Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna (reading strategies book txt) 📕

into her. She digested the words, and barely even noticed as Harlow placed her hand gently on Wren’s shoulder. So, I’m a part of you?

Somnia seemed flustered when she answered this time. Yes and no? I mean, your essence, what makes you function as far as brain activity goes. Those things are essentially a part of me; they are part of my building blocks now. It’s what I...this is so complicated.

Wren scowled, and Harlow’s grip tightened to let her know she was there. Wren could feel it in the emotions that leaked through into her nets, cast out even here in reality. So give me a too-long, didn’t-read version of it, thanks.

Yes, you don’t have to wear the headset to transport into this world. You can—at least I think it will work this way—transport yourself in here at will at any time, should you so choose. Like you did earlier.

Wren stood there for a few moments, trying to make her brain remember to take in the oxygen she needed to survive. Would my body just wither and die here? How is that even possible? This makes no sense whatsoever.

She couldn’t help the panic rising in her. Everything she’d worked toward, everything she’d dreamed of. The planning she’d put into her future…what did this all mean for that? What if she accidentally fell asleep and dreamed of Somnia? Would she wake up there?

I’m so, so sorry, Wren. I wish I had more solid answers for you. But I can sort of give you an analogy or comparison, if you like? Sort of...think of our connection being like a chip. Sort of. And that chip is what gives you access whenever you want to enter the game world. That is how you get in. Not through a headset, but through another type of connection. I wish I could explain it better.

Somnia sounded distressed. And static. Very static. All the anger in Wren’s stomach vanished, leaving her hungry and tired and suddenly feeling very drained. She sighed and let herself sit down on the bed as Harlow began to give her a shoulder massage and gripped the headgear tightly in her hands.

After this raid. After this raid she’d see to it that she figured out just how the connection worked. Her mom would help, Harlow would help, and she was sure Havoc and Merlin would as well. Probably others, too. If they could just get through the next couple of days in the game world, maybe she could figure out what was really going on with her without having to worry about the rogue computer virus bringing everything around her crashing down.

Summer Residence

Home of Laria, David, and Wren

Summer Condo

Early Morning Day Thirty-Two

Laria clung to the evidence she’d gathered and the information she’d sniffed out about the headgear and how the ideas came about. She’d already managed to compile a list of places, most of them passworded through several rounds of security and hoops that needed to be jumped through, where differing variations of the headgear schematics could be found. Not that it was difficult, just time consuming.

Included in that lot was one of Michael’s earlier models. She believed it was one of the ones he’d submitted for his research thesis back in college. People she’d never even realized had access to this technology had been fiddling with it for years. No wonder people entering the game were experiencing problems or glitches that shouldn’t have been present. And the shards were able to find those more susceptible to them. Or something. If she’d understood it correctly.

They should have been stricter with the TOS enforcement. And that was something they’d need to rectify as soon as possible. But that could wait until she got back into the office. Laria was good working her way around without being tracked when it came to the net. But David was far more capable of downloading things they might need without leaving a trace of himself. Laria…she tended to be pretty stubborn about those things which didn’t always work in her favor.

David, on the other hand, had much more finesse with it. Not that she’d ever admit that to his face. They did have a rivalry to uphold, after all. Their whole marriage was based around it. She chuckled to herself and only belatedly realized he was standing right behind her. She whipped around and half scowled at him.

“Are you going to tell me what this is about?” David’s tone sounded amused as he leaned against her office door.

“What is anything about anymore?” She almost snapped the words out but took in a deep breath before continuing. She hadn’t called him here to snap, but he had startled her a bit. “Sorry. You don’t deserve that. I just can’t believe I didn’t think to compare this before.”

“Slow down. What are you talking about?” David pulled up a chair and settled down beside her like he was in for the long haul. Oh, how she appreciated the reality of that fact.

She thought for a few moments about how to phrase what it was she wanted to say. Finally, she thought she had it. “Wren mentioned something today; I can’t even remember what it was. But it gave me a thought, about the headgear.”

Turning to the computer, she pulled up the folders of research she’d managed to save. “See, the thing is, Michael’s headgear was his thing. It was his pet project. I remember numerous comments from him about how it was finally coming to fruition, how all his hard work had paid off, and soon everyone would see what a great idea it had been all along.”

She shrugged. “You know, generally-impressed-with-his-own-genius sort of talk. But Murmur got me thinking. It wasn’t just talk. It had been his graduation project, then he’d evolved it within his thesis. This headgear was never just intended to be for gaming. But he fucked up too soon, and that’s where it stuck. And that’s why he is stuck in there, seething with anger.”

Laria