Hot-sim VR looks different for everyone. When the average person hears VR they immediately jump to the commercially available programs that let you connect with all the safeguards and protections they entail. But hot simming is different since it connects directly to your brain so you can hack or program at the speed of thought. It requires custom programs, which means the programmer decides how everything is displayed. Some lazy hacks just rip everything from commercial programs and slap watermarks to make sure you know how smart they are to be able to program at this level. The program I set up for Leah is a work of art, turning the virtual world into a sea of trees and plants like her home forests in Washington. Jack and Hank both have limited VR for inspecting their gear, with a full suite of diagnostics for their respective specialties. Arash will get similar if he ends up working out. All in all, I’m proud of the work I put in for my crew.

My VR suite, however, is stripped down black and white with color tags for security systems. Despite how simple it sounds, it’s an exquisite web of filters, daemons, ice, and hacking tools. The only things holding me back at this point are the hardware of my deck and the hardware limitations of the human mind. This thing is capable of overlaying itself over any corporate filter and blowing right through any level of security.

This is good because at the moment I’m floating through a massive zen rock garden guarded by no fewer than ten temple lion dogs representing either corporate hackers or sniffer daemons. Whatever they are they’re positively buzzing with all kinds of ice and black ice. For what’s essentially just the lobby of their network this is some heavy security. But with a quick command and a spoofed ID, I slip sideways through a wall and into the network proper.

I freeze immediately when I enter and hit the stealth programs. There’s double the number of security agents here but now I can tell they’re daemons. Suits of empty samurai armor are arrayed around the edge of a twenty by twenty room all pointing at a sword stuck in the ground at the exact center room, all watching and waiting to activate. If my avatar had to breathe I’d be holding my breath right now. I’ve somehow jumped straight into the network’s main security node, which is definitely where I shouldn't be on this particular run.

No time to waste though, the crew is counting on me. Gritting my teeth I make best speed across the room to the door and pray to all the gods, goddesses, and dragons I know that I’m better at programming than the spider who set up this network. And after half a second (that feels like hours) I make it through the door. I go so fast that I don't even notice that one by one a blue symbol begins to appear on the sets of armor...

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Thankfully there are only two lion-dogs here watching over a small group of human avatars who seem to be employees who are working late. I snag two of their ids and use one to distract the lion-dogs, and the other to get a map of the network I’m in. After confirming where I am and where the controls for the physical security are I slip away, leaving two very confused employees to be glared at by the lion-dogs.

The network is on the smaller side, so I only have two nodes to get through before I’m at the camera controls. Doubly lucky the way there is lightly guarded. So far this mission has been a cakewalk. Maybe those extra requirements weren't so bad after all.

I kick myself for thinking that when I crack the security node. There are four guards on duty. I can't take them out per the contract, and alerting them to anything out of the ordinary would be counterproductive. So, after a very long and delicate minute, I’ve tapped their feeds and routed them through me. At least that way I can react to anything changing fast enough to cover my team.

I open my eyes in the real world. With a quick check on the time, five minutes have passed. I call out, “Blackjack, let Shadow know it’s go time.”

I get a grunt of confirmation and roll my eyes in response. Then I crack my knuckles and dive back in. Now I have a couple of choices on what to do with these cameras. A bad hacker would blow them up, an amateur would just shut em off, and a good hacker would loop clear footage over the feed. I, however, am an artist. I leave the cameras rolling and on a live feed, but tell them to rotate away from wherever my crew is. A simple and elegant solution that leaves little to no traces of my involvement. I do the same for the doors and alarms in the facility letting Shadow, Widow, and Broomstick waltz through without a care in the world.

All that’s left for me is to sit back and stay out of the guard’s way. Which I do for the next thirty minutes until the back of my neck starts to itch. I may be partially chrome and an enby of reason, but even I know to listen to my animal instincts on a run. Just as I start to look around the first alarms start going off. I barely have time to silence them before the next wave kicks off. As I battle more and more alarms from the facility, I look desperately around the node for the source.

That’s when I notice the symbol on the guard’s avatars. A blue dragon head in a circle. Some motherfucker hacked in at the same time as me, and I didn't even notice. I’m ripshit pissed now. If this were some spider I’d be less annoyed, but no, it’s some other group on a run. That means I’ve been providing cover for someone else without getting paid for it. I feel my fingers twitch as I reach towards the black ice. But my hands are full with these damn ala-

“KEI WAKE THE FUCK UP”