The Rise of the Cyborgs

Interlude/James

James hung around the locker he had delivered too. He sat in a corner using his laptop as camouflage. Checking his mail, he discovered he had got an invite from Professor Greystone to the 'Introduction'. The Introduction Was so elite it wasn't even held every year. Only if there were enough good students. At the Introduction top, students from the class got introduced to High level officials in GovSys. If you clicked and found a mentor, you could be put into the 'leaders of tomorrow program''. James forwards the invite to his ambitious parents. They would like that kind of thing. It would make them feel justified in all those tutors they had hired.

While he used his computer he kept an eye up. It took him an hour of waiting. Naberus had sent him the results to another assessment. James checked it looking to see if it came over as 'right'.. The Introduction worried James, the better he did, the more he was likely to be found out. Naberus liked holding his face to the fire like this.

A reminder popped up. There was another boring Freedom party meeting. All the old men would do is go on about how awful the impaired were. If James had to listen to some angry old man complaining about how they didn't get their bins collected because all the government's money was being spent on the impaired, then he would explode. Sure the impaired were a problem, no doubt about it. It was obvious to anyone with a brain cell ,that something needed to be done about it. But seriously did they have to go mad about it? If they just stuck to organising this big demonstration in New Washington then they could cut the meeting time by half.

Just then James noticed a student walk up to the lockers. He looked up and James got ready to approach him. The student then punched a key into the locker above the one James had delivered to. James sighed and in doing realised how tense he was. Getting back down to his pretend work. James almost failed to notice next student approach. It was only When the thin guant boy in a networking cadets outfit started punching keys on the locker that James noticed him. The boy reached in and pulled out a very box James had putting.

He only noticed James standing behind him when he turned round. The networking cadet It was good head taller than James and looked down at him worriedly. He flinched slightly and hid the box he got out.

"I'm told" James began looking around. "You know where to go to get ... stuff..."

"I don't know what you're talking about" the networking cadet said.

"Exams are coming up." James said "..please.."

The networking cadet looked around.

"There is a website... you know the game The Dragon Scrolls the online one?"

James nodded.

"Go to the Cave of forgotten dreams. There is a dark wizard called Naberus. Mention what you want. He accepts a huge amount of in game coin."

Just then someone approached from Jame's programming class, she looked at them while she approached.

"And the impaired guy says is that' oh is that what it's for? I just spent the whole afternoon licking it clean," James said then they both laughed.

"You have a good one." The cadet said loudly then whispered "Oh and you have to give him your locker number. Remember I don't know you. I haven't told you anything."

"You got it." James said "thanks."

***********

James Didn't use his laptop to play Dragon Scrolls. Naberus would be expecting that. There was a gaming cafe he used to check out. He went to that and rented a machine. While James remembered trying the game he also remembered why he stopped playing it. Finding the Cave of Forgotten Dreams involved about three side quests to get enough strength to move the bolder. Normally this would have been a quick joint quest but he didn't want to team up on this one.

The game cave seemed genuinely creepy. The rented screen was both wide and wrapped around you like a flight sim. It also had a projector for a light. This mixed what was in the room with what was on the screen. The combination with the rock at made it feel unbearably weird.

James had died five times in the cave so far. So he move cautiously towards the deep well top, this was it. The warlock dwelt like a mist in the well.

"who disturbs me?" The voice leaked up from the well.

"I am Ajax" James said using his character name. "I'm told here I can find certain potions. Ones which will help me in my quest."

"My potions are powerful and do not come lightly." Naberus said "what is it that you seek? Speak and it will be "

The way he responded was like a machine, the kind that littered the game. This was a good cover. There were a number of businesses that had sprung up in and around the game. These included people who would sell you a pretty strong avatar. The kind that you only got only by building up quests which was both boring and time-consuming. There were places where people would play the same levels over and over again. Levelling up free characters so that wealthier players can come in and buy them. It made complete sense that someone could sell 'fake' potions for virtual currency which could be converted back into real money. The game became both shopfront and money laundering system.

James paused for a second. This was the moment of truth. If he was being monitored at this point he was committing an offence.

"Ndox-3" James typed

It was a study drug, It helped you concentrate and somehow boosted your memory. University didn't run a blood test for it yet.

"Run-shadow" James added as far as he knew it temporarily boosted your brainpower. You took it before the exam. It had same effect as the banned and tested Eflocx.

The well paused. James assumed in that incredibly tense moment. the robot which was running the Well was transmitting information to its human handler, Naberus Himself.

"I can do that. Five doses of Ndox-3 and 3 of run-shadow will be 80,000 gold coins. 90,000 in a gated community" Naberus said.

That was a vast amount of money in game. The kind you could only get by uploading real money. At current conversion rates it wasn't pocket money either.

James then pressed the button on his phone. This set off a trace program. The trace program was his way out. All James had to do was to keep Naberus talking long enough for the packets to be really assembled.

"I can do that" James said "How do I know You're not a fraud."

"Give me Your locker address And you will pick up code. I'll send you a free sample."Naberus Replied.

James have been ready for this too. "354-231-332..sorry" He began to type the lockers address of someone he knew had dropped out. Amir had given him his locker pass once. It was an untraceable dropbox which wouldn't give him away. "354-231-323-45" James continue to type. He made a couple of more mistakes to waste time, then completed the deal.

"the keypad code is BB342" he added.

"Look tomorrow." Naberus said. "Don't hang around your locker. Look after 12:00"

Just then the trace back unit pinged out that Naberus was coming in from what had been the Ukraine specifically Odessa. Frantsuz'ky Blvd. Some how the New-Am firewall didn't block his intrusion as it was supposed to. James felt a wonderful sense of elation. With a section trace he could pin point the house. That would come when he reordered. All he had to do now was wait for Naberus to send his to do the transfer.