Hardwired

[Fairchild]

Chapter 01: Somnium

The bar was quiet as the transmission on the screen above began. She was sitting in the back, sipping from a glass of beer. The feeling of alcohol running through her system was comforting, but she had to be careful. She still had work to do.

She rented a room on Cambridge, hoping to complete what she had to do. A part of her mind was still locked down, as she was afraid to start Vergil again. Her only contact was hidden in a PAD on her wrist. She got used to feeling him in her mind all the time – communication with just words was so limiting.

The people around her started a quiet commotion and soon later everyone was focused on the screen above. A little text informed the viewers that it was a live broadcast from Denver University, from Worlds Fair – a bi-annual expo hosted by various universities to promote development of science. It was all but scientific, though. Image-warming popular science and promises, just to make the corporations seem a little more human and promote their products. A man took the stage. A man she recognised. She clenched her teeth.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “It is my greatest pleasure to welcome you again to the Worlds Fair” Applause. “My name is Jack Tran and as most of you will know, I am the CEO of Cryer Pharmaceuticals. We are incredibly glad to be able to sponsor and host the expo this year here at Denver University and I hope you will come out of here at the very least amazed.” The public applauded as he sent them one of his famed smiles. Bastard was handsome, she had to admit, yet she knew how vicious he could have been at times.

“Those of you who know me, know me as a visionary. And while I like to think of myself as such, I hadn’t before accomplished anything of such magnitude as the project I am about to present to you today. Before I begin, I need to first give my sincere thanks to all of our R&D teams here at Cryer and our subsidiaries as well as our partners at Ageira Technologies. Without their help none of this would have been possible.” Applause. “Cryer”. Why don’t you call things by name, you scum?, she thought.

The screen behind him lit up. “It is my greatest pleasure to present to you another scientific breakthrough – Project Vergil, brought to you on behalf of Cryer Pharmaceuticals!” Applause again. Tran cleared his throat and continued. “Vergil is revolutionary. Before, we have seen devices which allowed the user to engage with a digital system using their mind. Never before, though, we could do it with such precision and capability.” Applause. “And never before had it been so easy to do, as well.”

She wanted to get up and leave but she had to stay. Of course there would be no mention of the person who really did this. Who really researched this. Who killed someone to finish the project. It’s all just “Cryer”. Regardless of it, Tran was little more than another nameless executive. Another talking head who would disappear in a few years replaced by another “visionary”. People would forget, they always do.

As she got lost in her own pondery, she missed a part of Tran’s talk. He explained some of the inner workings of Vergil, how easy it was to use and brought a couple of “assistants” on stage to demonstrate. It was the first time she had actually seen someone other than herself to use Vergil. It was simple, utterly so – moving a couple of shapes on the screen behind them. It could have been so much more.

“To give you understanding of how great we think this project is,” he spoke as his talk was coming to a close, “there is a special part of this entire project. We want the people to create Vergil with us and we cannot wait to see how amazing you can make it. This amazing piece of technology will soon be available to you – make the best of it.” He bowed as though the entire universe applauded him. And to a degree, he would be right.

* * *

She lied in bed, looking at her PAD. She had gotten so used to just hear his consciousness in the back of hers that this way of communication felt incredibly alien.

<__n> Did you watch the talk?
<fairchild> yes
<fairchild> boring
<__n> I found it quite fascinating honestly.
<__n> Well, aside from the part when he attributed Vergil to Cryer.
<__n> You're still afraid that they can call home?
<fairchild> arent you?
<__n> There are ways to negate that.
<fairchild> how?
<__n> Well. I would just need time. I wrote the software. If they really added this, I can see what they modified.
<__n> That would be stupid though. Everyone could do that with regular network tools.
<__n> And I could do it even faster.
<fairchild> what if they didnt?
<__n> Then I could chr... hm. How do I say this...
<__n> I could update your Vergil so that it's got what I've done after we ran.
<__n> It should be safe.
<fairchild> how long?
<__n> Let me see.
<__n> I would probably be done by the time you wake up by the looks of it.
<fairchild> any risks?
<__n> Well, it is a low level operation.
<__n> I'll do my best not to break anything. But you'd have to trust me.
<fairchild> do it
<fairchild> im going to sleep
<__n> Sweet dreams.