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

reasons for it, even if I am unable to understand the logic behind it.’ She gave Ingram a pointed look. ‘The safety locks I just described are not the only way to prevent injuries and the illegal use of VRPs. Additionally, there is the so-called informed consent security lock. You can’t force someone to play a VRP. The VRP will receive the lack of consent bio-feedback from the n-suit and simply won’t switch on. Or will switch off if it is already running.’

Gonzalez and Ingram frowned in unison. Hundreds of thousands of Leeches had gone through casually brutal military, paramilitary and police training in various VRPs during the Freedom Wars and after. If a simple ‘I don’t want to be here’ thought could switch a VRP off, putting an end to the suffering, at least temporarily, the VRPs would be switching off all the time. Even the Special Forces training the Elite officers went through, designed with far less casual brutality and more professional focus, led to occasional doubts or regretful thoughts.

‘The VRPs are designed to be inherently safe,’ Eloise continued vehemently. ‘Which is why the play-only copy that you buy cannot be modified on a code level. There are too many interlocked functions that deal not only with health and safety but also with the function and structure of the VRP to be able to remove one without crashing another. There used to be safety issues when the modern VRPs first became popular in the early 26th century, but as research in n-suits advanced, and the two became fully compatible about a century later, the safety aspect became ironclad.

‘Of course,’ she continued, ‘it takes more than just a mere “I don’t like this” to switch a VRP off. There needs to be compatibility between conscious and subconscious thought processes leading to a genuine desire for the activity to cease. This is how VRPs can be used in schools and other training environments. As long as the person wants the VRP to continue on some level, whether that is to avoid upsetting their parents or needing to fulfil some work requirement, the VRP will run until it is stopped for another reason.’

Gonzalez nodded with understanding. Damn technology. All those injured and dead Leech recruits… just because they were desperate for money to secure the future for their families. The VRPs ran uninterrupted whatever the cost to human health or life.

‘Are you saying, Ms Moretti, that someone found a way for the n-suits to not convey the lack of consent?’

‘No,’ Eloise stated firmly. ‘I’m saying that someone removed the subroutines responsible for correctly assessing the lack of consent. In the VRP. That and more seems to be gone.’

Gonzalez froze. The implications were… horrendous.

‘How?’ Ingram asked, dragging Gonzalez out of his doomsday vision.

‘I don’t know,’ Eloise admitted. ‘That’s why I need to get home. Once I wipe the code clean, I will at least know what they have done. And then I can try to discover the how. This is a serious breach of the copyright law and my lawyers will be all over this in a heartbeat—’

‘Copyright? Lawyers? It there any part of you that is still human or are you just a filthy, spoilt Elite?’ Ingram was too furious to think properly, and even Gonzalez didn’t seem interested in defending Eloise from the fury heading her way. ‘There are human beings involved! Actual living and breathing young men and women that are being beaten into submission to serve as pleasure slaves, and all you can think of is copyright and money?’

Eloise opened her mouth to speak, but then pressed her lips firmly together. She never cared about money. Once she had enough to fully equip her home with the best VR technology everything else was superfluous. She wanted to explain the power her lawyers had to serve justice, how they could help solve this whole mess, but chose not to. If Ingram was too dumb to understand how proper power could be used, it was her loss. Maybe she wasn’t so Elite after all.

‘What makes you think anyone needs to be beaten into submission?’ she shouted back instead. ‘The VRPs I design allow for everything in the arts of sexual pleasure any human being could possibly imagine. The crimes you have both been talking about, the kidnapping of Leeches and sexual servitude, it makes no fucking sense. They would have to house the supposed pleasure slaves somewhere. Feed them. Pay them! VR is far more cost-efficient, simpler and less messy. No need to use Leeches—the equivalents of pleasure slaves are programmed into the VRPs. Perfect, willing sexual partners to cater to all your needs!’

‘Were you born yesterday?’ Ingram snapped. She was past rage at this point. She actually felt oddly calm, facing this naivety-born insanity. ‘The cost of handling Leeches is minimal. You keep them in small cells, feed them leftovers, and you most certainly do not pay them. They are slaves!’

‘What Sergeant Ingram is trying to say,’ Gonzalez interjected when he was sure his own voice was up to the task, ‘is that there are very sick people out there who would pay fortunes for an hour’s enjoyment with an actual human being, not a VR replica.’

‘But my VRPs are so perfect it is the real thing,’ Eloise barked, offended that someone could consider her VRPs insufficient.

‘They might feel like the real thing, but they are not. For one, they will never cater to the sick fantasy of a power-spoilt Elite who wants to subjugate another human being. They don’t want a pre-programmed VR lover. They don’t want a voluntary sex worker offering her or his services via a VRP. They want to see the fear in the eyes of the slave that is forced to pleasure them, and they want to know it is real. They want the power to punish the slaves if they fail.’

‘But why?’ Eloise asked. ‘Why would someone do that?’ She was suddenly pale, and her stomach heaved as she considered the implications.

‘Because, Ms