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

Moretti,’ Ingram said, ‘that’s what power does to some people. It twists them into psychopathic beasts. The insane amount of money they are willing to pay to feed their aberrations makes it a very lucrative business.’

‘Up until recently,’ Gonzalez said, ‘it was done outside of VR environments, since it was impossible to use any quality VRP for non-consensual purposes. I mean really, it has been done in the real world since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, sexual aggression and rape are as old as civilisation itself. In different eras human civilisation dealt with it differently. On the whole, the popularity of VRPs has drastically reduced the incidence of violence, since the majority can find an outlet for their fantasies in VR. Those who can’t contain themselves to legal practices in VR are easily caught these days. Simple data recovered from the BCC of a victim is enough to trace and convict the perpetrator. Sexual violence and rape virtually don’t exist among the Elite; it is simply not a crime anyone can commit and avoid being caught for.

‘But we are not talking about Elite victims, are we?’ Gonzalez continued. ‘There are more and more Leeches born every day who never get a BCC. According to the Alliance’s constitution, a person is defined as a person and a citizen when they enter the human census. No one enters the human census until they are implanted with a BCC. So technically a BCC-less Leech is no longer covered by the human rights protection issued automatically to all the Alliance’s citizens.

‘As you see, Ms Moretti, the System has failed our fellow human beings time and again, leading us to where we are now. The difference between the casual mistreatment of a Leech and organised crime like this is that a lot of powerful people had to turn a blind eye to make this happen. Some of those powerful people are probably deeply involved, frequenting those slave brothels. We are talking about people as high up in the government as the ministers of the Districts and perhaps even the Governing Council itself.’

And Military Command, Gonzalez added to himself, unwilling to say the words out loud in front of a civilian.

‘As Sergeant Ingram explained, power corrupts. There was a tremendous amount of abuse and injustice going on during the Wars. While there might be some—some, mind you—justification for what happened back then, we are now in peacetime, and with the resources the Alliance has, the System should be solving the problem rather than becoming a part of it.’ He paused, worried that he had said too much, making himself sound like some sort of revolutionary who was going to cut the System at the knees, but luckily Eloise didn’t seem to notice. She seemed to still be fighting nausea over the revolting revelation, and the idea that even the Governing Council of the Afro-European Alliance could be involved wasn’t making her feel any better.

It also made very little sense. That was not the world she knew. Gonzalez and Ingram might have been convinced that it was true, but that didn’t make it so. Yet, given her situation, there was only one thing she could do.

‘How can I help?’ she whispered.

CHAPTER 20

Roc de Chere

Lac d’Annecy

Afro-European Alliance

Sunday 26 April 2725

DAY 7

Gonzalez smiled at Eloise with approval, relieved she was offering to help, but before he could open his mouth to speak the security system pinged.

‘Rivas. Lieutenant.’ The automated voice sounded oddly calm in light of the recent revelations.

Gonzalez acknowledged the security cam on his wrist-comp, quickly noting Rivas’ position and his usual neat landing. He had a few minutes at best to get a few more answers out of Eloise.

‘Ms Moretti.’ He turned back to face the Elite woman. ‘Are all the consent locks coded in the same way? Could the changes that were made be applied to other VRPs?’

Eloise eyed him strangely.

She really is like an open book, Ingram thought. Unless she’s spitting out big words I can barely understand. Then she’s about as unreadable as VR code.

‘Since I don’t know how they have done it, I can hardly speculate as to whether the same patch would work on other VRPs,’ Eloise replied with the indulgence usually granted to a child. ‘But yes, all my consent locks are the same for practical purposes. I have them encoded in the watermarks so they are easily copied between my VRPs.’

‘Aren’t watermarks just a copyright notice?’

‘The primitive ones, yes.’ Eloise sighed. ‘Legally they have to be there for the sale to be permitted under the Commerce Law of the Afro-European Alliance. The problem is that if you add them as an afterthought, they can be removed with only average coding skills. A good watermark sits so deep in the code that it can’t be removed without compromising the function of the VRP.

‘This is how my lawyers know someone has been trying to modify my VRP. If you try to change anything, even something insignificant, the VRP is designed to collapse while it automatically pings to my lawyers the identity and location of the person who did the tinkering. The subroutines that code for that sit in the watermark itself. I made it a point, when I was still back in high school and learning the principles, to have my watermarks linked to every vital function of the VRP. That includes health and safety locks, consent locks, interface with the n-suits and design-specific functions. Everything.’

‘So…’ Ingram started slowly, processing the information as best as her non-techy where computers and coding were concerned brain would allow. ‘If all those functions are so interconnected, how is it that not only has someone been able to alter the VRP without it shutting down, but also that your lawyers knew nothing about it?’

‘Now, this is exactly why I need access to that damn VRP,’ Eloise growled. ‘I need to analyse—’ She stopped abruptly as the door opened and a tall, almost gangling redhead stepped in.

‘Sir. Ms Moretti.’ Rivas acknowledged them with a