EHuman Dawn Read online

  “You mean the reduced hours due to New Omaha’s labor shortage?”

  “He wasn’t interested in talking about the labor shortage at all. He wanted to talk about the fact that the WG is trying to keep people from listening to the Hactivist’s message of freedom from government control.”

  Anthony winced as Adam spoke the words, “He also informed me that he’s stepping down from his position as CEO and Jumping tomorrow.”

  Anthony remained lurking in the doorway, his expression momentarily nonplussed and eyes vacant as if powered off. Then he twitched and came back to life.

  “Request for one-to-one communication,” Anthony hissed.

  “Denied,” Adam responded tersely.

  “You have no right to deny my request,” Anthony retorted.

  “Yes, I do. I don’t have to grant anyone access if I choose not to. Why are you so uptight about it? Just close the door behind you and I’ll tell you anything you want,” Adam stood up and pointed to the door that had swung open at Anthony’s request.

  Anthony stepped forward and fully entered the office, muttering the word, “Secure,” as he slowly and deliberately slunk toward Adam. The door slid shut while Adam remained behind his desk, clutching the envelope close to his chest.

  “Why are you so paranoid, Adam?” Anthony purred smoothly, “I simply want to discuss things man-to-man.”

  “I’m not paranoid,” Adam replied, “I don’t like people messing around in my head!” Anthony gave a suppressed smile at the comment. Adam continued, “Anyway, as I said, the interview didn’t go as planned. Abramhoff was distant, confused, and angry. He told me he was stepping down and that I was the first to know. Then he gave me this envelope and dismissed me.”

  “What’s in it?” Anthony asked, raising one eyebrow.

  “He told me not to share it with anyone,” Adam replied.

  “Then why did you bring it to the office?” Anthony sneered.

  Why hadn’t he listened to Douglas? Perhaps it was his naiveté, as Adam had long trusted the WG. Perhaps it was because Adam, even in his wildest dreams, couldn’t have imagined the terrible story the documents would tell.

  “Give me the envelope, Adam,” Anthony said in a harsh tone.

  Adam shrugged and handed it over. Immediately Anthony tore open the envelope and held up a picture in his hand. Like an animal that had just fallen into a trap, Adam suddenly felt the urge get the hell out of his small office.

  “When you read it, you’ll see I don’t have an angle, or least not the one you want. I’m not even sure I can do a Newsreel today. I’m all confused,” Adam confessed.

  Laughing, Anthony held up a hand to interrupt him.

  “Oh, this explains a lot. Neuro traffic said Douglas was losing it. Couldn’t handle that Borgmans wasn’t the powerful company it had once been. Anyway, looks like he is not only losing it—he’s cracked! This is complete nonsense. I wonder where he got the paper to create this farce?”

  Adam stared incredulously at Anthony. Farce? He cringed at Anthony’s amused reaction.

  “Cracked?” Adam muttered.

  “Exactly! How about I keep these and make sure they’re fake? If I find out anything, we can TeleConnect. You seem pretty shaken. Go home and get this off your mind. Perhaps log in and participate in a few Virtual Programs. I’ll have Tiffany do the Newsreel tonight. I think our new angle will be the sudden insanity of Mr. Douglas Abramhoff and his decision to Jump. Did you happen to get a description of who he’s going to be next?”

  Adam gave him the details he had seen on the Jump Request device. Satisfied, Anthony stood silently in front of Adam for a moment, staring him with an intense interest. His coal-black eyes bore into Adam’s soul, focusing on him as if to take a picture, or register the moment permanently in his data file. Adam had never noticed how dark his boss’s eyes were before. Finally, Anthony turned on his heel and left Adam’s office singing “Time is On My Side” by the ancient rock band, The Rolling Stones.

  Adam took Anthony’s advice and headed straight home. He found himself confused yet again. On one hand, his relief was enormous. The story Douglas had given him was terrifying beyond comprehension. For Anthony to prove it a farce would be salve to Adam’s anxious mind. The idea of the WG whimsically killing citizens seemed too sinister, even to Adam. Yet on the other hand, if the events in Chengdu proved to be true, then Adam had just been given the story of a lifetime: his chance to show his quality. By revealing such treachery, he’d no longer be a mere local newscaster regurgitating the news written by the Guardians. The Chengdu story would make him an international hero. eHumans all over the world would take notice of him. Lost in his thoughts yet again, Adam slugged his way out of the building to catch a ride home.

  While waiting outside his office in the PTD queue for a ride, he glanced up at the sky. There were rain clouds forming, and a slight panic rose within him. In all his confusion about the Borgman interview, he’d left his rain gear in his office. Being wet made most eHumans very nervous, even though the eHuman body was water resistant. However it wasn’t water proof. The fear was electrically based: too much water can short out electrical devices. The Chi-Regulator was an electrical device of great importance, and if it went on the fritz when no one else was around to save you, it was game over.

  No Chi-Regulator, no Lux. No Lux, no life.

  As a result, no one swam or lived near lakes, oceans, rivers or streams. All the new eHuman-capable cities had been built inland and away from water, in order to prevent people from submerging themselves. A little rain would be fine, provided Adam didn’t get soaked. He was relieved when at last a PTD arrived and he climbed in, informing the vehicle to take him home. When he entered his apartment, safe and dry, he found his housemate, Thomas, using the EC yet again.

  “Hey Adam,” Thomas called out as he moved around the room, gesturing an intense fist fight with the air surrounding him, kicking and punching in between sentences. “I’m fighting a huge battle droid...” Kick, punch. “Tonight’s Wars of the Past Virtual Programming episode is...” Spin, turn, kick, jump. “Re-enacting the Battle of Baghdad of 2023. Totally kicks ass. Want to join?” He stopped moving and stared at Adam.

  Normally Adam would have accepted, but today his mind was whirling. Even though he had just recharged the night before, Adam suddenly felt the need to plug in again. He wanted to forget things a bit and the best way to do that was on Neuro, enjoying a Pleasure Zone App.

  Shaking his head he said, “I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

  While Thomas was distracted by his disappointment with Adam’s refusal, the Iraqi battle droid he was fighting on Neuro whipped his butt and he lost his round. He cursed out loud and began the invasion again.

  Many people enjoyed the gaming aspect of Neuro that included movement. Adam, however, preferred the more private applications he could access when plugged in, particularly the Pleasure Zone Apps, which were programs based on the electrical signals of an orgasm or a drunken, consciousness altering state. Since eHumans were no not able to have sex or get stoned, due to a lack of the appropriate organs needed for such activities, Neuro had been developed to include several virtual reality applications that sent said impulses to the eHuman neuro-network.

  As a result, sex did not happen between two physical bodies in the eHuman world. Instead it occurred in a virtual bedroom, where anything one desired could be created on demand. From being a king indulging in his harem for eight hours of recharging, to a quickie with a stranger on the beach, eHuman sex life was online every time. The Pleasure Zone library had something for everyone. And it was pleasure, not war, that Adam always sought out in his moments of despair. He walked over to his recharge room, passing by Jill’s room along the way. A green light pulsed over the doorway, signaling the room was occupied.

  Jill’s online, Adam thought guiltily. He wondered if Miranda had figured out his fascination with Jill. It shouldn’t have mattered. Most people had several companions and partners. G
iven that the eHuman couldn’t reproduce, the romanticism of marriage and family had faded from existence centuries ago. Modern eHumans relationships were considered fluxual arrangements. Upon entering his recharge room, Adam closed and locked the door, backed up into the slight indentation in the wall that matched his body shape, plugged in and began to search the network for Jill, or anyone else, who was willing to engage with him.

  “Good evening, Adam Winter,” Neuro messaged after he logged on, “based on your activities today, may we suggest the following application downloads to provide entertainment and relaxation?”

  It was amazing how accurate Neuro was at interpreting what downloads any individual might need. Architected as an operating system run by human thought, Neuro had thousands of data manipulation and interpretation algorithms at its disposal. Adam approved the downloads and instantly began to feel himself relax. The AppPortal rose before him, offering games, activities and pleasures of all sorts for him to choose from. A virtual make-your-own dream land.

  He thought about Jill and instantly Neuro directed him to “Persian Pleasure,” one of her favorite Apps. Jill had a thing for group sex based on historical fiction. In this case, Adam would take on an AlterEgo called Alphaea, a Greek warrior from the time of Alexander the Great, and spend hours exploring sex of all flavors with others taking AlterEgos of the newly conquered harem of King Darius III. As Adam imagined his AlterEgo, Neuro painted the world around him and instantly he found himself scantily dressed in only a skirt made of leather strips and golden arm cuffs on his bronzed Greek arms, complete with genitals from the age of the flesh.

  He was in the large, luxurious harem. Musicians played, women in scarves danced, and everywhere people were conversing, laughing, flirting and indulging in the joys of the flesh. It was a cornucopia for the erotic senses, an absolute coital dream.

  He began to walk the room, looking for Jill. She usually took the AlterEgo of a young female consort called Xiao, and given that she’d logged on before him, she was most likely already engaged in an orgy. It would be public; she loved being watched. Adam pushed through the crowds of virtual gamers, allowing Neuro to guide him towards his goal: Jill’s bed.

  Suddenly someone harshly grabbed his right arm and spun him around.

  “Get off now!”

  It was the beautiful blonde from the elevator.

  “Huh?” Adam asked. He was confused. He’d never seen her in Neuro before. What was she doing there? She wasn’t even using an AlterEgo and was fully dressed in some sort of modern, black rubber suit. How did she recognize him? It was fairly obvious that she wasn’t there to play.

  “Get off now!” she replied again.

  “What the hell?” Adam answered her with irritation, “I am trying to get off.”

  “No,” she demanded with urgency, “Get off the network now. The Guardians are looking for you. Your boss has alerted them. Soon they will be reading your mind. Unplug now. Make sure your wireless is off!”

  “Who are you?” he asked, completely confused at this turn of events.

  “If you want to know, then do as I say and log off now. Go immediately to The House Of Jazz on 145th and L Street. I’ll find you there,” the beautiful woman explained.

  The entire interaction felt wrong and out of place.

  At that moment Jill cried out to him, calling him over to her bed, where she lay, stretched out amongst the pillows and silks with nothing on but a veil covering the bottom half of her face. She was surrounded by several other Greek soldiers, eager to join in the games and awaiting her direction.

  The blonde woman looked around at the display with disgust.

  “If you value your life, you need to come with me,” she warned.

  Then she turned and walked out of the room, not even glancing at the sexual encounters going on around her. The door to the harem shut behind her.

  “Dearest Alphaea!” Jill cried dramatically to him from the bed, “Come here! I’m lonely!”

  Adam quickly made his choice.

  It took all his will for Adam to logout, leaving the harem behind, hit the release switch, and step forward, unplugging himself from the wall socket and Neuro. He had no idea who the blonde woman was, but he needed to follow up with her. The exchange had seemed urgent. As he ran down the hall to the elevator he heard the apartment door open and Jill call out to him.

  “Adam!” her mechanical voice rang out, reverberating off the slick metal walls of the hallway, “What the hell just happened in there?”

  As the elevator doors opened, he turned and glanced over his shoulder. Jill stood with her hands on her hips, an accusing look on her face. Shrugging, he entered the elevator and stared as the closing elevator doors blocked out her form with a muted thump.

  “Garage,” he spoke.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The House of Jazz was packed. On the crowded dance floor, couples moved in unison to an eight-piece band. eHumans crowded around various screen top tables and the Pleasure Zones had lines. Adam watched as one eHuman after another placed his or her hands on glass spheres atop pedestals that littered the room. He could see their faces relax and light up with pleasure as the electromagnetic currents pulsed through their hands and instantly satisfied their every desire.

  He was contemplating stepping up for a hit himself, when a silky voice behind him cooed, “Before we were eHuman, we used to order liquor at the clubs to feel that way. Now we simply have to place our hands on our own technology and we can feel bliss whenever we want. Fantastic, isn’t it?”

  Adam turned and saw the golden-haired woman standing near him. She wore a long red dress, sequins sparkling in the nightclub lights. Her deep green eyes pierced his own. She was much more beautiful in real life than in Neuro. Adam was suddenly ashamed that she’d caught him in the harem.

  “When we first became eHuman, the scientists thought we wouldn’t need activities such as getting stoned or making love,” she purred, tossing her long hair over one shoulder, “but it became clear within the first round of eHumans experiments that our Lux simply couldn’t tolerate the world without a little vavoom. So they upgraded our bodies to have inputs in the hands that could receive electrical impulses.”

  “Sex without getting pregnant,” Adam said, although it was hard for him to speak. “Binge drinking without throwing up, heroin without an overdose…”

  “Truly ingenious, don’t you think?” the blonde said, arching her eyebrow knowingly.

  Adam was in awe. Not only because she was beautiful, but also because of the way she spoke about the days before the eHuman. No one ever spoke that way. No one could remember. Her presence completely unnerved him.

  “Lies,” he said, finally finding his voice, “You have no idea what life was like on Earth before the Great Shift. No one does.”

  “Is it not written in Neuro?” she countered, gesturing her arms to the space around them, “All the information is there, if you only look. There are hundreds of thousands of documented accounts of life in the flesh. You’ve just stopped looking for the past, Adam Winter, which is why you cannot recall it. Unfortunately, you aren’t the only one who isn’t interested in history.”

  She stared at him with deep disappointment, as if she took the failures of the entire human race personally.

  “How do you know my name?” he demanded.

  “I invited you here. Please—let’s dance. I can tell you more.”

  She held out her hand gracefully. In spite of himself, Adam took it in his own. He could feel her energy pulsing at the edges of her skin.

  Ah, he thought, she’s upgraded her system to send electrical currents through her hands. He’d heard about eHumans who could mimic different Pleasure Zone Apps by generating the equivalent currents—sending them through their hands to their partners. To Adam, it had always seemed like senseless waste of money. Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure.

  She led him through the crowd to a spot on the dance floor near the band. A tango—with a stranger. Over one hund
red different ballroom dances had been downloaded into his program bank, so Adam had no problem leading her as they talked.

  “So,” he began, “why did you call me here? Would you prefer to connect one-to-one wirelessly so that we can discuss it in private?”

  “No,” she shook her head, her blonde hair cascading around her perfect face, “Neuro is the most public place in the world. It’s only an illusion that you’re protected by the one-to-one feature. In reality, everything you do or say is monitored.”

  “Well, by the Guardians—yes. But they wouldn’t be too concerned with what I think and say to my friends,” Adam laughed, sounding almost confident that what he was saying was true.

  “That’s incorrect,” she answered coolly. “You’ve been on the Guardian’s radar for about ninety years. They find it suspicious that you’ve refused to Jump since your inception. In addition, you work for the Friend’s Network and run a very popular Newsreel. Lastly, after the stupid mistake you made with your boss today, I think you can be sure you’ll never have a private moment on Neuro again.”

  “What stupid mistake?” Adam asked, completely bewildered.

  “Didn’t Douglas tell you to read the file in private?” she challenged.

  “Well, yes—but how do you know about that?”

  He looked at her emotionless face.

  “Who do you think gave those documents to Douglas?”

  Realization began to dawn on Adam’s face.

  “You’re the friend he mentioned? You’re the Hactivist?”

  “Yes. Shame really, had you listened to his instructions, we would have been able to Jump him tomorrow. Because of you—he’ll never get his chance,” she admitted.

  “Wait a minute—who the hell are you to accuse me of anything?” Adam could feel anger pulse through his circuitry.

  “Douglas asked you to read it in private. And instead, you shared classified information with the spin master of our time, Anthony Westfield! Do you think he simply let it go when you left the office? He called the Guardians at the New Omaha LMO, who have taken Douglas to some undisclosed site to be investigated. His memory will be read and he’ll be killed. And now you’re being watched.”