Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 4 - Ghost In The Machine

in #cryptogeechronicles8 years ago (edited)

k-rox contemplate interiorRZ.jpg

The shunt-teleport that K-Rox had activated from Ziper's sidechain had placed him in the corner of the main room in his dwelling.

He remained motionless, staring into the corner for what seemed like an age; anybody looking at him at that moment, may have mistaken him for a paused avatar. Finally K-Rox turned away from the corner and walked slowly out into the middle of the room.

K-Rox stared out of the dome shaped window, at the swirling, Jupiter inspired skies. He watched as lightning crackled in a distant storm. The forked stabs of light reached out across the evening sky into the slowly darkening room in which K-Rox stood, brightening his pupils for brief, flickering moments.

Evening was befalling Principia, and most of the Level One residents were leaving their dwellings in search of entertainment. Some of them had already teleported out to one of the other StayTel sidechains; whilst others took private and public air vehicles up to the higher levels.

K-Rox still stood motionless in the middle of his darkening room; the lights had attempted to come on automatically as the sun set, instead he had sent a silent command for them to stay off.

He felt his nostrils twinge slightly, as the tangy smell of ozone from various plasma engines being fired up was brought up from the street below.

A confused cacophony of sounds floated up on the cooling evening breeze; there were voices mixed in with the different pitched whines and hums of engines, belonging to fliers preparing to leave for the night. K-Rox took in a deep breath, and with it the muggy, humid aroma of the approaching storm.

The smells from the Hanging Forests on Level 3 began to permeate the air, filtering down to his Level 1 apartment window; as heavy rain droplets hit the soil, releasing its pungent and musty scent into the surrounding atmosphere.

During storms on Principia, the lilliac ring, a mesh of tangled vine that ran along the circumference of the forest gave the city its distinctive floral smell. The plants were engineered aphrodisiacs, their aroma carried with it a mild narcotic, designed to lift mood and increase emphatic communication.

k-rox contemplate exteriorRZ.jpg

K-Rox sent a thought command to the house, and his balcony window closed and opaqued. He now stood in a completely dark room, alone with his thoughts on the terrible news that Ziper had relayed to him less than ten subjective minutes ago.

A soft ping sounded in his head, he saw a fresh message from Ziper:

Are you OK? We should meet up in the real, I think it's best, we need to talk, but I want it to be offchain. Call me, I'm going out of my mind here.

There was a big difference between the Pandemonium3 timescale and StayTel, so the ten minutes that K-Rox had spent daydreaming here, had seemed like several hours to Ziper.

K-Rox didn't want to talk to anyone yet, on or offchain, he knew what he had to do. From the moment Ziper had told him about Malcraft in Empires. But first he would have to watch the moments that led up to Malcraft getting lost in the game.

Malcraft ghostRZ.jpg

K-Rox did not want an in-mind playback so turned to his right as a large square in the middle of the wall transformed into a screen. He ran a search for Malcraft and Empires, and typically came back with tens of thousands of results.

He narrowed the search to Principia results only, and then found the top rated eyecam coverage. There was one that had been put together by one of the official StayTel networks. It was a Postinteractive-Simulation, K-Rox paused before activating it. The room he was standing in was about to be transformed into the streets of Principia the day when Malcraft entered Empires.

Posti interactive, emphatic simulation, meaning that not only would he be able to switch from the various eyecams in use at the time; he would also have access to any empLink channels that were open. In other words, K-Rox would feel the emotions of the day like he was actually there.

He closed his eyes momentarily before activating the Pi-Sim, he opened his eyes and turned it on, immediately he was in Level 6, he was looking down through a drone cam. The camera was tracking a small red cube, below which was the shimmering, ghosted image of Malcraft.

K-Rox effortlessly thought his way to one of the ground eyecams; he was in the head of a non-affiliated Principia resident who was following Malcraft at a distance. The feed was unsteady as the resident flicked his head this way and that; K-Rox could feel the man's nervousness, leaking through the empLink.

He transferred to another cam, this time to somebody walking right in front of Malcraft, K-Rox's heart, felt like it had frozen in his chest.

The eyecam operator was using his tracking system, so he was able to walk backwards and keep a fixed gaze, giving a smooth track. K-Rox studied the ghostly outline of Malcraft, his face still distinct and cruel despite his shimmering contours.

K-Rox watched as Malcraft made his way to the level 6 teleportation booths. His dread turned to fury as he watched the debacle unfold in front of his eyes.

Malcraft was clearly doing this all for effect, he could have teleported directly from his building to right outside Empires. Malcraft knew the story of him leaving his dwelling for the first time since Amorphia's murder was going to be big news anyway, but he wanted a spectacle; he was making a statement, and K-Rox's anger rose when he realised he didn't know what that statement was.

The only thing K-Rox knew for sure, was that it was part of the same statement Malcraft had made, when he murdered Amorphia.

Malcraft had reached the teleport booths outside Empires, K-Rox's mind flickered back to several subjective hours ago, after the evacuation when he had emerged from the game, in front of similar booths.

K-Rox watched as Malcraft walked up to the Empires entrance and stood, motionless, looking up at the grand Empires sign.

Malcraft Empires entranceRZ.jpg

He turned back to face the gathered eyecam operators, K-Rox flicked into the head of the lead StayTel affiliate and watched. It was as if Malcraft was going to say something, K-Rox decided to turn off the ghost filter, so that he could see the face of the dark assassin. As he did this, he turned his Pi-Sim, empLink up to maximum.

It was as if Malcraft was staring right at him, he returned his glare, sending a dagger of a look, deep into the dark, foreboding pools that were his eyes. He grinned at K-Rox, revealing the sharp teeth that gave him the ferril look he was famed for.

His long black coat swayed in a gentle breeze, the tails tickling the tops of his boots. After what seemed like a frozen eternity, Malcraft turned away from the watching bystanders, and entered Empires.

K-Rox remained momentarily in the head of the eyecam operator, as his gaze followed the small red cube that hovered over Malcraft wherever he went, zoom up into the sky to wait over Empires. At the time, nobody would have guessed that he could use the game to disappear, and even so, the cube would not have been allowed in the game for reasons of authenticity.

The Pi-Sim feed ended, and K-Rox found himself abruptly back in his darkened room. He sat there for a few moments, thinking about the emotions that he'd felt from Malcraft across the Pi-Sim, empLink. They were of pure malice, but also a kind of, satisfaction; a quiet, smug, satisfaction.

K-Rox thought-commanded the lights in the room to activate as he called up his messages onto the far wall. As he did, a moulded chair glooped up out of the floor for him to sit in.

The face of Malcraft was etched into his mind; his dead eyes, his cruel twisted grin; and his raw emotion; K-Rox now knew what he needed to do. He would use all his knowledge and skills to search the Empires manifests, looking for clues as to how Malcraft had pulled off this disappearing trick. Once he'd gathered all the information he could, K-Rox would wait for Empires to be reopened, go back in there, find Malcraft; and kill him.

MalcraftRZ.jpg

Cryptogee


Asimov's Ghost is the first book of five in the Cryptogee Chronicles, it is a living breathing story, borne from a passionate view of the future, whereby the quantum blockchain rules all of our lives.

The story is an original by Cryptogee, and all of the amazing artwork is by the incredible @nekromarinist; thank you for your upvotes and comments thus far. Stay tuned for Chapter 5.

Previous Chapters

Chapter Zero - Alone In The Game
Chapter Two - Phantoms In The Chain
Chapter Three - The Storms Of Malcraft

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@cryptogee excellent job my friend you do not know me, I thank you in steemit, I read an article that talked about their fate and as I was getting that same day, log on to the platform, which makes brilliant job congratulations

Thank you @jlufer, that is nice to know! Welcome to Steemit, I hope you have lots of fun times here :-)

Cg

Nice work, @cryptogee. Always a pleasure.

Thanks :-)

Cg

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