Hypercage: Instant Reality Prequel One Read Online Free Page A

multi-tasking just gets better and better. The dev’s reckon soon you’ll be jacked in permanently, but live a normal life at the same time. Like splitting your entire brain in half. Crazy, eh?” She said.
    “That sounds really far out. I didn’t think they could do anything like that yet,” he said.
    “Me neither. Some sort of new advancement in transcoding or something. I don’t know. I don’t care, really. As long as I can play Galaxy War uninterrupted, I honestly don’t care how they do it,” she said.
    Uninterrupted. That’s what he needed. He’d be able to do all the jobs Becks set him every day, all the ones he carried out metronomically, without thinking. And looking after Jakey too. Then he wouldn’t have any more accidents either. It was perfect.
    “Do you want me to talk to my boyfriend then?” She asked.
    “Yeah, definitely. That’d be amazing. Any idea when? Could I get an invite tonight? I’m going to have to get this drug delivery authorised, otherwise she will know something is up. But as soon as I get home, I can jack-in. My Outfit has a big combined operations night tonight,” he said.
    “Yeah, mine too. I don’t suppose you’re going after the Ashur Cluster, are you?” She asked cleverly.
    He chuckled. “I couldn’t possibly comment,” he said, a big grin spreading over his face. He never had an opportunity to share any gaming comradery with anyone in real-life, and the connection felt amazing.
    “Well, it was worth a try. Share GUIDs then, and I’ll see what I can do. No promises though,” She said.
    They pressed their palms together and a translucent cube appeared in the air. Dave traced a finger inside the cube, drawing a glowing blue circle. He pressed his palm against it and an imprint of his hand glowed red in the centre. She clasped her fingers and the cube collapsed in on itself.
    “So if I do get you access, will you get to play tonight?” she asked.
    “Yeah, my wife and kid will be asleep, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
    He watched her eyes dart around her invisible HUD as she looked over his personal profile. He did the same, absorbing her data in a glance.
    “Woah, ninety-nine point six percent progress towards BR 40. Impressive! Hey, you really are a jack-head,” she said.
    “Very funny,” he said, suddenly serious.
    “Oh, come on, Dave. I was only teasing.” She tilted her head and her eyes were suddenly awash with artefacts. When they cleared, the Galaxy War logo burned brightly from their centre.
    “Forever war. Forever fun,” she said in a gruff military voice, mimicking the games strapline. The logo flipped and her eyes returned to normal.
    He burst out laughing. This girl was something else. Becks never just joked around with him like this.
    “Honestly, though, with this Mul-T plug-in, you’ll be BR 40 in no time.” Her eyes danced around her HUD again. “Right, my test results are in and they’re all clear, so it’s jack-time, baby,” she said, throwing him a repeating smile as she stood up. “I’ll try and let you know tonight, OK?”
    “Thanks, Starr.”
    Dave watched her walk out of the clinic, eager to make the most of every last second, drinking in every curve as the ARt flowed over her body. If only he wasn’t married.
    “Hey,” she called. “Good luck with the raid,” she said with a wink before walking away.
    Dave beamed ear to ear, ignoring the glares as he tracked her every movement out of the clinic.
    ± ± ± ± ±
    T he heavy wooden door swung open just as he stepped up onto the porch.
    “Welcome home, Mr Charlton, you have one message waiting from Mrs Charlton,” the house AI said.
    He ignored it as he strode into the kitchen, straight to the nano-factory. He could guess what the message was, and frankly, after everything that had happened this evening, he needed a drink before he could deal with any more of Becks’ shit.
    “Lagavulin. Triple measure,” Dave said to the house AI. It accessed the template for a