Alice in Virtuality (5 page)

"Go on then, and remember, you are the man." Alice linked her arm with his, floating beside him.

They drifted down to a clear spot on the outskirts of the central throng. On landing, figures began to amble, saunter and sashay over. Text scrolled through the chat window.

"Hey Alice, looking good."

"Hi there doll. You look hot!"

"Hey Alice. Remember me?"

Alice giggled and unhooked herself from Martin. He was lost in a growing mass of attention focused on his escort. She drifted further away with the crowd following attentively. There was a wink and a blown kiss from her before she was absorbed. So, he was on his own, but he was the man, he reminded himself, unconvinced. There was a group of about eight standing in a circle ahead. They looked approachable with a suitable gap for him to slot in.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi!" An attractive female figure opposite responded.

"Hello."

"Hiya."

Greetings tumbled down the screen from the others. Martin made his avatar smile.

"... and I got the new upgrade for eyes. I think it looks good." The woman who had first responded dropped back into her conversation.

Another woman, that she appeared to be speaking to, added her text.

"My first session at the Music Circle went really well yesterday. We learnt all about combining rhythms on the virtual instruments. But everyone just did whatever they wanted. It was hilarious."

Her avatar doubled up in a laugh, the gesture ended as abruptly as it started. The graphics engine required some work Martin noted. The chat continued, interrupted intermittently by a sales offer or an announcement of a 'must be seen at' gathering. Martin couldn't find a place to join in. None of their dialogue linked up, they all seemed to be having their own private conversations with themselves. He made his move.

"I am new here. I must say you all look fabulous."

Heads turned towards him. The text box filled with Thank you''s from the party. There was a moment's pause and their undirected comments returned.

"Would anyone like a chat?" Martin asked.

No response, just the continued babbling scroll. He couldn't think of anything else to say. After a while of watching he decided to move on.

He wandered around like a ghost, orbiting the outskirts of many groups, never pushing in. Everywhere was the same, men and women flirting, people talking about the game or themselves. All the time the responses were disjoint, off topic from the comment preceding. It was just the same as any party he had been to. There seemed to be no way to contribute and nothing interesting being said if he had. The effort on his appearance hadn't changed anything. Everyone looked good, resulting in everyone looking the same.

Losing interest, he went to a notice board,. The virtual pages slid across the frame as he flipped through. One small section showed a picture of a waterfall with the logo 'Get away from it all. Come to The Glade'. It was just what he wanted to do right now. His avatars hand touched the sign, the screen dissolved and he was transported.

The Glade appeared below as he floated down in a slow spiral. Light reflected off the cascading water casting hints of colours on the mist. The hard stone grey of the rocks contrasted the vibrant greens of mosses and grasses. He touched down at the plunge pool viewing the falls from below. He couldn't understand why there wasn't anyone else here, this was a work of art. Small bright flowers were peppered through the grass. The detail was wonderful. Five Hello''s stacked in the chat box. He had been so absorbed he had missed them.

A scan of the view finally located the avatar of a girl. Her bare feet were visible below a knee length pleated green skirt. She wore a free flowing white shirt with a rainbow vest beneath. Her skin was pale, her hair red and full, but cutting through all this were her beautiful green eyes. Another Hello' appeared as Martin gazed at her.

"Hey," he typed in his inarticulate way.

"I don't get many visitors. Do you like it?" Her avatar smiled.

"Like what?"

"This!" She lifted her hands in a sign of everything.

"You made this?"

"The Glade, yes. It took a long time, but I thought people might come here to share quiet moments together. It's not very popular. A few arrive but they don't stay long in case their social rating drops too much."

"Social rating?"

"They work it out by number of people you talk to, contribution to conversations, all sorts of things like that. Most people here are playing the game. My score is irretrievable now." She giggled.

"I am new here."

He wished he could say more but he felt tongue, or is that keyboard, tied. He was a bit anxious, but not in the bad way he experienced in real life, more of an excited tingle.

"You should go soon then. I'm sure your newbie grace period will carry you over this diversion. Thank you for coming," It sounded like a speech she had used before.

"I like it here. Can I stay a while?"

There was a pause.

"Well yes, of course, but you don't look the sort who would want to really."

Martin cursed his outfit.

"Can I go and get changed and come back?"

"I would like that." She smiled again.

He selected the changing room from the menu and dropped out of the world. Flicking through the available items, he wanted to choose something that reflected himself. Black sprang to mind. No. He had ideas that shone like the sun, a red of passion in his life, even if it was for a complex mathematical problem. He was over thinking it. Selecting jeans, trainers and a blue t-shirt with a yellow smiley, he entered the command to return to the world.

A message box stated 'Unknown credentials, not permitted'.

"What!"

Alice appeared.

"Not looking like that you aren't!" She stood with her hand on one hip, her voice coming over the speakers as normal.

"You are stopping me? Let me in now!"

Her avatar doubled over with a fake guffaw and righted itself.

"I don't think so Martin. We went there to play and look at your score, it's pathetic. You put your nice clothes on, come back to MeetCentral and we will start over."

"Look, this game isn't me ok. Just let me back in and leave me alone."

"If this isn't for you, why would you want to go back in?" She put her head on one side in a quizzical pose.

Martin said nothing, not wanting to give Alice any information about the girl with green eyes. He decided to try his poker skills.

"Your right. I haven't given it enough of a chance Alice. It was too like the real world. I was going to go in dressed drab like this and make fun of them before I stopped playing. Just childish revenge for getting rejected."

"Ohhh, I like it! That sounds like fun. Tell you what, how about this? You go in and do your worst. Get them all at you. Then I will join and be all over you like a rash. My score is through the roof, with the aid of my special skills of course." She chuckled.

"When they see me with you they won't know what to do. We will make you into an anti-celebrity. I can see it, it will catch on, become a movement. We will change this reality absolutely and it will be ours! Go now! Fly my little anti-butterfly. Attack!" She gestured dramatically and laughed out loud.

The view over MeetCentral reappeared. He had no idea how this would play out, all he wanted to do is get back to talk to green eyes. What he did know is that he wouldn't have long. Alice would be watching to see the sport she expected. He toyed with the idea of beginning a ruse and having some fun of his own by actually having a go at these idiots, but his goal was too important to delay.

Swooping down quickly, he flew toward the notice board, ignoring the groups that were disrupted as he shot past. Hopefully Alice would think that was part of their game. Stopping abruptly at the boards, he scanned it rapidly. With growing panic, he flipped backwards and forwards through the screens.

"There! There it is!"

Reaching out, he was transported again. Far above the waterfall, he descended quickly. He had no idea what might delay Alice, but he prayed for it. Green eyes was below, waiting for him.

"Well, well. What's this." Alice, wearing a red dress now, had popped into existence beside the girl.

Martin guided his avatar between them as it reached the ground.

"Ah, how sweet. Is this your little girlfriend?" said Alice.

Martin swung around to face green eyes.

"Log out! Log out now!!" he typed as fast as he could.

He cursed himself for being so selfish. He hadn't thought about what could happen. There was a brief pause, then green eyes was gone. The colours behind her started to change, fading. The ground below his feet was turning black. He turned back to Alice. A red mist rose from the ground, grouping into capillaries then arteries as it climbed. Alice's arms pointed out to each side, fingers outstretched to receive the rising tubes. She smiled as she drained the beauty from the glade.

You bitch!

He was angry that she was destroying this place, but he knew he couldn't fight her. At least he had saved green eyes. He logged out. Alice's face appeared in her application as the virtual world closed. She looked like she had that brief moment before when he had challenged her during his cleaning. This time it was sustained.

"Ok you little worm, game over! I had high hopes for you. I gave you opportunities and you wasted them."

Martin went to close the application. The clicks did nothing.

"What? You think I am just going to let you shut me down? You are going on my bad boys list. If you won't play my way, you won't play at all!"

She snapped her fingers. One of his news feeds shut down. She snapped again. One by one his programs closed. He had to uninstall her, terminate her at the core. In a terminal window, he listed the processes, looking for her signature. Her window closed as he swiftly typed the command Kill'. Immediately it restarted. Kill'. It stopped. It restarted. He knew a better way to play this game, but he had to be fast. First he changed the permissions on his terminal in case she tried to stop his access, knowing that wouldn't hold her off for long.

Typing quickly and confidently from years of programming practice, the instructions entered set off a loop. Her program stopped, restarted and was immediately stopped again. Like a strange zoetrope her face flashed, changing to a demonically angry sneer. Finally it did not return. If he switched off his computer now his code prison would end and she would be free to return when he rebooted the machine. He would have to get onto Uno straight away. It was an emergency, he would phone him.

Uno appeared at the door a couple of hours later carrying a black bag worthy of a house breaker. He smiled at Martin.

"Having a bit of bother? Never fear, the Doctor is in!" Uno said.

"Come in Doctor U-No." He was happy to joke with him. The power of the Alice program had been a bit disturbing but she was just a program.

"I don't see what that app could have done. It was fine when I used it, but let's get to work." Uno had already opened his bag of tricks.

Martin couldn't believe that statement, after what he had been through. Uno had the back of the computer open in a moment and attached leads from efficient looking boxes into its silicon guts.

Thanks for this, said Martin.

"Fy pleser," said Uno.

Martin paused.

"Right! I want to know what's going on."

"What do you mean?" Uno said. There was a hesitation in his voice.

Don't give me that, just spill

Uno paused. "Ok, take a seat," he said, leaving the technology to complete its job.

"I loaded Alice a few weeks ago. The prog is from HackerNet," he continued.

"What!" exclaimed Martin.

"Hear me out first. Alice is a learning program they obtained from the military. It needs variety of input to test out its potential. I tried it out some time back. When Alice has soaked up some interaction we suck up the output, uninstall and move along. I wasn't very impressed myself."

"Not impressed!"

Martin related his experiences of Alice. Uno sat back on the floor beside the machine as he listened, his disbelief apparent.

"This is nuts!" said Uno when Martin had finished.

"Not that I don't believe you, but I never heard anything like this before. It's pretty out there."

"Just get that thing off my system."

"Sure. Sorry buddy."

Indicators flashed on his devices and waves of numbers filled the screens.

"Done," Uno said.

He disconnected his additions and replaced the case. Starting up, the screens returned to normal, no Alice. Martin ushered Uno out unceremoniously. He had forgiven him, but wanted to make a show to belay any similar future behaviour. He shook his head as he closed the door and gave a little smile. He had to admit, it had been an interesting experience. He returned to his usual place at the computer. The night was drawing on and he had unfinished business.

He hurriedly logged into the virtual world and landed at MeetCentral moments later. His avatars clothes had suffered from Alice's colour drain and were grey. Martin flew straight to the boards but there was no sign of the Glade. With nothing more to be gained here, he logged out. There were several search engines on the web which could be used to find people, but he had little information to work with. He tried some queries and began to scour the results.

He had spent some time searching without success, when the 'ping' of his e-mail sounded. The subject said 'Green Eyes' and the message read 'Martin, meet me at 54.9444326, -1.6039252 11:00:00 090312.'

Martin's realised what the numbers meant, although the format was a little odd, a very precise location, time and date. Maybe she was mathematically minded, he thought, and very resourceful to have found him. He pulled up an online map and typed in the latitude and longitude given in the text. It was in a park very near to his flat and the date and time were tomorrow. It was now very late. Martin took himself to his bed, excited and a little nervous about his meet.