Reality 36 Read Online Free PDF

with a bouquet of viruses? No, thank you. You have my sincerest regrets if you are not guilty, although I doubt that very much. Now, will there be anything else before your imminent arrest?"
      "No. Thank you," she said sarcastically.
      "You are welcome. Have a nice day. Your Grid access has been disabled. I have locked the doors. Please wait here for the VIA. One of them has the name Greg and, as regarding your specific tastes, he's hot, so that's lovely for you, isn't it? I reiterate: have a nice day."
      Chloe's screens projected an enormous legal notice in front of Veronique's face.
      That cinched it.
      "Chloe, crack the cabinet."
      "Don't do it, Veronique," warned the AI.
      This was what Qifang had intended. The cabinet's systems were still all functional, but with blockers on the paths from the Six into it, the cabinet ran according to what it knew, and it recognised Veronique's key as legitimate.
      You had to hand it to him, turning the failsafe against itself like that.
      She reached in. It was just a cupboard, really, with a fancy glass front. No dry ice or amber lights flashing, just a moulded recess occupied by a smooth dense-carbon box. She drew this out. This too, had its own autonomous locks, but the Six was powerless to prevent her key from opening it.
      Inside the box was a neat, adjustable skullcap, big enough to cover the topmost quarter of her head, not unlike a dreamcap in size, clunkier looking, perhaps, but then it had to be, for rather than directing the dreams of the wearer, it was capable of fooling the conscious mind into contructing an entirely immersive virtual environment. The technology was similar to a dreamcap, similar in the way that ox carts and racing cars have wheels.
      Insectoid legs dangled from it. The top was studded with magnetic manipulators. A braid of cable trailed from the rear – old, clunky pre-gridpipe tech. Very rare now, and illegal outside of departments like this, but only a decade ago many homes had had them.
      She had one of the department's two v-jack units in her hands, a device that required three signatories to sign out, and approval from the complex Six, all neatly circumvented by Zhang Qifang.
    A hundred and twenty-seven years old, she thought. Don't mess with that kind of experience.
      She almost stopped then. If caught with the v-jack, she was looking at a stretch in cold storage, five, maybe six years, with a three percent chance of brain damage for each twelve months under. You could double that if they went for corrective surgery, shitty odds for a supposedly humane form of punishment.
      She almost stopped.
      The v-jack went in her bag.
      "Veronique, this is not good!" shrieked Chloe.
      "Right. Thanks for clearing that up," Veronique said back.
      "Your sarcasm is unnecessary."
      "Be quiet."
      Her phone began to ring again, an unknown number.
      "Go to voicemail," she said, then turned it off. She thought quickly. "We have to get out of here. Chloe, retrieve Kitty Claw off the Grid, load it up, I want it primed."
      "Really?" said Chloe hesitantly.
      "Really."
      "Oh," said Chloe. The phone's cooling system stepped up a gear as the phone downloaded the programme from its hideaway on the Grid.
      "Quiet now, Chloe, we have to get out of here."
      "Yes, Veronique."
      She went to the lab door. The Six had been as good as its word. Locked. She had Chloe hack the door via the shortrange wifi that flooded the building and undo the lock.
      "Ms Valdaire…" the Archimedes' attention returned to her. It sounded weary and annoyed. "I advise you to stop. The warning displayed upon your phone is legally binding. Read it, don't read it. Whatever, just cease and desist."
      "I'm past desistence," said Veronique. She went through the door and began to walk faster. The corridor was empty. The building had only three public entrances but a dozen emergency exits. She made for the nearest.
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