Tuesday, December 3, 9:00 AM Eastern
The early morning light casts long shadows through the wreckage of Reality Check's lobby. Two bland-looking Eagle Security rent-a-cops stand in front of what used to be a door, before some Wild Hunt crazies threw a grenade at it - though it didn't help the situation any when Jason then drove Miguel's taxi into it, smashing in the wall adjoining the conference room. Things have been cleaned up at least a bit with Holly (taking Wide Awake pills) monitoring the guards overnight: the taxi now stands parked next to one of the "abandoned cars", the debris has been shoveled out, and large panels of plastic have been hammered up to keep the cold out, with a makeshift door that at least closes and locks. More complete repairs will have to wait.
Kimon displays the morning news on one of the large computer screens in the main room. The current top story seems to be that the Children of Earth, a radical environmental protection group, is filing an injunction against the Zeus Weather Administration Program, claiming that the ionic radiation from the pylons already being constructed worldwide may cause critical damage to the ozone layer. "We've only just recovered from the last ozone rift," the CoE spokesperson complains. "Why are we risking it all for the sake of sunnier days? We need to let the Earth heal!"
After some really bad nightmares, Tracy gives up on sleeping in so ends up starting the day at her usual time, around six in the morning. This involves shuffling into the kitchen to get out one of Cadena's gourmet doggy meals (rabbit stew this time) and setting out fresh water while it heats up. She sniffs her pajamas and wrinkles her nose. Too much night-mare sweat; she'll need to do laundry.
In the kitchen area, Tracy finds Cadena busily cleaning up a mess, and the air smells heavily of carbonized foodstuffs, air freshener, and chemical cleaners. It looks as if some sort of cooking disaster happened quietly while she was still sleeping. Judging from Cadena's expression, it also looks as if he was sincerely hoping to get it cleaned up before any humans could witness it. "Oh," is all he has to say, then quickly, "I hope your sleep was undisturbed?"
Tracy stares blankly at the mess. "I dreamt I was being chased by the Wild Hunt through a burning building," she admits quietly. "What.. were you trying to cook something, Cadena?"
Cadena's ears droop. "I am unfamiliar with the surroundings, and ... I suspect that some of these containers might have been repurposed and are not properly labeled. Perhaps." He continues scrubbing furiously at the floor, his forepaws in poorly-fitting, scrunched-up banana-yellow protective gloves.
"But.. why?" Tracy asks, slouching a bit. "My cooking isn't that bad, is it?"
The smiling North Bend Morning News reporter continues, "Voya spokesmen confirmed this morning that the famous singer Inari has gone missing, apparently from the time that she arrived in North Bend on her private jet. Fans throughout the world are holding candlelight vigils and saying prayers that she returns safe and sound from whatever accident has befallen her." Still images of Inari appear, along with video of her dancing with Jason in the airport lobby. Beneath, a caption appears: "Who is Mr. X?"
Cadena's ears perk and he glances in the direction of the newscast, but they droop again. "It is meant as no judgement upon your cooking abilities, of which admittedly I have had hardly an opportunity to sample, let alone to critique. I simply hoped to make myself useful by freeing you from the drudgery of morning preparations - particularly since this morning we are not being awakened by, for instance, a terrorist attack upon the building for once."
"He's tired, that's who," mutters a voice from the workshop just off the kitchen. "And getting old. He can't stay up like he used to. Glerh. And stiff ... and talking to himself again. I blame it on having guests."
A different voice, female, says muzzily, "Candlelight vigils? What am I now, a religious icon?"
This seems to mollify Tracy a bit, although it makes her lips purse. "We didn't have dinner last night either," she notes, and looks towards the door to the workshop. "I'll cook something after I clean up a bit. It sounds like Jason is a-" she cuts off when she hears Inari's voice as well.
zzt! zzt! Kimon reports, "You have an incoming video call from Holly Trudeau, Jason and Tracy."
"People are crazy," Jason offers on the workshop. "Granted, you are worshippable, but still. They haven't even met you. Oy. And the Zeus news is more important; I don't trust it does what they claim. They should focus on that; not on the antics of the world's most infamous musician."
Cadena's ears twitch, and he cuts off whatever he was about to say, at the announcement from Kimon. He props himself up against the counter, wringing out a sponge in the sink. Whatever nanotech wonders Jason might have available in his kitchen for cleaning up messes, it seems that Cadena's mostly familiar with the relatively low-tech solutions.
"It's too early for mom to ruin my day," Tracy complains, and turns on the coffee maker before pushing open the doors to the workshop. "C'mon, Caddy, maybe she's got some answers for your VR weirdness."
Cadena perks up at that, and leaves the gloves and sponge in the sink, pausing to cap the cleaner bottle and tuck it back under the counter. "I certainly hope so - and, really, should you complain about your mother so? Has she no reason to check on you after all that has happened in so short a time? I'd be more concerned if she were aloof." He trots after Tracy.
Inari, dressed in one of Jason's t-shirts and pajamas, looks all muzzy and fuzzy. Evidently she doesn't focus well until she's had coffee. "Where's the kitchen?" she asks of Jason. "I need something black. And strong. With a dose of perk-me-up."
Holly's videophone call continues to ring insistently.
"Back that way," Tracy mutters to Inari as she heads for the phone, and looks to see how well Jason survived sleeping in his office chair.
Jason's pulling on an old tee-shirt over a half-bandaged upper torso; probably putting pressure on the impact point from the rubber bullet. IT, however, does not explain the myriad of fine scratches on his lower back that quickly vanish under his shirt. "The kitchen is through the back door," he explains, gesturing towards the swinging doors Tracy came through. "And Kimon, patch the call through, speaker. Maybe this will be entertaining."
Tracy sits near the holo pickup, and pinches her nose. "What's that musky smell?" she asks Jason.
"Probably the air vents are acting up from the building being attacked," Jason claims.
The video call pops up on the screen, overlaying the ongoing Inari coverage. "Good morning," says Holly, looking unnaturally bright and awake for someone who's been up all night, but Tracy notices she seems to have a few extra lines in her face. She's holding a doughnut, to go with her mug of coffee. "Are you all right? It looks like you got up to some excitement last night."
Cadena seats himself next to Tracy, sitting up straight, ears perked, tail wagging slightly at the sight of the elder Trudeau on screen. He stays silent, however, so as not to interrupt mother-daughter time.
"I am starving," Tracy mutters, and brushes hair out of her face. "I missed dinner. Do the guards have donuts, mom?"
Holly checks. "Yes, dear. If you ask nicely, they may give you one."
"Well, Randall was rescued last night, I was shot, and Merv's Mercs have been broken pretty badly. They've also hopefully set their targets on Irongrip now," Jason summarizes for Holly. "And Inari is here. I assume you figured that much out from the news."
"I apologize for the trouble regarding your daughter's nutritional needs, Mrs. Trudeau," Cadena says, ears drooping again. "I would have taken care of the matter myself this morning, but I was a bit unfamiliar with the layout of the kitchen, and.... Well, I'm confident that things are back in order, at the very least, but I haven't yet seen to our breakfast."
"I can cook breakfast," Tracy claims. "Jason ate some once and didn't get sick."
Holly laughs. "I suspected! But it's nice to know. Do you need a doctor?"
"Nothing requiring medical attention has transpired to my knowledge," Cadena answers. He rises from his seated position. "With your permission, Mistress Tracy, I shall go visit the guards and see if some arrangement might be made for breakfast, though I hope we can manage better than donuts."
"Uh, okay, just don't startle them," Tracy urges. "I don't know if they're expecting you to talk or not.."
"A doctor? No. But if Cadena keeps calling Tracy 'Mistress', you may need to order her a bull whip and leather clothing," Jason remarks as he stifles a yawn.
The news program switches to coverage of local affairs. The reporter says chirpily, "And now, breaking news on the CERT officer attack yesterday! Despite early claims, the officer is not dead; in fact, late last night, when rival gangs clashed, he was able to take advantage of the confusion and turn the table on his captors. Four of the notorious armed vehicle robbery gang Mav's Mavericks have been arrested, but the rest are feared to be at large."
"Actually, they're barricaded in at the old car shop," Jason remarks to the newscast. "The ones that aren't dead, anyway."
Cadena nods to Tracy, then trots off, presumably to take care of making some sort of arrangements for breakfast - perhaps not involving potential kitchen mishaps this time.
Holly shakes her head. "I don't think so! Anyway, I just pinged Randall, he's fine. Want him on the line too?"
"Mom, can you email me a White Cadena avatar?" Tracy asks next. "We need to find out why Cadena got all wonky in VR, and I have to see if having a proper Avatar makes a difference."
"I'm sure Inari can loan her one, then," Jason comments to Holly. "And sure, patch goatee-boy in. Maybe the mercs did us all a favor and shaved his face."
Holly shakes her head. "I like the beard," she admits. "At least when he keeps it trimmed. I'm sure we have stock white dog avatars, but I'm not so sure about a White Cadena... That gets into rule sets and such."
One of the Eagle Security guards knocks at the workshop door from the lobby. "I heard someone in here wants some donuts!" he says.
"He only grew it because he thinks it makes him look more intellectual to stroke it while thinking," Jason claims.
Cadena barks (quietly) happily.
"Yes!" Tracy says, jumping up and running to the door in her pajamas. "Thank you.." she reads the nametag.. "George!"
Another window pops open. Sure enough, Randall is rubbing his beard. Behind him is Akiko, looking sleepy, and his run-down apartment filled up with a lot of Mara. "I heard that! But you should try it, a good beard is a total chick magnet." He peers through the camera at Inari, coming out of the kitchen with a cup of instant coffee. "Though whatever you've got, it's working for you."
A tiny Chinese dragon swoops over to perch on Jason's shoulder and begins washing his ear.
"I've got a tongue in my ear," Jason complains and bats lightly at the dragon perched on his shoulder. "And I'm glad to see you in once piece. I was worried that Tracy would somehow blow you up in the process of attempting a rescue," he claims.
"I have donuts, Randall!" Tracy taunts as she returns to her chair.
RIU chirps and warbles! It curls around to wash the other ear.
Inari winks at Randall. "It's the dragon. Cute little dragons are total chick magnets. Not that big ones don't do well at that, too." Mara snoozes, but Akiko blushes.
Jason sighs in a long-suffering way. "Okay, okay, I'll take a shower this morning!" he relents. "How is Mara fairing after the missile attack?" he asks Randall.
Cadena, although still in "dumb dog" mode as long as "George" is around, nonetheless perks up and looks more attentive at the topic of Mara. He cocks his head to one side curiously.
George shares half a box of donuts with Tracy. "Any time, miss! We're going to order some real breakfast in soon, want us to get some for you too?"
The Hispanic CERT officer smiles warmly. "Better, now that we're at home. If we've got to, she can fly in a pinch, but my plan is to airlift her to Palmdale, she'll be able to heal up there."
"Do you need us to meet you there?" Jason asks.
Holly asks curiously, "What about my daughter? You didn't mention Tracy to the news reporters, did you?"
"Is there a menu?" Tracy asks.
George shrugs. "Typical short-order breakfast sorta place, but hey, they'll deliver!"
"Ham and eggs, over easy, with hash browns and waffles and a side of sausage and bacon.. and a fruit cup," Tracy orders, getting the extra meat for Cadena.
"Got it, miss," George says. "What about the rest of you?" Inari orders a chicken fried steak with hash browns on the side.
Jason reaches over and swipes the donut bag while Tracy is distracted with ordering food. "Holly, what do you know about the Zeus system? I don't trust it entirely. Considering it likely uses EMF to manipulate airflow and the like, it could also be used as a gate system to punch quantum holes between realities. Plus it likely draws power fro solar arrays, so would have in independent power."
"Bacon and hash browns for me," Jason tells George as he examines the donut spoils.
Randall shakes his head. "Nah, we should be fine. I figured you didn't want your daughter in the news... Any more than she already is... So I spun the newsies a story, told them that some guys started shooting up the place. Seems like this Irongrip guy's been making some waves in the Dregs, trying to push the idea that all the gangs should stop fighting each other, it's a 'waste of people and material', that they could get a lot more done if they combined forces."
George nods. "Sure thing!" He pats the dog and goes back to the front.
Cadena sneaks up on Jason while he's engaging in technobabble.
"Uniting the Dregs... It sounds like a joke, but they did shoot down Randall," Holly muses, then turns to Jason. "The Zeus project? I hadn't looked at it, but I can run it by our head scientists, see what they think."
The white dog, brilliantly lit up by the light from the video phone, ever-so-gingerly reaches up to try to nab the donut bag while Jason's attention is averted ... but then tries to look innocent when it's clear that he isn't quite ready to pull a fast one on the techie.
And Cadena ends up with a donut placed atop of his head like a little gooey crown for his troubles! "Nice try, Captain Canine," Jason remarks, amused.
Cadena considers this a small success, and trots back to Tracy, balancing the donut on his head, and politely offering it to her without besmirching it with dog paw or mouth. (Fur, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.)
"Please do. The timing of everything worries me a bit," Jason admits, "But I'm also paranoid about such things. I would have had Kimon just collect research for me, but, well ... we've been a little busy with kidnapping international stars and breaking up gangs down here."
"Hey," Tracy complains when she sees Jason with the donuts. "Don't you know old people should avoid starchy foods?" She takes the donut from Cadena... and then offers it right back to the dog. "For being a good and honest friend, I give you this donut."
Cadena gratefully takes it as his reward. (Munch.)
"The only one that will suffer if I get gassy is you," Jason points out all too cheerfully as he liberates a donut form himself, then offers the bag to Inari.
Randall says wryly, "Well, I had a lot of time to chat with 'em while I was being held captive. But that wasn't the whole gang down there in that base, though that was their supply depot and armory. Seems like they really do have a guy named Mav. Desoto used to run the Junkyard Dogs, but they got absorbed into Mav's gang, and Desoto sold himself as the ideal guy to run their armory and, ah, 'add onto it'."
Inari snarfs a donut. "Yum! Duamutef's Bacon Center Donut, my favorite."
"I like the jelly and cream filled ones," Tracy notes, eyeing the back. "Mom won't let dad have those, so I get them all. Oh, Jason, I need to pick your brain too."
Holly clears her throat. "Anyway, before I forget... Your friend Mike Dexter is fine and resting up in our infirmary. He claims he doesn't need any micro-scans but our doctors are insisting on a full workup; VR/reality distortion damage can be very subtle. And I did a little 'enhanced interviewing' of your old Wild Hunt buddy, Mark Berkowitz..." She waves her donut for emphasis.
"If you're interested, Desoto and his crew are probably still trapped at the car shop. I can send you coordinates if you want to grab them. I was hoping they would start attacking Irongrip after this, but eh. Sending them to jail has appeal too," Jason remarks to the screen. His donut is ... plain glazed. "Pick my brain about what?" he asks as he reclines his chair back and asks Tracy.
Randall waves a hand. "Wait, wait, who's Mark?"
"One of Tracy's old tongue-wrestling friends," Jason explains and waves a half-eaten donut, "Who tried to kidnap her."
"We did not tongue-wrestle!" Tracy claims, making a grab for the donut bag. "That's not even a thing!"
"Really! I miss all the good stuff when I'm in the pokey," Randall complains. "I didn't even know Tracy had tongue-wrestling friends!"
Akiko blushes. "You guys," she says, slugging Randall's shoulder. He ouches obligingly.
"So ... did Akiko tend to your injuries last night?" Jason asks Randall and grins at Akiko. He even manages to do this while protectively juggling the donut bag! Apparently years of office-chair work has developed his fine skills of donut-chair-juggle-foo.
Tracy narrows her eyes as Jason jerks the bag away. "If you don't give me a donut, I'm going to sit in your lap again," she whispers.
"And then you'll smell like me," Jason counter-whispers but ends up tossing the donut bag to her anyway.
"I was gonna take a shower anyway," Tracy grumbles as she searches the bag. "I need you to help me test Cadena later.. after you've washed that smell off."
Cadena sits back down, looking somewhat chastened.
"Test Cadena? I don't know ... isn't that a little personal?" Jason asks.
Holly continues, "Anyway, if you ask me, he's a typical adrenaline junky... Kind of like the freerunners you hang out with, Tracy, he's got to prove he can take on any challenge. But we did run some neural scans and he does seem to have mild conditioning. Not quite brainwashed, but more likely to lose distinction between VR and RL, take risks, treat his VR responsibilities as equally or more important than his RL ones... It's raising some serious questions on what Dantech does with their players."
Akiko sticks her tongue out at Jason. Pbblt!
"It's hardly different from what advertisers try to do to get you to buy stuff," Jason points out to Holly and downs his remaining donut fragment. "And oh, Akiko ... if you want I can build you a better control interface for that giant robot thing you were driving the other night," he offers her in spite of her raspberry, and winks to her.
"Unless it's an AD doing it through the system," Tracy suggests. "All sorts of weird stuff happened to Cadena when he connected up. We need to know why!"
"I really don't want to, but maybe I need to actually log into this goofy game and look around myself," Jason grumbles. "I like regular reality; it's plenty weird enough as it is."
The news program cuts to on-the-scene footage of the police investigating the abandoned subway station. Miss North Bend Morning News says, "Police are still searching for the Einhorn Crowd Protection Mecha that comprised the majority of the 1.5 million New Dollar shipment that was lost the other day. It seems to been assembled and put into place, and bullet holes matching its caliber of gun have been identified in the walls of the station. The lead detective on the case theorizes that it was captured by rival gang members, who then drove it off; the confusion in the meantime allowed Lieutenant Cranston to daringly turn the table on his captors."
"I think something more controlled would be better to start with, " Tracy says. "I need you to monitor what's going on with Cadena's interface."
Cadena ducks his head. "My analysis of the events that occurred during my foray into the Gloaming is incomplete. I neglected to initiate a session log when entering the session, and I made too many assumptions about the interface. I cannot be certain how much of my experience - that which was not directly witnessed by Tracy and others - was real, and how much may have been a product of faulty memory associations. My behavior in VR showed a clear disconnect, loss of priorities, and failure to react to my environment in logical fashion. This level of uncertainty calls into question my reliability."
Tracy silently prays that her mother will not ask about the Einhorn mech or her role in dealing with it..
Randall grins. "Oh, I was a perfect gentleman," he assures Jason. "I slept in the papasan chair over there, Akiko got my bed. Not that I didn't think about offering her a little nightcap to help her sleep after all the excitement..." Akiko slugs his shoulder again. Ow!
Holly eyes Jason suspiciously.
"Jason slept in the workshop and apparently rolled around in something stinky," Tracy notes.
Cadena breaks out of his moping expression to look up with an expression of respect for Randall.
"It's easier to monitor signals if I'm half-inside the system," Jason notes as he now idly spins his desk chair. He tries to kick Tracy's shin during one of the spins.
Randall beams. "Good thing we haven't invented smell-o-vision yet!"
"Actually we did, but it didn't test well in market research," Holly notes.
Cadena asides to Jason, "Something less than a full neural interface on your first visit would be advisable. In my experience, there was no external control overlay that I could perceive at all. I was not able to disconnect voluntarily from the system without Tracy's external intervention."
Holly frowns. "If you want to come back to the Avatars labs, we can do a checkup if you like, Cadena."
"And are you going to stay with Randall for a while, Akiko, or going to join us in Hotel Edwards?" Jason asks. "I need to buy a few more beds, I think."
"But then," Cadena adds, looking back to Holly apologetically, "I believe the particulars should be covered in extensive detail in my report."
"If it's just Akiko, she can use the fold-out with me," Tracy offers. "If she can fit in my clothes, then she can fit in the bed too."
Cadena blurts out, "Wouldn't Ms. Summers be safer with an honorable officer of the law?"
Akiko leans over Randall's shoulder, looking minxish. "I do have a perfectly good apartment, you know!" she says to Jason and Tracy. "And I do enjoy sleeping in my own bed, as much fun as it would be to make you groan about 'another mouth to feed'. Why, are you going to go into the bed-and-breakfast business?"
"Or she could join Inari in my room," Jason suggests.
"Are you implying we aren't honorable?" Jason then quickly asks Cadena.
Akiko blinks and looks at Inari, then at Jason. Her eyes narrow.
"No insult was intended," Cadena says. "It was merely a qualifier added to emphasize my certainty that such an arrangement seems reasonable under the present circumstances."
"But.. where would we find an honorable police officer?" Tracy asks, completely straight-faced.
Inari leans up against the back of Jason's chair. "We could kick Jason out of his own room and build a pillow fort," she says to Akiko, her chin resting on Jason's head as RIU complains in little beeps and whistles. There's something a bit wistful about her voice.
Randall objects, "I'm an honorable pirate officer-- er, I mean, police officer!"
"Oh, well, insult received intentional or not," Jason notes and then just as easily shrugs it off. His chair spin stops and he leans back, propping his feet up on his desk. "Have there been any notable power surges in California or more local to us last night?" he asks both Holly and Kimon. "I have to wonder if attacking us is also just meant as a distraction from the real plans," he adds as he leans his head back and ends up looking up at the underside of Inari's chin.
"Is his bed even big enough for two people?" Tracy asks Inari. "I figured it'd be a sort of.. cot.."
Cadena, uncertain at the direction of at least one thread of this chaotic conversation, opens his mouth as if to say something, but then seems taken aback just trying to follow it all.
RIU resumes washing Jason's face on the side that it can reach.
Holly looks between videophone sessions. "Kids," she mutters to herself. "Anyway, my Wide Awake's wearing off. Is there anything else before I go collapse into my own cot?"
"Uhm ... yes, please, Ms. Trudeau?" Cadena suddenly pipes up, almost jumping up to his feet.
"Is it at all possible, if I did not have a running log recording activated in my neural induction headset," Cadena offers, struggling over the particulars, "to somehow recover trace data that might shed some light on the data transferred during my session? For example, perhaps stored on a buffer somewhere on an exchange server that hasn't yet been overwritten, or some sort of latent temporary files that could pertain residue from which the session could be at least partially recreated?"
"Would you like me to find a way to get Inari to your apartment, Akiko?" Jason asks the session with Randall. "You two haven't gotten a chance to catch up and talk yet."
Holly frowns. "I don't know if Dantech does the same, but Avatars LLC strips server logs within an hour that aren't mandatory for us to keep, to retain common carrier protection. Avoids subpoenas and complaints that we should be monitoring the service for criminals. If there's any data available, it'll be on your headset... But there probably won't be anything much."
"And we can't hack Cadena's actual memory right?" Tracy asks.
"And the offer about the control interface stands! It would allow you to help us without having to always be in the middle of the gunfight," Jason adds. "And check in to make sure we're safe."
Akiko, long black hair half-hanging over her face, looks stormy until Jason speaks, then pauses. "That'd be nice, but... Aren't you worried about people spotting her?"
"Well, not without access to one of the full neural scanners," Holly says. "If you bring him by, Chaz can set you up."
"Then I should see what can be recovered before my headset is used for any further experiments," Cadena says hastily. "If there is any evidence of interaction with the entity who I for whatever reason identified as the WHITE, or the entity who self-identified as an agent of the BLACK, I would like to find out. I must find out whether this was wholly a misremembering on my part, or whether such entities actually exist in some form - and if they DO exist, whether there are any clues as to how to make contact, so as to better understand their motivations, particularly if either party may wish ill upon the Trudeau family."
"There's always a risk, yes, but it's worth it if it means you would get to reunite with her for a little bit," Jason says. "I'll give it some thought and see what I can come up with. She'll probably hit me for telling you this; but she did mention to me last night she misses you."
George comes back with boxes of food. "I'll just put your food on the table," he says, setting down the boxes. "Say, you've got a Hispanic guy out front, wants to talk to you, Mr. Edwards. Something about his taxi."
Inari nips Jason's right ear.
"And sure we can hack his memory!" Jason pipes up, adding to the other conversation, "I have a chain saw in here somewh ... ow!"
Cadena promptly clamps up once he hears "George," and just makes an inarticulate whine.
George smiles at Tracy. "Don't worry about the bill," he assures her. "We'll just charge it to expenses."
"Taxi? Oh, right, the one that ate the front office," Jason grumbles. He has to sit upright now and extract himself from Inari and RIU. "Tell him I'll be there in a couple minutes, providing I'm not killed by the people in here."
"Hooray for expenses!" Tracy says, sorting through the food and holding out a sausage for Cadena.
"Righty-dokey, Mr. Edwards," the Eagle Security guard says as he heads back out of the lobby. "Yell if you need us to save your bacon."
Cadena seems unresponsive to the (admittedly generous) offer of sausage, just looking forlornly up at the video display.
Akiko softens. "Thanks, Jason. I do mean that. I won't use the mech to stomp you, I promise!"
Inari mutters sotto voce, "That was a danger before?"
"All in a day's work! Securing companies and reuniting families. It's Reality-Check for Relationships!" Jason declares. The hacker then blinks and adds, "I really need to get more sleep. That was dorky." So, shaking his head the entire way he heads towards the front entrance to deal with thee taxi driver.
Once Jason is out of hearing range, Tracy turns to Inari and asks, "So, did Jason really sleep out here by himself last night?"
Inari slips into Jason's warm chair and looks unfairly photogenic, even in a borrowed T-shirt and pajamas. She tilts her head. "What do you think?" she whispers back.
"I think you both need to wash that musk off," Tracy says, collecting food to carry in to the kitchen.
Holly sighs. "All right, that's it before I conk out and unappealingly smush my face against the camera," she says to Cadena. "Call my husband if you need anything, or Chaz if you need help with the science bits."
"Him first, you wouldn't like the shower after I'm done," Inari says with a laugh.
Randall looks up at Akiko. "Looking at people enjoying their breakfast is making me hungry. Want to help an invalid go get a bite of something to eat?"
Cadena bows his head. "Thank you, Mrs. Trudeau. I will consult with Mr. Edwards regards what capabilities are available on premises first, then contact regarding anything for which we do not have sufficient resources. I apologize deeply for any inconvenience this may cause, but I am grateful for the opportunity you have provided me and the honor of your trust."
Out front, Miguel beams. "Ah, Senor Jason! So, I have come to pick up my taxi," he says in a broad Mexican accent. "But, it is not starting up! Maybe you can fix?"
"Uh, maybe?" Jason says hesitantly.
"We need to look at check your gear for sabotage or weird add-ons too, Cadena," Tracy says as she retreats to the kitchen. "Sleep well Mom!"
Miguel adds, "Tell the pretty senorita that she should get better boyfriend." He leads Jason over to the taxi. It looks as if the crash knocked the starter out of alignment, to Jason's practiced eye. It doesn't help that the front looks pretty beaten up now, but it's mostly superficial hull damage.
Holly smiles. "Be safe, sweetheart." Her videophone call pops off the screen.
"That's going to need a good hammering and some body filler," Jason remarks when he sees the hull damage firsthand. Maybe even a little more after he has to use a crowbar to get the hood open. "You're also lucky that these things were built like a tank; the main engine controls and the like haven't been crushed. Just looks like the starter coil has been jarred loose. Should be able to fix this relatively quickly.."
"Let me grab some tools and I can probably get this running enough to get it back to the maintenance shop of your parent company," Jason adds as he wipes his hands on his pants. "I'll be right back!"
Miguel nods. "Take your time! The nice guards, they are sharing their donuts."
In the kitchen, Tracy sets out the sausage and bacon for Cadena, and scarfs down her own breakfast. "Who handled your VR gear last, before you were sent to me, Cadena?" she asks between mouthfuls.
"Do I really stink?" Jason asks RIU as he returns to the workshop and grabs a large toolbox of disorganized tools.
Randall wisely lets Akiko have his chair and goes offscreen, while she and Inari have a talk.
RIU beep-booops emphatically!
"Everyone is so sensitive," Jason mutters as he rolls his eyes. "I'll be back in a bit! Please don't break my home," he says as he vanishes back out to help Miguel.
Cadena ponders snatching the sausage, but needs his mouth free for the moment. "All of my gear was shipped out directly from Avatars LLC's shipping facility, at the direction of your mother. All of my gear was cleaned and checked prior to my assumption of a new assignment." Then he snatches up the sausage.
"... and no, Jason does not sleep on a cot," Inari laughingly confides to Akiko as Jason passes in.
"I'm better off not knowing what they talk about," Jason mutters to himself, leaving the workroom in a hurry.
"So.. probably not tampered with," Tracy decides. "It could have just been a sense-mapping issue causing.. no, that makes no sense either. Something recognized you and launched a specific response. We'll have to see if there's a workaround to at least get you an interface.. I think these are chocolate-chip waffles!"
Akiko covers her face. "I'm going to regret this, but..." Jason is out of earshot by then.
Miguel is munching on an apple-filled donuts. "These are good," he proclaims as Jason rejoins him. "I usually just have the breakfast burrito. Everything you need to get through day!"
"Either something recognized me and launched a specific response," Cadena notes, "or else there was a failure in my sympathetic resp--" He breaks off, then says, "That is, unless this can be verified through an outside source, it could have been a failure in my mental processes - a hallucination induced by immersion into an unfamiliar virtual environment, and a reaction due to a compatibility failure with my neural induction headset. I am not human, after all, and even what I recall would suggest a state of extreme disorientation."
"And to kill your customers," Jason mutters. Soon he's leaning into the engine area and tinkering. "Voltage point needs to be at least 10K to ignite these old systems," he remarks to himself and starts adjusting the starter coil. The occasional burst of blue light and the reek of ozone that follows ... well, ought to be worrying and yet Jason works away as if it were no big deal.
"With a failure in the neural induction system," Cadena notes, "that could have resulted in a loss of external sensory input, without an alternate sensory stream to replace it, thus prompting me to fall into a dream-like state, and thus calling into question the reality of my experience from any objective point of view."
"Well, if it's something to do with you, we can test it," Tracy notes, gesturing with her fork. "It should happen again, after all.. but we'll use one of my v-scapes and Jason's computers, so he can monitor what's going on."
The security guards nod to Jason as he passes by. "Pretty nasty attack you had here, Mr. Edwards," George says. "Looks like the scavengers came out in force. Maybe they're running out of junk to strip from the Dregs."
Cadena nods. "I have every confidence that Mr. Edwards has the technical expertise required to look into such a situation, based upon demonstrations of his capabilities so far. I believe that the sensible thing for me to do is to simply wait until such time as he is available and not occupied by more pressing matters - though I do wish there were some way that I could properly repay him for his efforts."
"What do you think of Inari?" Tracy asks the dog out of the blue.
Miguel shivers. "The Dregs. Very bad place. Always worried about stopping there when I drop someone off."
"Tell me about it. It was nasty," Jason remarks as he works. "It also bothers me that all my non-lethal defenses didn't deter them at all. I'm loathe to upgrade everything to lethal responses, but ... if this continues I may have to."
George nods agreement. "These days people don't take ya seriously unless you've got something that says 'I'm licensed to kill' up front. We do a lot of business with customers like that, they don't realize just how bad things are going until something happens... then they call us in."
The white dog opens his mouth, looking aghast and taken off guard. "In what context? I feel ill-equipped to offer any meaningful response based on what little information I have so far. I can only say that she is curiosity-provoking, particularly given what you have told me earlier, and the strange things that Mr. Edwards seems inclined to merely hint at vaguely in his jesting way. I feel ill-equipped to fill in the blanks."
"Yeah, I feel ill-equipped around her too," Tracy replies, and sets down her fork. "I'm full. Want the rest of my ham and eggs?"
"Yes, well, I'm not particularly inclined to kill people," Jason remarks after another burst of blue fills the engine bay. "Sane people would run away after having their entire nervous system lit up like New Years Eve, but ... I guess sanity is sorely lacking these days. I'll have to raise the current levels to just fry people on the spot."
"That is quite generous of you, but I shall, with regret, decline the offer," Cadena says. "I fear that my nervousness has robbed me of my appetite, though that donut may have contributed to it as well."
George says with professional concern, "No, no, you'd get accidental manslaughter out of that. You want real security guards like me and Luke here, or maybe rent some of our security 'bots. It's all about threat and presence. We're here..." He points at his eyes. "And lookin' at any potential malefactors. They don't see eyes, they don't feel threatened."
"Feel like running around a bit?" Tracy asks. "There's the garden on the roof, which should be safe. I need to take a quick shower and start laundry - I just realized that Akiko is wearing my only other set of clean clothes."
Miguel argues as Jason works on the engine, "Good defense, very good, but sometimes better not to be there in first place. I like being taxi driver. Can always get away from trouble. Well, if taxi is working."
"Don't think I don't recognize the sales attempt, George," Jason laughs. "Scare tactics are always useful in getting a new client." Another tweak, then he tells Miguel as he extracts himself from the engine bay, "Try to start it."
"Yes, but ..." Cadena looks briefly thoughtful, then says, "In all honesty, and in full awareness that anything I have to say here will no doubt be picked up by Kimon and thus be likely accessible to Mr. Edwards, I find Inari to be intriguing, and to challenge my perception of the origin of sapience and the nature of artificial intelligence. I have been particularly perplexed by the idea that at one point, Ms. Summers and Inari were a single entity, and yet by some means they were separated into two individuals. Even if, in some sense, they were separate entities before, I still have great difficulty reconciling this notion of individuality. At what point did Inari become Inari, and is the current Inari a continuation of the Inari that existed before? And, is Ms. Summers truly the same, human Ms. Summers she was before?"
George laughs. "Sorry, sir, it's just part of the job training. They teach us this sort of thing in classes, why having a turret and a camera isn't the same as having some Joe standin' guard."
Miguel slides in eagerly behind the wheel and tries the key. vrrRRrroom The fans start blowing dust and bits of fine debris around.
"Humans can't be sure they're the same person they were just a year or two in the past, so as bizarre as the situation may seem.. it isn't outside normal human experience, I think," Tracy notes. "Whatever Inari was when she was separated, it's four years in the past, and she's not that person anymore. Nobody stays the same."
"Okay, it should get you to a real garage," Jason notes as he puts his tools away and closes the clasps on the toolbox lid. "And as for the sales pitch, I'll consider it," he tells George then heads for the workshop, and presumably the shower in his bedroom, next.
George agrees. "Right on, sir!" Miguel effusively thanks Jason before he departs muttering "Boss is gonna kill me..."
Cadena nods. "I am aware of that aspect, though ... I am failing once more to articulate my ... concern? No, that is not the right way to put it. I regret that anything I have to say on the matter is not fully formulated, and given the lack of our ability to communicate without, as it were, others who might be listening in and misunderstanding the context, I should probably leave it at that without complicating the matter further."
"Is it because she was part AI?" Tracy asks. "I mean, I think her personality and started out as Akiko imaginary friend or something.. you should probably ask her," Tracy says, and gets up. "I'll be a few minutes, just need to wash off the sweat."
Cadena nods and bows.
As Jason passes through the workshop on his way to the shower, he can't help but hear Akiko and Inari reminiscing about life on the Ozymandias, when they had to share a body. "... so that's why I kept waking up with Jason looking at me funny!"
"Lalalalala!" Jason says loudly as he walks through the workshop to avoid hearing too much! He's quickly through his bedroom door, presumably off to shower!
Cadena trots by as well, and shivers as a chill runs down his spine. His ears duck, and he bows, apologetic as he backs out of the workshop, having forgotten that there was a private conversation going on in there.
Inari grins. "Hey, you... What was your name again? Cadena?" She snaps her fingers, as if calling the dog over.
Tracy's shower is quick, since she's just washing off dried sweat (and had plenty of time the night before to apply her hair straightener and such). All that's left in her duffel is her Spandex exercise outfit and robe, so she wears those, with the crane-print neo-kimono bathroom covering everything anyway. Then it's just collecting her underwear, jumpsuit and bed sheets to carry out to the washer-dryer. The sneak-suit will need to be hand-washed of course, and an enzyme scrub applied to scramble any DNA of hers left behind.
The white dog pads back over, reflexively adopting a dumb dog expression ... before a split second later it occurs to him that, yes, he's been talking in full view of the both of these people anyway, so there's hardly any reason for the instinctive facade. He bows. "I am called Cadena, AVA-808-X024, experimental 'Real Avatar' companion, property of Avatars LLC. I am patterned after the in-game White Cadena avatar archetype, metal-elemental type."
The golden vixen smirks. "Just what I was going to ask," she says, reaching down to scratch behind his ears, her other hand tracing the markings on his face. "Are you sure you're not like me? An Avatar thrust into the real world, finding some real job to keep body and soul together?"
"That is an experimental role pattern," Cadena says, blankly. "I am a prototype, and based on prior trial runs, my ability to adapt to immersive roleplay while adhering to higher-priority directives is severely flawed. Hence, for this assignment I am abandoning any pretense of having any connection...." He blinks. "For complete details regarding this flaw in my neural conditioning, questions should be directed to my project sponsor, Mrs. Holly Trudeau, Vice President of Security at Avatars LLC." He then begins to recite contact information.
Inari frowns, studying Cadena, then his collar. "Do you ever find yourself dreaming of another life?" she asks. "Worlds sparkling in endless space, boats adrift in a black sea? Dragons and monsters and Light and Darkness opposing one another?"
"Or maybe dreaming of a life when you didn't have four paws, but hands and feet? Maybe you dreamed of being a little boy or girl in class, and the teacher would call your name and ask you a question," Inari continues. "But when you tried to answer, all that came out was barking?"
Akiko watches Cadena, looking suddenly concerned.
"Yes," Cadena says, blinking, as the life seems to return to his eyes, "I do in fact 'dream.' I may be of artificial origin, but I am in fact an organic entity with only some manufactured components. In my previous assignment, I was granted access to the Avatars online virtual reality experience, acting as a virtual companion to a player. Due to the player's preferences, I was assigned a humanoid form - a grandfatherly figure. I believe that my demeanor may have been patterned after a relative, but I am not sure."
Tracy pushes through the kitchen doors with her bundle of laundry, and heads towards the washer-dryer 'contraption' near the storage lockers, turning her head slightly as she hears that last bit of information from Cadena.
Inari frowns thoughtfully, but whatever she was looking for, she didn't find it in his collar, which appears to be a standard K-9 'Storm' Collar. "So you can go into VR... and you appear as a human? Or a humanoid dog?" she asks.
"I wonder if Inari ever plays in VR," Tracy thinks as she feeds things into the maw of Jason's home-built washing machine, but isn't about to ask Inari herself. At least not yet.
"That is a matter of ..." Cadena breaks off, and looks confused. "That is a matter I wish to consult Mr. Edwards about. During a recent foray into the VR environment known as the Gloaming, I appeared in a form that should not have been.... There was no reason for it to be there. Neural induction technology is not capable of extracting memories from my prior experiences. While a failure of recollection could account for my perception of entities that should not have been canon to the Gloaming universe, there were witnesses to my appearance as 'Brother Cadena' within the Gloaming."
"I did not seem to be behaving very grandfatherly," Cadena notes, musing. "Perhaps that was a matter of perspective. Perhaps I should have termed it 'fatherly.' Or 'brotherly.' Or 'kindly, crazy uncle.'"
"Really," Inari says thoughtfully. "When I've tried popping into Avatars... A terrible idea, Holly would have conniptions. But anyway, I had just the same form." She glances over to Tracy. "Did you know you're popular in Avatars? Everyone wants to ride with Lady Tracer of House Trudeau."
Cadena freezes, stock still, as if he's been caught in something.
"Are you sure they said with?" Jason asks as he comes out of his bedroom dressed in faded jeans and a new shirt. He's currently got a towel wrapped around his head which he's rubbing furiously to try and dry out his hair.
The golden vixen glances back at the frozen dog. "Uh oh, brain rebooting? Oh, you!" She tosses a donut hole at Jason.
"That's not me, Inari," Tracy grumbles as she slams the door to the washer closed. "I don't play Avatars anymore because if that. I can't compete with the game version of myself."
Jason narrowly catches the donut hole in time, then eats it. "Why do you feel the need to compete with yourself?" he asks Tracy. "Consider her a twin and just move on."
Cadena lets out the breath he was holding, and turns around, ducking a bow to Tracy.
"She doesn't have your sense of humor either," Inari says wrinkling her nose. "It's all doom and tragedy, Vampire Queen Sasha and the Darkness must be defeated. Some players really seem to enjoy tagging along on her runs, but you ask me, she's overcompensating or something." She lifts an eyebrow to Jason, giving him a meaningful look as he comments on 'twins'.
"Because she's.. me.." Tracy says, and just throws her arms up. Then she heads for her workstation, careful of her step in case there's some spent bullet casing waiting to bite her bare feet. She pauses next to Jason and says, "This is my favorite bathrobe." She's wearing a crane-print neo-kimono, which goes from her knees to her elbows. "So don't pour water on it, please."
"A virtual entity patterned after Master Tracy?" Cadena asks, perhaps deliberately avoiding the term "Mistress" this time, if not the title usage entirely. "I should like to make her acquaintance some day. With Tracy's permission, of course."
"She's me when I was fourteen years old, Cadena," Tracy notes. "She hasn't changed."
"She isn't you. No more so than a bio-clone of me is me. It's a replica if your body, not your mind. It controls its own destiny, as do you control yours," Jason points out as he drapes his towel around his neck. "And why would I pour water on it?"
Akiko raises an eyebrow. "Does Jason do that often?" In the distance, bathroom noises sound, and then Randall limps back on camera. "Breakfast, Akiko?" he asks.
"Only once, when she asked me to do it with her silly challenge game!" Jason shouts, hoping Akiko hears it.
"That's what you did to get me out of the last robe, remember?" Tracy says teasingly.. although maybe just because Inari is there, and Tracy is competitive.
"You can borrow it if you visit again, Akiko," Tracy offers. "If you let me try on your date dress. I've got it hanging up."
Inari looks at Jason. "Oh really!"
"Should I explain the rules to Inari?" Tracy asks Jason. "I bet she'd get a real kick out of it.." She smiles like a cat.
"She was being obnoxious, so I stuck the sink sprayer down the back of her neck," Jason explains as he sits on the edge of one of his work tables. "She needed to 'cool off', so to speak!"
Akiko laughs. "All right, you can try it on." She waves goodbye to Jason and Tracy and Inari, and then signs off.
Cadena frowns. "Your point is taken, Tracy, and I hope I have offered no offense. My reflexive inclination was to chalk up my interest to a need to fulfill the obligations of my secondary 'quest' directives, but I must remind myself that this particular directive was confined to the scope of the Gloaming, and an entity existing only in the Avatars universe would, by definition, be no more relevant to my task than if I were to try to seek out a Black Cadena for further insights."
Inari smirks. She rubs Cadena's ear and then gets up so that Jason can take the chair back, heading off to get her own shower.
And Inari gets swatted when Jason passes by her towards his chair. "Right, so what's all this introspective talk about identities and virtual reality?" he asks.
paf Inari's tail foomphs into Jason's face, 'by accident', curling around him and then drifting off in a swish of fluffiness.
Cadena looks a bit lost, glancing around and seeing that with Inari gone and Akiko signed off, that would only leave himself or Tracy to explain.
"Ack! Hair!" Jason complains as he flops into his chair, then promptly ptooies out some fluff.
"I'm afraid I was going off on a completely irrelevant tangent," Cadena explains, "upon hearing of a virtual entity patterned after Tracy at a younger age. I suppose I was simply curious to learn more about my master, in a manner of speaking, so that I might be get more context to serve her better."
RIU re-curls around Jason's shoulders looking possessive!
Tracy starts sits at the workstation and slots a few v-chips in, before looking over Cadena's VR goggles. "Something freaky happened to Cadena when he entered the Gloaming VR - I didn't know he'd been in the Avatars game before. Instead of getting the standard new character introduction, he instead met some characters claiming to be the White and Black, including this fox guy.."
"Oh." Cadena blinks, and shakes his head. "Failure of prioritization. Yes. That is far more relevant."
"If you want to learn about that version of Tracy, I can point you to a bunch of online 'vampire' romance 'novels' you can read," Jason offers as a quick way to solve the Tracy dilemma. The other topic, though, earns an arch of his brow. "That sounds a lot stranger," he admits, "Though it can also be easily answered by a mundane explanation. Cadena's brain waves do not match a human and therefore was classified as an NPC instead of a player and was presented a 'start' accordingly."
"You serve me just fine as a guardian Cadena," Tracy notes. "You don't have to research me.. just learn from observation, like regular people do. And you don't have to prepare meals for me! You aren't a ... service robot."
Offering the goggles to Jason to look over, Tracy says, "I want to test that the same thing doesn't happen to him in a non-game environment. And the Gloaming wouldn't have the White and the Black ADs like Avatars does!"
Cadena looks uncertain. "Why would NPCs interact with a virtual world through external channels reserved for players? Wouldn't that be a waste of ... what is the term ... bandwidth?"
"Gloaming NPCs are puppets, nothing like the Avatars ones that act like they have actual lives and stuff," Tracy points out, as she gets her own induction headgear on.
"I should also note," Cadena says, "that I am not the only non-human 'player' on these systems. I am required to identify myself as an artificial intelligence if so inquired within such environments."
"Depends on how they organized the game. What would make a more realistic NPC than someone who evolved in the game similar to how a player does?" Jason asks as he turns the goggles over in his hands. "And another test would be for me to 'log in' via my handy headchip and see if it registers me any differently too, since I won't register as a VR control player either.
Tracy hmms. "Well, your choice then Cadena: we can have Jason monitor you as you sign into the Gloaming, or into a local sandbox world that isn't a game."
"Well," Cadena says, "I apologize for anything that indicates that I doubt your expertise on this subject. I can only say that during my previous assignment, I was, to my knowledge, logged into the system and treated as a non-human player, distinctly separate from in-game NPC entities. It is my hope that there may be some residual information that may be on my neural headset that could be recovered before it is overwritten by a subsequent session."
Jason grabs a pile of wires from a drawer on his desk and starts clipping them onto various points on the goggles. "The real system is likely to trigger a reaction moreso than a virtual sandbox," he suggests. "I don't have any AD systems here, after all."
"And I'm just saying before you look for some conspiracy-laced answer, consider the more mundane ones first. It'll save you from ulcers," Jason adds.
"Oh.. will you be able to monitor my stream then as well, so you have an actual baseline for comparison?" Tracy asks.
"If some portion of my experience can be verified electronically," Cadena suggests, "we might be able to discover if in fact there is a WHITE that exists within the Gloaming reality, and whether or not Renard was a real entity, or just some manifestation invented by my psyche. That won't answer all the questions, but it could, for instance, let me know whether there's any point in tracking down this Renard - and perhaps even offer some clue on how to contact him. 'Werefoxes named Renard' does not result in a very limited subset within the Gloaming setting, I am given to understand ... and I'm not even certain how to spell it."
"After ... after ..." Cadena looks lost, and then shakes his head, snapping out of it. "After speaking with Inari, I believe I have remembered something that was ... lost before. I misunderstood my appearance in the Gloaming. I believe my appearance in the Gloaming was based on my virtual appearance within the Avatars virtual world during my previous assignment. I did not completely recognize it because ... well...." Cadena looks a bit sheepish.
"In my previous assignment," Cadena explains, "I was run through a more 'child-friendly' interface. The visuals were, as some say, 'chibi' representations of the Avatars virtual reality."
"As for remnant data signals, those are tricky to pick up. You basically have to indirectly look for them by how they alter at a micro-gauss level the electrical field around the circuits as the contents discharge. Most direct tapping would just immediately ground it out and blank any residual data. Of course there is also the complication of locating the start and end of a data stream and figuring out the encoding. Or if it's just random noise."
Jason explains while he fiddles. He's got out a magnifying glass now.
The white dog nods, trying to follow all that, and the rest of the technical explanations that follow. By his expression, it doesn't look as if he has retained enough to answer a pop quiz afterward, despite his attempt to stop chattering and be attentive for a change.
"And ahah, that's ... well, I can explain all your issues very simply, Cadena," Jason says after looking through page after page of hex data that spews over his desk screens. "You have two heads."
Shower noises come from the other room.
"Your headset might have a record of the previous Avatar then, and it was transmitted to the game," Tracy notes. "I know my basic model is."
After a long pause, Cadena says, "Two heads? I do not understand your use of the term."
"So.. he isn't fixed you mean, or...?" Tracy asks.
"When you logged in, your mental signature doubles, sort of," Jason explains in a distracted-sounding voice as he continues to skim over data. "You register as both a player, an an AI, sort of NPC. Your brain gets the primary player feeds, which is what you see, and a subconscious-level feed from the AI data line. I can see both fragments in your data feed. So basically, your brain is somehow mixing the two together without you really being fully aware of it. Which ... well, likely leads to a really 'trippy' view of the world. The closest reference point I would have for comparison would be Akiko and Inari when they were fused. Two streams weaving in and out with each other. I do have to warn you; that isn't good for maintaining sanity."
"But if you blocked the AI feed, would it let him interact as a player, or make it not work at all?" Tracy asks.
"I haven't the foggiest idea," Jason admits.
Cadena says, "I regret that I can neither confirm nor deny any particulars about the structuring of my neural network on a functional level, as I was not provided with such details in the course of my conditioning." He pauses, then says, "I am unfamiliar with this concept of a distinct AI data line. If anything, if I were to accept the possibility of 'two heads,' as you say ... I feel oddly surprised there are only two." He pauses again. "But then, as I said, I do not understand the functioning of my own neural network, and cannot hope to contribute intelligently to your theory."
"Well, if we connect to a sandbox, that line will be inactive," Tracy points out.
Cadena says, "I suppose if there is some way in which the environment could extract from my memory - or my headset - some sort of an avatar pattern, that would be discovered as well?"
"You assume my theory is intelligent," Jason notes, "The main thing is the system isn't quite sure how to handle you, so you get two distinct feeds. I'm not sure if you can operate with only one effectively, or if you would have blackout issues. Your brain is different, so requires different input." He shrugs and unhooks the control lines. "I'm intrigued enough to want to log into Gloaming at least once just to see what happens."
"And if you want, I can rid your headset to record everything you see or hear through sensory feeds," Jason offers.
"Most systems recognize embedded Avatars in the interface hardware, so if your pattern is recorded in your headset or in your neural network somehow it should show up in any VR environment," Tracy notes.
Cadena's eyes wander, as if he's lost in thought, and then he snaps back to the present. "I wonder if there is any way to find out whether other entities with similar profiles to myself - in other words, other experimental entities in my line, or perhaps patterned after the same technology - have made access to the Gloaming, and caused similar disruptions in recent history."
"That information would require access to the login server logs," Jason notes.
The white dog looks to Tracy. "Players go through a character creation cycle when signing onto dedicated roleplay-based virtual environments such as the Gloaming or Avatars. If someone's personal default avatar were to look like, let us say, a trademarked or copyrighted character, perhaps available via subscription licensing for social networks or sandbox use only, the Gloaming or Avatars would not automatically create a personal adventuring character using that as a template. Copyright and trademark issues and play balance issues would cause enough trouble alone."
"A quicker route of information would be to just call Avatar's and ask them. I can feed them the data I extracted and they could see if they can make sense of it. They know how they wired your noggin, I don't," Jason suggests.
"That is a very good point. In any case ... is there any way we could make certain any residual data can be mined from the headset before we overwrite it through a new session?" Cadena asks. "I am concerned that I may not get another chance to be able to speak with Renard or 'The WHITE' anytime soon, or under safe circumstances. I cannot, after all, simply send an e-mail at this point."
"It's not that detailed of a template," Tracy explains. "Basically it's something of a 'muscle map' that's built up during the calibration phase of your equipment. A basic body-image, sort of, that your brain can work with. I used the scan data from Jason's machine to enhance mine, so I always start with my own real body and modify from there," Tracy notes.
"And another minor thing of note, there is heavy encryption in the AI stream, which does make it stand out," Jason remarks, apparently still skimming the logs. "No idea if it can be broken through standard attacks."
"But Cadena's brain can decrypt it, obviously," Tracy notes. "So.. take a feed from that instead?"
The shower clicks off, and then the hair dryer starts running.
"I don't think he would appreciate me drilling a hole through his skull to take into neurons," Jason says. "And I don't have a less painful way, say a neural scanner, here."
"Chaz has one, according to Mom!" Tracy says. "Maybe I can get him to bring it over?"
"I would be perfectly willing to submit to the 'less painful way,'" Cadena volunteers.
"We would be better off going there," Jason remarks. "I doubt they would let that leave the lab."
"What about Inari?" Tracy asks, now that the showering sounds have stopped. "And I have to wait for my clothes to dry.. I can' go out just wearing a kimono."
"What about Inari? Avatar's knows about her and I'm sure we could land in a private garage," Jason points out. "We still have the 'borrowed' cars."
Tracy's lips do their 'she's thinking' purse-and-slide-from-side-to-side thing. "The techs will all fawn over her," she finally mutters.
"And the problem is?" Jason asks.
Cadena looks scandalized. "I would not wish to inconvenience Inari, or even to put her at risk, on account of my uncertainties! She is, after all, h--" He stops, uncertain. "She's a real entity."
Jason reaches over and tries to pinch Cadena's ear.
The news program returns to the entertainment top news. "It's now the tenth hour of Inari's disappearance, and no leads have yet turned up as her fans scour the world for her," Miss North Bend Morning News says with a concerned look. "We're going live to the interview with Mr. Fairchild, her most recent boyfriend." The Hollywood actor starts to tell the reporter just how heartbroken he is that she's disappeared, and that he thought they had a real rapport going.
Cadena does not move away, though he winces at the pinching.
Tracy reaches over and pokes Cadena in the side. "You're pretty real too," she notes. "And we need to find out what's going on in VR with you: if the Avatars ADs are really able to interact with the Gloaming virtual world."
"There, you felt pain, you're real. Quit degrading yourself," Jason remarks, satisfied.
Inari steps back into the workshop dressed in a skintight black jumpsuit, looking much more refreshed. The fox musk is noticably reduced as well, though Cadena knowing to look for it, could track her easily. She makes a show of looking for something nondestructive to fling at the screen, then throws her hands up in disgust. "That man's a blithering idiot," she tells Jason.
Jason then can't help himself and makes a rather rude gesture to the projection of Inari's most recent boytoy. "You just said what I was thinking," he tells Inari. "They're going to get more annoying over the next few days I expect, too."
"I am an artificial entity," Cadena says. "While my status entitles me to certain legal protections afforded to me, as I am a physical, biological entity, there are nonetheless distinct legal differences between my status and that of human beings and ... genetically-modified entities derived from human origins. It is not my intent to degrade myself. I simply recognize a priority factor that Inari's existence is distinctly more valuable than my own. I wish for no harm or inconvenience to come to her on my account. That is all, and I apologize if this suggests any fatalism on my part. After all, I also recognize that I am very expensive property of Avatars LLC, and I also place a certain value in all artificially intelligent entities as well."
"Harm? Why, are we going somewhere dangerous? When do we leave?" Inari asks briskly.
"I can sympathize," Tracy tells Inari.
The golden vixen rolls her eyes to Tracy. "I should be thanksful that he didn't come after me with a gun and grenades, I suppose!"
"Not everyone can be as popular as I am, Inari," Tracy says apologetically.
"If you keep that up I will club you with a pillow, Cadena," Jason remarks dryly. "As for where, the great white dog wants his head scanned, so we would need to head to Avatar's headquarters and make use of their scanner gear."
Inari laughs. "Oh, I haven't been there in ages. Since... You know!"
"And I have to ask ... how much would the media devour me if they learned about me?" Jason asks Inari. "Since I'm not a paid-for-actor ... would they risk even trying to interview me?"
"Seriously? Be prepared for 'Why did you break Inari's heart in the first place' and 'How long have you been hiding your secret romance with her' type questions," Inari advises Jason, then gives him a nose lick. "If it isn't juicy gossip, they'll make it into juicy gossip."
"And telling them to go sit on a spike and spin won't work for an answer?" Jason asks.
"I'll call Chaz," Tracy offers, "and get things set up." She stands heads back to the holophone, probably to give Jason and Inari a little privacy.. or just to avoid listening to them.
The golden vixen says, "Breaking news! Inari to wed sociopathic axe murderer," to Jason.
Jason laughs. "Wow, if they announced that, it might be the first accurate description ever used of me!" he declares. "Come on, lets get going before this conversation gets any sillier."
Tracy lets out a bark of laughter at the notion of Jason getting married, as she sits down and dials up Chaz. Then she composes herself, to make sure she doesn't try to flirt with the tech out of low self-esteem.