Bug - 5

When Anna’s subordinates brought some hot food, Liberty knew they would have to stay in a secure space for some time. It was called a secure room, but it was bigger than Liberty’s apartment, so she was almost comfortable. The toilet was clearly added to the environment much later, and there was no shower, only a sink, but both were better than the ones she had at her place.

The only thing that stood between Liberty and having a good sleep after a long day was Pier. Despite Liberty’s best efforts, it was hard to fall asleep while he was asking about Anna every two minutes. Pier’s questions revolved around the idea of Anna selling them both out, and neither “she will not” nor “shut up and sleep; we’ll see later” did seem to make him less concerned or less talkative.

“Okay,” she said, “listen. Anna is famous for always wearing the same mask and never taking it off, not letting other people wear it. She had been doing it for years. It earned her some credit there. Still, she gave me the copy of the mask.”

Pier did not turn to her, staring at the ceiling above his bed.

“How does everyone even know that she is the same person? Despite being popular here, recognizing someone by a mask is unreliable.”

“Of course, people just use posture and voice analysis software. You met her; you could tell she doesn’t alter them.”

Pier was silent for a minute, and Liberty finally started to fall asleep.

“Why did she give this mask to you of all people?”

“That is between us,” Liberty said,” but I could tell you the gist of it; you’ll see why. I helped her to use the second mask in the FLC hospital to get treatment without revealing her face. Having patients show their faces is a stupid policy; she almost died. When you get a chance, abolish it.”

“If she was willing to die, if that means not getting her face seen, she might be hiding something important behind that mask.”

Liberty sighed.

“Listen. Her family is from here originally; she is not one of those who moved here for anonymity. I think she might have suffered during the bug incident.”

Liberty could hear how Pier sharply inhaled at that. Thankfully, he stayed silent long enough for her to finally fall asleep.

The following morning they still weren’t allowed out. However, some people visited and extracted their video feed, using a program that didn’t allow them to copy it further and destroyed it after a given time.

In the meantime, Liberty learned many exciting things, such as the favorite dishes of Pier’s family members or the fact that he was against her participation in the marketing event. His logic was that FLC presented itself as a producer of high-quality products used by the elite. And Pier did not see Liberty as a part of this narrative.

It was late afternoon when they were finally invited to leave the secure room. By that time, Liberty was ready to punch Pier hard enough to knock him out without killing him. She was sure she could set her prosthetic hand to apply just the right amount of force, but it was not something offered in the default application she has.

Naturally, she was happy to finally leave this room.

Freeman was there. He did not have horns.

Liberty looked at him and then at Anna, tilting her head in question. Anna was wearing a high neck, apparently reaching all the way to her eyes, so Liberty could not see her expression behind the mask.

“I saw the video. It passes as a medically justified: putting a dying man out of his misery.”“He looked very energetic for a dying man,” Liberty said firmly.

“He had that Zerrian bio prosthetic on his head; judging by its shape, the guy had days left.”

Liberty remembered the twitching thing on the irregular’s head. Now, when it was said out loud, the thing looked a little like that cutesy cat ears Zerrian was selling for a brief period before it turned out it caused permanent brain damage. These things were said to become deformed with time, but Liberty was never interested enough to learn just how deformed. Especially given that they were not sold anymore and most people who were unlikely enough to buy them were dead already.

The Pier behind her made a strange sound.

“That’s why we don’t touch brains,” he whispered.

He was repeating a motto more than making a real statement. FLC used that situation with Zerrian prosthetics to highlight just how far they were from using the products that interfere with the brain directly and how safe they are. But it was not only FLC; all major companies in the industry did something similar. Working with a brain was not seen as something for a respectable company to do since that incident. Even Zerrian, which surprisingly had not gone bankrupt, did not work with brain anymore. Most companies had some slogans on the topic. Liberty was aware of that because the consequence was that most companies did not buy brains. Even those who did not hope to get a body back would have to keep a brain jar. Most companies offered to destroy the jars if customers so wished, but the service was not popular. Even though the rates of brain jars getting new bodies were not great either.

Liberty’s lips might have been tight because Anna looked at her and sighed, almost inaudible.

“Trust the doctor,” she said, “and you can use the Internet now. In fact, you should. I want everyone to share contacts in any safe network. And set a contact list destruction rules so you can drop it instantly.”

Most people were on each other’s contact lists in LensChat. Freeman was using LensChat on his phone, which Liberty did not know was possible. Neither Pier not Liberty had an account there, so they had to pay to create them. That made Liberty look at her bank application. There were several new incoming payments. They all were a minimum transfer sum with messages attached, most sent from her employer. It made sense to Liberty; after all, she was skipping her work at the moment, and she did not inform the cafe in advance. These tiny payments did not change Liberty’s financial situation much: she still could afford a chat application, but not much else. She hoped they could somehow resolve the situation soon, preferably without considerable unexpected expenses.

“I hope FLC does not have personal access to your lens feed,” Anna said to Pier, “or we will have to disable your lens.”

“Impossible,” Pier sounded surprisingly confident, “if something like that was implemented and it became known, it would be a disaster. FLC production is not given capabilities to discriminate like that.”

“Good,” Anna said and immediately moved to talk to a horned man in an oni mask.

The number of horned people around was alarming. It was even more alarming that they were divided into squads and insisted on organizing the chats accordingly.

“So, we do not expect any attack in this sweet, safe place?” Liberty asked.

Nobody laughed.

“We decided to get you out and see if someone comes for you. We have no idea if you could be tracked, but I assume you could,” Anna was speaking, and one could a smile in her voice, “so you should leave so that this place stays sweet and unharmed.”

“And who is coming with us?” Pier asked.

Liberty didn’t have to ask that.

“You now have everyone’s contacts,” Anna shrugged, “I assume you could deal with convincing people to risk their lives yourselves.”