Fox Hunt (Fox Meridian Book 1) (12 page)

‘Adrian and I wrote up a proposal for something a little grittier last year,’ Shark said. ‘We got a little interest… and a lot of reluctance. Then Mystery and Mayhem did their thing. Suddenly we’re looking at falling ratings, but the response from up the line was to make the show more appealing to people who
don’t
want tits in their face in a crime show.’

‘You consider
Murder on My Mind
a threat?’ Fox asked. Shark was more of a fit for the physical requirements: tall, well-muscled, and it looked like that was gained from exercise and a minimum of artificial augmentation. He was good-looking, and it looked like there had been a little work done to get that. His hair, at the very least, had been coloured, probably lightening a darker blonde to make a swept-back, honey-blonde style which went quite well with sharp, blue eyes. His jawline looked a little weak, still youthful, and his mouth was a little thin in the lips, but quite full. Overall he was good-looking and quite possibly strong enough to hold Trent down while he blew her brains out.

‘It’s a threat, but we need something new to see it off, not more of this.’ He grinned, showing off those white teeth. ‘
I
want something with more realism to it. Something hard-hitting, speaking to the reality of modern policing. I mean, we have to keep the audience with us, keep the action going, yeah, maybe put in a little more sex, but people want a hard edge now. Ever thought of a career change, Inspector?’

‘I act all the time, Mister Shark, and you wouldn’t want me in front of a camera. I can’t take direction worth a damn. Just ask my captain. I’ll need to know where both of you were between six and ten yesterday morning.’

‘On a Sunday? I don’t get out of whoever’s bed I’m in until midday.’

‘And whose bed were you in yesterday?’

He sagged a little. ‘My own. Alone. My apartment biomonitor logs should agree with me though.’

‘I…’ Daker said, pausing to think. ‘Yeah, I logged in to the office systems about eight-fifteen. I had some rewrites to finish up for today’s shooting. Before that, bed, asleep.’

‘Thanks.’ Fox glanced at the screens again, watching Paretski walk around a decapitated body which was not really there. ‘What am I missing? There’s something not there that I expect to see and I can’t figure out what it is.’

‘That’s good,’ Shark replied. ‘A lot of people don’t notice it’s
not
there, but you’re not supposed to notice it is. We don’t put the product placement tags in until the final edit. A lot of them are specific to the viewer
and
depend on who’s paying for time on the day. With modern analytics, clients can make decisions on exactly where to put their advertising budget just about hourly. Most don’t, but we add the product placeholders late anyway.’

Explained it was obvious: the sets lacked the clutter of normal life which a set dresser would have put in. The streamed programme would have things put in which linked to advertisers’ products. Quite which products anyone would want linked to a headless corpse Fox was not sure. Really good carpet cleaner? ‘It’s all just a lot of illusion, isn’t it?’

‘Kind of a metaphor for all of modern life,’ Daker replied. ‘Half the world,
most
of the developed world, lives in a dream.’

~~~

‘Yes, Julianne Trent spent significant time in Niflhel,’ Kit said. ‘There was no evidence of VR addiction, but she spent at least a couple of hours each day in the viron.’ She paused. ‘I used that right, didn’t I? “Viron” for “virtual environment?”’

Fox grinned at her. ‘Yes, that was right.’

Kit nodded. ‘I am trying to remember to use slang. Miss Trent was in that viron from eight in the evening on Saturday through to two in the morning. We would need a warrant to dig in and find out what she was doing. Her own system did not record her activities within Niflhel and I have found no notes or memories pertaining to it.’

‘So she was up to something she didn’t want recorded, or it was all just fun and she didn’t bother. Or she was up to some fun she didn’t want recorded, of course.’

‘Niflhel has developed a reputation for security and privacy, as well as offering its patrons all manner of recreation. She could have been doing anything. The symbology comes from Norse myth. The name means “misty Hell” or something like that. Hel, with a single L, was the Norse underworld associated with those who died of old age or disease, outside of battle anyway. We get the word Hell, two Ls, from that name, but there is little similarity between the popular conception of Christian religion and the Norse underworld. I don’t believe there is significant concordance between Niflhel and the Norse realm of the same name, aside from the entry viron.’

Fox gave a shrug and settled back on the couch, sipping her coffee. ‘Well, it’s worth a look. I’ll pay the place a visit tonight. Even if it just turns out to be a boring online club, it’s an evening out.’

~~~

Fox opened her eyes as the VR link fully established and looked out on the entrance viron of Niflhel. It was certainly misty. The draw distance was maybe ten metres; after that the world vanished into a grey wall of slowly shifting grey mist. Looking down, she saw her legs vanishing into the same grey fog, but she could feel soft, moist ground under her bare feet. It was like she was standing on a wet peat bog.

‘Oh! You look… different.’ Fox turned at the sound of Kit’s voice, giving her a smile. ‘Different, but the same.’

‘I had a body scan done for the basic avatar, so that’s the same. Then I changed the hair and eyes…’ Her online form still had eyes that were more violet than blue surrounded by purple shadow and black liner. Her hair was far darker, a dusty, very dark near-blonde with highlights of purple. Her dress was four strips of purple cloth with brighter, neon edges, tied just below her breasts and closed with a silver broach. There was a similarly coloured G-string to preserve some modesty. She had never been a particularly modest woman anyway.

‘That is a nice dress you are barely wearing,’ Kit said, deadpan.

‘You have seen what Terri dressed you in, right? How do I get into this place?’

‘Perhaps I could be of assistance?’ The mist seemed to roll back to reveal a figure walking toward them. He, or he sounded male, was little more than a black, humanoid mass of boiling mist with glowing, red pits for eyes. ‘I am Vali. I made this place.’

‘I’m Zorra,’ Fox replied, giving her online tag. ‘This is Kit.’

Something like a grinning mouth of red light appeared in the mass of black mist. ‘I am aware of who and what you are… Zorra. What is it you wish? Niflhel exists to provide leisure, a place to meet for any who wish it. The protocols I provide for connection have some of the best encryption in the world.’

‘That’s true,’ Kit said. ‘I needed to download custom encryption drivers and the data streams connecting us to the server are quite unique.’

‘So you’re selling privacy, for whatever use the participants may have for it,’ Fox said. She had the distinct feeling that this ‘Vali’ knew she was a cop, and she did not like playing games much anyway.

‘That’s one way of putting it.’

‘One of your… participants was murdered yesterday morning. Julianne Trent.’

‘She employed the online tag Mystral,’ Kit supplied.

‘Perhaps we should speak privately,’ Vali said, and the mist was swirling up around them before Fox could reply.

They were standing on the shores of a lake, the sun low in the sky over the mountains opposite, the air fresh in Fox’s lungs as she breathed it in. A grass bank extended down from where she was standing to the water of the… She decided that ‘fjord’ was the right word as she turned to see a farmstead behind her, built from wood with a roof of thatch.

Vali fitted the setting perfectly now. Where there had been a nightmare figure of smoke and fire, there was now a young man dressed in a rough tunic, trousers, and boots which might have belonged to a Viking. His blonde hair was pulled back into a long braid at the back of his neck, except for a few strands which curled on either side of a face that was young, but hard. His eyes were an icy blue, his lips thin, and his features were sharp and angular. Of course, Fox had no way of knowing whether this was anything like his real shape, but the avatar was good-looking and too severe at the same time.

‘Come up to the house,’ he said. ‘Would you care for some mead?’ He turned and began walking up the slope before getting a reply.

‘I’m not entirely sure that would be a good idea,’ Kit replied. She was looking around with a wide-eyed expression of surprise on her face. ‘I am not sure what synthetic alcohol would do to me. And I am surprised to be here as it is.’

‘Why would I leave you behind? I don’t discriminate against infomorphs. Any intellect is welcome here and this way Zorra will not need to brief you later.’

‘Thank you for your consideration.’

He walked into the low building and went to the back. There was the clink of pot on pot. Fox smelled grass, dried grass, hay or straw. There were other scents there too, animals, earth… The simulation was remarkably detailed. Somewhere she could hear a dull, bell-like tone and she was sure there would be animals outside, behind the house. Goats, she thought, perhaps a pig.

Vali turned, handing out goblets. He looked at Kit. ‘Try the mead. I promise it won’t do anything particularly bad.’ She took the goblet as though it might bite, and his hard lips twitched in amusement before he turned, picking up a goblet of his own, and then sat down on a straight-backed, wooden chair at the one table in the single room.

‘This place is quite remarkable,’ Fox said as she took a seat. The wood was rough beneath her buttocks and the texture of the table under her virtual fingers was perfect: there was roughness there, but it had been polished to smooth by age.

‘Thank you. I spent some time on it.’ His brow knitted and he turned his goblet slowly in long fingers. ‘Mystral came here for entertainment, nothing more. She was involved in a small writers’ group, and I know that was her line of work, but most of her time was spent entertaining guests in one of the brothels.’

‘Brothels?’

His smile had a distinct hint of resignation in it. ‘When you allow people to create their own content in a virtual environment, sex is an almost universal feature of it, one way or another. Mystral favoured a fantasy-themed establishment created by another of our members, Cleopatra. There’s a strong role-playing element. You don’t simply go there to bang and leave.’

‘She was there on Saturday night?’

He paused, possibly accessing data they could not see. ‘Yes. She connected at eight in the evening, went straight to Alexandria, and didn’t leave until two in the morning. Nothing I’m seeing in her connection records would indicate any kind of stress. She was enjoying herself.’

‘You monitor stress indicators?’

‘Niflhel features various forms of entertainment, Zorra, including combat simulation, some horror-based scenarios, and a few sexual virons which… can cause some degree of stress. My systems keep a watch on our participants’ biomonitors just in case someone gets up to something inadvisable. Some of the people in Alexandria can play a little rough at times, but there is no indication of anything like that from Mystral’s data.’

Fox smiled. ‘You’re being very helpful, Vali.’

He smiled back. ‘And you find it hard to trust someone in my profession who volunteers data so easily? One, I am… insulted by murder, especially of my participants. I’ll provide whatever assistance I can. Two, I am quite sure her presence here had nothing to do with her death, so I have nothing to hide. Three, I like your agent. She’s cute.’

Kit’s eyes widened. ‘Oh… I… Thank you?’

‘She is cute,’ Fox agreed, ‘but I still think her designer is trying to get me in the sack. Would it be okay for me to pay a visit to this “Alexandria?”’

‘Generally it’s members only, but I’m inclined to be generous. I’ll arrange a guest pass. I could entertain Kit while you’re looking around.’ He was smirking now, amused at the AI’s discomfort.

‘I’m not sure she’s ready for the interaction I expect to see, so why not. Just don’t break my agent.’

‘I assure you that she will be fine.’

Fox got to her feet and started for the door of the little house. ‘You hear that, Kit? You’ll be fine. Just remember that it’s best not to put out on a first date.’ And then she stepped through the door and was gone.

‘I’ll try to remember that,’ Kit said, turning to look warily at Vali. ‘Would you mind explaining what “putting out” is?’

~~~

Alexandria seemed to be modelled after some sort of ancient city. Fox had expected something far smaller given Vali’s description of the place as a brothel, but she arrived on a dock beside a boat, as though arriving by sea, and there were workers visible tending to various duties nearby. They bore the tell-tale signs of AI automata rather than real people, not quite looking real in a manner which was difficult to pin down and repeating the same set of activities over and over again if you watched them long enough. On the other hand, the place had the feel of an inhabited city, which meant Cleopatra had put time and money into crafting and running the place.

Well, if the simulations were there, she figured she would try talking to one. ‘Excuse me,’ she said to a man sitting near her point of entry mending fishing nets.

‘Good evening, lady. How may I help?’ The voice was a little stiff but had good tone. The model followed the ‘grizzled old fisherman’ school of looks and was dressed in a loincloth and a loose, sackcloth tunic.

‘I was hoping I could talk to Cleopatra.’

The figure’s face shifted, developing more of a sneer. ‘Oh, you’re one of her women. You’ll find her at the pleasure palace at the top of the hill.’

Vaguely amused at the attitude change, Fox nodded and said ‘Thank you.’ Then she set off down the dock to climb through the town to what she assumed was the ‘pleasure palace.’ There was, certainly, a decorated building of some sort among rows of stone houses, all of them whitewashed to shine in the sunlight. The palace itself was just stone, but that stone was white marble and gleamed almost as much, except for the places where it seemed to have been painted.