8 Trials Deep

CHAPTER 2: TRUE FRIENDS STAB YOU IN THE FRONT

RF-13 looked at his right wrist where his MA or mobile assistant was strapped. It looked like a watch with a glass face. He fiddled with it for a short moment to check for transports scheduled to depart from the academy. To an outsider, the young man looked like he was tapping the empty air in front of his wrist. But RF-13 was surfing the augmented reality interface his computer projected through the smart contacts on his eyes. A beeping on his earpiece sounded when he had successfully hailed the next ride.

He waited for at most three minutes when a flying vehicle landed right in front of him. It was a 15-seater spherocopter with five passengers.

The door mechanically opened then closed with a low hum after he stepped in. He sat opposite a mother and a son who were looking out towards the panoramic view of the dense jungle below. The academy was located a considerable distance from the nearest metropolitan. The two probably just finished a tour of the academy or visited a family. The other passengers were either snoozing or immersed with their devices. The one seating next to him was conversing with somebody through the net but only she could see the projection or hear the other’s reply. Thankfully, her device’s sound jammer muted the woman’s voice.

RF-13 settled his briefcase on the floor beside his feet and leaned the back of his head against the window glass. He had to think about what he would do with the situation.

His step-father had probably got himself in trouble with some powerful people and wanted to trade his daughter as a way out. RF-13 felt surprised that he was not surprised at all by his step-father’s move of selling off his own blood daughter just to save himself.

The man was an absentee father, if you could call him a father at all.

From what A-343, his older said his younger sister was probably already scheduled to be auctioned. He had pleaded with her to use every means to get his younger brother away from their father less the man decided to just trade the pair off at once. He grit his teeth to suppress the rising sense of frustration.

RF-13’s train of thought was interrupted by two short consecutive beeps from the earpiece he wore on his left ear. A projection flashed in front of his eyes, it was an invitation. RF-13 faded it out off his interface, he was not interested.

He decided to sift through the network’s employment websites for job listings:

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Position: Time Keeper

Employer: Visus Alliance

Location: Time Space

Offer: 10,000,000 Alliance Currencies (FOR EACH TIME DUTY)

RF-13 contemplated, The offer is probably sufficient. But the next time I get back will be at least 10 years in the future. Too long.

Besides, on the off chance he encounter his step-father in the past, he would probably break the law himself and make sure that man never gets to the present.

Too risky.

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Position: Submarine Tour Operator

Employer: Morte Industries

Location: Ava Underwater City, Pontus Settlement

Offer: 12,000 Pontus Currencies

Too low.

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Position: Warp Data Researcher

Employer: Killion Laboratories

Location: Xerun City, Fortis Region

Offer: 150,000 Fortis Currencies

Still too low, probably not qualified as well.

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Position: Virtual Security Gamer

Employer: Anzo Gaming Corporation

Location: Novus City, Regiis Kingdom

Offer: 80,000 Regiis Currencies

Too low.

He was disappointed to confirm his expectations. There was no way to earn large amount of funds fast the legal way. If there really was no other way then he would have to use his last resort.

“So you really did quit?” a voice spoke on his left ear, interrupting his train of thought.

“Leta,” RF-13 replied while activating the projector feature on his mobile. A full-bodied animated avatar appeared in front of him.

Avatars were computer-generated visual representation of a person. Usually, people preferred to set a life-like holographic projections of their selves when communicating. Hence some avatars looked no different than the actual user. However, there were also those who used anonymity avatars. Some looked like mascots, 3-dimensional cartoon or animated characters. Leta was the former. She looked like an actual person, however RF-13 was not entirely sure she looked like her avatar in person. Besides, he was not even sure ‘Leta’ was a woman. He met her on a military strategy simulation game and they had never actually met.

He was mystified by her casual use of an alphabetic name without a number. Maybe she was a 'Somebody'. Or she could be proficient enough in hiding her identity from the Name Order Enforcers in the deep web. He suspected the latter.

RF-13 checked to make sure that his sound jammer was on active mode.

“There was nothing I could do. I can’t ask A-343 to handle this matter. It was good enough she notified me about it.”

“You can’t ask your older sister to take care of your younger siblings?” Leta’s avatar’s left eyebrow rose.

“They are not blood related,” RF-13 casually replied.

“Oh. I sense a family drama here,” Leta said with a little exaggeration. She, or technically, her avatar moved to seat next to him. Of course, except him, none of the passengers could see her.

“It doesn’t say, ‘Now Showing’ does it?” RF-13 asked with the perpetual half-moon smile on his lips.

“Let me guess, your father divorced her mother to be with your mother. Then your mother divorced her father to be with your step-father, who is now the father of your younger siblings.”

“You actually snooped on my file,” RF-13 noted matter-of-factly while giving the avatar a side glance.

Leta smiled, as if she did the most natural thing in the world. “I was curious.”

“So you hacked the academy’s database and read my file.”

“What else could I have done? But it was not AFA’s, it was the Citizen Bureau’s database. Less security.”

“You could have asked me,” replied RF-13. “Stalking is a criminal offense.”

“You won’t report me,” Leta voiced confidently.

“Reporting network security intruders guarantee considerable reward in Alliance Currency,” stated RF-13. He was quoting from a notice by the Regiis Network System.

“You need me to negotiate for your sister,” Leta replied while sliding her fingers on a tabular projection floating in front of her. “Your step-father had already transferred your sister to his creditor who had arranged her to be auctioned on the Bonds regular auction events. Because she is considered a prime commodity the auction is set on the virtual community. Bidders will be attending using their avatars. From what information I gathered the seller will also be present during the auction, I’m sending the profile of his avatar to you. Do you still want to report me?”

“This avatar, is he a frequent seller?” RF-13 ignored the question with another question. He scanned the information Leta sent him.

Leta paused for several minutes while retrieving the avatar’s activity and history. “Yes, his avatar goes by the name of M-6. I doubt that is his actual name but it’s likely that he is from the merchant class, judging by the number of his trading transactions. As it appears he specializes in trading young people.”

“My sister is only 15, she should not be eligible to be a bond commodity,” RF-13 frowned.

“Apparently, M-6 and the auctioneers have a very good relationship. Aside from currencies going from the auctioneers to M-6’s account it also goes the other way. But that only happens before an exhibition of M-6’s commodities. It mostly happens when the commodity appears to be too young.”

“And the government is turning a blind eye on this?” asked RF-13. His tone, however made it sound like a statement more than a question.

“The Bonds System has deep pockets,” said Leta as she continued filtering through bytes of information.

“A good number of the bidders are actually royalties and dignitaries. This is like the underground playground of those in power.” Leta issued a command and additional information poured into his interface. “As we speak bidders are appearing in the virtual community. You need to get into a gateway cubicle in five minutes. I created an untraceable new avatar for you if you’re not planning to use your usual network persona. Would you like to use it?”

“Yes, send it to my virtual computer,” said RF-13 as he bent to pick up the case on his feet. They had almost reached the landing station. “I’ll retrieve it later using my MA.” He looked at the avatar who also moved to stand beside him and asked, “Why are you helping me?”

Leta also turned to him as she replied. “Let’s just say I have a lot of free time and you are interesting.”

The young man faked a cough, “I feel like I’m either an organism under a microscope or a potential love interest. I’d rather be the former, I have no interests for stalker avatars.”

“Am not!” Leta retorted indignantly.

“Stalkers have a lot of time, they use it mostly following people of interest.” RF-13 watched as Leta’s face turned from a shade of green to red, like a ripening tomato.

What an expressive avatar, RF-13 privately remarked.

“Alright, from now on I’ll call you ‘Tomato’. Leta sounds too bland. Tomato always sounds better.”

“I’ll pound you to smithereens,” Leta roared as she reached her hands to grab his collar. But she had forgotten that she was an avatar in the physical dimension, her hands passed right through RF-13’s shoulders.

He stepped beside the doorway and looked back on the figure sprawled on the floor. All the passengers were already stepping out of the vehicle. The avatar briskly picked herself off the ground before glaring at the man standing at the exit.

Seeing this, the man’s half-moon smile morphed into a smirk. “See you in a bit, Tomato.” RF-13 stepped out as the last unloading passenger and navigated his MA to end the 3-D communication. He turned back to see Leta’s projection persona quickly fading even before the door of the airlift closed. Then he navigated the streets with brisk steps to the closest gateway hub in the area.

The shop was at a remotely quite part of the neighborhood, it had a black and white motif. The reception parlor was a bit narrow but the cubicle gateways were clean and spacious enough.

An interactive signboard was displayed just in front of the counter with several advertisements flashing in 3-D. One display was on the transaction guidelines:

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Origin : Exchange Rate

Vis Metropolitan: Vis Alliance Currency - Highest Denomination

Pontus Currency: 3 Pontus currency = 1 Vis Alliance Currency

Regiis Kingdom: 5 Regiis currency = 1 Vis Alliance Currency

Fortis Region: 10 Fortiis currency = 1 Vis Alliance Currency

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“Three alliance currencies for an hour,” a teen at least 4 years younger than him manned the reception. He had spiky hair and sharp features, making him look rather elfish.

RF-13 waved his the wrist where his MA was attached in front of the scanner. 15 regiis currencies registered on the receptionist screen. 5 regiis currency was equivalent to 1 alliance currency. The elfish boy sent a confirmation code to the customer. “Sixth cubicle to the right, the shop has a limited-time offer so every hour-extensions cost only two alliance currencies.”

RF-13 nodded and walked to his cubicle. He waved his MA in front of the cubicle and the lock automatically opened. RF-13 stepped in and closed it placing the briefcase on a small table beside the reclining chair. The cubicle was approximately 3 meters in length and 2 meters wide. Aside from the small table, the recliner that resembled a dentist’s chair and headwear made of glass, there were no other fixtures on the room. The headwear was connected to the reclining chair through several wires.

RF-13 loosened the MA from his hand and mounted it on the port that opened on the right armrest.

His MA connected to the gateway headgear, RF-13 reclined on the chair with the gear fitted on his head then directed his interface to go to his avatar vault. One avatar package was pending. RF-13 approved it and immediately a new avatar was added.

However, RF-13’s mind seemed to have frozen from shock when he saw the avatar Tomato sent him. The avatar was a pockmarked-faced middle-aged man with a serious case of a bear belly. According to the attached profile the avatar’s name was Grunt.

Talk about being subtle, RF-13 thought.

RF-13 gave a mental sigh. He could actually tweak the avatar a little but there was not enough time. He looked at the timer on the upper right corner of the display screen and saw that there was scarcely more than a quarter of an hour left until the auction.

He could not use Gin, his usual avatar. The young man resignedly locked on Grunt and confirmed the entry to the virtual community, adding the purpose as a visit to the auction hall of the Knight’s Tavern.