The Rose Under The Net

A long time ahead in a dystopian city far away, or just too close too real, Prime Lux, the recently turned 16 year old playboy son of the head of the biggest industrial empire, lies asleep in a slumber of coding bouncing back and forth from the MetaNet. A virus of some kind was pulled alongside the new cycle update of his neural terminal, affecting his brain and body functions and inducing him into a digital coma.

All of his rich playboy friends have this new system installed into their neural softwares, but apparently the virus was specifically designed for the digital print of his very mind. The new update was supposed to be a welcome surprise from his father after spending years traveling the world with his Godfather, away from the corporate world and its intricate dirty nuances.

Lux’s Godfather, a cybernetic enhanced magnate and a renowned hardware designer, has brought all the analysts, programmers, code techno-paths and developers that money and influence could buy. But no one has been able to cut the connection to the MetaNet to wake him up, afraid of killing him in the process.

The virus is both keeping him under and alive. One of the techno-paths tried to interlink into the network to follow Lux’s digital trace and bring him back from inside the MetaNet, to no avail. The guy died drooling still plugged in into the system, but not before bringing the name of the virus: spindle; and a message from the person responsible: Birthday gift.

Both the father and the Godfather got a sinking feeling after receiving that message. Their eyes met in despair as if having been visited by an old ghost. The mother cries at the bedside, completely devastated and sure this is her husband’s fault somehow.

The whole world is watching. Some in tears, for the boy is a sort of a charismatic celebrity and wannabe singer, nicknamed “The Rose” by his million followers. Others are wishing him dead because of the social hatred towards his father and his corporate empire. The media is being crazy with news and conspiracy theories of deserved justice, but the official news declared it was the work of a cyber terrorist.

Someone sends a message via backdoor channel to one of the many screens monitoring the vitals and coding protocols of Lux. Everyone wonders if it could be the suspect. The IP address cannot be tracked by the police. Certainly this individual knows how to cover they’re digital trace.

The person identifies herself as “The princess”, one of the most wanted hackers in the city and a self-proclaimed freedom activist, and offers help to wake Lux up. The police strongly advise against it, since her criminal activities plunges deep into the worst cyber-crimes of the book. She negotiates a clean slate of her records given she wakes Lux up, and the family agrees to the terms to the dismay of the authorities.

She makes the father sign a legal contract bound by digital print which makes it impossible to breach the settlement. Also, the chief of police signs not to arrest her unless she fails to deliver her end of the bargain. They send a hover car to pick The Princess up at a specific location given by her.

After some hours she finally arrives. She introduces herself as Pippa and proceeds to connect her computer and link her ports with Lux’s brain implant terminal. After some hours of tampering codes and sub routines into the system, she discovers that the virus was not meant to put Lux to sleep, but to stop all his body functions, including the spontaneous ones, thus killing him.

The only way to achieve this is to know the serial number of his digital print, which is given at birth when the MetaNeb terminal is implanted into the brain of every baby. Somehow the attacker knew this serial and designed a virus that would make the protocols on Lux’s implant go rogue when downloading the update, on the days close after his 16thbirthday. This attack was planned 16 years ago.

She also discovered that a piece of high tech hardware inside the Lux’s terminal actually prevented all body functions to stop. This micro card, with a time stamp of installation from 15 years prior, served as a digital fuse that redirected elsewhere the rogue protocols destined to affect the neural paths of the brain that control heartbeat, breathing and brain activity. That chip saved his life, but also gave her some nasty reveals.

She turned her head to the cyborg Godfather after identifying the manufacturer of the chip: Eddler Industries, his own hardware company. With a disgusted smirk she turned to look the father into his eyes. She realised then and there that both men knew this was going to happen. The mother storms her husband in the chest and slaps his face, now completely certain of the blame. She asks them what is happening to his son and who is responsible for it.

They say nothing, but their silence speaks volumes. She goes back in tears to Pippa’s lap, and begs her to bring his son back from the depths. To do that, she needs to know the identity of the virus designer to try and neutralize the code, because it was very well written. And she needs it fast, because after tampering with the layouts of the system, she is sure the person responsible already figured it out and could act after the fact.

Looking into The Princess’s eyes, the mother can’t help feeling her familiar. A warmness fills her despaired chest as this girl’s assertive look gave her piece of mind. “I will” she promises.

The father orders everybody to clear up the room, including the police and his wife. She is dragged out by the security personnel. Only the Godfather, the Princess and the father stayed in the room with the sleeping handsome playboy. The Godfather reveals from his cybernetic arm’s touchscreen that they have been keeping a link blocked, one that appeared when the first and only techno-path came back from the MetaNet… dead.

They didn’t want to access it to prevent any invasion to the main systems from the family. She points out that if this guy wanted to invade them, he would have done it already. He must have other motives. That’s why waking Lux up before knowing those motives is the plan.

The Godfather extends one of his cyborg fingers and plugs it in her computer terminal, transferring the blocked file with the link attached to it. The princess opens the link and scans it. Her software finds a trace of the designer. It asks for a password. After a little thought, she types spinning wheel.

She says that once she presses enter, the designer, who she already identified as the “Nightmare Fairy”, will come knocking on all systems. She adds that’s the perfect moment to dive into the MetaNet and look for Lux’s digital trace, for he has to be waken up from inside… he has to want to wake up. Probably his mind is being trapped by some alternate program keeping him in an almost real perfect virtual reality platform.

Dangerous, the men say. But she replies that the last guy that entered was not monitored by anyone outside. She needs the assistance of the Godfather to take care of her digital print from the computer interface with defensive hacking programs of her own. He says he is no programmer, but she assures him that with his cybernetic knowledge and her protocols, he can keep the Nightmare Fairy distracted enough time for her to find him and wake him up.

She is ready to insert the plug inside her implant terminal below her earlobe. “How do you plan to find him in there among all the virtual traffic?” asks the father. “Any ideas? This is the time” she answers. “His voice. He has the most beautiful voice. He loves to sing” the godfather weeps in melancholy. His cybernetic eye retracted and misted up from the inside.

“Oh. I’ll follow the crowd” she says, “and the wild parties. Everybody knows The Rose likes an audience crying in adoration to his singing”. “What will you do to wake him up?” the Godfather asks. “I’ll give him a kiss,” she answers “or something more…” and stays silent. She presses enter on the password and activates the neuro link. Her eyes close as she dives into the MetaNet.

On the screens, the distorted image of the Nightmare Fairy pups up. A woman. She directs her attention towards the father and the Godfather “Long time no see, my dear old friends. How’s my Godson doing?”

…Koori

By Koori, May 2022

Instagram: _icekoori

Website: The Ice Cave

Inspired by the May 2022 Creative Writing Club sessions on fairy tales

Photos by Koori