November 2nd, 2008

Chapter Two

It was after I gleefully handed out my temporary bans to the rather too self important bloggers that I noticed the man with the muddy brown hair. I had got the feeling that he was watching me for quite some time, something that bothered me just a wee bit. Nothing good ever comes out of people staring at you.

Luckily, he didn’t seem to have notice me noticing him. Attempting to act normal (something that is unfortunately rather hard for me – I’m not the world’s greatest actor), I hopped between servers and continued my act of normalicy.

I really wasn’t all that surprised when a few seconds later the muddy haired man appeared on that server. Still, one couldn’t accuse a guy of following them just because they happened to switch servers at the same time as you. Well, you probably could if you were human... wraiths don’t get the same benefit of a doubt. Besides, what am I going to do, turn him in to the Enforcers?

No, I had to exact my punishment by myself. For that, I needed some pretty solid proof if he decided to bring me up on charges later. So I had swiftly activated a tracking program I wrote the first time someone decided to stalk me (though it has been greatly refined over the years. I actually sold the program for a very hefty price to a couple of high profile celebrities a few years back) and began server hopping rather ridiculously.

By this time the man must have known that I was onto him. I mean, really, how often does someone bounce like a moron between servers like that. Especially Global Moderators – we’re discouraged from making appearances in public unless it’s absolutely necessary. Something about our presence instilling fear into the masses. I don’t know, it’s not like I was actually paying attention to Senses Squared ridiculous rules. It’s not like they’re ever going to fire me – for a woman who doesn’t exist, I’m pretty damn valuable. But, yet, this spiky haired idiot kept bloody well following me.

By my seventh jump, I was getting pretty annoyed with this and the guy really was giving me the creeps. Nobody is this determined unless they really want something. Needless to say, I’m not going to be interested in anything a stalker wants from me. It was time to confront the guy, but I was going to do it on my turns. There is absolutely no way that I’m going to turn around and ask why the hell he is following me. I need to lose him... and then find him myself.

It’s a trick that really does creep those stalkers out. Big time. Heaven forbid you turn your own tactics against them.

One of the advantages of being a wraith is that it is far faster to bounce through the servers. Those of us who don’t cause trouble are approved pretty much automatically since there’s a massive database out there with all of our information. Disturbing that my entire life is on a file, but the government (read, Senses Squared) deamed it a necessary precaution. The end result is that I’m able to travel between servers with a greater degree of rapidity than any human or AI out there, especially since I know a few hacks.

Needless to say, it didn’t take me very long to lose the guy. Ah, humans have such limitations on the æthrenet. Now it was time for the fun part – I had to find the guy again. And make an unnecessarily creepy enterance. I must uphold my image as a weirdo goth, y’know.

This is where my recording program really became useful – I didn’t just record our movements, I was also logging every bit of information I could grab on the guy. So I transferred the data from my recording program to my tracking one. This program is definitely very useful. It will hunt down anything that matches the parameters I enter, as long as it exists in the æthrenet. It’s been programmed with enough hacking techniques to break through just about any secured item. This isn’t a program that I’ve sold to anyone. And I never will – despite my own snoopy tendencies, I really don’t support hacking. At least when I go digging through people’s stuff, I don’t touch anything. I just... gather a bit of information.

And sell it, sometimes, if I’m really strapped for cash. Man, have I got dirt on the celebs or what? I could probably run my own tabloid, if I was so inclined.

It, unsurprisingly, only took a couple of minutes for my program to find the target. A couple of the parameters were fairly unique and the guy wasn’t going through any great lengths to conceal himself. He was justing hiding well enough so that a casual observer wouldn’t notice him. The best way to do it, really. A lot of those stealth programs are so very, very noticeable.

It turns out that, after the man realised that he had lost me, he’d stopped moving and stayed on the server. Hell, his location barely changed. I’d think that he was waiting for me to show up, but that would be ridiculously naive. Nobody is that stupid – he’s probably just running his own tracking program. With that thought in mind, I swiftly shut down my tracking programs and switched servers in such a manner that I would land right behind him.

Oooo, he was lurking in an alleyway. Convenient, and so very stereotypical. May as well play up on the melodrama then.

I lower my hood even further so that you could just barely see my mouth and chin. I lean back on the brick wall, cross my arms and clear my throat dramatically. The man turns around, not startled in the slightest. Damn, maybe I should have went for a more Batman-esque entrance. Annoyed, my lips thin as my eyes flash blue. Still no response. Hell, the man actually smiled at me! He smiled!

“Ah, Wraith. I was wondering when you would show up.” His voice was actually fairly pleasant, which I suppose shouldn’t be too surprising considering his good looks. Spiked back hair, a dark, very expensive business suit. I wonder what he looks like in the corporal world. Probably old, balding and going grey. Ha. And a beer belly, can’t forget that one.

“You were actually waiting for me? Oh wow, I can’t believe that I actually overestimated you,” I scoff. Really, he was waiting for me? Nut job!

“Oh, of course I was. I knew that you couldn’t resist coming to see who I am. You’re too curious, you know?” That damned man had a rather annoyingly smug grin on his face. Bastard.

“Curious? Haven’t been called that recently. I was certain that I lost my curiousity only a few decades after I was stuck here.”

“Oh, I don’t think so, Wraith. If you didn’t have a shread of curiousity, you wouldn’t spend your free time hacking into the personal servers of various people of import, wouldn’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You know, you really are a terrible liar. You’d think that with over one hundred years of experience, you’d be able to lie better.”

“Y’know, I think that I lie just fine – you just think that you have proof, don’t you? Well, trust me, whatever your planning is pretty stupid. Which is, what, to blackmail a woman who, apparently, has enough dirt on celebs to blackmail them? That’s... pretty recursive, don’tcha think?” I was getting pretty aggravated – how did the man know about my hacking habits anyway? I’m damned good at it – I was absolutely certain that I had left no trace.

“Oh, no, that’s not it at all. See, the thing is, I just want offer you a job. Well, not me exactly, persay.” The man was looking unbearably smug now.

“Right. Let me get this straight – you want to a hacker, but it isn’t you who wants to hire me? I don’t arrange jobs through lackies. Tell your master that if he wants me to hack someone, he can come talk to me in person.” As irrational as it is, I prefer to know who my employerers are if I’m going to engage in illegal activity. Unfortunately, that sort of attitude never gets me any high paying jobs. Usually those folks tend to keep their nose clean and their alibis tight. Meeting up with a hacker to solicit her services would be something that got out, possibly by me myself, depending on how I felt about the client.

“Oh, no, you mistake my intents, as well as who I am. You see, I’m an AI duplicate of the man who would be hiring you – as a programmer.”

An AI?! There was no friggin’ way! He is way too lifelike – I couldn’t detect it at-

Oh.

The anomalies in the data.

My god, they have made advancements in AI tech.

“Indeed we have, Wraith.” Oh. Snap. I must have said that aloud, how embarrassing. “But I am just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. And you won’t be working in our Artificial Intelligence department – no, that wouldn’t hold your attention, would it?” Disturbingly enough, the AI is correct. I have little, if any, interest in creating AIs myself. Detecting them, decompiling them, tracing them... that’s all fine and dandy. But actually programming one? Way too tedious, if you ask me.

“I must say, I think you’re overestimating my capabilities. A program like you is far beyond my capabilities of a programmer.”

“I assure you, Wraith, you are more than qualified. I might even go as far to say that you’re the only one capable of doing this job.” Oh no. This better not be what I think it is.

“Then what position are you offering me?”

“Oh, you’ll enjoy it. I can guarantee you that.”

“So very descriptive of you.”

“Have you figured out a way to decompile my program yet, Wraith?” Well, that has got to be the weirdest question an AI has ever asked me. The answer is yes, by the way. Taking things apart and exploiting weaknesses is what I do. Which is what worries me about this job offer, actually.

“Who do you work for?”

“Why, the same people that you work for, my dear.”

“Don’t call me that. And why the fuck did you not just, you know, drop by my office to give me this lovely offer for a job I know nothing about?” Fucking Senses Squared. God, they work in the most ridiculous fashion. Circles and secrets! What a brilliant foundation for a software company.

“We have our reasons. You passed the test, Wraith. May I be the first to welcome you to the æthrenet research and development team?” Oh bloody fuck, they do want me for my knowledge of the æthrenet. I knew that this day would come, of course, but that’s not to say that I was looking forward to it.

“No. I left that part of my life behind a long time ago. Find yourself a different programmer.” I turned around, reaching out to create a bridge between this server and my office.

“I’m afraid that I cannot let you do that just yet, Wraith,” the AI lifted his hand and my bridge dissolved. They gave an AI administrator access?! What on earth were they thinking? “I’ll make this brief – you never had a choice here. You’re expected to report for work tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

“Am I getting a raise?”

“Don’t ask questions that you already know the answer to.” Dammit, I have never had an urge to hit an AI before now. This one is just so bloody insufferable! I must say, this is the first time that an AI has ever looked at me as if I was an inferior being. I’m sorry buddy, but no matter how advanced you are, I’m still higher than you one the social chain. I had a body once. You never did, and you never will.

“Fuck you – I’m a person, you know. Unlike you, you glorified dildo.”

“That remains to be seen.” With that, the AI’s smirk grew cruel and he decompiled, his code neatly dispersing itself into the æthre.

“You know what would be useful? A fucking address, you meat bags.” With that, I formed a bridge two my office and stepped across it.

Heaven forbid I don’t get the last word.

November 1st, 2008

Table of Contents

November 3rd, 2008