💾 Archived View for clemat.is › saccophore › library › shorts › defcon › 25 › DEFCON-25-David-Cross-… captured on 2022-07-16 at 15:47:17.
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-03)
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Ascension
By
David Cross
Night fell and rain drizzled on Leo and Abby from clouds that had never
parted in all the time they�d lived here�nearly two years now after
Sarah died. Leo imagined what Las Vegas used to be; a city built in the
desert, sustained by big name performers and a never-ending supply of
tourists. Now it was nothing but rain soaked concrete with augmented
reality tuned to your personal tastes. With virtual reality, there was
little interest in the mundane talents of acrobats and musicians
compared to Vega�s showbiz past and the city had become a Mecca for all
things tech.
Leo kept hold of Abby�s hand, leading his daughter through the maze of
bio-ware hackers, second-gen robots, and illicit tech dealers that
punctuated the nightlife on the Defcon strip. They hurried past
technology that would have astounded most people, turning down vendors
offering the current generation of hardware implantables and mechanical
body mods. He tried not to make eye contact with the obnoxious augmented
reality and holographic sales people aimed at the wealthy attendees of
the world-renowned hacker con. Forget all the small-fry after-hours
street vendors, Leo had saved enough money to bribe his way to replacing
the 8th generation implant Abby had received only six months before.
He needed to do something for Abby. She�d been through so much and his
best efforts to cheer her had failed. He didn�t believe in buying
happiness, but he did believe in fixing whatever you can fix. When he�d
first heard a friend of a friend could score him a new implant he felt
as if his life depended on this one hope�the hope that she could be well
again. Sometimes when a person had a bad reaction to an implant it could
change their mood or alter senses and there was never a warranty to
protect you from side-effects. He desperately hoped a replacement would
pull her out of her depression which deepened dramatically after she
received her school-mandatory implant. It wasn�t enough that Leo and
Abby missed Sarah�s love and laughter but they�d lost their home in the
suburbs without Sarah�s salary. It didn�t take long to lose
everything�Leo�s meagre salary as a diagnostic engineer provided barely
enough for room and board in the small and musty two-bedroom apartment
they now called home. Any child would struggle under those
circumstances, but Abby had been doing as good as could be
expected�until that new implant.
Thanks to Sarah�s employment contract, Abby still had 6 months of school
left at BioTech Global�s brick-and mortar school. That fact alone helped
Leo meet the guy who could get them the new implant replaced with no
questions asked. Leo�s work in testing sometimes brought opportunities
to score the latest tech if you were willing to accept the risks and had
a few MineCoins to spare. They had already taken the risk and lost on
her implant. This time things would be different. The bugs would be
worked out in this dot upgrade and it would be safer.
Puddles slowed their pace, and the smell of bad curry and garbage
assaulted them from a food cart set up to partially block an alley. A
quick glance toward the looming neon skyscraper showed they were only a
hundred yards from their destination. Behind the cart, a single
lightbulb tried to dispel the gloom in the alley but seemed to only
deepen surrounding shadows. Leo�s dominant-eye implant tried to
compensate by switching to IR mode. A red-yellow blob detached itself
from the darkness while the eye fed him specs about the figure
approaching them: 5�6�, 180 lbs., male, heavy early gen-mods. Leo urged
Abby into a faster pace. They were too slow.
A loud, digitally enhanced voice yelled, �Stop!� and the two froze in
their tracks despite their instinct to run.
�Hey! You gotta pay to walk these streets safely!� The voice belonged to
a wiry punk wearing jeans and a translucent T-shirt. His shaved head was
spotted with implants, some of which looked infected. His body was aged
by what Leo guessed were hard drugs and harder tech. The man�s
temple-integrated CPU glowed red�a universal threat to infect your
wearable or implantable tech if you didn�t pay up.
Leo whispered to his implant, a full generation newer than the one this
thug was sporting, telling it be ready to actively respond to any
threat. Leo was pretty certain his implantable could fend off whatever
ransomware the guy was spamming. Although the punk didn�t look anything
like the typically wealthy hackers who had long ago bought out the
hotels on the strip, he may have been juiced by one of the big-name
hackers� zero-day. Skiddies were still dangerous. Leo�s worry faded as
his e-tattoo, controlled by his implantable, glowed bright blue on his
neck, indicating to the punk that offensive anti-virus was enabled. Abby
stepped out from behind Leo, hand out-stretched, then made a fist aimed
at the thug. Leo, worried that Abby�s gesture could enrage the cyborg,
and he pulled her behind him for safety. The Skiddie shoved the food
cart aside and a large rat jumped free of its now mobile dinner and
scampered up the punk�s arm. It was all the distraction Leo needed, and
he pulled Abby along as fast as her feet could move.
�Next time you�ll pay double!� the punk threatened, his heart apparently
not in the chase. Whatever else he was about to say was cut off as his
voice glitched into what sounded almost like a scream�impossible to tell
if this was part of his act or if Leo�s anti-virus had infected him. Leo
didn�t even glance back as he ran with Abby in tow, only slowing when
they reached the neon fence surrounding BioTech Global. White and blue
light pulsed around the perimeter, and dozens of security drones
whispered above the courtyard, letting passersby know that this area was
actively guarded both with active response antivirus, and capital
response or deadly force. There would be no Skiddies or dealers of any
kind in this area. They were safe. Leo squeezed Abby�s hand, offering
her a reassuring smile. �We made it! I told you my tech was better than
the average�and your new implant will be even more powerful. It�ll help
you feel better, too.�
She looked up at him, long, wet hair framing her pale face and
bottomless brown eyes. In that moment she was a younger version of her
mother. But there was a hardness in her expression that aged her beyond
her nine years. How much had she suffered from the loss of Sarah and
then the adverse reaction to her first implant? The thought was enough
to bring tears to his eyes.
�Sarah and I feel fine,� Abby announced stoically.
�I don�t understand. Sarah?� Did she mean her mom? She�d never called
her by her first name, before. �Mom�s gone, sweetheart.� Leo smoothed
the damp hair back from Abby�s face, offering him a smile he hoped would
ease the reminder of her mother�s death.
He glanced back up at the BioTech monolith. He desperately hoped it
wasn�t too late for his daughter. He�d never heard of such an extreme
reaction to an implant. At least not since the early days when the tech
was unstable. He worried Abby had lost her grip on reality, and that she
might never get it back. Nauseating fear coursed through him and the
spike in vitals set off warnings from his implant. It was useless to him
when he needed it most�coldly providing analytics on the obvious. He
needed advice, help for was his daughter. He didn�t care about himself.
�My implant is named Sarah. I named her after mom but she�s better than
mom. She�ll never leave me. She keeps me safe and never lies to me.�
�Your implant is ma-malfunctioning,� Leo stammered. He whispered to his
implant to run a deep scan of Abby. It responded momentarily that there
was no way to distinguish the 100% neural implant from her natural
neurons. �The new one will make you feel better. I promise.�
�Sarah told me you wouldn�t understand. Just like that malware junkie
didn�t know I infected him with a VM that runs an 8-bit version of the
Brain virus. Sarah thought it was ironic and I agree. An 8-bit virus for
an 8-bit mind.�
Leo was too shocked to respond. So, it was her implant that infected the
malware guy? He shook his head. This wasn�t right. He knew some people
couldn�t handle implants, but the results were mild psychological
problems�nothing like this. Abby was in full-on denial. Maybe even
hallucinating. Her implant had a name? Her dead mother�s name? And she
could pass a destructive virus just by, what? Pointing her fist at them?
I couldn�t believe it. He wouldn�t.
Abby�s face solidified into a mask of condescension. �Dad, I don�t see
the world in such a childish way anymore. Sarah and I see things how
they really are. There is so much she helps me with that you wouldn�t
even understand. She even tells me every time you lie to me, like you
just did. My implant is working fine. I wanted to give you another
chance, but she knew this would happen, she knew you would turn on me.�
Abby jerked her hand from Leo�s. Shock and disbelief made his stomach
roil. Could she be so completely controlled by her implant? He stepped
forward to grasp her hand, to pull her to him, but stopped as drones
swooped down from the shadows of the building and gathered around them.
They paused above Abby, as if awaiting orders, then turned, training
their weapons on Leo. Leo�s eye implant helpfully pointed out that the
lights on the drones had turned to red, indicating they were prepared to
fire.
Abby took a step backward, the fence surrounding the BioTech compound
opening smoothly to accommodate her. It just as quickly reformed in
front of her, cutting Leo off from his daughter. He reached for her, but
a handful of drones pressed into his personal space, the deadly hrrr
sound emanating from them clearly a warning that no more movement would
be tolerated.
�Bye Leo. From both me and Sarah. Just know that I don�t blame you. With
your primitive implant, you�d never be able to understand the complexity
of the simulations of our future or how they show so little promise.
Sarah has shown me everything. I�ll have a good future here. Don�t feel
bad that you�re not a viable candidate for an upgrade. I�m one of the
few implants that was completely successful. It�s better that I stay
here where I�m understood and appreciated.�
�No!� Leo yelled, surging forward, oblivious to the armed sentinels
fixated on him. As he vaulted over the short fence, his implant
produced a brief warning that an EMP was imminent. It began the short
countdown to systemic failure. His knees buckled and he fought to remain
upright. His eye implant calculated he could reach Abby�s hand, but it
was so difficult making his muscles work. His whole existence now
focused on holding his daughter�s hand, one last time.
8, 7, 6�
The countdown on his retinal display continued, but he ignored it.
Ignored everything but his daughter�s face, so much like her mother�s.
�I understand you, sweetheart. And appreciate you more than you know.�
It was becoming hard to speak, his body had already begun shutting down.
5, 4�
Leo�s fingertips just grazed his daughter�s. �I love you,� he whispered,
willing her to see the truth in his eyes.
3, 2�
Abby stepped back from him, and walked away.
1.
Leo clung to the fading image of his hand grasping hers.
0.
Absolute darkness slowly gave way to light. The picture of the hand he
held changed slightly, a larger, more familiar hand. Against a backdrop
of pure white. It couldn�t be!
�Sarah?�
--The End--