17. TheKrash #2
The DreamNet server pulses faintly in the background like a living organism, reacting to my commands, its hum returning to a low, ominous drone.
Static then a harsh click. Ash’s voice slices through the lab. “You seeing this, Lab Rat?” I can hear his computer pinging in the background, feeds running frantically. His voice is hoarse, drowned in shock.
“Kael! Fuck! What’s happening? I’m getting vibes off the chart.
Every DreamNet user’s neural feed just blew out in white noise like a massive sensory overload.
I’ve got U21s dropping in alleys, caught mid-dream or mid-game.
Their minds don’t know where the hell to land. ” I hear his fingers typing furiously.
He’s breathless, wired, even for him. “Chatter is coming in that TheKast was glowing purple static!”
I remain calm. Think, Kael, this is your playground, your toys. Surely Vikktor has been notified of the current status, so you’ll need to act quickly before he can counteract.
“It’s bad. Do you see anything about the lower sectors? Anything about the non-citizens in particular?” I push him for more information.
“No, nothing. What did they do now?” he asks. “Whatever it is, Corp’s smothering it like duct tape over a stab wound.”
Vikktor’s deceit turns my stomach sour. “It’s not just DreamNet.
Streets are burning. Half the lower sectors are blacked out.
People running out of their camps during curfew, civilians glitching out left and right.
” I exhale loudly through my nose. “Vikktor rolled out an update that started a purge of the non-citizen sector.” I can’t believe the words as they spill from my mouth.
“It’s a clean slaughter on paper,” I say bitterly.
“He disabled mobility, scrambled their brains, then revoked their citizenship at the cellular level. No blood, no headlines. Just gone...while the city sleeps.”
Ash is never silent. The weight of the moment presses hard on both of us. “That’s mass murder, genocide even.” A long exhale follows his comment.
“It was,” I say. “But luckily someone disrupted the virus, not enough to stop it, but enough to corrupt the code and void it. Some U21 flared so brightly they saved lives tonight.”
“That’s messed up. One for our side, I guess,” he reckons. “The whole grid went sideways: DreamNet, GameNet, all of it. The boards are saying people dropped out of DreamNet so hard they were unconscious.”
“I know, I was in it.” The lab alarms begin to go silent but red text scrolls faster than I can comprehend, warnings coming in again as LINK tries to contain the anomaly bursting through my firewalls.
“There’s more that I can’t wrap my head around,” I continue to explain as I type. “LINK located one of the anomalies, where it landed.” My throat tightens. “It’s here in the VikkCorp building, internal systems. My system.”
“That’s not possible.” Ash’s voice lowers. “How could an anomaly drop inside your walls? You’re one of the most secure sites in the city, a hacker’s wet dream.”
“Exactly.” I stare at the glowing monitor, unease flowing through me. “Between Vikktor and the anomaly, something’s been dragged into my system.”
“Shit.” That’s all Ash can say.
I’m moving code around on the wall screen trying to locate where Lyra may have landed. “So...I was in DreamNet with a girl when it spilled over.”
“You little stalker!” Ash laughs dryly. “And not spilling. Try drowning. Corp drones are everywhere, scooping up anyone who twitches wrong. Eli’s on the list, Kael. Lyra’s brother. You know what that means?”
“Eli?” I squint “I didn’t know Lyra had a brother. Was that the nerdy glasses guy at STATIK?” It’s starting to piece together in my mind. A muscle flickers in my cheek as I continue to multi-task watching the anomaly flicker on screen.
“You crush on a chick this hard, and you don’t know she has a brother?” He sighs. “Are you hiding something, Bro?”
I sigh through clenched teeth and confess. “Listen, I need your help. I was in DreamNet with Lyra, the girl from STATIK, when this shitstorm launched.”
He cuts me off “Why you little...were you fucking? Any RedRoom action?”
I tsk at his bluntness but ignore it. I don’t have time for his games right now. “I don’t know where she landed. It collapsed taking her with it.” My voice cracks with worry. “I need you to locate her vibrations, her signature, anything.” I sound like I’m pleading...in a way I am.
Ash’s words are bitter. “I told her not to jack in tonight. I warned her she’s glowing hot.”
Again, he knows something I don’t. “You what?! If you’re keeping vital information from me, you’d better pray I don’t find it first.”
“I’ll find her.” He breathes deeply, groans like a caged animal, and cuts the line.
I stare at the anomaly running recklessly like a person bouncing off a trampoline. My hand hovers over the kill command again, but I can’t commit. Instead I turn back to the DreamNet feed, searching for any sign of her.
I whisper to myself, thinking of the way Ash said he “warned her” and will “find” her.
No. I will find her.
I lean into the console staring at the light beckoning me.
“Mine.”