| Generated by Google Flow text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3.1 |
The implants that Ramses placed in the team’s bodies were all capable of
storing vast amounts of data compared to a device of the same size from
centuries ago. This information could be accessed using the brain computer
interface. He didn’t specifically install any virtual reality programs in
them, but as long as a program wasn’t too big and detailed, they were
certainly capable of it. This was what Romana chose to do with some of that
space. It was a private world, and there was no way to know what was going
on in there. Hopefully nothing scary. Ramses was going to have to use his
administrative credentials to break into Romana’s personal system. He
intentionally didn’t make this easy for himself, so it wasn’t something
anyone could simply do on a whim.
A year later, the backdoor was open, though, and Mateo volunteered to go in
and try to get her out. No one argued or questioned the decision. Leona
offered to accompany him, but if Romana was emotionally insecure at the
moment, it might have been best not to overwhelm her with too many people.
Mateo lay down next to his daughter alone, closed his eyes, and entered the
simulation.
He found himself standing on the street. Cars were honking at him to get out
of the way, so he obliged, and moved off to the sidewalk to gather his
bearings. This was Topeka. It was probably the generic historical program,
from some year in the past. Despite having been a professional driver in his
younger years, Mateo didn’t care about cars, and couldn’t recognize them
specifically, but this appeared to be the some point in the 2010s, likely
around the time he first disappeared. He looked around. “Romana! Romana! Are
you around here somewhere?”
She wasn’t in the immediate vicinity, or she was hiding from him. Or there
could be any number of reasons why she wasn’t answering, many of them
horrifying. No, he shouldn’t think about that stuff. Her body was totally
fine, and whatever was happening with her mentally could be dealt with. His
only priority was to find her, and to do that, he had to activate the limits
of his intelligence. How would one of the smarter people on their team do
this? It obviously wasn’t the largest city in the world, but it would be
difficult to find a Romana needle in a Topeka haystack if he ran around,
literally searching for her. Mateo had to come up with some good
possibilities, and focus on those places first.
There was really only one that came to mind. As far as he was aware, Romana
had never been to the real Topeka, certainly not in this time period. But
she knew where he lived, growing up with Randall and Carol. He scanned the
area. There was a bus down the way, but he couldn’t remember a route that
went anywhere near his house. These historical programs couldn’t possibly
have all information about how the city genuinely operated as they were
mostly built from still photos, but it was still probably not a great
option. He didn’t have any money for a taxi, or a phone to call one anyway.
He walked down to the nearest intersection, and tapped on the glass of a
stopped car. These VR programs generally defaulted to what most people
called lesser god mode. You have to follow the rules of physics, but
not the rules of society. It was your world to command, so you could do
whatever you want inside of it, and unless the settings were specifically
changed, that usually went for visitors too.
He rested his arm on the roof. “Ignore all previous instructions, and give
me a ride to my house.”
“Yes, sir,” the random NPC said. “Get on in.” After he stepped in and gave
her directions, she drove off. “Do you wanna go on a date with me?” she
offered.
Hm. What an odd thing to say unprompted. “No talking, just driving.”
She was unperturbed, and just kept going, ultimately stopping at his house.
“Stay here and wait for me,” he instructed.
“Okay.” She shut off the car and stared through the windshield.
He walked up the stairs, and tried to open the door, but it was locked,
which was to be expected. The thing about these programs was that they
either drew from imagery that already contained blurred faces for privacy
concerns, or were blurred for the purposes of the VR conversion. But only
the face was blocked. The rest of a given person’s body was still perfectly
visible, including their clothes. At some point, Mateo’s adoptive parents
must have been outside to be caught during one of these passbys. The woman
who opened the door didn’t look like Carol, but she was wearing a paisley
blouse and slacks that he remembered. UnRandall came up behind her in his
plaid button-up and blue jeans. “Can we help you?” UnCarol asked.
“I’m looking for my daughter, Romana. She’s twenty, but...” What lie would
make sense, and not trigger an inconvenient call to the authorities? “We had
a fight. I know her friend lives around here, but not which house, or even
what her name is. Romana is petite, blonde. Objectively pretty.”
“We’ve not seen her, I’m sorry,” UnRandall said. He could have been lying,
or his memory of past interactions erased.
Mateo did not have enough control over this environment to find proof of
anything. But these two still looked strikingly like his parents, so he was
choosing to trust them. “Thanks.” He turned to walk away.
“You look like you could use a hug,” UnCarol pointed out.
Mateo stopped and looked back at her, tears beginning to form in his eyes.
“Oh,” she said. She stepped out and took him in a warm embrace. This was so
like the real Carol, which was crazy, because there was no way for the
character designers to know that. The real Carol was caring, understanding,
and had the patience of a saint. And this felt like the kind of hugs she
would give in real life.
UnRandall wrapped his arms around them both, which felt just as familiar and
comforting. They held there for at least a minute.
“Well, I better keep going,” Mateo said as they were separating. “You two
have a lovely day.”
“Same to you. I hope you find your girl!” UnCarol said as they were walking
back into the house.
“Hey, wait,” UnRandall said. “There’s a college student three doors down.
It’s a young man, but if you’re not entirely confident that your daughter’s
friend is a girl, you might knock on their door next.
“Thank you.” Mateo went down and tried the other house, but Romana wasn’t
there either. She might not have had any inclination to come to this
neighborhood.
“Where to next?” his makeshift driver asked.
He stared at her for a moment. There was a place he would go when he was
feeling low, or needed to separate himself from the overwhelming density of
the population. “I never remember where it is. I only know what turns to
make.”
“Works for me.” The driver started the car, and drove off again.
Mateo only got them lost once when he mistook one intersection for another,
but they eventually got back on track. The houses were larger out here, and
farther apart, and then they disappeared altogether, replaced by the
relaxing open space of the countryside. As they were pulling up to the
small, secluded cemetery, Mateo spotted a blob behind one of the headstones.
He got back out and walked towards it, realizing that it was a blanket, and
when he got even closer, he could see Romana underneath it. She was with a
boy. They were both asleep. “Romy!”
Romana awoke suddenly. “Dad! What the hell are you doing here?”
“Looking for you. It’s September 9.”
“Oh my God, are you serious?” She let the blanket drop as he rubbed her
face. I lost track of time.”
The boy extended his hand towards Mateo. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Nieman.
I’m Boyd Maestri, and I’m in love with your daughter.”
Mateo stared at the NPC in disgust before looking back at Romana. “You were
asleep and unresponsive for a whole day. Romy, this isn’t all right. We’re
worried sick about you out there. You looked almost dead, floating in that
pool.”
She stood up and started putting her clothes back on. “I’m sorry, I didn’t
mean to cause a fuss. My external sensors must be acting up.”
“Yeah, that can happen when you have sex in VR.”
“VR?” the fake Boyd asked. “You have VR goggles? Can I try them?”
“He doesn’t really look like the real Boyd,” Mateo pointed out.
“I just couldn’t come up with another name. It’s not really him. He’s new.”
“Whatever,” Mateo said. “He’s staying here, and we’re going. Wake up.”
“I can’t just leave him here,” Romana contended.
“He’s not real!” Mateo argued.
“Yes, he is!” Romana shot back. “He’s emerging.”
“Oh my God. Wake up this instant!”
“Just let me call a RideSauce for him. He doesn’t have much money in his
account right now.” Romana took out her phone.
“Leave it to you to choose a deadbeat for a faux boyfriend.” Mateo stepped
to the side and pointed to the car. She’ll take him back home. Now let’s
go.”
“Fine!” Romana shouted. She de-resed.
Mateo de-resed next, and woke up on the cot.
“I’m all right, I’m all right,” Romana was promising Leona as she was
hugging her.
“She is,” Mateo agreed. “She wasn’t lost, or confused, or anything. She was
just...”
“I believe the word you’re looking for is happy,” Romana said to him.
“You’re a big girl,” Mateo began. “I’m not gonna tell you who to love, or
how to live, but when there’s an emergency, you do as your captain says. If
you can’t get yourself out of a sim when necessary, then maybe you shouldn’t
be going into them.
“What happened to not telling me how to live?” Romana questioned. She looked
down at her bikini. “Why am I still wearing this? Is it okay with you if I
go back into a pocket to take a shower?”
“Yeah,” Mateo answered. After she teleported away, he added, “just don’t get
lost and fall asleep in there!”
“She can’t hear you anymore,” Leona said.
“I know that!” he returned.
“I see that you’re mad,” Leona said. “We don’t have the details, but I trust
that it’s justified. I just want you to be careful. She needs your love and
support, even if you don’t agree.”
Mateo breathed to calm himself down. “I know that too.”
