*
After I got home, I didn’t really breathe until I outlasted dinner and got to head to my room for the night. I’d been waiting the whole time for my dad or mom to reveal dramatically that they’d received a call from the principal, nail me on cutting class, ground me, say there’d be no more job.
But it didn’t happen.
Maybe Butler had been distracted that afternoon, afraid his not-so-little Project Hydra secret was too close to the surface. He’d waved off the bullying like it was nothing, but I knew he was wrong about that.
People didn’t look too kindly on adults who turned a blind eye these days. For good reason. Butler might not believe it was a concern, but tell that to the parents of teens who went around miserable or even killed themselves because of it. There were far too many.
I softly called, “Night, Deathmetal,” and got a return good night from Lucy, before I locked my door and went over to the laptop. Part of me wanted to clip the holoset on instead and return to the game, purely to prove I wasn’t afraid to go back.
And also to see SmallvilleGuy again. Even if it didn’t count as truly seeing him.
But I had zero interest in going in solo, with the risk of running into the Warheads. And I wanted to preserve the newly recovered balance between SmallvilleGuy and me.
The sweetness of our talk that afternoon, and that picture he’d sent me. He couldn’t tell me who he was, but he was trying to show me more about his life. At least, that was what I wanted to believe. His inability to tell all might frustrate me, but I was positive he’d never lied to me. That meant something. So I signed into the secure chat.
SmallvilleGuy: I found some things.
SkepticGirl1: That was quick. Dirt, please.
SmallvilleGuy: First, you have to promise you’ll tell me what you’re doing where these guys are concerned.
SkepticGirl1: The Warheads? I thought we covered that. I can handle them.
In the real world. Mostly.
SmallvilleGuy: I meant the lab, but I worry about both. What I’ve turned up so far are some old articles about ARL research into mind control and group consciousness, and some more recent ones on acquisitions in the past few years.
SkepticGirl1: Relevant to my interests. Keep typing.
SmallvilleGuy: They did some experiments back in the ‘60s and ‘70s that didn’t turn out so well. The test subjects were vets, retired soldiers who’d been in the same units together. One involved trying to remotely control actions in combat to prevent mistakes. But they also wanted to see if it was possible to make a unit think as one, pursuing an objective together. Idea being they would have less fear for their personal safety, and make smarter decisions with increased brainpower focused on the same goal, fear-free. But none of their research on behalf of the military back then panned out. And when word leaked and the ethics got questioned, the research was shut down. They switched to a pure tech focus, developed some life-saving medicine, some gadgets. Pulled in the big money.
SkepticGirl1: Charitable souls, you’re saying, after they got busted. Interested in the good of mankind.
SmallvilleGuy: If by that you mean possessed of a desire to create the means of wiping out any parts of it that their customers might want to as completely and efficiently as possible . . . maybe.
SmallvilleGuy: Now the more recent stuff. With all this money, a year ago they bought the company that created the technology behind the first real-sim holo game, and if you guessed it was Worlds War Three, you’re right. The management of WorldsHQ, that company, is still separate, but obviously ARL has access to their tech. I’m still digging to see if I can find more about that, looking for any joint projects.
SkepticGirl1: You think they bought it for a reason besides raking in more cash-money, I take it?
SmallvilleGuy: I do. On the ARL side, there have always been whispers that the R&D department was up to other things. I found them mentioned on the boards here and there, links to articles that imply their CEO wants to woo customers with even deeper pockets. I bet they’d like the military back as a partner somehow, no doubt hoping they can break into the world of special ops projects again. I wouldn’t discount the idea of them working with less official partners either though.
SkepticGirl1: Hmmm . . . The Warheads definitely are in sync, and obnoxiously fearless. They didn’t care about Butler being on their cases at all. Or me. Do you think it’s possible this is R&D combining old ideas with new tech to take some handpicked gamers for a spin?
SmallvilleGuy: Yeah, but why would they be messing around with human kids? It doesn’t make sense. It’s not like they could send them out into the field or combat. Plus, the Worlds connection. There’s more to this.
I frowned.
SkepticGirl1: What do you mean, ‘human kids’? What other kind is there?