“I just can’t believe this.” Rowan muttered from the couch, looking like he was slowly melting into the cushions.

Cassidy sighed at him, “I know you can’t believe it, you’ve been moping about it since yesterday. Why don’t you do something more useful and help me do some research.” She knew she wasn’t being fair. After the clerk apologized for the inconvenience and banned both of them for life, Cassidy started to feel the tell-tale tingle in the back of her skull while arguing with the clerk, and she had to fight the building urge to hurt the innocent employee. Rowan had the presence of mind to distract her until the tingling passed, but now he was the one who was over-reacting.

“What’s the point,” he whined, “that lawyer you spoke to this morning already told you no one would be desperate enough to go pro-bono against Norma Dagget and Trinios in court, not for a case involving mind-copies.”

She snatched a pillow off a chair and threw it at him. “Then we find another way.”

Rowan didn’t flinch as her fluffy projectile landed on his face. “It’s hopeless,” he told her, his voice muffled from under the pillow.

“When did you become such a defeatist?” Cassidy asked. “This isn’t like you to give up already. Normally you would be the one pushing me to find another way.”

He flung the pillow forcefully off his face and jerked upright, fixing her with a scowl. “Ever since everything I worked towards for the past five years was just flushed down the toilet! My dream job was to work for Trinios, did you forget that? It wasn’t just the free access to Athanasia. Sure, being able to play might have been the catalyst, but do you think I would have obsessed over game design and studying the Trinios corporation for this long just to play one game?” He let himself fall back down into the cushions, his burst of energy spent. “Now that we’re banned for life, my dream job is ruined. Trinios will never hire a game designer banned from their top game, even for other projects.”

Cassidy flinched, she hadn’t considered Rowan’s perspective on the ban before now. “Look, I’m sorry,” she walked over to the couch and knelt down beside him, “I didn’t realize I cost you your dream job.”

“You?” Rowan asked, looking at her in surprise. “It wasn’t you, it was Norma Dagget,” he said her name with a growl. “All you wanted to do is find your parents, I don’t blame you at all for that.”

Relief would have made her legs weak if she wasn’t already kneeling down, she didn’t think she could handle it if Rowan blamed her. “Maybe you dodged a bullet then,” she added gently, “imagine having Norma Dagget for a boss?”

He grimaced at the thought, “Yeah, you’re probably right about that. Still don’t know what I’m going to do now though. Five years, wasted.”

“For starters, you can help me find a way to make an account for Athanasia.”

“CG, we’ve been over this,” he said with another sigh, “Trinios controls all access to the game, there is no other way.”

Cassidy punched him in the shoulder, “Come on, you said yourself you’ve been studying the company for five years. If anyone knows of another way to get access to Athanasia it’s you.”

He shook his head, “I’m telling you, there’s no other way.”

“I refuse to believe that. Nothing is impossible. There has to be another way in to the game, even if it involves slipping in through a backdoor of the Trinios building to unban our accounts.”

Rowan’s eyes slowly widened, then breathed out an almost silent exclamation. “Oh!”

“What? Did you think of something?” Cassidy asked, her pulse quickening.

He sat up and opened his smart-ring holo-display and started typing. “I’ve only been considering legal ways to get access. I once read a few message board entries about backdoor Athanasia accounts. Someone claimed they could assist people who couldn’t afford accounts themselves in obtaining one. It was tempting since I wasn’t old enough to officially play yet, but it at the same time it felt shady as hell. I thought it was some kind of scam, I mean who would want to help people get free Athanasia accounts? Doesn’t make sense. That, and the penalties of getting caught with a backdoor account were too harsh for me to even consider it.”

“What penalties are those?”

He looked up from his holo-display and gave her a wry grin. “Perma-ban.”

Cassidy laughed.

***

“CG! Wake-up.”

Cassidy blinked slowly, coming out of a fitful sleep. Rowan turned on the lights in her bedroom and she groaned in protest, covering her eyes with her arm.

“Rowan, what’s wrong? What time is it?” She asked blearily.

“It’s four in the morning.”

“Four in the…” she muttered, “you better have a good reason for waking me up.”

He grinned down at her. “Oh, do I ever,” he said while handing her a steaming mug. “plus, I made coffee,”

Cassidy eyed the mug for a second, then took it from him. After taking a sip, she sighed in pleasure. Triple cream and triple sugar, just the way she liked it. “Alright, you’re half forgiven. What’s up?”

“It took me all night, but I found them,” he said with a broad smile.

“Found who?” She asked, her thoughts still fuzzy.

“The person who can help us create Athanasia accounts.”

Her eyes almost bugged out of her head. “Seriously? Oh my god, Rowan that’s fantastic.”

“That’s just the beginning. I spoke to her, and she’s willing to help us. But before she does, she wants to speak to you.”

“Me?” Cassidy blinked, “Why me?”

Rowan laughed, “You’d never believe me if I told you. I’ll let her explain.” He then flicked a finger and his smart-ring came to life. A holo-display appeared in his hand with an active phone call. The image inside the holo-display was of an old woman. She had long steel-gray hair wrapped up in a tight ponytail, and pale green eyes that glittered from within a face lined heavily with age.

“Hello dear,” the old woman said to Cassidy, “it’s been a while.”

Cassidy looked between Rowan and the old woman, confused. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

The old woman chuckled, “You wouldn’t remember me. We first met when you were but a baby, and only a handful of times since then. Sometimes your parents would bring you in to the office while they worked. My name is Olivia, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Again.”

“My… You worked with my parents at Omega AI?” Cassidy asked, dumbfounded.

“Not just worked with them,” Rowan added, visibly excited. “CG, this is Olivia Quinn. She founded Omega AI, your parents worked for her!”

Olivia laughed, “I was merely the purse strings, Liam and Veronica Grey were the stars.”

Cassidy felt light headed, “I’ve never met anyone who knew my parents before.”

“I’m sure you have many questions for me,” Olivia told her, “but let’s save them for another day, shall we? I know it’s early in the morning where you are, and it’s getting very late here. At my age I should already be in bed, but when I was notified that someone was researching backdoor access into Athanasia, I made it a point to find out who.”

“I couldn’t believe it!” Rowan almost shouted in excitement, “There I was thinking I was being all subtle, and then my phone rings with Olivia on the other end!”

“You were fortunate you came to my attention before Trinios found those messages, dear boy,” Olivia admonished him. “I back-traced your logs and deleted any entries that could lead to you. Had I been any slower, Trinios could have tracked you down and charged with corporate espionage.”

Rowan blushed, “I realize that now, ma’am. I’m sorry, I didn’t think the consequences through. I thought the worst they could do was already over and done with.”

“It’s alright my dear,” Olivia told him, “Now, Cassidy. Rowan already explained the situation to me. It’s scandalous that Norma Dagget would deny you access to your parents, but not a surprise. When she forced me out of my own company, I was banned from accessing my own mind-copy as well.”

Dread settled into the pit of Cassidy’s stomach. “Does that mean you can’t help us?”

Olivia smiled, “Oh, I can help you. You see, mind-copies themselves are linked to accounts that can’t be shared. If your account is banned, then you lose all access to the mind-copy that it’s linked to. While I can’t access my previous one, I am more than capable of having new accounts created under false identities. With these new accounts, it’s simply a matter of creating a mind-copy outside of Trinios and smuggling them into their system to attach them to false identities. I own a facility in Ottawa that creates mind-copies for the terminally ill. It would only be a matter of hours to have scans of your brains completed at this facility, and then smuggled into Trinios. I have trusted contacts in the company able to create accounts under false identities for both of you, and you will be able to sync with your mind-copies under these assumed identities like any other user for as long as the accounts remain unbanned. You could be inside Athanasia by this evening.”

"How are we supposed to search for her parents if we have to hide what we're doing?" Wyrm asked. "If word gets out that someone is looking for the creators of Gaia in the game, Trinios will probably hear about it and investigate."

"Aha, and that's where we address a little tidbit of information Trinios doesn't advertise." Olivia said, her eyes crinkling in amusement. "While they have all the power in the world to create or ban accounts, the mind-copies themselves are under the protection of Gaia. She is the only one who has access to the data on which mind-copy is linked to which account. As long as Trinios doesn't learn of your false identities or obtain any other kind of proof that either of you in the real world is accessing Athanasia illegally, you can search to your hearts content."

Cassidy felt like she was about to explode, but her recent experience with Leo reminded her of her very valuable lesson. Trust was for suckers.

“That sounds wonderful,” Cassidy told her, “But I can’t help but wonder what’s in this for you?”

“CG, that’s not fair,” Rowan told her with a reproachful look, “she’s trying to help.”

“No, no, dear boy. She’s quite right. I do want something in return,” Olivia said.

Cassidy made sure she kept her face neutral, but she was grimacing on the inside. She didn’t like being right, but she wasn’t surprised. “What do you want?”

Olivia drooped slightly, as if a sudden weight settled on her shoulders. “I am a firm believer that mind-copies are more than just digital constructs. They have the right to exist, but in reality, they should have so much more. One company holding millions of people hostage in an entire world under their control is akin to slavery. I do not begrudge Trinios for seeking a profit, but the way they go about it is wrong. Charging exorbitant fees every month to continue sharing memories with a mind-copy is disgusting, and if someone can’t pay or otherwise displeases their corporate overlords… poof! Half of their life is denied to them.”

“That’s very altruistic of you,” Cassidy interjected, “but you still haven’t said what you want from me.”

“I only wish one thing from you my dear. Promise me that when you find your parents you have them explain to you in detail the secret of creating AIs like Gaia, and then pass that knowledge on to me. With that information, I can create my own world like Athanasia, rendering Trinios obsolete. Promise me that, and both you and Rowan will gain access to Athanasia.” Olivia stared intently at Cassidy, her eyes not wavering as she waited for an answer.

Cassidy considered the offer for a moment before answering. “And no doubt you would receive a certain amount of personal pleasure for ruining the company that forced you out?”

The corners of Olivia’s lips twitched upward in a smile, “Indeed.”

“In that case,” Cassidy let her own smile come out as well, “you have a deal.”