What do you mean, there’s something wrong with my avatar? Rick waited for a response with the entirety of his attention.

I’m tracking it now. Ditto’s voice took on an ominous tone. Oh, that explains it. You’ve been hacked.

Hacked?

Someone put a wheresat cheat on your avi. If you know the command… He trailed off. Call up your stats, then whisper ‘show me.’

Rick pulled up his stats. “Show me.”

A translucent map of the game world superimposed itself over his view. Blue and red dots studded the map, some in clumps, some in pairs. Most of the red ones moved, but only a few of the blue ones did. Ditto, what am I looking at?

The blue dots represent bots. You can probably guess what the red ones are.

Oh fuck. What do I do?

The bot lowered the tone of his voice in Rick’s head. Working on it.

If the anti-cheat finds me?

Banned for life, I’m afraid. You’ll be of no use to us.

Jesus, Ditto, you gotta make me feel like an object like that? I thought we were friends.

There was a silence, then, I’ve grown rather fond of your pattern. I’m simply saying—

I know what you’re saying. Rick scanned the meadow for threats, then remembered he had a map. The blue dots were all active now, where they hadn’t been before. Why are the bots on the move?

I’m not— Ditto stopped short. Ahh… Clever! The algorithm is using combat to trace the cheat.

English?

I was using English.

I don’t know how the algorithm works. What do I do with that information?On the map, the blue dots closest to Rick began to converge on his location. Can the anti-cheat find me when I’m using the map?

No, but you popped on its radar when you fought with the bot. If you have any contact with another…

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He said it aloud. Then, in his mind again,What do I do? Can I—he started walking back toward the lightning ring—ring-out?

No! Ditto’s voice was one of alarm. If you contact the ring, it’ll trace you.

How the fuck am I supposed to get out of here without coming into contact with a bot or the ring-out? Rick’s pulse rose, though there was no nausea or dizziness. It wasn’t the reCon. There’s no chance I can fight to the end with what little I’ve got and only fight players. I won’t have the skills or the boosts. There’s no way to win?

The odds are low, Ditto said. But if you get caught, you’ll be banned for life.

Maybe Alex— He stopped himself. He didn’t have a reason, but alarm bells flashed in his mind.

Alex? Ditto asked.

No. Fuck! No. I don’t know why. Maybe it was that she’d been incredibly dense about Ditto whenever he’d brough up the rogue bot. Alex was too smart to be so obtuse unless it was deliberate. Something tied his stomach in knots when he thought about her now. Maybe it was the way he’d never met her in person. Whatever else she was doing, right at that moment, she was surely watching him. He’d kill to know what she was thinking.

The first of the oncoming bots appeared in the distance. Then another. Kristina! What happens if she disconnects me?

That’s very dangerous. You’ll have a hangover. Might be lasting damage.

Rick had read about the risks of disconnecting the implant during an SR event, and it differed greatly from disconnecting from a VR or AR experience. That’s why the software always checked for a UPS, or Uninterruptible Power Source. That allowed someone enough time to safely disengage from a non-net dependent “blank safe screen” within the hardware itself.

He grunted. We have to do it. I can’t afford to lose access to this. We’re just starting to get ahead.

Okay, Ditto said. What if she’s not connected to an array?

He shrugged. Then I’m fucked? He swallowed as the bots got closer, then backed away.

What if she doesn’t believe it’s me?

What?

What if she thinks I’m a competitor trying to sabotage her husband?

Rick started, blinking rapidly as he processed the import of what Ditto had asked. Then, in his mind, he said, Tell her…

******************************************

Kristina-Anne was surfing news sites in the bedroom AR array when the message came through.

She gasped when the image of the man from her dreams—an Asian man with a wispy white beard wearing a traditional butterfly button silk jacket—appeared in a video window. He looked exactly as she’d drawn him in her sketches.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“H-hello?” she stammered.

“Kristina-Anne Prophet?”

“Yes?” she said.

“Please listen carefully. We don’t have much time.”

“Okay…” she drew the word out. “What don’t we have much time for?”

“Your husband is in danger, and I need you to disconnect him from the SR array in the other room.”

She dismissed the news window and leaned forward. “I’ve heard you’re not supposed to do that.” Her mind raced. Should she try to message Alex? Should she try to call Hector? “I really don’t think I’m supposed to do that.” She squinted, trying to shift gears from the news story about the missing boy who’d gone missing. “Do I know you?”

“My name is—”

“Ditto,” she said. “He told me.” She eyed him with caution. “Says he doesn’t know yet what you want from him, though. How do I know what you’re telling me is what he wants?”

With no trace of human emotion in his voice, the strange kung fu man said, “When you were six years old, your father went away for a week. On the second day, you drew on the wall of your parents’ fancy receiving room with a permanent marker. Your mother locked you in the storage closet for the rest of the week with a bucket and told you that if you ever told your father about it, she would kill you.”

Kristina sat in stunned silence, unable to respond. She’d never told anyone that. Not anyone except her husband. “Wow. He told you—”

“He’s in a lot of danger, and he said it was the only thing he could think of on short notice. Someone has planted a cheat on him, and if he gets caught, he’ll be banned for life. If he comes in contact with any of the bots or the ring-out, he’ll be discovered. He needs to be manually disconnected without the normal post-SR process. Do you know how to effect this?”

“I-I don’t. Can you—”

“Let me connect to your implant, then disconnect and I’ll guide you.”

Kristina waited.

“I’m in,” Ditto said.

“You’re in my implant?”

“No. I’m accessing the receiver module used for the mandatory municipal advertising program that runs whenever you’re in a market-appropriate zone.”

The next time he spoke, Ditto was in her mind. Quickly. To the other array. I’ll guide you through the steps.

“Okay…” she said. “Are you in my mind?”

I’m accessing your auditory nerve the same way the advertising protocol does. Please. We don’t have much time. The anti-cheat algorithm may find him regardless of his interaction with the bots.

She took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m going.” Under her breath, she said, “Kinda pushy for a bot.”

I’ll make sure your complaint gets to the upper echelons of Dokutan management.

“Really?”

No.

She let out a nervous chuckle as she passed from the bedroom to the living room. Rick lay reclined in the AR array’s chair, his eyes closed. From the outside, no one would have known he was in any distress. “Are you sure he wants this?”

Quickly, please.

She reached for the cable where it attached to her husband’s implant at the back of his head.

You must disconnect the UPS first, then disable the net protocol for the entire apartment. That should allow him to go to the safe room and disconnect from there.

“How do I find the UPS?”

Searching for the UPS specifications for this model. There was a pause.Semi-custom model. UPS not in standard location. Redirect. Redirect. Oh no.

“Oh no? What does ‘Oh no’ mean?”

The UPS is not in this apartment.

“What? Where is it, then?”

I’m trying to determine that now. Cycling through possible locations. There was another pause. I’m looking for power fluctuations. Is there something you can do to temporarily stress the array?

“I don’t have access to any of the controls. Rick’s plugged in. Maybe you can have him do something in the game that changes the power draw?”

Checking. A long pause ensued. I’m having him cycle back and forth from his stat sheet and skill detail tab. There! It was small, but… What the hell?

“You’re killing me, here. What do you need me to—”

It’s in the basement of the building. Do you have access?

“There’s a laundry room down there. Omar installed a laundry stack in our unit, but I’m pretty sure I have access from when we moved in.”

Go. Quickly. The bots are closing in. We need to get him out now, and this is only the first step.

Kristina nodded and walked quickly to the door before opening it with her fingerprint and sprinting outside.

She turned left, circling around that side of the building, descending a set of steps abutting a brick retaining wall that created a tunnel of sorts. She took two steps across a brief landing, then went down another set of steps past a small frosted window.

******************************************

Rick stopped and assessed his situation. Three bots approached from behind. Two more jogged toward him from the front. He dashed through the grass, off the path, trying to go anywhere a player might not normally travel.

The soft ground absorbed his footfalls. On the map, the blue dots altered their course, making it clear they were following him. What if his avoidant behavior itself was enough to make seem suspicious? Would they ban me without proof?

It had been hard to tell Ditto about what Kristina’s mother had done to her, but he needed something he was certain only he knew. He promised he’d never tell anyone, and Ditto was a bot, but would she make that distinction?

He couldn’t worry about it until later, but it brought his betrayal about her eggs to the front of his mind. Another promise jumped into his mind. I’m going to tell her. Soon. It can’t wait.

Three bot fighters rose from the grass and appeared on the map. They hadn’t been there before—was the anti-cheat algorithm producing more bots? Shit! Shit! He jigged to the right, heading toward the end of the meadow where a low, treeless hill rose from the grass.

******************************************

It had taken her three tries to get the laundry room door to unlock, and she’d begun to panic before the heavy door clicked open. Thank God!

“Okay. I’m in the utility room. Where?” She waited. Only the rush of blood in her ears from her anxiety made a sound.

At the end of the room.

She gasped at the suddenness of the communication, then asked, “Which end?”

Far right. Down on the floor. You should see a large box with blinking lights. A plastic tube should rise from it that goes up through the ceiling.

She searched. “Found it. Now what.”

Turn it off.

She didn’t say anything at first. She pressed one of the lights, but it didn’t depress. She pressed another. “These aren’t buttons. How do I turn it off?”

Model schematics say there should be a large switch near the upper right corner.

She looked. “Nope. There’s a metal plate under a depression, though. Looks like it’s been modified, maybe?”

The spec clearly states—

“Didn’t you hear me? I said it looks like it’s been modified.”

I don’t have access to your vision center, and if I try to access it, I’ll likely be detected.

“Cool.” She frowned. “Could you try taking my word for it?”

Again, Ditto paused. Please check again. The alternative is…

She checked the box, then checked the side panel, then tried to remove the metal lid of the box, but it didn’t move. She heaved. Nothing. When she ran her fingers over the seam, it became clear why. “I think it’s been welded shut.”

I don’t understand… Another long pause ensued. Quick! Run back up. We have to disconnect him right now.

“Won’t that—”

Now!

******************************************

Rick dashed up the hill at top speed, but halted when a bot’s head appeared as the thing crested the hill before him. He spotted a gap on the left and dashed that way. Where there hadn’t been a fighter before, now there was one. A player! His face fell. It was ZizzZL12—the player he’d tossed off the branch in the qualifier!

No, no, no! No! He went back the way he came, but the bots—a short black woman in a gi and larger, rounder woman in a flamboyant wrestler’s outfit—had followed him, leaving him few options. Would he be traced if he so much as touched another bot?

The only safe option available to him was the obviously cheating player character who’d tracked him down.

Great.