Versim by Curtis Hox Page A

Every system in his body was working overtime to keep him upright. The journey from the lobby to the hotel room could have taken thirty seconds or thirty minutes. He had no idea. He just remembered Binda opening the hotel room door. Somehow Frankie was already helping him into a room on the other end of the suite.
    Hark crashed to the floor.
    “Lock the door,” he said. “Order me … room service. In the mood for a … cheeseburger.” Hark lay belly down on the floor, his face in the carpet. “Frankie, come here.”
    “Really?” Frankie bent down. “A cheeseburger?”
    “Kidding …”
    Hark grabbed his shirt, pulling him to all fours. He stuck his hand inside and turned on the embedded phone.
    “Oh, snap,” Frankie said as Hark’s hand fell. “This is going to be good.”
    Hark passed out to the sound of Frankie jabbering.
    16
    Hark’s eyes were finally focusing. He stared at the ceiling. His fingers reached across his body. He was still wearing his Skinsuit. Of course he was. They wouldn’t know how to get it off him. He felt the rippling of the armor still repairing itself just as the heat from his body meant the nanoengines inside were healing him. He inhaled deeply. Already, his damaged lung was working. The broken ribs were mending.
    That was close .
    He lay on a bed with a mauve bedspread in a side room of the suite. He sat up and groaned, hands to face, feeling heat blisters that scabbed his cheeks and forehead. The world swirled around him. He bit his bottom lip to keep from passing out. I need a few more hours for those to heal, he thought. At least they sent me here with my complete physio package.  
    Binda appeared in the doorway. She still wore the same clothes. Must be the same day, he realized.
    “You okay?” she asked. “You look like you’ve been run over.”
    “Where’s Frankie?”
    “Behind you, where you left him in the corner. Smiling like an idiot.”
    “Bring him to me.” She led forward a catatonic but happy Frankie. He stood rigid, like a statue, eyes glazed. Hark said, “Direct access. Oh wait. Move his arms …”
    “What?” Binda asked.
    “Stick his arms out.”
    She adjusted his arms, and they moved on their own.  
    Hark white-knuckled the bedspread with both hands to steady himself like a drunk about to pass out. “Direct access. Give me data on … how many … how many viewers for Collides .”
    “Two hundred and seventy one thousand new viewers since this afternoon,” Frankie said in his proxy voice.
    “No way,” Binda said. “He’s a terminal.”
    Hark raised a hand. “Proxy, actually. That phone’s too weak for him to be a real terminal. He likes it.”
    “He does?”
    “You want to try?”
    She nodded vigorously. “Definitely.”
    “Maybe later. We’re slamming the ratings by now.”
    Binda’s eyes widened. “Big show?”
    “You got your audience.”
    She clapped. “We’re breaking versim rules talking about it.”
    “Doesn’t matter at this point. Something’s going on that sent me off the rails. Frankie is involved. You’re involved. EA tried to take me out in narrative. I’m illegal, so they can’t pull my plug. My bet, my sister pushed you two to me.”
    “Like I said, it was an anonymous message.”
    “Sounds like Krista.”
    “Ask about riders.”
    Hark grinned at her. “Sure.” To Frankie he said, “Access rider count for secondary character Binda Avey.”
    “Forty two riders.”
    Her hands flew to her mouth. “Forty two!”
    “They’re paying big bucks to experience what you’re experiencing, Binda. Make it worth their while.”
    “What about you?”
    “Don’t need those numbers. Even if no one was riding, I’d give it my all.”
    “I know. We all know.”
    He watched her flash her best, I’m-Sexy grin, and he smiled back even though his head pounded and the heat damage in his torso still made him feel like burnt meat. All his AbSys energy was fueling his soma therapy, which meant it felt like he had an electric