I decided it was time to start giving everyone a sense of what they will be getting in a few weeks. Below is Chapter 3-in it's entirety. Let me know what you think, and be sure to join in at the facebook event if you haven't already, to keep up to date on all of the upcoming shenanigans by clicking here!
Pre://d.o.mai.n
Book one of the d.o.mai.n
series
by
Christopher Godsoe
Chapter 3
The
box under the shipping paper was blank cardboard, making Miles wonder
why they even bothered wrapping it at all. He could think of far
better choices for decoration than flat brown paper that matched the
flat brown cardboard underneath.
One
of his favorite games growing up was to try to guess his birthday and
Christmas presents based on the shape, size, weight, and balance of
the package. It annoyed his parents to no end growing up, mostly
because he was really good at it. It was a compulsion he sometimes
wished he'd grown out of, but once again he couldn't resist the
mystery of the package in his hands.
He
made a show of taking in every detail of the box while Skyler
anxiously waited for him to open it. It was sealed with blank
shipping tape, and the outside of the box offered no clues either.
The exterior of the packing paper had been blank as well. If the
packing paper had been blank, and the exterior of the box had been
blank, then how did the package arrive at his Aunt and Uncle's house?
A mystery. Miles loved a good mystery.
They
could have always shipped this inside of a larger box, he supposed,
but that wasn't the option his mind was first drawn to. It was
unnecessarily complex.
Some
of the more technologically advanced, environmentally conscious
companies had developed ink designed to disappear at predefined
intervals. The ink would fade a few days after a mail order package
was scheduled to be delivered. The reason for that being that once a
package had been delivered, or served its initial purpose, the
decorative elements and shipping information that had been printed on
the box days before would disappear, facilitating reuse and cutting
down on landfill waste.
The
technology was fairly new, and still hadn't been adopted widely. The
list of companies that shipped their packages this way could be
counted on one hand, and Miles knew them all. He doubted that his
twelve year old nephew would hand him a present from one of the three
largest sex toy companies in the world, which employed the technology
more out of discretion than out of environmental consciousness. He
didn't think that Skyler would give him a selection of health food
from the sole online grocer that used the ink. That left one possible
option.
Once
Miles had that part of the equation nailed down, he was pretty
confident what was inside the box.
He
tried to look his cousin in the eye, but Skyler took a sudden
interest in the traffic outside and said,”Just open it!"
"Okay!
I'm opening it!"
Miles
tore open the packing tape and flipped open the box top, laughing.
After a short struggle with a flat black sleeve, he freed the foam
clamshell within. The sleeve bore the words "Kincaid Industries
SideARM SA-301" repeatedly in a diagonal pattern in gloss black.
He'd
been right, and a triumphant smile creased his face as he placed the
foam onto the tabletop and lifted the top half free.
Inside,
he first spotted the black anodized aluminum rectangle with rounded
edges- the SideARM. He almost didn't dare to touch it. He'd wanted
one for years, but had given up that dream shortly after his mother
had gotten sick. It was a mobile computer, designed by Kincaid
Industries to replace the old touchscreen cellular phones that his
parents had grown up with. It communicated wirelessly with a pair of
included glasses , using various discreet sensors to collect data
from the environment around you.
It
could see what you saw, hear what you heard. It also knew where you
were, which direction you were looking, and could even place virtual
objects in the users field of vision to interact with, such as
ethereal keyboards or web browser pages. "Augmented Reality"
was the technical term for it, if Miles remembered correctly. "Reject
their reality, and substitute your own," had been the tag line.
He'd
seen the commercials.
Miles
only knew a fraction of what they could do, but he and Skyler had
devoured every bit of information on the net. There seemed to be no
limit to what a SideARM would let you alter when it came to
perception. Like your car, but want to see what it would look like in
a different color? You never had to look at that faded baby blue
again, the glasses could shift the color from light blue to anything
you wanted, and maintain the illusion forever, so long as you wore
the glasses. Want to kick up your sex life with a uber-realistic
role-playing session? You could replace the face and skin tone of
your significant other with whoever you want. It might only be an
illusion, but you could do a lot with illusion. As long as anyone
undertaking such a virtual infidelity kept the proportions of their
reality in mind, the effect was seamless.
You
could even use the system to land micro-temp jobs, like what SideARM
owners called “swarm security.” Since the cameras were constantly
online, you could “turk out” or lease your point of view for an
hour or two at a time, serving as undercover surveillance that the
employer would need to neither insure nor provide benefits for. All
of that, with none of the upkeep of an installed CCTV system. Since
they employed multiple people off the street at any given moment, it
was impossible to tell who was security and who was shopping. There
were no blind spots to such a system, and that uncertainty for
would-be thieves was often enough to reduce crime to negligible
levels.
As
Miles lifted the glasses from their slot in the packing and slid them
from their protective pouch, he remembered his old desktop at home.
The process of packing it up, carrying it, and setting it back up at
all of those retro LAN parties growing up made him question several
times if it was even worth the effort. Now, all it would take is a
few flicks of the hand, maybe a spoken word or two, and he would have
a simulated computer sitting in front of him that would put his old
desktop to shame.
Miles
was completely blown away. He sat there in front of Skyler, the
SideARM in one hand, the glasses in the other.
“Happy
Birthday!” Skyler shouted, completely oblivious to the onlookers
that had begun to stare.
Miles
slid the glasses over his eyes, but it was more to hide his budding
tears than anything else. When you go for so long with so little,
your reactions to things change. What would have been a nice gesture
a year ago, one that Miles could have hugged his cousin for and
laughed about, now caused him to fight back tears. The momentary
affectation of the glasses gave him the second or two needed to get
his emotions under control.
He
looked over at Skyler, and recognized the sensors carefully embedded
into his glasses as well, the red ring lit around the center camera
as required by law when recording. Miles could only shake his head.
He'd been so preoccupied with his own issues lately that he hadn't
picked up on the real reason why Skyler had begun wearing glasses.
He'd been wearing his own pair of augmented reality lenses for weeks.
He
lowered his gaze back to the slab of aluminum in his hand. The name
"SideARM" wasn't a Kincaid Industries designation, at least
not initially. Hackers, ever the early adopters when it came to new
tech, had taken the system's processor architecture, ARM, and added
the “side” part. It was an obvious homage to the pistols carried
by police officers. It was an apt comparison, since the little
rectangles were powerful, portable, and gave them a considerable edge
in whatever form of information warfare they found themselves
involved in.
Skyler
started to notice the attention their impromptu birthday party had
aroused and closed the empty box, handing it back to Miles.
“I
think we should get out of here and activate it.”
Miles
pocketed the SideARM, tucked the empty box under his arm, and left
with his cousin. They stepped outside, and a short walk later came
upon an open air restaurant in the square that served as Bangor's
cultural hub, one that was still serving breakfast.
Neither
of them had eaten, so Skyler bought them both large stacks of waffles
with fruit and whipped cream. Skylers parents had money, but he never
lorded it over Miles. He understood Miles and his parents were too
proud to accept much in the way of help, so when he wanted to do
something small for Miles, he just did it without asking, hoping to
avoid making a big deal out of it.
Miles
hated the part of him unable to resist the gift of the SideARM. For
the past year, Skyler and his parents tried to help whenever
possible, but all his parents would allow them to help with was the
periodic home nursing care. This gift, the SideARM, wasn't something
that they needed for his mother or to pay bills. This was for fun,
and there hadn't been much in the way of fun in his house this past
year. If they'd chosen anything else, he might have been able to turn
it down, but the SideARM was the one item that could make him swallow
his pride.
They
retrieved their orders from the counter and sat down at a booth near
the back. Miles removed the aluminum rectangle and placed it atop the
table.
“How
long have you had your SideARM?” he asked Skyler.
“A
while, I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise.”
Miles
took the glasses off to get a better look at them. The flat black
finish of the frames contrasted well with the lens, a seamless panel
of mirrored smoke almost impossible to see through in broad daylight.
The only indication they were anything more than sunglasses built to
a high safety spec were the latex eye cups that were designed to seal
out ambient light from his eyes and the small black oval at the top
center of the single lens. He had to look close to spot the two
optical sensors to either side of the central infrared one. They were
unassuming parts, but extremely good at their jobs.
The
lens wasn't really designed for more than the minimum amount of
visibility required by law. The translucent lens functioned as a
seamless computer display, a place where the footage captured by the
minuscule cameras would be mixed with computer generated imagery to
craft impressive augmented reality visuals. When the glasses were on,
your reality was mediated by the SideARM, and moving around with them
on required that you trust the system not to let you walk off a cliff
someone had obscured with virtual ground.
“Is
there any trick to turning these on?”
"There's
a button on the inside, near the right hinge."
Miles
pressed the button and looked around. A frenetic array of commands
scrolled along every flat surface in sight. He lifted the square
breakfast container on the table, angling it back and forth. The
words seamlessly textured its surface, judging the angles perfectly
as he tilted it to maintain the illusion that the words were printed
onto the thin cover.
“Loading?”
Miles asked.
“Loading.”
The
words disappeared, and Miles was left with the same view of the
restaurant he had before he had turned the glasses on.
“I
expected things to be a little more....busy. How does it work?”
“Just
focus on someone with your eyes. To start, try to pick out something
small on them, like a button or a pin. The system will recognize what
you are looking at and offer up options.”
Miles
concentrated on a woman that happened to be walking by at that
moment. She was carrying a white plastic bag, with just enough
translucency that he could see a receipt through it. Her face blurred
minutely, not enough to rob her of her beauty, but enough to make
identification difficult. He'd heard of this, a provision of privacy
law that required all recording capable smart glasses to carry facial
obscuration software. It was designed to protect the identities of
anyone opted into the governments “Identity Shield” list. Of
course, as the law was written by the government, it did not apply to
them,
just private citizens.
Miles
focused on the receipt, and a virtual copy flew up to him, hovering
in place. When he turned back to the woman, her shopping bag was
intact, along with the original copy of the receipt. Intrigued, Miles
began to read off the items listed on it, noting the hypocrisy of the
government. They would allow receipts to be read through a shopping
bag, but not facial recognition.
Amber's
Funhouse, LLC
1 pair of
lace thongs
1 lace
bra-size 36C
1 10oz
bottle - “Solstice” Perfume.
1 8oz
bottle - "Alice in Wonderland" Lubricant
3 "Romantic
Interlude" Scented Candles
He
was sure someone must have mentioned that credit card receipts were
an easier means to identity theft than scanning someones face, but he
supposed that was what you got when politicians cared more about
justifying their existence than actually providing solutions to
problems. The more he thought about it, the more out of touch the
people running the country seemed technologically.
“Looks
like someone is planning a fun evening,” he said to Skyler.
“Can
I see what you are looking at?” Skyler asked him.
“Sure,
if you...”
Skyler
cut him off.
“Wow.
I should have guessed.”
He
didn't think Skyler needed augmented vision to see his face had grown
red. He decided to change the subject.
“What
else can this thing do?”
“Well,
if you're going to go to that kind of trouble, you might as well have
her model it for you.”
The
young woman’s clothing dissolved, much the same way the plastic bag
had, to reveal the undergarments she had purchased. None of this was
actually happening. It was all an illusion created by the SideARM,
but it made Miles feel like he was doing something wrong. At the same
time, he couldn't deny the baser parts of him enjoyed the view. He
hadn't felt that combination of emotions since Junior High, when he
sneaked into the rafters overlooking the girls' changing room at
summer camp. He decided against sharing that story with Skyler.
His
dream at that age had been to have x-ray vision, and now he had it.
Well, not exactly, but the closest mankind would probably ever get
without dangerous levels of radiation. His cousin was looking in
another direction, understanding that at twelve years old he was
perhaps a little young to be looking at the lithe body striding
through the square, sun glinting off her perfectly toned skin. The
confidence attractive women generally exhibit is often lost when they
are nearly naked in public settings, and Miles thought that was too
bad.
Confidence
had always been a quality he found incredibly sexy in women. Even
talking to them on the phone, you can generally tell a beautiful
woman from an ugly one by the confidence in her voice. It was a
classic “chicken or the egg” dilemma. Was the woman more
attractive because of confidence, or was she confident because she
was attractive? Miles thought the answer was yes.
It
had made him feel less concerned about Skyler having this ability
when he saw that Skyler still understood the propriety of his age. He
looked at Skyler with the pride of an older brother. Skyler turned
his head at the same time, as though he could see that Miles had
finished gawking at the woman. Something about how their heads had
moved in sync felt strange, like Skyler had known the instant Miles
had started to turn his head.
Skyler
shook his head and blinked. “That still takes a little getting used
to. It's like an out of body experience. Makes me dizzy.”
Miles
smiled at his cousin, and it was his turn to shake his head. Skyler
hadn't needed to look at the woman directly because he had been
watching her through Miles' eyes.
Miles was too amused at his cousin to lose any of the pride he'd
felt.
“So,
you can hijack another users point of view? Please tell me there's
some kind of lockout function on that. I don't want you or anyone
else to accidentally jump in when I'm taking a leak.”
“Well,
it's a little more complicated than that. You have to be on my
approved user list, what Kincaid Industries calls your “friends
list”. Not just anyone off the street can do it. Plus, you have to
give someone verbal permission.”
"Alright,
let me try.”
Skyler
turned his head to look at a blank space of wall scheduled for
renovation. Soon it would be filled with seamless displays playing a
video loop simulating a tropical beach. The store would sell clothing
inspired by West Coast beach lifestyle, and the storefront was
designed to appear as though the mall had an opening in its wall onto
the sand.
For
now, the walls remained blank, except for a small red dot in the
upper left corner of one of the panels.
“Can
I see what you see?”
“Sure.”
Miles
grabbed the arms of his chair, the change in perspective giving him
the momentary sensation of vertigo.
“I
see what you mean, this is disorienting as hell.”
Miles
let go of Skyler's view and returned to his own. He held to the chair
for a few minutes with his eyes closed until the feeling passed.
When
he opened his eyes, his view returned to normal, and Skyler was
already clearing the table.
“Let's
get out of here, I need to talk to you about something where there
aren't so many.....witnesses.”
Miles
scanned the restaurant and the surrounding area. There was no one
within a hundred feet of them.
"What
witnesses? Dude, we're alone. Spill it."
Skyler
leaned in conspiratorially.
"It's
not exactly legal if you know what I mean."
He
glanced up, his eyes darting to tops of nearby buildings and poles
where surveillance poles were mounted. Constant surveillance of
public places had been a more or less accepted hazard for decades. If
Skyler didn't dare risk his message to the maelstrom of data
collected by the cities surveillance stack, it must have been bad.
"SideARM,
give me the location of every audio unit in my area."
A
round marker highlighted cameras and microphones in the area, but
none of them were within range of their secluded corner of the plaza.
"See,
we're safe."
Skyler
shrugged, and started talking.
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