Cheat, page 11
Mason nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll try to look from this end, too. Can I get a copy of the app you and your people use? I have a copycat right now, but not the official one.” It was true and he didn’t explain why he had that kind of thing, even though he’d been using it to sabotage the effectiveness of the other one for Sam and Lisa.
“Sending to your link, now. Thanks. Most people would have just said no and hung up.”
The data flow ended almost instantly, and there was a blip off to the right that showed the program was in his computer. That was the phone however, which wasn’t very powerful, so, almost without thinking, Mason passed it over to his float.
“Not a problem. I’ll get with you if I find him. Thanks for letting me know. I mean, I’ve actually met him, in person. That pretty much means he’s one of my ten people. I don’t get out much.” Most didn’t.
It was a good enough explanation it seemed, and the woman tabbed off, blinking out of existence.
Without waiting to let Adam know what was going on, Mason summoned his float screen over, and started working. It was rude, he didn’t doubt, but he had the Famous Times app isolated and running, as well as four new sets of fake bio-marker imbeds waiting to be run up. The first one would have to be Adam, since even if he didn’t know who the man was, the app did, and was blinking at him madly.
If he hadn’t taken it off the system already, it would have tattled on the man already. No doubt with all those papo coming to get vid of them.
Fucking.
Even if they weren’t. As an afterthought he actually set up a decent makeup imbed, too. It was original design work, but didn’t take long, since he just looked up some copy written designs and cribbed heavily. It was part of his job, doing things like that, so no one would blink about it, and he could use it for free, whenever he wanted. To that end, he logged it into the system as soon as he had the plans for it, as the holder of the design. That way it wouldn’t tag him when he printed it later.
The riskiest thing that he’d done was the nano hive killer design. That was totally legal however, so he didn’t worry too much about it. After all, if someone did go to the hospital with that hive in their head, they’d be able to handle it now. If they could figure out what was going on in time.
If Big White Guy hadn’t mentioned it being a hive, Mason probably would have been half a day slower, figuring it out. No one made hives, because you had to be mentally challenged to not understand how stupid it was. That meant no one looked for them first thing.
A brilliant twelve-year-old girl might fit that bill though. She probably thought she was in love, too. With the goofball on his sofa.
“Which is why they invented VR.” He said that out loud, and looked over at the other guy, who seemed to be talking on the phone. Because that wasn’t going to have him traced nearly instantly?
He looked up then, through whoever he was seeing in his head, but spot to Mason directly.
“It’s John. He wants you to look at Hunter’s lab readings? It seems good to me, but I know music, not tiny robots.”
“Good idea. Pass the data link over? Um, here… I’m blue.” That was the line he was passing over. To make it easy to find. It was the kind of thing you did with your friends, when they were right there with you. So, he was a bit shocked that he got it right.
At least he saw John, who was the big white man after all, flash up in front of him. This was on a live stream though, not a display, which meant he had a camera on him. After a moment there was a nod, and the scene turned around to show a crying girl that was plump, but kind of cute anyway, and a rather messy bedroom.
The walls played moving images of Adam, which was creepy. There was no way anyone could sleep with that going on all the time. Hopefully she turned it off at night.
Mason didn’t comment, just tabbing the info key, to look at the collected data. The girl had her own nano rig, though it was a very, very tiny one. It had probably been why she’d gone with a hive. Making anything piecemeal would take her weeks, if not longer. The hair coloring for Adam had probably been a month of setting things up and getting the actual product out. It was also pirated work, instead of something more legit. That meant she’d disabled the portion of the printer that would send things to Watch, or she would have gotten a notice about what she was doing. Hence getting away with making a hive.
“The room is clean. Spread some of the neutralizer around anyway.” He didn’t want to be a prick, but took a deep breath then. “Also, get with her mom. She’s been breaking a lot of laws here. If Watch finds her with her junior pirate kit there she’ll be locked up until she’s eighteen. Since I nearly called them myself earlier, you have to understand how close you are to vanishing for a long time, Hunter.” That got louder crying.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted him to like me.” It was pitiful sounding, and Adam winced and looked away.
She was a fangirl after all, and even Mason got the idea. If she hadn’t been giving him free things that were hard to find anywhere else, he never would have noticed her.
It was exactly the kind of thing that Mason was horrible with though. If the girl would have just set up a VR sim, she could have done pretty much whatever she wanted with the man, but that hadn’t been good enough for her, for some reason.
Probably love. That was a strong enough thing to make problems. After all, he’d felt that himself before, when he was in school. With Deb. Luckily for him that had ended quickly enough. It had turned out that she was a horrible person, in the end. Not just the kind that didn’t want him, but who thought that anyone not at least as good looking as the best actors was beneath her, even for friendship. Being the fattest kid in the class meant he did not make the grade.
Lesson learned, he’d moved on. Hunter could too, if she were smart enough.
“I wouldn’t waste my time on him that way. He’s an all right guy, but you can meet real people, if that’s your thing. Ones you know? Anyway, I won’t lecture you on that. We don’t have time, because we’re going to go over why exactly making a nano hive is always a bad idea, instead. Give her the screen, please?” Then, almost as if it were what he did for a living, Mason gave a lesson that should have been delivered in school.
How not to destroy the world and kill people by being an idiot.
At the end he finally got to see the girl’s mom, who didn’t look old enough to have a child. She seemed scared, and actually wrung her hands, though she also seemed to get what a giant bullet her daughter had just managed to dodge.
Mason looked at her on the screen, and smiled, trying not to seem sinister.
“So, you need to get rid of the assembler, and if you get a new one again, Hunter, don’t pirate anything like that. Just make your own designs. It’s a bit more work, but not that hard. You’re smart, or you wouldn’t have come up with that hive. Just use the family printer to make your own unit for it, but make sure you report everything you do. Also, no more hives. That was not good.” Then, because he’d been a kid once too, he sent over the plans for a good nano assembly device, directly to Hunter. “Use this one instead, and make sure to register it. I own the copyright on the design, and have okayed you making a single copy for personal use. Every time you make something, I expect a report, too. Send that to me before you hit print.”
It would be a hassle, but the girl nodded, her rosy cheeks damp looking still, as it floated in front of him, the camera pointed at her face.
“I will. I… Sorry.” She seemed upset still, which wouldn’t be about nearly killing lots of people.
No, it was going to be about nearly taking out Adam. The man hadn’t spoken the entire time, which was probably a sign that he understood something about what was going on. Maybe even more than Mason did.
He passed the link back over without warning, since making life easy for singers wasn’t a particular goal of his.
To his credit, Adam didn’t shut her down instantly.
“Hey love! No harm this time. Best listen to Mason here though, and do what he says. I’ll check in with you, every now and then, if that’s good?” He looked pained, then wiped that from his face, made some small talk and finally got off the line without speaking seriously again.
Then he gave Mason a look that was near miserable.
“One of the costs of being famous that no one ever tells you about. People see you all the time, you’re there with them for hours a day, and they love you for it. If you’re even a little bit nice to them, it becomes real to them. She’s a good kid. I should have come across like an arse, and protected her from me. Instead I was… Damn-it.” There was no real heat in the word.
Mason thought he understood.
“Instead you flirted, and treated her like an adult, and now you can’t tell her that you were just being you?”
“That’s pretty close to what happened. I don’t even think of it, most of the time. It’s second nature now. I mean, I’ve been a celebrity since I was twelve myself. When I was thirteen I had my first orgy. A real one, I mean, not with machines or in virt. That kind of thing changes how you think about things. I mean, look at me now? I’m sitting on some stranger’s couch, and having him save my life. This isn’t even the first time something like this has happened. Oh, the life saving part is great, but really, it’s happened before. I don’t know how to be a real person, some days.” There was a look then, as if he were asking for help.
Mason shook his head.
“No one does, anymore. I was thinking about that earlier. Most people live in VR, most of the time. In a way that’s great. They can have experiences and do things that otherwise would never come up. Climb a pristine version of Everest, drive a race car, go into space and tour one of the stations without risking anything. Talk to people around the world, and make love with pretty much anyone they want, on demand. That isn’t how things used to be though. Can anyone tell us what’s real now? I think the important thing is to always try to be a good person, no matter where you are.”
That got a nod, since it was pseudo-deep enough that the singer had to think for a bit.
“I hear that. Okay, so what do good people do? Other than not lead little girls on?”
Mason didn’t know, really. Not in any way he could define easily.
“Right now? They get cleaned up and eat… Um, brunch? I can print something out.”
The purple headed kid made a face, but didn’t say no. He probably wanted fresh food, but he was getting whatever was waiting in the food printer recipe set. Part of being a good person had to include not whining about the little things.
They took turns showering, which clearly baffled Adam, who hinted that having someone to wash his back would be nice, several times. Then, since the first of the imbeds were ready, he helped Adam get the bio-marker baffle on. That was a bit disruptive, since the other guy got a hard on, and tried to get Mason to do something about it.
“No? Not to be mean, but I tend to stick to VR. It’s safer. Anyway, stay here for twenty minutes and don’t move. It needs to soak in. I’ll go get some food ready. What do you like?”
“Anything love. If you’re going to just leave me hanging like this. It’s been hours since I’ve had any. Nearly half a day. Are you sure you couldn’t just blow me?” There was a plaintive tone to it.
“Imbed drying, remember? Plus, like I said, nope.”
The man grinned then, and stood there, posing a little bit in the center of the work room. There was a gentle hum as the next set of things printed out. They went more quickly, since he had a container of base solution already made up for imbeds. He was going to have to print more out though, after all of this. Doing the math on it, he realized that he had enough for three full sets, before he had to redo the batch of driving compound.
The food was pretty basic, though he used the nutrient fat, and sugar, where he could. So they ended up with what seemed like scrambled eggs, toast, and fake ham slices, with butter and grape jelly. Before he ate he had to run and take his daily dose of Slimtrix, since he’d gotten side tracked by what had happened.
Then as that printed, people started coming. The first set being John and his giant buddy, Mike. That made sense, given their job was to watch Adam.
John smiled at him.
“Is he still even here?”
Before he could say anything, the guy walked out, naked, and not erect anymore, a grin on his face. On his well made up, and pleased looking face, that was.
“Don’t let the imagination run gents. I just got a new imbed. I don’t know what it does. I’m hoping it will make my dick bigger though.”
Mason shook his head then.
“You’d need genetic changes for that, not nano work. This will just make it harder for the paparazzi to find you. Here, let me show you all.”
They gathered around the float screen, while Adam was coached as to how he could shift what his bio-readings were.
Mason tapped the screen, very gently. It warped a bit under his finger, and left a smudge.
“This one is the signal that is sent out by his inskin. Adam, go to the Kenny persona, please?” The instant he did, the entire readout changed. Including who his internal computer claimed he was. “It probably won’t fool the government, but it will get around Famous Times and anyone using their finder app. See?” He brought it up to demonstrate.
The two big assistants, if that was what the code for bodyguard was that week, both seemed to think it was Christmas. John actually slapped him on the back.
“Freaking great! This will help a lot. Do you know who else their system has? How did you get access?”
He stared at the man’s face for a bit, and worked out that he was hinting at something illegal, which it hadn’t been in the slightest.
“Cynthia Echini, from that network, called me earlier and gave it to me. Oh, um, Henry Stodermier is missing. He’s here, in their system.” That showed on the screen, and he noticed when he brought Sam up, so was Lisa. Including her last name.
Lisa Williams.
John pointed at the name and shook his head.
“Fuck. Do they have all of us?”
That it turned out was the case. Mike Emery was in there, associated with Adam, and so was John. John Williams.
“Same last name?” Mason looked at him. They were similar, being big and powerful looking people, but didn’t really look the same through the face.
“Married. Going on ten years now.” He seemed proud of it, for some reason.
“Oh? Good thing I haven’t slept with either of you then.” He turned to the still naked Adam. “See? Keeping that kind of thing to VR pays off. Now I don’t have giants hitting me.”
The guys all chuckled, and John sent Adam off for his clothing, his bio-markers set to be Kenny still.
John smiled at the kid’s back, then turned to glance at Mason.
“We’ll need to put in new people as assistants, if they’re tracking the staff, too. The agency will love it, but it won’t be the first time we had to do something like that.”
Holding up a hand, he moved to pull plates, and reset the printer, so that there would be enough food for everyone.
“I have bio-bafflers for you two, being set up right now. You should eat first. It takes a while to for the base to dry and soak in.”
Unlike Adam Genesh, these two didn’t turn their nose up at printed food, just eating what was offered, and thanking him for it. They also didn’t glow about how great it was, but he’d live. They didn’t spit it out, and that was a good start.
Then, at about one in the afternoon, just after everyone was dressed again, the next set of people showed up at the door. This time it was a girl who looked to be about fifteen, and a man in his forties.
When Adam saw them he practically ran over.
“Tara! George! Come in. This is Mason. The guy I told you about? He can make you invisible, sort of. It’s sooo sprong, I swear. Here, watch this. Mason, bring up that program from before?” There was no please, and John closed his eyes, and looked constipated for a bit.
“Adam… Did you think to ask first, if this was all right? I mean, before you just offered other people millions of dollars of imbed work?”
The kid shrugged.
“Nah. Mason’s good that way. I’ll cover the material and energy costs. That works, right?” He seemed excited enough about it all, so Mason shrugged.
“For these two. Anyone else needs to be cleared first. If we aren’t careful about this, how it’s used, people will catch on, and that will make it harder to keep on top of. I mean, we can change the signals constantly, but a person walking around with an ever shifting pattern is nearly as obvious as one that looks like Adam or one of his friends.”
The girl, Tara, nodded, as if she understood what that all meant. The older guy didn’t though. They were both really good looking, and dressed up in ways that would catch attention, anywhere they went.
Luckily he’d been printing out base for imbeds all afternoon, so he had enough for both of them. It was work, setting up the new personalities, since Tara needed to be young in all of hers. That meant doing the work from scratch.
She kept touching his arm too, while he worked on the float screen in the living room.
“Sorry about the hassle. I could pay you? I didn’t know what Adam had in mind when we came over, or that I’d be a particular problem.” She was contrite, and innocent seeming about it all the entire time.
He shook his head a little.
“It’s only work. So, are you an actress or something? Or a singer like Adam?” He didn’t recognize her, and the girl suddenly went still.
“Wait, you don’t know who I am?”
“Nope. I mean, you’re Tara, but other than that, no. Don’t take it personally, I just don’t get to watch things very often. I don’t know who Adam is either, really.” He gave a weak smile, but the girl took his arm, wrapping hers around it, pushing her medium sized breast against him. It felt exactly like it would have in VR, though she smelled a bit more strongly. It wasn’t unpleasant, just being perfume.
“Really? In that case, pleased to meet you, Mason. I’m nobody in particular.”
