"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
-Albert Einstein
The internet is dead.
As a result of orbiting EMP satellites put into place during the Second American Civil War and the concurrent World War III –there is no more world wide web. In the democratic socialist Social States of America (SSA), recently only the President, Social Security Administration, the Army, and the slightly rich have access to any electronics at all; although the Social Security Administration is planning on distributing EMP shielded refrigerator kits to citizens. Whereas in the plutocratic United States of Freedom (USF), only their President, the National Guard, and the super-rich have access to any electronics. But then in the summer of 2136, contact computers are invented.
"How did you first hear about them Charles, jr.?" my kid half-brother asked me.
"Well Vince, Dad had our big brother John and I sit in on one of his security council meetings where they discussed this new invention. They said that, though anybody could use contact computers with training, only those approximately between the ages of ten and twenty could use them to their fullest (without training) on their first day and night. The security council also said that teenagers would be the best possible candidates for testing the contact computers. So John and I volunteered, at eighteen and sixteen years old respectively," I said.
"And then I begged to join in right?" Vince asked.
"That's right," I said.
My Dad is Charles Zerone, Sr, President of the SSA, and I'm his youngest son from his first marriage, Charles Zerone, Jr. I was very lucky to be born the son of an American President -even if there were two at that time. As son of the President of the Social States of America, there was always an EMP-shielded computer for me to use in the White House or in the White House bunker. With a first-rate education and access to archived internet resources hardly anyone else had, by sixteen I was one of the best computer coders in the world; although, it was a dying art without many computers out there. That's when, like a breath from God, humanity was given contact computers.
Contact computers, or CC's for short, are contact lenses that through microscopic magnetic resonance imaging and nanocomputing could turn your brain into a Digital Computer, or DigCom. With them, you can literally upload and download information wirelessly from your grey matter. They give everyone a nearly eidetic memory because you can search through them once you've uploaded your memories. CC's are controlled by blinking through a holographic H.U.D. that only you (and anyone you're syncing with) can see. When networked together they form both the Extranet, a holographic database of everything (mostly verified facts) that has been uploaded to them; and the DreamNet, a consensual hallucination that is a graphical representation of all the digital territory at stake in the entire world's networked CC's. In order to maintain and protect all this collective digital territory, as well as their own DigCom from corruption, users must enter the DreamNet nightly in their sleep as their DigCom avatar. Also, all CC's come with a programmable steward AI. And of course all contact computers are EMP safe, but all of this begs the question: "Who in an EMP ravaged world invented these?!"
Dad, never one to deny his sons an answer because of secrecy concerns, said, "Social Occupation Libertarian Party engineers and scientists on a secret space station near Mercury. Far away from our EMP's. They set up shop there 76 years ago to ensure the technological future of the human race should worldwide calamity come to the planet."
It was good to know that there was someone out there looking out for us. "Well, I'm just glad they're on our side," I said, not knowing at the time the distinction between being on humanity's side, and "our side". If only I knew.
* * *
The Secret Service suggested that we use call signs in the DreamNet so that nobody would target us because of our full names. So my DreamNet call sign is Little Brother or LB for short, Vince's call sign is Kid Brother or KB for short, John's call sign is Older Brother or OB for short.
That first day KB, OB, and I came into the DreamNet, we parachuted in. But we got separated in the air, and OB landed quite a ways away from KB and I. I was the closest to KB, so I went to find him first in the forest in which we landed. Just before landing, a black sphere with red neon lines radiating from a central circle tracked my landing spot and beat me to it. It said something like "Heart condition. We are scanning," and then it engulfed me for a moment. When I passed all the way through it, and my feet touched the ground –it took off. Then I thought I heard KB scream, so I ran in the direction of his parachute not thinking anything of it. When I found him, he was playing in a clearing with another boy his age that I didn't recognize. The scream was one of joy, not pain. So I introduced myself as LB, and then went to the tree line to make wooden tools to start to make a shelter. KB and the other boy then became very interested in what I was doing, so I showed them how in this digital world they could take down trees with their bare hands in order to get wood for tools. I was just reading the tooltips in my HUD, but both of the boys seemed rapt with attention -so I kept going. I made a workbench with instructions from one of the crafting menus and showed the boys how to make a wooden sword. Just then, a loud BANG and a FLASH knocked me to the ground. When I could see and hear again, KB and his friend were gone.
I found the command-bot (comm-bot) that was responsible for the flashbang near me on the ground and Phage, my steward AI, suggested taking it apart to find its remote transmitter. Maybe with it he could track the people who took KB. As I was taking it apart, I saw tracks leading out of the clearing and into the forest. I grabbed the wooden sword I had made and followed them at a jog. It was a simple comm-bot that somebody had made in a hurry, and Phage was telling me what was important to keep the transmitter functioning and what was not. Just as I lost the trail in the woods, he entered the transmitter and synced it up to my HUD. I ran as fast and quietly as I could after the arrow; quietly, because once they thought they had lost me they slowed down. I saw them from the tree line in a small clearing and recognized two of them, besides KB and the kid from earlier. A boy and girl, twins, about my age. They were Raphael LaValette's eldest children, Roy and Joy LaValette. He was the President of the United States of Freedom and my father's sworn enemy in the Second American Civil War. Besides Roy, Joy, and the boy whom must have been their little brother, there was a body guard covering KB's mouth so he couldn't scream. They must've thought they could get concessions out of us by taking a hostage. Roy and Joy both had wooden swords like I did, but the body guard was unarmed. His hands were full fighting off KB's kicks and elbows. That's right Vince, never give up fighting.
I waited for my chance, and then I took it. I ran out of the tree line when no one was looking and hit the bodyguard square in the back with my wooden sword. He doubled over and dropped KB. Then I reached back with the sword and swung it over KB's head, connecting with the bodyguard's jaw –whipping his head back and knocking him out.
"Vince run that way! Find John!" I said, pointing, as the LaValette twins rounded on me. Roy made a move as if to grab KB, but a quick swing from me -caught and deflected by his sister, made him think twice. I was their opponent. The rest of the battle went as well as could be expected … they beat me to a pulp.
But just as I was on my knees bleeding precious red code from my chest, OB showed up firing some kind of pebble pistol as he said, "That's my brother you're maiming!!!"
The LaValettes couldn't dodge the pebbles and cover their little brother, so they were forced to retreat without their bodyguard (who was still knocked out). KB came out of the tree line with a slingshot, and he and OB both rushed over to me to see what they could do. Which wasn't much. My HUD said I had three percent health and was bleeding profusely. In the time I had left I consoled KB, who was crying, because he felt like this was his fault. I told him no, it was the LaValettes' fault.
OB heard the name and asked, "The Raphael LaValettes?"
And I said, "Yes." And seeing myself at one percent I said, "And now we'll see what death is like in the DreamNet… I think I'm supposed to wake up at home in bed. See you guys in the big house!" I said.
But I never would again. I never woke up in the White House, or at least I don't remember it. OB told me later that I had had a panic attack in my sleep, and that thanks to an undiagnosed heart condition my heart had failed. He told me this when I came across him and KB weeks later in the DreamNet, when they said they were sleeping in hospital beds attached to EKG's now, just in case.
They asked me how I could be alive, and I told them I woke up the next day in the DreamNet inside that flying, black spherical entity with the red neon lines radiating out from a red circle –and it said, "We are the Rhizome. We have saved you." It landed, deposited me on the ground feeling statically charged, and took off. And later on that day, I realized I knew how to craft new items that I had never seen before. I think it was the Rhizome that taught me while I slept.
They just stared blankly, happy that I was alive… in a way.
* * * [Six months later]
"So why are you going to meet with the LaValette's if you know it's likely a trap?" KB asked me.
"Because in the real world, the bad guys win. But here in the DreamNet, you are as powerful as your mind and your wits will allow. So we've got a fighting chance. We just need to make peace with the LaValettes to prevent an all-out war between our people and theirs. And I'm going alone because I've got the least to lose. Anyone else could lose their hard earned equipment, programs, Comm-bots, inventory, and all their armor when they die; when they log back in, they'd have to find their unlooted body, if they're lucky, or they'd have to start back from scratch. But with me, every time I die the pitch black sphere with the red neon lines, that Rhizome "Gestalt of the Dead" thing, brings me back with all of my inventory –and a little more knowledge of what makes this world tick," I said, reassuring my little half-brother.
I took Phage, my steward AI, out of my inventory and approached OB. He was working on his white, bulky, corner-less back armor piece with small SOL Party decal on it. The eight pointed star in orange, red, white, and blue showed his admiration for the SSA's political heritage. I slapped my older brother hard on the back, breaking his focus on the worktable in front of him.
"Bro, I want you to have Phage in case something happens to me. We're synced so he'll know the instant something does happen, and that knowledge should give you time to move everybody out of camp before the LaValettes hit you in masse. I doubt my mutating shield will work without me here to maintain it, you know?" I said.
"I know. That shield of yours has saved us from some serious bombardments and sneak attacks by the LaValettes. But nobody can manage that Rhizome tech like you can, so you'd better come back!" OB said.
"I will. I promise," I said.
"I'll take Phage. But you take my watch program and some IT coins I've found. You never know when the extra code will come in handy," OB said.
"Thanks."
"Stay safe little brother."
"You too big brother. And if Phage ever tells you to sync with him, do it, alright?
"Gotcha."
We embraced, my flexible grey-black armor conforming to his firm white rounded chest plate.
* * *
I met with the LaValette twins in a field next to a tree near Tokelau Lake. The arrangement my messenger comm-bot delivered had asked for them to come alone. But they didn't, which was fine for me because neither did I.
"That's close enough Roy and Joy!" I said when they and their six panther comm-bots were one hundred feet away. They all stopped next to the field's sole tree.
"What? Are you afraid of cats or something?" Joy LaValette asked.
"Nope. Especially not yours," I said.
Roy and Joy were both wearing their signature black body armor with neon purple highlights, and the LaValette family crest, its blood red heart, gold fleur-de-lils, and purple background prominent on both their right chest plates and left shoulder guards. Their armor was partly solid plate armor like OB's, but what was new was that they were wearing flexible mesh/Kevlar type armor under the plates and anywhere the plates didn't reach –just like I wear for increased mobility and range of motion. They were learning from us. A bone chilling thought.
The LaValettes had brought with them six panther comm-bots, each at about tech level 3, judging by their size, shape, and the fluidity of their movements. The panthers had the same color scheme as their masters; the comm-bots were all black besides two medium lines of neon purple starting at their collarbones and stretching up and back past their yellow eyes and then down their backs like purple racing stripes.
"So what's with this? We're a hundred feet away! Are we supposed to just shout ideas at each other?" Joy asked.
"Since we were going to be armed, I figured it was best for us to stay out of each other's optimal firing ranges: thirty five feet for my buster cannon/ hack projector; fifty feet for your assault rifles; and ten feet for my quick release, reverse hand katana. Plus, there's a little extra breathing room of a DMZ," I said. "It's bad enough out there in the real world. We don't need a war here in the DreamNet. So I propose a truce: we split the local DreamNet territory between our two groups. You take everywhere south of Tokelau Lake, and we'll take everywhere north. The tree you're standing next to will be the compass rose. That's it."
"Don't worry, there won't be a war. It takes two sides for a war to happen, and without you there to help them with your annoying shield and what-not, your people won't last a week. And we've figured out a way to get rid of you for good this time. We're gonna send you somewhere special." Roy said, taking out a device that looked like it opened portals, and attaching it to his arm. Joy did the same.
"Hey, I heard your socialist papa wanted to give out free education to everybody before the war. Felt like that was as close as you were going to get to reparations for slavery," Joy said.
"That's right. And I heard your dad cut back on filtering the water for the pauper class so bad that they can't drink it anymore. I heard it causes cancer now." I said.
"Don't worry about that. You're going to get your forty acres and a mule today!" Roy said.
"Yeah, I'll bet." I said, as the panthers began to charge.
I wasn't too worried. I had twenty-one lvl 1 cloaked, rolling landmine comm-bots spread around me and synced to my movements. So when I moved, they moved. But I wasn't moving. Because in the sun baked field any movement would kick up dust, ruining the camouflage. So I just took aim with my left arm as my fluorescent orange buster cannon program formed around it. The panthers were coming in two lanes, three controlled by Roy and three controlled by Joy. I charged the canon up and hit the first panther just as it came within 35 feet; it exploded and the other two in its lane side stepped it. The first panther in the other lane hit a landmine and exploded as well. The one behind that one jumped over the first and landed on a mine, exploding as it did so. At this, all the 3 remaining panthers stopped. I took a step forward, beginning to chase the panthers with my mines when I realized that Roy and Joy were one hundred and eighty degrees from each other on either side of me. They both fired their portal guns at the same time –and I got the instant feeling of falling with a blinding white light.
* * * [the next day]
". . . I hate myself. I hate this place . . . I hate that I got trapped in this place because of my own hubris. I hate that they won." I said to the mirror.
I had all the space in the world. White space. Blank space. As long as I didn't lose sight of the mirror. I walked 100 paces away once, but was forced to stop because if I lost sight of the mirror in the whiteness – I would never find it again. So I waited. And waited. And waited.
I couldn't activate any other portals while I was still in this "active" one. After a week I decided that no one had found this portal yet . . . but if they did would I see them in the mirror? Possibly. It was also possible that there were an infinite number of portal worlds – as many worlds as there were portals. But that wouldn't matter, because this portal right here, right now – does exist, and I could be found here . . . as long as I stayed in sight of the entrance. Or was it the exit?
A month and a half and I was about to lose hope – even in my dreams. But it occurred to me that I shouldn't. (What actually occurred to me was an ancient 'Dragon Ball Z' episode with a similar world between worlds). The point was that this opportunity was a chance to train. And train I would.
I started with my IT coins, taking them apart to their base elements to build a chair and a work table. Then I went to work on my equipment: my hack projector; my buster cannon; my quick release kiriha zukuri katana, my shield, my comm-bots. Taking them apart over and over again, creating better and more refined versions.
In the sixth month, I started taking apart myself. By editing my DigCom's underlying code I was able to improve the way my avatar heals from harm.
In the ninth month I started on the code of the portal.
In the twelfth month I started on the code of this Mirror Prison's subspace world itself.
After fifteen months, a messenger comm-bot went out from the field near Tokelau Lake. A soldier turned commander received it. It just said "I'm back. Sync with Phage."
* * *
I arranged everything through that comm-bot and Phage (as well as several other comm-bots that I sent out) so that we could finally show the LaValettes that we meant business, and to give them a demonstration of our new base. A show of force, if you will.
I found them the next day outside their golden pyramid base, surrounded by their cavalry. And after fifteen months trapped in their Mirror Prison (not talking to anybody else), I had just one thing to say to them:
"I've got my 40 acres and a mule right here –COME AND TAKE IT!"
Then I opened up the biggest portal anyone had ever seen. It was so big that digital wind came out of it. Through it rolled two ten foot tall, blue mech comm-bots, flanking me on either side. They paused. Waiting.
"Whoa," Roy said.
"Do it," I said.
Arms raised to the sky, the lvl 15 mechs fired over the heads of the LaValettes and cavalry. Their rotating portal cannons painted the sky orange with ports. And through those ports dropped OB, KB, every hacker, soldier and cyber warrior that I had ever met and even more that I hadn't.
What happened next was one for the books; it all took place in the seconds before anyone could draw a weapon. OB's and my DigComs went full sync. Moving as one, I fired a hook into OB's chest plate while OB's pack fired hooks into every one of the hackers that had just ported in. I folded my arms. My shield activated. Then the mechs grabbed me and full reversed it through the portal and into subspace. OB's armor locked. When the line went taught, he sailed over the heads of the cavalry, pulling everyone behind him. Roy and Joy at the front managed to get a few shots off; but at full sync, my shield extended to everyone attached to me.
The whole event took over just 10 seconds. With all the orange ports through the blue – it polarized sending a few ricochets back to the agents. Then they all just stared quietly.
After a pregnant moment, a cavalry comm bleated loudly, "So what happened?"
Safe back at base in subspace, the hackers dusted themselves off and began introductions apologizing for post sync collision bruises. The mechs hi-5ed as several gawked around them. Finally reunited, safe and sound in a growing crowd of friends OB, KB, and I hugged.