In all honesty, despite even our most positive projections, the news about the treatment, and the way we handled it, was significantly more pronounced than we could have imagined.
To be fair, I never had to live with this surety of being infertile, as the hyper-fertility of the K4 was discovered when I was 10, so it might be that only I was surprised.
But looking at the way all our facilities were instantly overwhelmed said not. It took nearly an hour before Jessi’s teams managed to bring some semblance of order into the seething mass of people trying to be the first to get the treatment, and that was only the female part of our on-duty employees.
The other shifts and the significant others of the male employees needed quite a bit longer to appear.
But despite this delay, people were hopeful and happy. A short questionary showed that they understood that it might not work, but the fact that we did not keep it from them, or used them as guinea pigs without their knowledge and consent, meant that we had gained a significant amount of trust.
And most of all, there was hope that even if this attempt failed, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. That somebody was trying to help them. It was disheartening how many points we gained in their esteem simply for that.
It also served to distance us from the usual abusive corporations. That had another interesting side effect. Almost overnight, Maggie had to fight to integrate thousands of new potential employees. Our workforce almost tripled over the next week.
Additionally, we got requests from all over Queens about “the cure”, and Marcel and his staff were busy explaining that it was only a treatment and that we were still testing it, so it was not yet sure that it worked.
Not that everybody listened to him.
Naveen’s people were equally busy preventing a mob of irate people from storming our facilities and demanding “the cure” now.
The good news here is that they managed to do that without anybody being harmed. But we had to place a bot at each entrance with the sole functionality that we were just testing it and we did not know yet if it would work. We did not bother to explain the difference between a cure and a treatment to the mob.
Fortunately, most of them were at least smart enough to accept that we were trying to do our best, and needed time before we could offer it broadly. Unfortunately, not all. I assume, some of the more intransigent people in the mob were paid agitators, and sadly, it worked.
We had to expend quite some effort and energy to keep things calm, and every time we thought we had it calmed down, another wave happened. But that was nothing new, nothing spectacular. Well, for us it was, but for a double-A that was just Tuesday. Or any day that ended on Y.
I decided early on that there was no point in trying to understand or prevent it. It was just one of those things that happened.
On Friday, I decided to visit the Abyss again. An all too infrequent endeavor in that times. I simply lacked the time, or energy to spend much time there anymore. Especially with the way Enki had eaten up much of what I had to give.
I had also stopped working as Spectre, but here, Warden had decided that Spectre suddenly vanishing when I was busy was too much of a hint, and had taken over. Fortunately, I had been very selective about what jobs I took under that name, and Warden easily could do the same.
Strolling through the Abyss, I felt a bit melancholy. It was not that I was no longer welcome here, but… I was just no longer really a part of it.
I had outgrown the Abyss. And somehow that made me sad. Still, I transferred to Hut 2, looking around in the virtual club area. I sat at one of the literally innumerable tables, browsing through my nearly innumerable notifications. Most of it was the usual dross. I had to work for hacker x to make him the ultimate board, or hacker y absolutely needed me to drop everything and create a utility for him… in other words, things I ignored before I became the CTO of a double-A corp.
I sometimes wondered what made those people believe that even as ‘just’ the tech of Spectre, I would react well to that kind of message. Well, after the first half dozen or so were in need to reinstall their board, or in a couple of exceptionally persistent annoyances, in need of a completely new board, I rarely had to resort to any more than ignoring them.
So, with a sigh, I took a sip of my virtual Coke and deleted 99% of those messages. The rest were quite a bit more interesting and way more polite, so they deserved an honest reply. It did not change that I did not have the time to do it, but I could at least be polite to them back.
Well, one of them stood out. Argo, still politely, reminded me that I had promised him to look into getting him a new board when I was less busy and had my new line out.
Well, the new line was out, and I had indeed a bit of a lull right then and there. Spontaneously, I decided to give the man what he had asked for. He had helped me and was always polite after all. And it did cost me virtually nothing.
I had realized that I could send Warden to observe his gigs and watch them later in 240:1. I could not do that previously because I could not trust the jack in question to be completely honest, which was absolutely necessary for tailoring the board to their needs. But I could trust Warden.
Heck, I would use this as a test run to determine if she could accurately assess a jack and his style.
While I was musing about it, somebody sat at the table.
“Well, well, well, look who shows her face here again. And I thought we were not good enough for the high and mighty CTO.”
I managed, mostly thanks to the limited reaction my avatar showed, not to flinch when Bletchley talked to me.
But I had grown in some ways over the last year. In the past, I would have cowered and tried to offer apologies. But now…
“Well, you know how it is. You try to dominate the world, and suddenly you have no time for the simple pleasures anymore. But you people are in luck, I have a bit of time and decided to let you bask in my presence for a bit.”
He looked sternly at me… for a moment. Before he broke out into laughter.
“Shit, Sera, you’ve changed. Last year you would have shit your pants if I had acted that way.”
I shrugged.
“I was a shut-in with exceptionally limited contact with other humans. Over the last year, I have been dragged kicking and screaming into the greater society. That leaves a mark.”
I chuckled.
“Yeah, I can see that. But it suits you well.”
I nodded.
“I know. Doesn’t make me any less kicking and screaming though. Can’t have people believe they have broken me, you know.”
“I get you sister. But I’ve not come here to chat with you. I fear we have to talk. Will you come to the room with me?”
I sighed inwardly. Of course, there was something to talk about. Bletchley was more or less locked in as my ‘handler’ as the top 20 here were concerned. They did not think that Spectre would convey their opinions sufficiently. But whatever. I had nothing to do right now, and the Coke was virtual anyway.
“No problem.” It was seen as impolite to transfer from within the hut to another place in the hut, so we walked the few steps to the corridor of the numbered rooms.
I was a bit surprised that Bletchley moved in front of Room #1 though.
“Did you rank up recently and nobody told me about it?”
His answer was a bit biting.
“No, but this is your room, isn’t it?”
It only took me a moment to understand what he was trying to say, and as a response, I shook my head.
“How about we talk about it in your room? Not out here where everybody can listen in.”
He looked at me for a long few moments, before he nodded.
“Fine, if you want to play it that way.” And he moved to room #3, fortunately only a few steps away.
Inside was, of course, the usual gaggle of hangers-on, and Bletchley gave a sharp whistle.
“Hey, everybody go to the front of the room, and stay there until further notice!”
With a bit of grumbling, the groupies made their way to the guest area, while the minions just moved without a comment.
So when Bletchley led me to the back of the room, which was easy to isolate, we were alone. For a few seconds, before Colossus came through the door and joined us there.
Bletchley summoned a small, round table with three chairs around it, and we sat down.
I looked at the numbers 2 and 3 on the ranking list and sighed again.
“So, what exactly do you want to talk about?”
Bletchley closes his eyes for a moment before he answered.
“We want to know why the goddamn charade. Why did you fuck with us, as well as everybody else?”
I took a moment to formulate my answer. I had thought about that for some time. Why had Ben created this plan? He was smart enough and more importantly, experienced enough to realize that it would not fool everybody. And only one who figured it out would be a danger. But then I realized he had factored Warden in. And the answer became obvious.
“Plausible deniability. Not for you, but the banks. That is also the reason why I will never claim room #1.”
Collosus grunted.
“So, to fool the banks you had to fool us?”
“No, I did not fool the banks. I have been informed that they figured it out as well. What it did was to give the banks the option to say that I could not be the phantom as I had to figure out Q-links after the phantom scrawled the secret on the walls here.”
Bletchley looked confused while Colossus clearly was doubting me.
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“That makes no sense. If the banks really know what you did, how are you still alive? We all know that the banks are implacable.”
I cocked my head and shrugged.
“Warden.”
Colossus reeled back a tiny amount.
“Warden? What warden?”
I snorted.
“The rogue cyberwarfare VI with full access to essentially every backdoor, utility, and exploit that Spectre has, with the overriding objective of protecting me, which has been called Warden. I am sure you can imagine what happens if such a VI decides to go on the rampage.
And the banks think, rightfully I might add, that the only thing keeping it from going on a rampage is that I am alive and reasonably secure.
They desperately want to avoid changing that fact. But at the same time, they need to protect their reputation of going after every hacker who even tries to compromise their systems.
So, if they openly declare I am the phantom, they have to go after me. That can only lead to the destruction of the banks, as Warden, as a rogue VI, has absolutely no scruples in destroying whole nations to prevent them from doing that.
Even if they somehow manage to outmaneuver her and get to me, that will almost certainly send Warden into a rampage, one that will be almost impossible to stop.
In other words, they can’t win. But if they declare I am the phantom, and they don’t come after me, they invite every hacker in the system to try stealing from them.
In other words, if they declare I am the phantom, they can’t win. But if they simply ignore it, sooner or later somebody will say:’you idiots, Seraphim is the phantom. Go after her.” And everything starts anyway.
But now they can answer ‘That is not possible. Seraphim did not know about Q-links then. The phantom is still out there.’
Yes, nobody smart enough will believe them when they say that. But those people are also smart enough to realize the consequences if Warden goes on a rampage.
That means as long as I maintain the façade that I am not the phantom, they will do so as well. And everybody goes along with their lives. Yes, the jerks of Panacea and Dalgon will be unhappy. But who cares about them? And a word of warning, everybody who would try to topple this standoff will probably get hunted quietly by the banks and many of the big corps.”
Colossus seemed to consider my words carefully, while Bletchley just nodded.
“So, that means you literally can’t claim room #1.”
“Correct, I can’t. As far as the Abyss is concerned, the phantom played its little prank here, and then retired, never to be seen again.”
Colossus sighed.
“Was the threat at the end really necessary?”
I shook my head.
“That was not a threat, that was a warning. It won’t be me who is the danger, it will be everybody else. Think about it, every single one of the top 10 has the ability to end the human race. Maybe not easily, but all of them have. The corps know that. That is mostly why they did not smoke out the Abyss long ago.
But now a rogue VI has the same capability. And the only thing preventing it from doing just that is that I am not only alive but not threatened. Anybody who threatens to change that will essentially threaten the butts of the CEOs of the big corps and banks. And they will move to stop them.”
Colossus smiled weakly.
“Yeah, fine. I get the difference. I just don’t like it.”
Bletchley shrugged, and it was my turn to pose a question.
“Do you care to tell me what tipped you off?”
Colossus scoffed.
“It took a bit. Longer than I like, honestly, but girl, you seriously think we buy that you cracked the problem of this equation shit in three days? I would have believed it if it had taken you a week or so, but three days?”
I shook my head.
“In all honesty, it took me a week…”
Colossus shouted a “Hah!” but I held up my hand.
“That was from first getting my hands on the original paper until I had a working Q-link. And that was inclusive of learning enough German to understand the paper, learning enough math to understand what Seeberger wanted to create, correcting the equation, deciphering what Seeberger was on the verge of inventing, and then finishing his work, creating the Q-links.
If I only take the work from the corrected equation to the finished Q-link, I was done in roughly one and a half days. But that was before I had the ultra-bandwidth jack.”
Bletchley guffawed.
“Oh, pwnd. So in reality, it would have taken you what, 18 hours to ‘unravel’ the secret?”
I shrugged.
“More like four or five. Remember, it was not about going from the corrected equation to the finished Q-link, it was going from the equation to understanding that it was about Q-links.”
Colossus shook his head.
“So… you sandbagged? And we were right for the wrong reasons… fuck, sometimes you scare me, girl.”
“Well, after we have that resolved, there are a few other things our people here are concerned about.”
I cocked my head again, and he continued:
“First… there are rumors that you have somehow stumbled over a cure for this dreaded infertility?”
I groaned.
“Wow… that is loaded with so many errors. First, I did not stumble over it. That was the result of roughly two months in real life working on it. I made a few completely new inventions to make it happen. second, it is not a cure, but a treatment, and third, while it probably will help with what Sanderson’s Folly did to us, it does nothing for other causes of infertility.”
Bletchley rubbed his temples.
“Ok… so not stumbled… got it. But what is the difference between a cure and a treatment?”
I shook my head.
“A bit of a background, during the great war, some idiot named Bryce Sanderson created a bioweapon that he thought would destroy the Nephilim, what we today call The Pure. It mostly failed in that it did not infect only the Nephilim, but every human, and that, fortunately, it was not absolutely effective.
That is what reduced the birth rates so dramatically. Somehow this bioweapon, called Sanderson’s Folly by the Pure, changed our genetic code so that conception is insanely unlikely.
As I have found out, even if the sperm and the egg meet at the right place and nothing else goes wrong, the chance that it works is one in around 180 attempts. And considering that for each attempt you have to spend 28 days on average, it takes nearly 14 years of trying to get it right.
Again, if everything else goes right. And that it doesn’t. Even before the Folly, it took several months, sometimes years, before it worked. So now we are by 20, 30, even 40 years of trying.
The treatment I have developed now uses nanites to replace what the Folly broke to make the conception way easier. Probably a bit easier than before the Folly, but we can’t be sure.
But the woman has to have the nanites in her body at the right place to make that happen, and those nanites are getting used up a bit for each attempt. How long the treatment works depends on how many nanobots were used in the beginning. But when they are used up they are used up and the woman needs another dose. And any children she has will need the same treatment to get children. If it works that is.
A cure on the other hand will be a genetic thing, that fixes what the Folly has broken. Whenever it is created, it will be injected once, and after that, the infertility problems created by the Folly will be gone. For good. And any child that one gets after the cure has it as well.”
Colossus rubbed his chin.
“So… the treatment means that essentially for every child the mother has to get a new injection. And the children will have to get it too when they want children. But a cure removes the problem altogether. But what do you mean by ‘if it works that is’? Does it work or doesn’t it?”
I shrugged.
“We believe it does. But give me a break, I developed the treatment just two days ago. We have not even begun to test if it really works.”
Bletchley sighed.
“So… no cure yet. And the treatment is not yet available. Not the news I wanted to hear, honestly.”
I shrugged.
“It can’t be helped, sorry. We decided to open the tests up for our employees, but otherwise… there has to be a pretty good reason for us to include somebody from the outside. And whomever we include will lose anonymity. The nature of the tests demands that we medically observe the woman we inject it in. Can’t do that if she is missing a day later.”
Bletchley sighed again.
“Yeah, I get it. But do you have any idea how long those tests will take?”
“If it goes well, around a year and a half. If not, a few months.”
“Huh? Why would it take longer if it doesn’t go well? And why so long?”
I shrugged.
“Think about it, if it goes well, then in a couple of months, we will have a few thousand pregnant women at our hands. Pregnancy takes time though. Around nine months. And we need at least half a year to make sure that there are no hidden damages in the children by that method. Two years would be more prudent, but I am not sure that we can afford to take that long.
But if it doesn’t go well, and we don’t have a few thousand pregnant women in the test in a few months, then we know that it failed, and there is no need to continue.”
“Oh, ok, I get it. But… fuck I have to be honest, this gave me hope. I don’t know about the other guys, but… my girlfriend and I… well I guess you get the gist. The scare with the CRS made us think. Yes, that specific specter is gone now, but we have a dangerous career. I could bite the dust at any given time.”
I had noticed that Bletchley had reduced his jobs considerably. Not quite down to the level of Spectre, ne Warden, but compared to what he did previously it was quite the cutback.
“Is that the reason why you slowed down?”
“Yeah. I mean, come on, I am beyond rich by now. I did not need the money for years. It was all the thrill. But that has grown cold. I just see no point in risking my ass anymore. And I want kids.”
I looked at him, directly in the eyes. Not that he would see it, as my avatar did not have eyes.
“So, why do it then? Why are you still in the grind, risking your life?”
He shook his head.
“Mostly because I need the active bounty to keep my standing here. And if I am no longer #3, #2 in reality, that jackass C0W8OY Trinity steps up. I am sure you can imagine how that will play out.”
Ugh, he had me there. Trinity was a jerk of epic proportions. He was an exceptional hacker, but that was balanced out by him being a horrible person. A braggart, narcissist, and egotist of the highest order, he seemed to believe that everybody should kiss the ground he walked on just because he was a good jack.
Yes, as Spectre, I could have easily surpassed him. Heck, I technically had surpassed him, Bletchley, and Colossus already. But honestly, I had done just enough to maintain a spot in the top 10. Even the #5, Serpent, had too much politicking to do. Instead, I maintained the mysteriousness of Spectre and kept far away from it all.
But Trinity as #3? That would be a disaster. Yes, the Abyss had weathered quite a few of those disasters in the past, with the average live expectancy of a jack somewhere around 5-7 years there was significant turnover, but it was always a bad time.
I was sure that Colossus would be able to keep things running along, but he was getting in the years as well.
That meant that we had to either remove Trinity, or Warden had to surpass him. Neither of those was a good choice.
Then I got an idea.
“Why don’t we set up a VI as peacekeeper here? That is mostly what you are doing here, right? Then you can cut back and let the VI do the hard work.”
Colossus shook his head.
“Could be a nice idea, but it probably won’t work. Sooner or later I will have to step down as well. And then Trinity owns the VI.”
Of course, they could not see my smile, but it was there.
“Not really, because as the control requirement we build it so that only somebody who has had the #1 rank can give it orders.”
Bletchley sighed.
“And when Trinity reaches #1 he has that control anyway.”
I shook my head.
“Think about it, how is the ranking list created?”
Colossus rolled his eyes.
“By the amount of active bounties on the head of the jack. Everybody knows it. So what? If I am gone, and Bletchley is gone, that distinction will land on Trinity.”
I snorted.
“Will it? Or will your rank land on Trinity? Remember, while you are defacto #1, officially you are #2. The banks won’t ever be able to lower the bounty on the phantom. They can’t afford the signal it would send. And it is highly unlikely that anybody ever manages to accrue more bounty than that.
In other words, after you step down, the VI will only listen to the phantom, until ‘it’ is brought in. Which we all three know won’t ever happen.”
For a moment, both men stared at me in a form of stupor. Then Colossus began laughing. Followed by Bletchley.
After a few minutes, they calmed down somewhat.
“Fuck, you are right. And this is so evil… and Trinity cannot even argue. The phantom is the undisputed #1. Heck, with this one action, you racked up a higher bounty than the rest of the Abyss together.”
I shook my head.
“No… not me. The phantom. Remember, I am just Seraphim, a very talented tech.”
Bletchley guffawed.
“Dream on. Even as Seraphim you are way more than ‘a very talented tech’. Almost everybody here thinks that you could reach the top 10 without any problems. Heck, if you put some effort into it, you probably could reach #2.”
I shrugged.
“Not interested. I mean, I made around 90% of what Spectre made, with barely any bounty on my head, virtually no risk, and I am not dragged into the fray. Heck, I do not understand how Spectre manages to keep out of it so much. But that also means that you could retire then. Create a VI to keep the peace here, and you are free.”
“Yeah, something like that. I will have to find other jobs for my people though, but that is doable. CZ may not be as talented as you, but he is good. If I establish him here as a general tech, he can earn quite a bit of money. I would need to enlist a couple of the big ones to keep him safe, but that should be no big problem.
Though I am a bit cross with you, you know?”
I looked at him in confusion, forgetting for a moment that my avatar had no facial features that could show an expression.
“Uh, why?”
“Well, here I am, had have paid nearly DC 11 million for the jack and board combo, and now you sell it for around 4.5. Only half a year later. That is not very nice.”
I shrugged again.
“First, it was three-quarters of a year later, and second, you got one of the very first examples out of an industrial fabber. The new ones are made in a full industrial plant, are significantly cheaper to make, and are more or less mass-produced.
And seriously, could you have waited this three-quarter year?”
“No… of course not. And I get why the current ones are only half the cost. But it is still vexing.”
Colossus cleared his throat.
“We all accepted that those first ones produces would be overpriced. That’s what we paid for being on the bleeding edge. But that neatly slots over to the other point we need to discuss. Chuckles has released their new video. Have you seen it?”
I had a pretty good idea of what that was about, but I was a bit surprised by the timing.
“No, not really. I can guess what it is about, but no, I haven’t seen it yet.”
Colossus nodded.
“I should have expected that. I think you lack the time to do much in that respect anymore. So how about you watch it quickly and we talk then?”