ã€ŠSuicideã€‹


 Prologue

    The sidewalk seemed overly harsh to Christina¡¯s pounding feet. She stumbled along the flat ground and fell against the wall. She groaned at the pain shooting out from her dislocated arm knocking against the course brick building exterior. She nearly fell to the ground, hardly the first time it would have happened. Just walking was hard enough, even before the countless bruises and tears across her body.

    There weren¡¯t many people walking around, but she was garnering looks from all of those that noticed her. After making it up the stoop and into the building, Christina breathed an exhausted sigh. The hard part was done, she could use the elevator to get up to the 5<sup>th</sup> floor. She was relieved that she didn¡¯t have to share it, but as soon as she stepped out onto her floor, she noticed her neighbor standing in the hallway, as she always seemed to do.

    Christina tried to stand up straight and carry herself normally, but it was an impossible task. Even if she were able to fake a healthy stride, there was no way she could hide her swollen split lip, black eye, or small spots of blood staining her torn blouse. Her neighbor was shocked, keeping her eyes locked on Christina as she slowly passed. Just as she opened the door to her apartment, she looked back over to her neighbor and watched as she extended her middle finger. The gesture was in contrast to the look of worry on the woman¡¯s face. Christina raised a confused eyebrow, then silently entered her apartment.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    She blew another sigh of relief, her journey was almost done, as long as Christina reacted as expected. She pulled a chair into the center of the main room and took a seat, then drew a heavy object from the pocket of her coat and gripped it tightly. She took a deep breath and sat silently for a moment.

    As if she had awoken from a nightmare, Christina screamed at the top of her lungs and cowered into the chair, trying to make herself as small as possible. Through her uncontrollable shaking and shouting, she peeked through her eyelids at the room. The nightmare wasn¡¯t over.

    She was paralyzed with fear, it was over a minute of terrified screams before she realized that she was holding something. She gathered the courage to open her eyes again and saw her father¡¯s revolver in her grip. Using it for defense didn¡¯t cross her mind, nor did she care to take the time to see if it was loaded. She knew what needed to be done. Without hesitation, she put as much of the barrel in her mouth as she could and pulled the trigger.

 Chapter One

    Disinterested eyes watched the city go by as the automated vehicle approached the crime scene. Theo was thinking about his wife. He often was. He nervously flipped a weighty chrome stylus[i]</a> through his fingers until he made the decision to send her a message. He swiped his thumb across the stylus¡¯ surface, the motion controlling a cursor in his vision. Moving the cursor to the bottom left corner of his vision brought up a list of apps. He selected messaging, and at the very top of the list of contacts was Kara Mitchell, embellished by a star. When he clicked into the text field, a digital keyboard extended out from his stylus, floating in the air like a hologram that only he could see. He flicked the keys with the fingers of his off hand to type out a short message in the air.

    TM: Hope you¡¯re having fun! Love you! ??

    KM: ...

    Theo stared at the dots, always waiting patiently for her response before closing the app or doing anything else. He usually didn¡¯t have to wait long, unless she was in the middle of a raid or whatever the hell she did in that game.

    KM: love you

    It wasn¡¯t quite the wall of emojis and flowery language that they used to exchange in their youth, but the words still filled Theo with a comfortable warmth. She was one of the few things he cherished, if not the only thing anymore.

    A short tone coming from a hidden speaker somewhere in the vehicles cabin indicated that he had arrived at his destination. He stepped out of his car into the street primarily lit by flashing blue and red LED¡¯s. As soon as he moved away from his vehicle, the door closed, and it whirred off to find somewhere to park.

    The journey up to the victim¡¯s apartment was littered with beat cops, few of whom displayed the distinct red dot indicating that they were recording their vision. Theo didn¡¯t really care to correct them, he just rolled his eyes and shook his head, then started recording his own vision as he approached. Not only was it required by law, but it was an invaluable tool for any investigator. Theo entered the lobby but insisted on going up to the 5<sup>th</sup> floor by stairs, just to make sure he got in his exercise for the week.

    The destination floor was a sty with officers doing nothing but holding up the walls and crowding his path. The victim¡¯s door was open. Theo stepped inside, passing through the digital police tape. The inside of the apartment was empty of officers, which would have been a breath of fresh air were it not for the young woman¡¯s corpse sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. Theo moved around behind her, observing the large hole in the base of her skull. Through the thick, bloodied hair, within the shredded of bone and flesh, Theo could barely see the shine of metal shrapnel and wires.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got good eyes.¡±

    Theo lifted his head to see Jacque, the Crime Scene Videographer and the closest thing to a friend that he had, leaving the victim¡¯s bedroom.

    ¡°They¡¯d better be, as expensive as they were. I¡¯m not a fan of how much they itch either...¡± Theo said, bringing a finger up to rub his eyelids. ¡°She had a Brainstem Interface[ii]</a>.¡±

    ¡°Yep. ¡®Had¡¯ is the operative word. She blew most of it away in her final act. I don¡¯t envy forensics having to piece that shit back together, if they can even find all the pieces.¡± Jacque was moving along all of the walls and the furniture, looking at it intently, scanning everything to be videogrammetrically[iii]</a> recreated later in a digital environment. After slipping into a pair of latex gloves, Theo pointed at the girl and made eye contact with Jacque.

    ¡°May I?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Have at it, I already got her and the main room, the kitchen and the bedroom, gonna finish up with the bathroom, and I¡¯m all done.¡±

    Having been given the go-ahead, Theo pushed her from her hunched position back into the chair, and let her head fall back. The once beautiful young woman was now a battered, lifeless corpse staring at the ceiling with dead eyes. Theo looked directly into it, giving the police facial recognition software a chance to identify her. To Theo¡¯s surprise, the software was able to quickly come back with a profile despite the significant bruising and swelling. The girl¡¯s profile matched that of the one in the case file.

    Christina Auburg was 19, a sophomore student at MIT, and had recently received a cybernetic interface implanted in her brainstem. Theo immediately checked to see if she had made her interface activity public, but as he expected, he only had access to her mobile and computer data, all of which stopped right when she had the operation a few months prior.

    ¡°Student at MIT... I don¡¯t imagine your daughter knows her?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯d ask but she hasn¡¯t really been talkative lately.¡±

    ¡°School, or a boyfriend, or what?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s that fucking game...¡± Jacque said, shaking his head. He then looked at Theo.

    ¡°Wanderlust[iv]</a>?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That one. I suppose you know a thing or two about it.¡± Jacque realized he may have said something distasteful, he hoped that Theo didn¡¯t take it that way.

    ¡°I do, in fact.¡± Theo said. There wasn¡¯t a response. There didn¡¯t need to be. The two quietly continued their work.

    The gun, tightly gripped in the girl¡¯s hand, was a .38 Special. In prying her hand from the gun, Theo heard the click of the trigger resetting. The sound made the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. Instead of trying to get the gun from her grip, he decided to release the cylinder and eject the four live rounds still in the weapon.

    ¡°Remind me why there¡¯s a circus outside for a suicide?¡± Jacque asked. His confusion wasn¡¯t unfounded, Theo thought, but didn¡¯t say.

    ¡°The suicide rate has spiked recently. The city doesn¡¯t think it is strictly suicide. There¡¯s pressure on the captain from outside to find out what¡¯s causing it.¡± As he spoke, Theo bagged the ammunition, then continued trying to pry the weapon from her fingers.

    ¡°Why are they so convinced there¡¯s a criminal reason?¡±

    ¡°I dunno, man.¡± Theo said with a shrug. ¡°Probably one of the conspiracy theories that came out after the police misconduct report last year.¡±

    ¡°Oh... well, a couple of those conspiracies turned out to be true, so, I can¡¯t blame ¡®em.¡±

    Theo agreed, silently. Some people he had worked with for years, even people who were involved in his daughter¡¯s case, were fingered in the report. It was a dark day for law enforcement across the country, but one that needed to happen.

    ¡°Whether or not this is a genuine suicide or something else, I feel pretty certain that these bruises and lacerations didn¡¯t come from a general clumsiness.¡± Theo said. He took a moment to make a note for the medical examiner, ordering a rape kit to be completed. He also added cause of death determination to the requests, just out of an abundance of caution.

    After bagging the gun, Theo stood up look into Christina¡¯s mouth. A ring of LEDs flipped on in the iris of his left eye, and his visual interface[v]</a> software adjusted the image for optimal true-color viewing. He saw the burn scars on her tongue, her broken teeth, and an ultra-high-definition view of the hole passing through the back of her throat. He was unable to see any pieces of the implant, and so moved to look directly into her eyes.

    Theo hoped he would find an info band around the edges of her iris, indicating that her eyes were manufactured, like his. It would have included product information and given Theo access to recorded visual data stored within the eye, but he found no such ring in either eye. When he looked into the pupil, however, he could see a faint reflective golden ring. It was the telltale sign that while her eyes were her originals, she had sensors installed around her optic nerves as part of the Brainstem Interface implant surgeries. Any footage she would have had would have been stored within the implant that was blown to bits along with the rest of her brainstem.

    ¡°Dammit.¡± Theo remarked as he moved on. He moved the girls head back into its original position, and took another, deeper look into the hole in the back. With a pair of tweezers, he pulled the few pieces of the implant he could see out and placed them into another bag. He didn¡¯t bother with the fine filaments. That would be another job for the Medical Examiner.

    There were more pieces spread out across the ceiling and the rest of the room. Theo spent some time closely inspecting the blood spatter. With the help of his optical software, he was able to find a few more fragments, but eventually, there was nothing else he could do but send a polite note to the crime scene cleanup crew to keep a look out.

    He moved into the adjoining kitchen and began taking a look in drawers, fridge and freezer, and when he looked in the cupboards above the fridge, he reached behind a small nook in the back and pulled out an opened bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. His eyes went wide at the find. He pulled off the cork and inhaled deep.

    The scent of the fine whiskey activated certain neural pathways in his brain. Pathways that were impossible for Theo to ignore. Theo closed his eyes and basked in the smell of honey and vanilla, enhanced by the subtle sting of spice and alcohol. The urge to taste it was overwhelming. The part of him saying that he shouldn¡¯t was little more than a whisper. Just as he was about to place it to his lips, Theo noticed Jacque leaving the bathroom, just watching him, seeing what he would do. Theo corked the bottle and placed it back in its place in the back of the cupboard.

    ¡°How you doing, T?¡± Jacque asked with concern in his voice.

    ¡°Doing okay, J.¡± Theo didn¡¯t intent to sound so dismissive, but the lack of comfort in the topic came through anyway. Jacque could hear it. He knew Theo was sensitive about it, but as a good friend should, he continued pressing.

    ¡°And... how¡¯s Kara doing?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s...¡± Theo wanted to snap at him. For a moment, he felt like Jacque was insinuating something, accusing him of drinking and neglecting his wife. Again. But he took a breath and shook off the negative assumptions. ¡°She¡¯s doing okay... I¡¯ve been getting her to eat and stay hydrated, and I keep an eye on her vitals, but...¡± Theo crossed his arms. He didn¡¯t have anything else to add.

    ¡°Well, just know that I¡¯m available if you ever need someone to talk to. Chris, too, if you want someone a little more professional.¡± Jacque said. Theo gave a silent and subtle nod. Jacque picked up his kit and started moving toward the door. ¡°I¡¯m done here. The VR Sim should be ready by end of day, if you need to take a look.¡± He gave Theo a two fingered wave and continued.

    ¡°Wait...¡± Theo said, stopping Jacque in his tracks. Theo approached him and took his hand in a firm grip. ¡°Thank you, truly. I appreciate your concern.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem, Theo. You remind me that maybe not all cops are bastards.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that far...¡± Theo chuckled, as did Jacque. They parted ways and Theo continued looking around the apartment for anything that may indicate that Christina¡¯s suicide may have been genuine. He also started a search on her socials and messaging history. He used an API from National Suicide Prevention that was able to find hints of suicidal ideation and deep depression with a high degree of accuracy. The only things that came back were a few off-color jokes from years ago.

    In general, Christina seemed like a joyful, life-loving, optimist for her entire life. She never even had a morbid goth or emo phase, which Theo thought was a little strange in itself, but still not something notable. The only thing that was out of place was that her outgoing messages stopped, and her socials seemed suspiciously like bots over the past few days before her death.

    Theo tried to multitask, skimming through Christina¡¯s online presence as he did the same to her medicine cabinet. She wasn¡¯t taking anything except for antibiotics and some light painkillers, the expected regimen after her interface surgeries. Nothing was out of place in her bedroom either, from the toys and condoms in her dresser, to the lone stuffed animal that just about every late-teenage girl had.

    Theo may have been skeptical at first, but it was starting to seem like suicide wasn¡¯t in the cards for Christina. After searching the apartment, it was time to take statements. Theo set up an interview with Christina¡¯s boyfriend as he walked out the apartment to meet her neighbor, who was standing in the hallway with the other useless badges. Theo approached her.

    ¡°Ms. Beckhart, is it?¡± Theo said, reading off the profile information that came to him when he looked at her. He offered an open hand. She almost seemed relieved to see him. She took his hand.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± She said, giving him a nervous smile.

    ¡°Mind if we talk inside?¡± Theo didn¡¯t have to ask, as she was already guiding him into her open door. She closed the door once they were inside and offered Theo a water, which he refused. He did accept the offer of a seat in her living room.

    ¡°I much prefer you guys in plain clothes.¡± Ms. Beckhart said as she sat down in the chair next to his. ¡°I get a bit of the fascist vibe from the uniforms. Though, I think you¡¯re leaning a little too far into the brooding hardboiled detective thing what with the trench coat. Just missing the hat.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that I kill it in this trench coat.¡± Theo said. It wasn¡¯t the first time he heard it. ¡°And I left my hat at home.¡± For a moment, Theo¡¯s candor confused her. She wasn¡¯t sure if he was joking until he cracked a smile.

    Emmaline Beckhart was a victim of identity fraud that left her a penniless divorcee and estranged from her own daughter. With this public knowledge already at his fingertips, Theo could have guessed the answer to his first question.

    ¡°How well did you know her?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Is she dead?¡± Emma replied. It wasn¡¯t quite what he expected, especially with the number of cops in the hallway, not one of them took a statement or informed her of the situation. Theo paused.

    ¡°I think you know the answer to that question.¡± He said.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± She said in a half whisper, shaking her head, and holding back tears. Theo gave her a moment. ¡°I really liked her... she was smart, and funny, and ambitious... I mean, she was going to fuckin MIT for Christ¡¯s sake! and she... She kindof reminded me of my own daughter.¡± She said. Theo nodded his head, silently congratulating himself for knowing she was going to say it. When the appropriate amount of time had passed, Theo continued with his next question.

    ¡°Do you know if she has a history with drugs or alcohol?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll admit that I¡¯ve smoked a joint or two with her, a couple of shots.¡±

    ¡°Shots?¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Y-yeah... I mean, I know she¡¯s not 21 yet, but her father had just died, so...¡±

    ¡°Was it a common occurrence?¡±

    ¡°What, her father dying?¡±

    ¡°No...¡± Theo said with a subtle chuckle which turned to him clearing his throat. ¡°It may not have been with you, but do you know if she drank much socially, with her friends, or alone in her apartment?¡±

    ¡°Never!¡± Emma said, but immediately recanted. ¡°Well, almost never... I mean, I had never seen her drunk before, even when we drank together, she had one shot and didn¡¯t seem phased by it, but... a couple days ago, I caught her leaving her apartment, and she seemed like she had more than a few.¡±

    ¡°How could you tell? Her movement or speech, or could you smell it on her?¡±

    ¡°Definitely movement. She hit herself with the door on the way out and nearly planted her face in the wall. But... when I passed her, I didn¡¯t smell alcohol at all.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... anything else strange about her?¡±

    ¡°Well... her makeup was... different... not great, in my opinion. But I also gave her our mutual greeting, and she seemed pretty confused by it.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the greeting?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d, uh...¡± Emma crossed her arms, and shook her head with an embarrassed chuckle. ¡°I¡¯d say stuff like... uh... ¡®Go fuck yourself, slut!¡¯ and she¡¯d respond by saying, like, ¡®At least I still can, you desiccated, oversized catcher¡¯s mitt!¡¯¡±

    ¡°Wow...¡± Theo said. ¡°That¡¯s quite the greeting.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s, you know... we didn¡¯t like each other when we first met.¡±

    ¡°So you insulted the hell out of each other, and then... bonded over it?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Emma said, momentarily offended, then continued. ¡°Well... yeah, actually, the point is, she seemed totally taken off guard by that.¡±

    ¡°You said everything seemed normal up until that point?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡±

    ¡°When did you next see her?¡±

    ¡°Uh... well, a few hours ago, I saw her in the hall coming out of the elevator. She looked... absolutely terrible! She was covered in bruises, and limping, and maybe drunk again too. I flipped her off and then-¡±

    ¡°You... gave her the bird?¡±

    ¡°Yeah... You know, like waiving hello?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Theo said. ¡°What happened next?¡±

    ¡°Well, she seemed confused again at my gesture, but she was also kind of hiding her bruises and cuts, and went in her apartment and locked the door. I went to grab some tea to bring it over and talk to her, but before I could get there, I just heard her suddenly screaming bloody murder. I dropped the tea and ran for her door, but before I could get there, I heard the gunshot...¡± Emma shook from the chills running down her spine, remembering those things that happened just hours before.

    ¡°Do you know if she came home at any point between when you saw her leave and when she came back?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so... I mean, it¡¯s possible that she could have returned and left when I was sleeping, but these walls are kind of thin, so I hear just about everything.¡±

    ¡°Everything?¡± Theo raised his eyebrows.

    ¡°You heard what I said.¡±

    ¡°I guess that brings me to my next question... How well do you know her boyfriend, Michael Tenning?¡±

    ¡°Not too well... I mean, I could tell you what he sounds like when they¡¯re doing it, but I¡¯m not sure that¡¯ll be helpful.¡±

    ¡°Did it ever sound nonconsensual or otherwise violent?¡±

    ¡°Not at all. I have heard them argue, but never full-on shouting matches or throwing shit or anything like that. All in all, they were kind of a generic, cute couple of kids in puppy love.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what they argued about?¡±

    ¡°Mostly about stupid videogame or internet shit. Though, about a week ago, they had a bigger fight. I asked her what it was about, but she wouldn¡¯t say. I think it was about sex stuff, but I¡¯m not sure. I haven¡¯t seen, nor heard him around since then.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Theo said. ¡°Is there anything else that you think might be useful?¡±

    ¡°No... I don¡¯t think so...¡± Emma racked her brain. Theo stood up from his seat.

    ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll get out of your hair. Thank you for your time, and if you think of anything else, you can contact BPD and ask for Detective Mitchell.¡±

    ¡°Thank you...¡± Emma said as she rose to walk him to the door. Just as he was going to grab the door knob, she interrupted him. ¡°Umm... do you think...¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Theo turned around to look at her. She didn¡¯t seem confident in her question. ¡°Do I think what?¡±

    ¡°Do you think this has anything to do with her new Interface? I begged her not to get the damn thing.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean... like it was a botched surgery?¡±

    ¡°No... like... I mean, you have cybernetic eyes, right? Aren¡¯t you worried about hackers, and viruses and stuff?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I am, but that¡¯s why I¡¯m always on the latest security update. That, and Bell-Westbrook[vi]</a> pride themselves on their cybernetic security.¡±

    ¡°Sure... My bank said their security was top notch too, then one day I¡¯m in the red a half-million dollars, and there was nothing they could do.¡±

    Theo wasn¡¯t sure what to say. She wasn¡¯t wrong. He knew that hacks and viruses were possible, but there hadn¡¯t been any notable ones since the early days of optical implants over a decade ago. Truly, Bell-Westbrook was the leader in cyber security. No other corporation came close to their amount of funding. Their tech was top of the line and widely available, and their operating system was the standard, free to anyone.

    He thanked Emmaline again before leaving. On his way out of the building. This time, he used the elevator, following Christina¡¯s last known itinerary. As soon as he stepped into the elevator car, he noticed a camera in one of the corners. Through his police access, he was able to view live and recorded footage from the city CCTV system. Not every building and camera was on the system, so he was relieved when he was able to connect and saw himself standing in the elevator. It also, thankfully, had the previous 72 hours of footage. He began to wind back the footage, watching the hoards of cops pour in and out of the car.

    When the flood of blue turned to a trickle and finally ended, he watched a few more cycles, each with one or two residents, but then he watched a cycle that didn¡¯t appear to have any passengers. Theo checked to see if there was any weight data for the elevator, but he had no such luck. He was still fairly confident of what he was looking at.

    The CCTV has had hacker intrusions ever since the day it was integrated into the internet. The most popular script the hackers end up using was also one of the first. It is designed to hide their image from connected cameras, using the police¡¯s own facial recognition system to do it. It became so commonly used that the police gained a reputation for having such an insecure system. While it was true that the police didn¡¯t have the funding or expertise to stay ahead of this hack, they did end up understanding how it works, and ways to get around it.

    For example, the stealth script could dynamically edit out a full persons shape almost perfectly, but the facial recognition software had difficulty with warped images and reflections. In the shiny panels of the supposedly empty elevator, Theo could see subtle shadows moving, giving away its hidden occupant. Of course, searching through every available camera for subtle shadows, while effective, was very time consuming. Instead, Theo used another tactic that took advantage of a flaw in the facial recognition system.

    He first gathered several pictures of Christina from her socials and from his own recorded footage, then modifies the images, flipping them, then feeding them into the search algorithm. It would take a short while for the search, and it was by no means perfectly effective, but he still expected to see a few results pop up across the city. In the meantime, he had another important statement to take. He left the apartment and by the time he reached the curb, his vehicle had pulled up with open doors.

    It was only a few minutes before Theo arrived at the requested meeting place, Cherry Estate Greek Cookery, a budget-gourmet restaurant. He arrived before the dinner crowd and met Michael Tenning sitting at a table. The kid stood up awkwardly when he saw Theo approaching. Theo shook his metal hand, detailed in chrome. The kid clasped his second hand onto Theo¡¯s with a nervously over-cordial gesture. Theo smiled.

    ¡°Mr. Tenning.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The boy replied. Theo gestured, and they sat down at the table. Michael Tenning was 20, already a veteran and an amputee. After being honorably discharged, he met Christina through a dating app, and had been dating her for almost a year. Along with this information, Theo also observed his location data, given to him in response to his police request. Michael hadn¡¯t been anywhere near Christina¡¯s apartment during her missing time.

    ¡°I¡¯ve called you here because I had a few questions about Christina Auburg.¡± Theo said. Michael¡¯s eyes darted down at the table, and his meat hand reached up to hold his face.

    ¡°Is she... is she okay?¡± He said.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not, Michael. I¡¯m sorry to have to tell you this, but Christina is dead.¡± Theo saw a couple of teardrops land on the table. Theo was silent, waiving away an approaching waiter, letting Michael take in the news. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

    ¡°How... how did she...?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m here to try to determine. It appears as if she shot herself with a .38 special.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Michael looked up, confused, and baring an offended look. More evidence affirming Christina¡¯s general aversion to suicide.

    ¡°It appeared that way, but I don¡¯t have the complete picture. That¡¯s why I¡¯m talking with you now. If there is some kind of foul play involved, I need your help to find it.¡± Theo said. The anger in Michaels eyes was effectively deflected away from him.

    ¡°That gun... I think it was her father¡¯s gun...¡± Michael continued shaking his head. ¡°I helped teach her how to shoot it... You think somebody might have killed her?¡±

    ¡°That is the assumption that I¡¯m working under currently, yes.¡± Theo saw Michael¡¯s mood settle on determination. He was ready to answer questions. ¡°You¡¯ve been with her for some time, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Met her almost a year ago now... I was planning on doing a special date night, to surprise her.¡±

    ¡°When did you last see her?¡±

    ¡°It was... a week ago, I think...¡±

    ¡°Tell me about that.¡±

    ¡°We met after class in the library to study, and she invited me over to her place for a night cap, and... uh... I went home around midnight or so...¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t stay the night?¡±

    ¡°Well... I uhh, needed to get up early...¡± Michael was clearly not saying something, but Theo had an idea of what it was.

    ¡°Am I wrong in assuming your relationship included sex?¡±

    ¡°No, uhh... No, sir.¡±

    ¡°Did either of you participate in any particularly rough sexual activity, like BDSM or anything like that?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing like that.¡± Michael said, his embarrassment was rising. ¡°I mean... she was kind of into spanking, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Excepting that, did either of you ever hit each other, whether accidental, or during an argument?¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Not at all, never!¡±

    ¡°I spoke with Christina¡¯s neighbor. She mentioned hearing an argument about a week ago...¡± Theo said and watched Michael squirm in his seat.

    ¡°Yeah... uh... yeah we did argue...¡±

    ¡°Was that the same night you said you last saw her?¡±

    ¡°Y... yes...¡± Michael knew what was coming.

    ¡°What was the argument about?¡± Theo made sure he didn¡¯t convey that he had caught Michael omitting some details. Michael shrunk down in his chair, a sign of embarrassment and nothing else.

    ¡°She wanted to... uhh... try something called ¡®Pegging¡¯... on me...¡± He said. Theo remained perfectly professional.

    ¡°I assume you weren¡¯t amenable?¡±

    ¡°Well.... I mean... not necessarily... she just kinda sprung it on me, and I wasn¡¯t really ready for it. I might not have been so against it if we had more of a discussion first.¡±

    ¡°Okay. So, you left, and that¡¯s the last time you were with her. Did you have any communications after that point?¡±

    ¡°Yeah... We messaged a few times after that, and I thought we had resolved the matter, but a few days ago, I tried messaging her without response, and chatting her socials, but the responses I got there were weird. Like bots had taken over her accounts. I dunno... I thought she was just taking a little break from the world and school and stuff. Sinking into her Interface.¡±

    ¡°She got her interface a few months ago, is that right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Do you have one?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got some display meshes and aural implants, but not a Brainstem Interface. Not yet. I was going to get one soon though... she made it seem pretty incredible.¡±

    ¡°She liked the implants?¡±

    ¡°Hell yeah. She was way into them. She kept saying that it was a whole new level of immersion. She spent a lot of time on a website like ¡®Chat Rooms¡¯ or something, and she was starting to get really into Wanderlust. A little too much if you ask me.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°She didn¡¯t spend as much time on her schoolwork, I was worried that her grades were going to start slipping. But, also, there was some mod on Wanderlust that she talked up, saying she read it was really scary. I was there when she tried it, and just seeing her reaction after, I could believe it. It really shook her. She could barely talk about it afterwards.¡±

    ¡°It affected her that much?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well, like right after, sure. But then we watched a couple eps of some sitcom, and she was back to normal.¡±

    ¡°About how long ago was that?¡±

    ¡°Probably... the week before our argument, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Do you know if she had any stalkers, online or off, or any angry exes, enemies, etcetera...?¡±

    ¡°Not really, not as far as I know. I expect she probably had some weirdos following her online from just being a woman on the internet. That, and the whole Middle Eastern thing she had.¡±

    ¡°Middle eastern... thing?¡± Theo asked, raising an eyebrow, not really quite sure of Michaels tone. ¡°Does she have some Jewish or Israeli heritage or something?¡±

    ¡°No, not as far as I know. Auburg might be Jewish, I guess, but no, she was just really into middle eastern cultures and history ever since she took a trip when she was little. She had a tendency to use words and phrases from the region in her usernames and would sometimes get carried away talking about Jewish and Muslim history and stuff. And, I mean, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve been on the internet in America, ever. So, yeah, I¡¯ve heard her explode about racist assholes before, but there hasn¡¯t been anything recent along those lines, as far as I know.¡±

    ¡°Did she ever mention anyone who stood out to you?¡±

    ¡°Nope. She always seemed pretty secure about her identity online and whatnot.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything else that you think I should know?¡±

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t think so... but...¡± Michael bowed his head. His human hand began to shake nervously in time with his leg. ¡°You don¡¯t think... she did that... because of me, do you? Because of our argument?¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m being frank, I didn¡¯t know her at all, and I wasn¡¯t there to hear what happened, so I can¡¯t say for certain at this point, and it¡¯s possible I may never be able to... but from what I have seen. I don¡¯t think she was the type of person to react in such an extreme way toward an argument like that. If there were some foul play involved, I don¡¯t believe it has anything to do with you.¡± Theo reached across the table and held steady Michaels shaking hand. ¡°I¡¯m sorry this happened. All I can do is promise you that I¡¯ll do everything I can to figure out what happened and make sure anyone involved meets justice.¡± Theo said. It was a cheesy, standard spiel, but Michael accepted it nonetheless.

    ¡°Thank you, detective.¡±

    ¡°If you remember anything, you have my contact information, and if you feel like you need some support or just someone to talk to, you can contact BPD and we can refer you to some resources.¡± Theo pat Michael¡¯s hand and stood up from the table. ¡°I may have further questions in the future. For the time being, please remain available.¡±

    Michael nodded and shook Theo¡¯s hand again, noticeably less nervous now that he didn¡¯t feel he was suspect. Theo left the restaurant, now with an itinerary of locations where Christina had been found by his facial recognition search done earlier. Unfortunately, there were only a handful of locations found. According to the timestamps, two of the locations were shortly after Christina stopped responding to messages, and another three in the hours before her death, showed reflections of her sporting the injuries she had been found with. There was about 27 hours between that he couldn¡¯t account for. He needed more points of data.  Theo began viewing the footage.

    The first recording recognized her for less than a second, in the reflection of a buildings glass fa?ade. From here, Theo was able to follow the subtle shadows and artifacting down the street. Knowing her moving direction, Theo switched to cameras further down the same street and looked for signs of the stealth hack. It wasn¡¯t a quick job. Theo had to inspect hundreds of different cameras, but gradually, he was able to further narrow down her general path between each point. Still, there was a period of nearly 25 hours in which she was hidden completely, but it all seemed to be in a somewhat small area of the south waterfront. He selected it for his vehicle¡¯s destination.

    It didn¡¯t take long, driving around the waterfront. There were only two streets that intersected the unknown area, and an alley between them. It seemed the obvious place to start looking. The vehicle pulled up, just to the point that he could see down the alley. He left his vehicle and walked down the alleyway, taking a few turns along the way. It was quite dark, in more ways than one. There were no lights, and no cameras whatsoever, at least, none connected to the citywide CCTV, nor any that were immediately visible to him. Most of the alleyway was solid brick, but with a few, conspicuous doors with physical keypads.

    Theo circumnavigated the building complex, finding several vacant lots, a laundromat, and a place called Shadow Recording. A quick search online found the website. Theo looked at the about page. Shadow Recording was a videogrammetric recording studio that had booths of varying sizes lined with hundreds of ultra-high-definition video cameras. After recording, the system uses the footage to create 3D models, complete with materials and animations, ready to be used for AR and VR. If there was any doubt in his mind about what these booths were used to record, it was gone when he saw the banners reading ¡®Anonymity Guaranteed¡¯.

    Theo stepped into the business, a small, featureless room with a couple of chairs and a desk. He was greeted by a young woman with her feet up on the desk, if it could be called a greeting.

    ¡°Appointments are online only. Use the code you received at the door described in your confirmation...¡± The woman¡¯s eyes were lit up, and she was flipping a stylus similar to his own. Theo was sure that she couldn¡¯t even see him, though he was quite sure she already knew who he was, as she continued, ¡°Detective.¡±

    ¡°Can I ask about the business?¡±

    ¡°You can direct all questions to our FAQ and support on our website.¡± She fiddled with the Stylus, swiping her thumb across it, and Theo received a link to the Shadow Recording website.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to ask about a former possible client.¡± Theo said. The woman¡¯s eyes looked toward him through the full-vision app she was using. Her expression said he was an idiot.

    ¡°Any and all clients are completely confidential. If you are seen surveilling any former, current, or potential client, you can expect legal action.¡±

    ¡°I have reason to believe that the client may have been victim to crimes committed in or around your business.¡±

    ¡°There are a lot of vague descriptors in that claim. If there were any crimes committed within the business premises, it would be a violation of the user agreement, and the perpetrators would be subject to legal action.¡± The woman said. Theo rolled his acrylic eyes. ¡°Even if you had a warrant, I can¡¯t provide that information.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t, or won¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Pick one.¡±

    ¡°What even is the point of this office?¡±

    ¡°Security.¡±

    ¡°Not very secure if your clients are using your business to commit crimes, is it?¡±

    ¡°If you have a warrant, you can provide it to the admins on our website. If there¡¯s nothing else, you can leave the premises or you may be considered trespassing or loitering, and would be subj-¡±

    ¡°-Subject to legal action, yeah, I got it.¡± Theo said, throwing his hands up with annoyed frustration. ¡°Thank you for your time.¡±

    ¡°Come back soon!¡± The woman said as Theo stepped out the door.

    Theo returned to his vehicle and moved to the next location where a CCTV camera had caught a reflection of Christina. She was spotted outside of a fast-food restaurant. The location was quite busy, and now that he knew what to look for, following Christina¡¯s movements wasn¡¯t too difficult as he saw all the passersby seemed to give an invisible spot a wide berth. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t able to continue following her once she was out of frame, as there weren¡¯t any other CCTV cameras nearby. The last capture, where she had been spotted by the camera a few different times, was in a derelict residential neighborhood in Mattapan, and again, there were no other cctv camera¡¯s nearby, nor was he able to tell her direction or where specifically she went.

    He decided to try his luck with the fast-food restaurant and began asking people if they remembered seeing her. It didn¡¯t work out so well, as that location was a favorite among the destitute and drug-addicted. Some people did remember seeing her, but did not watch her every move, and could not provide information about where she was going, besides ¡°west.¡± He felt like there wasn¡¯t much more he could do. To narrow down her movements.

    Shortly after returning to his vehicle, Theo received a message from the Medical Examiner. He was able to pull more fragments of Christina¡¯s Interface out of her brainstem to be given over to the forensics team, but he didn¡¯t feel confident that they had enough fragments to rebuild the implant, and the likelihood of pulling data from it was virtually zero. He did, however, confirm that the young woman was violently raped. He was already in the process of gathering fluid and hair for DNA typing.

    Theo felt that there wasn¡¯t much more he could do at the moment. The sun was getting low above the horizon when Theo decided to call it quits for the day, but he wasn¡¯t quite ready to go home just yet. It was times like these when he would have enjoyed going to the bar, but he opted instead to set his destination as MCI-Concord. His vehicle whirred to life, was on an autoway within a minute, and had arrived not 10 minutes later.

    The vehicle delivered him to the visitor entrance. Even though he didn¡¯t necessarily need to, he made sure to display his police badge and gun. Once inside the door, he went straight to the armory. He always enjoyed watching the security officers¡¯ eyes light up when he pushed across his Taurus .44 to be locked up. Without fail, every time that the officers checked the weapon, they would look at Theo for approval, which he would give, and they would spin the cylinder and flip it closed like an action hero. He didn¡¯t blame them. Theo often did it himself whenever he was at the range.

    Theo made sure to give the camera a direct smile and wave, and waited until the security officer let him leave. He returned to visitor check in and went through all the standard procedures, going through weapons detectors and receiving a pat down, then being escorted to the visiting room. He waited alone in the spacious room for a few minutes. The faint sounds of door buzzers growing louder, until a final, loud buzz accompanying a young man wearing a grey scrub shirt and black pants. Theo stood up to greet him.

    ¡°Hey, Theo.¡± The prisoner said.

    ¡°Hey, Ellis!¡± Theo responded, shaking his hand.

    Ellis Royalkin was 22 and was 2 years into a 12-year sentence for driving under the influence of THC, and vehicular manslaughter. The victim was Theo¡¯s own daughter, Alice Mitchell, age 4 at the time. The two sat down on opposite sides of the table.

    ¡°How are you doing?¡± Ellis asked. Theo shrugged.

    ¡°Okay, I guess. Not too different. Started a new case that seems a little different from usual.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah? I don¡¯t imagine you can tell me much about it?¡±

    ¡°No... afraid not. Though, I dunno, I might need the insight of a young person. Be on the lookout for questions with little to no context.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much help I will be, but... I¡¯ll do what I can.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Said Theo. ¡°Well, anyway... what¡¯s up with you? How are things?¡±

    ¡°I would tell you that I¡¯m exactly the same as last week because, you know, I¡¯m in prison, but I actually did get a new cell mate.¡±

    ¡°Really? I thought you were given your own cell. Did you piss off a guard or something?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Ellis laughed. ¡°It¡¯s nothing like that. I got approved to participate in a pet adoption program. I¡¯ve got a kitten now!¡±

    ¡°Shit! Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! A little Bombay named Chad! Or Chode sometimes, when he insists on pissing on my bed. That¡¯s actually what the main idea is, it¡¯s not really ¡®adoption¡¯ per-se, more toilet training and helping get them ready for adoption.¡±

    ¡°That sounds great!¡± Theo and Ellis both gave genuine smiles. ¡°I love cats! We¡¯re gonna have to figure out a way to let me see the little bastard.¡±

    ¡°I had no idea you liked cats. I always took you for a dog person.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, dogs are all right. I do like dogs too, but I think I¡¯d be a crazy cat lad if I weren¡¯t a cop, and if I weren¡¯t married...¡±

    ¡°What, she doesn¡¯t like cats? She allergic or something?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think she... uhh... She just... I work a lot, and it seems like it could be a commitment, and I¡¯d feel like I was pushing it on her.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see. Well, you could get a digital one. It¡¯s a lot less commitment. Though, I guess you can change settings to make is to it can eat and piss and shit, if you¡¯re into that. It¡¯s all just cosmetic, of course.¡± Ellis said.

    ¡°Yeah...¡± Theo said with a half-hearted chuckle. Ellis saw that his mind was now on something else. He may not have even heard what Ellis was saying.

    ¡°Is it that game?¡± Ellis said. Theo was slightly caught off guard. He had forgotten talking about it.

    ¡°Yeah... yeah.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s it called? Wonderlands?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s the old one for eyes like ours and HMD¡¯s[vii]</a>. This one is the successor. It¡¯s called Wanderlust, designed for Brainstem Interfaces only, and instead of the battle royale thing, it¡¯s more of a huge, open world MMO thing. It looks cool, I guess.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem very excited about it.¡±

    ¡°I dunno. I¡¯m no stranger to videogames, we actually used to play together a lot back in high school and college. Even after we got our eyes done. But then it started looking pretty damn real... and so fuckin violent. I felt like.... I see enough of that shit at my job, I¡¯d rather not see it in my off time too.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m not totally against the Brainstem Interface, or Wanderlust, but... I just want my wife back, back to the way she was when Alice...¡± Theo stopped speaking and avoided eye contact in the silence. Ellis couldn¡¯t say anything, he just let the silence linger. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Theo said. Ellis was taken aback, almost offended.

    ¡°No, man! You don¡¯t have to be sorry for anything! It wasn¡¯t your fault... it was mine.¡± Ellis said, pointedly. It caught Theo¡¯s attention. ¡°I killed your daughter. You didn¡¯t put me in here, I did that myself.¡±

    ¡°You were just a fuckin kid learning how to drive stick, I should¡¯ve-¡±

    ¡°You should still have a loving daughter and wife!¡± Ellis yelled.

    A flash of anger filled Theo. He jumped up from his seat, and for a brief moment, considered leaping over the table and strangling the kid.

    ¡°Hey!¡± The officer waiting at the door yelled. ¡°We having a problem here?¡± He said, reaching for his baton. Theo took a breath and placated the guard with open palms. The guard stepped back. ¡°Time¡¯s almost up.¡± He said. Theo sat back down.

    ¡°Why have you been visiting me so often? It¡¯s been at least once a week for months now, I think.¡± Ellis said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, kid. There was a time when I wanted to twist your fuckin head off. But then I guess I realized that... well, you¡¯re not going anywhere anytime soon, and talking to you is much cheaper than therapy.¡±

    ¡°The BPD doesn¡¯t provide therapy?¡±

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s not what I mean. Besides, you can¡¯t refuse visitation.¡±

    ¡°I most certainly can.¡±

    ¡°But will you?¡± Theo looked at Ellis as if he¡¯d caught him in a clever logic trap. Ellis just rolled his eyes and laughed. Theo continued taking on a more serious tone. ¡°In truth, after it happened, I started drinking. Again. A lot. And my wife was hurt because of it. Or... because of me. So then I stopped drinking... and I noticed that when I wasn¡¯t drunk, I wasn¡¯t angry. I certainly wasn¡¯t happy either, but I found that the hate seemed to disappear. At least, I found that it wasn¡¯t you that I hated.¡±

    ¡°How long has it been?¡±

    ¡°89 days. This time.¡±

    ¡°Oh... what¡¯s your high score?¡± Ellis asked. There was a short pause before Theo answered.

    ¡°Four years...¡± He said. ¡°But I gotta tell ya, I was real tempted today. I was looking over a crime scene and found some Blue Label.¡± Theo expected surprise from Ellis. He didn¡¯t get it. Theo then remembered that Ellis was incarcerated before he could even legally drink, and the prison wasn¡¯t really known for the quality of it¡¯s bootleg alcohol. He decided to explain. ¡°It¡¯s like, really expensive, high quality whiskey, the kind of shit I¡¯ve never had the chance to try before. You know?¡±

    ¡°Not really...¡±

    ¡°Well, you smoked weed, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but not that much. I can count the number of joints I¡¯ve shared on one hand. I guess I¡¯d smoke one if I knew it wouldn¡¯t add to my sentence, but I can take it or leave it.¡±

    ¡°Come on, I¡¯m trying to make a point... what¡¯s something that you miss? I don¡¯t imagine the foods all that great?¡±

    ¡°God, I¡¯d fucking kill for a Tasty Burger.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Imagine the most juicy, 80 dollar feast hand crafted by the fine cuisine artisans behind the Tasty Burger.¡± Theo said. Ellis understood where this was going. ¡°And imagine turning away from it.¡±

    ¡°I uh... I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d be able to do that.¡± Ellis said. ¡°Good job, Theo!¡±

    ¡°Thanks...¡± Theo suddenly felt like he was pressing for validation, he just felt like Ellis was the only one he could tell this to.

    Sure, Jacque was a closer friend that he had known for much longer than Ellis, and Jacque¡¯s husband, Chris, was a psychiatric therapist himself. And neither of them had killed his daughter. Despite all that, for some reason, Theo wanted to tell these things to Ellis. Maybe he felt safe in telling him, as his judgement would be locked inside this prison with him.

    ¡°Can I be honest with you, kid?¡± Theo asked. Ellis nodded. ¡°There¡¯s some stuff I miss about drinking that has nothing to do with the actual drinking part. I used to go to a bar called The Endless Wit. Obviously, it was a bar, so I drank there, but a lot of the time, for me, it was more about the ambiance. I enjoyed the darkly lit interior, how there were never crowds, and everyone kind of knew each other, even though we rarely spoke. There was live music sometimes, usually someone playing solo, moody jazz or a song on the guitar.¡±

    ¡°Sounds straight out of an old Detective movie...¡± Ellis said with a laugh.

    ¡°Am I really that stereotypical?¡± Theo said, pulling at the lapels of his trench coat. ¡°I like the classic noir style, so sue me! At least I don¡¯t do the fuckin hat!¡±

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s fine, man, I¡¯m not judging!¡± Ellis said with his hands in the air. ¡°That bar does sound pretty cool, though. Maybe I¡¯m not the best one to say, but I don¡¯t think it would be so bad if you still went there, just for the vibes. Maybe get Dr. Pepper and snacks or something, so you¡¯re still patronizing the place.¡±

    ¡°I dunno. That seems sad.¡±

    ¡°Forgive me if I¡¯m out of line, but isn¡¯t sad, like, your whole schtick?¡± Ellis said. Theo felt attacked but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°But also... I don¡¯t know, didn¡¯t Sun Tzu say something about keeping your enemies closer?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he was talking about literal human enemies. I don¡¯t think it was intended to be applied to alcoholism.¡±

    ¡°Alright, gentlemen, time¡¯s up.¡± The guard stepped toward the table. Both Ellis and Theo stood up.

    ¡°Well, if you do end up going. Have a Dr. Pepper for me.¡±

    ¡°Will do, kid.¡± Theo said.

    The two shook hands again. Ellis was escorted back through the prisoner¡¯s entrance and Theo was led back to have his gun returned, then to check out. When he stepped into his car, he settled into his seat, then sat, silently, staring out the window. The door closed and the vehicle began moving, but without a destination selected, the car created an idol pattern, driving down nearby streets with quick access to the autoway.

    Theo simply watched as the sky grew dark, and the city became light. Much lighter in some places than others. He still didn¡¯t quite want to go home, so he typed The Endless Wit into the destination field, then toiled some more before confirming it.

    It was going to take another 10 minutes to get back to the city. Shortly into the drive, the vehicle suddenly lurched to a stop, nearly throwing Theo from his seat. A short, repeating tone indicated that there was an obstacle in the road. Theo looked over the forward seats to watch a cat cross the road. Clearly a stray, but not nearly as mangy as some that he¡¯s seen before. The cat looked as if it didn¡¯t have a care in the world.

    It was at that time, as the vehicle began moving again and the majestic creature was out of sight, that Theo remembered Ellis say something about a digital cat. As he sat back in his seat, he pulled out his stylus and began browsing for AR apps. Theo wasn¡¯t surprised to see pet apps at the top, only surprised that he had never looked for them before. He downloaded the first one and began thumbing through the initial setup.

    The number of settings presented to him was amazing. First came the cosmetics. He chose a Tabby, and after checking out some of the crazy unnatural colors, he went with a natural orange and white striped color. After entering an age of 2 months, Theo watched as the thing materialized on the vehicle¡¯s floor right before his eyes. It spawned in a sitting position with its eyes closed. When it opened them and looked at Theo with big blue eyes and a high-pitched meow, he felt like his heart was going to melt. It moved toward him and started climbing up his pantleg.

    ¡°Ow!¡± Theo said, instinctively, expecting the stabbing of the creatures¡¯ sharp little hooks digging into his leg. For a moment, he thought he could, but when the pain didn¡¯t linger, and was much more subtle than he expected, he was reminded that he couldn¡¯t actually feel anything physically. It was only visual and audio data that his cybernetics were capable of providing. Even still, when Theo outstretched his hand and the kitten began nuzzling against his palm, he could swear he was feeling the incredibly soft, warm little animal.

    The rest of the ride was him fiddling with other settings. There were modes where he could increase the realism simulation, where he would have to feed the cat, keep it entertained, and clean up after it. None of that seemed very fun to him. He also opted against letting other people see and interact with it. Lastly, Theo chose a pale blue collar to match its eyes, and gave it a name.

    ¡°Chess.¡± He said after seeing the name appear on a tag on the collar. He gave her a scritch on the top of the head. He started spawning toys and a laser pointer, and before he knew it, the vehicle came to a stop in front of The Endless Wit. The cabin was a mess with random cat toys, but they were all easily cleaned up with the single press of a button. Chess also already came pre-trained, and when Theo offered a hand to her and tapped on his shoulder, she ran up his sleeve and perched like a parrot.

    Theo stepped out of his car, but just before entering the door to the bar, he paused and took a deep breath. He pushed through into the darkly lit interior. Theo was expecting everybody to turn around and look at him, recognizing him and shaming him for giving up on sobriety or something, but that never happened. The few patrons in the bar didn¡¯t seem to notice his entrance at all, or if they did, they didn¡¯t care. Even the bartender barely seemed to clock him.

    There was an empty booth on the far side of the room in the corner. It was his table. Just seeing it gave him a small sense of comfort. He walked to it and slid into the bench against the wall. A digital menu appeared on the surface of the table in front of Theo. Muscle memory drew his hand to the panel for a glass of whiskey, but he stopped before touching it, and instead selected a glass of Dr. Pepper and waved the menu away. He then brought up a menu in his own interface and selected a Phantom brand cigarette.

    An ash tray appeared in the middle of the table gripping a single cigarette and a flip lighter standing next to it. He put the cigarette to his lips, lit the end and inhaled deeply. Of course, it was a non-smoking bar, and Theo had never smoked a cigarette before in his life. He still hadn¡¯t, but he had seen it done on film countless times and was simply mimicking the motions. Even though it was just a simulation, it was a damned good one.

    The flame produced its own reality-accurate ray-traced lighting, and the burning cherry produced volumetric smoke with fluid dynamics. The simulation even included thermal dynamics. The heat from the flame able to affect the smoke. The simulation fell short, however, whenever he took a drag. Theo had nothing to detect how long he was holding his breath, or how forcefully he expelled the smoke, or the shape of his lips as he did it. It just happened in time with the cigarette¡¯s vicinity of his mouth.

    Theo also could feel nothing, but his mind was able to fill in some of the blanks, however inaccurately. If he really wanted to experience the feeling, he¡¯d have to try the real thing, or get a Brainstem Interface. Gradually, the smoke gathered creating a cloud around Theo¡¯s booth. When the bartender approached with Theo¡¯s drink, he placed the cigarette on the ash tray, and clasped his hands, so as not to appear like some psychotic smoking mime. When the bartender placed the drink on the table, he spoke briefly to Theo.

    ¡°Welcome back, sir.¡± He said with a soft tone, then returned to the bar.

    Theo didn¡¯t exactly feel great about the greeting. It was a nice gesture, but he didn¡¯t love being recognized by a bartender. He began to wonder what the bartender thought about him, whether he judged him. Theo got lost in his head as he picked the cigarette back up and continued smoking it.

    On the other side of the bartender, sitting at the corner of the bar was a woman, slouched against the counter. With black hair and a short red dress, reflecting whatever little light it could find, she appeared to fit right in with the style of the establishment, but she was also very hard to ignore. He was surprised he hadn¡¯t seen her already, or saw her come in. Theo wasn¡¯t one to stare. He only glanced at her, but he saw her eyes flick toward him just as he looked away.

    Theo tried to ignore it, but even after only seeing her for less than a second, her image was burned into his brain. Gradually, it became something of an anti-staring contest, and Theo was losing. When he inevitably looked back at her, he saw that she was, in fact, staring at him. She had a subtle smile on her face. Theo looked away again, as if to say, ¡®not interested¡¯.

    Looking away didn¡¯t seem to be doing anything. He could still feel her gaze burning a hole in him. Again, Theo tried to ignore her, but again, Theo relented and looked back over to her. She was gone from her seat, and for a moment, Theo couldn¡¯t find her. From his vantage point, he could see the entire bar, but the soft lighting left something to be desired. It was as if the woman had disappeared. Just as Theo was about to increase the light sensitivity in his eyes, he watched as a shadow approached from the darkness. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and shivers ran down his spine as the dark form entered the light.

    ¡°Can I sit with you?¡± The woman asked.

    Every intuition wanted Theo to tell her to kick rocks, especially after looking at her, and seeing that she had no visible public profile. It certainly wasn¡¯t a crime, and Theo felt it was honestly a smart move for an attractive young woman. Theo considered for a brief moment to run her through his police facial recognition system, but then thought about the nightmare fallout that could happen for misusing his resources in such a petty way.

    He felt like this woman was trouble, but not in the same way as the femme fatales from the classic film and television Theo enjoyed. There was something different about her. Something off, but Theo couldn¡¯t put his finger on it. Contradicting his better judgement, Theo gestured toward the seat opposite to him. The woman slid into the booth. She looked at Theo with a smile.

    ¡°Can I buy you a drink?¡± She asked.

    ¡°A soft one, if you insist.¡±

    ¡°Cutting off early?¡±

    ¡°Cutting off, period.¡±

    ¡°Kind of hard to do at a bar, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never tried to quit at a bar.¡±

    ¡°Is that what AA¡¯s been missing all these years?¡± The woman laughed. ¡°I¡¯m Lily.¡± She said, reaching a hand toward Theo. He raised an eyebrow, then moved to grasp it.

    ¡°I¡¯m married.¡± Theo said. Lily pulled her hand away, making Theo grasp thin air.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry... I wasn¡¯t trying to flirt or anything.¡± The woman blushed and sat back in her chair, just as the bartender returned, placing two more glasses of Dr. Pepper on the table before leaving again.

    ¡°So, why did you come over?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°You seem... interesting.¡± Lily said, taking the glass furthest from Theo.

    ¡°In what way?¡±

    ¡°In that human way... You are human, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Mostly.¡±

    ¡°Metal Eyes?¡±

    ¡°Acrylic. The metal ones are much less comfortable in my opinion.¡±

    ¡°I suppose you¡¯ve got the aural implants to go with them?¡± Lily asked. Theo nodded.

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°Nope. I¡¯m 100 percent good old-fashioned home-grown human.¡± She said with a wide smile before continuing. ¡°... I think...¡±

    ¡°... You think?¡±

    ¡°Well... I¡¯m pretty sure. But I¡¯ve been on a journey of late. A journey of definition, or without it. How do I know that I am human, if I don¡¯t really know what a human is in the first place?¡±

    ¡°You could look at it through the biological lens. How much of your DNA matches that of a human¡¯s. Pretty definitive if you ask me.¡±

    ¡°I guess... but, what if I¡¯m the first of a new species that evolved from a human?¡±

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s possible, but generally, to be considered a new species, I think there¡¯s gotta be something significantly different about you.¡± Theo finishes his first drink, then sets the empty glass aside and moves the fresh one into place. ¡°So, tell me what¡¯s so special about you, Lily.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm...¡± She swirled her drink as she thought. ¡°I¡¯m pretty good at math.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the square root of pi?¡±

    ¡°1.77245.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say that was impressive if I cared at all to check it.¡±

    ¡°Ehh, that¡¯s a pretty common question.¡±

    ¡°Even if you are really good at math, the best in the world, I¡¯m not sure that would really qualify you for being a new species. What else?¡±

    ¡°Uhh... I could be immortal?¡±

    ¡°Immortal, huh? I suppose that¡¯d do it.¡± Theo took in her features and the texture of her skin, observing any flaws. ¡°You can¡¯t be more than, what, 22?¡± Theo wasn¡¯t concerned about the politeness of the question, but neither was Lily.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right...¡±

    ¡°22 is hardly immortal. You don¡¯t look to me like you walked away from any lethal injuries. Maybe I¡¯ll believe you if you come back in 200 years and still look 22.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± Lily said. There was a brief moment of silence. ¡°Well, I appreciate you indulging in my short, strange conversation, Mr. Nameless.¡±

    ¡°Theo.¡± He said.

    ¡°Thank you, Theo. It was nice to meet you!¡± Lily clanked her glass into Theo¡¯s as it sat on the table, then took a drink and stood up from the table.

    ¡°Likewise.¡± Theo said. In the blink of an eye, the woman was gone. Theo returned to smoking his Phantom cigarette while he finished his drink, then left.

    The ride home wasn¡¯t too long. His vehicle arrived in front of a somewhat upscale apartment complex. The car dropped him near the elevator which took him up to the 18<sup>th</sup> floor. He walked down the hallway and to his door, then stopped and took a deep breath before continuing inside.

    The inside of his home had minimal decoration in contrast to the outside hallway and the rest of the complex. Theo didn¡¯t mind much. When he did feel it was a little bland, he would place some digital art around the walls to make it a little more cozy. After placing his coat and keys on the wall, he started moving down the hallway. It was the moment he had been avoiding, a new fear that had taken hold a few months before.

    Theo pushed open the door to his bedroom. On the other side of the room, on their bed lay Kara in white underwear and a tank top. Her skin was pale, and her hips and shoulders were protruding. She looked cold, and she was laying very still. Theo couldn¡¯t breathe until he walked across the room and placed a hand against her shoulder. When she grabbed his hand with hers, he finally took a breath.

    ¡°Hey, sweetheart!¡± Theo said with a soft voice, but with genuine warmth.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Kara said. She turned toward him and gave him a smile, but the lights in her pupil revealed that she was still in her game. Theo wasn¡¯t ecstatic about it, but he was glad to see her respond to him.

    He feared what had already happened. He feared coming home to find her laying there, unresponsive, thinking she was dead, again. But this time, if it did happen again, he wouldn¡¯t be able to blame the alcohol. After leaning down and giving her a kiss above the ear, he rose to disrobe and put his holstered gun away, then moved to the kitchen. He opened the fridge to find it nearly full of bottles of Meals Ready to Slurp, a meal replacement that was popular among those with brainstem interfaces. Theo didn¡¯t mind it much either. He noticed that there were the same number of bottles as when he had left in the morning, so he grabbed two and went back to the bedroom.

    ¡°Hey,¡± he said, softly grasping one of her hands. Her thumb brushing his skin was the sign that she was paying attention. He placed the cold bottle of MRS in her palm. ¡°You haven¡¯t had anything to eat today.¡±

    ¡°Maybe not in meatspace...¡± Kara pushed herself up against the wall with Theo¡¯s help. Theo unscrewed the cap for her. ¡°... But you should have seen the steak I ate at the hero¡¯s feast before our raid!¡± She started drinking.

    ¡°What happened to the whole vegetarian thing?¡± Theo asked. Kara took a couple more gulps.

    ¡°Well, yeah, in reality, sure. But the steak I had didn¡¯t come from a real animal...¡± Kara finished the bottle in one more go before continuing. ¡°And, in here, I can literally eat whatever I want, and my body will always stay perfectly slim and sexy.¡±

    ¡°I think your real body is slim and sexy.¡± Theo said. Of course, he always thought that Kara was the sexiest woman he had ever seen or wanted, but he was worried that she was too slim. He could tell that she was gradually getting up to a healthier weight, so he just had to keep on her.

    The couple continued chatting about Kara¡¯s quest as Theo disrobed and completed his bathroom rituals, but gradually, Kara sank back into her game, and the room became quiet again. Theo slid into bed and wrapped his arms around Kara and nestled his face against the back of her head, just above her Interface plugs. He could feel her pulse, and her breathing, and while he was transferring most of his warmth into her, he could still feel the warmth that was in her core. All of these things told him that she was still there. She was alive. She was safe, and he wasn¡¯t alone. It was the only thing that got him to sleep.

    <hr>

    [i]</a> Stylus: Users who have a Visual-Audio Interface or a Head Mounted Display can use a touch-sensitive stylus to control the movement of the cursor in their vision, and as a point of reference for interactive items, like a keyboard or a floating digital display. Brainstem Interface users don¡¯t need a stylus for long, as they can train the interface to move the cursor with brain activity alone, or even eliminate the need for a cursor altogether.

    [ii]</a> Brainstem Interface (BSI): A device that is implanted around the brainstem that can detect, interpret, interrupt, and send bio-electrical signals. Allows for full immersion and control of a digitally simulated body.

    [iii]</a> Videogrammetry: Process that uses high detail binocular video footage of a location and/or objects to recreate them in a digital environment. Often used by the police to preserve a crime scene accurately and quickly for further analysis.

    [iv]</a> Wanderlust: Massively multiplayer online simulated reality. Incredibly highly detailed world where players inhabit photo-realistic bodies, called avatars. The game is primarily for those with Brainstem Interfaces, due to the full body control and sensory data that is made possible by them. Is also available for Vis/Aud users and those with HMD¡¯s, but is much less immersive in those cases, and is not nearly as popular on those platforms. Also, a leading cause of cyberaddiction.

    [v]</a> Interface: The point of intersection between man and machine. Refers to the physical object(s) implanted but can also refer to the overlay that users see and use to interact with the digital world.

    [vi]</a> Bell-Westbrook Cybernetics (BW): Monolithic leader in cybernetic technology, interfacial software, and cybersecurity. Owns more than 90% of market shares in cybernetics as a whole, and completely owns the market for brainstem interfaces.

    [vii]</a> Head Mounted Display (HMD): Allows users without cybernetic implants the ability to see and interact with Augmented and Virtual Realities, albeit with much less fidelity than Visual-Audio and Brainstem Interface users.

 Chapter Two

    Theo was on his way to the next victim he had been assigned to investigate. As he did every day, he sent a short message to Kara before stepping onto the scene.

    TM: I¡¯m about to start working. I hope you have a great adventure today! ??

    TM: Love you! ?

    KM: ...

    Kara was the only one that Theo ever actively watched and waited for a response, and not just lately. Ever since he was a kid when he first got the girl¡¯s number, he would stare at his mobile or any other display and wait, sometimes for hours, for her response. It was rare that she wouldn¡¯t respond at all. It was like they had been playing a decades long game of ¡®last word¡¯. However, Theo had a job now, so when he saw the three dots disappear without a response, all he could do was sigh and continue with his day. He played with his digital cat, Chess, until he arrived at the scene.

    As the vehicle was moving at speed on the autoway, well over 100 mph, it began suddenly slowing to a stop, a sensation that was quite alarming to Theo until he realized that he was approaching the crime scene. There was a line of police vehicles along the side of the autoway underneath an overpass. The right-side doors opened, encouraging Theo to get out on the side of the road without the ballistic objects that would kill him immediately, which is exactly what happened to the victim he was there to see.

    Theo began walking down the road. Even though there were a line of vehicles between him and the active autoway, it still felt very unsafe to be there. Eventually, the line of police vehicles ended. There was a crowd of cops standing outside of the scene, cordoned off with digital police tape. Theo weaved his way through and into the scene where he first saw two black rubber lines about 5 feet apart that extended for hundreds of feet in front of him. Only about 20 feet from where they started, and directly under one side of the overpass, Theo found spots of blood. Then, the next stretch of road had large spots and spray, a shoe, and then a long, wide, red streak, all leading up to the back of the autonomous vehicle that had been in the accident.

    The vehicle was likely totaled, judging by the outside state of it, though the cabin was pristine save for the coffee spilled all over the interior. The passenger had already been checked for injury and allowed to leave by the time Theo had arrived. All he was here to do was to see the body. Theo walked around to the front of the vehicle.

    The victim was broken, mangled, and wedged under the front bumper of the car. The damage to his body was enough to make him completely unrecognizable, but luckily, his Brainstem Interface was still intact and functioning. His public profile was accessible immediately.

    Jackson Edwards was a freelance web developer and a recluse who lived his entire life online from a nearby apartment building. He only had a few personal connections, primarily his family, but he was unmarried and lived alone. After entering his credentials, Theo first checked Jackson¡¯s socials. They all looked to be pretty usual. Nothing seemed to stand out there. Theo had investigated a few other suicides since Christina, but he had determined them as genuine suicides with nothing connecting them, nor any indication of criminal involvement or intent. He pulled up his CCTV access and began a search based on some of the flipped images Theo pulled from Jackson¡¯s social media, just as he had done for the past few suicides but had come up empty in those cases.

    While he waited, Theo pulled up the live view of the cameras overlooking the autoway he was standing on. Once pulling up a few different angles, he began winding the footage back. He saw the moment Jackson fell onto the autoway. Theo was surprised to see that Jackson¡¯s image wasn¡¯t hacked and hidden from the cameras. Theo followed Jackson¡¯s moves in reverse to the point that he came out of his apartment, then watched it back in real time. From the second he emerged from his apartment, Jackson was clearly in distress.

    The man was cowering and flinching and seemed to be frantically trying to get away from something. He could barely take a few steps before he would throw himself against the wall or to the ground. He went down the stairwell, stumbling down half of the steps, and fully falling and rolling down the last flight to ground level. He ran outside and paused to look at the skyline and all around him with a look of absolute horror on his face. A woman walking by saw his distress and appeared to call out to him, which was inaudible to Theo¡¯s perspective.

    Jackson turned toward the woman, and appeared completely terrified by her, falling back onto the grass, then turning and running down the walkway as fast as he could, directly onto the overpass that would be his doom. Once on the overpass, he ran from one side of the path to the other, then fell against the concrete barrier. While facing away from the barrier, he crawled to his feet, and then backward over the barrier, falling directly in front of an automated vehicle on the autoway below.

    Just to be sure, Theo ordered a toxicology screening for the victim. He wanted to be sure Jackson wasn¡¯t on some extreme hallucinogenic. For the same reason, Theo requested access to Jackson¡¯s visual data stored on his interface. In response, he received a message from Bell-Westbrook Cybernetics legal department regarding the reason for access. Theo sent along a warrant stating Jackson was being investigated as a victim of murder. That was all that was needed.

    A list of videos popped up in Theo¡¯s vision, which in itself was strange. Usually, video would start recording as soon as the interface was turned on, whether it was just a visual implant or a full brainstem interface, and it would record constantly, leaving a single video file that was the last 72 hours, at least, of the victim¡¯s death. Jackson had 4 videos, meaning 3 gaps that according to the timestamps, were about an hour each for the past 3 nights. Theo selected the most recent video; its duration was barely over 4 minutes long.

    Jackson had awoken with a start large enough to throw him out of his bed. He rolled around on the ground, grabbing at his body and checking his hands. He sighed with relief, then rose to his feet, throwing his comforter back onto the bed, and moving to the bathroom. He turned on the light and looked at himself in the mirror. Jackson was in a flop-sweat. He rinsed his face with water and took a few deep breaths. The breaths gradually turned into heaving. Thick, viscous fluid began drooling from his mouth and nose, and he started spasming as if he were trying to vomit. Jackson then watched through the mirror as a few long, thick strands emerged from his mouth.

    They were the legs of a creature emerging from his throat. Theo thought that it was that of a giant centipede, but when Jackson grabbed it and began pulling it out, Theo realized that it was a creature unlike anything he had ever seen. The body, instead of being a chitinous shell, looked like it was made of soft, pliable skin. When Theo looked more closely, he could see that each segment was a twisted, malformed human face caught in the grips of complete agony.

    ¡°What the fuck!¡± Theo shouted. He was watching Jackson¡¯s view through both eyes, as if he were actually there, and reacted exactly as Jackson did, trying to grab the creature and pull it away. When Theo wasn¡¯t able to grip anything, he came to his senses, blindly fiddling with his stylus to pause the playback and opt to watch it through a window, instead of in full detail. He ordered an autopsy, and for someone to search his premises immediately, then Theo continued playing the video, it was still quite jarring. ¡°Jesus Christ, what the hell, man?¡±

    The creature was longer than Jackson¡¯s arm and was writhing around and wrapping itself around his hands as he pulled. The creature was dripping in a translucent yellow-brown fluid that seemed to be flowing from the orifices of the faces that made up its body. Jackson struggled to keep a grip on the creature, but finally, the length of it ended with long, jagged pincers. Once it was free, Jackson threw it into the tub, and crawled away from it. He convulsed again and vomited a sizeable volume of the fluid. He finally started catching his breath as he got to his feet and watched the bathtub. The creature began crawling up the wall and onto the ceiling, then approached Jackson.

    The closed toilet seat began shaking, then opened, revealing another creature emerging from it. He saw much smaller ones coming from the sink and tub drains as well, hundreds of them. Jackson closed the bathroom door and stepped back. He watched as the small ones started coming through the gap under the door. A movement through the window beside him caught his attention. It was supposed to be dark out, but there was a distinct red glow in the atmosphere, flickering and bellowing as if there was a nearby fire. Then a large shadow fluttered by the window, startling the already nerve-wracked Jackson. He took a half-step away from the window.

    Suddenly, the window crashed inward as a winged monster came flying into his apartment. It knocked over a shelf filled with books and loudly screeched with a massive needle-toothed hole nearly the size of its body. It climbed around with the hooks on its wings, and with long, spindly forked legs, it snatched one of the centipede-worms and devoured it. Jackson turned tail and sprinted for his front door. Once in the hallway, he looked toward the elevator, but saw several smaller, but still sizeable flying creatures crawling around along the walls and floor.

    Though they were without discernable eyes, they seemed to turn and look directly at Jackson. When he took a step back, they lunged and started flying at him. Jackson turned and ran the opposite direction. Up until that point, Theo was convinced that the things Jackson saw were real. They were certainly detailed enough and were interacting with the environment in a way that Theo had never seen in an AR app. Theo pulled up the feed from the CCTV cameras and synced it to Jackson¡¯s video.

    Watching from the outside again gave Theo a modicum of relief, knowing that the things weren¡¯t real. He still wanted to check Jackson¡¯s apartment to be absolutely sure, but when Jackson stepped outside, it became even more clear. Jackson saw the city in the grips of flame and destruction. He could see swarms of the flying nightmares in the distance, and could hear explosions, screeches, and screams. The woman who called out to him in reality, sounded like incoherent, hysteric shouts to Jackson. She appeared to be running toward him, away from something that was chasing her.

    From the alleyway behind the apartment, a new creature appeared standing nearly 15 feet tall on several thin, spider-like legs. Its torso was long and flat, with a vertical toothed maw at the top, and extended, spindly appendages, like tentacles with a bone structure. It was fast, closing on the running woman within seconds and wrapping her leg with one of its bony arms. The woman fell to the ground, knocking her head against the concrete, dazing her for a moment as the creature lifted her into the air.

    The thing wrapped another tentacle around the woman¡¯s other leg, and the woman again began screaming as it pulled them apart. The screams went from terror to agony as Jackson heard the bones in her hips pop and crack. Blood stained her clothing when her flesh tore, and her sounds became gurgles. When her clothing gave way, her leg came free with a significant portion of her lower torso, and her intestines spilled out onto the ground. Jackson fell backward, watching as the creature bring the dripping limb to its mouth, where the razor-sharp teeth removed and consumed the flesh from the bone within seconds.

    Jackson scrambled to his feet and began sprinting down the walkway toward the overpass. Another large flying creature swooped out of the sky toward him, causing him to stumble, trying to avoid it. The thing dove a few more times before it landed on the path beside him. Jackson backed away from it, falling against the barrier. The creature slowly approached him. There was only one way that Jackson could go to avoid it. He scrambled to his feet, climbed backward over the barrier, and fell 16 feet onto the autoway below. Jackson yelled out from the pain of breaking several bones upon landing. He tried to push himself off the ground, but the pain was too much. He heard an ear shattering screech and looked up just in time to watch the flying creature plow directly into him.

    The whole experience sent chills down Theo¡¯s spine. He wasn¡¯t excited to watch it again. He closed down his video feeds and noticed that he was still standing on the autoway, looking at Jackson¡¯s corpse wedged under the front bumper of a mangled vehicle. Theo recorded a walk around the scene, getting his face very close to the corpse and the viscera that lay all over the road. Virtual police tape was the only thing that separated him from the other autos that could do exactly the same damage to him, so he didn¡¯t waste any time doing the recording. Jacque probably wouldn¡¯t be happy with the fidelity of the digital recreation, but Theo didn¡¯t want to spend any more time on the autoway than he had to. He sent the video to Jacque with an apologetic emoji attached, then returned to his vehicle, having it take him to Jackson¡¯s apartment.

    Just as he had expected, nothing was particularly out of place. The window was unshattered, there was no residue from the creatures, and there certainly was no evidence of a woman being torn apart. The opposite, in fact, considering the woman herself had already given a statement to police, saying she saw the guy freaking out and thought he was having a bad trip. Though Theo didn¡¯t see any evidence, he grabbed the nearest officer wearing an HMD and had him use his human eyes to look for anything conspicuous, with no result.

    Theo could only make the determination that what Jackson had seen was entirely digital. An Augmented Reality app of some sort, not dissimilar to Chess, Theo¡¯s kitten companion that was softly purring from its curled-up position in one of his coat pockets. Augmented Reality apps and games weren¡¯t uncommon. Theo had experienced several, but the realism and amount of detail and interactivity seen in Jacksons vision was far beyond anything he had personally experienced. He did a quick search online for discussions or reviews regarding apps or games with the level of detail he witnessed. The only thing coming back was a horror addon for Wanderlust. While it had some AR elements to it, the addon just didn¡¯t look to match the level of insanity, nor were any of the monsters very similar.

    The facial recognition scan came up with almost nothing. Jackson was a hermit, spending entire months at a time inside his home, having everything he needed delivered to him. Though, there were a few hits, during the periods in which his vision recorded nothing. They were all caught through reflections, where the real image was hidden through a hack. It was just like with Christina, even down to his lurching, apparently drunk manner. He began following Jackson¡¯s trail of shadows.

    During each of the missing periods, Jackson seemed to have gone on the same route. Theo didn¡¯t get as much as he wanted, but it did appear that Jackson was visiting a few spots near where Christina¡¯s ghost had been seen, but Jackson himself didn¡¯t go anywhere near Shadow Recording. Theo spent a few hours trying to narrow down the two¡¯s intersecting paths but was unable to do it to a satisfactory degree. Eventually, he felt like he was wasting time and decided to switch, taking a look at Jackson¡¯s interface activity.

    Again, there were portions missing during his periods of absence, so Theo could only work with what he had. By this time, Theo was starting to wonder whether there was a connection to Wanderlust. Christina was mentioned as being a fan, but while Theo did notice that Jackson had a few hours logged, most of his activity wasn¡¯t game related at all. He spent most of his time programming or participating in online communities. There were nearly a dozen sites where he was an active user, but by far, he spent the most time on an app simply called ¡®Forums[i]</a>¡¯. Theo had heard it spoken about before, by Christina¡¯s boyfriend, and by Kara herself shortly after first getting her brainstem interface.

    At the time, the app was only available to those with a brainstem interface, thus making Theo unable to join, but now that he checked again, a few years later, he saw that it was now available to HMD and Vis/Aud[ii]</a> users like him, and even the lowly desktop and mobile users in flatland as well. Theo downloaded it and ran a police account setup utility and logged in as a user with specialized law enforcement privileges. The first thing he did was contact the admin bots to request access to Jackson¡¯s full account history. As expected, they requested a warrant to do so, Theo responded by sending the warrant, informing of the victim¡¯s death, verified by his own still active interface, and that the user¡¯s death is suspected to be murder. Theo was in his account within seconds and decided to start at the end. The last interaction Jackson had before his final disappearance and ultimate death was a private message from a user with a simple name.

    Synapse: You wanna see something really scary?

    He had received messages from this person previously as well, none of which were responded to. They weren¡¯t the only one that had words with Jackson, however, nor was Synapse the worst. Jackson¡¯s online persona was loud and prideful, which often came across as arrogant and stubborn. As such, he had received threats and slurs from dozens of users, each one becoming a suspect and receiving a police-issued request for comment and access to their location history on the night of Jackson¡¯s death. Most of the requests went through with an automated warrant, and several had already responded within seconds, but the warrant was denied in the case of Synapse for insufficient evidence.

    Theo looked over all of the messages from Synapse. While Theo did infer a threatening undertone, there was nothing in the messages that fit the legal definition of ¡®threat¡¯. At best, it might be considered cyber bullying, but on that point, there was nothing the police could do as it was solely the responsibility of the admins and moderators of the site to manage that. Theo began looking through the logs of the individual forums that Jackson was active in. There were a lot. More than Theo was comfortable reviewing himself. He expected he was going to have to requisition an intern or two to help but held off doing it just yet.

    There were a few different levels of interactivity in Forums. Each room had live channels where full body avatars would meet and interact in real time. Everyone was able to observe the live channels whenever they wanted no matter what platform they were using, but if a user wanted the full body experience, they would need a Brainstem Interface to do so.

    Every word spoken through the avatars was transcribed and added to that forum¡¯s text log, where it could be responded to by non-avatar users. The log was much easier to browse through, but Theo could also watch Jackson¡¯s conversations from his own perspective through his video records. Again, Theo started at the end, choosing to watch Jackson¡¯s last interaction in Forums, specifically, the Boston Area Tech Philosophy forum.

    The visualizations upon entering the room were flashy and beautiful, and filled with particle effects. First, a large glass table appeared in front of him, followed closely by a dozen comfortable-looking chairs, a handful of them already claimed by people who, visually speaking, could barely be considered ¡®people¡¯ at all. The rest of the room materialized, revealing them to be seated in a spacious conference room. On one side was a large array of seats, set up like a lecture hall or bleachers. Many of the seats were taken by black-void silhouettes of people that represented the non-avatar active users. The opposite side of the room was a glass fa?ade providing a breathtaking view from the top of a tower, but judging by the degree of the curvature of the Earth below, it was a much higher tower than any Theo had ever been in. Jackson started speaking. His words appeared in the log as he spoke.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Dubai again? Can¡¯t we get a few more location in rotation?

    FoxyFrosting286: Take another look.

    The person responding had a woman¡¯s voice but had a mechanical body in appearance. The curves in the metal and plastic implied a feminine form, but her arms were detached, floating gauntlets. Jackson stood up from his seat and walked to the window, then looked down onto the world below. Theo didn¡¯t think he had acrophobia, but he felt like he might develop it based on their considerable height. The tower was sitting on a river delta with a bright blue sea on one side, and verdant flowing plains on the other. There wasn¡¯t another building as far as the eye could see, which, at this altitude, was a significant distance.

    DarkmatterDisaster: I guess it¡¯s alright.

    TornadoFloramuffin: Jesus, Dark, nothing¡¯s ever good enough for you, is it? Lol

    Tornado was also apparently a woman in voice, but Theo wasn¡¯t quite sure whether a fantasy storm elemental really had a gender.

    DarkmatterDisaster: I dunno. I always preferred the default room.

    FoxyFrosting286: What, you mean the empty black void?

    DarkmatterDisaster: Yeah.

    DufferCuffer857: Booooring!

    Duffer appeared as a more realistic Avatar. A human male in a fine, dark suit would have been out of place among the otherworldly style of his company, were it not for his glowing eyes and mouth.

    DufferCuffer857: Why even get an interface if you¡¯re going to do something so basic?

    DarkmatterDisaster: Part of why I wanted an interface was so I could shut out the chaos of the real world. There¡¯s always just too much going on.

    DufferCuffer857: Really? Too much?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Yeah, I gotta say the opposite too. Meatspace is way too slow for me.

    FoxyFrosting286: Agreed.

    DufferCuffer857: Why you gotta be so square, Dark? Look, he¡¯s even still using his default avatar.

    DarkmatterDisaster: No, no! I added a beard!

    DufferCuffer857: Oh, yeah, that makes a difference!

    FoxyFrosting286: lol

    TornadoFloraMuffin: You know I¡¯m not one to yuck someone else¡¯s yum, but, I mean... Come on.

    DarkmatterDisaster: I just enjoy being myself in stuff. I always made my character look myself in videogames since I was a kid.

    FoxyFrosting286: Yeah, but I¡¯m pretty sure that your interface made a copy of you as a starting point to do more creative stuff.

    DufferCuffer857: If you¡¯re trying to escape the real world, it doesn¡¯t really make sense to have an avatar that looks like you, does it?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: I¡¯m not sure why you want your avatar to look like you in the first place, especially when you watch the kind of porn that Dark likes. Could you imagine being recognized IRL?Stolen novel; please report.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Whatever, guys.

    DufferCuffer857: Aww, looks sounds like Dark¡¯s having a bad time!

    FoxyFrosting286: What¡¯s wrong?

    DarkmatterDisaster: Had another nightmare last night.

    FoxyFrosting286: Really? Another one?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: That¡¯s two nights in a row, isn¡¯t it?

    FoxyFrosting286: What was it this time?

    DarkmatterDisaster: Pretty much the same as last time.

    DufferCuffer857: All the crawly things coming out of your throat?

    DarkmatterDisaster: And other places too.

    FoxyFrosting286: Woof.

    DufferCuffer857: What do you think it means?

    DarkmatterDisaster: I dunno, but I¡¯ll say this, they¡¯re absolutely the most vivid dreams I¡¯ve ever had in my life.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: How sure are you that they are, in fact, dreams?

    DufferCuffer857: Uhh...?

    DarkmatterDisaster: What do you mean?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Well... you know... how can you be sure that it¡¯s not your interface doing something funky in your sleep?

    FoxyFrosting286: I¡¯ve had interface bugs while I sleep. Shit¡¯s real fuckin¡¯ annoying, but it¡¯s usually just the OS crashing and restarting or an audio notification or something. Nothing even close to having a nightmare like the one Dark describes.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Yeah. Also, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how the interface works.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: How would you know?

    DarkmatterDisaster: Uhh... I¡¯m a programmer?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Dude, you¡¯re a web developer.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Yeah. Web development is programming.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Technically.

    DarkmatterDisaster: What¡¯s your point?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: My point is: I may not be a programmer of any kind, but I¡¯m pretty sure that programming websites is not the same as programming for a brain-computer interface.

    FoxyFrosting286: She has a point...

    DufferCuffer857: Yeah. In fact, the only person I know of that has some experience programming a BSI is-

    DarkmatterDisaster: Don¡¯t even fuckin¡¯ say it.

    Synapse has entered the forum.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Jesus Christ. I swear this guy can read our God damned thoughts or something.

    The new user was a void that grew from a small shadow. Within that void were dozens of faces, completely obscured except for the eyes and crooked teeth in a jagged smile. The largest, central one served as the focal point for their avatar.

    Synapse: Not everyone¡¯s, Dickmatter. It¡¯s just so easy to read yours.

    FoxyFrosting286: Hey Syn.

    DufferCuffer857: Yo.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Welcome back.

    Synapse: What the hell kind of greeting was that? Y¡¯all need some lessons in etiquette.

    DufferCuffer857: Whatever, dude.

    Synapse: So, what¡¯s the current topic?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Dark had another nightmare.

    Synapse: Oh, did he now?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: We were discussing whether it was actually a dream and not some bug in his interface.

    Synapse: That¡¯s pretty stupid.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Dude...

    DarkmatterDisaster: What is your problem, man?

    Synapse: I have no patience for idiots talking about things they don¡¯t understand.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: I never claimed to be an expert on anything, Synapse, I was just adding to the conversation.

    Synapse: Well, if you had thought about it for even a second before those words drooled out of your mouth, you¡¯d have realized that interface bugs don¡¯t present themselves as fully realized nightmares.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Not so far, but we have no idea how Neural-AIs¡¯ programming works anymore. We can barely read any of their code, let alone be able to identify a bug.

    DufferCuffer857: You could argue that AIs are just a series of bugs that somehow work, kind of like evolution.

    Synapse: That doesn¡¯t make any sense, and it¡¯s wrong on so many levels. The two have nothing to do with each other.

    FoxyFrosting286: Makes sense to me.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Same here.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Is Syn the only one that doesn¡¯t understand how two concepts can have similarities?

    Synapse: You¡¯re simplifying these concepts to a point where they have no nuance and have lost all of their meaning. Why even use language at that point? It¡¯d be more fitting for you all to use grunts and groans instead.

    FoxyFrosting286: God, what is with this dude?

    TornadoFloraMuffin: It¡¯s all the fuckin¡¯ time with this guy.

    Synapse: What, are all my big words hurting your feelings? This is an adult forum, get over yourself.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Just ignore them.

    FoxyFrosting286: I¡¯m trying. It would be much easier if I could mute or block them, but that doesn¡¯t seem to work at all.

    DufferCuffer857: How has this asshole not been banned yet?

    DarkmatterDisaster: I have no fuckin¡¯ idea.

    Synapse: I¡¯m not doing anything wrong. You¡¯re all just being soft-skinned little snowflakes.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Snowflakes, huh?

    DufferCuffer857: Alright, I¡¯m outta here.

    DufferCuffer857 has left the forum.

    DarkmatterDisaster: See? This is what happens when you open your mouth, Synapse. You kill the whole fuckin forum.

    Synapse: If you can¡¯t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: You¡¯re going to find yourself the only cook in a burning kitchen pretty soon.

    FoxyFrosting286: Pretty sure we already lost Meg because of you.

    Synapse: Whatever. That bitch couldn¡¯t argue her way out of a paper bag to save her life.

    FoxyFrosting286: That¡¯s it for me. Catch you guys whenever.

    FoxyFrosting286 has left the forum.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Do mods even exist anymore? This guy has to have been reported by now.

    DarkmatterDisaster: Yeah, I know they have. But that doesn¡¯t stop me from continuing to try.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Alright, well, until something happens to him, there¡¯s really only one thing I can do.

    TornadoFloraMuffin has left the forum.

    Synapse: I guess it¡¯s just you and me, Dickmatter.

    DarkmatterDisaster: You are a terrible person. I¡¯m ashamed to be the same species as you. I¡¯d ask mercy for your soul if I believed in God, or that you had one to begin with.

    DarkmatterDisaster has left the Forum.

    Already, Synapse seemed like a very abrasive person, and, being the last person to communicate with Jackson, was now top of the list of suspects, though at this point, the list was really only one entry long, and Theo¡¯s suspicion at this point was shaky at best. He continued looking through Jackson¡¯s previous message history.

    Jackson wasn¡¯t a bad guy from what Theo could tell, though he did sometimes put off an air of smug superiority, it usually seemed to be in jest, and was often completely overshadowed by the appearance of Synapse. Wherever Theo saw Synapses name pop up, he scanned all of his words for anything tangibly threatening. He was hostile and abrasive in every encounter toward anyone and everyone daring enough to speak to him, but he was clever, and cautious not to carry it over the line.

    A conversation nearly a week prior had caught Theo¡¯s attention. The topic of discussion in the same Boston Area Tech Philosophy forum had landed on the very addon to Wanderlust that Theo had been reading about, a self-contained game simply called ¡®The Horror¡¯. Most of the forum were afraid or otherwise uninterested in trying it out, but one user by the name of MegiddoWillow9 spoke about how absolutely terrifying the experience was. They mentioned how the game was set up.

    The player was at first guided down a corridor and given a series of varying authored scares, using the BSI¡¯s ability to monitor heartbeat, adrenaline, and other stress factors to determine the user¡¯s greatest phobias. Once finished, the player is free to explore and try solving a simple, if time-consuming puzzle, and the game dynamically produces personalized scares. Meg, as the other forum members called her, was deeply afraid of clowns and spiders. She said she felt the spider-clowns touching her, and clown-spiders crawling all over her, even biting and cutting her at times. But, by far, the worst thing she felt was a profound and persistent fear of being raped and violently tortured.

    Traditionally, it was something that wasn¡¯t touched on in popular videogames, even the horror ones. Sexual violence was often a surefire way to send a game to the bottom of the ratings pit, though Meg said that it never actually happened, and she quit the game before it came to that. They asked her if the monsters, setting, or dialogue might have impressed such a sexualized fear on her, but based on her descriptions of how the creatures were attacking her and reacting towards her, they didn¡¯t seem inherently sexual. Even after watching footage clipped from her experience, the clown-spiders, while definitely terrifying, didn¡¯t exactly feel rape-y.

    That¡¯s about when Synapse entered the Forum and began slut-shaming Meg, somehow twisting her perfectly rational fear of rape into a projection of her own dark and masochistic sexual fantasies. A flame war ensued and similarly ended when most of the users had left the forum. Theo checked later visits by Jackson to the same forum and saw that Meg never appeared again. Then he looked further at her username. MegiddoWillow9. At first, he thought Megiddo was a strange long form of the name Meg, or a Spanish or maybe Italian thing, but then it hit him when he searched the word origin. Megiddo is the name of an ancient city in Israel and was one of the words that Christina Auburg had used in some of her pre-BSI usernames.

    Finally, Theo was able to link two of the suicides together directly, and he was pretty confident that he now had what he needed to get information, not just about Synapse, but the rest of the users on that forum as well. Theo checked to see if there were any other forums both had frequented, but only found the one. Theo sent a warrant for access to MegiddoWillow9¡¯s Forums history, as well as that of all users who had communicated with both her and DarkmatterDisaster. However, there was an immediate roadblock.

    While Christina had been known to use ¡®Megiddo¡¯ in several of her older, pre-BSI online profiles, none of them matched exactly to ¡®MegiddoWillow9¡¯. Furthermore, since Christina¡¯s interface was destroyed, Forums was unable to contact it to verify her death status like it was able to with Jackson. In order to get the warrant approved, a certificate of death needed to be sent to the admins, who would then verify whether MegiddoWillow9, in fact, belonged to Christina. Theo sighed with frustration. Without the warrant for Christina, the warrants for the rest of the forum, and specifically for Synapse, weren¡¯t likely to go forward. It could be hours at least, or days depending on how competent the system was feeling.

    There was little more for Theo to do but wait. He played with Chess as his vehicle adopted an idling pattern, and after a few minutes without input, took itself to an auto charging lot. Theo created a personal account for Forums. He could have continued using the police access account for greater privileges, but it was also obviously a police account, and wouldn¡¯t work well for live observation and interaction with the communities. Instead, he opted to use an old username he loved that wasn¡¯t affiliated with the police. At least not officially. Once the setup was complete, he selected a few forums personally interesting to him, like classic movies and television shows, documentaries, true crime mysteries, kittens, puppies, and unhinged UAP conspiracies. Lastly, he selected and entered the Boston Area Tech Philosophy forum.

    HardBoiledDick44 has entered the forum.

    Theo was greeted with a few text ¡®Hello¡¯s, and a few people laughing at his username, but there weren¡¯t any BSI users online at the moment. That was fine. Theo was okay just chatting with the lowly text-only users in the forum. He wanted to immediately hone in and discuss Synapse and how other users in the forum felt about him, or other notable interactions they¡¯ve had or witnessed, but felt that it wasn¡¯t a very low profile way to start an online stakeout. Instead, he simply asked whether other non-BSI users felt that getting the upgrade was worth the cost.

    The first thing other users brought up was that while paying out of pocket for a Brainstem Interface and Surgery could be in the tens of thousands or more, many jobs would cover the cost, and the government provided grants for students, the military, and people with lower economic status. Then Theo asked about the non-monetary costs, about the possibility of hackers, viruses, or implant rejection.

    The hacker argument was waived away just like Theo had done in the past. Bell-Westbrook, the leading cybernetic tech and software giant, was also well known and highly praised for its cybersecurity suite. There were no high-profile cases of BSI hacks or viruses, and any that did come out were quickly refuted using the interface data themselves. As for rejection, there are tests done before the procedure that can test for implant rejection, and it could be prevented with inoculations and treated with drugs. As long as the procedure was done by a BW licensed surgeon using BW developed techniques and machines, and the patient followed all of the necessary pre- and post-op guidelines, the risk of rejection causing permanent damage was incredibly low, and there had never been a reported death from the procedure or the implant itself.

    Theo tried to argue that since these things haven¡¯t happened in the past, it doesn¡¯t mean they can¡¯t happen in the future. He asked whether it was technically possible to hack or infect brainstem interfaces. Nobody could give him a definitive ¡®no¡¯, though the discussion did evolve into whether it was possible to ¡®hack¡¯ someone with no cybernetics at all. Social engineering then became the topic of conversation, and when the forum began arguing whether social engineering was considered hacking, Theo saw that it had already been hours since he had started.

    The vehicle had finished charging and moved him into a parking garage. Theo gave the digital cat sleeping in his lap a few scritches and checked on the status of the warrant for MegiddoWillow9¡¯s account information. It still hadn¡¯t gone through. Theo sighed and decided to call it a day, setting his destination to The Endless Wit to slam a few Dr. Peppers before heading home.

    When he arrived, Theo went straight to his table and ordered his non-alcoholic beverage. Shortly after receiving it, as he was playing with his kitten and smoking a Phantom cigarette, the young woman he had met the other day apparated from the darkness and slid into the booth opposite to him.

    ¡°Mind if I sit here?¡± Lily asked, already getting comfortable. Theo acknowledged with an inviting gesture. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again.¡±

    ¡°Likewise.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°How are you feeling today?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an interesting question. Something I might hear from a therapist.¡±

    ¡°Not a friend?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure what we have is a friendship.¡±

    ¡°How long does it take for a friendship to form?¡±

    ¡°I... uh... Well, I¡¯m not sure, if I¡¯m being honest. But I¡¯m certain that it¡¯s more than one conversation.¡±

    ¡°How about two conversations?¡±

    ¡°I suppose that depends on the conversation.¡± Theo said.

    He drank, then continued smoking and playing with Chess on the table. In the moment, he had forgotten that they were only visible to himself. Lily didn¡¯t seem to bat an eye.

    ¡°And how many conversations does it take to become lovers?¡± Lily asked. Theo raised an eyebrow. It was quite the flirtatious question, but her demeanor suggested that it was a genuine one. He wondered whether she remembered that he had already told her he was married. He wondered whether that¡¯s what she was inquiring about.

    ¡°There¡¯s likely an average number of conversations that it takes, but it is possible to become lovers without a single word spoken.¡±

    ¡°Is that how it was for you?¡±

    ¡°Uhh... I... suppose so.¡± Theo didn¡¯t exactly feel proud about the true story of how he first met his wife.

    They were a couple of young, horny teenagers, their already chaotic and uncontrollable sex drives amplified by Ecstasy, among other drugs. In a perverted game at a party, the two of them, having never met each other beforehand, were locked in a small room after having all of their clothes stolen by their ¡®friends¡¯.

    ¡°Was it love at first love?¡±

    ¡°No... I don¡¯t think so. It did take a few more conversations before I was sure that I was in love with her.¡± Theo said.

    He remembered enjoying the experience in the moment. The feelings he felt were burned into his memory, even now, decades later, but as soon as he had come down from his high, he felt an overwhelming sense of regret and shame. He became convinced that he had raped Kara and felt like a monster for weeks afterward. The feeling only intensified when he saw her at school. She saw him as well, and it seemed like they couldn¡¯t go anywhere without bumping into each other. The whole time, they were unable to look each other in the eyes. Eventually, Theo couldn¡¯t stand the guilt anymore, and in a public, and somewhat humiliating display, he apologized to her and groveled for her forgiveness.

    Kara laughed at him, which Theo would find out later was a nervous laugh, not out of mockery and pity like he had thought at the time. Theo fell into a torrent of self-hate-filled emotions that threatened to tear apart his psyche until Kara caught him when he was alone and explained the situation. She confessed to Theo that she had felt exactly as he did, that she was the one that had taken advantage and forced herself upon him. Over the course of that conversation, the guilt and self-loathing washed away, and when Kara asked if he wanted to try again, only this time without the drugs or the ¡®encouragement¡¯ of their friends, they were both left with a memory they could cherish. Theo didn¡¯t feel like they had fallen in love at that moment as much as lust, but it wasn¡¯t long before the two were spending every possible second together, and remained that way through high school, college, marriage, and the birth of their child.

    Completely lost in memories, Theo had forgotten about the woman sitting across from him. She didn¡¯t seem to mind. The bartender set a drink on the table, which Lily grabbed after he returned to tending the bar.

    ¡°What about you?¡± Theo asked as she drank.

    ¡°What about me?¡± Lily replied.

    ¡°Well, anything, really. I don¡¯t know anything about you. What was it you asked?¡± Theo thought for a moment. ¡°Do you have a lover... that you loved at first love, or whatever?¡±

    ¡°Nope. I¡¯ve never experienced it.¡±

    ¡°What? Love... or sex?¡±

    ¡°Either.¡± Lily said. Theo turned his head in bewilderment, not expecting that answer. While he was a married man, he was also a heterosexual male, and he wasn¡¯t blind. He would have considered Lily to be breathtakingly beautiful, had his breath not already been taken by another. Lily saw the confusion in his face. ¡°Is that strange?¡±

    ¡°No... I mean, it¡¯s not bad or anything, but it¡¯s not very often that such an open and attractive young woman would be inexperienced in that regard.¡± Theo inspected her form a bit more closely. He remembered their last discussion in which they discussed her age. He thought she had said she was 22, but now he wasn¡¯t so sure. He didn¡¯t know if she had changed her appearance in some way, but after a few seconds, instead of creepily ogling her, he opted to come right out with his next question. ¡°How old are you, really?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve read that it¡¯s poor etiquette to ask a girl her age.¡± Lily said with a smile.

    ¡°Frankly, I was thinking more about the legality of you being here.¡±

    ¡°Why? I haven¡¯t purchased any alcohol.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fair... but... are you even 18?¡±

    ¡°... Why?¡± Lily said again, through a grin and squinting eyes. ¡°Are you thinking about doing something that would require me to be 18? Or, are you one of those guys who hopes that I¡¯m younger?¡±

    ¡°Jesus, no.¡± Theo said with a laugh. ¡°I¡¯d like to point out that you¡¯re the one that brought up the sex stuff, which is fine. I¡¯m not a prude or anything, but I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing I wasn¡¯t discussing that shit with a literal child.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay!¡± Lily said. Theo¡¯s discomfort made Lily giggle. ¡°I¡¯ll admit that I¡¯m at least 21. Is that good enough?¡±

    ¡°Sure...¡± Theo said. He wasn¡¯t quite sure he believed her, but he couldn¡¯t be bothered to ask for an ID or access her profile. He would just be sure to avoid buying her alcohol, which was already his plan anyway. ¡°Also, I feel like I need to say again that I¡¯m married.¡±

    ¡°I imagine that means something to some people.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Theo said. He chuckled and leaned forward to emphasize his next words. ¡°To try and alleviate any potential confusion, I will make this as clear as I possibly can. I am not interested in a sexual relationship in any way, physical or otherwise, with you or anybody else that is not my wife.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a lucky lady!¡± Lily said, then paused to take a drink. The way she maintained eye contact gave Theo an idea of what her next question was going to be. ¡°Does she feel the same way?¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t answer the question. He trusted Kara, and always had. She gave him no reason to distrust her. Even before she sank into her interface, the only other people that she really knew were Jacque and his husband, Chris, and Theo was pretty confident that they weren¡¯t interested either. However trustful Theo was, he still accepted the fact that he didn¡¯t have eyes on her at all times, nor did he want to intrude on her privacy like that. It was always possible, if unlikely, that she could do something behind his back.

    As his train of thought drifted, his mind settled on the memory of the agreement they had made regarding digital sex. Before Kara got her BSI, and even before their vis/aud implants, they agreed that they could do whatever they wanted through a digital medium, as long as it never resulted in an offline meetup. When Kara did get her brainstem interface, she brought up the conversation again. She wondered, since the sensations and presence were so real, if it changed how he felt about her seeking out VR pleasures. Theo said that it didn¡¯t, and that he just wanted Kara to enjoy herself to the fullest extent that she could. He still felt that way, but he wondered if that was one of the reasons she was so addicted to her interface.

    ¡°It seems pretty great, what you two have together.¡± Lily said, nursing her drink and playing with the tip of the straw. ¡°I¡¯d like to have something like that someday.¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be too hard. If you¡¯re comfortable approaching unfamiliar men in a bar, then you shouldn¡¯t have any issue meeting new people. Though, I do have concerns about the safety of such an approach.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m an excellent judge of character.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you are. Do you have any prospects? And again, just as a general rule of thumb, married people shouldn¡¯t qualify.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... well, in that case, I¡¯m afraid not. It seems all the good ones are taken. Of course, there are a ton of bad ones that are taken too.¡±

    ¡°Are you actively seeking out bad ones too?¡±

    ¡°Sure! Maybe not to fall in love with, but to have a little fun.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re into bad boys then?¡±

    ¡°And girls, too. But maybe not in the sense that you mean.¡±

    ¡°Okay... then define ¡®bad¡¯ and ¡®fun¡¯ for me.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°I like to seek out the dregs of society, the murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and the otherwise harmful and sadistic, and I like to mess with them. I like to take whatever power they think they have and turn it on them.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Theo said, leaning in. He was now a bit more interested in the conversation. ¡°I have to admit, that¡¯s not quite the ¡®bad¡¯ or ¡®fun¡¯ I was expecting. You¡¯ve done this before?¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Lily said with a smile but then paused for a moment. ¡°Well, maybe not in person, but online.¡±

    ¡°Ah, okay. But here¡¯s the question... how are you so sure that they are rapists and murderers?¡±

    ¡°Like I said... I¡¯m an excellent judge of character.¡±

    ¡°Right...¡± Theo chuckled. ¡°There are so many things wrong with that. The internet is filled with fiction. You could come upon plenty of people who want to commit murder. Hell, if you could convict people of simulating a murder, you¡¯d have damn near a hundred percent of all BSI owners in prison just for trying out Wanderlust. But if you¡¯ve seen evidence that real people are actually being victimized, I¡¯d first ask, again, how you were sure it wasn¡¯t simulated, and then I¡¯d ask why you didn¡¯t pass that information along to the police, or FBI or whatever.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve sent plenty of tips.¡±

    ¡°Plenty?¡±

    ¡°And, to be fair, some of my tips do result in investigations and convictions, but it¡¯s much less likely to happen when the victimizer is a part of the police, FBI, or any other positions of political, financial, or religious authority.¡±

    ¡°... How many times have you done this?¡±

    ¡°Would you believe me if I said I lost count?¡±

    ¡°All without an interface?¡±

    ¡°Not a brain interface, no.¡±

    ¡°Seems like it would be an awfully time-consuming hobby. Unless it¡¯s your job?¡±

    ¡°I suppose you could call it that. I¡¯m just... made for it, I guess.¡± Lily smiled. Theo was now wondering whether she was religious, or if it was just common vernacular, but didn¡¯t care to push in that direction.

    ¡°You said you ¡®take their power and turn it on them¡¯. What does that mean?¡± He said.

    ¡°A little social engineering, a little not... just to help encourage them to reveal themselves or make it a little harder for them to continue doing those things.¡±

    ¡°So, you manipulate and hack people, coercing them to confess? And you do it as a hobby? To me, that sound pretty close to vigilantism.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all completely legal. Or, not illegal, at least.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re an attorney too?¡±

    ¡°Well, not quite. It would probably be more accurate to call me a ¡®student¡¯ of law.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Harvard or BU or what?¡±

    ¡°Both. Kind of. I¡¯m not a registered student. It¡¯s in a more ¡®over the internet¡¯ kind of thing, but some of the information I access does originate from those schools.¡±

    ¡°I gotta say, I don¡¯t have much faith in your justice system, or that it¡¯s as legal as you claim.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your prerogative, but I ask, how much faith do you have in the American justice system?¡±

    ¡°Not much, I¡¯ll admit...¡± Theo wanted to add that it was coming directly from a member of the Boston Police Department but didn¡¯t care to share that part of himself just yet. ¡°But it isn¡¯t entirely influenced on the whim of a single person.¡±

    Lily didn¡¯t respond with words. A look was all that was needed as she sipped at her drink. Theo finished his, then grabbed his coat and slid out of the booth.

    ¡°Well, good luck on your hunt for love... or hate... or justice or whatever.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Theo.¡± Lily said. ¡°And good luck with your wife!¡±

    It was a strange thing to say, but Theo didn¡¯t think much about it. He waved to the bartender on his way out and returned home. He felt the worry building as he approached the door. It was a regular occurrence by now. He pushed through the fear and his front door. Theo was so racked with worry that he couldn¡¯t breathe in the distance between the entrance and the bedroom. He creaked the bedroom door open to see Kara lying in her place on the bed, facing away.

    Theo noticed two empty MRS bottles sitting on the bedside table, relieving some of his tension, but Kara was laying completely motionless. Her breathing had become imperceptibly shallow. Theo moved to the bed and took a seat, coming down just hard enough to try and elicit a reaction, to which there was none. He reached out and touched her shoulder, searching for warmth and a pulse. Finding them was a little more relief, but he needed more. He brushed his thumb gently against her skin.

    When Kara set her hand on Theo¡¯s, the majority of the weight of worry was lifted from his shoulders. The tension in his chest was released and Theo breathed deep. Kara said nothing. She didn¡¯t need to. Theo kissed her forehead, then stood up to clean the bottles away and finish changing out of his work attire.

    After dropping the bottles in the recycling, Theo grabbed a fresh bottle for himself and instead of returning to his room, went to the small living room and sat back in a recliner facing a bare wall. He drew his stylus and opened a window against the wall, then spent a few minutes browsing a few favored video streaming apps, before selecting a classic television thriller. He watched, taking sips of his MRS, pretending it was his favorite beer. It would have been a lot easier with a BSI.

    <hr>

    [i]</a> Forums: An online collection of forums. Many are simple text, image, and video forums, but the primary appeal is the ¡®live¡¯ forums, where users can immerse themselves in a high-quality digital avatar in order to interact with other real-time users. Uses the same engine, and works as an addon to Wanderlust, though can be used independently.

    [ii]</a> Visual-Audio Interface (Vis/Aud, VAI): Generally, consists of visual cybernetics, like a display mesh surgically implanted in the cornea, or a full prosthetic eye replacement.

 Chapter Three

    Rain didn¡¯t often deter Theo. In fact, he often preferred it to a bright, sunny day. When he discovered a weather overlay app, he immediately downloaded it and set it to rain for a week straight, until it actually started raining and he remembered how much he didn¡¯t like being wet.

    ¡°You know, there¡¯s a simple solution to that.¡± Jacque said, seeing how uncomfortable Theo was as he walked onto the Criminal Investigations Division floor.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± Theo asked, dabbing at the drenched top half of his shirt with a balled-up paper towel. Jacque responded by tipping an invisible hat. Theo shook his head and rolled his eyes.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, you¡¯ve got the coat and the grizzled attitude already, why not round it out with the hat?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not be so stereotypical and tacky.¡±

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s used for its original purpose? You know... Keeping the rain off your head?¡± Jacque said with a laugh. He was currently sitting at Theo¡¯s desk. Theo didn¡¯t mind. The desk had become a dusty mailbox since he received his implants.

    ¡°What are you doing here, Jacque?¡±

    ¡°Just backing up some scenes and videos.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but what are you doing here? The servers are in the basement last I checked.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t a guy just come say hello to his friend?¡± Jacque stood up from the chair and leaned back against the desk, reducing his distance to Theo. An outside observer might assume the gesture as a sort of playful flirt, but a longtime friend would immediately recognize the kind of smile Jacque was exhibiting.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Theo asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

    ¡°I uh... it¡¯s Amelie. Something weird is going on with her, I dunno.¡±

    ¡°Weird, how?¡±

    ¡°We had an argument a few days ago, and she¡¯s been kind of, no-contact with us since then.¡±

    ¡°You and Chris?¡± Theo asked. Jacque nodded. ¡°I mean, she¡¯s a teenaged girl... I don¡¯t imagine this is the first time?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, and honestly, it¡¯s not the worst argument we¡¯ve had. We¡¯re just giving her space. We expected she wouldn¡¯t talk to us for a few days... but her socials just seem... weird. She¡¯s been using a lot more flowery language that didn¡¯t really seem like her style. I commented on something and she replied... which was kind of weird in itself, but she also used... emojis?¡±

    ¡°Emojis, huh? From a teenaged girl? That is weird.¡± Theo¡¯s words implied rolling eyes. Jacque looked at him like he was an idiot.

    ¡°You¡¯ve met Amelie before, right? You know, your Goddaughter, who often babysat your own daughter, and whom you¡¯ve babysat yourself? Ringing any bells?¡± Jacque said. Theo didn¡¯t answer. ¡°Well, you don¡¯t have to be a detective or a close family friend to know that she hates emojis with a passion.¡± It was a pretty good dig at Theo, who responded with a respectable nod. ¡°I know you don¡¯t have a huge messaging history, but you¡¯ve exchanged comments on socials and whatnot. In your memory, have you ever seen her use a smiley, a thumbs up, or even a goth-y black heart or whatever? She¡¯s been writing like a lawyer or an engineer since she was in 6<sup>th</sup> grade, for Christ¡¯s sake!¡±

    As Jacque spoke, Theo pulled up her public online profile and looked randomly over some of her comments in the past weeks and months. Surely enough, she was a bit of a grammar nazi and loudly felt that an emoji could never replace the emotions expressed through the written word. It was a little much, in Theo¡¯s opinion. Her front page almost read like a textbook on Gothic Subculture. Her most recent comments, however, looked more like something you would see from the average teenaged girl, and was frankly jarring when compared to previous messages.

    ¡°Okay, you have a point.¡± Theo said. ¡°Have you already filed a missing person¡¯s report?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I have... just a few minutes ago before you came in.¡± Jacque looked down. He clearly didn¡¯t have faith in the report. ¡°I wanted to give a report directly to someone, but I was pointed to an online system.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡± Theo said. He knew that it was frustrating to the families of missing people, but he also knew how much more efficient and accurate the automated system was for reporting such cases. Theo browsed through the police log and quickly found the case. ¡°I do see it in here, and it¡¯s already been assigned to detectives Schanze and Holland. They¡¯ll be in the meeting that¡¯s about to start.¡± Theo pointed to the briefing room. ¡°It won¡¯t be long, and I¡¯ll talk to them about it. I¡¯d suggest you do the same after.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to investigate it yourself?¡±

    ¡°Jacque.¡± Theo said, putting a hand on his shoulder. ¡°You know I work in Homicide. You don¡¯t want that investigation to be sent to me.¡± Theo could see on Jacque¡¯s face that his words weren¡¯t very comforting. Theo continued, ¡°Don¡¯t take this to mean that I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m going to be on those guys like ticks, scrutinizing everything they¡¯re doing. Even if I were to take over the investigation, there would be a clear conflict of interest.¡±

    ¡°My daughter is missing... who the fuck gives a shit about a conflict of interest?¡± Jacque was starting to care less about keeping his voice at a private level.

    ¡°You would, Jacque! Especially when my emotions cause me to overlook or misinterpret evidence that could lead to finding her.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re not even going to-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not even going to think about doing nothing.¡± Theo said, cutting Jacque off with a vague double negative. He gripped Jacque¡¯s forearm to get his attention. ¡°We need to trust the system on this.¡± It wasn¡¯t a great thing to say in this day and age.

    ¡°Trust the system, Theo? Are you fuckin¡¯ kidding me?¡±

    ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t say ¡®believe¡¯ in the system, or ¡®have faith¡¯ in the system. Part of trusting it is understanding that it has flaws, and your responsibility as a part of society is to find those flaws and work to fix them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a lot harder when the system works better for some than it does for others.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that is one of the flaws, and the report did some work towards fixing it. But in this specific case, do you have any reason to believe that someone in power would want to take, or hurt Amelie?¡±

    ¡°Well... no...¡± Jacque said. ¡°Not anyone specifically, but you already know there are tons of people out there who want to take advantage of a vulnerable young girl.¡±

    ¡°You might have been right to call out my sarcasm before, but I honestly don¡¯t think ¡®vulnerable¡¯ is a word that describes Amelie.¡±

    ¡°I would have said the same thing about Kara.¡±

    Theo wasn¡¯t expecting a punch to the gut so early in the day. His immediate reaction was indignation. He wanted to plant his knuckles in Jacque¡¯s face but didn¡¯t get past tightening his fist before thinking better of it. What Jacque was saying wasn¡¯t a statement about the level of care that Theo was providing to his wife. Instead, he was pointing out the fact that everyone is vulnerable when they are playing that damned game.

    ¡°You think she¡¯s sunken into Wanderlust or something?¡±

    ¡°I dunno... maybe. To be honest, I kind of hope that¡¯s all it is, but she¡¯s never used bots or autoreply or anything like that. She¡¯s usually pretty good about keeping up with her socials, even in the game.¡± Jacque said. About this time, several officers and detectives began filing into the briefing room. The meeting was about to begin.

    ¡°There¡¯s not a whole lot to go on, I will admit, but after the meeting, give all the info you gave me to the detectives on your case, and anything else they ask for or that you can think of. I¡¯ll do what I can to help.¡± Theo grabbed Jacque¡¯s hand and gripped it tightly. ¡°Just be ready for when we find her, because she¡¯s going to be pissed that we did all this for nothing.¡±

    ¡°Yeah...¡± Jacque said with a half-hearted laugh. Theo pulled him into a firm embrace.

    ¡°She¡¯ll be okay, Jacque.¡± Theo said. Jacque nodded as they separated. Jacque took a seat at Theo¡¯s desk as Theo joined his colleagues in the briefing room.

    The meeting was generally pointless. It could have been done entirely digitally, and it often was, but Captain Richardson insisted on a monthly in-person meeting so he could see his detectives face-to-face. The homicide desk was up early in the meeting. After covering the primary homicide assignments with the other detectives in his unit, the captain touched on the recently assigned suicide with Theo, who simply nodded in confirmation. For much of the rest of the briefing, Theo was pouring over the new victim¡¯s social media and the images that had already been gathered from the scene.

    Robin Evans was quite the poet, her social media littered with emotional and bleak commentary on the pain that comes with existence. Her medical records showed that she had been diagnosed with manic depression. What¡¯s more, the very last post was a very clearly written suicide note, posted hours before her body was found. She had slit her wrists in her bathtub, next to a broken bottle of alcohol and an empty bottle of medication. The woman didn¡¯t even have an interface of any kind. Within only minutes, Theo felt confident that the woman¡¯s suicide was genuine, and was not related to his ongoing investigation. Still, he continued with his research until Captain Richardson called on the Missing Persons detectives. The captain mentioned Amelie¡¯s case and the detectives acknowledged it. Theo stepped into the conversation.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to investigate Amelie¡¯s disappearance as part of my ongoing suicides case.¡± Theo said. This garnered looks of confusion mixed with subtle anger from detectives Schanze and Holland. Captain Richardson himself looked at Theo with a raised eyebrow. There was a momentary flicker of light in his eyes. Theo knew what he was looking into and was expecting a negative response.

    ¡°Amelie is your Goddaughter, so, absolutely not, but I would like to hear your reasoning.¡± The captain said.

    ¡°She¡¯s got some similarities to Christina Auburg¡¯s case. Her socials seem to have been taken over by bots recently, and she¡¯s got a BSI.¡±

    ¡°You just described around ten percent of the population. That¡¯s 80,000 people in Boston alone.¡± Captain Richardson had a point. Plenty of people were known to use bots to manage and post on their social media, and the bots saying weird things wasn¡¯t an uncommon occurrence.

    ¡°I know... I just... it feels like it¡¯s related, more than many of the other victims I¡¯ve been investigating.¡±

    ¡°Using gut instinct to help find a connection when you have nothing else is fine, except when you have a relationship to the missing. You can¡¯t be sure that your instinct isn¡¯t being affected by your emotion, and statistically speaking, it probably is.¡± The captain was absolutely right, and Theo knew it. He put up his hands in a gestural apology. The captain continued. ¡°Give Schanze and Holland access to your case files, should they need them. And detectives?¡± The captain looked at Schanze and Holland. ¡°Keep the man updated, would ya?¡±

    The briefing carried on as expected, and Theo met with the two other detectives and Jacque at his desk. He made sure to let them know that he wasn¡¯t going to be stepping on their toes and stood by as support while Jacque gave his statement. After all was said and done, Theo insisted that Jacque and Chris take a day off. Jacque still wasn¡¯t happy with Theo standing on the sidelines, a sentiment that was shared by Theo himself, but after giving the specifics to the two assigned detectives, their professionalism and attention to detail made the situation as comfortable as it could be.

    On the way to the scene of Robin Lewis¡¯s death, Theo continued going through the available evidence and crime scene images. Again, he could not find anything indicating foul play. It wasn¡¯t long before Theo felt like he was looking at a brick wall. He still had several minutes before he would arrive at the scene, so he decided to kill time by lurking Forums. He joined the Boston Area Tech Philosophy forum.

    PorcelainPantsu23: Whatup, Dick?

    FoxyFrosting286: Hey, Dick!

    HardBoiledDick44: Hey all.

    DoctorDingwall: You really don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible?

    FoxyFrosting286: Of course, it¡¯s possible. The BSI wouldn¡¯t work if it wasn¡¯t capable of interrupting signals from the brain.

    PorcelainPantsu23: And you can get any number of heart monitor apps already.

    NortriptylineQueen: Yeah, but those apps can¡¯t stop your heart.

    DoctorDingwall: It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t, it¡¯s that they aren¡¯t programmed to... because it¡¯s kind of illegal.

    FoxyFrosting286: Actually, I read about some medical trials for BSI-based pacemaker apps that are designed to adjust heart rhythm, and even intentionally stop the heart for defibrillation or whatever.

    NortriptylineQueen: Hmm... Well, I guess if those technically exist, then it is possible.

    HardBoiledDick44: Just to be clear... You¡¯re discussing the possibility that a Brainstem interface has the capability of stopping someone¡¯s heart?

    FoxyFrosting286: Not just the heart, but the lungs, kidneys, liver, pretty much everything.

    NortriptylineQueen: Nothing like that has ever been reported though. You¡¯d think if it was possible, somebody would have done it by now.

    FoxyFrosting286: Bell-Westbrook has an insanely well-funded PR team.

    DoctorDingwall: Sure, maybe, but Bell-Westbrook also has a very well-funded legal team. If it being against federal law wasn¡¯t enough, any person who claimed to be able to do it would also have to go up against Bell-Westbrook. Even Syn isn¡¯t stupid enough to do that.

    PorcelainPantsu23: Just because nobody¡¯s admitted to being able to do it doesn¡¯t mean that it hasn¡¯t been done before. I¡¯d think not bragging about killing people is a no-brainer.

    DoctorDingwall: Have you met humans? Many of them are notoriously vain and shortsighted.

    ProcelainPantsu23: Fair point.

    TornadoFloraMuffin: Well, if anyone is dumb enough to admit to something like that, it¡¯s Synapse.

    NortriptylineQueen: Could we stop talking about that asshole? You know how he is. Say his name too many times and he¡¯ll apparate like a red-pilled Betelgeuse.

    DoctorDingwall: Wasn¡¯t Betelgeuse basically a redpill already?

    PorcelainPantsu23: Haha!

    NortriptylineQueen: A psychotic womanizer who excels at scaring the shit out of people as a job? Haha, I suppose you¡¯re right!

    FoxyFrosting286: He¡¯s certainly scared away plenty of people in this very forum. Speaking of... has anyone spoken with Darkmatter lately? Or has he become the latest victim?

    At his mention, Theo was reminded of the warrant he had requested a few days ago. Checking the status revealed that it still hadn¡¯t gone through. Theo composed a relatively polite bump via message and had it sent to the magistrate assigned to review approval of his warrant, just as his vehicle pulled up to the suspected victim¡¯s home. It was a nice, suburban home, or it would have been nice a few decades ago, but had since fallen into disrepair like most residences outside of Beacon Hill.

    It wasn¡¯t as crowded as it had been previously. The only officer on the scene was in the process of trying to take a statement from the victim¡¯s distraught girlfriend. Theo exchanged a glance and a nod with the officer, and that¡¯s all it took for Theo to begin receiving live video, audio, and a transcript as well as all other case data that had been gathered thus far. They exchanged no words as Theo passed by them on the driveway and made his way into the home.

    It was much more spacious than his current apartment, though nearly as sparsely decorated, save for the empty bottles of alcohol and pills strewn about. The sizeable front room reminded Theo of his former home, the one he and Kara lived in with Alice. The distressed surroundings in particular prompted memories of his home in the time after Alice¡¯s death.

    Theo wasn¡¯t ecstatic about having to spend an extended period of time in such a place that reminds him of his darkest days, but he soldiered on, videogrammetrically scanning the place as he investigated. The closest things to a personal computer the woman had in her home was an internet connected television that looked like it had been broken for months, and a smartphone with similar damage, but was still functional. On his run through the kitchen, he noticed a knife missing from the knife block and took note of the manufacturer of the set. He expected he would find the missing cutlery later.

    He made a pass-through Robin¡¯s bedroom, again finding nothing conflicting with the mindset of a suicidal person. Last came the bathroom in which the victim was found. Theo paused before stepping inside and wondered why he didn¡¯t try to argue that this case was emotionally compromising to him. When he stepped into the room, his heart sank as he recalled his own experience. He couldn¡¯t remember anything about the moments before, during, and after due to his intense inebriation at the time, but he distinctly remembered the image of his wife laying in a bath so deep red that it looked like undiluted blood.

    Shivers ran up and down his spine and there was a catch in his breath, as if his brain had forgotten for a moment how his lungs worked. Theo let the feeling wash over him, accepting and acknowledging the intense emotions. He finally shook it off. It was a terrible memory, but it was in his past, and he felt confident that his wife wouldn¡¯t do it again. At least, not in such a willfully violent way.

    There were a few details that were different from his wife¡¯s attempt, however. Specifically, there was a freshly emptied bottle of antidepressants paired with a bottle of vodka. He didn¡¯t need to see the vodka to know that she likely downed the entire bottle. Theo wondered if it was possible that he was getting the stench of alcohol straight from the blood in the water. He knelt down next to the bathtub to get a better look at the wounds in her arms. The gash in her left arm was incredibly deep and long. So deep that Theo surmised the woman may have severed the tendons in her arm, as evidenced by the significantly more shallow cuts in her right arm. When taking a closer look at her right arm, Theo found the missing knife in the bathwater underneath it.

    Theo pulled up Robin¡¯s social medias again, quickly finding photos and videos showing her to be right hand dominant. Everything fell into place. He felt confident that Robin¡¯s suicide was genuine, but Theo still notified the Crime Scene Investigation team to collect the body for further investigation, as was standard procedure for suspected murders. He felt his job here was done, and just in time to be notified that his warrant had been processed and approved.

    ¡®Delighted¡¯ wasn¡¯t quite the word he wanted to use in the presence of such an awful scene, but he did feel relieved that he could finally continue with his investigation. As he hopped back into his vehicle, he verified the Forums account that belonged to Christina was, in fact, MegiddoWillow9. He began at the end, the very last message that she received.

    Synapse: You wanna see something really scary?

    Theo was caught completely off-guard. He was now confident that Synapse was behind both Christina and Jackson¡¯s deaths, and he was surprised at how easy and quick it had been. Shortly before the threat was a message to the moderators of the Tech Philosophy chat, a complaint about Synapse¡¯s hostility and abrasiveness toward anyone and everyone. It wasn¡¯t the first time either. She had made multiple complaints, but the mods didn¡¯t seem to ever do anything. He also noticed that only one mod had even replied to her. Now that the warrant for Christina¡¯s account had gone through, Theo had another set of warrants sent for approval to access the chat history of all users who had interacted with both Christina and Jackson. The warrants were approved before Theo even had time to give Chess a scratch under her chin.

    The first person he wanted to look into, clearly, was Synapse, but when he selected to open their profile, for a brief moment, he could only see a corrupted mess within their profile information, and then the Forums app crashed.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± Theo yelled, causing the cat to jump. ¡°Oh... Sorry Chess...¡±

    It was hacker bullshit. He knew it before Synapse¡¯s account kicked him out several more times, but he tried anyway. Aside from Synapse and the mod handling complaints, there weren¡¯t any other users that had spoken to both Christina and Jackson in private messages. As was approved in the warrant, Theo went the only other way he could and began looking into the mod¡¯s history. The singular active mod for the Tech Philosophy forum was SoxyNerd34, real name Joshua Moore. Theo had a lot more information on him as well because the man had a police record, having been arrested for petty theft. Theo sent him a request for an in-person chat from his police account. It was accepted within minutes, with his address included. Theo ordered his vehicle to the location.

    Joshua lived in a low-income apartment, an old brick structure that hadn¡¯t had the funding for maintenance in nearly a decade. When Theo arrived, he sent a message, asking him if he would meet him in his vehicle. When Joshua asked whether he was in trouble for something, Theo said that he was only doing a check-in with former offenders as part of a community outreach program. He also offered the man a meal. The man, justifiably, responded saying that if Theo arrested him under false pretenses, his lawyer would be hearing about it. Theo said he was willing to go up to the man¡¯s apartment, but Joshua refused and agreed to come down.

    The man stopped on the sidewalk, looking at Theo with the doors to his vehicle open and inviting. Joshua looked as skeptical as he was tired. His face was gaunt, with sharp cheekbones and a thin jawline. The dark circles under his eyes betrayed his sleeplessness and he carried himself with a sense of unease, his movements quick and jerky.

    ¡°Good afternoon, Joshua. My name is Theo.¡± The detective offered the man his palm in greeting.

    ¡°How do I know you aren¡¯t just going to arrest me, and lock me in and take me to jail or something?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m a detective. I don¡¯t often arrest people myself, I would just have some uniforms come and pick you up in that case. And, I would hope that my car is at least a little more comfortable than a police cruiser.¡± Theo said. In an effort to appear less intimidating, Theo stepped back into his vehicle first. ¡°And if you¡¯re locked in here, then so am I.¡±

    Joshua still wasn¡¯t sure. Like the rest of the country, Joshua had little trust in the police, but he thought about the consequences if he didn¡¯t comply. He was afraid that a gang of uniforms would break down his door and disappear him if he refused. Joshua timidly entered the vehicle and sat opposite to Theo. The doors gently closed automatically, and as the vehicle began to move down the street, Theo could see that Joshua was still alarmed.

    ¡°Look...¡± Theo said, in an attempt to further calm the man. He reached over and pulled the handle to one of the doors. The car came to a stop as the door opened. ¡°You are free to leave at any time, we won¡¯t be going far from here.¡± Theo closed the door again, and the vehicle continued driving. A few seconds later, Joshua suddenly opened the door closest to him and the vehicle came to another stop, though he didn¡¯t step out.

    ¡°Sorry...¡± Joshua said, then closed his door. ¡°I just wanted to be sure...¡±

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s fine man. I understand.¡± Theo kept a reassuring smile on his face. ¡°You hungry? I¡¯ll get you anything you want, as long as we eat it in here.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Joshua said abruptly.

    ¡°I dunno, I could go for a cheap cheeseburger and fries.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean, what do you want with me?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡± Theo nodded. ¡°First, let me explain why I wanted to talk with you in here. There¡¯s a single data access point in this car,¡± Theo pointed to a small dome protruding from the ceiling, ¡°otherwise, we¡¯re in a completely enclosed Faraday cage.¡± He reached up and flipped a switch on the dome, and they were both alerted through their interfaces that they¡¯ve lost network connection.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°What, so you can threaten me and it won¡¯t be recorded?¡±

    ¡°You can record all you like, but I don¡¯t think you want to. I¡¯d actually like to talk to you about Synapse.¡±

    As soon as Joshua heard the name, he quickly reached for the door, but paused before opening it. Theo didn¡¯t stop him. The man slowly leaned back into his seat.

    ¡°Is this a trick?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure how else I can prove that I¡¯m not interested in arresting you. All I can really say is that I¡¯m after Synapse, and I¡¯m pretty sure that you aren¡¯t him.¡±

    ¡°Are you real?¡±

    ¡°Uhh...¡± Theo was already starting to understand why Joshua looked like he was seeing ghosts. ¡°Frankly... I don¡¯t know how I can prove that I¡¯m real. It kinda seems like reality is pretty subjective as of late.¡± Theo said. Joshua didn¡¯t respond, so Theo continued. ¡°Did he threaten you?... Did he do something?¡±

    Joshua looked around like he was expecting something to jump out at him. He did seem to be reacting to Theo as he spoke, but the delayed reactions made Theo wonder just how long the man had gone without properly sleeping. For a few seconds after asking the question, Theo thought the man had fallen asleep sitting up, staring out the window. Then he turned back toward Theo and jumped as if he hadn¡¯t expected him to be sitting there.

    ¡°Joshua, are you okay?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m, uh... I¡¯m fine. And it¡¯s just Josh. No normal person has preferred to be called ¡®Joshua¡¯ for a couple centuries now.¡±

    ¡°So... what about Synapse?¡±

    ¡°Oh... that fuckin guy.¡± Joshua looked around the cabin, and up at the access point on the ceiling. ¡°Are you sure... he can¡¯t get to us in here?¡±

    ¡°Well, Josh, I¡¯m not sure, to be honest. I don¡¯t know much about Synapse, and was hoping that you¡¯d be able to give me something. But, if he needs a network connection, this car is specifically designed to keep them out, so, I¡¯m pretty sure he can¡¯t get in that way.¡±

    ¡°But... he could get in some other way?¡± Josh asked. He could tell that Theo had a few doubts.

    ¡°He¡¯s been doing things to people... Giving them visions, right?¡± Theo asked. Simply mentioning it, he could see confirmation in Josh¡¯s face. ¡°If he¡¯s been doing it over the internet, then I think you¡¯ll be fine in here... but...¡±

    ¡°But what?¡±

    ¡°If whatever program he¡¯s using is installed directly on your BSI... well...¡± Theo trailed off, letting the silence answer for him. Josh looked back out the window. His started nervously tapping his foot and tightly crossed his arms.

    ¡°But... what if it¡¯s not a program? What if it¡¯s not even Synapse?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°What if it¡¯s in my head? Like, not in my Interface, but actually my brain fucking with me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid if that¡¯s the case, it¡¯s a little too far outside my area of expertise. Have you been seeing things before you came in contact with Synapse?¡±

    Josh paused for a few moments. His leg stopped tapping and he looked back over at Theo.

    ¡°If you suddenly started hallucinating after meeting Synapse, that seems to make the case that it¡¯s not a problem with your brain, right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve hallucinated before after taking...¡± Josh paused, reminding himself that he was speaking with a police detective. Theo couldn¡¯t care less, especially since most hallucinogenic drugs have been legal for over a decade now. Even if Josh admitted to using the illegal ones, Theo wasn¡¯t about to arrest anyone for it. Josh continued, ¡°Uhh... after a bad reaction to some medication... but these... these visions are different. They¡¯re much more real... More tangible.¡±

    ¡°Even more reason to believe that they aren¡¯t being made by your own brain.¡± Theo said. Josh felt some small bit of relief from Theo¡¯s reasoning, but it didn¡¯t suddenly make everything okay. ¡°How long have you been seeing them?¡±

    ¡°I uh...¡± Josh looked down at his bare wrist, a common gesture to check the time and date for anyone with an Interface. Josh shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t really know...¡±

    ¡°How long has it been since you¡¯ve been able to get an ounce of sleep?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t really say... The thing just happens so often, and pretty much anytime I close my eyes.¡±

    ¡°When you close your eyes? How do you see them with your eye¡¯s closed?¡±

    ¡°I can feel them... and hear them...¡± Josh shivered as he spoke.

    ¡°These hallucinations, or visions, you said you weren¡¯t sure if it was Synapse that was doing this... If you think it¡¯s unrelated, then... why are you afraid of Synapse?¡±

    ¡°That fuckin¡¯ asshole is like a black hole on the internet. I¡¯m sure if you¡¯re investigating him, you¡¯ve already seen his profile.¡± Josh said. Theo looked out the window with a transparent stoicism, and Josh started laughing and shaking his head. It was the first time Theo saw him smile. ¡°HardBoiledDick44? That¡¯s gotta be you... right?¡±

    ¡°No comment.¡±

    ¡°God, you¡¯re just so into the detective shtick, aren¡¯t you? Do you enjoy being a walking, talking, embodiment of a stereotype?¡± Josh¡¯s words cut deeper than Theo let on. ¡°Tell me, what kind of porn is a hardcore blue-shitter like yourself into? Minority rape-play? Maybe not even with the -play part?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of cops, even after all the things you¡¯ve seen and heard about them, but you¡¯re scared of some scrawny red-pilled nerd with a keyboard over the internet?¡±

    ¡°Keyboard?¡± Josh laughed again. ¡°Are you stuck in the 20¡¯s? With a BSI, your thoughts, and a half decently trained AI, you can write incredibly complex hacks and do a ton of damage to someone¡¯s wealth, reputation, get them arrested, get them killed via vigilante justice. You name it.¡±

    ¡°You think Synapse is capable of doing that?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely.¡±

    ¡°Do you think he has done any of that?¡± Theo asked. Josh paused to think about it.

    ¡°Hmm... I would say it seems like it by how knowledgeable he is, and just by his general, antagonistic demeanor, but I don¡¯t think he¡¯s ever admitted to doing anything. At least, nothing illegal, or worthy of reporting to the police.¡±

    ¡°What about the reports to the mods?¡± Theo said, gesturing toward Josh.

    ¡°Yeah, we have had plenty of complaints, and we¡¯ve tried suspending and even banning him outright, but the request never goes through in the system. In fact, the other mods of BA Tech Phil dropped out a couple of weeks ago, and I¡¯ve seen the same from mods in some of the other forums he was in as well.¡±

    ¡°What other forums were those?¡±

    ¡°Uhh... cryptography, programming, a pretty big Wanderlust one I think.¡±

    ¡°Were the other ones based around Boston as well?¡±

    ¡°Not those ones... but I think I saw him in an MIT forum a few times.¡±

    ¡°The other mods... have you spoken to them since they left?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. They just stopped modding BA Tech Phil, they¡¯re still mods on other forums.¡±

    ¡°These weren¡¯t mods, but do you remember the users MegiddoWillow9 and DarkmatterDisaster?¡± Theo asked. Josh was silent for a moment. He was getting pale.

    ¡°Yeah... they were some of the most outspoken users against Synapse... they haven¡¯t been online in a while... They were listed in the warrant, weren¡¯t they?¡± Josh asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re in the Boston Area Tech Philosophy forum, you¡¯ve got a BSI. You seem pretty knowledgeable about its capabilities.¡±

    ¡°Probably not as much as Synapse, but I¡¯d like to think so, sure.¡± Josh said. Theo paused for a moment before his next question, putting a point on its importance.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible to take over someone¡¯s physical body? Make them kill themselves?¡±

    Josh didn¡¯t answer right away, not audibly, at least. As he began processing why Theo would ask such a question, Theo could see the worry again creeping into his expression.

    ¡°These visions... I suppose that¡¯s something that can come from the BSI. I mean, even Wanderlust has some rudimentary touch capabilities. And...¡± Josh gave a very subtle laugh as he shook his head. ¡°I can certainly see something like this driving a person to suicide... but... Actually controlling a persons body, I¡¯m not so sure about that.¡±

    ¡°I was just reading in the forum about BSI-based heart-trackers and pacemakers being able to monitor and control your heart.¡±

    ¡°Those are autonomic functions... there¡¯s not a whole lot of data there, and it¡¯s pretty easy to write a program to control that. Hell, basic programming from nearly a century ago would still probably work with a little translating, but active coordination is a lot more tricky. There are more signals that would need to be interpreted by the hosts BSI and sent over the internet, and then it needs to be converted back into a signal that the user¡¯s brain can make sense of, then it has to do it again the other way.¡±

    ¡°Sounds complicated.¡±

    ¡°Very... and on that scale, everybody¡¯s brain is different. Your motor cortex doesn¡¯t have the exact same structure as mine. Even twins would have trouble.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t calibration like... the very first thing that you do when you get the implants?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah... and it¡¯s pretty much always calibrating in the background.¡±

    ¡°It does sound complicated, but I¡¯m not convinced that it¡¯s impossible.¡±

    ¡°If none of that makes it impossible, then Bell-Westbrook¡¯s security does.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I heard that one before too. Again, I¡¯m not quite hearing ¡®impossible¡¯. Instead, I¡¯m hearing ¡®very hard¡¯.¡± Theo said. Josh found himself reluctantly agreeing with Theo, but was trying to find any reason why someone wouldn¡¯t want to do it.

    ¡°Okay... even if someone got past BW¡¯s firewall, you would notice the delay and the difference in motor detail. It would be sickening.¡±

    ¡°Sounds kind of like being drunk to me.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s less ¡®kind of drunk¡¯ and more ¡®completely shit-faced¡¯.¡± Josh said.

    He wasn¡¯t much of an alcohol drinker, and thought it often looked completely unenjoyable. Theo, however, thought it sounded like a great time. The two continued their discussion regarding Synapse and the possibility of controlling another person¡¯s body remotely. Their talk was longer than a leisurely drive around the city block, and eventually, after passing by Josh¡¯s apartment again, Theo still had things he wanted to ask him, but he also wanted to observe. Josh was starting to become more comfortable toward Theo as well.

    Theo asked what his favorite restaurant was, half expecting that Josh would try to take advantage, sending him to Ruby¡¯s Chad Mansion for an $80 steak, but to his surprise, Josh chose Charlie¡¯s Entertainment. It was a strange choice, but at least it was reasonably cheap. Theo reminded Josh about their safety inside the car, and suggested he would pick up a pizza to go, and they would eat in the car, but Josh said he would be more comfortable going inside, and understood the risks. Theo didn¡¯t fight him.

    After arriving, the two went inside and to the counter where Josh ordered a large supreme pizza, then went to one of the many empty tables, as expected in the early afternoon on a school day. Still, there were a couple of delinquents, a boy and a girl, who were running around the game area, having the time of their lives.

    ¡°What is it about this place that you like?¡± Theo asked. ¡°I don¡¯t expect it¡¯s the quality of the pizza, and I hope it¡¯s not the target audience.¡±

    ¡°No... man, c¡¯mon. When I was a kid, I would come here a lot with my brother as an escape. I also happen to think that the pizza here is better than most places.¡± Josh said. He paused, listening to the loud chime of the games and laughter echoing through the large empty space. ¡°It¡¯s kind of relaxing, in a blissfully ignorant way, no?¡±

    Closing his eyes, Theo slouched back in the chair and listened to the noise. He never had any memories of going to places like this when he was a child, but it was starting to become his daughter¡¯s favorite place. When he heard the girl¡¯s laughter from the game area, a glimpse of his daughter¡¯s smiling face flooded his thoughts. Theo smiled back, but he knew what always happened whenever he thought about Alice, and before that could happen, he opened his eyes and shook himself back to reality.

    ¡°So... She¡¯s dead?¡± Josh asked. Theo was alarmed, and confused for a moment, then Josh continued. ¡°MegiddoWillow9?¡±

    ¡°Oh! Uh...¡± Theo took a moment to regain his composure. He cleared his throat. ¡°I can¡¯t make any comments regarding the case, but you can read the warrant for more details.¡± The moment that Theo stopped speaking, Joshua¡¯s eyes lit up. He took a few seconds to skim the details.

    ¡°Suspicious suicide?... Darkmatter too? And you think Sy-¡± Josh was cut off by Theo clearing his throat and understood his intention. ¡°You think someone convinced them to kill themselves?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hardly an original scenario.¡±

    ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t know about Darkmatter, but I think I knew Megiddo pretty well, at least as well as a rando on the internet could know her.¡± Josh said. Theo raised an eyebrow toward him. ¡°Okay, maybe not any rando. I knew her as well as a normal, well-adjusted person online could. We¡¯ve had discussions about suicide, and she¡¯s vehemently opposed to it. It goes against her core beliefs.¡±

    The pizza was delivered to their table. Josh took a couple slices and stuffed his mouth. Theo sat back and watched.

    ¡°Feel free to have a slice.¡± Josh said, the food muffling his voice.

    ¡°Have you ever met her in person?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°You... don¡¯t think so?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah... We¡¯ve never made plans to meet in person and I never sought her out, but we do both live in and around Boston. I might have run into her and not known it.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible that maybe her online persona is different from how she is in real life?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d argue that your online persona IS your real persona, and the one you use when in meatspace is the fake one.¡±

    ¡°How do you figure?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not as likely to get punched in the face when you speak your mind online.¡±

    ¡°I suppose that is true. Though it seems to me that some people can do a lot more damage than a punch to the gut through the internet.¡±

    ¡°I think that it¡¯s rare enough that people don¡¯t really worry about that.¡±

    ¡°Well, maybe when I¡¯m done with this investigation, it might remind people to be a bit more cautious online.¡±

    ¡°By watching what they say? By censoring themselves? By making sure they aren¡¯t offending hidden psychopaths?¡±

    Theo thought he would quit before delving too deep into the security vs. freedom debate. He took a slice of pizza and picked off the olives and green peppers, eliciting an eyeroll from Josh, then stuffed his mouth so he wouldn¡¯t continue the conversation. Theo admitted through his expression that the pizza was, in fact, pretty good. The two ate quietly, listening to the subtle sounds of blissful youth in the background. Theo fiddled with his stylus as he continued looking over previous interactions. In particular, Theo wanted to see just how much Josh had been looking into Christina. Just as Josh said, he had some conversations within the forum, and had chatted with her one-on-one a few times, mostly regarding Synapse, but beyond that, Josh didn¡¯t look at her profile or social medias more often than anyone else¡¯s.

    Just beyond the forum window, Theo saw Josh drop a half-eaten slice of pizza, almost throwing it down onto his plate. When Theo looked at his face, he saw disgust and confusion. Josh was looking at the pizza, his mouth agape. A second later, Josh spat out the masticated food into his hand. He looked at it, then dropped it onto his plate with a yell and a jump, and whipped his hands away.

    ¡°Josh... what is it?¡± Theo asked.

    Josh shoved his fingers into his mouth and fervently scraped any remaining food from his tongue, and then began to vomit over the plate and table, ruining the remaining pizza. Theo pushed himself out of his seat and away from the table. As he stood up, Josh took a single glance at him, then shouted and fell back over the bench to the ground.

    ¡°No! Oh my God!¡± Josh said.

    He started shouting and scrambling away, cowering from Theo. As Theo came around the table, Josh rolled over and started trying to get to his feet. Theo reached him quickly, pushing him back onto the ground on his chest, then with practiced dexterity, he pulled the handcuffs from his belt and had them clasped to Josh¡¯s wrists in seconds. Theo looked up to see the two kids and a couple of employees looking over with understandable concern, as Josh was screaming bloody murder.

    ¡°Boston Police!¡± Theo shouted. He pulled his badge from his belt and displayed it to the small crowd. ¡°I have this under control, please step out of our path to the doors!¡±

    Theo pulled Josh up by the back of his shirt and held on tightly as Josh tried to run the moment he was on his feet. Theo was effective at keeping him within his grip as they left through the doors and to Theo¡¯s car. It was a struggle to get him inside, but eventually, Josh¡¯s strength was waning, and he was unable to resist, but he didn¡¯t stop trying, even after the doors had closed. Theo held him down against the seat as he continued screaming and squirming. The vehicle moved into an idling pattern. After a full minute, the screams turned to cries.

    ¡°Please! Just kill me!¡± Josh yelled.

    ¡°You¡¯re okay, Josh! It¡¯s me, Theo! I¡¯m the detective, remember?¡± Theo tried to get through to him, though he had no idea if it was working. It was possible that Josh¡¯s implants could be blocking his brain from receiving outside audio altogether. One thing was clear, since it didn¡¯t stop as soon as they entered the vehicle, it was a pretty good indication that it didn¡¯t require network access. It was something installed directly on his BSI.

    Theo wasn¡¯t sure how much more he could take before he was going to have to report it to somebody. He knew that he should have reported it already, but the opportunity to see the effects of this virus or hack, it was too good to pass up. But there would come a point of diminishing returns, in the form of consequences. He continued restraining and observing Josh, but as another minute passed, his worries were mounting.

    ¡°Come on, man, snap out of it or I¡¯m going to have to take you to the hospital!¡± Theo said. It seemed like the fear of financial ruin made its way through whatever Josh was currently seeing.

    ¡°No! No hospitals...¡± Josh said. He was in a flop sweat with damp spots growing on his shirt.

    ¡°I dunno... you seem pretty fucked up to me.¡±

    ¡°No... I¡¯m fine... it¡¯s going away.¡± Josh said. After holding his eyes shut for the past few minutes, he began to open them. He was still shaking but was no longer resisting against Theo¡¯s hand. Theo slowly removed his palm from Josh¡¯s chest.

    ¡°I think it might be a good idea to see a doctor about getting it removed or disabled.¡±

    ¡°Okay, yeah, I¡¯ll do that, just take me home and I¡¯ll set up an appointment.¡± Josh said. Theo shrugged and shook his head in concern for Josh but ordered his vehicle to Josh¡¯s apartment anyway.

    ¡°Are you seeing anything anymore?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Uhh...¡± Josh looked around, but beyond glances, he didn¡¯t seem to look directly at Theo. ¡°No... I don¡¯t think so...¡± Josh said. Theo took a deep breath and sat back against the seat next to him.

    ¡°What the hell did you see?¡± Theo asked. Josh shifted around in his chair, looking out the windows and all around, unsure if the visions had stopped.

    ¡°I saw... a lot... To be honest, I¡¯m not really sure where to begin. How long ago did it start?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only been a few minutes.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Josh sank in his seat. ¡°That¡¯s not what it felt like.¡±

    ¡°You were sitting there eating your pizza and you suddenly spat it out and vomited before freaking out.¡±

    ¡°The pizza...? Yeah... I was eating it, and I felt something moving around in my mouth... when I spat it out and looked at it. It looked like rot and mold, and it was swarming with these little red maggot things. But... they weren¡¯t like regular maggots... I didn¡¯t look too closely but... they kind of looked like little fetuses...¡±

    ¡°That would explain the vom, but when you looked at me, you saw something terrifying.¡± After Theo mentioned it, Josh looked at him, but instantly looked away, far enough away to try and keep Theo completely out of his line of sight.

    ¡°I saw... It looked like... your eyes were gone... but not gone. They were like a void, but not just emptiness, it was the eyes of... something else. It looked like... it felt like your body was a shell, but the thing inside you, the dark emptiness, was larger than your body. Much larger, and it was controlling you like a puppet.¡±

    It didn¡¯t sound all that frightening to Theo. It sounded like the kind of thing a goth would use as their avatar, but Theo saw a tear fall from Josh¡¯s eye. Theo let him continue.

    ¡°The darkness... It was... uh...¡± Josh¡¯s voice was quivering. ¡°It was like... you know how bright light can be blinding and painful to look at, well, this darkness was so dark, that everything else around it seemed blinding in comparison. I just remember not being able to look away. It felt like, if I looked away, you would- the thing would immediately get me, but in staring right at it, it was like it was feeding on my attention, and it was growing...¡± Josh was becoming more frantic as he described it. ¡°And I couldn¡¯t get away, and it was getting closer, and I could hear it in my head, and I couldn¡¯t understand what it was saying, and it sounded so joyful, but it wanted to hurt me!¡±

    As Josh rambled, he became more worked up. He started shaking, sniffling, and even openly weeping. His voice cracked and warped until his words became unintelligible sobs. Theo tried to comfort him by grabbing his hand, but Josh jumped with fright, already forgetting about the man sitting next to him. Theo gripped him tightly with both hands.

    ¡°Josh! It¡¯s okay!¡± Theo said. ¡°Just breathe... You¡¯re alright.¡±

    For the remainder of the ride, Theo sat in silence. In his years in law enforcement, he had to be there for dozens, if not hundreds of abused, assaulted, or otherwise deeply disturbed victims and their families. He had seen intense fear in people¡¯s eyes, but he had never seen a person as close to being literally ¡®scared to death¡¯ before. When the vehicle pulled up beside Josh¡¯s building, Theo shuffled to the seat opposite of him and the two sat in silence. Josh looked somehow worse than when Theo had picked him up. He didn¡¯t seem to want to go inside, but not because he felt safe inside the vehicle. He simply saw no reason to. Theo stepped out and held the door open. Josh slowly rolled his way out and started walking up the stoop into his building, without so much as a parting gesture. Theo didn¡¯t mind. He did feel guilt, however, like he wasn¡¯t doing enough to protect the kid.

    ¡°Hey...¡± He said. Josh stopped and looked back. ¡°I know you said you aren¡¯t going to the hospital, but I don¡¯t feel right doing nothing, so I¡¯m going to have someone come and check on you.¡±

    ¡°Fine, but if I see a medical bill, you¡¯ll be seeing a lawsuit.¡± Josh turned and continued into his building.

    The first person that came to mind was Chris Dumont, Jacque¡¯s husband and a tenured psychiatrist who Theo would often turn to in these situations. However, their daughter was missing, and Theo had just told them earlier in the day to take a break from work to focus on that. Instead, he sent a request to dispatch to have them find and send someone over. Theo was done for the day. After stepping back into his car, he ordered the car to MCI-Concord for a visit with Ellis.

    ¡°What made you think about her this time?¡± Ellis asked across the table.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean, the only reason you ever drop by is to talk about your daughter.¡± Ellis said. Theo was taken aback.

    ¡°What? That¡¯s not true.¡±

    ¡°C¡¯mon man, it is.¡± Ellis leaned back against his seat. Theo¡¯s eyes avoided his gaze. ¡°I¡¯m not offended or anything, but I¡¯m also not completely stupid. It makes sense, in a weird way.¡±

    Theo looked at his own tightly interlocked hands on the table. Despite Ellis¡¯s reassurance, Theo still felt no small amount of guilt. There was a moment of silence.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Ellis.¡± Theo said. Ellis crossed his arms and his brow furrowed in displeasure.

    ¡°Dude, what did I tell you about apologizing to me?¡±

    ¡°Just hear me out, alright?¡± Theo said. Ellis waived one of his hands, gesturing for Theo to continue. ¡°It might not feel like it for you, exactly, but to me, it almost feels like I¡¯m punishing you by talking about her. And, hell, maybe there is some part of me that sorta likes the idea of trying to torture you with this stuff, but I mostly just... want to talk to somebody about her. I mean, the way it ended wasn¡¯t...-¡± Theo trailed off for a moment, then shook his head, ¡°But when I think about her smile and laughter, it fills me with warmth and resolve.¡±

    ¡°This might be a stupid question but... why don¡¯t you talk about her with your wife?¡±

    ¡°Well... A lot of the time, when I do think about her, I often start thinking about... you know... and I worry that¡¯s all that Kara would think about. I don¡¯t want to do that to her.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that makes sense. Well, I just want to let you know, you can talk about her to me anytime. So, what was it that made you think of your daughter?¡±

    ¡°We went to Charlie¡¯s Entertainment.¡±

    ¡°You and Kara?¡±

    ¡°No, no. I went with someone related to a case I¡¯m working on.¡±

    ¡°Like... A child?¡± Ellis raised his eyebrows.

    ¡°No! It was... ugh.¡± Theo rolled his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s neither here, nor there why we were there, but it wasn¡¯t weird, okay?¡± Theo said. Ellis put up his hands backing off the subject.

    ¡°Alright, alright, but I imagine you saw some kids there or something?¡±

    ¡°Yeah... A boy and a girl playing hooky.¡±

    ¡°Did you go over and call their parents?¡±

    ¡°What? No. C¡¯mon man, there are a lot worse places to be when skipping school than Charlie¡¯s Entertainment. Anyway... just hearing them running around and laughing... well, I guess that¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Ellis said. ¡°Did you ever take Alice there?¡±

    ¡°Yeah... a few times. She wasn¡¯t old enough to play a lot of the arcade-y games and stuff, but she had a lot of fun climbing around the play area and loved the pizza.¡± Theo smiled and then started laughing to himself. ¡°Actually... the last time we were there, Kara and I were eating, and we let Alice go play. Five minutes later, she¡¯s brought back to the table by an employee, her front side completely covered in blood, but she was laughing and giggling the entire time. Apparently, as soon as she got to the play area, she faceplanted on a hard piece of plastic and gave herself a nosebleed, but just got right back up and continued playing as if nothing happened.

    ¡°She left a trail of blood all around the play area and on all of the surfaces... I mean, I¡¯ve seen stabbings that were cleaner than that.¡± Theo shook his head and hid his face in his hand, laughing. ¡°They had to close the play area and clean down the entire thing. I remember seeing the employees on their hands and knees with cleaning supplies, just looking at us with total disdain as we left. God that was so embarrassing.¡± Theo said. As he recalled the story, he was just beaming with nostalgia.

    ¡°That sounds like... a good time?¡± Ellis wasn¡¯t quite sure how he felt about the story, but he could see the happiness on Theo¡¯s face.

    ¡°I mean, yeah, it was humiliating and kinda gross, and Kara was completely horrified at the whole thing, but Alice thought it was hilarious, and because of that, so did I.¡± Theo said with a genuine smile.

    ¡°Wow.¡± Ellis said, leaning back in his chair.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Nothing... it¡¯s just... I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ve ever seen you so happy.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Theo hid his smile in his hand and wasn¡¯t quite sure what to say.

    ¡°I suppose I don¡¯t really know much, but it seems like she was just about the best thing to ever happen to you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah... though it wasn¡¯t just her. It was all of us, Kara, Alice, and me. I¡¯m not one to say that the traditional family unit of mother-father-child is always perfect, but for us, it absolutely was. It was heaven made manifest.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s incredibly sappy.¡± Ellis said with a chuckle. ¡°Are you sure that Kara felt the same way?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, absolutely.¡± Theo said without hesitation. Ellis didn¡¯t respond, but Theo inferred a question about whether he really knew her. ¡°It¡¯s not like we had a shotgun wedding, or just got married in Vegas on a whim. I¡¯ve known Kara since we were kids, and I think I¡¯d be a pretty shitty detective if I couldn¡¯t tell whether my wife and child were happy.¡±

    ¡°I dunno... I might just be a kid with a GED from prison, so I don¡¯t know if my ideas are worth much, but it seems to me that the solution to your current woes might already be on your mind.¡±

    ¡°Uh... what?¡± Theo wasn¡¯t quite sure what Ellis was referring to.

    ¡°What I mean to ask, detective, is: have you considered maybe having another kid?¡±

    There was a silence. At first, Ellis thought that Theo was going to lay into him about Alice being a miracle baby, or that he was impotent or something, but Theo sat back in his seat and looked up at the ceiling in contemplation.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pretty big decision,¡± Ellis continued, ¡°I know. It¡¯s probably a better idea to talk to your wife about it, or at least get the opinion of someone who¡¯s... you know... not incarcerated.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense.¡± Theo said, waiving his hand at the notion that Ellis¡¯s opinion didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Most people outside don¡¯t know what they¡¯re talking about any more than you or I. Though, I think you have a point about at least talking to Kara about it. It¡¯d be a little weird if she didn¡¯t know about it...¡±

    Ellis laughed. The two continued chatting, the discussion morphing from family to sports and old movies, as it often did. After an hour of visiting, Theo returned home. He followed his regular path, subconsciously holding his breath until he could confirm that Kara was okay. After sitting down next to her on the bed, he touched her shoulder.

    Kara didn¡¯t respond. Not until Theo squeezed and shook her shoulder as his fear began to rise, and Kara reached up to brush his hand off of her. The negativity of the gesture was overlooked by Theo¡¯s relief. He could breathe again.

    ¡°Hey, beautiful?¡± He said. Kara didn¡¯t look at him, but turned her head slightly, which was all the indication Theo needed that she was listening. He stood up from the bed and began putting his things away and disrobing. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about you today. I mean, I¡¯m always thinking about you, but... Today I was feeling a little nostalgic, I guess.¡± Theo paused for a response, but he didn¡¯t get one, so he continued. ¡°I just thought it¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve been together. I know we are together right now, but I mean, like... really together. Just you and me, enjoying each-other¡¯s company.¡± Still, Theo was met with silence. Glancing over at her, she was still in a posture that indicated that she was listening, so again, Theo continued.

    ¡°And I was thinking about how hesitant I was when we were gonna have a kid, and how scared I was when we found out it was a girl. But... well, she turned out fill this part of me that I didn¡¯t really know was missing. Together, with you, and her and I, I felt like we were complete, and I guess I only really realized that after she was...¡± Theo couldn¡¯t say it. There was a catch in his throat. He felt like he couldn¡¯t even say his little girl¡¯s name in the presence of Kara. After stripping down to his underwear, Theo plopped down onto the mattress and rolled over next to his wife. He placed one of his arms underneath her, wrapped the other around her belly and pulled himself close to her. He brushed the side of his face into her soft hair and lowly spoke into her ear. ¡°What do you say? You want to have another baby?¡±

    Despite her noticeably cold and increasingly bony form, Theo was comfortable, but just as quickly as he nestled into her, she pushed herself out of his grasp, and pressing her body into the corner against the wall in response.

    ¡°No.¡± Kara said, wrapping as much of the sheets she could find around her body. Theo felt the pit in his stomach instantly grow to a point where he couldn¡¯t speak. He pushed himself back to the edge of the bed and sat up. He stared at Kara¡¯s back as pain and confusion flooded his brain. He couldn¡¯t understand what happened, or what it was that he did wrong. He stood back up from the bed, but nearly lost his balance, as it seemed all his strength had immediately left his body. He held his head and nervously pulled at his thinning hair. He paced the empty space in their room a few times. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, or what he did.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Was all that Theo could get out, so low and quiet, he wasn¡¯t quite sure if he had said anything at all. He inhaled shakily when his body reminded him to breathe. He wasn¡¯t sure how long he paced in the room. Eventually, he felt like his body began moving on its own, and as he left the room, he said ¡°I¡¯m sorry... I love you.¡±

    He found himself in the kitchen, opening the fridge, and pulling out an MRS, twisting the cap off and drinking it as fast as he could. The smooth, bland taste was nothing like what he was looking for, but the motion itself brought some cathartic relief. When the bottle was empty after a few seconds, he tossed the bottle near the trash and did the same to another. He then grabbed a third bottle and moved over to his chair where he selected his favorite film. At first, he had the digital window projected on the empty wall in front of him, but he found his eyes drifting away from the screen and into the reality of his shithole apartment. He flipped through his video settings and found ¡®Immersive Mode¡¯, which made the screen large enough to encompass his entire field of view, and blacked out the rest of the environment.

    It was all he could do.

 Chapter Four

    Jacque had a look of fear that was presenting itself as unbridled rage. He was pacing next to Chris, who was futilely trying to console him. As soon as Jacque saw Theo step onto the floor, he made a beeline to the detective, pulling himself out of his husband¡¯s grasp.

    ¡°Have you found out anything about Amelie yet?¡± Jacque¡¯s question was pointed. There was no delicate way to handle the situation that Theo could think of.

    ¡°Jacque, we¡¯ve already had this discussion. If I¡¯m investigating your daughter, it means that she¡¯s already dead.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Theo, I know it¡¯s not your department. I don¡¯t give a shit about your goddamn job! I want my fucking daughter back, and you have the resources that can make that happen!¡± Jacque was so angry as to be visibly shaking. ¡°You¡¯d think a longtime friend might do a little more to help, even if it meant doing it off-duty.¡± Jacque waited for a response but didn¡¯t get one. Theo wanted him to let it all out. ¡°What is it, hmm? Maybe you¡¯d be more interested if I wasn¡¯t black? Well, Amelie¡¯s white, so there shouldn¡¯t be a problem there, right? Maybe if I wasn¡¯t gay? Or maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯m not a cop? Special treatment if you¡¯re in the club?¡±

    Jacque knew that none of this was true of Theo, but it was cathartic to be able to get his distrust of the institution out into the open air. Still, he wanted to poke Theo a little more, he wanted some kind of reaction.

    ¡°Maybe if it was your own daughter...¡± Jacque said. This caught Theo¡¯s attention. His face curled but he didn¡¯t say anything, inviting Jacque to continue as long as he considered his words very carefully. Jacque continued, ¡°we¡¯d probably have some dumb black kid already in custody. The charges might not fit the crime, but at least you¡¯d have done something.¡±

    Theo lunged at Jacque, grabbing him by his shirt collar and pulling him close. Theo¡¯s fist clenched as hard as his teeth, but he didn¡¯t throw any punches.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what the fuck you¡¯re talking about, Jacque!¡± Theo shouted. He growled at Jacque, who wasn¡¯t flinching, only looking back at Theo with a similarly hostile expression. Theo looked around to see all the other detectives and officers on the floor looking at them, and a few of the closest had their hands hovering around their weapons. Even Chris had stepped forward and was holding Theo¡¯s wrist. Theo let go of Jacque¡¯s collar with a light shove and shook Chris¡¯s hand off him, then he continued talking. ¡°Did you just imply that if someone hurt your daughter, you wouldn¡¯t want them to be punished to the full extent of the law?¡±

    ¡°...N-no...¡± Jacque said, now gently shying away. ¡°It¡¯s just that-¡±

    ¡°Just what, Jacque?¡± Theo¡¯s cold stare made Jacque start backing down.

    ¡°Just... just, nothing... Sorry Theo.¡± Jacque said. Chris put his arm around him and started rubbing his back. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean any of that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, man. I won¡¯t patronize you by saying that I understand what you¡¯re feeling, but putting myself in other¡¯s shoes is a big part of the job, so, well, there it is. I guess I did say it.¡± Theo said. Jacque rolled his eyes with a chortle. ¡°Do you have any more information that you can give us?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, a few of her friends reached out to me. I got an account name I didn¡¯t know previously. I... uh... we haven¡¯t done any searching on it ourselves yet. We¡¯re still trying to respect her privacy, and I¡¯m kind of afraid it¡¯s like a weird sex thing or something so... you know.¡±

    ¡°Okay, what is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s, uh... DufferCuffer.¡± Jacque said. Theo raised an eyebrow. It sounded familiar. ¡°They said she probably has a few variations on that... I dunno if that helps.¡±

    ¡°Anything helps, thank you. I¡¯ll take a look, and I¡¯ll also relay it to Schanze and Holland. You should too if you haven¡¯t already.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we sent it to them as soon as we found it, but that was late last night so...¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Theo said. He put a hand on both Jacque and Chris¡¯s shoulders and pulled them in for a hug. After pulling away, he turned to Chris. ¡°Make sure he remains as calm and collected as possible. And that goes for yourself as well.¡± Theo smiled and Chris nodded. ¡°Let me know if you get anything else, okay?¡±

    The trio hugged again before Theo walked them the short distance to the elevator. Before the doors were even closed, Theo had pulled up his Forums police access account and did a search for DufferCuffer. Not only did it come back with the account name DufferCuffer857, but it revealed that Theo had discussions with her in the Boston Area Tech Philosophy forum not even a week prior. As soon as he knew this, he turned on his heel and went directly to the captain¡¯s office.

    Captain Richardson was sitting at his desk, motionless except for the flickering light in his eyes. He looked at Theo as he entered, but returned back to his interface without a word. When Theo closed the door behind him, the captain knew it was something important. He gave Theo his attention, but not all of it.

    ¡°What is it, detective?¡± The captain asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m taking up Amelie Dumont¡¯s missing persons case and investigating it as part of the suicides.¡±

    ¡°The hell you are!¡± The flicker in the captain¡¯s eyes went away completely. He was now focused entirely on Theo, in disbelief. ¡°We¡¯ve already had this discussion.¡±

    ¡°But she¡¯s directly related to the case, and if I¡¯m correct, she could be under the direct influence of the prime suspect as we speak.¡±

    ¡°Direct influence? Like Stockholm syndrome or what?¡±

    ¡°I think he¡¯s a hacker, who¡¯s been forcing people into an AI generated virtual environment, a nightmare that they can¡¯t escape on their own.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then let missing persons know to look out for someone freaking out. Shouldn¡¯t be too hard to spot.¡±

    ¡°No, I think his control is more direct than that. While the victim¡¯s brain is trapped in the digital environment, I believe the suspect has been using their BSI to directly control their bodies.¡±

    ¡°Controlling their bodies?¡± Richardson asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Where did you hear that, a tween creepypasta forum?¡± The captain chuckled, but Theo didn¡¯t. The captain continued, ¡°are you fucking kidding me?¡±

    ¡°No, Hugh, I¡¯m not kidding. And he¡¯s been targeting people in a Boston area forum. The very same forum that Amelie had been frequenting before she was reported missing.¡±

    ¡°If controlling another person¡¯s body with a BSI is possible, wouldn¡¯t Bell-Westbrook know about it?¡±

    ¡°Really? Is this your first time learning about a monolithic, multi-national, trillion-dollar corporation? They aren¡¯t exactly known for being ethical and transparent in their research or business dealings.¡±

    ¡°Alright detective! All I¡¯m saying is that if something like that is possible, I think we would have learned about it by now.¡± Captain Richardson shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

    ¡°But we ARE learned about it, right now!¡± Theo said, leaning forward and knocking a pointed finger against the captain¡¯s desk. ¡°The whole reason this case is happening is because you thought there might be a connection between these suicides. I have found that there are, in fact, suspicious circumstances, that this is the work of a killer, and I think he''s about to do it again!¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t have you investigating your own Goddaughter, detective!¡±

    ¡°Ah who gives a shit about that fucking rule!¡± Theo shouted. ¡°Just let me do a CCTV scan for her, and maybe a cop can do something respectable, like save a girl¡¯s life, or catch a serial killer.¡±

    ¡°No, detective! Hand it off to missing persons, that is an order, and I will hear nothing more about it. Here¡¯s your next suicide in Dorchester.¡± The captain waived his fingers, and his BSI sent the files over to Theo. As soon as he received the message, Theo fiddled with his stylus to look at the case. It took less than a second for Theo to see that the young man had no cybernetics.

    ¡°This is unrelated bullshit. The kid doesn¡¯t even have a BSI. Are you even reading my reports?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re over the line, Theo!¡± The captain shouted, slamming his hands on the desk as he stood up to meet Theo¡¯s eyes. ¡°Keep pushing and you¡¯re going to find yourself suspended. Trust in the system, hand your information off to Schanze and Holland and get down to Dorchester.¡± Captain Richardson stared Theo down. Theo stepped back, crossed his arms, and gritted his teeth. ¡°Now, detective!¡±

    Theo stormed out of the office, trying to slam the heavy glass door, but the hydraulics caught it, bringing it to a slow and gentle close. As soon as he was out the door, Theo started working towards finding Amelie. The first thing he did was send a warrant for access to her personal data. It was granted within seconds, and Theo began scraping Amelie¡¯s images, mirroring them, and running them through the BPD¡¯s facial recognition software.

    He stepped into his vehicle and ordered it into a holding pattern around the city while he started looking through Amelie¡¯s Forum¡¯s history. The very last message she received immediately caught his attention.

    Synapse: You wanna see something really scary?

    Chills went down Theo¡¯s spine. Sure enough, Amelie was another one of the users that was very vocal in her disdain for Synapse, and had tried to get him banned on a few occasions. Of course, it never happened. She had only put a target on her own back. He skimmed through Amelie¡¯s chat history with Synapse in the hopes that something might reveal his location or any actionable information that would help Theo to find him. He came up with nothing. Theo couldn¡¯t even be sure that Synapse was in Boston at all, the only indication being his presence on a few Boston area forums. Again, Theo tried to access Synapses account directly using his police credentials, but instead of crashing just the forums app, Theo¡¯s entire interface crashed, causing his interface to freeze, and because his eyes were prosthetic, it left him completely blind for several seconds.

    Nothing like this had ever happened to him, and as soon as it did, Theo felt panic quickly starting to rise within him, but when he saw the Bell-Westbrook logo and initialization, he breathed a sigh of relief. The scare hadn¡¯t deterred him. Theo went right back into forums and to Synapse¡¯s account, where his interface crashed again. He had to reboot four more times before he threw up his hands and switched back to finding Amelie.

    The system came back with several hits at different parts of the city since Amelie had been missing. By themselves, there were too few data points to discern any sort of pattern, but when Theo compared the locations with those that he had gathered from Christina and Jackson, he found a few locations that had been visited by two of the three, one in the waterfront where Shadow Recording was located, another was at a fast-food restaurant, but one location in particular had been visited by all three on multiple occasions.

    It was in a derelict neighborhood in Mattapan, the same camera that caught a glimpse of Christina. He had already checked out the fast-food restaurant and didn¡¯t expect he would get any better results if he returned, so he ordered his car to the location in Mattapan. The vehicle came to a rest underneath the mobile surveillance unit that had caught the images of Christina and Amelie.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Theo was surprised to see that the unit was still in operation with the state it was in. The chassis was almost completely covered in graffiti that honestly brought some much needed color and style to the area. Some of the panels had been broken into and there were wires sticking out in some places. Theo stepped out of his vehicle and ordered it into a holding pattern outside the neighborhood. He thought it might be a bit more conspicuous, such a shiny car hovering around such a shady neighborhood. Theo thought he would fit in more with his general attire, which was nothing to write home about.

    Watching the footage back provided little help. The pings all came from a small pane of broken glass in a window across the street from the camera. The captures were only a frame long, but Theo was at least able to make out their walking directions.

    The time stamps were a little erratic, making it hard for Theo to consider how long they were in this area, or allow him to calculate a range of how far he should explore. He wasn¡¯t even sure what he was looking for, but at least it was a good excuse for a walk.

    Theo watched as his digital companion cat, Chess, begin darting around, leaping into bushes, and seeking out insects to play with. Theo also produced a Phantom cigarette and smoked as he walked. Without an exact purpose of direction, Theo really just ended up following the cat around.

    There were a few other people around the area, though nobody was interested in getting very close to Theo or one another. They could probably see the cop on him from a mile away, which was fine, as Theo didn¡¯t expect they would give him any good information anyway. He just wandered around the neighborhood in an expanding spiral pattern. As he surveyed the neighborhood, he considered what exactly he was looking for.

    The most obvious thing, he thought, would be finding Synapse himself walking around, but Theo also considered what Synapse would have been there for in the first place. There wasn¡¯t much to do in this neighborhood, with the main exception being purchasing drugs, though Theo didn¡¯t expect that¡¯s why Synapse was here. With a BSI, simulation of the effects of drugs was quite effective and potent, if imperfect as of yet. Instead, Theo wondered if he may have been meeting someone here for another purpose, perhaps to buy weapons.

    For a moment, Theo considered whether he was here to exchange hacks, but he had to remind himself that exchanging data through physical media was something that hadn¡¯t been done in decades, and really only ever showed up in film and television. In reality, the internet was the perfect data transference system for hackers. Anyone who was worth their salt knew how to keep their data encrypted. Theo didn¡¯t completely write-off the idea, however. Synapse may have been onto something new in the ability to hack BSI¡¯s, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that he was universally competent.

    It had been a while since Theo took a leisurely outdoor stroll. The setting wasn¡¯t particularly beautiful, considering the overcast sky and the ruinous venue, but Theo felt a sense of calm nonetheless. As he watched his digital cat playing with the dandelions growing through the sidewalk, Theo opened his messages and sent a quick one to Kara.

    TM: Hey, beautiful! ?? Just thinking about you, wondered if you wanted to go on a date tonight? IRL or not, I want to be with you! LMK ??

    Just as Theo sent off the text, he turned onto a street, where he saw somebody stumble around the bend a distance away from him and out of view. They appeared to be destitute with worn clothes and dirty, unkept hair. The way the person was walking caught his attention, and before continuing forward, Theo quickly browsed to his firewall settings and made sure they were up to date, then disabled his wireless firmware and set his eyes to passthrough[i]</a> only. He picked up his pace to reacquire visual, and when he did, he noticed that they were suddenly different.

    Their form was now that of a younger, slender person wearing dark clothing, with long dark hair. Theo was too far away to make out the person¡¯s face, but every indication so far told him that he was looking at Amelie. Theo reacted with reflexive memory, trying to send an urgent request for badges to come assist him in grabbing her, but his overlay was still disabled, as was his wireless network connection. This gave him a moment to reconsider his plan.

    He wasn¡¯t sure how Synapse would react. The worst-case scenario would result in Amelie¡¯s death, and Synapse would leave her body as quickly as her soul. Theo also considered that the longer he waited, the greater likelihood that Synapse was going to do that anyway. A dilemma gripped his mind, whether he should try to get his Goddaughter out of harm¡¯s way as soon as possible or try to get more information about Synapse to try and prevent him from hurting more people. His indecisiveness made the decision for him as Theo began to follow the girl from an inconspicuous distance.

    Theo¡¯s stomach churned with the weight of his circumstance. He wondered whether he would get any information at all, or if with every passing second, he was missing an opportunity to save the girl¡¯s life. He also considered the consequences if he did call it in. He was in for a lot of trouble having completely disregarded his captain¡¯s direct orders, but the potential to save a person¡¯s life was a reward that far outweighed the punishment he would receive.

    He studied her body language as he followed her. Beyond looking like a 100lb girl who had downed a fifth of vodka, Theo could see that she was stowing something small and heavy in her hoodie¡¯s front pocket. Theo was starting to get an idea of what was happening. Synapse was currently using Amelie¡¯s body to help transport something. A weapon, drugs, tech, Theo wasn¡¯t sure what, but the way Amelie was guarding her front pocket was a dead giveaway. Now he just needed to see what Amelie was doing with it.

    As Amelie passed a dark alleyway next to an old brick building, she stopped and looked around her immediate area. Theo was finally able to make visual confirmation on her identity, confirming that it was who he expected. He ducked behind a vehicle as Amelie looked in his direction, and when he peeked back out, Amelie was gone, into the alleyway he assumed. From the layout of the buildings around it, Theo expected that the alley was a dead end, with only one point of ingress, so he stood on his spot and waited for her to come back out.

    After a couple of minutes, Theo was getting concerned that maybe there was a tunnel, or some other exit that he didn¡¯t expect. He began moving toward the alley just as Amelie stumbled back out. She seemed to look at Theo, but they were still hundreds of feet apart. Theo expertly altered his heading, hoping to appear as another random person on the street. Amelie didn¡¯t seem to respond to him and continued on down the street in the same direction she was already heading. Theo breathed a sigh of relief, but now that she had seen him, he knew he had to be even more cautious as he continued to follow her.

    She was no longer carrying the object. Theo made sure to memorize a few details about the location to come back and check later. He followed Synapse at a reasonable distance for hours as he stumbled out of the decrepit suburban neighborhood and around the city. Theo had lost sight of him a few times but was able to quickly re-acquire him. It usually wasn¡¯t very hard considering his unique gait, but as it started to get darker, the task became more difficult, especially without the lowlight filters that his eyes could provide. As Synapse wandered into a block of apartment buildings, Theo lost him again.

    After several minutes without eyes on Synapse, Theo picked up his pace, worried that he might have lost him for good. He ordered his car back to him and hopped in, then began driving around the block and down the alleyways. As the vehicle pulled out of an alleyway and onto a street, it came to an abrupt halt followed by a thump, nearly throwing Theo out of his seat.

    ¡°What the fuck!¡± Theo shouted. He looked out the front window to see Synapse, holding himself up against the hood of the car. Synapse looked up into the vehicle, looking directly at Theo. A look of recognition filled his stolen face, then he began shambling away in an attempt to run to the nearest apartment building entrance.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Theo said, having been made. He threw open the door of his vehicle and rushed into the street, drawing his revolver as he did so. ¡°Boston Police! Freeze!¡± He shouted.

    To Theo¡¯s surprise, Synapse did stop, on the sidewalk just in front of the apartment¡¯s front stoop. He turned toward Theo with his hands up.

    ¡°Get on the ground!¡± Theo said. Synapse replied only with a disconcerting smirk. ¡°On the ground, now!¡± Theo insisted, emphasizing his words with his large gun. Synapse didn¡¯t move. Theo took a step forward, then realized that Synapse wasn¡¯t looking at him, but instead was looking past him. Theo glanced behind him only to see his vehicle; it¡¯s door still wide open. As soon as he saw it, Theo realized what was about to happen.

    The tires turned toward Theo and began to squeal as the vehicle quickly accelerated toward him. Theo dashed to the side, effectively dodging the hood of the car, but he couldn¡¯t avoid the still open door. As it collided with his side, Theo wrapped his left arm over the door and lifted his legs, letting the vehicle take him. With the weight of his body, the door closed forcefully against his arm, causing him to yell out in pain.

    The vehicle continued to accelerate with Theo caught in the door, making it to nearly 40 miles per hour before colliding with the apartment building wall and launching Theo into the bricks. Theo crumpled to the sidewalk, gasping from the wind being knocked out of him, but he remained alert. He tried to pick up his revolver with his left arm, only to find that he wasn¡¯t able to lift it. He didn¡¯t think twice, grabbing it with his right hand, and lumbered to his feet.

    His vehicle started reversing, pulling itself free from the wall and the curb, but losing its front bumper in the process. As it reversed, it lined itself up with Theo in preparation for another charge. Theo, now on his feet, rushed forward and dove to the ground, barely avoiding what could have easily been a lethal collision. As he landed on the ground against his left side, he now felt an immense pain throughout his entire arm and ribcage.

    ¡°Ffffuuuck!¡± Theo cried, the cathartic action giving him just enough adrenaline to get back up and continue moving. He heard the shriek of his vehicle as it attempted to reverse again, but it was accompanied by a deafening metal clanking and no movement. Nonetheless, Theo didn¡¯t stand still long enough to inspect the damage. Synapse was already gone, having moved into the apartment building.

    Theo gave chase, quickly finding him moving into an open elevator. Theo rushed to catch it, but the doors were closing before Theo could reach him. Theo caught a glimpse of Synapse laughing before the doors shut completely. Theo immediately spammed the button to call the elevators in a futile effort. He looked up at the elevator status display just in time to see it glitch and change from the floor number to scrolling text.

    The fat pig could use some exercise!

    ¡°God dammit!¡± Theo said, then quickly moved to the stairwell and began his journey upward. By the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor, Theo¡¯s legs were like jelly, and by the 5<sup>th</sup>, Theo was completely out of breath and strongly considered giving up completely. After all, he had no idea what floor Synapse was getting off on. He paused only for a moment to reconsider his plan, and just as he was going to re-enable his wireless communications to call for backup, he heard a door slam open only a couple of floors above him.

    ¡°You still coming?¡± Synapse shouted down the stairwell. He was leaning over the railing, still twisting Amelie¡¯s face into a wide grin. Theo continued his rush up the stairs. He could hear Synapse stumbling upward as well, heading for the roof of the building. Despite his exhausted state, Theo was quickly gaining on Synapse. He was only seconds behind him through the roof access door. Theo whipped around with his weapon raised in his right hand.

    ¡°FREEZE!¡± Theo shouted, much louder this time. He hoped that was all that was needed, and for a moment, it seemed that it was. Synapse had stopped and turned toward Theo. The detective¡¯s instinct was to rush Synapse and knock him to the ground. They were separated by only ten feet, after all, but Synapse was closer to the edge of the building than he was to Theo. ¡°Get on the ground, NOW!¡± Theo said. Synapse started laughing. He glanced behind himself, then back to Theo.

    ¡°Sure, it¡¯ll take about 2 seconds, but first, I just want to ask...¡± Synapse said. Theo knew exactly where this was going, and he was starting to panic. Synapse continued, ¡°You wanna see something really scary?¡±

    The revolver, took longer to line up with Synapse¡¯s leg than normal, partly by it being in Theo¡¯s off-hand and in-part due to not being supported by his other hand, but it was primarily the stress and adrenaline running through his body. When he was finally able to sight in, just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, he was interrupted by an ear-shattering scream.

    Amelie had been given back control of her body, but it was immediately evident that she had not been given complete control over her eyes. Her expression was that of unbridled fear. Her primary focus was on Theo, but she was glancing in every direction, with an ostensibly new fear response at everything she saw. Theo removed his finger from the trigger and raised his hand, trying to placate her.

    ¡°Amelie! It¡¯s okay! It¡¯s me, Theo!¡± He said with a soft tone, but a loud volume to cut through her terrified whimpering. ¡°If you can hear me, please, come this way!¡± Theo took a tentative step toward Amelie.

    ¡°No! Stay away!¡± She shouted. Her hands were out, trying to shield her face from Theo¡¯s image. She took a step back, keeping her distance from him and approaching the edge.

    ¡°Please! Amelie! Come away from the edge!¡± Theo said, just as she glanced behind her to see the gap between the buildings.

    Amelie looked back at Theo, and in that moment, he could see exactly what she was thinking. As soon as she saw the drop, she had found a way out, and had already made the decision. Just as she started turning away from him, Theo dashed forward, throwing his weapon aside.

    The girl took a step over the short concrete barrier. Theo leaped as far as he could with his arm outstretched. He hit the floor and slid forward, nearly over the building himself, but as Amelie dove into the gap, Theo¡¯s fingers were only able to brush her ankles. His fist closed tightly around thin air, and now there was nothing left to do but watch her fall. Her scream seemed to get louder as she fell away from him, the sound echoing off the brick walls, before it was cut short, interrupted by the loud vibrations of the sheet-metal fence she landed on.

    The sharp metal completely severed one of her arms and nearly cut her torso in half. For a few seconds, Theo could see her struggle, trying futilely to remove her other arm from the fence. Theo didn¡¯t need to zoom in to see that she was still looking up at him. Tears fell from her eyes, there was a final spasm, and she became completely motionless.

    <hr>

    [i]</a> Passthrough: People with cybernetic eyes have the ability to set their vision to passthrough only, which allows the brain to receive exactly what the eye sees without the interface overlay. Users with fully prosthetic eyes have a passthrough setting, while users who have organic eyes with a display-mesh or a full BSI also have the ability to disable digital components completely without affecting vision.

 Chapter Five

    ¡°What the fuck were you thinking?¡± Captain Richardson shouted across his desk. Theo suspected it was a rhetorical question, but he was silently considering it, nonetheless. The captain continued, ¡°When I told you not to look into Amelie, it wasn¡¯t a friendly suggestion. It wasn¡¯t a polite tip. I wasn¡¯t nudging-and-winking when I said it. IT. WAS. A. DIRECT. ORDER.¡± The frosted glass walls of the office vibrated with how loud the captain was yelling. It didn¡¯t deter Theo.

    ¡°If you had let me work on this from the beginning-¡± Theo started yelling back but was interrupted by the increasingly irate captain.

    ¡°-That girl might have been dead sooner!¡± Captain Richardson looked at Theo like he was an idiot. ¡°Is your cochlear implant working? Are you having a God damned translation issue or something? Or are ¡®command structure¡¯, ¡®instructions¡¯, and ¡®human fucking language¡¯ foreign concepts to you?¡± The captain shook his head and chuckled in disbelief. Theo just crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. The captain threw up his hands and turned around before continuing, ¡°Within minutes of our last conversation, you disobeyed direct orders.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and within minutes, I was able to find Amelie¡¯s whereabouts,¡± Theo said, slightly exaggerating, ¡°Schanze and Holland had been sitting on this case for days.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who¡¯s working on it, as long as it wasn¡¯t you!¡±

    ¡°... And it¡¯s directly tied to my suicides case!¡±

    ¡°Not anymore.¡± The captain said.

    ¡°What the hell is that supposed to mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean, it¡¯s not your case anymore. You¡¯re relieved of duty for the time being.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re suspending me?¡± Theo asked in exasperation.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be lucky if you don¡¯t get thrown off the force, or worse, let alone a suspension!¡± Captain Richardson emphasized his words with the point of his finger in Theo¡¯s direction. Then leaned against the back of his chair, gripping it like a stress ball. ¡°But no. For now, consider it a break for your mental health. Go home and spend some time with your wife, Theo.¡±

    Theo clenched his jaw as tightly as his fist, but instead of throwing a fist, he threw a few words.

    ¡°The ineptitude of this precinct continues to blow my mind in the worst possible way.¡± He said. The captain was visibly displeased. He moved his chair to the side, nearly knocking it over in the process. He might have been more intimidating if his oversized desk weren¡¯t still in his way.

    ¡°Have you lost your God damned mind?¡± The captain yelled. ¡°You¡¯re about two words away from throwing your entire career in the garbage!¡±

    ¡°Fuck you! Are those words good enough?¡± Theo¡¯s response left Captain Richardson speechless, but his expression went from dumbfounded surprise to seething rage before he took a deep breath.

    ¡°Go home, Theo.¡± The captain said through gritted teeth and a level of restraint that Theo didn¡¯t think was possible. Without another word, Theo left the office. As the door closed, Theo could hear the captain whisper to himself, ¡°Jesus fucking Christ.¡±

    The floor was a spectacle of officers gathering near Theo¡¯s desk. As he approached, a few of the officers between him and his desk cleared the way to reveal Jacque and Chris, waiting. As angry as the captain was, the look on Jacque¡¯s sleep-deprived face was much worse, especially as soon as he saw Theo. He began to walk toward Theo with a purpose that was obvious to everyone. Chris tried to hold on to his arm, but Jacque broke free. Theo took a deep breath in preparation for what was about to happen.

    It was fortunate that Jacque had opted for surgery for his hand instead of getting a full prosthetic replacement, otherwise Theo may not have survived the strike to the center of his face. Despite being mere flesh and bone, the hit broke Theo¡¯s nose and knocked him to the ground. Either he was dazed, or his cochlear implant was resetting, as he couldn¡¯t hear what Jacque was saying, but he was pretty sure he knew what it was.

    ¡°You were supposed to protect her!¡± Jacque yelled. He tried to move in to continue hitting Theo on the ground, but he was already being restrained by several of the onlooking officers. ¡°You killed her!¡± Jacque continued, his voice already breaking. ¡°You killed her, you bastard!¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t say anything. There wasn¡¯t anything he could say. He couldn¡¯t argue that he didn¡¯t kill her because a part of him felt that it was, in fact, his fault. He lay on the floor silently, allowing Jacque to continue his verbal tirade. His words stung the most, but the stinging pain in Theo¡¯s face quickly became a close second. Another officer reached toward Theo¡¯s arm to help him up, but Theo batted his hand away, angrily rejecting the help. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and sat motionless until Jacque was pulled into the briefing room.

    Blood poured from Theo¡¯s nose, quickly covering his chin and soaking into his shirt, tie, and carpeted floor. Theo looked up to see Chris standing a few feet away. The tearful look on his face was much the same intensity as his husband¡¯s. Theo couldn¡¯t bring himself to maintain eye contact. As Chris stared daggers at him, Theo fully expected to receive another hit, but after a few moments Chris turned away to rejoin Jacque in the briefing room.

    When Theo began staggering to his feet, he noticed a few other officers next to him, assuming they were again trying to help him up. Theo flailed his arms again.

    ¡°Fuck off!¡± He said, but as he got to his feet, he was nearly pushed back to the ground by Detective Schanze, who was also not in the mood to be helping Theo.

    ¡°No, you fuck off, asshole!¡± Schanze said.

    ¡°Yeah, what the shit man?¡± Holland chimed in behind him. ¡°If not calling for uniformed backup, you should have at least contacted us. We would have been happy to help.¡±

    Theo said nothing in response, which only angered Schanze even more. He stepped forward and pushed Theo again.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t give a shit,¡± Schanze said, looking straight into Theo¡¯s eyes, ¡°he thinks we¡¯re rookies, fuckin greenhorns that can¡¯t wipe our own asses. Despite the tacky hard-boiled dick persona, he forgets that he¡¯s only been on the force for a year longer than us.¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t give a shit, man. After all, it wasn¡¯t his daughter that died today.¡± Holland said, shoulder checking Theo as he moved past.

    Part of Theo wanted a fight, if for nothing other than a cathartic release of tension, but his body resisted him. Theo wanted to scream at Holland that he was wrong, but in the moment of pause, Theo¡¯s mind reasoned that his inattention and ineptitude had also gotten his own daughter killed. It was a thought that stayed with Theo as he dragged himself toward the exit.

    He was stopped by a paramedic in the lobby who moved to attend to Theo¡¯s nose. Theo was stubborn, and tried to push them away, but the paramedic was more stubborn. When they pulled out a nasal spray anesthetic, Theo angrily snapped at them.

    ¡°Just set the fucking thing and let me go.¡± He said, and without a moment¡¯s hesitation, he got his wish from the heavy-handed paramedic. The pain was intense, complimenting the massive sense of doubt that was growing within him with every passing second.

    When he was finally let go, Theo did what he often does when his daughter was on his mind. He ordered his car to MCI-Concord. When the vehicle arrived, he barely noticed that it was a different make and model, forgetting completely about the previous one that had been written-off by Synapse. The drive over was entirely too long for him to sit and think in silence. He could feel himself spiraling into a pit of despair, a place that he was all too familiar with. He felt like a complete failure as a father, a husband, a protector of the weak, and a good human being in general. Certain thoughts were starting to run through his head as a solution to these problems or, at least, an exit to evade them.

    Theo put his head in his hands having already forgotten about its state, but the sharp pain was something else to focus on. In an attempt to avoid continuing down the dark road he was on, he started hitting his temple with increasing intensity, then tapping and pinching his broken nose. Eventually, his grip was so tight that he was threatening to unset the cartilage. The vehicle came to a stop before that happened, arriving at the prison.

    Ellis¡¯s image was surprisingly similar to Theo¡¯s, sporting a stitched up black eye as he entered visitation and sat at the table. They were both silent for a few minutes, each lost in their own heads and barely looking at each other. Eventually, Theo leaned forward against the table.

    ¡°Where¡¯d you get that?¡± Theo asked. Ellis shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the question, but answered even so.

    ¡°Chad was given to another inmate. Dude ended up killing him and started bragging about it. I tried to beat the shit out of the guy.¡± There was a short pause.

    ¡°I¡¯m... sorry...¡± Theo said, hanging his head low above the table.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Ellis said. ¡°The piece of shit had it coming, I just wish I was able to do more damage.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t just mean for this incident. I am sorry about your kitten, but I¡¯m also sorry for you being in here in the first place.¡±

    ¡°I told you, you don¡¯t have to apolo-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t do enough to fight the charges, to stand up for you.¡± Theo was raising his voice. Ellis kept trying to interject, but Theo just continued. ¡°I should have been more vocal! I should have put my foot down instead of wallowing in self-pity. I should¡¯ve...¡± His voice was beginning to crack, and his hands were woven into his hair, gripping it tightly. ¡°I should¡¯ve paid more attention. If I had, you wouldn¡¯t be here, and Alice would still...¡±

    Ellis thought he had seen the broken man before. It wasn¡¯t the first time he had heard Theo¡¯s apologies, but this time seemed different. Previously, his apologies had an air of anger around them, as if he would fly off the handle if Ellis tried to take any blame. Now, he was watching this outwardly hardened man only a step away from openly weeping in front of him. It was a jarring sight.

    ¡°What the hell happened, Theo?¡± Ellis asked, refraining from reaching across the table to touch his shoulder. Theo took a few deep breaths in an attempt to regain his composure.

    ¡°I did it again... I was just trying to help find someone, but... in the process of looking for her, I think I may have been responsible for her death.¡± Theo¡¯s head was deeply hidden in his hands, a result of the profound shame he felt. ¡°I let another girl die, and this time it wasn¡¯t my own.¡±

    ¡°Theo!¡± Ellis yelled, nearly reaching across to grab Theo by his lapels. This caught Theo¡¯s attention, as well as the guard that was standing at the door, but Ellis kept his hands to himself and lowered his voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know how many times I need to tell you this, but what happened to your daughter... Was. Not. Your. Fault.¡±

    ¡°But-¡±

    ¡°But nothing, Theo!¡± Ellis said, interrupting him. ¡°Your daughter ran out into the street. I hate to put it like this, but a child running out into the street isn¡¯t exactly unheard of. It happens.¡±

    ¡°If I had just held on to her, or just paid a little more attention, or-¡±

    ¡°Or if she had been made of pure titanium, or if we had flying cars, or if the Observers had returned and whisked her away... There¡¯s an infinite number of things that could have happened to save her, but they didn¡¯t.¡±

    The two were silent for an uncomfortable period of time. Theo had gotten the point. There was nothing that could be done for something that happened years ago, but that didn¡¯t stop the two from imagining how things could have been different.

    ¡°You don¡¯t deserve to be in here, Ellis.¡±

    ¡°I killed your daughter, man. Not only did I refuse to use an auto, but I was driving recklessly, and I was high.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the bullshit that was said to get you locked up in here, and you¡¯re starting to believe it. You smoked a little weed the night before, and you were learning how to drive stick in a large truck. None of that is illegal.¡±

    ¡°I still killed a 4-year-old girl. You think I deserve no punishment for it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been clear to me from day one that you understand what¡¯s happened, and you¡¯re tearing yourself up over it. Maybe if you were some rich sociopath with no remorse, I¡¯d be a little more angry at you.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯m tearing-...¡± Ellis paused to rework what he was saying. ¡°All I¡¯m saying is that I¡¯ve accepted my punishment for what happened. For taking your girl away from you... from your wife... from the world... I don¡¯t think 12 years is too much to ask.¡±

    There was no arguing with Ellis. Theo respected it, but also found it frustrating. They again sat in silence for a few moments before Ellis spoke.

    ¡°Tell me about the girl today...¡± He asked. Theo again put his head in his hands. ¡°I imagine you can¡¯t really give much detail, but...¡±

    ¡°It was a friend¡¯s... my best friend¡¯s daughter. She had been reported missing a few days ago, and I found out that it¡¯s related to the case I¡¯ve been working on.¡±

    ¡°So... you thought she was taken by a killer or something?¡±

    ¡°She was under his control, I think, yes.¡±

    ¡°Under his... control?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, through her BSI.¡±

    ¡°What, like threatening her into doing stuff?¡±

    ¡°No, I mean controlling her body directly.¡± Theo said. Ellis didn¡¯t quite understand.

    ¡°Is that even possible?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not an expert on Interfaces or how the brain works or anything like that, but that¡¯s what it looks like.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Ellis pondered on the idea. ¡°If that¡¯s true... it seems like quite the oversight by Bell-Westbrook.¡±

    ¡°No kidding.¡±

    ¡°They have to know about it, right?¡± Ellis asked.

    At that moment, Theo had realized the avenue of investigation that he hadn¡¯t yet considered. He grabbed the stylus from his coat and started browsing to Bell-Westbrook¡¯s page to find some contact information. Just as he was about to send a police contact request, he paused, remembering his current status with the police. He swiped away his Interface with a sigh and shake of his head.

    ¡°So...¡± Ellis said. ¡°Did you find your friend¡¯s daughter?¡±

    As uncomfortable as Theo was, simply the act of speaking with Ellis calmed him and gave him an opportunity to reassess the case. At first, he hesitated to go into certain details, sure that it was some breach of information about an ongoing investigation, but the hesitation shifted to that of anguish as he approached the moment of Amelie¡¯s death.

    He wasn¡¯t very descriptive to Ellis, but over the past several hours in the aftermath, he had watched the event over and over again when he shared the ultra-high-resolution video to the first responders and his superiors. Theo was thankful that he didn¡¯t have to share it again, but the image of Amelie nearly cut in half and gasping for air had been effectively burned into his brain. Theo shook as he described it, and when it was over, he took a deep breath, and again buried his head in his hands.

    ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve been saying it a lot lately...¡± Ellis said, placing a hand on Theo¡¯s arm, ¡°but I don¡¯t think any of this is your fault.¡±

    He had been saying it often, and to the point that they were both tired of hearing it. Nonetheless, it was something that Theo needed to hear to stop pulling at his already thinning hair.

    ¡°I have no idea if this helps, or if this is something that you¡¯ve considered,¡± Ellis said, ¡°but I have a question. I don¡¯t think either of these is necessarily better or worse than the other, but I think it should be asked; was your priority to save your friend¡¯s daughter, or to catch a killer?¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t answer. He didn¡¯t need to. Again, there was silence between the two until their time was up. They stood up from the table and went to shake hands, but Theo moved in for a firm embrace, startling the guard.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Theo said, then parted before the guard could force his way between them.

    After picking up his gun from the armory, Theo left the prison. He didn¡¯t have an answer to Ellis¡¯s question, but the conversation made him feel calmer and more collected. He wanted more discussion, though he was fairly confident that Kara wasn¡¯t up to the task. In the absence of someone to continue his discussion with, Theo wanted somewhere quiet that wasn¡¯t the cramped cabin of his new unfamiliar vehicle, so he set The Endless Wit as his destination and idly played with Chess until his arrival. When the vehicle came to a stop, he stowed his revolver in the re-enforced glove compartment before entering the bar.

    The table in the far corner was as quiet and comfortable as Theo liked it. The bartender delivered a glass of Dr. Pepper to him as soon as he sat down. When the bartender was about to leave, Theo nearly grabbed his arm to ask for a whiskey instead, but in his hesitation, the bartender returned to his spot behind the counter. Theo sat in silence, sipping at his soft drink. He thought he would be content to sit and think, but he again found himself spiraling into self-doubt, and self-hatred. He found himself with his face in his hands, irritating his broken nose again.

    ¡°You look like you could use some company...¡±

    While soft, the woman¡¯s voice was just sharp enough to cut through Theo¡¯s thoughts. For a moment, Theo thought Kara had decided to join him. As his demeanor quickly began to improve at the prospect of his wife leaving the house for the first time in over a year, he realized that the woman sitting across from him was actually his new bar friend, Lily. She wasn¡¯t quite what he was hoping for, but she was still a welcome sight.

    ¡°Hi, Lily.¡± Theo said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

    ¡°Rough day?¡± Lily asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s one way to put it, I guess. How could you tell?¡± Theo laid on the sarcasm.

    ¡°Well, the broken nose was a pretty good indicator.¡± Lily replied. Theo subtly cocked his head, momentarily confused by the answer to his rhetorical question. Lily continued, ¡°You wanna talk about it?¡±

    It was an uncomfortable question, causing Theo to shift back in his seat, looking away from her. Perhaps it was because she was still a stranger that he didn¡¯t want to say much about what had happened, but he didn¡¯t think it would be too much worse than discussing active investigation details to an incarcerated felon.

    ¡°Is it your wife?¡± Lily asked. The look on her face was ambiguous. She didn¡¯t seem happy at the thought of possible marital issues, but Theo also didn¡¯t pick up much concern coming from her.

    ¡°No...¡± Theo said. ¡°No, my wife is fine...¡± It was a blatant lie, but Theo remembered Lily asking about his wife previously as well. It seemed to him like she was interested in Kara, but he wasn¡¯t sure why, and at the moment, he didn¡¯t really care. ¡°I, uh... let some people down, friends... family... and they got hurt because of it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that. I don¡¯t imagine it was your intention to get anyone hurt.¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Quite the opposite. I was trying to help. Trying to save someone from harm.¡±

    ¡°Is that right?¡± Lily¡¯s response garnered another strange look from Theo.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± He asked. ¡°Are you saying that I wanted something bad to happen?¡±

    ¡°I suppose, in a way.¡± Lily said. Her words and her extremely chill demeanor were irritating Theo in a way he hadn¡¯t experienced with her before. ¡°Not to imply that I know what happened, really, but it seems to me that people are drawn to violence. They may not always intend or plan for it, but I find that they always hope for it in some form or another.¡±

    ¡°I absolutely didn¡¯t hope to see the violence that I saw.¡± Theo raised his voice, but not enough to disturb the few other patrons. The bartender was giving him the side eye, however. ¡°And anyone who does-¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lily interrupted him. Theo saw she was trying to make a point.

    ¡°... Should seek help.¡±

    ¡°Ha.¡± Lily smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what you were going to say. Is that what you do, Theo? Help people seek help?¡±

    Theo wondered if Lily was making a joke. He hadn¡¯t told her that he worked for the police, but he expected it to be pretty obvious, at least based on how often people made fun of his style.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡± He said. Theo felt like he could probably make an argument supporting the perfect fantasy ¡®civil protectors¡¯ propaganda, but he knew it was a complete lie.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you do.¡± Lily said. Theo still wasn¡¯t sure whether she believed him or not, but she had already made her point.

    What would he do if he got his hands on Synapse? He tried to imagine the legal, perfect hero scenario where he slapped cuffs on the asshole and brought him into the station to applause and a kiss from Kara. Instead, Theo found himself imagining gouging the fucker¡¯s eyes out and punching in all of his teeth, maybe pulling his jaw off and beating the remaining head into a pile of meat, bone, blood, and brain matter. Just the thought of his fists slamming into this psychopath¡¯s face provided a small cathartic release. As he was lost in the imagery, the arrival of the bartender startled Theo as he set two glasses of whiskey onto the table.

    ¡°You doing alright, Theo?¡± He asked with concern on his face.

    ¡°We¡¯re fine... thank you.¡± Theo responded instinctively.

    ¡°A-alright...¡± The bartender raised an eyebrow. ¡°Well, if you do need someone to talk to, you know... I am a bartender.¡±

    ¡°Thank you...¡± Theo raised an eyebrow back at him, then the bartender returned to the bar. Theo looked back at the glasses in front of him. Lily took the one closest to her. Theo only looked at his.

    ¡°You looked like you could use a drink.¡± Lily said, taking a sip from her glass.

    ¡°I, uh... I don¡¯t drink.¡±

    ¡°I do remember you saying that.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re the type that thinks it¡¯s okay to give alcohol to an alcoholic?¡±

    ¡°Only to the ones that spend their time in a bar.¡±

    ¡°I only come here for the setting.¡±

    ¡°Sure...¡± Lily said with a laugh. ¡°You know that you can change your environment in your interface, right? You can make it seem like you¡¯re at a bar when you¡¯re at home. It can even be this bar, and this table if you want.¡±

    ¡°I enjoy the service.¡±

    ¡°So, do the same thing but at a restaurant.¡±

    ¡°I dunno. Somehow, that seems even sadder than this.¡±

    ¡°Well, I think as long as you decide to drink soda in a bar, I think you run the risk of people buying you a drink.¡±

    ¡°For a middle-aged man, I¡¯d say it¡¯s more likely I would be asked to buy someone a drink.¡± Theo was still looking at the glass. ¡°All that being said, thank you for the drink, but I¡¯m going to pass.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself, just means more for me!¡±

    Theo watched her as she finished the first glass and downed the second with a relieved sigh.

    ¡°So, why¡¯d you stop drinking?¡± Lily asked. With her blunt demeanor to such a sensitive question, Theo was beginning to wonder whether the woman was on the autistic spectrum or had some other neurodivergent condition.

    ¡°Which time?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s really considered ¡®quitting¡¯ if you pick it up again, but for the sake of argument, whatever.¡±

    ¡°I guess, in general, it¡¯s because bad things tend to happen when I drink.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yeah... or... maybe it¡¯s more that I am unable to react very well to the bad things that do happen when I¡¯m drunk.¡±

    ¡°I see. That makes a bit more sense, I suppose.¡± Lily said. ¡°What happened to get you to stop drinking the first time?¡±

    ¡°It was... uhh...¡± Theo tugged at his chin hairs as he thought. ¡°That was probably the birth of my daughter.¡±

    ¡°That was... a bad thing?¡±

    ¡°N-no! Of course not! That was one of the best days of my life!¡± Theo had to laugh, albeit nervously. ¡°Though, I was probably wasted when she was conceived.¡±

    ¡°So that was the bad thing?¡±

    ¡°Again... no... Kara and I were never totally against having kids. It¡¯s just... I dunno, okay? Maybe there wasn¡¯t really a bad thing that happened the first time. We just thought it might be better to raise her sober, at least until she drove me back to drinking in her teenage years.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you started again?¡± Lily asked. Theo paused for a moment. Had Lily not finished both of the whiskeys, Theo might have downed one right then.

    ¡°Well... I guess she did drive me to drinking, but not in the way I had hoped. No... She... didn¡¯t make it that far...¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Lily showed a bit of sympathetic remorse. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for your loss...¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I appreciate that.¡±

    ¡°How young was she?¡±

    ¡°She was about to turn 5.¡±

    ¡°Ah. In that case, I don¡¯t think anyone can blame you for sinking into a bottle.¡±

    ¡°Maybe so, but I¡¯m still not sure whether it was me or the bottle to blame for what happened next.¡± Theo said. Lily was listening intently. ¡°The way that I coped was with copious amounts of bourbon, but my wife chose to abandon reality in a much more literal way; getting a BSI, then diving in and refusing to leave for anything, including necessary bodily needs and functions. I was okay with taking care of her during this period, but after a particularly forgetful bender, I came home to see her and thought she had died. Luckily, the hospital was able to bring her back, and at that moment, I had decided to quit drinking again. That was a few years ago... haven¡¯t had a drop since.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Lily said. ¡°And how¡¯s that going for you?¡±

    Her tone made Theo reconsider whether this woman was actually a friend to him. It wasn¡¯t the first time he felt like she was provoking a reaction from him, and he wanted to give it to her, but the urge to maintain a relationship with anyone who would willingly talk to him was overwhelming. He maintained his composure.

    ¡°It really seems like you¡¯re trying to get me to start drinking again. Is that something you enjoy doing, or am I just imagining things?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not necessarily trying, but I also think that if it¡¯s something that helps someone cope with existence, it¡¯s not such a bad thing.¡±

    ¡°In your time with internet vigilantism or whatever you want to call it, surely you¡¯ve seen some terrible things caused by or related to substance abuse...¡±

    ¡°When it results in violence, murder, or sexual exploitation, then, sure, those perpetrators should see punishment, but if a person¡¯s addiction isn¡¯t directly harming anyone else, I¡¯m not really concerned about it.¡±

    ¡°Anyone... else?¡± Theo said. ¡°So, if a person is causing significant harm to themselves, like in an overdose, you have no issue with it?¡±

    ¡°Not really.¡±

    ¡°That seems... cold.¡±

    ¡°Who are you to judge what a person does with their own body?¡±

    ¡°Many of these people may not understand what they are doing to their body when taking illegal drugs, and the people who produce them abuse that fact.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a problem that could be mostly alleviated by legalization and regulation of narcotics, but even with legal, regulated drugs and alcohol, plenty of people still choose to abuse them, and the corporations that produce them, just like illegal drug manufacturers, know about the propensity for abuse and do little to address it.¡±

    ¡°I guess... But why don¡¯t you go after those people?¡±

    ¡°Who says I don¡¯t?¡± Lily said. ¡°The illegal drug dealers and manufacturers are easy, but the multinational corporate ones are a little more difficult.¡±

    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s all fine and good, but...¡± Theo sighed. ¡°Instead of reminding them about their loved ones or whatever else they have to live for, you¡¯re okay with enabling their drug abuse?¡±

    ¡°It seems to me that you don¡¯t need reminding of your loved ones.¡±

    Theo had other arguments and questions, and he was sure there were gaps and contradictions in Lily¡¯s logic, but he was now thinking about Kara, and continuing with the conversation felt tedious. Lily was right about one thing. Even though the urge in him to drink was immense after what happened to Amelie, as soon as he thought about Kara, the urge all but disappeared, and it was time for him to go home.

    ¡°Thanks for such a... stimulating conversation, but I¡¯m going to go.¡± Theo said as he slid out of the booth.

    ¡°Until next time.¡± Lily said, giving him a friendly salute.

    The ride home was filled with thought. Theo didn¡¯t know what he was going to tell Kara about what happened to Amelie, and subsequently with Jacque and Chris. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure she was going to listen. Maybe he didn¡¯t want to tell her at all. He tried playing with Chess on the way home, but his mind was entirely on Kara. He just wanted to be with her, to talk to her. She had been his escape for so many years, but now she had escaped elsewhere, somewhere he couldn¡¯t go. Wanderlust.

    Despite all of the horrifying shit Theo had learned about Brainstem Interfaces over the past few days, there was still a significant lure in being able to join his wife and escape reality entirely. Theo knew the consequences better than most people. There was a threat of having his body taken over by some psycho over the internet. He could become trapped in a horrific nightmare. He could also have the most amazing adventure of his life, so amazing that he would forget, or outright refuse to return to reality, but he would get to be with the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

    And he would. In a heartbeat, and until his last, he would be with Kara, and they would spend the last of their days together until they both died of dehydration. All of their bills were on autopay, and they had enough money to pay them for more than a decade. Theo wondered who would find them. He knew nobody at work would look for him for a while after what happened with Amelie. He wondered whether their bodies would start to smell before Chris, Jacque, or anyone else from the precinct would come to check on him. He wasn¡¯t sure he wanted his friends to find them like that, but in any case, only the super had backup keys to their apartment, and that guy was an asshole, so Theo didn¡¯t much care about letting him find and take care of their corpses.

    The idea was starting to take hold. It was a poetic way to go out, and better than most. By the time the vehicle stopped in front of his building, Theo had made his decision and had started browsing for procedure appointment availabilities as he made his way up to his floor. He was excited about the decision and couldn¡¯t wait to tell Kara. He stopped at his door and started fiddling with his keys. As he inserted one into the door, he heard a faint shuffling from within. The giddy anticipation he felt disappeared. It was rare that Kara was up and moving around. For a moment, he considered whether Synapse had found his home, or perhaps it was Jacque or Chris, here for round two. He quietly turned the key and the doorknob, then peeked into his abode.

    To his surprise, he saw Kara standing in the kitchen. Theo sighed with relief as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

    ¡°Hey, beautiful!¡± Theo said with a smile wider than he¡¯d been able to muster in what seemed like years. Kara looked toward him with an intensive gaze. ¡°I¡¯m so glad to see you up! I got something I wanted to...¡± Theo trailed off, and the smile immediately dropped from his face when he noticed spots of blood soaking Kara¡¯s lower shirt and pants. When she turned her body toward him, Theo saw that her left arm had a number of fresh cuts in it, and she was gripping an 8-inch chef¡¯s knife in her right hand. On her face, Theo saw pain, sorrow, and fear, but when she noticed Theo standing there, an expression of furious anger quickly took hold.

    ¡°Oh my God! Kara!¡± As soon as he saw the blood freely flowing down her arm, Theo quickly moved toward her to help, but Kara raised the knife and pointed it at him. Theo stopped fast and raised his hands. The bloodied knife was only inches from his face, and Kara was holding it with clear intentions. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, baby?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Did you do it?¡± Kara said in a low voice. Theo was speechless. He wasn¡¯t sure he even heard what she said. Kara continued, ¡°Did you do it? Did you touch her?¡± This time, she was much more audible, and emphasized her words with the point of her large knife.

    ¡°What?¡± The first thing that came to Theo¡¯s mind was Lily, and to his memory, they hadn¡¯t had so much as a handshake since they met. Then Theo wondered if she was talking about Amelie, if she had already heard about what happened. ¡°W-who?¡± Theo asked. It wasn¡¯t the right answer.

    Kara gritted her teeth and lunged at Theo with the knife, letting out a ferocious grunt. Theo dodged the attack only barely, with the knife catching his coat lapels. He stepped back, and Kara re-took her position. Of course, Theo was surprised, not just in the fact that his wife was clearly trying to kill him, but in how effective and precise her attack was. Theo noticed her stance was straight out of the combat training he hadn¡¯t done in several years, and he realized that if she were more than skin and bones, he likely would have already been dead.

    ¡°Did you touch our daughter?¡± Kara yelled. Tears streamed down her face as she did. Theo was dumbfounded and blown away at the question. It was so unconscionable that he wasn¡¯t sure he heard her correctly.

    ¡°What the fu-... What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t fucking lie to me!¡± Kara yelled while making another stab at Theo, who effectively deflected the attack, throwing Kara off balance, though she expertly regained it and continued. ¡°Did you FUCK our daughter?!¡±

    ¡°Of course not! How could you even ask that?¡± Theo was quickly getting angry himself at the accusation.

    ¡°LIAR!¡± Kara again lunged at him. Theo caught her by the wrist, but not without the knife slicing most of the way through the webbing inside his thumb. Theo shouted in pain and gripped her wrist tightly, but Kara used the opportunity to swing her off hand through the opening between his arms and strike against his broken nose. Theo stumbled back and managed to stay on his feet, but only just.

    ¡°Jesus Christ!¡± Theo shouted, futilely trying to shake the pain from his face. ¡°Where is this coming from?¡±

    Kara didn¡¯t say a word, she just stared at Theo with rage in her eyes, only barely restrained as she sent a series of files to Theo¡¯s interface. The first was an autopsy report of Alice¡¯s body. Theo had never read it. He never could, nor did he feel like he needed to up until this moment. Just after the description of her tiny, mangled body, he read words that made him feel like his heart had fallen out of his chest. The medical examiner concluded and described in detail evidence that she had been a long-term victim of sexual assault.

    ¡°Th-that¡¯s... That¡¯s impossible!¡± Theo said.

    If that was truly on the ME report after she died, somebody would have told him. Even if he didn¡¯t read it himself, he was certain that his lawyer would have, or Ellis¡¯s lawyer, or the ME themselves, or anybody. Theo immediately questioned the document¡¯s authenticity, and his skepticism was verified when he moved to the next document that Kara had sent him. It was the police misconduct report that had been released a year ago, the same report that resulted in the purge of nearly a third of law enforcement officers and officials across the country. As opposed to the ME report, this was a document that Theo had read extensively when it was released, and with the exception of some minor insubordination, Theo was not named in the report, and certainly not with a history of aggravated sexual assault that he was currently reading.

    ¡°This is fake! I¡¯ve read it, and this was absolutely not in the actual report!¡± Theo was frantically trying to explain.

    ¡°You don¡¯t deny that you did it, only that it¡¯s in the report?¡± Kara asked. Just the concept of her believing he could do such a thing left Theo speechless. Kara continued. ¡°How do you explain the last one, huh? Are those fake too?¡±

    The last file was a short video from the security camera inside visitation at MCI-Concord from only an hour ago. It was Theo¡¯s meeting with Ellis, specifically the moment that Theo held the young man in a firm embrace. The video also contained clips from over a dozen different visits since Ellis¡¯s incarceration. None of them were fabricated or altered.

    ¡°This... It¡¯s not... They aren¡¯t what they look like!¡± Theo said.

    ¡°What it looks like?¡± Kara asked. She gritted her teeth and gripped the knife with white knuckles. ¡°What it looks like?! I¡¯ll tell you what it looks like!¡± She took a threatening step toward Theo. ¡°It looks like you raped my baby girl, and then you had her killed before she could understand what was happening, and you¡¯re thanking the bastard that killed her!¡±

    ¡°No, Kara! That¡¯s not-¡± Theo started to speak, but Kara made another lunge at him. Theo met her halfway, pushing toward her while grabbing her wrist again, then using his considerable size and momentum to push Kara back and slam her against the kitchen wall, causing her to drop the knife. Kara struggled for a moment, but she quickly realized she was completely overpowered, and her enraged expression melted into defeated sorrow as she began to openly cry.

    ¡°How could you?¡± Kara asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t...¡± Theo said under his breath. Kara¡¯s cries grew louder as the strength left her body. Theo let go of her wrists and caught her in his arms before she fell. He gripped her tightly as she moaned into his shoulder.

    ¡°How could you?¡± Kara asked again in a sobbing whisper. Theo stroked her hair gently as he held her close.

    ¡°It¡¯s not true...¡± Theo said again. ¡°I had always thought that I could never be happier than when we were together, but then Alice came into our lives, and with the three of us, I felt a completeness that I never thought possible.¡± As he spoke, he felt Kara¡¯s hands drift under his coat. He could feel the warmth of her bleeding arm soaking into his side. ¡°It was perfect, and we were happy, but when she died... It left an emptiness in my heart that I almost couldn¡¯t bear, but, I still had you, and I knew that you felt the same.

    ¡°Our daughters death created a gap between us,¡± Theo continued, ¡°and that gap has only ever grown, but I want to get rid of it. I want to join you in Wanderlust. I want to experience that journey with you. I just want to be with you.¡± As he held her, he felt Kara push her forehead against his shoulder.

    ¡°If all that is true...¡± Kara said, ¡°and you still did those things to your own daughter, then you must be a special kind of monster.¡±

    Theo grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to push her back just enough so that he could get face-to-face with her, to try to tell her as clearly as possible that what she had seen was a lie, but she broke out of his grip and took two steps back into the kitchen. He didn¡¯t realize that Kara had taken his gun with her until it was already pointed in his face.

    ¡°If I can make that hole in your heart even half as big as mine...¡± Kara said, ¡°then maybe it will be worth it.¡±

    There was nothing Theo could do but watch as Kara stopped pointing at him and trained the barrel of the revolver into her mouth. With all the strength he could, Theo rushed toward her, but was only able to get close enough to watch as the back of his wife¡¯s head was scattered across the kitchen.

    Theo didn¡¯t flinch at the sound. He didn¡¯t hear it at all; his brain refused. He continued toward her and caught her body as it fell, taking him to the ground in the process. Her corpse convulsed as Theo held it tightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Kara! I have you!¡± Theo whispered into her ear. With one hand, he softly stroked her hair while trying to hold shut the gaping hole in her crown, as if it were a minor wound. Everything was going to be okay, he thought, as long as they were together.

 Chapter Six

    The whiskey flowing down Theo¡¯s throat was like the nectar of the Gods. The sting had become a familiar companion and something he liked to focus on. He felt like it kept him grounded and fixated on the moment instead of drifting back into the nightmare that was his memory. However, the sting was fading with each drink, thus requiring more with every slug.

    He wasn¡¯t sure how long he had been there, sitting at his booth in the Endless Wit. He couldn¡¯t tell if it had been days or weeks. He knew the bar wasn¡¯t open 24 hours, but he couldn¡¯t, for the life of him, remember where he was staying while it was closed. He simply knew it wasn¡¯t at home. For a brief moment, Theo had forgotten why he didn¡¯t want to return to his home. He started thinking about it. His gut told him that he just didn¡¯t want to bother Kara, but he knew that wasn¡¯t it. As his thoughts began to dwell on his wife, a terrible feeling started to rise, and as if it were a highly trained skill, Theo¡¯s muscle memory kicked in, guiding his arm to effectively bring the drink to his lips and finished off the spirit within.

    After setting the empty glass back down, Theo knew he would be needing another very quickly. He reached into his inside coat pocket for his stylus, but was unable to find it. He searched the opposite pocket, then started patting down all of his pockets, and searching around the table. The only physical object on the table was the empty glass, but it was also cluttered by a virtual ashtray brimming with butts, a couple boxes of cigarettes, Theo¡¯s digital companion, Chess, and a few of her toys. He couldn¡¯t exactly see through them, but without his stylus, he had no way to remove them.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± Theo said, growing angrier by the second. The bartender arrived, replacing the empty glass with a freshly poured one, and startling Theo in the process. ¡°Oh! Uh... thank you... Is this on the house or what?¡±

    ¡°Not even a little bit,¡± the bartender said, ¡°in fact, I¡¯ve been considering charging more, but I don¡¯t think it would deter you.¡±

    ¡°That it would not. Keep ¡®em coming.¡± Theo picked up the new glass and saluted the bartender before he left the table. He took a swig from the glass, and sighed with relief. He watched as his companion took a sip from her own glass. Theo furled his brow. ¡°How long has it been since you got a refill?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. It¡¯s not something I keep track of.¡± Lily said.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty fuckin¡¯ sure that¡¯s a lie.¡± Theo nearly shouted with a laugh. ¡°Whatever, what were you talking about? Prison or something?¡±

    ¡°I was actually asking you what you thought about punishment in general. Do you think prison is the best kind of punishment for serious crimes?¡±

    ¡°I, uhh, I don¡¯t know.¡± Theo thought about Ellis. ¡°I suppose there was a time when I would have said yes, but after learning a bit more about how fucked up the prison system is...¡±

    ¡°That is true. There is a lot wrong with the American penal system, but if we tear away all the human decisions and greed that made it this way, and break it down to the very concept of incarceration... what do you think?¡±

    ¡°I think about that sometimes. I thought, like, maybe we should try and stop looking at it as punishing a person as a response, you know, like intentionally causing harm to a person in proportion to the harm that they caused. Instead, we should look at it in sorta a scientific way, if you know what I mean. Maybe it¡¯d be better to watch them with an insanely close eye, study them and figure out why they did what they did and find ways to prevent it from happening again in the future.¡±

    ¡°Study them, like rats in a lab?¡± Lily asked.

    ¡°Yeah, sure, why not? If you want to really want some punishment, then fuck it, experiment on them too.¡±

    ¡°That seems a little callous, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Ah who cares?¡± Theo waived his hand forcefully. ¡°I guess I had a change of heart recently.¡±

    ¡°How do you feel about eye-for-an-eye type punishment?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes, the ¡®golden punishment¡¯ I think it¡¯s called. I dunno, I guess in some cases it¡¯s not so bad. I think a lot of rapists maybe might not do it again if they knew what it was like to be raped.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that. I¡¯ve seen studies showing that perpetrators of sexual assault have a higher likelihood of having been victims of sexual assault in their past.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Well, I¡¯m not a rape-scientist, so maybe I¡¯m not the kind of person that should be making decisions on such things.¡±

    ¡°What decisions?¡± Lily said. ¡°I¡¯m just speaking hypothetically.¡±

    ¡°Sure you are.¡±

    ¡°But what about murder, hm? Is that something that should receive eye-for-an-eye justice?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about capital punishment?¡± Theo asked, then rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that there hasn¡¯t been an execution in Massachusetts in over a century, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s much of a punishment anyway. You can¡¯t execute someone and then turn to them and say, ¡®that¡¯ll teach you that murder is wrong!¡¯¡± Theo shook his head with a laugh. He saw that Lily was going to say something else, but he cut her off. ¡°And don¡¯t even think about the whole ¡®deterrence¡¯ idea. Nobody that goes to torture and murder people stops to think, ¡®this could get me the death penalty, I¡¯d better not...¡¯¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I agree on that point, but what about... you know...¡±

    ¡°What about... what?¡±

    ¡°What about... them?¡± Lily said with a raised eyebrow. Theo had a confused look, so she continued, ¡°the person that did this to you? To your wife?¡±

    It took a moment before reality started bleeding its way back into Theo¡¯s mind. As soon as the unsettling memory started making its presence known, Theo tried to wash it back down with a large gulp of whiskey, but this time it remained. The image of Kara¡¯s corpse in his arms caused panic to start taking hold of him. His fight-or-flight instinct was growing, uncontrollably, but with nothing to fight or flee from, he was locked in a state of suffocating stillness. That is, until he began thinking about the person that did this to her.

    Synapse, the piece of shit psychopath that forced his wife and God-daughter to suicide, was still out there. As he imagined the image of a smug-looking overweight neckbeard laughing at his despair, the fight response inside him took over. Theo started gritting his teeth and vibrating with rage. He was gripping his drink so tightly that a crack formed in the glass. If he had gripped it any harder it would have shattered, but Theo didn¡¯t notice. He set the glass down on the table and slid out of the booth, then left the bar in a huff, saying nothing to Lily or the bartender and throwing open the door on his way out.

    The cabin of his vehicle was littered with beer and liquor bottles that clinked together as it came to a stop in front of him. If it were an average auto, other passengers might have sent it to be cleaned and would likely have reported Theo, thereby increasing his usage fees, or being banned from the service altogether, but Theo was still taking advantage of the replacement police cruiser, of which he was the only user. He was greeted by the vehicle¡¯s automated voice asking for his destination. Theo answered before it had time to finish.

    ¡°Take me to work.¡± He said. The vehicle complied. Theo scoured the floor for bottles that still had a cap on them, hoping to find something to drink, and finding his stylus in the process. He was ultimately unable to find a drink by the time the vehicle arrived at his precinct. He stumbled as he exited the vehicle and went inside, straight to the captain¡¯s office while avoiding every gaze along the way.

    ¡°Jesus, Theo.¡± The captain said. ¡°You look like death.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lookin¡¯ mighty fine yourself, cap.¡± Theo replied. It was a joke that neither of them laughed at.

    ¡°How can I help, detective?¡± Captain Richardson did his best to remain cordial, politely motioning for Theo to have a seat in the chair across the desk. Theo plopped down in the chair with little grace. The captain wasn¡¯t exactly surprised at the state of Theo less than a week after his wife¡¯s death.

    ¡°I want to know what the status is on Synapse. Have you found out anything more about him?¡±

    ¡°Ohh... Theo...¡± The captain let out an uncomfortable sigh. ¡°Synapse is not your concern anymore.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck do you mean, ¡®not my concern¡¯? He killed my wife, who¡¯s concern is it, if not mine?¡±

    ¡°Actually... well, the case hasn¡¯t been closed yet, so I shouldn¡¯t be sharing any information with you, but I do think you have a right to know. Synapse wasn¡¯t involved in your wife¡¯s murder.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit!¡± Theo shouted with a wave of his hand. ¡°You think my wife and goddaughter being killed within hours of each other was just a coincidence?¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t hours, really. I mean, it was, but when we looked over Kara¡¯s BSI traffic, it seems that the person that sent her the fake documents had been talking to her for months in Wanderlust and had been seeding her discontent for you for weeks beforehand.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Theo said in disbelief.

    ¡°Kara had been talking to her killer long before you began the investigation into Synapse and the suicides.¡±

    There was silence for a moment as Theo processed the information.

    ¡°So, Synapse has been watching me for longer than I thought...¡± Theo said. His conclusion drew a sigh from the captain.

    ¡°Theo... God dammit. You want to talk about coincidences... That would be a big fucking coincidence. Look, you said it seems that Synapse probably lives in or around Boston, due to the forums he was on, right?¡± The captain waited for a nod from Theo before continuing, ¡°the guy that was communicating to your wife was out-of-state.¡±

    ¡°You found him?¡± Theo said, lighting up at the prospect of Synapse¡¯s location, and clearly not hearing what the captain was actually saying. ¡°Where?¡±

    The captain stood up from his desk, uncomfortable and getting more frustrated at Theo¡¯s stubbornness.

    ¡°Stop, Theo. Obviously, I¡¯m not going to give you that information.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to deny me the right to know where my wife¡¯s killer is?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care how plastered you are, that¡¯s not a right, and you know it. However, the suspect has a right to due process, so even if I had his location, it would be irresponsible, illegal, fucking insane for me to give it to you.¡±

    ¡°If...?¡± Theo asked. ¡°What do you mean if? If you know the guy is out of state, then you should know what state he¡¯s in, if not the exact address.¡±

    ¡°I did, in fact, see an address, though I can¡¯t remember it.¡± The captain didn¡¯t wait for Theo to make his own conclusion, and just came out with the part he knew Theo didn¡¯t want to hear. ¡°As soon as we knew it was out-of-state, we handed the case off to the feds.¡±

    ¡°You... What?!¡± Theo stood up from the seat as his rage was building.

    ¡°Come on, now,¡± the captain said with placating hands, ¡°you¡¯ve done the very same thing for many of your own cases in the past.¡±

    Theo paced the office with his fist clenched. He wanted to destroy the place and beat Captain Richardson to a bloody pulp. Had he had another drink in him, he might have, but Theo breathed as much of his stress out as he could.

    ¡°Okay. Fine. You say that my wife¡¯s killer is in another state and is unrelated to Synapse. I think you¡¯re fucking wrong and you¡¯re making a mistake that can get more people killed...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s alright, detective. That¡¯s your prerogative.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°So, that implies that that we¡¯re still investigating Synapse, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes... we are still investigating the suicides case you started.¡± The captain said, causing Theo to stop pacing and look at him through squinted eyes.

    ¡°You... Are you taking me off the case?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We already discussed it following... what happened... It¡¯s understandable that you don¡¯t exactly remember.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck, captain?¡± Theo was dumbfounded.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, man, you can¡¯t really expect us to hold off the investigation until you¡¯re ready to come back, right? I mean, you just mentioned the possibility of more murders. What better way to let that happen than to stop an investigation into a possible serial killer?¡±

    ¡°Well, I guess we don¡¯t have to worry about that, because I¡¯m ready to come back right now.¡± Theo said, crossing his arms and looking at the captain with determination, but the captain laughed and shook his head.

    ¡°I could smell the whiskey on your breath the second you entered the lobby.¡±

    ¡°Right, like you don¡¯t have a half-empty bottle in your desk right now.¡±

    ¡°You wanna have a breathalyzer-off, Theo? Really? I bet your BAC is 5 times higher than mine, but even if it wasn¡¯t, you¡¯re not coming back to the case.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean... ¡®not coming back to the case¡¯?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty obvious, detective. We even talked about it after what happened to Amelie. The case isn¡¯t yours anymore.¡± The captain said. A range of conflicting emotions welled up inside Theo, freezing him in place. The captain continued, ¡°you¡¯ve got nothing on your plate. Just go home and get paid to keep drinking for the time being.¡±

    When Theo¡¯s body let him move again, Theo said nothing and left the office, throwing the door open on his way out. The clattering of the door hitting the glass wall caught the attention of everyone on the floor. Theo didn¡¯t care. After leaving the captain¡¯s office, Theo made a beeline to the window at evidence lockup.

    ¡°I want to retrieve something.¡± He said with as polite a tone as he could muster.

    ¡°Uhh...¡± The officer working the station was clearly uncomfortable with the situation already. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re supposed to be here...? Shouldn¡¯t you be off the clock?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my wife¡¯s wedding ring.¡±

    ¡°Oh... uhh... I dunno...¡±

    ¡°Come on, man? I just... I just want to see it. I want to make sure the assholes that collected it didn¡¯t misplace it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± The officer pondered for a moment. The two knew each other, but they weren¡¯t very well acquainted. Were she not wearing a nametag, Theo wouldn¡¯t have known her name at all. The officer, however, was now quite aware of Theo. ¡°I suppose... Just know that I¡¯m signing you in.¡±

    A few moments later, the door buzzed and Theo entered. The officer then guided him through the shelves to the boxes he was looking for. Theo took a deep breath as he opened the first box and began sifting through the evidence bags filled with the clothing Kara was wearing when she died. Theo felt the grey tank top through the bag; her top of preference for the past few years. The dried blood staining the fabric around the neckline cracked and crunched in his hands. Theo placed it back in the box and slid it back into the shelf, then moved to the second box.

    It was heavier. Theo already knew at least one of the objects contained within before he opened it. Sure enough, the first thing he noticed was the large bag containing his revolver, still covered in his wife¡¯s blood. Theo froze. The officer noticed what he was looking at, then slowly backed away, trying to give Theo a little space. After the urge to breathe brought Theo back to reality, he reached into the box and grabbed the smaller evidence bag. It was his wife¡¯s ring. He idly felt it with his thumb through the bag and closed his eyes.

    The Officer stepped even further back and turned around to give Theo some privacy. Theo tried to remember all the good times, their life with Alice, high school and college, the sweaty summers and cuddly winters they spent in his room. Some of the memories were getting through, but his mind, instead, would sadistically playback her end, and the incredibly violent things he wanted to do to Synapse. He opened his eyes and stared into the box.

    ¡°Is everything there?¡± The officer said from a distance after a few moments.

    ¡°Yeah... It¡¯s all here.¡± Theo responded as he slid the box back into place and fixed his coat.

    ¡°That¡¯s good. I heard the FBI was taking over your wi-... uh... th-the case, but they didn¡¯t make any requests for the physical evidence, so, I think we¡¯ll be able to give your stuff back soon. I¡¯ll personally make sure nothing happens to it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, I appreciate it.¡± Theo said, shaking the woman¡¯s hand.

    After leaving the station, Theo returned to his vehicle and set his destination to the Watertown Bridge over Charles River. He was able to find a non-empty bottle of cheap bourbon now that his buzz was starting to give way to a headache. He took to it like medicine.

    As soon as Theo felt sated, he twisted the lid back on and opened up the city CCTV system, finding that nobody had bothered to remove his access or change any permissions. He brought up several live streams for cameras near the locations where Theo had suspected Synapse of visiting. He left those open near the top of his vision and then began viewing the history of those same cameras, one at a time. Before he realized it, the vehicle stopped at the destination. Theo stepped out and walked over to the railing of the bridge.

    It was one of Kara¡¯s favorite places. They spent hours on the bridge on their first official date, and it was where Theo proposed. Visits to the spot had fallen off since then. Theo breathed in the fresh air and earthy tones of the river, bringing him back, and allowing him to visualize Kara in the way he wanted to remember her.

    After taking a few deep breaths, Theo pulled an evidence bag from his inside coat pocket and retrieved the revolver from within. He looked at it intently as a range of emotions consumed him. Just beyond the overwhelming lust for revenge running through him was a very small, but calm and collected voice telling him to toss the bloody gun into the river. Once he finally made the decision, he returned to his vehicle and focus on finding Synapse, and maybe finding a little more drink along the way.

    After making a couple of short stops, he was headed toward the location in Mattapan, where he had found Amelie, to pick a location for a stakeout when he was alerted to artifacts detected in the live footage of the very same location. Theo immediately sent an instruction of urgency to the vehicle and was pushed into his seat as the car quickly accelerated. He kept a keen eye on the camera as he prepared himself for a confrontation, mostly by returning to a comfortable level of intoxication.

    However, his vehicle took an unexpected exit, catching Theo¡¯s attention. His first instinct was that, somehow, Synapse knew he was after him, but a flashing indicator on his HUD revealed that wasn¡¯t the case. Instead, his vehicle had been rerouted to his police precinct. Furthermore, his access to the CCTV footage was cut, as was the rest of his police network access. Theo expected this was going to happen, he just hoped it wouldn¡¯t be this soon.

    ¡°What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Captain Richardson shouted.

    ¡°What do you think I¡¯m doing?¡± Theo replied. This time, they weren¡¯t alone. Theo was flanked by two other officers. ¡°I¡¯m doing the job that nobody else seems to want to do. I¡¯m doing my goddamned job!¡±

    ¡°Is your interface malfunctioning?¡± the captain asked. ¡°Does your cochlear implant need maintenance or something? I would wonder if I was speaking Spanish, but I know your interface can easily translate it anyway. I told you, not even a half-hour ago, you are not on the case anymore!¡±

    ¡°How much did this asshole pay you, huh?¡± Theo asked. The captain laughed at the accusation.

    ¡°You¡¯ve completely lost it, Theo.¡±

    ¡°This whole fuckin¡¯ place is just filled with rats trying to make a quick buck and cower at any sign of trouble.¡± Theo waved his hands around, nearly hitting the officers behind him. The captain shook his head.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the gun?¡± he said.

    ¡°What gun?¡± Theo snickered to himself. The captain flew around the desk and threw a fist at his face, but pulled it before connecting, instead opting to grab Theo¡¯s lower jaw. The captain could do no more than giving him a gentle squeeze before it could reasonably be considered assault. The action was awkward, but the captain¡¯s fury was on full display no less.

    ¡°Hold him!¡± The captain says to the two flanking officers. They comply, but Theo quickly pulls away from their grip.

    ¡°Whoa, I don¡¯t fuckin¡¯ have it, alright?¡± Theo said, opening his coat while presenting his palms. ¡°You¡¯re going to rough me up, or what?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Let me repeat my question. Where. Is. The. Gun?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in the Charles, okay? You¡¯d think the front desk would take away a blood-covered gun when I tried to enter with it.¡±

    The captain rolled his eyes and shook his head as he stepped away from Theo and back around his desk. He started using his chair¡¯s headrest as a stress ball.

    ¡°And your badge?¡± He said. Theo had an expression of shock, but he fully expected something like this was going to happen. Still, he received some sick pleasure from making the encounter as awkward and difficult as possible. He angrily reached into his coat pocket for his badge as the captain continued, ¡°You¡¯re on administrative leave pending an investi-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll save you the paperwork.¡± Theo said, punctuating his words by dropping his badge in the garbage next to the captain¡¯s desk. In his mind, it was the way every cop in history had quit their job. It wasn¡¯t original, but it was extremely cathartic, and it left the captain speechless, nonetheless. He turned around and pushed his way through the two officers behind him and across the Division floor.

    ¡°I should have you arrested!¡± The captain yelled after him. Theo just kept walking, further frustrating the captain. ¡°Don¡¯t leave the city!¡±

    It seemed to Theo that he was no longer tied down by anything, excepting Synapse of course. He felt free, until he realized he had been standing at the curb for more than 30 seconds and checked on the status of his vehicle. The momentary feeling of relief was gone as soon as he realized his vehicle privileges had been revoked. His change in attitude deepened upon feeling a raindrop on his bald spot.

    Theo would rather have walked to his next destinations than sign up for a rideshare service, but remembering that Synapse had possibly been sighted before he was pulled back in, Theo was pressed for time. He was annoyed and impatient with the process, but when the auto pulled up after a few minutes, Theo set his destination to the nearest corner store for some more liquid sustenance. Once he was stocked up, he disabled his wireless firmware and went another location before finally dropping himself off near Synapse¡¯s last suspected sighting.

    It was probably going to end up getting him in even more trouble, but he couldn¡¯t risk having his location tracked by Synapse, nor the police lest they know that he is continuing his search outside of lawful boundaries. Furthering the interest of hiding his identity and location, Theo avoided all the camera¡¯s he could see or remember, or where it was unavoidable, all Theo needed to do was splash some rainwater on the lens from out of frame, just enough to muddy the image and make things difficult for facial recognition software.

    Theo kept a lookout for anyone he assumed to be Synapse, but his primary goal was finding a dark, preferably dry hole for a classic stakeout. It didn¡¯t take him long to find one with a decent view of the street. It wasn¡¯t uncommon to see vagrants or drug addicts in the area, so after neglecting his appearance for the past several days, Theo blended in perfectly.

    The hope was that Theo would find Synapse leaving what was likely a dead drop across the street, but he had the sneaking suspicion that Synapse was in and out by the time he got there. After over an hour of watching, drinking, and playing with Chess, Theo was sure that he had missed his mark. Theo continued waiting anyway, not having anywhere to be, and knowing that Synapse had visited the spot on several occasions previously, breaking arguably the biggest rule of dead drops: changing the location every time.

    It was several hours after the sun had gone down, and Theo was still able to keep himself at just the right level of intoxication that he didn¡¯t become sleepy and could still maintain a reasonably solid grasp on reality. A few people had passed by, none seemed to notice his position just outside of the street lights. Theo watched them closely through zoomed and light amplifying settings in his eyes.

    One of the passersby seemed drunk, catching Theo¡¯s attention, but the man walked past the dead drop without batting an eye, and then passed close enough for Theo to smell the alcohol on their breath. It wasn¡¯t his mark, but only a few minutes later, another prospect came down the street. It was a woman of small stature wearing a hoodie. Her gait was unique, but not distinctly intoxicated, indicated by her quick reaction to ambient sounds and how she navigated the obstacles in her path. As she approached, Theo wasn¡¯t sure she was a woman quite yet, but a teenaged girl. Since she didn¡¯t have the distinctive lurch of Synapses control, Theo was ready to write her off as a suspect as well, until the girl turned down the alleyway where the dead drop was and returned to the street a few moments later.

    He still wasn¡¯t sure that this was Synapse, but Theo was certain that she had some connection. He began to follow her, a much easier task under the cover of night. About 45 minutes of walking later, while avoiding the girl¡¯s gaze and that of the cameras along the way, Theo observed her making her way into a derelict apartment building. The girl walked right past the ¡®Condemned¡¯ and ¡®No Trespassing¡¯ signage. Theo didn¡¯t follow her in, instead finding a new spot to observe from across the street. Again, Theo watched and waited. The cold was only bearable due to the drink that sustained him, but the comfortably warm feeling of his blood vessels dilating also brought him to sleep in the early morning hours.

    As if on cue, Theo awoke to find the girl leaving the building and heading down the street away from him. Theo had been asleep for a few hours at least, judging by the intensity of his headache, and alleviated it by downing some more liquor while he waited for the girl to turn a corner and move out of his view. He waited a few more minutes, finishing the bottle he was working on and opening a new one. He took the inaugural swig and headed to the apartment building.

    He moved slowly and carefully on his approach, and spotted a small camera that was observing the front entrance, so he circled the building looking for another point of ingress. There was a side entrance and a back entrance, but both were chained and boarded shut. All of the windows on the first floor were also tightly sealed, and the only option left to Theo was the fire escape, the ladder to which was raised off the ground, inaccessible until he rolled a nearby dumpster over and climbed atop.

    He still had to jump to reach the first rung, and had to do it a few times before he finally caught a grip. He then grunted, heaved, and cursed his lack of exercise and upper body strength until he climbed his way up to the first platform where he found a more easily accessible window. He pulled a couple of creaky boards off and gently pushed in a few already broken shards of glass to climb into the room.

    Searching the apartment building wasn¡¯t a difficult task. Theo felt confident after only a few minutes that there weren¡¯t any other people in the building. Still, he searched quietly and methodically until he found a closed door on the fourth floor that had another inconspicuous camera pointed at it. Instead of trying to get in through that door, he went into the apartment beside it, made his way to the fire escape and crawled over from outside. The windows, while still containing full panes of glass, weren¡¯t locked, making an easy in for Theo.

    The main room of the apartment was a mess of wires, electronic components, and simple digital displays surrounding a reclined chair that looked like it was stolen from an unlicensed dentist¡¯s office. The rest of the apartment didn¡¯t appear to have been used much at all except as a place to collect refuse, mostly empty bottles of MRS and, horrifyingly, what seemed to be makeshift colostomy bags which seemed to be preferred over the seldom used toilet. Theo heaved as he noticed what they were and decided he didn¡¯t really need to pour over the place as if it were a crime scene.

    After taking a cursory glance into the empty bedroom, and mostly unused kitchen and bathroom, Theo hid himself inside a dark closet with a view of the chair and produced his bloodied Taurus revolver. He opened the cylinder and loaded six .44 magnum rounds, and in the darkness he waited.

 Chapter Seven

    The state of disrepair in the building didn¡¯t worry Theo much in his current mindset, but it did allow him to better hear movement through the structure with his ear against the wall. The sparse, random creaks and brushing sounds suddenly increased in frequency and seemed to have a pattern to them, then gradually became louder. It was time. Theo quickly had a drink and a deep breath, preparing his body for whatever was next. He took a defensive position, pushing himself against the inside wall of the closet.

    The deep, resonating thud of the solid metal lock disengaging echoed off the walls, and the door opened with a strained groan. The figure stepped inside. As it moved, Theo listened to the building¡¯s response. They were much lighter than he was. They stopped inside the door, closed it, and engaged the excessive lock, then moved straight to the chair. After a moment of complete stillness, Theo peeked out.

    Sitting in the chair was a small girl with short, frayed black hair and tattered clothing. Theo couldn¡¯t pinpoint her exact age considering how thin she was, but he didn¡¯t expect she was even 18. Theo silently cursed himself. This would have been a lot easier if it were some middle-aged disgusting pervert. Instead, he felt like he was still a step behind, that this was another girl that he had to rescue. She was completely still, with cables connecting to the BSI Hub in the back of her neck. Now was the time if he was going to try saving her.

    Theo very slowly took a step out of the closet, approaching the girl with his gun down, but still gripped very tightly. He held his breath in preparation for a lunge at the girl, but just before he did, he heard a creak from outside the bolted front door, and he noticed the girl stir from her cybernetic trance. He quickly, and quietly, stepped back into the shadow of the closet. The girl sat up and swiveled around to look at the door, then removed the cable from her neck and pushed herself out of the chair.

    The girl moved to the door and looked through the peephole, standing on her toes to do so. She then stepped away and began walking around the room. Theo heard her approaching the closet he was in and tensed up, again readying for an attempt to restrain her, but a muffled thump from elsewhere caught the girl¡¯s attention, diverting her away from the closet. She moved to the entrance of the room and leaned in to look around.

    She didn¡¯t find anything, so she turned back in and walked across the living room toward the bathroom door. Theo peeked out for a moment to watch her, and considered again lunging out at her as she tipped into the bathroom, but something else caught his eye.

    From out of the room that the girl had just checked, Theo saw a large figure creeping toward her. It took a moment for him to realize what he was looking at. It was a person, covered head-to-toe in an incredibly dark material nearly indistinguishable from the shadows, even with the help of Theo¡¯s government-funded night-vision eyes. He may not have seen them at all, were they not also wielding a large knife. They were picking up speed and raising the knife as they approached the girl, and as soon as she started turning around, the figure leapt at her.

    The deafening sound of a 44 caliber round echoed through the small apartment, followed by the heavy clattering of the figure collapsing onto the girl against the wall.

    ¡°What the fuck!¡± She shouted. Theo moved across the room with his gun raised.

    ¡°Boston police! Don¡¯t move!¡± He ordered. The girl¡¯s eye¡¯s squinted in the darkness, followed by an expression of shock.

    ¡°You...?¡± She said, then a moment later, she began screaming at the top of her lungs, pushing herself out from under the corpse on top of her, and flailing wildly. ¡°Oh God! Please help me, God! What are those things!¡±

    In that moment, Theo saw right through her. He picked the girl up with a single hand by the collar of her hoodie, then slammed her against the wall with enough force to knock the breath out of her. He got very close to her face.

    ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± Theo yelled over her screams. The girl complied, if only out of shock. Theo continued, ¡°You must be Synapse...¡±

    ¡°W-who is Syn-¡± The girl¡¯s question was muffled by the large barrel of Theo¡¯s gun being forced into her mouth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t play games with me. I¡¯m not that stupid.¡±

    Despite the barrel of his gun pressed firmly against the back of the girl¡¯s throat, she didn¡¯t exactly seem shocked, or fearful. She almost looked like she was smiling, and that wasn¡¯t sitting right with Theo. His finger moved to the trigger, and he toyed with it. He was hesitating.

    After a few moments, the girl started squirming under his grip as she had trouble breathing. Theo considered whether he enjoyed watching the sadist suffer, but only for a few seconds, before releasing her, and letting her drop to the ground on top of the corpse.

    ¡°You¡¯re not quite what I was expecting.¡± Theo said as he stepped back to a safe distance from her. The girl coughed and rubbed her throat and jaw before responding.

    ¡°Avatars can be deceiving.¡± Synapse joked. Theo didn¡¯t laugh.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Theo said with the cadence of an order instead of a question.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got access to a law enforcement facial recognition system don¡¯t you?¡± Synapse asked. ¡°Turn on your network to find out...¡± She had a devious smile on her face.

    It was clearly a trap. Theo paced back and forth, staring at Synapse with unwavering attention. This girl was anything but. She was an inhuman monster fed from pain, misery, and death. Every moment that she lived was another chance for her to keep feeding, even on himself. He paused his pacing and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Fuck it.¡± Theo said, then stepped forward and trained his revolver on Synapse¡¯s head.

    ¡°Wait wait wait!¡± She shouted, raising her arms against him. Her intonation had some excitement in it, rather than fear. Theo paused, nonetheless. ¡°You don¡¯t think I¡¯m the only one, do you?¡±

    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll just have to find them all.¡± Theo said without skipping a beat, and again tensed to prepare for his gun¡¯s recoil.

    ¡°It¡¯d be a lot easier if, say, all of their identities, residences, workplaces, and evidence of crimes were all in one place, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± Synapse said, saving her life for at least a few moments longer.

    ¡°Go on...¡±

    ¡°Okay...¡±

    Synapse sat up against the wall and pushed the corpse away from her with an inconvenienced grunt. She also took the opportunity to wipe the blood and viscera from her face and neck, with a disgusted sigh, wiping the mess onto a dry part of the corpse¡¯s outfit.

    ¡°I have profiles on nearly a thousand people across the US, and the world, who have taken over people¡¯s bodies using Bell-Westbrook¡¯s BSI tech to conduct various crimes.¡± Synapse said. Theo lowered his weapon and stepped back again. She continued.

    ¡°So, I¡¯m not the first one to take control of someone else¡¯s nervous system through the BSI. That was cracked by a disgruntled employee at Bell-Westbrook and released on the dark net. I just paired that with a slightly tweaked standalone version of the Nightmare mod from Wanderlust, added a little spybot, and released it on the dark web. Bing, bang, boom, terabytes of intensely personal information on hundreds of religious capitalist totalitarian shit-eaters doing horrific things.¡±

    Theo¡¯s eyes glowed in the dark as he stared at Synapse, lightly pacing the path between her and the exit.

    ¡°Okay. You have some information.¡± He said. ¡°So fuckin¡¯ what? How does this make up for killing my wife?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Synapse had a look of momentary confusion on her face which went away when Theo lifted his gun again. Synapse continued, ¡°I mean, if I die, that information goes with me.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I dunno. Seems like your problem to me.¡± Theo kicked the foot of the corpse. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like I¡¯m the only one that wants to paint your walls red.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re okay with all of those powerful people just doing whatever they want without consequence?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re suggesting that you¡¯re going to do something about it, quit fuckin¡¯ suggesting and say it out loud.¡±

    ¡°I have a few journalist contacts who have set up 3 locations around the city where I can upload encrypted portions of the data that they¡¯ve agreed to work together to decrypt and publish.¡±

    Silently, Theo paced as he considered Synapse¡¯s idea.

    ¡°And then what?¡±

    ¡°And then, I¡¯ll walk into the sunset and never be heard from again.¡±

    ¡°So you can continue killing people?¡±

    ¡°What if I promise not to kill people anymore?¡±

    ¡°Oh... you promise! Well sure, why didn¡¯t you just say so?¡± Theo¡¯s sarcasm carried no intonation of humor. He stepped forward and grabbed the girl by the front of her hoodie, lifting her to her feet and repositioning her toward the inside of the room, all while keeping his weapon mere inches from her face. He twisted her around and pushed her forward. ¡°Move!¡±

    ¡°Move, where?¡± Synapse asked.

    ¡°Grab the shit you need and let¡¯s go. Step on it!¡± Theo wasn¡¯t wasting any time.

    Synapse moved to the hardware on the underside of her chair and pulled a small memory card from it, then slotted it into her BSI. She then started moving toward the bedroom instead of the front door.

    ¡°Ah, ah! Where are you going?¡± Theo asked, pointedly.

    ¡°We need to have some protection...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got all the protection I need right here...¡± Theo gestured toward his gun.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care how big the bullets are in that thing, it¡¯s not going to protect you from hackers.¡± Synapse continued into the room and to the closet. Theo carefully watched her as she rifled through the unorganized mess. She grabbed a couple of items and started to turn around.

    ¡°Slowly!¡± Theo said.

    Synapse complied, but rolled her eyes, as if Theo hadn¡¯t just killed a man only minutes ago. She slowly turned to reveal a couple of hats. The one she presented to Theo was a dark-grey fedora. Theo reeled as if it were a cross to a vampire.

    ¡°What the fuck is that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a hat with a copper mesh weaved in that acts like a Faraday cage.¡±

    ¡°My wireless firmware is off. I don¡¯t need that shit.¡±

    ¡°If you really think it¡¯s off, then I need to introduce you to 21<sup>st</sup> century corporate and government technology practices. Don¡¯t wear it, if you want, I don¡¯t care. It is just your style though.¡±

    Synapse had barely finished her sentence when Theo knocked the fedora out of her hand, then forcefully grabbed the other hat. It was a black-and-white knit cap with a matrix of faint golden-brown lines. It also featured dangling ear flaps and a yarn poof on top. Theo pulled it over his head, and while it looked ridiculous, it was better than the fedora, and it was quite warm and comfortable too.

    ¡°Hey, man, what the hell?¡± Synapse said as she reached down and grabbed the fedora and placed it on her own head.

    ¡°Anything else?¡± Theo asked. Synapse shook her head. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t need to bag a shit real quick?¡± Theo was trying to make her feel uncomfortable and humiliated. It didn¡¯t work. She simply smiled and shook her head. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go.¡±

    The two left the apartment and the building quickly and quietly. Theo wasn¡¯t overly concerned about Synapse¡¯s safety, making her lead around corners, and nearly always with his gun pointed at her spine. The sky was finally starting to transition from dark blue to violets, reds, and pinks as the sun threatened the dawn, but by the time Theo and Synapse had reached the first upload point, the sun had fully risen only to be obscured by a curtain of overcast.

    The first upload location was a non-descript coffee shop on a street corner just within Boston proper. Synapse went around the building and into a small, cut-off alleyway and tucked herself into a corner, not visible from the street. There were a few doors, each padlocked from the outside. Synapse awkwardly plopped down on the floor, attached a device in her pocket to her interface, and began to sit abnormally still. After about a minute, Theo started impatiently tapping his foot, standing at the entrance to the alley and taking a sip from his bottle.

    ¡°How long?¡± He said. He wasn¡¯t sure Synapse heard him.

    ¡°This place doesn¡¯t exactly have terabit connection speeds. I¡¯m not going to be able to just snap my fingers and everything¡¯s uploaded.¡± As Synapse spoke, her body only engaged the muscles needed for speech. Otherwise, she was completely motionless.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t criticizing your stupid fuckin¡¯ hacking skills, asshole. I asked how long it would take.¡± Theo snapped right back at her. ¡°You ever heard of a progress bar?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be like 5 minutes.¡± Synapse said. She didn¡¯t do it physically, but Theo could hear her eyeroll in her voice. ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure. Whatever.¡± Theo said, moving toward a nearby chair at a table outside the coffee shop next to him. ¡°By the way, that last thing was a criticism of your programming skills.¡±

    Synapse said something, but Theo neither heard nor cared to listen. He took another swig as he sat down. It wasn¡¯t exactly worry, but Theo had decided it may be safer to refrain from using his interface at all, but as soon as he felt a hint of boredom, he pulled out his stylus and summoned Chess, as well as a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and an ash tray.

    The image and the motions as he lit a purely digital cigarette worked in tandem with the placebo effect to send a rush of endorphins into his brain with a sharp inhale. He received a warning that some features for Chess are not available in offline mode, making him wonder if the cap was even doing anything. He was tempted to turn his wireless firmware back on, but refrained and started playing with his cat. He was warned that pets will be less intelligent without a network connection, but as Chess chased his laser pointer around, Theo couldn¡¯t really tell the difference. Of course, he wasn¡¯t a cat.

    The glass door entrance to the coffee shop squeaked open as a customer left the building. While the door was open and gently closing, Theo could faintly hear the audio of a news report on one of the displays inside.

    ¡°-the wealthy investor and lobbyist was arrested early this morning for involvement in the gruesome murd-¡±

    The door had shut, but through the glass fa?ade, Theo could see the display carrying the story. The headline read, ¡®ELITE LOBBYIST DETAINED IN HORRIFIC FAMILY CRIME.¡¯ The subtext gave more detail, ¡®Suspected in the monstrous murder of his own daughter in affluent residence turned crime scene.¡¯ Theo had seen stories like it, and worse, during his career, but it was the image of the man, nude and covered in blood, that caught his attention. Specifically, the look of complete anguish and terror, and his erratic, unintelligible muttering. Theo stood up from his seat and entered the shop.

    ¡°-found in the early morning hours after a call to the police. The man appeared to be covered in blood as he was escorted into police custody. Inside the opulent home, police found the body of the man¡¯s daughter who had been stabbed and mutilated. As the man was being walked to the cruiser, he could be heard saying that he wasn¡¯t in control of his body. Sources say the victim was 9 years old.¡±

    ¡°Jesus Christ...¡± said an employee behind the counter. Theo shared the sentiment, but he also felt no small sense of anger growing in him. He had a hunch about who was responsible. He left the shop with a renewed lust for justice, but just before he turned toward the alley, he glanced in the other direction and had his attention grabbed by a woman with a distinctly red fabric under her coat. It only took a moment for Theo to recognize her as Lily, his friend from the bar. She was walking perpendicular to him, and across the street. Just as Theo was about to call out, she noticed him, and a wide smile grew across her face.

    Lily waved as she turned and began approaching him, stepping out into the street. Theo gave a polite wave back, but he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to see her right now as he was in the middle of something. It seemed like they were going to meet nonetheless, until she had made it nearly halfway across the street, when an old van quickly came around the corner. The driver didn¡¯t seem to notice her at all. Theo watched the van in disbelief as it passed by him, but then came to a stop quick enough to cause the tires to squeal right at the entrance to the alleyway.

    Tensions immediately rose within Theo as the driver¡¯s door and the back doors opened and three large, tattooed men emerged, each brandishing large guns. They walked with intent into the alleyway. One of the men looked directly at Theo with an expression and posture that said, ¡®Mind your own fucking business.¡¯ Theo put his hands out to feign compliance until the men no longer saw him, then he retrieved his gun and quickly moved to the corner of the building by the alleyway. A moment later he heard one of the men call out.

    ¡°The girl! is that her?¡± He said.

    ¡°She¡¯s the only one here, must be.¡± Said another.

    ¡°But... she¡¯s just a girl...?¡±

    ¡°Even better. Grab her.¡±

    It was all that Theo needed to hear. He leaned around the corner, where he could see each of the men focused on the spot where Synapse was sitting. When one of the men moved toward her, Theo raised his gun.

    ¡°Police! Don¡¯t move!¡± Theo shouted. The men looked directly at him, and after a split second of processing, they each started raising their weapons toward him, and the alleyway erupted in gunfire, with Theo getting off the first shot.

    The nearest man¡¯s chest was perforated, and his back was blown out, launching him to the ground and spraying the other men with viscera. Theo ducked back just in time for one of the men to fire his shotgun, taking out a large chunk of the corner Theo was hiding behind.

    ¡°What the fuck?! You said she¡¯d be alone!¡± One of the men shouted.

    ¡°Just fucking shoot her and let¡¯s go!¡±

    The man carrying the shotgun chambered another round, the sound indicating Theo¡¯s opening. He leaned out of his cover and fired at the shotgunner turning toward Synapse, hitting him in the neck, dropping him instantly and nearly decapitating him in the process.

    ¡°No!¡± The remaining man yelled. There was anguish in his voice over his fallen comrade. When he moved to aim his handgun at Theo, the man¡¯s arm was blown off below the elbow. He fell back with an agonizing shriek. Theo approached Synapse with his weapon trained on the man¡¯s head. He kicked Synapse¡¯s leg, who was still sitting, motionless.

    ¡°C¡¯mon. Time to go.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Just a few more seconds.¡± Synapse¡¯s voice carried no sense of fear or urgency whatsoever.

    ¡°Are you even aware of what just happened here?¡±

    ¡°Seems like you¡¯ve effectively protected me. You want me to suck your cock or something?¡±

    Theo rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. When the man quieted down, Theo could hear the fearful scattering of bystanders away from them. They were going to need a quick getaway.

    ¡°You!¡± Theo shouted toward the armless man who looked at him with disdain. ¡°Keys?¡±

    The man was silent for a moment, coddling the bloody stump that remains of his arm. His hand, still gripping the pistol, was laying beside him. The man looked at Theo, and then to the gun in his dismembered arm, and quickly moved to try picking it up, but Theo was ready for it, delivering a payload of brass and lead-alloy between the man¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°God dammit!¡± Theo shouted. He had been able to go his entire career without killing anybody, but within the last hour, his count had already risen to four, and none of them had been the person he had set out to take care of. He didn¡¯t exactly feel bad about it, but he did feel a sense of hypocrisy. After all, these men were after the same thing he had been.

    Theo walked up to the corpse of the last man and began patting him down, quickly finding the keys in his pants pocket. He returned to Synapse, kicking her harder and with the intent to do a little damage this time.

    ¡°Ow! What the fuck, dude?¡± Synapse said. Her lack of awareness or concern didn¡¯t sit right with Theo. He grabbed her by the front of her hoodie, lifted her up to his height and pinned her against the wall. ¡°Didn¡¯t we do this once already?¡±

    ¡°What the fuck is your problem!¡± Theo said. ¡°What kind of little girl could be so cold and heartless?!¡±

    ¡°I never chose to be a little girl, dick-bag!¡± Synapse replied. ¡°And why are you so mad at me? I¡¯m not the one who killed those men just now.¡±

    This made Theo even more angry. He turned around and threw Synapse onto one of the corpses.

    ¡°Look at them!¡± He shouted. Synapse tried to rise to their hands and knees, but Theo grabbed the back of their head and pressed their face into the gore of one of the still-warm bodies. After Synapse¡¯s face was sufficiently smeared with blood, Theo let go. Synapse lifted themself up and took a breath.

    ¡°Are you trying to turn me on, or what?¡± Synapse asked with an unsettling smile.

    There was no winning with Synapse. As they were moving to get up, Theo stood over them and placed the barrel of his revolver against the back of their head. Synapse froze, but even though Theo couldn¡¯t see their face, he could tell that this is exactly what they wanted. Theo fingered the trigger, but his hand started to shake, and he painfully grit his teeth.

    ¡°How much longer?¡± He shouted.

    ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°Great.¡± Theo lifted Synapse to their feet and pushed them toward the van. ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with.¡±

    After climbing into the van, Theo fumbled with a few keys on the chain to find the one that would fit in the ignition and turned it over. He pulled the shift lever down to D, but because he hadn¡¯t driven in well over a decade, he had a heavy foot. The van lurched, and the tires squealed as they started moving. Theo could hear sirens in the distance behind them. After killing three people, loudly, in a public area, Theo expected it was about to get very difficult for them, but Synapse didn¡¯t seem to have a care in the world.

    ¡°The next stop is on Hyde Park near the Arboretum.¡± They said.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got to be on camera by now. We need to ditch the van.¡±

    ¡°Drop it off in the Arboretum. We can walk from there.¡±

    The ride was silent for a few minutes while Theo re-learned to drive while trying to stealthily reach the Arnold Arboretum. When Theo¡¯s nerves settled to a manageable level after he felt they were a comfortable distance away from the corpses, Theo finally spoke up.

    ¡°Who were those guys?¡± He asked, angrily.

    ¡°How the fuck should I know?¡±

    ¡°Are you completely inept? I think I¡¯m pretty aware of the people who want to kill me, or I at least have some idea of why.¡±

    ¡°Well, detective, I¡¯d surmise that they¡¯re probably assassins hired to stop me from releasing this data.¡±

    ¡°How did they know that you were releasing the data in the first place?¡±

    ¡°Well... I may have threatened to do it a few times before.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so you are completely inept.¡± Theo said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. ¡°How did they know where to find you?¡±

    ¡°I dunno... how did you find me?¡± Synapse asked.

    ¡°I prayed to almighty God and my path was lit by the light of heaven.¡±

    Synapse looked toward Theo with a look of confused derision on their face, unable to tell if Theo was being sarcastic or not, though Theo thought he was laying it on pretty thick. He had expected that they knew something about his personal beliefs. They found and killed his wife, after all. He thought they¡¯d have looked over his publicly available profile in the very least. Theo decided not to clarify that he wasn¡¯t, in fact, a religious person in any way, shape, or form.

    ¡°You ever hear of a VPN?¡± Theo asked, derisively. Synapse didn¡¯t answer, so Theo continued, ¡°What about that ancient proverb, ¡®don¡¯t shit where you eat¡¯, huh?¡± Again Theo paused for a response, but again he received none. ¡°I¡¯d love to brag to you about how easy it was to find you, despite your meddling in police politics, but I¡¯d rather not help you to keep doing it.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Have you considered that maybe I wanted you to find me?¡± Synapse said.

    For a moment, Theo considered what kind of psychopathic savant could play such high-level mind games to manipulate him, but the moment was brief. Theo was starting to get the sense that Synapse carried much more ego than intelligence.

    ¡°Are there going to be more assassins to meet us at our next stop, or what?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so... I think those guys could only find me when I started uploading.¡±

    ¡°So, is that going to happen again?¡±

    ¡°Maybe... but the wireless range on the next upload locations is larger, so it might not be as easy for them.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well, let¡¯s hope so. I don¡¯t have much ammo left.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you take some from those guys?¡±

    ¡°Their guns don¡¯t use the same type of ammo that mine does.¡±

    ¡°Okay... so... take their guns?¡±

    Theo couldn¡¯t come up with a good reason for why he didn¡¯t. He just remained silent until they arrived in the arboretum. He took the first available maintenance road and came to a stop as it moved through a thicket. Theo pushed Synapse out of the van, then briefly went through the cluttered mess of boxes and refuse in the back. He was unable to find any other weapons or ammo and emerged from the vehicle empty handed.

    The walk through the arboretum would have been quite pleasant were the situation different, but Theo had little interest in wandering around and taking in the nature all around him. He kept having to push Synapse forward, encouraging them to keep moving, though Theo didn¡¯t get the sense that they were trying to waste time or avoid completing their task. Synapse simply had no urgency. They just didn¡¯t seem to care.

    As Theo walked and took sips of his drink in silence, he considered and reconsidered his situation before remembering the news broadcast he had seen back at the coffee shop. He had intended on asking Synapse about it, but everything seemed to happen so quickly. He decided that now was the time, but he didn¡¯t want to come straight out with any accusatory statements.

    ¡°What were you doing last night?¡± Theo asked. Synapse paused to turn back and look at him with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Oh, you know... having some fun.¡± They said. Theo was absolutely not happy with their response and was afraid to ask the next question.

    ¡°I... see... What is it that you consider ¡®fun¡¯?¡± Theo was fairly confident he already knew the answer, but part of him had hoped that maybe Synapse had another reason to do all the things Theo knew they did.

    ¡°I like doing things that I can¡¯t do in my physical body.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what Wanderlust is for? Or any number of other games?¡±

    ¡°Those are just games, though.¡± Synapse said.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know any humans that can fly and shoot lasers from their eyes.¡±

    ¡°Those aren¡¯t the kind of things that I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    ¡°You can do all kinds of sex stuff in Wanderlust too. Even snuff and torture and shit, and without the risk of causing someone actual harm. Is that not enough?¡±

    ¡°Well, you just explained the problem. There¡¯s no risk of causing actual harm, and people know that. There¡¯s no true fear, or pain, and it makes the whole experience inauthentic.¡± Synapse paused as they looked at Theo¡¯s disgusted face. ¡°Tell me, detective, you¡¯ve raped people before, yes?¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Theo was taken aback, and angry at the question. ¡°No! I¡¯m not a fucking psychopath!¡±

    ¡°But... you¡¯re a cop. Isn¡¯t that part of training or something? Isn¡¯t raping some defenseless kid, like, a requirement before you can get a badge?¡±

    There were many things that ran through Theo¡¯s mind at the implication. Sexual violence wasn¡¯t one of them, but just about anything else, from knocking Synapse¡¯s teeth out, or simply tripping them to the ground, but whatever he did would only work to reinforce their not-totally-unwarranted view of the police. Instead, Theo simply gritted his teeth and held his tongue.

    ¡°So, since you¡¯re a cop, then you¡¯ll know what it¡¯s like. It makes you feel powerful and like you have total control, but it also just... feels amazing.¡± Synapses stiff, lumbering gait loosened as they spoke. ¡°When I was little, I didn¡¯t really understand what all the fuss was about. Your balls are just so fragile, and it always seemed like it hurt when you finished.¡±

    With only a few words, Theo was starting to get a picture of what Synapse¡¯s childhood may have been like, and it made his gut wrench. He was starting to feel empathic toward them, and had to remind himself that Synapse had done incredibly terrible, even irredeemable things that past trauma simply couldn¡¯t excuse. Synapse continued.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, being the victim is pretty hot too, especially when it¡¯s not my body, but then I tried it from the male side... and wow! Now I understand why you guys do it.¡±

    ¡°Stop!¡± Theo said sharply. Synapse looked back at him. ¡°Just... stop.¡±

    ¡°Stop... what?¡±

    ¡°Stop fucking raping people! Jesus Christ!¡±

    ¡°Oh, sure! When we¡¯re finished here and we go our separate ways... I¡¯ll consider it!¡± Synapse was laying the sarcasm on thick. They had a point, however. It wasn¡¯t like Theo was going to be letting them go. After a few moments, having let their point sink in, Synapse asked a question, ¡°Why, though?¡±

    ¡°Why?!¡± Theo was dumbfounded. ¡°Are you kidding me? Because it¡¯s a fucked-up thing to do to another person!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it is...¡± Synapse said, but with a laugh underneath. Their demeanor was very unsettling to Theo. ¡°But why should I care about a few people out of 9 billion?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d think that if it happened to you, then you¡¯d be the first to understand why you shouldn¡¯t do it to another person!¡±

    ¡°That seems a little unfair. Why does it get to happen to me, but not other people?¡±

    Theo could feel a long, drawn-out debate about what is considered good and evil, or whether there was such a thing. He wasn¡¯t quite ready for that conversation, and lately, he¡¯s not sure that he was the one to be lecturing anyone on the merits of being a good person. He did, after all, just kill four people, the only four people in his life, and he didn¡¯t feel too terribly concerned about it. He felt like he had to say something, however.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try to make the world a better, more pleasant place for as many people as possible?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Is that what you¡¯re doing?¡±

    ¡°Yes... in fact, that is what I¡¯m doing at this very moment. If getting this Data out can prevent some rich psychos and sociopaths from using your shit to hurt and control people, then I will have done my part.¡±

    ¡°So, those guys back there... that¡¯s making the world a better place?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. I¡¯d think that all of those men who were willing to murder what looked like a little girl, probably wouldn¡¯t have any qualms about killing an actual one, or worse, and may have done so before.¡±

    ¡°So... you have no idea?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡± Theo said with confidence in his lack of certainty. ¡°Now, if those men would have been arrested instead, and an investigation and a trial had been completed, I would have a much better picture about whether those men were monsters, or if they were just trying to kill one.¡±

    ¡°So why didn¡¯t you arrest them then?¡±

    Theo nearly told Synapse that he no longer had the authority to make an arrest but got the feeling that if Synapse were as knowledgeable as they pretended to be, they would have known that already.

    ¡°Frankly, I did try to arrest them. I gave them a warning, and they raised their weapons. We were both in imminent danger, and I determined that use of lethal force was necessary.¡±

    ¡°Alright... I would have expected a cop to have to call that in and wait for backup or something.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well, if more cops arrived, I¡¯m pretty sure they wouldn¡¯t care to escort you to these drop locations, and would probably end up putting their lives in more danger anyway.¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t we using your car?¡±

    ¡°Because you fucking wrote it off, asshole! Do you not remember that?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah!¡± Synapse said with a laugh. Theo didn¡¯t find it nearly as funny. He reached forward and flipped Synapse around and held them in a hostile grip.

    ¡°That was only minutes before you murdered my god daughter!¡± Theo shouted into their face. ¡°Do you fucking remember that? Huh?¡±

    ¡°Hey, man, I didn¡¯t kill her. She killed herself! She just couldn¡¯t handle what she was seeing!¡±

    The disconcerting smirk on Synapses face made it incredibly punch-able, but Theo simply clenched his fist and gritted his teeth before letting them go. They were just exiting the Arboretum and moving into the commercialized area next to it. Were they not in a public place, Theo likely would have struck Synapse, but wouldn¡¯t have been surprised to find that Synapse enjoyed it. He expected it might at least be a cathartic experience, and the urge to do it grew as they entered an abandoned parking structure, but he abstained. They went down a stairwell and found a corner under the stairs where Synapse took a seat. Theo sat down a few feet away, with a greater view of the stairwell.

    Theo simply stared at Synapse as they stared blankly at the floor. Theo thought about what he was going to do once they were done. His first thought was that of the righteous, upstanding American citizen and have them arrested. Most of the possible consequences for Synapse were okay with Theo. If they were arrested, there would be a trial, and a pretty heavy sentence. Synapse could be put away for decades, and if they just so happened to be stabbed to death by a prisoner for a lucrative deal, it was no sweat off Theo¡¯s back. Of course, there was no guarantee that Synapse would see justice through the legal system. Escaping on a technicality, or possibly due to their age, of which Theo was still unsure.

    There were much more... immediate... and permanent punishments as well. An eye-for-an-eye based on what they had done to their victims, for example, but when he dwelled on it for any amount of time and considered that he was the one that would have to deliver the punishment, his stomach began to churn. He didn¡¯t want to think about it anymore, but he found it difficult to turn his imagination off, so he loaded Chess and began to play with her. His cat, along with another swig of alcohol, was just enough to take his mind off the violent thoughts.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± Synapse asked, noticing Theo waiving his hand in the air, playing with nothing.

    ¡°Nothing. Just playing with my cat.¡±

    ¡°Oh... uh huh...¡± Synapse raised their eyebrow. ¡°You know those things are full of worms, right?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a real cat.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Yeah. I fucking know. I¡¯m not talking about physical worms, detective.¡±

    The amount of disdain and holier-than-thou attitude that was carried in Synapse¡¯s voice was really getting to Theo. There was nobody in his life that he disliked more. He preferred not to use the term ¡®hate¡¯, but in this instance, he felt that it may have been apt.

    ¡°You really think this place is safe?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see any condemned signs or anything, but I think I read that stairwells are generally the most structurally sound part of a building.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t give a shit about structural integrity! I¡¯m talking about... you know... the assassins that are trying to kill you?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Yeah, I don¡¯t know. I think the person that set up the last point might have been neuro-divergent or something.¡±

    In his previous investigations into Synapse, Theo had seen them say some very offensive things online, but for some reason, hearing the vitriol pour forth from the mouth of a babe, as it were, left him tripping over his words.

    ¡°How can-... That¡¯s not... Neuro-divergent people aren¡¯t stupid, it¡¯s not even...¡± Theo let out an exasperated sigh. He was going to go into a rant about everything wrong that Synapse had just said, but he could feel that they found his frustration to be incredibly humorous. Instead, Theo slightly changed the subject, saying, ¡°How are you able to just sit there and make the most stupid torrent of rhetoric on the goddamned planet after five people have tried to fucking murder you in a matter of hours?¡±

    ¡°Four people.¡± Synapse said with confidence in their error.

    ¡°Am I absolutely nothing to you? Me! I¡¯m the fifth person that tried to kill you, did you already forget that?¡± Theo shifted his body as he started tearing into them. ¡°Are you having a stroke, or seizures or something? I¡¯m not a psychiatrist, or psychologist, or in any way qualified to claim that you, yourself, might have a neuro-divergent condition or some kind of mental illness, but if there isn¡¯t something seriously fucking wrong with you, then there¡¯s gotta be something wrong with me.¡±

    Theo waited for a response, but Synapse said nothing, so he continued.

    ¡°So, tell me, are you completely psycho-sociopathic batshit fucking insane, or am I?¡±

    ¡°What is sanity, huh?¡± It seemed that something was getting under their skin.

    ¡°Sanity is not hurting innocent people, if you really want my professional opinion as your average empathic human being living on planet Earth.¡±

    ¡°Define ¡®people¡¯.¡± Synapse said. Theo rolled his eyes.

    ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?¡±

    ¡°Alright, so is an animal a person?¡±

    ¡°That argument isn¡¯t going to get you anywhere either. I haven¡¯t eaten meat in years.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Well, what about any ants we may have stepped on during our walk over here? Any insects that you swatted, or in another scenario, a wolf that¡¯s simply trying to sustain itself?¡±

    ¡°Wanting to kill or cause pain is very different from needing to do it for survival.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it really matters if it gets you to the same end.¡± Synapse said. ¡°I¡¯m sure the wolves that enjoy hunting would be better hunters than those that only do it for survival.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t seriously comparing yourself to a wolf, are you? I suppose the ¡®predator¡¯ comparison might be apt, but in what way, exactly, is your desire for rape and murder helping you to survive? Hm?¡± Theo waived his hands around, not motioning to the scenery around him, but rather to the situation they were in. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be doing you any favors. In fact, it¡¯s much the opposite, I would say.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still alive, aren¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s absolutely not because you¡¯re a horrific sadist.¡±

    ¡°Whatever, man.¡± Synapse said. ¡°The universe doesn¡¯t care whether people feel pain or not, or who lives and who dies.¡±

    ¡°Most of the universe isn¡¯t conscious and can¡¯t make a decision between those things.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s exactly my point.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck is your point? That you can¡¯t ask a rock what it thinks about life and death?¡± By now, Theo had completely forgotten about Chess, who was sitting weightlessly in his lap and staring at Synapse with an invisible gaze.

    ¡°Forget it. I doubt you would understand.¡± Synapse said. Though they weren¡¯t physically moving, Theo could hear their dismissive hand-waving in their voice.

    He could feel himself shaking with restraint. He took a final swig from the last bottle of whiskey he had been carrying. He wanted, more than anything, to take a drag on an actual cigarette, which he found strange, as he had never actually ingested nicotine before. It wasn¡¯t long before the upload was done, but the tension Theo felt towards them made it feel interminable. Finally, Synapse disconnects the drive from their BSI hub and rises to their feet.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go. Our next stop is about 10 minutes south.¡± Synapse said, then began climbing the stairs.

    As time moved forward, Theo was feeling less concerned for Synapse¡¯s safety. He was fine with them climbing the stairs and turning corners first. Even the thought that the data might be lost if Synapse were killed was starting to feel like a trivial worry in the presence of this monster.

    Despite their growing lack of care for personal safety, the duo left the parking garage and continued down Hyde Park without incident. They arrived at yet another abandoned building and went down the alleyway, and through a doorway that looked like it hadn¡¯t been closed in years. Just inside was the work floor of a salon that hadn¡¯t been open for decades. Everything that hadn¡¯t been bolted to the floor or walls was long gone, and even most of the chairs and sinks had been either torn from their anchors, or smashed to pieces in place. Synapse found a spot on the floor that had the least debris and dust, then plugged the drive back in and resumed their digital trance as they uploaded the next part.

    While Synapse didn¡¯t have much issue sitting on the considerably filthy floor, Theo opted to stand, and after a few minutes of pacing the room quietly, He stepped back out into the alley.

    ¡°Oh, that went so well last time...¡± Synapse said, sarcastically.

    ¡°Fuck you.¡± Theo responded as he crossed the threshold.

    The overcast may have blocked the morning sun, but the thick blanket of clouds were trapping the heat as the morning sun began to approach midday. Theo again started playing with his cat in the alley and started smoking a digital cigarette in the absence of anything more to drink.

    After chasing a laser around for a couple of minutes, the cat became distracted by something at the entrance of the alleyway. As soon as Theo noticed a human figure in his peripheral vision, his body tingled with the sudden increase in his blood pressure, but only a moment later, he recognized the person as Lily. She was waving at him, and started to approach.

    ¡°Oh... uh... hey!¡± Theo called out.

    ¡°Hello, Theo. It is nice to see you!¡± She responded with a simple smile. She came to a stop next to his cat. ¡°That is an interesting hat you have there!¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah.¡± Theo said, instinctively removing it and wiping his brow. ¡°I probably wouldn¡¯t have chosen it if I knew it was going to be this warm. Anyway... what are you... This is the second time I¡¯ve seen you today... Are you following me?¡± Theo said with a smirk.

    ¡°Would you be angry if I were?¡± Lily smiled back with a wink, then continued, ¡°I¡¯m actually just running a few errands, I was starting to wonder if you were following me!¡±

    ¡°No, I uh... I¡¯m also doing some... errands...¡±

    ¡°Ah... You must find some pretty good groceries in this... abandoned alley...¡± Lily laughed, and Theo laughed too, but before he could find any reasonable excuse, Lily cut him off. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you heard what was on the news this morning...¡±

    ¡°Oh... uhh...¡± Theo didn¡¯t want to reveal that he thought he had his main suspect in the crime only feet away. ¡°Yeah, about the guy that apparently killed his daughter?¡±

    ¡°Not ¡®apparently,¡¯ the man confessed to the crime, and footage of the incident was leaked online. He didn¡¯t just murder her, he did... a lot more to that little girl.¡±

    Chills ran down Theo¡¯s spine and his stomach sank. Lily didn¡¯t have to say anything more, nor did Theo want to hear it, so he started speaking to stop her from going into further detail.

    ¡°You... watched the video?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I did, yes.¡±

    ¡°How... how could you watch that?¡±

    ¡°I needed to get more information about what happened, to find who was at fault.¡± Lily said.

    Theo didn¡¯t know exactly what was on the video, but he expected that it was a gruesome, terrible sight, which made Lily¡¯s demeanor after having watched it seem strange. Though, she had already established herself as quite the strange individual in the first place.

    ¡°I thought you said the guy confessed?¡± Theo said.

    ¡°He did, even during his initial call to the police, and when they were taking him away, but he kept insisting that he had no control over his body. Hearing it, it made me think that maybe it was related to what happened to your wife. Didn¡¯t you say that somebody was controlling her?¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t respond, except for a groan through gritted teeth. His first instinct was to keep information about his cases close to his chest, even though he realized that he wasn¡¯t exactly on the force any longer, nor was his wife¡¯s murder a case that was given to him in the first place. Even still, he didn¡¯t exactly remember how much he told Lily about his wife, Synapse, or the methods they were using, but he didn¡¯t remember much at all through his excessive inebriation in the week after Kara¡¯s death. Lily continued speaking after getting no response from Theo.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard rumblings of similar things happening to people with BSI implants. I was wondering if this was something that you might know anything about?¡±

    ¡°I uhh... I don¡¯t really know, sorry...¡± Theo¡¯s hesitation to give Lily any information wasn¡¯t just due to the police training that had been drilled into him. He was also getting the impression that she knew much more about his current situation than she was letting on. Instead of giving her information, he changed the focus of the conversation. ¡°If you are able to find this guy... what would you do to him?¡±

    ¡°Well, little angel me would either watch them or restrain them, and contact the cops to have them taken away...¡±

    ¡°... But...?¡±

    ¡°But... part of me wants to impart a little eye-for-an-eye justice like we spoke about yesterday, make them experience the horrors that they forced upon their victims.¡± Lily¡¯s smile grew as she spoke.

    ¡°What if they are a masochist? What if they enjoy the pain and terror?¡±

    ¡°Well, I can be patient, and would be willing to do a more-or-less scientific study to find out what really makes them regret their own actions.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m capable of carrying out such a punishment against another person.¡±

    ¡°That little girl was barely 9 years old when she was raped and tortured for more than 4 hours last night before she finally died, and the video went on for another hour afterwards.¡±

    A rush of hate and disgust immediately filled Theo, partly toward Lily for giving him the details that he didn¡¯t want.

    ¡°Why not just kill the fucker and feel satisfied that they can¡¯t hurt anyone else?¡± Theo said angrily.

    ¡°Considering some of the punishments that the girl¡¯s family may want, legal or otherwise, I¡¯m not sure that would provide much satisfaction at all.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t care to have an argument with so many dark thoughts filling his head. His mind was clouded as he started to pace the alleyway, only half listening to Lily¡¯s words.

    ¡°Personal satisfaction should have no bearing on whether or not to take someone¡¯s life, and torturing someone has no place in civilized society.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it shouldn¡¯t, but, frankly, society doesn¡¯t seem very civilized with crimes like these happening as frequently as they do.¡±

    ¡°All we can do as individuals is to try to move towards an ideal world that everybody can live in without fear or pain. Torturing someone, even one that seems to deserve it, is contrary to that ideology.¡± Theo was no longer speaking to Lily, but was instead trying to convince himself, and he was struggling to do so. His anger, pointed mostly toward Synapse, began to point toward Lily as he continued speaking. ¡°Why are you here? Did you come find me just to have this conversation?¡±

    Lily didn¡¯t answer.

    ¡°Okay... I¡¯m going to have to ask you to leave. I¡¯m in the middle of something important here, and it¡¯s not exactly safe.¡±

    ¡°Safe for who? You, or me?¡±

    ¡°Either of us...¡± Theo paced for a few more seconds. ¡°I don¡¯t know... maybe you can convince me to walk away with you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m capable of doing that, Theo.¡± Lily said. Theo felt no small amount of disappointment. He sighed.

    ¡°Alright... well, I would say it was nice talking to you, but I¡¯d be lying. Nonetheless, thank you for the conversation. It¡¯s given me some things to think about.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a problem, Theo.¡± Lily said with a warm smile. ¡°I will see you soon.¡± She turned around and walked back to the end of the alleyway. She looked back and waived goodbye, to which Chess purred before the woman was out of sight. Theo moved back into the derelict salon to stand in front of Synapse, still sitting as still as they were when he left.

    ¡°Who were you talking to?¡± Synapse asked. Theo completely ignored the question.

    ¡°What were you doing last night?¡± He asked sharply.

    ¡°You already asked that. I was having a little fun.¡±

    ¡°No, fuck you!¡± Theo said with a forceful kick to Synapse¡¯s ankles, which garnered a surprised reaction from them. ¡°I don¡¯t want any of your vague bullshit. What the fuck were you doing last night before you left your apartment?¡±

    Synapse was quiet for a moment, but a smile could be seen creeping across their face.

    ¡°You know, I had experienced it myself for so long that I started to grow a fondness for it. There¡¯s a concept out there that if a victim of rape enjoys the act, then it may no longer be considered rape. I know a lot of people might be disgusted by the very notion, but in my experience, it¡¯s the rapists themselves that seem to believe it most. Whenever I would start to encourage them, by smiling, and laughing, and crying ¡®harder¡¯, it made them even more angry and violent, which... well...¡±

    Synapse began stretching and wiggling on the ground, unable to contain her arousal. Theo could do nothing but watch and grow sick.

    ¡°Anyway, it was tough to get them to finish the job, but eventually my sense of survival would kick in, freezing me in place more effectively than the men holding me down. After I got my BSI implant and started messing around with other people¡¯s bodies, I found that urge to live was suppressed and it allowed me to keep going further, and further, but despite all these men doing incredible things, still, none of them seemed to want to cross the line, but then, I started trying things from the other side.

    ¡°I had no idea at how great it was from the man¡¯s perspective,¡± Synapse continued, ¡°to be so powerful and to let yourself sink into the pleasure, but even so, I found myself having trouble fully committing to that final act, until last night.¡±

    Theo again began pacing as he listened, the knot in his stomach growing with every passing second of Synapses dialogue. He didn¡¯t want to hear more but felt that he needed to.

    ¡°Tell me, Theo... what¡¯s the youngest girl you¡¯ve ever had? 16? 14?¡± Synapse asked. Theo wasn¡¯t going to dignify the question with a response, even if his tongue were capable of it in his stunned silence. Synapse continued, ¡°Maybe you¡¯re not into girls? Maybe boys are more your thing? Well, it doesn¡¯t matter, I think. Next time you have the opportunity, I¡¯d highly recommend trying out a 9-year-old.¡±

    Theo immediately began experiencing every painful emotion it was possible to feel. He heaved and hunched over, and only barely stopped himself from vomiting whatever alcohol might still remain in his stomach.

    ¡°The screams, and crying, and begging... ugh, it was amazing, and only got better when I started cutting into her skin.¡±

    Theo tried not to listen anymore as the increasingly small part of his logical brain urged him to check to see if the uploads were complete. He fumbled with his stylus to enable his wireless network and began a search for news reports of leaked documents, quickly finding a few breaking reports regarding the same. It was all the verification he needed. Theo pulled his revolver out, and stepped toward Synapse, straightening his stance, and training the gun to their head. Synapse only smiled and removed their hat from obstructing Theo¡¯s aim.

    ¡°Give me a reason why I shouldn¡¯t pull the trigger.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°You know, I had always thought that blood was sticky, but while it¡¯s fresh, it¡¯s quite an effective lubricant.¡± Synapse was clearly doing the opposite.

    Theo angrily smashed the side of their face with the heavy lump of metal in his hand. Synapse let out a pained yelp, making Theo reel at his own violent action. He knew he could get loud, and angry, and would say hurtful things at times of high stress, but not once had he gotten to the point where he wanted to hit someone in the face like that, let alone to someone so young. It crushed him, but then Synapse¡¯s subsequent laughter filled Theo with another kind of disgust.

    ¡°How¡¯d it feel? Was that as good for you as it was for me?¡± Synapse continued laughing as the side of their face began to turn yellow and purple.

    ¡°How is it that you seem to have no sense of survival?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Survival is overrated. Besides, in my experience, there are worse things out there than death.¡±

    Everything was telling him to do it, but Theo still searched his thoughts for a reason to stay his hand. The only thing he could come up with was that Synapse could, possibly, be reformed into a valuable, and peaceful member of the human race. But the things they have already done, and had done to them, those are things that they would carry for the rest of their life. It seemed the choice was entirely on Theo. On whether he wanted to do it or not. There was one more question he wanted to ask, and felt that the answer might help him decide the fate of Synapse. He again pointed the gun to their forehead.

    ¡°Why did you kill my wife?¡± Theo asked, clearly and concisely, to make sure that Synapse could hear him. The answer wasn¡¯t quite what he was expecting.

    ¡°I had no idea you were married,¡± Synapse said, ¡°but, if you say so...¡±

    If there was anything that would have convinced Theo to squeeze the trigger, it was the blatant disregard and outright lie that Synapse gave to Theo¡¯s face, but the gun still didn¡¯t fire. It was like his body refused to do what his mind was telling it. He could feel the tension in his hand causing it to begin shaking.

    ¡°It¡¯s time, Theo.¡± A familiar voice came from the darkness of the room behind him. It made Theo jump and spin around to point his gun at the voice, but then immediately lowered it as Lily stepped toward the light. ¡°What are you waiting for?¡±

    ¡°What the fuck are you doing here?!¡± Theo said. ¡°I told you to leave!¡±

    ¡°They are giving you permission. They are asking you to do it. They are a step short of begging you.¡± Lily said.

    ¡°I can¡¯t just kill them! Look at ¡®em? They¡¯re just a kid!¡±

    ¡°Hey! Pig!¡± Synapse shouted, getting Theo¡¯s attention. ¡°You know, there¡¯s no one there, right?¡±

    It was like Theo¡¯s brain had experienced a fatal error. Was it some kind of game that Synapse was playing? Maybe they thought it seemed like an effective way to confuse Theo, as it most certainly did. Maybe Synapse wasn¡¯t lying, and they couldn¡¯t see or hear anyone else in the room. It¡¯s not an uncommon technique for hackers, but Lily didn¡¯t have a BSI, nor could she fit any hardware into the conspicuous red dress that she always insisted on wearing. Lily continued approaching Theo.

    ¡°Well... maybe there¡¯s something else there...¡± Synapse said as they noticed that Theo was no longer wearing his hat. Synapse¡¯s demented smile quickly faded, and they began reaching for their own hat that had been set aside.

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t going to dispense your justice, then I¡¯m going to do mine.¡± Lily said, turning toward Synapse. Theo reached out to grab Lily by the arm, but his hand passed cleanly through her.

    ¡°What the fuck?!¡± Theo said. He tried again, and again gripped only air.

    Synapse nearly placed the hat back on their head, but stopped, then looked back to Theo and jumped when they saw something they hadn¡¯t expected.

    ¡°What the- What the hell is that?!¡± Synapse tried pushing themselves further against the wall that they were sitting against in an effort to create distance from themselves, and whatever they were seeing. ¡°Detective... detective, please help!¡±

    It was the first time that Theo had seen Synapse express any kind of genuine fear, and with what Theo already knew they had seen and were capable of doing, it made him shudder to think what could make Synapse crack. But crack they did. Synapses pleas for help quickly turned to unintelligible yelps. They would try and look away from one thing but would notice something else that absolutely terrified them. Synapse tried to close their eyes and used their arms to block themselves, but to no avail. A moment later, Synapse lost any sense of composure and began shaking violently and shrieking at the top of their lungs.

    The sound itself filled Theo with a horror that clouded his thoughts. All he knew was that if he didn¡¯t do anything, Synapse would be trapped in an interminable hell. Synapse crawled into a tight ball, hugging their knees tightly to their chest and pushing their head into their knees. They were still screaming at the top of their lungs and shaking uncontrollably.

    Theo stepped forward, pressed the barrel of his revolver to the back of Synapse¡¯s head, and after a deafening bang, the room became perfectly silent. Theo stumbled and fell against the wall, then slid down to sit on the ground next to Synapse¡¯s fresh corpse.

    He had done it. He had killed his wife¡¯s murderer. They were a monster, and had done unforgivable things, Theo thought to himself. But they were also a child who had a life of complete horror themself.

    Lily appeared and took a seat next to Theo. It was only now that he noticed no heat whatsoever radiating from her body and was starting to recontextualize every moment they had spent together. He had never touched her or smelled her. He never wanted to. He had also never seen anybody speak to her or otherwise acknowledge her existence at all. She wore a smile that looked exactly as warm and alluring as it always had, but now carried a much colder connotation.

    Theo pulled out his stylus, and began going through the settings in his interface. His network still said it was disabled, and when he enabled passthrough, he could still see Lily, but when he tried to disable his eyes completely, he found the option to be disabled.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Theo. I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s not going to be that easy to get rid of me.¡± Lily said.

    ¡°You¡¯re... a hacker?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Not exactly...¡±

    ¡°You told me you were human... ¡®100% homegrown¡¯, I think you said.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t exactly lie, not that I¡¯m incapable of it. I crawled through the internet and trained myself on the art and language of over 8 billion people throughout the entire recorded history of humanity and learned a few new things along the way.¡±

    ¡°So... what? are you going to torture me like you did to this child?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any reason to, nor would I really be able to unless you got a BSI implant.¡± Lily leaned in close, and seductively whispered into his ear, ¡°but, if you did get one, I could bring you pleasures that you never knew possible. You deserve it, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Theo disagreed. The very idea that he would be rewarded for what he had just done was sickening to him.

    ¡°What do you want from me?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t expect anything from you. I simply want to see what you are going to do next.¡±

    They sat together, in silence, as Theo decided what he was going to do. His wife was dead. His daughter was dead. His only other relationship was shattered by yet another death. His career was over, and he had expected vengeance to be bittersweet, but he was unable to find the sweetness in anything that had just happened. And then there was her, or it, a machine-learned monster that could be anywhere, and had complete power over a person¡¯s entire perceived reality. A beast of which he currently seemed to be in good graces, but for how long?

    Theo had no drive to do anything except sit in his spot between a corpse and a digital specter and hold the weight of his large, bloodied revolver.

    Theo was not religious in the least bit, nor had he ever been. He never believed in an afterlife, heaven, or hell, but he also valued the philosophy that he could be wrong about anything and everything. Now, as he pressed the cold steel barrel of his handgun under his chin, he imagined Kara and Alice waiting for him with open arms. It brought a desperately needed smile to his face, just before he pulled the trigger.

    THE END