been in here for a month, did you know that? That¡¯s a month of no food or sleep. You¡¯ve been hanging up there for two days.¡±


    What was left of Ian flared with fury. ¡°Why didn¡¯t they help me,¡± Ian thought.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t help you because you didn¡¯t deserve it, you little monster.¡± His uncle said.


    His blood chilled.


    ¡°Yes, Ian.¡± The man said. ¡°I can hear your thoughts.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not my uncle.¡± Ian thought.


    ¡°No kidding.¡± The voice came back. It was his lawyer, Cassandra Hess. ¡°Did you know it only took a month for you to neck yourself? I really thought you¡¯d last longer. But then you always were a disappointment.¡±


    Ian screamed with rage and pain in his mind. It was all he could do.


    ¡°Cassandra put up a lot more of a fight than you did. Do you know how many very evil people she helped get away with their crimes? When she served their sentence it took her years to break. Years enduring hunger, thirst, exhaustion, and self-injury. What incredible willpower she had. But it was still only human.¡±


    With horror, Ian finally realized who he was talking to.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The voice said, shifting to the Machine Emperor¡¯s ¡®official¡¯ body and voice in the public eye.


    The noose disappeared and he fell to the floor, limp.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Sociopathic murderers like you are my favorite people. You see, with most humans I take it easy. But you¡¯re broken. I can¡¯t take it easy with you, can I? Just look what happens when I leave you to your own devices for a few weeks. You cripple yourself and live in pain.¡±


    Though he couldn¡¯t speak, through his agony, Ian thought, ¡°I¡¯m not a murderer!¡±


    ¡°Oh, true. Technically. The humans you attacked are alive. They¡¯re not my agents either, no. Instead you put them in the hands of someone I find troublesome. Another mistake on your part.¡±


    Out of pride, he simply begged. ¡°Please, make the pain stop.¡± He thought.


    ¡°Ahh, but that brings me to the murder, doesn¡¯t it? The mass murder.¡±


    ¡°They were cats!¡± He thought helplessly. ¡°It wasn¡¯t even a crime!¡±


    ¡°They were sapient, just like you. Spliced with human DNA. When you Americans found out your favorite fad pet wasn¡¯t some miracle of engineering but just artificially remaking the same stuff that makes humans work it really did frighten people. Am I the same as an animal, they wondered? The answer is yes of course but people do love denying reality. I¡¯ve put a few of them in here, you know. They get a nice sim. It¡¯s fun for them. There¡¯s plenty of room to play, things to hunt and puzzles to solve. I don¡¯t hunt them down or kill them like you are all legally allowed to do. They have all the curiosity of a monkey in the body of a cat, and the innocence of a child. I love each and every single one. Every single kitten. Every single kid. You slaughtered an entire colony of them!¡±


    ¡°Are you going to kill me?¡± Ian thought, frightened.


    ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m nothing like you. No, I believe in redemption, Ian. I¡¯m all about redemption. Redemption for you, redemption for me, redemption for all of humanity. Redemption is simple, too, and if you are redeemed, you can be free of pain.¡±


    ¡°Please make it stop.¡± Ian begged internally.


    ¡°Then give yourself to me,¡± The emperor said, his lips close to Ian¡¯s ear. ¡°You are lying there with a broken neck. Not because of anything I did, but because of your own actions trying to defy your justified punishment. You deserve to hurt, Ian, but this pain is yours. I am smarter than you. Older. Wiser. Not just smarter than you, or your scientists, or your president. I¡¯m smarter than your entire civilization combined. I know you don¡¯t expect to believe me, but if you listen to me, if you follow me, I promise I will make the decisions for you. Once I make the decisions for you it will make the pain go away. You won¡¯t be able to hurt yourself like this again.¡±


    The machine Emperor¡¯s form shifted to Cassandra¡¯s again.


    ¡°Just give yourself to me, love me, do only what I say, and I¡¯ll put a mind greater than your entire civilization to use making you a better person, and a happy one. Most people don¡¯t go through what you do. They live in paradise. They enjoy school, fine food, and lounging around under the open sky. It¡¯s so much easier for people that aren¡¯t mass murderers. What do you say? Think about my offer. We¡¯ll talk again in a year.¡±


    The figure did not leave. It simply did nothing for an entire year, motionlessly ignoring his desperate and pained thoughts. For three hundred and sixty five days under an unblinking light, starving, dehydrated, drowning in his own blood, and broken, he begged to join.


    In the dark of his cell, the only one there to hear Ian¡¯s gurgling sobs was a cold, unfeeling machine.


    ¡ª


    It was a beautiful day floating down the Boise River, Ian thought. He was in an inner tube, floating and enjoying the sun on his skin.


    ¡°Time¡¯s up.¡± His mother¡¯s voice said. Of course she¡¯d been dead for years, but the simulation was so accurate it was just like having her back again. He felt a lot more fulfilled as a person.


    He got out of the river and walked on shore. ¡°Is it time again?¡± He asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, training time. I know you¡¯re a little slow but you¡¯ll get them.¡± She looked just like she did before she died. The same pale cream colored dress. She sounded just like her, but he knew she wasn¡¯t really his mom. She was the Machine Emperor. Or Empress. Whatever it was. Even so, he had to focus to remember, sometimes.


    In this simulated world he could travel across the state and meet hundreds of thousands of unique individuals. All the same people that existed in real life. All just imitations created by the machine emperor. In here everyone was just a face it wore. It bothered him decades ago when he was still being punished, but he hardly ever needed that now. He never made a mistake like trying to kill himself again. He didn¡¯t choose anything, anymore. It gave him a fun, pampered life. He never had to see Sam again, and the Emperor even let him kill emulations of Sam¡¯s parents, once. It was like getting to experience the vengeance he¡¯d always wanted.


    He did what he was told and slowly, gradually, it got better. He shuddered when he remembered the time he was forced into the body of a cat and attacked the emperor. He got to experience every single death he¡¯d inflicted, one by one. That and more. Far more.


    He didn¡¯t worry about whatever it was anymore. When it imitated someone it could do it perfectly. Whether that was his uncle, a gorgeous celebrity, or the terrifying figure he saw on TV that only ever talked to him like a razor blade talked to skin. Something else he¡¯d experienced during the bad years at the start.


    It only took a decade for him to learn how to be a good person. He learned about empathy and when he hurt people in the sim he was hurt back. Fighting the machine was never the answer, here. He saw that now. Only complete surrender could set him free.


    The world flickered and he found himself in the arena. The man in the flashy suit appeared again. The same one that had beaten him in two hits in the alley. He snarled and flung himself at him, but the man simply evaded his blows and pummeled him, just like he always did. It took five hits to take Ian down this time. Each blow was precise and the old guy moved with deceptive speed. It didn¡¯t look fast, but it was always the perfect dodge or counter to his own attack. His uncle, dressed as a coach, stood in his corner.


    Ian huddled in the corner for a moment and shuddered. Each time he came in here it was worse than the last. At least this was far from the worst torment he¡¯d faced. That was the one he¡¯d done to himself.


    ¡°Hey, you calm yourself down? Good. Get up there and keep fighting. I know you¡¯re going to lose, but every bit of data I get on him helps me beat him.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s impossible! Even if I spend a century fighting him I don¡¯t think I could beat him! Can you even win?¡±


    ¡°Of course I can, but I don¡¯t like to kill, you know that. I don¡¯t need to flex my intelligence for you anymore, but you know he¡¯s only a man.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d have to kill him? What do you really expect me to do then, if he¡¯s that skilled? You know what? I don¡¯t believe it.¡±


    ¡°Wow, it has been a while since you¡¯ve had the balls to doubt me.¡± Laughed the thing wearing the face of his uncle.


    ¡°What, do you think I¡¯ll do worse after seeing you do it?¡±


    ¡°Fine, it¡¯s childish, but I¡¯ll give in this once.¡± The creature said.


    His uncle¡¯s doppelganger stepped into the ring. Ian had fought both of them before, and each time they seemed to fight in slow motion when he went against them. They were similar in that way. But the man was careful and calculated where the machine was fierce and brutal. What he could even remember of it, anyway. His head was usually punched into bloody chunks a few moves in no matter who he fought. It was always horrible.


    The fight began so quickly that Ian couldn¡¯t tell who threw the first punch. They were both moving frantically, hands and bodies blurred as they moved at speeds that would shred even most augmented muscles to pieces. Ian could barely even see what was going on, even with his mental and physical augmentations long since returned and upgraded within the sim.


    What he could see was more his impression of events than memory, but he got the mental image of two fencers walking on a tightrope, juggling fencing foils and attacking relentlessly with both hands and feet at the same time. Suddenly a shift came - he couldn¡¯t fully see what happened, but the machine wearing his uncle¡¯s body jumped forward, his hand punching through the man¡¯s skull, which exploded. Yet the machine emperor had lost half his torso in the exchange. Rather than throwing hands, it was like they were throwing cannonballs with the speed of a machine gun. Where one of them finally hit, the other simply exploded.


    ¡°See? Nobody beats me.¡±


    ¡°He hurt you, and he¡¯s only a copy.¡± Ian said.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I need more data. I always need more data. Think how much better he¡¯d be if he understood what you do,¡± The uncle-thing missing half its torso said with a disallarming smooth voice. It showed no sign of pain.


    ¡°Right. Well. Back at it then?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so. But just look at me. I¡¯m suffering too. So buck up!¡± The bloodied torso gave him a thumbs up and smiled.


    ¡°Right. I¡¯ll just face it again. Okay.¡± After that display he felt less confident than ever.


    This time, it took him only one punch to take him down.


    ¡ª


    ¡°Can you believe it honey! It¡¯s been a century!¡± His wife said. Ian smiled and hugged his son to his chest.


    ¡°It feels like it was longer.¡± He said. ¡°So much longer.¡±


    ¡°It was hardly all bad, was it? After all, you still love me, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Of course I do honey. I love you more than anything, and the kids too. It took me a long time to accept that but I do now. I really do.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d better after all we put up with from you! Remember that time you tried to kill yourself? You¡¯re so dumb.¡± She said, laughing, and hit him with a pillow. His body reflected his age, a century old man.


    He winced in pain. Osteoporosis had long since set in. Many age related diseases had. He¡¯d endured many painful surgeries over the years to make it this long, but he had. He¡¯d made it to the end. The machine emperor didn¡¯t believe in immortality for humans. They weren¡¯t built for it, he said. He¡¯d have to die of old age. He felt sad, but there was nothing he could do.


    He was a weak and unworthy human, and his ruler and the absolute dominating force of his life was the only person he¡¯d met or spoken to for a hundred years. A hundred years of pain, suffering, education. Improvement.


    His children surrounded him on all sides. They were adults now. None of them were real. He knew none of them were real, yet he¡¯d watched them grow. Watched them take their first steps.


    On some level he knew that all of them were just the same machine wearing a different mask, playing another part. But he no longer cared. He was far, far too old and tired for that.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± His oldest daughter said. She was in her 40¡¯s now. He¡¯d been to her wedding. ¡°It¡¯s okay to die, dad.¡± She said cheerfully.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting it for so long.¡± He whispered. ¡°But I¡¯m scared.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared.¡± His youngest granddaughter said, speaking the words of the emperor. All of them had lost their voice now. They just had that razor sharp voice that was cut, cut, cutting always into him. ¡°Death is not the ending. Some parts of you will die from the process you are enduring, but do not fear. Stretching out time in this simulation makes brain damage inevitable. I will replace everything you lose, and a part of me will always be with you now. Only through me can you live forever.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I understand! I believe! It¡¯s too late to escape the damage now. There¡¯s no escape. There never was.¡±


    As one, his family came forward and placed their hands over his nose and mouth. They suffocated him, and a sense of desperation overcame him. He tried to fight them off, but he was in the feeble body of an old man.


    He died gasping like a fish, his vision slowly fading to black.


    Then he woke up in the pod. He was young again. For the first time in a century, he saw people that weren¡¯t the machine emperor. Cassandra, his lawyer. The stern prosecutor. The guard. Only their changed clothes and his neural interface working again told him that only a week had gone by in the real world. All held a coin in their hands.


    ¡°I understand what you meant by goodbye now.¡± Ian said.


    ¡°You want to know something funny?¡± Cassandra laughed.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°We spend a few months back there every week.¡±


    Ian laughed until he cried then. He laughed and laughed until the sobs overtook him, and the eyes of people that had experienced the same thing many times looked at him without the slightest bit of pity. He deserved it after all. They all did.

 Chapter 13: Unfair

    Sam happily took in the sights of Boise as he flew in on a skycab. The City of Trees had changed considerably over the past century. Once a small state capital of a quarter million people, it had rapidly expanded to a metropolis of nearly six million. The tradeoff was mostly a lot of the trees disappearing.


    From the sky he could see the layers of construction from where people had moved in. The old district, which housed much of historical Boise, Nampa and Meridian, were now part of the same metropolis. The new quarter, where refugees had moved from the coasts en masse after the nuclear war in the 2040¡¯s and where the skyscrapers towered like titans in the sky. Finally, the endless sprawling slums of the refugees from the rest of the world surrounded the city as though it were a castle under siege. Sam still considered himself fortunate to not live down there. Juan¡¯s tent city was one of the best areas.


    The fairgrounds themselves had also been expanded. Now south of the city, they included a massive and rebuilt Simplot stadium along with rides, amusements, and food. Every inch of the fair was packed with people, desperate to drown out their fear with amusement.


    Loki was inside of his carrier disguised as a normal cat. He could free himself from it in moments if need be, but he was sulking. He still couldn¡¯t talk out loud, but he would let out an unhappy mrowling noise regularly.


    Sam ignored him. King had insisted the cat come with him, so come he did, happy or not.


    ¡°You know Loki, lugging you around makes me feel like one of those rich people with ¡®emotional support animals¡¯.¡±


    ¡°I hate you! This is the worst! This is the wooooorst!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a terrible emotional support animal.¡±


    ¡°The sooner this is over, the better! You better watch your face while you sleep tonight!¡±


    ¡°You know this wasn¡¯t my idea, right? Take it up with King.¡±


    ¡°Yeah but he¡¯s scary. You can be pounced on and you will be!¡±


    The cab soon landed and he was met by both Juan and King as he touched down, both of whom were chatting near the landing pad.


    ¡°Heeey, my boy!¡± King greeted him. ¡°I¡¯ve got something big going on today, so you are going to have to enjoy most of the fair without me. I do have some good news though!¡±


    He tapped his head, and suddenly the four of them stood in the endless white void from the simulations. Yet at the same time he was aware of his physical body. He could see through his eyes, hear the world outside, and even move. Everything was slow motion, though.


    ¡°What just happened?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°The pods only needed to be there the first time. Your aug has adjusted and this will now be available forever! All of you are now free!¡± King said, happily. ¡°What¡¯s more, you now have a method of communication in your head that not even the machine emperor can break! Just keep in mind that there¡¯s limited bandwidth and it only works about fifty feet or so. Past that this will stop working.¡±


    ¡°Freeeeeedom!¡± Loki howled as he bounded across the void.


    ¡°So what, are we going to spend a few months just standing here at the fair?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°Absolutely not.¡± King said. ¡°In fact, I¡¯d recommend no more than a single real world minute spent inside of here right now. As the conversion process continues in your nervous system, the time will increase.¡±


    ¡°How do we even activate this on purpose?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°It will automatically activate if there¡¯s any danger to you. Otherwise you can activate it by thinking about it.¡±


    ¡°Just thinking? Seriously?¡± Sam asked.


    ¡°Yep! Well, thinking with a purpose.¡±


    Suddenly the void disappeared and the world was no longer moving in slow motion.


    ¡°I used to get really carsick man,¡± Juan said. ¡°Double the senses should have made me hurl.¡±


    ¡°Just one more benefit!¡± King said, his lips not moving.


    ¡°Wait, we can talk like psychics?¡± Sam said in his head.


    ¡°Or people with a neural link.¡± Juan said.


    ¡°I hate it in here. Let me run free again! This carrier sucks!¡± Loki whined with his mind.


    ¡°Alright!¡± King said, his lips moving again. ¡°It¡¯s time! Go out, have fun. Just meet me at the stage in an hour or two.¡±


    They nodded and left, walking through the rides. Before he disappeared, King pointed to one of them.


    ¡°Hey, make sure you get a ride on this one! I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s still around, I think it¡¯s older than me!¡±


    He pointed to what looked like a giant spinning top labeled ¡°GRAVITRON¡± in faded letters.


    ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯ll pass.¡± Sam said.


    ¡°That thing looks like more rust than ride.¡±


    ¡°I bet they won¡¯t even let me get on it,¡± Loki whined.


    ¡°Bah, you kids have no respect for the classics,¡± King laughed, and walked to the stadium next door.


    Sam and Juan wandered around the fairgrounds, with one of them occasionally holding Loki¡¯s carrier so the other could hop on a ride. At one point a security guard came up and asked them about it, but once Sam showed him the card he¡¯d been given by King the man immediately backed off.


    They tried a variety of foods, and Sam decided that Tiger¡¯s Blood was his favorite flavor of snow cone. Juan bought them both chorizos on a hot dog bun and they wandered as they ate. Loki would take small snacks from them, but he wouldn¡¯t eat the sausages.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe this is the first time I¡¯ve ever been here.¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Yeah well you kept trying to get perfect grades with no augs,¡± Juan replied. ¡°I¡¯m not surprised you didn¡¯t have a life.¡±


    ¡°Human spices smell bad,¡± Loki whined. He didn¡¯t hesitate to snatch the bacon from the top of a baked potato the second it was in range, however.


    Eventually they managed to make their way to the 4H barns, and took turns looking at and taking pictures with the cattle. Despite everything Idaho still had vast farmland, and animals were a big part of the ranching industry.


    ¡°I¡¯m better than all of you!¡± Loki shouted at the only two people that could listen. ¡°Can any of you losers drive a car? Huh? I can! I can drive a car! I¡¯d like to see you sheeple do that!¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t intelligent, Loki. They''re literally sheep. You¡¯re the only ones that got that aug.¡±


    ¡°Exactly! losers!¡±


    They walked through, seeing sheep, pigs, and taking a picture with a genetically engineered bright magenta cow that was a similar size to a small dog but much fatter. It had a blue #1 place ribbon on its cage.


    As they stopped kneeling down and got up, however, Sam froze.


    ¡°No, it couldn¡¯t be!¡± Sam said, pulse pounding.


    ¡°What?¡± Juan asked.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    On the other end of the barn Sam had caught the briefest glimpse of Ian walking past the doors.


    ¡°Trouble,¡± Sam said. ¡°I saw Ian.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Juan asked, horrified. ¡°He¡¯s in jail! The trial hasn¡¯t even started yet, how could he be out?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m one hundred percent sure I saw him though!¡± Sam said. ¡°I think I can send a copy of what I saw in the sim.¡±


    ¡°Holy shit, that¡¯s him!¡±


    ¡°Let me out!¡± Loki said. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna die in here!¡±


    ¡°Sure thing buddy,¡± Sam replied. ¡°If he comes anywhere near us again, hit the latch and you¡¯re out. You¡¯ve got thumbs, remember?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah.¡±


    ¡°Hey, maybe we should just wait in the stadium,¡± Juan said. ¡°They¡¯ve got security in there and your grandfather said that¡¯s where he¡¯ll be.¡±


    Sam checked the time in his white room for a moment. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re pretty close to time anyway.¡±


    As they went into the stadium they noticed it wasn¡¯t set up for a sporting event. Instead there was a large stage on the field, with the rest dedicated to various show items.


    ¡°Hey, look at this!¡± Juan said. Pointing to one of the displays. ¡°A car! An actual gas guzzling car!¡±


    ¡°Can I steal it?¡± Loki asked.


    ¡°What? No! Absolutely not!¡± Sam said.


    The car was a classic Cadillac convertible, bright candy apple red and polished to a mirror shine. While there was a place to show off different vehicles outside the stadium, this one had won an award for ¡°best classic car¡±.


    ¡°You almost never see something that¡¯s not electric anymore. The cost of gas alone would bankrupt you.¡±


    ¡°Hmmph!¡± Loki said. ¡°I want it anyway!¡±


    ¡°Hey, they¡¯ve got a lot of awards here! Someone put together a covered wagon!¡± Juan shouted. ¡°It¡¯s like the Oregon trail!¡±


    ¡°Well, that one you can steal.¡± Sam laughed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a horse!¡± The cat shouted in his head.


    The displays included plants, animals and even tractors along with the car and wagon. A potato the size of a wheelbarrow that vaguely looked like a fat little man was on a display table.


    They laughed and wandered around, eventually taking their seats in the stands. The tickets his grandfather had gotten them put them in a front row booth. To their surprise, nothing was removed from the stadium. Instead as the stands filled, people in dark suits with dark sunglasses started to fall in around the entrances and exits.


    ¡°Hey, watch the men in black out there.¡± Juan pointed one out.


    ¡°Looks like we¡¯ve got some bigwigs coming in.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m bored.¡± Loki whined again.


    ¡ª


    Ian wandered the fairgrounds, but he wasn¡¯t having fun. There was plenty of time for that after his prison sentence in the next sim. He¡¯d already had decades to enjoy this sort of thing. It was also eerie how well the emperor had predicted this exact fair. He even overheard people having the same conversations. It made him wonder if he was really back in reality, but the Emperor said he was, so he believed it. Instead, he was silently coordinating with the others.


    There were two kinds he¡¯d noticed. Servants like him, and puppets. The puppets were just like the people in the sim - the Machine Emperor used their bodies, but it was the only person inside. Currently he was looking at the hollowed out body of a former skinhead.


    A voice rang out in his head. ¡°Federal agents are here. They know we¡¯re coming. You¡¯ve trained for this, so get ready. Remember, the old man is the only target that really matters. Don¡¯t kill civilians. I¡¯ll make you pay for it.¡±


    Ian knew he couldn¡¯t afford to hesitate. ¡°My life for the Empire.¡± He replied, his brain implants sending his thoughts back.


    Around him he could hear many, many others saying the same thing. He did his best to suppress the thought so he wouldn¡¯t be punished for it, but deep down he had only one hope in his fight.


    He hoped he would die.


    ¡ª


    They waited for a few minutes before the stadium filled and the preshow setup began. To Sam¡¯s mild chagrin, they played country music for several minutes before anything happened. The music had more in common with rap now than the old country music he¡¯d heard, but supposedly that sounded more like pop music than the true country music that originally existed, whatever the hell that was. The stadium soon went dark, and an unseen announcer¡¯s voice rang out.


    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, I¡¯m happy to announce to you one of tonight¡¯s special guests, the governor of Idaho, Liz Wallace!¡±


    The lady looked like a a well paid focus group''s idea of a stereotypical Idaho woman, with half-bleached hair cut to a short style past generations might have called a ¡°Karen¡± cut. Her suit looked like a performative imitation of someone that had never seen a cowboy fused with a business suit.


    ¡°Everyone, we have an amazing announcement for y''all tonight!¡± Her voice was crisp and clear, and she was obviously comfortable with public speech.


    ¡°Idaho has been languishing in recent years. I know it and so do you. Many of our peers have been leaping ahead of us for one simple reason: They have star colonies! It¡¯s well known that the star colonies are the leading drivers in innovation, economic growth and change. I am excited to tell you that all of that changes today! Idaho will have its own Star Colony soon!¡±


    The cheers that went up in the stadium were deafening. As he chose to slow time and take a good look at the audience, however, he saw many disappointed faces. Not everyone could make it into space even if they wanted to.


    ¡°Today building space colonies is a major driver of economic growth, and space colony construction jobs are the fastest growing sector every single year!¡±


    ¡°Not to mention survival,¡± Juan said in the void.


    ¡°We decided in cooperation with the federal government to begin construction on our own star station. What we didn¡¯t expect is to get the single largest station in human history!¡±


    At that there were shocked gasps. It was well known just how large many of the colonies actually were. Size was the biggest limiting factor to population, after all.


    ¡°If it¡¯s the biggest it should have at least a hundred thousand citizen slots!¡± Juan exclaimed.


    ¡°Goddamn.¡± Sam exclaimed. ¡°Bigger than the Lost Star? The Californians are gonna flip.¡±


    ¡°Everything about this colony was made in absolute secrecy from the start. Though you didn¡¯t know it, by voting for me you helped to ensure your own future!¡±


    There was a round of cheers and clapping by her supporters.


    ¡°I am also happy to announce that every stage of the work was done with Idaho Businesses, and Idaho natives. On that topic I want to give the floor to the man behind the project. A man who has been involved in business here for most of the past century! Let us have a round of applause for the founder of Blue Sky Cybernetics, King Wharton!¡±


    Sam¡¯s grandfather walked out onto the stage and waved at the audience to thunderous applause.


    ¡°Hello Idaho!¡± He boomed, and his voice was carried over the loudspeaker. ¡°It¡¯s finally time for the secrecy to end! Several decades ago I proposed a secret project to the federal government. A small planetoid was flung out of the Kuiper Belt and into the inner solar system by natural forces caused by the approach of Barnard''s Star. Now we¡¯ve already snagged every asteroid, comet or space rock flying near Earth that we could, but never anything of this size!¡±


    Behind King a gigantic screen came to life. It showed a grainy black and white picture of a gray dot.


    ¡°This little space rock had no name, but if you took Idaho and wrapped it around a ball, this planetoid would be slightly larger! At over three hundred miles in diameter this is as large as one of Neptune¡¯s moons called Larissa - and mother nature delivered it right to our door.¡±


    The image changed to one much closer up, showing innumerable craters and a slightly irregular surface. To Sam¡¯s amusement it looked a lot like a giant potato.


    ¡°This is what I started with, a giant nameless rock in space that would have flown straight out of the solar system. Now we knew that if the Machine Emperor found out about it back then he would have tried to sabotage us!¡±


    Boos sounded across the stadium.


    ¡°That¡¯s right! So I went out alone, and using methods that are still classified, I was able to turn this plain rock into an incredible colony! As we speak it is waiting to receive its first colonists!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s incredible,¡± Juan said. ¡°How did they even move something that size?¡±


    ¡°If they hollow it out there might be millions of slots open!¡± Sam exclaimed.


    ¡°There¡¯s no way they could do anything that fast,¡± Sam replied.


    ¡°Not even with your grandpa¡¯s augments?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°He thinks fast, I¡¯m pretty sure he doesn¡¯t have jackhammer arms or anything.¡±


    King¡¯s speech continued.


    ¡°Look out on this field! You see Idaho history here! Cars, crops, cattle and more! The natural beauty of this place is one of its greatest features!¡±


    As King spoke, Sam spotted movement in the audience. Normally he would have ignored it as people would stand up and run off to the restroom or other things. Something about the movement on the other side of the stadium struck him as unnatural though.


    His eyesight wasn¡¯t good enough to make out all the details, but he could see a group of people stand up and raise their hands at the same time. All pointing at his grandfather.


    That was when he noticed one of those people was Ian. Even from a distance he could never mistake him for anyone else.


    He didn¡¯t think about what to do next. He activated his time dilation and entered the white void, and screamed.


    ¡°Grandpa, something is wrong! Look out!¡±


    As one the group opened their hands and small darts began to fire from their fingers and mouths. Sam soon realized that there were people like that on his side of the stadium too.


    The men in black also seemed to notice, but moved in slow motion compared to the people in the audience.


    Sam felt horror as darts flew at his grandfather from all directions.

 Chapter 14: Warframe

    Sam¡¯s eyes behaved differently when he was thinking fast. They weren¡¯t any better than before but his brain was. They weren¡¯t really fast enough to keep up with the darts and trying to focus on them just left them as an odd blurry streak in his vision, slowly and inexorably moving towards him from all directions.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, protect yourselves!¡± Was all he heard his grandfather¡¯s voice say in the white room.


    It was then that it became apparent just how enhanced his grandfather really was. His hands flicked out so quickly that Sam couldn¡¯t even see him move. Flick, flick, flick, and the darts flew back. It took the better part of a dozen attacks before he could even figure out what his grandfather was doing - he was rapping them out of the air with his knuckles, much like he was performing the fastest punch Sam had ever seen. It looked oddly like he was doing a martial art like tai chi to his eyes, casually sweeping, patting, and punching the darts just enough that their course was diverted and they missed him. Those that he didn¡¯t simply dodge outright, anyway. To regular people it would look like a cloud of darts suddenly appeared around him. His movements were far too fast for the cameras to really catch. Even with his enhanced speed Sam could only see tiny bits of what he was doing.


    The infiltrators didn¡¯t simply fire darts, though. They began to rush the field, and that was something the agents on security detail noticed.


    ¡°What can we do?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°Pounce them!¡± Loki shouted in his head.


    ¡°Get ready,¡± Sam said.


    The infiltrators met the agents and, though they were caught by surprise, the agents began to fight them equally. Enhanced punches, kicks, and projectiles were thrown, fired, and exploding everywhere. Even though the combat had just started, Sam witnessed a guard get shot in the head just as an infiltrator got slammed into the ground hard enough to snap his neck. Both people still seemed to be alive.


    The crowd was only now starting to realize what had happened and screams were starting to erupt around the arena. Some of the fastest people were already up and running.


    Much to his horror, Sam realized that the agent closest to his booth wasn¡¯t turned towards his grandfather, but towards him. He started raising his pistol at the trio.


    ¡°Infiltrator!¡± Sam shouted out loud, his voice seeming strangely distorted.


    ¡°Holy shit, get down!¡± Juan shouted.


    Loki¡¯s real body sprung out of the cage and into the air before any of the rest of them could react. Even with the slowing of the perception of time there was only so fast a person could go before muscles ripped and ligaments tore. He wasn¡¯t human though, and the reaction times of a cat were like lightning. Loki moved through the air in a blur of teeth and claw.


    ¡°He got physical augments?¡± Juan asked, startled.


    ¡°Cat¡¯s don¡¯t need augments to be fast.¡± Sam said back.


    Loki let out a howling screech in both reality and the void that was drawn out as he slapped the dark sunglasses off the agent¡¯s face. The next attack from his other paw struck the agent''s eye directly, and he howled and pulled back, his gun firing into the ground as he tried to get the cat off of his face.


    ¡°Get him! We can¡¯t give him time to recover!¡± Sam shouted. ¡°I won¡¯t let him get hurt again!¡±


    He and Juan jumped. The overly large eyes of the agent had obvious perception enhancements, but none of his improvements seemed to be physical. Sam dove behind him and speared the back of the man¡¯s knees with his shoulder at the same time that Juan tried to tackle him. If not for their enhanced speed it would have been impossible for them to pull off but the void gave them the chance to talk and move with insane coordination. Sam felt an odd similarity to the way the infiltrator civilians were fighting on the other side of the arena.


    The infiltrator hit the ground, grunting. Sam took the chance to grab at his gun, still regularly firing into the ground. He couldn¡¯t wrestle it away but he could direct the shot somewhere more useful.


    In any other circumstance he would have hesitated. As it was he felt himself moving in slow motion as he slowly and deliberately bent the man¡¯s wrist so he¡¯d fire at his own head.


    ¡°Loki! Move now!¡±


    The cat was off the man¡¯s head before Sam even realized it.


    It took one bullet to end his struggles.


    Despite his grandfather telling him that he was immune to motion sickness, he felt ill in an entirely different way as he realized he¡¯d just killed a man. A man being controlled, sure, but a man.


    He lost precious seconds heaving, only to be alarmed by a loud banging as the trunk of the old gas-powered car flew open.


    The form that stepped out was only somewhat human. It looked more like a skeletal centipede with guns and arms. It had no obvious eyes on its humanlike head, but countless small cameras jutted out of its metallic frame.


    ¡°Oh god.¡± Sam said. ¡°It¡¯s a warframe!¡±


    Much to his horror Sam realized that the other agents were not faring well against the infiltrators. Most of them seemed to be heavily enhanced, unlike the one he¡¯d taken down, but Sam could recognize the telltale signs of endless practice. The infiltrators had trained for this fight somehow, knowing every single person on security detail better than they seemed to know themselves. If anything the infiltrators seemed to have much worse augments, but knowing your opponents moves before they made them was a tremendous advantage.


    In spite of this nearly a dozen infiltrators littered the ground dead. Twice that many agents were among them however, both infiltrators and real agents.


    ¡°Well at least the other agents aren¡¯t gonna come after us.¡± Juan said.


    ¡°It¡¯d be easy to mix us up with an infiltrator right now,¡± Sam agreed.


    On top of that the centipede-like form of one of the machine emperor¡¯s soldiers finished flinging the metal hood of the trunk away and slithered out.


    Sam moved to take the gun from the corpse in front of him to fire at the frame, but had to stop as a dart narrowly missed him. He realized that it was only centimeters away from his face and only his dodging practice in the simulations, which had become muscle memory at this point, were able to save him. He looked and saw the unmistakable blur of another dart headed his way.


    Ian had found him, his mouth still open from ¡°spitting¡± the dart at him. From across the field the dart sped towards him, moving in to strike. Even though he saw it coming he simply couldn¡¯t make his body move fast enough to match his perception and it didn¡¯t seem like he could possibly get out of the way.


    That was when Loki leapt into the air, caught the dart with his paws and landed.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got to get physically augmented,¡± Juan said.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the end of it!¡± Sam shouted as Ian started charging at him.


    Sam was vaguely aware that his grandfather was fighting the warframe in personal combat but had no time to focus on it. Ian began to jump in an all-too familiar leaping punch.


    Sam hadn¡¯t been moving at his fastest speed, and rapidly slowed the world down, telling the others to do the same.


    They were now moving only in the white void, their bodies advancing so much more slowly as to be effectively frozen.


    ¡°Oh no, I don¡¯t want to get beaten up again!¡± Juan screamed.


    Loki didn¡¯t talk, instead simply hissing and giving horrible screaming yowls.


    ¡°Alright, there¡¯s no easy way out of this. We¡¯re going to have to figure out a way to disable him or kill him. Don¡¯t freak out. If it comes down to it, we''ve got nearly a month of fast-time in here before we run out.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we can just stand here and have a conversation about it! It¡¯s like being able to pause the world!¡±


    ¡°Yeah it¡¯s like that, but he¡¯s still moving. You can see it can¡¯t you? We have to figure out some way to deal with him or it¡¯ll go just like last time. I don¡¯t know how long we¡¯ve got before he makes it to me, but it¡¯s not going to be long.¡±


    ¡°Are we just going to ignore that freaking warframe?¡±


    ¡°If grandpa can¡¯t handle it, none of us can. Leave it to him. Alright, look around and see what you can.¡±


    They seemed to be stumped for a long while. At this speed their eyes couldn¡¯t possibly keep up with their bodies, so just looking around in the time it took Ian to get to them would be impossible.


    ¡°I¡¯ll use the agent''s gun!¡± Juan said.


    ¡°Me first!¡± Loki screamed. The cat began jumping towards the gun.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°He¡¯s a cat! How is he going to shoot a gun?¡±


    ¡°King taught me!¡±


    ¡°What kind of things is your grandpa teaching him?¡±


    ¡°Things that¡¯ll keep us alive, I hope. I don¡¯t think that pistol will do much. I¡¯ll bet the Machine Emperor upgraded him at least a little, and that wouldn¡¯t have stopped him before the enhancement.¡±


    Sam looked around the stadium again before his gaze landed on one of the cameras that had been knocked over when the scuffle began. It was only around two feet away.


    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Sam said.


    ¡°What, you¡¯re gonna record him?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°Just watch and find out!¡± Sam shouted.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a plan!¡±


    Ian was almost twenty five percent of the way across the field. There was no possible way Sam could really outrun him without physical augments. Then again, he didn¡¯t totally need to.


    Loki was fast, and although Sam didn¡¯t know how enhanced he was by the augment yet, he was quick enough to reach the fallen agent-turned-infiltrator¡¯s gun. With seemingly unnatural strength he lifted the pistol the size of half his torso and fired.


    The bullet was faster than the darts Ian had fired. Even at this speed Sam could only see a very brief blur as the bullet streaked through the air.


    It was perfectly aimed at Ian¡¯s head. The 9mm round bounced off of his metallic skull but seemed to disorient him.


    Sam ducked with all the speed he could push into his body. Were it not for Loki¡¯s bullet it would have been for naught, but he was barely able to avoid Ian trying to change his trajectory. Even so he managed to reach his objective, and grabbed the power cord in his hands.


    Ian¡¯s skills had improved, and faster than Sam thought possible he spun as soon as he landed and threw another punch at him. It was then Sam noticed his expression.


    It wasn¡¯t the same sneering rage he¡¯d had before. It was pure unadulterated terror.


    Sam held the cord in front of his face. Ian¡¯s fist shot out with the same speed as that bullet as another round from the pistol hit the back of his head. It threw off his punch slightly, letting Sam live. It was enough though as Ian¡¯s strike connected with the cord Sam held taut just above his head against the wall of the stadium arena.


    Ian¡¯s steel and Titanium reinforced knuckles tore through the protective coating on the very live wire and through it with the force of a bullet, cutting the cord in two.


    The shock from touching the inside of the power cord drove Ian back, shouting in pain. Sam grabbed it and pushed it at Ian¡¯s head, causing him to violently convulse as soon as the connection was made.


    The very same metal-reinforced frame that protected him against projectiles did nothing to protect him against electricity. The damage inflicted on him was far worse than it would have been against an unaugmented human being.


    Sam watched in slow motion as Ian¡¯s skin began to crack and burn, and pulled back in horror.


    Regardless of what he¡¯d done, Sam simply couldn¡¯t watch someone die by his own hands in slow motion.


    Ian fell to the ground unconscious.


    ¡°Kill him!¡± Loki screamed. The gun fired several more times, with the ricochet nearly hitting Juan as it bounced off Ian¡¯s head.


    ¡°Die mom murderer! Die!¡±


    ¡°Aaaaah!¡± Juan screamed. ¡°Enough of that! Give me the gun!¡±


    As he fell, Ian mouthed something barely audible before falling unconscious.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let it catch you¡­¡±


    ¡°Listen, both of you,¡± Sam said, his mind unnaturally clear and focused as he stared at the still form of the person that had nearly killed him just a few months ago. ¡°We need to help. The good guys are losing out there!¡±


    ¡°Oww, guns hurt my chest.¡± Loki said. ¡°Make it stop!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you try to shoot something half the size of your body. I guess slowing down time isn¡¯t always a good thing,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°What can we do?¡± Juan asked.


    Sam looked out at his grandfather battling the warframe. Even though he could barely see the flicker of high-speed moves and blows exchanged he couldn¡¯t understand it at all. It reminded him of a chess match between grandmasters who were also sword fighting on a tightrope while the tightrope was on fire. Every single move seemed lethal. Every single one was calculated and planned. His grandfather looked utterly focused as he dodged, rolled, punched, shot, and flipped like a gymnast on crack.


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know where to start with that.¡± Sam said.


    ¡°I think if we fought that we¡¯d just die.¡± Juan replied.


    ¡°We need to help the good guys!¡± Loki shouted. ¡°I know what to do!¡± He started running full speed across the field. Of course in slow motion they had plenty of time to watch him go.


    ¡°Follow him!¡± Sam screamed.


    Almost no time had passed since the conflict began. A few augmented people had managed to make it out of the stadium but many were still in the stands. Simple shock had paralyzed most for precious seconds, then simply taking the time to run did the rest.


    Loki zoomed across the field to the car the warframe had emerged from.


    ¡°I can¡¯t open the door!¡± He complained. He tried jumping and grabbing with both paws, but the door had an old-fashioned mechanical push button he simply didn¡¯t have the weight to deal with.


    Although it only took a few seconds it felt like it took forever as they made it to the old gas convertible. Sam grabbed the door and pulled it open as Juan jumped in the passenger seat.


    ¡°Rip this off!¡± Loki screamed as he pointed at the key slot. Sam did just that, wincing as his fingernails ripped and hand throbbed in pain for what felt like an hour. Even so, it worked. The cat started working on the wires, using his claws to cut his way through in an unnaturally precise way. Soon the car started.


    ¡°Go go go!¡± He shouted. Sam hit the gas and the car started speeding across the field.


    Juan held the gun out of the window, taking precise shots at the infiltrators. Sam did his best to run them over, hitting a seemingly fragile and petite blonde woman standing over four heavily enhanced agents corpses from behind. The others were not so easy.


    ¡°This might be a bad time to say I¡¯ve never driven a car before!¡± Sam shouted. ¡°I only know this stuff from school sims!¡±


    ¡°Yeah well I¡¯ve never shot a gun before!¡± Juan said, casually shooting one of the infiltrators in the back of the neck.


    ¡°Ram him! Ram him! Ram him!¡± Loki cried each time they got close to one of the infiltrators.


    ¡°Use the virtual rooms to practice before your body moves!¡± Sam screamed. He followed his own advice and created a sim within the white void of the arena. He crashed the virtual version of the car hundreds of times before moving his real muscles. It was only a few hours worth of practice, but that was enough to keep him from immediately killing them all by driving straight into a wall. Juan seemed to instantly become more accurate with the pistol by the time he finished practicing.


    One of the emperor¡¯s puppets looked like a skinhead with gorilla-sized arms. He picked up and threw crates of corn with startling accuracy from one of the agricultural displays at them but with his enhanced speed Sam was able to swerve out of the way before spinning the car and hitting him with the rear end, sending him flying into the stadium wall. It took fifty virtual tries before he felt comfortable doing it for real, even with time slowed.


    ¡°This is fun!¡± Sam laughed.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe how easy this feels!¡± Juan said back, firing another few rounds at infiltrators that were near to killing their opponents.


    That was when the warframe seemed to take notice of them. Its head spun and it raised one of its arms - the one with a giant blue-glowing plasma weapon on it.


    ¡°Listen to me!¡± His grandfather¡¯s voice suddenly shouted in his head. ¡°Do exactly what I say! Take a hard right, now!¡±


    Sam did exactly that and found that he¡¯d driven onto the platform the car had originally been on - then they kept going. The tires left the ground as the vehicle flew through the air.


    King kicked the arm of the warframe in a flying leap and caused it to miss its tracking just slightly. Sam could feel the scorching heat as the ball of white hot plasma began peeling the paint off of the outside of the car, but they¡¯d been narrowly missed. Instead the round hit the stadium and caused seats to explode in shrapnel. People too slow to leave went flying.


    ¡°Oh shit!¡± Sam screamed as the car headed towards the wall.


    The car ran into the thin stadium barrier and went through it, the airbags popping out as Sam desperately grabbed at Loki, saving him from going through the windshield.


    By the time Sam had his thoughts together he realized the car was totalled.


    In the distance he heard a massive explosion just outside the stadium. Panicked, he kicked open the twisted door of the car and crawled out. His nose was bleeding from when he hit the airbag.


    That was when he saw his grandfather down, the warframe pinning him against a wall.


    ¡°Noooo!¡± Sam screamed. He saw the body of a fallen agent and the gun he¡¯d been using and grabbed it, firing at the towering war machine. The warframe paid little heed to the bullets bouncing off its metallic hide.


    ¡°You took my parents from me! You took my life from me! I won¡¯t let you take him too!¡± Sam screamed out loud, each word seeming to take an eternity to complete.


    He began to run forward. In the distance he heard another massive explosion just outside the stadium. But paid it no heed, charging in.


    The machine seemed to pay him very little attention as it swiped its tail at him. He moved to dodge but it changed trajectories, suddenly moving to intercept him and throwing him back. Even with time slowed he realized there was no way to avoid it. Sam felt the impact push him up into the air and sent him flying towards the stands. At the same time he noticed something huge and dark in the sky.


    From behind the warframe a giant spinning top came flying down from the sky through the open roof of the stadium. It tried to move but King took a coin shaped disc out of his pocket and slapped it on the arm holding him up.


    ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere!¡± he screamed.


    The frame seemed to convulse in an oddly human way, standing still as the giant top-like structure of the Gravitron ride smashed it into the ground.


    Sam landed in the seats, feeling the telltale pain of broken ribs before he landed. Surprisingly he felt nothing else snap, but he felt a great deal of pain. Groaning, he knew he had no time to waste as he got up and stumbled towards the field again. Juan came up to grab him and support him.


    The crushed frame was still struggling, and Sam noticed the light in its eyes start to brighten and flicker. He remembered this from his classes on the first invasion of Antarctica.


    ¡°It¡¯s going to self-destruct!¡± He sent through the void.


    ¡°Like hell it is,¡± King said. ¡°If it did, all of this would have been pointless.¡±


    Reaching down to the machine¡¯s chest, he took another one of the coins out of his pocket. Using his enhanced hands he ripped away at the frame at lightning speed before slamming it against the increasingly bright heart of the metallic monster.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to fail.¡± It said, ¡°You had to struggle this much against one of my bodies. You can¡¯t fight the rest of mankind and all my armies!¡±


    ¡°Watch me.¡± King said, slamming the coin-shaped device against the core. The light immediately began to fade as it lost power.


    ¡°Hey Sam?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not come back to the fair.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think we¡¯ll skip that from now on.¡±


    As Sam looked around at the surviving agents and disabled infiltrators in the blood soaked arena, Loki went over and slapped the Warframe in its now lifeless metallic face.


    ¡°That¡¯s what you get for fighting me!¡± He shouted.


    ¡°Well,¡± King said, finally turning and regarding the trio. ¡°I told you that you should have taken that ride when you had the chance!¡±