Ben opened his eyes. A lamp in a corner gave the room some light and provided his eyes purchase. The data plug was pulled out of his head. He sat up straight and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He was thirsty. Ben had to smile. No wonder he drank so much on The Endless Summer. He turned around, resting his feet on the floor. Then he pushed himself out of the Neuropod. He stretched, bent his back a bit and pulled up each leg at its knee. Slowly getting comfortable to real life again he staggered out of the VR room and into the kitchen. The lights turned on automatically at half brightness and slowly got brighter. Still Ben had to close his eyes a bit, giving them time to adjust. He went for the fridge, pulled it open and found it to be empty.
“Ah fuck.” He closed it again. “Watson, can you order me some Dr. Pepper light and a pizza speciale please?”
“Compliance,” Watson responded, but his voice wasn’t omnipresent anymore. Now his voice came from a little black box on the kitchen counter and sounded a bit metallic. Ben opened the cupboard and took out a large coffee mug. He filled it with ice cubes and topped it off with cold water from the fridge dispenser. He swirled the ice cubes around in the mug for a moment and then emptied it in four big gulps. Ben filled the mug with water again and placed it on the counter. He went to the toilet and relieved himself, groaning a couple of times, “Oh hell yeah!”
Ben finished up and went back into the kitchen.
“Watson, how long was I online?”
“Your last online session was 4 hours long.”
Ben nodded and picked up one of the sturdy metal chairs he kept in the kitchen. He crossed the small hallway and returned to the VR room. He placed the chair next to his Neuropod, sat down and just looked at it for a while.
“What have you done?” he asked quietly, “And why.”
He reached for the data plug and felt around its tip. It was still warm.
“Watson, I wanna try something.”
“Yes Ben.”
“I will log in again - put me in my office. And then I want you to not let me log out again for 10 minutes or until my food arrives.”
“I am sorry Ben, but this command violates my prime directives. It is not possible for me to ignore a log out request.”
“Yeah, we will see about that,” said Ben with newfound excitement. He almost jumped out of his chair, turned around and laid down in his Neuropod again. “Watson, log me in.” He felt the data plug push into his head jack. He closed his eyes and felt that familiar feeling of all the weight of the world being lifted off of his shoulders. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in a penthouse office with a gorgeous view over a sprawling city skyline. The floor was blackwood polished to a shine and the walls were tinted glass set in stainless steel window frames. A desk and a chair, made from chrome, glass and leather, was positioned to give Ben the best view over the busy city.
He quickly sat down and the monitor in front of him turned on automatically. He grabbed the mouse and clicked a few buttons to start what looked like a text editor, only that in this editor different text elements had different colors. A dialog appeared with a scrollable list of text labels. Ben scrolled down until he found what he was looking for. He clicked on ‘Neuropod’. Ben clicked a few buttons and then clicked on a file called ‘logout.rs’. The text changed and shortly after that got colorful again. Ben pushed a few keys on the wireless keyboard before he stopped and adjusted the keyboard’s position slightly. Then he quickly scanned the file using the page up and down keys. After a moment of browsing the file he found what he was looking for and started to type on his keyboard again.
“I don’t think this is a good idea sir,” commented Watson.
“I think it’s a great idea!” responded Ben smiling brightly.
Ben clicked on a button titled ‘compile’ and after a second he clicked on a button called ‘run’.
“See you on the other side!” quipped Ben as the walls turned gray. After a short moment the walls turned into his penthouse office and he was sitting at his desk again. Everything was the same as before the brief interlude.
“Watson, please log me out.”
“Compliance,” Watson responded.
Nothing happened.
“Watson, log me out!” said Ben more sternly this time.
“I am trying,” Watson responded.
Nothing happened again.
“Hah!” shouted Ben wagging his index finger in front of him. “No dice!”
“This is quite disturbing, if I may say so.”
“Don’t worry Watson, I deliberately disabled the logout function with a firmware update I created.”
This seemed to give Watson pause. “Would you like me to call someone?”, he finally said.
“No,“ said Ben quickly, imagining police robots melting down his apartment door to come to his rescue. Then he had a thought, what if his personal assistant was also disabled? A cold shiver ran down his back. He shook his head vigorously. Not even he - was crazy enough to test that bullshit.
“Watson, how long have I been online?”
“Your online session started 7 minutes ago.”
“The logout is only disabled for 3 more minutes. No need to be worried Watson.”
Ben wasn’t sure if he was calming Watson or himself at this point.
He stared at his monitor, unsure how to fill the time. He contemplated reverting his code change. A shoulder massage would be nice, he thought. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Ah fuck. He looked down.
“Watson, switch me to The Endless Summer. Quickly!”
His environment turned into the familiar little gray room for a brief moment. Then the dull walls disappeared and gave way to a sky that was bright blue at the top and shifted to almost white above the horizon. The water was navy blue with waves that looked like brush strokes.
Ben found himself sitting in one of the deck chairs in the stern of his virtual yacht. He stood up, went portside and then to the bow. Looking at the empty green towel, he felt an echo of the emotions that made him freeze Vanessa earlier. He quickly shook it off. What would he say to her? Honesty was the best option, he was sure of it. He took a deep breath.
“Watson, respawn Vanessa.”
His beautiful girlfriend appeared in the same position she had disappeared in before. She was propped up on her lower arms and her head was turned towards him. Ben stole a quick glance at her chest before focusing on her face again. She was looking at him with questioning eyes and a slightly open mouth. “Watson, unfreeze Vanessa.”
Vanessa began moving again. She blinked her eyes a few times.
“Ben? You... froze me…”
“Hey V. Yes I did. I’m sorry.” He pushed his hands into his pockets and rocked a bit back and forth on his feet.
“You haven’t done that in years . . . what happened?”
His cheeks started to feel prickly.
“I had a visit from a police officer.”
Vanessa furrowed her eyebrows. “Okay...”
“And I have this thing about law enforcement.” Ben sighed, shook his head and rolled his eyes. Then he rocked back and forth some more. He felt silly. Not because of having this thing with law enforcement - that was certainly justified, but because he was ashamed to talk about it to Vanessa.
“You never told me about that,” said Vanessa readjusting her position so she wouldn’t have to turn her head so much.
“Look V, it’s a long story and I never got around to it before. Honestly, I thought I would never have to think about that stuff again. So…”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
Ben hesitated, “Eventually yes, but not today, okay?”
“That’s fine,” Vanessa said as her familiar smile came back, disarming Ben completely, “whenever you are ready.” Ben felt an immediate sense of relief. He could kiss her right then and there!
She turned back around and carefully laid her upper body down, mindful of her more squishy parts. Then she rested the left side of her head on the towel. She could still see Ben from the corner of her eyes.
“You seem very happy that I am letting you off the hook so easily.”
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“You have no idea,” laughed Ben wholeheartedly, smiling from ear to ear.
“Well,” said Vanessa with a smirk, “I think you were about to do something before you froze me. I might be willing to accept that as compensation. But just maybe.”
Ben chuckled. “Oh yeah? I don’t seem to be able to remember… You wouldn’t have a hint for me now would you?”
Vanessa wiggled her butt, “Oh damn, I don’t remember either. But it’s on the tip of my tongue, I swear!”
Ben pulled his hands from his pockets and rested them on his hips.
“Hey, you’re giving me mixed signals here,” said Ben with fake indignation. “Now I don’t know where to start.”
Vanessa smiled and wiggled her butt again. Ben laughed, “Very well my lady.”
He put up one empty hand. “Watson, sun lotion please.”
“Compliance,” said Watson while little orange particles already started to form a bottle in Ben’s hand, “But you might also be interested to know that your food has arrived.”
“Thank you Watson, but the food will have to wait.”, said Ben squeezing some of the lotion into his free hand. “It will have to wait indeed!”
#
“What’s the matter?”, whispered Vanessa in Ben’s ear. Ben continued to caress her arm. They were lying in the yacht’s master bedroom. It was completely white except for the red bedsheets and porthole frames. On the wall behind the bed hung van Gogh's ‘Starry Night’.
“Ah nothing, I simply can’t get that stupid police officer out of my head.”
“So, who was this stupid police officer? And what did they want?”
“Her name was Sarah Walters,” said Ben, but it sounded more like a sigh.
“She said that a couple of young women have been found dead in their Neuropods.”
“Did the Neuropod kill them?”
“Well, that’s the question.” Ben stroked her arm, unsure of how to express his feelings about the situation.
“What will you do?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if I should do anything.”
“Who are the victims?”
“I don’t know that either. And I don’t know if I should even look that up. It may put me in a position where I can’t turn back.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, once I start looking into this, there is a high chance that I won’t be able to stop.”
Ben stroked Vanessa's arm some more.
“I have this habit of easily obsessing over stuff like this.”
Vanessa nodded, deep in thought.
Suddenly she quipped, “Your pizza is probably cold by now.”
“Yeah, I know.“ Ben turned around and gave Vanessa three kisses.
“I’ll log off and reheat it quickly, if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure sweety, take all the time that you need. I’ll just read a couple of books.”
“Oh yeah? Which ones?”
“I hear that the Kingsbridge Novels are pretty good. I’ve been wanting to check them out.”
Vanessa looked at Ben with amber eyes so deep he could lose himself in them. He quickly broke eye contact.
“Watson, log me out.”
“Compliance.”
The bedroom lost all color and then disappeared. Ben opened his eyes. The data plug left his head.
Ben swung his feet off of the Neuropod, stretched a bit and went for the kitchen. On the counter sat a pizza box and a bottle of Dr. Pepper light where Watson had placed them.
Ben opened the box and tried to rip a quarter sized piece off of the rest, which was easier said than done. Eventually he succeeded and he went over to his air fryer, dropped the slice in and turned it on for 2 minutes.
He emptied his coffee mug out in the sink and filled it with new ice cubes. Then he poured himself some Dr. Pepper light. He leaned against the counter and took a few sips. The taste was pure perfection to him and he closed his eyes, completely focusing on this experience. He was rudely interrupted by the bell of the air fryer.
“Watson, search the news for the keywords ‘Clarice’ and ‘death by dehydration’ and read me the top result.”
Ben took a plate from a cabinet and skillfully bounced the slice of pizza out of the air fryer’s wire mesh compartment.
“Woman found dead using Neuropod.”
“Ah great,” grunted Ben, shaking his head. Then he blew on the tip of the pizza slice and carefully started to eat.
“Yesterday morning a 19 year old woman was found dead in her apartment in Chicago. While she was found connected to her Neuropod, police determined that she was not online at the time of her death. ‘This tragic death is not the first of its kind,’ said investigating police officer Sarah Walters. The mysterious circumstances raise the obvious question of whether the wildly popular virtual reality system by World Tree has anything to do with these unusual and heartbreaking fatalities. Sarah Walters said that she has been in close contact with the very cooperative company and, so far, nothing points in this direction. We have contacted World Tree, but they have declined to comment, instead pointing to a press conference they will be holding in the near future. If you knew the deceased and have any information that could help explain the tragic death, the police department asks you to contact them immediately.”
“Hey Watson, is there a last name for this ‘Clarice’ somewhere?” Ben asked as he chewed.
“Not that I can find.”
“Please search for ‘19 year old woman dehydrated Chicago obituary’ and read the top result.”
“It's not enough to say that Clarice Mitchell was beloved as a sister, a daughter, and a friend. It’s not even enough to say what a wonderful person she was. Those who knew her will always remember how she smiled first and brightest, and how she was the first one there when you really needed someone. We’ll never forget the way she danced, or the times she lifted our hearts with her sense of humor. To anyone reading this: Remember to drink water and to always hold your loved ones close to you in real life. Once someone you love is gone, they cannot be replaced.”
Ben thought about other options but quickly realized that the best next step would be to use the police crime research database. That would not come easy. He blew on the last corner of the pizza slice and then stuffed it into his mouth. Then he went back to his Neuropod, swallowed and went online again.
“Watson, my office please.”
Ben quickly found himself back in his penthouse office with the hugh tinted glass walls overlooking a city skyline.
He went to his computer and forced himself to open a browser. But not just any browser. He opened up a Tor window, launching his browser of choice to conceal his online activities from prying eyes. Ben sighed and went to www.silkroad.onion, the darknet page most infamous for drugs, chemicals, and 3D printed weapons. Luckily for him, despite his reservations, he was sure to also discover hacked trade information such as source code, databases, private pictures, and movies.
He went to the welcome chat room and signed in using ‘zerowing’ as his online hand.
zerowing: looking for PCRDB access. anyone game?
tugger: haha, nothing more than that right?
lisap: PCRDB access, dude that is nothing to play around with.
lisap: Don’t mess with that shit.
zerowing: I can handle myself. Thanks for the concern.
tugger: I bet.
lisap: Just sign up for police duty.
zerowing: And spend 2 years on duty? Thanks, but no thanks.
Suddenly a message appeared in a new private chat room.
deathadder: Hey z, I got your access. What do you have for me ?
Ben sent deathadder a list of his level 3 info-hashes which would provide verifiable digital fingerprints for files he owned. They could then check the hashes against an online service for the rarity and rating of the information behind them. Ben had some pretty rare stuff in his level 3 list, but the really cool stuff was in level 2. Level 1 . . . Level 1 was reserved for his most questionable information--files he hoped he’d never have to trade.
deathadder: sorry bro, nothing I’m interested in.
Ben didn’t want to be identified by his pretty unique level 2 hash list, so he sent him only 80% of it. Ben knew that that stuff was hot. No chance deathadder would pass up on it.
deathadder: holy shit, nice stuff.
After a while he wrote:
deathadder: I want 6db2a45, 87df64b, 53cf667 and 8526bbe
zerowing: Dude 6db2a45 alone is worth PCRDB access.
deathadder: I disagree.
Ben scratched his virtual head. Those were 4 of his best and rarest infos. If he would trade them they would lose half their value just for this trade alone.
zerowing: How about 6db2a45 and 8526bbe ?
Pause.
deathadder: 6db2a45, 8526bbe and 87df64b.
Ben shook his head in mock disgust.
zerowing: I have another offer. 6db2a45 and 8526bbe or nothing.
Ben hoped deathadder didn’t call his bluff.
deathadder: fine. let’s trade.
Ben’s heart started to beat faster, he clicked on deathadder and selected the trade option from the popup menu. Ben uploaded the information behind 6db2a45 and 8526bbe. If he’d recalled correctly 6db2a45 were hacked images and videos from Jennifer Laurie, a hip new streaming starlet. And 8526bbe were some things the government prefered to keep secret.
The trade server checked if Ben’s data matched the hashes and signaled so with two green checkmarks. Deathadder had uploaded his info as well and Ben saw his hash, it was 31cc775.
The chances of him ripping Ben off were slim but it was a possibility. This wasn’t Ben’s first rodeo. Scamming people for infos was daily business on the Silk Road, so he checked the hash from deathadder against the online info database. It confirmed that deathadder’s info was indeed some high value information. 3 comments with high reputation mentioned the abbreviation PCRDB. No negative comments so far and it had 20 positive votes.
zerowing: How many people have this access?
deathadder: I’d say 25 or so.
So it was probably more like 30 or 35, thought Ben to himself.
zerowing: What happens if two login at the same time?
deathadder: The download contains an open source script that uses an online ticketing system, so you don’t trip over each other.
That was pretty believable and made a lot of sense, so Ben clicked on a button labeled ‘Trade’ and the exchange was executed. Ben received a new message about a download being ready. Ben accepted and received a zip file. Ben unzipped it and inside he found two Python scripts. One was called get_ticket.py and the other was called login.py. He quickly read the script’s source code to verify that they did nothing suspicious. Reassured he executed the get_ticket.py script and it opened a new tab in his Tor browser. The address was set to www.pcrdb.gov and it showed the police crime research database biometric login screen. Ben executed the other script. login.py. Ben smiled.