Veil (85 page)

“He—he wants me to go over there tomorrow.”
Oh my God, please help me
.

“I see.”
He will most likely do physical
or emotional harm to Roy
.
Perhaps both
.

“Do—do you think he’s going to kill me or
something? He’s never told me to come over before.”
He’s going
to kill me.

“He won’t kill you, Roy.”
I could see him
killing someone.

“I hope not.”
I can’t believe Ken and
Brock left me here alone with the two of you.

“Anyway, I’m pretty sure I know why he wants
you there.”
It’s because he’s evil and out to destroy
me.

“You do?”
Is it cause I’m stuck in the
middle of two crazy people?

“Yes. And it’s fine. Whatever he asks of you,
do it. Don’t worry about me. Just do it.”
Poor Roy. Poor, poor
sweet Roy.

“Ummm … ok. But … what—” he started to ask
but gave up. “Never mind. Goodnight, Suren.”
Right, because I’m
going to be worried about you while he’s trying to kill me.
Right.

“Goodnight, Roy.”
Poor Roy.

He started the long walk to his wing of the
mammoth house. Whatever Suren was alluding to shouldn’t matter to
him. If Roy let it matter, he’d worry about it all night and
wouldn’t be able to sleep. He’d find out soon enough why Hunter
summoned him. Besides, Roy learned long ago that when it came to
matters having to do with Suren and Hunter, it was best to go in
blind.

It was like when he used to go see a movie,
although he never saw its preview. That way, he couldn’t kick
himself afterwards; he couldn’t blame himself. He had no idea what
was coming the following day, which was usually best when dealing
with those two.

Blindly was the only way to deal with the
likes of Suren and Hunter. If someone knew what was coming and they
still went into the situation willingly, that meant they were as
crazy as Suren and Hunter. Roy knew he might be slightly off, but
he wasn’t Suren-and-Hunter-crazy.

“Hell no I ain’t,” he said out loud and
changed directions. He headed for the kitchen.

“And that’s what happened the first night Ms.
Suren showed up at my house. After … after she got the memory.
After she got my message.”

Slack-jawed, Peyton gawked at Roy. She
couldn’t believe what she heard. For Almighty Jin’s sake, she
simply couldn’t picture the woman her mother and grandmother
idolized—the same small, frail old woman she met—doing what Roy
described. Not the Great Widow Tsay.

“Sh—she’s ok with us putting all
that
in the Veillusion?” Peyton asked Hunter.

“Yes
.
” Hunter’s
tongue swirled his words out vindictively. “She said it’s up to me.
Since you figured out how Ken ended up being the Vault for the
memory, you might as well have the whole torrid backstory. I think
maybe people will start to understand the Tsay Legacy a little
clearer now that you have the real version of how and why Ken died,
and the story of how crazy she was—I mean how crazy
she
is
.”

“I don’t think ‘clearer’ is the right word,
Dr. Kennerly. Like, this will change the history of Veil or
something. I don’t know. But, that’s like … pretty major.”

“Honey, she said it’s all up to me, and if
we’re going to put out the truth—then fuck it. Let’s see if they
can really handle the truth.”

Roy laughed at that line, and Hunter laughed
in return. The reference was lost on Peyton, but it didn’t matter;
her mind was struggling to process the new information, so she was
still in shock.

“So what now?” she asked.

“So now you and I write in the missing parts,
fix some details you messed up, and then we’re done. I’ll send
notice to Suren and tell her to get the testimony to Congress
ready. Recording and storing real neuroelectrical patterns will
still be forbidden, as will streaming anything over the vNet. Other
than that, it looks like the Veillusion Industry is about to get a
big boost.”

“It looks like it,” Peyton grinned. She was
proud of herself and of what they produced.

“Once it’s ready, we can load it up in the
Temple, and it can go live. The release of the Veillusion will
coincide with our announcement that The Jin Experience bill has
been rewritten.”

“That’s so amazing. You really have no idea,
Dr. Kennerly. It’s going to change so much.”

“I’m guessing it will. All we need to do is
name your Veillusion, I guess.”

“Actually, to be honest, I was considering
calling the damn thing ‘Veil
.
’ If … if
that’s ok with you, of course. With all of you.”

Hunter laughed, “I was going to suggest
naming it ‘Suren Dies at the End
,
’ but
perhaps yours is more suitable. I’m sure none of us have a problem
with that. However, feel free to go with my suggestion if you
like.”

Peyton placed a small, shiny black box onto
the table in front of Suren. The box was inscribed with the
shimmering gold letters to which Suren had grown accustomed.

The box read: “VEIL.”

“That’s it,” Peyton smiled.

“That’s it?”

“Yes ma’am. That’s it. That right there is
the complete Veillusion of Veil. From the very beginning with you,
Jin, and Ken in college to the very end of Lundy’s trial and
everything we could possibly include in-between.”

“How long is it?”

“Total, it’s nine hours and forty-five
minutes in realtime and about thirty-five minutes in Veiltime.
Although, almost no one will use Veiltime, of course.”

“Of course.”

“But it’s ready. It has the Hunter and Roy
seals of approval, and it’s only awaiting yours. Unfortunately, now
that we’re done working on it, Hunter made me remove all the traces
of the streaming technology I had, so you’re going to have to
shadow it in realtime. But, like … you could shadow it overnight,
and then it would be ready in the morning. Use the touchscreen on
the collar to choose which Trustee’s perspective you want, and it
will do the rest.”

“Ok, well thank you Peyton. I will be in
touch tomorrow. I’ve already informed my contact in Congress about
the plan, and I’ll be able to appear before them soon to recommend
the change. My recommendation will go through, and we’ll likely set
the announcement for Jin Tsay Day, like we did for
The Jin
Experience
.”

“But … but—” Peyton quickly did the math and
protested, “That’s over five months away. Jin Tsay Day isn’t for
five months.”

“Which gives you a head start, young lady.
Only the announcement will be on Jin Tsay Day. The amendment to the
bill will be effective immediately. You can start programming your
little Veillusions right away. Before any of your peers know what’s
coming.”

Peyton beamed as that sunk in.

“I’ll contact you tomorrow,” Suren smiled in
return.

It was late and she was getting tired.
Because she knew she wouldn’t be able to Veil the final version
that evening, there was no sense in staying up much longer. She set
her collar to shadow the artificial brain overnight so the Veil
would be waiting for her in the morning. She rolled herself to her
bedroom.

Suren tried to do things on her own as much
as possible. She could get in and out of bed easily enough,
although she lacked the strength to walk unassisted. Trying to use
a cane or walker caused too much pain, so she didn’t bother with
one. Besides, she felt a wheelchair was more elegant than a cane or
walker. She didn’t like the image of herself all hunched over and
hobbling; Suren preferred to sit upright and glide gracefully.

Her doctor told her she lacked energy because
of her lungs. She didn’t get enough oxygen in her lungs, so her
blood couldn’t deliver the load her muscles needed. Suren knew
there were things she could do to improve her health, strengthen
her lungs, increase the blood flow. She simply didn’t care. She
didn’t want to die, and she had reason enough to live; she was just
apathetic. Apathy maybe mixed with a twinge of good, old fashioned
lazy. Suren was tired, and she wanted whatever was going to happen
to her to simply happen already.

The morning after Peyton left her with the
Veillusion, Suren pulled herself out of bed and popped into her
wheelchair. It wasn’t noon yet, which meant it was too early for
Roy to be up, so she didn’t even bother flattening down her hair
with her hands. She rolled herself down the long hallway. As
always, she marveled at the burgundy and gold plush carpet, with
its honeycombed, Victorian pattern. The design reminded her of the
Metro tunnels. Jin always loved those tunnels. They might’ve been
one of his favorite things about the District. Suren smiled; that
carpet was such a good choice.

She rolled herself through the swinging
mahogany French doors and into the garden room. She pushed the
doors open with her wheelchair footrests, which had marked the
doors on both sides—approximately four inches from the ground. Each
time Suren rolled through, she thought to herself that they should
prop the doors open and leave them that way. Each time the doors
swung closed behind her, she remembered that the garden room needed
to stay closed off to contain the right atmosphere for all the
plants.

She rolled to the glass table in the middle
of the room and positioned herself so the edge of the table was
gently digging into her left side. Suren lifted the vCollar from
the table and placed it on herself. The collar sat atop her hair
and rested on her nape. She pressed the button to begin the
transfer of her Witness from the artificial brain back over to her
collar. The silicone sheet expanded from the base and snaked up
along the contour of her head. When the collar beeped again, Suren
let her head fall back against the headrest of her high-back
wheelchair, and she closed her eyes.