Veil (43 page)

“I guess I tend to assume the worst in
people,” Hunter replied. “Hackers might not be able to do much
damage, but that’s not going to keep them from trying. I think the
first thing they’ll try to do is bypass the security measures.”

“Definitely,” Ken agreed.

“And you’re right, if they figure out how to
hack anything else, I’m not sure what it would accomplish. They
couldn’t change anything. To do that, they’d pretty much have to
know more about the brain than you, Tsay, and me combined. Like you
said, we’ve given them access to everything. The touchscreen
control panel lets them take full advantage of all the
features.”

“So,” Ken finished for him, “why not release
it out there and see what people can come up with? It’s going to be
the world’s Veil, let’s see what the world decides to do with
it.”

“Right the fuck on,” Hunter agreed.

“You two sure you don’t want to take them for
a spin?” Hunter asked the pair and held up the first two fully
functional Veils ever in existence.

“Nope,” they declined
simultaneously
.

“Ok, all on you,” he replied and set a collar
on Brock’s lap
.
Hunter tapped the
touchscreen on his collar a few times and then placed it on
himself.

The slick, black acrylic Veil Collar hung
from his ears and rested on his nape. It hugged his neck quite
snugly. The Veil beeped when it was in place and a clear
electrode-infused silicone membrane ascended from the device, up
along the base of Hunter’s neck. It snaked over the top of his head
and followed the contour of his skull until it reached his
hairline.

The silicone membrane completely covered the
top of Hunter’s head. It then lit up with purely decorative lines
of electricity that streamed throughout the silicone. They
resembled blue lightning bolts that branched out and shot in
different directions. The bolts constantly pulsated and buzzed
about, like a visible field of blue static electricity. The Veil
Collar started to beep.

Upon hearing the beeps, Suren let out a tiny
squeal and burst out three little excited claps. She got
embarrassed and turned red.

“What it’s doing now,” Ken schooled Suren and
Brock, “is reading what we call Hunter’s neuroelectrical frequency.
After it reads that, it will use the information to formulate a
special digital signature. That number, the Veil Security Number,
will be stored in the device and will be used to perform authorized
Veils.” He looked at Suren. “It’s setting up the ‘Suren’s Law’
feature.”

Suren smiled. She thought for a moment and
then asked, “So each Veil can only have one owner … one user?”

“Yep,” Hunter smiled, as the collar continued
its configuration.

“Oh, shouldn’t you sit still and not talk or
something?” she worried. The Veil was beeping
,
which Suren figured meant it was still working and
doing some important technological whatnots
.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Hunter assured her. “It’s
not that sensitive. It knows what it’s doing. And this is only the
configuration stage. No neuroelectricity is actually being
transferred.”

“Gotcha, ok,” she nodded.

“Ken, do you want to start the process for
Brock’s?” Hunter asked.

“Sure thing.”

Ken got up from the lab table and walked to
Brock’s chair. He grabbed the Veil from Brock’s lap and tapped on
its touchscreen. The screen lit up and Ken pressed the only
selection available, “Initial Configuration.”

A message popped up:
Are you sure? This
cannot be undone.

Ken pressed, “Yes.”

The message changed to:
Please place Veil
into position. It will detect when it is ready and will start
automatically. You will hear a beep when Veil is about to start
initial configuration. It will continue beeping until the process
is complete
.
This screen will then
display your Veil Security Number.

Ken placed the Veil on Brock’s neck and it
beeped. Brock’s Veil then began the same configuration procedure,
which Hunter’s just completed.

After the two Veil Collars were configured
and tested out for a few minutes—both collars completing a Veil by
shadowing and by being shadowed—Hunter informed everyone that the
devices were fully operational, functional, and ready for
action
.
‘Suren’s Law’ was also officially
in place: before the test, Hunter and Brock were both assigned
their Veil Security Numbers and had to use them to gain access to
each other’s collar.

As the test run was his first time on the
other
end of a Veil, Hunter also added, “And this shit is
cool as fuck. Holy shitballs. I don’t know if words can describe
it. Y’all are missing out. Holy fuck it’s intense, and I only did
it for a few minutes. It’s like eating acid but falling asleep
right afterwards
.
So, when you wake up
you’re already tripping so hard that you not only forget you took
acid
,
you also don’t even know who you are
anymore.”

Suren and Ken laughed nervously. They had no
idea what any of that meant.

“We’ll pass,” Ken said with a grin, but
didn’t want to go into too much detail. He really didn’t want to
get into a conversation about why he didn’t want to use Veil.
Hunter and Brock didn’t seem to care, anyway.

“So that’s it? It’s done?” Suren asked.

“It’s done,” Hunter announced.

“Yep, it’s done,” Ken conferred.

“So now what?” asked the voice from Brock’s
chair.

“So now we program all the rest of them,”
Hunter groaned.

“Boo! No fun!” Suren teased. It took them
over three hours to upload the operating system and program two
Veils. “I’m not sitting around for that. I’ll go make food and
stuff. Seriously though, what’s the next step? I mean … how long do
we have?”

“Well, Saturday we’re meeting up with
Anderson Cooper somewhere in the District. After that happens, the
Veil is going to hit the fan, as they say. So we need to have the
rest ready by then.”

“Anderson Cooper?” Suren squealed. “Are you
serious? Anderson Cooper? I love Anderson Cooper! Oh my God, he’s
so adorable. I wanna pinch him.”

“Yep, Anderson motherfucking-boss-ass
Cooper.”

Suren let out another squeal. She was
excited; she wasn’t dreading it anymore; she wasn’t worried about
what was going to happen to her after Veil was released out into
the world. She could see her revenge on the horizon
,
and more than anything else
,
she simply could not wait. She couldn’t wait to
share Veil with the whole world and give everyone a glimpse into
what she always knew was the amazing genius of Jin Tsay. Her
Jin.

“Alright then, let’s get this going and set
these bitches up,” Ken said as he marched to the eighteen remaining
Veils on the adjacent lab table.

Suren let out one big cackle that surprised
herself, so she covered her mouth with her hand and giggled through
it. She was slaphappy. They were all slaphappy.

From Brock’s chair came three very succinct
words: “Ken said ‘bitches’.”

“His credit cards turned up nothing. Neither
did his cellphone. Nothing has been used since last Sunday. He’s
not at any hospitals within a hundred-mile radius. No police
contact, either.” Schaffer frowned and continued, “Also, sir, his
friend Mr. Elsbeth departed from Reagan International last Sunday
night. He boarded his flight at twenty-two forty-five. We haven’t
been able to reach him. We did leave several messages. We attempted
contact with Dr. Kennerly’s parents but that was … um, rather
unsuccessful.”

“Unsuccessful how? Hunter’s father was in the
service. I’m sure he’d be more than responsive if he knew who was
calling.”

“Sir, when I introduced myself and tried to
tell him why I was calling he clarified that I was calling about
his son and when I answered in the affirmative he told me to … um …
go fuck myself … and terminated the call.”

Pollock tried to contain himself but let out
a small, uncontrollable chuckle after Schaffer finished. The
General seized an empty glass, which contained a considerable
amount of gin before the two whitecoats entered. He hurled it at
Pollock’s head. Pollock ducked and barely avoided it, and the glass
shattered against the wall behind him and Schaffer.

“Continue,” the General ordered Schaffer
without the slightest change in demeanor.

“Surveillance from Hunter’s quarters shows
him returning from the lab last Sunday at approximately eighteen
hundred and then leaving precisely at eighteen forty-five. We spoke
with the parents of Hunter’s friend Mr. Elsbeth. They were adamant
they hadn’t seen either of the men since Sunday evening some time.
When Brock Elsbeth left for the airport.”

“Son of a bitch!” the General shouted. He
reached to pick up the glass that was sitting in front of him but
found he already threw it at Pollock’s head. Instead, he picked up
his pen and threw it across the room. It didn’t quite have the
effect the General wanted and that only pissed him off more.

“I’ve already sent men to canvass all the
establishments around the home of Mr. Elsbeth’s
,
to acquire any security footage
.
Also to the airport to speak with TSA and review
their security footage. However, because so much time has lapsed,
I’m not sure they will be successful in turning up any
information.”

“So he just disappeared? You’re telling me
Hunter Kennerly up and disappeared? The one person who can actually
use the fucking technology? He up and disappeared and left behind a
piece of equipment you two goddamn motherless idiots are too stupid
to operate?”

“That’s another thing, sir,” Schaffer
reluctantly interrupted.

“What’s another thing? Because I obviously
don’t have enough things, do I?”

“No sir—I mean, yes sir—I mean … well, Dr.
Kennerly seems to have added programming to the device. Added
programming that we—that Dr. Pollock and I have never seen before.
We’re not sure yet what it does. What it adds. We can’t even figure
out when he added it and can only assume it was during our test
runs. That’s all we can figure, sir.”

“Well you’d better figure out something.
You’ve given me absolutely nothing. You’ve had an entire day, over
twelve hours and,” the General checked his watch, “Jesus, it’s
almost twenty-one twenty and you’ve given me fucking nothing. Do
you know how long I’m going to have to listen to my wife bitch
about me being…” the General continued but was interrupted by his
cellphone. He looked down at it and yelled, “Well speak of the
fucking devil with tits!”

The General flipped open his phone. “Yes,
dear?” His tone change quite drastically.

For no obvious reason, he gave Schaffer and
Pollock the finger
.

“I know honey, it’s just that … Lynn, I’m
still working on that issue I told you about. Like I said before
I’ll be home as soon … What do you mean? … What do you mean he’s on
the news? … Yes, we’re still looking for him … What happened, what
happened to him honey? … What? … Anderson what? … Is it still on? …
I need you to rewind it … Hold on … Lynn I said hold the fuck on
I’m going to put you on speakerphone.”

The General put his cellphone on speakerphone
and set it face up on the desk in front of him so the two
scientists could hear the call.

“Don’t you cuss at me Eugene! Don’t you cuss
at me. I will hang up!”

“Lynn baby, I’m sorry. Lynn baby, I need you
to rewind it. Is it still playing?”

“Yes. It’s commercials now.”

“Press rewind. On the gray remote. The fat
gray one. Rewind it back to the beginning.”

“I’m not recording it! I told you!”