Chapter 9

Aya had stayed in the EtherCloud for longer than usual as Ryu ate. Her real lungs had filled well beyond normal, and now she had to jack out and hack up phlegm again. A sense of dread crept over her.

The only way Ryu would teach her how to cure her flawed body would be to meet in person.

Which meant he’d see said flawed body.

She could interact with people for about seven minutes of real time before the phlegm build up became noticeable. They’d invariably react to her with disgust, just like everyone else. Her parents included.

She couldn’t bear to see that disdain toward her on Ryu’s handsome face.

Her gut twisted.

But no, if this could treat her lungs, it would be worth all the shame she’d have to bear. Then, she’d never have to worry about dealing with people ever again. She’d be able to spend a lifetime in the EtherCloud without ever having to jack out.

Of course, there was no guarantee he’d teach her.

But if she proved herself…

It was time for a heist, and she could hack just about anything on level three.

Lungs clear, she jacked back into the EtherCloud. Donning the Sentinel Carapace, she hopped into the Peacekeeper ServerSpace and headed to the surveillance partition. The cameras on the level three technology lab showed the three Elestrae mingling with the Peacekeeper scientists in a room filled with bright white light. They were convened around a white table with a myriad of unfamiliar instruments. At least two of the Peacekeepers were holographically projected into the room.

“… bioenergetic for sure,” the golden-haired female Elestrae was saying as she fiddled with her jewelry. “In that, it’s similar but different to istrium.”

“What do you mean?” a Peacekeeper scientist said.

“It’s like…” The silver-haired male waved his hands. “Back in your twentieth century, your people used carbon-based fuels. Methane, Petroleum, coal. They had slightly different chemical structures, so a machine that used one as a fuel source couldn’t switch to another.”

The second male nodded. “It’s theoretically possible we could channel its radiation, but we’re far more attuned to istrium. Likewise, your starship couldn’t fold space with it, at least not without modification.”

Just what were they talking about? Aya switched camera angles, but couldn’t see if there was anything more than Ryu’s robes on the table. Surely that wasn’t what they were talking about. Unless the cloth had an internal power source, like power armor?

But no, her earlier research had revealed it made of one hundred percent hemp.

Oh, for a better view!

Sadly, the one camera with an overhead view of the table, which the projected scientists were likely using, had a Level Five Sentinel guarding it. It might see through her Carapace if she tried to hack it. Not worth the risk.

She darted from the surveillance partition across a wireless bridge to the multipurpose cleaning droid’s CPU in the room. Its AI was simplistic, and she slipped past its Level Two Sentinels with ease. With a few swipes of her hands, she locked out its Animator AI and took control of its sensors and functions.

Aya shifted her senses to the droid’s visual and audio receptors, using a filter to translate it into sights and sounds. The first time she’d ever done this, the three-hundred-sixty degree spherical vision had been disorienting; but now her mind was used to it.

“This has been helpful,” one of the holographic scientists said.

The lead Peacekeeper was leaning over the table, but Aya’s view was still blocked by the Elestrae.

Following her commands, the droid trundled closer to the people, sweeping the floor as it went. The new position gave her a better view.

“Hey!” A janitor hurried over and stepped in her path. From her black hair and yellowish skin tone, she was Purebred, like Ken, perhaps thirty years of age. “This is my zone right now.”

Had the Peacekeeper administration totally ignored the fact that a Purebred had helped Ryu escape? Had Aya been running the show, she would’ve barred them from every area at security level two and up, and let droids do the job.

As she pushed the droid past the Purebred, Aya scanned her ID badge. The woman just stared back and muttered. Aya now had a good view of the table.

Just as the Peacekeeper was shutting a durastrium briefcase. The table was now cleared.

The holographic scientist tilted his head to the Elestrae. “My research team would like to meet you in the twelfth floor chemistry lab with the items.”

Dammit, was she too late?

“Very well,” the female Elestrae said.

Dammit. Until Aya improved her skills, the droids on the twelfth level were beyond her ability to hack. She needed to act now, and somehow acquire the case.

The overhead camera might be too-well guarded, but not the holoprojectors. But what she was about to do would change security protocols for the future…

Her consciousness crossed from the cleaning droid to the surveillance partition of the Peacekeeper’s Serverspace. “Ai, block Subject 1’s holoprojector and monitors, and cast his image from holoprojector three under my control. Replicate his voice.”

“Done,” AI said.

“Leave the robe,” Aya said.

The lead Peacekeeper stared at the hologram. “What? Why?”

“I just want to discuss the situation.”

“But the robe’s interdimensional space…”

Interdimensional space? “That’s an order.”

“Yes, Director.” With a confused look, the Peacekeeper opened the case, removed the folded-up robe, and returned it to the table.

“I will see you soon,” Aya said through the hologram.

The group filed out of the lab and headed toward a bank of maglifts.

There wasn’t much time. Despite Ai’s efforts, the monitor’s security level was high enough that the real director might’ve heard the exchange, and might’ve even seen part of it through the overhead camera. Hearing his own voice, he’d know the system had been hacked. Now there was no time for subtlety.

Shutting down all but the overhead camera, she transferred back to the cleaning droid. Its three-prong hands were hard to use, but she picked up the robe and trundled to another cleaning droid. Along the way, she compiled a subroutine to automate the one she was in.

Then, she crossed into that droid’s CPU and opened its internal trash bin. As she’d programmed, the first droid placed the robe inside, then went on its way.

Alarms were now blaring, indicating a lockdown on level two and up. The cameras would’ve turned back on, and she’d be barred from the surveillance partition by higher level Sentinels.

She created a new subroutine for her current droid, sending it to the garbage chute; then crossed over to a trash processing droid in a nearby building. Though connected to Peacekeeper Central, this unsecured area received refuse from the surrounding skyscrapers. Without any Sentinels to avoid, she jumped from droid to droid, installing a subroutine which would make the robes invisible to them.

Aya jacked out and returned to the real world.

Her chest was tight.

And not from the phlegm.

No, this was an entirely different sensation, one that combined with a racing heart and trembling hands. She didn’t suffer from these mortal frailties in the EtherCloud, and it had been months, maybe even years since she’d felt them. Her racing thoughts, so accustomed to being connected to the perceptual stream of the EtherCloud, felt disjointed in real time.

Taking a deep breath, or at least as much of a deep breath as her lungs would allow, she rose from her cushioned chair. Her home’s surveillance equipment was child’s play to hack via the wireless connection to the quantum computer in her head, without her consciousness even having to transfer to the EtherCloud.

Thus virtually invisible, she left her room and crept out into her family living area. No one was around. That was no surprise for this time of day, even less so because of the Peacekeeper emergency. She went to her sister’s bedroom and into her closet.

Her own wardrobe consisted of comfortable casual wear for the home. In contrast, her sister had all of the latest fashions hanging from the rows of racks, above shelves of jewelry, shoes, and other accessories.

Aya pushed past those and chose one of the Peacekeeper tactical uniforms. Form fitting on her sister, it was a little loose first, until the nanocircuitry adjusted. While her own clothes were relaxed, the uniform made her feel almost naked. The helmet, which her sister usually eschewed, covered her short hair. The interface connected to her jack, but for now, she activated her head’s virtual buffer to prevent linking with the helmet’s tactical functions and Peacekeeper Central.

Activating the projectors, she viewed her image. She looked like any other Peacekeeper from the elite tactical units. There was risk to both her and her sister if she stole her identity, so it was time to for some more hacking.

“Ai, create an identity for me.” Aya lowered her buffer, which opened the connection to Peacekeeper Central. As Peacekeeper equipment, it would bypass the lockdown. The high-level Sentinels which she couldn’t trick on her own would ignore her in the thousandth of a second it took her to add the forged identity to the HR database and erase the log of her visit. She reestablished the buffer to go invisible .

Satisfied, she cleared out her lungs, took a deep breath, and left her home for the first time in years.

The building’s hallways were empty, and she took the maglift down the sixty floors to ground level. The rapid descent felt strange to her real body, even as the tactical suit’s inertial dampeners moderated the sensation.

When the maglift doors opened, she took another deep breath and stepped into the vaulting atrium, whose transparent walls allowed natural light of dusk in. A handful of people were walking through, the dampeners in their footwear making their steps nearly silent on the slate-grey floor. None one paid her any mind beyond a respectful nod.

She crossed the atrium, went through the double doors, and breathed real air for the first time in a long while. The suit’s water repellers ionized the rain in a bubble around her, leaving her dry as she hurried toward Kyoto Central’s garbage area.

As she got closer, where Peacekeepers would see her, she activated her fake identity and lowered the buffer. The helmet again interfaced with Peacekeeper Central’s servers, and would make her appear on their maps.

She turned into an alley that ran behind Peacekeeper Central. Buzzes and whirs grew louder as she approached the trash processing building she’d virtually visited not long before.

In an open alcove, refuse tumbled down chutes and landed in piles. Droids trundled through the trash, picking up specific items with their pincer arms and put it in their bodies for reprocessing into reusable base components. One, currently at full capacity, rolled to the entrance and shat out cubes of differing colors and textures. A Purebred sorted and stacked them, though he paused to look at her before returning to his job.

She scanned near the top of the piles closest to Peacekeeper Central. It was long before she saw Ryu’s robes. She hurried toward it.

“Where are you going?” the Purebred yelled.

She ignored him, like all XHumans ignored Purebreds. He might be a witness, but nobody would bother to question him when they could review the logs from the droids.

Using her connection, she hacked the building’s AI and shut down the chute lest she get hit with garbage. On all fours, she climbed to the robes. With muscles poorly developed from extended time jacked into the EtherCloud, her arms and legs burned, even with the tactical suit’s strength enhancers. It took a few tugs to free it from a broken chair, and she nearly fell back.

Rolling it into a ball, she eased her way down. This was the most physical activity she’d probably ever done at one time, and she might be exhausted for days. She turned, and nearly ran into the Purebred.

“Do you need help?” he asked.

“No. Thank you.”

“What is that?” His eyes looked like the virtual puppy her parents let her raise as a child.

She was dressed as Peacekeeper, necessitating a Peacekeeper answer. “Evidence.”

His eyes searched hers, or rather, that’s what he would’ve been doing if not for the visor. With a nod, he went back to her work.

Shielding the robes from the cameras, she folded them up and tucked them under her arm. Then, she headed to Kujo.