The Sapporo Outbreak (10 page)

And then, just over two years ago when we released iSight 2, those same investors complained again.
People will be unhappy buying new hardware,
they said.
We've saturated the market
, they claimed.

"We introduced a new generation of gaming hardware. We replaced those terrible glasses with soft contact lenses, powered entirely by the act of blinking. Players could immerse themselves in the world's largest online game at any time - and no one knew. The wristbands remained - we couldn't quite get the system to recognise hand movement without them. And the game leapt forward. Our virtual characters evolved, some near human in features and behaviour. The iSight world expanded massively, and we were able to blend the real world with the game. For the first time, players could interact with game characters in their own living room, at the park, on the subway."

Having heard Tanaka's breathless sales pitch many times before, Hill simply smiled and nodded in agreement. He knew Tanaka wasn't looking for his input; all he wanted was an appreciative audience.
 
Hill took care to look suitably impressed.
 

Tanaka's voice lifted.
 

"The impact? Every day, around the world, we have almost half a billion people playing iSight 2. They share their experiences and invite their social networks to join, the virtual characters grow and evolve as the game continues. The good, the bad and the ugly play out in a safe space where players can be heroes, cops, villains, adventurers and lovers. They can escape reality - and enter a better reality."

Hill could see Tanaka was on a roll now, and despite having seen this act many times before, Hill couldn't help but be impressed. Tanaka was charismatic, his enthusiasm was infectious. Most importantly - he was
right
. Others
had
said he would fail - and instead he'd created one of the world's great successes - as Hill's boss William Miller would crudely put it,
a never-ending cash-vomiting playground for the deluded.

Tanaka was at his hand waving best now, and Hill was starting to enjoy the show.

"Which brings us to iSight 3. It launches in.." Hill frowned as Tanaka's eyes flickered several times, seemingly lost in another thought, "...six days, two hours and twenty three minutes from now."

Tanaka paused.

"Already, over 500 million people have taken delivery of the new iSight 3 soft contact lenses. Another billion are already in online stores and warehouses, supermarkets and corner shops. With these new lenses, players are freed from those awful wristbands. We can now track full body motion in real time. Players can drop in and out of games at any time, piggybacking on any available Internet connection. While the hardware is remarkable, it's the game that's revolutionary. Thanks to an unparalleled investment in research and development, and the guidance of thought leaders such as Dr Santos, Professor Skinner and Mr Harper...", Tanaka half stood up and nodded to the bemused guests relaxing in the cabin behind, "...we have met our goal. The virtual scenarios, and the characters that live within them are effectively indistinguishable from a human player.
 

The Gulfstream bumped slightly as it rose through cloud cover. Over Tanaka's shoulder, Hill noticed Santos jump slightly.

"Imagine Alex, iSight 3 is already populated with over five million artificially intelligent virtual personalities. Mums and dads, brothers and sisters. Taxi drivers, criminals, teachers, sportsmen and women, cops, dancers - you name it. A cross-section of life. Every one entirely unique in appearance and personality. Thanks to the work of Dr Santos and an army of psychologists, each person makes
sense
. They have agendas, flaws, are predictable - and unpredictable - just like we humans."

Tanaka jumped forward and thumped the coffee table separating the men. Out of the corner of his eye, Hill noticed Tanaka's bodyguard Itou - sitting opposite the two men - instantly tense, his eyes narrowing on the lawyer. Itou struck Hill as a pit bull straining at the leash. He had no doubt that should anyone be crazy enough to physically threaten Tanaka, the bodyguard would quickly make them regret it. Unnerved, Hill turned his head to avoid Itou's uninterrupted stare.

"Imagine Alex, a game completely immersive. Capable of being entered at any time, from anywhere - without anyone knowing. A game in which life's full range of social interactions can play out between any combination of real and virtual players. The more adventurous players can fight foes from the world of fantasy or grim reality. Role playing, strategy, crime, war, community building and falling in love. All possible at any time. In our research centres, we've had people of all ages test the game, and the reports are the same. Within minutes, it
feels
indistinguishable from real life. Even my thirteen year old daughter and ten year old son were amazed and delighted by the experience. And in a few short days, half a billion people will enjoy the experience. Mark my words, within a year two and a half billion people will be hooked on iSight 3. A third of the planet Alex.
 

A third of the planet."

Tanaka slumped back into the thick leather chair, triumphant. Satisfied. There was no doubt. No concerns. This
was
the way it would be because it had to be.

Hill mirrored Tanaka, slouching satisfied at what he had heard. "Mr Tanaka, sorry Kaito, I can only say once again that your vision, your passion and your drive is inspiring. I will be sure to report your words back to the investors when we arrive in Sapporo."

Tanaka nodded graciously, his attention already diverted by the tablet computer on his lap.

Hill looked out at the darkening night sky and recalled his first experiences with Tanaka, helping round up sceptical investors for a demonstration of an early prototype of 'iSight'.
 

One demonstration in particular stood out. Hill had managed, by trading favours, pleading and outright coercion, to gather together some of the firm's richest and most powerful clients for a demonstration by this eccentric Japanese genius. The firm's Managing Partner, William Miller had made it very clear to Hill that this would make or break him in the firm. If he embarrassed the firm, he was out. No questions asked.

The old men - for they were almost all old men - sat in the plush boardroom high up in the Transamerica building and waited impatiently for Tanaka to begin the pitch. Several had made it clear on arriving that they would give no more than ten minutes to this, and - ominously - that Hill better not be wasting their time.

Tanaka walked into the room and immediately began talking. He described a future in which the distinction between the real and virtual world blurred, and as he did so he walked around the room handing every second person a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses with ear plugs placed subtly on the arm of the glasses.
 

Tanaka then asked the bemused recipients to place the glasses on, while he pointed a pen-sized projector at the far wall. Tanaka explained that those without glasses would be witnesses to what the others were experiencing. The men watched in awe and amazement as an incredible, life-like world unfolded in front of them, and their typically staid and conservative colleagues quickly immersed themselves into the experience. Within minutes, those without sunglasses were begging for a pair to try while those with sunglasses were refusing to give them up.

Hill had always considered Tanaka's presentations to be deal closers. He could see the investors' concerns melt away as they watched Tanaka's remarkable new world come to life. Although there were invariably one or two who would complain of disorientation and a feeling of 'anxiety' after playing, the vast majority were sold right away. In fact, Hill grinned to himself, they raised $125 million from the people in that room. Every one spellbound by the technology, and hoping to exploit the world's twin insatiable appetites for online gaming and social media.
 

And they were right.
 

Tanaka had made these early investors more money than any other single investment in the gilded lives of those rich men.

And they wanted more.
 

To these investors, WhiteStar was their very own river of gold, and they didn't want anything to block that flow. That's why they'd demanded that Hill gather this group together and fly out to Japan in the middle of the worst storm in a decade.

Not because they were concerned it might have some risk.

But to ensure that no matter what, iSight 3 would be released to the world in just over six days time.

#

6pm Tuesday, London England (Minus 12 Hours)

Emma Dickson loved her life. She had moved to London from Manchester a year ago, and now at twenty years old she had her first big break. Sure, she was playing sexy brunette number 3 in the supporting cast of Burlesque, but it was a popular West End revival show and she was getting noticed. She was on her way.

The crowd of shoppers had thinned a little as she bounced up the stairs from the subway and into the bright lights of London's Piccadilly Circus. She was already late for 'midnight madness' class, and she didn't yet have enough goodwill built up to piss off the instructor. In a hurry, she took the last two steps at the same time, misjudged the distance, stumbled and fell to the ground. Wincing at the scrapes on the palms of both hands and the drip of blood trickling down her elbow, Emma cursed her clumsiness and started to get up.

She never saw the paunchy, balding man in a tired polyester suit and black rimmed glasses approach from the stairs above.
 

Catching his shadow in the corner of her eye, Emma looked up just as the man quickly stepped down the stairs toward her and stopped, blocking her way. Emma looked at the man, and through the dark rimmed glasses she saw his eyes - more than bloodshot, they were red raw. Emma recoiled at the sight, just as the man lifted his right knee up to his chest and thrust forward - crunching hard into Emma's face and sending her petite young body sailing backward down the concrete stairs.

With complete indifference, the man turned on his heels, strode back up the stairs and drifted back into the London night.

Emma felt herself sailing through the air, then felt a sickening thud on the back of her head. Loud ringing in her ears drowned out any other noise, and a second later she felt an agonising stabbing pain in her nose and jaw overwhelm her. She could taste the coppery blood as it flowed over her tongue and down her throat. She lifted her shaking hand to her face and could feel her jawbone dangle unnaturally below her shattered teeth. She scraped backwards to rest on the concrete platform separating two flights of stairs just as a young boy - Emma figured around 15 years old - ran to her side. Dazed, she turned to face him and was horrified to see burning red eyes staring back at her. The boy raised his foot and stamped hard on her chest. She heard the crunch before the pain exploded, and she felt the rush of air as her lungs collapsed. Gasping for breath, Emma's last sight was of a smartly dressed woman in her early thirties swing a steel-edged Samsonite briefcase at her head. With one last crack, Emma's head swivelled, and her unseeing eyes gazed up at the blinking lights of Piccadilly.
 

Back in the throng of late night Christmas shoppers, the man carried on as if nothing unusual had happened. The boy laughed as he ran to catchup with his friends waiting for him at the cinema. The woman continued down the subway stairs past Emma's crumpled body to catch her train. She couldn't be too late tonight, the kids were up early tomorrow for a school concert and she had things to organise.
 

All three continued on as if nothing had happened. Because to them it hadn't. Not really.
 

It was just a game after all.

#

Over the Sea of Okhutsk (Minus 18 Hours)

A loud bang woke Santos with a start. Although she didn't consider herself a nervous flyer, she didn't enjoy flying - and she really did not like turbulence. It reminded her that they were sitting in a steel tube 30,000 feet above ground, and the pilot's soothing announcement of 'one or two bumps as we near Sapporo' only made it worse.

Santos pressed a button on the seat, and it smoothly and silently slid from a flat bed to sit up chair in a few seconds. She yawned and watched as Ben Skinner silently slept in front of her. Spikes of blonde hair stuck up at the back as he lay curled up under a thin white blanket - WhiteStar branded of course. Santos knew months ago she was falling for Skinner, and suspected he felt the same. It was so hard to tell with the professor. He was unfailingly polite and respectful - as if he didn't want to press the issue. After their interrupted dinner in Georgetown, she'd come to the view that he'd never push things - and so she'd resolved to take the first step. She'd make her feelings known and see where it took them. No point wasting any more time wondering. After all, the consulting work with WhiteStar was coming to an end,and with it any excuse to see Skinner.
 

Yup
, Santos mused,
time to make things happen.

"Couldn't sleep Dr Eva? Yeah, don't blame you. I have a hard time sleeping when you're around."

Santos turned to her right and standing, slightly stooped, in the hallway was a grinning Andy Harper. His sharply pointed leather boots, tight jeans and fitted red shirt made him look, to Santos, a little ridiculous. Like a middle-aged accountant - albeit a handsome one - on his way to a singles club.
 

Santos looked up at Harper, leaning over her, his legs pressing against her shoulder, and with a withering glare said "Mr Harper, I'm sure women have no trouble falling asleep when you're around."

 
Harper leaned in further. "Dr Santos, I can assure you the only reason women fall asleep around me is from physical exhaustion. More so with the uptight ones - perhaps you would understand."

Suddenly very uncomfortable, Santos silently nodded to an attendant at the front of the cabin, currently serving Tanaka. He acknowledged her with a smile and bent over to serve drinks to Tanaka and Hill.