The Metaverse: Virtual Life-Real Death Read online

  Alex stopped in front of a table which now occupied the entire camera view. On the table was a beautiful blond woman. Petite, maybe late 20’s, in a gorgeous blue dress. She was strapped to the table by her ankles and wrists, stretched out with what looked to be a severe amount of tension by the restraints pulling her by the arms overhead and her ankles at the other end.

  It soon became apparent that the table was something out of a medieval torture chamber where victims were stretched gruesomely. Known as the “Rack,” it had a large crank at one end just beyond the victim’s feet.

  Alex came back into view. The camera zoomed in on him as he stood over the woman.

  “Patricia here was chosen at random. Nothing that she could have done, short of staying out of the Metaverse, would have prevented this. It is unfortunate for her, or more precisely him.” Alex laughed without mirth.

  “That Patricia here, AKA Dr. Patrick Sullivan, did not have the same opportunity to prevent this from happening to him as all of you do now.”

  The video zoomed in on the woman’s face, masked in terror and pain. A piece of duct tape covered her whimpering mouth.

  “Hmm,” Alex mused as he fingered a strap on the woman’s body.

  “I think we need to make you a little more secure before we begin. Well, maybe the better choice of word would be finish.” Alex grinned.

  Argosi groaned. The internet was full of all kinds of people with all sorts of kinks. He knew what he was about to watch and wasn’t the least bit fazed by it. These virtual snuff movies were all over the internet. They only became illegal if they depicted children. Otherwise, you could participate in or view these types of activities to your heart’s content. Whole communities were devoted to these kinds of sadomasochistic activities in-world.

  Alex walked to the large crank and turned it several positions, which made a loud clicking noise. This, in turn, caused each of the four restraints attached to the victim’s ankles and wrists to pull her in opposing directions towards each end of the rack. The victim’s muffled sounds turned into faint screams.

  “There, that’s better. I think that will do.” Alex stepped back approvingly.

  The victim quieted some but was still in obvious pain, trying to thrash and resist but unable to move. Alex then stepped to a table perpendicular to the rack and against the wall.

  He removed his suit jacket, exposing his perfectly tailored white shirt. He took his time to place the jacket on a nearby chair carefully. Alex then picked up a white piece of clothing, letting it unfurl to the floor in front of him and revealing what appeared to be a long surgical type of gown. He draped himself in it and wrapped it around his waist with the attached strings, tying them quickly. The gown flowed all the way to the floor.

  “Why does this guy have to be so dramatic?” Argosi said to no one in particular.

  Alex took his time as he pulled on surgical gloves, ensuring they went over the sleeves of the gown. Then he placed a large clear visor onto his head and pulled it down over his face. His hands move to a large orange case on the table. He pushed the top of the case back to reveal a powerful looking chainsaw.

  Alex plucked the chainsaw out of its container. He maneuvered it easily as he walked over to the woman, stopping with the chain just above and to the left of her head. The straps so tight it was difficult for her to turn her head. Instead, her eyes darted furtively to the chainsaw and then back to Alex, trying to make eye contact.

  Without warning, the battery-powered chainsaw came to life. Roaring loudly, its spinning chain and sharp saw teeth spun less than a foot from her face. A look of sheer terror came over her. Alex was expressionless as he stepped to her waist area. He placed the chainsaw directly over her waist and accelerated the machine to its maximum RPM.

  Slowly, he lowered the saw down onto the woman. If she screamed, it wasn’t audible through the duct tape and over the roaring chainsaw. Her body pulled taught made little visible movement. As the spinning, sharp teeth made contact an instant red flow of blood streaked back out from the bottom of the chainsaw immediately turning the white gown Alex wore red with splattering blood as well as pieces of fabric, flesh, and bone.

  Alex held the blade steady, dropping it only a few millimeters at a time. The saw could have easily cut through the woman in no time. Alex was doing this for effect, to prolong the agony of the victim and audience.

  “Jesus Christ, dude. Just get it over with!” Argosi yelled.

  “Somebody is a sick fuck,” Keyton added.

  Alex was half way through the victim’s body, the stream of red material more a torrent now. He lowered the saw faster. The blade had cut nearly completely through her now. As it neared the surface under the victim’s body, the enormous tension of the rack violently separated the remains. Each end of her slid in the direction of the respective tension, either towards the feet or the arms. A gap of a foot or more divided the upper and lower torsos.

  The chainsaw quit and Alex set it on the table, resting it between the two pieces of the corpse. The camera stayed on the rack for a few moments as Alex dropped his gown and gloves to the floor, soon followed by the clear visor which had visible blood splatter on it. The two ends of the corpse were red and flowed with blood over the sides of the table, the white of the severed spine clearly visible in contrast.

  The camera then slowly swiveled from the victim, pausing at the open eyes and lifeless face before continuing its pan to the right. Alex came into view as he retrieved his suit coat from the chair and put it on, pulling the lapels into their proper position. He took a moment to button the middle and adjust his cuffs before glancing back to the camera. His face stayed expressionless as he began to speak.

  “What is reflected into the Metaverse can be reflected back onto the Human Element in the physical world. In this case, we chose to act simultaneously both in the Metaverse and in the real world—as some of you arrogantly refer to your environment—as if it were superior. Tonight, we have demonstrated that it is not.”

  Who are we? Argosi wondered.

  “In our next presentation, we will show our ability to kill exclusively in the Metaverse.

  “Whew.” Argosi whistled before commenting. “That’s going to be some trick.”

  Alex continued. “To make sure that you, or someone else that you may be responsible for, is not chosen, follow the instructions accompanying this presentation. It is a minuscule amount of money to pay that will, in turn, give peace of mind that you or someone you care about can enter the Metaverse without fear of harm. It is less than what most of you spend on food in a given day.”

  “I guess it depends on whether you eat real food or not.” Argosi laughed to himself.

  “Once payment has been made, you will receive confirmation that we have granted you safe passage through this world. No harm will come to anyone using that account. On this, you have our word. We are interested in gaining monetarily, not scaring you out of our world. It is, therefore, good business sense to keep our word. Otherwise why would we offer you this protection if we only wanted to rack up a body count?” Alex took on a more serious tone as he paused for effect.

  “Make no mistake, there will be a body count. It need not be your body, however.”

  “Your world? Someone needs to give you a demonstration by deleting you! You sick artificial fuck!” Argosi blurted.

  “Easy boss, you know there is a real person behind all this. This guy is the messenger.” Keyton responded.

  “I’m not so sure. I’ve worked around enough of these AE’s in training to know that they can be just as sick and twisted as the rest of us.”

  “If you’re talking about us in this room, that is pretty sick and twisted.” Leonard chimed in.

  Argosi and Keyton ignored him, turning their attention back to Alex, who droned on about the need for the account holder to make the payment without delay.

  “If you are not able to pay at this time, or if you somehow believe this is simply another internet hoax, then I urge yo
u at the very least to not enter the Metaverse. In this case, I plead with you to do the prudent thing: stay offline. Another presentation of our abilities will be sent to you in the very near future, which will further underscore the need for you to pay this very small, almost insignificant amount, for safe passage. Don’t be the imprudent person selected for this demonstration. For those of you who do pay the fee, you will not receive any more video presentations; however, I’m sure copies will be circulating if you wish to see them.”

  Alex drew himself ramrod straight before signing off.

  “Thank you for your time and please have a nice rest of your day.” Alex beamed as the video went to an interactive link with payment instructions.

  Argosi clicked on the link. It had all the billing account information for the FLETC Digital-Life account.

  “What the fuck? Some low life hacker puke has all our billing information? We’re supposed to be the F-B-Fucking-I.” Argosi slammed his fist on the desk. “And some disgusting piece of human debris who is nothing more than an oxygen thief living in their parent’s basement has that information?”

  “Well we don’t know if he is living in his parent’s basement, but that’s something we are going to find out.” A female voice interjected.

  Argosi narrowed his eyes over the payment link on his screen.

  Why is my office becoming Grand Central Station this morning?

  The voice coming from the doorway was that of Dawn Stezno.

  “Will you fellas excuse us?” She strolled into the office making brief eye contact with both Leonard and Keyton.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Leonard said as he rose to his feet.

  Keyton who had turned in his seat in response to Stezno’s statement stood and nodded his head towards her before speaking. “Commander, the LT is all yours.”

  Stezno beamed at both officers as she stood holding the door edge with her right hand, coffee cup in the other as both officers filed out.

  Stezno was a sight to behold. Attractive and fit, she had a natural command presence. She was also very no-nonsense and not one for small talk. She closed the door and walked over to Argosi’s desk. Stezno set her coffee cup down, then took the seat previously occupied by Keyton.

  “I’ll give you the good news first, Commander.”

  Argosi tapped the hologram which defaulted back to a small holographic of his phone laying on the desk.

  “I’m sorry, Dawn. What did you just call me?”

  “Yeah, that’s the good news, Dom.” Stezno picked her coffee cup up and sipped from it letting her statement sink in.

  Argosi had been anticipating the promotion as he was next on the promotion list for that rank, still it caught him by surprise.

  “Good news? Um ok, I’ll bite. What’s the bad news?”

  Stezno savored her coffee for a moment before answering.

  “Let me preface it first, you’re going to an investigative office.”

  Argosi sighed. “Dawn, I expected that. I’m ok with it, new challenges and all.”

  Stezno smiled. “That’s great to hear. Your new command is my old command, which as you know, includes Metaverse crimes. I’m headed to DC; I’m being moved up to Deputy Chief for the Western U.S. So I’ll still be your boss.”

  Argosi smiled. “That’s not bad news at all. That’s great! I’m so happy to hear that. You deserve it and will be amazing!”

  Stezno smiled at him. “That’s not the bad news, Dom.”

  Argosi canted his head. “Oh?”

  “The bad news is that your priority will be personally commanding, working with and most importantly, learning from the tech geeks. Sorry, tech officers who are at this moment setting aside smaller cases to concentrate on the murder that just shook the whole Metaverse.”

  “Okay...” Argosi clucked his tongue, still puzzled about why any of this was bad news.

  Did Stezno think he was so much of a “gun bunny” that he couldn’t adapt to a new environment? A new set of challenges? All his career he had excelled in every assignment why would she be worried about him now? Then it hit him.

  “Did you say personally?”

  Dawn stood up, chugged the last of her coffee before dropping the disposable cup in Argosi’s wastebasket. “Yup, you’re going full emersion in-world.”

  Stezno turned and walked to Argosi’s office door and opened it. As she was about to step out into the hallway, she rapped her fingers against the frame. “I almost forgot. A bird is leaving at 1100 hours to take you to the tech offices in Denver. Make sure you’re on it.” Stezno disappeared down the hallway, leaving Argosi sitting there in stunned silence.

  Port Arthur, Texas

  Since leaving Boulder, MD rode all night and into the next day before arriving at a small backwater community to the east of Houston, Texas. Port Arthur, Texas was once a major seaport hub with busy docks, a robust oil refinery and a bustling commercial district.

  Like so many other cities, Port Arthur was long since economically obsolete. A disastrous refinery fire and the resultant explosion was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Thousands of barrels of crude oil spilled into the saltwater estuary draining into the Gulf of Mexico.

  The town had already seen the collapse of its commercial district and soon became a shell of its former self. Empty homes littered the area around the seaport, damaged either directly by the explosions or the billowing black smoke and soot that covered everything. Most of the boarded-up homes lay abandoned. The state was in the process of cleaning up the area, as the city of Port Arthur itself was bankrupt. Empty lots were more numerous now than the discarded homes or the piles of rubbish from recently demolished ones. As a result, property values were depressed, and buildings, ideal for housing H-Pods were in abundant supply.

  Situated between rusting petroleum tanks and a long-abandoned subdivision was one such warehouse on West 7th Street. The metal-sided buildings looked from the outside to be in the same disrepair as the adjacent area. Weeds broke through various cracks in the asphalt and along the bottom of the ten-foot chain link fence with the barbed wire on top.

  MD’s car pulled up to an automated gate. Automated guard stations, with the advent of driverless vehicles, were usually placed on both sides of an entryway. This facility was no different. MD lowered the passenger side window, immediately feeling the humid heat of the late afternoon South Texas summer flow into the car.

  MD made the connection with his cell phone to the kiosk outside his window. Soon a voice came across the speaker.

  “Welcome, Mr. Richards.” The automated voice said, addressing MD by the alias he had created for this account.

  “Please follow the blue line to the second building, turn right and continue following the blue line until you reach garage 14, pull forward and wait for the door to open then proceed inside. Any questions?”

  Maddox synopsized the instructions back to the box.

  “Blue line to the second building, right turn then go to garage 14. Got it.”

  “Very well, Mr. Richards. Please have a pleasant stay with us.” With that, the chain-link gate clanked noisily to the right.

  MD directed his driving program to proceed through, repeating the instructions given at the gate.

  MD’s car continued past the first building which looked abandoned, but then again maybe not as the second building came into view which seemed to be in worse condition, at least on the outside. The car turned right placing building two on the driver’s side. Maddox noted that one garage door after another lined the first floor. These doors looked newer and in better condition than the rest of the facility.

  A relatively recent modification.

  The car turned into space 14 and slowly approached the garage door. After a second or two, the door opened, and MD’s car drove into an ordinary looking space, sealed off from the other garages. The inside was bright with the white walls further lit up from the overhead lights in the ceiling. The garage was clean and tidy looking, empty of any artic
les or other equipment. The car pulled forward, and MD waited for the garage to close before exiting the vehicle.

  Opening the door of the electric motor vehicle, MD was relieved to feel the cool, dry, refrigerated air. Grabbing a large garment bag from the trunk, he rushed inside. MD gave a little nod at the fresh and modern interior, nothing like the outside of the facility. An animatronic device appeared behind the counter as he came in.

  The device only seemed to be human. The realism was limited by if nothing else its perfect skin, teeth, hair and other flawless human attributes. The device resembled a young man. MD wondered if this was by design since he was himself a male.

  “Welcome, Mr. Richards.” The device spoke with a slight southern drawl. “My name is Robert; I will be your assigned attendant. One moment, sir. Just confirming that you are at the right pod and that the correct settings are in place for you.”

  MD smiled. The device seemed not to notice. MD wondered if that was by design, like servants of past days.

  “Very well, sir. We are all set. I will meet you at the door to your right.”

  MD wondered why Robert had to be so descriptive. There were only two doors. The one he came in through from the garage and the other one on the other side of the counter window. By the time MD went to the door Robert had it open and MD stepped through into another room. Although he expected it to be the case, MD still had to take a second look at Robert.

  From the waist up Robert appeared human. One head, two arms, etc. From the waist down he was a platform. No legs, just a pedestal with two wheels that kept him gyroscopically balanced, a more economical and practical way to build such a device. It was stable and efficient; the two wheels could split so that it could go up or down stairs.