A name...

While researching facial recognition, both biological and electronic, I was pondering a different subject. Alexandria King was dead to the world. So, who was I? I was in the rare situation of needing to name myself. When I picked my powered code-name, I had decided on a reminder to myself, something that was both good PR and something more to myself.

But as a civilian name, I needed something else. Sure, there was the temptation to use something on-the-nose, like Lilith Carpenter, Lilith in recognition of the first woman to defy the christian god and Carpenter in mockery of the same. Or maybe Joanna Arc, because of my chosen method of faking my death. Even Lucy would give me an appreciable irony, naming myself after the angel who told his master just where to stick it. But no.

Each of those names would be a wonderful irony that I would greatly appreciate, but at the end of the day, it would be foolish, giving away a hint for free, taking such a recognizable name. It would just invite scrutiny, by the simple fact that it would be memorable. Something I truly did not want.

In addition, there was another problem, I would have to get the name into the system. There were various systems, not all linked to the internet and thus vulnerable to Galatea, some were not even electronic at all. Getting a new identity established would be a difficult task. I knew that there were ways to do so, I even knew someone who could probably do so but it would be a risky proposition. The Shadowbroker had given me the impression of being a straightforward businessman, adhering to his deals as agreed, but at the end of the day, he was a businessman. Letting him handle my new identity would possibly just trade my old cage for a new one. No, I would have to manage that myself.

I refocused on my work, reading about the different focus-points that were used to recognise faces and tried to think of ways to alter them, without making it obvious. For example, a pair of glasses could help with my eye-shape, maybe contacts for the eye-colour. Think plastic rings could slightly alter my nostrils and possibly plastic inserts to alter the alter the shape of my cheeks.

Sadly, I could not even come up with something close to the awesome masks used in some movies, giving them a completely different face with a thin mask. But I guess, those things were only possible with hollywood-magic. At the end of the day, a new haircut, fake papers and a changed face would be much more secure than hiding behind a mask. Yes, a fake ID would work better than even a Guy Fawkes mask.

Just as I thought about getting myself a Guy Fawkes-mask, as part of a secondary costume, not for fighting but for stealth, Galatea called for my attention.

“Alex, I thought you might be interested. Sophia just entered the road to the King-mansion. I am still tracking her cell phone.”

Well, damn. I highly doubted that Sophia was on the way to meet me at home, just for fun. No, I would bet that she had heard of my demise, I highly doubted that she would go to the mansion for other reasons.

“Can you get a drone in the general area? I would like to have a visual.” I asked Galatea, while pondering my options.

Moments later, a new window was opened on my screen and I was watching Sophia entering the grounds around the mansion and being welcomed by business barbie.

“Do we have audio?”

“... to meet you, Mrs King. I’m sorry to intrude, it’s just that.. I can’t believe she’s gone.” I listened to Sophia greet business barbie, emotions choking her. But what truly floored me was that business barbie pulled her into a comforting hug.

“It’s alright. You lost a good friend, didn’t you. And call me Grace, if you are comfortable with it.”

I watched as the two of them went into the mansion, sadly the drones microphones were not good enough to pick up voices from the inside. Something to look into.

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“Galatea, are there any cameras inside the mansion you can hack into?” I asked, knowing that it was unlikely. I had removed all of my cameras as part of the pyre-protocols and even Galatea could not work miracles. But I wanted to know what was happening inside.

Staring at the surveillance-feed, I was almost biting my nails. I wanted to know what was spoken. I could understand Sophia’s need to go there, I would act similarly if she suddenly died in an accident but the uncertainty drove me insane. Sophia knew more about me than anyone, if anyone could raise doubts, it was her.

No more than three minutes later, Sophia left the mansion again, tears running down her face and alone. Moments later, she was followed by a red-faced Clark.

“I told you to stay away, didn’t I? Why would you feel a need to rub salt into the wounds of good people?” Clark asked in an angry voice.

“She was my best friend. Why…” Sophia was clenching her fists and once more I hoped that she could control herself. Sure, she could kill Clark with her bare hands, but it would not help. Not her, not me, not anyone.

I stood and moved towards the bunker-exit. I needed to stop her from doing something stupid.

“Alex, stop. You can’t leave the bunker!” Galatea admonished me.

“I need to stop her from doing something stupid.” I retorted.

“By doing something stupid yourself? You are supposed to be dead” she reminded me.

My stride ground to a stop. Of course, I could not leave the bunker, not without a good disguise. My emotions were making me stupid.

“You are right. Do you think you can whip up some simulator how my features would change depending on objects in my mouth? I think that would be the easiest way to disguise myself. I will make a pair of sunglasses but built like my suits visor. I don’t think I want to be without your support.” I asked her, choosing a project for myself, just to take my mind off things.

“Oh, and keep an eye on Sophia.” I added.

I forced my focus onto my project, luckily it was an interesting one. The singular parts were easy, an energy source, a transceiver, a small camera and tinted glass made with the same middle-layer as my visor. I didn’t need the glass to be as durable as the visor, I doubted that my glasses breaking would be my biggest problem if someone shot me in the face, if that ever happened, I would have bigger problems for sure.

No, the challenge was that all the parts needed to be built into a pair of stylish glasses, there was no way I would run around with birth control glasses.

I opted to use a pair of brand-sunglasses as a model, but making the frame out of my ceramic, allowing me to make them durable with a lot less material, leaving me some room for parts. Building them in let me slide into a trance, as I lost myself in the task of creation.

Some time later, I was done. My new glasses looked awesome and my mental state was back to a nice, placid condition. No more running off half-cooked.

“I’m done, Galatea. Want to test it out?” I asked, as I tried on my new glasses. WIthin moments, the display inside came to life as well, at first I had to help Galatea adjust it, but soon, I was able to use it with ease. It looked like I would be able to take my daugther with me, whenever I wanted to.

The next part I would have to take care of would be a hair-cut. Galatea and I looked through various possibilities and debated which would be good and which would be bad. Part of me wanted to go a little ham, shaving my head completely, in a way of casting off my fathers influence. In addition, it would allow me to easily use wigs and help with the fit of my helmet. But Galatea talked me out of it, suggesting a crew cut, which would allow for similarly easy wig-wear but did not force me to do so, unless I wanted to stand out.

In addition, she recommended dying my hair some other colour, preferably dark, in order to hide the ingrowing roots.

She opened a new window with the simulation I had asked her to create and the face on the screen was quite different from mine, I would recognize it in the mirror but only after a moment or two. Others might recognize me as well, but not certainly. Galatea also laid over a few lines, demonstrating the variables used by facial recognition and it was still rather close. It could work, but not certainly.

When I told Galatea so, the image changed. Now, I would not recognize it at all. The haircut was still the same as the first image, a crew cut used to conceal my exact height, but the facial lines were much, much sharper. Looking at it, I would bet that not even my father would recognize me. Again, she demonstrated the variables used by facial recognition and the changes would make recognition impossible.

“How?” I asked her.

“The first would be with simple, removable inlays in your mouth, nose and behind your ears. All change the shape slightly, adding together in a different face. The second would use small-scale surgery, allowing me to directly modify your facial bone-structure. It would require a lot of preparation-work, especially in the field of accelerated growth building on the things you have done to create your simulacra but I believe you could do so.” she explained.

“Let’s go with the inlays first. I don’t think I want a permanently new face for now.”