Cheat, page 16
It was a really strange thing to say, since he had all the women he wanted and Sam knew that. Still, the networks might not.
“Didn’t you send Carry in for that? She told me that she’d been invited to Lexi Horn’s beach cottage for a week, and asked me to be her plus one.”
Sam laughed.
“I didn’t mention anything of the sort. I mean, yes, she got an invite, along with a few others since they make for good cover, but I didn’t tell her to bring you. That was all her. Well, good. We kind of need to point out that you and I aren’t together, after last night. People had to have suspected, the way you jumped in and stopped Warburg. No one does that kind of thing.” She looked at him then, her blue eyes lingering on his brown for a while.
Lisa made a sound that rumbled a bit, like a purr.
“That might have been it, you know? Carry got a million dollar imbed, from a guy that then walked right up to one of the most powerful people in the world, and told him to tuck his stick back in his pants. A girl could do a lot worse than someone like that. Even being seen with you now might be good publicity, if the word gets around. Not that anyone will really hear about it, but people find out, in the press, and then kind of focus on people, just to see what they might do next. It would be pretty shrewd for someone like Samson right now. Even if you do only screw in VR. She might just expect something that way, after getting you into a top vacation like this. She doesn’t really know who you are, I bet. That means, to her mind she kind of outranks you. That means doing what she wants in bed.”
He sighed, since it was probably true.
“I need to look into old school protection, and also take some lessons. I’ll do that tonight. You people… You all do so many things in real life. It’s weird.” He smiled though, not wanting them to think he really meant it. Even though he did.
He was describing the life that his friend Sam had to live with, every day.
Te nodded, and touched his arm, which was way closer than they normally got.
“You can do it. Lisa and I will give you pointers. I know, you can practice with us. It will be fun.”
Looking right into her eyes he shook his head, which made her squint a little.
“No. It won’t really be fun at all. It will be me messing up, and looking stupid, I bet. We can do that though, if you get a chance? At least look at the VR record, and make sure I’m not going to seem like I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Lisa chuckled from the front seat again, “a point. It isn’t that hard to manage. It’s just a matter of remembering that the other person with you is real. We can virt that with you, and you’ll do fine. Really, Carry probably wouldn’t mention it if you treated her like she was VR. It’s one of the rules. You don’t complain. Not people at her level of the game.”
Sam pulled back a tiny bit, and nodded. Te’s face was somber, under the white and blue paint. The scent of it reminded him of a circus VR he’d watched once.
“True, but it never hurts to learn a new skill. Remember though, this kind of relationship tends to last about six weeks. That’s how long the networks will be interested in it. The polite thing will be to stay with her and be seen for that time, then suggest who she should be with next for best exposure. Unless you really both like each other, then it can last longer, but that’s so rare it will seem phony if you do it.”
If Lisa didn’t agree, she didn’t mention it.
“Hey, you like barbeque, right?” The words seemed to be directed to him, though the muscular lady didn’t take her eyes off the road to indicate who she meant.
“Um, sure. Why?”
“We’re going to my house. Change of plans, but it’s secluded enough that we can keep it from turning into something bigger than we want. John wanted to make sure you weren’t overwhelmed too soon. I think he wants to talk some shop, but we need to get out of the city for that. Mike’s cooking. That means Adam will be there, but he’s more or less in on things. I mean, he probably thinks we’re developing a drug empire, but believe it or not, the guy won’t squeal on us just for that.”
Mason gave a nod, “I see. I can run some legal things up for that. They aren’t hard or unknown, they just tend to be a little bit of a poor business plan. Selling nanos once a month isn’t nearly as lucrative as chemicals that people need twenty times in the same span. On the good side we can turn them on and off. There’s an old design of mine that will work pretty well that way. Better than what’s available right now.” He ran the specs in his head, wishing he had his float screen along. It was just easier to work with for him.
Mason closed his eyes, and was surprised a while later when Sam put a hand on his leg.
“Honey, we’re home.” It was said in a funny and singsong voice, but the hand was taken away before he got his eyes open. It was nearly cuddly, for Sam.
It was an actual house too, not an apartment building. There were trees around it, though he could see other houses up and down the street. It was in the suburbs then, not the country. Still, it was more isolated than his place was. Any of his neighbors could have set up a microphone at any point, or infrared and pointed at their own wall, getting everything on the other side.
That there was no reason to before had stopped it from happening most likely, but it was perfectly legal. Here it would be harder to do, because of the extra space around the building. Not impossible, but harder to pull off, without a warrant. Getting something like that could take the cops ten, maybe even fifteen minutes, in the modern age.
If they knew that they needed one.
Which was, he didn’t doubt, the point of them being there.
Chapter eleven
It turned out that Mike didn’t just like barbeque, he was a freaking master of it. Self-styled, but that didn’t stop the giant dark skinned man from trying his best. Even better, they had other things to round out the meal of cooked chicken and steak. Potato salad, slaw, and some rolls that were clearly from a bakery. It was all real food, which was a treat for Mason, if no one else.
Most days he just printed out what he needed. There was a difference.
Everyone kept telling him so.
Sam only nibbled at the corn she’d taken, which he understood. After all, the yellow kernels had been left on the cob, making it strange and hard to eat. The others did it, like it was special and wonderful, but he just skipped that one. If he needed to cram things between his teeth, he could do it more efficiently than that. The rest of it was pretty good, and the world around them smelled faintly of smoke and cooked meat, which was nice. It reminded him of home, even though he was pretty certain his parents had only done something like that once or twice in his entire childhood.
They’d been good parents, but still the product of the age they lived in. That meant doing things like making sure Mason had gotten the right drugs to keep him healthy, and that he didn’t start out screwing sheep in virt before he formed anything like a social attachment to a person.
There hadn’t been a lot of time for things like camping however. Not the real kind, with fires and tents. He’d done that, of course. In VR. It really was the same thing, he knew. The only real difference was that when he needed to pee, he could unhook and use the bathroom.
There was a wooden table, that had benches attached to it, that sat on a composite slab in the back yard. That part was impressive, since John and Lisa actually had a lawn, with grass and flowers around the edge. It wasn’t perfectly kept up, but was nicer than the nothing that he, as a strict city dweller, was used to. He didn’t even have a pot with a weed in it.
Looking around for a bit, he locked eyes with John and smiled.
“This is nice. I like it.” It was a bit awkward feeling, but Lisa smiled at him happily about the words.
“We got it for a steal. The commute is a bit intense, but other than that it’s great. Too bad we hardly ever get to see it. That’s the business though.”
Everyone at the table nodded. Mike was standing at a grill, which was a black colored metal box with gray and white smoke pouring from it. He had a long handled silver food turner in his right hand, held like a weapon. Everything any of the bigger people did looked like that. As if they were ready to kill with whatever was at hand. Lisa held a printed fork, made of flimsy composite material, and still had the same air about her.
Sam, dressed as te’s gen-neu self had taken the seat right next to Mason, te’s leg touching his. It was close, and a bit suspicious. No one else was doing that kind of thing there. It was really a bit strange, given that that wasn’t the kind of relationship they had. Mason didn’t think so anyway.
It was a question he had to suppose. They were friends, and about as close to being together as he’d ever really been with anyone in his entire life. Something wasn’t right though, which he picked up on as the food was passed around.
It was John that spoke first, his voice smooth and deeper than normal. He was at the far end of the table, and had a heap of food that was about five times what Mason could have made himself eat on the plate in front of him. It was a cheap paper thing that could be tossed when they were done.
“Things have been speeding up in the last few days.” The others all nodded, and Sam cuddled a little closer to his side. It wasn’t very neutral seeming. In fact it felt distinctly feminine, which might give the act away. Then, anyone watching them there would already know who they all were.
Well, Adam didn’t nod, just taking a small bite of potato salad. His hair was back to being blue, and he looked very young as he sat there, on the other side of Mason. He didn’t try to cuddle though, thankfully. That would have been awkward, since he was on the side that was needed to eat.
“Yeah. I guess this is the time we need to really decide if we’re doing this or not? Do we take the plunge and possibly lose everything we have, or float along, safe in the knowledge that our own little worlds are secure for now? That won’t last forever. Not for me or Lexi.” The youthful face turned to him, and then glanced at everyone else, one by one. He stopped when he got to Mason. “You can probably go the distance, but the rest of us are more or less disposable. The life span of a singer like me is about ten years, if I keep producing new material. I have about two or three years left, and then the only way I make the networks will be when I inevitably suicide.”
There was a depth to what was being said, and a darkness that was unusual for the boy.
Sam nodded.
“An actress like me will probably last about fifteen years. I started young, but by thirty or possibly thirty-five it will be over. I got lucky that way. I was promoted early on, and some of the things I was in went big. Otherwise I’d be doing whatever I can to make enough money to live on, like most of the others. I think it’s worth the risk.” She turned to Mason, pressing her bland body against his side hard enough that he knew te was a girl under her jumpsuit. “You said you had something? Some kind of nano drug?”
He looked at the others, experienced enough at games to simply nod, rather than be shocked that they weren’t discussing rebellion openly. They could be heard here. Anyone that wanted to could point a mic their way. True, it wouldn’t be admissible in court without a warrant, but going on about hating the system would probably allow one of those to be gotten without much fuss. There might be stalkers listening too, if they had the basic ability to track addresses.
“I do. It’s legal, too. I even have the copyright on the tech design, so we won’t have to go over licensing properties. It’s a sort of nano set that sits… I wish I had my float screen…” He held his hand up to the back of his head, a single finger over the right spot. “It sets up a small network in the brain, that agitates this area on command. It activates the pleasure center. On the good side, it’s instant, and not addictive.”
John looked over, and acted like they really were there to discuss the drug idea.
“The bad side?”
He shrugged, “we can only sell so much of it. A single dose will last a month, or slightly longer. It isn’t expensive to make however, and like I said, legal. For now. So, while it might well be able to replace most other drugs, it won’t make even a fraction of the money they do.”
Not that he cared about that, given his other plans, but Adam seemed excited, and touched his right arm. His fork hand. Mason glared a bit, and shook his head.
“Never grab a man’s eating hand.” It was an attempt at a joke, and everyone laughed, for once. He normally got polite chuckles, but people were nervous at the moment.
The kid finally got control of himself and nodded.
“So, what’s my part in this? I mean, you have Mason, and the drug stuff. I’m in, and need something, but there’s no reason that you need me. Is there?” He sounded pretty certain of that, and everyone looked over at him.
That was fair. Dump it all on the new guy that figured they were going to fail and end up in prison anyway.
“You… John and Mike, are going to move some gear for us. I have a machine and some supplies that will be needed at the beach place. I’d like you on power systems after that. It won’t be full time, but it will take work to set it up. Can you get that done tonight? Some of the stuff is large and we don’t want to alert anyone that might try and grab the idea from us.” Not that anyone would. You either had all the needed pieces for the drug like nano compound, or you didn’t. He did, making the whole thing possible that way.
For real. He could print some up that night and do the programming at the same time, if he got in early enough.
Mike looked at him coolly.
“We’re eating first. There have to be priorities.” It sounded like food was one of them, so Mason smiled and agreed.
“Yep. Sam told me that te and Lisa were going to do the cover operation?” He was passing the buck, but his friend nodded and put her hand on his left thigh.
“We have that all planned. We’ll be watched, so we need a cover, as to why we’re all getting together. We have the food supplement thing. Ben wants in on that, too, by the way. That, and your printed coffee. It should be enough to allow us to get away for a while to chat in secret.” Te squeezed his leg a bit, and looked over at John. “A lot of this is resting on Mason. We should make sure to… Protect our asset?”
The big people all nodded, and oddly enough, so did Adam.
“Fuck yeah, we should, love. Get him one of those bullet proof imbeds like you have. We should all get them. It’s… Expensive, but that, and hire an assistant for him. Love ya, mate, but you have all the sense that God gave a goose. Walking up on Warburg, and giving him orders… Maybe two assistants? Do you know anyone good that can work cheap, John?” It was telling that he went straight to him for that, but the man nodded.
“If we can swing the shield imbed, then I know a few that will be willing to go at bottom rates, I bet. What did yours run you, Lexi?”
She shrugged, “half a million. They said it should last about six months. Mason, you said something about that?” She was being leading, and probably trying to manipulate him with sex. It would have been more effective if she’d looked like a girl at the moment, which thankfully wasn’t the case. He needed a clear head, and the hand on his leg was distracting.
So he took it off, firmly, and shook his head at her a little. That got him smiled at, by nearly everyone.
“I can do that. Really, we can all have them. I need to work on it, but should be able to improve the strength by several times. Maybe more than that. Some way of protecting against light based weapons too. Dazzlers and that kind of thing? I saw one of those about a week ago and nearly got sick.” It had been more than nearly, but Sam didn’t tattle on him over that part, just nodding a little.
The large people all stopped and stared at him though, and John spoke very quietly.
“You can do that? How many people can you set that up for, without it being a big financial burden for you?” It seemed very important suddenly, and everyone except Adam was watching him like a hawk.
Mason took a bite of the coleslaw, which was real. Not perfectly made, but at least as good as his printed recipe. It needed something though. Ben would probably know what.
“With all my equipment set up?” He stared at John, trying to send a message, and not knowing the man well enough to get if it was going to transmit or not. “Probably more than you can find people for. We can make a party of it? Like the other night? I need a few days to work on it, so that I get it right, but it won’t be hard.” It wasn’t illegal to make that kind of thing, after all.
It would just look really funny, if he did it where Watch could see it happening. That was fine, since they needed to test the new assembler units anyway. He could print a few up to take with them. Or, rather, one, since it would take up a lot of space. If they needed more, he could do it there.
Lisa and Mike both looked at John, and the man smiled. It wasn’t a pleased thing, but it was real anyway.
“That… Will work. So, everyone knows what their jobs are for this next week?”
Adam wanted to know more about setting up power structures, so Mason filled the time that everyone was busy eating with that. It wasn’t difficult, but it really was important.
The kid surprised him then.
“Should I be doing it? I mean, if this chain has a weak link, it has to be me, right? What if I mess it up?”
John shook his head then.
“If you fuck this up, then everything will probably fail. I have faith in you. You aren’t a moron, Adam. A bit raw and young, but that can be fixed with experience and time. You won’t fail in this. You won’t mess it up. Because you can’t.”
Plus, if it came to it, Mason could redo the work in a few hours. It wouldn’t make for a relaxing vacation, but he’d never had one of those as an adult anyway. That reminded him of something.
