away from Sweet_Ting’s icy stare, and this seemed like a good exit.
It was unlikely that this mother, as stupid as she was purported to be, would directly harm D_Light. After all, he was a human and even had life insurance. Injuring him-much less killing him-would come at a dear price. Even if Sweet_Ting were willing to pay the cost required to harm him, she would most likely be breaking divine law. D_Light’s complicity in insulting Sweet_Ting was circumstantial at best. Nevertheless, Mr. Personality was most certainly a combat-ready product, and if his mistress lost her cool, D_Light and Lily may find themselves getting hit with something far worse than a nOOb pellet.
Having weighed all factors, D_Light now bowed to the stranger and replied, “We thank you and would be delighted to take you up on your offer.”
D_Light grasped Lily’s hand firmly as the strangers led them up a few open flights of stairs. As they ascended, the smiling man’s entourage packed around them closely, particularly around Lily. D_Light was not sure if this was for their protection, to threaten them, or simply a poor understanding of personal space etiquette. There was nowhere to run to anyway. If this was a trap, they were as good as caught.
CHAPTER 24
Dr. Monsa: As you know, I never decree a house rule without explaining my reasoning. Rules with a poorly understood purpose breed contempt and are therefore destined to be broken. Rule number eight states, “All that enter the House of Monsa must submit a blood sample.” Why?
Love_Monkey: The answer is obvious. A family has a right to know who enters their house.
Dr. Monsa: That is one correct answer.
Curious_Scourge: Father, a sniffer could positively identify entrants. Why do you require blood?
Dr. Monsa: Sniffers can be deceived! But there is a more important reason. More than just DNA can be gleaned from blood. Indeed, even the power over life and death.
Curious_Scourge: Spare us the melodrama, Father!
Dr Monsa: Allow me to explain. Circulating in the blood of most citizens are deployment bots called D- bots.
Curious_Scourge: D-bots?
Dr Monsa: They are nanobots, a little larger than a red blood cell. They are merely boxes that contain useful chemis. When they are given the right signal, they empty their contents into your bloodstream. Most commonly, they contain pharmas. Say you want to relax. Send a signal to release some DownTime™ into your system. Instant relaxation without a pill, without an injection, merely a thought. The reason none of you have heard of D-bots is because none of my children have been inoculated with them…for reasons that I will explain.
Love_Monkey: Okay, so you know what drugs the person prefers. So what? Power over life, you say?
Dr. Monsa: I mentioned that the deployment bots require a signal to activate, right? Well, every strain of D-bots has a unique activation code or key, if you prefer. To activate the key, you must fire a sequence of radio waves using the correct frequency and timing.
Love_Monkey: So when you get your booster, what? You’re given a key to unlock them?
Dr. Monsa: Exactly. Your familiar is given the encryption key so that when you want the chemi deployed, the familiar can fire off the sequence and activate the bots.
Curious_Scourge: So if you could hack the familiar, you could activate the key?
Dr Monsa: That is an impractical strategy. As you know, familiars are designed with security as the top priority. Indeed, the bulk of their computing power is dedicated to being an effective firewall. They are not easily hacked.
Love_Monkey: Aha! This goes back to the blood. You analyze the bots in the blood. You can unlock the sequence.
Dr Monsa: Well done, yes. There are micropanels on the surface of the bots. It’s the precise orientation of these panels that specify the sequence. You see, as each electromagnetic pulse hits the bot, a different panel is unlocked, and once they are all unlocked, the bot deploys its contents. By analyzing the surface of the bot, we can deduce the sequence.
Curious_Scourge: And using a radio emitter keyed into that sequence, one can exercise control over a subject’s biochemistry.
Dr Monsa: Yes. So, you see? As so often happens, one man’s convenience is another man’s weapon.
Upon ascending several stories, D_Light and Lily were led into an opaque plexi-encased pillbox. As they entered, D_Light realized that the plexi was transparent from the inside, so they could see out but groksters outside could not see in.
“Before showing you to your table, let us first attend to the lady.” The smiling man nodded at Lily. One of the entourage handed him a smooth silver wand. “This,” he said, “will deactivate the tagging dye you were shot with.” He passed it back and forth over Lily’s torso without touching her. “I deeply apologize for Sweet_Ting’s behavior,” he said in earnest. “She has a tendency to tag people without provocation.”
D_Light now realized that the human wall their fans had formed around them on the way up the stairs was a way to shield Lily from onlookers. Tagging someone with a nOOb dye pellet was a common means of publicly humiliating a player. The tagging dye did this in several ways. First, it interfered with the signals used by one’s skinsuit so that he or she could not cover up the stain with illusion. The lenses in the suit simply did not work, leaving the victim with a bare suit marked with a large florescent stain on it. The stain made one’s “nOObness” apparent to anyone “realing,” anyone not jacked into a skin.
This, however, was a subtle effect compared to what people who were jacked into the skin saw. In nearly all cases that D_Light had seen, the victim had large, three-dimensional text hovering over his or her head that said “nOOb.” In addition, the victim’s body was rendered in some humiliating way. For example, virtual excrement continuously falling out of their buttocks, clown clothing might appear, or they may find themselves nude with large tattoos like “Being a slut is divine” or “I dun’t understand smart stuff.” Sometimes these outfits would scroll from one to the next to keep it interesting. Of course, the face was never covered up. That would defeat the purpose; in fact, it was usually magnified like the gigantic head of an old-time cartoon character. D_Light had seen one nOOb cover his face with his hands and try to run, but since he could not see well he bumbled into groksters, which only led to more kicks and having food and drinks thrown at him. Finally, if these effects were not getting enough attention, a spotlight would appear and follow the nOOb around.
Thankfully, Lily had been protected. No one could see her behind the bodies of their newly found entourage, and only the most determinedly sadistic jeerer would try to force their way through that phalanx.
Having finished deactivating the dye on Lily, the smiling man asked if it would be all right if he and a few friends joined them after the two had taken some time to relax. D_Light quickly consented. The smiling man’s smile consumed his whole face now, and he bowed several times on his way out the door of the VIP box, coined the “veepox.”
Although not asked to do so, Smorgeous had grokked the entourage that had taken them up to the box. As expected, the smiling man, whose name was WholeLottaLuscious, or just plain “Will,” was a midlevel noble. He was 103 years old and in the fifty-fifty queue for salvation. Not a bad guy to impress, D_Light thought. The others were just regular players, but of pretty decent level, except for one who was a product. Judging by her product line and manufacturer, she was probably being used as a general assistant.
Inside the veepox was a large crystal table, suffused from within by a soft blue glow. Several large, elevated chairs invited the guests to sit. Once perched upon their seats, D_Light and Lily commanded a perfect view of the fray several stories below. A handsome, muscular product immediately swept in to present them with drinks from a plexi platter. “Our house special, just to start. Please feel free to browse the menu.” He then bowed and made a swift but graceful exodus.
