Something pulled on the fishing line hanging out of the Endless Summer. Ben opened his eyes. Sunlight was hitting him squarely in his perfectly designed face. He lowered his baseball cap and launched himself out of the deck chair towards his fishing rod. The luxury yacht wobbled a bit in response to the sudden movement. He took the rod out of the holder with a firm grip. But there was no tension on the line as he reeled it in. Nothing seemed to be hooked.
“Watson, come on, this can’t be realistic!”
“Well, all I can say is, that realistic is the selected setting.” said a ubiquitous voice in response.
Ben pushed the rod back into the holder and turned around.
“This is the third false alarm now. Can we turn it off please? It’s just no fun! Either make them bite or not bite, but this setting is really annoying!”
“Sure, the setting you are looking for is apparently called ‘child mode’, do you want me to activate it?”
Ben thought he heard a hint of contempt.
“Just turn off false alarms! I don’t care what it’s called.”
“Compliance.” Watson responded.
Ben took a deep breath. His skin was overly heated by the sun and he felt like cooling down a bit. Since he was already standing he went over to his cooler and took a cold beer. He opened the flip-top with a pleasant pop and took a big swig. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand he admired the beautiful scenery around him. Nothing but calm sea under a clear blue sky while a Bob Marley song played softly from the ship's loudspeakers.
Ben had come here to relax and remove all distractions. He was suffering from creator’s block. He liked to design virtual escape rooms and was pretty successful at it. Of course he had to release them under a pseudonym, but he had accepted that fact a long time ago. His newest escape room idea was based on Mark Twain’s life. But somehow it just wasn’t clicking. The different, individual challenges weren’t forming a satisfying and coherent whole. He knew expectations were high and he would not release the room unless it was the best he could create. On the other hand he wasn’t sure if reading Mark Twain material and biographies was research or really just procrastination at this point.
The challenge was to combine an interesting narrative with challenging riddles while being faithful to the life and biography of the main character.
Maybe this time he had bitten off more than he could chew.
He took another swig. Damn, that sky was blue.
Working on escape rooms had given him purpose in an otherwise purposeless world.
He was grateful for that and for his fans. But that didn’t mean he was under any obligation to release something. Or to meet a deadline. He was his own boss. At the same time speculations online were going nuts over when he would release his next escape room. And the longer he waited the higher that pressure became. Some argued that his next room would be extra special because of the extra long time it took to create it. The problem was, that wasn’t the case. In reality he had just taken some time off and procrastinated a lot. It was somewhat of a vicious circle. The longer it took the higher the expectations got. He played with the idea to let his old pseudonym die and to release his next room under a new one. Expectations were just too high at this point and he wasn’t sure if the pressure was worth it.
The truth was, a new distraction had found its way into his life. A distraction so desirable he could hardly wait to visit it each day. Not really having to work for a living did the rest.
“Ah fuck it, enough work for today. Good things take time,” said Ben and threw his beer bottle overboard. It dispersed into a million little green particles before it hit the water.
He went portside and then towards the bow of the boat where he found a beautiful young woman with golden brown hair laying face-down on a huge light-green towel. The olive skin of her back was glistening in the sun. A pink bikini laid crumpled-up next to her. It was so scant he almost missed it at first glance.
“Hey V, whatcha doin’ ?” asked Ben bored.
Vanessa turned her head and looked at him with radiating, emerald green eyes, “Oh not much, playing a game of chess against AlphaZero. But I am losing anyway. Wanna do something together instead?”
“Why do you keep playing against it ?”
She shrugged with a playful smile, “I don’t know, I guess I like a challenge.”
Ben nodded. He was still feeling a bit hot.
“Do you want me to turn the sun down a bit ?”
“No, I think it’s perfect!”
Ben thought of something else he could do.
“Want some sun lotion ?”
“I would love some sun lotion!” Vanessa smiled brightly. Ben sat down next to her.
“Watson, you heard the lady.”
Particles started to appear randomly and fly into Ben’s hand, quickly forming an orange plastic bottle. He opened the lid and squeezed some of its contents into his hand. He placed the bottle next to the fleeting bikini fabric.
Then he started to rub his hands together to bring the white liquid up to skin temperature before placing them on her back just below the shoulders.
“Mmmmmh” moaned Vanessa, “That feels amazing!”
She closed her eyes and relaxed her head again.
Ben smiled, savoring the feeling of her skin sliding, bending underneath his hands. It truly was indistinguishable from reality. After all these years he was still amazed. He couldn’t help but feel proud.
He massaged her shoulders, her arms, her sides and then her lower back. If he wasn’t mistaken her bottom had just perked up a little bit. He smiled again. Oh no, not yet, he was in it for the long game today. He wouldn’t touch her more sensitive parts until she begged him, until she just couldn’t wait a second longer without bursting into flames of anticipation. He squirted some new lotion into his hands and then went back up to her shoulders. “Bennnn!” protested the woman, wiggling under his touch, “You’ve been there already!”. She arched her back, forsaking any subtlety she might have had before. But he was not yet ready to give in. “I think you missed a spot!” said Vanessa wiggling her bottom.
“Oh really and where might that be at?” Vanessa bit into her green towel. “My butt!” she mumbled with teeth full of cotton, pretending to be discreet. Ben rubbed his hands together. He was about to show some mercy.
Suddenly Watson started to speak, “I am terribly sorry, Ben, but a police officer is requesting access to your server.” A quick burst of adrenaline was followed by a slow wave of goosebumps starting on Ben’s shoulders and slowly moving over to his forearms.
“Bennn, your killing me! Don’t stop!”
“Vanessa pause!” commanded Ben.
Vanessa stopped moving and turned gray. Ben’s mind started to race. What could they possibly want from him? He urgently searched his brain. He couldn’t come up with anything incriminating he had done, but that hadn’t saved him in the past either. At least this time there was nothing left to take away.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Ben ?” asked Watson.
Ben felt like he could only move and think in slow motion.
“Ben ?” asked Watson again.
Ben shook his head in an effort to shake off the bad memories that were sweeping over him. He forced himself to focus on the present.
“Yes, Watson.”
“There is a police officer requesting access to your server.” repeated Watson patiently.
“Ok.”
“Would you like me to grant her access ?”
“Wait!” Ben looked at Vanessa still frozen in place.
What would happen if he denied the police officer access ? Would she come back ?
Should he ask if the officer had a search warrant ? Fear crept over him. He wasn’t the type of person to play games with law enforcement. Not anymore. Then Ben had a thought, He was in a fucking simulation. What’s the worst that could happen ? He could always log out, right ? His heart rate normalized a bit. I am in control, he told himself.
“It’s a single person requesting access, right Watson ?”
“Yes Ben”
He started to wipe his oily hands on his dark blue swim shorts.
“Remove Vanessa and put me in a Hawaiian shirt.”
Vanessa disappeared into a million skin colored particles and a green Hawaiian shirt with white flowers materialized on his upper body.
I am in control, Ben repeated in his mind.
“Watson, please grant the officer access to my server.”
“Compliance.”
Ben took a deep breath.
Suddenly eight beams of blue light shot down from the sky and onto his boat.
The beams formed a circle on the floor in front of Ben. Then a million light-blue dots appeared inside the beams quickly taking the form of a female person. Finally a slender young woman in her early twenties, with a blond ponytail, dressed in a tight police uniform appeared in front of him. The seams and stitches of the dark blue uniform were slightly glowing.
“Star Trek beams and Tron uniform, you are my kind of officer,” said Ben with fake confidence.
He reached out and after a brief moment where the police officer found her bearings, she shook his hand with a bright smile, “Hello Mr. Kendrick. It’s good to meet you. My name is Sarah Walters, I am an officer at the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. Your personal assistant has received a copy of my credentials.”
“Hello Miss Walters, welcome to the Endless Summer! To what do I owe... this unexpected pleasure?” said Ben a bit frosty.
The police officer looked at her hand and then rubbed her thumb with her index finger. He blushed, “Sorry, sunscreen!” he explained, pointing at the sun with squinted eyes.
He really hoped she wouldn’t ask why he needed sunscreen in a simulation.
“Would you mind us taking a seat ? It’s a bit of a long story”
She rubbed her hands on her uniform. Ben tried his best to read her body language, so far she really didn’t seem hostile in any way. Quite the contrary.
“Sure, let’s go to the back. Watson, please spawn a second deck chair next to mine”
Ben gestured to Sarah to go first. Sarah followed his invitation and went portside and then further to the back of the boat. Sarah noticed a fishing pole sitting in a holder and two white sturdy deck chairs. Sarah sat down and Ben followed suit. The song “Is this love” was playing in the background.
“Watson turn off the music please.” Bob Marley’s song slowly faded out.
Ben looked at Sarah expectantly.
“First of all, let me say thank you Mr. Kendrick for taking the time to speak to me. I can imagine you are a person that takes his privacy very serious.”
He nodded carefully.
“The reason I am here today, is because I am the lead investigator in the attrition cases.”
“Attrition cases ?”
Sarah nodded. “Have you perhaps heard about a couple of young women dying from attrition recently? Dehydration to be exact.”
“I heard a young woman was found dead in her apartment two days ago. Was that one of your cases?”
“Yes. Her name was Clarice.”
“You said, a couple.”
“Yes, she is just the latest victim. We know of two other young women who have died similarly.”
“So that makes it three ?”
“So far, yes.” Sarah nodded, “And that’s also why I’m here.”
He was taken aback, “I... don’t understand. Do you think I had something to do with this?” asked Ben.
“No, no! Of course not!” said Sarah quickly raising her hands, “But the thing that you probably have not heard in the news was that all three woman were jacked in when they were found.”
A small jolt of energy flashed through Ben’s body. Finally he started to understand why she was here.
“Okay ?” He furrowed his brows.
“Wouldn’t you agree that this seems a bit odd?”
“What? That women need water to survive?”
“Mr. Kendrick, please.”
Ben looked down and to the side. He knew exactly why she was here now and it wasn’t to give him compliments.
“Ok, so let’s get this straight! You are jacked into my invention right now, to ask me if it is killing people? Do I have that right?”
“Basically…” said Sarah with unease, surprised by the anger in his voice.
“Are you fucking listening to yourself? You can’t be serious!”
“I’m literally dead serious!”
Ben shook his head in disgust, “I think this meeting is over, Miss - Walters!”
Sarah's eyes opened wide and she raised her hands apologetically.
“Mr. Kendrick, please! I am not here to offend you… I am sorry, if this has happened just now! Please Mr. Kendrick, I am just here to stop more women from dying like this and I am truly desperate. Look, I will put my cards on the table! I am miserable, I can’t sleep at night. I have been working on this case for months now and I am getting nowhere! There is something very sinister going on here and I can feel it in my gut that the next woman is already top on some fucking list! I dread reading the news since this started. Every day I fear to read about another woman having been found dead. I am stuck and I need help! Oh and you better believe that I’ve tried everything else! I know about your bloody past. Of course. And I am sorry for intruding on you, but I ran out of... any... other… fucking option!” Sarah trembled with energy, clenching her fists. Every muscle in her body was under tension. She breathed heavy.
Ben had closely observed Sarah’s body language and facial expressions while she was talking, looking for any hint of deception. But he came up empty. This young police officer seemed to have laid herself bare. But he had been burned hard in a similar situation before. He wrangled with himself. What was he supposed to do ? He took a deep breath.
“Please Mr. Kendrick.” said Sarah again, pleading for his help with wide open eyes.
He would probably regret this… he dropped his head. And then looked up again.
“Fine…” he exhaled, “what do you wanna know. But make it quick!”
“Mr. Kendrick, I need to know if there is any way; any way a Neuropod could misbehave and cause the death of these women.”
“No.”
“Mr. Kendrick, could you please elaborate a little?” sighed Sarah.
“Look, you know all of this already. A user can log out anytime they want. No one can stop you from logging out. You can try it out for yourself right now!”
Sarah rolled her eyes.
“And when someone doesn’t log themselves out, the pod kicks them out automatically after 5 hours. That is nowhere near the time needed for someone to die by, how did you call it? Attrition? I mean of course, they could keep lying there, offline but jacked in until they die of thirst. But that would have nothing to do with the pod!”
“Yes you’re right, I am a user myself, obviously, so I know all of this of course. What I need from you is to learn something new! Something that I don’t know. Internal stuff. Stuff that maybe you think only you know.”
Ben leaned over and took a new bottle of beer out of the cooler and offered it to his guest. She shook her head.
“What’s the point?”
Ben shrugged then he opened his bottle with a pop and took a swig. Then he looked at the beautiful sky and searched his brain. Was there any other way?
No, of course not. He and his old team had thought of every eventuality, every possibility, every angle. And they had written code to be ready for anything. There was no gap, no flaw, no bug and certainly no deliberate backdoor as she seemed to fish for. It had been the best work of his life, he thought bitterly. She was simply wrong, he concluded.
“Look… Officer Walters, my team and I, we knew that scrutiny on this product would be like nothing any other product had ever received. Every hacker, every security researcher, every government agency from every country would try to attack Neuropods. We went full on NASA mode. We used the most secure programming language together with the fewest lines of code to minimize the attack surface of the final product. Everyone worked together on this goal. And together we pulled off the impossible. Software without a single attackable error. I am sorry these women are dying. I truly am. But it is my strong recommendation that you look elsewhere. The Neuropod has nothing to do with these women dying. I am sure of it!”
Sarah nodded. She looked at Ben, “Yeah, I figured as much, but I had to take the chance.”
She stood up.
“Of course,” he assured her immediately, “Look, I am really sorry for these people. I wish I could help.”
“Yeah me too. But just in case, you think of something. Anything! Please do not hesitate to contact me. Your PA has my contact details,” she offered him her hand.
He stood up as well, “I will!” he said and shook her hand.
“Thank you for your time.”
“Your welcome and good luck Miss Walters. Truly.”
Then the blue light beams came back and sucked her up into the sky. And just like that she was gone.