Chapter Seventeen - Dial-Up and Lag

Chapter Seventeen - Dial-Up and Lag

Chapter Seventeen - Dial-Up and Lag

Pop Culture IS Mesh Culture.

Memes are the currency of the digital world. Its a world where being a sweet-talker can get you further than having any amount of money, and when everyone is divided into cliques and little in-groups, a bunch of them with huge crossover to other groups, knowing the right meme to say at the right time is like passing the right code phrase along to make sure you really do fit in.

Its chaotic, its a mess, and its fucking beautiful.

--Anonymous Meshizen, 2031

***

The Barbie led us through a paper-thin portal in a wall that opened up onto a catwalk. Below were dozens of cubes, each one with plenty of space to walk around them. And each face of the cubes led into a different space occupying the entire cube.

What?

Oh, neat, Daniel said as he spun his upper body around to see better. Theyve got full non-euclidian here.

Please walk in the centre of the catwalk. Its the shortest path to the far end of the room, the barbie said.

I looked at the back of her head, then stepped to the side so that I was on the edge of the catwalk. Suddenly, the other two were shooting out ahead of me. Returning to the middle made the space between us shorter in a way that had my head twinging in pain. What?

Space doesnt need to obey normal rules in the Mesh. Gravity and inertia are the rules that we usually break. You know, like how Im floating right now, Daniel said. But things like linear space can be messed with too.

Yeah, but why? I asked.

Daniel wiggled in a sort of shrug. Because it means having more space in less space if two things can be in the same space at the same time?

I shook my head, whiskers wiggling, and looked down again towards the cubes. There were people in them, some in very strange avatars. They were lounging around, others were typing on floating keyboards, and no two cubes were the same. Are those cubicles?

Not quite, the Barbie said. If you can prove that youre worthy of being here, you get some cube space. What you do with it is up to you. Most just carve out a little space for themselves. Some turn it into an exhibit, others into an access port to some other place in the Mesh. We attract some very creative people here.

I can imagine, I said. Gotta be creative to be a proper criminal, right?

The Barbie slowed to a stop, turned, and looked down at me without her expression so much as twitching. Is there a problem?

Uh, no? Im cool with criminals. I crime all the time, I said. But seriously, Im just here to find some clues to save some girl. Thats it.

The people here, the real hackers and crackers, do more good for society than you could imagine. We act as a counter to some of the most corrupt assholes in the IRL. We make medical bills disappear, send the wrong information to the right people, make R&D projects for some nasty shit fall through.

I will leave you to it. Ill be waiting by the exit, the Barbie said. She left, the vault door now replaced by a pretty typical wooden door straight out of the set from a really old movie.

I finished looking around and settled down a bit. So, uh, hey, I said. Nice avatars?

Thanks, Dial-Up said. Im a huge Back to the Future fan. A sci-fi classic, you know? This idiot got that piece of trash avatar from a fucking bootleg Disney merch stall.

Hey, this thing works well enough, Lag said. It really didnt look like it was working well at all.

So, what was with the solar system? I asked.

The doctor shrugged. We tapped into SpaceXs sensor suite and were snooping around. Just keeping an eye on things. He reached under a desk, pulled out a seat, and plopped himself down on it. So, you were sent by Longbow, right?

Yeah, I confirmed. Im looking for a girl. A Katalina McCarthy. I got some video from the security system around her place. She was taken by a bunch of assholes.

Send the footage over, Dial-Up asked. Well see what we can do.

Just like that? I asked. No payment or anything?

If youre actually looking for your lost girlfriend or something well donate all your assets to the Eastern Russian Sewage Reconstruction fund, then make your digital life a digital nightmare, Lag said. But yeah, youre looking for a kid Samurai, right? We dont charge for that.

Taking some of our time though, Dial-Up said.

Time better spent snooping on Mars? I asked.

Yes, actually.

Sending now!

Nice avatar by the way. Most folk stick to humanoids, but the both of you went off script. Good detail work on the fur. Bet some folks would pay top dollar for such an accurate model, Dial-up said.

Got the files, Lag said.

A moment later the robots eyes went red, and suddenly we were no longer in a garage, but in a familiar corridor. The one McCarthy had been kidnapped from. I fell a few feet to the carpeted floor when the counter I was on disappeared.

This is a reconstruction. Its not accurate, Dial-Up said. He gestured to some parts of the room that were just colourless holes in reality. Blindspots. Now, lets see whats what.

I got to watch the mercenaries kidnap Kattalina all over again, though this time in full three-dimensions.

Well, well, Dial-Up said. Isnt that interesting.

***