Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

that airspace could be commandeered whenever necessary. What constituted emergency use often depended on how much someone was willing to pay. With buildings easily reaching a hundred metres and more, traffic in the inner lanes had to meander between the solid constructions, observe the traffic rules and maintain safe speed and distance. Above the buildings’ line an aircar could not only go in a straight line from A to B, but could also accelerate and decelerate at will.

The system was introduced within the first few years of the Freedom Wars. By keeping the civilian traffic lower to the ground, the City Air Defence Forces could act faster and didn’t have to worry about stray vehicles in the way. Anything above fifty metres, unless it was identified as a friendly military airvehicle, was shot on sight during the Wars. After the Wars, the well-defined system was kept, albeit in a somewhat relaxed form as aircars violating the outer lanes were no longer shot down but merely fined.

In reality, use of the outer lanes in peacetime went to the highest bidder, and the occasional police emergency.

Eloise nodded. Mentally reciting the airspace rules helped to ground her. She could see them transformed into VR code. She could mentally map an aircar-training VRP, recalling the last one she had designed three years ago, the 2722CITYFLY6.

The VRP was sharp and vivid right in front of her eyes, but she couldn’t remember the route the XST that brought her to the 4th had taken barely half an hour ago, whether the pilot went above the nano-factories and farms first before approaching the centre or whether they skirted the West End of town and approached South-Central Lyon from there. She didn’t remember the sun, rising or otherwise. For all intents and purposes, her eyes might as well have been closed.

‘Could I offer you some coffee? Tea, perhaps?’ Wagner said.

‘No… thank you,’ she replied. ‘I am quite all right,’ she added, feeling anything but all right.

‘Of course, of course.’ Wagner sat down himself. ‘I understand Inspector Bellefeuille explained the situation to you yesterday. We are investigating the murder of Alexa Valentino and we are in possession of a VRP that we believe might help us. We would like you to have a look at it. I have here’—he lifted up a thin folder from his desk—‘a confidentiality agreement for you to sign before we can talk details. In a minute, Inspector Bellefeuille will take you to the conference room, where you will be able to study the document before signing. Please make sure you do study it and ask any questions you might have. This document is legally binding, and I would hate for there to be any unpleasant consequences for you.’ He smiled reassuringly.

‘Before that, I just wanted to take the opportunity to meet you personally.’ His smile grew even warmer, the corners of his lips and eyes moving in perfect synchrony. ‘It is an honour to finally meet the person who has designed so many fantastic VRPs. You have quite the skill set, Ms Moretti.’

He paused, clearly expecting some reply, but Eloise only stared at him. She knew the extent of her excellent skills; his approval and admiration were not required.

‘I wish I could promise you that the VRP we need you to look at is pleasant.’ His face shifted its expression to one of genuine concern. ‘Unfortunately, it is not. In fact, it is about as far from pleasant as is possible. I would like to personally apologise for its content and to assure you that we explored all other avenues before reaching out to you. Upon my request, my specialist has made arrangements so that you will be able to view just the code, without the disturbing images that were recorded.’

Eloise opened her mouth to protest, to point out that she would be half blind without the video, but something made her stop. She wasn’t sure why. It had nothing to do with what that overgrown adolescent had told her yesterday, she promised herself. She simply needed time. Her body felt sluggish and heavy. Dozens of different chemicals were altering her thought processes. Pure, uncontaminated code sounded exactly like what she needed to regain some composure.

‘That is appreciated,’ she replied eventually.

***

Exactly two minutes and twelve seconds after the code appeared on the big holo-screen she had been given to work on, Eloise felt goosebumps all over her skin. The temperature in the room hadn’t changed, but her body went crazy. Horribly, the intense heat she felt inside didn’t match the freezing sensation that enveloped her.

She knew the VRP.

It was damaged. Badly damaged, altered in a way she couldn’t begin to understand, but she recognised it. She would have recognised it anywhere, regardless of how sluggish and foggy her brain felt.

Almost as soon as the temperature roller-coaster started, the nano-patches kicked in and she inhaled a long, slow breath of relief. The chemicals were overloading her system in the long term, but right now they were her salvation.

She had to get the VRP home. She had to be sure. She ignored the nausea briefly twisting her stomach. Maybe she had crossed the invisible line from short-term to long-term use after all, but this was not the time to worry about it. Her fingers flew across the holo-keyboard, retrieving the video portion of the VRP. She had no intention of watching it. She only had to…

***

‘What the hell?’ Megan stared at her own holo-screen in puzzlement. The display was a duplicate of Eloise’s screen, showing Megan everything the VR geek was doing in real time. ‘How on earth are you doing it?’

Her own tiredness and pain from last night, spent in Wagner’s bed, faded into the background. Her eyes followed the rapidly changing code with fast-growing admiration. She knew exactly what Eloise was doing, but her relative lack of expertise in VR programming made it impossible to understand the how.

***

Barely a few minutes later, almost tripping over her own feet, Eloise rushed towards Wagner’s office. She