GroupSync-ChapterFour

8/22/2019 GroupSync-ChapterFour

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Amber Givens I am a snowflake falling down the sky. There are other snowflakes. They are

white and moving faster than me. I reach out to them but cant reach them. Touch them. They

form a tunnel. I am falling down that tunnel. There is no ground. I am just falling.

Amber Givens I had pizza yesterday from Pizza Hut with other teachers. Was Megs birthday.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. I hate that time of the month, but then who doesnt?

Amber Givens I love Henry ODell. I would wait forever but Im afraid. When will he ask me to

marry him? I would.

Amber Givens Say.

Amber Givens Yes.


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Chapter Four

Amber remembered standing in Henrys kitchen as she swallowed the pill, then falling. Then,

there were snowflakes. She didnt remember landing in water, yet when she woke up she was

laying in a puddle. She crawled out of the puddle being too weak to stand. When she was out of

the puddle, she laid on her belly and studied her surroundings. She wasnt in Henrys apartment

at all. Instead, she appeared to be in front of a barn surrounded by fields of corn. Next to the barn

there was a two-story farm house.

Amber slowly stood up and peered over at the house. None of the lights were on, and there didnt

seem to be any other signs that anybody was home. She slowly walked towards the house.

She gingerly stepped onto the front porch. She was about to enter the house, when a voice said,

Your nanites are strong.

She jerked her head around, and spotted an older, grey haired gentleman sitting in a rocking

chair. He seemed friendly enough that he reminded her of her grandfather. Im sorry...I didnt seeyou there.

Thats alright. We almost didnt see you, he responded.

We?

Everybody whos stuck inside this server, like you, the man explained. But, youre not stuck,

are you? Your nanites worked.

How ...how do you know about the nanoprobes? Amber asked.

Well, theres no other way somebody can get their personality dumped into the computer, as far

as I know. And, I should know since they shot a bunch of those little things into my head, too.

I..I, um, swallowed them. In pill form.

Oh, well, I was a part of the first trial, then. Injected them straight into my head. Then, I was

here.

Here? She stammered. Wheres here?

The man gestured towards the field in front of them. See for yourself.

Amber turned, and saw that the fields were separated by a driveway that lead away from the

house. There was a huge sign posted at the point where the driveway connected with a nearby

road. Amber followed the driveway, then when she was far enough to see the front of the sign

looked up. The sign read, Welcome to Hicksville.

Hicksville? Amber said said when she was back at the house again. Theres no such place.

Thats a Facebook game.


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Well, it might be a game to anybody who plays it, the man said, for us, its a prison. Suddenly,

a gust of wind blew across the farm. Still weak, Amber nearly fell over. Its time for you to go.

Your nanites are strong.

Go? How do I go? Go where?

Go back to your body. Be thankful that youre not stuck here with us.

How?

The well.

There was a well behind the house. Amber studied it carefully. What was she supposed to do?

Jump in? Drink the water? She recalled the plotlines ofAlice in Wonderlandand The Matrix. The

well had a crank on one side. It creaked as she turned it. Slowly, a bucket emerged from inside

the well, but it didnt contain water. Instead, there was what appeared to be a computer CPU.

I dont understand, Amber said to herself. What am I supposed to do?

Jack in. The old man was standing next to her. His voice startled her. Or whatever kids call it

now.

Into a computer? How?

Use that. The old man was pointing to her hips. Amber looked down, and to her surprise the tip

of a slender tail was suspended in midair. She twisted her body, and followed the cord to where

it connected with her, just above her tailbone. Where did that come from? she asked.

Hurry, the man said. You cant stay, and you cant come back. He gripped the end of her tail,

and plunged it into a socket on the front of the CPU. Amber couldnt help but feel violated, but

before she could protest she felt a wave of pins and needles wash over her. It was as if every

inch of her skin, and her organs were on fire. Then, the farm began to fade away from view.

When Amber woke again, she was laying down but not in a puddle. She was on a bed in Henrys

room. Henry and another man she didnt recognize were watching her from different sides of the

bed. Henry was sitting down, and the other was standing up. She also noticed that there were

wires attached to her which lead to a laptop on the dresser, which was displaying her vital

information.

She shifted her body and began to sit up. The room was spinning, and her stomach was doing

flip flops.

Henry leaned forward, reaching out his hands for hers but she batted them away. Amber, are

you okay?

No, Amber said, I think Im going to be sick.

Simon grabbed the nearest receptacle he could find--the trash can--and handed it to Henry.


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Henry handed it to Amber just as she sat up and began to puke. When she had stopped, she

thrusted the trashcan back to Simon who took it reluctantly.

Do you feel better, now? Henry asked.

Oh my head is killing me, Amber said. Simons movement caught her attention, and she

glanced towards him. Who is he?she wondered to herself. An object she could only describe

as a computerized widget appeared at the bottom right hand corner of her view. The top of it

said, Would you like to search? Sure, why not,she thought. The widget filled up with text, then

a new window ballooned out of it. It was an image of a Facebook profile, and it belonged to

Simon. Or, at least it belonged to a Simon Malone. All at once, she knew Simons address,

where he went to school, and of course his title at Nova Beans. Hi Simon, she said.

Hello, have we met? Simon said.

No, but I do see that you live on the North end of town. You have two brothers. Your sister

passed away when you were twelve. Im sorry. As Amber talked the map showing an outlinecourse to Simons house and Mary Malones obituary faded from her view. She was very pretty.

Whats that all about? Henry asked.

The nanoprobes must have integrated with her brain, Simon said, curtailing his excitement.

Shes tapped into the Internet.

Nanites, Amber said.

What?

The farmer called them nanites. He said they were strong.

Farmer? What farmer? Henry asked.

There was a farmer. He said he was trapped..somewhere. He said I could leave, but I couldnt

return.

You talked to someone while you were unconscious? Henry asked.

No, I was awake. I was on a farm. He said that his nanites didnt work.

How would he know about the nanoprobes? Simon said. Other than staff, only the test

subjects knew and some of them never woke up.

Amber turned to Henry. During the first trial, how were the nanoprobes administered?

Well, at first we tried injecting them--

Thats what he said. They were injected.

Thats impossible, Henry insisted. Theres no way you could have talked to one of the test


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subjects, because they never interfaced with the computer. Their nanites failed.

But, Simon said, what if the nanites didnt fail? What if it was something else? From the way

that youve explained it, the interface actually relies on copying the users personality onto the

servers, right?

Yes, like a cache. The idea was that a users copy would relay data from the Internet in

response to commands.

Theres something else, Amber said. We were inside a game. Hicksville.

That stupid Facebook game? Simon asked.

Yes...we need to take a look at it.

Henry pulled his laptop off of the dresser, launched a browser, then navigated to Hicksville on

Facebook. As the game launched, a title screen appeared containing images of a farmhouse, a

barn, and a farmer wearing a plaid shirt and overalls.

Thats..thats him! Amber said. Thats who I talked to.

You talked to a video game character? Simon said.

He was real. Like me. I, ah-- A light fog was settling over Ambers vision. Im..Im having trouble

seeing. All of my widgets are fading.

Widgets?

Theyre these...boxes that appear all over the place. Its like having Pop Up Video streamed to

my head. Ive been seeing them since Ive been awake. Until now.

Could something be happening to the nanites? Simon asked.

Henry grabbed his laptop, and pulled up the monitoring program for the interface. The

nanoprobes are fine, but were getting some data degradation. Were losing bandwidth.

What would cause that? Simon asked.

Nothing. It cant happen naturally. Henry said. Maybe somebody figured out what was

happening..and is trying to stop it?

Thats an awful way to do it. If they cut off Amber from the server farm while the nanoprobes arestill integrating themselves, it could damage her.

Amber remembered the well with the CPU, and the cord that was attached to her like a tail. We

need another place to store my copy. Somewhere close that we can control. She glanced at

Simons pants pocket. Like your iPhone.

My iPhone? Simon said. He removed it from his pocket, and handed it to Amber. Theres no


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way youll be able to use it. Theres isnt enough capacity.

It will be enough, she said. Then, instinctively she willed the phone to connect to her. Before

she knew it, a mechanical tail had worked its way up out of her jeans and plugged directly into

the side of the phone. The two guys jumped back in surprise. Then, Amber collapsed backwards

onto the bed.

An hour went by without any movement or sound from Amber. Henry and Simon had retreated

into the kitchen so that their nervous pacing wouldnt distract her from whatever it was that she

was doing.

Seriously, man, Simon said. Did you know your girl friend has a tail?

She doesnt. Henry shot back. When he saw the look on Simons face, he added, Of course

she didnt have a tail. Who would?

I hope you guys are going to replace my iPhone. Those things are not cheap. And once she

starts talking to the Internet with that thing, my data usage is going to go through the roof.

You can send me the bill, Henry said. Thats Amber were talking about here. I say anything

that keeps her safe is worth it.

I dont know, Simon said. So far, Ive almost been puked on and my iphone was pilfered by

your cybernetic girlfriend. Im still undecided about whether its been worth it.

Just then, Henrys cell phone let out a ding. He picked it up and looked at it. Amber just sent

friend requests to everyone I know on Facebook.

Does that mean shes okay? Simon asked

Id say shes better than okay. Shes in.

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GroupSync-ChapterFour