The Last Network - Chapter 5
Demo Man
The elevator opened, and Paolo Soto stepped onto the Vampire Floor at NAM. Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland stared back at him. Paolo nodded at the mural and bared imaginary fangs, his daily offering to the house gods. From twelve until he left for USC at seventeen, Paolo had been a wannabe Lost Boy. Leather, sunglasses, and shitty attitudes. It was no wonder his parents were thrilled when he left Chile for college. From then on, he was America’s problem.
The rest of the building was soulless. Open floor plans, spotless glass and corporate whiteness. The Vampire Floor worked the overnight shift and staffing it was always a challenge. To keep headcount high, standards were dropped, and employees were allowed to take liberties with the space. The lights were always dimmed, most teams worked inside giant tents, and their commissary opened after the main cafeteria shut for the day.
Paolo liked it here. People left him alone. On the lower floors, he’d been bombarded with requests to fix Excel macros and review calculations. Once he discovered the night floor, he moved up there and worked daytime hours in splendid isolation. Kendra didn’t mind—he was the guy she put on the hairy problems, the ones people shouldn’t know about. Isolation was a good thing.
He hung his backpack on the wall and rubbed his weathered brown hands. A weekend of climbing had left them scraped and calloused. Wandering into the kitchen, he picked up a stale grilled cheese and poured the last of the coffee from the pot. Some would hate this existence, but Paolo quite liked it. The problems were challenging, and Kendra took a special interest in him. Besides, he wasn’t going anywhere. Until his green card came through, Paolo and NAM were joined at the hip.
At 10:00, he put his coffee down and put his VR glasses on. It was time to see if Rabbit had something special or if he was just another in a long line of pretenders. The screen went black and everything was silent. He sat back in his leather chair and waited. The void was relaxing, and he found himself drifting off when the system suddenly clicked on. He was on a skateboard accelerating down a steep street. He could hear the wheels picking up speed, crunching small rocks. Wind whipped his face. The view screen shook. He instinctively focused on the road in front of him. There was a blind curve coming up. He could see the ocean on the horizon, a hill on the left, and a steep drop on the right.
He’d never be able to make the turn at this speed. Paolo hadn’t skated since high school. It was a miracle he hadn’t fallen off by now.
“Hello?” he said.
There was no response, just the oncoming rush of a decision to be made. The board showed no sign of slowing down. He looked down. He was wearing heavy black jeans with knee pads. He had an armored motorcycle vest and elbow pads on. At least I won’t get cut to bits, he thought. He looked up—the curve was approaching faster. The skateboard was aimed straight towards the ocean and was picking up speed.
“Hello!” he yelled.
He looked to the left. A giant chain fence was wrapped around the hill to keep rock slides from crushing cars. He turned to the right. There was a small guard rail, three feet of grass and then a drop he’d never survive. He jumped to his feet.
“Stop this now.”
Nothing happened. In a panic he shifted his weight to the left. The board obeyed and started cutting back into the oncoming curve. He wouldn’t plummet into the sea, but he was going too fast to make the turn. He pressed on his back foot and lifted his front. The board flipped up and the rubber guard of the kick tail dug in, grinding hard into the asphalt, slowing him down. He combined both moves, turning and decelerating at the same time until he was under control.
On the other side of the corner was a scenic pull off. Rabbit was there, leaning against a green Jeep Wagoneer. Paolo steered the board towards him and stopped.
“What did you think?” asked Rabbit.
“I think I’m going to puke,” Paolo answered.
“Don’t do that; I don’t want Eddie to ruin my shoes,” Rabbit said.
“Why not, Rabbit? I’ve got a full stomach, I could ralph up a storm right now. Get some on your pants, too,” Eddie said. He was the real-life skateboarder.
“Paolo, this is Eddie, your surro. Your movements in VR controlled him in real life, and neither of you are going to puke. This is a business meeting.”
“What the fuck? Why didn’t you answer me halfway up the hill? You could have died. Why didn’t you start turning earlier?” Paolo asked.
“I was waiting for instructions. Besides, I had another fifteen seconds before I was in trouble.”
“Instructions?” Paolo asked.
“Your virtual reality glasses have cameras inside and out. They pick up what you are doing and translate them as commands for Eddie to mimic. His augmented reality glasses place your commands over his eyes. So, he sees symbols that tell him to turn left, turn right, brake. That sort of stuff. I told him not to talk to you, I wanted to see if you figured it out before it was too late. What do you think?” Rabbit asked.
“It’s intense,” Paolo answered.
Adrenaline pumped through him; his heart raced and sweat ran down his back. He stepped off the board and walked towards the edge of the pullout. The ocean was a couple hundred feet below him. He looked to the left and could see a city in the distance.
“Where am I?” Paolo asked.
“Malibu,” Rabbit answered.
“So, everything I do in my office gets mimicked by Eddie?”
“Yes. Now Paolo, can you get people hooked on this?”
“That’s not going to be a problem. The problem will be making sure they don’t get too addicted.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. So, I can tell Kendra that you’re in?” Rabbit asked.
“Yes. Get an agreement signed and I’ll spin up a team.”
“Eddie, give me your glasses and grab the other car. I’m going to take Paolo for a drive.”
Rabbit clicked the overlay off and put the AR glasses on. Paolo watched through his eyes as the Jeep started up and turned onto PCH. He tried wrapping his head around what he just experienced. Rabbit had talked a big game over breakfast, but Paolo wasn’t prepared for this. Teleportation was only part of what Peared could do. Rabbit had invented a new form of control.