The Sapporo Outbreak (21 page)

Skinner spoke. "Excuse me, but when you say 'immersion labs' are you referring to the rooms where volunteers play and test the game?"

Visibly annoyed at the interruption, Tait replied sharply. "That is correct..." Tait paused for a second, checking Skinner's details with iSight before continuing, his tone softening notably. "...Professor Skinner. Yes, as you've already seen we do like to make things sound as complicated as possible. If you look around the room, you will see live footage from immersion labs around the world. Over the last few months, these rooms have been in use day and night, filled with volunteers testing iSight 3. We choose small areas of the game world to test, and observe as the players interact with the world, virtual players and each other."
   

This time Santos interrupted.

"But what good is it, simply watching these people wander around the room waving their hands in the air? I'm not sure what you could possibly learn from that."

Tait seemed to enjoy the question.

"Ah ..." another pause, "Doctor Santos, this is the brilliance of our system. Every element of the iSight game is monitored. Sophisticated software tracks every single interaction in the game, keeping constant tabs on the human
and
virtual players. We are also monitoring each players experience in the game. If we need to, we can actually see what they see, hear what they hear!"
 

Tait noticed concern ripple through the group and quickly corrected himself.
 

"With the player's approval of course."
 

He glanced at Sakura, who glowered disapprovingly. Quickly turning back to the group, Tait continued. "Thanks to the quantum machines you've no doubt seen, we can do this for tens of millions of players at the same time. All from this one room, and similar but smaller rooms in other centres around the world."

In her lateral vision, Santos could see Harper look at the floor and rub his irritated eyes, then look back up at Tait with an awestruck expression upon his face. Hill stood right next to the tall man, and seemed to be struggling to keep up. Santos really couldn't figure what Hill thought about all this. She suspected he wasn't really sure either.

Skinner didn't like what he was hearing, but he couldn't put his finger on why. He noticed Santos glance over, her face echoing his concern.

Santos turned back to Tait.

"Mr Tait, we heard from Doctor Becker that the characters inserted into the game matched perfectly the diversity of everyday life."

"That's correct. The iSight 2 world is extremely realistic, and yet I think even the most loyal players would agree there's
something
that makes it feel like a game. With iSight 3 this doesn't happen. Players feel it
is
another world. One of the reasons is not just the realism of the world and the people in it, but their diversity. We ensure our world is a 'real-world' mix of age, ethnicity and personality, which varies depending on where in the world you're playing the game. In effect we've created a perfect distribution for a healthy biological population."

"But doesn't that only work in the real world? ISight isn't real - it's a controlled environment - there are real people mixing with your virtual characters, and you have no idea how they think and react. Surely it's impossible to control things, to have any sort of "normal" biological population?"

Skinner watched Tait's eyes narrow and his face flush slightly. Skinner recognised the signs. Tait was lying, something wasn't right.
 

The awkward tension between Tait and Santos was broken by Sakura, as she stepped ahead of Tait and announced, "I'm sure there are many questions you'd like to ask Doctor Tait, but I'm afraid we have run out of time." Skinner glanced quickly to his side and saw Santos glare at their tiny hostess, annoyed at the interruption."

Sakura continued, "We must let the doctor get back to work, while we move on to the immersion labs on levels 2 and 3. You are all familiar with these labs from your past visits to some or our other WhiteStar centres around the world." Sakura smiled serenely at the group, ignoring completely Santos' angry stare. "Well, today you're going to see something very different. Not only are the immersion labs here the largest of all our centres, they are also the most sophisticated. Forty labs spread over two floors record volunteers reactions as they immerse themselves in different elements of the game. In the last few weeks, we've flown volunteers into Sapporo from around the world to join our Japanese testers, to simulate a global audience."

Hill interrupted, "Excuse me ..."

Sakura ignored the lawyer, and hurriedly continued.
 

"You will see players from many different cultures all engaged in elements of the iSight 3 world and, for the first time, you will each get to experience the final version of the game. The one the world will soon experience. And I can assure you all that it will be an experience you will never forget."

Spinning on her heels, Sakura turned to Tait. His attention had already drifted back to a technician's monitor over his left shoulder.
 

"Thank you for your time Mr Tait."

Tait didn't look up - instead waving a hand in the air, mumbling a reply that the group couldn't hear and Sakura didn't wait for. Instead she marched swiftly past the group and out toward the exit. Hill trailed behind, his past anxiety returning as he nervously adjusted his jacket. Beside him loped Andy Harper, staring off into the distance. Santos and Skinner trailed a few steps behind.
 

Without warning Skinner stopped and wheeled 180 degrees to face Tait, who was watching the video wall while muttering instructions to the young technician sitting nearest to Skinner.

"You said you can
hear what they hear, see what they see
?"

Tait rose slowly and stared back at Skinner, his face betraying no emotion as the professor looked on expectantly. An awkward moment of silence passed, before Tait turned away, bent over and continued his whispered discussion with one of the technicians.

Skinner turned and started walking briskly toward Sakura and the group as they exited the NOC. Santos struggled to keep up. "Ben, what is it?"

"I need to talk to Steve Clark again Eva. And I need to take these damn lenses out without anyone noticing."

Santos stared at Skinner. His jaw clenched, hard resolve on his face, like a man steeling himself for battle.

#

2pm Thursday, Tanaka's Quarters, Sapporo (Minus 60 Minutes)

Koji Itou, WhiteStar Corp's Head of Security, marched toward the seated Tanaka, stopping directly opposite the billionaire.

"I am sorry to be so late sir, it is my fault entirely. As this is a sensitive issue ..." Tanaka smiled at Itou's understatement, "... I instructed all materials be hand-delivered to me, and that I be briefed in person. In the last two hours the blizzard has worsened significantly. The roads are almost impassible, and visibility is almost zero. Our team were forced to drive the consultant at a snail's pace from the airport. He arrived ten minutes ago, and I have now been informed that the snowstorm is now so bad the city is effectively in lockdown.
 

"I understand completely Koji. You have never let me down, and I am quite sure you have addressed this as quickly as possible. I'm afraid that even you, my good friend, can't beat nature."

Itou bowed his shaved head at Tanaka's words, his shirt straining at his thick muscular neck.
 

Tanaka continued. "Now, please take a seat and tell me what you have learned."

Itou bowed again, then lowered his bulk into the thick leather seat opposite Tanaka.

As Itou rolled open his tablet computer, Tanaka considered the circumstances and twists of fate that had made this iron man his most trusted friend and ally. Tanaka had always been careful with who he trusted. He was a friendly man, yet had few real friends. He kept people at arms' length - he found it easier that way. That was, until three years ago, when he met Itou.

With the success of iSight, and the imminent launch of iSight 2, WhiteStar's value had skyrocketed, and Tanaka had become a very wealthy man. On a business trip through Brazil accompanied by his wife and daughter, Tanaka was made aware of a plot to kidnap his wife and daughter. He was initially horrified, but true to his nature, quickly responded.

Twenty four hours later, in a penthouse suite outside Rio, he first met Koji Itou.

At the time Itou was the founder and CEO of a corporate security firm based in Tokyo. A tight knit group of extremely intimidating men, mostly retired special forces soldiers, the firm specialised in providing security for Japan's wealthiest businessmen. Itou had come very highly recommended, and Tanaka had spared no expense to have the man fly to Brazil at short notice.
 

During their first meeting, Tanaka was fascinated by Itou. His low-key, unfailingly polite nature was at complete odds with his background. A trained killer, Itou was considered a legend among his special forces colleagues past and present, and yet Tanaka's immediate impression was to wonder whether Itou really was the man he was looking for. That all changed as soon as Tanaka explained the threats made against his family. Itou leaned forward, drilling Tanaka with questions about the threats and his existing security arrangements, his eyes fixed on Tanaka. Itou made it clear he would only work with his own team, and therefore every existing member of Tanaka's security team would have to go, and anyone else close to Tanaka would be checked by Itou. Tanaka had objected to some of the changes. Itou's voice turned to steel and he left Tanaka in no doubt that he would keep him safe, but only if things were handled his way.

On a handshake, Tanaka had agreed to Itou's terms, and within days Itou had made sweeping changes designed to tighten protection around Tanaka and his family. Tanaka had never felt safer. Within months, Tanaka offered to acquire Itou's company in return for Itou personally dedicating himself to Tanaka's security. The deal was agreed in minutes, Itou dropped all other clients and since that day had committed himself to Tanaka. Months later, Itou would prove his worth during the darkest time in Tanaka's life.

Tanaka's thoughts were interrupted by Itou as he cleared his throat, making it clear he was ready to begin.

Tanaka nodded, encouraging his friend to continue.

"Sir, it appears that we have had further incidents involving iSight 3 volunteers. In addition to the incident here two nights ago, we've also found attacks in Palo Alto and Berlin that fit the profile. We don't yet have enough information about the Berlin incident to be certain, but the signs are that too is related. Perhaps of most concern are the New York and London events. They are more ...
sophisticated
... in nature."

Tanaka grimaced. This was worse - much worse - than he'd feared.

"Sophisticated? In what way?"

"It's difficult to be sure sir. Most of what we have is security footage, conflicting eye witness reports and the police reports. However, it appears in New York and London that the players attacked as a pack."

"As a pack?" Tanaka groaned. "Are we are certain the attackers had played iSight 3?"

"Yes sir. I'm afraid so. In all cases, the attackers had taken part in simulations at one of our immersion labs. We've reviewed their playing pattern, and as with the others we see them adopting more violent personality traits within minutes of playing. There's no outward sign of aggression, and all players left the building still wearing the lenses. However, as in past cases, at some point prior to the attack the players would remove the lenses - often with force."

Tanaka run his hands through his hair and sighed in frustration. This made no sense at all.
 

Psychosis in players had first appeared prior to the launch of iSight 2 but, other than in Hong Kong, it was incredibly rare and invariably by people with a past history of instability. The game exploded so quickly that the few incidents that did occur were lost in the hundreds of millions of players who played safely.
 
No one connected the game with the attacks, or at least no one with real credibility. Tanaka had worked hard to ensure these incidents were never tied to iSight 2. Sakura had done a remarkable job misdirecting media coverage, while Itou had - in ways Tanaka never really understood - ensured that no evidence which would connect the attacks to each other or the game ever emerged.
 

Itou remained impassive as fear and frustration washed over Tanaka.

"Sir, we now have the security footage from the attack two nights ago here in Sapporo. It's quite graphic - are you sure you want to review it?"

Tanaka didn't hesitate.
 

"Yes, I want to see what's happening." Tanaka paused for a second before adding quietly, "Besides my friend, I've seen it all before."
 

Itou lowered his head at Tanaka's words, and for a brief moment neither man moved, both caught in reflection.

Snapping back to the present, Itou pulled a rolled up plastic sheet from his suit pocket, rolled it out flat onto the coffee table separating the men and pressed a fat finger on the surface. The flexible tablet computer erupted in colour and a video sprang to life.
     

Tanaka leaned forward, steeling himself for what was to come.

The video showed a burly young maintenance worker roughly ten feet from the camera's position in one of the third floor's east/west corridors branching from the main north/south corridor. He was standing on a steel A-frame ladder, a screwdriver in his left hand and a light fitting in his right. Peering up at the exposed wiring, he appeared to be addressing some issue with the LED lighting. With the main ceiling lights off, only the ambient glow from the main corridor and a torch propped up on the top stair of the ladder lit the area. Around the man, the corridor quickly merged into inky darkness.
 

Suddenly, from the darkness of the corridor, a slight, sallow young woman, her long black hair draped over her eyes, shuffled into view. She was staring into the distance, her head and arms jerking unnaturally, her eyes blood red. Catching the movement, the man turned to see the girl lurch toward him. Startled, he stumbled from his ladder, falling backwards onto his metal toolbox with a loud crack and screaming in agony.