you.’
‘Zachary, please don’t talk like that.’
‘Why not? You and the ‘nage already monitor my every minute. What choice could I have?’
‘I’m sorry that you see those who care for you as a restriction on your life.’
‘I’m stuck with baby exercises for training and I’m stuck in the kutzo house. How do you expect me to feel?’
‘Patience, Zach. Please. You need time to recover.’
‘I’m fine. All I need to do is get back on the Weave, but you won’t let me.’
‘No, I won’t. Not until you can control yourself again.’
And so their sessions reached an impasse. Zach began looking for new teachers but it was hopeless. Lizney had put the kibosh on, and nobody would take him. It was like the beady-eyed old man had a grudge against him. Maybe he didn’t like his record being tarnished, it might cost him future students.
Zach dropped his other classes and spent all his time training in the null space. This was what mattered, being able to defend yourself. Being quick enough to block offensive codes with his own; building up a catalogue of scripts and twists that he could pull out as he needed them.
Bleck! he swore to himself. It was all just games until he got back on the Weave. The scripts he was pulling were textbook, available to everyone who wanted them. They’d be useless against a hakka.
Hakkas could go where they pleased and do what they wanted to whoever they chose. The only thing that was meant to stop them were the weavers and rangers. But obviously the hakkas still did what they did without any hindrance from the ‘good guys’. Zach had been misled.
A message came into his box with no sender attached.
: Come on, runt. Don’t hide in null space forever.
Zach: Who is this?
: The one who gives you nightmares.
Zach froze. Images of rape and mutilation repeated in his mind’s eye.
: Come on, Zach. I won’t do it again. Promise.
Zach: I’m locked off from the Weave.
: ZZZZZ.
Zach: They’re watching me.
: Just say the word, runt, and I shall set you free.
Zach thought about it for a moment. He looked out on the empty vista of the null space. Greyness to the non-horizon.
Zach: What’s the word?
: Please, of course.
In his immersion lounge, Zach swallowed and locked in a fresh backup.
Zach: Please.
The null went black, then Zach blinked and he was standing in a field of green grass with exaggerated flowers. The sky was a solid blue mockery of the real world, laughing brightly behind one perfect tree.
He looked at himself, swivelling a camera view for a looksy. He had been changed into something like a rabbit that stood like a human. He tried to assert his own image into —
‘Don’t do that.’ A familiar female voice came from the shade of the tree. ‘They’ll detect you pretty quick if your avatar appears. Don’t you like your disguise?’
Zach stepped closer to see the speaker but the shade was as exaggerated as everything else in this place.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked.
‘I want to see what you look like.’
She laughed. It was a thousand laughs all played at once. ‘What does it matter what I look like? I have a thousand avatars. All different.’
Zach could see eye whites and fangs and a heart-shaped face in the shadow.
‘What do you want me to look like? Hmm ...’ she mused. ‘What do little boys like?’ In blinks, she changed and stepped into the sunlight. She was a kind-faced nanna, wearing a flour-dusted apron with lace on every hem. ‘Does this make you feel better, my sweet pudding?’ Blink, she was a man with salt-and-pepper hair and a weathered face. ‘Maybe you need a father figure? Stay strong, lil slugger. You’ll get there.’ Blink, she was a short, naked woman with a wet sheen from toes to breasts. ‘Or maybe you’re old enough for something like this.’ A long finger touched
‘Zachary, please don’t talk like that.’
‘Why not? You and the ‘nage already monitor my every minute. What choice could I have?’
‘I’m sorry that you see those who care for you as a restriction on your life.’
‘I’m stuck with baby exercises for training and I’m stuck in the kutzo house. How do you expect me to feel?’
‘Patience, Zach. Please. You need time to recover.’
‘I’m fine. All I need to do is get back on the Weave, but you won’t let me.’
‘No, I won’t. Not until you can control yourself again.’
And so their sessions reached an impasse. Zach began looking for new teachers but it was hopeless. Lizney had put the kibosh on, and nobody would take him. It was like the beady-eyed old man had a grudge against him. Maybe he didn’t like his record being tarnished, it might cost him future students.
Zach dropped his other classes and spent all his time training in the null space. This was what mattered, being able to defend yourself. Being quick enough to block offensive codes with his own; building up a catalogue of scripts and twists that he could pull out as he needed them.
Bleck! he swore to himself. It was all just games until he got back on the Weave. The scripts he was pulling were textbook, available to everyone who wanted them. They’d be useless against a hakka.
Hakkas could go where they pleased and do what they wanted to whoever they chose. The only thing that was meant to stop them were the weavers and rangers. But obviously the hakkas still did what they did without any hindrance from the ‘good guys’. Zach had been misled.
A message came into his box with no sender attached.
: Come on, runt. Don’t hide in null space forever.
Zach: Who is this?
: The one who gives you nightmares.
Zach froze. Images of rape and mutilation repeated in his mind’s eye.
: Come on, Zach. I won’t do it again. Promise.
Zach: I’m locked off from the Weave.
: ZZZZZ.
Zach: They’re watching me.
: Just say the word, runt, and I shall set you free.
Zach thought about it for a moment. He looked out on the empty vista of the null space. Greyness to the non-horizon.
Zach: What’s the word?
: Please, of course.
In his immersion lounge, Zach swallowed and locked in a fresh backup.
Zach: Please.
The null went black, then Zach blinked and he was standing in a field of green grass with exaggerated flowers. The sky was a solid blue mockery of the real world, laughing brightly behind one perfect tree.
He looked at himself, swivelling a camera view for a looksy. He had been changed into something like a rabbit that stood like a human. He tried to assert his own image into —
‘Don’t do that.’ A familiar female voice came from the shade of the tree. ‘They’ll detect you pretty quick if your avatar appears. Don’t you like your disguise?’
Zach stepped closer to see the speaker but the shade was as exaggerated as everything else in this place.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked.
‘I want to see what you look like.’
She laughed. It was a thousand laughs all played at once. ‘What does it matter what I look like? I have a thousand avatars. All different.’
Zach could see eye whites and fangs and a heart-shaped face in the shadow.
‘What do you want me to look like? Hmm ...’ she mused. ‘What do little boys like?’ In blinks, she changed and stepped into the sunlight. She was a kind-faced nanna, wearing a flour-dusted apron with lace on every hem. ‘Does this make you feel better, my sweet pudding?’ Blink, she was a man with salt-and-pepper hair and a weathered face. ‘Maybe you need a father figure? Stay strong, lil slugger. You’ll get there.’ Blink, she was a short, naked woman with a wet sheen from toes to breasts. ‘Or maybe you’re old enough for something like this.’ A long finger touched
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