"We have had to escalate our activities as Alice appears to be casting her influence to the real world and is beginning to manipulate individuals. We cannot identify any clear plan. We believe her current recruitment amasses approximately 1,000,000 people."
"How many!" Martin blurted out. Again the boy ignored the interruption.
"The controlled units are of a clear demographic, the gamers she has been interacting with. Due to the growing severity, you were chosen as part of a systematic investigation into a subset of this group. We are not as yet able to clearly identify a cohesive strategy to combat the situation."
"You mean you are trying anything because you haven't got a clue how to fix the mess you have created and it is getting out of control." Martin summarised. The boy sat back down.
"Yes," he said.
The sudden weakness touched him. Whatever the situation was, Martin was right in it. He was a problem solver and this was certainly his problem. He decided to discard all of the craziness around him, ignore that unnecessary painful electric shock, and focus.
"Let's look at what we've got," he said.
They had sat looking over figures and charts for some time now. Mum had brought up fizzy, drinks, biscuits and crisps, so that was nice. The other two boys had drifted off at some point. Martin wasn't sure when, absorbed in his new puzzle. He had discovered that he was in the presence of Jeremy, HackerNet Commander in Chief. They had connections in many places, but this was where it all happened. Alice had gone rogue a few months ago and escaped onto the world wide freedom of the net. Uno was just a minor contact for this group. He had used a very early version of Alice so had no idea what she was up to now.
The group's installation onto Martins machine was their first attempt at gaining more data on the program. They believed if they distributed an early version and let it train, they could analyse the results. Martin was chosen purely because he was connected through Uno and lived nearby. Uno had returned Martin's data to the group via an anonymous delivery mechanism, so he had no idea that it was led by these boys. They had studied it. The conclusion was that the Alice on his machine had rapidly connected itself to the Alice out on the net and took on its big sisters capabilities. There had been some digital footprints which they had started to break down. When Uno had contacted them with Martin's proposition, they were more than happy to accept someone else into their problem space. Perhaps they hadn't thought through the cloak and dagger arrangement in much detail, Martin thought.
"So we can see the extent of Alice's infiltration into other systems. She has used hacking techniques to insert at least parts of 'herself' into all these programs." Martin assessed, absorbing the information rapidly.
"Here." Jeremy had changed his manner somewhat. He was now just like any teenager enthusiastically involved in his favourite topic. A screen with a list of usernames scrolled and points appeared on a map of the world.
"This is a list of the known, err, victims." he said.
"Let me see that!" Martin took over the keyboard. He filtered the list to people in his location. There were five.
"Can you get personal details on these?" he asked.
"Simple!" The boy took the keyboard back and started to type quickly. Screens appeared, data flashed past.
"Bingo!" he exclaimed.
Dossier type information appeared with the personal details of the local residents that Martin had selected. He snatched the keyboard back vigorously. Jeremy looked hurt. He flicked through. The third was green eyes. Martin noted her first name mentally, Emma. It wasn't a very good picture, he thought.
"Jeremy. Time to call it a night dear." Mum's call came faintly from downstairs.
"Yes mother," he called back dutifully.
"Print that off quick and I'm gone," Martin said urgently.
The boy handed over the freshly printed forms which he had paper clipped and put into a plastic folder.
"Get back in touch soon. Please," Jeremy called as Martin left the room.
It was very late when Martin got out of a taxi at the address on Emma's profile, a ground floor flat in a cheap, but fairly nice area. He rang the bell and waited patiently. He saw the curtain move. There was the sound of glass breaking from an alley. Martin moved fast, getting round the house just in time to see the shadow of a figure disappearing at the other end of the lane. Light spread into the night from the open back door to the flat. Martin sprinted. It must be Emma and he had scared her. Perhaps the fact that he still had on his hoody uniform hadn't helped.
She was fast. At every turn he made, she was disappearing around another. He knew this area well. It looked like she was heading for the river. It would be well populated at this time of night as revellers enjoyed the late offerings of the quayside entertainments. He turned a final corner and found them as expected. Groups queued at doors to bars and clubs. Large parties talked loudly at each other in a forest of figures. Thinking quickly he jumped up onto a small bollard which put his view over the heads of those gathered. He could see a red haired woman making her way deep into the crowd, causing a wake with her pushing. Like watching the shell game, he kept track of her head until it slipped into one of the bars.
Martin jumped down. He made his way to the entrance she had taken. Scanning the room, there was no sign of her. Guessing where she would have gone, he boldly approached a woman at the bar, something he wouldn't normally dream of doing. The events of the past days were changing him. Coping with problems was becoming like a game. Maybe it was an unconscious protection mechanism to stop him falling to bits. Whatever it was, he felt confident and in control.
"Excuse me," he said to the very attractive blond sipping her drink with a couple of her friends. He looked quite a state after his sprint and in his urban uniform. She looked up, eyes showing compassionate concern.
"Yes. Can I help you?" Her voice was kind. Her friends tutted and glared. The one nearest her put her hand on the woman's arm to bring her attention back to the group. The blond kept her eye contact with Martin.
"A woman with red hair and green eyes is in the bathroom. She is agitated and frightened. I am here to help her. Would you go in and tell her that her friend from the Glade is here please." He looked her straight in the eyes and spoke clearly and calmly.
The woman gave a brief smile and put down her drink. As she got up she gave Martins hand a squeeze and walked off.
"What's your problem?" said one of the other occupants at the table confrontationally. He ignored her. Life around him was like a film, they were just extras.
He saw the blond girl reappear, closely followed by Emma. She wasn't dressed for the evening, just jeans and a t-shirt. Her wide eyes searched the room and caught his. Martin's heart beat like he was sprinting again. The blond woman took her arm and Martin saw Emma give her a nod.
"Here she is", said the woman. Martin and Emma just looked at each other.
"I hope you will be very happy together." She gave a small chuckle and returned to her table. Her entourage began to be babble at her as she went back to sipping her drink.
Emma looked quite shaken. Her eyes were red. She either had not been sleeping well, or crying, or both.
"It might not be the Glade, but let's find somewhere to talk." Martin said. She smiled slightly and they left together.
Emma sat with a cup of coffee Martin had made for her. They had gone back to her flat to secure it after her rushed departure. On the way Martin covered some details of their shared past, the meeting at the Glade, the park, to belay any fears she may have had over his identity. Emma began her story and Martin listened patiently, giving her the space to offload.
"That woman who appeared when you were at the Glade, I recognised her, she had been there before. She was nice then but didn't understand the point of building it. I tried to explain that I got pleasure from the process and the results, especially the detail. She just didn't get it. She wanted me to come with her to MeetCentral and have some fun. I got the impression that we didn't share the same ideas on that. She was a bit off with me and left."
"Then, later, I saw her again. Her manner had changed and she was very endearing. She invited me to a couple of games and I agreed. I did so well it was unbelievable. I had no idea about poker but got straight through to a final. She helped me play the hands but it still seemed like I was getting extremely good cards."
"Ladynight?" said Martin, things slotting into place.
"Yes. How did you know that?"
"I knocked you and CanadaBill out"
"That was you? To tell you the truth I was quite relieved. I had wanted to back out a few times. It all seemed a bit stressful. She took me to this fantasy game after that. I had played this game before so I knew that I was increasing levels way too fast. I was supposed to visit the king. She said she might have a special job for me. She had started to order me about and I wasn't too happy with it. There was some sort of massive attack at the castle and I got killed. I didn't hear from her again."
Martin didn't feel like telling her that he was the destroyer. He nodded and let her continue. It sounded like Alice had been bringing them together for some plan of her own.
"That's takes us up to meeting you at the Glade. I didn't really know what was going on but I logged out because you seemed so insistent. After an hour or so I went back in. I saw the Glade, destroyed. I was devastated. I know it's silly, but I spent so much time on it. I was going to contact the administrators to see if I could get it restored when she reappeared. She had changed her avatar to look quite terrible."
Emma became distraught at the recollection.
"She was really abusive. She said I had to follow her instructions or there would be trouble. I have met some pretty nasty people in my time on the net. I know there is no talking to them so I just went offline to contact the administrators on mail. That's when things went crazy. This is going to sound a bit unbelievable."
"Try me," said Martin. He had been listening intently to her story, but he was taking a lot of pleasure in just being with her. Emma took a gulp of coffee.
"Her face appeared in a program outside of the game. That's when I got really worried. She must be a hacker and got a handle on my computer somehow. She told me to stop and listen to her. I tried to shut it down, but it kept restarting. She said if I didn't stop and listen she was going to access my bank and put me in serious money trouble. I just switched off the computer and rang the bank immediately."
"By the time I got to talk to someone she had already been in. They said I was in debt for £150,000 and they couldn't understand why I hadn't been contacted sooner. They would be writing to me in due course. There was no discussing things with them. I was pretty shook up. I didn't know what to do. I went back online to search for some help and she was back. All I could do was listen. That was when I got the instructions for the park." She looked guilty.
"I said I wasn't going to do it. I would find another way out. I went out to walk to the bank to find someone to talk to. A group of boys stopped me on the way. They said I had to do what Alice said." Her voice trembled and she paused briefly to compose herself.
"I'm sorry. I went back online and told her I would do what she said, but I couldn't completely. That's when I decided I would warn you first. Since then I have been hiding. I feel like a coward. I don't know what to do. I am not up to this. I don't get into trouble." She put down the coffee. The tears ran now but she looked Martin in the eye, unashamed of her emotion.
Martin wanted to hold her but he was afraid that he would break down too. Seeing her being honest about the way she felt, about her fear, had struck a chord in him. He felt his own fear surface in empathy. She appeared to be gaining her composure. Sitting back on the couch, she looked across at him.
They talked through the remainder of the night and into the morning. Martin explained the true nature of Alice, HackerNet and his experiences. Then he started talking about himself. He had never been so honest. He found himself telling her about his family, his father, his mother, his childhood. It all seemed necessary, important that she knew everything about him. In between his story flowed hers, telling him similar personal details. The conversation fitted together like jigsaw pieces found. In different ways they were very the same. The conversation stopped. It wasn't the silence they both loathed when in the company of others. It was a silence of understanding. Emma reached out her hand and Martin took it.
Martin woke on the couch to the sound of a kettle boiling and the smell of toast. Sunlight hurt his eyes. The memory of where he was surfaced through a sleepy haze. Emma was in the open plan kitchen. She smiled over to him.
"Good Morning," she said brightly. She was dressed for the day and busied herself over her preparations.
"Not much of it left though," she added.
Martin looked over at the clock. 11:30. He stretched and then panicked. He wasn't dressed. His clothes were on the chair just out of reach. There was a chance, she had her back turned. He threw back the cover and clumsily made a hurried grab for his jeans. He pulled them on with his back to the kitchen. When he turned he just caught Emma looking away quickly. He smiled to himself, pulled on his t-shirt and began to tidy his sleeping area.
They sat in silence together at the kitchen bar over orange juice, toast and tea. They looked at each other comfortably and smiled.
"Thanks for that," Martin said, draining his teacup. He stretched again.
"I am going back to HackerNet now."
"I am coming too." said Emma as she stood and began to clear the table.
Martin thought about that. He would have liked her to stay out of this, but with the story of her money and the threats he thought she shouldn't be left alone. It was good enough reasoning for him to justify the pleasure of her continued company.