A Girl of Many Faces, Part 1

A Girl of Many Faces

It was a dark and stormy night when he walked into my office. My taxi driver, Stan, stood behind him. The rain outside seemed to mirror this poor man’s emotions. His name was David, or at least that was what he signed the “Request to Meet” form as. He didn’t give any more details. But in situations like this it’s best to discuss things in person, or close to it anyway. I motioned at Stan to close the door. He’d go sit in his cab till we were done with our meeting. The privacy makes the clients feel safe.

David looked nervous. He probably knew that my services weren’t completely on the level. He understood that his account could be flagged for just talking to someone like me. You see, I work in the grey area of the virtual world. I’m a detective of sorts. It’s been four years since The Liccardi Institute gave the world Lucid; a device capable of letting a person be online while they sleep. 

This gave birth to a new community, and with it a seedy underbelly of con artists who found a new way to make a living. 

“What’s her name”, I asked.

“H-How do you know why I’m here?”, he stammered, paranoia creeping into his face.

“People walk into my office with that look, it’s always about a girl”.

“Are you sure it’s safe to talk here, Mr. Lamont”.

“Yes, the entire office is not just encrypted, it’s not exactly on a registered server. And please, call me Cade.”

I could see him relax just a bit. He passed the folder he was carrying to me. Inside I found several pictures of an attractive woman, a redhead with bright green eyes. I examined each photo in turn while David stared at me. Many of the photos had indications of fraud. Her face was very symmetrical, her eyes seemed to be just a little too big. 

In the public Lucid system, avatars are based on our own self images mixed with reference photos. Sure there are apps that let you make minor adjustments, and self help professionals that can improve your self image, but nothing major. Then, there are Alters.

An Alter has spent years training their self image to be someone completely different. It’s a Lucid rule violation and will get your account banned. Alters are willing to accept that risk though. The act known as Catfishing has been around for as long as the internet has existed. But in this world, it can destroy a person’s life. 

“She looks like an Alter”, I said after a moment.

The air just seemed to escape David. He slumped into the chair. 

“How much did you give her?”, I asked him.

“Too much”, his reply was just a whisper.

“Well, I won’t be completely sure till I find her. My fee is one hundred a day.”

He was reaching for his eWallet before I even finished my sentence. 

“Just find her”, he said nodding to me.

I reached out my payment hand and accepted the transfer. 

“How do I…?”, David’s words trailed off as he stood up.

“Just go back downstairs, Stan is waiting at the car for you”, I advised.

I looked back down to the assortment of papers in the folder as he closed the door. Chat logs, emails, photos, this was a well put together con. David had been reluctant to tell me what price he paid to her, but in the folder I found a wedding announcment. 

“He married her”, the shock forcing me to speak out loud.

The email read, “You are invited to witness the union of David Preston and Samantha Samson”.

“Samantha Samson, not the most creative name.”

It seems our society was becoming more and more comfortable in this virtual world. Maybe a little too comfortable. I put the folder on my desk and pushed a command into my mind. The lights in the room turned red. This was a visible indication that I was connecting to a public server. I turned to a wall in my office where a series of old certifications hung. With a wave of my hand the frames disappeared and I was looking at the contents of the folder displayed on a screen.

The first thing I did was to pull up her profile. Going back through all her pictures, I could see some telltale signs of photo editing. I’d have to get closer to her  to be sure. I pushed another command into my desk. A map of all the public servers in Lucid appeared. But there was no sign of ‘Samantha’. I refined my search, looking into the hidden servers. And there she was, in some BDSM related server.

Hidden servers are a lot less restrictive than the public ones. For starters, you can look however you want. So it’s a good place for Alters to hone their craft. But it’s also a good place to pick up viruses. Reasons I prefer not to go into them, save my own office. Instead I ran another program. This one looks at your travel history. The map on the wall displayed several icons. But I was only interested in the one before she entered the hidden server. A place we call a gateway. She didn’t have to come back through there, but people are habitual. The last known place was an accessory shop called “Lion’s Tattoos”. 

I picked up my trench coat and hat and headed for the door. I made my way downstairs through the Chinese restaurant and out to the payphone. Lucid had a pretty good way of keeping track of where you were, but the ability to travel by phone booth was very useful. I stepped in, called the tattoo shop, and stepped out across the street from it.

I brought up my menu and made myself invisible. Being invisible in Lucid is a provided feature of the network. However, to prevent stalking, when you go invisible everyone else disappears. It’s an eerie and unsettling feeling when a crowded street just empties. I leaned back against the wall by the phone booth. I tipped the brim of my hat to cover my eyes and pushed an illegal program into it. It was something I had written myself. The brim of my hat seemed to turn transparent. And through it I could see all the people walking down the street as if I hadn’t turned on my invisibility. I called this program the “Private Eye”.

I staked out that location for about two days. I don’t need to log off much, so It wasn’t very difficult for me to just sit there and play solitaire. I had almost given up on the spot when I noticed her. She was coming out of the tattoo shop. Which meant she had something to do on the public server.

I started walking behind her. Keeping her in view of my visor so I didn’t lose her in the crowd. She was headed for a jewelry store. And not one that just sold virtual jewelry. I had to catch her before she confirmed her purchase and logged off. Quickly I changed my appearance. A nice suit should do. My avatar selector is another custom program simply called “Disguise”. The French accent takes a second to get used to, so I stalled a second, dropped my invisibility, then followed her in. 

I took a trace program out of my jacket. 

“Excuse me miss, I couldn’t help but notice you looking over our fine selection of jewelry.”

She smiled at me and immediately ignored me. But I pressed on as if I didn’t notice, like any pop up ad would.

“Today we have a special gift for our new customers. Select any one piece of jewelry and we’ll give you a virtual copy to try out.”

Now, I knew she wasn’t looking for jewelry to wear. She was looking for a way to store her new virtual husband’s money. But it’s hard to pass up ‘free’. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me. I could tell she was trying to figure out if I was a real person or not. I did my best to be neutral. 

“Accepted”, she said and touched a pendent on the counter.

I smiled my biggest customer service smile and put my hand over the pendent. I copied it to the trace program, using another one of my little tricks, “Copy Cat”, and handed it to her. She smiled again and put it on. Another ten minutes and  she had finished her order and logged off.

I raced back to my office. At my desk I pulled up the trace. The last known location was a real world address. I reversed the address and found a man named Jeremy Collins. Jeremy had a criminal record for identity theft amongst other crimes. More importantly he looked strikingly similar to Samantha. The trace also gave me her Lucid serial number. It was also registered to Jeremy Collins. 

I put everything into a single email and sent it out to David. What happened next was his decision. I sat down at me desk and disconnected my office from the public server. A notification appeared in my vision.

“Visitors”, is all it said.

I opened my menu and logged off. 

I blinked my eyes to clear my vision. The black Lucid hood blocked out all the light. I removed it and sat up in the bed. The hospital room was still mostly empty. At my left there was a small table with two different detective novels on it. One was my favorite, the other I had just finished reading for the first time. 

The door slowly opened and my mother walked in. She was doing her best to make very little noise. I have been in the hospital since I was thirteen, diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis. It’s a disease that affects my ability to be conscious and functional. Being in Lucid is the only way I’m truly free, and it’s been my life for the past three years.

“Candice”, my mother whispered into the room.

“I’m up mom, it’s ok”, I assured her.

She came in and sat down next to me. In her hands was another detective novel and a bag of fast food. Quietly she started to read to me and I listened as I ate. 

“It was a dark and stormy night”, she began.