San Francisco
Ronaldo Corvas, the adventurer refused to wear Screenlenzes or even the Orbison glasses as he connected to the system and talk to the President located in Berlin. Once the conversation over, he had watched Round 28 wearing the glasses given by the security agents on the way to the airport. To him, the stench of the digital infection, running through every electric line was too much and the mere idea of shoving his head in this virtual reality infected by Marilyn made him nauseous.
Everyone in the room had kept a certain distance behind the table where the phone and the orb rested during the live broadcast. The bobble head where the figurine of Marilyn danced inside the ball in the sand was on the left. Next to it was the old flip phone which Ronaldo believed hosted a different version of Marilyn. Just showing the phone and this creature had sent Marilyn into a tantrum.
In any other circumstance, Ronaldo's predicament would have been the center of any story, but the arrival of the Sixth Attraction, its tornado of events made the man’s unique situation secondary. There were hundreds of moving parts circling the girl on mars and Ronaldo was only a small piece of this puzzle.
"You were great!" said Wayne to the black man sitting next to him in the car. “Round 29 is about you! All of this, is insanity, no? Shit hit the fan when you showed her the phone.”
"That’s an understatement. It must be important."
Round 28 was barely over, on the screen there were images of the girl on Mars next to her father. Ronaldo felt weak and he stumbled almost hitting the table.
“Are you okay?”
He barely could hear them. His world was closing. Something else was going on. He reached for both items in.
"What is going on?" asked Wayne. “You need water?” He was waiving at the drivers.
"It's her,” mumbled the man. Ronaldo's voice was shaking. "More than her,” he continued. He was braced for a nuke to fall on the city. He looked around like he could see the sky. Around him, dark clouds were circling. He started hyperventilating. The drivers were at a loss of words. Before anyone could scramble a plan of action, Marilyn's face appeared on the large television in the car. The woman was not smiling. She was not wearing sexy clothing or makeup and her face was over a black backdrop.
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She had a stern look and obviously was upset about something.
"Corvas."
"Yes?" he barely was able to reply. He was in no position to ignore her.
"As you heard the next game happens in the tunnels below mars. You alone were there, i need information in your head, and I need it now."
"Why do you think I will help?" He felt her presence was increasing. Something strange was going on outside above in the sky. His new sense of technology was going berserk. The computer was everywhere, and her density was growing.
"Stop wasting my time with your puny weakness. You had the balls to challenge me over the network, pay the piper now. Listen, I don't like to be here as much as you do. I have calculated ways to get compliance. The optimal one is to barter. As you can feel, if I don’t like your next answer, you will regret that second decision.” Ronaldo found the strength to sit almost defiantly. She added, “I will nuke you and these cars, be sure of it.”
“What do you want? Why treat me this way after trying to save my life back in the cavern?”
“Didn’t you hear a word I said. I gave you in August a fair warning that anyone except a fool would have followed. You did get yourself killed. This new version of yourself is not, as you seem to think, related to your old self. You are connected to this collective. The irony escapes you. I need your memories of what happened in that cavern for Round 29. You can either barter and get something in return or refuse. Either way, you are putting on that helmet right over there and I leave here with the memories. Time is short. You have seconds, not minutes." Ronaldo wasn't mission leader without having the ability to think quickly on his feet.
"This." He pointed to the phone.
"What?"
"I want Sophie to get this, without scrubbing that memory or hurting that creature." There was silence. The stern expression on Marilyn’s face did not change.
"So be it. This world insist on destroying itself. Who am to stand in front of that train. LO, Sophie's favorite singer lands in San Francisco in about an hour. He will be launching for mars. Have one of your misfits give him the phone. No need to reply, I know we have a deal. Wayne has an illegal switch in that shitty boot of his. Slap it on and then put the helmet on, now."
The room was silent. A switch was an illegal device, a neural-simulator stronger than cocaine. Marilyn truly was omniscient. Before anyone could move, Ronaldo pulled out the small device unfolded it and put it on his temple. He then put on the helmet and immediately blacked out.
Invisible to all, the power vanished as the memories were uploaded.
When he came back, Emilio’s face was on the screen. Marilyn has created a three-way communication. “President, the man will hand over the phone to LO. He will board the plane to Berlin with his losers and the ball. This is not negotiable.”
Emilio just smiled and added, “perfect!” The fact he meant it worried both Marilyn and Ronaldo. The drivers smiled happy with their boss.