Virtual Insanity

Anh | Sept 5 1998 | 6:45 PM | Near Generation X Internet Cafe | District 3 | Saigon

"Took you long enough." Subaru sat hunched over an American-style coffee inside a high-end coffee shop that served foreigner coffee at foreigner prices. This block wasn't too far from my parent's house—but hopefully far enough that these groups haven't caused any damage.

"We had to make some of our own preparations. I have an agent to aid in extraction should things get too hot. Have you seen anything?"

Subaru seemed ready to make a grand gesture before being hushed by the silence of the room. He shrugged and shook his head.

"My lack of noticing is what I've noticed, Kente-san. We are at peak hours right now, and yet I have not seen the parade of NEETs enter or exit in their usual traffic... In fact I haven't seen anyone much at all."

I noticed the large backpack at Subaru's feet, the backpack itself was reinforced with more small bags attached to it through D-clips and straps. It was under the table that Subaru got up from, but I noticed he kept tapping his feet at the bag as if he needed to prove to himself it was still there.

"So how do we know anyone is even still there?" Kente asked in a very sharp tone. It was the kind used by supervisors where they just know there is a good answer, but are daring you to provide a bad one. Fortunately Subaru did not, instead pointing to Kente's MH unit.

"How about you ask Missy what the data traffic is like in that building?" He adjusted the lens on his chunni visor. "You may not see it, but to me it glows in the dark."

The large windowless building was an attempt to make an American-style supermarket when I was a kid. Parking lots below, large store up top. The project was abandoned, but the windowless concrete building remained. Unlit, it felt like a black prism surrounded by the lighter, well-lit buildings.

"Speaking of glowing in the dark, Anh, can you please take that ridiculous poncho off before the rustling of plastic alerts every audio sensor."

I looked up and down at the large plastic poncho protecting my suit from the Saigon elements.

"Tuck your shirt in, Subaru."

We left the vehicles outside of the block and headed to the internet café. The colorful lettering and popular anime and video game characters blocked the windows.

"Kente, Anh, if you have any NEAT tech place them in these Faraday cages now, we can't afford NatSel hacking undermining my equipment."

Subaru opened one of the pouches in his pack before scanning a power outlet near the door. Missy and Kente said their goodbyes before she went inside the metal mesh package.

"I don't see many cameras, secret or otherwise. And it seems there are at least 60 people there, records indicate customers." I asked if it was weird to have so many people here at night. "It is," Subaru conceded, "but not for an internet café."

Subaru swung his pack at Kente who caught it with a silent grunt. I watched him pull out several small Mitsuki Haiku poseable dolls: dolls we sell to children, such as my niece. He threw some at me with a bag of batteries. I got the gist and started putting the batteries in the toy dolls.

"Naptartu abullu," Subaru whispered to the lock while making a few motions with his laser pointer. The lock clicked and the door opened, no electronic alarms or bells.

"Do you know how to dance, Anh?" Wait, is he using now of all times to ask me out? I'm not that impressed.

Subaru continued as if I said yes. "If you can't dance, stay off the floor."

Subaru moved quietly through the hallway, following the pattern with his feet known only to him. The Haiku dolls rhythmically followed him and the light dance of his laser pointer. The small dolls twisted and turned around him like that wire model of the solar system my school had. Kente and I followed as quietly as we could. Everywhere we went there were cameras. Everywhere we went they had deactivated.

"The cameras can no longer see us. Hurry, we don't have too much time before the security system comes back to its senses."

In the UV light and purples of the dark hallway, Subaru's white coat was covered with circuitry forming intricate patterns. He stopped to put a strange crown-like object on his head.

"Where is everybody? I thought you said they were full of people."

"It is. Do not look at the light, Anh," he hissed.

The dark hallway of movie posters and cheap carpeting opened to a large room of green LEDs and light blue screen light.

"I'll be careful," I said to him as I peeked through the room, gun in hand and safety off. I was taken aback more by the rancid smell of bodies than any physical threat.

Kente and I signaled to each other to check each of the two rooms. As I poked my head out, I almost screamed. There was a young man, he looked about the same age as me, but more haggard, hair matted in grease and T-shirt loosely draped over his form. I flashed my gun at him.

The figure didn't move. He just kept staring ahead of me. He wasn't staring at me, but through me, looking at his screen as his fingers continued to tap away at the keyboard.

I looked around and there were more young men like him. Young men mostly Vietnamese with some foreigners, with vacant stares as they played their games. Muffled sounds of grunts, screams, and metal clanks hummed along with the HVAC. Even the breathing felt synchronized. I walked around the computers and the players, and none seemed to recognize my presence.

"Everything is covered with green LEDs," I said to myself as I looked at the keyboards and the computers, even the clock on the wall. LEDs of green and red everywhere as though it was the neon halos of a Catholic Maria.

"Anh, this way." A voice called out.

I watched the other players and observed them, completely oblivious of what was going on around them. There were six different tables. Each table had seven young men: four on one side, three on the other. The computers are covered in LEDs: green. They framed the screen where a fantasy game was played, and the mouse and keyboard they used to interact. The first man had a grey T-shirt two sizes too large and jeans. The next man was a foreigner and obese.

"Anh, hurry this way!"

The players were in sync with each other. Each table a party, their eyes even blinked within one second of each other, no one broke away from the screen. The green LEDs traveled down the wires of the monitor as they plugged themselves into a large power strip framed with green and red LEDs. These all connected to one, two, three, four, five power outlets on the wall. Vietnamese outlets. American plugs. There was an adapter on each wall outlet with an American power strip connected to one of the four power outlets.

"Anh?" A distant voice called.

"Not now!" I called out, I was on the verge of something. I had to keep going. I could hear the clacking of their keyboards. Table 3 had one disharmonious typist, he was moving at least two strokes slower than his colleagues. The figure was a young man in a jean jacket and a five o'clock shadow. His cheeks were thin.

I felt a hand reach for me and pull. I resisted. “Stop, Im not done!” I was in the middle of my observation, I could not be deterred. I wanted to scream but a hand covered my mouth. That's when I felt the cold metal touch my forehead. My temples throbbed with a searing pain then …clarity.

"What happened? Have you found the entrance?" Kente was staring at me as though he wasn't sure if I was a victim or a fool.

Their eyes were as green as the LEDs.

"You just spent five minutes in there counting power strips and wires," Kente told me. I didn't believe it. "Impossible. I was only in there for a few moments."

Subaru from behind pressed the metallic crown on me further. "OW!"

"You just had your brain hacked by a NEAT Exhaust. The NatSels are burning through NEAT chips to produce psychological anomalies."

"Anomalous psychological effects?" I had never heard of such a thing. I tried to think of a moment when I was warned about this possibility. My mind drew a blank.

"You left before I could tell you to put one of these on." I looked to Kente who wore a similar crown on his head. Golden circuitry with plastic pipes and tubes jutting out and around. Making a form of cap around his forehead. "These caps neutralize noospheric infohazards. They won't stop it, but it will slow the effect long enough for you to act."

I felt the obsession to categorize ebb away from me, leaving a sad numbness, as if a favorite teacher just left.

"Now don't lose it and don't break it. These are very rare, comes from a river in the Levant that went dry years ago. Those bands are irreplaceable."

I nodded and followed Kente into the other room. Here there were rows and rows of young men and women standing up with large red visors on their heads. They were waving around wands and controllers with emaciated hands with swollen wrists. I gagged at the stench of human waste that this room was thick in. And yet they continued to move in their dance. The sunken cheeks and withered necks danced around.

"Subaru, what the hell is this place?"

Subaru merely pointed to the colored LEDs sprouting from the helmets and their backs. They were anchored to the ceiling by LED vines. LED spines breaking into LED bracelets and necklaces around the gamers. Navy blue and green.

"We have to get them out! Kente, Subaru, help me find a switch or something!" A woman with controllers walked on bird legs as her shirt fell to one side, exposing a bony shoulder.

I ran to what looked like a server hoping for some button I could push to turn this off. That was until I heard a voice. English, American accent. Nasally with a sinister tone and gallows cheerfully. "Attention Heroes of Another World, the newest raid has been unlocked! Please join us in this special event!