Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (reading list txt) 📗

“G-george.” It was hard to call him by that name, but I doubted that anyone else had

Shannon nodded. “I’m guessing that you already figured out his play. He’s strong armed his way into leadership. He’s letting us try to contain the outbreak for now but he’s making plans to plug anyone willing back into the virtual world as possible.”

I had to tell her. While I was laid up in bed there had to be someone who could spread the word about the real danger. All things considered, Shannon might be the only person who might buy my story. At the very least she probably wouldn’t run from the room screaming or try and stick me in a straitjacket.

“We have rudimentary filters installed in the field hospital,” she continued without noticing my distraction. “Since the virus is droplet spread even a simple filter should help slow any spread. The number of dead has people a little spooked. The upside is that people have by and large been all right staying in their quarters and following our directives. The downside is that every day more and more are opting to return to the virtual world.”

“Understandable.”

Shannon leaned in close. “Between you and me, something’s off about him. He seems to have a lot of emotional lability. One minute he seems happy and confident, the next he’s angry and explosive. I haven’t spent a lot of time with him but I’m concerned that he’s unstable. We know that some people who have been infected only show mild symptoms, and we know that increased aggression is fairly common.”

I motioned for her to get me more water. When I had finished drinking, I pursed my lips. “Shannon, we know each other reasonably well, right?”

“I’d say so, I’ve seen you naked a number of times now.”

I smiled, my lips stinging as they cracked. “And you trust me, right?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“What I’m about to say to you is strange, but please bear with me.” I recounted the whole thing to her, from realizing that Gabriel had managed to upload his mind into George’s body, to our confrontation, to being shoved into the outside world with barely enough supplies to live through the week. When I was finished it was like I had run a marathon. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath and while the painkiller masked the the burns it did nothing to camouflage the ache and exhaustion of an old body that had been battered within an inch of its life. “You have anything stronger for me, Shannon?”

She didn’t reply. Her chin rested on her hands as she stared into space. I could see her doing the math, running over the details of the past few months to slot in the new pieces of information. I was beginning to get concerned when she snapped out of it. “Yeah, just...just let me go get something for you.” She returned with a minuscule syringe that she injected into my IV line. “Morphine,” she murmured. “It should take the edge off.”

“You all right?”

“You just told me that it’s possible for an AI to upload their personality and mind into a human being. You’ll have to excuse me if that freaks me out a little.”

“I understand.”

“We have to get out.”

“My thoughts exactly. Give me a couple of days to rest and we’ll get to work.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next few days passed in a blur. Precious time and materials were taken away from the 3D printers, still working overtime to produce personal protective equipment, to begin producing skin grafts. When they were ready they would be laced with a topical anesthetic that would allow me to be mobile. I wouldn’t be running any marathons any time soon but I would be able to walk around and resume a semblance of regularity. Three times a day I was attached to new and varicolored pouches of antibiotics, nutrients, and rehydration packets. So many holes were poked in my arms that I felt like a human pincushion. I finally consented to the installation of a semipermanent port on my arm-if only to escape the endless miniature stabbings.

I was treated with an unusual combination of respect and fear by other patients, visitors, and the medical staff. After all, I was the first person to spend an extended time outside of the shelter and lived to tell the tale. It was like I was a creature that needed to be kept at arms length. People passing through were happy to say hello but whenever I tried to invite them for further conversation they found themselves with somewhere urgent to be. I didn’t take it too personally. The transition from the simulation into the shelter was jarring enough. They weren’t ready to accept the idea of the surface. I’m not certain that they really believed that it was possible to live out there again. Before Gabriel had shoved me out there, I’m not sure I completely believed it myself.

Eliza and Marcus visited me on my second day in the infirmary, keeping their distance to avoid contaminating my wounds. Marcus seemed to have aged five years overnight-in a good way. In my absence he had positioned himself as a quiet figure of resistance against Gabriel. There was a vocal minority that felt the best way forward was to leave the shelter. My injuries aside, the fact that I had lived outside and returned in one piece seemed to bolster the confidence of those who wanted to leave in the first place-as few in number as they were. Marcus told me that he had connected with the folks close to him in the virtual world. They largely agreed with the idea that leaving the shelter was a natural step forward. Being careful not to draw too much attention to themselves among Gabriel’s power grab, they had been busy making sure the supplies hadn’t been tampered with.

Eliza was fraught with worry. Neither she nor Marcus had shown any symptoms of the