8 Trials Deep

CHAPTER 3: POLITICS HAVE NO RELATION TO MORALS

The moment he channeled his consciousness into the avatar RF-13 felt like several pounds of weight crushed into his body with the additional weight. The appearance of the avatar was not actually what bothered RF-13, it was the limitations to his mobility and his motor control, he was clumsy in this body.

RF-13 was disoriented, not to consider this sudden shift in physique, this was the first time he had used another avatar in entering the virtual community. He had barely adjusted his balance controls when he felt someone poking him on the side of his stomach.

“Looking good, Twinkle Toes,” said a voice overflowing with delight.

”My name is Grunt, remember?” RF-13 retorted with a flat tone.

A hysterical laughter rang in the small room where they had materialized. Grunt had craned his double-chinned neck to find Leta’s figure bent over with laughter. She looked exactly how her avatar appeared in the physical dimension, except she could touch him now without her hand going through his body. The two of them and practically everyone in the virtual community were avatars.

RF-13 had the passing thought of asking her why she did not change avatars for anonymity but held it in. If she was confident with using her current avatar he had nothing more to say. She looked like she knew what she was doing.

He let 10 seconds tick off before going over to Leta’s bent figure from laughing and giving her a few pats on the back. “Okay, that’s enough, time to be serious. It’s just 10 minutes before the auction starts, let’s go.”

With a reminder of their main purpose Leta straightened up and followed Grunt. They walked out of the room and was met by an extravagant sight, the hall before them was grandly and lavishly decorated. It was a circular hall at least a few hundred meters in diameter. It was enclosed with almost countless doors that served as gateway portals for those entering the virtual community. An attendant bearing the symbol of the Bonds system seemed to have been impatiently waiting for them just outside their gateway.

“I already arranged a transport, he thinks we’re some kind of dignitaries from the Fortis Region,” Leta whispered to Grunt.

Grunt nodded, it explained the thinly-veiled disdain of the attendant. Although they were supposed to be dignitaries, the Fortis Region was the last in the pecking order of the Visus Alliance. If five regiis currencies was equivalent to one alliance currency, it needed ten fortis currencies to match one alliance currency. The powers behind the Bonds system had been rising these past few years, gathering not only currencies but also connection from all the regions, kingdoms and settlements of the Visus alliance.

It was not strange that those working under them had this disdainful air. Most especially towards mere Fortis dignitaries who were not even on the top stratum of the hierarchy. Still, they did not dare to blatantly disrespect an old order.

The attendant quickly came to them and inquired after their auction pass. Leta passed him a silver card.

Upon receiving, the attendant promptly led the way. While the two followed, Grunt whispered a barely audible question, “By the way, what happened to the original dignitaries?”

Leta replied nonchalantly, “He encountered an intrusive string of code that reacted against his computer’s programming. Hence, he is locked out of the virtual community for a while. I suspect, it will be quite a long while.”

RF-13 wondered the extent of Leta’s abilities. The avatar had eyes and ears everywhere; no security system was impregnable to her. If not for her temper, RF-13 would have thought she was an AI. She was not letting anything slip, RF-13 also did not have the interest to dig up her secrets. He had more urgent things in front of him. What mattered was he was sure he could trust her. Bearing that in mind, RF-13 shifted his focus in front.

He was having difficulties keeping up, what with his short legs and wieght. It also took some time to adjust to the new view, he was used to looking down than looking up at people.

This avatar really is too short, RF-13 thought. The avatar was actually average in height. However, to RF-13 accustomed to being tall it was indeed short.

The attendant led them outside the gigantic gateway building. It was a spacious plaza stretching out thousands of meters. Airborne vehicles of all sorts and sizes soared in the air across it. The nearby buildings looked like modern versions of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace garden, a healthy growth of greenery adorning them.

The attendant strutted towards one of the numerous glass booths located in rows across the cobblestone square. It looked like a telephone booth- except it was all glass and without a telephone. He inputted a code on his MA and waved it at the glass panel. The glass door slid open. The two crowded into the booth and positively almost squashed themselves when the attendant also stepped in and closed the door. A humming sound reverberated inside before the scenery outside changed within a blink of an eye.

The three scrambled to exit the glass encasement and found themselves on the streets right outside the Knight’s tavern.

The two were hurriedly directed towards the auction room, the attendant eager to get rid of them. The public room was styled luxuriously, no less extravagant than the gateway building. The seats they were ushered in were seven rows away from the exhibition stage. Still, the proximity was close enough.

The first three seats were for the VIP’s, those who sat there were present only for the main auction commodities. The fourth, fifth and sixth rows were for those burgess merchants and those who had wealth but no status. The next rows of seats were for impromptu bidders, anonymous participants and simply for those disregarded by the Bonds but they could not turn away. The auctioneers were not expecting to get any profitable bids from the last few rows.

As a result of being seated at the back the two of them could see all the primary bidders, unless a dark horse was hiding in the rows adjacent to them.

Grunt turned to Leta and whispered in a low voice, “Scan all the people on the room and find where the seller is.”

Leta nodded and began fiddling with her MA. After a moment passed she whispered back, “He’s in the tenth row, three seats from the right aisle.”

Grunt gave the figure a side-glance before casually withdrawing his eyes. M-6 was with three other people. Probably fellow merchants.

“M-6 is here to bid,” Grunt remarked to his companion.

“How can you tell?” asked Leta interested.

“In the information you sent me he usually does not attend the bidding for his commodities. As you noted he and the Bonds have a good relationship. He could have just let the Bonds handle the transaction then receive his share from them. The only instances he comes to the bidding himself is when the number and quality of his commodities are high.” RF-13 shuddered with suppressed fury. Thinking about his sister being a commodity made him almost unable to restrain the rising emotions. He continued, “Though he is expecting quality with his commodities now, the numbers are not the usual. The only reason left is that he plans to vie for a specific item. What it is, we can only wait and see.”

Just as he finished speaking the sound of the gavel rang in the auction hall.

Grunt had to consciously pry his fingers off the armrest. He had unconsciously wrapped his fingers on it, as if wanting to crush it.

As expected, since the auction was set in the virtual world the trade was highly confidential and tightly secured. As soon as they occupied their seats an attendant promptly gave them what appeared to be non-grade eyeglasses with sturdy white frames. RF-13 put it on and swiped the room with his eyes, information was floating in neat listings beside some of the people in the hall. RF-13 realized that the auctioneers didn’t even want them to connect their private computer systems with the auctioneer’s network, even if these was the virtual world and in a territory where they had large control.

RF-13 read the information of some of the bidders in the room. All of them were big players in the Visus Alliance. They most likely allowed the auction house to release their information in order to scare off rivals and reduce competition on items they wanted.

Still, since the auction was to be held here in the virtual community, none of them could be infringed if they chose to participate in an illegal transaction. The Bonds system or their fellow bidders wouldn’t be pointing fingers at them. In this scenario to be a witness was also to be a participant and a fellow criminal. Beast know beast, birds of a feather flock together.

“They don’t want this transaction to be traced to them or to any of their clients,” noted Leta.

“As to be expected, it is at least prohibited to trade minors as commodities, even in the Bonds system. She still has five years before these procedures can be considered legal.” Grunt gritted his teeth. Majority of the bidders here were most likely the law legislators and enforcers themselves. No authority wanted to be caught violating the order they themselves set.

RF-13 had long realized one bitter truth. He whispered absentmindedly, “When authority went unchecked and unchallenged for too long, they are bound to abuse.”

Minutes later the hall descended in silence. A well-dressed man was standing on the auction platform. Though young, it seemed that the auctioneer was quite shrewd. He opened the auction with a brief precise speech and quickly pitched the first item.

It lay on a small circular table at the center of the stage. The item appeared to look like a cube made of solid gold. The auctioneer handled it carefully with a gloved hand and with several calculated rotations the cube revealed a complex pattern embedded into the metal.

“This is the latest creation of the deep net’s mysterious Horseman- the Magus Coder,” the auctioneer opened. His eyes gleamed with palpable greed. “It can undermine security restrictions as high as level six.”

The crowd subtly went electric hearing this. Their sources had hinted an item by the notoriously mysterious deep net figure, the Horseman. The Horseman was a wanted personality in the entire Visus Alliance. He had been credited with several of the most security breaches, whether government or private institutions. However, not one of the pursuing parties caught head or tail of the infamous fugitive. He would appear here and there seemingly without rhyme or reason.

In reality, the Bonds wanted the Coder for themselves. However, they had a reputation to uphold to their clients on both sides. Besides, they didn’t want the Horseman coming after them. He had proved to be troublesome in more than one occasion.

“You’re not actually the Horseman, are you?” Grunt eyed the woman beside him.

“I wouldn’t choose the name Horseman if I was, what do you think about ‘Princess’?” Leta asked lightly. “I once tried tracking his activity footprints all over the network but he just led me on a merry-go-round. The man or woman is as elusive as a flying pig.”

“Not interested in taking it?”

“Not really, I can break into a level six facility just fine. What I am curious about is why the Horseman released something like this to the public,” murmured Leta.

“He probably wants to see the alliance fighting amongst themselves for it,” remarked RF-13.

Everybody knew the Horseman’s not so subtle antipathy towards the Alliance order. The two watched as the formal bidding began.

The current era was ruled by the Vis Alliance, a coalition of the most powerful forces. Its center and foremost power figure was the Vis megacity. It was where the alliance was drawn after the Avaritia Apocalyptic war. Pontus settlement came next with most of its population living in underwater cities and provinces. The Regiis kingdom, a monarchial society, was where RF-13 came from. The Fortis Region had the largest territory in the physical reality. However, most of it was barren, resulting in an inferior economy amongst the four giants. Of course, there were still minor cities and towns that refused to join or bow to the Alliance but most of them had negligible power and influence.

Unfortunately for the Fortis region, their current dignitaries were not interested in bidding for the Magus Coder. RF-13 was on the edge, anxious to get to his sister’s bidding. He watched dully as the bids continued to rise.